Superman

Monomyth (Joseph Campbell)
1. Hero ventures away from the everyday world into one of supernatural wonder.
2. Hero successfully struggles against fabulous forces.
3. Hero returns to the everyday world to bestow benefits on the people.

American Monomyth
1. A community in harmonious paradise is threatened by evil.
2. Normal institutions fail to contend with the threat.
3. A selfless superhero emerges to renounce temptation and redeem self and community.
4. His decisive victory restores the community to its harmonious state.
5. The superhero recedes into obscurity.

Zorro
Tarzan
Doc Savage
The Shadow
Dick Tracy
The Phantom

Jerry Siegel
Joel Schuster
Action Comics #1 1938

Detective Comics (DC)
Marvel Comics

Superman's first era: Hero as lone redeemer
Puritan captivity myth
Vigilante justice (Westerns, Batman)
Superman's second era: Hero as defender of institutions
World War II
Cold War
Supermans's third era: Hero as modern, sexualized figure
Vietnam
Gets married, loses powers, dies

Disney's America

Walt Disney
Victorianism - repression, rationality, gentility, separtation of reason and emotion
Modernism - rejected separation of reason and emotion, civilization and savagery; embraced instinct and subjectivity, abstraction; embraced folklore, the childlike, the nonrational
1928 - "Steamboat Willie" - first animated talkie
Sentimentality, naturalism - more realism, presentation of perfection as an attainable ideal.
1940 - Fantasia
Sentimental Populism
1955 - Disneyland (Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland. Tomorrowland)
Forced Perspective
Enhanced Reality
Imagineering
Disney World
Epcot Center

The Western

Manifest Destiny
Rugged Individualism
American Eden
Harmony of Man and Nature

Key Novels
1826 The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper
1849 The Oregon Trail, Francis Parkman
1872 Roughing It, Mark Twain
1902 The Virginian, Owen Wister

1882 Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show
Sitting Bull
Annie Oakley

Silent Westerns
1894 Thomas Edison - first silent westerns
1905 The Great Train Robbery
Tom Mix (1st "B" western star)
1923 The Covered Wagon
1929 The Virginian

1930s Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy

1939 Stagecoach
John Ford
John Wayne
1952 High Noon
Gary Cooper
1953 Shane
1956 The Searchers
1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
1964 A Firstful of Dollars
Sergio Leone
Clint Eastwood
1969 The Wild Bunch
1990 Dances With Wolves
1992 Unforgiven

Self-Help Culture

Progressivism (1890-1920)
Types of Progressive Reform
1. Economic - "Monopoly"
2. Structural and Political - "Efficiency"
3. Social - "Democracy"
4. Moral - "Purity"
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)
National Consumers' League
Department of Labor Children's Bureau and Women's Bureau
Settlement Houses - Jane Austin's Hull House (Chicago)
Prohibition (1920-1933)

Self-Help Movement (1890s)
Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859, UK)
John Harvey Kellogg
Seventh Day Adventists' Health Reform Institute (Battle Creek, MI)
William Griffith Wilson ("Bill W.")
Robert Holbrook Smith ("Dr. Bob")
Twelve-Step Programs
Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA (1935)

The Magazine Revolution (1890s)
Munsey's Magazine (1889)
McClure's, Cosmopolitan
Ladies' Home Journal
Edward Bok
"Beautiful America" Campaign

Etiquette Columns
Godey's Lady's Book
Sarah Josepha Hale
Dorothy Dix
Mary Elizabeth Sherwood
The Howe sisters
Emily Post's Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage (1922)
Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking (1931)
The Van Buren sisters (b. 1918): Ann Landers and Dear Abby

Television Age
Julia Child (1960s)
Phil Donahue (1970s)
Oprah Winfrey (1980s)
Martha Stewart (1980s)

Gambling: Our National Obsession

1612 - 1621: First colonial lotteries
1758: Colonial MA lottery to fund French & Indian War
1777: Continental Congressional Lottery
1803: New Orleans becomes first American gambling city
1822: First American casino opens in New Orleans
1895: Slot Machine invented by Charles Fey
1902: Matt Winn takes over Churchill Downs
1911: Matt Win introduces parimutuel betting at Churchill Downs
1919: Chicago "Black Sox" scandal

Las Vegas History
1904: Railroad built through Las Vegas
1930: Hoover Dam construction begins
1932: Apache Hotel opens in Las Vegas
1946: Bugsy Siegel opens the Flamingo Hotel
1950s: Congressional investigations into Las Vegas gambling
1955: Liberace headlines at The Riviera Hotel
1959: Film Oceans Eleven opens
1966: Caesars Palace open
1968: Circus Circus opens as the first themed family casino

Fast Food Nation

Steamboat Eating
Erie Canal (1925)
Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
Harvey Houses (1875)
Frederick Harvey
Harvey Girls
Diners
Jukebox (1905)
Self-contained refrigerator (1931)
Stainless steel cutlery (1921)
Automatic toaster (1924)
Electric Mixer (1931)
Formica (1930)
Lunch Wagon (Walter Scott, 1872)
Howard Johnson's (1930s)
White Castle (1921)
Walter Anderson
Billy Ingram
McDonald's (1952)
"Speedee System"
Ray Kroc

Race, Rock and the Soul of Rebellion

Jump Blues
Louis Jordan, "Jumpin' At The Jubilee", 1942
Rhythm & Blues
Ray Charles, "What'd I Say", 1955
Country Music
George Jones, "White Lightning", 1959
Chicago Blues
Muddy Waters, "Get My Mojo Workin'", 1954
Chess Records
Chuck Berry, Johnny B. Goode, 1958
Memphis Rockabilly
Sun Records
Jerry Lee Lewis, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", 1957
Elvis Presley, "Hound Dog", 1956
Motown (Detroit)
Smokey Robinson, "Tracks of My Tears", 1965
Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing In The Street", 1964
Stax Records (Memphis)
Sam & Dave, "Soul Man", 1967

Hip Hop
Jamaica (1962 independence from England)
Sound Systems
Selectors
Specials
Dubplate/Dub
DJ Kool Herc
The Bronx
"the breaks"

The Four Elements of Hip Hop
1. Graffiti
2. B-Boying
3. DJing
4. MCing
Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight", 1979
Afrika Bambaataa, "Looking For the Perfect Beat", 1983
Grandmaster Flash, "The Message", 1982

New Orleans

New Orleans Map
Katrina Damage Map

Nostalgia: from Greek nostos - return home. A wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.

French establish New Orleans 1718
Bourbon Street/French Quarter (est. 1720s)
1803 Louisiana Purchase
Creoles
Congo Square (1817)
French Opera House (1859)
Storyville (1897-1917)
Ragtime (1890s)
Jazz (1910s)
French Quarter nightclubs (1925)
French Quarter strip clubs open (1960s)

Showmen and Celebrity

Celebrity in American History

Revolutionary & Early National Period: Revolutionary War heroes as the embodiment of national virtue and worthiness

Early America (1820-1860): The "American Adam", a figure of innocence and promise, freed from the past and self-reliant

Civil War & Reconstruction (1860-1877): Combination of both previous periods

Turn of the Century: Hero-inventors reflecting the explosion of new technology

Early twentieth century: Mass urban culture replacing the genteel tradition of the Victorian age. Shift from "character" to "personality".

Harry Houdini b. Erich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary. Moved to Appleton, WI in 1878. d. 1926

The Conjurers Unveiled,Robert-Houdin

Houdini rope escape

Ringling Brothers: Albert, Otto, Alfred, Charles, John.

First performance, Mazomanie, WI, 1882

Orson Welles b. 1915, Kenosha, WI

War of the Worlds, 1938

Citizen Kane, 1941

Orson Wells interview

Liberace b. 1919, Milwaukee

The History of Comedy

1820s - Blackface Minstrelsy: White male performers parodying the songs, dances and speech patterns of Southern blacks wearing burt cork on their face.

1828 - Thomas Rice, "Jump Jim Crow"

1843 - The Virginia Minstrels

1851 - Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

1927 - The first film "talkie", The Jazz Singer, Al Jolson

1928 - The Amos and Andy Show

1880s Vaudeville: A collection of disparate acts marketed mainly to a family audience that became a national entertainment industry. From the French Val de Vire

Bert Williams

B.F. Keith and Edward Albee

The White Rats

1906 - Keith founds United Booking Service
1907 - Vaudeville now owned by a few magnates

Stand-Up Comedy

1880s - Early versions of stand-up comedy exist

1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen become the first great comedy team of the modern technological age.

1948 - The Texaco Star Theater, Milton Berle

1950s-1960s - Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart

1970s - Andy Kaufman, Richard Pryor, Saturday Night Live

Sitcoms

1951 - I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball
1955 - The Honeymooners, Jackie Gleason
1961 - The Dick Van Dyke Show
1970 - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1971 - All In The Family
1972 - M*A*S*H*
1974 - Good Times
1975 - The Jeffersons
1984 - The Cosby Show
1988 - Roseanne
1990 - Seinfeld

The Invention of Christmas

The invention of tradition
Eric Hobsbawm

Roman winter holidays (Saturnalia, Festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun)
Germanic winter holiday (Yule)
Winter Solstice (December 21 or 22)
Epiphany (January 6)
St. Nicholas Day (December 6)

Colonial America
1659 Massachusetts Bay Colony forbids Christmas

19th Century America
1820s The Rise of A Bourgeois Christmas
Charles Dickens
Christmas Misrule
The Knickerbockers
Washington Irving
John Pintard, The St. Nicholas Society
Clement Moore, "A Visit From St. Nicholas"
Godey's Magazine
1836-1861: 26 states make Christmas a legal holiday
1870s: Rise of Department Stores

20th Century America
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1939): Robert May, Johnny Marks

Week One

What is Popular Culture?

It's complicated, confusing and incomplete. The history of the term explains the confusion.

Matthew Arnold, England, 1860s

Two definitions of culture
1. How an entire society operates
2. The aesthetic elements of society - art, music, etc.

Culture divided in three stereotypes in 19th, early 20th centuries:
1. High Culture - the creations of high or elite culture are unique and difficult
2. Folk Culture - The creations of folk culture are communal and anticipated
3. Mass Culture - A hollow imitation of either of the first two

So what is popular culture?

Problematic but useful definitions:

1. Popular culture is whatever is widely popular
2. Popular culture is mass commercial culture
3. Popular culture is created by the people
4. Popular culture is class warfare, then assimilation
5. All culture is popular culture

Football, Sport and American Popular Culture

1869 - Rutgers/Princeton football game
1874 - Rules first codified
1880-1883 - Walter Camp modernizes the sport
1892 - First professional player
1913 - Yale builds the first large stadium
1920 - American Professional Football Association established
1920 - Green Bay Packers founded
1958 - Colts/Giants NFL Championship Game
1967 - Super Bowl I
1970 - NFL/AFL Merger
1970 - Monday Night Football Debuts

Links to the Readings

The Invention of Christmas:
The Creation of a Consumer Christmas: An Interview With Stephen Nissenbaum
"The Man Who Invented Christmas", Les Standiford, WSJ
'Twas The Night Before Christmas, by Clement Moore
The Evolution of American Comedy:
"Blackface Minstrelsy", University of Virginia
Amos 'n Andy blackface example, YouTube
"Vaudeville", University of Virginia
"The Existential Clown", James Parker, The Atlantic Monthly
Wisconsin's Showmen:
"Ringlingville, U.S.A.", Jerry Apps, Wisconsin History Magazine
"The Bonds He Did Not Break: Harry Houdini and Wisconsin", Kimberly Louagie, Wisconsin Magazine of History
Sin, Jazz and Tourism in New Orleans:
"Ned Sublette on New Orleans", Bomb Magazine Interview
"The Disneyfication of New Orleans" J. Mark Souther, Journal of American History
"The Day The Music Died", BBC
"Tipitina", Professor Longhair, YouTube
"Walking to New Orleans", Fats Domino, YouTube
Rock, Rap and the Soul of America:
"Greil Marcus's Mystery Train", WNYC interview
"Do The James Brown!", Rock and Rap Confidential
"Everyday Struggle", The Nation
Fast Food Nation:
"Ray Kroc and the Fast Food Industry", Forbes Magazine
"Excerpt: The Hamburger: A History", New York Magazine
"A History of Hamburgers", OnPoint Radio Broadcast
"Farmer in Chief", Michael Pollan, NYT
Gambling: Our National Obsession:
"Gambling in America", The State of California
"The History of Gambling in the United States", The State of California
"A Cut In The Wages Of Sin", The Economist
"Gambling Can Be Addictive, For City Governments", Ariella Cohen, The Next American City
Self-Help From Ben Franklin to Oprah Winfrey:
Ben Franklin: Self-Improvement, PBS
"Self-Help", Excerpt, Samuel Smiles
"Progressivism Sweeps the Nation", USHistory.org
The Twelve Steps to Serenity, Alcoholics Anonymous
"Self-Improvement Market in U.S. Worth $9.6 Billion", PRWeb
"New Year, New You? Nice Try", NYT
The Mythic West:
The Western: An Overview", Images Journal
"30 Great Westerns: Stagecoach", Gary Jacobson
"Stagecoach" trailer, YouTube
"30 Great Westerns: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", Grant Tracy
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", final scene, YouTube
"Unforgiven" review, Roger Ebert
Disney's America:
Neal Gabler: Inside Walt Disney, NPR Audio Interview
"Steamboat Willie", YouTube
"The Three Little Pigs", YouTube
"Future Schlock", P.J. O'Rourke, The Atlantic Monthly
Yesterland Tomorrowland Links
The Burden of Superman:
"The Birth of the Comic Book: Gerard Jones Interview", NPR
Action Comics #1
First Max Fleischer Superman Cartoon, 1941, YouTube
Past Visions of a Present Future:
Science Fiction: The Early History", H. Bruce Franklin
"Science Fiction Doesn't Have To Be Gloomy, Does It", Damien Walter, The Guardian

Greetings

This is the blog for current and former students of History 449: Popular Culture in America, 1800 to the Present, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with lecturer Alexander Shashko. You will find important information about the course on this site, including links to readings throughout the semester. Welcome.