It's the Depression, dearie...

On the 7th of April, 1932, future-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a radio speech addressing the many problems facing Depression-hit America at that time. Touching on a number of points (and laying the groundwork for what would presently become known as the "New Deal") he expounds on the plight of those hit hardest by the economic downturn:

These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power for plans like those of 1917 that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

"Forgotten Man" (1934) Maynard Dixon

Roosevelt himself had not personally coined the term Forgotten Man but he was the one who successfully made the label synonymous with the destitute masses of unemployed and homeless who were rapidly becoming a familiar sight in 1930s America. By the time Roosevelt took office in 1933, the "Forgotten Men" of the breadlines, the soup kitchens and the makeshift shantytowns (Hoovervilles, as they were dubbed, after Roosevelt's predecessor) had become the popular face of the Great Depression.

And the Forgotten Men loom very large in the second of Busby Berkeley's "Depression" trilogy of films from 1933.



Gold Diggers of 1933 was released in May of that year (42nd Street had been released on the 9th of March; five days after Roosevelt had been sworn in as President) and features many familiar faces. Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers had all appeared in 42nd Street (playing different characters) but Gold Diggers deals with the Depression much more explicitly than the earlier film.

Like 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933 follows the trials and tribulations of a group of Broadway hoofers as they struggle to put on a show in very difficult times. But times have gotten worse, and the wolf is much closer to the door this time around.


After a disastrous incident with a spectacular musical revue that closes before it opens, producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) decides to put on a show all about the Depression. If only he can secure the financial backing...


Once again, Busby Berkeley's production numbers have to be seen to be believed (the neon violins are especially impressive) but what truly sets this film apart is the "Forgotten Man" number, which is arguably the first time a Hollywood musical expressly deals with current social problems in one of its musical numbers.


"Forgotten Man" also features the contralto Etta Moten, who a year later was invited to perform this number for President Roosevelt's birthday (becoming the first African American to perform at the White House in the 20th Century).


Early in the film, producer Barney Hopkins conjures up his great vision of the climactic number:

That's it! That's what this show's about!
The Depression, men marching,
marching in the rain.
Doughnuts and crullers,
men marching, marching...
jobs, jobs, and in the background,
Carol, spirit of the Depression.
A blues song.
No, not a blues song, but a wailing.
And this gorgeous woman singing
this song that'll tear their hearts out.
The big parade. The big parade of tears.

He's not exaggerating. "Forgotten Man" is exactly that.


We will screen Gold Diggers of 1933 at 7.30 on Thursday, the 4th of July(!) at the Victoria Park Baptist Church.

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