>> Some executives wouldn't even admit to having seen a copy. But
Red Channels was soon the most public secret in the industry. Among the prominent names it listed were Orson Welles, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller, Lena Horne, Edward R. Murrow and Artie Shaw.
Its vigilante crusade was serious business. For example, early in 1951 George Burns introduced a new cast member on
The Burns and Allen Show: John Brown. But Brown had been listed in
Red Channels. After six months, he was dropped. There were a lot of stories like that.
"I was a film actress who was doing more television than anyone else because I was in New York doing plays," explains actress Marsha Hunt.
1950 looked like a banner year for her. Then in July her agent called with some strange news.
"Three different networks had offered me an ongoing show of my own on television. So I was waiting to hear from the three networks — and I never did. And my agent explained this with two words, which I had never heard before:
Red Channels. And that anyone listed in that accusatory, privately published pamphlet was just not welcome on the air anymore."
As her agent described the new order, Hunt found it almost too bizarre to be true.
"My reaction to hearing of something called
Red Channels was disbelief at first. And then, though I would never have a copy of it in the house, the citations — the six items listed beside my name, were read to me over the phone. And yes indeed, I had been there, I had done that, I had said that or signed something. All things I believed in. And I was amazed to learn that they were considered subversive in some way."
.... Hunt says, "At the time, in New York, there was no procedure set up to try to clear your name. I did, on my own volition, write a letter to each of the major networks explaining that I knew nothing or cared nothing about communism; and that I did my best to be a good citizen during World War II; and that I hoped this would clear any confusion and that I would be permitted to resume work. I never had any kind of response to that."
Authorities were not interested in letters. They preferred a mix of humiliation and atonement.
"You had to to repent any official stand you may have taken, such as signing a petition for something you believed in. You had to repent all those activities that were cited under your name in
Red Channels and to swear lifelong hatred and opposition to the Communist Party." << --
Red Channels
In other words ---- mind control. "You vill follow ze prescribed mentality, even in der past, or ve haf vays to break you".
Spencer Tracy.... Burgess Meredith.... Will Geer... Joan Crawford.... Groucho Marx.. Lucille Ball...this is the dynamic Schmoe McCarthy, always the sleaziest of opportunists, latched onto and milked like it was the teat of a pregnant cow. Wasn't going to matter who got hurt in his relentless quest to grab power.
