Boardwalk Empire: Fighting the ‘empire’ of demon drink
By: Tom Deignan | Published Thursday, September 16, 2010, 8:55 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:49 PM
That great philosopher Homer -- Simpson, that is -- once had this to say about Prohibition: “They tried that in the movies and it didn’t work.”
Well, now they are trying it on cable TV. On Sunday, Boardwalk Empire, the new mini-series from
America’s greatest director
Martin Scorsese, will make its debut on
HBO.
Dubbed the “best TV show” of the season by many critics, Boardwalk Empire is about the creation of gambling
Mecca Atlantic City -- which happened to come at roughly the same time as alcohol was banned in America.
In fact, a central character in Boardwalk Empire is an Irish immigrant who -- saints preserve us! -- supports prohibition.
Scottish actress Kelly McDonald plays Margaret, a member of a temperance organization who is also in an unhappy marriage. Margaret is befriend by “Nucky” Johnson (Steve Buscemi). Why this powerful, shadowy gangster-type is assisting such a lonely lass is one question that will surely be answered as the show unfolds.
Is there any historical truth here? After all, bad stereotypes aside, it’s a well-established fact that most American supporters of the alcohol ban were small-town or rural Protestants who (to be generous) were suspicious of the Irish and other ethnic groups huddled in big cities.
But as it turns out, Scorsese and the Boardwalk Empire crew have history on their side. There was indeed a vibrant Irish American temperance movement. As Ripley might say, believe it or not.
Now, let’s be clear. The temperance movement was led mainly by WASPs who were suspicious of America’s move towards a more diverse, urban society in the 1920s.
In fact, even the Ku Klux Klan “supported prohibition as a weapon against immigrants,” Daniel Okrent notes in his new best-selling book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.
In fact, Okrent also notes that some “dry” Americans (as the prohibition forces were known) faced a problem when their anti-Catholic feelings ran up against their anti-alcohol impulses.
When
New York’s own
Al Smith ran for president in 1928 -- with his thick New York accent, Tammany Hall background and Irish roots -- he was the first Catholic to make a serious run for the
White House.
This did not sit well with the likes of Rev. Bob Jones, who said, “I would rather see a saloon on every corner than a Catholic in the White House.”
Jones even said that, rather than a Catholic, he’d prefer a black president, though he used a word much more offensive than “black.”
That all being said, Boardwalk Empire’s Margaret has several historical ancestors -- which is to say, Irish American women who sought to end the pernicious influence of “the demon rum.”
There was even a Catholic Prohibition League of America, though its membership rolls were never exactly flush.
A history of the Catholic Total Abstinence League, meanwhile, was published in 1951, entitled The Hibernian Crusade, though good luck finding a copy of that tome (by Joan Bland) these days.
Leonora Barry, for example, was born in Cork and came to America and is best known as a trailblazing union organizer, most notably with the Knights of Labor.
But Barry was also a well-known proponent of prohibition. The same with
Limerick native Charlotte Grace O’Brien.
These women, and many others, linked prohibition with the uplifting of the Irish race in America.
They also linked the anti-alcohol movement with labor organizing, Irish independence and other progressive causes.
This should not be surprising because, as scholar Deirdre M. Moloney has written, Irish American reformers were inspired by events in
Ireland itself.
They “drew extensively from Father Theobold Matthew’s mid-19th century Irish temperance campaign in forming an American Catholic movement,” according to Moloney, who added that “temperance became an Irish issue.”
Not quite for everyone, of course. But give Boardwalk Empire credit for showing us another side of the Irish American experience.
However, to paraphrase
Homer Simpson: “Temperance. Psh. They tried that in Ireland and it didn’t work.”
(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or
facebook.com/tomdeignan)
That great philosopher Homer -- Simpson, that is -- once had this to say about Prohibition: “They tried that in the movies and it didn’t work.”
5 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.manhattan | Sep 21, 2010, 05:58 PM EDT
BarbRN217, You have every reason to be proud of your Brother. Terrific writer.
BarbRN217 | Sep 17, 2010, 09:26 PM EDT
Thanks, rhunter67 for the kind comments about my brother. I appreciate that. Barbara
killowen | Sep 17, 2010, 01:05 PM EDT
their fear is real - unlikely - were to be an Irish awakening UK's and its diaspora would have a lot of cutting of their flags and symbols as like the Soviet Union when the hammer and sickle had to go. The US partner would be mighty impacted as would canada aus etc.
rhunter67 | Sep 17, 2010, 11:49 AM EDT
BarbRN217--I will give your brother a lot of credit for he has helped create some great television. Mr. Diegnan, this show is not about the 'creation' of 'gambling mecca' Atlantic City. Atlantic City was already there well before the 1920s as a resort, going back to the 19th century.
BarbRN217 | Sep 17, 2010, 09:59 AM EDT
Mr. Deigman, I read Irish Central every day and am very involved in all things Irish. My brother, Terence "Terry" Winter, a former Sopranos Executive Producer and Emmy award winning writer is the creator of Boardwalk Empire and wrote/oversaw every episode in this new show. We are not 100% Irish, but have Irish roots from some of our grandparents. It's a shame that you didn't give him credit for this outstanding show in one line of your great article.