[This is chock full of current events of the time. "Broadway Melody" was a review-type stage show comprised of bits and pieces of the popular shows of the day. There is a Little Rascals episode where they do a "Broadway Melody" show.]
The moment of impact bursts through the silence and in a roar of sound, the final second is prolonged in a world of echoes as if the concrete and clay of Broadway itself was reliving its memories. The last great march past. Newsman stands limp as a whimper as audience and event are locked as one. Bing Crosby coos "You don't have to feel pain to sing the blues, you don't have to holla -- you don't feel a thing in your dollar collar." Martin Luther King cries "Everybody Sing!" and rings the grand old liberty bell. Leary, weary of his prison cell, walks on heaven, talks on hell. J.F.K. gives the O.K. to shoot us, sipping Orange Julius and Lemon Brutus. Bare breasted cowboy double decks the triple champion. Who needs Medicare and the 35c flat rate fare, when Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are dancing through the air? From Broadway Melody stereotypes the band returns to 'Stars and Stripes' bringing a tear to the moonshiner, who's been pouring out his spirit from the illegal still. The pawn broker clears the noisy till and clutches his lucky dollar bill.
[Rael is overwhelmed by the confusion and disorder of the sensory input he is perceiving. He has now been sucked into the movie! Images begin to take shape out of the soup in a
stream of conscious- ness style. Take time, an integral part of the "real" world Rael has left, and throw it out the window. The next second in the "real" New York may encompass the entire journey Rael is about to take. Human dreams have been found to take only a few seconds each, though we remember them as happening in real-time. Many times they seem just as real as when we are awake. Is Rael awake, or still asleep in his bed the night before? Is he dead, or is everyone else dead? Both? Neither?]
Echoes of the Broadway Everglades,
With her mythical madonnas still walking in their shades:
Lenny Bruce, declares a truce and plays his other hand.
[Lenny Bruce (1952-66) He was a comedian, and a cultural icon of the 60's. His satirical, "black" humor destroyed the accepted boundaries of good taste of the day. He was one of the first to use extreme profanity in his act. In 1961 he was put in jail for obscenity; in 1963, the year following an initial show at the Establishment Club in London, he wasn't allowed to return to Britain for another show. In May of 1963 he was convicted of drug possession. He died in '66 and most think it was caused by his drug use. He was acquitted of the obscenity charges after his death. His lasting significance is that he was among the first comedians whose purpose was to disturb instead of simply amuse through his unique insights and observations about the violence of his time.]
Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand.
[McLuhan (1911-80) was a Canadian sociologist, writer, and critic of the media and popular culture. He is best known for his idea that "the medium is the massage" (sic). He also liked to describe different media as "hot" (such as a book, which requires more mental involvement) and "cold" (such as TV). He wrote several books along these lines and he was both widely acclaimed as a genius and totally discounted as an intellectual dud depending on whom you read about him. A paraphrase of his theory: McLuhan postulates that society is most greatly affected by its fastest mode of communication. He believes that societies are governed by the most dominant media, and separates history into ages like: messenger age, script age, print age, radio age, television age. A cartoon from a 1966 issue of the New Yorker said this: "You see, Dad, Professor McLuhan says the environment that man creates becomes his medium for defining his role in it. The invention of type created linear, or sequential, thought, separating thought from action. Now, with TV and folk singing, thought and action are closer and social involvement is greater. We again live in a village. Get it?" McLuhan also suggested that everything is going through a process of speeding up. This shapes the society, and produces a sped-up culture.]
Sirens on the rooftops wailing, but there's no ship sailing.
[Reference to Homer's Oddysey and the Sirens who seduced men to crash ships on their rocks, possibly that no ships are sailing anymore to be snared in the trap]
Groucho, with his movies trailing,
stands alone with his punchline failing.
Klu Klux Klan serve hot soul food
and the band plays 'In the Mood'
[Interestingly enough, one Paperlater questioned the meaning and significance of the Klu Klux Klan serving hot soul food. Soul food is essentially food ethnically associated with southern black families. "In the Mood" was written in 1938 and recorded by a lesser known big band, but it was indeed the Glen Miller Orchestra in 1940 who took it to #1 and made it a classic. It opens with a classic sax riff (that you can also hear in the Beatles' "All you Need is Love")]
The cheerleader waves her cyanide wand, there's a smell of peach blossom and bitter almonde.
Caryl Chessman sniffs the air and leads the parade,
he know in a scent, you can bottle all you made.
[Caryl Chessman (1922-60) was an American convict-author who was con- victed on 17 charges of kidnapping, robbery and rape. He was granted 8 stays of execution by the governor of California and therefore spent the longest period on record on death row: 12 years. He carried out a brilliant legal battle from prison, learned 4 languages and wrote sev- eral best selling books during this time. He was eventually executed and the publicity generated worldwide criticism of the American judic- ial system. He was one of the first people to die in a gas chamber. The smell of peach blossom and bitter almond is the characteristic one for cyanide gas. The phrase "in a scent" might be a play on words also meaning "innocent." If this were the case "innocent, you can bottle all you made" would then mean that if Caryl were to successful- ly prove his innocence, he could bottle up, or put behind him, his previous actions and go free.]
There's Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston Cigarettes.
[Howard Hughes (1905-76): Quoting the Cambridge Biographical Diction- ary, "American millionaire businessman, film producer and director, and aviator, born in Houston, Texas." That gives you an idea of how diverse this man was. He had an air of eccentricity and mysticism about him that fascinated people. In brief, he directed Hell's Angels (1930) and Scarface (1932). He left Hollywood and was a pilot for awhile, but he was interested in designing aircraft. He broke most of the existing world's air speed records between 1935 and 1938; he was awarded a Congressional medal; he made another movie (The Outlaw); he spent much time and money designing and building a gigantic wooden seaplane, The Spruce Goose, which flew only once but is famous in aviation history as the largest prop driven airplane ever made. He crashed in 1946 and became a recluse, living in complete seclusion and running his vast financial empire from sealed hotel rooms. In 1971 an "authorized" biography was released but it turned out to be a fake (remember Clifford Irving? He wrote it and it was a gigantic media story). The mystery about Hughes and the fascination with him contin- ued until he died in '76. Also, he was a noted hypochondriac and a fanatic about the purity of the air he was breathing, all worried about the germs he was inhaling, etc.]
And as the song and dance begins, the children play at home with needles; needles and pins.
[Needles and Pins was written by Jack Nietsche and Sonny Bono and first recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1963. It was made famous the following year by the British group the Searchers.]
Then the blackout.
