More ‘Mending’

Sarah Blankfort Clothier (Saturday Letters, July 13, in regard to “Mending ‘Broken Arrow,’ ” June 29) displays commendable loyalty to her grandfather, Michael Blankfort, who did, indeed, behave courageously when he agreed to front for Albert Maltz’s screenplay “Broken Arrow,” and who, over the years, supported many worthy causes and organizations. But Clothier does the historical record a disservice when she writes that “he testified (before the House Committee on Un-American Activities) only to register his protest” against it.

Blankfort did not once challenge the committee’s right to grill him on virtually every political action he had ever taken and did not refuse to answer one question. At the end of his testimony, he told the committee that “I appreciate the opportunity” to appear and clear up suspicions about my political activity; that “I don’t believe this committee has smeared anybody,” and that “I don’t think anybody who has been brought before the committee has been unjustly accused.”

To inflate Blankfort’s testimony into a protest is to demean the acts of those who actually challenged the committee and lost their jobs as a result.

LARRY CEPLAIR

co-author

“The Inquisition in Hollywood”

Los Angeles