How did Woody Guthrie get involved in a government film about public power? Hereâs a book excerpt from 26 Songs In 30 Days. Please Donate NOW:
âIt was April 1941, and a man that Woody referred to as âsome feller from the Dept. of Interiorâ came by his Los Angeles home to chat with him about a film being shot along the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington State. That âfellerâ was Gunther von Fritsch, aHollywood producer who had signed on with Steve Kahn to make a documentary for the Bonneville Power Administration. Von Fritsch told Guthrie they were interested in hiring him for a year to act and narrate in the film, as well as write some songs about river and its federal projects. Stephen Kahn had heard of Woody Guthrie but had never heard his music, let alone met the man. Heâd gotten his name from Alan Lomax, who had recommended Guthrie for Kahnâs documentary project with a flow of superlatives over the phone from Washington, DC.
It was a yearlong gig to be an actor, narrator, and singer in the documentary The Columbia: Americaâs Greatest Power Stream. But the agency needed approval from Washington DC for one-year appointments. That, Kahn sensed from the start, could be a problem, considering Woodyâs leftist background. Also Woodyâs hobo-beatnik style wasnât exactly what employees at the government agency were used to seeing. Even though Kahn was clearly a liberal himself and an activist for public power, hiring another activist who wrote columns for a communist newspaper, a known agitator and sometimes radical, was a whole other deal.
While Kahn hadnât officially offered Guthrie a job in the first place, now that he was standing in front of him (after Guthrie drove to Portland from Los Angeles), he didnât want to let an opportunity pass. ââHe had his guitar, and I said, âPlay me something,ââ Kahn recalled. âAnd I listened. And I said, âWoody, I think you have the common touch.ââ The solution Kahn came up with right then and there was an emergency appointment, for one month. Such an appointment required approval only from within the agency, by the BPAâs administrator, Paul Raver. Kahn set up an impromptu audition with the boss.
Perhaps anticipating Raverâs conservative tendencies and fearing that Woody might start spouting ideology, Kahn gave the singer a warning. âJust play your guitar and sing your songs,â he said. âIf you talk, youâll lose the battle.â Woody sat on Raverâs desk and did his best version of himselfââthe man who told you something you already knowâ with the Will Rogers charm. He played songs for Raver and kept his talking to a minimum. About thirty minutes later, Woody walked out with the job.â
Guthrie wrote 26 songs for the film between May 12-June 11th 1941. Only three were ultimately used in the film, including âRoll, Columbia, Rollâ as heard in this clip from the film The Columbia.
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