Loyola Marymount University Faculty - John Howard Lawson (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: John Howard Lawson (September 25 1894 - August 11 1977) was an American writer, and head of the Hollywood division of the American Communist Party. He was also the cell's cultural manager, and answered directly to V.J. Jerome, the Party's New York-based cultural chief. He was the first president in the Writers Guild of America, West after they changed from their name from Screen Writers Guild. Lawson was born in New York City, New York on September 25, 1894 to Simeon Levy and Belle Hart Lawson. His father would change their name from Levy to Lawson before Johnathon was born, which his reason for was so that his son could "obtain reservations at expensive resort hotels" When he was five, his mother died. She had named her children after people she admired, John Howard Lawson was named after John Howard, his sister Adelaide Jaffery Lawson, was named after a friend of hers that was socially active, and Wendell Holmes Lawson was named after Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. After Simeon's wife died, he would take control of the children s education: first to Halstead School in Yonkers, New York and then Cutler School (New York) in New Rochelle, New York. In 1906, Simeon sent the three children on a tour of Europe, and seeing theatre was on the list. John Howard would take notes on the set designs, actors, and plays. In 1909, they were sent on a tour of America and Canada. At age seven, he attended Elizabeth and Alexis Ferms' "Children's Playouse" school, an experimental school for children. After studying at Williams College (19101914) and graduating with a B.A., he became a successful writer with plays such as Standards (1916) and Servant-Master-Lover (1916). While there, his brother was in Germany studying music and art. Works of Karl Kautsky struck ... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1362146