30's DEPRESSION REVIISITED

Maybe it is time for a caveat. What is written here is not alleged to accurate, truthful, factual or otherwise reliable. It is mostly the author's opinion, recollection and interpretation of information gathered in an sometimes casual manner. The danger to the author is that he will become even more arrogant than he already is if people begin to read these missives, T. H.

Quoting Milton Friedman's response to that great intellectual Phil
Donohue's lament that greed powers capitalism:
"Well first of all tell me, is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy. It’s only the other fella that’s greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The greatest achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty that you are talking about, the only cases in recorded history are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kind of societies that depart from that."

Thinking back and looking at past events with a present perspective, I find that the Great Depression era wasn't all bad. Please note that I am conversant with the despair, discouragement and utter hopelessness felt by some even many. There was upward of 25% of workers without jobs. Most of the unemployed would do anything for a dollar or a dime--
a nickel would buy you a cup of coffee, a dime would buy a hamburger, sometimes with a free cuppa.

Nevertheless, I think it is worthwhile to consider some of the positive sides of the period. As previously discussed, (comncents June 10,2009) being a kid during the thirties my perspective was that this is the world, not good not bad, just the way things were. Being a kid I enjoyed all the things all kids like, running barefoot, wrestling with the neighbor kids, a bottle of pop- probably a big Nehi orange - on a hot day, converting a wood fruit box and 2x4 +a roller skate
into a scooter, playing hide and seek in the alley behind our house and of course listening to
"Jack Armstrong" and "Captain Midnight" on the daily radio broadcasts.

The introduction of affordable radio-a bit before my time- was apart of the escape from reality
so craved by all of us. We could laugh with Charley McCarthy, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and
Amos 'n Andy. I believe everyone black and white liked that show because it was funny and
no one thought it depicted real life. Yet the neo-politically correct demanded that it be taken off the air because it was racially degrading. People of the black race were referred to by white and black alike then as "colored" without any racially inspired animosity. There was segregation;however more of a natural selection of being with like kind than bigotry in our part of America

The period brought other popular radio programs such as "Lux Presents Hollywood"a drama,
"Inner Sanctum" a mystery drama series with a spooky creaking door sound, 'I love a mystery".
and "Major Bowes Amateur Hour".We listened spellbound to the radio while leafing through
magazines. Each family subscribed to several topical magazines probably pedaled door to door. Life, Time, Saturday Evening Post. Kids were crazy about comic books: Captain Marvel, Batman,
Superman and other bigger than life characters who did tremendous acts to capture the criminals. In elementary school we brought our pennies to purchase copies of the "Weekly Reader" which taught us about the world around us.

As been stated before, one of the great things about radio was that you couldn't see the situation
presented, so you used your imagination and it placed you into the scene that you created.

It was a wonderful time when the people of our country were largely homogeneous. Most people thought the same, believed the same, save for politics and religion, and enjoyed the same things.

Whereas Jazz more or less came into being in the 20's, the 30's brought us Swing and the popularity of the big bands. We couldn't see them on TV, but you could hear them on the radio
and 78rpm records. Glen Miller, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw and Harry James, each with a recognizable sound"My oldest brother had an impressive record collection , which I would play
without his permission when he wasn't around!

And of course the movies. Mostly black and white; the first Technicolor film I believe was "Gone with the Wind" with Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh , Olivia deHaviland and Leslie Howard.
It was a box office sensation, both because it was in color (breathtaking) and because Clark Gable uttered the shocking phrase: Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn".

The movies were a product of the time People were anxious for an escape. Every neighborhood
had a theater. Kids admission was 14¢, adults about 25 ¢- an increase from the jitney
5¢ one- reelers from the 20's. The era of the big studios: MGM, Paramount, UA,Warner Bros.
and the big stars: Clark Gable ,Lana Turner, Heddy Lamar, Betty Davis, Joan Crawford Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, Errol Flynn. Big big stars
that the studio's publicity department created with accompanied bios and kept in front of the public eye. They set the hair styles and clothing vogues for us all. They all smoke and drank
on the screen and we tried to imitate them. (My smokes were ground coffee wrapped in toilet paper, smoked behind the garage.)

With the movies came the newsreels, where we could miraculously see the moving current events(in black and white) as opposed to the still photos in newspapers. These became indispensable later during WWII when we were permitted actual scenes of the fighting, filmed
by the bravest of men and women, the cinematographers.

Our local theater as did most, had serials every Saturday for the kids. We watched the Lone Ranger with his horse Silver and Tonto get the bad guys and Gene Autry sing to his horse, The little rascals, The Three Stooges and more. Corny, yes, but movies taught morals then. Crime does not pay, always tell the truth, Love resulted in marriage and subsequent happiness. Virtue was highly valued.

A lot of the scenes of the 30's are not mentioned here, but these reminicients point up the
fact that this decade of despair brought a time of creative arts, never before witnessed in
modern times.
With love and kindness,

THE HATMAN