ARENA: WOODY GUTHRIE (TV)
Summary
One in this innovative arts series. This program profiles influential American folk singer Woody Guthrie.
Born in the small town of Okemah, Oklahoma on July 14th, 1912, Woody Guthrie’s life as one of a well-to-do oil family was soon cut short by tragedy. His mother suffered from a degenerative neurological disease, Huntington’s disease, which drove her into an insane asylum and eventually to her death. His older sister Clara killed herself by setting herself on fire, and drove his father into grief and destitution. The family became so impoverished in the 1920’s that the children were forced to leave and become adopted by other families. In 1936 Guthrie joined the Pampa Jr. Chamber of Commerce Band, where he proved to be a major influence on his fellow performers. It was during this time that he began to develop his distinctive musical style. He is noted for his use of the harmonica and a rough, highly complex guitar style which suited his ballads. Despite his friendships with his fellow performers, he was usually silent about the issues in his personal life, such as his mother’s debilitating illness.
1936 was also the year that Guthrie left his wife and children and started travelling around the country, and he would never truly settle down. He travelled via train and truck, and his music began to reflect the experiences that he and countless others experienced in America at that time: the Dust Bowl, the ravages of the Great Depression, and the problems faced by migrant workers from the Midwest, looking to make a living in California after their lands had been destroyed. Guthrie wanted his music to become emblematic of these people, since he had suffered many of the same hardships and “made his own life into a myth.” He joined his cousin Jack Guthrie on a radio program in Los Angeles; his Oklahoma-style blues was popular among many migrant workers. He worked to become a “spokesman” for these migrant workers in the wake of the disasters they suffered, especially after violence broke out from native Californians who resented their presence, an issue highlighted in Guthrie’s song “Pastures of Plenty.”
Guthrie’s most famous song, “This Land is Your Land,” was originally entitled “God Blessed America,” and was an expression of his particular brand of patriotism. The original version of the song contained two verses of a more politically charged content, talking about bread lines and the ills of private property. In New York City, Guthrie performed with a left-wing intellectual music group called The Almanac Singers, who believed that folk music was a true representation of the American people. He and fellow folk singer Pete Seeger worked together in the 1940’s; both of them were communists, believing that they were actively doing something to combat class inequality and the other social ills of the time. Guthrie was noted as having “a sense of his own destiny” and importance, although those who worked with him described his real-life persona as abrasive, offensive, and insulting. When Guthrie was asked to compose songs in honor of the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington, he wrote a number of songs in tribute to the working class of America, whom he felt a special kinship with.
In New York, Guthrie had a second wife, Marjorie Mazia, with whom he had a young daughter. He left both of them to serve in the Merchant Marines in World War II. His friend and fellow Merchant Marine Jimmy Longhi recounts how Guthrie saved his life when their ship was sinking after it ran into an undersea mine. He also recounts that Guthrie rarely showed any kind of emotional reaction to anything, except when his daughter with Mazia burned to death, which affected him greatly. The entire Guthrie family was marred by tragedy: a number of his children and siblings died from accidents or disease at young ages. At the age of forty, Guthrie began to suffer symptoms of Huntington’s disease, genetically passed on from his mother. Even as his music enjoyed a new surge of popularity amongst young people, his health deteriorated and he spent years confined to a hospital, where he gradually lost the use of his mental faculties. Eventually he became unable to speak or perform even basic motions. Despite his condition and eventual death in 1967, his influence was strongly felt among musicians like Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Jack Elliott, and his musical style and representation of the common folk resound into the modern day.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC Two
- DATE: January 8, 1988 9:25 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:06:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:18037
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arts documentaries
- SERIES RUN: BBC - TV series, 1975-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Anthony Wall … Executive Producer
- Nigel Finch … Executive Producer
- Paul Lee … Director
- Alan Lomax … Interviewee
- Arlo Guthrie … Interviewee
- Matt Jennings … Interviewee
- Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon … Interviewee
- Mary Guthrie Boyle … Interviewee
- Pete Seeger … Interviewee
- Ronnie Gilbert … Interviewee
- Arthur Stern … Interviewee
- Jimmy Longhi … Interviewee
- Harold Leventhal … Interviewee
- Jack Elliott … Interviewee
- Bob Dylan
- Jack Guthrie
- Woody Guthrie
- Marjorie Mazia
- Brownie McGhee
- Blind Sonny Terry