“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.” <\/p>\n
— Will Rogers <\/a><\/p>\n Have you ever wondered why all of John Wayne’s movies have been shown ad nauseam, heralded as classics and masterpieces (and some of them are), but only 5 of the 21 copyrighted talkies featuring Will Rogers have been re-issued? Lary May’s, The Big Tomorrow : Hollywood and the Politics of the American Way<\/em><\/a>, answers that question. <\/p>\n Will Rogers: Serious Side Explored<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n May charged that following Rogers’ death a “large scale whitewashing….distorting Rogers’ memory” succeeded in denying future generations the reasons why an entertainer had risen to be arguably “the most noted public man of the day.” <\/p>\n Into World War II years and afterwards, May wrote, Hollywood generally adopted films that, again, held out traditional Anglo-Saxon instead of American perspectives. May contrasted Will Rogers with John Wayne, who arrived in the later era. Both were major stars linked to the “myth” of the West. <\/p>\n According to May, Rogers “embodied the ideal of a hybrid, hyphenated American. In film after film he operated in an autonomous civic sphere with others to transform society and peacefully negotiate across barriers.”<\/p>\n On the other hand Wayne “evoked the image of the pure Anglo-Saxon hero…who protected established institutions and used violence to conquer enemies.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Much<\/a> more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Will Rogers (1879-1935<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.” — Will Rogers Have you ever wondered … Continue reading