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COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 3475 Mr. Odets. That was in the beginning it was suggested to me in •casual meetings, nothing formal. It was suggested that I produce or write another strike play. Mr. Tavenner. Who suggested that? Mr. Odets. Well, the suggestion was so general among the Com- munist friends that I had that I couldn't really localize it to one person. Mr. Tavenner. Did that go beyond the cell of the Communist Party of which you were a member ? Mr. Odets. I should think that I might meet people in the theater and they would say "When are you going to write another play like Waiting for Lefty. We need more strike plays, more plays that stand up in terms of those subjects." But as I say, the matter was so general that I would find difficulty in localizing it. However, in the reviews, what they were griping about I think might become more evident if I were permitted to read you a few of them. They are just a matter of a few lines each. Mr. Tavenner. Let us come to that in a few minutes. Before coming to that, I would like to make a few more general inquiries. Did you have the feeling, or gain the impression, that the type of criticism which your plays received through the Communist press constituted an effort on the part of the Communist Party to direct you in your course of writing, or to influence you in your course of writ- ing, that is, as to what you should write about and how you should treat your subjects and what kind of a social message you should carry', particularly. Mr. Odets. I would say that some of the criticisms were open to that interpretation. But most of them took me to task for what they called my defections. It would be expressed that way. "It is a pity that this man is wasting his time about this trifling subject matter when he could be writing, let us say, about the .American workers, when he could be writing about the war in Spain. Why is he writing about a dentist in an office" ? Mr. Tavenner. When you speak of a dentist in an office, you are speaking of your later production of Mr. Odets. A Kocket to the Moon. Mr. Tavenner. A Rocket to the Moon. That was in Mr. Odets. Two or three years after. Mr. Tavenner. 1939. Now, coming back to the time when you were in the party, because you were in the party when you wrote Waiting for Lefty, were you not ? Mr. Odets. Yes, sir; I was. Mr. Tavenner. Were you in the party at the time you wrote the earlier production Awake and Sing ? Mr. Odets. No, I was not, even though it was produced at the time I was in the party. It was written maybe a year and a half before. Mr. Tavenner. Which was produced first? Mr. Odets. Well, it twists a little bit. Awake and Sing was written and no one wanted to do it. Then I wrote Waiting for Lefty, which was very successful. It was produced. And then other people wanted to do Awake and Sing. So Awake and Sing was produced second. Mr. Tavenner. During the period of your membership in the Com- munist Party did you meet and associate with functionaries of the Communist Party who were interested particularly in the cultural activities of the party, other than members of your own cell ?