...I felt that the book never delivered on the "what they did to us!" premise. Sure, there is a lot of info on local censorship and national posturing by politicians, but I kept looking for the more personal stories of how the artists were effected. What was delivered was more of how the INDUSTRY was impacted. Other than that, I don't recall it being all that inaccurate.
I haven't been online for a few days, so I haven't been following this thread, but I'd like to chime in on
THE TEN-CENT PLAGUE.
I feel it's well-written and Hajdu tells a good story, but I also feel he played a bit fast and loose with some of his "facts".
The tip-off for me was his Appendix with his list of "...artists, writers, and others who never again worked in comics after the purge of the 1950s...". A quick glance revealed a few who shouldn't have been there and a longer look revealed how flawed his list really was.
Some were creators who stopped working in comics before the 1950s even began. Among them were: Harry Lampert, Lillian Chestney, Joe Doolin, Charles Flanders and Fred Schwab.
Some were folks who either never worked in comic books at all or who had a very tenuous connection to begin with such as: Russell Keaton, Leslie Charteris, Henry Kuttner, Syd Hoff, Ernie Kovacs, Joan & Len Maurer, Peter Driben, Jim Holdaway and William Ekgren (who's only connection to comics were 3 of his paintings were bought by St. John and used as covers unbeknown to him).
Several creators had the misfortune of dying in the 1950s, thus ending their careers, like: Joe Maneely, Charles Quinlan and Archer St. John.
Others left comic books for careers in advertising, comic strips, teaching or "slick" magazines like Jack Cole, Vernon Greene, Cal Massey and Al Hollingsworth. One name on the list, "Ezra Whiteman", was a pseudonym for the team of Maurice Whitman and Ezra Jackson, both who continued working in comics through the Fifties. Other folks kept working in comics past the "purge" of the early to mid-Fifties, such as: Bill Ward, Alfonso Greene and Al Eadeh. Some had only drawn for comic books as a sideline, like: Art Bartsch, Jim Tyer, Lavern Harding, Robert and Chuck McKimson--all animators who were only moonlighting as comic artists and never considered it their primary job in the first place.
This is just skimming the surface. There are more I can see and even more I'm not aware of (Jim V could probably add a few). The point is that his list supposedly names folks who had been chased from comic books by the censorship "purge", and obviously, this wasn't necessarily true. This list is one of Hajdu's most damning "facts" and often quoted by reviewers of the book. At best, it was sloppy research on his part and at worst, it was a deliberate attempt to support his arguments with skewed "facts".
(There are other instances within his book where he takes quotes out of context and inflates details to support his theme. While this is uncomfortably shady, it's not uncommon and doesn't bother me as much as his list)
I think there is a good book to be written about censorship and comic books and much of the material is in Hajdu's book. I just believe he did himself (and the reader) a disservice by fudging the facts.
--Ken Q
