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| It's A Big Country: An American Anthology - 1951 |
Coming up next we have 1951's "It's A Big Country: An American Anthology", a celebration of America featuring the people that make America great. Ordinary citizens are portrayed in eight episodes which prove that we're all in this together, and a little tolerance and understanding of each other can ensure that there's room enough for all.
The film's cast includes Ethel Barrymore, Keefe Brasselle, Gary Cooper, Nancy Reagan, Van Johnson, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh, Marjorie Main, Frederic March, George Murphy, William Powell, S.Z. Sakall, Lewis Stone, James Whitmore, Keenan Wynn, Leon Ames, and Louis Calhern.
In the first episode, a professor and another passenger are traveling across the country by train. The passenger says, "What a country.
Just a great country! Yes, sir,
this is the greatest country in the world. Sure we got our problems, but we’ll lick ‘em. Me, I’m just a guy who loves America." The professor asks, "Which America?" and proceeds to tell the man that America is constantly changing and gives him a few examples to illustrate his point.
In the second episode, Mrs. Riordan of Boston reads in the newspaper that the U.S. Census has just been completed. She's a bit puzzled, because...she's never been counted. She wants to be included as she's not sure that she'll live to the next census.
She goes to the newspaper office and asks the managing editor if he can help her. He's very encouraging and takes down all her information. Satisfied, Mrs. Riordan returns home.
The newspaperman sends one of his reporters to pose as a census taker. Mrs. Riordan knows that he's not affiliated with the government and sends him packing, deeply disappointed.
Well, the newspapermen take up Mrs. Riordan's cause. They telephone Washington and eventually get the White House involved. An official census taker arrives at Mrs. Riordan's home and makes sure that she gets counted.
The next episode is a salute to African Americans and all the ways they make our country great. We start out with the military.
We also meet some sports stars, including baseball great Jackie Robinson and track star Jesse Owens.
"The American Empress of Song" Marian Anderson, Ethel Waters, and trumpet great Louis Armstrong are just some of the many faces we know from the entertainment world.
We also meet the 1946 American Mother of the Year, and acknowledge the works of such luminaries as George Washington Carver.
The fourth episode revolves around Hungarian paprika manufacturer Stefan Szabo, who only wants his daughters to marry Hungarians and under no circumstances are they supposed to associate with Greeks. "For five hundred years, maybe even a thousand,
Hungarians are hating Greeks. Could it be for no reason?" he asks.
Well, his eldest daughter, Rosa, does the unthinkable and falls in love with a Greek. Icarus Xenophon is the owner of an ice cream parlor. The two are attracted to each other the moment they lay eyes on one another. And they secretly get married.
And when Stefan finds out that his daughter is married to a Greek, he's furious and instantly goes for a confrontation.
Then, it's up to Rosa and Icarus to win Stefan over and let him know that a little diversity never hurt anyone.
The next episode features a mother whose son died in the Korean War. When her son's friend comes to call on her, she's initially happy, but then she puts up a wall when she realizes he's Jewish.
Her son's friend reads a letter that her son wrote. That letter tears down all the walls this mother has put up.
By the end of their time together, she's very grateful that he came to visit her, and she's wishing that he could spend even more time there. She promises to write to his mother and let him know what a fine young man she raised.
For the next episode, we journey over to Texas, where Gary Cooper sets us straight about some of the misconceptions surrounding the Lone Star State. For a man of very few words, Coop is surprising loquacious when it comes to defending the great state of Texas.
He clears up the record on oil wells. "The way people talk, you’d think the landscape
was just one darn oil well after
another. ‘Course, we got a few little old oil wells, but, uh, folks
got to fill their cigarette lighters, oil their harness, slick
their hair down, little things like that. But to hear folks talk, you’d
think all you had to do to strike oil was to poke your finger in
the ground."
"I met an Easterner from Kansas City the other
day, and he was talkin’ about the size of our
ranches here in Texas. Said he heard of
a fella whose gate was one
hundred miles from his front door and was thinkin’ about movin’ back
further so he wouldn’t be annoyed by passing vehicles and
peddlers. Now, that’s just plumb
loco. Why, I bet you it’s not over ninety-three
miles as the crow flies. And I know what I’m talkin’
about. How come folks exaggerate so darn much? It just burns me up."
And he keeps the good stuff coming. "You know what?
A travelin’ salesman who’s been all over tarnation told me the prettiest girls
he ever did see was raised right here in Texas. Now that man just don’t know what he’s talkin’
about."
With a wink, he adds, "Down here we pick ‘em for their cookin’, not
their lookin’. Don’t any of ‘em wear anything but
Levi’s and plaid shirts. Why, you wouldn’t even know they was
females unless one of ‘em up and told ya."
We visit religious America in the next episode. A new minister has come to the church that the president frequents when he is in Washington. The minister uses his platform to tailor his messages directly to the president, seemingly ignoring the rest of the congregants. The trouble is: after five weeks, the president has yet to attend a service.
He gets an earful of truth when his sexton tells him that it's wrong to preach to just one man and ignore the rest of the congregation. The messages are going over their heads, and he's not too sure the president would enjoy them either.
The minister gets up at the next opportunity and asks the congregation's forgiveness. He promises to be available to all, because that is what a good minister should do. Afterwards, he's approached by a secret service man who tells him that the president slipped in the back door when he began his message and wants to shake his hand. The president wishes to tell him what a wonderful message he gave.
And finally, our last episode takes us to the schoolroom, where Miss Coleman (played here by future US First Lady Nancy Reagan) is teaching division to her students.
One of her students, the son of an immigrant family, is having trouble at school because of his vision. When Miss Coleman sends a note home saying the boy needs glasses, his father dismisses her as a meddling busybody.
He goes personally the next day to see Miss Coleman and tells her that the boy won't be getting glasses under any circumstances.
The boy's mother, however, realizes that her son needs the glasses and secretly takes him to get them. With Miss Coleman, the three of them make a pact not to show the boy's father.
When the boy takes off his glasses and is seriously injured in an accident, the boy's father is made to see just how handicapped his son is without them.
Eventually though, he lets his son know that glasses are okay, and even gets a pair for himself, resulting in smiles all around.
"Yes, it’s a big, wonderful country. Proud of its past, strong in its present, and
confident in its future," says the narrator. He goes on to say, "America, a land where from each mountainside
freedom rings. America, the beautiful. America, one nation indivisible. America, land of the free and home of
the brave."
Cast rundown:
I love how the film introduces its cast. "With the following citizens:". Well, let's get to them!
Ethel Barrymore.....................................Mrs. Riordan
Keefe Brasselle.......................................Sgt. Maxie Klein
Gary Cooper...........................................The Texan
Nancy Reagan........................................Miss Coleman (as Nancy Davis)
Van Johnson...........................................Rev. Adam Burch
Gene Kelly.............................................Icarus Xenophon
Janet Leigh............................................Rosa Szabo
Marjorie Main.........................................Mrs. Wrenley
Fredric March.........................................Joe Esposito
George Murphy.......................................Mr. Callaghan
William Powell........................................Professor
S.Z. Sakall.............................................Stefan Szabo
Lewis Stone...........................................Church Sexton
James Whitmore.....................................Mr. Stacey
Keenan Wynn.........................................Michael Fischer
Leon Ames.............................................Secret Service Man
Louis Calhern.........................................Narrator (voice only)
And that's it for It's A Big Country: An American Anthology. I love these kinds of films. They make you proud to be an American by showing what's best about this country. Van Johnson is shown in the film with scars on his face. He received them after a car accident which resulted in him being thrown through the car's windshield. He usually wore heavy makeup to hide them. However, in this film, he chose to let them be visible.
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