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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Screenwriting
PBS Tonight; Epic tomorrow?
There's a pretty good PBS "American Experience" documentary on tonight. It's about an American raid on a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines January 31, 1945. All the elements of a great World War II epic, you wonder why they haven't made the movie yet. Years ago, even.
Every goddamned cliché in the book. The Japanese committing horrific mass executions. The renegade commander who orders in air cover in the form of a pilot faking a disabled plane...an aerobatics show to distract the guards as the assault party was crawling over exposed dry rice paddies as the moon was rising. And every POW was saved. And there was a raider who was killed by friendly fire. The Rangers' commander was an Italian they called "Little MacArthur," a gruff-butt-lovable taskmaster who would make you do everything and would himself do anything he made you do.
Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the POWs demoralizing messages like, "Right now, back in the States, your girlfriend thinks you're dead and is having sex with your former best friend, Woody Woodpecker. One of the great untold-enough stories of WWII is Tokyo Rose, who was a native Japanese girl who grew up in the United States maybe her dad was a diplomat, but I think maybe he was in businesses and she just happened to be in Japan on holiday when Pearl Harbor happened. She was stuck in Japan and considered to be a potential American spy but she turned the tables on the Japs and approached them with the idea of "Tokyo Rose," an American-sounding disk jockey who sends demoralizing messages to American soldiers longing for a taste of home.
The reason Tokyo Rose has a bad name is she was too sophisticated for a lot of stupid soldiers. But most of her propaganda was purposefully designed to get past the Japanese propagandists and to buck up her (the American) troops! So she'd say stuff like, "Your girlfriend's with Andy Hardy..." or something that she figured the GIs would get the joke. But a lot didn't know better.
Joe Myers
"Heyyah, Joe! Who wonna sec worl wah, yoo so smaht?"
Every goddamned cliché in the book. The Japanese committing horrific mass executions. The renegade commander who orders in air cover in the form of a pilot faking a disabled plane...an aerobatics show to distract the guards as the assault party was crawling over exposed dry rice paddies as the moon was rising. And every POW was saved. And there was a raider who was killed by friendly fire. The Rangers' commander was an Italian they called "Little MacArthur," a gruff-butt-lovable taskmaster who would make you do everything and would himself do anything he made you do.
Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the POWs demoralizing messages like, "Right now, back in the States, your girlfriend thinks you're dead and is having sex with your former best friend, Woody Woodpecker. One of the great untold-enough stories of WWII is Tokyo Rose, who was a native Japanese girl who grew up in the United States maybe her dad was a diplomat, but I think maybe he was in businesses and she just happened to be in Japan on holiday when Pearl Harbor happened. She was stuck in Japan and considered to be a potential American spy but she turned the tables on the Japs and approached them with the idea of "Tokyo Rose," an American-sounding disk jockey who sends demoralizing messages to American soldiers longing for a taste of home.
The reason Tokyo Rose has a bad name is she was too sophisticated for a lot of stupid soldiers. But most of her propaganda was purposefully designed to get past the Japanese propagandists and to buck up her (the American) troops! So she'd say stuff like, "Your girlfriend's with Andy Hardy..." or something that she figured the GIs would get the joke. But a lot didn't know better.
Joe Myers
"Heyyah, Joe! Who wonna sec worl wah, yoo so smaht?"
Top answer
[nq:1]Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the POWs demoralizing messages like, "Right now, back in the States, ... " or something that she figured the GIs would get the joke. [/nq] What happened to her?
- [nq:1]Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the POWs demoralizing messages like, "Right now, back in the States, ...
- " or something that she figured the GIs would get the joke.
- [/nq] What happened to her?
- Also, did anyone watch that John McCain flick?
- Lois
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2 Answers
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[nq:1]Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the POWs demoralizing messages like, "Right now, back in the States, ... with Andy Hardy..." or something that she figured the GIs would get the joke. But a lot didn't know better.[/nq]
What happened to her?
Also, did anyone watch that John McCain flick?
Lois
What happened to her?
Also, did anyone watch that John McCain flick?
Lois
00
[nq:2]Mix in the contraband radio with Tokyo Rose telling the ... would get the joke. But a lot didn't know better.[/nq]
[nq:1]What happened to her?[/nq]
(snip)
They convicted her of treason on trumped up charges and perjured testimony. She settled in Chicago. Gerald Ford later pardoned her.
I looked her up. I had a few facts wrong. There were several English-speaking women wh
[nq:1]What happened to her?[/nq]
(snip)
They convicted her of treason on trumped up charges and perjured testimony. She settled in Chicago. Gerald Ford later pardoned her.
I looked her up. I had a few facts wrong. There were several English-speaking women wh
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