I don't know a lot about Roosevelt's WPA program but it sure seems cool.
This past Saturday we did one of those things you plan on doing before you move, but never do. There's a million great things to see in the Bay Area, but as permanent residents, we've barely taken the time to be tourists. This weekend we finally hit Coit Tower. I really got into the murals in the lobby. It took 26 artists 6 months. I like how consistent their work is, yet it's easy to see that the work was created by different artists. Different brush strokes, different line styles, differently shaped faces.
In one of the little paragraphs that described the history of the work, they mentioned that some of the work had to be changed because of some potentially pro-communist imagery.
It seems so funny to think of those times. Those cold war James Bond & various war movies where the Commies were our enemies. There should be a VH1 special - "The Commies. Where are they now?". I guess they traded in those big furry hats for turbans.It's nice that we haven't had to face more than one major enemy at a time in the last 60 years. We're lucky the Taliban & the communists never hooked up.
Anyhow, you should check out the 2000 Tim Robbins film "Cradle Will Rock". It's a great film, and a good commentary on how our fear of the Red Scare affected the WPA Theatre Project, as well as Diego Rivera's mural in Rockefeller Center.
