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3462 COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY Mr. Odets. Well, when you come up from Mexico City, you pass through Texas and you pass through certain States, and anywhere in any State where I knew anyone, I stopped and said hello. Mr. Tavenner. When was this visit made ? Mr. Odets. I would make a guess 1937 or 1938. Mr. Tavenner. What was Ted Wellman's occupation in Tennessee at that time, at the time you visited him ? Mr. Odets. Well, I can't say of my own knowledge, because of my own knowledge I thought that he was some kind of newspaper writer. There was some—I forget the name of it—there was some very liberal newspaper there, with a very liberal editor. And I thought that he worked for that newspaper. In looking back now, that would be my memory of my impression at that time. Mr. Tavenner. What was the occasion of your trip to Mexico at that time ? Mr. Odets. I was unhappily divorcing a wife, and I wanted to go on a trip. Mr. Tavenner. I don't mean to inquire into your personal matters. Mr. Odets. No ; I will tell you honestly. Mr. Tavenner. Have you made any financial contributions other than membership dues to the Communist Party ? Mr. Odets. No memory of any such contribution. That is, since the days of 1935. Mr. Tavenner. How long did you remain a member of the party? Mr. Odets. I would say between 6 and 8 or 9 months. Mr. Tavenner. What were the circumstances under which you terminated your party membership? Mr. Odets. I was connected with what you would call or did call then, the cultural front, and it came to the point of where I thought if I can't respect these people on a so-called cultural basis, that is, let us say as literary or theater critics, I don't know what I am doing here. I remember telling you that when my plays came out one after another, they received fantastically bad notices, although a play like Waiting for Lefty was widely used not only by the Communists but by all liberal organizations and trade-union movements. I not only disagreed with their critical statements of my work, but I disagreed with their critical estimates of anybody's work, writers that I didn't know, as I mentioned, like Steinbeck and Hemingway. I had a great number of fights about that. And I simply thought this is not for me, there is no reason for me to be mixed up in there; I am a play- wright; I have established myself as a playwright; I have a great deal of work to do; I have enough to say out of my own mind and heart, and I had better leave. This would be the general attitude under which I left. Mr. Tavenner. Can you be specific as to the month of the year in which you left the party ? Mr. Odets. I am sorry, I can't. Well, I would guess it was some- where in the latter half of 1935. Mr. Tavenner. During the time of your affiliation with the Com- munist Party, did you engage in any special activity for the party? Mr. Odets. None that I remember, no. Mr. Tavenner. Do you recall having been made chairman of the American Commission to Investigate Labor and Social Conditions in Cuba? •