There is a scene in the Young Lincoln movie, during a parade, where people yell at a woman on a float named Lily, We never see the people on the sideline or Lily again. Does anyone know what that has to do with the plot?
Always Wondered.
John Ford loved "community social life" scenes---hoedowns and dances, group picnics, and such. Perhaps he was just highlighting the comfortable social ties within the 19th Century communities. It also highlights the fact that in young Mr. Lincoln's world not all females were dowdy farm women.
shareThe young woman wearing the star spangled outfit atop the parade float represents, embodies Columbia in the same way that Great Britain has its female figure embodiment of Brittania and France has its Marianne; the female figure of Columbia, as embodiment of our republic, has since fallen out of fashion. Ford has Columbia in this scene because in the nineteenth century the figure of Columbia was then a popular representation, or embodiment, of the United States, thus her appearance in the parade. Columbia Studios adopted the figure of Columbia in its pastiche trademark womanly figure, which explains why nowadays Columbia is much more widely seen as a studio trademark than as the embodiment of the U.S. It wasn't that long ago that the rousing song "Columbia, The Gem Of The Ocean" was taught to and memorized by both public and private school pupils.
shareI love that scene of Lily on the float. I think the lady who says "Here comes Lily!" must be one of her relatives. An old man calls out to Lily about her serving him flapjacks so I think she must have been a serving girl in a tavern or restaurant. That probably made her a minor celebrity in those days.
John Ford knew how to paint a picture with a few perfect strokes.