Time Connections

I am fascinated by time. I can't tell you what it is. All I know is that the concept of time is perplexingly interesting.

I mentioned one of my favorite movies a couple of times here on The Table, the 1943 MGM release The Human Comedy. It gives a look back at important era in American history. Watching it today gives you a view of how the world was 80 years ago, a connection to another time. One scene is astounding on another level. In that scene, a little boy named Ulysses, the youngest in the family that is central to the film, goes to the library with an older friend, Lionel. While older, Lionel seems to be a bit slow in his metal development, hence his friendship with a boy half his age. While at the library, the boys are approached by the librarian, an elderly lady.

 

 

The boys talk with the librarian.

 

From today's perspective, this  scene provides a very interesting study in time when considering Lionel and the librarian.

The librarian was played by Adeline De Walt Reynolds. Reynolds was born in 1862, during the Civil War. After being widowed in 1905, Mrs. Reynolds survived the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. She lived until 1961.

Lionel was played by Darryl Hickman, older brother of Dwayne Hickman of television's Dobie Gillis fame. Darryl was born in 1931 and by 1943 had been performing in movies for several years.

 

That brings us to the library scene in The Human Comedy. Of the three actors with speaking roles in that scene, two of them are on a time line that connects the Civil War of 1862, through to -- this year. Darryl Hickman passed away in May, 2024. (Butch Jenkins, who played Ulysses, was born in 1937 and died in 2001.)

Between the two of them, those two actors in this scene saw the times of the Spanish-American War, the sinking of the Titanic, the introduction of radio, World War I, Prohibition, the Great Depression, the introduction of television, World War II,  the Civil Rights Movement, Viet Nam, and much more. Two people.

I can't help but be astounded by that.