Preface The first question that readers, whether professional historians, movie buffs, or general history enthusiasts, must ask when considering another book on the communist issue in Hollywood is: Why? The answer is, of course, nuanced and deep. First of all, one must consider the outsized effect that Hollywood, or, more specifically, the motion picture industry has on the public and on the shaping of American and world popular culture. This effect was understood as far back as the silent film age, when observers noted the public fascination with the movie “actors” who nei- ther sang nor spoke, but almost hypnotically charmed viewers. Naturally, the true actors on the Broadway stage disdained the picture stars as human mannequins who were simply dressed up and shoved before the cameras, and that was certainly true, to an extent. Nothing, however, could stop the growing popularity of the motion pictures. Other forms of early 20th-century popular entertainment fell before the onslaught as the Wild West Show, the circuses, and ultimately, vaudeville expired while the movies grew more powerful. This strength was exemplified by the fact that many of the stage actors migrated to Hollywood, probably mind- ful of the old adage that if you can’t beat them, then join them! The place of the movies in popular culture was firmly established by the late 1920s, and the introduction of the “talkies” inaugurated a new period in the history of American popular entertainment. This new work will not delve into the development of the raw materials necessary for a new popular culture, but, instead, will simply note that by the end of World War II over 75,000,000 Americans saw at least one movie each week, and most believed what they saw on the screen. The capture of this industry offered limitless possibilities for the dissemination of propa- ganda and the creation of reality, or at least an approximation of such for those who controlled the medium. That fact will be the focus of this work.
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