Hollywood public service shorts on behalf of the March of Dimes and the search for a polio vaccine remind us of a world where a deadly and extremely communicable virus was everybody's fight and patriotic Americans did their part.
The March of Dimes was founded in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was incorporated, launched by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. President Roosevelt, himself a victim of polio, was the nation's personification of the struggle against the mysterious virus. After President Roosevelt's death, his image replaced the old Mercury Head Dime and became the Roosevelt Dime because of the March of Dimes and the fight against polio. That fight still had almost another decade to find a solution. It found it in a vaccine. The success of the field trials were announced on April 12, 1955 - the tenth anniversary of his death. All of this, to a radical right fascist, might seem political.
Though there were plenty of detractors and outright enemies on the radical right against Roosevelt for his progressive programs, the fight against polio was not seen as political. Polio was scary.
It also took more than one vaccine to vanquish. The Salk vaccine was a two-injection process; the second shot was given three months after the first shot. Then an additional booster shot some seven months later.
In 1961, the oral vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin was available, and even those who had received the earlier Salk injection still took the Sabin oral vaccine. Polio was that scary, people today who complain about the COVID vaccine and requiring boosters simply have no idea what they are talking about.
You were given a card on which to jot down the dates you received your shot:
Sound familiar? The difference between then and now is now we have allowed the most ignorant and immature and irresponsible people in our society a louder voice and far more power than they deserve.
Polio still has no cure. It is a virus that can be contained only by preventing it from spreading. Since 1979 no polio cases have originated in the United States, a couple of decades from the discovery of the first vaccine, and four decades from the founding of the March of Dimes by the nation's most famous polio victim.
Hollywood pitched in and did its part.
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland from 1938:
Robert Young and his family from 1951:
Cecil B. DeMille:
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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. Her new book, a collection of posts from this blog - Hollywood Fights Fascism - is available here on Amazon.
5 comments:
The importance of our duty to humanity cannot be overstated, neither can the selfish interests that bray about their "freedom."
This was very moving & infuriating since it reflects such a contrast to the present day. I found the Robert Young segment to be most effective. He genuinely seemed touched by the message & the real kids in this appeal.
Having been born with a birth defect that a generation earlier would not be treatable, I know that the research funded by the March of Dimes was one of the factors that has enabled me to walk.
Paddy, well said.
Moira, thank you, and I agree that Robert Young's appeal was very moving. He seemed empathetic and charmingly comfortable holding the baby. A real dad.
I'm glad the March of Dimes research helped in your own case. We seldom imagine how far-reaching our support for medical research is, and how many future lives it will touch.
Maybe I’m wrong, but didn’t we trust and respect celebs more back in the day? If Mickey, Judy, or Lucy made a PSA, we knew it was coming from a sense of public duty not from some self-serving overpaid twit with a political agenda.
Not necessarily. When people saw these PSAs, they knew that the stars were appearing with the support and, indeed, by the order of the studio. As such, the message being delivered had the imprimatur of studios, which were the major media outlets of their day. (Of course, Lucy and Desi had their own studio.) There is nothing today to compare with the influence they had over American society. The sense of public duty was projected by the star, but it was fostered by corporations that were a driving force in American pop culture.
If I see a celebrity today giving a PSA on TV, I will assume the celebrity is doing it of his own accord. Because of our more fractured society -- depending on the age of the celebrity and what kind of music or movies or TV shows he's in, there's a good chance I won't even know who he is. The effect is much less. I have great respect for someone like Dolly Parton, who gave millions of her own money to help develop the Moderna vaccine. Some people might think she's overpaid, others might think she is a twit with a political agenda. I think she's a patriot, a Christian, and mensch.
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