John Howard Lawson (1894-1977) is usually discussed today as one of the Hollywood Ten, the group of Hollywood professionals, mostly writers, who were imprisoned for contempt of congress. Newsreel footage of Lawson’s appearance before HUAC, with J Parnell Thomas pounding the gavel and shouting “That is not the question, that is not the question” is the one most frequently played when the McCarthy Era is under discussion. And, unlike his nine colleagues, Lawson’s career never recovered from the blacklist; as he said, “I’m much more notorious, and extremely proud of that”.
Before HUAC, however, Lawson was a celebrated playwright and screenwriter, and one of the original organizers of the Screen Writers Guild. It was shortly after signing a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that Lawson worked, without credit, on the screenplay for Madam Satan.
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