The screen writer (June 1946-May 1947)

CDMMUMICATIDIVS A PLEA FOR URBANITY Garrett Graham As one of the senior, if not most suc¬ cessful or widely known, members of the writing trade in Hollywood I would like to raise a mild and perhaps even quaver¬ ing voice for more urbanity in the poli¬ cies and conduct of the Screen Writers’ Guild. At several meetings and in several re¬ cent issues of the Guild’s excellent maga¬ zine, The Screen Writer, individual mem¬ bers have taken out after other members because of their personal views. Mr. A. has been denounced as a Communist, Mr. B as a Fascist, Mr. C as an Anti-Semite, and Mr. D as a crafty and scheming Zionist. Supposing all these accusations are well-founded, what the hell difference does it make to the Screen Writers’ Guild? This absurd irrelevance reached its peak at the last general membership meeting when Fred Niblo, Jr., took the floor during the discussion of James M. Cain’s sound proposal for an American Authors’ Authority, and took more um¬ brage than was good for him over the political views of certain members of the Board of Directors. I do not remember all of those he mentioned by name, but the bull’s-eye of his venom seemed to be Dalton Trumbo. It is my misfortune that I do not enjoy the personal acquaintance of either Mr. Niblo or Mr. Trumbo. I have been told that each one is the more or less unoffi¬ cial spokesman for opposite points of view on political and religious matters. It is their personal privilege to think as they wish on any subject under the sun, and to expound their views to all on whose hands time hangs so heavily that they will listen. But the Guild is not the place for such disputes. The Guild is not a political organization or forum. It is a thoroughly sound and necessary business association whose func GARRETT GRAHAM, a screen writer of long standing, is the author of a famous novel about Hollywood, Queer People. tion is to safeguard the rights and privi¬ leges of those writing for the motion picture industry. It is not, or should not, be at war with, or mad at, any other branch or organization of the industry. It should not take sides in political or legis¬ lative matters except when these impinge upon the welfare of writers. It should not indulge in personalities. Yet there seems to be a growing ten¬ dency to divide the membership into Right and Left Wings with an unleavened mass of middle-of-the-roaders in be¬ tween. This is more than ridiculous. It is dangerous because it vitiates the force and dignity of the organization. It just so happens that I am not a Communist and do not believe there is any Communist menace in America. My two grandfathers were moderately pros¬ perous farmers in northeastern Illinois, were contemporaries of Lincoln, and helped found the Republican Party. They were also felons according to existing laws of those times, because they were prominent in the Underground Railway and gave sanctuary to many an escaping slave on his flight to Canada. My father was a wheelhorse of the Republican party in Southern California some thirty-five years ago. Although I could never quite stand with the rabid party members who were strongly in favor of infantile paralysis simply because the late President Roosevelt was against it, I strung along with the Republican Presi¬ dential nominees until 1944, when I could not stomach the malevolent and seditious forces backing the smug little nincompoop from Albany. I merely mention this to fend off any accusation that I am one of the sinister Hollywood tools of Moscow who give poor Mr. Hearst so many sleepless nights. If some of the more hysterical protectors of the realm scream at me to go back where I came from, they’re posing a difficult problem because my last ancestor of rec¬ ord to arrive in this country was a Johnny-Come-Lately who landed in 1728, and I’m not quite sure where HE came from. But the increasing frequency with which the charge is hurled that the Com 37