Is it true?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Howard Hughes
strykr_pixel — 20 years ago(December 12, 2005 10:05 PM)
Had a strong aversion to black people. For many years he had a private screening room at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood where he would watch movies by himself at night. In 1958 he found out that the cast of Porgy and Bess (1959), an all-black musical being made on the lot, was using the screening room each afternoon to watch the footage that had been shot the previous day. Horrified that blacks used the same room he did, and that some may even have sat in the same seat he did, he shut down the screening room, left the Goldwyn lot and for the remainder of his life never returned to it.
That paragraph is featured in the trivia for Hughes. Anyone have any clue if it's true or just a rumor that someone put under imdb's trivia? I can't seem to find anything else about it, anywhere. If it is true, it rather dampers my opinion of Hughes incredibly :-. Sure he was a great inspiration to Aviation history, but if he was that big of a bigot eh. -
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azn1011 — 20 years ago(January 24, 2006 08:47 PM)
if it is true, it very much could be related to his obsession compulsive disorder. By 1958, Hughes' OCD was very much well developed. He could have an aversion towards anyone sitting in the same seat he did, not just black people. remember, people with OCD literally have no control over it. so he might not necessarily been a racist.
if i could, i would dance with you -
msimmonsva22 — 20 years ago(February 24, 2006 03:01 PM)
He has OCD yes and it was probably very well developed, but his aversion to blacks remained. When he bought up all the hotels in Vegas, at one he held a major tennis tournament. When he found out that Arthur Ashe was competing, he wanted to cancel the tournament. His associates successfully convinced him that Ashe was not a threat and allowed the tournament to happen.
I loved the movie and also impressed with his achievements in aviation. My views of him did dampen, however, when I learned this. I have to keep remembering the times and look above his obvious flaws. Unfortunately he was not alone in his beliefs. -
Sven_Hassel — 20 years ago(March 07, 2006 03:29 AM)
So what?! It doesn't overly matter blame his mother if anything. I'm not a racist but if my parents, from a young age, kept telling me that other races are filthy then what would I be thinking? Racism is passed down from one generation to the next and back in the first quarter of the 1900's racism was so common that no one thought it to be wrong.
"Ah storwee wike mine ha ne'er bean towld." - Chiyo. -
grimmchoices — 20 years ago(March 20, 2006 01:30 AM)
Are you kidding? By your reasoning, anything people do could be blamed on their ancestors. No doubt, if one is raised by parents who are racist, one is more inclined to be racist. However, there comes an age when one must take responsibility for one's actions and beliefs.
And please stop with the 'that's how it was in those days' argument. It's pathetic.
Your love of the halfling's leaf has clearly slowed your mind. -
gargoyle888 — 20 years ago(March 20, 2006 10:13 AM)
"And please stop with the 'that's how it was in those days' argument. It's pathetic. "
First, this topic has been covered elsewhere:
http://www.imdb.com/board/20400652/board/thread/24794233
Second, We are all the product of our time. What you believe to be moral and just today is only valid today. It is not moral and just for all time and in all places.
Hughes, like all men, believed in the morality of his time. That was a time when racism was acceptable here in the United States.
Consider: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1955. For that refusal she was arrested, charged with violation of segregation laws, convicted and fined in a court of law. Clearly the law - and society - believed such segregation/racism to be moral and correct in Montgomery, AL in 1955.
Consider too that Hughes had been a recluse since 1950. His views after that time are just speculation. His views prior to that time would have been "politically correct" if he'd voiced the belief that blacks were inferior to whites.
A more interesting question is what is there in today's society that will be found morally repulsive 50 years from now? -
manofsteel4455 — 15 years ago(May 09, 2010 01:11 AM)
A more interesting question is what is there in today's society that will be found morally repulsive 50 years from now?
Not much because the morals will just keep on evolving for the better.
I'm gonna die unless you kill me! -
essexb1 — 20 years ago(March 25, 2006 05:26 PM)
But really, that was how it was in those days. It's not a pathetic argument, you can't impose the beliefs we hold today to the beliefs they had back then. I'm sorry to say that black people were seen by many whites as second class citizens, a very dark and dispicable page in history but still a fact.
He was also born 40 years after the civil war ended and in the former "confederate" state of Texas. I would probably hazard a guess that some white folks down there, probably harboured a certain amount of resentment towards black people.
Growing up in that sort of environment, it's wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he did what was reported at the begining of this thread. That sort of attitude was common place amongst white people and probably not too frowned upon if the truth be known. -
Oz0927 — 20 years ago(March 27, 2006 07:44 AM)
Even if racist ideas were passed down to him by family it's still no excuse. There were people that broke the chain of bigotry back then and if he wasn't one of them then he was wrong to have those beliefs. If it is true then he is less of a person for hating black people. He is just like ghandi who also hated blacks. I don't care how much history they made they're douchebags in my big book of douchebags.
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Da_Playboi — 20 years ago(March 29, 2006 01:15 PM)
Race may not have been the reason at all why Howard didn't want to use the room. You gotta remember that he had OCD and suffered from a severe case of hypochondria in his seclusion years. While he was living in the shooting room he wanted only certain people to come into contact with him. So we don't know if the reason was because they were black.
"I am Jack's wasted life "
And by the way, "Crash" was a horrible movie. -
paurushkuntal — 19 years ago(July 31, 2006 01:52 AM)
TO oZ0927.
FOR UR KIND INFORMATION GANDHI IN NO WAY HATED BLACKS ARE U A ILLITRATE OR WHAT GANDHI STARTED THE WAR AGAINST RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICA WITH AFRICANS AND INDIANS AND LATER IN INDIA FOR FREEDOM AND RACISM.FOR THAT I RESPECT HIM,U ARE A FOOL TO BELIVE THAT GANDHI HATED BLACK.
GANDHI ENDED THE CAST SYSTEM IN INDIA WHICH A\WAS WORST THAN RACISM AND U SAID HE HATED BLACK GET SOME KNOWLEDGE AS HALF KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS AND I AM REALLY SURPRISED FIRST LEARN THE HISTORY AND FACT THEN SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT
U HAVE FULL RIGHT TO EXPESS UR VIEW BUT SHOULD UNDERSTAND AND KNOW THE FACT ABOUT WHAT U TALK.
www.myspace.com/paurush