Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377347
- eISBN:
- 9780199864577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377347.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
Partly in imitation of the successful Broadway Melody format, backstage musicals became the most popular type of early musical. While Warner Bros.' Gold Diggers of Broadway was a huge success, others ...
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Partly in imitation of the successful Broadway Melody format, backstage musicals became the most popular type of early musical. While Warner Bros.' Gold Diggers of Broadway was a huge success, others veered too closely to the original These included Jolson rival Harry Richman in Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz, Erich von Stroheim in the strange Great Gabbo, and Jolson in Mammy. Other backstage elements included heartbreak, nightclub settings, songwriters, and gangsters. The overabundance of these films contributed to growing audience impatience with musicals in the spring of 1930.Less
Partly in imitation of the successful Broadway Melody format, backstage musicals became the most popular type of early musical. While Warner Bros.' Gold Diggers of Broadway was a huge success, others veered too closely to the original These included Jolson rival Harry Richman in Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz, Erich von Stroheim in the strange Great Gabbo, and Jolson in Mammy. Other backstage elements included heartbreak, nightclub settings, songwriters, and gangsters. The overabundance of these films contributed to growing audience impatience with musicals in the spring of 1930.
Bryant Simon
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195167535
- eISBN:
- 9780199789016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167535.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Just about every American city had a White City and a Midway, a respectable entertainment zone and a red-light district, sparkling movie palaces and dark nightclubs. What made Atlantic City different ...
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Just about every American city had a White City and a Midway, a respectable entertainment zone and a red-light district, sparkling movie palaces and dark nightclubs. What made Atlantic City different from Philadelphia and Reading and even Las Vegas was the close proximity and relative safety of the two sites. For most of the social climbers walking on the Boardwalk, doing a little slumming on the side in the glitzy nightclubs and at risqué shows represented a just reward for hard work. The excesses of these places, like the colossal hotels, underscored the presumed perfection of middle-class values. But for others, the city's Midway extended the range of the town's playacting possibilities.Less
Just about every American city had a White City and a Midway, a respectable entertainment zone and a red-light district, sparkling movie palaces and dark nightclubs. What made Atlantic City different from Philadelphia and Reading and even Las Vegas was the close proximity and relative safety of the two sites. For most of the social climbers walking on the Boardwalk, doing a little slumming on the side in the glitzy nightclubs and at risqué shows represented a just reward for hard work. The excesses of these places, like the colossal hotels, underscored the presumed perfection of middle-class values. But for others, the city's Midway extended the range of the town's playacting possibilities.
Amanda H. Littauer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623788
- eISBN:
- 9781469625195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623788.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter explores the history of the “B-girls”—young women employed by bars or nightclubs to act as a companion to male customers and to induce them to buy drinks, and usually paid a percentage ...
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This chapter explores the history of the “B-girls”—young women employed by bars or nightclubs to act as a companion to male customers and to induce them to buy drinks, and usually paid a percentage of what the customers spent. B-girls were part of important changes in sexual and commercial culture in the 1940s and 1950s. During World War II, they joined prostitutes, pickups, and victory girls in bar-based heterosexual encounters, strategically adapting their practices to evade social protection authorities. This further developed in the 1950s when the B-girls created a professional subculture which blurred the line between commercial and casual sex and took advantage of citizens' declining support for legal campaigns to control women's sexuality. With creativity and ingenuity, mid-century drink solicitors expanded the possibilities for women's sexual license.Less
This chapter explores the history of the “B-girls”—young women employed by bars or nightclubs to act as a companion to male customers and to induce them to buy drinks, and usually paid a percentage of what the customers spent. B-girls were part of important changes in sexual and commercial culture in the 1940s and 1950s. During World War II, they joined prostitutes, pickups, and victory girls in bar-based heterosexual encounters, strategically adapting their practices to evade social protection authorities. This further developed in the 1950s when the B-girls created a professional subculture which blurred the line between commercial and casual sex and took advantage of citizens' declining support for legal campaigns to control women's sexuality. With creativity and ingenuity, mid-century drink solicitors expanded the possibilities for women's sexual license.
Keith Garebian
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199732494
- eISBN:
- 9780199894482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199732494.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter begins with a survey of the history and development of European cabaret (specifically in France and Germany) in order to show that serious artists learned from cabaret even as they ...
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This chapter begins with a survey of the history and development of European cabaret (specifically in France and Germany) in order to show that serious artists learned from cabaret even as they developed it. The chapter then focuses on the creation of the show's ambience, noting that this ambience frequently ran counter to the tone and impulse of the real cabaret world in Europe of the thirties. Although John Kander and Fred Ebb did not explicitly exploit the political and social wit of German cabaret or the wide scope of the form, they did reproduce the role of the Emcee. The show's look was completed by Patricia Zipprodt's costumes, which were divided into the presentational and metaphorical, on the one hand, and the realistic and the mundane, on the other hand. The chapter examines the limits placed on Harold Prince's concept by the sociology and politics (including the scope of eminent performing satirists) of America in the sixties.Less
This chapter begins with a survey of the history and development of European cabaret (specifically in France and Germany) in order to show that serious artists learned from cabaret even as they developed it. The chapter then focuses on the creation of the show's ambience, noting that this ambience frequently ran counter to the tone and impulse of the real cabaret world in Europe of the thirties. Although John Kander and Fred Ebb did not explicitly exploit the political and social wit of German cabaret or the wide scope of the form, they did reproduce the role of the Emcee. The show's look was completed by Patricia Zipprodt's costumes, which were divided into the presentational and metaphorical, on the one hand, and the realistic and the mundane, on the other hand. The chapter examines the limits placed on Harold Prince's concept by the sociology and politics (including the scope of eminent performing satirists) of America in the sixties.
Christina D. Abreu
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469620848
- eISBN:
- 9781469620862
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469620848.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
Among the nearly 90,000 Cubans who settled in New York City and Miami in the 1940s and 1950s were numerous musicians and entertainers, black and white, who did more than fill dance halls with the ...
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Among the nearly 90,000 Cubans who settled in New York City and Miami in the 1940s and 1950s were numerous musicians and entertainers, black and white, who did more than fill dance halls with the rhythms of the rumba, mambo, and cha cha chá. Presenting a history of music and race in midcentury America, this book argues that these musicians, through their work in music festivals, nightclubs, social clubs, and television and film productions, played central roles in the development of Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Latino, and Afro-Latino identities and communities. The book draws from previously untapped oral histories, cultural materials, and Spanish-language media to uncover the lives and broader social and cultural significance of these vibrant performers.Less
Among the nearly 90,000 Cubans who settled in New York City and Miami in the 1940s and 1950s were numerous musicians and entertainers, black and white, who did more than fill dance halls with the rhythms of the rumba, mambo, and cha cha chá. Presenting a history of music and race in midcentury America, this book argues that these musicians, through their work in music festivals, nightclubs, social clubs, and television and film productions, played central roles in the development of Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Latino, and Afro-Latino identities and communities. The book draws from previously untapped oral histories, cultural materials, and Spanish-language media to uncover the lives and broader social and cultural significance of these vibrant performers.
William Howland Kenney
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195092608
- eISBN:
- 9780199853168
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195092608.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book offers a wide-ranging look at jazz in the Windy City, revealing how Chicago became the major centre for jazz in the 1920s, one of the most vital periods in the history of the music. It ...
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This book offers a wide-ranging look at jazz in the Windy City, revealing how Chicago became the major centre for jazz in the 1920s, one of the most vital periods in the history of the music. It describes how the migration of blacks from the South to Chicago before and after World War I set the stage for the development of jazz in Chicago, and how nightclubs and cabarets became the social setting for aficionados and musicians, black and white. In an examination of such well known greats as Louis Armstrong and King Oliver, the book sheds new light on the musical and cultural context in which jazz developed. And it travels beyond the South Side of Chicago to examine the evolution of white jazz and the influence of the South Side school on young players. Drawing on the personal recollections of many who experienced the influence of the Jazz Age, as well as historical texts, the book presents a new interpretation of Chicago jazz that shows the influence of race, culture, and politics on its development.Less
This book offers a wide-ranging look at jazz in the Windy City, revealing how Chicago became the major centre for jazz in the 1920s, one of the most vital periods in the history of the music. It describes how the migration of blacks from the South to Chicago before and after World War I set the stage for the development of jazz in Chicago, and how nightclubs and cabarets became the social setting for aficionados and musicians, black and white. In an examination of such well known greats as Louis Armstrong and King Oliver, the book sheds new light on the musical and cultural context in which jazz developed. And it travels beyond the South Side of Chicago to examine the evolution of white jazz and the influence of the South Side school on young players. Drawing on the personal recollections of many who experienced the influence of the Jazz Age, as well as historical texts, the book presents a new interpretation of Chicago jazz that shows the influence of race, culture, and politics on its development.
Steven Suskin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195314076
- eISBN:
- 9780199852734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314076.003.0018
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter examines the work of Frank Loesser. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Loesser came from a musical ...
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This chapter examines the work of Frank Loesser. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Loesser came from a musical family. His father, Henry, was a Prussian-born piano teacher; his older brother Arthur was a renowned concert pianist. Frank, though, was a musical black sheep; refusing to study the classics, he taught himself piano and immersed himself in popular music. His first published song was In Love with the Memory of You (1931), with music by William Schuman (later a classical composer and the president of Juilliard). By the mid-1930s Loesser was singing and playing in nightclubs, as well as writing special material with composer Irving Actman.Less
This chapter examines the work of Frank Loesser. It begins with an extended commentary of his career, followed by details on productions, with data and song information. Loesser came from a musical family. His father, Henry, was a Prussian-born piano teacher; his older brother Arthur was a renowned concert pianist. Frank, though, was a musical black sheep; refusing to study the classics, he taught himself piano and immersed himself in popular music. His first published song was In Love with the Memory of You (1931), with music by William Schuman (later a classical composer and the president of Juilliard). By the mid-1930s Loesser was singing and playing in nightclubs, as well as writing special material with composer Irving Actman.
David Ake
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520271036
- eISBN:
- 9780520951358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520271036.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
By nearly any measure, college-based music programs have largely replaced the proverbial “street” as the primary training grounds for young jazz musicians and have replaced urban nightclubs as the ...
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By nearly any measure, college-based music programs have largely replaced the proverbial “street” as the primary training grounds for young jazz musicians and have replaced urban nightclubs as the main professional homes for hundreds of jazz performers and composers. Even so, this far-reaching and seemingly inexorable move from clubs to schools remains ignored, marginalized, or denigrated throughout a wide range of jazz discourse. By examining some deeply held conceptions of both jazz history and music education, the chapter encourages readers to reconsider the roles schools now play in the development and dissemination of jazz.Less
By nearly any measure, college-based music programs have largely replaced the proverbial “street” as the primary training grounds for young jazz musicians and have replaced urban nightclubs as the main professional homes for hundreds of jazz performers and composers. Even so, this far-reaching and seemingly inexorable move from clubs to schools remains ignored, marginalized, or denigrated throughout a wide range of jazz discourse. By examining some deeply held conceptions of both jazz history and music education, the chapter encourages readers to reconsider the roles schools now play in the development and dissemination of jazz.
Clare Herrick
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847426383
- eISBN:
- 9781447302445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847426383.003.0008
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter explores the rise of London's night-time economy as a particular example of the potentially risky environments within which individuals are being asked to regulate and modify their own ...
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This chapter explores the rise of London's night-time economy as a particular example of the potentially risky environments within which individuals are being asked to regulate and modify their own behaviour. Just as with the food economy, London's night-time economy — composed of the nation's largest selection of bars, pubs and nightclubs — is now an important element of the city's broader economic success. Beyond the issues raised by the commodification and commercialisation of the night-time experience, changing drinking environments also raise associated questions of how these may problematise existing codes of sanctioned behaviour. Indeed, with the conscious efforts to create the ‘24-hour city’, or to encourage ‘café culture’ through licensing reform, the ways in which people drink and, therefore, the risks associated with these practices, have inevitably altered.Less
This chapter explores the rise of London's night-time economy as a particular example of the potentially risky environments within which individuals are being asked to regulate and modify their own behaviour. Just as with the food economy, London's night-time economy — composed of the nation's largest selection of bars, pubs and nightclubs — is now an important element of the city's broader economic success. Beyond the issues raised by the commodification and commercialisation of the night-time experience, changing drinking environments also raise associated questions of how these may problematise existing codes of sanctioned behaviour. Indeed, with the conscious efforts to create the ‘24-hour city’, or to encourage ‘café culture’ through licensing reform, the ways in which people drink and, therefore, the risks associated with these practices, have inevitably altered.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199759378
- eISBN:
- 9780199979554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759378.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Popular
Nightclub singer Helen Morgan defined the important role of Julie. The interpolated song “Bill,” a signature moment in act two, was chosen specifically to match Morgan's existing persona as a singer ...
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Nightclub singer Helen Morgan defined the important role of Julie. The interpolated song “Bill,” a signature moment in act two, was chosen specifically to match Morgan's existing persona as a singer of torch songs. Hammerstein changed Julie's character as described in Ferber's novel to match Morgan's public persona as a symbol of resistance to Prohibition. Morgan's difficulties with the law during Show Boat's Broadway run proved important to the show's continuing profitability. Julie's role in act one was written before Morgan was cast. She performed “Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man” in a manner that deflected issues of race surrounding her character. Morgan's approach to the song—singing in a “white” manner—is compared to the very different style adopted by blackface singer Tess Gardella who performed under the stage name Aunt Jemima.Less
Nightclub singer Helen Morgan defined the important role of Julie. The interpolated song “Bill,” a signature moment in act two, was chosen specifically to match Morgan's existing persona as a singer of torch songs. Hammerstein changed Julie's character as described in Ferber's novel to match Morgan's public persona as a symbol of resistance to Prohibition. Morgan's difficulties with the law during Show Boat's Broadway run proved important to the show's continuing profitability. Julie's role in act one was written before Morgan was cast. She performed “Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man” in a manner that deflected issues of race surrounding her character. Morgan's approach to the song—singing in a “white” manner—is compared to the very different style adopted by blackface singer Tess Gardella who performed under the stage name Aunt Jemima.
Shane Vogel
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226568300
- eISBN:
- 9780226568584
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226568584.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter introduces the "calypso craze" of the 1950s and the central figure of the story, Harry Belafonte. Stolen Time is not an exhaustive history of the fad, but rather looks at specific ...
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This chapter introduces the "calypso craze" of the 1950s and the central figure of the story, Harry Belafonte. Stolen Time is not an exhaustive history of the fad, but rather looks at specific instances of the calypso craze that illuminate the shape of black fad performance in the United States across a range of overlapping media: nightclub acts and sound recordings (chapter 1), film (chapter 2), television (chapter 3), musical theater (chapter 4), and dance. Rather than a sociological approach that details where and how the calypso craze was consumed, Stolen Time instead looks at the creative and unexpected ways that black performers themselves used the conditions of fad culture to (dis)engage with the entertainment industry, trip the performance circuit between the United States and the Caribbean, and shape the history of performance in the United States and its relationship to the black diaspora.Less
This chapter introduces the "calypso craze" of the 1950s and the central figure of the story, Harry Belafonte. Stolen Time is not an exhaustive history of the fad, but rather looks at specific instances of the calypso craze that illuminate the shape of black fad performance in the United States across a range of overlapping media: nightclub acts and sound recordings (chapter 1), film (chapter 2), television (chapter 3), musical theater (chapter 4), and dance. Rather than a sociological approach that details where and how the calypso craze was consumed, Stolen Time instead looks at the creative and unexpected ways that black performers themselves used the conditions of fad culture to (dis)engage with the entertainment industry, trip the performance circuit between the United States and the Caribbean, and shape the history of performance in the United States and its relationship to the black diaspora.
Floyd Levin
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520213609
- eISBN:
- 9780520928985
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520213609.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The author of this book, an award-winning jazz writer, has personally known many of the jazz greats who contributed to the music's colorful history. This book, which contains works published mostly ...
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The author of this book, an award-winning jazz writer, has personally known many of the jazz greats who contributed to the music's colorful history. This book, which contains works published mostly in jazz magazines over a fifty-year period, takes us into the nightclubs, the recording studios, the record companies, and, most compellingly, into the lives of the musicians who made the great moments of the traditional jazz and swing eras. Weaving anecdotal material, primary research, and music analysis into every chapter, the book is a mine of information on a rich segment of American popular music. This collection begins with the author's first published piece and includes several new chapters that contain material inspired by his work on this compilation. The chapters are organized thematically, beginning with a piece on Kid Ory's early recordings and ending with a newly written chapter about the campaign to put up a monument to Louis Armstrong in New Orleans. Along the way, the book gives in-depth profiles of many well-known jazz legends, such as Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong, and many lesser-known figures who contributed greatly to the development of jazz.Less
The author of this book, an award-winning jazz writer, has personally known many of the jazz greats who contributed to the music's colorful history. This book, which contains works published mostly in jazz magazines over a fifty-year period, takes us into the nightclubs, the recording studios, the record companies, and, most compellingly, into the lives of the musicians who made the great moments of the traditional jazz and swing eras. Weaving anecdotal material, primary research, and music analysis into every chapter, the book is a mine of information on a rich segment of American popular music. This collection begins with the author's first published piece and includes several new chapters that contain material inspired by his work on this compilation. The chapters are organized thematically, beginning with a piece on Kid Ory's early recordings and ending with a newly written chapter about the campaign to put up a monument to Louis Armstrong in New Orleans. Along the way, the book gives in-depth profiles of many well-known jazz legends, such as Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong, and many lesser-known figures who contributed greatly to the development of jazz.
David Ake
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520266889
- eISBN:
- 9780520947399
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520266889.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter discusses jazz education and the shift from urban nightclubs to schools as the primary homes of hundreds of jazz composers and musicians. However, this shift continues to be ...
More
This chapter discusses jazz education and the shift from urban nightclubs to schools as the primary homes of hundreds of jazz composers and musicians. However, this shift continues to be marginalized, ignored, or belittled throughout the wide range of jazz discourse. The chapter also examines several deeply held conceptions of jazz history and music education in order to encourage people to reconsider the roles that schools currently play in the development and spread of jazz music.Less
This chapter discusses jazz education and the shift from urban nightclubs to schools as the primary homes of hundreds of jazz composers and musicians. However, this shift continues to be marginalized, ignored, or belittled throughout the wide range of jazz discourse. The chapter also examines several deeply held conceptions of jazz history and music education in order to encourage people to reconsider the roles that schools currently play in the development and spread of jazz music.
William A. Shack
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520225374
- eISBN:
- 9780520925694
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520225374.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Even before 1914, Harlem's small nightclubs and honky-tonks had begun to nourish talented young black musicians and entertainers. Unlike black Bohemia's notorious clubs in the old Tenderloin along ...
More
Even before 1914, Harlem's small nightclubs and honky-tonks had begun to nourish talented young black musicians and entertainers. Unlike black Bohemia's notorious clubs in the old Tenderloin along West 35th Street that catered to the common vices of gambling and prostitution, several of these clubs offered a professional and congenial social atmosphere in which artistic ideas were born and exhibited. This was still the era of ragtime, the precursor of jazz. From 1900 up to World War I, black entertainers rushed to tour concert halls and music halls in Europe, where race relations were more relaxed than in the United States.Less
Even before 1914, Harlem's small nightclubs and honky-tonks had begun to nourish talented young black musicians and entertainers. Unlike black Bohemia's notorious clubs in the old Tenderloin along West 35th Street that catered to the common vices of gambling and prostitution, several of these clubs offered a professional and congenial social atmosphere in which artistic ideas were born and exhibited. This was still the era of ragtime, the precursor of jazz. From 1900 up to World War I, black entertainers rushed to tour concert halls and music halls in Europe, where race relations were more relaxed than in the United States.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520268883
- eISBN:
- 9780520950061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520268883.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter surveys Fred Astaire's films through the lens of what industry types called the background, the general setting of a film that plays host to the story, characters, and, most crucially, ...
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This chapter surveys Fred Astaire's films through the lens of what industry types called the background, the general setting of a film that plays host to the story, characters, and, most crucially, song-and-dance routines. It examines the big decisions producers made: many reflect straightforward attempts to leverage popular music groups—dance bands—for the benefit of a given film product, and Astaire's tastes often seem to be driving the choices. Producers had real power in Hollywood. They made the key casting and story decisions, whether it was conceiving a film for Astaire or adjusting an existing script to his persona. Certain backgrounds allowed Astaire to move more freely, and the range of backgrounds within which he could comfortably dance was, unsurprisingly, somewhat limited. Astaire functioned best against a popular entertainment background. Quite often these backgrounds included jazz or dance bands and popular music contexts. The chapter divides Astaire's films into three more-or-less-discrete categories based on their backgrounds: theater, nightclubs, and non-showbusiness. As will be evident, jazz-friendly contexts dominate.Less
This chapter surveys Fred Astaire's films through the lens of what industry types called the background, the general setting of a film that plays host to the story, characters, and, most crucially, song-and-dance routines. It examines the big decisions producers made: many reflect straightforward attempts to leverage popular music groups—dance bands—for the benefit of a given film product, and Astaire's tastes often seem to be driving the choices. Producers had real power in Hollywood. They made the key casting and story decisions, whether it was conceiving a film for Astaire or adjusting an existing script to his persona. Certain backgrounds allowed Astaire to move more freely, and the range of backgrounds within which he could comfortably dance was, unsurprisingly, somewhat limited. Astaire functioned best against a popular entertainment background. Quite often these backgrounds included jazz or dance bands and popular music contexts. The chapter divides Astaire's films into three more-or-less-discrete categories based on their backgrounds: theater, nightclubs, and non-showbusiness. As will be evident, jazz-friendly contexts dominate.
Teresa Platz Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198099437
- eISBN:
- 9780199083008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198099437.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Chapter 2 explores how the young Puneites of the café culture understood and positioned themselves in their world through their dressed bodies. By wearing jeans they not only clearly distinguished ...
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Chapter 2 explores how the young Puneites of the café culture understood and positioned themselves in their world through their dressed bodies. By wearing jeans they not only clearly distinguished themselves from their elders and the rest of society but also communicated ‘normality’ before an imagined global audience.Less
Chapter 2 explores how the young Puneites of the café culture understood and positioned themselves in their world through their dressed bodies. By wearing jeans they not only clearly distinguished themselves from their elders and the rest of society but also communicated ‘normality’ before an imagined global audience.
Brent Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780813147215
- eISBN:
- 9780813151502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813147215.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter begins with the successful appearances of dance team “Fox and Walters” at the Versailles nightclub. Walters meets rising choreographer Robert Alton and performs in the Theatre Guild’s ...
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This chapter begins with the successful appearances of dance team “Fox and Walters” at the Versailles nightclub. Walters meets rising choreographer Robert Alton and performs in the Theatre Guild’s critically-panned Parade. Chapter 3 presents a detailed look at the production and reception of the Cole Porter musical Jubilee, where Walters partnered June Knight, introduced “Just One of Those Things,” and danced “Begin the Beguine.” Walters’ development as a dancer — under the tutelage of Albertina Rasch and Tony and Rene De Marco — is discussed. This chapter also explores his friendship with young Montgomery Clift.Less
This chapter begins with the successful appearances of dance team “Fox and Walters” at the Versailles nightclub. Walters meets rising choreographer Robert Alton and performs in the Theatre Guild’s critically-panned Parade. Chapter 3 presents a detailed look at the production and reception of the Cole Porter musical Jubilee, where Walters partnered June Knight, introduced “Just One of Those Things,” and danced “Begin the Beguine.” Walters’ development as a dancer — under the tutelage of Albertina Rasch and Tony and Rene De Marco — is discussed. This chapter also explores his friendship with young Montgomery Clift.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226239217
- eISBN:
- 9780226239224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226239224.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
The world of popular music and the world of jazz associated with it change all the time. This chapter provides a short overview of these changes over the last 150 years or so, before analyzing one ...
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The world of popular music and the world of jazz associated with it change all the time. This chapter provides a short overview of these changes over the last 150 years or so, before analyzing one major change that has affected musicians: from a music based on popular songs known to “everyone” to a more esoteric one based on original jazz compositions far removed from the musical experience of the general listening public. This change took place in three areas, and the three occurred simultaneously, each creating the conditions for the others. Changes in venues—from bars, nightclubs, and dance halls to jazz clubs and concert halls—resulted from changes in audiences and what they wanted to hear, but also created new kinds of audiences for new kinds of music. All these changes produced a great change in the repertoire and led to troubles for players when they had to get it together on the bandstand, troubles fueled by a moral interpretation of repertoire.Less
The world of popular music and the world of jazz associated with it change all the time. This chapter provides a short overview of these changes over the last 150 years or so, before analyzing one major change that has affected musicians: from a music based on popular songs known to “everyone” to a more esoteric one based on original jazz compositions far removed from the musical experience of the general listening public. This change took place in three areas, and the three occurred simultaneously, each creating the conditions for the others. Changes in venues—from bars, nightclubs, and dance halls to jazz clubs and concert halls—resulted from changes in audiences and what they wanted to hear, but also created new kinds of audiences for new kinds of music. All these changes produced a great change in the repertoire and led to troubles for players when they had to get it together on the bandstand, troubles fueled by a moral interpretation of repertoire.
Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo and Tracy Royce
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824852962
- eISBN:
- 9780824869113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824852962.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter builds upon Adam Isaiah Green’s concept of the sexual field and examines how genders and sexualities are embodied, enacted and contested on nightclub dance floors in Bangkok, Thailand. ...
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This chapter builds upon Adam Isaiah Green’s concept of the sexual field and examines how genders and sexualities are embodied, enacted and contested on nightclub dance floors in Bangkok, Thailand. In the chapter, Hidalgo and Royce map out and analyze three separate enactments of embodied resistance to the general rules and regulations for doing gender and sexuality, i.e., mocking ideal gay masculinity via impromptu tabletop dancing, resisting hegemonic Thai femininity via the Cabaret Show, and masculine transformation via negotiating the dance floor. In all of these episodes, clubbers or performers located outside of the sexual field (or lower on its tiers of desirability) used humor and playfulness as a means of disrupting the serious business of the club’s gender and sexual hierarchies.Less
This chapter builds upon Adam Isaiah Green’s concept of the sexual field and examines how genders and sexualities are embodied, enacted and contested on nightclub dance floors in Bangkok, Thailand. In the chapter, Hidalgo and Royce map out and analyze three separate enactments of embodied resistance to the general rules and regulations for doing gender and sexuality, i.e., mocking ideal gay masculinity via impromptu tabletop dancing, resisting hegemonic Thai femininity via the Cabaret Show, and masculine transformation via negotiating the dance floor. In all of these episodes, clubbers or performers located outside of the sexual field (or lower on its tiers of desirability) used humor and playfulness as a means of disrupting the serious business of the club’s gender and sexual hierarchies.
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226775050
- eISBN:
- 9780226775074
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226775074.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
When queer nightclub star Zeki Müren died in 1996, the nation mourned and commentators and fans contemplated a complex legacy. In the years immediately following his death, old recordings and films ...
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When queer nightclub star Zeki Müren died in 1996, the nation mourned and commentators and fans contemplated a complex legacy. In the years immediately following his death, old recordings and films slowly materialized and broader stretches came into view of a remarkable career, until then largely remembered in terms of the kitsch and camp of his later years. A consistent theme emerged: Zeki Müren as “model citizen.” This chapter explores that characterization and its entanglement with issues of cultural intimacy. Three elements are at play in the nostalgic popular identification of Müren as a kind of model citizen. First, Müren drew on the regional (and Egypt-dominated) circulation of sentimental films and musical styles identified with revolutionary politics. Second, arguments about Müren's queerness—or denials of it—constituted a way of talking about other kinds of identities and the relationship between identities and citizenship in the 1990s. Finally, Zeki Müren nostalgia also functions as a palliative to the broad condition of cynicism that prevailed after the Susurluk car crash of 4 November 1996.Less
When queer nightclub star Zeki Müren died in 1996, the nation mourned and commentators and fans contemplated a complex legacy. In the years immediately following his death, old recordings and films slowly materialized and broader stretches came into view of a remarkable career, until then largely remembered in terms of the kitsch and camp of his later years. A consistent theme emerged: Zeki Müren as “model citizen.” This chapter explores that characterization and its entanglement with issues of cultural intimacy. Three elements are at play in the nostalgic popular identification of Müren as a kind of model citizen. First, Müren drew on the regional (and Egypt-dominated) circulation of sentimental films and musical styles identified with revolutionary politics. Second, arguments about Müren's queerness—or denials of it—constituted a way of talking about other kinds of identities and the relationship between identities and citizenship in the 1990s. Finally, Zeki Müren nostalgia also functions as a palliative to the broad condition of cynicism that prevailed after the Susurluk car crash of 4 November 1996.
