Unearthed Video: Classic Hollywood ‘Pledges’ to FDR
by John Nolte
This clip is from the finale of “Babes In Arms,” the first of four extremely entertaining, black and white, “Let’s put on a show” musicals Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made over just a few years.
The context of the clip is what’s fascinating. The year is 1939, two years before Pearl Harbor, so this is not a studio humorously and affectionately saluting a wartime president. In fact, FDR’s New Deal was well into its fifth year but still the Depression raged. Even more interesting is that MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer, was a staunch and active Republican who opposed FDR and loathed his Big Government solutions.
After five years and no end in sight to the Depression you would think Mayer, who ruled MGM with an iron fist, might use his power over the most effective propaganda tool ever created to undermine Roosevelt, but he didn’t. Certainly, some of his motives were business based, but Mayer also put the interest of the American people above his own. FDR might not have been Mayer’s man and FDR’s policies might not have been Mayer’s policies, but for the good of the people, Mayer understood the nation had to be unified and that we had to believe in ourselves if we were to find our way out of bad times.
Louis B. Mayer was no situational patriot.
Stars coming out in support of their country and president are nothing new. What’s changed is how they do it. The contrast between Mickey and Judy’s rousing number, and this, which only roused the contents of my stomach, is more than just the obvious … like talent.
The success of this seventy year-old musical number is mainly due to its lack of ambition. It knows its place. No one’s trying to change the world on that giant sound-stage. The cast, crew and equipment have all been brought together for the singular purpose of helping Depression-weary audiences forget their troubles for 90 minutes. The agenda is to boost morale. The humble talking point is, “We’re all in this together and we’ll get through it because we are Americans.”
And there’s no “me” coming from Mickey and Judy, which is in stark contrast to the Kutcher video which is pure “me.”
The biggest difference between the two clips, however, can be found in intent. God help “children battling serious illnesses” and victims of “21st Century slavery” if their only hope is that Ashton and Company must move even a half-degree out of their cult of personality to do some real good. Look for checks made payable to “Publicity” and parties disguised as fundraisers. A stark contrast to what the likes of Mickey Rooney (and many stars from that era) were prepared to do.
In 1944, after one deferment to finish a picture and at the height of his fame, Mickey Rooney pulled no strings to get out of the draft and entered the U.S. Army. 21 months later he was honorably discharged.
His career never recovered.
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44 Comments
Do you really need to be “led”? I think that is the problem.
Geesh, can anyone say anything that you won't argue against? Chill out Terry. I'm not a fan, either, but we can hope that he is successful in not blowing up the country in the next four years, can't we?
Okay, we're now officially belaboring a modest point. But first? I'd suggest reading the man's biography, it's a good read, very informative, and will give you a clearer view. Second, Mayer was interested in power and it's benefits. He was also, as mentioned earlier, a long-time friend of Herbert Hoover. (The idea that the only folks who were involved in Republican circles in the 30s were diehard political types is sorta ahistorical.) Mayer's gig as a 'party leader' was largely ceremonial, as his biographer points out. As for 'loathing' the New Deal? It's possible. But at the moment it's an assumption without proof.
More importantly? What a fascinating man and life.
“Do you think America’s patriotism would have suffered division if FDR has responded to Pearl Harbor by attacking Mexico?”
Or Germany?
“Get behind your President. Isn’t that what conservatives have been bleating for the last 8 years? The shoe is on the other foot. You can gripe, or you can help. Which is it going to be?”
Is this meant to be ironic?
Sounds like he *was* a situational patriot (or no patriot at all.)
Patriot doesn’t mean allowing government to grow to oppress the people.
Why didn’t he call for the abolishment of the Federal Reserve?
Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island.” The Fed is manipulating the economy.
You know, the media and Hollywood were very patriotic and stood behind the president up until the time that Nixon became president. Then there was that little thing called Watergate. After Woodward and Bernstein made a name for themselves, journalism became less protective of the president.
But, people with short memories have forgotten how the whole country was behind Bush after 9/11. MB is right. The country wouldn’t have stood behind FDR if he attacked China instead of Japan.
But CT, did you know that Germany declared war on the USA the day after Pearl Harbor? You know, history didn’t start with this morning’s sun rise.
And did you get behing your president during the last eight years? Were you griping or were you helping? I’m just curious, because a lot of us are trying to give the new president the benefit of the doubt. As he succeeds, so do we all. I may not agree with his policies, but since he hasn’t even had a chance to implement any of them yet, I’d like to give him the chance to prove me wrong. You seem to be throwing around a lot of antagonism towards anyone even remotely conservative, and it’s folks like you that are making it hard to get behind my president. Great job of helping to unify the nation, by spewing the same hate we’ve all heard for eight years.
ideas matter. times are bad, get behind ideas. socialism is not going to get us out of bad times. That’s why it’s important to note that this was 5 years into the New Deal.
Conservatives believe in ‘a hundred million rulers’ as the song puts it. (Now over 300 million) Did Leftists ever say ‘we had to believe in ourselves if we were to find our way out of bad times?’ Of course not. Government is their only answer.
Maybe you should watch the clip instead of going around the site pontificating.
“But CT, did you know that Germany declared war on the USA the day after Pearl Harbor? You know, history didn’t start with this morning’s sun rise.”
Yes, I know that. That was my point.
Mr Blifil – January 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 am
“Get behind your President. Isn’t that what conservatives have been bleating for the last 8 years?”
No, conservatives were opposed to Bush from the beginning.
math guy – January 22nd, 2009 at 11:31 am
“But CT, did you know that Germany declared war on the USA the day after Pearl Harbor? You know, history didn’t start with this morning’s sun rise.”
Look at Lend-Lease and the McCollum Memo. FDR was determined to drag the country in to war by goading both sides.
Sterling – January 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 am
“As he succeeds, so do we all.”
Geez, what groupthink you exhibit. You could be talking about Hitler just as easily.
If Obama succeeds in growing government more, expanding the welfare state, starting more stupid wars, attacks civil liberties (he hates the second amendment), etc…. do we all succeed? No, only the elite succeed with HIS type of “success.” He is the elite’s puppet. Brzezinski, Soros, CFR, and on and on. Only reason you think he is great is because you were too lazy to do your homework and found it easier to just blindly “hope.”
MRBLIFIL: Any examples of these “mocks, jeers, and derisions”?
I’m curious, why does Mr. Blifil think that Bill Clinton bombed Iraq in 1998?
We will treat Obama the way all you liberals treated President Bush for eight years and the way you mad dogs will try to put him on trial. If you expect us conservatives to goose-step to your blind worship of the most incompetent President since Jimmy Carter. We will just sit back and watch this community organize with NO executive experience drive this county into a depression as did FDR in 33. The next four years you mad dogs will implode by passing every leftist wet dream you every wanted to see pass into law. Conservatives are fed up with dealing with this massive legalized extortion racket to feed the moocher class in order to get their votes to stay in office. What you mad dog leftist don’t understand is that the real power in this country is in the hands of the achievers who pay for all this madness you mad dogs feel is a birth right. There is a magical number or percentage to tax rate that will cause a revolt and the Divine Obamus is heading towards this number. When he does in two years all the conservatives that didn’t vote for McCain and allow this Chicago mob puppet to sit in the oval office will lose the congress, just like that political genius Bubba Clinton who walked on water and smoke wet cigars. These next four years we can do with our eyes shut. So enjoy your party with your Messiah Obama and trash this country on all levels. HE will be voted out like Carter and conservatism will take over this country and take back this government and throw out every leftist religious tenet that you mad dogs think will last forever. See liberalism is about freedom and achievement, its about controlling and stifling achievement. This is why you will fail, this is why the Divine Tiberius Drusus Nero Obamus will fail, because socialism is the equal distribution of misery and my message to you mad dogs, is that we conservatives refuse to be miserable. Misery loves company and we don’t want your company, we just want you politically inept moochers just to go away and never come back. You’re beginning to bore the living hell out of the rest of us
MR BLIFIL said “Get behind your President. Isn’t that what conservatives have been bleating for the last 8 years? The shoe is on the other foot. You can gripe, or you can help.”
While we were “bleating” it’s been your side the last two terms shouting that dissent is patriotic while mocking, jeering and deriding President Bush.
We on the right are merely doing our patriotic duty when criticizing President Obama.
Terry – January 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 am
Sterling – January 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 am
“As he succeeds, so do we all.”
Geez, what groupthink you exhibit. You could be talking about Hitler just as easily.
If Obama succeeds in growing government more, expanding the welfare state, starting more stupid wars, attacks civil liberties (he hates the second amendment), etc…. do we all succeed? No, only the elite succeed with HIS type of “success.” He is the elite’s puppet. Brzezinski, Soros, CFR, and on and on. Only reason you think he is great is because you were too lazy to do your homework and found it easier to just blindly “hope.”
Beg pardon, sir, but I don’t recall mentioning upon which side of the political fence I was sitting. If you read what I wrote, you’d note that I also said that I didn’t agree with his policies, and I certainly did not say he was great. Perhaps I should elaborate for those with limited capacities: I wish him success in being the leader of the free world. I wish him success in keeping our country safe from it’s enemies, both foreign and domestic. I wish him success at not destroying the life and liberty of all of us. I could go on, but I’m sure it would be a waste of time.
Pay attention before you start sputtering. I am a Libertarian, live and let live, and keep the damned government out of all of it.
“But CT, did you know that Germany declared war on the USA the day after Pearl Harbor? You know, history didn’t start with this morning’s sun rise.”
Yes – and Saddam had declared war on the United States a decade prior, and reiterated that delcaration continually. He acted on it, too – he shot at our planes continually, and had a bounty on the heads of boarding teams attmepting to enforce UN sanctions (which was me, so I took it personal).
Iran has done the same thing, with varying degrees of overt actions since 1979, most recently their supplying Baathists and AQ in Iraq during OIF and beyond.
The Jihadists who are actively harbored in Iran, Syria, and other Islamic governments have made the same declaration for years.
You know, history didn’t start with this morning’s sunrise. Or 9/11, for that matter.
Sterling – January 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
“I wish him success in being the leader of the free world.”
He isn’t the leader of the free world. He is the nominal head of ONE branch of the Federal government. The local sheriff has more authority over you than he does.
As designed, you wouldn’t have to worry your little head about some hand-chosen elitists’ “success” or failure because it had little bearing on your life. We should return to those times.
Do you really need to be “led”? I think that is the problem.
I can’t think of one “success” of his that is not going to be, in fact, a burden on average Americans.
As for Mayer ‘loathing big government solutions’, this may be a bit of wishful thinking. Mayer and Herbert Hoover were very close — Hoover was an honorary pall bearer at Mayer’s funeral — but for Mayer, this was more about power than poliltics. From Scott Eyeman’s biography:
For all of his intimacy with various Republican power brokers, there was a strong sense that Mayer was more interested in the proximity to power than actual policy.
However, it makes perfect sense that he would support his friend against FDR. Hoover and Mayer exchanged letters frequently over the years, tho’ in truth, it turns out Hoover was far more attentive to Mayer’s personal assistant, Ida Koverman. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
History didn’t start at sunrise this morning, but the Bush decision to invade Iraq seems to have been made by someone who was born at night — last night.
MATH GUY: Is that the “Unity” you guys were talking about?
Google Louis B. Mayer, Upton Sinclair and 1934 to see how involved Mayer could become in politics. FDR’s New Deal was as far as he and the other studio heads were willing to go, while people like Sinclair (and the more well-known Huey Long) wanted to go places to the left in social welfare state politics where even FDR was scared to tread.
Campaspe, I'm not praising Mayer's "patriotic courage." It took no courage to be patriotic in Hollywood in 1939. It's like being patriotic in Hollywoood today. Now that Obama's in office, it's okay. Last friday, not so much…
My point is that things were different then and that when men like Mayer ran Hollywood it was about unity and what was best for the country and the American people, not their personal axe to grind. The difference is a thing called class which Leftists in Hollywood displayed back then, as well.
Anyway, thank you for putting to bed this nonsense about Mayer not being a Republican, and you know I always enjoy having you comment.
I’m enjoying those questioning Mayer’s Republican bona fides, considering in the early thirties he was Vice Chariman of the California Republican party and served as State Chairman
Someone up there mentioned that Mayer’s politics were based solely on his desire to be close to power…?
As an activist Republican in the 1930s?
Interesting.
Math Guy
After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, sure we declared war on Japan and not China, but we sure the hell didn’t fight that war in Japan, that’s for sure. We invaded countless shores before we arrived in Japan, so your China comment it just crap, hell, we battled in China before we set foot on Japanese soul.
By FDR’s standards, we should have just carpet bombed any place that had Bin & Co and be done with it.
JD
John, know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Again, from Eyeman’s invaluable biography:
The Republican financier Louis Lurie remembered that “Mayer was never a large contributor and never did any work on an organizational level. Ida Koverman, Raymond Benjamin, and Mendel Silberberg were instrumental in making him Chairman the Republican State Central Committee. But unfortunately, L.B. did no work.
But glad you enjoyed the questioning of his bon fides. Oh. And the person who pointed out the nature of his politics was his biographer.
Interesting.
I agree with Blifli. Those protesters weren’t filled with hatred–it was outrage, common sense, and a creamy caramel center.
Sterling – January 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm
“I’m not a fan, either, but we can hope that he is successful in not blowing up the country in the next four years, can’t we?”
Well, it is indeed true that the biggest threat from that comes from our own government, not some Kaiser Sose/Goldstein boogeyman character. The military-industrial complex has the biggest motive.
Oh, Mayer was a “figureheaed” in Republican politics in the 30’s…
Well, that sure doubles down on the argument that he was only interested in being close to power.
A figurehead and a Republican …. in the 30s.
That’s the roadmap to huddling with power.
… when in fact he posed very little threat to the advanced military powers.
And al Qaeda posed very little threat to the advanced military powers, as well, I suppose. Someone they managed to cause quite a lot of damage, dontcha think?
(Man, from whence did all these historically attuned commentators come?)
It’s so strange when baby boomer leftovers still consider themselves liberal for OPPOSING the removal of a brutal dictator. JFK would not be impressed.
And please, no more Reductio ad Hitlerum arguments, please.
Okay, one small point worth adding. Mayer certainly was not fond of FDR, but less due to his feelings about the WPA projects, and more about his own income tax rate. Mayer had the largest personal salary paid to any American in 1937, just shy of 1.3 million bucks. He paid 1.1 million dollars in state and federal income taxes.
Wow. Now I know why Hearst called it the Raw Deal.
But again, I’d suggest the animus was more basic — that’s a lotta taxes to pay — than an indication of some larger fealty to a specific ideology.
But wow.
“Babes in Arms” exhibits a good-natured civility and patriotism. I don’t see a modern parallel.
“Well, it is indeed true that the biggest threat from that comes from our own government, not some Kaiser Sose/Goldstein boogeyman character. The military-industrial complex has the biggest motive.”
Terry, that doesn’t even make sense.
Why would you doubt that Mayer was a Republican? Earl Warren was the Republican governor of California.
The political alignment in the 1930s and 1940s wasn’t the same as today. Nelson Rockefeller was a Republican, but the current Rockefeller in politics is a Democrat.
When I see some of the emerging filmmaker movies, I like to say, we are talking about “motion” pictures. Politics also has motion. I think conservatives today have to be careful they don’t get stuck in a rut. Because our country is a country in motion.
Aureliano – January 22nd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
“And al Qaeda posed very little threat to the advanced military powers, as well, I suppose. Someone they managed to cause quite a lot of damage, dontcha think?”
They even knocked down WTC 7 by just thinking about it. Amazing!
9/11 was an inside job.
“It’s so strange when baby boomer leftovers still consider themselves liberal for OPPOSING the removal of a brutal dictator.”
Israel’s Apartheid government at least as bad if not worse than Saddam’s, yet people like you not only turn a blind eye to it, but SUPPORT it with OUR tax dollars.
I don’t know if anyone has ever told you lib trolls, but the first place FDR attacked going after nazi Germany was in Northern Africa.
Andrew Price – January 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
“1. Israel’s government is worse than Saddam? Can you show us ANY proof at all that Isreal has used nerve gas on its own people?”
Ah, this old saw. The CIA themselves don’t know if Saddam did it. The chemical agent was the kind Iran used, not Iraq (and we should know since we sold it to him.) Secondly, they weren’t “his people” they were essentially foreigners within his border who had attempted to overthrow him. In short, you don’t have proof Saddam did that, so the point is moot.
“Or that it beheads its political prisoners? Or that it even has political prisoners?”
They have tons of political prisoner and they torture them. They also arrested a whistleblower that alerted the world to Israels illegal WMD program.
Folks like our parents and grandparents had it far worse than we do now. How delightful it probably was that they could go to the cinema and walk out with a smile and a diversion from their real challenges. These days you walk out a the theatre feeling like the whole nation and every life in it is a mess and on top of it, some Republican is to blame.
Kit – January 22nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
“Ignore Adam. He is just another 911 truther living in his own little fantasy world.”
You live in a fantasy world where steel buildings that have never collapsed before in history due to fire, collapse into their own footprint at free-fall speeds when no plane hit them. Oh, yeah, WTC had also all sorts of reinforcements ADDED to it later, too.
Frank – January 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
“I am confused.
How come the plans to invade Iraq were prepared by the Clinton government.”
++++++++++
It is exactly as I say. Bush=Clinton=Bush=Obama. All CFR members. All globalists. All supporters of NAFTA. All supporters of NWO. All supporters of the North American Union. All supporters of Amnesty for illegal invaders from Mexico. All supporters of anything to undermine the sovereignty and character of this nation. All supporters of the Federal Reserve and its fleecing of America. All suppoters of gun control.
All are the exact opposite of what you want if you envision the country as the Founders did with limited government and INDIVIDUALS sovereign.
These are important issues and most of you give passing attention to it and just regurgitate what the media programs you to.
Check out Mike Rivero’s radio show and site: http://whatreallyhappened.com/
You guys are still in the matrix and don’t know it.
And how about the Shanghai Lil number in 1933’s Footlight Parade? Just imagine a movie nowadays showing Bush adulatory light as FDR is present at 9:27 in this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXk1k0HPAPg
Takes a bunch of unhappy poli-dicks to get all tangled in their own panties when they could be enjoying Garland and Rooney at a prime…..or could they, for there is nothing bitter for them to latch on to in joyous humor and song.
Blifli, is that the thanks I get for agreeing with you? Harumpf!
Now I know why the jihadis hate us. We’re in God’s country, and they’re jealous!
(hmm, I’m getting a ‘you’re posting commments too quickly… slow down’ message even though this is the only comment I’ve made on this site today. Weird)
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