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Baby Boomers Guide
For Your DVD Family Portrait
This is a baby boomers guide to the years 1947 to 1964.
It is my assumption that most everyone who is interested in making
a DVD family portrait was born between those years,
the baby boomer generation.
Below is a Video Clip from my own DVD movie that represents
a baby boomer growing up in the 50's.
My complete one hour DVD family movie is available upon request.
Contact Bruce Pittman
In clearing some of the mists of the time, to jog your memory to make notes for your DVD family portrait, I’ve put together the following web pages to assist in your own historical research about the events and personalities that may have shaped your life.
Using historical material can better explain
to your children the times in which you grew up.
Every life is a story
and history has a place in that story.
But let’s first go back beyond our generation into
some of the key signposts of…
Our Parents' and Grandparents' Generation
If you would like to visit the recommended websites for further information,
simply click on the underlined word.
You'll go directly to an interesting website.
To return, simply click on the upper left back arrow on the website and you’ll return to the DVD family portrait website.
The Great War 1914-1918
This was the end of the Victorian Age and any idea of glory in battle.
Modern weaponry and trench warfare saw to that.I recommend the documentary series The 1st World War narrated by distinguished actor Robert Ryan.
The Pulitzer Prize winning book by Barbara W. Tuchman entitled
The Guns Of August is one of the best books on the era. Notable films are the silent classics The Big Parade directed by King Vidor and Wings directed by William Wellman.
Winner of the first Oscar
for Best Picture.
In the sound era there are The Fighting 69th starring James Cagney; Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper in an Oscar winning role and Stanley Kubrick's 1957 classic Paths of Glory starring Kirk Douglas. The above books and films are available at
www.amazon.ca
The Roaring 20’s
Prohibition and
Al Capone
come to mind and so too the silent movie stars:
Charlie Chaplin,
Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks,
Greta Garbo
Buster Keaton and Rudolph Valentino.
The Great Depression
Photo By Dorothea LangeWhen I grew up in the 50’s the phrase “finish your food” was my parents’ way of talking about the Depression.
It shaped their lives and, in turn, mine and perhaps yours as well. Their escape in the 30’s was the movies from Busby Berkley musicals to the MGM classic
The Wizard of Oz.
They all reflected the need to rise above the reality of those terrible economic times.Radio was king in households and those classic shows are a lost art.
One thinks of Orson Welles’
War of the Worlds
which panicked a nation. Franklin Roosevelt’s “all we have to fear is fear itself” speech reflected the times in which our parents and grandparents grew up.
Those words also seem apt for the present times. Remember – the only things new are the history you don’t know.I recommend Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize winning book
No Ordinary Time as a superb biography of
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
The Depression also produced movies that have stood the test of time and are signposts for our generation through TV and home video.Here’s a list of a few recommended classics.The Adventures of Robin Hood
A glorious Technicolor adventure starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland.Gone With The Wind
Maybe the greatest "Hollywood" production starring the "King" Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
A film reflecting the times brilliantly directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart in probably his finest performance.
Stagecoach
The John Ford classic which made John Wayne a star.Gunga Din
George Stevens directed this grand adventure film starring Cary Grant.
All these films can be purchased at
www.amazon.ca
All of the vintage movie posters are available at
ca.movieposter.com/
For a review of the music of the 30's visit
The Swing Era
or go to my
Music Web Pages.
World War II
The affects are still felt. From the Blitz on London, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, Dresden, Hiroshima to the Holocaust and the Nuremberg trials.
The books, movies and documentaries are endless, but here are a few of my favorites that best capture the times.
Books
Hitler by John Toland
Inside The 3rd Reich by Albert Speer
The Second World War by Martin Gilbert
D-Day by Stephen Ambrose
The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan
Montgomery by Nigel Hamilton
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan
The Last Hundred Days by John Toland
Churchill by Martin Gilbert
At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange
Nuremberg by Joseph Persico
Documentaries
The World At War
A meticulous 26 hour documentary narrated by Laurence Olivier.Night and Fog
A harrowing documentary on the Holocaust by Alain Resnais.
Movies
Best Years of Our Lives
The story of 3 American soldiers returning home. One of the great films of all-time directed by William Wyler.
Winner of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture.The Story of GI Joe
Portraying the writings of war correspondent Ernie Pyle, William Wellman directed one of the most realistic views of war.
It made Robert Mitchum a star.Bridge on The River Kwai
David Lean’s masterpiece on the madness of war. It won a Best Picture Oscar and an acting Oscar for Alec Guinness.The Bridge
A brilliant German film on the last days of the war and a bridge defended by teenaged German soldiers.The Longest Day
The epic film about D-Day. Large scale and accurate.Saving Private Ryan
Steven Speilberg’s ultra realistic recreation of D-Day and events after.Judgment At Nuremberg
A beautifully written and acted courtroom drama that portrays the morality and politics of war in Nazi German. Maximillian Schell won an Oscar for his portrayal of a German defense councilor.Band of Brothers
Based on Stephen Ambrose’s book, it tells the epic true story of E company, 506th regiment, 101st Airborne from D-Day to war’s end.All the above can be purchased at www.amazon.com.On the lighter side of those years, images and personalities abound. The pinups –
Rita Hayworth
and Betty Grable; the home front baseball heroics of
Joe Di Maggio
and Ted Williams; the comedians Bob Hope and Bing Crosby; to Bogart in
Casablanca.
And, of course, the film considered by many as the greatest ever made –
Citizen Kane.
Then there was Frank Sinatra and the Bobby-Soxers. Go to my
Music Web Pages
for more information or visit
The Big Band Era
Post War and The Babyboomer Generation
For a detailed look, year by year, go to my following web pages.
1947-1949
1950-1955
1956-1959
1960-1964
The post war through 1960 was an era of prosperity with the underlying tension of The Cold War and the Atomic Bomb.
Here’s a few key events and names that may spark your memories in making your DVD family portrait. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Joseph McCarthy, The Korean War, Mickey Mantle, Rocket Richard, Jackie Robinson.
Civil Rights in the names Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and Little Rock. And finally the holy trinity of cultural icons
James Dean,
Marilyn Monroe
and
Elvis Presley
The best book on the era is The Fifties by David Halberstam –
a fascinating read.A good documentary is the Trinity & Beyond: The A-Bomb Movie narrated by William Shatner. Another is The Murrow Years, a package of the best shows by pioneer broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. The four hour PBS documentary Eisenhower gives new insight into the man and the era. My recommendations for movies that best reflect the post war years and the 50’s are…The Wild One
The first motorcycle and youth rebellion movie starring Marlon Brando.High Noon
Fred Zinneman’s classic western starring Gary Cooper that was an allegory for the McCarthy era.Shane
Another classic western starring Alan Ladd and
directed by George Stevens.Rebel Without A Cause
The classic James Dean movie about troubled youthGiant
George Stevens’ epic story of Texas and intolerance.The Defiant Ones
A black convict, Sydney Portier and a white convict, Tony Curtis, escape prison chained together.
Unless they reach racial understanding, they are doomed.The Searchers
Probably John Wayne’s greatest performance and John Ford’s greatest western.All these films and TV shows are available at
www.amazon.ca
The advent of the mass use of television created an endless list of shows.
I’ll only mention three. The Honeymooners
With Jackie Gleason and Art CarneyI Love Lucy
With Lucille Ball and Desi ArnazSgt. Bilko
With Phil SilversAnd of course the
Era of Rock & Roll.
For more information go to my
Music Web Pages.
The 60's and Beyond
All the cultural and political bombs that exploded in this decade were laid in the 50’s, but they had a profound affect on all of us.Think of
Kennedy's assassination;
the Civil Rights Movement and the life, words and death of Martin Luther King; Vietnam and President Johnson; the Race to the Moon and Nixon and Watergate.
And the music of The Sixties. Think of movies like Dr. Strangelove, Cool Hand Luke, The Magnificent Seven, Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch and 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is much to learn from a look at the politics and culture of the 20th century. Now go to the year-by-year look at the baby boomer generation for
more ideas for your DVD family portrait.
1947-1949
1950-1955
1956-1959
1960-1964
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