Host Oona Chaplin guides listeners through the period known as the Red Scare - an ideological battle that implicated Hollywood’s biggest stars, including her grandfather, Charlie.
It was the biggest gold mine fraud of all time – a scam that devastated countless lives. But what really happened? Suzanne Wilton revisits the story that she just couldn’t let go of, to find answers about how the scam was perpetrated…and about the mysterious death of a geologist in the jungle. From the BBC World Service and CBC. To hear more, search for The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam wherever you get your podcasts.
25 Mar 2024
10. Exile
Although the blacklist era ends, the scars remain. Dalton Trumbo discovers a backdoor to Hollywood screenwriting work. Families of Hollywood workers reckon with the fallout in generations to come. After decades away, Charlie Chaplin makes a triumphant return to America. Ellen Geer recalls the effects of the blacklist on her father Will Geer, who refused to expose his friends. Oona Chaplin reflects on the lasting effects of anti-communist fervour on her family and the wider culture.
Archive:
Oscars ceremony highlights: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 29th Academy Awards 1957, and the 44th Academy Awards 1972
The Dude goes West, directed by Kurt Neumann, King Brothers Productions, 1948
Dalton Trumbo interviewed on television program Night Beat, 19 September 1957, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
The Waltons, Lorimar Productions 1972
18 Mar 2024
9. Naming names
After years of allegations and suspicion, those accused of so-called un-American political beliefs are driven from the movie industry. Mitzi Trumbo recalls visiting her father Dalton in prison. Host Oona Chaplin speaks to some of those whose careers were ruined and friendships fractured, as anti-communist fervour pushed witnesses to expose the names of alleged communists. Norma Barzman describes this as a period of political exile. Charlie Chaplin faces the FBI.
Archive:
Limelight, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1952
Johnny Guitar, directed by Nicholas Ray for Republic Pictures, 1954
Senator Joseph McCarthy speaking on America’s Town Meeting of the Air, ABC Radio, 3 April 1947
Attorney General James McGranery press conference 1952, John E. Allen Archive
11 Mar 2024
8. The un-Americans
Hollywood producers gather at the Waldorf Hotel to plot strategy. They push back against allegations of “subversive” content. Motion Picture Association of America president Eric Johnston makes the case that movies are a force for moral good. He also calls for a hardline: he pushes studios to purge communists and sympathizers from their payrolls. This marks the beginning of the so-called “blacklist” era in Hollywood. Screenwriter Norma Barzman recalls this as a repressive period, when creative people were self censoring their political beliefs
Archive:
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels
The Hollywood Ten, directed by John Berry, 1950
Dalton Trumbo interviewed for Hollywood on Trial, directed by David Helpern, Corinth Films, 1976
4 Mar 2024
7. Are you now, or have you ever been
The House Unamerican Activities Committee begins its hearings into alleged communist subversion in the movie business. The hearings cement a phrase in American history: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?” Friendly witnesses, including actors Gary Cooper & Robert Taylor, are called to the stand, along with movie mogul Jack Warner of Warner Brothers. Walt Disney uses the opportunity to call out alleged communists among members of the striking animators’ union. Dalton Trumbo and his allies challenge the legitimacy of HUAC and its hearings.
Archive:
Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., 1943
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels
26 Feb 2024
6. Hollywood on trial
The House Unamerican Activities Committee starts calling witnesses. Their hearings with Tinseltown celebrities create a sensation and put Hollywood's alleged communists in the spotlight. Dalton Trumbo is among those summoned to Washington for hearings. Oona Chaplin explains why her grandfather Charlie was not called to appear, despite his reputation as a leftist. Actress Katharine Hepburn takes a public stand against HUAC, mocking its hearings at a Los Angeles rally.
Archive used:
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover before HUAC, National Archives and Records Administration, 1947
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood Show, 25 February 1951
Katharine Hepburn for Progressive Citizens of America at Gilmore Stadium, Alco Records, 1947
‘Monsieur Verdoux’, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1947
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels
19 Feb 2024
5. Billy's list
Rumours of communist infiltration in the movie business had circulated for years. Showbiz insider Billy Wilkerson is the first to publicly name alleged Tinseltown “communists”, including Dalton Trumbo, in his paper, the Hollywood Reporter. William R. Wilkerson III speaks about his father’s friendship with billionaire producer Howard Hughes, a rabid anti-communist. He describes how his mostly apolitical father’s anti-communist stance was shaped by a visit to the Soviet Union. Wilkerson III recalls how his father’s close connections with stars like Jimmy Cagney gave him political influence in Hollywood. Oona Chaplin learns how future president Ronald Reagan operated as an FBI informant.
Archive
Ronald Reagan’s 'evil empire' speech, 1983, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
12 Feb 2024
4. Hearts and minds
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and allies like Ayn Rand were convinced that Hollywood was infested with communists. Now they started scouring the movies themselves for evidence of propaganda. Anti-communist figures in the movie business, including John Wayne and Gary Cooper, create the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals to counter groups like the Writers Guild. Even American classics like It’s a Wonderful Life came under FBI scrutiny. Studios began to feel the pressure – even changing seemingly innocuous scripts to avoid political heat.
Archive:
The Locket, directed by John Brahm for RKO Pictures, 1946
Robert F Wagner on National Labour Relations Act, Labor Comes of Age, ABC Television, 1965
Ayn Rand interviewed by Mike Wallace, ABC Television, 1959
Interviews with Dalton Trumbo, UCLA Department of Communication Archive, 1972
Woman of the Year, directed by George Stevens for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1942
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood Show, 14 January 1951
It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra for RKO Pictures, 1946
5 Feb 2024
3. The case against Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin’s personal life sparks legal woes. Hedda Hopper, known as the queen of Hollywood gossip, was Chaplin’s nemesis, and she deemed him "un-American.” Joan Barry was just 22 years old when she arrived in Hollywood with dreams of stardom. She soon met Chaplin and the pair became romantically entwined. When the relationship went sour, Chaplin’s enemies – including J Edgar Hoover and columnist and radio star Hopper – saw an opportunity. Chaplin soon landed in court facing charges under the White-Slave Traffic Act.
Archive:
The Hedda Hopper Show, 3 December 1940
J. Edgar Hoover, Battle of the United States, Army-Navy Screen Magazine, 1940
Pearl Harbor newsflash, WOR Radio 1941
The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1940
29 Jan 2024
2. Red menace
Dalton Trumbo’s career as a screenwriter blossoms just as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover makes Hollywood his focus for rooting out communism. Trumbo becomes active in the Screen Writers Guild, a harbour for radical politics. Charlie Chaplin makes influential friends on the political left. With his first talking film, The Great Dictator, Chaplin draws critical praise and unwanted attention with a rousing speech. Shifting alliances between Soviets and Nazis force an awkward political reckoning in the US. Host Oona Chaplin explores the FBI's covert operations which targeted alleged communists. We learn how Hollywood became the battleground for the soul of America.
From the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts.
Archive:
Interviews with Dalton Trumbo, UCLA Department of Communication Archive, 1972
G-Men trailer, directed by William Keighley, Warner Brothers 1935
Upton Sinclair interviewed by Joe Toyoshima, 1966
The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1940
Battle of the United States, J. Edgar Hoover, Army-Navy Screen Magazine, 1940
22 Jan 2024
1. An American dream
Charlie Chaplin was one of Hollywood’s first and biggest stars. He helped create the art and industry of movies. But by the 1960s, he was exiled. Oona Chaplin follows her grandfather’s rise from the grinding poverty of his childhood in Victorian London to wealth and fame in Hollywood. In many ways, it seemed like the embodiment of the American Dream. But almost as soon as he hit the big time, Chaplin made some powerful enemies. Federal investigators were suspicious of his political beliefs and began to build a file on him. We learn how Hollywood became the battleground for the soul of America.
From the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts.
Archive:
Communism Condemned, Universal Newsreel, 1947
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood show, 14 January 1951
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover before HUAC, National Archives and Records Administration, 1947
15 Jan 2024
Introducing Hollywood Exiles
History remembers Charlie Chaplin as Hollywood’s first superstar. At the height of his career, the FBI considered him and other figures from the film industry something else: a threat to the United States. His granddaughter, Oona Chaplin, tells the story of how Hollywood became a battleground for the soul of America. Hollywood Exiles is a story of glamour, duplicity, and the US government’s decades-long campaign to root out communism in Tinseltown. Premieres 22 January 2024.
From the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts.
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