Summer Reading

The 1940s – DVDs

Richelle

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Forties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

Adam’s Rib – Domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband. (1949, 101min, NR)

Angela’s Ashes – Life in impoverished Depression-era Ireland holds little promise for young Frank McCourt, the oldest son in a tightly-knit family. Living by his wits, cheered by his irrepressible spirit, and sustained by his mother’s fierce love, Frank embarks on an inspiring journey to overcome the poverty of his childhood and reach the land of his dreams: America. (2000, 145min, R)

A Beautiful Mind – Tells the tale of the brilliant Mathematician John Nash, on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. (2001, 136min, PG-13)

Big Fish – William Bloom, is a young man who never really knew his now dying father, Edward – outside of the tall tales his dad told him about growing up. During Edward’s last days William and his wife Josephine hold a bedside vigil next to the old man as he recollects elaborate memories of his youth. Still doubting the legends and folklore, William makes a journey to meet a mysterious woman from whom Edward had bought property. (2003, 125min, PG-13)

Casablanca – Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (1942, 102min, PG)

Easter Parade – Astaire is trying to forget ex-dance partner Miller while rising to stardom with Garland. (1948, 103min, NR)

The Edge of Love – The unconventional love story of poet Dylan Thomas and the two women who inspire him. (2008, 111min, R)

The End of the Affair – In England during World War II, an American writer and the bored wife of a British civil servant fall in love. Then she mysteriously ends the affair. (1999, 101min, R)

The Eye of the Needle – A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband. (1981, 112min)

Flags of Our Fathers – The epic story of the five Marines and one Navy corpsman that were forever immortalized as a symbol of WWII by raising the American flag at the battle of Iwo Jima. When Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the event becomes a symbol of hope for the families at home, the three surviving men are pulled from combat and sent on a tour across America to raise desperately-needed bond money. It is a trip that brings out the truths of both that symbolic act, and of their lives during war. (2006, 132min, R)

Fountainhead – When an uncompromising architect who refuses to change his designs discovers the plans for one of his buildings has been changed, he decides to take matters into his own hands by blowing up the structure. (1949, 112, NR)

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life – Follows the life of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. (2010, 122min, NR)

Gaslight – A susceptible young woman marries a suave, romantic man never suspecting that he is a murderous scoundrel, obsessed with finding the jewels hidden in their London home. She becomes the helpless victim as slowly, insidiously, he drives her to the brink of insanity. (1940&1944, 113min, NR)

The Good German – While in post-war Berlin covering the Potsdam Conference, American military journalist, Jake Geismar, is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver. (2006, 108min, R)

The Great Raid – Based on the true story of American Rangers who rescue the survivors of the Bataan Death March from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp during WWII. (2005, 133min, R)

In Darkness – Leopold Socha is a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland. One day he encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town’s sewers beneath the bustling activity of the city above. (2012, 145min, R)

IP Man – Set in Fo Shan, China, during the second Sino-Japanese War, this film brings to life the brutality of a Japanese occupation in which once-proud men were reduced to fighting to the death over bags of rice. Under these dire circumstances, Ip Man, a courageous and humble fighter who is revered all over China, refuses to teach martial arts skills to the invading Japanese soldiers and is forced to fight for the honor of his country in a series of battles that culminate in a kill-or-be-killed showdown with Japan’s greatest fighter. (2008, 107min, R)

It’s a Wonderful Life – An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. (1946, 130min, NR)

Julie and Julia – Julie Powell is a frustrated insurance worker who wants to be a writer. Trying to find a challenge in her life, she decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ in one year, and to blog about it. As Julie begins to find her groove as a cook, and her voice as a writer, the project takes on a life of its own. (2009, 123min, PG-13)

A League of Their Own – When the male professional baseball players are called away to war in 1943, Jimmy Dugan takes on the task of coaching a team in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. (1992, 127min, PG)

Letters from Iwo Jima – Sixty-one years ago, the United States and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, hundreds of letters are unearthed from that stark island’s soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them. (2007, 140min, R)

Mister Roberts – As the USS Reluctant carries cargo across the Pacific during World War II, Lieutenant Doug Roberts dreams of joining in the war effort but must contend instead with the ship’s unsympathetic captain. (1955, 122min, NR)

Mrs. Miniver – The story of a middle-class British family and their struggle to survive during WWII. (1942, 133min, NR)

The Others – A devoutly religious mother of two ailing children has moved with her family to a mansion on the English coast. Her two children both suffer from a rare photosensitivity disease that renders them extremely vulnerable to sunlight, prompting the rule of having only one door open in the house at a time. When one of the children claims to see ghosts, Grace at first believes her newly arrived family of eccentric servants to be responsible, but chilling events and visions soon lead her to believe that something supernatural is indeed going on. (2001, 104min, PG-13)

Pan’s Labyrinth – When young Ofelia and her mother go to live with her new stepfather on a rural military outpost, she finds herself in a world of unimaginable cruelty. Soon Ofelia finds the creatures of her imagination in which she used to escape have become a reality and she must battle them to save both her mother and herself. In the terrifying battle that ensues, Ofelia soon learns that innocence has a power that evil cannot imagine. (2007, 119min, R)

Patton – A dramatization of the experiences of General George S. Patton during World War II. (1970, 171min, PG)

The Philadelphia Story – A sophisticated romantic comedy about a rich, spoiled socialite who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage. (1940, 112min, NR)

Racing with the Moon – Sweet, nostalgic film about two buddies awaiting induction into the Marines in 1942. (1984, 108min, PG)

Raging Bull – A biographical film about psychologically destructive, violent middleweight champion Jake La Motta. (1980, 129min, R)

The Remains of the Day – The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe. (1993, 134min, PG)

Revolutionary Road – Frank and April Wheeler live a life that appears to be perfect. They live in the Connecticut suburbs with two young children. Frank commutes to New York City where he works in an office job that he hates. One he places little effort at, but he has yet to figure out what his passion in life is. April is a housewife who forgoes her dream of being an actress. They are not happy. (2008, 118min, R)

Schindler’s List – The story of a Catholic war profiteer, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life and went bankrupt in order to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps. He employed Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army. At the same time he tries to stay solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant and negotiates business with a vicious Nazi commandant who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa that overlooks the prison camp he commands. (1993, 196min, R)

The Shawshank Redemption – City banker Andy Dufresne arrived at Shawshank Prison in 1947. Convicted of two brutal murders, he received a double life sentence. Within the confines of the prison, Andy forms an unlikely friendship with the prison “fixer” Red. He also becomes popular with the warden and the prison’s guards, as Andy is able to use his banking experience to help the corrupt officials amass personal fortunes. (1994, 142min, R)

The Trip to Bountiful – In an attempt to recapture the happiness she knew in the past, an elderly woman journeys back to the small town where she raised her children. (1985, 108min, PG)

Twelve o’Clock High – The commander of the Eighth Air Force bomber unit in England during World War II begins to crack under the strain. (1949, 132min, NR)

Valkyrie – Based on the true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his assassination plot targeting Adolf Hitler. (2008, 120min, PG-13)

A Walk in the Clouds – After returning from World War II, a young G.I. finds he has little in common with the wife he left behind. Disillusioned, he heads north to work as a travelling salesman where he meets the daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner. (1995, 102min, PG-13)

The 1940s – Books for All Ages

Richelle

Here you’ll find a list of books that are either set in the 1940s or were written during this time. This list is broken down by age but there are many books that can be enjoyed by some or all of the age groups. This list is just a sample of the thousands of books that we can access through the county-wide system. Some descriptions were taken from the catalog, others from our Literature database; Novelist (click to access from home.)

Click on Titles to be taken to the Catalog

ADULT FICTION AND NON-FICTION BOOKS (SOME MAY BE SUITABLE FOR TEENS OR EVEN CHILDREN. PLEASE ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR HELP WITH DETERMINING AGE SUITABILITY) 

The Black Dahlia By: Ellroy, James – Bucky Bleichert, ex-prize fighter and policeman, investigates when a young woman’s mutilated body appears in a vacant Los Angeles lot.

Bless Me, Ultima By: Anaya, Rudolfo A. – A young New Mexico boy comes of age.

The Blind Assassin By: Atwood, Margaret – A multi-layered story of the death of a woman’s sister and husband in the 1940s, with a novel-within-a-novel as a background.

The Colorado Kid By: King, Stephen – A rookie newspaperwoman learns the true meaning of mystery when she investigates a twenty-five-year-old unsolved and very strange case involving a dead man found on an island off the coast of Maine.

Cryptonomicon By: Stephenson, Neal – More than fifty years after Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse and Sergeant Bobby Shaftoe are assigned to Detachment 2702, a secret cryptographic mission, their grandchildren–Randy and Amy–join forces to create a “data haven” in the South Pacific, only to uncover a massive conspiracy with roots in Detachment 2702.

The Godfather By: Puzo, Mario – Don Vito Corleone controls a major mafia family in the 1940s, but when one of his sons is murdered, he fights to dominate all of the other families as well.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet By: Ford, Jamie – When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment.

A Lesson Before Dying By: Gaines, Ernest J. – A young illiterate African American man witnesses two black robbers kill a white store owner in Louisana in the late 1940s, and he is the one convicted.

Ordinary Heroes By: Turow, Scott – Stewart Dubinsky plunges into the mystery of his family’s secret history when he discovers his deceased father’s wartime letters to his former fiancee, revealing his court-martial and imprisonment during World World II.

Outlander By: Gabaldon, Diana – Hurtled back through time more than two hundred years to Scotland in 1743, Claire Randall finds herself caught in the midst of an unfamiliar world torn apart by violence, pestilence, and revolution and haunted by her growing feelings for James Fraser, a young soldier.

The Power of One By: Courtenay, Bryce – Follows Peekay, a white British boy in South Africa during World War II, between the ages of five and eleven, as he survives an abusive boarding school and goes on to succeed in life and the boxing ring, with help from a chicken, a boxer, a pianist, black African prisoners, and many others.

Sons of Fortune By: Archer, Jeffrey – In the late 1940s, twin boys are separated at birth, Nat going home with his middle-class parents, and Fletcher to be raised by a wealthy couple, but their lives come together when they both run for governor of Connecticut.

Wish You Well By: Baldacci, David – A coming-of-age story set in New York City and the mountains of Virginia in the 1940s. Lou and Oz Cardinal leave New York with their mother and head to live on their great-grandmother’s farm.

CHILDREN & TEEN FICTION AND NON-FICTION BOOKS (ADULTS CAN LIKE THESE TOO!)

The Art of Keeping Cool By Lisle, Janet Taylor – In 1942, Robert and his cousin Elliot uncover long-hidden family secrets while staying in their grandparents’ Rhode Island town, where they also become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy.

Green Glass Sea By Klages, Ellen – It’s 1943 and 10-year-old budding inventor Dewey Kerrigan sets off with her father to do secret war work in New Mexico. As the adults work on “the gadget,” the kids at Los Alamos are often left to their own devices. When the atomic bomb tests are finally successful, both children and adults grapple with the ethical implications as they realize how “the gadget” will be used.

House of the Red Fish By Salisbury, Graham – A year after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the arrest of Tomi’s father and grandfather, Tomi and his friends, battling anti-Japanese-American sentiment in Hawaii and try to find a way to salvage his father’s sunken fishing boat.

The Loud Silence of Francine Green By Cushman, Karen – Francine Green doesn’t speak up much, and who can blame her? Her parents aren’t interested in her opinions, the nuns at school punish girls who ask too many questions, and the House Committee on Un-American Activities is blacklisting people who express unpopular ideas. There’s safety in silence. But when outspoken, passionate Sophie Bowman transfers into Francine’s class at All Saints School for Girls, Francine finds herself thinking about things that never concerned her before free speech, the atom bomb, the existence of God, the way people treat each other.

My Chocolate Year: a novel with 12 recipes By Herman, Charlotte – In 1945 Chicago, as her Jewish family anxiously awaits news of relatives left behind in Europe, ten-year-old Dorrie learns new recipes in the hope of winning a baking competition at school.

Play Ball, Jackie! By Krensky, Stephen and Morse, Joe – It’s 1947, and 10-year-old Matty Romano is going to his first baseball game with his father to see the Brooklyn Dodgers, his favorite team. It’s also the first day for Jackie Robinson, the first Black baseball player in the major leagues. The crowd is divided between those who are outraged and those who just want to see good baseball players, no matter what their color.

Players in Pigtails By Corey, Shana – Katie Casey, a fictional character, helps start the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which gave women the opportunity to play professional baseball while America was involved in World War II.

Slap Your Sides By Kerr, M. E. – Life in their Pennsylvania hometown changes for Jubal Shoemaker and his family when his older brother witnesses to his Quaker beliefs by becoming a conscientious objector during World War II.

Ten Cents a Dance By Fletcher, Christine – With her mother ill, it’s up to fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski to support her family. But in the 1940s, the only opportunities open to a Polish-American girl from Chicago’s poor Yards is a job in one of the meat packing plants. Through a chance meeting with a local tough, Ruby lands a job as a taxi dancer and soon becomes an expert in the art of “fishing”: working her patrons for meals, cash, clothes, even jewelry. Drawn ever deeper into the world of dance halls, jazz, and the mob, Ruby gradually realizes that the only one who can save her is herself. A mesmerizing look into a little known world and era.

Weedflower By Kadohata, Cynthia – After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.

Worlds Afire By Janeczko, Paul B. – One summer afternoon in 1944, hundreds of circus lovers crowded under the big top in Hartford, Connecticut, breathlessly waiting for the show to begin. Minutes later, the event took a horrifying turn when a fire broke out and spread rapidly through the tent, claiming the lives of 167 souls and injuring some 500 more. Sixty years later, Paul B. Janeczko recalls that tragic event by bringing to life some unforgettable voices — from circus performers to seasoned fans, from firefighters and nurses to the little girl known as Little Miss 1565, a child whose body was never claimed.

 

1940s – History and SPL Programs

Richelle

Check out our 1940s Board on Pinterest to be taken back in time!

The 1940’s were dominated by World War II. European artists and intellectuals fled to the United States from Hitler and the Holocaust, bringing new ideas created in disillusionment. War production pulled us out of the Great Depression. Women were needed to replace men who had gone off to war, and so the first great exodus of women from the home to the workplace began. Rationing affected the food we ate, the clothes we wore, the toys with which children played.

After the war, the men returned, having seen the rest of the world. No longer was the family farm an ideal; no longer would blacks accept lesser status. The GI Bill allowed more men than ever before to get a college education. Women had to give up their jobs to the returning men, but they had tasted independence. —Read More Here.

Source:Goodwin, S. (1999). 1940-1949. American Cultural History. Lone Star College-Kingwood Library, Kingwood, TX. Retrieved from http://wwwappskc.lonestar.edu/popculture/decade40.html

Join us this week for these “Between the Decades” Programs.

Decades Documentaries – 1940s House (1940s) – Tuesday, June 19 @ 2PM – One modern family takes on the challenge of domestic life on Britain’s home front in this recreation of a World War II household. This time-travel experiment covers the period from the outbreak of the war in 1939 to Victory Day in 1945, compressing the events of six wartime years into nine weeks. While the military threat is metaphorical, the privations are real and the pressure creates tensions nonexistent in modern society.

Climbing Your Family Tree – Tuesday, June 19 @ 7PM – An introduction to searching for family roots: how to find the who, when and where of your family! Resources discussed will include census schedules, vital records and more. Marilyn Cocchiola Holt, MLS, is Department Head of the Pennsylvania Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and currently serves as President-Elect and Program Chair of the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society. Please register.

Decade Dancing: 1950’s! – Thursday, June 21 @ 6:30PM – Let’s rock around the clock! Learn the dances of the decades and join us for an evening of music and movement! All Ages. Please register.

Decades Movies: Maltese Falcon (1940s) – Friday, June 22 @ 2PM – Detective Sam Spade goes in search of a priceless statuette after the death of his partner. (1941, 100min, NR)

Music of the 1930s!

Richelle

Though times were tough financially in the 1930s, the music of the decade had the power to lift the spirits of a nation in the midst of The Great Depression.  This week, it is my honor to bring you a list of music from the 1930s which will transport you to a an era very much different and yet that same as our own! I concentrated on country music as well as the music of Broadway!

75 years of the WSM Grand Ole Opry – The Opry has been a destination for fans of country music for decades, since it opened in the 1930’s.  In this collection of music, the classic hits of the early 1900’s are coupled with those of iconic modern artists!  This CD is one to pick up if you’re up for a taste of classic country music!

Anything Goes – When I think about the classic Broadway shows of the 1930’s, the work of legendary Cole Porter springs to mind.  Anything Goes in particular is a fun and surprisingly contemporary musical!  Kick back and tap your toes to this tale of highjinks on the high seas!

Cole Porter’s Can-Can – In Paris, a group of dancers fight for the right to express themselves in a world where the namesake of this musical is not only forbidden but illegal.  This is the soundtrack to the musical, “Can-Can”  Take it from me, these songs are catchy!

Ella Fitzgerald sings the Cole Porter songbook. – I can’t think of anything more nostalgic than the timeless voice of Ella Fitzgerald belting out the classic songs of Cole Porter.  Treat yourself to this album!

The Essential George Gershwin –  The amazingly talented George Gershwin has contributed so many iconic works to the 1930’s.  Kick back on a summer evening and stay a while.

Our Love is Here to Stay : Ella & Louis sing Gershwin. – This duo cannot be beat.  Can you think of anything better than these two performing together? Well yes, because this could only be beat by seeing the impossible–the Ella and Louis performing live together.  Since that just cannot be done, this is a close second!

Next week, the 1940’s!

The 1930s – DVDs

Richelle

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Thirties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

Amélie – Amélie is a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood; misdiagnosed with an unusual heart condition, Amélie didn’t attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination and an active fantasy life. Despite all this, Amélie has grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman who works in a cafe and has a whimsical, romantic nature. She decides to step into the lives of others around her to help them out. (2002, 122min, R)

Angela’s Ashes – Life in impoverished Depression-era Ireland holds little promise for young Frank McCourt, the oldest son in a tightly-knit family. Living by his wits, cheered by his irrepressible spirit, and sustained by his mother’s fierce love, Frank embarks on an inspiring journey to overcome the poverty of his childhood and reach the land of his dreams: America. (2000, 145min, R)

Annie – The story of the comic strip character Little Orphan Annie, who is adopted by billionaire “Daddy” Warbucks. (1981, 127min, PG)

Brideshead Revisited – A Londoner of lower class befriends and begins a romantic relationship with an aristocrat that becomes complicated when the aristocrat introduces his new friend to his sister. (2009, 133min, PG-13)

Bright Young Things – During the 1930’s, the world of the British uppercrust society is one of nightclubs, dancing, jazz and speed. Their lives revolve around an endless series of parties and pleasure seeking – including motorcars, jazz bands, gossip journalism, drugs, gramophones … Inevitably, however, the frantic pace of living begins to take its toll and one by one they begin to crash and burn in the search for newer and faster sensations. (2005, 105min, R)

Brighton Beach Memoirs – Fifteen-year-old Eugene Jerome is trying to uncover life’s mysteries in this adaptation of a Broadway hit about growing up in Brooklyn during the late 1930’s. (1986, 110min, PG-13)

City Lights – A tramp wins the love of a blind flower girl and attempts to obtain money from a millionaire to help her regain her sight. (1931, 186min, G)

Citizen Kane – Story of the rise and fall of a great man as the result of his accumulation of wealth and subsequent isolation from the world. Loosely based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. (1941, 232min, PG)

Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Benjamin Button is a not-so-ordinary man who began his life under unusual circumstances. Born in his eighties at the end of World War I, Benjamin ages backwards. (2009, 165min, PG-13)

The Devil’s Backbone – During the Spanish Civil War, young Carlos is abandoned at a completely isolated orphanage. The tensions therein have been building for years, exacerbated by the unexploded bomb resting menacingly in the courtyard. Bullies scheme, tempers flare, and a ghost that visits Carlos’s bed seems to be the key to it all. (2002, 103min, R)

The English Patient – Based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje, a complicated WWII saga told in flashback sequences. Best Picture, Best Director-Anthony Minghella, and Best Supporting Actress-Juliette Binoche. Includes exclusive bonus material and special packaging. (1996, 162min, R)

Frida – The life of artist Frida Kahlo, from her humble upbringing to her worldwide fame and controversy that surrounded both her and her husband, Diego Rivera. (2002, 122min, R)

Gandhi – Tells the story of Gandhi’s adult life, when he led an entire country to freedom, using non-violent methods. (1982, 190min, PG)

Good – When John Halder’s latest novel is enlisted by the Nazi party to push their agenda, his career and social standing instantly advance. But after learning of the Reich’s horrific plans for the future, John must decide whether to do nothing and keep his fame or risk losing everything. (2009, 96min, R)

A Good Woman – A notorious seductress enters a gossipy society and entices the husband of a faithful young woman, delighting the gossips and prompting a series of unexpected consequences. (2006, 93min, PG)

Harlem Nights – A night club owner and his son fight to keep the mob and corrupt police from putting them out of business. (1989, 115min, R)

The Hindenburg – A dramatization of the journey and crash of the German dirigible, the Hindenburg. (1975, 155min)

I Capture the Castle – In a classic English story, Cassandra Mortmain chronicles in her diary what happens to her eccentric family when a young American man inherits the local estate. The bittersweet love story that ensues is far more complicated than she ever imagines. (2003, 113min, R)

Indochine – Set in French Indochina in the 1930s as the Vietnamese begin to rebel against French colonialism. Dramatizes the last years of French rule through the relationship between plantation owner Éliane, French by birth but born and raised in Indochina, and her adopted daughter Camille, an orphaned Annamese princess who becomes a Vietnamese revolutionary and representative at the Geneva Conference after having a child by French officer Jean-Baptiste, Éliane’s past lover. (1992, 156min, NR)

J. Edgar – J. Edgar Hoover was head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nearly 50 years. Hoover was feared, admired, reviled and revered, a man who could distort the truth as easily as he upheld it. His methods were at once ruthless and heroic, with the admiration of the world his most coveted prize. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life. (2011, 137min, R)

King Kong – Young and beautiful actress Ann Darrow is from the world of 1930s vaudeville, who is down on her luck. She meets Carl Denham, an over-ambitious filmmaker, who brings her on an exploratory expedition to a remote island where she finds compassion and the true meaning of humanity with an ape Kong. (2005, 188min, PG-13)

Ladies in Lavender – The peaceful life of two aging sisters is shattered when they take in a young Polish violinist who they find injured after having been washed ashore near their coastal English home. Their town is suspicious of any visitors and things get worse when he befriends a Russian woman who is visiting the town. (2004, 104min, PG-13)

Lawrence of Arabia – The story of T.E. Lawrence, the heroic and troubled man who organized the Arab nations to fight the Turks in World War I and then, having reached a pinnacle of power in Mideast politics, retired to postwar military obscurity. (1962, 227min, PG)

The Legend of Bagger Vance – The protagonist of this metaphysical fable is Rannulph Junah, Southern aristocrat and World War I hero. In a tournament in Savannah, he defeats two golf pros by following the teachings of his guru, Bagger Vance, a black mystic serving as his caddie. (2000, 127min, PG-13)

Malcolm X – Screen version of the life of Malcolm X, who through his religious conversion to Islam, found the strength to rise up from a criminal past to become an influential civil rights leader. (1992, 201min, PG-13)

Memoirs of a Geisha – In 1929, an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy in Hatsumomo and she is rescued by Hatsumomo’s bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha’s mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha, she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. (2006, 145min, PG-13)

Murder Inc. – In the violent burroughs of 1930s New york, gangs spawned by Prohibition have found new work … as racketeers and contract killers. The most vicious of these is Murder, Inc., the merciless Brownsville, Brooklyn syndicate. As their reign of terror spreads, only one cop has the nerve to methodically track them down, determined to destroy them by any means necessary! (1960, 103min, NR)

The Natural – An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman. (1984, 138min, PG)

O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Convict Ulysses Everett McGill and two others escape the chain gang to find a stolen treasure, but end up having a odyssey of strange adventures. (2000, 103min, PG-13)

Papillon – Thrilling adventure of an escape from a French Guiana prison. (1973, 150min, PG)

Pride of the Yankees – Tells the tale of Lou Gehrig, a Hall-of-Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees whose life was cut short by ALS. (1942, 128min, NR)

Public Enemies – Focuses on the true story of FBI agent Melvin Purvis and his pursuit of criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during the Great Depression. (2009, 140min, R)

Rabbit Proof Fence – In 1931, Molly and her younger cousins, Gracie and Daisy, were three half-caste children from Western Australia who were taken from their parents under government edict and sent to an institution, were taught to forget their families, their culture, and re-invent themselves as members of “white” Australian society. The three girls begin an epic journey back to Western Australia, travelling 1,500 miles on foot with no food or water, and navigating by following the fence that has been build across the nation to stem an over-population of rabbits. (2002, 93min, PG)

Road to Perdition – Chicago hitman Michael Sullivan and his young son become targets of another hitman from the same mob. Sullivan and his son embark on a journey of

survival and revenge. (2002, 117min, R)

The Sound of Music – As Nazism takes over Austria, Maria, a spirited young postulant, leaves the convent to act as a governess for the seven musically-talented children of widower Captain von Trapp. (1965, 175min, G)

Tea with Mussolini – Tells the tale of British women living in Florence prior to World War II. (1999, 117min, PG)

To Kill a Mockingbird – The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him–except the town’s most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children. (1962, 130min, NR)

The Untouchables – A fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down. (1987, 119min, R)

Victor/Victoria – A poverty-stricken singer in Depression-era Paris becomes convinced that the only way she can earn a living on the nightclub circuit is to masquerade as a man who impersonates women. Then she meets the man of her dreams. (1982, 133min,  PG)

The Way We Were – The romance and marriage of opposites– the love that binds them together and the differences that tear them apart. A love story from college to Hollywood in the thirties, forties, and fifties. (1973, 118min, PG)

The 1930s – Books for All Ages

Richelle

Here you’ll find a list of books that are either set in the 1930s or were written during this time. This list is broken down by age but there are many books that can be enjoyed by some or all of the age groups. This list is just a sample of the thousands of books that we can access through the county-wide system. Some descriptions were taken from the catalog, others from our Literature database; Novelist (click to access from home.)

Click on Titles to be taken to the Catalog

Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction Books (Some may be suitable for teens or even children. Please ask a librarian for help with determining age suitability) 

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg —Mrs. Threadgoode’s tale of two high-spirited women of the 1930s, Idgie and Ruth, helps Evelyn, a 1980s woman in a sad slump of middle age, to begin to rejuvenate her own life.

Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price —Now in her mid-fifties, Kate Vaiden recalls her early life growing up, after the violent death of her parents, an orphan in small towns in North Carolina and Virginia in the 1930s and 1940s.

Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver —The story of Harrison William Shepherd, a man caught between two worlds — Mexico and the United States in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s — and whose search for identity takes readers to the heart of the twentieth century’s most tumultuous events.

The Legend of Bagger Vance By Steven Pressfield – African American Bagger Vance, middle-aged caddy to war hero and former golf champion Rannulph Junah in 1931, explains to Junah how golf resembles life, and Junah’s game improves.

Maus: a Survivor’s Tale By Art Spiegelman – The author-illustrator traces his father’s imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a series of disarming and unusual cartoons arranged to tell the story as a novel.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden — Because her mother is dying and her father old, Chiyo, nine, is sold to a wealthy geisha house in Gion where she learns her trade and works it in the 1930s and 1940s.

Native Son by Richard Wright —Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright’s novel is just as powerful today as when it was written — in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what it means to be black in America.

The Orchid House by Lucinda Riley — For fans of The House at Riverton and Rebecca–a debut spanning from the 1930s to the present day, from a magnificent estate in war-torn England to Thailand, this sweeping novel tells the tale of a concert pianist, Julia, and the prominent Crawford family whose shocking secrets are revealed, leading to devastating consequences for generations to come.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See — Forced to leave Shanghai when their father sells them to California suitors, sisters May and Pearl struggle to adapt to life in 1930s Los Angeles while still bound to old customs, as they face discrimination and confront a life-altering secret.

To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway — In an attempt to keep his family above water, Harry Morgan runs contraband rum shipments between Cuba and Key West during the 1930s, in a humorous tale that also follows an unlikely love affair.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee — Scout’s father defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town during the 1930s. The great American novel.

Water for Elephants By Sara Gruen – Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope.

A Week from Sunday by Dorothy Garlock — Set in 1930s Louisiana, a young woman makes a new life for herself after she runs away from home.

Children & Teen Fiction and Non-Fiction Books (Adults can like these too!)

Al Capone Does My Shirts By Gennifer Choldenko – A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards’ families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Bird in a Box By Andrea Davis Pinkney – In 1936, three children meet at the Mercy Home for Negro Orphans in New York State, and while not all three are orphans, they are all dealing with grief and loss which together, along with the help of a sympathetic staff member and the boxing matches of Joe Louis, they manage to overcome.

The Book Thief By Marcus Zusak – Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel–a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

Bud, Not Buddy By Christopher Paul Curtis – Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father–the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Ghost-Girl: a Blue Ridge Mountain Story By Delia Ray – Eleven-year-old April is delighted when President and Mrs. Hoover build a school near her Madison County, Virginia, home but her family’s poverty, grief over the accidental death of her brother, and other problems may mean that April can never learn to read from the wonderful teacher, Miss Vest.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret : a novel in words and pictures By Brian Selznick – When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

Macaroni Boy By Katherine Ayers – In Pittsburgh in 1933, sixth-grader Mike Costa notices a connection between several strange occurrences, but the only way he can find out the truth about what’s happening is to be nice to the class bully. Includes historical facts.

My Heart Will Not Sit Down By Mara Rockliff – In 1931 Cameroon, young Kedi is upset to learn that children in her American teacher’s village of New York are going hungry because of the Great Depression, and she asks her mother, neighbors, and even the headman for money to help.

Out of the Dust By Karen Hesse – In a series of poems, fourteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry By Mildred D. Taylor – A Black family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don’t understand.

Turtle in Paradise By Jennifer R. Holm – Turtle, eleven, knows that life isn’t like the happy Hollywood movies her mother adores. It’s 1935 and jobs are scarce, so when her mother gets a job as a live-in housekeeper with a woman who doesn’t like children, Turtle heads off without complaint to stay with relatives she’s never met in Key West, Florida. Turtle’s dreamy mother insists that Turtle is going to live in paradise, but down-to-earth Turtle doesn’t expect much. Eventually Turtle warms to her eccentric relatives and begins to see the natural beauty hidden under the trash.

A Year Down Yonder By Richard Peck – During the hard times of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.

Your Eyes in Stars By M. E. Kerr – In their small New York town, two teenaged girls become friends while helping each other make sense of their families, neighbors, and selves as they approach adulthood in the years preceding World War II.

1930s – History and SPL Programs

Richelle

Check out our 1930s Board on Pinterest to be taken back to the Thirties!

At the beginning of the 1930s, more than 15 million Americans–fully one-quarter of all wage-earning workers–were unemployed. President Herbert Hoover did not do much to alleviate the crisis: Patience and self-reliance, he argued, were all Americans needed to get them through this “passing incident in our national lives.” But in 1932, Americans elected a new president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who pledged to use the power of the federal government to make Americans’ lives better. Over the next nine years, Roosevelt’s New Deal created a new role for government in American life. Though the New Deal alone did not end the Depression, it did provide an unprecedented safety net to millions of suffering Americans. Source.

Read More About:

The Great Depression

“A New Deal for the American People”

The First Hundred Days

American Culture During the 1930s

The Second New Deal

The End of the Depression

Source: The 1930s. (2012). The History Channel website. Retrieved 2:05, June 6, 2012, from http://www.history.com/topics/1930s.

Join us this week for these “Between the Decades” Programs.

Ancestry.com Lab – Tuesday, June 12 @ 10:30AM – A Librarian will give a quick review of the site, and then you can search away for the rest of the session! Class size is limited. Please register.

Decades Documentaries – Life in the Thirties (1930s) – Tuesday, June 12 @ 2PM – Project Twenty – An exhilarating look at life in the 1930s, an era rich with discovery and excitement despite the turmoil of the Great Depression. Alexander Scourby narrates this “Project Twenty” program that spans from the Crash of 1929 to 1939’s New York’s World Fair and includes footage of bank nights at the movies, Benny Goodman and the birth of Swing, pinball machines and bingo. 60 min.

Sewickley: A History – Wednesday, June 13 @ 7PM – We are pleased to welcome Harton Semple, executive director of the Sewickley Valley Historical Society, who will present a history of the Village. Please register.

 

 

 

Patron and Staff Book Reviews 6/8/12

Richelle

Every Friday, we’ll post a smattering of reviews that have been added to our online summer reading program over the past week. You can always read more of them on their respective, review pages: Adult & Staff. If you’re interested in writing your own reviews, head over to tinyurl.com/sewickleyreads to sign up!

Austenland By Shannon Hale
I haven’t read a lot of Jane Austen’s books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was short, entertaining, and an interesting look at the way people presented themselves in the 1800s. Even though I like the fact that the book was short, I would have preferred it to be a bit longer. I believe that the author could have done a bit more with describing the scenery and the clothing of the period, which is why I gave the book a four instead of a five.  If you’re looking for a fun way to escape for an afternoon, I would definitely recommend this book!

Dearly, Departed By Lia Habel
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a steampunk zombie novel…I stayed up until 2am to finish it and there was fluttering in my chest when Nora and Bram were each realizing they liked each other and were trying to figure out how a human and a zombie could be together. Crazy, huh?

Gone from Home By Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson can tell a beautiful story and she can tell beautiful short stories. And I can’t say I’ve ever read an Angela Johnson story that I didn’t like. Some of these I truly love. A ginormous smile would just appear when I would come to the last line of many of these, here in Gone from Home. Literary and lovely. Read the book, only 101 pages, but it should take you a long time, because you’ll want to treasure each sentence. Seriously.

The Help By Kathryn Stockett
Was a wonderful story of the bravery and courage of three woman who decided to make a difference in the culture. I laughed, I cried, and I could not put it down.

I Suck at Girls By Justin Halpern
I was only vaguely familiar with the author’s twitter fame – “Sh*t My Dad Says” – going into this book, but now I’m really interested in learning more. The author is witty and funny, but his dad is funnier (and loves to use the “F” word). Quick read that’s sure to make you laugh out loud!

Insomnia By Stephen King
Out of all the King books I’ve read, the protagonist, Ralph Roberts, was the most likable. He is inflicted with insomnia after the death of his wife. At first he is tired beyond expression. But then, when he think he might die from lack of sleep, his world is inundated with colorful auras. He is terrified and awestruck all at once. Read 300 pages of this, in wonderful, descriptive Kingian prose, and then the story really starts.

With all the crazies in the world, it’s still hard to believe this occured. Disturbing.

Unsinkable (Titanic #1) By Gordon Korman
If you are “of a certain age” and from Pittsburgh, and you listen to the audio book of Gordon Korman’s Unsinkable, the first in his Titanic Trilogy, you will think of Patti Burns a lot! When you listen to an audio book, of course, you don’t know how the characters’ names are spelled. Even know I knew that the stowaway on the Titanic, the homeless boy from Belfast was probably named Paddy Burns, (he is) every time I heard the narrator say his name I thought of Patti. I miss Patti. All of Pittsburgh does.

This is a neat way of telling the story of the Titanic. Fiction and nonfiction. The story of four characters who were on that fateful voyage. One is Paddy Burns, a stowaway, trying to escape thugs who are out to kill him. Another is Alfie, a boy of fifteen who lied about his age to get a job on the Titanic with his father, who is a boiler dude. Sophie, the daughter of an American suffragette, who has been thrown out of England for stirring up trouble and another girl…I can’t remember her name, but she is as interesting a character as the others, I just can’t recall her name! She is the wealthy daughter of British royalty. The four meet up on the ship and they are characters you can care about, all the while thinking about what is coming ahead for them on the high seas.

Music of the ‘Roaring Twenties’!

Richelle

The Roaring Twenties, as we’ve christened them conjure images of smoky jazz clubs, illegal gin joints, and the hustle and bustle of thousands moving into cities for the first time.  If you’re anything like me and spend most of your time living in a time period other than the current era, you might imagine yourself sitting at a small corner table for two while a trumpet blares on stage and a glamorous woman laments over her love life.

Personally, I would take this over a crowded coffee shop surrounded by people all speaking on their iPhones at the top of their lungs to be heard over the blender.

In this case, I prescribe some choice tunes from the 1920s to mellow out your day and carry your blues away.

Louis Armstrong 

A list of music from the 1920s wouldn’t be complete without the addition of Louis Armstrong.  Easily one of the most popular, if not the most popular jazz musician of the decade, Armstrong’s music is capable of cutting through modern inconveniences and transporting the listener to the previously mentioned jazz club.

 

Vintage Music

If you’re looking for a summary of exactly what the 1920’s were about, this is the CD for you.  It has everything from the Broadway hits which became a phenomenon at the time, to the jazz standards which captivated the nation.

 

Sweet Sixteenths : A Ragtime Concert

If you’re in the mood to put on your dancing shoes and break out in the biggest dance craze to happen since the ‘Party Shuffle’, then pick up this CD and experience the phenomena of ragtime!  Particularly ‘The Charleston’ which became so sensational that one man did it for 22 hours straight to break a world record!  (This is not a Sewickley Public Library item.)

 

Back to back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges play the blues.

Though recorded in the 1960s, this CD conjured up the iconic feeling of 1920s freedom of expression and the new modern society in which people were free to explore art and emotion. (This is not a Sewickley Public Library item.)

 

The Roaring Twenties

For a comprehensive look at the music of this magical decade, you’ve arrived at the right place!  This series of CDs will lead you through the nostalgic and beautiful music of the 1920s! (This is not a Sewickley Public Library item.)

 

Look out next week for a musical spot light on the 1930s!

The 1920s – DVDs

Richelle

Here you’ll find a selection of Feature Films and Documentaries. Some of them were filmed during the Roaring Twenties but the majority are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

Click on the titles to be taken to the Library’s Online Catalog.

The Artist – In late-1920s Hollywood, as Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he makes an intense connection with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break. As one career declines, another flourishes, and by channeling elements of A Star Is Born and Singing in the Rain, The Artist tells the engaging story with humor, melodrama, romance, and–most importantly–silence. (2012, 101min, PG-13)

Enchanted April – London, the 1920s. Lottie and Rose are two married women who share the misery of empty marriages and decide to rent an Italian castle for the spring to get away. In order to save money, they advertise for two other women to join them. (1992, 93min, PG)

The Emergence of Modern America. Roaring Twenties – Explores the enormous social and cultural changes of the 1920s, an era of prosperity, rapid industrialization, social experimentation, and artistic renaissance. (2003, 30min, NR)

The Godfather Part 2 – In the early 1900s, the young Vito flees Sicily for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy. There he kills the local Black Hand Fanucci after he demands his customary cut of the tyro’s business. With Fanucci gone, Vito’s stature grows. (1974, 200min, R)

The Grand – Set in Manchester during the 1920’s, John and Sarah Bannerman have labored at great expense to re-open this magnificent hotel. But their excitement is short-lived. While the Grand has no trouble attracting guests, it also seems to have vacancy for trouble. Now the hotel and its staff face homicide, financial ruin, infidelity and foreclosure. And that’s before the doors open. (2000, 401min, NR)

The Great Gatsby – Returning from the battlefields of World War I, an impoverished young soldier learns the love of his life has married into a wealthy family and moved to Long Island’s Gold Coast. Obsessed with rekindling their romance, he reinvents himself as the mysteriously prosperous Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties at his mansion– and waits for his chance. But when that chance comes, it comes at a price as terrible as it is inevitable. (2000, 100min, NR)

The Informer – The scene is Dublin, 1922. Gypo Nolan stumbles through a foggy Irish night, his brain pickled in whiskey and his soul tormented by shame and fear. Gypo is an informer, a turncoat who betrayed his friend to the British police for 20 pounds. Now he can’t spend the money fast enough, nor can he run from his treachery fast enough as he brawls, brags, swaggers and lies his way toward his fate. (1935, 92min, NR)

The Jazz Singer – The melodramatic story of a Jewish cantor’s son who aspires to be a jazz singer, despite his father’s strenuous objections. (1927, 96min, NR)

Let the Bullets Fly – Set in China during the warring 1920s, notorious bandit chief Zhang descends upon a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, an identity that he had hijacked from Old Tang, who was a small-time imposter. Bent on making a fast buck, Zhang soon meets his match in the tyrannical local gentry Huang as a deadly battle of wit and brutality ensues. (2012, 132min, NR)

The Painted Veil – Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth. (2007, 125min, PG-13)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – A teacher in a 1920’s Scottish girls’ school captivates her students with her fascist ideals and free-thinking attitude. (2004, 115min, PG)

Singin’ in the Rain – An affectionate spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the motion picture industry in the late 1920s during the change over from silent films to sound. This title has been repackaged. (1951, 120min, NR)

Swingin’ Uptown – In the 1920s, African-American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary flourished in Harlem, in uptown New York City. This cultural movement, which redefined African-American expression, became known as the Harlem Renaissance. (2003, 41min, NR)

Their Eyes Were Watching God – A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford’s search for happiness leads her through several different marriages, challenging the mores of her small town. (2005, 113min, TV14)

Wodehouse Playhouse – A collection of the short stories of P.G. Wodehouse, dramatized by David Climie. Many of the stories, set in the 1920s and 1930s. (2010, 210min, NR)