“Mr. Crane’s Vivid Story” (Scenes 1 – 2, Amusement Park, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, February, 1898)

Posted by [email protected] | Dec 13, 2015 | Cultural Life, History | 0 |

**THE FULL SCREENPLAY Mr. Crane’s Vivid Story: New and Improved**

Post-advertising-Edward-Amets-faked-Spanish-American-War-film-356x500

A filmed “fake” recreation of the battle of Manilla Bay, circa 1898

USS Maine Tablet (1912), old Rochester City Hall, Fitzhugh Street

Scene 1: Havana, February 1898

Scene 3: Washington

Scene 4: Montana, February 1898

Scene 5: New York, February 1898

Scene 6: The Cuban Countyrside, February 1898

Scene 7: Havana, May 1898

1893 edition

Scene 8: Havana, May 1898

“Mr. Crane’s Vivid Story”

Stephen Crane, Greece, 1897

Scene 2 Pawtucket, Rhode Island February, 1898

A Barnum and Bailey-like circus in a New England town. The usual 19^th century appeals, Siamese twins, strongmen, etc

Barker #1: Hey, Charlie, howz bizz?

Charlie: Like an elevator in Man-hatt-an, my friend. Up and down.

Barker #1: Say, aint that Chang and Chang, the Siamese Twins. And whatta crowd!

Charlie: Cast your eyes yonder and behold the Miracle of the Orient. The Linked Chinks.

Barker#1: So what’s the problem.

Charlie: It’s this damn Vitagraph; I’m going broke.

from 1896 film, Boxing Match or Glove Contest

(Gestures to the tent where a rickety projector is showing a clip of boxing match to a sparse and unenthusiastic audience.)

I thought these wops would take to it. You shoudda seen the first time. They filled the place up like the Pope was gonna wash their damned feet. The machine starts up (pointing to projector).

The fellow takes a swipe (gesture). And the whole damn front row heads for cover. They wouldn’t come back until they could touch the screen with their own hands, like the damned Shroud of Turin. But now the place is as emptier than a bottle of whiskey at a mic’s wake. Moving pictures, my arse!

A newsboy runs past: “Extra, Extra, Maine Blown Up in Cuba. Hundreds Dead. To Hell with Spain!”

Barker #1: What the devil? Charlie, whatz it mean?

Charlie: (meditatively) I’ll tell you, my friend. This means war for sure. And you know what were gonna do? Before I just chuck these damned Veet-o-graphs, we are loaden’ them up and headen’ straight for Cuba. When we get back, this crowd will pay a silver dollar to see their boys kill some Spaniards!

To learn more about war films see Filming, faking and propaganda: The origins of the war film, 1897-1902)

and see On Spanish-American War Monuments and Rochester. And remembering the Buffalo Soldiers on Veteran’s Day

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.