290: The Second New Deal

July 31, 2022July 24, 2022 Mark Podcast

President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act in 1935. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins stands behind him and to the right.

The first electoral test of Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration was the 1934 mid-term election, and it was a resounding vote of confidence.

Afterward, Roosevelt would promote another set of new programs, the Second New Deal.

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Shenandoah”
Traditional. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Academy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

289: The War of Thirst

July 24, 2022 Mark Podcast

Period map, showing the region between Paraguay and Bolivia as “disputed area.” (Map: Rand McNally)

When the nations of Spanish South America won their independence from Spain, they were left with a number of boundary disputes with one another, and with Portuguese Brazil.

During the 19th century, it took negotiation, and a few wars, to sort out those disputes. By the early twentieth century, only one border question remained unsettled: the Chaco Boreal, claimed by both Paraguay and Bolivia. In 1932, they would go to war over the territory.

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

“National Anthem of Paraguay”
Unknown composer. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

288: What’s Up, Doc?

July 17, 2022July 10, 2022 Mark Podcast

Ad for “What’s Up, Doc?” (1950). (Image: Warner Bros.)

Animator Walt Disney was among the first to embrace the use of sound in an animated film, in 1929’s Steamboat Willie.

The effect was remarkable. Sound did even more to enhance animation than it did for live-action film. Soon after, Disney was the first to make use of full-color animation. By 1940, animated short films were an established, and popular, medium of entertainment.

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Transcript.

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture from Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
Composed in 1816 by Gioachino Rossini. Public domain.
Performed by The Davis High School Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

287: An Eight-Minute Tidbit

July 10, 2022 Mark Podcast

In this still from “Felix Goes to Hollywood” (1923), Felix the Cat shows off his Charles Chaplin impersonation, while a disapproving Chaplin looks on.

Animated drawings, in the forms of flip books and zoetropes, were already familiar to Westerners in the late 19th century.

The introduction of silent motion pictures made possible silent animated films, but the large number of individual drawings needed to make even a short animated film was daunting. In the early years of the medium, its pioneers focused on methods for streamlining the process and reducing the artistic labor required.