American Grab Bag

🇺🇸Retrofit 4th of July Drive In🎥

Jul 04, 2021

Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, They've all come to look for America. --from “America” by Paul Simon

The Drive In is a little different this weekend. There are a few people still in town. Others have left for the mountains, for the seashore, for New York City.

It’s the first real 4th of July in two years, the first of the 2020s. Independence was hard to celebrate on lockdown. So picking what to watch this week was like a visit to the old school firework stands. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. More sparklers than M80s.

The headliner stars Frank Sinatra in “The House I Live In” (1941). Frank is busy in the recording studio. Like all great singers, when it’s time to “take five” he steps into the alley for a smoke. Before he can sing “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” he notes a group of young toughs giving the business to another kid on account of his ethnicity.

Frank is having none of that bullshit and he wipes away all their prejudice with a catchy tune.

America has few problems in the rest of the movies. By G-d it is strong and independent, thanks to the melting pot that was stirred in the words on the Statue of Liberty. These are the films that were crammed down the throats of kids in schools when they had been promised a movie day.

“Let’s Go America” (1936) was produced during the Great Depression, so it is rah-rah let’s get to work, even though there were no jobs. “Land of the Free” (1945) was produced by Dodge, a division of Chrysler, and it’s all about how capital and labor work together to keep us free. “America the Beautiful” (1945) was produced by the Warner Brothers to sell war bonds. “American Way of Life” (1951) tells us our freedoms are at stake, so listen!

Next up, a truly historic archive, restored and brought to you by the Library of Congress. Under special arrangement with W.C. Handy, who wrote the song it is based upon, “St. Louis Blues” (1929) is an early talkie featuring blues icon Bessie Smith.

“Legendary blues singer Bessie Smith finds her gambler lover Jimmy messin' with a pretty, younger woman; he leaves and she sings the blues, with chorus and dancers.” --Library of Congress Introduction

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“Capitalism!” (1948) is what these debating high school students choose over Communism.

Then we fast forward all the way to 1972 for “Patriotism.” It has become a stoner favorite because it features Bob Crane, star of TVs Nazi prisoner of war camp sitcom Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971). Ironically, Crane’s hobby was obtaining the latest cutting edge home video equipment and filming himself and others having sex. But in this film, he urges us to be good Americans.

Captain Marvel is back for Chapter 4 of his 1941 serial, “Death Takes the Wheel.” It's the 4th of July weekend, so this week’s episode is in color! Just say “Shazam!”

Finally, our cartoon features Daffy Duck in the thick of World War II. It is a true Looney Tune that features Hitler getting his ass kicked by an all American duck: “Daffy-The Commando.”