The Red Scare of the 1940s and 50s hit Hollywood hard.
In October 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated 10 Hollywood men.
The men refused to testify. Screenwriter Adrian Scott was one of them. Scott was honored by a citizen committee for using his fifth-amendment right. Adrian Scott was also fired by RKO for his defiance. All 10 men were blacklisted from working in Hollywood.
Soon they were all imprisoned. Scott did not give up his career once out of prison. He began writing in secret. He wrote an episode of “Goodyear Playhouse” that aired on tv in 1956 using the pseudonym Dale Pitt.
In 1960 this tv film was rewritten by a fellow blacklisted writer and premiered in theaters as Conspiracy of Hearts.
For more on the Hollywood Ten and Adrian Scott visit UW’s American Heritage Center.