Its not a miracle; it's American seamanship!
Tonight was the kick-off event to this year's Arts & Angles series at Tiffin University. Arts & Angles runs throughout the school year and features various faculty members of the school of Arts and Sciences giving talks each month. This year, the dean of A&S—Janet Hanna—decided to give the talks a theme—World War II—in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the end of that war.
While the talks are usually given on campus, the kick-off event was a recreation of a night at the Ritz theater in 1943. Upon entering the lavishly renovated period theater, we were greeted by a young couple in period dress. Shortly after we took our seats, the entertainment began with Bugs Bunny imploring us to buy war bonds. After singing the national anthem with a bouncing cartoon ball, we were treated to the Bugs Bunny classic, "The Wabbit Who Came To Supper." Next up was a series of newsreels, which revealed that the contemporary fascination with women in bathing suits is really not that new.
The main attraction for the evening was the Humphrey Bogart flick Action in the North Atlantic. In addition to Bogey, I was surprised to see someone who looked an awful lot like the Skipper from Gilligan's Island. Turns out it was the Skipper's dad, Alan Hale.
War has been described as long bouts of mind-numbing boredom punctuated with moments of sheer terror. This film tried its best to recreate that for the audience. In between loud explosions and men running about and jumping in the water, we were treated to a series of scenes devoted to convincing us of the humanity of these men and the importance of the merchant marine. The whole thing was spiced up a bit with various pieces of war-time propaganda (loose lips sink ships!). Oh! I shouldn't forget the kitties. The film spends an inordinate amount of time establishing the existence of two kittens. One gets killed in the first explosion, and the other makes noise when the ship is trying to avoid a submarine. At the two-hour mark, our intrepid crew has only made half of its journey, and we were starting to wonder if it was going to take another two hourse to get them home, but rather than fulfill the dramatic arc created by any number of scenes in which Bogey talks about having something to go home to, the filmmakers end with a rousing speech and talk of "delivering the goods."
A good night was had by all.
While the talks are usually given on campus, the kick-off event was a recreation of a night at the Ritz theater in 1943. Upon entering the lavishly renovated period theater, we were greeted by a young couple in period dress. Shortly after we took our seats, the entertainment began with Bugs Bunny imploring us to buy war bonds. After singing the national anthem with a bouncing cartoon ball, we were treated to the Bugs Bunny classic, "The Wabbit Who Came To Supper." Next up was a series of newsreels, which revealed that the contemporary fascination with women in bathing suits is really not that new.
The main attraction for the evening was the Humphrey Bogart flick Action in the North Atlantic. In addition to Bogey, I was surprised to see someone who looked an awful lot like the Skipper from Gilligan's Island. Turns out it was the Skipper's dad, Alan Hale.
War has been described as long bouts of mind-numbing boredom punctuated with moments of sheer terror. This film tried its best to recreate that for the audience. In between loud explosions and men running about and jumping in the water, we were treated to a series of scenes devoted to convincing us of the humanity of these men and the importance of the merchant marine. The whole thing was spiced up a bit with various pieces of war-time propaganda (loose lips sink ships!). Oh! I shouldn't forget the kitties. The film spends an inordinate amount of time establishing the existence of two kittens. One gets killed in the first explosion, and the other makes noise when the ship is trying to avoid a submarine. At the two-hour mark, our intrepid crew has only made half of its journey, and we were starting to wonder if it was going to take another two hourse to get them home, but rather than fulfill the dramatic arc created by any number of scenes in which Bogey talks about having something to go home to, the filmmakers end with a rousing speech and talk of "delivering the goods."
A good night was had by all.
Sherry's lecture will be on Feb 28, 2006. Her topic is “The Shorthand for Evil: Nazi Figures in Gothic Literature.”
posted by T.C. Truffin at 9/20/2005 11:07:00 PM
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