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John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American writer, specializing in plays and screenplays. After starting with plays for theaters in New York City, he worked in Hollywood on writing for films. [1]
John Howard Lawson was a U.S. playwright, screenwriter, and member of the “Hollywood Ten,” who was jailed (1948–49) and blacklisted for his refusal to tell the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his political allegiances.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 13, 2023 · John Howard Lawson was a playwright, screenwriter, and labor leader who was blacklisted by HUAC in 1947. His granddaughters share his legacy and his defiant testimony in a film series at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
- Ed Rampell
Playwright and screenwriter John Howard Lawson, the president and organizing force of the Screen Writers’ Guild and acknowledged leader of the Communist Party in Hollywood in the late 1930s, became the first “unfriendly” witness subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) on October 27, 1947.
- Becky Little
- Alvah Bessie (1904–1985) Alvah Bessie was a novelist, journalist and screenwriter who was blacklisted by Hollywood. During the 1930s, writer Alvah Bessie became concerned with the rise of fascism in Europe.
- Herbert J. Biberman (1900–1971) Herbert J. Biberman wrote the screenplays for several movies in the 1930s and ’40s, including the anti-Nazi film The Master Race (1944), which he also directed.
- Ring Lardner Jr. (1915–2000) Ring Lardner, Jr., (left), and Lester Cole, are shown as they arrived at U. S. District Court for their trial.
- Lester Cole (1904–1985) Lester Cole was a prolific screenwriter who co founded the Screen Writers Guild in 1933 with John Howard Lawson and Samuel Ornitz, two other writers who would later join him in the Hollywood 10.
John Howard Lawson was the first president and co-founder of the Screen Writers Guild, and one of the blacklisted “Hollywood Ten.” He wrote for talkies, plays, and film theory books, and was jailed for contempt of Congress in 1947.
By 1977 the once-energetic Lawson had slowed down considerably. Now well into his eighties, he had failing eyesight and was experiencing the onset of Parkinson’s disease, a motor system disorder often characterized by tremors, stiffness of limbs, slowness of movement, and impaired balance and coordination.
