Pre-Code Movies: Food For The Soul in a Sour Economy

“During the Depression, when the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time, it is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.”

-President Franklin Roosevelt

I have finally moved my blogspot blog to WordPress! You will find that the site is a work in progress so please be patient with me.

On another note, all we are hearing today is how “things will get worse, before they get better.” I personally don’t like this kind of talk. It isn’t helping us be hopeful about the future. I dug up an old article for this post I wrote on The Great Depression and movies a couple of years back.

Have you ever wondered why during The Great Depression people managed to find 15 cents to watch a movie? Don’t you wonder how someone who was feeling hopeless can go watch a movie with happy–overly dressed people with butlers? Although these films seem a little over the top to us, Americans were able to relate to a lot of the films about gangsters, musicals, and comedies of the day. If you’ve ever seen musicals like Golddiggers of 1933, or 42nd Street which addressed The Great Depression you can understand how Americans identified with these films.

“Stars such as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple, and Fred Astaire became models of strength, courage, charisma, vulnerability, and triumph as they sang and danced their way into the dispirited hearts of the American public.” Films of the 1930′s reflected the need Americans had to escape their seemingly hopeless situation. These films offered hope because in most of these films the “little guy” always triumphed in the end. Entertainment had to mean something to people in that day, after all 15 cents didn’t come easy. Those 15 cents made them feel happy and hopeful even if just for 2 hours.

If America were facing a crisis like the great depression do you think Hollywood would do the same today? Give it some time; Hollywood will come up with movies dealing with the economy. I just hope they are movies that will make us laugh and forget a little. Hollywood tends to push their agenda and I expect that economy movies will be no different than the recent political movies they’ve produce. So, will it be about making us laugh, and forget our economic woes? I hate to sound pessimistic, but I don’t think so. We are living in different times indeed.

But someone has come up with a great idea to help us forget the mess we are in. And if it worked for the Great Depression, I think it will work now. Film Forum in New York is hosting a whole series of Depression era movies, under the title “Breadlines and Champagne,” How timely huh? The economy is on everyone’s mind and what better way to get away from it all than to watch the films that made people laugh and feel hopeful? Click here to read more about this.