Stages and Streets: Space, Race, and Gender in the Experience Of
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Stages and Streets: Space, Race, and Gender in the Experience of Modernity in New York and San Francisco Nightlife, 1890–1930 by Morgan Hoodenpyle A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2018 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Gayle Gullett, Chair Susan Gray Victoria Thompson ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2018 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the history of urban nightlife in New York City and San Francisco from 1890 to 1930 and charts the manifestation of modernity within these cities. While some urbanites tepidly embraced this new modern world, others resisted. Chafing at this seemingly unmoored world, some Americans fretted about one of the most visible effects of modernity on the city—the encroachment of sex onto the street and in commercial amusements—and sought to wield the power of the state to suppress it. Even those Americans who reveled in the new modern world grappled with what this shifting culture ultimately meant for their lives, seeking familiarity where they could find it. Thus, this dissertation details how both Americans who embraced the modern world and those who perceived it as a threatening menace similarly sought a mediated modernity, seeking out and organizing spaces within modern amusements that ultimately reinforced existing cultural hierarchies. Using the lens of spatial analysis, this dissertation examines how different groups of Americans used the spaces of nighttime amusement to interrogate how nightlife culture reflected and reinforced dynamics of power in a historical moment when social movements seemed to be upending existing power structures of race, class, and gender. Pioneering works in the field of the history of popular amusements tend to frame the experience of commercial amusements—and by extension modern life—as a liberating force lifting Americans from the staid traditions of the nineteenth century. But this dissertation charts the way Americans sought to moderate the effects of modern life, even as they delighted in it. Even as the modern world seemed on the cusp of overturning social hierarchy, Americans found comfort in amusements that structured space to i reaffirm the status quo; while so much of the modern world appeared to break with the past, existing structures of social power remained very much the same. ii To my family, who made this possible, to my teachers, who saw something in me long before I knew it was there, and to my students, you can do it too. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation was possible because of the tireless support and encouragement of the Arizona State University faculty, in particular Gayle Gullett, who in her endless generosity allowed my dissertation to overtake entirely too much of her personal time. Thank you for both encouraging my best ideas and gently talking me down from occasional panic. In addition, Susan Gray and Victoria Thompson provided critical feedback and inspired me to be my best possible writer and thinker. My thanks also go to Catherine O’Donnell, Philip Vandermeer, Hava Samuelson, and to the memory of Rachel Fuchs, who had the best laugh and warmest heart in the department. You were tough but you made me better for it; you are missed. I would be remiss not to mention other teachers who encouraged me on my journey and awakened my spirit to history. My deepest gratitude goes to Jill Watts, whose brilliance prompted me to look closer at the history of popular culture and who invigorated me to shoot for the moon. Thanks also to Linda Dudik, who saw potential in a shy nineteen-year-old, and first gave her the courage to see herself as a scholar. In addition, my thanks go out to my student cohort. The brilliance of those around me inspired me to be better. My most heartfelt thanks go to Amy Long. Your steadfast optimism and tireless support have meant more to me than you know. Thank you also to Julie McCarty, Stephanie McBride Schreiner, Sabrina Thomas, Rebecca Baird, Briana Theobald, Jacki Hedlund Tyler, Chelsea Mead, Joan Miller, Stephen Pederson, Victorian Jackson, and Emily Lewis. To my Mt. San Jacinto College friends, thank you for being my family away from home. You all gave me an academic home and for this I will be forever grateful. To Jim iv Davis, my mentor, you opened doors for me that I did not even know existed. Your patient wisdom helped me land my dream job. Endless thanks also go to Gary Vargas, Tami Smith, Christina Yamanaka, Herb Alarcon, Jeremy Rogers, Jess Whalen, Anjeanette Oberg, Arafiena Bhuiyan, Erik Ozolins, and Richard Kandus. Lastly, thank you to my family. To my mother, thank you for nurturing in me a love of learning and a boundless curiosity. To my sister Blair, thank you for reminding me always to be “a hoper of far-flung hopes, and a dreamer of improbable dreams.” Sarah, thanks for reminding me that obstacles are only temporary, and that all things are possible. And to my husband Stephen, I can say in complete earnestness that you made this possible. Thanks for dragging me—kicking and screaming at times—toward the finish line. Your unflagging faith in my abilities is the greatest kindness anyone could ask for. Thank you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER Page 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 2 DREAM WORLDS: IMAGINING RACE AND MODERNITY IN URBAN SPACE IN TURN OF THE CENTURY NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO .................................................................................................. 22 Modernity and the Metropolis ...................................................................24 New York and San Francisco at the Turn of the Twentieth Century .........28 The City as Dream World: Visions of the Nighttime City ........................40 The Hidden City: Control through Slumming ...........................................47 Conclusion .................................................................................................62 3 “IT’S AN ABSURD PLACE, OF COURSE”: SPACE AND RACE IN THE THRILL OF THE AMUSEMENT ZONE ......................................................65 “Yes, in truth, all the world was there”: The Amusement Zone ................66 “The Moon for a Plaything”: The Birth of Coney Island ..........................72 “Stage Illusion”: Orientalism and the Fantastic at the Amusement Parks.75 The Last of the Great Nineteenth-Century Fairs: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition .............................................................................85 The African Dip and Other Oddities: Race and Gender at the Joy Zone ..92 Modernity, Dis-Ease, and the Experience of the Amusement Zone ........101 Conclusion ...............................................................................................111 vi CHAPTER Page 4 ON THE STREET AND ON THE STAGE: CENSORSHIP, SPACE, AND MODERNITY................................................................................................113 Sex on the Street and the Rise of the Moral Reformers ...........................114 A Dangerous Artfulness: Proximity as a Framework for Moral Reform122 Space and Spectacle: The Theatrical Revue ............................................128 Sex on the Stage: Reforming the Theater ................................................138 Conclusion ...............................................................................................148 5 THE BLACK MAN AND THE GLORIFIED GIRL: BERT WILLIAMS, THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, AND SEXUAL IMAGINATION IN THE INTEGRATION OF BROADWAY ..............................................................149 The Minstrel Tradition and Social Subversion ........................................151 Stages and Streets: Bert Williams Integrates the Ziegfeld Follies ...........162 The Ziegfeld Follies as a Glorified Girl Show .........................................173 Bert Williams and the Black Body ..........................................................180 Space and the Spectator: African Americans in the Audience ................188 Remembering Bert Williams ...................................................................193 Conclusion ...............................................................................................197 6 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................198 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................203 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION For Americans at the turn of the twentieth century, especially urban Americans, the world just seemed so “modern.” Life was so fast now, and the physical spaces of the city changed nearly as rapidly as social relations appeared to be shifting. A feverish frivolity gripped American youth; they danced the night away to ragtime in commercial amusements, dances that often originated in ethnic neighborhoods associated with vice, such as San Francisco’s Barbary Coast and the Bowery in New York. A sexual revolution brewed, and commercial amusements provided spaces for an emerging culture of heterosociality , in which women and men spent time together informally, far removed from traditional courting rituals. Cities moved at a quicker clip, and lit up at night, transforming the night into glittering spaces of amusement. Americans often grappled with modernity through the venue of urban nightlife, spaces where they could view or perhaps join transgressive performances. Americans were often of two minds about this transformation.