Fundamentalism and Possession of the Jazz Age

by Constance Semponis

The 1920s were not only an era of rebelliousness against the Victorian age by women cutting the hair and throwing all standards out the window, but also a time of religious rebelliousness. The most well known form was lead by Christian Fundamentalists who were Protestant Christians that supported prohibition in hopes of preventing alcoholism (although we now know it only encouraged drinking). However, at the time they believed that drinking, Jazz music, and all other forms of partying in the 1920s were First Class tickets to Hell. 

“Fundamentalism was a movement that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries within American Protestantism reacting against “modernist” theology and biblical criticism as well as changes in the nation’s cultural and social scene. Taking its name from The Fundamentals (1910-1915), a twelve-volume set of essays designed to combat Liberal theology, the movement grew by leaps and bounds after World War I” (Eskridge). 

During the Jazz Age the Fundamentalist movement grew as immorality grew. Fundamentalist preachers and missionaries now believed that humanity was losing God’s favor, so a governmental stance needed to be taken. “Secularism, liberalism, and immorality in the 1920s were believed to be signs that humanity had again failed God's testing. This means that the world is on the verge of the last stage, where a final battle will take place at Armageddon, followed by Christ's return and 1,000 year reign” (Diaz).

Armageddon? All because people were having some fun? How did they jump to that conclusion? The answer is simply history mixed with some folklore. The American South was where a lot of Fundamentalism was rooted (especially in Tennessee where the Scopes Trial of 1925 ruled that evolution would not be taught in schools, only to be overturned in 1940) and where stories about the Devil and possessions were everywhere. One of the tales describes a young woman who went dancing against her parents will. Her dance partner ended up being the devil, who spun her around until she died, enabling him to take her soul to hell (Schlosser). 

There is much more folklore in which the devil is the main antagonist and wins due to a human’s moral weaknesses that allow him to possess them. The general idea of possessions themselves has actually not changed too much throughout time. The devil, whether due to the person’s sinfulness or fall to temptation, claims a body as his own. Normally when the devil would take over a body there would be swearing, speaking of different tongues, violent acts, the disrespect of God, and obscene acts of sexuality. Hence the Jazz Age. Armageddon is here!

Considering this it makes sense that the Fundamentalists considered the Jazz Age as weak and susceptible to evil. So jazz music became the devil’s music because it caused people to dance and party. 

Works Cited:

1. www.americanfolklore.net; S.E. Schlosser.
2. www.wheaton.edu; Larry Ekridge.
3. www.boundless.com; Ariel Diaz

Vaudeville

Vaudeville and the 20s

 Constance Semponis

Imagine this: You’ve just finished a physically exhausting performance (maybe as an acrobat on roller skates or an escape artist like Harry Houdini) and can’t wait to have some rest. You go to the nearest speakeasy and buy a drink, of which you think your manager paid for only to later find out that the money was coming out of your salary the entire time. You already make such a slim amount! Then you saunter up to the boarding house you’re staying at which is infested with all kinds of vermin, to take a shower (no soap because their are no maids to refill products and the owner of the boarding house is looking for some herself), only to find two strangers performing an act in your room that has nothing to do with Vaudeville. So now not only do you have to find somewhere else to sleep, eat, and relax but you also don’t have your belongings because someone stole your suitcase! To top it off, you perform tomorrow.

Such was the life of the traveling Vaudevillian. “Quite a number of the managers operated boarding houses in conjunction with their theatres. These varied from fair to frightful, but the whole business was so take-it-or-leave-it that nobody cared.” (Gilbert, 18)

Vaudeville itself was a reaction to the very scandalous Burlesque, so when it started it still had remnants of it’s parent performance. “The vaudeville we of this generation knew was sired by Tony Pastor who first played to a “double audience” (men and women) when he opened his Fourteenth Street house in Tammany Hall, NY, October 24, 1881. It was the first “clean” vaudeville show in America and to its bill, as Fred Stone used to say, a child could take his parents.” (Gilbert ,8) Some of the early shows consisted of very sexual themes (according to Gilbert, one show had men follow a woman behind a haystack, later coming out from behind it with an expression of what had just happened). But the audience was changing, and thanks to Pastor’s “clean” approach, he was able to give Vaudeville a whole new meaning. 

Although Pastor was an important aspect to Vaudeville, the man credited as being the “Father of American Vaudeville” is none other than Benjamin Franklin Keith. “Keith's triumph as a showman lay chiefly in his ability to bridge the gulf between notions of "high" and "low" entertainments that grew increasingly wider in the years following the Civil War. He reinforced his theatres' image of gentility by including acts from the "legitimate" stage, drawing an audience previously unavailable to variety amusements. Simultaneously, he maintained a number of acts whose forms would have been familiar to fans of the earlier variety stage without alienating either constituency. As his partner Edward F. Albee would later write, the programs at Keith's theatres ensured "there is something for everybody." (Trachtenberg)

Of course, the 1920s were anything but clean. Alcohol, sex, and jazz music were just some of the many popular pass times. Speakeasies were popping up all over the place and owned by some of the wildest beings one can imagine. One such person was Texas Guinan, “a boisterous blonde who presided over a whole series of rowdy places (when one was shut down, she simply moved to another). She plied her customers -- whom she wowed with a sassy “Hello, sucker!” (114, The Editors of Time-Life Books). But interestingly enough, past all the boisterousness, these owners were brilliant business people. Texas herself was rumored to have never touched alcohol while working and made up to $700,000 in only ten months (and that’s back in the 20s!).

This period also made another form of entertainment popular, that being the movies. Now major studios were contracting the most popular Vaudeville performers, including William Frawley (although his fame would come later in television as Fred Mertz in ‘I Love Lucy’) and Buster Keaton, who grew up on the Vaudeville stage. "My old man was an eccentric comic and as soon as I could take care of myself at all on my feet, he had slapshoes on me and big baggy pants. And he'd just start doing gags with me and especially kickin' me clean across the stage or taking me by the back of the neck and throwing me. By the time I got up to around seven or eight years old, we were called 'The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage." (Keaton, The International Buster Keaton Society) But today we call that “child abuse”.

Sadly, Hollywood would gain the Vaudeville audience in the 20s and the live entertainment would dwindle. Vaudeville theaters would become movie theaters and the stars would be movie stars. Either way, it never lost it’s legacy and is still known as the longest lasting form of American Entertainment.

References:

www.busterkeaton.com; The International Buster Keaton Society

xroads.virginia.edu: The Incorporation of America; Alan Trachtenberg.

American Vaudeville: It’s Life and Times; Douglas Gilbert

The Jazz Age - The 20s; The Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia.

Prohibition and Crime in the 1920s

Prohibition and Crime in the 1920s

                    by Constance Semponis

The 1920s changed the course of American society in many ways, but most prominently through prohibition. Not only was prohibition a fruitless attempt to limit alcoholism, but it gave birth to a plethora of negative affects that brought more damage. Crime rose to record highs with the increase of bootlegging (“Illegal traffic in liquor in violation of legislative restrictions on its manufacture, sale, or transportation” according to Encyclopedia Britannica) and gangsters such as Al Capone having a hand in illegal trade. 

Prohibition began in 1919 when temperance groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement sought to prevent excessive drinking by making it against the law. When the 18th amendment was passed to ban alcohol the consumption did drop, but for a very short time. “The years immediately after the introduction of prohibition saw a drop in liquor consumption to an historic low point; this was most noticeable among the ethnic groups and other lower classes, precisely the chief target of temperance reforms. Recent calculations reinforce the evidence derived from Clark Warburton that liquor consumption dropped, to about 30% of pre-prohibition levels in the early 1920s, but then rose by the late 1920s to around 60-70%.” (Tyrrell, 1406)

One of the reasons that alcohol consumption rose in the 1920s was because of the bootleggers. They made it very easy and accessible for nearly everyone to purchase liquor without being caught by the feds because of the clever ways they had of hiding it. Women had the popular flasks hiked up their skirts in garters, some would also have a false cane filled with liquor in which you would twist off the bottom and pour it into your glass, and at home people would convert tables into secret mini bars by adding extra compartments inside them them. 

Although people had to hide their alcohol from the government, the government itself was also guilty of illicit activities with bootleggers. In Laura Beshears’ article, ‘Honorable Style in Dishonorable Times: American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s’ she explains how illegal selling got involved with the government. “Even the U.S. President Warren G. Harding, from 1921 to 1923, and his administration played a role in this corruption. Harding appointed ‘‘cronies and crooks’’ from his home state of Ohio to office. These men, friends of Harding who comprised the so-called ‘‘Ohio Gang,’’ used their power to benefit themselves. Gangsters thrived in this environment of pervasive corruption, moral decay, and lawlessness.” (Beshears, 199)

Those gangsters, also known as Bootleggers, thrived off illegal selling and made millions by doing so. For this reason, bootlegging gave birth to another aspect of the Jazz Age known as organized crime. “Prohibition, supposedly created to prevent drinking, presented gangsters with an opportunity to profit from illegal bootlegging. Gangsters undermined the dream of rising to wealth through honest work; they made their money through illegitimate and illegal practices and usurped power through violence. In this way, their lives paralleled the transition that occurred in America from idealism to the corruption of that idealism.” (Beshears, 200)

The most famous bootlegger of all was non other than the infamous Al Capone. If anyone is an example of how profitable selling alcohol was, it was him. All the violence aside, Capone made bootlegging and illicit activity a high end underground business. “Upon the initiation of Prohibition, Capone essentially took over the business of the nation's thousands of breweries and distilleries. Since Capone was more than willing to disobey the law and had control over hundreds of professional criminals, he was, in effect, handed a monopoly on alcohol production by the ratification of Prohibition.” (Hales, 1) Capone didn’t limit selling to the average speakeasy-goer, but even worked private deals with politicians. “Capone bought legal immunity by administering bribes to police and politicians. He practically paid off every law enforcement agent and politician in the districts in which he operated his illegal businesses. These bribes, although sometimes on the order of a quarter of a million dollars, were relatively easy for Capone to dish out considering that he was earning over 100 million dollars per year ” (Hales, 1). 100 million dollars per year! And in the 1920s!

And it showed. Capone was not one to hide his riches by any accounts (even when he was in jail he had a rather elaborate cell), even though he earned them illegally. Gangsters were well dressed and relished in glamour. One particular gangster, Frankie Uale, in particular was well known for his ostentatiousness. He “was known for ‘‘sporting diamonds wherever they would show’’. He also happened to be ‘‘adorned with his diamond stickpin, two huge diamond rings, and diamond-encrusted belt buckle’’ the day he was shot to death” (Beshears, 204). Now that’s dying in style!

With money, diamonds, and glamour at their fingertips, the bootleggers used prohibition to their advantage. Much to the dismay of temperance groups, who sought to limit crime through banning alcohol, prohibition proved to increase the consumption by leading to the illegal selling of it. Gangsters such as Al Capone gained quite a bit of control over businesses, people, and even parts of the United States government. They also increased the rate of violence all because of one little amendment that only consisted of a few sentences. It is really amazing how powerful words actually are. 

Works Cited

1) Beshears, Laura, “Honorable Style in Dishonorable Times: American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s,” in The Journal of American Culture 2010.

2) Tyrrell, Ian, “The U.S. Prohibition Experiment: Myths, History and Implications,” in  Addiction, November 1997, Vol. 92.

3) The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica; www.britannica.com

4) Hales, Taylor; Nikolas Kazmers; “Organized Crime - How It Was Changed by Prohibition,” www.umich.edu

The Vaudeville Clown: Brush Up Your Shakespeare!

by Constance Semponis

Clowns have a long history of humor and entertainment, especially in Vaudeville. But Vaudeville, like many forms of entertainment, has borrowed it’s style and routines from none other than William Shakespeare. One such aspect that both Shakespeare and Vaudeville shared was the clown. But the Vaudevillian clowns, like the Shakespearean clowns, are not your average circus performers. In fact, only a handful of them actually used makeup and costumes to enhance their acts. Some clowns, such as W. C. Fields, had the classic bowler hat with the long overcoat and unshaven face while others, such as the Marx Brothers, looked like well dressed school boys who let their words do most of the humor. 

W. C. Fields started performing his twenty-one minute show to rough audiences large and small in the Vaudeville circuit. He made hardly any money and lived in one of those rough tenement houses that most early performers did. But what was unique about his act was that most of it was ad-libbed and hardly any of it planned at all. W. C. Fields describes his routine in the book American Vaudeville As Seen by it’s Contemporaries, which was edited by Charles W. Stein: “The act was a rough affair. I had no routine except as to the tricks. My comedy business was all dragged in as it occurred to me. I did whatever I thought would appear funny. If I remembered what had gone well at the last performance I worked it in, but generally I didn’t remember.” (Fields, 248)
 
But this form of improvisation only proved beneficial for Fields, especially since he never spoke once in his act. This was done not only for comedic affect, but also as a useful gimmick since Fields was a known stutterer. As he says in his interview, “You may notice that I stutter badly when I talk, and therefore concluded that I would go through my act without saying a word. I have always been glad that I reached this decision. It was a great help to me when I went to Europe a year ago last December. I played in Germany, France, Russia and England, and I never had to learn any foreign language, because I never said a word from the minute I went on stage till I left it.” 

Then why mention Fields and his silent act when the Shakespearean Clowns were so witty and verbal? Simply because the most famous clown in Shakespeare actually never spoke one word. In Hamlet’s “Alas, poor Yorick” speech in Act V, Scene I of Hamlet, we get a full description of who Yorick was, how hilarious his jokes were and the vibrant personality he had. With Hamlet’s speech, Shakespeare allows the audience to picture this poor dead clown and understand how funny he was without hearing one joke from him. Just another brilliant aspect of Shakespeare that has helped future entertainments.

But while comedians such as Fields worked more for the visual laugh, others attracted audiences that wanted wit more than physicality. Shakespeare himself created his Fools and Clowns purely through their clever speeches and wit. They may have been comic relief, but they were also the characters in the play who were not afraid to speak candidly to the audience and the other characters about a situation. Feste in Twelfth Night has a perfect example when speaking with Cesario (Viola in disguise).

Viola. Save thee, friend, and thy music: dost thou live by
thy tabour?

Feste. No, sir, I live by the church.

Viola. Art thou a churchman?

Feste. No such matter, sir: I do live by the church; for
I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by
the church.

(3.1.1237-40)

Who could possibly argue with dialogue like that? Yet Feste also had a talent of song that helped his humor. Like Feste’s songs and dialogue, Vaudeville clowns used wording and music to make their acts popular. And even without the act, the performer themselves often depicted this silly personality offstage too. Such a musical clown was Fred Allen, who when not being a funny man onstage was, according to witnesses, a very hot-tempered man offstage. “If the orchestra could not play his wife’s ballad properly, if the tempo of his dance music was too fast or too slow, if the drummer didn’t catch his pratfalls with a well-timed roll and crash or tear the cloth on cue as he pretended to rip his trousers, the actor fought with his wife and sulked in his dressing room until the next show,” (Stein, 252). 

Along with this temper came Allen’s belief that he was one of the most intelligent musicians in Vaudeville and he bragged about it at rehearsals to the orchestra, which proved to be a big mistake on his part. These orchestras came to dislike the uptight clown so much that they would take it upon themselves to write notes to future orchestra members on his sheet music. “At rehearsal in a new town, the small-timer, sensing that the orchestra wasn’t too friendly, examined his music. It explained everything. The drummer in the last town had written on the drum part, “This act is lousy.” The clarinet player had written, “He died here.” The cornet player had summed everything up by simply writing one word: “Stinks”,” (Stein, 254)

So there may have been the bitter performers every once in a while, but none beats the decision making of another. Groucho Marx in his interview with ... goes to describe one particular man’s performance when he was first starting out. Marx and his three brothers, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo, had just started off in Vaudeville with hardly any laughs at all. But the clown he describes here certainly did.

“One of these actors wore a very small mustache and very large shoes, and while a big, buxom soprano was singing one of Schubert’s lieder, he was alternately spitting a fountain of dry cracker crumbs in the air and beaning her with overripe oranges. By the end of the act the stage was in shambles.” Later on in the interview, Marx explains a conversation he had with this unknown performer about taking up a job in Hollywood that went something like this:

“ ‘When do you start?’ I asked.

‘I’m not going to take it,’ he answered.

‘Why not?’ I asked, astonished. ‘You’re only getting fifty a week now. Don’t you like money?’

‘Of course I do,’ he replied (and, boy did he prove it later in life!). But look, boys. I can make good for fifty dollars a week, but no comedian is worth five hundred a week. If I sign up with them and don’t make good, they’ll fire me. Then where will I be? I’ll tell you where I’ll be. Flat on my back!’ “ (Marx, 284)

This interview just goes to show you that even Charlie Chaplin had a Feste attitude at that! 

Bibliography

1. Shakespeare, William; Twelfth Night or What You Will

In text citation: (3.1.1237-40)

2. Stein, Charles W.; American Vaudeville As Seen by it’s Contemporaries; Knopf Inc. 1984.

Jazz Music and Shakespeare

The Music

by Constance Semponis

Music such as blues, jazz, and swing are mostly thought of as the popular form in the 1920s. Jazz, however, actually started in the late 19th century. Shocking right? Imagine all those men in tight suits and women in petticoats enjoying jazz. But don’t have too much fun with that image because it wasn’t the free form jazz we’re used to today but Ragtime music. Even the most famous known dance to jazz, the Charleston, first began in the pre-Civil War south with the slaves. Jazz itself became its own official form of music in 1900 New Orleans. 

Jazz of the 1920s was not only significant because of the rebellious impact it had on American society, but the society of Europe as well. Although the form that began in New Orleans became extremely popular in France, England too found enjoyment in it, especially the Original Dixieland Band (which is considered the first jazz band). The reason why it became so popular was not merely because of it’s smooth sound, but also because the music industry realized that they could make money off selling sheet music, phonographs, and touring the musicians for the youngsters all over to see.

Vaudeville was a big help when it came to touring the jazz musicians, especially overseas in Europe where Vaudeville performers (especially the clowns) would incorporate the music in their acts. “A show without music is like the sound going dead on your TV set! you just couldn’t have a guy play your music on a comb covered with tissue paper. For many years the variety shows had the old “three-piece orchestra,” piano, stool, and cover! There were many great ivory-beaters, most of them nonreaders but great fakers. I would say about 80 percent of all the old-time piano players could fake anything you could sing, hum, or whistle!” (Laurie, 70). 

But according to Laurie with the evolution of Vaudeville also came the evolution of its jazz musicians. “Bert Kelly and His Jazz Band started a new craze that was to last a long time. Kelly is without a doubt the originator of that brand of entertainment. There were thousands that followed him. Jazz became so bad that the Pittsburgh Musicians demanded death to jazz musicians and jazz music. There were amateur jazz-band contests held at Proctor’s Fifth Avenue Theatre. There were about two dozen acts in Vaude using their own bands for accompaniment instead of just having a piano player. It gave prestige to the act and also got headline billing for some gals that never passed the deuce spot on a bill before or since!” (Laurie, 71)

And to think all of these musicians were so “bad” they could tour Europe and the U.K. where, ironically, Shakespeare had come up with a similar organization of music. You may be thinking “What?!” but please read on.

Shakespeare even in his music had similar musical structures that jazz uses. For example, limited band members. The typical jazz band of the 1920s consisted of a drummer, pianist, saxophone or trumpet player, and a bassist. In Shakespeare’s England, particularly with shows such as Twelfth Night, the performances only had an excess of musicians if they were performing in the court. “A more typical Globe Theatre production would have made do with a trumpeter, another wind player who doubtless doubled on shawm (a double-reed ancestor of the oboe, called “hoboy” in the First Folio stage directions), flute, and recorders.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

As well as in the 1920s, being a musician in the Elizabethan period was maybe just as good as being an actor...which meant they were considered to be the lowest of the low on the social ranking. Fortunately the Queen liked the theatre and its music, so Shakespeare got away with working with them. A good thing too since that’s what helped the society become to beautifully musical. “Henry Peacham, in The Complete Gentleman (1622), urges the young and socially ambitious to be able to “sing your part sure, and at first sight, with all, to play the same upon your viol, or the exercise of the lute, privately, to your self.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

We may have an idea of how Shakespeare’s music was structured similarly to how jazz is in his plays, but another major factor to consider with the two is improvisation. “Jazz performers will frequently alter the composer’s original harmony,” (Tyle, www.jazzstandards.com) and Shakespeare’s musicians were no different. “A special musical-comic genre, the jigg, was the particular domain of the great Shakespearean comedians Richard Tarlton and William Kempe. Jiggs (bawdy, half-improvised low-comedy burlesques) were put on at the conclusion of a history play or tragedy.” (Encyclopedia Britannica). 

Although we do not have concrete evidence of what Shakespeare’s music sounded like, it definitely can compare to the technique of jazz due to the construction of the musicians and the importance of improvisation. It is upsetting that we do not have sheet music from one of his plays, but either way it may not have mattered because they improvised all the time. Oh Shakespeare, you keep us on our toes! You just have to love him. 

Works Cited

1. Tyle, Chris; www.jazzstandards.com
2. The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica; www.britannica.com/shakespeare 
3. Laurie, Joe Jr.; ‘Vaudeville: From the Honky-Tonks to the Palace’

Jazz Age - Fashion / Makeup - from your Dramaturg

1920s Makeup and Fashion

by Constance Semponis

The fashion of the 1920s may very well have been the biggest fashion statement in world history. Until then, women always wore their hair long with corsets and skirts that never showed their feet (that was considered risqué). Men always had spiffy ties and coats with well fitted trousers. That all changed once 1920 came along and rebellion of the Victorian era was high. Woman cut their hair almost as short as the men’s, lost the corset and not only cut those skirts above the knees, but lowered the neckline and lost the sleeves. 

Prior to the 1920s the Victorian women wore makeup that merely covered their skin, with possibly some rouge and a bit of lipstick. Later on in this very era this style would change drastically and eventually lead to the bright and heavy colors of the Flappers with the woman we now call the Gibson Girl. 

Today the Gibson Girl is a staple in historical fashion. She is considered high class, adorable, and very much like a girl next door would be in the 1900s. She’s very sweet looking and welcoming, so it’s no wonder that Disneyland has an ice cream parlor dedicated to her. However, this is a very modern view of this lovely lady. When Charles Dana Gibson first drew her, she was not considered a lady at all! Back in the 1900s older generations despised these sketches that had the younger generations excited. Her makeup very heavy for the time (check out those eyes) and she wore revealing bathing suits and dresses that showed off her perfect curves. Her hair didn’t make anything better. It was seen as lazy and too relaxed for a lady of the day. But this relaxed style caught the eyes of the public, who started copying it to the point were there was nothing the older generations could do about it. 

But the Gibson girl was only a glance at what was to come not much later with the Flapper. She took the Gibson girl’s style and exceeded it. All of a sudden not only her clothes, but her makeup was essential to this rebelliousness. Eyes were now heavy with mascara and darkened deeper with eyeliner while lips were dark red almost to a purple. With how much heavier makeup was getting, the application now became very important. 

“Lipstick, the favorite product of the 1920s, was first applied with the fingers, using two fingers for the upper lip and one for the lower, creating a pursed, full effect. Gradually, application of what in France was known as raisin was perfected and the style called for the outer corners of the lips to be covered, using brushes or pencils,” (Castelbajac, 36)

In her book, The Face of the Century: 100 Years of Makeup and Style, Kate De Castelbajac continues to describe some very fascinating ways that makeup was applied in the 1920s. Now the most basic form of makeup to us, foundation and powder took quite some work to get correct back then. “Powder was applied over a cold cream base with a hoop of feathers or lamb’s wool, or it was used with a puff, moistened and applied wet to form a paste that was thicker than powder. As early as 1921, matching the correct shade of makeup to hair and facial coloring was popular.” (Castelbajac, 36)

Of course, we can’t forget about the rouge. “Rouge became available in various forms: cream, powder, liquid, and rouge papers.” (Castelbajac, 36) She then explains that rouge became as popular as lipstick, most of which had one color that went with any skin tone. But some companies, such as Trejur and Bourjois, made various colors. One company called Healthglow even had a color known as the “color of rich glowing blood.” 

Makeup was on the rise, but one product that would go to change the course of cosmetic history arrived in 1925. It is known as nail polish. According to Castelbajac, nail polish itself was commercialized in 1917, but the first liquid form that had pigment was introduced in the 1920s (Fun Fact: the first color produced for nail polish was bright pink and only applied to the middle of the nail). The popularity of manicures boomed while products such as polishes, cakes, powders, and even orange cuticle remover were all just basic products used during these manicures. No true Flapper went without one!

With makeup there was much style that had to accent it. One such style was women’s hats, known as the Cloche. They were short and shaped to the head so that her short hair could still be shown. Even though the hair was cut short, that didn’t mean that women stopped spending time styling it. In fact, they would spend ours at home and at the beauty parlor finger-waving it and getting permanents for that lovely curl. Straight hair was most unfashionable. 

Although the men were not as ostentatious as the women, their style still made a big mark in men’s fashion. Bootleggers and gangsters style had become extremely popular with expensive suits, hats, and what we now know as Bling. They had rings, watches, and belts that were encrusted with jewels such as diamonds, rubies, and sapphires among the golden chains. Another popular item among the younger men was  the Oxford pants. These pants were often too long and too wide for the legs, which may look ridiculous now but were quite wild back then. 

The fashion of the 1920s arguably set the scale for the rest of the Twentieth and Twenty-First centuries. The Gibson Girl was the inspiration for what would later become the wild and party-loving Flapper, going from a period of high collars, corsets, and extremely long skirts to one of low necklines, no corsets, and very short skirts. Makeup would become even more popular and change the way women looked and regarded themselves. Even the men’s fashion would change to one of ultra conservative to the more outlandish gangster style. Fashion was at it’s peak along beauty products and the love for showing off what had been restrained for so many years.

Welcome

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.

W.C. Fields  

And so begins our work on 12th Night, the season opener at the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival.  As you may have heard, we'll be setting our production in the late 1920's in a country that - curiously enough like our own - had declared prohibition on the manufacture, storage, and sale of alcoholic beverages.  At the top of the list of reasons for this staging choice would be the potential it creates for the music, mostly performed by our clown, Feste.  This allows him to be a kind of vaudeville performer, a professional crooning comic, wise to the ways of show business.  Additionally, this time period - nearing the end of prohibition - enables us to frame Malvolio as a "dry", in direct opposition to the "wet" Sir Toby.  Their quarrel takes on a rivalry rooted in politics and religion - what better things are there to fight about?

As with previous "high concept" productions, we need to be careful about assuming the play is set in the United States; obviously, it 'aint.   Doing that would require too much manipulation of the script, and making some changes that we don't really want to make.  Illyria is a strange place to Viola, and one that she spends some time getting to know.  So to will our audience will spend time discovering the similarities and differences between the land of Duke Orsino and the land of (someone like) William Hale Thompson, the mayor of Chicago in 1928.  Here's a difference:  Probably unlike Orsino, Thompson had a wicked sense of humor.  He once coordinated and participated in a live debate between himself and two caged rats, which he referred to by his opponent's names.  Politics is less fun nowadays.

We are aided by the exemplary and thorough work of our Dramaturg, Constance Semponis, who fills my inbox with fantastic pictures from, descriptions of, and commentary on life in the latter part of the 1920's.  I know that - much like Bourbon - there are all different types of Actors, each with their own style of preparation.  For those of you who like a lot of research, this blog is for you, and I'll keep it updated with images and text that might be helpful.  For those of you who don't care much for this type of help, Constance and I won't be offended in the least if you don't look at any pictures.

The blog will also be a way to stay in contact with you through the month of May as the cut script gets finalized, music gets composed, fight weaponry get decided, and my boys - ages 6 and 4 - do something adorable that warrants me to share a picture.  You should also feel free to contact me:  kevinpkern@gmail.com with questions, comments, suggestions, or even if you just feel like talking about the show.

12th Night holds a special place for me, and I am thrilled to be coming back to Kingsmen to direct this production.  Working in close quarters on a shortened schedule with professionals is always thrilling to me, and I am particularly excited to tell this story with all of you.

With all best wishes for a restful spring!

Kevin