#Breakdowns of 1938

[astralbondpro]

Looney Tunes: Breakdowns of 1938 // Dir. Robert Clampett

[androxys]

Comic Ages: Quick Breakdowns for the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages

If you're new to comic fandom, or even if you're not, you may hear people talk about specific "Ages" of comic books. If you don't know what that means, or what people mean when they talk about a Golden Age, this is a quick writeup meant to help you out!

This focuses on the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age of comics. This is a DC focused writeup, though it's loosely applicable to Marvel comics too.

The Golden Age (1938-1950s)

DC Comics as we know it started taking form in 1937 with the debut of the Detective Comics title. Published by Detective Comics Inc. in partnership with National Allied Publications, the title was an anthology of various detective and mystery stories featuring characters such as Slam Bradley. Have you ever read the first dozen or so ‘Tec stories? Because I haven’t. I care much more about what came next. In 1938, All-American Publications began publishing Action Comics, debuting a character called Superman. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Soon after, in 1939, Detective Comics #27debuted the Batman. Arguably with Action Comics #1, though definitely by 1940, the Golden Age of comics had begun.

The original iterations of the Flash and Green Lantern—Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, respectively—were created in 1940. The savvy reader among you might recognize these two as belonging to the Justice Society of America, which had arrived on the scene by 1941. The JSA would be rounded out with Hawkman, Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Sandman, the Atom, and Hourman. Other characters created around this time include Green Arrow (1940), Wonder Woman, (1941), and Aquaman (1941).

You may notice that the Golden Age overlaps with World War II, and it definitely affected DC’s publication. The newly created figure of the superhero became a more starkly patriotic figure, often spangled in red, white and blue. Plots began to incorporate nationalistic themes, and heroes often fought spies, foreign agents, and saboteurs. Arguably, though, scholars argue that the war era was most important for how superheroes began to move out of a purely print medium to radio and film. (For additional reading on DC Comics and WWII, see the Freeman and Hutchens citations below)

As the 40s went on, however, interest in superheroes began to wane, and DC (though technically they weren’t yet a consolidated DC Comics) began to pivot to other themes, such as Western stories or science fiction. The end of the Golden Age, however, can arguably be traced to 1954 with Frederic Wertham publishing Seduction of the Innocent. Wertham’s book that claimed that comics were an active harm to children due to their depictions of violence and supposed (homo)sexual themes. Seduction of the Innocent led to Wertham testifying before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee, which in turn ended up leading to comics publishers adopting the Comics Code Authority, a sort of self-imposed regulatory authority.

I would personally characterize the Golden Age as having a sort of earnestness to it. Characters are being invented left and right, but the writers haven’t yet had enough time with them to shape them into the figures we now know them to be. In hindsight, a lot of these early stories seem... silly… Superman eating a pocket-knife in Superman #8 comes to mind. But even within the same issue as the goofy knife-eating, you see Superman working against foreign agents representing the real-world anxieties of the time.

The Silver Age (1958-1970)

After the establishment of the Comics Code Authority, the content of comics had to change. At the same time, DC Comics (though they still weren’t technically doing official business under that name) had a stable of characters begging for reinvention. In 1956, Barry Allen debuted as the new Flash in Showcase #4, and the Silver Age was off. Science fiction themes seemed to be all the rage for the Silver Age: Hal Jordan, the new Green Lantern, got his ring from a dying alien. Ray Palmer, the new Atom, was described as a genius inventor who created his size changing powers. Hawkman was brought back, no longer as the reincarnating pharaoh Khufu, but as a police officer from the planet Thanagar. The Martian Manhunter was more thoroughly fleshed out and elevated from a detective to superhero. As individual heroes were getting re-tooled, the concept of the Justice Society was updated in 1960 to become the Justice League of America, which debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28.

After establishing refreshed versions of some of their older heroes, DC decided that they wanted to begin to reincorporate some of their older characters into their modern publication. This effort began in 1961 with the spectacular “Flash of Two Worlds” in Flash #123, which featured Barry Allen, the Flash, teaming up with Jay Garrick, the Flash of the Golden Age. This issue established that the Golden Age characters all still existed, but on a parallel Earth that vibrated at a different frequency than the Earth of DC’s main heroes, which was designated Earth One. By using their powers, characters like the Flash were able to vibrate at the other Earth’s speed, crossing over. This concept would soon be expanded upon, leading to frequent crossovers between Earth One and Earth Two characters and teams.

Having two separate Earths, each with their own history, allowed DC to have multiple variations of the same characters, offering greater storytelling breadth. The Bruce Wayne of Earth Two, for example, had retired as Batman to become Gotham Police Commissioner, passing on the torch to his daughter Helena Wayne, the Huntress. Huntress would cross over to meet the Bruce Wayne of Earth One, the younger, childless Batman. DC would develop other Earths, such as Earth Three, with villainous versions of Earth’s heroes, of Earth Prime, with a single Superboy as Earth’s only superhero.

The Silver Age, as a whole, can be looked at as campier than other eras of comics thanks in no small part due to the regulations imposed by the Comics Code Authority. Stories tended towards science fiction and the fantastic, and creators were very interested in making pre-established concepts new again. Comics continued to expand through new mediums, often keeping with the tone of the time: the Adam West Batman TV show, for example, ran 1966-1968 and is a great example of Silver Age camp. While the Silver Age has an event that can be pointed to as a relatively agreeable indication of the era’s beginning, its end is slightly less clear.

The Bronze Age (1970-1986)

The Bronze Age of Comics came about during the 1970s, but it’s not easy to discern exactly when or with what event. Comic readers had been indicating a desire for darker or more mature stories. (In some ways, this desire can be considered as a reaction to the trend of the Silver Age as a whole. For further reading, I suggest The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, which dives into how Batman media specifically follows a tone-pendulum.)

Some point to the death of Gwen Stacy over in The Amazing Spider-Man as the event that heralded in the Bronze Age, others point to Jack Kirby leaving Marvel to join DC and begin the Fourth World. The Bronze Age was emboldened by the revision and weakening of the Comics Code in 1971, after Stan Lee published a comic about drug use without the Authority’s stamp of approval. The comic was a success, leading the code to reevaluate or be left behind.

In the realm of DC, Green Arrow’s joining the Green Lantern title in 1970 in what would then be Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 is generally considered a Bronze Age hallmark. The series focused on contemporary social ills, with its arguably most famous story tackling drug addiction in America. 1971’s Green Lantern/Green Arrow #78, “Snowbirds Don’t Fly,” depicted the teen hero Roy Harper's addiction to heroin and the other heroes’ reaction and response. In the Batman comics, Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams began a long campaign to bring Batman back to a more gothic, brooding figure with appropriately dark villains. O’Neil and Adams’ 1971 Batman #232 debuted Ra’s and Talia al Ghul, while 1973’s Batman #251 would see “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge” take the Joker from his Silver Age clownish portrayal to a more menacing, murderous villain.

As DC Comics approached 50 years of publication in 1985, they began to recognize that five decades had left them with quite a mess of continuity. There were the Golden Age heroes on Earth Two, the Silver Age heroes that had become the Bronze Age heroes on Earth One, and a plethora of alternate Earths and company acquisitions to make it muddier. To mark the anniversary and clean house at the same time, DC embarked upon the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, often referred to just as “Crisis” was a year-long maxi series running from 1985-1986. The plot involved the destruction of the DC multiverse, and resulted in the establishment of a New Earth with a new continuity. Nearly everything that came before was taken off the metaphorical table, and writers got to choose which pre-Crisis elements to re-canonize and which elements to create fresh.

[freedelusionshere]

Carmy has been gaslit

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation and psychological control. It occurs when someone deliberately feeds false information to make the victim question their memory, perception, and sanity. Gaslighting can lead to confusion, anxiety, isolation, and depression

The phrase originated from a 1938 mystery thriller, Gas Light, written by British playwright Patrick Hamilton. The play was later made into a popular movie starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. In the film, husband Gregory manipulates his adoring wife Paula into believing she can no longer trust her own perceptions of reality.

Claire does several of these behaviors to Carmy throughout the course of S2 and in the background of S3. The resulting dream-like memories in S3 are evidence that the gaslighting of Carmy worked. Some examples of these techniques (and there are others) include:

Lie and exaggerate

Repetition

Form codependent relationships

Escalate when challenged

Some very specific examples of how Claire did this:

Using the Faks to track him down when she gets the fake number, repeatedly asking him about why he gave her the fake number until he accepts her version of reality.

She knows he's opening a restaurant, but gets him to ditch work to help her, and even when she meets all his friends and family at the restaurant and knows they are doing hard labor to make this work, draws his attention away from that and even advises him on his menu to make dishes like his abusive mother made to "heal him". Again, the reality she wants to see. The menu she wants for him.

When he breaks up with her, she repeats to her girlfriends "he done me wrong" stories to make them all sympathize with her and not that he was having a breakdown while trapped in a walk-in to make him and others doubt his version of events and even call him "crazy".

I'm guessing some of the others will show up in S4 after a confrontation takes place. But just because someone talks in a soft voice doesn't mean they're not a narcissist.

[sugaredoleander]

let's talk about another well-known anne carson set of three lines, shall we and by talk about i once again mean i am going to share with you a bunch of translations and then you can have a think for yourself and i will do my best to study microbiology

here they are in the original greek:

okay, actually, i want to share a bit more than three, here's the anne carson translation with a few extra lines

lets start with my own translations this time. i came up with three. (i did only translate the three lines bc frankly i don't have the time to do any of this just now)

not going to do a full breakdown of my translations this time but you are very welcome to explore the text for yourself in the original ancient greek with a very convenient word search tool here - it's lines 793-795. if you'd like a very basic breakdown of ancient greek grammar, i refer you back to an earlier post of mine - doesn't explain everything but might be a decent place to start anyway, here's some more translations:

George Theodoridis, 2010

Ian C. Johnston, 2010

Andrew Wilson, 1994

Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Orestes, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.

William Arrowsmith, 1958

John Peck and Frank Nisetich, 1995

[guardian-angle22]

I promised a book haul of all the exciting books I purchased on my travels to London and Edinburgh! y'all... I bought TEN books...

Here is the stack of books and also some cute bookmarks I got from various places!

Here is the breakdown of all the books with their official descriptions:

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

Rosemary meets Ash at the farmers’ market. Ash—precise, pretty, and practically perfect—sells bars of soap in delicate pastel colors, sprinkle-spackled cupcakes stacked on scalloped stands, beeswax candles, jelly jars of honey, and glossy green plants. Ro has never felt this way about another woman; with Ash, she wants to be her and have her in equal measure. But as her obsession with Ash consumes her, she may find she’s not the one doing the devouring…

Monsters: What Do We Do With Great Art By Bad People? by Claire Dederer

Pablo Picasso beat his partners. Richard Wagner was deeply antisemitic. David Bowie slept with an underage fan. But many of us still love Guernica and the Ring cycle and Ziggy Stardust. And what are we to do with that love? How are we, as fans, to reckon with the biographical choices of the artists whose work sustains us? Wildly smart and insightful, Monsters is an exhilarating attempt to understand our relationship with art and the artist in the twenty-first century.

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi

One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A breakup that starts a spiral. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Little Rot is a whirling journey through the city’s dark side, told through the eyes of five people, each determined to run from the twisted powers out to destroy them. Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from his loss, visits a sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, intersect with the three old friends as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt underworld, they’re all looking for a way out of the trouble they’ve instigated, driven by loss and fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them. They careen madly in the face of the poison of power, sexual violence, murder, betrayals. Little Rot tests how far these five will go to save each other—or themselves—when confronted by evil, culminating in a shattering denouement.

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.

Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks

Stitching together the threads of her girlhood memories, bell hooks shows us one strong-spirited child's journey toward becoming the pioneering writer we know. Along the way, hooks sheds light on the vulnerability of children, the special unfurling of female creativity and the imbalance of a society that confers marriage's joys upon men and its silences on women. In a world where daughters and fathers are strangers under the same roof, and crying children are often given something to cry about, hooks uncovers the solace to be found in solitude, the comfort to be had in the good company of books. Bone Black allows us to bear witness to the awakening of a legendary author's awareness that writing is her most vital breath.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes. It sounded like the perfect first date: canoeing across a chain of lakes, sandwiches and beer in the cooler. But teenagers Amelia and James discover something below the water’s surface that changes their lives forever. It’s got two stories. It’s got a garden. And the front door is open. It’s a house at the bottom of a lake. For the teens, there is only one rule: no questions. And yet, how could a place so spectacular come with no price tag? While the duo plays house beneath the waves, one reality remains: Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins. Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour. Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning – something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn

Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture—and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present. Horn draws upon her travels, her research, and also her own family life—trying to explain Shakespeare’s Shylock to a curious ten-year-old, her anger when swastikas are drawn on desks in her children’s school, the profound perspective offered by traditional religious practice and study—to assert the vitality, complexity, and depth of Jewish life against an antisemitism that, far from being disarmed by the mantra of "Never forget," is on the rise. As Horn explores the (not so) shocking attacks on the American Jewish community in recent years, she reveals the subtler dehumanization built into the public piety that surrounds the Jewish past—making the radical argument that the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

In 1949 Helene Hanff, a “poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books”, wrote to Marks & Co Booksellers of 84 Charing Cross Rd, in search of the rare editions she was unable to find in New York. Her books were dispatched with polite but brisk efficiency. But, seeking further treasures, Helene soon found herself in regular correspondence with bookseller Frank Doel, laying siege to his English reserve with her warmth and wit. And as letters, books and quips crossed the ocean, a friendship flourished that would endure for twenty years.

Rouge by Mona Awad

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass. Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

[sewerfight]

In Breakdowns of 1938 Bogart flubs a line and Nat Pendleton laughs and yells "Daddyyy!" In response. which could mean nothing

[titleleaf]

There were just as many signs of the fraying of nerves, countless cases of the jitters, and concerns about the threat to British resolve posed by ‘jitter-bugs’ (a sanitized and more comic diagnosis of anxiety). Advertisers and anti-appeasers alike found the analogy [of the "war of nerves"] highly profitable. For instance, the ‘brain tonic’ and ‘nerve revitaliser’ Sanatogen came up with the slogan that imbibing their product was ‘How to win your “war of nerves”’, and ran a whole campaign with this banner from 1938 to 1940. A similar product, Cheshire’s Adult Nerve Tonic, was advertised with the slogan ‘War nerves can be prevented … get a bottle today and build your nerves up to meet the strain’. In another example of this exploitation of the commercial potential of the war of nerves, women were reported to be taking what we would today call retail therapy; in the week before war was declared, the sale of hats had increased, as ‘it is amazing just what a new hat does to a woman. While she is trying on some smart little model she forgets that such places as Danzig and the Polish Corridor exist.’ Similarly, Wrigley’s chewing gum was advertised with the slogan ‘Feeling nervy? Wrigley’s will sooth you’, and Steero Bouillon Cubes used the slogan ‘Invites rest – relaxes nerves’. Franklyn’s Wild Tobacco promised smokers how ‘at moments of crisis a smoke soothes the nerves’. Indeed, one could not ‘fail to notice the increase in nerve cure advertisements the war has brought out’. While men too suffered from crisis-triggered anxiety, cures for nervous debilities predominantly targeted women consumers, consistent with the newly diagnosed condition of ‘suburban neurosis’ suffered by housewives. Even more specific to the war of nerves was the appearance of ‘crisis throat’. All the remedies on the market to treat socially and environmentally caused conditions such as neurasthenia, stomach upset (acid reflux), and cases of the nerves offer a social aetiology of the war of nerves.

"An Epidemic of Nervous Breakdowns and Crisis Suicides in Britain’s War of Nerves, 1938–1940", Julie V. Gottlieb

[ifaverse]

Patient Admission: Izzy Blackhart Insulin therapy

NAME: Izzy Blackhart

D.O.B. : October 13th 1938

SEX: Female

ADMISSION DATE: September 3rd, 1948

DIAGNOSIS: Emotionally unintelligent and unstable

NOTES: Patient is constantly moody. Often having mental breakdowns and depressive episodes for unknown reasons or no reason at all. Struggles with Emotional intelligence and communication skills which is what leads to her outburst of tantrums or sudden violent tendencies

SIGNATURE: Dr. Sylvia U.

PRESCRIPTION: Insulin therapy

[baxterfilms]

Animator Breakdown: "Porky's Party" (1938)

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animator-breakdown-porkys-party-1938/

Such fun to write about this zany classic for Cartoon Research!

[a-wholelotta-love]

Totnt 1938 ! Episode 8- Getting my heart broken for Lee Rang again!

The past two episodes have been a freaking roller coaster for me and I feel like someone shredded my heart and then pushed it into a grinder. All because of my one boyy, Mr Lee Rang. He is making me cry every other day and I am just heartbroken for him. Every scene with him now reminds me of his fate in season 1 and I feel like bawling my eyes out. So let's talk about my love for him once again so that my heart might start feeling a little less heavy 🥺

My boy constantly thinking about how he won't get to live for long and then believing that the only reason Yeon is being good to him is because he feels guilty 🥺💔 And you know what the worst part is, the worst part is that it's true to some extent. Yeon's love for Rang right now is actually so dependent on the fact that he is dead in his timeline. I am not saying he did not love him before his death, but I believe that he obviously did not cherish him the way he does now before he was dead. Like, look at 1938 Yeon, he does not give a damn what's happening to his brother. Rang's position in Yeon's life has always been secondary and it was only his death which moved future Yeon to the position where he realised his worth and isn't that guilt talking then. The thought hurts me more than the much it should 💔.

Watching Rang breakdown because the world felt warm to him for the first time in his life. Watching him cry because he believes he was just a stain in the lives of his parents and his brother broke me. Watching him believe, he has no one to return home to. He is so broken and I can't watch it without feeling so hurt. He would distance himself from everyone so that his heart does not tickle anymore. When I tell you guys, I sobbed, I am not lying. I am really really glad he has yeo-hee now and I don't know what I will do if they take that away from him too.

This will never stop hurting me. 💔 This scene will forever stay with me.

3. Watching my boy gamble for a life span because he, too, wanted to live. My heart, at this point, is a broken shriveling mess. Him already being so deep in love that he wanted to see Yeo-hee once. I was not sold on their romance at first but goshh, I love yeo-hee. And the only reason I love her is because she is the first person to love my boy the way he deserves. I need them together. I need someone to put Rang first. I just need it. And no matter how much I wanted that person to be Yeon, we all know that Ji-ah is Yeon's 1st priority forever. One major difference between Yeon and Rang that I believe would remain true is that no matter how much Rang might love Yeo-hee, he will never forget the much he cares about his brother. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Yeon. 🥺💔

4. They replayed the freaking season 1 video clip. As if my heart was not already on the verge of death. They reminded me of one of the most heart wrenching moment in drama history that I have been through. And when Yeon asks Rang after the clip is played, if Rang can forgive him. My boy does not even care about that anymore, he is legit like ' forget about me 🤦‍♀️' he is more worried about why Yeon's life span is so short. I really need Rang to care about himself half as much as he cares about Yeon. Idiot self sacrificing little brother who has taken up permanent residence in my heart rent free 🥺💔

I am broken after the last two episodes. I don't know if the writers expect this to be bitter sweet or they expect us to just make peace with the fact that Rang will remain dead in the future. I don't know but I need my boy to live, have a love life, have a brother who cares about him as much as he cares about said brother. And I want This Lee Rang to have all that, not some reincarnated version who is not actually him.

[the-lesser-light]

So I feel like it's time to spread a little Jewish love, old school style!

Here's a little bit of history that I just found out about while researching something else!

Spotlight: Jewish Fighters!

From left: Bummy Davis and the wrestlers Max Krauser and Martin Levy. 

Ever hear of a “Knak” (A hard punch), a “Shtaysl” (uppercut), and “Der gubernator” (Jabbing one’s thumb into a foe’s rib cage)? These are all Yiddish terms used for moves in boxing and wrestling. 

Jews, who had been denied most labor jobs and limited to desk work or small jobs, were often seen as scrawny, small, and weak. The intense studious life of studying Torah and furthering their education also left them stereotyped as intellectual book nerds in glasses that would be knocked over in a gentle breeze. 

What people don't think of is street smart men with fists of steel. 

“[...] but there was always an element of the working class that was tough and street smart and worked with their hands and fought with their hands.” -(Eddy Portnoy, creating of the exhibit at Yivo Institute) 

Let’s head back to the 1930s and 1940s when Jewish immigration from Russia and Europe was reaching a peak. Families fled the growing violence and antisemitism and their children faced a new world and the need to assimilate into this new culture. 

Boxing became an escape that grew among the Jewish community and quickly gained popularity. 

"Zionist and political organizations sponsored boxing and wrestling clubs, and after World War II there were boxing clubs in the refugee camps set up by the Allies." 

Several became big names that became well known in most homes. 

Jews became the dominating nationality in professional prizefighting during the 30s and 40s. There were 26 Jewish world champions! 

Many wore the Star of David on their robes and trunks as a way to represent their Jewish heritage and defy Antisemitism. 

Al "Bummy" Davis, born Albert Abraham Davidoff was born in Brooklyn. As a kid, he kept lookout for his father, who sold whiskey during prohibition.

He turned into one of the toughest kids in his area. While his brothers fell into work with the local gang, not even the gang would mess with him. 

The name 'Bummy' was actually from his Hebrew nickname "Vroomeleh" given to him by his mother (diminutive of Avrum) that was picked up as Vroomy by his family and friends. Davis apparently was not really a fan of it. 

He was known as one of the most powerful left hooks in boxing history and won many of his matches with a total knockout hit.

Max Krauser was born in Poland. 

His family owned a tannery where he helped haul the animal skins around. 

He went to college and majored in science until he attended a wrestling match at his college. 

Randomly jumping into the ring, he defeated the German heavyweight and decided to become a professional wrestler. 

His mentor was Zishe Breibart (I'll do a piece on him later), a famous strongman that was also Jewish and a hero to millions. 

He quickly became a renowned wrestler throughout Europe where he was the Heavyweight wrestling champion from 1935-1938 until the political atmosphere became too much. He moved to Australia then eventually the USA in 1939, 

In America, he was known as "Iron-Head Krauser".

Benny Leonard, born and raised in a Jewish Ghetto in Lower East Side Manhattan and son of Russian immigrants, held the world lightweight championship for eight years from 1917-1925! He later turned his boxing career into a film career. ("The Evil Eye" 1920, and "Flying Fists" 1924-25). 

Barney Ross (Dov-Ber Rasofsky) was the Son of a Talmudic scholar who barely escaped a pogrom in Belarus. Once in New York, his father was a Rabbi and owner of a vegetable shop in Chicago. Barney became a Talmudic scholar with the goal to teach. When his father was murdered in a robbery, his mother suffered a breakdown, and his younger siblings were placed in orphanages, Barney fell out of religious practice but never lost his Jewish pride.

Barney started running with tough crowds in the ghetto and got into street brawling and running with Al Capone himself! 

With the rise of Nazism and Hitler, Barney took a stance against antisemitism and embraced the fact that he was becoming a well known representative of the Jewish community. His song that played when he entered the ring was "My Yiddishe Momma". 

He became a world champion in three weight divisions. He was never knocked out and held his title against big time champions. His last match is quite the famous one where he refused to stop the fight despite the fact that he was taking a severe pounding. He refused to go down and was determined to leave the ring on his own feet. He retired with 72 wins, 22 of them were won by knockout!

He joined the Marines in 1942 and despite being told to stay on US soil as a celebrity, he insisted on going into combat where he was awarded the Silver Star. 

(Check out his biography- Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, by Douglas Century and his autobiography No Man Stands Alone.) 

Martin "The Blimp" Levy was a wrestler that weighed an astonishing 600 Lbs! 

He started his early career in a sideshow as the "Fat Man" at Coney Island! 

Despite his massive size, he was astonishingly agile. He is known as one of the first "Giants" of wrestling and helped pave the way for others of his size and character. 

Rafael Halperin, the son of a Viennese Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi came into the picture when his family fled to Mandatory Palestine to escape antisemitism and violence. 

Rafael took up weightlifting and karate along with his intensive Talmudic studies. He moved to the US and became a renowned wrestler that was known for his Talmudic riddles and for his refusal to fight on the Sabbath. 

Halperin also helped organize Israel's first Mr. Israel bodybuilders competition. 

He wore a blue and white wrestling outfit with the Star of David across it. In America, he fought under the name "Mr. Israel" and "The Rasslin' Rabbi". 

In Israel, he is credited with popularizing professional wrestling. 

After he retired from wrestling, he became a Rabbi.  

-

Information taken from:

The "Jewish Boxers and Wrestlers, and Yiddish Fighting Words, at Yivo Institute Exhibition" and the "The Yiddish Fight Club" exhibition. 

www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/nyregion/jewish-boxers-and-wrestlers-and-yiddish-fighting-words-at-yivo-institute-exhibition.html?_r=l&referrer

Wikipedia, and "Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World's Greatest Hero" by Roy Schwartz

[opera-ghosts]

OTD in Music History: Historically important Austrian-Jewish violinist Arnold Rosé (1863 - 1946) dies, in exile, in London. After completing his musical education at the Vienna Conservatory, Rose made his first appearance with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1881 as the soloist in the Viennese premiere of Karl Goldmark's (1830 - 1915) Violin Concerto under the baton of Hans Richter (1843 - 1916). Shortly thereafter, Rose was engaged to serve as the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. He held that position for more than fifty years, during which time he worked closely with both Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) and Gustav Mahler (1860 -1911), the latter of whom was also his brother-in-law. In addition, Rose founded the celebrated "Rose Quartet" in 1882, and continued to lead it in various iterations until 1938. As the leader of the Rose Quartet, Rose participated in the Vienna premieres of several important chamber works, including Brahms's Quintet in G Major (Op. 111, 1890) and Clarinet Quintet (Op. 115, 1891). The Rose Quartet was also entrusted with the world premieres of Arnold Schoenberg's (1874 - 1951) 1st and 2nd String Quartets, and they participated (along with two additional members of the Vienna Philharmonic) in the 1899 world premiere of Schoenberg's celebrated String Sextet, subtitled "Verklarte Nacht" ("Transfigured Night"). From 1893 to 1901, Rose taught at the Vienna Conservatory; he later rejoined the faculty in 1908 and continued serving on it until 1924. In 1938, Rose wisely fled to London to escape from Nazi persecution, and spent his final years living there as an exile. After learning that his beloved daughter Alma had perished in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp at the age of 37 in 1944, the elderly Rose suffered a severe emotional breakdown from which he never fully recovered. When the Vienna Philharmonic publicly announced that it wished to reinstate him as its concertmaster shortly after the end of WWII, Rose pointedly refused the appointment on the grounds that "there are still 56 Nazis within the ranks of that orchestra." PICTURED: A real photo postcard of Rose, which he signed and dated for a fan in April 1929.

[dweemeister]

The complete list of films featured on this blog’s 2024 “31 Days of Oscar” marathon

Hello everyone,

Thank you once more for allowing me to present this annual marathon of Oscar-nominated films to your dashboards. This year, the films were grouped by category (for the most part, one day featured only films nominated in a particular category). This is the most exclusive period on this blog, as the selection of films that I can post and queue about is at its most limited. But at the same time, the blog is at its most accessible as this yearly marathon’s selection skews to more popular fare than what I usually queue. I hope you enjoyed this year’s presentation of 31 Days of Oscar once more!

What follows is the exhaustive list of all 381 short- and feature-length films featured on this blog over the last thirty-one days for the 31 Days of Oscar marathon. This is down from 2022’s record of 420. But that count remains only a fraction of the 5,145 films that have been nominated for Academy Awards since 1927 (excluding Honorary Oscar winners that weren't nominated in a competitive category).

Of those 382, 28 were short films (53 short films is the record, which was set in 2022). 354 were feature films.

BREAKDOWN BY DECADE 1927-1929: 10 1930s: 51 1940s: 54 1950s: 44 1960s: 42 1970s: 26 1980s: 26 1990s: 23 2000s: 26 2010s: 26 2020s: 54

TOTAL: 382 (380 last year)

Year with most representation (2023 excluded): 1938 and 1942 (9 films each) Median year: 1966

Time for the list. 59 Best Picture winners and the one (and only) winner for Unique and Artistic Production that I featured this year are in bold. Asterisked (*) films are films I haven’t seen in their entirety as of the publishing of this post. Films primarily not in the English language are accompanied with their nation(s) of origin.

The ten Best Picture nominees for the 96th Academy Awards, including the winner, Oppenheimer (2023)

The fifteen nominees in the short film categories for the 96th Academy Awards

À nous la liberté (1931, France)

The Adventures of Don Juan (1938)*

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Albert Schweitzer (1957)*

Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)

Alice Adams (1935)*

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)*

Aliens (1986)

All About Eve (1950)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

All That Jazz (1979)*

Amadeus (1984)

Amarcord (1973, Italy)

An American in Paris (1951)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)*

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)*

The Apartment (1960)

Aquamania (1961 short)

Autumn Sonata (1978, Sweden)

Avatar (2009)

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

The Awful Truth (1937)

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

The Band Wagon (1953)

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Batman (1989)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Becket (1964)*

Before the Rain (1993, Macedonia)*

Ben-Hur (1959)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy)

The Big Country (1958)

The Big House (1930)

Black Narcissus (1947)

The Black Swan (1942)

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blue Valentine (2010)*

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Born Yesterday (1950)*

The Boy and the Heron (2023, Japan)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)*

Braveheart (1995)

Brief Encounter (1945)

Brigadoon (1954)

Bullitt (1968)

Butterflies Are Free (1972)*

Cabaret (1972)

Caged (1950)

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Captain Blood (1935)

Casablanca (1942)

Cavalcade (1933)

Chico and Rita (2010, Spain)

Children of a Lesser God (1986)

The Children of Theatre Street (1977)*

Cimarron (1931)

The Circus (1928)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Cleopatra (1963)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

CODA (2021)

The Color Purple (1985)

Come and Get It (1936)*

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)*

El Conde (2023, Chile)*

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

The Country Girl (1954)*

Cries and Whispers (1972, Sweden)*

Crossfire (1947)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan)

The Crowd (1928)

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Dangerous (1935)*

Days of Waiting (1991 short)*

The Deer Hunter (1978)

The Departed (2006)

Desert Victory (1942)*

Disraeli (1929)*

The Divine Lady (1929)*

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Dodsworth (1936)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947 short)

Drive My Car (2021, Japan)

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Dune (2021)

8½ (1963, Italy)

Elemental (2023)

The Elephant Whisperers (2022 short, India)

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Emma (1932)*

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Encanto (2021)

The English Patient (1996)

Ernest & Celestine (2012, Belgium/France/Luxembourg)

The Eternal Memory (2023, Chile)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)*

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Far From Heaven (2002)*

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

The Firemen’s Ball (1967, Czechoslovakia)*

Five Star Final (1931)*

Flee (2021, Denmark)

Flower Drum Song (1961)

For All Mankind (1989)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Forrest Gump (1994)

42nd Street (1933)

Four Daughters (1938)*

Four Daughters (2023, France/Germany/Tunisia/Saudi Arabia)*

Freedom on My Mind (1994)

Frida (2002)*

The Front Page (1931)*

Funny Girl (1968)

Gandhi (1982)

Gaslight (1944)

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

Giant (1956)

Gladiator (2000)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Goldfinger (1964)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

The Goodbye Girl (1977)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Gosford Park (2001)

Grand Prix (1966)

The Grandmaster (2013, Hong Kong/China)*

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Great Dictator (1940)

Great Expectations (1946)*

The Great Race (1965)

Green Dolphin Street (1947)*

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Gypsy (1962)*

Hamlet (1948)

The Heiress (1949)

Henry V (1944)

Henry V (1989)

Hercules (1997)

Here Come the Waves (1945)*

High Noon (1952)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

How the West Was Won (1962)

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the WIndow and Disappeared (2013, Sweden/France Germany)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020 short)

In America (2003)*

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

The Informer (1935)

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970, Italy)*

Io Capitano (2023, Italy)*

It Happened One Night (1934)

JFK (1991)*

Juno (2007)

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Lady for a Day (1933)

The Last Command (1927)

The Last Emperor (1987)

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Laura (1944)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Life Is Beautiful (1997, Italy)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

Lincoln (2012)

The Little Foxes (1941)*

Lolita (1962)

The Longest Day (1962)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Love Affair (1939)*

The Love Parade (1929)

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Loving Vincent (2017)

Lust for Life (1956)

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Malcolm X (1992)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)

March of the Penguins (2005, France)

Marie Antoinette (1938)*

Marty (1955)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Merrily We Live (1938)*

The Merry Widow (1934)

Mickey’s Orphans (1931 short)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Milk (2008)*

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Minari (2020)

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The Miracle Worker (1962)*

Mogambo (1953)*

Moneyball (2011)*

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953, France)

Monsieur Lazhar (2011, Canada)

Moonstruck (1987)*

The More the Merrier (1943)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Munich (2005)*

The Music Man (1962)

My Fair Lady (1964)

My Man Godfrey (1936)*

Napoleon (2023)*

National Velvet (1944)

Naughty Marietta (1935)*

Network (1976)

Never on Sunday (1960, Greece)*

Nimona (2023)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

None But the Lonely Heart (1944)*

North by Northwest (1959)

Now, Voyager (1942)

The Nun’s Story (1959)

Odd Man Out (1947)*

On Golden Pond (1981)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Out of Africa (1985)

Papillon (1973)

Parasite (2019, South Korea)

A Passage to India (1984)*

Patton (1970)

Penny Serenade (1941)

Perfect Days (2023, Japan)*

Persepolis (2007, France)

Phantom Thread (2017)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Pillow Talk (1959)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Platoon (1986)

Pollock (2000)*

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936 short)

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)*

The Public Enemy (1931)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pygmalion (1938)

Quo Vadis (1951)

The Quiet Man (1952)

Raging Bull (1980)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Rain Man (1988)

Raintree County (1957)*

Random Harvest (1942)

Rashômon (1950, Japan)

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Rebecca (1940)

Rejected (2000 short)

Return of the Jedi (1983)

Rhapsody in Rivets (1941 short)*

The Robe (1953)*

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)*

Robot Dreams (2023, Spain)

Rocky (1976)

Roma (2018, Mexico)

Roman Holiday (1953)

Room (2015)

Rustin (2023)*

Sadie Thompson (1928)*

Schindler's List (1993)

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Seconds (1966)*

Sergeant York (1941)

7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

7th Heaven (1927)*

Shall We Dance (1937)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

The Shop on Main Street (1965, Czechoslovakia)

Silence (2016)*

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silent Child (2017 short)

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

The Sixth Sense (1999)*

Society of the Snow (2023, Spain)*

The Sound of Music (1965)

Spellbound (1945)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Spotlight (2015)

Stagecoach (1939)

A Star Is Born (1937)

A Star Is Born (1954)

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1994)

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

The Sting (1973)

La Strada (1954, Italy)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Strike Up the Band (1940)

Sun Valley Serenade (1941)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Superman (1978)

Superman Returns (2006)

Suspicion (1941)

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013, Japan)

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)*

The Teachers’ Lounge (2023, Germany)

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Test Pilot (1938)*

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

The Thin Man (1934)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Tom Jones (1963)*

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

The Triplets of Belleville (2003, France)

12 Angry Men (1957)

20 Days in Mariupol (2023, Ukraine)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Two Mouseketeers (1952 short)

Up (2009)

The Valley of Decision (1945)*

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)*

War Horse (2011)

West Side Story (1961)

Whiplash (2014)

The White Helmets (2016 short)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

The Window (1949)*

Wings (1927)

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974 short)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Woman in Red (1984)*

Woman in the Dunes (1964, Japan)*

Written on the Wind (1956)*

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

[anne-bsd-bibliophile]

Hi Anne! I hope you’re having a good day. I was wondering if we knew anything about the relationship between the poet Chuuya Nakahara and his wife? Like what relationship did they have? Did they love each other? Anything like that?

Im sorry to bother you if this is the wrong place to ask!!

I have not been able to find much information in English about Nakahara Chūya's relationship with his wife. This is what I do have:

"In December 1933 Nakahara married Ueno Takako, a distant relative… in October 1934, his first son, Fumiya, was born. Despite his bohemian tendencies, Nakahara was devoted to his firstborn - as he was to all children, whom he regarded as embodiments of prelapsarian innocence… But in November of [1936] Fumiya died of tubercular meningitis. Nakahara was shattered and suffered a nervous breakdown. The birth of his second son, Yoshimasa, in December did nothing to mitigate the grief… in September, fatigued both mentally and physically, he decided to return to Yamaguchi… On 5 October Nakahara fell ill and was hospitalized.. he died on 22 October 1937 for tubercular meningitis. His second son died in January 1938."

- The Poems of Nakahara Chūya translated by Paul Mackintosh and Maki Sigiyama

Nakahara at his wedding, age 26

I've compiled all the facts I've found about Nakahara Chūya on my website's Fun Facts page. I do have a tag for #fun facts on my main blog as well, but I haven't used it in years.

[margridarnauds]

Hello! Have you seen Marie Antoinette (2022). It is not good, but Philippe-Egalite is extremely smirky in it.

I need to watch the whole thing! I've gotten a breakdown from @vivelareine, so I have an idea of what he's like, but I'm always willing to watch Chartres Serving Cunt, even if we're getting a rehash of Inceléans (which we also got in the 1938 film and the 2016 Hungarian production of the musical).

[valkyries-things]

LOUISE LITTLE // ACTIVIST

“She was a Grenadian-born American activist. She was the mother of Malcolm X. Her birth was the result of her mother being raped by a “significantly older” Scotsman named Norton. She was raised by her grandparents and was fluent in English, French and Grenadian French Creole. After her grandmother's death, she emigrated from Grenada in 1917 to Montreal, where her uncle Egerton Langdon introduced her to Garveyism and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). There she met her husband, Earl, and the two moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where she became the secretary and the "branch reporter" of the UNIA's local chapter, sending news about local UNIA activities, led by Earl, to Negro World; they inculcated self-reliance and black pride in their children. Malcolm later said white violence killed four of his brothers. Because of threats by the KKK, they moved to Wisconsin and then Michigan. There the family was frequently harassed by the Black Legion, a white racist group. When the family home burned in 1929, Earl accused the Black Legion. In 1931, Earl died in what was officially ruled a streetcar accident, though Louise believed Earl had been murdered by the Black Legion. To make ends meet Louise rented out part of her garden, and her sons hunted game. She had a nervous breakdown in 1938, and was committed to Kalamazoo State Hospital. The children were separated and sent to foster homes. Her children secured her release in 1963. She lived with her surviving family and descendants for the rest of her life.”