Cradle Will Rock Analysis

When the Wind Blows: How Cradle Will Rock Contributed to the Fall of the FTP

Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, published in 1938, has garnered attention from the very beginnings of its existence. It quickly seduced the initial director and producers with its varied musical styles ranging from classical arias to satirical ensemble numbers. However, this proletarian opera has reached moderate infamy not necessarily because of the quality of its content, but because of the way it reached its premiere performance. What began as a government-sponsored production became a guerrilla effort to perform in spite of government censors. This controversial piece resonated with both performers and audiences, and most of the cast’s sheer determination to present Blitzstein’s work is a source of great fascination. Due largely to the perfect storm created by the lingering tensions of the First Red Scare and the Great Depression, The Cradle Will Rock and the events surrounding its debut contributed directly to the end of the Federal Theatre Project.

Many opponents of Roosevelt’s New Deal called many of its efforts “boondoggling,” i.e. that they had little substance and wasted money more than fixed the economy . The arts projects especially were the subject of such ridicule. Viewed as frivolous luxury in a time of poverty, the New York Times was one of many to say that “their usefulness has been widely doubted,” positing that both artists and communities would be better served if the artists were being paid to do more important tasks, like fixing roads. However, Roosevelt and the man he placed in charge of creating federal work projects, Harry Hopkins, saw value in funding and bolstering the arts. After a myriad of attempts with varying lev...

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...cism. In 1938, two pro-Nazi events led Congressman Martin Dies to restore the Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities, later called the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). At first, Dies did seem to be investigating Nazi activity, but it quickly became clear he was far more concerned with Communism.

While not explicitly pro-Communist, The Cradle Will Rock was pro-union and anti-capitalist in nature, which was more than enough for some to think it was simply subtler in its propagandizing efforts. It told the story of a steel strike in Steeltown, U.S.A., whose inhabitants rely on the factory but are desperate to unionize in spite of the capitalist Mr. Mister, who owns everything in town. Blitzstein had written it in 1936, but by the time it was being pitched to Flanagan the next year, America was experiencing more strikes than any previous year.