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("will pick fruit, trim trees, clean toilets - all the jobs you wouldn't be caught dead doing")

Ever since we actually became a country we've been tackling the issue of what to do about the unannounced, the undocumented, the illegal. That group of people which, in lieu of the Red Scare (now that it's gone) has given whole other groups of people something new to attach fear and hysteria (and a goodly amount of hate) to - illegal aliens and the immigration issue.

In retrospect the issue flairs up every few years, usually in the context of bad economic times. The desire to lay blame usually goes to the easiest targets; people you know nothing about and yet (we're led to believe) are seemingly everywhere. Just like Communists in the 1950s.

It was the same in 1988, when this documentary first aired (January 10, 1988). CBS Radio ran an installment of their Newsmark series on the then-burning issue of illegal aliens in the U.S.

John Blackstone (CBS News): “Whether we see them or not, these undocumented workers are part of this society, but for most of us their lives remain a mystery. According to Government figures, undocumented workers contribute $23 billion a year to the U.S. economy. And while some blame illegal aliens for American unemployment, the General Accounting Office report released in 1984 says undocumented workers do not take jobs from American citizens. To most Americans, the illegal immigrant is more a statistic than a real face.”

Twenty-two years later, the fingers of blame are pretty much pointing in the same direction with hate and fear achieving the same results.

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(British Elections in 1950 - campaigning the old fashioned way)

Even though the elections in Britain wouldn't take place until the 23rd of February, interest in the turnout was eagerly watched in the States. So CBS Radio ran a special program The People Speak on February 2, 1950 to discuss the upcoming election and the issues. Since it was an off-year election here, and since the issue of Universal Health Care was a hot topic around Americans homes, the continuance of the Universal Health Care was closely watched over here.

Elmo Roper (CBS News): “Perhaps the most controversial issue of all is also the most popular measure of all. That is the National Health Scheme under which the people of Britain are assured medical assistance from their government. Almost a third of the British people cite this as the Labour Party’s outstanding achievement in its past five years in office”.

The Labour Party under Clement Attlee stayed in power, narrowly defeating Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party. But it was short lived as another election was called a little over a year later and the Conservative Party led by Winston Churchill regained the majority in Parliament.

Universal Health Care guaranteed for everyone in Britain didn't change one iota.

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(Prime Minister Nuri As-Said of Iraq in 1958 - perceived as a good guy but perceptions went askew)

At the risk of overdosing on Year-end Reviews, I thought I would toss one last one in before putting to bed until next year. This one comes via the CBS Radio program "Years Of Crisis" - in 1958 they were celebrating 10 years on the air and, in addition to looking back at the news events of 1958, also looked back at the significant news events of the previous ten years. A fascinating look at how history has changed very little in the fifty-two years since. Also interesting is the assessment of Iraq, having gone through a revolt in 1958.

Edward R. Murrow: “Winston Burdett, what was the most important development in the Middle East?”

Winston Burdett (CBS News): “It was the revolution in Iraq. Only six months ago we were all still thinking of Iraq as an island of stability in a stormy area. It was tied to the west by the Baghdad Pact. It was enjoying the benefits of more than two hundred million dollars a year in oil revenues. And it was carrying out the biggest building program in roads, schools and dams since the Mongol invasions. Iraq had a likeable young King and a Prime Minister, Nuri as-Said who for sheer ability was the grand champion of all Middle East politicians. And through him the country went through the motions of parliamentary democracy. All of this: Parliament, Prime Minster, King and dynasty was swept away in a one day revolution. Obviously, we had been wrong about Iraq. Their stability had been an optical illusion. We had forgotten that her old regime was widely unpopular, her democracy a sham, her elections rigged, her press gagged, and her newly educated classes excluding from leadership. Above all, the Baghdad Pact itself was detested.

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(A Christmas Sing With Bing - 1958. Guilty pleasure)

For those of you (and I guess there are a lot) who despise Christmas, this particular post ain't for you.

But since this is a blog dealing with aspects of our popular culture, present and past, you can't really let the season go without a nod to what was, for a very long time, an American Institution - Bing Crosby.

Every Christmas eve, like clockwork, CBS radio would blare out their annual "Christmas Sing With Bing" all throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s, when TV took over with their Christmas extravaganzas and radio was promptly abandoned.

This Christmas Sing With Bing from 1958 was typical of the tradition with a heavy emphasis on the religious aspect of Christmas, not so much the consumer part. There is also a nod to the events of the past year, with a piece on the Nautilus and our newest state Alaska. The first "Sing With Bing" in 1955 was issued on lp by Decca (now Universal), and became a staple of their Christmas catalogue well into the CD era.

Crosby died in 1977 and with him went this tradition. He's pretty much relegated now to annual marathons of "White Christmas" and "Holiday Inn", but I thought you might enjoy a one hour dose of what the season used to be like fifty years ago. If you've never heard this before, I'd be curious to know your impressions. To you it may seem odd and quaint, a relic of a distant past. It was part of my culture of growing up and sometimes those impressions can be muddled. I took it for granted and never thought it would be any different.

We live in such interesting times. But nonetheless, it's Christmas Eve and we're almost at the close of another decade. And as with everything in life, it constantly changes and never remains the same.

Enjoy the holidays and thanks for all your support this first year of Newstalgia.

Oh yeah . . .and that too . .(click on the donate button if you can)

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(Jack Benny - along with Bing Crosby, American Institutions)

My guess is, you're probably looking for some relief from the family traditions right about now. Christmas is something of a minefield with a lot of people and no doubt you're looking for some escape.

In keeping with the concept of Guilty Pleasures, I thought I would post a Jack Benny radio program from Christmas 1953. As a rule, I'm not a fan of "old time radio" - I'm really not. But there are two radio comedians I am a complete fan of; Jack Benny and Fred Allen. Maybe for New Years I'll dig up a Fred Allen show, if you've never heard him before.

I am assuming most people reading this blog will know who Jack Benny is. If not, I've directed you to the Wikipedia page above so you can get some background. Also be aware that Benny, around this time was doing a completely different radio show than he was TV - so if you wonder why there is no video, there isn't any - it was radio only.

In any case, here is a Christmas show, typical of the Benny style of humor. It's also complete and a CBS Radio master, which means it has the original Lucky Strike Cigarette commercials intact. So, those of you in high-voltage anti-cigarette mode may want to skip this one - or at least you can fast forward if they offend you. Fair enough?

Enjoy.

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(They were just as suspicious of us)

For all the saber rattling and threats and accusations during the Cold War period, there were times, especially in the late 1950s, where signs of thaw in relations were starting to become noticed.

One was the great cultural exchange that went on between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. We got the Bolshoi Ballet and they got Louis Armstrong. Our pianist (Van Cliburn) won the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. Soviet cinema was being seen on a regular basis in art house movie theaters around the country.

And so the barriers started to come down, a little bit - but not for long. In December of 1957, CBS Radio, in what was hailed as a milestone, not only in broadcasting, but in East-West communications, hosted a program from their Radio Beat series. The program dealt with Education and the perceptions both the Russians and the Americans had towards each other.

Dwight Cook (CBS News): “We believe in the broadcast that you’re about to hear, that one of the rare firsts of this year, is coming about. Because for the first time, as far as we know, in the history of radio you’re going to hear an actual, unrehearsed discussion between a group of educators sitting in a studio in Moscow Russia and another group of educators sitting around a table with me here in CBS New York. Our discussion is going to be on the purpose of Education.”

All very polite and non-confrontational - no dissidents commandeering the microphone shouting about Gulags. Three leading educators from the U.S. sitting around asking questions of three leading educators from the Soviet Union - and vice versa. What it did was establish the idea that neither of the two super powers really knew anything about each other.

It was short lived however. When the U2 Spyplane scandal surfaced in 1960, what little thaw there had been froze solid and stayed that way for a very long time before resuming.

But in the late 1950s there was that window of opportunity.

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(Clifford Brown - one of the brightest lights in Jazz, gone all too soon)

Something special tonight. A live broadcast from CBS Radio on May 6, 1956 featuring The Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet and The Errol Garner Trio performing at The Basin Street in New York.

As I mentioned several months ago in a previous post, the 1940s and 1950s were a heyday for live broadcasting of Jazz throughout the U.S. Almost every night and on almost all the networks, some club or some concert was being broadcast from just about every section of the country.

It's certainly a lost art now. And just to show how significant these live broadcasts were, this particular broadcast was one of the last Clifford Brown did before his untimely death on June 26th of that year, quite possibly the last. I don't know if this has been reissued or has made the collectors circles - that is certainly something Clifford Brown fans will know about.

At any rate - enjoy the moments, around thirty of them.

And don't forget . . .

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(The Perceived World Of Leisure - 1958 - it looked good on paper)

From the CBS Radio Documentary series "The Hidden Revolution", broadcast from April 1958 narrated by Edward R. Murrow. The subject was The Twenty Hour Work Week, and how life in 1958 was adjusting to it (which, of course it never really did - then as now, leisure time was a foreign concept). But at the time, all things were possible.

Edward R. Murrow: “Americans living in 1958 face an era in which all of the problems of the good life, including the uses of leisure time can be, indeed must be, assessed as one of the most important parts of the Hidden Revolution. In the next thirty minutes, we intend to explore the possibilities inherent in a situation where most men and women may find themselves working in what our fathers would have thought of as paradise; a time, a place where an individual works a twenty hour week.”

Well . . .it sounded good. But reality was a different thing entirely.

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(L.A. in 1954 - The convertible and the gas mask seemed at odds)

Listening to a radio documentary produced in 1954 about air pollution in Los Angeles seems a bit quaint and a little strange. For one thing, until 1954 it was okay to burn your trash, since there was no trash pickup available - so every house and every apartment building had its own incinerator which pumped out clouds of smoke in every neighborhood (I grew up in L.A. and can vouch for the smell of burning trash every night). And another, with the migration of people from the east and midwest pouring into Los Angeles, you had a huge influx of cars - not the little ones we have today, but vast traveling monoliths of chrome and steel that gulped gas and belched fumes and leaked oil everywhere. Ah, the good old days . . .

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(In 1961, one of the culprits looked like this)

The eternal trade deficit. Buying imports, manufacturing and outsourcing overseas, imports flooding the market, cheap labor, regulations, de-regulation, unions.

In 1961 it was the beginnings of The Common Market. In 2009 it's the European Union. Either one, it's been with us for longer than anyone cares to remember.

And in November 1961, CBS Radio tried to tackle the issue on their Sunday talk program Leading Question.

Guests were Oscar Strackbein and Charles P. Taft, who didn't agree on very much. Even the number of unemployed there were.

Oscar Strackbein: “Let me point out that the problem is not merely that of how many people lose their jobs because of import competition, it is also a question of who is not being employed because of imports. We have over a million new workers coming on the labor market every year. Not to mention a degree of unemployment that is constantly rising after each recession. After we’ve come out of each recession the last ten years we have been left at the peak of prosperity with a higher number of unemployed than before. So today we have what . . five and a half million unemployed . . “

Charles P. Taft: “Four million the last time.”

Strackbein: “Now, I say.”

Taft: “I’m talking about the last figures. Day before yesterday – four million”.

Strackbein: “All right. Then we have made some headway.”

2009 things seem no different . . except the numbers.

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(Teenage gang members of the 1950s - West Side Story for real)

One of the upshots of the leaps in technology of the 1950s was the tape recorder - yes, that strange contraption with reels, part of that substrata lovingly referred to as "analogue".

When tape recording became popular, especially in broadcasting, it created a whole new generation of gathering news and documentary material that wasn't available before. Because it was portable (and reasonably light-weight), it was now possible to get up close and personal with the subjects you were trying to shed light on - take things to the streets, as it were.

And because of that, a whole series of documentaries started cramming the airwaves, covering everything from Atomic Bomb tests to Cow milking.

One series of documentaries, produced by a special department of CBS Radio News was called Unit One. Several weeks ago I ran another Unit One Documentary called "38th Parallel U.S.A.".

This Documentary, aired on April 21, 1958 and narrated by Edward R. Murrow, focuses on the rise in juvenile delinquency in New York City. "Who Killed Michael Farmer?" looked at the problem of teenage gangs in the 1950's through the eyes of the gang members and the court system.

Gang member: “It was ten-thirty when we entered the park. We saw couples on the benches in the back of the pool and they all stared at us. I guess they musta saw the gang there, I don’t think they were fifty or sixty feet away. When we reached the front of the stairs we looked up and there was two other gang members on top of the stairs. There were two smaller ones, and they had Garrison belts wrapped around their hands. They didn’t say nothin’ to us, they looked kinda scared.”

Gang member #2: “I was scared. I knew they were gonna jump them and everything but I was scared. When they were comin’ up, they were all separated and everything like that”.

Gang Member: “I saw the main body of the gang slowly walk out of the bushes, on my right. I turned around fast, to see what Michael was gonna do and this kid come runnin at me with a belt. Then I ran myself and I told Michael to run.”

Interesting material that wasn't covered this way before. Remember, we're looking at a slice of society from 51 years ago that was, for the most part, ignored by the mainstream press. In 1958 they started pointing a microscope at it. In many ways, it helped change the perception of our society.