Happy May Day Nick!!!!

Happy May Day!  I am fasting for the day in honor of 

 !!! NICOLA SACCO !!!

 

He gave up three times during the Seven Years that He and Vanzetti spent incarcerated.

In November 1922 he stopped eating for 8 days.

That was followed in mid-Feb 1923, when he stopped again.  It went on so long that his lawyers started to clamor with the defense committee (a group of anarchists and socialites that banded together to raise awareness and funds for the two men) to force him to eat. The Defense Committee would not intervene.

On the 30th day of the hunger strike a Hearing was impaneled on his sanity; he was brought to a psychiatric hospital, and to stop from being force fed he agreed to start eating again.

He was also influenced by his son, Dante, who said he would start his own  hunger strike if his father didn't start eating.  A new variation on  fighting fire with fire.

His actual name was Ferdinando, but after his brother died he adopted his brother's name, Nicola.

He loved gardening and working, being productive with his hands. As a child in Torremaggiore he would often sleep out in a hayrick on their farm amidst the family's vegetable and flower garden, about 20 minutes from his home.  Before being incarcerated he would wake up everyday at 5 am to tend to his garden before heading off to the shoe factory.  He worked long days from 7am, and had actually saved up $1400 in a savings account.

Jail became the perfect hell for him, more than for others because of his interests and because of a quirk in the system.  Since he was being held under appeal for most of those seven years, he was not officially a convicted prisoner, so couldn't officially work in any of the prisoner labor systems. Vanzetti who had been "convicted" of a different crime (as well as being held on appeal for the Braintree murder / robbery), was held in a completely different prison.  They could only communicate through letters and messages carried by visitors.

Thus Sacco spent most of those seven years, alone, held in a six foot by 8 foot prison cell, with a bucket for a toilet (emptied daily).  The only natural light to reach inside came through a small, eye- level grates in the doors.   Nick was able to see a sliver of daylight if he squatted on the floor, then looked up through the grate, across the corridor, to the lower portion of a large arched window some twenty-five feet away. 

On restless nights, he paced back and forth in the cramped cell and squinted through the grate for a view of "the stars in the beauty blue sky."

So here is to Sacco.  I take a sip of this water and not a bite of this bread in his honor.

Happy May Day...

Marginalia #1: C.A.Barr and his amazing machine

There are various tangential stories that come out of the woodwork when you research deep into a subject matter.  These marginal stories have always had a strong lure for me, and I have had a constant desire to tell the full story only through the marginalia.  I also become part of that marginalia;  my adventures chasing the story begin to blend into the narrative.

This is the original marginal story that I tried to research further on its own:  C.A. Barr and his amazing machine.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired by the L.Q.White company after a botched robbery of its payroll on Christmas Eve (this robbery attempt was the prequel to the Braintree Robbery).  They began to follow a dapper man who either claimed to know who the bandits were or was one of them.  He later was overheard saying that the would-be bandits were Italian Anarchists.  

The Pinkerton detectives along with Chief Stewart of the Bridgewater Police (the man who eventually set the trap that caught Sacco and Vanzetti) finally caught up with the dapper man.  He stated his name was C.A.Barr (originally Barosso, an Italian) and that he had invented a machine

 "with which he could detect who had committed a crime no matter where it was committed."

 He stated that one Mrs. Vetilia had looked into the machine and saw the [attempted Bridgewater] holdup happening and saw the men plainly but did not know who they were.

The detective declared his statement rambling and no one tried to examine the incredible machine, nor tried to find and interview Mrs. Vetilia.

BUT it is very interesting that someone planted early on into Chief Stewart's head that "it was a group of Italian Anarchists."  No matter how ridiculous the story is, it could have had a material, practical effect of subtly slanting Chief Stewart's investigation.

I refer to the handmade Opaque projector used at the beginning of the show as

 C.A.Barr's Miraculous machine.

Vanzetti's Uncertainty

It is Monday night, and we finished the latest WIP at Culturemart this last weekend.  It went well with full houses and smooth presentations.  We focused on the nuances of the performance rather than the technical experimentation of earlier rehearsal periods.  It was strong and potent.  I will post a version of the video asap.

But that is not what I wish to talk about now.  I just happened on this video from the NYT Opinionator:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/the-dangers-of-certainty/?hp&rref=opinion

It is about the need for a scientific embrace of toleration for imperfection.  Against the hubris of certainty.

 And those same thoughts are what draws me towards Vanzetti.  I have lately been unable to find the exact quotes but he often refers to uncertainty- that he has studied, and has embraced the tenets of anarchy with his heart- but if he is wrong- If someone could argue strong enough to disabuse him of these beliefs- he would be willing to move on.  The ability to embrace the concept that, though you hold something dear to your heart, you might still be wrong, is to me the purest form of strength in humanity because it acknowledges your own fallibility. 

And it is contrasted with the grayness of the opposition, which entailed:

The foreman of the original trial replied to the possibility that they were innocent that "Damn them, they ought to hang them anyway."

And 

The Blue Ribbon Committee that reviewed the entire case found Sacco "Guilty." And on Vanzetti they stated:  "On the whole, we are of opinion that Vanzetti also was guilty beyond reasonable doubt."  On the Whole, they find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!?!  Does not that sentence contradict itself? If it is only On the Whole, then it HAS a reasonable doubt.

And Vanzetti was executed, On the Whole.  

I suggest you watch the video, if not also read the article, and let me know if you also see these parallels...

Rehearsing for Culturemart

Here are some pics of our rehearsal space at the newly founded secret lair of King Visser.  We are cranking the gears to get this machine rolling...

The YEAR for Send for the Million Men

Very soon we will enter 2014, the year that Send for the Million Men will premier at HERE Arts Center, and I am very excited.  Catherine, Victor and I are getting ready to go into another rehearsal Hole (I WISH it was a Collapsable Hole) for our WIP at Culturemart, Feb 1 and 2.  BUT BEFORE THAT EVEN I will be presenting 7 minutes IN THE ROUND at CATCH, at the Invisible Dog, Jan 11th.  Come see it!  We are focusing on taking the scenes we have assembled and honing them for performance.  SO COME!  SEE! COMMENT BACK!  ENJOY!

A hot picture of Medeiros!!

 Too bad he was a lying cheating murdering drunk who couldn't get the strength to lift his head and push the curtain aside before he shoved his shotgun out the backwindow.  But still he is so hot.

And he was executed WITH Sacco and Vanzetti- Funny irony- the would-be savior executed with a couple of thieves..

Bombing tease

Wow that dinner was delicious and carried me almost the whole way through the month.

Now, to complete the story of the original Gimbel Bros. mailbombs of 1919. In essence, the bomb itself was well designed:

Lifting the end of the box released a spring,

which uncorked a small glass vial of acid,

which poured onto mercury-fulminate blasting caps,

which triggered a stick of dynamite,

which exploded, sending metal slugs in all directions.

Yet the designers didn't take into account all the other variables that need to be controlled to have a successful mail bombing. Like securing the other end, so the recipient has to open the correct side of the box; and like putting enough postage on the package. Most of the packages were held at various post offices because of insufficient postage, and thus were discovered once a general alarm was sounded. One package was actually sent back to Gimbel Brothers- a receptionist opened the box, pulled out the bottle of acid, put it back in, re-taped it, added the correct postage and sent it out again. Luckily her bomb was defective and did not go off- it was also caught by postal inspectors.

WHY, aside from being entertaining, is this bombing significant? Generally, it added to the red scare of the times, which fed the passions around the Sacco Vanzetti case. But more specifically, the bombers were never found, and because of one interesting clue, there is a strong belief that the bombers were anarchists, ones that were affiliated with the Gallianists. Sacco and Vanzetti were Gallianists...

Prelude and How to Make a Mail Bomb

Last Friday, October 1, 2010 I presented a workshop at the Prelude Festival at CUNY about How To Make a Mail Bomb. Yes, this is related to the rest of the Sacco Vanzetti story. Although much more nervous than I expected at the beginning I calmed down and had an interesting workshop with the folks who had came. I started with the word "SURVIVAL" breaking each letter down ala the U.S. Army Survival Manual.

S= size up your surroundings: environmental, equipment, and body.

U= Use all your senses, AND Undue haste makes waste.

R= Remember where you are. You should always carry a map, or know who has a map-in case

s/he dies, you are going to have to get that map.

etc.

Then I passed out the prototype cardstock sheets for the Sacco and Vanzetti Gift Shop limited edition "How to Build a Mail Bomb DIY KIT."

The prototypes were unfinished and had some issues, especially since there were no instructions on how the parts fit together. But I knew about these issues and was using the workshop to see how people dealt with the sheets, and what other problems might come up.

As the teams cut, folded, and glued the bomb parts together, I described the details around the original Gimbel Bros. mail bombs that the model was based on.

The details of the original mailbombing incident are fascinating, and in the historical record are exacting details of how the bombs were made. Thus the Mail Bomb Kit, though a cut and paste toy, is also an accurate lesson in how to build one type of mail bomb.

The original mailbombs were sent out in April of 1919. They had a false return address of the Gimbel Bros. Department Store on Broadway and 32nd St in NY. Approximately 40 were sent out. Two people were injured by the one bomb that actually exploded. One of the bombs ended up in the hands of the intended target, but he opened the opposite end than expected and the parts fell harmlessly out. He alerted the police, who then alerted the papers, which then was noted by a postal clerk going home, who rushed back to the office because he had a few of the exact same packaging on his desk because they were being held for INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE. And the rest will have to wait because I am about to eat my birthday dinner...

83-5

"I will do my utmost to be punctual with my postings"

Five days from now is the 83rd anniversary of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti (and Madeiros). In 1997 I had a dinner party at my loft in Chicago to commemorate the 70th anniversary. We had a forty foot long table with maps associated with the crimes drawn on the table cloths. Wooden ladders were suspended above the table, and candles were attached to make chandeliers. We ate green beans, that I think Dolores brought. This has nothing to do with anything.

During that same time period I developed a workshop show of Sacco and Vanzetti with the performance group Lucky Pierre. Lucky Pierre consisted at the time of : Michael Thomas, Mary Zerkel, Noah Loesberg, Vince Darmody and me. We had just completed a version of I Married Wyatt Earp and dedicated the next block of time to working on Sacco and Vanzetti. In part of my research I had found that Sacco and his wife would often perform in educational plays at labor and anarchist meetings. I used that fact to make the performance a blend of historical details with a fictionalized play within a play written by Sacco. Though we only presented a work in progress (called Take off your Eyeglasses), there were a number of elements that were strong that will continue or is influencing the present work:

I asked Noah to grow Vanzetti's mustache.

The mustache growing has developed into its own story.

I would love to figure out if I can make this blog break into

branches so you could follow each subject matter separately.

I developed the section involving the letter "S" described in the previous Blog post.

I built a "cage" replicating the one defendants used to sit in during trials in Massachusetts.

I worked from trial transcripts, editing together the testimony of one witness from the Grand Jury trial, the actual trial, and the various depositions. This highlighted the changes in the opinions/ memories of the witness as time passed. ( "He is definitely not the man" becomes " I believe he resembles the man I saw" becomes "I am positive that is the man I saw with the gun").

I worked with the performers on how to "present" a foreign accent. I didn't want people to pretend to speak Italian. But issues with understanding and language barriers is critical to the story. The most interesting variation in such a "presentation" was to cut a small slit in a sheet of paper that you slid across the text in a book. The slit only let you read two or three words at a time. The pause caused by moving the piece of paper, as well as the altered cadence and stress, made the text sound more like the patterns of a non-native speaker.

Where I am at, in the middle

I am just beginning this blog, though obviously I had plans for it a while ago since I first set it up in 2005. I actually have been researching and developing a show about Sacco and Vanzetti (hereafter to be referred to as S&V) since the late 1990s, when I did a workshop sketch of it with Lucky Pierre in Chicago. I don't know if we ever shot that to video, but the script and some of the elements that came out of that workshop are still alive and being considered. The element with the longest life is the letter "S", misprinted because of a faulty typeset on the pamphlets found around the site of the bungled dynamite bombing of the house of A Mitchell Palmer, the Attorney General of the United States in 1919. That misprinted "S" lead to the arrest of Andrea Salsedo, and eventually his defenestration from the 14th floor of the 15 Park Row building, as well as the deaths of both Sacco and Vanzetti. I will explain all of this in a bit more detail later on.

So I am developing a show about the case. I have read, by my count, numerous books on the case, both pro and con of their innocence. The show is intended to have two parts: a gallery exhibition and a performance. The gallery exhibition will have various displays centered around an automata diorama that re-enacts the actual crime ( I will detail the other displays later in this blog). The main diorama will have miniature video cameras positioned within the scale model from the vantage point of the major witnesses, so that the viewers can experience exactly what the witnesses saw, and can compare it to their testimony from the trial.

The performance I will start to explain at my next posting. I just wanted to right now start the blog, and maybe whet your appetite.

I will do my utmost to be punctual with my postings.

I hope you can find it amusing.

Yours,

Joseph

Sacco and Vanzetti

Salsedo was the link.