Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

We're all familiar with Senator Joseph McCarthy's infamous accusations that everyone and their mothers were Communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee, but the fact is that McCarthy did not arise out of a vacuum: name-naming magazines such as Red Channels and Counterattack existed well before tailgunner Joe entered the picture, and they were used religiously by the entertainment industry. Morgan Freeman hosts this absorbing hour that looks at the truncated careers of such notable black Americans as Paul Robeson, singer Hazel Scott, and actors Canada Lee and Frederick O'Neal. Interviews with Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Erik Barnouw, and Rosetta LeNoire address the disillusionment felt by black soldiers after returning from WWII--a war they thought was about freedom--only to find out that business was back to usual in the U.S., as well as the admitted appeal of a Soviet philosophy that--on its face--preached equality, and the ongoing battle to find representation on American television (pointedly addressed in Dick Campbell's effective "Did you see a Negro on television last night?" ad campaign). My only problem with this otherwise fascinating tape is that it ends rather abruptly without a real summation. Originally aired on Black Entertainment Television, this insightful look at blacklisted black Americans is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)