Love on the Dole (1940) - Deborah Kerr and Clifford Evans

 

What an extraordinary film. Britain during the height of the Depression. The Hardcastle family struggles to survive. Even before the economic crisis things were hard, but when the layoffs begin and the "means testing" of the overloaded social safety net system begins, famiies are ruined and hard choices need to be faced.

This was only Deborah Kerr's third film, and it ranks as one of her best. She is perhaps the main character in the story, but the rest of the cast all shine in this pristinely restored film from 1940. Set in a worknig class town the story is intense and offers an insight into the hard times between the wars.

There is a finely restored colorized version of this film which does it even more justice, which is unavailable at the moment. But this black and white version serves the story of the Hardcastle family equally well.

Although the captioning may come on automatically at the beginning, it can easily be switched off. Either way, I hope you will take the time to view it.

The title beneath the film labels it as a "banned" film, but that is slightly misleading. When the making of the film was first proposed in 1935 the Review Board turned it down as being "too sordid". By 1940, with the Second World War and the Battle of Britain waging in full, the Review Board seemed to have a change of heart. Perhaps they realized that, with the coming of the war, the people needed to look back on the hardships they had survived in order to cope with the hardships which lay ahead.

"The Good Times" by Russell Baker (1989)

This is a book which I can read over and over. As a matter of fact, I have. This was the 4^th time I have read this book since first encountering it 25 years ago. Part of that fascination is that I lived in Baltimore for about 17 years. And that time was spent in the neighborhoods where much of Mr. Baker’s youth and early experiences working for the Baltimore Sun occurred. In  many ways Baltimore is where I grew up in my 20’s.

In this follow up to his earlier book, “Growing Up”; a gem itself; Mr. Baker focuses on the time from his first job as a newspaper delivery boy and his adolescence; his time in the service, and college; before moving on to his early career as a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun. This is where he earned his stripes as a journalist; a profession which, in my opinion, cannot be taught in school. It is something which is either inborn, or an acquired taste; like that for fine brandies.

The late 1940’s was really the golden age of newspapers in this country. TV was in its infancy; and radio was the primary source for breaking news. For in depth analysis of the news people turned to editorial pages and columnists, who both still commanded plenty of respect. This was, of course, before the age of 24/7 news with its anything goes attitude about what constitutes news and the way in which it is reported.

Mr. Baker uses all his wit and skill to paint not only a portrait of his own life during this period; but also to give us an idea of what it was like to live between the years 1947 and 1963; which he affectionately refers to as “the good times; if you were white.”  His rise in the newspaper business from newsboy to fledgling police reporter, and later internationally acclaimed columnist all occurred within those years.

The characters he met and worked for; the politicians he dealt with; who ranged from Senators Johnson, Nixon, Thurmond and all the rest; provide enough fodder to fill 2 more books. His time as the Sun’s man in London is really fascinating; as it highlights the differences between our own post war experience and that of the countries; like England; which had been ravaged by war. 

The rationing went on in England for about 15 years after the wars end. Contrast that with the life we were leading here in America as the de-facto leaders of the world. Some of his reminisces will help you to understand just how we went so rapidly from being the world’s most beloved country to one of the most despised.

Along the way he also explores the effect which the early death of his father had upon his mother, and by extension upon himself. His mother was forced into some very hard economic choices which informed who Russell Baker would become as an adult. Even after his mother has passed away he can still hear her exhorting him to make something of himself; in spite of his having won the Pulitzer Prize.

When Mr. Russell began his career international commercial aviation was almost non-existent. Riding the rails and sailing the ships of the authors memories will take you back to the time when the world was about to change rapidly. And, if like me, you grew up in that period of rapid technological advancement, this book will have you wondering just what the world would be like now if we hadn't moved so fast.

"Marching Home" by Kevin Coyne (2003)

When the United States began its first peacetime draft in the spring of 1940, all eyes were focused on the European conflict between the British and the Germans. Along with their Il Duce, the Germans were seen as the big threat to the United States. The rumblings by Japan, in the East, had been mainly confined to aggression against China. Acting on that premise the United States had begun the “Lend-Lease” program in order to get the necessary war materials to Britain, as well as to buy the United States more time to prepare itself for the coming conflict, which many people felt was inevitable. Freehold, New Jersey, sitting about 50 miles west of New York City, took all this talk of war with Germany very seriously. They began training for their local defense shortly after the draft began, about a year before Pearl Harbor.

The town of Freehold in 1940 was pretty much like most small towns in America at the time. Just emerging from the Great Depression, the most coveted jobs in town were at the rug mill. Some folks went on to college, or into family businesses, but for the most part Freehold was an agricultural town as well as a factory based one. Life was bucolic.

Author Kevin Coyne has written a book which follows 6 men from Freehold, tracking their journey from the end of high school and through the war, and then following them into their civilian post-war occupations. It is the story of America, told through the experiences of these men, and their town, covering 60 years, which make this book so gripping. Here is a brief accounting of the 6 men;

Freehold was a town with separate schools for the “colored”. Though they had lived in Freehold since it was settled in 1690, it was not until the early 1800’s when free persons of color outnumbered slaves. And, though well over a hundred years had passed, the schools were still segregated and the town’s African-Americans still lived in separate quarters. Bigerton “Buddy” Lewis was a part of that world. He enlisted as a Private with an engineering company, serving in Northern Europe. There he was caught in two wars; one with his own fellow countrymen, some of whom would not accept a “colored” man on equal terms, even while fighting for the same cause.

Stu Bunton served as a radioman aboard the USS Santa Fe in the Mediterranean, and later in the Pacific. Walter Denise served as a rifleman in the 324^th Infantry, fighting in France and Germany. Jake Errickson was a radio intercept operator working out of Australia and New Guinea. Jim Higgins was with the 391^st Bombardment Group, serving as an Intelligence Sergeant in England, France and Belgium. And, last, but not least, was Bill Lopatin, who served as a waist gunner in the 322^nd and 394^th Bomber Groups, flying out of England. All of these men saw extensive combat, either in the air, on land, or at sea.

The book is neatly divided into 2 sections; with the first half devoted to the history and social composition of the town, along with brief biographies of the six men. This section also covers their wartime experiences in their respective Theaters of Operations. As interesting as this section is, the second section is even better, as the men return home from war to face a new kind of struggle, both social and economic, as the world about them changes rapidly from the small town America they left behind, into a world power, even as “Buddy” Lewis finds himself in the midst of racial unrest in the land of the free.

As the economy changes, so do the lives and fortunes of these 6 men who fought for a better world. Bill Lopatin went on to obtain his Master’s Degree as an Engineer, spending his life building the same things he had been called upon to destroy in the war. Freehold itself, a town which gave up over 400 men in defense of freedom, would find itself embroiled in the racial unrest of 1969-70. Stu Bunton, who served aboard the Santa Fe, would go on to become a police officer back in his home town during this period, trying to keep the peace for which he and the others had fought so hard to preserve in the war overseas.

Written with great charm, the author has done a superb job of chronicling the stories of these 6 men, as well as drawing a vivid picture of the irony of their wartime experiences once they returned home. In addition, it is also a description of a nation which won the biggest war in the history of man, and how that victory began a backslide; economically as well as socially; and which affects us even today.