by The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through American History 1900 to the Present (pdf)
Out of Greenwich Village in New York City some talented literary fig-
ures emerged, including Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser, and Sherwood
Anderson. Aldous Leonard Huxley published Crome Yellow at the age of
28 and James Joyce released his epic, Ulysses. Other literary figures of the
decade included Nobel Prize winners George Bernard Shaw and Thomas
Mann as well as poets Ezra Pound and Jean Cocteau. The public also pre-
ferred popular works such as James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen and John
Erskine’s The Private Life of Helen of Troy. Imported novels were also pop-
ular, especially Michael Arlen’s The Green Hat, which depicted stylish
London life. This work was so popular that it was turned into a stage play
staring Leslie Howard.
THEATER AND MOVIES
The American theatrical world was still riding high in the 1920s. The
films of Hollywood had not yet completely eclipsed the popularity of the
Great White Way. Notable performers included Billie Burke, the wife of
Florenz Ziegfled Jr., and John Barrymore, whose most famous stage role
was as Hamlet in London. He, like many others including Billie Burke,
would later make a successful move into the film world. Another actress
and stage manager, Grace George, performed in George Bernard Shaw’s
Major Barbara and the comedy The Ruined Lady. Alfred Lunt and Lynn
The 1920s
69
Fontanne were members of the Theatre Guild and performed in many of
Shaw’s plays, including Arms of the Man and Pygmalion, to much critical
acclaim and audience enthusiasm.
The Green Hat, which had first been a successful novel, was produced
for the stage in 1925 and starred the stage actress Katharine Cornell. She
later became the first major American to form a repertory company. Not
to be outdone, Eve Le Gallienne founded the Civic Repertory Theatre
in New York in 1926.
In terms of theatrical dance, options abounded. Modern or interpre-
tive, ballet, and even burlesque styles were popular with the theater-going
public. Isadora Duncan became famous for her Grecian-style dancing and
costume. Rodin went so far as to say, ‘ The brilliance of her spirit makes
the glory of the Parthenon live again’ (Richardson 1982, 58). Ballet Rusee
dancers Bronislava Nijinska and Leonie Massine not only danced but
acted as choreographers in the early twenties. Ruth St. Denis was an
American ballerina who ‘‘reflected the soul of India’ (Richardson 1982,
94). She and husband Ted Shawn were founders of the Denishawn dance
schools in New York and Los Angeles. Fannie Brice, star of the Ziegfeld
Follies, performed to acclaimed review throughout the decade. Two of the
most famous paired dancers of the era, Adele and Fred Astaire, gained
much notoriety while performing on Broadway.
A number of important milestones of film history occurred in the
1920s. Films were silent until ‘‘talkies’’ began with The Jazz Singer starring
Al Jolson in 1927. Before sound was added, dialog would appear as text
on the screen, and a live piano player or band would provide musical ac-
companiment. In 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony was held to
honor achievements in films from 1927 and 1928. The famous actor
Douglas Fairbanks hosted the event. During the 1920s, tragedies, war
movies, epics, and horror films were popular, as were comedies, westerns,
romances, and later musicals.
The most well-known comedy players included Charlie Chaplin,
Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and members of Mack Sennett’s company.
Popular actresses from the early years of the twenties included Clara Bow,
Mary Pickford, the exotic Pola Negri, and flappers Louise Brooks and
Colleen Moore. In the later twenties, actresses such as Greta Garbo,
Claudette Colbert, and Jean Harlow began their rise to stardom. By the
end of the decade, Gloria Swanson was the highest paid woman in the
world (Richardson 1982). The first real heartthrob, Rudolph Valentino,
was extremely popular until his untimely death in 1926. Adventure star
Douglas Fairbanks and cowboys like Tom Mix grew in popularity, helping
to establish the action genre as an early favorite.
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
Films had a huge impact on both the industry and their audiences,
especially if they were epics made by Cecil B. de Mille or D. W. Griffith.
Erich von Stroheim’s Greed left a lasting impression, as did King Vidor’s
Big Parade. Foreign horror films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and
Nosferatu expanded audience’s imaginations and stretched actors’ skills.
Other famous films of this era include the futuristic Metropolis, the drama
Sunrise, Greta Garbo’s Anna Christie, and The Taming of the Shrew, star-
ring husband and wife team Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
RADIO
During the 1920s, radio developed significantly as a medium. Before ra-
dio had been established, rural areas were more isolated and less aware of
national events and trends. In 1920, the first commercial radio station
(KDKA) was established by the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pitts-
burgh by Robert Conrad. Westinghouse planned to create demand for
their newly engineered commercial radio equipment through programs.
Initially, the sets were small, cheap crystal sets, but, as popularity grew,
large console sets were sold as living room furniture pieces. In 1920, the
first news station went on the air. By the end of 1921, there were ten ra-
dio stations, and, in 1922, ninety more went on the air. By 1925, 50 mil-
lion people were listening on these sets. By 1927, listeners across the
country had access to both local and national programming. Amazingly,
the first car radio had been designed by 1928, but its reception was too
poor and its design was too bulky to be commercially viable (Kyvig 2002;
Andrist 1970).
This larger audience necessitated greater governmental regulation and
control. In response, Congress established the Federal Radio Commission
(which later became the Federal Communications Commission) as a part
of the Radio Act of 1927. This act acknowledged that airwaves belonged
to the people and that the government must be responsible for managing
them in the common interest (Kyvig 2002).
Even in the early twenties, radio helped to link urban and rural areas
with common information and entertainment. KDKA’s first program
reported that Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge had won the pres-
idential election. The station’s early programs attracted more than 6,000
listeners by 1920, who tuned in for the vocal and musical broadcasts.
Their schedule also began to be printed in the local newspaper (Kyvig
2002).
As time went on, competition built, with NBC establishing a station
in 1926. With an estimated audience of 12 million, their first broadcast
The 1930s
71
included performances by musical acts such as the New York Orchestra
and a soprano from Chicago, as well as comedian Will Rogers.
Generally, radio in the 1920s included a wide variety of programming,
including
news and weather reports, religious programming, music, edu-
cational and children’s programming, as well as recorded music and live
performances. In general, some of the most popular programs included
‘‘Real Folks’’ with Agnes Moorehead, along with sportscasts by Graham
McNamee, the news with Floyd Gibbons, and comedian Jack Pearl. Edu-
cational programming included exercise instruction, auto repair, baby care,
and health care.
Sports broadcasts were especially popular and from the start had
drawn large audiences. The boxing match between the American Jack
Dempsey and the Frenchman Georges Carpentier was broadcast over ra-
dio in July 1921. It was heard by approximately 300,000 people, at least
100,000 of those gathered in New York’s Times Square to listen via loud-
speakers (Kyvig 2002).
Musical programming was also popular. Radio helped jazz and country
music to reach greater numbers and encouraged the establishment of more
local bands and orchestras. In 1925, the Grand Ole Opry began broad-
casting over the radio (Kyvig 2002).
Although some technological elements of television were in develop-
ment by the late 1920s, it was not commercially viable at this point.
T H E
1930S
ART MOVEMENTS
Many artists and movements that began in the 1920s hit their stride in the
1930s. Although the art deco movement reached its zenith in the 1920s, its
influence remained visible through the 1930s. Although it began in the pre-
vious decade, surrealism became more widespread and well known to the
general population. Painters such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali contin-
ued to create and shape the direction of surrealism. Andre Breton, who wrote
the surrealism manifesto in 1924, held major exhibitions in 1936 and 1938.
Modernism in general continued its upswing, and, in the 1930s, Constantin
Brancusi, a Roman sculptor who worked in Paris, garnered more attention in
the art world with his abstract egg- and bird-shaped sculptures.
Alongside art deco, the ‘ machine aesthetic’ became popular, in part
because of the Machine Age Exhibition held in 1934 at the Museum of
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
Modern Art in New York. The film Metropolis (1927) reflects this style,
as did the modernist architecture of Charles Edouard Jeaneret-Gris, who
was also known as Le Corbusier. His work was ‘ like a Cubist painting,
the house is a precise, rational, abstract statement about materials and
forms and their interrelationships’’ (Cole and Gealt 1989).
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was 60 in the 1930s, was by
now generally accepted as the leader of modern architecture (Timeline of
Art History: Frank Lloyd Wright, n.d.). His work continued to emphasize
the relationship between landscape and design. One of his most famous
houses, Fallingwater, was constructed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from
1935 to 1939. During this period, he also designed the first of his
‘‘Usonian’ houses, simple house designs that were aimed at middle-class
clients. These houses set the design for future suburban houses.
New art movements of the 1930s wielded great influence over the arts
and artists. Neo-classicism and an interest in Greek simplicity greatly
influenced the fine and visual arts during this decade. The Great Depres-
sion focused many American artists on ‘‘regionalism,’’ realism, and every-
day life in rural and urban America. Examples include Grant Wood’s
‘American Gothic,’’ Georgia O’Keeffe’s southwestern themed paintings,
and photographer Dorthea Lange’s documentary-style realism.
Murals, often supported by the Federal Works Projects, rose in popu-
larity during this time as well. Two of the most well-known muralists
were Mexican Americans Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Rivera
was especially controversial because of his apparent connection to Lenin
and his depictions of laborers.
In terms of new architectural movements, skyscrapers were considered
modern marvels and had increasing influence on visual culture and design
in general. The Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefel-
ler Center were built during this decade. This style of architecture was
sleek and aerodynamic in appearance; it influenced everything from indus-
trial design to commercial design.
In addition to the Great Depression, other historical events that
affected the arts included Hitler’s 1933 appointment as chancellor of Ger-
many, after which some 60,000 artists, writers, actors, and musicians
began leaving Europe. Many relocated to the United States, helping to
make it the ‘ new artistic center of the West’ (Cole and Gealt 1989).
The influence of these various art movements on fashion design was
especially evident with art deco-style orientalism and surrealism. Baby
clothes in particular reflected the earlier interest in orientalism. Season
collections frequently showed little kimonos, or kimono sleeve details, of-
ten in silk and cotton (Bevans 1930). In adult fashions, it was the mixing
The 1930s
73
of Chinese designs with art deco that influenced printed silks and detail-
ing. Valentina, Mainbocher, and Molyneux in particular focused on these
tactics in the mid to late 1930s and often included brightly colored gar-
ments with mandarin collars, kimono sleeves, narrow tube skirts, and
forked trains in their collections.
Surrealist art strongly influenced the world of fashion in the mid to
late 1930s. Schiaparelli worked directly with several surrealist artists,
including Salvador Dali, Christian Berard, and Jean Cocteau. To capital-
ize on the new movement, fashion marketers used surrealist imagery in
advertising and window displays to lure potential shoppers inside (Mendes
and De La Haye 1999).
Modernist fashion photographers such as Steichen and Hoyningen-
Huene enjoyed continued success in the 1930s, as did the surrealist
photographer Man Ray. Newcomers included Horst P. Horst and realist
photographers such as Martin Mankasci and Toni Frissell. Surrealist pho-
tography remained a favored style in fashion magazines into the early 1940s.
MUSIC AND LITERATURE
The 1930s saw a continued interest in the musical forms and artists of the
previous decade, with new artists and genres contributing to the mix.
Thanks to technological innovation in recorded music and radio, music as
a whole gained a wider audience. Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and
Roy Harris contributed significantly to the cultural landscape, as did the
Russian emigre Sergei Rachmaninoff. Additionally, ‘ The Star Spangled
Banner’ was declared the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.
As white America accepted jazz as a genre, the style began to change.
Big bands rose in popularity, including those led by Tommy and Jimmy
Dorsey, as well as Guy Lombardo. These big bands often highlighted
high-profile singers such as Bing Crosby and the four Mills Brothers.
Country stars remained popular on many radio programs, and ‘‘foreign’ or
‘ ethn
ic’ music saw a slight rise in popularity. On the whole, however, the
Depression stifled record sales.
The major literary figures of the thirties included authors with vastly
different styles and intentions. William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and
Harlem Renaissance authors emerged at the forefront. Nobel Prize-winner
William Faulkner published the Sound and the Fury in 1929, continuing
with A Light in August, Sanctuary, and others into the thirties. Steinbeck,
focusing on the plight of dispossessed California migrant farm workers,
published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, for which he later received the
Pulitzer Prize. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing, highlighting
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
African-American writers and poets such as
Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora
Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay.
Other novelists of the era included
Thomas Wolfe and W. Somerset Maug-
ham. Thomas Wolfe was interested primar-
ily
with
‘Americana,’’
in
both
Look
Homeward, Angel, and Of Time and the
River. Maugham’s Of Human Bondage is
considered one of the best books to emerge
from the twentieth century (Richardson
1982). Nathanael West wrote surrealist and
fantasy social commentaries such as Miss
Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust.
Another notable book to come out of the
thirties was the bestselling How to Win
Friends and Influence People by Dale Carne-
gie. Especially popular with the newly
emerging teen and young-adult market was
the Nancy Drew series, which got its start
in 1930.
Joan Crawford in the 1932 film Letty Lynton. [Courtesy
of Photofest]
THEATER AND MOVIES
Despite the increasing success of Hollywood films and the rising toll of
the Great Depression, the theatrical world remained vibrant. The Works
Projects Administration’s Federal Theater Project provided much-needed
work for many of the theater’s unemployed. In December 1932, Radio
City Music Hall opened, and, at the time, it was the largest indoor thea-
ter in the world, with seating for 6,200 (Andrist 1970).
Some of Broadway’s most successful plays, playwrights, and composers
