![]() ![]() Our usual “Re-thinking the Oscars” rules apply: I will run back the eight award categories where our film of the week was nominated when deciding what film or individual should have one, I will only consider what was nominated. The year’s other high profile film on the themes of war, Yankee Doodle Dandy, was the only other film to win multiple awards, cashing in on three of its 8 nominations. Air Force where he produced two wartime documentaries. Famously, after production of the film, Wyler served in the U.S. Miniver led the way with 12 nominations, winning on 6 including Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. That idea was definitely fortified by the films represented at the 15th Academy Awards, held on March 4, 1943. With Europe fully in the throes of World War II, film studios and artists were all contemplating the effects of war on the everyday citizen-after the Pearl Harbor attacks and the United States’ entry in the war, this only intensified, leading to an all-time level of patriotic fervor at home. It was a term for dressing so fancy that a person looked silly.If my recent viewing of fantastic Netflix documentary series Five Came Back taught me anything, it was that in 1942-43, Hollywood had war on its mind. ![]() * This “macaroni” does not refer to a pasta noodle. And in the case of “Yankee Doodle,” a song now sung as a happy ditty was at one time a song of mockery, and then a song of war. Today, it is the first verse of the song that every American knows: Yankee Doodle went to townĪs you can see, the history of a song can be long, crooked, and crazy. Interestingly, one of the most familiar verses did not appear until 1842. A verse about George Washington, for example, was tacked on after he took command of the Continental Army in June 1775. Over time, new verses of “Yankee Doodle” were added, changed, moved, and removed. The United States of America was now its own, independent country. The Treaty of Paris, officially ending the war, was signed two years later. Some witnesses reported that “Yankee Doodle” accompanied that British surrender, too. American troops and the French navy bottled up and blasted a big chunk of the British army there. The last major battle of the Revolutionary War took place near Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. “Yankee Doodle” soon took hold as an unofficial anthem for what became the American Continental Army. It was as if the Americans were singing, “How do you like us Yankee doodles and dandies, now?” The American Revolution had begun. They sang “Yankee Doodle” as British soldiers retreated. Legend has it the colonial militiamen returned the musical insult as they counterattacked. Eventually, more British troops arrived from Boston to rescue the survivors. Others, angered by American tactics, broke into houses and set them on fire. They hid behind trees and rock walls, picking off soldier after soldier. Colonial militiamen swarmed to the attack, taking up positions along the route. Now the British army had to march back to the safety of Boston. British forces then continued on toward Concord and destroyed what weapons they found. A gun went off, British muskets opened fire, and in an instant eight Americans were dead or dying. In the small town of Lexington, the British soldiers confronted a line of Minutemen on the village green. Reports say that British fifers and drummers teased the colonists by playing “Yankee Doodle” as their columns snaked along rural roads. ![]() Their officers and well-trained troops felt little fear of the Minutemen-colonial farmers and townsfolk who volunteered as soldiers. Two colonial spies, Paul Revere and William Dawes, rode out to spread the alarm that the British “regulars” were on the way.Īt the time, Great Britain fielded the most powerful army and navy in the world. The British mission was to snatch weapons and ammunition they believed the Americans had stashed in the countryside. In the early morning of April 19, some 700 British soldiers in bright red uniforms marched out of Boston. Colonial leaders like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock began to talk about rebellion. British leaders thought it only fair the Americans pay their share of war expenses. Many Americans were muttering about forking over extra taxes to help pay for British wars, including the French and Indian War. At the time, the colonies-stretching from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south-belonged to Great Britain.Īs you probably know from movies or maybe even social studies class, by 1770 the government of Great Britain’s King George III and some American colonists were not getting along very well. Americans called the conflict the French and Indian War. From 1754–1763, British troops and American colonists fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the French and their Indian allies. ![]()
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