Entertainment

Film:

• By 1910, more than 10,000 theatres were playing to a weekly audience of more than 10 million people nationwide.
  

• All films were silent until 1920, when “talkies” were introduced
  

• People were sure that movies with talking would be a failure, since they couldn’t cater to more than one racial group at a time.
  

• Academy Awards first held in May, 1929

Consumerism:

• Mail-order catalogues allowed easy access to the latest and greatest
  

• Mass-circulation magazines became popular
  

• Huge department stores were built throughout the country

Recreation:

• Family picnics and community socials were popular, especially in the 1890s
  

• Sports like archery, croquet, and lawn tennis were played frequently
  

• Independence Day picnics were held once a year, with a morning of political oratory and an afternoon of concerts, races, and games
  

• Card games such as whist, euchre, and bridge became popular
  

• Common board games included Wall Street Brokers, Nellie Bly, Twenty Questions, Checkers, Dominoes and Chess
  

• Needlecrafts were still popular for girls

Intellect:

• As the public became more educated, reading for pleasure became popular
  

• 1890 saw the introduction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as the still popular Wizard of Oz.
  

• 1906 saw the beginning of sleuth series, particularly The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Bobbsey Twins.

Sports:

Coville baseball players, 1925

• Health and physical fitness became fashionable
  

• Roller skating started the trend in 1870, followed by bicycling in the 1890s, and automotoring in 1910
  

• In 1887, the invention of the Victor, a woman’s bicycle with no crossbar, made it easier for women to cycle while wearing skirts
  

• Cycling clubs became popular in the early 1900s and attracted people of all backgrounds
  

• Athletic sports and spectator sports became widely popular, particularly boxing and baseball.
  

• Bareknuckle prizefighting was illegal in most states, but it was common nonetheless
  

• By 1915, baseball became more popular than boxing
  

• Baseball developed out of a combination of other cultural games, and became the first truly American sport
  

• William Commeyer built the first enclosed field, and made it possible to charge for admission

The Roaring Twenties:

Miss America, 1927

• Men and women crowded into saloons and ‘speakeasies’ that sold illegal alcohol.
  

• F. Scott "Fitzgerald coined the term “the Jazz Age” in 1922, which was incredibly appropriate as jazz music was introduced and became popular
  

• The Miss America Pageant began in 1921, in which the women wore wool bathing suits and paraded around in front of judges
  

• The first winner was Margaret Gorman, a 16 year-old schoolgirl
  

• The pageant was discontinued in 1928 because it was declared indecent, but resumed in the 1930s

Other Facts:

Sitting upon a phonograph

• By 1915, both Mother’s day and Father’s day were added to the list of celebrated holidays
  

• Pianos, organs, and phonographs allowed the general public to listen to music in their homes.