American Classics

During the war, when the weekly magazine Yank decided to run a regular pin-up girl feature, Secretary of War Henry Stimson's wife nearly nixed the proposition. Says interviewee Jim Peterson (author of The Century of Sex), "fortunately, hornier heads prevailed," and the most popular pin-up girl achieved the iconic status denoting an American classic: Betty Grable, the Technicolor blonde. Hosted by Dick Clark, the four-part American Classics, originally airing on The History Channel, offers an entertaining and illuminating survey of people, places and things that have become permanent fixtures in the American psyche. In addition to Betty Grable (and her hard-working WWII counterpart, Rosie the Riveter), the opening volume, "Defining a Nation," looks at the Statue of Liberty, George Washington (particularly Gilbert Stuart's unfinished portrait that ended up on our dollar bill), Uncle Sam (widely considered to be based on a New York businessman named Samuel Wilson), the American cowboy (a largely mythological figure created by William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill), Main Street (of which there are 542 in Illinois alone), Woolworth's department store, Quaker Oats, and more. Subsequent volumes ("America in Motion," "America Transformed: 1950-2000" and "Let Us Entertain You") look at a wide range of topics, including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Levittown, the TV dinner, Ozzie & Harriet, the drive-in, and Harley Davidson motorcycles, among others. Combining cogent commentary from scholars with nostalgic archival footage, American Classics will find a warm welcome with Americana buffs and is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)