| I was not making a comparison, just addressing the question of whether anyone had any good ideas, broadly speaking, in 20th century Europe. Actually, the United States has had the best movie industry overall, although some of its great directors started in Europe. Still, Frank Capra, John Houston, John Ford, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola are all home grown. In music, we have Copeland, Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, not to mention Leiber and Stoller, Holland/Dozier/Holland, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Wonder. And Jazz, as you note. Abstract expressionism dominated the post- war art scene for a decade or so; Frank Lloyd Wright worked most of the time until he died in the '50s; and the Borscht Belt created a peculiarly American brand of humor out of the Yiddish music hall....... |
