There's no mention of race or racism here in this account, so I feel compelled to point out that how much the critiques and predictions about jazz would be repeated with rock and later hip hop decades later, and in all cases part of the backlash was inspired by racism and fears of miscegenation, not unrelated to fears of the overt sexuality that accompanies so much of popular dance cultures.
Interesting that while Strauss was bemoaning jazz’s popularity, his French colleagues were embracing it with open arms. 1923 brought us Milhaud’s Creation of the World, inspired by the music he heard in Harlem clubs the year before. And Ravel couldn’t get enough of the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club when he visited New York in 1928. The influence of jazz in his later works is profound.
I find it amusing that the illustrations accompanying these stories make dancing to jazz look like rather a lot of fun! I wonder if that was intentional on the illustrator's part.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Eerie how current this feels. I can only imagine what 'Mrs. Lee's' response to Rock & Roll would have been.
Couldn’t gain access to the entire article, but here’s a bit of investigation into extent of collaborative associations between the Anti-Saloon League and the KKK
Love how the attack is accompanied with pictures a gals in short skirts dancing, showing their legs and the use of the word ‘aroused’ re parental disapprobation, which seems to have Freudian implications, and has elements of disapproval whilst hinting at desire to be a part of what was being condemned. Psychologically interesting....and who was she/he doing this envious backward glance at the indefensible?
This is hilarious! I was raised in Baltimore by grandparents who introduced me to jazz via their Duke Ellington records, and reminisced about the greats who would play at the city's theaters, like The Royal on Pennsylvania Avenue. Who knew they were contributing to the delinquency of a minor (me!)?
Great stuff! I am proud of my misspent childhood growing up in London in the 70's and experiencing so much degenerate (and fantastic) music. Sadly though, in all that time I never attended a "hooch & harem" party! :)
Great stuff. Hermann Hesse’s Harry Haller (in Steppenwolf from 1927) also expresses a very jaundiced view of jazz (and many other such advances as radios and phonographs) as he works through his middle aged reawakening (individuation). I am often reminded of Harry and Pablo, the horn player from the book, when I read about jazz.
Thanks for telling this story of a campaign to suppress creativity that failed. Jazz now has a history full of classics. And fresh creativity is as often inspired by re-discovery as by wholesale invention. Maybe more often.
I will never forget my conversation with the late Emil Mangelsdorff (Albert's older brother) about the nazis' treatment of jazz and especially of its practitioners - as a teenager, Emil was sent to the Russian front, after three weeks of being beaten and starved in his local jail. More than 60 years after the fact, Emil still expressed incredulity that a government would actually persecute people for the kind of music they played. Nazi condemnation of jazz, which they considered the degenerate music of rootless cosmopolitans and inferior races, sounds much like, minus the ethnic slurs, Martha Lee's Baltimoronic rantings. While Lee may have existed only in the mind of the Sun's editors and/or publishers, her bloviations were, dangerously, presented alongside real news, in a context most people took seriously in those days. Fortunately, 'her' efforts were totally futile.
There's no mention of race or racism here in this account, so I feel compelled to point out that how much the critiques and predictions about jazz would be repeated with rock and later hip hop decades later, and in all cases part of the backlash was inspired by racism and fears of miscegenation, not unrelated to fears of the overt sexuality that accompanies so much of popular dance cultures.
Gotta stamp out those "Jungle Rhythms" as they could stir up urges to dance & sway the Hips ... & we all know where THAT could lead !
Are we sure this Hate movement didn't originate in Florida ?
Fascinating story.
Interesting that while Strauss was bemoaning jazz’s popularity, his French colleagues were embracing it with open arms. 1923 brought us Milhaud’s Creation of the World, inspired by the music he heard in Harlem clubs the year before. And Ravel couldn’t get enough of the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club when he visited New York in 1928. The influence of jazz in his later works is profound.
I find it amusing that the illustrations accompanying these stories make dancing to jazz look like rather a lot of fun! I wonder if that was intentional on the illustrator's part.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Eerie how current this feels. I can only imagine what 'Mrs. Lee's' response to Rock & Roll would have been.
Couldn’t gain access to the entire article, but here’s a bit of investigation into extent of collaborative associations between the Anti-Saloon League and the KKK
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25144510
Interesting piece as usual… tx!
Love how the attack is accompanied with pictures a gals in short skirts dancing, showing their legs and the use of the word ‘aroused’ re parental disapprobation, which seems to have Freudian implications, and has elements of disapproval whilst hinting at desire to be a part of what was being condemned. Psychologically interesting....and who was she/he doing this envious backward glance at the indefensible?
Hence the phrase "band in Baltimore".
As they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. A surefire way to get people interested in Jazz.
Well it worked.
This is hilarious! I was raised in Baltimore by grandparents who introduced me to jazz via their Duke Ellington records, and reminisced about the greats who would play at the city's theaters, like The Royal on Pennsylvania Avenue. Who knew they were contributing to the delinquency of a minor (me!)?
Apparently, being against jazz makes you draw in a style reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley.
Great stuff! I am proud of my misspent childhood growing up in London in the 70's and experiencing so much degenerate (and fantastic) music. Sadly though, in all that time I never attended a "hooch & harem" party! :)
Great stuff. Hermann Hesse’s Harry Haller (in Steppenwolf from 1927) also expresses a very jaundiced view of jazz (and many other such advances as radios and phonographs) as he works through his middle aged reawakening (individuation). I am often reminded of Harry and Pablo, the horn player from the book, when I read about jazz.
Thanks for telling this story of a campaign to suppress creativity that failed. Jazz now has a history full of classics. And fresh creativity is as often inspired by re-discovery as by wholesale invention. Maybe more often.
I will never forget my conversation with the late Emil Mangelsdorff (Albert's older brother) about the nazis' treatment of jazz and especially of its practitioners - as a teenager, Emil was sent to the Russian front, after three weeks of being beaten and starved in his local jail. More than 60 years after the fact, Emil still expressed incredulity that a government would actually persecute people for the kind of music they played. Nazi condemnation of jazz, which they considered the degenerate music of rootless cosmopolitans and inferior races, sounds much like, minus the ethnic slurs, Martha Lee's Baltimoronic rantings. While Lee may have existed only in the mind of the Sun's editors and/or publishers, her bloviations were, dangerously, presented alongside real news, in a context most people took seriously in those days. Fortunately, 'her' efforts were totally futile.
This is wild! Those newspaper clippings are unreal haha