Document 13: Testimony of Isabel H. Costigan
Washington State Joint Legislative Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities,
Second Report: Un-American Activities in Washington State (Olympia, 1948), 120-24.
MR. HOUSTON: Please state your name.
MRS. COSTIGAN: Isabel H. Costigan. . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Mrs. Costigan were you ever a member of the Communist Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, I was. . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Will you tell us about when you joined the Communist Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, as I recall it was 1936-1937.
MR. HOUSTON: And when did you leave the Communist Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: About 1939—that was by the time of the Soviet-Nazi peace pact.
MR. HOUSTON: Along in September of '39?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes.
MR. HOUSTON: Now, during the time that you were in the Communist Party, did you attend various Communist meetings—Communist functions?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, I did.
MR. HOUSTON: And you met various people there, didn't you?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, certainly. [Mrs. Costigan then named five University of Washington professors as communists.] . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Do you know whether or not [Professor] Ralph H. Gundlach was a member of the Communist Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Ralph Gundlach was a member of the Communist Party.
MR. HOUSTON: You have attended meetings with him?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, I have. . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Did you ever attend any Communist Party meetings at Ralph Gundlach's home?
MRS. COSTIGAN: No—before I had joined the Communist Party I went up there inadvertently on a—when I learned later—on a Thursday night used to be Communist Party meetings, and I broke up a meeting at his home one night when there was a group attending there and I didn't know it was a cell meeting until later, but that was—was on a Thursday night and there was a Communist cell meeting at his home.
MR. HOUSTON: How did you know it was a Communist meeting? When you broke it up what happened to everybody?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Oh, everybody got sick—well they just sat around and talked about other matters and looked embarrassed at the time.
MR. HOUSTON: After you came into the Party you found out afterwards then that you had broken up the Party meeting?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes. . . .
MR. HOUSTON: Do you know whether or not Burton James is a member of the Communist Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, he was. I say "was" because I haven't had much association with a number of these people for quite a long time, and so I have to put it in past tense, because that's the period when I was active.
MR. HOUSTON: But he was a member while you were a member?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, uh-huh.
MR. HOUSTON: Do you know whether or not Florence Bean James is a member of the Communist Party,—or was?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes.
MR. HOUSTON: Do you know Al Ottenheimer of the Repertory Playhouse?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes.
MR. HOUSTON: Do you know whether or not Al Ottenheimer was a member of the Communist Party, while you were?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes, it was my understanding that Al Ottenheimer was a member of the Communist Party.
MR. HOUSTON: Was this information that came to you in the scope of your work within the Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Yes.
MR. HOUSTON: In other words, you almost could say you were officially advised by the Party?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Well, I was always—yes, when one would discuss whether Al Ottenheimer could attend meetings or if they wanted one who was reliable to do something, Al Ottenheimer could be depended upon to do it.
MR. HOUSTON: How did the Party consider the Repertory Playhouse? Were they back of it?
MRS. COSTIGAN: Oh, definitely, yes. The Repertory Playhouse served as a—served a number of functions. It was a means of raising money at times for Communist activities. Also it served as a point of getting young people—ambitious young people into the Communist Party—likely young people who took English courses at the University, and who were told that they probably had dramatic talent, or dramatic ability, and then were sent to the Repertory Playhouse for trial, where they were given work in bit parts at first, and brought into the social activities of the Repertory Playhouse, which were largely Communist Party activities.
MR. HOUSTON: In other words, it was a recruiting center then, for Communist Party activities?
MRS. COSTIGAN: To my knowledge it still is.