It may seem unthinkable now - people considered it unthinkable at the time - but for about 13 years in America, alcohol was constitutionally banned. The 18th Amendment made criminal the distillation, transportation and distribution of alcohol. It was never, however, illegal to drink it.
Ah-ha. An American-sized loop-hole.
Prohibition was a dark and exciting time - the birth of jazz clubs, speak-easies, and organized crime. A time none of us would return to, yet it remains in the top five party-themes of all time. Oh really? You don’t have some photo-booth picture of you in pearls, holding a Tommy gun? Really?
And speaking of pearls…
My guest for this episode is Beau Hufford. He is at the helm of 3 different podcasts and so we begin our conversation talking a little “podcast shop” and playing with my sound effects. Welcome. Pull up a chair and pour yourself a cup of hooch as we begin the HILF of Prohibition.
---EPISODE NOTES/LINKS---
00:00:00 - Dawn and Beau discuss the podcasting sound board as well as Beau’s other podcasting exploits:
- Campfire Shtshow
- Movie Cinema Film Club
- Things You Can’t Tell Your Parents
- He is also a visual artist who performs and travels around the world.
00:08:57 - The subject at hand is, Prohibition. Beau explains that his fascination all began when he built a small Tiki Bar hidden in his apartment called “The Sneaky Crow”. Dawn presents her sources of research:
- ‘Prohibition’ - Documentary by Ken Burns on PBS
- LAST CALL: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition - By Daniel Okrent
00:13:54 - Dawn explains that one of the lessons of Prohibition is this: For a bad idea to succeed, it needs a good intention and a committee of assholes. The good intention was to do something about the very real and very growing problem of alcoholism in America. Most families could trace some terrible situation to a man and a bottle. The assholes include some classic ones like the KKK, but also some more likeable-assholes like The Suffragettes.
00:24:30 - In December of 1917 congress passes Prohibition… They fucking pass it. Then, in January of 1919, it is ratified by 36 states and the one-year countdown begins to January 17th, 2020 when it's all illegal baby. Almost immediately the many loopholes were exploited. For example, beer and fermented cider you made at home was legal. But there were other figures - braver, wiser, more-desperate - who had no interest in squeezing through a loophole... and the are so fuckable.
--- BREAK ---
00:32:36 - Another lesson from Prohibition: A bad idea can become a good situation for some people, but it’s still a bad idea.
Fortunes were made, adventures were had, and in the case of some places like The Bimini Islands (Bahamas) and St. Pierre (a French island off the coast of Canada) Prohibition was to thank for their entire existing infrastructure. There were also bootleggers like Bill McCoy (swoon) and NASCAR, and Cocktail Parties and Speak-Easies... But... There was also a lot of suffering, the poor and unprotected were the disproportionate victims. It couldn't last.
00:57:00 - It’s all hitting the fan in 1928. In the presidential election is Al Smith [of New York who had essentially repealed Prohibition in the state of New York] and Herbert Hoover who isn't terribly vocal about it but seems to be comparatively 'wet'. He wins.
The Prohibition advocates double-down on enforcing drinking laws, misreading the election results as a mandate to get tougher. It backfires just as the stock market crashes in 1929 and whatever meager funds we had to unsuccessfully fight the laws before, also evaporated.
01:04:50 - One of the greatest exports of the time was an American deviant youth culture. Kids fucking around. Don't forget that The Great Gadsby was written during prohibition. It was a present-day inspiration... and it was sexy as fuck then as it is now.
---
THANK YOU - listener - for tuning in and reading this far. We appreciate you and thank you and can't wait to see you next time. When we do it will be for THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS with guest, Alex Malt.
In the meantime...