Mr. Smith Goes To Washington & American Ideals

This 1939 film was produced and directed by Frank Capra, who had been born in Italy, but came to the United States as a kid. Capra often liked to show average people standing up against crooked and power grabbing business people. But he also showed how taking a stand against ruthless and powerful interests can be tough and downright dangerous, and that doing the right thing can be painful. 

In "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," one of a state's U.S. Senators dies, just as an important bill is about to be voted upon in Congress. Jim Taylor, played by Edward Arnold, is the state's major businessman and the controller of a political machine there. He agrees to the appointment of Jefferson, "Jeff," Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart, a patriotic adult leader of a group for boys, called the Boy Rangers. Smith is filled with idealism about the United States and is a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. Taylor wants the state's other senator, Joseph Paine, played by Claude Rains, to tell the young appointee how to vote, especially on the pending legislation, as there is a special clause in one section about a dam that will financially benefit Taylor tremendously. Years before, Paine was the best friend of Smith's father, and together they fought injustices, often losing, and earning for themselves the title, "Twin Champions of Lost Causes." Jeff's father, a publisher of a small newspaper, was shot in the back during a campaign he undertook for a miner against a mining syndicate. Paine, a lawyer, lost much of his idealism after his friend's murder and buckled under to the pressure and chose to support Jim Taylor, who not only got Paine elected to the Senate, but got him reelected a couple of times. Although Paine became a well respected senator, most people didn't know he was, and is, so beholden to Taylor for his position.

Jeff Smith is enthralled by the sights when he arrives in Washington, and he wanders off to visit various historical sights, including the Lincoln Memorial. He finally turns up at his office, where he meets his aide "Saunders," played by Jean Arthur. She has been around Washington for some time, making her cynical and fed up with the games played and with the corruption, so she wants to leave, but after she meets Jeff, she sees that he is a decent man who will need help to learn the ways of the Washington political establishment. Senator Paine and Jeff reminisce about Jeff's father, which hits home to Paine's former search to do right, even for lost causes. The new senator tells Paine he wants "to study the bills" to be voted on, which takes Paine back a bit, fearful that Smith will learn about the special section on the dam in their state. Paine tells Jeff he will instruct him on how to vote. He also tells Jeff to write and introduce a bill of his own on a new boys' camp in their state, which gives Smith a lot of excitement. He wants the government to put up the money for the camp, and then be repaid from contributions by kids from all over the country.

Saunders begins the process of helping Jeff draft his new bill, but when Smith tells her the new boys' camp will be around Willett Creek (often pronounced colloquially as if, "crick"), Saunders is startled, as she is already aware of the dam to be going there (she had worked for the recently deceased senator, who also was under Taylor's thumb). She doesn't tell Jeff, but she gets a reporter friend of hers, "Diz," played by Thomas Mitchell, to show up for the next day's session in the Senate, when Smith will read his bill, including its location on the land around Willett Creek. She tells Diz to keep his eyes on Senator Paine and on one of Taylor's henchmen, who is seated in the visitor's gallery. Sure enough, when Smith utters the words "Willett Creek," Paine immediately leaves the Senate floor and the other man leaves the gallery. The savvy Saunders knew exactly what she was talking about (everyone calls her by her last name, "Saunders," but her first name is "Clarissa"), and she finally tells Jeff about Taylor and about the dam being a crooked deal for Taylor to profit. When Smith goes to Senator Paine and tells him, the senator advises Jeff him not to interfere, as there are powerful interests involved.

Taylor flies to Washington and meets Jeff Smith. The ruthless, greedy businessman tells the young senator he wants him to cooperate, and in return, he will make sure he is a senator for as long as he wishes. The honest and idealistic Smith is unimpressed, and thus he begins a battle against the tremendous power of Jim Taylor. Jeff goes to Senator Paine and tells him what Taylor has said, but the next day, when Smith rises to tell the Senate about the crooked deal included in the bill, Senator Paine asks Smith if he will yield the floor, which he immediately does, because it is Senator Paine asking. Now the new senator begins to learn what he is up against, as Paine tells the Senate he has information that the land for Smith's boys' camp is owned by Smith, who will benefit greatly from the camp going there; thus, making it look as if Jeff is taking money from kids for his own benefit, as kids are already sending contributions to pay for the camp. Unknown to Jeff and to the Senate, Taylor has had the land records changed to show Smith as the owner. With the respected Senator Paine now speaking out against Smith, the senators want to expel Smith from the Senate. Taylor, through Paine, has witnesses appear before a special Senate committee and testify against Smith. Jeff is so distraught by the lies and forged documents, he leaves the hearing and goes to the Lincoln Memorial. He feels betrayed and stupid at allowing himself to be set up, and for believing in American ideals, but the once cynical Saunders shows up, figuring he will be at the memorial, and she gives him a good pep talk, telling him that his hero, Mr. Lincoln, had his Taylors and Paines to contend with too, and that he would want Jeff to "root out the Taylors into the open." With his spirit restored, the two devise a strategy.

In this battle, Jeff is helped along by Saunders, who sees someone she likes for his honesty and decency, and also a man to whom she has taken a fancy. Senator Paine is stunned the next day when Smith calls out "HERE," in answer to the roll call. Saunders sits with Diz in the Senate gallery and periodically gives signals to Jeff to help him along with the Senate rules. When the Senate is about to vote on his expulsion, she signals to Jeff, and he rises to be recognized by the chair (Senate president), when another senator rises at the same time to try to prevent Smith from being heard at all. After some comments back and forth, and a cry from the gallery by Saunders to, "Let him speak," the President of the Senate,* played by Harry Carey (Sr.), recognizes Senator Smith, and we're off to a filibuster.** Smith tells the senators that he will speak to the people of his state from the floor of the Senate and he proceeds to tell them about Taylor and his political machine, and how he saw three congressmen in Taylor's hotel suite when Taylor met with him. Senator Paine is so respected, the other senators still believe Smith is the bad guy. The first dent in the Taylor/Paine armor comes when Paine rises and accuses Smith of tying him to corruption. Smith speaks up and says he had said no such thing; that he never said Paine was in Taylor's room, but inadvertently, Paine blurts out, "I was in that room." This brings gasps from many, but Paine quickly tries to explain it away by saying what an honorable man Taylor is and that he met with him simply to receive the evidence against Smith from him. As the situation goes on, Paine has pangs of conscience, but he can't bring himself to go against Taylor, as he is in so deep with him, something he is reminded of by Taylor, who tells him that if anybody starts believing Smith, "you (Paine) just as well blow your brains out." Taylor has his men back in his home state make sure all of the newspapers and radio stations (no television back then) speak out against Smith and not publish or report anything Smith is saying in Washington. He also has them send telegrams condemning Smith. When Diz learns what is happening, he tells Saunders, who calls Jeff's mother and has her and the Boy Rangers use the club's little printing press to print leaflets telling the truth. Taylor's men confiscate the leaflets, often smacking around some of the boys in the process. Taylor's men even use vehicles to run over and destroy the kids' wagons used to distribute the leaflets.

Meanwhile, Smith talks for hours, reading the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Saunders receives a call from Jeff's mother telling her how boys have been hurt by Taylor's men all over Jeff's hometown. Inside the Senate, the final showdown is near, as Paine has baskets full of anti-Smith telegrams brought into the Senate chamber. Jeff glances at several telegrams, and disheartened, he looks at the Senate president, who gives him a smile, prompting a slight smile from Jeff in return. Worn out and with a weakened voice, Jeff says, "I guess this is just another lost cause... You people don't know about lost causes, Mr. Paine does. And he fought for them once." He stands right before Paine as he continues to remind Paine of his younger days, when, as a young lawyer, he, and Jeff's father, took on rich and powerful interests to help those with little or no money. With the whole Senate watching and listening, Jeff tells them they think he's licked, but that he plans to continue the filibuster until someone listens to him, but he collapses. Paine dashes from the Senate floor. As some members try to revive Smith, gunshots are heard, with the scene then shifting to a room outside the Senate chamber, where a senator or two are trying to stop Paine from shooting himself. He screams that he's the one the Senate needs to expel, that he's not fit for office or fit to live. Paine charges out onto the Senate floor screaming, "Every word that boy said is true, expel me, not him!" The audience cheers and the President of the Senate leans back in his chair and smiles.

* By the Constitution, the President of the U.S. Senate is the Vice President of the United States. For times when the vice president is not present, the Senators will have chosen a "temporary president" (actually in the Constitution in the Latin expression, "pro tempore;" that is, "for temporary time," or, "for the time being"). This temporary president is an actual member of the Senate and can, therefore, vote on any and all matters before the Senate. The vice president is NOT a senator and can only vote if there is a tie. While the film never makes it clear, "apparently" the role played by Harry Carey is that of the Vice President of the United States.

** A "filibuster" is "a deliberate, but proper, delay of proceedings in a legislative body, often to prevent a vote on some issue, and/or to gain time to make a case on the issue." In the U.S. it is most commonly associated with the U.S. Senate. While the movie depicts only Senator Smith as launching the filibuster, more than one person can participate, and this gives the filibuster more chance to continue, as each participant can pass the floor on to another participant; thus, each gets a rest period. During a filibuster, participants may talk about matters TOTALLY beyond the subject at hand in the legislation. 

Photo is of the 2008 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD 

WORD HISTORY:
Creed-This word, distantly related to "cardiac" (a word borrowed by English from French, which had it from Latin, which had borrowed it from Greek) and "credit" (a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English from French), but also, "heart" (an original English word of Germanic derivation), goes back to Indo European "kerddeh," which meant, "to put into the heart;" thus, "to believe," as the heart was judged by many of our ancient ancestors as the center of emotion and belief (root of "kerd" being the ancestor of "heart, credit and cardiac," and several more words). This gave Latin "credere," meaning, "to believe," the first person singular of which, "credo," came to be used as a noun (beside the verb form) to mean, "religious belief," initially, "Christian belief, set of Christian beliefs." This was borrowed into Old English as "creda," with the same meaning. This then became "crede," before the modern version, and the meaning broadened beyond religious beliefs. 

Phantom of the Opera (1943)

The basis of this 1943 color film is French author Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera." The film title omits "The" from the title. 

The film is set in Paris and the opening scenes show us two men who are in love with promising opera singer Christine DuBois, played by American actress/singer Susanna Foster. The first man is also one of the stars of the opera, Anatole Garron, played by American actor/singer Nelson Eddy, while the second is a policeman, Raoul Daubert, played by American actor Edgar Barrier. Throughout the picture Anatole and Raoul add some lighthearted moments as they continually compete for Christine's attention. Then we find there is still another man, a mild mannered violinist, Erique Claudin, played by London-born actor Claude Rains, who is also in love with Christine. Claudin is losing the use of his hand, which ends his long career at the opera. Claudin has been secretly financing Christine's voice lessons, which will have to end, as he has no income. Claudin then decides to have a concerto published to raise some money. When he goes back to the publisher he becomes convinced that the publisher is stealing his music and Claudin strangles him, but an assistant to the publisher throws acid (used for etching) in Claudin's face, terribly disfiguring him. Claudin seeks shelter by entering the Paris sewer system, which leads into the large basement area beneath the opera house. Before long, a costume, two masks and some food are reported stolen. The police inspector finds evidence that Claudin has also been in love with Christine. We occasionally see the shadow of a figure in a cape and a sort of slouch hat, and at one point, Christine hears a voice in her room at the opera house tell her that she is going to become a great and famous singer, and that, "I'll help you." The shadow of the caped figure then vanishes.

During one of the performances, the lead female singer, Madame Biancarolli, played by American actress Jane Farrar, collapses off stage after drinking some drugged wine in a scene with Anatole. Christine, her understudy, is immediately substituted for the incapacitated singer and she gives a stunning performance, for which the audience gives her a standing ovation. Not so, the drugged singer, who accuses Anatole of having drugged her to get Christine into the lead role. The head of the opera company tells Biancarolli to forget the matter, as there is no proof, but the self-centered singer will grant such a request only if Christine is replaced as her understudy and sent back to the chorus, with no mention to be made in the newspapers of her having performed in the opera in the lead role. When Anatole protests, she threatens to charge both Anatole and Christine with attempted murder.

Afterwards, the Phantom appears in Biancarolli's room and kills her and her maid, then barely escapes the pursuing Anatole through the upper portion of the opera house. Later the Phantom leaves a note telling the authorities that Christine must take the place of Biancarolli, but Raoul wants Christine to be replaced by another singer to lure the Phantom into the open for capture. Not to be outdone as he continues his quest for Christine, Anatole gets none other than Franz Liszt to agree to play Claudin's concerto to help trap Claudin/The Phantom at the end of the opera. Before the performance, another note is found warning that Christine must sing that night, or that there will be consequences. The plan to use another singer continues, although Christine also comes to the opera. Raoul has policemen in costume as extras for the opera to provide protection, but Claudin strangles one of the men and takes his place. Raoul finds the murdered policeman and he now knows Claudin is present, but is in disguise.

With the opera performance fully underway, Claudin climbs to the top of the opera house, where a huge chandelier is suspended by chain over the main seating area. He uses a saw to cut the chain, bringing the chandelier crashing down on a part of the audience. In the chaos, Claudin finds Christine and has her come with him, as she believes him to be a policeman. He takes her down into the underground passages of the opera house, and she realizes that he is not a policeman, but it is too late. Claudin tells her she will now be able to sing for him. Things have settled down above and Liszt begins to play Claudin's concerto, and the sound carries down into the room where Claudin has a piano and he begins to play along with the music from upstairs. Anatole and Raoul begin searching the underground passages, and while Liszt's playing is heard, they can tell that there is also playing coming from the downstairs. As they move along toward the music, Claudin has Christine begin to sing. The two men see the water worn walls that are crumbling in spots and they have to avoid falling sections of these walls.

Meanwhile, Christine gets into a position to pull the mask from Claudin, exposing a terribly disfigured face. Anatole and Raoul enter the room and Claudin grabs a sword, but Raoul draws a pistol. Anatole blocks his arm as he fires, causing the bullet to strike the ceiling, but the shot brings the ceiling crashing down onto Claudin, who is killed. The men and Christine get to safety and Anatole explains Claudin's music and the basic melody being from a song long known in the same region of France from which both Christine and Claudin hailed.   

The scene shifts to Christine's room at the opera house after a performance. A knock comes at her door and it is Anatole, who praises her singing and asks for her to accompany him to supper. She tells him that Raoul has already asked her to supper, and indeed, Raoul comes to the door just then. As the two men bicker over who will go out with Christine, she suggests the three of them go together, something not looked upon kindly by either of the men, but Christine hears her adoring fans outside her door and she chooses to go out to meet them, thus symbolizing her choice to follow her music career, so helped along by Claudin. The two men decide to go to supper together. 

      
Photo is from the 2014 Universal Home Entertainment DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Venue-This word goes back to Indo European "gwem/gwam," which had the notion of "to come, to go." This gave Latin (from the Italic branch of Indo European) "venire," which meant "to come." This produced a participle form "venir," inherited by Old French, a Latin-based language, as "venue," with the meaning "coming, coming together, assembling for battle." The word was then borrowed by English in the first half of the 1300s, with the "assembling for battle" meaning carried to "legal battle," and a place where legal matters were contested, a meaning still in use today, but an additional more general meaning later developed for "a location of an event," which then became commonly used for concerts.    

Will Responsible Republicans Admit Mistake?

This was first published in February 2013, but as the forces of greed are already running ads to "reform" the tax code, it is very appropriate, since to them, "tax reform" means, "give us tax cuts, don't you know how tough it is to get by on a few billion? Life is tough."

In the late 1930s, film producer/director Frank Capra, who was born in Sicily, but came to the United States as a child, did a picture called "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." Americans need to sit down and watch this picture again, and again, to remind us of what this country has tried to stand for in its relatively short lifespan, compared to the rest of the world. We aren't perfect, maybe we've been far from it, but we haven't let our imperfections stymie our desires to correct flaws, or to file down our rough edges. Even in the last thirty plus years of conservative influence, the country has at times chosen to go in the opposite direction of those who would keep us divided and keep us from moving forward. But this age, which began with "so called conservatism,"* has not "pro"gressed, but "re"gressed to the point where the wealthy and large business interests have come to dominate; never satisfied to make millions, but rather to pile millions upon millions, upon millions, upon billions, with many showing not the slightest concern for their fellow, far less well off, citizens, and by demanding tax cuts and taxpayer money as an "entitlement" for their being rich and powerful. Whether this "era of nonsense, sold as sense," is coming to an end remains to be seen, as the ruthless interests still have many cards up their sleeves, cards with lots of $$$ signs, and they won't hesitate for one moment to play those cards.

For those who have seen "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and may have forgotten the gist of the picture, and for those who've never seen the film, Capra put together a story of a young idealistic average citizen, "Jeff Smith," who is tapped to replace a senator who has just died. The young man, played by James "Jimmy" Stewart, is so overwhelmed by his choice to serve his country and to help others, he is unaware of really WHY he was chosen. A wealthy and powerful businessman in his state, played by Edward Arnold, has gotten a seemingly benign clause about a land deal inserted into an important relief bill before the Senate. The land will prove to bring in a bundle for the greedy businessman, and the feeling is, Smith will never notice what is going on. The actual bill is important to the nation, with the potential to provide help to millions of Americans (this was in the Depression era), but so much for patriotism, money is the ONLY important thing to the ruthless businessman and his bought and paid for cronies. Claude Rains plays the state's senior senator, a well respected and progressive man, but who has come under the thumb of the ruthless businessman. The new Senator Smith takes the floor to offer his first bill for a boys' camp. Little does he know, the proposed camp is right smack dab on the land included in the businessman's deal. The reaction is swift and ruthless, as the businessman and his cronies try to stymie the young senator, who finds out just what has been going on. Efforts to discredit the senator and to make him a laughing stock appear to work, until the young man, abandoned by much of the Senate, but supported by his aide, played by Jean Arthur (whom he loves), decides to take to the floor himself in an effort to get the attention of his home state and of the nation. He holds the floor for hours and some senators start to wonder whether such a determined man would stage such a grueling effort without having some truth to his claims.

Little does the young senator know, in his home state, the ruthless businessman has closed off contact with Washington and has gotten the newspapers and radio stations he owns (and those under his thumb) to condemn the young senator. A youth organization tries to spread the truth to help Senator Smith by delivering leaflets to the people, but the businessman's thugs overturn their wagons and bicycles and destroy the leaflets, injuring some of the kids. Further, the businessman has his cronies send thousands of telegrams to the Capitol Building telling the senator to stop and let the bill be passed by the Senate. The young man becomes despondent, but then bounces back and lectures the other senator from his state on how he once had been an idealist who fought for what was good for America, not what was good for wealthy interests. Totally worn out, the young senator collapses. The senior senator rushes to the back offices and tries to shoot himself, but is stopped by others. He dashes to the floor of the Senate screaming that the young senator has been telling the truth and that he himself has been corrupt as Senator Smith had said all along. In the end, he takes responsibility in an effort to correct a terrible wrong.

My question is, which Republicans nowadays will now stand up and admit to their terrible mistakes of letting a bunch of nutcases and fascists take over a segment of their party? Just like with the wealthy, ruthless businessman in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," once you let these kinds of people in and they get a foothold, getting them out is painful and dangerous. You may lose some elections if you root out these nutcases and fascists, but it may make you stronger in the future. I'm not saying you should totally agree with Democrats, hell, Democrats don't always agree with one another, and we need competing ideas, but this nonsense of opposing just about EVERYTHING just to oppose, or often to help wealthy interests, it's not acceptable and I believe many Republicans see this too, but they may be afraid to speak out, as the roughneck thugs you have let in to your party are a threat to them, but also to the nation. Capra's movie was about American patriotism and ideals. Not patriotism manufactured to keep a political ideology in power, but a patriotism that came with the founding of this nation, one of inclusion, not exclusion, although we've struggled with that idea from the very beginning, but no one can say we haven't tried to right many a wrong, a struggle we continue with to this very day. Republicans were once the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, and in Capra's film, the young senator goes to the Lincoln Memorial to renew and steady his belief in the ideals of America. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt had ideals that were based upon the patriotism that came with the founding of this country. It's time Republicans once again found that same patriotism. Stand up and be counted!   

* I say "so called conservatism," because any philosophy which renounces deficits and deficit spending, only to use "deficits and deficit spending" as policy, is anything but conservative. No, this was the beginning of an outright "reactionary" period, using "liberal" economic policies, combined with an ever increasing appeal to patriotism, to remain in power, and all the while sapping the strength of the nation's middle class and poor in a gigantic transfer of wealth to already wealthy interests.
   
WORD HISTORY:
Responsible-The ancient origins of this compound word are uncertain, so I am going to go backward in this history. English borrowed the word from French "responsible" in the latter part of the 1500s, which had been derived from Latin "responsus," the participle form of "respondere," which meant "to respond, to answer to." This came from the Latin prefix "re," a common form in Latin derived words, usually with some context of "go back, return, repeat," but why Latin, an Italic language, has this prefix is unclear. The second part is from Latin "spondere," which was derived from Latin "spondeo," which meant "to promise or to pledge, to assume responsibility for." The trail after this is more than a little murky.