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Come Buy Hot Corn! Music, Sentiment, and Morality in 1850s New York
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2011
Abstract
In the 1850s, the residents of, and visitors to, New York City experienced a world of rapid and sometimes chaotic change. Various reform movements—including Temperance, Abolition, and Women's Rights—became stronger and more widely known through various media. In 1853 a simple story published in the pages of the New York Tribune took the city by storm. “Hot Corn,” the story of Little Katy, a child peddler, is ostensibly a temperance tale, but something made the story resonate among the public. Soon minstrel songs, sheet music, lectures, novels, and melodramas followed, purporting to herald a new moral crusade against drunkenness, poverty, and child abuse, paralleling Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Abolition movement. Within eighteen months, however, the “Hot Corn” phenomenon had faded almost as quickly as it had begun.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The Society for American Music 2011
References
References
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“The Little Katy Hot Corn Quickstep as played by the New York Bands. Composed by A. Sedgwick.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
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“Sorrowful Katy or the Little Hot Corn Girl by the author of The Three Bells.” Philadelphia: D. B. Williamson, 1854.Google Scholar
“Sweet Alice, Ballad. Written and sung by J.B. Howe at the National Theatre in the Moral Drama of ‘Hot Corn.’ Music by G. Ormagn.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Will He Come! Oh Will He Come. Little Katy's Dying Bed Song and Chorus. Sung by Wood's Minstrels. Words and music written and arranged for piano by W. J. Wetmore, M.D.” New York: T. S. Berry, 1853.Google Scholar
New York Public Library, “The Horace Greeley Papers 1831–1873,” Unpublished letter, Horace Greeley to Mrs. Paulina W. Davis of Providence, Rhode Island, 1 September 1853, Microfilm Reel No. 1, Box No. 1.Google Scholar
Aiken, George L. and Howard, George C.. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Edited by Riis, Thomas. New York: Garland, 1994.Google Scholar
Chapin, E. H.Moral Aspects of City Life: A Series of Lectures. New York: Henry Lyon, 1853.Google Scholar
Cohen, Norm. “Worksongs: A Demonstration Collection of Examples.” In Songs about Work: Essays on Occupational Culture for Richard Reuss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1993, 332–55.Google Scholar
Copeland, Robert M.Isaac Baker Woodbury: The Life and Works of an American Populist. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Dodd, Donald D.Historical Statistics of the States of the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Durham, Waldon B., ed. American Theatre Companies, 1749–1887. New York: Greenwood, 1986.Google Scholar
Frick, John W.Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-Century America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
McArthur, Judith N.“Demon Rum on the Boards: Temperance Melodrama and the Tradition of Antebellum Reform.” Journal of the Early Republic 9 (Winter 1989): 517–40.Google Scholar
Meckna, Michael, ed. The Collected Works of Alfred B. Sedgewick. Nineteenth Century American Musical Theater 7. New York: Garland, 1994.Google Scholar
Meer, Sarah. Uncle Tom Mania: Slavery, Minstrelsy and Transatlantic Culture in the 1850s. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Moody, Richard, ed. Dramas from the American Theatre, 1762–1909. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1966.Google Scholar
Mott, Edward Harold. Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. New York: John S. Collins, 1899.Google Scholar
Nevins, Allan, and Milton, Halsey Thomas. The Diary of George Templeton Strong: The Turbulent Fifties, 1850–1859. New York: Macmillan, 1952.Google Scholar
Odell, George C. D.Annals of the New York Stage. New York: Columbia University Press, 1927–41.Google Scholar
Robinson, Solon. Hot Corn Stories, or Life Scenes in New York Illustrated, Including the Story of Little Katy, Madalina, the Rag-Picker's Daughter, Wild Maggie, Etc. New York: Dewitt & Davenport, 1853.Google Scholar
Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1983.Google Scholar
Spann, Edward K.The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840–1857. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Strong, George Templeton. The Diary of George Templeton Strong: The Turbulent Fifties. New York: Macmillan, 1952.Google Scholar
Warder, Graham. “Selling Sobriety: How Temperance Reshaped Culture in Antebellum America.” Ph.D. diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2000.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Stories, or Life Scenes in New York Illustrated.” New York Tribune, 16 September 1853, 7.Google Scholar
“The Dying Words of Little Katy or Will He Come. In the story of Hot Corn, a new song. Written by Solon Robinson, author of the story Hot Corn, published in the New York Tribune, Aug. 1853. Music by Horace Waters, arranged for the piano forte by Thomas Baker, leader of Julean's Band.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Girl, as sung in the Moral Drama of Little Katy, the Hot Corn Girl. Music arranged with the original Hot Corn Cry by Proff. [sic] Van Der Weyde.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Katy's Cry: Come and Buy my Hot Corn. Song and chorus as sung by Wood's Minstrels. [Words] by James Such, Music by I. B. Woodbury.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Little Katy, or Hot Corn. Song and Chorus sung by Wood's Minstrels. Words by James Simmonds, Music by Quos [A. Sedgwick].” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Little Katy's Voice as Sung by Little Cordelia Howard in the Drama of Little Katy the Hot Corn Girl. Words and Music Written Expressly for her by her father, C.C. Howard.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“O Come and Buy my Hot Corn, song and chorus. Words and Music by George F. Root, for the Musical Review.” New York Musical Review 5/2 (19 January 1854): 19.Google Scholar
“Poor Uncle Tom. Song and Chorus as sung by Wood's Minstrels at Minstrel Hall, N.Y., the words by Henry Wood, Esq., the music composed by A. Sedgwick.” New York: Wm. Vanderbeck, 1852.Google Scholar
“Uncle Tom's Lament for Eva. Written and composed by I. B. Woodbury.” Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1852.Google Scholar
“Come Buy Hot Corn, as sung by Miss Melville in the drama Hot Corn now performing at the National Theatre, Boston. Words by a gentleman of this city, arranged from the Prima Donna Waltzes by John Holloway.” Boston: George P. Reed, 1854.Google Scholar
“The Dying Words of Little Katy arranged for guitar by Charles De Janon.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn, Hot Corn, or Katy's Song. Written and composed by E. H. L. Kurtz, author of the Crystal Palace Song.” New York: E. H. L. Kurtz, 1853. [Earlier variant: “Caty's Song”]Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Polka. Arranged from Jullien's Prima Donna Waltz for piano by Joseph W. Turner.” Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1854.Google Scholar
“The Little Katy Hot Corn Quickstep as played by the New York Bands. Composed by A. Sedgwick.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“My Heart is like a Faded Flower as sung by Mr. J. B. Howe in the Moral Drama of Katy or the Hot Corn Girl Produced at the National Theatre, New York. Symphonies and Accompaniments newly arranged by Anthony Reiff, Jun., Leader of the National Theatre Orchestra.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Sorrowful Katy or the Little Hot Corn Girl by the author of The Three Bells.” Philadelphia: D. B. Williamson, 1854.Google Scholar
“Sweet Alice, Ballad. Written and sung by J.B. Howe at the National Theatre in the Moral Drama of ‘Hot Corn.’ Music by G. Ormagn.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Will He Come! Oh Will He Come. Little Katy's Dying Bed Song and Chorus. Sung by Wood's Minstrels. Words and music written and arranged for piano by W. J. Wetmore, M.D.” New York: T. S. Berry, 1853.Google Scholar
Aiken, George L. and Howard, George C.. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Edited by Riis, Thomas. New York: Garland, 1994.Google Scholar
Chapin, E. H.Moral Aspects of City Life: A Series of Lectures. New York: Henry Lyon, 1853.Google Scholar
Cohen, Norm. “Worksongs: A Demonstration Collection of Examples.” In Songs about Work: Essays on Occupational Culture for Richard Reuss. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1993, 332–55.Google Scholar
Copeland, Robert M.Isaac Baker Woodbury: The Life and Works of an American Populist. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Dodd, Donald D.Historical Statistics of the States of the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Durham, Waldon B., ed. American Theatre Companies, 1749–1887. New York: Greenwood, 1986.Google Scholar
Frick, John W.Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-Century America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
McArthur, Judith N.“Demon Rum on the Boards: Temperance Melodrama and the Tradition of Antebellum Reform.” Journal of the Early Republic 9 (Winter 1989): 517–40.Google Scholar
Meckna, Michael, ed. The Collected Works of Alfred B. Sedgewick. Nineteenth Century American Musical Theater 7. New York: Garland, 1994.Google Scholar
Meer, Sarah. Uncle Tom Mania: Slavery, Minstrelsy and Transatlantic Culture in the 1850s. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Moody, Richard, ed. Dramas from the American Theatre, 1762–1909. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1966.Google Scholar
Mott, Edward Harold. Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. New York: John S. Collins, 1899.Google Scholar
Nevins, Allan, and Milton, Halsey Thomas. The Diary of George Templeton Strong: The Turbulent Fifties, 1850–1859. New York: Macmillan, 1952.Google Scholar
Odell, George C. D.Annals of the New York Stage. New York: Columbia University Press, 1927–41.Google Scholar
Robinson, Solon. Hot Corn Stories, or Life Scenes in New York Illustrated, Including the Story of Little Katy, Madalina, the Rag-Picker's Daughter, Wild Maggie, Etc. New York: Dewitt & Davenport, 1853.Google Scholar
Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York: W. W. Norton, 1983.Google Scholar
Spann, Edward K.The New Metropolis: New York City, 1840–1857. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Strong, George Templeton. The Diary of George Templeton Strong: The Turbulent Fifties. New York: Macmillan, 1952.Google Scholar
Warder, Graham. “Selling Sobriety: How Temperance Reshaped Culture in Antebellum America.” Ph.D. diss., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2000.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Stories, or Life Scenes in New York Illustrated.” New York Tribune, 16 September 1853, 7.Google Scholar
“The Dying Words of Little Katy or Will He Come. In the story of Hot Corn, a new song. Written by Solon Robinson, author of the story Hot Corn, published in the New York Tribune, Aug. 1853. Music by Horace Waters, arranged for the piano forte by Thomas Baker, leader of Julean's Band.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Girl, as sung in the Moral Drama of Little Katy, the Hot Corn Girl. Music arranged with the original Hot Corn Cry by Proff. [sic] Van Der Weyde.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Katy's Cry: Come and Buy my Hot Corn. Song and chorus as sung by Wood's Minstrels. [Words] by James Such, Music by I. B. Woodbury.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Little Katy, or Hot Corn. Song and Chorus sung by Wood's Minstrels. Words by James Simmonds, Music by Quos [A. Sedgwick].” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“Little Katy's Voice as Sung by Little Cordelia Howard in the Drama of Little Katy the Hot Corn Girl. Words and Music Written Expressly for her by her father, C.C. Howard.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“O Come and Buy my Hot Corn, song and chorus. Words and Music by George F. Root, for the Musical Review.” New York Musical Review 5/2 (19 January 1854): 19.Google Scholar
“Poor Uncle Tom. Song and Chorus as sung by Wood's Minstrels at Minstrel Hall, N.Y., the words by Henry Wood, Esq., the music composed by A. Sedgwick.” New York: Wm. Vanderbeck, 1852.Google Scholar
“Uncle Tom's Lament for Eva. Written and composed by I. B. Woodbury.” Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1852.Google Scholar
“Come Buy Hot Corn, as sung by Miss Melville in the drama Hot Corn now performing at the National Theatre, Boston. Words by a gentleman of this city, arranged from the Prima Donna Waltzes by John Holloway.” Boston: George P. Reed, 1854.Google Scholar
“The Dying Words of Little Katy arranged for guitar by Charles De Janon.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Hot Corn, Hot Corn, or Katy's Song. Written and composed by E. H. L. Kurtz, author of the Crystal Palace Song.” New York: E. H. L. Kurtz, 1853. [Earlier variant: “Caty's Song”]Google Scholar
“Hot Corn Polka. Arranged from Jullien's Prima Donna Waltz for piano by Joseph W. Turner.” Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1854.Google Scholar
“The Little Katy Hot Corn Quickstep as played by the New York Bands. Composed by A. Sedgwick.” New York: Horace Waters, 1853.Google Scholar
“My Heart is like a Faded Flower as sung by Mr. J. B. Howe in the Moral Drama of Katy or the Hot Corn Girl Produced at the National Theatre, New York. Symphonies and Accompaniments newly arranged by Anthony Reiff, Jun., Leader of the National Theatre Orchestra.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Sorrowful Katy or the Little Hot Corn Girl by the author of The Three Bells.” Philadelphia: D. B. Williamson, 1854.Google Scholar
“Sweet Alice, Ballad. Written and sung by J.B. Howe at the National Theatre in the Moral Drama of ‘Hot Corn.’ Music by G. Ormagn.” New York: Horace Waters, 1854.Google Scholar
“Will He Come! Oh Will He Come. Little Katy's Dying Bed Song and Chorus. Sung by Wood's Minstrels. Words and music written and arranged for piano by W. J. Wetmore, M.D.” New York: T. S. Berry, 1853.Google Scholar