Title Harlem nights : the secret history of Australia's Jazz Age / Deirdre O'Connell

Published Carlton, Victoria : Melbourne University Press, 2021 ©2021

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Description 1 online resource (xvi, 408 pages) : illustrations Contents Prologue : the frame-up -- Tijuana nights in Phoenix and Los Angeles. The education of Sonny Clay ; Independence Day ; Across the River Styx : Sonny Clay's Tijuana ; South Central Avenue, Los Angeles ; The lost angels -- In California with Harry Muller. The best box office judge in Australia ; The real Charleston ; Testing the waters -- Rattlin' fine Sydney. My blue heaven ; The jazzing spheres ; A comparative vacation ; American boomerang -- Views of commonwealth policy. Major Lloyd's investigation branch ; The 'black menace' ; Synchronising operations -- The making of modern Melbourne. The Carlyon touch ; A sterling advertisement for Australian girlhood ; Miss 1928 ; Jazz night -- Keeping orchestras British. Cecil Trevelyan's questions of principle ; War on American players -- Petty sessions. Constable Saker tells the truth ; Women who bite policemen ; Silk petticoats and mauve pyjamas ; Tooth and law -- Idle and disorderly. The eight hour day ; A young woman in trouble ; Judicial theatre ; A captive audience -- Unwritten law. The Sydney express ; British justice ; Citizen soldier ; The character test -- Purification rites. Storm centre ; This bit of earth ; Fit for the task ; Saving Edna Langdon -- On their way. The non-stop endurance dance record ; Sailaway streamers -- The quarantine blues. Shake it and break it and let it fall ; What now? ; Bagging the cat Summary "The 1920s were a time of wonder and flux, when Australians sensed a world growing smaller, turning faster--and, for some, skittering off balance. American movies, music and dance brought together what racial lines kept apart. A spirit of youthful rebellion collided with the promise of racial perfectibility, stirring deep anxieties in white nationalists and moral reformers. African-American jazz represented the type of modernism that cosmopolitan Australians craved--and the champions of White Australia feared. Enter Sonny Clay's Colored Idea. Snuck in under the wire by an astute promoter, the Harlem-style revue broke from the usual blackface minstrel fare, delivering sophisticated, liberating rhythms. The story of their Australian tour is a tale of conspiracy--a secret plan to kick out and keep out 'undesirable' expressions of modernism, music and race. From the wild jazz clubs of Prohibition-era LA to Indigenous women discovering a new world of black resistance, this anatomy of a scandal-fuelled frame-up brings into focus a vibrant cast of characters from Australia's Jazz Age"--OverDrive Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 10, 2021) Subject Clay, Sonny, 1899-1973. Music and race -- Australia -- History -- 20th century Nineteen twenties. Jazz -- Australia -- Sydney (N.S.W.) -- History and criticism Jazz -- Australia -- Melbourne (Vic.) -- History and criticism HISTORY / Australia & New Zealand Jazz Music and race Nineteen twenties Race relations SUBJECT Sydney (N.S.W.) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century Melbourne (Vic.) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century Subject Australia New South Wales -- Sydney Victoria -- Melbourne Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 0522877656 9780522877656

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