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The 1920s. “The 20s had not one, but countless faces, some of them ugly and hateful” Bill Moyers. Popular Image Other Side Roaring 20s Conflict Jazz Age Controversy Prosperity Contrast Conformity Reaction
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“The 20s had not one, but countless faces, some of them ugly and hateful” Bill Moyers Popular ImageOther Side Roaring 20s Conflict Jazz Age Controversy Prosperity Contrast Conformity Reaction There was the popular / romantic side but also another less glamorous side
“Roaring 20s” • 1. Movies • 2. Mass Media / Communication • 3. Music • 4. Fashion / Flappers • 5. Sports • 6. Harlem Renaissance • 7. Automobiles • 8. Consumerism / Advertising / Credit
Lesser Known Side • 1. Cultural Conflict • 2. Racial Conflict • 3. Religious Conflict • 4. Gangsterism • 5. Economic Conflict (labor, farmer) • 6. Women’s Rights • 7. Political Conflict
1. Movies • Black and white and silent at first • Sound added in 1927: Al Jolson’s the Jazz Singer, the first talking movie; advent of sound brought a whole new dimension….no color in the 20s • Inexpensive escapism, entertainment: Nickelodeons
Huge interest in lives of movie stars – became national celebrities / sex symbols, role models • Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo (Swedish), Lillian Gish…people copied their dress, habits….etc • Attendance increased from 40m to 80m annually from 1922-1929
Contributed to development of a national culture, standardization of values, customs etc.. the entire nation seeing the same movies, same influences, values, fashion… • “The form of media most credited with changing how Americans saw themselves” (Moyers) • Also served as a source of Advertising .contributed to Consumer Spending (advertising indirectly in the movie, and directly before, and during intermission) • Newsreels provided information on world and national events; motion pictures revolutionized news coverage
Advent of the Movies: Charlie Chaplin in one of his greatest feature-length comedies,”The Kid”
Valentino in Son of the Sheik Rudolph Valentino, the leading male movie star of the 1920s, starred in such costume epics as The Sheik and Son of the Sheik. This poster advertises Son of the Sheik, which appeared after Valentino's death in 1926, at the age of 31, from complications following the removal of his appendix.
2. Mass Media / Communication Newspapers • National chains of syndicated newspapers, replaced local, regional newspapers: same news / views presented nationwide: standardized national culture • Increase in number of newspapers, (esp. tabloids); circulation increased by 42% from 1920-1929
More magazines: Time, Readers Digest • Newspapers contributed to and benefited from increase in Literacy • Another source of Advertising……. Led to increase in consumer spending
Radio • First commercial Radio Station: KDKA in Pittsburg: Jan. 1920 • NBC: first national radio network: 1927 • By 1929, 12m families owned radios • Provided news, and entertainment (music, soap operas…) • Like movies, newspapers, radio contributed to standardization of culture / development of national culture
Also another source of Advertising…. Led to increased consumer spending
3. Music • Two new kinds of music: upbeat, frenetic, Jazz: and soulful, sad Blues • Both with roots in African American culture in the South • Blues emerged from AA work songs and chants of slaves: spread from South to North: popularized by Bessie Smith (Empress of the Blues) and Ma Rainey in clubs of Northern cities…and on the Radio
Jazz began in New Orleans: also brought North by AA migrants • Joseph “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington: among the most famous Jazz Musicians of the 20s • Also popularized in the clubs (Cotton Club in Harlem, one of the most famous) and on the Radio: associated with “speakeasies” during prohibition • Energetic, upbeat, Charleston Dance was associated with Jazz:
Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong, born in 1900, first began to play the trumpet in New Orleans but emerged as a leading innovator in jazz after 1924, when he joined Fletcher Henderson's orchestra in New York. Some of his recordings from the 1920s are among the most original and imaginative contributions to jazz.
4. Fashion, Dress • Post-Victorian fashionable young ladies were called “Flappers” (slides) • Rebelled against culture, fashion, appearance of their parents / older generation: against Victorian culture • Short bobbed hair, clothing had “lower neckline and raised hemline,” exposed their knees, smoked and drank in public, used makeup, birth control (Margaret Sanger), danced the Charleston, drove cars, partook in fads (marathon dancing etc…)
Margaret Sanger leaving court of Special Sessions after arraignment Margaret Sanger is seen here in 1916, leaving court after being charged with distributing birth control information illegally. During the Progressive Era, women worked to remove legal barriers to obtaining information on preventing conception.
5. Sports • Huge increase in Professional and Recreational / Amateur sports; and in interest, attendance, fans • Tennis, golf, swimming, baseball, football, boxing, horse racing • Babe Ruth, best know baseball player – home-run legend • Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney fought twice for the world heavyweight boxing championship (Tunney won both, the second one famous for the “long count” – 15 seconds)
105,000 people paid $2.6m (record box-office receipt at this time) to watch their re-match in Soldier Field, Chicago in 1926: 50m also listened on the Radio • Red Grange: most famous football player: the “Galloping Ghost”; another famous footballer was Newt Rockney • Gertrude Ederle: famous swimmer: first woman to swim the English Channel, breaking the men’s record • Helen Wills; tennis: Bobby Jones, Golf • Charles Lindbergh (“Lucky Lindy”) first solo flight across the Atlantic, West to East, NY to Paris, 1927: Spirit of St. Louis – a triumph of spirit / old value of rugged individualism and modern science and technology
Amelia Earhart: first woman to fly solo across Atlantic: disappeared in 1937 • Popularized by media reports, by advertising
Sports Mania: NY Yankee star Babe Ruth hits first home run of the 1924 season
Gertrude Ederle stopping for nourishment on English Channel swim
Lindbergh In a celebrity-obsessed decade, Lindbergh rocketed to instant fame after his 1927 solo transatlantic flight.
6. Harlem Renaissance • Literary and artistic (writing, music, art) movement encouraged among AA’s in Northern cities: started in Harlem’s cafes, restaurants, clubs • Inspired by urgings of Alaine Locke, an African American professor of literature at Howard University • Inspired by speeches and writings of WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey (slide) • Leading poets, writers of the Harlem Renaissance were Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston
Marcus Garvey presiding over meeting of his back-to-Africa followers
Drew inspiration from their roots and heritage: Langston Hughes expressed the spirit of the HR when he declared – “I am a Negro, and beautiful.” • Marcus Garvey formed the Negro Improvement Association, centered in Harlem – focus on Pride, Economic Independence – and the African Orthodox Church (with a black Christ and Mary) – and later the Back to Africa Movement…(Black Star line of ships…..sank_
Survey Graphic cover, March, 1925 This was the cover of a special issue of Survey Graphic published in March of 1925. A popular magazine of the period, Survey Graphic devoted the entire issue to Harlem and the emergence of a new consciousness among its African-American residents.
7. Automobiles • More than anything, the automobile defined the culture of America in the 20s • Production perfected by Ford: Perfected Assembly line (1910) using ideas of Taylor (scientific management) and Whitney (interchangeable parts) • Reduced assembly time from 14 hours to 93 minutes: turned out 1 car every 10 seconds • Reduced cost of Model T (all black) from $600 (1912) to $260 (1927)
By 1930 there were 30m cars in the US (a quarter of all the world’s cars) • Huge impact on culture: suburban living, vacations to far off places, shopping at malls • Also contributed to standardization of culture / national culture (like movies, media, radio..) through shared experiences from travel
Ford ad Henry Ford constantly worked to reduce car prices on his cars. He also promoted installment buying, promising in this ad that "with even the most modest income, [every family] can now afford a car of their own." This ad also encouraged impulse buying: "You live but once and the years roll by quickly. Why wait for tomorrow for things that you rightfully should enjoy today?"
Ford Highland Park assembly line, 1928 Pictured here is the assembly line for Model-A Fords, at Ford's main assembly plant in 1928. Assembly line workers quickly perform the same task on car after car as the chassis moves past them at the rate of six feet per minute. Ford pioneered the assembly line as a way to reduce both cost and dependence on skilled workers. He paid the highest wages in Detroit but required complete obedience from his workers, even to the point of prohibiting whistling while at work.
July 4 at Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, early 1920s Hundreds of identical Fords jam Nantasket Beach near Boston on a Fourth of July in the early 1920s.
8. Consumerism • Huge consumer spending in the 20s • Encouraged by extensive advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio, movies, billboards • Facilitated by easy Credit and Installment Plans • 75% of cars, 85% of furniture, 70% of washing machines were bought on credit
In the 20s people watched sports, listened to the radio, went to the movies, drove cars, went shopping….. because middle and working class people had: • more free time due to the reduction of the work day and work week • more free time due to new domestic labor saving devices such as the vacuum cleaner, dish washer, electric irons, electric toaster. • more money due to salary increases and wartime savings (as well as easy access to credit)
- “Psychology of liberation” – survived WWI, so now should enjoy life to the fullest
