Amy T Peterson, Valerie Hewitt, Heather Vaughan, et al
Page 12
painting’s proper name. Most people recognize the painting as Whistler’s
Mother.
The 1910s represented a fertile period of new technologies in photog-
raphy. In 1912, a process was developed that would allow color pictures to
be developed. This led to what Kodak called ‘‘Kodachrome’’ and further
revolutionized photography. Photography also contributed to the motion
picture industry when it developed a way of making moving pictures.
LITERATURE AND MUSIC
The censoring of literature that emerged in the 1900s continued in the
1910s. Authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald were eager to create stories
that the youths of America wanted to read, but they had to worry about
censorship. This made creativity and innovation difficult. Many magazine
articles, books, nickelodeons, films, and even newspapers were subject to
censorship. What was permissible was different from community to com-
munity, which made it hard for authors to appeal to a wide audience.
Increased availability of transportation and a more reliable mail system
allowed a variety of materials to be seen by anyone who wanted to see
them. A person might have to travel to another city or county to do it,
but they were available. Because the automobile was becoming increas-
ingly popular, it was not difficult for anyone who really wanted to find a
censored book to do so. Many popular authors of the time were Edith
Wharton, Willa Cather, Jack London, Zane Grey, T. S. Eliot (who wrote
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in 1915), Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg,
and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Music, especially in New York City, started to cross cultures. Up to
this point, most music stayed within the culture in which it was written.
With the popularity of music produced in Tin Pan Alley and the spread
of the phonograph, ethnic music became American music. Irish songs
such as ‘‘My Wild Irish Rose’’ (1899), ‘ When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’’
(1912), and ‘‘Danny Boy’ (1913) became popular throughout the country.
Irish music was not the only popular ethnic music.
African-American music entered the mainstream with the publication
of the blues song ‘‘Memphis Blues’’ in 1912. The song was originally writ-
ten to attract attention to a local election in Memphis, Tennessee. The
sheet music for the song sold out in three days, but the store told the
composer, William Christopher Handy, that the song was a failure.
He sold the rights to the song for $50 (Handy 1991, 108). When he dis-
covered that he had been swindled, Handy wrote several other songs that
The 1910s
63
became at least as popular as his first song. The blues quickly became part
of American music.
The blues, a bit of ragtime, and other components of African-
American music, combined with a touch of the classical music of Europe
and the United States, would ultimately lead to the creation of jazz.
Depending on one’s definition of jazz, the style began in the early 1900s
or developed in the 1920s. The seeds, however, of what would become a
distinctive musical style were mostly collected in the early years of the
twentieth century.
THEATER AND MOVIES
The second decade of the new millennium also brought with it a won-
drous form of entertainment: the movie theater. The first movies, starting
in about 1902, were essentially short films of a variety of topics, but they
were rapidly developing. The first feature-length motion picture
was Queen Elizabeth, in 1912, staring Sarah Bernhardt. Some movies
were serialized, as in The Perils of Pauline, or comedies with such stars as
Charlie Chaplin.
Mary Pickford became famous in 1901 and was one of the first movie
stars. Called ‘America’s Sweetheart,’’ she seemed to be the kind of young
woman everyone wanted young women to be. Her popularity grew along
with the popularity of movies. Originally a minor actress on Broadway,
she earned $25 a week until about 1910. That year, she was lured to Hol-
lywood for the unheard-of salary of $175 per week. By 1915, her salary
had been raised from $1,000 to $2,000 per week plus 50 percent of the
profits (Lowrey 1920, 157), all without saying a word for the camera.
In 1914, William Fox cast an actress named Theda Bara in a movie
about a woman with an uninhibited (for the time) sexual appetite. Bara’s
character led to the coining of the term ‘ vamp.’’ She had used the term to
discuss a character in a vampire movie, but the term stuck to her. It came
to mean a woman who had a mind of her own, actually enjoyed men and
sex, and would do as she pleased.
Almost overnight movies became popular, and the actors and actresses
in these productions became household names. The concept of a movie
star quickly emerged from this new medium. Actresses became very influ-
ential in transforming fashion and attitudes. Women wanted to copy the
dress, hair style, and opinions of their favorite star.
Some stars, such as Lillian Russell, helped to change lifestyles in a
slightly different way. She loved the freedom a bicycle gave her. She did
not like the restrictions found in fancy clothes, corsets, and yards of
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
material in skirts. She adopted a simpler style of dress, and women every-
where began to follow her lead. Russell was also willing to tell people
what she thought of just about anything, and many people would copy
her style, hoping to be like her.
One of the reasons for the popularity of the early movies was one of
its limitations: the movies had no sound. By today’s standards, that would
be a problem. When many large cities had a large immigrant population,
the action on the screen could be followed by anyone regardless of his or
her native language. A Russian could be seated next to a Chinese immi-
grant and both of them could understand the movie equally well. The
movies were one of the most popular forms of entertainment for the poor
who could not afford anything else. This egalitarianism was not deliber-
ate, but it did encourage the growth of this form of entertainment.
This popularity created a new industry. Hollywood learned quickly
that sex sells, and it produced many movies that incited conservative
groups. Many of these movies featured enticing temptresses like Theda
Bara rather than ‘‘good girls’’ like Mary Pickford.
Interestingly, Thomas Edison claimed that the movie studios had to
pay him a royalty for using the cameras he invented. The studios found
an easy way to dodge this expense. If a producer or movie studio was
afraid of going over budget for a film, the film crew would leave and fin-
ish the film in Mexico, only about one hundred miles away, to avoid pay-
ing the royalty.
During the 1910s, musical theater was a popular form of entertain-
ment. As movies got longer and longer, musical theater productions were
adapted for film. Florenz Ziegfeld created a group called the ‘‘Follies
Girls,’’ which was made up of young women who would dance to some of<
br />
the popular music. Although the Follies Girls debuted on Broadway, it
made a very successful transition to film. What astounded many was the
dress, or lack of it, of the young women. They were a hit and would
remain so for many years. Many young women would dream of becoming
a Follies Girl. Some of them wanted to be seen because many of the early
ones married millionaires, but Follies Girls were also well paid. In a dec-
ade when the average annual salary was $750, a Follies Girl could earn
$75 a week (Mizejewski 1999).
After the United States declared war in 1917, the young movie indus-
try and the thriving theaters put their talent and energy into the war
effort. Many productions were blatantly patriotic and served as propa-
ganda. One production was named The Barbarous Hun and was meant to
portray the Germans poorly. Other movies were used to get people
involved in some form of help for the soldiers. At some point, just about
all popular actors and actresses were selling Liberty Bonds. Many could
sell thousands of dollars of bonds during one performance of a play. Other
The 1910s
65
The Silent Screen Star. In the 1910s,
biographies, letters to the editor, and
silent movies became a national obses-
popularity contests. Many times, the
sion, and film actors and actresses such as
content of these magazines were filled
Theda Bara, Rudolph Valentino, and, in
with stories manufactured by studios.
1920, Clara Bow, became stars. Studios
Even newspapers included tidbits about
worked to promote their new stars by
the upcoming roles of popular actors and
blurring the lines between the character
actresses.
and actor. The movie studio transformed
During the 1910s, movies were often
the actress Theodosia Goodman, the
called photo plays, and individual writers
daughter of a Cincinnati tailor, into the
were called on to write 100 150 stories
exotic Theda Bara, the daughter of a
a year. Usually, they created stories
French artist and his Arabian mistress.
‘ made to order’’ to promote a certain
Studios fueled the fixation on their
actor or actress, but sometimes they
stars by creating fan materials, including
had to incorporate a specific locale or an
lobby cards, trade photos, and even
animal
the
studio
had
purchased
Dixie cup tops. Fan magazines became
(New York Times, August 3, 1913). The
popular among movie goers. Two maga-
obsession with movies and stars may
zines, Motion Picture Story and Photoplay,
have launched in the 1910s, but it would
were founded in 1911. Fan magazines
grow to new heights in the following
were filled with plot synopses, star
decades.
Actress Clara Bow in a sultry pose. [Library of Congress]
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
stars could be seen rolling bandages or doing some form of activity to en-
courage Americans to work toward the war effort. Many actors and musi-
cians took to the road, volunteering their time and talent to raise money
for the Red Cross.
T H E
1920S
ART MOVEMENTS
A number of art movements and artists continued from the previous dec-
ade through the 1920s and beyond. Both Dadaism and cubism were
movements of the previous decade, begun in response to WWI. They
directly influenced the surrealist movement that began in the 1920s.
The Wiener Werkstatte, an Arts and Crafts workshop in Vienna, was
established in the early 1900s around the notion of the ‘‘Gesamt-
kunstwerk,’’ a total work of art that integrates ‘ all of the various design
elements in a single aesthetic environment’ (Kallie 1986). The craftspeo-
ple and artists who contributed to the work created fabrics, clothing,
ceramics, jewelry, and furniture. Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, and
Dagobert Peche were all members of the group. In 1921, the Wiener
Werstatte opened a branch in New York, although it faced difficulties by
the 1920s and had disbanded by the early 1930s.
DeStijl (meaning ‘‘the style’’) was a collective founded by Dutch artist
Theo van Doesburg in 1917. Lasting through the twenties, this move-
ment was also often referred to as Neo-Plasticism and incorporated the
strict use of geometric shapes in architecture, painting, and sculpture. The
most well-known DeStijl artist was painter Piet Mondrian. In the 1920s,
Mondrian continued to develop his distinct geometric style.
The most well-known painters of this era were generally moving from
one style toward a new idiom. Henri Matisse, who had experimented with
cubism early on, continued to explore a modernist style. Cubism origina-
tor Pablo Picasso began to move towards surrealism during the 1920s,
although his interest in a variety of interrelated styles makes him difficult
to pin down (Cole and Gealt 1989). Georgia O’Keefe, who worked with
photographer Alfred Stieglitz, developed a style that focused on female
sexuality during this era.
Many of the art movements to come out of the 1920s were based on
grand exhibitions that encompassed a variety of disciplines. Art deco is
one of the major styles to come out of the 1920s. A kind of geometric
The 1920s
67
abstraction, this style was first introduced at the Arts Decoratifs et Indus-
triels Moderns held in Paris in 1925. It is from this exhibit that the style
derived its name. Architecture, industrial design, graphic arts, and fashion
design of the 1920s frequently reflect the art deco aesthetic. The United
States saw a rise in its popularity during the 1930s and into the 1940s.
The Bauhaus, a modernist art school based in Germany, lasted from
1919 to 1933. Architect Walter Gropius founded the school to teach
architecture, arts, crafts, theater, typography, weaving, and other applied
arts. His intention was to create functional, classic architecture that could
be easily produced by machine. Professors included Paul Klee and Wassily
Kandinsky, who would become more well known as artists in the 1930s.
Architect and designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had been the
head of the Deutscher Werkbund in the 1920s, was director of the Bau-
haus from 1930 until it succumbed to political pressure from the Nazis
and closed in 1933.
Art and fashion frequently mingled during the 1920s, often with the
artist choosing to branch out into fashion. Cubist painter Sonia Delaunay
was one such individual, as were many of the Russian Constructivists,
such as Varvara Stepanova. (Cole and Gealt 1989).
Fashion photography also came into its own during this period, having
largely replaced illustration in fashion magazines by 1925. The photo-
graphs of Baron de Meyer, Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Cecil Beaton,
and George Hoyningen-Huene were most often used in the pages of
>
Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar to use avant-garde styles to display the fashions
of the day (Mendes and De La Haye 1999).
MUSIC AND LITERATURE
Although the 1920s is most often recognized as the Jazz Era, classical
music retained an avid following as well. Modernism extended into the
musical world, and Claude Debussy was regarded as ‘ ultra-modern.’’
Another ‘ modernist’ composer who came to the fore in the twenties was
Igor Stravinsky, who took much inspiration from Bach. The French
musician Erik Satie had become a major force in the classical world by
1922. Another innovative French group of the twenties was Les Six and
consisted of Louis Durey, Germaine Tailleferre, Francis Poulenc, Arthur
Honneger, Darius Milhaud, and Geroges Auric. They worked with Jean
Cocteau to develop their unique sound.
Popular music of the twenties was dominated by jazz, at first limited
to the African-American community and slowly branching out to the
world at large. Although jazz is generally considered to be a U.S.
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
invention, it found audiences the world over, especially in Paris. Initially
played in small clubs, especially in Chicago and Harlem, it eventually
made its way to big bands and Broadway. Artists such as Jelly Roll
Morton, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway and blues
chanteuses such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey have since become
legends in the genre. Dancing was popular as an evening activity, and one
of the most well known of the social dances was the Charleston, which
was born when a song was published under this title (Andrist 1970).
The 1920s saw the rise of some of the prominent American writers.
‘ The Lost Generation’ included Gertrude Stein, who coined the phrase,
Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, and Sinclair
Lewis, among others. During this time, expatriate Ernest Hemingway
published The Sun Also Rises, which made the best-sellers list. F. Scott
Fitzgerald, perhaps the voice of his generation, produced This Side of Par-
adise. Both Hemingway and Fitzgerald focused on postwar youth. Sinclair
Lewis’ Main Street and Babbitt, of the early twenties, were two of the
most popular novels of the decade. Although he refused it, Lewis was
awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith in 1925.
A number of other prominent novelists developed during the decade.