30s films – Bourgeoise Bloomers

‘Ever heard of ‘masculitis’ a disease that renders the male species incapable of procreation? Well neither had I until I found out about a movie made in 1933 which covered it in great detail. Apparently there was an outbreak of it in New York and women took over all the top jobs rising to executive levels in a matter of days. They did very well at it too. Board room managers, Lawyers, police chiefs, doctors, surgeons,supreme court judges even. Pity it was only a movie. Imagine if this really happened. During my research on stills from the film I found an article in the Lewiston Journal 1933 which featured an ad for the film. This was fascinating for two reasons. The first being that it starred Gloria Stewart whose character Rose ( the elder) survived the sinking of the Titanic and secondly that right next to it was an article about thorium dioxide used in dye for x rays. In 1933 many children were dying from tuberculosis an it was discovered that thorium dioxide was responsible for led poisoning which in turn made the tuberculosis more active in many patients. What has this to do with masculitis? Absolutely nothing. It does, however, have to do with radioactive materials and can be used as a substitute for uranium. It seems to me that uranium is behind a lot of wars fought by mostly men. Too much more of this and there may indeed be an outbreak of Masculitis when women finally band together and decide enough is enough. Imagine a world ruled by gentle persuasion whispered asides. A war of words perhaps? Seriously though the film itself ‘It’s Great To Be Alive’ starring a gorgeous Valentino type by the name of Raul Roulien was extremely popular in its day. The story runs …. ,’Young aviator dumped by girlfriend flies solo over the Pacific ocean to an uninhabited island to repair his shattered ego’. Back in the real world , ( Only in America ) , a global disease called ‘Masculitis’ wipes out the male race. When the aviator returns everything has changed and all the institutions are being run by women so he creates a new executive role which really can be done only by a man. He and he alone must repopulate the human race as he is the only one with the right tools for the job. Extremely naughty concept and definitely pre -code. A year later there would be laws put in place to prevent films dealing with promiscuity or impropriety but that is another story and will probably appear in my next piece. Wonder how this story would go down these days?