In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

{ 64 } \ Ole Olson and Companions as Others Swedish-Dialect Characters and the Question of Scandinavian Acculturation —L ANDIS K. MAGNUSON Since the late 1970s, extensive research has focused on ethnic stereotypes in American popular theatre and vaudeville of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—especially studies on German (commonly called Dutch), Irish, Hebrew, and Negro dialect humor.1 As a product, in part, of the ethnic revival of the 1960s and 1970s and the growing academic acceptance of popular culture studies, considerable ethnic history has been uncovered, reclaimed, and elevated. Still awaiting intensive exploration, however, are less-prominent ethnic Others. Among the groups making an important contribution to the ethnic comedy of an earlier period and deserving of more focused analysis is the Swedish immigrant.2 In a comprehensive overview dating from the early 1980s, theatre historian Anne-Charlotte Harvey accounts for the rise and eventual decline of play performances in the Swedish language for and by Swedish immigrants, which dates in the United States from the early 1860s.3 In this research Harvey outlines an evolution from productions performed entirely in Swedish, to “mixedlanguage ” productions of Swedish and broken English, to the use of only the Swedish accent by Swedish actors, to eventually the “non-Scandinavianspeaking performer who puts on a Scandinavian stage accent and assumes a Scandinavian personality.”4 This last alteration of the performance of Swedishdialect plays became possible only when the Scandinavian immigrant “type” { 65 } OLE OLSON AND COMPANIONS AS OTHERS became immediately recognizable in American society as a caricature. With the peak of Swedish immigration occurring from 1880 to 1900,5 a societal caricature of the Swede underwent formation and became fixed in the public mindset : the golden-haired transplant who is slow in mind and body, engaged in ongoing struggles with the English language. Having once acquired stage importance in the 1890s, Swedish-dialect plays and the ethnic caricatures they portrayed proved a successful box-office attraction well into the Depression era and beyond. As historian James H. Dormon argues, ethnic caricatures were in large part created by ascribed qualities emphasized for stage purposes. Dormon asserts: “The qualities that define the type are in fact ascribed qualities, qualities believed to exist in reality, are presumed to exist in reality, by outside observers and sometimes by members of the group as well. But the stereotyping process isolates these ascriptive qualities for emphasis (and thus distortion), thereby affording a form of mental shorthand that renders close personal observation and differentiation unnecessary. In brief, ascription establishes the qualities that collectively constitute the stereotype.”6 Dormon further emphasizes, “It was the standard practice of such comedians simply to exaggerate the primary ascriptive qualities to the point of caricature in order to render the stereotype more comical.” Appertaining to stage caricatures, Dormon is emphatic: “invariably the racial comics rendered ethnic stereotypes in caricature form.”7 While addressing the closely related topic of whether or not such ascriptive qualities exist in reality (the “kernel of truth” hypothesis), Dormon stresses that the question is not necessarily relevant. This hypothesis, however, does play a part in the creation of the Swedish immigrant stereotype and should not be dismissed. The realities facing the newly arrived Swede, such as challenging language acquisition, slow adjustment to societal norms, and the cultural tradition of a rugged stoicism, all provide the basis for exaggeration leading to the level of caricature.An observation made concerning the character of Ole Olson in 1890—“for while it may be to some extent an exaggeration , it is to a considerable degree true to nature”8 —recognizes the “kernel of truth” hypothesis in play, and the “considerable degree true to nature” sentiment also speaks to the active process of isolation and emphasis leading to stereotype. Concerning the Swedish immigrant, history records that Scandinavians were never subjected to the intense discrimination and prejudice that befell many other groups new to these shores. Persistent thought holds that Swedes were highly assimilable and responded by rapidly becoming Americans. Fuel- { 66 } L ANDIS K. MAGNUSON ing this belief, according to historian Robert Salisbury, is the idea that Swedes possessed the “triple advantage” of being “white, Protestant, and Northern European , which immunized them from racial prejudices.”9...

pdf

Share