Ch A New Mass Culture

Why It Matters  Automobiles created new forms of recreation  Americans listened to the radio  Went to the movies  Followed sports heroes

Americans Enjoy More Leisure Time  Farms people worked from dawn to dusk  Farm families played games, read, and sang songs together  Occasional picnics and baseball games  Did not have the time or money for extensive leisure pursuits

More Leisure Time Continued  City Life:  70 hours of work in 1850  55 hours of work in 1910  45 hours of work in 1930  From 7 days a week to 5  Time, salaries, and wages on the rise

Americans Flock to the Movies  Technology for movies had been around  Popularity rose in the 1920s  1920s = million Americans to the movies each week  Mostly silent pictures = good for immigrants that did not speak English  Stars like Charlie Chaplin  1927, The Jazz Singer changed it all  Sound matching the action

The Radio and Phonograph Break Barriers  Radios became part of U.S. culture  People all over U.S. learned the same songs, dances, and shared popular culture  1927 boxing match between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey  Phonograph allowed owners to hear music as they wanted

An Age of Heroes  Before 1920s, sports heroes were only local heroes  Only the likes of boxer John L. Sullivan and Jim Thorpe were famous all over  1920s called the Golden Age of Sports

Sports Heroes Win Fans  Newspapers and Radios helped propel sports  Babe Ruth - baseball home-run king  Red Grange - football  Jack Dempsey - boxing  Bobby Jones - golf  Bill Tilden - tennis  Helen Wills - tennis  Gertrude Ederle - 1st woman to swim English Channel

Sports Continued  Sports writers helped propel the athlete  Damon Runyon and Grantland Rice captured the excitement of sports  Names like Babe Ruth - the Sultan of Swat  Notre Dame’s football backfield - the Four Horsemen  After WWI sports helped bring hope

Babe Ruth  Career BA.342  Tony Gwynn.338 BA  714 Home-runs  Mark Mcgwire 583 HR  2,873 Hits  Ken Griffey Jr. 2,759 hits  WL record as pitcher  Only pitched for a few years  2.28 ERA  Greg Maddux 3.16 ERA

Harold Edward “Red” Grange  Helped build pro football popularity  Named greatest college football player of all time in 2008  Attended the University of Illinois and played for the Chicago Bears  Called the Galloping Ghost

Grange at Illinois  20 games  3,362 rushing yards  Caught 14 passes for 253 yards  40 of 82 passing for 575 yards  Scored 31 TDs  Against Michigan in 1924  Runs of 95, 67, 56, and 44 yards  402 yards rushing, 64 passing, and 126 on kickoff returns  Involved on 6 touchdowns (5 rushing)  Set out a large portion of the game

Grange With Chicago  $100,000 for 19 games  Most players made $100/game  1925 versus the New York Giants  35 yrd interception return for TD  53 yards on 11 carries  23 yards receiving  2 for 3 passing for 32 yards  65,000 fans showed up to watch the game  Saved the Giants and legitimized pro football

Lucky Lindy Crosses the Atlantic  1927 Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic  Took off from Long Island, NY  Flew the Spirit of St. Louis  1st to cross solo and non-stop  33 hour flight  Landed in Paris