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If I do not hear from you, I must conclude that your marching in the 1952 May Day Parade is still an accurate index of your position and sympathies . . . Barrett's lawyer wrote to Hartnett and stated that the actor had never marched in a May Day Parade in his life and had no Com- munist leanings or sympathies whatsoever. Hartnett answered by writing directly to Barrett: To my surprise, I received today a letter . . . from Mr. Klein, a lawyer ... I say I was surprised because I wrote my . . . letter to you, not to Mr. Klein or any other member of your family ... I have no way of establishing that Mr. Klein is authorized to speak for you ... Parenthetically, is Mr. Klein the same Mr. Klein who in 1939 resided at , Brooklyn, New York and who is listed as having signed the CP nominating petitions, New York State and/or New York City, 1939-40? Enclosed is a photograph of a group of marchers on the New York May Day Parade. The gentleman at left center, underneath red arrow marking, certainly looks to me like you. It is possible, I am mistaken. There may be some other actor, unknown to me, in New York, who closely resembles you . . . Barrett's lawyer was not the Klein who signed the nominating petition. Barrett was not the actor (if indeed it was an actor) who was photographed at the May Day Parade. Hartnett was finally satisfied on both these counts and wrote Barrett saying he hoped the actor "incurred no expense by the unnecessary move of calling in a lawyer. This only muddied the waters." Other actors during the same whiter received letters from Hart- nett demanding that they "explain" past political associations under penalty of being "listed" in his book on the Left Theater. In some cases the demands were backed up by a threat that if they did not satisfy Hartnett that they had "changed their positions," he would publish the "facts" — and this, he hinted strongly, would certainly have an effect on their popularity and/or employability. An actor who had appeared in a play put on at a rally honoring several Soviet visitors during the very early postwar period received 96