Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel (review)

Book Reviews | Regular Feature hand it is not very different from the successful efforts of historians during the past few decades in bringing to the record the testimony ofvarious traditionally "historically voiceless" groups such as women of the past, illiterate immigrants, or slaves. It is worth noting that Stokes and Maltby have been consistent and energetic exponents offilm reception studies for quite some time. This is, in fact, the second volume in a series (cf. the first: American Movie Audiences: From the Turn ofthe Century to the Early Sound Era, BFI, 1999). Together and separately they have been active conference organizers, including the 1998 Commonwealth Fund for American History Conference, centered on the theme "Hollywood and Its Spectators, 1898-1998." This means that they are in touch with virtually all of the participants in and could accurately be called the leaders of a methodological and historiographical school. As a result of this latest effort—a clear and straightforward study—it will be hard to gainsay their assertion that a comprehensive history of Hollywood must include analysis of its institutions as well as its products. Robert W. Maison University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Rmatson+ @pitt.edu Peter Hanson. Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Hebel. McFarland, 2001. 255 pages; $49.95. Awesome Accomplishments Few, if any, Hollywood screenwriters achieved the literary success, social consciousness, and antiestablishment notoriety as the gifted artist and fervent activist, Dalton Trumbo, a leftist gadfly, whose entire forty-year career—beginning in 1936—championed the underdog, espoused equality, and advocated social change, while denouncing ignorance, sterility, and Philistinism. Well known for his quick wit, exhortative temper, ferocious workhabits, andnovelty pseudonyms, DaltonTrumbo's awesome accomplishments stand firm as a testimony to humanism's liberal spirit, while his unequivocal legacy remains a steadfast beacon reminding everyone about rectitude, integrity , and tenacity. As a lecturer, journalist, and admirer, Peter Hanson has researched Dalton Trumbo's multifaceted career, interviewed family members, and studied numerous personal letters and photographs to complete a critical survey examining the major themes found in his many motion pictures. Dalton Trumbo, HollywoodRebel: A Critical Survey and Filmography is the first book-length work that concentrates on the screenplays, emphasizing many of the autobiographical strains found in plot and characterization. By carefully analyzing the seventy photoplays that Dalton Trumbo worked on, Mr. Hanson's book reveals that three predominant motifs—rebellion, radical politics, and individualism —permeated his major scripts. Born in a small Colorado town in 1905, Dalton Trumbo grew up in a provincial environment and in 1924 entered the University of Colorado to study writing. But, one year later, after his father's death, left school, and began working a long stint at a California bakery where, in his spare time, he wrote six elaborate manuscripts. By 1932, the popular magazine, Vanity Fair, published his off-beat, bootlegging article, and—after some good luck and low-keyed sweet talk—hired him as their Hollywood correspondent. Soon he was free-lancing, selling many short stories, and by 1934, after publishing his first novel, Eclipse, the twenty-nine-year-old Trumbo was picked up by Warner Brothers, first as a reader, then as a junior writer assigned to the B-picture division, where his first photodrama, Road Gang was produced. By 1939, Trumbo had turned in thirteen scripts, making him one of Hollywood's leading writers. That same year, his controversial, protest novel, Johnny Got His Gun, rocked the status quo with its unremitting, antiwar message and, now, his motion pictures—often written at astounding speed—were in high demand. During World War II, his flag-waving titles, especially Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, provided the stalwart propaganda that Americans needed during this national crisis. But by 1947, his career suddenly hit a brick wall, as the infamous HUACs witch-hunting committees, pointing theirj'accuse finger at Trumbo's openly leftist activities, denounced him as subversive . After three years of governmental persecution, Dalton Trumbo—now aligned with the Hollywood Ten—was sentenced to a one-year prison term for judicial contempt. Released in 195 1 , Trumbo discovered he was now the proverbial hot potato because no Hollywood studio, fearful of anticommunist hysteria, wanted a Red on their payroll. As with many other shunned...