Calling all fans of the Great Depression

BegintheBeguine · Oct 3, 2008

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!

There are some late 60s-early 70s movies I recall: Paper Moon, Bonnie and Clyde, They Shoot Horses Don't They? (which I also read the book, wow, I recommend it), Thieves Like Us, The Great Waldo Pepper.
People like the Depression era in movies because it means adventure, going out on your own, having nothing to lose, stuff like that, like in It Happened One Night.
Just yesterday I was thinking about a Depression-era book my brother and I read when we were youngsters called Sanctuary, by William Faulkner. I remember my brother saying sarcastically it made him want to go out and whistle a tune! Depressing as Hell, not for children.

Mike in Seattle · Oct 3, 2008

2000's O Brother, Where Art Thou with George Clooney and a great cast.

Foofoogal · Oct 3, 2008

One even more vintage resolution of debt and enslavement through debts were the Sabbatical year (releasing debts each 7 years) and the Year of Jubilee (reclaiming of ground owned by the families originally owning it each 50 years).

----------------
Interesting. Is this still practiced anywhere? I have alot of land coming back to me.

Hondo · Oct 3, 2008

vintage68 said:
From CNBC this morning:

"The U.S. government should take stakes in banks in order to recapitalize them rather than instituting a $700 billion bailout package, as the economy is one step away from depression, Hugh Hendry, chief investment officer and Partner at Eclectica Fund, told CNBC on Thursday"

Here's a link to the full article:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26985941

If this is true then the house vote on Friday won't help things. Also interesting to note that almost all the "no" votes in the Senate were from senators up for reelection. Almost everyone in the House is up for reelection when they vote on Friday.

Has anyone here read The Forgotten Man? A fascinating history of the Great Depression, and how gub'mint intervention actually made it worse.

Friend, Were sorta treading into politics, think socialism with government take over of any banks, it happens to Communists Socialist and that nut Hugo Chavez Venezuelan, were not going that route, you can be sure.
ride it out, pay off your debts (credit cards)

vintage68 · Oct 3, 2008

Yeah, I obviously don't want to make this a political thread. For one, there's too much out there that we don't need to bring it in here, and for another I'm more interested in the culture of the time period and not so much the politics.

Did anyone ever read Ironweed, by William Kennedy, or see the movie based on the book? It won the Pulitzer when it came out. There was a movie made of it starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Tom Waits of all people.

Dagwood · Oct 3, 2008

Here is a nice promotional video of the National Recovery Administration featuring Jimmy Durante.

BegintheBeguine · Oct 3, 2008

Yes, Ironweed! That was a good one. I read the book and saw the movie; a good friend was living in Albany at the time and appeared in the film as one of the ball players.
You might want to check out the movie Murder in the First. It starts out set in the 30s and it's gritty.

John in Covina · Oct 3, 2008

The key word is confidence. When the confidence of those who invest is at a low, they pull their money to the safer areas and it is not available for business to move forward. The depth and length of time for the lack of confidence is what makes the difference between recession and depression.

As I understand it the Stock Market did not return to the 1929 levels until well after WWII. The thing is we have so much investment power as a nation, think of the sums of money people are putting into 401K's and the like, that money has to be invested. When the market drops then forward looking investers know that it is an oppourtunity to Buy Low. It is also a time to look at where the over-exuberance has been and avoid some of those areas. Anybody remember the dot-com bust?

vintage68 · Oct 3, 2008

BegintheBeguine said:
Yes, Ironweed! That was a good one. I read the book and saw the movie; a good friend was living in Albany at the time and appeared in the film as one of the ball players.
You might want to check out the movie Murder in the First. It starts out set in the 30s and it's gritty.

Thanks, I'll look for Murder in the First.

How good of a job did they do bringing the book Ironweed to the screen? Did you like one more than the other? I hear that there were several Oscar nominations, one each for Nicholson and Streep.

BegintheBeguine · Oct 3, 2008

They did a good job but I liked the book better but I can't remember why. It has been 20 years so maybe it's time for a re-view and re-read!

Forgotten Man · Oct 3, 2008

Paper Moon is such a great movie... I love the fact that it's shot in black and white... I adore that film!

Penny's From Heaven is also good... that's a fun depression era flick... and the costuming isn't half bad either.

The Great Depression has and will always have a fallowing... because, just as it was mentioned earlier, there's a sense of adventure and making it on your own and taking risks because there's nothing to lose!

I'm not sure where our country is headed but, I know that we'll all do whatever we can to make a go at it. Life is full of surprises, good and bad.

=R

jake_fink · Oct 3, 2008

vintage68 said:
Yeah, I obviously don't want to make this a political thread. For one, there's too much out there that we don't need to bring it in here, and for another I'm more interested in the culture of the time period and not so much the politics.

Did anyone ever read Ironweed, by William Kennedy, or see the movie based on the book? It won the Pulitzer when it came out. There was a movie made of it starring Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Tom Waits of all people.

Ironweed is great. All of Kennedy's books are worth a look as most of them take place in around the same period - as in the same few days - depicted in Ironweed, or they feature the same characters, their ancestors or descendants. The movie was so-so, and is not available on dvd as far as I know.

Check out Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, which features just about the most exciting bowling showdown in literary history. It is also set in 1937.

And I'll stick my oar in... Paper Moon really is as good as everyone says.

Miss 1929 · Oct 3, 2008

Which one?

Forgotten Man said:
...
Penny's From Heaven is also good... that's a fun depression era flick... and the costuming isn't half bad either....
=R

The silly Steve Martin Pennies from Heave, or the excellent BBC musical series? That one is chock-full of great songs.

Speaking of songs - a few favorites from the Depression, lyrics about love and money (or lack thereof):

P from H of course...
Remember My Forgotten Man
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
We're In the Money
Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee
Side By Side
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
A Million Dollar Baby in a Five and Ten Cent Store
If I Had A Million Dollars
A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich , And You

Hondo · Oct 3, 2008

Having parents who grew up during the great depression, not allot of fond memories, lots of lost dreams, love within family gone, my dad felt deep loss, and the nearest step-dad he had was his ships captain who look after younger saliors under his wings.

I often think, worry about the future of our younger generation. This country has confidence, power to stay positive, AND needs ALL Americans to re-invest in America, New emigrants should also take note, its fine to send a few dollars aboard to family in need but remember why you came here, be a part of this society, contribute, invest here, so your future and others is guaranteed safe and sound. Just my two cents worth.

Forgotten Man said:
I'm not sure where our country is headed but, I know that we'll all do whatever we can to make a go at it. Life is full of surprises, good and bad.

=R

dhermann1 · Oct 3, 2008

A real depression is really no fun at all. At the height of the 30's, people were scavenging garbage dumps for food. Memory makes the bad stuff fade, and the good stuff remain. A depression is not a nice prospect.
To semi change the subject, I just read this extremely interesting article about the depression of the 1870's. Yes, there have been several in our history, the Panic of 1837, the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1893. All three of those decades were periods of outright economic depression in the country. Anyway, here's a very stimulating article about the depression of the 1870's:
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=477k3d8mh2wmtpc4b6h07p4hy9z83x18

vitanola · Oct 3, 2008

Paisley said:
Without going into politics, no, I don't think there will be another depression on the scale of the 1930s. I've read that the crash of '87 was as severe as that of '29, but due to better policies, it didn't lead to 25% unemployment and bread lines. We know more about economics today than we did in the 1930s.

Well, the stock market crash of 1929 was not really the proximate cause of the Depression. On Main Street, as we say today, things went along pretty well throughout all of 1930. Consumer durable goods (furniture, radio sets, appliances, electric refrigerators and automobiles) sold nearly as well in 1930 as they did in 1929, which was a record year for most of these catagories. Unemployment was beginning to be a problem, but not a serious one.

The real depression did not begin until the worldwide credit system seized up in the late spring of 1931, with the collapse of the Creditanstalt in Vienna.

By the end of the summer of 1931, the unemployment rate had soared, and the Depression was making itself felt throughout the nation.

Note that the economic fundimentals in 1987 were more akin to those present during the Banker's Panic of 1907. Today, the world economy is facing weakness on so very many levels.

Note, too, that if our unemployment rate was calculated using the same metrics as were used in the 1930's, our unemployment rate would be just above 14%, about where we were in the summer of 1931. If economic growth were still calculated the way that it was before 1974, we have been in recession every quarter since 2001, save for the 1st quarter of 2004.

Of course, our social safety net, though strained, is working pretty well to ameliorate the extremes of distress that prevailed in the 1930's, and we will doubtless never see the widespread destitution of that period.

dhermann1 · Oct 4, 2008

One good example of our safety net working better today is the new tent cities cropping up in the hard hit areas. In the 30's the people in the tent cities were treated as pariahs and persecuted viciously. Now we have tent cities designed to provide at least minimal comfort, safety and sanitation.

RBH · Oct 4, 2008

Thanks for the lead on 'The Forgotten Man'.

You might also check out 'The Worst Hard Time', about the Dust Bowl. A nice book about some rough times.

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Hard-Ti...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223145527&sr=1-1

I am currently reading 'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men', a book about "1936... three sharecropper families in the South."

http://www.amazon.com/Let-Now-Prais...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223145699&sr=1-1

Paisley · Oct 4, 2008

vitanola said:
Well, the stock market crash of 1929 was not really the proximate cause of the Depression. On Main Street, as we say today, things went along pretty well throughout all of 1930. Consumer durable goods (furniture, radio sets, appliances, electric refrigerators and automobiles) sold nearly as well in 1930 as they did in 1929, which was a record year for most of these catagories. Unemployment was beginning to be a problem, but not a serious one.

The real depression did not begin until the worldwide credit system seized up in the late spring of 1931, with the collapse of the Creditanstalt in Vienna.

By the end of the summer of 1931, the unemployment rate had soared, and the Depression was making itself felt throughout the nation.

Note that the economic fundimentals in 1987 were more akin to those present during the Banker's Panic of 1907. Today, the world economy is facing weakness on so very many levels.

Note, too, that if our unemployment rate was calculated using the same metrics as were used in the 1930's, our unemployment rate would be just above 14%, about where we were in the summer of 1931. If economic growth were still calculated the way that it was before 1974, we have been in recession every quarter since 2001, save for the 1st quarter of 2004.

Of course, our social safety net, though strained, is working pretty well to ameliorate the extremes of distress that prevailed in the 1930's, and we will doubtless never see the widespread destitution of that period.

No footnotes?

vitanola · Oct 4, 2008

Do you REALLY want 'em?

Calling all fans of the Great Depression

My Mail is Forwarded Here

My Mail is Forwarded Here

Banned

One Too Many

Practically Family

Practically Family

My Mail is Forwarded Here

Practically Family

My Mail is Forwarded Here

One Too Many

Call Me a Cab

My Mail is Forwarded Here

One Too Many

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

I'll Lock Up

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