The Political History of Classical Hollywood: Moguls, Liberals and Radicals in the 1930s
This explores the rift between opponents of progressive reforms associated with the New Deal (mainly the studio moguls) and its supporters in other branches of the film industry. It assesses the significance of the establishment of craft guilds to represent actors, writers, and directors. It offers a detailed analysis of how studio chiefs played a key role in defeating Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California (EPIC) campaign to become governor of California in 1934. It explores the anti-fascist Popular Front alliance formed between liberals and communists in the second half of the 1930s, how this prompted congressional investigation that prefigured the 1940s Red Scare, and the collapse of left-liberal unity with the establishment of the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939. It also an assessment of mogul Louis B. Mayer and actor Melvyn Douglas as representatives of conservative and liberal Hollywood.