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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 2341 Edwin Seaver. Were you personally acquainted with each of those individuals? Mr. Blankfort. The only two that I was personally acquainted with, I can remember, was Edwin Seaver and Joseph North. Mr. Tavenner. You have already testified regarding Joseph North. Was Edwin Seaver known to you to be a member of the Communist Party ? Mr. Blankfort. No, sir. Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall a meeting held in Philadelphia in April 1936, and referred to as the National Conference of the New Theater League? Do you recall a meeting held in Philadelphia, in April 1936, referred to as the National Conference of the Theater League ? Mr. Blankfort. I don't recall it at all. I am pretty certain that I never attended it. Mr. Tavenner. Well, I show you a photostatic copy of a clipping from the Daily Worker of April 23, 1936. It is an article by Ben Irwin regarding the conference. In the last column appear these words: Greetings from John Howard Lawson, Michael Blankfort, and from a number of exiled German playrights now in the Soviet Union received prolonged ap- plause from the delegates. Does that refresh your recollection ? Mr. Blankfort. Not at all, because I am pretty certain I wasn't there. Mr. Tavenner. Did you and John Howard Lawson send greetings to that meeting of the National Conference of the Theater League? Mr. Blankfort. I don't know about Mr. Lawson. I may have sent greetings. I may have been asked to send a telegram of greetings. I have no recollection that I did. But I may have, as it says here I did. Mr. Tavenner. Well, do you recall having collaborated with John Howard Lawson in regard to it ? Mr. Blankfort. No, sir; I didn't collaborate. I have never col- laborated with John Howard Lawson. Mr. Tavenner. Of course, they could have been entirely separate. This article does not necessarily mean that it was done jointly. Did you know John Howard Lawson at that time, in 1936 ? Mr. Blankfort. Not well. Mr. Tavenner. This was before you had gone to California, to Hollywood ? Mr. Blankfort. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. Well, how had you met John Howard Lawson be- fore going to Hollywood ? Mr. Blankfort. I may have met him at the League of American Writers. Mr. Tavenner. Was John Howard Lawson in New York along about that period, in 1936, or prior to that ? Mr, Blankford. I think so; yes. I think I met him in two ways: One was in the League of American Writers, and the other was in the Theater Union, which produced his play. Mr. Tavenner. Was he known to you to be a member of the Com- munist Party prior to your going to Hollywood ?