''Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated'' is a collection of short stories by

Solon Robinson Solon Robinson (October 21, 1803 – November 3, 1880) was a writer, journalist, agriculturist, and pioneer. He wrote for the '' New York Tribune'' and '' American Agriculturist'' and published several books including '' Hot Corn'', a bestsel ...

about the life of the poor in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and was a "runaway bestseller" when first published in the United States in early 1854. Along with songs and plays based on the book's stories, which were first published in the '' New York Tribune'', ''Hot Corn'' enjoyed a brief frenzy of popularity.

Background

The book is a collection of stories set in New York City's impoverished Five Points neighborhood, and first appeared in the '' New York Tribune'' in 1853.Burt, Daniel S
The Chronology of American Literature
p. 200 (2004)Hart, James D
The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste
307 (1950) (listing ''Hot Corn'' as one of seven bestselling books of 1854) One of stories was that of Little Katy, a hot corn seller on the street, who is beaten to death by her alcoholic mother who needs Katy's income to support her drinking, after Katy's corn supply is stolen.

Reception

Though it garnered some positive press for promoting morality, especially in religious newspapers (for example, the ''Christian Secretary'' of Hartford, Connecticut said "The Hot Corn stories are eloquent appeals in favor of temperance and virtue"), the book (and stage adaptations) were also the subject of much scorn by critics. The '' New York Herald'' faulted the book for "giving minute descriptions of life in fashionable houses of ill-fame, and entering into the details of seduction, licentiousness and debauchery, with a gusto, ill concealed by the pretence of morality."(14 February 1854)
"Hot Corn" Revelations on the "Shady Side of Life" in New York City
''Lowell Daily Journal & Courier'' The ''

Southern Literary Messenger The ''Southern Literary Messenger'' was a periodical published in Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864, and from 1939 to 1945. Each issue carried a subtitle of "Devoted to Every Department of Literature and the Fine Arts" or some var ...

'' excoriated the book, proclaiming that "to say that the man who deliberately writes and prints such perilous and damnable stuff deserves a place in the penitentiary, is feebly to express our notion of the enormity of his offence."The Book Trade
''Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review'', at p. 397 (March 1854)Notices of New Works
''

'', pp. 125-26 (February 1854) ("We are sick at heart when we think how little can be done by the reviewer to check the sale of such literature or to punish the makers of it.") Author

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

wrote in his autobiography he was prevented from reading ''Hot Corn'' as a child; a copy was given to his father with the admonishment that it wasn't proper for children to read. James wrote that "so great became from that moment the mystery of the tabooed book, of whatever identity; the question, in my breast, of why, if it was to be so right for others, it was only to be wrong for me..... Neither then nor afterwards was the secret of "Hot Corn" revealed to me ..."James, Henry. ''A Small Boy And Others: A Critical Edition'', at p. 65 (2011)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...

took his sons to see one of the plays in April 1854 and called it "wretched stuff."Irmscher, Christoph
Public Poet, Private Man: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200
p. 1 (2009) The ''Tribune'' trumpeted the popularity of the stories and plays, boasting in December 1853 that the stories had been reprinted "more than any other article that ever went the rounds of the press."City Items - Hot Corn
'' The New York Tribune'', p. 7 col. 4 (December 7, 1853) Numerous songs based on the story of Little Katy, including ones performed at

minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spec ...

s, also circulated.Lawrence, Very Brodsky
Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong, Vol. 2
p. 439-40 (1995) The book was sold in a cloth edition for $1.25 and gilt edition for $2.00.Mellby, Julie L

''Graphic Arts'' (Graphic Arts Collection blog of

Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

) A January 1854 advertisement in the ''Tribune'' claimed that forty thousand copies had already been ordered, putting the publisher 10,000 copies behind its production to date.Hot Corn (advertisement)
'' New York Tribune'', p. 1, col. 4 (January 21, 1854) The feverish popularity of ''Hot Corn'' was not to last, and faded from popularity within eighteen months,Grimes, Robert R
Come Buy Hot Corn! Music, Sentiment, and Morality in 1850s New York
''Journal of the Society for American Music'', Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 33-59 (February 2011) though the plays saw occasional revivals.(31 January 1876)
Amusements
''The Baltimore Bee''(28 May 1914)
Notes and Queries
''

Boston Evening Transcript The ''Boston Evening Transcript'' was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941. Beginnings ''The Transcript'' was founded in 1830 by Henry Dutton and James Wentworth of the firm of D ...

'' (For years these dramatic versions were revived.... little Katy was a well known to novel readers and theatre goers as Miss Alcott's 'Little Women' are to the present generation.") Robinson later recounted that the book sold over 100,000 copies within a year of being released. Edwards, E.J. (14 October 1911)
New News of Yesterday: Connecticut Pedler Who Once Wrote a "Best Seller"
''Amsterdam Evening Recorder''

Stage adaptations

Little Katy or Hot Corn (sheet music cover) (1853)

At least three temperance plays in 1853-54 were staged based (at least loosely, and in varying degrees) on the stories in the book, including ''Little Katy; or, The Hot Corn Girl'', by C.W. Taylor, ''Hot Corn; or, Little Katy'', which played at

Barnum's American Museum Barnum's American Museum was located at the corner of Broadway, Park Row, and Ann Street in what is now the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, from 1841 to 1865. The museum was owned by famous showman P. T. Barnum, who purc ...

, and ''The Hot Corn Girl'' at the

Bowery Theatre The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse on the Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populis ...

.Bordman, Gerald & Thomas S. Hischak
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre
p. 317 (3d ed. 2004) The plays (which varied in content) were said to be the second only to ''Uncle's Tom Cabin'' in popularity as a play in New York in the 1850s. The role of Little Katy was played by

Cordelia Howard Cordelia Howard ( – ) was a child actor on the American stage. Her most famous role was as Little Eva in the stage adaptation of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin.'' One commentator wrote "The name of Little Cordelia has become synonymous with that of Littl ...

, daughter of George C. Howard, in one of the productions. Cordelia was also playing the role of Little Eva in ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

'' at the same time.Blocker, Jack S., et al., eds
Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History
p. 202 (2003)

References

External links

{{Gutenberg, no=37268, name=Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New York Illustrated
''Hot Corn''
(1854 print at Google books) 1854 short story collections 1853 plays