Confidential Notebook: File 13 (Limited Edition)

New York: Self published, 1951. Limited Edition. Noted in manuscript ink on the title page as copy No. 19. Errata slip laid in notes that the publication was produced after significant delays due to "security reasons." Undated, but circa 1951.

Per his errata slip, "File 13" appears to be a significant revision to the author's "Confidential Notebook," and covers a number of notable contemporary figures, including Judy Holliday, Elia Kazan, Dashiell Hammett, and Sam Jaffe, among many others. In 1956 Hartnett would be sued for libel by radio personality John Henry Faulk, the latter receiving a $1.2 million settlement-a dispute which was later dramatized in the 1975 television movie "Fear on Trial."

In the early 1940s, former naval officer Vincent Hartnett began publishing right-wing articles under the auspices of America Press, Inc., criticizing moral decay in American society. Hartnett's fervor gradually began to take shape around the entertainment industry, and his articles increasingly focused on "Communist subversion" in radio and film. Hartnett would write the (uncredited) introduction to notorious anti-Communist document "Red Channels" in 1950, and began self-publishing a series of bulletins entitled "Confidential Notebook." This publication presented dossiers of information on Hollywood actors, writers, and directors who had (or were suspected of having) Communist ties.

Hartnett would co-found the private company Aware, Inc. in 1953. Heavily influenced by anti-Communist organization the American Business Consultants, the group peddled background checks to the entertainment industry, compiling suspicious information relating to current employees or potential hires in the name of preventing Communist influence in radio, television, and film.

Housed in black untitled wrappers. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Approximately 100 pages. Wrapper Very Good plus, pages Very Good plus, moderately edgeworn and age toned.