Acts of Conspicuous Compassion: Performance Culture and American Charity Practices

218 Pages·2011·1.648 MB·English

by  Sheila C Moeschen

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Acts of conspicuous compAssion
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Acts of Conspicuous
Compassion
Performance Culture and
American Charity Practices
sheilA c. moeschen
The University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
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Copyright © 2013 by Sheila C. Moeschen
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except
by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2016 2015 2014 2013 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Moeschen, Sheila C.
Acts of conspicuous compassion : performance culture and American charity practices /
Sheila C. Moeschen.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11886- 1 (cloth : acid- free paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 02927- 3 (e- book)
1. Theater and society— United States- - History. 2. Charity in literature. 3. People with
disabilities in literature. I. Title.
PN2226.M56 2013
792.0973— dc23 2013000019
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To Mom & Pat (I win!)
Mike, for your love, support, and patience
Tracy, Gay, and Maryrita, my mentor dream team;
I owe you all more than I can say
Portions of Chapter 2 appeared in much- altered form in “Debutantes,
Disease, and Democracy: Discourses of Gender and Nationhood in the
1930s Polio Pageants,” Women’s Studies: An Inter- disciplinary Journal 41,
no. 3 (2012): 303– 23.
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CoNteNtS
Introduction 1
ChaPter 1. Dramatizing Distress: Sentimental Culture,
Melodrama, and Nineteenth- Century Reform
for the Deaf/Dumb and Blind 18
ChaPter 2. Spectacular Benevolence: Theatricalizing the
War on Polio with the National Foundation for
Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), 1934– 1945 49
ChaPter 3. Wheelchairs and One- Liners: Televising Need
in the Charity Telethon 88
ChaPter 4. Acts of Conspicuous Compassion: Charity in the
Reality TV Era: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 128
Conclusion 152
Notes 167
Bibliography 183
Index 205
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Introduction
“How fabulous is that?” purrs Ina Garten, referring to the steaming con-
tents of the casserole dish held captive between her oven mitt– clad hands.
Known more widely under the moniker the Barefoot Contessa, Garten is
one of a stable of Food Network culinary superstars. Like her contempo-
raries Paula Deen, Emeril Lagasse, and Giada De Laurentiis, Garten has
successfully stayed atop the entertainment cooking industry wave that
propels and transforms seemingly obscure chefs and amateur foodies into
highly lucrative commodities. Think Julia Child under the tutelage of Entou-
rage’s Ari Gold.
Garten built her empire out of her highly successful gourmet food store,
the Barefoot Contessa, in New York’s renowned vacation enclave the Hamp-
tons. Her Food Network show, The Barefoot Contessa, features Garten pre-
senting sophisticated and elegant dishes made simple and inviting, culled
from ingredient lists that read like superlatives in a high school yearbook:
the best, the freshest, the ripest, the most perfect, and so on. Garten por-
trays an image of homespun chic; she comes across to viewers as cheerful,
neighborly, and unfailingly positive. She is part Martha Stewart, part Snow
White. Periodically she breaks from her preparations to admire her (and
presumably the viewer’s) skill, cooing one of her signature phrases such as
“How fabulous is that?”1
In March 2011, however, life became much less fabulous and rather dif-
ficult for the cooking show star. A report surfaced on TMZ, the celebrity
news and culture web site, alleging that Garten had refused to grant a six-
year- old terminally ill boy his Make- A- Wish request to cook with the famed
chef. Enzo Pereda, a young boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and his
family had approached the Make- A- Wish Foundation, an organization that
helps make unique experiences a reality for terminally ill individuals, in
1