Anne Heller - Ayn Rand and the World She Made

suspected her own treasured literary agent:Unpublished letters to Benjamin Stolberg, September 26, 1946, and October 9, 1946 (Benjamin Stolberg Collection, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library).

remained her New York agents:Alan Collins died in 1968. Perry Knowlton, who later replaced Collins as president of Curtis Brown, Ltd., in the United States, acted as her primary agent from 1957 until 1982 (100 Voices , Perry Knowlton, p. 307).

“we were all seeing ghosts”: An Oral History with Robert M. W. Vogel , interviewed by Barbara Hall, Beverly Hills, Calif.: Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Oral History Program, 1991.

monopoly over the nation’s literary output:“Writers Form Group to Combat Control by Unit Assailed as Red,” NYT , September 13, 1946, p. 1.

formed the American Writers Association:“Cain Plan Scored by Writers’ Group,” NYT , May 8, 1947, p. 14; “22 Authors on Board,” NYT , October 16, 1947, p. 34.

joined the board:Letter to Benjamin Stolberg, September 27, 1947 (LOAR , p. 380).

“chop his head off”:“Paramount Studio Tour.”

201 met as often as three times a week: Song of Russia , p. 79, based on AR’s desk calendars.

composed the “Screen Guide for Americans”:“Screen Guide for Americans” was published in the November 1947 issue of Plain Talk .

wrote the first sentence:Ayn Rand Papers, LOC, first draft of AS , reel 2, chapter 1.

worked on a movie called House of Mist: Dates courtesy of project-specific file cards (Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, box 95).

“I don’t believe in unhappiness”:“First Temporary Yellow” screenplay of House of Mist , dated December 30, 1946, Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, box 95.

shelved in October 1947:Dates courtesy of project-specific file cards (Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, box 95).

never to return:Her contract was cancelled in November 1948 (“Termination of Employment Agreement,” November 29, 1948, Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, box 95).

steering Dagny and Hank Rearden:First draft of AS , Ayn Rand Papers, LOC, reel 3, chapter 6, “The Noncommercial.”

predicted that she would finish it:Letter to Alan Collins, June 24, 1946 (LOAR , p. 284).

But when she began to consider:BBTBI.

“Why is the mind important?”:October 6, 1949 (JOAR , p. 610).

boarded a train for the nation’s capital: Song of Russia , p. 79.

hottest show in town:Willard Edwards, “List 18 as Leaders in Red Film Invasion,” Chicago Tribune , October 21, 1947, p. 1.

supplied most of the twenty-four friendly witnesses: Hollywood Party , p. 178.

“Are you now, or have you ever been”:Victor Navasky, Naming Names (New York: Viking, 1980), p. viii.

“a lot of fools”:“Ayn Rand’s HUAC Testimony,” appendix 1, in Song of Russia , pp. 179–90.

later identified themselves as members:Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle, Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997); see McGilligan’s interview with Paul Jarrico, pp. 326–50. During HUAC testimony in 1951, Richard Collins stated that he had been a Communist Party member and also named his Song of Russia co-script writer, Jarrico.

naming sixteen:Samuel A. Tower, “Film Men Admit Activity by Reds, Sam Wood Lists Writers by Name,” NYT , October 21, 1947, p. 1.

not be able to secure work for the next seven years: Naming Names , pp. 104–06.

a “little black book”:Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (New York: Anchor Books, 1989), p. 363.

accused seven screenwriters:“Film Men Admit Activity by Reds, Sam Wood Lists Writers by Name.”

had been promised an opportunity to make a full statement: Song of Russia , p. 96.

Not listed in the schedule:“From the FBI Files: Schedule for the October 1947 HUAC Hearings,” FBI FOIA file no. 100-138754, appendix 3; Song of Russia , pp. 195–99.

she remembered having a “violent scene”: Song of Russia , p. 97.

205 “Still handling the chicken shit, 204 I see”: Tender Comrades , p. 414.

press coverage had turned negative:“Hearing Halt Laid to Move by Reds,” Washington Post , November 1, 1937, p. 3.

flacks hailed the curtailment of the hearings:Joseph Loftus, “Expert Balked It,” NYT , October 31, 1947, p. 1.

“nothing but disappointments”: Song of Russia , p. 97.

“nightshirt fringe”:“Nightshirt Fringe Applauds Ayn Rand’s Ten-Year-Old Book,” PM , October 22, 1947.

fair game in the political as well as the literary press:Thanks to Robert Mayhew’s research on the public reaction to AR’s testimony in Song of Russia , pp. 159–69; Naming Names , p. 80.

annoyed Louis B. Mayer: Song of Russia , p. 173, based on AR’s notes in preparation for her HUAC testimony.

“a disgusting spectacle”: TPOAR , p. 201.

was a crime:“Suggestions Regarding the Congressional Investigation of Communism,” 1947 ( JOAR , pp. 381–86).

Hoover, who turned her down:Memorandum from A. B. Hood of the Los Angeles Bureau of the FBI to J. Edgar Hoover, October 17, 1947, FOIA. AR asked to see Hoover again in 1957 and was again turned down (FOIA memo to author from U.S. Department of Justice, December 11, 2003).

real-life equivalent:This job was held by a man named A. H. Wright (letter to William Duce, AR’s taxattorney, October 1, 1949 [LOAR , p. 457]).

showed Archibald Ogden:Letter to William Duce, AR’s tax attorney, October 1, 1949 (LOAR , p. 457).

finally met Rose Wilder Lane:Letter to Rose Wilder Lane, December 13, 1947 (LOAR , p. 383).

In their hotel room after dinner:Author interview with MW, December 16, 2006.

“You are the ultimate in human beings”:Quoted in “AR’s Family and Friends.”

“She was afraid that she would lose him”:Taped interview with MS, conducted by BB, January 20, 1983.

“The ‘Screen Guide for Americans’ did it”: Song of Russia , p. 176.

Plain Talk , whose editor:Letter to William Duce, October 1, 1949 (LOAR , p. 457).

The Sunday New York Times picked up the story:Thomas F. Brady, “Hollywood Don’ts,” NYT , November 16, 1947, p. X5.

“all the points I made”: Song of Russia , p. 176.

preferred to sell screen rights outright:Thomas F. Brady, “Hollywood’s Uneasy Labor Truce,” NYT , November 2, 1947, p. X5.

finally able to get hold of a print of the film:She first saw the film in May 1947 (letter to John C. Gall, May 28, 1947 [LOAR , p. 368]). She also sat for a viewing in New York (letter to William B. Duce, October 1, 1949 [LOAR , p. 458]).