Harold J. Salemson was born on September 30, 1910 in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to
France in 1922 and for the next few years, Salemson was back and forth between France and
the US. He attended the University of Montpellier and the Sorbonne although did not complete
a degree. In 1927, Salemson was apart of the first class in the Experimental College at
UW-Madison, however, he only attended for one semester. He used what would have been the
second semester's tuition money to go back to France and start a publication called
"Tambour". Salemson ran "Tambour" as the editor for two years, from 1928 to 1930, in which
he published issues quarterly. During this time, he also worked as a film critic for "Le
Monde", a French newspaper. When Salemson returned to the US in 1930, he began working in
Hollywood in a number of roles. Most notably, Salemson was the correspondent for
"L'Intransigeant" and "Pour Vous".
Salemson enlisted shortly after Pearl Harbor, in December 1941. Salemson was assigned to
the Psychological Warfare Branch. He was in the First Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company,
which was located in North Africa. He ran the print shop in Tunis, Tunisia, which printined
propaganda leaflets to be dispensed in Italy. He moved to radio broadcasting for six months
and then returned to Algiers as the Editor-in-Chief of the French Leaflet Section. Towards
the end of the war, he moved back to the US to work on radio programs where he remained
until his discharge on October 4, 1945.
When Salemson returned to civilian life, he continued to work as a Hollywood correspondent
until 1947. After 1947, Salemson worked in the distribution end of films, particularly as a
publicist. In 1955, he was called before the House of Representatives' Committee of
Un-American Activities to give testimony about his alleged past involvement with the
Communist Party. After leaving Hollywood in 1966, Salemson worked as a book reviewer. He
also worked on translations of books and films, notably translations of biographies of
Picasso, Dali, and Georges Simenon. Salemson died on August 28, 1988 of a heart attack in
Glen Cove, NY.
