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

COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 3519 Mr. Tavenner. Let me make a statement for the benefit of the record that Mr. Roland Kibbie has not appeared before the committee but when his name was mentioned in the course of the hearings in Cali- fornia he wired the committee that he would be available and desired to cooperate in this, and has talked with the staff. Miss Lennart. Just to finish up on names of people I have known, the party functionaries besides Madelaine Ruthven, who I have al- ready mentioned, were John Howard Lawson, who at that time was the head of the section, and a woman named Elizabeth Leech. Mr. Tavenner. She is also a party functionary, as I understood it. Miss Lennart. She was when I knew her, yes. Mr. Tavenner. Were you acquainted with Richard Collins? Miss Lennart. Yes, I knew Richard Collins. But I cannot remem- ber ever having been in a closed party meeting with Mr. Collins. I know that he has appeared before the committee but I still didn't know him then. Mr. Tavenner. I may have misunderstood the pronunciation of the first name of Bessie. Did you say Alvah or Albert ? Miss Lennart. Alvah, A-1-v-a-h. Shall I go on ? Mr. Tavenner. Yes. Miss Lennart. I rejoined the group but I had begun writing at this time which meant working all day and writing at night, as many people do when they get started. So my attendance at that time con- tinued to be erratic. However, in the fall of 1939 I sold my first story and got my first job as a screen writer at MGM at this time, because I was no longer working nights and so on, I started to go to meetings much more regularly, and I would say averaged about once a month. I might say something about the dues system here, if you like. I remember having a good deal of trouble, always, during the entire period I was in the party with two things. One was my attendance and one w T as dues. In the years before I earned very much money I got myself quite badly in debt. It took me years to catch up. I still have this problem. And so I was always in a jam about paying dues. They have a percentage system. I don't know what the percentage was exactly, but mine, the last year I was in the party, would have brought me up to $100 a month, which I just couldn't do, and said I wouldn't do. Mr. Tavenner. What salary were you earning at that time, at the time that you endeavored Miss Lennart. I started in 1941 at $150 a week at a 1-week guar- anty, which didn't guarantee much security, but I have been there ever since. By the time I got out I imagine I was making about five or six hundred a week. I am not really sure of that, but I can easily find this information for you. But I couldn't pay $100 a month be- cause of other commitments that I had, and we settled. I was spoken to about it in terms of dues being a political duty, that this was the way you showed your devotion to the party, but I didn't have that much devotion because I wouldn't pay it. But at any rate we settled. In the early days I paid a flat $25 a month and we settled on a flat $50 and those were my top dues. I didn't pay much else besides that. I did make small contributions from time to time to the party press, the People's World and their regulars.