Themes in American History

The entertainment industry took advantage of Americans increased leisure time and income during the 1920s. As people celebrated postwar prosperity with indulgence in entertainment.  Movie change the form of entertainment. When the “talkies” was available. The motion pictures with sound. Movies presented audiences with spectacular sets that they could only dream about. In the 1920s, there were 20 Hollywood studios, and the demand for films was greater than ever and it is the greatest output of films in America; it is about 800 film releases in a year. Also, movies were a very inexpensive form of entertainment. By 1922, almost every community in America had at least a 100-seat movie theater for total 40million people go to watch movie every week.

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The museum’s archives have information ranging from President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination to the frontier out west to the civil rights movement. After exploring this museum my interest was most captured on the reform movement specifically with alcohol.

During the 19th century, to deter drinking and intoxication, cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia put on melodramas of an intoxicated person that is tempted by alcohol, and his life eventually going on a spiral downwards until he can chooses to reform. The Drunkard was one play that was so successful in Boston, in 1849 it debuted at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. An image representing this “alcohol induced wickedness” is from Ten Nights in a Bar Room. Temperance was not just a political debate but it was a moral dilemma facilitated in such melodramas, songs, conventions and parades. This inspiration came from the evangelical Christians who promoted moral reform.

I believe that the Saloons and the drinking culture in 19th century America was a chief source of entertainment. The fact that some spectators of these plays would go to the nearest saloon during intermission to drink, and then come back to watch the second act shows the difficulty in promoting temperance.

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