Author:
Nasaw, David.
Imprint:Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1999, c1993.
Descriptionviii, 312 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-302) and index.
Note:"Nasaw paints a vivid and animated picture of urban nightlife around the turn of the century, when "going out" was all the rage for white-collar workers. Electricity had made city streets safer and more alluring at night, and clerks and salespeople felt they deserved a little fun after a dreary day on the job. All sorts of public amusements were created with inspired and greedy alacrity to keep pace with the demand for evening entertainment, from phonograph and kinetoscope parlors to vaudeville halls, "blood and thunder" melodrama theaters, dance halls, movie palaces, city ballparks, and the midways of world's fairs. What people seemed to like most during that heady, eclectic pretelevision era, according to Nasaw, were the lights, the music, and the exhilarating feeling of being surrounded by dozens of eager strangers. Nasaw believes that those rowdy pursuits created a sense of "civic sociability" that transcended class and ethnic divides, but he never loses sight of one crucial element, racism, and discusses at length segregation, racist stereotyping on stage and screen, and the elan of African American theaters and clubs. A fresh and intriguing assessment of American entertainment at its most spontaneous and uninhibited." -- a review from Booklist
