How the Arabian Nights Inspired the American Dream, 1790-1935

Contents

contents Preface ix Introduction: Playing Eastern 1 one Capitalism and the Arabian Nights, 1790–1892 19 two Ex Oriente Lux: Playing Eastern for a Living, 1838–1875 51 three Wise Men of the East and the Market for American Fraternalism, 1850–1892 79 four Arab Athleticism and the Exoticization of the American Dream, 1870–1920 111 five Making the Familiar Strange: The Racial Politics of Eastern Exotic, 1893–1929 137 six Eastern Femininities for Modern Women, 1893–1930 171 seven Turbans and Capitalism, 1893–1930 205 eight Sign of Promise: African Americans and Eastern Personae in the Great Depression 231 Notes 255 Bibliography 299 Index 335 This page intentionally left blank illustrations An Oriental tale written in Eastern voice 28 Scene of comfort and plenty from Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, ca. 1885 43 Evelyn Hughes’s New York City drawing room with Oriental cozy corner, 1899 48 Christopher Oscanyan’s book portrait 60 Christopher Oscanyan instructs Americans on the international language of hand gestures 61 Bayard Taylor as Eastern traveler 76 Muslim man at prayer 89 Abd El-Kader with Masonic medals and Albert Rawson pictured with Masonic banners 94 Mystic Shrine initiation ritual imagined as Oriental tale 106 Promotional bill for the 1896 tour of Bu√alo Bill Cody’s Wild West with a rendering of Sheik Tahar 119 ‘‘Troupe of Salim Nassar Bedouin Arabs, Hassan Ben Ali, manager, 1898’’ 132 Tradecard for the Bayrooty Troupe, a ‘‘Vaudeville Novelty of Oriental Splendor’’ 134 Ottoman subjects energetically played various Oriental characters at the Columbian Exposition 141 Mosque advertises a carpet shop at the Columbian Exposition 150 viii ...Illustrations Ottoman subject Robert Levy in a cryptic newspaper advertisement commemorating Shriner Day at the Columbian Exposition 157 Arab Patrolmen march in a 1915 Spokane, Washington, parade with Shriner cowboys and Indians from ‘‘Algeria Temple’’ in Montana 162 Egyptian Order Shriners still going strong in a 1953 Denver parade 167 Late nineteenth-century editions of the Arabian Nights stayed current by making reference to the trope of a peek into spaces of feminine sociability 179 The Egyptian dancer Amina worked the Midway at the Columbian Exposition 182 Women as audience members for ‘‘The Original Turkish Harem’’ on Coney Island, 1896 189 Burlesque dancers played Eastern as various kinds of ‘‘Oriental’’ dancers 199 Swami Abhedananda got typically cynical press treatment 216 The urban religious marketplace o√ered traditional churches, sufism, Theosophy, and turban-clad hotel advisers 227 Swami-style mind reader in dress tie and exotic cloak, Louisiana State Fair, Donaldson, Louisiana, 1938 232 Early women members of the Nation of Islam bearing names like ‘‘Ali’’ and ‘‘Pasha’’ 250 ...