Jarrico, Paul

Paul Jarrico was a film screenwriter and producer known for being blacklisted in Hollywood over accusations of Communist support. Jarrico was born as Israel Sharpiro on January 12, 1915 in Los Angeles, California to Russian Jewish immigrants. He became active in politics during college, joining the Communist Party after graduation. Jarrico first worked as a screenwriter at Colombia Pictures before working in RKO Radio Pictures during Howard Hughes' control in the late 1940s. During this time, fellow writer Richard Collins named Jarrico as a Communist to the House of Un-American Activities Committee. The House committee called Jarrico to testify in 1951, but he refused to appear, resulting in his Hollywood blacklisting and his firing by Hughes. Due to this, Jarrico's credit in The Las Vegas Story (1952) was removed, resulting in an elongated legal battle between Jarrico and Hughes.'

In 1954, Jarrico created the documentary Salt of the Earth with fellow blacklisted artists. He moved to Europe to continue screenwriting in the late 1950s, and later worked as a lecturer in UC Santa Barbara. In 1997, in honor of his five decades of supporting blacklisted artists, four Hollywood talent guilds gave official apologies at a public dinner. Jarrico died on October 25, 1997 in a car accident returning home from attending another event honoring blacklisted artsits.

Sources:

Banks, Lisa. "Paul Jarrico." Find a Grave. November 28, 2003. Accessed November 03, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8137043/paul-jarrico

Goldstein, Patrick and Fred Alvarez. "Screenwriter Dies After Long-Awaited Triumph." Los Angeles Times. October 30, 1997.

"Paul Jarrico papers, 1931." Columbia Universities Libraries, Archival Collections. 2018. Accessed November 03, 2021. https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_8756743