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150 COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
Mr. Wood. Wouldn't it be very simple, in your opinion, ]\Ir. McGuinness, if the Congress would simply by amendatory legislation provide that the controlling heads of any industry may, if they have reasonable grounds to conclude that a man is engaged in activities detrimental to this Government, and aiding a philosophy that is designed to overthrow it, would have the right to eliminate them and that other people in that industry would have the right to decline to employ them for that reason, without fear of future legal implications?
Mr. McGuiNNEss. I agree with that in principle, Mr. Wood.
Mr. Wood. Thank you.
That is all, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Nixon.
Mr. Nixon. Mr. McGuinness, in attempting to influence the motion pictures one way or another, either in keeping out the facts about communism or in keeping out the facts about the American way of life or distorting those facts, what would you say was the more important : The writer or the actor ?
Mr. McGuiNNESs. The writer.
Mr. Nixon. The actor has probably very little control on that particular score and could do very little?
Mr. McGuinness. It depends on his importance. Most stars are listened to and their opinions carry weight
Mv. Nixon. Well _ .
Mr. McGuinness (continuing). About a script, but very few of them, if any, have a veto power on what pictures they appear in.
Mr. Nixon. But in the making of the actual picture itself, the writer is by far the more important of the two ?
Mr. McGuinness. Oh, yes.
Mr. Nixon. And the same would be true in relationship to the director and the actor?
Mr. McGuinness. Yes ; I think the director is more important in forming and framing the picture than the actor.
Mr. Nixon.. That is right. So, as far as the Communists are concerned, their primary aim in Hollywood, if they are attempting to influence the motion pictures in one way or another, is to attempt to enlist the support first of writers and, second, of directors and probably a very poor third of actors.
Mr. McGuinness. I don't think that they have neglected the actors, but I think for their purposes
Mr. Nixon. For their purposes
Mr. IVIcGuiNNESs (continuing). The order you establish is correct.
Mr. Nixon. Yes; and if they have been extremely successful, or relatively successful, in obtaining the support of writers and directors, they have accomplished their purpose to an extent, at least?
Mr. AIcGuiNNESS. They have to an extent. Not completely.
Mr. Nixon. Now, during the war you said that the Communist writers wei'e given a leave of absence, as you put it, to write pictures which showed America in a favorable light. Do you mean by that that before that time, and since that time, they did not have a leave of absence to tell the true facts about America ?
Mr. McGuinness. Since the Duclos letter — we had described in quite some detail yesterday. the series of discussions or articles in the Communist press, in which as a final result Mr. Albert Maltz was