Open Thread - Hollywood and the red scare.


There is no legal record of Charles Spenser Chaplin's birthplace. He was born to music hall entertainers in 1889, and when he was two, both became estranged. They never lived together again.

His father did not help care for the children and his mother made due with selling dresses and working as a nurse part time. When his mother went to the sanitarium, he was sent to a workhouse for children. The first time he appeared on stage, he was only five.
800px-Charlie_Chaplin_circa_1916_0.jpg
By the time Chaplin was 26, he had a contract with Mutual Film Corporation for $10,000 a week. This made Chaplin one of the highest paid people in the entire world. Eventually, he became the biggest box office draw alive. But as rich as he was, he had lived a life that prepared him well for the role of a tramp.

Chaplin mainly played a lovable underdog who struggled to survive in a cruel world, and portrayed the poor in a sympathetic way. He made a series of some of the most popular films of the silent era, and elevated the art of pantomime to its highest level.

When sound came to films in 1929, Chaplin felt that silent films were more artistically pure, and made silent films for years after his competitors were using sound. In time though, even the mighty Chaplin had to adapt.

By the thirties, Chaplin became more politically motivated. The Great Dictator was released in October 1940. It was an obvious parody which mocked Adolf Hitler as a dictator and made some very powerful statements about fascism and the value of human life. The controversial movie was tremendously successful and one of the top money makers of its era. It won five Academy Awards.

At the end of the movie, Chaplin spoke directly to the audience, and pleaded with them to abandon the ideas of fascism, and to fear the horrors of war. It was a highly complex speech, which seemed to present the idea that any sort of government could become autocratic in time. It is probably one of the most powerful monologues ever given.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1fMvLbE85E]

It also earned Chaplin powerful enemies. For the moment, he was so popular that he was untouchable, but it was around then that a campaign began to smear Chaplin. This smear campaign was made far more effective by events in the next few years.

When World War II concluded in 1945, Russia divided Germany in half and covered part of Europe in what has been metaphorically called the Iron Curtain. Suddenly many countries were forced into Communist rule, and Americans everywhere began to fear what that meant.

When this happened, the richest created a new message that would change the world. They stated that for a union to collectively bargain for better pay was communist. At the same time, they rushed to smear anyone involved with the Communist party as being the same sort of people who had divided Germany and Europe. They were not merely advocating for better wages for the middle class, they were also against America.

In 1941, only a few years before that message was to be delivered to the public, Chaplin was involved with a woman named Joan Barry. The next year she claimed to be pregnant with Chaplin's child, and he denied it. Barry filed a paternity suit against him.

Two weeks after the paternity suit was filed, Chaplin married 18-year-old Oona O'Neil. He remained married with Oona O'Neil until his death, and had eight children over 18 years. Nonetheless, his marriage to such a young woman outraged many people at the time.

The director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, indicted him for violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of women across state boundaries for sexual. Historian Otto Friedrich called it an absurd prosecution of an ancient statute. He won the case, but it didn't make him any more popular in the eyes of the public.

The paternity suit finally went to court in 1945, after the end of World War II and when fear of communism was at its height. Chaplin then went through two trials over the issue of his paternity. A blood test proving that the child was not allowed as evidence in court, and eventually Chaplin was convicted and made to pay child support.

The late forties were not kind to the veteran actor. Chaplin was issued a subpoena to testify for the House on Unamerian Activities. The same year, they issued subpeonas to the Hollywood Ten, a group of scriptwriters and actors who were accused of writing work with Communist sympathies. That shouldn't have been a crime, but they were prepared to treat it as one.

The ten refused to testify and were held in contempt. Eventually they were arrested and jailed, and the Hollywood blacklist began. All the studios agreed to not hire anyone implicated by the Committee. Of the many named in the trials, only about ten percent were able to rebuild their careers after the scare was over.

Chaplin himself was served to appear before the committee, but never testified.

Representative John E. Rankin, who helped establish HUAC, said in June of 1947:

“Chaplin's very life in Hollywood is detrimental to the moral fabric of America. If he is deported... his loathsome pictures can be kept from before the eyes of the American youth. He should be deported and gotten rid of at once."

Facing trumped up charges of public decency, Chaplin eventually moved to Switzerland. Though once the best known actor in the world, things changed so much that he had difficulty finding work at various times in his career.

While living in Europe, he made Limelight. Chaplin shared the stage with Buster Keaton for the first time. Buster Keaton was one of the other three geniuses of the silent film era. He had been out of work for longer than Chaplin, not having done anything since the end of silent films.

During the production of the movie, none of the other actors even knew who Buster Keaton was, and they were mystified at the great deference that Chaplin showed to Keaton, insisting that he get his own room and asking his opinion on many matters.

So great was the damage to Chaplin's reputation that Limelight was not seen in America for twenty years.

In 1972, Limelight was finally shown in Los Angeles. The Academy awards only consider films which had been shown in Los Angeles that year for the first time. Limelight received an Academy award. Chaplin attended the awards, and he received a twelve minute standing ovation, which so far as is known is the longest standing ovation anyone has ever received.

To me, Limelight has always represented the temporal nature of fame. Even the greatest among us can find themselves forgotten in a few years.

Sometimes, it happens for the pettiest of reasons.

The final irony in this story would be that Chaplin was not a Communist. He said that he didn't strongly believe in any form of government, but rather called himself a peacemonger.

Today I wrote of how the blacklist began. Next week I will write of how it ended.

I hope everyone has a good morning.

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the beginning of the Cold War which was set in place to keep Americans scared and to keep, for the first time, a large standing army with the budget to support same.

Chaplin was never an American citizen and, I hope I remember correctly, he was denied reentry into the USA so he went to live in Europe(Switzerland?).

The term Red Scare is, in my opinion, a whitewashed term for government oppression of dissent. It was more than a scare, it was the government attacking those who held views on the left. The Truman and Eisenhower administrations were anti-democratic at their core.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

martianexpatriate's picture

for most of the rest of his life. When he attempted to reapply he was essentially threatened with lengthy court proceedings. He could have attempted to fight it but he was tired of this endless fighting in the US and he simply stayed in Europe.

He only came back because he was essentially invited by various people in Hollywood. He came back with great hesitation.

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Our revolution in 1776 was unprecedented. It must have had dictators and monarchs all around the world wondering if they would be next. Hence, the first shot fired in our revolution is referred to as "the shot heard round the world. If anyone thought it was a one off, the French following our lead in 1789 disabused them of that opiate though. However, after our revolution and the French Revolution, capitalism was still intact and there was still a wealthy class, a shopkeeper or middle class, the working poor and the starving poor. The Russian revolution, however, preached (gasp!) communism replacing capitalism entirely. That must have sent the same kind of shock waves around the world as did our revolution.

If you want to consider the Cold War as everything the US/West did to avoid communism (whether it came via armed revolution or not), then the Cold War may have begun in earnest when Black Friday and the Depression made the threat that Americans would revolt, as had the Russians seem very real.

Anti-Communist propaganda was probably a constant. Other weapons in the war to keep our rich safe from communism, though, changed over time. I believe the New Deal was the first massive government attempt to stave off revolution, peaceful or violent, against the rich and/or powerful, aka the plutocrats. FDR hated Stalin, but had to ally with him to win World War II. However, FDR probably had the threat of communism spreading in his mind every step of the way as he dealt with Stalin. After the war ended, Truman could go against Stalin and communism full force. We got the Truman Doctrine, the Korean War, the domino theory, HUAC, propping up cruel, anti-Communist dictators, the Vietnam War and all the rest of the stuff.

Think about all the time, money and energy the west, and the USA in particular, devoted to keeping the wealthy safe from revolution, peaceful or not. Guess what? They're still doing it. Just ask Bernie. Or, if you are not on speaking terms with Bernie, just ask Putin. The anti Bernie stuff and the anti-Putin stuff seems like two sides of that same ole, same ole effort to keep the rich and their riches safe from the rest of us. Red-baiting propaganda is part and parcel of that. So is New Democrat zeal to "reform" "entitlements."

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Al Gore popped up in my Facebook feed: he's voting for Hillary because he cares about climate change:

I particularly urge anyone who is concerned about the climate crisis, sees it as the kind of priority that I see it as, to look at the sharp contrast between the solar plan that Secretary Clinton has put forward, and her stated commitment to support the Clean Power Plan, and the contrast between what she has said and is proposing with the statements of the Republican nominee, which give me great concern.

All negated by (1) you can't believe a word she says (2) her support for fracking, especially how she pushed it while Secretary of State and (3) the money she has taken from energy companies.

Of course, he also invokes Nader!:

I would also urge them to look carefully, as I know they have, at the consequences of going in another direction for the third or fourth alternative…. The harsh reality is that we have two principal choices. And I am supporting Hillary Clinton.

Sorry, Al. I'm concerned about principle So will reject the duopoly and vote Green.

The article then finishes up with how under 30s are leaning. It isn't good for Clinton, with around 25% supporting 3rd parties. So, the scare tactics again:

This could matter, “if the election becomes closer.” Indeed, I’d argue it matters even if the election doesn’t become closer, since the margin of victory in this election is also going to send a message to the nation and the world about just how much America does or does not embrace the values and policies of Donald Trump.

I'm more interested in sending a message to the Democratic Party. The bonus is that voting Green is also a vote that rejects Trump's values & policies. 2 for 1; what a great deal.

https://thinkprogress.org/al-gore-dont-vote-third-party-15711ce062e7#.dw...

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Why aren't we surprised:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/hillary-clinton-trump-email-strate...

Running out the clock. Ignore, deny, deny, deny - and of course, just tell lies.

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Both CNN & MSNBC talked about AP's access story this AM. They were of course careful to shout that access does not equal a quid pro quo.

We'll see how right Mr. Barnum was in November 8. Myself, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

I actually turned it on to get some news about the earthquake in Italy. What was on CNN when I turned it on? A feature about Trump's health. For pete's sake! His health isn't his problem, he's not the one who fell & got a blood clot. His problem is his mouth. And it's not more important than the earthquake in Italy.

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Disorienting to find now go to what used to call "rw" sources to get the best information.

" Access not equaling a quid pro quo" - what planet do these "journalists" live on?

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Where multi-million dollar salaries make everything nice & easy. They have a colony on Long Island w

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me how I get Obama to take my calls. Honest to goodness, they think we are bigger fools than professional alchemists. Sadly, we don't often manage to disabuse them of their conviction.

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He was complaining somewhere - can't remember if it was print or video.

All the money he donated to Obama, and he can't even get his phone calls returned. But Hillary returns his calls & will have lunch with him at the drop of a hat.

Don't tell me he doesn't get more than returned phone calls & company at lunch from Hillary. I'm sure she's equally responsive about whatever he discusses.

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Maybe he just doesn't like Soros, or Soros is lying, trying to make sure Hillary gets those big donations.

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Leadership Council, along with Bill and Hillary. He was also Bill's vice president for two terms. When it was "Gore's turn" to run, he picked as his running mate another founding member of the DLC, a real gem, Joe Lieberman. Lieberman, of course, is the guy who later campaigned against Obama Biden and for McCain Palin. How much more Republican can a Democrat possibly get than to stump for the top of the Republican ticket? Hell, even DWS confined herself to shilling for down ticket Republicans. (Joe also allegedly single-handedly cost Americans a strong public option, though I never bought that nonsense.)

Also, like the rest of his ilk, Gore thinks everyone should sacrifice for the environment, except for him. He certainly was not overly concerned about the size of his own massive carbon footprint until he was outed for that. (My guess is that he's reverted to his old ways by now, but that is sheer speculation.) So, even though Gore is indisputably interested in the environment, I seriously doubt that he is what liberals would consider a liberal. I consider him a New Democrat with environmental concerns. (I also never bought that imaginary President Gore would never have gone to war after 911, but that is another story entirely.)

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Snopes as of about 2007. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp

Some important points not covered in the report, however, was whether equating the Gores' home to the average American home was really a relevant comparison. A spokesperson for the Gore family responded by noting some mitigating factors, such as the fact that the Gores' Nashville residence isn't an "average" house — it's about four times larger than the average new American home built in 2006, and it essentially functions as both a residence and a business office since both Al and Tipper work out of their home. The Tennessean also noted that the Gores had been paying a $432 per month premium on their monthly electricity bills in order to obtain some of their electricity from "green" sources (i.e., solar or other renewable energy sources). Other factors (such as the climate in the area where the home is located and its size) make the Gore home's energy usage comparable to that of other homes in the same area.

Sorry, Snopes. You're concerned about climate change? You want a smaller carbon footprint? Try living in a smaller house.

And this:

collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs.

"Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don't know how it could have been rated any higher," said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design.

Gore's improvements cut the home's summer electrical consumption by 11 percent compared with a year ago, according to utility records reviewed by The Associated Press. Most Nashville homes used 20 percent to 30 percent more electricity during the same period because of a record heat wave.

Yeah, that's exactly right. He can try living in a smaller house. Plenty of people do. Carbon offsets, etc are just a sop to make him feel good while he enjoys the fruits of a 1% life style.

Another problem he had while running for president was his "dialing for dollars" from the White House. His infamous defense was "no controlling legal authority." After 8 years of Clinton scandals who wanted another 4 years of questionable ethics? Here's Krauthammer on it, season with salt to taste.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/campfin/stories/op...

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So, the size of his mansion was only part of the problem. He could move to a smaller home or he could share his home and private jet) with other people. Those things are a bigger sacrifice, though, than changing light bulbs or paying the electric company more because you are getting "some" of your electricity from green sources--something only the privileged can afford to do. Oh, and, btw, he can easily afford to tear down the mansion and rebuild it.

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had you carried your home state, let the recount proceed to its conclusion or convinced some of the many thousands of registered Democrats in FL who voted for Shrub to stick with the party, you would have been President.

Invoking the third party boogie man is a cowardly abrogation of YOUR responsibility for your 'loss' and a transparent ploy to preserve our disfunctional duopoly. Piss off Al!

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

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gulfgal98's picture

My husband and I watched the movie, Trumbo, last night which was about the blacklisting of Hollywood writers. I feel as though we may be heading toward another blacklisting, this time of not so famous people.

Thank you for writing about this.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

martianexpatriate's picture

did a very good job with the role.

The irony of the internet and this state of affairs where artists are frequently expected to perform for nothing, is that it has finally brought us back to a place where people can be blacklisted again.

You can do anything you want, so long as you don't mind performing for nothing, alone.

But as opportunities for roles shrank, we once again have a small number of studios monopolizing all the paid work, choosing to never do original scripts, and instead endlessly making sequels or remakes.

For many years, more channels meant more opportunities, but now we are producing much more noise, but less meaning. Television is an endless stream of "reality" shows, and Hollywood produces one action filled monstrosity after another. There isn't much room for the artist out there anymore. I consider it an interesting paradox.

That is a perfect situation for a blacklist, and in my opinion, we already have it.

Nobody wants to say anything about reality anymore, its far too dangerous. They don't have to say your blacklisted. Everyone expects to never work again if they do one little thing wrong.

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MaCarthy and the FBI went after alot of people--in particular academics and school teachers. Just a short search revealed this:

"From there, the FBI quickly expanded the Responsibilities Program beyond the professorial. On April 30, 1951, an FBI executives' conference recommended a purge of public school teachers on the grounds that "daily contact of teachers with pupils forms a close association and enables the teachers to effectively control the thinking of the pupils and thus insiduously [sic] instill into the minds of children the Communist party line."

http://cisupa.proquest.com/ksc_assets/catalog/10758_McCarthyEraBlacklist...

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

riverlover's picture

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Also a made for TV movie and at least one documentary that I'm aware of. Plus at least one book written by one of the students.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

Citizen Of Earth's picture

Apparently just Bernie's speech at 9PM Eastern time. Not the entire day's proceedings.

LIVE Stream: Bernie Sanders 'Our Revolution' Speech (August 24, 2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3LC8kYe0QM

Edit: Time corrected. H/t to Leu2500

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Says "watch Bernie's live stream" at 9 PM Eastern.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

I've ever seen. Their website is one page, a donation page. Doesn't list today's events. No public live stream. Not even a mission statement. And the new leader. Jeff Weaver, has been kissing Hellery's butt since Bernies endorsement.

The link I posted above says 7PM (no time zone is listed). So who knows.

I give up. And not expecting much to come of this. Please OurRev, make me eat these words.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

skod's picture

I remain extremely, extremely skeptical. Shill and her hordes have done a magnificent job of making people tune out of politics altogether. I'm balanced right on that razor's edge of joining them; just walking away and focusing my remaining energies on things that don't turn out to be a complete waste of time- like my music. No smiley.

Sorry, Bernie. Whoever you put in place to drive OR has to be something other than just more Shill syncophants. If it goes that way, you will have lost a lot of people quite permanently. I for one am not likely to live long enough to reengage in this bullshit: it took me 40 years to get where I am now. Stein has my vote this time around at the top of the ticket, and whoever doesn't disgust me outright will get it downticket. But disgust is not the greatest motivator...

If the upshot of his speech is "Support HRC wholeheartedly: she is the wellspring of All That Is Righteous!", my answer will be "Um, no. Kthxbai".

Yes, indeed. Make me eat these words!

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Every word. Think as well as running out the clock, Clintons DO want to discourage people from voting. Evil people.

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bondibox's picture

I'd originally assumed her heinous had overtaken Our Revolution in order to corral all those unruly Sanders voters into the right frame of mind before the election. But this, how shall I call it? organized disorganization seems to be intended to unravel Bernie's movement altogether. Which seems par for the Democrats, because it strikes me as incredibly stupid.

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F the F'n D's

Here's the original email announcing the event & asking us to sign up to host watch parties:

Political pundits and the billionaire class are watching very closely to see what Bernie supporters do next. Some of them might be tempted to believe our political revolution is toast.

They want our extraordinary phone banking, door knocking, and grassroots organizing efforts to stop. They want us to get discouraged. They want to vanquish our movement once and for all.

We aren't going to let that happen.

That's why, on the evening of August 24, we will kick off a new organization called Our Revolution with a major live stream address where Bernie will talk about the specifics of what we can do as organizers going forward to fight for every single issue that drove this campaign. In order to get as many people watching as possible, we need to set up grassroots watch parties all over the country.

The most important thing you can do today to move the political revolution forward: Sign up to host one of these events on August 24 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT.

I'LL HOST A WATCH PARTY

Bernie's said from the very beginning that no one person can alone accomplish what must be done to turn our country around. We all must do our part.

I hope to see your event listed on our website. It's an honor to be with you in this movement.

In solidarity,

Claire Sandberg
Our Revolution

And I went to Our Revolutions Facebook page, and when you click events & then click on the event it says 9 pm eastern.

So that's the original email, the host guide & the Facebook page saying 9 eastern.

Based on previous live streams, we should have some sort of test image before it starts so we can test the AV setup.

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lunachickie's picture

to dilute and discourage the movement.

It's sad to watch Sanders forced into this charade. I'll bet he's seriously angry and more than a little disillusioned. So disgusting, what that woman and her support has done to this country.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

so they don't run off to greener pastures and spoil Hellery's plan.
We'll find out tonite I guess.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

martianexpatriate's picture

that Bernie made a deal to say things he wasn't entirely behind, and that he probably wasn't expecting a lot of his supporters to along with it. He knew that they were going to force him to go along no matter what, and ultimately he knew that most of us weren't going to fall in line.

Like he said, it isn't about him. They never understood that. The progressive movement isn't going away.

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Or in my case, moanin'.
I was of the impression Chaplin was discovered by Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

martianexpatriate's picture

It's usually implied to meant that they 'created' this person, and if they hadn't discovered him he would have wondered off and worked in a coal mine or something.

Chaplin built up his theatrical presence over a long period of time. He had an endless string of roles, and then branched out into silent movies.

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mimi's picture

as I ran into the news about the earthquake in Italy.
Italy earthquake toll rises as rescuers struggle to free people from rubble - Dozens of buildings collapse in hardest-hit towns of Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto after quake that struck early on Wednesday morning
This photo speaks to me. Makes me rethink my critical views about the "new technologies" of the internet and communication tools, critical views of the catholic church and in general about my own sorta ignorance.
3072.jpg
A nun checks her mobile phone as she lies near an earthquake victim in Amatrice. Photograph: Massimo Percossi/AP

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Anja Geitz's picture

I thought it said Hollywood and the red sauce and wondered what kind of epicurious theme you were going to write about. Forgive me, I'm up earlier than usual this morning because my cat Pierre has started a very bad habit of climbing on top of me and meowing to be fed.

Enjoyed your essay on Chaplin. Although I was always more of a Buster Keaton fan, I appreciated the background of Chaplin's career. Only really understood the extent of the red scare in Hollywood after seeing the movie "Trumbo" and I'd like to say we've learned our lessons but can easily see a strain of that happening again.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

martianexpatriate's picture

I have spent a lot of time watching his silent films. He was really great, and developed many comic bits that have been reused again and again since then.

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Anja Geitz's picture

Through an ex-boyfriend who was a film major. He took me to a Buster Keaton Film Festival at the Film Forum in the Village. They even had a piano player playing in the front of the theater. Nice :-). I laughed so hard I cried during his movie "Seven Chances". Brilliant stunt work on his part which I understand was cultivated at a very early age by his vaudevillian parents. Another very interesting movie career.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

orlbucfan's picture

Both excellent movies. The idiotic Academy finally got one right giving the Best Movie Oscar to 'Spotlight.' My hubby became a B. Cranston fan by watching 'Breaking Bad.' We watched his HBO performance as LBJ and then as Trumbo. Chaplin was a brilliant mime along w/all his other considerable talents. Where was he born? Blacklisting and attacking artists/peaceful humans, etc. is an old tune that keeps getting more wretched as it keeps getting repeated....by the same old shit that keeps rising to the top. I don't have any answers for it. REC'D!!

**Bernie's speech tonight is on down here.

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Citizen Of Earth's picture

excellent telling of Chaplin's story. Most of which I did not know. Thanks for posting.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Glen Greenwald has a good article showing fundamentally how democrats are using McCarthy techniques to defame people. This is not only be used against Trump, and also people who have posted anti-war ideas on such outlets as TOP.

https://theintercept.com/2016/08/08/dems-tactic-of-accusing-adversaries-...

The Red Scare has turned into the Putin/Russian scare and there will be consequences to people accused in the Putin Scare if Hillary becomes President. Just as a lark, I posted a comment on a well known democratic party site about the need to create a Congressional committee to investigate anybody who supported Putin/Trump and whether or not these supporters were giving top secret information to the Putin. I basically called for the re-creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee even though I didn't say it.. My post was, even if not read so carefully, was a call for a witch hunt based on the political beliefs of people. Alot of recs more than normal.

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enhydra lutris's picture

becasue there is a lot there that many of them could learn and learn from.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --