Do you think Melanie made the right choice to stay close to Hollywood despite being blacklisted? What would you have done?
I don’t think Melanie fully realized what her situation was at first. I think she felt things would blow over, her name would be cleared and her career would continue. Once she became more aware of how serious and devastating the situation was, she had to make a decision about her future. She didn’t do so until she realized that she was now stuck with Nicky and that he would be better off back home with her parents. I am not sure what her decision would have been otherwise.
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She was pretty naive. She just wanted to live her dream.
I agree with Ruthie. I don’t think Melanie truly appreciated the predicament she was in. And when she did finally understand the situation, she was at a loss as how to handle it. She assumed that Carson would take care of it. I’m not sure what I would have done.
I agree that Melanie had no idea what the extent and duration of the blacklist would be at the outset. So she fled to Malibu, unsure how long she would need to be there.
It reminds me of the pandemic. We were told to take our laptops and go home on Friday, March 13, 2020. To not come back to the office. Await further word. Next thing we knew, we were being polled to see if we wanted printers sent to our houses, whether the cameras on our laptops were operational, and directed to get our new Microsoft Teams accounts set up. We thought it might be a couple weeks of teleworking at first . . . but I retired after never returning to the office for 20 months.
So I didn’t fault Melanie for being naive because she was dealing with a situation that was both unprecedented and completely unpredictable.
Melanie was so naive and she was letting everyone tell her what to do. I don’t think she really understood what was happening. She didn’t want to leave because she had fought so hard to make it in Hollywood and it was finally happening. Until she was put on the list and all by association. I will give her credit for not throwing Carson under the proverbial bus. I would like to think I would have never been in that situation, but until you come under fire yourself do you really know what you will do?
I think that Melanie didn’t understand what a terrible situation she was in. She might have been better off if she had broken up with her boyfriend and gone home until things got better.
I agree with those who felt that Melanie was extremely naive and didn’t understand the long term implications of the situation.
I think she made the right decision for her at the time. She probably thought this would be over quickly, and she could get back to shooting her next movie. Nobody knew the extent of the blacklist and how long it would last.
I think that Melanie made the appropriate choice at the time for herself. She was concerned about going home, and I think she was hopeful to gain some kind of acting job.She knew she was innocent, and hoped that this would pass over. She also had been assured of being taken care of.I don’t think Melanie realized how serious this was. It certainly is a hard decision to make walking in Melanie’s shoes.
I think Melanie was hoping for a positive outcome and optimistic that the hunt for the Communists in Hollywood would quickly resolve itself and life would return to normal. I think I would have felt as she did. Since something comparable had not happened before in Hollywood, it would have been very difficult for actors to foresee how devastating the movement would become.
I think Melanie still had a hope that all of the Communist talk would disappear and she would be exonerated. Unfortunately this witch hunt of the time was permeating all of Hollywood and people were being frightened into testifiying against their fellow acting professionals. I’m definitely not condoning false narratives that were being spread. Melanie didn’t understand the severity of being accused even though this was false and based on falsehoods.
Melanie didn’t understand what was going on and thus I think she stayed around hoping that things would change and she would be able to act again. She didn’t want to go back home so she stuck around. As for me, I might have tried looking for a different career.
I think that if she had “gone home” her perspective would have been entirely different. Of course there wouldn’t have been a book then. And she likely would not have been given the opportunity to act in Europe.