Entertainment Angela Brown Chapter 17 Section 2 1
Popular Amusement in the late 1800s Rural – leisure special celebrations Laborers – when off the clock wanted inexpensive entertainment after hours Saloons most popular gathering places (ethnic ties and political alliances) 1900 NY population 3,437,202 had 10,000 saloons 2
Women attended dance halls and cabarets – watched musical shows and dance latest dances Trolley parks – amusement parks built at end of trolley lines moving pictures – 1903 – The Great Train Robbery 1908 – 8,000 nickelodeons Theaters were set up in converted stores or warehouses (nickel admission) Slap-stick comedies and other films 200,000 daily 3
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Vaudeville 1870 inexpensive variety show Comic sketches on ethic or racial humor, song – and dance routines, ventriloquists, jugglers, and trapeze artists Strictly for families 5
Sports Boxing and horse racing widely enjoyed Baseball most popular 1860 firefighters, police officers, teachers formed baseball clubs in cities 1869 nation’s 1st true professional team Cincinnati Red Stockings formed 1870’s best players paid 6
Native Americans and white immigrants in most popular leagues – African Americans included only a short time Segregated leagues until 1940s Football – adapted from European game of Rugby in 1880s by Walter Camp 1891 basketball invented – only sport American in origin by Dr. James Naismith of Springfield Mass. – PE instructor 7
Women – ice skating/bicycling – brought about changes in women’s clothing Women athlete’s abandoned corsets – used shirtwaists (ready made blouses) tucked into shorter or split skirts 8
Women played b-ball with less demanding rules – hard physical exertion said to be unhealthy for women Gymnastics and swimming – black cotton stockings under short dresses or bloomers 9
Newspapers 1800 newspaper became entertainment – larger more interesting publications yellow journalism – a reference to the ink used to popular comic strips “sensational” news coverage to gain readers. 2.6 to 15.1 million copies –
Journalists Joseph Pulitzer – sought to expose “all fraud and shame, fight all public evils and abuses William Randolph Hearst – NY Journal 9/94/Joseph_Pulitzer.jpg/300px-Joseph_Pulitzer.jpg 11
Magazines and Popular Fiction 1879 law lowering postal rates for periodicals helped boost circulation (McClure’s, Cosmopolitan, Munsey’s) Horatio Alger’s – Ragged Dick – characters rags to riches American Dream Samuel Longhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) – wrote about corrupt side of Gilded Age in The Gilded Age – began trend of using novels as a vehicle for social protest 12
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) – tales of Mississippi River Life captivated audiences Other authors: Sarah Orne Jewett, Bret Harte, George Washington Cable, Joel Harris, Kate Chopin, Edward Eggleston, O. Henry 13
The Negro Spiritual Fisk Jubilee Singers – tour to raise money for their school (U.S., England, Europe) Queen Victoria had group portrait of them painted. Acquired characteristics of European musical tradition. Identified as an American Art form. 14
Minstrel Shows White actors imitated African American music, dance and humor in exaggerated form. Racial stereotypes – performed in “black face” African Americans also performed – only stage work they could get 15
Ragtime and Jazz Ragtime – originated by black musicians in saloons, melodies steady marching band beat Scott Joplin composer “Maple-Leaf Rag” 1899 Jazz – musical culture of New Orleans By 1915, Jazz was becoming a national passion. 16