Collector's Item: #9 The Initials of Recovery 1929 - 1938

well you know I think I'm just doing these this roll of papers right here on the edge of the bed okay you know this business of cleaning up this place it really is a week job I know I think we've got everything up to the 1930s cleared away now you know you really do have a large collection of pictures for 1930 a 19-point is this thing oh yeah National Recovery administration that blue eagle remember when you saw that eagle on everything from shirts to flour sacks well am I to assume that you were about to unreal vast storehouses of knowledge on the subject well you just make it a few small you get a straight A and if you wish to carry the recitation a little further you might say that the nra eventually became too heavy a yoke for business and that it's a failure but it was a good reform enter anyway you know how this was only the starter of a lot of government agencies do you remember the WPA and the PWA yes yeah in DC and the FBI and the US H a and F and so on for don't tell me you run out of initials a little more time to think of a lot of them but just the same those agencies did a lot to help the nation get back on its feet well the nation got back on its feet but you're still waiting through this pile of stuff say what do you say that we are going as an agency agency that's here what frankly we could call it the e w you and HW d HW d don't get it it's in stir works upstairs and Howard Berkes down very very subtle ha ha I detect this subtle hint there too that I should get back to work to arabic and you make that work administration process oh definitely that would be the the waa EP work administration progressive people progress don't you sit down here look at a book here's the very one for you book on architecture well see now that might have some sketches of the government housing project in it well night but you know there's one project in this house we're back to architecture of the 1930s now let's take a look at the scene 15:29 you see the influence of the great bull market was still being felt the 1931 saw completion of the tallest of all skyscrapers the Empire State Building just uptown a few blocks the impressive structures of the Rockefeller Center could be seen the building's house ornate radio television and movie halls as well as business enterprises very interesting picture but the city presents other victims slum blighted areas increased 850 million families shared their own development juvenile delinquency increased disease and sickness prevail prosperity ground to a dead stop President Roosevelt announced one third of the nation is ill fed ill clothed and ill house then for the first time in history the government undertook a program of slum clearance low-cost housing in order to provide decent living conditions for all Public Works Administration was organized in 1933 and projects for rebuilding the slum areas erecting new buildings stimulating heavy industry were started decent homes with light airy space or soon seemed to replace the unsanitary buildings of the city checks all under the supervision of the US housing authority in Harrisburg Pennsylvania the building is constructed through the PWA at a high school in San Francisco is modernised another high school is constructed in Pocatello Idaho and so under federal leadership architects once again the found place in planning for the adequate housing of the people of America and the Americans developed some new tastes in housing in the 1930s Common Sense seemed to be the key no simple clean lines and lot of space sunshine and sanitation were the things that were prized in glass bricks and in general more glass areas were part of the trend as was the modernization of storefronts well I I've got to get busy here again I'll never get this place cleaned up oh here is a picture of the Grand Coulee Dam want you to see that that's the largest masonry structure ever erected by man it of course didn't look like that in the 30s instead it was a maze of trestles cranes and concrete and it was but one of the giant dams that the Bureau of Reclamation was building another dam under construction which reached completion before Grand Coulee was the Hoover Dam designed to supply power to large West Coast cities you know that power subjective was a thing that caused bitter opposition to the Tennessee Valley Authority which constructed dams with Public Works Administration fund now these dams supplied electricity prevented floods that devastated the region and in general resulted in a great many improvements to that part of the country another part of the country is getting a face lifting here a forest fire area is cleared by the young unemployed men at the Civilian Conservation Corps which put men to work in the national parks forests well during these first years when Roosevelt was president he gained the confidence of millions of Americans for the agencies that came into being meant not only employment for millions but it met new homes and better living conditions and a greater feeling of security for all you'd think now wouldn't you with Roosevelt's program of reform relief and reconstruction that everyone would be solidly behind you but that wasn't the case the pressed of the country was almost solidly against TV in the 1936 election two out of three newspapers were against him editorially and yet people voted him in so overwhelmingly I guess it just was a case of where the people voted with the news columns instead of the editorial you see by 1936 most of our influential papers were part of the big change which had survived the depression and it was the big papers that campaigned against Roosevelt they didn't like parts of the newspaper code which came out in the NRA and other things were happening to the tastes of the public for changing our newspapers the 30s were the years of the candid camera craze everyone was running around with a small camera taking pictures of anything or anyone in sight and the more unfold the better well the newspapers couldn't fail to he decide and the space given to pictures and to comics doubled during the 30 to 40 period it was during these years - that Life magazine first - the big picture news magazines came out this magazine would expect your column submitted by readers it's exciting documentary picture stories was an instant success there were plenty of interesting things to picture - gangsterism was growing strong remember during the 20s bootlegging was the most profitable form of crime well that changed to now kidnapping stories constantly filled the headline remember that tragic kidnapping of a little Lindbergh baby I think I have a picture of the a war a reward poster here yes dolly how our headlines were filled with this sad story and that was the period that John Dillinger America's public enemy number one was on the rampage they got him in 1934 well our newspapers were full of stories of men who cashed in on the depression jitters two men like you involved and Gerald L K Smith and father Coughlin now these men were exploiting our need for security Huey Long with a share our wealth program in the south and father Coughlin around the Detroit Michigan area the magic of radio made father Coughlin famous his radio voice was really magnificent and he captured many fans through it just as FDR did with his fireside chat wait here's a picture picture of Smith and father Coughlin they made a good pair own up coming in there yes that's that's dr. Francis II Townsend he came out in early 1934 with a method for ending the depression and helping the agent his old age revolving pension plan provided that $200 should be paid to every deserving person over 60 provided they spent the money before the next payday he talked about keeping the money in circulation prosperity would return the Townsend plan attracted a lot of support especially among the older people whom the depression hits so pathetically and undoubtedly had much to do with the passage of the Social Security Act and that was something just unheard of in 1935 whose idea was this to clean up anyhow yours above all yours might fit all yours are you sorry now well I certainly didn't intend to get myself so involved well what have we here where did you get them well I found them behind the winter clothes in the first bedroom closet and there are books of planes just hundreds of them thank you for that succinct answer now I'm going to take myself into a comfortable chair it doesn't look like I'll sink into that one they can make a little room there I don't know what I'm going to do with all these well my dear you better find a place for them or give them to somebody because they're not going to be back in their closet any longer well let's see Hey Volume three is missing oh don't get excited it's upstairs that's the one that has the history of the federal theater project and let my Wanda clean up to it oh I see still nostalgic about the federal theater project are you Howard you can't blame it you know that year that I spent with it when we were living in San Francisco has a lot of memory for federal theater project has a lot of memories for a lot of people twelve thousand people put to work by the government through that the WPA program I think I have some pictures here of this some of these things there well Howard you know though that really em it was more than just putting people to work it was an appreciation to showing people the love of theater you know some of those people have never ever seen a play oh well that's true well you see when the 1d theater was first organized it was intended to put on plays for CCC camps and Veterans Administration hospitals and so on but eventually some of them became so popular they were presented all over the country for a small fee you know when I get to thinking about doing some of those plays well federal theater project was famous for the things that it would did unusual things earlier tackle things a commercial theater just wouldn't touch yes well now here's here's an example here's some of these pictures I want to show you now here's one that's from Alice in Wonderland that was presented in San Diego here we have the triple a plowed under this particular scene shows the skyrocketing of the prices in the Chicago wheat pits and here we have some men painting a scenery for a production you know Howard that's what made that seem so wonderful to me that theater project it gave work to actors and stage directors and scenery designers Oh a lot of people that had been out of work for months Howard you know it always seemed kind of too bad to me that Congress voted to discontinue it in 1939 yes it was well on its way to being established as a national theater you know didn't they get a lot of protest from professional actors that they were having jobs taken away from oh yes but the professional actors worst days were over by 1935 but before that time the professional theatre was in a pretty bad place yes I remember you know two-thirds of these theaters in New York City were closed in 1931 yes and the producers had to pay huge salaries to hold their actors Hollywood was luring them away already were there any significant plays produced though at that time oh yes this was the period of Clifford hold it and Maxwell Anderson had written winter set and Robert Sherwood was writing oh did he produce his Abe Lincoln in Illinois plays at that time yes I believe so and Petrified Forest and it is delightful and there were a lot of musicals to the in fact you know of the icing written by Kaufman and Gershwin was the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize you know that was sort of a political satire in music wasn't it this period was and perhaps that's significant you know for the first time in 20th century drama the successful plays were realistic plays based on social protest instead of this light escape theatre you know I'd like to escape myself interesting as they see us but I've got some letters to write this morning oh you're not going to leave this box here are you oh no no of course not no I was just looking through some of my old film and find that I'm sadly lacking anything representative of the 1933 well those movies were hard to get you know how I remember them the bakelite unfortunately I've long since broken the last dish that I got fertility well that's good me after all you can't do anything with just two or three bitches never match anything else you might as well don't get that well you know bank nights were established way back there in the late 30s when the industry sort of hit a bad swamp and that's when they brought out double features to see the industry was trying to get people back into the theater you know how that talk sounds just like it could have been depression days box getting a little heavy put it down on the couch if you need me the hell no you sit down there again let's talk more you can write those letters a little later on now what were you saying well I had just been that I thought that these double features will base nice well they could have been a part of the depression well no because you see the depression didn't hit the movie industry very hard they there were two involved in approaching maturity I know don't tell me coming of sound precisely and with that the audiences had something more realistic look at the scene you know altering the 1920s the movies tried to speak for realism but now all they well they kept showing the trend of society to not care what was going on or how far they had to go to have fun that sort well you must admit that there was quite a difference in prosperity to at that time oh yes and people were becoming more social conscious about their problems too no doubt the film audience was changing the producers well they just changed the style of thing they were producing see the the these first realistic attitude was reflected in a group of gangster movies that came out they say I think James kidney why can he run well yes yes he was that he was the guy that sort of personified the leader these tough gangs I mean Hemingway wasn't he riding that way to Hemingway and James P Farrell so you know if there's an interesting parallel between the business of making a hero out of these gangsters and the writings of those well you know Howard this literature is always interesting well I just have to go around for his letters well okay he'll say before I go maybe it's got a picture though to show me Oh gangster gangster yes from the movie Scarface that was just about the peak of this gangster racketeer era oh that oh same out there that's quite an extreme the three little pigs yeah came out about the time that Roosevelt was pleading with the people to stick together and not give up hope during the Depression let's see another one all right see what we have here well now here's a good one this is a documentary made by an independent firm although the government made from any factual film - well nobody is backward well this one shows a terrified sharecropper a man who was driven from farm to farm trying to find a decent piece of land my goodness that really does make a comment on the time oh yes there was there was another one to the plow that broke the plains it showed the deterioration of the creek country and the sorry plight of the people that lived there who do you have a picture of that no I I don't have one of that but here's here's another good documentary here that's the scene from the film called the city and it argues for City Planning oh here's another Disney yes that is the first full-length cartoon film animated film and Snow White in the seventh walk that was really a milestone in cartoon filmmaking well you know Howard you ought to do just the snow pipes doing there you ought to dance yourself right over there the files and file these away with the others now before they get lost well maybe I better do just that little thing I've got some more nations coming to pretty soon the fire with them but you know during the 1930s the films were commenting on many of the other social issues - OH such as such as well hopeful medicine and child marriages and big business groups big business in journalism and so forth why they were even making films on the anti-war sentiment you know that must be the time when President Roosevelt made that famous declaration of his I hate war yes and I believe 1936 then in 1937 and 1938 fun tensions were rising all over the world the movies changed from the anti-war sentiment and started making these romantic patriotic to pictures you know America took a very militant stand on the rise of fascism in Europe and the movies followed suit and took a firm stand - well then too hard you remember we did have the information from newsreels wasn't that about the time that that town march of time film came out yes box 1934 the first ones now those are the pictures that so very dramatically represented the world events and issues there they were quite the thing they commented on the passions more oh definitely see they covered the whole field the economic and the political as well as a social issue speaking of social issues that reminds me that I'm going to bring this conversation to an abrupt close because I'll have social issues of my own if I don't get those letters with my family will literally disown it well I always be here sweetheart but you know I wouldn't think of leaving you with all these collectors I'm oh they never would anything be in place well maybe you're right they come to think of it all right have you seen my mountain paintings speaking of things not in their place well you may borrow mine well the movies in architecture weren't the only arts to be reflecting our turbulent 30s artists were painting American scenes as never before and they were spurred on by the work of three men out of the Midwest like a clap of thunder came Thomas Hart Benton Grant Wood and John Steuart curry they marked the beginning of American regional painting and was a true revolt now this was the start of American art coming from and of the people I'd like to show you some of their paintings Thomas Benton that he wanted to know America firsthand and he traveled to South the West and especially in his native Missouri and along the Mississippi here is plowing it under chosen eagle and his mule at work to the fields at man's ancient past of cultivating the soil and his jealous lover of lone Green Valley chose a Missouri farmer who has just stabbed his sweetheart grant woods American Gothic one an important prize for its sympathetic satire of the American farmer and he's dinner for freshers is a regular occurrence in woods Navy Iowa then John Steuart curry in his tornado over Kansas paints of the common fear of man and beast of nature's destructive forces and in the Mississippi he puts into the faces of people made homeless by floods the anguish and emptiness they feel within them so all over America during the 30s artists were deserting their ivory towers and returning to the factories in the streets and the fields Alexander hold hated the desolate field to the great Dust Bowl Justice John Steinbeck was to write about them later in his Grapes of Wrath and the loneliness of metropolitan elevated platforms were revealed in Aaron farads extreme platform in Reginald Marsh found his most characteristic subjects in the musty sensual life of our cities and we're at the same time as some of our artists were painting the American scene others were showing the effects of living with the depression paint was their weapon and they fought a system that bred depressions by making fun of that system sometimes gently sometimes viciously that the Sawyer brothers explored every element of life among the city's poor in Isaac Sawyer's employment agency you can see his understanding of the subject and William dropper is one of the top social protest painters of the country he's masterful the Senate is among the best of modern satirical paintings but this wasn't all was happening in the art field during the 30s something else happened that caused the greatest transformation in its history and that's something again was government the New Deal stepped in to become the world's greatest art paper it established the federal arts project it commissioned art to paint murals and public buildings it established art centers and classes in arts it paid for paintings by American artists to hang in federal buildings and it encouraged young people just coming out of art school in a depression ridden world to stick by their art now this painting by Reginald Marsh sorting mail was painted directly on the wet plaster of a federal post office as it was being built and George Biddle's the tenement was part of a series of frescoes painted on the walls of the Department of Justice building well I'm just never going to get this place cleaned up here I started out with perfectly good intentions then I got so interested in these things and the story they tell how things are in just as big a mess as they were when I started so I must get to work so do calling again