“Machinal” Dramaturgy

WHO WAS SOPHIE TREADWELL?

Sophie Treadwell is a famous writer who had many successes in her career as a playwright
who had written over thirty plays, seven of which were produced on Broadway between 1922
through 1941. Her other career roles include journalist, novelist, producer and sometimes
director and actress. She has also written various journalistic articles, fictional stories, and
novels.

She was born on October 3, 1885 in Stockton, California to the parents of Alfred and Nettie
Treadwell. Her father, Alfred, was a lawyer, city prosecutor, justice of the peace and judge.
Growing up, Treadwell saw first hand the struggles of marriage and saw her parents separate in
the 1890s. Her parents did not legally divorce, making her childhood difficult as she lived with
both her mother and father.

Treadwell attended the University of California – Berkeley where she began to explore her
passions and early development as a playwright. Her involvement at the university included
activities such as drama club, foreign language, and editor of a college humor magazine. Here
she received her Bachelor’s of Letters in French in 1906. Following her studies at the university,
she began her career as a journalist working for the ​San Francisco​ ​Bulletin​. It was here where
Treadwell met her husband, William O. McGeehan, a fellow journalist and sports writer. The two
married in 1910 and were married for nearly two decades.

As Treadwell’s career began to take off as an investigative journalist and serial writer in
San Francisco, McGeehan left the Bay Area and headed to New York to work at the ​New ​York
Evening Journal i​ n 1914. In the following year, Treadwell followed her husband and ​was
employed as a writer at the ​New York American​.

It was in New York where Treadwell began to join political movements by involving herself in
organizations in support of women’s equality and rights. She participated in marches that
advocated women’s suffrage demanding the right to vote and also was a member of the Lucy
Stone League, an organization in support of women’s rights. It was here where she began to
introduce herself by her maiden name. Additionally, Treadwell was also supportive of sexual
freedom for women and even had an affair with painter, Maynard Dixon, for a short period of
time between the years 1916 through 1919.

Treadwell’s best-​-known work is the play titled, ​Machinal​. It was directed and produced by
Arthur Hopkins at the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on September 7, 1928, which ran for
ninety-​-one performances. This piece is remarkable in the expressionist efforts that Treadwell
uses to tell a common story about an everyday woman. Her inspiration for ​Machinal ​stems from
her career as a journalist and reporter covering murder trials of women, including the Ruth
Snyder and Judd Gray murder trial, and her personal experiences.

Throughout Treadwell’s life it is evident that her career inspired her to write and experience the
most for her life. On February 20, 1970, Sophie Treadwell passed away.
Works that Treadwell wrote include the following:​Gringo​ (1922), ​O Nightingale​ (1924), ​Machinal
(1928), ​Ladies Leave​ (1929), ​Lone Valley​ (1933), ​Plumes in the Dust​ (1936), and ​Hope for
Harvest ​(1941).

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

An early landmark moment in the Industrial Revolution came near the end of the eighteenth
century, when Samuel Slater brought new manufacturing technologies from Britain to the United
States and founded the first U.S. cotton mill in Beverly, Massachusetts. Slater’s mill, like many
of the mills and factories that sprang up in the next few decades, was powered by water, which
confined industrial development to the northeast at first. The concentration of industry in the
Northeast also facilitated the development of transportation systems such as railroads and
canals, which encouraged commerce and trade.

The technological innovation that would come to mark the United States in the nineteenth
century began to show itself with Robert Fulton’s establishment of steamboat service on the
Hudson River, Samuel F. B. Morse’s invention of the telegraph, and Elias Howe’s invention of
the sewing machine, all before the Civil War. Following the Civil War, industrialization in the
United States increased at a breakneck pace. This period, encompassing most of the second
half of the nineteenth century, has been called the Second Industrial Revolution or the American
Industrial Revolution. Over the first half of the century, the country expanded greatly, and the
new territory was rich in natural resources. Completing the first transcontinental railroad in 1869
was a major milestone, making it easier to transport people, raw materials, and products. The
United States also had vast human resources: between 1860 and 1900, fourteen million
immigrants came to the country, providing workers for an array of industries.

The American industrialists overseeing this expansion were ready to take risks to make their
businesses successful. Andrew Carnegie established the first steel mills in the U.S. to use the
British “Bessemer process” for mass producing steel, becoming a titan of the steel industry in
the process. He acquired business interests in the mines that produced the raw material for
steel, the mills and ovens that created the final product and the railroads and shipping lines that
transported the goods, thus controlling every aspect of the steelmaking process.

Other industrialists, including John D. Rockefeller, merged the operations of many large
companies to form a trust. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust came to monopolize 90% of the
industry, severely limiting competition. These monopolies were often accused of intimidating
smaller businesses and competitors in order to maintain high prices and profits. Economic
influence gave these industrial magnates significant political clout as well. The U.S. government
adopted policies that supported industrial development such as providing land for the
construction of railroads and maintaining high tariffs to protect American industry from foreign
competition.

American inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison created a long list of
new technologies that improved communication, transportation, and industrial production.
Edison made improvements to existing technologies, including the telegraph while also creating
revolutionary new technologies such as the light bulb, the phonograph, the kinetograph, and the
electric dynamo. Bell, meanwhile, explored new speaking and hearing technologies, and
became known as the inventor of the telephone.

For millions of working Americans, the industrial revolution changed the very nature of their daily
work. Previously, they might have worked for themselves at home, in a small shop, or outdoors,
crafting raw materials into products, or growing a crop from seed to table. When they took
factory jobs, they were working for a large company. The repetitive work often involved only one
small step in the manufacturing process, so the worker did not see or appreciate what was
being made; the work was often dangerous and performed in unsanitary conditions. Some
women entered the workforce, as did many children. Child labor became a major issue.

Dangerous working conditions, long hours, and concern over wages and child labor contributed
to the growth of labor unions. In the decades after the Civil War, workers organized strikes and
work stoppages that helped to publicize their problems. One especially significant labor
upheaval was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Wage cuts in the railroad industry led to the
strike, which began in West Virginia and spread to three additional states over a period of 45
days before being violently ended by a combination of vigilantes, National Guardsmen, and
federal troops. Similar episodes occurred more frequently in the following decades as workers
organized and asserted themselves against perceived injustices.

The new jobs for the working class were in the cities. Thus, the Industrial Revolution began the
transition of the United States from a rural to an urban society. Young people raised on farms
saw greater opportunities in the cities and moved there, as did millions of immigrants from
Europe. Providing housing for all the new residents of cities was a problem, and many workers
found themselves living in urban slums; open sewers ran alongside the streets, and the water
supply was often tainted, causing disease. These deplorable urban conditions gave rise to the
Progressive Movement in the early twentieth century; the result would be many new laws to
protect and support people, eventually changing the relationship between government and the
people.

WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE

Women began getting even more involved in the workforce throughout the 1920s and there was
a growing appeal to work. However, the concept of "pink collar" jobs was introduced into society
during this time as well. Society was accepting women into average jobs, however, most
assumed that it was necessary for women to work feminine type of positions. These
occupations were those such as secretary work or telephone operators. They were also highly
underpaid at that time for the amount of work they were doing but equal payment laws weren't
yet in effect. Thus it was excusable at the time.

The pink collar status was still relevant in post-college level careers as well. At this point in
history women had already been accepted as educated and college educated, however career
options for women were more focused on education, nursing, fashion, and social work. Still
there were some women who found successful careers as lawyers, journalists or doctors
however it was difficult and rare for a woman to find these fields as successful as men.

Many women through the 1920s managed to work and mange the home, however the majority
of women remained in the house as housewives or mothers. This time in society also believed
that women should raise children according to how psychiatrists and doctors advise them rather
than previous parenting methods.

With the passage of the 19th Amendment, women were given the right to vote in 1920, but
voting remained an upper- and middle-class activity. No new opportunities in the workplace
arose, and the momentum of the women's movement at the beginning of the decade was
eventually swallowed by the rise of consumer culture.

NEW YORK IN THE 1920s

The period of the 1920s was widely regarded as an era of prosperity. Unemployment amongst
urban workers remained, on average, under 7 percent. Per capita income grew by a third during
a decade of economic expansion that remained relatively unmarred by inflation and recession.
The standard of living improved across the board for the employed sector of the economy. Such
improvements were measured not only in increases in earnings between 1922 and 1929, but in
living conditions. A 1929 Bureau of Labor Statistics study of Ford Motor Company employees
found, for example that industrial workers lived in far more salubrious conditions than they did at
the turn of the century. Employed workers lived in houses that provided, on average, one room
per person. They enjoyed electricity, central heating, and inside running water, and toilets. The
notion of abundance and consumerism became a means of establishing American unity. In
some sense, though, little changed for the industrial worker. Unemployment in this period was,
indeed, lower than it had been in previous decades, but continued high unemployment and job
turnover characterized the industrial working experience. A continued labor surplus fueled not
by immigration but Black migration and migration from the farm to the city along with the
displacement of both skilled and unskilled workers with machines insured continued levels of
high unemployment and job insecurity along with limited improvements in wages and working
conditions.

The gap between the City's infrastructural capacity and its population once again widened. The
City's roadways did not keep pace with the rapidly increasing popularity of the automobile.
Between 1918 and the end of the 1920s, there were more than a half a million new motor
vehicles on the streets yet there had been no new highway construction within the City, choking
the City with traffic.

The 1920s was also the era of Prohibition, when the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
banned the sale, manufacturing and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This invited the
interest of bootleggers and highlighted the age’s burgeoning gang culture.

Ethnic gangs–particularly Italian-American ones–vied for bootlegger business, ushering in a

sophisticated but sordid era of smuggling, money laundering and the bribing of police and other
public officials in New York in the 1920s.

During this time, the Mafia flourished in New York City, which unsurprisingly came to be known
as the world capital of crime.
 RUTH SNYDER TRIAL
In 1927, the Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray murder trial caused a sensational media frenzy for
newspapers and reporters publishing photographs and recordings for the public to take part in.
Within just three months 1,500,000 words were written on the case and it is noted that 180
reporters were assigned to report on it. The case also received attention due to Snyder’s fate of
being the first woman to be sentenced to death by the electric chair in the state of New York.
 On March 20, 1927, Albert Snyder was found murdered in his bedroom. He had been beaten in
the head with a blunt object, chloroformed, and strangled with picture wire. His wife, Ruth
Snyder, was found alive bound and gagged outside of their daughter’s bedroom. When police
arrived at the scene the house had been turned upside down, drawers emptied, and Ruth’s
jewelry stolen. The police became suspicious when they found Ruth’s stolen jewelry under a
mattress. Upon hearing that her husband had died, it was said by police that Snyder surprisingly
shed only a few tears.

After spending almost twenty-​-four hours in questioning, Snyder confessed to killing her
husband with the help of her lover, Judd Gray, a corset salesman. She had beaten him with the
help of Gray in their bedroom all while her nine-​-year-​-old daughter was sound asleep in her
room next door. Both Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray were convicted of murder and was executed
at the Sing Sing prison in New York on January 12, 1928.

Ruth Snyder, a discontented Long Island housewife, convinced her lover, Judd Gray, that her
husband was mistreating her. The pair killed him with a sash weight. Their trial was a media
frenzy, attended by such celebrities as film pioneer D.W. Griffith and evangelist Billy Sunday.
The jury was out 98 minutes before it returned with a guilty verdict. Gray was executed first on
January 12, 1928. Snyder followed just a few minutes later. A clever photographer from the ​New
York Daily New​s, with a camera strapped to his ankle, snapped a picture of her as the juice
coursed through her body. It sold 250,000 extra copies and is the iconic image of the 1920s.

MAJOR THEMES

● During the 1920s, the radio was considered the most powerful way of communication.
By the end of the decade, nearly 60% of American homes had a radio to listen in on
current events right as they were happening. They began broadcasting things like
popular music, classical music, sporting events, lectures, fictional stories, newscasts,
weather reports, market updates, political commentary, religious stories/events, and
even operas during certain seasons.
● In order to pull people into reading the magazines/newspapers, writers often wrote about
thrilling and sensational stories or created tabloids to hook their readers.
● Jazz and tabloid journalism charted a new era of sensationalism focusing on sex and
crime.
● Newspapers helped create a common popular culture - everyone read them and could
share in the news of the day.
● Power structures
○ Employer v. employee; husband v. wife; judge v. convict; prison v. prisoner;
doctor v. patient; doctor v. nurse; man v. woman; law v. citizen; system v. human

EPISODE I - At Business
 ● Adding machine​ - ​a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping
calculations
○ Adding clerk​ - the person who operated the adding machine
● Filing clerk​ - ​keep files and documents organized for companies. File​ ​clerks work with
both paper documents and electronic files, and do routine tasks like data entry,
organization, cross-referencing, scanning, copying and retrieval.
● Stenographer​ - ​a person whose job is to transcribe speech in shorthand.
● Telephone operator at a switchboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWDpqa1EhgU
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/1920s-woman-supervises-line-of-telephone-stock-vid
eo-footage/2005-36

● “Hot dog!”​ - exclamation of delight/enthusiastic approval

● “Hew to the line”​ - uphold, closely conform; a line marked along the length of a log
indicating where to chop in order to shape a beam.
● “Haste makes waste”​ - acting too quickly may result in slowing things down; in the
person’s rush, they may forget to do things
● “It gives a line”​ - to lead someone on
● Neckers​ - a girl who wraps her arms around her boyfriend’s neck
● Petters​ - “pet” = “neck” = “passionate kiss”; passionate kissers
● Sweet papas
● Women in the workplace
○ Society was accepting women into average jobs, however, most assumed that it
was necessary for women to work feminine type of positions. These occupations
were those such as secretary work or telephone operators. They were also highly
underpaid at that time for the amount of work they were doing but equal payment
laws weren't yet in effect. At this point in history women had already been
accepted as educated and college educated, however career options for women
were more focused on education, nursing, fashion, and social work. Still there
were some women who found successful careers as lawyers, journalists or
doctors however it was difficult and rare for a woman to find these fields as
 successful as men.
● Hierarchy of Business
○ https://www.hierarchystructure.com/business-organization-hierarchy/

EPISODE II - At Home

● Mother/Daughter relationships in the 1920s

○ There was a culture of “smother love” and mothers not letting their daughters
breathe. Writer John Watson warned against mothers coddling their children and
suggested that mothers avoid physical contact and that their behavior towards
them should “always be objective and kindly firm.”
○ Dr. L. Emmett Holt published a book on child rearing in 1894 that discouraged
physical contact and emotional involvement from the mother. H​olt theorized that
mothers should not pick up crying babies because they would become spoiled if
overly handled. He wrote, "Babies under six months old should never be played
with; and the less of it at any time the better for the infant."
● Diet in the 1920s
○ The intense consumer culture projected the illusion that people should constantly
want more and better for themselves than what they had or looked like. Certain
products would make people happier, more complete, healthier, more successful.
This led to a culture of getting “slimmer” and more “perfect.” It was believed that
the way people looked and what products they used had an intrinsic value to
them
○ “Reducing” was the main diet fad - special creams, soaps, and tablets were
created as fat reducing products
● Marriage was not as common in the 1920s as it had been in previous eras. Women
started to openly claim their independence and desire for freedom. 8 out of 1,000
marriages from the ‘20s ended in divorce.
● Married women were expected to be submissive to their husbands because they were
already considered “good enough” to marry. Men were expected to provide the income
that women used to uphold the home. If a woman didn’t have a job, she had to rely on a
man to support her.
● Most married women became housewives and their primary focus was taking care of
their children. They were expected to not have jobs and focus solely on supporting the
household.
● Mother song
● Home song
● Hand care in the 1920s
○ Nails - the most popular nail polish brand was a formula derived from glossy paint
for cars that was discovered by Michelle Manard. This eventually became the
 formula used by the nail polish brand Revlon. and the “moon manicure” was the
big style trend. This style was a result of the emergence of the Art Deco
movement.
○ Women favored bold but feminine colors such as bright pinks, bold reds, and light
purples

○ Bleaches were recommended to lighten the skin on hands, especially during the
evening when hands would like brighter​.
○ To protect their hands, women were advised to wear gloves when venturing
outdoors and to apply soothing or softening preparations overnight.
○ The use of “cosmetic gloves,” was widespread and women wore them while they
were sleeping. They were designed to soften and whiten the skin and required a
formula that was to be brushed on the inside of gloves, typically made of dog
skin.
■ 2 egg yolks
■ 2 tablespoons of sweet almond oil
■ 2.5 teaspoons of tincture of benzoin
■ 1 tablespoon of rose water
 ■ Beat them well together, and keep in a closely corked bottle. The gloves
should be freshly painted every night, and the same pair should not be
used longer than two weeks.
● http://cosmeticsandskin.com/fgf/hand-creams.php
● https://www.inspirationail.com/history-20s/
● Filth
● How women crossed their legs (both standing and sitting):
http://glamourdaze.com/2014/03/1920s-fashion-flappers-look-to-your-legs.html
● $0.25 = $3.49
● Salary of garbage man was $240 ($3,413.14 today)

EPISODE III - Honeymoon

● Husband’s stories
○ Pullman porter​ - ​men hired to work on the railroads as porters on sleeping cars.
○ Tart​ - ​a woman who dresses or behaves in a way that is considered tasteless
and sexually provocative.
● $12 =​ ​$153.29
● Women were expected to know nothing about sex before their wedding night. The less a
woman knew, the more attractive she was to her husband. The husband was supposed
to introduce his wife to sex. It was also believed that the presence of married sex kept
women sane.
● “It is necessary that the virgin should not enter the married state without even theoretical
knowledge of sex. Those who counsel such unenlightenment are unconsciously guilty of
cruelty. Many young wives have considered themselves the subjects of outrage on the
bridal night. There have been cases of sudden disappearance and flight on the eve of
wedding. Now and then one reads a painful report of suicide at this crisis in a girl's life.”
(Psychology of Marriage)
● http://theweek.com/articles/457268/advice-wedding-night-from-100-years-ago
● Garter​ - ​a band worn around the leg to keep up a stocking or sock
● Racy jokes/limericks in the 1920s
● Sophie Tucker
○ Sophie Tucker was a comedian, actress, and radio personality.
○ After leaving producers who forced her to wear blackface during her
performances to distract from her size, she became popular by integrating “fat
girl” humor and her Jewish heritage into her acts. She was also one of the first
singers to bring jazz to white vaudeville audiences.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEAPbn7rgU8
● Atlantic City in the 1920s
○ http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/real-boardwalk-empire-gallery-1.9027
0
○ Enoch L. “Nucky” Johnson was a gangster who ran Atlantic City and monitored
all of the illegal booze, prostitution, and money flowing in and out of the
boardwalk.
○ Nucky and other crime bosses met in Atlantic City in 1929 to discuss organizing
the world into a “National Crime Syndicate.” This is considered one of the earliest
“crime summits” held in the U.S.
○ Atlantic City was the birthplace of the beauty parades and bathing suit pageants
that would lead to the famed Miss America contest.

○ It was also home to the Atlantic City Speedway where car races took place.
○ Atlantic City attracted people who were down on their luck, mobsters, B-list
celebrities, and other criminals in general, especially ones who were on the run.
● Window treatments were either fabric shades or Venetian blinds. Blinds were more
common in offices, however.

EPISODE IV - Maternal

● “In 1921, approximately 18,000 American women died during childbirth. In 1920,
248,432 American children under the age of five had died. The harsh reality that
childbirth was a potentially deadly proposition and that youngsters were susceptible to a
range of possibly fatal maladies resulted in swift government action. Child hygiene
information was made available to parents. Public health and infant welfare services
 were established. Six national health groups united to form the American Child Health
Organization. President Herbert Hoover helped raise funds to support health education.”
● Young Woman most likely gave birth in the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in the
Jersey City Medical Center, which was the biggest maternity hospital in the world at the
time. Construction on the Maternity Hospital started in 1928 and was finished in 1931. It
was built to combat the shortage and inconvenience of maternity care facilities
beforehand
● Treatment of patients had just moved from the setting of the home to hospitals. Hospitals
were considered more scientific institutions than places of care.
● It was believed that spontaneous labor was harmful for the mother and child.
● Young Woman “was most likely to be attended by a doctor who believed childbirth was a
‘pathologic process’ and that ‘normal deliveries’ were so rare that every procedure must
be used, according to Dr. Joseph DeLee, author of the ​most frequently used obstetric
textbook​ of the time. Hence, ​doctors routinely​ forcibly dilated the cervix, gave ether
during the second stage of labor, cut an episiotomy, delivered the baby with forceps,
extracted the placenta, gave medications for the uterus to contract and then stitched up
the episiotomy.” (Cosmopolitan)
● Women were usually confined to their beds for 2 weeks after giving birth
● How to check a pulse: ​https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756652/
● Healthcare/insurance was highly privatized and available mainly to the upper classes.
● Women weren’t allowed to hold jobs during their pregnancy.
● The first epidural wasn’t done until 1931 and injections weren’t common until the 1980s.
● Husbands typically weren’t allowed in delivery rooms, as the doctors found them
distracting. Both parents found this unfavorable and a movement began to form to
advocate for fathers to be in the delivery room during birth.
● Postpartum depression​ - the type of ​depression​ you may get after you have a baby. It
can start any time during your baby’s first year, but it’s most common for you to start to
feel its effects during the first 3 weeks after birth. If you have it, you might feel sad,
hopeless, and guilty because you may not feel like you want to bond with, or care for,
your baby.
● In the 1800s, doctors didn’t hold much power and it was seen as an “eclectic” career. It
only became more important in the public’s eye towards the end of the 1800s. By the
1920s, it was seen as a disciplined, state-licensed, but still self-regulating profession
“which had consolidated its social and political power and established a virtual monopoly
over health care.” (The Power of the Doctors)
● “The American College of Surgeons (ACS) was founded which imposed strict standards
of membership. Of 692 large hospitals examined in 1918, only 13% were approved by
ACS, but by 1932, 93% of 1600 large hospitals examined met ACS requirements, again
an improvement that came with an overall increase in medical cost. A typical physician in
1913 averaged only $500 to $700/year, only a little more than the income made by the
American manual laboring classes.”
 ○ The ACS educated doctors and imposed stricter requirements, better facilities,
higher fees, and tougher standards. This was originally advocated by Abraham
Flexner of the Carnegie Foundation.
○ $500 = $6,977.80
○ $700 = $9,768.92
● After World War I, nurses were in high demand to help fight off tuberculosis, improve
maternity and infant care, and taking healthcare to rural areas. Nursing schools were
crowded and the field soon became oversaturated with nurses. By the end of the 1920s,
the number of working nurses had almost doubled from 150,000 to 294,000.
○ Timeline of nursing history in the 1920s:
https://www.wsna.org/about/centennial/1920s
● Graves’ Disease​ - ​an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of
thyroid hormones. Symptoms include anxiety/irritability, fine tremor of hands/fingers,
heat sensitivity/increase in perspiration, reduced libido, fatigue, palpitations.
● Women during the early twentieth century claimed to have suffered from nervous
disorders such as hysteria and neurasthenia, and some believe that it had been caused
by the stress of the rapid changes in a modern society. Common symptoms of hysteria
include sleeplessness, anorexia, irritability, nervousness, and desire. Treadwell suffered
from neurasthenia. Electrotherapy was commonly used to help relieve patients of these
nervous symptoms. Treadwell spent time in a sanitarium where she was treated for her
condition.
● References in end monologue
○ St. Peter​ - ​Peter, who was also known as Simon Peter of Cephas, is considered
the first Pope. Despite his papacy, Peter had humble beginnings and became
one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Keeper of the keys to the kingdom; guard of
Heaven
○ Vixen​ - ​In ​Greek mythology​, the Teumessian fox, or Cadmean vixen, was a
gigantic ​fox​ that was destined never to be caught. It was said that it had been
sent by the gods to prey upon the children of ​Thebes​ as a punishment for ​a
national crime​.
○ Mary​ - ​a 1st-century BC Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth, and the mother of
Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran
○ Puffie​ - mythical monster/creature that had children

EPISODE V - Prohibited

● Prohibition Era​ (1920 - 1933) - ​when the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
banned the sale, manufacturing and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This invited
the interest of bootleggers and highlighted the age’s burgeoning gang culture.
○ Speakeasy​ - ​also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that
sells alcoholic beverages.
● LGBTQ+ culture in the 1920s
○ Gay men and women led flourishing, open lives. Beginning in the 1890s, gay life
was a huge part of the social culture of many neighborhoods in New York. Gay
and straight people mingled at speakeasies, cabarets, and saloons. They even
hosted drag balls to entertain both gay and straight patrons.
○ There was a strong cultural world that had its own language, customs, and
history. Gay writers, actors, and musicians performed distinctive gay literature
and art. They even performed on Broadway in the late ‘20s.
○ Gay culture even made its way into blues music. Some lyrics reference
homosexual behavior, and while it wasn’t celebrated, it certainly wasn’t
degraded. It was accepted as a part of sexuality, which the blues often made
reference to.
○ Speakeasies usually allowed gay and straight patrons to mingle, but there were
quite a few speakeasies in Harlem specifically for the gay population.
■ Edmond’s Cellar
■ Lulu’s Belle - popular hangout for drag queens
■ Hot Cha - popular among gay black men
■ Harry Hansberry’s Clam House - the most popular of all gay speakeasies;
featured Gladys Bentley, a lesbian performer
● I​llegal abortion was responsible for at least 14 percent of the nation's maternal mortality
● “Fairy”​ - derogatory term for flamboyant gay man
● Sherry​ - f​ortified after fermentation with high-proof brandy, to about 16–18 percent
alcohol, depending upon type. The main styles of sherries, listed from driest and palest
to sweetest and darkest are fino, manzanilla, amontillado, oloroso, cream, and Pedro
Ximénez.
● Amontillado​ - 17.5% alcohol
● “They’re stung!”​ - ​to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge
● Bird​ - girl/young woman; especially a girlfriend
● Edgar Allan Poe​ - American writer; potentially queer?
● Paul-Marie Verlaine​ - French poet; met a man and abandoned his wife and child; poems
were about his lover and missing his wife; also fell in love with one of his students
● One room apartment in the West 40s: $179.14 - 214.97
● $0.50 = $6.39
● How women crossed their legs (both standing and sitting):
http://glamourdaze.com/2014/03/1920s-fashion-flappers-look-to-your-legs.html
● Social etiquette
○ Leave items (hats, umbrellas, coats, etc.) in the hallway. However, unlike men,
women weren’t required to do this. Hats were often pinned to their hair and
considered part of the outfit and they were allowed to move in and out of different
spaces with their hats on. Women would usually take their hats off in places they
were comfortable. Women also usually wore hats to the office.
○ Gloves were only removed if the lady was going to eat. They were also
considered part of the outfit.
○ Only shake a lady’s hand if she goes to shake it first
○ Never stare at objects or people
○ Open the door for a woman, even if it means crossing the room
○ Men were not to show visible signs of emotion
○ https://prezi.com/i0pq2sj8jbpb/social-etiquette-of-the-1920s/
○ Kissing someone’s hand was very uncommon in the U.S. and usually only done
in foreign courts

EPISODE VI - Intimate

● “Cielito Lindo”​ - ​is a popular ​Mexican​ song from a Spanish ​copla​, popularized in 1882 by
Mexican​ author ​Quirino Mendoza y Cortés​. It is roughly translated as "Lovely Sweet
One". Although the word ​cielo​ means "sky" or "heaven", it is also a term of endearment
comparable to sweetheart or honey. ​Cielito,​ the diminutive, can be translated as
 ​ eans "cute", "lovely" or "pretty". Sometimes the song is known by
"sweetie"; ​lindo m
words from the refrain, "Canta y no llores" or simply the "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay song".
○ https://www.youtube.com/embed/U5RC3BJ2PMo
● "Song for Hal (Every Little Wave Had Its Nightcap On)"​ by Laura Elizabeth Howe
Richards. It's a nursery rhyme about washing your hair. It probably dates back to 1890
and there's no official recording.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPqK33CvM4
○ http://machinalclass.tumblr.com/post/76334066756/song-for-hal-or-every-little-wa
ve-had-its
○ https://fajrdrako.dreamwidth.org/1108718.html
● Dago​ - ​an ethnic slur referring to Italians and people of Italian origin or ethnicity and
sometimes Spaniards and the Portuguese
● Tar weed​ - a flower in the sunflower family that is known for its sticky leaves and smell,
which has been likened to paint thinner

● Volupte​ - rich and intense ​pleasure​, especially sexual pleasure​; ​in ​Roman mythology​,
Voluptas or Volupta, according to ​Apuleius​, is the daughter born from the union of ​Cupid
and Psyche​. She is often found in the company of the ​Gratiae​, or Three Graces, and she
is known as the goddess of "sensual pleasures", "voluptas" meaning "pleasure" or
"delight".
● Twin Peaks, San Francisco, California
● Chinese water lily​ - native to central and eastern Asia

● Rio Grande​ - one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern
Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows
to the Gulf of Mexico
 EPISODE VII - Domestic

● Divan​ - a sofa without a back or arms

● Davenport sofa​ - ​the name of a series of ​sofas​ made by the Massachusetts furniture
manufacturer ​A. H. Davenport and Company​, now defunct. Due to the popularity of the
furniture at the time, the name ​davenport​ became a​ trademark

● Revolutions below the Rio Grande

● Huckster​ - ​a person who sells small items, either door-to-door or from a stall or small
store.
 EPISODE VIII - The Law

● Crime in the 1920s

○ Due to prohibition, organized crime was very common and the leaders of these
organizations, such as Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger, were
looked at as heroes. Organized crime and gangsters provided alcohol in
speakeasies. They also operated speakeasies. Due to this, there was an
explosive growth in crime. Although prohibition ended in 1933, the power and
wealth organized crime had gained continued to have influence long into the
future.
○ Jobs were scarce and joining a gang was a dangerous, but easy way to make
money.
○ Bribing government officials was also common.
○ 66-75% of all murders in the 1920s remained unsolved. There were no crime
labs or sophisticated technology used to look at evidence today. Fingerprinting
was relatively useless unless you had a suspect already imprisoned. However, if
someone did commit a murder, it was relatively easy for them to leave and never
be found. There were no social security numbers, credit cards, or communication
between police departments in different states.
● Law clerk​ - ​an assistant to a judge, typically a recent law-school graduate, whose
function is to do legal research, help write opinions, and provide general assistance
● Bailiff​ - ​an official in a court of law who keeps order, looks after prisoners, etc.
● Lawyer for defense​ - ​1) the attorney representing the defendant in a lawsuit or criminal
prosecution.
2) a lawyer who regularly represents defendants who have
insurance and who is chosen by the insurance company.
3) a lawyer who regularly represents criminal defendants.
Attorneys who regularly represent clients in actions for damages are often
called "plaintiff's attorneys."
○ Defendant​ - an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of
law
● Lawyer for persecution​ - ​the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries
with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The
prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial
against an individual accused of breaking the law.
● Court reporter​ - ​a person employed to transcribe speech from legal proceedings,
typically via stenography
● “Modern idea of separate beds”
○ Some late 19th century doctors claimed that sleeping in separate beds reduced
the risk of disease transmission.
 ○ In the ‘20s, this arrangement took on a political aspect - it showed that men and
women were equal and that their relationship was based on more than just sex.
● The moon was full on June 3, 1928.
○ https://www.calendar-12.com/moon_phases/1928
● Rubber gloves - refer to Episode II research
● Affidavit​ - ​a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in
court
● Notary​ - a person authorized to perform certain legal formalities, especially to draw up or
certify contracts, deeds, and other documents for use in other jurisdictions
● Consul​ - ​an official appointed by the government of one country to look after its
commercial interests and the welfare of its citizens in another country
● Guanajato, Mexico

● Subpoena​ - ​a writ ordering a person to attend a court

● Stigma of divorce in 1928 - see Episode II
● Paramour​ - ​a lover, especially the illicit partner of a married person
● Peignoir​ - ​a woman's light dressing gown
 EPISODE IX - A Machine

● Religion’s role in the 1920s

○ After World War I, people began to rediscover old values. Fundamentalist
Christianity emerged.
○ However, the War also caused many people to turn from religion. A debate
sprung up between evolutionists and the religious population.
○ Most notably, the Scopes Trial occurred in 1925, which accused high school
teacher John Scopes of teaching human evolution. This was in violation of
Tennessee’s Butler Act (1925), which banned evolution from being taught in
state-funded schools. Scopes was nominally arrested on the charge.
● Matron​ - ​a woman who acts as a supervisor or monitor in a public institution, such as a
school, hospital, or prison.
● Negro spiritual​ - Spirituals are generally Christian songs that were created by African
Americans. Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while
also describing the hardships of slavery.
● Aeronautic advancement in the 1920s
○ World War I hastened aeronautic development. After the war, pilots would fly to
small towns and fairs and show off their flying skill. They would also charge
people for short rides.
○ By the early 1920s, they were much more durable and able to travel farther with
heavier loads.
○ In 1927 the first “airport” was set up in Dearborn, Michigan. It consisted of a
waiting room and a ticket booth. Most existing airports were just open fields. By
1929, various passenger terminals were built in a few commercial airports.
○ In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh flew the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight from
Long Island to Paris in a tiny plane called “The Spirit of St. Louis.”
● Prisons in the 1920s
○ There were only state prisons
○ From 1925 to 1939, the nation’s incarceration rate climbed from 79 to 137 people
per 100,000
○ To reduce the cost of overcrowding prisoners, sometimes prisoners would be
sent to different state prisons.
○ “​Donald Clemmer published ​The Prison Community​ (1940), based upon his
research within Menard State Prison in Illinois. Clemmer described the inmates'
informal social system or inmate subculture as being governed by a convict code,
which existed beside and in opposition to the institution's official rules. He also
outlined a process of socialization that was undergone by entering prisoners.
Clemmer defined this ​prisonization​ as "the taking on in greater or less degree of
the folkways, mores, customs, and general culture of the penitentiary."
 GLOSSARY
● Adding machine​ - ​a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping
calculations
● Adding clerk​ - the person who operated the adding machine
● Affidavit​ - ​a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in
court
● Amontillado​ - 17.5% alcohol
● Bailiff​ - ​an official in a court of law who keeps order, looks after prisoners, etc.
● Bird​ - girl/young woman; especially a girlfriend
● Chinese water lily - native to central and eastern Asia
● “Cielito Lindo”​ - ​is a popular ​Mexican​ song from a Spanish ​copla​, popularized in 1882 by
Mexican​ author ​Quirino Mendoza y Cortés​ (c. 1862–1957). It is roughly translated as
"Lovely Sweet One". Although the word ​cielo​ means "sky" or "heaven", it is also a term
of endearment comparable to sweetheart or honey. ​Cielito​, the diminutive, can be
translated as "sweetie"; ​lindo m ​ eans "cute", "lovely" or "pretty". Sometimes the song is
known by words from the refrain, "Canta y no llores" or simply the "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay song".
○ https://www.youtube.com/embed/U5RC3BJ2PMo
● Consul​ - ​an official appointed by the government of one country to look after its
commercial interests and the welfare of its citizens in another country
● Court reporter​ - ​a person employed to transcribe speech from legal proceedings,
typically via stenography
● Dago​ - ​an ethnic slur referring to Italians and people of Italian origin or ethnicity and
sometimes Spaniards and the Portuguese
● Davenport sofa​ - ​the name of a series of ​sofas​ made by the Massachusetts furniture
manufacturer ​A. H. Davenport and Company​, now defunct. Due to the popularity of the
furniture at the time, the name ​davenport​ became a​ trademark
● Defendant​ - an individual, company, or institution sued or accused in a court of law
● Divan​ - a sofa without a back or arms
● Edgar Allan Poe​ - American writer; potentially queer?
● “Fairy”​ - derogatory term for flamboyant gay man
● Filing clerk​ - ​keep files and documents organized for companies. File​ ​clerks work with
both paper documents and electronic files, and do routine tasks like data entry,
organization, cross-referencing, scanning, copying and retrieval.
● Garter​ - ​a band worn around the leg to keep up a stocking or sock
● Graves’ Disease​ - ​an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of
thyroid hormones. Symptoms include anxiety/irritability, fine tremor of hands/fingers,
heat sensitivity/increase in perspiration, reduced libido, fatigue, palpitations.
● “Haste makes waste”​ - acting too quickly may result in slowing things down; in the
person’s rush, they may forget to do things
● “Hew to the line”​ - uphold, closely conform; a line marked along the length of a log
indicating where to chop in order to shape a beam.
● “Hot dog!”​ - exclamation of delight/enthusiastic approval
● Huckster​ - ​a person who sells small items, either door-to-door or from a stall or small
store.
● “It gives a line” - to lead someone on
● Law clerk​ - ​an assistant to a judge, typically a recent law-school graduate, whose
function is to do legal research, help write opinions, and provide general assistance
● Lawyer for defense​ - ​1) the attorney representing the defendant in a lawsuit or criminal
prosecution.
2) a lawyer who regularly represents defendants who have
insurance and who is chosen by the insurance company.
3) a lawyer who regularly represents criminal defendants.
Attorneys who regularly represent clients in actions for damages are often
called "plaintiff's attorneys."
● Lawyer for persecution​ - ​the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries
with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The
prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial
against an individual accused of breaking the law.
● Mary​ - ​a 1st-century BC Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth, and the mother of Jesus,
according to the New Testament and the Quran
● Matron​ - ​a woman who acts as a supervisor or monitor in a public institution, such as a
school, hospital, or prison.
● Neckers​ - a girl who wraps her arms around her boyfriend’s neck
● Negro spiritual​ - Spirituals are generally Christian songs that were created by African
Americans. Spirituals were originally an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while
also describing the hardships of slavery.
● Neurasthenia​ - a nervous disorder that some believe had been caused by the stress of
the rapid changes in a modern society. Common symptoms include sleeplessness,
anorexia, irritability, nervousness, and desire.
● Notary​ - a person authorized to perform certain legal formalities, especially to draw up or
certify contracts, deeds, and other documents for use in other jurisdictions
● Paramour​ - ​a lover, especially the illicit partner of a married person
● Paul-Marie Verlaine​ - French poet; met a man and abandoned his wife and child; poems
were about his lover and missing his wife; also fell in love with one of his students
● Peignoir​ - ​a woman's light dressing gown
● Petters​ - “pet” = “neck” = “passionate kiss”; passionate kissers
● Postpartum depression​ - the type of ​depression​ you may get after you have a baby. It
can start any time during your baby’s first year, but it’s most common for you to start to
feel its effects during the first 3 weeks after birth. If you have it, you might feel sad,
hopeless, and guilty because you may not feel like you want to bond with, or care for,
your baby.
● Prohibition Era​ (1920 - 1933) - ​when the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
banned the sale, manufacturing and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This invited
the interest of bootleggers and highlighted the age’s burgeoning gang culture.
● Pullman porter​ - ​men hired to work on the railroads as porters on sleeping cars.
● Rio Grande​ - one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern
Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows
to the Gulf of Mexico
● Sherry​ - f​ortified after fermentation with high-proof brandy, to about 16–18 percent
alcohol, depending upon type. The main styles of sherries, listed from driest and palest
to sweetest and darkest are fino, manzanilla, amontillado, oloroso, cream, and Pedro
Ximénez.
● "Song for Hal (Every Little Wave Had Its Nightcap On)"​ by Laura Elizabeth Howe
Richards. It's a nursery rhyme about washing your hair. It probably dates back to 1890
and there's no official recording.
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPqK33CvM4
○ http://machinalclass.tumblr.com/post/76334066756/song-for-hal-or-every-little-wa
ve-had-its
○ https://fajrdrako.dreamwidth.org/1108718.html
● Speakeasy​ - ​also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells
alcoholic beverages.
● St. Peter​ - ​Peter, who was also known as Simon Peter of Cephas, is considered the first
Pope. Despite his papacy, Peter had humble beginnings and became one of the Twelve
Apostles of Jesus. Keeper of the keys to the kingdom; guard of Heaven
● Stenographer​ - ​a person whose job is to transcribe speech in shorthand.
● Subpoena​ - ​a writ ordering a person to attend a court
● Tar weed​ - a flower in the sunflower family that is known for its sticky leaves and smell,
which has been likened to paint thinner
● Tart​ - ​a woman who dresses or behaves in a way that is considered tasteless and
sexually provocative.
● “They’re stung!”​ - ​to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge
● Vixen​ - ​In ​Greek mythology​, the Teumessian fox, or Cadmean vixen, was a gigantic ​fox
that was destined never to be caught. It was said that it had been sent by the gods to
prey upon the children of ​Thebes​ as a punishment for ​a national crime​.
● Volupte​ - rich and intense ​pleasure​, especially sexual pleasure​; ​in ​Roman mythology​,
Voluptas or Volupta, according to ​Apuleius​, is the daughter born from the union of ​Cupid
and Psyche​. She is often found in the company of the ​Gratiae​, or Three Graces, and she
is known as the goddess of "sensual pleasures", "voluptas" meaning "pleasure" or
"delight".