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Period: Oct 14, 1492 to
Entertainment in America
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Corn Husk Dolls
Corn Husk dolls were a popular form of entertainment for young children to play with in the 1700s. They were made two corn husks, and did not have faces on them because of legends like Spirit of Corn. With that, this American practice derived from Native-American corn husk dolls. -
Marbles
Boys would often play marbles in the 1700s. These marbles would often be made out of clay. -
Hoops
‘Hoops’ was a popular game for children in the 1700. It consisted of children rolling wooden hoops back and forth to each other. More often than not, they would also sing nursery rhymes to each other, such as 'Jack Be Nimble". -
1700 games
Many popular games that both girls and boys would entertain themselves in were tag, hop scotch, blind man's bluff, and flying kites. If they were not playing outside, the girls would probably be sewing, and the boys would be fishing or hunting. -
Adult Entertainment in the 1700s
Men would sometimes participate in playing music, log rolls, boxing, hunting and shooting in fun community gathering. Women would often make quilts and share folk tales with each other while they quilted. -
Marketplace and Theater
In the 1700s families would go to marketplaces were craft fairs would be held as well as theatrical entertainment. The most popular plays that were reenacted were those by Shakespeare. If no play or playhouse was available, some would host them in barns or living rooms. -
Armonica
Ben Franklin created this instrument in 1761. It was an instrument made out of different size glass discs that vibrated to produce different tones. -
Frankenstein
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was a popular book for Americas to read at this time. It was a romantic novel exploring the ultimate art project, creating a human from old body parts and bringing it to life with electricity. -
Minstrel Shows
In the 1840s and 1850s Minstrel Shows became a popular form on entertainment for working class whites. These shows were performed by white men who donned blackface and performed racist comedic skits that created negative stereotypes toward blacks. -
Entertainment in Literature
In the !840s and 1850s, the American Renaissance's greatest contributers were Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe. They wrote the following novels:
Hawthorne- Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of Seven Gables (1851), The Marble Faun (1859)
Poe- "The Raven" (1844), "The Murders in RueMorgue" (1841), "The Masque of Red Death" (1842), "The Cask of Amontillado" (1846), "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839)
Melville- Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Marty (1849), Moby-Dick (1851) -
Penny Papers
In 1840 newpaper circiulation spiked because of new human interest stories being published by penny papers such as New York Sun, New York Tribune, and New York Herald. These human interest stories included tales of robberies, murders, rapes, abandoned children, and scandals. They turned normative events into interesting stories. -
American Museum
In 1841 P.T. Barnum purchased an old museum on New York city and dubs it the American Museum. There he displays ventriloquists, magicians, albinos, a migit named Tom Thumb, and and the "Feejee Mermaid," along with other displayes of such nature. This museum represented safe family fun amusement. -
New York Knickerbockers
The first organized baseball team was the New York Knickerbockers in 1845; baseball had now become a professional sport. As baseball was played, the rules evolved with the game. By the 1860s they pitched overhand, wore gloves, had to catch balls on the fly to make an out, games were standardized to nine innings, and bases were set ninety feet apart. -
Moby-Dick
Meville publishes Moby-Dick; a book filled with symbolism about how slavery will have a negative effect on the nation. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and caused social uproar across the nation. It critized southern platation owners causing northerners and nonslave holders to sympathize with the slaves and triger disgust toward southern platation owners. This book was banned form the south, and promoted the abolistionist movement. -
The Dime-Novels
In the mid nineteenth century writers started to write novels western frontiersman. They portrayed these western frontiersnman as tough guys who fight for truth and honor. These Dime-Novel Heroes became very popular in the 1860s and 1870s and greatly influenced the "Myth of the West" -
Coney Island
Coney Island, one of the first American Amusement parks is built and opened to the public in 1870. This was the site that many familys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries went for thrills, fun, and all around amusement. It is still active today. -
John L. Sullivan begins boxing
John L. Sullivan begins his illustrious career as a bareknuckle boxer at the age of 19. He went on to win 38 out of 41 fights of his career. -
New Musical Technology
Thomas A. Edison patented the Phonograph which would play music records. Also, in 1877 Thomas Edison recorded the first human voice, which was followed by the first recorded musical performance ten years later. And in 1877 Emile Berliner created a new way of recording on discs. -
Vaudville is popular
Vaudville was a theater show but not a play. Many immigrants and lower class workers enjoyed these shows. They usually contained Minstral shows, songs, skits, and side shows. This was a welcomed escape and a comedic relief for the many who needed it. -
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
In 1884 Mark Twain wrote the novel Huckleberry Finn. The novel takes place along the Mississippi River with the two main characters Tom Sawyer and "Huck" Finn. In the novel Mark Twain is satirizing the southern antebellum society with disgusting attitudes and racism. This novel became very controversial with the racist stereotypes, coarse language and racial slurs. -
Bicycle Fad
Bicycles had been manufactured since the 1970s, but did not become popular until the start of the 1880s with the invention of the "safety bicycle" This bike had smaller wheels, ball-bearing axles, and air-filled tires. In the 1890s over one million Americans owed bicycles, many of them being young women who let go of the "Victorian" attitudes of female exercise. -
Jazz Emerges
Spawning for marching bands and old slavery songs, Jazz becomes popular. Starting in the south, especially in Louisiana Jazz quickly spread across the coutry. It was widley believed that the best Jazz comes from Blacks, which was monumental at the time because assisted in weakening the barrier of racial prejudice. -
Basketball
In 1891 basketball was invented by a physical education instructor at Springfield College in Massachusetts. He created this game so that the students could stay in shape in the winter months. -
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Stephen Crane writes the first naturalistic American novel. In this book, the story follows a poor girl, Maggie who lives in the slums and ultimatly kills herself. This shocked the entire Victorian middle class, who were revolted by such a harsh reality, and inspired other writers to follow Crane, spawning many more naturalistic novels. -
Last Bareknuckle Boxing Championship
This final championship was fought between John L. Sullivan and "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, with Corbett as the winner. It marked the end of a poplualar sport in America, as the boxing we know today came into the spotlight. However, it is still supported in Ireland and England today. -
The Grand Columbian Carnival (Chicago World Fair)
The Grand Columbian Carnival was also known as The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This event was contructed to show that the U.S. was the most powerful economy in the world. Also, the carnival built hundreds of new neoclassical bulidings to show off new inventions and technologies. -
The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
In 1896 Sarah Orne Jewett wrote the novel The Country if the Pointed Firs. This book she wrote of the New England village life that she knew in South Berwick, Maine. Jewett was considered a regionalist because she wrote books that captured the dialect and details of local life in their environments. -
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin was a feminist who wrote The Awakening in 1899. The novel was about a girl named Edna Pontellier who goes against social conventions. Her married heroine of the novel falls in love with another man; then she commits suicide when her new love's idea about women are the same as her husbands, narrow and traditional. -
Maple Leaf Rag
Scott Joplin became "the king of ragtime" when he puplished his newest coposition "Maple Leaf Rag." This song started the national sensation of Ragtime music. -
Baseball
Baseball became popular around the turn of the 20th century, especially in cities where professional Baseball were located. It was often played in the streets by children and adolescents, and became a popular spectator sport. -
"The Octopus" and "The Financier"
"The Octopus", published in 1901 by Frank Norris, and "The Financier", published in 1912 by Theodore Dreiser disgusted the corporate greed of bosses and big business through fictional novels. -
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Dreiser wrote Sister Carrie, which tells the journey of Carrie Meeber, an innocent girl on her way from her Wisconsin farm home to Chicago. She is seduced by a traveling salesman and then moves in with the married proprietor of a fancy saloon. Carrie is driven by expensive cloths and entertainment, and is an opportunistic, incapable of feeling guilt. With that she goes to New York with her husband who owns a saloon, and stolen saloon receipts. She then leaves him and pursues the theater. -
Saloons
This means of etertainment peaked in 1900, with 10,000 saloons in New York City alone. Many men drank, played billard games, and talked sports in here. Often Bartenders did customers favors in order to get more buiesness and this was a means of relaxing for poor immigrant men, especially in cities. However, prostitution, gambling, and alcoholism ran rampant and gave saloons a shady reputation. -
McClure's and Collier's Maginzine
These muckrakers’ magazines emphasized the needs of the factory labors and city dwellers. They became very popular at this time because of the progressive fervor and the human natures woes for drama. -
New Record Created
New records made of laminated shellac with paper core are sold to the public. -
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The novel exposed the horrors of the meat packing district that one immigrant worked in. This exposure ultimately led to food and drug reform in the progressive era. -
Nickelodeons
In the 1910s Nickelodeons were first starting to be manufactured, reaching their peak in the 1920s. These machines were a form of musical entertainment at the time and attracted attention through their elaborate lead glass fronts and fancy lighting. Coin-operated ones were often featured in restaurants, bars, and dance halls and were the start of what would become radios, jukeboxes, stereos, etc. -
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin was an English comic actor, film director, and composer. He often used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, though he was best known for his silent films. In February of 1914 he featured in the silent film “Kid Auto Races at Venice” as The Tramp, one of his most famous roles. He also featured in many other silent films, and later on talking pictures. -
The Birth of a Nation
This movie glorified the Ku-Klux-Klan and but down blacks. It was a widely popular movie that expanded on the deep set racist views at the time. -
Movie Stars rally for War bonds
Movie stars would make public appearances to persuade citizens to support the war effort with the purchasing war bonds. -
The Automobile
The spiked use of the automobile shows how this invention allowed people to go on vacations (usually only the upper class did so), have movie outings, attend dances, and visit friends and family more often. -
The Radio Era
The Radio Era begins on KDKA station, when new men report Harding's election. This was the official begining of what is known as the 'Old Time Radio Era' -
Reader's Digest
The popular magazine Reader's Digest is established by Dewitt and Lila Wallace. This contained tips, articles, and stories of families, health, money, and housekeeping. -
Big Year in Radio
WEAF broadcasts the first regular news program.
A radio station in Newark broadcasts New York Giants footballs games and the Yankees in the World Series.Beginning of sports broadcasting. -
Famous Movies
*The Sheik - Starring: Rudolph Valentino 1921
*Cecil Demille Directed The Ten Commandments 1923 & Road to Yesterday 1925 (A Rom Com!)
*The Gold Rush - Starring: Charlie Chaplin 1925 -
Miss America Pagent
Started to advirtise swim suits in Atlantic City, this pagent is one that is still popular today. Margaret Gorman, Miss Washington DC, won the first pagent. Here is the goal that Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce President Frederick Hickman told the audience in 1921:
"Miss America represents the highest ideals. She is a real combination of beauty, grace, and intelligence, artistic and refined. She is a type which the American Girl might well emulate." -
Magazines
Ten different magazines each had a 2.5 million person circulation. One of these magazines were the Saturday Evening Post. -
Radio Takes Off
By 1922 there are over 500 radio stations operating nation-wide. -
Book of the Month Club & Literary Guild
The Book of the Month Club is created by Harry Sherman and the Literary Guild by Samuel W. Craig and Harold K. Guinzburg. Both of these programs are still around today. -
NBC & CBS
General Electric, Westinghouse, and Radio Corperation of America start up NBC, followed by CBS in 1927. Both of these eventually evolved into TV channels and are still around today. -
First Sound Movie
This move made use of the vitaphone to syncronize sound withthe movie picture. This was revolutionary with its use of sound, the first movie to do so. -
Amos and Andy
Radio's first network comedy show. Though the voices belonged to white men, the character's were blacks. It was the radio equivilent of minstril shows, depicting African American life in a so called 'funny', degrading light. -
Disney
Walt Disney create the cartoon, Steam Boat Willy. This is just the beginning of a plethora of famoius cartoons, lovable characters, and childrens movies and shows put out by Walt Disney Pictures. -
Radio
In the 1930s radios were very popular form of entertainment. They often broadcasted network news, musical programs, and comedy shows. They also broadcasted domestic dramas (soap operas). Jack Benny and the husband-and-wife team George Burns and Gracie Allen attracted millions on their radio comedy shows. Also, FDR used the radio to inform citizens on what was going on during the Great Depression. Many people referred to the FDR's chats on the radio as the Fireside Chats. -
Famous Movies
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Little Caesar (1930)
The Public Enemy (1931)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (musical movie)
Animal Crackers
Duck Soup
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Little Colonel (1935)
The Wedding Present (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
I'm No Angel
The Wizard of Oz (1939) -
Music
Jazz music was still very popular at this time. With that, many musician and composers were writting songs to put in films. Also, many of the Big Bands were made of 15 to 20 people. With that, country western was also becoming popular. Famous musicans and composers include, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, and Teddy Wilson. -
Art
IN the 30s Folk Art was very famous. Also, with the depression many artists and photographers were empolyed throught the New Deal programs/ projects which allowed them to continue their art. With them continuing their art, they set their art up in musems for the public to look at free of charge. Famous artists and photographers at the time were Grandma Moses, Georgia O'Keefe, Dorthea Lange, and Horace Pippin. -
Books
In the late 30s there was an increase of intrest in regional literature. Famous works included "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale, "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men" by George Steinbeck. -
Movies
In the 1930s movies became very popular because they were very cheap entertainment, only costing about $0.25. By 1939 65% of Americans went to the movies at least once a week. A few of the movies at this time were documentaries, many of them were gangster movies, or movies celebrating the New Deal. Also many of the movies were comedies, or movies that dealt with African Americans, and traditional marriage. With that, two of the most famous movies were "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz". -
Television World Fair Debute
Television made its world debute at the world fair in 1939, but was not to be seen or sold commercially until 1947. -
Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz
In 1939 Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz came out into the theaters. It was one of the first movies to be made with color. Not only did it have color, but also sound. -
Art
Abstract Expressionism, aka New York School, became a popular art style. This style was one of dripping and splattering paint on a blank canvas. Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Piet Mondrian, Arshile Gorky, Adolf Gottlieb, Andrew Wyeth, and Hans Hofmann were popular artists. Also Sculpting became popular and often was made of modern materials such as steel and "found objects" instead of marble and bronze. -
Radio
During the 1940s radio had become very popular providing news, music, and entertainment. Some programs included soap operas, quiz show, children's hours, mystery stories, fine drama, and sports. Popular radio hosts were Kate Smith and Arthur Godfrey. With that, the government relied heavily on the radio for propaganda use. With that, radio popularity faded with the increasing number of home televisions. -
Computers
Computers were starting to be developed in the early forties, and by 1945 the first computer had been successfully made. It weighed 30 tons and stood two stories high. Obviously this was not bought or used by Americans at this time. -
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robison was a Famous African American Baseball player who was the first to break the color line in Professional Sports in America. He was the first professional African American baseball start on an all white team. With that, other team sports started to allow African American on their teams. -
Commerial Television
The TV was invented and shown in the world fair in 1939, but had not been made and sold commercially until 1947. This Television had 13 stations to watch, and with that many popular shows came around in the late 40s and 50s such as The Honeymooners and I love Lucy. -
The Red Menace
1949 Anti-communism film. It was about an ex-GI named Bill Jones who is involved in the Communist Party USA. With that he falls in love with another communist party member, but they both realize their mistake of joining the party after witnessing a murder of one of the members who questions some of its principles. After that they try to leave the party , even so they are marked for murder by communist party assassins. This was hollywood's way to show that it was not filled with communists. -
Jewish and Black writers
The Jewish and Black writers pumped out some of the greatest fictional works of the 20th century in the 50s, questioning the human disposition, modern society, immigrant life, and gender and racial relations. Some titles include:
William Faulkner "The Town" 1957 "The Mansion" 1960
Eudora Welty "The Ponder Heart" 1954
James Baldwin "Go Tell It On the Mountain" 1953
Ralph Ellison "The Invisible Man" 1951
Bernard Malamud "The Assistant" 1957
Paul Roth "Goodbye Columbus" 1959 -
Beat Generation
Poets like Allen Ginsberg (Howl 1956) and Jack Kerouac (On The Road 1957) were called Beatniks. They were a group of poets dissatisfied with American materialism and made it know to th world. The often wore black, did drugs, and met in coffee houses. -
Museum of Modern Art
When New York City opens the Museum of Modern Art, it replaces Paris as the art capital of the world. The museum was to show off abstract art as a way to combat communist Russia's trend of realism. -
Alan Freed
On his classical radio show, Alan Freed coined the phrase 'Rock and Roll' In 1952 he began 'Moondogs Rock and Roll Party' to play "race music" for the teenagers who liked rock and roll. He moved the show to a higher publicity station in New York City, creating a rock and roll craze beginning in 1954 -
TV acessories
TV Guide was an extremely popular periodical and outsold every other periodical out there. TV dinners were introduced in 1954 and drastically changed American eating habits. -
The Frightful Teenagers
Bill Haley and the Comets sang "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" which topped the pop charts. Teens began to love Rock and Roll and Rebels. Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" premiered in 'The Blackboard Jungle' about juvinile deliquency. From then on parents related Rock and Roll to crime and were scared at how many teens enjoyed it. Record sales tripled between 1954-1960, and teens enjoyed rebellious characters played by Marlon Brando in 'The Wild One' and James Dean in 'A Rebel Without a Cause' -
Them!
Them! was a 1954 sci-fi film. This film was about ordinary ants that mutated into huge man-eating ants because of the atomic bomb tests in New Mexico. With that being said this enhanced the public's fear of nuclear weapons. With that, sci-fi movies were becoming very popular in the 1950s. -
The Tender Trap
This is a 1955 film. Overall this movie's point is that a woman is not a woman until she has been successfully married and has children to take care of along with the a house and home. This movie furthered the American view of what woman's activities should entail and set the woman's place in the home. This strongly influenced and mirrored 1950s culture. -
The Wapshot Chronicles
The novel by John Cheever, showed a trend in suburban America. His character was a man who was dissatisfied with his lack of purpose and wants a more authentic way of living, but does nothing decisive about it. -
Magazines
Popular magazines include "Seventeen," "Cooking is My Poetry," "Esquire," "Life." Seventeen was a popular magazine in 1957. It was a girl's magazine help advice for woman about men, along with appropriate womanly activities. Cooking is My Life was a magazine about cooking and other domestic housewives activities. While the magazine Esquire called working wives a "menace," and Life praised women who married young, cooked, cleaned, sewed, and raised kids. -
Decline of Movie Theaters
Due to movie theater attendance dropping 50%, 1/5 of the nations movie theaters were turned into supermarkets and bowling alleys -
TV
9/10ths of the nations households had a television. Some popular TV shows were:
Edward Murrow's 'See It Now'
Situational Comedies: 'The Life of Riley', 'The Goldbergs', 'The Honeymooners', 'The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet', 'Leave it to Beaver', 'I Love Lucy', 'My Friend Irma', and 'The Donna Reed Show' These shows reinforced stereotypes
A popular kids show: 'The Mickey Mouse Club', full of singing and dancing and 'wholesome family fun'
Most popular TV show: Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand' -
Pornography
After the Supreme Court ruled controlling porn unconstitutional, 'Playboy' magazine introduced more erotica and the popularity of 'R' and 'X' rated flms. Though congress was horrifyed and tryed to condemn it, films such as 'Easy Rider' and 'Midnight Cowboy' and erotica novels like 'Portnoy's Complaint' and 'Myra Brenkinridge' touched on once taboo issues like transsexulaism, male prostitution, masturbation, and homosexuality quickly gained popularity. -
Drugs not Hugs
Timothy Leary, a lover of LSD was fired from Harvard University for encouraging students to expiriment with drugs. Drugs became an extremely popular fad in the 60s amoungst the counter culture. "Tune in, turn off, drop out" Leary phrased it. In the later years of the decade, musicals like 'Hair' and movies like 'Alice's Resturaunt' made expirimenting with drugs seem normal and safe, very unrealistic portrails. -
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan releases his new song "Blowin' in the Wind". This song is regarded as a protest song, but asks some rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. -
Cassius Clay's Conversion
Shortly after winning the heavywieght boxing championship, Cassius Clay told the world that he converted into the Nation of Islam and was changing his name to Mohommed Ali. He then resisted the draft, was found guilty on the charge of draft evasion and stripped of his title, as well as exiled from boxing. This inspired many blacks in the civil rights movement who wanted immediate change to take stronger action. -
The Beatles
In February of 1964 The Beatles arrive in the United States for the first time. The song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is released November 29 1963 before coming to America, and reaches the top of the charts in 1964 in America. Song is about holding a girls hand while being proposed to. -
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
A collection of his life and beliefs, this book will becomes the main idea to use for the Black Power movement. -
Science and Survival and The Population Bomb
Barry Commoner wrote a warning on the hazards of nuclear wastes and chemical pollution called "Science and Survival" in 1966. In 1968 Paul Ehrlich wrote a book called "The Population Bomb" which talked about the dangers of overpopulation. With both of these writings it help bring about new laws limiting pesticide use, protecting endangered species and marine mammals, protecting coastal lands, and controlling strip-mining. -
Haight-Ashbury/ The Summer of Love
Haight-Ashbury was a street corner in San Francisco that became known for the Summer of Love when High School, College Students, and counter coulter America went down to experiment with drugs, love, and sexuality. There were many songs written about San Francisco and the Summer of Love. Also psychedelic rock and performers started to come around here at this time. -
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E"
The song "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" tops the charts and visibly reflects the shift in America's attitude towards the practice, rising from 2.2% to 3.5% over the course of ten years. -
Woodstock
Woodstock was originally a concert set up to create revenue on August 15 through August 17, but over 400,000 people showed up so they opened the gates to everyone; it became a free concert. It was a music festival which advertised three days of music and peace, but ultimately became a four day music festival going until the 18th. It took place in White Lake, NY and had 32 acts preformed outside whether it was raining or shinning. -
Okie from Muskogee
"Okie from Muskogee" was a song released in 1969 by Merle Haggard and the Strangers. It was awarded the Academy of Country Music, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, and Top Male Vocalist. This song was made in contrast of the protesters and Hippies at the time. -
The Beatles disband
It's sad... but it must be said :( -
Earth Day
In April 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated by over 20 million Americans. It was celebrated with speeches and demonstrations that highlighted problems such as thermal pollution, dying lakes, oil spills, and dwindling resources. With that organic gardening, vegetarianism, solar power, recycling, composting, and preventive health care became very popular practices. -
The Surviving Protest Mood Shows Through Pop. Culture
American's, while enjoying empty disco tunes, also felt distrust towrds authority, feelings of protest, and realised the darker side of America after Watergate and Vietnam. This can be een in songs and albums like: Darkness at the Edge of Town (1978) Born in the USA (1984) by Bruce Springstein, and Blood on the Tracks (1974) by Bob Dylan. Movie's included Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), and Robert Altman's Nashville (1975) -
Escapism is back!
Jaws (1975, Star Wars (1977) and E.T. (1982) all had the air of escapism to relieve the yuppies (Young Urban Professionals) from their stressfull lives. The Brady Bunch also debuted in 1969, showing the nostalgic veiw of 1950s sit coms. Soap Opera Veiwing also increased, as shows like Dallas came on. -
Yuppies
To show everyone the self centered, phisical fitness obbsessed 'Yuppie', authors like Christopher Lasch wrote stories like "The Era of Narcissism" while novalist's like Tom Wolfe called them the "Me" generation. In a 1984, Newsweek called it the Year of the Yuppie. Movies like "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) displayed shallow disco tunes from bands like the BeeGees while showing off a self absorbed working class dancer played by John Travolta. -
Pastimes We Know and Love
In 1982, Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida. Also, the Super Bowl, NBA playoffs, and (most fabulously) the World Series gain major popularity on television. -
VCRs, CDs, and PCs
By the early '90s 70% of households owned VCRs. Most also owned laser-beam-reading-disks called CDs. The PCs changed the way of life for most Americans. Steve Jobs and his friends, as well as Bill Gates and Paul Allen invented computers as young kids and began selling them to companies and friends. Neither party knew that they would become the richest and most innovative people in the world. -
Holding Out for a Hero
Movie's liked:Braveheart (1995), Gladiator (2000), Forrest Gump (1994), Titanic (1997), Unforgiven (1992), Saving Private Ryan (1998), & Pearl Harbor (2001) all blatently showed America's search for a heroic figures through the use of historical fiction . Also the TV shows: Citizen Soldiers (1997), Band of Brothers (2001) and The Greatest Generation (1998) and Biographies such as: David McCullough's 'John Adams' (2001) and 'Truman' (1993), & Scott Berg's 'Lindbergh' (1999) shared the same veiws. -
Reality? Television
TV shows like 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" celebrated greed while 'Surivor' showed the affluent American society trials of American 'life' while not having to actually expirience it. The trials of OJ Simpson, the murder of a 6 year old beauty pagent-er and a federal-government intern, as well as all the oh-so-interesting sex scandals that surrounded President Clinton gripped the public's attention on nightly tv.
