John Henry Faulk (August 21, 1913 – April 9, 1990) was an American storyteller, humorist, and radio show host. His successful lawsuit against the entertainment industry helped bring an end to the Hollywood blacklist.

Early life

John Henry Faulk was born in Austin, Texas, to Methodist parents Henry Faulk and his wife Martha Miner Faulk. John Henry had four siblings. He also appeared on Leave It to the Girls in 1953 and The Name's the Same in 1955.

Cactus Pryor met Faulk in the studios of KLBJ (then KTBC) where Faulk stopped by to thank Pryor for letting his mother hear his New York show. Pryor had been "accidentally" broadcasting Faulk's radio show in Texas where Faulk was not otherwise heard. Although the broadcast happened repeatedly, Pryor always claimed he just hit the wrong button in the studio. Pryor visited Faulk at a Manhattan apartment he shared with Alan Lomax and became introduced to the movers and shakers of the East Coast celebrity scene of that era. When Pryor stood by Faulk during the blacklisting and tried to find him work, Pryor's children were harassed, a prominent Austin physician circulated a letter questioning Pryor's patriotism, and an Austin attorney tried to convince Lyndon B. Johnson to discharge Pryor from the airwaves. The Pryor family and the Faulk family remained close and supportive of each other for the rest of Faulk's life.

In December 1955, Faulk was elected second vice president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). Orson Bean was the first vice president and Charles Collingwood was the president of the union. Collingwood, Bean, and Faulk were part of a middle-of-the-road slate of non-communist, anti-AWARE organization candidates that Faulk had helped draft. Twenty-seven of thirty-five vacant seats on the board went to the middle-of-the-road slate. Faulk's public position during the campaign had been that the union should be focused on jobs and security, not blacklisting of members. In the 1970s in Austin, he was also befriended by the young co-editor of the Texas Observer, Molly Ivins, and became an early supporter of hers.

Blacklist controversy

Faulk's radio career at CBS Attorneys for AWARE, including McCarthy-committee counsel Roy Cohn, managed to stall the suit, originally filed in 1957, for five years. When the trial finally concluded in a New York courtroom, the jury had determined that Faulk should receive more compensation than he sought in his original petition. On June 28, 1962, the jury awarded him the largest libel judgment in history to that date — $3.5 million. An appeals court lowered the amount to $500,000. Legal fees and accumulated debts erased most of the balance of the award.

Faulk's book, Fear on Trial, published in 1963, tells the story of the experience. The book was remade into an Emmy Award-winning TV movie in 1975 by CBS Television with William Devane portraying Faulk and George C. Scott playing Faulk's lawyer, Louis Nizer.

Other supporters in the blacklist struggle included radio pioneer and Wimberley, Texas, native Parks Johnson, and reporter and CBS television news anchor Walter Cronkite.

Personal life and death

In 1940, John Henry Faulk and Harriet Elizabeth ("Hally") Wood, a music student at the University of Texas Fine Arts School, were married, six weeks after they met. The marriage ended in divorce in 1947; the couple had one daughter, Cynthia Tannehill. In 1948, Faulk and New Yorker Lynne Smith were married, also some six weeks after they met. That marriage also ended in divorce because of fallout from the blacklisting upheaval. Faulk and Smith had two daughters, Johanna and Evelyn, and one son, Frank Dobie Faulk. In 1965, Faulk and Elizabeth Peake were married; they had one son, John Henry Faulk III.

John Henry Faulk died in Austin of cancer on April 9, 1990. Austin restaurateur and author Mary Faulk Koock (1910–1996) was Faulk's sister.

Awards and tributes

  • (1980) "The Ballad of John Henry Faulk", by artist Phil Ochs, is on his album The Broadside Tapes 1, Folkways Records.
  • (1983) Faulk was the recipient of a Paul Robeson Award, which recognizes exemplification of principles by which Paul Robeson lived his life.
  • (1995) John Henry Faulk Public Library, the main branch of the Austin Public Library, originally named Central Library when constructed in 1979, was renamed to honor Faulk.
  • The John Henry Faulk Award, Tejas Storytelling Association, is presented annually in Denton, Texas, to the individual who has made a significant contribution to the art of storytelling in the Southwest.

Film and television credits

Film

  • All the Way Home (1963) – Walter Starr
  • The Best Man (1964) – Governor T.T. Claypoole
  • Lovin' Molly (1974) – Mr. Grinsom
  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – Storyteller
  • Leadbelly (1976) – Governor Neff
  • Trespasses (1986) – Doctor Silver (final film role)

Television

  • It's News to Me (1951–1954) – Self
  • Leave It to the Girls (Oct 3, 1953) – Self
  • The Name's the Same (Feb 21, 1955) – Self
  • For the People (1965) – Reynolds
  • Fear on Trial (1975) – Writer, biographical film of John Henry Faulk
  • Hee Haw (1975–1982) – Self
  • Adam (1983) – Strom Thurmond
  • Cronkite Remembers (1997) – Uncredited archive footage

Discography

  • John Henry Faulk, recordings of Negro religious services. Part 1 [sound recording] (July 1941) 47 sound discs : analog, 33 1/3 and 78 rpm; 12 in.
  • John Henry Faulk recordings of Negro religious services. Part 2 [sound recording] (Aug–Sept 1941) 42 sound discs : analog, 33 1/3 rpm; 12 in.
  • John Henry Faulk Texas recordings collection [sound recording] (Oct–Nov 1941) 33 sound discs : analog, 33 1/3 rpm; 12 in.
  • John Henry Faulk collection of Texas prison songs [sound recording] (1942) 10 sound discs : analog, 78 rpm; 12 in. + documentation.
  • John Henry Faulk and others, "Man-on-the-Street" interviews collection [sound recording] (1941) 6 sound discs : analog; 16 in.; 15 sound discs : analog; 12 in.
  • American people speak on the war [sound recording] (1941) 1 sound disc (ca. 15 min.) : analog, 33 1/3 rpm; 16 in.
  • The people speak to the president, or, Dear, Mr. President [sound recording] (1942) 1 sound disc : analog, 33 1/3 rpm; 16 in.
  • CBS news with Stuart Metz.[sound recording]. (May 13, 1957) 1 sound tape reel (5 min.) : analog, 7 1/2 ips, full track, mono.; 7 in
  • John Henry Faulk show (May 13, 1957) 1 sound tape reel (25 min.) : analog, 7 1/2 ips, full track, mono.; 7 in
  • Blacklist: a failure in political imagination [Sound recording] (1960) reel. 7 in. 3 3/4 ips. 1/2 track. cassette. 2 1/2 × 4 in
  • Help unsell the war. American report [sound recording] (1972) 1 sound disc : analog, 33 1/3 rpm; 12 in
  • Selected radio programs from The Larry King show [sound recording] (1982–1985) 116 sound cassettes : analog
  • To Secure the Blessings of Liberty [audio cassette] (1986). Recording of Faulk discussing U.S. history, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
  • African-American Slave Audio Recordings (2008)

Radio appearances and speeches

  • Faulk recorded his "Christmas Story" in 1974 for the NPR program Voices in the Wind.
  • Faulk made speeches on the First Amendment and civil rights for many colleges and universities.

Bibliography

  • Faulk, John Henry (1940). Quickened by De Spurit: Ten Negro Sermons (Masters thesis). University of Texas at Austin. .
  • —— (1964). Fear on Trial. Simon and Schuster. .
  • —— (1983). Fear on Trial (Revised edition). Gardner, Don (ed). University of Texas Press. . Foreword by Studs Terkel.
  • —— (1985). The Uncensored John Henry Faulk. Texas Monthly Press. .

Plays

  • Deep in the Heart (one-man play)
  • Pear Orchard, Texas (one-man play)

Further reading

  • Burton, Michael C. John Henry Faulk: The Making of a Liberated Mind: A Biography. Austin: Eakin Press, 1993.

References

Additional sourcing

  • John Henry Faulk: The Making of a Liberated Mind, Eakin Press
  • NPR John Henry Faulk's 'Christmas Story'
  • The Ballad of John Henry Faulk – lyrics by Phil Ochs
  • Tejas Storytelling Association's John Henry Faulk Award