#44: Larry's Parents and Grandparents

[alice wellintown]

In 1934 official Unemployment was 22%

There was much misery.

A surprising groundswell of support for Upton Sinclair's EPIC movement
gives Sinclair a runaway victory in the Democratic gubernatorial
primary in California.

Fortified food  was introduced in 1934.


fortified product marketed up and down the coast as Midnight Special (112).

Immediately after the repeal of Prohibition, wine consumption dropped
as Americans had renewed access to spirits and beer. From the repeal
of Prohibition to the late 1950s, high-alcohol dessert and fortified
wines dominated the market. These were the darkest days of the history
of wine production and consumption. Many fortified wines were produced
and sold extremely cheaply, and catered to the "misery market".
"Winos" drank these overly alcoholic concoctions becauses they were
the cheapest way to get drunk. In the quest for short-term profits,
unscrupulous producers stamped a black mark on the history of wine in
America.





On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 7:04 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
> While I think Elmina and Leo seem relatively likeable, Doc's
> family-related dream later in the novel certainly does complicate
> things. Brings in the Gilroy envy, some kind of sublimated fear or
> resentment of a quasi-mother figure, along with death, too.
>
> On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 8:26 PM, alice wellintown
> <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Mike B asks, Why would he bring Leo and Elmina in to just satirize them?
>>
>> Why not?
>>
>> If we can trust Aunt Reet, Larry's folks would like to see him married
>> (maybe to that Shasta) with children and living on a two acre suburban
>> lot in suburban California; if not a carbon copy of sibling Gilroy the
>> Kill Joy, than at least some kind of operatons manager:  Organization
>> Man.
>>
>> "The Organization Man is one of the most influential books of the
>> twentieth century. It established the categories Americans now use
>> when thinking about the workplace, the suburbs, and their
>> lives."—David Brooks, senior editor at the Weekly Standard and
>> contributing editor at Newsweek
>>
>> http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/whyte-main.html
>>
>> One reason they are brought in is to talk about TV and Film.  Don't
>> touch that dial.
>>
>> Go to You Tube and type in:     I am the slime  . . .oooooozing along
>> on your living room floor.  --Zappa
>>
>>
>
>