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The Front
''The Front'' is a 1976 drama film set against the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s, when artists, writers, directors, and others were rendered unemployable, having been accused of subversive political activities in support of Communism or of being Communists themselves. It was written by Walter Bernstein, directed by Martin Ritt, and stars Woody Allen, Zero Mostel and Michael Murphy. Several people involved in the making of the film—including screenwriter Bernstein, director Ritt, and actors Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, and Lloyd Gough—had been blacklisted. (The name of each in the closing credits is followed by "Blacklisted 19--" and the relevant year.) Bernstein was listed after being named in the ''Red Channels'' journal that identified alleged Communists and Communist sympathizers. Plot In New York City, 1953, at the height of the anti-Communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), television screenwriter Alfred Miller is blacklisted an ...
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Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater, noted for his socially conscious films. Some of the films he directed include '' The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958), '' The Black Orchid'' (1958), '' Paris Blues'' (1961), '' Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man'' (1962), '' Hud'' (1963), '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' (1965), '' Hombre'' (1967), ''The Great White Hope'' (1970), '' Sounder'' (1972), '' The Front'' (1976), '' Norma Rae'' (1979), '' Cross Creek'' (1983), ''Murphy's Romance'' (1985), '' Nuts'' (1987), and '' Stanley & Iris'' (1990). Early career and influences Ritt was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan, the son of immigrant parents. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Ritt originally attended and played football for Elon College in North Carolina. The stark contrasts of the depression-era South, against his New York City upbringing, instilled in him a passion for ...
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Blacklisting
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, they are seen by a government or other organization as being one of a number of people who cannot be trusted or who is considered to have done something wrong. As a verb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list. Origins of the term The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy ''The Unnatural Combat''. After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father. The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misle ...
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Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. He reviewed more than one thousand films during his tenure there. Early life Canby was born in Chicago, the son of Katharine Anne (née Vincent) and Lloyd Canby. He attended boarding school in Christchurch, Virginia, with novelist William Styron, and the two became friends. He introduced Styron to the works of E.B. White and Ernest Hemingway; the pair hitchhiked to Richmond to buy '' For Whom the Bell Tolls''. He became an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve on October 13, 1942, and reported aboard the Landing Ship, Tank 679 on July 15, 1944. He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on January 1, 1946, while on LST 679 sailing near Japan. After the war, he attended Dartmouth College, but did not graduate. Career He obt ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital media, digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as ''The Daily (podcast), The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones (publisher), George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won List of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times, 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked List of newspapers by circulation, 18th in the world by circulation and List of newspapers in the United States, 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is Public company, publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 189 ...
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McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term originally referred to the controversial practices and policies of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s. It was characterized by heightened political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals, and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and socialist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. After the mid-1950s, McCarthyism began to decline, mainly due to Joseph McCarthy's gradual loss of public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false, and sustained opposition from the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren on human rights ...
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Josef Sommer
Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a retired German-American stage, television, and film actor. Early life He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He has a daughter, Maria. Career Sommer made his acting debut at the age of nine in a North Carolina production of ''Watch on the Rhine''. He made his film debut in ''Dirty Harry'' (1971) and appeared in films such as '' The Stepford Wives'' (1975), ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977), '' Still of the Night'' (1982), '' Silkwood'' (1983), Peter Weir's thriller ''Witness'' (1985) opposite Harrison Ford (where he played a dirty cop), ''Target'' (1985), '' Malice'' (1993), ''Patch Adams'' (1998), and '' X-Men: The Last Stand'' (2006). He appeared as President Gerald Ford opposite Gena Rowlands in the TV movie '' The Betty Ford Story'' ...
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Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. () (June 20, 1933 – December 12, 2019) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including '' The Godfather Part II'' (1974), '' The Front'' (1976), ''Once Upon a Time in America'' (1984), ''Hide in Plain Sight'' (1984), '' The Purple Rose of Cairo'' (1985), '' Moonstruck'' (1987), '' Harlem Nights'' (1989), ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989), '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), '' Hudson Hawk'' (1991), ''Ruby'' (1992), '' Léon: The Professional'' (1994), '' 2 Days in the Valley'' (1996), ''Dinner Rush'' (2000), and ''Lucky Number Slevin'' (2006). He played Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries '' The Last Don'' (1997). Aiello was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the Spike Lee film ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989). Early life Aiello, the fifth of six children, was born on West 68th Street, Manhattan, the son of parents Frances Pietrocova, a seamstress from Naples, Italy, ...
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David Margulies
David Joseph Margulies (February 19, 1937 – January 11, 2016) was an American actor. Early life Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Runya ('' née'' Zeltzer), a nurse and museum employee, and Harry David Margulies, a lawyer. He graduated from City College of New York. Career Margulies made his stage debut in the off-Broadway play ''Golden 6'' (1958). In that same year, he joined the American Shakespeare Festival as an apprentice, which led to his receiving an Actors' Equity Association contract for the 1960 theater season. His first Broadway appearance was in the 1973 revival of '' The Iceman Cometh''. His film credits include '' The Front'' (1976), '' Last Embrace'' (1979), '' All That Jazz'' (1979), ''Hide in Plain Sight'' (1980), '' Dressed to Kill'' (1980), '' Times Square'' (1980), '' I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can'' (1982), '' Daniel'' (1983), '' Ghostbusters'' (1984), '' Brighton Beach Memoirs'' (1986), ''9½ Weeks'' (1986), '' Ishtar'' (198 ...
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Catskills
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas close to or within the borders of the Catskill Park, a forest preserve protected from many forms of development under New York state law. Geologically, the Catskills are a mature dissected plateau, a flat region subsequently uplifted and eroded into sharp relief by watercourses. The Catskills form the northeastern end of the Allegheny Plateau (also known as the Appalachian Plateau). The Catskills were named by early Dutch settlers. They are well known in American society as the setting for films and works of art, including many 19th-century Hudson River School paintings, as well as for being a favored destination for vacationers from New York City in the mid-20th century. The region's many large resorts gave many young stand-up comed ...
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The Daily Worker
The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were made to reflect a broader spectrum of left-wing opinion. At its peak, the newspaper achieved a circulation of 35,000. Contributors to its pages included Robert Minor and Fred Ellis (cartoonists), Lester Rodney (sports editor), David Karr, Richard Wright, John L. Spivak, Peter Fryer, Woody Guthrie and Louis F. Budenz. History Origin The origins of the ''Daily Worker'' begin with the weekly ''Ohio Socialist'' published by the Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919. The Ohio party joined the nascent Communist Labor Party of America at the 1919 Emergency National Convention. The ''Ohio Socialist'' only used whole numbers. Its final issue was #94 November 19, 1919. The ''Toiler'' continued this numbering, even tho ...
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May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving floral garlands, crowning a May Queen (sometimes with a male companion), and setting up a Maypole, May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance. Bonfires are also part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaelic festival Beltane, the Welsh festival Calan Mai, and May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has also been associated with the ancient Roman festival Floralia. In 1889, 1 May was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the Second International, to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago and the struggle for an eight-hour working day. ...
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House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having either Fascism, fascist or Communism, communist ties. It became a standing (permanent) committee in 1945, and from 1969 onwards it was known as the House Committee on Internal Security. When the House abolished the committee in 1975, its functions were transferred to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, House Judiciary Committee. The committee's anti-communist investigations are often associated with McCarthyism, although Joseph McCarthy himself (as a U.S. Senator) had no direct involvement with the House committee. McCarthy was the chairman of the United States ...
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