Tender comrades

In October of 1947, The House Un-American Activities Committee launched hearings in Washington, D.C., to investigate Communist influence in the motion picture industry. Writers, actors, directors, and other industry figures were called before HUAC and commanded to "name names": to save themselves by betraying their colleagues. In what amounted to a signal instance of cultural repression, those who defied HUAC were shouted down - and marked down on lists that ruined their lives and careers. And they have never been given their full chance to speak...until now. In the pages of Tender Comrades, thirty-six blacklist survivors tell their life stories. Together their voices form a unique collection of Hollywood profiles in courage. For years before 1947, a close-knit left-wing and liberal community had thrived in Hollywood, taking stands on controversial issues and causes while making some of the finest films of the 1930s and 1940s. Hardly a circle bent on revolt, these individuals were, rather, committed to integrating their humanism into their lives and work. When they were blacklisted and driven from the industry - some into false identities, some out of the country altogether - the world of film suffered an immeasurable loss.