Subtitle:

Hollywood Blacklist: Paul Jarrico

Series:

Hollywood Blacklist

Topic:

Social Movements

Communist Party

Film and Television

Biographical Note:

Screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted in the post-World War II Hollywood blacklist.

Interviewer:

Ceplair, Larry

Interviewee:

Jarrico, Paul

Persons Present:

Jarrico and Ceplair.

Place Conducted:

Jarrico's home in Santa Monica, 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:

David Gist, editor, 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.Jarrico reviewed the transcript. He verified proper names and made a number of corrections and additions. He also provided the biographical summary.Teresa Barnett, editor, prepared the table of contents and interview history. Steven J. Novak, editor, prepared the index.

Length:

6.35 hrs.

Language:

English

Copyright:

Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Audio:

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.

Family's political orientation--Argues communism with his father, Aaron Shapiro--High school activities.

College education--Hired as a screenwriter at Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.--Early fiction writing--No Time to Marry--Learning to write for fil--Early screenplays.

Rip Van Winkle screenplay--More on working as a screenwriter--Tom, Dick and Harry--WritesBoy Wonder with Richard Collins.

Thousands Cheer--Song of Russia--Sails with the merchant marine--Writes Action in the Living Room--Runs entertainment office at Treasure Island naval base--Works as a writer-director at RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

More working on RKO--Dore Schary--The White Tower--The Search--Legal battle with Howard Hughes over credit on The Las Vegas Story.

Political disagreements with his father--Early political involvement--Following the Communist Party line--Influencing the content of movies in Hollywood.

More on influencing the content of movies--Debate within the Hollywood Communist Party on the role of art--Salt of the Earth.

Working as a blacklisted writer--Ota Katz--Decline of the Hollywood Communist Party--Living and working in Europe--Jarrico's second wife, Yvette Le Floc'h Jarrico, is refused admittance to the United States.

Resuming his Hollywood career in the 1970s--Effect of the blacklist on his life--More on Salt of the Earth--Promising developments in Eastern Europe.