'The Cradle Will Rock: The Movie and The Moment,' by Tim Robbins. With dialogue and lyrics from Marc Blitzstein's 'The Cradle Will Rock.' Foreward by Paul Newman. Published by Newmarket Press. Copyright 2000, ISBN: 1-55704-399-X. First Edition.
The Moment: 1937. While Hitler dress rehearses the Holocaust in Europe, Americans face their seventh year of the Great Depression. Social unrest boils over into frequent sit-down strikes and bloody confrontations between hungry workers and management. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs - providing jobs to millions in construction, public works, and the arts - are in full swing. But not everyone approves of FDR's tax-soaking, "Socialist" agenda. Of particular concern to conservatives is the Federal Theatre Project, headed by Hallie Flanagan, which lands at the center of a storm of controversy over its "Communist-inspired" productions.
The Movie: A fast-paced, rollicking romp through the events surrounding the final, emotionally wrought days of the FTP when Orson Welles and John Houseman staged a renegade production of Marc Blitzstein's proletariat musical 'The Cradle Will Rock,' which became one of America's greatest moments in the history of American theater. Written and directed by Tim Robbins, it is supported by an extraordinary cast including: Hank Azaria as Marc Blitzstein; Cherry Jones as Hallie Flanagan; Phillip Baker Hall as Gray Mathers; Vanessa Redgrave as Countess La Grange; Susan Sarandon as Margherita Sarfatti; John Turturro as Aldo Silvano; Emily Watson as Olive Stanton; Angus Macfadyen as Orson Welles; Cary Elwes as John Houseman; John Cusack as Nelson Rockefeller; Bill Murray as Tommy Crickshaw; Joan Cusack as Hazel Huffman; John Carpenter as William Randolph Hearst; Jamey Sheridan as John Adair; Ruben Blades as Diego Rivera; and Daniel Jenkins as Will Geer.
The Book: The Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook captures the pace, excitement and color of the movie experience - but provides greater detail about the historical and cultural context in which these amazing events took place. In accessible prose, it explores the psychological split in this country over New Deal policies, the uneasy relationship between corporate power and the arts; forces of Communism and Fascism abroad and their influence on workers here; and the connection between a struggling Europe preparing for war and industrial opportunism in America.
Included in the book are the complete shooting script, an introduction by Paul Newman, and notes on the making of the film by Tim Robbins; thirty illuminating historical sidebars that reveal the real history of the events depicted in the film; more than 120 illustrations - over 70 in full color - including 34 archival photos and 115 movie stills and behind-the-scenes photos; and commentary from principal cast members. |
