The screen writer (June 1946-May 1947)

THE SCREEN WRITER munists are trying to take over the Screen Writers’ Guild and the entire mo¬ tion picture industry as a step tov^^ard the domination of America by Russia is as preposterous as the A.P.A. propaganda of my youth that every Catholic Church was an arsenal and the Knights of Co¬ lumbus were drilling secretly for a mili¬ tary coup that would move the Pope into the White House. I had my first job in the motion pic¬ ture industry nearly twenty-seven years ago. Since then I have been in and out of it from time to time as a press agent, film editor and title writer in the silent days; and since the advent of talking pictures I have mucked about occasion¬ ally in their writing and production in Hollywood, New York, London, Paris and Berlin. In all this time 1 have never seen the slightest crevass through which any Com¬ munist propaganda could possibly trickle to the screen. Motion pictures are big business, controlled from Wall Street. Even the most autocratic studio head in Hollywood is a mere chore boy for the financial powers that direct the major companies and the theater chains. Granting that Mr. Trumbo — and I use his name as a symbol the same as I do Mr. Niblo’s — is the foul Red fellow that Mr. Niblo seems to think, there is no conceivable way that he could inject his political beliefs into a commercial motion picture. With all of his local power and authority, if Darryl Zanuck ever let a writer get away with that the Chase National Bank would immediately collapse upon him, and his name would be Ichabod — a sad little man indeed, departed from glory. It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t mat¬ ter a hoot what the individual members or the Guild as a whole think about Communism or Catholicism, Democracy, the folly of drawing to an inside straight or putting bananas in the refrigerator; their personal views will not reach the screen if they are contrary to those of the financiers who control the screen. Mr. Niblo, and those for whom he speaks, can lean back and relax. Mr. Trumbo cannot get at them cinematically to destroy their way of life until the Chase National Bank goes Communistic. And that I must stick around to see. It is difficult to understand how any author in compos mentis could fail to support and work for Mr. Cain’s proposed American Authors’ Authority — just as a matter of enlightened self-interest. The producers quite properly are solidly or¬ ganized to present a united front on matters of mutual interest. So are the nation’s doctors, lawyers, bankers, meat packers and practically every other trade, profession and industry. If it is Commu¬ nistic for writers to get smart and try to salvage more of the usufructs of their trade, then the Johnston Office and the National Association of Manufacturers are also snuggling under the mantle of the Red Menace. I have had my name on five published books, two of which were best-sellers some years ago; three were bought for pictures, and the other two are reposing in the oblivion they justly earned. Of the three bought for pictures none of them was produced. The reasons for this are not germane here. According to the cus¬ tom which still prevails, I had to sign away all my rights in perpetuity to these three books. The production of one or more of these would have enhanced greatly my earning capacity as a screen writer, and increased my royalties as an author. Had I leased them, with the stipula¬ tion that ownership would revert to me in a given time, I might have been able to realize something on their motion picture potentiality. As it is, the pro¬ ducers who bought them are out of pocket for having paid for something they didn’t use, and I’m out of pocket, too. They can afford it better than I. I have recently finished a new novel. If any studio should want to buy this. I’ll be in approximately the same position 1 would if 1 should unhappily find myself in the ring with Joe Louis. We would each be intent upon beating the other’s brains out, but the issue would not remain long in doubt. 38