1927!
The Roaring Twenties were a time of immense change, both culturally and politically. For the very first time an increase in wealth created a consumer society, women were allowed to vote, and jazz music had the whole country doing the Charleston. Fueled by the end of WWI the USA became a nation of youth, wealth, and modernity that would last until that fateful Black Tuesday in 1929 that thrust the world into the Great Depression.
The Roaring Twenties were a time of immense change, both culturally and politically. For the very first time an increase in wealth created a consumer society, women were allowed to vote, and jazz music had the whole country doing the Charleston. Fueled by the end of WWI the USA became a nation of youth, wealth, and modernity that would last until that fateful Black Tuesday in 1929 that thrust the world into the Great Depression.
Industrial Growth
A decade associated with modernity and a break with traditions, the 1920s brought unprecedented industrial growth to the United States. Between 1920 and 1929 the nation's total wealth doubled, making it the richest country in the world. Americans had extra money to spend for the first time in their lives and a new "consumer society" was soon created. Perhaps the most important product of the era, and a sign of the changing times, was the automobile. Prior to the 1920s automobiles were luxuries reserved only for the most wealthy, but in 1924 you could purchase a Ford Model T for just $260 and by 1929 there was one car on the road for every five Americans. There was also a Great Migration of African Americans from the south to larger northern cities during this period, instigating an increase of black culture, especially through jazz and blues, as well as a literary movement called the Harlem Renaissance. Other notable events of the 1920s included the switch from coal power to electricity in most industries, the stringing of telephone lines across the country, the peak of Art Deco architecture, and Charles "Lucky Lindy" Lindbergh's first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. That first flight happened in 1927, the year Pinwheel! is set.
Mass Culture
The 1920s rang in the birth of mass culture in the USA. Thanks largely to the widespread distribution of the radio, people across the nation bought the same products, listened to the same music, and learned the same dances and slang. Most people owned a radio, and in 1920 KDKA, the first commercial radio station in America, started up in Pittsburgh. Within three years there were more than 500 stations in the country. For the first time ever the media became one focused on celebrity since the possibility now existed to know what people were doing almost at the exact time they were doing it. Hollywood boomed as the popularity of film grew and this brand new form of entertainment soon shut down the old vaudeville circuit. 1922 brought the release of the first all-color feature, The Toll of the Sea, followed by Don Juan in 1926, the first feature to include sound effects and music. Everything changed in 1927 when The Jazz Singer was released and "talkies" quickly began replacing silent films. It is estimated that by the end of the decade three fourths of the American population visited a movie theater every week.
A note from Adaptor Caroline Prugh on Sensationalism in Journalism...
"The 1920s saw the birth of tabloid journalism in America. In our democratic fashion now anyone could become nationally famous (or infamous). In 1927, “the combined circulation of English language dailies in the U.S. rose to 38 million, about one copy for every two literate persons.” (1927, Gerald Leinwand). American prosperity in the early years of the twentieth century approached its zenith in 1927, its citizens bombarded with advertisements (both newspaper and radio – at the rate of over a billion and a half dollars) instructing them on their aspirations. The functionality of need was fast replaced with the far sexier language of desire and want."
Women in the 1920s
The Roaring Twenties marked the arrival of the "new woman" who, according to the old-fashioned mothers and grandmothers of the time, were drinking, smoking, and saying rather "unladylike things." These ladies were called flappers and the fashion of the time was out with corsets and in with low waistlines and slinky knee-length dresses that exposed legs and arms. The hairstyle of choice for the decade was the chin-length bob and cosmetics, previously associated with prostitution, became popular. Women in this time had unprecedented freedoms beginning with the ability to vote after the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920. They worked white-collar jobs and were able to participate in a consumer economy to an extent they never had before. The availability of birth control also made it possible for women to have fewer children and gave them the chance to have the sexual freedom they desired.
The Jazz Age
Sparking a cultural movement in the USA, Jazz music is largely credited to African Americans blending new musical techniques with traditional African traditions. It became nationally popular following the end of World War I when a large group of Jazz musicians from New Orleans moved to major northern cities like New York and Chicago, dispersing the music to a wide audience and creating many different styles while they did it. Thanks to the radio this music was broadcast across the country and while some older people objected to the "vulgarity" of the genre, it inspired young people everywhere to do the Charleston, cake walk, black bottom, and flea hop. Jazz bands would travel and play at dance halls and this era saw the beginnings of famous entertainment venues like The Cotton Club and The Apollo Theater. Happening simultaneously with the rise of the Jazz Age was the beginning of Prohibition. In 1919 the 18th Amendment to the Constitution banned the sale and consumption of "intoxicating liquors," and the federal Volstead Act closed every tavern, bar, and saloon in the country. The booze trade was driven underground, mostly with the help of organized crime leaders and bootleggers, and illegal speakeasies popped up all over where people could go to drink, dance, and listen to the Jazz music of the era.