The 1920s Boom Times and Pop Culture

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The 1920sBoom Times and Pop Culture

• OBJS
• Discuss the factors that led to the economic boom
  of the 1920s.
• Explain how consumerism increased during this
  period.
• Explain the changes in life in the 1920s.
• Evaluate the extent that the majority of womens
  lives changed in the 1920s.

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Bellringer

• Compare the ads from the next slide
• 1920s emerging consumerism
• 2008 ad

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Consumerism
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Intro

• The war is over what will the factories produce?

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1. And 2. -Characteristics of the Economy and
Boom Times

• Prosperity and Productivity
• Factors
• Republican Pro-business stance
• Abundant supplies of energy
• Wealth concentrated in a few
• Demand for new electrical appliances
• New wonder materials plastic, rayon, acetate,
  etc

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Factors cont

• The Assembly Line
• Ex Henry Ford and the Model T production
  costs decreased/supply increased

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Impact of the assembly line on the Auto industry

• Large Corporations formed
• Small Corporations went out of business
• The Big Three remained Ford, General Motors and
  Chrysler
• Auto Cos in 1920s Americas largest business
• What role did the Republicans play in this?

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Changes in Work

• Assembly line decreased skilled labor jobs
• Shorter workdays/Higher wages
• Frederick W. Taylor and scientific management
  created white collar management jobs
• Power of Labor Unions decreased

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Domestic change

• Housewives reduced of housekeepers and
  delivery people took over the jobs with
  electrical appliances and autos

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What changes occurred in America due to the
increased of Autos?
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• 400 K miles of highways built
• Public Transportation Decreased
• Decreased population of inner cities/Growth of
  the suburbs
• More contact between the rural and urban
  Americans
• Camping trips
• Decreased Sense of Neighborliness
• Teenagers more freedom
• Pollution/Traffic Jams/ Parking Problems
• Increased Accident Rate

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Creating Consumers

• To keep America growing we must keep America
  working, and to keep America working we must keep
  them wanting wanting more than the bare
  necessities wanting the luxury and frills that
  make life so much more worthwhile, and
  installment selling makes it easier to keep
  Americans wanting. (p. 651)

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Advertising

• Played on peoples hopes and fears
• Celebrity pitches
• Jingles and slogans
• Chain Stores (A P)
• Merchandising
• Easy credit/installment plan

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Life in the 1920s

• Popular Entertainment
• Radio
• Programs
• Music
• Advertisements

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3. Intolerance

• Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
• Resurgence of the KKK
• Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924

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4. Moral Issues of the Time

• The New Woman
• Fundamentalism
• Prohibition

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Moral Issues/The New Woman

• Flappers no corsets, shorter skirts and hair
  (bobs), transparent hose, wore make up, drove
  cars and many smoked
• Minority and NOT the IDEAL!
• Had social and economic freedoms

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(No Transcript)
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Movies

• Lavish theaters

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• Silent Movies (Valentino, Chaplin, and Garbo)
• 1927 Talkies begin

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Celebrities and Heroes

• Rudolph Valentino

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Babe Ruth
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Helen Wills
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Gertrude Ederle
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Jim Thorpe
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Closure

• Read and discuss p. 657