Observations — 1946. War Is Over, Hit The Restart Button

"Sam Spade," The Radio Version

The League of Nations was dissolved. First meeting of the United Nations General Assembly was held. The CIA was established.  Winston Churchill suggested a “United States of Europe.” Italy established a monarchy. Ho Chi Minh was elected President of North Vietnam, attacked French. The Philippines gained independence from U.S. Herman Goering was sentenced to death. Harry S. Truman seized U.S. railroads to prevent strike.  Annie Get Your Gun and The Iceman Cometh premiered on Broadway. The “Adventures of Sam Spade” debuted on CBS Radio. The Cannes Film Festival and The New York City Ballet were born.  We expected to live until we were 66.7 years old. Weight Watchers came into being. Lost Weekend picked up the Academy Award that year.  Also on the silver screen were It’s A Wonderful Life, The Big Sleep, The Dark Mirror, Notorious, The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Song Of The South, and Gilda. Herman Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize For Literature.  Notable books for 1946 included The Stranger by Albert Camus, Member Of The Wedding by Carson McCullers, All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, and Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty. We listened to “Prisoner of Love” by Perry Como, “To Each His Own” by Eddy Howard, “The Gypsy” by The Ink Spots, “Five Minutes More” by Frank Sinatra, and “Rumors Are Flying” by Frankie Carle. The world lost W. C. Fields and H. G. Wells.  Gertrude Stein departed as did Damon Runyon and Booth Tarkington. Among the debuts that year were Dolly Parton, Sylvester Stallone, Al Green, George W. Bush, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Steven Spielberg, Freddie Mercury, Cher and Bill Clinton.  If you were around, what were you doing during the year of the Fire Dog?