Salt of the Earth, Part 3

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather
Salt of the Earth Theatrical Poster

Salt of the Earth Theatrical Poster

The media coverage for Salt of the Earth started with a column written by Victor Riesel. Riesel talked about Walter Pidgeon “discovering how ‘Red’ is a valley not too far from the Los Alamos atomic proving grounds” and “when you try to hide secret weapons, you find concentrations of Communists.”  So now the film crew was being portrayed as not just a bunch of communists but spies and saboteurs. The following day I.A.T.S.E. President Roy Brewer commented in the Hollywood Reporter, “Hollwood has gotten rid of these people and we want the government agencies to investigate carefully”. Victor Riesel was a well known columnist who wrote about labor issues. He worked for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Daily Mirror. He was considered a “militant” anti-communist and fought against the mob influence in unions. In 1956 he was blinded when a man hired by one of New York’s Mafia crime families threw acid in his face. He continued to write his column until his retirement in 1963. After retirement he continued his syndicated column through the 1980s.

  Within a day the Silver City Press claimed that a member of the Motion Picture Industry Council was in Silver City to investigate the film. A two-column, page one editorial titled “Its Time to Choose Sides” soon appeared in the newspaper calling for action against the filmmakers. Despite this the people of Bayard, Hanover, Central and Silver City remained unprovoked. That would begin to change.

  On February 23rd after a day of shooting the film, Bieberman arrived at the hotel to find two immigration agents waiting to see him. They asked to see Rosaura Revueltas who showed up later. Bieberman asked them why they wanted to see her. The agents responded that it was just a routine check of her papers. They questioned Rosaura about her crossing of the border and asked to see her papers. After looking them over very closely, they asked her why her passport was not stamped. She said she did not know.    

  Rosaura told the agents about her arriving at the Juarez airport with a group of young girls on their way to a Catholic School in the United States. They boarded an airline limousine and were driven to the border. They were told at the border to display their papers out the vehicle windows. The border agent inspected them quickly and waived them through. The immigration agents said they would be taking her passport for their section chief to review. They would be back in a couple of days and would bring her passport with them. Bieberman scheduled shooting all of Rosaura’s scenes as a priority in case something went wrong.

  The following day the crew received word that Congressman Donald L. Jackson of California was attacking the Salt of the Earth on the floor of Congress claiming it “was a new weapon for Russia… deliberately designed to inflame racial hatreds and to depict the United States as the enemy of all colored peoples.” That evening the crew listened to a local radio station broadcasting the 20 minute speech by Jackson. Jackson said, “If this picture is shown in Latin America, Asia and India, it will do incalculable harm, not only to the United States but to the cause of free people everywhere.” Congressman Jackson closed by saying, “I will do everything in my power to prevent the showing of this Communist-made film in the theaters of America.”

  Bieberman and his partners went to the local radio station and asked to buy time to present their side of the story but were refused. Some of the film crew grew fearful and wanted to leave. They were talked into staying. Some of the miner’s families were worried. 

  The bad news continued. They received word from the Pathé Laboratories in Hollywood who they had contracted with, that they would no longer be processing their film. They attempted to find other processing labs in Hollywood but were refused. This meant they could not review each day’s shooting and would be virtually shooting the film as if blind. The press descended on Silver City and the film makers. Congressman Jackson’s speech was rebroadcast daily on the local radio station and the local newspapers seemed to be inciting the locals to vigilante action.

  Soon a number of the film crew were receiving anonymous phone calls at their hotel rooms telling them to get out of town or they would be sent out in a “black box”. Similar calls were made to the Mine Mill union officers. The following night after the first phone calls, a number of gun shots were fired into Clinton Jenck’s car which was parked outside his house.

  The newly elected Grant County Sheriff was notified. The local Mine Mill union had supported him against the incumbent who had supported the mining companies against the workers during the Empire Zinc Company strike. He was sympathetic to their cause and said he would help but pointed out that he only had seven deputies to patrol the entire county.

  As this was unfolding, the immigration agents returned and arrested Rosaura. She was taken to El Paso and placed in a detention center. Attempts were made to have her released. She was finally given the choice to voluntary deport herself or await trial which could take months. She chose to return to Mexico. Bieberman would use a double to film scenes of Rosaura’s back. A crew went to Mexico and shot a few of her scenes and recorded her narration of parts of the movie.

  Several small establishing scenes were needed and the crew chose the small community of Central to film them. They received permission from the Mexican-American Mayor. A few days after Rosaura’s arrest they were filming a street scene in Central when eight men, a couple of them wearing side arms approached them and ordered them to “get going.” They identified themselves as “the Citizen’s Committee.” Bieberman told the men that the Mayor had given them permission to shoot some scenes. The Citizen’s Committee said that the Mayor does not run the town and that they were not going to allow a bunch of Communists to film their town! Bieberman and the crew decided to leave rather than confront the “vigilantes.”

  The following day the Citizen’s Committee had paraded around Silver City in cars with signs calling for the citizens to get rid of the Communist conspirators, spies and saboteurs. The committee had stopped at the local American Legion and the Silver City Chamber of Commerce asking for their support. Both of these organizations refused.

  A few days later, Bieberman and the crew heard rumors that the Citizen’s Committee had met and discussed burning down the Roos Ranch believing the film to be there.

  The union members assigned 18 of their members to guard the ranch. They were armed with rifles. Twelve of them were veterans. That morning the crew tried to shoot a scene across from the union hall. Just as they finished filming, some cars came to a screeching halt in front of them. Some men piled out of the cars and attacked them, knocking over their camera. They began punching any crew member they came upon. The crew made it to the union hall and took shelter inside. They were bruised and angry. The crew decided to share guard duty at the Roos Ranch with the union men.

  That night a truck attempted to enter the ranch and was headed for the makeshift mine shaft head frame. The guards fired shots into the ground in front of the vehicle and then over the top of the vehicle. The truck and its occupants then sped away towards the highway. The Sheriff was notified and he along with union leaders contacted the state police. Thirty five cars of state troopers arrived in Silver City. They were there to protect the film crew and guarded the final five days of shooting.

  The crew departed Silver City as quietly and secretly as possible. Bieberman read the local newspaper that morning. The headlines read, “RACISTS QUIT SILVER CITY – COMMUNIST FILM COMPANY FINALLY GIVES UP.” The article talked about “the racist group” being driven out by the “patriotic citizens of Silver City” and Rosaula Rueveltas had been deported for illegally entering the country. The article went on to say, “The air of Grant County is once again, pure, American and free from the stench of racist propaganda. The film was financed by the Communist Mine, Mill and Smelters Union whose violence on the picket lines of the year long strike against Empire Zinc brought jail sentences to many leaders of this Red-dominated Union.”

  Although the film’s shooting had been completed, there was still much work to be done. A musical score had to be written and recorded. The movie had to be edited and cuts made. Laboratories had to make the prints and technicians would be needed to make dissolves, fades and credits. Outside help would be needed and the powers that be in Hollywood and within the government would do their best to make sure there was no cooperation within the motion picture industry.

  Two weeks after they left New Mexico, Congressman Jackson entered into the Congressional Record letters he had exchanged with private citizens from Hollywood and government officials seeking legal means “by which the completion of this picture in the United States and its export to foreign nations can be stopped pending a finding as to its contents and purposes.” Two of the Hollywood Americans were Roy M. Brewer and Howard Hughes. Brewer said in his letter that “The Hollywood AFL Film Council assures you that everything which it can do to prevent the showing of the Mexican picture [sic] Salt of the Earth will be done.” This included the Film Council “soliciting its fellow members in the theaters to assist in the prevention of showing of this picture in any American theaters.”

  Hughes’ letter outlined ways the motion picture industry could prevent the picture from being finished and said that an appeal to Congress and the State Department should be made “to prevent the export of this film to Mexico or anywhere else.”

  Several weeks later the union hall in Bayard was set on fire but the damage was minimal. Someone set the union hall in Carlsbad on fire burning it to the ground. One of the union members, Floyd Bostick, had played the part of a deputy sheriff in the picture. His home was completely lost in a deliberately set fire. His children barely escaped from being burned in the fire.

  Two weeks later Clinton Jencks was arrested by the FBI for alleged falsification of his Taft-Hartley non-communist affidavit. He was facing 5 years in prison. A reporter for a newspaper in El Paso, Texas wrote that he had asked several FBI agents why they had arrested Jencks only ten days before the statute of limitations was set to expire. He said they responded “because of that ruckus kicked up over that film.”

  Six weeks after leaving New Mexico, the film was incomplete and union members had been retaliated against. The struggle to finish the film was beginning in earnest. The odds were against them but they had the will to find a way to get it done.   

  Next month: Un-America.

  If you missed the first part of this story, read it online here.  You can read Part 2 online here.

John Hernandez (785 Posts)

John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.


Facebooktwitterby feather
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Comments are closed.

  • Additional Stories

    Annual San Manuel Copper Classic motorcycle race returns March 9

    February 4th, 2024
    by

        Well, they will be at it again. The Trail Riders of Southern Arizona (TRS) will be hosting the […]


    Strong Start to Superior’s 2024

    February 4th, 2024
    by

    Our great town has entered 2024 at hypersonic speed, and we are excited about the many major milestones we have […]


    Winkelman Preparatory Academy plans expansion

    February 4th, 2024
    by

    By Mila Besich   When the school year first started in August of 2023, 16 young girls began attending the […]


    New welding facility open for regional learning in Superior

    February 4th, 2024
    by

      By Nathaniel A. Lopez   It’s official.   On Jan. 23, members of Superior Town Council, Rebuild Superior, Resolution […]


  • Additional Stories

    Queen Creek Bridge replacement project begins on US60; full closures will be required between Superior, Miami for blasting

    February 4th, 2024
    by

      SUPERIOR – The Arizona Department of Transportation is replacing two bridges on US 60 east of Superior with spans […]


    Pinal County hosts vaccine clinics in Kearny, Mammoth

    February 4th, 2024
    by

        On Jan. 14, the Pinal County Animal Care and Control offered low-cost vaccines to local pet owners in […]


    OWN Oracle to disband; Oracle Visitors Center to close

    February 4th, 2024
    by

      By Nathaniel A. Lopez   After many years of service in the Oracle, and surrounding communities, OWN-Oracle Women’s Network, […]


    Ray, Kearny PD receive grant for SRO

    February 1st, 2024
    by

      Ray Unified School District and the Kearny Police Department worked on a grant over the summer that funded a […]


  • Copperarea

  • Southeast Valley Ledger