News

WWII: I remember...

Remembering the years

By Times Staff
Published August 28, 2005

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	Movies of the time Hollywood was a devoted ally to the World War II effort, from war bonds and USO shows to the flag-waving propaganda created by filmmaking veterans such as John Ford and Daryl F. Zanuck.

Academy Awards

Best Picture winners from the war years

1942: Mrs. Miniver; The Minivers, an English "middle-class" family, experience life in the first months of World War II; starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

1943: Casablanca; Set in occupied Africa during the early days of World War II, an American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications; starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.

1944: Going My Way; A new priest shows up at the parish of a crusty old priest named Father Fitzgibbon; starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.

1945: The Lost Weekend; The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout; starring Jane Wyman and Ray Milland.

Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Awards Database; imdb.com

Popular Songs

1942: Don't Get Around Much Anymore by Duke Ellington, lyrics by Bob Russell

Serenade in Blue by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon

Jingle Jangle Jingle by Joseph J. Lelley, lyrics by Frank Loesser

I've Heard That Song Before by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn (for the film Youth on Parade)

1943: Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me by Duke Ellington, lyrics by Bob Russell

Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Harold Adamson

How Many Hearts Have You Broken? by Al Kaufman, lyrics by Marty Symes

Besame Mucho by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velazquez

1944: Moonlight in Vermont by Karl Senssdorf, lyrics by John Blackburn

Sentimental Journey by Ben Homer, Bud Green, and Les Brown

Rum and Coca-Cola by Jeri Sullivan and Paul Baron, lyrics by comedian Morey Amsterdam

You Always Hurt the One You Love by Robert Allan and Doris Fisher

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts by English songwriter Fred Heatherton

1945: It's Been a Long, Long Time by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn

I'm Beginning to See the Light by Don George, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, and Harry James

Laura by David Raksin, lyrics by Johnny Mercer (title song from the 1944 movie)

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn

Source: The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present edited by James Trager

Fiction

1942

To Be a Pilgrim by Joyce Cary

The Stranger by Albert Camus

1943

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner

1944

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

Dangling Man by Saul Bellow

1945

The Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George Orwell

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Source: The People's Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present edited by James Trager

[Last modified August 22, 2005, 10:50:08]

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