Time and Its Ironies

Houseman scolds the television audience for Smith-Barney

John Houseman, who got roughly a second-degree burn from the blacklist when he was regarded as a “Hollywood Red” during the McCarthy witch hunt of the 1950s, ended up as the Voice of Capitalist Financial Authority on television 30 years later when he did his well-known commercials for the Smith-Barney investment firm. As someone observed, when Houseman informed you that “Smith-Barney … they make money the old-fashioned way — they EARRRN it,” his innate authoritative power made you feel sort of guilty for not knowing that already.

Sheer showmanship by Houseman, who had gone bankrupt and was subject to periodic financial panics.