Ragtime (film)

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"Ragtime" movie poster


This article is part of
"The Evelyn Nesbit History Project"
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Ragtime is a 1981 American drama film, based on the 1975 historical novel "Ragtime" by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City early in the 1900s, including fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film features the final film appearances of James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, and early appearances, in small parts, by Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson, Ethan Phillips, and John Ratzenberger. Elizabeth McGovern played Evelyn Nesbit. The music score was composed by Randy Newman. The film was nominated for eight Oscars.

Nexus

Eternal-question.gif

The movie poster for this film shows a stylized Charles Dana Gibson drawing "Woman: the Eternal Question" of Evelyn Nesbit as, "The Girl in the Velvet Swing"

Plot

A newsreel montage depicts turn-of-the-20th-century celebrities including Harry Houdini, Theodore Roosevelt, architect Stanford White, and life in New York City, accompanied by ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. Millionaire industrialist Harry Kendall Thaw makes a scene when White unveils a nude statue atop Madison Square Garden, modeled after former chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), Thaw's wife. Convinced White has corrupted Evelyn, Thaw publicly shoots him dead.

An upper-class family resides in New Rochelle, New York, where Father owns a factory where his wife's Younger Brother makes fireworks. An African American baby is abandoned in their garden, and upon learning the police intend to charge the child's mother, Sarah, with child abandonment and attempted murder, Mother takes Sarah and her child in, despite Father's objections. Coalhouse arrives in search of Sarah, driving a new Ford Model T, and realizing he is the baby's father, announces his intention to marry Sarah.

Younger Brother witnesses White's murder and becomes obsessed with Evelyn. Thaw's lawyer Delphin bribes Evelyn with a million-dollar divorce settlement to keep silent about Thaw's mental instability and to testify that White abused her. Passing through the Lower East Side, Evelyn encounters street artist Tateh, who throws out his unfaithful wife. He leaves New York with their daughter and sells the flip book he created. Evelyn and Younger Brother begin an affair as she prepares her return to the stage, while he assumes they will eventually marry. After Thaw is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, his lawyers inform Evelyn that Thaw will sue her for divorce on the grounds of infidelity and she accepts a smaller settlement. The affair ends, leaving Younger Brother adrift.

In New Rochelle, Coalhouse is targeted by bigoted volunteer firemen led by Willie Conklin, who refuse to allow his automobile to pass by. Coalhouse finds a policeman and returns to find his car's soiled with horse manure, and the racist policeman arrests him for parking illegally. After Father arranges for Coalhouse's release, they discover his car has been further vandalized. Coalhouse pursues legal action, but can find no lawyer willing to represent him. Father and Younger Brother argue over Coalhouse's legal recourse. At a presidential rally, Sarah attempts to tell President Roosevelt about Coalhouse's case but is beaten by guards and dies.

After Sarah's funeral, Coalhouse and his supporters kill several firemen. He threatens to attack other firehouses, demanding his car be restored and Conklin be turned over to him. Father==== is disgusted at the violence but Younger Brother joins Coalhouse's gang with his knowledge of explosives. Ostracized by their own white community and hounded by reporters, Father and Mother leave for Atlantic City. They encounter Tateh, now a film director on a photoplay with Evelyn. Mother is attracted to Tateh and she and Father quarrel. Coalhouse's gang hold the Pierpont Morgan Library's collection hostage. Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo (James Cagney) sends for Walker's child as a bargaining chip but Mother refuses to give him up. Father demands she turn the child over and returns to New York to assist Waldo and Mother leaves.

Booker T. Washington fails to persuade Walker to surrender, as does Father. Conklin is captured by police and forced to apologize to Coalhouse. Waldo is disgusted by Conklin's bigotry but cannot submit to terrorist demands and has him arrested. Coalhouse agrees to surrender if Waldo permits his supporters to depart in his restored car and Waldo agrees after Father volunteers to stay as a hostage. Coalhouse's supporters escape and he drives Father out of the library. Ready to blow himself up, Coalhouse instead surrenders but is shot dead on Waldo's orders. The film ends with another newsreel: Evelyn dances in vaudeville and Thaw is released from an asylum. Houdini escapes from a straight jacket several stories above the ground, while newspapers announce that the First World War has begun. Younger Brother returns to his fireworks job and Father watches from the house in New Rochelle as Mother departs with Tateh and Coalhouse's son.

Cast

The film is notable for introducing numerous actors for whom this was one of their first appearances in an American film: Samuel L. Jackson, Debbie Allen, Jeff Daniels, Andreas Katsulas, Ethan Phillips, Elizabeth McGovern, Stuart Milligan, and John Ratzenberger. Additionally, it was the final film of James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Cagney had not acted in a film for 20 years prior to his appearance in "Ragtime".

Nexus: Evelyn Nesbit
"Woman: the Eternal Question, 1901"
  • Articles in this Category are related to The Girl in the Velvet Swing, Evelyn Nesbit.
  • She was a model for Charles Dana Gibson's "Woman: the Eternal Question, 1901"
  • She personified the Gibson Girl
  • she was one of the most photographed people of her time
  • At age of 16, she was drugged and raped by Stanford White
  • She married a deranged and jealous Harry Kendall Thaw
  • On June 25, 1906, Stanford White was attending a musical show at Madison Square Garden
  • Thaw approached White and shot him - White was hit in the face and died instantly
  • Only one week after the murder, a nickelodeon film, "Rooftop Murder", was released, rushed into production by Thomas Edison.
  • The shooting was the basis for the film "Ragtime" with James Cagney and Elizabeth McGovern
  • The ensuing trial became known as the "The Trial of the Century" (see Stanford White for more information)
  • Thaw, being a multi-millionaire, was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
  • In 1916, Thaw was charged with the kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of nineteen-year-old Frederick Gump
  • Thaw died of a heart attack in Miami, Florida, on February 22, 1947

The following articles are related to "Evelyn Nesbit" as their nexus


External links

See also [ Nexus ]
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