Satan in the Dance Hall: Rev. John Roach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920s New York City [Paperback]

Crackpot preacher went after jazz and the Charleston
Island historian explores the move against music in his new book,
'Satan in the Dance Hall'

Sunday, January 18, 2009
By MICHAEL J. FRESSOLA STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Having already documented social dancing in his two-volume "Social Dancing in America" (Greenwood Press, 2007), Staten Island-based historian Ralph Giordano is back in the ballroom. This time, he's looking at 1920s New York, when jazz clubs were thriving, hems were going up, bathtub gin was going down and the Charleston was all the rage. But on 57th Street, the Rev. John Roach Straton of Calvary Baptist Church was inveighing against the jazzing, the dancing, the cocktails and women riding bicycles, which was thought to cause "heightened sexual awareness." Rev. Straton was cracked, of course, but it was years before anyone noticed. "Satan in the Dance Hall" (Scarecrow Press, 2008), Giordano's expose of the era, has the whole mad, colorful story. Last week, he explained a few things.

Q. Did it surprise you to find that this character, Rev. Straton, actually had a receptive following for a while?
A. Actually prior to writing "Social Dancing in America," I would say that, yes, I was surprised. But during research for that book, I learned about his influence.
In fact, the essence of my book is that so many portrayals gloss over the 1920s, making it a fun, freewheeling time of flaunting Prohibition and dancing the Charleston to jazz music. But what I present is that it was probably the most morally restrictive time as it applied to the accepted influence of the Ku Klux Klan, eugenics as promoted by Madison Grant, Americanization, the Congressional quotas on immigrants from southern Europe (mainly Catholics and Jews), and the outrageous laws strengthening segregation and the audacious creation of "Racial Integrity Laws," outlawing interracial marriage.

Q. I was surprised at all the vitriol over jazz! Is it comparable at all to how people demonize rap and hip-hop?
A. I would defer once again to the "gloss over" or the fictional idealization of Hollywood movies and television that have completely softened the furor over jazz.
Actually, I have written a bit on the outrage over rock 'n' roll as well as rap/hip-hop and I would simply say that what has gone on in the last 50 years against music is not even close to the demonization of jazz. The association, or more appropriately the backlash against jazz, gave support to the rise of the fundamentalist movement that Rev. Straton was such a strong part of. It has devilish association with jazz, or as Jelly Roll Morton recalled: "My grandmother ... told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall but I just couldn't put it behind me."

Q. Look at Jerry Falwell and Jim Bakker. These Bible thumpers always seem to crash and burn if you just let them run their course, yes?

A. I would say just the opposite. The Rev. Falwell, and now I quote from my book, "was the ... founder of the ultra-conservative Moral Majority of the 1990s."
In fact, harkening back to the doom of the modern Babylon predicted by Rev. Straton, the obstinate Falwell blamed the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 as God's wrath for New York.
Currently, Joel Osteen is all over television and he heads what might be the largest church in America in Houston. I am ecstatic over the election of Obama, but his pick of the evangelical Rick Warren, the mega-church pastor, to give the invocation at the inauguration, and the Bob Joneses and Franklin Grahams and his dad, Rev. Billy, among so many others, are just further proof that these Bible thumpers are alive and thrivin'.

Q. So dancing is still powerful stuff, even though it may not seem that way?
A. Dancing certainly has been so powerful, that is obviously evident by the huge success of "Dancing with the Stars" and the all-too-many offshoots, especially the recent international edition. The success is the magical attraction that dancing has to offer. Although I have previously expressed my displeasure at the negative comments by the judges and the elimination factor. When my wife and I go dancing at least once a week, we go not for competition, not for applause, not for critique, but for fun and relaxation, as do all the others that are regulars each week.

Michael J. Fressola is the Advance arts editor. He may be reached at fressola@siadvance.com.
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