AN IMITATION

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 152, 14 September 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN IMITATION

BRITAIN AND AMERICA “A NEW YORK SUBURB” The American visitor is an asset to the country, and the money he spends in England is not to be ignored, writes Anthony Bradley in a London paper. He must, therefore, as a business proposition, be catered for and provided with the things he is used to. But I suggest that we are overdoing this. Imagine, for instance, an American sitting in the lounge of one of the new British hote s. He glances at the crosspage headlines (as originated in New York) of one of the daily or evening papers which are new growing to American size in respect of quantity of pages.

As his eye runs down the column, he will probably think he is back in New York, so great are the number of musical plays that he has already seen in his own country* And when, discarding shows, he looks to ste what films are showing, he will probably find ho was familiar with them all before he crossed the Atlantic.

So, despairing of finding a new show worth seeing, he will drive off in his Packard, Cadi lac, Lincoln or Minerva, to a night club where an Amoiieanised jazz band will blare out tunes that to him are months out of date, to the accompaniment of the familiar Yale B ues or the out-of-his-date Charleston. If the night club is of the lower variety, he will hear the metallic clicks of an American fruit-gamb ing machine. And his illusion of being in his own country will be still further strengthened when, as the night grows on, he is forced to drink his champagne out of a lemonade glass. Next morning he will set out further afield in search of something typical’y English. He may go to Stratford-on-Avon to see Shakespeare’s birthplace, where he will be amply catered for in the American style, and will have, the pleasure of finding more Americans in the streets than Englishmen, and of 'earning that most of Shakespeare’s first folios are already in America. In fact, a man from the States cannot fail to be impressed by the very evident Americanisation of England. Knowing that this reflects well on his country’s industry (to the detriment of our own) he will probably view this with approval. The Yankee is a wonderful publicity agent, and he is succeeding in making New York set the standard by which many things are now being judged. Undoubted’y, American enterprise has produced many wonderful developments: but w’e need to give mofe encouragement to our own productions. Skilful advertising—New York can advertise far better than London—has taken root so effectively that in many cases a buyer will look at American gods before he considers home products.

That is a bad state of affairs, and one which, if continued, would mean that London would tend to become, in many details, a suburb of New York—a loathsome thought. It is on’y natural and right that we should take up American ideas and merchandise where they are more progressive than our own. But care should be taken first to give our own industries every chance. Reticence is a good natural quality but in some cases it would be to our advantage to sound a clearer note on our own trumpet. The number of American seeds which have flourished in London, is, when one considers them, surprisingly large. One-way traffic, photographic advertising, mass production cars, petrol-fill-ing stations, central heating, express ifts, "service”—these are but a few instances of beneficial importations, without including the more obvious and less beneficial ones, such as cocktails, horn glasses, jazz bands and films. And there arc, too, many less obvious instances of adopted or impressed Americanisms.

Apart from the general tendency of our "slang” to run on American lines—"pep,” "push,” "plug,” and "petting parties” to mention a few beginning with the one ’ettcr—there is the danger of our thoughts and ideas becoming Americanised through the enormous influence of the films.

The gradual adoption in England of wealth as the standard rather than birth, breeding and character is another

trend that first originated in the United States.

Over there money is the only thing that counts for precedence. England may never go to the same level, but there is an increasing tendency to attach greater importance to wealth than quality. We are importing American ideas and productions on all sides, and yet we are inprinting but few English ideas in New York. In return for the vast number of plays now running only two or three British playwrights are being produced on Broadway. It is true that old English furniture and pictures arc finding their way into Yankee homes and more English books are read over there than are American ones in Britain. But apart from that very few contemporary productions arc given to America in exchange for the vast amount she dumps here.

Take music for instance. Almost without exception the (lance tunes are American. The latest "hits” arrive in England two months stale from New York. Dance steps likewise originate from across the water—fox-trot, Black Bottom, Charleston or Yale Blues. And as for films —Hollywood has practically the monopoly of the English market. And it is the enormous influence of the films that has propagated American ideas throughout the ’ength and breadth of England. Amusement is a vital factor to the well-being of any nation, and one which is necessary as the complement of work. And the United States have collared the entertainment market —musical plays, films and everything connected with dancing, jazz bands and dance music. If wc adopt s’ang, jazz music and negro shuffle dances which mean very little in the life of a nation, and overlook such things as efficiency in business, salesmanship and mass prduetion, wc will become a bad imitation of America at her worst and lack her undoubted qualities.

As it is, the American visitor who searches for something that is particular to England and cannot be found in New York (c’imate apart) will probably only find one English blessing—the American bar.

And there, over his pure Bronx or Manhattan he will agree that England is wise in refusing admittance to at least one American entertainment idea. There is every reason why we should be ready to adopt the proved methods of a young, virile and go-ahead nation. But we are adopting without discrimination.