there were many painters
composers and other types of artists
keeping americans entertained
during the 1920s there were even some
new forms of entertainment emerging
who were some of these artists what were
some of the new developments in the
world of entertainment
the two most notable painters of the
decade were georgia o'keeffe
and edward hopper o'keefe became well
known for her close-up paintings of
flowers
as well as paintings of many structures
around new york city
hopper presented scenes of lonely
american life
usually depicting a solitary figure
doing normal everyday tasks
one of the most prominent composers of
the 1920s was george gershwin
gerchmann wrote classical music as well
as popular music
his musical compositions such as
rhapsody in blue
and american in paris became quite well
known
gershwin also wrote an experimental jazz
opera
blue monday gershwin's success
continued into the 1930s when he wrote
porgy and bess a very popular opera
which premiered in 1935.
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the motion picture industry was growing
rapidly in the 1920s as well
throughout much of the decade all movies
were silent films
that all changed in 1927 with the
release of
the jazz singer this motion picture
starring al jolson became the first
major motion picture with
sound the first spoken words on
film were wait a minute wait a minute
you ain't heard nothing yet wait a
minute i said it you ain't heard nothing
the movie only had about two minutes of
spoken dialogue
as well as five songs yet audiences were
enthralled
this film and other talkies
signaled the end of the silent film era
another major breakthrough in film came
the following year
an animated short film titled steamboat
willie
became the first animated film with
sound
it also featured a debut of mickey mouse
and helped to launch the success of walt
disney
and his fledgling animation studio
a new dance craze also swept the nation
in the 1920s
the dance was known as the charleston
the charleston involved wild movements
of the arms and legs
the charleston differed from most other
dances of the era
because it could be performed alone and
did not require a dance partner
however many dance partners did burn up
the dance floor
while participating in dance marathons
these competitions might last for days
and could even
involve one of the partners sleeping
while still
dancing professional sports
also became a dominant force in the
world of entertainment during the 1920s
red grange became one of the nation's
first star
football players bobby jones became a
household name
as a golfer while everyone tuned in on
the radio
to listen as jack dempsey repeatedly
defended his heavyweight boxing title
of course the biggest name in sports
during the 1920s was
babe ruth his talent and popularity on
the field
helped to entrench baseball as the
national
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pastime
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