As we round the corner on another spring, having cycled now fully through all the seasons under pandemic conditions, I'm reminded of the hopeful 1945 song "It Might as Well be Spring." The hit song from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical film "State Fair" really didn't have much to do with the impending end of WWII -- in fact the war was over by the time it was recorded and released as a single in the fall of 1945. Yet to my mind it is symbolic of the fresh new springtime start that the end of the war would bring for so many and could be equally meaningful in current times as we begin to climb out of the pandemic slowly but surely.
I'm as busy as a spider spinning daydreams
I'm as giddy as a baby on a swing
I haven't seen a crocus or a rosebud or a robin on the wing
But I feel so gay in a melancholy way
That it might as well be Spring
One of the things I always keep in the forefront of my mind when writing my WWII era novels is that no one had a crystal ball. My Red Cross Girl heroines faced the prospect of "for the duration" along with the servicemen. When they were packing up at home and in Washington after completing their training, they had no idea how many seasons would come and go before they experienced the familiarity of a hometown seasonal change once again. Many served in a climate quite unlike what they had experienced in their lifetime up to that point.
The holidays that mark the passage of the seasons were something our forces overseas observed however possible. The Red Cross Girls quashed their own homesickness in order to put on a happy face for holiday parties and dances. They knew it was important that these seasonal rituals carry on -- it was a spot of normalcy in what were extraordinary times.
And so it goes with us. I know we're not there yet. That was true for the men and women serving overseas in 1945 -- feeling happy and hopeful "in a melancholy way," for by then everyone knew it was a matter of time. It's a matter of time on this pandemic too. Spring is in the air -- let's remain vigilant but hopeful!
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4 comments:
"gay in a melancholy way" is a perfect description of how I'm feeling at least some of the time. I do see the end of the pandemic or at least this version of it. I'm grateful I'm getting my second Pfizer vaccination March 25 (my mom would be 103 that day if she was still with us).
Popping back one day to Marcia King Gamble's post where she talks about The Byrds rendition of Pete Seager's "Turn, Turn, Turn", I am grateful for the turn of The Wheel of The Year and spring gearing up to burst forth in my yard.
Great reminder, Eleri. People have been in uncertain times before, and we'll help each other through this time.
Great reminder that one can be happy/hopeful and sad at the same time. I believe it is natural to want/need things that provide escape from melancholy in difficult times.
Interestingly, State Fair was first adapted for film in 1933 with Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers, and Lew Ayers in the lead roles. 1933 was a tough year as the U.S. was still deep in depression with near 30% unemployment. FDR took office in March and, at the same time, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenberg of Germany in January. As FDR was working to pull the country out of the depression with what would become known as the "New Deal," Hitler was taking over Germany, building the military, setting up concentration camps and planning a war to take over Europe. However, most Americans had no idea what was going on overseas at that time.
By the end of the year, the U.S. had formed an alliance with Russia, the Dust Bowl had begun in South Dakota and would spread south over the next four years. Einstein immigrates to the U.S. to escape Germany, and the U.S. enters into a time of rebuilding and ignoring foreign war by passing several neutrality acts.
It's interesting to me that the two State Fair movies would bookend that difficult period of our country's history. A reminder of what we used to be before so much changed our identity? Or simply a reminder of what gets us through hard times--family, love, enjoying the moment when we can.
Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
Maggie - I didn't realize anything about the 1933 version -- I love your take on how those 2 versions bookended such extraordinary years in our history! But yes, I think it very much is meant to show how trying times can bring out the best in us -- a focus on what is most important in life.
And yes, I was particularly drawn to the notion that one can be both hopeful and grieving/sad all at once. The pandemic has marked all of us in ways very similar to what was experienced by those who lived through the Depression/WW2 or definitely those who lived through WW1/Flu/Depression/WW2.
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