1. Mrs. Stoffl

2.  Escape during the hard times  Cheap enough to be worth it  Radios were a source of distraction

3.  Radio broadcasting giants of the 1930s:  NBC, CBS  Film:  MGM, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount  Americans attended movies at least once/week  Magazines followed film stars’ lives

4.  Escapism: why Americans went to the movies  Relief from their concerns, laughter, cry, the triumph of good over evil  The Wizard of Oz – dreams can come true  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Frankenstein, Gone with the Wind  Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxPgplMujzQ

5.  Early 1930s: films illustrated the public’s distrust in the police, big business, + the gov’t  Public Enemy starring James Cagney Ppl would turn to crime to make it thru the Depression  BUT: 2 nd half of the 1930s Cagney portrayed an FBI agent catching bad guys in G-Men  http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/31961/G- Men-1949-Re-release-Trailer-.html http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/31961/G- Men-1949-Re-release-Trailer-.html

6.  Director Frank Capra often depicted the average American  Struggling w/ the Depression but shows great strength  Idealism and the overcoming of adversity

7.  Comedians: Bob Hope and Jack Benny  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzt0EgTQdog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzt0EgTQdog  Dramatic shows: The Lone Ranger  Ran for 20 years  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH_pyY2EOzA (1937) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH_pyY2EOzA  Detective shows like The Shadow  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDTquiIB3vU (1939) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDTquiIB3vU  FDR’s fireside chats  War of the Worlds  Reality or entertainment?!?!  Are Martians really coming?! Many Americans thought so = panic!

8.  Another diversion to the times  Latin Music, Okies’ music, African Americans’ struggle  Swing music very popular (Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby, etc)  Make Believe Ballroom: introduced DJs  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67UhyDqvJss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67UhyDqvJss

9.  Federal Art Project (part of the WPA)  Resettlement + Farm Security Administration (FSA): document plight of American farmers  Through photography “show the city people what it’s like to live on the farm”  Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange most famous photographers: Was it a hotbed for communists?

10.  John Steinbeck  Lillian Hellman – featured strong roles for women

11.  Comic strips!  Superman – comic, radio + TV  Flash Gordon  Dick Tracy