The Election and Gilbert and Sullivan

With the presidential election coming up again (it seems like we just had one), the political heat has been turned up a notch. As the lone liberal at the conservative McDonald family table every Sunday, I try to stay quiet. I figure we are all products of our upbringing and since my parents were dyed-in-wool FDR Democrats, the chances of me turning out conservative were pretty slim. I'm not outspoken, but I'm firm in my stance and I'm certainly not going to piss off a whole tableful of Romneyites over roast beef. Wouldn't be prudent...would it?

Anyway, I often think of a classic Gibert and Sullivan song from the comic opera Iolanthe (something else my parents owned was a complete set of G&S albums). Iolanthe's story concerns a band of immortal fairies who find themselves at odds with the House of Peers. The opera satirises many aspects of British government and law. Iolanthe was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth hit in a row, and the first of the operas to premiere at the new Savoy theatre. It goes without saying that it was hugely popular and continues to be performed to this day.

Very little has changed since 1882 when the ditty "When All Night Long" was performed for the first time in London. Here's an excerpt of the lyrics:

Charles Manners and Alice Barnett in Iolanthe, 1882

When all night long a chap remains
On sentry-go, to chase monotony
He exercises of his brains,
That is, assuming that he's got any.
Though never nurtured in the lap
Of luxury, yet I admonish you,
I am an intellectual chap,
And think of things that would astonish you.
  
I often think it's comical--Fal, lal, la!
How Nature always does contrive--Fal, lal, la!
That every boy and every gal
That's born into the world alive
Is either a little Liberal
Or else a little Conservative!

--From Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan, 1882





For your listening pleasure, here's a recording of the song made by the D'Oyly Carte company featuring Sydney Granville as Private Willis. Enjoy!

John Wayne reconsidered

Ron in front of The Duke's birthplace

 Even though I grew up in Creston, Iowa, a town less than an hour from John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, I hadn't visited this landmark until Labor Day this year. The fact that Ron's father is a big John Wayne fan and coming close to running out of things for Ron to do on long trips to and from Creston made me decide that the time was right to visit the John Wayne birthplace.

When I was growing up John Wayne had long since become a caricature of The Great American Cowboy, starring in movies such as True Grit, The Cowboys and The Shootist. He also happened to be an outspoken conservative, supporting the Vietnam War and to me he represented many of the things that I felt were wrong with the US.

In 1968, he was the driving force for and starred in The Green Berets, a movie which was criticized for glorifying the Vietnam War. My brother Jon had the album which featured a former Green Beret speaking (not singing) the title song for the movie. In part the lyrics were:
"Back at home a young wife waits/ Her Green Beret has met his fate/ He has died for those oppressed/ Leaving her this last request.

Put silver wings on my son's chest/ Make him one of America's best/ He'll be a man they'll test one day/ Have him win the Green Beret."

Stirring? Well, not really, at least not to me. Although the song was hugely popular, I couldn't really get behind it (of course I didn't like The Carpenters either). It seemed a little too sentimental and extremely manipulative.  I had very little love in my heart for John Wayne.

But that didn't seem to matter last week when we visited the birthplace. There was a gift shop where you could buy pretty much everything John Wayne including beef jerky, thermometers, memorial plates and cookie jars. We got Ron's father a coffee cup featuring The Duke's mug and the immortal saying "A man's got to do what a man's got to do" (supposedly said by Wayne in Stagecoach or Hondo, but regrettably unconfirmed by our tour guide).

Abbie Hoffman

Wayne is long since dead (he passed away in 1979) and my days of being a fuzzy-headed liberal have been diluted by almost 25 years of marriage to a Republican. So the John Wayne birthplace was kind of a blast from the past. The years have gifted me with moderation and respect for the character of individual even if they don't agree with me politically. Like Abbie Hoffman said "I like Wayne's wholeness, his style. As for his politics, well — I suppose even cavemen felt a little admiration for the dinosaurs that were trying to gobble them up."
Well said.