Blacklist
Page 35
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So eventually, gradually, things got better. As I was writing episodes for such mainstream network shows as Mission: Impossible and Hawaii Five-O and I Spy, I noticed new-old faces being cast. Survivors of the blacklist. Other actors had become directors, mostly on or off-Broadway, and one by one they were being allowed entry to the sound stages. The floodgates never were thrown wide open, but the trickle became a flow. There was no day of armistice declared, there are people who to this day still refuse to speak to other people, but it was kind of over.
I was in the audience at the Writers Guild Awards the night Dalton Trumbo was given the Laurel Award for a lifetime of distinguished work. In his acceptance speech, he asked those gathered to evaluate the past in a new way. Saying that the experience had taught him that everyone touched by the blacklist had been damaged in some measure because they all were forced to do things they would not have otherwise chosen to do. Looking back, he suggested, we might discover that “There were only victims.”
A most generous comment from a great gentleman.
* * *
It took many years before I saw the events I had lived through and the people I had known as material for a novel. Of course, by then I had read shelves of non-fiction accounts. I chose to work in the realm of fiction. To only slightly paraphrase the words that ended those Abe Ginnes teleplays: There are hundreds and hundreds of stories in the naked city and in writing this novel, I have tried to tell some of them.
Lest we forget.
* * *
Two people deserve special mention for their contributions to Blacklist. Tobi Ludwig, my muse, my sounding board, and invaluable partner-in-crime. And Albert Zuckerman, an infinitely knowledgeable and creative man of letters and a super agent.
BY JERRY LUDWIG
Blacklist
Getting Garbo
Little Boy Lost
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JERRY LUDWIG wrote the novel Blacklist after spending most of his creative career in Hollywood. He worked with and knew many of the people—on both ends of the political spectrum—who were caught up in the maelstrom of the Blacklist.
Earlier he dealt with a different aspect of those dark days: he wrote and produced Dash and Lilly, depicting the political and personal challenges faced by Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman (portrayed by Sam Shepard and Judy Davis). The A&E TV film was nominated for nine Emmys, and his teleplay won the Writers Guild of America prize for Best TV Movie. He also has been nominated for the Golden Globe, the Humanitas Prize, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award. His writing credits include I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-0, Columbo, Police Story, MacGyver, and Murder, She Wrote. He now lives in Carmel, California, with his wife, Tobi, an artist.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BLACKLIST
Copyright © 2014 by Jerry Ludwig
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Getty Images
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3539-5 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-2218-4 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466822184
First Edition: June 2014