July 6, 2020 – 1776 – The Movie
Fourth
of July weekend and TCM always delivers with patriotic movies.
If
you haven’t seen the movie 1776 – which is a musical and comedy, it is worth
the watch. Yes, Yes, they stretch and
bend history to make it amusing, and some of the history is transferred or
lost, but the gist of it is amusing, to a simple Patriot like me.
Every
year I try to watch it on TCM and it is a fun watch for no other reason than to
see the clever lines made up out of scant historical references. Each year I
seem to catch more of them.
I am
not a history major, so the insults to the history I let slip by in order to catch
the subtle humor, especially of Congress doing nothing for a year.
Some
of the actual script:
For one solid year they have been
sitting here. A whole year! Doing nothing! – does that seem
familiar to how our Congress is working these days?
I say this
with humility in Philadelphia
We’re your
responsibility in Philadelphia
If you don’t
want to see us hanging from some far off British hill
If you don’t
want the voice of independence forever stilled
Then God,
Sir, get thee to it
For Congress
never will, you see, we piddle, twiddle, and resolve
Not one damn
thing do we solve
Piddle,
twiddle and resolve
Nothing’s
ever solved . . .
Has
anything changed since 1776? Or, since
this movie was produced in 1972? Not much.
That
is one reason I watch it, it makes me laugh. So much has changed, yet things
are the same.
The
second reason is for the costumes. I
love the men’s vests, breeches, and the lace cuffs on the shirts on the
Southern gentlemen. The women’s dresses with the square neckline with lace at
the elbows, and tight at the waist bellowing out in full skirts.
Back
in 1976, I handmade a proper 1776 dress for my grandmother who would be riding on the Grange float in several parades and she enlisted my help.
We
picked out a rich blue calico [to compliment her eyes] for the dress and embroidered
white cotton for the contrasting bodice. I used the 1776 pattern, which is pictured below:
I
had to adjust the dress – smaller shoulders, and smaller waist, yet a larger bosom
and uneven hips. Several fittings later,
it fit her like a glove, and the hem – Oh, Gosh, Grandma Nixon was short, so
the pattern was way too long for her and the hem was somewhere between 6 and 8
inches too long and uneven due to her hips.
I
can still picture her on the gold leatherette ottoman I helped her onto and me
scooting around on my knees below her with pins between my lips folding up the yards
of skirt to make an even hem and pinning it. She was just a fidgeting, seemed
to take forever.
I
wonder if I even have a picture of her in that dress. I really don’t need one, that
dress is permanently etched in my memory, as I worked on it, a labor of love
for several weeks. Grandma was adorable in it, and the envy of the Grange
ladies.
So,
if you are schmuck, like I am for Patriotic movies – it is worth the watch,
especially in the current climate about “Slavery” – which is debated in the
movie. Just check out the song “Molasses
to Rum to Slaves” – it is spot on – even now.
I
will say goodbye now to you movie fans until next year, when I will discuss the
movie: The Scarlet Coat – another Fourth of July weekend movie I love. If you can’t wait, I am sure you can snag it
from TCM.
Notes on The Movie - 1776
1776 – Molasses to Rum – great voice!
Script by Peter Stone can be reviewed at:
No comments:
Post a Comment