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Elia Kazan

 Elia Kazan was one of the finest directors Broadway or Hollywood ever produced.  On the stage, he brought us hits such as 'All My Sons,' 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,' 'Sweet Birth of Youth,' and 'The Dark At the Top of The Stairs.' In Hollywood, he produced such classics as A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Boomerang!, Gentleman's Agreement, Pinky, A Streetcar Named Desire, Panic In the Streets, Viva Zapata!, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Baby Doll, A Face In the Crowd, and Splendor In the Grass.  He won three Tony Awards and two of his movies won Best Picture.  In short, the man knew what he was doing.

When Kazan was honored with a Lifetime Oscar, it created quite a stink, as he had testified before HUAC, being a former member of the Communist Party.  As Richard Schickel--who states he himself is far to the left--says, people today treated Kazan as if he named liberals, not Communists, forgetting there is a vast difference.  People came out of the woodwork, stating the director had 'ruined their lives' had never even been named by Kazan.  They merely wanted their ten minutes of fame by the director.

Well-known liberals such as Ed Harris and Nick Nolte made their disgust for the award known, and at the ceremony, made a show of not applauding.  It was considered 'making a stand.'  Another well-known liberal, Warren Beatty, refused to dishonor Kazan, pointing out 1)  the director was the one who gave him his start in the movies and 2)  Beatty didn't know what he would have done under the circumstances.  Thus, he was one of the few honest people around at the time.  To keep the peace, Beatty also went to a ceremony honoring those who had been blacklisted.

Director Edward Dmytryk was a member of the 'Hollywood Ten' who recanted, and wound up testifying before HUAC, naming names.  He got his career back, going on to direct The Caine Mutiny, Broken Lance, Raintree County, The Young Lions, and Warlock and wound up losing friends.  Yet history has not damned him the way they have Kazan.  Dmytryk eventually wound up writing a book, Odd Man Out:  A Memoir of the Hollywood Ten.  It is considered to be one of the few honest versions dealing with what happened then.

If you want to judge these men, that is your right.  But read all the facts.  If you don't like their politics, that is your right as well.  But get every bit of information you can.  Those were difficult times for this country, and many who have cursed these men and others weren't even there.

As the line from old time radio goes, "Vas you dere, Charlie?"