Levine sees entertainment, and in particular the theater, as separating along a highbrow-lowbrow divide toward the end of the 19th Century. In both packaging and message, these two songs highlight the cultural shift at the turn of the century, and ushered in a new American Middle Class identity. This is, indeed, a departure from the restraint and formality of the “Thee and Me” duet presented a few slides earlier. The cover for the song “Won’t You Fondle Me” is probably the most glaring example of newfound sexual expression in popular culture, referencing implied sexual acts and blatant flirtation that would have been scorned by the Victorian gentility of years past. Expression, sexuality, and individual desire were played out on the stage, and represented the depart of Victorian control towards the new age of popular culture. Vaudiville, which slowly included more risque elements and “real” elements of life portrayed as a man-made creation on the stage, an outlet for Middle and Lower class people of both sexes to leave the world of “decency” and into a world of fantasy leisure. Shyder argues that Vaudeville emerged out of a restricted, sentimental Victorian Middle class, who often would escape the imperfections and stress of reality to escape into sentiment. This division shows the progressive disparities between middle and upper class culture moving into the 20th century. As the upper class remained committed to the victorian, “high-brow” theatre, the middle and lower classes embraced “risque” and anti-puritanical performances, and abandoned Shakespearian plays. The middle and upper classes divided themselves at the turn of the century through the type of theatre they embraced.
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On the other hand, the upper class, who was disgusted by “low-brow,” performances, separated themselves from the middle and lower classes by attending proper and traditional Shakespearian performances. “Low-brow” Shakespearian plays customary of the lower and middle classes involved crowd interference, as well as divertissements that arguably took away from the pure traditional plays. Just as the middle class felt they could relate to the social commentary and expressive performances that came about at the time, they also began to stray away from the drawn out, proper Shakespearian performances that were popular for most of the 19th century. Vaudeville showcased female bodies, jokes, and songs in ways that undermined the longstanding Puritan, and Victorian traditions. The middle class, who wished to find entertainment and a release from their taxing jobs, embraced the “risque” and controversial performances that were popularized on Vaudeville stages.
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Snyder and Levine highlight the growing disparity between “high-brow” and “low-brow” theatre towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th in the broader context of social changes that were simultaneously occurring.