Twentieth Century Club discusses Jazz and the Roaring Twenties

The Twentieth Century Club met on Monday, Jan. 13, at the home of Jean Wernel our hostess with Sandi Eaves as our co-hostess. Evelyn Boyle called the meeting to order due to the president and vice president being absent. The minutes and treasurer report were given.

The old business was a motion made that the hostess provide the place of the meeting, place settings and drinks. The co-hostess will provide the food.

New business was the announcement that our Twentieth Century Club was founded on Jan. 29, 1900 and that the group was responsible for starting the first library here in town. It was announced that the Diaper Pantry is being taken care of by Parents as Teachers.

Sandi gave the opinion on New Year’s resolutions which are 3-4 thousand years old. The Babylonions had a festival at the beginning of the year for their celebration. Her suggestion was to make one realistic resolution rather than several.

The program was given by Sherry Wiseman on the Jazz Age 1920-1929 and was also called the Roaring Twenties. It was a time of lavish money, movies, art and the use of electricity.

In 1916 12% of homes had electricity. By 1920 63%. The assembly line helped the growth of oil, gas and highways. Consumers now wanted refrigerators, vacuums and washing machines. 40% of homes had radios and 80 million people attended movies every week. This time was a change to modern art, expressionism using vibrant colors, with cubism, surrealism and abstract art.

The Volstead Act( Prohibition) became a law in 1920 and was the beginning of organized crime with “speakeasies.” The preferred music was Jazz. Louis Armstrong became well known as a musician. The Civil Rights Movement brought migration of people to Chicago and New York. Mass media promoted ideas and writers such as F Scott Fitzgerals, Hemmingway, and Steinbeck. “The prosperity, industrialization, assembly line, access to electricity, household appliances, women’s rights, Negro’s place in society, leisure time, entertainment(talking movies), changes in art, music, literature, and the rise of organized crime all came crashing down with the Wall Street Crash of 1929.