"12 Angry Men," A Film Classic

The playwright Reginald Rose's jury room drama, 12 Angry Men, began as a one-hour play performed live on network television in 1954. When it became a feature-length movie, released in 1957, it was a box office flop, despite receiving widespread critical acclaim.

Decades later, writes Phil Rosenzweig, in his book, 12 Angry Men: Reginald Rose and the Making of an American Classic (Fordham University Press, 2021), it "is revered as one of America's greatest motion pictures," written by one of television's Golden Age writers.

The stage play version, popular with both professional and amateur productions, caused one current critic to note that the play "still manages to grip an audience as though it were ripped from today's headlines." One New York Times writer, however, called attention to the "legal and social anachronisms" present in the play (and the movie) such as an all-white, all-male jury, the allowing of jurors to smoke in the jury room, and the mandatory death penalty (in New York State). There is one other anachronism, Juror #8 (Henry Fonda's character in the movie) brings a switchblade knife to the jury room that's similar to the one used as evidence in the murder trial. Today, with metal detectors present at the courthouse entrance, the knife would have been immediately confiscated by court officers.

Otherwise, I agree with the Times writer's assessment that "the play [as well as the movie] remains fresh, engaging, and powerful."

A Small African Boy's Creativity And Determination

Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Catherine Stock (HarperCollins, paperback, 1991, approx. 32 pp.,  suitable for ages 4-8).

Kondi is a small boy who lives in a village in the African country of Malawi where the national language is Chichewa.

"I shall make a galimoto," he tells his older brother, Ufulu. (Galimoto, the Chichewa word for "car," is what a small push toy is called. It can be made of wires or some other material.) Ufulu laughs and tells Kondi that he doesn't have enough wires to make his toy. That sets Kondi on a neighborhood search for wires. Along the way he encounters adults who at first don't understand what he is doing when he climbs over a fence or innocently cuts in front of  a long line of housewives patiently waiting to have their maize ground by the miller at the flour mill.

Undeterred, Kondi continues his search for more wires. When he achieves his goal, Kondi makes a toy car that he pushes with a long bamboo stick to the delight of the other children in the village. After succeeding in making his galimoto, he dreams that night of what he will make next. Perhaps "an ambulance or an airplane or a helicopter."

Galimoto is a riveting story that is told in simple language and is beautifully illustrated with watercolor drawings. The book is meant to be read aloud and is sure to please children in the four to eight age range.

The story took me back to my own childhood when I would make a bus or a train out of an empty quart size milk container or cardboard boxes. I had plenty of store-bought toys but I also enjoyed making things by hand.

Galimoto is a great way for parents to encourage small children to let their imaginations have free rein by using everyday items to create their own toys and not depend solely on those that are ready-made.

At a time when kids have their eyes glued to mobile devices, this book introduces them to the printed page, shows them the simple pleasure of creating something with their own hands, and allows them to see how a child in a far-away land uses his leisure time.