THE JAZZ AGE
Ranked #1,954 in Culture & Society, #45,011 overall
Flappers! Prohibition! Hot Jazz! The Roaring Twenties!!
The Jazz Age describes
the period from 1918-1929,
the years between the end
of World War I and the start
of the Roaring Twenties;
ending with the rise of
the Great Depression, the
traditional values of this
age saw great decline while
the American stock market
soared.
Contents at a Glance
The Jazz Age
Central developments included Art Deco design and architecture. A great theme of the age was individualism and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment in the wake of the misery, destruction and perceived hypocrisy and waste of WWI and pre-war values.
In Literature
Perhaps one of the most representative literary works of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), which highlighted what some describe as the decadence and hedonism of the post-WW1 age, as well as new social and sexual attitudes, and the growth of individualism.Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term, which he used in such books as "Tales of the Jazz Age." The second novel that he wrote, "The Beautiful and Damned" (1922), also deals with the era and its effect on a young married couple. Fitzgerald's last completed novel, "Tender Is the Night," takes place in the same decade but is set in France and Switzerland not New York, and consequently is not widely considered a Jazz Age novel per se.
Additional works on the Jazz Age might include Thomas Wolfe's titanic 1935 book "Of Time and the River," which takes its protagonist from the depths of the Carolinas, to Harvard, and finally to New York in the 1920s, but for a truly harrowing view of the end of the Jazz Age, Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again" is recommended for its party scene on the night of the 1929 stock market crash. Edith Wharton's late novel "Twilight Sleep," set in New York and written in 1927, is a great example of social critiques of Jazz Age values and lifestyles. Additionally,The Rosy Crucifixion of Henry Miller, "Sexus," "Plexus," and "Nexus," is set in New York during this period.
Social Acceptance of Minorities and Homosexuals
In urban areas, minorities were treated with more equality than they had been accustomed to previously. This was reflected in some of the films of the decade. Redskin (1929) and Son of the Gods (1929), for instance, deal sympathetically with Native Americans and Asian Americans, openly reviling social bias. On the stage and in movies, black and white players appeared together for the first time. It became possible to go to nightclubs and see whites and minorities dancing and eating together. Even popular songs poked fun at the new social acceptance of homosexuality. One of these songs had the title "Masculine Women, Feminine Men." It was released in 1926 and recorded by numerous artists of the day and included the following lyrics:Masculine women, Feminine men
Which is the rooster, which is the hen?
It's hard to tell 'em apart today! And, say!
Sister is busy learning to shave,
Brother just loves his permanent wave,
It's hard to tell 'em apart today! Hey, hey!
Girls were girls and boys were boys when I was a tot,
Now we don't know who is who, or even what's what!
Knickers and trousers, baggy and wide,
Nobody knows who's walking inside,
Those masculine women and feminine men!
Homosexuals also received a level of acceptance that was not seen again until the 1960s. Until the early 1930s, gay clubs were openly operated, commonly known as "pansy clubs". The relative liberalism of the decade is demonstrated by the fact that the actor William Haines, regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the number-one male box-office draw, openly lived in a gay relationship with his lover, Jimmy Shields. Other popular gay actors/actresses of the decade included Alla Nazimova and Ramon Novarro. In 1927, Mae West wrote a play about homosexuality called The Drag, and alluded to the work of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. It was a box-office success. West regarded talking about sex as a basic human rights issue, and was also an early advocate of gay rights. With the return of conservatism in the 1930s, the public grew intolerant of homosexuality, and gay actors were forced to choose between retiring or agreeing to hide their sexuality.
from Wikipedia
Music
things gone is
important to a
jazz musician.
Things like
old folks singing
in the moonlight
in the back yard
on a hot night or
something said
long ago.
- Louis Armstrong
On This Day In Jazz Age Music!
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Satchmo
25 Greatest Hot Fives & Sevens
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Bix
Bix Beiderbecke Story
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The Crooners
Very Thought of You: the Ultimate Collection
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The Songbirds
Love Me Or Leave Me
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COMPILATIONS
Film
Jazz - A Film by Ken Burns
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At the Jazz Band Ball - Early Hot Jazz, Song and Dance
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Further Reading
Non-Fiction
Flappers and the New American Woman: Perceptions of Women from 1918 Through the 1920s (Images and Issues of Women in the Twentieth Century)
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Biographies
Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby (New York Review Books Classics)
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Spotlight On: Jack Johnson
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
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Spotlight On: Nancy Cunard
Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse, Political Idealist
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Spotlight On: The Fitzgeralds
The Romantic Egoists: A Pictorial Autobiography from the Scrapbooks and Albums of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald
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it is always three o' clock in the morning,
day after day.
~F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fiction
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels and Stories 1920-1922: This Side of Paradise / Flappers and Philosophers / The Beautiful and the Damned / Tales of the Jazz Age (Library of America)
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Poetry
~Langston Hughes
Oh, silver tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
In a Harlem cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
Lifts high a dress of silken gold.
Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining rivers of the soul!
Were Eve's eyes
In the first garden
Just a bit too bold?
Was Cleopatra gorgeous
In a gown of gold?
Oh, shining tree!
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!
In a whirling cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
Poll
Vintage Sheet Music
More Jazz Age Videos!
- Crooners & Songbirds (#1)
- PART ONE.
- Crooners & Songbirds (#2)
- PART TWO.
Guestbook
Hows Tricks Kid?
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Reply
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StevenCousley
Jun 28, 2011 @ 4:12 am | delete
- Wow, now that was a whole lot of Jazz. Loved it!
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ccorrig
May 29, 2011 @ 11:07 am | delete
- Very informative and comprehensive lens on Jazz. Great content and delivery! Thank you.
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vallain
May 21, 2011 @ 6:33 pm | delete
- Hmmm, great stuff about the 1920s. Now I have to figure out where to feature this on my lens.
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Reply
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FrankChapman May 5, 2011 @ 7:37 pm | delete
- I love the music. I play it in my 1920's house. Your lens has been a great source. The spirits in my house and I thank you.
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iSandy
Apr 19, 2011 @ 10:24 am | delete
- Interesting and very informative site!
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On This Day In Jazz Age Music!
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- | Jazz Roots | Early Jazz History on JASS.COM
- Tom Morgan offers lavishly illustrated profiles of early 20th century performers along with links to books, a timeline from 1800 to 1930, and images of ...http://static5.squidoo.com/images/icon-reorder.gifhttp://static5.squidoo.com/images/icon-reorder.gifhttp://static5.squidoo.com/images/icon-reorder.gif
- Jazz History
- The history of jazz from the beginning to the present day.
- The Red Hot Jazz Archive
- A history of Jazz before 1930. This site contains over 2000 songs from this era in Real Audio 3 format, as well as hundreds of biographies and discographies ...
- Awesome Jazz Age Archive Tracks - Dismuke's Message Board
- Is that him soloing on Margaret Young's Red Hot Henry Brown at http://www.jazzage1920s.com/margaretyoung/margaretyoung.php? Anyway, I sure appreciate those ...
- PBS - Ken Burns: Jazz: A History of America's Music - Hardback Book
- Shop PBS - Ken Burns: Jazz: A History of America's Music - Hardback Book - where every purchase supports your local PBS station.
- The Jazz Age: Flapper Culture & Style
- Welcome to The Jazz Age: Flapper Culture & Style..
- The Internet Guide to Jazz Age Slang
- Herein is contained an alphabetical listing of slang words used in the 1920's.
- The Pansy Craze
- The Pansy Craze was a period in the late 1920s and early 1930s in which gay clubs and performers (known as pansy performers) experienced a surge in underground popularity in the United States.
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