New York, 1930-1960 Stanford Continuing Studies, Summer 2012

HISTORY 178: THE UNFINISHED CITY: NEW YORK, 1930-1960 STANFORD CONTINUING STUDIES, SUMMER 2012 "New York is not a completed city… It is a city in the process of becoming. Today it belongs to the world," wrote the architect Le Corbusier in 1937. "Without anyone expecting it, it has become the jewel in the crown of universal cities." How had the New York managed to become "the city of tomorrow," host to a great World's Fair, so soon after the Wall Street clash and the slump that followed? How did it re-emerge, like a phoenix, as the "wonderful town" of the 1940s Broadway musicals? And how, in spite of unmistakable symptoms of industrial decline, did it reinvent itself again in the years after the Second World War? A sequel to last year's course on the history of New York City from 1880 to 1930, this course covers the city's cultural history from the crisis of the Great Depression to the dawn of the 1960s. Major themes include the interplay of politics and art during the 1930s; the impact of ethnic diversity on the city's cultural vitality; the golden age of the Broadway musical comedy; baseball from the era of Babe Ruth to that of Jackie Robinson; Greenwich Village as the incubator of modernist culture (including Abstract Expressionism) during the 1940s and 1950s; the advent of situation comedy (The Honeymooners) and sketch comedy (Sid Caesar) in the new medium of television; and developments in literature, jazz, photography, architecture, theater, and cinema. 1. THE 1930S: FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION TO THE WORLD'S FAIR Reading: E.L. Doctorow, World's Fair (excerpt in Writing New York: A Literary Anthology, ed. Phillip Lopate) Edward Denby, "The Thirties," in Writing New York, ed. Lopate Ralph Ellison, "New York, 1936," in Writing New York Bernard Malamud, "The Cost of Living," in Writing New York Recommended: Ric Burns et al., "The City of Tomorrow, 1931-1939," in New York: An Illustrated History "Robert Moses: The Power Broker," interview with Robert Caro, in New York: An Illustrated History 2. THE 1940S: HELLUVA TOWN Reading: Moss Hart, Act One: An Autobiography Robert Moses, "Fiorello H. LaGuardia," in Writing New York Elizabeth Hardwick, excerpt from Sleepless Nights (on Billie Holliday) in Writing New York Irwin Shaw, "Welcome to the City," in Writing New York 3. POSTWAR Reading: Oscar Hijuelos, excerpt from The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, in Writing New York John Cheever, "Moving Out," in Writing New York Isaac Bashevis Singer, "The Cafeteria," in Writing New York Recommended: Marshall Berman, "The Lonely Crowd: New York After the War," in New York: An Illustrated History 4. THE 1950S: BASEBALL, BROADWAY, AND BROOKLYN Reading: Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer Films: excerpts from The Honeymooners and Your Show of Shows; baseball clips; scenes from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman 5. THE 1950S: MODERNISM AND NOSTALGIA Reading: Joseph Mitchell, selection from Up in the Old Hotel, in Writing New York Frank O'Hara and James Merrill, poems in Writing New York Films: New York in the Fifties Robert Hughes, American Visions (on Abstract Expressionism) Required Books: Philip Lopate, Writing New York: A Literary Anthology 1598530216 Moss Hart, Act One 0312032722 Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer 0060883960 Recommended: Thomas Bender, The Unfinished City: New York and the Metropolitan Idea Serge Guibault, How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art Larry Stempel, Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater James Sanders, Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies Ric Burns, Lisa Ades, and James Sanders, New York: An Illustrated History Kenneth Jackson (ed.), Empire City: New York Through the Centuries Lewis Mumford, Sidewalk Critic: Lewis Mumford's Writings on New York Kate Simon, New York: Places & Pleasures Robert Caro, The Power Broker Hilary Ballon and Kenneth T. Jackson, Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York Hilary Ballon and Marilyn Taylor, New York's Pennsylvania Stations Robert Stern, David Fishman and Thomas Mellins, New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism V.S. Pritchett, New York Proclaimed Ethan Mordden, The Guest List: How Manhattan Defined American Sophistication: From the Algonquin Round Table to Truman Capote's Ball Bruce Thompson .

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