Lost in the Stars: Movies Become Big Business in 1920s America

Automobiles made it easy for Americans to travel. Trucks made it easy for goods to be transported. Many people and businesses moved out of crowded, noisy cities. They moved to open areas outside cities: suburbs.

As automobiles helped Americans spread out, the radio helped bring them closer together. Large networks could broadcast the same radio program to many stations at the same time. Soon, Americans everywhere were listening to the same programs. They laughed at the same jokes, sang the same songs, heard the same news.

VOICE TWO:

By the early nineteen twenties, many American towns had a movie theater. Most Americans went to see the movies at least once a week. The movie industry became a big business. People might not know the names of government officials. But they knew the names of every leading actor and actress.

Movies were fun. They provided a change from the day-to-day troubles of life. They also were an important social force.

Rich families and poor families saw the same movies. Their children shared the same wish to be like the movie stars. In this way, the son of a banker and the son of a factory worker had much in common. The same was true for people from different parts of the country.

In the early nineteen twenties, Americans also began reading the same publications. The publishing industry used some of the same kinds of mass-production methods as the automobile industry. It began producing magazines in larger amounts. It began selling the same magazines all over the country.

Americans everywhere shared the same information and advice in such nationwide magazines. The information was not always correct. The advice was not always good. But the effect was similar to that caused by the automobile and radio. Parts of American society were becoming more alike. They were trying to move toward the same kind of life -- economically and socially.

Other industries used the techniques of assembly-line production to make their goods, too. They discovered that producing large numbers of goods reduced the cost of each one.

The A&P was one of the first large American grocery stores to sell all kinds of food. It sold milk, meat, bread, canned fruits, and vegetables all in the same store.

VOICE TWO:

Mass production removed some differences that had marked Americans in the past. Prices dropped, so people with little money could still buy nice clothes. It became more difficult to look at Americans and know by their clothes if they were rich or poor.

Social changes also resulted from great progress in medical research.

VOICE TWO:

One new medicine was insulin. It was used to treat diabetes. A man-made version gave diabetics the insulin their bodies did not have. It cut the death rate from the disease from seventy percent to about one percent.

VOICE ONE:

He received a better education than his father. He and his family wore better clothes. They ate healthier foods. The average American in the nineteen twenties had more time for sports and entertainment. He enjoyed listening to the radio and watching movies. He was more informed about national and world events.

Life was good for many Americans as World War One ended and the nation entered the nineteen twenties. Yet that life was far from perfect.

It was during this time that the United States experienced one of its worst incidents of public hatred. Many people turned strongly against labor unions and leftists. They feared a threat to democracy. The federal government took action against what it called political extremists. Many of the charges were unfair. Many innocent lives were harmed.

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You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.