In the Land of Oo-bla-dee

Friday, September 9, 2011

Union Riots

7 March 1932
Police kill striking workers at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan plant.
1934
The Electric Auto-Lite Strike. In Toledo, OH, two strikers were killed and over
two hundred wounded by National Guardsmen. Some 1300 National Guard troops,
including included eight rifle companies and three machine gun companies, were called in to disperse the protestors.

1 September - 22 September 1934
A strike in Woonsocket, RI, part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers,
resulted in the deaths of three workers. Over 420,000 workers ultimately went on strike.
(This is around the number of people that would have been striking, faced against armed
Federal resistance, in most industrial strikes).

11 February 1937
General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers union following a sit-down strike.

9 November 1935
26 May 1937
The 'Battle of the Overpass'. Walter Reuther and a group of UAW supporters,
fresh from having organized GM and Chrysler,
attempting to distribute leaflets at Gate 4 of the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant,
and were beaten up (together with bystanders) by Ford Service Department guards.

30 May 1937
Police killed 10 and wounded 30 during the "Memorial Day Massacre" at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.

25 June 1938
The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor
and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940,
and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.

27 February 1939
The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are illegal.

African box instrument: was most likely a dulcimer or cigar box guitar, but could have been a thumb piano

Nerdy guy telling you about the instrument

China Grove is in North Carolina http://www.chinagrovenc.gov/
I couldn't find a guy playing trombone with his feet but here's a guy playing guitar!
Guy Playing Guitar with Feet!!! WHoa!!!!

Diviner: a. Having the nature of or being a deity.

Chinese zombie music: most likely a me for strange, maybe tranclikl or walking, marching music.
But definitely anything strange

Money: Billie Holiday made 75$ a week, weather touring or playing in Harlem, that is about 1,000$ today.
but keep in mind Billie Holiday was a famous musician,
so for black women she would have made the most out of all her peers;
other could expect substantially
less.

Ina Ray Hutton was arguably the only prominent leader of the big band era. She was a voluptuous white women.

WWII draft:
In 1940 Roosevelt created the first peace time draft. All men, 21 to 45 were required to sign up.
They were chosen through lottery, and had to serve 12 months.
When WWII began the age limit was changed to 18 to 65--though only 18-45 were required to serve,
those 45-65 still had to register. The draft time was extended to 21 months in early summer 1941.
During WWII the time was extended to two years after the end of the war;
thus draftees had to serve the entire length of the war and then some.
All told, about 10,000,000 Americans were drafted between 1940 and 1947

Mom's Mably
Moms Mably was a black stand up comedian and pioneer of the "Chitin' Circuit" of black vaudeville.

The chitin circuit was a circuit of theaters and other venues were blacks could perform in the segregated American world.

She performed mostly in Harlem at the Apollo, making 10,000 a week at her height.

(Compare that to Billie Holiday, who made 75$ a week).

She was an open lesbian, even during the 1930s.

She was famous for obscene language and talking about sex.

Her favorite persona was that of a crazy old raggedy women chasing young boys.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A Few Things.

A bit of history of African Americans in sideshow

http://www.showhistory.com/Africans.Strausbaugh.html

Paul Henreid and Bette Davis on Now Voyager

Paul Henreid. Dreamy eeeeeh ladies?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDq7d_rkhbg

Scene From Now Voyager.

"Don't fall for Paul Henreid!"

Oooops too late.

Caldonia What Makes Your Head So Hard!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR6pHtiNT_k

Barbara Charline Jordan

was an American politician who was both a product, and a leader, of the Civil Rights movement.

Going to Chicago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPcHVqKHkKo

A few pronunciations!

Some of these are just sounded out and others use IPA.
YeeHaw!

Paducah
P AH d oo k ah

P	AH	d	oo	k	ah
pet	car	do	food	key	car

Cape Girardeau
\jə-ˈrär-(ˌ)dō, jə-ˈrä-də\
This is an audio clip so you can hear how it's said
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cape%20girardeau

Mexia
/məˈheɪ.ə

Oceala

I couldn't find anything on this girl's name. Maybe the playwright made it up? My guess would be that the beginning part is like Ocean. Then just cut off the 'n' and add a 'la'

Rastus

rass tuss

is a pejorative term traditionally associated with African Americans in the US. It is considered highly offensive

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Some Pictures of Some People!

So, say you're reading along and you read a reference about Barbara Stanwyck. And then you're like OHMAN! I wonder what SHE looks like. Or something along those lines. Well look no further friends. Here are some pictures of the various people (and a few of the places) mentioned in the play!