top of page

This abbreviated Table of Contents gives some idea of the topics, themes, and personalities dealt with in the MS. The structure is, in a general sense, circular, detailing different aspects of  Angie's celebrity as an anti-Communist informant/witness. Five chapters at the heart of the MS take us directly into the courtroom at Foley Square for the 1949 Smith Act trial, the history of which has received little critical attention. 

Introduction:  Red Scare, Lavender Scare--Gays in the Red Scare and Angela Calomiris

 

Chapter 1:  Village Gossip--First news of Calomiris, Judy Holliday, Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Chapter 2:  Eleanor Roosevelt and More Village Gossip--Calomiris on radio with Mary Margaret McBride and Eleanor Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt's Village circle

 

Chapter 3:  Angie as Mati Hari--Calomiris transformed by the press into an All-American girl hero

 

Chapter 4:  The Big Lie--That Calomiris was not paid by the FBI, sacrificed her career, deserves a job

 

Chapter 5:  Gay in the CPUSA: Angie and Harry Hay--Gay politics emerging from the Red Scare, the founder of Mattachine in Los Angeles, CP attempts to oust Calomiris in NY

 

Chapter 6:  Angie Takes the Stand--Her vulnerability as a lesbian and defense strategy

 

Chapter 7:  The "Doggonedest" Trial--Calomiris as part of the prosecution strategy, the endless reading of Communist classics, i.e., Lenin, Engels, Marx into the trial transcript

 

Chapter 8:  Angie's Not a Union Maid--The elimination of Communist influence in labor unions

 

Chapter 9:  Angie on the Negro Question--The elimination of Communist organizing among African Americans

 

Chapter 10:  The Photo League--Pioneering documentary photographers, Calomiris and the League's demise, her testimony against Sid Grossman

 

Chapter 11:  Angie in the Anti-Communist Network--Support from the elite of the anti-Communist crusade, i.e., Victor Riesel, Victor Lasky, Fred Woltman, Counterattack, George Sokolsky

 

Chapter 12:  Almost a Brilliant Career--The publication of her book, the pursuit of a movie or TV contract, and a prestigious job in photography

 

Epilogue:  Land's End and Other Endings--Abandoned by the FBI and the retreat to Provincetown, MA

 

 

bottom of page