What does progress mean?
As a playwright I’m smack bang in the middle of research for a piece called The Quiet Little Englishman. Basically it’s about a bloke called who was born in St Helens in 1901, graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in Engineering then in 1923 sailed off to America to change the face of cinematic history. Didn’t you know? No. Neither did I. Which is one of the things that interested me about the story. (He was the world’s first sound mixer but sound men didn’t rate a mention until years later)
Basically, after working for the Bell Corporation, he was seconded to Warner Brothers. They had been experimenting in synchronising sound with film. Various Europeans had been doing the same since the 1900’s but it took , a son of Liverpool, to actually make the leap which led to talking pictures.
Don Juan was the first film to have synchronised music (along with the clashing of swords) but it wasn’t until The Jazz Singer when Al Jolson uttered cinema’s first words ‘You ain’t heard nothing yet….’ that Warner Brothers realised that ‘talkies’ were the way forward. Ironically the studio brothers were not interested in actors actually talking in their films -they thought it would alienate the European market because of the accents-they merely wanted to cut costs by getting rid of the orchestras so they could monopolise the distribution of their films. Still with me? Right. George then came over to England to check out which ‘theatres’ could house the equipment. The orchestras were sacked off, equipment installed and the rest, as they say, is history. What’s my point?
When we move forward inevitably we leave something behind. When I was a little girl my dad told me that if my Grandma came back to earth she wouldn’t be able to survive because life had changed so much since she’d died. I remember feeling really glad that I was in the world at that particular time when it was all so modern, brilliant and, more importantly, mine. I was in rhythm with it….every wonderful headline grabbing world event had me as its witness. I was allowed to stay up to watch the moon landings. Looking out of my bedroom window I thought ‘Wow. There’s people up there. Now. My Gran wouldn’t believe this.’ It seemed entirely right that as I grew fabulous things seemed to be happening all around me. When I was ‘waxing’-if you like-I felt in tune with it all. I don’t know exactly when I first started to think that the world was leaving me behind but it was hammered home as fact a couple of months ago when I got a new mobile phone (the ‘archaic’ one was robbed off a table in Keith’s wine bar) I felt like I imagine my Gran would have felt. I looked at it a few times. I read the instructions over and over. Tried to follow them on several occasions but it wasn’t until my mate’s seven year old son Richard (irritated at my stupidity) said ‘Give it to me. I’ll do it for you.’ that it really hit home. It took him minutes to sort out the time, date, ring-tone, out going message, call alert signal….You get the picture. (the smug little sod even recorded a surprise message as the ring-tone which I only discovered later when someone called me. Richard instructing me to answer the phone.) I’m turning into my Gran. This is not a new concept. It’s always been the same., nature and all that. Just like the moon we wax & we wane. But we only do it the one time. When that bright and fabulous seven year old boy took my new phone in his hands there was an enthusiasm and a delight in his whole body as he negotiated the menu. It wasn’t just the speed with which he did it. Nor was it his transparent optimism. It was something else entirely. He looked ‘right in his world.’ (he’s still too young and interested in more exciting things than the awful global events happening now, so his ignorance is, indeed, bliss) And I remembered the feeling I’d had as a child.
But is it me or the world? Growing up among talk of the space race to the moon was a very different time altogether. An outward looking world, far reaching and forward thinking. Of course there were deaths, dearth & destruction but there wasn’t the technology to beam it into our homes 24/7 in minute gory detail. What does that do to our collective consciousness? Does it harden our hearts to the ‘enemy’ any more or less? Do we crave even more gladiator type games/films/stories now we can see the ‘real thing’ three or four times a day? Are we less shocked and appalled at the stories of famine & destruction beamed at us from across a continent? Is the world a pro world or a (re) gress type of world now? And if , the man who’s progressive, pioneering spirit gave the world a new way of communication….the propaganda films allowed wives and mother’s to see, for the first time, where their husbands and sons had fallen during WW2….could come back to earth now….what would he say? What do you reckon?
Progress has had positive and negative aspects. We have the Internet, before that the radio, and TV screens. We have contact with every part of the world. We have had Victrolas, CD Players, MP3 Players. We have been able to go the Moon, send unmanned aircrafts to Venus, Mars, and Beyond [There is already a Pluto Mission which will arrive in Pluto on 2010's].
The negative aspects has been the increase in the violence because of the violence that is witnessed 24/7, there is a lack of sensitivity towards the rights of others, numbness in front of injustice, the attitude of "My Way or No Way". We will also mention the increase in the contamination of the Earth by the West, the threat from North Korea, Iran and so on If we do not reduce these negatives, any positive aspects of progress could be cancelled.
Why doesn't anyone ever think about what it is that has made, and makes, all these people, like Groves, leave Liverpool (or St Helen's in his case)? Why those who have left are celebrated, whilst those who achieve good stuff but stay get dissed and/or forgotten, and no one who arrives and stays gets celebrated, or even welcomed? You look at other places and people get accepted for doing stuff wherever they came from. There's this thing that Liverpool is the place people leave, or try to. It's not lack of homes, or jobs or money. Those were just excuses. There's corruption and envy and a terrible tribalism under the chatty, friendly surface. It's about time the "freethinkers" stopped ignoring that and tried to turn it around. It's the side of Willy Russell's works that gets ignored, what Rita and Shirley left.
For what it's worth, George Groves left St.Helens because his girlfriend Olga, who was a Tiller girl, obtained work in New York with her troupe after a lengthy period of unemployment. He missed her so much that he applied for jobs himself in NY and finally got a position at Bell Telephone Labs, which kick-started his career. It was more love for Olga than a lack of love for St.Helens and Liverpool. Olga jilted him in America for a man from the circus but that's another story...
Jenny's points are interesting and maybe valid but there has been very little celebration of George Groves in the St.Helens / Liverpool area with just a tiny plaque on his birthplace at 57 Duke Street, St.Helens. As Alan Whalley of the St. Helens Star put it in 2003, "Surely the genius of George Groves is worthy of greater recognition than that". Esther Wilson's 'celebration' of George Groves will, I'm sure, be much appreciated by his family.
I didn't go into much detail about George Groves, why he left etc; for a couple of reasons. Firstly the blog wasn't intended as a celebration of one person's life but rather as an example of one person's progressive spirit and it's consequences on our world in relation to the question. Secondly the George Groves fantastic web-site has a concise and accurate historical account of his acheivments .check it out. Thirdly I was trying to think parochially & beyond. All communities have 'schisms' particular to them....Liverpool is no different. (and within that one gets the subtle difference of districts, areas of districts, schools & even streets. All with a particular 'alliagiance' & identity) It is precisely because George Groves left these shores at that time in history (to follow his heart)that he was able to effect world events. No doubt that technological leap would have been made eventually....'free thinkers' were onto it and had been for a while. But the fact remains it took a young man from St Helens to do it. What's not worthy of celebration in that? Isn't 'corruption, tribalism & envy' part of the human condition and not just particular to one place? Great minds have pondered & wrangled over such issues since language came into being. This free thinking festival is the ideal place to explore some of the issues Jenny raises. "Why those who have left are celebrated, whilst those who achieve good stuff but stay get dissed and/or forgotten, and no one who arrives and stays gets celebrated, or even welcomed?" what about Jimmy McGovern, Willy Russel & Alan Bleasdale? Renowned and highly respected playwrights/writers. All three still live in Liverpool and are respectfully celebrated often. Not only when their works are produced nationally/internationally but also by various industry awards. Surely it doesn't automatically follow that if we celebrate the achievements of someone who leaves we are ignoring the achievements of someone who stays?
I was trying to think parochially & beyond. All communities have 'schisms' particular to them....Liverpool is no different. (and within that one gets the subtle difference of districts, areas of districts, schools & even streets. All with a particular 'alliagiance' & identity) ... Isn't 'corruption, tribalism & envy' part of the human condition and not just particular to one place?
But this blog is to promote free-thinking about Liverpool, and Liverpool is pre-emininent amongst places that people leave. No one wrote a song called "The Leaving of London", did they?
OK, an unfair shot, but true. Mix in the subtle differences you acknowledge with the remnants of Catholic-v-Protestant, despite the efforts of two much missed church leaders, with lots of other religions and new cults recently arrived, some very weird. Mix in the criminal families and gangs. Mix in the investments of the Northern Irish militias. Mix in the remnants of the militant left and the inheritance of their control of the council. Mix in the hold of unions on jobs. Mix in the "racial" and national identities, and sub-identitities, and the inheritance of the prejudice of centuries, yet also the hope of new arrivers. Mix in the massive movements of populations with clearances and immigrations for decade after decade, and now student populations ebbing and flowiung every few months. Mix in the deaths of industries, many of them "white collar". Mix in the distraction and additional tribes of football. Toss in some populist local media, and a contemptuous national media. That could be the recipe for one of the most vibrant and relevant places on earth. Why isn't it?
Great minds have pondered & wrangled over such issues since language came into being. This free thinking festival is the ideal place to explore some of the issues Jenny raises.
I'm glad you agree.
what about Jimmy McGovern, Willy Russel & Alan Bleasdale? Renowned and highly respected playwrights/writers. All three still live in Liverpool and are respectfully celebrated often. Not only when their works are produced nationally/internationally but also by various industry awards.
Writers are different. For a writer to leave all they have to do is stick some paper in the post, or send it as an email, or post on a blog, now. Willy Russell's writing wasn't first staged in Liverpool. And, with no criticism of the three you mention intended, but some of other, lesser writers (of various sorts), a place with the issues I mentioned provides loads of material that seems quaint, or even horrific to those who live elsewhere. Which is great for the writer but not for Liverpool. You must know that a Liverpool accent now has the worst of all associations for radio listeners and television and film viewers across the rest of the country - criminality, stupidity, no class, no taste. That's got a lot worse in the last few decades. I wonder when Liverpool schools will start teaching pupils different accents as part of career preparedness? It's not fair, but that's how bad it is.
Surely it doesn't automatically follow that if we celebrate the achievements of someone who leaves we are ignoring the achievements of someone who stays?
But too often it does. And you've apparently missed my mentioning people who arrive. How many of the wonderful young minds that arrive to study in Liverpool stay on? What about the many recent immigrants and asylum seekers, who all left somewhere to get to Liverpool, some no doubt with horrific stories to tell. How many of those being imported to run the 'Capital of Culture' year will stay, or will work with the benefit in mind of those who will be in Liverpool afterwards?
I was born and bred in Liverpool in the 40's and early 50's and then left for greener pastures - literally, Cheshire. No I didn't particulary want to but was too young to object and my father and mother thought it was a good 'career' move. I grieved for it for some months after and then the 'green pastures' got to me and I started enjoying life again!
Liverpool was once a vibrant seaport and the biggest and best in UK I believe. It was also a light industry city. And I believe had people who were down to earth, hardy, unpretentious and unassuming. so swanking about what they could or could not do wasn't the way of scousers.
Like many other 'northerners' we got on with life without complaining too much and I saw this all around me each day. So Liverpool has never 'swanked' about itself too much - it has until arguable the Beatles changed the world 'kept its light under a bushel'
And for me that period 'beatlemania' heralded in a new world - they were 'cocky' unashamedly proud of what they had achieved but also unpretentious too. They showed us confidence and enthusiasm and pride for Liverpool.
Liverpool like many other places has had its ups and downs and been affected by the 'bigger scheme' of things international affecting UK. That it lost its best port position was sad and unecessary. But we all move on to different places sometimes only the next street, for a change or to better ourselves. I remember Ringo Starr on one documentary saying it was impossible to stay in Liverpool any longer - the music industry was London and they had to be there - enjoyed being there and made it good there.
There is nothing wrong in remaining in Liverpool if it suits you but this world is big and beautiful and with some exceptions we can move around in it and enjoy other places and other lifestyles.
so yes I'm certainly for acknowledging 'good' Liverpool people who have done well in life and for the planet earth, but also support and enjoy their right to have a different lifestyle elsewhere. And my experience has been that they often acknowledge their birthplace with pride and found memories, I certainly do.
My own personal favourite quote is " you maybe able to knock scousers down - but they are tough people and just bounce back again"