merlinjones
11-23-2002, 09:28 AM
In further evidence of the complexity of Walt's character: Much has been made of his testimony
against allegedly communist union organizers to the House Committee on unAmerican
Activites... but who has ever heard that he later hired a blacklisted screenwriter?
Thursday's LATimes ran an obituary for Alfred Levitt, 87, communist party member and
screenwriter of the classic socialist fantasy "The Boy With Green Hair". Levitt was blacklisted in
the McCarthy era but found work in television ("Donna Reed" etc.) under the pen name Tom
August, often co-writing with wife Helen.
In the early 60's, Walt Disney hired Tom and Helen August to write two consecutive films: "The
Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle".
...Human beings are complex people, seldom captured by the consensus of history.
against allegedly communist union organizers to the House Committee on unAmerican
Activites... but who has ever heard that he later hired a blacklisted screenwriter?
Thursday's LATimes ran an obituary for Alfred Levitt, 87, communist party member and
screenwriter of the classic socialist fantasy "The Boy With Green Hair". Levitt was blacklisted in
the McCarthy era but found work in television ("Donna Reed" etc.) under the pen name Tom
August, often co-writing with wife Helen.
In the early 60's, Walt Disney hired Tom and Helen August to write two consecutive films: "The
Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle".
...Human beings are complex people, seldom captured by the consensus of history.