Echoes Of Laurel Canyon - Part Two - CIA In Hollywood -

From First Days Of CIA And HUAC, It Was All About Compromise In LaLa Land

In this series, we have been chronicling how Washington DC took over Hollywood with the formation of the CIA after World War II in something I call Operation Hollywood.

🧑‍🎬 PEOPLE

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, then-president of the Screen Actors Guild, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), blaming Communist infiltration for labor unrest in Hollywood. He portrayed himself as a patriotic defender against subversion, helping shift public perception toward anti-Communist sentiment. Reagan’s role allowed the CIA to frame labor organizing as sedition. His cooperation with HUAC launched his political trajectory toward the presidency.

Walt Disney

Disney claimed that Communists had infiltrated the animators’ union at his studio. He testified before HUAC, aligning himself with the Committee’s anti-Communist agenda. This positioned him as both an informant and ally of government propaganda efforts. Disney’s cooperation also preserved his studio from blacklisting while others were dismantled.

Louis B. Mayer

The powerful MGM studio boss, Mayer was among those called to testify during HUAC’s investigation. He had been a dominant force in Hollywood, producing hits like Gone with the Wind. His scrutiny by HUAC symbolized that no one was untouchable. Mayer’s downfall began a shift in Hollywood’s power dynamics.

Dory Schary

Schary succeeded Mayer at MGM and took a more liberal stance, defending some of the Hollywood Ten. His support led to internal backlash and whisper blacklisting at MGM. He also served as a wartime propaganda figure, deeply involved with the First Motion Picture Unit. His nephew, Joel Freeman, would later become a key player in Warner Brothers' intelligence-linked operations.

Joel Freeman

Freeman, Schary’s nephew, married the mother of Robert Allen Hale and eventually ran Warner Brothers. He worked at Lookout Mountain during WWII, the Air Force’s covert film studio. His connections provided access to wartime propaganda and classified projects. His role ties family lines directly into CIA-Hollywood compromise networks.

Sam Goldwyn

Goldwyn, Mayer’s partner, was also questioned by HUAC. Though not jailed, his reputation and influence diminished during the hearings. Goldwyn was once a key figure in shaping the American film industry. His targeting reflects HUAC’s reach beyond scriptwriters to executives.

Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin, a global icon, had his career damaged by HUAC’s allegations of Communist sympathies. He left the U.S. under duress and faced visa denial when trying to return. Chaplin’s exile exemplifies how creative dissent was silenced. He became a symbol of artistic persecution during the Red Scare.

Ring Lardner Jr.

Lardner, one of the Hollywood Ten, refused to cooperate with HUAC, citing First Amendment rights. He was sentenced to ten months in prison for contempt. Lardner's career was severely hampered, though he later regained recognition. He outlived most of his persecutors and remained defiant to the end.

Dalton Trumbo

Trumbo, another blacklisted screenwriter, was jailed and forced to write under pseudonyms. He later won two Oscars anonymously before being publicly reinstated. His story became symbolic of the blacklist’s injustice. He stood as a creative force despite political suppression.

Berthold Brecht

The German playwright was called before HUAC but left the U.S. shortly after his testimony. Brecht denied Communist affiliation but departed to avoid further persecution. His exit marked the loss of intellectual and artistic talent during the Red Scare. Brecht’s case shows HUAC’s impact on émigré creatives.

Gary Cooper & Robert Montgomery

These two actors were presented by HUAC as "all-American" witnesses, contrasting the accused leftist writers. Their testimonies supported the Committee's patriotic narrative. They helped validate the ideological purge of Hollywood. Cooper, especially, embodied the image of moral clarity the CIA wanted promoted in films.

Jack Warner

Studio chief Jack Warner cooperated with HUAC and was labeled a friendly witness. He betrayed his brother by selling the family studio out from under him. Warner's later disgrace came when both of his sons were convicted in a FIFA bribery scandal. His story illustrates the long arc of corruption tied to Cold War opportunism.

Robert Allen Hale

Hale, related by marriage to Joel Freeman, served as a recruiter of actresses for CIA sexual compromise operations. He played a role in entrapping both JFK and RFK via Monroe and operated through elite circles like Lookout Mountain. Hale is linked to the assassination of Governor Connally’s daughter and the death of Marilyn Monroe. His activities are central to the intelligence-Hollywood-blackmail apparatus outlined in the series.

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

JFK was allegedly compromised through sexual lures like Monroe during his Hollywood visits. His romantic entanglements with actresses are framed as intelligence setups. The article ties him to Operation Mongoose and the fallout from covert entrapments. His eventual assassination is implied to be a byproduct of these entanglements.

Robert F. Kennedy (RFK)

RFK, like his brother, was romantically involved with Monroe and allegedly ensnared through CIA compromise operations. His prosecution of organized crime and covert operations made him a threat to powerful networks. He was a parallel target of the same forces involved in Monroe’s exploitation. RFK’s assassination, like JFK’s, is tied into this wider web.

Marilyn Monroe

Monroe is presented as a controlled asset used in sexual entrapment schemes against the Kennedys. She allegedly received Top Secret clearance for Lookout Mountain due to Robert Allen Hale’s intervention. Her role in compromise operations culminated in her death, which is implied to be orchestrated. Monroe’s tragic story is reframed as a political tool of Cold War espionage.

Sam Giancana

Chicago mobster Giancana is alleged to have used properties like the Cal-Nev Resort and rape cabins for compromise ops. He partnered with CIA-connected figures like Hale to trap high-level officials. His operations overlapped with Monroe’s final days. Giancana's criminal infrastructure served both mafia and covert government purposes.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Oswald, described as an expendable orphan, attended Arlington Heights High School with Robert Allen Hale. He is portrayed as a CIA tool set up by the Hales, trained in Civil Air Patrol under David Ferrie. Oswald's transfer to Atsugi Air Base is framed as a spy operation. His role in the JFK assassination is seen as a Hale-brokered setup.

Seymour Hersh

Investigative journalist Hersh is credited as the only major writer to have examined the Hales’ role in the Kennedy assassination. His rare insight highlights the broader ignorance of this link. Hersh’s reputation lends weight to Webb’s argument. He stands apart from the consensus narrative on the JFK case.

Charlie Manson

Manson is cast as another CIA proxy, relocated from Boys Town to California under suspicious conditions. He lived with celebrities like the Beach Boys while engaging in cult activities. Manson often camped near valuable resource sites, implying a link to intelligence real estate plays. His role mirrors that of Oswald as an expendable and manipulated figure.

David Ferrie

Ferrie was Oswald’s Civil Air Patrol trainer and a figure in the Jim Garrison JFK investigation. He had intelligence ties and was linked to Operation Mongoose. Ferrie connects the Kennedy plot to early CIA grooming. His connection to Oswald reinforces the Hale recruitment theory.

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🏛️ ORGANIZATIONS

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Originally created to investigate Nazi sympathizers during WWII, HUAC was repurposed to target alleged Communists in Hollywood. It laid the foundation for Cold War censorship and control of media narratives. HUAC was weaponized by the CIA to suppress dissent and favor pro-American content. It served as the first phase of Operation Hollywood’s consolidation.

CIA

The CIA followed HUAC’s efforts by seizing studio personnel files and infiltrating Hollywood. Its goal was to control scripts, actors, and studios through blackmail and compromise. It turned Lookout Mountain and other assets into psychological warfare and surveillance hubs. CIA operations would later extend to Monroe, Oswald, and JFK through operatives like Hale.

MGM Studios

Once the most powerful studio, MGM fell in status after HUAC hearings and Dory Schary’s leadership. It was involved in military propaganda through the First Motion Picture Unit. Internal divisions over blacklisting weakened its position. The studio is emblematic of Hollywood's submission to Cold War politics.

Warner Brothers

Under Jack Warner and later Joel Freeman, Warner Brothers became enmeshed in intelligence-linked activities. Personnel files collected during HUAC became tools for CIA compromise operations. Freeman's link to Robert Allen Hale brought the studio into Monroe-related schemes. The studio's entanglement in intelligence intrigue mirrors its transformation into a propaganda tool.

Lookout Mountain Air Force Station

A covert film and surveillance facility in Hollywood used for nuclear test footage and psychological operations. Monroe’s alleged clearance here signifies her role as an intelligence asset. Many key CIA figures, including Joel Freeman and Robert Allen Hale, operated through this location. It symbolizes Hollywood’s literal convergence with military and intelligence efforts.

Cal-Nev Resort

Owned by figures tied to Giancana, it was used for sexual blackmail and entrapment. The site is linked to Monroe’s final days and broader CIA-mafia compromise operations. The resort's downfall mirrors the criminal exposure of its handlers. It’s a focal point in the story of Monroe's ultimate compromise.

Introduction

The best way to get Hollywood writers to write scripts that you like is not to hold a Hollywood pool party with lots of nice hors d’oeuvres. The best way to get the attention of Hollywood writers is to put ten of them in jail for writing what you don’t want.

In the last post, we talked about the Hollywood Ten writers who were jailed for writing “pink” scripts that were sympathetic to the former World War II ally, the Soviet Union. These writers weren’t directly accused of being Communists, but rather, they were accused of writing scripts that were “UnAmerican.” That’s because a Congressional Committee that had begun before World War II and the CIA, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, HUAC, was going to be repurposed in the Cold War propaganda, making any characterization of the Soviet Union in friendly terms a felonious activity.

Like many Committees in Congress, HUAC started as a temporary Committee for the standing emergency of World War II, which looked for Nazi sympathizers in the US Government. Then, HUAC was repurposed into a permanent committee that looked for Communists after World War II.

The first order of business to send a “Big Chill” through Hollywood was to call the actors, writers, and studio heads on the carpet in Washington, DC, including Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan.

https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media/51313/red-scare.pdf

Reagan made it clear that the labor unions that were making trouble in Hollywood were doing so because Communists had infiltrated them. A studio head named Walt Disney made similar claims about Communist infiltration into his cartoonists’ unions.

The list of witnesses the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) culled cut across all of Hollywood, including MGM studio president Louis B Mayer. The message was clear. No one, no matter how big in Hollywood, including its most powerful studio boss, Louis B. Mayer, maker of Gone With The Wind and many other blockbusters, would be spared from the Congressional Communist microscope.

Dory Schary would soon take over the reins at MGM, still the most powerful studio in Hollywood, and he would be put on the hot seat for sticking up for the Hollywood Ten, including a whisper blacklisting that knocked the studio off the top of the Hollywood totem pole.

Sam Goldwyn, the partner of Louis B. Mayer, would also be called on the Washington DC Congressional carpet. Famous actors and writers, including Charlie Chaplin, Ring Lardner, Dalton Trumbo, and Berthold Brecht, would have their careers tainted or ruined by these HUAC hearings.

Dossiers were prepared for each witness, and winners and losers were picked in these memos before the hearings started. The Committee presented all-American heroes like Gary Cooper and Robert Montgomery in contrast to the greasy Communist typewriter clackers like Ring Lardner and Dalton Trumbo.

Ring Lardner exercised the First Amendment at the HUAC hearings and was sentenced to ten months in prison. He was the last of the Hollywood Ten to die, and he outlived most of his interrogators from the HUAC Committee.

Interestingly, the CIA wouldn’t just be content with this public sanctioning of Communist sympathetic content. Soon, the Central Intelligence Agency would begin its campaign of infiltration and compromise.

Dory Schary’s nephew, Joel Freeman, married the mother of Robert Allen Hale a few years later and went on to run Warner Brothers. Joel Freeman, the father-in-law to Robert Allen Hale, was close to his uncle, the head of the MGM studio, Dory Schary, living with him during World War II when he was working at Lookout Mountain for the Air Force in World War Two at the First Motion Picture Unit. Dory Schary was Chief of Production at MGM at the time, so this would have resulted in key movie contracts at the height of the US War Department’s war propaganda films disbursements.

Jack Warner’s name is also on the witness list. Robert Allen Hale would be a key recruiter of Hollywood starlets for the sexual compromise of both John F. and Robert F. Kennedy in addition to the man who murdered the daughter of Governor John Connelly.

Jack Warner of Youngstown, Ohio, was considered a friendly witness to the HUAC Committee. Still, Hollywood's intrigues caused him to doublecross his brother and sell the studio out from under him. Later, both his sons were entrapped in an FBI FIFA bribe scandal and sentenced to ten years each.

https://iriefm.net/jack-warner-sons-pleaded-guilty-faces-up-to-10-years-in-prison/

After the HUAC investigations and reprisals against the Hollywood Ten, the CIA owned all the personnel files of every individual working for the major studios in Hollywood.

This personnel database set up the next phase in Hollywood, which I call the infiltration and compromise phase with sex, drugs, and Rock and Roll. That will be covered in Part Three.

Coming up… The four times JFK met Marilyn Monroe, and her interaction with Robert Allen Hale.

We will track Robert Allen Hale’s use of Marilyn Monroe as a sexual lure for both JFK and RFK.

We have covered how Bing Cosby’s Mansion was used for compromise in general in Beverly Hills with its tunnels to the Beverly Hills Police Department, but that certainly is the place of one of the compromises of JFK with Marilyn Monroe.

We explore how Marilyn Monroe got her Top Secret Clearance to Lookout Mountain among other conundrums.

Again, our emphasis here is not to recapitulate years of library reading that ended in frustration for our readers over decades. The focus here is to get to the payoff of the information - the few key reasons and facts that put the real story line together.

Spoiler alert - Robert Allen Hale got Marilyn Monroe her Top Secret Clearance to Lookout Mountain as we will see in the coming posts.

We have traced all the places that Robert Allen Hale interacted Sam Giancana and in turn with Marilyn Monroe in the ill fated Operation Mongoose plot to kill Castro which ended up being turned on JFK himself.

The Sam Giancana “rape cabin” is just one example in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Kennedy didn’t meet here with Monroe (before Operation Mongoose), but this rape weekend fated Monroe to her death the following week.

Cal-Nev casino and resort is no longer standing, given its criminal history with Sam Giancana and Marilyn Monroe.

We will also trace Robert Allen Hale going to school with Lee Harvey Oswald at Arlington Heights High School, and show how Oswald was always used by the Hales as the risk taker orphan that could be expended at any time with no trace or complaint.

Again, the IB Hale and Robert Allen Hale connections to Lee Harvey Oswald have somehow been missed in the libraries of books published about the Kennedy assassination. I have gone to many of the annual meetings of the JFK authors in Dallas every November 22nd, and I am always shocked by the lack of awareness of IB Hale and Robert Allen Hale by the most learned on the topic.

Only the great Seymour Hersh has covered this important Hale linchpin to the Kennedy killing. You can even see the orphaned Lee Harvey Oswald, now with the Civil Air Patrol training under his belt from David Ferrie, being transferred to the Hale’s Arlington Height High School, setting him up for going into the Marines to pass U2 secrets at Atsugi U2 spy plane base in Japan.

Another patsy and proxy of the Hales was Charlie Manson. Who helped Charlie escape Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska and the Midwest to go California to be a songwriter, jamming and living with the Beach Boys and Neil Young?

And why was Manson always setting up camp on top of gold mines and taking adverse possession with his cults?

We will explore all these topics in coming episodes.