"hollywood 10" blacklisted 63 years ago today!

on november 25, 1947, the day after ten directors, producers, and writers were cited for contempt when they refused to testify before the house un-american activities committee, a group of movie industry executives announced that the ten men would be immediately fired or suspended, and not hired in the future -thus “blacklisted.” collectively, they became known as the "hollywood ten."

the initial list grew into what became the entertainment industry blacklist as more and more actors, directors, musicians, and other entertainment professionals were denied employment because of their political beliefs or associations, real or suspected. this nascent form of political correctness continued into 1960, when dalton trumbo, a member of the hollywood ten, was publicly acknowledged as the screenwriter of the films "spartacus" and "exodus." even so, a number of the original (and subsequently) blacklisted individuals were denied work in their professions for years afterward.

the red scare, and all it's attendant excesses was a very real tragedy for all the individuals and families that it impacted. looking back today, it's morphed from a blacklist to a black stain on our history of protecting our first amendment freedoms!

comedian lenny bruce died of a drug overdose 43 years ago today

on august 3, 1966, lenny bruce was found dead of a drug overdose - he was only 40 years old. his career as a cutting edge comic was repeatedly interrupted by arrest and prosecution because local authorities thought his act was indecent. between the years 1961 and 1964 bruce was arrested multiple times in san francisco, denver, los angeles, and new york city.

bruce was also arrested and prosecuted here in new york city. following a highly publicized six month long trial, he was convicted on obscenity charges in november, 1964. bruce was given a four month sentence which, thankfully, he never served because bruce was granted bail during the appeals process.

what was truly obscene, in my opinion, was the persecution on this iconic comedian. it took 40 years, but on december 3, 2004, then-governor pataki granted lenny bruce a posthumous pardon - the first in new york history.

check out dustin hoffman's portrayal of lenny bruce in bob fosse's "lenny."

r.i.p. lenny bruce

"shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech" documentary review

last night i watched "shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech," a documentary that premiered at the sundance film festival last year. while the premise - our civil liberties have been under assault since 9/11 - is facile, vapid, and rote, don't pass up the film. our first amendment rights have been under assault continually from the birth of the republic: check out the alien and sedition act that opened the 19th century, or the criminal prosecutions of those who spoke out against the first world war, or the clamp-down on vietnam war protesters. what makes "shouting fire" well-worth watching is the important history lessons it brings to life.

politics aside, it has an obvious leftist bias, everyone must fight for his freedom of expression - or risk losing it through indifference. the irony here is the documentary unintentionally highlights the evils of political correctness. anytime someone has her right to speak curtailed - regardless of the undoubtedly pure motives of the censor - we all lose (it may only be a matter of time before the wheel eventually turns to your out-dated view of the world). "silence is the enemy," to borrow a line from the new green day album.

the high point of liz garbus' documentary is the interview she does with her father, first amendment attorney martin garbus (interspersed throughout the film). his comments on (and the archival footage of) the pentagon papers case, alone, bring to life a seminal moment in first amendment jurisprudence. his eyewitness account of how the documents found their way into print, followed by his recount of the question and answer at the supreme court at oral argument (on whether to restrain further publication) was riveting. this segment was reason enough to watch the film!

the familiar complaints from the left (to support the premise of the post 9/11 apocalypse) played out with vignettes of the persecution of ward churchill, the lost principal-ship of debbie almontaser, and the wholesale arrest of protesters at the 2004 republican convention in nyc. while these are legitimate grievances, the brief is just as easily made in a non-partisan way. that approach, given political speech is most often the target of suppression, would have made this film an even more powerful viewing experience.

50 years ago today, supreme court held new york law barring film of "lady chatterley's lover" unconstitutional

on june 29, 1959, the supreme court held in kingsley international pictures corp. v. regents, that a new york state law that granted the board of education the power to issue licenses to, among other things, exhibit films - was unconstitutional. in this little cited decision, the supreme court extended core first amendment protections to films.

the court reversed the new york state board of regents decision that concluded the 1955 french film ("l'amant de lady chatterley"), while not obscene, "alluringly presents adultery as acceptable behavior." this was the same year that the u.s. postmaster general seized copies of the grove press edition of the book as obscene. that seizure was overturned by a new york district court judge.

in kingsley, justice stewart wrote for the court that "sexual morality" was an entirely different concept (and protected speech) than concepts of obscenity or pornography (neither of which is protected speech). justice stewart noted that the new york state law sought to regulate advocacy of opinion and expression - core first amendment guarantees.

in a coincidence, tonight hbo airs "shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech" - check it out!

and if lady chatterley and her travails are more your cup of tea, check out charles rembar's classic, "the end of obscenity: the trials of lady chatterley, tropic of cancer, and fanny hill" - a book i'm constantly tempted to get down from my bookshelf and reread.

"howl" seized by custom officials as obscene, 52 years ago today!

on march 25, 1957, customs officials seized 520 copies of allen ginsberg's poem "howl" that had been imported from the london printer. in the subsequent obscenity trial brought against lawrence ferlinghetti, the owner of city lights bookstore and the book's publisher, judge clayton horn ruled that the poem had "redeeming social importance" and was therefor not obscene.

not only did the government's embarrassingly heavy-handed effort at censorship fail, but it garnered the poem and allen ginsberg incalculable publicity which, in turn, fueled sales and interest in the work and author. "howl," the obscenity trial, the release of jack kerouac's "on the road," publication of william s. burroughs's "naked lunch," and it's own obscenity trials, were milestone events of the "beat generation."

the effort to censor and suppress "howl" was part of a much larger censorship effort that raged during that period and extending into the 60's. outside of the beat authors, censors targeted henry miller's "tropic of cancer" - which was subject to multiple trials, in multiple states and even resulted in an arrest warrant issued in BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, for none other than henry miller himself!

these works weren't obscene - but the efforts to censor and suppress them were!

a book on the "howl" trial, "howl of the censor" was written in the wake of the decision by the lead counsel for the defense, jake erlich. a more recent retelling of the story is in bill morgan's book, "howl on trial: the battle for freedom of expression," published in connection with the 50th anniversary of the poem. now the trial is slated to be made into a film!

if you believe free speech battles are a thing of the ancient past, consider the irony of this sad bit of very "recent" news:

in 2007, on the 50th anniversary of judge horn's landmark decision, ferlinghetti (among others) petitioned pacifica radio to broadcast a live reading of howl to commemorate the anniversary of the events. pacifica radio's wbai declined because it feared (rightly so?) the large fines and sanctions that could have been imposed by the fcc - as a consequence of that exercise of FREE SPEECH!