George Pepper (December 1, 1913 – December 14, 1969), known also as George P. Werker was a blacklisted Hollywood organizer and producer who collaborated with the Spanish film director
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
and writer
Hugo Butler
Hugo Dansey Butler (4 May 1914 – 7 January 1968) was a Canadian-born screenwriter working in Hollywood who was blacklisted by the film studios in the 1950s.
Biography
Born on 4 May 1914 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, his father, Frank Russel ...
.
Early life
Son of William Pepper and Sophie Werker, George Pepper was a violin child prodigy making headlines for soloing with adult symphony orchestras.... At age four, along with his older brother Jack, he raised money to construct the
Hollywood Bowl by playing the violin, and both boys names were inscribed in the amphitheater's seats.
In 1925, at age 12, Pepper received a scholarship to the
Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with the violinist
Carl Flesch
Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy.
Life and career
Flesch was born in Moson (now part of Mosonmagy ...
. Later he continued his studies with
Leopold Auer
Leopold von Auer ( hu, Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers.
Early life and career
Au ...
and
Efrem Zimbalist
Efrem Zimbalist Sr. ( – February 22, 1985) was a concert violinist, composer, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music.
Early life
Efrem Zimbalist Sr. was born on April 9, 1888, O. S., equivalent to April 21, 1889, in the Greg ...
, until his playing career was cut short by a repetitive stress nerve condition in his left hand at age 24.
Career
Hollywood organizer
During the 1940s, Pepper became secretary of the Hollywood Democratic Committee and the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions (HICCASP). According to Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund's book ''The Inquisition in Hollywood'', during Pepper's term as executive secretary, membership skyrocketed, and the HICCASP became "the major outpost of progressivism west of the Hudson River". Hollywood intellectuals and stars like
Gene Kelly,
Gregory Peck,
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) ...
, and
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
worked with the organization to improve the rights, conditions, and pay of industry workers across the country.
Blacklisting
HICCASP was targeted by the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during
McCarthyism. Thousands of radical and progressive workers, including Pepper and his wife Jeanette, were blacklisted as "potential communists," which meant their termination or exclusion from their profession. On April 25, 1951, film director
Edward Dmytryk
Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was an American film director. He was known for his 1940s noir films and received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for '' Crossfire'' (1947). In 1947, he was named as one of the Hollywoo ...
appeared before HUAC as a friendly witness and named Pepper as a communist. Jeannette Pepper was subsequently named by writer Stanley Roberts on May 20, 1952.
Film producer
In Spring of 1951, George and Jeanette Pepper fled to Mexico to dodge a subpoena from the
Tenney Committee, California's subcommittee of HUAC. In Mexico, Pepper created Producciones Olmec and met Spanish filmmaker
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
. He introduced Buñuel to the blacklisted screenwriter Hugo Butler. Then, working under the alias George P. Werker, Pepper produced Butler's scripts for ''The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (1954), ''Torero'' (1956), ''The Little Giants'' (1958), and ''The Young One'' (La joven, 1960)
Collector
Pepper also became one of the foremost authorities and collectors of Pre-Columbian artifacts, with his name displayed as donor of many important works in the National Museum of anthropology in Mexico City. In Mexico City, Pepper met Fred Vanderbilt Field and Nieves Orozco who introduced him to artist Miguel Covarrubias. Covarrubias traded some of his paintings and Balinese textiles for Pepper's pre-Columbian, and Pepper photographed the now disappeared Olmec Notebooks of Miguel Covarrubias
Pepper is survived by his daughter, author and educator Margot Eve Pepper and grandson, Rafael Pepper-Clarke, also a journalist, since age 7
Selected filmography
*''
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' ( es, Aventuras de Robinson Crusoe; also released as ''Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'') is a 1954 adventure film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1719 novel of the same name by Daniel Defoe. It stars Dan O'Herlihy as ...
'' (1954) directed by
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
*''
Torero!'' (1956), directed by Carlos Velo
*''
Los pequeños gigantes'' (1958), directed by Hugo Butler
*''
La joven
''The Young One'' ( es, La joven) (released as ''White Trash'' in the United States and ''Island of Shame'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1960 English-language Mexican drama (film and television), drama film directed and co-written by Luis Buñue ...
'' (''The Young One'', 1960) directed by Luis Buñuel
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, George
1913 births
1969 deaths
American film producers
Hollywood blacklist