Tuesday, November 24, 2015

A TUH Thanksgiving Special-- War and Balloons: The Macy's Parade



Thanksgiving has gotten a bad rep lately, and for good reason.  This holiday—officially made a thing by President Lincoln in 1863—has always been considered a day to celebrate that time that the Native Americans and Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony came together to share food and set aside their differences to forge friendship and cooperation.  What is typically left off of this heart-warming tale, is how, shortly thereafter, the Pilgrims and those that came after killed the Natives either through war or disease, took their land and relegated them to second class citizens.  Once we gave them citizenship, anyway. In 1924.  Yeah…. It took until 1924 for Native Americans to gain full citizenship in the US.  Fucked, weren’t we? 

However, it is my belief that holidays change with time and are only accurately described through a contemporary lens.  So today, half of Americans are aware of the degree of fucked that Thanksgiving is really symbolic of, and the other half never knew to begin with, thus the holiday has become about family (biological and otherwise), togetherness, and—most importantly—food.  So it is here that I confess that Thanksgiving is my most favorite of holidays, shitty history be damned, and I tell you now that on Thursday morning I will be found in the same place I have been found on every Thanksgiving since I was eight—wrapped in a blanket on a couch, turkey in the oven, and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, awaiting that most iconic of holiday symbols—The Rockettes.   What, you thought I was going to say Santa?  Seriously?  Call me when a dozen Santas perform eye level leg kicks in unison….

Anyway, while I am far from the only person to glue myself to the parade on Thanksgiving (an estimated 3.5 million people will turn out to see it in person, and 50 million more will tune in to the televised broadcast according to Macy’s and NBC1), I may be one of the few to understand the historic nature of this American institution. 

So, what better way to celebrate than to entertain you all with TUH’s Thanksgiving Special—The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Here we go:

The Roaring Twenties and The Great Depression
The Macy’s Parade (originally called the Macy’s Christmas Parade2) began in 1924 and really was a product of the Roaring Twenties.  The 1920s were considered to be “roaring” due to a time of great prosperity and change in the United States.  We had just emerged on the victorious side from World War I—the bloodiest conflict the world had seen to that point and a conflict that changed the world. 

World War I is often overlooked in deference to its more popular brother—World War II—but World War I left scars on the world that never truly healed.  Europe had been ravaged, millions had died, those that had survived lived to grapple with psychological effects that wouldn’t even be named for decades, and the peace treaty that ended the war served only to incite more war a few decades later.  Ended in 1918, by the 1920s the United States had recovered from the Great War and was experiencing a post-war boom.  Further, this boom was often resting on the backs of immigrants fleeing a war-torn Europe.

See, during the war the nation had industrialized rapidly.  What had begun slowly in the mid-19th century took on the urgent air of national security during war time so that, by the 1920s, combined with an influx of immigrants, more people were living and working in cities rather than on farms for the first time in American history.  This led to two new phenomena: urban youth culture and expendable income.

Can we bring back the shift dress, please?
And Macy’s Department Store was there to help fulfill the needs of both. 

A consumer society swallowed the nation and stores like Macy’s were suddenly on the cutting edge of a new culture.  Unlike before, people weren’t making their clothes—they were buying them from stores—nor were regions isolated—due to new technology (like radios) Americans could now be aware of the same music, fashion, and cultural fads.  By 1924 Macy’s in New York City had expanded to fill an entire city block and had become an American icon3.  It was in that same year that the store decided to host a Christmas parade for the first time in order to prepare excited consumers for the holiday shopping season. 

The First Christmas Parade

To show-off the newly expanded store (dubbed “The World’s Largest Store” by Macy’s) and advertise holiday shopping, Macy’s was looking for some form of large celebration to kick off the holiday season.  Due to the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, many of the employees of Macy’s in the 1920s were European immigrants.  Missing home, yet still working hard to assimilate into American culture, they began to adapt celebrations much like those they had experienced in Europe to this very American holiday.  It was these immigrant employees that took the idea of the first Macy’s parade to the bosses in 19244. 
 
This parade ran for six and a half miles and included not only floats, but also animals from the Central Park Zoo, in addition to dancers and other entertainment, culminating with Santa as the star at the end of the parade.   What Macy’s did not plan on, however, was a crowd of nearly 10,000 filling in behind Santa and marching with the parade.  But whatever.  People had fun.  So much fun, in fact, that within a week Macy’s announced the parade an unparalleled success, and requested a permit to hold the parade at the same time next year5. 

In 1927, the parade included the now famous balloons for the first time.  Originally, these balloons were released into the sky over New York at parade’s end.  Equipped with a return address on each balloon, those that found and returned the balloons to Macy’s were given a reward (usually $50).  This practice continued until two pilots nearly crashed—the first in 1931 and the second in 1932—trying to retrieve said balloons.  Apparently, they really need that fifty bucks. 

And so the parade continued on, now as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, even surviving the Great Depression. 

However, there was one thing that even Macy’s couldn’t parade through. 

World War II

World War II, much like its predecessor, destroyed Europe and took millions of lives.  For their part, Russia lost the most—around 20 million Russians gave their life defending the world against fascism.  Here in the United States, we lost around 400,000 American soldiers6, and while they are remembered by history for their bravery and heroism, it is the home-front that US history tends to focus on.  No other modern war required as much sacrifice from American citizens at home than World War II did.   There were drives for everything—aluminum, paper, nylon.  We weaponized libraries.  Strict restrictions were placed on consumer goods so that the war department would have everything it needed to make the weapons that would be used by American GI’s and our European allies, alike.  People across the nation grew victory gardens to supplement rationed foodstuffs with fresh vegetables.  It was, indeed, a time of sacrifice and absence. 

Macy’s was no less a part of the home-front.  As consumer goods became more and more scarce, Macy’s adapted.  They sold what they could, and what needed to be commandeered by the war simply wasn’t available.  And unfortunately, that meant no balloons and no helium. 

For the first and only time in history the parade was called off in 1942 so that Macy’s could donate the 650 pounds of rubber used for the balloons to the war effort.  It would not resume again until 19457.    But when it came back, it came back with a vengeance.  In 1947 for the first time the parade was televised nationwide thanks to a contract with NBC.  To keep the television audience engaged, the parade was cut from 6.5 miles to 2.5 miles, still terminating in Herald Square, though—the original end point. 

While the route was shorter, the balloons were getting bigger—no longer being let go at the end of the parade, and not restricted by helium or rubber shortages, the balloons began to take on the proportions that we see now.  Further benefiting from yet another post-war boom after World War II this time, the consumer culture was giving rise to something new yet again—pop culture.  This pop culture was not overlooked by the ever forward looking Macy’s.  Pop culture icons like Mighty Mouse and Popeye were made into balloon form and flown through the streets of New York as part of the Thanksgiving Parade. 


Into the Present Day

None other than Betty White hosted through the 60s
The Macy’s parade has seen its ups and downs throughout the end of the 20th century and into the 21st.  

Throughout the turbulent 1960s the parade had to grapple with changing times and American tragedies.   In 1963, for example, the parade was nearly canceled for the first time since World War II and for only the second time in history due to the assassination of JFK just one week prior.  But the parade went on as scheduled, bringing happiness and joy to a grateful nation very much in need of normalcy and happiness. The next year, Macy’s television presence was expanded to 90 minutes long and was broadcast in color for the first time8. 

In 1979 the parade broadcast won its first of twelve Emmy awards.  Throughout the 1980s, Macy’s worked hard to modernize its parade—adding contemporary characters from video games and movies, as well as entertainment acts geared toward children and teenagers.  The 1990s saw the vast expansion of balloons—bigger and better than ever—and, in 1996, the Giant Balloon Inflation made its appearance.  Thanks to that event, people can now watch the parade balloons being inflated in Manhattan9. 
Macy's parade, 2001

As the new millennium dawned, Macy’s, once again, faced the prospect of a canceled parade in the wake of the terror attacks of September 2001.  Macy’s decided that the parade would, as in 1963, go on as scheduled.  What ensued that November was a star-studded parade that celebrated not only the holiday season, but American culture.  Those that lost their lives in the terror attacks were honored.  Tom the Turkey gave up his primo first float placement to the Statue of Liberty, and multitudes of New Yorkers—happy to have survived—were treated to an amazing rendition of America the Beautiful10. 


Icons

The Rockettes
Making their first appearance in the 1950s—The Rockettes.   
 
Shameful confession—I LOVE the Rockettes.  I have since childhood wherein I had the misguided dream of running away to New York City to become a Rockette.  It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized I enjoyed food too much to ever live up to Rockette measurement standards and also I could not dance to save my life. 

Created in St Louis in 1925, the Missouri Rockets, now known as the Rockettes, moved to their current home at Radio City Music Hall, NYC in 1932.  While they perform nearly year round now, their starring performance is always that couple minute routine during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that began in 1957.  Dancing girls were nothing new, but THAT KICK LINE!  That kick line entranced audiences and the Rockettes danced their way into American collective conscious, where they have remained ever since. 

Felix The Cat
Felix the Cat was the first character balloon to be introduced into the Macy’s parade in 1927.  A famous strip comic icon throughout the 1920s, Felix’s origins are hotly disputed.  An Australian cartoonist claims, along with his former American lead animator, to be the originator of Felix.  Whatever his origins, Felix disappeared from American pop culture in 1932 due to the advent of cartoons with sound.  In 1953 the cartoon was resurrected and lives to this day. 

Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse appeared in the 1930s in the now famous “Steamboat Willy” cartoon and icon status was conferred on him in 1934 when he was featured as a Macy’s parade balloon.  This also marks the first collaboration of Macy’s with Disney—a relationship we can all be happy survives into the present day.

Snoopy
Snoopy made his appearance at the Macy’s parade in 1968 as Aviator Snoopy—you know him—the dude with the killer scarf and shades.  Very Cold War.  Very cool.  Snoopy is officially the character with the most balloons in history according to Macy’s11.  This year the Snoopy we see will be the seventh Snoopy balloon in the parade. 



So that’s it.  That’s the history of an American institution-- the Macy’s Parade.  This year millions will watch the parade, thousands will volunteer to take part, and my holiday will be complete.  I don’t often advertise for anyone through my blogs, but I highly suggest tuning in this year if you can—the parade kicks ass.  




Sources:
1.) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Parade History. Retrieved from social.macy’s.com
2.) History Channel.  The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Video File.  Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/the-first-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade
3.) Macy’s Inc.  Macy’s, Inc. History. Retrieved from: http://macysinc.com/about-us/macysinc-history/overview/default.aspx
4.) Grippo, R. & Hoskins, C. 2004. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. San Franciso, CA: Arcadia Publishing.
5.) History Channel.  The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Video File.  Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/the-first-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade
6.) Dykman, JT. The Soviet Experience in World War II. The Eisenhower Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/about/living_history/wwii_soviet_experience.dot
7.) Neary, K. 2007.  The Ultimate Guide To The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. How Stuff Works.  Retrieved from: http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade1.htm
8.) Grippo, R. & Hoskins, C. 2004. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. San Franciso, CA: Arcadia Publishing.
9.) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Parade History. Retrieved from social.macy’s.com
10.) Grippo, R. & Hoskins, C. 2004. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. San Franciso, CA: Arcadia Publishing.
11.) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Parade History. Retrieved from social.macy’s.com

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