Entertainment in the jazz age essays

Entertainment in the jazz age essays Entertainment in the Jazz Age Since the beginning of time, humans have found ways to entertain themselves. Of course these forms of entertainment have changed drastically from then till now. One of the most influential decades of modern entertainment was the Jazz Era, or the 1920s. The 1920s brought forth the beginning popularity of entertainment such as movies and television, radio, jazz music, and the occasional fads which were the it activity for one week and forgotten about the next. Movie and television stars really began to shine in the 20s. In the earlier years, all movies were silent (Brittan 21). Not completely silent; there were instruments and sound effects in the background, but without spoken words. Charlie Chaplin, who portrayed the Little Tramp, was one of the silent-eras most famous stars. With his trademark waddle and comedic but sincere films Chaplin created a classic, memorable character (Brittan 44-45). Near the later part of the 20s, movies went through the evolution from silent to sound. In 1927 the first fully spoken movie, starring Al Jolson, was brought to theaters. This revolutionary film called the Jazz Singer, being the first talkie movie ever made, brought a considerable amount of success to its producers Warner Bros. Pictures (35). Movie making had become Americas 5th most lucrative industry in the 20s (21). Another popular form of visual entertainment from the 20s was television. What made television special was the fact that it was available to people with all sorts of incomes. While typically only the wealthy could regularly attend movie theaters, nearly everyone rich or poor could afford to watch television (Snowman 27). In fact, there really werent very many people who werent one extreme or the other; in the 20s few people had a middle-class income (13). S ...