No subject

"On a South Pacific island during World War II, a U.S. Navy nurse from
Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush, falls in love with a middle-aged
 French
plantation owner, Emile de Becque.

"Meanwhile, the restless U.S. Navy sailors, led by the entrepreneurial
Seabee Luther Billis, lament the absence of women or combat to relieve
their boredom. Lieutenant Joe Cable of the U.S. Marine Corps arrives
on the island to take part in a dangerous spy mission that might help
turn the tide of the war against Japan. Since only officers can sign
 out
boats, Billis convinces Lt. Cable to accompany him to the mysterious
and valuable island of Bali Ha'i. There Bloody Mary, the native
souvenir dealer, introduces Cable to her teenage daughter, Liat. The
 two
fall in love.

"The two couples -- Nellie and Emile, Liat and Joe -- gain deepening
affection, and marriages are proposed. But Nellie has deep-seated
 ethnic
prejudices, and Emile is a widower with biracial children from his
marriage to a Polynesian wife. Nellie, torn between her long-held
Arkansas prejudice and her heartfelt love for Emile, hesitates to marry
Emile. And Joe refuses to marry Liat because she is Polynesian. Joe's
refusal infuriates Mary. Though aware of and ashamed of their bigotry,
Nellie and Joe are prisoners of their upbringings: they think they have
no options.

"Dejected and with nothing to lose, Emile agrees to join Joe on his
dangerous mission behind Japanese lines. The two successfully send
back reports on enemy forces. The Americans use this information to
intercept and destroy Japanese convoys. "Operation Alligator" gets
underway, and the previously idle sailors, including the reluctant
 Luther
Billis, go off to battle. Joe is killed; Emile narrowly escapes a
 similar
fate. Emile returns home to the now-understanding Nellie and his --
soon to be their -- children."

And the song:

ARTIST: Rodgers and Hammerstein
TITLE: You've Got to Be Carefully Taught

[South Pacific]

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be carefully taught

Mitch Miller

From: CatMtn at aol.com
Subject: Re: [LMB] 

<snip>

Mary:  The male lead was Ezio Pinza.  
 
Your kids were not alone in missing out on the racism.  Some  years
 ago, I 
watched a TV interview with Kiri te Kanawa, the Maori soprano,  in
 which she 
talked about South Pacific coming to NZ when she was a  young teenager.
  
Apparently she and her friends had watched the  musical, reacted with
 the enthusiasm  
of teenagers everywhere at  the time, and never had it occur to them
 that it 
was racist and aimed at  them.  They just thought it was romantic. <g>
 She 
finished the  interview by singing some of the songs from the show.   

<snip>

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