James Cagney, Outside/inside: Assimilation of a New York City star in 1930s Hollywood

Abstract

My dissertation examines the reception of James Cagney in the light of ethnicity and immigration in the 1930s. I contend that it is only in this era that Cagney represents an inbetween type. His Irish-American catholicism marks him as subordinate to the W.A.S.P. mainstream and simultaneously positions him as a figure of influence over other New York ethnic newcomers (Italians, Jews, Poles, and Slavs). To star studies I combine close readings of thirteen 1930s films (including Blonde Crazy (1931), Mayor of Hell (1933), Here Comes the Navy (1934), and Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)) with a concern for linking text to historical context (the Payne Studies, James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan novels, and other representations of the working class which comprise a large number of "new" immigrants).