ACT I: The Great Depression

Scene 1

• Time: October 29, 1929
• Place: Wall Street, USA
• Song: Rhapsody in Blue
• Synopsis: The market declines 38.33 points, an unprecedented one-day peacetime drop of 12.8%. Newspaper headlines around the world read, "Stock Market Crashes!" President Hoover seeks to reassure the American people. "The economy is sound," he says. The Great Depression begins.

Scene 2

• Time: 1930-1933
• Place: Around the world
• Song: Where Are You Little Star?
• Synopsis: As the depression deepens, major industrialized countries attempt to export their unemployment with successive currency devaluations and higher trade barriers. In the U.S., Congress passes the hideous (heinous) Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, further widening the trade gulf and forcing global economic contraction. Major banks around the world begin to fail. Confidence in political leadership worldwide wanes. In the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigns against President Hoover on a platform to balance the federal government's budget. Roosevelt is elected, declares a bank holiday, closes the banks, and unbalances the budget.
• Fade to: "Blue Moon"

Scene 3

• Time: 1933-1936
• Place: The United States
• Song: Smile
• Synopsis: Restoration of confidence in government becomes a major issue and the important link for resumption of economic prosperity. The 100 days of Roosevelt sees passage of much social and regulatory legislation aimed at stabilizing the U.S. economy and financial markets. In succeeding years, the U.S. Congress passes more laws, seeking to prop up the U.S. economy in light of global economic decay. Roosevelt takes the U.S. off the gold standard and oversees reform legislation for the banking system In Germany, Adolf Hitler is elected chancellor.

Scene 4

• Time: 1936
• Place: England
• Song: Happy Days are Here Again
• Synopsis: It can't happen again! It won't happen again! John Maynard Keynes publishes his General Theory, a book on macroeconomic theory, seeking to revise the way political decision-makers think. The book advises deficit spending by governments to restore full employment to depressed economies.

Scene 5

• Time: 1939-1946
• Place: Around the World
• Song: American in Paris...and London...and Frankfurt...and Tokyo
• Synopsis: Government leaders around the world take Keynes advice....Massive spending on military resources to fight World War II restores full employment in the major industrialized nations.