Fame in the 20th Century
‘All Ahead Warp Factor One:
1918-1932’
Leisure and Fame
• Leisure became part of lives of many people
rather than privileged classes in the early
part of the 20th Century.
• Great names came from leisure activities entertainment and sports.
• Tennis champions, radio broadcaster,
aviator, athletes, cricketers
Leisure and Fame
• Babe Ruth (1895-1948) American professional
baseball player between 1919
and 1935. His nickname
comes from ‘Dunn’s babes’.
Dunn was the owner of
Baltimore Orioles who found
Ruth. He was over six feet
high and weighed over 200
pounds. In 1927 he hit 60
homers with the batting
average of .353 for Yankees.
Leisure and Fame
• Celebrity and fame
• Celebrities are not just
famous for what they do, but
for the kinds of lives that they
lead.
• Babe Ruth not only hit home
runs but earned astronomical
salaries and consumed
astronomical amount of food.
Leisure and Fame
• Jack Dempsey (1895-1983)
- American heavyweight
boxing champion (19191926), generally
considered the greates
fighter.
• His boxing style was very
aggressive and he kept on
offensive almost
continually.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VawHgr
LvbD4
Leisure and Fame • Charles Lindbergh (19021974) - American aviator,
remembered for the first
non-stop flight from New
York to Paris in May 2021,1927.
• The media (radio and
newsreel film) created his
fame; he was received by
enthusiastic crowds in
Paris and New York.
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRnxSyRd
rx0&feature=related
Leisure and Fame
• In 1932 Lindbergh’s two-year-old son was
kidnapped and eventually murdered.
• Because of his fame and the media coverage,
this became the most famous murder case in
the 20th century.
• Lindbergh did not enjoy his fame and he lived
a quiet life with his family in Connecticut and
Hawaii.
• Al Capone (1899-1947) - the Notorious fame
most notorious gangster in
America, who dominated the
Chicago crime world
between 1925-1931)
• In his youth, he was slashed
on his left cheek and called
‘scarface’ since. He moved
from NY to Chicago and ran
a massive brothel business
and operated bootlegging
since 1920.
African-American Fame
• Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) - New Orleans
trumpet player and the greatest name in the jazz
history.
• The Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings
between 1925-28) are the greatest.
African-American Fame
• They made a great impact
on the development of
swing jazz.
• In his media appearance,
he was featured as a goodhumoured entertainer.
• In order to survive,
African-Americans had to
be popular entertainer.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
vnRqYMTpXHc
African-American Fame
• Duke Ellington (1899-1974) - pianist, the greatest
jazz composer and bandleader. An originator of
big-band jazz and creator of distinctive ensenble
sound.
African-American Fame
• The Duke Ellington Band in Cotton Club 1929
• He composed thousands of score; some long and
complicated, some experimental, some trying to
combine jazz and classical music and some
popular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHbjNMaEFc&feature=related
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkElnIiE4U4
European Fame
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1938) - Austrian neurologist,
founder of psychoanalysis. The psyche of human being
consists of ego, id (unconsciousness) and superego.
• Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - German-born physicist
who developed among others special and general theories
of relativity.
Americans in Paris
• Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) - American novelist,
Nobel prize winner for literature. Known for the
masculinity of his writings and adventurous life.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) - American novelist,
famous for his depiction of jazz age. His private life
with his wealthy wife Zelda was as celebrated as his
novels.
Artists in Paris
• Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) - Russian born composer
who revolutionalized idioms of classical music,
particularly ballet music.
• Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Spanish born painter,
sculptor, ceramist, stage designer. One of the greasest
and the most influential artists in the 20th Century.
Artists in Paris
European Fame
• Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel
(1883-1971) - French dress
designer. Her elegantly
casual dresses helped
women to be freed from
uncomfortable and
complicated wear. She
innovated women’s apparel
through using bell-bottoms,
turtle necks, and trench
coats and devising pret-àporter.
European Fame
• Little black dress (cocktail dress)
• Jersey suits
Show Business Idol
• Al Jolson (1886-1950) - Popular US singer, blackface
comedian of musical stage and motion pictures. In 1927
he appeared in the first ‘talkie’ film, The Jazz Singer.
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA8g1O1obOI
• Marx Brothers - American comedian team celebrated for
inventive attacks on the genteel class and the socially
respected. Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, & Zeppo
Show Business Idol
• Marlene Dietrich (19011992) - German born
actress whose look,
voice, sophistication,
and sensuality made her
one of the most
glamourous film stars.
• Dietrich was discovered
by Josef von Sternberg
and taken to the US.
Show Business Idol
• Maurice Chevalier (18881972) - French musicalcomedy star who
contributed the
establishment of musical
as a film genre. Known
for a suave manner,
wearing a straw hat and
carrying a cane and
English with French
accent.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyb2Z
yGwB-k
Show Business Idol
• Jean Harlow (1911-1937) American actress who was
the original ‘Blond
Bombshell’. In her early
acting career, she was mainly
known for physical beauty
and sexuality, but soon
developed as an actress
considerably.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iabQmjaW
CM
Show Business Idol
• Mae West (1893-1980) American stage and film
actress whose frank
sexuality, suggestive
posture and wisecracking
made her America’s sex
symbol.
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=pdXn65h6ijo&feature=related
Show Business Idol
• George Gershwin (18981937) - one of the most
significant and popular
American composers. He
mainly composed for
Broadway music halls but
wrote orchestral and piano
music as well.
Show Business Idol
• Fred Astaire (1899-1987) American dancer of music
stage and motion picture
best known for his
performance in musical
comedies, particularly with
Ginger Rogers.
• Matinee idol, whose
ordinary look probably did
not pose threat to the
majority of females.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
OMOBdQykKQY