Philip Loeb
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| Philip Loeb | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 28, 1892 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died | September 1, 1955 (aged 63) New York, New York, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Jeanne La Gue |
Philip Loeb (March 28, 1892 – September 1, 1955), was an American stage, film, and television actor who was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide.
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[edit] Background
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Loeb first performed in a high school production of Lady Gregory's The Workhouse Ward. He served in the Army, then worked as stage manager of The Green Goddess. His stage career gained strength in the early 1920s when he became associated with the newly-formed Theatre Guild in New York City. He worked in a number of plays throughout the decade. His stage work lessened in the 1930s, while he worked with Actors Equity Association. (It is his work with Equity that is thought to have prompted the charges of Communist leanings.) [1]
In 1949, Loeb joined Gertrude Berg on her radio show The Goldbergs, which Berg soon brought to television on CBS. Loeb became a viewer favorite as the sometimes exasperated but always loving husband Jake to Berg's sometimes meddlesome but always bighearted Molly Goldberg, and it looked as though he would become a television fixture.
[edit] Blacklisting
In September of 1950, Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television, named Loeb as a Communist after two show business witnesses before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, director Elia Kazan and actor Lee J. Cobb, testified to Loeb being a former Communist. Loeb denied being a Communist, but the sponsors of The Goldbergs, General Foods, insisted that he be dropped from the show's cast due to his "controversiality". [2] Berg (who had created the show and owned it on both radio and television) refused to fire Loeb, but Loeb soon resigned, accepting a settlement which was estimated at $40,000. [3]
[edit] Death
Loeb's last acting job was in the 1952 Broadway production of Time Out For Ginger and its subsequent Chicago production in 1954.[4] The following year he committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills in the Taft Hotel in midtown New York City on September 1, 1955. No note was found. [5] One woman wrote to the Drama Editor of the New York Times' to say that Loeb "died of a sickness commonly called the blacklist." [6] Loeb was buried in Mount Sinai Cemetery in his native Philadelphia.
[edit] Remembrances
Loeb was referenced in the character Hecky Brown, played by Zero Mostel (himself a blacklisted performer), in Martin Ritt's 1976 film examining the Hollywood blacklist, The Front (also starring Woody Allen). Loeb's case is also noted in the Philip Roth novel, I Married a Communist.
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts---where Loeb was an instructor---awards an annual scholarship in his memory. Equity briefly issued the Philip Loeb Humanitarian Award.
[edit] References
- ^ Philip Loeb Dead; Prominent Actor; Body Found in Midtown Hotel; Overdose of Sleeping Pills Apparent Cause, The New York Times, September 2, 1955 link
- ^ Actor Is Dropped From Video Cast, The New York Times, January 8, 1952 link
- ^ "Ousted Video Player Gets 'Goldberg' Fee", The New York Times, January 25, 1952 link
- ^ Image of Playbill for Chicago show available on Steve McQueen fan site
- ^ Philip Loeb Dead; Prominent Actor; Body Found in Midtown Hotel; Overdose of Sleeping Pills Apparent Cause, The New York Times, September 2, 1955 link
- ^ Drama Mailbag, The New York Times, October 16, 1955 link
