Year: 2022

288: What’s Up, Doc?

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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Playlist:

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


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.

287: An Eight-Minute Tidbit

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.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Medley of music by Johann Strauss, Jr.
Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force 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.

286: Unwinding Versailles

Mark Podcast

German foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath. (Photo: Bundesarchiv.)

When Adolf Hitler first became chancellor, German foreign policy didn’t change much for the first two years, as Hitler was focused on securing his domestic political position.

This began to change in 1935, when Germany publicly acknowledged that it was rebuilding its army and air forces beyond the levels permitted in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, and in spring of 1936, moved German soldiers into the Rhineland.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Fantasie” from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine 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.

285: The Night of the Long Knives

Mark Podcast

August Schneidhuber, head of the Munich SA, was one of the first victims of the Night of the Long Knives.

Adolf Hitler spent the first year and a half of his chancellorship increasing and consolidating his power.

In the summer of 1934, he unleashed the “Night of the Long Knives” campaign of murders of people he deemed a threat to his rule. Most of them were his own supporters, including conservative allies and the leadership of the SA “brownshirts.”

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Funeral March” from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine 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.

284: The Bomber Will Always Get Through

Mark Podcast

Begun in 1933 ostensibly as a project to design a new passenger airliner, the Heinkel-111 became the backbone of the Luftwaffe bomber force.

Even before Adolf Hitler became chancellor, it was an open secret that Germany was violating the limits on its military set by the Treaty of Versailles. After Hitler became chancellor, Germany began a massive rearmament campaign.

These developments concerned the French and the British. The French began building the Maginot Line and the British beefed up the RAF, although it was widely believed at the time that it would be virtually impossible to defend against a bomber attack.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Pomp and Circumstance No. 4
Composed in 1907 by Edward Elgar. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Army Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Le Chant du Départ”
Composed in 1794 by Étienne M. Méhul and Marie-Joseph Chénier. Public domain.
Performed by Wikipedia user AverynNqdieve, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License. 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.

283: Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?

Mark Podcast

Seal of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Apart from the New Deal programs meant to put people to work and get the economy moving, the Roosevelt Administration also moved to restore confidence in banking and in the stock market.

And even after the banks reopened, they still weren’t selling gold for dollars. Was the US still on the gold standard? No, as it turns out, and in fact Americans will be barred from owning gold until 1974.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Blues for Mundy“
Composed by Rick Whitehead. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note. Public domain recording. Source.

“A Bird in a Gilded Cage“
Composed by Arthur J. Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer. Public domain.

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.

282: One Hundred Days

Mark Podcast

This period editorial cartoon makes light of the proliferation of new Federal agencies with three-letter abbreviations during the early months of the Roosevelt Administration.

Once Roosevelt was sworn in, he and his Cabinet set to work to end the US banking crisis. A week later, the crisis was over.

Roosevelt took advantage of the swell of public support and goodwill his successful management of the banking crisis had earned him to forge ahead with Federal job and relief programs to alleviate the suffering caused by the Great Depression.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Panama“
Composed in 1912 by William Henry Tyers. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Heritage of America 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.

281: Fear Itself

Mark Podcast

Franklin Roosevelt takes the oath of office, March 4, 1933.

Franklin Roosevelt was elected President on November 8, 1932, but owing to the United States’ unusually long transition period, he would not be sworn into office until March 4, 1933, a transition period of 116 days.

Typically, US Presidential transitions are slow but dignified affairs. But in this case, the US faced a new banking crisis worsening by the day, while lame duck President Hoover did everything in his power to dissuade the President-elect from proceeding with the program he had promised during the campaign.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Smooth as Silk

“Hail to the Chief”
Composed in 1812 by James Sanderson. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy 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.

280: A New Deal

Mark Podcast

In the governor’s mansion, New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt follows the proceedings of the 1932 Democratic National Convention on the radio.

Almost as soon as he had been elected Governor of New York, Franklin Roosevelt was regarded as the favorite for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination.

The US economic situation continued to worsen throughout 1932, even as some of the other major economies were beginning to improve. When the US Army attacked protesting veterans in Washington, a change in administration became all but inevitable.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“The Star-Spangled Banner“
Composed in 1814 by Francis Scott Key, music by John Stafford Smith. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“At the Jazz Band Ball”
Composed in 1917 by Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Coast Guard Band Dixieland Jazz Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Down by the Riverside” 
Traditional. Public domain.


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.

279: Persistent Experimentation

Mark Podcast

New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt shakes hands with his predecessor, Al Smith.

In 1921, Franklin Roosevelt had already served as a state senator in New York, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and been the 1920 Democratic candidate for Vice President, a pretty good résumé for someone who was not yet forty years old.

But that summer, Roosevelt contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. Most people would have said his career was over. But he—and his wife Eleanor—thought otherwise.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Clarinet Marmalade
Composed in 1918 by Larry Shields and Henry Ragas. Public domain.
Performed by the Dixie Players of the United States Air Force Heritage of America 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.