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