Society in the Jazz Age
A Model for Modern-Day America
By: Stephanie Pakrul
Monday, December 14, 1998
ENG 4AO
In the 1920s, Clara Bow had It. In the nineties, who has It? Kate Moss? Cindy
Crawford? Pamela Anderson Lee? Yet none of these "Beautiful Women of the Nineties" have
meant to us what Ms. Bow meant to the Jazz Age. The "It" in question here is of course, Sex
appeal...with a capital 'S'. How could one girl who grew up in the slums of Brooklyn define
sexuality for an era that only screamed for more of it? She served it to the world on a silver
platter, with no apologies and no excuses. "She was expected to represent all of the excesses of
the jazz age."1 In Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic it was "Off with her head!", in the twenties, it was
"Off with her clothes!". At the start of the decade, skirts were nine inches off the ground.
Cosmetics had come out of the whorehouse and into the mainstream, and constrictive
undergarments were thrown out the window to reveal a new woman with spunk and stamina who
could eat a meal without passing out. The Jazz Age became the first society to consider play as
important as work, sports stars as highly regarded as presidents, and Jesus as a businessman. The
twenties have a lot to answer for in creating a mass popular culture and a modern, liberal world;
for better or for worse, the new world created in the 1920s is the world we live in today.
"The Jazz Age was wicked and monstrous and silly. Unfortunately, I had a good time."2
The twenties were an era of pettiness and ignorance, but also of liberation and competition.
Society was obsessed with being first, being fastest, and being the most shocking. So many
people were driven by the thought of being the best at things that weren't really important. And
everyone was loving it. Life was now a race. Human desires to explore the broadest reaches of
the planet, soar above the earth in airplanes, and conquer land-speed records were no longer
fueled by inner passion, but by societal pressures and egos. Aviation attracted crowds of
thousands (even though it was still very dangerous at the time) by breaking altitude and distance
records and performing suicidal stunts while balancing on airplane wings. F. Scott Fitzgerald
himself said, "The parties were bigger...the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings
were higher, the morals were looser....". Now, it wasn't just big news that was big, little news
took up columns and columns of newspapers. Tabloids attracted the masses by printing stories of
steamy affairs and insignificant murders. It makes one wonder what modern-day culture Jerry
Springer is appealing to...
Harry Houdini was an example of a brilliant self-promoter. In this age when so many
people were trying to attract attention by doing crazy things, Houdini took it to another level, the
source; himself. He suspended himself, chained or straightjacketed from buildings near the
1
2
Flaming Youth, http://www.fadmag.com/items/flmingy/flmgyth.htm
Broun, Heywood, Unknown source
offices of newspapers (conveniently within view of reporters), and then would proceed to free
himself. Flagpole sitting was another interesting example of attention-getting stunts, Alvin
"Shipwreck" Kelly set up flagpoles across the U.S. and sat atop them for weeks at a time, through
the scorching sun and pouring rain. As Jacques Chastenet said in Purnell's History of the
Twentieth Century, "(The flapper) symbolized an age anxious to enjoy itself, anxious to forget
the past, anxious to ignore the future".
Alcohol has always been a part of American culture and society, it was consumed in the
courts and written off as court expenses, a few rural communities used liquor as currency, and
some say that the revolution was fought mainly by drunken soldiers. Politics had been influenced
by alcohol for as long as people could remember. Temperance societies had begun to form across
the U.S. carrying the puritan message that pleasure is sin. These societies were comprised of the
classy religious people, and everyone wanted to be among the elite. Portland, Maine became the
first 'dry' city as early as 1840, but nationwide prohibition would not become a possibility until
decades later. Prohibition was due mainly to new “scientific enlightenments” published in the
late nineteenth century which claimed that excessive drinking could lead to spontaneous
combustion, insanity, and neglected children. Signs were posted stating how the ban of drinking
would increase workers’ production and motor skills on the job. So liquor began to be viewed as
an impurity in the American society, much as drugs are today. On January 17th, 1920, America
went dry. The 18th amendment had been passed by congress, declaring that “No person shall
manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export,
deliver, furnish or possess intoxicating liquor except
as authorized in this act.". So America had now
entered an era of gangsters, scandal, smuggling,
tabloids, wealth, fads, violence, corruption,and, of
course, drinking. Social barriers had begun to fall, the
"Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what its' meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime,
It can't prohibit worth a dime,
Nevertheless we're for it."
rich were rubbing elbows with the common folk with
their mutual pursuits of alcohol in padlocked bars. Breaking the law was more prevalent than
abiding by it, and speakeasies would be closed, only to rise like a phoenix from the ashes a block
away. In 1933, “real beer” became exempt from the 18th amendment and by December, alcohol
was legal once again. Prohibition in the United States had not worked.
The 1920s were a decade of get-rich-quick schemes, installment plans, and gadgets to
make the housewife's job easier. The use of science to improve nature resulted in canned and
junk foods, which in turn increased leisure time. People were buying cars, radios and other
luxuries that they couldn't afford at a faster pace than their incomes, thanks to the availability of
easy credit. "What the alchemist in the Middle Ages failed to do, making a silk purse out of a
sow's ear, the advertiser attempted during the Twenties with more success."3. The sophisticated
development of public relations and mass, targeted advertising convinced the nation to buy things
they didn’t really need. Society had become swamped with mergers of radio and magazine
companies. Business itself had become a business. Employees were aghast to find out that
Company X would not provide its workers with “necessary” vacations. By the end of the decade,
the average work week had been reduced from 60 hours to 48. After all, it does take time in the
evening to find a decent speakeasy.
Now for a word about sex. It’s not such a big deal nowadays, but if one can look back
and see how the decade of the twenties cultivated a sexual revolution, it might become more
apparent that it was a concern in the Jazz Age. Women had taken on a more androgynous look,
with their bobbed hair, shapeless dresses, and lessened savoir-faire. The girls would often
converge after work, smoking, drinking, and openly discussing their private lives and moments.
Dresses were short and loose, bathing suits were skimpy and tight; such provocative clothing
shocked the older generations. Just consider some of the developments of the decade – the works
of Sigmund Freud and Havelock Ellis, legalized abortion in the U.S.S.R., Trojan condoms, rubber
diaphragms, and the first nudist colony. No wonder they felt comfortable talking about it.
Parents in the twenties just loved to blame the media when they discovered their college-bound
sons and daughters attending “petting parties”, just as society today loves to lay blame on
television when their eleven-year-old son goes out and shoots his classmates and teacher. The
world changed in the 1920s, as it is now, and it’s not going to stop in the near future. People had
better start learning to live with it.
A little more on sex. On Broadway, Mae West was starring in her risqué revue, simply
titled Sex. Josephine Baker was dancing topless in big-time shows in Paris and Berlin.
Underarm odour and bad breath were simply not acceptable, or so the magazines said. The
twenties revealed the dawning of a new era; pearls, feathers, and ex-husbands. Ah, the divorce.
The following is by Dorothy Parker, from the January 1920 issue of Vanity Fair;
The Dawn of a New Life
3
Mowry, George E., The Twenties: Fords, Flappers & Fanatics
Perhaps the sweetest time in a young girl’s life is that roseate moment
when she gets her first divorce. It is a time that comes but once to a
girl. When at last her final decree is her very own, she stands, in
innocent wonder, on the threshold of a new life. What pretty, girlish
dreams are hers as she goes out into the great world with her new hope,
in search of the nearest minister, so that she can start things up all over
again. No, there’s nothing like the thrill of an initial divorce – from the
second on, they are about as exciting as shampoo.
Parker’s witty reviews and essays graced America’s finest magazines throughout the 1920s. But
enough about women, what about men? The silent film age had created a new onscreen hero.
Previously, Mr.Perfect had been a clean-cut gentleman who politely courted the ladies. Now, his
name was Rudolph Valentino, and his overdone sensuality cemented him as the dashing, smooth,
and menacing hero, who wanted more than just a date and usually got it.
So how does society in the Jazz Age compare to the nineties? Flappers, often used as a
synonym for the culture of the twenties, represented a society that forgot the past, chose to ignore
the future, and partied until dawn in the present. The “trouble” with the 1920s was the carefree
nature of those living it. The following is a list of some popular songs from the decade, used as
an illustration of ‘important social issues’:
Look for the Silver Lining
I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time
Love Will Find a Way
I'm Just Wild About Harry
I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate
Kiss in the Dark
Yes! We Have No Bananas
If You Knew Susie, Like I Know Susie
When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
Tip Toe Through the Tulips
Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)
Love Me or Leave Me
Lover Come Back to Me
Makin' Whoopee
Ain't Misbehavin'
What is this Thing Called Love?
Happy Days are Here Again
But is society today not just as shallow? The fads and events of the 1920s may seem silly to
some today, but America has its own ridiculous issues, such as whether or not to impeach their
president, who had an affair with an intern; or having half the nation tune into the O.J. Simpson
trial. And do stories of scandalous affairs, love triangles, and shocking secrets not make
millionaires out of daytime talk show hosts? Saying that the twenties were wrongly disrespectful
of the new generation’s actions is like saying that today’s world is wrongly disrespectful of
nuclear weapons. The 1920s could be to compared to today as they have both often been worlds
of pettiness, ignorance, and scapegoat-ing.
This hectic pace of modern life brought chaos upon America. Parties were getting crazier
at a huge rate, just as they have in recent decades, and fads were getting sillier. Land and air
speed, crossword puzzles, and inexplicable musical hits were a part of everyday life. Shock value
had become a national obsession. And why not, as the current record-breakers were treated like
heads of state. Since war was no longer a looming concern, inventions and the arts flourished.
The population of scientists and artists was like none the nation had seen before. Silent movies
had spawned a new breed of fame, and the female sex symbol had now been defined. The quaint
wooden church around the corner no longer had the same appeal; Big Religion, in the form of
massive gatherings led by Aimee Semple MacPherson, Billy Sunday, and the like were the style
of the twenties (and the nineties, for that matter). Science could relax now that the theory of
evolution could now be taught in public schools, thanks to the Scopes trial. Whether right or
wrong, the Jazz Age was the first truly modern decade.
Bibliography
1) Glennon, Lorraine, et al., Our Times – The Illustrated History of the 20th Century, Turner
Publishing Inc., Atlanta, 1995
2) The Roaring 20s, http://www.angelfire.com/in/roaringtwenties/
3) Flaming Youth, http://www.fadmag.com/items/flmingy/flmgyth.htm
4) Flapper Station, http://www.sns.com/~rbotti/main.htm
5) Temperance & Prohibition, http://www.cohums.ohiostate.edu/history/projects/prohibition/Contents.htm