CURSOS ELECTIVOS DE ESTUDIOS GENERALES

Springs’ advertisement, “Abdullah Bulbul Amir Defends His Sheet” reflects the exoticization of Eastern cultures as a result of Orientalism (Figure 4.1). This advertisement presents two central individuals engaged in a dual, both with characteristics of non-Western cultures. The scene can stylistically be compared to the work of the French Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix, whose paintings were often deeply colored, chaotic, and featured Oriental subjects.57 _{Springs’ text copy contextualizes the dramatic image as a direct parody of Percy}

French’s music-hall song “Abdulla Bulbul Ameer,” written in 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War.58 _{The original song tells the story of two valiant warriors, Abdulla the Turk and Ivan}

Skavinsky Skivar the Russian, who are drawn into a dual with one another, during which both perish, after Skivar accidentally steps on Ameer’s toe.59 _{As music hall songs are often comedic}

in nature, the two characters are described using caricatured stereotypes of their ethnicities. Abdullah Bulbur Ameer is described by French as the most reckless of the “sons of the Prophet,” “a bold mameluke.”60 _{Mameluke, more commonly spelled mamluk, is the Arabic term for slaves,}

57 _{It is worth noting that Eugene Delacroix is regarded as one of the most popular Orientalist artists from the} nineteenth century, even travelling to North Africa to study the so-called primitive cultures he painted. Therefore, Springs’ use of an image reminiscent of Delacroix’s stylistic techniques further connects his advertisement with the Orientalist tradition. For more on Eugene Delacroix, see Sébastien Allard and Côme Fabre, Delacroix (New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018).

58 _{James N. Healy, Percy French and His Songs (Folklore Associates, 1966), 5-7.}

59_{There are several variations on the spelling of the names of the characters within this song that have come about} over the years. However, the central story remains relatively consistent.

often used in reference to Muslim slave soldiers.61 _{French describes Ameer’s opponent as “the}

cream of the Muscovites” and “a subtle Calmuck,” both references to an eastern Russian heritage.62

Although the text contextualizes the two men’s non-Western descent, they are further differentiated through their visual appearance. Amir wears a bright turban and patterned tunic, which has been ripped to reveal his darkened skin. Skavinsky wears no shirt and bright red pants, and his head has been completely shaven except for a single ponytail, a Russian hairstyle known as a khokhol.63 _{In this case, the two men are depicted in a violent, turbulent conflict over a}

seemingly trivial dispute: Skavinsky stepping on Amir’s sheet. Over the years, several other musicians and writers parodied French’s song, and in 1941 MGM Studios even made a cartoon based upon the song.64 _{Thus, Springs’ advertisement “Abdul Bulbur Amir Defends His Sheet”}

not only borrows from a source of Western popular culture, but also demonstrates how Western popular culture utilizes non-Western individuals as a form of entertainment.

61_{Paul Legasse, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 8th ed, “Mamluk,” (New York: Columbia University Press. 2018).} http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/mamluk/0?instituti onId=1724

62 _{Calmuck, more commonly spelled Kalmyk, refers to a group of Russian people of Mongolian descendency, thus} more Asiatic in appearance, ethnicity, and religion. Even within Russia, they were recognized as non-Western and discriminated against, even as far as being victims of genocide during the Russo-Turkish war. The term “subtle” was also used to describe Chinese philosophers who were thought to be sly and cleverly suspicious. Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen Hobby, eds., Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life, 2nd _{ed., vol. 5 (Detroit, MI: Gale, 2009),} s.v. “Kalmyks,” accessed April 8th_{, 2019,}

http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/apps/doc/CX1839300490/GVRL?u=unc_main&sid=GVRL&xid=d52 16761.

63 _{The term “khokhol” refers to a traditional Cossack hairstyle in which an individual’s head is completely shaved} albeit for a single topknot. In the prerevolutionary era, this term was used as a derogatory reference to individuals of Ukrainian ethnicity. For more information, see Serhii Plokhy, Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past

(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), 140-141.

64 _{MGM Studio’s 1941 cartoon, titled Abdul the Bulbul Ameer, features such severe stereotypical depictions of the} characters adapted from Percy’s song that the cartoon has since been censored and is no longer available for public consumption. Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer, Directed by Hugh Harman, Produced by Fred Quimby (USA: MGM Studios, 1941), Cartoon.

In a much later advertisement featuring the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, Springs also assimilates traditions and elements from the Orient that were a source of curiosity for

Westerners. Captioned “Lady, That’s No Way to Spike a Roomer,” Gypsy Rose Lee poses aside a bed of nails, dressed in a bedlah, a traditional belly dancing outfit characterized by a fitted bra- like top and a full-length skirt or harem pants (Figure 4.2). Surrounding her are various

decorative elements from a variety of non-Western cultures compiled together to give the room an “Oriental” feel. For example, the folding screen in the far back, a piece of furniture that originated in ancient China, is juxtaposed with the red turban resting atop of a hookah in the foreground, elements of traditional middle Eastern culture. The appropriation and compilation of elements from a variety of individual cultures into a single representation is a common trend in Western images of the Orient, for the Orient is interpreted as a single entity, when in reality it encompasses many different cultures.65

Springs’ text copy also makes the connection between the image and the Orient apparent. The text reads,

“Lady, that’s no way to spike a roomer.

‘But,’ says Miss Gypsy Rose Lee, celebrated as an impeccable hostess From Beekman to Baghdad, ‘this roomer is a fakir.

And I want to prove to him that a bed of nails can be made a bed Of roses by using SPRINGMAID sheets. They’re tough,

But they’re soft, and that’s no rumor.’”

Springs’ use of the word “roomer” implies that Lee is literally going to spike her guest, a fakir, on the bed of nails. Traditionally, the term fakir was used to refer to a Sufi Muslim ascetic who has taken vows of poverty and renounced all possessions; however, over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century, the term fakir was fluidly used in American vocabulary to

reference both Muslim and Hindu holy men.66 _{As part of a fascination with the exoticism of non-}

Western Others, religious individuals and their practices became sites of cultural difference and forms of entertainment for the white viewer.67 _{As a result, Fakirs gained popularity in American}

culture at the beginning of the twentieth century for their meditative practice of sitting and lying on a bed of nails. The bed of nails was composed by a wooden board with nails pointing upwards from it, which the fakir would then lie on. The fakir’s weight would be distributed evenly across the top of the nails, so that no single nail had enough pressure to puncture the skin. Images of fakirs on beds of nails were widespread in early twentieth century media, and eventually

magicians appropriated the process into magic tricks. In Springs’ advertisement, Lee lifts a sheet to reveal and bed of nails underneath, referencing the Eastern religious practice that had been commodified for American entertainment. In keeping with Orientalist tendencies, Springs’ advertisement combines elements from a variety of non-Western cultures to imbue the

advertisement with an exotic feel. In addition, his direct reference to the fakir and his bed of nails demonstrates the appropriation of sacred elements of Eastern culture into forms of amusement for Western viewers.