The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood?and America?Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Author:
Genres: Arts & Photography, History, Humor & Entertainment, Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Arts & Photography, History, Humor & Entertainment, Politics & Social Sciences
Book Type: Hardcover
How the hell did we ever make it out of the twentieth century?
This curious book tells the dual story of the atomic bomb, in admittedly abbreviated fashion, juxtaposed with the account of a motion picture production recounting its deployment, and all the fateful vicissitudes involved in bringing a project of that magnitude to fruition. In short: when something of this magnitude emerged, (nearly) everyone and their brother wanted in on the action.
The title of this book, taken from the film, was inspired by a statement made by Truman himself: when meeting with film executives, he reportedly stated, "make your film, gentlemen, and tell the world that in handling the atomic bomb we are either at the beginning or the end," to which the movie executive replied, Sam Marx, "Mr. President, you have just chosen the title of our film."
Most readers will be at least somewhat acquainted with the controversy which ensued over the use of a weapon of this type, one with which, at least when entertainment denizens were bantering about the project, the public was little familiar, and, of those who were, few grasped the full weight of the implications of its development. The scientists, however, were among those who did understand what had just occurred, and many, their role in ushering in a new reality for a world just emerging from one of the most devastating conflicts in history. One even reportedly stated, "this bomb fulfills the third prophesy of the Old Testament... I hope your motion picture can work to avert such suicide. You had better hurry."
Nor were the religious implications, also reflected in the music of the day (check out the series "Atomic Platters"), lost on those involved with its development, if not necessarily its deployment. The book recounts the episode involving a Senator from Connecticut Brien McMahon, who had been informed that Archbishop Francis Spellman who had learned of the Manhattan Project from Roosevelt himself also flew to Tinian Island to bless the bomber crews after the destruction of Hiroshima. He reportedly stated to McMahon that his church opposed the use of a weapon essentially designed to kill innocent civilians, but in a time of war, any weapon that could end the war should be employed to bring a quick end to it. Clearly, the development of such a weapon, was going to cause some controversy.
But how to bring this new technology and the issues it raised to the uneducated masses... and sway public opinion about its use? The scientists seemingly embraced the motion picture project, at least at the outset, acknowledging that movies rather than books and newspapers were fast becoming the primary tool of mass communication (shortly to be supplanted by "television," which entered popular usage in the 1950s). The military was less than enthusiastic, concerned with national security to a greater degree than some other interests, but had to at least acquiesce when the project seemingly earned the approval of newly-installed President Truman.
Some of the book's more profound statements reflect a presciently accurate assessment of modern times, and how quickly mentalities changed. Barron reportedly stated: "it is our belief that only for solid entertainment does the world sit in theaters and listen. They go to school for education and to churches for sermons. We want them to come into theaters and be entertained." But sermons and "education," or re-education, tailored specifically to sway public opinion in wolf-in-sheep's-clothing garb wrapped as entertainment, would shortly become the norm. Films could become quite political, indeed, and leaders capitalized on their potential in short order. Barron's mentality would very shortly fade into history when both movie executives and politicians realized the full potential of the "entertainment" industry to communicate messages to the masses disguised as something else. The 1940s were still a time of great naivety in this regard, but that didn't last long.
To that end: the stories of how some movies get made (or not) are worthy of movies themselves. Projects of this magnitude, scale, and, in some cases, importance, just seem to take on a life of their own, especially when powerful entities attempt to showcase their aims and not infrequently, political aspirations, writ large on the silver screen. This is the story of an ambitious project which ultimately pitted competing interests against each other, which were simply a continuation of what had occurred with the bomb's development itself. That said, it finally ended up as something with promise unfulfilled. One of the major impediments was the efforts of filmmakers to get as many authentic characters involved as possible: Groves, Oppenheimer and some of the other scientists as technical advisers, and even the wife of Tibbets, the airman who piloted the Enola Gay to deliver its payload over the densely populated city of Hiroshima... but how many cooks does it actually take to spoil the broth? The answer? This many.
And then there were the Tinseltown types: this ambitious project, which started out with great promise, just kind of fizzled, ultimately becoming something that just really didn't work. It was a purely Hollywood production: the best example is the statement of one of the players, that in order to be successful, even a movie about the dropping of an atomic bomb and the incineration of hundreds of thousands of human beings wasn't spared from trope, specifically that "everybody knows you have to have sex in there somewhere," so the writers had to concoct some love story element to a story about ... dropping the atomic bomb and the possibility of the destruction of civilization ... ? Yep, it's in there: one even quipped on the difficulty in trying "to figure out a formula for mixing uranium and plutonium with stardust and moonlight." Oy vey.
The book itself is something of an odd mixture of elements. It attempts to combine the stories of the development of the bomb, the major characters involved, and the odd bedfellows involved in this motion picture project, ranging from some of the bomb designers to Hollywood icons to Ayn Rand. It's informative, but rather disjointed, and is somewhat dry at times. The jumping from topic to topic, even within the same chapter, often disrupts the flow. A chronological organization might have been more effective; it would allow readers to know who the players were, what role they had played in the development of the bomb and its deployment, and ultimately, their involvement on the movie project.
With the advent of a technology which would end civilization, if not just yet wipe out all life on earth, the world had become a much smaller place, seemingly overnight. Delphic, indeed. Whether we like to admit it or not, we live in the future World The Bomb Made, to a much greater degree than most are presently aware.
This curious book tells the dual story of the atomic bomb, in admittedly abbreviated fashion, juxtaposed with the account of a motion picture production recounting its deployment, and all the fateful vicissitudes involved in bringing a project of that magnitude to fruition. In short: when something of this magnitude emerged, (nearly) everyone and their brother wanted in on the action.
The title of this book, taken from the film, was inspired by a statement made by Truman himself: when meeting with film executives, he reportedly stated, "make your film, gentlemen, and tell the world that in handling the atomic bomb we are either at the beginning or the end," to which the movie executive replied, Sam Marx, "Mr. President, you have just chosen the title of our film."
Most readers will be at least somewhat acquainted with the controversy which ensued over the use of a weapon of this type, one with which, at least when entertainment denizens were bantering about the project, the public was little familiar, and, of those who were, few grasped the full weight of the implications of its development. The scientists, however, were among those who did understand what had just occurred, and many, their role in ushering in a new reality for a world just emerging from one of the most devastating conflicts in history. One even reportedly stated, "this bomb fulfills the third prophesy of the Old Testament... I hope your motion picture can work to avert such suicide. You had better hurry."
Nor were the religious implications, also reflected in the music of the day (check out the series "Atomic Platters"), lost on those involved with its development, if not necessarily its deployment. The book recounts the episode involving a Senator from Connecticut Brien McMahon, who had been informed that Archbishop Francis Spellman who had learned of the Manhattan Project from Roosevelt himself also flew to Tinian Island to bless the bomber crews after the destruction of Hiroshima. He reportedly stated to McMahon that his church opposed the use of a weapon essentially designed to kill innocent civilians, but in a time of war, any weapon that could end the war should be employed to bring a quick end to it. Clearly, the development of such a weapon, was going to cause some controversy.
But how to bring this new technology and the issues it raised to the uneducated masses... and sway public opinion about its use? The scientists seemingly embraced the motion picture project, at least at the outset, acknowledging that movies rather than books and newspapers were fast becoming the primary tool of mass communication (shortly to be supplanted by "television," which entered popular usage in the 1950s). The military was less than enthusiastic, concerned with national security to a greater degree than some other interests, but had to at least acquiesce when the project seemingly earned the approval of newly-installed President Truman.
Some of the book's more profound statements reflect a presciently accurate assessment of modern times, and how quickly mentalities changed. Barron reportedly stated: "it is our belief that only for solid entertainment does the world sit in theaters and listen. They go to school for education and to churches for sermons. We want them to come into theaters and be entertained." But sermons and "education," or re-education, tailored specifically to sway public opinion in wolf-in-sheep's-clothing garb wrapped as entertainment, would shortly become the norm. Films could become quite political, indeed, and leaders capitalized on their potential in short order. Barron's mentality would very shortly fade into history when both movie executives and politicians realized the full potential of the "entertainment" industry to communicate messages to the masses disguised as something else. The 1940s were still a time of great naivety in this regard, but that didn't last long.
To that end: the stories of how some movies get made (or not) are worthy of movies themselves. Projects of this magnitude, scale, and, in some cases, importance, just seem to take on a life of their own, especially when powerful entities attempt to showcase their aims and not infrequently, political aspirations, writ large on the silver screen. This is the story of an ambitious project which ultimately pitted competing interests against each other, which were simply a continuation of what had occurred with the bomb's development itself. That said, it finally ended up as something with promise unfulfilled. One of the major impediments was the efforts of filmmakers to get as many authentic characters involved as possible: Groves, Oppenheimer and some of the other scientists as technical advisers, and even the wife of Tibbets, the airman who piloted the Enola Gay to deliver its payload over the densely populated city of Hiroshima... but how many cooks does it actually take to spoil the broth? The answer? This many.
And then there were the Tinseltown types: this ambitious project, which started out with great promise, just kind of fizzled, ultimately becoming something that just really didn't work. It was a purely Hollywood production: the best example is the statement of one of the players, that in order to be successful, even a movie about the dropping of an atomic bomb and the incineration of hundreds of thousands of human beings wasn't spared from trope, specifically that "everybody knows you have to have sex in there somewhere," so the writers had to concoct some love story element to a story about ... dropping the atomic bomb and the possibility of the destruction of civilization ... ? Yep, it's in there: one even quipped on the difficulty in trying "to figure out a formula for mixing uranium and plutonium with stardust and moonlight." Oy vey.
The book itself is something of an odd mixture of elements. It attempts to combine the stories of the development of the bomb, the major characters involved, and the odd bedfellows involved in this motion picture project, ranging from some of the bomb designers to Hollywood icons to Ayn Rand. It's informative, but rather disjointed, and is somewhat dry at times. The jumping from topic to topic, even within the same chapter, often disrupts the flow. A chronological organization might have been more effective; it would allow readers to know who the players were, what role they had played in the development of the bomb and its deployment, and ultimately, their involvement on the movie project.
With the advent of a technology which would end civilization, if not just yet wipe out all life on earth, the world had become a much smaller place, seemingly overnight. Delphic, indeed. Whether we like to admit it or not, we live in the future World The Bomb Made, to a much greater degree than most are presently aware.
