Our teacher, you see, had been listening to the radio before coming to school that day. Shortly after that, the assistant principal came in to cover the class. You may take your pencils and crayons and draw quietly. Your teacher isnt feeling well, we were told. Although no teacher was now in the room, no child uttered a sound so it remained until Mrs. Hill helped her to her feet and walked her from the room, talking to her in a low, soothing voice. Our teacher mumbled something, sobbed sharply, and shook her head. Hill walked up to our teachers desk, gently put her arm around the stricken woman, and whispered to her. Hill was passing by our classroom and noticed what was happening. A couple of the girls began to cry as well. We looked helplessly across our desks at each other, none of us knowing quite what to do. As twenty other young children and I watched, faces filled with dismay and shock, our teacher (I no longer recall her name) abruptly began to cry and could not stop. I remember sitting in my first-grade class in the William Bradford School, Dorchester, Massachusetts. Wednesday, October 24, 1962, was an unseasonably cold and cloudy day that smelled of wet leaves and fear. This month's column examines why Hollywoods animated guns fell silent.Īs I was working on the initial drafts for this column, the fortieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis was being observed. The surrender of Japan in 1945 marked the final time that cartoon characters sallied out to support the troops, despite the fact that the United States participated in several wars thereafter. Yet, after the end of the Second World War, the toons laid down their arms. Not only was war a right jolly time for them, victory was guaranteed. The exceptions, of course, were Americas animated combatants, who had a rip-roaring time thwarting the foe at no risk of death or disfigurement. Even for the victors, war is rarely a joyous romp, nor does victory come without a dear cost. The dashing poilu who made the above statement may not have lived to prove it he most likely discovered that war was not a party somewhere on the bloody banks of the Marne. La guerre, cest jolie!" -Anonymous French soldier, WWI
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |