1920’S
The Roaring Twenties

Aims
Understand the relationship between cultural

expression and;
 Political,
 Social,
and
 Economic developments.
In your assignment you will

 Describe the work of a artist or cultural group
from the 1920s.
 Explain how they connect with the social and
political times.

Films set in the 1920s
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Chaplin (1992)

The Cat's Meow (2001)

The Mummy (1999)

Cabaret (1972)

The Untouchables (1987)


The 1920s
This was a time of growth, modernity, and

optimism. It was known as;
 The Jazz Age
 The Golden Age
 The Good Times Decade

Trends in the 1920s
Mass production

Mass media

Massive fame/celebrity

New morality

New music, movies and dances.


Homework
Find one person famous in the 1920s.

Post the following information to the Red

Space Rocket forum by Friday September 5.
 Name
 Dateof Birth
 What they were famous for.

Define
What is morality?

Give five example of media from 2008.

What does it mean to be famous?


After The War
The Great War had just

ended.
June 1919 - Treaty of

Versailles signed.
 Severe penalties for
Germany.
 Army limited to 100,000
men, lost all territories, pay
reparations.

In Australia
The soldiers came home

and people hoped life
would go back to normal.
Big spending on roads and

infrastructure.
 Governmentsborrowed
money from Britain to pay
for this.

In America
“Return to normalcy”

Isolationist view for America.

 Wanted to keep to themselves
“The chief business of the

American people is business.”

Great Wealth
The 1920s was a time when many people in

America did well.
Some were left out.

 Some farmers
 Migrants
 African Americans

Culture
New music including

Jazz.
New fashions including

the flapper fashion.
New dances such as

the Charleston.
New movies in colour

and with sound.
New roles for women

especially in the
workplace.

The Economy
New technologies from

the war.
Building boom.

Industrial growth.

Many could buy homes,

cars and appliances.
Personal and government

debt.
 Buy now, pay later.

Politics
Tariffs introduced in many countries to protect

manufacturing and farms.
Suspicion of unions and socialism.

Increase in Xenophobia.

 Fear of foreigners.

Questions
What is xenophobia?

What is socialism?

What does a tariff do to the price of something

imported?

Cars became affordable and
popular
Henry Ford sold 15 million Model T Fords by

1927.
Businesses such as petrol stations, motels

and making oil all boomed.

Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol

 The Volstead Act. 1919.
 32,000 speakeasies in New
York in the 1920s.
 Drinking cocktails popular in
upper classes.
 Prohibition repealed in
December 1933.

Side Effects of Prohibition
Organised Crime

Bootlegging

Gangs

Al Capone

 Famous gangster
 Known as “Scarface”.
 Convicted 1931 of tax evasion.

Al Capone

Activity
Write 2 of your own newspaper headlines

about activities associated with Prohibition.

Jazz
Americans bought more than 100 million

records in 1927.
More than 100 “territory” bands toured the

country playing at dances.
 The Deluxe Melody Boys
 Jesse Stone's Blue Serenaders
 Walter Page and his Blue Devils.
 Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy

Activity
Name your own 1920s style band.

 Your Name + Adjective + Noun

Reactions to Jazz
In small town America jazz

was an annoyance and
made morals loose.
Encouraged violence,

drunkenness and sexual
activity.
Professor Henry Van Dyck

of Princeton University.
 “it
is not music at all. It is
merely an irritation of the
nerves of hearing”

A Jazz Dance In Australia

Activity (in your workbook)
What music is considered

dangerous to morals
today?
 Give example of genres
and artists.
 What are behaviour do
critics claim this music
encourages?
 How much does this have
in common with the reaction
to jazz?

Famous composers and
musicians
Louis Armstrong

Irving Berlin

George Gershwin

Duke Ellington

Jelly Roll Morton

Al Jolson


Louis Armstrong

Duke Ellington

George Gershwin

Irving Berlin

Dancing – The Charleston
Popular in jazz clubs.

Vigorous and sexual

Believed to have originated with African

Americans.

The Charleston

Fashion and Flappers
Flapper behaviour. The

archetypal flapper;
A young women
 Dances in clubs at night.
 Smoked cigarettes.
 Rode bicycles and drove
cars.
 Drank alcohol openly.
 Cut her hair “boyishly” and
dyed it black.

The Flapper Look

Flapper Fashion
The “bob” haircut was popular.

Didn’t wear corsets or pantaloons.

Dresses were straight and loose.

Arms were bare.

Waistline dropped to the hips.

Rayon stockings were held up with

garter belts.
Skirt lines were sometimes almost up

to the knee.
A round hat called a cloche.

Wore make up, previously worn only

by actresses and prostitutes.

Activity
Draw a flapper.

 Labelwhich elements of flapper fashion are in
fashion now.

The Movies Come Alive
Mass production and improvements in

technology meant that more movies were
made and more people saw them. This meant
that films starts became nationally and
internationally famous.

The Movies Come Alive
Movie actors were very famous, adored and

well paid.
Famous actors included

 Rudolph Valentino
 Fatty Arbuckle
 Charlie Chaplin
 Buster Keaton
 Mary Pickford
 Douglas Fairbanks
 Lon Chaney

Rudolph Valentino

Buster Keaton

Charlie Chaplin

Mary Pickford

Fatty Arbuckle

Films popular in Australia
Fears that family life was

being eroded.
Most films silent, the first talky,

The Jazz Singer, shown in
Australia in 1929.
Influx of American films in the

1920 effectively killed
Australian cinema industry.

Radio very popular in Australia
The Wireless was very

popular.
 First regular broadcasts in
1923.
 Listeners paid a licence to
listen.
 290,000 issued by 1929.
 Broadcasting licences
managed by the
Postmaster-General’s
Department.
 Australian Broadcasting
Corporation created in

Sportsmen were Stars in
America
“Big Five” sporting icons of the Roaring

Twenties
 Babe Ruth (baseball)
 Jack Dempsey (boxing)
 Red Grange (college football)
 Bill Tilden (tennis)
 Bobby Jones (golf)

Babe Ruth

Jack Dempsey

Focus: Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey

 Heavyweight boxer
 Held the title from 1919 – 1926
 His record
 83 Fights
 62 Wins
 50 KOs
 6 Losses
 9 Draws

Cultural and Political clash
Tradition versus Modern life.

The Scopes Monkey trial

 Also known as the Monkey Trial
 Conflict between evolutionists and creationists but
also rural and urban America.

In Australia
Australia experienced many of the same

trends as America.

Popular Sports in Australia
Football

Cricket

Boxing

Horse racing

Running

Cycling

Wrestling

Attending sport was not expensive.


Politics: Changes for Women
Changes for women

 Women in the workforce under pressure to go
back to the home once the war was over.
 1920: Mrs Mary Rodgers becomes Australia’s first
female councillor.
 1921: Edith Cowan elected to West Australian
House of Representatives.
 Pushed through legislation to allow women to work in
the legal profession.
 1922: Melbourne: The Industrial Court of Appeal
rejects concept of equal pay for women

Flight in Australia
Record-setting pilots were

heroes.
 Ross and Keith Smith
 Bert Hinkler
 Charles Kingsford Smith
QANTAS begins

passenger service in
1922.
The Flying Doctor started

in 1928.

Charles Kingsford Smith

Focus: Charles Kingsford Smith
Born 1897

Earned his wings with the Royal Flying Corp in

1917.
Worked as a stunt flyer or barnstormer in the USA

before returning to Australia.
Made the first Trans-Pacific flight from California

to Brisbane in 1928.
Flew over the Tasman Sea to New Zealand

Non-stop from Melbourne to Perth.

Won the England to Australia flying race in 1930.


Economy: Money in Australia
Weekly wages in 1929

 Bricklayer$12.50
 Shop assistant $9.00, women $5.80
 Nurse $4.80
Prices in 1929

 Butter 24c for 500 grams
 Petrol 4.1 cents per litre.
 Rent for a four bedroom house $2.00

Activity
Estimate the 2008 value of;

 The weekly wages for a bricklayer
 500 grams of butter
 1 litre of petrol
 Weekly rent for a four bedroom house.

Cars in Australia
Cars became more popular

75 thousand cars in 1920

 230 thousand cars in 1925
 540 thousand cars in 1929
Activity

Produce a column graph for car ownership in these

years.

Cars in Australia
Local production

Ford started making cars in Geelong in

1925.
General Motors started in Australia in

1926.
Cars were still expensive.

The smallest car, the Austin 7, cost

more than the average wage for a
whole year.
Activity

How does your social life and general

life change when you have a car?
Name five things in full sentences.


Politics in Australia
1927: Federal Parliament sits for the first time

in Canberra, the nation’s capital.
 Parliamentopened by the Duke of York (later
King George VI)
 There were 15,000 invited guests.
 Canberra has just 6,000 residents in 1927.
Nationalist PM Stanley Bruce 1923 to 1929.


The 20s in Germany
Germany fails to make war reparation

payments.
The French and the Belgians take the Ruhr

region.
The German Government advocated and

funds passive resistance.
 Prints money to cover this.
 This lead to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation
People with mortgages saw their debt wiped

out.
Middle class people with savings found them

without value.
Old people found their pensions worthless.

This makes the economy and society

unstable.

Social Changes in Germany
Women, Gender and Sex

 Increase in prostitution.
 Gender bending common in theatre and cabaret.
 Women smoked and wore trousers.
 Flappers were common
Really decadent society.

Indoor bathrooms.


Hitler’s Early Efforts
Hitler attempts to seize power in Bavaria in

1923.
 Gets only five years in prison for his treason.

Activity
Give an example from the 1920s of each of

these trends
 Mass production
 Mass media
 Massive fame/celebrity
 New morality
 New music, movies and dances.