... written in 1949 by Rogers and Hammerstein
"South Pacific received scrutiny for its commentary regarding relationships between different races and ethnic groups. In particular, 'You've Got to Be Carefully Taught' was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage. Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a lyric saying racism is "not born in you! It happens after you're born...' "
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
"Rogers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing 'an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow.' One legislator said that 'a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life.' Rodgers and Hammerstein defended their work strongly.
James Michener, upon whose stories South Pacific was based, recalled, 'The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in.' "
Gee, this BS sounds familiar and recent. I thought we'd come a long way, baby?
Perhaps we can get our hands on a time machine, go back to 1949 and borrow some integrity, decency, common sense, or cojones and get over the nonsense that seems to be everywhere these days.
Just a thought.
I wasn't here in 1949.
So sue me. ;-)
Shortstuff,
Nope, Nellie Forbush. Not even in 1949 would your spelling pass muster.
I was seven when I had the pleasure to see and hear Mary Martin and Enzio Pinza perform South Pacific on Broadway. My father had paid the scalpers the amazing sum of $40 per seat. Later that year, my brother and I were playing stickball on East 81st. My brother, then and now a ham, was doing his imitation of "Some Enchanted Evening." In mid-refrain his performance was picked up. Enzio Pinza sang for us as he walked east to Park Avenue.
With all due respect, there are few men my age who are not still fans of Mitzi Gaynor. Nellie in the movie.
R and H best musical...The King and I.
Nice comments everybody.
doug, I'm becoming a fan.
Voice, can I get back to you on that?
Change is hard. Sometimes change is downright painful. And we can see, by the screaming maniacs currently holding center stage, that some people just have such a hard time with any type of change that they dig their heels in and scream like a two year old who has been told that, no, he can not have that candy. The teabaggers' temper tantrums are annoying, but in another sense highly entertaining.
I am trying very hard (not always successfully) to keep in mind that civilizations always progress eventually. I can imagine that the enlightened minds who helped bring about the Renaissance had their share of teabaggers screaming at them also. (I wonder who Glenn Beck was back then?)
Let's stand up, loud and proud and not be silenced or shoved into a corner!
(I promised Artemus I would continue to fight the good fight.)
And I have always loved that song from Rogers and Hammerstein. Besides, who can forget Mary Martin in her role as Nelly Forebush? I certainly hope I spelled that correctly.
First of all, Rogers and Hammerstein RULE!
Secondly, I think its folly to discount the positive changes that we’ve made as a nation in regards to tolerance. We have indeed “come a long way, baby”. We have a long way to go but it is important that we recognize both our successes and failures of we want to keep moving forward.
If not us, who?
If not now, when?
A good thought. I saw my first "Impeach Obama" bumpersticker today, tossed in front of me as bait for comment, in my loan officer's office today. Maybe he was using it for a character test - I don't know... But I promptly dismissed it as local silliness, like the defaced $20 bills going around town with the same message, or "Audit The Fed" or some other trash. The kicker is that the defaced bills must be taken ashamedly to the bank for replacement, as they do not work in the automated tellers once they are defaced! And the people who pay you with those bills have that sly smirk on their faces when they hand them to you!
All of which leads to more race and politically based hate... Us against them, them against us, and us against us.
I am up to "here" with all of it!
Book me on the time machine, eh?
You know there really is no gurantee that those on the right won't try to go this far, and ban say...interracial marriages. For all we know we may be living in some historical bubble where this sort of thing actually IS legal. So..we must be vigilant and loud in saying NO to those that wish to set us back. What's interesting is that they (the right wing) are going to have a hard case to make now that the genie is out of the bottle so to speak (having a black president) and what I see as more and more acceptance of mixed relationships among the populace. It just SEEMS like this acceptance is not happening because of right wing media, and a small (but well backed) vocal group.
Let's not let the crazies win for once, and keep shoveling it back into their faces. That's probably what it's going to take.