David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "prostitution"
FROG MUSIC
FROG MUSIC is a historical novel about an actual murder case, occurring in the 1870’s. It involves an eccentric lady named Jenny Bonnet who dressed like a man and drove a “big wheel” bicycle she apparently stole. The real Bonnet was also an activist for prostitutes, doing what she could to help them escape “the life”.
Bonnet is not the main character in FROG MUSIC. That would be a dancer/singer/prostitute named Blanche Beunon, who is accidentally run over by Bonnet’s big wheel while trying to cross the street. Beunon is one of three former French acrobats; her boyfriend, Arthur, was a “daring young man on the flying trapeze” until he fell and hurt his back. Ernest, his best friend, was his catcher. They move to San Francisco to try to strike it rich.
Blanche has invested the money she earned in burlesque to buy the apartment building they live in. She also supports Arthur’s gambling and speculation.
There’s also a baby involved we know as P’tit Arthur, or Little Arthur. P’tit is supposed to be living in the country with a farm family. Blanche sees him about once a month, never noticing the kid has the rickets. Jenny sticks her nose in Blanche’s business, asking why she doesn’t care for her own baby. That’s how Blanche finds out that P’tit is living in kind of a glorified puppy mill. Eventually this realization leads to a breakup with Arthur; the two women move to the outskirts of San Francisco where they think Arthur and his protector Ernest will not find them. Somebody does and Jenny is murdered with a shotgun blast, Blanche believes was meant for her. According to Afterward, the Jenny Bonney incident was a famous case similar to the Black Dalia Hollywood Murder that was still being discussed in the newspapers thirty years later.
As a reader you should know that there’s a glossary in the back to translate French words. I didn’t really look at it because you can tell fron context clues what’s being said. For instance, “micheton” is a prostitute’s trick, and a “mac” is a pimp or boyfriend of a prostitute. There’re also lots of song lyrics that were famous in the 19th century, one of the reasons the book is called FROG MUSIC (the other is that Jenny supported herself catching frogs and selling them to restaurants). Many of the songs were written by the great Stephen Foster, who died young, almost penniless because there were no copyright laws. Some will be familiar, such as “Bang, Bang, Lulu” and “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapez”.
I recognized the author Emma Donoghue, although I didn’t where until I read her credits, one of which was SLAMMERKIN, another historical novel I enjoyed a great deal. This one isn’t quite as good, mainly because most of the characters are unlikable, except for Jenny, the most original character in the book who is killed rather early. We have to rely on flashbacks to get to know her. Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly which setting we’re in.
Bonnet is not the main character in FROG MUSIC. That would be a dancer/singer/prostitute named Blanche Beunon, who is accidentally run over by Bonnet’s big wheel while trying to cross the street. Beunon is one of three former French acrobats; her boyfriend, Arthur, was a “daring young man on the flying trapeze” until he fell and hurt his back. Ernest, his best friend, was his catcher. They move to San Francisco to try to strike it rich.
Blanche has invested the money she earned in burlesque to buy the apartment building they live in. She also supports Arthur’s gambling and speculation.
There’s also a baby involved we know as P’tit Arthur, or Little Arthur. P’tit is supposed to be living in the country with a farm family. Blanche sees him about once a month, never noticing the kid has the rickets. Jenny sticks her nose in Blanche’s business, asking why she doesn’t care for her own baby. That’s how Blanche finds out that P’tit is living in kind of a glorified puppy mill. Eventually this realization leads to a breakup with Arthur; the two women move to the outskirts of San Francisco where they think Arthur and his protector Ernest will not find them. Somebody does and Jenny is murdered with a shotgun blast, Blanche believes was meant for her. According to Afterward, the Jenny Bonney incident was a famous case similar to the Black Dalia Hollywood Murder that was still being discussed in the newspapers thirty years later.
As a reader you should know that there’s a glossary in the back to translate French words. I didn’t really look at it because you can tell fron context clues what’s being said. For instance, “micheton” is a prostitute’s trick, and a “mac” is a pimp or boyfriend of a prostitute. There’re also lots of song lyrics that were famous in the 19th century, one of the reasons the book is called FROG MUSIC (the other is that Jenny supported herself catching frogs and selling them to restaurants). Many of the songs were written by the great Stephen Foster, who died young, almost penniless because there were no copyright laws. Some will be familiar, such as “Bang, Bang, Lulu” and “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapez”.
I recognized the author Emma Donoghue, although I didn’t where until I read her credits, one of which was SLAMMERKIN, another historical novel I enjoyed a great deal. This one isn’t quite as good, mainly because most of the characters are unlikable, except for Jenny, the most original character in the book who is killed rather early. We have to rely on flashbacks to get to know her. Sometimes it’s hard to know exactly which setting we’re in.
Empire of Sin
EMPIRE OF SIN is about New Orleans, but it’s divided into three segments. Gary Krist, that author, starts with a hook, the murders or near murders of grocery store owners in the Italian part of town, thought to have been committed by The Black Hand.
The second aspect of the book deals with Storyville. The mayor, council members, and businessmen were worried that the city had a bad reputation as a crime-ridden Babylon. They were willing to look the other way while prostitution houses, gambling, and what they considered sin went about its business, but they wanted to segregate it to one part of town, and that was Storyville. Krist centers on two vice lords, Tom Anderson and Josie Arlington. Arlington was a madam; Anderson ran several dance halls, with a hand in prostitution etc, ran an oil company on the side, and was a Congressman for almost the entire twenty years Storyville existed.
The third area Krist concentrates on is jazz music which evolved in the prostitution houses and dance halls of storyville. I was surprised to find that one man was given credit for the origination of the music. Buddy Bolden played with such passion and volume that he influenced such previously staid musicians as “Jelly Roll” Morton, a Creole who played piano in some of the prostitution houses. Eventually we get to Louie Armstrong, who wasn’t among the first wave of jazz musicians. He was born to a fifteen-year-old girl and started playing in a band at the Home for Wayward boys.
Eventually the reformers win out, thanks mostly to prohibition and World War I. The War Department didn’t want its soldiers falling prey to the degradation and disease that existed in Storyville. A railroad terminal was also built on the border of Storyville and the passengers had to pass houses of ill repute in order to get where they were going. So, New Orleans was clean for a while, but the city was still playing second fiddle to Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas, and the city leaders finally realized that they could sell what was formerly known as vice, mainly the music and the partying (See Mardi Gras). Most of the great musicians, including Armstrong, had already left when their livelihood dried up. Something else unexpected occurred. Prior to the reform movement the blacks, creoles and whites intermixed and got along about as well as anyplace in the South. Afterwards, Jim Crow reared its ugly head.
About a hundred a fifty pages after he first introduces was the mayor thought was a serial killer, Krist returns. More murders are occurring. Many of them have the same M.O. The intruder cuts out the lower panel of a back door, he stages the scene to look like a robbery, and he uses an axe he finds on the property, and he leaves it there when he’s finished with his grisly business. In the last section of the book, Krist identifies a possible killer, but he can’t prove it, so the case remains unsolved.
Kudos go out to Krist for including a bibliography, and index, and footnotes, something that pseudo historians these daysdon’t seem to find necessary. Krist also includes about a dozen pictures, usually at the beginning of chapters or sections. I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it to history lovers and those who just like the city and are curious about how it evolved.
The second aspect of the book deals with Storyville. The mayor, council members, and businessmen were worried that the city had a bad reputation as a crime-ridden Babylon. They were willing to look the other way while prostitution houses, gambling, and what they considered sin went about its business, but they wanted to segregate it to one part of town, and that was Storyville. Krist centers on two vice lords, Tom Anderson and Josie Arlington. Arlington was a madam; Anderson ran several dance halls, with a hand in prostitution etc, ran an oil company on the side, and was a Congressman for almost the entire twenty years Storyville existed.
The third area Krist concentrates on is jazz music which evolved in the prostitution houses and dance halls of storyville. I was surprised to find that one man was given credit for the origination of the music. Buddy Bolden played with such passion and volume that he influenced such previously staid musicians as “Jelly Roll” Morton, a Creole who played piano in some of the prostitution houses. Eventually we get to Louie Armstrong, who wasn’t among the first wave of jazz musicians. He was born to a fifteen-year-old girl and started playing in a band at the Home for Wayward boys.
Eventually the reformers win out, thanks mostly to prohibition and World War I. The War Department didn’t want its soldiers falling prey to the degradation and disease that existed in Storyville. A railroad terminal was also built on the border of Storyville and the passengers had to pass houses of ill repute in order to get where they were going. So, New Orleans was clean for a while, but the city was still playing second fiddle to Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas, and the city leaders finally realized that they could sell what was formerly known as vice, mainly the music and the partying (See Mardi Gras). Most of the great musicians, including Armstrong, had already left when their livelihood dried up. Something else unexpected occurred. Prior to the reform movement the blacks, creoles and whites intermixed and got along about as well as anyplace in the South. Afterwards, Jim Crow reared its ugly head.
About a hundred a fifty pages after he first introduces was the mayor thought was a serial killer, Krist returns. More murders are occurring. Many of them have the same M.O. The intruder cuts out the lower panel of a back door, he stages the scene to look like a robbery, and he uses an axe he finds on the property, and he leaves it there when he’s finished with his grisly business. In the last section of the book, Krist identifies a possible killer, but he can’t prove it, so the case remains unsolved.
Kudos go out to Krist for including a bibliography, and index, and footnotes, something that pseudo historians these daysdon’t seem to find necessary. Krist also includes about a dozen pictures, usually at the beginning of chapters or sections. I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it to history lovers and those who just like the city and are curious about how it evolved.
