Recalling America's Lost "Progressive Era"

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy


Neither Edith Wharton nor E. M. Forster admired it, but Louis Auchincloss calls "The Wings of the Dove" the greatest of Henry James' novels. Published in 1902, the novel represented something of a “comeback for James”, whose only bestseller, Daisy Miller, had appeared more than two decades earlier. Set amid fashionable London drawing rooms and gilded Venetian palazzos, the story concerns a pair of lovers who conspire to obtain the fortune of a doomed American heiress. This version is said to be “the definitive New York Edition” appearing in 1907 with the author's Preface.

As Hollywood screenwriters might “pitch it”:

... a naïve young woman becomes both victim and redeemer in James's meticulous “map” (ordeal?) of drama, treachery and self-betrayal. “It seems to me that I know the characters even more intimately than I know the characters in the earlier novels of his Balzac period. The Wings of the Dove represents the pinnacle of James's prose.” said Louis Auchincloss.

Many British Novels depict the deterioration and ultimate collapse of the British "class system", most prominently the work of Vera Brittain. However, James captures it perfectly in this intimate portrait of three people trapped in a system that Bush would create in America, a system of primogeniture and privilege, a system of those who have and those who do not. As Billie Holiday would sing later in America: “God Bless the Child that's Got His Own!”

Money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you're gone, spending ends
They don't come no more Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have,Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own, That's got his own

There are undoubtedly many other models that do have a chance of working, that can be devised and improvised so that short falls of the various systems might be addressed.
For many, "economics" has become ideological and their view of it is "religious" in nature. Supply-side economics, for example, is accepted and espoused as a matter of "faith". Like various cultists, "supply siders" will not tolerate other world views.

I have often thought that it was the long cold war that radicalized economic thinking in this country but it's not so simple as that. Much of it has to do with the nature of the "very rich". There is a line in Henry James' “The Wings of the Dove” in which a young newspaper reporter warns his idealistic, "revolutionary" friends that the aristocrats would not reform themselves and, therefore, must not be entrusted to rule the British Empire. That story is set in London, circa 1900.

Arguably – the most radical period in world history was roughly 1840-1920. Karl Marx and colleague Friedrich Engels had issued the Manifest der kommunistischen Partei (Communist Manifesto) (1848) which they had hoped would precipitate a world wide social revolution. They very nearly succeeded. Socialism was advanced –even in America. Eugene Debs was the Socialist candidate for President. It was Debs who famously said in his defense: “While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free”. Almost concurrently, Lincoln Steffens was exposing abuses throughout an increasingly unfair capitalist system. Anarchists found a voice in Emma Goldman.

When a viable labor movement began to frighten a growing class of “robber barons”, the “evil empire” of "robber barons" would strike back. By 1914, the “working man's” great champion, Clarence Darrow, was severely chastened but eventually acquitted of bribery charges in Los Angeles. His most egregious sin? He had dared defend two brothers –the McNamaras –on charges that they had bombed the Los Angeles Times building which ultimately caught fire and burned down. Though he brokered a successful “plea bargain”, he would never defend another labor case.

World War I –instead of energizing the U.S. movement as it had done in Russia –rallied "patriots" to the flag and had the effect –as do all wars –of limiting dissent, free speech and free thought! America marched off to war singing a George M. Cohan tune: “Over There!” Later –the Hoover Administration would deny World War I veterans their bonuses and ordered a military attack upon the veterans who dared demand their due!

The U.S. Army attack upon “their own” was a nation's ultimate betrayal of those who put their lives on the line for its defense. One is always at a loss for words to describe a betrayal so venal.
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'Ragtime' Revisited: A Review of E.L. Doctorow's Masterpiece of True Fiction

by Len Hart, the Existentialist Cowboy

I've lost track of my many 'reads' of E.L. Doctorow's great novel: Ragtime. I will probably read it that many times again. Every 'read' has been a new experience; and with every 'read', I learn something new.

Initially, as a lover of music to include 'Ragtime', I was attracted to the novel by its title. A review in a major news magazine peaked my interest. Here was a novel that included a vast array of real and fictional characters --Houdini, J.P. Morgan, a pioneer 'Ragtime' pianist called 'Coal House Walker', Evelyn Nesbett, Emma Goldman, 'Mother's Younger Brother', Robert Peary, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Evelyn Nesbett, Stanford White, Harry Thaw, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Countess Sophie Chotek, Booker T. Washington, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Theodore Dreiser, Jacob Riis and Emiliano Zapata.

There was also 'Tateh' and his young daughter. Tateh made 'silhouettes', selling them to help him to feed his little daughter and, if there was any left-over, himself. His fortunes improved when he learned how to make his creations appear to move. Eventually, the struggling Tateh became a director in the 'new' industry of motion pictures.

Like a creation by Tateh, all of these characters come to life and 'move' in Doctorow's book.

I do not recommend this book to anyone who is incurious. I do not recommend this book to anyone who is unwilling to see American history through fresh eyes. I do not recommend this book to those who cannot appreciate a different or fresher point of view. I do not recommend this book to anyone who cannot see the world through the eyes of the world's richest man and, on the next page, the eyes of the very poorest.

"Professional historians denominated it “the Progressive Era” and emphasized how Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had moved to control the power of big business while other middle-class reformers initiated reforms in the structure of government that diffused political power more broadly and democratically. For these historians the Progressive Era was the first step in a continuing reform process that, after an interregnum of conservative reaction in the Twenties, reached its apex in the New Deal and Fair Deal of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman in the Thirties and Forties. The story they told was one of a half-century in which the excesses of capitalism were brought under control, working men and women formed unions and secured a fairer share of the fruits of their labor, and political reform made the society more democratic and inclusive. Such change was possible because, they believed, there was broad agreement among most Americans about political means and ends and this consensus engendered evolutionary rather than revolutionary change."

--E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime and American Cultural History, John Raeburn, American Studies Department, University of Iowa

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Beans, Biscuits, and Blues

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Since posting my modest tribute to E. L. Doctorow's novel, Ragtime, and his take on the US Constitution, I have been thinking more about Ragtime as a musical idiom. In fact, I have been thinking about music, in general --how it makes lasting impressions, how it shapes our early lives, how political it can be, how interwoven it is with with all levels of culture. Music is essential to the art of being human. I can't promise to deal adequately with any or all of those still half-formed ideas. But I will share with you some music that I like and would not like to be without.

Anything written about Ragtime must begin, of course, with Scott Joplin. The son of a former slave, Scott Joplin was born around 1868 in the little town of Linden, TX. The precise date is in dispute. It fair to say, however, that by the time he sold Maple Leaf Rag to John Stark and Son music publishers of Sedalia, MO, he had already absorbed a classical music education from a German classical musician --Julius Weiss --and a study of theory, harmony, and composition at George R. Smith College in Sedalia. By that time, he had heard the John Philip Sousa band. It would have made an impression.

Joplin had ambitions for his new syncopated music that he and perhaps one or two other "professors" invented. Professor, of course, was the term used to designate parlor piano players in houses of ill repute.

Like rock, disco, and rap, Ragtime swept the nation but not without opposition from "high brows" who never lacked a derogatory or racist epithet to describe it. Nevertheless, Joplin crafted a new, energetic music that typified even more than Sousa the nervous energy that was America at that time.

Joplin himself took his music seriously. As if to declare his belief to the world, he wrote a Ragtime opera: Treemonisha. Sadly, it was not performed in his lifetime cut short by his death from syphilis. It was left to the Houston Grand Opera to become the first opera company in America to present Scott Joplin's Treemonisha. Building upon its success, HGO would become the first major opera company to produce the most faithful version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. HGO boasts that it is the only opera company in the world to win a Tony, two Grammy and two Emmy Awards. The New York Times calls the Houston Grand Opera "the jewel in the cultural crown." The Tony, as I recall was for Treemonisha.

There is a dearth of real Ragtime music to be found on the internet. Ragtime is not a music to be tossed off as an afterthought. Too many would-be players of Ragtime fail to play the music; they punish the music and the poor piano they bang it out on. Serious, talented musicians often completely miss the point by playing rags too fast, too loud, or jazzed up. I wish the would just show a little respect.

A great rag doesn't need jazzing up. It doesn't need to be made sophisticated. It doesn't need to be played too loud or too fast. As Mozart said of his own music, there are just as many notes in a Joplin rag as the rag requires. A great Joplin rag, like the Maple Leaf Rag, can carry the player, if only he/she will but surrender to it.

If you overlook the sound quality, the following is one of the best that I've found on the net.

Ragtime was played in what are euphemistically called "Houses of Ill Repute". The pianists were called "professors" and competitions between them were called "cutting contests".

Growing up in Odessa, TX, I was, naturally, exposed to Honky Tonk music. At that place and time, there was, in fact, no hope of escaping it. This was a time when C&W stars like Hank Williams began incorporating some swing and blues into what had been a strictly "bluegrass" genre. However, if you listen closely to Bill Monroe, you will hear notes as blue as any played by Louis Armstrong. As a tribute to the many "Honky Tonk" musicians whose juke box lullabies on Second St lulled me to sleep each night, here are Hank Williams and Patsy Cline:

Hank Williams - Honky tonk blues
Uploaded by Roselyne14

Patsy Cline - Lovesick Blues
Uploaded by soulpatrol

Barely a teenager in Odessa, I met, at a block party, a musician who was destined to make rock history. You may have heard of him. The musician who would one day be a legend was Roy Orbison. The video that follows was recorded in Los Angeles for HBO in September 1988. Sadly, Roy passed away on December 6, 1988. Orbison is a rock legend admired by the Beatles who held him in awe. Watch this clip from Black and White Night. Count the number of superstars --Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes, Elvis Costello, K.D.Lang et al. They were not merely content but honored to have been playing on the same stage with this ol' country boy from Wink, TX.

In those days, Orbison's band was called the Teen Kings. They could be seen and heard every Saturday afternoon on the local TV station - KOSA-TV. Here is a link to one of the better histories that I have been able to find about Roy Orbison, especially his days in Odessa, TX.

Much later, Roy comes back in what seems in retrospect to have been if not another life, at least, a rebirth. He is seen here teamed up with K.D. Lang to perform one of his legendary hits: Cryin'

It was only fitting that I conclude this loosely connected collection of American music with a Patsy Cline standard. The following clip is from the movie "Sweet Dreams" with Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline. Lange admitted that she couldn't sing. She most certainly lip-synced Cline's unmistakable voice.

Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963. She was only 30 at the height of her fame and career. Nevertheless, she is remembered and recognized to have been one of the most influential female vocalists of her era.

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E.L.Doctorow's Ragtime America

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

This article is not a review of the fourteen essays on literary, political, and historical topics that make up E.L. Doctorow's Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution: Selected Essays, 1977-1992. It is my take on Doctorow's best known novel --Ragtime. I mention the essays because they are better appreciated after one reads Ragtime.

Doctorow's essay on the Constitution is the counterpoint to this author's steeped obsession with American culture and politics. The Constitution of his description is a lost Arcadia, our innocence, our ephemeral flirtation with legitimate government and Democracy.

It is unfortunate, however, that this extraordinary collection of essays is not as well known as are Doctorow's novels -Ragtime (my favorite), Billy Bathgate, Welcome to Hard Times (his first novel) or World's Fair, winner of the 1986 National Book Award. In fact, it is not even mentioned in Wikipedia though his other collection of essays, Creationists: Selected Essays 1993-2006, is.

Good essays challenge the intellect at a time when it is easier to watch a music video designed to challenge the senses. It is uncomfortable to be challenged. It is easier to click a remote control in search of eye candy. It is easier to surf the web than deep dive for pearls.

Selected Essays, like Doctorow's Ragtime, is a curious mix of the best and the worst of American culture. For me, much of the appeal of Ragtime was the unlikely collection of real characters: Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, J.P Morgan, Evelyn Nesbitt, Emma Goldman, Stanford White, Harry K. Thaw, with fictional characters such as Father, Mother, and Mother's Younger Brother.

Most reviews of Ragtime miss the point. For example:

"In 10th grade, a teacher suggested that I read this book and do a report on it. I found one sex scene so shocking that I returned the book to her and suggested she was irresponsible for recommending it to a 14 year old."

The scene in question was most certainly the explicit "threesome scene" involving Mother's Younger Brother, Evelyn Nesbitt, the infamous "Gibson Girl", and Emma Goldman, the notorious socialist/anarchist.

Other fictional characters include Coalhouse Walker, a character that may have been inspired by Scott Joplin, and Sarah, the mother of his newborn boy. Sarah lives in New Rochelle with Mother, Father, and, until he leaves the nest, Mother's Younger Brother. A series of tragic events triggered by Coalhouse Walker propelled the 70's movie version of Ragtime though at least three main threads are woven artfully throughout the novel.

Of the three, none are more poignant than the story of Tateh and his little daughter. Tateh is a recent immigrant whose only skill is cutting out silhouettes. The pair face certain starvation in New York's lower east side until Tateh discovers that his "flip books" of sihoutetted ice skaters were marketable. By the end of the novel, Tateh is a successful film maker. It is the American dream from which we have all but recently awakened.

On the whole, however, Ragtime, though dreamily surreal, is true. Evelyn Nesbit was, in fact, an historical character but Mother's Younger Brother exists only in the person of many another real Nesbit admirer. And there were many.

This unlikely mix, this potpourri lunch, this surreal pastiche IS our history. This volatile concoction of characters wrapped up one century and helped shape another. From our vantage point in the early 21st Century, this era is too easily seen in sepia accompanied by ragtime. And, indeed, it was so until World War I awakened us to real nightmare.

At least one critic called Doctorow's collection of essays "unstartling":

This exiguous assembly of prefaces and assignments is unstartling: Jack London was "a workaday literary genius/ hack"; Hemingway was tormented; Orwelrs 1984 is concerned with "the political manipulation of reality through the control of history and language." In this salad bar of limp banalities, there is not a fresh thought, a crisp phrase, or a morsel of original research

Had Doctorow intended to "startle"? If I had not disagreed with the reviewer, I would not be writing about this little known book now. The above review is hash by a hack. In fact, other more intelligent reviewers were more receptive.

The essay that I find most interesting is entitled "Commencement," and is,in fact, the Commencement Address that Doctorow delivered to the Brandeis University graduating class of 1989. A theme in the address is taken from Sherwood Anderson and Doctorow refers to it as "the theory of grotesques." It goes something like this: The world is filled with many truths to live by, and they are all beautiful. Two that he first mentions are the truth of thrift and the truth of self reliance. There is a problem, however, when one of these truths is grabbed up and made into a cause to the exclusion of all other truths.

My favorite essay, naturally, is Doctorow's analysis of the Constitution. Doctorow seems to have made the argument that the Constitution is most notable for what it is not, for what it does not do, for what it does not say, for language it does not use.

The Constitution is a secular document. The word God is not used even once. The authority of the Constitution is not theological though it has, Doctorow claims, the voice of "Sacred Text". It uses the word "shall" though it makes no theological appeal. Significantly, the preamble cites the origin of Constitutional authority: "We the people....". It is a document of the people, by the people, for the people. It was the people --not God --who wrote the Constitution.

Often thought to be a document that guarantees that we be free, the Constitution does not use the word slave . Yet, it was Thomas Jefferson (not a delegate to the Constitutional covention) who had written "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". If in context the Constitution ensures our "freedom", it does not, therefore, do so upon a theocratic principle. It is not God who endows us with "unalienable rights". It is ourselves.

The Constitution, therefore, is an existentialist document entirely compatible with Sartre's assertion:

"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself."

Indeed, a people are nothing but what they make of themselves. In the Constitution, we make of ourselves a free people. We are free because we have chosen to take responsibility for what we have made of ourselves.

If our brief flirtation with freedom is but a sepia toned dream of Doctorowesque fantasy, then, with Bush we awakened to nightmare. Still, our future as a nation lies not in God nor any person appointed by deities. Our fate is nothing more nor less than the choices we make. We may choose to end the nightmare. We may choose to end the Bush administration and, by reasserting our freedom, we define ourselves as a "free people".

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