May 6, 1939: Hollywood's 1st Anti-Nazi Film

May 6, 1939: Confessions of a Nazi Spy premieres. It is the 1st Hollywood film to attack the policies of Nazi Germany, 7 months after Britain and France betrayed Czechoslovakia by handing the Sudetenland over to the Nazis, 9 weeks after the Nazis took all of Czechoslovakia, and 4 months before the invasion of Poland that officially started the European Theater of World War II.

In his memoir My First Hundred Years in Hollywood, published in 1964, studio chief Jack L. Warner recalled how, in 1936, he learned "the sickening news that Joe Kauffman, our Warner Brothers man in Germany, had been murdered by Nazi killers in Berlin. Like many another outnumbered Jew, he was trapped in an alley. They hit him with fists and clubs, and kicked the life out of him with their boots, and left him lying there."

The film's story is based on a series of articles by FBI Agent Leon G. Turrou, recounting his investigation of Nazi spy rings in the United States. Anatole Litvak, Jewish, directed. Edward G. Robinson, Jewish, played an FBI Agent investigating the eponymous spy ring. George Sanders, a British actor of German descent, played a German naval officer.

Warners went on to produce such anti-Nazi films as You're In the Army Now in 1941; Captains of the Clouds, This Was Paris, Spy Ship, Secret Enemies, Desperate Journey, Casablanca and Flying Fortress in 1942; Action in the North Atlantic, This Is the Army, Watch On the Rhine and Northern Pursuit in 1943; In Our Time, passage to Marseille, Uncertain Glory, Between Two Worlds, To Have and Have Not, The Conspirators and Hollywood Canteen in 1944; Hotel Berlin and Escape in the Desert in 1945. There were also anti-Imperial Japan films, including Across the Pacific in 1942; Air Force, Pledge to Bataan and Destination Tokyo in 1943; Objective, Burma! God Is My Co-Pilot and Pride of the Marines in 1945.

Unfortunately, after The War, Jack Warner voluntarily cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming names of those he "suspected" of being Communists; fired 12 scriptwriters, for the same reason, all without a shred of evidence or any change to defend themselves; and contributed heavily to the anti-Communist propaganda that infected the nation during the 1950s. I leave it to the reader to decide whether, on balance, his political sins far outweigh his political virtues.

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May 6, 1939 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Monte Pearson was the winning pitcher, and went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs in his own cause. Lou Gehrig had just retired 4 days earlier, and Joe DiMaggio did not play due to injury.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at the Polo Grounds. Harry "the Horse" Danning went 4-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Mel Ott went 1-for-5.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Ebbets Field. Cubs catcher-manager Charles "Gabby" Hartnett hit a home run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Bees, 6-4 at National League Park in Boston. This was during the 1936-40 experiment of having renamed the Boston Braves and Braves Field, which didn't catch on. Ernie Lombardi went 2-for-5 with a homerun and 3 RBIs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The only run came on the last play, in the bottom of the 9th inning, when LeGrant Scott singled Merrill May home. Claude Passeau allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout. Oddly, opposing starter Joe Bowman got 2 of those hits. Lloyd Waner got 1, but his brother Paul Waner did not.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 14-12 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. For the Pale Hose: Gerald "Gee" Walker went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs, including the only home run in this slugfest; and Eric McNair went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. For the Nats: Cecil Travis went 4-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs, and Taft "Taffy" Wright went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Lefty Grove went the distance for the win. Joe Vosmik went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs. Jimmie Foxx went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Rookie Ted Williams went 0-for-3 with a walk. For the Tigers, Rudy York hit a home run, and Hank Greenberg went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

Also, in English soccer, Arsenal concluded their Football League season by defeating West London team Brentford, 2-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury for its North London neighborhood. This game was filmed for the feature film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, released 6 months later.