Changes During the 1900's

Throughout the 1900’s great and monumental changes were made in our country. Changes the Like Fair Labors Act of 1938, the Dyer Anti Lynching bill, and Women’s Suffrage all took place in at this time. The 1900's also brought in Muckraking, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The mid 1900s gave way to crime and gangs a problem that we still have today. Satchmo and Louis Armstrong along with Duke Ellington, And Frank Sinatra are all products of the 1900's. All of our favorite music and dances can be attributed to the early Jazz and Blues and Swing of the 1900's. In the following paragraphs we are going to briefly touch on a few of the major events that occurred during the time period from 1900 to 1940.
A weekend that everyone enjoys is a weekend spent at the movie theatre, with a big tub of popcorn, a cold refreshing coke, and a hot date. But we must ask ourselves, would we even have these movies if it weren’t for the first talking movie The Jazz Singer. The Jazz Singer was produced in 1927 under Warner Brothers Company. It was the first movie to feature speech inside of the movie. It also featured six songs, and was based on the stage play The Jazz Singer. This was a break through invention giving us the ability to make movies more interesting, comical, dramatic and overall better. However, this movie also was a very powerful movie for many other reasons. Such as it was what was called a “blackface” movie. Meaning, they had a white actor and they painted his face all black except his lips to make him appear black. Also, the fact that the main character was a Jew, but he wants be a jazz singer so bad that he is willing to go against his religion and behind his parents backs. This was very unfamiliar territory for these directors so for them to venture this far was astonishing. The sound was recorded on what was called a Vitaphone. The sound was not recorded on the movie itself but rather a 16-inch phonograph record. Since most