A POPULAR SLOGAN OF THE 1920s was “Eat, drink and be merry—for tomorrow we may die.” Many young Americans, often called the flaming youth, were rejecting the etiquette of the past and daring to create a new style of living. The young women were described as restless, seductive, greedy, and unrestrained. The young men were labeled cynical. They led the way in flouting the law and talked about living in a world ruined by their elders. In The Great Gatsby Myrtle says about her first meeting with Tom “…you can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.”
For the first time, men and women consumed alcohol together, bringing about a major social change. Prohibition—the law that made the sale, transportation and manufacture of liquor illegal—was established in 1919. The public rebellion against this law created an illegal industry, called bootleg, of making, selling and transporting spirits. Rye whiskey and gin were two of the types of alcohol most widely consumed illegally. The excitement of finding a place to consume alcohol and avoid arrest was the focus of rebellious young men and women. The speakeasy, an establishment which illegally sold alcoholic beverages, became a place where one could drink, have clandestine affairs and dance while hoping to escape the notice of the police. Fitzgerald says in The Great Gatsby, “The bottle of whiskey—a second one—was now in constant demand by all present…”
A postwar craze for automobiles brought monumental changes to the American lifestyle. The availability and popularity of the automobile changed “courting” to “dating” (without chaperones) and created the ability to travel quickly between city and country for work, parties and picnics. It provided fun and recreation as “Sunday drives” became a leisure activity. Out of the way places, like speakeasies, were accessible because of the auto. New slang terms like “jalopy” (an old car) and “flat tire” (dull person) entered the popular lexicon.
The economy was transformed as the automobile became America’s biggest industry, consuming steel, lead, rubber, nickel and gasoline. The automobile became a most desired commodity—by the late 1920s more than 20 million cars had been registered.
This automobile, a 1929 Pierce Arrow Coupe with a rumble seat, represents the luxury cars that were owned by wealthy Americans.
Most people could purchase an automobile. The rich bought Packard, Pierce Arrow, Stutz, Cadillac, and Chrysler cars that were beautifully designed, colorful, powerful and expensive, indicating high social status. Very expensive imported automobiles came from Belgium, France, and Germany. The less wealthy bought the cheapest—the black utility Model T produced by Henry Ford.
Charles Lindbergh, working on The Spirit of St. Louis in c. 1927.
Information was readily available to the American public and brought commonality to all levels of society. Newspapers and magazines, with their flashy headlines and color illustrations, fueled the American public’s interest in events such as the visit of the Prince ofWales (later EdwardVIII) to the United States, Amelia Earhart’s and Charles Lindbergh’s airplane flights and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen, an Egyptian pharaoh.
News and photos of sporting heroes, like baseball player Babe Ruth, swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, boxer Jack Dempsey, and racehorse Man O’War, were consumed by eager readers. Attending sporting events became a national affair. From baseball to horse racing, tennis, swimming, football, boxing and golf, Americans went to these events to cheer for their heroes.
The New York Daily News, Daily Mirror, and Evening Graphic were smaller-format newspapers, called tabloids, which printed sensational stories and pictures that young Americans craved. Life magazine covers showcased drawings by John Held, Jr., that reflected the new culture and morality with colorful amusing representations of the new dancing, women smoking, couples in swimsuits and women driving cars. All of these publications were cheap, plentiful and sold on the streets.
Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in a film scene, 1927.
The Town & Country magazine chronicled the social events and leisure activities of the wealthy families of NewYork, Boston and other cities where surnames appeared in the Social Register. The Social Register listed names and addresses of prominent American families who formed the social elite. The activities and lifestyle of the social elite became exciting conversation fodder for people outside these exclusive social circles.
The new technologies of radio and movies, both silent and talkies, contributed to the influx of information received byAmericans. Regular radio broadcasts by the National Broadcast Company (NBC) and Columbia Broadcast System (CBS) came on the air in the second half of the 1920s. In opulent new movie theaters, Hollywood movie stars on the “silver screen” showed young men and women how to drink, smoke, kiss, stand, dress, and dance. Joan Crawford and Rudolph Valentino were models for aspiring sophisticates.
A traveling couple. The woman wears a summer coat with shawl collar, fastened asymmetrically at the hipline, with a cloche hat and clutch purse. The man sports a two-button knicker suit with vest and fedora hat.
But jazz was the key to the 1920s, and became America’s one great contribution to world music. The distinct sound of jazz—employing syncopation, swung notes, blue notes and improvisation—was first played by black musicians in New Orleans before spreading to Chicago and Harlem in New York City. Musicians Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and singers Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith were famous in the jazz world. White musicians incorporated the syncopated sound into popular forms of music.
George Gershwin wrote many of the 1920s songs that epitomized jazz, including Rhapsody in Blue and I’ve Got A Crush On You. This music was played by dance bands, recorded on phonograph records and printed as sheet music. Lyrics reflected the fun feeling of the 1920s with lyrics like “in the meantime, in between time, ain’t we got fun?”
Jazz music inspired many new dances, such as the Charleston, Black Bottom, Shimmy, Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear, Kangaroo Dip and Bunny Hug. Dance partners were closely entwined for many dances as words in the songs encouraged body contact. Some dances required arms flapping, legs flying and use of the whole body to accomplish the fast movements. Female dancers were free to dance with great athleticism.
At private homes, dance clubs, speakeasies and outdoor parties, music and dancing were the main attractions and demanded radical new styles in clothing for women.
Cartoon drawing of a flapper in a short skirt with bobbed hair, seated in the new slouch posture with legs crossed, smoking a cigarette.
Where’s there’s smoke there’s fire’, by Russell Patterson, 1920s. The traveling woman on the cover of this 1928 magazine wears an Art Deco design coat with a large fur collar over a coordinating belted dress. She has a cloche hat and clutch purse that match a color in the coat.
