Long Time, No Song: Revisiting Fats Waller's Lost Broadway Musical

Daedalus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 109-119
Author(s):  
John H. McWhorter
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theater ◽  
Quality Work ◽  
Commercial Success ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Do So

Just before he died in 1943, Fats Waller wrote the music for a Broadway book musical with a mostly white cast, the first black composer to do so–and the only one ever to do it with commercial success. Yet “Early to Bed” is largely ignored by historians of musical theater, while jazz scholars describe the circumstances surrounding its composition rather than the work itself. Encouraging this neglect is the fact that no actual score survives. This essay, based on research that assembled all surviving evidence of the score and the show, gives a summary account of “Early to Bed” and what survives from it. The aim is to fill a gap in Waller scholarship, calling attention to some of his highest quality work, and possibly stimulating further reconstruction work that might result in a recording of the score.

“As Slow as a Tortoise, and as Clever as a Hare.” Folktales as Lessons on Democracy, Equal Opportunities, and Human Rights among the Ndebele

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindiwe Ndlovu ◽  
Faith Sibanda
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Animal Community ◽  
Do So

Indigenous African societies have, for a long time, been using their knowledge for the betterment of their lives. They have also demonstrated an ability to manipulate their immediate or remote surroundings to live sustainably. Those who claim to fight for equal and human rights in Africa do so under the misconception that they, and the developing world, have historically and inherently violated, and continue to violate, human rights in numerous ways. While this might not be completely dismissed, there is a plethora of evidence from African folktales to demonstrate that Africans have not only respected human rights, but have also encouraged equal opportunities for every member of their society. This article cross-examines Ndebele folktales with the intention of demonstrating that African indigenous knowledge exhibited through folktales was a well-organised system, which ensured respect for human rights for all members, regardless of their physical or social stature. Central to this discussion are the folktales which focus on the role played by the vulnerable members of the animal community, who replicate their human counterparts. Folktales are unarguably a creation by the indigenes and emanate from their socio-political experiences, as well as their observations of the surroundings. This suggests that indigenous people already had an idea about human rights as well as the need for equal opportunities since time immemorial. 

Oklahoma!

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Carter
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theater ◽  
Final Shape ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rodgers And Hammerstein ◽  
Theatre Guild

Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway on 31 March 1943 under the auspices of the Theatre Guild, and today it is performed more frequently than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. When this book was first published in 2007, it offered the first fully documented history of the making of the show based on archival materials, manuscripts, journalism, and other sources. The present revised edition draws still further on newly uncovered sources to provide an even clearer account of a work that many have claimed fundamentally changed Broadway musical theater. It is filled with rich and fascinating details about the play on which Oklahoma! was based (Lynn Riggs’s Green Grow the Lilacs); on what encouraged Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner of the Guild to bring Rodgers and Hammerstein together for their first collaboration; on how Rouben Mamoulian and Agnes de Mille became the director and choreographer; on the drafts and revisions that led the show toward its final shape; and on the rehearsals and tryouts that brought it to fruition. It also examines the lofty aspirations and the mythmaking that surrounded Oklahoma! from its very inception, and demonstrates just what made it part of its times.

Engineering Management for Zone Construction of Ships

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (04) ◽  
pp. 266-287
Author(s):  
Thomas Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Management ◽  
Shipbuilding Industry ◽  
Ship Construction ◽  
Production Department ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Traditionally Prepared ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Do So

Zone construction has been proposed as the way for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to improve its productivity and survive the current hard times. Obviously as the production requirements for zone construction are different from traditional ship construction, so are the engineering requirements. While production could perform zone construction from traditionally prepared engineering, it would do so inefficiently and after waiting a long time for most of the engineering to be completed before they could start, thus defeating one of the goals of zone construction. The production department in a shipyard changing to zone construction will probably reorganize into major zone sections. To obtain maximum benefits from zone construction it is necessary for the engineering department to be like-organized and managed. The paper therefore discusses engineering aspects that are influenced by the change to zone construction

No people like #showpeople : Broadway performers' ethnographic social media

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jennifer Spitulnik
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Musical Theater ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
Group I ◽  
Multiple Audiences

The occupational folk group of Broadway musical theater performers uses folklore in public spaces as a kind of representational strategy for the group as a whole. This strategy is significant in representing the group’s identity to itself as well as to outsiders who are invested in knowing more about them, such as Broadway enthusiasts. That is, the group can and does tell the story of itself, representing itself ethnographically, by way of its individual members. Social media technologies provide a platform for Broadway performers to present these native ethnographies both to the public and to other members of the folk group. I argue that these native, self-conscious ethnographic works by musical theater performers are both concerned with representing themselves as individuals, and with representing the cultural group of musical theater performers as a whole. Exploring the folklore and folk identities performed by members of this group in online social media suggests new ways of understanding the politics and practices of ethnography, particularly on social network sites in our postmodern global economy of attention. In this project, the first in any field to consider musical theater performers as a cultural or folk group, I investigate actors’ recognition of and group use of vernacular creative expressionsâ€"folkloreâ€"as a representational strategy. Through this work, I explore the ways in which self-representation on the part of the ethnographic participants claims voice and authority for the group, while simultaneously performing group membership and identity for multiple audiences.

Broadway

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wierzbicki
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Youth Culture ◽  
Musical Theater ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
Societal Changes ◽  
Moral Qualities ◽  
Almost All

This chapter illustrates how veteran Broadway factotum Lehman Engel—in one of the first books that dealt with the substance of American musical theater and its history—delineated the distinguishing traits of what he called “the contemporary musical.” Most of the representative works that Engel discusses fall within the limits of the Fifties, and almost all of the plot-related characteristics he mentions are things that indeed come into focus when regarded through such Fifties-specific lenses as American foreign policy, race relations, the burgeoning youth culture, and sexual politics. Engel's observations on the moral qualities of many of Broadway's principal males are not so sexy, but nonetheless relevant to the profound societal changes that America experienced during the Fifties. Meanwhile, Engel writes that the leading ladies of the contemporary Broadway musical exhibit a lifelike dimension.

Review Lecture: Two atoms—the basis of the steel industry

1969 ◽  
Vol 308 (1495) ◽  
pp. 437-446
Keyword(s):  
Steel Industry ◽  
Parent Material ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Modern Knowledge ◽  
Civilized World ◽  
Do So

For 2000 years or more steel and its parent material, iron, have dominated the civilized world and it appears likely that they will continue to do so for a long time ahead. Steel has achieved this position because it is unique in possessing in combination the three characteristics of cheapness, strength and versatility. I propose to review the reasons behind these characteristics and to describe some of the ways in which modern knowledge in numerous branches of science has helped the steady advance in the technology of steelmaking. It will be shown that ferrous materials could not have achieved their position without a partnership with carbon, a material which is unique in other ways. Naturally numerous simplifications will be necessary.

scholarly journals Gatekeeping the Gatekeepers: The Need for a Licensing Requirement for Crowdfunding Portals in the Wake of the DreamFunded Decision

2020 ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Nick Worden
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Capital Formation ◽  
Internet Site ◽  
Securities Law ◽  
Equity Crowdfunding ◽  
Long Time ◽  
A Site ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Securities Laws ◽  
Do So

Most people are familiar with crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe—sites that allow users to part with their money in exchange for products or donate their capital to organizations they believe in. However, these sites have one trait in common: they do not offer contributors equity or a promise for future profits. For a long time, selling equity meant complying with the costly requirements of federal securities laws, which was cost-prohibitive for many small businesses; it was illegal for businesses to offer equity over a site in the way businesses on Kickstarter offered products. The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act changed that. Small businesses, initially precluded from raising capital through the promise of equity, could do so now. However, the passage of the JOBS Act came with a number of requirements for businesses trying to sell equity via crowdfunding. In particular, these businesses could not offer their equity through just any Internet site. They had to do so through a registered intermediary—a gatekeeper to the equity crowdfunding scene. These intermediaries came in two types: broker-dealers (a familiar party in securities law) and a new statutorily created entity called a “funding portal.” Funding portals have many requirements imposed on them, but unlike broker-dealers, they are not required to be licensed to act as an intermediary. The absence of a licensing requirement for funding portals is problematic. The first litigated case involving a funding portal, Department of Enforcement v. DreamFunded Marketplace, LLC, presented that the lack of a licensing requirement threatens the twin purposes of the JOBS Act: capital formation and investor protection.

scholarly journals The Sciences During the New Common: A Missed Opportunity?

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-116
Author(s):  
Maurits Kaptein
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
The Future ◽  
Long Time ◽  
To Come ◽  
Missed Opportunity ◽  
Do So

AbstractBy Wednesday, July 22, 2020, the coronavirus had killed over 611,000 people and infected over fourteen million globally. It devastated lives and will continue to do so for a long time to come; the economic consequences of the pandemic are only just starting to materialize. This makes it a challenging time to write about the new common. However, we need to start somewhere. At some point, we need to reflect on our own roles, the roles of our institutions, the importance of our economy, and the future fabric of everyday life. In this chapter, I will discuss one minor—and compared to the current crisis seemingly inconsequential—aspect of the new common: I will discuss my worry that we are on the verge of missing the opportunity to properly (re-)define the role of the sciences as we move from our old to our new common.

Building the Broadway Voice

2019 ◽  
pp. 474-491
Author(s):  
Jake Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Musical Theater ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
The Body ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
Broadway Musical ◽  
Vocal Training ◽  
Pedagogical Philosophies ◽  
Theater Training

This chapter investigates how differing pressures on the Broadway musical theater industry can contribute to certain vocal stylistic choices. The author considers the ways in which collegiate and professional training programs have responded to these needs through their musical theater curricula. The chapter brings into relief how vocal training in such programs ensures a sonic conformity, which presumably improves the marketability of the performer in an industry demanding predictable sounds. Specifically, it considers the pedagogical philosophies prevalent in Midwestern musical theater training programs where the author has worked as a vocal coach and where many Broadway performers cut their teeth. The chapter takes no position for or against the vocal ideas taught in these or other musical theater training programs, but makes some observations for the unique demands attached to such training and what demands those pressures make on singers today. Furthermore, the chapter suggests that the growth of the Broadway musical as a tourist attraction, the rise of the megamusical, and the formation of this Broadway sound are all interrelated phenomena enabled by a new corporatizing ideology in musical theater that has disciplined the body of the Broadway performer for decades and continues to shape the industry’s sound today.

Climate Change

2018 ◽  
pp. 630-646
Author(s):  
Clive Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
World Systems ◽  
International Response ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
World Systems Analysis ◽  
The Rise Of China ◽  
Do So

Greenhouse gases emitted anywhere affect people everywhere, and they will do so for a very long time. Progress on an international response to climate change has been bedeviled by ethical, political, and economic fractures, highlighting the severe limitations of the Westphalian state system. Non-state actors have played a crucial role in negotiations; some are “internationalist,” whereas others are “globalist.” Climate change is inseparable from capitalism’s insatiable appetite for growth. The rise of China destabilizes previous understandings of the world, including those of global studies and world-systems analysis. There are signs of a new cosmopolitanism, although securitization of the climate threat works against it. The globality of the natural world calls for a rethinking of global studies.

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