60 Years Ago: The Birth of the Renaissance Fair

This post exists at least in part to send my old friend Obstreperous B. into a frenzy of irritation, because it’s so entertaining when she goes there.

B. has a loathing of Renaissance Fairs, and I fully get why, though I’d never get quite as exercised about as she does. On the one hand (if you want to be nasty about it) they can be construed as corny-ass bullshit, and on the other hand, they are a subset of the much larger category of “inaccurate historical re-enactment and cosplay”. I’d go so far as to say that unless you have a Westworld budget (and not even Disneyworld does) ALL historical re-enactment falls far short of what would be satisfying from either the theatrical or the historical perspective. I was about 10 or 12 when I went to my first one (Plymouth Plantation), and the local actor started talking and I was all like “Pssssshhh. Take off those glasses with the 1975 frames!” Not because I hate history or theatre, but because I love them to an unpleaseable degree. And it’s ironic that so many people who are into Ren Fests are theatre craftspeople and so forth, because the spectacles are so unspecific. WHEN are we? Yo, “the Renaissance” is far too broad a timeline, encompassing centuries. And WHERE are we? England? Italy? Turkey? Well, England, I guess, in most cases, but…North? South? East? West? Most people don’t care, I guess, in the true American fashion, it’s good enough to be the cartoon everyone is looking for, so let’s everybody have a good time!

That’s me wearing my Devil’s Advocate hat, though, which I donned in order to explain what problem anyone can possibly have with such a seemingly benign way to spend a Saturday. But in truth, I’m usually in hog heaven at such things, the hokier, the better. Dicey history, but entertaining amateur theatre (and I happen to LOVE amateur theatre). There are hundreds of these festivals and fairs (or faires) nowadays, held annually throughout the United States. If you don’t know what one is, they are interactive festivals, featuring food, arts, crafts, games, and culture in general (purportedly) from the Medieval and/or Renaissance era. Costumed characters walk around. There are plays, puppet shows, jugglers, fire-eaters, and so forth. Sometimes there is jousting. Lutes and recorders are played. It is very much tied to the folk revival of the 1950s and ’60s, and there seems to have been a strong connection between this movement and the way people began to style themselves in the hippie counterculture, especially on the West Coast. Long hair and beards on men. Flowing blouses, vests. Women forgoing make-up and trips to the hairdresser. There was a lot of nature worship. And there’s overlap with the fantasy community, lovers of Tolkien and such-like.

In 1963 a Los Angeles schoolteacher quit her job over the practice of forcing instructors to sign loyalty oaths (this was toward the end of the 2nd Red Scare). With a lot of free time on her hands, on May 11 of that year, she (with the help of her husband) inaugurated the first Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California.

I am especially interested in the phenomenon because it played a major role in the birth of the New Vaudeville movement. Some of the folks we’ve written about who sprang from Ren Fests include The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Tom Noddy, and The Radical Faeries.

Our local one is the Medieval Festival at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. I brought my kids to it when they were young. I’ll never forget the big jousting match when the knight fell off his horse unconvincingly and my son went “Pssssshhh.” It was one of my proudest moments as a father.

For more on the culture of variety arts,please see my book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.