News and Views from the Empire State
Charles Evans Hughes and Al Jolson shared a small stage at Marion, Ohio in 1920 as part of Republican presidential candidate Warren Harding’s “front porch” campaign.
Hughes, a lawyer in New York City at the time, and “a troupe” of Big Apple entertainers traveled on the same train from New York City to Marion the morning of Aug. 24. [Read more…] about Al Jolson and Harding’s ‘Front Porch Campaign’
Geneva Light Opera (GLO) is set to present a retrospective of its recent work in Geneva’s historic Smith Opera House, in addition to digital recordings made by the cast from this summer’s cancelled production of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” from “lockdown” locations across the USA, on July 26th, at 3 pm. [Read more…] about Geneva Light Opera Presents Virtual Music Event
In 1912, investigative journalist Alfred Henry Lewis published The Apaches of New York, an anecdotal narrative of notorious gangs in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
What strikes here is the use of the word “apache” in the sense of urban gangster. The term was re-imported from French slang in reference to thugs that roamed the eastern districts (“faubourgs”) of Paris prior to the First World War. [Read more…] about Apaches in Paris and New York
The term “red light district” is believed to have first appeared in print in Ohio in 1894.
One folk etymology relates that red light districts referred to areas frequented by off-duty railroaders, but this is probably apocryphal. The story goes that railroaders would hang their lanterns outside so the crew-callers could find them, but red lights already had an association with prostitution, and therefore areas of vice, long before that. [Read more…] about Mame Fay: Stories From Troy’s Red Light District
In a short essay published earlier this week in Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institute Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch wrote that the recent killing in Minnesota of George Floyd has forced the country to “confront the reality that, despite gains made in the past 50 years, we are still a nation riven by inequality and racial division.” [Read more…] about Smithsonian Offers ‘Talking About Race’ Portal
In 1850, after a long journey, a large German family sailed from Hamburg into New York Harbour. There was no Statue of Liberty to welcome them. Newcomers faced no questions or restrictions. There was no Castle Garden (opened in 1855), no Ellis Island (opened in 1892) – they simply made their way and settled in the city.
The family brought music to New York. [Read more…] about German Immigrants & Instruments: 48ers, Slomans and Steinways
A significant aspect of the 1920s in London was the proliferation of unlicensed clubs that operated on the fringe of criminality. Lawmakers were determined to crack down on out-of-hours drinking, but youngsters beat them by organising all-night bottle parties.
Held on private premises, the host was expected to provide live music, a dance floor (the Charleston was the craze of the age), waiters, and suitable surroundings. Queen of the bottle party was Ma Meyrick, an Irish immigrant who was famous for introducing American jazz musicians and flouting licensing laws. [Read more…] about Ma Meyrick, Tallulah Bankhead and Jazz Age London
The Office of Cultural Education (OCE), made up of the New York State Archives, Library and Museum, has been working to support New York State’s cultural community throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. [Read more…] about NYS Pandemic Documentation Initiative Underway
This week on The Historians Podcast, Wanda Burch tells stories from her book The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums: Dreams and the Imagination in Civil War Letters and Memoirs (McFarland, 2017). [Read more…] about Dreams of the Civil War Soldiers (Podcast)
Say caricature, think politics – ever since the age of James Gillray and the British mockery of Napoleon, caricaturists have made a career out of political commentary. To this day, their work appears on the editorial pages of newspapers or magazines.
Traditionally, we appoint politicians and turn them into caricatures and to elect a caricature and raise them to the status of a politician is a more recent phenomenon. But the genre flourished away from politics. From Italian origins, it developed as a game, a form of entertainment, and a genteel salutation. [Read more…] about Caricature: The Italian-American Connection