CHAPTER 23

1. CHAPTER 23 The Jazz Age Section 1 – Boom Times

2. A. Prosperity and Productivity • Economy Soars • Gross National Product (GNP) jumps almost 50% from 1922 to 1929 • Purchasing power increased 32% from 1914 to 1928 • Electricity • Usage more than doubled in the 20s • By 1930, 2/3 of American homes had electricity • New products – electrical appliances like mixers, food grinders, radios, sewing machines, washers and dryers, record players

3. A. Prosperity and Productivity • Scientific Management • The idea that every kind of work could be broken down into a series of smaller tasks • Supported by Frederick W. Taylor

4. B. Growth of the Auto Industry • Henry Ford – started an automobile company in 1903 • Quickly became the industry leader • Assembly line – new production method that helped factories make goods faster • Model T – flagship of Ford’s automobiles, sturdy yet affordable (Tin Lizzie) • Model T video

5. 1921 – Henry Ford and a Model T

6. 1914 – Assembly line at Ford plant in Highland Park, MI

8. B. Growth of the Auto Industry • Automobile registrations – more than tripled during the 20s (one car for five citizens) • Cost of a new Ford dropped from $850 in 1909 to $290 in 1924 • By 1929 more than 1 million people worked in auto industry or related business

9. C. Changes in Work • Assembly line effects – increased productivity but factory work became repetitive and turnover increased • Ford and his workers • Shorter workday (8 hours) and higher wages • Ford regulated employees on and off work – no tobacco or alcohol, English classes for immigrants

10. C. Changes in Work • Impact of New Products • Increase in appliances lowered the need for personal servants and maids • Cars lessened need for delivery services

11. D. Land of Automobiles New Roads – 400,000 miles built during the 20s New – paved roads, billboards, drive-in restaurants, gas stations, motels Holland Tunnel – first roadway built under water, opened by President Coolidge in Nov. 1927, cost $54 million

13. D. Land of Automobiles • Auto-tourism – using cars for camping and sightseeing vacations • Family Life • Urban sprawl – more people moved to suburbs because the city was now more accessible • Teenagers became more active, more willing to leave the home • 20s travel

14. E. Creating Consumers • Marketing • Installment plan (aka credit) – allowed consumers to pay for purchases over months and years instead of all at once • What was the danger of this? • Streamlining – shaping of surfaces to reduce wind resistance • New materials were used to give a more modern look (stainless steel, plastic) • Planned obsolescence – idea of phasing out one model of a product by introducing a newer, up-to-date model • Was all necessarily good in the country? Explain.

15. E. Creating Consumers • Advertising • Big bucks – Over $3 billion spent on ads in 1929, was $500 million before World War I • Target group – mostly women, ads often used psychology to play on people’s hopes and fears

19. E. Creating Consumers • Retail Industry • Supermarkets – • What was the advantage of supermarkets? • A&P quadruples from 1920 to 1929 (both number of stores and amount of sales) • Chain stores became common throughout the country – Macy’s among others

21. CHAPTER 23 The Jazz Age Section 2 – Life in the Twenties

22. A. Prohibition • 18th Amendment • Banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages, ratified in January 1919 • Volstead Act – passed to enforce the amendment • Prohibition was strictly enforced in some regions and virtually ignored in others, especially cities • Which regions enforced strictly? Which did not? • Speakeasy – club or bar where liquor was sold illegally

25. A. Prohibition • Chicago • Al Capone – ruled Chicago’s underworld, tried to gain control of all of the city’s liquor sales • St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929) – Execution of seven members of a rival gang by Capone’s men • Eliot Ness – Federal agent who led the campaign to arrest Capone • Untouchables – nickname for Ness’ unit • Why? • Result – Capone convicted of tax evasion in 1931, loses control of his empire

28. A. Prohibition • 21st Amendment • Ended Prohibition in 1933 • Positives of Prohibition – alcoholism and number of alcohol-related deaths went down • Negatives – rise of gang violence, breakdown of law and order

30. B. Youth Culture • The “new woman” • Women rebel against traditional pre-WWI views • What happened to cause this change in attitude? • Flappers – young women who wore shorter skirts, panty hose and cut their hair short (called a bob) • Also began to drive cars and participate in sports • Many women began to pursue careers, most stayed in traditional jobs

32. B. Youth Culture College Life – Enrollment tripled, mostly middle and upper-class Leisure fun and fads – dance marathons, beauty pageants, other novelty events such as flagpole sitting

33. C. Mass Entertainment • Radio • First stations (KDKA Pittsburgh and WWJ Detroit) go on the air around 1920 • Over 800 stations reaching out to 10 million homes by 1929 • National networks (ABC, NBC, etc.) began in the late 20s • offered variety of programs (news, sports, music, comedy, drama) • Advertisements begin to be sold, which allowed businesses to promote their products

34. C. Mass Entertainment • Movies • Cecil B. DeMille – movie director • Early film stars – Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix, Rudolph Valentino, Lon Chaney • The Jazz Singer (1927) – starring Al Jolson, was the first feature-length “talkie” • Only about a small portion included dialogue, the rest was a standard silent movie • Changing standards of morality and sexuality led to the regulation of movies from within • Motion Pictures Association of America

36. C. Mass Entertainment • Sports • Baseball and football were growing. College football was king but NFL (est. 1920) begins to grow • Books and magazines • Book-of-the-Month Club was popular, as was Reader’s Digest magazine.

37. D. Celebrities and Heroes • Greta Garbo • Famous actress • Babe Ruth • Famous member of the Yankees, hit 60 home runs in 1927, 3rd all-time with 714 HR • Jim Thorpe • Olympian in track played baseball and football • Charles Lindbergh • First to fly non-stop from NY to Paris in 1927, took 33 ½ hours • Amelia Earhart • First woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean

39. E. Religion in the 1920s • Revivalism • Used Hollywood-style theatrics to preach against declining moral standards • Aimee Semple McPherson – Revivalist based in Los Angeles • Fundamentalism • Argued that traditional Christian doctrine should be accepted as written in the Bible without question

40. E. Religion in the 1920s • Scopes Trial – Dayton, TN – 1924 • Trial in small-town Tennessee against science teacher John Scopes, who broke state law by teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution • Clarence Darrow – Scopes’ lawyer hired by ACLU, attacked law as threat to free speech

41. E. Religion in the 1920s • William Jennings Bryan – Special guest prosecutor, Fundamentalist who disliked teaching of evolution • Verdict – Scopes found guilty and fined $100 • Predetermined decision, whole thing was essentially a publicity stunt • Result – Press accounts of trial portrayed Bryan as narrow-minded, fundamentalism starts to lose interest

45. CHAPTER 23 The Jazz Age Section 3 – A Creative Era

46. A. Music • Jazz – style of music that began with African Americans in South, took off during the 20s (Jazz Age) • Blues – Music that grew from slave music and religious spirituals, also ragtime from early 20th century • Bessie Smith – famous blues singer of the era, “Down Hearted Blues” • Louis Armstrong – jazz musician who adopted aspects of blues into his music • Jazz moves north – many top jazz musicians moved to Chicago and NY in 20s (Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Armstrong)

48. Music • Popularization of Jazz • What happened? Why did jazz become more popular across racial lines? • Cotton Club – famous jazz club in Harlem, patrons were white, performers black • Discrimination still exists • African Americans accepted in France after WWI

50. B. Harlem Renaissance • Growth of artistic creativeness among African Americans, NYC neighborhood • Theater • Received critical acclaim and increased popularity • Paul Robeson – NJ native • Literature • Style – work marked by bitterness and defiance but also hope and joy • Langston Hughes – everyday life • James Weldon Johnson – work would help civil rights