Good evening, Kibitzers! I hope you have the day off tomorrow, and have plans for a lovely holiday! I’m sorry to say that, here in northern NJ, the National Weather Service extended their “Excessive Heat Warning” today — it’ll just have ended when this diary posts, to be replaced by a mere “Heat Advisory” through tomorrow. Plus there’s a “code orange” air-quality alert, and a warning for thunderstorms producing heavy rain and localized flooding. One passed through this afternoon and dropped an inch and a half of rain in about an hour. No locusts yet, but I haven’t checked lately. My plan involves staying in the air conditioning.
Since the average patriotic stuff isn’t cutting it for me right now, I’d like to share a little about a song I really like, its composer and, especially, lyricist, and the short film it got embedded in. This is a World War II story that sadly shades into the era of blacklisting.
The song The House I Live In started life in a wartime Broadway revue called Let Freedom Sing. In 1945, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith sought to sponsor a short film to combat domestic antisemitism. Mervyn LeRoy and Frank Ross agreed to produce it; LeRoy directed. The story was written by Albert Maltz, specifically for Frank Sinatra, who was cast because of his favorable view of equality. Apparently he was known for doing stuff like bringing Nat King Cole to the dining room of the Sands Casino, against the hotel’s segregation policy, and basically daring them to throw out the two stars. (Before we slide past Maltz, I should note that he was one of the Hollywood Ten who were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer HUAC’s questions about their association with the Communist Party.)
The 10-minute film revolves around the song; SInatra takes a break from a recording session to smoke in the alley, where he runs into a bunch of schoolboys chasing a little Jewish boy to beat him up. He talks to the boys (including some horrifying WW II-era language about “Japs”) and ultimately sings them the song, all of which transforms their attitudes for the better. The film was released late in 1945, and won a special Academy Award and a special Golden Globe in 1946. I’ll just drop it here, and then continue below it. The song itself starts about 6:45, or hear it here. [Later: AKALib was kind enough to put the lyrics for the movie version in this comment below.]
So, the song: the composer was Earl Robinson, another soon-to-be-blacklisted artist. Robinson’s compositions include campaign songs for FDR, Henry Wallace, and Jesse Jackson, as well as the music for the song Joe Hill.
The lyricist was an extraordinary man named Abel Meeropol. He was also the lyricist of Strange Fruit, famously sung by Billie Holiday. He wrote under the name Lewis Allen because he, too, was harassed by Congress and then blacklisted. When the Sinatra movie with the song was released, Meeropol was mightily upset because the words were changed; specifically, because there was a verse speaking of “my neighbors, white and black” that the filmmakers omitted for fear it would offend too many people. Paul Robeson recorded the song with the “alternate” lyrics in 1947 (see them at the link). Surely by this point, I don’t have to tell you that Robeson was blacklisted as well.
Possibly the most interesting thing about Abel Meeropol, though, is that in 1957, he and his wife adopted the two orphaned sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who took their adoptive parents’ surname. On July 4, 1986, the year their adoptive father would pass away, Michael and Robert Meeropol wrote a letter to the New York Times about him. The occasion was Sinatra’s rendition of The House I Live In at the 100th birthday celebration for the Statue of Liberty that year. It’s short and worth reading; it closes as follows:
We hope that ''The House I Live In'' will serve to remind all Americans that patriotism is not limited to the right wing. We hope our father's life and work can help convince people to view with suspicion anyone who would curtail political freedom and limit the range of acceptable political debate in the name of anti-Communism, of antiterrorism or of some ''higher'' morality.
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by and tell us about your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper. Newcomers may notice that many who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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And then, there’s still this.
It is now Day 33 of the new hurricane season.
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PUERTO RICO and USVI DISASTER RELIEF DONATION LINKS
The Daily Kos community has its own project: Puerto Rico resident Bobby Neary (newpioneer) leads a small team dedicated to helping a specific rural elder who was left by the storms without power, water, a roof, or any belongings but a moldy mattress. If you like to see concrete results, this is the project for you. See newpioneer’s diaries for ways to help. See this one in particular, and this comment with photos. See also his lovely and heartbreaking poem.
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