Ain't MIsbehavin' at the Playhouse

Speaking of the Jazz Age: By beautiful coincidence, this past weekend Ain't Misbehavin': The Fats Waller Musical Show opened at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Here's how the Playhouse describes the show:

A supercharged sizzle of song and dance, the joint will be jumping for this fun-filled, joyous revue showcasing the irresistible music of jazz great Fats Waller. From the comedy of "Your Feet's Too Big" to "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now," this Tony Award-winning Broadway favorite features more than 30 toe-tapping songs and promises an evening of high-energy, crowd-pleasing entertainment.

Ticket prices at the Playhouse tend to be exorbitant. However, if anyone can figure out how to get a price break there, do let us all know. I imagine this show would be a splendid tribute to the Jazz Age.

Who is Fats Waller? Well, check it out:

Flapper Culture of the Roaring Twenties

Flapper culture of the 1920's



Roaring Twenties Dance Craze

Wanna Listen to Some Jazz?

Our local stations in Cincinnati have a pretty decent selection of programs to choose from if you want to sample some of the various forms of jazz:

Warm 98 (ugh) actually has a pretty decent jazz program on Saturday nights. It's called Cool Jazz Saturday Night and is available to listen to all week through their website. They play a range, but it's mainly cool jazz.

89.3 WMKV (a great but relatively unknown station located in warm and cheerful Reading) has a number of excellent swing, big band and other jazz programs through the week. Check their website for schedules. Particularly recommended is When Swing Was King -- that would be in the 20's, the Jazz Age.

91.7 WVXU has a piano jazz program on Sunday nights at 11:00 pm preceded by Jazz with OT at 9:00 pm -- highly recommended.

I also recommend BBC3's Jazz programs, which you can listen to using the BBC iPlayer.

The Jazz Age & the Roaring Twenties

As we continue on in our study of the American dream in literature, we'll also be introduced to the Jazz Age in literature. One of the most representative literary works of the Jazz Age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), which highlighted what some describe as the corruption of the post-WW I age as well as the growth of individualism. It is also the finest literary example of the corruption of the original American dream.

Fitzgerald is typically credited with coining the term "Jazz Age," which he used in such books as his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), also deals with the era and its effect on a young married couple.

So, what's the Jazz Age? Here are some instructive Jazz Age links:

JazzAge1920s.com
This website is dedicated to the Jazz Age music of the 1920's and to the artists who performed the music. These Jazz Age pages feature accurately researched bios of some of the lesser known personalities of the era. Mp3s are sprinkled throughout to give a flavor of the recordings of the performer and to perpetuate these wonderful tunes that have stood the test of time.

The Jazz Age: Roaring Twenties -- Digital History
The popular image of the 1920s, as a decade of prosperity and riotous living and of bootleggers and gangsters, flappers and hot jazz, flagpole sitters, and marathon dancers, is indelibly etched in the American psyche. But this image is also profoundly misleading. The 1920s was a decade of deep cultural conflict.

The Jazz Age: Music & Dancing
The musical forms that most impacted the 1910s and 20s – ragtime, blues and jazz – rose from the African-American community and are recognized as distinctly original American art forms. Originally played in saloons and bawdy houses, ragtime was a worldwide craze for years.

Prohibition in the 1920's -- Digital History
At midnight, January 16, 1920, the United States went dry; breweries, distilleries, and saloons were forced to close their doors. Led by the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the dry forces had triumphed by linking Prohibition to a variety of Progressive era social causes.

Fashion History of the 1920's -- The Flapper Era
Flapper fashion embraced all things and styles modern. A fashionable flapper had short sleek hair, a shorter than average shapeless shift dress, a chest as flat as a board, wore make up and applied it in public, smoked with a long cigarette holder, exposed her limbs and epitomized the spirit of a reckless rebel who danced the nights away in the Jazz Age.

More forthcoming in future posts!