US History II

Here’s the clip we watched in class today, and here’s a link to more clips of the film, including its original trailer and some of the other big Broadway-type numbers embedded into the story – which concerns efforts to stage a successful play in hard times. The actress is Joan Blondell, and the wonderful African-American blues singer is Etta Moten. If you’re interested in more on the culture (literature, art, film and radio) of the 1930s, I highly recommend Morris Dickstein, Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression (Norton, 2009).