Item Details

‘What to do over the week-end’: Towards an understanding of distraction, advertising and newspaper coverage of the Kansas City jazz scene in the 1930s

Issue: Vol 13 No. 1-2 (2019) Special Issue: Jazz and Everyday Aesthetics

Journal: Jazz Research Journal

Subject Areas: Popular Music

DOI: 10.1558/jazz.39106

Abstract:

In the 1930s, everyday Kansas Citians distracted themselves in numerous ways followingthe work week. But where did one turn to discover the best place to have a goodtime in the Midwest's vice capital? A major source was print media. Like most cities,several newspapers served 'Kaycee', notably the Kansas City Star and the Kansas CityJournal-Post. Relatedly, the Kansas City Call was an important social mechanism forAfrican Americans newly emigrated from the South. What one notices after examiningthese newspapers is: 1) nightclub advertisements bombard readers with vivid sensorydetails designed to promote a venue's opulence and 2) the portrayal of the entertainmentscene differs markedly depending on the source. Applying Ben Highmore's conceptof 'distraction' (Ordinary Lives, 2011), this article argues that 'distraction advertising'paradoxically unifies-through everyday dynamics like race, sexuality, class, and evenfood/drink-each newspaper's depiction of the 'Amusements' section while reinforcingtarget readership demographics.

Author: Anthony J. Bushard

View Original Web Page

References :

Altman, Robert, dir. (1996) Kansas City. New Line Home Entertainment N7699.

Bushard, Anthony (2000) ‘The Jazz and Blues Club Scene in Kansas City as Portrayed in the Kansas City Call, 1930–1939’. Master’s thesis, University of Kansas.

‘Cabaret Headliners’ (1934) Kansas City Journal-Post, 30 June: 14.

Charney, Leo (1998) Empty Moments: Cinema, Modernity, and Drift. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822379119

Coulter, Charles E. (2006) ‘Take up the Black Man’s Burden’: Kansas City’s African American Communities 1865–1939. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

‘Dancer for Legion Party’ (1934) Kansas City Star, 9 February: 21.

Dorsett, Lyle (1968) The Pendergast Machine. New York: Oxford University Press.

Driggs, Frank, and Chuck Haddix (2005) Kansas City Jazz from Ragtime to Bebop: A History. New York: Oxford University Press.

Fowler, Giles (1996) ‘Unsung Jazz: How Papers Missed the Story’. Journalism History 22/2: 64–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/00947679.1996.12062439

‘Gala Opening for Cherry Blossom Soon’ (1933) Kansas City Call, 17 March: 3B.

Gorham, Thelma Thurston, ed. (1963) Meeting the Challenge of Change: A Sixty-Year History of the St. Stephen Baptist Church. Kansas City, MO: St. Stephen Baptist Church.

Highmore, Ben (2011) Ordinary Lives: Studies in the Everyday. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203842379

Larsen, Lawrence H., and Nancy J. Hulston (1997) Pendergast! Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Lawrance, Lowell (1934) ‘Night Club Notes’. Kansas City Journal-Post, 16 June: 7.

McEniry, Kelly (2005) ‘From Local Project to Lively Pioneer: A Short History of the Kansas City Journal-Post’. In The Kansas City Journal-Post’s Diamond Jubilee Section: A Project Demonstrating the Possibilities of Digital Access & Preservation. https://web.archive.org/web/20071212012313/http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/journalpost/jp-intro.htm

‘The New Harlem Nite Club (Formerly Coco-Nut Grove)’ (1935) Kansas City Star, 9 March: 6.

‘Night Hawk Tavern’ (1935) Kansas City Call, 1 March.

‘Opening of Club Ritz Last Night is Attended by Many’ (1933) Kansas City Call, 31 March: 3B.

Pearson, Nathan W. (1987) Goin’ to Kansas City. Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

‘Ready for “Night in Chinatown” at Paseo Hall Monday Night’ (1931) Kansas City Call, 11 September: 7.

‘Record Crowd Celebrates at Musicians Annual Ball’ (1935) Kansas City Call, 15 March: 11.

Reddig, William (1986) Tom’s Town. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Russell, Ross (1983) Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Schirmer, Sherry Lamb (2002) A City Divided: The Racial Landscape of Kansas City, 1900–1960. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

‘Searching for Lindbergh’ (1931) Kansas City Call, 30 October: 7.

‘Selected Advertisements’ (1930–1939) Kansas City Call.

‘Selected Advertisements’ (1934) Kansas City Star.

‘Selected Advertisements’ (1934–1935) Kansas City Journal-Post, January–August 1934; March–June 1935.

‘Seven Bands, Floor Show at Annual Jamboree of Music’ (1933) Kansas City Call, 5 May: 3B.

Trussell, Robert (1990) ‘Journalism Wars of KC’s Jazz Age’. Kansas City Star, 20 February: 1C, 4C.