I'm An American Day 1941 -- The Dangerous Days

Recorded Sound | Digitized | RG Number: RG-91.0056

Overview

Description: On May 17, 1941, Maurice Evans reenacts "The Dangerous Days," a play based on the writings of the American poet Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman (Maurice Evans) comes home and burns his poems after having been rejected by his publisher. Democracy (Sophia Stewart) tells Whitman to speak of the democratic poem in his heart. She reveals that only he can see the future, hear in her spirit and speak her thoughts. The spirit admits America is the currently alone in democracy but other countries are preparing. She emphatically requests Whitman to shutdown any doubters and invoke her words in his poems. Whitman begins to speak of seeing immigrants arriving and leaving, foreign offspring, urban development, migrants working and foreign-born success. Democracy warns of men and possible war. She says one country must lead and Whitman agrees it must be America. Together, they compose a poem of Americans singing and being prosperous. Democracy asks Whitman to take notes and tell the future America what it must do. Whitman tells the patriotic spirit if one is destroyed they both are lost. The special dramatic broadcast closes with Whitman calling upon the fighting spirit of pioneers.
Date: Broadcast: 1941 May 17
Format: WAV

Physical Details

Language: English
Genre/Form: Radio broadcasts.

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: This archival media can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations.
Copyright: NBC Universal
Conditions on Use: Contact NBC Universal at www.nbcuniarchives.com for permission to duplicate and use this film or sound recording.

Administrative Notes

Legal Status: In process
Recorded Sound Provenance: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased digital copies of these sound recordings from the Library of Congress in March 2018.
Recorded Sound Notes: More information about Maurice Evans:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0263052/bio
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/14/obituaries/maurice-evans-stage-actor-dies-at-87.html
http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/beography-me.htm
http://gayinfluence.blogspot.com/2012/01/maurice-evans.html

More information about I’M AN AMERICAN:
https://www.uscis.gov/history-and-genealogy/our-history/historians-mailbox/im-american
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/16/557338355/im-an-american-radio-show-promoted-inclusion-before-world-war-ii

Bio: Maurice Evans was born on June 3, 1901 in Dorchester, England. He was raised in London. His father was a justice of the peace who moonlighted as a playwright. His father’s adaptations of Thomas Hardy novels fostered his love of acting and provided him with this earliest stage appearances. During his youth, Maurice also sang with London's St. Andrew's choir as a boy tenor. He made his professional stage debut in London in 1926 in the production of Sweeney Todd. After well-received performances in a number of other plays in London, he landed a season at the Old Vic during 1934-1935, where he first starred in William Shakespeare's King Richard II. In 1935, the talented actor made his American stage debut in New York when he appeared opposite Katharine Cornell in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Evans went on to star in "Man and Superman," "Dial M for Murder," "Bewitched," "Batman" and many other films. He was proclaimed "the finest actor of our time.” Evans is still considered, by many, to be one of the greatest interpreters of Shakespeare's works ever to grace the stage.
Recorded Sound Source: Library of Congress - Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS)

Record last modified:: 2024-02-21 07:27:10
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn620836

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Also in "I'm An American" NBC radio broadcasts

I’M AN AMERICAN premiered in 1940 on the eve of WWII. The NBC radio broadcast was spearheaded by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Labor to foster a “deeper consciousness of the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship and more tolerance for fellow american of all birthplaces”. The weekly program featured distinguished foreign-born citizens discussing their naturalization process, the meaning of “democracy” and reminding all Americans of the value/privilege of U.S. citizenship. Sound recordings of I’M AN AMERICAN are available from the NBC Radio Collection in the Library of Congress.

Date: 1940-1944

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I'm An American Day 1941 -- The Dangerous Days

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