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PUNKS! TOPICALITY and the 1950S GANGSTER BIO-PIC CYCLE
cHAPTER 6 PUnKs! TOPIcALItY AnD tHe 1950s gANGSTER BIo-PIc cYcLe ------------------------------- PeteR stAnfield “This is a re-creation of an era. An era of jazz Jalopies Prohibition And Trigger-Happy Punks.” — Baby Face Nelson this essay examines a distinctive and coherent cycle of films, pro- duced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which exploited the notoriety of Prohibition-era gangsters such as Baby Face Nelson, Al Capone, Bonnie Parker, Ma Barker, Mad Dog Coll, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, and Legs Diamond. Despite the historical specificity of the gangsters portrayed in these “bio-pics,” the films each display a marked interest in relating their exploits to contemporary topical con- cerns. Not the least of these was a desire to exploit headline-grabbing, sensational stories of delinquent youth in the 1950s and to link these to equally sensational stories of punk hoodlums from 1920s and 1930s. In the following pages, some of the crossovers and overlaps between cycles of juvenile delinquency films and gangster bio-pics will be critically eval- uated. At the centre of analysis is the manner in which many of the films in the 1950s bio-pic gangster cycle present only a passing interest in pe- riod verisimilitude; producing a display of complex alignments between the historical and the contemporary. 185 peter stanfield DeLInQUENTS, gANGSTERs, AnD PUnKs In the 1950s, the representation of gangsters and of juvenile delinquents shared a common concern with explaining deviancy in terms of a rudi- mentary psychology, -
TOPICALITY and the 1950S GANGSTER BIO-PIC CYCLE
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Kent Academic Repository CHAPTER 6 PUNKS! TOPICALITY AND THE 1950s gANgSTER BIO-PIC CYCLE ------------------------------- peter Stanfield “This is a re-creation of an era. An era of jazz Jalopies Prohibition And Trigger-Happy Punks” — Baby Face Nelson this essay examines a distinctive and coherent cycle of films, pro- duced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which exploited the notoriety of Prohibition-era gangsters such as Baby Face Nelson, Al Capone, Bonnie Parker, Ma Barker, Mad Dog Coll, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, and Legs Diamond. Despite the historical specificity of the gangsters portrayed in these “bio-pics,” the films each display a marked interest in relating their exploits to contemporary topical con- cerns. Not the least of these was a desire to exploit headline-grabbing, sensational stories of delinquent youth in the 1950s and to link these to equally sensational stories of punk hoodlums from 1920s and 1930s. In the following pages, some of the crossovers and overlaps between cycles of juvenile delinquency films and gangster bio-pics will be critically eval- uated. At the centre of analysis is the manner in which many of the films in the 1950s bio-pic gangster cycle present only a passing interest in pe- riod verisimilitude; producing a display of complex alignments between the historical and the contemporary. 15 peter stanfield DELINQUENTS, gANgSTERS AND PUNKS In the 1950s, the representation of gangsters and of juvenile delinquents shared a common concern with explaining deviancy in terms of a rudi- mentary psychology, which held that criminality was fostered by psycho- pathic personalities. -
The 108-Year History of Norwest St. Paul Page 4
RAMSEY COUNTY NORWEST A Publication o f the Ramsey County Historical Society To The Nth Degree Fall, 1995 Volume 30, Number 3 The 108-Year History of Norwest St. Paul Page 4 à imf îf I mr t i ‘iHff RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director " ■ ■ RAMSEY COUNTY Priscilla Famham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz History RAMSEY COUNTY Volume 30, Number 3 Fall, 1995 HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joanne A. Englund Chairman of the Board CONTENTS John M. Lindley President 3 Letters Laurie Zenner First Vice President Judge Margaret M. Marrinan 4 After 108 Years a Transformation Second Vice President Norwest Bank St. Paul and its Century-old Heritage Richard A. Wilhoit Secretary James B. Bell James Russell Treasurer 1 8 Banking on Minnesota’s Unfettered Frontier— Arthur Baumeister, Jr., Alexandra Bjorklund, Andrew Boss, Thomas Boyd, Mark Eisen- When Barter Was the Name of the Only Game in Town schenk, John Harens, Marshall Hatfield, Liz James B. Bell Johnson, Richard Long, Laurie Murphy, Richard T. Muiphy, Sr., Thomond O’Brien, Robert Olsen, Vicenta Scarlett, Evangeline 2 2 ‘Cheery, Refined and Comfortable’ Schroeder, Jane Thiele, Anne Cowie Wilson. Episcopal Church Home Begins Its Second Century EDITORIAL BOARD With Its ‘Caring Services’ that Help the Elderly John M. Lindley, chairman; Thomas H. Boyd, Thomas C. Buckley, Laurie M. Marcia Fotsch Murphy, Dr. Thomas B. Mega. HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD 2 4 Growing Up in St. Paul Elmer L. Andersen, Olivia I. Dodge, A Boyhood Resting on the City’s Seven Hills— Charlton Dietz, William Finney, Clarence Frame, Otis Godfrey, Jr., Ronald Hachey, But Once Upon a Time There Were Eight Reuel D. -
The Making of a Stat^Jimji^ |
BY LOUISE PETTUS Page 12-B The Lancaster News Wednesday, July 23,1986 AND RON CHEPESIUK The most wanted man in America walked up to the ticket window of the Biograph Theatre on Chicago's Purvis'Life Never The Same North Side on July 24,1934. He had a girl on each arm. After Killing Dillinger The movie the trio was about to see fit the drama about to unfold — "Manhattan Melodrama," a gangster movie starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myma Loy. The police were ready for the hardened criminal and his female companions. Two hours before, from South Carolina's Story his seat in a parked car near the theater, Melvin H. Purvis, chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's The making of a stat^jiMji^| Chicago force, had placed his 15 men around the theater. So precise was the deployment that the theater manager thought his theater was about to be robbed and called the police. Upon arriving, the ^WINTHROP COLLEGE police were quietly ushered to the sidelines by Purvis' men. When the movie ended at 10:40, Here is some of what Purvis had to the outlaw left the theater, turned Several newspapers across the say about the incident at the south and passed Chief Purvis' car. country carried front page stories Biograph Theatre: "As he Positively identifying the fugitive, about the hero from South Carolina. (Dillinger) bought a ticket, I got a Purvis gave the pre-arranged signal Back home in the Palmetto State, profile and front view of him and I to make the arrest. -
Alvin Karpis: "No Lousy Hoodlum"
Alvin Karpis: "No Lousy Hoodlum" by Keith Marquart azy, humid days are no rarity in New Orleans. May I, 1936 was such a day. At 4:30 in the afternoon, in a hotel one-half block from downtown, Ruth, "about 21 years old, pretty, red haired and dressed in white," had just .. Lemerged from her first floor apartment with her boy friend, Alvin, and his friend Fred.' Upon casual inspection Alvin, a short man at 5' 6", with light brown hair and blue eyes had ~ only one distinguishing trait: exceptionally long arms. A closer look would also reveal his scarred face and fingertips. The three walked through the lobby on their way to Alvin's car which was parked on the street in front of the hotel. Upon reaching the sidewalk they were immediately surrounded by fifteen to twenty heavily armed F.B.I. agents who "called upon them to surrender ... they were taken without the firing of a shot."2 The trio was taken into custody so quietly and smoothly that only persons nearby were aware of the Federal Agents' latest success, the arrest of Public Enemy No. I, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis. 3 Alvin Karpowicz, later "shortened to Alvin Karpis by a teacher for pronunciation purposes," was born in 1908 to John and Anna ~ Karpowicz, Lithuanian immigrants who first migrated to London, England and then to Montreal, Canada where Alvin was born: Next they moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan and finally to Topeka, Kan ,l sas. Years later E. W. Ford, veteran identification officer at the Kan sas State Reformatory in Hutchinson, where Alvin spent some years during his teens, would say, "He came from a good family, as far as we could find."s The Karpowicz house in Topeka, where Alvin lived with his parents and his three sisters, Mihilin, Emily and Clara, was situated next to the railroad tracks in the "bad" part of town. -
Til Inew Sawyer Favcas Glluagegim §Ormer Public Enemy No.]]
FE ( PRES S (esePf- 64-9) fissoc ( ArEb Pia es5 Man is found innocent o!ler sorving 37 yearts, O given lull pardon TOPEKA, Kan. The man who prosecuted Frank Sawyer, 70, led37 Mr. Sawyer also testified. He years ago for a bank robbery said he now believes that Mr. he said he didn't commit, was Sawyer did not participate in pardoned yesterday by Gover- the robbery. nor Robert Docking. Mr. Docking said the rec- The office of the Governor ommendation for a pardon said the prisoner of the Kan- had been made by his pardon sas State Penitentiary is inno- attorney, Robert Ochs, and by cent of a 1932 bank robbery. the Board of Probation and A former U.S. public enemy Parole. No. 1, Alvin Karpis, now on parole in Montreal, had said "Based on the two recom- that he and several others mendations, testimony gath- committed the bank robbery ered by eyewitnesses of the 37 years ago and that Mr. robbery and an in-depth inves- Sawyer did not take part. tigation of the case, Frank Mr. Sawyer has been serv- Sawyer is innocent of the ing a sentence of 20 to 100 crime he was convicted of in years for the robbery of a Kansas," Mr. Docking said. Fort Scott bank in 1932. "If he did nut commit the Mr. Karpis made his state- crime for which he is serving ment Mier leaving the United time now in the Kansas State States, following his parole Penitentiary he should be re- PRE5sc(F5P77 190 from a prison sentence on leased immediately." Cillf#0141.J other charges. -
Ma Barker Gang V2
Cold Open: Holy shit this is gonna to be a fun ride today! Man, I forgot how much I loved Depression era gangster tales! The members of the Ma Barker Gang, aka the Barker-Karpis Gang it quickly evolved into and became more commonly known as, were cold-blooded, thieving, kidnapping, cop-killing sons-of-bitches. They don’t deserve to be romanticized. They were self-serving, ruthless dirtbags - I know that! But…there is something darkly romantic about old time bank robbers. A criminal such as a rapist is an obvious fucking coward. Holding down someone usually physically weaker then themselves, physically and psychology violating someone they’ve drugged, or tricked, or are holding a weapon to, using them for their own sadistic, physical pleasure. The nature of that crime is inherently evil. Same for pedophilia. Same for most murders. Those crimes seem to me, and to most of us, as inhuman somehow, which explains our fascination with them. How could someone do that? Theft, however, while also not morally justified, is so much more relatable, because it’s so very human. We don’t all, thank God, want to rape. However, we ALL do want money! Even if you don’t consider yourself materialistic, or monetarily driven, you still have bills to pay. Or, if you don’t, then someone else is paying for your existence - and I hope you’re grateful for them being at least somewhat financially motivated. And, almost all of us have stolen something at some point in our lives! Maybe you haven’t taken anything from a store, but, have you bit torrented a movie? Ever used someone else’s username and password to watch something intended for paid subscribers only? Ever downloaded an album someone gave you on a thumb drive and listened to it over and over and then never paid for it? Well, welcome to the thief club! You took something, or you used something - you listened to or watched something - that someone else created with the intention of having it sold. -
Road Chatter
ROAD CHATTER Early Ford V-8 Club - Northern Illinois Regional Group #8 P.O. Box 803 March 2014 Volume 48 Issue 3 Arlington Heights, IL 60006-0803 www.nirgv8.org UPCOMING In this Issue NIRG EVENTS Page 2 – President Scott Gilday talks about recent club events, welcomes March 8 Pioneer Turners new members, and encourages members to attend outings planned for Luncheon, Chicago. See March. Page 3. Page 3 – If you haven’t signed up for the Pioneer Turners luncheon this March 13 Board of Directors Saturday, March 8, please call Ron Steck today and let him know if you Meeting, Wheeling Township plan to attend. Also, make plans to attend the Eggs & Eights breakfast in Service Center, 7:30 pm. Geneva on Sunday, March 30. March 18 Monthly Meeting, Page 4 – Joe Novak is making plans for our Fourth Annual Joint Tour Wheeling Township Service with the Northern Ohio Regional Group. This year we will travel to Center, 8:00 pm. Auburn, Indiana. Details provided here. March 30 Eggs & Eights Page 5 – Sadly, we again report the passing of a long time member. Breakfast, Geneva, IL. See Also, we once again welcome new members to the club. And, a brief Page 3. update on more upcoming events. Page 6 – John Emmering treats us to another interesting story of the demise of a prohibition-era gangster and the connection to V-8 Fords. This is the 4th in a series from John, who says it is the last. We need to talk to him. Page 8 – Minutes of the February 18 monthly meeting. -
The Historian Summer 2010
The Blue Earth County HISTORIAN In this issue: Board of Trustees 2 Director’s Notes 3 Museum Store 4 Research Center 6 Fingerprints and Footnotes 7 The Shady Lady from South Bend 9 Collections & Exhibits 15 The Rapidan Dam was built in 1909-1910. Join the Centennial Celebration at the Dam on August 14th Our Mission: To collect, preserve, and promote the history of Blue Earth County for present and future generations. Volume XVIII No 3 A BLUE EARTH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION Summer 2010 Historian Board of Trustees Mike Lagerquist Blue Earth County Board of Trustees President Historical Society 415 Cherry Street, Mankato, MN Groucho Marx is often quoted as saying he wouldn’t want to join 507-345-5566 any club that would have him as a member. Obviously he was never a www.bechshistory.com member of the Blue Earth County Historical Society! As an organization, we encourage everyone to become an ACTIVE member, Board of Trustees adding your names to the ranks of membership and showing your Mike Lagerquist, President, Mankato Leslie Peterson, Vice President, Mankato interest and support by attending as many of the events we present as Linda Osborne, Treasurer, North Mankato possible. When joining or renewing, you have the opportunity to show Randy Zellmer, Secretary, North Mankato your support by adding a donation or joining at a level above the Preston Doyle, Mankato Deborah Fors, North Mankato individual level. We love to see families and businesses join and share Sandi Garlow, Mapleton a membership as a bonding experience. Win Grundmeier, Mankato A certain credit card company proclaims, “Membership has its Jim Gullickson, North Mankato Corey Hugg, Mankato privileges,” and the same is true with BECHS. -
PRETTY BOY's GUN , Laverne, CALIFORNIA
EPISODE 10,2004: PRETTY BOY’S GUN , LaVERNE, CALIFORNIA Wes: Our first story gives a different twist to the career of one of America’s most notorious outlaws. It’s the 1930’s. The Great Depression. Across the Midwest, as factories close and banks foreclose, the rural poor feel cheated. Bankers are seen as crooks and bank robbers heroes. Across the nation, criminals capture the headlines - John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde and Charles Arthur Floyd, better known as “Pretty Boy.” Modeling himself on the outlaws of the Wild West, Pretty Boy Floyd becomes one of the most infamous bank robbers of the 20th century. For decades writers and folk singers romanticize his legacy. We’ve heard about a weapon believed to have been used by Pretty Boy on his final flight from the law. Richard Kee of LaVerne, California owns this gun, which he believes belonged to the legendary bandit. Richard Kee: From what I’ve heard, my Uncle Ted had received the gun from Pretty Boy Floyd. My uncle was only 17 and my father didn’t want him to get into any more trouble than he was already in so he took the weapon away from him. And that’s how it’s come down to me. So this has been in my family since 1934. Wes: I’m Wes Cowan. I’ve come to LaVerne, California to help Richard uncover the truth about the gun. Well, let’s take a look. Richard: Well, here it is. .32 Colt automatic. Wes: Wow. You ever shoot it? Richard: I shot it as a child when my father taught me how to use it when I was about ten. -
Charles "Pretty Boy"Floyd
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PRIVACY ACTS SUBJECT: CHARLES "PRETTY BOY"FLOYD KANSAS CITY MASSACRE FILE: 62-28915 SECTION 68 FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION N1 ZTICE THE BEST COPIES OBTAINABLE ARE INCLUDED IN THE REPRODUCTION OF THE FILE. PAGES INCLUDED THAT ARE BLURRED, LIGHT OR OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO READ ARE THE RESULT OF THE CONDITION AND OR COLOR OF THE ORIGINALS PROVIDED. THESE ARE THE BEST COPIES AVAILABLE. % CHARLES PRETTY aov" new FRANK NASH " VERNE MILLER A A - ADAM RICHETTI & _ KANSAS CITY MASSACRE SC1E!_}¬CI9'_.__._________________ 1211.6 nUm%R 5¬C2§iOD numE>eR_6_8_______ %RiAL5 3'-5ODl92§¬S @79292_ _?l.i___ PA§¬5 Renemeo Q0 pA§3¬5 cu92©DDeLo 2. exémptéioms! U6¬O " " " " ' 'i ' " " I "-VI -- . ',1.-'_-_ .~ '.1,-' . ---- '.- ._ _.'-» i.-1--._--_-, ~»:-.92 .-. , -' H 'fnm~§wm"~~¢r£m@+H@g¢»Tu+Hx#wcé1+x#1uwr¢..,q,@@¢.¢-.,-:33.-;'_-~-.__-__"j._I'__;, wig_: . .,,'.___i'__ _ . ",'._r __ _.;"-':;-_.§-;;:;'1Z.- '--I-~"' .:-1;"1fj..}-11;?-?.92¢,',_4' M -"'"-'--'- ~l-=i.r»;-----,.4'...¢..a#"" -;._'.'.__-.'-fa:'T.-'=-.- ----'~'r_.;;-.-5»,-.-. 15--'-q_ r_qa=-,1 ;..-1:. ,._.'____ -1'1: - .1 O L.i-92 " e - ' ' 0 D F .. , gpaawnn£Ammgmm1 }L§§.§hpndnuniu§$md&2 1615 FEDERALRESERVE BANKBJIEDING KANSAS CITY, MISSUUHI ~ - ocmosrn 25, 19:54. cJC3 1-.,1 - -. _'4:"-. -
PDF of H. Peterson Koopman Article
Growing Up Along the Mighty Mississippi The Great Depression Through the Eyes of a Young “River Rat” harriette peterson koopman, with connie koopman pettersen n the late 1920s, my parents, Hans and Er- wooden barrels. Just north and east of the I mine (Brisson) Peterson, lived in Hugo, Min- business was St. Paul’s airport. A dense forest nesota, on my maternal grandpa’s farm. My folks with trees and brush [and marshland] blocked had been commuting twenty-one miles south to our views of the more industrial areas. And so St. Paul to work when the Great Depression hit, a new chapter—a new adventure living on the making travel too costly. And so, when I was six, great Mississippi—began.¹ Dad bought a house less than a mile east of Con- cord Street in St. Paul’s West Side Flats. There Living Day to Day were only five of us kids at first—my two older Times were tough. It was the beginning of nearly brothers, Orv and Bob, were about nine and a decade of struggling to make ends meet. Ma seven, Don was three, and Stella a baby. Three had been working at the Saint Paul Hotel in more young’uns were born while we lived in the housekeeping. A0er our move, she stayed home Flats—Neal and twins Lloyd and Floyd. with the kids. Our house on Horace Street was next to the Property so close to the river was cheap but Mississippi River. We lived a half mile or so at high risk of flooding.