Swing Out, Sweet Land

...and yes, it was theme park quality song-and-dance, variety show with a history outline. But it was not meant to be anything else. It was entertainment. PBS has done more "serious" in-depth, and well-researched history TV documentaries in later years as have the History channel, A & E, etc. But please note that these are just as much entertainment for audiences, otherwise the ratings wouldn't be there, the audience would not be there, and the motivation for the makers (at least enough money to live on) would not be there to make them. I remember this and others like it fondly, perhaps through rose-colored glasses of remembrance. But I also remember (and I don't know why this has stuck in my strange memory) that when it came to a Civil War section some mention was made of current racial unrest and the continuing themes of equality.

I would enjoy seeing it again if only for a glimpse of the celebrities that are gone and seeing a time when such did not hesitate to say patriotic things for fear of being hissed at.

Even those who aren't fans of John Wayne would probably still enjoy this series of vignettes that Wayne narrates almost like the Stage Manager in "Our Town," stepping from era to era through a few centuries of American history. Wayne had been burned in his earliest foray into television nearly two decades earlier: Making a guest appearance on a variety show in 1953 while his movie "Hondo" was in theatres, he was supposed to act like he didn't know why the audience was reacting, and then every time he turned around he'd press a button in his pants and a sign on his back would light up to say "Hondo." The indignity of the appearance embarrassed him enough so that, except for rare guest appearances on shows like "I Love Lucy," Wayne avoided television for most of the next 20 years. "Swing Out, Sweet Land" gave him a chance to show his unabashed red-white-and-blue sentiments and to feel far more comfortable in front of the television cameras.

Still, although it's an enjoyable and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek television special, sticking to many of the clichés of the American history genre, it's also very much a curio of its era -- when you could spend a couple of hours recounting those clichés as history, and also present them by featuring a raft of then-current celebrities often doing their own shtick as a counterpoint to the history -- Jack Benny (of course!) finding the silver dollar that Washington threw across the Delaware; Roy Clark as a banjo player at Andy Jackson's funeral; even Rowan and Martin as the Wright Brothers! You won't find the kind of insight that Ken Burns puts forth on his PBS series, certainly . . . and, as history, perhaps its most poignant feature is realizing just how many of the folks who were well-known at that time (like Wayne himself, Benny, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Greg Morris, and even Ricky Nelson) are themselves already gone.

I remember this from I was eleven years old watching it on TV. It would be great to have this available on tape or DVD. A very patriotic show - all historic figures were presented as larger than life, but it was all in good fun. Running across this entry has brought back some good memories.

The fact John Wayne comes out and says these tales are "tongue in cheek" goes a long way in these vignettes about America. He admits that some times settlers did not behave correctly, which is nice. Some stereotypes are hard to watch, but we need to remember that 50 years ago what was acceptable may not be acceptable today. The jokes are funny/corny, the tales are fun to watch, and the songs are good to sing along to.

I find it interesting that in 1970 there were people protesting (some of whom are on this variety show) but they still came together with the conservatives like Wayne, Ball, and Ann-Margaret to celebrate America in song, dance, and jokes. Today, it seems people are too firmly identified as "pro" or "con" to come together to celebrate the idea of America. Yet this shows it can be done, there is room for moderates in this world.

We can still be proud.

I remember this program from it's original airing on network television and have tried for years to find it on video tape (and now DVD). I hope at some point TPTB realize what a true American treasure this is and arrange for it's sale or at the least re-airing for the general public.