Popular Entertainment
Babe Ruth was one of the first celebrity athletes.
In the 1920’s people started to spend a lot more money on entertainment. They
would go to sporting events, such as baseball, football, tennis, and boxing. In 1920, the National Football League was formed. People were exploring new sports. Some started to watch college sports. People like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, and Jack Dempsey became famous. As professional sports became more popular, the athlete’s salaries increased and bigger and more stadiums were built. Radio stations began broadcasting college football and professional baseball games. Sports became a bigger industry and form of entertainment than ever before.
A women in the 1920’s listens to the radio.
A family gathers to listen to their programs.
The radio brought Americans together. Most People had a radio in their home. Advertising became widely known on the radio. Industries were becoming very successful from the use of advertisements. Every night families would gather at the radio to listen to the popular comedy programs, speeches, news, and sporting events. As the popularity of radios increased, more radio stations became available. Industries were adjusting to people’s wants. When the radio began to become less popular, stations began playing music to keep up with what people wanted to hear. The advanced technology of radios didn’t only bring joy to people, but caused multiple conflicts between traditions of Americans and habits of Americans. Because there were so many people who wanted, or had, radios, there was confusion and disruption among several radio stations. Stations began to overlap. Companies were fighting over stations which often caused listeners to hear overlapping stations on their radio. People began to request the government to regulate the use of radio stations. The government was hesitant at first but slowly and gradually passed laws to regulate it. The government became more and more involved with the radio and started investing more time in monitoring the stations. As time passed, the government become more comfortable with regulating the stations and it was soon normal for them.
A silent movie theatre in the 1920s
Movies became a daily part in American society during the 1920s. It’s one of the biggest form of entertainment, 75% of Americans attended a movie theater weekly. In the beginning film industries were mainly located in New York and later moved to Hollywood, ca where 700 movies were produced a year. Some celebrities who became famous were Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, and Charlie Chaplin, small studios were taken over and made a part of larger studios, creating the Studio System. Films during the Roaring Twenties were silent, but in 1927 sound was created. Theaters back then known as picture places could seat about 1-2,000 people at a time. Genres such as the swashbuckler, horror, and modern romantic comedy were most popular during the decade.
A flapper doing the Charleston
A whole different women was created in the 1920’s. Women began to take more risks. She would cut her hair, wear makeup, and go to parties. This kind of women was called a flapper. To many people, the Flappers were shocking to society. People thought that it was an inappropriate image of a women. Flappers would go to illegal during prohibition and they would drink. They were daring women who didn’t care what people thought. The Charleston became widely known in 1923. Some people thought that the moves were inappropriate while others, like flappers, would do the dance. The dance was traced back to African Americans who lived on an island off of the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, which explains why the dance is called the Charleston. The dance was done to a song called “The Charleston” written by James P. Johnson. There are several different ways to do the dance. You can do it by yourself, with a partner, with a group, as a tap dance, and many more. The Charleston was a huge dance craze.
Poster of famous trumpet player Louis Armstrong
Jazz was very big in the 1920s. Some the biggest jazz musicians were Joe “king” Oliver, Louis Armstrong Edward “kid” Ory, and Bix Beiderbecke. All of these artists has their own style. That’s what was different compared to our music now, everyone’s was different. Many artists sound so similar in our generation. Jazz diversified people. Jazz became a culture, it influenced so many things people did. How people dressed and rebellion of women. Throughout the 1920s, jazz music evolved into a significant part of American popular culture. The jazz sound that had originated in New Orleans diversified, and thus appealed to people from every echelon of society. The effect of jazz music upon society can be depicted through different aspects of popular culture. Jazz music had a profound effect on the literary world, which can be illustrated through the genesis of the genre of jazz poetry. Fashion in the 1920s was another way in which jazz music influenced popular culture.
The famous book “The Great Gatsby” Even though people were developing new forms of entertainment, reading was still very popular. While some people were out in the partying and going to nightclubs, some people liked to just sit back, relax and read a book. Some people just couldn't afford to go out at night, so they needed different ways to entertain themselves. The most popular genres at the time were romance, comedy, and tragedy. Most of the authors wrote their stories about their own personal lives. Different authors wrote about very different things. F. Scott-Fitzgerald wrote the famous book “the Great Gatsby”. A story about the fun and excitement of the Jazz age. While “the Great Gatsby” is a bright story “the Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway is about the effects of World War One on society. During the Harlem Renaissance many African American literature became more famous. In 1922 “Book of American Negro Poetry” was edited and published by James Weldon Johnson. It included many authors’ poems such as Claude McCay and Langston Hughes.
A Broadway musical in the 1920’s.
During the 1920’s, Broadway was at its highest peak. After the war, Times Square in New York became crowded with people. There were more than 70 Broadway theaters that became widely known and popular. The theaters were filled with new ideas that interested the people, which is how they became popular.in 1927, there were over 250 shows on Broadway, and over 50 of those shows were musicals. Over 20 million people attended these shows each year, which is twice the amount of people attending shows now. This is very impressive considering that many more people live in New York now than then. A large amount of shows in the 1920’s were based off of “Cinderella”. They weren’t fully developed musicals, but they had the same plot line. A poor women wou8ld meet the man of her dreams at night, then they would fall in love and get married and live happily ever after the next day. The musicals were the most popular shows, but these Cinderella like plays were a close second. Everyone loved the idea of Broadway.
2 men play tennis on top of a plane
Barnstorming was another popular type of entertainment in the 1920s, solo pilots would do stunts with their airplanes and in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight. Barnstormer originally means pilots who flew throughout the country selling airplane rides, usually at a farmer's field for a day or two before moving on. Just after World War I, barnstorming became a way of life for many ex-military pilots who wanted to stay in aviation and be employed. Just after the war many pilots bought used military aircraft at very cheap prices. At that time many pilots began performing stunts and participated in aircraft races. The word barnstorming came from the fact that many air shows took place on farms and the audience would gather near the barns to watch the show.
Popular children’s toy of the 1920s
The 1920’s saw a movement away from war toys which had been popular up until that time. A major change in the toy industry came about with the introduction of modern mass production methods. For the first time the industry was able to produce toys cheaply and sell to a mass market. In the 1920's the teddy bears popularity took off when companies like the Knickerbocker Toy Company mass produced them and still makes them today. The 20th century saw the introduction of the Teddy Bear, the Raggedy Ann Doll, and Crayola Crayons, merely advancements of existing popular toys, dolls and drawing materials. Parents who had grown up in the waning years of the 19th century still handed down handmade dolls and wood toys to their children, so companies merely thought of exciting new ways to present them.
Works Cited "1920s Radio Broadcasts." Class--Projects -. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. "Broadway in the 1920's." Broadway in the 1920's. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. "Charleston (dance)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "Jazz Age." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. "The Academy Awards: Best Picture Winners During the 1920s." Makin It. N.p., 02 May 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. "THEA 335 – Musical Theatre Performance, Spring '13." THEA 335 Musical Theatre Performance Spring 13 RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "Untitled." Untitled. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Charleston Dance Becomes Popular in 1923." N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Flappers in the Roaring Twenties." N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "1920's Entertainment." 1920's Entertainment. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. "Barnstorming." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015. "The 1920's." History of Movie Making. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015. "1920s in Film." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015. "Entertainment of the 1920's - United States Takes on the World." Entertainment of the 1920's United States Takes on the World. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2015. "1920s Toys." 1920's Toys. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2015. "1,500 Vintage Toys From The 1920s to the 1990s." Examples of 1,500 Vintage Toys from the 20s to the 90s including Prices, Descriptions and Photos. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2015. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015.
Group: Jason Duong, Becca Mcauliffe, Kyle Kramer, Aubrey Beugin