SWQ^Fhtd^Iei &Poiiciei
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The IRVING PICHEL: On Freedom of the Screen CURT SIODMAK: Medium-Close Shot in Bel-Air JOHN S. RODELL: Authority and the Screen Writer -' FRANCIS SWANN: After the Ball Is Over THEODORE PRATT: A Kindergarten of Authors' Economics SWQ^fHtd^iei & Poiiciei: Statements l^rom £qn,didates in the November 19 Scr%m Writ&s'iQuild Election WILLIAM ORNSTEIN: You Can't Scare the Movies HERBERT G. LUFT: A Study of the Qerman Screen HENRY MYERS: International Report EDWARD HUEBSCH: The T-H Law ~- and Porkchops STEPHEN LONGSTREET: Two Books About Hollywood — Also — SAMUEL GOLDWYN, CYRIL HUME, JUDITH PODSELVER, LOWELL REDELINGS, ROSE HARRIS . and Editorial SWG Bulletin Report and Comment Correspondence News Notes Screen Credits Vol. 3, No. 6 November, 1947 ) INU V THE SCREEN WRITERS ' GUILD IS FACING A CRISIS VOTE FOR: It is threatened by disunion in its own ranks at a time when it is under direct attack by powerful and dangerous political PRESIDENT * * ( See footnote forces. At the same time we are entering on the struggle for the 1949 contract, which, if realized as it might be by a uni- VICE PRESIDENTS fied and militant Guild, could be by far the highest point that Anne Chapin X Screen Writers have yet attained. To achieve it we plead for, X Frances Goodrich and will strive for, unity behind the following program: X Arthur Kober e, the candidates named on this page, stand for the vigorous develop- SECRETARY ment of an economic program aimed at achieving some form of percentage over and above present salaries, and at the establishment of a high minimum X Stanley Rubin wage guaranteed for a considerable period. TREASURER 'e stand for licensing of material as projected under AAA, and for a X Leo Townsend movement toward gaining control of material. EXECUTIVE BOARD 'e stand for the implementation of the resolution on the Credit Union X Hugo Butler as passed by the membership. X Anne Chapin 'e stand for insistence on a fair participation for all writers in the X Lester Cole industry's income from re-issues. And, without prejudice to our ultimate X John Collier ends in this direction, we shall make an immediate effort, if possible in cooperation with the Directors' Guild, to press producers to apply a portion X 1. A. L. Diamond of the income from re-issues to the relief of that economic distress among X Frances Goodrich writers and directors for which re-issues are so largely responsible. X Morton Grant 'e oppose the Taft-Hartley Act because it was created to cripple and Margaret Gruen X destroy trade unions. We realize that the non-Communist affidavits are a X Albert Hackett device to divide labor against itself, and we deplore the eagerness with which certain SWG members have seized upon this dangerous weapon X Gordon Kahn for election purposes, regardless of the Guild's constitutional provisions X Arthur Kober for freedom of political conscience. Ourselves, we will not NOW sign this affidavit. Should the membership decide that it is in the best interest John Paxton X of the Guild to go before the NLRB, we, if elected, will take whateve X Louise Rousseau steps are necessary to implement that decision. X Stanley Rubin 'e repudiate the actions and procedures of the Thomas Committee on X Leo Townsend Un-American Activities as being unconstitutional. We will take every measure open to us to prevent any member of our Guild from being penal- **THE ABOVE CANDI- pernicious committee DATES HEARTILY ized for his opinions through the influence of this SUPPORT SHERIDAN GIBNEY 'e stand for a unified, a progressive and a militant Guild, acting in close FOR PRESIDENT OF THE cooperation with other Guilds and Unions, developing its policy in full GUILD. HE HAS NOT BEEN and loyally imple- ASKED TO ENDORSE THIS and open discussion at meetings of the membership, ADVERTISEMENT. menting the will of the majority. (Paid Advertisement Letter The From Screen Writer Venice Vol 3, No. 6 NOVEMBER, 1947 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Gordon Kahn, Editor JUDITH PODSELVER, Robert Shaw, Director of Publications European correspondent for Art Arthur Isobel Lennart Martin Field Herbert Clyde Lewis The Screen Writer, writes the Harris Gable Bernard C. Schoenfeld following letter concerning the Richard G. Hubler Theodore Strauss recent film festival in Venice. Lester Koenig DEAR SW: "If that Festival were being held in Becon-les-Bruyeres CONTENTS (the Parisian equivalent of Flatbush for a New Yorker) no one would go," IRVING PICHEL: On Freedom of the Screen 1 that's what a French journalist had said in Paris before leaving for the CURT SIODMAK: Medium-Close Shot in Bel-Air 5 Biennale in Venice. JOHN S. RODELL: Authority and the Screen Writer 8 But this Festival was held in Ven- ROSE HARRIS: On the Lot 10 ice and it made all the difference. The HERBERT G. LUFT: A Study the German Screen 11 foreign visitors were overwhelmed by of the extraordinary Italian gentilezza THEODORE PRATT: Kindergarten of Authors' Economics 13 of the organizers and everyone in FRANCIS SWANN: After the Ball Is Over IS general ; they bathed at the Lido, visi- ted numberless palaces, went on trips WILLIAM ORNSTEIN: You Can't Scare the Movies 17 to the Dolomitian Alps, assisted in PRINCIPLES & POLICIES: the historical regattas on the Grand Election Statements From SW G Candidates 19 Canal and of course, guzzled down Editorial 25 an impressive amount of cinzano and vermouth as it is usual in festivals, SWG Studio Chairmen 26 with the difference that this time they HENRY MYERS : International Report 27 were served in the open-air cafes of SAMUEL GOLDWYN: Our Declining Foreign Market 31 the Piazza San Marco. At night pic- tures were being projected in the EDWARD HUEBSCH: The T-H Law — and Porkchops 31 courtyard of the Doges Palace and the CYRIL HUME: A Probably Irrelevant Suggestion 32 contrast between the magnificent old setting and the pictures shown was LOWELL REDELINGS: Original Writing for the Screen 33 often hard on the modern products: STEPHEN LONGSTREET: Two Boohs About Hollywood 37 the sense of Beauty appeared to have News Notes 38 dwindled down the ages. Screen Credits 39 The new pictures presented at the Biennale would not have warranted JUDITH PODSELVER: Letter From Venice This Page the trip. After Brussels and Locarno, before Cannes, most countries had little saved for Venice. Such a ridicu- lous quantity of festivals requires from PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SCREEN WRITERS' GUILD, INC., AT each country at least 20 excellent 16S5 NORTH CHEROKEE, HOLLYWOOD 28, CALIFORNIA. films and four masterpieces a year. Even the American ALL SIGNED ARTICLES IN THE SCREEN WRITER REPRESENT THE production cannot INDIVIDUAL OPINIONS OF THE AUTHORS. EDITORIALS REFLECT make that average. That may be the OFFICIAL SCREEN WRITERS' GUILD POLICY, AS DETERMINED BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD. reason why the MPEA decided not UPON to participate in the Biennale. How- YEARLY: $2.50; FOREIGN, $3.00; SINGLE COPY 25c; (CANADA AND ever that step put the American films FOREIGN SOe). in a peculiar position, especially after CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 1947 BY THE SCREEN WRITERS' GUILD, (Continued on Page 34) INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. / The Thomas Committee The Screen Writers' Guild, individual members of the Guild, The Screen Writer magazine and the motion picture industry itself have been subjected to attack in the current hearings of the Thomas Committee on un-American Activities. The STFG attitude is a matter of record that the constitutionality and the Americanism of these procedures are dubious. As a matter of further record the Editorial Committee presents the following brief quotations: "A GOOD MANY CITIZENS OF HOLLYWOOD HAVE BEEN CALLED COMMUNISTS, TO THE EVIDENT DELIGHT OF Mr. THOMAS AND HIS WITNESSES. THERE ARE, WITHOUT DOUBT, CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH SUCH AN INVESTIGATION AS THIS ONE WOULD BE PROPER. If THE MOVING PIC- TURES WERE UNDERMINING THE AMERICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND MENACING IT BY THEIR CONTEXT, IT MIGHT BECOME THE DUTY OF CONGRESS TO FERRET OUT THE RESPONSIBLE PERSONS. But clearly THIS is not the case NOT even the committee's own WITNESSES are willing TO MAKE SO FANTASTIC A CHARGE. AND SINCE NO SUCH DANGER EXISTS, THE BELIEFS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO WRITE FOR THE SCREEN ARE, LIKE THE BELIEFS OF ANY ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN, NOBODY'S BUSINESS BUT THEIR OWN, AS THE BlLL OF RlGHTS MENTIONS. NEITHER Mr. THOMAS nor the Congress in which he sits is empowered to dictate what Americans shall THINK." Lead Editorial in X. Y. Herald-Tribune, Oct. 22, 1947. "It is apparent that the purpose OF THE hearing is to try to dictate and control, THROUGH THE DEVICE OF THE HEARINGS, WHAT GOES ON THE SCREENS OF AMERICA. THIS IS NO CONCERN OF ANY CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. It IS THE CONCERN SOLELY OF THOSE WHO PRO- DUCE MOTION PICTURES. It DOESN'T REQUIRE A LAW TO CRIPPLE THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH. IN- TIMIDATION AND COERCION WILL DO IT. FEAR WILL DO IT. FREEDOM SIMPLY CANNOT LIVE IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF FEAR." Paul V. McXutt, special counsel for the Motion Picture Association, Oct. 23, 1947. "Most fair-minded Americans hope that this Committee (the House Committee on un-American Activities) will abandon the practice of merely providing a forum to those who for political purposes or otherwise, seek headlines which they could not otherwise obtain. Mere opinion evidence has been barred in court since the American system of legislative and judicial procedure was started." Franklin D. Roosevelt in October, 1938. THE MOTION-PICTURE SCREEN IS AN INSTRUMENT OF ENTERTAINMENT, EDUCATION. HAV- ING BEEN PIONEERED AND DEVELOPED IN OUR COUNTRY, IT IS PECULIARLY AMERICAN. ITS CON- TRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE AND TO INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS HAS BEEN ENORMOUS.