"Makes me dig him even more." That was my initial reaction too. Gotta get out and rent a Jimmy Stewart movie tonight - any suggestions?

Every time a bell rings, some dirty Commie bastard is getting his kidneys worked over with a telephone book by some thickset FBI guy.

*Sniff*. Brings a tear to the eye, it does.

He was also a fighter pilot and rose to the rank of Reserve General in the AF Reserve. Imagine a Hollywood celeb doing that today. They dont make them like they used to.

Stewart is at his best... Joe Everyman: Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Western: The Man who shot Liberty Valance, Hitchcock: Vertigo

Geeze, he was great in so many ways and now we learn that he was Hoover's commie hunter in Hollywood? There are men and then there are giants.

because Stewart's status as a famous, decorated war hero and officer in the American Army Air Force Reserve Corps made him the perfect choice to help flush out subversives in LA

Wouldn't that make it harder for him to be a secret agent?

...rooting out suspected communists from Hollywood, according to a damning new biography.

I dont care if you are left, right, or center, when the FBI gets friends to spy on friends, it leaves a bad taste. Isn't this the same tactic practiced by the KGB and the Stasi, agian leaves a bad taste.

BTW the Stewert movie is "The FBI Story"1956 I believe.

jeff:

It's called "getting an informant", and that's how the Feds bust criminals all the time. The Mafia would still be running the show in New York and Chicago had Joe Valachi not ratted out his friends. Ditto for the Unabomber -- his own brother turned him in. Your local cops will tell you the same thing: for all the hoo-hah that the telvision cop shows throw around, most "investigations" are broken by a wife, husband, lover, ex-lover, or whatever turning someone in.

You might not like the "bad taste" this leaves but I'd bet you'd like the alternative a hell of a lot less.

And the whole "KGB/Stasi" thing is just the usual over-the-top hyperbole thrown around by people who don't know the real history of those institutions. Even during the Hoover years, the FBI was nowhere near the KGB or the Stasi. Read up on some history before you throw around this kind of nonsense.

So Jeff, If the FBI is able to recruit some Muslim insiders to spy on his Muslim friends, this would give you pause?

"Every time a bell rings, some dirty Commie bastard is getting his kidneys worked over with a telephone book by some thickset FBI guy."

Nearly choked laughing so hard over this.

Has anyone looked into the background of this other "jeff?"

I might like the results, just not the methods, like sausage making. As to the KGB/Stasi to the FBI link, my god I would hope not, outside of the mob example, you are talking about crimes already commited, these are fishing expiditions with Hoover and Stewert. Like a said it leaves a bad taste when you have to worry about saying something to your friends, whoever you are.

Jimmy Stewart was the freakin MAN.

Nothing is more annoying than when Hollyweird types start martyring the pinko bastards they had in their midst in the 50's. See Ann Coulter's Treason.

But, in Sean Penn's mind the pinkos were heroes. Nuff said.

JeffK, don't worry, we've got people on it.

"My mother used to say to me, 'Elwood' -- she always called me Elwood -- 'Elwood, in this world you must be oh-so clever, or oh-so pleasant. And track down the commies Elwood, every last rat-bastard one of em'. For years I was clever. I'd recommend hunting down commies -- and you may quote me".

The kronology (heh) is a little suspicious because it says Stewart was recruited in 1947, whereas his films with Capra--including It's a Wonderful Life--ended in 1946. I guess he could have spied on Capra (who did seem to have some pink tinges to him) later anyway, but not while the two of them were working on any films.

And he probably never fingered Donna "Octopussy" Reed either.

One more thing that makes me doubt the veracity: they call It's a Wonderful Life a hit, when it was a box office bomb.

"And he probably never fingered Donna "Octopussy" Reed either"

well said

I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build prisons with 20-foot walls and electrified razor wire, where every godless red bastard in Hollywood can sit and rot for eternity.

And they weren't "fishing expeditions". In most cases where a criminal case was brought, the defendant was indeed a Communist. Read Red Star Over Hollywood, or Robert Conquest's The Great Terror.

It was a real eye-opener for a lot of leftists when the Russians opened their archives of that time. It turns out that the CPUSA was indeed a wholly owned Russian subsidiary, and that many of the Hollywood figures labeled as Commie spies were, in fact, Commie spies. Conquest's book ought to be required reading for any numbnuts leftist who harbors fond feelings for the Soviets, or who thinks that the US institutions in any way resemble those of Stalinist Russia. Like I said, these idiots really need to brush up on their history.

"Flight of the Phoenix" is Stewart's best performance, IMO, because he's gets to show some grit. The production is dated -- most films of the time are -- but the performances by Stewart, Richard Attenborough, and Hardy Kruger are just fantastic. I've seen copies of this film for $10 at Walmart ever since the remake came out. I haven't seen the remake, but I can say with some certainty the original HAS to be better because it's just so good.

And for the nice Everyman? "Harvey."

As for Stewart the Spy: lol, good for him...and smart recruiting by Hoover. Who makes a better spy than a friend?

Later,
bbeck

My personal favorite Stewart flick is one of his later ones, a Western, and one that few remember today: The Cheyenne Social Club.

Guess we won't see the Dems using any more clips of Jimmy from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to promote the nobility of their filibustering.

Ace, come on man, you gotta recommend Rear Window. He was spying on people in the movie.

FYI: Jimmy Stewart's home town is Indiana, Pennsylvania, the same place the Rhonda Goodrich lives. Rhonda was the sister of the fallen soldier who spread the word of Lt. Gov. Knoll's tacky behavior.

Hell, Vertigo's my favorite. And he was spying on Kim Novak in that one.

By the way, nice reference, Dave.

"And how do you do, Mr. Bolshevik?"

After WW2, everyone was saying, "Why didn't someone step up and stop Hitler when he was rising to power?" But when Americans stop Commies from getting a foothold here, there remembered as backstabbers.

I dont care if you are left, right, or center, when the FBI gets friends to spy on friends, it leaves a bad taste. Isn't this the same tactic practiced by the KGB and the Stasi, agian leaves a bad taste.

If you're attempting to bring down our democratic form of government, you are not my friend and I would squeal on you in a heart beat.

The KGB and Stasi spied on those who wanted a democratic government. In Hollywood, in the 1930s, 40s, 50, people like Stewart informed on those who sided with the KGB and Stasi.

And Anatomy of A Murder is an excellent movie. Screenplay based on a book written by a judge who also plays the judge in the movie. Very realistic. A real plus, is that it features the ever so lovely Lee Remmick.

Ooooh, Lee Remick. Quite the dish in her day.

And they wouldn't stop talking about her panties. Panties, panties, panties. They just wouldn't stop.

I think I wound up aroused during George C. Scott's summation, which is part of the reason for my various sexual dysfunctions.

Now I can't maintain an erection unless Patton is on in the background. Preferably one of those richly homoerotic scenes between him and Karl Malden.

Now, ace, just keep your mind on Lee Remmick jiggling in the courthouse because she refused to wear a girdle. Hell, she had no fat to jiggle. Exactly why was Stewart complaining about her ass??

brak,

You might find this interesting.

Jimmy Stewart was a bomber pilot, not a fighter pilot. And he flew in the US Air Corps, there was no Air Force at that time.

He all but demanded being allowed into flight school,even though bomber pilots had about 30%+ mortality rate.

There are several slightly conflicting stories regarding his service, here is one.

He rose from enlisted to Colonel faster than anyone in the history of the US Army, and after the war remained in the Reserves rising to the rank of Brigadier General (one-star).

Yes, Jimmy Stewart, who at the time of WWII was already a bona-fide movie star, was the man.

If interested in the story of bomber pilots, I strongly recommend Stephen Ambrose's The Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45 which highlighted the story of another war hero, Walter Mondale.

The men who flew in bombers were unbelievably brave. Heroes all.

George McGovern too. I believe he participated in the costly Ploesti raids.

Good men.

Ambrose's book is the one about McGovern. It's not Band of Brothers, but still quite good.

Jeff you ignorant slut - if your friends aren't doing anything, then there's nothing to rat out. You can't rat out an innocent person (and have it stick unless you've set them up)

Q: if your neighbor is say a weatherman plotting to do something unpleasant will you rat him out or allow him to go about his subversive business?

Yes, Jimmy Stewart is from Indiana, PA.

People from that area will not be surprised at this news. It's more like "of course, that's what a decent person does! What's the big deal?"

I dont care if you are left, right, or center, when the FBI gets friends to spy on friends, it leaves a bad taste. Isn't this the same tactic practiced by the KGB and the Stasi, agian leaves a bad taste...

I might like the results, just not the methods, like sausage making. As to the KGB/Stasi to the FBI link, my god I would hope not, outside of the mob example, you are talking about crimes already commited, these are fishing expiditions with Hoover and Stewert. Like a said it leaves a bad taste when you have to worry about saying something to your friends, whoever you are.

You know, that statement is particularly offensive if you consider that the Hollywood communists were trying to bring the same system of government that created the KGB to the United States.

I know a guy who was beat up on a pretty regular basis by members of the KGB when the Soviets were in power. The reason? He wouldn't pledge loyalty to the government these Hollywood twits were actively supporting.

Real people suffered while these dilettantes played at revolutionaries, so spare me your facile analogies.

All,

LOL!

WTF?

My bad.

I.Can't.Believe.I.Made.That.Mistake.

It must be the 1600 mile drive over the last three days.

Don't ask.

Anyway...

Yes, of course, George McGovern.

I.Am.A.Retard.

You heard it hear first.

LOL.

Say it isn't so (tears)....I met him when I was in 5th grade and "fell in love"...he came to our school in the Philippines in 1954. Men look so handsome in uniform!

While almost a secret, Brigadier General Stewart did not end his combat flying career at the end of WWII. Jimmy flew his last combat mission in 1966 over Vietnam, in revenge for the North Vietnamese killing his 24-year old stepson, 1st Lt. Ronald McLean.

(all from jimmy.org)

Also, remember Strategic Air Command, which featured the B-36, possibly the most amusing of America's bomber aircraft.

Of course, these days we don't need FBI secret agents - the morons conduct their anti-american activities out in the open, like in Hanoi or Baghdad.

Jane Fonda says she supports the troops and Jimmy Stewart also supported them. Which, I wonder, rings true?

As if opposing the leftist religion of 100 Million Murders by all means possible, including turning over those around you that are part of the leftist evil of all evils is anything to be ashamed about.

Come to think of it, Agusto Pinochet is an even bigger hero of mine, he didnt just expose evil commies, he killed them. attaboy.

I enjoy the sentiments, but don't you think you all are a little over the top? Jimmy Stewart has always been one of my favorites ( REEEALY skinny just like my dad) as an actor, but because he backed us in Viet Nam without apology despite the virulent oppositon by the Hollywood powers that be and the likely adverse career consequences of that support, I would always revere him. I would gladly rely on his good judgment in deciding right and wrong in the matter of infiltrating treasonous communist cells here in the U.S. I very much doubt that Mr. Stewart would do anything to harm the U.S., its people or our freedoms.

I would remind you that extremism in the praise of Jimmy is no vice, moderation in the admiration of Jimmy is no virtue.

Jimbo's still doing the work of the angels up here...exposed 53 card-carrying members of Beelzebub's party just the other day.

Joooossssepphhh!

This news just makes me love him even more. He and my grandpa were both active in the Air Force Association for years, and when my grandpa died he wrote us the loveliest letter about him -- full of sympathy, respect, humor -- Jimmy was a total class act and patriot. My favorite movies with him are Rear Window and the Philadelphia Story.

>"Makes me dig him even more."

Regret, Ace, my exact reaction too. About three or four lines into the quote.

What a great guy.

Every time a bell rings, some dirty Commie bastard is getting his kidneys worked over with a telephone book by some thickset FBI guy.

I have a relative who is with the sheriff's department in the county where Jimmy Stewart had a ranch. My relative says that any time he saw Stewart, Stewart would complain about trespassers or whatever, as long as he was within easy earshot. He didn't alter course, and he didn't expect you to alter course. But as long as you happened to be in earshot, he'd complain.

Wow, thats great. Today we would need at least twenty FBI teams to capture all the liberal communists in Hollywood so I think for now it's a lost cause. Great post!

I fondly recall the time Mr. Stewart, while serving his two weeks of active U.S. Air Force Reserve duty, stopped by my oldest brother's little league practice to sign a few autographs. We still have the old Polaroid snapshots in our family album.

At the time, our family was stationed at Anderson AFB Guam. I've often wondered if this occurred during his stay...

After WWII, he remained in the United States Air Force Reserves, achieving the rank of Brigadier General on July 23, 1959. His final mission was a bombing run over North Vietnam in a B-52 during the Vietnam War that he specifically requested as a close for his military career. He retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1968.

...reason being...Anderson was a SAC B-52 base. My brothers and I used to love watching those suckers take off, laden down with every manner of bomb destined for Vietnam.

My dad recently mentioned that many an obscene message was written on those bombs...directed specifically towards a Miss Jane Fonda.

One of my favorite Stewart movies is Carbine Williams, about the man who invented the M1 rifle while in prison for murder. The design came to him while he was trying to distract himself from the agony of a stint in the hotbox. Most of his work was done in secret. There are competing claims that the key development was done at the Winchester R&D, but regardless, the movie's pretty neat; I cannot imagine the equivalent being made by today's Hollywood.

This is one of the few movies I haven't been able to find at Netflix. I saw it on, of all places, Turner Classic Movies.

"I dont care if you are left, right, or center, when the FBI gets friends to spy on friends, it leaves a bad taste. Isn't this the same tactic practiced by the KGB and the Stasi, agian leaves a bad taste."

Err, no. The KGB and the Stasi would shoot you in the back of the neck, and take your friend, and shoot him in the back of the neck, too. Just in case.