Hemingway's increasing concern with the social and political developments of the Thirties found a new focus in July 1936 on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, between General Franco and the (Republican) Loyalist government. That fall, Hemingway was invited to cover the War as correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance. He spent an initial two months there in the spring of 1937, the first of four visits over the next year and a half.

The War provided a rallying-point for the American left. Even before he himself left for Spain, Hemingway helped write commentary for a Republican documentary film, Spain in Flames. Once in Spain, he worked with Dos Passos, Lillian Hellman, and others on a second propaganda film, The Spanish Earth, which was screened in New York and at the Roosevelts' White House to raise funds for the Republican ambulance fund.

Hemingway's support of the Loyalist cause initiated the period of his activity as an anti-fascist spokesman. In June 1937 he delivered his only speech, "Fascism Is a Lie," at the American Writers' Congress. He provided the narration for the movie The Spanish Earth and contributed pro-Loyalist pieces to books and journals. His only play, The Fifth Column, was written in Madrid in 1937, but he encountered difficulty arranging for a production, and the play was published in 1938 with his collected stories. The Fifth Column, revised for the stage by Benjamin Glazer, Speiser's brother-in-law, had a short Broadway run in 1940.

"Fascism Is A Lie"
New Masses (June 22, 1937), 4.

Spain in Flames: Cameo News Flashes Extra.
New York: Cameo Theatre, Broadway, February 1937. Publicity broadside with Hemingway statement.

Ken, The Insider's World.
Chicago: Esquire-Coronet, Inc., 1938.
Advance publicity leaflet featuring among Ken's editors Hemingway, Gilbert Seldes, and Arnold Gingrich.

"The Time Now, the Place Spain,"
Ken, volume 1, number 1 (April 7, 1938), 36-37. Original wrappers.

The Spanish Earth.
Cinema program for American premiere, 55th St. Playhouse, New York, August 20, 1937.

This pro-Loyalist motion picture, directed by Ivins, had commentary and written and spoken narration by Hemingway, music by Virgil Thomson, and the collaboration of Archibald MacLeish and Lillian Hellman. Also shown is an announcement for the Philadelphia premiere, at the Europa motion picture salon.

The Spanish Earth.
With an introduction by Jasper Wood, illustrations by Frederick K. Russell. Cleveland: The J. B. Savage Company, 1938. First editions, of 1000 numbered copies.

The first issue (unnumbered copy) has pictorial F.A.I. end papers. The second issue has plain end papers carrying a note from the publisher about Hemingway's disclaimer of involvement (copy no. 136). Both copies in original pictorial cloth, with glassine wrappers.

Also included is the pamphlet One Moment Please!, by W. Ward Marsh, about the publication of The Spanish Earth. Reprinted from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 24,1938.

The Spanish War.
Fact, A Monograph a Month, number 16; London: Fact, July 1938.

A contemporary British collection of reports by "the famous American author," reprinting his NANA dispatches.

"On the American Dead in Spain"
New Masses: Lincoln Brigade Number (February 14, 1939).

Inscribed to "Maury Speiser with much affection."

The Theatre Guild
Poster for the original production of The Fifth Column.

The Shubert Theatre New Haven
New Haven: Samuel S. Shubert Theatre, n.d. [January 26, 27, 1940].

Program for three tryout performances in Connecticut.

The Playbill for the Alvin Theatre
New York: Alvin Theatre, n.d. [March 6, 1940].

Program for the original Theatre Guild production of The Fifth Column.

The Playgoer, the Magazine of the Theatre.
Philadelphia: Forrest Theatre, n.d. [1940].

Program for the Pre-Broadway tryout Theatre Guild production of The Fifth Column.

The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938. First edition, original cloth in dust jacket.

The lead item in this volume is Hemingway's play about the internal conflicts of Republican Spain, written in Madrid in 1937. The collection first appeared in the U.S. in October 1938 and contained four new stories in addition to those previously published.

The Fifth Column, a Play in Three Acts.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. First separate edition, original cloth, in dust jacket.

        

Updated September 10, 2002 by the Department of Rare Books & Special Collections
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URL: http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/amlit/hemingway/hem6.html