8. Guest Author: James Shapiro James Shapiro recounts the 1938 congressional hearings where Hallie Flanagan defended the Federal Theater Project. In a famous exchange, a committee member questioned if Renaissance playwright Christopher Marlowe was a commu

8. Guest Author: James Shapiro James Shapiro recounts the 1938 congressional hearings where Hallie Flanagan defended the Federal Theater Project. In a famous exchange, a committee member questioned if Renaissance playwright Christopher Marlowe was a communist. Despite her defense, the project was eventually defunded, leading to a tragic decline in Flanagan's later life. Shapiro also debunks the legend of a "voodoo curse" supposedly placed on critic John Hammond, identifying it as a fabrication by Orson Welles and John Houseman. He concludes that the political tactics used against the arts in the 1930s remain a modern "playbook". (8)
1931