For today’s Left, blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is an admirable figure. Director Oliver Stone called Trumbo his “hero,” while a flood of celebrities (including Gore Vidal, Brian Dennehey and Liam Neeson) have lined up to star as the screenwriter in the off-Broadway play “Trumbo.”

In a recent New York Times article, journalist David Itzkoff praises the Writers Guild for posthumously recognizing Trumbo as the true author of the screenplay for “Roman Holiday.” Both Itzkoff and the Guild saw this belated screen credit as a blow against censorship.

But missing from the award and the article is Trumbo’s own censorship efforts while a member of the American Communist Party.

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People have been saying to me for months, “Joe, where’s Tío Chano?” Referring, of course, to my Uncle Luciano.

Well, the short answer is, I didn’t know. For as long as I have known Tío Chano, that is to say, for my entire life, Tío Chano has disappeared for months at a time. Nobody in the family knows where he goes, and we have learned not to ask.

At the end of August 2009 Tío Chano asked me for a ride to LAX. I dropped him off at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at 2:30 AM on August 30th. We heard nothing from him until less than a week ago. (more…)