Chapter 24, Section 3 “The Jazz Age” ENTERTAINMENT
Jump in Entertainment More leisure time for Americans as working hours shortened (8 hour days) and labor-saving appliances for homes became available 1929 Americans spent 4 billion on entertainment. 100% jump in ten years! How were they “entertaining” themselves?
Radio First commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920 which broadcast the presidential election result (Harding won) 1921 World Series broadcast nationwide By 1930 60% of families had a radio First shows included news, weather, sports, music, and political speeches Later broadcasts included dramas, soap operas, comedies, and children’s shows (just like the shows that eventually would be on TV)
Early Movies 1891 Thomas Edison files for a patent on his motion-picture projector In 1907 there were about 4,000 small “nickelodeon” cinemas with films accompanied by a pianist First blockbuster full-length movie was “Birth of a Nation” in 1915 (contained racism and depictions of the KKK after the Civil War)
Hollywood Became a boomtown in the 1910s and 1920s for the movie business The sleepy village outside of Los Angeles grew to be the largest film-producing location in the world Shops, restaurants, hotels, and neighborhoods grew to support the rich and famous residents and visitors to the town
Silent Movie Stars Comedy – Charlie Chaplin as “the Tramp” “America’s Sweetheart” – Mary Pickford “The King of Hollywood” – Douglas Fairbanks The three along with director D.W. Griffiths (“Birth of a Nation”) combined to create United Artists production company to make their own films
Movies in the 1920s Movies were silent until 1927 In “The Jazz Singer” in 1927 Al Jolson famously looks into the camera and thrills audiences by saying “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” 1910: 5,000 Theatres in US 1930: 22,500 Theaters in US 1929: 125 Million Americans, 80 million movie tickets sold a week!
Impact of Radio and Movies on 1920s Society They brought images and ideas to them that they would not get at home (could dream of doing different things with their lives) This created a national popular culture: They copied language from movies and radio (slang) They copied hairstyles and fashions from movies They became more informed in national and international news
Sports Baseball: George Herman “Babe” Ruth Considered the greatest player to ever play Records: 714 Career Homeruns 60 homeruns in a season 60th Homerun Celebrity Status
Sports: Boxing Jack Dempsey – World Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1926 “Manassa Mauler” 60-7-8. 50 KO’s Dempsey vs. Willard (the fight he first won the title in)
Sports: Football Jim Thorpe Native American (from Sauk and Fox tribes) Perhaps the greatest multi sport athlete ever Won gold medals in Olympics (decathlon and pentathlon) Played professional baseball & football as well Overview of his achievements
Charles Lindbergh As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh emerged from obscurity to virtually instantaneous world fame 6 well-known pilots failed to make the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Lindbergh did it in 1927 by flying from New York to Paris
Amelia Earhart In 1928 Earhart was the first woman fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937, she disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean