New Forms of Entertainment

1. New Forms of Entertainment Chapter 9 section 2

2. Why? • There was more leisure time for people. • More money to spend on entertainment • More urban nation so looking for things to do

3. Vaudeville and Minstrel Shows • Most popular live entertainment= vaudeville: inexpensive variety show 1870s • Minstrel show- before vaudeville • White actors in “black face” (exaggerated makeup) • Racial stereotypes • Sometimes had actual black performers still in “black face”

4. Movies • 20th century • Competition for vaudeville • Great Train Robbery= 1903 • Nickelodeons- theaters set up in converted stores or warehouses. Charged a nickel admission. • Short films. • Technology allowed for longer movies • Silent films (Charlie Chaplin) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VvKIHsj9ZY • Movie palaces- full orchestra accompaniment

5. The Circus • Annual visits • Advance crews come, fliers • Circus train comes, big top is put up, parade, paid performance • Dream of running away to join the circus

7. Amusement Parks • The trolley technology was used to make amusement parks • Ferris wheel, roller coasters • Music, games of skill, vaudeville, beaches, and rides

9. Sports • Boxing, horse racing, BASEBALL, football, basketball • Entrepreneurs closed fields and charged admission • Leagues and championship games • 1869- Cincinnati Red Stockings • Players were paid 1870s • 1880s football formed from rugby • Basketball= American

10. Women Sports • Bicycling • Got rid of corsets and changed to shirtwaists • Basketball for women in college • “women’s rules” • Ice skating, tennis, gymnastics, swimming • Still had to dress appropriately

11. Newspapers • Read for entertainment now. • New machinery allowed for whole lines of text to be printed • Different sections (sports, comics, women’s pages, Sunday editions etc.) • Competition between newspapers = try to find interesting sometimes gross details about things to sell more papers • Yellow journalism-sensational news coverage to sell more papers

12. Magazines • 1879 Congress lowered postal rates • Helpful articles, fiction, advertising • Stories that appealed to American ideals • Rags to riches through hard work, cheerful attitude • Gave working class hope

13. Popular Fiction • Rags to riches • Adventures • “dime novels” • Educated readers read more serious things • Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • People got to explore other parts of the country through the books

14. The Negro Spiritual • A series of concerts in 1871 that introduced African American religious folk songs (spirituals) to white audiences. • Saved the Fisk University • Fisk Jubilee singers (former slaves or children of slaves) toured the US, England, and Europe • American art form, NOT seen as a purely African American one

15. Ragtime and Jazz • Ragtime originated among black musicians in the South and Midwest 1880s • Maple Leaf Rag- song that became popular and spread jazz all over the country http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57DCa6cboHA&feature=fvst • Jazz = New Orleans • “Jazzed up” versions of familiar melodies (hymns or blues songs) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMLOKhhRqNo

16. Music at Home • People could listen to music without making it themselves • Player piano- paper roll was “played” by wooden fingers to reproduce the music recorded on the roll. • Foot pedals required no skill from the player • Phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison 1877 • Played music and became very popular • Spread music and created hits and stars • Music business