Mass Media/Jazz Age

Objective Analyze the impact of the growth of the nation’s mass media Identify some of the major figures of the Jazz age Show how the Lost Generation and the Harlem renaissance influenced American culture

Key Vocabulary Mass Media Jazz Age Lost Generation Harlem Renaissance Print/broadcast methods of communicating information to large numbers of people period in the 1920s, in which jazz music and dance became popular, mainly in the United States. Group of writers of the 1920’s who shared the belief that they were lost in a greedy, materialistic world that lacked moral values African American literary awakening of the 1920’s, centered in Harlem (NY City)

Mass Media New and improved methods of film, print, and broadcasting created the birth of mass media, communication with large audiences. Film and radio broadcasting became more popular during the era.

Movies Between 1910 to 1930 the number of movie theaters rose from 5,000 to 22,500. Moviemaking became the fourth largest business in the country by Hollywood became moviemaking capital of America. Early movies were silent, The Jazz Singer becomes the first successful sound film, a “talkie”.

Newspapers and Magazines Newspaper print and circulation roughly doubled between 1914 and Profits, not quality, drove newspaper publishers. Tabloids, papers with large headlines, few words and many pictures, became popular. William Randolph Hearst said he wanted 90% entertainment, 10% information. Magazines also rose in popularity Saturday Evening Post, Reader’s Digest, and Time

Radio In 1920, engineer Frank Conrad set up a radio transmitter in his garage and began sending recorded music and baseball scores over the radio. Response was so positive it became the first commercial radio station, Pittsburgh KDKA. By 1922, there were more than 500 stations on the air.

The Jazz Age “(Jazz was) an expression of the times, of the breathless, energetic, superactive times in which we are living.” -Leopold Stokowski “Jazz objectifies America… a group of people can come together and create art, improvised art, and can negotiate their agendas with each other.” -Wynton Marsalis

Jazz Arrives Jazz music grew out of African American music of the South, a mixture of ragtime and blues. Jazz becomes a nationwide craze. Young people loved dancing to jazz music, causing some opposition to the new sound. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age

Jazz Clubs and Dance Halls Harlem becomes a popular Jazz area, with roughly 500 jazz clubs. Many upscale clubs were attended primarily by wealthy whites, but the jazz was played almost exclusively by African Americans. Most popular of jazz dance forms was “the Charleston”, a wild, reckless dance full of kicks and twists and pivots.

Louis Armstrong Most important and influential figure in Jazz history. Grew up in New Orleans, where he learned to sing and play trumpet. His skill, improvisation, showmanship, and new “scat” singing made him a huge hit.

“Duke” Ellington Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington performed in NYC. “Duke” was a pianist, band leader, an arranger, and a composer. Wrote over a thousand pieces in his career.

The Jazz Spirit Jazz spirit ran through all the arts of the 1920s. People spoke of “jazz poetry” or “jazz painting”. More than a genre of music, “jazz” became an identity and characteristic.

Painting Georgia O’Keeffe painted naturalistic scenes like flowers, landscapes, and oceans.

Literature Sinclair Lewis- attacked American society through his writings. “savorless people, gulping tasteless food, and sitting afterward, coatless and thoughtless, in rocking-chairs prickly with inane decorations, listening to mechanical music, saying mechanical things about the excellence of Ford automobiles, and viewing themselves as the greatest race in the world.” –Sinclair Lewis, Main Street (1920) Eugene O’Neill- play writer; wrote dark, poetic tragedies.

The Lost Generation Many writers found postwar America materialistic, and unintellectual. These writers and artists left the U.S. for Europe, many in Paris, France, where they produced many of their classics. Coined a “Lost Generation” of writers, the group included E.E. Cummings, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Right: Hemingway

The Harlem Renaissance Harlem, NYC served not just as a center for jazz music, but also gave birth to an African American literary, artistic, and cultural awakening. This movement was called the Harlem Renaissance. Renaissance is French for rebirth.

Langston Hughes Most famous of these African American writers was poet Langston Hughes. A Dream Deferred What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

Other Art Inspired by Jazz Like jazz musicians, painters in the 1920s took the pulse of American life. Painters such as Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent showed the nation’s rougher side; Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings of natural objects suggested something larger than themselves. Painting Novelist Sinclair Lewis attacked American society with savage irony; playwright Eugene O’Neill proved that American plays could hold their own against those from Europe. Literature Gertrude Stein remarked to Ernest Hemingway that he and other American writers were all a “Lost Generation,” a group of people disconnected from their country and its values. Soon, this term was taken up by the flappers as well. The Lost Generation The Jazz Spirit

Which of these best describes how the growth of mass media affected American culture? (A)It allowed local cultural traditions to flourish. (B)It made learning the Charleston easier. (C)It spread the work of Lost Generation writers. (D)It helped create a common American popular culture. What was the Harlem Renaissance? (A)A style of jazz music (B)An African American literary awakening (C)An increase in the popularity of newspapers and magazines (D)A type of jazz club found in Harlem

Which of these best describes how the growth of mass media affected American culture? (A)It allowed local cultural traditions to flourish. (B)It made learning the Charleston easier. (C)It spread the work of Lost Generation writers. (D)It helped create a common American popular culture. What was the Harlem Renaissance? (A)A style of jazz music (B)An African American literary awakening (C)An increase in the popularity of newspapers and magazines (D)A type of jazz club found in Harlem

How did the mass media help create common cultural experiences? Why are the 1920s called the Jazz Age, and how did the jazz spirit affect the arts? How did the writers of the Lost Generation respond to the popular culture? What subjects did the Harlem Renaissance writers explore?