MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 04623cam a2200529 a 4500
001 012538388-6
005 20131113060727.0
008 091208s2010 miua b s001 0 eng
010 $a 2009050344
015 $aGBB076672$2bnb
016 7 $a015584822$2Uk
020 $a9780472117253 (cloth : alk. paper)
020 $a0472117254 (cloth : alk. paper)
035 0 $aocn466344607
035 $a(PromptCat)40018099952
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dYDX$dBTCTA$dERASA$dYDXCP$dUKM$dBWX
043 $an-us-ny
050 00 $aPS338.N4$bW555 2010
082 00 $a812/.5209896073$222
100 1 $aWilson, James F.
245 10 $aBulldaggers, pansies, and chocolate babies :$bperformance, race, and sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance /$cJames F. Wilson.
260 $aAnn Arbor :$bUniversity of Michigan Press,$cc2010.
300 $aix, 260 p. :$bill. ;$c24 cm.
490 1 $aTriangulations: lesbian/gay/queer theater/drama/performance
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 $aIntroduction: "It's getting dark on old Broadway" -- "Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer": parties, performances, and privacy in the "other" Harlem Renaissance(s) -- "Harlem on my mind": New York's black belt on the Great White Way -- "That's the kind of gal I am": drag balls, "sexual perversion," and David Belasco's Lulu Belle -- "Hottentot potentates": the potent and hot performances of Florence Mills and Ethel Waters -- "In my well of loneliness": Gladys Bentley's Bulldykin' blues -- Conclusion: "you've seen Harlem at its best".
520 $aThis work shines the spotlight on historically neglected plays and performances that challenged early twentieth-century notions of the stratification of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. On Broadway stages, in Harlem nightclubs and dance halls, and within private homes sponsoring rent parties, African American performers of the 1920s and early 1930s teased the limits of white middle-class morality. Blues-singing lesbians, popularly known as "bulldaggers," performed bawdy songs; cross-dressing men vied for the top prizes in lavish drag balls; and black and white women flaunted their sexuality in scandalous melodramas and musical revues. Race leaders, preachers, and theater critics spoke out against these performances that threatened to undermine social and political progress, but to no avail: mainstream audiences could not get enough of the riotous entertainment.
520 $aMany of the plays and performances explored here, central to the cultural debates of their time, had been previously overlooked by theater historians. Among the performances discussed are David Belasco's controversial production of Edward Sheldon and Charles MacArthur's Lulu Belle (1926), with its raucous, libidinous view of Harlem. The title character, as performed by a white woman in blackface, became a symbol of defiance for the gay subculture and was simultaneously held up as a symbol of supposedly immoral black women. African Americans Florence Mills and Ethel Waters, two of the most famous performers of the 1920s, countered the Lulu Belle stereotype in written statements and through parody, thereby reflecting the powerful effect this fictional character had on the popular imagination. This work is based on historical archival research including readings of eyewitness accounts, newspaper reports, songs, and playscripts.
520 $aEmploying a cultural studies framework that incorporates queer and critical race theory, it argues against the widely held belief that the stereotypical forms of black, lesbian, and gay show business of the 1920s prohibited the emergence of distinctive new voices.
651 0 $aHarlem (New York, N.Y.)$xIntellectual life$y20th century.
650 0 $aAmerican drama$xAfrican American authors$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aAmerican drama$y20th century$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aAfrican Americans in the performing arts$zNew York (State)$zNew York$xHistory$y20th century.
650 0 $aTheater$zNew York (State)$zNew York$xHistory$y20th century.
650 0 $aAfrican Americans$zNew York (State)$zNew York$xIntellectual life.
650 0 $aHarlem Renaissance.
650 0 $aAfrican Americans in literature.
650 0 $aRace in literature.
650 0 $aSex in the theater.
650 0 $aHarlem (New York, N.Y.)$xIntellectual life$y20th century.
655 7 $aCriticism, interpretation, etc.$2fast
655 7 $aHistory.$2fast
730 0 $aProject Muse UPCC books$5net
830 0 $aTriangulations.
899 $a415_565646
988 $a20100728
906 $0DLC