Misplaced Pages

#582417

142-791: The English term is most often associated with the Living Newspapers produced by the Federal Theatre Project . Part of the federally funded arts program established under the Works Progress Administration in the United States of the 1930s, the Federal Theatre Project wrote and presented a number of Living Newspapers on social issues of the day, including Triple-A Plowed Under , Injunction Granted , One-Third of

284-498: A Nation , Power, and Spirochete. Controversy over the political ideology of the Living Newspapers contributed to the disbanding of the Federal Theatre Project in 1939, and a number of Living Newspapers already written or in development were never performed, including several that addressed race issues. ... the [Living Newspaper] seeks to dramatize a new struggle – the search of the average American today for knowledge about his country and his world; to dramatize his struggle to turn

426-609: A Nation , about housing conditions in New York; Power , about energy from the consumer's point of view; and Triple A Plowed Under , on farming problems in America. Another that was criticized, on the history of medicine, was not completed. Dramas criticized by Congress were American Holiday , about a small-town murder trial; Around the Corner , a Depression-era comedy; Chalk Dust , about an urban high school; Class of '29 ,

568-588: A Time , and Paul de Kruif 's Men Against Death were both honored by the National Committee for Education by Radio. In March 1939, at the invitation of the BBC, Flanagan broadcast the story of the Federal Theatre Project to Britain. Asked to expand the program to encompass the entire WPA, the radio division produced No Help Wanted , a dramatization by William N. Robson with music by Leith Stevens . The Times called it "the best broadcast ever sent us from

710-501: A boxing match; and a clown (played by actor Norman Lloyd ) served as master-of-ceremonies for the entire production, according to Cosgrove. Injunction Granted drew massive criticism and closed early. Losey soon left the Unit and the FTP, though Flanagan offered to give him another chance. Here is a play that has no hero, or heroine, that has no great figure or fanciful character ... here is

852-700: A call for action from the watching audience. Second, the FTP's Living Newspapers tended to break from realistic stage conventions in favor of non-naturalistic, experimental dramaturgy and stage design. "Techniques Available to the Living Newspaper Dramatist," a guide compiled by the Federal Theatre Project in 1938, lists many of the elements that became characteristic of the Living Newspaper. These included quick scene and set changes; flexibility of stage space, using many levels, rolling and hand-carried scenery, and scrims to establish

994-528: A disembodied voice which commented on and narrated the action; shadows; image projections; elaborate sound design, with sound effects and music; abrupt blackouts and scene changes; and other non-realistic devices to keep the audiences' attention and support the message of the play. A minor Living Newspaper, Events of 1935, followed Triple-A Plowed Under . A collage of scenes from many 1935 news events, ranging from celebrity gossip to major legal cases, 1935 ran for only 34 performances. Cosgrove identifies it as

1136-529: A female President who works for peace. Negro Theatre Unit productions that drew criticism were The Case of Philip Lawrence , a portrait of life in Harlem; Did Adam Sin? , a review of black folklore with music; and Haiti , a play about Toussaint Louverture . Also criticized for their content were the dance dramas Candide , from Voltaire; How Long Brethren , featuring songs by future Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Lawrence Gellert ; and Trojan Incident ,

1278-659: A few years, his paper dominated the San Francisco market. Early in his career at the San Francisco Examiner, Hearst envisioned running a large newspaper chain and "always knew that his dream of a nation-spanning, multi-paper news operation was impossible without a triumph in New York". In 1895, with the financial support of his widowed mother (his father had died in 1891), Hearst bought the then failing New York Morning Journal , hiring writers such as Stephen Crane and Julian Hawthorne and entering into

1420-530: A film company, Cosmopolitan Productions ; extensive New York City real estate; and thousands of acres of land in California and Mexico, along with timber and mining interests inherited from his father. Hearst promoted writers and cartoonists despite the lack of any apparent demand for them by his readers. The press critic A. J. Liebling reminds us how many of Hearst's stars would not have been deemed employable elsewhere. One Hearst favorite, George Herriman ,

1562-640: A head-to-head circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer , owner and publisher of the New York World . Hearst "stole" cartoonist Richard F. Outcault along with all of Pulitzer's Sunday staff. Another prominent hire was James J. Montague , who came from the Portland Oregonian and started his well-known "More Truth Than Poetry" column at the Hearst-owned New York Evening Journal . When Hearst purchased

SECTION 10

#1732780106583

1704-426: A multitude of locations without elaborate constructed sets; projection of settings, statistics, and film; shadowplay; sound effects and full musical scores; the use of a loudspeaker to narrate and comment on the action; and abrupt blackouts and harsh spotlights. The guide also suggests the use of puppetry , modern dance , and pantomime . In terms of dramatic construction, the guide urges writers and designers to keep

1846-430: A nationwide syphilis-education and -prevention campaign. The Living Newspaper is a dramatization of a problem – composed in greater or lesser extent of many news events, all bearing on the one subject and interlarded with typical but non-factual representations of the effect of these news events on the people to whom the problem is of great importance. Though definitions of the Living Newspaper and its purpose, both within

1988-627: A play about you. With the censorship of Ethiopia and the negative reaction to Injunction Granted, the Living Newspaper Unit had twice attracted criticism from the government that funded it. In order to continue as a federal program, it became more retrospect and less politically radical in its choice of topics but did not give up its dedication to reportage on major social issues and calls for social change. Its first production following Injunction Granted demonstrated this new emphasis. Opening early in 1937, Power clearly supported

2130-499: A politically motivated "scare story". In the articles, written by Thomas Walker, to better serve Hearst's editorial line against Roosevelt's Soviet policy the famine was "updated": the impression was created of the famine continuing into 1934. In response, Louis Fischer wrote an article in The Nation accusing Walker of "pure invention" because Fischer had been to Ukraine in 1934 and claimed that he had not seen famine. He framed

2272-399: A record "unparalleled in the history of the world." The Journal's political coverage, however, was not entirely one-sided. Kenneth Whyte says that most editors of the time "believed their papers should speak with one voice on political matters"; by contrast, in New York, Hearst "helped to usher in the multi-perspective approach we identify with the modern op-ed page". At first he supported

2414-544: A revenue peak about 1928, but the economic collapse of the Great Depression in the United States and the vast over-extension of his empire cost him control of his holdings. It is unlikely that the newspapers ever paid their own way; mining, ranching and forestry provided whatever dividends the Hearst Corporation paid out. When the collapse came, all Hearst properties were hit hard, but none more so than

2556-599: A series of elections. He narrowly failed in attempts to become mayor of New York City in both 1905 and 1909 and governor of New York in 1906, nominally remaining a Democrat while also creating the Independence Party . He was defeated for the governorship by Charles Evans Hughes . Hearst's unsuccessful campaigns for office after his tenure in the House of Representatives earned him the unflattering but short-lived nickname of "William 'Also-Randolph' Hearst", which

2698-475: A small town in Missouri. The elder Hearst later entered politics. He served as a U.S. Senator , first appointed for a brief period in 1886 and was then elected later that year. He served from 1887 to his death in 1891. His paternal great-grandfather was John Hearst of Ulster Protestant origin. John Hearst, with his wife and six children, migrated to America from Ballybay , County Monaghan, Ireland, as part of

2840-434: A style of popular journalism that came to be derided as " yellow journalism ", so named after Outcault's Yellow Kid comic. Pulitzer's World had pushed the boundaries of mass appeal for newspapers through bold headlines, aggressive news gathering, generous use of cartoons and illustrations, populist politics, progressive crusades, an exuberant public spirit and dramatic crime and human-interest stories. Hearst's Journal used

2982-813: A sufficient number of unemployed people in the theatre profession. The project in Alabama was closed in January 1937 when its personnel were transferred to a new unit in Georgia. Only one event was presented in Arkansas. Units created in Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin were closed in 1936; projects in Indiana, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Texas were discontinued in 1937; and the Iowa project was closed in 1938. Many of

SECTION 20

#1732780106583

3124-509: A translation of Euripides with a prologue from Homer. Help Yourself , a satire on high-pressure business tactics, was among the comedies criticized by Congress. Others were Machine Age , about mass production; On the Rocks by George Bernard Shaw ; and The Tailor Becomes a Storekeeper . Children's plays singled out were Mother Goose Goes to Town , and Revolt of the Beavers , which

3266-509: A variety of devices (such as lantern slides, songs, newspaper readings, and film segments) to present news and propaganda to the illiterate. As the form matured in Russia, workers' groups put on highly regionalized Living Newspapers, treating issues of public interest and concern. Zhivaya Gazeta (the Russian term for "Living Newspaper") reached its peak from 1923 to 1928; Hallie Flanagan visited

3408-441: A very realistic set to display the filth and dangers of a tenant slum, but retained the episodic format and multimedia (sound, film, and image) displays that characterized the form. The production received praise from critics and may have helped push through housing legislation. It eventually opened in major cities throughout the country. Despite its rising success and less radical tone, the tide of government opinion turned against

3550-496: A visit to Moscow, replaced him. Triple-A Plowed Under dramatized the plight of Dust Bowl farmers and suggested that farmers and workers unite to cut out the "middlemen" – dealers and other commercial interests. The "Triple-A" in the title came from the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which the play criticized. Like other Living Newspapers to follow, it employed the "Voice of the Living Newspaper,"

3692-689: A white project manager in Dallas was fired for attempting to segregate black and white theater technicians on a railroad car. Additionally, the white assistant director of the project was pulled because "he was unable to work amicably" with the black artists. The FTP overtly sought out relationships with the African American community including Carter Woodson of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History , as well as Walter White of

3834-682: A year the Federal Theatre Project employed 15,000 men and women, paying them $ 23.86 a week while the Actors Equity Association's minimum was $ 40.00. These men and women would only do six performances a week and have only four hours per day to rehearse. During its nearly four years of existence 30 million people attended FTP productions in more than 200 theaters nationwide — renting many that had been shuttered — as well as parks, schools, churches, clubs, factories, hospitals and closed-off streets. Its productions totaled approximately 1,200, not including its radio programs. Because

3976-464: Is not an end in itself... [they believed] our emotions tend to ignite our intellects: a story catering to a reader's feelings is more likely than a dry treatise to stimulate thought." The two papers finally declared a truce in late 1898, after both lost vast amounts of money covering the Spanish–American War . Hearst probably lost several million dollars in his first three years as publisher of

4118-558: Is the claim, without any contemporary evidence, that the illustrator Frederic Remington , sent by Hearst to Cuba to cover the Cuban War of Independence , cabled Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba. Hearst, in this canard, is said to have responded, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." Hearst was personally dedicated to the cause of the Cuban rebels, and

4260-798: The Detroit Times , the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , the Washington Times-Herald , the Washington Herald , and his flagship, the San Francisco Examiner . Hearst also diversified his publishing interests into book publishing and magazines. Several of the latter are still in circulation, including such periodicals as Cosmopolitan , Good Housekeeping , Town and Country , and Harper's Bazaar . In 1924, Hearst opened

4402-628: The New York American called a "pleasing fantasy for children". The musical Sing for Your Supper also met with Congressional criticism, although its patriotic finale, " Ballad for Americans ", was chosen as the theme song of the 1940 Republican National Convention. A fictionalized view of the Federal Theatre Project is presented in the 1999 film Cradle Will Rock , in which Cherry Jones portrays Hallie Flanagan. William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. ( / h ɜːr s t / ; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951)

Living Newspaper - Misplaced Pages Continue

4544-544: The New York Daily Mirror , a racy tabloid frankly imitating the New York Daily News . Among his other holdings were two news services, Universal News and International News Service , or INS, the latter of which he founded in 1909. He also owned INS companion radio station WINS in New York; King Features Syndicate , which still owns the copyrights of a number of popular comics characters;

4686-494: The New York Journal and fought a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer 's New York World . Hearst sold papers by printing giant headlines over lurid stories featuring crime, corruption, sex, and innuendos. Hearst acquired more newspapers and created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in

4828-570: The San Francisco Examiner , which his father had acquired in 1880 as repayment for a gambling debt. Giving his paper the motto "Monarch of the Dailies", Hearst acquired the most advanced equipment and the most prominent writers of the time, including Ambrose Bierce , Mark Twain , Jack London , and political cartoonist Homer Davenport . A self-proclaimed populist , Hearst reported accounts of municipal and financial corruption, often attacking companies in which his own family held an interest. Within

4970-618: The Comstock Lode in land. In 1865 he purchased about 30,000 acres (12,000 ha), part of Rancho Piedra Blanca stretching from Simeon Bay and reached to Ragged Point. He paid the original grantee Jose de Jesus Pico USD$ 1 an acre, about twice the current market price. Hearst continued to buy parcels whenever they became available. He also bought most of Rancho San Simeon . In 1865, Hearst bought all of Rancho Santa Rosa totaling 13,184 acres (5,335 ha) except one section of 160 acres (0.6 km ) that Estrada lived on. However, as

5112-536: The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a major, militant workers' association. It aroused government concern during rehearsal; and Hallie Flanagan urged Losey to re-write parts of the script, but the play made it to the stage largely unaltered. The piece ran on over-the-top satire and explicit bias: Heinz was introduced holding a giant pickle; Dean Jennings of the Newspaper Guild trounced Hearst in

5254-430: The Great Depression , people with little money for entertainment found an entire evening of entertainment at the movies for 25 cents, while commercial theatre charged $ 1.10 to $ 2.20 admission to cover the cost of theater rental, advertising and fees to performers and union technicians. Unemployed directors, actors, designers, musicians and stage crew took any kind of work they were able to find, whatever it paid, and charity

5396-497: The Guggenheim Foundation , Flanagan was chosen to lead the Federal Theatre Project by WPA head Harry Hopkins . Flanagan and Hopkins had been classmates at Grinnell College . Roosevelt and Hopkins selected her despite considerable pressure to choose someone from the commercial theatre industry; they believed the project should be led by someone with academic credentials and a national perspective. Flanagan had

5538-625: The Journal (figures are impossible to verify), but the paper began turning a profit after it ended its fight with the World. Under Hearst, the Journal remained loyal to the populist or left wing of the Democratic Party. It was the only major publication in the East to support William Jennings Bryan in 1896. Its coverage of that election was probably the most important of any newspaper in

5680-443: The Journal did some of the most important and courageous reporting on the conflict—as well as some of the most sensationalized. Their stories on the Cuban rebellion and Spain's atrocities on the island—many of which turned out to be untrue —were motivated primarily by Hearst's outrage at Spain's brutal policies on the island. These had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Cubans. The most well-known story involved

5822-491: The League of Nations . His newspapers abstained from endorsing any candidate in 1920 and 1924. Hearst's last bid for office came in 1922, when he was backed by Tammany Hall leaders for the U.S. Senate nomination in New York. Al Smith vetoed this, earning the lasting enmity of Hearst. Although Hearst shared Smith's opposition to Prohibition , he swung his papers behind Herbert Hoover in the 1928 presidential election. During

Living Newspaper - Misplaced Pages Continue

5964-604: The NAACP . One of the existing stipulations from the Works Progress Administration for employment in the FTP was prior professional theater experience. However, when encountered with 40 young jobless black playwrights, national director Hallie Flanagan waived the WPA requirement in the interest of providing a platform and training ground for new young playwrights. During a national conference Flanagan proposed that

6106-683: The Russian Revolution of 1917 but later he turned against it. Hearst fought hard against Wilsonian internationalism , the League of Nations , and the World Court, thereby appealing to an isolationist audience. The Morning Journal's daily circulation routinely climbed above the 1 million mark after the sinking of the Maine and U.S. entry into the Spanish–American War, a war that some called The Journal ' s War, due to

6248-669: The U.S. House of Representatives . He ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States in 1904 , Mayor of New York City in 1905 and 1909 , and for Governor of New York in 1906 . During his political career, he espoused views generally associated with the left wing of the Progressive Movement , claiming to speak on behalf of the working class. After 1918 and the end of World War I, Hearst gradually began adopting more conservative views and started promoting an isolationist foreign policy to avoid any more entanglement in what he regarded as corrupt European affairs. He

6390-473: The U.S. Supreme Court for killing the Agricultural Adjustment Act . These politically themed plays quickly drew criticism from members of Congress . Although the undisguised political invective in the Living Newspaper productions sparked controversy, they also proved popular with audiences. As an art form, the Living Newspaper is perhaps the Federal Theatre's most well-known work. Problems with

6532-517: The "least successful" of all the Living Newspapers. Though Triple-A had clearly criticized government decisions and supported the laborer over the "merchant," the Unit's third Living Newspaper, also directed by Losey, explicitly supported workers' organizations and angered members of the federal government. Injunction Granted, which opened four months after the close of Triple-A , lampooned big business men such as H. J. Heinz and newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst and called for unions to join

6674-477: The "penny paper", so called because its copies sold for a penny apiece, the Journal was competing with New York's 16 other major dailies. It had a strong focus on Democratic Party politics. Hearst imported his best managers from the San Francisco Examiner and "quickly established himself as the most attractive employer" among New York newspapers. He was seen as generous, paid more than his competitors, and gave credit to his writers with page-one bylines. Further, he

6816-617: The 1904 Democratic nomination for president , losing to conservative Alton B. Parker . Breaking with Tammany in 1907, Hearst ran for mayor of New York City under a third party of his own creation, the Municipal Ownership League . Tammany Hall exerted its utmost to defeat him. An opponent of the British Empire , Hearst opposed American involvement in the First World War and attacked the formation of

6958-492: The 1920s Hearst was a Jeffersonian democrat . He warned citizens against the dangers of big government and against unchecked federal power that could infringe on individual rights. When unemployment was near 25 percent, it appeared that Hoover would lose his bid for reelection in 1932, so Hearst sought to block the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the Democratic challenger. While continuing to oppose Smith, he promoted

7100-699: The 1936 election. The Hearst papers—like most major chains—had supported the Republican Alf Landon that year. While campaigning against Roosevelt's policy of developing formal diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, in 1935 Hearst ordered his editors to reprint eyewitness accounts of the Ukrainian famine (the Holodomor , which occurred in 1932–1933). These had been supplied in 1933 by Welsh freelance journalist Gareth Jones , and by

7242-648: The 21st century. A good example of a theatre company performing in the style of the Living Newspaper is the progressive DC Theatre Collective whose piece, The Tea Party Project, was performed in Washington DC in July 2010. Though the New York Living Newspaper Unit produced most of the major Living Newspapers, other units in cities throughout the U.S. produced or planned Living Newspapers. In most cases, these productions were local runs of

SECTION 50

#1732780106583

7384-617: The African American Dance Unit featuring Nigerian artists displaced by the Ethiopian Crisis . These projects employed over 1,000 black actors and directors. The Negro Actors' Guild of America incorporated on October 1, 1936 in the state of New York. The ten Articles for the Certificate of Incorporation addressed the welfare, appreciation and development of black artists. The Federal Theatre Project

7526-735: The Americas". The Federal Dance Project (FDP) was a short-lived entity that was ultimately absorbed into the Federal Theater Project. Dancer Helen Tamiris was the central figure of the FDP, which existed as an independent entity from January 1936 until October 1937. In May 1938, Martin Dies Jr ., director of The House Committee on Un-American Activities specifically targeted the WPA's Federal Theatre Project. Assailing Flanagan's professional character and political affiliations,

7668-539: The Cahans Exodus in 1766. The family settled in the Province of South Carolina . Their immigration there was spurred in part by the colonial government's policy that encouraged the immigration of Irish Protestants , many of Scots origin. The names "John Hearse" and "John Hearse Jr." appear on the council records of October 26, 1766, being credited with meriting 400 and 100 acres (1.62 and 0.40 km ) of land on

7810-507: The Cuban crisis and the ensuing Spanish–American War is often cited as one of the most significant milestones in the rise of yellow journalism 's hold over the mainstream media. Huge headlines in the Journal assigned blame for the Maine's destruction on sabotage, which was based on no evidence. This reporting stoked outrage and indignation against Spain among the paper's readers in New York. The Journal's crusade against Spanish rule in Cuba

7952-414: The Cuban rebels, Gen. Calixto García , gave Hearst a Cuban flag that had been riddled with bullets as a gift, in appreciation of Hearst's major role in Cuba's liberation. In part to aid in his political ambitions, Hearst opened newspapers in other cities, among them Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. In 1915, he founded International Film Service , an animation studio designed to exploit the popularity of

8094-567: The Depression years as seen through young college graduates; Created Equal , a review of American life since colonial times; It Can't Happen Here , Sinclair Lewis 's parable of democracy and dictatorship; No More Peace , Ernst Toller 's satire on dictatorships; Professor Mamlock , about Nazi persecution of Jews; Prologue to Glory , about the early life of Abraham Lincoln; The Sun and I , about Joseph in Egypt; and Woman of Destiny , about

8236-420: The FTP in protest. Left with no script and the pressing need to provide its performers with a play, the Unit drew up another Living Newspaper, Triple-A Plowed Under , within a matter of weeks. Morale had dropped after the cancellation of Ethiopia , and the original director of Triple-A Plowed Under left in frustration; Joseph Losey , known for his support of the Communist Party and recently returned from

8378-453: The FTP into a federation of regional theaters that created relevant art, encouraged experimentation in new forms and techniques, and made it possible for millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time. Although The Federal Theatre project consumed only 0.5% of the allocated budget from the WPA and was widely considered a commercial and critical success, the project became a source of heated political contention. Congress responded to

8520-406: The FTP. The New York Living Newspaper Unit (which performed at the Biltmore Theatre ) came from this meeting. Allied with the American Newspaper Guild , this first and most active of the Living Newspaper Units employed out-of-work journalists and theatre professionals of all types, providing hourly wages for many reporters and entertainers left unemployed by the Depression . The research staff of

8662-439: The Federal Theatre Project and Congress intensified when the State Department objected to the first Living Newspaper, Ethiopia , about Haile Selassie and his nation's struggles against Benito Mussolini 's invading Italian forces . The U.S. government soon mandated that the FTP, a government agency, could not depict foreign heads of state on the stage for fear of diplomatic backlash. Playwright and director Elmer Rice , head of

SECTION 60

#1732780106583

8804-490: The Federal Theatre Project and at large, varied, certain characteristics united all of the FTP's Living Newspaper productions. First, a Living Newspaper's content always centered on some current event or issue affecting the United States working class at large – whether it be the spread of syphilis , slum housing conditions, or the search for affordable electrical power. Teams of research workers, many of whom were out-of-work journalists, carried out extensive research to provide

8946-402: The Federal Theatre Project is the reemployment of theatre workers now on public relief rolls: actors, directors, playwrights, designers, vaudeville artists, stage technicians, and other workers in the theatre field. The far reaching purpose is the establishment of theatres so vital to community life that they will continue to function after the program of this Federal Project is completed. Within

9088-471: The Federal Theatre Project – and the Living Newspapers in particular – in 1938. Established in this year, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began an investigation of the FTP, focusing on its alleged Communist sympathies and anti-American propagandism . Flanagan defended the FTP and the Living Newspapers, holding that the program had presented propaganda, yes, but "... propaganda for democracy, propaganda for better housing," not propaganda against

9230-426: The Federal Theatre Project. The others included 32 revivals or stock productions; seven plays that were initiated by community groups; five that were never produced by the project; two works of Americana; two classics; one children's play; one Italian translation; and one Yiddish play. The Living Newspapers productions that drew criticism were Injunction Granted , a history of American labor relations; One-Third of

9372-418: The Federal Theatre was created to employ and train people, not to generate revenue, no provision was made for the receipt of money when the project began. At its conclusion, 65 percent of its productions were still presented free of charge. The total cost of the Federal Theatre Project was $ 46 million. "In any consideration of the cost of the Federal Theatre," Flanagan wrote, "it should be borne in mind that

9514-605: The Federal Theatre. Blitzstein, Houseman, Welles and Feder collaborated on the controversial production, The Cradle Will Rock . Living Newspapers were plays written by teams of researchers-turned-playwrights. These men and women clipped articles from newspapers about current events, often hot button issues like farm policy, syphilis (spirochete) infection, the Tennessee Valley Authority , and housing inequity . These newspaper clippings were adapted into plays intended to inform audiences, often with progressive or left-wing themes. Triple-A Plowed Under , for instance, attacked

9656-417: The French Theatre in Los Angeles, the German Theater in New York City, and the Negro Theatre Unit which had several chapters across the country, with its largest office in New York City. The FTP set up 17 so-called Negro Theatre Units (NTU) in cities throughout the United States. The NTU had additional offices in Hartford, Boston, Salem, Newark, and Philadelphia in the East; Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles in

9798-488: The Living Newspaper Unit quickly compiled their first Living Newspaper, Ethiopia, which went into rehearsal in 1936. It never opened to the public. The federal government issued a censorship order prohibiting the impersonation of heads of state onstage; the order effectively scuttled the production, which dramatized the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy and featured Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and other real-life figures prominently as characters. Elmer Rice withdrew from

9940-432: The Long Canes in what became Abbeville District, based upon 100 acres (0.40 km ) to heads of household and 50 acres (0.20 km ) for each dependent of a Protestant immigrant; the "Hearse" spelling of the family name was never used afterward by the family members themselves, nor any family of any size. Hearst's mother, née Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson, was also of Scots-Irish ancestry; her family came from Galway . She

10082-453: The Nazis, and fired journalists who refused to write stories favourable of German fascism. Hearst's papers ran columns without rebuttal by Nazi leader Hermann Göring , Alfred Rosenberg , and Hitler himself, as well as Mussolini and other dictators in Europe and Latin America. After the systematic massive Nazi attacks on Jews known as Kristallnacht (November 9–10, 1938), the Hearst press, like all major American newspapers, blamed Hitler and

10224-515: The Nazis: "The entire civilized world is shocked and shamed by Germany's brutal oppression of the Jewish people," read an editorial in all Hearst papers. "You [Hitler] are making the flag of National Socialism a symbol of national savagery," read an editorial written by Hearst. During 1934, Japan / U.S. relations were unstable. In an attempt to remedy this, Prince Tokugawa Iesato travelled throughout

10366-668: The Negro Youth Theater— were dedicated to the Harlem community with the intention of developing unknown theatre artists. Both theatre projects were headquartered at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, where some 30 plays were presented. The first was Frank H. Wilson 's folk drama, Walk Together Chillun (1936), about the deportation of 100 African-Americans from the South to the North to work for low wages. The second

10508-522: The New York Living Newspapers. Both Power and One-Third of a Nation ran throughout the U.S., with the scripts altered to various degrees to suit local conditions. In Seattle , the mayor declared "Power Week" in honor of the week-long run of Power, recognizing the timeliness of the play's subject matter: With the public Bonneville hydroelectric project on the horizon, private and public power companies were vying for support in

10650-616: The New York Unit, Spirochete followed syphilis from its introduction in Europe in the 15th century through to the social stigma surrounding it in the 1930s. The play pushed for audiences to support the Marriage Test Law of 1937, which required blood tests for syphilis prior to marriage. Spirochete became the second most produced Living Newspaper, after One-Third of a Nation and ran in four other major cities as part of

10792-446: The New York office of the FTP, resigned in protest and was succeeded by his assistant, Philip W. Barber. Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. Capitalizing on the FTP's national network and inherent diversity of artists, the Federal Theatre established specific chapters dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the work of previously under-represented artists. Including

10934-750: The United States on a goodwill visit. During his visit, Prince Iesato and his delegation met with William Randolph Hearst with the hope of improving relations between the two nations. In 1903, 40-year-old Hearst married Millicent Veronica Willson (1882–1974), a 21-year-old chorus girl, in New York City. The couple had five sons: George Randolph Hearst , born on April 23, 1904; William Randolph Hearst Jr. , born on January 27, 1908; John Randolph Hearst , born September 26, 1909; and twins Randolph Apperson Hearst and David Whitmire (né Elbert Willson) Hearst , born on December 2, 1915. Conceding an end to his political hopes, Hearst became involved in an affair with

11076-526: The WPA's Federal Project Number One . Government relief efforts funding theatre through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Civil Works Administration in the two preceding years were amateur experiments regarded as charity, not a theatre program. The Federal Theatre Project was a new approach to unemployment in the theatre profession. Only those certified as employable could be offered work, and that work

11218-626: The West; Cleveland, Detroit, Peoria, and Chicago in the Midwest; and Raleigh, Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans in the South. There were additional units in San Francisco, Oklahoma, Durham, Camden, and Buffalo. By the project's conclusion, 22 American cities had served as headquarters for black theater units. The New York Negro Theatre Unit was the most well known. Two of the four federal theaters in New York City—Lafayette Theatre and

11360-552: The best friend the theatre as an institution has ever had in this country." We let out these works on the vote of the people. Part of the Works Progress Administration, the Federal Theatre Project was a New Deal program established August 27, 1935, funded under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 . Of the $ 4.88 billion allocated to the WPA, $ 27 million was approved for the employment of artists , musicians , writers and actors under

11502-497: The bottom, he [Hearst] drove the Journal and the penny press upmarket. The Journal was a demanding, sophisticated paper by contemporary standards." Though yellow journalism would be much maligned, Whyte said, "All good yellow journalists ... sought the human in every story and edited without fear of emotion or drama. They wore their feelings on their pages, believing it was an honest and wholesome way to communicate with readers", but, as Whyte pointed out: "This appeal to feelings

11644-543: The chapter. This argument from McClendon received support from Edna Thomas , Harry Edwards, Carlton Moss , Abraham Hale Jr., Augusta Smith and Dick Campbell . This crusade for equality eventually became a sticking point for the Dies Committee , which pulled funding for the Federal Theater Project, arguing that "racial equality forms a vital part of the Communist dictatorship and practices". Numbers following

11786-494: The city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. Numbers following the city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. These plays were given their first professional production in the United States by the Federal Theatre Project. Titles are shown as they appeared on event programs. Numbers following

11928-772: The city of origin indicate the number of additional cities where the play was presented. The Federal Theatre of the Air began weekly broadcasts March 15, 1936. For three years the radio division of the Federal Theatre Project presented an average of 3,000 programs annually on commercial stations and the NBC, Mutual and CBS networks. The major programs originated in New York; radio divisions were also created in 11 states. Series included Professional Parade , hosted by Fred Niblo ; Experiments in Symphonic Drama , original stories written for classical music; Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera ,

12070-613: The city. Non-New-York Units also researched and wrote their own Living Newspapers. The Southwest Unit, in California , planned and researched Spanish Grant, on a historical incident in which a series of "speculative land deals" took land from communities, and Land Grant , on the 1848 cession of California to the United States and corrupt land deals that led up to it. Washington's unit planned Timber ; Iowa's Dirt ; and Connecticut's Stars and Bars ; however, none of these regional Living Newspapers ever made it to full production. On

12212-750: The comic strips he controlled. The creation of his Chicago paper was requested by the Democratic National Committee . Hearst used this as an excuse for his mother Phoebe Hearst to transfer him the necessary start-up funds. By the mid-1920s he had a nationwide string of 28 newspapers, among them the Los Angeles Examiner , the Boston American , the Atlanta Georgian , the Chicago Examiner ,

12354-419: The committee heard testimony from former Federal Theatre Project members who were unhappy with their tenure with the project. Flanagan testified that the FTP was pro-American insofar as the work celebrated the constitutional freedoms of speech and expression to address the relevant and pressing concerns of its citizens. Citing the Federal Theatre's call for racial equality, impending war, and further perpetuating

12496-584: The complete works performed by Federal Theatre actors and recordings by D'Oyly Carte ; Ibsen's Plays , performances of 12 major plays; Repertory Theatre of the Air , presenting literary classics; Contemporary Theatre , presenting plays by modern authors; and the interview program, Exploring the Arts and Sciences . The radio division presented a wide range of programs on health and safety, art, music and history. The American Legion sponsored James Truslow Adams 's Epic of America . The children's program, Once Upon

12638-526: The concept of counterpoint in mind when constructing Living Newspapers—alternating quickly between scenes and voices displaying contrasting viewpoints, to comment on the action and keep the audience involved and aware. The developers of the Living Newspapers built upon theatrical forms they had encountered in Bolshevik Russia, Germany, and European workers' theatre. Living-Newspaper-like performances appeared in Bolshevik Russia as early as 1919, using

12780-590: The country and witnessed workers' performances during this period, in 1926. The Blue Blouse theatre groups, which employed satire and demanding acrobatics to bring news to the public, particularly captured Flanagan's attention. The work of Russian theatre artists Vsevolod Meyerhold and Vladimir Mayakovsky , active during this time, also influenced the form, as did the work of German theatre artists Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator . Federal Theatre Project The Federal Theatre Project ( FTP ; 1935–1939)

12922-549: The country, attacking relentlessly the unprecedented role of money in the Republican campaign and the dominating role played by William McKinley 's political and financial manager, Mark Hanna , the first national party 'boss' in American history. A year after taking over the paper, Hearst could boast that sales of the Journal's post-election issue (including the evening and German-language editions) topped 1.5 million,

13064-610: The daunting task of building a nationwide theater program to employ thousands of unemployed artists in as little time as possible. The Theatre industry had struggled financially prior to the financial collapse of 1929. By that time it was already threatened with extinction due to the growing popularity of films and radio, but the commercial theatre was reluctant to adapt its practices. Many actors, technicians and stagehands had suffered since 1914 , when movies began to replace stock , vaudeville and other live stage performances nationwide. Sound motion pictures displaced 30,000 musicians. In

13206-532: The decision, Flanagan's stepdaughter, Joanne Bentley quoted an unnamed Congressmen saying "Culture! What the Hell—Let 'em have a pick and shovel!" Members of Congress criticized a total of 81 of the Federal Theatre Project's 830 major titles for their content in public statements, committee hearings, on the floor of the Senate or House, or in testimony before Congressional committees. Only 29 were original productions of

13348-440: The directives of an outside manager. Newspapers and other properties were liquidated, the film company shut down; there was even a well-publicized sale of art and antiquities. While World War II restored circulation and advertising revenues, his great days were over. The Hearst Corporation continues to this day as a large, privately held media conglomerate based in New York City. Hearst won two elections to Congress , then lost

13490-484: The disillusioned American Communist Fred Beal . The New York Times , content with what it has since conceded was "tendentious" reporting of Soviet achievements, printed the blanket denials of its Pulitzer Prize -winning Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty . Duranty, who was widely credited with facilitating the rapprochement with Moscow, dismissed the Hearst-circulated reports of man-made starvation as

13632-399: The factual base for each Living Newspaper. Editors then organized the information and turned it over to writers, who collectively assembled a Living Newspaper from this collage of facts, statistics, newspaper clippings, and anecdotes. Though Hallie Flanagan repeatedly stated that Living Newspapers should be objective and unbiased, most Living Newspaper productions communicated a clear bias and

13774-405: The film actress and comedian Marion Davies (1897–1961), former mistress of his friend Paul Block . From about 1919, he lived openly with her in California. After the death of Patricia Lake (1919/1923–1993), who had been presented as Davies's "niece," her family confirmed that she was Davies's and Hearst's daughter. She had acknowledged this before her death. Millicent separated from Hearst in

13916-408: The forty theatre artists invited to this program developed the first version of a Living Newspaper on tenant housing which grew to become One-Third of a Nation. In its finished form, One-Third of a Nation opened early in 1938 and ran for 237 performances, making it the most successful of the Living Newspapers. The play abandoned some of the experimental nature of the earlier Living Newspapers, using

14058-416: The foundation for the development of a truly creative theatre in the United States with outstanding producing centers in each of those regions which have common interests as a result of geography, language origins, history, tradition, custom, occupations of the people." On October 24, 1935, Flanagan prefaced her instructions on the Federal Theatre's operation with a statement of purpose: The primary aim of

14200-567: The funds were allotted, according to the terms of the Relief Act of 1935, to pay wages to unemployed people. Therefore, when Federal Theatre was criticized for spending money, it was criticized for doing what it was set up to do." The FTP established five regional centers in New York, New York , Boston (Northeast), Chicago (Midwest), Los Angeles (West), and New Orleans (South). The FTP did not operate in every state, since many lacked

14342-501: The government. Despite her defense of the program and President Roosevelt's protests, Congress disbanded the FTP – and with it, the New York Living Newspaper Unit – on July 30, 1939. The end of the FTP and the Unit left many complete and partially developed Living Newspaper scripts unperformed and unfinished. Among these were three by African-American playwrights that dealt with race issues and racism , including Liberty Deferred , by Abram Hill and John Silvera , which followed

14484-417: The great natural and economic forces of our time toward a better life for more people. The Living Newspaper program began very shortly after the establishment of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). Following her appointment as National Director of the FTP in July 1935, Hallie Flanagan , a professor and playwright at Vassar College , and playwright Elmer Rice set to work planning the organization and focus of

14626-495: The history of slavery in the U.S. and addressed the lynchings of African-Americans in the South . Some historians suggest that Congress shut down the Federal Theatre Project partially to stifle the voices of African-American theatre professionals and criticism of racism in the U.S., or that the FTP delayed production of these plays out of fear of just such a reprisal. The Living Newspaper project has influenced progressive theatre in

14768-504: The imprisonment and escape of Cuban prisoner Evangelina Cisneros . While Hearst and the yellow press did not directly cause America's war with Spain, they inflamed public opinion in New York City to a fever pitch. New York's elites read other papers, such as the Times and Sun , which were far more restrained. The Journal and the World were local papers oriented to a very large working class audience in New York City. They were not among

14910-408: The leadership of the Harlem chapter of the FTP be led by an African American artist. Rose McClendon, an established actor at the time, publicly argued against this proposal and instead suggested that initially an established white theater artist take the mantle with the understanding and intention of satisfying the WPA's prior professional theater experience clause and giving way to black artists to lead

15052-510: The mid-1920s after tiring of his longtime affair with Davies, but the couple remained legally married until Hearst's death. As a leading philanthropist, Millicent built an independent life for herself in New York City. She was active in society and in 1921 founded the Free Milk Fund for Babies. For decades, the fund provided New York's poverty-stricken families with free milk for children. George Hearst invested some of his fortune from

15194-520: The notable artists of the time participated in the Federal Theatre Project, including Susan Glaspell who served as Midwest bureau director. The legacy of the Federal Theatre Project can also be found in beginning the careers of a new generation of theater artists. Arthur Miller , Orson Welles , John Houseman , Martin Ritt , Elia Kazan , Joseph Losey , Marc Blitzstein and Abe Feder are among those who became established, in part, through their work in

15336-512: The other hand, Chicago produced an original Living Newspaper that rivalled the later New York Living Newspapers in its impact and positive reception. In 1938, Arnold Sundgaard 's Spirochete, a Living Newspaper on the history of syphilis , opened in Chicago. Using the image projections, extensive sound design, shadowplay, brief scenes, and "little man" character (here, a patient embodying all syphilis sufferers throughout history) made standard by

15478-477: The paper's immense influence in provoking American outrage against Spain. Much of the coverage leading up to the war, beginning with the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution in 1895 , was tainted by rumor, propaganda, and sensationalism, with the "yellow" papers regarded as the worst offenders. The Journal and other New York newspapers were so one-sided and full of errors in their reporting that coverage of

15620-437: The papers. Hearst's conservative politics, increasingly at odds with those of his readers, worsened matters for the once great Hearst media chain. Having been refused the right to sell another round of bonds to unsuspecting investors, the shaky empire tottered. Unable to service its existing debts, Hearst Corporation faced a court-mandated reorganization in 1937. From that point, Hearst was reduced to being an employee, subject to

15762-498: The play, asking questions and receiving explanations. Power garnered a positive reception, running for 140 performances and then converting to a scaled-down travelling form for outdoors summer performances throughout the city. The next Living Newspaper also met with public and critical success. Over the summer of 1937, Flanagan oversaw the Federal Theatre Project Summer School at Vassar College;

15904-544: The policies of the New Deal and the Works Progress Administration. Power chronicled the search of the public consumer for affordable electric power and held up the Tennessee Valley Authority project as an example of where such power could come from. The play also introduced the "little man" figure to the Living Newspaper – a character who represented the consumer and the public, appearing throughout

16046-569: The president vetoed the Patman Bonus Bill for veterans and tried to enter the World Court . His papers carried the publisher's rambling, vitriolic, all-capital-letters editorials, but he no longer employed the energetic reporters, editors, and columnists who might have made a serious attack. He reached 20 million readers in the mid-1930s. They included much of the working class which Roosevelt had attracted by three-to-one margins in

16188-489: The president's mind than the melodramas in the New York Journal. Hearst sailed to Cuba with a small army of Journal reporters to cover the Spanish–American War; they brought along portable printing equipment, which was used to print a single-edition newspaper in Cuba after the fighting had ended. Two of the Journal's correspondents, James Creelman and Edward Marshall, were wounded in the fighting. A leader of

16330-413: The project's racial integration and accusations of Communist infiltration and cancelled its funding effective June 30, 1939. One month before the project's end, drama critic Brooks Atkinson summarized: "Although the Federal Theatre is far from perfect, it has kept an average of ten thousand people employed on work that has helped to lift the dead weight from the lives of millions of Americans. It has been

16472-540: The rival candidacy of Speaker of the House , John Nance Garner , a Texan "whose guiding motto is ‘America First'" and who, in his own words, saw “the gravest possible menace” facing the country as “the constantly increasing tendency toward socialism and communism”. At the Democratic Party Convention in 1932, with control of delegations from his own state of California and from Garner's home state of Texas, Hearst had enough influence to ensure that

16614-413: The rumor that the FTP was a front for radical and communist activities, Congress ended federal funding as of June 30, 1939, immediately putting 8,000 people out of work across the country. Although the overall financial cost of the FTP was minuscule in the grand scheme of the WPA's budget, Congress determined that the average American did not consider theater a viable recipient of their tax dollars. Following

16756-422: The same recipe for success, forcing Pulitzer to drop the price of the World from two cents to a penny. Soon the two papers were locked in a fierce, often spiteful competition for readers in which both papers spent large sums of money and saw huge gains in circulation. Within a few months of purchasing the Journal , Hearst hired away Pulitzer's three top editors: Sunday editor Morrill Goddard, who greatly expanded

16898-821: The scope and appeal of the American Sunday newspaper; Solomon Carvalho; and a young Arthur Brisbane , who became managing editor of the Hearst newspaper empire and a well-known columnist. Contrary to popular assumption, they were not lured away by higher pay—rather, each man had grown tired of the office environment that Pulitzer encouraged. While Hearst's many critics attribute the Journal ' s incredible success to cheap sensationalism, Kenneth Whyte noted in The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise Of William Randolph Hearst : "Rather than racing to

17040-466: The story as an attempt by Hearst to "spoil Soviet-American relations" as part of "an anti-red campaign". According to Rodney Carlisle, "Hearst condemned the domestic practices of Nazism, but he believed that German demands for boundary revision were legitimate. While he was not pro-Nazi, he accepted more German positions and propaganda than did some other editors and publishers." With “AMERICA FIRST” emblazoned on his newspaper masthead, Hearst celebrated

17182-492: The top ten sources of news in papers in other cities, and their stories did not make a splash outside New York City. Outrage across the country came from evidence of what Spain was doing in Cuba, a major influence in the decision by Congress to declare war. According to a 21st-century historian, war was declared by Congress because public opinion was sickened by the bloodshed, and because leaders like McKinley realized that Spain had lost control of Cuba. These factors weighed more on

17324-517: The trip starting at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey . The ship's captain, Dr. Hugo Eckener , first flew the Graf Zeppelin across the Atlantic from Germany to pick up Hearst's photographer and at least three Hearst correspondents. One of them, Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay , by that flight became the first woman to travel around the world by air. The Hearst news empire reached

17466-554: The triumphant Roosevelt picked Garner as his running mate. In the anticipation that Roosevelt would turn out to be, in his words, “properly conservative”, Hearst supported his election. But the rapprochement with Roosevelt did not last the year. The New Deal's program of unemployment relief, in Hearst's view, was “more communistic than the communist” and “un-American to the core”. More and more often, Hearst newspapers supported business over organized labor and condemned higher income tax legislation. Hearst broke with FDR in spring 1935 when

17608-407: The world. Hearst controlled the editorial positions and coverage of political news in all his papers and magazines, and thereby often published his personal views. He sensationalized Spanish atrocities in Cuba while calling for war in 1898 against Spain . Historians, however, reject his subsequent claims to have started the war with Spain as overly extravagant. He was twice elected as a Democrat to

17750-554: The “great achievement” of the new Nazi regime in Germany—a lesson to all “liberty-loving people.” In 1934, after checking with Jewish leaders, Hearst visited Berlin to interview Adolf Hitler . When Hitler asked why he was so misunderstood by the American press, Hearst retorted: "Because Americans believe in democracy, and are averse to dictatorship." William Randolph Hearst instructed his reporters in Germany to give positive coverage of

17892-545: Was Conjur' Man Dies (1936), a comedy-mystery adapted by Arna Bontemps and Countee Cullen from Rudolph Fisher 's novel. The most popular production was the third, which came to be called the Voodoo Macbeth (1936), director Orson Welles 's adaptation of Shakespeare's play set on a mythical island suggesting the Haitian court of King Henri Christophe . The New York Negro Theatre Unit also oversaw projects from

18034-508: Was a theatre program established during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United States . It was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration , created not as a cultural activity but as a relief measure to employ artists, writers, directors, and theater workers. National director Hallie Flanagan shaped

18176-813: Was a 43,281-acre (17,515 ha) land grant given in 1838 by California governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Ygnacio Pastor. The grant encompassed present-day Jolon and land to the west. When Pastor obtained title from the Public Land Commission in 1875, Faxon Atherton immediately purchased the land. By 1880, the James Brown Cattle Company owned and operated Rancho Milpitas and neighboring Rancho Los Ojitos . In 1923, Newhall Land sold Rancho San Miguelito de Trinidad and Rancho El Piojo to William Randolph Hearst. In 1925, Hearst's Piedmont Land and Cattle Company bought Rancho Milpitas and Rancho Los Ojitos (Little Springs) from

18318-451: Was a leading supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932–1934, but then broke with FDR and became his most prominent enemy on the right. Hearst's publication reached a peak circulation of 20 million readers a day in the mid-1930s. He poorly managed finances and was so deeply in debt during the Great Depression that most of his assets had to be liquidated in the late 1930s. Hearst managed to keep his newspapers and magazines. His life story

18460-599: Was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon , the A.D. Club , a Harvard Final club , the Hasty Pudding Theatricals , and the Harvard Lampoon prior to being expelled . His antics at Harvard ranged from sponsoring massive beer parties on Harvard Square to sending pudding pots used as chamber pots to his professors with their images depicted within the bowls. Searching for an occupation, in 1887 Hearst took over management of his father's newspaper,

18602-557: Was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications . His flamboyant methods of yellow journalism in violation of ethics and standards influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human-interest stories . Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 with Mitchell Trubitt after being given control of The San Francisco Examiner by his wealthy father, Senator George Hearst . After moving to New York City, Hearst acquired

18744-524: Was appointed as the first woman Regent of University of California, Berkeley , donated funds to establish libraries at several universities, funded many anthropological expeditions, and founded the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology . Hearst attended preparatory school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire . He gained admission to Harvard College , and began attending in 1885. While there, he

18886-530: Was at once a militant nationalist, a staunch anti-communist after the Russian Revolution , and deeply suspicious of the League of Nations and of the British, French, Japanese, and Russians. Following Hitler's rise to power, Hearst became a supporter of the Nazi Party , ordering his journalists to publish favorable coverage of Nazi Germany, and allowing leading Nazis to publish articles in his newspapers. He

19028-463: Was coined by Wallace Irwin . Hearst was on the left wing of the Progressive Movement , speaking on behalf of the working class (who bought his papers) and denouncing the rich and powerful (who disdained his editorials). With the support of Tammany Hall (the regular Democratic organization in Manhattan), Hearst was elected to Congress from New York in 1902 and 1904. He made a major effort to win

19170-516: Was common with claims before the Public Land Commission , Estrada's legal claim was costly and took many years to resolve. Estrada mortgaged the ranch to Domingo Pujol, a Spanish-born San Francisco lawyer, who represented him. Estrada was unable to pay the loan and Pujol foreclosed on it. Estrada did not have the title to the land. Hearst sued, but ended up with only 1,340 acres (5.4 km ) of Estrada's holdings. Rancho Milpitas

19312-500: Was distinguished for its focus on racial injustice. Flanagan expressly ordered her subordinates to follow the WPA policy against racial prejudice. In fact when it came to making decisions on a national level for the project, the Federal Theatre Regulation mandated that "there may be racial representation in all national planning." A specific example of the FTP's adherence to an anti-prejudicial environment came when

19454-439: Was not due to mere jingoism, although "the democratic ideals and humanitarianism that inspired their coverage are largely lost to history," as are their "heroic efforts to find the truth on the island under unusually difficult circumstances." The Journal's journalistic activism in support of the Cuban rebels, rather, was centered around Hearst's political and business ambitions. Perhaps the best known myth in American journalism

19596-488: Was often their only recourse. "This is a tough job we're asking you to do," Hopkins told Flanagan at their first meeting in May 1935. "I don't know why I still hang on to the idea that unemployed actors get just as hungry as anybody else." Hopkins promised "a free, adult, uncensored theatre" — something Flanagan spent the next four years trying to build. She emphasized the development of local and regional theatre, "to lay

19738-448: Was the inventor of the dizzy comic strip Krazy Kat . Not especially popular with either readers or editors when it was first published, in the 21st century, it is considered a classic, a belief once held only by Hearst himself. In 1929, he became one of the sponsors of the first round-the-world voyage in an airship, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin from Germany. His sponsorship was conditional on

19880-718: Was the main inspiration for Charles Foster Kane , the lead character in Orson Welles ' film Citizen Kane (1941). His Hearst Castle , constructed on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean near San Simeon , has been preserved as a State Historical Monument and is designated as a National Historic Landmark . Hearst was born in San Francisco to George Hearst on April 29, 1863, a millionaire mining engineer, owner of gold and other mines through his corporation, and his much younger wife Phoebe Apperson Hearst , from

20022-419: Was to be within the individual's defined skills and trades. "For the first time in the relief experiments of this country the preservation of the skill of the worker, and hence the preservation of his self-respect, became important," wrote Hallie Flanagan , director of the Federal Theatre Project. A theater professor at Vassar College who had studied the operation of government-sponsored theatre abroad for

20164-522: Was unfailingly polite, unassuming, "impeccably calm", and indulgent of "prima donnas, eccentrics, bohemians, drunks, or reprobates so long as they had useful talents" according to historian Kenneth Whyte. Hearst's activist approach to journalism can be summarized by the motto, "While others Talk, the Journal Acts." The New York Journal and its chief rival, the New York World, mastered

#582417