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NEW YORK AREA-PART VII

(Entertainment)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1955

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES,
New York, N. Y.

PUBLIC HEARING

A subcommittee of the Committee on Un-American Activities met 10:20 a. m., pursuant to recess, in room 1703 of the Federal Buildg, Foley Square, New York, N. Y., Hon. Francis E. Walter (chairin) presiding.

Committee members present: Representatives Walter, Willis, and herer.

Staff members present: Frank S. Tavenner, Jr., counsel; Donald . Appell and Frank Bonora, investigators; and Thomas W. Beale, r., chief clerk.

Chairman WALTER. The committee will be in order.

Mr. Tavenner, call your first witness.

Mr. TAVENNER. Mr. George Hall, will you come forward?
Chairman WALTER. Will you raise your right hand?

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the ruth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. HALL. I do.

TESTIMONY OF GEORGE HALL

Mr. TAVENNER. You are Mr. George Hall?

Mr. HALL. That is right.

Mr. TAVENNER. It is noted that you are not accompanied by counsel. It is the practice of the committee to advise all witnesses that they have a right to counsel, and if during the course of their interrogation, they desire to consult counsel, an opportunity will be given them. Mr. HALL. I am satisfied with my own opinion, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. When and where were you born, Mr. Hall?
Mr. HALL. Toronto, Canada.

Mr. TAVENNER. When did you come to this country?

Mr. HALL. In 1938.

Mr. TAVENNER. From Canada?

Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Are you a naturalized American citizen?

Mr. HALL. Yes, sir. I became a citizen in Waco, Tex., February 1943, while I was in the United States Army.

2374

COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW YORK AREA

Mr. TAVENNER. For what period of time did you serve in the Ame Forces of the United States?

Mr. HALL. From 1942 to 1946, 3 years and 3 months and 14 days. Mr. TAVENNER. What is your occupation?

Mr. HALL. I am an actor.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you reside in the city of New York?
Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Where have you engaged in your occupation or profession? Has it been exclusively in the city of New York?

Mr. HALL. No, sir. I have been practically all over the country in the pursuit of my profession.

Mr. TAVENNER. But New York has been your headquarters?
Mr. HALL. That is right; yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. How long have you been engaged in the acting profession professionally?

Mr. HALL. Professionally in New York since 1946, but sort of semiprofessionally and amateurishly, I guess you might say all of my life, all of my adult life.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, what your stage credits have been?

Mr. HALL. Call Me Mister, High Button Shoes, Insect Comedy, Londoner, Touch and Go, Live Wire, An Anonymous Lover, Jones Beach Spectacle, and Stockade; and a great many things in stock and what have you.

In New York specifically, I was in Call Me Mister, Londoner, Touch and Go, The Insect Comedy, and The Live Wire, and the off-Broadway production of Stockade.

Mr. TAVENNER. Have you also been active in the field of television! Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you have any special television credits?

Mr. HALL. Well, I have been on the Ed Sullivan Show twice, on Celebrity Time, many many times. And the last TV show I did was the Man Behind the Badge, CBS production, and there have been quite a few TV shows, and it is difficult to remember them all.

Mr. TAVENNER. Have you also been engaged in the field of radio? Mr. HALL, Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. What radio programs have you engaged in?

Mr. HALL. My radio activity has been mostly on the soap opers called, Pepper Young's Family, which I have done on and off for quite a number of years.

Mr. TAVENNER. What was the first stage production that you took part in?

Mr. HALL. Call Me Mister.

Mr. TAVENNER. When was that?

Mr. HALL. The first New York professional production, in 1946. Mr. TAVENNER. How long were you engaged in that show?

Mr. HALL. I think a year and two months.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee please whether or not during the period you were employed in the production of that show you were a member of the Communist Party?

Mr. HALL. I was a member of the Communist Party from about July or August of 1946 through 1947. During that time I was a cardholding member of the Communist Party.

Mr. TAVENNER. You were a member of the Communist Party then r a period of about 111⁄2 years?

Mr. HALL. Yes, and during that period of 111⁄2 years, I was out of >wn part of it, summer stock, and what have you, and so actually y active participation as a Communist card-holding member, would about 9 months of the actual New York participation, during that ear and a half period.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you tell the committee, please, the circumstances nder which you were recruited or became a member of the Communist Party!

Mr. HALL. I would like to make it very clear, if I may, that no one, nd I would like to specify, no one specifically influenced me or persuaded me or cajoled me or talked me into becoming a member of the Communist Party. This blunder was mine, and I take full responsibility for it.

Previous to my Army service, and during my Army service, I spent a good deal of time in certain regions of our country where I saw things which I interpreted in let us say, an immature intellectually, but an emotional way. The interpretation of these incidents and things prompted me to rebel against what you might call the status quo. I was looking, I suppose, for an association that appeared at any rate emotionally to substantiate my feelings at that time. I took on a kind of, and a pompous big brother attitude, I think, during this period of my life, and very pompous and a big brother attitude toward certain racial minorities who needed my help like they need a hole in the head.

As I study history a little bit, recent history, and much less than recent history, one realizes that leadership in the people themselves of the specific group that I pompously tried to big brother, don't need anyone but themselves.

Now, I joined the Communist Party because they gave me the impression that they, too, felt as I did about these problems. It didn't occur to me until some time later that this particular minority group of whom I was pompously acting as a big brother, had more freedom, and more individual right.

Chairman WALTER. Just suspend here. I asked you men to stop taking pictures, and you know the rules. Even after I told you a minute ago, you went ahead and took pictures. Now this is very disconcerting.

Go ahead, Mr. Hall.

Mr. HALL. I discovered in this country under this Government, these people have more individual liberty and rights and opportunity for personal attainment and achievement, 99.9 percent more I would say than they have under the government of their own national fatherland. It took me some time to realize these things but I eventually did. Mr. TAVENNER. What opportunity presented itself to you to become a member of the Communist Party during the period of time you were employed in the production of Call Me Mister?

Mr. HALL. I think in effect, sir, in actual fact, I sought it out myself. However, there were a couple of people in the cast, and in the stage management of the show, who also apparently felt as I did about these things, and it was through them that I made my first specific contact and became a cardholding member of the Communist

Party. These two people were specifically, Alan Manson and David
Kanter.

Mr. TAVENNER. How was this contact with the Communist Party achieved?

Chairman WALTER. Just a moment. What were the names?
Mr. HALL. Alan Manson, and David Kanter.

The contact was made quite simply by my going to hear someone talk, as you might say, and I became a cardholding member.

I don't recall at that time, in 1946, which would be July or August, going anywhere and signing up for a card. After I went to a meeting, a cell meeting, you might call it, I guess, I was later given a card. I must have signed something, and you just don't do this thing without signing something, and I must have signed something, and I got a card. I became a cardholding member.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were both of the individuals you mentioned connected with the production of Call Me Mister?

Mr. HALL. Yes, they were, but I would like to make it very specific that this is not to give the impression that the show Call Me Mister was Communist ridden. It certainly was not.

Mr. TAVENNER. I understand. What positions or what part did each of those persons have?

Mr. HALL. Mr. Manson was an actor like myself, and Mr. Kanter was assistant stage manager.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you recall how your attention was brought to this meeting that was to be held, and which you attended?

Mr. HALL. I recall Mr. Kanter saying, "I would like you to hear someone talk," and I recall answering immediately, "You don't have to talk me into anything, I am all for it."

In other words, I would like to make it very clear and specific that I was the one actually doing the searching and finding out the place to go and how to get contact.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were either of those two gentlemen at that meeting?

Mr. HALL. Alan Manson.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did Mr. Kanter appear at the meeting or accompany you to the meeting?

Mr. HALL. No, I don't recall the actual physical aspects of my arriving at the meeting, and I just know that I went there and I don't recall the physical aspects of it at all.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you have any knowledge of the time and place of the meeting other than that which was given you by Mr. Kanter! Mr. HALL. No, I don't have any specific recollection of where I went the first time.

Mr. TAVENNER. What I am getting at is, how you learned where the meeting was to be held, the day of the meeting, and the time of the meeting.

Mr. HALL. I must have been told at that time, and I was told at that time, evidently.

Mr. TAVENNER. By whom?

Mr. HALL. By Mr. Kanter.

Mr. TAVENNER. As a result of your attendance at that meeting, I understand that you became a member of the Communist Party? Mr. HALL. That is right.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you become a member at that meeting?

C

Mr. HALL. I don't recall. It must have been very, very shortly fterwards, but I don't quite recall.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you a member of Actors Equity during this eriod of time?

Mr. HALL. One cannot work as an actor without being a member f Actors Equity.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were you assigned to any particular group of the Communist Party, or did you stay with the group with which you et?

Mr. HALL. No, I more or less stayed with the group in which I et, which was, if I recall correctly, Midtown Branch, or something f that nature, and it had a designation of that kind. I think it was alled Midtown.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were there other members of Actors Equity in hat group of the Communist Party?

Mr. HALL. Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. About how many persons composed the group! Mr. HALL. I would say approximately 15, maybe more, and maybe little less.

Mr. TAVENNER. Did you become acquainted, or did you learn the ames of the persons who were in this group, that is, their last names? Mr. HALL. Some of them, yes, not all of them. Oftentimes you ould just know a person by their first name, but some of them I knew their full names.

Mr. TAVENNER. How many of this group of approximately 15 are ou able to identify now?

Mr. HALL. About 6 or 7, I think.

Mr. TAVENNER. Were they for the most part members of Actors quity?

Mr. HALL. Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. Will you give us their names, please?

Mr. HALL. Yes. John Randolph; Sarah Cunningham

Mr. TAVENNER. Was Sarah Cunningham the wife of John Ran-lph?

Mr. HALL. That is correct. Alan Manson; Joshua Shelley; George

eane.

Mr. TAVENNER. Not quite so rapidly.

Is Alan Manson the same individual with whom you talked prior going to the meeting?

Mr. HALL. Yes. Alan Manson never talked to me specifically about ming to the meeting, it was just conversation with Alan.

Mr. TAVENNER. Very well, I think you said Shelley?

Mr. HALL. Joshua Shelley.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was Joshua Shelley employed at that time in the oduction of any stage play?

Mr. HALL. I don't recall to tell you the truth.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was he an actor?

Mr. HALL. Yes.

Mr. TAVENNER. Was he a member of Actors Equity?

Mr. HALL. Yes, I presume.

Mr. TAVENNER. What other persons can you now recall?

Mr. HALL. I think that is all.

Mr. TAVENNER. Do you know a person by the name of George ane?

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