Early 1900s

Written by: Nina Piesanen, Justin Burkett, Timothy Blyumin, and Victoria Slupsky

Our Theme: War and Recovery

News and Politics 1900s

Justin Burkett

News and Politics in between 1900 and 1949 has changed rapidly over the decades. In the early 1900s the radio was still new and it was soon being adapted across the globe. Before the radio, newspapers were the main source of transmitting information. It was first created in 1605 in Belgium.

As the use of radios grew across the globe, the world was becoming more sophisticated and had many technological advances in the past 50 years due to the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution started in the early 1800s and has continued over the centuries. During this time, the car, the light bulb, radio, telegraph and more important machines had been created. The Industrial revolution was almost the re-invention of the wheel.

When radios were being adopted and newspapers became their challengers, the whole media was shocked about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the leader of Austria-Hungary. He was assassinated by a Serbian Nationalist who had ties to the secretive military group which caused Europe to explode into an enormous war. The Central Powers were: Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey plus the Middle East) and Bulgaria.The Allies were: Serbia, Russia, France and its Empire, Belgium, Montenegro and Britain and its Empire, including self-governing colonies like Canada and Australia who were soon to be joined by the United States. The terrible war started in 1914 and ended in 1918 with the surrender of Germany. The war had cost 17 million lives and was known as the Great War.

After World War 1 the world dropped into the Great Depression, which greatly affected the USA. The stock market crashed and the price of a US dollar rose. People had to sell their homes and in one incident,a man decided to sell his car for 100 dollars. The media industry was still surviving through the crisis and had been describing the terrible effects of this depression. By 1932 there had been around 3,000 suicide attempts and many more to come.

The newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt (arguably one of the most famous presidents in US history) decided to fix the Depression and created many organizations to help stabilize the economy such as the WPA, FHA and the FSA. All of the organizations gave jobs to workless people. During this time of struggle, countries across the globe decided they could exploit the depression and invade other countries. Italy invaded Ethiopia and Japan invade most of the pacific as well as the northern part of China. In Germany a new party had emerged, the Nazi party. Their leader was Adolf Hitler and he blamed the Jews for causing the German economy to collapse. Soon Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany, and he converted the country to fascism. Britain and France asked the Germans to stop rebuilding its army but they refused. The US wasn’t allowed to meddle with other affairs besides its own during this time.

On September 1st, 1939 Adolf Hitler sent his armies into Poland on the west side, while the Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin invaded in the East. The two countries had made a secret alliance before the invasion. Poland was conquered in a few weeks while Britain and France honored their promises and declared war on Germany. The US media was ablaze and soon jobs were needed for the war factories. Although the US wasn’t at war, they decided they could make a great profit by creating weapons and vehicles and sell them to Britain and France. They also banned trading oil with Japan in protest of their conquest in China and the Pacific.

Soon the Japanese viewed the US as an enemy and created plans on sneak attacking them. This led to the attack on Pearl Harbor, “The day we live in infamy”-Franklin D. Roosevelt. On December 7,1941 the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the US Navy which almost destroyed the Navy itself. The Japanese sank 18 US ships and 5 of them were battleships. Their targets were the Aircraft carriers which were luckily out at sea at the time. To the Japanese this was a great victory but the grand admiral Yamamoto viewed the attack as a failure and knew that the American Navy will rebuild itself quickly with the protection of its Aircraft carriers.

The American newspapers went crazy over the attack and the whole American population turned anti-Japanese immediately. The government then forced all of the Japanese Americans living on the west coast to live in internment camps to make sure that if there are spies they won’t be able to do their job. This was actually just a selfish and racist decision that many Americans believed was wrong but the majority of the population was still angry at the Japanese. The Japanese had just awakened the sleeping giant.

After Germany declared war on America in tribute for the Japanese, they invaded the Soviet Union using the same tactics they did in Poland known as Blitzkrieg or “lightning war”. By 1943 Italy was almost finished and the German front had been pushed back to Poland. Then, in 1944 the allies launched the biggest seaborne invasion in history consisting of almost 330,000 soldiers and 50,000 vehicles. This forced the Germans on 3 fronts. Soon the war in Europe was over on Victory Europe day on May 8.

The war against Japan wasn’t over yet though. Japan had also been losing disastrously and was soon preparing to defend its home island. The Americans knew it would be a costly battle to commit a seaborne invasion so they turned to the most dangerous weapons the human race had ever created. They were known as the atomic bombs. The creation of the atomic bombs were secret and were known as the Manhattan project. In 1945 the bombs were ready and they were dropped on the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The results were tremendous and the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945 which ironically was exactly 6 years and a day after the war started.

After the celebrations the hostility between the Soviet Union and the US grew rapidly and soon the Cold War started which would last until the fall of communism in 1990.

Early 1900’s Music

Almost all songs in the early 1990’s were swing. One of those songs included “sing sing sing”. Swing songs consist of jazzy tunes, and “swinging” vibes. Swing was a pop-oriented form of jazz, the origins of which can be found as far back as 1923, when Fletcher Henderson began enlarging jazz bands. Whole new additions were added, and Fletcher Henderson created music of greater range and texture.

Songs include:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Z1DWIgfCs - Sing Sing Sing is a very popular song by Benny Goodman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7rk_5Mnigs - This mix includes: Track 1 - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan - vocal by Ramona - recorded 8/16/1932

Track 2 - Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra - A Picture Of Me Without You - vocals by Kay Weber & Bob Eberly - recorded 9/19/1935

Track 3 - Ruby Newman & His Orchestra - I Married An Angel - vocal by Ray Morton - recorded 5/17/1938

Track 4 - George Olsen & His Music - Cathedral In The Pines - vocal by Eddy Howard - recorded 4/21/1938

Track 5 - Bob Crosby & His Orchestra - There's A Boy In Harlem - vocal by Nappy Lamare - recorded 3/8/1938

Track 6 - Mal Hallett & His Orchestra - I'd Love To Play A Love Scene - vocal by Jerry Perkins - recorded 10/29/1937

Track 7 - Leo Reisman & His Orchestra - Bewitched - vocal by Anita Boyer - recorded 2/3/1941

Track 8 - Eric Winstone & His Band - Promenade

Track 9 - Joe Loss & His Orchestra - Dear Hearts and Gentle People

Track 10 - Orrin Tucker & His Orchestra - Calling All Hearts - vocal by Orrin - recorded 2/7/1941

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnulNC-3HM - This mix includes:

Track 1 - Will Osborne & His Orchestra - Have You Got Any Castles Baby - vocals by Will Osborne & Dorothy Rodgers - recorded 8/11/1937

Track 2 - Isham Jones & His Orchestra - If I Should Lose You - vocal by Woody Herman - recorded 10/30/1935

Track 3 - Orville Knapp & His Orchestra - You're A Heavenly Thing - vocal by Edith Caldwell - recorded 3/9/1935

Track 4 - Gene Kardos & His Orchestra - vocal by Dick Robertson - recorded 1/19/1937

Track 5 - Al Donahue & His Orchestra - You Took My Breath Away - vocal by Barry McKinley - recorded 11/22/1935

Track 6 - Teddy Grace - Rock It For Me - recorded 8/3/1937

Track 7 - Claude Hopkins & His Orchestra - Sunday - vocal by Baby White - recorded 2/2/1937

Track 8 - Hal Kemp & His Orchestra - Ah But I've Learned - vocal by Skinny Ennis - recorded 9/20/1932

Track 9 - Bob Crosby & His Orchestra - Pinch Me - recorded 12/6/1939

Track 10 - Edgar Hayes & His Orchestra - Laughing At Life - vocal by Bernard Flood - recorded 7/27/1937

This is Cab Calloway. A famous song by him is called "Minnie The Moocher". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mq4UT4VnbE This song is composed with Jazz and a touch of blues.

Film in the Early 1900s

-Nina Piesanen

During the time period of 1900-1949, America lived through WW1, WW2, and the Cold War. The early 1900s were tense and filled with warfare and recovery. The value system during this time was most likely puritan and pioneer morality, meaning that people generally categorized people into two groups, ally or enemy. Another possible value was effort and optimism, which meant the people believed that working hard and persisting was the best way to reach a goal. While Americans struggled through the political chaos of the century, it makes sense that they believed that grit could win a war. These value systems and symbols alluding to current events were laid throughout many of the early twentieth century classic movies, including Oliver Twist, Bambi, The Great Dictator, The General, and Gone with the Wind.

Bambi is a classic, heart-breaking Disney movie, made in 1942. It is about a fawn who loses his mother as she tries to save him from hunters, but then befriends other animals that take care of him. This movie was produced three years before the end of World War One, and represented the themes of death and compensation that were ever-so present during the World Wars. While Bambi is a children’s movie and doesn’t linger on the topic of the mother’s death, the sharp change is mentioned in the story. In a way, Bambi himself represents a child during the 1940’s time period, influenced by death and trying to find a way to live a somewhat normal live through a war.

Oliver Twist, made in 1948, was inspired by the Charles Dicken’s novel. It tells the story of an orphan boy who, after being thrown out of his orphanage and apprenticed, meets another orphan boy and joins a small pickpocketing “school”. Through schemes to steal money, wild police chases, and living through the consequences of stealing, Oliver learns about sacrifice, love, loyalty, and finding happiness in hardship. 1948 was a year after the start of the Cold War, a conflict that would stretch for almost fifty years. The Second World War had ended two years prior, and after a year of peace, everyone in America was worried that their country would be bombed again. The common feeling of relying on friendship and love through fear is prevalent throughout Oliver Twist. Additionally, two years before this movie was made, America switched proponents and opponents. The United States’ alliance change is also represented in Oliver Twist, as some of his friends become his enemies and betray him, while the people he fears end up helping him. Overall, the movie represents Americans' mood around the year of 1948.

The General, a silent film that was made in 1927, is a Civil War chase movie, interlocked with a quest to find an engineer's captured girlfriend on his beloved locomotive, The General. The main character is forbidden to serve in the war, as he is very valuable in his job, but he break the restraint, and does so anyway. Because he was forbidden to serve, he gives his girlfriend the impression that he will not fight, and she rejects him in disgust. When she hears that her father is wounded, she travels to him by a train which, during the journey, is captured by the opposing army. The entire rest of the movie is the main character's dangerous attempts to save his girlfriend, win back her love, and foil the North's surprise attacks on the Confederates. The entire movie is clearly centered around war, and includes the tense feel of a enemy chase, the nervous, fearful energy of a rescue, and a loyal urgency to reveal a surprise attack.

In silent film made in 1940, The Great Dictator, the famous Charlie Chaplin starred as a parody of Hitler as well as a Jewish barber. The film is generally a parallel of World War Two, telling the story of resistance in concentration camps and suppression by a dictator. However, as always, Charlie Chaplin made fun of his characters to make the audience laugh. Many American producing companies didn’t want to anger Hitler and turn his fury against America, which wasn’t involved in the war at the time. Charlie Chaplin produced and starred in it himself after the president encouraged him to do so. It was said that Hitler enjoyed the movie and played it in his own cinema twice. In a way, The Great Dictator was America’s controversial form of resistance against the war and Germany's oppression.

Gone with the Wind, made in 1940, based on the classic novel, recounts Scarlett O’Hara’s quest for unattainable love of a soldier, Ashley Wilkes, during the thick of the Civil War. He marries his cousin, and to make him jealous, she marries his other cousin, who ends up dying in the war. She meets Rhett Butler, a hot-headed lover, and after a long time of searching for Ashley, marries Rhett, who she doesn’t think he loves. Later, Wilkes confesses his forbidden love for Scarlett, but after the cousin’s death, she knows that Ashley only ever loved his wife, and she only loved Rhett. She runs home to her husband, but he decides to leave her for good. When she asks him, “What should I do? Where will I go?”, Rhett responds with his famous line, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Scarlett vows to win back his love, which she ruined with her quest for a teenage love.

The story is influenced by the civil war, as seen in Scarlett’s former husband’s death and Ashley’s change of character, but it isn’t as prevalent as many of the other classic movies of the time. In fact, one of the themes was “cause and effect”, which was centered on a search for love. When Scarlett tried to make Ashley jealous, she foolishly married and her husband died. This led to an vacancy for Rhett, and Scarlett’s unhappiness with him. Her passion for Ashley ruined a true relationship with her actual love, causing her grief. In a way, a similar theme occurs during war, especially during the timeline of the early 1900s (WW1, WW2, Cold War). One political event caused another, and allies were interchanged.

Television - Nina and Justin

Television was only invented in 1927, and the radio was most popular in the early twentieth century, but a few key TV shows were aired in 1930-1949. The television was invented by 21 year old Philo Taylor Farmsworth, he had lived in a house without electricity until he was 14. The first television station was called W3XK and it aired its first broadcast in 1928. Another station called WRGB has been operating since 1926 and is still operating to this day. The first "remote" was called the Tele Zoom which was invented in 1948 and all you could do with it was zoom in on the screen. The first "True" remote was invented in 1955 where you could change the channel and turn the TV off and on. The first show, The Man with the Flower in his Mouth, was played in 1930, and other important shows included Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, The Adventures of Pow Wow, and Meet the Press.

This is actually what the television show looked like on TV (very grainy).

In 1930, The Man with the Flower in his Mouth was the first television show was aired by the BBC in the ____ house as an experiment. The broadcast was a half hour, had three characters, one act, and one scene throughout the entire show. It is based on an Italian play, written in 1922 by Luigi Pirandello. It is short play that tells the story of a conversation between dying man, diagnosed with an epithelioma, and a rich businessman who missed his morning train. The play draws a bitter, almost ironic comparison between a man who is tense, and feels a sense of urgency regarding the end of his life, and a man who is relaxed and leisurely enough to miss his train. But it is the sick man who chooses to enjoy everyday life, like talking to people and drinking in a bar. The Man with the Flower in his Mouth analyzes life, just like Americans must have as they were preparing to die, maybe after a war.

Looney Tunes, a popular show that was aired from 1930 to 1969 during the golden age of American animation, was changed to Looney Toons, the cartoon that many modern children know. Warner Bros created the series to compete with Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons, as well as to showcase their music. The episodes featured Bugs Bunny and his friends, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, the Tasmanian Devil, and more. The episodes were silly and made to make children laugh. They were generally action-filled shows, with goofy villains hatching plans to capture clever heroes. One banned episode even made fun of World War Two. The show was light, entertaining, and popular, so it was a success in the eyes of Americans.

Tom and Jerry, aired from 1940 to 1958, was a funny, cat and mouse chase series. Like most classic children's sitcoms, it featured a persistent villain and a defenseless but clever mouse. In this instance, the bad guy was a sly cat, Tom, who constantly chased after a even-smarter mouse, Jerry. Whether encountering huge bulldogs or running through construction sites, Tom and Jerry never cease to excite their audience.

The Adventures of Pow Wow was aired in 1949 to 1955, it was aired on Sunday for 15 minutes every week. This show is about a Native American boy going on adventures in the wilderness. It is very stereotypical with the feather and band around the head but at the time the public loved it. In one episode it shows the boy trying to find water to give to the thirsty animals. This shows plot was also structured to teach the kids who were watching it lessons about being a kind person in a way that stereotypically hurts Native Americans.

Meet the Press has actually been running since 1947. It is the longest running TV "show" in history. Meet the Press is where a host talks every week about politics and important issues that are happening currently. The first host and only female host to this day was Martha Rountree. She was also the "Creator" of Meet the Press.

Advertising-Timothy

Advertising in the 1900’s

So, what's so great about the 1900’s. Its old and not a lot of things happened. Not true. First of all, enough things were invented to change the world we live in today:

The Wright brothers (1903)
Movies (1903)
E=mc^2 (1905)
Corn Flakes (1906)
Ford Model-T (1908)
Oreo cookies (1912)
WW1 (1914)
Bubble Gum, Mickey Mouse, and sliced bread (1928)
T-shirts (1942)
Ballpoint pens (1944)

These are not all the things that were invented in 1900-1949. Since television was not invented yet, the only things to let America know was ads. People were buying all sorts of things in the 20th century like light bulbs, Coca-Cola, and telephones.

Before radio was invented, there was no way of telling where you can buy a house or something like that. Even if you yell, "Get your flowers here!", is still an advertisement. But there are some reasons people are still attracted to ads. 1 is the amount of white space. When playing the blues, the notes you don’t play are just as important as the ones you do. Same thing for art. This use of white space attracts the eye because it is uncluttered. The whole ad is simple and clean. It gets the point across in an easy to understand fashion.

In the 1900's, people thought cigarettes were good for you. Most cigarette companies release a ton of ads saying, "Buy cigarettes from us, they are good for you.", like one here. It's saying that even doctors smoke cigarettes. One common technique used by the tobacco industry to reassure a worried public was to incorporate images of physicians in their ads. The none-too-subtle message was that if the doctor, with all of his expertise, chose to smoke a particular brand, then it must be safe. Unlike with celebrity and athlete endorsers, the doctors depicted were never specific individuals, because physicians who engaged in advertising would risk losing their license. (It was contrary to accepted medical ethics at the time for doctors to advertise.) Instead, the images always presented an idealized physician wise, noble, and caring who enthusiastically partook of the smoking habit. All of the doctors in these ads came out of central casting from among actors dressed up to look like doctors. Little protest was heard from the medical community or organized medicine, perhaps because the images showed the profession in a highly favorable light. This genre of ads regularly appeared in medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, an organization which for decades collaborated closely with the industry. The big push to document health hazards also did not arrive until later.

During active American involvement in World War II (1941–45), propaganda was used to increase support for the war and commitment to an Allied victory. Using a vast array of media, propagandists instigated hatred for the enemy and support for America's allies, urged greater public effort for war production and victory gardens, persuaded people to save some of their material so that more material could be used for the war effort, and sold war bonds. Patriotism became the central theme of advertising throughout the war, as large scale campaigns were launched to sell war bonds, promote efficiency in factories, reduce ugly rumors, and maintain civilian morale. The war consolidated the advertising industry's role in American society, deflecting earlier criticism. There were a lot of ads during WWII asking people to join the army and defeat Germany with the Soviet Union's help. The Nazies were controlling Europe at that time and wiping all the jews out. Most Americans were jews so they wanted to help their fellow culture.

Advertisements were a big advancement in the 1900's. It was a way, and still is, to tell people whats coming through what ever they can like newspapers and billboards. But when the television was invented in 1949, it almost put an end to newspapers.

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