In honor of Theater Outreach‘s production of The Music Man, set in 1912 fictional River City, Iowa, we decided it would be interesting to see what Salem looked like in 1912. Digging through the Willamette Heritage Center’s photo archives we came up with a glimpse into what Salem looked like in 1912.
Want to see it on the big screen? Get to the Salem Theater Outreach’s shows early this weekend to see it before the performance begins. The Music Man is playing Friday September 14, 2012 and Saturday September 15, 2012 at 7:30 and Sunday September 16, 2012 at 2:00 pm. For more information on shows visit the Theater Outreach website.
So do you know when the first ragtime was played or published in Salem? Would that music been heard only on our brothels or other places of ill-repute? (Also in 1912, Governor Oswald West “cleaned out” one or more brothels here as part of his general Prohibition program!) When did ragtime become respectable here? The very early reception and growth of rag and jazz would be a very interesting history!
All good questions! We’d love to know, too!