by Jeff Klein
“Get On Up” is a film based on the life and moves of James Brown. Chadwick Bosman is outstanding as the Godfather of Soul. It’s a really good movie with great beats – the producers (Mick Jagger, Brian Grazer and six other Caucasians*) were smart enough to use outtakes of songs we’ve funked on for years.
As can be the case with these sorts of things, there was an anachronism: In one scene that took place in the 1940s, dollar bills were being handed out. But they were Federal Reserve Notes, which weren’t in circulation back then – you’ve probably got `em in your wallet, and apparently so did the filmmakers.
This is the type of dollar bill they showed in the film, a Federal Reserve Note like the kind we currently circulate. We’ve been enjoying it since 1964:
And here’s a silver certificate bill, the type they should have shown, as was used in the 1940s:
Silver certificates were issued from 1878 to 1964 in the U.S. and were redeemable for silver in the form of silver dollar coins. They were discontinued due to concerns about silver shortages.
Now go see this movie!
Sept. 10, 2014
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*As noted in The Whitewashing of James Brown, no African Americans were included in the creative team for this movie, apart from the actors.