John Howard Lawson

John Howard Lawson

John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American writer. He was for several years head of the Hollywood division of the Communist Party USA. He was also the organization's cultural manager and answered directly to V.J. Jerome, the Party's New York-based cultural chief. He was the first president of the Writers Guild of America, West after the Screen Writers Guild divided into two regional organizations. Lawson was one of the Hollywood Ten, the first group of American film industry professionals to be blacklisted during the 1950s McCarthy era. Before going to Hollywood, Lawson wrote several minor pieces before World War I. After the war he wrote a few more pieces and was drawn to European cubist, futurist and constructivist plays. In 1928, Lawson moved to Hollywood where he wrote scripts for films such as The Ship for Shanghai, Bachelor Apartment, and Goodbye Love. In the winter of 1930-1931, it was at this time during the Great Depression that Lawson wrote Success Story. The Theater Guild rejected the script, but Harold Clurman, a reader for them, had recently just formed the Group Theater and needed new scripts. Clurman and Lawson reworked the play during the summer of 1932, and Success Story opened on September 26, 1932 for 121 performances. Lawson would also pen the screenplay based on the play, Success at Any Price in 1934. During the 1930s, leftists accused Lawson of having a lack of ideological and political commitment. New Playwrights Theater associate Mike Gold attacked him in The New Masses on April 10, 1934, calling him a "A Bourgeois Hamlet of Our Time" who wrote adolescent works that lacked moral fiber or clear ideas. Lawson responded a week later in The New Masses in the article "'Inner Conflict' and Proletarian Art" he cited his middle-class childhood as the reason why he could not fully understand the working people. He also recognized that his prosperity and Hollywood connections were suspect in the fight for workers' rights. Due to the criticism, he joined the Communist Party and began a program of educating himself about the proletarian cause. He would soon travel throughout the poverty-stricken South to study bloody labor conflicts in Alabama and Georgia. While in the South, he would submit articles to the Daily Worker, which got him arrested numerous times. These experiences would inspire his next play, Marching Song. It was put on by the radical Theater Union and it opened on February 17, 1937 and ran for sixty-one performances. Lawson, who joined the American Communist Party in 1934, made several films that were political, including Blockade (1938), which starred Henry Fonda. It was a film on the Spanish Civil War for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Story. Lawson also wrote Counter-Attack (1945), a tribute to the Soviet-USA alliance during the Second World War. He also wrote more innocuous films, such as the critically acclaimed Algiers (1938) and the Humphrey Bogart vehicles Sahara and Action in the North Atlantic in 1943.

  • Title: John Howard Lawson
  • Popularity: 1.857
  • Known For: Writing
  • Birthday: 1894-09-24
  • Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Edward Lewis
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John Howard Lawson Movies

  • 2017
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    Arthur Miller: Writer

    Arthur Miller: Writer

    7.105 2017 HD

    One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which...

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  • 1950
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    The Hollywood Ten

    The Hollywood Ten

    6.6 1950 HD

    A brief look at The Hollywood Ten, a group of screenwriters and directors charged with contempt of court after challenging the House Un-American...

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  • 1996
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    Red Hollywood

    Red Hollywood

    6.1 1996 HD

    A documentary that examines the films made by the victims of the Hollywood Blacklist and offers a radically different perspective on a key period in...

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  • 2019
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    Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner

    Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner

    9.5 2019 HD

    Portrait of Julia Jean Turner, from her childhood to her rise of fame as Lana Turner, to her last role.

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  • 2014
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    Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

    Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

    7.333 2014 HD

    In his early days as an actor, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a shy young man with theatrical ambitions, like many others; but his charisma and superb...

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  • 1938
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    Algiers

    Algiers

    6.3 1938 HD

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  • 1943
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    Action in the North Atlantic

    Action in the North Atlantic

    7 1943 HD

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  • 1947
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    Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

    Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman

    6 1947 HD

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  • 1943
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    Sahara

    Sahara

    7.2 1943 HD

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  • 1931
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    Bachelor Apartment

    Bachelor Apartment

    6.2 1931 HD

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  • 1938
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    Blockade

    Blockade

    5.6 1938 HD

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  • 1940
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    Four Sons

    Four Sons

    7 1940 HD

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  • 1939
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    They Shall Have Music

    They Shall Have Music

    6 1939 HD

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  • 1930
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    Our Blushing Brides

    Our Blushing Brides

    5.9 1930 HD

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  • 1930
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    Our Blushing Brides

    Our Blushing Brides

    5.9 1930 HD

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  • 1957
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    The Careless Years

    The Careless Years

    3.5 1957 HD

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  • 1935
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    Party Wire

    Party Wire

    8 1935 HD

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  • 1929
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    Dynamite

    Dynamite

    6.2 1929 HD

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  • 1940
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    Earthbound

    Earthbound

    4.8 1940 HD

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  • 1934
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    Success at Any Price

    Success at Any Price

    3.9 1934 HD

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  • 1934
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    Success at Any Price

    Success at Any Price

    3.9 1934 HD

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  • 1945
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    Counter-Attack

    Counter-Attack

    6 1945 HD

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  • 1930
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    The Sea Bat

    The Sea Bat

    4.6 1930 HD

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  • 1936
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    Adventure in Manhattan

    Adventure in Manhattan

    5.8 1936 HD

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  • 1933
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    Good-bye Love

    Good-bye Love

    5.5 1933 HD

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  • 1930
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    The Ship from Shanghai

    The Ship from Shanghai

    5.7 1930 HD

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  • 1951
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    Cry, the Beloved Country

    Cry, the Beloved Country

    5.9 1951 HD

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