1915
|
"I was positively uninterested in the dance."
Michael and Vera Vokin, Russian court dancers, in the ballet "Scherezade."
When Bernays took on Diaghilev's Ballet Russes American tour in 1915,
he wrote, "I was given a job about which I knew nothing. In fact, I
was positively uninterested in the dance." He wasn't alone. Americans
thought masculine dancers were deviates, and that "dancing was not
nice," and of limited interest.
Bernays began to connect ballet to something people understood and enjoyed.
"First, as a novelty in art forms, a unifying of several arts; second,
its appeal to special groups; third, its direct impact on American life,
on design and color in American products; and fourth, its personalities."
(continued) |
1917
|
ON BROADWAY
The early days of Bernays's career are spent as a Broadway press agent,
which eventually brings him together with leaders of the arts and entertainment
communities including notables Enrico Caruso, Florenz Ziegfeld and Nijinsky.
(Bernays is shown in the circle at right.) |
1918
|
WAR DEPARTMENT
Bernays joins the War Department's Committee on Public Information,the
propaganda arm of the U.S. effort, and following armistice, participates
in a controversial press mission to the Peace Conference. He later conducts
a highly successful campaign to promote re-employment of returning veterans.
His effective use of publicity and the enlistment of civic groups earns
high praise from his superiors and the thanks of countless ex-servicemen. |
1920
|
NAACP CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA:
Civil Rights Action Through the Media
When Arthur B. Spingarn, New York lawyer and National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founder, asked Edward Bernays
to handle publicity for the 1920 regional convention in Atlanta, the respectful
term for black people was "Negro", though not too many people
were using it. Affecting a major attitudinal change was to be a terrific
challenge.
The goals of the campaign were to use the Atlanta Convention as "a
springboard for publicity, to make the South and North realize that we are
in earnest in battling for the civil rights of the Negro." These "rights"
were considered revolutionary: abolish lynching, segregation, and Jim Crow
railroad cars; and obtain equal education, industrial opportunities, and
voting rights. (continued) |
