Editing Dalton Trumbo (section)

===Early career===
Trumbo began his professional writing career in the early 1930s, when several of his articles and stories were published in mainstream magazines, including ''[[McCall's]]'', ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', the ''Hollywood Spectator'' and ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://spartacus-educational.com/USAtrumbo.htm#source
 |title        = Dalton Trumbo
 |website      = Spartacus Educational
 |access-date   = November 16, 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140702071801/http://spartacus-educational.com/USAtrumbo.htm#source
 |archive-date = July 2, 2014
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> Trumbo was hired as managing editor of the ''Hollywood Spectator'' in 1934. Later he left the magazine to become a reader in the story department at [[Warner Bros.]] studio.<ref name=well/>

His first published novel, ''[[Eclipse (Trumbo novel)|Eclipse]]'' (1935), was released during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. Writing in the [[Social realism|social realist]] style, Trumbo drew on his years in Grand Junction to portray a town and its people. The book was controversial in his hometown, where many people took issue with his fictional portrayal.<ref name="CLMThomas">{{cite news
 |last        =Thomas
 |first        =Irene Middleman
 |url        =http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/Dalton-Trumbo-Grand-Junctions-blacklisted-hometown-hero/
 |title        =Dalton Trumbo: Grand Junction's blacklisted hometown hero
 |website        =Colorado Life Magazine
 |access-date        =February 23, 2020
 |archive-url        =https://web.archive.org/web/20160314165946/http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/Dalton-Trumbo-Grand-Junctions-blacklisted-hometown-hero/
 |archive-date        =March 14, 2016
 |url-status        =dead
 }}</ref>

Trumbo started working in movies in 1937 but continued writing prose. His [[anti-war]] novel ''[[Johnny Got His Gun]]'' won one of the [[List of National Book Award winners#1935 to 1941|early National Book Awards]]: the Most Original Book of 1939.<ref name=nyt1940>"1939 Book Awards Given by Critics: Elgin Groseclose's 'Ararat' is Picked ...", ''The New York Times'', 1940-02-14, p. 25. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851–2007).</ref> It was inspired by an article Trumbo had read several years earlier: an account of a hospital visit by the [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]] to a Canadian soldier who had lost all his limbs in [[World War I]].<ref>[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/johnnygun/context.html Sparknotes.com.] Retrieved December 4, 2010.</ref>

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Trumbo became one of Hollywood's highest-paid screenwriters, at about $4,000 per week while on assignment,<ref name=nordheimer>Nordheimer 1976.</ref> and earning as much as $80,000 in one year.<ref name=well/> He worked on such films as ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'' (1944), ''[[Our Vines Have Tender Grapes]]'' (1945), and ''[[Kitty Foyle (film)|Kitty Foyle]]'' (1940), for which he was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay]].