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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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 2343 Mr. Blankfort. Not the tour. But I think our tickets were gotten through Open Road. There were a couple—I say a couple; I am not certain how many there were—of Russian anthropologists who joined this group and went into the Caucasus with us. Mr. Tavenner. Do you know whether you paid the regular cost of transportation or whether any assistance was given you, any finan- cial assistance by Open Road or World Tourists, Inc. ? Mr. Blankfort. I paid. Mr. Tavenner. But the tickets and the arrangements for transpor- tation were made available by Open Road ? Mr. Blankfort. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. I show you a photostatic copy of another article appearing in the Daily Worker, and of the date of June 6, 1936. Mr. Jackson. It seems to me that the various exhibits which are being shown should be made a part of the record. Mr. Tavenner. If you would like them a part. Mr. Jackson. I request that they be received and marked as exhibits in the testimony. Mr. Walter. Without objection, they will be marked and made a part of the record. (The documents referred to, marked "Exhibits Nos. 1, 2, and 3," are filed herewith.) Mr. Tavenner. Do you have the article before you ? Mr. Blankfort. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. I desire to introduce it in evidence, and ask that it be marked "Blankfort Exhibit No. 4." This article is by Michael Gold and Michael Blankfort, and begins with these words: We have been asked by the editor of the Daily Worker's feature page to com- ment on the matters that impelled us to write Battle Hymn, the drama about John Brown, the abolitionist, which is now playing at Daley's Experimental Theater of the WPA. Do you see that ? Mr. Blankfort. Yes, sir. Mr. Tavenner. Further along in the article you said: There is a great and epic pathos in the fact that an abolitionist like John Brown, who was hounded by spies, cursed as a madman, beaten, and finally hung, just as our Tom Mooneys and Vanzettis are today, and for almost the same reasons, and by the same exploiters. Will you explain to the committee what you meant by the use of those words? Mr. Blankfort. I can't explain to the committee because I didn't write this. I wrote a play called Battle Hymn with Michael Gold. Specifically, I didn't collaborate with him. He had written a play called John BroAvn, which was not right. It wasn't good enough. He brought it to me and I rewrote the play and it subsequently was produced by the Federal Theater here in San Francisco. Michael Gold's name is on the play as coauthor. Michael Gold at this time, I suspect, was writing for the Daily Worker and wrote this article. As coauthor he credited me with coauthorship of the article. I can't explain that. I am as certain as anything that I did not write this article. Mr. Tavenner. You were employed by the Daily Worker at that time; were you not ?