Hearings regarding the communist infiltration of the motion picture industry. Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first session. Public law 601 (section 121, subsection Q (1947)

50 COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY niunists; I am not accusing them all of being Communists — but don't you think the most effective way is the pay-roll route? In other words, if the owners and producers cut these people off the pay roll it would eliminate it much quicker than a congressional conmiittee or crusades and so forth. iMr. Waknkb. Well, that definitely would be. Of course, if you drop them out of pictures then the Communists have other ways of doing it. In New York I saw All of My Sons, written by Arthur Miller. Here are some of the lines : •'Rich men are made ambassadors. Poor men are strung up by the thumbs." Another line: "You can't walk along the street and spit unless you hit a college man." They write about 21 cylinder heads that were brolcen. They can't write about the 1,500,000 good airplane motors produced. These are the kind of things they write about. That play disgusted me. I almost got into a fist fight in tlie lobby. I said, "How dare they?'' They wrote about 21 little cylinder heads that were cracked. And the play is a good play, but it has all of this stuff in it. In fact, it won the critics' award in New York, and was directed by a chap named Elia Kazan who is now at Twentieth Century-Fox as a director. He directed Boomerang and is now going somewhere to make a picture for them. Mr. Thomas. What is the new one? Mr. Warnek. Gentlemen's Agreement. Can I say something off the record? Mr. Thomas. Put it on the record. Mr. Wariver. This fellow is also one of the mob. I know of him. I pass him by but won't talk to him. ' Mr. Stripling. Doesn't it kind of provoke you to pay them $1,000 or $2,000 a week and see them on the picket lines and joining all of these organizations and taking your money and trying to tear down a system that provides the money? Mr. Waenf:e. That is absolutely correct because I will offer as evidence John Howard Lawson — a photograph oif him in our picket line in the big, strike of 1945. The strike was supposedly on account of the carpenters and painters. Have you got it ? I haven't seen it for a long time. (Mr. Matthews hands photograph to Mr. Warner.) Mr. Warnkr. 1 have never seen this fellow in person, but here he is. In that line was John Wexley to whom I called your attention before. Tliere were loads of them — Ring Lardner, Jr. They even went so far as to send me a threatening telegram which I am sorry I didn't bring with me — that we were using goons to destroy union labor. They are the ones that came through with goons from Chicago and overturned our motorcars. We have motion pictures of it. It is nauseating to see it. (Tlie photograph referred to by Mr. Warner was marked "'Warner Exhibit No. 3.")* Mr. Stripling. About that time what were you paying Mr. Lawson and some of these other writers? Mr. Warner. We were probably giving them about $750. Mr. Thomas. $750 a week? Mr. Warner. Yes. He was there only for that one picture. Here is the way the fellows get 'into the studios, in my opinion. In each studio there is what they call a steerer. Most of them are menibers of the story editors and writing departments and they bring in all these boys. I tried to find out how they got in our place. There was a very inoffensive, nice chap — a vei'y nice guy all around — his name is James Goller. I don't know if he belongs to anything, but he must be something on the left side of the street. He is the one that steered most of these writers into the studio. He was in charge of picking up writers. Mr. Thomas. Is he still employed by you? Mr. WARNER. No. He went the moment his contract was out and we could legally get rid of him. He has been gone at least for some time. They are all gone. The last one that left us was Gordon Kahn. Mr. Stripling. Your eyes have really been opened. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warner. They were open all the time. I always had my eyes open. I don't mean to say that I didn't but I didn't realize what method they were using. I always looke(i upon the Communists as overthrowing the Govermnent by violence and force. 1 believe that is the very words that they state. Mr. Stripling. I think that is all I have, Mr. Chairman. Mr. AVakni-b. Let me see what else I may have here. There are many ways of going against the capitalist system using one form or another, such as poking * See appendix, p. 523, for Warner Exhibit No. 3, submitted in executive hearing, May 15. 1947, now designated as exhibit 11.