A birthday shout out today to Adrian Scott, progressive producer, member of the Hollywood Ten, principled American. A man of both enormous creative vision and great personal integrity, Scott was at the cutting edge of a new political filmmaking in the 1940s, producing a flurry of films addressing fascism, anti-Semitism, class inequities, and the horrors… Read More Happy Birthday, Adrian Scott
I’ve been working on a chapter that involves Margot Black’s flight from fascist Europe in the summer of 1940, following the German invasion of France that spring. In the novel, Margot is aided by American journalist Varian Fry and his network of diplomats and do-gooders who worked, often extra-legally, to help leading Jewish and/or radical… Read More Your Papers, Please
CROSSFIRE @ 70 Seventy years ago today, Crossfire – Hollywood’s first postwar film to tackle the problem of anti-Semitism in America – premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City in a “blaze of glory.” The Radio Flash, RKO studio’s in-house exhibitor newsletter, crowed over eager movie-goers forming lines around the block, standees in the back of… Read More Le Plus Ca Change: