# 2114
The Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 may be the least mentioned major event of the last century in popular culture. That is in songs, movies, television shows, and novels.
As a bit of a movie buff, particularly very old movies, I constantly look for references to the great pandemic, but almost never find them.
There are a great many movies about the events of that era - World War I, the wildness of the roaring twenties - even the sinking of the Titanic . . . but the influenza that ravaged the world and killed tens of millions gets practically no mention at all.
It is as if the survivors collectively wiped it out of their minds, fearing that even mentioning it would bring bad luck - or perhaps a return of the pandemic.
I can personally think of no other reason that the events of 1918-1919 have been so thoroughly wiped from our collective consciousness. It was simply too horrific to remember.
A notable exception was the short novel Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter published in 1939. It doesn't appear to have ever been made into a movie, although in the 1960's a television play with the same name was produced. I've been unable to obtain a copy, so I am unsure if it is about the same subject.
As a young paramedic in the 1970's, I was lucky enough to have met, and to have talked to many survivors of the Spanish Flu. A great many of my patients were teenagers or young adults in 1918, and on routine calls (nursing home transfers, mostly) they would often talk about `the old days'.
Occasionally, the subject of 1918 would come up. It was obviously a major trauma for most of them, even nearly sixty years after the fact. When they did talk about that time, it was in hushed tones.
Just about all of those of that generation are gone now. My father, now 83, was born six years after the Spanish Flu, and can remember very little talk about it growing up. It just wasn't mentioned. Anyone old enough in 1918 to have much remembrance would have to be at least 95 years old by now.
And so we forgot. As a nation, and as a world.
We spoke not of it in books or movies, nor in television or song. We banished its remembrance and silently prayed it would never return.
Perhaps that is why it is so hard for most people today to accept the possibility that it could happen again.
We don't remember the last time.
Luckily, there are a few serious historical references to 1918.
John Berry's Book, The Great Influenza is of course well known today. The HHS has put together a good website chronicling the events of 1918 as well.
This morning I ran across a video which utilizes photos from the Library of Congress (and other sources) along with audio from Charles Hardy's excellent Talking History segment on the impact of the Spanish Flu on Philadelphia. Recorded in the early 1980's, there were still many survivors of the flu left to interview.
This video, entitled The Killer Within, is hosted on both Youtube, and You Remember That (among others I suppose). It runs about 9 minutes, and while disturbing, is well worth the time to view.
A longer (and arguably better) retrospective comes from the Charles Hardy Talking History show I remember When, which runs about 34 minutes. In it you will hear much about how the influenza was treated in 1918 and the impacts on society.
"I Remember When: What Became of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918." (1983)
Real Media.
"What Became of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918" was also part of Hardy's I Remember When series. Initially aired on January 18, 1983, it focused on the worst pandemic of the Twentieth Century and its impact on Philadelphia, the hardest hit of American cities.
Both of these presentations are extremely well done and well worth your time.
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