How “Secondhand Rose”: The Effect of Popular Culture on Public Opinion of Resale Trade in Early 20th-Century America

Although it debuted as part of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921, Fanny Brice’s signature song (referenced in this paper’s title), evoked secondhand commerce as it was frequently envisioned at the beginning of the century. Despite the real-life diversity of buyers and sellers of pre-owned goods, mainstream sources portrayed the resale trades as urban, Jewish, and alternately risible or sinister. This common stereotype was altered by the emergence of charitable resale – a philanthropic commercial and fundraising form which included rummage sales, non-profit secondhand shops, and salvage missions such as Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army. As resale commerce became more closely identified with charity and community welfare projects, it became more widely respectable, albeit still not normative. My paper addresses the role that print and popular culture played in encouraging a mainstream re-evaluation of secondhand commerce. I argue that, in conjunction with newspaper and magazine reportage, short stories, plays, songs and other popular cultural forms which referenced the secondhand trade helped to shift the public perception of resale commerce. Fictional and narrative elements were also present in publicity and promotional material for charitable resale concerns, reflecting the human interest, participatory, and “reason why” advertising strategies that Roland Marchand has identified as characteristic of the era. I consider how these print and popular cultural depictions influenced affluent individuals with minimal previous personal experience with resale, and also contrast them to the impressions of working class individuals, who were more likely to have actual experience as purchasers of secondhand goods. Ultimately, I argue, the cross-class relationships and social welfare connotations of charitable resale had a mixed effect upon the reputations of the secondhand trade, its vendors and patrons, as cultural commentators found new sources of humor and pathos in these changes to the landscape and characters of resale commerce.