Topic 1.4 - Cultural Changes Flashcards
State three notable artists of the 1920s
- Count Basie
- Duke Ellington
- Louis Armstrong
What was the genre of literature during the 1920s?
Focus on disillusion and despair
Particularly in terms of the stifling morality and material obsessions in American Life.
State two popular fad sports in the 1920s
- Crossword puzzles - Increasing popularity
- Flagpole sitting - decreasing popularity.
When was the first modern crosswords published?
1917
Boston Globe
When was the first book of puzzles published and by whom?
1923
Simon and Schuster
Give two examples of popular card games
- Mahjongg
- Contact Bridge
Give an example of a dance marathon
Chicago marathon went on for 119 days
Give examples of new leisure activities that emerged in the 1920s
- Dance Marathons
- Crossword puzzles
- Card games
- Roller-skating
- Rocking horse derbies
What was the bunion derby?
1929
- ran coast to coast
- An attempt at 3,400-mile transcontinental race.
- 55 runners actually accomplished the feat
- 84 days running
Who was the original creator of flagpole sitting?
Shipwreck Kelly
- A failed boxer calling himself the luckiest fool alive.
- 1929- spent 145 days on various flagpoles.
- One of the emulators 15 y/o Avon Foreman sat for 10 days.
- keeping the spirit of early America alive
State two dances created due to jazz music.
Charleston
Black bottom
What was the nickname given to women who seemed to have little moral restraint?
Flappers
Give an example of a radio station in the 1920s
KDKA in Pittsburgh set up 1920
By 1922 how many radio stations were there in America?
500
What was the first national network? and the second?
NBC - 1926
CBS - 1927
Why were some people scared of radios and tv’s?
Invisible energy flying through the air must be dangerous and cited dead birds as evidence.
How many people listened to the 1927 boxing match between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey?
50 million
How much did a typical model radio cost?
$150
usually paid on credit
What proportion of furniture was spent on radios?
33% 1927
- 1923 - 1930 60% families had radios.
How much was spent on radios in 1929 compared to 1923?
1923 - $60 million
1929 - $842 million
Give an example of a company advertising/ sponsoring radios
- August 1929
- Toothpaste company Pepsodent sponsored comedy series ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy’ on NBC
- 40 million
Where was the centre of the cinema industry?
Hollywood, LA
4th largest capital investment
In one day how many people went to the movies?
10 million people in 20,000 cinemas.
How many cinema’s were there in America 1920s?
20,000
- Eg. the Roxy in NYC Costing In the region $7-$10 million to build.
- Including - Three organs, A huge chandelier, A red carpet worth $10,000 and 118-piece orchestra.
Who was the ‘It Girl’ and what did she symbolise?
Clara Bow
Symbolised the modern liberated women
Who was known as the ‘vamp’ and what did she symbolise?
Theda Bara
Exuding a dangerous sexuality.
Who was the action hero of America 1920s?
Douglas Fairbanks
Name two comic geniuses in America 1920s
- Buster Keaton
- Charlie Chaplin
State the first sound film
The Jazz Singer
1927
State two emerging sports in the 1920s
Boxing
Baseball
How many people watched the Demsey-Tunney match?
50 million
22 September 1927
Who was a famous boxer in 1920s?
Jack Dempsey
- Made $10 million
Who was a famous baseball player in the 1920s?
Babe Ruth
- $80,000 - Salary
- $1 million - Over playing career
Give two examples of baseball players
New York Yankee team-mates
- Babe Ruth
- Lou Gehrig
State a baseball stadium in America
West Side Grounds in Chicargo
What made baseball so popular?
- Charismatic players
- Introduction of cork-centred ball that was easier to hit.
- Increased the fascination with the spectacular home runs
What was the baseball league for black Americans?
the Negro National Baseball League
- 1920
- East-West All Star game saw 30,000 spectators.
- Players earning less than half those of white counterparts
- playing 3 times a day every day
- The biggest black-American owned business in the USA
What law did President Harding fail to pass in 1922?
Bill to outlaw lynching
Where represented the ghettoisation of America?
Harlem
- Population growth
- 1914 - 50,000
- 1930 - 165,000
- Rents doubled 1919-27
What did James Weldon Johnson do?
A black American poet
Wrote ‘The Making of Harlem’ + The weary blues
What did Alain Locke think?
History of suffering through slavery and persecution gave black Americans a unique susceptibility to respond to the arts.
Who was the king of swing?
Benny Goodman
What stage production took place in 1921?
Shuffle Along
Why would White Americans go to Harlem?
Experienced the exotic in Cotton Clubs and Plantations.
Who were the audience in cotton clubs?
The high prices made exclusive to only the relatively rich
What did Claud McKay think about Harlem?
Poet
An all-white picnic ground
What anthology did ‘the New Negro’ follow?
Alain Locke’s anthology of 1925
Year - Slavery abolishment
1865
What did the case of Plessey v. Ferguson do?
After 1896 segregation became legalised.P v F - separate but equal- Jim Crow laws
What did the Crisis magazine write about?
- Fought passionately for ethnic rights
- W.E. Dubois’s magazine.
What three Black American Artists were very influential?
- Alaine Locke
- Claud McKay
- Langston Hughes
What did Marcus Garvey believe?
Separation between the races.
What did Marcus Garvey set up?
- Universal Negro Improvement Society
- Black Cross - medical care
- Black Star Shipping Line - passengers to African ports.
- Ran ‘Back to Africa’ campaign
Who was the recipient for the first Literature Nobel Prize in America?
Sinclair Lewis
What did many people think about American culture in the 1920s?
Complained it was two concerned with materialism and economic growth to appreciate the arts.
What did F. Scott. Fitzgerald do and write about?
- Coined phrase ‘jazz age’.
- Wrote the Great Gatsby
- about the superficially hedonistic lifestyle of the young that concealed a deep malaise.
What did Hemingway write?
The sun also rises (1926)
What did Sinclar Lewis write?
- Main street (1920)
- Babbit (1925)
What publication was most widely followed in the 1920s?
The Saturday Evening Post Scott Fitzgerald, Zane Gray and Max Brand.
Fictional serials
Who wrote Tarzan?
Edgar Rice Burroughs
What was one of the most popular magazines in the 1920s?
Reader’s digestfounded in 1922
