‘I don’t understand this’

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

By Aaron Wallis

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-This week was quite eventful  thanks to the controversy stirred up by my article in this paper suggesting the Miller Park art fair be renamed a “craft fair.” My opinion, about the work at art fairs being decorative and not addressing social issues, is shared by a majority of art school grads. I did not think it would ignite this kind of a firestorm. In retrospect, the tone of my article was reactionary, not constructive in its criticism, and more appropriate for Fox News. I stand by my factual claim that I was threatened with having my classes canceled and being banned from the studios in retaliation for my article.

Now might be the time to recall the life of one of my personal heroes, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was born in Grand Junction, Colo. and wrote a number of novels before becoming one of the highest paid screenwriters of the 1930s. A member of the Communist Party, he wrote the novel Johnny Got His Gun in 1939 as a damning critique of war from the viewpoint of a horribly maimed and disabled soldier.  By 1941, publication of the book was suspended amid the pro-war fervor. The FBI intimidated Trumbo into giving up the names of persons who requested copies of his banned book.

By 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee called Trumbo to testify about communist influences in Hollywood. The Hollywood Ten refused to name suspected communists, pleading the First Amendment right.
Trumbo’s fiery dissent and confrontational questioning resulted in his being held in contempt of Congress. The case went to the Supreme Court and many legal experts believed the court would uphold the First Amendment rights of The Hollywood Ten. The court however refused to hear the case and  Trumbo served 11 months in a federal prison. He would later remark, “I fought fire with oil.”

Upon his release, the blacklisted Trumbo was in dire financial straights. He began writing Hollywood screenplays under pseudonyms and using front writers. In 1953, a front writer, Ian McLellan Hunter, won an Oscar for the film Roman Holiday. At the 1956 Academy Awards ceremony the Oscar for best screenplay went to the motion picture The Brave One, and was awarded to Robert Rich. Rich did not come forward to claim his Oscar because he was in fact Dalton Trumbo. By 1960, Trumbo received screen credit for the movie Exodus, and was subsequently publicly credited by Kirk Douglas for his work on Spartacus, effectively breaking the blacklist.

 In the 2008 documentary Trumbo, actors including Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Liam Neeson, and Donald Sutherland read excerpts from Trumbo’s lively personal correspondence. Lane’s reading from Trumbo’s defense of Onanism (masturbation) is hilarious, and I encourage my loyal readers to Netflix the film.
“Everybody now seems to be talking about democracy. I don't understand this. As I think of it, democracy isn't like a Sunday suit to be brought out and worn only for parades. It's the kind of a life a decent man leads, it's something to live for and to die for”.  JHW


Courtesy photo

PERMALINK:
‘I don’t understand this’ | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat

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