Just when you thought you’d heard every beaver story there was to hear! Turns out that the Federal Theatre Project under Franklin Roosevelt produced a bundle of theatre productions for children, including in 1937 the widely watched “Revolt of the Beavers“. It featured some children whisked away to Beaverland where an evil Beaver Chief had consigned them to hard labor to produce goods that only he enjoyed. A plucky beaver named Oak Leaf organizes his beaver brethren and overthrows the ruthless chief. Given the dislike of employers and general mistrust of wealth in the day, the play met with packed houses but its message drew media fire. Nova website reports “Theater critic Brooks Atkinson labeled it “Marxism à la Mother Goose.”
I guess even in the midst of a depression (maybe especially in the midst of a depression), the tenets of capitalism were worth protecting. Hmm, some things never change.
Paul: Hey Mary, how can he be a professor? He’s only a beaver! Right?
Mary: Shhhhhhhh. He must be a beaver professor.
Professor: Say, that doesn’t sound like a beaver! Wait a minute! Wow human beings!
Mary: Don’t be afraid. We’re not going to take you to the zoo.
Paul: Yeah, don’t be scared.
Professor: Wow, human beings! Wow human beings in beaver land. How’d you get here?
Mary: Windy blew us here
Professor: Get out of beaverland. You’d better get out of beaverland right away!
Paul: Why?
Professor: Because there’s a lot of trouble in beaverland and you might get right in the middle of the trouble!
The entire script is available for download here, though I doubt RotB is going to see a revival anytime soon. In the mean time, just enjoy the thought of beavers as communists, which I do think kind of applies. Far be it from me to mention that some of the greatest opposition to our beavers has been from big money. I’m sure its just a coincidence.
