Paul Jarrico (12 January 1915 – 28 October 1997) was an Oscar-nominated American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the era of McCarthyism.
His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia: his father Aaron from Kharkov, Ukraine and his mother Jennie from Minsk, Belorussia.
In his junior year, he transferred to UC Berkeley where he was further radicalized by the San Francisco General Strike, the rise of fascism in Europe, and other Depression era events.
[4][5] In January 1936, after having transferred to University of Southern California, Jarrico married his longtime sweetheart, Sylvia Gussin.
[6] A few years later, Sylvia's younger sister Zelma married the aspiring novelist Michael Wilson, with whom Jarrico would collaborate on future film projects.
[2][8] At first, Columbia Pictures hired him to write low-budget comedies and crime dramas such as No Time to Marry (1937), I Am the Law (1938), and Beauty for the Asking (1939).
His script for the RKO film Tom, Dick and Harry (1941), starring Ginger Rogers, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but it lost to Citizen Kane.
Jarrico also collaborated with Collins on the MGM film Song of Russia (1943), which was made under pressure from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to stir American support for the Soviets in their war against Nazi Germany.
[11] Although Jarrico escaped the first wave of the blacklist, he deeply sympathized with his "Hollywood Ten" colleagues who had defied the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in October 1947 and were convicted of contempt of Congress.
During his testimony, he engaged in heated exchanges with HUAC Chief Counsel Frank Tavenner and Congressman Clyde Doyle.
Jarrico sued to have his credit restored, but eventually lost the suit under the so-called morals clause for placing himself in public obloquy as a result of his HUAC non-cooperation.
[24] He was driving home to Ojai, California after attending a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of HUAC's first hearings on Communist subversion in Hollywood.