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Dance

Clayton ‘Peg Leg’ Bates: Dancer and Resort-Owner

February 1, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Peg Leg Bates at ResortIn celebration of Black History Month, Ulster County Clerk Nina Postupack has announced the newest display in the Historical Profiles series featuring entertainer and community patron Clayton ‘Peg Leg’ Bates.

The exhibit panel will be on display for the month of February on the 1st floor of the Ulster County Office Building, 244 Fair Street, in Kingston, NY. [Read more…] about Clayton ‘Peg Leg’ Bates: Dancer and Resort-Owner

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New Exhibits Tagged With: Dance, Kerhonkson, Kingston, Performing Arts, Ulster County

New Director for Adirondack Diversity Initiative

January 23, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Adirondack Diversity InitativeThe Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) has announced the hire of the new director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI). Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who has extensive leadership experience in the arts, activism and community organizing, will be the second director of ADI, an ANCA program that aims to make the Adirondack region a more welcoming and inclusive place for residents and visitors. [Read more…] about New Director for Adirondack Diversity Initiative

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: Adirondack Diversity Initiative, Adirondack North Country Association, Adirondacks, Dance, diversity, Harlem, New York City

The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs

June 26, 2022 by Dave Waite 8 Comments

Eddie Fritz Smith, 2nd Generation ClownIn the year 1900, York Avenue on Saratoga’s East Side was a quiet working-class neighborhood with a mix of young families, as well as older citizens, all living side by side. Listed on the street in that year’s census were laborers, painters, liverymen, and surprisingly, actors.

The neighborhood folks representing the theatre were Edward “Eddie” Fritz Smith, his wife Kitty Sharpe, and their children, Catherine, Sidney, Eddie, Jeal, and William. This couple was no stranger to the life in the spotlight, for even as they settled into a quiet life in Saratoga Springs they were still known across the globe as international celebrities. [Read more…] about The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Dance, German-American History, New York City, Performing Arts, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Theatre

Wilhelm Grosz: The Red Sails of Forced Migration

June 16, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Wilhelm Grosz towards the end of his life courtesy The Wilhelm Grosz EstateOne of the top-grossing American films of 1940 was the western Santa Fe Trail, the seventh Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland collaboration. The story concerns John Brown’s campaign against slavery just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Starting out on an acting career, young Ronald Reagan appeared in the story line as George Armstrong Custer. [Read more…] about Wilhelm Grosz: The Red Sails of Forced Migration

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Black History, Cultural History, Dance, Film History, German-American History, Jazz, Jewish History, modernism, Music, Musical History, New York City, Opera, Performing Arts, Poetry, Queens, Theatre, Vice

Jazz, Mussolini and Italian Fascism

May 30, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Benito Mussolini posing with his violin, 1922On February 4th, 2006, La Repubblica reported the funeral in Rome of Romano Mussolini. His death had been made public by former actress and politician Alessandro Mussolini, Romano’s daughter out of his first marriage to Maria Scicolone (the younger sister of Sophia Loren) on the website of her neo-Fascist party Alternativa Sociale.

The church service began with Gershwin’s “Summertime” and ended with “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Outside the church hundreds of mourners paid their respect with Fascist salutes.

Fascism, jazz and black gospel mentioned in the same context and a service that had started with a classic tune by a composer of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry. What brought this contradictory intertwining about? [Read more…] about Jazz, Mussolini and Italian Fascism

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Art History, Black History, Cultural History, Dance, Italian History, Jazz, Music, Musical History, Political History

Florenz Ziegfeld: The Incarnation of Broadway

April 20, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

The Follies in 1907Impresario Florenz (Flo) Ziegfeld Jr. was an American icon who developed the modern Broadway revue and established its global leadership in entertainment. He invented show business.

Florenz hit his stride with the Follies of 1907. A combination of European refinement, the signing of high quality performers (chorus girls), choreographers and lyricists, a relatively short show of forty minutes presented with lightning speed and precision, created an unprecedented sense of theatrical excitement. [Read more…] about Florenz Ziegfeld: The Incarnation of Broadway

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Chicago, Cultural History, Dance, German-American History, Immigration, Jewish History, Manhattan, Musical History, New York City, Performing Arts, Theatre, womens history

Square Dance History on Long Island

April 8, 2022 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

long island history project logoGlenn Durlacher looks back over his family’s legacy of square dance calling on Long Island with deserved pride. His grandfather Ed pioneered square dancing in the New York City area starting in the 1930s.

At the urging of his friends in the Top Hands band, Ed Durlacher made a name for himself calling dances and traveling to promote the use of his records and square dancing to phys ed teachers across the country. [Read more…] about Square Dance History on Long Island

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: 1939 World's Fair, Dance, Long Island, Performing Arts, Podcasts

The Cabaret Trail: 1920s Urban Nightlife in New York, Paris & London

December 8, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

President Emmanuel Macron honouring Josephine Baker’s cenotaph at the PantheonOn November 30th, St Louis-born entertainer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker became the first Black woman to be inducted into the Pantheon in Paris, the highest honor that France bestows.

Baker had started her career as a young dancer in Vaudeville shows where her exuberant talent was quickly spotted. When she moved to New York City she joined in the festival of black life and art now known as the Harlem Renaissance, but segregation and racism drove her away from home. [Read more…] about The Cabaret Trail: 1920s Urban Nightlife in New York, Paris & London

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Black History, Cultural History, Dance, French History, Furniture, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, Musical History, New York City, Performing Arts, Theatre, Vice, womens history

Andalusian Allure: From Washington Irving to Thomas Edison

December 2, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Theodoor de By’s engraving of a Spaniard feeding slain women and children to his dogs, 1598.Washington Irving was the son of immigrants. His father was a Presbyterian Scot, his mother Cornish. He was born on April 3rd, 1783, the same week that New Yorkers celebrated the ceasefire that ended the American Revolution. His parents named their son after George Washington. They had settled at 131 William Street, Manhattan, and were part of the city’s merchant class.

Washington began writing letters to the New York Morning Chronicle in 1802. He gained recognition as a satirical author in 1809 with A History of New York using the pseudonym Dietrich Knickerbocker. He riveted readers with his irreverent combination of fact and fancy. [Read more…] about Andalusian Allure: From Washington Irving to Thomas Edison

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Cultural History, Dance, Film History, Hispanic History, Literature, New York City, Opera, Performing Arts, spanish history, Thomas Edison, Washington Irving

The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

November 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Daniel Chester French, bronze statue of George Washington at Place d’Iéna, Paris, 1900One of the effects of colonial expansion in the nineteenth century was that museums stopped being exclusively Euro-centered. The mapping of the annexed world was a responsibility of colonial governments which employed scholars to carry out the tasks of collecting and recording. Curators changed their collecting focus.

Works of art from Africa and Pacific Oceania that were looted, stolen or cheaply acquired without concern about provenance, found their way from British, French, Dutch, and Belgian colonial territories to the museums and curiosity shops of Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Brussels. [Read more…] about The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Cultural History, Dance, French History, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, modernism, Musical History, Performing Arts, Prohibition

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