Jack Moffitt (May 8, 1901 – December 4, 1969), also credited atJohn C. Moffitt, was an Americanscreenwriter andfilm critic. Employed byUniversal Studios in the 1930s, he wrote screenplays for a number of minor films. Over the years he wrote film reviews forThe Kansas City Star,Esquire, andThe Hollywood Reporter. He was an ardent anti-Communist, who contributed to theHollywood blacklist by testifying against others in the film industry for the 1947House Un-American Activities Committee.
John Charles Moffitt,[1] later credited as John C. Moffitt and Jack Moffitt, was born on 8 May 1901 inMissouri.[2]
Moffitt worked as a motion picture editor for theKansas City Star in the 1920s, before moving toHollywood in 1930 to work atUniversal Studios.[1]
Moffitt first co-wrote the playIt Can't Happen Here withSinclair Lewis, based on the novel of the same name by Lewis.[3][1] It was "especially adapted for Federal Theatre by the author and J. C. Moffitt", in a production directed by Louis M. Simon produced at theFederal Theatre of New Jersey inNewark, New Jersey, in October 1936,[4] and the play was put on at various other theatres around the country, although the posters do not all credit Moffitt as a co-writer.[5] The play was also producedon Broadway at theAdelphi Theatre from October 26, 1936 to January 1937, staged byVincent Sherman. He was credited as John C. Moffitt for this production.[3][6]
He wrote the screenplay for the 1937 filmMountain Music, for which he was credited as John. C. Moffitt.[2] He wrote the script for Paramount's 1939 melodramaOur Leading Citizen, about industrial action, that was critical of both the "greedy capitalists" and the striking workers.[1]
However he was described as a "journeyman" who never quite rose to the top tier of his profession as a screenwriter.[1]
In the 1940s he was also a film critic forEsquire magazine. However, two days after testifying forHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), he was fired from his post. Apart from a credit onThe Story of Will Rogers (1952), he did no more screenwriting, instead working as a freelance writer.[1]
In 1955, he was hired byBilly Wilkerson as a film reviewer forThe Hollywood Reporter, where he stayed for eight years.[1][7][8] and later also forThe Kansas City Star.[9] He is credited as both Jack and John C. Moffitt for theKansas City Star.[10]
In the 1930s he joinedScreen Playwrights, Inc. and was embittered by defeat by rival union theScreen Writers Guild (SWG).[1]
He was an ardent anti-Communist. In 1939 he chairedHouse Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)'s hearings on theFederal Theater Project.[1] In April 1947 he wrote toNorris Poulson aboutTwentieth Century Fox "promoting communism within Hollywood", as part of the witchhunts andblacklisting of filmmakers in Hollywood by theUn-American Activities Committee.[11] On May 8, 1947,J. Parnell Thomas chaired a committee which travelled toHollywood for, according toThe Hollywood Reporter a "long threatened probe of Communists in Hollywood," which was held at theBiltmore Hotel. Moffitt appeared as a "friendly" witness, along withMGM producer and story editorJames K. McGuinness. He was called back several times and named many people in the screen industry.[1] At first reluctant to do so, he later testified at the October public hearings, blaming filmmakersFrank Tuttle,Herbert Biberman,Donald Ogden Stewart, andJohn Howard Lawson for "luring him into joining" theHollywood Anti-Nazi League in 1937. He also said that the SWG was dominated by Communists, and its magazine,The Screen Writer, was "filled with Communist propaganda." He also said that 44 out of the 100 plays selected byNew York s "best plays" between 1936 and 1946 were "out and out Communistic", while 233 in that same time frame "favored the party line." Among a host of other attacks on Hollywood filmmakers and films, he criticised the Screen Story Analysis Guild, which, he said, "skewed its reports to support Communist writers", and named specific people involved in this guild.Albert Maltz was escorted out of theshow trial when he tried to counter Moffitt's claims. He accused test pilotSlick Goodlin oftreason.[1]
Moffitt was the father of model and actressPeggy Moffitt.[7] He was described as "corpulent" and "threadbare" when he testified against others in the film industry in 1947,
Moffitt died on 4 December 1969.[9]
The official press release from Thomas was dated September 19, 1947, with the italicized admonition that the statement was for release in theSunday morning newspapers, September 21, 1947, to assure maximum play. Listed alphabetically the original list was composed of... John Charles Moffitt
Birth date: 1901-05-08. Death date: 1969-12-04. Place of birth: Missouri. Place of death: Los Angeles (Calif.). Special note: Cannot identify withJohn Craig Moffitt, director ofEd Sullivan show.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Obituary for John Moffitt, or Jack Moffitt, former movie critic for theKansas City Star and a movie writer, dying on December 4, 1969
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