On July 4, I found myself watching the movie of
1776
, and recalling when I first saw the show on Broadway when it was relatively new. I remember that as a then-teenager and history buff, I liked the play (and later, movie); but somehow, as I've gotten older, I've grown to like it _more_.
The real-life story is one that has always inspired me. In that single moment in time, we had in one place -- and on one side -- so many brilliant people who shared a single goal. They were capable of making hard decisions AND of making compromises -- something that few of us can do. They were all flawed humans who rose above themselves to make something better and lasting. And this story captures the efforts, the flaws, and the human beings... how could I NOT appreciate it? (The music's pretty good, too.)
A casual online conversation led me to the discovery of this book-of-the-script, and I invested four bucks in a used copy. Then, when it arrived, I read the whole thing at one sitting. It charmed me, especially since I also could appreciate the authors' notes about sources -- discovering just how much of the dialogue was said or written by the historical characters.
For instance, apparently John Adams really did tell someone that even if the revolution succeeded, he did not expect to be remembered in the history books, saying -- in real life and in the script -- "Franklin did this and Franklin did that and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them - Franklin, Washington, and the horse - conducted the entire revolution by themselves."
And much of the dialog between John and Abigail Adams comes from the
letters between the two of them
(which I MUST read someday...) -- though I don't know if this perfect interchange is among them:
John Adams: Why, Abby? You must tell me what it is. I've always been dissatisfied, I know that. But lately I find that I reek of discontentment. It fills my throat, and it floods my brain. And sometimes I fear there is no longer a dream, but only the discontentment.
Abigail: Oh, John, can you really know so little about yourself? And can you really think so little of me that you believe I'd marry the man you've described?
Among the changes the author made for the sake of plausibility, however, is a truth that audiences would never believe. When the South refused to sign the declaration if it prohibited slavery, the script has Adams tell Franklin, "Mark me, Franklin... if we give in on this issue, posterity will never forgive us." But, Stone and Edwards wrote, the complete line, spoken in July 1776, was "If we give in on this issue, there will be trouble a hundred years hence; posterity will never forgive us." Yeah -- I'd have thought that was a bit too prescient, too.
Mostly, this is a great story... whether you read it as a script or a historical "novel."
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