Alice's Restaurant is coming around on the gee-taur right now.

[xiphias]

So, it's a New England tradition that many of the local radio stations play Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving. Because it's about a thanksgiving meal that can't be beat, and also about litterin', and about not participatin' in the mass-a-cree of innocent people in other countries just 'cause your gummint kinda wants you to.

Which is, unfortunately, relevant again.

But, see, I didn't start writin' this post to talk about the anti-mass-a-cree aspects of the song, important as those are. No, I wanted to talk about Officer Opie.

(You remember Officer Opie, don't you? He's in the song.)

See, now, do you know what Officer Opie looks like? I bet you do. Even if you didn't see the movie Alice's Restaurant, in which the role of Officer Opie is played by Officer Opie (his comment was "it's better to make myself look like a fool that watch someone else making me look like a fool) (Arlo Guthrie is played by Arlo Guthrie, the bind judge who oversees the case is played by the blind judge who oversaw the case, and Alice is played by Pat Quinn), you probably still know what he looks like.



Yep. He's the taller one in the police uniform.

Comments

[rosefox]

(Both courtesy of oh_chris.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are wonderful!

[gingicat]

I always thought of Rockwell's policeman as being both kinder and more intelligent than Officer Opie...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The thing is -- Officer Opie is neither stupid nor unkind. He was a believer in Law and Order, but he was ALSO of the belief that Them Long Haired Hippie Kids were members of his community -- and if an eighteen year old and nineteen year old kid were going to go do some littering, he was going to haul them before a judge for the lesson -- because he thought they were good kids and should learn about Not Littering.

And he wasn't too upset that the arrest record he provided Arlo with kept him out of Vietnam. . . .

[gingicat]

I like that perspective. :)

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

That is a fabulous way of looking at the story. I think too often we hear of the police during the Vietnam era as despising teenagers and wanting nothing more than to put a bullet into one of them.

Oh, and playing "Alice's Restaurant" on Thanksgiving is more than a New England tradition. Radio stations play it down here in the Mid-Atlantic and in Northeast Ohio too. ;-)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

yeah, I can remember hearing it on WNEW-FM out of New York City back when I was in high school in the early 80s.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Same in Florida and New Mexico!

[querldox.livejournal.com]

I can vouch for California, and at least back in the 70s/early 80s, the Triangle region of North Carolina.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Depends on where you were, I think. I didn't know anyone who got shot by the police back then. Beaten up or tear-gassed, yes; shot, no. And it wasn't all police, just the ones out looking for people under 25.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Well, that makes me really happy.

And we listen to "Alice's Restaurant" out here on the west coast too!

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

Obie. William Obanhein. Opie is the son of a sheriff, but that's a whole different story.

[redknight.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I was thinking it was "Obie" and was about to check, but your comment saved me the trouble! :-)

[ceo]

Well, of course. Like Arlo, Norman Rockwell was a resident of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where they have three stop signs, two police officers and one police car, so his choice of models was limited.

(I also like Arlo's comment on the movie: "I only ever made one movie... that's 'cause I saw it."

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Is that really him, or did you mean that metaphorically?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

It really is him.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's pretty cool.

[ron_newman]

The Somerville Theatre used to show the movie Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving Day each year. They haven't done it in a long time, though.