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12 episodes
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Hollywood Exiles BBC & CBC
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- History
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4.6 • 167 Ratings
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Host Oona Chaplin guides listeners through the period known as the Red Scare - an ideological battle that implicated Hollywood’s biggest stars, including her grandfather, Charlie.
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Trailer: The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam
It was the biggest gold mine fraud of all time – a scam that devastated countless lives. But what really happened? Suzanne Wilton revisits the story that she just couldn’t let go of, to find answers about how the scam was perpetrated…and about the mysterious death of a geologist in the jungle. From the BBC World Service and CBC. To hear more, search for The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam wherever you get your podcasts.
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10. Exile
Although the blacklist era ends, the scars remain. Dalton Trumbo discovers a backdoor to Hollywood screenwriting work. Families of Hollywood workers reckon with the fallout in generations to come. After decades away, Charlie Chaplin makes a triumphant return to America. Ellen Geer recalls the effects of the blacklist on her father Will Geer, who refused to expose his friends. Oona Chaplin reflects on the lasting effects of anti-communist fervour on her family and the wider culture.
Archive:
Oscars ceremony highlights: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 29th Academy Awards 1957, and the 44th Academy Awards 1972
The Dude goes West, directed by Kurt Neumann, King Brothers Productions, 1948
Dalton Trumbo interviewed on television program Night Beat, 19 September 1957, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
The Waltons, Lorimar Productions 1972 -
9. Naming names
After years of allegations and suspicion, those accused of so-called un-American political beliefs are driven from the movie industry. Mitzi Trumbo recalls visiting her father Dalton in prison. Host Oona Chaplin speaks to some of those whose careers were ruined and friendships fractured, as anti-communist fervour pushed witnesses to expose the names of alleged communists. Norma Barzman describes this as a period of political exile. Charlie Chaplin faces the FBI.
Archive:
Limelight, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1952
Johnny Guitar, directed by Nicholas Ray for Republic Pictures, 1954
Senator Joseph McCarthy speaking on America’s Town Meeting of the Air, ABC Radio, 3 April 1947
Attorney General James McGranery press conference 1952, John E. Allen Archive -
8. The un-Americans
Hollywood producers gather at the Waldorf Hotel to plot strategy. They push back against allegations of “subversive” content. Motion Picture Association of America president Eric Johnston makes the case that movies are a force for moral good. He also calls for a hardline: he pushes studios to purge communists and sympathizers from their payrolls. This marks the beginning of the so-called “blacklist” era in Hollywood. Screenwriter Norma Barzman recalls this as a repressive period, when creative people were self censoring their political beliefs
Archive:
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels
The Hollywood Ten, directed by John Berry, 1950
Dalton Trumbo interviewed for Hollywood on Trial, directed by David Helpern, Corinth Films, 1976 -
7. Are you now, or have you ever been
The House Unamerican Activities Committee begins its hearings into alleged communist subversion in the movie business. The hearings cement a phrase in American history: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?” Friendly witnesses, including actors Gary Cooper & Robert Taylor, are called to the stand, along with movie mogul Jack Warner of Warner Brothers. Walt Disney uses the opportunity to call out alleged communists among members of the striking animators’ union. Dalton Trumbo and his allies challenge the legitimacy of HUAC and its hearings.
Archive:
Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., 1943
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels -
6. Hollywood on trial
The House Unamerican Activities Committee starts calling witnesses. Their hearings with Tinseltown celebrities create a sensation and put Hollywood's alleged communists in the spotlight. Dalton Trumbo is among those summoned to Washington for hearings. Oona Chaplin explains why her grandfather Charlie was not called to appear, despite his reputation as a leftist. Actress Katharine Hepburn takes a public stand against HUAC, mocking its hearings at a Los Angeles rally.
Archive used:
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover before HUAC, National Archives and Records Administration, 1947
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood Show, 25 February 1951
Katharine Hepburn for Progressive Citizens of America at Gilmore Stadium, Alco Records, 1947
‘Monsieur Verdoux’, Charlie Chaplin, United Artists, 1947
Recordings of House Unamerican Activities Committee by Paramount Newsreels
Customer Reviews
Well presented. Well produced!
It feels tough to find a quality podcast series these days. I stumbled upon this outstanding show in a search through BBC Podcasts. Oona Chaplin is an exceptional host who leads us through the show with great enthusiasm, interviews with family members, a victims of the red scare, and offers a special special perspective as Charlie Chaplin‘s granddaughter. A joy to listen to. Well done!
Timely and brilliant
This podcast has scary parallels to what is happening in America today and those responsible for taking us to the brink of dictatorship. It is brilliant and exceptional in its delivery, its stories and in its narrator, Oona Chaplin, whose family lived the pain of the so-called “Red Scare.”
But this podcast is as much a warning as it is a story.
As with McCarthyism, Trumpism is an evil insidious cancer on the American body politic. And like those would be dictators that have come before, Donald Trump is merely a cipher of those who pull his strings like the dementia stricken puppet that he is.
This podcast, in the final episode, warned of us of the evils of proto fascists who stoke the ignorance and idiocy of the mob mentality. It reminds us of how those “leaders” who appeal to our lowest common denominators aren’t there to help any of us or to “Make America Great Again.”
Rather, they seek power for powers sake or, as in the case of J. Edgar Hoover, to make sure the hypocrisy of their private lives are walled off from their public persona. In Trump’s case, it’s stay out of jail to avoid having his treason for money scheme revealed.
But as history so often goes, those who pursue evil to marginalize the supposed weak often find themselves facing a much much worse reckoning in the end.
Fascinating! Only one issue and it’s an Apple issue
So this is an amazing podcast, I’ve learned so much I did not know about! However I’m concerned as I’m not able to listen to either of the episodes pertaining to Charlie Chaplain.. it says episode 3 and 9 are unavailable??? Apple please explain!