Rationing (1944) pokes fun
at a wartime home front nuisance while at the same time staunchly upholding support
for this act of civilian sacrifice. It
is one example of many from that era where decency was expected, sometimes enforced,
and lauded as noble in a way that was genuinely and charmingly American.
Wallace
Beery, whose career was an example of that rare character actor-as-star, runs a
general store in a small town. Wartime rationing is his nightmare and having to
deal with irate customers is the sacrifice he makes to his country during
wartime.
Marjorie
Main, in a role unlike her usual crusty maids and aunties, plays the humorless administrator
of the local Office of Price Administration, which regulated the ration system
and issued books of ration stamps and tokens. They are adversaries and
constantly spar, but there is more to their fractious relationship—they were
once headed for the altar, but when her mother did not approve, Wallace married
someone in France when he was in the Army in World War I, and she married
someone else because he was reported missing.
Beery,
who makes deliveries to his customers in his car, drives by road signs that
illustrate how pervasive rationing has become to society: mile markers are replaced
by signs that tell us how many gallons is it to the next town. Poor Wallace runs out, and has to push his
auto.
Here are some gasoline ration stamps from that era. Each state issued its own. Here we have a set from California, and another from Connecticut. The owner of the vehicle wrote the license plate number on the stamps, and they could not be used by anybody else. See this previous post on gasoline rationing stickers on cars in the movies.
Here are some gasoline ration stamps from that era. Each state issued its own. Here we have a set from California, and another from Connecticut. The owner of the vehicle wrote the license plate number on the stamps, and they could not be used by anybody else. See this previous post on gasoline rationing stickers on cars in the movies.
She
is a model of efficiency, gives him forms to fill out in triplicate and cautions
him that he must not sell any merchandise in his store that require tokens, or “points’
without the customer turning in those points with the payment. The audience at that time surely could relate
and smile.
Marjorie
Main, a widow, has a daughter played by Dorothy Morris, who is in love with Wallace
Beery’s adopted son, played by Tommy Batten. He is preparing to go into the
Army. They want to marry right away, and
though Uncle Wallace doesn’t object, they are all afraid Marjorie Main will not
give her consent. Marjorie actually does approve of the marriage, but want to
make sure practical matters are addressed: What if Tommy is killed in the war
and Dorothy is left with nothing, what if she has a child alone. He
must have savings put by before they can marry. Tommy agrees they should wait;
it is Dorothy who wants to marry immediately, and they fight. There is a
touching moment when Wallace gives him the medal he won in World War I as a
good-luck piece before he goes off to war.
Young
Richard Hall plays Teddy, a boy whose mother is away looking for work in a war
plant, so Wallace his minding him and entertaining him with the rationing book
version of Little Red Riding Hood. His tangled
tale gives us an idea of the complexity of the rationing book system.
The
movie has villains far worse than the wolf, two of them.
Donald
Meek is the equivalent of a home front villain: he is a hoarder. Wallace admonishes him, and all the crabby
ladies who come in for meat and such that the country must save its resources
for the fighting troops.
A
subplot involves a lady barber with whom Wallace is comically infatuated. She’d like to wheedle a rationed rubber
girdle from Wallace, who must sneak one under the watchful eye of Marjorie Main
(and will later have to sneak it back). Marjorie comes to him for a preparation for
a toothache, and he sarcastically teases her.
The two old pros play well off each other.
Fed
up with the OPA rules, and Marjorie, Wallace takes a train to Washington, D.C., to visit with his senator, who is also his old Army pal, to loosen up the
rationing rules for his store.
The
senator reminds him of the vital patriotic nature of rationing, and appoints Wallace
to work alongside Marjorie on his local board.
Now the shoe is on the other foot and his added responsibility turns him
from a guy who wants to bend rules to a guy who has to make sure the rules are
upheld.
And
he runs smack into a black market plot right under his
nose. In an effort to raise money for
his son to marry, he sells half interest in his store to Howard Freeman, who as
it turns out, runs a local black market ring. He is the second villain. In a two-fisted he-man confrontation at the local ice house, Wallace proves
himself to be a hero as he uncovers the black market ring and he pummels Mr.
Freeman with blocks of ice. His ex-partner’s
share in the store is now bought by Marjorie Main – Wallace’s once and future
partner in life. To avoid a 72-page form
to dissolve the partnership in the store, Wallace takes the lesser of two
evils: he signs a marriage license instead.
The
movie is a lighthearted look at what was really a pain for Americans on the
home front, but in reminding them through films, ads, and cajoling by their
favorite stars on radio, the civilian population was also painted as heroic and
patriotic for cooperating. It was an effective
program for giving the populace a sense of mission. This is not to say that there wasn’t plenty
of irritation felt by people, or that they had a Pollyanna-ish attitude toward
rationing.
Woody Woodpecker in Ration Bored (1943) is, as usual, unrepentant in his exaggerated antics to get enough gas for his car, and a prolonged fight with a cop in a junkyard after he is caught siphoning gas from the cop car, results in the two of them being blasted to kingdom come. We have to assume moviegoers took the hint even if they cheered for Woody.
Woody Woodpecker in Ration Bored (1943) is, as usual, unrepentant in his exaggerated antics to get enough gas for his car, and a prolonged fight with a cop in a junkyard after he is caught siphoning gas from the cop car, results in the two of them being blasted to kingdom come. We have to assume moviegoers took the hint even if they cheered for Woody.
Masters
of the obvious will refer to this movie as dated. Indeed, for in today’s world where we will
die and kill others by not cooperating with simple social distancing restrictions, we have to marvel
at how many people in this country put self over country. And how the more despicable of them do it
waving a Nazi flag.
*********
Jacqueline T. Lynch
is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress.
Singer. Star. and Memories
in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century. Her newspaper
column on classic films, Silver Screen, Golden Memories is syndicated
nationally.
A cute movie that got its message across.
ReplyDeleteWhat has happened that sacrifice has become anathema? For some the lockdown is indeed a great sacrifice, for others, it is the inconvenience that angers them or the spotlight shown on a broken economic system that they would rather not see. They would rather people die.
My parents' generation were taught to be self-effacing and to take pride in sacrifice. Our society has mentally, emotionally, and morally decomposed. If we don't put the brakes on that, we're going to physically die as well.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there are people out there who think that we should be sacrificing others - the elderly, the homeless, the sick... and where I live, we have a Federal government that wants to sacrifice school teachers so parents can have their babysitters back.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been quite a time, not only war but rationing. I’m reading letters to the paper by older people who don’t see what all the fuss is now, because they remember when they had to go through wartime scarcity.
I wonder if this film is somewhere in YouTube?
Hi Sue. I did not notice this movie on YouTube, unfortunately. I know TCM runs it once in a great while.
ReplyDeleteHow does one repair a societal lack of integrity? I like to think reminders from the past will show us how it's done, but we may have to work very hard indeed to straighten out some people who are pretty far gone.
The movie "Rationing" brought me to your interesting blog! My Dad fought in WW2 and my Mom would regale our family with memories from wartime..Thanks for this blog!
ReplyDeleteWelcome! Same here, my father also fought in the war and my mother, who was also a "Rosie the Riveter" had lots of stories about coping on the home front.
ReplyDelete