Before Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book there was The Little Red Song Book, which included lyrics to rabblerousing ballads written by labor troubadours such as Joe Hill in order to organize the Industrial Workers of the World. A 1979 documentary about the IWW is being re-released on April 29, making the stand-up-and-cheer The Wobblies – as IWW members were nicknamed – the absolutely perfect film to see for May Day.
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Ed Rampell was named after legendary CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow because of his TV exposes of Senator Joe McCarthy. Rampell majored in Cinema at Manhattan’s Hunter College and is an L.A.-based film historian/critic who co-organized the 2017 70th anniversary Blacklist remembrance at the Writers Guild theater in Beverly Hills and was a moderator at 2019’s “Blacklist Exiles in Mexico” filmfest and conference at the San Francisco Art Institute. Rampell co-presented “The Hollywood Ten at 75” film series at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and is the author of Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States and co-author of The Hawaii Movie and Television Book.
