The Roaring Twenties

1
The Roaring Twenties
2
Automobile Revolution
3
Of Cars in America 1915 2.5 million 1920
8 million 1925 17 million 1930 23 million
Mass production, reduction of price (only 290 in
1924), reliability up and comfort up
Concept of distance and time, leisure time,
travel opportunities, Courtship rituals, Church
attendance all increased
4
Revolution in the American Home
5
Electricity and Indoor Plumbing
of Homes with Electricity 1907 8 1917
24 1919 34 1929 68 1939 77
New Products ice box refrigerator coal stove
electric stove kerosene lights electric
lights hot stove iron electric iron
Electricity convenience and mostly SAVES
TIME!!! Plumbing convenience, increased
sanitation and public health, bathed more
frequently
6
WOMENS FASHION

• Shorter, bobbed hair
• Shorter, knee-length skirts
• Raccoon fur coats
• Rouged lips
• Low waist line on dresses
• Shaving

- Shows womens desire to break with the past
7
Mens Fashion

• Hair slicked back, parted in the middle
• Golf hose/ baggy knickers
• Hats
• Bowties

8
Slang Expressions
All wet Blind date Big Cheese Cake
Eater/Lounge Lizard Cats Meow
Flapper Jalopy Spiffy Nerts Go fly a kite
9
Fads and Feats
Miss America Marathon Dances Walk across the
country Wing walking
Babe Ruth 60 HRS Admiral Byrd
Antarctica Gertrude Ederle English Channel
10
New Foods and Other Innovations

• Welchs Grape Jelly
• Wrigleys Chewing Gum
• Band-aids
• Kleenex
• Zippers
• Movies with sound

11
Entertainment in the 20s

• Radio
• 1900s military communication
• 1920 few owned radios/hobbyists
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• (October) Westinghouse Company/KDKA
  (music and news)
• 1922 570 stations broadcasting
• (news, music, religious services, sporting
  events, advertising)
•  
• Vacuum tube increased quality of radio sound
• Battery powered units portability

12
Movies WWI D.W. Griffith, The Birth of
Nations, advanced filmmaking techniques 1920
Charlie Chaplin, silent movie film actor 1928
First movie with sound, Walt Disney, Steamboat
Willie, cartoon characters born End of the 20s
Americans bought 100 million movie tickets a week
(123 million people)