Guy Endore: Black Listing and Communism In the Motion Picture Industry

COMBINE A WEREWOLF, COMMUNISM AND THE BLACK LIST AND THIS IS THE STORY!

When we think of the Motion Picture Industry and the Studio System "Black Lists". "The Hollywood Ten" has to come up. They will be mentioned in this article. Along with a short history of "The Congressional Witch Hunts". However, my reader must remember that this is only a blog article and as such must be sketchy in details.

For my article's main focus I have selected a favorite screenplay and author of mine Guy Endore. His choice is to remind my readers that there were individuals other than Dalton Trumbo, Ring Lardner, Jr. and the other eight of "The Hollywood Ten" that we never hear about. These unknowns and little people fell prey to an industry lashing out to protect themselves from the imagined and real powers of "The House Un-American Activity Committe (HUAC)". In Guy Endore's case he was a real Marxist.

"The Hollywood Ten"

Guy Endore



Mention the "Hollywood Black Lists" and it is also normal to associate this period with Joseph "Tail Gunner Joe " McCarthy. The Wisconsin native was in the Senate from 1947 until his death in 1957.



However, "Blacklisting" as I just wrote was a tool of the Movie Moguls and not the figure head of "The McCarthy Era".


Part One: A Little Back Ground

There was no question that the "Communist Party USA (CPUSA)" had been affiliated with Labor Unions since the 1920's in the United States, "The Party" had only came into existence the previous year after the October Revolution in Russia overthrowing the monarchy.

This may sound strange but "CPUSA" led the real fight to create America's Union's and get employee rights established. So naturally many Americans in and out of the Trade Unions, including the Motion Picture Industry, joined "The Party". They saw nothing wrong with it, because "CPUSA" was working for their betterment and nobody else at the time seemed to be.

It must also be noted that "CPUSA" reflected Lenin and Marxist Communist views during the 1920's and 1930's versus Stalin's after his rise to power. A fine line here, but I would remind my readers that the perfect example of pure Marxism can be found on the collective farm called a "Kibbutz" in Israel as you read my words.

Moving forward to the year 1933 and carrying through the Second World War. You would find that "CPUSA" opposed Fascist powers and specifically as he rose to power in Germany Hitler. Again appealing to loyal American's looking for a group to belong too as the World moved toward war.

Back in 1933 FDR created "The National Industrial Recovery Act" to give him the power to rise prices to stabilize the economy by regulating Industry. Initially when it was created Business interests in America supported it, but one year later with the rise of the "American Federation of Labor (AFL)" they became sour on the NIRA,

Some members of "CPUSA" would move to the AFL while others remained. Both organizations were at war with each other over who could representative the American working man the best.

In 1939 Stalin's Russia signed the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", This was suppose to be a non-aggression pact between Russia and Nazi Germany. It posed a problem for "CPUSA" as suddenly Hitler was a friend of Russia. However, the heads of  "CPUSA" kept their anti-Hitler position to lure more American's into the Party and when Hitler eventually attacked Russia. "CPUSA" looked even more appealing to some members of American labor, because of the stand they had taken. At the height of the Second World War there were over 50,000 members of the Communist Party and most believed because we were allies now with Russia. Joining the Party was a patriotic thing to do.

In short the average American Worker through the Second World War did not see the "Communist" in "The Communist Party". Their decisions had nothing to do with the politics involved and probably couldn't tell you what that was anyway. However, their decisions to join would effect many loyal American's in the future. When the "HUAC" and Senator McCarthy started the "Witch Hunts" for Communists within the Trade Unions.

As this is an article on the motion picture industry this quote from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz" seems very appropriate:

Are you a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch? 

Part Two:  A Short Look At The Witch Hunts As They Pertained To Hollywood

On the surface the investigations by the "House Un-American Activities Committee" to find communists in the Motion Picture Industry seemed appropriate for what would become "The Cold War Era". What is overlooked is that the real issue pertaining to that Industry was not being a member of the Communist Party, but "Union Strikes" and their growing power base. As happened between Walt Disney and specifically "The Screen Writers Guild" and "The Screen Actors Guild"

It should be noted that the "HUAC" never took the action of "Blacklisting" anyone. The only jailing of members of the Film Industry was directed against "The Hollywood Ten" for their refusal to testify. Each of "The Ten" had asked the Committee for permission to read a prepared statement which the "HUAC" denied. By tallking their Constitutional Right under the 5th Amendment not to incriminate themselves/ The "House Un-American Activities Commitee" held each of "The Ten" in  CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS!

Their "Blacklisting" was the decision of the Studio Heads after the "Contempt of Congress" charges were brought. It was the emotional high Americans were blindly riding toward "The Commies" that created the moment and to be seen as "Loyal Americans" the Studio Heads took action. The problem was it didn't stop with just these ten men.

So how did "The Ten" actually come about?

As I said prior to the day after the end of World War Two being a member of "CPUSA" wasn't a bad thing, but almost immediately the friction that lead to the "Cold War" began with the Soviet Union in earnest. Suddenly Federal, State and Local Governments started to take action against the "Communist Party" and its membership. The United States became the World I grew up in with
"The Red Scare" taking over sensible thought. You were told that your next door neighbor might be one of them and of course that worked in reverse.



What today in hindsight seems incredible is that the creation of "The Hollywood Ten" was really a revenge move by a rejected man who had a little power. On July 29, 1946 ten months after World War 2 ended.  William R. Wilkerson the publisher and founder of "The Hollywood Reporter" published what he titled "A Vote for Joe Stalin" and listed ten names he claimed were Communist sympathizers, Wilkerson's ten names were Dalton Trumbo, Maurice Rapf, Lester Cole, Howard Koch, Harold Buchman, John Wexley, Ring Larder, Jr.,Harold Salemson, Henry Meyers, Theodore Strauss and John Howard Lawson.

As simple as that "The Hollywood Ten" was created on Wilkerson's word and what became known as "Billy's List", or "Billy's Blacklist" would continue to grow as published more names.

In 2012 on the 65th Anniversary of that first list of ten names. William R. Wilkerson's son apologized for his father's deed. Wilkerson's son said his father created the list, because he had been refused by the heads of the Motion Picture Industry a chance to buy into one of the studios. He wanted revenge on the industry and he had the power to do something. Again as simple as that the lives of many were ruined.

Below a photo of Wilkerson and his son in 1946




"Uncle Walt" Disney named specific Communist Party members who had worked for him to the "House Un-American Committee". All the names Disney gave had been strikers against his authority. The President of the Screen Actors Guild Ronald Reagan testified that there was a very small group of actors using "Communist like tactics" within the Union, but the majority of the membership was predominately "Loyal Americans". Ronald Reagan's wife at the time Jane Wyman said in her 1985 biography this his naming of "friends and colleagues" as Communists led to tension between the two resulting in their divorce.

At this time Reagan was approached by a young actress that was afraid she was in trouble with the "HUAC" and would he help her. He pleaded her case and the investigation of Nancy Davis ended.



However, others like Humphrey Bogart, his wife Lauren Bacall, director John Huston and Danny Kaye attempted to form a group "The Committee for the First Amendment", but it failed against the power of the Studio Moguls who wanted to save themselves and had now created a "Loyalty Oath" all those working for them had to take.




The story behind the creator of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" and "Mickey Mouse" testifying before the "HUAC as I just mentioned" was in reality retaliation by him against those who held strikes against his studio. Disney wanted to control everything and it can be argued that was the reason for the strikes which ended up creating other competitive studios. I wrote an article about the rise of Disney and the fall of the Max Fleischer Studios that reflects what was going on in their part of the Motion Picture Industry through the years. Its titled "The Great Walt Disney Max Fleischer Feud" and is found at:

http://kinescopedreams.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-great-walt-disney-max-fleischer.html

Here are some of the names of those in the Motion Picture Industry that were "Blacklisted" or it was implied they supported "CPUSA": Orson Wells, Lillian Hellman, Lee Grant, Lee J. Cobb, Paul Robeson, Charlie Chaplin and Carl Foreman,




In 1957 Carl Foreman was living in the England as he could no longer live in the United States. Foreman along with fellow "Blacklisted" screenwriter Michael Wilson wrote the script for "The Bridge on the River Kwai". The problem to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was that these two had won the Oscar for Best Screenplay, but they had to avoid problems with the "House Un-American Activities Commitee" over this fact. So the Oscar was awarded not to the two actual screenplay writers, but at "The 30th Academy Awards" to the writer of the original novel Frenchman Pierre Boulle. At the time of the film's release neither writers name appeared on the actual movie prints.

Kirk Douglas' big budget 1960 motion picture "Spartacus" was written by one of "The Hollywood Ten" Dalton Trumblo, Douglas had the power to put Trumbo's name on the film and his action would be part of the start to return of those "Blacklisted" by the studios.

One of the moves by the studios during this madness was to change the tone of motion pictures. They would make "Safe Movies". Such as Westerns which were being turned out in droves with some using 3-D like John Wayne's "Hondo" and Guy Madison's "The Charge at Feather River". There was a resurgence in Biblical Epics starting in 1949 with Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah" and lasting into the early 1960's. Who would call "The Bible" a communist manifesto? Hence such movies as "David and Bathsheba", "The Big Fisherman" and of  course Cecil B. DeMille's remake of his "The Ten Commandments" became common place in the theaters. I've written an article on "The Bible According to Hollywood" which mentions this period along with a look at Biblical motion pictures from their beginning. Should you be interested here is the link:

https://kinescopedreams.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-bible-according-to-hollywood.html

Another supposed "Safe" form of picture making became Science Fiction and Horror, but occasionally political statements could sneak in. I wrote two articles on Science Fiction during the 1950's. Again if your interested this  first article looks  at all the Martian invasion films and some of the politics within them. Such as in "Red Planet Mars". The title of my article is "Invaders from  Mars Except When They Came From  Venus" and here is that link:

https://kinescopedreams.blogspot.com/2015/07/invaders-from-mars-except-when-they.html

The second Science Fiction article is about three actresses Peggy Castle, Allison Hayes and Gloria Talbott. Some of their films especially one of Castle's 1952's "Invasion U.S.A.", not to be confused with Chuck Norris' 1985 film of the same title, is considered a classic dealing with the "Red Scare". A short bio of these lovely ladies can be found at:

https://kinescopedreams.blogspot.com/2015/04/peggie-castle-allison-hayes-and-gloria.html



All of which brings me to the story of one of the non-big names Guy Endore and how an Academy Award Nominated writer could be exiled from the United States.


Part Three: The Story of Guy Endore Novelist, Historian, Motion Picture Screenwriter and Member of "CPUSA"

Samuel Guy Goldstein was born in Brookyln, New York on the Fourth of July in 1901, His boyhood wasn't the best. His father Isidor Goldstein was a coal miner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who moved to New York City thinking himself as a inventor. His mother Malka Halpern Goldstein would commit suicide when the boy was four years old. After this Isidor changed his family's last name to Endore and placed his Children in a Methodist orphanage. An interesting move by this Jewish father. I could not find out how many siblings, or their names that went with Samuel. As all information I had access too only uses the word "Children", or the plural "Siblings".

Adding to the odd life for Guy Endore was that his father sold an invention and had a "dream" that his wife came to him and said that their children needed a European education. So Isidor sent them to Vienna, Austria by themselves. In Vienna they now lived with a Catholic governess until their father's funds ran out and they returned to Pittsburgh. Where they discovered that their father had disappeared and they were on their own. What happened to Endore's siblings once more I have no information.

Without income of his own, but wanting an education Guy was able to work his way through two colleges. Even, as he would write, selling his bed to another student to use for more income. While he slept on the floor. Endore earned his B.A. in 1923 from  Carnegie Technical Institute and two years later his M.A. from Columbia University. Both of his degrees were in European languages.

It was while attending Columbia University that the young man became a strong "Leftist" in his views by associating with another student Whittaker Chambers. In 1925 Chambers joined the "CPUSA", but unlike the American workers I mentioned above became an active member of the Communist Party in Russia. Eventually Chambers became a Spy for the GRU (The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation). Whittaker Chambers would make headlines when as an alleged ex-member of the Communist Party, He testified on August 3, 1948 before the "House Un-American Committee" that Alger Hiss had been a member of the Communist Party. Hiss had been a major member of both FDR's and Truman's Administrations and the idea of a Communist insider played to the "Red Scare" mentality of America. The case makes interesting reading.

Whittaker Chambers testifying before to Congress.




It was shortly after College that Guy Endore joined the "CPUSA". Having been inspired, as were many College Students at the time, with the works of Karl Marx. Also at this time the young man met Henrietta Portugal. They would stay married through his death and have one child a daughter named Gita.

In a 1941 "Meet the Author" portion of a "Pocket Books" edition on his most famous novel. Guy Endore described himself:

to a large extent a vegetarian, a teetotaler, a non-smoker. In giving up, with occasional exceptions, the use of meat, liquor, and tobacco, I feel that I have added to the happiness I derive from living

and finished the short biography with:

In politics I tend toward communism and the establishment of the classless society.

As I mentioned above about being a "Communist" in the United States. In 1941 that association did not have the stigma it would have after the Second World War ended. The fact that the author and the publisher saw no problem politically with his statement indicates the mind set of the average American of the period toward the Communist Party in this country.

In 1929 Endore's first published work "Casanova: His Known and Unknown Life" came out. The book has been out of print until recently and it is described on Amazon.com as:

Here is the first biography of Casanova, "the king of all adventurers," the great gallant of the Eighteenth Century. Liar, forger, cardsharp, adulterer, seducer, he had only his wits to protect him from unmasking - and the resultant imprisonment and poverty. Yet in the midst of his ruthless existence he found time to be, also, a student to the humanities, a philosopher, dramatist and poet.

His Memoirs, famous through they are, have been unavailable to all but a few, and cover but a portion of his career. Mr. Endore has undertaken to sift out the falsehood in the Memoirs, fill in their hiatuses, and complete the life-story, basing it upon the latest available sources.

So amazing was the life of this paradoxical gentlemen that a generation after his death the world refused to believe he had ever existed. He became a rakehelly myth. Mr. Endore has restored him to his rightful place in history, at the same time preserving the picturesque and flavorsome aspects of his nature.

Because it was out of print the work became forgotten and many biographers of Guy Endore state that his 1930 "The Man from Limbo" was his first published work. They also overlook that he became a translator of Foreign books and had translated German author Hanns Heinz Ewers novel "Alraune" into English for his publisher John Day and Company in 1929.

All of his published works would be under the name "S. Guy Endore". The first letter standing for his actual first name of Samuel.

Guy Endore's Marxist beliefs showed themselves in both his solid "Leftest" views and his "Activism" specifically with two prominent racial cases.

The first was "The Scottboro Boys" about 9 African American youths accused of raping a White Women in Alabama in 1931. Below is a photo of the boys and their Attorney Samuel Liebowitz.



The case dealt with racism and the right of any person to a fair trial with an unbiased Jury and Judge. It would go up to the U.S. Supreme Court twice and lead to the landmark 1932 decision in "Powell v Alabama". The case would have gone unnoticed had it not been for two groups. The first was the NAACP, but the other was "CPUSA". In that last S. Guy Endore wrote pamphlets which the American Communist Party distributed to get public attention to the case and state the actual facts.

Skipping ahead eleven years we come to a Los Angles Case known as "The Sleepy Lagoon Murder", Instead of African-Americans the incident involved 17 Mexican-American youths from Los Angeles.



On August 2, 1942 Jose Gallardo Diaz was found dying on a road by a swimming pool known as "Sleepy Lagoon". Although one medical examiner stated Diaz had injuries consistent with being hit by a car. Authorities had their excuse to move against "the 38th Street Gang", The LAPD started making mass arrests leading to the jailing of the 17 young men. The caption on this photograph from "The Los Angeles Daily News" emphasized the haircuts and clothing which was out of the norm for the city.

The clothing of "the 38th Street Gang" included a popular style of dress which would turn into racial profiling known as the "Zoot Suit". This style of recognition within the Mexican-American community would lead to riots within Los Angeles between Sailors and Zoot Suitors. One aspect of the riots had to due with the internment of Japanese Americans over Pearl Harbor, Imagined suspicions against "Foreigners" created a tension in the air that was set to explode. In Los Angeles Mexican-American's were an easy target over the"alleged" murder of Jose Gallardo Diaz.



"The Sleepy Lagoon Case" became known as "Chicano Scottsboro" Guy Endore would write a pamphlet going over all the mistakes in the case. He appeared on Radio Programs speaking for the defense of the young men. Below is a pamphlet from another writer, but note who wrote the forward.




Endore wrote that "Sleepy Lagoon" was:

the name of a disgrace which should be on the conscience of every decent American – and especially every decent person who lives in Los Angeles – because we allowed it to happen here.

Returning to 1933 Guy Endore, dropping the "S" in his name, published his classic novel "The Werewolf of Paris", The historical work is set during the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune period of 1870-1871, but tells of the birth and life of Bertrand Gaillet born a werewolf.

The novel is historically accurate as many of Endore's works would be and is  considered the same to "Werewolf Lore". As is Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" to "Vampire Lore".

I highly recommend this work which had been out of print for many years, but is now available.





During the year "The Werewolf of Paris" was published another of Endore's historical works was released. This was a biography of Joan of Arc. The website "Goodreads" has "The Sword of God: Jeanne d'Arc or Joan of Arc" for reading on line. "Goodreads" describes the biography as:

An extensively complete history of Joan of Arc, the French Saint and martyr, from her birth to her grave. Contains a vast discussion regarding the truth of her story and a myriad of other topics relative to Joan of Arc.

Here is a link to this work:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2803287-the-sword-of-god

Between these two works Guy Endore's socialism would come out in another novel about the slave trade in Haiti. The story is a fictionalized look at the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804. Guy spent several months in Haiti gathering his information which was no problem as he spoke French fluently. However, when the final draft of "Babouk" was published it was described by publishing house Simon and Schuster as:

a powerful, moving piece of work. It won't sell because it's just too horrible.

The book was forgotten although academics praised it. In 1991 the leftist/socialist Monthly Review republished the work. Here is a link to their website about this historical novel.

http://monthlyreview.org/product/babouk/


I have no doubt that many of my readers are familiar with the 1990 novel by Michael Crichton "Jurassic Park", or at least they are familiar with the motion pictures. Written in 1934 by Guy Endore was a short horror story titled "The Day of the Dragon". It tells of a scientific experiment that returns Dragons to the modern world. Here is a link to the story and it is an interesting comparison to Crichton's work of 56 years later.

http://www.scribbleandshutter.com/2007/writing/daybeaver/daydragon01.htm


In 1935 Guy Endore and his wife moved to Los Angeles were he started to write screenplays for the Hollywood Studios. His first film was for Paramount entitled "Rumba". The plot has a bored society girl wanting to be a dancer in a Broadway show. What is interesting was the bored society girl was played by Carol Lombard and playing her dancing partner was ex-real life gangster turned actor George Raft. Who was an excellent dancer.




However, it was his next story for Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer that started making Guy Endore's name in early Horror movies. The motion picture was "The Mark of the Vampire" and would be directed by Todd Browning. Endore's original title was "Vampire's of Prague" and apparently the original script co-written with Bernard Schubert was more adult in some aspects. These would be removed by MGM, because of the production code that had gone into effect the year before.

The two major plot points removed by MGM implied that Bela Lugosi's Count Mora had an incessant relationship with his daughter Luna played by Carroll Borland. The relationship led Count Mora to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. This explained the unexplained blood on Lugosi's temple.




Candid shot of Bela enjoying his favorite past time of cigar smoking. Note the referenced blood on his temple.



The movie was cut from  a 75 minute running time the included these scenes and some comic one's involving the maid to 61 minutes in length. Many viewers enjoyed the film up until its conclusion when it is discovered that Bela Lugosi and Carroll Borland are actors hired by the Professor played by Lionel Barrymore, the film's star, to catch the murderer. Browning was said to have kept the ending to himself until the scenes had to be shot and Lugosi was very disappointed with it.

It should be pointed out that "Mark of the Vampire" was basically a remake of Todd Browning's 1927 Lon Chaney lost silent film "London After Midnight", In which Chaney plays a vampire who in reality was a Detective on a case. So for those who complain about Endore and Schubert's ending, They must first defer to the original 1927 motion picture version.

The problem with the studio system and especially at Universal Pictures was that the head of a departments usually got the screen credit and not the actual writers. This was the case for Guy Endore and six other writers. The on screen credit for the screenplay written for 1935's "The Raven" went to David Boehm,

Guy Endore is the first un-credited name listed, not alphabetically, after Boehm's. As the film dealt very strongly with torture, disfigurement and revenge. I am pretty sure the initial story was from Endore. This Boris Karloff/Bela Lugosi motion picture supposedly led to a British ban on Horror films.

Alex Naylor on the website: Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies stated:

Historical evidence of a British ‘ban’ on horror

Those accounts of 1930s horror production which attribute its end to British censorship often cite reports within the Hollywood trade press at the time. David J. Skal bases his account of the British ban primarily on an Associated Press article of August 23rd, 1935, reprinted widely in the American local press.  This article announced: “’Horror’” Films Taboo in Britain; ‘The Raven’ Last.” J. Brooke Wilkinson, secretary of the British Board of Film Censors, is reported in the article as saying that the film would be the last horror film passed by the board. Wilkinson’s warning followed a comment from Edward Short, President of the board, that such films were “unfortunate and undesirable”. Wilkinson is reported as ascribing his own comments and Short’s to the fact that they knew “that similar productions were being planned in Hollywood,” and they felt need to give notice that future horrors would be judged “more strictly”. Wilkinson added that “If this notice is disregarded, the producers must take the consequences.” The other accounts of the British ban I have mentioned appear to depend as much as Skal’s own account as on this article. Rhona Berenstein takes her account from Skal, while the Edmund Bansak passage quoted earlier seems to suggest that like Skal, he draws his account from the same article. 

An article from Variety on May 6th, 1936, nearly a year later, appears to support the narrative of the Associated Press article. HereVariety reported the decision of Universal’s new management to cease production of horror films, and cited British censor hostility:

Reason attributed by U. for abandonment of horror cycle is that European countries, especially England, are prejudiced against this type product. Despite heavy local consumption of its chillers, U. is taking heed to warning from abroad. 

[…]

Studio’s London rep has cautioned production exec to scrutinize carefully all so-called chiller productions, to avoid any possible conflict with British censorship.(36)

These reports claim in clear and definitive terms that the British Board of Film Classification intended to pass no more horror films in 1935, and that this in turn influenced Universal to abandon horror production. It is certainly the case, as Bansak claims, that the British market was an important one for the major studios, constituting, according to Ruth Vasey, more than 30% of its total foreign income. 

However, a comparison of the claims of the PCA and two brief newspaper articles about this ‘ban’, the three sources which underpin so many accounts of it, with actual available data on British censorship shows that they were both overplaying the severity of the situation and oversimplifying the complex and decentralised British censorship situation. In short, the British ‘horror ban’ never existed. 

Should you be interested in the entire article on the 1930's here is the link:

http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/1930shorroban.html





On July 12, 1935 MGM released "Mad Love" the first American film starring Peter Lorre. The picture was the second motion picture based upon French author Maurice Renard's "Les Main d' Orlac (The Hands of Orlac). The first filmed version of the story was from Austria in 1924.

The script was by both Guy Endore and John Balderston (original 1929 Broadway play "Dracula" that starred Bela Lugosi and the script for the 1931 film version. Along with 1931's "Frankenstein" and 1935's "The Bride of Frankenstein"). So both writers fit perfectly for this adaption of Renard's novel. The movie was directed by Karl Freund who was able to help Lorre understand his English lines. Freund was cinematographer on Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", 1931's "Dracula" and 1932's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and by this time had directed 1932's "The Mummy", but this would be his last picture in the director's chair as he returned to his love cinematography.

The story is about a pianist Stephen Orlac, Colin Clive, whose hands are badly damaged in a train wreck. His wife, Francis Drake, goes to Doctor Gogol, Lorre, for help. Gogol grafts the hands of a knife throwing murder to Orlac. The hands take over as Dr, Gogol reveals his love for Orlac's wife.





The following year Guy Endore teamed up once more with Todd Browning for his classic "The Devil-Doll'. Also returning was Lionel Barrymore as a man falsely sent to prison who returns for revenge and to protect his daughter played by Maureen O'Sullivan, She would always be remembered as "Jane" from the classic Johnny Weismuller MGM "Tarzan" series starting in 1932 and ending ten years later in 1942.

Barrymore's Paul Lavond joins a scientist's widow to use her husband's shrinking technique to make miniature assassins for Lavond's revenge. Shades from Browning's Lon Chaney film "The Unholy Three" has Barrymore crossing dressing into an outfit very similar to Chaney's disguise.







A change of pace and Guy Endore wrote the screenplay for 1937's "The League of Frightened Men" based upon Rex Stout's second "Nero Wolfe" novel. Playing Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin was actor Lionel Stander. Who in 1953 would finally be "Blacklisted" and leave the United States. He would not be seen on the screen until 1965 in the "Black Comedy" "The Loved One".

On this poster a very young Stander standing on far right with hand turned outwards in center picture and wearing a hat in far right photo.



Next Guy Endore as a contract writer in 1937, getting no on screen credit, wrote the screenplay for a Columbia Pictures movie "The Devil is Driving" starring Richard Dix. I could not locate any information about the film other than it was a drama and what these posters imply.



1938 saw the publication of S. Guy Endore's "The Crime at Scottsborro" from "The Hollywood Scottsborro Committee". The "Committee" included Hollywood Lefists Frederick March, Robert Montgomery, James Cagney, Dorothy Parker, Boris Karloff and Oscar Hammerstein.

The group would send a letter to President Roosevelt stating in part that:

we pledge ourselves to continue this struggle until all these victims of prejudice and hatred are freed. 

1938 also saw Endore coming up with the story idea for the Fred Astaire and Gnger Rogers film "Carfree". He was not involved with film work in 1939 and didn't publish any novels either that year, or the following.

In 1941 it apparently took three screenplay writers including Guy Endore to write one screenplay for a 83 minute Republic Picture "The Lady from Louisiana". Oh, and two more writers to think up the original story to create it from.




Then came "The Sleepy Lagoon" case I mentioned above. This would lead to an in-depth non-fiction work in 1944 by S. Guy Endore "The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery". "AbeBooks,com" has the work still available and describes it as:

The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery is a precious historical document. Written by the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, it vividly brings to life the 1943 frameup of 22 young Chicanos, who were charged with 66 counts, which resulted in 17 of them being convicted, and 12 of these were for murder. 

Guy Endore did not work for the studios in either 1942, or 1943. However, in 1944 we see once more the difference between World War 2 America towards Russia and the day after towards the Soviet Union. Guy Endore wrote the original story for the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer motion picture "Song of Russia" starring Robert Taylor and Susan Peters.

The story tells of an American orchestra conductor who goes to Russia shortly before the German's invaded. There he falls in love with a Russian girl and they marry. Trouble between the two happens after the German's invade and she wants to stay and fight for her country.

The movie had a budget of $1,828,000 and grossed $3,729,000 in the United States.Remember it was almost impossible at that time to get a movie to Europe, or Pacific countries during war time.

After the war and before the "House Un-American Committee" Robert Taylor, a "Friendly Witness", stated he was forced to be in this pro-Soviet motion picture as he was under contract to MGM. The Committee asked Ayn Rand to watch the movie and report back to them. In her 1947 testimony before the "HUAC" she cited "Song of Russia" as an excellent example of "Communist propaganda by Hollywood Studios".



The cover of a book written about the movie and its investigation.



The movie is at present available on YouTube, but here is a link to the original review from The New York Times when the motion picture came out. One can really tell this is "Communist Propaganda", my tongue firmly in cheek, from this review. The movie actually sounds like a great family film with beautiful music and a nice love story.

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9905EED7103CE03ABC4952DFB466838F659EDE

Two points related to this particular motion picture. The first is "HUAC" thought it was necessary to call Robert Taylor to testify on the film's content and Ayn Rand to investigation the movie, but they never called Guy Endore the man who created the original story and was a true leftist/activist member of "CPUSA". Simple reason nobody would recognize Endore's name, but the whole world knew Robert Taylor.

Second point, looking at the profit the picture made and thinking in terms of the attitude of the "House Un-American Activities Commitee" toward this "Hollywood Communist Propaganda". It would appear there were a lot of Communist supporters in the United States who wanted to see it. Bt using the Committee's logic.

The following year Guy Endore and two other screen writers were nominated for a Best Screenplay Academy Award. The motion picture was "The Story of G.I. Joe" and followed a group of soldiers through Europe/ While telling the story of Pulitzer Prize Winning War Correspondent Ernie Pyle. It is a very gritty war movie and one of the first starring Robert Mitchum.



In 1946 Endore published a novel "Methinks the Lady". In 1949 Otto Preminger would film it as "Whirlpool". The movie version of the novel starred Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer and Charles Bickford. Prior to "Whirlpool" in 1948 Guy Endor wrote the screenplay for "The Vicious Circle" and also in 1949 the George Raft motion picture "Johnny Allegro".

This brings my reader to Endore and the screenplay for 1951's "He Ran All the Way" starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters. The film noir is about a Petty Thief who is being hunted over a robbery and meets a young women he falls in love with.

The film is notable for one thing "Communism". This was actor Garfield's last film, because of his involvement with the Communist Party. The screenplay was actually written by a member of the "Hollywood Ten"  Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler a Canadian writer that would becmme "Blacklisted" before the film was released. At the time of the picture's release Guy Endore took credit for the screenplay by "Fronting" Trumbo, because he wasn't yet on the list. To add to the story the director John Berry also became "Blacklisted".

Note on this poster Dalton Trumbo's name is not showing, but Garfield, Butler and Berry's still are under the film's title. The Studio couldn't remove them in time.

This same year Guy Endore wrote the original story for another film noir "Tomorrow Is Another Day". The movie starred Ruth Roman and Steve Cochran. The movie was designed for John Garfield who of course could not now make the motion picture anymore and Cochran was cast.



John Garfield on left in photo of him appearing before the "HUAC" were he refused to name names.



There are a lot of people that thought the pressure of these hearings contributed to his death from a heart attack on May 21, 1952 at the age of 39. Shortly after his death as irony often is.  John Garfield was cleared by "the Committee" of all charges.

It would be 13 years before Guy Endore would write an accepted screenplay for a motion picture in the United States and that would also be his last screenplay.

Although he was investigated by "The House Un-American Activities Committee" Guy Endore never was called before it to testify. However, the major studios put him on their "Blacklist". He initially attempted to get some material accepted using his wife's brother-in-law Harry Relis as a "Front" as he had done for Dalton Trumbo. It didn't work.

However, still as S. Guy Endore in 1956 he published a biographical novel about Alexander Dumas called "The King of Paris: A Novel". Obviously readers in the United States didn't pay much attention to the Motion Picture Industry or the "HUAC" as the work became a Best Seller and a "Book-of-the-Month Club" choice.

Endore and his family left for London, England after he became somewhat discouraged over fighting for those, like himself, on the Studio;s "Blacklist" and 1956's "Khrushchev Report". Apparently on February 25, 1956 Nikita Khrushchev gave a "Secret Speech"which was part of his move on Stalin. It caused unrest within the Soviet Union and the Party. It seemed on the surface changing the direction the Communist Party would take in the future and Guy Endore did like what he read.

In 1958 while living in London, England. Endore wrote a film noir style novel called "Detour Through Devon" which would be released in the United States as "Detour at Night". According to "AbeBooks.com", that still sells the novel in "used condition", this is the plot:

A hitch-hiking bum turns out to be the missing Proffessor Frank Willis, who had narrowly escaped a conviction of murder in the first degree, had run out on his honeymoon with the richest girl in town. . .and who is now back in town on a strange and unholy mission. .

 

Three years later Hammer Films would release a motion picture based upon Guy Endore's classic "The Werewolf of Paris". For some reason the story was moved from France to Spain. The film concentrates on the love story of the original novel and drops all historical references.

The screenplay for "Curse of the Werewolf" was written by Endore, but because of his "Blacklisted" status he was told all credit for the script would go to Anthony Hinds the son of William Hinds the founder of Hammer Studios. Anthony Hinds' writing credit for the motion picture was under his fictitious name of John Elder. Apparently this was the normal practice of giving John Elder credit, or sometimes Anthony Hinds for screenplays. Although in some cases the original writers name would appear. Especially if it was Jimmy Sangster. Hinds was also the producer of the movie as he was writer and producer for Hammer's "The Phantom of the Opera",

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By this time many of those "Blacklisted" by the Hollywood Studios had started returning to the United States and were being credited on their work under the real names.The actions by the"HUAC" were looked upon as a side show that hurt many good Americans. As for "Tail Gunner Joe" McCarthy he met his match in the televised "Army-McCarthy" hearings back in 1954 and fell from grace with the American people and the Republican Party he represented,

 

McCarthy is on the left in this photo from the hearings. Note the look on the face of Senator Ralph Flanders, standing, a Republican from Vermont who had supported Joseph McCarthy.




Also in 1961 S. Guy Endore published the biographical novel about the life of Voltaire called "Voltaire!Voltarie!" in the United States and as "The Heart and the Mind" in England.

Eventually some films with "Blacklisted" writers, actors and directors would have the screen credits corrected. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" would be re-released reflecting Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson as the actual screenplay writers and not the author of the novel Pierre Boulle. Although they never received their Oscars from the Academy.

Guy Endore under the name of his wife's brother-in-law Harry Relis went to Germany and rewrote the script for the motion picture "Captain Sinbad" to cut expenses for the American Producers "The King Brothers". The script would be rewritten once more by co-producer Frank King to cut expenses even further. The brothers were responsible for 1956's "The Brave One" about a young Mexican boy who tries to save his bull from the arena. It won the Oscar for Best Screenplay by Robert Rich. Rich could not be at the Oscar ceremony, because he was really the member of "The Hollywood Ten" Dalton Trumbo. "The King Brothers' also produced 1961's "Gorgo" filmed in England.








After finishing his rewrite on the script for "Captain Sinbad" Guy Endore and his family returned to the United States and Los Angeles. He was a strong believer in non-Government Supported Drug Rehabilitation and became a defender of "Synanon".

"Synanon" which would become in the 1970's "The Church of Synanon" was a controversial drug rehabilitation "commune". Their main claim was that they were able to give drug addicts "Lifetime Rehabilitation" after completing treatment at their "Hospital". A concept that went against all therapeutic norms of the 1960's and 1970's.  In 1991 "The Church of Synanon" was closed because of documented criminal activity including murder by its members. The "Synanon "Hospital" had closed, because of lack of certification earlier. In 1978 a "Grand Jury" in Marin County, California determined there was strong evidence again "Synanon" for child abuse. The "commune" also lost its tax free status from the IRS due to "financial misdeeds, destruction of evidence and terrorism" according to Matt Novak's two books "Synanon's Sober Utopia: How a Drug Rehabilitation Program Became a Violent Cult" and  "Longform: The Man Who Fought the Synanon Cult and Won"



Endore started to write pamphlets supporting "Synanon" and asking for public assistance. In 1968 he published a book about the history of the "commune" simply entitled "Synanon". The website for the book review magazine "The Kirkus Review" published this short review of that work on March 24, 1968:

KIRKUS REVIEW

Guy Endore implements the saga of Synanon (Casriel--So Fair a House, 1963, Yablonsky--The Tunnel Back, 1965). ""This place is really a more powerful fix than heroin,"" Endore was assured. A square who shied at a cigarette or a cocktail, he played the Game, took his ""hair-cuts"" and gained the endorsement of ""honorary dope fiend."" There is no doubt that he is sold on Synanon if not accepting it as a religion: he explores this aspect of founder Chuck Dederich's role (is he synanonymous with the movement?). There is something of a mystery of what makes Synanon work: Dederich explains the complete mutuality of the community, describes it as a family, not a religion. Endore features interviews with Chuck, his wife and daughter, Synanon members who stayed or split. His book is not so clear on Synanon dynamics as Yablonsky's, leaves the question of growth and perpetuation in the air, as it currently seems to be. There is the feeling that Synanon has a big fish on its line, can solve a lot more than drug addiction (only a beginning). Endore does not substantially alter the image already projected but furthers the human dimension.

The publicity, or notoriety of the "Synanon Commune" was already showcased in a motion picture that Guy Endore was not associated with from  Columbia Pictures. "Synanon" starred Edmond O'Brien as the founder Chuck Dedrich and co-starred Chuck Connors and Stella Stevens. The movie featured Alex Cord, Richard Conte and Eartha Kitt.

Prior to his work on the history of "Synanon" S. Guy Endore published a biographical novel of  the Marquis de Sade entitled "Satan's Saint". Once more I turn to the "Kirkus Review" from April 30, 1965:

KIRKUS REVIEW

The ""Saint"" is the notorious Marquis de Sade whose satanical debaucheries and orgiastic philosophy and writings became the underground delight of Europe. In this fictionalized biography Mr. Endore attacks his subject with all the relish that the Marquis must have shown when putting a knife to his victims. Unfortunately the form he has chosen, ""something like a novelized Ph.D. thesis,"" is painfully confusing. The novel proceeds chronologically in the form of ""quotes""-- i.e. letters, diaries, extracts from books and documents from the Marquis' family, acquaintances, police records and the Marquis' notorious books, but the author has ""occasionally scissored them, squeezed them here and fattened them there, contouring them to the necessities of my unfolding story and even when necessary inventing them."" This leaves the reader wallowing in a ""true or false?"" cross-word puzzle. But students of de Sade will find some of Mr. Endore's interpretations intriguing, particularly since he views his subject so sympathetically, reflecting that the Marquis was essentially a theologian and representing him as tortured rather than torturer. A blunt-edged biography.

Also in 1965 Endore published a play in Two Acts  "Call Me Shakespeare".

On March 3, 1969 the last work of Guy Endore was a feature film "Fear No Evil". The final picture became the premier movie of NBC's new "Movie of the Week" series. The series consisted of films made for NBC by Universal Studios. Which was owned at the time by the NBC company "Music Corporation of America (MCA)".

The television picture was actually a pilot for a proposed series starring Louis Jordan and a sequel was made, but not from anything associated with Endore. The idea of a series was dropped after the rating on the sequel had come in.

On the IMDb website for the movie frankfob2@yahoo.com described the story of Guy Endore's "Fear No Evil":

A psychiatrist specializing in the occult becomes involved in the case of a man who is possessed by a spirit in an antique mirror. The man's fiance discovers that the mirror is able to bring back her former boyfriend, who had been killed in a car accident, from the dead.

Just one month short of a year later on February 12, 1970 Guy Endore passed away in Los Angeles. He had led an interesting life, but as with many others associated with Hollywood had remained a forgotten person. RIP.