Shops, Saloons, Concert Halls

THE BOWERY:

Julian Ralph, a newspaper author, shares his insights of the Bowery. He believes how the Bowery is perceived (lively and genuine, criminal-filled, abandoned and disreputable, etc.) by New Yorkers depends on their position in society. The Bowery was once a place of exchange for New York drovers and butchers. A cattle-market was replaced by a theater and the Bowery had its foundation of entertainment. The “Bowery boy” was a name coined for a man or boy working during the day and looking for women or being a volunteer firefighter by night. This type sang and danced well, and often visited the theater. Bowery boys sang and danced well, and dressed suavely, but evolved into fist-fighting, drinking, and gambling patriots. (In Maggie, Pete was a well-dressed gentlemen who ran a bar during the day and looked for entertaining women by night.) Later, the Bowery became a crowded and noisy street of shops (grocers, bakers, firemen’s goods), lodging-houses (many of which were exclusively for men), and museums. At night, the museums were bright with lights and added to the Bowery’s appeal. Fashion and style in the Bowery surpassed any other style, when compared to the rest of New York. Ralph notes that there are 82 places that sell alcohol, including 4 music-halls, restaurants, oyster-houses, wine-houses, theaters, and variety-halls. Theaters show plays and orchestras, and are surrounded by newsboys and street Arabs. Before the theaters open, young boys crowd the doors and burst in for popcorn and cheap entertainment. Ralph also calculates the price of living, too; “A man may eat and lodge in the Bowery with a good bed and three meals a day for $4.90 a week, and with a fifteen-cent bed and eight-cent dishes for $2.73 a week” (155). The criminals found in the Bowery are malnourished, secluded, and poorly dressed. “…they are rather like human rats than men and women” (157).

THE BOWERY AT NIGHT: 

“The Bowery at Night” was written by David Graham Philips. Philips was not a native New Yorker and moved there to work as a journalist. This section was originally published a short time after Philips arrived on the scene and it expresses his disappointment in the Bowery, as well as its darker side. In the books he read when he was a young boy “the Bowery was a wonderful place – fascinating, full of romance, yet terrible and most dangerous.” The people around the Bowery were diverse, witty and intelligent. He describes that this idea that the Bowery was such as fascinating and entertaining place, was so wide spread and commonly believed, that tourists who visited and actually saw the Bowery were deceived. “Confident of finding their ideal realized, they are not disappointed, and returning home, tell of the wonders they have seen.” However, on Philips visit the first sensation he feels is disappointment, for he discovers that the Bowery is nothing but hollow and empty, even when filled with people. It is because of these people and the setting. They are described as the lower class, who live in cramped and filthy boarding houses. These people are from the same cloth as Maggie and her family. “The crowd is looking for pleasure, for relief from the squalor at home, from toil at shop and factory.” These people came here to try and find a distraction from their current situation. But it does them no good for Philips writes that real laughter is as rare as sunshine. If you actually start to laugh, something else that exposes the pitiful nature of the surroundings quickly kills it. “The people are clearly on the edge of life, fighting anxiously, harassedly, for a foothold, and seemingly never quite gaining it.” He didn’t need to know where these people lived to be able to identify the conditions they came from. It was evident in their clothing, their looks, and the way that they carried themselves. “The tragedy is too near the surface, peering from rents in garments or blanching under the paint of cheeks. In this pleasure, you can have no part, any more than you could live in the smells and sounds and sights of a rickety towering tenement.”

Bowery 1916: http://ephemeralnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/bowery1910.jpg

WHERE 'DE GANG HEARS THE BAND PLAY:

This section is actually written by Stephen Crane himself. It involves some very familiar characters.... Maggie and Jimmie! The section starts off with Maggie informing Jimmie that she is going to see a band that night and insisting that Jimmie returns the watch to her. Jimmie is very difficult about this. Maggie enjoys the pleasant music with her "lady friend" The star-spangled banner played and the room feels the patriotism. It is also important to note out the large number of people of German descent at this concert. Here is where this section really gets it's title. The watch that Jimmy refused to give back to Maggie he went and pawned. This money was then used to buy beer and head with the concert hall. They sit where they can hear and enjoy the music. The "gang" was told to move along by the cops. So they did.... Just around the corner so that they could continue to listen to the music.

THE BEER GARDENS:

James D. McCabe, author of this section, describes the German side of New York, specifically the beer-gardens.  Here, men find merriment by drinking, smoking, listening to music, and enjoying each other’s company.  The main beer-garden in the Bowery was called the Atlantic Garden, located near the Old Bowery Theatre.  The Atlantic Garden was huge, having a gallery just for eating, a gallery for only drinking beer, and even a shooting hall gallery.  There was also an orchestration or music box that would play music to the guests.  McCabe goes on to say that only beer and some light Rhine wines are strictly served and that no guest is ever drunk.  “They come here with their families, spend a social, pleasant evening, meet their friends, hear the news, enjoy the music and the beer, and go home refreshed and happy.” (172) The opposite side of the Atlantic Garden was the Central Park Garden, which was a more American take on the beer-garden.  One has to pay to enter this garden, unlike the Atlantic Garden.  Nightly concerts are held at the Central Park Garden during the summer, which draws music lovers to come to New York simply to hear the famous orchestra.  Many celebrities would be seen at the Central Park Garden as well.  Unlike the Atlantic, all kinds of alcoholic beverages were sold there, not just beer and wine.  Some strangers called this garden “Thomas’s Garden,” a place of enjoyment and merriment, especially during the summer. 

Picture of the Atlantic Garden:

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9577/beergarden1859.jpg

"THE SALOON IN SOCIETY":

Written by George Parsons, worked for New York Tribune. The first main point of this section talks about the effects that saloons had on society. However, these effects of the saloon are not positive. Saloons are always in areas of the lower levels of social class. People who already have problems with salaries and money only make themselves worse off by going to the saloons and wasting their money. The saloons are seen by these men as a way to try to escape and forget their sorrows. By doing this they only make the problems worse with their drinking. This causes tension among family and friends. The men fall into a vicious cycle, revolving around drinking and poor health. This leads to an increase in crime as well. The alcohol abuse has many negative consequences. All of this has led to increased hospital and police activity overall. "He is poorer, in worse health, less able to confront difficulties, on the morrow. But one tendency in him is strengthened, and that is the tendency to repeat the debauch." (176). Many of these concepts of saloons are seen throughout Maggie. Mainly in the way Maggie's father acts in the beginning (41), and Pete and Jimmie's antics in the bar (71).

"May Gawd forgive dat girl," "I bringed 'er up deh way a dauter aughta be bringed up an' dis is how she served me! She went teh deh devil deh first chance she got! May Gaw forgive her."

"TEMPTING THE POOR WOMEN: THEY BUY BEER AND HAVE IT CHARGED AS POTATOES":

In Maggie, A Girl of the Streets, one of the reasons that Maggie’s home life was so terrible was because both her parents had a drinking problem.  Maggie’s mother was often drunk, but she denies it to Maggie’s father like most wives would at the time.  Female alcoholism was a big problem during this time period.  Most married women at the time did not have their own personal funds.  However, many women would use their husband’s income to buy alcohol for themselves.  The problem for women was that most husbands would not allow their wives to use their money to buy themselves alcohol, but the grocers found ways around this to allow women to buy alcohol.  Bar owners started disguising their store fronts as regular grocery stores so that women could buy liquor and have it charged as potatoes or other food so that their husband would not know that they were buying alcohol for themselves.  Women could go through the grocery store front and buy groceries as well as alcohol so that they would not feel ashamed to be buying alcohol.  They could also have their kids go to the store and have alcohol charged as groceries as well.  By charging the food as groceries, the husband would not know his wife and children were buying alcohol when he went to pay the food bill.  

METROPOLITAN LIFE UNVEILED; OR THE MYSTERIES AND MISERIES OF AMERICA'S GREAT CITIES:

This section also does not have many nice things to say about the Bowery. This section jumps all over the place, because J.W. Buel recalls his experience walking through the Bowery. He touches upon the sights, smells, and sounds, including the bands and people on the streets. Throughout the night, he touches on the drunkenness of the people he sees on the streets. One point that he makes very clear is that the women dress very promiscuously by exhibiting themselves as a "human menagerie" in a way to intrigue and entice the men. Buel talks about how these boys are fighting on the streets. This relates directly to the aggressive nature of the boys in Maggie... Especially Jimmie.

Harry Hill, specifically his theater, is briefly presented in the section, as well.  Harry Hill was a professional prize fighter who was aware of the tricks and trade on the streets of New York.  Buel discusses that his theater hall was used to plot "...hundreds of robberies which occur[ed] within a stone's throw of, and upon men just leaving, the theatre." (191)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. The saloons section talks about the major part of the culture that saloons had in these poor areas during this time period. Are these poor conditions more a result of poor human intuition? Or the fault of the saloons trying to take advantage of these people?

2. Stephen Crane's excerpt really focuses on the sounds of New York. Jimmie will go through all this trouble to listen to the music with the gang. Why do you think music is worth this trouble to the boys of this neighborhood?

3. In today’s society, have beer-gardens been replaced with your run-of-the-mill bar?  Or do we see instances of beer-gardens today in America?

4. How similar is the Bowery to the saloons, in relation to people wanting to escape their reality? 

5. This section states that women were more ashamed to go buy alcohol than men were.  Why do you think there were different standards for men and women when it came to drinking?  Do you feel sorry for Maggie’s mom at all? 

6. During the day, many people like Pete lived hard-working lives integrated with all sorts of people they dealt with, like Jimmie. During the night, they went out for drinks and entertainment in high-class restaurants and theaters where they left their worries and hardships behind. If someone living in the Bowery worked such a hard life during the day, how do you think they could afford expensive drinks, cigars, and entertainment?