Journal Entries
Kate Smith's racist songs in the 1930s
Posted Dec 21, 2020
H2G2 has no guide entries for Kate Smith, an American singer who lived from 1907 or 8 until 1986. She popularized "God Bless America," and in all sang at least 1,500 songs (or was it 3,500?) She was always quite obese, but she must have had a strong constitution, as she entertained people with her singing from the age of five until her retirement in her late 60s. She was capable of extraordinarily powerful singing, as in:
[I heard the bells on Christmas day]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrjKJMqgCRA
[The Lord's Prayer]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON5TDLVhHVw
but could also be soft and gentle
[Dream a little dream of me]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh8hW0irwpo
Anyway, on April 2019 someone was apparently listening to her songs from the mid-1930s, and realized some seriously offensive material from a racial standpoint. In particular "Pickaninny heaven," sung by Smith in the film "Hello, everybody," would likely have been offensive in many quarters even in the 1930s.
https://heavy.com/news/2019/04/kate-smiths-racist-songs/
This is pretty heavy. Smith had been dead about 33 years, and would not have known or been able to comment on the matter. Not many people under sixty would have even been able to remember Smith, unless they lived in families where Smith had fans.
"Pickaninny heaven" was not the only such song, but Smith probably did not consider it one of her best songs. She only got one movie where she could star, and you know how Hollywood can steamroll people. She would likely have gone along with the material she was given.
From the age of five, she would sing just about anything that she thought might entertain people. She was the hostess on some radio and television shows from the thirties to the sixties, and he had a signature warmth. She wanted people to feel at ease.
(Not everyone did feel at ease. Some people thought she was condescending, just by saying "Hello, everybody." I can see that aspect of her, too.)
One of the racist songs that she recorded was thought to be a parody. Indeed, Paul Robeson also sang it, though I can't tell you what his motives here. But we have a guide entry about him:
http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A87814948
So, there you have it. Songs that almost no one has heard in eighty years, coming back to cause consternation. Yes, I agree that there is much that is unconscionable about this material. Should Hollywood have known better? Yes. But they also should have known better from "Babes on Broadway" (Minstrel show scenes in blackface) through some Burns and Allen shows in the 1950s, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. (Burns and Allen would seem to belittle women in many quarters today, but that is another topic. I'm willing to deal with in in another thread, if people want me to.)
I would rather remember Smith from material that she felt was important to her. Just my opinion. Bury the offensive material, if you can.
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Latest reply: Dec 21, 2020
Some toughts about the French resistance
Posted Dec 14, 2020
As bad as the German occupiers were, they were not breaking new ground.
From the ancient world on, if an army conquered a place, the men were killed or enslaved, and the women became wives of the soldiers (if of childbearing age). At least the Germans didn't kill Frenchmen just for being Frenchmen.
And if the shoe were on the other foot? There would likely have been a German resistance movement. As indeed there was against Napoleon
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/napoleonic/section7/
(Nt a perfect parallel, as Germany was not yet united)
But France became free of Germany, so we hear about La Resistance.
England and the U.S. are havens of continuous independence. If we want to feel the thrill of noble resistance against a tyrranical foe, what could be better than revisiting the French freedom-fighters.
But France was the tyrant during the Napoleonic wars. And England was thought of as a tyrant for Irish freedom-fighters.
And I remember the late sixties/early seventies, when I thought of the U.S. as a tyrant in its war in Vietnam.
All countries are capable of tyranny. Even Buddhist ones where pacifism is a core tenet
http://classroom.synonym.com/the-bu...t-beliefs-in-pacifism-12084914.html
I'm not here to take anything away from the grim record of German occupation of Europe in the 1940s. I admire the French resistance, in hindsight. There was nowhere else the French could go anyway. I love the story that was written about it, and wish it could find a wider readership.
But I look at myself in the mirror and know that both tyrant and victim could be looking back at me.
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Latest reply: Dec 14, 2020
December, day by day
Posted Nov 30, 2020
I'm starting this on the last day of November.
It's been raining heavily today. I didn't feel up to grocery shopping, so I had some delivered.
I felt badly for the guy who delivered. He had to contend with wind and rain, and the park is not an easy place to find the right trailer.
Various aches and pains in my gut. I hope the canned salmon I fixed last night (and will be eating for two more supper) doesn't back u on me.
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Latest reply: Nov 30, 2020
121. Spotlight on Crepuscular Meadows: A modern-day Hooverville
Posted Nov 21, 2020
121. Spotlight on Crepuscular Meadows: A modern-day Hooverville
Dear reader, most of the people you have read about so far could manage to stay safe and feed themselves when their stomachs were empty. Today, we look at some people who always lived on the margins, or were put there by layoffs caused by Covid-19.
There was an abandoned railway tunnel near the reservoir. Naomi Fenster, a runaway who always had the option of reuring to a stern but protective father, had been camping in a makeshift tent along the edges of the reservoir all Summer, but it was getting too cold for that.
The tunnel stayed warmer than the outside – were there thermal springs in there? Naomi headed for the tunnel on a day in Mid-November. She noticed several campers and beat-up travel trailers hugging the edge of the hill where the tunnel came out. Extension cords snaked their way to these vehicles from a pole that ran alongside the road.
Yes, people were stealing power. Maybe some of that power was being used to run space heaters – a dangerous practice, but Naomi was hardly in a position to be holiwer than thou about such things.
She peered in the window of one trailer and saw six people huddled together, eating from cans that they had probably gotten at the food pantry.
Naomi made up her mind to return to her parents. The warm weather was gone, and who knew if these people would survive the Winter here?
These were dark times. If the virus didn't get you, there were other threats that might.
Naomi had taken some odd jobs to get her through the Summer, and she had enough bus fare to get back to her parents. She was one of the lucky ones.
God bless her and the people n the campers and trailers.
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Latest reply: Nov 21, 2020
more coronavirus songs
Posted Nov 19, 2020
the sound of sirens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZsfy8AD_S0
yesterday – covid version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoQJerrMcwA
my mask will go on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjf4glXJ2vo
Disney songs about quarantine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI47Q_pfqsQ
Take this mask and shove it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHCaECsY_rs
Mash and the coronavirus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5CNHDeF2xA
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Latest reply: Nov 19, 2020
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