1. Culture in the 1930s 23.4

2. MAIN IDEA Motion pictures, radio, art and literature blossomed during the New Deal. WHY IT MATTERS NOW The films, music, art, and literature of the 1930s still captivate today’s public

3. NAMES AND TERMS Gone With the Wind Orson Welles Grant Wood Richard Wright The Grapes of Wrath

4. The Lure of Motion Pictures & Radio MOVIES: –Cost: $.25 –65% of Americans went to movies once a week –15,000 movie theater – more than the # of banks, twice the number of hotels RADIO: –Sold: 13 million in 1930, 28 million in 1940 –½ of all American households owned a radio

5. Hollywood takes center stage Film stars: –Clark Gable –Marlene Dietrich –Jimmy Cagney

6. Movies of the ’30s

13. Gangster Films

15. RADIO Drama and variety –War of the Worlds Orson Welles later directed movie classics: “Citizen Kane” & “Touch of Evil”

18. Art, music, literature –Sober and serious –But conveyed an uplifting message about strength of character and democratic values Many artists supported the New Deal’s spirit of social and political change Many of them also received financial support from the New Deal (Harry Hopkins and the WPA) –“They’ve got to eat just like other people.”

19. Paid artists a living wage Aimed to increase public appreciation of art & promote positive images of America Artists: – created posters –taught art in schools –created murals These murals were inspired by Diego Rivera Focused on dignity of ordinary Americans at work

20. Grant Wood’s American Gothic

22. Thomas Hart Benton

23. Photographer Dorothea Lange

24. Dramatizing Labor struggles of the 1930s

25. Music to capture the hardships of Depression America African American singer Leadbelly described the experience of African American life –“Cotton Fields” –“The Midnight Special”

26. AMERICA SWINGS Big Band Era Your Hit Parade and Make Believe Ballroom brought latest tunes to public Bing Crosby popular singer of day

27. Supported by Federal Writers’ Project Future Pulitzer Prize winner – Saul Bellow – first job Richard Wright – African-American writer, Native Son (1940) Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) John Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath (1939)

28. James T. Farrell: Studs Lonigan trilogy (’32-’35) –Bleak picture of working class life in Irish neighborhood of Chicago Jack Conroy: The Disinherited (1933) –Violence & poverty in Missouri coal fields James Agee & photographer Walker Evans teamed up for Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) –Deals w/ difficult life of poor farmers – dignity & strength of character Thornton Wilder – Our Town (a play written in ’38) beauty of small town New England life

29. To sum up... Though artists and writers recognized America’s flaws, they contributed positively to New Deal legacy Intellectuals praised the virtues of American life They took pride in the country’s traditions and accomplishments.