Howard E. Koch (December 12, 1901 – August 17, 1995) was an American playwright and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

who was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

by the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company that makes films. Today, studios are mostly financing and distribution entities. In addition, they may have their own studio facility or facilities; how ...

bosses in the 1950s.

Background

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in New York City, Koch grew up in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

, and was a graduate of St. Stephen's College (1922, later renamed

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

) and

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

(1925).

Career

While practicing law in

Hartsdale, New York Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City. History Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Gre ...

, he began to write plays. ''Great Scott'' (1929), ''Give Us This Day'' (1933), and ''In Time to Come'' (1941) which were produced by Broadway. Koch began playwriting in the late 1920s before he started working on radio scripts. In the 1930s, he worked as a writer for the CBS Mercury Theater of the Air. The work included the

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' (1938), which allegedly caused nationwide panic among some listeners for its documentary-like portrayal of an invasion of spaceships from Mars. Koch later wrote a play about the panic, ''Invasion from Mars'', which was later adapted into the 1975 TV movie, '' The Night That Panicked America'', in which actor Joshua Bryant plays Koch. In the 1940s, Koch began writing for Hollywood studios. His first accepted works were screenplays for Michael Curtiz's '' The Sea Hawk,'' William Wyler's '' The Letter.'' Koch contributed to the popular film ''

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

'' with

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

, which he co-scripted with writers Julius and Philip Epstein in 1942, and for which he received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

in 1943. He also wrote '' Shining Victory'' (1941) and '' Letter from an Unknown Woman'' (1948), his favorite screenplay. In 1943, at the request of

Jack L. Warner Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner; August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-born American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's ca ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, Koch wrote the screenplay for '' Mission to Moscow'' (1943). The movie subsequently spawned controversy because of its positive portrayal of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After the war, Koch was dismissed after he was denounced as a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

. He was then criticized by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

(HUAC) for his outspoken leftist political views. Koch was blacklisted by Hollywood in 1951. After being blacklisted, Koch moved with his wife, Anne (an accomplished writer in her own right) and their family to Europe and eventually took up residence in the United Kingdom with other blacklisted writers, where they wrote for five years for film and television (British television series ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Epic film, epic swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and written by Norman Reilly Ra ...

'' among them) under the pseudonyms "Peter Howard" and "Anne Rodney". In 1956, they returned to the United States and settled in

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, New York, Kingston. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The popula ...

. Koch sought help from high-profile lawyer Ed Williams in order to clear his name from Hollywood's blacklist. Koch was promptly removed from the blacklist, and he resumed his name and continued to write plays and books and remained actively committed to progressive political and social justice causes. His last Hollywood screenplay was for '' The Fox'' in 1968.

Death

Koch died at age 93 in 1995 in

Works

;Plays * ''Invasion from Mars'', (with Orson Welles) (pl) CBS, October 30, 1938. ;Books * ''Invasion from Mars'', ed. Orson Welles, Dell 1949. * ''The Panic Broadcast'', Little, Brown and Company 1970, Avon Books 1971. * ''Casablanca: Script and Legend'', Overlook Press 1973. * ''As Time Goes By: Memoirs of a Writer'', Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1979. ;Short stories * "Invasion from Inner Space", in ''Star Science Fiction Stories #6'', ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine 1959. ;Anthologies *'' Invaders of Earth'', ed. Groff Conklin, Vanguard 1952, Pocket 1955, Tempo 1962. *''The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics'', ed. Harold W. Kuebler, Hanover House 1954. *''The Armchair Science Reader'', ed. Isabel S. Gordon & Sophie Sorkin, Simon & Schuster 1959. *'' Enemies in Space'', ed. Groff Conklin, Digit 1962. *''Contact'', ed. Noel Keyes, Paperback Library 1963. *''Speculations'', ed. Thomas E. Sanders, Glencoe Press 1973. *''Bug-Eyed Monsters'', ed. Anthony Cheetham, Panther 1974.

References

External links

* *
Howard Koch
at Bard Archives. {{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Howard 1901 births 1995 deaths American radio writers American male screenwriters Columbia Law School alumni Jewish American screenwriters Hollywood blacklist Screenwriters from New York City Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners People from Kingston, New York People from Woodstock, New York People from Hartsdale, New York Bard College alumni 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American Jews