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Boston Massacre
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For the baseball event nicknamed the "Boston Massacre", see Yankees – Red Sox rivalry.
For the 2013 terrorist attack, see Boston Marathon bombing.
Boston Massacre
Part of the American Revolution
This famous depiction of the event was engraved by Paul Revere (copied from an engraving by Henry Pelham), colored by Christian Remick, and printed by Benjamin Edes. The Old State House is depicted in the background.[1]
Location
Boston, Massachusetts, British America
(now State Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.)
Coordinates
42°21′32″N 71°03′26″W / 42.35879°N 71.05717°W / 42.35879; -71.05717Coordinates: 42°21′32″N 71°03′26″W / 42.35879°N 71.05717°W / 42.35879; -71.05717
Date
March 5, 1770; 247 years ago (1770-03-05)
Attack type
Massacre
Weapons
Flintlock muskets
Deaths
5
Non-fatal injuries
6
Perpetrators
British Army infantrymen
This article is part of a series about the
American Revolution
1765-1783
Origins[show]
Sugar Act
Currency Act
Quartering Acts
Stamp Act 1765
Declaratory Act
No taxation without representation
Townshend Acts
Tea Act
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts
Revolutionary War[show]
Continental Army
Continental Navy
Minutemen
Battles
Intelligence
Treaty of Paris
Costs
Declaration of Independence[show]
Continental Congress
Committee of Five
Lee Resolution
Articles of Confederation
United States Constitution[show]
Philadelphia Convention
Annapolis Convention
The Federalist Papers
Bill of Rights
A New Republic[show]
Republicanism
American Enlightenment
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First Great Awakening
Role of Women
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The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British,[2] was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a mob. The incident was heavily publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to encourage rebellion against the British authorities.[3][4][5] British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and repeatedly hit by clubs, stones and snowballs. They fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident.
The crowd eventually dispersed after Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, but the crowd re-formed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to Castle Island. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Defended by lawyer and future American president John Adams, six of the soldiers were acquitted, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences. The men found guilty of manslaughter were sentenced to branding on their hand. Depictions, reports, and propaganda about the event, notably the colored engraving produced by Paul Revere (shown at top-right), further heightened tensions throughout the Thirteen Colonies.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Incident
3 Aftermath
3.1 Investigation
3.2 Propaganda battle
3.3 Trial
4 Legacy
4.1 Contribution to American Revolution
4.2 Commemorations
5 See also
6 References
7 Sources
8 Further reading
9 External links
Background
Main article: American Revolution
View of the Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts, the seat of British colonial government from 1713 to 1776. The Boston Massacre took place in front of the balcony, and the site is now marked by a cobblestone circle in the square (photo 2009)
Massacre Site
Boston, the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and an important shipping town, was a major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s.[6] In 1768, the Townshend Acts were placed upon the colonists, by which a variety of common items that were manufactured in Britain and exported to the colonies were subjected to import tariffs. Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional rights of British subjects in the colonies.[6] The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by sending a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. The House also sent what became known as the Massachusetts Circular Letter to other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement,[6] and called for a boycott of merchants importing the affected goods.[7]
In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, who had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. The house refused to comply.[8]
Boston's chief customs officer, Charles Paxton, wrote to Hillsborough, asking for military support because "the Government is as much in the hands of the people as it was in the time of the Stamp Act."[9] Commodore Samuel Hood responded by sending the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768.[10] On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot.[11] Customs officials fled to Castle William for protection.[12]
Daniel Calfe declares, that on Saturday evening the 3d of March, a camp-woman, wife to James McDeed, a grenadier of the 29th, came into his father's shop, and the people talking about the affrays at the ropewalks, and blaming the soldiers for the part they had acted in it, the woman said, "the soldiers were in the right;" adding, "that before Tuesday or Wednesday night they would wet their swords or bayonets in New England people's blood."
—Excerpt from A Short Narrative, suggesting the soldiers were contemplating violence against the colonists[13]
Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send "such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston".[14] On October 1, 1768, the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston.[15] Two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the 14th and the 29th Regiments of Foot remained.[16]
The Journal of Occurrences, an anonymously written series of newspaper articles, chronicled clashes between civilians and soldiers while troops were stationed in Boston, feeding tensions with its sometimes exaggerated accounts of the events. Tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider, "a young lad about eleven Years of Age", was killed by a customs employee on February 22, 1770.[16] Seider's death was glorified in the Boston Gazette, and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston. The killing and subsequent propaganda inflamed tensions, with gangs of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also on occasion looking for confrontation.[17]
Incident
This 19th-century lithograph is a variation of Revere's famous engraving. Produced soon before the American Civil War, this image emphasizes Crispus Attucks, who had by then become an important symbol for abolitionists. (John Bufford after William L. Champey, circa 1856)[18]
On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White, a British soldier, stood on guard duty outside the Custom house on King Street, today known as State Street. A young wigmaker's apprentice named Edward Garrick called out to a British officer, Captain-Lieutenant John Goldfinch, that Goldfinch had not paid a bill due to Garrick's master. Goldfinch had in fact settled his account and ignored the insult.[19] Private White called out to Garrick that he should be more respectful of the officer. Garrick exchanged insults with Private White. Then, after Garrick started poking the officer in the chest with his finger, the officer left his post, challenged the boy, and struck him on the side of the head with his musket. As Garrick cried in pain, one of his companions, Bartholomew Broaders, began to argue with White. This attracted a larger crowd.[20] Henry Knox, a 19-year-old bookseller (who would later serve as a general in the revolution), came upon the scene and warned White, "if he fired he must die for it."[19]
An 1868 print by Alonzo Chappel, showing a more chaotic scene contrary to most earlier representations.
As the evening progressed, the crowd around Private White grew larger and more boisterous. Church bells were rung, which usually signified a fire, bringing more people out. Over fifty Bostonians pressed around White, led by a mixed-race runaway slave named Crispus Attucks, throwing objects at the sentry and challenging him to fire his weapon. White, who had taken up a somewhat safer position on the steps of the Custom House, sought assistance. Runners alerted the nearby barracks and Captain Thomas Preston, the officer of the watch.[21][22] According to his report, Preston dispatched a non-commissioned officer and six privates of the 29th Regiment of Foot, with fixed bayonets, to relieve White.[23][24] The soldiers Preston sent were Corporal William Wemms, Hugh Montgomery, John Carroll, William McCauley, William Warren, and Matthew Kilroy. Accompanied by Preston, they pushed their way through the crowd. En route, Henry Knox, again trying to reduce tensions, warned Preston, "For God's sake, take care of your men. If they fire, you must die." [clarification needed] Captain Preston responded "I am aware of it."[25] When they reached Private White on the custom house stairs, the soldiers loaded their muskets, and arrayed themselves in a semicircular formation. Preston shouted at the crowd, estimated to number between three and four hundred, to disperse.[26]
Boston Massacre grave marker in the Granary Burying Ground
The crowd continued to press around the soldiers, taunting them by yelling, "Fire!", by spitting at and throwing snowballs and other small objects at them.[27] Richard Palmes, a local innkeeper who was carrying a cudgel, came up to Preston and asked if the soldiers' weapons were loaded. Preston assured him they were, but that they would not fire unless he ordered it, and (according to his own deposition) that he was unlikely to do so, since he was standing in front of them. A thrown object then struck Private Montgomery, knocking him down and causing him to drop his musket. He recovered his weapon, and was thought to angrily shout "Damn you, fire!", then discharged it into the crowd although no command was given. Palmes swung his cudgel first at Montgomery, hitting his arm, and then at Preston. He narrowly missed Preston's head, striking him on the arm instead.[27]
There was a pause of uncertain length (eyewitness estimates ranged from several seconds to two minutes), after which the soldiers fired into the crowd. Rather than a disciplined volley (Preston gave no orders to fire), a ragged series of shots was fired, which hit eleven men.[28] Three Americans—ropemaker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks—died instantly.[29] Samuel Maverick, an apprentice ivory turner of seventeen,[30] was struck by a ricocheting musket ball at the back of the crowd, and died a few hours later, in the early morning of the next day. An Irish immigrant, Patrick Carr, died two weeks later.[29] Christopher Monk, another apprentice, was one of those seriously wounded in the attack.[31] Although he recovered to some extent, he was crippled and eventually died in 1780, purportedly due to the injuries he had sustained in the attack a decade earlier.[32][33]
The crowd moved away from the immediate area of the custom house, but continued to grow in nearby streets.[34] Captain Preston immediately called out most of the 29th Regiment, which adopted defensive positions in front of the state house.[35] Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson was summoned to the scene, and was forced by the movement of the crowd into the council chamber of the state house. From its balcony he was able to minimally restore order, promising there would be a fair inquiry into the shootings if the crowd dispersed.[36]
Aftermath
Investigation
Hutchinson immediately began investigating the affair, and by morning, Preston and the eight soldiers had been arrested.[37] In a meeting of the governor's council held late the morning after the shootings, Boston's selectmen asked Hutchinson to order the removal of troops from the city to Castle William on Castle Island,[36] while a town meeting at Faneuil Hall met to discuss the affair. The governor's council was at first opposed to ordering the troop withdrawal, with Hutchinson correctly claiming he did not have the authority to order the troops to move. Lieutenant Colonel William Dalrymple, commander of the troops, did not offer to move them.[38] The town meeting, however, became more restive when it learned of this. Under an imminent threat of further violence, the council changed its position, and unanimously ("under duress", according to Hutchinson's report) agreed to request the troops' removal.[39] Secretary of State Andrew Oliver reported that, had the troops not been removed, "that they would probably be destroyed by the people — should it be called rebellion, should it incur the loss of our charter, or be the consequence what it would."[40] This decision left the governor without effective means to police the town.[40] The 14th was transferred to Castle Island without incident about a week later, with the 29th following shortly after.[41] The first four victims were buried amid great ceremony on March 8; Patrick Carr, the fifth and final victim, died on March 14 and was buried with them on March 17.[42]
Mr. John Gillespie, in his deposition, (No. 104) declares that, as he was going to the south end of the town, to meet some friends at a public house, he met several people in the streets in parties [armed with clubs], to the number, as he thinks, of forty or fifty persons; and that while he was sitting with his friends there, several persons of his acquaintance came in to them at different times, and took notice of the numbers of persons they had seen in the street armed in the above manner. [...] About half an hour after eight the bells rung, which [Gillespie] and his company took to be for fire; but they were told by the landlord of the house that it was to collect the mob. Mr. Gillespie upon this resolved to go home, and in his way met numbers of people who were running past him, of whom many were armed with clubs and sticks, and some with other weapons. At the same time a number of people passed by him with two fire-engines, as if there had been a fire in the town. But they were soon told that there was no fire, but that the people were going to fight the soldiers, upon which they immediately quitted the fire-engines, and swore they would go to their assistance. All this happened before the soldiers near the custom-house fired their muskets, which was not till half an hour after nine o'clock; and it [shows] that the inhabitants had formed, and were preparing to execute, a design of attacking the soldiers on that evening.
—Excerpt from A Fair Account, suggesting the colonists planned the attack on the soldiers[43]
On March 27 the eight soldiers, Captain Preston, and four civilians who were in the Customs House and were alleged to have fired shots, were all indicted for murder.[44] Bostonians continued to be hostile to the troops and their dependents. General Gage, convinced the troops were doing more harm than good, ordered the 29th Regiment out of the province in May.[45] Governor Hutchinson took advantage of the ongoing high tensions to orchestrate delays of the trials until later in the year.[46]
Propaganda battle
In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between Boston's radicals and supporters of the government. Both sides published pamphlets that told strikingly different stories, which were principally published in London in a bid to influence opinion there. The Boston Gazette's version of events, for example, characterized the massacre as part of an ongoing scheme to "quell a Spirit of Liberty", and harped on the negative consequences of quartering troops in the city.[47]
Henry Pelham's engraving copied by Paul Revere
A young Boston artist, Henry Pelham, half-brother of the celebrated portrait painter John Singleton Copley, depicted the event. Silversmith and engraver Paul Revere closely copied Pelham's image, and is often credited as its originator. In order to further public outrage, the engraving contained several inflammatory details. Captain Preston is shown ordering his men to fire, and a musket is seen shooting out of the window of the customs office, which is labeled "Butcher's Hall."[48] Artist Christian Remick hand-colored some prints.[1] Some copies of the print show a man with two chest wounds and a somewhat darker face, matching descriptions of Attucks; others show no victim as a person of color. The image was published in the Boston Gazette, circulating widely, and became an effective piece of anti-British propaganda. The image of bright red "lobster backs" and wounded men with red blood was hung in farmhouses across New England.[49]
Anonymous pamphlets were published describing the event from significantly different perspectives. A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre, published under the auspices of the Boston town meeting, was principally written by James Bowdoin, a member of the governor's council and a vocal opponent of British colonial policy, along with Samuel Pemberton, and Joseph Warren.[50] It described the shooting and other lesser incidents that took place in the days before as unprovoked attacks on peaceful, law-abiding inhabitants, and was, according to historian Neal Langley York, probably the most influential description of the event.[51] The account it provided was drawn from more than 90 depositions taken after the event, and it included accusations that the soldiers sent by Captain Preston had been deployed with the intention of causing harm.[52] In the interest of minimizing impact on the jury pool, city leaders held back local distribution of the pamphlet, but sent copies to other colonies and to London, where they knew depositions collected by Governor Hutchinson were en route.[53] A second pamphlet, Additional Observations on the Short Narrative, furthered the attack on crown officials by complaining that customs officials (one of whom had left Boston to carry Hutchinson's gathered depositions to London) were abandoning their posts under the pretense that it was too dangerous for them to do their duties.[54]
The depositions that Hutchinson collected and sent to London were eventually published in a pamphlet entitled A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy Disturbance in Boston.[55] Drawn mainly from depositions by soldiers, its account of affairs sought to blame selfish Bostonians for denying the validity of Parliamentary laws. It also blamed the city's hoodlums and gangs for the lawlessness preceding the event, and claimed that they set up an ambush of the soldiers.[56] However, as it was not published until well after the first pamphlet had arrived in London, it ended up having a much smaller impact on the public debate there.[55]
Trial
John Adams defended the soldiers six of whom were acquitted
The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right. This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies.
—  John Adams, on the third anniversary of the massacre[57]
The government was determined to give the soldiers a fair trial so there could be no grounds for retaliation from the British and so moderates would not be alienated from the Patriot cause. After several lawyers with Loyalist leanings refused to defend him, Preston sent a request to John Adams, pleading for him to work on the case. Adams, who was already a leading Patriot and who was contemplating a run for public office, agreed to help, in the interest of ensuring a fair trial.[58] Adams was joined by Josiah Quincy II after the latter was assured that the Sons of Liberty would not oppose his appointment, and by Robert Auchmuty, a Loyalist.[59] They were assisted by Sampson Salter Blowers, whose chief duty was to investigate the jury pool, and Paul Revere, who drew a detailed map of the bodies to be used in the trial of the British soldiers held responsible.[60][61] Massachusetts Solicitor General Samuel Quincy and private attorney Robert Treat Paine, hired by the town of Boston, handled the prosecution.[62] Preston was tried separately in late October 1770. He was acquitted after the jury was convinced that he had not ordered the troops to fire.[63]
The trial of the eight soldiers opened on November 27, 1770.[64] Adams told the jury to look beyond the fact the soldiers were British. He argued that if the soldiers were endangered by the mob, which he called "a motley rabble of saucy boys, negroes, and molattoes, Irish teagues and outlandish jack tarrs [i.e. sailors]",[65] they had the legal right to fight back, and so were innocent. If they were provoked but not endangered, he argued, they were at most guilty of manslaughter.[66]
The jury agreed with Adams and acquitted six of the soldiers after two and one-half hours' deliberation. Two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter because there was overwhelming evidence that they had fired directly into the crowd. The jury's decisions suggest that they believed the soldiers had felt threatened by the crowd, but should have delayed firing.[67] Patrick Carr, the fifth victim, corroborated this with deathbed testimony delivered to his doctor. The convicted soldiers were granted reduced sentences by invoking Benefit of clergy, which reduced their punishment from a death sentence to branding of the thumb in open court.[68]
The four civilians were tried on December 13.[69] The principal prosecution witness, a servant of one of the accused, made claims that were easily rebutted by defense witnesses. In the face of this weak testimony, as well as waning public interest, the prosecution allegedly failed to press its case very hard. The civilians were all acquitted, and the servant was eventually convicted of perjury, whipped, and banished from the province.[70]
Legacy
Contribution to American Revolution
The Boston Massacre is considered one of the most important events that turned colonial sentiment against King George III and British Parliamentary authority[citation needed].
Howard Zinn argues that Boston was full of class anger. He reports that in 1763, the Boston Gazette published that "a few persons in power" were promoting political projects "for keeping the people poor in order to make them humble."[71]
John Adams wrote that the "foundation of American independence was laid" on March 5, 1770, and Samuel Adams and other Patriots used annual commemorations (Massacre Day) of the event to fulminate against British rule.[72] Christopher Monk, the boy who was wounded in the attack and died in 1780, was paraded before the crowds as a reminder of British hostility.[33]
Later events, such as the Boston Tea Party, further illustrated the crumbling relationship between Britain and its colonies. Although five years passed between the massacre and outright revolution, and direct connections between the massacre and the later war are (according to historian Neil Langley York) somewhat tenuous,[73] it is widely perceived as a significant event leading to the violent rebellion that followed.[74][75]
Commemorations
Massacre memorial on the Boston Common
See also: Massacre Day and Freedom Trail
The massacre was remembered in 1858 in a celebration organized by William Cooper Nell, an African American abolitionist who saw the death of Crispus Attucks as an opportunity to demonstrate the role of African Americans in the Revolutionary War.[76] Partly because of this activism, artwork commemorating the massacre was produced that changed the color of a victim's skin to black (which in Revere's original engraving was white) to emphasize Attucks' claimed martyrdom.[77] In 1888, a monument was erected on the Boston Common to the men killed in the massacre, and the five victims, along with Christopher Seider, were reinterred in a prominent grave in the Granary Burying Ground.[78]
The massacre is reenacted annually on March 5[79] under the auspices of the Bostonian Society.[80][81] The Old State House, the massacre site, and the Granary Burying Ground are all part of Boston's Freedom Trail, connecting sites important in the city's revolutionary-era history.[78]
See also
Boston portal
List of massacres in Massachusetts
Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760–1789)
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Nell, William Cooper; Wesley, Dorothy Porter; Uzelac, Constance Porter (2002). William Cooper Nell, Nineteenth-Century African American Abolitionist, Historian, Integrationist: Selected Writings from 1832–1874. Baltimore, MD: Black Classic Press. ISBN 978-1-57478-019-2. OCLC 50673509.
O'Connor, Thomas H (2001). The Hub: Boston Past and Present. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 978-1-55553-474-5. OCLC 248309644.
Ross, Betsy McCaughey; McCaughey, Elizabeth P. (1980). From Loyalist to Founding Father: the Political Odyssey of William Samuel Johnson. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04506-3. OCLC 479827879.
Triber, Jayne (1998). A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-139-7. OCLC 171052850.
Walett, Francis (September 1950). "James Bowdoin, Patriot Propagandist". The New England Quarterly (Volume 23, No. 3). JSTOR 361420.
Wheeler, William Bruce; Becker, Susan Becker; Glover, Lorri (2011). Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence: To 1877. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-79984-9. OCLC 664324291.
Woods, Thomas (2008). Exploring American History: From Colonial Times to 1877. New York: Associated University Press. ISBN 978-0-7614-7746-4. OCLC 302384920.
York, Neil Longley (2009). "Rival Truths, Political Accommodation, and the Boston 'Massacre'". Massachusetts Historical Review (Volume 11): 57–95. JSTOR 40345980.
York, Neil Longley (2010). The Boston Massacre: a History with Documents. New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-87348-2. OCLC 695944958.
Young, Alfred (Spring 2003). "Revolution in Boston? Eight Propositions for Public History on the Freedom Trail" (PDF). The Public Historian (Volume 25, No. 2): 17–41.
Zinn, Howard (1980). A People's History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-019448-2. OCLC 42420960.
Zobel, Hiller B (1970). The Boston Massacre. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-31483-0. OCLC 243696768.
Further reading
Reid, John Phillip (1974). "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre". American Journal of Legal History (Volume 18, No. 3): 189–207. ISSN 0002-9319.
Ritter, Kurt W (1977). "Confrontation as Moral Drama: the Boston Massacre in Rhetorical Perspective". Southern Speech Communication Journal (Volume 42, No. 1): 114–136. ISSN 0361-8269.
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"Boston Massacre, The". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
"Boston Massacre". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
"Boston Massacre". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
An oration delivered April 2d, 1771, at the request of the inhabitants of the town of Boston (1771) by James Lovell
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Stress Relief (The Office)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For stress relief in metallurgy, see Annealing (metallurgy).
"Stress Relief"
The Office episode
Episode no.
Season 5
Episode 14/15
Directed by
Jeffrey Blitz
Written by
Paul Lieberstein
Production code
516/517[1]
Original air date
February 1, 2009
Running time
42 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Andy Buckley as David Wallace
John Hartmann as Kendall
Rick Overton as Mr. Beesly
Bobby Ray Shafer as Bob Vance
Jessica Alba as Sophie/herself (uncredited)
Jack Black as Sam/himself (uncredited)
Cloris Leachman as Lily Hannaday/herself (uncredited)
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Prince Family Paper" Next →
"Lecture Circuit"
The Office (U.S. season 5)
List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes
"Stress Relief" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the fourteenth and fifteenth episode of the fifth season, and the 86th and 87th overall episodes of the series. Both episodes were directed by Jeffrey Blitz and written by Paul Lieberstein, who also plays Toby Flenderson on the show.
In this episode, Dwight stages a fire in the office to test the office's fire safety skills, but things go from bad to worse when Stanley suffers a heart attack, causing Michael to come up with ways to relieve stress in the office, including a comedic roast of himself. Meanwhile, Andy, Jim, and Pam watch an illegally downloaded movie at work starring Jack Black, Jessica Alba and Cloris Leachman, and Pam deals with her parents' recent argument that's caused her father to move in with her and Jim.
Both parts of "Stress Relief" originally aired together immediately following the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII, and The Office writers and producers sought to attract newcomers to the series with the expected increase in viewership. Guest stars Black, Alba and Leachman do not interact with the regular characters themselves, but rather appear in a film within the episode. The Office creator Greg Daniels said this was done to keep the episode more grounded in reality.
The episode received generally positive reviews, with Time magazine declaring it the best overall television episode of any series in 2009. Many commentators particularly praised the chaotic cold open scene, in which Dwight panics his co-workers with a simulated fire as part of a twisted safety demonstration. Because of its proximity to the Super Bowl, "Stress Relief" is the most viewed episode of The Office with 22.9 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research during its original broadcast. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, and received another nomination for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series.
Contents
1 Plot
1.1 Part one
1.2 Part two
2 Production
3 Cultural references
4 Ratings
5 Critical reception
6 Awards
7 References
8 External links
Plot[edit]
Part one[edit]
Annoyed that none of his co-workers paid attention to the fire safety seminar he gave last week, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) tries another approach by sealing the office exits shut, cutting the phone lines and starting a fire in a trash can. Dwight calmly explains the proper safety procedures as the panicked employees try to flee, smashing windows, crawling through air ducts and destroying office equipment. Dwight eventually reveals it was just a drill, but Stanley (Leslie David Baker) suffers a heart attack and collapses in the commotion. Dwight is subsequently censured by Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace (Andy Buckley), and Michael (Steve Carell) strips him of his position as safety officer. After Stanley is released from the hospital, his doctors warn him to keep his stress levels under control to avoid further damaging his health. Michael arranges for a CPR training session for the employees, but they are too easily distracted and the lesson proves fruitless. The session ends badly when Dwight destroys the expensive CPR dummy, earning another rebuke from David Wallace. Dwight is ordered to apologize to his co-workers and get signatures acknowledging that they forgive him, but after he openly declares that his apology is insincere and denies that he is responsible for Stanley's heart attack, they refuse to sign.
With tensions running high in the office, Michael tries to calm his workers down with yoga and meditation sessions. However, Michael soon realizes he is actually the source of his employees' stress when Stanley’s stress reader beeps uncontrollably whenever Michael is nearby. Michael hands the stress reader to Oscar (Oscar Nunez) and is horrified when the same result occurs. Meanwhile, Pam’s (Jenna Fischer) parents are going through a rough patch in their marriage, and Pam’s father is staying with her and Jim (John Krasinski). Jim attempts to cheer Pam up by watching an unlicensed movie with Andy (Ed Helms) (they do not know how to access such films while Andy does, so they have to watch the movie in Andy's company). The film stars Jack Black, who is engaged to a character played by Jessica Alba, but falls in love with her elderly grandmother, played by Cloris Leachman. During the movie, Jim and Pam discuss the situation with Pam’s parents but, Andy believes their comments are directed at the characters in the film, leading him to conclude they are "movie geniuses" finding hidden depths in the film.
Part two[edit]
Michael decides the workers are stressed because they are reluctant to express their feelings, so he organizes a comedic roast of himself in the warehouse. Dwight tricks most of the employees into signing his apology letter by pretending it is a sign-in sheet, but Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) catches on and refuses to sign it. Each of the office and warehouse workers gleefully take jabs at Michael, who initially seems to enjoy the jokes, but grows increasingly uncomfortable and offended. When it comes time for him to roast his employees, Michael ends up storming out of the warehouse, visibly upset. After the roast, Michael takes a personal day (much to the concern of his employees, who start to feel bad about the scathing jokes towards Michael) and spends time at a playground to reflect, feeding pigeons by tossing whole slices of bread on the ground and making bird noises, despite the lack of birds in the winter weather. Dwight tricks Phyllis into signing his apology letter by bribing a mailman to ask her to sign for a fake package. Michael returns to the office, where he roasts each of his co-workers with one-liners. Stanley laughs heartily when Michael roasts him, breaking the tension. Michael tells his employees that they are the reason he got into the paper business, and they applaud him.
Pam asks Jim to talk to her father and convince him to work things out with her mother. But shortly after they talk, Pam learns her father has sought a separation and will be looking for his own apartment. Pam assumes it is because of something Jim said to her father, and blames him for their breakup. Pam later confronts her father about why he left her mother while Jim looks on through the window. Pam returns to the office and tells Jim her father left because Jim told him how much he loves Pam, and he realized that he had never felt that way about her mother even at their best. Pam comes to terms with the separation and tearfully embraces Jim. Later, she expresses confidence that the two are true soul mates. Andy overhears her comments about her real life scenario, still thinks she is talking about the film they watched and concludes that he cannot be a movie critic because he is not as insightful as Jim and Pam.
In the final scene of the episode, the ending of the illegally downloaded movie is revealed: Jack Black visits Cloris Leachman with flowers and a new walker, only to discover her affair with another young man and he walks away heartbroken.
Production[edit]
The Office actor and producer Paul Lieberstein wrote "Stress Relief"
"Stress Relief" was directed by Jeffrey Blitz and written by Paul Lieberstein, who also plays Toby Flenderson on the show. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 1, 2009, immediately after the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII. NBC decided to air The Office after the Super Bowl, rather than another show, due to positive feedback the series received from short promo commercials it aired during the 2008 Summer Olympics.[2] Some criticized the decision to place an episode of The Office, an already established NBC series, after the Super Bowl instead of a new show, and suggested it meant the network lacked any exceptional new material.[3][4]
In writing the episode, Lieberstein said he sought to appeal to newcomers to the series and attract them to the show, without alienating regular The Office watchers: "We wanted to do a stand-alone comedy episode that could bring people in."[5] Lieberstein said the script drew less attention to long-standing story arcs, which new viewers would not understand.[2][5] Lieberstein said, "It almost had an air of a pilot in a way, where we had to reintroduce everything. We wanted it to be extremely funny and extremely funny up front."[2] The Office creator Greg Daniels said he felt the episode had to focus on physical comedy and easily accessible set pieces. Daniels said, "I looked at all the shows that followed the Super Bowl in years past and I feel that a comedy would be a good choice in the current climate. People want to laugh so we're trying our best to supply some laughs."[2] Actor Rainn Wilson said of the episode, "It's a great opportunity for people to revisit the world of The Office and hopefully get into our style of comedy."[6]
The two parts of "Stress Relief" ran an hour long (including commercials), compared to the typical half-hour length of most The Office episodes. Since the end of the second season, the series had begun occasionally showing longer episodes (which they dubbed "super-sized") on special occasions.[2][7][8] Unlike other episodes of The Office, "Stress Relief" included an extended main title sequence that included the names and images of the entire supporting cast of the series, in order to afford them recognition in anticipation of the high post-Super Bowl viewership.[7][9][10] The opening scene, in which the characters frantically scramble to escape the Dunder Mifflin office due to what they believe is a fire, took about a day-and-a-half to shoot. It took much longer than the average 45 minutes of shooting time for a scene of that length due to the amount of stunt work involved.[11] Due to the pressure of following the Super Bowl, actress Jenna Fischer said, "I don't think we've ever worked so hard on an episode in the history of our show."[12] The Office actor and writer B. J. Novak, who did not appear in "Stress Relief", said of the episode, "It's awesome. After this airs, people are going to refer to the Super Bowl as the Pre-Office Football Spectacular."[13]
Jessica Alba, Jack Black, and Cloris Leachman make guest appearances in "Stress Relief"
In anticipation of particularly high viewership due to the Super Bowl, NBC officials encouraged The Office producers to feature celebrity guest appearances in the episode. Jack Black, Jessica Alba and Cloris Leachman all made guest appearances in "Stress Relief" as a result. However, they do not interact with the cast and characters of The Office, but rather appear separately in a bootleg film called Mrs. Albert Hannaday, which the characters watch within the episode.[9][14] Greg Daniels said this was done because it "helps keep the show grounded and less like I Love Lucy".[14] Lieberstein also said the casting decision made sense because, "If we're just casting some salesman that comes into the office and it's Jack Black, it's hard to believe that."[6] "Stress Relief" marked Black's fourth television appearance in five years: he previously appeared in the Fox sitcom Cracking Up in 2004, the Comedy Central series The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show in 2004, and the Fox animated comedy series The Simpsons in 2007.[15][16] Steve Carell said of Leachman's performance, "She is that extra seasoning. That extra spice to the pot that makes for a delicious comedy gumbo."[12]
Cultural references[edit]
Just before Dwight starts his fire simulation, he said his co-workers previously failed to listen because he made a presentation on the computer program Microsoft PowerPoint, of which he said, "PowerPoint is boring".[17] Michael refers to Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States, to Stanley while he is suffering a heart attack by shouting, "Stanley! Barack is president! You are black! Stanley!"[7] A deleted scene further addresses Obama's election, with Michael praising the choice and Darryl, with Darryl half-jokingly telling the Caucasian office workers what will change for them (they no longer have to pretend to like jazz, and Morgan Freeman won't get any more acting work because "he's more for you guys"). Michael calls an employee from the Red Cross, an international humanitarian movement, to conduct a lesson about CPR. The instructor suggests they pump the heart to the tune of "Stayin' Alive", a disco song by the pop band, the Bee Gees, but Michael mixes the song up with "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor.[17] At the end of the lesson, Dwight cuts the face off the CPR dummy and places it on his face in the manner of Hannibal Lecter, a fictional cannibalistic serial killer who cut the face off a man and wore it as a mask in the 1991 thriller film, The Silence of the Lambs.[8][9][17] Watching Mrs. Albert Hannaday, Andy says the Cloris Leachman character was originally supposed to be played by the much younger actress, Nicole Kidman, and the last-minute replacement prompted a minor overhaul in the film's script.[9] The songs "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall and Oates, "All Out of Love" by the soft rock duo Air Supply, "Have a Little Faith in Me" by singer-songwriter John Hiatt, and "Lady" by Little River Band play during scenes in Mrs. Albert Hannaday.[18][19]
Michael describes the roast as an event in the style of televised comedy specials that air on the cable network, Comedy Central.[18] In describing the upcoming roast, Michael says he plans to call YouTube, an online video sharing website, to record the event.[7] During the roast, Pam says Michael's penis is so small, "If it were an iPod, it would be a Shuffle", a reference to the smallest of the Apple Inc. portable media player brands.[17] Kelly said she would rather kiss Lord Voldemort, the hideous antagonist of the Harry Potter novels and films, than Michael.[18] Andy sings a song about Michael, "What I Hate About You", to the tune of the rock song by The Romantics, "What I Like About You".[18] Angela makes a joke, "If you put sunblock on a window, you might be Michael Scott", which is modeled after the "you might be a redneck" one-liner jokes by comedian Jeff Foxworthy.[8] While roasting his co-workers at the end of the episode, Michael says to Andy, "Cornell called and they think you suck", a reference to Cornell University, the Ithaca, New York college the Andy character attended.[9]
Ratings[edit]
In its original American broadcast on February 1, 2009, "Stress Relief" was viewed by 22.9 million viewers in 13.34 million homes, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the most watched episode of The Office and the only episode to reach over 20 million viewers. The episode drew a 10.6 rating and 14.46 million viewers between the ages 18 and 49. It more than doubled the show's previously highest rating in the age group, and constituted the largest 18–49 rating for an NBC entertainment telecast in four-and-a-half years, since the tenth season finale of the medical drama series ER on May 13, 2004. An estimated 37.7 million viewers watched at least six minutes or more of "Stress Relief".[20] As expected, The Office benefited highly from following the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII, which was seen by 98.7 million average viewers, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history at the time.[20][21]
Critical reception[edit]
"Stress Relief" received generally positive reviews. Time magazine named it the best overall television episode of any series in 2009.[22] "Stress Relief" was voted the third highest-rated episode out of 26 from the fifth season, according to an episode poll at the fansite OfficeTally; the episode was rated 8.89 out of 10.[23] Stanley's heart attack in response to Dwight's fake fire drill ranked number 10 in phillyBurbs.com's top ten moments from the fifth season of The Office.[24] Many critics particularly praised the opening scene, in which Dwight panics his co-workers by simulating a fire. The sequence included scenes such as Kevin looting a vending machine amid the chaos, Oscar's legs crashing through the ceiling as he tries to crawl out, Angela tossing her cat through an open ceiling tile only for it to fall through another tile, and Andy's reaction to a series of popping caps: "The fire is shooting at us!"[7][17][19]
"Beyond the brilliant opening, the show featured a little bit of everything that makes The Office so wonderful, in a way that didn't really require previous knowledge to appreciate, but that also didn't spoon-feed things in a way that would annoy the veteran audience."
Alan Sepinwall
The Star-Ledger[7]
Alan Sepinwall, television columnist for The Star-Ledger called it a "balls to the wall, gut-busting, amazing Office episode",[7] and called the fire opening scene "not only the best Office pre-credits sequence ever, but an all-time sitcom classic". Sepinwall said "Stress Relief" was accessible to newcomers and regular viewers, and displayed both the comedic and human sides of the characters. He said the only drawback of the episode was the Mrs. Albert Hannaday subplot, which he felt was an unnecessary gimmick added solely to accommodate the guest stars.[7] TV Guide writer Shahzad Abbas wrote, "This was one of my favorite episodes ever. It had me laughing the whole way through." Abbas particularly praised the fire opening scene and the final scene in which Michael insults everybody, which he called "a very satisfying ending to the roast saga". He called the Black/Leachman romance "creepy and hilarious", but described the Jim and Pam romance subplot as the weak link of the episode.[17]
David Krone of the Los Angeles Daily News said although he had mixed feelings about the fifth season so far, he found "Stress Relief" to be "one of the season's best efforts". Krone specifically praised the Jim and Pam subplot and Dwight's character, adding, "It's a pretty perfect way to unwind – or, if your team lost, to become reanimated – after the Super Bowl."[25] Rick Ingebritson of The Palm Beach Post said the episode "was funny from start to finish", particularly praising Dwight Schrute's role and the Michael Scott roast. However, Ingebritson said he was disgusted by the Leachman nude scene from Mrs. Albert Hannaday.[8] Will Leitch of New York magazine, said the episode was funny, but "curiously unfocused [like] two half-hour episodes awkwardly spliced together. He praised the Black/Leachman film, the trouble Dwight kept getting in, and the Jim and Pam subplot, which he called "a rare Pam-Jim plot point that worked". However, he called the Michael roast "yet another Michael-wanting-to-be-loved-and-still-be-the-Boss subplot that takes over the second half".[9]
Not all reviews were positive. Entertainment Weekly writer Whitney Pastorek said the episode started strong with the fire scare scene, but "tapered off into a disjointed plot" that she felt would not win new viewers. She said many jokes went too long and lost momentum, but nevertheless wrote "a lot of the episode’s humor was engaging and smart".[19] Lorenzo Perez of The News & Observer said the Pam subplot was "overworked" and lacked impact, and the Dwight character was over-the-top, proving The Office writers clearly have no idea how to rein in Dwight Schrute. Perez also expressed doubt the show would attract a new audience because it ran too late into the night following the Super Bowl. However, Perez said he enjoyed the Black/Leachman cameos.[18] Terry Morrow of the Knoxville News Sentinel said, "This particular visit to The Office doesn't pop like most episodes". Morrow praised the Black/Leachman film, but said, "To be upstaged by a B-plot, one not involving the show's main characters at all, is a bit of a misdirection the show doesn't need in a post-Super Bowl time slot."[26] USA Today critic Robert Bianco said the plot was extremely thin and the Black and Leachman cameos were humorless and grotesque. Bianco wrote, "Unfortunately, in an hour you get at most a handful of funny moments. So if you want funny from a comedy, look elsewhere."[27]
Awards[edit]
Jeffrey Blitz won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for "Stress Relief".[28][29] Dean Holland and David Rogers were also nominated for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series. "Stress Relief" accounted for two of the ten Primetime Emmy Award nominations The Office received for the show's fifth season.[30]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Wilson, Rainn (December 13, 2012). "Remember all of these? #FinalSeason". Facebook.com. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Owen, Rob (January 30, 2009). "Tuned In: 'Office' promotion follows the Super Bowl". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Hinckley, David (January 30, 2009). "'Office' is back with touch of black humor". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Seidman, Robert (February 5, 2009). "Why did NBC air The Office after the Super Bowl instead of [insert show name here]?". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Pressman, Matt (January 29, 2009). "The Office: Not Intimidated by 30 Rock or the Super Bowl". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Keveney, Bill (January 29, 2009). "'Office' is open for business Sunday after Super Bowl". USA Today. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Sepinwall, Alan (February 1, 2009). "The Office, "Stress Relief": Boom, roasted!". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Ingebritson, Rick (February 1, 2009). "Office lives up to 'Super' time slot". The Palm Beach Post. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Leitch, Will (February 2, 2009). "The Office: Truly Special Super Bowl Episode". New York. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Flannery, Kate (2009). The Office: Season Five: "Moroccan Christmas" (Audio commentary)|format= requires |url= (help) (DVD). Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Jump up ^ Hernandez, Lee. ""Office" Talk with Oscar Nuñez". Latina. Retrieved February 23, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Valet, Jamie (January 29, 2009). ""The Office" Hopes To Score Big With Super Bowl Episode". WTLV. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Dos Santos, Kristin (January 27, 2009). "The Office: Does Angela Have Designs on Jim?". E! Online. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Carlson, Daniel (May 13, 2009). "Q&A: Greg Daniels: Showrunner paid his dues at other TV comedy hits before taking the corner 'Office'". The Hollywood Reporter.
Jump up ^ "Hour-long Office special follows Super Bowl". Canwest News Service. January 31, 2009. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Portker, Rick (December 15, 2008). "Super Bowl 'Office' Scores Jack Black". Zap2it. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Abbas, Shahzad (February 1, 2009). "The Office Episode Recap: "Stress Relief"". TV Guide. Archived from the original on March 10, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Perez, Lorenzo (February 2, 2009). "Late-night "Office" viewing". The News & Observer. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b c Pastorek, Whitney (February 2, 2009). "'The Office' Recap: On Fire?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
^ Jump up to: a b Gorman, Bill (February 2, 2009). "Updated: The Office Draws 22.905 Million Viewers Following the Super Bowl". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Seidman, Robert (February 3, 2009). "Super Bowl XLIII now most-watched EVER? Yes!". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Poniewozik, James (December 8, 2009). "1. The Office, "Stress Relief"". Time. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
Jump up ^ Tan, Jennie (May 19, 2009). "The Office Fan Ratings, Season 5". The Office Fan Ratings, Season 5. OfficeTally. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Wielgus, Jen (May 14, 2009). ""The Office": Top 10 moments from Season 5". phillyBurbs.com. Retrieved February 26, 2010. [permanent dead link]
Jump up ^ Krone, David (February 1, 2009). "A super-fun night at 'The Office'". Los Angeles Daily News. p. L1.
Jump up ^ Morrow, Terry (January 30, 2009). "'The Office' fumbles its postgame show". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Biacno, Robert (February 2, 2009). "Critic's Corner weekend". USA Today. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Emmy Awards: NBC Top-Nominated Broadcast Network". NBC. July 16, 2009. Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ "Mad Men wins best drama Emmy". Associated Press. September 20, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
Jump up ^ Tan, Jennie (July 16, 2009). "The Office 2009 Emmy post". OfficeTally. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Stress Relief
"Stress Relief" at NBC.com
"Stress Relief" on IMDb
"Stress Relief (1)" at TV.com
"Stress Relief (2)" at TV.com
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