On this Fourth of July 2017, we are Recalling the 1944 movie Since You Went Away Statue of Liberty Scene. Today is my third year here at AnchoredScraps.com to write my 4th of July blog post!

I’m still recalling this scene first introduced to me by my Mom years ago with her eyes full of tears describing it; when I finally saw the movie it was all the more stirring to me!   If you have never heard of the David O. Selznick war movie, “Since You Went Away”, it stars Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Walker, Hattie Mcdaniel, Agnes Moorehead, and the scene we are focused with today’s blog post is with Alla Nazimova and Claudette Colbert.

Recalling Since You Went Away Statue of Liberty Scene

The movie was first mentioned here at AnchoredScraps.com last year in my blog post on Shirley Temple stamp debuts today.  The image below is a snapshot from the YouTube I’m including a link. If you go to the 2:27:05 mark it is where the scene I’m recalling of from Since You Went Away Statue of Liberty Scene.  If you want to start at 2:20:21, it will take you to the setup before the scene which prompts Claudette to end up working at the shipyard learning to be a welder where she meets Alla becoming friends.  She is quoting from ‘”The New Colossus” sonnet that American poet Emma Lazarus wrote that is engraved on “a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal’s lower level.'”

TCM User Reviews Since You Went Away

Over at TCM, Turner Classic Movies, I am delighted to see this scene praised there among the Since You Went Away TCM User Reviews.  There is this one user review especially to mention: Emma Lazarus! Posted by RedRain on 4/11/13: “I’ve seen this film more times than I can count now but I will view it each time it is on TCM, exclusively to see and hear Nazimova recite the stirring words from Emma Lazarus that are on the Statue of Liberty…”

Audio Recording Alla Nazimova from movie Since You Went Away

In looking further, I’ve located on YouTube an audio recording of Alla Nazimova (Broadway and silent film star) Recites from the Statue of Liberty Inscription. 

The page has done a beautiful job writing about it:

“Alla Nazimova, Broadway, silent movie, and talking picture star, appeared briefly in Since You Went Away, reciting the inscription to the Statue of Liberty. The best known of those words are the last five lines of The New Colossus, a poem written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 to help raise money to complete the statue, which was donated by the people of France. The lines read:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The title refers to the Colossus of Rhodes, the giant (for its time) statue that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The poem contrasts the Colossus and its “conquering limbs” with Lady Liberty, a welcoming symbol to immigrants of every sort, according to the Statue of Liberty website. You can find the entire poem engraved on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty in New York, New York.”

The image upper left today is the 2017 49c US Flag Forever stamp.

Thank you for joining me today. I’ll be on the phone this morning with Mom sharing with her today’s blog post. Our plans tonight include going to a baseball game to be followed with Fireworks! Wishing you and your family a wonderful July 4th, 2017!