BETTY SMITH WWII WAR BONDS PROMOTIONAL FILM
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Year Published: 1943)
Format: 16mm
Description: One of the Treasury Department's most extraordinary War Bonds promotional films, "Who Died?" was produced by the Office of Strategic Services, and written by author Betty Smith who wrote "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." The film features five dramatized sequences showing boys and young men in various roles in the home life. After each sequence the battlefield death of each -- now in uniform -- is shown answering the question, "who died?" Born on December 15, 1896 Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, Betty Smith grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and attended Girls' High School. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943). After marrying George H. E. Smith, a fellow Brooklynite, she moved with him to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. At this time, she gave birth to two girls and waited until they were in school so she could complete her higher education. Although Smith had not finished high school, the university allowed her to enroll in classes. There she honed her skills in journalism, literature, writing, and drama, winning a prestigious Avery Hopwood Award. She was a student in the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe. In 1938 she divorced her husband and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There she married Joseph Jones in 1943, the same year in which A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was published. She teamed with George Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of the same name. Throughout her life, Smith worked as a dramatist, receiving many awards and fellowships including the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship for her work in drama. Her other novels include Tomorrow Will Be Better (1947), Maggie-Now (1958) and Joy in the Morning (1963). On January 17, 1972, she died from pneumonia in Shelton, Connecticut, at the age of 75.
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Transcription
la I've just read that during the last week in February 3,887 of our American boys died in action who died I'll tell you who died not so many years ago there was a little boy sleeping in his crib in the night it thundered and lightened he woke and cried out in fear his mother came and fixed his blankets better and said don't cry nothing will ever hurt you he died there was another boy a little older he came around on a Thursday afternoon he was very proud he was in business for himself he rang your bell and said want to buy a post Mis he died there was another kid with a new bicycle when he came past your house he rode no hands while he folded the evening paper into a block and threw it against your door you used to jump when you heard the bang you said someday I'm going to give that kid a good talking to he died then there were two kids one said to the other I'll do all the talk and I just want you to come along to give me nerves they came to your door the one who had promised to do all the Talking said would you like your lawn mode Mister they died together they gave each other nerve but there was another youngster why it was only a year or two ago that he said to his father oh call Johnny Johnson's father lets him drive the car and Johnny's 3 months younger than I am the father said I don't care what Johnny Johnson's father does you're too young to drive a car he died but there was another fellow he married the girl he had been having dates with ever since junior high folks said he was too young to marry when the baby came people shook their heads and said those foolish kids the time came for him to go he said to his wife all I'm worried about is how you and the baby are going to get along she said don't worry I'll get a job and mother will look after the baby I don't want to go he told her but I wouldn't feel right if I didn't he died they all died the little one who was afraid of the Thunder The Boy Who Sold you a post who delivered the evening paper the two kids who wanted to mow your lawn the youngster who was too young to drive the family car the fellow who was too young to be a husband and a father they all died How can any one of us here at home sleep peacefully tonight unless we're sure in our hearts that we have done our part and one of the greatest things that we can do for our fighting men is to buy and hold war bonds
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