Red Channels

   Subtitled “A Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television,” Red Channels was a booklet produced in 1950, written by a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Theodore Kirkpatrick, and a right-wing television producer, Vincent Harnett, and published by the right-wing journal Counterattack. It listed 151 individuals in theater, film, and radio broadcasting with links to left-wing organizations. Among those named were harmonica player Larry Adler, musical director and conductor Leonard Bernstein, actor Lee J. Cobb, composer Aaron Copland, writer Dashiell Hammett, folksinger Pete Seeger, and playwright Arthur Miller. All were blacklisted by Hollywood until they cleared their names before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Some chose not to do so.