Points of Reference
for You Can't Take It With You

Father Devine (1875-1965) An "American Negro religious cult leader", born George Baker near Savannah, Ga. He began preaching in the South about 1900 and about 1915 moved to New York, where he founded his Peace Mission Movement and later adopted the name Father Devine.

Five Year Plans In November 1927, Joseph Stalin launched his "revolution from above" by setting goals for Soviet domestic policy. His aims were to erase all traces of the capitalism and to transform the Soviet Union as quickly as possible, without regard to cost, into an industrialized and completely socialist state. Stalin's First Five-Year Plan, adopted by the party in 1928, called for rapid industrialization of the economy, with a wholly unrealistic goal of a 330 percent expansion in heavy industry alone. Thousands of new plants were built throughout the country. Stalin insisted on unrealistic production targets and serious problems soon arose.

The Great Depression lasted from the stock market crash of 1929 until World War II and is reflected in You Can't Take It With You. The theme of antimaterialism and the combination of the notion of seeking happiness by pursuing activities for their own sake plus the delightful spectacle of the Sycamores peneterating the pomposity of the Kirbys perfectly fit the needs of the late Depression audiences.

Being "on Relief" In 1933 the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was created as part of President Roosevelt's "New Deal." To combat the immediate results of the depression, FDR gave $500 million to the states for emergency food and shelter.

Pavlova (1881-1931) The first super stars that Sergei Diaghilev, the impresario of the world famous Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought to Paris, were Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. Even today they remain household names and are synonymous with twentieth century ballet. Pavlova was really the first to make ballet popular in America. The "Dying Swan" from Saint-Saen's "Carnival of the Animals was her signature solo.

Rasputin: the mad monk (1869 -1916) enigmatic Siberian mystic and Machiavellian political rogue known as 'Rasputin' (Russian for 'debauched one' or 'the dissolute') played a key role in the downfall of the Romanov imperial dynasty.

The WPA The Works Progress Administration (1935-1943) was created to help provide economic relief to the citizens of the United States who were suffering through the Great Depression. The WPA provided work for artists, writers, composers and musicians. Murals were painted on public buildings, symphonies and plays were written, and literary projects were undertaken.

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