A Sample of Dr. Bob's Writing
The Best of the Twentieth Century
By Dr. Bob Alotta
The 20th century did not begin in the 1950s. You might get that false impression if you were to read the glut of the "greatest" lists of the century. It would appear that the compilers of these memorable listings feel that nothing of value ever happened before they were born. If it didn’t happen on their watch, it never happened at all! That seems to be the message.
What triggered my bile was the list of the sexiest men of the century. Only one of them–Sean Connery–was born before World War II! Brad Pitt? Keanu Reeves? Leonardo diCaprio? What about such luminaries as John Gilbert, Rudolph Valentino? How about John Barrymore? Or are we only to remember him as the grandfather of sex-kitten Drew?
Those men, of another generation, smoldered on the screen. With the arch of an eyebrow, they reduced females to quivering masses of jelly! But, the Baby Boomers, the Yuppies, the Gen-Xers, etc., don’t see their films on cable–let alone PBS. We could go on and on, including Clark Gable, Cary Grant, swashbuckler Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster, Robert Taylor, Tyrone Power. They all had "it."
And, talking about "it," no list that’s come across this desk included the original "It Girl," Clara Bow. Guess she was too old for the current set. But, Clara Bow led the way, along with Theda Bara, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Joan Bennett, Vivian Leigh, Dorothy Dandridge, Bette Davis [those eyes!], Katherine Hepburn [seems they forget those famous Hepburn-Tracy movies, and just recall "On Golden Pond"], Lena Horne... and Doris Day [the girl next-door, you wish!] just to name a few. Contemporary actresses, many of whom are beautiful and sexy, exude their beauty and sexiness with nudity. The old-timers made you think about it!
Another list pitted Hitler, Pope John Paul II against Elvis as the person who changed the 20th century. Can you imagine that? John Paul is a Johnny-come-lately to the scene. He was upstaged by such popes as Pius XII, who kept the Catholic Church together during World War II, and John XXIII, who transformed the Catholic Church from Latin to vernacular. Both men did more to influence religious thinking than John Paul. Hitler? We realize his impact on the 20th century was negative, but his was perhaps the strongest influence on modern Europe. Without him, there would not be a pro-West Germany or, for that matter, an Israeli homeland. But, Elvis? Give me a break. As a young man, Elvis Presley brought black music into the white mainstream–and swiveled his way to rock-and-roll stardom. That was the totality of his contribution to the century. As his life waned, Elvis became a bloated, drug-addicted caricature of himself.
Because some famous folks didn’t live during the lifetimes of the list makers, they ignore people like Teddy Roosevelt, the "Rough Rider" who helped make America proud of itself; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a relative of a different party who took us out of a depression and brought us into World War II. How about the simple haberdashery salesman, Harry S [no period, because it didn’t represent anything] Truman. Truman was a simple man who rose to greatness in the mammoth shadow of FDR. Dwight D. Eisenhower should make several lists, as the man who helped us win World War II and who engineered us into the Cold War. What about Thomas Alva Edison? Didn’t he do more to enlighten the world than any of the above? Where would we be without electric lights, stereo, films. Old Tom invented them all but, again, he’s from another eon.
Ransom E. Olds, Henry Ford, Henry Kaiser, the Wright Brothers. Those are all names that should head up lists of people who accomplished something.
Another list that irked the bones of this 63-year-old writer was the one on music. Rest assured that John Lennon and Paul McCartney would make it to any 20th century list, but not at the exclusion of some of the truly greats of this century. Where would music be today without the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George [and his brother, Ira, who’s become a crossword answer] Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Henry Mancini, Hoagie Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Hank Williams [not Junior], Carl Orff, and the rest. Those guys wrote the words and the music that moved America. To be quite honest, I can’t remember one song that Jerry Garcia ever wrote!
Singers? The Rolling Stones? Come on! They should stop drinking embalming fluid and return to hard liquor. The 20th century wouldn’t have been quite right without Frank Sinatra. The sound of his voice made women faint back in the Forties and, as Old Blue Eyes liked to think, more children were conceived while his music was playing. But Sinatra was not alone. Who can forget Bing Crosby and, before him, Russ Columbo? Rudy Vallee? Nat "King" Cole, in reality, was the black Sinatra and the ancestor of Sammy Davis Jr. Cole and Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong opened the door for black entertainers and, in some cases, with the muscle of Sinatra behind them.
What about movies? Though I thought Orson Welles was fantastic and "Citizen Kane" is one of my favorite films, is it possible that is the finest film of the century? What about D. W. Griffith’s epic "Birth of a Nation." Though considered today to be racist, the film stands as a landmark in film making. Take anyone of Charles Chaplin’s films and relish in the serio-comedic genius of the man. How many realize that not only did he write, direct and star in "Gaslight," he also wrote the theme music? We could go on with such greats as "Cleopatra" [the one with Claudette Colbert–not Elizabeth Taylor], "Wings" [definitely not your TV sitcom], "Purple Heart," "The Manchurian Candidate," "Singing in the Rain," and more.
What could have resolved this problem would have been to have journalists create a list of the best of the first half-century–back in the 1950s. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Journalists at that time were more interested in honing their craft, in developing their skills for the new medium of television. Journalists like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite would have thought it showed audacity by deciding what was the "best" and what was the "worst." They were schooled in the tradition of Ernie Pyle and H. L. Mencken, not in the tepidness of Watergate and the team of Woodward and Bernstein. Even today, have you noticed, we can’t give up on Watergate? Every new scandal has to have a "gate" attached to it: Whitewater-gate, travel office- gate, etc.
It’s too late to go back to that earlier time, a time when we laughed at Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks ad-libbing through "The Two-thousand Year Old Man," or the antics of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca on "Your Show of Shows"? The genius of them all was Ernie Kovacs, but you don’t find him on any recent lists. Does anyone realize that these comedians, and we can add to that Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, George Burns and Gracie Allen, W. C. Fields, Fred Allen and all the old-timers didn’t have to use copulatory or excretory words to draw a laugh. How different is the world today, or rather the world after 1950, when we have Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Redd Foxx, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Lennie Bruce, Don Rickles...who made their fame and fortunes from either talking dirty or insulting people.
All the Baby Boomers, Yuppies, Gen-Xers, and whatever the next crowd gets called can have their favorites, but–Hey!–remember we don’t know where we’re going ‘til we know where we’ve been [that phrase is better said on the National Archives building in Washington, where the words: "What is past is prologue" is carved in stone]. The 20th century began in 1900 or 1901–take your choice–let’s not short-change the pioneers who helped make the century. How sad. To think that the current generation is so narcissistic that it can’t give credit to no one other than themselves and their peers.
(C) 1999, Alotta Ink
This article will be published by the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, as part of their millenium issue.
