Created by Rebecca Benedix

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• Created by Rebecca Benedix
• 2004

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The 1920's were a prosperous time known as the
Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and the Age of
Wonderful Nonsense. There were many different
and interesting things that occurred during the
1920s in America.
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Interesting Statistics
The population of the US was 106,521,537 people.
In the year 2000 it was 281,421,906 people.
The average yearly income was 1,236. In the ye
ar 2000 it was 28,272. The price of a gallon o
f milk was .58. Today it is 2.25.
Men lived about 54 years. Women lived about 55
years. Today men live about 74 years, and women
live about 79 years A public school teacher ear
ned about 729 a year. Today the average salary
for a teacher is 42,898. It took 13 days to re
ach California from New York driving on 2 lane
roads. Today it takes 4 hours by plane.
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Prohibition
In 1919, the 18th Amendment passed the Act of
Prohibition, which made the making of, the
transportation of, and the selling of alcohol
illegal. The intent of the Amendment was to
lower the crime rate and to improve the general
way of life, but the opposite happened.
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Crime increased as people rebelled against not
being able to buy alcohol. People began making
homemade alcohol using equipment called stills.
This homemade alcohol was sometimes called
bathtub gin.
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Numerous illegal bars called speakeasies were
created to provide drinks for the people who
wanted alcoholic beverages.
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Gangsters profited during this decade by
smuggling alcohol and distributing it to
different illegal businesses. Al Capone from
Chicago was one of these gangsters. He made 105
million a year smuggling alcohol.
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Women received the right to vote by the 19th
Amendment, but they still had little interest in
politics. During the 1920s women asked guys out.
They wore the new flapper style of clothing and
were more assertive. They took the same jobs as
men, but still fought for equality in the
workplace.
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Fashion
Flappers were considered reckless rebels. They
had short sleek hair. They wore a shorter than
average shapeless shift dress. They wore make-up
and put it on in public. They exposed their legs
in public. They put their cigarettes in long
holders to smoke them. They enjoyed doing the
new dances, such as the Charleston, in the jazz
clubs.
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Men took their fashion ideas from the sports or
gangster heroes of the day. Men wanted to appear
dapper. Baggy pants, polished shoes, and a
handkerchief in the pocket let others know that
this man was someone to pay attention to. The
baggy zoot suit was worn for fancy occasions.
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New Inventions
Henry Ford began mass production of the "Model T"
automobile, the first car priced so the average
man could afford one.
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Other well-known inventions of the decade
included band-aids, kleenex, and zippers.
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New food products introduced during the 1920's
included Welch's Grape Jelly, Wrigley's chewing
gum, and the Eskimo ice cream pie.
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Entertainment
The main form of entertainment was listening to
the radio. Entire families would gather around
the radio and listen to the popular shows.
Popular songs included Youre the Cream in My
Coffee, Lady-Luck Blues by Bessie Smith,
California, Here I Come! by Al Jolson,
Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, It Had to
Be You. and Yes, Sir! Thats My Baby! by
Carlton Coon and Joe Sanders.
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Silent movies became "talkies" when sound was
finally added. Charlie Chaplin, the Little
Tramp, was one of the most famous stars in
motion-picture history. He wrote and directed
nearly all of his films, and composed the music
for all of his sound pictures.
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The best movies of the decade were "Treasure
Island" and "Ben Hur." Favorite actors were
Rudolph Valentino as the Sheik, Clara Bow as the
"it" girl, Mary Pickford, and Al Jolson, the star
of the "Jazz Singer."
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Flagpole Sitting
In 1924 Alvin Kelly, also known as Shipwreck
Kelly, decided to attempt to sit on a flagpole in
response to a dare from a friend. He sat upon
the pole for 13 hours and 13 minutes. Within
weeks hundreds of people were trying to become
the King of the Pole. One man sat for 12 days,
another for 17, and another for 21 days. Huge
audiences would gather to watch the sitter. In
Atlantic City, New Jersey, Kelly reclaimed the
title by sitting atop a flagpole for 49 days in
front of 20,000 people.
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The series of steps are thought to have
originated with the African-Americans who were
living on a small island near Charleston, South
Carolina. In 1922/3, it was introduced to the
theater going public at the New Amsterdam Theater
in New York In the 1920's, women who did the
Charleston were called "Flappers" because of the
way they would flap their arms and walk like
birds while doing the Charleston. Many men of the
period wore raccoon coats and straw hats.
The Charleston
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For Children Only
Favorite children's books were "Winnie the Pooh,"
"Bambi," "Dr. Doolittle," and "The Velveteen
Rabbit."
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Favorite toys included the new baby doll that
said, "mama," paper dolls, and teddy bears for
the girls. Boys played with metal trucks, Tinker
toys, and Erector sets.
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Popular children's games were marbles, jump rope,
roller skating, and Statues.
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Mickey Mouse, Little Orphan Annie, and Felix the
Cat were popular cartoon characters.
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Slang Words
describes a wrong idea or person He's all wet.
All wet
what you say when you are angry

"Oh, applesauce!"
Applesauce
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the most important person the boss
The Big Cheese
something splendid or wonderful the best
The Cats Meow
Cheaters
eyeglasses
OK Everything is Jake.
Jake
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Dogs
feet
Giggle water
alcohol
Heebie jeebies
A scary nervous feeling
jalopy
An old car
moll
A gangsters girlfriend
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pushover
Someone easily convinced
scram
leave
swell
wonderful
vomit
upchuck
whoopie
Have a good time
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Important People
Amelia Earhart was the first female aviator to
cross the Atlantic Ocean and the first woman to
fly solo. She disappeared in 1937 in an attempt
to be the first woman to fly around the world.
No trace of Miss Earhart or her plane have ever
been found.
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Babe Ruth was the greatest slugger in baseball
history. His record of 714 regular-season home
runs wasn't broken until 1974 by Hank Aaron. He
was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
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Red Grange was one of the greatest football
players of all time. He became known as the
Galloping Ghost when he scored five touchdowns on
his first five carries in one game.
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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was one of the great
writers of the Jazz Age. F.Scott Fitzgerald
began his career as a writer of stories for
mass-circulation magazines. He was one of the
main writers for The Saturday Evening Post.
The publication of his novel, This Side of
Paradise, made him famous overnight.
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Bessie Smith was the greatest and most
influential classic blues singer of the 1920s. 
During her heyday, she earned upwards of 2000
per week, a queenly sum in the 20s. By the time
the decade had ended, Smith had become the most
respected black singer in America and had
recorded a catalog of blues that still stands as
the yardstick by which all other female blues
singers are measured.
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King Oliver is a legend in Jazz history.  As a
trumpet player, he was strongly influenced by
Buddy Bolden whom he imitated, but Oliver soon
became a Jazz stylist in his own right. In the
end, the designation of "king," which Bolden had
long assumed, became Oliver's--particularly after
one memorable night in Storyville.
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In the early 1920s, Louis Armstrong joined King
Oliver in Chicago--playing solos with Fletcher
Henderson at the Roseland Ballroom in New York
and making jazz history with the Hot Five. It
was in Chicago that he initiated his "scat"
singing -- singing nonsense syllables in place of
words and vocally simulating instrumental sound.
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Herbert Hoover was President of the United States
from 1928-1932. He was a millionaire businessman
and a successful public official. Seven months
after becoming president the stock market crashed
and the Great Depression began.
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Resource Page
www.lauratoops.com/welcome.htm
www.costumesinc.com/Costumes/images/
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realisticdrawing.com buy.overstock.com www.walgr
eens.com http//www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Lane/
6341/History/Roaring20s.html The World Almanac
and Book of Facts 2003, World Almanac Books,
2003, pgs. 233, 898
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