1920s

1920’S

The Roaring Twenties

Aims

Understand the relationship between cultural expression and; Political, Social, and Economic developments.

In your assignment you will Describe the work of a artist or cultural

group from the 1920s. Explain how they connect with the social

and political times.

Films set in the 1920s

Bullets Over Broadway (1994) Chaplin (1992) The Cat's Meow (2001) The Mummy (1999) Cabaret (1972) The Untouchables (1987)

The 1920s

This was a time of growth, modernity, and optimism. It was known as; The Jazz Age The Golden Age The Good Times Decade

Trends in the 1920s

Mass production Mass media Massive fame/celebrity New morality New music, movies and dances.

Homework

Find one person famous in the 1920s. Post the following information to the Red

Space Rocket forum by Friday September 5. Name Date of Birth What they were famous for.

Define

What is morality? Give five example of media from 2008. What does it mean to be famous?

After The War

The Great War had just ended.

June 1919 - Treaty of Versailles signed. Severe penalties for

Germany. Army limited to 100,000

men, lost all territories, pay reparations.

In Australia

The soldiers came home and people hoped life would go back to normal.

Big spending on roads and infrastructure. Governments borrowed

money from Britain to pay for this.

In America

“Return to normalcy” Isolationist view for

America. Wanted to keep to

themselves “The chief business of the

American people is business.”

Great Wealth

The 1920s was a time when many people in America did well.

Some were left out. Some farmers Migrants African Americans

Culture

New music including Jazz.

New fashions including the flapper fashion.

New dances such as the Charleston.

New movies in colour and with sound.

New roles for women especially in the workplace.

The Economy

New technologies from the war.

Building boom. Industrial growth. Many could buy

homes, cars and appliances.

Personal and government debt. Buy now, pay later.

Politics

Tariffs introduced in many countries to protect manufacturing and farms.

Suspicion of unions and socialism. Increase in Xenophobia.

Fear of foreigners.

Questions

What is xenophobia? What is socialism? What does a tariff do to the price of

something imported?

Cars became affordable and popular

Henry Ford sold 15 million Model T Fords by 1927.

Businesses such as petrol stations, motels and making oil all boomed.

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol The Volstead Act. 1919. 32,000 speakeasies in

New York in the 1920s. Drinking cocktails

popular in upper classes. Prohibition repealed in

December 1933.

Side Effects of Prohibition

Organised Crime Bootlegging Gangs Al Capone

Famous gangster Known as “Scarface”. Convicted 1931 of tax evasion.

Al Capone

Activity

Write 2 of your own newspaper headlines about activities associated with Prohibition.

Jazz

Americans bought more than 100 million records in 1927.

More than 100 “territory” bands toured the country playing at dances. The Deluxe Melody Boys Jesse Stone's Blue Serenaders Walter Page and his Blue Devils. Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy

Activity

Name your own 1920s style band. Your Name + Adjective + Noun

Reactions to Jazz

In small town America jazz was an annoyance and made morals loose.

Encouraged violence, drunkenness and sexual activity.

Professor Henry Van Dyck of Princeton University. “it is not music at all. It

is merely an irritation of the nerves of hearing”

A Jazz Dance In Australia

Activity (in your workbook)

What music is considered dangerous to morals today? Give example of genres

and artists. What are behaviour do

critics claim this music encourages?

How much does this have in common with the reaction to jazz?

Famous composers and musicians Louis Armstrong Irving Berlin George Gershwin Duke Ellington Jelly Roll Morton Al Jolson

Louis Armstrong

Duke Ellington

George Gershwin

Irving Berlin

Dancing – The Charleston

Popular in jazz clubs. Vigorous and sexual Believed to have originated with African

Americans.

The Charleston

Fashion and Flappers

Flapper behaviour. The archetypal flapper; A young women Dances in clubs at night. Smoked cigarettes. Rode bicycles and drove

cars. Drank alcohol openly. Cut her hair “boyishly”

and dyed it black.

The Flapper Look

Flapper Fashion

The “bob” haircut was popular. Didn’t wear corsets or pantaloons. Dresses were straight and loose. Arms were bare. Waistline dropped to the hips. Rayon stockings were held up with

garter belts. Skirt lines were sometimes almost

up to the knee. A round hat called a cloche. Wore make up, previously worn only

by actresses and prostitutes.

Activity

Draw a flapper. Label which elements of flapper fashion are

in fashion now.

The Movies Come Alive

Mass production and improvements in technology meant that more movies were made and more people saw them. This meant that films starts became nationally and internationally famous.

The Movies Come Alive

Movie actors were very famous, adored and well paid.

Famous actors included Rudolph Valentino Fatty Arbuckle Charlie Chaplin Buster Keaton Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks Lon Chaney

Rudolph Valentino

Buster Keaton

Charlie Chaplin

Mary Pickford

Fatty Arbuckle

Films popular in Australia

Fears that family life was being eroded.

Most films silent, the first talky, The Jazz Singer, shown in Australia in 1929.

Influx of American films in the 1920 effectively killed Australian cinema industry.

Radio very popular in Australia The Wireless was very

popular. First regular broadcasts in

1923. Listeners paid a licence to

listen. 290,000 issued by 1929. Broadcasting licences

managed by the Postmaster-General’s Department.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation created in 1932.

Sportsmen were Stars in America “Big Five” sporting icons of the Roaring

Twenties Babe Ruth (baseball) Jack Dempsey (boxing) Red Grange (college football) Bill Tilden (tennis) Bobby Jones (golf)

Babe Ruth

Jack Dempsey

Focus: Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey Heavyweight boxer Held the title from 1919 – 1926 His record

83 Fights 62 Wins 50 KOs 6 Losses 9 Draws

Cultural and Political clash

Tradition versus Modern life. The Scopes Monkey trial

Also known as the Monkey Trial Conflict between evolutionists and

creationists but also rural and urban America.

In Australia

Australia experienced many of the same trends as America.

Popular Sports in Australia

Football Cricket Boxing Horse racing Running Cycling Wrestling

Attending sport was not expensive.

Politics: Changes for Women Changes for women

Women in the workforce under pressure to go back to the home once the war was over.

1920: Mrs Mary Rodgers becomes Australia’s first female councillor.

1921: Edith Cowan elected to West Australian House of Representatives. Pushed through legislation to allow women to

work in the legal profession. 1922: Melbourne: The Industrial Court of

Appeal rejects concept of equal pay for women

Flight in Australia

Record-setting pilots were heroes. Ross and Keith Smith Bert Hinkler Charles Kingsford Smith

QANTAS begins passenger service in 1922.

The Flying Doctor started in 1928.

Charles Kingsford Smith

Focus: Charles Kingsford Smith

Born 1897 Earned his wings with the Royal Flying Corp

in 1917. Worked as a stunt flyer or barnstormer in

the USA before returning to Australia. Made the first Trans-Pacific flight from

California to Brisbane in 1928. Flew over the Tasman Sea to New Zealand Non-stop from Melbourne to Perth. Won the England to Australia flying race in

1930.

Economy: Money in Australia Weekly wages in 1929

Bricklayer $12.50 Shop assistant $9.00, women $5.80 Nurse $4.80

Prices in 1929 Butter 24c for 500 grams Petrol 4.1 cents per litre. Rent for a four bedroom house $2.00

Activity

Estimate the 2008 value of; The weekly wages for a bricklayer 500 grams of butter 1 litre of petrol Weekly rent for a four bedroom house.

Cars in Australia

Cars became more popular 75 thousand cars in 1920 230 thousand cars in 1925 540 thousand cars in 1929

Activity Produce a column graph for car ownership in

these years.

Cars in Australia

Local production Ford started making cars in Geelong in

1925. General Motors started in Australia in

1926. Cars were still expensive.

The smallest car, the Austin 7, cost more than the average wage for a whole year.

Activity How does your social life and

general life change when you have a car? Name five things in full sentences.

Politics in Australia

1927: Federal Parliament sits for the first time in Canberra, the nation’s capital. Parliament opened by the Duke of York

(later King George VI) There were 15,000 invited guests. Canberra has just 6,000 residents in 1927.

Nationalist PM Stanley Bruce 1923 to 1929.

The 20s in Germany

Germany fails to make war reparation payments.

The French and the Belgians take the Ruhr region.

The German Government advocated and funds passive resistance. Prints money to cover this. This lead to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation

People with mortgages saw their debt wiped out.

Middle class people with savings found them without value.

Old people found their pensions worthless.

This makes the economy and society unstable.

Social Changes in Germany

Women, Gender and Sex Increase in prostitution. Gender bending common in theatre and

cabaret. Women smoked and wore trousers. Flappers were common

Really decadent society. Indoor bathrooms.

Hitler’s Early Efforts

Hitler attempts to seize power in Bavaria in 1923. Gets only five years in prison for his

treason.

Activity

Give an example from the 1920s of each of these trends Mass production Mass media Massive fame/celebrity New morality New music, movies and dances.