Blackboard Jungle

                                                                                                                                                     

           After the social commentary film Blackboard Jungle was released in 1955, many Americans decided that it should be banned in theaters across America.  This film explored teenage delinquency, a topic that had been very prevalent in the ‘50s.  Blackboard jungle attracted a lot of attention, from the moment it premiered. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote, “It gives a blood-curdling, nightmarish picture on monstrous disorder in a public school. And it leaves one wondering wildly whether such out-of-hand horrors can be.” Blackboard Jungle was nominated for four Oscars and had grossed $8 million dollars worldwide by 1957.

Plot:

Picture from Blackboard Jungle of Dadier and Artie

          Richard Dadier becomes a new teacher at an inner-city school known for its uncontrollable population of teenage miscreants. Upon arrival, Dadier comes to suspect Gregory Miller, a young African-American, as being the leader of these teenagers. Dadier tries many times to engage the students, while paying close attention to Miller, in hopes that if he could reach the leader, the rest would follow. However, it is later divulged that Miller is not the leader of the delinquent students,

Artie West is. In the last scene of the film Artie challenge Dadier, and Artie’s classmates have to decide whether or not to join in. One other student, affiliated with Artie’s gang lends a hand, but the rest of the class either assists Dadier or stands idly by as Artie’s reign as “head of the school” crumbles. 

“Rock Around the Clock”

Although many connect this film with the Rock-and-Roll phenomenon, the films use of rock music is minimal. The opening scene is the only part of the film that even references rock music.None of the students in the film seen to be aware of rock-n-roll.  Miller sings gospel music in a quartet and another teacher tries to introduce the students to classical music. However, the student’s anti-social behavior could be interpreted as “rock-n-roll” esque. These students were rebelling and refusing to allow adults to dictate their lives and this attitude, this abandonment of all morals is what the adults of this generation feared. “In a sense, Blackboard Jungle created the movement, others brought the tunes.”

Sources:

Jeremy Marks,http://boogiechillen.wordpress.com/%E2%80%9Coh-daddio%E2%80%9D-how-blackboard-jungle-changed-rock-roll/

Leopold, Todd “The 50-year-old song that started it all – ‘Rock Around the Clock’ made Bill Haley the first rock star” CNN ( http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/07/haley.rock) Viewed 12/16/07

“Blackboard Jungle” AFI Film Catalog (http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl…)

Crowther, Bosley “The Screen; ‘Blackboard Jungle’; Delinquency Shown in Powerful Film”
New York Times 21 March, 1955

“For A Healthy Glow, Drink Radium!”

            While scientists were discovering and developing the atomic bomb “that would change the course of history,” the public was being introduced to one of the bombs key ingredients: radium. Many Americans and people the world over were being fed false information about Radium being a “miracle cure.” The promoters of radium claimed that it could be used for a plethora of ailments, from baldness to sexual impotence.

       Americans believed that their illnesses would be cured by inhaling or injecting radium into their bodies.

       One victim of radium was Eben Byers, a wealthy Pittsburgh native. Byers was encouraged, by his physician, to try Radithor to heal his wounded arm and because Byers believed that the radium-based liquid cured his arm he began drinking it daily. Byers claimed that the healing powers of the elixir not only cured his arm, but gave him a new sexual appetite and he began supplying the “cure” to his female friends. However, Byers’ health soon began to deteriorate and by 1931 Byers had become a victim of radium poisoning.

Newspaper article stating reason for Byers death

 Experts decided that his body was slowly decomposing. His upper jaw and most of his lower jaw were removed, and holes appeared in his skull. From there the end came quickly as he succumbed to radioactive poising.

  

        Other famous victims of the “harmless” element were the Radium Girls of Orange, New Jersey. (Orange, New Jersey is the same location that Bailey Laboratories was located.)These girls, like Byers, were unknowingly poisoned. In and around 1917, female factory workers were mislead into believing that the radium that they were working with was harmless. These women not only worked in an environment with radium, but also ingested large amounts of the element when licking paintbrushes covered in radium-based glow-in- the dark paint.

Female factory workers in radium dial factory (mid 1920s)

        In 1925, a New York Times article ran the headline, "New Radium Disease Found; Has Killed 5." The new disease was called, "radium necrosis," a polite term for the painful process of one's jaw disintegrating and developing tumors. The five killed by this so-called "new radium disease" were a handful of the girls who were instructed to put radium in their mouths by way of paintbrush. "Trust in radium unjustified," the article sources from a New York doctor. "Cancer called incurable." 

       Five of the factory workers filed lawsuits and although they received compensation for their trauma, all of the women died within a few short years of receiving the settlement.It was stories like Byers and the “Radium Girls” that ended the idea of radium as a “miracle cure” and led to the banning of radium in the 1960s.

Sources:

Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History o the United States

Bill Kovarick and Mark Neuvil, http://66.147.244.135/~enviror4/people/radiumgirls/

Robert McNamara: The "Whiz Kid"

Robert McNamara was an American businessman and the longest serving Secretary of Defense. He served under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 to 1968. McNamara “oversaw hundreds of military missions, thousands of nuclear weapons and billions of dollars in military spending and foreign arms sales including both the Vietnam and Cold War.” McNamara is credited with leading Americans into the war in Vietnam and spending his life trying to grapple with the consequences of his decisions.

11 Lessons from Robert S. McNamara

1. Empathize with your enemy
2. Rationality will not save us
3. There’s something beyond one’s self
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
6. Get the data
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
8. Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
10. Never say never
11. You can’t change human nature

 

His reflections on the war and the lessons he had come to realize about war can be seen in the documentary The Fog of War. This film won an Oscar in 2003 for best film and for good reason. When I first began watching this documentary I was skeptical about McNamara and his genuineness. I didn't know what his intentions were for being a part of this documentary, however I was pleasantly surprised. Despite all of the horrible tragedies that resulted in his actions, whether direct or indirect, by the end of this film forgiveness and sympathy is all I felt. I can't begin to fathom what it must've been like carrying the burden of so many travesties for as long as he did. He admitted that he made mistakes and although he avoided some questions, for the most part he owned up to his actions. The final lesson of the documentary: "You can't change human nature" is the most honest and real part of the film.

Sources:

Tim Wiener, Robert S. McNamara, Architect of a Futile War, Dies at 93, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/us/07mcnamara.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick, The Untold History of the United States