Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session (1951)

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1516 COMMUNISM IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall where the specific meetings were held in which this subject was discussed? Mr. Townsend. Well, I am sure that some of them were held at my home. They were held at the homes of members of the branch. It would be at the homes of some of these other people whom I have named. I can remember specifically only that some were held at my home. Mr. Tavenner. I am going to ask you at this time if you can recall the names of any other persons known to you to be members of the Communist Party. Mr. Townsend. I had met certain people who were Communist Party functionaries. I had met a few people in so-called fraction meetings of the Screen Writers' Guild, people whom I hadn't met within any of my several branches. The party functionaries I met; there was a girl named Elizabeth Leach, I believe that is L-e-a-c-h, I'm not sure. 1 Her husband, Charles Glenn Mr. Tavenner. G-1-e-n-n- ? Mr. Townsend. G-1-e-n-n. I believe he was at one time connected with the People's World. I think at the time I saw him in fraction meetings he had a functionary paid position with the Communist Party. There was a man named John Stapp, S-t-a-p-p, who seemed to be the contact between the downtown or county organization and the so-called Hollywood section. He would sometimes appear at fraction meetings of writers within the guild. These fraction meetings were held, as a rule, before any important matter was to come up before the entire membership of the Screen Writers' Guild. I remember specifi- cally election periods. We would meet in a fraction for the purposes of electioneering purposes, of getting as many Communists on the board of the guild as possible for the purpose of campaigning among^ non-Communists. Mr. Tavenner. Now, I want to ask you a little more in detail about those fraction meetings and the work within the various guilds at a later point in your testimony. I believe it would be a little clearer for our present purposes now to go into those matters in detail. Mr. Townsend. All right. Mr. Tavenner. You were giving us the names of Communist Party functionaries. Mr. Townsend. Yes. Mr. Tavenner. Were you acquainted with Carl Winter? Mr. Townsend. Yes. Not acquainted, but he was present at the meeting I have previously mentioned at the home of Nicholas Bela in the summer of 1943. I believe at that time he was the county chairman of the Communist Party. Mr. Tavenner. Now, were there other functionaries of the party whose names you can give us ? Mr. Townsend. I met a man named Max Silver. I don't know what his party connection was; a man named Nemmy Sparks who was - Mr. Tavenner. What is the spelling of Nemmy? Mr. Townsend. N-e-m-m-y. He was the county chairman, I be- lieve. Whether he followed Carl Winter directly or not, I don't recall. 1 In some instances, referred to as Elizabeth Leech Glenn.