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'The people called it Ragtime!'
Welcome to Ragtime!
Why Ragtime? Ragtime tells the story of three communities –Jewish immigrants, the white middle class, and African Americans- who come into contact in early twentieth century New York. In exploring their stories and challenges, Ragtime raises questions that remain highly topical: what is the “American Dream” and who has the right to claim it? What does it mean to be an “American”? How are human beings changed by shifting social landscapes, by each other, and by the power of love?
"In 1902, Father built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York."
Apparently, Father had a little inspiration from E.L. Doctorow's real house in New Rochelle, New York.
Almost two years after Ragtime opened on Broadway, The New York Times sat down with Doctorow, and learned all about the house that became the setting of Ragtime, and how Doctorow's gently tinted days of lavender, pink, lemon, and lime, influenced his writing of the 1975 novel.
“Most of you left Russia, where you had a Czar who acted in as brutal a way as any man on earth. Here in America we have capitalistic czars ... We have Gould and Astor and Sage and Rockefeller and Vanderbilt. … You built the palaces and others are living in them. The politicians are misleading you… We are told God will feed the starving, but that is humbug in the nineteenth century."
"I will speak, they can arrest me if they please, but they cannot shut my mouth."
- Emma Goldman – 1893.
Union Square was a common place for political protest since the mid 1800s, but Emma Goldman's more famous speeches happened in the Union Square protests of 1893 (only 7 years after she arrived in America) and 1916. (See Time Magazine's brief feature from Feb. 2011 Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas and A Brief History of Union Square Protests for more information on Union Square.)
Here is another excerpt from her speech in 1893. There were more than three thousand people who gathered in Union Square for this protest:
"Fifth Avenue is laid in gold, every mansion a citadel of money and power. Yet here you stand, a giant, starved, and fettered… You too,will have to learn that you have a right to share your neighbors’ bread. Your neighbors – they have not only stolen your bread,but they are sapping your blood. They will go on robbing you, your children, and your children’s children, unless you wake up, unless you become daring enough to demand your rights. Well, then, demonstrate before the palaces of the rich; demand work. If they do not give you work, demand bread. If they deny you both, take bread. It is your sacred right."
Emma Goldman's 1894 mugshot
Emma Goldman at the Union Square protest of 1916
At the time, Emma Goldman's speeches usually consisted of workers and immigration rights, the right to birth control and women's suffrage. The protest of 1916 with Upton Sinclair, however, involved income disparity and, as per Ragtime, involved the textile mill conditions and inevitable strike in Lawrence, MA.
Most textile and loom workers were children and immigrants
Most textile and loom workers were children and immigrants
For more information on Emma Goldman, check out this transcript of PBS's An American Experience on Goldman.
For fun and interest: check out this interview with Emma Goldman specialist Vivan Gornick What Would Emma Do? - an interview examining what Emma Goldman's response would be to the Occupy Wall Street protests.
"Etiquette is protocol, rules of behavior that you memorize and that rarely bend to encompass individual concerns and needs. Manners embrace socially acceptable behavior, of course, but also much more than that. They are an expression of how you treat others when you care about them, their self-esteem, and their feelings."
- Letitia Baldridge's Complete Guide to the New Manners
Etiquette in early 20th century North America was centered mostly around gender and the social perception of one's neighbors and acquaintances, and would even delve as specific as the way one would interact through invitations to lunch and dinner invitations. For the purposes of this show, the following excerpts from L.W Sheldon's book 20th Century Guide to Etiquette, which was actually entered according to act of Congress in 1901. These rules in particular apply mostly to the New Rochelle, NY folk; etiquette was considered exclusive and virtually only accessible to upper-middle class families:
"The man who loves will study to please his sweetheart. Not for worlds would he offend her with one sign of rudeness. The man who reserves his smiles and graces for women other than his wife is undeserving his position as husband, and she who forgets to offer her husband the delicate attentions which are his due is wholly unfit for her exalted station."
"Never introduce two people, unless you know that it is their desire to become acquainted. Always present the gentleman to the lady, never the lady to the gentleman. A gentleman should never offer his hand when introduced to a lady; if, for some reason, the lady wishes to be more gracious in her recognition, the hand may be touched lightly."
"True politeness is not a matter of outward accomplishment, it is a grace of the soul, inherent from nature. The Laws of Etiquette are but the regulators of this grace, which conforms it to the code universally understood and accepted."
"The true gentleman will always do homage to a woman, if for no other reason than that she is the Mother of the Race, and deserves in the main all the chivalry of his nature. To the young and beautiful woman hi is particularly polite and attentive, showering upon her the homage of eyes and lips to the degree which is compatible with dignity."
"The true gentleman will make no advances which he does not feel - he will whisper no vows that he does not intend keeping."
"The true woman...[will not] cast her net for promiscuous victims, only to mock their sufferings when her cruel pleasure is ended."
"It is by outward appearances that we are first enabled to differentiate between the intelligent and ignorant... we judge from his exterior...where he ranks in the mental, moral, financial and social status, and it is our first impression of him which assists us in forming an estimate of his character."
"What others think of you, not what you think of yourself, is the index of your position, and that they should think well of you is perhaps the first end in life which you should strive to accomplish."
"In passing, always turn to the right. This is a good rule to follow throughout life's whole pathway."
"If a stranger speaks to you, answer him politely. It is time enough to discontinue the conversation when he has proved himself undesirable"
"Do not tell your private affairs to those whom you meet... you are pretty sure to bore them."
"A gentleman should never escort a lady through the public entrance to a hotel... [she] should be taken through the private entrance and left in the parlor."
"Persons who meet at the house of a mutual friend and are not introduced, should never bow or recognize each other when they meet elsewhere. Never introduce two people, unless you know that it is their desire to become acquainted."
"Do not volunteer advice and when it is requested, give it sparingly. When a person asks your advice, he usually conceals half of the facts, and consequently places your judgment at a disadvantage."
"Do not talk of things that are not interesting to others."
"Because you are well-related, you need not be constantly referring to the fact. ... Do not affect and be what you are not. Nothing is so offensive as artificiality of manner."
"Keep good company or none. You can always have books if you cannot have people."
Although there has been no factual documentation, it has been said that during the transition from novel to stage, Little Boy was given the name Edgar because of Edgar Cayce, "The Sleeping Prophet".
E.L. Doctorow, the author of the novel Ragtime, alludes to Little Boy's psychic powers:
"He could look at the hairbrush on the bureau and it would sometimes slide off the edge and fall to the floor. If he raised the window in his room it might shut itself at the moment he though the room was getting cold."
Little Boy is also heard in the musical exclaiming "Warn the duke!" to Harry Houdini.
It has been said that Cayce made a prediction to Houdini concerning the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Cayce suggested to Houdini that during Houdini's travels to Sarajevo, he should warn the Archduke of someone trying to assassinate him. If Houdini had warned the Archduke and he had not been shot, Cayce says the first world war could have been prevented.
Houdini mentions that he was performing a trick in Times Square when news of the Archduke's assassination was announced.
"In Harlem, men and women of color forgot their troubles and danced and reveled to the music of Coalhouse Walker, Jr. This was a music that was theirs and no one else's." (-Coalhouse Walker, Jr.; Prologue)
Music, dance, and performance have always been sources of survival for African-Americans. During slavery, African-Americans relied on negro spirituals to express their pain, experiences, and faith. "The African-American experience resonates within and all through them." (Negro Spirituals). They were also used as a way to feel a sense of connection and community among their fellow enslaved people.
The first exposure of African-Americans in the public domain were through black-face minstrel shows, a form of entertainment introduced by whites. A minstrel show was composed of three different sections; the opening walk-around, the middle section, and the concluding section. Learn more about minstrel shows.
Thomas D. Rice created black-face minstrelsy after an encounter in an alleyway with a homeless black man dressed in ragged clothes. After hearing the homeless black man singing "Jump Jim Crow", a song and dance developed by slaves, Rice named his first black-face minstrel character "Jim Crow".
In black-face minstrelsy, white performers assumed their idea of a black person by wearing ragged clothes, making specific speech choices, embodying their movement and actions, and covering their face with burnt cork. As these white performers assumed a black character on stage, they were able to claim and manipulate the identity of blacks, and present it to the public as authentic. (The Jim Crow Encyclopedia, Vol. 2)
As white performers manipulated black identity, several stereotypes were born: the mammy, the zip coon, the sambo, and the brute negro, among others. Ethnic Notions explores these stereotypes.
Eventually, blacks also began to participate in black-face minstrelsy. One of the most famous trios was Burt Williams, George Walker, and Aida Overton Walker. Slowly, blacks tried to gain control the discourse surrounding black identity through performance, "...African American minstrels accessed the popular entertainment stage, [and] they eventually changed the words, jokes, and look of minstrelsy, but they also maintained its premises of performing color and performing gender for the amusement and nostalgia of their audiences," (African American Performance and Theater History).
From minstrelsy evolved vaudeville, which "featured almost a dozen different artists...performing all kinds of material-- songs, comedy routines, magic..."(Vaudeville and Broadway).
The Cakewalk was a step Blacks took towards owning their art and identity. The Cakewalk was a parody of the stylized, social dances of whites. As a inverted form of minstrelsy, blacks would exaggerate and imitate the stiff carriage, lively walk, and erect spine seen in white social dances, such as the Quadrille. When whites observed blacks dancing the cakewalk, they did not realize they were the inspiration of such an absurdly animated dance. They believed it to be authentic black dance, so they incorporated it into their performance.
"Ragtime was created and popularized by itinerant African-American musicians, many of whom did not read or write music." Ragtime music was born as a playing practice from African-American musicians improvising in brothels, saloons, and bars, but slowly began to evolve as a genre as it entered the entertainment setting of vaudeville and musical theater. It is distinguished by it's syncopation and polyrhythms. Scott Joplin is considered the "King of Ragtime". Many are familiar with his compositions "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag".
"Yes, that's right. He put me on a velvet swing... Harry's in trouble, Stanny's in heaven, and Evelyn is in Vaudeville! And it's the crime of the century, making the world go 'whee!' Evelyn gets publicity... you love the girl on the swing."
(From "Crime of the Century")
"In Vaudeville, there is always something for everybody, just as in every state and city in every country and town in our democratic country, there is opportunity for everybody, a chance for all."
(E.F Albee; Variety in 1923)
Evelyn and Vaudeville
From The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville by Anthony Slide (on Evelyn Nesbit):
"Evelyn Nesbit Thaw became more than a mere vaudevillian; she was the "freak" act of all time, proving Willie Hamerstein's claim that vaudeville audiences would pay good money to see newspaper headlines, particularly when sex and violence were involved."
Nesbit was once offered $3000 a week for involvement in Vaudeville, but she declined stating, "I will not consider the Vaudeville stage under any circumstance." By 1913, that changed as Harry Thaw's mother was determined that Nesbit "return to the gutter from which she was sure she had come" and Nesbit was also having financial problems. William Hammerstein booked her in the Victoria Theatre in New York at a start rate of $1,500. For a four week run, her publicity earned the company $100,000 in profit, establishing Nesbit as the single biggest drawing card in Vaudeville theatre.
Her vaudeville act was her first appearance on Broadway in ten years and consisted of three dances, her performing in a "yellow, ankle-length dress, with her hair hanging down her back." In her final dance, she hung around the neck of another company member, Clifford, while he swung her - "shades of that red velvet swing."
As per the murder of Stanford White: "Stanny White was killed but my fate was worse. I lived."
(Evelyn Nesbit Thaw once reported; The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville)
Google book preview on The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville
Florodora and the Chorus Girl
Florodora was a popular show at the Casino Theatre on Broadway in New York, in which Evelyn Nesbit started her career as a chorus girl. Known as a "Floradora Girl", she was billed as Florence Evelyn - her full name being Florence Evelyn Nesbit - and was nicknamed Flossie the Fuss by the other girls, which displeased her. It was then that she declared to further be known as simply Evelyn Nesbit.
The show itself is a musical comedy considered one the first successful comedies of the 20th century. The New York production ran for 552 performances, and a synopsis of the musical comedy can be read here.
Some basics on the more prominent historical figures of Ragtime:
Henry Ford: “Every worker, a cog in motion, well that’s the notion of Henry Ford.” (Lyrics from Ragtime)
“Ford established the final proposition of the theory of industrial manufacture-not only that the parts of the finished product be interchangeable but that the men who build the products be themselves interchangeable parts” (Doctorow from his novel Ragtime)
Born in 1863, Henry Ford was one of the most influential American industrialists of the early 20th century, most famous for his creation of the Model T automobile which democratized car ownership in the U.S.. As the above lyrics from Ragtime suggest, Ford advanced a way of mass producing his cars by using an assembly line of specialized workers for maximum efficiency. In the musical Ragtime, Coalhouse Walker’s purchase of one of Ford’s automobile’s stands as a statement of his claim to participate in the American Dream. The relationship to this car –and to the dream it symbolized- ultimately becomes a catalyst for the tragic actions that unfold in the play.
Emma Goldman: "Let me at those sons of bitches! These men are the demons who are sucking your very souls dry! I hate them!" "The radical anarchist Emma Goldman fought against the ravages of American capitalism as she watched her fellow immigrants' hopes turn to despair on the Lower East Side." (From the Prologue to Ragtime) "I wanted to do more with Emma Goldman, but the book ended before I could." (Doctorow on Ragtime)
Notorious for her activist political rhetoric, Goldman was a prominent figure in the development of the anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe during the earlier parts of the Twentieth century. A Russian immigrant herself, Goldman joined the anarchist movement in 1889 and was at the prime of her anarchist involvement in 1906, where she also founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth. She lectured on women's rights and social issues, and was jailed numerous times mostly due to starting riots and inducing violent acts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTCMcO4WTjE
Harry Houdini: “For all his achievements, he knew he was only an illusionist. He wanted to believe there was more...” (From the prologue to Ragtime)
“His dedication to the perfection of what he did reflected an American ideal…” (Excerpt from Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow)
Like other characters who populate the world of Ragtime, the historical “Harry Houdini” came to America as a young immigrant. Son of a rabbi, Erich Weisz was born on March 24th, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary, and would rename himself Harry Houdini in 1894 in honor of the famous French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. His show would become the highest paid act in American vaudeville, featuring daring acts of escape and illusion. Through the years, his act escalated from escaping from handcuffs to straightjackets to nailed packing crates. Most famous was his escape from the “Chinese Water Torture chamber” which required him to hold his breath for 3 minutes while he got out of his restraints. In the novel, Doctorow comments on his enduring significance: “today nearly fifty years since his death the audience for escapes is even larger.”
Matthew Henson: “Because of the light, the faces are indistinguishable, seen only as black blanks framed by caribou fur.” (Excerpt from Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow)
“Peary defined the virtues of Eskimos as loyalty and obedience, roughly the same virtues one sought in the dogs ... Driving Henson and the Esquimos mercilessly, he had refused to let them sleep more than an hour or two at the end of each arduous day.” (Excerpt from Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow)
An African-American explorer best known for his expeditions with Robert Peary, Matthew Henson may have been the first person to reach the North Pole on a journey with five others in 1906. Though Peary had to be pulled by sled during the later part of the hike, Henson was neglected for his service and assistance on this expedition in particular, skeptically because of his race. Approximately thirty years later, Henson was awarded a duplicate silver medal given to Peary for their excursion to the North Pole in 1944. He spent the majority of his life after the climb working as a clerk in a federal customs house in New York.
JP Morgan: “Like Pharoahs reincarnate, stood J.P. Morgan” (From the prologue to Ragtime)
“He had once arranged a loan to the United States Government that had saved it from bankruptcy. He had single handedly stopped the panic of 1907 by arranging for the importation of one hundred million dollars in gold bullion” (from E.L. Doctorow)
J.P. Morgan was a titan of the American business world in the late nineteenth and early 20th century. By the time of his death in 1913, Morgan had become one of the most influential financiers and bankers in U.S. history. Despite his enormous financial success, Morgan was heavily criticized during the “progressive era” for his ruthless pursuit of wealth. In the play, his monopolistic business practices stand in stark contrast to politics of Emma Goldman and “Younger Brother” who represent the working class Morgan was accused of oppressing.
Evelyn Nesbit: "Evelyn Nesbit was the most beautiful woman in America,If she wore her hair in curls, every woman wore her hair in curls."
"After her husband shot her lover, Evelyn became the biggest attraction in Vaudeville since Tom Thumb." (From the Prologue to Ragtime)
Born as Florence Evelyn Nesbit, the young American chorus girl and model was at the prime of her entertainment career at the top of the 20th century. Considered the Marilyn Monroe of this era, Nesbit began as a novice model in New York where she was known as the prominent source of income for her family, as early as age twelve. In 1901, she began exploring the realm of live performance by joining the chorus line of a popular show by the name of Florodora where she met Stanford White, another company member and notorious womanizer who immortalized her as The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. Starting one of the most scandalous love triangles in history, White was murdered at the hands of her jealous husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.
Admiral Peary: "It's men like you who've made this country great." (Lyrics from Ragtime)
On exploration: “it proposed that human beings, by the act of making witness, warranted times and places for their existence other than the time and place they were living through” (From Ragtime by Doctorow)
Admiral Robert E. Peary, US Navy (1856 – 1920) was an American explorer, most famous for his expeditions in pursuit of the North Pole, which Peary was credited with reaching in 1909. Peary embodied the American spirit of adventure in the age of Teddy Roosevelt, who said of his trip to the North Pole: 'Peary, I believe in you and if it is possible for men to get there, I know you'll do it.'
Harry Kendall Thaw: "Mr. Henry Thaw...eccentric millionaire...a jealous man." (Excerpt from "The Crime of the Century of Ragtime) "I did it because he ruined my wife! He had it coming to him. He took advantage of the girl and then he abandoned her!"
Thaw was an heir to his father's railroad fortune, and he carelessly spent it as he tried to attain the lavish party life of a socialite, allegedly coining the term "playboy". With exhibitions of sociopath behavior, Thaw's mental illness caused him to engage in dangerous activities, harming himself and others. Thaw is most well-known for murdering Stanford White, the lover of Thaw's wife, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw.
Booker T. Washington:"For the sum of my life I have lived in hope we might all be Christian brothers. I have worked to persuade every white-skinned man that he need not fear our race." (Excerpt from "Look What You've Done" of Ragtime) "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." (Excerpt from Atlanta Compromise speech)
Washington was a bi-racial man who was an essential leader to the African-American community, founding the Tuskegee Institute, the National Negro Business League, and delivering the Atlanta Compromise speech in 1895. He believed in Blacks earning social rights and respect through "industry, thrift, intelligence, and property", contrasting with W.E.B. DuBois' more aggressive and demanding approach. Washington would often pacify white Southern leaders by assuring them that Blacks were fit to stay in a lower social rank, content to work laborious and agricultural jobs.
Stanford White:"He's a famous architect!" (Excerpt from "The Crime of the Century" of Ragtime) "He put me on a velvet swing, and made me wear--well--hardly anything!" (Excerpt from "The Crime of the Century" of Ragtime)
White was an architect who designed various public projects in New York City, such as the second Madison Square Garden and the Washington Square Park Arch. He also designed homes for high-society families in the city, as well as in New Rochelle, New York. He was romantically involved with his chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, until Ms. Thaw's husband Harry Kendall Thaw murdered White on Madison Square Garden's rooftop.
Henry Ford: “Every worker, a cog in motion, well that’s the notion of Henry Ford.” (Lyrics from Ragtime)
Harry Houdini: “For all his achievements, he knew he was only an illusionist. He wanted to believe 
Admiral Peary: "It's men like you who've made this country great." (Lyrics from Ragtime)
