Obsessed With PBS: Prohibtion, Part Three

Well, no mention whatsoever of Eliott Ness in this episode.  Because, according to Wikipedia, he didn’t have much to do with the tax evasion charges that eventually brought down Al Capone.  But he was a big hassle to Capone and his group did have the nickname “The Untouchables.”  OK.  I can now move on to what was included in Prohibition, Part Three: A Nation of Hypocrites.

It begins with Fiorello La Guardia taunting Prohibition by calling a press conference and drinking a combo of near beer and malt extract.  Then lots of fun clips of people dancing in that wild sped-up film way to introduce the Jazz Age.  My personal favorite was the little girl flailing around by the small elephant who was shaking his head spasmodically.   Other highlights from last night:

• Ah!  There’s Campbell Scott’s voice.  Perhaps he didn’t v.o. the first ep.  My conscience is now at peace.
• Flappers and Speakeasies!  Besides the Cotton Club, some other Harlem speakeasies include Yeah, Man and Bucket of Blood.  I’m guessing they each had different feels to them.
• Samuel L. Jackson!  (Please insert your Snakes On a Plane parody line here.)
• Capone is back.  One of the historians remarked that Capone wasn’t special.  He was doing what many guys were doing but he was the most well known because Capone loved fame and attention.  If he were alive today, do you think he would be competing against Carrie Nation of Dancing With the Stars?  I see him more of a Survivor guy, myself.
• Women got all liberated and sassy during this time.  Drinking and sexing.  “…men discovered the clitoris,” says a historian, seemingly out of nowhere.
• Mabel “Two Dubs” Walker Willebrandt is back.  Now she’s campaigning for Hoover because she’s the head Prohibition prosecutor and he’s a Dry guy.  Well, if you do the Sporcle Name the Presidents quiz, then you know that Hoover won.  And although Mabel Two Dubs helped get him elected, he didn’t give her the Attorney General job.  So she went into private practice and at one point, defended Vino Glo company, an extract that could be turned into wine.  She’s fickle, that Mabel Two Dubs.
• Pauline Sabin was a society Republican who began to detest the “dry” voters who would then drink liquor at her dinner table.  She also was not a fan of the Temperance ladies.  So she formed a group whose sole goal was to repeal the 18th amendment.  Spoiler: she’s happy by the end of this episode.
• St. Valentine’s Day Massacre!  Attributed to Capone but he was in Miami.  “No one could touch Capone.”  Also at one point, the Capone v.o. said, “When someone strikes at me, I’m going to strike back.”  Um, Mr. Capone the line in the movie was “Someone messes wit’ me, I’m gonna mess wit’ him.” Get it right.
• Side note about The Untouchables: I watched this again a few months back and I love, love, love the train station steps scene with the baby carriage.  On Twitter, I believe I wrote something like, “If I was the baby in The Untouchables, I would tell everyone.”  Wouldn’t you?  “Yes, Officer, I was speeding but that is due to the fact that I was THE BABY IN THE UNTOUCHABLES.”  Every chance I would get, man…
• Stock Market Crash! Great Depression!  Some folks said, “Reopen the breweries.  Create jobs.  More tax revenue for the government.”  Hoover said, “I’m out of touch with the country.  Keep Prohibition!” (paraphrase)
• Capone finally gets time for tax evasion.  One thing that The Untouchables did get was the jury had to be switched because they first ones were paid off.  But where’s Frank Nitti?
• FDR elected.  Passed a Beer Law.  And some other stuff.
• Less than a year later on December 5, 1933, Prohibition was repealed with the 21st Amendment.
• Some states stayed dry for a while.  And some counties are still dry. Just ask my dad who has to drive to Missouri to get a beer and a lotto ticket.