[Ads-l] Jazz Girls, 1915?

Tue Oct 27 16:03:48 UTC 2015

I notice also the reference in the third excerpt to '"come and go" hotels'--more artfully inexplicit than the "hot-sheet hotels" and the "no-tell motels" of today.  After all, perhaps the couples, like the ladies of that period, will just come and go talking of Michelangelo.

LH

> On Oct 27, 2015, at 11:15 AM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> A few early examples of jazz, jaz or jass illustrate different senses in which the words were used in the early days in Chicago: pep (similar to the original sense reported in California in 1913), drugs and music - could sex be far behind? (All examples from Chicago or Illinois in 1916.)
> 
> Well, it's like this with me (gesture with little finger) - the spring fever's in my bones and I'm minus some pep.  And any old time you think I don't know what to do, your wrong! You'll find me over t'the Haven getting some of the ol' jaz back 'round a game of rotation.
> The Daily Illini (Champaingn, Illinois), March 7, 1916, page 5.
> 
> In the past twenty-nine days we have made thirty-six arrests.  More than 75 percent of the drug users are burglars, pickpockets, criminals of every sort, panders or prostitutes.  Criminals have a much easier time procuring their "jaz," their "junk," "mud," "snow," or their "hop," than an honest person would.
> Chicago Examiner, March 28, 1916, page 9.
> 
> 
> 
> On a floor so crowded that couples can’t move around
> hundreds just stand in a spot and shake themselves up and down to the sensuous
> rhythm of a jaz band.  Drinking and
> carousing go on, although the place never had a license to sell booze.  The policemen have stood by and watched the
> rough-house; they didn’t question it.
> 
> Dozens of couples, often of mixed race, leave the dance hall
> for nearby “come and go” hotels which have never been bothered since the morals
> commission became unpopular with the City Hall forces.
> 
> The Day Book (Chicago), October 7, 1916, page 2.
> 
> Saw drinks, music and obscene dancing.  First jass band in Chicago at Schiller.
> The Day Book (Chicago), October 18, 1916, page 4.
> 
> If anyone's interested, have two blog posts with some early jazz-related examples:
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__esnpc.blogspot.com_2014_10_ben-2Dhendersons-2Dtrouble-2Dwith-2Dcurve-2Djazz.html&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yHEFXnATeYkmw_S6QhGWpy7-lfSNrpzvcSKx2LvLfdU&s=nXx4BTtRUFMIdxXzoDQMVRTB6WRvAha6xNIkYTdT-e8&e= 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__esnpc.blogspot.com_2014_09_is-2Djasbo-2Djazz-2Dor-2Djust-2Dhokum-2Dand-2Dgravy.html&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yHEFXnATeYkmw_S6QhGWpy7-lfSNrpzvcSKx2LvLfdU&s=Wxb7E2uxHdbJoJmVYdt80jmRWg2xd_6_iCb3i_CdheY&e= 
> Peter Reitan
> 
>> Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:19:13 -0400
>> From: bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
>> Subject: Re: Jazz Girls, 1915?
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Jazz Girls, 1915?
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Christopher Philippo wrote:
>>> 
>>> The date of its production is disputed, some theorizing it was made in
>>> the 1920s.  Just to throw in another wrinkle: regardless of when it was
>>> made, I would guess it is at least possible that the title cards are not
>>> the original ones.
>> 
>> Good point -- there's no way of knowing when the title cards were
>> added. In Linda Williams' 1989 book _Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and
>> the "Frenzy of the Visible"_, she talks about watching a print at the
>> Kinsey Institute that had some shots inserted from a later stag film
>> ("The Casting Couch," 1924), so it's clearly tricky determining what's
>> "original" in a film like this.
>> 
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__books.google.com_books-3Fid-3DOMa96WrLnhQC-26pg-3DPA61&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yHEFXnATeYkmw_S6QhGWpy7-lfSNrpzvcSKx2LvLfdU&s=DdzIABEg8k8JwEcyzagWWYoHe3Wg_SdxzFbL7AO833g&e= 
>> 
>> Williams says the Kinsey Institute dates the film to 1917-19, which
>> would be enough for "Jazz Girls" to make more historical sense without
>> even jumping to the '20s. (According to Wikipedia, the estimate of
>> c1923 is based on one of the girls' Mary Pickford-style hair.)
>> 
>> --bgz
>> 
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> 		 	   		  
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> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yHEFXnATeYkmw_S6QhGWpy7-lfSNrpzvcSKx2LvLfdU&s=r3-2sdCm4Kir4a6p_3vWZBvUqLIZE1AgSpKZYrNQMLg&e= 

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