10. BEAT New York
3. It All Began in New York
the city of New York did not conform to the values of the suburbs and besides it had it own culture, with Jazz music at its core.
3. It All Began in New York
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| the city of New York did not conform to the values of the suburbs and besides it had it own culture, with Jazz music at its core. |
The Good Old Days
When our fathers or older people generally spoke of the "Good old Days", It would appear that they were referring to the 1950's when there was a post war boom in the economy, if you were a white, middle class and heterosexual (maybe throw 'male' into that pot) then the world was not a bad place for you. The values of western society were clear and unequivocal, there was absolutely no reason for change. Sure there may be a few issues, but these were exceptions and did not reflect society as a whole. We had the police and Penal system to keep Criminals, deviants and rebels at bay.
But it was a society of appearances and the illusion of peace and tranquility was covering a multitude of social issues. Part of the problem was the fear of communication about issues that were still taboo.
In this Blog:
- The American dream was more of a nightmare for some.
- Was the unprecedented birth rate a result of technological success and conservative values?
2. The Baby Boomers
- Born into a society of conformity.
- The middle class exodus to the suburbs.
- New York the financial and political hub.
- The Elitists living in New York promote the Arts attracting talent.
- Guggenheim an Elitist builder.
- Dissenters wish to create a different society.
- A strange rise of a back street huckster, from obscurity to great influence.
1. Trouble in Paradise
- In conservative America young people getting married were generally expected to be virgins until their wedding night. Since the "sex talk" with one or both parents was simply not done, they had no clue about the workings of sexuality and probably approached the subject with feelings ranging between curiosity and dread, excitement and sheer terror.
- Attempts to consummate their relationships were surely often clumsy an embarrassing, awkward and painful. The only thing they knew for sure was to keep on smiling and maintain appearances no matter what.
2. Baby Boomers
- On the surface everything looked great, especially in the light of the burgeoning birth statistics. This was the "baby boomer" generation after all, with an unprecedented rise in the birth rate.
- The 1950's were a heterosexual couples society with Dad at work and Mum at home with the kids. It was materialistic and conformist, fashions were limited to gray flannel suites for men and cotton frocks for women, with not much room for variation.
- It was generally felt that deviants like Homosexuals were perverted and wicked people from which well brought up kids needed to be shielded from. Being a Christian society was not so much about a personal belief as much as belonging to a social club but the morality of Christendom was generally regarded as the norm.
3. It all began in New York
- Many of these suburbanites had made the move from the City to the suburbs that began mushrooming at the end of the war. The city was still the place where business and industry took place. The men would dutifully make the journey into the city in the mornings and returned to the suburbs at the end of the day.
- The city underwent a curious depopulation, and into the vacuum new immigrants and black people poured in, and poor slum areas in such as Brooklyn began to grow which in turn was to develop an whole new social problem.
Site cleared for the erection of United Nations Headquarters - 1948 lower Manhattan.
- Midtown Manhattan, fueled by postwar prosperity, was experiencing an unprecedented building boom with Glass-and-steel office towers erected in the new International Style.
- Many traditional apartment blocks were cleared and replaced with large-scale public housing projects.
- The city was still the financial hub and there were plenty of extremely wealthy Americans who preferred to be in the center of it all and not outside. Areas of central new York were reserved for elitists who had access to great resources and were determined to rebuild New York in their own image. New York had recently achieved world prominence since it had recently become the home of the United Nations built in 1947-52. It also took over, from Paris the new center of the Art World. Also Wall street rivaling London as an international finance market.
- In particular, the cities of New York and San Francisco were melting pots for all kinds of ethnic groups and people looking for a place to be anonymous and live out their lives outside of the new suburban idealism. So new York would have experienced a mixture of enormously wealthy individuals who lived in exclusive apartment areas, as well as professionals who preferred city apartments to suburbia, and then a growing population of bottom feeders that basically tried to catch the crumbs the fell from their tables.
- In the 1950's cities also formed a haven for malcontents, misfits, criminals, drug addicts and any kind of casualty that had fallen from Grace in America's middle class system and we see developing the character of the modern city as we know it today
- Many of these suburbanites had made the move from the City to the suburbs that began mushrooming at the end of the war. The city was still the place where business and industry took place. The men would dutifully make the journey into the city in the mornings and returned to the suburbs at the end of the day.
- The city underwent a curious depopulation, and into the vacuum new immigrants and black people poured in, and poor slum areas in such as Brooklyn began to grow which in turn was to develop an whole new social problem.
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| Site cleared for the erection of United Nations Headquarters - 1948 lower Manhattan. |
- Midtown Manhattan, fueled by postwar prosperity, was experiencing an unprecedented building boom with Glass-and-steel office towers erected in the new International Style.
- Many traditional apartment blocks were cleared and replaced with large-scale public housing projects.
- The city was still the financial hub and there were plenty of extremely wealthy Americans who preferred to be in the center of it all and not outside. Areas of central new York were reserved for elitists who had access to great resources and were determined to rebuild New York in their own image. New York had recently achieved world prominence since it had recently become the home of the United Nations built in 1947-52. It also took over, from Paris the new center of the Art World. Also Wall street rivaling London as an international finance market.
- In particular, the cities of New York and San Francisco were melting pots for all kinds of ethnic groups and people looking for a place to be anonymous and live out their lives outside of the new suburban idealism. So new York would have experienced a mixture of enormously wealthy individuals who lived in exclusive apartment areas, as well as professionals who preferred city apartments to suburbia, and then a growing population of bottom feeders that basically tried to catch the crumbs the fell from their tables.
- In the 1950's cities also formed a haven for malcontents, misfits, criminals, drug addicts and any kind of casualty that had fallen from Grace in America's middle class system and we see developing the character of the modern city as we know it today
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| George Tooker - The Subway 1950 -One of the earliest expressions of the modern psychological state of mind in the new concrete jungle, fear and alienation in a prison like city structure. |
This is the modern city we now know so well today - underground passageways steel and concrete structures a seething mass of people anonymous and alienated.
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| Times Square New York - This was a place unique to the USA in which the rules of middle class suburbia didn't apply. |
4. Cultural Capital
- The world of Art is a primary example of this, naturally other cultured activities such as music and theater would also benefit and blossom and would of course attract talented people who began to migrate back into the cities. So the city would be a place for non-conformists and rebels, but also gifted and creative people. The elitists were keen to cultivate radical forms of thinking in various cultural forms and with their wealth and influence they could finance any development they chose and they certainly did so.
- When Solomon Guggenheim, the heir to a mining fortune, and his art adviser, Hilla Rebay, decided to construct a museum for abstract painting, they chose visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was to be radically modern in concept and design and the end product was exactly what the elitists wanted for their new modern Utopian ideal. It shows not exactly a democratic ideal that included the average citizen, but rather it made a statement that spoke of exclusivity and wealth and power.
- The average middle class American must have been impressed, and certainly, they were welcome to make the pilgrimage to the new secular Cathedrals. And many would have made the journey to 5th avenue to admire it perhaps in similar fashion to the common masses gazing in awe at the Cathedrals in Europe of the middle ages. And just like them, they were not really included in it they were not part "of the club", only observers from the outside.
- The museum would house the new "non-Objective" Art that middle class Americans simply could not relate to, and so the Elitists of New York set a precedent that would simply broaden the divide between their respective world views and those of conservative America. In the 1950's the conservatives still held the high ground, but the liberals were making some serious challenges backed up by some powerful financial muscle.
The building was to be radically modern in concept and design and the end product was exactly what the elitists wanted for their new modern Utopian ideal
5. A Literary uprising
- Some denizens of city life had a similar desire to the conservatives in that they too wanted a society of peace and love, but a more inclusive one that made room for them and their radically different concept of freedom.
- They had a message - a message of rebellion and a cry for freedom, freedom from the constraints of the conservatives whom they despised, freedom from control and freedom to do as they pleased.To the average denizen of the New York underworld this meant a way of living that was generally hedonistic and unfettered by what they felt were outdated religious systems that, in their minds, only created judgement and hatred.
- Surely, they argued, if people could be free to live the lives they chose, the world would be a much better place since everyone would be happy and contented. They felt this was a great ideal to strive for and somehow the Puritanical values legalism of the reigning middle class needed to be overturned. So they felt they were revolutionaries meeting together in the spirit of the Dada movement that met in Zurich during the first great War. It was in this fringe atmosphere of marginalization that a literary response emerged. This form of literature was something entirely unique and new, not only in its form but equally in its content.
6. What would be an appropriate name for this new literary movement?
4. Cultural Capital
- The world of Art is a primary example of this, naturally other cultured activities such as music and theater would also benefit and blossom and would of course attract talented people who began to migrate back into the cities. So the city would be a place for non-conformists and rebels, but also gifted and creative people. The elitists were keen to cultivate radical forms of thinking in various cultural forms and with their wealth and influence they could finance any development they chose and they certainly did so.
- When Solomon Guggenheim, the heir to a mining fortune, and his art adviser, Hilla Rebay, decided to construct a museum for abstract painting, they chose visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was to be radically modern in concept and design and the end product was exactly what the elitists wanted for their new modern Utopian ideal. It shows not exactly a democratic ideal that included the average citizen, but rather it made a statement that spoke of exclusivity and wealth and power.
- The average middle class American must have been impressed, and certainly, they were welcome to make the pilgrimage to the new secular Cathedrals. And many would have made the journey to 5th avenue to admire it perhaps in similar fashion to the common masses gazing in awe at the Cathedrals in Europe of the middle ages. And just like them, they were not really included in it they were not part "of the club", only observers from the outside.
- The museum would house the new "non-Objective" Art that middle class Americans simply could not relate to, and so the Elitists of New York set a precedent that would simply broaden the divide between their respective world views and those of conservative America. In the 1950's the conservatives still held the high ground, but the liberals were making some serious challenges backed up by some powerful financial muscle.
 |
| The building was to be radically modern in concept and design and the end product was exactly what the elitists wanted for their new modern Utopian ideal |
5. A Literary uprising
- Some denizens of city life had a similar desire to the conservatives in that they too wanted a society of peace and love, but a more inclusive one that made room for them and their radically different concept of freedom.
- They had a message - a message of rebellion and a cry for freedom, freedom from the constraints of the conservatives whom they despised, freedom from control and freedom to do as they pleased.To the average denizen of the New York underworld this meant a way of living that was generally hedonistic and unfettered by what they felt were outdated religious systems that, in their minds, only created judgement and hatred.
- Surely, they argued, if people could be free to live the lives they chose, the world would be a much better place since everyone would be happy and contented. They felt this was a great ideal to strive for and somehow the Puritanical values legalism of the reigning middle class needed to be overturned. So they felt they were revolutionaries meeting together in the spirit of the Dada movement that met in Zurich during the first great War. It was in this fringe atmosphere of marginalization that a literary response emerged. This form of literature was something entirely unique and new, not only in its form but equally in its content.
6. What would be an appropriate name for this new literary movement?
- I used to assume there was a root word connection in "Beat" to rock and roll music with it’s emphasis on rhythm.
- But this is not so, the origin of the term beat being applied to a generation was conceived by Jack Kerouac who told another Beat writer, John Holmes, "You know, this is really a beat generation." The word "beat" referred loosely to their shared sense of spiritual exhaustion and diffuse feelings of rebellion and despair against what they experienced as the general conformity, hypocrisy, and materialism of the larger society around them caught up in the unprecedented prosperity of postwar America.
- The term later became part of common parlance when another Beat writer called John Holmes published an article in The New York Times Magazine entitled "This Is the Beat Generation" in 1952, which is regarded as the first piece of Beat literature.
- In the article, Holmes acknowledges the term was suggested by Jack Kerouac. He in turn had acquired the idea from a certain character rather typical of the lowlifes and street hustlers who gravitated to the big apple.
- How did a petty thief and street hustler find himself being elevated to a central figure in a new Literary movement?
- His name was Herbert Huncke, who hailed originally from Chicago, he had come to New York City and set up shop at the Angle Bar on 42nd street. He certainly was no idealistic bleeding heart liberal calling for civil liberty or anything as romantic as that. He survived as a drug dealer and would also hustle anything else he could steal or get his hands on including himself.
- The first person he met, connected to the Beat movement was, William Burroughs, he had introduced him to one of his products, Heroin. Burroughs had in turn introduced him to the rest of the group.They were entranced, by him, inspired by his stories of street lore with its criminal life, street slang and his vast knowledge of drugs.
- I used to assume there was a root word connection in "Beat" to rock and roll music with it’s emphasis on rhythm.
- But this is not so, the origin of the term beat being applied to a generation was conceived by Jack Kerouac who told another Beat writer, John Holmes, "You know, this is really a beat generation." The word "beat" referred loosely to their shared sense of spiritual exhaustion and diffuse feelings of rebellion and despair against what they experienced as the general conformity, hypocrisy, and materialism of the larger society around them caught up in the unprecedented prosperity of postwar America.
- The term later became part of common parlance when another Beat writer called John Holmes published an article in The New York Times Magazine entitled "This Is the Beat Generation" in 1952, which is regarded as the first piece of Beat literature.
- In the article, Holmes acknowledges the term was suggested by Jack Kerouac. He in turn had acquired the idea from a certain character rather typical of the lowlifes and street hustlers who gravitated to the big apple.
- How did a petty thief and street hustler find himself being elevated to a central figure in a new Literary movement?
- His name was Herbert Huncke, who hailed originally from Chicago, he had come to New York City and set up shop at the Angle Bar on 42nd street. He certainly was no idealistic bleeding heart liberal calling for civil liberty or anything as romantic as that. He survived as a drug dealer and would also hustle anything else he could steal or get his hands on including himself.
- The first person he met, connected to the Beat movement was, William Burroughs, he had introduced him to one of his products, Heroin. Burroughs had in turn introduced him to the rest of the group.They were entranced, by him, inspired by his stories of street lore with its criminal life, street slang and his vast knowledge of drugs.
An aspiring, Columbia-centered literary crowd was soon learning at Mr. Huncke's feet.
- Huncke's use of the word “beat” meaning "tired" inspired Jack Kerouac to write about burned out hipsters, he was subsequently immortalized in Kerouac's famous book, "On the Road" as the character Elmer Hassel.
- He became the title character (Herbert) in Burroughs's first book, ''Junkie'' (1962).
- He was Ancke in John Holmes's 1952 novel, ''Go.'' (which is considered the first "Beat Novel").
- Hunke appears under his own name in innumerable Ginsberg poems, including ''Howl'' (1956).
- One certainly can wonder about of Herbert Hunke, what would he have felt about all this fame and status that was thrust upon him? Surely the hustler in him must have thought he had hit the jack pot. Was he conscious of his part in the new revolution, or just very happy to tag along and milk it for all its worth.
- Even more remarkable, this was just the beginning for Hunke, indeed he was soon to be elevated to even higher echelons, one can hardly imagine how this could be, but a really fascinating web of connections led him to a famous ivy league Academic.
Alfred Kinsey.
What could possibly be the connection between Alfred Kinsey an American professor of entomology and zoology, and sexologist who in founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University 1947 and a street Hustler the likes of Herbert Hunke?
Lets find out. . . next The Kinsey Report.
|
| An aspiring, Columbia-centered literary crowd was soon learning at Mr. Huncke's feet. |
- Huncke's use of the word “beat” meaning "tired" inspired Jack Kerouac to write about burned out hipsters, he was subsequently immortalized in Kerouac's famous book, "On the Road" as the character Elmer Hassel.
- He became the title character (Herbert) in Burroughs's first book, ''Junkie'' (1962).
- He was Ancke in John Holmes's 1952 novel, ''Go.'' (which is considered the first "Beat Novel").
- Hunke appears under his own name in innumerable Ginsberg poems, including ''Howl'' (1956).
- One certainly can wonder about of Herbert Hunke, what would he have felt about all this fame and status that was thrust upon him? Surely the hustler in him must have thought he had hit the jack pot. Was he conscious of his part in the new revolution, or just very happy to tag along and milk it for all its worth.
- Even more remarkable, this was just the beginning for Hunke, indeed he was soon to be elevated to even higher echelons, one can hardly imagine how this could be, but a really fascinating web of connections led him to a famous ivy league Academic.
Alfred Kinsey.
What could possibly be the connection between Alfred Kinsey an American professor of entomology and zoology, and sexologist who in founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University 1947 and a street Hustler the likes of Herbert Hunke?
Lets find out. . . next The Kinsey Report.
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