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Kirk Douglas, In Memorium

Kirk douglas photo signed.JPG

Seventy years ago America was on the precipice of becoming a full blown police state. 
       Many lived in fear that they might be suspected of having ties to the communist party and be called in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). If this happened, they would be asked to name other people who might be categorized as subversives. If they refused, as many did, they could expect to lose their jobs and serve some time in prison.
       In 1950 Howard Fast, a novelist, was called in front of HUAC. The committee asked him to for the names of donors to an orphanage Fast had set up, an orphanage for the children of Americans who had fought with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Fast refused, and was sentenced to a few months in prison for contempt of Congress.
      After he was released, Fast wrote Spartacus, a novel about a Thracian slave who leads other slaves to revolt against Rome. It's a loosely veiled critique of HUAC. No publisher wanted anything to do with it, so Fast self published. The novel sold well, and with the contemporaneous success of the Roman epic Ben-Hur, Kirk Douglas decided to turn it into a movie.
      For the script, Douglas hired Dalton Trumbo - who, like Fast, had ties to the Communist party and who had refused to testify in front of HUAC and had spent time in prison for it. Trumbo planned to pen the script under a pseudonym, but Douglas insisted that his real name appear in the credits.
      When Spartacus was first screened in cinemas, the American Legion picketed the movie, calling it un-American. President-Elect Kennedy crossed picket lines to see Spartacus, and by publicly watching it he repudiated the blacklist. Kennedy named Spartacus his favorite film, and would go on to screen it again in the White House movie theater.
     Kirk Douglas publicly rehabilitated the careers of Howard Fast and Dalton Trumbo when doing so was unpopular. He did it because he knew it was right. 
      He went on to make many more movies that asked us to question authority, that reframed ideas of masculinity, and called for us to reject cynicism and to create a better world. Over the years, I have written several articles about his movies - in fact the very first entry I ever wrote for this blog nine years ago began with a quote of his from Paths of Glory. His work, both on and off screen, was informative for how I wanted to carry myself as a grown man. 
    He made it to 103, but Kirk is now with us no more. QEPD Spartacus, Colonel Dax, Issur Danielovitch... he'll be back, and he'll be millions.

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