Jazz Age Culture

Prohibition Era• 1920 – 1933• With passage of the 18th Amendment, it became illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcoholic beverages in the US• Prohibition led to a dramatic increase in crime and decrease in tax revenue• Era ended with the passage of the 21st Amendment which repealed Prohibition

Speakeasies• Establishments

which continued to sell alcohol illegally, despite the ban

• Often required a password or some other identifying mark to gain admission

• Many were operated by organized crime syndicates

Bootlegging • The illegal manufacture

and transport of alcohol• Some bootleggers

made “bathtub gin” a homemade brew that could be deadly if not mixed correctly

• Others were “moonshiners” who made corn liquor in stills hidden in the countryside

Al “Scarface” Capone• 1899 – 1947• America’s most notorious

gangster, he ran his crime syndicate out of Chicago until being convicted of tax evasion in 1931; he eventually died in prison of heart failure complicated by syphilis

• Ran alcohol, prostitution, and gambling operations

• Ordered the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 which eliminated several of his rivals

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

1920s Hollywood

Silent Films• Motion pictures initially

did not have sound, so audiences had to be able to understand plots through entirely visual means; this forced actors to use highly exaggerated motions

• Many early films were comedies because “slapstick” provided effective visuals

• Most successful actor of the 1920s was comedic star Charlie Chaplin

Metropolis (1927)• Silent film made in

Germany which many consider to be the first significant “science fiction” film ever made

• Silent movies, since they used no spoken language, could be effectively played anywhere in the world

The Jazz Singer (1927)

• First “talkie” or film which had a synchronized soundtrack for dialogue

• This film’s success spelled the end of the silent picture era

Sports• Many spectator sports

were extremely popular, including golf, tennis, boxing, and swimming

• Baseball had become “America’s pass time”

• Football began to gain prominence with the founding of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920

“Red” Grange• 1903 – 1991• “The Galloping

Ghost”• The first American

football star, Grange played for the University of Illinois and then for the NFL’s Chicago Bears as a star running back

Jack Dempsey• 1895 – 1983• World Heavyweight

champion from 1919 to 1926

• First boxer to draw more than $1 million in ticket revenues for a fight

“Babe” Ruth• 1895 – 1948• Played for 21 years

(1914 – 35), mostly for the NY Yankees

• Hit 714 home runs (still 3rd most ever)

• Lived a celebrity lifestyle – drank heavily, smoked, and womanized – a trend he started that lives on today with many professional athletes

The Lost Generation

• Term used to describe the generation which reached adulthood during the 1920s

• These young people were “lost” in that they felt trapped by the corrupt, greedy society in which they lived and their own experiences in WWI

F. Scott Fitzgerald

• 1896 – 1940• Author of The Great

Gatsby (1925)• Wrote numerous short-

stories (including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and screenplays in addition to his 4 novels

• Died from a heart attack induced by alcoholism

Ernest Hemingway• 1899 – 1961

• Author of novels such as The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls

• Rugged adventurer who liked bullfighting, hunting, mountain climbing, and other dangerous hobbies

• Committed suicide due to depression and alcoholism

T.S. Eliot• 1888 – 1965• American author,

playwright, and poet• Famous works include

the play Murder in the Cathedral, and poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and The Waste Land

Eugene O’Neill• 1888 – 1953• American playwright• His plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society, engaging in depraved behavior, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair

Charles Sheeler• 1883 – 1965• American artist• Modernist• Supported himself by

working as a commercial photographer who specialized in architecture; much of this experience is reflected in his painting

Works by Sheeler

John Marin• 1870 – 1953• Modernist artist

best known for his watercolors and abstract landscape paintings

Work by Marin

Edward Hopper• 1882 – 1967• Realist painter• Many of his paintings

are dark and feature scenes of urban life

• Focused on using light and shadow and on placement of his figures within his paintings to strike the proper mood

Nighthawks by Hopper

Harlem Renaissance

African-American cultural movement of the 1920s and 1930s, centered around the Harlem neighborhood of NYC

Included new literary, artistic, and musical styles which would go on to heavily influence American culture of the mid and late 20th century

Claude McKay• 1889 – 1948• Writer and poet who wrote

novels Home to Harlem, Banjo, and Banana Bottom

• One of the first authors of the Renaissance, McKay represented a new African-American voice, one which rejected the ideals of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus Garvey, in favor of taking pride in his culture and pursuing full civil rights and racial solidarity

Langston Hughes• 1902 – 1967

• American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and magazine columnist

• Pioneered new form of poetry known as “jazz poetry”

• Much of his work focuses on the theme “black is beautiful” and takes pride in the diversity of African-American culture

The Cotton Club• 1920 – 1940• Famous Harlem

nightclub which featured jazz and blues music

• Catered to a mostly white audience, so marked the first significant exposure for many whites to black musical styles

The Apollo Theater

• Harlem theater which originally opened in 1914, but didn’t become a predominantly black venue until 1934

• Fell into decline in the 1960s and even became just a simple movie theater before being revived in 1983; today it has protected federal landmark status

Louis Armstrong• 1901 – 1971• Nicknamed “Satchmo”

• Jazz trumpeter and singer• Popularized “scat” or

singing using disjointed syllables instead of words

• Rose to fame quickly during the 1920s and was equally popular with both black and white audiences

Duke Ellington• 1899 – 1974• Orchestra leader,

pianist, and song writer• Elevated jazz from an

urban musical form to a nearly classical level with his “big band” style

• Led his orchestra for over 50 years

Billie Holiday• 1915 – 1959• Crossed jazz over to

standard “pop” (popular music)

• Also a song writer, helping write such hits as “God Bless the Child” and “Lady Sings the Blues”

• Unfortunately, she became a lifelong drug addict and died from liver failure after years of legal troubles

Josephine Baker• 1906 – 1975• Dancer, singer, and actress• Baker was the first African

American to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer

• Extremely popular in Europe, her exotic stage show featured her scantily clad or even nude

• In later years she became heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement

Charlie Poole• 1892 – 1931• North Carolina musician

who, along with his band the North Carolina Ramblers, became the first major national country music recording act

• When not recording, he earned money as a textile mill worker and as a moonshiner

• Died of an alcohol induced illness at just 39

The 1930s

Hollywood Escapism

• As the Great Depression set in, people desperately wanted to escape their troubles, even if only for a few hours

• Movies offered a cheap form of escapism (most theaters were also heated and air-conditioned as well, allowing people to escape the chill or swelter of their apartments!)

Marx Brothers• Popular comedic act of

the period, they starred in such films as Animal Crackers (1930), and Duck Soup (1933)

• Made feature films from 1921 to 1957

• 13 of their films were included in the top 100 comedies ever made

Walt Disney• 1901 – 1966• Created Mickey

Mouse who first achieved success in the cartoon short Steamboat Willie (1927)

• Disney would go on to grow an animation, film, and theme park empire

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The Wizard of Oz

Gone With the Wind

Dracula & Frankenstein

Radio Serials• Many people’s chief

form of entertainment was the radio, which featured episodic programming much like television does today, including such action characters as the Green Hornet and Lone Ranger, as well as numerous “soap operas” (dramatic programming aimed at women and usually sponsored by laundry soap companies)

Grant Wood• 1891 – 1942• Artist best known for his

Regionalist style paintings of the American Midwest, especially the painting American Gothic (1930) which won him a $300 prize

• Many believed the painting was meant to be satirical, but Wood insisted that he intended it to represent the steadfast spirit of farmers

American Gothic Parodies

Thomas Hart Benton• 1889 – 1975• Muralist• His fluid, almost sculpted

paintings showed everyday scenes of life in the United States

• Also part of the Regionalist style, many of his works focus on the Midwest or NY City, the two places he spent his entire life in

John Steinbeck• 1902 – 1968• Author of The Grapes of

Wrath, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the tragedies which befell his fictional family of Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl

• Also wrote Of Mice and Men, a story about the tragic relationship between two poor migrant farmers

William Faulkner• 1897 – 1962• Nobel Prize winning

novelist and short-story writer

• Nearly all of his works are set in the South

• His unique style often included using stream of consciousness and focused on a wide range of characters