Pop Culture: the Great Depression

Today:

What was music like during the

Depression years?

REALITY Pop Culture

"The Golden Age of Hollywood"

1930s Popular Culture

Escapism

Life During the Depressionwas sad…

Unemployment 1 out of every 4 = Unemployed (25%)

Hungerforced to wait in line for soup & bread

Homelessness

http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/hobosign.htm

1930s Music = Sad Optimism?

“How Can a Man Stand such times and Live”

“We Sure Got Hard Times Now”

“Welfare StoreBlues”

“Happy Days are HereAgain”

“Keep on the Sunny Side ”

“Who’s Afraid of theBig Bad Wolf”

The Dust Bowl

Location: U.S.A, The Great Plains (Nebraska, Oklahoma, etc.)

Woody Guthrie – Voice of the Dust Bowl

“I Ain’t Got No Home”

“Do Re Mi”

“Dusty Old Dust”

How do we survive the Depression?

“We Have Nothing toFear…

But Fear itself”

1930: Pop Culture Tragedy

1932

J Edgar Hoover FBI

Ransom Note

Dear Sir!Have 50.000$ redy 25 000$ in20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and10000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 dayswe will inform you were to deliverthe mony.

We warn you for makinganyding public or for notify the PoliceThe child is in gut care.Indication for all letters areSingnature (Symbol to right)

and three hohls

Bruno Richard Hauptmann

Executed 1936

1930s Pop Culture

G - Men

Pop Culture: the Great Depression

Today:

What was film like during the

Depression years?

How did the film industry survive the Depression?

REALITY Pop Culture

"The Golden Age of Hollywood"

1930s Popular Culture

Escapism

1st Movie to Feature Sound:

(1927) The Jazz Singer

30s Films called“Talkies”

Overall the 1930s theaters were powered by the musical

Why?

Escapism

Jean Harlow Greta Garbo

1st Platinum Blond

Joan Crawford & Clark Gable

John WayneSpaghetti Westerns

Goldwyn GirlsDance, Sang, and

Looked Good

Busby Berkeley#1 musical

choreographer

Lucille Ball1950s Comediangot her start as

as a Goldwyn Girl

Pop Culture: the Great Depression

Topic:

How did the film industry survive the Depression?

REALITY Pop Culture

The Big 5 – Studios that survived the Depression

How did the film industry survive the Great depression?

What were ways the Big 5 held onto their power?

Big name actors in their films…andonly their films

Packaged the films = had to purchaseLess popular films in order to get the

blockbuster

They owned the movie theaters

How did the film industry survive the Great depression?

The “Little 3” Studios

How did the film industry survive the Great depression?

During the crash and after; why did film production companies start making extremely moral & uplifting films?

After the crash big companies or anyone left with money

were the enemies.

Movies went overboard with morals to prove they

were the good guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4

1928 = Steamboat Willie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-x_QRww3Bk

March 16, 1934“The Three Little Pigs”

December 21, 19371st Feature Length Animated Film

Studio Lot = 51 acres Burbank CA

Mickey

Pigs

What to

Watch?

The Ugly Duckling