GILDED AGE ARTSENTERTAINMENTLEISURE

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GILDED AGE ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT/LEISURE

• Leisure Time
• Many scholars claim that leisure time was in fact
  invented in the late 19th century
• More people moved to urban areas for factory work
  where they were paid for there time rather than
  for the products they produced
• This marked a major transition in labor
• It also meant that when people were not working
  in the factories, they had free time, unlike
  people who worked on farms, were furniture
  builders, etc.
• This transition in labor and the leisure time is
  allowed for was primarily an urban phenomena

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• Various forms of entertainment
• Various forms of entertainment emerged to meet
  the needs of these urban dwellers who now had
  leisure time and money to spend on entertainment
  we will look at Amusement Parks, Vaudevilles,
  Circus/Dime Shows/Freak Shows, and Baseball
• Amusement Parks
• Coney Island
• Shell Rd. 1824
• Elites visit
• By 1870s becomes more diverse
• East side elite
• West side working class
• By 1890s bathhouses controlled entrance to
  beach
• Beginning of amusement parks

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• 3 following images from Coney Island
• 1) Swimming scene
• 2) Picture of wall dividing beach areas
  controlled by bathhouses that charged admissions
• 3) Steeplechase Park at Coney Island

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• Elitch Gardens example of another, lesser known
  amusement park in the Denver, CO area
• Was first a botanical gardens but evolved into an
  amusement park around the turn of the 20th
  century
• Vaudeville another major form of entertainment
• Unrelated performances - animal tricks, music,
  freaks, comedy, magicians, one act plays,
  minstrels
• Distinguished from variety shows
• Main distinctions vaudevilles have no alcohol
  and are family oriented

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• Dime Museums, Carnivals, Circuses
• P.T. Barnum
• Began in NY as showman with Joice Heth
• Opens American Museum in 1841 very successful
• Museum burns down in 1865
• Rebuilds in new NY location, burns down in 1868
• Turns to the Circus - 1871
• First circus to travel by train
• Purchases his own train
• Travels around the world
• Following image is of Charles Sherwood Stratton
  (Tom Thumb)

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• Baseball
• Baseball emerges as a professional sport in the
  late nineteenth century
• Along with boxing, baseball becomes a major
  spectator sport
• Play begins in 1840s
• 1868 Cincinnati Red Stockings players signed
  to contracts
• 1876 National League established
• 1901 American League established
• 1903 1st World Series
• Following image from first world series
• After image, you will find a list of the National
  League and American League teams thought you
  would find this interesting!

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• NATIONAL LEAGUE
• Boston Beaneaters (now Atlanta Braves)
• Cincinnati Reds
• New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants)
• Brooklyn Superbas (now Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Philadelphia Phillies
• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Chicago Orphans (now Chicago Cubs)
• St. Louis Cardinals
• AMERICAN LEAGUE
• Boston Americans (now Boston Red Sox)
• Baltimore Orioles (now New York Yankees)
• Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland Athletics)
• Washington Nationals (now Minnesota Twins)
• Cleveland Blues (now Cleveland Indians)
• Detroit Tigers
• Chicago White Stockings (now Chicago White Sox)
• Milwaukee Brewers (now Baltimore Orioles)

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• High Culture - next