Timestamp: 0:03 | Scene: Still outside Mel's Diner. For the first time since the Great Depression began, it seemed, someone had put words and music to what many Americans were feeling-fear, grief, even anger.(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets Popular crooners Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee both recorded versions of it and the song blew the top off the music charts. “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” immediately hit a nerve in Americans’ hearts and minds. The two songwriters glanced at each other and knew they’d found the words they’d been searching for. A young man approached Gorney, his collar turned up and his hat pulled low. They decided to take a break and take a walk in New York’s Central Park. Harburg had some lyrics in mind, but the team couldn’t think up a title. He set the tune mostly in a minor key, one that suggests a sense of sadness and loss. Gorney was basing the music on a lullaby he remembered from his childhood in Russia. Harburg and Gorney’s song was taking a different direction, though. Popular songs of the day were urging Americans to remain cheerful through the hard times by walking “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” pretending “Life is a Bowl of Cherries,” and believing “Happy Days Are Here Again.” “Yip” Harburg and Jay Gorney were working together on a number for a Broadway show called New Americana. He was placed on a Hollywood blacklist that banned him from working in the film industry from 1951-1962. These sympathies made Harburg many enemies who accused him and other socialists of being anti-American. This political and economic system believes that big business and capitalism are unfair to workers, and that workers and the public deserve a bigger share of a company’s profits. Harburg was a strong supporter of socialism. The lyrics criticize how veterans who had risked their lives for their country were now being treated with so little respect by the country they had served. soldiers were ordered to drive them from the city. In 1932, some 17,000 war veterans and their families traveled to Washington, D.C., to seek financial relief based on their military service. In 1917, hundreds of thousands of American troops sailed to Europe to fight in the Great War, what is today called World War I. People celebrated the achievement as a mark of America’s technical and engineering prowess. In 1931, New York completed the Empire State Building, the tallest skyscraper of its time. The tracks and trains that ran on them were a powerful symbol of the country’s industrial strength. Almost overnight, hard work was not always enough to prevent hunger and homelessness.īread lines where food was handed out to the unemployed and homeless were familiar sights during the Great Depression.īy the 1920s, an extensive system of railroads crisscrossed the U.S. The Great Depression, though, shook their faith. But Roosevelt’s optimistic leadership gave many Americans hope when they needed it most.Īmericans have always prided themselves on their willingness to work hard in pursuit of the American Dream. The Great Depression would not truly end until the U.S. New government agencies like the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided relief and helped put many Americans back to work. When he took office the following year, his administration immediately set up dozens of programs, what he called a “New Deal” for the American people. People found it tough to put words to the disillusionment and fear they felt. How could this happen? Throughout the 1920s-the fast-paced, get-rich-quick “Roaring Twenties”-the sky seemed the limit to most Americans. Nearly one out of four workers was unemployed. Shoppers had stopped shopping, businesses were losing money, companies were collapsing, banks were closing, and people were losing their jobs in record numbers. Most Americans could not understand how such an economic disaster could strike their smart, rich, mighty country.īy 1932, the U.S. In western states, the “Dust Bowl”-drought, erosion, and dust storms-drove farmers from their lands. Homeless, hungry people stood in bread lines to get a bite to eat. Many breadwinners lost their jobs and families could not pay their bills. Financial fears and failures snowballed in the years that followed. As stock prices plummeted, investors panicked and sold their investments, driving prices even lower.
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