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Gangs. Street violence. Massive government corruption. Enormous profits from the sale of prohibited substances building huge criminal empires.
Scenes from the marijuana wars at the Mexican border? No! It was the “Noble Experiment” in legislating public consumption of an easily manufactured mood-altering substance used throughout human history, the National Prohibition Act that went into effect on January 16, 1920.
It’s going to be easy to find me on Sunday nights, because I’ll be parked in front of my TV watching the new HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.” The trailer looks unbelievably great, from the costumes and the sets to the actors and the script. In his role as Executive Producer, Martin Scorsese was able to command not only top talent at every level but an eye-popping $50 million budget for the series, which included the construction of a $5 million, 300-foot boardwalk set in a Brooklyn parking lot decked out with fully decorated hotel, theater and stores.
Scorsese directed tonight’s premiere episode, written by his co-Executive Producer Terence Winter, who also wrote or co-wrote 25 episodes of The Sopranos. Steve Buscemi stars as Nucky Thompson, a character modeled after Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, the New Jersey political boss who served as treasurer of Atlantic County, New Jersey during prohibition.
The series begins on the eve of prohibition. Buscemi as Thompson stands at the head of a long table filled with politicians and gangsters, and raises his glass in a toast:
“As you know, in less than 2 hours, liquor will be declared illegal by decree of the distinguished members of our nation’s congress. To those ignorant bastards! … We got a product a fellow’s gotta have.”
There could not be a more poignant time for the series to begin. And no, I don’t mean because True Blood ended last week, but good guess. The United States, Canada, Latin America and countries across the world are starting to re-evaluate the failed war on drugs, the vast criminal cartels it has enriched and the violence that has left 28,000 dead in Mexico alone since 2004. It appears that Scorsese and Winter have tapped into our collective consciousness and extracted a lesson from history that is right for the time.
We’ll be having a Boardwalk Empire watch party starting each week at 9pm ET, sponsored by the Just Say now campaign. We’ll have special guests and hosts, contests and a lively discussion in the comments that will hopefully be entertaining even for those who aren’t watching.
Join us tonight at 9pm ET as Just Say Now hosts the first Boardwalk Empire watch party.
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Can’t wait!
What a great idea! I was listening to an NPR review of Boardwalk the other day and thought about the Current Prohibition angle.
See ya here at 9!
See ya at 9. I’ll be here with the dogs.
Watertiger’s sister worked on the set design, I hope she can join us. Would love to have people who worked on the show stop by & chat.
BTW, I vote we keep calling it the “Current Prohibition” the “Modern Prohibition” or “Failed Prohibition.”
Because it still was Stupid Then, Stupid Now. :)
I find a lot of irony in this love affair the American public have with the years of prohibition and the Mafia as presented in our literature. Perhaps making alcohol a “forbidden substance” aroused what adolescent rebellion against authority that endured in the people. I am not enough into the drug culture to know for certain but beyond the bond between user and dealer the public does not seem to have the same affection for those who trade in illegal marijuana.
In my view the saddest consequence of prohibition and its ending were a couple or more of generation that incorporated alcohol and intoxication into their lifestyles and the subsequent relational dysfunction. One hopes marijuana does not have that same capacity.
Many years ago, a dissertation student of mine did his dissertation on the AC public school system.
In the 1920s, it was held up as a model of urban schooling. And, there was much to be said. The schools were state of the art and were also visually stunning, employing hundreds of immigrant stone masons from Italy to do the masonry work.
Of course, given the graft of the city (and Nucky Johnson), the corruption was endemic within the school system as well (and teachers and administrators having to buy their jobs was common throughout the state). But (!). The schools were lavishly well-funded compared to most NJ public schools, and they served more children than on average.
The AC High School was also integrated (as were most houses of ill-repute), but the grammar schools were segregated. This is one of AC’s idiosyncratic features, because is was an “open” city. Open to graft, but also social change and experimentation.
When the feds finally busted Nucky in the 1930s (Nucky was a good Republican–and FDR had easily pickens–they got him on tax evasion on those houses), the school system never quite recovered. It was a slow, slow slide towards decay.
I hope the show can tease out just how idiosyncratic AC was in the 1920s. It was, quite literally, a different world.
Will be a regular event here!!
And yes Kelly Prohibition is just plain crazy. It has never worked and never will. The only thing it is good for is the violence it begets and the citizens the the Prison Industrial Complex profits from incarcerating … They love it.
Plug for the writer: Terrence Winter is the Executive Producer and Showrunner. Scorsese is also an Executive Producer. The term co-Executive Producer, as used to describe Winter in this article, means that he is also an Executive Producer, not that he has the the lesser title of Co-Executive Producer.
I’m going to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform a free concert tonight at Pritzker Pavilion. This will be the first performance by new Music Director Ricardo Muti. It’s kind of like the classical equivalent of LeBron James coming to Miami. Even bigger than getting a new Pope in my opinion.
I definitely want to get into this new series. It sounds fantastic.
Scorsese is identified in the post as “executive producer.” Winter is identified as HIS co-Executive Producer. Which means that he is also an executive producer with Scorsese, not A “co-executive producer.”
I realize the jargon is confusing, but that is the industry standard.
No regular TV here, but I’m sure the threads will be good.
Btw I am reading Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and I can’t put it down. Or praise it enough (so far). I think it’s gonna even help me finally quit smoking. Anyway, should be on every anti-drug-warrior bookshelf.
Even referring to Winters as HIS co-Executive producer seems to diminish his role a bit, since Winters is the creator and showrunner. Accepted practice in television is to try to avoid the term co-Executive Producer unless someone is a Co-Executive Producer, in order to avoid confusion. It is easily done. Not sure what industry standard means.
It looks like a fantastic read. I’m definitely going to get a copy of it.
One of the rare times I would like to have teebee.
Thanks for the invite. Sounds like great fun.
double crap — i only have basic cable and no premium channels :(
I’m looking for a kindler, gentler sports bar to hijack for the evening … ;)
Premium channel? Rats. Maybe it will stream on Hulu?
I live in Atlantic City and it’s not much better today, except for one big difference, AC is everything that’s gone wrong in America X100!. We have a decaying corruption ridden economy dependent on a few huge Int’l Casino Corps. that care little for the Community and a Gov’t filled to overflowing with patronage and nepotism just like in “Nucky’s” day. The combination has spelled disaster when added to the worst Nat’l Recession since the Great Depression.