Impact of popular culture and news media - 1917-80

Cinemas in the 1930s

• Most movie theatres changed their ‘feature’ movie at least twice a week

• There was a B-movie, a short cartoon or travelogue, trailers and a newsreel

Movie theatre seats in 1941

• Nearly 10,500,000 → 1 for every 12.5 people

Hollywood fan magazines in the late 1930s

• 20

• Each had a circulation of 200,000 to 1 million readers

Influence of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s

90% of all films worldwide were made in Hollywood

Clara Bow

Made 15 movies in 1925

Shirley Temple

Earned $5000 a week in the 1930s, when the average wage was under $2000 a year

Sponsors

MGM made a $500,000 deal with Coca Cola that its stars would drink Coke during breaks and during interviews for magazines

Motion Picture Production Code/Hays Code

• Belief that movies should improve society by being morally improving films

• All movies had to conform between 1930-66

• Studios began to build a ‘morality clause’ into their contracts with the stars, whereby they had to sign up to good living

Homes with a gramophone by 1929

Almost 50%

Records sold in 1929

$75 million worth

Commercial radio stations by 1924

600

Father Coughlin

• Priest who broadcast a series of sermons criticising the KKK

• By 1930, he had about 40 million listeners

• During the Depression, he criticised bankers and supported Roosevelt, saying the New Deal was ‘Christ’s deal’ → when Roosevelt didn’t go far enough for him, he criticised Roosevelt, costing him support

Radio vs newspaper ownership

• 1930 → both 39%

• 1950 → radio - 91% → newspaper - 54%

1960 Kennedy v Nixon presdiential debate

• Kennedy was good looking and a persuasive speaker

• Nixon was visibly uncomfortable on air

Weekly attendance at movie theatres

• 1950 - 55 million

• 1960 - 30 million

• 1965 onwards - 20 million

Television ownership

• 1950 - 9%

• 1955 - 63%

• 1960 - 85%

• 1970 - 95%

Sales of Davy Crockett outfits in first five months of production

$100 million

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

• Set up in 1967 by the Public Broadcasting Act

• National station, made up of groups of local stations, mostly not run for profit

• Free from the influence of sponsors → liberal agenda to educate and entertain and ‘restore standards’

• Sesame Street → taught children about racial tolerance and sharing, as well as counting and reading → one of the first shows to have a racially balanced cast

• In 1981, on the conservative backswing, its government funding was withdrawn

MASH

• Set in the Korean War → considered issues relevant to Vietnam

• Contributed to popular feeling against the war

Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in (1968-73)

• One of the first sketch shows to openly make fun of politicians → reached more people than criticism in serious newspaper, radio or television debates

1951 ‘See it Now’ broadcast

• Ed Murrow was co-producer of the CBS news series

• In 1953, Murrow broadcast a story on the Red Scare, about a young airman losing his job because of possible family communist sympathies

• In 1954, ‘See It Now’ did a show on McCarthy that exposed him as a liar and a bully → this helped shift public opinion away from McCarthy

1973 Watergate hearings

• Public television played 250 hours of hearings live

• Dramatic edited events were broadcast on the news

Vietnam War coverage

• In 1965, CBS news showed marines burning the village of Cam Ne to the ground

• In 1968, William Cronkite’s documentary (aired after the Tet Offensive) was shocking to people because someone they trusted was criticising a government they were uncertain about

Jimmy Carter

• Media initially presented him positively → 60-70% support level in his first few months

• His brother was involved in various scandals with the IRS

• In 1979, he was shown collapsing in a marathon → probably contributed to his losing re-election as he seemed weak

• In 1979, he was attacked by a rabbit while fishing and he hit it with his paddle

The Whistle (1921)

Banned in several states for showing strikes and criticising capitalism

This Freedom (1924)

Demonstrated how women choosing careers over homemaking ended up unhappy

Frankenstein (1931)

Highlighted the dangers of individualism

It Happened One Night (1934)

After Clark Gable’s shirtless scene, sales of vests plummeted

Purple Heart (1944)

Depiction of Japan torturing American soldiers whipped up patriotic fervour