`THE CHESTERFIELD MEMO`

        One of the shortest of all the documents in Judy Holliday's FBI file, but it may be the most significant. It is one of the first pieces of evidence that she is being denied her right to work because of the suspicion that she is a Communist. It is the beginning of her blacklisted period.

        This is a brief memo typed on Government letterhead from Louis B. Nichols to Clyde Tolson. Nichols informs Tolson that Ligget & Myers, the manufacturer of Chesterfield cigarettes, is refusing to let Judy appear on a Bob Hope television special which they are sponsoring. Despite having a signed contract, Judy is not allowed to perform on the show.

        Dated April 7, 1951, this memo comes just 9 days after she won the Best Actress Academy Award for Born Yesterday. With so little opportunity to use the publicity of the award to promote herself, her career begins its slow downward trajectory.

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