Oral Histories

Interview of Helen Slote Levitt

Screenwriter who was blacklisted in the post-World War II Hollywood blacklist.
Subtitle:
Hollywood Blacklist: Helen Slote Levitt
Series:
Hollywood Blacklist
Topic:
Social Movements
Communist Party
Film and Television
Biographical Note:
Screenwriter who was blacklisted in the post-World War II Hollywood blacklist.
Interviewer:
Ceplair, Larry
Interviewee:
Levitt, Helen Slote
Persons Present:
Levitt and Ceplair.
Place Conducted:
Levitt's home in Sherman Oaks, California.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Interviewer Background and Preparation:
The interview was conducted by Larry Ceplair, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., Economics, UCLA; Ph.D., History, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Coauthor, The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930-1960. Ceplair prepared for the interview by consulting sources he had collected while writing The Inquisition in Hollywood and materials in the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Processing of Interview:
Paul Winters, editorial assistant, edited the interview. He checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed. Levitt reviewed the transcript. She verified proper names and made minor corrections and additions. Teresa Barnett, editor, prepared the table of contents, biographical summary, interview history, and index.
Length:
7.30 hrs.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Series Statement:
Interviews in this series preserve the recollections of selected individuals in Los Angeles who were affected by the Hollywood blacklist during the Joseph R. McCarthy-J. Edgar Hoover era.
Abstract:
TAPE NUMBER: IV, Side Two (March 14, 1988) Effects of the blacklist--The Levitts's income and jobs during the early years of the blacklist--Involvement with Oakwood School--The Hollywood Review--Lawyers refuse to bring Joseph Welch into the Wilson v. Loew's case--More effects of the blacklist--Leaves the Communist Party after Nikita Krushchev's 1956 speech denouncing Stalin.