“Americans in the 1920s were the first to wear ready-made, exact-size clothing. They were the

first to play electric phonographs, to use electric vacuum cleaners, to listen to commercial radio broadcasts, and to drink fresh orange juice year

round. In countless ways, large and small, American life was transformed during the 1920s,

at least in urban areas. Cigarettes, cosmetics, and synthetic fabrics such as rayon became staples of American life. Newspaper gossip

columns, illuminated billboards, and commercial airplane flights were novelties during the 1920s. The United States became a consumer society.”

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=454

In the 1920’s….Minimum wage = $.25 per hourAverage cost of a car = $290$100 then would be over $1000 nowLoaf of bread = $.101 lb. coffee = $.501 dozen eggs = $.50A 6-room cottage in Massachusetts =

$2,800

Slang Words

Baloney = nonsense!Bee’s knee’s / cat’s meow = sweet/coolBull = copCash = a kissCheaters = eyeglassesDogs = feetDoll = attractive womanJake = okayJalopy = old carTo razz = to make fun ofSwell = great

Mae Murray,a movie star of The 20’s

http://www.fashion-era.com/images/1920s_photos/flappers_duo.jpg

People went to plays, watched silent films, played sports, read books and listened to the radio.

Listening to the radio

Soap Box Derby Races

Baseball

Dance Marathons

A dance marathon is an event in which people stay on their feet for a given length of time. It started as a popular fad in the 1920s and 1930s, when organized dance endurance contests attracted people to compete to achieve fame or win monetary prizes.

Dance Marathons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0g28-f-Rr0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SclJ94h2oyQ&safe=active