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| Format | Dissertation |
|---|---|
| Creator | Dell, Robert M. |
| Title | The Representation of the Immigrant on the New York Stage, 1881 to 1910 |
| Dissertation Note (type -- academic institution) | Ph.D -- New York University |
| Date | 1960 |
| Extent of Work | 300 pages |
| View Online | |
| Abstract | Of some two hundred plays containing German, Irish and Italian immigrant characters, only eighty-four were located in published editions or manuscript form. Secondary sources yielded pertinent information about thirty more. These plays indicated that immigrant characters were often depicted in humorous and unflattering lights. Separate immigrant groups became stereotyped according to traits and characteristics attributed to them by playwright who emphasized their mode of dress, manner of speech, and dominant physical and emotional attributes. German roles were limited primarily to melodramas and comedies. The stage German usually appeared as a home-loving, hard-working, ambitious, honest, and thrifty person. Inclined to ward stubbornness and slow to change his mind, he usually attacked a problem with methodical orderliness. Stage Germans grew progressively through the three decades and playwrights did not compartmentalize them by attaching them to specific occupations or stations in life. Unlike the stage German, the stage Irishman was discovered in a variety of roles, some of which were definite stereotypes. Certain nationalistic characteristics of the Irish were manifested in stage roles, chiefly in melodrama and comedies which generally pictured them as honest individuals given to vehemence and argumentativeness when provoked. Such characteristics as emotional outbursts etched with brogue and bluster, humor, sentimentality, imaginativeness, and lyrical expressions of thought were omnipresent. Representations of stage Italians fall antithetically between benevolent street vendors and villainous henchmen in melodramas and comedies. The characterizations were based upon a volatile Latin temperament which found expression in song, laughter, and in lively emotional discussions conducted in broken English. |
| Call Number | Digital file (PDF) |
| MKI Terms | Theater & Drama/ Immigrants/ Stereotypes/ 19th century |