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Theatrical Examples
Mose the Bowery B’Hoy was a theatrical representation of the Bowery Boys. A unique compound of East Side dweller, gutter bum, and volunteer fire laddie, Mose was romanticized as a city-bred Paul Bunyan with amazing strength, boots soled with copper studs, a butcher’s cleaver, and a keg of beer swinging from his belt. Recognized as a buffoon, champion, and guardian angel of the Bowery, he first appeared in A Glance at New York, and showed up in sequels such as, Mose in a Muss, and Mose in California. Other theatrical forms borrowed Mose’s character, and he showed up in everything from the ballet to the circus. Humorous booklets carried illustrated sets of Mose adventures; garish posters, lithographs, and drawings depicted him in comic scenes and heroic poses; his catch phrases and songs were quotes in the papers and on the streets. In the 1850s, Frank Chanfrau, an American theater actor and manager who established his fame while playing Mose the Fireboy, visited every major theatrical city from the East to West coast, playing Mose. Quote: "From that moment the b'hoy magnetized the popular fancy, and in the next ten years a score of interlocking sketches had grown around him, compressed, rowdy and hectic, riotous, comically slanted and close to the people .”

B'Hoys
The B’Hoys or Bowery B’Hoys were the male counterpart of a class unto themselves. They were a group of working class, politically active, and culturally engaged individuals. While they were laborers, not all were poor, and many were skilled artisans or volunteer firemen. Notorious for inciting the Astor Place Riot, this spirited part of the population were vehement rebels and

G'Hals
While the Bowery Boys’ history is built largely on myth and legend, the b’hoys and g’hals were a very real part of Bowery culture in the 1800s. The G’hals were part of the leisurely world of urban working class women in the mid-19th century who circulated in and around the city's underworld. The G’hals were a step below the middle class women, working at various pre-industrials jobs for low wages. Their homes were shanties, or poor living conditions with little to no city services The most renowned Anglo-American G’hal was Liz(zie), the fictional companion of Mose the Bowery B’hoy. According to George Foster, Liz was a representation of the American feminine archetype, who along with Mose, represented “the most original and interesting phase of human nature yet developed by American society and civilization”. One story portrays Liz and other G’hals as innocent single women who, in anticipation of their B’hoy’s evening visit, would adorn themselves with “a light pink contrasting with a deep blue, a bright yellow with a brighter red, and a green with a dashing purple or maroon” knowing that Mose and other B’hoys swore that such colorful and attractive attire was “gallus!”.

Culture
With this lower class status came an embracing of a counterculture, which was dominated by a leisurely life, filled with nightly activities ranging from dance halls, concert saloons, and lower class theaters. The g’hals and their male counterparts, B’hoys, engaged in excessive drinking, dancing, and what was then considered “hedonistic” activity, including casual sexuality. The b’hoys and g’hals were infamous for performing sexuality in both public and private spaces. This countercultural lifestyle directly conflicted with Victorian values concerning proper feminine conduct, making the G'hals the classic countercultural women of the mid-19th century.