Jazz Age Culture
1920s Hollywood
Silent Films
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Motion pictures initially did
not have sound, so
audiences had to be able
to understand plots
through entirely visual
means; this forced actors
to use highly exaggerated
motions
Many early films were
comedies because
“slapstick” provided
effective visuals
Most successful actor of
the 1920s was comedic
star Charlie Chaplin
Metropolis (1927)
Silent film made in
Germany which many
consider to be the
first significant
“science fiction” film
ever made
 Silent movies, since
they used no spoken
language, could be
effectively played
anywhere in the world
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The Jazz Singer (1927)
First “talkie” or film
which had a
synchronized
soundtrack for
dialogue
 This film’s success
spelled the end of
the silent picture
era
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Sports
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Many spectator sports
were extremely popular,
including golf, tennis,
boxing, and swimming
Baseball had become
“America’s pass time”
Football began to gain
prominence with the
founding of the National
Football League (NFL) in
1920
“Red” Grange
1903 – 1991
 “The Galloping Ghost”
 The first American
football star, Grange
played for the
University of Illinois
and then for the NFL’s
Chicago Bears as a
star running back
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Jack Dempsey
1895 – 1983
 World Heavyweight
champion from
1919 to 1926
 First boxer to draw
more than $1
million in ticket
revenues for a
fight
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“Babe” Ruth
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1895 – 1948
Played for 21 years (1914
– 35), mostly for the NY
Yankees
Hit 714 home runs (still
3rd most ever)
Lived a celebrity lifestyle
– drank heavily, smoked,
and womanized – a trend
he started that lives on
today with many
professional athletes
The Lost Generation
Term used to describe
the generation which
reached adulthood
during the 1920s
 These young people
were “lost” in that
they felt trapped by
the corrupt, greedy
society in which they
lived and their own
experiences in WWI
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
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1896 – 1940
Author of The Great
Gatsby (1925)
Wrote numerous shortstories (including The
Curious Case of
Benjamin Button) and
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screenplays in addition
to his 4 novels
Died from a heart
attack induced by
alcoholism
Ernest Hemingway
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1899 – 1961
Author of novels such as
The Old Man and the
Sea, A Farewell to Arms,
The Sun Also Rises, and
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Rugged adventurer who
liked bullfighting,
hunting, mountain
climbing, and other
dangerous hobbies
 Committed suicide due
to depression and
alcoholism
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T.S. Eliot
1888 – 1965
 American author,
playwright, and poet
 Famous works include
the play Murder in the
Cathedral, and poems
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The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock, and
The Waste Land
Eugene O’Neill
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1888 – 1953
American playwright
His plays were among the
first to include speeches
in American vernacular
and involve characters on
the fringes of society,
engaging in depraved
behavior, where they
struggle to maintain their
hopes and aspirations,
but ultimately slide into
disillusionment and
despair
Charles Sheeler
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1883 – 1965
American artist
Modernist
Supported himself by
working as a
commercial
photographer who
specialized in
architecture; much of
this experience is
reflected in his painting
Works by Sheeler
John Marin
 1870
– 1953
 Modernist artist
best known for
his watercolors
and abstract
landscape
paintings
Work by Marin
Edward Hopper
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1882 – 1967
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Realist painter
Many of his paintings
are dark and feature
scenes of urban life
Focused on using light
and shadow and on
placement of his figures
within his paintings to
strike the proper mood
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Nighthawks by Hopper
Harlem Renaissance
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African-American cultural
movement of the 1920s
and 1930s, centered
around the Harlem
neighborhood of NYC
Included new literary,
artistic, and musical
styles which would go on
to heavily influence
American culture of the
mid and late 20th century
Claude McKay
1889 – 1948
 Writer and poet who wrote
novels Home to Harlem,
Banjo, and Banana Bottom
 One of the first authors of
the Renaissance, McKay
represented a new AfricanAmerican voice, one which
rejected the ideals of
Booker T. Washington,
W.E.B. Du Bois, and Marcus
Garvey, in favor of taking
pride in his culture and
pursuing full civil rights and
racial solidarity
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Langston Hughes
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1902 – 1967
American novelist,
playwright, short story
writer, and magazine
columnist
Pioneered new form of
poetry known as “jazz
poetry”
Much of his work focuses
on the theme “black is
beautiful” and takes
pride in the diversity of
African-American culture
The Cotton Club
1920 – 1940
 Famous Harlem
nightclub which
featured jazz and
blues music
 Catered to a mostly
white audience, so
marked the first
significant exposure
for many whites to
black musical styles
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The Apollo Theater
Harlem theater which
originally opened in
1914, but didn’t become
a predominantly black
venue until 1934
 Fell into decline in the
1960s and even became
just a simple movie
theater before being
revived in 1983; today it
has protected federal
landmark status
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Louis Armstrong
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1901 – 1971
Nicknamed “Satchmo”
Jazz trumpeter and singer
Popularized “scat” or
singing using disjointed
syllables instead of words
Rose to fame quickly
during the 1920s and was
equally popular with both
black and white
audiences
Duke Ellington
1899 – 1974
 Orchestra leader,
pianist, and song
writer
 Elevated jazz from an
urban musical form to
a nearly classical level
with his “big band”
style
 Led his orchestra for
over 50 years
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Billie Holiday
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1915 – 1959
Crossed jazz over to
standard “pop” (popular
music)
Also a song writer,
helping write such hits
as “God Bless the Child”
and “Lady Sings the
Blues”
Unfortunately, she
became a lifelong drug
addict and died from
liver failure after years
of legal troubles
Josephine Baker
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1906 – 1975
Dancer, singer, and actress
Baker was the first African
American to star in a major
motion picture, to integrate
an American concert hall,
and to become a worldfamous entertainer
Extremely popular in Europe,
her exotic stage show
featured her scantily clad or
even nude
In later years she became
heavily involved in the Civil
Rights movement
Charlie Poole
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1892 – 1931
North Carolina musician
who, along with his band
the North Carolina
Ramblers, became the
first major national
country music recording
act
When not recording, he
earned money as a textile
mill worker and as a
moonshiner
Died of an alcohol
induced illness at just 39