When I was a boy, radio was a medium which we
generally used for entertainment and rarely to “catch up on the news.” Television was still in its infancy (we
received three stations in North Lewisburg).
CNN, Internet, cell phones, and texting were a long, long way off in the
future.
We depended upon our daily newspapers (the Urbana Daily Citizen, the Springfield News-Sun, and primarily the Columbus Dispatch), which were distributed from
house-to-house by newspaper boys like myself to keep abreast of what was
happening in the world. Additionally, we
went to the local movie theater not simply to be entertained; we went to be
informed.
Even our small North Lewisburg theater had a full
bill of information to disseminate each evening. The program started off with previews of
coming attractions…those sight and sound bites which stirred up our interests
and encouraged us to attend the next major movie event. These previews were generally followed by a
cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Tom and Jerry, or other
comic characters we had come to know and love.
There might also be an informative “short,” or documentary…a bit of
fluff to help us eventually walk out of the theater with some “learning.”
And before the main feature, there was always a
short, grainy, black and white newsreel which reviewed the highlights of the
week’s events from around the world. This
short film was our access to the rest of the world…moving pictures which helped
us to know and understand what was happening.
A single newsreel usually played all week, until it was replaced by a
newer edition at the start of the next week.
I vividly recall those weekly excursions into the
world outside our town. Stories of war
(the Korean War was in full-swing at this time), natural disasters like floods
and severe weather, and economic woes like the wholesale slaughter and burial
of diseased cattle filled the silver screen with glimpses of reality.
One week in February 1952 there was a short newsreel
about King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England who had taken time off from
their daily routines to say farewell to their daughter, the Princess Elizabeth,
and her husband Phillip. The young
couple was headed out to the far reaches of the British Empire to “show the
flag,” so to speak. George VI, although
he was ill from lung cancer (he had recently lost a lung to surgery), wanted to
take this occasion to say goodbye to his oldest daughter.
The reader can click on this link to go to YouTube
to see this historic newsreel:
Now why, out of all of the newsreels of this time
period which are available, did I select this one to feature in this “Along
Spain Creek” blog? There are a few
reasons: Firstly, I remember this
newsreel “like it was yesterday.” The
images and the message have stayed with me over these many years since I sat in
that aisle seat in the old theater. Secondly, this newsreel was a prelude to the
one which followed the next week, when it was suddenly and dramatically
announced that King George VI had died unexpectedly. Thirdly, it was a prelude to the ascension of
Elizabeth II to the throne of Great Britain on February 6, 1952.
Anyone who truly knows me understands that I am an
American patriot to the core. I believe
wholeheartedly in our system of government, a Constitutional Republic. The blood of Revolutionary War veterans
courses through my veins. I have no love
of aristocracy or class.
Yet I must admit that Queen Elizabeth II, as she
enters her 60th year as monarch of Great Britain, has been “a class
act.” As an ambulance driver during the
harrowing days of World War II, she served her country with honor and
distinction. As Queen, she has served as
the focal point of the rich heritage which is the British Commonwealth of
Nations. While outrageous behavior and
scandals have brought negative press to the royal family, Elizabeth II has for
the most part stood above it. She has
given her heart, her soul, and her very life to her nation and her people.
So, while sitting in that old theater, looking at
the then-current newsreel of the events which transpired in early February 1952, with
no knowledge of what would happen the following week, those of us who were watching...your parents, your friends, myself and perhaps even you...became parties to
history. And isn’t that life?
