| Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen Contributor(s): Tucker, Sherrie (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822357429 ISBN-13: 9780822357421 Publisher: Duke University Press OUR PRICE: $109.20 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2014 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - West (ak, Ca, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, Wy) - History | Military - World War Ii - Performing Arts | Dance - History & Criticism |
| Dewey: 940.531 |
| LCCN: 2014000772 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.2" W x 9.2" (1.55 lbs) 408 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine - Chronological Period - 1940's - Locality - Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA - Cultural Region - Southern California - Geographic Orientation - California |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Open from 1942 until 1945, the Hollywood Canteen was the most famous of the patriotic home front nightclubs where civilian hostesses jitterbugged with enlisted men of the Allied Nations. Since the opening night, when the crowds were so thick that Bette Davis had to enter through the bathroom window to give her welcome speech, the storied dance floor where movie stars danced with soldiers has been the subject of much U.S. nostalgia about the "Greatest Generation." Drawing from oral histories with civilian volunteers and military guests who danced at the wartime nightclub, Sherrie Tucker explores how jitterbugging swing culture has come to represent the war in U.S. national memory. Yet her interviewees' varied experiences and recollections belie the possibility of any singular historical narrative. Some recall racism, sexism, and inequality on the nightclub's dance floor and in Los Angeles neighborhoods, dynamics at odds with the U.S. democratic, egalitarian ideals associated with the Hollywood Canteen and the "Good War" in popular culture narratives. For Tucker, swing dancing's torque-bodies sharing weight, velocity, and turning power without guaranteed outcomes-is an apt metaphor for the jostling narratives, different perspectives, unsteady memories, and quotidian acts that comprise social history. |