The Jazz Age
The United States During the
1920s
A New National Culture
Focus Question:
What led to the development of a
national culture in the 1920s?
Urbanization
The 1920 census revealed urban population
outnumbered rural population for first time.
Cars, Cars, Cars!
1913
1.2 million cars were registered
1929
26.5 million
•On average, nearly one car per family!
•Cars changed the pattern of American life. Cars affected
everything Americans did: shopping, traveling, commuting to
work, dating.
•Led to new problems: traffic jams, injuries and deaths on road.
Forms of Mass Media
• Radio
NBC 1924
CBS 1927
• Mass Circulation Magazines
Hollywood & Movies
• Elaborate movie theater palaces built, opulently decorated
with vaulted ceilings, marble floors, balconies.
• “Talkies” arrived in 1927 with The Jazz Singer.
•
Movie attendance rose from 60 million in 1927 to
90 million in 1930.
1920s Movie Stars
Became national
idols who helped
set national
trends in clothing
and hairstyles.
Mary Pickford
Charlie Chaplin
Douglas Fairbanks
Sports Heroes
Jack Dempsey
Babe Ruth
“Lucky Lindy”: Charles Lindbergh
Famous solo flight from New York City to Paris in 1927.
He flew more than 3,600 miles (5,790 kilometers) in 33 1/2 hours.
Jazz Music
From talented musicians such as
Louis Armstrong
Mass Advertising
• In the 1920s there was a new emphasis on consumption,
leisure, and amusement.
• Many Americans stretched their incomes by buying on the
newly devised installment plan. “Buy now, pay later” was
revolutionary.
• People bought cars, refrigerators, and washing machines on
credit. Americans also bought irons, toasters, vacuum
cleaners, phonographs and sewing machines.
• By the mid 20s, 60% of Americans homes had electricity.
•Radio, the newest mass media, relied entirely on
advertising for its income.
•Ads could also be found in mass circulation magazines
included The Saturday Evening Post and Reader’s Digest.
•Advertising created wants and encouraged consumers to
satisfy those wants.
What techniques do advertisers use to persuade
consumers to buy their products?
1. Make a list of at least 3 techniques you believe
advertisers use.
2. Then list at least 3 examples of recent ads
(television, radio, magazine, etc.) that employ these
techniques.
Advertising TechniquesCelebrity endorsements
Testimonials
Catchy slogans
Promises of social success and threats of social
embarrassment
Ads created a fantasy world of elegance, grace,
boundless pleasure
Preyed on people’s insecurities. Sometimes by creating
new maladies. (Listerine mouthwash as a cure for
halitosis.)
ADVERTISEMENT ANALYSIS:
What is the advertisement selling?
Identify some of the advertisement techniques
used in the ad.
Inside Back Cover, January 1923
McClure's Magazine, Vol. 54, No.11.
Script:
The Supreme Achievement in
Electric Washing Machines
Gillespie-Eden Corporation
Paterson, N.J.
Canada Canadian General Electric Co.
Toronto
Movies, radio, magazines, advertising and consumption led to
the creation of a mass national culture in the 1920s.
However, participation in the mass culture was not universal.
Unequal distribution of wealth limited many consumers’
ability to buy the enticing products.
65% of families in the 20s had incomes of less than $2,000 a
year, barely enough for a decent standard of living.
The 1920s as a “decade of bubbling creativity.”
The 20s saw the emergence of great artists including:
•Frank Lloyd Wright
•Georgia O’Keefe
•Edward Hopper
Frank Lloyd Wright
Guggenheim Museum
Frank Lloyd Wright
Moe House
Georgia O’Keefe
Calla Lilies on Pink
1928
Edward Hopper
Drug Store, 1927
The Literature of Alienation & the“Lost Generation”
•Writers of the period included Ernest Hemingway, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra
Pound.
•Their writing reflected a general postwar
disillusionment with modern culture.
Harlem Renaissance
A movement by young writers and artists who wanted to
reclaim a cultural identity with African roots.
Harlem, in New York City, had a large African-American
community. The city became famous for the concentration
of African actors, writers, artists, and musicians.
The most famous writer of the Harlem Renaissance was
Langston Hughes.
Langston Hughes, Dream Deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
What is most interesting to you about
the new national culture of the 1920s?
Do you see any similarities between
American culture in the 20s and today?