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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| See America First | |
|---|---|
| A Patriotic Comic Opera | |
 Sheet music cover | |
| Music | Cole Porter |
| Lyrics | Cole Porter |
| Book | T. Lawrason Riggs |
| Productions | 1916 Broadway |
See America First is a comic opera with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway, it was a critical and commercial flop.[1]
Porter and Riggs, classmates at Yale University, wanted to write a spoof of the patriotic George M. Cohan musicals that were popular at the time.[2] They completed the bulk of their work at the Riggs home in New London, Connecticut, and the script underwent extensive changes between its first draft and the New York opening.[3] Four of the songs were interpolated from the 1914 Yale revue Paranoia, or Chester of the Y.D.A.[4]
Set in Arizona,[5] the story focuses on Polly Huggins, whose xenophobic father, the wealthy United States Senator Huggins, sends her to a West Coast finishing school with the hope she will find a suitable husband. Polly, however, hopes to snare an English duke with whom she once exchanged furtive glances at a London opera house. Unbeknownst to her, the cowboy who is wooing her actually is her dream man, the Duke, in disguise. They become engaged. Polly's father is willing to adjust his principles when he falls in love with Sarah, the chaperone at her school.
See America First was produced by Elisabeth Marbury, directed by J. H. Benrimo, and choreographed by Edward Hutchinson and Theodore Kosloff. Anne Morgan, the daughter of J. P. Morgan, and interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe were among its financial backers.[4] Prior to opening on Broadway, it was staged in Schenectady, Albany, and Rochester in Upstate New York, New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island.[3]
The Broadway production opened on March 28, 1916 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre. The cast included Dorothie Bigelow as Polly, Sam Edwards as her father, Clara Palmer as Sarah, John Heath Goldsworthy as Cecil, and Clifton Webb as Percy. The evening before, Marbury had hosted a gala performance for her society friends and business associates, all of whom were enthusiastic about the show, but the critics were far less enchanted and it closed after only 15 performances. Bigelow laid the blame for its failure on Riggs and his book, while he in turn insisted it was due largely "to the fact that the composer and I consented to complete transformation of the piece to meet the capabilities of its interpreters and the supposed taste of the public." In a letter to Yale's alumni magazine, Riggs, who had invested $35,000 in the production of the show, announced he was giving up musical theatre as a vocation. He converted to Catholicism, became a priest, and eventually was assigned to the university as a chaplain.[4]
Despite the quick demise of See America First, G. Schirmer published sheet music for thirteen of its twenty songs, and the Joseph C. Smith Orchestra recorded "When I Used to Lead the Ballet" (which had been written for The Pot of Gold in 1912) and "I've a Shooting Box in Scotland" for Victor. It was the first commercial recording of a Porter tune.[4]
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The theatre critic for the New York Dramatic Mirror observed, "The lyrics are studiously copied after the Gilbertian pattern in the long and complicated rhyme effects achieved. The music, however, gives the impression that its composer, after the first hour, gave up the task of recreating a Sullivan atmosphere, preferring to seek his inspiration in our own George M. Cohan," whose musical style Porter intentionally had been trying to emulate.[2]
The New York Herald wrote that "its plot is silly, its music unimpressive" and suggested "it would be delightful as a college play . . . with the audience consisting of fond relatives." The critic for The New York Tribune observed that "Gotham is a big town and it may be that the sisters, aunts, and cousins of its Yale men will be sufficient to guarantee prosperity for See America First."[4]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
See America First is a comic opera with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway, it was a critical and commercial flop.
See America Thirst is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film produced and distributed by Universal Pictures and directed by William James Craft. Silent comics Harry Langdon and Slim Summerville star along with Bessie Love. Though released late in 1930, it nevertheless had a silent version. In the film, Bessie Love introduced the type of sandals later known as "flip-flops" to American audiences. The title is a parody of the Cole Porter musical See America First.
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservative think tank that was founded in 2021 to promote an America First public policy agenda. Greg Sindelar became the organization's interim president and CEO in March 2025. AFPI was founded by Brooke Rollins, who served as president and CEO and who serves as Secretary of Agriculture under Donald Trump's second administration, and Larry Kudlow, who served as vice chair and formerly served as the director of the National Economic Council under Trump's first administration. The founding chairperson of the organization was Linda McMahon, who formerly served as Administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump's first administration and currently serves as Secretary of Education under Trump's second administration. In a March 2026 Politico article highlighting the organization's influence, AFPI president and CEO Greg Sindelar said that "If you look at our America First agenda that we put forth, it had innumerable ideas and policy ideas that we would love to see happen. In fact, I think this administration's already like 90, 91 percent already in some sort of action." He added, "When Trump 2.0… happened, we were able to just start acting on the implementation of those ideas with the various agencies."
The First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Church of Providence or the First Baptist Meetinghouse, is the oldest church in Rhode Island and the oldest Baptist church in the United States and the Americas. The church was established in 1638 by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island. The present church building was erected between 1774 and 1775 and held its first meetings in May 1775. It is located at 75 North Main Street in Providence's College Hill neighborhood. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.
