Interamerican Scout Office

 

Slides up of London cc 1932.

 

YOUNG MAN:

Go up to London

On the Southern Railway.
Been quite a lot, but
Only just for one day.
Now I'll be there to stay.

 

Wear a suit by day,

By night I'll wear the Green Shirt

 

(Slide up of Green Shirts on parade.)

 

YOUNG MAN & THE BAND

Going to be a Green Shirt
Going to be a Green Shirt

 

(Slide down.)

YOUNG MAN:

Uncle Len was really very kind;
Work of any sort was hard to find.
Still I thought the job he found me,
Like the other clerks around me,
Boring as the school I'd left behind.

 

Neither of them really understood,

But they didn’t mind at all so that was good.
Auntie said the Green Shirt movement

Was a definite improvement,

'Cause we didn’t dress like Robin Hood.

 

And after work

Aunt May would cook my tea, then

I'd go and change

'Cause soon I had to be at

H. Q. High Street, Battersea.

 

(Slide up of more Green Shirts parading.)

 

In my Green beret

Parading with the Green Shirts

 

YOUNG MAN & THE BAND:

Going to be a Green Shirt
Going to be a Green Shirt

 

(Slides up of Green Shirt H. Q. activity.)

 

That was really quite a place
So much to do so little space
So much to do so little time

It sounds ridiculous, but was sublime.

No. 23: 'MISS BEDFORD'

 

Enter CHORUS (Costume 3), rushing about carrying piles of pamphlets, placards, chairs etc. A GREEN SHIRT OFFICER with a swagger stick is directing operations.

 

GREEN SHIRT OFFICER:

There's work for me
There's work for you
There's always fifty urgent things to do.
Off on patrol

Out on the street

And try and talk to everyone you meet.

 

(CHORUS form ranks and mark time.)

ALL:

Pull together boys!
Makes you feel good.
Nothing can stop us, that's quite understood
It's only a matter of time.

 

(CHORUS come to attention. YOUNG MAN comes forward from the line.)

 

YOUNG MAN:

Time they say tends to fly when you have fun
And often I didn’t get home before one.
Working to realize the dream we all shared
And no one got paid and nobody cared.

 

If this seems ‘pi’ or naive, I can spare you a tear
Cause you've never believed in a Big New Idea.

 

Many' s the friend I made in our Patrol
Businessmen, Tradespeople, Blokes on the dole.
None of them knew that I yearned for the moon,
Miss Bedford, the flower of the Women's Platoon.

 

(MISS BEDFORD marches one pace forward from the ranks.)

 

Radiant in uniform, she reigned like a queen
Over the Cyclostyle printing machine.

 

I volunteered for a printing room post
Because we would work so delightfully close
For she was an officer and quite twenty-three
And I called her Sir, when we were on duty.

 

(Lights up on NARRATOR's station. CHORUS take partners and break into a waltz. YOUNG MAN & MISS BEDFORD mime their romance as described.)

 

NARRATOR:

I got my chance sooner than I had expected;

Our fund-raising Dance held at Brixton Town Hall.
Her eyes shone like stars in the lights that reflected
On high, from the rotating, bright, mirror ball.

CONT:

I asked her to dance quite convinced she'd refuse me,
But no; so I prayed hard and made my attack.

We danced, and then after the 'Ladies Excuse-me'

I kissed her, and what do you know, she kissed back!

 

(All quickly move back into military formation and are inspected by the OFFICER.)

 

GREEN SHIRT OFFICER:

Out on patrol
You lend a hand
You've got to try and make them understand,
They must be told
All day and night

That we're the only ones can put things right.

 

(Marking time as before.)

 

ALL:

Pull together boys!
Makes you feel good.

Nothing can stop us, that's quite understood.

It's only a matter of work.

 

(They continue to mark time, now out of time with the music, turn and march off as YOUNG MAN steps forward.)

 

YOUNG MAN:

Working and loving, Miss Bedford and me
I could have been happy indefinitely,

Cause I could make two things I'd thought out of reach

That's love to a woman, and a reasonable speech.

 

No. 24: 'AND SO WE JOINED' – REPRISE

 

Slide Up of Green Shirt women at 10 Downing Street.

 

YOUNG MAN:

She ran the Propaganda
Secretariat.

She was good
They all said.

 

(Slide down.)

 

I had to learn to speak
In public very soon.

I was good
They all said.

 

No. 25: 'THEY BOTH FOUGHT US'

 

This song could be sung by the YOUNG MAN, or another GREEN SHIRT.

A portable rostrum with the slogan 'Destroy The Money Power' painted on the front is brought on. The SPEAKER mounts the rostrum while two Green Shirts unfurl a long banner, ‘Social Credit Is Coming'. The CHORUS, as Green Shirts protecting their Speaker, indicate, in movement and mime, the dangerous situation. Slides up of Blackshirts and members of the Red Front.

GREEN SHIRT SPEAKER:

We held street corner meetings everywhere,

And Mosley's Blackshirt bully boys were always there.
They pushed blokes around, scared them off if they could,
If things were going a bit too good.

The policemen smiled and just stood by.
I wonder why.

 

The Communists were just as bad,

'Cause we got more support than they had ever had.
And you run when the Reds and the Blackshirts meet.
There were riots up in Cable Street

And when fighting each other got tedious,
They both fought us.

 

Rostrum and Banner remain.

 

No. 26: 'THE HUNGER MARCHERS' (to the tune of 'An Empty Clearing')

 

MISS BEDFORD:

They cut the dole again and things were looking nasty

Three million unemployed had had as much as they would stand.

 

(Slides up of the Hunger Marchers.)

 

The Hunger Marchers were converging on the city,

And mounted police in blue detachments cantered down the Strand.

At Marble Arch a hundred Green Shirt boys were stationed

The Corps of Drums and fluttering banners made a splendid show.

 

(Slides up of Green Shirt Drum Corps.)

 

And as we waited, selling broadsheets to the crowds there,

We heard the marchers in the distance, coming up the Edgeware Road.

 

(Slide up of sea of faces. CHORUS Enter as Hunger Marchers [in threadbare jackets or overcoats, mufflers, flat caps.])

 

CHORUS:

We are the People, speaking at last.

Have you seen us before?

We are your future, we are your past.

We are the Hungry, we are the Hungry, we are the Hungry,
we are the Poor,

We made you rich, and we won your war.
We are the silent millions

But now we say ‘No More!’

 

MISS BEDFORD:

They came in sight; the drummers drummed, and we saluted.

 

(YOUNG MAN Enters. YOUNG MAN & MISS BEDFORD salute. [NB. Not the ‘Sieg Heil' salute, dropped earlier when they became the Green Shirts.])

 

And one of them called out...

 

A HUNGER MARCHER:

Let's give the boys in green a cheer!

 

(CHORUS Cheers.)

 

MISS BEDFORD:

As Section Leader there I gave a speech of welcome.

And then announced a young Green Shirt would speak...

YOUNG MAN:

And I felt sick with fear.

 

(YOUNG MAN slowly mounts the rostrum.)

CONT:

CHORUS:

We are the People, speaking at last.

Have you seen us before?

We are your future, we are your past.

We are the Hungry, we are the Hungry, we are the Hungry,
we are the Poor,

We made you rich, and we won your war.
We are the silent millions

But now we say ‘No More!’

No. 27: 'HECKLING SONG'

 

YOUNG MAN:

You all face near destitution.
Demanding work's no solution.

It's not just work, 'cause a job's just a means to an end.

What you want's a wage packet to spend.

 

This is a land of milk and honey;
The only shortage is money.

When we're in power, the first thing we will do is install
A weekly National Dividend for all.

 

(One of the HUNGER MARCHERS steps forward, revealing a red armband. A BLACKSHIRT FASCIST Enters [in black tunic, jackboots, peaked cap.])

 

COMMUNIST:

You people are just Fascists in a different coloured shirt!
To simply give the People cash will keep them in the dirt.
They've got to rise in anger, like Marx and Lenin say.
Proletarian dictatorship is still the only way.

 

(COMMUNIST gives clenched fist salute. CHORUS turn towards each speaker in turn. Slides change to show crowd looking one way, then another.)

FASCIST:

We know that you're all Socialists; we knew that from the start,

But you won't fool the English just by looking clean and smart.

The Blackshirt time is coming. Our great leader's day is near

And when it does, take my advice, you'd better not be here!

 

YOUNG MAN:

The boss seems rich and secure,
But he's as powerless as you are.
You're both controlled by the will of the Banks, nothing more.
I tell you it's the Banks that keep you poor!

 

The Bankers power must be ended;

Their crazy system suspended.
You have the right to demand,

job or no job, your pay;

And Social Credit is the only way.

 

COMMUNIST:

You say you'll kick the Bankers out, but things will stay the same,

'Cause every single Capitalist is equally to blame.
And dozens of good Socialists join you lot every day.

You'll wreck the Cause you bastards, if you keep on this way!

FASCIST:

You want to change the Banking System; well that's no bloody use!

I s'pose you hadn’t noticed that the Banks are run by Jews.

There's a Zionist conspiracy to crush the British race.
You pansy fellow-travelers can't see beyond your face!

CONT:

CHORUS Exits, and during the instrumental section that follows, the YOUNG MAN climbs down from the rostrum to where MISS BEDFORD is waiting. MISS BEDFORD gives the COMMUNIST a pamphlet which he immediately tears up. She is about to begin an argument when the YOUNG MAN takes her arm and leads her away. As they start to exit, however, their way is blocked by the BLACKSHIRT, who, as they step aside, moves to block their way again. The YOUNG MAN squares up to the BLACKSHIRT, and a fight is about to begin when MISS BEDFORD kicks the BLACKSHIRT on the shin, grabs the YOUNG MAN, hauls him away and the two Exit rapidly. The COMMUNIST finds the incident very amusing, much to the annoyance of the BLACKSHIRT, who pursues him, limping, off the other side of stage.

 

No. 28: 'NO BLOODY FEAR'

 

A GREEN SHIRT CHEER LEADER harangues the audience as the YOUNG MAN and the ladies of the CHORUS move through the auditorium handing or throwing out Green Shirt leaflets explaining the Social Credit idea.

 

SID (A GREEN SHIRT CHEER LEADER):

Let me ask you all a question
Would a maggot starve
Because the apple was too big?

CHORUS:

No Bloody Fear!
No Bloody Fear!
No Bloody Fear!

SID:

Tighten your belts, we're told No thanks!
We will not starve to please the banks.
Whelm on me, Ye Resurrected Men!

 

CHORUS:

Wake now the Dead!
Wake now the Dead!
Wake now the Dead!

 

SID:

No more talk!
No more delay!
'Cause we demand

 

CHORUS:

The People's pay!
The People's pay!
The People's pay!

 

YOUNG MAN and the WOMEN climb back on stage. The WOMEN exchange salutes with the CHEER LEADER and Exit.

No. 29: 'THE STREET FIGHTING SONG'

 

YOUNG MAN:

Just a few weeks later we were on patrol;
That's Sid Barraclough and me.

 

(He indicates CHEER LEADER.)

 

We'd been selling papers and were heading home,
When what should we see....

 

(Lights up on a BLACKSHIRT facing off stage. The two GREEN SHIRTS move towards him. He looks at them apprehensively and Exits.)

 

But a Blackshirt spouting to a crowd of a dozen,
And we thought we deserved a laugh;

So we all piped up with some awkward questions,
And made him look daft.

 

Well the crowd broke up and the Nazi skidaddled;
The matter slipped from our mind,

'Til ten minutes later, a lorry load jumped us,
From behind.

 

(The remainder of the male CHORUS enter as BLACKSHIRTS. They surround the GREEN SHIRTS and start to close in. Some carry truncheons.)

 

It was three to one, and they were all big bleeders,
We were really in a nasty spot,

But we stood back to back, and tried to give back
As good as we got.

 

(Instrumental passage during which the fight breaks out as described. YOUNG MAN knocks out one BLACKSHIRT.)

 

Well we couldn't have held out a moment longer;
We were literally saved by the bell.

 

BLACKSHIRT:

Watch out, it's the police!...

 

YOUNG MAN:

And the Blackshirt lorry
Took out like a bat out of Hell.

 

(BLACKSHIRTS Exit rapidly.)

 

One stayed behind, out cold on the pavement,
But there wasn’t much we could do.

We couldn’t be there when the police car came,
So we beat it too.

 

SID starts to run off but YOUNG MAN lingers with the unconscious BLACKSHIRT. SID drags him off.

 

No. 30: 'HOW MANY THERE' – REPRISE

 

Lights up on NARRATOR's station.

 

NARRATOR:

Running like mad; feel half dead

Must have got a rather nasty thump on the head.
Dark alleys ring to the sound of our feet
When did I decide that I would fight in the street?

 

(Lights up on YOUNG MAN.)

 

NARRATOR & YOUNG MAN:

And I'd always find

There would come to mind

The memory of that Fascist boy who we'd left behind.

 

(YOUNG MAN begins to ‘run’ towards the audience.)

 

NARRATOR:

All the way back, I saw his face

Back to H. Q. by the side streets, just in case...

 

And strange ideas kept reoccurring,
And I seemed to see how easily

It could be me there lying in his place.

 

He was my age, 'bout twenty-two.

S'pose he must believe that Fascist bilge is all true
Works for his cause, late every night

Just the same as me, except he's wrong and we're right.

 

(Stops to consider this.)

 

NARRATOR & YOUNG MAN:

But I'd always find

There would come to mind

Sad regrets for all those things I had to leave behind.

 

YOUNG MAN Exits.

 

No. 31: 'NO MORE GREEN SHIRTS' (to the tune of ‘We're The Green Shirts)

 

Lights up on two GOVERNMENT MINISTERS and a JUNIOR OFFICIAL, (the MINISTERS in swallow-tail coats and top-hats; the OFFICIAL in black jacket and striped trousers.)

 

NARRATOR:

Well, at last the government got the message
British Nazis weren’t a good idea...

 

JUNIOR OFFICIAL:

This report, sir, seems to be conclusive.

FIRST MINISTER:

Yes indeed, they must be banned, it's clear.

SECOND MINISTER:

Wish we could ban the Green Shirts too.

FIRST MINISTER:

But they're too law abiding.

SECOND MINISTER:

Yes, and a sodding nuisance...

 

FIRST MINISTER:

True...

 

JUNIOR OFFICIAL:

I know, sir, let's ban all uniforms.
No more Green Shirts.

 

FIRST MINISTER:

No more Blackshirts

 

(They grow more and more delighted at the prospect.)

 

ALL:

No more Brownshirts
No more Redshirts

 

FIRST MINISTER:

All except the Sally Army

 

JUNIOR OFFICIAL & SECOND MINISTER:

And the Boy Scouts, too.

 

(They give the Boy Scout salute.)

(The CHORUS, including the YOUNG MAN, enter, all wearing ordinary '30s clothes with the addition of green armbands, and looking very dejected. One of them addresses the audience.)

CONT:

GREEN SHIRT

Political uniforms were made unlawful
And the legislation hit us something awful.
Yes, '37 was a dreadful year

Our mass support began to disappear,

And to each meeting fewer and fewer came
In mufti we would never be the same.

 

CHORUS:

Tell us that's not true, Headman
Tell us what to do.

Tell us that's not true, Headman
Tell us what to do.

 

They turn and appeal to their Leader. Slide Up of Hargrave in civilian dress. Lights dim.

 

No. 32: 'THE LEADER SONG' – REPRISE

 

Lights up on NARRATOR's station.

NARRATOR:

Then once again he was standing there before us.
Everyone hoped he would cheer and reassure us.
He spoke defiantly; we listened avidly.
Feelings of tension replacing our apathy.

Though they had tried to destroy our identity
Nothing could alter our manifest destiny.

We would fight back with guerilla activity

Make ourselves known for outrageous publicity.

 

But I didn’t feel the way I wanted to

I just felt weary and dull and angry too.

He called for sacrifice, hard self-denial.
We have to succeed and without it we'd fail;

And all I could think of was 'what am I doing here?'
What have we done that changed anything anywhere?

All of our toil and tears would be useless.
The job is too big; to attempt it is madness.

The world is too fixed in financial insanity.
We'll never break the great power monopolies.

Why should he feel so strong, so full of fire and fight?
I wanted all that, but all I felt was defeat.

 

I cheered like mad but I felt like some observer

His was the right road, I knew, but I could go no further.

 

Lights Down on NARRATOR. Slide Down. All Exit except YOUNG MAN and MISS BEDFORD.

No. 33: 'SAYING GOODBYE' – REPRISE

 

During the song he removes his armband and gives it to her.

 

YOUNG MAN (&MISS BEDFORD)

Saying goodbye, we stood there
Saying goodbye. Why should there
How could there
be much more to say.

 

Saying goodbye. You see,

Miss Bedford and I were parting

And broken-hearting
In the appropriate way.

 

MISS BEDFORD:

Of course we'd been just friends now for some time.
In fact I wore another's ring.

A girl of my age has to think, you know,
About the future, and that sort of thing.

YOUNG MAN (& MISS BEDFORD)

Saying goodbye; she said she
Understood why I couldn’t stay
And shouldn’t blame

Myself at all.

 

Saying goodbye, Could I see

Scorn in her eye as I kissed her?
Said I'd miss her,
And walked off, about two foot tall.

 

She Exits.

 

No. 34: 'AND SO WE JOINED' - REPRISE

 

YOUNG MAN:

And so I left the Kibbo Kift
The first time I'd

Felt alone
And unsure.

 

(Slides up of Chamberlain with Hitler.)

 

I joined the Navy, pretty soon...
The Munich crisis

Had shown
There'd be war.

 

YOUNG MAN Exits.

 

No. 35: 'THE KIBBO KIFT SONG' – REPRISE

 

CHORUS enter, in civilian dress and without armbands.

 

CHORUS:

Sing altogether boys, We're off to fight a war

Just like our fathers, five and twenty years before.

Our Daddies fought the Kaiser; our Grandpas fought the Boer.
Since how far back we'll never know,

'Bout every twenty years or so
They call us up and off we go
It must be for the best.

 

Sing altogether boys, for Empire, God and King.
We've been bad at living but we'll die like anything.
It's funny how the war has got things going with a swing.
The factory gates are open wide,

And everyone's at work inside
And wages going up besides
It must be for the best.

 

CHORUS Exits.

 

No. 36: 'THE CONCLUSION SONG'

 

YOUNG MAN Enters, back in his Love Commando costume. The NARRATOR leaves his station and moves onto the stage.

 

NARRATOR:

Well there you are, I've had my say.
It's not supposed to make a difference
'Cause I can see

You're just like me.
Yes it's hard to swallow
But we're both born to follow.

 

We see so clear the way things must change
But we can't lead, so we seek leaders.

We are many and they are few

We need them, but they need us too.
What's a Captain without a Crew?
It's true, and it's strange.

 

The two are crippled on their own
Each incomplete without the other.
The plans we've had

Might be sane or mad.
But working and waiting
Is better than spectating.

 

And when you feel you've done your duty
Your son will find his own messiah.
And if Mankind ever do

Get to where they are headed to
Their arrival will all be due
To you, and him, and me.

 

No. 37: ‘FINALE’

The CHORUS slowly file on stage. They each wear a uniform identifying them as

A NAZI, A MAOIST, A HARI KRISHNA, A JESUIT PRIEST, A GREEN SHIRT,
A SALVATION ARMY person, A RABBI, A PLO fighter, An IRA man
etc., etc. They turn to the audience.

CHORUS:

Since the dawn of time,

Us Followers

Have stayed in line.

 

We’ve always sung our song

Loud and strong,

Right or wrong.

 

(Three of the CHORUS step forward one at a time to speak these lines over the music.)

 

FIRST FOLLOWER:

No one seems to know the words
Of History's silly song.

 

SECOND FOLLOWER:

You dance to it for ever

Yet you seldom sing along.

 

THIRD FOLLOWER:

We'll never hear the chorus

For our lives will end too soon.

 

NARRATOR:

But though we can't recall the words
We try to sing the tune.

 

ALL:

La... la la la.
La la la.....
La la la.....

 

La... la la la.
La la la.....
La la la.....

 

 

THE END

Interamerican Scout Office