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Robert Shaw Papers,
1941-1971
MSS 037
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Title: Robert Shaw Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1941-1971
Collection number: MSS 037
Creator:
Shaw, Robert, 1916?-1996
Extent:
2 boxes
1 linear foot
1 linear foot
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Abstract: This collection consist primarily of scripts
written by members of the Hollywood Writers Mobilization during World War II,
and political speeches and spots written for the California Democratic Party in
1946 and for Henry Wallace's 1948 Progressive Party presidential
campaign.
Language:
English.
The Robert Shaw Papers were donated to the Library by Ellenore
Hittelman on September 27, 1990.
The collection is available for research only at the Library's
facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday
through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library
indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library
for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed
only with the express written permission of the Library's director. It is not
necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission
for publication, it is as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Robert Shaw Papers, Southern California
Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles, California.
Robert Shaw was active in the Screenwriters Guild in Hollywood during
the 1940s and 1950s. He was on the edges, if not the center, of the political
turmoil in Hollywood during that period. He was associated with the Hollywood
Writers Mobilization (HWM) during World War II, serving on the editorial board
of the HWM's publication,
Communiqué. He also wrote speeches and television
spots for James Roosevelt and the State Democratic Committee during the 1946
election period. He may also have been a speechwriter for Henry Wallace's 1948
campaign. A progressive, Shaw, was also concerned about conviction and
execution of the Rosenbergs and the treatment of the Hollywood Ten.
The Hollwood Writers Mobilization
The Hollywood Writers Mobilization (HWM) was an organization that
sprang up in the week after the Pearl Harbor bombing. Founded by Francis
Faragoh and Pauline Lauber Finn, amongst others, the HWM was a loosely
organized group that was to act as a pool of writers for the Hollywood Victory
Committee and the government. They worked closely with the Office of War
Information (OWI) and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). They wrote camp
shows, radio dramas, and political speeches. Ring Lardner, Jr., Fred Rinaldo,
Vic Parch, Robert Ardrey, Phil Dunne and others, created and wrote for
Communiqué. The HWM was later accused of being
Communist run or dominated and ended up on the U.S. Attorney General's list of
subversive organizations during the McCarthy period. In 1943, Jack Tenney,
chair of the State Un-American Activities Committee, attempted to prevent the
HWM's first writers' conference at UCLA. His attempt failed when the conference
was able to show the support of President Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie and the
OWI. In 1944, members of the HWM were called before a Tenney Committee hearing.
Membership in the HWM was also used to support charges of communism against the
Hollywood Ten.
This collection contains correspondence, scripts, speeches, pamphlets,
clippings and periodicals. The materials cover World War II through the early
1950s and illustrate the work of the Hollywood Writer's Mobilization, and
Shaw's work or interest in various progressive issues and political campaigns.
The majority of the collection consists of 19 radio and film scripts written by
various screenwriters (none by Shaw) as a part of the Hollywood Writers
Mobilization. Many of the scripts deal with issues concerning the reintegration
of returning soldiers into society and at least one deals directly with racism.
Political campaign materials include a series of radio scripts written by Shaw
for James Roosevelt and other California Democratic Party officials and
candidates during the 1946 campaign, and a series of speeches for Henry Wallace
during his bid for the presidency on the Progressive Party ticket in 1948. The
Wallace scripts are not attributed but handwritten notes on two of them imply
that Shaw may have been involved as a scriptwriter for the campaign.
The remaining material concerns other progressive causes. The material
on the Hollywood Ten includes drafts of protest pamphlets that Shaw may have
been involved in producing. Also included are materials on the Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg Trial and execution, a FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
Hearing and the status of Radio Station KFI, other miscellaneous documents, and
a few publications (including a pamphlet --
The Truth About Hollywood: The record of action taken by
approximately 1000 delegates of seventeen guilds and unions, June 28, 1944, to
combat anti-democratic and anti-labor activities in the motion picture industry
during the war
), the March 13, 1944
Daily Variety: News of the Show World, and the March 13,
1944
The Hollywood Reporter: Today's Film News Today.
A run of
I.F. Stone's Weekly was removed from this collection and
added to the Library's existing run of the publication. An unpublished
booklet/pamphlet on a 1948 Los Angeles Police Department brutality case,
Justice for Salcido by Guy Endore, was also added to the
Library's pamphlet collection.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Title: Hollywood Studio Strike Collection,
Date: 1930s - 1940s
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Title: Civil Rights Congress, Los Angeles,
Date: Late 1940's -1950's
Physical Description:
23 boxes
- (See Mobilization for Democracy Series)
Title: Pamphlet Collection
Ceplair, Larry and
Steven Englund.
The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community,
1930-1960.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983
Horne, Gerald.
Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930-1950: Moguls, Mobsters,
Stars, Reds, & Trade Unionists.
Austin:
University of Texas Press,
2001.
Schwartz, Nancy Lynn and
Sheila Schwartz
The Hollywood Writers' Wars. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982.