Split Personality

In the November 2009 issue of Harper's Magazine, there's a terrific essay by Arthur Krystal, entitled THE WORST OF TIMES: Revisiting the Great Depression.

The essay quotes Morris Dickstein, author of Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression:

"Trying to grasp the essential spirit of the thirties would seem to be a hopeless task...How can one era have produced both Woody Guthrie and Rudy Vallee, both the Rockettes high-stepping at the Radio City Music Hall and the oakies on their desperate trek toward the pastures of plenty in California?"

Dickstein calls this the "split personality of Depression culture".

So, one week before opening night, when the inevitable questions rise about what we've created and whether we took the correct path of inquiry, this essay arrives as a good omen, a reminder that Canta y no llores is, at the very least, accurate. We've woven in all those multiple personalities, and thrown in the Day of the Dead to boot!

Woody Guthrie and Busby Berkeley? Check.
Political, sentimental and funny? Check.
Bilingual and bicultural? Check.

Singing the Migrants

Yup, Rebecca, I've found the same. It's easier to find information about the folks who migrated west from other parts of the US, such as the Dust Bowl, during the 30s, than it is to find stories about Latinos during that time. Thank heavens Tim located that tremendous article on Impact of the Great Depression on Latino Americans. Many Latinos, in California in particular, where "repatriated" to Mexico (even if they had been born in the US!). I envision a family that travels north to Oregon rather than risk repatriation.

On the bright side, I found a few stunning Woody Guthrie tunes! He'd been commissioned by the WPA to musically chronicle the effects of the GD...

Talking Dust Bowl Blues
Talking Dust Bowl Blues lyrics

Pastures of Plenty
Pastures of Plenty lyrics

Grand Coulee Dam performed by Lonnie Donegan!
Grand Coulee Dam lyrics

And this is a personal favorite, Poor Lazarus
...dead or alive, come up and see me, dead or alive...
Poor Lazarus lyrics