Citation: YouTube. (2010, April 2). Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra - Boogie Woogie. YouTube. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsNa6cwngM
Citation: YouTube. (2012, November 30). Frank Sinatra - All or nothing at all 1943 harry James Orchestra. YouTube. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO1q7dako_w
Lindy hop scene from "The Powers Girl 1943", featuring Benny Goodman and many original Southern LA Lindy hop couples. Dean and Jewel are dancing with an umbrella.
The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The jive, the jitterbug, the jitter, the boogie, and many other terms are used to describe what most know as swing dancing. Swing dancing, and swing, was the most popular form of music and dance in the 1930s and 40s. It would evolve into various different forms, including disco. In the video above we see Miss Josephine Bradley (MBE; Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), who standardized the basic techniques of the foxtrot, giving a lesson about jitterbug and jive. She notes that the jitterbug evolved into the jive, which was most prominently embraced by the youth of America. In the video she also describes the steps, and notes that in the dance the man must be able to swing his partner in whatever way he wants.
Jive is most likely what most couples, friends, and strangers, young and old, would dance. One reason it was very popular was because physical contact was such an integral part of the dance, and this contact was permissible by society. Swing and all its relatives came about during the Depression when, "Americans were trying to forget the Great Depression." Dances that originated from a feeling of wanting to forget became some of the most memorable genres, practices, and eras of dance and music.
Citations:
“Jive Dance (1943).” YouTube. BRITISH PATHÉ, April 13, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8pXDfX2giU.
Zebrowski, Carl. “ Jitter and Jive.” America in WWII magazine. America in WWII. Accessed April 4, 2023. http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/jitter-and-jive/.
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
Notes – Handwritten letter dated July 20, 1943, two pages. Includes envelope, postmarked July 21, 1943, 3PM, from Camp Santa Anita, Arcadia, Calif.
Operation Husky
After a hard fought campaign in North Africa, the Axis powers consisting of over 250,000 Germans and Italians surrendered at Tunisia. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi politician, wrote that it was a loss on the scale of Stalingrad. This Allied victory marked the end of the North African campaign and opened the Mediterranean to the Allies. It became apparent to Allied leadership that their next move against the enemy would take them across the Mediterranean and into Italy, with the objective of defeating Fascist Italy, a major power for the Axis. Before stepping onto mainland Italy, it made sense that the Allies should take as much ground as possible including the island of Sicily.
On July 10, 1943 the Allies launched Operation Husky and made amphibious landings on Sicily before sunrise. Over the coming days 150,000 ground troops landed and only two German divisions were standing in their way. Italian forces were increasingly disillusioned with the war and lacked coordination, leaving the German forces on their own, even as Hitler demanded that Axis forces in Sicily stand their ground. German leadership also believed an Allied attack would come from the west, at Corsica and Sardinia. The campaign in Sicily was led by American General George S. Patton, and British General Bernard Montgomery. The British rushed along the eastern coast, while the American forces protected their flank and went northwest towards Palermo. Also at this time the city of Rome, the seat of all Italian culture and Fascist power in Italy, had been bombed by Allied air attacks.
The campaign ended as the Allies raced to Messina and closed in on August 17, 1943 where they discovered the Germans had withdrawn over 100,000 troops to mainland Italy. Over the course of 38 days, the Allies liberated Sicily from Axis control, the first step in the total liberation of Italy. The effort in Sicily would result in 24,850 combined American, British, and Canadian casualties.
Citations:
Huxon, Keith. “Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. The National World War II Museum, July 11, 2017. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-husky-allied-invasion-sicily#:~:text=On%20July%2010%2C%201943%2C%20the,southern%20shores%20of%20the%20island.
“Images of Maps from the Day of Battle - the Liberation Trilogy, by Rick Atkinson.” The Liberation Trilogy, by Rick Atkinson - The Epic Story of the Liberation of Europe in World War II, January 19, 2021. https://liberationtrilogy.com/books/day-of-battle/maps-from-the-day-of-battle/images-of-maps-from-the-day-of-battle/.