Evening star., 1950-06-22

test tubes left over from the Noble
Experiment and their contempor-
aries to exercise much influence
over those who came along later.
"Oh, brother" the younger gen.
GRAFTON can say. go take a look
at YOU"
THE Golden Twenties," COM
posed entirely of old newsreel and
movie films Of the period Except
for q brief preface and conclu-
sion). is a documentary, all right,
but it is no solemn one. It would
be dif1icult, as matter of fact, to
tell the story Of the Jazz Age" in
word or in picture and keep a
straight face while doing it. The
memory, of course, has habit of
recalling the pleasant and re-
jecting the unpleasant about any
time examined in retrospect. so
Producer Richard De Rochemont
may have leaned definitely toward
the zanier aspects of the period.
Those who were there at the
time are likely to lean in the same
direction with him. This is the
way it was, they'll tell you. This
is the way they remember it.
4 Il Il y
1t was a decade when there
weren't going to be any more
wars and riches and abundance
were in store for everybody. The
great land was bountiful and the
vast factories churned out smoke
and prosperity. The stock tickers
clicked off rising paper wealth
and Florida doomed.
Women got the vote and helped
put in the White House a hail
fellow type whose chief qualifica-
ton for the job was a handsome
profile. Washington for that
whole Observation-Disclosures
teeming with Republicans.
The trusty hatchet of Carrie
Nation finally had hewn its way
across the Nation, but that didn't
matter much. There were plenty
Of people willing to 60 into the
thriving liquor trade and plenty
Of minions of the law were willing
to look the other way. If Tony
didn't send you, Joe did. and
there was always another place
nearby where your face was an
entrance card if it didn't have
Fed" stamped all over it.
Jimmy Walker became mayor
Of New York to preside over such
functions as swimming at Miami
Beach and wildly enthusiastic
greetings to such conquerors of
watery wastes as Charles A.. Lind
bergh and Gertrude Ederle.
Tex Guinan decided the time
had come never to give a sucker
an even break and speakeasies
doomed, the dance marathon
doomed, business doomed, the
stock market doomed, crime
doomed and it was beautiful and
1t was going on forever. Even after
Florida's boom burst in the teeth
OF a disastrous hurricane that
killed hundreds. it still was going
on forever. 1t went on until Oc-
tober, 1929, and the last months
Of the 20s were not golden.
4 y
Any film in which all of this
and much more is crammed must
necessarily be 81 hours long or
be episode. Since the idea was
to show "The Golden Twenties"
in theaters as a feature of ordi-
nary length. it is episode. Pro-
ducer De Rochemont and his staff
seem to have done a we'll balanced
job, however, touching even If only
briefly almost everything about
the period from the Republican
rejection of President Wilson's
League Of Nations to the Charles
ton.
AS O mammoth cast of we'll
known personalities propels the
narrative of this mad decade, the
sound track switches from one
commentator to another-Elmer
Davis for the political scene,
Robert @. Lewis observing Broad
way and Hollywood. Red Barber
looking at sports. Allen Prescott
for humorous sidelights and Fred
erick Lewis Allen to note the more
serious side of events.