Leo
Townsend worked
at Dell Publishing in New York
before arriving in Hollywood in 1935. His first script to be filmed
was It
Started With Eve
in 1941. He followed this with Seven
Sweethearts
(1942), Chip
Off the Old Block
(1944), Can't
Help Singing
(1944), Night
and Day
(1946) and The
Way With Women
(1947).
In 1947 the House of Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion
Picture Industry. The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working
in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as
"friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named
several people who they accused of holding left-wing views.
One of those named, Bertolt Brecht, an
emigrant playwright, gave evidence and then left for East Germany.
Ten others: Herbert Biberman, Lester
Cole, Albert Maltz, Adrian
Scott, Samuel Ornitz,, Dalton
Trumbo, Edward Dmytryk, Ring
Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson
and Alvah Bessie refused to answer any
questions.
Known as the Hollywood
Ten, they claimed that the 5th Amendment of the United
States Constitution gave them the right to do this. The House
of Un-American Activities Committee and the courts during appeals
disagreed and all were found guilty of contempt of congress and each
was sentenced to between six and twelve months in prison.
Townsend, who had joined the Communist
Party in 1943, was one of those named and was asked to appear
before the HUAC. He was visited by the FBI
and was shocked to discover that they had details of every party meeting
he had attended. After consulting with his employers,
Warner Brothers, he agreed to testify before the HUAC. On 18th September,
1951, he gave the names of thirty-seven people who he knew
had been members of left-wing organizations.
The HUAC praised Townsend for his testimony and his name was removed
from the blacklist. Other films that he was involved in included Dangerous
Crossing (1943), White
Feather (1955), Flight
to Hong Kong (1956), Bikini
Beach (1964), How
to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965) and Beach
Blanket Bingo (1965).
(1) Leo
Townsend was interviewed by Victor Navasky when he was writing his
book, Naming Names (1982)
I called the FBI and I said,
"I am a former member of the Communist Party" So two men
came out to my home, and told them all I knew. I discovered they knew
more about it than I did; they knew every meeting I went to, they
knew who was there. The names I gave them were names they already
knew - I wasn't revealing anything.
(2) Leo
Townsend appeared before the House
of Un-American Activities Committee
on 18th September, 1951.
I feel that the purpose of
this Committee is an investigative one so that the Congress of the
United States may intelligently legislate in the field of national
security. As a loyal American interested in that security, I feel
I must place in the hands of this Committee whatever information I
have.
Several years ago all of us fought with all our might against German
and Italian fascism. Today there is a section of people who shut their
eyes to Soviet fascism and if what I say here and if what this Committee
does can help these people, I think this will show a large measure
of success.
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