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The Troubled Air
''The Troubled Air'' is a novel by Irwin Shaw first published in 1951. It is a story of the radio industry (at a time when shows were produced live) set in 1950, during the blacklisting of McCarthyism. Plot summary The plot centers around Clement Archer, the director of a successful weekly radio program, who is told by the producers and sponsors to fire four actors and one musician working on the show because of alleged Communist sympathizing. To save the show, and because of his own conscience, Archer wins a two-week deferral and starts his own investigation. Eventually, one of the contributors commits suicide, two of the others betray Archer, and the careers of all others are ruined. Archer reconciles with his family. Background For the novel, Shaw draws on his own experiences in working for the radio with Himan Brown. Matching a sub-plot of the novel, Shaw was named as a Communist in 1951 by the right-wing pamphlet ''Red Channels'' "because he signed a petition calling on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irwin Shaw
Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: ''The Young Lions'' (1948), about the fate of three soldiers during World War II, which was made into a film of the same name starring Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, and '' Rich Man, Poor Man'' (1970), about the fate of two brothers and a sister in the post-World War II decades, which in 1976 was made into a popular miniseries starring Peter Strauss, Nick Nolte, and Susan Blakely. Personal life Shaw was born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in the South Bronx, New York City, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents were Rose and Will. His younger brother, David Shaw, became a noted Hollywood producer and writer. Shortly after Irwin's birth, the Shamforoffs moved to Brooklyn. Irwin changed his surname upon entering college. He spent most of his youth in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. History Random House was founded in 1927 by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two years after they acquired the Modern Library imprint from publisher Horace Liveright, which reprints classic works of literature. Cerf is quoted as saying, "We just said we were going to publish a few books on the side at random," which suggested the name Random House. In 1934 they published the first authorized edition of James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' in the Anglophone world. ''Ulysses'' transformed Random House into a formidable publisher over the next two decades. In 1936, it absorbed the firm of Smith and Haas—Robert Haas became the third partner until retiring and selling his share back to Cerf and Klopfer in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Young Lions
''The Young Lions'' (1948) is a novel by Irwin Shaw about three soldiers in World War II. Plot Christian Diestl is at first a sympathetic Austrian drawn to Nazism by despair for his future but willing to sacrifice Jews if necessary. Noah Ackerman is an American Jew facing discrimination. Michael Whitacre is an American WASP who struggles with his lack of direction. The three have very different wars: Diestl becomes less sympathetic as he willingly sacrifices more and more merely to survive; Ackerman finally overcomes the discrimination of his fellows in the army only to be nearly undone by the horror of the camps; Whitacre, still without meaning in his life, survives them both. Themes In a 1953 interview, Shaw commented, "what I was trying to do in ''The Young Lions'' was to show the world at a certain point in its history, its good and evil, and as many people as I could crowd into the book struggling through that world, trying to find some reason for trying to stay alive in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucy Crown
''Lucy Crown'' is a novel by American author Irwin Shaw. First published in 1956, it was Shaw's third novel, following The Young Lions and The Troubled Air. Principal Characters * Lucy Crown, wife and mother * Oliver Crown, her husband * Anthony (Tony) Crown, their son * Jeffrey Bunner, Lucy's lover Plot summary Lucy, an orphan, marries Oliver, a successful but frustrated businessman. Oliver's ambitions are thwarted when his father dies and Oliver is forced to run the family business. He proves to be a controlling husband. Lucy, who suffers from self-esteem issues, is intimidated by him and gives up her career aspirations. In the summer of 1937, Oliver leaves Lucy (now age 35) and son Tony (age 13) alone at a lake resort for several weeks while he attends to business. During Oliver's absence Lucy is pursued by Jeffrey, a Dartmouth College undergraduate they have hired to be a companion for Tony. She resists Jeffrey's advances but they eventually begin what Lucy regards as a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1951 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1951. — Opening lines of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' Events *January 12 – Janie Moore, C. S. Lewis' so-called adoptive mother, dies. *March – The American writer Flannery O'Connor leaves hospital after being diagnosed with lupus at the age of 25. *March 12 – Hank Ketcham's U.S. '' Dennis the Menace'' appears for the first time in 16 United States newspapers. *March 17 – The homonymous U.K. '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip first appears in the children's comic ''The Beano''. *Spring – Arthur C. Clarke's short story " The Sentinel", which will form a basis for the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) and a subsequent novel, is published as "Sentinel of Eternity" in the only issue ever produced of the American science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine ''10 Story Fantasy''. *May – Joe Orton enters the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he meets his lover and ultimate murderer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blacklisting
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, they are seen by a government or other organization as being one of a number of people who cannot be trusted or who is considered to have done something wrong. As a verb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list. Origins of the term The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy ''The Unnatural Combat''. After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father. The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term originally referred to the controversial practices and policies of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Red Scare#Second Red Scare, Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s. It was characterized by heightened political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals, and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and socialist influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States, espionage by Soviet agents. After the mid-1950s, McCarthyism began to decline, mainly due to Joseph McCarthy's gradual loss of public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false, and sustained opposi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himan Brown
Himan Brown (July 21, 1910 – June 4, 2010Himan Brown obituary. ''The New York Times'', June 6, 2010.), also known as Hi Brown, was an American producer of radio and television programs. Over seven decades, Brown produced and directed more than 30,000 radio shows, for all of the major radio networks and syndication. He worked with such actors as , , , |
Dalton Trumbo
James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter who scripted many award-winning films, including ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), ''Exodus'', ''Spartacus'' (both 1960), and ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944). One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of alleged Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo, the other members of the Hollywood Ten, and hundreds of other professionals in the industry were blacklisted by Hollywood. He continued working clandestinely on major films, writing under pseudonyms or other authors' names. His uncredited work won two Academy Awards for Best Story: for ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), which was presented to a front writer, and for '' The Brave One'' (1956), which was awarded to a pseudonym used by Trumbo. When he was given public screen credit for both ''Exodus'' and ''Spartacus'' in 1960, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Howard Lawson
John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American writer, specializing in plays and screenplays. After starting with plays for theaters in New York City, he worked in Hollywood on writing for films. He was the first president of the Writers Guild of America, West after the Screen Writers Guild divided into two regional organizations. Lawson was one of the Hollywood Ten, the first group of American film industry professionals to be blacklisted by Congress during the 1950s McCarthy era's investigation of communist influence in Hollywood. He and his colleagues refused to testify; he was convicted of contempt of Congress and served a year in prison. He moved to Mexico, where he wrote some books about theater. After returning to the US, he taught at some universities in California. Using a pseudonym, he wrote the screenplay for ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1951), an adaptation of Alan Paton's novel about South Africa that was critical of apartheid. Life an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having either fascist or communist ties. It became a standing (permanent) committee in 1945, and from 1969 onwards it was known as the House Committee on Internal Security. When the House abolished the committee in 1975, its functions were transferred to the House Judiciary Committee. The committee's anti-communist investigations are often associated with McCarthyism, although Joseph McCarthy himself (as a U.S. Senator) had no direct involvement with the House committee. McCarthy was the chairman of the Government Operations Committee and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate, not the House. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
