Scott Joplin and the Age of Ragtime

The late Ray Argyle was a journalist and media consultant. His articles appeared in such magazines as Reader's Digest, France Today, and World War II History. He lived in Kingston, Ontario.

Table of Contents



Acknowledgments     

Prelude     



Part I—Breaking All the Rules: The 1890s     

1. A Medley for the Fair: A Time to Start Raggin’ It     

2. My Kind of Town: Hot Nights in the City     

3. The Making of the Legend: A Boy and a Banjo     

4. Marching to a Ragtime Tune     



Part II—The Music Makers Play Main Street: The 1900s     

5. Writing in Ragtime     

6. Tin Pan Alley and All That Jazz: Footloose in “Black Bohemia”     

7. They All Played Ragtime: Scott Joplin and Irving Berlin—A Case of Plagiarism?     

8. The Girls of Ragtime and the Cult of Celebrity: Murder, Passion and Honor     



Part III—The Dream That Wouldn’t Die: The 1910s     

9. Dancing in Ragtime     

10. The Censors and the Erotic Life     

11. Reporting in Ragtime     

12. Dreaming of Treemonisha     



Part IV—After the Rag: The Finale     

13. Little Mary and the Little Tramp: Ragtime Partners of the Silent Screen     

14. The Rites of Spring: The Martyred Saint of the Ragtime Era     

15. Ragtime in Revival     

16. Echoes of the Music: We’re All Still Playing Ragtime     



The Life and Times of Scott Joplin     

Scott Joplin’s Compositions     

Sources of Quotations     

Appendix: Ragtime in the Newspapers     

Bibliography     

Index