Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Ma Rainey


Ma Rainey was not the first blues singer, however, she should have been. She was involved in an era which women were the marquee names in the genre of blues. She earned her name "The Mother of Blues", because she had been singing the blues for over 20 years before she recorded her debut record. She also shared a repertoire of minstrel and pop songs, however had a grittier/tougher vocal delivery than most cabaret singers of blues.

Bessie Smith



Bessie Smith was the first blues and jazz singer, and the most powerful. Her title, "The empress of Blues" was earned rightfully so. Her discography includes:

Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith/ Louis Armstrong/ Cab Calloway
Fats Waller & Bessie Smith
Please Help Me Get Him off My Mind
Thems Graveyard Works

She also appeared on a vast amount of compilations, and influenced decades of blues singers after her.

Alan Lomax



One of the most innovative and prominent figures in music throughout the 1930s was Alan Lomax. He was an ethnomusicologist and folklorist. Lomax recorded thousands of field recordings, with a focus of prisoners and the black community. Not only this, but he was a pioneering oral historian, he recorded detrimental interviews with memorable folk musicians.

Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler




Found this to be quite interesting. I've heard a plethora of rumors regarding the relationship between Walt Disney and Hitler. The rumors have varied, I've heard that he was an avid supporter of Hitler, and they shared a friendship. I've also heard that Hitler funded the building/expansion of Disneyland. I'm not sure if these rumors are true at all, but it is interesting to think about.

Thomas Hart Benton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84L8ccrGpC0

I found this short compilation video of Thomas Hart Benton's paintings. He was the enemy of modernism, and the inventor of regionalism. Always focusing on American values and often times hard labor, Benton rose to prominence as one of the leading painters during the WPA.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

the mad butcher of kingsbury run

For the most part we learned about a decrease in crime during the depression era.  This is a post, however, on the unsolved serial killings that took place in Cleveland which came to be accredited to the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run by the press. 

It began in the fall on 1934 when a woman's torso with the legs severed at the knees was found washed up on the shore of Lake Erie.  The body went unidentified and the incident was quickly forgotten.
Then the bodies of two decapitated, emasculated males were found in 1935 along the Kingsbury Run--a weedy ravine along the east side of Cleveland.  The murders were dismissed as passion crimes when one of the bodies was identified as Edward Andrassy, a young man familiar to the police who had been having an affair with a married woman (her husband had threatened Edward's life).

In 1936 in January, the remnants of a 41 year-old prostitute were found behind a butcher shop.  In May of that same year a decapitated head was found along Kingsbury Run.  A few days later they found a body to match.  Though it was heavily tattooed, police were still unable to ID it.  At the end of July another headless body was found, this time across town from the Kingsbury Run.  A few months later a homeless spotted the torso of a male while waiting for a train.

Over a period of two years, twelve more bodies were found.  Despite money incentives in the papers and hundreds of suspect interviews, no one was ever charged with the murders. The remains of the final two victims were found in August of 1938 and after that, the butcher seemed to have disappeared.

There are a few theories as to the identity of the killer.  Some suspect that it was a local doctor named Frank Sweeney.  Later, an immigrant named Frank Dolezal confessed to the crimes, but recanted, claiming the police beat him to confession.  Another theory is that the butcher moved to Los Angeles.  And finally that it was a mentally unstable premed student who was from a wealthy Cleveland family. 

portland 1930s

I couldn't find much information on what was going on in Portland during the 1930s, but I did discover this neat blog that posts picture of Portland during the decade.

http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/category/1930s/

Also, I found out that in 1934 nearly 1400 members of the International Longshoremen's  Association participated in something called the west coast waterfront strike.  Their demands included:

  • acknowledgment of the union
  • wages increased from $.85/hr to $1.00/hr
  • 6 hr workday
  • 30 hr workweek
  • a closed shop with the union in control of hiring
The strike lasted from June 9, 1934-July 31, 1934.  The results were in their favor with everything they asked for except compromises on $.95/hr and also the creation of a union hiring hall jointly managed by the union and management.


Here's a picture from the blog of SW Broadway in 1935.