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September 15, 2005 | Deadwood Takes Manhattan: Jews in the Old West Panel
The civilized streets of New York were home to a slice of Deadwood on September 15th, as Manhattanites flocked to the 92nd Street Y to hear about Jewish settlers in the Wild West - the real ones and their fictional counterparts on the HBO hit.
David Milch, Deadwood's creator and executive producer, took time out from shooting the third season of the show to join New Yorker magazine writer Mark Singer (author of Somewhere in America) and historian Harriet Rochlin (author of Pioneering Jews) in a panel discussion that shed light on the Deadwood character Sol Star and his historical peers.
"The bosses who ran America needed for the country to be settled," explained Milch, who immersed himself in the history of the West to create the show. Driven by this economic motive, our early leaders decided to "adhere to the myths of our nation and say 'anyone can come.' I think that was one of the happy accidents that allowed Jews to flourish among other groups."
The panelists also talked about the stereotypes and slurs that Jews endured in the old West, including the myth of the Jewish "swindler" that made its way to the frontier towns, rooted in the fact that many of the early Jewish settlers were merchants or peddlers. A clip of Deadwood's Al Swearengen dressing down Sol Star offered a colorful illustration of what many of them were up against:
"Why don't you do whatever you people do when you're not running your mouths off or cheating people out of what they earn by Christian work."
Accepting these stereotypes came with the territory, Milch explained. "Sol Star makes this sort of deal: He will be content to be misperceived, even slandered, as a sort of quid pro quo for deepened and more substantive access to the mechanisms of the larger society. That's an ongoing drama in everyone's life."
As Singer and Rochlin pointed out, the "quick money" mentality attributed to those who traveled West was not limited to the Jews, but was often assumed to be sole force driving all settlers. "Greed was so often associated with conquest of the West and development of the West," explained Rochlin. But the chance for political, social and religious freedom was also a powerful draw.
The lack of organized, structured societies provided great opportunities for all immigrants, including Jews, beyond simply making money. The panelists pointed to Sol Star's eventual commitment to public office, as well as to other Jews who served in the government sector (Barry Goldwater's antecedents, for example, who governed Prescott, Arizona in the 19th century.)
"For many Jews, this was their first experience with power and communities that would allow them to give their gifts to that community," offered Rochlin. "They were needed and they made themselves useful, and they did so often in a full-hearted manner. They wanted to be of service."
Yet the more narrow view of Jews as skilled moneymen was also pervasive in the 19th century, even in the remote mining camps. A line from Deadwood's Swearengen to Star offered a glimpse: "I love you people. You make $8 before my feet even hit the floor."
But above all, Jews in the old West were very diverse, reaching across all levels of wealth, social status and education levels, Rochlin said. Many were poor, struggling miners or low-paid officials who kept order - not merchants or moneymen.
Sol Star, who was both a merchant and later an elected official, appealed to Milch in particular because of his "secret identity." "I felt I encountered in Sol Star a paradigm of doubleness. Even contemporary Jewish people have a doubleness of feeling. The extent to which we acknowledge our Jewishness is varying."
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Season One on DVD
Buy the complete first season of Deadwood along with over 90 minutes of DVD Bonus Features.
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