Movies

The increased prosperity of the 1920s gave many Americans more disposable income to spend on entertainment. As the popularity of “moving pictures” grew in the early part of the decade, “movie palaces,” capable of seating thousands, sprang up in major cities. A ticket for a double feature and a live show cost twenty-five cents; for a quarter, Americans could escape from their problems and lose themselves in another era or world. People of all ages attended the movies with far more regularity than today, often going more than once per week. By the end of the decade, weekly movie attendance swelled to ninety million people.

Figure 1. Al Jolson as Jack Robin, in blackface, performing “My Mammy” publicity photo for the Warner Bros. film The Jazz Singer (1927)

The silent movies of the early 1920s gave rise to the first generation of movie stars. Rudolph Valentino, the lothario with the bedroom eyes, and Clara Bow, the “It Girl” with sex appeal, filled the imagination of millions of American moviegoers. However, no star captured the attention of the American viewing public more than Charlie Chaplin. This sad-eyed tramp with a moustache, baggy pants, and a cane was the top box office attraction of his time.

The Jazz Singer

In 1927, the world of the silent movie began to wane with the New York release of the first “talkie”: The Jazz Singer. The plot of this film, which starred Al Jolson, told a distinctively American story of the 1920s. In the film, Jolson’s character Jake Robin (born Jakie Rabinowitz) is disowned by his cantor father for singing African-American-influenced music, and runs away from the Jewish ghetto of the Lower East Side to find fame and fortune on Broadway. In the film, Jolson uses blackface, and has been referred to by modern critics as “the king of blackface performers.” While the use of blackface by White performers, who often reinforced stereotypes about Black life in these narratives, is certainly offensive to film historians today, it was a common convention in the early American cinema. The Jazz Singer’s story and the new sound technology used to present it were popular with audiences around the country. It quickly became a huge hit for Warner Brothers, one of the “big five” motion picture studios in Hollywood along with Twentieth Century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. By the 1920s, the once-sleepy California village was home to a majorly profitable and innovative industry.

The Power of Radio and the World of Sports

Figure 2. Babe Ruth pictured in 1920

Radio and American Sports

Radio also transformed how Americans enjoyed sports, by bringing sports entertainment right into the homes of millions. Play-by-play radio broadcasts of major collegiate and professional sporting events marked a new era, despite the institutionalization of racial segregation in most sports. Radio also helped to popularize sports figures and their accomplishments. The biggest star of all was the “Sultan of Swat,” Babe Ruth, who became America’s first baseball hero. He changed the game of baseball from a low-scoring one dominated by pitchers to one where his hitting became famous. Ruth’s incredible talent accelerated the popularity of baseball, establishing it as America’s pastime. His propensity to shatter records made him a national hero.

Figure 3. Some players from the Kansas City Monarchs (pictured above in 1921) are among the more than 3,400 players now recognized by MLB as major leaguers.

As the expanding popularity of baseball led to the formation of amateur clubs in the second half of the 19th century, Black Americans were among those joining the action. Records exist of an abbreviated game between two Black teams as far back as 1855, and by the end of the decade there were several African American clubs in the New York area. In 1876, the professional National League was formed by owners intent on keeping it a White man’s game.

Segregation in Sports

With legal segregation in full effect, Black people were not being accepted into the major and minor baseball leagues due to racism established by the color line. They decided to form their own local and professional teams called the Negro Leagues.  After winning four national championships, The Kansas City Monarchs lost Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. This led to the breaking of the color barrier in major and minor league baseball, however, it also led to the decline of the Negro Leagues.

The most popular sports in the 1920s were boxing, baseball, basketball, and football, but other sports also attracted vast interest such as ice hockey, tennis, golf, and swimming, especially when sports stars achieved worldwide success. The sports stars of the 1920s were idolized as much as the Hollywood movie legends of the era. Sporting heroes of the 1920s included Jack Dempsey, Johnny Weissmuller, Helen Wills, ‘Red’ Grange, Gertrude Ederle, Joe Lewis, Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth.