![]() But by the time he turns up at the mansion, Walker has a prosperous job, money in his pocket, and is eager to make his family whole.Īnd then…well, America happens. A musician, Walker had been unable to provide for Sarah and the shame of it drove a wedge between them even before the pregnancy. (Rollins), turns up at the house looking for Sarah and the child she bore him. It’s not long after this that a black man, Coalhouse Walker Jr. But Mother (Steenburgen) takes pity on both the child and the woman and allows them to remain in the palatial estate. Procedure, stated with all the racial invective you might imagine, is to throw Sarah in jail and toss the baby into an orphanage. “What did you do?” roars the man, identified only as Father (James Olson), as if the terrified young woman somehow planted the infant.Īuthorities quickly find and arrest the woman who abandoned her child, Sarah (Debbie Allen, later of Fame fame). She was out watering the garden and discovered a black baby lying among the vegetables. It’s early in the 20th century and a wealthy New York family is sitting down to breakfast when one of their servants starts screaming. Director Miloš Forman may speak Oscar-bait fluently, but Ragtime’s pristine surface is there to lure you into a lacerating portrait of how the evils of American society and institutions are baked into this country down to the bone, evils that will greedily swallow up anyone who tries to challenge them.Īlthough some people, of course, have an easier time side-stepping the maw. Jackson, etc.), luminaries from yesteryear (including James Cagney in his final ever film year, plus appearances by Donald O’Connor and Pat O’Brien and…Norman Mailer?), and as many That Guys and character actors as you can conceivably fit into a 2.5 hour runtime.īut Ragtime gilds this lily not so you might bask in a simpler time, enjoying the glow of history through a gauzy lens. It’s massive ensemble is packed to the gills with rising stars (newcomer Howard Rollins, Mary Steenburgen the year after she won her Oscar, Mandy Patinkin just before Yentl, Brad Dourif a couple years after his nomination for Cuckoo’s Nest, plus very early appearances by Fran Drescher, Jeff Daniels, Samuel L. ![]() ![]() It is a book for all southerners and for all serious music lovers, wherever they live.On the surface, Ragtime has the look of a sterling, prestige epic set in the burnished glory of yesteryear. From Mahalia Jackson to R.E.M., from Doc Watson to OutKast, this volume considers a diverse array of topics, drawing on the best historical and contemporary scholarship on southern music. And it features 174 topical and biographical entries, focusing on artists and musical outlets. ![]() With nearly double the number of entries devoted to music in the original Encyclopedia, this volume includes 30 thematic essays, covering topics such as ragtime, zydeco, folk music festivals, minstrelsy, rockabilly, white and black gospel traditions, and southern rock. This much-anticipated volume in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture celebrates an essential element of southern life and makes available for the first time a stand-alone reference to the music and music makers of the American South. Southern music has flourished as a meeting ground for the traditions of West African and European peoples in the region, leading to the evolution of various traditional folk genres, bluegrass, country, jazz, gospel, rock, blues, and southern hip-hop. ![]()
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