Entertainment

Joe Gilford’s ‘Finks,’ about the dark days of Hollywood blacklisting, is personal

‘Finks” feels personal. And with good reason: This drama about Jack and Madeline Lee Gilford’s struggles during the show-business blacklist of the ’50s was written by their son Joe Gilford. His historical drama is rife with family pride — you may know his father’s genial face from old Cracker Jack commercials — and while the names have been changed to protect the innocent, the passions are real.

The key characters are nightclub comic Mickey (Aaron Serotsky) and Natalie (Miriam Silverman), a radio/television actress who’s also a political firebrand. Though she’s married when they meet, they quickly begin an intense romance.

“She’s Emma Goldman trapped in the body of Paulette Goddard,” Mickey tells his comedian friend, Fred (Ned Eisenberg).

But their happiness is interrupted by the growing fear fostered by the House Un-American Activities Committee, investigating communist ties in show business. Those who refuse to furnish names find themselves without jobs or sent to jail.

Those who do talk — the “finks” of the title — include “On the Waterfront” director Elia Kazan, screenwriter Budd Schulberg and actor Lee J. Cobb, shown testifying before the committee’s menacing chairman (Michael Cullen). There’s also a gay dancer/choreographer (Leo Ash Evens), who bears a strong resemblance to Jerome Robbins.

When Fred is called to testify, the rebellious comic invokes the First Amendment, rather than the Fifth, even though it means imprisonment.

“I didn’t fight in Okinawa to let them run my life or tell me how to vote,” he tells friends.

Inevitably the noose tightens around both Mickey and Natalie. (She loses her job when the soap-opera character she’s playing is suddenly killed off.) Their testimonies before the committee make up the play’s tense climax.

Granted, the playwright’s too close to his subjects — he spends more time on their courtship than necessary — and Serotsky isn’t quite seasoned enough a comic to carry off Mickey’s stand-up shticks. But the deliciously wry Silverman seems to have stepped straight out of the ’50s, and, under Giovanna Sardelli’s skillful direction, Thomas Lyons and Jason Liebman nimbly handle a wide range of supporting characters. Sydney Maresca’s costumes beautifully evoke a period young theatergoers may not know existed.

For them, “Finks” will be more than a son’s loving tribute to his courageous parents; it’s also a valuable history lesson.