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1950s Drama

1950s Drama. The “Golden Age of Television”. T.V. is a reflection of culture or social reality a ‘social ritual’ in which we all share Produced for mass audience = ‘popular culture’ Capable of satisfying the cultural needs of a diverse group of viewers

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1950s Drama

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  1. 1950s Drama The “Golden Age of Television”

  2. T.V. is a reflection of culture or social reality • a ‘social ritual’ in which we all share • Produced for mass audience = ‘popular culture’ • Capable of satisfying the cultural needs of a diverse group of viewers • An ‘agent’ of socialisation - we construct our identities based on different representations and role models Why Should We Study TV?

  3. In the US the average television set is switched on for between five and six hours a day, and the average American adult watches for approximately three hours. Recent research has shown that the average child born in the mid‑1990s, when 18 years of age, will have spent more time watching television than any other activity except sleep.” • In what ways does TV affect your life? How often do you watch? • Write down your ten favourite programs from childhood. Compare your list with a partner. Let’s Discuss

  4. TV AS POPULAR CULTURE • A new era of mass media led by television emerged in the 1950s • In 1948, only 9% of homes had T.V • In 1950, 55% of homes had T.V. • By 1960, 90% of American homes had T.V.

  5. 1950 Cost: B & W = $130 - $300 Color = $500 - $1300 (on an avg. salary of $3000/yr/household) Todays Cost: Standard Def = >$100 HD = $300 - $3000 (avg. salary of $54,000/yr/houshold) HD?

  6. 1928 • Television is introduced in the United States • CBS was founded by William S. Paley • Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial 1934 • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established by the Communications Act of 1934 1936 • The first experimental" coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between New York and Philadelphia 1946 • Peter Goldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated his mechanical color television system to the FCC - the first to introduce a broadcasting color television system 1948: • Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania • Louis W. Parker patents a low-cost television receiver 1950 • The FCC approves the first color television standard which is soon replaced by a second in 1953 1951 • Color television introduced in the U.S. 1962 • AT&T launches Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts and television broadcasts are relayed around the World.

  7. THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION • The 1950s was known as the “Golden Age of Television” • Comedies were the main attraction as Milton Berle, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were very popular Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball starred in I Love Lucy

  8. The show was praised as “a complete synthesis” of TV comedy because it had • first sitcom to be filmed in front of a live audience. • Lucille Ball • comedic talent & ambitious in this time when domesticity was being held up as the be-all and end-all. • a forerunner to the feminist movement of the next decade when millions of women were too bright and too ambitious to want to “stay in the kitchen.” I LOVE LUCY (1951-1957)

  9. I Love Lucy

  10. I Love Lucy

  11. Amos n’ Andy

  12. Milton Berle

  13. TELEVISION EXPERIMENTS WITH VARIOUS FORMATS • Television innovations like on-the-scene-news reporting, interviews, westerns and sporting events offered the viewer a variety of shows • Kids’ shows like The Howdy Doody Show and The Mickey Mouse Club were extremely popular

  14. New Entertainment Formats

  15. Mickey Mouse Club

  16. Ed Sullivan • Price Is Right New Entertainment Formats

  17. When television first arrived, people had dire predictions: • NO ONE WOULD READ BOOKS. • NEWSPAPERS WOULD DIE. • RADIO WOULD DISAPPEAR. • AND SO WOULD MOVIE THEATERS. • BUT, WHAT HAPPENED? THE ARRIVAL OF TV?

  18. TV ADS, TV GUIDES AND TV DINNERS EXPAND • TV advertising soared from $170 million in 1950 to nearly $2 billion in 1960 • TV Guide magazine quickly became the best selling magazine • Frozen TV dinners were introduced in 1954 – these complete ready-to-heat meals on disposable aluminum trays made it easy for people to eat without missing their favorite shows

  19. Alfred Hitchcock

  20. American writer who worked as playwright in American theater. • Wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs. • Williams adapted much of his best known work for the cinema. Tennessee Williams

  21. Popular Films and Film Stars of 1950s Vertigo Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

  22. A SUBCULTURE EMERGES • Although mass media and television were wildly popular in the 1950s, dissenting voices emerged • The “Beat Movement” in literature and rock n’ roll clashed with tidy suburban views of life

  23. BEATNIKS FOLLOW OWN PATH • Centered in San Francisco, L.A. and New York’s Greenwich Village, the Beat Movement expressed social nonconformity • Followers, called “beatniks”, tended to shun work and sought understanding through Zen Buddhism, music, and sometimes drugs Beatniks often performed poetry or music in coffeehouses or bars

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