Depression Era America and the Labor/Working Class: Musical Representation
Movie: Gold Diggers
Director: Mervin LeRoy
Cast:
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Foner describes - in chapter 21 - that the Great Depression was responsible for three big changes. It furthered the class divide between the upper class and everyone else. It introduced the need of government regulation of big business. It conceived of government intervention for the poor with aid. These three political/societal phenomenons are presented in the movie Gold Diggers in a few key scenes. These scenes include the first musical number We're in the Money and the scene following it with the musical being shut down because of unpaid bills. The love/comedy scenes between the upper-class businessmen - Lawrence Bradford and Fanual Peabody and the lower-class showgirls - Carol King and Trixie Lorraine. Finally, it is represented in the last musical number Remember my Forgotten Man.
In chapter 21 Foner hints that the Depression furthered the class divided between the upper percent or the big businesses and the working class or the labor worker. In chapter 20 and in the 1920's the everyday worker was presented with the allusion that everyone could afford themselves the American Dream of being a consumer, climbing the ladder of upward mobility and maybe one day becoming as rich as the person who owned the big businesses that the laborers worked for. The Depression era American rid American of this allusion as the laborer grew poorer: lost all the money they had saved and could no longer pay for the goods they were promised as the prices stayed the same but the laborer was payed much less or became redundant. This huge gap between the classes was hinted at in the first musical number We're in the Money and the scene that followed. The musical number presented dancers dressed as coins and Fay Fortune (Ginger Rogers) upbeat, child-like voice singing the hopeful/happy lyrics: [Were in the money, We're in the money. We've got a lot of what it takes to get along! We're in the money, the skies are sunny.] The idea of being in the money or coming into a big fortune for the middle to lower class is usually depicted as meaning having enough money to buy unnecessary goods: expensive cars, boats or trips to luxurious places. However, we see that the working class in Depression era views being in the money in a totally different way. It doesn't mean having enough money for consumer goods but having enough money for the necessary goods. The next few lines Fay sings expresses this idea. [Old man depression,you are through. You done us wrong! We never see a headline bout a breadline, today. And when we see the landlord, We can look that guy right in the eye.] During the depression having enough or more than enough money meant being able to to eat, not have to go into the breadline and paying the rent. The song relates that such realities of people's lives during this time was directly caused old man depression. The next scene furthers this idea as the musical number is interrupted by creditors who start tearing down and taking away the set because the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) could make payments. As the creditors take away their set where moments before they were singing a hopeful, happy song about being in the money the audience is left correlate this scene with The Depression itself and how it affected the great allusion of the consumer as the American dream.
Foner also details The First New Deal that FDR hoped would bring economic recovery. However, one of the reasons it failed was because of enacting of government regulations on big business that would better serve the laborer. Big businesses grew defensive, referring to their American freedom as meaning a free industry or market where they could ran their production and workers without the interference of government. Big businesses were not nearly as affected by The Great Depression as the laborers who worked for them and they didn't see why they should have to change their way of life to accommodate the impoverished worker. Local government and state laws agreed with them and slowly most of the government regulated laws were rejected as unconstitutional. This idea of the uncaring businessman who didn't want his American freedom hindered by the needs of the working class was portrayed in Gold Diggers by Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and Fanual Peabody (Guy Kibbee) - two upper-class businessmen/lawyer who try to stop Robert Bradford (Dick Powell) - Lawrence's little brother from marrying the lower-class showgirl - Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler). They try to manipulate and trick both Robert and Polly from not getting married. Lawrence denies Robert of his inheritance if the plans on marrying Polly. Then Lawrence tries to trick Polly into falling in love with him so she won't marry his brother. However, this being a big Warner Brothers' romantic-comedy/musical the notion of the upper-class unwillingness to accept the needs or wants of the lower class is played for laughs. In what could only be described as a Shakespeare-Esq plot Lawrence falls in love with Polly who is actually Carol King (Joan Blondell) another showgirl pretending to be Polly and Fanual falls in love with the showgirl Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon). Then in the end they all get married.
Foner also describes how the idea of the American Dream began to shift with the help of FDR and The Second New Deal. Now the American Dream or American Freedom mean economic security or government aid for the need - those who were unemployed, impoverished and or old. This was brought about because a majority of Americans were in one of these categories. The American laborers could no longer afford the goods promised to them in the 20's and were losing both their jobs and houses/apartments. Farms were in debt and farmers were asked to burn their crops and livestock. This meant the many workers on the farm were no longer needed and were also unemployed. Soldiers coming home from war were not able to find jobs and winded up homeless and in breadlines. Almost all of these ideas of realized in the last musical and scene in the movie - Remember My Forgotten Man. The audience sees Fay again - this time in the persona as a prostitute who once had a husband but he was taken away to fight the war. She interrupts a cop who is trying to move a bum on the streets. She moves the bums coat so the cop could see the purple heart medal pinned to lapel. Etta Moten in the persona of a widow sings [Remember my forgotten man. You put a rifle in his hand. You sent him far away. You shouted, "Hip, hooray!"But look at him today!] The audience gets the visual of men marching in war, then marching home in a parade and finally in a food line. The singer says you - not only setting the blame of poverty and The Depression on a bigger force - possibly government and big business but also demanding that they remember my forgotten man. The singer is not just mourning the lost of soldiers to the war and poverty but demanding that they - a higher power/government - do something about it and not just forget or ignore the needs of the poor. It could be analyzed that the government intervention with aid for the poor was their way of remembering these forgotten men.
In Gold Diggers the musicals performed within the plot of the story is a primary historical document of a unhindered critique of the struggles going on at the time. The movie - like many movies was made for the everyday worker - maybe middle to working class. To appeal to their audience they created musicals that related to the struggles they faced in their daily life. In the first musical We're in the Money the Depression Era audience was able to relate to a hopeful outlook on the future. The song - being the first song in the movie worked to set a happy mood for the rest of the film. With line like [Were in the money, We're in the money. We've got a lot of what it takes to get along! We're in the money, the skies are sunny.] the movie metaphorically speaks to the audience - saying, “Things may seem bad right now but things will get better.” At the time audiences needed such a hopeful outlook on their future since their present was grave and impoverished. The last song and musical number in the film - Remember My Forgotten Man - also spoke to it's Depression era audience. At the time the needs of the poor in the form of government intervention or aid was not being met and the majority of Americans felt as if their struggles to survive were being ignored. The last musical number recognized these people - telling them that their struggle was important and that the government should not ignore them. The lyrics [Remember my forgotten man. You put a rifle in his hand.] and [Remember my forgotten man. You had him cultivate the land.] are reminding some higher power/government that they utilized the worker - needed them and made them soldiers but then once the Depression came they forgot to take care of them and ignored them. The song is demanding that these upper powers remember them and do something to aid the poverty The Depression forced them to live.
The song and musical number “Remember My Forgotten Man” starts with a women stopping a police officer from bullying a bum off the streets - showing the officer the purple heart medal on his lapel - showing that he was a soldier. She is out on the street and it's clear that she's a prostitute. Soon the audience finds out that she is a widow and her husband was a soldier. Then there is a shot of an apartment block and a widow singing in a sad voice that her husband was taken away to fight the war. He was once a laborer and farmer but when the government needed him they put a rifle in his hand. The audience then gets a visual of these men marching through war, marching home and then standing miserably in a food line. Then the audience hears the outcry of these men demanding to be remembered. In a way the song speaks to the audience telling them that their struggle - the struggle of the laborer, farmer, soldier and wife is not forgotten by them and they recognize the reality of their harsh lives. However, the musical number is talking to some higher power like the government - in a similar way that the protest songs of the 60's demanded an end to Vietnam - demanding that these people not be forgotten. It's demanding that thus higher power aid these impoverished Americans who they used as laborers and soldiers without reconciling that they would have to help them when hard time like the Depression hit them so fiercely.
The storyline of Gold Diggers seems to address the issue of class imbalance - Foner discussed in chapter 21 - with the characters of Lawrence and Fanual. They represent the upper-class who turn down their noses at the lower-class and who believe that their lives and American Freedom of a free industry should not be affected by the needs of the lower-class at such a difficult time like Depression Era America. However, the representation of the class divided is only seen peripherally in the movie and is only played to add laughs and hijinks to the movie. The showgirls in the movie Carol and Trixie suppose to represent the working class showgirl - who by all means should be living in tiny, cruddy apartment. However, such representation of clearly Depression Era living might have been too serious for a musical/Romantic-comedy. So, instead we see them living in quite a posh apartment with a large amount of clothes that are neither tattered or old. They bemoan that their musical might not be made because of lack of funds but we never see any of the main characters struggling to support themselves.
Gold Diggers critique: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The extraordinary protagonist and plot contrivances played out like a Depression Era Shakespeare comedy. The songs and musical numbers were quite thought provoking and did well to juxtapose the reality of the era with the silly plot that was mostly played for laughs. It reminded me a bit of Hair (musical) in the way the songs spoke about the lives of the people of the era whilst the characters in the film went on this amazing adventure. However, I could not bring myself to like the middle number/song “Pettin’ in the Park. I thought the lyrics were annoying and it was too long for it's own good. Overall, I give the movie four out of five stars.