Sunday, January 26, 2014

The starving hoards of...

The internet can be a bountiful place.

A few years ago, I discovered American radio episodes of The Saint
from the 1950s,
available for free download.  I've been listening to them lately, and they're interesting.

Besides being entertaining, they're like time capsules.  Most obviously, they reflect the social attitudes of the time; the men are unapologetical womanisers, for example.  The drinking, the casual violence... well, it is fiction.

But most interesting for me is the messages at the end.

At the end of most episodes, the starring actor, usually Vincent Price, will give voice to a social message.

One of these is an appeal for money to send food packages to undernourished families in Europe.

How quickly we forget.