Citizen, Communist, Counterspy: "I Led 3 Lives" and Television's Masculine Agent of History

Abstract

In May 1949, Herbert Philbrick, an advertising executive for a Paramount Pictures theater exhibition chain in Boston, stepped out of the shadows and into the witness box to give the star testimony in a widely publicized case against eleven Communist leaders. For nine years, the nation learned through banner headlines, Philbrick had been a secret member of the Communist Party. Throughout that time, he had supplied the FBI with thousands of documents that exposed the operations of the Communist Party of America. Overnight, Herbert Philbrick became an outspoken anti-Communist and a right-wing hero. In 1952 he wrote a best-selling book that was quickly adapted into a successful television series. Both went by the title I Led 3 Lives. Ziv Television developed I Led 3 Lives as a syndicated program, producing 117 episodes from 1953 to 1956. For over a year, the show was America's top-rated syndicated series. Throughout its production, I Led 3 Lives remained closely tied to the figure of Herbert Philbrick, using his life as the primary source of material for its episodes. This program stands out from other McCarthy-era anti-Communist texts precisely because of its grounding in apparently real historical events. Like Dragnet, which similarly declared its authenticity through voice-over pronouncements at the beginning of each episode, I Led 3 Lives affirmed the legitimacy of its narrative through claims to documentary truth. But I Led 3 Lives differs from most reality-based programs in the degree to which its truth claims invoked the discursive authority of Herbert Philbrick, the real counterspy and author of the initial autobiography. As a paid staff member, Philbrick read and revised scripts, suggested potential plot lines, and verified the accuracy of the show's representations of Communism and the FBI. But despite Philbrick's involvement, the program freely adapted his experiences to fit the conventions of narrative television and the economic demands of syndicated production. It is hardly remarkable that I Led 3 Lives might make truth claims that didn't exactly conform to the lived experiences of those it purported to represent. But what makes this program so striking is its handling of the historiographic problem-