America is a weird place. In America it’s one generation from liberals like Henry Fonda joining up to serve the country in war–like everyone else, at one\u00a0in heart & mind with\u00a0their conservative\u00a0friends, like Jimmy Stewart–to liberals like Jane Fonda running off to Vietnam to help out some of the most atrocious murderers available at the time with the hot blonde part of PR. The old man did not chastise his daughter publicly, so you can see how great the change was & I’m sure you all have thoughts on what’s happened–I’d like to talk about it, but it does not entirely seem proper right now. Maybe this weekend?<\/p>\n
At any rate, I would not presume to speak to you about 9\/11. I take it seriously, but it is not my business, being a foreigner. I make it my business sometimes to talk to other foreigners about it. I only write today because I ran into a heartening video<\/a> post by Mr. Chris Pratt. I know others have tried before to tell Ricochet, he’s one of us!, a good, decent man who is not a liberal!<\/em> Here’s another piece of evidence. There is a hashtag to go with it: #thankaveteran. It seems the right thing to do. He shares briefly the story of Navy SEAL Mike Day, whose story might be common among the damned few, but is shocking for the rest of mankind, & pledges & asks for donations for the damned few.<\/p>\n It has set me thinking both about the changes in what makes an actor popular today & what contributions actors can make. In WWII, about a dozen million people served America in uniform.<\/p>\n In WWII, about a dozen million people served America in uniform. Many actors signed up, as well as directors, including men who were not young. In his first biography, Reagan talks about how he had to cheat on the eye tests to get into the cavalry & how things came to a crisis in his lieutenant test–cavalry exercise in the rain, & his poor eyes were about to cost him dearly, but he was providently preserved. Instead, he went & made movies for the army, to prepare bombing missions. He writes seriously, but modestly about his service & is pleased to report that fliers found the work he coordinated useful.<\/p>\n Others, most famously John Wayne, did not go off to war. I’m young enough to have learned filmographies on imdb–one always sees the 1941-5 gap with actors & some directors–not with John Wayne. For reasons I do not know–take it up with Mr. McVey, between the two of us, we know everything about movies…–he did not sign up & instead made another fortune in Hollywood. But at the end of the war, one of the directors who did serve, John Ford, hired him for a war movie–They were expendable<\/em> (PT boat crews in the Philippines try to do something to keep the Japanese Imperial Navy at bay). The credits famously list everyone’s rank, from the director on down–one of them, however, is a civilian. Before the credits roll, the movie ends \u00a0with Gen. MacArthur’s famous phrase, We shall return!<\/em>\u00a0as the chorus to the Battle hymn of the republic\u00a0<\/em>is sung.<\/p>\n