| The hearing was like a three-ring circus. You were
surrounded by this tremendous spotlight of publicity: newspapers, television cameras,
radio broadcasters. And all the hate groups were there every day in the first three or
four rows. If you hadn't been blacklisted by that time, you knew you definitely were going
to be. I went in with this attitude: You have no right to ask me what my political
opinions are. And it's none of your business whether Joe Schlamps is a Communist or a
Socialist or a Republican or a Democrat. That's his right. I would refuse to answer
questions of that sort. They started with their whole rigmarole: What's your name? Where
did you go to school? What shows have you been in? I was concerned that just answering,
"Yes, I was a member of the Ibsen Theater," would open up an area. "Who
else was there?" Suddenly you're mentioning eight other actors. What if they had some
stoolie say the Ibsen Theater was run by a bunch of Commies? As much as you plan, you may
open up an area that would lead to other people getting smeared. When they asked,
"Are you working now?" I said, "With no intention to comment about this
committee hearing, I'm in a play called Much Ado About Nothing." |
