US Society- RoaringTwenties (1919-1929)

US Society- RoaringTwenties (1919-1929)

1. Advertising

   • Billboard/Newspaper/Magazine/Radio
     • By 1925 - 2.7 mil families had radios
       • "keeping up with the neighbours" ideology arrived
       • Companies paid by the minute to spread product
   • Large factor in Roaring Twenties
     • Increased popularity of Movies/Jazz Age ect
   • Increased fame of Movie/Sports stars
     • Made hollywood desirable
     • Famous stars paid huge amounts
       • Mary Pickford paid $10,000 a week
         • When weekly average was $13

2. Jazz Age

   • Determined to have fun after War
     • Possible due to short working hours- large wages
   • New music and Dancing was all the rage
     • Charleston and Black Bottom dance
     • Became almost only way for blacks to be sucessful
       • Blacks moved from south for less racism
   • Very popular during prohibition
     • Speakeasies

3. Movies

   • Most important Leisure Activity of the 1920s
     • After the war, movies exploded
       • 1922- Cinemas made $4 mil a week in ticket sales
       • Advertised by Radios
     • People soon wanted cars , homes and clothes like the movie stars
     • Gave chances for immigrants to follow American Dream
       • Ie. Charlie Chaplin
   • Immorality of Movies
     • Critics assumed people would follow in movie footsteps
       • Argued that movies lower moral standards
         • By showing cheating and alcohol
         • In 1930- Hays Code published
           • "No picture shall be produced that will lower moral standards of those who see it"

4. Sports

   • Baseball/Boxing/Golf became very popular
     • Extra sign of prosperity- attending sports fixtures
       • SPORTS PEOPLE (Babe Ruth) became household names due to advertisment

5. Flappers

   • What were flappers
     • Fashionable young women
     • Hair cut short
     • Short dresses
     • Lots of makeup
     • Usually wealthy
       • Had jobs to spend on fun
   • Impact on USA
     • Shocked many older religious or rural people
       • Because far more independent that usual
     • Women got vote in 1920
       • Gain of power in society
     • Only benefitted upper middle class / rural class could not afford lifestyle