On this fairly tense Election Day, I wanted to offer a little levity by drawing attention to the 1931 Gershwin brother’s musical, Of Thee I Sing.

The university theater department presented it this year because it is a satire of the presidential elections.

The plot is somewhat prescient in that Presidential candidate, John P. Wintergreen, is induced to run on a platform of “Love.” His campaign committee comes up with the stunt that involves him marrying the girl who wins a beauty pageant held in Atlantic City.

I might be too eerily similar to our current situation except that Mr. Wintergreen falls in love with a secretary he meets backstage at the pageant based on her ability to make great corn muffins. They are indeed great corn muffins since they also convince the Supreme Court to rule in Wintergreen’s favor when the pageant winner sues for breach of contract.

Given that the domestic skills of women are valued and repeatedly praised in the show, the pageant winner is rejected partially because she can’t cook, I think it is safe to say they didn’t envision a woman running for president at the time.

Just as a bit of trivia, President Cleveland and Buchanan were single when elected. Cleveland married after taking office, Buchanan remained single throughout his term.  I think it may be difficult to envision an unmarried man running for president these days too.

Here is a jazzy version of the title song by Ella Fitzgerald for ya,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5-xbKAGn8