What does The Longest Day really tell us?

After the last post, it occurred to me that these movies have more to tell us about the early 1960s.  Specifically, two points come to mind.  Here’s the first:

The Longest Day is, of course, a classic war movie – action, heroes, sacrifice, patriotism, etc.  But unless you think about those themes in the context of the fifty years that followed, you will miss something.  The counterpoint is, of course, the Vietnam War and its aftermath. 

 

America was proud of its role in World War II.  Patriotism was not a cliché but a fact.  Playing “The Star Spangled Banner” could actually stop riots among competing fans at sporting events.  Americans watching The Longest Day saw patriotism, felt patriotism, and were proud of their men (and women) who fought.  They believed that war, while tragic, was sometimes necessary to preserve a great way of life.  

Within ten years of The Longest Day, however, the country had lived through the Vietnam War, in which more than 58,000 Americans were killed, and a great many more were physically or psychologically wounded.   The country saw the ugly side of war – not a new thing but now revealed, in real time, by a press which had thrown off the restraint they had exercised in prior wars.  Most importantly, perhaps, for this point, Americans not only turned against the war but, perhaps for the first time, they turned against the soldiers.  Suddenly, the gratitude, pride and adoration shown to prior veterans were replaced with apathy and even hostility and scorn.

Now let’s jump ahead to three events.  Between 1989 and 1991, the disintegration of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War.  Suddenly, it was possible to understand that the Vietnam War may have had a point after all.  Then, in 1991, the United States lead a multinational coalition in the First Gulf War – what Teddy Roosevelt would certainly have described as a “bully little war”.   It was a resounding military victory in aid of an underdog Kuwait against the evil oppressor Iraq.  Then, of course, the World Trade Centers were attacked on September 11, 2001, which undoubtedly will be remembered as the Pearly Harbor of that generation. 

Since the late 1980s, patriotism has now been reborn (or taken out of the closet and polished up).  At sporting events today, we routinely honor armed service personnel.  We stop them in the street and thank them.  We are, once again, proud of them.  It is almost, but perhaps not exactly, like the feelings Americans had in 1962 for their World War II veterans.  I say “almost” because, it seems to me, there is the tiniest hint of shame in today’s pride and respect -  shame for the way we treated the veterans of the Vietnam War.  If you listen carefully, you can get the sense that we are trying just a little harder to do the right thing, because we did such a disservice to those equally brave and worthy veterans thirty years ago. 

Hopefully, this little digression into amateur psychology will help you understand how The Longest Day reflects a significant trend of thought and emotion in the early 1960s.

A “G” Rated World - Movies in 1962

Are movies a good way to understand the atmosphere of a period?  Can we get a feeling for what it was like to live in America fifty years ago by looking at the movies Americans watched?  Maybe.  It seems to me that it has to tell us something, so let’s give it a try.

1962 was really an amazing year for the movie industry.  The top box office earners, which seems to tell us the most about those Americans, were:

The Longest Day

 In Search of the Castaways

 Lawrence of Arabia

 How the West Was Won

 The Music Man

Two of these pictures – The Longest Day and How the West Was Won – are huge, sweeping movies with ensemble casts.  The Longest Day included John Wayne, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Rod Steiger, Eddie Albert, Christopher Lee, and many others.  How the West Was Won included John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, Henry Fonda, George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart, and Walter Brennan, to name only a few of its celebrities.  In many ways, Lawrence of Arabia (rated by many as the best movie of the year and among the best of all times) was just as sweeping as the first two.

 The Longest Day is, of course, about “D-Day” – the Allied invasion of France in World War II.  Those who fought on that day were in most cases still under 40.  They were just reaching their prime as family men (they were 99% men), business and civic leaders, elected officials, etc.  And they were notoriously reticent to discuss their fighting.  You have to wonder whether they were filling those theater seats, or whether it was their parents, children and friends, trying to understand a small part of what they had been through.  

 The Longest Day trailer

Hayley Mills

In Search of the Castaways, the Disney picture on the list, was a sea saga based on a Jules Verne story.  It featured Hayley Mills, one of the best known teenage actors of the 1960s.  The Music Man was one of those big, lush musicals based on Broadway productions that were common in the 1960s.  Some of the others from the decade included The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Mary Poppins, The Music Man, Funny Girl, Oliver!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, My Fair Lady, Bye Bye Birdie, Camelot, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Perhaps one of the most revealing facts about the early 1960s is that there was no need for a film rating system.  These top-grossing productions featured no sex or bad language, and the violence was not graphic.  The current rating system was not considered necessary until the major studios released films such as The Pawnbroker (1965), Blow-Up (1966), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), which were among the first to feature nudity and profanity. 

We’ll come back to movies many times in this blog – there is so much more to explore and absorb.  I think the first lesson, however, is that in many ways, 1962 was a much simpler time.  It was a “G” rated world – at least on the surface.

I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool

I’m not sure how many genres of music should be explored in order to begin to understand the 1960s.  One that certainly can’t be overlooked is Country music (I capitalize “Country” out of respect).  But the Country music of 1962 was very different from the Country music of today.  In many ways, it was approaching the end of its “classic” phase – the steel guitar, glitter suit, combed-back hair of cliché. The cross-over “modern” country of today was barely a glimmer in the future, but formerly popular attractions such as the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride were being eclipsed in popular media by pop music.  

To get a feeling for Country in 1962, you have to see it and, of course, hear it.  For example:

“The Porter Wagoner Show” was one of the longest running syndicated music shows, airing in 686 episodes, in black and white from 1960 to 1966 and then in color until 1981.  I mention it largely because I remember it as a kid.  You just have to see it to understand.   

Porter Wagoner singing "Another Day Another Dollar"

One of the top Country songs of 1962 was “She’s Got You” by Patsy Cline.  This wildly popular signer-songwriter died in a plane crash less than a year later at the age of 30.  She was the first female Country artist to headline a show over the male performers.  Her 1957 recording of "Walkin' After Midnight" reached No. 2 on the Country chart and No. 12 on the pop chart, making Patsy one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit.   

Patsy Cline singing“She’s Got You”

 The Grammy Award for Country music in 1962 went to Jimmy Dean (of sausage fame) for “Big Bad John.”  The top selling new albums of the year included three by Johnny Cash (All Aboard the Blue Train, Hymns from the Heart and The Sound of Johnny Cash) and three by George Jones (George Jones Sings Bob Wills, Homecoming in Heaven, and My Favorites of Hank Williams).  The George Jones classic “She Thinks I Still Care) spent six weeks as the number one country song in 1962.     

George Jones signing “She Thinks I Still Care

 

You can’t end a discussion of Country music in 1962 without an homage to one of those glimmers of the future we mentioned earlier.  In April, R&B singer Ray Charles released the hugely influential Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which became one of the top ten County albums of the year.    

Ray Charles singing “You Don’t Know Me”

Finally, who listened to Country music in 1962?  To have some feeling for that question, consider the other popular genres of the day – Big Band (e.g., Frank Sinatra), “Champagne” music (e.g., Lawrence Welk), early pop music (e.g., Elvis Presley), R&B (e.g., Ray Charles), and many others.  Country music has been described as the music of the South and Appalachia.  

Two interesting final notes

1.To give you a perspective over fifty years, 1962 was a big year for the birth of Country stars, including Trace Adkins, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, and Sheryl Crow.

2.  “I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" is actually a song recorded by Barbara Mandrell (remember her?) in 1981.

Israel Hangs Adolf Eichmann

Eichmann on trial in Israel

On June 1, 1962, the nation of Israel hanged former Nazi Lt. Colonel Karl Adolf Eichmann in one of the most memorable post-World War II legal events since the conclusion of the initial war crimes trials.  Eichmann had been the model of the talented, fanatic technocrat, being responsible in large part for the logistics that made it possible for the Nazis to murder millions of European Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.  He escaped from Germany to Argentina after the war, where he was caught by Israeli secret agents and smuggled out of the country.  He was tried in Israel, convicted, and hanged fifty years ago today.  The whole story is described in Hanna Arendt’s 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which captures one of the most fascinating aspects of the story – the ice-cold, efficient and business-like approach of a “modern” government to genocide.

How does this further our understanding of the 1960s?  Aside from the interesting historical fact, it is a reminder that World War II was not ancient history – the participants were still very much on the scene.  Remember, those 18 year olds who enlisted on the day the war began for America were no more than 40 in 1962.  Also, it helps us understand the mindset of Israel, which is indispensable for understanding the Middle East in the 1960s (or any time, for that matter).

NOTE – The last three posts have been very serious, so we will shortly go off on a more entertaining tangent – the musical world of 1962.  Stay tuned ….