The Mass Media
1920s and 1930s
The Rise of Modern Culture
1851-1899 Inventions
► Oil
drills
► Typewriters
► Telephones
► Light bulbs
► Portable camera
► Movie projector (kinetoscope)
► Gasoline powered cars
th
20
► 1903
Century
First powered airplane flight.
► 1908 Cars are mass-produced on Henry
Ford’s assembly lines.
► 1917 America joins World War I and fights
with, and against, armored tanks, machine
guns, poisonous gas, submarines, and
airplanes.
Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush
(1926)
Major Film Companies Established
During the 1920s
► Paramount
► Warner
Brothers
► RKO
► 20th
Century-Fox
► Lowe's (MGM)
► Universal
► Columbia
► United Artists
Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923)
1910-1917. Radio as a Hobby
Movie Clip: The Freshman (1924)
Razzing the Sponsors
Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Eddie Anderson
May 2, 1932.
The Jack Benny
Show. Jack Benny
makes fun of
advertising his
show’s sponsor,
Canada Dry ginger
ale.
George Burns and Gracie Allen
(January, 1938)
Gracie: “Well anyhoo, the police finally rush to the nightclub. While they’re
there, the proprietor robs them. That’s you, George.”
George: “I’m the proprietor of the nightclub and I rob the police?”
Gracie: “Well sure. You charge them three and a half dollars for a steak
sandwich.”
George: “I do huh?”
Gracie: “Yes.”
George: “And how do the police take it?”
Gracie: “Without salt, pepper, or ketchup.”
George: “Without salt, pepper, or ketchup?”
Gracie: “Well yeah. You see George, we’re not allowed to use any spicy
stuff on the radio.”
Amos ‘n’ Andy (1929)
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Amos: Andy tell me one thing. Is you a Democrat or is you a Republican?
Andy: Well, I was a Democrat, but I believe I’s done switched over to the Republicans
now.
Amos: Uh, who is the men that is running against each other this here election time?
‘Xplain dat to me.
Andy: Herbert Hoover versus Al Smith.
Amos: Herbert Hoover versus Al Smith, huh?
Andy: Yeah.
Amos: Another thing I’m gonna ask you. What is the difference between a Democrat and
a Republican?
Andy: One of ‘em is a mule, and the other one is an elephant. That’s the way I get it.
Amos: Mhm. I don’t know if I’s goin’ be a Democrat or a Republican.
Andy: Well, what was your ancestors?
Amos: My aunt didn’t have no sisters.
Andy: No, no, not your aunt’s sisters, your ancestors. I mean, how did your old man
vote?
Amos: Oh my papa you mean? Papa used to always vote for Democrats.
Andy: Then if I was in your place, I would vote for the Republicans.
Amos: How come?
Andy: ‘Cause ain’t ever knowed your old man to do nothing right in his life.
Mae West in I’m No Angel (1933)
and She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Marriage, Sex(ism), and Economics
Eddie Cantor sings “Makin’ Whoopee.” (Whoopee! 1930).
“Making whoopee” is 1930s slang for “having sex.”