1. Chapter 15 Section 4 Notes New Deal Culture

2. Movies Cost about 25 cents
Despite hard times, worth it for most people
65% of public went at least once a week
The movie industry really took off
Color fairly common by the end of the decade
Served as an escape from reality
Love Stories
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Civil War (3.5 hrs long)
Science Fiction
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Fantasy, Dust Bowl, ½ color & ½ B&W
Animation
Snow White (1937)
1st full length cartoon movie
Comedies
Marx Brothers (funny glasses, nose, cigar)
Gangster Stories
The Public Enemy (1931) Prohibition Era Gangsters

3. Radio
# of radios sold doubled between 1930 and (prices came way down)
90% of households had at least one.
For News Purposes
Everyday type stuff
Breaking LIVE News
FDR’s fireside chats
For entertainment
Soap Operas (homemakers)
The Lone Ranger (kids)
Comedy routines
Many eventually became
TV shows in the 1950s

5. Famous Radio Broadcast
War of the Worlds
organized by Orson Welles
Martians invaded Earth
People were dying
broadcast like it was real
created major panic
Based on book (above)
Published in 1898
Inspired many comic
books
Movie made about it
(left) in 2005

7. Hindenburg Disaster
The Hindenburg caught fire and was utterly destroyed within a minute.
Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew-members were killed
This occurred in New Jersey on May 6, 1937 and was covered live.
First event like this covered as it was happening
Such immediate news coverage became a staple in society

8. Art More serious and somber topics Strength of character important
Federal Art Project (part of WPA)
Paid artists to make America look nice
Even created murals in buildings
Represented whatever was happening
in that area of the country at the time
Grant Wood’s American Gothic
Painting is above

9. Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry takes up an entire room (all 4 walls) at the DIA downtown

10. Theater Federal Theater Project (part of WPA)
Govt. paid actors to perform plays for almost free to the public
get their minds off the conditions
Govt. paid artists to design sets
Govt. paid musicians to accompany show

11. Music most discussed hardships people faced during the Depression,
but was uplifting at the same time
Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land

12. Literature Federal Writers Project (another WPA program)
Govt. paid writers to accurately describe the times
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
Follows people from the Dust Bowl to California. Conditions stayed bad
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town
Uplifting story about small town life