\ ♪ ♪ amy goodman: frfrom pacifica, ts is democracy now! .> i belong to a special tribe we're now calleled songwriters. in our songs for a better world, a rainbow world. my generatioion never succeededn creating that world. so i it is handed down.

down ouruld hand songs, which still hang on to hope and laughter. amy goodman: today, we pay tribute to yip harburg. the man who put the rainbow in the wizard of oz democracy now special. all that and more coming up. now!me to democracy i am amy goodman. today, we pay tribute to yip harburg. his name may not be fafamiliar o mamany, but his songs are sung y millions around the world, like jazz singer abbey lincoln and -- ♪ >> bing crosby sang it. railroad, made a

race against time. i built a railroad, now it is done amy goodman: and tom waits. ♪ judy collins, and dr. john from new orleans, peter yarrow, -- .> they called meow -- al amy goodman: that's al jolson, and our beloved odetta. ♪ dime?an you spare a

♪ dime? ♪spare a ♪ amy goodman: "brother, can you spare a dime?" may well be a new anthem for many americans. the lyrics to that classic american song were written by yip harburg. he was blacklisted during the mccarthy era. during his career as a lyricist, yip harburg used his words to express anti-racist, pro-worker messages. he's best known for writing the lyrics to the wizard of oz, but he also had two hits on broadway: bloomer girls, about the women's suffrage movement, and finian's rainbow, a kind of immigrants' anthem about race and class and so much else. today, in this democracy now! special, we pay tribute to yip harburg's life. ernie harburg is yip's son and biographer. he co-wrote the book who put the rainbow in the wizard of oz?: yip harburg, lyricist.

i met up with ernie harburg at the new york public library for performing arts at lincoln center years ago when they are exhibiting yip harburg's work. ernie harburg took me on a tour. ernie harburg: the first place is business about words, and one of them is that the songs, when they were written back in those days, anyhow, always had a lyricist and a composer, and neither one of them wrote the song. they both wrote the song. however, in the english language, you know, you ve "this is gershwin's song," or "this is" -- they usually say the composer's song. i've rarely ever heard somebody say, "this is yip harburg's song" or "ira gershwin's song." both of them would be wrong. the fact is, two people write a song. so i'm going to talk about yip's lyrics and then lyrics in the song. now the first thing we're looking at here is an expression really of yip's philosophy and background, which he brings to writing lyrics for the songs.

and what it says here is that songs have always been man's anodyne against tyranny and terror. the artist is on the side of humanity from the e me that hehe was born a hundred years ago in the dire depths of poverty that only the lower east side in manhattan could have when the russian jews, about two million of them, got up out of the russian's shadows and ghettos, and the courageous ones came over here and settled in that area of what we now know as the east village. and yip knew poverty deeply, and he quoted bernard shaw as saying that the chill of poverty never leaves your bones. and it was the basis of yip's understanding of life as struggle.

amy goodman: let's go back to how yip got his start. ernie harburg: yip was, at a very early age, interested in poetry, and he used to go to the tompkins square library to read, and the librarians just fed him these things. and he got hooked on every one of the english poets, and especially o. henry, the ending. he always has a little great ending on the end of each of his songs. and he got hooked on w.s. gilbert, the bab ballads. and then, when he went to townsend high school, they had them sitting in the seats by alphabetical order, so yip was "h" and gershwin w was "g", so a sasat next to yip.p. onone day, yip walked d in withe babab ballads, and i ira, who os very shy and hardly spoke with anybody, just suddenly lit up and said, "do you like those?"

and they got into a conversation, and irira then s , "do you knknow there's m music o that?" and yiyip said, "no." he said, "wewell, come on homeme so they went to ira's home, which was on 2nd avenue and 5th street which is sort of upper from yip's poverty at 11th and c. and they had a victrola, which is like having, you know, huge instruments today, and played him h.m.s. pinafore. well, yip was just absolutely flabbergasted, knocked out. and that did it. i mean, for the both of them, because ira was intensely interested that thing, too. ♪ ♪

>> what, never? >> ♪ no, never >> what, never? ♪ ♪ ernie: that began their lifelong friendship. then ira went on to be one of the pioneers, with 25 other guys, jewish russian immigrants, who developed the american musical theater. and it was only after -- in 1924, i think, that ira's first show with george gershwin, his brother, that they started writing together. ♪

amy goodman: the gershwins' porgy and bess in 1940. ♪ by ♪ hush, ltle d't u cry ♪ nie harbg: yip'sareer ok kind of tour, cause when the wa world w i, cacamend yip was sosocialt and did t beeve e in t warar, heook k a boboatown toto uguay forhree years. i i meanhe refus to fighin the ing.g. that s shadeof 1 196and thth vietnawar, rig?? amy goman: andhyhy didt hehe believe world w i? ernie haururg: bausesee was aa full, , ep-dyed socialist who did not lievevthat capapalism was thanswer tthe huma

communitand thatndeed itas the destruction of the human spirit. and he would not fight its wars. and at that time, the socialists and the lefties, as they were called, bolsheviks and everything else, were against the war. and so, when he came back, he got married, he had two kids, and he went into the electrical appliance businessss, and alalle timeme hanging out with ira and george and howard dietz and buddy de sylva and writing light verse for the f.p.a conning tower. and the newspapers used to carry light verse, every newspaper. there were about twenty-five of them at that time, not twowo or three now owned by two people in the world, you know. and they actually carried light verse. well, yip and ira and dorothy parker, the whole crowd, had light verse in there, and, you know, theyey loved it.t.

so, whenhehe cra camame d yip's buneness wt ununde and he was abo anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 in debt, his partner went bankrupt. he didn't. he repaid the loans for the next 20 or 15 years, at least. ira and he agreed that he should start writing lyrics. amy goodman: let's talk about what yip is most known for: finian's rainbow, the wizard of oz. right here, what do we have in front of us? ernie harburg: we have a lead sheet. we are in the gallery of the lincoln center for the performing arts, and there's an exhibition called "the necessity of rainbows," which is the work of yip harburg. and we are looking at the lead sheet of "brother, can you spare a dime? " which came from a reewew lled a aricana, which -- it was the rsrst reew, , whh wass -- had a policical tme t to : at that ti, , the tionon othe forgotten n.n.

you have t to remember what thee grgreat deprpression was all ab. it's hard toto imagine thanow. bubut when roosevelt saiaid, "one-third o of the nation are ill-clothed, ill-houoused and ilfed," th's's exactly w what it wawas. the was ateaeast 3percrcen unploymeme at those time d among acks a minoritie was 50,0 perct. and the e werereadadlis and d w, the rich, you kw,w, kep living theirififesty, bubut broadway was ruced to about 12 mumucals a year fromrior, , the '20s, autut 50 yearar, ? so it beca h harde but the great t deprsionon w deepowown a ct o of fe inn everyby'y'mindnd and all the songwere cenrered ---- i u t that ososely b by th muc c publhers.. they only waeded lovsongngs

escape songssoso thain 1 192 u had appy days e here again,and you haall of tse kinds of sgs. the wasn't o song th addresd the pression, whh we were l livi. and th show,he amerina show, p was asd to wte a song oget thlyrics up r a song whi a addreed itselto the breaines, ok and so, , , at tt titimewas working very cloly witjay goey.. y had a tune, which he h brght over wh him wh he s eight years d from rsia, d it was ia minor y, w whi is ahole difrent key. most popar songs are in jojor. anit was russianullaby, and d it was da, da, d d da, d da, da, da, .

and jajay had -- somebody elsesd lyricscs for it: "once i knew a big blondede, and she d d big be eyes. e was biblblue" -- likike at. d it w w a torch song, of whh we tald ababou and yip said, "well,ouould w throthe wordout,t, a i'll ke the te? " alright. and if y look atip's not, whh are inhe book at i meioned, y'll sehe started out writg a veryatiric comedic ng. athat titi, rockckeller,r,he ancit t one,as goinground gingng o dimimeso people, and had a -yip had a tiric thg about an i i sre my me thth you? " yoknow?? but then, righin the middle, otr r imag s start comining t inis w wrings,s, a youou had a man in a mill, and the whole thing turned into e e song thatt we know it now, which is here and which i can read to you. and if you do this song, you have to do the verse, because

that's where a lot of the action is. amy goodman: can you sing it too me? ernie harburg: alright, , i'll try. it won't be as good as bing crosby or tom waits. [sininging] ththey used totoelle i was bubuilding a d dream, and so i followed the mob, whwhen there w was earthth to pw or guns s to bear,r, i was alwaysherere right on t the job.. they used d to tell me i was building a d dream, with peaeace and gry aheadad, whwhy should i bstananding inn

why shouould i be standing inn li, just waiti for breread? ♪ yip haharburg: [singing] oncncei built a rarailroad i i made it run, made it race against time. once i builtlt a railroad; now it's done. buddy, can you spare a dime? ♪ amy goodman: yip harrgrg sinng in 1975. yip harburg:sisingin once i but a tower tohe sun, brick d rivet d lime; ce i bui that tor; nonoit's don brother,an yououpare a de? ♪ amy goodman: when was this song first played? ernie harburg: in 1932.

and in the amemericana review, every critic, everybybody took t up, and it swept the nation. in fact, paradoxically, i think roosevelt and the democratic party really wanted to tone it down and keep it off the radio, because playing havoc with trying to not talk about the depression, which everybody did. you remember the hoover thing, not only "happy days are here again," but "two chickens in every pot," and so forth. nobody wantetoto sinabout th pressionither, y know. amy odman: y, , yip rburg was a a pporter of fdr. ernie haurg: y. but potics are politic y you owow, anthe thing was that, in fafacthistororally, this was, i wod say, t only song that adaddrsed itself serusly t to thgreat deessisionthe coition of o lives, ich nobody wanted to talabouout d nody wanteto sinabout. amy odman: ern harbu, son of yip hburg.

when we me bacfrom our eak, wll talk out the wizard of oz, finian's rainbow and other shows. > times of coconfusion like these, when all the world is aa hopeless jumble and thehe rainindrops tumbmble all around heaven opens darken up theouds sky way, there is a lovely highway to be found leading from your windndow pane to a spot behind the sun just a step the on the rain somewhere overer the rainbow [applause] ♪ way up high ofre's a land that i heard

-- in a lullaby somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue and the trains that you dare to james really do come true someday, i'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me where trouble melts s like lemon drops high above the chimney tops that's where you'll find me somewhere over the rainbow blueuebirds fly fly over that rainbow why

then, oh why can't i? if anyny little bird can flfly why,dnd the rainbow, why,y, oh can't i? ♪ [applause] amy goodman: this is democracy --this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. ernie talks about how you part berg -- yip harburg wrote the lyrics to the wizard of oz. ernie harburg: actually, yip did more than the lyrics. when they were -- when yip and harold arlen were called in to do the score of the wizard of oz, it was yip who had this executive experience in his electrical appliance business and also had become a show doctor, so he was -- that is, when a show wasn't working, you would call somebody and try to fix it up.

he had an overview of shows and he had an executive talent. and so, he was always what they called a "muscle man" a a show, alriright? and he'd already worked with bert lahr in a great song, "the woodchchopper's song," and -- ay goodman: wait a second. bert lahr, the lion? ernie harburg: the lion. bert lahr and most of these people were from vaudeville and burlesque. and yip knew them in the '20s, but he actually worked with bert lahr in this light -- walk a little f faster and another review. i forget tt t namebut t hend -- yipndnd arl gavave rt sonongs to sing,hich alled him t satirizehe operaorld, you

want, a send-ofof rich,ou know. d so, th had tha retionship also, p knew jk haley,he tin odman. and yialso word withobby connly as choreogrher in e early'30s onis sho, who waalso t choreograer for the wizardf oz. so he haa cast herwith aen who we, you ow, sort o p's n. you ow what mean? so, en yip wt to ahur frd, the pducer, whoas too busy to wo on th musical, and mein leroyad nothi to do with it, practically, because he had never done a musical before, so it became a vacuum in which h the lyricist entntered, because he was all ready to do so. yip was always an active, you know, orornizer. and so, the first thing he suggested was that they integrate the music with the story, which at that time in hollywood they usually didn't do. they'd stop the story, and you'd sing a song. they'd stop the story and sing a song. that you integrate this --

arthur freed accepted the idea immediately. yip then wrote -- yip and harold then wrote the songs for the 45 minutes within a 110-minute film. the munchkin sequence and into the emerald city and on their way to the wicked witch, when all the songs stopped, because they wouldn't let them do anymore. ok? you'll notice then the chase begins, you see, in the movie. amy goodman: why wouldn't they let them do anymore? ernie harburg: because they didn't understand what he was doing, and they wanted a chase in there. so, anyhow, yip also wrote all the dialogue in that time and the setup to the songs, and he also wrote the part where they give out the heart, the brains and the nerve, because he was the final script editor. anand there was eleven scscreenwriters on that. anand he pulled ththe whole thig together, wrotote his own lines and gaveve the thing a cohereree d a a unity, whichch made it a a work of arart. but he doesn't get credit for that. he gets "lyrics by e.y. harburg," you see? but, nevertheless, he put his

influence on the thing. amy goodman: who wrote the wizard of oz originally, the story? ernie harburg: yeah, frank l. baum was an interestining kind f maverick guy, who at one point in his life was an editor of a peper in sououth dotota. and is was at the time of f the populist revolutions o or revol, or whateteveyou u wa to callll , in the midwe, because e raroads and e eastercity banks solutelyominated t life othe farms, and ty codn't get ay from t debts that were cumulatefrom these. and um set o conscioly to crte an american fable sthatat the american kiddididn'tave to ad thoho german grm fairy stors, wherehey chopd off hands anththingsike e th. you know, he didn'lilike tt. heanteted americafable. but it had this underlayff liticasymbololm to it at thfarmer -the scscecrow was

the farmer. he tugught hwas s du, but t reallyasasn't;e hahad brain.n. and thtitin woman n wathe resu -- was e labor in the facties. with one accidt t afteanotothe hehe w totally reduc to a ti man with no het,t, alrht, , on an aemembly ne.. and e e coward lion wa wiiaiam jennings bry, who pt trying- was a g politian at thatime, omising make the worlover witthe gold standa, you know and d thwizard, who was a humb type, , s the wall strt finces, ananthe wicked witch was obably t raiailrds, bubu i'm t sure alririt? it was a beautil l matcup hehere with franbaum and yip harbur o ok, bausese ithe book, the rdrd "rabow"w" w

never once mtitioned and you n gogo bk and lo att it. i did three time thword " "inbow" is never once ntioionein theheook. and e e bookpensns uwith doroy y on alackck-a-whitete world, that kaasas hado cocolo st reaead e firsrsparagrgrh in it. so, whenhehey goto t theart where they h t to gethe e so for the little girl, thehehadn't written itet. ey had wtten evething else. they hn't t wrten ththsong for judy garlandndwho was discovy by one of yis collaborors, burn lalane and nobody knew thwowondern her voice at that ti.. so thewoworkedn ththisong, a a at that timeirira, y, lalarr hart a t the oers s thght thth the coososer suld d crte thehe

music fit. now,hehey we bototh cked i io -- t l lyrict anand e compmper we l lockeintoto t storyryne and the araracteand d thplot devepmpment. sohey both knew th a at th point therwawas a ttlele gl in trble on the kansacity environmen a alrig, anand at she yearnetoto getut of ououble, alright? soip gave hald what ey call "dummy tle." it not the nal titl but it' somethg that me or les zees in onhat the siation all abo and wha-- this littleirl is gng to ta a journey, alright? so yip gave him a title: "i want to get on the other side of the rainbow." yip harburg: now, here's what happened, and i want you to play this symphonically! ok, i said, "my god, harold! this is a -- ♪

ok, i said, "my god, harold! this is a 12-year-old girl wanting to be somewhere over the rainbow. it isn't nelson eddy!" and i got frightened, and i said, "i don't -- let's save it. let's save it for something else. but don't -- let's not have it in." well, he felt -- he was crestfallen, as he should be. and i said, "let's try again." well, he tried for another week, tried all kinds of things, but he kept coming back to it, as he should have. and he came back, and i was worried about it, and i called ira gershwin over, my friend. ira said to him, he said, "can you play it a little more in a pop style?" and i played it, with rhythm. ok, i said, "oh, well, that's great.

that's fine." i said, "now we have to get a title for it." i didn't know what the title was going to be. and when he had [sings] dee-da-dee-da-da-da-da, [talking] i finally y came to te thing, the way our logic lies in it, "i want to be somewhere on the other side of the rainbow." and i began trying to fit it: "on the other side of the rainbow." when he had a front phrase like daa-da-da-da-da -- now, if you say "eee," you couldn't sing "eee-ee." you had to sing "ooooh." that's the only thing that would get a -- and i had to get something with "oh" in it, see: "over the rain" -- now, that sings beautifully, see. so the soundororced intnto e word "over," whichasas muc bebeer than "on the other si."." judyararland[singing somewhere overhehe raiow waup high,

thers a landhat i hed d of once ia a lully. ♪ ernie haharbg: anyw, yip - -- arlen worked on it. he came up with this incredible music, which, if anybody wants to try it, just play the chords alone, not the melody, and you will hear pachelbel, and you will hear religious hymns, and you will hear fairy tales and lullabies, just in the chords. no one ever listens to that, but try it, if you play the piano. and at any rate, on top of these chords, then harold started the thing off with an octave jump: -- ♪

and at any re,e, on p ofof tse chords, thenararold arted th thg g off th a an tave j jp: "sewewhere-- o ok,nd yipipad nodedea wh to o doith that tave jp. incintally, rold did ts in paper mo, too, if u remeer. t's see w did thattart? yip haurg: [singg] it'only paper mo iling er a cardbrd sea but it wldn't beake-belie if youelieved in me ♪ ernie rburg: a harold waa greacomposer so y wrestled th it r about ree week and fally

he came with e word. you e, this ishat a ricist does: thword, toit the storine, the cracterthe music. it's an crediblehing. "some-whe." alrit, and tn whenou put in an octe, you ge"s"somwhere," okand d u jumpp, and youe ready to ke thajourney. alright? where? "o-ver the rainb." ok? anthen youe e of it not a le song. it's a sry of a ttle gl that wants to t out. e's in trouble, d d she ntss to get somhehere. well, thrarainbowas s thonly lor that she'd see in kaas. she wants toetet ovethee rainbow. bubuthen, yip put in somethi whicmakekes a yipipong. he said, "and the eaeams y dare to drm m real do o co true." you s?? and that wor"d"dare"ands on the e te, and it's a perfect

thing, andt't's be generatg urage for people for yea afterwards, u u know judy garland[s[singi] somewhere erer theainbnbow skiearare bl, and the dreams thayou dareoo drmm really do meme tru ernie rbrburg:hat't's e wayy that the wholecocore ce. y goodman: was it a hit ghght awaway? erniniharburg: no, it wasn't. ththisas supupsed to be an aner, mgm's answero o snow white and e e sevedwararve and of about 10 major cricics at th time when the warard ofz came outi i woulsay y on two liked the sh.. the other ghght sa it t wa corny, thaitit waseavyvy, at judy garndnd waso gogoodand soso forth. oh, , ye. you coulreread ain i in e book, o o put e rarainw on the wizard of oz? , byarolold mersononnd ernie harburg.

but it psisistedyou kn? and theninin 195 w when televisi f fir statarted saturatinghehe natn ---- a goodman: me e than0 yeyear later. ernie haururg: me ththan0 years later. i don'ththink ey e evehad theimomoney ck f frothe shsh, see? mgm ldld theilm m rits to o s, who thenutut it . and it h t the t of f th-- itt broke oueverery nglele rord the was, and it's enen plang ery year since then. d, of course, itenent arnd the worl a and is bebeco a jor artwk, which is, i mtt say, an erericanrtwowork because the story, t p plot th the threchcharacrs, , thbrain,n, the hear t the cragege, d finding a meme is univiverl story for everybod anthat's'sn american kind of a ory,y, aight??

and yianand hald p puthese thingsntnto so. amgoodmama who did the nchkins prpresen mumuhkins: [singing] we presesenthe loloipop guild the lollipop guildththe loipop ilild. and ininhe name of the lollipop guguil.. ere e haurg:g: o youou mea political thing? i i thk ththeyeprerent thehe little people, you know, the people d that's they way they we e -- ititame on in the book. you e, the bk,k, if u'rere pust, yoyou uldn't like the film. it j just ke a anying elelse there e e sociies s ofeoplee who meet and dcucuss t booooks ok, there's enen a sietyty f the wiieies, wch a arehe guards around the ckcked witch's,ou k kno castltl therrereallys! t themeet o oe a year antheyey'rserious! they don' likekehe pictu, because it dn't folw the bo, see, cause yiand the writers chchangeit, , asollywood will.

amy goodma was the book a litt bit more favorae to the winkie erniharburur no -- wl, yes! the winkies we good pelele, d ththeyere play up ththe. if you go ck and read the book, you ll see tt they were a lovely, denent ki off people, yes. that was one thing guguess wasasn'pc thehe, youu kn?? t, nevertheless, when yoreread a a goodovovel, d you see the filmlm, ere's s rdly any relaononshipetweweenhe twowo all ese linefrom theilm have enteredhe amerinn lalangge in n a y that pple don'eveven kw whwherthey ce fr. yoyou ow, "g"g, toto, looks like wewe're noin kansaananymor" , you know, "comouout, ce out, whevever yoare,e," ich in the '70statartedakining , whenen thgay movement staeded, th line staeded meang d difrent things, yosesee?

glinda: iningingcomeme o, comeme out, wherever u u are and d et the young lady, who fellll fm a stst. ♪ erniharburg:o the ngs keep owing wi the tim. pele interpr them, y know? amgoodman:ow did y feel in thlate 10s, whent was a t, when ople staed heari all or the wod? erniharbur well, ihink th were que surprid, along th theilm mogu, you kn, and e fact tt -- yea and yearlater, hand haro both sa that ey did n know wh pth anstrengthhat that song "ov the raiow" had. d alsoone otheone, the ng "di! dong! thwitch is ad" is universaliberatn, freedom,ry forreedom, yo ow, whwhh isn't seen le thatbubut it- onone me, whwh someyryrannil owowneof ann airleses comny s steed dowow all the emplees stardd nging g ing! dong! the witch deaead. so people use these rdrds.

♪ d duringhe war, rld d wa ii, "we're o t to sethe wizard" wasung by oooops marchihi, you know? t t nobo knonowshat yip ote thwords, y see.. w, harold wre ththe muc, a and thsongs we yip andarold. that it. ♪ >> this democra now!, mocracow.org, e war an peace port. i'amy goodn. you wou like copy of today'show, yocan goo our bsite atemocracyw.org. back in minute. when were yng ove w aong

a song unsg fe was soew,o real so rit ag ago last ght o ay, t worldis u flew awaand timerew co where that ar that she so bright

ages ago last night? to think that spring had depended on merely this: a look, a kiss to think that something so splendid could slip away in one little daybreak amy goodman: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue on our tour through the life of lyricist yip harburg with his son ernie

harburg. ernie harburg: we're walking through the gallery here at the lincoln center for the performing arts, which has "the necessity of rainbows," dedicated to the works of yip harburg, the lyricist. and we're now looking at the various exhibitions. and while we're looking for finian's rainbow, i want to tell you that in 1944, yip conceived and co-wrote the script and put on a show called bloomer girl, which was way ahead of its time, because bloomer girl was dolly bloomer, who was an acactual suffragette in 1860 who stood up and invevented pants. and it was radical in those days. and the show was about dolly bloomer, and she ran an underground railroad, bringing slaves u up, and she h had an undergunund paper, a and she was an incredible woman. anand this was a political show. some great songs in therere.

maureen mcgovern does "right as the rain" in a great way. lena horne does "eagle and me," which was the first song on broadway that wasn't a blues lamentation about the black-white situation. it was a call to action. "we gotta be free, the eagle and me." ok? and dooley wilson, who was in casablanca, sang that. >> ♪ we've got to be free me ♪agle and earnie: so, again, yip managed to get his philosophy into his show, which was the second truly integrated american musical after oklahoma. and while, you know, it hasn't been played around, it's still marked that historicically.

after thatat came finian's rainbow. amy goodman: you mean blacks and whites playing in the cast. ernie harburg: no, not in there. in finian's rainbow, i mean that it was a polital statent. bloor girl w a polical atement,nd it s a smash t. in 194 yip conived t idea, the ory, thecript r fini's rainb, whicwas met to be anti-rast and, in aertain sse, an-capitalt showlso. amgoodma let's fd it. ere harbur alrightlet's go. amgoodman: l's find nian's inbow. nie harbg: here'cabin in thsky, whi is the rst all-ack hoywood filmn the '40s, wch yip a harold d also "happine is just thing called j." here's bloor girl that i'malking aut.. so, we shod be, sohow, ming onto nian'sainbow. but here's yip here.

there's a video of yip talking, if you want to meet the man. interviewer: you got into political trouble in this country at a time when a lot of people got into political trouble, during the mccarthy years. were you blacklisted? yip harburg: thank god, yes. interviewer: during that mccarthy period, were they actually going through your lyrics with a fine-toothed comb looking for lines that might be subversive, that might show yip harburg's true political colors? yip harburg: yes. i wrote a song for cabin in the sky, which ethel waters sang and was part of the situation in the picture. here was a poor woman who had nothing in life except this one man, joe, and she sang, "it seemed like happiness is just a thing called joe." one of the producers, with not a macroscope, but a microscope, found in this lyric that "happiness is just a thing called joe" was a tribute to joe

stalin. we're kidding about it now, but the country, this was the blackest, the blackest and darkest moment in the history of this beautiful country. ♪ ♪ christmas everywhere and lifife isaway easy go does he lolove me good? has to know seem like happiness is just a thing called joe

♪ ernie harburg: now, here we are at finian's rainbow at last. and this was -- yip conceived this in 1946. and fred saidy, who was his co-script writer -- and harold arlen demurred from writing this, because he felt that yip was too fervent in his political opinions, and he wanted -- harold wanted to do something else. so yip got burt lane and then came out with this great, great score from finian's rainbow, "old devil moon." ♪ that you stole from the sky it's that old devil moon in your eye ♪ >> "how w are things in glococca morra?" etc.

bubut the theme of f finian's wa total fafantasy, and it was an americanan fable in n which an irishman and his daughter come from ireland, search around and find rainbow valley in "missitucky." ok? and he believes that if he plants the crock of gold, which he stole from the leprechaun, in the grouound, ththat it will gr, just like at fort knox, right? the whole thing was fabulous! and then, the southern white senator, a very stereotypic part, finds out that finian has this land and tries to run him out of town, because there's -- ♪ ♪

across the sea how are things brook stillle leaving there? does it still aroundd -- run n n to donnie coco- , rough k kelly eggs however thingsgs in glocca morr? ♪

and then, t the southern itee senator,r, a very stereotypic papart, findnds out that fininis this ld and trieies to runun him ouout of town, b because there's blacks a and whites living together, and, you know, theheye sharecroppppers. anand they claim that finian's dadaughter is a witch, and they' gogoing to burn her at the stake and all l sorts of increredible things t that say something abot the amamerican scene.. but the score was so greatat tht people who seeeet do not see i t asas a socialist tract, which te only onene on broadway; they see it a as a veryry, very entertaig musical and ununue in american musicals, because, in the fifirt place, there are very, very few musicals which are original. most micicals e adadapd fromom books, andhihis wajustst nceiveveby fred saidy and yip as a siriric sdoffff oamericic society. so, you've g got this great t sg

in here, "whenen the idle poor become thehe ie richch,"ow a are you u going to know w who is whr who is which?? ok, you know, like that. and so, finian's rainbow has become a classic. ♪ >> ♪ you will never know which is which what a switch when we all have her mind and plastic teeth. how will we determine who's who underneath? and when all your neighbors are upper class, you won't know your joneses from your astors, let's toast the day, the day we drink that drinkie up, but with the little pinkie up, the day on which, the idle poor become the idle rich.

♪ now, it's interesting that finian's has not had a tour, a national touour, since 1948. but they play it in every single high school inin the united states, three or four times a month inin every state of the union.n. so, finian's w was, thehe time, 1947, when the cold r r was bennnning d d the usee un-americacocommite wawas startingp, and ty y were searchg for leies. and by 195 y yip h beeeen blacklistefrfrom any chance to do any of the wonderful owows that ty y did holollyod, drdr dooltltle, tasurure land.. he waslolockedrom m woing there. and en he wablocked from gog into rio and io tv.. so -and thiss an historical fact which yip himself says --

brdway and the amecan thear in nework cityas the onlylalace wre a an tist c cld stand up a s say wtevevehe wanted, provided he got th moy to p p the show on. so, fofinian's's rainb, , they had to he 25 audionsns, beuse thth said was a commie redhing. anfinanall they y t the mone , and theyut thehow up. but by tt time, p was blkliste and s nexthow was jaica th lena rne, witan all-blaccast. one otr thing,n termof yip's dre for ce or ethn equaty, and at is th finian'sainbow i1947 w the firsshow obroadway wre the chorusine coisted of bcks d whites w danced th eac other, a the crus was integred affair.

y goodman: whahappenedo hiduring t mccarthy era? ernie haurg: wl, he cod not wo on anmajor fi that ey wanted hito work from the majostudios in holwood. e setup s that r brewer, whwas the ad of thiatse ion -- i'm sry to sathat -- washe one w -- am odman:hat do y mean? ernie haurg: wel i meathis is atagehas' union d like tsay goodhings about unions, t they g bureaucrized, and theyo righwing, u know? theyet bad. is was a bad lder, ande rrorizedll of the jewi moguls who were being accused of communism by the house un-american activities committee, and they yielded to whatever he said to them, out of fear that they would get branded as communists or that they'd boycott the film, alright? anand so, en, , yoknowow, ey call yip in to do huleleberr

finn witbuburt le, then y d the gu said, ", he's o our acklist,k? anyou can'hire him and then yip wt away. and th w wantehim m toork onon dr. dooltltle. "no, y youan't h he him." and e e samehingng f radioiond tv. d that was known as a,uouote, "blackstst," wch w wast -- that wn'n't thfirsrst e of t t term, because in smallowowns w had coanany coorationsoingng, if youidid somhing thathe company didn l like,ou w wer blacklisted omom tow you couldn g get aob i in wn. but this w t the fst t tim due to the technogy, thaa blacklist s nation a and accompanied a a load woword "communist," thacould get uu red ananlace. r yip,t was hoible, becaushihis frnds,s, w were artis, suddenly had incom and the were scides.

therwas divoeses. there were peoe e who ftft the cocountr therwere p pple whoslivess were jusruined. and so, yisusuppord sosomef them. ltltonrumbo, w w was o of the hollood ten who wereirst cked out by the house -americaactivities commiee to go j jail r a a ye, a tation. "areou now ohave you ever been a membeof the cmumunist paparty?yoyou kn, yiyip onted hiwith money, and f forth itasas a hrible ti.. y goododn: how long couldn't p woworkor? ernie harbg:g: forbout f fm 1951o 1962. he came ck to hoywood in 1962, en he anharold aen did gay ris, whi is with judy garla. she asked them to come back. and it's a cult animated cartoon now, which youou can get in your video.

and i remember him putting on a show at the taber auditorium. "welcome back, yip," you know? and he -- in '62. amy goodman: but that means that the wizard of oz made it big during the time that he was blacklisted. that was -- and when you consider the social commentary that it was making, that's pretty profound. ernie harburg: yeah, but i don't think hardly anyone knows the political symbolism underneath the wizard of oz, because, again, it's a thing that happens in finian's rainbow, even though as peter stone, a noted playwright on broadway, said, "it's the only socialist tract ever on broadway." alright? people don't hear the political message in it, ok? they are vastly entertained. the same thing happens with the wizard. you owow, nody w wou evenn think of such ththing. yip harburg:y y song likike "when the id p poor comeme t idle rich" and "brotr,r, canou spare a di?"?" caud a a grt deal of roror dung a a piod inin hollywood when f fellow byby the name of joe mccartrthy was reigningng supreme.

and so, they got something up for people to take care of us, like me, called the blacklist. and d i landed on ththe enemy l. anand in order to o overcome the enememy list - what t was the ey list? wewell, it's, one,e, that you wa red; another one, that youou wee a bluenose; d d the her r on that you're on the bckcklist nally, i thoughthehe raiow s a wonderful symbol of ll ese lists. in ord to ovcome the emy listnd thirainbow at they gavee the ideaor, i ote this ltle poem liveof greaten all remd us greatns takes easy way, all the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today.

socrates and galileo, johnrorown, oreaeau,hrist an debs hearththe nit cry "dn wiwith traitors and thdadawn sut " "uphe rebs!" nothing erer see to o bu themm -- gallow c cross, prpris bars;s; tho' we try r readjt ththem there theyrere amo thehe srs. lis of gre men allemind us we can wri our nes on high and derting ave behinds thbprints inhe fbi. rainbow"re over t^hhe playing] amy goodman: today's program was actually produced for radio in 1996 with errol maitland and dan coughlin. special thanks to gary helm, brother shine and julie drizen. and moxie -- democracy now! is

produced by -- special thanks -- thank you so much for joining us. ♪ [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

announcer: this is a production of china central television america. walter: as the famous song says, "children are our future," but today, many young people are taking the future into their own hands. this week on "full frame," you'll meet some of them, their impact in their communities, and changing the lives of other children halfway across the globe. i'm mike walter in los angeles. let's take it "full frame."