III.  American Theatre, naughty and nice.


The Library of Congress has a super resource on the Variety Stage.  As
       we’ve seen in Chambers, American social and sexual mores are beginning to
change in the decades around the turn of the century, and in major cities
especially, a variety of forms of live entertainment are competing for the
American Dollar.  Visit the website , prowl around, and take your sweetie to
a show...or have your sweetie take you...or go by yourself, I’m not fussy, but
write down your reaction in your to what you see.  (Spend a little time on this
one...there are scripts for all sorts of skits, including a variety of ethnic ones
which would probably be considered politically incorrect today. I won’t ask
anyone to sing (unless he/she wants  to) or to act out a skit (unless a couple of
you want to).



As is usually the case, early technologies are pretty crude affairs.  Above, a baseball game is recorded in an experimental film in 1898.  Click on the image to look at it.  To see how much improved things became very quickly, watch the Providence Police strutt their stuff for the cameras in 1903 by clicking here.  (I wonder if they were practicing for the Bristol Fourth of July Parade?)
It begins to sound like a
broken record, but many
of our popular recreational
activities take their form in
the 1890s, give or take a
few years.  Professional
Baseball, for example,
takes its modern form
then, and the first World
Series took place in 1903.

Leisure time is a function
of efficient economic
activity.  If one has to
spend every waking hour
earning his/her daily bread,
leisure is only an abstraction. 
We’ve seen it begin as a
perquisite of the rich.
(The Leisure Class, as Thorsten
Veblen called thim. But, through
some of the processes we’ve
investigated in the last couple
of weeks (remember the combine thresher machines pulled by dozens of horses) humans didn’t have to work 24/7 to earn their daily bread.  In this chapter we will look at a real smorgasbord of things... sports, the invention of the vacation, fitness fads (bicycling, gymnastics), and even such things as soft drinks and soda fountains take their place (in competition with the old favorite, the saloon, pictured above).  Click on the picture to read about having a good time in Chicago at the turn of the century.
History 340 Critical Periods in  United States History:  The 1890s
Roger Williams University
CAS 228
MWF 12:00 - 12:50
Fall Semester, 2007
Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D.
Office:  Feinstein College 110
Hours:  T,  9:00 - 10:00:
MWF, 1:00-2:00 or by appointment
254-3230
E.mail: Swanson1890s@msn.com
Printer-Friendly Copy
Index
For  Monday, October 15
Read, in Schlereth,

5.  Communicating, pp. 177 - 207
We’ve mentioned the revolution in communications almost from the first class.  Today we’ll zero in on it.  We’ve talked about the telephone before, so I expect I will not spend much time on it now, though I’m still wavering about whether to show you a video about it.  (I’ll probably make up my mind at the last minute.)  Other forms of communication have been mentioned as well, like the post card.  Greeting cards extend this idea and relate it to specific seasons of the year, chiefly Christmas and Valentine’s Day, but also to personal anniversaries, as well.  We’ll think about those, and about changes in the way mail was delivered which bring the post office into modern ways, chiefly the RFD system (1896).  We’ve already mentioned this a bit in conjunction with the salesmanship of Mr. Sears.
The earliest extant phonograph recordings date to 1888.  That year, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Composer of the team of Gilbert and Sullivan who produced the ever popular operettas like Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, recorded his reactions to this new invention.  " For myself, I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the results of this evening's experiment -- astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same, I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery." Both the recording and playback process were entirely mechanical, which accounts for the quality of the recordings.  Click on the 1898 advertisement at the left and prowl around listening to some of the early recordings available through the National Park Service's Thomas Edison Site.
For Wednesday, October 17
Read, in Schlereth,
6.  Playing, pp.  208 - 241
Stereoscope views were not new in the 1890s, but they became ever more popular as prices came down.  Mr. Sears had something to do with this. The subjects were often slices of everyday life.  Click on the image to the left to learn what they were and how they worked, and then browse a few of them in the small town life collection which is brought to us through the New York Public Library Collection series.
Neighborhood societies often met at the local saloon where the proprietor himself was frequently a member. Taverns were not all dens of vice and iniquity. In 1900 Chicago had 6,395 licensed retail saloons. Many had accommodations for dancing parties and lodge meetings. Some had restaurant departments attached. Lange’s Pavilion at 445 Milwaukee Avenue (1896) advertised itself as a "family resort with a music pavilion where vocal and instrumental musical entertainments are given in connection with a vaudeville stage."
For Friday, October 19

INTERNET ASSIGNMENT in two to three parts:

Choose any two of the three below.  Have trouble choosing?  Do all three.

I.  Sports
As leisure time increases and as America becomes more urbanized and affluent, we begin to see Americans indulging in spectator sports to a greater degree than heretofore.  Of the sports above, Boxing and Horse Racing had been around for the longest time.  Baseball was moving into a professional era and Football was a standard form of exercise at American Colleges and Universities.  So, take your character to one or more sporting events and record his/her reaction.
Popular Music was one of America's Passions during the 1890s. In those days, Americans were as much producers of music as consumers of them. We've seen the advertisements for musical instruments of all types, and the presence of a musical instrument in the home (and the ability to play a musical instrument) were marks of gentility aspired to by members of all social classes. To respond to the appetite for popular music a vigorous sheet music industry arose, and advances in printing technology and the availability of cheap paper made mass editions of the latest hits available to many people. Thanks to the internet, many examples of popular song are available in facsimile editions. The cover art and the lyrics provide many insights to social and cultural attitudes, and the range is very wide, indeed. What I'd like to have you do is visit the websites below and select several songs which might appeal to your character. I promise I won't demand that you sing your choices in class (unless you want to).
One of the most extensive collections of  Historic American Sheet Music at the Scriptorium of Duke University. Visit the Decades from 1880 to 1910 by clicking "After the Ball"  (Left).
Another great source is the African American Sheet Music Collection which is part of the American Memory Collection. It was assembled by Brown University Note that this music was composed by blacks but its appeal was not limited to a black audience. Much of it was racist.
For a history of Black Musical Theatre in the 1890s click on Hello Ma Baby, at the left.  Be warned that much of the music in this genre at this time would be considered offensive today.  Note the timeline across the tip, and click on the section for 1896-1900, as well.
II.  Popular Music
Commencing next week, I’m going to spend some time each day browsing your journals to see how you’re doing.  I will make comments and raise questions.  I won’t visit every journal every day.  When I visit yours, I’ll send you an e-mail letting you know I’ve stopped around and that there are some comments for you to take a peek at.