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182 COMMUNISM IN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
Mr. Smith. Well, actually I believe you received the Pulitzer Prize for Of Thee I Sing, is that correct?
Mr. Ryskind. That is ri^ht, together with my collaborators George S. Kaufman, who wrote the book, and Ira Gershwin, who wrote the lyrics.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Ryskind, how long have you been in Hollywood?
JNIr. Ryskixd. About a dozen years or so.
Mr. Smith. And during the time that you have been. there, what have your activities consisted of?
Mr. Ryskind. Writing for the screen.
Mr. Smith. During that particular time, have you had an opportunity to observe whether or not there is any Communist infiltration in the motion-picture industry or in Hollywood?
Mr. Ryskind. Well, I would say that you would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to observe those activities. The fact is, as Rupert Hughes said yesterday, that even if you lost all of those and still kept your nose the odor would tell you.
Mr. Smith. What would you say these activities consisted of, Mr. Ryskind ?
Mr. Ryskind. It would almost be easier to tell 3'ou the activities thej didn't take part in. I would divide them roughly into two groups : First, the general commie fronts for suckers; and then, secondly, the effort to take over the different guilds and crafts in the movie industry.
Mr. Smith. Can you give us some examples of those? Are you familiar with the League Against War and Fascism and its history?
Mr. Ryskind. Yes, I am very well familiar with that. That was one of the fronts that my wife joined. My wife has a ver}'^ keen i^iterest in civil liberties, as I think I have. She went to a meeting one day and came back and told me she had joined this League Against War and Fascism, I believe it was called. I looked over the list of names on it and said, "This looks to me like a commie front." She said, ''Why, the organization meeting I went to spoke only about civil liberties. You believe in that, don't you?" I said, "Yes, but I am not sure the commies on this list do."
In about 3 weeks she resigned.. She came to me and said, "You were right; they are interested in civil liberties, but only for Communists, not for Americans."
Shortly after that, the league was exposed as a Communist front. It changed its name — a typical Communist trick — to, I think first it was The League Against War and Fascism and then it became The League for jPeace and Democracy, another noble-sounding name. Then, when that was exposed, I think at tlie time of the Hitler-Russian pact, the}' called it The League for War Against Fascism. Now, mind you, this started as the League Against War and Fascism. It now became a League for War Against Fascism. I don't know what its })resent name is. if it is still in existence — probably the "League to Get Americans Out of Greece and Henry Wallace into the White House," I wouldn't know.
Mr. Smith. What about the League of American Writers, Mr. Ryskind?
Mr. Ryskind. Well, that is another one I know about.
By the way. I just want to say one thing in fairness to her. My wife arrived here today and I want to say that joining that league