Hard-Boiled and Jazz Crazy: the Development of American Detective Fiction and Popular Music in the Aftermath of World War I
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HARD-BOILED AND JAZZ CRAZY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN DETECTIVE FICTION AND POPULAR MUSIC IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR I By Lisa Rose Williams A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of American Studies – Doctor of Philosophy 2014 ABSTRACT HARD-BOILED AND JAZZ CRAZY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN DETECTIVE FICTION AND POPULAR MUSIC IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR I By Lisa Rose Williams This project is meant to explore the development of jazz and hard-boiled fiction in the period during which both popular forms found a national audience and reached the peak of their popularity – the years from World War I to the beginning of World War II. Chapter one deals with the emergence of jazz as a popular musical style distinct from ragtime. Jazz made national headlines with the Victor release of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues” on March 7, 1917 – just three weeks prior to the United States decision to enter World War I as a combatant. The jazz of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band offered a distinctly American sound that promoted the patriotic zeal of the time without challenging the dominant status quo – particularly in regard to race relations. The United States entry into World War I heightened tensions between white and black Americans, as evidenced by the high number of race riots erupting across the country during this period. To a limited extent, however, the war also helped pave the way for African American jazz through the work of James Reese Europe, whose military band took France and England by storm. In chapter two, the antecedents of hard-boiled fiction are discussed, beginning with the early interest afforded crime literature. The mystery genre emerged in the United States at the hand of Edgar Allan Poe in the 1840s, but was cemented in the public imagination through the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose iconic creation – genius detective Sherlock Holmes – and atmospheric description of Victorian London set the template for mystery fiction followed in Great Britain and America for decades. However, it was from the colorful world of the dime novel detectives that mystery pulp magazines took shape, beginning in October, 1915, when long-standing dime novel hero Nick Carter was replaced by the pulp title Detective Fiction . Chapter three discusses the immediate aftermath of World War I on American culture, detailing how the social and moral tensions of the war continued to fester among pockets of Americans across the country. These tensions fueled the ongoing debate regarding jazz music, as it became the accompaniment to postwar rebellions against attempts to reinstate the pre-war status quo. Chicago became the center of the jazz world during these years, particularly among the fabled nightclubs of the South Side. Chapter four discusses the emergence of the most successful hard-boiled pulp magazine Black Mask , which began in 1920 as nothing more than a money maker meant to support the literary risk-taking of The Smart Set , edited by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. One of its greatest contributors in the 1920s was Dashiell Hammett, who epitomized the hard-boiled style in that decade. Hammett’s stories helped transform the mystery novel from the erudite sophistication made popular by British writers into an edgy, tough American style. The final chapter briefly discusses the developments of jazz and hard-boiled fiction in the 1930s, as American interests turned toward the constraints of the Great Depression and, by mid- decade, war again loomed on the horizon. Together these chapters show the parallel development of jazz and hard-boiled fiction, taking into account the impact of World War I on both American society as a whole and, more specifically, on the individuals instrumental to the development of these two popular American genres. Copyright by LISA ROSE WILLIAMS 2014 For Amelia Kattar -and- Marguerite “Holte” Ablan. In memory of morning toast and coffee, the Shenandoah bus game, and one pink sweater. For a short time, you were half my known world. Thank you for taking care of me. Your stardust is the stuff that dreams are made of. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my guidance committee for their endless support and always excellent suggestions. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Gary Hoppenstand for sharing not only his brilliance as a scholar, but his enthusiasm for the topic – your example and encouragement were vital to this project. In addition, I would like to thank the many individuals within my academic department and the larger Michigan State University community who contributed to the development and successful completion of this project. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their patience, support and encouragement throughout this long process. To my parents, Jimmy and Debbie Williams, there are no words to encapsulate all you mean to me – you are the joy and wonder in my world. To my extended family – I am so thankful for each and every one of you. To my friends, especially Mike, Andria, Cen and Pan, and Elizabeth - I would never have made it this far without your humor and understanding – thanks for sharing the craziness of the last several years with me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction……...…………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter1: Delirium…....……………………….…………………………………....…………15 My Kingdom For A Novelty……….…………………………………………………16 Way Down Yonder In New Orleans…………..………………………………………18 Neutral In Letter But Not In Spirit…………….………………………………………24 The Great Adventure………………………………………………………………….28 Good Or Bad, Fad Or Institution?.................................................................................35 James Reese Europe, Part I……...…………………………………………………….42 Fit To Fight...………………………………………………………………………….47 James Reese Europe, Part II……...…………………………………………………...51 Chapter 2: Blood and Thunder…………...………………..………………………....………..62 Books For The Million!..................................................................................................63 Transatlantic Detective Heroes………………………………………………………..68 Vernacular Detective Heroes…………..……………………………………………...77 Damaging Dime Novels……………………………………………………………….84 Chapter 3: Dissonance……..……………………….………………………………....….........95 The Present And All That It Holds……………………………………………………96 Culture A Furious Battleground………………………………………………………103 We Are Musical Anarchists………..………………………………………………….105 A Hell Of A Country………………………………………………………………….108 The Jazz Center Of The World………..………………………………………………113 Don’t Be So Damn Dumb……………………………………………………………..120 The Ghost Of The Levee……..………………………………………………………..122 Slumming….…………………………………………………………………………...124 A Rite Of Passage……………………………………………………………………...126 Beiderbecke…...……………………………………………………………………….128 Night By Night It Gets Tougher……………………………………………………….130 Take Me Some Place Low…….………………………………………………………132 Jazz As Touchstone……..……………………………………………………………..136 Alternative Markets………...………………………………………………………….137 Chapter 4: A New Mythology………....………………………………………...…………….141 The Aristocrat Of Magazines………….………………………………………………142 The Louse Magazines……...…………………………………………………………..145 The Black Mask………………………………………………………………………..147 The Pinkerton Operative……………………………………………………………….151 The Army Sergeant…………………………………………………………………….157 The Writer…...…………………………………………………………………………159 Hard-boiled…………………………………………………………………………….164 vii Intolerance And Authenticity………………………………………………………….169 The Black Bird…………………………………………………………………………175 Chapter 5: Survival, Success, Succession…………………...…………………………………184 Forward America, Nothing Can Stop U.S……………………………………………..185 This Side Of Heaven…………………………………………………………………...188 The Big Broadcast……..………………………………………………………………195 A Wry Joke…………………………………………………………………………….198 The Big Sleep….……………………………………………………………………….203 The Program “St. Louis Blues” Will Not Be Heard Tonight…………………..………208 WORKS CITED……………………………………………………………………………….211 viii Introduction 1 This project is meant to explore the development of jazz and hard-boiled fiction in the period during which both popular forms found a national audience and reached the peak of their popularity – the years from World War I to the beginning of World War II. A number of excellent studies examine jazz and hard-boiled fiction in the interwar period and a few, such as Kathy Ogren’s work, The Jazz Revolution: Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz , cite the social upheaval of World War I as a catalyst for developments in the 1920s or 1930s. However, those titles that mention World War I as a significant factor in reshaping American popular entertainment do so only briefly. To date, there is no full-length, in-depth study of the impact of World War I on American popular entertainment. In an attempt to begin such a discussion, this work focuses on jazz and hard-boiled fiction for a number of reasons. To begin with, both popular forms follow a roughly similar trajectory, gaining national attention in the late-1910s amid moral controversy. During World War I, both jazz and hard-boiled fiction were in a period of transition, emerging out of earlier popular forms that initially shared many characteristics with the new styles – ragtime, in the case of jazz, and dime novels, in the case of hard-boiled fiction. Jazz and hard-boiled fiction also shared in a dubious public perception, being seen by many as shocking and corrupting influences; in both cases, this perception was strengthened by associations with the marginalized in American society – whether that be African Americans