John Howard Lawson 1894-1977
|
J |
ohn Howard Lawson led a full life before becoming a screenwriter and a playwright.
As a young man during WWI, he was a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Cross along with Ernest Hemingway, Dos Passos, and e.e. cummings.
After the war, he worked as an editor for a newspaper in Rome and as a publicity director for the American Red Cross.
During the 20s and 30s, he wrote many plays that promoted Marxism.
In 1920, he sold his first movie screenplay to Paramount and eight years later, he moved to Hollywood to become a contract writer for screenplays, original stories and scripts for several films.
Lawson became a co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild in 1933 and served as its first president.
Many of Lawson's films were politically based and they supported socialistic concepts. The Spanish Civil War was a favorite topic for Lawson in his films.
In 1948, Lawson became one of the notorious Hollywood Ten when he refused to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee investigators. He was sentenced to one year in prison and was subsequently blacklisted in Hollywood.
After serving his sentence, Lawson exiled himself to Mexico where he wrote books on drama and filmmaking such as Film in the Battle of Ideas (1953), and Film: The Creative Process (1964).
Later he went on lecture tours to American universities where he talked about theater and cinema.
Other works include: