WAYS
The Way of the Yanks
Chapter 29
The way of the Yanks was pure Hollywood,
2A factory of dreams.
3The studio was vast and rich,
4Its people filled with ardor,
5And wishes they knew could come true.
6They produced for the millions,
7Each dream to its kind,
8As befits the American Way:
9Some were mega-blockbusters,
10With galaxies of stars,
11Bright Technicolor locations,
12And writers by the score;
13Others were small and disarming,
14Or black and white and intense;
15Yet more were funny and charming,
16Or thoughtful tries at making sense;
17Some were playful fantasies,
18A romp in the heart of a child,
19While more than a few were tragedies,
20With choruses that moaned and wailed.
21Not all of them succeeded,
22For the critics had their day,
23And sometimes theaters hawked their seats,
24To throngs who stayed away.
25But the factory kept rolling,
26And learned the most painful part,
27That one man’s vision won’t suffice,
28When you’re making collaborative art.
29There was one immense production,
30A romance of civil war,
31Which nearly broke the spirit,
32Of those who ran the store:
33The stars were frightened,
34By a cast of thousands;
35The producer fired directors,
36By the dozens;
37The writers quarreled,
38And some of them quit;
39And the crews were ensnarled,
40In nearsighted snits.
41But when it came time to shoot the nag,
42And put an end to it,
43They swallowed down their ire,
44And clamped down on the bit,
45Because they had to make a movie:
46And that’s all there was to it.
47So they came together,
48And made a giant hit,
49Out of cannons and canons,
50And freedom and grit.
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Chapter 29 / 40