Gordon Kahn (1902–1962) was an American writer and
screenwriter who was
blacklisted during the
McCarthy era
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 origina ...
; he is the father of broadcaster and author
Tony Kahn.
[and physician Jim Kahn.
]
Background
Gordon Jacques Kahn
[
] was born on May 11, 1901 in
Szigetvár
Szigetvár (; hr, Siget; tr, Zigetvar; English language, English: Islandcastle; german: Inselburg) is a town in Baranya (county), Baranya County in southern Hungary.
History
The town's Medieval fortification, fortress was the setting of the S ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
.
[ When he was six years old, he and his parents moved to the Lower East Side of ]Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in the United States of America. In 1918, Kahn graduated from Townsend Harris High School in New York City. He spent the next year at Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, then took up studies at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
[
]
Career
While studying at Yale, Kahn became a reporter for the ''Bridgeport Star''.[
]
New York
In New York, he worked for the '' New York Herald'' and ''Zitt's Theatrical Weekly'', the latter for which he wrote a Broadway column in the style of Samuel Pepys.[ In 1922, he wrote a book called ''Manhattan Oases'' about ]speakeasies
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies.
Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States ...
, illustrated by his roommate of the time, Al Hirschfeld.[ For much of the 1920s, Kahn wrote for the '']New York Daily Mirror
The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...
''.[
]
Hollywood
In 1930, former ''Mirror'' colleague Samuel Marx
Samuel Marx (January 26, 1902, New York City – March 2, 1992, Los Angeles) was an American film producer, screenwriter and book author.
Life
Marx was born to a Jewish family. and started working in 1919 as an office boy at the New York offi ...
(later head of scenery at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
), invited Kahn to move to Hollywood and try his luck as a screenwriter.[ He wrote more than a script a year (well over two dozen) in a period under two decades.][ Writing credits include: '']The Death Kiss
''The Death Kiss'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film starring David Manners as a crusading studio writer, Adrienne Ames as an actress, and Bela Lugosi as a studio manager. The thriller features three leading players from the previous yea ...
'' (1932), ''Newsboys' Home
''Newsboys' Home'' is a 1938 crime film that starred Jackie Cooper and '' The Little Tough Guys''.
Plot
When his father, a small town sheriff, is slain by a big city gangster, "Rifle" Edwards becomes a homeless vagabond, drifting from town to t ...
'' (1938), and ''Buy Me That Town
''Buy Me That Town'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Eugene Forde and written by Murray Boltinoff, Harry A. Gourfair, Gordon Kahn and Martin Rackin. The film stars Lloyd Nolan, Constance Moore, Albert Dekker, Sheldon Leonard, Bar ...
'' (1941).
Kahn joined several leftist and liberal causes and helped found the Screen Writers Guild (now Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Gu ...
). He was the first managing editor of ''The Screen Writer''.[
]
Hollywood blacklist
In 1947, when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began its hearings on "Communist infiltration," Kahn was one of the "Nineteen Unfriendlies" subpoenaed.[ He was not called to testify and so did not become one of the ]Hollywood Ten
The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...
.[ Soon after December 1947, however, when the Studios announced the firing of the Hollywood Ten, Kahn lost his job at Warner Bros. Studios.][ In 1948, he published ''Hollywood on Trial''.][
Kahn sold his 13-room ]Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
home, and he and his family moved into a smaller house in Studio City
Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...
. In 1950, fearing arrest, he fled to Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D.
The na ...
, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. His wife and sons Jim and Tony joined him six months later. The Kahns lived there until low funds in 1956, after which they returned to the United States and lived in Manchester, New Hampshire
Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644.
Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Ha ...
.[
Kahn used the pseudonym "Hugh G. Foster" to write magazine articles for ''Holiday'' and '' Atlantic Monthly'', but he never wrote scripts for Hollywood again.][
]
Personal life and death
Kahn married Barbara Brodie; they had two sons.[
Kahn is described as a "man who affected a beard and monocle." One ]FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
report noted that Kahn had "a facial resemblance to Lenin."
Gordon Kahn died age 61 on December 31, 1962, of a heart attack during a snowstorm in Manchester.[
]
Works
Film Screenplays:
* 1931: '' X Marks the Spot''
* 1932: ''The Death Kiss
''The Death Kiss'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film starring David Manners as a crusading studio writer, Adrienne Ames as an actress, and Bela Lugosi as a studio manager. The thriller features three leading players from the previous yea ...
''
* 1934: ''The Crosby Case
''The Crosby Case'' is a 1934 American pre-Code crime film directed by Edwin L. Marin and written by Warren B. Duff and Gordon Kahn. The film stars Wynne Gibson, Onslow Stevens, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Alan Dinehart, Warren Hymer, William C ...
'', '' Mama Runs Wild'', '' The People's Enemy''
* 1935: '' Gigolette''
* 1937: ''Navy Blues (1937 film)
''Navy Blues'' is a 1937 American film directed by Ralph Staub.
Plot summary
A sailor bets his friends he can date any woman he wants to. They pick out a librarian with a reputation as a "cold fish", and when he pursues her he discovers that ...
'', ''The Sheik Steps Out
''The Sheik Steps Out'' is a 1937 American musical film directed by Irving Pichel and written by Adele Buffington and Gordon Kahn. The film stars Ramon Novarro, Lola Lane, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Burke, Stanley Fields and Billy Bevan. The film w ...
''
* 1938: '' I Stand Accused'', ''Newsboys' Home
''Newsboys' Home'' is a 1938 crime film that starred Jackie Cooper and '' The Little Tough Guys''.
Plot
When his father, a small town sheriff, is slain by a big city gangster, "Rifle" Edwards becomes a homeless vagabond, drifting from town to t ...
'', ''Tenth Avenue Kid
''Tenth Avenue Kid'' is a 1938 American crime film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and written by Gordon Kahn and Adele Buffington. The film stars Bruce Cabot, Beverly Roberts, Ben Welden, Horace McMahon, John Wray and Jay Novello. The film was r ...
''
* 1939: '' Ex-Champ'', '' Mickey the Kid'', ''S.O.S. Tidal Wave
''S.O.S. Tidal Wave'' is a 1939 American crime film directed by John H. Auer and written by Gordon Kahn and Maxwell Shane. The film stars Ralph Byrd, George Barbier (actor), George Barbier, Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks, Marc Lawrence and Dorothy Lee ( ...
'', '' Ex-Champ''
* 1940: ''Wolf of New York
''Wolf of New York'' is a 1940 American crime film directed by William C. McGann and written by Gordon Kahn and Lionel Houser. The film stars Edmund Lowe, Rose Hobart, James Stephenson, Jerome Cowan, William Demarest and Maurice Murphy. The film ...
''
* 1941: ''Buy Me That Town
''Buy Me That Town'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Eugene Forde and written by Murray Boltinoff, Harry A. Gourfair, Gordon Kahn and Martin Rackin. The film stars Lloyd Nolan, Constance Moore, Albert Dekker, Sheldon Leonard, Bar ...
'', ''World Premiere
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...
''
* 1942: '' Northwest Rangers'', ''A Yank on the Burma Road
''A Yank on the Burma Road'' is a 1942 drama film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Laraine Day, Barry Nelson and Keye Luke. It is also known as ''China Caravan'' and ''Yanks on the Burma Road''.
It was produced as part of a cluster of Ho ...
''
* 1944: '' Cowboy and the Senorita'', 'Lights of Old Santa Fe
''Lights of Old Santa Fe'' is a 1944 American Western Musical film directed by Frank McDonald with a screenplay by Gordon Kahn and Bob Williams. The film stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
Plot
A rodeo owner struggles to make her show a succes ...
'', ''Song of Nevada
''Song of Nevada'' is a 1944 American musical Western film directed by Joseph Kane, and starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
Plot
Rancher John Barrabee is upset his daughter doesn't want to stay in the West; instead, she is a New York City nigh ...
''
* 1945: ''Two O'Clock Courage
''Two O'Clock Courage'' is a 1945 American film noir directed by Anthony Mann and written by Robert E. Kent, based on novel written by Gelett Burgess. The drama features Tom Conway and Ann Rutherford. It is a remake of ''Two in the Dark'' (1936). ...
''
* 1946: '' Blonde Alibi'', ''Her Kind of Man
''Her Kind of Man'' is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Frederick De Cordova, and starring Dane Clark, Janis Paige and Zachary Scott. The film is not to be confused with ''His Kind of Woman'' (1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Ru ...
''
* 1948: ''Whiplash (1948 film)
''Whiplash'' is a 1948 American film noir directed by Lewis Seiler and written by Kenneth Earl, Harriet Frank Jr., Maurice Geraghty and Gordon Kahn. The film stars Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott and Eve Arden.
Plot
The film opens ...
'', ''Ruthless (film)
''Ruthless'' is a 1948 American drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer starring Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet and Louis Hayward.
Plot
Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his ...
''
* 1949: '' Streets of San Francisco (film)''
Television:
* 1956: ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' - screenplay for 1 episode as "Norman Best"
Books:
* ''Manhattan Oases'' illustrated by Al Hirschfeld (1922)[ (2003)
* ''Recent American History'' (1933)][
* ''Hollywood on Trial'' (1948)][
]
Legacy
Kahn is the subject of his son Tony's 1987 short documentary ''The Day the Cold War Came Home.''[ ]
''Blacklisted,'' a docu-drama in six half-hour episodes that first aired on National Public Radio in 1997, chronicles the last fifteen years of Gordon Kahn's life and the fears and ordeal his family experienced. It was written, produced, and narrated by Gordon Kahn's son Tony Kahn. All of the words of Gordon and his wife Barbara were drawn from their writings, diaries, and letters. The words put in the mouth of J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...
were all derived from a confidential 3,000-page FBI surveillance file on Gordon Kahn dated from 1944 to 1962.[
]
See also
* Tony Kahn
* Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying empl ...
References
External links
Wisconsin Historical Society
Gordon Kahn Papers, 1944-1950
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Gordon
1902 births
1962 deaths
American male screenwriters
Hollywood blacklist
People from New York City
People from Cuernavaca
Jewish American novelists
American communists
Columbia University alumni
Yale University alumni
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American writers
20th-century American screenwriters