Changes to Leisure Industry

• In the 'Roaring Twenties', there was an average wage increase of 30%.
• Cinema

  Around 80 million cinema tickets sold per week in 1929.

  • 1922: First colour films produced.
  • 1927: Films with sound (Jazz singer)
  • 1928: First animation films made (Steamboat willy)

  Most Americans, despite not having televisions in their homes saw films on a weekly basis, at their local cinema.

  Huge profit for film industry - $2 billion spent on cinema tickets per day.

  Concept of celebrities such as Rudolph Valentino or Charlie Chaplin.
• Jazz and Dancing


  1920s - 'Jazz age' (growing popularity of Jazz)

  Created opposition as if it was associated with immoral behaviours of young people.

  Inspired new forms of dancing - The Charleston: promoted by on screen stars such as Joan Crawford in Our Dancing daughter.

  New form of competition: Marathon dancing.
• Sport

  More leisure meant that Americans could spend holidays, weekends and spare hours watching sport.

  • 1921: 300,000 people went to watch baseball world series.

  Growing popularity of sport = creation of sports heroes in the 1920s:

  1. Baseball: Babe Ruth (60 Home runs)
  2. Boxing: Jack Dempsey Vs Gene Turney
  3. Golf: Bobby Jones (First to achieve Grand Salmon)
  4. Tennis: Bill Tilden
  5. Swimming: Gertrude Edene (First women to swim the English Chanel in 1926)
• Radio and Advertising

  Just as important in peoples homes as television and the internet are today.

  • Number of radios in the USA grew from 60,000 in 1920 to 10 million in 1929.
  • Range of shows broadcasted: Comedies, sport commentaries, live music.
  • Used to be hundreds of local stations, but became part of networks from late 1920s onwards.
  • National Broadcasting cooperation (CBC) set up in 1920s.
  • More leisure time spent listening to adverts, women buying max factor make up to look like movie stars, people taking up new hobbies such as photography and purchasing cameras.
• Motoring


  Start of decade: 8 million people owned motor cars, by 1929, that had risen to 23 million.

  • Ford Model T car = basic automobile, other companies made motor cars of different variation, turning motoring into a 'collectible' kind of hobby.
  • General motors produced more expensive car: K Model Chevrolet in 1925.
  • Americans could now travel greater distances, in shorter times, at lower prices.
• Motoring pt2

  It was easier for American people to go on day trips.

  • National park admission for Americans went from 198,606 in 1910 to 2.7 million in 1930.

  Bargain hunters could visit sub-urban shopping centres: plans for the first such development, in Kansas city, began in 1922.

  Major Cities in reach of more people: residents of rural areas felt less remote, because they could join social activities in cities.