ustxtxb_obs_1997_02_28_50_00029-00000_000.pdf

Though cynical about the Hollywood culture, he exults in the collaborative process of creating stories for a camera: “I loved being inside a studio, watching how a film was made, the craft that went into it, the teamwork among the makers, the unstated pride in their work.” Banished from that world by ideological inquisitors who deliberately targeted an industry that was most visible and vulnerable, Bernstein was prevented from writing openly for movies or TV. Intent on intimidation, FBI agents periodically accosted him, interrogated his friends, and inspected his garbage. Yet despite government harassment and economic hardship, Bernstein endured his ordeal more successfully than other blacklist victims, casualties of depression, exile, prison and suicide. As a screenwriter, he had an advantage over actors, directors and others forbidden for political reasons from making a movie: he did not have to show up on the set. Bernstein describes how he sustained his career, and his income, by submitting material under a false name, through a series of unlikely surrogates willing to pretend that they actually wrote his script. One, fond of dangling from dangerous window ledges, eventually gave up the job because passing off Bernstein’s work as hers threatened her fragile ego; another because the quality of the scripts offended his exalted sense of self. Bernstein finds irony in the sly contributions he was able to make to the TV series You Are There: “In that shameful time of McCarthyite terror, of know-nothing attempts to deform and defile history, to kill any kind of dissent, we were able to do shows about civil liberties, civil rights, artistic freedom, the Bill of Rights.” Inside Out is a print-based You Are There for a scoundrel time in American life. HoWever, it concludes triumphantly, in 1975, on the set of The Front, the movie overtly written by Bernstein and starring Woody Allen as a man who pretends to be the creator of screenplays written by a blacklisted author. This zestful book features finely etched profiles of Elia Kazan, Rocky Graziano, Zero Mostel, Irwin Shaw and Bette Davis and a wrenching account of the benefit concert for the leftist Civil Rights Congressby Paul Robeson in Peekskill, New York, that was violently disrupted by a police-promoted riot. Inside Out is signed, proudly, by Walter Bernstein. Steven G. Kellman is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. CLASSIFIEDS ORGANIZATIONS WORK for single-payer National Health Care. Join GRAY PANTHERS, intergenerational advocates against ageism and for progressive policies promoting social and economic justice. $20 individual; $35 family. 3710 Cedar, Austin, TX TEXAS AIDS NETWORK dedicated to improving HIV/AIDS policy and funding in Texas. Individual membership $25, P.O. Box 2395, Austin, TX REVOLTED BY EXECUTIONS? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penalty. WORK FOR OPEN, responsible government in Texas. Join Common Cause/Texas, 1615 Guadalupe, #204, http://www.ccsi.com/comcause. TEXAS TENANTS’ UNION. Membership $10/six months, $18/year, $30 or more/sponsor. Receive handbook on tenants’ rights, newsletter, and more. 5405 East Grand, Dallas, TX 75223. END LOGGING OF ANCIENT FORESTS and roadless areas, stop clearcutting of our National Forests. Join the nationwide campaign to protect and restore America’s wild and natural forests. For a free brochure contact Save America’s Forests, 4 Library Court SE, Washington, D.C. CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, the last Friday of every month, at Furr’s Cafeteria Banquet Room in Northcross Mall, Austin. For information call LIBERTARIAN PARTY Liberal on personal freedoms, but conservative in NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We give working writers a fighting chance. Collective bargaining. Grievance procedures. Health insurance. Journalists, authors, poets, commercial writers. Forming locals in Houston, Austin, and E-mail: [email protected]. PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join the Texas Civil Rights Project, 2212 E. MLK, Austin, TX 78702. $25/year. Volunteers also needed. Contact Jim 474-5073. POLITICAL DATA NEWSLETTER gives valuable insights. Ideal for activist liberal voters! Special emphasis on Congress. Left/liberal commentary. Two free issues upon request. Contact USA Political Research: 2304 Herring, [email protected] . EMPLOYMENT ENVIRONMENTAL COMPANY. Experiencing huge growth. Offices across the country. Looking for good people. [email protected]. LABOR NOTES seeks staff member for organizing worker delegations and conferences, grant writing, writing for Labor Notes, union outreach. Experience: Spanish/English, cross-border organizing, grant writing, computer aptitude. Rsum to Martha Gruelle, Labor Notes, 7435 Michigan Ave, DeSERVICES MARY NELL MATHIS, CPA, 20 years experience in tax, litigation support, and other analyses. 901 Rio Grande, HOUSEBUYERS, The Consumer’s Agent. Specialists in representing central Austin residential buyers. WORLDWISE DESIGN, awardwinning graphic design studio. ‘For creative, effective and professional designs for your educational and promoDIGITAL ARTS CONSULTINGSystems and training for community service and cultural heritage organizations. Presentations for Internet, CD-ROM and video. Multimedia learning, digital exhibitions and virc.com . TAOS SKIING AND MORE. Little Tree Bed & Breakfast. Authentic adobe hacienda near the slopes. See home page URL http://taoswebb.com/ FOR SALE ACT NOW$899 swimming pool. Warehouse forced to dispose of new, huge, 20’x32’ o.d. pool, complete with sun deck, fencing, hi-rate filter, pump ladders, vac, and warranty, etc. 24 Hrs. Don’t Delay! CLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th, Austin, TX FEBRUARY 28, 1997 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29 tirc *–s,