Found Images of the 1920s & 1930s, Start of the Modern Era

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by harryc

I'd put the start of the modern era at 1860's - the US civil war, then the Franco Prussian war. When the fate of nations stopped being in the hands of kings and generals and switched to the modern nation state.

several regimes will miss this change - much to their distress - the Confederates, Prussians, later the Japanese.

I won't disagree with you. Many eras have their claim on "modernity". In some ways, the ancient Athenians and Ionian Greeks were essentially "modern"--their embrace of free inquiry and rationality, philosophy, literature, history, science, limited democracy and the like. The 1600s and 1700s have a claim, with modern science and mathematics, and political revolutions. The late 19th century--the telephone, electricity, railroads, modern total warfare, germ theory, vaccines, and antiseptic medicine and surgery, populism, social trends etc. But the 1920s are also special in my opinion. Dress, customs, radio and mass communications, right of women to vote, liberated women, black migration to the north, founding of NAACP & pushback against KKK, jazz, air conditioning, completely modern science (general relativity, the expanding universe, quantum theory etc.), consumerism and credit, music, airplanes, cars, modern film etc. The pace to "modernity", good and bad, picked up speed I think. You could plant a 1920s person in 2021 and in a few weeks he would feel at home. The 1930s only intensified the push to modernity, with the New Deal and the modern welfare state, with things like social security, and increased government intervention in capitalism.

[harryc]

Modern is a relative term

adjective
adjective: modern

relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.
"the pace of modern life"

I'd say the point at which the "Modern" era starts for those of us in the 21st century is at the end of the 19th century when the first of the nation states came to the fore and changed the world from a mass of peasants living under various kings and nobles to people with a common national identity and interest.

Missing this change most spectacularly were the Confederate states, the Prussians, the Czar, and then the Japanese.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

One of the most notable women's social trends was short or "bobbed" hair, worn both for comfort and as a statement of liberation and modernity (women had got the vote in the U.S. in 1920). Short hair on women was uncommon before the 1920s. When required, as in medical war service or certain jobs, women could pin or roll their hair up, but the long tresses were usually still there. The first celebrity to cut or "bob" her hair was the famous dancer Irene Castle in 1915. She did it first for sanitary reasons when she had to have her appendix removed, but later was persuaded to keep the short hair, which became renowned as the "Castle Bob" and started the bobbed craze. After the "Great War", the style became more common (especially after 1920) and was adopted by liberated "flappers" and film stars who ditched their corsets and even girdles, and sometimes bound their chests to get a flatter look, and also wore increasingly shorter skirts (knee length by 1926), and later sometimes even pants (more common in the 1930s). By the mid and late 1920s, even many older women were cutting their hair shorter and skirts shorter (think "Auntie Mame"). Modernism had triumphed. "Bobbie pins" were invented as a way for women to "cheat"--keep their long hair liked by their boyfriends or husbands, but pin it up when they wanted to look more up to date. Here is a good short film on flappers and "The Bob" from Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7e3xnLt-qE

I want to carry forward my favorite recent posts from the last page. Newer people may have missed them. "The Battle of the Bob" above. Good short video.

[CaliNative]

[QUOTE=CaliNative;9471056]+++"Sister Aimee"+++

Aimee Semple McPherson was one of the most famous pentacostal evangelists of the 1920s. Here she is with her son Rolf in 1929, speaking outside her Angeles Temple in L.A. (built in 1923), youtube video, "Mystery Man":

• Video Link

Very good and impartial 26 minute biography of Aimee, narrarated by actress Gina Rowlands. Interviews with her daughter and son, and includes 1926 "kidnapping" and subsequent scandal. Aimee was a kind woman, non-judgemental and talented, who welcomed all sinners to her church, fed the hungry but was also lonely, at times troubled and herself a sinner. From youtube:

• Video Link

"Sister Aimee" 2 really excellent vids, and the 26 minute bio is great. Very fair, both Aimee's pluses and minuses and great interviews. You will feel you know her after watching it. I will also post some new topics in the next day or two, including the famous 1920s trials of Clarence Darrow (Scopes, Leopold-Loeb, etc.).

[CaliNative]

The Algonquin Roundtable was a group of famous wits and associates that regularly gathered for lunch (sometimes dinner), cocktails (prohibition laughed at), stories, poker and verbal jousting at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan in the 1920s. Such luminaries as George S. Kaufman, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, "Harpo" Marx, Edna Ferber ("Show Boat", more later), James Thurber, Robert Sherwood, Franklin Pierce Adams, Alexander Wolcott, Marc Connelly and Harold Ross were regulars. Many others like Noel Coward, George Gershwin and Anita Loos ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"...but marry brunettes) attended from time to time. By the mid '20s, getting invited to join the roundtable for even one day would be a dream come true in literary and theater circles, and bring immediate renown, as the group goings on were closely followed. Groucho Marx, Irving Berlin and H.L. Mencken were invited to be regulars, and probably attended a few meetings, but thought it would become a time eater and there would be constant pressure to come up with witty quips and comebacks. Besides, Mencken spent most of his time in his beloved Baltimore (more on Mencken soon---will have a whole posting on the "Sage of Baltimore", the ultimate iconoclast of the 1920s). Plus, who could compete with Dorothy Parker, Benchley, Wolcott and Kaufman in the witty quip and humorous putdown dept.? Maybe Groucho and Mencken, but we'll never know. Oh the fun they missed.

The group started in 1919 as a roast of powerful NY Times theater critic Alexander Wolcott, who was always boasting of his war exploits. It was so successful and fun that it continued for over 10 years. The acerbic Wolcott became the "King Arthur" of the roundtable. The legacy was wide, including the founding of the "New Yorker" by member Harold Ross, and many members like Parker and Benchley writing for the new magazine. The group liked their time together so much that they pooled their money and bought an island in a lake in Vermont as a summer retreat.

The circle faded away by 1930 as the Great Depression took grim hold, and such core members as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, George Kaufman, Edna Ferber, Robert Sherwood, Anita Loos, Ruth Gordon and of course Harpo Marx and his brothers drifted off to Hollywood to write and make movies. But the legend continues. The actual roundtable is still there, in the Algonquin dining room, ready for the ghosts to sit for lunch, cocktails, verbal jousting and high jinks.

Here is a wonderful video ("The 10 Year Lunch") on the Algonquin Roundtable that I found on youtube, about 50 minutes but worth every one. Just to hear Dorothy Parker's witty asides is enough reason to watch. Such members as actress Ruth Gordon and writer Marc Connelly were still alive to be interviewed. Narrarated by sports writer and broadcaster Heywood Hale Broun, son of newspaper writer Heywood Broun, one of the members. There are a few ads for Geico etc. that I can't get rid of, but they can be skipped after a couple of seconds:

• Video Link

[SAN Man]

La Jolla 1930s

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

La Jolla 1930s

Can you imagine how much those lots are worth now? $10,000,000+, unimproved. "La Jolla" means "The Jewel", and it is.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Can you imagine how much those lots are worth now? $10,000,000+, unimproved. "La Jolla" means "The Jewel", and it is.

There's an oceanfront house on Camino de la Costa, center lower left side of the picture that is valued at about $34 million right now! I think it's on the same lot that a house in 1930s is on in the picture.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

There's an oceanfront house on Camino de la Costa, center lower left side of the picture that is valued at about $34 million right now! I think it's on the same lot that a house in 1930s is on in the picture.

Dr. Seuss had a huge mansion on Mt.Soledad overlooking La Jolla. Bet that is worth $50 million now. Seuss choose the big view over the beach. I'm a view guy too. With Seuss's money he could have bought a beach house as well. But the view was enough for him. I would have bought a beach cottage too.

[CaliNative]

The "Lost Generation" (a term coined by writer Gertrude Stein) were the Americans (and some Canadians too) that drifted to Europe, especially Paris and later the French Riviera and Spain, in the period after World War I. After the "Great War" Europe was very inexpensive for Americans. The war had almost bankrupted Europe, and made the dollar king. Many of the expats had served in the war, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway. Besides the low costs, other draws were the deep culture and history of Europe, the scenery, the women, lack of censorship and the availability of alcohol (prohibition started in 1920 in America). The relative lack of overt racism attracted African Americans, most famously Josephine Baker, who became a huge star in the Follies, and for a time, Louis Armstrong--"hot jazz" was extremely popular in Paris, London and pre-Nazi Weimar Germany Berlin. Also in 1920, a brief but sharp post-war recession hit America after war production and grain exports to Europe ceased. Better to be poor in Europe, where costs were low.

By the late 1920s, increasing boom prosperity brought a great flood of American tourists to Paris and Europe, and Fitzgerald and other expats complained about the flood of the uneducated masses with new money and boorish attitudes. After the 1929 market crash, the American tide went back home. Just a few were left, notably Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas. The golden era was over as if a switch was flipped.

The video is especially good in the friend/rival relationship between Fitzgerald and Hemingway, and the role of Gertrude Stein in their success. Fitzgerald himself told his editor at Scribner about Hemingway, and the rest is history. Hemingway at times undercut Fitzgerald, and later abandoned him. In many ways, "Hem" was not admirable. Both authors wrote some of their best novels and stories in France, including the magnus opus of the "Jazz Age", Fitz's "Great Gatsby". Most of the second half of the video deals with all of this. It is wonderfully done.

"The Lost Generation" from AE "Biography" series", on youtube, posted by Felipe Rico, about 90 minutes but wonderful. Enjoy!

• Video Link

[CaliNative]

In the U.S., Miami, New York City, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles and a few other cities are known for their wonderful examples of 1920s (and early 1930s) architecture, especially art deco. Long Beach, California has many wonderful examples as well from the era that still survive. The famous Villa Riviera starts just before minute 9. Here is a 13 minute film/slide show tour (with period music) from youtube:

• Video Link

[CaliNative]

No, "The Jazz Singer" (1927) wasn't the first talking film, and in fact, it was mostly silent. But Al Jolson's performance and the story of a Jewish cantor's son singing jazz created a big stir. Talking pictures evolved gradually almost from the start of film, with Edison's experiments with recordings, and multiple films with sound effects. Most early taking films were plagued with problems, associated with the bulky microphones that had to be placed near the actors which limited movement, and caught unwanted extraneous sounds, and the lack of amplification before the audion tube was invented. Anyone who watched the excellent musical film "Singing in the Rain" (1952) about the early talkies knows about the hilarious situation where the sound recording on a record disc got "out of sync" with the picture. A sound track on the film instead of a separate record eliminated that problem.

Here is an excellent and interesting summary of the evolution of talking pictures from the earliest experiments to the realization in the 1920s. A 1959 episode of "The Twentieth Century", narrarated by newsman Walter Cronkite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ould...p=QAFIAQ%3D%3D

[CaliNative]

Rest in peace, Sidney Poitier (1927-2022). You were a great actor, and led the way in the 1960s for people of color in the film industry, in non-stereotypical and dignified roles. "Lilies of the Field" (1963) for which you won the Academy Award, is one of my favorite films, and will be played 100 years from now. You always feel good after watching it. Amen.

Also rest in peace Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022). While your personal life had controversy, you made some great films. "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon" are wonderful and will last forever.

And of course, rest in peace Betty White (1922-2021). You were a great comic actress who made us laugh and defied age stereotypes to the end. You were never "old".

-----

"You think of yourself as a colored man; I think of myself as a man"---Poitier talking to his father (who is opposed to his engagement to a white woman) in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" (1967). Also great performances by Spencer Tracy (in his last roll) and his real life love Kate Hepburn.
-----
Here is the full film version of "Lilies of the Field" from 1963, a wonderful tale where Homer Smith (Poitier, Academy Award performance) makes an unexpected and fateful detour in Arizona on his way to California. Watch, I won't tell you anymore. About 90 minutes, but worth every one & you will feel great at the end, Amen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9usfYeY5vU&pp=sAQB[/YOUTUBE]

[MplsTodd]

Just saw this thread. Lots of interesting info—thanks for posting!

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by MplsTodd

Just saw this thread. Lots of interesting info—thanks for posting!

Welcome! Will try to post topics and videos at least once or twice a week. Will start posting about the 1930s soon and still an infinite number of 1920s stories to tell.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Rest in peace, Sidney Poitier (1927-2022). You were a great actor, and led the way in the 1960s for people of color in the film industry, in non-stereotypical and dignified roles. "Lilies of the Field" (1963) for which you won the Academy Award, is one of my favorite films, and will be played 100 years from now. You always feel good after watching it. Amen.

Also rest in peace Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022). While your personal life had controversy, you made some great films. "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon" are wonderful and will last forever.

And of course, rest in peace Betty White (1922-2021). You were a great comic actress who made us laugh and defied age stereotypes to the end. You were never "old".

-----

"You think of yourself as a colored man; I think of myself as a man"---Poitier talking to his father (who is opposed to his engagement to a white woman) in "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" (1967). Also great performances by Spencer Tracy (in his last roll) and his real life love Kate Hepburn.
-----
Here is the full version of "Lilies of the Field" from 1963, a wonderful film where Homer Smith (Poitier, Academy Award performance) makes an unexpected and fateful detour in Arizona on his way to California. Watch, I won't tell you anymore. About 90 minutes, but worth every one & you will feel great at the end, I promise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9usfYeY5vU&pp=sAQB[/YOUTUBE]

Very well put! Thank you for posting your appreciation of these extraordinary people. I liked all of them.

I have to acknowledge your tribute to Bogdonovich. His "Paper Moon" is my favorite movie, and PB's talent at storytelling is so striking in all the right ways.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

Very well put! Thank you for posting your appreciation of these extraordinary people. I liked all of them.

I have to acknowledge your tribute to Bogdonovich. His "Paper Moon" is my favorite movie, and PB's talent at storytelling is so striking in all the right ways.

Thank you & welcome. "Paper Moon" brings the Great Depression alive. Many great performances. Young Tatum O'Neal gives a stunning performance as the orphan child Addie. Too bad she didn't continue acting much beyond her youth, but how can you top perfection? I'm trying to find the full film to post here, but so far no success. Just snippets on youtube. I guess it is protected by copyright. The depression setting would fit right in with this blog.

Montreal is my favorite Canadian city, along with Quebec City.. Happy to see it thriving and building again, without tearing out all the lovely old buildings. Also like Vancouver and Victoria for the scenery, and Ottawa too, but Montreal has everything, including the terrific French Canadian culture and food mixed with the new immigrants from everywhere. Canada has two #1 cities, not just Toronto.

[montréaliste]

Yes, those years are packed with charm and melancholy, and the innocence vs unsavory stuff had me hooked from the first time I saw it with my dad when it came out. I was 12 yrs old.

Polly Platt’s Production design was masterful, even on a shoestring.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

Yes, those years are packed with charm and melancholy, and the innocence vs unsavory stuff had me hooked from the first time I saw it with my dad when it came out. I was 12 yrs old.

Polly Platt’s Production design was masterful, even on a shoestring.

I watch it every time I can. Madelaine Kahn gave a memorable comic performance as well. Addie's clever plot to pry floozie Madelaine from her surrogate (or perhaps real) dad was very funny. Addie became quite the con girl, in the various scams. Everybody trusts a cute little girl, and she knew it, and used her skills in scamming suckers to keep her with Ryan, who she came to see as a father (and perhaps he was, in the film as in real life). Ryan O'Neal gave his best performance here. But Tatum stole the show, along with the bleak depression scenery in Kansas and Missouri. Added some praise of Montreal above in the previous message.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

I watch it every time I can. Madelaine Kahn gave a memorable comic performance as well. Addie's clever plot to pry floozie Madelaine from her surrogate (or perhaps real) dad was very funny. Addie became quite the con girl, in the various scams. Everybody trusts a cute little girl, and she knew it, and used her skills in scamming suckers to keep her with Ryan, who she came to see as a father (and perhaps he was, in the film as in real life). Ryan O'Neal gave his best performance here. But Tatum stole the show, along with the bleak depression scenery in Kansas and Missouri. Added some praise of Montreal above in the previous message.

Thanks indeed for the appreciation of Montreal and old Quebec City! I likewise have great affection for California's major cities.

Paper Moon still surprises me every time I watch it, even if the lyrics to a well known song are more or less memorized. I find that so much of cinemga is bland or overpowering, that a well told story, with the right crew, actors, design staff and directorial panache is a rare, beautiful thing to behold.