The Flash Press: Sporting Male Weeklies in 1840s New York (Historical Studies of Urban America)

Obscene, libidinous, loathsome, lascivious. Those were just some of the ways critics described the nineteenth-century weeklies that covered and publicized New York Citys extensive sexual underworld. Publications like the Flash and the Whip—distinguished by a captivating brew of lowbrow humor and titillating gossip about prostitutes, theater denizens, and sporting events—were not the sort generally bound in leather for future reference, and despite their popularity with an enthusiastic readership, they quickly receded into almost complete obscurity. Recently, though, two sizable collections of these papers have resurfaced, and in The Flash Press three renowned scholars provide a landmark study of their significance as well as a wide selection of their ribald articles and illustrations.

 

Including short tales of urban life, editorials on prostitution, and moralizing rants against homosexuality, these selections epitomize a distinct form of urban journalism. Here, in addition to providing a thorough overview of this colorful reportage, its editors, and its audience, the authors examine nineteenth-century ideas of sexuality and freedom that mixed Tom Paines republicanism with elements of the Marquis de Sades sexual ideology. They also trace the evolution of censorship and obscenity law, showing how a string of legal battles ultimately led to the demise of the flash papers: editors were hauled into court, sentenced to jail for criminal obscenity and libel, and eventually pushed out of business. But not before they forever changed the debate over public sexuality and freedom of expression in Americas most important city.

Patricia Cline Cohen is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of The Murder of Helen Jewett. Timothy J. Gilfoyle is professor of history at Loyola University Chicago and the author of City of Eros. Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz is professor of American studies and history at Smith College and the author of Rereading Sex.

Introduction  

 

Part I.  The Flash Press

1  Beginnings: Rivalry and Satire  

2  Sexual Politics    

3  Trials and Tribulations  

4  Legacies  

 

Part II.  Flash Press Excerpts

1  Purposes

“Revival of the Whip,” Whip, October 15, 1842.

2  Libertinism

“The Conspiracy against the Rake,” Rake, September 3, 1842.

“Whoredom in New York,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, April 9, 1842.

“An Avowal of Love,” Weekly Rake, July 30, 1842.

3  Brothel Life

“Destruction of the National Theatre,” Dixons Polyanthos, June 6, 1841.

“The Frail Fair,” Whip, August 6, 1842.

“The Princess Julias Ball,” Whip, January 14, 1843.

“Lives of the Nymphs, No. 11.: Amanda Green,” Sunday Flash, October 17, 1841.

“Lives of the Nymphs.: Amanda B. Thompson and Her Attache,” True Flash, December  4, 1841.

“Our first walk about Town,” Whip, October 15, 1842.

“Scandalous,” Whip, July 30, 1842.

“The Battery Spy,” Whip, July 9, 1842.

“The beautiful and divine Elizabeth Perkins,” Flash, July 3, 1842.

“A Star,” Whip, February 11, 1843.

“The Brothel Expose,--No. 6.: Mrs. Bowen, of Church street,” Whip, July 30, 1842.

4  Heterosexuality

“Obscene Pictures,” New York Sporting Whip, February 11, 1843.

“Adultery and Fornication,” Flash, October 31, 1841.

“Sketches of Characters---No. 16.: The Chambermaid,” Whip and Satirist of New York and Brooklyn, April 9, 1842.

“Making Love in the Streets,” Whip, January 1, 1842.

“Fair Sex,” New York Sporting Whip, January 28, 1843.

“To the Editors of the Whip,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, March 26, 1842.

“Marriage in High Life,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, March 19, 1842.

“Masturbation,” Flash, July 10, 1842.

“Utica,” Whip, September 10, 1842.

“Philadelphia Pimps of Fame,” Flash, August [7], 1842.

5  Gossip, Vituperation, and Blackmail

“The Whip Wants to Know,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, April 2, 1842.

“Spirit-Gas Scorpion,” True Flash, December 4, 1841.

“New York. City Correspondence of the Whip,” Whip, September 10, 1842.

“Madame Trust,” New York Sporting Whip, February 11, 1843.

“Madam Costello, the ‘Female Physician,” New York Sporting Whip, February 11, 1843

6  Racism, Anti-Amalgamation

“Boz at the Five Points,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, March 12, 1842.

“Baltimore,” Whip,  July 9, 1842.

“Charity Begins at Home,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, April 2, 1842.

7  Homosexuality

“The Sodomites,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, January 29, 1842.

“Our Arrow Has Hit the Mark,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, February 5, 1842.

“Domestic Communications. A Man-Monster,” Flash, August [7], 1842.

“Domestic Communications: Monsters,”  Flash, August 14, 1842.

“A Sodomite Nabbed,” Rake, October 1, 1842.

8  Indictments

“Gallery of Rascalities and Notorieties—No. 6: Big Levy,” Sunday Flash, October 17, 1841.

“Our Indictment,” Flash, October 30, 1841.

“Our Course,” Whip, July 23, 1842

9  Sports and Theater in the Flash World

“The Ring,” Flash, September 4, 1842.

“Fight between Two Cock-Chickens, on Tuesday,” Flash, June 23, 1842.

“Canine Fancy,” Whip, November 12, 1842.

“A Day at Hoboken.—The Regatta,” Whip, November 12, 1842.

“Plays, Playhouses and their Players; or, a peep at their performances,” Weekly Rake, October 1, 1842.

“The Third Tier,” Whip and Satirist of New-York and Brooklyn, January 29, 1842.

Acknowledgments

Appendix  

Notes  

Index