Americana

Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects, tools and weapons; flags, plaques and statues, and so on. Patriotism and nostalgia play defining roles in the subject. The things involved need not be old, but need to have the appropriate associations. The Atlantic described the term as "slang for the comforting, middle-class ephemera at your average antique store—things like needle-pointed pillows, Civil War daguerreotypes, and engraved silverware sets." The term may be used to describe the theme of a museum or collection, or of goods for sale.

The term can also be used to describe studies of American culture, especially studies based in other countries.Americana music is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass and blues, resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound.

Americana (game show)

Americana is a weekly game show which ran on NBC from December 8, 1947 to July 4, 1949. The series was originally hosted by literary critic John Mason Brown and produced by Martin Stone Productions with NBC Television. Each week's show was sponsored by Encyclopedia Americana. The 30-minute show aired Mondays at 8:10pm ET in the 1947-48 television season, and Mondays at 8:30pm ET in the 1948-49 season.

Format

The quiz, whose slogan was "Your program about your country", involved five contestants (originally adults, changed to high school students by March 1949) answering viewer-submitted questions about American history. A panel of three actors would perform short skits (with either one actor or more in each), after which the contestants would try to answer the questions.

Hosts

On January 21, 1948, Brown was replaced by composer and musical critic Deems Taylor, who only hosted that show and the January 28 episode. On February 4 he was replaced by Ben Grauer, who was at the time recognized for hosting Information Please on NBC Radio since 1938.

Americana (film)

Americana is a 1983 American drama film starring, produced, edited and directed by David Carradine. The screenplay and story, written by Richard Carr, was based on a portion of the 1947 novel, The Perfect Round, by Henry Morton Robinson. The novel's setting was originally post-World War II, but the screenplay involved the post-war experiences of a Vietnam War veteran, obsessed with restoring an abandoned carousel.

In 1981, the film, won The People's Choice Award at the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Financing the movie himself, Carradine shot most of the footage for the film, which was co-produced by Skip Sherwood, in 1973 with a band of 26 people, mostly his family and friends, over the course of 18 days. Problems with financing and distribution kept the film from being released until 1983. The film was well received by audiences, but met with primarily negative criticism.

Plot

A down on his luck, former Green Beret captain (Carradine), freshly discharged from the Vietnam War, drifts into Drury, Kansas. There he finds a derelict merry-go-round that he decides to restore. "The symbolism of a man wanting to build something joyful after being part of the carnage and destruction of war," surmised film critic, Charles Champlin. The people of the town have mixed reactions: some support his efforts while others hinder them. Among his supporters are two local business men: a hardware store owner, played by Barbara Hershey's father, Arnold Herzstein, and Mike, a gas station proprietor played by Michael Greene, who had guest-starred on two episodes of Carradine's television series, Kung Fu. Both men supply employment to the veteran as well as parts and tools for his endeavour.