Episode 50: America's Love Affair With Cars
Added 2020-10-14 12:10:39 +0000 UTCIt’s often said that Americans have a “love affair” with cars and driving. Where did this oddly specific expression come from? Most people probably assume it was something that developed organically, like so many common sayings. But Peter Norton, the author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, points to a little-known 1961 NBC TV documentary starring Groucho Marx as the source of this famous phrase. It’s a fascinating story that finds the wisecracking comedian pitted against anti-automobile activists such as Jane Jacobs and proves that America’s so-called “love affair” with cars is more like an arranged marriage.
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SHOW NOTES:
Purchase Peter Norton’s book Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City as well as titles by all the authors who’ve appeared on the podcast at the official War on Cars page on Bookshop.org.
Watch NBC’s Merrily We Roll Along, which originally aired on NBC on October 21st, 1961 (Part 1 & Part 2).
Read “The Myth of the American Love Affair With Cars” (The Washington Post)
This episode was sponsored by our friends at Cleverhood. Receive 20% off your purchase of stylish, functional rain gear designed specifically for bicycling and walking. Enter coupon code WARONCARS when you check out.
Find us on Twitter: @TheWarOnCars, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek, Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1.
Questions, comments or suggestions? Email us: thewaroncars@gmail.com
Comments
As an urban historian and Jane Jacobs biographer, I particularly enjoyed this episode. (I enjoy them all, even those without Jane Jacobs references!) However, I’d offer that the story could have delved even further into the gender questions alluded to and discussed in the love-affair metaphor. Apart from the historical sexism, it must be noted that everyone, then and now, from Leno to Marx, expressing their love for cars, were men. And the only person described as anti-car was a woman— Jane Jacobs! (That said, I know you’ve hit these questions and themes elsewhere. Great work and contributions all. Thanks!)
Peter Laurence
2021-01-14 19:36:07 +0000 UTC
