Protecting childhood: The campaign to bar children from performing professionally in New York City, 1874-1919.
Item
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Title
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Protecting childhood: The campaign to bar children from performing professionally in New York City, 1874-1919.
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Identifier
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AAI9908375
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identifier
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9908375
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Creator
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Vey, Shauna A.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Judith Milhous
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater | History, United States | Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations
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Abstract
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During most periods in the history of Western theatre, the presence of children on stage has been accepted as normal. Between 1874 and 1919, however, reformers campaigned to bar children from New York stages. This study examines the genesis of this effort, its means of operation, its rationale, and its ultimate lack of success.;Chapter one surveys the use of children on stage from ancient Athens until 1874. It also examines the notion of childhood as it evolved from a state scarcely differentiated from adulthood into a distinctive phase of development. This emerging view changed attitudes toward child labor in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.;Chapter two contextualizes the New York State law entitled An Act to Prevent and Punish Wrongs to Children (1876). Passed at the instigation of the newly-formed Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (SPCC), the law prohibited the exhibition of children in a number of performance venues. A co-founder of the SPCC, Elbridge T. Gerry, worked strenuously for over fifty years to keep children from performing professionally. He is a key figure in this study, which draws heavily on the archives of the SPCC.;Chapter three analyzes the peculiar omission of legitimate acting from the list of restricted performance venues. This chapter argues that class bias, fueled by the fear and distaste of the native-born Protestant elite for the immigrant population, contributed to the passage and continued enforcement of the anti-exhibition law.;Chapter four reviews the debate between the SPCC and the theatre community, focusing on conflicting goals for the education of stage children. These goals--vocational vs. intellectual--reflected the conflict between traditional and modern images of childhood.;Chapter five explains how the laissez-faire position of Actors Equity Association toward stage children became dominant, undermining Gerry's platform. The influence of the union's early stance can be seen today in the proliferation of children performing professionally.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
