The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians

Chapter 3. Utopia on Broadway: Charles Pfaff’s Saloon and the Power of the Pen

44 Frank S. Chanfrau, one of the regulars at Charlie Pfaff ’s saloon had been born in a wooden tenement on the Bowery, worked his way west as a ship carpenter, and discovered his remarkable gifts of mimicry. In 1848, in “A Glance at New York,” he brought to life the character of“Mose,” who swaggered onto the stage and delivered lines in the distinctive language of the Bowery“b’hoys”and“g’hals,”to the delight of the distinctively working-class crowd.Based on this success,Chanfrau turned to developing Our American Cousin and its spinoffs for Laura Keene, aided by Charles Gayler, author of Out of the Streets: A Story of New York Life.1 An emergent urban life not only inspired the career of a worker-turned-actor-portraying-a-worker, but that life helped make the pen its main fulcrum of antebellum creativity. Awell-connected visitor to Charles Pfaff ’s cellar on Broadway could have met virtually all of those newspapermen eager to distinguish themselves through essays, fiction, or poetry. The expansion of these creative pursuits Chapter 3 Utopia on Broadway Charles Pfaff’s Saloon and the Power of the Pen R go to pfaff’s!—At Pfaff ’s Restaurant and Lager Beer Saloon, No. 647 Broadway, New York, you will find the best Viands, the best Lager Bier, the best Coffee and Tea, the best Wines and Liquors, the best Havana Cigars—in fine, the best of everything, at Moderate Prices. N.B.—You will also find at Pfaff ’s the best German, French, Italian, English, and American papers. —advertisement, Saturday Press Utopia on Broadway · 45 opened the way for a remarkably talented group of women who provided a catalyst for the emergence of bohemianism. Moreover, Pfaff ’s was the gathering spot for the musical and theatrical talent that worked nearby and for the painters,sculptors,and engravers expanding the republican vision to the wide world beyond the likenesses of the rich and well born. Certainly, printers’ ink had become the life’s blood of this new subculture, but Pfaff ’s liquid refreshments became quite important, if only as an excuse for being overwhelmed by the introductions. NewYork’s seat of power rested,with varying degrees of comfort,at City Hall onlowerBroadway.MayorFernandoWood,awealthyDemocraticmerchant, builtatemporarilysuccessfulcoalitionaroundhiscombinationof pragmatism, corruption,andcheapappealstotraditionalvalues.There,amidtheseemingly chaotic activities of the nearly million souls living and working on Manhattan Island,severalthousandlocalgovernmentofficialsscrambledtoformulateand present a simplified and sanitized version of their accomplishments. Across the street on Park Row, large buildings housed the city’s major newspapers. Popular acceptance, rather than birth, defined political legitimacy ,and in a literate population this made government reliant on legions of newspapermen, some of whom had proved themselves quite ready to rattle the mayor’s administration over issues such as individual management of expanding leisure time. The owners there understood and shared so many concerns with rulers of the city that they often functioned as attentive stenographers for the government authorities,filtering information essential to an orderly metropolis,and leaving chronicles that framed the efforts of those later seeking an orderly understanding of history.The press also had distinct interestsatthetime,shapedbythecompetitionforcirculation,directlyrelated to their profits on advertising and announcements. Media interest encouraged , supported, and inspired factional rivalries within the government and assisted in their resolution. The success of the Wood administration turned largely on the competition and rivalry between Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune and Henry J.Raymond’s New York Times, the former hostile and the latter friendly to the mayor, and both eager to surpass the other to become the voice of an emerging Republican Party.2 The legions of printers, reporters, and freelance writers employed on Newspaper Row had concerns of their own that both overlapped and conflicted with their employers.While unions of printers had formed and fallen many times over the decades,the 1850s saw the emergence of a new local with 46 · The Antebellum Crisis and America’s First Bohemians hundreds of members that helped to anchor the recently formed National Typographical Union. Every individual working in the industry pursued diverse interests of their own, beyond“the point of production.” Over time, as their workdays tended to shrink a bit, they enjoyed the leisure to explore a city that offered ever more diversions expanding into all avenues. This general expansion of leisure and wealth,however inequitably distributed ,fertilizedthegrowthof alargeentertainmentdistrictupBroadway—only afifteen-ortwenty-minutewalkfromNewspaperRow.Thirsty,hungry,orjust plainborednewspapermenwouldsimplyfollowBroadwaynorthof Chambers Street,pasttheofficesof...