University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2015 All Play and No Work: the Protestant Work Ethic and the Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project Paul Gagliardi University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, Theatre History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gagliardi, Paul, "All Play and No Work: the Protestant Work Ethic and the Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 873. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/873 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALL PLAY AND NO WORK: THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC AND THE COMIC PLAYS OF THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT by Paul Gagliardi A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2015 ABSTRACT ALL PLAY AND NO WORK: THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC AND THE COMIC PLAYS OF THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT by Paul Gagliardi The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Jason Puskar Given the massive unemployment of the era, the subject of work dominated the politics and culture of the Great Depression. In particular, most government programs of the New Deal sought to provide jobs or reinforce long-standing American views of working. These aims were reflected by the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), which was charged with providing jobs of unemployed theatre workers and uplifting the spirits of audiences. But the FTP also strove to challenge its audiences by staging overtly political theatre. In this context, many comic plays –which have long been ignored by scholars of the FTP – actually challenged work norms of the 1930s. Backstage comedies, which focus on the lives of theatre workers, show characters who argue for the stage – and by extension the FTP – to be more concerned with providing entertainment than making political statements. In hedonistic work comedies, the belief that work and pleasure could coexist for the middle class is disputed, while hedonistic work is promoted for laborers of the working class as a way to escape the rigors of work. In confidence artist plays, not only is swindling show to be a form of work, but also that conning could serve as a model for workers to escape the rigors of what Max Weber called the iron cage of capitalism. ii © Copyright by Paul Gagliardi, 2015 All Rights Reserved iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction ............................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: The Politics of Work, Relief, and the FTP ......................................................20 The Iron Cage, Rationalization, and Bureaucracy .......................................................21 The New Deal Work Ethic ...........................................................................................28 The Work of the Federal Theatre Project ....................................................................37 The Rise and Fall of the FTP .......................................................................................47 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................59 Chapter One Notes .......................................................................................................62 Chapter Two: Backstage Comedies: The Labor of the Stage and Reform of the FTP ..........63 Hallie Flanagan, Commercial Theatre, and Theatrical Labor ......................................64 The Torchbearers: Protecting the Work .....................................................................73 Accent on Youth and Room Service: The Play’s the Thing ..........................................78 O Say Can You Sing: Out of the Red ...........................................................................88 A Moral Entertainment: Acting Is Too Hard ...............................................................94 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................102 Chapter Two Notes ......................................................................................................104 Chapter Three: Hedonistic Work Comedies: The Pleasures of Work ...................................106 Hedonistic Work ..........................................................................................................107 Ah, Wilderness!: The Stability and Instability of the Middle Class .............................115 To the Ladies: The Women Run the Show ..................................................................124 The Show-Off: Bragging About Morality ....................................................................133 Mississippi Rainbow: Signifying Speculation .............................................................140 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................149 Chapter Three Notes ....................................................................................................151 Chapter Four: Confidence Artist Comedies: The Work of the Con ......................................153 The Meaning and Work of the Con .............................................................................155 Room Service: The Privileged Confidence Scheme.....................................................163 The Nut Farm: Problematic Marks ..............................................................................168 The Milky Way: The Show is Good .............................................................................174 Help Yourself: The Illusion of Work ...........................................................................182 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................192 Chapter Four Notes ......................................................................................................194 Works Cited ...........................................................................................................................196 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank my advisor, Jason Puskar, for his help on this project. Since agreeing to chair my preliminary examination, he has challenged me and my work, and I am convinced I would never have been able to finish this project without his guidance. I also thank Jose Lanters and Greg Jay for their feedback on this project and conversations about the profession and teaching. I also thank Mark Netzloff and Robin Mello for both their comments on this project and their conversations about academics and life. I also thank my committee members for often having to partially entertain my daughter during our meetings about my work. Thanks to the English Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for their financial support to me through the Tinsley Helton Fellowship. I also thank Tasha Oren for her support in my first years as a doctoral student. Thanks as well to the staff of the Performing Arts Reading Room at the Library of Congress and the staff of the George Mason University Library for their advice about my project. In addition, I need to thank my teaching colleagues at both Carroll University and Mount Mary University, including Tim Galow, Lori Kelly, Lisa Teresa, and Tanya Keenan, for accommodating my hectic schedule and supporting my endeavors. I also owe a debt of gratitude to several of my professors from Penn State- Harrisburg who mentored me as both an undergraduate and graduate student. Thanks to John Gennari and Jessica Dorman who encouraged me as an undergraduate student. I also thank Matthew Wilson and the late Louise Hoffman for their guidance. In particular, I want to thank Patricia Johnson for her continued mentoring throughout the past decade. I v also need to thank Margaret Rose Jaster who encouraged me to become a scholar in 2001 and whose mentorship I am grateful for. This project could not have been finished without the support of my friends. I owe debts of gratitude to Nate Hackman, Adam Ochonicky, Ron Felten, Chad Jorgenson, Matt Trease, Tim Galow, Amy Brady, Joel Seeger, Jessica Burch, Randy Freese, and Sarah Etlinger for their help in getting me through this process. They gave me feedback and comments on my work, and they were always ready to provide distractions from the rigors of this project. I also thank my parents, my sister, and my aunts and uncles for their support throughout my college education; in particular, I owe a debt to my parents who not only bought me books, but also endured seemingly endless trips to museums, historic sites, battlefields, and libraries when I was younger. I also need to thank Genevieve Freese for support and help with this project. She not only was a helpful proofreader, but she gave me much moral support during our relationship. Also, my thanks to Britt Picco who entered my life at the tail end of this project and who supported me through countless rounds of edits. I dedicate this project to the memory of my grandmother, Georgiana Fritz, from whom I inherited a love of reading. This project is also dedicated