The in 1920’s, America was the place to be for the best music and entertainment all around the world. The evolution of entertainment in the United States is thought to of been brought about because of the end of World War I and the Prohibition era. The climax of the Roaring 20’s exponentially changed entertainment in many ways like in literature, movies, dance, jazz, and radio which dramatically effected society, politics, and most importantly the economy of the United States. Literature evolved from the old and dull Victorian style to the more flushed and exciting Modernist style. Legends like F. Scott Fitzgerald had amazing success with books showing extravagant sceneries making the reader what to live like what was mentally depicted in his …show more content…
books. African Americans also had an opportunity to shine, like W.E.B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes. Although literature had a huge impact on entertainment in the United Stated, movies collaborated massively too. Hollywood at this time began growing into the Hollywood known today.
Longer films became more popular and sound became more common. Larger companies began taking over smaller studios and creating studio systems, Paramount being the highest paid. Movies became America’s most favorite pastime activities, and theaters could now hold up to 2,000 people at once. Dances, clothing, and many other things where taken from movies by the youth to try and make their lives seem more like their favorite movies. Movies also brought rich and poor Americans together because they all watched the same movies and had the same dreams of becoming a movie star. The increasing of ticket sales and the cost of the production of movies helped the economy expand. Also, the cost of people wanting to try to be like movie stars help too. Along with literature and movies, dance began an up rise in popularity in the …show more content…
1920’s. Older dances like the Waltz and Foxtrot remained popular during this time. Older dance would receive variations keeping them “alive” and dance instructor would publish “How to” books on all the popular dances that came out on the movies. Dance marathons, which were nonstop dancing for long period of time, became prominent in clubs. While the youth of the 1920’s enjoyed these dances, they were looked down upon by the older, more conservative generations because they viewed the dance as degrading to their old traditions. For example, any dance involved physical contact between partners was dishonorable. Children in school were being taught how to dance and even churches used dance to attract the youth. The economy also benefited from dance in many ways. Since most popular dance came from movies, the rise in ticket sales was seen. More people also went to club to show off the dance moves they had learned and created. Not only was literature, movies, and dance a huge part of entertainment, but so was jazz. Before the 20’s, jazz was thought to corrupt the old customs of America and some even going to the extent of calling it “The Devil’s Music”.
Critics despised it, but it didn’t stop its popularity. The Prohibition era and the revolution of the radio helped spread the joyous sound of jazz which originated in New Orleans. Artists like Joe “King” Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington were national icons during the Jazz Age. Jazz had much effect on society, one being the outbreak of new dances and new styles of clothes. It separated the traditional thinkers from the “New Age” thinkers and united various cultures and nationalities. Politics was impacted by jazz too. Communities all around America passed laws that banned jazz from being played. Expert jazz musicians have been honored in Washington D.C. Jazz was also named a national treasure by Congress. The economy wasn’t left behind either. African Americans were able to financially grow out of the lower class with the composition of jazz, although they were ripped off most of the time. The introduction of the radio to the public had the biggest toll on the evolution of entertainment in the
1920’s. With the booming economy after World War I, the sales of radios multiplied from just 60 million being sold in the early 20’s to 840 million in the late 20’s. One of the biggest impacts radio had on entertainment was sports, like baseball and boxing, could now be narrated live through radio. Its social changes like the spread and fusion of new ideas, opinions, and even culture. It also unified people by making connections to people’s everyday life. Politics also took advantage of the radio too. Presidential election outcomes could now be easily be broadcasted all over the United States, the first ever being the President Warren G. Harding election win over James Cox. This Pittsburgh radio station that broadcasted the election was granted the call letters “KDKA” by the federal government. It became so popular that competition over the call letters had to be suppressed by the creation of the Federal Radio Commission. The economy also saw a way to expand. With the radio bringing in millions of listener, the selling of air time to companies for advertisement brought their brand names sales booming. In conclusion the evolution of entertainment during the Roaring 20’s was shown in many aspects including literature, movies, dance, music, and radio and the effects of each on society, politics, and most importantly the economy.
The question still remains, did the 1920’s roar? Was it really the decade of the century? The only answer to this is simply yes, the twenties were one of the greatest decades of all time. A lot of people in nowadays take our rights and freedoms for granted. What they do not realize is that we owe a lot of our happiness today to the dramatic changes of the 1920’s. The roar in entertainment, the improvements in technology, and the rights that women have today, are all because the events in 1920’s. however
Entertainment in the 1920s began changing after World War I. Because people had more money and were more prosperous, they were able to go to theatres, clubs, and sporting events. Although the greatest form of entertainment had been motorcars, it was a form of freedom that people had never experienced. Sports began to become more popular. “Baseball became popular with the great mass of people for the first time”(Fischer). Because of another form of entertainment gaining popularity, the radio made it easier for fans to keep up
The 1920s became known as an era memorable for being a time when new products, new ways of marketing and advertising, and standardization gave the country new ways to interact, enjoy themselves, and introduce them to new products. Although very common today, standardization of mass culture like magazines, radio, movies, music, and sports were exciting new innovations to the people of this time. Not only did they distract from the monotony and stresses of work but they created celebrities that people aspired to be like.
During this decade, the film industry went through massive changes that would completely change what movies were or stood for. After the Great War, more people began considering movies as a form of entertainment. This increased attention caused change in the industry, allowing the experience of the movie goer to massively change for the better. Many new genres, ideas and technologies emerged in the 1920s that would later dominate the industry. The 1920s saw massive changes happening in the movie industry that would help it to get one step closer to what it is today.
Did you know that the 1920s has many different names for it such as the Ballyhoo Years, the Roaring Twenties, and the Jazz Age? In the twenties people were listening to the swinging music known as jazz that made the 1920s appear to have a happy, wonderful aura, but not everything was what it seemed to be. Around this time new things were occurring and changes were being made for the better of Americans, but a few of these new occurrences had their downfalls which led to a depressing period as time went on. In spite of this, in the twenties there was jazz music that made the decade brighter during the harder times, for example; Prohibition, the stock market crash, and the beginning the Great Depression.
Jazz was a unique form of music, there had never been anything like it before. It was rebellious, rhythmic, and it broke the rules- musical and social. It started a musical revolution, “With its offbeat rhythms and strange melodies, jazz was blamed for everything from drunkenness and deafness to in increase in unwed mothers.” Jazz was seen as immoral and worried the older generation that their kids would lose interest in classical music. It was also seen as against society because it came about from the African- American culture, but despite all of that, jazz led to a new era of music that still prevails today.
Imagine you are walking the streets of New Orleans. You are standing right where jazz was established in the United States of America. Jazz wasn’t just about music, it also affected the culture involving social, economic, artistic and jazz leaders.
The 1920’s and The Jazz Singer Roaring Twenties refers to the decade of 1920 when society flourished culturally and economically. This was when new technologies such as the automobile and telephone were being introduced and when artistically, it was booming. Hollywood was growing at a rapid pace because the newly established art form of entertaining, the movie, was a huge success. Movies are a respectable mode of entertainment and are relatively cheap. In 1927, Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer emerged as a trend setter and the new model for movies forever changed.
Jazz, a new form of American music, became widely popular. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong became widely known across the country. Television was introduced in the twenties; adding some graphics in American’s life. Films were created and became popular which was competing with the actings in theater and in entertainment. The Harlem Renaissance exploded in the 1920s, which introduced African American culture to the society. The 1920s formed many entertainments that we can still enjoy today.
The 1920’s was a decade that changes American life. Frederick Lewis Allen describes the twenties as a “revolution in manners and morals.” The twenties has been named all types of nicknames, such as: “The Roaring Twenties”, “The Era of Wonderful Nonsense”, “The Decade of the Dollar”, “The Period of the Psyche”, “ Dry Decade” and the age of “Alcohol and Al Capone” (Gales Research, 1998). During the twenties, the way Americans lived had changed. The 1920’s was a time in history that has been remembered for its great prosperity but also for its great loss. The Great Depression is what ended the Roaring Twenties.
The Roaring Twenties, also known as The Jazz Age, was a busy and interesting time in history. Movies set new standards in society, changing pop culture for both the best and the worst. The best aspect of how pop culture was changed by society was the change in how people acted and dressed. One negative aspect of how film affected the society of the 1920s was the increase in membership of the Ku Klux Klan, and some growth in gangs and violence. Children and women developed new freedoms and ways of thinking like the characters in the movies they watched. Women became liberated and realized that there was more to them than cooking and cleaning. Going to the movies was a new incentive for children and teenagers to do their chores. All in all, movies changed pop culture in the 1920s and it will never be the same.
In fact, 1946 is one of Hollywood’s most successful years. This was due to the massive influx of people returning from World War II, that had ended in 1945. There was a shift from manufacturing items needed for the war towards common household items. During this time period, the Great Depression and wartime air were slowly fading out (Quart and Auster 17). “The film industry changed radically after World War II, and this change altered the style and content of the films made in Hollywood” (“Post-War Hollywood”). Filmmakers started entertaining the technique of using more color and sound in their films to attract more people. At the time, American films embodied the themes of victory and national triumph. Within a time span of two years, 1942-1944, Hollywood produced 440 films in total (Quart and Auster 17). Although there was a positive boom of Hollywood and films, there would be a time of decline that followed
The 1920s were considered the decade of extraordinary social and political change. People who had once taken residence in the country and lived as farmers migrated to the cities for job opportunities and many more things. While the decade symbolized an era of affluence, leisure, and inventions in the medical and technological fields, no one can or should deny that the 1920s hosted a dark side which is a stain on the great 1920s image. The 1920s was trapped in a wave of racial violence, and injustice. But despite that detail, the 1920s was an overall positive era that improved the lives of many throughout this country and the world. Inventions, resurgence of black pride, and the creation of new forms of entertainment, such as movies and music
Although jazz isn’t as popular as it once was, there are still people who enjoy listening to jazz and musicians that strive to learn the genre. In conclusion, the evidence is overwhelming that jazz has had a large impact on American culture. The birth of jazz started with African Americans and has lasted throughout the years because of African Americans. Events such as the Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance allowed for artists such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to spread the popularity of jazz. Jazz was able to change how Americans viewed African Americans and their culture and essentially invited Americans into their culture and shape America to where it is today.
The Golden age of Hollywood marked a time in American films history in which films were produced and distributed at rate never seen before or since. During this period, the film market in America was basically entirely run by 8 major companies. This period would also be known as the American studio years. Within these 8 companies there were two categories of power that each major studio system fell into. The big 5 consisted of studios that functioned as vertical integrated which meant that they produce film, distribute films, and they own theater chains. The 5 studios in this category were Paramount, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, and RKO. Then we have the big little 3, which was composed of Columbia, Universal, and United Artist. They were called the big little 3 because these companies either distributed or made films but they did not on movie theaters, so they had a lot less power. The studio era was not only largely controlled big studio companies, but also by various amounts of expectations and assumptions about hoe movies should be made, what kinds of stars should be on different kinds of films, and a need to acknowledge the ordinary conventions of society