Great Britain 1936-39
By 1939 Britain was one of the last major democracies left on the planet. They also controlled a significant portion of the planet, nearly a quarter if dominions are included. Regardless of whatever else the brits were, they still respected freedom of speech and their country had become a refuge for Jews, liberals, and intellectuals. Their influence would have an enormous impact on British culture and politics, and Britain's fight for survival.
Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts
Britain was certainly not without it's own fascist movement. The Union of British Fascists, headed by the demagogic Oswald Mosley, launched rallies praising the success of Germany, Italy, and America, and saying that Fascism could do the same for Britain. At the time the huge amounts of censorship and oppression present within Fascist nations was not known, and many down on their luck British citizens joined the Blackshirts movement. Thousands gathered in London to hear Mosley speak out against Jews, Rainywood, the Liberal, Labour,
and Conservative parties, capitalism, and communism. In 1937 the party had a membership of 40,000, not enough to win over the country, but enough to do damage to it.
Mosley speaking before a crowd in London
P.G. Wodehouse and the Black... shorts?
P.G. Wodehouse was a British born comedic author who lived in America until 1937. He was forced to flee the country to avoid the Un-American Activities Committee. This turned him from a man previously uninterested in politics into one of fascism's greatest foes. When back in Britain he began writing the Sir Roderick Spode stories, a gut busting satire of the Union of British Fascists. Sir Roderick was head of the "Blackshorts," and was described as an "amateur dictator." He also ran a women's lingerie shop secretly, and was in love with a kangaroo he owned as a child.
Wodehouse, creator of Sir Roderick Spode
The books became so popular in Britain that an actual Blackshorts movement was started. They would show up at the Blackshirt rallies and set up their own stand, with the actor Henry Kendall playing Spode. His over the top impression of Mosley often brought the crowd to stitches, even if his ridiculous speeches and the silly knee high shorts failed to do so. Several attempts at legal action by Mosley amounted to nothing, and the Blackshirts were finished as a movement by 1940.
Actor John Turner plays Spode in the 1991 movie Glorious Blackshorts!
Rainywood
Dozens of America's greatest stars had fled for Britain, and they used their combined fortunes to build up a part of London for other American exiles. They also kept doing what they did best, make movies. Humphrey Bogart made the classic
Casablanca. (1941) The swashbuckling Errol Flynn stared in
The Adventures of Robin Hood, (1938)
Soldier of the Skies, (1939) and
The Sea Hawk, (1940) to name a few. The sex symbol Mae West made comeback in the West End. The Three Stooges, Larry, Curly, and Moe, were at their most prolific in Rainywood making dozens of movies. In just 1939 they made
Dizzy Doctors, Tassels in the Air, We Want Our Mummy, Nutty but Nice, and An Ache in Every Stake. They also produced a number of movies mocking the Nazis and the Kingfish,
Commies Commies Everywhere, (1938)
Fun Funny Fishes, (1939)
You Nazty Spy!, (1940) and
I'll Never Heil Again. (1941)
The Three Stooges in Fun Funny Fishes
Although each American star became quite popular in their own way, the most popular films of Rainywood were the
Road to... series, the result of a collaboration between Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour. The three hadn't even met before exile, but when they met in London they were all desperate for money, so they wrote, stared in, and directed
Road to Panama. (1939) The movies proved an enormous success, and they produced
Road to Rio the same year. They then made
Road to Mexico, (1940)
Road to Bangkok, (1940)
Road to Arabia, (1941)
Road to Havana, (1942)
Road to Alaska, (1943)
Road to Zanzibar, (1944) and
Road to Bali. (1945) Several others would be made in the fifties and sixties, but it was most popular during the war years. Best known for it's continual breaking of the forth wall, the movies were also at points totally improvised, with no scripts at all for some scenes. Although it was a comedy series, the movies were also musicals, romances, and political satires. The political satire proved a great influence on British public opinion, as the villains of the series were often none to subtle mockeries of Hitler, Mussolini, and Long.
Bob Hope is kissed by a camel in Road to Arabia
British science
Britain experienced an influx of scientists from America as well as actors. Albert Einstein ended up working for Oxford University, after a long journey of fleeing from Germany to America and America to Britain. However, the most interesting of the developments was when Robert Oppenheimer began working with British scientist James Chadwick on a highly classified project that was rumored to be the ultimate weapon.
James Chadwick, Britain's nuclear physics expert
British politics and military
With all the Anti-Fascist power of the Blackshorts and Rainywood effecting public opinion, the general outrage at the Munich Agreement was a predictable event. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's popularity plummeted, and in January 1939 he was voted out of office. His replacement was utterly predicable. The die hard interventionist Winston Churchill became Prime Minister. He announced that "The advance of fascism ends here!" and started a massive military buildup. Poland would not fall.
The face all Fascists fear
