Zoom zoom zoom zoom
The world is in a mess
With politics and taxes
And people grinding axes
There`s no happiness
Zoom zoom zoom zoom
Rhythm lead your ace
The future doesn’t fret me
If I can only get me
Someone to slap that bass
Dictators would be better off
If they zoom zoom now and then
Today, you can see that the happiest men
All got rhythm
Ira Gershwin
Now we know what it would be like to find ourselves trapped in a 1950’s science fiction movie. In fact, I have a particular one in mind: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In case you don’t remember that classic, it was noted for the way it captured the fear and paranoia of the era in which it was filmed. At that time, Americans were caught up in a grim apprehension of Russia (the Soviet Union) and its potential agents and sympathizers within our borders. A popular radio show of the time, I Was a Communist for the FBI, told the tale of a loyal American taking the hit with his family and friends to pose as a member of the Communist party. Televised Senate hearings purported to root out closet Commies working in our government. People blew their vacation money on backyard bomb shelters. Body Snatchers told the story allegorically. Russians were replaced with aliens; potential Soviet sympathizers hiding among us were represented in metaphor as well. They were friends and neighbors who were systematically replaced with alien duplicates, grown in large pea pods. The fear of subversion seemed to be everywhere. Even comic books weren’t considered safe. Titles like Tales from the Crypt were put out of business under the charge of corrupting the young (as though cartoon ghouls were another threat to national security).
The 1950″s: On the run from Communists, space invaders, and even comic books!
And what is the relevance to now? Surely, you’ve guessed. If you’ve stood in a line recently you’ve felt the pressure of “social distancing.” Taped lines on the floor define our boundaries. If your cashier feels that you’re too close, she’ll back away and tell you to do the same. (Hopefully, you’ll be able to hear her behind her newly installed plastic shield.) As you look around, you see people wearing the new normal, surgical masks. Often their hands are protected by plastic gloves as well. Some take it a little further, sporting real gas masks as though they’re getting ready to time travel onto a World War I battlefield. The atmosphere is very ’50’s. Instead of Commies, it’s potential COVID carriers; instead of infection by subversive ideologies, the threat is physical infection.
To be sure, the fear is not entirely unwarranted. COVID is not imaginary. And in the ‘50’s there were Soviet spies operating in the United States. (But at least the pea pod people were fiction.) Loss of life, masks, government shutdowns, job loss, and social distancing don’t make for happy times, do they? So how can we reintroduce happiness? There are some avenues to be considered. The first is music. Brian Wilson, the composer/producer/leader of the Beach Boys said that the tricky thing about music is that it “goes in a person and heals them without them knowing it.” In ancient Israel, King Saul, gradually losing his mind, was restored to interludes of sanity by David’s harp. Music can lift the spirit by force, music almost makes it impossible to stay glum as you listen. Of course, the music that elevates you is individual to you. Rap, rock and roll, jazz, big band, classical and more await your sampling. Why not explore? (You probably have the time.)
The Beach Boys: making music in ’67, The Summer of Love
What makes the study of how to bring back happiness interesting is that many people who have spread the sunshine have had to overcome – at least temporarily – their own chronic Unhappiness. Brian Wilson, composer of such sunny hits as “Surfin’ USA” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” is more famous for the “heroes and villains” doing battle in his head than for his music. But every song like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” or “Good Vibrations” represents a battle won by the heroes.
And while we’re on the subject, there’s another famously unhappy personality who from the depths of her own personal chaos managed to “get happy” in an unforgettable way. Her venue was the movie musical, of late a genre where things do not necessarily climax in a slam-bang, feel-good finish. But in her time, it was practically illegal for a movie musical to conclude in anything but a technicolor explosion of euphoria. Her name was Judy Garland, and her dream life at the great MGM studio had been a nightmare. Drugs to sleep, drugs to wake up, thirty-hour work shifts. Yet she rose above the divorces and the inner down-slide in spectacular moments like “Get Happy,” a musical blessing in which she tells her audience to “throw off your troubles, com’on get happy,” bravely defying the surrounding clouds. And that’s what the classic musicals always helped us do. They featured people singing and dancing right through the scary Great Depression, right through the even scarier Atomic Age. And in doing that they kept hope alive simply by insisting that happiness was always nearly in reach no matter what, even if it had to be hoofed to life by a pair of tap shoes, even if it was just a momentary lift amid weighty problems. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to watch one now (even if they are “old fashioned.”)
Judy: Trying really hard to “Get Happy”
An ancient proverb says that a merry heart worketh like a medicine. What makes a heart merrier than comedy? Didn’t kings of old supposedly have a court jester on hand at all times for comic relief? Most of the comedy greats had problems and sadness just as we do. The Three Stooges are a stark example. They were hardly paid for the millions of dollars their movies made for their employer, Columbia Studios. One of them died prematurely, then a few years later, his replacement died. They had to fight against the odds to be funny. So did most other icons of the comedy world. Things weren’t always funny behind the scenes. But they kept going anyway just as we need to keep going. They broke through tough times, just as we have to break through the present tough times of masked people strategically separated, eyeing each other uncertainly. Comedians have always pointed out the absurdities of the human condition, and made us laugh at them
For the Stooges, there wasn’t a lot of comedy behind the camera
Our mission is easier than that of comedians. We only need to laugh ourselves. We do feel better when we laugh, don’t we? Aren’t there satirical possibilities in seeing someone walking out of Jewel in a gas mask? And what about distancing? The same people who religiously adhere to the distance lines practically brush against each other in the shopping aisles without flinching. There is humor to be found in these times, and we need not look too hard. During World War II, comedians did their best to turn Hitler and his allies into mere cartoons. The idea was that if people laughed at them they might believe in their ability to defeat them.
The Skeptical Maltball 
This is a great piece of work here Mr. Bey. You have very strong articles and a really good view of life. You’re a wise man. I’m glad that I can still learn from you.