AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, THE: NEW YORK: A DOCUMENTARY FILM: THE POWER AND THE PEOPLE {EPISODE FOUR} (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series. Part four in a seven-episode Ric Burns documentary that chronicles the history of New York from its inception as a Dutch Colony to its aggressive and destructive urban renewal campaigns of the 1950s. Utilizing archival photographs, film footage, news clippings, and interviews with scholars and writers, this episode covers New York City's development from 1883 through the beginnings of the labor-reform movement and the 1918 election of labor-reform hero Al Smith as governor of the state. It begins with an analysis of Emma Lazarus's poem, "The New Colossus," which is displayed on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Next, the narrator describes the first moving images of New York, captured with Thomas Alva Edison's motion-picture camera, suggesting that the "human, and physical, and political landscape of the city" altered greatly in the period in question. Historian Kenneth T. Jackson describes the changes wrought by immigrants, suggesting that they transformed the city into something unprecedented. Immigrants went through Ellis Island upon their arrival in the United States, viewers learn, and their assembly-line processing is described in detail by the narrator, who notes that the facility handled up to 12,000 people a day. Next, historian David McCullough details changes in building construction, chronicling some of the advances that led to the design and engineering of skyscrapers. Writer John Steele Gordon and real-estate developer Donald Trump comment on the skyscraper as a building form. The narrator returns to the topic of immigration. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese, describing the Lower East Side his parents knew, explains that immigrants from a particular village overseas often lived in a particular building on the Lower East Side. The narrator describes the streets of this neighborhood as "one vast, raucous, open-air bazaar, teeming with peddlers and venders of every kind." Next, historian Mike Wallace talks about the "self-fulfilling" economy of New York, the consolidation of the five boroughs, and the subway system that helped pull everything and everyone in the city together. The narrator describes the construction of the first New York subway by the Interboro Rapid Transit Company, and scholars detail the unique features of the subway. Other milestones in city transportation are described, including the construction of three new bridges over the East River, of Pennsylvania Station, and of Grand Central Station. The narrator states that in 1909 forty percent of New York's population was foreign born. The Hudson-Fulton Celebration, held in 1909 in honor of the achievements of Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton, is described. The narrator notes that six weeks after this celebration the poor of New York rose up to protest the economic inequities of capitalism and the government's unwillingness or inability to curb them. He suggests that this question lingered in the air: "Would it be possible to close the gap between rich and poor in New York City and unite the dreams of capitalism and democracy?" Historian Daniel Czitrom comments on the staggering number of New Yorkers who were living in tenements, and the narrator talks about poor living conditions in New York and the beginnings of housing reform. The narrator mentions the effect of Jacob Riis's eye-opening book "How the Other Half Lives." Also important was Governor Theodore Roosevelt's support of the Tenement Housing Act, which outlawed new tenements and mandated improvements in the old ones. Wallace goes on to call New York a "fabulous pioneer in developing public-health services and clinics." By 1909 the progressive movement had made critical advances, viewers learn. Nevertheless, in the garment industry a quarter of a million workers labored in frequently nightmarish conditions, without regulation. The program follows the details of a strike of 20,000 female shirtwaist workers in 1909. The narrator explains that even though the strike failed it started an important movement. Next, the program details the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, in which 141 female workers died because the building in which they worked had no safety standards. Historians Kathy Peiss and Christine Stansell talk about this tragedy, which led to legislation for workers' rights. City politician Al Smith was appointed leader of the Factory Commission, which conducted a four-year investigation into the working conditions in New York City factories. Smith himself became the voice of reform in New York and was something of a hero. The program concludes with the construction of the landmark Woolworth Building and the election of Smith as governor in 1918.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Blake Byrne.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 17, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:55:40
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:66506
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: New York (N.Y.) - History; New York City; U S - Emigration and immigration
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Margaret Drain … Executive Producer
- Judy Crichton … Executive Producer
- Ric Burns … Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- Kerry Herman … Coordinating Producer
- Kate Roth Knull … Supervising Producer
- Lisa Ades … Producer
- Steve Rivo … Associate Producer
- Ray Segal … Associate Producer
- Helen Kaplan … Associate Producer
- Meghan Horvath … Researcher
- Anya Sirota … Researcher
- James Sanders … Writer
- Brian Keane … Music by
- David Ogden Stiers … Narrator
- Daniel Czitrom
- Thomas Edison
- Robert Fulton
- John Steele Gordon
- Henry Hudson
- Kenneth T. Jackson
- Emma Lazarus
- David McCullough
- Kathy Peiss
- Jacob Riis
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Martin Scorsese
- Al Smith
- Christine Stansell
- Donald Trump
- Mike Wallace