Helen Keller

Two incredibly talented women, Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, somehow wove communication out of some other warp than sight; some other weft than hearing.

Keller was “trebly defective”: blind, deaf, and mute.  Sullivan also faced triple obstacles: partially blind, mistreated in childhood, and parentless young. How did they manage to overcome such formidable hardships?  It couldn’t have been done with only one incredibly talented person.  Both had to be remarkable.  Both were.

Helen Keller went on to live a generous life of helping others, especially children.  She campaigned for better treatment of people with physical disabilities.  This letter, which found its way into riverrun, is of another one of her areas of interest.

The civil war in Spain, just like any war anywhere, left children without family, without country.

The sentiment in the letter is well expressed.  It is the careful signature at the bottom, though, that is so very poignant and so very admirable.  

A 1930 newsreel with Keller and Sullivan demonstrating how Keller learned talking from Sullivan.  Fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw

very moving newsreel of Helen Keller speaking to disabled youngsters in Australia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdSEljce6Y

American Foundation for the Blind includes a biography and photos of Helen Keller

http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?FolderID=1&SectionID=1

AFB bio & photos of Ann Sullivan

http://www.afb.org/annesullivan/

Article about Basque child refugees in UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/11/forgotten-children-spain-civil-war

Spanish Civil War: Refugees

http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/camp/eur/ea/scw/scw-ref.html

autobiographies of Spanish child refugees in a Quaker Home in France

http://framespa.revues.org/268

The Hollywood Ten

The House UnAmerican Activities Committee was, as a phenomenon, first cousin to an oxymoron.

How could the persecution of people for what they believe possibly be considered American? Wasn't there a Big Fuss over the U.S. Constitution? All those states refused to ratify without the assurance of a Bill of Rights to protect the individual from a frivolously malicious government.  A frivolously malicious government.

Nevertheless Senator Joseph McCarthy was able to take over the reins of the HUAC and tromp over much touted American freedoms.

The government printed pamphlets of all that tromping.  riverrun recently got whole boxes of the House UnAmerican Committee Proceedings.

The Hollywood Ten and Blacklisting are representative of the havoc wrecked across many industries in many regions of the country.

In 1947, members of the movie industry were brought before the committee as accused Communists.  The accusation in itself, at that time, carried the implication of treason or near-treason. Some people squirmed and cooperated with the committee.  The Hollywood Ten didn't.  They faced inquisition because anonymous "friendly witnesses" had suggested their names to the HUAC. As a group, The Ten refused to play the HUAC game. They were jailed for contempt of congress.

Who were they?

alphabetically:

Alvah Bessie - 1904 - 1985 - went to Columbia University - worked in theater - wrote short stories, novels and screenplays - leftist political views - volunteered in the Spanish Civil War -theater and film critc -later wrote Inquisition in Eden about his bout with the HUAC -sentenced to 12 months prison and fined $1000.

website by his son, Dan Bessie about books etc. http://www.alvahsbooks.com/ books.com

LA Times Obituary: http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-24/news/mn-4727_1_alvah-bessie

Herbert Biberman - 1900 - 1971 - attended Yale and Univ PA - joined Theater Guild - stage manager and director - wrote and directed B movies for Warner Bros. - 1950 served 6 months in prison and blacklisted

YouTube excerpt of HUAC bullying and Biberman resisting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds2SDTFXIgM&noredirect=1

bio: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=6817557&page=gr

Lester Cole - born 1904 NYC – high school dropout - actor - screenwriter - one of the founders of Writers' Guild - joined ACP in 1934 - wrote many screenplays, after blacklisted could only sell screenplays under other peoples' names - wrote autobiography Hollywood Red -paid $1000 fine and served 10 months in prison and then was blacklisted

http://www.darcy-kane.com/html/lestercole.html

Edward Dmytryk  - 1908 – 1999 – born in Canada, Ukrainian grandparents - served time in jail but lost his resolve.  He gave the HUAC names of alleged Communists to win release from the Hollywood Blacklist. He was an employable director again. Wrote Odd Man Out: A Memoir of The Hollywood Ten about that time and some books on directing including On Film Editing which advises that every scene should begin and end with continuing action.

somewhat pitiable attempts at justifying himself + film advice:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edward_dmytryk.html

bio and more info on the times:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdmytryk.htm

Ring Lardner, Jr  - 1915 – 2000n – wrote screen plays (also books) – fined and served a full year in prison for contempt of congress – even after he was released, he had to get non-blacklisted friends to front his screenplays for him – went on to do impressive work, eventualty under his own name again.

Very nice life timeline and filmography:

http://www.tridget.com/rwljr.htm

somewhat scrambled info:

http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Ring_Lardner.html

John Howard Lawson - 1894 – 1977 – screen writer – helped organize The Screenwriters’ Guild – worked, then later volunteered for Red Cross in World War I – formally protested Sacco and Vanzetti trial.  – he was fined, imprisoned and blacklisted for his refusal to talk to HUAC – moved to Mexico after release from jail and wrote under pseudonym.

Site set up by Lawson’s son, Jeffrey, includes bio and much more:

http://www.johnhowardlawson.net/Home_Page.html

Intro and transcript of part of Lawson’s hearing:

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6441

Albert Maltz  - 1908 – 1985 – a talented, well-educated, and successful and rich screenwriter, Maltz struggled with ideas and creativity – he was a sympathetic member of the Communist party but bridled under the party’s push to have writers be spokesmen for the party.  In his famous essay, Maltz says, “It has been my conclusion for some time that much of the left–wing artistic activity—both creative and critical—has been restricted, narrowed, tuned away from life, sometimes made sterile—because the atmosphere and thinking of the literary left–wing had been based upon a shallow approach…" "I have come to believe that the accepted understanding of art as a weapon is not a useful guide, but a straitjacket.”

NY Times Obituary:

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/29/arts/albert-maltz-a-screenwriter-blacklisted-by-industry-dies.html

Accolades and bio information by an admiring family member:

http://www.pomerantz.org/albert_maltz.htm

Samuel Ornitz - 1890 – 1957 -  social worker for New York Prison Association and for Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children – later a screenwriter – outspoken advocate of the Soviet Union – like the other 9, he was fined, imprisoned and blacklisted.  Later he lived in Mexico and wrote novels.

These novels were apparently more substantial and experimentally creative than generally acknowledged -- except here:

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.14.97/cover/lit6-9733.html

bio:

http://www.answers.com/topic/samuel-ornitz

Robert Adrian Scott  - 1912 – 1973 – writer, later producer – especially film noir – after HUAC and blacklisting his second wife, Joan LaCour fronted for his screenplays.

Mini biography includes some interesting family relationships:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0778789/bio

CIA testimony from congressional hearings:

http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/cla/legacies/rsimon/rsimonsite/Hum410/ScottHUAC.htm

Dalton Trumbo - 1905 – 1976 – lived in western USA – held various jobs during the depressed years – screenwriting starting in 1934 – in 1947 defied HUAC and was punished along with the rest of the Hollywood 10 - Blacklisted but was very active writing from Mexico City ad then southern California behind fronts and under assumed names -  a movie written under the assumed name, Robert Rich, won an Academy Award which presented a puzzle since award winner “Rich” seemed mysteriously non-existent.  The award ceremony was in 1957 – 3 years after Senator Joseph McCarthy had been censured by the Senate for his wild excesses.  Trumbo revealed himself behind the fake name.  Shortly afterwards he was credited for several other hits and the lengthy decade of Hollywood Blacklisting was effectively over.

San Francisco Chronicle – includes photographs:

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/He-was-blacklisted-in-a-national-witch-hunt-Yet-2726044.php#photo-2178181

American Masters biography:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/dalton-trumbo/about-dalton-trumbo/1166/

American Communist Party

http://www.cpusa.org/

A lengthy and extremely interesting article, including several YouTube documentaries and extensive quotations both sympathetic to and horrified by McCarthyism

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm

FAS at the Indian Pageant on Mt. Hood 1948

Frank Scioscia always had something to read in his pocket or some place nearby. Books everywhere actually. Even at Max Gilroy's Indian Pageant with Umatilla Indians on Mt. Hood.

Max, with his wife, Virginia, built a fort up in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. For a couple of summers, 1948 & 1949 I think, Max orchestrated a pageant with plays and native dances.

Max and Virginia Gilroy and Frank and Mary Scioscia were friends at Reed College together. Both men came to Reed fresh from their World War II experiences. Both women came fresh from their straight A high school experiences. Max recruited the Scioscias and others for his pageant. Those were grand summers.

One of the Umatilla women made Scioscia a wonderful leather shirt. It's still in the family. Just like the books.

Umatilla Indians

http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/history.html

Max Gilroy's son, Scott has an interesting page: http://members.shaw.ca/sgilroy/main.htmll

Max Gilroy wrote a newspaper column called The Old Dropout. A short-cut to some of those:

http://members.shaw.ca/gilroys/dropout.html

Virginia also wrote interesting stuff based on the unusual scenery of her life, but she never published, therefore, unfortunately, no link.

J.K. Gill's Portland, Oregon

In the late 1940s a lively crew worked at J.K. Gill's Bookstore. They were surrounded by books and interesting co workers.

World War II was over and life was good.

H.B.L.S.S.

photo by

Herb Allen

November 1948

Reading

Frances Steloff - Gotham Book Mart

     In 1920 when she was 32, Frances Steloff opened Gotham Book and Art shop.  It was a risky adventure.  She didn't have much money.  Her first store was a small basement rental in the theater district.  She had a great love and awe of books, and she owned a couple of hundred volumes of literature, poetry, art and dance.  That was her initial stock.

      Steloff was clever and savvy and energetic.  She added the kind of books that theater goers would like.  She chatted up browsers.  The browsers bought.  She was starting to be a success.

      Later that first year Steloff took on David Moss as a business partner.  Frances Steloff liked the avante-garde, the experimental.  She didn't like censorship, but it was really Moss who pushed the banned books.  They bought them from Europe.  They defied the censors and offered them for sale in Gotham.  Both Steloff and Moss were prosecuted for selling obscenity but neither served jail time.  They were fined and warned.

     In 1923 Frances Steloff and David Moss married.  To celebrate they sailed off to Europe for an extended book buying jaunt.  They bought banned books and made fast friends of the authors.

     Back in NYC they moved to larger quarters on 47th Street, changed the name to Gotham Book Mart, and Moss designed the famous sign: Wise Men Fish Here.   What an incredibly great sign and slogan.

     The bookshop prospered.  The marriage didn't.  Steloff and Moss divorced in 1930.  Steloff resumed her role as sole force shaping the Gotham Book Mart.  She sold what she liked.   She stocked little magazines and art as well as books and broadsides.  She helped found the James Joyce Society which met in her store.  She befriended and aided authors and poets, dancers and artists.

     A partial list of Steloff's friends reads like the curriculum of some fascinating cross-disciplinary course:  ee cummings, Jean Cocteau, James Joyce, Marianne Moore, Tennessee Williams, Alan Ginsberg, Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Gertrude Stein, Lawrence Durrell, Salvadore Dali, Joseph Campbell, Martha Graham.  And many more.  She lent money and published books and promoted creative artists.  Steloff's Gotham Book Mart was a luminous mecca.  Authors and artists met in her store.

     Frances Steloff bought the brownstone on 47th Street when her store made a 3rd move to 41 47th.  She lived in an apartment upstairs.  The building was crammed with books and resonated with creative adventure.

     Frances Steloff overcame a difficult childhood of poverty and disappointment.  Gotham made money.  She overcame the grade school ceiling to her education.  Gotham breathed thought and knowledge.

     She had legendary literary figures as her friends and fans.  She became  a legendary figure herself.  She created and developed and nurtured a truly great book store: Gotham Book Mart.  

     

Bookleggers and Smuthounds, by Jay A. Gertzman an interesting book - includes some passages about Steloff and Moss

Our Joyce, by Joseph Kelly - ditto

website with photos and anecdotes of Frances Steloff

J.K. Gill's Bookstores

summer 1945

Mary Lou Hershey and a friend are pictured here on the rooftop of J.K. Gill's Bookstore in Portland, Oregon. I doubt they were supposed to be there. The store was 10 floors high and there aren't any guardrails. And look at their expressions. Mary Lou in particular (on the left) looks as if she knows full well that the roof is off limits to employees.

J.K. Gill's closed the last of its stores in the 1990s. They'd been selling books and stationary and art supplies for more than 100 years.

In the 1950s J.K. Gill's was a fine old bookstore in downtown Portland. The first 2 or 3 floors were retail floors where they carried a comprehensive stock across all publishing companies. The upper floors were dedicated to the J.K. Gill's publishing and wholesale division. On one of the highest floors books were packed and then sent down a twisting shoot, very much like a sliding board, to several floors below where they were shipped out. I imagined myself on that terrifying ride down the book slide - out of the lit packing area through several unlit lower floors, gathering speed in the dark as I went. I imagined it so much that I almost think I really did go down - or worse, my little brothers did.

Edith Bristol ran the Children's Book department at J.K. Gill's. She had good posture and wore suits. She pulled her hair back. If she wasn't twinkling, she could look a little austere.

There was a wonderful Golden Books display unit in the Children's department. It was a sturdy wooden box about 4' x 4' x 5', painted to look like a house for elves. Elves were painted looking out the painted windows and working in the garden. The yellow roof was on a slant with little cubbies for book display. Back-up inventory could be stored on shelves inside the box. I know this display unit so well because Edith Bristol gave it to my brothers and sister and me when Gill's was through with it.

Edith lived out of the city some distance with a woman who didn't dress as well as Edith did.

Mary Lou Hershey was 18 when she got a job at J.K. Gill's. This was about the time she she met and fell in love with Frank Scioscia. No wonder he fell in love with her too. She was lovely, sweet, smart, cheerful AND she was a reader. She was a reader who worked in a bookstore!

Later, after he was discharged from the army and they were married, Frank Scioscia took a fun job amongst all those books at J.K. Gill's too.