Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-B ottoms Pop Culture of 20 th-Century America Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-B ottoms Pop C...

Author: Tom Pendergast | Sara Pendergast

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Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-B ottoms Pop Culture of

20 th-Century America

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-B ottoms Pop Culture of

20 th-Century America

Volume 1 1900s-1910s Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors Project Editors Lawrence W. Baker, Allison McNeill

Imaging and Multimedia Leitha Etheridge-Sims, Luke Rademacher, Robyn Young

Editorial Sarah Hermsen

Product Design Jennifer Wahi

Manufacturing Rita Wimberley Composition Evi Seoud

Permissions Kim Davis ©2002 by U•X•L. U•X•L is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.

or information storage retrieval systems—without the written permission of the publisher.

U•X•L™ is a registered trademark used herein under license. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

For permission to use material from this product, submit your request via Web at http://www.galeedit.com/permissions, or you may download our Permissions Request form and submit your request by fax or mail to:

For more information, contact The Gale Group, Inc. 27500 Drake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535 Or you can visit our Internet site at http://www.gale.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution,

Permissions Department The Gale Group, Inc. 27500 Drake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535 Permissions Hotline: 248-699-8006 or 800-877-4253, ext. 8006 Fax: 248-699-8074 or 800-762-4058 Cover photographs reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos (“His Master’s Voice” painting

[dog/phonograph] and Oreo cookies), the Corbis Corporation (Levi’s jeans), the Kobal Collection (Austin Powers, the Beatles, and The Cosby Show cast), and UPI Corbis/Bettmann (flappers). While every effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information presented in this publication, The Gale Group, Inc. does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained herein. The Gale Group, Inc. accepts no payment for listing; and inclusion in the publication of any organization, agency, institution, publication, service, or individual does not imply endorsement of the editors or publisher. Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms : pop culture of 20th-century America / Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, editors. p. cm. Summary: Recounts the enduring products, innovative trends, and fun fads of the past ten decades. In 5 volumes. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-7876-5675-5 (set : alk. paper) 1. United States—Civilization—20th century—Miscellanea—Juvenile literature. 2. Popular culture—United States—History—20th century—Miscellanea—Juvenile literature. [1. United States—Civilization—20th century. 2. Popular culture—History—20th century.] I. Pendergast, Sara. II. Pendergast, Tom. E169.1 .B7825 2002 306’.0973’0904—dc21 2002001829

ISBN 0-7876-5675-5 (set); 0-7876-5676-3 (v. 1); 0-7876-5677-1 (v. 2); 0-7876-5678-X (v. 3); 0-7876-5679-8 (v. 4); 0-7876-5680-1 (v. 5)

Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Entries by Alphabetical Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix Entries by Topic Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xlvii Advisory Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxv Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxvii Reader’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxi Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxv

Volume 1 1900s The Birth of the American Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1900s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Aunt Jemima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Brownie Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Dime Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Dixie Cups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Fuller Brush Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Harley-Davidson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 J. Walter Thompson Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Kellogg’s Cereals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Louisville Slugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Model T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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Sears, Roebuck Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Stereoscopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Teddy Bears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Broadway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Great Train Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Harry Houdini (1874–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Minstrel Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Nickelodeons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Silent Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Vaudeville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Ziegfeld Follies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Coca-Cola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Cracker Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Diners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Hot Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Ice-Cream Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Jell-O. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Soda Fountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Scott Joplin (1868–1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Phonograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

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Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Argosy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Buster Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Dime Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Gibson Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Good Housekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 The Katzenjammer Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Kewpie Dolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Jack London (1876–1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Mutt & Jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 National Geographic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 New York Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Ty Cobb (1886–1961). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 James J. Corbett (1866–1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Jack Johnson (1878–1946). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Kentucky Derby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Lionel Trains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Milton Bradley Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Negro Leagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Ouija Boards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Rose Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Contents

Saturday Evening Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Avon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Catalog Houses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Chautauqua Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Coney Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Electric Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Ferris Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Hairstyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Postcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Roller Coasters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Billy Sunday (1862–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 World’s Fairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

1910s A Tumultuous Decade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 1910s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 AT&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 L. L. Bean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Arrow Collar Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

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Bra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Tennis Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 T-Shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Zipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 The Birth of a Nation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Charlie Chaplin (1887–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Felix the Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Gertie the Dinosaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Lillian Gish (1896–1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Keystone Kops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Movie Palaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Will Rogers (1879–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Campbell’s Soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Oreo Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Fu Manchu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Krazy Kat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Tarzan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Tom Swift Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 True Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Vogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 World Book Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Zorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Erector Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Indianapolis 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 National Hockey League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Babe Ruth (1895–1948) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Tinkertoys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

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The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Father’s Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Contents

Greyhound Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Ku Klux Klan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Mother’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Refrigerators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Scouting (Boy and Girl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Titanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 War Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Where to Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxi Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxv

Volume 2 1920s The Roaring Twenties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 1920s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Band-Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Betty Crocker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Burma-Shave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Cigarettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Department Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Eddie Bauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Kleenex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 La-Z-Boy Loungers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Marlboro Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Flappers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Lipstick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Raccoon Coats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Josephine Baker (1906–1975) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Clara Bow (1905–1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Charlie Chan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Disney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 The Jazz Singer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

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MGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Steamboat Willie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Fast Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Gerber Baby Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 7-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Velveeta Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Wheaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Wonder Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Grand Ole Opry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Better Homes and Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Book-of-the-Month Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Buck Rogers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Gossip Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Hardy Boys Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Little Blue Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Little Orphan Annie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 New Yorker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Popeye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 Reader’s Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Weird Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Winnie-the-Pooh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

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Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Charles Atlas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Crossword Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Harlem Globetrotters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 Lincoln Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Miniature Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 National Football League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Yo-Yo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Air Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Baseball Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Bungalows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Al Capone (1899–1947) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 The Charleston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 Chrysler Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Cocktail Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Miss America Pageant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Penicillin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 Prohibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Prom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 Red Scare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Route 66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Scopes Monkey Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Standardized Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

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TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

1930s The Great Depression Disrupts America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 1930s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Alka-Seltzer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Ballpoint Pens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Clairol Hair Coloring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Fisher-Price Toys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Nylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Nylon Stockings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Andy Hardy Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 “B” Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Betty Boop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 James Cagney (1899–1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

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Charlie McCarthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Gary Cooper (1901–1961) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Frankenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 Clark Gable (1901–1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Gone with the Wind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Cary Grant (1904–1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Hollywood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 King Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Laurel and Hardy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Marx Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Rockettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Shirley Temple (1928–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Three Stooges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 John Wayne (1907–1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 The Western . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 The Wizard of Oz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Frozen Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 The Joy of Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Big Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Billie Holiday (1915–1959) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Robert Johnson (1911–1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Jukeboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

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Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Batman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434 Blondie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 Comic Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 Detective Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 Dick and Jane Readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Dick Tracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 Doc Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 Esquire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Flash Gordon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Contents

The Grapes of Wrath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Li’l Abner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 Nancy Drew Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Paperback Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 Perry Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 Pulp Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 The Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Babe Didrikson (1911–1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 Little League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469 Joe Louis (1914–1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Jesse Owens (1913–1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 Stock Car Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 Amos ’n’ Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Fibber McGee and Molly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 Guiding Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 The Lone Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Soap Operas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 The War of the Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489 The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 Apollo Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Bonnie and Clyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 Drive-In Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 Empire State Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 Goldfish Swallowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 Great Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 Hoover Dam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 Ranch House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 Skyscrapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 Twelve-Step Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 Wall Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 Where to Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxi Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxv

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Volume 3 1940s The Pivotal Decade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 1940s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 Best-Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 Jeep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 Tupperware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 Bobbysoxers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 Zoot Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Abbott and Costello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Casablanca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 Citizen Kane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 Fantasia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 Film Noir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 It’s a Wonderful Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Lassie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Dunkin’ Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 M & M’s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546 McDonald’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Pizza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 Bluegrass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 Country Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Long-Playing Record (LP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Pop Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 Rhythm and Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

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Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Contents

Archie Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 The Bobbsey Twins Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 Brenda Starr, Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 Captain America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 Curious George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 Ebony. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Golden Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 Green Lantern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581 Seventeen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Wonder Woman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Bowling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 National Basketball Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 Jackie Robinson (1919-1972). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Scrabble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Slinky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594 Tonka Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Jack Benny (1894–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Bugs Bunny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 The Howdy Doody Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 Kukla, Fran, and Ollie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 News Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 Studio One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610 The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 Baby Boom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 The Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618 Cold War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 Federal Bureau of Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624 Hot Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626 Las Vegas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627 Levittown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Spring Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631 Teen Idols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632 UFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635

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1950s Pop Culture Explodes in a Decade of Conformity . . . . . . . 637 1950s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643 Barbie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644 Credit Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646 Malls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648 Saran Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 Timex Watches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 Trading Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 Volkswagen Beetle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 Jeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658 Levi’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 The Day the Earth Stood Still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 James Dean (1931–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663 Francis the Talking Mule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 Godzilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666 Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667 North by Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 668 On the Waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 Peyton Place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671 Shane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673 3-D Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 Food and Drink Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Burger King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 French Fries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 Hamburger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 TV Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680

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Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Disc Jockeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684 Electric Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 B. B. King (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 Elvis Presley (1935–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 Rock and Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690

Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 Beatniks and the Beat Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698 The Catcher in the Rye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700 Dr. Seuss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701 Frosty the Snowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702 MAD Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 National Enquirer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 On the Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708 The Organization Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 Peanuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 Playboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712 J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 TV Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714

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Top 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694

Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717 Etch A Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 Jack LaLanne (1914–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718 LEGOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720 Skateboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722 Sports Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727 The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728 Alvin and the Chipmunks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 American Bandstand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Candid Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733 Captain Kangaroo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 Davy Crockett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736 Dobie Gillis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 Dragnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738 The Ed Sullivan Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739 Game Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Gunsmoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743 The Honeymooners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744 I Love Lucy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 The Lawrence Welk Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748 Leave It to Beaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749 The Mickey Mouse Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 The Price Is Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 Sitcoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 754

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The $64,000 Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757 This Is Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760 The Tonight Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761 Transistor Radios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 The Twilight Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764 The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767 Amusement Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768 Army-McCarthy Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 Blacklisting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771 Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774 Highway System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775 Hula Hoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777 The Pill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779 Suburbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 780 Where to Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxi Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxv

Volume 4 1960s An Era of Pessimism and Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785 1960s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793 Budweiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794 Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795 G.I. Joe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796 Kmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797 Nike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799 Valium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 Wal-Mart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 802 Xerox Copiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804

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Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Bell-Bottoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Doc Martens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 Mary Kay Cosmetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810

Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815 Beach Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 816 Dr. Strangelove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818 Easy Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 The Graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 822 Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824 A Hard Day’s Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 826 Horror Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 James Bond Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 Mary Poppins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832 The Odd Couple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833 Planet of the Apes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834 Psycho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 2001: A Space Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838

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Miniskirts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Twiggy (1949–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813

Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 Altamont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842 Beach Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 Beatles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 846 Bob Dylan (1941–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848 Eight-Track Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Folk Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851 Grateful Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 Monkees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854 Motown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856 Rolling Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 Simon and Garfunkel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 Barbra Streisand (1942–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861 Woodstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 Advocate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 866 Cosmopolitan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 867 Dune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868 Marvel Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869 Rolling Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871 Spider-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873 Whole Earth Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875 xix

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Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877 Muhammad Ali (1942–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878 Dallas Cowboys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880 Frisbee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881 Evel Knievel (1938–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881 Joe Namath (1943–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 Super Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884 Twister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 Wide World of Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889 The Andy Griffith Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 The Beverly Hillbillies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891 Bewitched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 Bonanza. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895 Johnny Carson (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896 Daytime Talk Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Dr. Kildare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Flipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 The Fugitive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902 Gilligan’s Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 903 Hawaii Five-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 905 Mister Ed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 908 Public Broadcasting System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 911 Saturday Morning Cartoons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912 60 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 Speed Racer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917 Star Trek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918

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The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 Civil Rights Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922 Gay Liberation Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 Ghettos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928 Haight-Ashbury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 929 Hippies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931 Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933 Mafia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 934 Marijuana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 936 Martial Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937 National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . 938

1970s The Me Decade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 947 1970s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948

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National Organization for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940 Sexual Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 941 Students for a Democratic Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945

Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Hot Pants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Ralph Lauren (1939–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 Leisure Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 Mood Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 958 Polyester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 961 A Clockwork Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Disaster Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 963 The Exorcist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965 The Godfather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 966 Jaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 Rocky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 The Rocky Horror Picture Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 971 Saturday Night Fever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 974 Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 976 Star Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981 Disco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982 Funk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984 The Hustle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985 KISS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987 Led Zeppelin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 989 Barry Manilow (1946–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 990 Punk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 Sex Pistols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992 Walkman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997 Judy Blume (1938–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 Cathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 Garfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999

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Harlequin Romances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 Hustler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002 Ms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1004 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009 Aerobics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 Atari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011 Dungeons and Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013 Hacky Sack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015 Jogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016 Monday Night Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017 Pong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019 Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1023 All in the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024 The Brady Bunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 Cable TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1027 CB Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1030 Charlie’s Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1032 The Dukes of Hazzard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034 ESPN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035 Fantasy Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1036 The Gong Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1038 Happy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040 Hee Haw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042 Little House on the Prairie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043 The Love Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 The Mary Tyler Moore Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046 M*A*S*H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 Monty Python’s Flying Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1051 Muppets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 The Partridge Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1054 Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057 Saturday Night Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 Schoolhouse Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 Sesame Street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 The Waltons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066

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The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069

Contents

Apple Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 Chia Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 Communes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072 Cults. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1073 Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1075 Earth Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1077 Environmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 Equal Rights Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080 The Joy of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 Kent State Massacre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083 Personal Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 Pet Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 Roe v. Wade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1089 Serial Killers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091 Sexually Transmitted Diseases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093 Smiley Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094 Streaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 Tanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 Where to Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxi Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxv

Volume 5 1980s Prosperity and Conservatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1099 1980s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1105 Home Shopping Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106 IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1107 J.Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1109 Starbucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1113 Goth Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 Preppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115 Supermodels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119 Airplane! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1120 Blade Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1122

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Do the Right Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1123 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1125 Fatal Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126 Friday the 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127 Ghostbusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1128 Indiana Jones Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1130 Rambo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Compact Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1136 Farm Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1138 Heavy Metal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1139 Michael Jackson (1958–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1141 Karaoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1142 Live Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143 LL Cool J (1969–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 Madonna (1958–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1146 MTV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1147 Rap and Hip-Hop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1149 Run-DMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151 2 Live Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1152 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155 The Bonfire of the Vanities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 The Far Side. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1157 Sassy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159 USA Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1160 Zines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1162 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1165 Wayne Gretzky (1961–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1166 Pac-Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1167 Rubik’s Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169 Trivial Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1170 World Wrestling Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171

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TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175 The A-Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1176 Cheers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 CNN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179 The Cosby Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181 Dallas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Contents

David Letterman (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1185 Miami Vice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1186 Roseanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1187 Shock Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188 The Simpsons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190 Talk Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1194 The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1197 AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1198 Cabbage Patch Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200 Cocaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201 Gangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204 Generation X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206 Minivans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208 Political Correctness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209 Prozac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211 Road Rage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212 Skinheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1214 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215 Urban Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217 Yuppies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218

1990s The Decade America Went Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223 1990s: At a Glance (box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1224 Commerce Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1229 Mall of America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230 Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231 Fashion Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235 Abercrombie & Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235 Film and Theater Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237 Austin Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1238 Forrest Gump. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239 JFK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1240 The Lion King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242 Pulp Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1244 Scream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245 Toy Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1247

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Wayne’s World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 Music Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1251 Alternative Country Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1252 Alternative Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253 Grunge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255 Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256 Nirvana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258 Raves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1259 Britney Spears (1981–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1261 Tejano Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1262 Print Culture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265 Harry Potter Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1266 Jurassic Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268 Sports and Games Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1271 Extreme Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Michael Jordan (1963–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274 Tiger Woods (1975–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275 TV and Radio Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1277 Ally McBeal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1278 Anime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280 Barney and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1281 Baywatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1283 The Beavis and Butt-Head Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284 Beverly Hills 90210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1286 ER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288 Frasier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1289 Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290 The Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292 Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1294 Seinfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296 South Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1298 Thomas the Tank Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300

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The Way We Lived Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303 Aromatherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305 Beanie Babies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1306 Branch Davidians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307

Contents

Cellular Phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1308 Chat Rooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1309 Coffee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311 Ecstasy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313 E-Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314 Hackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1317 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1319 Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322 O. J. Simpson (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324 WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328 Y2K Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1329 Where to Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxi Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cxxxv

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ENTRIES BY ALPHABETICAL ORDER

A The A-Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1176 Abbott and Costello. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 530 Abercrombie & Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1235 The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 728 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 244 Advocate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 866 Aerobics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1010 AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1198 Air Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 345 Airplane! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1120 Alka-Seltzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 374 All in the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1024 Ally McBeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1278 Altamont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 842 Alternative Country Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1252 Alternative Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1253 Alvin and the Chipmunks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 729 American Bandstand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 731 Amos ’n’ Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 478 Amusement Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 768 The Andy Griffith Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 890 Andy Hardy Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 384 Anime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1280 Apollo Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 494 Apple Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1070

Bold type indicates volume numbers.

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Entries by Alphabetical Order xxx

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Archie Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 568 Argosy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 80 Army-McCarthy Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 769 Aromatherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1305 Arrow Collar Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 158 AT&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 154 Atari. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1011 Charles Atlas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 326 Aunt Jemima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 8 Austin Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1238 Avon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 116

B “B” Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 386 Baby Boom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 616 Josephine Baker (1906–1975) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 267 Ballpoint Pens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 375 Band-Aid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 247 Barbie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 644 Barney and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1281 Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 96 Baseball Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 347 Batman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 434 Baywatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1283 Beach Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 844 Beach Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 816 Beanie Babies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1306 Beatles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 846 Beatniks and the Beat Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 698 The Beavis and Butt-Head Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1284 Bell-Bottoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 807 Jack Benny (1894–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 597 Best-Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 517 Better Homes and Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 302 Betty Boop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 388 Betty Crocker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 248 The Beverly Hillbillies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 891 Beverly Hills 90210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1286 Bewitched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 893 Big Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 426 The Birth of a Nation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 168 Blacklisting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 771 Blade Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1122 Blondie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 436

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Bluegrass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 554 Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 293 Judy Blume (1938–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 998 The Bobbsey Twins Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 570 Bobbysoxers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 524 Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 389 The Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 618 Bonanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 895 The Bonfire of the Vanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1156 Bonnie and Clyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 496 Book-of-the-Month Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 303 Clara Bow (1905–1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 268 Bowling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 588 Bra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 159 The Brady Bunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1025 Branch Davidians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1307 Brenda Starr, Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 571 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 214 Broadway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 34 Brownie Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 10 Buck Rogers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 304 Budweiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 794 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 36 Bugs Bunny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 598 Bungalows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 349 Burger King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 677 Burma-Shave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 250 Buster Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 81

C Cabbage Patch Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1200 Cable TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1027 James Cagney (1899–1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 390 Campbell’s Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 181 Candid Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 733 Al Capone (1899–1947) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 350 Captain America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 572 Captain Kangaroo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 734 Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 438 Johnny Carson (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 896 Casablanca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 531 Catalog Houses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 117 The Catcher in the Rye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 700 Cathy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 998

xxxi

Entries by Alphabetical Order

CB Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1030 Cellular Phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1308 Charlie Chaplin (1887–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 170 The Charleston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 351 Charlie Chan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 269 Charlie McCarthy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 391 Charlie’s Angels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1032 Chat Rooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1309 Chautauqua Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 118 Cheers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1177 Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 54 Chia Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1072 Chrysler Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 352 Cigarettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 251 Citizen Kane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 533 Civil Rights Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 922 Clairol Hair Coloring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 377 A Clockwork Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 962 CNN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1179 Ty Cobb (1886–1961). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 99 Coca-Cola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 56 Cocaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1201 Cocktail Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 353 Coffee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1311 Cold War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 621 Comic Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 439 Communes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1072 Compact Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1136 Coney Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 120 Gary Cooper (1901–1961) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 391 James J. Corbett (1866–1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 100 The Cosby Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1181 Cosmopolitan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 867 Country Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 555 Cracker Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 58 Credit Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 646 Davy Crockett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 736 Crossword Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 327 Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1073 Curious George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 574

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Dallas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1183 Dallas Cowboys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 880

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 122 The Day the Earth Stood Still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 661 Daytime Talk Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 897 James Dean (1931–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 663 Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 328 Department Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 254 Detective Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 441 Dick and Jane Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 443 Dick Tracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 444 Babe Didrikson (1911–1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 468 Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 774 Dime Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 82 Dime Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 11 Diners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 60 Disaster Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 963 Disc Jockeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 684 Disco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 982 Disney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 270 Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1075 Dixie Cups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 14 Do the Right Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1123 Dobie Gillis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 737 Doc Martens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 809 Doc Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 446 Dr. Kildare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 900 Dr. Seuss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 701 Dr. Strangelove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 818 Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 392 Dragnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 738 Drive-In Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 497 The Dukes of Hazzard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1034 Dune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 868 Dungeons and Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1013 Dunkin’ Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 545 Bob Dylan (1941–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 848

E Earth Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1077 Easy Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 820 Ebony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 576 Ecstasy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1313 The Ed Sullivan Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 739 Eddie Bauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 256 Eight-Track Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 849

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Electric Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 125 Electric Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 686 E-Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1314 Empire State Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 499 Environmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1079 Equal Rights Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1080 ER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1288 Erector Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 202 ESPN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1035 Esquire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 448 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1125 Etch A Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 718 Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 127 The Exorcist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 965 Extreme Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1272

F Fantasia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 535 Fantasy Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1036 The Far Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1157 Farm Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1138 Fast Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 283 Fatal Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1126 Father’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 215 Federal Bureau of Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 624 Felix the Cat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 171 Ferris Wheel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 128 Fibber McGee and Molly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 482 Film Noir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 537 Fisher-Price Toys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 377 Flappers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 261 Flash Gordon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 449 Flipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 901 Folk Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 851 Forrest Gump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1239 Francis the Talking Mule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 664 Frankenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 394 Frasier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1289 French Fries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 678 Friday the 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1127 Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1290 Frisbee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 881 Frosty the Snowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 702 Frozen Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 419

G Clark Gable (1901–1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 396 Game Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 741 Gangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1204 Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 795 Garfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 999 Gay Liberation Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 926 General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 130 Generation X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1206 Gerber Baby Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 286 Gertie the Dinosaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 172 Ghettos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 928 Ghostbusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1128 G.I. Joe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 796 Gibson Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 84 Gilligan’s Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 903 Lillian Gish (1896–1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 174 The Godfather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 966 Godzilla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 666 Golden Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 577 Goldfish Swallowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 500 Gone with the Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 396 The Gong Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1038 Good Housekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 85 Gossip Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 306 Goth Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1114 The Graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 822 Grand Ole Opry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 297 Cary Grant (1904–1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 399 The Grapes of Wrath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 451 Grateful Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 852 Great Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 500 The Great Train Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 38 Green Lantern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 578 Wayne Gretzky (1961–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1166 Greyhound Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 216 Grunge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1255 Guiding Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 483 Gunsmoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 743

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Fu Manchu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 188 The Fugitive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 902 Fuller Brush Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 14 Funk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 984

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Entries by Alphabetical Order

H Hackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1317 Hacky Sack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1015 Haight-Ashbury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 929 Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 824 Hairstyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 132 Hamburger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 680 Happy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1040 A Hard Day’s Night. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 826 Hardy Boys Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 308 Harlem Globetrotters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 329 Harlequin Romances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1001 Harley-Davidson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 16 Harry Potter Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1266 Hawaii Five-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 905 Heavy Metal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1139 Hee Haw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1042 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 579 Highway System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 775 Hippies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 931 Billie Holiday (1915–1959) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 428 Hollywood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 400 Home Shopping Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1106 The Honeymooners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 744 Hoover Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 501 Horror Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 827 Hot Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 62 Hot Pants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 955 Hot Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 626 Harry Houdini (1874–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 39 The Howdy Doody Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 601 Hula Hoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 777 The Hustle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 985 Hustler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1002

I

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I Love Lucy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 746 IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1107 Ice-Cream Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 64 Indiana Jones Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1130 Indianapolis 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 204 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1319 It’s a Wonderful Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 538

J.Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1109 J. Walter Thompson Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 18 Michael Jackson (1958–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1141 James Bond Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 830 Jaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 968 Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 72 The Jazz Singer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 275 Jeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 658 Jeep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 519 Jell-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 65 JFK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1240 Jogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1016 Jack Johnson (1878–1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 101 Robert Johnson (1911–1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 428 Scott Joplin (1868–1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 75 Michael Jordan (1963–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1274 The Joy of Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 421 The Joy of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1082 Jukeboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 429 Jurassic Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1268

Entries by Alphabetical Order

J

K Karaoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1142 The Katzenjammer Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 86 Kellogg’s Cereals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 19 Kent State Massacre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1083 Kentucky Derby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 102 Kewpie Dolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 87 Keystone Kops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 175 B. B. King (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 688 King Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 403 KISS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 987 Kleenex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 256 Kmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 797 Evel Knievel (1938–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 881 Krazy Kat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 189 Ku Klux Klan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 217 Kukla, Fran, and Ollie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 603

L L. L. Bean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 155 Jack LaLanne (1914–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 718 xxxvii

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Las Vegas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 627 Lassie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 540 Laurel and Hardy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 404 Ralph Lauren (1939–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 956 The Lawrence Welk Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 748 La-Z-Boy Loungers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 257 Leave It to Beaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 749 Led Zeppelin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 989 LEGOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 720 Leisure Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 956 David Letterman (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1185 Levi’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 659 Levittown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 629 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 452 Li’l Abner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 454 Lincoln Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 331 Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 354 The Lion King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1242 Lionel Trains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 104 Lipstick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 263 Little Blue Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 309 Little House on the Prairie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1043 Little League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 469 Little Orphan Annie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 310 Live Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1143 LL Cool J (1969–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1145 Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1256 Jack London (1876–1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 88 The Lone Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 485 Long-Playing Record (LP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 558 Lottery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 933 Joe Louis (1914–1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 471 Louisville Slugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 21 The Love Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1045

M

bowling, xxxviii beatniks, and bell-bottoms

M & M’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 546 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 258 MAD Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 704 Madonna (1958–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1146 Mafia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 934 Mall of America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1230 Malls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 648 Barry Manilow (1946–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 990

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Marijuana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 936 Marlboro Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 259 Martial Arts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 937 Marvel Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 869 Marx Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 406 Mary Kay Cosmetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 810 Mary Poppins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 832 The Mary Tyler Moore Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1046 M*A*S*H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1049 McDonald’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 548 MGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 276 Miami Vice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1186 The Mickey Mouse Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 751 Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1231 Milton Bradley Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 106 Miniature Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 332 Miniskirts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 811 Minivans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1208 Minstrel Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 40 Miss America Pageant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 355 Mister Ed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 906 Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 908 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 407 Model T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 22 Monday Night Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1017 Monkees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 854 Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 471 Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 667 Monty Python’s Flying Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1051 Mood Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 958 Mother’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 220 Motown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 856 Movie Palaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 177 Ms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1004 MTV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1147 Muhammad Ali (1942–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 878 Muppets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1053 Mutt & Jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 89

N Joe Namath (1943–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 883 Nancy Drew Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 455 National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . 4: 938 National Basketball Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 590

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Entries by Alphabetical Order

National Enquirer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 707 National Football League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 334 National Geographic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 90 National Hockey League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 207 National Organization for Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 940 Negro Leagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 107 New York Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 92 New Yorker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 312 News Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 604 Nickelodeons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 42 Nike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 799 Nirvana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1258 North by Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 668 Nylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 379 Nylon Stockings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 380

O The Odd Couple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 833 Olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 109 On the Road. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 708 On the Waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 669 Oreo Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 184 The Organization Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 710 Ouija Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 111 Jesse Owens (1913–1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 473

P

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Pac-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1167 Paperback Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 457 The Partridge Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1054 Peanuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 710 Penicillin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 356 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1005 Perry Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 458 Personal Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1085 Pet Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1088 Peyton Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 671 Phonograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 76 The Pill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 778 Pizza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 550 Planet of the Apes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 834 Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 24 Playboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 712 Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1322

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Political Correctness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1209 Polyester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 959 Pong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1019 Pop Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 560 Popeye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 314 Postcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 134 Preppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1115 Elvis Presley (1935–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 689 The Price Is Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 753 Prohibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 357 Prom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 358 Prozac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1211 Psycho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 836 Public Broadcasting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 909 Pulp Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1244 Pulp Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 459 Punk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 991

R Raccoon Coats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 264 Radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 339 Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 208 Rambo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1131 Ranch House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 502 Rap and Hip-Hop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1149 Raves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1259 Reader’s Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 316 The Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1292 Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1294 Red Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 360 Refrigerators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 222 Rhythm and Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 564 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. . . . . . . . . . 1: 223 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 318 Road Rage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1212 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 606 Jackie Robinson (1919-1972). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 592 Rock and Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 690 Rockettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 408 Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 191 Rocky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 970 The Rocky Horror Picture Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 971 Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 298 Roe v. Wade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1089

xli

Entries by Alphabetical Order xlii

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Will Rogers (1879–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 178 Roller Coasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 136 Rolling Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 871 Rolling Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 857 Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1057 Rose Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 113 Roseanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1187 Route 66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 361 Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 911 Rubik’s Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1169 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 581 Run-DMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1151 Babe Ruth (1895–1948) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 210

S Saran Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 649 Sassy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1159 Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 779 Saturday Evening Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 93 Saturday Morning Cartoons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 912 Saturday Night Fever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 974 Saturday Night Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1058 Schoolhouse Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1060 Scopes Monkey Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 363 Scouting (Boy and Girl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 226 Scrabble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 592 Scream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1245 Sears, Roebuck Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 26 Seinfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1296 Serial Killers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1091 Sesame Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1062 Seventeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 582 7-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 287 Sex Pistols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 992 Sexual Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 941 Sexually Transmitted Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1093 The Shadow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 461 Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 976 Shane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 673 Shock Radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1188 Silent Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 44 Simon and Garfunkel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 859 O. J. Simpson (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1324

Entries by Alphabetical Order

The Simpsons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1190 Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 565 Sitcoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 754 60 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 916 The $64,000 Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 757 Skateboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 722 Skinheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1214 Skyscrapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 502 Slinky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 594 Smiley Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1094 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 410 Soap Operas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 486 Soda Fountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 67 South Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1298 Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 423 Britney Spears (1981–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1261 Speed Racer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 917 Spider-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 873 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1215 Sports Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 724 Spring Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 631 Standardized Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 365 Star Trek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 918 Star Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 977 Starbucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1110 Steamboat Willie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 278 Stereoscopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 28 Stock Car Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 474 Streaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1095 Barbra Streisand (1942–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 861 Students for a Democratic Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 945 Studio One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 608 Suburbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 780 Billy Sunday (1862–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 138 Super Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 884 Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 462 Supermodels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1117

T Talk Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1193 Tanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1096 Tarzan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 192 Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 542 xliii

Entries by Alphabetical Order

Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1063 Teddy Bears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 30 Teen Idols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 632 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1194 Tejano Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1262 Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 139 Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 610 Shirley Temple (1928–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 411 Tennis Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 161 This Is Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 758 Thomas the Tank Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1299 Three Stooges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 412 3-D Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 674 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 319 Timex Watches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 650 Tinkertoys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 211 Titanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 228 Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 760 J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 713 Tom Swift Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 194 The Tonight Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 761 Tonka Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 596 Top 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 694 Toy Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1247 Trading Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 651 Transistor Radios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 763 Trivial Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1170 True Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 195 T-Shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 163 Tupperware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 520 TV Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 680 TV Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 714 Twelve-Step Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 504 Twiggy (1949–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 813 The Twilight Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 764 Twister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 885 2 Live Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1152 2001: A Space Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 838

U

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bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

UFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 635 Urban Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1217 USA Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1160

Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 280 Valium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 801 Vaudeville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 47 Velveeta Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 289 Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1020 Vogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 196 Volkswagen Beetle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 652

W Walkman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 994 Wall Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 505 Wal-Mart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 802 The Waltons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1066 War Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 231 The War of the Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 489 John Wayne (1907–1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 414 Wayne’s World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1249 Weird Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 320 The Western. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 415 Wheaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 289 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1300 Whole Earth Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 875 Wide World of Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 887 Winnie-the-Pooh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 321 The Wizard of Oz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 417 Wonder Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 290 Wonder Woman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 583 Tiger Woods (1975–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1275 Woodstock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 862 World Book Encyclopedia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 197 World Wrestling Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1171 World’s Fairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 142 WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1328

Entries by Alphabetical Order

V

X Xerox Copiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 804

Y Yo-Yo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 336 Y2K Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1329 Yuppies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1218 xlv

Entries by Alphabetical Order xlvi

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Z Ziegfeld Follies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 50 Zines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1162 Zipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 164 Zoot Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 525 Zorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 199

ENTRIES BY TOPIC CATEGORY

Commerce Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 244 Alka-Seltzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 374 AT&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 154 Aunt Jemima . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 8 Ballpoint Pens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 375 Band-Aid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 247 Barbie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 644 Best-Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 517 Betty Crocker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 248 Brownie Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 10 Budweiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 794 Burma-Shave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 250 Cigarettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 251 Clairol Hair Coloring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 377 Credit Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 646 Department Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 254 Dime Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 11 Dixie Cups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 14 Eddie Bauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 256 Fisher-Price Toys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 377 Fuller Brush Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 14 Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 795 G.I. Joe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 796 Harley-Davidson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 16 Home Shopping Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1106

Bold type indicates volume numbers.

xlvii

Entries by Topic Category xlviii

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1107 J.Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1109 J. Walter Thompson Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 18 Jeep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 519 Kellogg’s Cereals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 19 Kleenex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 256 Kmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 797 La-Z-Boy Loungers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 257 L. L. Bean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 155 Louisville Slugger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 21 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 258 Mall of America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1230 Malls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 648 Marlboro Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 259 Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1231 Model T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 22 Nike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 799 Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 24 Saran Wrap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 649 Sears, Roebuck Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 26 Starbucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1110 Stereoscopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 28 Teddy Bears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 30 Timex Watches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 650 Trading Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 651 Tupperware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 520 Valium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 801 Volkswagen Beetle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 652 Wal-Mart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 802 Xerox Copiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 804 Fashion Abercrombie & Fitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1235 Arrow Collar Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 158 Bell-Bottoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 807 Bobbysoxers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 524 Bra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 159 Doc Martens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 809 Flappers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 261 Goth Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1114 Hot Pants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 955 Jeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 658 Ralph Lauren (1939–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 956 Leisure Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 956

Film and Theater Abbott and Costello. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 530 Airplane! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1120 Andy Hardy Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 384 Austin Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1238 “B” Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 386 Josephine Baker (1906–1975) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 267 Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 389 Clara Bow (1905–1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 268 Beach Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 816 Betty Boop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 388 The Birth of a Nation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 168 Blade Runner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1122 Broadway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 34 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 36 James Cagney (1899–1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 390 Casablanca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 531 Charlie Chaplin (1887–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 170 Charlie Chan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 269 Charlie McCarthy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 391 Citizen Kane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 533 A Clockwork Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 962 Gary Cooper (1901–1961) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 391 The Day the Earth Stood Still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 661 James Dean (1931–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 663 Disaster Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 963 Disney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 270

Entries by Topic Category

Levi’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 659 Lipstick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 263 Mary Kay Cosmetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 810 Miniskirts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 811 Mood Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 958 Nylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 379 Nylon Stockings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 380 Polyester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 959 Preppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1115 Raccoon Coats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 264 Supermodels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1117 Tennis Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 161 T-Shirt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 163 Twiggy (1949–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 813 Zipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 164 Zoot Suit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 525

xlix

Entries by Topic Category l

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Do the Right Thing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1123 Dr. Strangelove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 818 Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 392 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1125 Easy Rider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 820 The Exorcist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 965 Fantasia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 535 Fatal Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1126 Felix the Cat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 171 Film Noir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 537 Forrest Gump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1239 Francis the Talking Mule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 664 Frankenstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 394 Friday the 13th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1127 Clark Gable (1901–1960) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 396 Gertie the Dinosaur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 172 Ghostbusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1128 Lillian Gish (1896–1993) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 174 The Godfather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 966 Godzilla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 666 Gone with the Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 396 The Graduate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 822 The Great Train Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 38 Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 824 A Hard Day’s Night. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 826 Hollywood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 400 Horror Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 827 Harry Houdini (1874–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 39 Indiana Jones Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1130 It’s a Wonderful Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 538 James Bond Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 830 Jaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 968 The Jazz Singer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 275 JFK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1240 Keystone Kops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 175 King Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 403 Lassie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 540 Laurel and Hardy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 404 The Lion King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1242 Marx Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 406 Mary Poppins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 832 MGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 276 Minstrel Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 40 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 407

Food and Drink Burger King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 677 Campbell’s Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 181 Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 54 Coca-Cola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 56 Cracker Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 58 Diners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 60

Entries by Topic Category

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 667 Movie Palaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 177 Nickelodeons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 42 North by Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 668 The Odd Couple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 833 On the Waterfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 669 Peyton Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 671 Planet of the Apes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 834 Psycho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 836 Pulp Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1244 Rambo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1131 Rockettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 408 Rocky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 970 The Rocky Horror Picture Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 971 Will Rogers (1879–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 178 Saturday Night Fever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 974 Scream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1245 Shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 976 Shane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 673 Silent Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 44 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 410 Star Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 977 Steamboat Willie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 278 Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 542 Shirley Temple (1928–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 411 Three Stooges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 412 3-D Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 674 Toy Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1247 2001: A Space Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 838 Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 280 Vaudeville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 47 John Wayne (1907–1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 414 Wayne’s World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1249 The Western. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 415 The Wizard of Oz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 417 Ziegfeld Follies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 50

li

Entries by Topic Category lii

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Dunkin’ Donuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 545 Fast Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 283 French Fries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 678 Frozen Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 419 Gerber Baby Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 286 Hamburger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 680 Hot Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 62 Ice-Cream Cone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 64 Jell-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 65 The Joy of Cooking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 421 M & M’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 546 McDonald’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 548 Oreo Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 184 Pizza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 550 7-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 287 Soda Fountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 67 Spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 423 TV Dinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 680 Velveeta Cheese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 289 Wheaties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 289 Wonder Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 290 Music Altamont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 842 Alternative Country Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1252 Alternative Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1253 Beach Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 844 Beatles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 846 Big Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 426 Bluegrass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 554 Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 293 Compact Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1136 Country Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 555 Disc Jockeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 684 Disco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 982 Bob Dylan (1941–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 848 Eight-Track Tapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 849 Electric Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 686 Farm Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1138 Folk Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 851 Funk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 984 Grand Ole Opry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 297 Grateful Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 852 Grunge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1255

Entries by Topic Category

Heavy Metal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1139 Billie Holiday (1915–1959) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 428 The Hustle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 985 Michael Jackson (1958–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1141 Jazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 72 Robert Johnson (1911–1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 428 Scott Joplin (1868–1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 75 Jukeboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 429 Karaoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1142 B. B. King (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 688 KISS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 987 Led Zeppelin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 989 Live Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1143 LL Cool J (1969–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1145 Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1256 Long-Playing Record (LP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 558 Madonna (1958–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1146 Barry Manilow (1946–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 990 Monkees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 854 Motown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 856 MTV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1147 Nirvana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1258 Phonograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 76 Pop Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 560 Elvis Presley (1935–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 689 Punk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 991 Rap and Hip-Hop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1149 Raves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1259 Rhythm and Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 564 Rock and Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 690 Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 298 Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 565 Britney Spears (1981–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1261 Rolling Stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 857 Barbra Streisand (1942–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 861 Run-DMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1151 Sex Pistols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 992 Simon and Garfunkel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 859 Tejano Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1262 Top 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 694 2 Live Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1152 Walkman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 994 Woodstock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 862

liii

Entries by Topic Category liv

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Print Culture Advocate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 866 Archie Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 568 Argosy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 80 Batman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 434 Beatniks and the Beat Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 698 Better Homes and Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 302 Blondie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 436 Judy Blume (1938–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 998 The Bobbsey Twins Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 570 The Bonfire of the Vanities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1156 Book-of-the-Month Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 303 Brenda Starr, Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 571 Buck Rogers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 304 Buster Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 81 Captain America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 572 Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 438 The Catcher in the Rye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 700 Cathy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 998 Comic Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 439 Cosmopolitan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 867 Curious George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 574 Detective Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 441 Dick and Jane Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 443 Dick Tracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 444 Dime Novels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 82 Doc Savage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 446 Dr. Seuss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 701 Dune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 868 Ebony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 576 Esquire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 448 The Far Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1157 Flash Gordon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 449 Frosty the Snowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 702 Fu Manchu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 188 Garfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 999 Gibson Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 84 Golden Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 577 Good Housekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 85 Gossip Columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 306 The Grapes of Wrath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 451 Green Lantern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 578 Hardy Boys Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 308 Harlequin Romances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1001

Entries by Topic Category

Harry Potter Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1266 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 579 Hustler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1002 Jurassic Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1268 The Katzenjammer Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 86 Kewpie Dolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 87 Krazy Kat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 189 Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 452 Li’l Abner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 454 Little Blue Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 309 Little Orphan Annie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 310 Jack London (1876–1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 88 MAD Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 704 Marvel Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 869 Ms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1004 Mutt & Jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 89 Nancy Drew Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 455 National Enquirer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 707 National Geographic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 90 New York Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 92 New Yorker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 312 On the Road. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 708 The Organization Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 710 Paperback Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 457 Peanuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 710 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1005 Perry Mason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 458 Playboy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 712 Popeye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 314 Pulp Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 459 Reader’s Digest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 316 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 318 Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 191 Rolling Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 871 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 581 Sassy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1159 Saturday Evening Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 93 Seventeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 582 The Shadow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 461 Spider-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 873 Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 462 Tarzan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 192 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 319 J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 713

lv

Entries by Topic Category lvi

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Tom Swift Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 194 True Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 195 TV Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 714 USA Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1160 Vogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 196 Weird Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 320 Whole Earth Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 875 Winnie-the-Pooh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 321 Wonder Woman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 583 World Book Encyclopedia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 197 Zines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1162 Zorro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 199 Sports and Games Aerobics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1010 Atari. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1011 Charles Atlas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 326 Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 96 Bowling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 588 Ty Cobb (1886–1961). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 99 James J. Corbett (1866–1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 100 Crossword Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 327 Dallas Cowboys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 880 Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 328 Babe Didrikson (1911–1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 468 Dungeons and Dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1013 Erector Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 202 Etch A Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 718 Extreme Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1272 Frisbee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 881 Wayne Gretzky (1961–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1166 Hacky Sack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1015 Harlem Globetrotters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 329 Indianapolis 500 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 204 Jogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1016 Jack Johnson (1878–1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 101 Michael Jordan (1963–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1274 Kentucky Derby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 102 Evel Knievel (1938–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 881 Jack LaLanne (1914–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 718 LEGOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 720 Lincoln Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 331 Lionel Trains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 104 Little League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 469

TV and Radio The A-Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1176 The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 728 All in the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1024 Ally McBeal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1278 Alvin and the Chipmunks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 729 American Bandstand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 731

Entries by Topic Category

Joe Louis (1914–1981) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 471 Milton Bradley Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 106 Miniature Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 332 Monday Night Football. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1017 Monopoly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 471 Muhammad Ali (1942–). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 878 Joe Namath (1943–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 883 National Basketball Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 590 National Football League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 334 National Hockey League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 207 Negro Leagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 107 Olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 109 Ouija Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 111 Jesse Owens (1913–1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 473 Pac-Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1167 Pong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1019 Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 208 Jackie Robinson (1919-1972). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 592 Rose Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 113 Rubik’s Cube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1169 Babe Ruth (1895–1948) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 210 Scrabble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 592 Skateboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 722 Slinky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 594 Sports Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 724 Stock Car Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 474 Super Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 884 Tinkertoys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 211 Tonka Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 596 Trivial Pursuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1170 Twister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 885 Video Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1020 Wide World of Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 887 Tiger Woods (1975–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1275 World Wrestling Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1171 Yo-Yo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 336

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Entries by Topic Category lviii

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Amos ’n’ Andy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 478 The Andy Griffith Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 890 Anime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1280 Barney and Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1281 Baywatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1283 The Beavis and Butt-Head Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1284 Jack Benny (1894–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 597 The Beverly Hillbillies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 891 Beverly Hills 90210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1286 Bewitched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 893 Bonanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 895 The Brady Bunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1025 Bugs Bunny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 598 Cable TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1027 Candid Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 733 Captain Kangaroo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 734 Johnny Carson (1925–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 896 CB Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1030 Charlie’s Angels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1032 Cheers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1177 CNN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1179 The Cosby Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1181 Davy Crockett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 736 Dallas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1183 Daytime Talk Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 897 Dobie Gillis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 737 Dr. Kildare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 900 Dragnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 738 The Dukes of Hazzard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1034 The Ed Sullivan Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 739 ER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1288 ESPN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1035 Fantasy Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1036 Fibber McGee and Molly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 482 Flipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 901 Frasier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1289 Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1290 The Fugitive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 902 Game Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 741 Gilligan’s Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 903 The Gong Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1038 Guiding Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 483 Gunsmoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 743 Happy Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1040

Entries by Topic Category

Hawaii Five-O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 905 Hee Haw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1042 The Honeymooners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 744 The Howdy Doody Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 601 I Love Lucy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 746 Kukla, Fran, and Ollie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 603 The Lawrence Welk Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 748 Leave It to Beaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 749 David Letterman (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1185 Little House on the Prairie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1043 The Lone Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 485 The Love Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1045 The Mary Tyler Moore Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1046 M*A*S*H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1049 Miami Vice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1186 The Mickey Mouse Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 751 Mister Ed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 906 Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 908 Monty Python’s Flying Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1051 Muppets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1053 News Anchors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 604 The Partridge Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1054 The Price Is Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 753 Public Broadcasting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 909 Radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 339 The Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1292 Reality TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1294 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 606 Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1057 Roseanne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1187 Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 911 Saturday Morning Cartoons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 912 Saturday Night Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1058 Schoolhouse Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1060 Seinfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1296 Sesame Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1062 Shock Radio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1188 The Simpsons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1190 Sitcoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 754 60 Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 916 The $64,000 Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 757 Soap Operas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 486 South Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1298 Speed Racer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 917

lix

Entries by Topic Category lx

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Star Trek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 918 Studio One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 608 Talk Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1193 Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1063 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1194 Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 610 This Is Your Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 758 Thomas the Tank Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1299 Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 760 The Tonight Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 761 Transistor Radios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 763 The Twilight Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 764 The Waltons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1066 The War of the Worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 489 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1300 The Way We Lived AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1198 Air Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 345 Amusement Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 768 Apollo Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 494 Apple Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1070 Army-McCarthy Hearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 769 Aromatherapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1305 Avon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 116 Baby Boom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 616 Baseball Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 347 Beanie Babies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1306 Blacklisting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 771 The Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 618 Bonnie and Clyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 496 Branch Davidians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1307 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 214 Bungalows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 349 Cabbage Patch Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1200 Al Capone (1899–1947) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 350 Catalog Houses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 117 Cellular Phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1308 The Charleston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 351 Chat Rooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1309 Chautauqua Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 118 Chia Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1072 Chrysler Building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 352 Civil Rights Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 922

Entries by Topic Category

Cocaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1201 Cocktail Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 353 Coffee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1311 Cold War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 621 Communes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1072 Coney Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 120 Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1073 Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 122 Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 774 Divorce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1075 Drive-In Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 497 Earth Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1077 Ecstasy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1313 Electric Appliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 125 E-Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1314 Empire State Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 499 Environmentalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1079 Equal Rights Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1080 Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 127 Father’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 215 Federal Bureau of Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 624 Ferris Wheel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 128 Gangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1204 Gay Liberation Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 926 General Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 130 Generation X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1206 Ghettos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 928 Goldfish Swallowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 500 Great Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 500 Greyhound Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 216 Hackers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1317 Haight-Ashbury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 929 Hairstyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 132 Highway System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 775 Hippies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 931 Hoover Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 501 Hot Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 626 Hula Hoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 777 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1319 The Joy of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1082 Kent State Massacre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1083 Ku Klux Klan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 217 Las Vegas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 627 Levittown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 629

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Entries by Topic Category lxii

bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 354 Lottery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 933 Mafia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 934 Marijuana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 936 Martial Arts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 937 Minivans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1208 Miss America Pageant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 355 Mother’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 220 National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . 4: 938 National Organization for Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 940 Penicillin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 356 Personal Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1085 Pet Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1088 The Pill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 778 Pokémon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1322 Political Correctness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1209 Postcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 134 Prohibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 357 Prom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 358 Prozac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1211 Ranch House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 502 Red Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 360 Refrigerators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 222 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. . . . . . . . . . 1: 223 Road Rage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1212 Roe v. Wade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1089 Roller Coasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 136 Route 66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 361 Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 779 Scopes Monkey Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 363 Scouting (Boy and Girl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 226 Serial Killers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1091 Sexual Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 941 Sexually Transmitted Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1093 O. J. Simpson (1947–) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1324 Skinheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1214 Skyscrapers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 502 Smiley Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1094 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1215 Spring Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 631 Standardized Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 365 Streaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1095 Students for a Democratic Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 945 Suburbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 780

Entries by Topic Category

Billy Sunday (1862–1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 138 Tanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4: 1096 Teen Idols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 632 Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 139 Titanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 228 Twelve-Step Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 504 UFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3: 635 Urban Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1217 Wall Drug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2: 505 War Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 231 World’s Fairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1: 142 WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1328 Y2K Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1329 Yuppies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5: 1218

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ADVISORY BOARD

Special thanks are due to U•X•L’s Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms advisors for their invaluable comments and suggestions: Catherine Bond, Department Chair, Library and Media Services, Conestoga High School, Berwyn, Pennsylvania Cathy Chauvette, Assistant Regional Branch Manager, Fairfax County Public Library, Fairfax County, Virginia Nancy Schlosser Garabed, Library Media Specialist, Council Rock High School, Newtown, Pennsylvania Ann West LaPrise, Junior High/Elementary Media Specialist, Huron School District, New Boston, Michigan Nina Levine, Library Media Specialist, Blue Mountain Middle School, Cortlandt Manor, New York

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CONTRIBUTORS

Timothy Berg. Visiting assistant professor, Western Michigan University. Ph.D., History, Purdue University, 1999. Charles Coletta, Ph.D. Instructor, Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University. Contributing writer, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000). Rob Edelman. Instructor, State University of New York at Albany. Author, Baseball on the Web (1997) and The Great Baseball Films (1994). Co-author, Matthau: A Life (2002); Meet the Mertzes (1999); and Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen (1996). Contributing editor, Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia, and Leonard Maltin’s Family Viewing Guide. Contributing writer, International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (2000); St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000); Women Filmmakers & Their Films (1998); The Political Companion to American Film (1994); and Total Baseball (1989). Film commentator, WAMC (Northeast) Public Radio. Tina Gianoulis. Freelance writer. Contributing writer, World War I Reference Library (2001–2); Constitutional Amendments: From Freedom of Speech to Flag Burning (2001); International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (2000); St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000); and mystories.com, a daytime drama Web site (1997–98). Sheldon Goldfarb. Archivist, Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia. Ph.D., English, University of British

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Contributors

Columbia. Author, William Makepeace Thackeray: An Annotated Bibliography, 1976–1987 (1989). Editor, Catherine, by William Makepeace Thackeray (1999). Jill Gregg Clever, A.A., B.A., M.L.I.S. Graduate of Michigan State University, Thomas Edison State College, and Wayne State University. Business-technology specialist, Toledo–Lucas County Public Library. Justin Gustainis. Professor of communication, State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Author, American Rhetoric and the Vietnam War (1993). Audrey Kupferberg. Film consultant and archivist. Instructor, State University of New York at Albany. Co-author, Matthau: A Life (2002); Meet the Mertzes (1999); and Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen (1996). Contributing editor, Leonard Maltin’s Family Viewing Guide. Contributing writer, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000); Women Filmmakers & Their Films (1998); and The American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films. Edward Moran. Writer of American culture, music, and literature. Associate editor, World Musicians (1999); World Authors (1996); and Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1987; 1991). Contributing writer, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000). Editor, Rhythm, a magazine of world music and global culture (2001). Sara Pendergast. President, Full Circle Editorial. Vice president, Group 3 Editorial. Co-editor, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000). Co-author, World War I Reference Library (2001), among other publications. Tom Pendergast. Editorial director, Full Circle Editorial. Ph.D., American studies, Purdue University. Author, Creating the Modern Man: American Magazines and Consumer Culture (2000). Co-editor, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000). Karl Rahder. M.A., University of Chicago Committee on International Relations. Author, several articles on international history and politics.

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Chris Routledge. Freelance writer and editor. Ph.D., American literature, University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). Author, “The Chevalier and the Priest: Deductive Method in Poe, Chesterton, and Borges,” in Clues: A Journal of Detection

Robert E. Schnakenberg. Senior writer, History Book Club. Author, The Encyclopedia Shatnerica (1998). Steven Schneider. Ph.D. candidate, philosophy, Harvard University; Ph.D. candidate, cinema studies, New York University. Author, An Auteur on Elm Street: The Cinema of Wes Craven (forthcoming). Co-editor, Horror International (forthcoming) and Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on Cinematic Horror (forthcoming). Contributing writer, British Horror Cinema (2002); Car Crash Culture (2001); and numerous film journals.

Contributors

(2001). Editor, Mystery in Children’s Literature: From the Rational to the Supernatural (2001).

Robert C. Sickels. Assistant professor of American film and popular culture, Whitman College. Ph.D., English, University of Nevada. Author, “A Politically Correct Ethan Edwards: Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales” in Journal of Popular Film & Television (forthcoming); “‘70s Disco Daze: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights and the Last Golden Age of Irresponsibility” in Journal of Popular Culture (forthcoming). Contributor, St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (2000).

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READER’S GUIDE

Popular culture—as we know it—was born in America, though historians disagree as to exactly when. Was it in 1893, when magazine publishers used new technologies to cut the costs of their magazines to a dime and sell hundreds of thousands of copies? Or was it in 1905, when the invention of the nickelodeon brought low-cost films to people all across the nation? Or was it back in 1886, when Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck sent out their first catalog, which allowed people from all over to choose from among hundreds and then thousands of the same goods? No matter the exact date, by the turn of the twentieth century, American magazine publishers, retailers, moviemakers, and other entertainers were bringing their goods before larger numbers of Americans than ever before. These magazines, movies, advertisements, shopping experiences, sports teams, and more were what we know as “popular culture,” because they could be enjoyed firsthand by masses of Americans. The story of America as revealed by its popular culture is complex and fascinating. Readers of Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America will discover, for example, that the comedic forms first developed by vaudeville comedians at the turn of the century lived on in film, radio, and finally television. They will learn that black musicians created the musical forms that are most distinctly American: blues and jazz. And they will realize that popular culture

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Reader’s Guide

reacted to things like war and economic depressions in ways that were surprising and unexpected. The study of popular culture has a great deal to teach the student who is interested in how people use entertainment and consumption to make sense of their lives and shape their experience. Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms gathers together essays that reflect the variety, diversity, and excitement of American popular culture of the twentieth century. This collection focuses more on events, fads, programs, performances, and products than on biographies of people, which are well documented in other sources. Even so, brief biographies of notables are sprinkled throughout. With approximately 750 essays on individual topics and dozens of overviews of pop culture trends, Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms covers a great deal of American popular culture, though not nearly enough. There are hundreds more people, bands, TV programs, films, and products that were worthy of mention but were left out due to space consideration. Our advisory board of media specialists, however, helped assure that the most prominent and studied subjects were included. Have you ever wondered how the Slinky was invented, what Velveeta cheese is made of, or what people danced to before rock and roll? Those answers are in Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms, along with many others. It is our hope that this collection will bring both information and pleasure to all students of American culture.

Organization

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bowling, beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms is arranged chronologically by decade over five volumes (two decades per volume). The approximately 750 entries are grouped into nine topic sections: Commerce, Fashion, Film and Theater, Food and Drink, Music, Print Culture, Sports and Games, TV and Radio, and The Way We Lived (though not all topics appear in every decade). Many subjects can easily appear in several different decades, so those essays are placed in either the decade in which the product was invented or the fad initiated, or in the decade in which the subject was most prominent or popular. In addition, several of the essays could have appeared under different topics (such as a book that was made into a movie), so those essays appear under the topic where it was best known. Users should make frequent use of the index or the two additional tables of con-

Essays range in length from 150 to 1000 words, with the majority averaging less than 500 words. Every essay aims to describe the topic and analyze the topic’s contribution to popular culture. Each essay lists additional sources on the topic, including books, magazine or journal articles, and Web sites. Whenever possible, references to books are geared to younger readers. The editors have personally visited every Web site mentioned and believe that these sites contain content that will assist the reader in understanding the subject. Due to the nature of the World Wide Web, it is possible that not all Web links will still function at the time of publication.

Reader’s Guide

tents (arranged alphabetically by entry name and by topic category) to locate an entry.

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms also provides these features: • A timeline that highlights key historic and pop culture events of the twentieth century • A general overview of each decade • A multipaged “At a Glance” box that breaks down “What We Said,” “What We Read,” “What We Watched,” “What We Listened To,” and “Who We Knew” • An overview of each topic section in each decade • More than 300 photos and illustrations • Extensive use of cross references (pointing to decade, topic, and volume)

Acknowledgments This collection simply could not have been created without the diligent efforts and true professionalism of some of the best writers we know: Timothy Berg, Charles Coletta, Rob Edelman, Tina Gianoulis, Justin Gustainis, Audrey Kupferberg, Edward Moran, Chris Routledge, and Bob Schnakenberg. Also worthy of mention are the contributions of Jill Gregg Clever, Sheldon Goldfarb, Karl Rahder, Steven Schneider, and Robert Sickels. At U•X•L, we would like to thank Julia Furtaw for suggesting that we revisit the subject of American popular culture for younger readers, and Larry Baker for his good humor and skilled handling of the various stages of book production. Much appreciation goes to Theresa Murray, who thoroughly copyedited all

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five volumes and compiled the detailed subject index, as well as to Jim Buchanan and Bookcomp Inc./Nighthawk Design for their typesetting work. We’d like also to thank the staff of the Snohomish, Washington, branch of the Sno-Isle Regional Library for processing our innumerable book requests with such efficiency and good cheer. Rebecca, Mike, Penny, Vina, Eileen, and everyone else: Thank you. We truly appreciate the work you do. This book is dedicated to our children, Conrad and Louisa, who provided valuable insights into the entries on Pokémon and Beanie Babies, and who will soon be old enough to find this book in their school libraries. Happy reading, kids!

Comments and Suggestions We welcome your comments on Bowling, Beatniks, and BellBottoms. Please send correspondence to: Editors, Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms, U•X•L, 27500 Drake Rd., Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535; call toll-free: 800-877-4253; fax to 248-414-5043; or send e-mail via www.gale.com. —Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

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TIMELINE

1900

On January 29, Ban Johnson forms the American League to compete against baseball’s National League.

1900

In February, Eastman Kodak introduces the Brownie Camera.

1900

In March, the Good Roads Campaign tries to build support for better roads. At the time, there are only ten miles of paved roads in the nation.

1900

On March 31, the first ad for an automobile appears in The Saturday Evening Post.

1900

On April 23, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1900

On November 6, Republican William McKinley is reelected U.S. president, with New York governor Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president.

1900

On November 12, Floradora, one of the most popular theatrical musicals of the decade, premieres in New York. It runs for more than five hundred performances.

1901

On February 25, U.S. Steel is formed out of ten companies and becomes the world’s largest industrial corporation. lxxv

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1901

On March 13, steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie donates $2.2 million to fund a New York public library system.

1901

On September 6, President William McKinley is shot by an assassin in Buffalo, New York, and dies eight days later from complications from gangrene due to improperly dressed wounds. Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.

1901

On October 16, President Theodore Roosevelt starts a national controversy when he dines with black leader Booker T. Washington in the White House.

1902

The Teddy Bear is introduced, named after President Theodore Roosevelt.

1902

On January 1, in the first Rose Bowl football game, the University of Michigan defeats Stanford 49-0.

1902

On March 18, Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso produces his first phonographic recording.

1902

On April 16, Tally’s Electric Theater, the first theater solely devoted to presenting motion pictures, opens in Los Angeles, California.

1902

On December 21, Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first wireless signals across the Atlantic Ocean.

1903

Redbook magazine is founded.

1903

The Portage Lakers of Houghton, Michigan—the first professional hockey team from the United States—win the International Hockey League championship.

1903

On January 22, the United States signs a 99-year lease on what will become the Panama Canal Zone, where they will build a canal that connects the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

1903

In February, the Ladies’ Home Journal becomes the first American magazine to reach one million paid subscriptions.

1903

On May 23, two men make the first transcontinental automobile trip from San Francisco to New York in sixty-four days. Upon returning home, one driver is ticketed for exceeding the speed limit of six miles per hour.

On August 14, Jim Jeffries defeats James J. “Gentleman Jim” Corbett to retain the world heavyweight boxing title.

1903

On September 12, Scott Joplin’s ragtime opera A Guest of Honor begins a midwest tour.

1903

In October, the Boston Pilgrims defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series to pit an American League team against a National League team.

1903

On December 1, Edwin S. Porter’s film The Great Train Robbery is considered the first Western and the first American film with a plot.

1903

On December 17, Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first sustained flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1904

The Ford Motor Company sells fourteen hundred of its Model A cars.

1904

On April 20, the World’s Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.

1904

On May 5, Cy Young pitches baseball’s first perfect game.

1904

On November 8, Theodore Roosevelt is reelected president.

1905

The German navy launches the first submarine.

1905

African American leader W. E. B. Du Bois helps found the Niagara Movement, an organization to advance African American issues.

1905

On May 5, the Chicago Defender, the first major black newspaper, begins publication.

1905

In June, the era of the nickelodeon begins when Harry Davis’s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, movie theater offers continuous movie showings. By the end of the decade, more than eight thousand nickel-admission movie theaters are in operation.

1905

On June 18, the Twentieth Century Limited begins train service between Chicago, Illinois, and New York City and boasts a travel time of only eighteen hours.

Timeline

1903

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1906

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes breakfast cereal is introduced.

1906

In February, Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, a novel depicting the horrible conditions in the meatpacking industry. The work prompts the passage of the Meat Inspection Act.

1906

On April 14, President Theodore Roosevelt coins the term “muckraking” when he criticizes journalists who expose abuses and corruption and miss the larger social picture.

1906

On April 18, a major earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.

1906

On May 3, the First Annual Advertising Show in New York City heralds the beginning of an important American industry.

1906

On November 21, the first voice radio transmission travels eleven miles from Plymouth to Brant Rock, Massachusetts.

1907

Work begins on the Panama Canal.

1907

On January 23, in what newspapers call the “trial of the century,” millionaire Harry K. Thaw is tried for the murder of world-famous architect Stanford White over the honor of Thaw’s wife, showgirl Evelyn Nesbit.

1907

On June 10, French motion picture pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière announce they have developed a method for producing color film.

1907

On July 8, Florenz Ziegfeld’s musical revue, the Ziegfeld Follies, opens in New York.

1907

On December 3, actress Mary Pickford makes her stage debut in The Warrens of Virginia.

1908

The world’s first skyscraper, the forty-seven-story Singer Building, is completed in New York City.

1908

The General Motors Corporation is formed and soon becomes the biggest competitor of the Ford Motor Company.

1908

In March, the Original Independent Show, organized in New York, includes works by American painters Edward Hopper, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent.

On September 6, Isreal Zangwill’s play The Melting Pot opens in New York City; the title becomes an internationally recognized description of the United States.

1908

On October 1, the Ford Motor Company unveils its Model T with a price tag of $825. It soon becomes the best-selling automobile of its time.

1908

On November 3, former U.S. secretary of war William Howard Taft is elected president.

1908

On December 26, Jack Johnson defeats Tommy Burns to become the first black world heavyweight boxing champion. His victory is considered an outrage by white racists.

1909

The fifty-story Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower in New York City becomes the world’s tallest building.

1909

The Ford Motor Company manufactures nineteen thousand Model T cars.

1909

On March 16, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is created as a federal law enforcement agency.

1909

On March 23, former president Theodore Roosevelt leaves for a safari in Africa. He is paid $50,000 by Scribner’s for his account of the trip.

1909

On April 6, U.S. Navy commander Robert Peary reaches the North Pole.

1909

On May 3, the first wireless press message is sent from New York City to Chicago, Illinois.

1909

On July 12, the U.S. Congress asks the states to authorize a national income tax.

1910

Western novelist Zane Grey’s book Heritage of the Desert becomes a huge commercial success, starting his career of bringing the American West to the reading world.

1910

Levis Strauss and Company begins making casual play clothes for children.

1910

The Boy Scouts of America are founded in Chicago, Illinois.

Timeline

1908

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1910

On February 28, Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova makes her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

1910

On March 28, the first one-man show by artist Pablo Picasso opens at photographer and editor Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in New York City.

1910

In November, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) publishes the first issue of The Crisis magazine, edited by W. E. B. Du Bois.

1910

On November 3, the Chicago Grand Opera opens with a production of Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi.

1911

Irving Berlin composes “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” the song that popularized ragtime music.

1911

Air conditioning is invented.

1911

Photoplay, the first movie fan magazine, is published.

1911

On March 25, in New York City, 146 female workers are killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, alerting Americans to the dangers women face in industrial labor.

1911

On May 23, President William Howard Taft dedicates the New York Public Library.

1911

On May 30, the first Indianapolis 500 auto race is won by Ray Harroun with an average speed of 74.59 mph.

1911

On August 8, Pathe’s Weekly, the first regular newsreel to be produced in the United States, is released to motion picture theaters.

1911

On December 19, the Association of American Painters and Sculptors is founded.

1912

New Mexico and Arizona become the forty-seventh and forty-eighth states.

1912

The Little Theater in Chicago, Illinois, and the Toy Theater in Boston, Massachusetts, the first influential little theaters in the United States, are founded.

1912

Dancers Irene and Vernon Castle start a craze for ballroom dancing.

On April 15, the Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage from Ireland to the United States, killing 1,517.

1912

In August, photographer and editor Alfred Stieglitz devotes an entire issue of his periodical Camera Work to the modern art movement.

1912

On August 5, former president Theodore Roosevelt is nominated as the presidential candidate of the newly formed Progressive Party.

1912

On October 31, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, a film by D. W. Griffith that points out the social evils of poverty and crime on the streets of New York, is released.

1912

On November 5, New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson is elected president.

1912

On December 10, the Famous Players Film Company registers for copyright of the five-reel feature film The Count of Monte Cristo, directed by Edwin S. Porter.

1913

The 792-foot-high Woolworth Building in New York City becomes the world’s tallest building, a record it holds until 1930.

1913

The first crossword puzzle is published.

1913

The Jesse Lasky Feature Play Co., which later would become Paramount Pictures, is established in Hollywood, California.

1913

The Panama Canal is completed, and officially opens on August 15, 1914.

1913

On February 17, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, known as the Armory Show, opens in New York City. It is the first opportunity for many Americans to view modern art.

1913

On February 25, the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution is approved, authorizing a federal income tax.

1913

On March 24, the million dollar, eighteen-hundredseat Palace Theatre opens in New York City.

1913

On May 31, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution is approved, providing for the direct election of U.S. senators.

Timeline

1912

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1914

On February 13, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), an organization that seeks royalty payments for public performances of music, is founded in New York City.

1914

In March, comedian Charles Chaplin begins to evolve the legendary character of the Little Tramp in the film Mabel’s Strange Predicament.

1914

On July 3, the first telephone line connects New York City and San Francisco, California.

1914

On August 3, World War I starts in Europe when Germany invades Belgium. Soon all of Europe is drawn into the conflict, though the United States remains neutral.

1914

On September 5, a German submarine scores its first kill, sinking the British cruiser Pathfinder, as World War I intensifies.

1914

In September, in the World War I Battle of the Marne, Germany’s advance into France is halted.

1914

On November 3, the first American exhibition of African sculpture opens at the 291 Gallery in New York City.

1914

On December 3, the Isadorables, six European dancers trained by American dancer Isadora Duncan, perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City after escaping with Duncan from her war-torn Europe.

1915

The first taxicab appears on the streets of New York City.

1915

The first professional football league is formed in Ohio and is called simply the Ohio League.

1915

Modern dancers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn found the Denishawn School of Dancing in Los Angeles, California.

1915

Five hundred U.S. correspondents cover World War I in Europe.

1915

On March 10, the Russian Symphony Orchestra plays the American debut performance of the symphony Prometheus by Aleksandr Scriabin at Carnegie Hall in

1915

On December 10, the Ford Motor Company completes its one millionth Model T automobile.

1916

The Boeing Aircraft Company produces its first biplane.

1916

Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst inaugurates the City Life arts section as a supplement to his Sunday newspapers.

1916

In November, inventor and radio pioneer Lee De Forest begins to transmit daily music broadcasts from his home in New York City.

1916

On November 7, Woodrow Wilson is reelected president after campaigning on the pledge to keep the United States out of the war in Europe.

1917

The Russian Revolution brings communism to Russia, setting the stage for nearly a century of intermittent conflict with the United States.

1917

Showman George M. Cohan composes the song that was a musical call-to-arms during World War I: “Over There.”

1917

Motion picture pioneer Cecil B. DeMille directs The Little American, a patriotic melodrama starring Mary Pickford.

1917

On April 6, the United States declares war on Germany after German submarines continue to attack U.S. merchant ships.

1917

On May 28, Benny Leonard wins the lightweight boxing championship, which he holds until his retirement in 1924 while building a record of 209-5; he makes a comeback in 1931.

1917

On August 19, the managers of the New York Giants and Cincinnati Reds are arrested for playing baseball on Sunday.

1917

On October 27, sixteen-year-old Russian-born violinist Jascha Heifetz makes his debut American performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Timeline

New York City. Color images are projected onto a screen as part of the show.

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1918

The annual O. Henry Awards for short fiction are inaugurated in honor of short story writer O. Henry (a pseudonym for William Sydney Porter).

1918

On January 8, President Woodrow Wilson delivers his “Fourteen Points” address before Congress, outlining his plans for the shape of the postwar world.

1918

In March, The Little Review begins to serialize the novel Ulysses, by James Joyce, which features stream of consciousness techniques and a kind of private language.

1918

On November 11, Germany signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the fighting in World War I.

1918

In December, the Theatre Guild is founded in New York City.

1919

Maid of Harlem, an all-black-cast musical starring “Fats” Waller, Mamie Smith, Johnny Dunn, and Perry Bradford, draws enthusiastic crowds at the Lincoln Theatre in New York City.

1919

On January 29, Prohibition begins with the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which bans the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors.

1919

On February 5, United Artists, an independent film distribution company, is founded by Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Mary Pickford.

1919

On June 28, the Treaty of Versailles is signed by the Allied powers, officially ending World War I. Germany is forced to pay costly reparations for the damage it caused during the war.

1919

On July 4, Jack Dempsey defeats Jess Willard to win the world heavyweight boxing championship.

1919

On October 31, the Provincetown Players stage The Dreamy Kid, by Eugene O’Neill, with an all-black cast.

1919

On December 22, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer authorizes government raids on communists, anarchists, and other political radicals. These “Palmer raids” are part of a nationwide “red scare.”

1920

Sinclair Lewis publishes the novel Main Street.

Douglas Fairbanks stars in the film The Mark of Zorro.

1920

On January 5, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is founded and becomes a leading radio broadcaster.

1920

On February 12, the National Negro Baseball League is founded.

1920

On August 20, the first radio news bulletins are broadcast by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.

1920

On August 26, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution gives women the right to vote.

1920

On September 28, eight Chicago White Sox players are charged with throwing the 1919 World Series in what becomes known as the “Black Sox Scandal.” They are eventually banned from the game for life.

1920

On September 29, New York Yankee Babe Ruth breaks his own single-season home run record with 54 home runs.

1920

On November 1, Eugene O’Neill’s play The Emperor Jones opens in New York City.

1920

On November 6, U.S. senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio is elected president.

1921

The Ford Motor Company announces a plan to produce one million automobiles a year.

1921

The Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C., becomes the first American museum of modern art.

1921

In this year, 13 percent of Americans own telephones.

1921

On March 10, the first White Castle hamburger chain opens in Wichita, Kansas.

1921

On April 11, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, broadcasts the first sports event on radio, a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee. Later that year, the World Series is broadcast.

1921

On May 23, Shuffle Along is the first black Broadway musical written and directed by African Americans.

Timeline

1920

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1921

On July 29, Adolf Hitler is elected dictator of the Nazi Party in Munich, Germany.

1921

On September 8, the first Miss America pageant is held in Washington, D.C.

1921

On November 2, Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League in New York City, raising the anger of many religious groups, especially Catholic groups.

1922

Robert Flaherty releases the documentary film Nanook of the North.

1922

Irish author James Joyce publishes Ulysses, which is banned in some countries for its alleged obscenity.

1922

F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes Tales of the Jazz Age.

1922

The American Professional Football Association changes its name to the National Football League (NFL).

1922

Reader’s Digest magazine is founded.

1922

Al Jolson pens the popular song “Toot Toot Tootsie.”

1922

On May 5, Coco Chanel introduces Chanel No. 5, which becomes the world’s best-known perfume.

1922

On August 28, the first advertisement is aired on radio station WEAF in New York City.

1922

On December 30, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established with Russia at its head.

1923

Cecil B. DeMille directs the epic film The Ten Commandments.

1923

Charles Kettering develops a method for bringing colored paint to mass-produced cars.

1923

Bessie Smith’s “Down Hearted Blues” is one of the first blues songs to be recorded.

1923

Time magazine begins publication.

1923

On April 6, trumpet player Louis Armstrong records his first solo on “Chimes Blues” with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.

On August 3, President Warren G. Harding dies and Vice President Calvin Coolidge takes office.

1924

John Ford directs the Western film The Iron Horse.

1924

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film studio is formed in Hollywood, California.

1924

Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson begins broadcasting from the first religious radio station, KFSG in Los Angeles, California.

1924

The stock market begins a boom that will last until 1929.

1924

On January 1, there are 2.5 million radios in American homes, up from 2,000 in 1920.

1924

On February 12, the tomb of King Tutankhamen, or King Tut, is opened in Egypt after having been sealed for four thousand years.

1924

On February 24, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is performed by an orchestra in New York City.

1924

On March 10, J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1924

In June, the Chrysler Corporation is founded, and competes with General Motors and Ford.

1924

On November 4, incumbent Calvin Coolidge is elected president.

1925

In one of the most famous years in American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby, Ernest Hemingway publishes In Our Time, and Theodore Dreiser publishes An American Tragedy.

1925

Lon Chaney stars in the film The Phantom of the Opera.

1925

EWSM Barn Dance radio program begins broadcasting from Nashville, Tennessee; the name is later changed to Grand Ole Opry and it becomes the leading country music program.

1925

The magazine The New Yorker begins publication and features the prices paid for bootleg liquor.

1925

In February, the Boeing aircraft company builds a

Timeline

1923

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plane capable of flying over the Rocky Mountains with a full load of mail. 1925

On May 8, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, founded by A. Philip Randolph, is one of the first black labor unions.

1925

In July, in the Scopes “Monkey” trial, a Tennessee teacher is tried and found guilty of teaching evolution in a trial that attracts national attention.

1925

On August 8, forty thousand Ku Klux Klan members march in Washington, D.C., to broaden support for their racist organization.

1926

Latin idol Rudolph Valentino stars in the film The Son of the Sheik.

1926

Ernest Hemingway publishes The Sun Also Rises.

1926

The Book-of-the-Month Club is launched to offer quality books to subscribers.

1926

On March 7, the first transatlantic radiotelephone conversation links New York City and London, England.

1926

On March 17, The Girl Friend, a musical with songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, opens on Broadway.

1926

On April 18, dancer Martha Graham makes her first professional appearance in New York City.

1927

Al Jolson stars in the film The Jazz Singer, the first film to have sound. Clara Bow—the “It” girl—stars in It.

1927

On January 1, the Rose Bowl football game is broadcast coast-to-coast on the radio.

1927

On April 7, television is first introduced in America, but investors are skeptical.

1927

On May 21, Charles Lindbergh completes his nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, France, and is given a hero’s welcome.

1927

On May 25, the Ford Motor Company announces that production of the Model T will be stopped in favor of the modern Model A.

On September 22, the Jack Dempsey–Gene Tunney heavyweight championship fight becomes the first sports gate to top $2 million.

1927

On December 4, Duke Ellington’s orchestra beings a long run at the Cotton Club nightclub in Harlem, New York.

1927

On December 27, the Oscar and Hammerstein musical Show Boat opens on Broadway in New York City.

1928

On April 15, the New York Rangers become the first American team to win the National Hockey League Stanley Cup.

1928

On May 11, WGY in Schenectady, New York, offers the first scheduled television service, though the high price of televisions keeps most people from owning them.

1928

On July 30, the Eastman Kodak company introduces color motion pictures.

1928

On November 6, former U.S. secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover is elected president.

1928

On December 13, George Gershwin’s An American in Paris opens at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1928

On December 26, swimmer Johnny Weissmuller retires from competition after setting sixty-seven world records.

1929

Mickey Mouse makes his first appearance in Steamboat Willie, an animated film made by Walt Disney.

1929

Commercial airlines carry 180,000 passengers in the year.

1929

Ernest Hemingway publishes A Farewell to Arms, a novel set during World War I.

1929

Nick Lucas’s “Tiptoe through the Tulips with Me” and Louis Armstrong’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” are two of the year’s most popular songs.

1929

On February 14, in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, gunmen working for Chicago, Illinois,

Timeline

1927

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mobster Al Capone gun down seven members of a rival gang. 1929

On October 29, the stock market collapses on a day known as “Black Tuesday,” marking the start of what will become the Great Depression.

1930

Grant Wood paints American Gothic.

1930

The Continental Baking company introduces Wonder Bread, the first commercially produced sliced bread.

1930

Unemployment reaches four million as the economy worsens.

1930

On January 14, jazz greats Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, and Jack Teagarden play George and Ira Gershwin’s songs, including “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” in the musical Strike Up the Band at the Mansfield Theater in New York City.

1930

On March 6, General Foods introduces the nation’s first frozen foods.

1930

On May 3, Ogden Nash, a poet who will become famous for his funny, light verse, publishes “Spring Comes to Murray Hill” in the New Yorker magazine and soon begins work at the magazine.

1930

On September 8, the comic strip Blondie begins.

1930

On October 14, Girl Crazy, starring Ethel Merman, opens at New York’s Guild Theater. The musical features songs by George Gershwin, Walter Donaldson, and Ira Gershwin, including “I Got Rhythm” and “Embraceable You.”

1931

The horror films Dracula and Frankenstein are both released.

1931

Nevada legalizes gambling in order to bring revenue to the state.

1931

On March 3, “The Star Spangled Banner” becomes the national anthem by congressional vote.

1931

On April 30, the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world, opens in New York City.

On June 3, Fred and Adele Astaire perform for the last time together on the first revolving stage.

1931

On July 27, Earl Carroll’s Vanities, featuring naked chorus girls, opens at the three-thousand-seat Earl Carroll Theater in New York City.

1931

On October 12, the comic strip Dick Tracy begins.

1932

Edwin Herbert Land, a Harvard College dropout, invents Polaroid film.

1932

On May 2, The Jack Benny Show premieres as a variety show on radio and runs for twenty-three years and then another ten years on television.

1932

On July 30, the Summer Olympic Games open in Los Angeles, California, and feature record-breaking performances by Americans Babe Didrikson and Eddie Tolan.

1932

On July 31, in German parliamentary elections, the Nazi Party receives the most seats but is unable to form a government.

1932

On November 7, the radio adventure Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century premieres on CBS, and runs until 1947.

1932

On November 8, New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president, promising to take steps to improve the economy. In his first one hundred days in office, Roosevelt introduces much legislation to use the government to aid those harmed by the Great Depression.

1932

On December 27, Radio City Music Hall opens at the Rockefeller Center in New York City.

1933

President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents the nation with his first radio address, known as a “fireside chat.”

1933

Walt Disney releases the feature film The Three Little Pigs.

1933

On January 3, The Lone Ranger radio drama premieres on WXYZ radio in Detroit, Michigan.

Timeline

1931

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1933

On January 30, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany. Hitler soon seizes all power and sets out to attack his party’s political enemies.

1933

On May 27, fan dancer Sally Rand attracts thousands with her performance at the Chicago World’s Fair that celebrated the Century of Progress.

1933

On September 30, Ah, Wilderness, acclaimed American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s only comedy, opens at the Guild Theater in New York City.

1933

On December 5, the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution puts an end to Prohibition.

1934

The first pipeless organ is patented by Laurens Hammond. The Hammond organ starts a trend toward more electrically amplified instruments.

1934

Dashiell Hammett publishes The Thin Man, one of the first hard-boiled detective novels.

1934

The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, New York, as a showcase for black performers.

1934

German director Fritz Lang flees Nazi Germany to make movies in the United States.

1934

On May 5, bank robbers and murderers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are killed by lawmen in Louisiana.

1934

On July 1, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) association creates the Hay’s Office to enforce codes that limit the amount and types of sexuality and other immoral behavior in films.

1934

On July 22, “Public Enemy No. 1” John Dillinger is shot and killed outside a Chicago, Illinois, theater by FBI agents and local police.

1934

On August 13, Al Capp’s Li’l Abner comic strip debuts in eight newspapers.

1934

On August 19, Adolf Hitler is declared president of Germany, though he prefers the title Führer (leader).

1935

One out of four American households receives government relief as the Depression deepens.

Twenty million Monopoly board games are sold in one week.

1935

The first Howard Johnson roadside restaurant opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1935

The Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Projects, some of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s many New Deal programs, give work to artists painting post offices and other federal buildings.

1935

In April, Your Hit Parade is first heard on radio and offers a selection of hit songs.

1935

On April 16, the radio comedy-drama Fibber McGee and Molly debuts on NBC and runs until 1952.

1935

On May 24, the first nighttime major league baseball game is played in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1935

On October 10, Porgy and Bess, known as the “most American opera of the decade,” opens in New York City at the Alvin Theater. The music George Gershwin wrote for the opera combined blues, jazz, and southern folk.

1936

American Airlines introduces transcontinental airline service.

1936

Ten African American athletes including Jesse Owens win gold medals in the Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany, embarrassing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who had declared the inferiority of black athletes.

1936

Dust storms in the Plains states force thousands to flee the region, many to California.

1936

Popular public-speaking teacher Dale Carnegie publishes his book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

1936

To increase feelings of nationalism, the Department of the Interior hires folksinger Woody Guthrie to travel throughout the U.S. Southwest performing his patriotic songs such as “Those Oklahoma Hills.”

1936

In the Soviet Union, the Communist Party begins its Great Purge, executing anyone who resists the party’s

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social and economic policies. By 1938, it is estimated that ten million people have been killed. 1936

Throughout Europe, countries scramble to form alliances with other countries for what seems to be a likely war. Germany and Italy join together to support the military government of Francisco Franco in Spain, while Great Britain and France sign nonaggression pacts with the Soviet Union.

1936

On July 18, the Spanish Civil War begins when Spanish military officers rise up against the Republican government of Spain.

1936

In October, the New York Yankees win the first of four World Series in a row.

1936

On November 3, Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected as president of the United States.

1936

On November 23, the first issue of Life magazine is published.

1937

Dr. Seuss becomes a popular children’s book author with the publication of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

1937

The Hormel company introduces Spam, a canned meat.

1937

A poll shows that the average American listens to the radio for 4.5 hours a day.

1937

Porky’s Hare Hunt, a short animated cartoon by Warner Bros., introduces audiences to the Bugs Bunny character and the talents of Mel Blanc, the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig.

1937

The first soap opera, Guiding Light, is broadcast. It continues as a radio program until 1956 and moves to television.

1937

British writer J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit.

1937

On June 22, black boxer Joe Louis knocks out Jim Braddock to win the world heavyweight boxing championship.

1937

On December 21, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated film, is presented by Walt Disney.

Glenn Miller forms his own big band and begins to tour extensively.

1938

On January 17, the first jazz performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City is performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and others.

1938

In June, the character Superman is introduced in Action Comics #1. By 1939, he appears in his own comic book series.

1938

On August 17, Henry Armstrong becomes the first boxer to hold three boxing titles at one time when he defeats Lou Ambers at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

1938

On October 31, Orson Welles’s radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’s science fiction novel The War of the Worlds is believed to be a serious announcement of Martian invasion by listeners and panic spreads throughout the country.

1938

On November 11, singer Kate Smith’s performance of “God Bless America” is broadcast over the radio on Armistice Day.

1939

Singer Frank Sinatra joins the Tommy Dorsey band, where he will soon find great success.

1939

Federal spending on the military begins to revive the economy.

1939

Pocket Books, the nation’s first modern paperback book company, is founded.

1939

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) holds it first Final Four championship basketball series, which is won by the University of Oregon.

1939

Gone with the Wind, David O. Selznick’s epic film about the Civil War, stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

1939

The Wizard of Oz whisks movie audiences into a fantasyland of magic and wonder. The film stars Judy Garland and includes such popular songs as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

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1939

On May 2, baseball great Lou “The Iron Man” Gehrig ends his consecutive game streak at 2,130 when he removes himself from the lineup.

1939

On September 1, German troops invade Poland, causing Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany and starting World War II. Days later, the Soviet Union invades Poland as well, and soon Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland.

1940

The radio program Superman debuts, introducing the phrases “Up, up, and away!” and “This looks like a job for Superman!”

1940

On February 22, German troops begin construction of a concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland.

1940

The first issue of the comic book Batman is published.

1940

On May 10, German forces invade Belgium and Holland, and later march into France.

1940

On June 10, Italy declares war on Britain and France.

1940

On June 14, the German army enters Paris, France.

1940

On August 24, Germany begins bombing London, England.

1940

On November 5, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected for his third term.

1940

On November 13, the Disney film Fantasia opens in New York City.

1941

“Rosie the Riveter” becomes the symbol for the many women who are employed in various defense industries.

1941

Citizen Kane, which many consider the greatest movie of all time, is released, directed by and starring Orson Welles.

1941

On January 15, A. Philip Randolph leads the March on Washington to call for an end to racial discrimination in defense-industry employment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt eventually signs an executive order barring such discrimination.

1941

On March 17, the National Gallery of Art is opened in Washington, D.C.

On July 1, CBS and NBC begin offering about fifteen hours of commercial television programming each week—but few consumers have enough money to purchase television sets.

1941

On October 19, German troops lay siege to the Russian city of Moscow.

1941

On December 7, Japanese planes launch a surprise attack on the U.S. naval and air bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and declare war against the United States.

1941

On December 11, the United States declares war on Germany and Italy in response to those countries’ declarations of war.

1941

On December 15, the annual Rose Bowl football game is moved from Pasadena, California, to Durham, North Carolina, to avoid the chance of a Japanese bombing attack.

1942

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman star in Casablanca, set it war-torn Europe.

1942

On February 19, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order placing all Japanese Americans on the West Coast in internment camps for the rest of the war.

1942

On May 5, sugar rationing starts in the United States, followed by the rationing of other products.

1942

In June, American troops defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway.

1942

On December 25, the comedy team of Abbott and Costello is voted the leading box-office attraction of 1942.

1943

Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman star in For Whom the Bell Tolls, the film version of the novel by Ernest Hemingway.

1943

On January 25, the Pentagon, the world’s largest office complex and the home to the U.S. military, is completed in Arlington, Virginia.

1943

On March 14, composer Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man premieres in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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1943

On March 30, the musical Oklahoma! opens on Broadway in New York City.

1943

During the summer, race riots break out in Detroit, Michigan, and Harlem, New York.

1943

On September 8, Italy surrenders to the Allies.

1943

On November 9, artist Jackson Pollock has his first solo show in New York City.

1943

On December 30, Esquire magazine loses its secondclass mailing privileges after it is charged with being “lewd” and “lascivious” by the U.S. Post Office.

1944

Seventeen magazine debuts.

1944

Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, becomes one of the first of a new genre of movies known as film noir.

1944

On March 4, American planes bomb Berlin, Germany.

1944

On June 6, on “D-Day,” Allied forces land in Normandy, France, and begin the liberation of western Europe.

1944

On June 22, the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, provides funding for a variety of programs for returning soldiers, including education programs under the G.I. Bill.

1944

On August 25, Allied troops liberate Paris, France.

1944

On November 7, Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected for an unprecedented fourth term as president.

1945

Chicago publisher John H. Johnson launches Ebony magazine.

1945

The radio program The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet debuts.

1945

On January 27, the Soviet Red Army liberates Auschwitz, Poland, revealing the seriousness of German efforts to exterminate Jews.

1945

On April 12, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage and Vice President Harry S. Truman takes over as president.

On April 21, Soviet troops reach the outskirts of Berlin, the capital of Germany.

1945

On April 30, German leader Adolf Hitler commits suicide in Berlin, Germany, as Allied troops approach the city.

1945

On May 5, American poet Ezra Pound is arrested in Italy on charges of treason.

1945

On May 8, Germany surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II in Europe.

1945

On August 6, the United States drops the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing more than fifty thousand people.

1945

On August 9, the United States drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.

1945

On September 2, Japan offers its unconditional surrender onboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing an end to World War II.

1946

The Baby Boom begins as the birthrate rises 20 percent over the previous year.

1946

It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart and directed by Frank Capra, becomes one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time.

1946

On January 10, the first General Assembly of the United Nations meets in London, England.

1946

On June 19, Joe Louis knocks out Billy Conn in the first heavyweight boxing match ever shown on television, retaining his title.

1946

On December 11, country singer Hank Williams cuts his first single, “Calling You.”

1947

On January 29, Arthur Miller’s play All My Sons opens in New York City.

1947

On March 12, President Harry S. Truman announces his “containment” policy aimed at stopping the spread of communism. It will later become known as the Truman Doctrine.

1947

On March 21, Congress approves the Twenty-second

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Amendment which limits the president to two fouryear terms in office. The amendment is ratified in 1951. 1947

On April 10, Jackie Robinson breaks the “color barrier” when he signs a contract to play for professional baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers. He is later named “Rookie of the Year” by The Sporting News.

1947

Beginning September 30, the World Series is televised for the first time as fans watch the New York Yankees defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games.

1947

On October 13, the Hollywood Ten, a group of film directors and writers, appears before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC).

1947

On December 3, Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway in New York City.

1948

The Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain opens.

1948

On April 3, Congress approves $6 billion in Marshall Plan aid for rebuilding European countries.

1948

On May 14, the state of Israel is established.

1948

On May 29, the play Oklahoma! closes after a record 2,246 performances.

1948

On June 25, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Joe Walcott for his twenty-fifth title defense and announces his retirement from boxing following the fight.

1948

On September 13, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1948

On November 2, incumbent Harry S. Truman is elected president.

1949

Builder Abraham Levitt and his sons begin construction on a Long Island, New York, suburb called Levittown which will become a symbol for the postwar housing boom.

1949

On February 10, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman opens on Broadway in New York City.

1949

On April 4, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed by the United States and twelve

1949

On September 23, American, British, and Canadian officials reveal that the Soviet Union has successfully detonated an atomic bomb.

1949

On October 1, the Communist People’s Republic of China is proclaimed.

1950

The first Xerox copy machine is produced.

1950

Miss Clairol hair coloring is introduced, making it easy for women to dye their hair at home.

1950

Desegregation continues when Charles Cooper becomes the first black player in the National Basketball Association and Althea Gibson becomes the first black woman to compete in a national tennis tournament.

1950

In March, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art and New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Whitney Museum release a joint statement on modern art opposing “any attempt to make art or opinion about art conform to a single point of view.”

1950

On May 8, President Harry S. Truman sends the first U.S. military mission to Vietnam.

1950

On June 30, U.S. combat troops enter the Korean War.

1950

On October 2, Peanuts, the comic strip written and drawn by Charles Schulz, debuts in seven U.S. newspapers.

1951

The Caine Mutiny, a war novel by Herman Wouk, is published and soon becomes one of the longest lasting best-sellers of all time, holding its place on the New York Times list for 48 weeks.

1951

On April 5, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg receive death sentences for allegedly giving secret information to the Soviet Union.

1951

On June 25, CBS offers the first color television broadcast.

1951

On August 5, the soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life premiere on CBS.

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other mainly European countries to provide for mutual defense.

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1951

On October 15, the sitcom I Love Lucy premieres on CBS.

1951

On November 18, the news program See It Now, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, premieres on CBS.

1952

Gunsmoke debuts as a radio drama. In 1955, the Western drama moves to TV where it lasts until 1975. The show, which starred James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, becomes the longest running prime-time TV show with continuing characters.

1952

In January, American Bandstand, a popular teenoriented music program, debuts as a local show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dick Clark, its most famous host, joins the show in 1956.

1952

On January 14, The Today Show debuts on NBC.

1952

In September, The Old Man and the Sea, a short novel by Ernest Hemingway, is printed in Life magazine, and is the Book-of-the-Month Club’s co-main selection.

1953

On October 5, the New York Yankees become the first team in history to win five consecutive World Series when they defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1952

In November, Bwana Devil, the first 3-D movie, is released.

1952

On November 4, World War II general Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president.

1953

Playboy becomes the first mass-market men’s magazine and rockets to popularity when it publishes nude pictures of rising movie star Marilyn Monroe.

1953

IBM introduces its first computer, the 701.

1953

On January 1, Hank Williams, the father of contemporary country music, dies at age 29 from a heart disease resulting from excessive drinking.

1953

On April 3, the first national edition of TV Guide is published.

1953

On July 27, the Korean War ends.

1953

On September 13, Nikita Khrushchev is named first secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.

In November, an eleven-day photoengravers strike leaves New York City without a daily newspaper for the first time since 1778.

1954

Senator Joseph McCarthy leads hearings into the presence of communists in the U.S. Army; his actions are later condemned by the Senate.

1954

Sports Illustrated becomes the first glossy weekly magazine about sports.

1954

Swanson Foods introduces the first TV dinners.

1954

On April 4, legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his final appearance conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The concert is broadcast on the radio live from New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

1954

On April 4, Walt Disney signs a contract with ABC to produce twenty-six television films each year.

1954

On May 14, the Soviet Union joins with seven Eastern European countries to form the Warsaw Pact, a union of nations pledged to mutual defense.

1954

On May 17, with its Brown v. Board of Education decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ends segregation in public schools.

1954

In July, the Newport Jazz Festival debuts in Newport, Rhode Island.

1954

On July 19, “That’s All Right, Mama” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” the first professional records made by Elvis Presley, are released on Sun Records.

1954

On September 27, The Tonight Show debuts on NBC.

1954

In October and November, Hungary tries to leave the Warsaw Pact but is attacked and reclaimed by the Soviet Union.

1955

Velcro is invented.

1955

The $64,000 Question debuts and soon becomes the most popular game show of the 1950s.

1955

In January, Marian Anderson becomes the first black singer to appear at the Metropolitan Opera.

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1955

On January 19, President Dwight D. Eisenhower holds the first televised presidential news conference.

1955

In March, The Blackboard Jungle, the first feature film to include a rock and roll song on its soundtrack— ”Rock Around the Clock,” by Bill Haley and The Comets—opens. The song becomes the country’s number-one single in July.

1955

On April 12, large-scale vaccinations for polio are administered throughout the United States.

1955

On July 17, the Disneyland amusement park opens in Anaheim, California.

1955

On September 30, actor James Dean dies after his Porsche roadster slams into another car on a California highway.

1955

On October 13, poet Allen Ginsberg gives the first public reading of Howl, his controversial poem-inprogress.

1955

On December 5, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a bus boycott that will become a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

1956

On June 20, Loew’s Inc. releases MGM’s pre-1949 film library—excluding Gone with the Wind (1939)—for television broadcast.

1956

On November 6, President Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected.

1956

On November 30, videotape is first used commercially on television, during the broadcast of CBS’s Douglas Edwards with the News.

1957

On September 26, the landmark musical West Side Story, a modern-day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, opens on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City.

1957

On October 5, the Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik, the first man-made satellite in space.

1958

On August 26, Alaska becomes the forty-ninth state.

On October 2, Leonard Bernstein begins his first season as director of the New York Philharmonic.

1958

On October 16, sponsors drop the NBC quiz show Twenty-One after a grand jury investigation determines that contestants were provided with preshow answers.

1959

On January 2, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba.

1959

On February 3, rock and roll legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. Richardson (known as “The Big Bopper”) die in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa.

1959

On August 21, Hawaii becomes the fiftieth state.

1959

On October 21, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in New York City.

1960

Designer Pierre Cardin introduces his first fashion designs for men.

1960

On January 3, the Moscow State Symphony begins a seven-week tour at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, becoming the first Soviet orchestra to perform in the United States.

1960

On February 11, Jack Paar, host of The Tonight Show, walks off the show when an NBC censor deletes a joke from his performance.

1960

On February 20, black students in Greensboro, North Carolina, stage sit-ins at local lunch counters to protest discrimination.

1960

In April, the New York state legislature authorizes the City of New York to purchase Carnegie Hall, which was scheduled for demolition.

1960

On April 1, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz appear for the last time as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

1960

On May 5, the Soviet Union announces the capture of American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union.

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1960

On September 26, U.S. senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard M. Nixon appear in the first televised presidential debate.

1960

On October 13, jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong begins a goodwill tour of Africa, partially sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

1960

On November 8, U.S. senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts is elected president.

1961

On January 20, Robert Frost reads his poem “The Gift Outright” at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

1961

On January 27, soprano Leontyne Price first performs at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

1961

In April, folk singer Bob Dylan makes his debut at Gerde’s Folk City in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

1961

On April 12, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to orbit the Earth.

1961

During the summer, Freedom Rides across the South are aimed at desegregating interstate bus travel.

1961

On August 15–17, East Germany constructs the Berlin Wall, separating communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin.

1961

On October 1, Roger Maris sets the single-season home run record with 61 homers.

1962

On February 10, Jim Beatty become the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes with a time of 3:58.9.

1962

On May 30, jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman begins a six-week, U.S. State Department–arranged tour of Russia.

1962

On July 10, the Telstar satellite is launched and soon brings live television pictures to American television viewers.

1962

On August 5, actress Marilyn Monroe dies from an overdose of barbiturates.

On September 25, Philharmonic Hall, the first completed building of New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is inaugurated by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

1962

On September 29, My Fair Lady closes on Broadway after 2,717 performances, making it the longestrunning show in history.

1962

In October, the United States and the Soviet Union clash over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

1962

On October 1, James Meredith becomes the first black person to enroll at the University of Mississippi as federal troops battle thousands of protestors.

1963

On January 8, Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, is shown at Washington’s National Gallery, the first time the painting ever has appeared outside the Louvre in Paris, France.

1963

On May 7, the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the first major regional theater in the Midwest, opens.

1963

On November 22, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumes the presidency.

1963

On November 24, the murder of alleged presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is broadcast live on television.

1964

Ford introduces its Mustang, a smaller sporty car.

1964

On February 9, the Beatles make their first appearance on American television, on The Ed Sullivan Show.

1964

On February 25, Cassius Clay (who later changes his name to Muhammad Ali) beats Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

1964

In May, the just-remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City reopens with a new gallery, the Steichen Photography Center, named for photographer Edward Steichen.

1964

On July 2, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the

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Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans racial discrimination in public places and in employment. 1964

On August 7, in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Congress gives President Lyndon B. Johnson the power to use military force to protect U.S. interests in Vietnam.

1964

On November 3, incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson is elected president.

1965

In January, Bob Dylan plays an electric guitar on his new single, “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

1965

On February 21, black leader Malcolm X is murdered in Harlem, New York.

1965

On March 8, the first U.S. combat troops are sent to Vietnam.

1965

On April 26, Symphony No. 4 by Charles Ives is performed in its entirety for the first time by the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

1965

On May 9, piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz returns to the Carnegie Hall stage after a twelve-year “retirement.”

1965

On June 2, in a letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Robert Lowell declines an invitation to attend a White House arts festival, citing his “dismay and distrust” of American foreign policy.

1965

In July, Bob Dylan and his electric guitar are booed off the Newport Folk Festival stage.

1965

On September 29, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Federal Aid to the Arts Bill.

1965

On October 15, demonstrations against the Vietnam War occur in forty U.S. cities.

1965

On December 9, A Charlie Brown Christmas becomes the first Peanuts special to air on TV.

1966

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is established.

1966

On June 8, the National Football League and the American Football League merge.

On July 12, rioting by blacks breaks out in twenty U.S. cities over racial discrimination.

1966

On August 29, the Beatles play their last live concert.

1966

On December 8, philanthropist, horse breeder, and art collector Paul Mellon donates his collection of British rare books, paintings, drawings, and prints, valued at over $35 million, to Yale University.

1967

On January 15, in the first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.

1967

On February 18, the National Gallery of Art arranges to purchase Leonardo da Vinci’s Ginevra dei Benci for between five and six million dollars, the highest price paid to date for a single painting.

1967

In June, the Monterey International Pop Festival, an important early rock music event, is held in California.

1967

On June 20, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing titles after being found guilty of tax evasion.

1967

On July 23, federal troops are called in to put a stop to rioting in Detroit, Michigan. Forty-three people are killed in the rioting, which lasts a week.

1967

On November 9, the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine is published. On the cover is a portrait of the Beatles’s John Lennon.

1967

In December, Universal News, the last of the movie newsreel companies, closes because it is unable to compete with television news.

1968

On January 30, North Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive, escalating the war in Vietnam.

1968

On April 4, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is murdered in Memphis, Tennessee.

1968

On April 19, Hair opens on Broadway, at New York City’s Biltmore Theatre.

1968

On June 5, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is murdered in Los Angeles, California.

1968

On September 16, presidential candidate Richard Nixon appears as a guest on TV’s Rowan and Martin’s

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Laugh-In and delivers one of the show’s signature lines: “Sock it to me.” 1968

On November 1, the Motion Picture Association of America inaugurates its film ratings system.

1968

On November 5, former vice president Richard Nixon is elected president.

1969

Hot pants make their first appearance.

1969

On July 20, U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon when the Apollo XI mission succeeds.

1969

On August 15–17, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair is held on a six-hundred-acre hog farm in upstate New York.

1969

On November 15, a quarter million Vietnam War protestors march in Washington, D.C.

1969

On December 6, a festivalgoer is murdered during the Altamont Rock Festival in California.

1970

Soviet cosmonauts spend seventeen days in space, setting a new record for space longevity.

1970

Across the nation, protests continue over the ongoing Vietnam War.

1970

Rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin die within three weeks of each other, both as a result of drug overdoses.

1970

In March, three women—Elizabeth Bishop, Lillian Hellman, and Joyce Carol Oates—win National Book Awards.

1970

On May 4, National Guard members shoot antiwar protesters at Kent State University in Ohio.

1970

On April 10, the Beatles disband.

1970

On April 30, U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia, which has been sheltering North Vietnamese troops.

1970

On September 6, four airliners bound for New York

1970

On September 19, The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuts on CBS.

1970

On September 21, Monday Night Football debuts on ABC.

1970

On October 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is created to regulate environmental issues.

1971

Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.

1971

Hot pants become a fashion sensation.

1971

On January 2, cigarette advertising is banned from television and radio.

1971

On February 6, British troops are sent to patrol Northern Ireland.

1971

On February 9, the European Economic Community, a precursor to the European Union, is established.

1971

On March 8, Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali to retain the world heavyweight boxing title.

1971

On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that students can be bused to end racial segregation in schools.

1971

In June, the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution lowers the legal voting age to eighteen.

1971

On June 13, the New York Times publishes the “Pentagon Papers” which reveal Defense Department plans for the Vietnam War.

1971

In September, a prison uprising in Attica, New York, ends with forty-three people killed, including ten hostages.

1971

On October 12, the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar opens on Broadway in New York City.

1971

On October 13, baseball teams play in the first night World Series game.

1971

On December 25, “Christmas bombing” occurs in North Vietnam.

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are hijacked by Palestinian terrorists, but no passengers are harmed.

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1972

In a sign of the cooling of Cold War tensions, East and West Germany and North and South Korea each enter into negotiations to normalize relations.

1972

Ms. magazine begins publication.

1972

Pong, the first video game available to play at home, becomes popular, as does the first video game machine, Odyssey, introduced by Magnavox.

1972

On February 14, the musical Grease opens on Broadway in New York City.

1972

On February, 21, President Richard Nixon begins a seven-day visit to Communist China.

1972

On May 22, President Richard Nixon begins a nineday visit to the Soviet Union.

1972

On June 17, the Watergate scandal begins with the arrest of five men caught trying to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The investigation soon reveals deep corruption in the Nixon administration.

1972

On July 24, the United Nations asks the United States to end its bombing of North Vietnam.

1972

On August 12, the last American combat troops leave Vietnam.

1972

On November 8, cable TV channel HBO premieres in Pennsylvania with 365 subscribers.

1973

Three major American cities—Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia; and Detroit, Michigan—elect a black mayor for the first time.

1973

Investigations into the Watergate affair capture the public attention and shatter the Nixon administration.

1973

The Sears Tower, the world’s tallest building, is completed in Chicago, Illinois.

1973

Ralph Lauren designs the costumes for the film The Great Gatsby, helping build his reputation.

1973

Fantasy-adventure game Dungeons and Dragons is created by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax.

The first Internet is set up by the U.S. Department of Defense as a way of connecting all the department’s computers.

1973

On January 14, the Miami Dolphins win the Super Bowl and become the first professional football team to finish a season undefeated.

1973

On October 16, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) declares an embargo (ban) on the export of oil to the United States and other Western countries.

1973

On October 23, the House of Representatives begins impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon.

1974

The Ramones launch the American punk movement with their performances at the New York City club CBGB.

1974

The streaking fad sweeps the country.

1974

President Richard Nixon tours the Middle East and the Soviet Union.

1974

On January 18, Israel and Egypt sign a peace accord that ends their long armed conflict.

1974

On April 8, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth’s lifetime home run record when he hits his 715th career homer.

1974

In May, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted in the 1950s during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist crusades, receives an Oscar award for the 1957 film The Brave One.

1974

On August 8, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign from office amid evidence of a cover-up of the Watergate affair.

1974

On August 9, Vice President Gerald Ford is sworn in as president. Less than a month later, he officially pardons former president Richard Nixon.

1974

On September 8, motorcycle stunt rider Evel Knievel tries to jump a rocket over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho but falls short.

Timeline

1973

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1974

On October 3, Frank Robinson joins the Cleveland Indians as major league baseball’s first black manager.

1974

On October 30, boxer Muhammnad Ali regains his world heavyweight boxing title by defeating George Foreman.

1974

In December, unemployment hits 6.5 percent amid a prolonged economic slump, and rises to 8.9 percent by May 1975.

1975

The video cassette recorder (VCR) is invented by Sony Corporation in Japan.

1975

The first personal computer, the Altair 8800, is sold in a kit form.

1975

The cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show is released.

1975

Skateboarding becomes popular, and mood rings and pet rocks are popular fads.

1975

Rock star Bruce Springsteen appears on the cover of both Time and Newsweek thanks to his popular album Born to Run.

1975

The Soviet Union and the United States cooperate in the manned Apollo-Soyuz space mission.

1975

On January 5, the all-black musical The Wiz opens on Broadway in New York City. It eventually tallies 1,672 performances.

1975

On April 30, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, is invaded by the communist North Vietnamese, ending the Vietnam War.

1975

On October 1, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raises crude oil prices by 10 percent.

1975

On October 11, Saturday Night Live debuts on NBC.

1976

The first personal computer, the Apple, is developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The Apple II, introduced a year later, offers color graphics.

1976

Model and actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors sets a trend

1976

On July 4, the United States celebrates its bicentennial.

1976

On November 2, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter is elected president.

1976

On November 6, Gone with the Wind is broadcast on TV for the first time.

1977

The film Saturday Night Fever helps make disco music popular.

1977

Studio 54 becomes New York City’s hottest nightclub featuring disco music.

1977

Egyptian artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamen, or King Tut, draw huge audiences across the nation.

1977

Alex Haley’s book Roots becomes a best-seller after the airing of the TV miniseries based on the book.

1977

On January 21, President Jimmy Carter signs an unconditional pardon for most Vietnam-era draft evaders.

1977

On February 8, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt is convicted of obscenity.

1977

In April, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) makes its debut.

1977

On August 16, Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, dies at Graceland, his Memphis, Tennessee, mansion.

1978

The Walkman personal cassette player is introduced by Sony.

1978

On July 25, the first human test-tube baby is born in England.

1978

On September 17, U.S. president Jimmy Carter hosts negotiations between Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat at Camp David, Maryland.

1978

On October 13, punk rock musician Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols is arrested for the stabbing death of his girlfriend.

Timeline

with her feathered haircut and appears on millions of posters in her tiny red bathing suit.

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1978

On November 18, Jim Jones and over nine hundred followers of his People’s Temple cult are found dead after a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

1978

On December 5, the Soviet Union and Afghanistan sign a treaty of friendship, and within a year U.S. support for the Afghan government disappears.

1979

Eleven people are trampled to death at a Who concert in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1979

Jerry Falwell organizes the Moral Majority to lobby politicians regarding the concerns of Christian fundamentalists.

1979

On January 1, the United States and the People’s Republic of China establish formal diplomatic relations.

1979

On March 28, a major accident in the nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, raises concerns about nuclear power.

1979

On November 4, Iranian militants seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, and take fifty-two hostages, whom they will hold for nearly a year.

1979

On December 27, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, beginning more than two decades of war and disruption in that country.

1980

Post-it notes are created by 3M chemist Arthur Fry.

1980

On February 22, the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team wins the gold medal, sparking national celebration.

1980

On April 12, the United States votes to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet presence in Afghanistan.

1980

On April 21, the Mariel boatlift begins, bringing 125,000 refugees from Cuba to Florida before being halted in September.

1980

In June, the CNN cable TV network debuts.

1980

On August 19, a report issued by the Los Angeles Times indicates that 40 to 75 percent of NBA players use cocaine.

On November 4, former California governor Ronald Reagan is elected president.

1980

On November 21, the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode of Dallas draws the largest television audience of all time.

1980

On September 4, Iraq begins an eight-year war with Iran.

1980

On October 2, in his last fight, heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali is defeated by World Boxing Council champion Larry Holmes.

1980

On December 8, former Beatles musician John Lennon is shot and killed in New York City.

1981

Nintendo’s “Donkey Kong” is the most popular coinoperated video game.

1981

NASA launches and lands the first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle.

1981

On January 13, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) votes to sponsor women’s championships in twelve sports after the 1981–82 season.

1981

On January 20, American hostages held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, are released on the day of President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

1981

On January 23, the United States withdraws support for the Marxist government of Nicaragua and begins to support antigovernment rebels known as Contras.

1981

On March 26, comedian Carol Burnett wins a $1.6 million libel lawsuit against the tabloid National Enquirer.

1981

On July 29, Great Britain’s Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer in an event televised around the world.

1981

On August 1, the Music Television Network (MTV) starts offering music videos that soon become as important as the actual music.

1981

On September 21, Sandra Day O’Connor is confirmed as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Timeline

1980

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1982

The compact disc is introduced.

1982

The popular movie E.T.: The Extra–Terrestrial sets box office records.

1982

Michael Jackson’s album Thriller is the year’s most popular recording.

1982

Americans frustrate themselves trying to solve Rubik’s Cube, a popular puzzle.

1982

On April 2, Argentina invades the Falkland Islands off its coast, sparking a short war with Great Britain, which claims the islands.

1982

On June 7, Graceland, the late Elvis Presley’s Memphis, Tennessee, home, is opened as a tourist attraction.

1982

On July 27, AIDS is officially named.

1982

On September 15, USA Today becomes the first national newspaper.

1982

On October 7, Cats opens on Broadway in New York City and will become the decade’s most popular musical.

1983

First lady Nancy Reagan announces a “War on Drugs.”

1983

Sally Ride becomes the first woman astronaut in space when she joins the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.

1983

Actor Paul Newman introduces his own line of spaghetti sauces to be sold in grocery stores; he uses the proceeds to benefit charities.

1983

On February 28, the farewell episode of the sitcom M*A*S*H is seen by 125 million viewers.

1983

On March 23, President Ronald Reagan proposes a space–based antimissile defense system that is popularly known as “Star Wars.”

1983

On April 18, terrorists bomb the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing sixty-three.

1983

On September 1, the Soviet Union shoots down a

1983

On October 25, three thousand U.S. soldiers invade the Caribbean island nation of Grenada to crush a Marxist uprising.

1983

In November, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, with their soft faces and adoption certificates, become the most popular new doll of the Christmas season.

1984

Trivial Pursuit becomes the nation’s most popular board game.

1984

The Cosby Show debuts on NBC.

1984

Rap group Run–DMC is the first rap group to have a gold album.

1984

Apple introduces a new personal computer, the Macintosh, with a dramatic advertising campaign.

1984

On November 6, Ronald Reagan is reelected president.

1984

On December 3, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, leaks poison gas that kills two thousand and injures two hundred thousand.

1985

Nintendo Entertainment System, a home video game system that has brilliant colors, realistic sound effects, and quick action, is introduced to the United States.

1985

On March 16, U.S. journalist Terry Anderson is kidnapped in Lebanon; he will be held until December 4, 1991.

1985

In April, Coca–Cola changes the formula of its popular soft drink and the public reacts with anger and dismay, prompting the company to reissue the old formula as Classic Coke.

1985

On July 13, British rock star Bob Geldof organizes Live Aid, a charity concert and album to aid the victims of African famine.

1985

On October 2, the death of handsome movie star Rock Hudson from AIDS raises awareness about the disease.

Timeline

Korean Air Lines flight that has strayed into its airspace, killing 269.

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1986

Country singer Dolly Parton opens a theme park in Tennessee called Dollywood.

1986

On January 28, the space shuttle Challenger explodes upon liftoff, killing all astronauts and one teacher who were aboard.

1986

On February 26, Robert Penn Warren is named the first poet laureate of the United States.

1986

On April 26, a serious meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev, Ukraine, releases a radioactive cloud into the atmosphere and is considered a major disaster.

1986

On May 1, in South Africa, 1.5 million blacks protest apartheid (the policy of racial segregation). Around the world, foreign governments place sanctions on South Africa.

1986

On June 10, Nancy Lieberman becomes the first woman to play in a men’s professional basketball league when she joins the United States Basketball League.

1986

On July 15, the United States sends troops to Bolivia to fight against drug traffickers.

1986

On July 27, Greg LeMond becomes the first American to win France’s prestigious Tour de France bicycle race.

1986

In October, it is discovered that members of the Reagan administration have been trading arms for hostages in Iran and illegally channeling funds to Contras in Nicaragua. This Iran–Contra scandal will eventually be investigated by Congress.

1986

On November 22, twenty–one–year–old Mike Tyson becomes the youngest heavyweight boxing champion when he defeats World Boxing Council champ Trevor Berbick.

1987

On March 19, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns after it is revealed that he has been having an adulterous affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn.

1987

On June 25, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev announces perestroika, a program of sweeping economic reforms aimed at improving the Soviet economy.

On October 3, Canada and the United States sign a free–trade agreement.

1987

On October 17, the stock market experiences its worst crash in history when it drops 508 points.

1987

On November 11, Vincent van Gogh’s painting Irises is sold for $53.9 million.

1988

McDonald’s opens twenty restaurants in Moscow, Russia.

1988

Singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.

1988

On February 5, former Panamanian dictator General Manuel Noriega is charged in a U.S. court with accepting bribes from drug traffickers.

1988

On February 14, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran calls author Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses offensive and issues a death sentence on him. The author goes into hiding.

1988

On April 14, Soviet forces withdraw from Afghanistan after ten years of fighting in that country.

1988

On July 3, believing it is under attack, a U.S. warship shoots down an Iran Air passenger liner, killing 290 passengers.

1988

On November 8, Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush is elected president.

1988

On December 21, Pan Am Flight 747 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 on the flight and 11 on the ground. Middle Eastern terrorists are eventually charged with the crime.

1989

On March 24, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Alaska, spilling 240,000 barrels of oil and creating an environmental disaster.

1989

In May, more than one million Chinese demonstrate for democracy in Beijing.

1989

In June, Chinese troops crack down on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, drawing attention to the repressive government.

Timeline

1987

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1989

On August 9, Colin R. Powell becomes the United States’s first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

1989

On August 23, the Soviet states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia demand autonomy from the Soviet Union. Later, across the former Soviet dominated region, Soviet republics and satellite countries throw off communist control and pursue independence.

1989

On August 24, former baseball star Pete Rose is banned from baseball for life because it is believed that he bet on games in which he was involved.

1989

On October 15, Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings becomes the National Hockey League’s all–time leading scorer with his 1,850th point.

1989

On October 17, a major earthquake hits the San Francisco, California, area.

1989

On December 16, American troops invade Panama and seize dictator General Manuel Noriega. Noriega will later be convicted in U.S. courts.

1989

On December 22, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is officially opened, allowing people from East and West Berlin to mix freely and signaling the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany.

1990

The animated sitcom The Simpsons debuts on the FOX network.

1990

Ken Burns’s documentary The Civil War airs on PBS.

1990

British scientist Tim Berners–Lee invents the World Wide Web.

1990

On April 25, the Hubble Space Telescope is deployed in space from the space shuttle Discovery.

1990

On July 26, President George Herbert Walker Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, which provides broad protections for those with disabilities.

1990

On August 2, Iraq invades Kuwait, prompting the United States to wage war on Iraq from bases in Saudi Arabia. Much of this conflict, called the Persian Gulf War, is aired live on television and makes CNN famous for its coverage.

On October 3, East and West Germany are reunited.

1991

Mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer is charged with killing fifteen young men and boys near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1991

On March 3, U.S. general Norman Schwarzkopf announces the end of the Persian Gulf War.

1991

In October, confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee Clarence Thomas are carried live on television, and feature Anita Hill’s dramatic accusations of sexual harassment. Despite the charges, Thomas is confirmed.

1991

On November 7, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announces that he has contracted the HIV virus.

1991

On December 8, leaders of Russia and several other former Soviet states announce the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1992

On April 29, riots erupt in Los Angeles, California, following the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King. The brutal beating had been filmed and shown widely on television.

1992

On May 21, Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown for not promoting family values after the main character has a child out of wedlock.

1992

In August, the Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping mall, opens in Bloomington, Minnesota.

1992

On August 24, Hurricane Andrew hits Florida and the Gulf Coast, causing a total of over $15 billion in damage.

1992

On October 24, the Toronto Blue Jays become the first non–U.S. team to win baseball’s World Series.

1992

On November 3, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton is elected president, defeating incumbent George Herbert Walker Bush and strong third party candidate H. Ross Perot.

Timeline

1990

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1992

On December 17, the United States, Canada, and Mexico sign the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

1993

Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian is arrested in Michigan for assisting in the suicide of a terminally ill patient, his nineteenth such action.

1993

On February 26, six people are killed when terrorists plant a bomb in New York City’s World Trade Center.

1993

On April 19, more than eighty members of a religious cult called the Branch Davidians are killed in a mass suicide as leaders set fire to their compound following a fifty-one-day siege by federal forces.

1993

In July and August, the Flood of the Century devastates the American Midwest, killing 48.

1994

Tiger Woods becomes the youngest person and the first black to win the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship.

1994

Special prosecutor Ken Starr is appointed to investigate President Bill Clinton’s involvement in a financial scandal known as Whitewater. The investigation will ultimately cover several scandals and lead to impeachment proceedings against the president.

1994

In January, ice skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by associates of her rival, Tonya Harding, at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Detroit, Michigan.

1994

On May 2, Nelson Mandela is elected president of South Africa. The black activist had been jailed for decades under the old apartheid regime and became the country’s first black president.

1994

On August 11, major league baseball players go on strike, forcing the cancellation of the playoffs and World Series.

1994

On November 5, forty-five-year-old boxer George Foreman becomes the oldest heavyweight champion when he defeats Michael Moorer.

1995

On April 19, a car bomb explodes outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people. Following a manhunt,

1995

On September 1, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio.

1995

On September 6, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles breaks the long-standing record for most consecutive baseball games played with 2,131. The total reaches 2,632 games before Ripken removes himself from the lineup in 1998.

1995

On October 3, former football star O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in what many called the “trial of the century.”

1996

Three years after the introduction of H. Ty Warners’s Beanie Babies, the first eleven toy styles are retired and quickly become collector’s items.

1996

On September 26, American astronaut Shannon Lucid returns to Earth after spending 188 days in space—a record for any astronaut.

1996

On November 5, Bill Clinton is reelected to the presidency.

1997

Researchers in Scotland successfully clone an adult sheep, named Dolly.

1997

The Hale-Bopp comet provides a nightly show as it passes by the Earth.

1997

Actress Ellen DeGeneres becomes the first openly gay lead character in her ABC sitcom Ellen.

1997

On January 23, Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman sworn in as U.S. secretary of state.

1997

On March 27, thirty-nine members of the Heavens Gate religious cult are found dead in their California compound.

1997

On April 13, Tiger Woods becomes the youngest person and the first black to win a major golf tournament when he wins the Masters with the lowest score ever.

1997

On June 19, the play Cats sets a record for the longestrunning Broadway play with its 6,138th performance.

Timeline

antigovernment zealot Timothy McVeigh is captured, and later is convicted and executed for the crime.

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1997

On June 20, four major tobacco companies settle a lawsuit with states that will cost companies nearly $400 billion.

1997

On June 28, boxer Mike Tyson is disqualified when he bites the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield during a heavyweight title fight.

1997

On July 5, the Pathfinder spacecraft lands on Mars and sends back images and rock analyses.

1997

On August 31, Britain’s Princess Diana is killed in an auto accident in Paris, France.

1998

Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals sets a singleseason home run record with 70 home runs.

1998

The final episode of the popular sitcom Seinfeld is watched by an estimated audience of seventy-six million.

1998

On January 22, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski is convicted for a series of mail bombings and sentenced to life in prison.

1998

On March 24, the movie Titanic wins eleven Academy Awards, tying the record set by Ben-Hur in 1959.

1998

On April 10, a new drug for male impotence known as Viagra hits the market and is a popular sensation.

1998

On August 7, terrorists explode bombs outside the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

1998

In November, Jesse “The Body” Ventura—a former professional wrestler—is elected governor of Minnesota.

1998

On December 19, the House of Representatives initiates impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, but the U.S. Senate acquits Clinton on two charges in early 1999.

1999

The U.S. women’s soccer team wins the World Cup by defeating China.

1999

On March 24, NATO launches a bombing campaign against Serbia to stop its actions in Kosovo.

On March 29, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 10,000 for the first time in history thanks to a booming stock market dominated by high-tech companies.

1999

On April 20, in Littleton, Colorado, two students go on a vicious shooting spree, killing themselves and twelve other students.

1999

On September 24, IKONOS, the world’s first commercial, high-resolution imaging satellite, is launched into space; it can detect an object on Earth as small as a card table.

Timeline

1999

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Article Title

1900s The Birth of the American Century The United States entered the twentieth century during a period of sweeping change. In fact, change and transformation were the norm in the first decade of what has since become known as the “American Century.” The United States came to be the leading economic and military power in the world. American democracy became the model for political reform in countries around the world. American publishers, musicians, artists, film makers, and performers of all sorts participated in an outpouring of work that made American popular culture the popular culture of much of the Western world. The social and economic changes that were sweeping the country were striking. Although it had once been a nation of small towns, rapid changes in living styles led to the concentration of more and more Americans into cities; by 1910, fully 54 percent of the population lived in urban areas. The ethnic makeup of America was changing dramatically as well, as some 8,795,386 immigrants arrived in the United States between 1901 and 1910. This surge in immigration made up a large portion of the 21-percent population growth that occurred in the decade, pushing the country’s population from 75,994,575 to 91,972,266. Many of these new immigrants lived in the major urban centers, where they worked in the giant factories that were beginning to dominate American industry. The United States had

1

1900s At a Glance

that people often joked that it was one of the two books rural people ever read!

What We Said: As Tom Dalzell, author of Flappers 2 Rappers: American Youth Slang, points out, slang did not become an important element of American speech until the 1920s. Slang, it should be remembered, is language that attains special meaning because of its use by a subgroup of the larger society. It was not until the rise of the youth, music, and racial subcultures in the 1920s that slang truly rose to its present importance as an element of popular culture. However, three of the more popular terms of the decade were: “23 Skidoo!”: The most popular expression of the decade, this phrase could be used to mean almost anything, though it was generally used to express approval. Babe: A pretty girl. “Good to the last drop” (1907): This enduring advertising slogan for Maxwell House Coffee was rumored to have been invented by President Theodore Roosevelt, who remarked that his cup of coffee he had just drank was “good to the last drop.” What We Read: Sears, Roebuck catalog: Also known as the “Wish Book,” this department store catalog was popular reading in many households. Started in 1891, the catalog was so popular at the turn of the century

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Comic strips: The “funnies” became a daily part of many newspapers after the New York Journal published the first eight-page comics section on October 18, 1896. Dime novels: These inexpensive books were tremendously popular. George Patten wrote the adventures of Frank Merriwell for Tip Top Weekly. Starting in 1896, Patten’s new stories reached about 125 million readers each week. The Jungle (1906): Upton Sinclair wrote this damning account of the dangerous conditions in the meat packing industry. The nation responded to his discovery by pushing for new laws for food and drug handling and the sales of meat dropped by half. Ladies’ Home Journal and Collier’s Weekly: These two popular magazines wrote to inform and entertain women. Ladies’ Home Journal often included romantic stories. What We Watched: For the most part, people during this decade entertained themselves at public and private gathering places such as saloons, sporting clubs, private clubs, churches, and barbershops. Traveling entertainment: Acts that visited towns throughout the country included vaudeville and minstrel shows. During the decade, there were more than four hundred touring companies in the country. Almost every town had a vaudeville theater.

once been dominated by small businesses, but a wave of mergers (the combining of businesses) contributed to the growth of what was becoming known as “big business”—the domination of the American economy by huge companies that had branches throughout the nation. The Ford Motor Company (cars), the Standard Oil Company (oil), the United States Steel Corporation (steel), the J. C. Penney Company (retail), and the Philip Morris Corporation (tobacco) were among the largest.

1900s At a Glance (continued) Circuses: Many circus companies toured the country, with the Ringling Bros. Circus and Barnum & Bailey Circus each trying to be the “greatest”. Some were supported by ninety railcars full of animals, entertainers, and props. Sporting events: Crowds in cities across the country gathered to watch their favorite games. The first game of the first World Series was held on October 4, 1903, and drew a crowd of twenty-five thousand fans in Boston. The American League’s Boston Pilgrims beat Pittsburgh’s National League Pirates to win the series on October 14. The Great Train Robbery (1903): This flick was the first movie to provide true suspenseful drama. Five years after its release, there were ten thousand nickelodeons in towns across the nations, ready to offer moviegoers the latest entertainment. World’s Fair: The World’s Fair of 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, drew record crowds. Olympics: The third Olympics Games were held in 1904 to accompany the World’s Fair. Air meets: Once Wilbur and Orville Wright proved that men could fly in 1908, many people tried to build their own flying machines in their backyards. Air meets, where daredevils would gather to show off their lasted inventions, were especially popular spectacles during the decade. What We Listened To: “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1904): This hit song was inspired by the World’s Fair of 1904 that was held

in St. Louis. The fair attracted more than twenty million visitors. “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (1905): This song by Vincent Bryan and Gus Edwards boasted pride in the decade’s new technology. “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (1906): This song by George M. Cohan highlighted patriotism. Who We Knew: Henry Ford (1863–1947): Soon after the establishment of the Ford Motor Company in 1903, Henry Ford and his affordable cars became wildly popular with Americans. By the middle of the next decade, Ford would make half of all the cars in the country. Immigrants: In 1907 alone, 1.2 million immigrants landed at Ellis Island, near the island of Manhattan, New York. By 1910, one of every seven Americans was an immigrant. Jack Johnson (1878–1948): In 1908, Jack Johnson became the first black to win the heavyweight boxing champion title. Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919): Upon the assassination of President William McKinley in 1900, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became president. His dynamism and charisma defined the age. He guided the country during the building of the Panama Canal and won the Nobel Peace Prize, among other noted accomplishments. The Wright Brothers (Wilbur, 1867–1912; Orville, 1871–1948): Aviation pioneers, the Wright brothers are credited with the first motor-powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.

Leading America during this time of change was its youngest president in history, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1858–1919). Speaking about America’s role in the world, Roosevelt once told an older opponent: “You and your generation have had your chance. . . . Now let us of this generation have ours!” When elected president William McKinley (1843–1901) was assassinated in 1901, Vice President Roosevelt assumed the presidency. He led the country though an era of political and economic

1900s overview

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The Birth of the American Century

reform known as the “Progressive Era.” Progressive reformers tried to tame the growth of big business and sprawling cities by passing laws and creating government organizations to regulate areas of American life; many of those laws and organizations remain intact today. In this decade, the United States also created a more powerful military. The United States began to exert its power overseas, extending its influence in the Caribbean and Latin America and protecting its interests in China and the Far East. In this era of political, economic, and population change, American popular culture was going through a period of transformation as well. In the nineteenth century, limited transportation and communication networks kept forms of popular entertainment from being spread throughout the country. Newspapers, magazines, and theater were mostly local, not national. But that began to change in the 1890s, when magazine publishers used new technologies to print and distribute hundreds of thousands—and then millions—of their magazines to people across the country. These magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Argosy, contained a growing number of advertisements for products that were available everywhere, like Kellogg’s cereals and Coca-Cola. Syndication—the placing of a single article or comic strip in many independent newspapers— brought comic strips such as Mutt & Jeff and The Katzenjammer Kids into homes across the country. The Sears, Roebuck and Company also took advantage of printing advances to send catalogs offering its goods to people all over the land. Older forms of entertainment still thrived in America. Buffalo Bill Cody (1846–1917) and his Wild West Show, a sensation in the nineteenth century, toured America. Smaller circuses visited towns big and small. But a new media began to take hold in the 1900s: film. The groundbreaking silent film The Great Train Robbery (1903) thrilled audiences with its realistic portrayal of a train robbery and helped drive the growth of nickelodeons, storefront theaters that showed the latest short silent films. For as little as a nickel, Americans could see the latest films from the nation’s growing movie studios.

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Advances in technology and innovation changed American popular culture, but widespread racism kept African Americans from joining in the growth of cultural activity. In fact, one popular form of entertainment—the minstrel show—was based on negative stereotypes of African Americans. The national forms of popular culture—magazines, advertising, films, sports, and

The advances of the decade—and the century—allowed Americans to share a truly national popular culture in ways they never had before. They could read the same magazines and novels, go to the same movies, and buy the same brands of food, toys, and cars. In the 1900s, Americans drank out of Dixie cups, drove a Ford Model T, ate in local diners, read National Geographic, took pictures with their new Brownie cameras, and drank Coke. American kids ate Kellogg’s cereals for breakfast, played baseball with a Louisville Slugger bat, chewed gum and ate Cracker Jack popcorn, and went to bed at night with a companion named after their popular president, the teddy bear. This sharing of a common culture was just beginning. In the coming decades of the century, American culture would be further influenced by the movies, radio programs, TV shows, and other forms of entertainment that would provide enjoyment to people living in all regions of the country.

The Birth of the American Century

book publishing—mostly excluded African Americans. There were, however, some notable exceptions. Black boxer Jack Johnson (1878–1946) gained national fame when he beat a white boxer to gain the heavyweight championship; the ragtime tunes of African American composer Scott Joplin (1868–1917) were some of the most popular sheet music of the decade; and in towns across the South, Negro baseball leagues began to produce players every bit as talented as those in white baseball leagues, from which black players were excluded. It would be years, however, before African Americans were welcome participants in American popular culture.

1900s overview

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1900s Commerce In the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, the American economy had been wracked by a series of economic depressions. By the dawn of the twentieth century, business was booming. In most American industries, business owners were learning the lesson of the day: Bigger is better. When the United States Steel Corporation was incorporated at a value of $1 billion in 1901, it became the world’s largest corporation. Other companies followed the lead of U.S. Steel in buying up or merging with competitors to give themselves the advantage of size. Many of the companies in existence at the beginning of the twenty-first century were founded in the 1900s, including the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (1901), the Quaker Oats Company (1901), the J. C. Penney Company (1902), the Pepsi-Cola Company (1902), Texaco (1903), the Ford Motor Company (1903), the Harley-Davidson Motor Company (1907), the Hershey Chocolate Company (1908), and the General Motors Company (1908). These large companies employed a growing number of professional managers, a new occupation whose practitioners tried to bring logic and order to the huge operations they managed. New management techniques included building elaborate assembly lines, using machines to speed up production times, and encouraging worker efficiency. Although the rise of big business increased economic activity in the nation, many worried that these large companies were becoming too powerful. Politicians used laws such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 to limit the power of large corporations to control the marketplace. In fact, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) gained a reputation as a “trustbuster” for his efforts to break the power of large trusts. (A trust is a combination of companies that work together to reduce competition in an industry.) Congress also passed laws to regulate business practices in the areas of transportation, consumer protection, and banking. Labor unions also stepped up their efforts to protect the rights of workers, whom union leaders said were threatened by the growth of big companies. Unions staged many strikes against American businesses, including the famous Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902, which nearly crippled American business.

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Aunt Jemima

Though most Americans learned about the changing economic climate of the day through their newspapers, they also began to experience those changes directly as they purchased and used a variety of new products. The single most notable product to emerge from this decade was the Model T automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company beginning in 1908. The self-propelled vehicle known as the car was still in its infancy when Henry Ford (1863–1947) used his assembly line process to make a car that was affordable to more Americans than ever before. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company began to manufacture its motorcycles in this decade as well, and both Ford and Harley-Davidson continue production into the twenty-first century. Though few consumers knew of it, two brothers named Wilbur (1867–1912) and Orville (1871–1948) Wright invented a product in 1903 that would revolutionize travel in the years to come: the airplane. A range of other products that would have a lasting impact were also introduced in this decade. The Brownie camera, made by Kodak, allowed common people to create their own photographs. The popular stereograph allowed them to view threedimensional (3-D) images from around the world. Both products changed the way people saw the world. The way that people bought things also changed. The dime store, and especially dime store giant Woolworth’s, brought a version of the department store to lower-income Americans, providing a variety of low-cost goods. Sears, Roebuck used its famous catalog to offer Americans in even the most distant locations access to the growing array of consumer goods. By 1908, the company mailed out 3.6 million copies of a catalog offering ten thousand different items, from guns to pianos to, eventually, houses made from a kit.

Aunt Jemima

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Aunt Jemima is best known as a brand of pancake mixes and syrups sold by the Quaker Oats Company since 1889. The image of Aunt Jemima has been controversial for over a hundred years. Based on the pre–Civil War (1861–65) stereotype of the fat, jolly, no-nonsense black “mammy,” the character of Aunt Jemima was first introduced in minstrel shows (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) in the late 1800s.

Quaker Oats is thought to have chosen the image of Aunt Jemima to promote the very first packaged pancake mix because the image of the kind and funny black mammy was comforting and safe to many white consumers. From the beginning, many African Americans found the image of the fat, smiling Aunt Jemima with a bandanna on her head to be an insulting glorification of slavery. Some fought to eliminate what they viewed as an offensive trademark. In response, Quaker Oats gave Aunt Jemima a makeover in the 1990s by removing the bandanna and making her fashionably thin. The company also hired famous black spokespeople like singer Gladys Knight (1944–) to advertise its products. —Tina Gianoulis

The image of Aunt Jemima as a stereotypical black “mammy,” viewed by many as offensive, was used to advertise pancake mixes and syrups for over one hundred years before being made-over in the 1990s. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, & Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, & Tomorrow. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. Manring, M. M. Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1998. Patton, Phil. “Mammy: Her Life and Times.” American Heritage (Vol. 44, no. 5, September 1993): pp. 78–86. Quaker Oats Company. Aunt Jemima. http://www.auntjemima.com (accessed December 12, 2001).

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Brownie Cameras Easy to use and affordable, Kodak’s Brownie camera made photography available to everyone. Here, the man on the left holds the new Brownie camera, circa 1900. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Brownie Cameras In the 1800s, before the Brownie camera, photography was a difficult and often expensive process. This process made it hard for ordinary people to take pictures. When the Eastman Kodak Company introduced its new Brownie cameras in February of 1900, photography became available to everyone, including children. In fact, the Brownie was designed and marketed especially for kids.

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The Brownie camera was very easy to use. It was a simple box with an opening in the front for light to reach the film, a small viewing screen on top, and a switch to expose the film. The film came on easy-to-load rolls. Kodak named the Brownie camera after popular characters created by Palmer Cox (1840–1924), a children’s book author and illustrator, in the late 1800s. Using Cox’s characters, Kodak marketed the camera in popular magazines where children would see them. Kodak encouraged kids to enter picture contests and join Brownie clubs. Brownie cameras were an instant success. They cost only

The Brownie cameras were such a success because now everyone could take pictures. People could make photo albums of family pictures that captured parents, friends, relatives, and images of daily life. These photos helped preserve cherished memories for generations of people. In a story told on the Kodak Web site, one man remembered, “During a recent family reunion, my aunt shared many of the pictures she had taken with that [Brownie] camera over the years. Those pictures brought back many cherished memories of all the good times that have passed. As she went through the pictures, my aunt told me a story about each one. I heard how my Uncle Tommy won a photo contest at the boys club back in the fifties using that camera.” In bringing photography to everyone because of its affordability and ease of use, the Brownie camera became a cherished part of American family life.

Dime Stores

one dollar, plus fifteen cents for film. Approximately 150,000 cameras shipped the first year, triple the previous sales record. Kodak produced the Brownie for 70 years, eventually offering 125 different Brownie models. Brownies were usually brown or black, but some models were bright colors. Some Brownies had flash bulb attachments for taking pictures in dim light.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information Auer, Michel. The Illustrated History of the Camera, from 1839 to the Present. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975. “The Brownie Camera @ 100: A Celebration.” Kodak.com. http://www. kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/brownieCam/index.shtml (accessed December 13, 2001). Collins, Douglas. The Story of Kodak. New York: Harry Abrams, 1990.

Dime Stores The five-and-ten-cent store, also called the five-and-dime, was one of the most popular institutions in the United States from the late 1880s to the middle of the twentieth century. The dime store was more than a place where shoppers met to find a bargain and sip a limeade at the lunch counter. It also sparked a revolutionary change in American shopping habits and was the direct ancestor of the modern discount store. Dime stores

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Woolworth’s stores were a familiar sight in cities across the United States during most of the twentieth century. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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have figured in films, such as Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), and in popular music, as in the 1920s song by Billy Rose (1899–1966) and Fred Fisher (1875–1942), “I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store).” Although they have disappeared from American streets, the five-and-dime still has a firm place in American popular culture. The father of the dime store was Frank Winfield Woolworth (1852–1919). As a youth, Woolworth did not enjoy working on his family’s farm in upstate New York, so he eagerly accepted a job as a sales clerk at the local store, Moore and Smith. At that time, stores kept all their goods behind the counter with no prices marked. Customers had to ask a sales clerk for what they wanted and try to negotiate with the clerk if they could not afford the stated price. Woolworth, who had heard of a new sales technique, placed a variety of items on a counter marked “Everything Five Cents.” When that proved successful, he got the idea of opening an entire store selling items for five cents. His employers agreed that his idea was an interest-

On February 22, 1879, F. W. Woolworth opened his first fivecent store in Utica, New York. On November 6, 1880, he raised the top price to a dime and opened the first five- and ten-cent store in Pennsylvania. The stores were popular among working people who needed to shop economically. By 1907, Woolworth had twenty-three stores nationwide, serving around a million customers a day. That year, the first Woolworth’s lunch counter opened, serving inexpensive meals in an informal setting. By 1930, there were 2,247 Woolworth’s around the world along with many successful imitators, including Grant’s, Kresge’s, Murphy’s, and McCrory’s. In 1932, the ten-cent top price was dropped and dime stores became simply bargain stores.

Dime Stores

ing one and loaned him $315.41 to buy the inventory for his new store.

Woolworth’s gained an immortal place in the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) in 1960 when four black college students sat down at a racially segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their action led to a statewide boycott of Woolworth’s and eventually to civil rights reforms across the South. The Greensboro lunch counter was bought as an historical artifact by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. By the 1980s, many dime stores had become shabby relics of the past. They were replaced on city streets by small “dollar stores” and in malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) and suburban locations by huge modern discount stores like Wal-Mart (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4). In 1998, the last Woolworth’s closed its doors, although the Woolworth Corporation still exists. The corporation owns the Footlocker and Kenny shoe-store chains. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Brough, James. The Woolworths. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982. Glassner, Lester. Dime-Store Days. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. Gustaitis, Joseph. “The Nickel and Dime Empire.” American History (Vol. 33, no. 1, March 1998): pp. 40–48. Hubbell, Sue. “You Can Still Get It at the ‘Dime Store,’ But Not for a Dime.” Smithsonian (June 1994): pp. 104–12. Plunkett-Powell, Karen. Remembering Woolworth’s: A Nostalgic History of the World’s Most Famous Five-and-Dime. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Wolff, Miles. Lunch at the 5 & 10. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1990.

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Dixie Cups

Dixie Cups The paper cup emerged in the early twentieth century as part of the battle to fight the spread of disease. Before the invention of the paper cup, individuals would often use a common drinking cup placed next to a sink in a school, in a courthouse, or on a train. Legend has it that Kansas doctor Samuel Crumbine (1862–1954) saw a girl with tuberculosis (a contagious disease affecting the lungs) drinking from such a cup and called for the invention of disposable drinking cups. The first such cup was invented in 1904. The disposable drinking cup was perfected in 1908 by Lawrence Luellen, who marketed the “Luellen Cup & Water Vendor,” which sold a cup of cold water for a penny. Luellen’s breakthrough invention fused two pieces of paper together with wax, which kept the water from ruining the paper. His water-vending units, soon sold in public places around the United States, were widely hailed for reducing or halting the spread of disease. Luellen’s invention was marketed most famously beginning in 1912 by the Health Kup Company, which changed its product name to the Dixie cup in 1919. Like Kleenex and the Xerox copier (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4), the Dixie brand name soon came to stand for the product itself. Dixie advertised and marketed its name widely. Although owned by different corporations through the twentieth century, Dixie was consistently the leading brand of paper cups. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information King, Norman. “Dixie Cup.” The Almanac of Fascinating Beginnings. New York: Citadel Press, 1994. Lafayette College Libraries. “Dixie Cup Company History.” Hugh Moore Dixie Cup Company Collection, 1905–1986. [Online] http://ww2. lafayette.edu/~library/special/dixie/company.html (accessed January 2, 2002).

Fuller Brush Company

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Founded in 1906 by Alfred C. Fuller (1885–1973), the Fuller Brush Company has for many years been one of the world’s most successful direct marketing companies, employing a large

Fuller Brush Company

sales force that in the twentieth century sold brushes, brooms, and other household products door to door. Just as the Avon Lady sold cosmetics by ringing doorbells, the “Fuller Brush Man” offered an array of more practical merchandise during an era when most women were at home during the daytime. Despite having doors slammed in his face by customers who resented being interrupted, the Fuller Brush Man gained a reputation for persistence and ingenuity in making his sales pitches. Comic strips and skits often satirized an aggressive Fuller Brush Man sticking his foot in a customer’s door in a frantic attempt to make his plea. Comedian Red Skelton (1913–1997) starred in The Fuller Brush Man, a 1948 film about murder and mayhem in the world of door-to-door sales. A sequel, The Fuller Brush Girl, starring Lucille Ball (1911–1989), was released in 1950. From its earliest days, the Fuller Brush Company adopted three basic principles to achieve its mission: “Make it work, make it last, and guarantee it no matter what.” The company promotes the fact that its product line is American made. By 2001, its five-hundred-thousand-square-foot plant near Great Bend, Kansas, was manufacturing more than two thousand items, including household-cleaning aids, industrial cleaners, polishes and wax products, mops, floor brushes, brooms, sponges, wire hangers, lotions and fragrances, hair-care aids, silk-screened graphics, aerosols, and chemicals. The company, now part of CPAC, Inc., consists of nine independent divisions, including Stanley Home Products. Sensitive to changing lifestyles that have all but eliminated the door-to-door salesman from American life, the Fuller Brush Company sells its products through factory outlets and mail order and has established an online shopping catalog with nearly five hundred items available. Still, the company encourages one-on-one customer contact by offering distributorships to citizens or permanent residents who live in the continental United States. —Edward Moran

For More Information “Alfred Fuller.” The Canadians. http://www.histori.ca/historica/eng_site/ resources/the_cdns/alf.html (accessed January 2, 2002). Fuller, Alfred Carl, as told to Hartzall Spence. A Foot in the Door: The Life Appraisal of the Original Fuller Brush Man. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.

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Harley-Davidson

Fuller Brush Company. http://www.fullerbrush.com (accessed January 2, 2002). Fuller Brush Man (video). Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video, 1991.

Harley-Davidson In 1903, when William S. Harley (1880–1943) and Arthur Davidson (c. 1880–1950) produced their first motorcycle in their backyard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there were 15 motorcycle manufacturers in the United States. By 1911, there were 151 manufacturers. In 2001, only one American motorcycle maker remains: Harley-Davidson. Its bikes have become a major cultural icon around the world, representing not only efficient transportation but freedom, rebellion, and a romantic outlaw image. Harley-Davidson has weathered the arrival of the cheap automobile in the mid-1920s and the appearance of the cheap, high-quality Japanese motorcycle in the mid-1970s, to remain one of the most well-known American corporations in the world. Harley and Davidson only produced one motorized bicycle the first year they set up shop. The next year they made two; in 1905, eight. In 1910, thirty-two hundred hundred motorcycles rolled away from the Milwaukee factory. By 1920, HarleyDavidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, producing twenty-eight thousand bikes. The military used twenty thousand Harleys during World War I (1914–18), and in World War II (1939–45), ninety thousand Harleys joined the army. After the war ended, many returning soldiers bought Harleys for their personal use. Accustomed to bold wartime driving, these soldiers often drove their bikes recklessly and fast. When groups of them gathered to ride together, they formed the first motorcycle “gangs.”

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Motorcycle gangs have traditionally been associated with Harleys, perhaps because the loud rumbling of their engines and the high vibration of their ride appeals to bikers who wish to project a tough, wild image. Hell’s Angels, perhaps the most famous motorcycle gang, founded in 1950, requires members to drive Harleys. However, in recent decades, Harley ownership has spread far beyond the outlaw bikers to those who wish to become “weekend outlaws.” By 2001, the average income of a

Harley owner reached $70,000 per year. One Harley rider out of ten is a woman. Many who don leather, helmet, and Harley Tshirt are doctors, lawyers, and other professional people. They call their bikes “hogs,” and gather with other Harley riders at weekend rallies all around the country, two of the largest being in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Sturgis, South Dakota.

By the 1920s, Harley-Davidson motorcycles were found everywhere, including the ranks of the New York State Police. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Bolfert, Thomas C. The Big Book of Harley-Davidson. Milwaukee: HarleyDavidson, Inc., 1991. Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. http://www.harley-davidson.com/hd_main/ hd_select_country.jsp (accessed January 2, 2002). Johnson, David, and Scott Rouseau. “The Bikes That Made Milwaukee Famous.” Cycle World (Vol. 32, no. 9, September 1993): pp. 48–54. Krakauer, Jon. “A Hog Is Still a Hog, But the ‘Wild Ones’ Are Tamer.” Smithsonian (Vol. 24, no. 8, November 1993): pp. 88–97. Taylor, Rich. “The Mystique: Harley-Davidson Motorcycles.” Popular Mechanics (Vol. 175, no. 11, November 1998): pp. 64–73.

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J. Walter Thompson Company

J. Walter Thompson Company Headquartered in New York City, the J. Walter Thompson advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) agency is one of the world’s largest, with more than 250 offices and affiliates in 88 countries. For half a century, from 1922 to 1972, it led the industry in billings (the amount of business done by an ad agency within a certain period of time). Founded in 1864 as Carlton & Smith, the agency was originally a broker of advertising space in religious periodicals. In 1877, William James Carlton (1838–1902), one of the original owners, sold the business to one of its employees, James Walter Thompson (1847–1928), for $500, plus $800 for the furniture. Over the next two decades, the J. Walter Thompson Company became the first full-service advertising agency. As a full-service agency, the company offered creative services like ad design and placement, package design, and logo design to its clients. One of its first logos, created in 1896, was the Rock of Gibraltar symbol for the Prudential Insurance Company, still in use. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the company helped develop the catchy and concise advertising slogans that have since become a mainstay of consumer marketing. One of J. Walter Thompson’s first successes was its 1912 campaign designed to convince women to use deodorant products, using the slogan “You can’t vote. But you can smell nice.” Under the director of Stanley Resor (1879–1962), who purchased the agency in 1916, J. Walter Thompson commissioned marketresearch studies and was the first agency to open a research department. These moves helped define the way the advertising industry has functioned ever since. In 1920, the agency hired John B. Watson (1878–1958), the noted behavioral psychologist, to assist in the development of campaigns that would appeal to basic human wants and needs.

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After World War I (1914–18), the J. Walter Thompson Company began representing some of America’s most familiar brand-name products, such as Libby’s, Kraft, Aunt Jemima (see entry under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1), and Fleischmann’s. Its clients sponsored many popular radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) shows during the 1930s, complete with clever jingles that described their products in a few memorable lines. In 1947, one client, Kraft Foods, sponsored the first network television program, “The Kraft Tele-

—Edward Moran

For More Information

Kellogg’s Cereals

vision Theater.” Other major clients have been the Ford Motor Company, Pan American Airways, Nestlé, Eastman Kodak, Warner-Lambert, Rolex, Merrill Lynch, and Wendy’s (for whom it coined the “Where’s the Beef?” slogan). In 1988, the year after it was sold to the WPP Group, J. Walter Thompson did $665 million in new business, a one-year record for the agency.

Fox, Stephen R. The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators. New York: Morrow, 1997. J. Walter Thompson Corporation. http://www.jwt.com (accessed January 18, 2002). Meyers, William. The Image Makers: Power and Persuasion on Madison Avenue. New York: Times Books, 1984. Sivulka, Juliann. Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998. Strasser, Susan. Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market. New York: Pantheon Books, 1989.

Kellogg’s Cereals With its headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Kellogg’s Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of packaged, readyto-eat breakfast cereals and related snack products. Many of the company’s products, like Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, and Rice Krispies, have become familiar breakfast foods around the globe. In 2001, the company reported more than $6 billion in sales worldwide. Kellogg’s evolved from the religiously based “health industry” of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company can trace its roots to the work of two brothers, John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943) and Will Keith Kellogg (1860–1951). Both men were Seventh Day Adventists, although both men were expelled from the church for worldliness and heresy in 1907. Seventh Day Adventists have traditionally adhered to high nutritional standards, and the Kellogg brothers were active in helping that denomination develop its early programs. John Harvey was medical superintendent of the Adventist Battle Creek Sanitarium, where he promoted a vegetarian diet, hydrotherapy (water therapy), and abstinence from alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco. He also served as editor of the church’s monthly publication, Good Health.

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Kellogg’s Cereals A 1906 advertisement for Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

In 1894, the Kellogg brothers invented flaked cereals, which they marketed as an easily digestible food product. In 1906, Will founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company to sell sweetened versions of these products as cereals, not just as health foods. By 1909, the brothers had become bitter rivals, and Will won the right to use the Kellogg’s name as a trademark in 1920, after which he established the company as it is known today.

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By the second half of the twentieth century, Kellogg’s was arguably the nation’s most recognized cereal brand, with some thirty-five different products, ranging from All-Bran to Straw-

Louisville Slugger

berry Mini-Wheats. It also manufactures Pop-Tarts and NutriGrain snack products. Many of the cartoon characters it developed to promote its various brands have become familiar icons, most notably Tony the Tiger (and his familiar slogan, “They’re gr-r-reat!”) from Frosted Flakes, and the Snap!, Crackle!, and Pop! gnomes from Rice Krispies. Kellogg’s and other cereal manufacturers are often criticized by nutritionists and educators. Nutritionists disapprove of the high sugar content of their products, and educators protest how cereals are aggressively marketed to children, especially on Saturday-morning television (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). —Edward Moran

For More Information Hunnicutt, Benjamin Kline. Kellogg’s Six-Hour Day. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. Kellogg’s Company. http://www.kelloggs.com (accessed January 2, 2002). Lindsay, David. House of Invention: The Secret Life of Everyday Products. New York: Lyons Press, 2000. Money, John. The Destroying Angel: Sex, Fitness & Food in the Legacy of Degeneracy Theory, Graham Crackers, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes & American Health History. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1985.

Louisville Slugger Baseball is called America’s National Pastime, and Louisville Slugger is the name of the most famous and popular wooden bat employed by professional ballplayers to smash singles, bash doubles, belt triples, and pound home runs in a ballpark. The roots of the Louisville Slugger date to 1884 and involve John A. “Bud” Hillerich (1866–1946). Hillerich’s father operated a woodworking shop that produced bedposts, bowling pins, handrails, and ornaments. At the time, most ballplayers whittled their own bats and often owned only one. The story goes that Hall-of-Famer-to-be Pete Browning (1861–1905), playing for the Louisville Eclipse of the American Association (the forerunner of the National League), broke his bat during a game. Additionally, he was in the middle of a batting slump. Young Hillerich, who was just eighteen at the time, happened to be at the game and offered to produce a bat for Browning. The ballplayer agreed, and Hillerich spun one out of white ash, to Browning’s specifications. The following day Browning busted

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Model T

out of his slump, getting three hits in three times at bat, and requested that Hillerich produce additional bats. Soon other ballplayers began ordering Hillerich’s product. At first, they were known as Fall City Sluggers, but in 1894 Hillerich copyrighted the name Louisville Slugger, which was imprinted in an oval on every bat. Each ballplayer’s signature also was burned into each bat, allowing him to keep track of his lumber. In 1905, another future Cooperstown inductee, Pittsburgh Pirate shortstop Honus Wagner (1874–1955), became the first professional athlete to earn endorsement money for allowing his name to be linked to a product when he signed a contract with Hillerich that resulted in bats with his name burned into them to be sold in stores. Ten years later, the Hillerich factory was destroyed in a fire. During the rebuilding process, Frank W. Bradsby (1878–1937), a former buyer of athletic equipment, was hired to market the bats. In 1916, the company name became Hillerich & Bradsby (H&B). To this day, H&B still produces bats for major leaguers, designed to the specifications of each ballplayer. The history of the company—and the history of its baseball bats—is chronicled in the Louisville Slugger Museum. Located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, visitors to the museum can observe actual bat production. Despite the present-day use of aluminum bats by schools and Little Leagues, H&B produces hundreds of thousands of wooden bats per year. The company also produces approximately seventy-two bats per season for each major leaguer. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Arnow, Jan. Louisville Slugger: The Making of a Baseball Bat. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984.

Model T

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The Ford Motor Company’s mass-produced and affordable Model T made the car an essential part of American life. Before the Model T, cars were luxury items that could be purchased only by the rich. With the Model T, Henry Ford (1863–1947), who founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903, figured out how to make the car a necessary component of everyday life for regular working people.

Model T

To construct the Model T, Henry Ford devised labor-saving techniques that would increase production and reduce costs. Unlike his competitors, Ford Motor Company offered only one type of car. The parts for the Model T were interchangeable, and Ford said that people could buy the Model T “in any color they want so long as it’s black.” As the popularity of the car grew, Ford continued to fine-tune his production line, implementing a system of management that would become known as “Fordism.” Fordism was based on the assembly line and increased wages for his workers. Ford’s assembly line divided labor into small tasks that required less skill and craftsmanship. But Ford reasoned that workers would only accept the more mundane jobs if they were well paid. The Ford Motor Company paid more than double the average daily wage of other industries. When Ford introduced the eight-hour, five-dollar day in 1914, job seekers flocked to the company. Henry Ford’s genius revolutionized the automobile industry and helped increase sales. Although people had been fascinated with motorized vehicles since the first cars were produced, cars had only been affordable for the very rich. The Model T was introduced for $850, a price far lower than other cars and within reach of many people. For the first time, working men and women could afford a motorized vehicle and Ford aggressively marketed the Model T to them. Ford publicized the Model T by winning a transcontinental race with it. Even though the Model T’s victory was later disqualified, the public had already fallen in love with it. It was fast, it was cheap, and it was truly American. Produced from 1908 to 1927, the Model T changed the way people thought about traveling, distances, and time. The Model T became the best selling car in history, at the time. By 1915, Ford Motor Company had produced one million Model Ts. By the mid–1920s, the Model T had made the car an essential part of American life. The car promoted the development of the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) of the 1920s. Americans began to demand the paving of million of miles of roads. By the time of the stock market crash in 1929 that began the Great Depression (1929–41), the Model T had become so much a part of American life that as people began losing their jobs and savings, they held on to their cars, sometimes pulling them with horses when they could not afford gas. The Model T had made America a nation of drivers. —Sara Pendergast

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For More Information Gourley, Catherine. Wheels of Time: A Biography of Henry Ford. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1997. McCalley, Bruce W. The Model T Ford: The Car That Changed the World. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1994. Simonds, Christopher. The Model T Ford. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1991.

Plastic Plastic is a synthetic material made out of petroleum products that can be shaped and molded into an infinite variety of shapes without breaking. Few other products have influenced American culture as much as plastic. In the early twentieth century, plastic proved that it could be used as a substitute for all kinds of natural materials. It soon began to appear in all kinds of products that Americans used. Americans’ use of plastic as a cheap imitation of natural substances led some to call American culture a “plastic” or artificial culture, focused on cheap imitations rather than on items of genuine quality. Whether or not that was true, plastics became a part of most Americans’ daily lives. Plastic began as a search for a man-made alternative to natural materials such as marble, ivory, and bone. Those items were used in all kinds of consumer goods in the 1800s and earlier, but depending on the substance they could be somewhat rare and expensive. The first plastic-like substance was celluloid, invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt (1837–1912) as a substitute for ivory. That discovery led to later innovations, including the development of chemically synthetic plastics in the early twentieth century. The invention of other plastic forms such as nylon (see entry under 1930s—Fashion in volume 2), rayon, polyvinyl chloride, vinyl, lucite, plexiglas, and teflon followed.

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The development of plastic as a scientific story is important, but, like many scientific inventions, its use by ordinary people is what made plastic such an important part of everyday American life. As the twentieth century progressed, plastics crept into American life in more and more unique ways. For instance, celluloid, the first plastic substance, revolutionized photography, enabling film to be used easily in portable cameras by all kinds of people. No longer did one need to be a professional photog-

Plastic

rapher to take pictures. Celluloid was also crucial to the development of motion pictures. All the classic images Americans enjoy on the screens of their local movie theaters are due to plastic celluloid. Cellophane, a close relative of celluloid, was used as plastic wraps to help keep food fresh and in such products as “Scotch” tape. Plastics found their way into clothing in the form of nylon stockings (see entry under 1930s— Fashion in volume 2), or nylons, for women’s legs; in rayon dresses that simulated natural, and therefore more expensive, silk; and in polyester (see entry under 1970s—Fashion in volume 4) suits for men. Plastics also entered the home in increasing numbers. People spoke into new, one-piece plastic telephone receivers and sat on Naugahyde (artificial leather) recliners. Plastics were especially popular in the kitchen. Vinyl flooring stood up to lots of rough treatment and spills wiped up easily from its surface. Plastic Tupperware, kitchen bowls made out of plastic, proved very popular in the 1940s and after. Plastic could form all kinds of convenient shapes for bowls, glasses, and containers. Plastic kitchenware could be dropped without breaking, and it was inexpensive to buy. Teflon proved it could be used as a nonstick cooking surface. As a result of these innovations, homeowners loved plastic. Plastic was also found elsewhere in the home—in children’s toys, such as LEGO (see entry under 1950s— Sports and Games in volume 3) blocks and Fisher-Price toys (see entry under 1930s—Commerce in volume 2); in teenagers’ bedrooms, with vinyl rock-and-roll records; in plastic swimming pools in the backyard; and in plastic doormats that resembled green grass. By the 1960s, plastics were an inescapable part of American life. The substance was even immortalized in the 1967 film The Graduate (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), starring Dustin Hoffman, when an older neighbor tells Hoffman’s character that he could describe a bright future for him in one word: “plastics.” By that time, however, although millions of people were using plastic in their everyday lives, some people became disturbed by the American tendency to replace natural things with synthetic plastics. Even as early as the 1920s, plastic was used as a negative word for artificial. Living in a “plastic society” meant living in an artificial world cut off from nature. Indeed, plastics had been phenomenally successful in replicating natural materials. But by the 1970s, the costs of this material were slowly becoming known. Plastics, it turned

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Sears, Roebuck Catalog

out, caused cancer in many workers who breathed in fumes during its manufacture. It also proved a big environmental problem. Plastic made possible a throw-away culture centered around convenience. Many items, like styrofoam cups, were used once and then thrown away, piling up along roadsides as litter and taking up precious space in landfills. Plastics also do not degrade into their base materials as natural substances do, so the plastic cup someone threw away in 1955 still exists today, sitting in a landfill somewhere. These problems even led some people to boycott styrofoam cups and to urge people to reconsider their use of plastic. By the end of the twentieth century, plastics were an inescapable part of American life. Plastics helped make life easier in a multitude of ways but also proved that few, if any, innovations come without some cost to society. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. New York: HarperBusiness, 1996. Katz, Sylvia. Plastics: Common Objects, Classic Designs. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984. Meikle, Jeffrey L. American Plastic: A Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995.

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From the time of its origin in 1888, the Sears, Roebuck catalog was more than just a listing of store merchandise. Called the “Big Book” or the “Wish Book” by the millions of people who eagerly awaited its arrival each year, the catalog brought the wider world into the isolated homes of rural America. From it, working-class Americans who lived far from cities or even shops, could order anything from shoes, clothes, furniture, and appliances to wagons and machinery. More than this, they could keep up to date on advances in equipment, technology, and fashion and even take a peek at a drawing of a member of the opposite sex in underwear. By bringing honesty and dependability to mail-order shopping, Sears, Roebuck and Company was able to reach out to the seventy percent of Americans who lived in the rural United States at the end of the nineteenth

Sears, Roebuck Catalog The Sears, Roebuck catalog, pictured here around 1910, helped connect Americans by bringing the latest fashions, appliances, and more to everyone’s doorstep. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

century. Many of these Americans joked that the Bible and the Sears, Roebuck catalog were the only books that they read. Richard W. Sears (1863–1914) was working as a station agent for the railroad, passing the time by reading the various catalogs that came through on mail trains, when he began to think that he could develop his own successful mail-order business. He and his partner Alvah C. Roebuck (1864–1948) issued their first catalog in 1888, selling jewelry and watches. Each year the two expanded their catalog and their inventory, offering free trials and money-back guarantees to boost sales. Cleverly, they

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Stereoscopes

designed their catalog a little smaller than that of their biggest competitor, Montgomery Ward. That way, they reasoned, the Sears, Roebuck catalog would be placed on top when the catalogs were stacked. By 1895, the company had incorporated, and the catalog had grown to over 500 pages. It now included clothes, guns, farm equipment, and furniture. In 1908, Sears and Roebuck began to sell mail-order houses, with a selection of 450 models. Houses were shipped in thousands of parts, with detailed instructions for building. By the early 1900s, Sears, Roebuck and Company was earning $10 million in sales. The Sears, Roebuck catalog continued to represent a successful mail-order business for over a century. In 1993, finally overwhelmed by competition and changing shopping habits, the catalog portion of Sears, Roebuck and Company closed. Although a catalog can still be ordered from the company, the Sears Web site now continues the tradition of the famous mailorder catalog. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Emmett, Boris, and John E. Jeuck. Catalogues and Counters: A History of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950. Gustaitis, Joseph. “Closing the Book.” American History Illustrated (Vol. 28, no. 3): pp. 36-42. Hicks, L. Wayne. “The House Is in the Mail.” American History (Vol. 35, April 2000): pp. 38-43. Liggett, Lori. “The Founders of Sears, Roebuck and Company.” Bowling Green State University American Culture Studies Program. http:// www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/sears/sears.html (accessed January 2, 2002). McGinty, Brian. “Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck.” American History Illustrated (Vol. 21, no. 2, June 1986): pp. 34-8. Sears.com. http://www.sears.com (accessed January 2, 2002). Worthy, James C. Shaping An American Institution. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1984.

Stereoscopes

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Stereoscopes were the first mass-produced viewers for threedimensional (3-D) photography. Stereoscopes allowed people to view two photographs of a single scene taken from slightly different perspectives (called stereographs) as one 3-D image. The

3-D images brought a realism and a depth to photography that had never before been seen. Stereoscopy, popular from 1850 to 1920, was a forerunner of cinema and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). From the comfort of their own homes, people could use the stereoscope to see images of important people, places, and historic events. The device also enabled them to entertain themselves with erotica (pictures meant to arouse sexual interest), images of tourist destinations, and fine works of art. Invented by British physicist Charles Wheatstone (1802–1875) in 1832, the stereoscope truly became popular when it was introduced to America. Between 1860 and 1890, more than four hundred million stereographs were produced in assembly-line fashion in large factories in America. Stereographs were the main source of visual information about the The stereoscope, pictured here circa 1870, was the first device that allowed people to view 3-D images. Hulton/Archive. American West, the Civil War (1861–65), Reproduced by permission. the Spanish-American War (1898), and the world in general. With the rise in popularity of cinema in the 1920s, however, stereoscopes soon lost their adult audience. Stereoscopic images were relegated to children’s toys like the View-Master, which was introduced in 1939. Stereoscopic imagery has never ceased to fascinate viewers. The imagery enjoyed a brief revival in the 1950s with 3-D movies (see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) and comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). By the 1990s, computer-generated Magic Eye stereograms, which allowed viewers to see stereoscopic images without a viewer, had become tremendously popular, selling more than twenty-five million books of images by 1995. Computerized holographic and virtual-reality technologies have broadened the usefulness and appeal of stereoscopic imagery to interactive games and even to military training programs for surveillance, weapons targeting, and flight schools. —Sara Pendergast

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Teddy Bears

For More Information Earle, W. E., ed. Points of View: The Stereograph in America—A History. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop, 1979. Jones, John. Wonders of the Stereoscope. New York: Knopf, 1976. Wing, Paul. Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years. Nashua, NH: Transition, 1996.

Teddy Bears Most Americans carry fond memories of a childhood teddy bear. Although contemporary stuffed animals are manufactured in the form of every creature from aardvarks to zebras, the bear remains the most popular choice. Today, the making, selling, and collecting of teddy bears represent significant human and economic activities. The teddy bear has origins both in the United States and in Europe, each dating back to 1902. When U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) took a hunting trip to Mississippi that year, one of his companions captured a black bear cub and brought it to Roosevelt to shoot. The president saw no sport in such an act and refused to shoot it. A Washington Post reporter traveling with the hunting party wrote a story about the incident, which was printed with an illustration showing Roosevelt declining to shoot the helpless cub. A Brooklyn variety store owner, Morris Michtom, saw the cartoon and got an idea about how to sell some stuffed bears that his wife had made. He placed them in his shop window with a sign reading “Teddy’s Bears.” Demand for the product was so great that Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Corporation and went into mass production. The same year, German Richard Steiff saw trained bears performing at a circus and thought a toy based on the creatures might sell. He took his idea and some drawings to his aunt, Margarete Steiff (1847–1909), who was a well-known toy and doll maker. She designed and made a few sample bears, which she brought to the 1903 Leipzig Toy Fair. European dealers were uninterested, but an American distributor ordered several thousand bears for export to the United States.

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Today, teddy bears are big business, with an estimated 2.5 million collectors in the United States alone. The industry distinguishes between two kinds of bears: toys (which have hug-

gable, soft stuffing) and collectibles (with firm interiors and jointed limbs). Experts acknowledge Gund, Inc. as the premier maker of cuddly toy bears, whereas Germany’s Steiff company remains the leader in collectibles. Some of Steiff’s classic bears have fetched as much as ten thousand dollars at auction.

An ad from the December 1907 Ladies Home Journal depicting the well-dressed teddy bear. Courtesy of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information Bull, Peter. The Teddy Bear Book. New York: Random House, 1970. Severin, Gustav. Teddy Bear: A Loving History of the Classic Childhood Companion. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1995.

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1900s Film and Theater The first decade of the twentieth century was one of the last decades in which entertainment was still largely local and noncommercial. Movies were still in their infancy. Broadway had not yet gained a reputation as the center of serious and popular theater. Most Americans sought their entertainment in small local theaters, at vaudeville shows, and—in a growing number of cities—in storefront nickelodeons. Although wealthier Americans in large cities could attend serious professional performances of opera and of classic plays, such as the works of Shakespeare, most Americans enjoyed rougher, less polished fare. In the 1900s, twenty-first-century-style film and theater— polished productions that can be enjoyed by the masses in a variety of locations—simply did not exist. The most popular form of entertainment in the decade was vaudeville. The core of a vaudeville show was variety: each show contained nine to twelve acts, with comedy, stunts, dramatic skits, and singing. Vaudeville acts toured from city to city, and the best and most famous made stars of some of the performers. The impact of vaudeville on later forms of popular culture—especially radio and TV—was enormous, as many vaudeville performers went on to become the first stars of radio and TV. Another popular form of live entertainment was the minstrel show, a form of variety show in which the performers often presented stereotypical and racist impersonations of African Americans. Many white performers performed “blackface” minstrelsy (MIN-strul-see), which meant that they applied makeup to look black, but minstrel shows also offered a rare opportunity for African Americans to appear on stage. Buffalo Bill Cody (1846–1917) and his Wild West Show provided another form of entertainment, a variety show meant to dramatize the mythical American West. Film was in its infancy at the beginning of the decade, but it soon made great strides. Technological limitations only allowed films to be about thirty seconds long, limiting the ability of film to tell a story, and they contained no sound. Early films were

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thus novelties, and they were often shown along with live entertainment, as in a vaudeville show. The creation of the silent film The Great Train Robbery in 1903 revolutionized the industry, however. At about twelve minutes long, the film told a dramatic story about a train robbery, and it thrilled audiences across the country. Throughout the decade more and more Americans began to see short films in nickelodeons, essentially storefront theaters that charged a small admission fee. By 1908, it was estimated that eighty million nickelodeon tickets were sold every week. By the 1910s, the rise of more skilled directors and famous “movie stars” would make film one of the most popular forms of entertainment.

Broadway Even though the roadway named “Broadway” extends the length of the New York City borough of Manhattan, the name has come to indicate the area, in midtown Manhattan, in which a majority of the city’s primary theaters are located. The word “Broadway” has come to represent bright, flashing lights and oversized billboards towering over playgoers as they crowd around theater entrances most every evening just before 8 P.M. (and on Wednesday and Saturday for matinees, or afternoon performances). For those who choose to devote their life to the stage, appearing on Broadway is a significant accomplishment and starring on the Broadway stage is a dream come true. New York City’s status as the hub of American theater dates to 1826, when the three-thousand-seat Bowery Theatre opened; it was the first playhouse to feature glass-shaded gas-jet lighting. By the 1880s, “Broadway” had become the general term for American theater, and the New York theater district was nearby the street, only farther downtown, at East 14th Street and Union Square. As the city expanded, clusters of playhouses opened further uptown, in what today is midtown Manhattan. Eventually, most were constructed in the crosstown streets of the West Forties, by and directly above Times Square. The first major playhouse in the area arrived in 1893, when the American Theatre opened on West 42nd Street. 34

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In the early twentieth century, revues featuring music, dance, and comedy were especially popular on Broadway. As the

American musical theater evolved, scores of significant composers and performers earned fame writing music for and appearing in Broadway hits. Before radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), countless popular songs originated on Broadway. For example, during World War I (1914–18), “Over There,” a patriotic national rallying cry composed by George M. Cohan (1878–1942), was introduced at the New Amsterdam Theatre before becoming a hit record. Musical theater flourished on Broadway during a good portion of the twentieth century, but serious dramas and nonmusical comedies were increasingly staged. One notable Broadway dramatist who emphasized realism in his writing was Eugene O’Neill (1883–1953), who during the 1920s authored The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, and Strange Interlude. Many film actors started out on Broadway. Marlon Brando (1924–), for one, became a theater legend in 1947 with his riveting performance as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando made his screen debut in 1950, replayed Kowalski in the film version of Streetcar the following year, and never

The original cast of Oklahoma! (1943), one of Broadway’s most celebrated musicals. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

came back to Broadway. Meanwhile, other actors preferred stage over screen, even though a successful movie actor will have far more international fame than a counterpart on the stage. Such Broadway legends as Laurette Taylor (1884–1946), Eva Le Gallienne (1899–1991), Katherine Cornell (1893–1974), Alfred Drake (1914–1992), and the husband-and-wife team of Alfred Lunt (1892–1977) and Lynn Fontanne (1887–1983) became major stage personalities, while barely, if ever, appearing on screen. For several decades, theater-lovers have lamented the general decline in quality of the American theater. Yet Broadway— also known as the Great White Way—remains one of New York’s top tourist attractions and symbolizes American theater. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Atkinson, Brooks. Broadway. New York: Macmillan, 1970. Blum, Daniel. A Pictorial History of the American Theatre, 1860–1970. New York: Crown, 1969. Brown, Gene. Show Time: A Chronology of Broadway and the Theatre from Its Beginnings to the Present. New York: Macmillan, 1997. Dunlap, David W. On Broadway: A Journey Uptown over Time. New York: Rizzoli, 1990. Frommer, Myrna Katz, and Harvey Frommer. It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White Way. New York: Harcourt, 1998. League of American Theatres and Producers. The Internet Broadway Database. http://www.ibdb.com (accessed April 16, 2002).

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

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The mythology of the Old West is an essential part not so much of American history as American folklore. While much of this vision derives from countless dime novels (inexpensive, melodramatic books that originally cost ten cents) and Hollywood movies that depict the settling of the American West, the origin of this mythology may be traced to one man: William F. Cody (1846–1917), more commonly known as Buffalo Bill. Cody was a U.S. cavalry scout, buffalo hunter, Indian fighter, Pony Express rider, gold miner, ox team driver—and entertainer. He created Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, a traveling extravaganza that celebrated and glorified the settling of the American West.

In 1872, Buntline persuaded Cody to act in his play, The Scouts of the Plains, which was Buffalo Bill’s entry into show business. Supposedly, upon observing a Nebraska Independence Day celebration in 1883, Cody concocted the idea of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which recreated a Pony Express ride, a stagecoach attack, and various rodeo events. The finale included a spectacle involving cowboys, Indians, and stampeding animals. Wherever possible, Cody hired real-life Western notables to appear in his show.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

Legend has it that Cody was dubbed “Buffalo Bill” after being hired to help supply buffalo meat to workers building the crosscountry railroad; he claimed to have killed 4,280 buffalo. His fame was spread by Ned Buntline (1823–1886), a dime novelist who made him the hero of a series of stories published in The New York Weekly. Buntline was not a chronicler of Cody’s real-life deeds; he fictionalized and exaggerated them, thus creating the mythology surrounding his subject.

For an 1884 appearance at the Cotton Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana, Cody acquired the services of his top drawing card: Annie Oakley (1860–1926), the famed sharpshooter. The following year, he hired Sitting Bull (1831–1890), fabled chief of the Teton Sioux Indians, who had led the final major Indian resistance against western settlement. In retrospect, Cody’s employment of Indians is controversial. Although he was one of the few who dared hire Native Americans, his depiction of them attacking stagecoaches and settlers perpetuated the image of the Indian as a dangerous savage. Cody’s extravaganza reached its height in popularity in 1887, when he took it to London, England, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria (1819–1901). Two years later, Cody toured throughout Europe, beginning with a performance in Paris. After returning to the United States in 1893 and savoring one last successful season, Cody’s show began to decline. Its luster faded because of competition from similar traveling extravaganzas and internal upheaval. However, Cody did manage to keep the show afloat until his death in 1917. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Buffalo Bill and the Indians, Or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (film). United Artists, 1976. Cody, William F. An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill (Colonel W. F. Cody). New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1923.

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The Great Train Robbery

Cody, William F. The Business of Being Buffalo Bill: Selected Letters of William F. Cody, 1879–1917. New York: Praeger, 1988. Leonard, Elizabeth Jane. Buffalo Bill, King of the Old West. New York: Library Publishers, 1955.

The Great Train Robbery The Great Train Robbery (1903) is one of the most popular and important early silent films. It was directed by Edwin S. Porter (1869–1941) for the Edison Company and was enjoyed by audiences for several years after its initial release. What makes this film outstanding is its ambitious length and style of storytelling. Most films of the period lasted only two or three minutes and contained less than a handful of shots. The Great Train Robbery told its story in about twelve minutes, linking fourteen individual shots together to complete a cohesive plotline. It is also often called the first recognizably modern Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) The original publicity for this audience pleaser stated that it was meant to present “a faithful duplication of the genuine ‘Hold Ups’ made famous by various outlaw bands in the far West.” The plot is action packed. Bandits enter a telegraph office and tie up the telegraph operator. Then they stop a train and rob the express car and its passengers before escaping on horseback. Next, the telegraph operator’s daughter finds her father and unties him. He alerts the people of the town, and they form a posse (PAH-see; a group of people who search for someone) to capture the bandits. The posse chases the bandits and succeeds in killing them.

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The film made use of interesting special effects to highlight parts of the story. Two new techniques were especially thrilling to the audience. First, Porter created a sense of realism by stopping the action to insert a dummy for a real-life actor and restarting the camera as the dummy was tossed from a moving train. To tell the story, Porter filmed all the action from a distance, in a series of long shots. Then, after the completion of the story, he zoomed in for a close-up. In a close-up, the camera is placed so close to the subject that the viewer sees him or her only from the chest up; in the movie theater, Porter’s closeup shot showed a bandit firing a gun at the camera—and simultaneously at the audience! Early movie audiences had not

Compared to today’s films, The Great Train Robbery is not really an example of clever editing or technological innovation, but it is an illustration of a highly entertaining, longer narrative film that offered early cinema audiences a more detailed story-telling format.

Harry Houdini

experienced seeing close-ups and were quite entertained by this powerful final shot.

—Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Fenin, George N., and William K. Everson. The Western. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973. Musser, Charles. The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Harry Houdini (1874–1926) During the early twentieth century, Harry Houdini was the world’s most celebrated illusionist and escape artist. He won world renown performing death-defying stunts that captured media attention and the imaginations of his audiences. Houdini was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1874; his birth name was Erich (or Ehrich) Weiss. His family came to America in 1878. He first became intrigued by trickery and illusion while a teenager and renamed himself after famed French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805–1871). Determined to forge a career as a magician, he labored for several years in obscurity before winning national acclaim in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) and, then, international acclaim upon performing in England. Houdini started out executing simple magic tricks but eventually developed and perfected the escape acts that won him notoriety. In these acts, he would free himself from straitjackets, prison cells, packing crates, coffins, mail pouches, milk cans, giant paper bags, and Chinese Water Torture chambers (large glass boxes filled with water). Often, he would be tied with rope, handcuffed, or manacled. As his fame grew, Houdini also became known for exposing fake spiritualists.

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In 1918, Houdini began acting in movies. In 1925, he opened on Broadway in Magic, a two-and-a-half-hour extravaganza. He died the following year. Legend has it that his death was the direct result of his being punched in the stomach by an overenthusiastic college student who wished to test the strength of Houdini’s abdominal muscles. In the Hollywood biography Houdini (1953), his demise comes as he fails to complete an underwater escape trick. In fact, Houdini died of peritonitis, caused by a ruptured appendix—which may or may not have been connected to the stomach punch. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

Master escape artist Harry Houdini. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Hass, E. A. Houdini’s Last Trick: The Amazing True Story of the World’s Greatest Magician. New York: Random House, 1995. Houdini Tribute. http://www.houdinitribute.com (accessed January 3, 2002). Library of Congress. Houdini. “American Memory Project.” http://lcweb2. loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshdini.html (accessed January 3, 2002). Silverman, Kenneth. Houdini!!! The Career of Erich Weiss. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. Woog, Adam. Harry Houdini. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1995.

Minstrel Shows Minstrel shows were an extremely popular form of entertainment in which white performers wearing blackface makeup impersonated African Americans. The shows originated in the nineteenth century as professional stage productions. In the first half of the twentieth century professional productions disappeared, but putting on a minstrel show became a popular activity for amateur groups.

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Impersonations of African Americans became popular in the northern United States around 1830. Thomas D. Rice (c. 1808–1860) performed songs and dances as the plantation slave Jim Crow. George Washington Dixon (c. 1801–1861) gained fame by pretending to be a northern black man named Zip Coon.

Minstrel Shows Dozens of minstrel troupes performed to audiences across the United States during the first half of the 1900s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Out of these individual acts came the full-fledged minstrel show, with the first one generally said to be the performance by Dan Emmett (1815–1904) and his Virginia Minstrels on February 6, 1843, in New York City. (Emmett gained greater fame years later, when he wrote the popular Southern anthem “Dixie.”) The Virginia Minstrels were a great success. Soon there were dozens of minstrel troupes, including the Christy Minstrels, led by E. P. Christy (1815–1862). The Christy Minstrels established the standard pattern for the minstrel show: four or more performers in a semi-circle on stage, with a banjo player and a fiddler in the middle and two “endmen,” one playing the tambourine and one

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the bone castanets. The endmen, called Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones, wore outlandish clothes and makeup and made jokes at the expense of the somewhat pompous master of ceremonies, or Interlocutor, seated in the middle. In the mid-nineteenth century, the minstrel show was the most popular form of entertainment in America. After 1900, the professional version of it disappeared, losing out in competition with vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and the movies. But blackface performers continued to appear in vaudeville shows, in movies like The Jazz Singer (1927; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), and in the popular radio show Amos ’n’ Andy (1928–55; see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2). There continued to be a craze for amateur minstrel shows until, after the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1960s, they came to be regarded as racist. Some commentators have defended the minstrel shows, saying that they expressed not just racist derision but also admiration and sympathy for African Americans. Some say the performances were less about race than about the liberating effect of putting on a mask. The general view by the end of the twentieth century, however, was that the minstrel shows were a shameful part of American history. —Sheldon Goldfarb

For More Information Comer, Jim. Every Time I Turn Around: Rite, Reversal, and the End of Blackface Minstrelsy. http://www.angelfire.com/oh/hydriotaphia/ crow.html (accessed January 3, 2002). Huggins, Nathan Irvin. “Personae: White/Black Faces—Black Masks.” In Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971, pp. 244–301. “Minstrel Shows: ‘That Shuff-a-lin’ Throng.’” Musicals101.com. http:// www.musicals101.com/minstrel.htm (accessed January 3, 2002). Toll, Robert C. Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. Wittke, Carl. Tambo and Bones: A History of the American Minstrel Stage. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1930.

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During the first decade and a half of the twentieth century, movies were fast becoming a diversion for the masses. How-

ever, the popular venues for watching movies, from the thousand-seat movie palaces (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) built during the 1910s and 1920s to the present-day multiplex theaters, had not yet come into being. So motion pictures were projected in nickelodeons—small storefronts that were converted into makeshift theaters. The term “nickelodeon” derived from two words: “nickel,” their usual admission price; and “odeon,” the Greek word for theater. Nickelodeons played a key role not only in the exhibition of early motion pictures but also because they were one of the first forms of affordable entertainment for the masses. Legend has it that the first nickelodeon came into being in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1904, when a local businessman converted a store into a theater. As motion pictures then were silent (see entry on silent movies under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), the businessman installed a piano to be used for musical accompaniment. Before the year was out, over one hundred similar establishments sprang up across the city. By 1908, between eight thousand and ten thousand nickelodeons were in use nationwide. Many were located in immigrant and working-class communities, allowing those with modest incomes to indulge themselves in moviegoing. Nickelodeons thus spread the seeds for the development of motion pictures as a form of mass entertainment.

Before the development of large movie houses, motion pictures were shown in small storefronts converted into makeshift theaters known as nickelodeons. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

As befitting their status as amusement halls, nickelodeon exteriors were usually brightly painted and lit. They were decorated with posters advertising current and future programs. Live barkers (people who advertise at a show entrance) shouted the latest attractions to passersby. Inside, paying customers sat on wooden benches or folding chairs and watched the movies’ images flicker on a canvas screen. The projection booth, located in the rear, was a small box, six feet square, with sufficient room for the projector and projectionist who cranked the film by hand. A nickelodeon’s seating capacity ranged from fifty to six hundred seats. The average nickelodeon program lasted about thirty minutes; it consisted of three separate films, each one reel (or

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approximately ten minutes) long. Programs often changed daily, to encourage a steady flow of return customers. The content of these one-reelers included adaptations of Shakespeare and the Bible, dramatizations of current events as well as famous novels and plays, depictions of the realities of everyday working-class life, and scenes of faraway places. Several of Hollywood’s business pioneers started out as nickelodeon operators. Among them were Marcus Loew (1870–1927), Adolph Zukor (1873–1976), and William Fox (1879–1952) as well as the Warner brothers: Harry (1881–1958), Albert (1884–1967), Sam (1888–1927), and Jack (1892–1978). Eventually, nickelodeons gave way to more spacious and comfortable movie houses. During the short time of their existence, however, they played an essential role in offering the working and immigrant classes their first exposure to mass entertainment and American popular culture. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Nasaw, David. Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements. New York: BasicBooks, 1993. Wagenknecht, Edward. The Movies in the Age of Innocence. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

Silent Movies At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the age of digital recording and surround-sound, it is difficult to imagine a time when movie actors did not speak on screen. Yet during the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century, it was difficult to imagine them ever doing so. Silent movies were watched in silence or accompanied by live musicians in the theater. Speech was displayed in print (known as intertitles) on the screen between the action sequences.

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Thomas Edison (1847–1931) and his assistant William Dickson (1860–1935) were the first to make moving pictures possible with their Kinematograph in 1891. Dickson later designed the Kinetoscope, a boxlike apparatus that allowed a single viewer to watch moving pictures. Early silent films, known as “actualities,” lasted only a few seconds and recorded events as they happened using a fixed camera. In the late 1990s and into

Silent Movies Silent-film star Buster Keaton (on chair) saves the damsel in distress in the 1924 silent comedy Sherlock, Jr. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

the early twenty-first century, reality TV (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) shows used similar filming techniques. For around twenty-five cents—the hourly wage for a skilled worker in 1894—spectators could view a short film on one of the Kinetoscopes set up in “parlors” around the country. Before long small movie theaters charging a nickel a time were set up in storefronts. By 1910, there were over ten thousand of these nickelodeons (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) in America. Future movie businessmen such as the Warner brothers (Harry, 1881–1958; Albert, 1884–1967; Sam, 1888–1927; and Jack, 1892–1978) and William Fox (1879–1952) began as nickelodeon owners. But some people thought movies were immoral. Edison’s film The Kiss, which simply shows a couple kissing, caused a scandal in 1908. A small number of films did contain nudity, but as titles such as The Chinese Laundry and Dancing Bears suggest, most early silent films were tame by the standards of the twenty-first century. Storytelling in American movies began around 1902 with the short The Life of an American Fireman by Edwin S. Porter (1869–1941). In 1905, his fifteen-minute adaptation of the

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abolitionist tale Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the longest and most expensive movies ever made. But America’s racist past is in evidence in many early silent movies such as The Cheat (1915) by Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) and the Sambo series of comedies. Even in 1915, many people found the classic The Birth of a Nation (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) directed by D. W. Griffith (1875–1948) shockingly racist. It was banned in several states. Film shorts used a single reel of film and lasted a maximum of around fifteen minutes. By 1914, “features” used up to twelve reels and lasted over two hours. Classic novels and plays began to be adapted for film on a large scale. Techniques of editing and camera movement improved quickly. But in the 1920s, the studios began to make movies using tested formulas. The formula Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and “swashbuckling” adventure movies such as The Three Musketeers and the Zorro (see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1) series emerged in the 1920s. Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), Douglas Fairbanks (1883–1939), and young Greta Garbo (1905–1999) were the movie stars of the time. Scandals in Hollywood eventually led to heavy-handed censorship, but in Europe directors continued to experiment. From 1918 onwards, German filmmakers like Carl Meyer (1894–1944) and Fritz Lang (1890–1976) and Russian Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948) treated film as more than just entertainment. Eisenstein is widely described as the most important filmmaker of the silent era. His Battleship Potemkin (1925) is one of the most influential films of all time. But slapstick comedy and mime are silent film’s lasting legacy. Buster Keaton (1895–1966) and Harold Lloyd (1893–1971) enjoyed huge silent success. Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) crafted brilliant and profitable comedies; The Immigrant (1917) and The Kid (1921) remain classics. The first “talkie” film, The Jazz Singer (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), marked the end of an era in movie history when it was released in 1927. In it, Al Jolson (1886–1950) heralded the coming of the “talkie” with the famous spoken line: “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet!”

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Although “talkies” quickly made films more popular than ever, some people clung to the silent film format. Many stars of

Vaudeville

the silent era had terrible speaking voices and the arrival of sound ended their careers. Sunset Boulevard (1950) tells the dark story of Norma Desmond, an ex–silent screen star washed up in the era of sound. When told she used to be a big star, Desmond declares: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Famously, Chaplin resisted the arrival of sound. His almost-silent film Modern Times (1936) is partly an attack on the sound film. Despite the efforts of the studios to turn out silent films in a production line process, talkies soon became the twentieth century’s greatest form of entertainment. Sound simply made movies more powerful. Yet during the transition to sound many argued that silent movies were the purer form of filmmaking. Some of the most highly praised movies of all time come from the silent era. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Acker, Ally. Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema 1896 to Present. New York: Continuum, 1991. Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Karney, Robyn, ed. Chronicle of the Cinema: 100 Years of the Movies. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 1995. Silvester, Christopher. The Penguin Book of Hollywood. New York: Viking, 1998.

Vaudeville For decades during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, vaudeville was a primary means of spreading mainstream entertainment in the United States. Vaudeville came before the establishment of a popular dramatic theater movement on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), and before movies, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and then television gained footholds on American popular culture. Vaudeville programs consisted of groups of diverse performers—including singers, dancers, actors, comedians, jugglers, acrobats, animal acts, and magicians—who were hired by talent bookers to tour through regions of the country, performing live, on what was known as the vaudeville “circuit.” The term vaudeville was derived from one of two sources. The first source was the French Val de Vire (or Vau de Vire), the

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The Crystal Hall theater, circa 1900, a “big time” vaudeville theater in the heart of New York City.

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valley of the Vire River in Normandy. The valley was famed for the comic songs and ballads originating in the region back in the fifteenth century. The second source is the “voix de ville” (“voice of the city”), the French term for urban folk songs. Vaudeville came to the forefront during the 1880s, when forward-thinking entrepreneurs (perhaps the best known was Benjamin Franklin Keith [1846–1914]) began to market entertainment for the masses. These entrepreneurs remodeled their theaters, sometimes to lavish proportions, and booked better-quality performers. Some vaudeville theaters were “small time.” These theaters were the less ornate venues (sites of events), many located in smaller towns, where lesser-known performers worked longer hours and earned more modest paychecks. Meanwhile, others were “big time.” These theaters, located in the major cities, were large, extravagantly designed entertainment palaces. The most popular, highest-salaried performers worked the major theaters, where schedules were less grueling and working conditions were far superior. Part of a vaudevillian’s professional status depended upon whether he or she worked a three-a-day or five-a-day schedule, referring to the number of performances per day.

Vaudeville

A typical vaudeville bill consisted of between nine and twelve individual acts. Shows generally were fast paced. As the decades passed, styles and standards were altered to fit the changing American scene. Into the early 1900s, even with an emphasis on bringing in family audiences, sensationalism was a great attraction in vaudeville. Customers were treated to such scandalous theatrics as wiggling exotic dancers removing layers of clothing while performing the “dance of the seven veils.” Customers came to the theater for star glimpses of such notorious beauties as Evelyn Nesbit (1884–1967), who had been the “other woman” in a celebrated murder case, and swimming champion Annette Kellerman (1887–1975), who had been arrested in Boston for wearing a one-piece bathing suit that had been deemed indecent. In addition, the humor occasionally was rowdy. Vaudeville programs featured songs and jokes that featured ethnic slurs against Irish, German, Italian, and Jewish immigrants. These insults provided laughs for both deeply rooted Americans and recent European immigrants. Nor were African Americans spared from being the butt of humor based on stereotype; however, many songs spotlighting black behavior actually were sentimental, particularly those that waxed nostalgic for a peaceful life down South. These numbers were performed mainly by white performers who “corked up” (used the black ash off burned corks as makeup) and appeared in blackface, which then was an acceptable practice. Among the many great stars of early vaudeville were singing comediennes Nora Bayes (1880–1928), Elsie Janis (1889–1956), and Eva Tanguay (1878–1947); juggler-comedian W. C. Fields (1879–1946); Julian Eltinge (1883–1941), a female impersonator; the comedy teams of Joe Weber (1867–1942) and Lew Fields (1867–1941) and Joe Smith (1884–1981) and Charlie Dale (1881–1971), specialists in ethnic humor; and Bert Williams (1874–1922), a renowned African American comedian. Around the turn of the twentieth century, motion picture shorts were added to many vaudeville bills. These were considered novelties, and few vaudevillians realized that the growth of the motion picture industry eventually would result in the death of vaudeville. While many vaudevillians made appearances in early motion pictures, W. C. Fields and other stars became movie headliners. Joining Fields were singer-comedian Eddie Cantor (1892–1964); and the comedy teams of Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) and Robert Woolsey (1889–1938), the

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Marx Brothers (Harpo [1888–1964], Groucho [1890–1977], Chico [1886–1961], and Zeppo [1901–1979]), and the husbandand-wife duo of George Burns (1896–1996) and Gracie Allen (1902–1964). Vaudeville began its decline in the late 1920s, with the expanding mass popularity of motion pictures. Back then, a typical screen program included two feature films and, perhaps, a newsreel or travelogue, a comedy short, and a cartoon. When compared with the easy profits that could be made showing films to the public, the coordination and presentation of live vaudeville shows became financially prohibitive—and so “canned entertainment” won the day. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Gilbert, Douglas. American Vaudeville: Its Life and Times. New York: Dover Publications, 1940, 1968. Green, Abel, and Joe Laurie Jr. Show Biz: From Vaude to Video. New York: Henry Holt, 1951. Laurie, Joe, Jr. Vaudeville: From the Honky Tonks to the Palace. New York: Henry Holt, 1953. Snyder, Robert. The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Staples, Shirley. Male/Female Comedy Teams in American Vaudeville, 1865–1932. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1984.

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Between 1907 and the early 1930s, the Ziegfeld Follies was the most spectacular and famous American revue (a theatrical production consisting of songs, skits, and dance numbers). The Follies was conceived by theatrical impresario (the promoter and manager of a theater company) Florenz Ziegfeld (1869–1932) and his first wife, European performer Anna Held (1873–1918). The revues featured singers introducing the day’s top musical numbers, dancers performing elaborately choreographed routines, comedians tickling funny bones, and actors performing one-act plays. Most of all, however, the Ziegfeld Follies was fabled for featuring scores of young, beautiful, elaborately costumed showgirls, who often would do little more than parade about or pose prettily, amid settings that formed a living picture, or tableau.

Ziegfeld Follies

The Follies began as an American version of sophisticated yet risqué (bordering on indecent) French revues such as the Folies Bergère. The American Follies quickly created a formula all its own: the production of romantic musical performances as well as the inclusion of more low-brow fare. The romantic musical performances featured ornate art-nouveau settings designed by artist Joseph Urban (1972–1933). (The term art nouveau refers to a movement in art, lasting from the 1890s to about 1914, that evolved into a decorative style.) The more unrefined low-brow fare highlighted the pretty showgirls, whose costumes included elaborate accessories such as headdresses but were quite revealing of the wearer’s body. Other revues might spotlight a couple dozen showgirls, but a typical Ziegfeld Follies would feature more than 120 attractive women. During the course of a show, there might be five or six costume changes. All the clothes, and the materials from which they were made, were handpicked by Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld viewed his showgirls—who came to be known as the Ziegfeld Girls—not as performers but as art objects to be adorned, creatures inhabiting an elaborate fantasy world. However, the Ziegfeld Girls were far from the entire show. Dozens of legendary singers, dancers, and comic performers appeared in the Follies, among them Bob Hope (1903–), Will Rogers (1879–1935; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1), Bert Lahr (1895–1967), Eddie Cantor (1892–1964), Fanny Brice (1891–1951), Marilyn Miller (1898–1936), Bert Williams (1874–1922), and Leon Errol (1881–1951). Famed songwriters Irving Berlin (1888–1989), Oscar Hammerstein (1895– 1960), and Jerome Kern (1885–1945) composed musical numbers for Ziegfeld. Many of the songs that debuted in the Follies went on to become standards of popular American music. The initial revue was called The Follies of 1907. Ziegfeld kept the Follies going for the next twenty-three years, until the advent of the Great Depression (1929–41). The Depression made the expensive productions impractical for both Ziegfeld to fund and potential ticket buyers to attend. His life and his Follies were captured on screen in several films: The Great Ziegfeld (1936), a biography featuring William Powell (1892–1984) in the title role, which became a Best Picture Academy Award winner; Ziegfeld Girl (1941), a tale of three Follies showgirls; and Ziegfeld Follies (1946), which featured skits, dances, and songs, all introduced by a fantasized Ziegfeld (played again by Powell) who now resided in heaven. —Audrey Kupferberg

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For More Information Cantor, Eddie. The Great Glorifier. New York: A. H. King, 1934. Carter, Randolph. The World of Flo Ziegfeld. New York: Praeger, 1974. Farnsworth, Marjorie. The Ziegfeld Follies. New York: Bonanza Books, 1956. The Great Ziegfeld (film). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1936. Higham, Charles. Ziegfeld. Chicago: Regnery, 1972. Ziegfeld Follies (film). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1946. Ziegfeld Girl (film). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1941.

1900s Food and Drink Like much else in America during the first decade of the twentieth century, how Americans prepared and ate their meals was also changing. At the heart of these changes was the movement from preparation of food in the home from scratch, using primitive appliances, to the preparation of prepackaged foods using modern, electric appliances. Although these changes occurred over the first thirty years of the century, they trace their beginnings to the 1900s. Here is a look at this transition from the vantage point of a typical middle-class kitchen. In 1901, Mrs. Jones, a middleclass housewife (a woman who did not have any servants in the house, which was still a common practice in this day in wellto-do households), spent the majority of her day cooking and cleaning. She tended a small garden that produced food for the family. In the fall, she canned fruit and vegetables to last through the winter. Mrs. Jones kept a fire burning in the woodor coal-burning stove on which she cooked the meals, although getting the heat level right was never easy. She fetched water in a bucket from the well out behind the house. She bought unbranded foods in bulk from the local grocer. By 1910, keeping house was beginning to get easier. The Jones family moved to the city, and their new apartment had running water, indoor toilets, and a gas stove. (Electric stoves were available, but too expensive.) Now Mrs. Jones did not have to spend most of her day tending a fire or fetching water—she simply turned on the flame or the faucet. Though she no longer had a garden, Mrs. Jones was lucky that a new A&P grocery store had opened just down the block. The A&P carried all types of dry food, fruits and vegetables (both fresh and canned), and refrigerated goods. Now that canned goods were readily available, Mrs. Jones no longer canned food of her own. She did not have to worry about the quality of the canned foods, because Congress had passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 to ensure the safety of mass-produced food. Among the Jones family’s favorite branded foods were products that were introduced in this decade: Coca-Cola, Cracker Jack popcorn, and Jell-O gelatin. When the

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Joneses wanted a change of pace, they could walk three blocks to the local diner, a low-cost restaurant that served good family food, or head out to the amusement park, where they could buy a hot dog and an ice-cream cone—new, popular fast foods. The growth of mass-produced, branded food products began to make life easier in this decade, and the food industry would expand dramatically through the century. The A&P Grocery Company pioneered the concept of the grocery chain, but it soon faced competition from regional and, later, national grocery chains. In diners and at hot dog stands, Americans got their first taste of fast food.

Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum Chewing gum dates back thousands of years, but only in the last two centuries has the practice become a widespread phenomenon, enjoyed by children and adults alike. With the mass marketing of chewing gum, and later bubble gum, those in need of fresh breath, sweet taste, and what the commercials call “pure chewing satisfaction” have many options from which to choose. The Ancient Greeks were probably the first gum chewers. They chewed a resin from the lentisk, or mastic tree. During the same period, the Mayans of Central America chewed chicle (pronounced CHI-kull), the milky sap of the sapodilla tree. More than twenty centuries later, chicle is still one of the primary ingredients of modern chewing gum. Other chewers of olden times include the native North Americans, who chewed the sap from red spruce trees. European colonists later picked up the habit and began trading the resin.

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The birth of modern chewing gum can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century, when chicle, imported to the United States, was combined with waxes and various additives to enhance its chewability. In 1848, John B. Curtis (1827–1897) made and sold the first commercial chewing gum, called the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. Shortly thereafter, chewing gum began being produced in a variety of flavors. U.S. troops serving in Europe in World War I (1914–18) introduced chewing gum to the local population. It proved an immediate hit, and a multimillion dollar industry was born. Popular brands of chewing gum have included Chiclets, Wrigley’s Spearmint,

Chewing Gum/Bubble Gum An early 1900s ad for Chiclets gum. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Doublemint, and Big Red. There are a wide variety of sweet, sugarless, and breath-freshening varieties. Gum technology took a major step forward when bubble gum was invented in 1928. Walter Diemer (c. 1904–1998), an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was experimenting with new gum recipes when he hit upon the bubble gum formula by accident. “I was doing something else,” Diemer later explained, “and ended up with something with bubbles.” He colored his concoction pink because that was the only color he had on hand. The result, dubbed Dubble Bubble, became a hit with consumers and has remained so ever since.

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Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, bubble gum has been marketed in a variety of novel and interesting ways. It has been included in packets of baseball cards, nested inside lollipops, and packaged with a humorous comic strip chronicling the adventures of the fictional character “Bazooka Joe.” However it is made or sold, it continues to win the hearts and exercise the jaws of children of all ages. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Landau, Elaine. Chewing Gum: A Sticky Treat. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Press, 2001. Wardlaw, Lee. Bubblemania: A Chewy History of Bubble Gum. New York: Aladdin, 1997. Young, Robert. The Chewing Gum Book. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1989.

Coca-Cola In 1886, an Atlanta, Georgia, pharmacist named John “Doc” Pemberton (1831–1888) concocted a thick, sweet brown syrup that he claimed would cure headaches and upset stomachs. Mixed with carbonated water and served for a nickel a glass at the counter of his pharmacy, Doc Pemberton’s drink grew in popularity and soon he was selling up to nine glasses a day. He named his creation Coca-Cola, after its most powerful ingredients, cocaine from the coca plant of South America and caffeine from the kola nut of Africa. From such humble beginnings, Coca-Cola has grown to become one of the most powerful corporations on earth. Sold in 195 countries, Coca-Cola is the largest selling soft drink, and the Coca-Cola bottling system is the most widespread production and distribution network in the world. More than that, “Coke” has come to represent American culture and lifestyle in both positive and negative ways at home and abroad.

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Pemberton may have been a creative inventor, but he was not an aggressive businessman. Soon after he introduced Coke in Atlanta, ownership of the product passed to Asa Candler (1851–1929), who was a sharp businessman and increased sales dramatically. He improved the original recipe, removing the cocaine, which was beginning to be considered a dangerous drug. By 1895, Candler was distributing Coca-Cola in every state and

territory in the United States. In 1919, Candler sold the business for $25 million dollars to a group of investors headed by Ernest Woodruff. It was Woodruff’s son, Robert (1889–1985), who would make Coke an international household word. When he assumed the presidency of the company in 1923, Robert Woodruff concentrated on creating the Coca-Cola image. His first step was the mystification of the “secret formula” for the drink. Mostly as an advertising trick, he made a very public show of hiding the handwritten copy of Pemberton’s original formula in a bank vault. Only two or three Coke executives would have access to the formula, he said, and their identities would be secret. Supposedly, these executives would not be allowed to travel together, so that in case of a car, train, or airplane crash, the formula would not be lost. The American public responded well to Woodruff’s little drama. He followed up by producing hundreds of products with the Coca-Cola logo. Trays, glasses, napkins, and calendars bearing the red-and-white script logo appeared in thousands of homes across the United States. However, it was the role of Coke in World War II (1939–45) that established the soft drink globally. When the United States joined World War II in 1941, Woodruff continued his campaign to identify his soft drink with basic American values. One of his smartest marketing moves was to supply Cokes to American servicemen at the U.S. price of five cents a bottle, no matter how far away they were stationed. Though this policy cost the company money, it was money well spent. Coca-Cola became a patriotic symbol of home to homesick soldiers, and the journalists who wrote about the war gave the drink priceless advertising in their stories. In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) set up ten Coca-Cola bottling plants in Northern Africa to supply American troops there. Although other soft drink companies, like Pepsi-Cola, tried to compete, none achieved the popularity of Coke. By the time the

Coke’s “Santa Claus” ad campaign has delighted consumers since the 1960s. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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war ended, the Coca-Cola company had sixty-three bottling plants set up in Europe, Africa, and Asia, ready to begin peacetime soft drink sales. Woodruff’s aggressiveness in advertising lived on at the company after his death, and the company’s advertising slogans have become almost as much a part of American culture as the soda itself. Coke has been called “the real thing,” “the pause that refreshes,” and “it.” A 1971 ad campaign identified Coke with world peace by gathering dozens of singers on an Italian hillside to sing “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.” More than a soda with doubtful health benefits and some peculiar uses—bottles of Coca-Cola syrup are still offered by some pharmacies as a remedy for indigestion, and many household-hints books recommend its acid for cleaning automobile battery terminals—Coca-Cola has become a symbol of the American way of life. As such, many people outside the United States see the soft drink as a symbol of an American invasion of their country, both culturally and economically. Coca-Cola is now a gigantic corporation that also produces Minute Maid juices and soft drinks Tab and Sprite, along with sport drinks, bottled water, and coffee drinks. However, that fizzy brown soda pop that some call “Georgia champagne” continues to convince generations of Americans that “things go better with Coke.” —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Brands, H. W. “Coca Cola Goes to War.” American History (Vol. 34, no. 3, August 1999): pp. 30-37. Coca-Cola Web Site. http://www.cocacola.com (accessed December 14, 2001). Kahn, Ely Jacques. The Big Drink: The Story of Coca-Cola. New York: Random House, 1960. Oliver, Thomas. The Real Coke, The Real Story. New York: Random House, 1986. Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Collier Books, 1994.

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Children love popcorn, especially if a caramel coating adds sweetness and flavor to each piece. Mix in some peanuts, and

Cracker Jack The label used on the 1902 Cracker Jack boxes, nearly ten years before “prizes” were added to each treat. AP/ Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

the result is a simple yet surefire taste treat. These three ingredients—popcorn, caramel, and peanuts—make up Cracker Jack, a snack that is an essential part of the American childhood experience. Adding to the fun of purchasing Cracker Jack is that included in each box is a small toy, made even more enticing by being labelled a “prize.” The origin of Cracker Jack dates to 1871, when a German immigrant named Frederick William Rueckheim (1846–1934) began selling a popcorn snack on a Chicago street corner. Customers loved his confection (sweet treat), but they were bothered

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by the stickiness of the caramel. This problem was resolved when Louis Rueckheim (1849–1927), Frederick’s brother, invented a secret process that kept the caramel dry and crispy. Around this time, Louis offered the popcorn-peanuts-caramel mixture to a salesman, who declared, “That’s a crackerjack” (a popular slang term meaning very good). The brothers liked the salesman’s pronouncement and named their product Cracker Jack. The new popcorn snack made its debut in 1893 at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, the city’s first World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1). In 1908, Cracker Jack was immortalized in a song that was to become a favorite of baseball fans. In “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” lyricist Jack Norworth (1879–1959) penned the line, “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.” Then in 1912, small toys were added to each box. In ensuing decades, over seventeen billion prizes have been “awarded” to Cracker Jack purchasers. Among the numerous Cracker Jack prizes offered across the years are miniature plates, puzzles, books, bookmarks, pinball games, plastic figurines, and self-adhesive stickers. The product’s logo, consisting of an illustration of a boy named Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo, was introduced during World War I (1914–18). Over the years, Cracker Jack has been marketed in a Butter Toffee flavor and in a fat-free version. The Cracker Jack company also sells other products, including Checkers Popcorn, Campfire Marshmallows, and Angelus Marshmallows. Still, its first product, based on Frederick William Rueckheim’s original formula, remains the company favorite. —Rob Edelman

For More Information The Cracker Jack Box. http://pw1.netcom.com/~jeepers/CJBhome.html (accessed December 14, 2001). White, Larry. Cracker Jack Toys: The Complete, Unofficial Guide for Collectors. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1997.

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Before the dominance of national fast food chains (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) in the 1950s, the

diner was the most popular type of inexpensive restaurant for many Americans. Like their fast food cousins, diners emerged as a response to the expanding automobile culture in the United States. Many diners were located along highways, where they offered short-order, home-style meals, complete with apple pie and coffee, to hungry travelers. The diner itself evolved from horse-drawn lunch wagons of the late nineteenth century. These lunch wagons also served take-out meals in the downtowns of many cities after the restaurants had closed for the night. By the 1890s, stationary diners were being built. The stationary diners resembled lunch wagons, with counters, stools, and grills efficiently laid out in a compact, horizontal format. Simple dishes like hamburgers, hot dogs, eggs, soups, and desserts were served. These early diners were sometimes converted railroad or trolley cars, or were mass produced by such entrepreneurs as Thomas H. Buckley, who had planted them in more than 275 cities across the country. By the 1930s, diners took on a streamlined look, often clad in shiny, chromelike materials and featuring Formica or stainless-steel counters, giving them a sleek Art moderne, or art

An example of a diner in 1952. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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deco, signature that emphasized cleanliness and efficiency. (Art deco, also called art moderne, was an artistic movement of the 1920s and 1930s influenced by the machine age and characterized by geometric patterns and curving forms.) After the 1960s, as a response to the standardized look and menu of fast-food outlets such as McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) and Burger King (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), many diners were expanded to include table service and also redesigned to express a unique atmosphere, such as Grecian, Mediterranean, colonial, Polynesian, or Googie (a futuristic, space-age decor that emerged in Los Angeles, named for a coffee shop of the same name built there in 1949). From the 1970s, spurred by architectural historians and others, there has been a revival of interest in the diner as a center of American popular culture, where feisty, overworked employees “slung hash” to impatient customers. The 1982 film Diner, directed by Barry Levinson (1942–), helped perpetuate this image. So, too, did one of the most famous television commercials of all time, which featured a harried waitress easily mopping up spills in a New Jersey diner with Bounty paper towels (the “quick picker-upper!”). The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, includes a fully equipped 1946 diner as part of its collection of cultural artifacts. —Edward Moran

For More Information Baeder, John. Diners. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1978. Googie Architecture Online. http://www.spaceagecity.com/googie (accessed January 4, 2002). Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner Then and Now. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Hess, Alan. Googie: Fifties Coffee Shop Architecture. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1985.

Hot Dogs

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A hot dog is a sandwich that Americans by the millions enjoy at sporting events, picnics, and backyard cookouts. Along with a hamburger (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3) and French fries (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink

A hot dog consists of a boiled or grilled frankfurter on a soft bun that is long and thin, to follow the shape of the frank. Most often, the sandwich is garnished with mustard or ketchup. Sauerkraut, onions, and pickle relish are often added, singly or in combination. Frankfurters, also known as wieners, are smoked sausages that have been enclosed in several-inch-long cylindrical casings. Their main ingredient is beef or a combination of beef and pork. The origin of the frankfurter is imprecise. Some say that, many centuries ago, the Babylonians devised it by stuffing spiced meat into animal intestines. Others claim that it was invented in Frankfurt, Germany, during the fifteenth century. Frankfurters and buns supposedly were wedded when Charles Feltman (1841–1910), a German immigrant, concluded that visitors to the Brooklyn, New York, seaside community of Coney Island (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) might enjoy a hot sandwich they could hold in their hands while strolling about. In 1867, Feltman attached a small charcoal stove to a pushcart and began selling freshly cooked frankfurters on rolls. Feltman parlayed his profits into a restaurant, Feltman’s German Beer Garden, which he opened in Coney Island. At Feltman’s, seven grills prepared thousands of frankfurters each day, which were sold for ten cents apiece. In 1916, Nathan Handwerker (1892–1974), an ex-Feltman’s employee, began selling “hot dogs” from a small building located at Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, right by a subway station entrance. Handwerker priced his hot dogs at five cents. They proved so popular that his enterprise became a Coney Island landmark that exists to this day. The business eventually evolved into Nathan’s Famous, a fast-food chain. Unlike McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3), Burger King (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), and Wendy’s, where hamburger variations are the signature products, hot dogs still are spotlighted at Nathan’s Famous. In the 1930s, the Oscar Meyer Company became the first company to sell frankfurters in supermarkets. Oscar Meyer also began targeting children in its marketing campaigns. Beginning in 1936, its Weinermobile embarked on promotional cross-country trips.

Hot Dogs

in volume 3), it is a simple, all-American food, as common to the American table as crepes are to the French, tacos are to Mexicans, and fish and chips are to the British. In 2000, Americans consumed some twenty billion hot dogs.

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The hot dog made its debut at sporting arenas just after the turn of the twentieth century. Harry Stevens (1855–1934), a concession-stand operator at New York’s Polo Grounds, a ballpark located in upper Manhattan, was having difficulty selling ice cream and cold sodas during early-season New York Giants baseball games. On a whim, he replaced them with franks and buns. Legend has it that T. A. “Tad” Dorgan (1877–1929), a newspaper cartoonist, heard Stevens’s vendors yelling, “Get your dachshund sausages while they’re red hot.” He caricatured them as dachshund dogs, and from then on the sandwiches were known as hot dogs. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Graulich, David. The Hot Dog Companion: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Food We Love. New York: Lebhar-Friedman Books, 1999. “History of the Hot Dog.” National Hot Dog & Sausage Council. http://www.hot-dog.org/hd_history.htm (accessed January 4, 2002). Sebak, Rick, writer and producer. A Hot Dog Program (video). Alexandria, VA: PBS Home Video, 1999.

Ice-Cream Cone One of the most popular American snacks, it is generally believed the ice-cream cone was initially popularized at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. At that time, Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian waffle vendor, created the “World’s Fair Cornucopia” by taking portions of ice cream being dispensed by a fellow vendor who had run out of dishes and serving them up inside waffles that were folded into a cone-like shape. However, other sources, including the Library of Congress, claim that the icecream cone was invented on July 23, 1904, by Charles E. Menches of St. Louis and that it did not make its debut as a “walk-away” treat until later that year, at the St. Louis Exposition. A year earlier, a patent for a cone maker had been granted to Italo Marchiony (1868–1954), a New York pushcart vendor, who claimed to have been serving ice-cream cones (paper and later pastry) since 1896. But it was Hamwi who apparently popularized the concept through his Cornucopia Waffle Company and, later, his Missouri Cone Company. 64

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Since the early 1900s, billions of this confectionery treat have been enjoyed all over the world. (They are known as “cor-

Jell-O

nets” in the United Kingdom.) During the 1920s and 1930s, consumers enjoyed cones in a variety of shapes, including skyscrapers (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and battleships. Since the 1940s, two kinds of cones have emerged as standards: “sugar” cones, which can be flat-bottomed or pointy, and “waffle” cones made from a large folded wafer. In recent years, hand-baked and hand-rolled waffle cones, often in a variety of flavors like chocolate, oat bran, or honey, have become popular. Environmentalists like the concept because the package and the product are consumed together, leaving no waste or litter behind. —Edward Moran

For More Information Damerov, Gail. Ice Cream! The Whole Scoop. Lakewood, CO: Glenbridge Publishing, Ltd., 1995. Dickson, Paul. The Great American Ice Cream Book. New York: Atheneum, 1972. Funderburg, Anne. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry: A History of American Ice Cream. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1995. Gustaitis, John. “Who Invented the Ice Cream Cone?” American History Illustrated (Vol. 23, 1988): pp. 42-44. “Ice Cream Cone.” http://www.fspronet.com/archive/iccone.html (accessed January 4, 2002). Library of Congress. “The Invention of the Ice Cream Cone.” America’s Story from America’s Library. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/pages/ jb_0723_icecream_1.html (accessed January 4, 2002).

Jell-O Jell-O is the brand name for a powdered, fruit-flavored gelatin dessert invented in 1897 and widely popularized after the 1920s. The dessert first appealed to busy American housewives seeking low-cost, convenient dishes to serve to their families. Over the years, its makers took full advantage of new advertising and marketing strategies to promote the brand image of Jell-O, making it arguably the nation’s most recognizable and popular convenience-food product. Powdered gelatin was invented in 1845 by Peter Cooper (1791–1883) but the concept did not catch on until 1897, when Pearl B. Wait developed a fruit-flavored version that his wife named Jell-O. He sold the patent to Orator Francis Woodward

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in 1899 for $450, who began marketing the product in 1902 through the Genesee Pure Food Company of LeRoy, New York. At the time, gelatin desserts required much labor and time to prepare, making them available only to wealthier consumers who had the proper equipment. The advent of powdered Jell-O made these desserts available to the general public for the first time. Jell-O introduced its first pudding products in 1929. From its earliest days, Jell-O’s manufacturers were masters at promoting their product. They created recipe booklets and offered promotional items such as molded dishes to persuade housewives to use the new product. (They even handed out jello molds to immigrants at Ellis Island.) In 1903, Jell-O representatives promoted the product using a fictionalized character called the Jell-O Girl. The character was refashioned in 1908 by Rose O’Neill (1874–1944), creator of the Kewpie doll (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1). Through the 1920s, O’Neill’s Kewpie dolls appeared in many advertisements for Jell-O. Artists like Norman Rockwell (1894–1978; see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1) and Maxfield Parrish (1870–1966) contributed illustrations to promote the brand. L. Frank Baum (1856–1919), author of The Wizard of Oz (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), published an edition of his Oz books as a tie-in with Jell-O. In later years, the product was promoted on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) by Jack Benny (1894–1974; see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Kate Smith (1907–1986) and on television by Roy Rogers (1911–1998), Andy Griffith (1926–; see entry on The Andy Griffith Show under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), and Ethel Barrymore (1879–1959). From the 1970s through the 1990s, Bill Cosby (1937–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) was the chief spokesperson for Jell-O and Jell-O Pudding. Often sneered at by critics who see it as a low-class dessert suitable only for cafeterias and truck-stop diners, Jell-O, despite its wiggly texture, has become a symbol of fast-food convenience for millions of time-starved homemakers. —Edward Moran

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Armitage, Shelley. Kewpies and Beyond: The World of Rose O’Neill. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994.

Soda Fountains From the late 1800s through the 1950s, Americans gathered at drug store soda fountains to gossip, flirt, chat, and drink elaborate new concoctions of sugary syrup, ice cream, and carbonated water. In an era when drinking alcohol was being criticized more and more, the clean, ornate soda fountains provided a socially acceptable alternative to bars and saloons, and the frothy new “soda pop” they dispensed was thought to be the height of health and modernity. The invention of home refrigeration and bottled sodas, along with a population spread out in suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) instead of gathered in town centers, helped end the golden age of the soda fountain. However, soda fountains still have a place in American culture, readily visible in films and television, from the 1919 film True Heart Susie, starring Lillian Gish (1883–1993; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1), to the 1970s television series about the 1950s, Happy Days (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4).

Soda Fountains

Celebrating One Hundred Years of Jell-O. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 1997. Kraft Foods. The Cool History of Jell-O. http://www.kraftfoods.com/jello/history (accessed January 4, 2002).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the birthplace of the soda fountain in 1825, when apothecary Elias Durand (1794–1873) opened the first modern drugstore there, selling the newly invented “soda water” by the glass. Soda water was supposed to have numerous health benefits, but soon people began to gather at Durand’s shop as much to socialize as to drink the carbonated water. Soon, drugstores added cream and syrups flavored with sugars, herbs, and spices to their soda water. They built elaborately decorated counters with seats for patrons and ornate faucets for serving their drinks. The people, mostly men, who worked behind the counters creating the delicious drinks were called “soda jerks,” because they jerked the handles on the dispensers to spray foamy carbonation into the syrup. Formulas for chocolate, lemon, strawberry and sarsparilla (root-beer-flavored) sodas as well as for more complex sodas were found in large recipe books behind the counter. One day in 1874, another Philadelphian, Robert Green, ran out of cream for making sodas. When he added vanilla ice

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A soda jerk awaits customers at this Minnesota soda fountain in 1905. Minnesota Historical Society/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

cream instead, he had created another mainstay of the soda fountain, the ice cream soda. Soon ice cream sundaes and milkshakes joined sodas on the fountain menu. By 1910, there were over one hundred thousand soda fountains across the United States, many serving food as well as sodas and ice cream. World War II (1939–45) brought severe rationing of many of the ingredients used at soda fountains as well as a shortage of men to work at them. After the war, the fountains revived briefly, receiving a boost from the juke-box rock music of the 1950s (see entry on juke boxes in 1930s—Music in volume 3), but they did not make enough money for their owners and soon disappeared. They are still a beloved part of American history however, and nostalgia has prompted restaurants in the 1990s and 2000s to adopt the decorative style of old-fashioned soda fountains. —Tina Gianoulis

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Funderburg, Anne Cooper. Sundae Best: A History of Soda Fountains. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2001.

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Pearce, Elizabeth R. “Brown Cows and Walking Sundaes: A Soda Fountain Memoir.” Gourmet (Vol. 43, July 1983): pp. 20–28. Rapoport, Roger. “Restored Soda Fountains of Yesteryear.” Americana (Vol. 19, no. 3, July-August 1991): pp. 60–64. Schwartz, David M. “Life Was Sweeter, and More Innocent, in Our Soda Days.” Smithsonian (Vol. 1, July 1986): pp. 114–23.

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1900s Music Music was an immensely popular form of entertainment in America in the first decade of the century, though not in the same way it is today. Americans did not buy prerecorded records or CDs and play them on stereo equipment. Instead, most American popular music was produced in the home, most likely on a piano, from sheet music purchased from one of many sheet music companies. Most music was produced by amateurs for small audiences of family and friends, but music was also a developing form in this decade. In fact, this was a decade of vibrant musical production. The sheet music publishing industry was centered in a district of New York City known as Tin Pan Alley, where skilled musicians composed popular music to sell to the masses. Between 1900 and 1909, nearly one hundred of the Tin Pan Alley songs had sold more than one million copies of sheet music. Ragtime music was one of the most popular forms of sheet music, and the king of ragtime was an African American named Scott Joplin (c. 1867–1917). African Americans as a whole fared better in the field of music than they did elsewhere in American popular culture in the decade. Bert Williams (1875–1922), George Walker (1873–1911), Bob Cole (1868–1911), and the Johnson Brothers (J. Rosamond, 1873–1954; James Weldon, 1871–1938) were among the most successful composers of the decade. Two of the most important American musical forms trace their roots to this decade. Performers W. C. Handy (1873–1958) and Ma Rainey (1886–1939) published and performed the first songs recognized as the blues in this decade. Jazz originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, out of music that combined the rhythms of blues, ragtime, and other musical forms. Both blues and jazz emerged as uniquely American music forms in the 1920s, and some of the earliest and greatest practitioners of these forms were African Americans. Thomas Edison (1847–1931) invented the phonograph in 1877, a device that could play music that had been recorded on a metal cylinder. Other phonographs, first called gramophones,

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played music recorded on a vinyl disc. The first recordings to be sold to a wide audience were recorded in 1902 by opera singer Enrico Caruso (1873–1921). Soon, other opera and concert singers began recording their songs. More popular singers began to record songs, but their recordings did not become a mass phenomena until the 1910s, when recording companies improved their manufacturing and marketing systems.

Jazz Jazz music is one of the most original and innovative of American musical forms. Throughout the twentieth century, jazz evolved to encompass a variety of complex styles and it produced some of the century’s greatest composers and musicians. Jazz originated in the early 1900s, mostly in the South, and especially in New Orleans, Louisiana. Drawing from African American blues and ragtime music, jazz added more complex rhythms and a wider range of tones to create a new style. As it developed in the 1910s and 1920s, a number of important early innovators took jazz in new directions, including Joseph “King” Oliver (1885–1938), Sidney Bechet (1897–1959), Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941), and especially trumpeter Louis Armstrong (1901–1971). Armstrong was a phenomenal soloist, and he moved the solo instrument to the forefront of jazz. Jazz music often began with a single melody, and then various soloists would add their own touches to it until it became their own. While African American jazz artists such as Armstrong were creating new innovations in jazz, white musicians and band leaders, such as Paul Whiteman (1890–1967), brought a softer version of jazz to white audiences for dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in the 1920s.

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In the 1930s and early 1940s, jazz moved into what was called the “swing era.” Bands got bigger and the music became more popular. Rather than consisting of small groups of five to seven musicians, now the big bands (see entry under 1930s—Music in volume 2) might be as large as twenty people, including four to five trumpet players, four to five saxophone players, a drummer, a bassist, and often vocalists. During this time, African American bands continued to be the most innovative. The band led by Fletcher Henderson (1897–1952) was extremely popular, as was

the band of Count Basie (1904–1984). Both were known for their driving rhythms and great sound. Even more important was Duke Ellington (1899–1974), who led his own band but was even more important for his songwriting. Ellington wrote popular songs such as “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.” He also extended jazz in a new direction by writing longer pieces of music that resembled classical music in their complexity. His composition “Black, Brown, and Beige,” a musical history of African Americans, is a notable example of this development. Following these African American musical leaders, white band leaders such as Benny Goodman (1909–1986), Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956), and Glenn Miller (1904–1944) also made jazz music that excited dancers and listeners, both black and white. Jazz’s popularity as “swing” or “big band” music led younger black musicians in the mid-1940s to break out in a new direction. Feeling that popular jazz music was too simple and bland, musicians such as Charlie Parker (1920–1955), Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993), Thelonious Monk (1917–1982), and Bud Powell (1924–1966) created a new style called “bebop.” Bebop was not dance music. It had complex rhythms and lightning-fast solo note runs that favored innovation and personal expression over melody. Parker and Gillespie showcased this new style in such compositions such as “Ornithology,” “Ko-Ko,” and “Salt Peanuts.” Both big bands and swing music faded in the 1950s as rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) became more popular, but jazz in the bebop style continued. Bebop did not draw the large crowds of dancing fans, but it continued to excite loyal listeners in jazz clubs and concert halls across the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, jazz moved in new directions again. Bebop continued, including a more soulful version called “hard bop,” but the music also developed in other ways. “Cool jazz” emerged under the influence of trumpeter Miles Davis (1926–1991). This style was more introspective and subdued,

Jazz great Jelly Roll Morton. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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evoking a wider range of moods than the fiery-fast bebop style. Davis’ album The Birth of the Cool remains a landmark work in this style. This period also saw the rise of new and important jazz musicians. Bassist Charles Mingus (1922–1979) brought gospel and blues back into jazz. Mingus also wrote musical works that expressed political views and commented on the problems of racism in America. John Coltrane (1926–1967) emerged on the saxophone as one of the most impressive soloists in the history of jazz on albums such as Blue Train, Giant Steps, and A Love Supreme. This era also produced important white jazz musicians, including pianist and composer Dave Brubeck (1920–), who had hits with his songs “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” both of which used complex time signatures and rhythms, and saxophonist Stan Getz (1927–1991), who helped fuse Brazilian bossa nova styles with jazz in a way that became very popular in the early 1960s. In the later 1960s and into the 1970s, jazz continued to move in new directions. “Free” jazz or “avant-garde” jazz took bebop one step further in exciting but difficult compositions that moved away from the standard song and melody composition form. Musicians such as Ornette Coleman (1930–) and Cecil Taylor (1929–) experimented with new and often dissonant sounds (sounding harsh and lacking harmony) in their music. In the 1970s, jazz fusion emerged as a way to combine jazz and rock styles. Musicians such as John McLaughlin (1942–), Chick Corea (1941–), and Herbie Hancock (1940–) used electric guitars and keyboards to extend jazz’s sound. In the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond, jazz music moved on a number of levels. Fusion merged into a lighter, more commercial, form of jazz that many people did not consider jazz at all. Young players continued to emerge, both in the traditional jazz styles and in new innovative ways. Among the most popular of the traditionalists was Wynton Marsalis (1961–). He was also instrumental in forming and leading the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, a group dedicated to keeping alive the classics of jazz. Thus, by the end of the twentieth century, jazz no longer had the popularity it did in the 1930s and 1940s, but it had kept its loyal fans and continued to attract new ones. Because jazz includes so many diverse styles and artists that there is something for everyone to enjoy, jazz keeps its place as one of the most important of American musical styles.

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—Timothy Berg

Burns, Ken, writer and director. Jazz (video). PBS-TV, 2000. Collier, James Lincoln. The Making of Jazz: A Comprehensive History. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Giddins, Gary. Visions of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Hentoff, Nat, and Nat Shapiro. Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya: An Oral History of Jazz. New York: Dover, 1966. Lee, Jeanne. Jam!: The Story of Jazz Music. New York: Rosen, 1999. Meltzer, David, ed. Reading Jazz. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1993. Public Broadcasting System. Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. http://www. pbs.org/jazz (accessed January 7, 2002). Seymour, Gene. Jazz: The Great American Art. New York: Franklin Watts, 1995.

Scott Joplin

For More Information

Scott Joplin (1868–1917) When one thinks of ragtime, one thinks of Scott Joplin, a pioneering African American musician and composer. Ragtime is a lively, melodic style of music that, at the turn of the twentieth century, was acknowledged as fresh and uniquely American. At the time, it was labeled “the folk music of the American city,” and Joplin was famed as the “King of Ragtime Writers.” While growing up in Texas amidst a family of sharecroppers, Joplin heard—and was influenced by—African American work songs and spirituals as well as European waltzes and marches. He began playing the piano and studied music with a Germanborn teacher, from whom he learned the manner in which European musical compositions were structured. He blended all of these influences into his own rhythmically adventurous brand of music, which he began performing while still an adolescent. In the 1890s, he found himself in Sedalia, Missouri, where he took music courses at the George R. Smith College for Negroes and became a member of the Queen City Band, an all-black group that performed at public and private events. Joplin’s compositions soon were published; during his lifetime, his most fabled was “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899). It was followed by “Peacherine Rag” (1901), “Augustan Club Waltz” (1901), “A Breeze from Alabama” (1902), “Elite Syncopation” (1902), “The Entertainer” (1902), “The Strenuous Life” (1902), “Gladiolus Rag” (1907), “Pine Apple Rag” (1908), and “Solace—A Mexican Serenade” (1909).

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Joplin earned his living from sheet music sales and by teaching and performing. He viewed himself not as a writer of popular music, however, but as a serious composer. His more important compositions—which, predictably, were not his most popular in the mass market—included The Ragtime Dance (1902), a ragtime ballet, and The Guest of Honor (1903), a ragtime opera. During the final decade of his life, he worked on Treemonisha (1911), a second ragtime opera, whose key theme was the desperate need for education within the African American community. Unfortunately, Treemonisha was performed only once during Joplin’s lifetime, in 1915. Scott Joplin was long forgotten by the public at the time of the release of The Sting (1973), a film whose score consisted of Joplin rags. The success of the film, which won many Academy Awards, initiated a ragtime renaissance. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Benson, Kathleen, and James Haskins. Scott Joplin. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978. Berlin, Edward. “A Biography of Scott Joplin.” The Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation. http://www.scottjoplin.org/biog.htm (accessed January 7, 2002). Berlin, Edward. The King of Ragtime: A Biography of Scott Joplin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Curtis, Susan. Dancing to a Black Man’s Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994.

Phonograph The phonograph gave birth to the modern recording industry. Without it, there would not be records, cassette tapes, compact discs, or digital MP3s. Invented by Thomas Edison (1837–1931) in 1877, the phonograph proved to be one of the most influential technologies in history. The phonograph revolutionized entertainment and the field of music throughout the twentieth century until cassette tapes began crowding out the medium in the 1970s and then compact disc (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) technology replaced it in the 1990s.

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Edison’s invention came from his experiments attempting to record and preserve phone conversations. When he discovered that a human voice could cut a signal into tinfoil, the origins

of the modern phonograph were born. Edison improved the device using wax cylinders and later adopted a disc format developed by Emile Berliner (1851–1929). Although the phonograph did not take off as a way to record and preserve phone calls, it did find great popularity in the entertainment world, spawning the modern recording industry in the 1910s. Before this time, people could only hear music played live or make their own music, and most people heard only a limited amount and variety of music. The phonograph changed all that. As phonographs became cheaper to buy, more people could afford them. Record companies responded by producing records of all sorts. There were blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) and jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) records, country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), big band (see entry under 1930s—Music in volume 2) music, ethnic songs, dance music, classical symphonies, speeches, and many more kinds of records. The phonograph was especially popular with people in rural areas and with poor and middle-class people. People in rural areas lived too far away to attend live music concerts, and poor and middle-class people could not afford to hear symphony orchestras very often, if at all. The phonograph proved to be an instrument of social change as well. In the 1950s, rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music

In the well-known painting (c. 1895) by Francis Barraud, titled “His Master’s Voice,” Nipper the dog marvels at hearing sounds coming through the phonograph’s horn. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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in volume 3) was successful largely because teenagers could afford to purchase rock-and-roll 45-rpm singles to play on their phonographs. (Singles were called 45s because the recordings were played at a speed of 45 revolutions of the turntable per minute.) Because they could choose the records, rather than having adults on the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) choose their music, teenagers helped spur rock and roll on to great success, spawning a whole era of teen rebellion. In the 1960s, that tradition continued as the phonograph provided a means for folk musicians (see Folk Music entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) to have their protest songs heard. Rock music continued pushing the boundaries of social convention and bringing new insights to young people around the world. Few mass technologies have had such an important social impact. Eventually, the phonograph was eclipsed by the development of cassette tapes in the 1970s and of compact discs in the 1990s. Both technologies were more durable, portable, and lightweight than phonographs (by now, also called turntables). Despite this, many people still collect vinyl records and restore old phonographs, keeping the technology alive. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Eisenberg, Evan. Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture. London: Picador, 1987. Koenigsbert, Allan. The Patent History of the Phonograph. Brooklyn, NY: APM Press, 1990. Millard, Andre. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

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1900s Print Culture In an age before radio and television claimed the attention of Americans, reading was one of the most popular leisure-time activities. American writers and publishers churned out a variety of reading material to suit the tastes of every reader, from comic strips to magazines to dime novels to classics. The comic strip was created just before the turn of the century when Richard Outcault (1863–1928) created a character known as the Yellow Kid in a series known as Hogan’s Alley. Later strips such as The Katzenjammer Kids and Mutt & Jeff made such characteristics as word balloons, a distinctive cast of characters, and the use of a series of panels the common conventions of the comic strip. Still, by 1908 there were only five newspapers that ran daily comic strips. Although magazines—collections of fiction and nonfiction often published on a weekly or a monthly schedule—had been around for many years, the so-called “magazine revolution” of 1893 made it possible to produce massive numbers of magazines and sell them for very little money—sometimes as little as a nickel an issue—thanks to the financial support of advertisers. By 1900, magazines such as Argosy, Cosmopolitan, the Ladies’ Home Journal, McClure’s, Munsey’s, the Saturday Evening Post, and others were read by millions of readers. American advertisers enthusiastically sought space in these magazines, for they provided the best possible way to reach the greatest number of potential consumers. The same technological advances in printing that allowed for the mass-circulation magazine also spurred the sales of the dime novel, a cheaply produced paperback book that sold for a dime. Dime novels were usually written by unknown writers who worked from outlines provided by the publisher; the stories involved romance, mystery, and adventure. Westerns were one of the most popular forms. Although he did not write dime novels, Jack London (1876–1916) wrote adventure stories set at sea or in the West, and his books sold millions. London was

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considered by many at the time as a “hack” writer—a writer who writes solely to make money or who writes over and over in the same way, almost as if using a formula. Today, London is considered one of the greater American novelists and is read widely in schools.

Argosy A popular men’s magazine published in the United States from 1888 until 1979, Argosy was the first of the “pulp” magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), so called because of the cheap, rough paper on which they were printed. It was also the first adult magazine to rely almost exclusively on fiction for its content, usually adventure, detective, science fiction, or western stories that were thought to appeal to a male readership. Argosy traced its roots to Golden Argosy: Freighted with Treasures for Boys and Girls, a magazine created by Frank Munsey (1854–1925) in 1882 to appeal to young people. By 1886, Munsey was publishing adult stories in the magazine, whose name he changed to Argosy two years later. In 1896, he shifted to pulp paper and began publishing serial fiction (stories that were “serialized,” or broken into sections across several issues) exclusively, with an emphasis on action, adventure, and mystery stories. By the time of Munsey’s death in 1925, Argosy had helped popularize fictional characters like Tarzan (see entry under 1910s— Print Culture in volume 1), Zorro (see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1), The Shadow (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), and Sam Spade. It featured stories from some of the most noted authors of the day.

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By 1907, Argosy had a circulation (the total number of copies sold) of five hundred thousand, but the magazine had a checkered history in the twentieth century. Circulation declined to forty thousand by 1940. The magazine was renamed New Argosy in 1942 but was banned from the mails for “obscenity.” Sold to Popular Publications, a major publishing company, the magazine was renamed Argosy: The Complete Men’s Magazine in 1946 and became a “slick” periodical with four-color layouts and better-quality adventure, sports, and humorous stories. By

—Edward Moran

For More Information

Buster Brown

1953, the circulation had increased to 1.25 million. Popular Publications was dissolved in 1972 and the magazine was sold to Blazing Publications, Inc. It finally folded in 1979, a victim of rising postal rates.

“The Argosy & Related Magazines.” Magazine Issues. http://www.pulpgen.com/pulp/biglist/mags/argosy.html (accessed December 14, 2001). Moonan, Willard. “Argosy.” In American Mass-Market Magazine. Edited by Alan and Barbara Nourie. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990. Server, Lee. Danger Is My Business: An Illustrated History of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines, 1896–1953. New York: Chronicle, 1993.

Buster Brown Though Buster Brown and his bulldog Tige are best known today as trademarks for a brand of clothing and shoes, they got their start as one of America’s first comic strips. The beloved pair were created in 1902 by cartoonist Richard Felton Outcault (1863–1928), who also created the very first comic strip in the United States, The Yellow Kid. Buster Brown, dressed in his familiar red smock and bloomers, with blond bangs and an angelic face, was a mischievous little boy whose antics always got him into trouble. His loyal companion Tige was the first talking animal in a cartoon strip. Buster Brown’s popularity led manufacturers to pay to use his image on over two hundred products. Besides advertising such items as shoes and clothes, Buster and Tige appeared in books and silent movies (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). Today, though almost no one remembers Outcault’s comic strip, which ended during the early 1920s, most Americans are familiar with Buster Brown shoes and clothes, and know what a Buster Brown haircut looks like. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Markstein, Donald D. “Buster Brown.” Don Markstein’s Toonopedia. http://www.toonopedia.com/buster.htm (accessed January 8, 2002).

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Dime Novels An example of a Buster Brown cartoon from 1905. Illustration by R. F. Outcault. Field Newspaper Syndicate.

Dime Novels

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Dime novels captivated readers with sensational fictitious stories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Called dime novels because the first examples cost just ten cents, dime novels appeared at regular intervals and told exciting stories of adventure, mystery, and romance. Readers were encouraged to collect and read whole series of novels featuring a favorite hero or a type of adventure. Costs were kept down by

printing the novels on low-quality paper, often with drawn illustrations. By 1900, several publishers had entered the market and in their heyday each title could sell millions of copies. The popularity of pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and cinema squeezed dime novels out of the entertainment market by the 1920s. No original titles appeared after that decade. The first dime novel was Maleska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter. It was published in 1860 by Irwin P. Beadle and was a romance set in the American West. Beadle’s mass-market dime novels took advantage of the growing number of readers and cheaper printing technology. By the early 1900s, the range of settings for the stories was huge, although the plots were mostly the same. Dime novel subjects included the American West, the Revolutionary War, Native Americans, the circus, the railroad, sports, science fiction, and detective mysteries. Polar exploration was also common. Dime novels were written to very strict guidelines, often by groups of writers working under the same name. Writers were instructed to make them exciting, entertaining, and moral. Even so, these tales of violence and passion were thought by some to be a corrupting influence on their young readers. These same arguments continued into the twenty-first century against films, cartoons, and pop stars like Eminem (1972–) and Marilyn Manson (1969–). Writers of dime novels included Edward Stratemeyer (1962–1930), who created the girl detective Nancy Drew, and Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), the author of Little Women. Alcott wrote dime novels under the name A. M. Bernard to protect her reputation as a serious novelist. Because they were printed on cheap paper and because they were seen as disposable, few dime novels exist outside of libraries in the twenty-first century. As literature, dime novels were considered by scholars to have little value. But as historical artifacts,

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they reveal a great deal about American life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Stanford University Special Collections. “Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls.” http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/dp/pennies/home.html (accessed on December 14, 2001). Sullivan, Larry E., and Lydia Schurman, eds. Pioneers and Passionate Ladies: Dime Novels, Series Books, and Paperbacks. New York: Haworth Press, 1996.

Gibson Girl In the late 1800s, the socially restrained Victorian era was coming to an end, giving way to the more permissive modern era. In the last days of the Victorian age, a young American artist named Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944) began to publish sketches of a new kind of American woman who was emerging in the new era. More women were going to work, and the money they earned gave them a new independence and confidence. Gibson was impressed with these dynamic young women, and he drew them over and over, at home, at work, and at play. Once women saw the romantic and elegant images of these “Gibson Girls”—which appeared in popular magazines like Life (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) Harpers, and Collier’s Weekly—they began to imitate their style, creating a period of fashion that lasted from 1890 to 1910. Gibson Girls were tall, athletic, and poised, with upswept hair and practical yet feminine clothes. At work, they might wear a tailored dress with long sleeves and a high collar with a necktie; at a party, a low-cut flowing dress with no sleeves was stylish. Their figures were trained into a fashionable “S” shape by a new kind of corset (an undergarment used to support and shape the waist, hips, and bust), called the “health corset” because it allowed the spine to remain straight. The “S” shape, formed by tightly corseted waists between a large bosom and large hips, was exaggerated further by wearing many layers of slips and underclothes. There was a Gibson Man as well. The men’s fashion featured trimmed mustaches and jackets with padded shoulders. 84

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The most important distinguishing feature of the Gibson Girl was that she was capable and adventurous as well as beautiful.

By 1900, there were over five million working women in the United States, and across the country, women wanted to imitate the image and style of the Gibson Girl. Many new developments helped them follow the fashion, such as masscirculation magazines and mail-order catalogs. Newly invented home sewing machines and pattern catalogs also helped women reproduce the clothes they admired in Gibson’s magazine drawings. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information CDGibson.com http://www.cdgibson.com/ (accessed January 8, 2002). Emery, Josiah, writer, director, and producer. Charles Dana Gibson: Portrait of an Illustrator (video). Acre Island Productions, 1996. Gibson, Charles Dana. The Gibson Girl and Her America: The Best Drawings of Charles Dana Gibson. New York: Dover Publications, 1969. Patterson, Martha. “Survival of the Best Fitted: Selling the American New Woman as Gibson Girl, 1895–1910.” ATQ (The American Transcendental Quarterly) (Vol. 9, no. 2, June 1995): pp. 73-88.

Good Housekeeping Good Housekeeping magazine was founded in 1885 in the United States by Clark W. Bryan, whose stated goal was the creation of “perfection . . . in the household.” When the British version of the journal was launched in 1922, its advertising promised, “infinitely more than a magazine—a New Institution, destined to play an important part in the lives of thousands of women.” For over a century, Good Housekeeping has been just such an institution. The magazine offers advice and advertises products to help housewives run their homes, although some critics feel that the magazine is outdated because it assumes that only women do housework.

Drawings of “Gibson Girls” helped shaped women’s fashions from 1890 to 1910. Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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The Katzenjammer Kids

Good Housekeeping was part of a wave of women’s magazines that emerged in the early twentieth century to glorify housework and to encourage women to stay in the home. Working-class women were leaving their jobs as household servants for factories, forcing middle-class women to learn to do their own housework. The makers of new “labor-saving” devices such as the electric iron (invented in 1914) and the vacuum cleaner (invented in 1917) needed somewhere to advertise their products. Magazines like Good Housekeeping served the dual purpose of instructing women about housework and turning them into consumers who would buy these new products. From the first, Good Housekeeping took its commitment to its readers seriously. In 1900, the Good Housekeeping Institute was founded to evaluate household products. Only products that passed the Institute’s tests could be advertised in the pages of the magazine. In 1909, Good Housekeeping introduced its famous “Seal of Approval,” which guaranteed that if any product bearing the seal proved to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping itself would refund the money to the consumer. The Good Housekeeping Institute has been responsible for many consumer reforms. An early example of this interest occurred in 1905 when the Institute began inspecting packaged foods and published a “Roll of Honor for Pure Food Products” listing approved foods. The passage by Congress of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was a direct result of the Institute’s work. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Good Housekeeping.” iVillage.com. http://magazines.ivillage.com/goodhousekeeping (accessed January 9, 2002). Holzman, Paul, and Micki Siegel. “90 years of the Good Housekeeping Institute.” Good Housekeeping (February 1990): pp. 69–114. Horwood, Catherine. “Housewives’ Choice: Women as Consumers Between the Wars.” History Today (Vol. 47, no. 3, March 1997): pp. 23–29.

The Katzenjammer Kids

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The Katzenjammer Kids is the longest-running comic strip in American history. The strip, which began appearing in newspapers in 1897, was created by cartoonist Rudolph Dirks

Kewpie Dolls

(1877–1968). The comic strip revolves around the shenanigans of Hans and Fritz Katzenjammer, young twins who delight in creating chaos. The boys outwardly appear to be innocent children, but they are, in reality, destructive brats who constantly torment and abuse everyone around them. Their favorite target is The Captain, who can never convince Mama Katzenjammer her sons are incorrigible (beyond reform). The word katzenjammer literally translates as “the howling of cats” and is German slang for a hangover. The strip greatly popularized the emerging comic strip medium. Dirks was one of the first comic artists to employ word balloons containing his characters’ speech. Much of the strip’s humor resulted from the vaudeville German dialect the characters spoke. In 1912, a legal battle between Dirks and his publisher resulted in competing versions of the strip that ran for decades. The Katzenjammer Kids continues to appear in newspapers and holds the distinction of being the only comic strip from the nineteenth century to survive into the new millennium. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Dirks, Rudolph. Komical Katzenjammers—The Katzenjammer Kids Color. New York: Dover Publications, 1974. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996. Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.

Kewpie Dolls Originally appearing in the form of magazine illustrations between 1905 and 1909, Kewpie dolls made their appearance in 1913 in a design patented by Rose Cecil O’Neill (1874–1944). During O’Neill’s lifetime, the dolls were a popular novelty item, often associated with carnivals and country fairs, where they were given as prizes. The Kewpie doll is one of the earliest and most successful examples of a mass-marketed toy. It has since become a sought-after collectable and an enduring symbol of “cuteness.” O’Neill’s earliest versions of the Kewpies began appearing in the pages of the Ladies’ Home Journal between 1905 and 1909

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Jack London

and took the Kewpie name in 1909. In 1910, O’Neill moved her characters to the Women’s Home Companion. Three years later, she designed a babylike doll with its characteristic rotund shape and plume of wispy hair. The doll became an instant sensation and its sales made O’Neill a millionaire within a year. Just as Barbie dolls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) would later be dressed as a variety of characters, Kewpies came dressed as cowboys, farmers, bellboys, and firemen, and in the uniforms of U.S., British, French, and German soldiers. There was also a line of black Kewpies known as Hottentots. Besides the dolls, O’Neill created Kewpie images for a wide variety of products like chinaware, picture frames, clocks, greeting cards, wallpaper, and vases. O’Neill also wrote and illustrated a series of Kewpie books as well as a comic-strip version in the mid-1930s. The Kewpie dolls were originally made of china or bisque (unglazed china). They were manufactured in Europe until World War I (1914–18), when U.S. firms like the Mutual Doll Company began making the Kewpies from a variety of materials, including fabric. To this day, Kewpie dolls remain sought after among doll collectors. —Edward Moran

For More Information Armitage, Shelley. Kewpies and Beyond: The World of Rose O’Neill. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994. Formanek-Brunell, Miriam. Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of American Girlhood, 1830–1930. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993. O’Neill, Rose Cecil. The Story of Rose O’Neill: An Autobiography. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997.

Jack London (1876–1916) One-time vagrant, gold miner, and socialist politician, Jack London is famous for his adventure stories and tales of the Yukon basin region in Alaska and Northwest Canada. Most famous of all are The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). Although often dismissed as a writer of simple adventures, much of London’s work has a tough, adult edge. Novels like The Sea Wolf (1904) also explore the savagery of the human soul. 88

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Always ready for new experiences, London was a war correspondent in Japan, suffered scurvy (a disorder resulting from

Mutt & Jeff

lack of Vitamin C) in the Klondike, and lived in wretched and filthy conditions in an English slum while researching The People of the Abyss (1903). Despite having no formal education, his writing entertained and informed millions of readers during his short working life. At one time, he was the best-selling author in the world. Although few of his many books are even in print in 2002, London’s life and works anticipated the “hardboiled” writers of the 1930s and 1940s. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE. The Jack London Collection. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London (accessed January 9, 2002). Dyer, Daniel. Jack London: A Biography. New York: Scholastic Press, 1997. Labor, Earle, and Jeanne Campbells Reesman. Jack London. New York: Twayne, 1994. Lisandrelli, Elaine Slivinski. Jack London: A Writer’s Adventurous Life. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 1999.

Mutt & Jeff Mutt & Jeff, which appeared in American newspapers from 1907 to 1983, was the first successful daily comic strip. Created by Harry “Bud” Fisher (1885–1954), the strip revolved around the comic misadventures of two mismatched friends—Augustus Mutt, who was tall and smart, and Jeff, who was short and simple minded. Where earlier strips appeared only sporadically, Mutt & Jeff was the first feature to run six days a week, use the multiple panel format, and present a regular cast of characters. In 1911, the strip was seen in one of the first comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). Fisher’s strip made its debut on the San Francisco Chronicle sports page on November 15, 1907. Initially, Mutt was the feature’s solo star and its stories revolved around the born-loser’s hapless attempts to become wealthy. The focus of the strip changed forever on March 27, 1908, when Mutt encountered Jeff in an insane asylum. The little fellow was convinced he was the celebrated prizefighter Jim Jeffries (1875–1953). The pair became fast friends and behaved much like a stereotypical vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) team.

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National Geographic

While the strip was crudely drawn and its humor simplistic, it was also innovative. It is credited with bringing topical humor (humor relating to current events) to the comics page. The pair trained with prizefighter Max Schmeling (1905–) and became friends with President Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) in 1929. The strip also poked fun at modern politics. In 1908, Mutt became the first comic strip character to run for president. He later ran for the office again in 1916 and 1932. Fisher was known as a skilled businessman. In 1915, he won a $1,000-a-week guarantee plus 80 percent of the gross profits from his strip. He was the first cartoonist to copyright his strip and, thus, own all rights to his characters. A flood of Mutt & Jeff merchandise further enhanced his income. The pair was featured on toys, books, cartoons, and even served as the inspiration for a ballet. As early as the 1920s, Fisher delegated much of the work on the strip to several ghostwriters and artists. Although the strip ran until 1983, its last decades saw a steadily declining readership and few creative highlights. Still, Mutt and Jeff are recalled as two of the comics’ earliest superstars. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Blackbeard, Bill, and Martin Williams. The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996. Markstein, Don. “Mutt & Jeff.” Don Markstein’s Toonopedia. http://www. toonopedia.com/muttjeff.htm (accessed January 9, 2002). Robinson, Jerry. The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art. New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1974.

National Geographic

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The National Geographic Society was founded at the end of the 1800s, a time of change and discovery all over the world. Its monthly journal, National Geographic, reflects the thirst for travel, discovery, and new experiences that marked the turn of the century from the nineteenth to the twentieth. From its first issue in 1888, it was clear that National Geographic was not a boring scientific journal. Filled with color pictures of people and

In 1888, thirty-three members of the Cosmos Club, an elite Washington, D.C., club of professional men, joined together to form a society to learn and spread knowledge about the lands and peoples of the earth. The leaders of this National Geographic Society, whose early presidents included famed inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), were determined that it should not be an exclusive organization, limited to scientists and scholars. Instead, they wished to attract a wide range of people who were interested in exploration, discovery, and the world around them.

National Geographic

lands that were exotic and unusual to its American audience, the journal captured the imagination of readers of all ages.

The magazine became part of the plan to win a broad base of support for the Society. At a time when color photographs were rare, the magazine pioneered new photography techniques in order to give readers a truly vivid look at the wonders of the world. The Society also funded expeditions into unknown regions, such as the 1909 journey to the North Pole by Robert Peary (1856–1920) and Matthew Henson (1866–1955) and the many undersea explorations of Jacques Yves Cousteau (1910–1997). The stories of these adventures appeared in the pages of National Geographic. Although the Society’s journal has received high praise for its photography, maps, and wide range of subject matter, it has also received criticism for its strictly nonpolitical stance and its tendency to present a rosy view of the world. For example, a feature about Berlin published just before the start of World War II (1939–45) contained no criticism of the Nazi government and no mention of its anti-Jewish policies. Since the 1970s, the magazine has taken a more critical approach to its subjects. It has published articles about such political topics as apartheid (a-PAR-tayt; racial segregation) in South Africa and the French Canadian separatist movement. The National Geographic Society has continued to grow and modernize. Its projects include television cable channels, Web sites, and computer software, along with the still-popular magazine and maps. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Bryan, C. D. B. The National Geographic Society: 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987.

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The Complete National Geographic: 111 Years of National Geographic Magazine on CD-ROM. Washington, D.C.: The Society, 2000. CD-ROM. National Geographic. http://www.nationalgeographic.com (accessed January 9, 2002). Patterson, Carolyn Bennett. Of Lands, Legends, and Laughter: The Search for Adventure with National Geographic. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Press, 1998.

New York Times The New York Times was founded in 1851 as a four-page paper called the New-York Daily Times. It tried to provide objective, serious coverage of the daily news. In 1896, the Times was bought by Adolph S. Ochs (1858–1935) and began to establish itself as New York’s premier newspaper and the nation’s “newspaper of record.” Since 1897, it has carried a front-page motto: “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” In 1905, the paper even gave its name to one of the most famous squares in New York— Times Square. Apart from being a news source for politicians around the world, the Times has also fought for freedom of the press and set the standard for investigative journalism. Always best at reporting on federal government and international news, it won a Pulitzer prize for reporting on World War I (1914–18) in 1918. In the 1960s, critics claimed that the paper had grown too friendly with federal government. In 1971, however, the Times once again proved its commitment to free speech when it reported on the “Pentagon Papers.” These documents revealed that many prominent public supporters of America’s war in Vietnam had grave doubts about it in private. Agents of President Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994) tried to stop publication of the “Pentagon Papers.” The Times and the Washington Post defended their constitutional right to publish without censorship and won their case in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Although famous for its news coverage, the Times became a powerful cultural force in other fields as well. Its critics can make or break the careers of writers, actors, and film and theater directors. Its stories on society, culture, and science are highly regarded. Although in many ways an old-fashioned, establishment newspaper, the Times has managed to hang onto its reputation for quality journalism. Still owned by Ochs’s descendants, the paper entered the twenty-first century with

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Diamond, Edwin. Behind the Times: Inside the New New York Times. New York: Villard Books, 1994. Fireside, Harvey. New York Times v. Sullivan: Affirming Freedom of the Press (Landmark Supreme Court Cases). New York: Enslow Publishers, 1999. The New York Times on the Web. http://www.nytimes.com (accessed January 9, 2002). The New York Times Page One: One Hundred Years of Headlines as Presented in the New York Times. New York: Budget Book Service, 2000.

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over sixty-five Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other paper. The Pulitzer Prizes are America’s most prestigious journalism awards.

Saturday Evening Post The Saturday Evening Post was one of the most influential and popular magazines in America from 1900 to 1930. With its mix of business news, nonfiction, romance stories, sports, humor, and illustrations, the Post—as it was known—set the standard for the weekly variety magazine. Although the Post remained in print for most of the twentieth century, its influence faded after the 1930s. Publisher Cyrus H. K. Curtis (1850–1933) purchased the struggling Saturday Evening Post in 1897. He hired George Horace Lorimer (1867–1937) to edit his magazine. Lorimer believed in honesty, integrity, hard work, and self-reliance. He edited the magazine to promote these values, but he also knew that the purpose of a magazine was to entertain. He hired some of the best writers and illustrators in America. Lorimer tried to provide the Post’s readers with a little bit of everything; he wanted to create a magazine for the entire family. Under Lorimer’s guidance the Post’s circulation reached one million a week in 1908, two million in 1913, and three million in 1937. The contents of the magazine stayed roughly the same during these years and so did the price: until 1942, an issue cost just five cents. After Lorimer, the person most associated with the magazine was illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894–1978; see entry under

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1910s—Print Culture in volume 1). Rockwell, who began to paint covers for the Post in 1916, perfectly captured the tone of the magazine. He painted typical American scenes: a family sitting at a dinner table, a boy scout helping an older lady cross the street, a doctor listening to a doll’s heartbeat. Many Americans clipped Rockwell’s Post covers and framed them. Rockwell provided illustrations for the magazine for forty-seven years.

A boy sells the Saturday Evening Post in Rochester, New York, in 1910. Photograph by Lewis W. Hine. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

The Post began to fall out of touch with the mainstream in the 1930s. Editor Lorimer did not like the policies of Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945), and he complained loudly about Roosevelt’s policies. Soon the Post stopped seeming like the voice of American common sense and began to sound conservative and old fashioned. In the 1950s, advertisers moved their accounts to magazines popular with younger readers or to the new medium of television. The Curtis Company stopped publishing the failing magazine in 1969. In the years since that time, the Post has returned in one form or another, but never as a major magazine. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Cohn, Jan. Creating America: George Horace Lorimer and the “Saturday Evening Post.” Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989. Saturday Evening Post. http://www.satevepost.org (accessed January 9, 2002). Schwartz, Lew, and Doug Horton, eds. Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post (video). Video Arts Inc., 1986.

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1900s Sports and Games Just like today, Americans were sports crazy in the first decade of the century. The sports of baseball, basketball, football, and boxing all expanded in popularity. The Olympics became an international spectacle of sports. Not content to remain spectators, Americans participated in bowling, golf, and lawn tennis. Baseball had grown in popularity throughout the nineteenth century and was dominated at the beginning of the decade by the eight-team National League. The American League was formed in 1900 to challenge the National League. By 1903, the two leagues began to cooperate and play games against each other. Attendance at professional baseball games boomed in the decade, growing from 3.6 million in 1901 to 7.2 million in 1910. Fans across America became obsessed with the World Series, which pitted the American League and National League champions against each other. Until 1947, professional baseball was segregated, which meant that black players could not play in the major leagues. Undaunted, African Americans formed their own baseball leagues. Several of the players established reputations that rivaled those of white baseball greats like Ty Cobb (1886–1961). College football was the second most popular sport in the nation and the dominant sport in colleges throughout the nation. The University of Michigan was the dominant team of the decade, rolling up a 55–1–1 record between 1901 and 1905. Michigan defeated Stanford in the first Rose Bowl game in 1902, setting the stage for major bowl contests between the top football teams. College football was controversial, however; its extreme violence sometimes led to the death of players, and some teams kept players on the roster (list of participants) even when they were not students. College football was reformed in 1906, setting the stage for the modern rules that still govern football today. The most controversial sport of the decade was boxing. Often conducted without gloves, boxing matches could be bloody

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affairs. Boxing was outlawed in many states and reformed in most others. But the so-called sport of gentlemen had its fans, and professional boxing matches, especially in the heavyweight class, drew a great deal of attention. No boxer drew more attention than Jack Johnson (1878–1946), who became the first African American to hold the heavyweight title when he defeated Tommy Burns (1881–1955) in 1908. Racist white fight fans were outraged, and they searched for a “Great White Hope” to defeat Johnson. But Johnson did not lose his title until 1915. Invented in 1891, basketball was in its infancy in the first decade of the century. It was played first in YMCA clubs and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) leagues and was soon taken up by colleges. By 1908, the University of Chicago played the University of Pennsylvania in the first collegiate national championship game. Professional basketball also existed, but it would be years before pro basketball drew much attention.

Baseball Despite having to endure labor strikes, scandals, and the rise in popularity of football and basketball, baseball—America’s National Pastime—has managed to maintain its allure and produce an array of legendary larger-than-life heroes. Among Americans’ most prized cultural traditions are still “baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie.” The origin of baseball has long been a subject of controversy. What is certain is that the game initially was played in the United States before the mid-nineteenth century; in the 1840s, the New York Knickerbockers, the first baseball team in the United States, played in Madison Square in Manhattan, New York, and at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. During the following decade, teams began sprouting up throughout the Northeast, and even in the Midwest and the Far West. After the Civil War (1861–65), teams started charging admission to games. In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first team to field a complete squad of salaried players.

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Meanwhile, the rules of the game kept changing and evolving. In 1876, the eight-team National League came into being. The rival American League, also consisting of eight teams, was formed in 1901. At the conclusion of the 1903 season, the top team from each

league began meeting each other in the World Series. Thus was born the sport’s modern era. Concrete ballparks that seated thousands of fans were constructed in the major league cities. Among the game’s early, colorful personalities: outfielders Ty Cobb (1886–1961; see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) and Tris Speaker (1888–1958); second baseman Napoleon Lajoie (1874–1959); pitchers Cy Young (1867–1955), Christy Mathewson (1880–1925), and Walter Johnson (1887–1946); and managers Connie Mack (1862–1956) and John McGraw (1873–1934). The game was almost destroyed in the wake of the 1919 World Series, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to accept bribes and throw the series to their opponents, the Cincinnati Reds. The sport’s savior was Babe Ruth (1895–1948; see entry under 1910s— Sports and Games in volume 1), nicknamed The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, a pitcher-turned-home-run-hitter who during the 1920s became baseball’s most illustrious personality. A slew of celebrated ballplayers made the majors during the 1920s and 1930s and established impressive records. Rogers Hornsby (1896–1963) hit over .400 three times, and in 1924 compiled a record .424 batting average. Lou Gehrig (1903–1941) played in 2,130 straight games. Ruth smashed 60 round-trippers (home runs) in 1927 and amassed 714 home runs for his career. The 1934 All-Star game saw pitcher Carl Hubbell (1903–1988) strike out Ruth, Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx (1907–1967), Al Simmons (1902–1956), and Joe Cronin (1906–1984) in succession. All were future Hall of Famers. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, a shrine to the game’s greatest players, opened in 1939. The 1941 season was highlighted by two stellar accomplishments: Joe DiMaggio (1914–1999), a classy and elegant centerfielder, hit in 56 straight games; and Ted Williams (1918–), perhaps the greatest hitter the sport has ever seen, became the last major leaguer to date to hit over .400. Since the nineteenth century, African Americans had been banned from playing major and minor league baseball. Another

Pitcher Cy Young of the Cleveland Naps in 1910. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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milestone for the sport came in 1945, when Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (1881–1965) signed Jackie Robinson (1919–1972; see entry under 1940s—Sports and Games in volume 3) to a contract. Robinson debuted with the Dodgers two years later. This event transcended baseball, becoming one of the milestones in the evolution of the fight for equal rights for African Americans. During the 1950s and 1960s, a new generation of baseball stars emerged, including slugging outfielders Willie Mays (1931–), Mickey Mantle (1931–1995), and Hank Aaron (1934–); outfielder Roberto Clemente (1934–1972), the initial great Latin player; and fireballing pitcher Sandy Koufax (1935–). The 1950s also saw the relocation of the first National and American League franchises since 1903, with the Boston Braves, Philadelphia Athletics, and St. Louis Browns becoming, respectively, the Milwaukee Braves, Kansas City Athletics, and Baltimore Orioles. At that time, St. Louis was the westernmost major league city; the 1958 season saw the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants resettle on the West Coast, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Then in 1961, the American League added two new franchises, the Los Angeles (later California and Anaheim) Angels and Washington Senators, with the original Senators relocating to Minnesota. The following year, the National League added the New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s (later Astros). In 1972, the “new” Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, to become the Texas Rangers. Four teams were added to the major leagues in 1969; two in 1977; two in 1993; and two in 1998. The cliche that records are made to be broken is ever the case in baseball. In 1961, slugger Roger Maris (1934–1985) hit 61 homers, breaking Babe Ruth’s single season mark. In 1974, steady Hank Aaron topped Ruth’s career total of 714 homers; Aaron eventually retired with 755 round-trippers. Pete Rose (1941–), whose nickname is Charlie Hustle, ended his career with 4,256 hits, topping Ty Cobb’s 4,189. In 1973, sturdy hurler Nolan Ryan (1947–) struck out 383 batters, the single season mark; during his twenty-seven-year career he amassed a record 5,714 strikeouts, and also pitched seven no-hitters.

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Despite these individual accomplishments, baseball is a team sport. Of all major league baseball teams across the decades, the New York Yankees have been the most dominating by far. During the twentieth century, the Bronx Bombers won approximately one out of every four World Series played, including five

The 1994 season saw the venerable sport suffer through another crisis: a player strike, which not only shut down the season in August but canceled the World Series. Fans by the millions lost interest in the game at the major league level. Two events helped rekindle its popularity. In 1995, Iron Man Cal Ripken (1960–) broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak; he voluntarily ended his streak three years later, at 2,632 straight games. Also in 1998, sluggers Mark McGwire (1963–) and Sammy Sosa (1968–) battled each other to break Roger Maris’ season home-run record. Both of them did, with Sosa ending the year with 66 round-trippers and McGwire topping him with 70. McGwire’s record did not last long, however, as Barry Bonds (1964–) of the San Francisco Giants set his own record in 2001 with 73 homers. The 1990s also saw the emergence of a new generation of baseball heroes, including Ken Griffey Jr. (1969–), Alex Rodriguez (1975–), Pedro Martinez (1968–), Nomar Garciaparra (1973–), and Derek Jeter (1974–).

Ty Cobb

in a row between 1949 and 1953 and four in a row from 1936 to 1939.

Finally—and, perhaps, most tellingly—baseball is not played just at the professional level. Among the rites of childhood are the tossing, hitting, and catching of baseballs in sandlots and little leagues across America and around the world. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Edelman, Rob. Baseball on the Web. New York: MIS Press, 1998. The Editors of Total Baseball. Baseball: A Biographical Encyclopedia. New York: Total Sports, 2000. Hernandez, Keith, and Mike Bryan. Pure Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Neyer, Rob, and Eddie Epstein. Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time. New York: Norton, 2000. Pietrusza, David, Lloyd Johnson, and Bob Carroll. The Total Baseball Catalog. New York: Total Sports, 1998. Rader, Benjamin. Baseball: A History of America’s Game. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Thorn, John, Pete Palmer, and Michael Gershman, eds. Total Baseball. 7th ed. New York: Total Sports, 2001.

Ty Cobb (1886–1961) Beginning in 1905, Tyrus Raymond Cobb—nicknamed the Georgia Peach—enjoyed a record-breaking twenty-four-year

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career as a major league baseball (see entry under 1900s— Sports and Games in volume 1) player. He compiled a lifetime batting average of .367, which has never been and may never be equaled. He hit over .300 for twenty-three consecutive seasons. Cobb led the American League in hitting an astounding twelve times. For decades, he held the major league record for the most hits—4,189, since eclipsed by Pete Rose (1941–)—and the modern-era stolen base record—892, since eclipsed by Lou Brock (1939–) and Rickey Henderson (1958–). In 1936, he was the first player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, Cobb’s career and legacy have been tainted by his vicious temper and violent mode of play. He may have been brilliant and unrelentingly aggressive on the playing field, but he was despised by his fellow players—including his teammates—for his humorless demeanor, stiff Southern formality, and inclination to spike infielders for no reason. Perhaps the key to understanding Cobb is his relationship with his father William, who wished his son to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a military man, rather than a professional ballplayer. That William was killed, accidentally or otherwise, by a shotgun blast fired by his wife Amanda on the eve of Ty’s major league debut only added fuel to Cobb’s explosive personality. Ty Cobb was an early advocate of unionizing ballplayers and was a vocal opponent of the Reserve Clause, which bound a player for life to the team that owned his contract. In his retirement, he also supported impoverished former ballplayers. But he continued squabbling with others in the game. When he died in 1961, no one representing major league baseball—and only three ballplayers of his era—bothered to attend his funeral. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Jacobs, William Jay. They Shaped the Game: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1994. Macht, Norman L. Ty Cobb. New York: Chelsea House, 1993. The Official Web Site of Ty Cobb. http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/ cobb/index.html (accessed December 14, 2001).

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James J. “Gentleman Jim” Corbett is more than a boxing legend. He was the first of a new breed of modern-era boxers who

Through the late nineteenth century, professional boxing was not so much an organized sport as a barbaric fight-to-thefinish free-for-all in which bare-knuckled combatants wrestled and clawed their way to victory. Boxers were more like hooligans who exuded a rough, crude manliness. The sport became more orderly with the institution of the Marquis of Queensberry rules (named after Sir John Sholto Douglas [1844–1900], the eighth Marquis of Queensberry, who helped draft the new boxing rules). Bouts consisted of three-minute rounds featuring minute-long rest periods in between, and to protect their hands, boxers wore five-ounce, padded gloves. On September 7, 1892, the first modern-era heavyweight championship match was held with the Marquis of Queensberry rules in effect. The reigning champion was John L. Sullivan (1858–1918), nicknamed “The Boston Strongboy,” an old-style, bare-knuckle boxer. Corbett was the challenger. Their match is the most significant in the sport’s history. The smaller, quicker Corbett avoided Sullivan’s bullish assaults and wore him down. He knocked out the exhausted champ in the twenty-first round to claim the heavyweight crown—and the modern era of boxing was born.

Jack Johnson

approached the sport of boxing methodically. The fast, sleek Corbett believed in training for his fights and in employing speed and strategy rather than uncontrolled power to outmaneuver an opponent.

Unlike other boxers of his time, Corbett hailed from a middle-class family and attended college. While still the champ, he performed on the stage and in vaudeville. He continued doing so after losing his title to Bob Fitzsimmons (1863–1918) in 1897. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Fields, Armond. James J. Corbett: A Biography of the Heavyweight Boxing Champ and Popular Theater Headliner. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. “‘Gentleman’ Jim Corbett.” The Cyber Boxing Zone. http://cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/corbett.htm (accessed December 14, 2001). Myler, Patrick. Gentleman Jim Corbett: The Truth Behind a Boxing Legend. London: Robson Book Ltd., 1998.

Jack Johnson (1878–1946) Jack Johnson, a free-living, highly individualistic heavyweight boxing champion, was a black man who came of age

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and came to fame at a time when African Americans faced severe discrimination in American culture. When Johnson earned his boxing title in 1908, African Americans faced many forms of racial bias. They were consigned to the back of the bus. They were limited to attending inferior schools and working at menial jobs. They were regularly denied their right to vote. If a black man were considered to be “uppity,” he might find himself hanging from a tree, lynched by a white mob. In comparison, here was Jack Johnson, no lowly field worker or janitor but the heavyweight champion of the world. Furthermore, Johnson showed no humility as he savored his fame. He drove expensive cars, tossed extravagant parties, and broke the ultimate social taboo for a black man at that time by dating white women. Johnson went on to defeat white opponent after white opponent. One of his most famous bouts, in 1910, came against former champ James J. Jeffries (1875–1953). Their fight was advertised as a battle between “The Hope of the White Race vs. The Deliverer of the Negroes.” Much to the shock of white America, Johnson pummeled the aging, overweight Jeffries. No “Great White Hope” boxer could stop Johnson in the ring, and so the federal government stepped in. In 1912, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which prohibited the transportation of women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” Johnson fled the country, lost his title to a six-foot, six-inch hulk named Jess Willard (1883–1968), and eventually faded into obscurity. But his athletic prowess, and his status as a black champion in a white-dominated world, can never be denied. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Fradella, Sal. Jack Johnson. Boston: Branden Publishing Co., 1990. Jakoubek, Robert E. Jack Johnson. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “Jack (John Arthur) Johnson (1876–1946).” Harlem, 1900–1940. http://www.si.umich. edu/CHICO/Harlem/text/jajohnson.html (accessed January 9, 2002).

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The “Run for the Roses,” otherwise known as the Kentucky Derby, is the world’s most fabled horserace—as well as the old-

The race dates back to May 1875, when Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark (1846–1899) staged the first Derby, which he modeled after the English Derby held at Epsom Downs in Surrey, England. The original Kentucky Derby course was a mile and a half; eventually, it was reduced to a mile and a quarter. Aristides, a chestnut colt, was the first winner. Subsequent contests featured the top American thoroughbreds hailing from Kentucky and the Northeast. However, the Derby did not attain its status as racing’s premiere event until the twentieth century. At the turn of the twentieth century, Clark’s racetrack was a failing enterprise. Between 1899 and 1914, the top northeastern stables bypassed Churchill Downs for the American Derby at Chicago’s Washington Park, and the Kentucky Derby became a regional meet. Then in 1915, financier, socialite, sportsman, and horse breeder Harry Payne Whitney (1872–1930) entered a filly named Regret, which became the lone female thoroughbred to win the Derby until the 1980s. This race signaled the beginning of the Derby’s modern era. Matt Winn (1861–1949), a former Louisville tailor and Churchill Downs’s longtime vice president and general manager, noted that Regret’s victory “made the Kentucky Derby an American institution.”

Kentucky Derby

est continuous athletic competition held in the United States. It is the first of three annual races, followed by the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, in which three-year-old thoroughbreds compete for the Triple Crown. Each spring, over one hundred thousand racing fans congregate at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, to witness what has come to be known as the “greatest two minutes in sports.”

Isaac Murphy (1859–1896), an African American and the son of a former slave, was one of the most honored early jockeys, riding Buchanan, Riley, and Kingman to victory in 1884, 1890, and 1891. His three Derby triumphs were not duplicated until 1930, when Earl Sande (1898–1968) won his third race on Gallant Fox. The record was broken when Eddie Arcaro (1916–1997), who won a total of five Derbys, rode his fourth winner, Citation, in 1948. Bill Hartack (1932–) joined Arcaro as a five-time victor, while Willie Shoemaker (1931–) rode into the winner’s circle on four occasions and Angel Cordero (1942–) won three times. Among the legendary horses who raced at Churchill Downs are Gallant Fox and Omaha, the only father-son combination to win the Triple Crown, in 1930 and 1935; Whirlaway, another Triple Crown victor, who set a record pace while winning the

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Derby in 1941; Citation, the 1948 Triple Crown winner and the first horse ever to earn $1 million; and Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown champion, the first horse to run the Derby in under two minutes. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bolus, Jim. Derby Dreams. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1996. Bolus, Jim. Derby Fever. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1995. Bolus, Jim. Derby Magic. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1995. Bolus, Jim. Kentucky Derby Stories. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1993. Bolus, Jim. Remembering the Derby. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1993. Chew, Peter. The Kentucky Derby: The First Hundred Years. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. Doolittle, Bill. The Kentucky Derby: Run for the Roses. Del Mar, CA: Tehabi Books, 1999. Longrigg, Roger. The History of Horse Racing. New York: Stein and Day, 1972.

Lionel Trains For generations of Americans, gazing at a spanking new Lionel train set as it chugged along loops of tracks laid out beneath a brightly lit Christmas tree is an extra-special childhood memory. Lionel trains are not the only electricity-powered toys marketed to American children and hobbyists. But of all electric train manufacturers, Lionel is by far the most famous, a status it earned for the quality, craftsmanship, and durability of its product.

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Joshua Lionel Cowen (1877–1965), a young man who since childhood had been fascinated by trains and railroads, founded the Lionel Manufacturing Company in lower Manhattan, New York, in 1900. The story goes that, when he was seven, Cowen carved a small locomotive out of wood, which exploded upon his attempting to attach it to a miniature steam engine. Although Cowen did not invent the electric train—one had been displayed at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair—he was the first to produce miniature, electric trains as playthings. For his initial Lionel train, he hooked a small motor onto a red-stained wooden box with attached wheels, and added a gold-painted “Electric Express” to the side. He sold the car, along with thirty inches of track, for the then-hefty sum of $6. The product

became a smash-hit. Soon Cowen was manufacturing meticulously designed and painted miniature reproductions of diesel locomotives, steam engines, cabooses, and trolleys as well as coal, cattle, and passenger cars, all operated electrically. He produced his first accessory, a suspension bridge, in 1902, and eventually added tunnels and train stations. In 1915, he introduced smaller, less-expensive O-gauge trains. The term “gauge” refers to the width of the track, and O-gauge models are designed to fit on tracks that are one and one-quarter inches between rails. By the mid-1920s, Cowen’s company completely dominated the toy train business. Across the decades, it sold over fifty million trains. Among the many Lionel classics were the 400E steam locomotive, first marketed in 1931; the 700E New York CentralHudson steam locomotive, from 1937; and the F3 diesel locomotive, from 1948. In 1953, as parents by the thousands were buying Lionel trains for their baby boomer (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) offspring, Lionel recorded its highest profits ever. However, beginning in the late 1950s, Lionel trains—and all electric trains—went out of fashion,

Lionel trains captivated baby boomers in the mid-1900s, and remain popular collectibles in the twenty-first century. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

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primarily because airplanes were replacing trains as the primary mode of cross-country travel. Today, original Lionel trains are collectors items, highly coveted by vintage toy and train enthusiasts. They are especially beloved by baby boomers. In fact, in the 1990s, one celebrated baby boomer, rock musician Neil Young (1945–), even became a part owner in the company. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Carp, Roger. The World’s Greatest Toy Train Maker: Insiders Remember Lionel. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach, 1997. Hollander, Ron. All Aboard! The Story of Joshua Lionel Cowen and His Lionel Train Company. New York: Workman, 1981. McComas, Tom, and James Tuohy. A Collector’s Guide and History of Lionel Trains. Wilmette, IL: TM Productions, 1975.

Milton Bradley Company The Milton Bradley Company is best known as the manufacturer of classic games, from Scrabble (see entry under 1940s— Sports and Games in volume 3) to Twister (see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 3), that have brought fun to players of all ages for over 140 years. The company was founded by Milton Bradley (1836–1911). Bradley was working as a printer in Springfield, Massachusetts, when he produced a new family diversion called The Checkered Game of Life, a board game whose goal was a moral life and peaceful retirement. Bradley continued to create games and publish educational materials for young children. By 1968, his company was the largest manufacturer of games in the United States. The popularity of such Milton Bradley games as Parcheesi, Yahtzee, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Mousetrap, and Go to the Head of the Class has spanned generations. Books published by Milton Bradley Publishing teach children about everything from numbers and letters to problem solving and computer skills.

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The company became part of Hasbro Toys in 1984, but the Milton Bradley name is still used on its classic games. The Game of Life is still one of the most popular, though the goal has been updated. In the modern game, the player who retires with the most money wins. —Tina Gianoulis

Lee, Laura. “Milton Bradley.” The Name’s Familiar: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boy-ar-dee. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1999. “Milton Bradley Company History.” Hasbro. http://www.hasbro.com (accessed January 9, 2002).

Negro Leagues

Negro Leagues

For More Information

In 1947, Jackie Robinson (1919–1972; see entry under 1940s—Sports and Games in volume 3) became the first African American to play major league baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) in the twentieth century. Before the late 1940s, African American players could not pitch, hit, and field alongside such greats as Babe Ruth (1895–1948; see entry under 1910s—Sports and Games in volume 1), Ty Cobb (1886–1961; see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), Walter Johnson (1887–1946), and other white baseball heroes, but that did not deter them from playing the game. The best black ballplayers swatted home runs, stole bases, and hurled shutouts in leagues of their own, all of which are informally known as the Negro Leagues. All-black baseball clubs existed in the nineteenth century and even took on white opponents. Back in 1869, the Pythian Baseball Club of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an all-black team, played—and beat—the all-white City Items. For several decades during this time period, blacks and whites did play side by side. But integrated baseball ended in 1887 when Cap Anson (1852–1922), one of the most influential white ballplayers, declared that he never would play with or against black opponents. Anson’s highly publicized declaration eventually evolved into a gentleman’s agreement between the major league owners to exclude black players. African Americans now were restricted to playing on segregated teams. One of the top turn-of-the-twentieth-century teams was the Chicago American Giants, who put together an extraordinary 123-6 record one season while barnstorming cross-country. The Giants’ star was pitcher-manager Andrew “Rube” Foster (1879–1930), who after World War I (1914–18) helped establish the eight-team Negro National League. Upon the league’s success, a group of white owners formed the rival six-team Eastern Colored League. In 1924, each league’s top team met in the first Black World Series.

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The next two decades produced its share of legendary Negro League teams, beginning with the Kansas City Monarchs, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Homestead Grays, and Birmingham Black Barons. Among the top stars were gangly pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1906–1982), a master showman who was the leagues’ biggest draw; James “Cool Papa” Bell (1903–1991), a lightning-fast base stealer; and brawny home-run hitter Josh Gibson (1911–1947), who may have belted close to one thousand home runs during his career. On occasion, Negro all-star teams would play similar squads composed of the top major leaguers. On these occasions, the African American ballplayers proved that the best of them could have been major league allstars. Paige once struck out Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby (1896–1963) five times in the same contest. New York Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio (1914–1999) called Paige “the best and fastest pitcher I’ve ever faced.” Meanwhile, in these exhibitions, Gibson hit .412 facing formidable major league pitching. The integration of major league baseball signaled the beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues. Now, the very best African American prospects could be signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cleveland Indians, or the New York Giants. The could develop their skills in their team’s farm systems and make it to the majors. But if the top pre-1947 African American players were not allowed to play alongside their Caucasian counterparts, they at least have joined them in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Beginning in 1971, with the induction of Satchel Paige, Negro Leaguers have been elected to the Hall of Fame. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Black Baseball’s Negro Baseball Leagues. http://www.blackbaseball.com (accessed January 9, 2002). Holway, John B. Black Diamonds: Life in the Negro Leagues. New York: Stadium Books, 1991. McKissack, Patricia C., and Fredrick McKissack, Jr. Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Scholastic, 1994. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. http://www.nlbm.com (accessed January 9, 2002). Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns, with Jim O’Connor. Shadow Ball: The History of the Negro Leagues. New York: Knopf, 1994.

The earliest Olympic games took place in ancient Greece possibly as far back as the fourteenth century B.C.E. The ancient Olympics mixed sport with pagan religion, and the Romans banned them in 393 C.E. Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1862–1937) staged the first “modern” summer Olympic games for amateur athletes in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The first official winter games were held in 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, though the events of the eleven-day “International Winter Sports Week” in Chamonix, France, are usually called the first winter games. In the 1960s, the first “Paralympics” allowed athletes with disabilities to compete on a world stage. For years and years, both the summer and winter Olympics were held in different cities the same year, every four years; beginning in 1994, however, the winter and summer Olympics began alternating every two years.

Olympics

Olympics

The Olympics began in a spirit of fair play and honor among nations, but they have always reflected their times. The Stockholm, Sweden, games of 1912 saw women compete for the first time, though women could not take their place in track and field events until 1928. In 1936, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) hoped that the Berlin, Germany, Olympics would show the superiority of the “Aryan” race (non-Jewish Caucasians), but African American runner Jesse Owens (1913–1980; see entry under 1930s—Sports and Games in volume 2) had other ideas. He went on to win four gold medals. Many Olympics make household names of its stars. Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller (1904–1984) won four medals in 1924 and became famous as “Tarzan” in a series of films; swimmer Mark Spitz (1950–) managed seven swimming golds in 1972. Boxer Cassius Clay, who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali (1942–; see entry under 1960s— Sports and Games in volume 4), went on to be one of the bestknown sportsmen of all time. Track stars such as Carl Lewis (1961–) and Florence Griffith Joyner (1959–1998) thrilled spectators with breathtaking performances. And, as a team, members of the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team became instant Olympic legends when they defeated the highly favored Soviet hockey team, and then went on to win the gold medal. In the late twentieth century, the influence of politics grew stronger. The United States and the Soviet Union boycotted one another’s games in the 1980s at the height of the Cold War (see

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One of the most memorable Olympic moments in recent history was when the men’s U.S. Olympic hockey team won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Terrorists disrupted the games in Munich, Germany, in 1972 and in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996. The Olympic Games have served as an opportunity for host nations to showcase their artistic, cultural, and political values. Since the 1980s, many of the athletes are well-paid professionals. Still, it is the courage, speed, and skill of the athletes that make the Olympics special. Politics, commercialization, drug abuse, and other scandals never quite manage to overshadow the spectacle of the games themselves. —Chris Routledge

Anderson, Dave, and Carl Lewis. The Story of the Olympics. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Chronicle of the Olympics. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1998. International Olympic Committee. http://www.olympic.org/ (accessed January 10, 2002).

Ouija Boards

For More Information

Ouija Boards Invented in the late 1800s, the Ouija (WEE-juh) board was part of a fascination with spiritualism and the occult (supernatural phenomena) that swept the United States and Europe during the last half of the nineteenth century. What made the “talking board” special was that the average person could use it to try to contact the spirit world without the help of a psychic or a medium (someone said to be naturally sensitive to the spirit world and able to communicate with its spirits). Since its invention, the Ouija board has been marketed and sold as a toy. Both its fans and its critics, however, have taken it much more seriously at times, viewing it as the key to an unseen world of spirits that some think is better left alone. In 1848, two sisters, Kate Fox (1839–1892) and Margaret Fox (1833–1893) of Hydesville, New York, became famous when they said they had communicated with the spirit of a long-dead peddler. Soon, people all over the country were holding seances (meetings at which people try to talk to spirits). Some seances included mediums who supposedly went into trances in which dead people could speak directly through them. (A trance is a sleeplike condition in which the medium appears conscious but unable to move or act.) For those without the special skills of a medium, several methods were used to enable the dead to speak. Table turning involved placing hands around a table, which would then rock and thump to indicate the presence of spirits. A planchette (a heart-shaped piece of wood with a pencil attached and wheels or sliders to allow it to glide across paper) would write a spirit message. Fascinated and thrilled by the frightening world of ghosts, most fans of spiritualism cheerfully ignored the likelihood that one of them was pushing the table or the pencil around, consciously or unconsciously. The Ouija board was a variation of the planchette. It eliminated the paper and substituted a board painted with the alphabet and a few common words like “yes,” “no,” and “maybe” to

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Ouija Boards The Ouija board is viewed by some as a harmless game and by others as a link to the spirit world better left alone. Corbis/ Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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simplify the spirit writing process. The first Ouija board was invented in 1890 by toy manufacturer Charles Kennard, who named it for a word the board had told him meant “good luck” in Egyptian. In fact, “ouija” does not mean anything in Arabic, the language spoken in Egypt. When Kennard sold the patent to William Fuld in 1892, Fuld explained the name by saying it was a combination of the French and German words for “yes,” oui and ja. The Ouija board was sold in novelty stores and toy shops, competing with other talking boards with names like “The Wireless Messenger” and “Mystic Tray.” In 1966, Fuld’s children sold the Ouija board to Parker Brothers, a game company that continued to market the board as a parlor game. Some people still feel it is better left alone. Religious groups complain that playing with the board comes dangerously close to Satanism. Professional psychics worry that the board may unleash evil spirits. Some psychologists express concern that use of the board may further disturb a mentally unbalanced person. Nevertheless, Ouija board use continues to enchant mystics and enliven parties with its promise of access to the forbidden territory of the dead. —Tina Gianoulis

Covina, Gina. The Ouija Book. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. Hunt, Stoker. Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1992. Johnson, James P. “Ouija.” American Heritage (Vol. 34, February–March 1983): pp. 24–27. Museum of Talking Boards. http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com (accessed January 10, 2002). “Ouija Board.” Skeptic’s Dictionary. http://www.skepdic.com/ouija.html (accessed January 10, 2002).

Rose Bowl

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Rose Bowl On and around every New Year’s Day, the top college football teams face off in postseason “bowl games,” one of which is the National Championship game. Of all the bowl games, the Rose Bowl, held in Pasadena, California, in early January—usually on January 1—is the oldest and the most fabled. In 1902, business leaders in Pasadena sponsored a football game that would match a top West Coast team against one from back East. With eighty-five hundred fans looking on, the Michigan Wolverines smashed Stanford, 49–0. Disappointed in the loss by the local team, the Tournament of Roses committee did not follow through on a second contest. The next Rose Bowl was held fourteen years later, when Washington State bested Brown, 14–0—and the game has been played every year since. Starting in 1924, contests have been held in the Rose Bowl stadium, with attendance often topping one hundred thousand. Since 1947, when Illinois trounced UCLA, 45–14, the Rose Bowl opponents have been the champions of what today are known as the Big Ten and Pac-10 college football conferences. That tradition ended—temporarily at least—in 2002 when the Rose Bowl joined other bowl games in hosting the Bowl Championship Series’ national championship game. During the twentieth century, nineteen Rose Bowl winners were crowned national champions. The first was the Michigan team that won the original game. The popularity of the Rose Bowl resulted in the founding of other postseason college bowl games. During the 1930s, the Orange (1933), Sugar (1935), Sun (1936), and Cotton (1937) Bowls were established. Other bowls followed in subsequent decades.

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Bowl games usually are preceded by elaborate parades through the streets of the host city. Not surprisingly, the most famous is the Rose Bowl’s Tournament of Roses parade. (Historically, the Rose Parade preceded the establishment of the Rose Bowl). The procession is famed for its ornately designed floats, each amply covered with floral arrangements. Watching it on television is a New Year’s Day ritual for football fans and nonfans alike. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Hendrickson, Joe, with Maxwell Stiles. The Tournament of Roses: A Pictorial History. Los Angeles: Brooke House, 1971. Hibner, John Charles. The Rose Bowl, 1902–1929: A Game-by-Game History of Collegiate Football’s Foremost Event, from its Advent through Its Golden Era. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993. Michelson, Herb, and Dave Newhouse. Rose Bowl Football Since 1902. New York: Stein and Day, 1977. “Rose Bowl Game History.” Pasadena Tournament of Roses. http://www. rosebowl.com/history/bowlhistory.htm (accessed January 9, 2002).

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1900s The Way We Lived In the first decade of the century, Americans began to experience the first of the technological transformations that would make life in the twentieth century so much different than life in the nineteenth century. Two technological innovations alone were responsible for a great deal of this change: electricity and the automobile. Electricity brought great changes to life in the home, from electric lighting that allowed life to go on while darkness descended outside to the development of electric appliances that made housework so much easier. The electric vacuum cleaner was invented in 1907, for example, although it was too expensive for most Americans. The automobile brought even more sweeping changes. Developed in the nineteenth century, automobiles began to be mass produced in the 1900s by such companies as Ford and General Motors. With a car, Americans could travel farther than they ever had before. A variety of businesses serving travelers resulted, from diners to gas stations. Another nineteenth-century invention, the telephone, also allowed people to close the distances between themselves. By the 1930s, most Americans had access to a telephone. Americans spent their leisure time in a number of different ways in the decade. Religion was often the center of many people’s lives. Evangelical religion enjoyed a boom in popularity, thanks in part to a number of charismatic traveling preachers. The most notable preacher of the decade was Billy Sunday (1862–1935), a former National League baseball player whose sermons drew great crowds. Americans also sought to improve themselves by attending Chautauqua events, which were traveling variety programs that stressed education and selfimprovement. Other Americans enjoyed the escapism of amusement parks, where they rode the Ferris wheels and roller coasters that were becoming ever more popular. The most famous American amusement park of the time was Coney Island, outside New York City.

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Avon For more than a century, the Avon Products company has been known for the direct-selling approach it uses to merchandise its cosmetics and personal-care products. In short, Avon employs women—“Avon Ladies”—to demonstrate items to customers in the privacy of their own homes. Avon’s vintage television commercials typically opened with the sound of a chiming doorbell followed by the phrase, “Avon calling.” Originally known as the California Perfume Company, the company was founded in 1886 by David McConnell (1858–1937), who later renamed it Avon to honor the birthplace of his favorite author, William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Avon’s direct-selling method was pioneered by Mrs. P. F. E. Albee of Winchester, New Hampshire, who became the first “Avon Lady” soon after the company’s founding. By 2001, Avon was the world’s largest directselling company, employing 3.4 million sales representatives in 139 countries around the world (2 percent of whom are male), and with total sales revenues of $5.7 billion. Avon suffered a decline in its fortunes in the 1970s and 1980s owing to changing lifestyles. Many women began working outside the home, the arena where most of its demonstrations and sales had traditionally taken place. Also during this period, many salespeople left Avon to pursue more lucrative career opportunities. In the 1990s, the company redesigned its focus and advertising, upgraded its product line, and trained its sales force to make presentations in workplace settings, where 50 percent of sales now take place. Avon also considerably expanded its presence outside of the United States, especially in Brazil and other South American countries, China, and eastern Europe. With nearly one third of its top executives being female, the Avon Company is considered one of the most “women-friendly” enterprises. —Edward Moran

For More Information

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Avon.com: The Company for Women. http://www.avon.com (accessed January 10, 2002). Morris, Betsy. “If Women Ran the World, It Would Look a Lot Like Avon.” Fortune (July 21, 1997). Reynolds, Patricia. “Ding Dong! Avon Lady Is Still Calling.” Minneapolis Star Tribune (September 9, 1996).

Catalog Houses Most people are used to buying clothes and other speciality items from catalogs, but in the first half of the twentieth century, Americans could also buy houses from catalogs. As Americans began moving into cities and their suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) in increasing numbers after 1890, they needed affordable housing. Catalog houses offered Americans one way to solve their housing problems.

Catalog Houses

Zajac, Jennifer. “Avon Finally Glowing Thanks to Global Sales—and New Lip-Shtick.” Money (September 1997).

The catalog house industry began in earnest after 1907 with the founding of the Aladdin Company. It was soon joined by other companies, most importantly Sears, Roebuck and Company (see entry under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1). Sears sold catalog houses between 1908 and 1940. In all of these catalogs, customers could select from a number of different housing styles, with bungalows and colonial revival homes being among the most popular. When customers ordered a catalog house, they would receive the complete architectural plans, a complete construction manual, and often the building materials as well. These building materials came precut and numbered for easy assembly. All the homeowner had to do was provide the land; the foundation materials, such as concrete or stone; the labor; and other amenities such as windows, doors, plumbing, and other hardware. Sears and other companies provided guarantees of satisfaction and often easy payment credit plans as well to make the houses even more affordable. As a cultural phenomenon, catalog houses became a common part of the American landscape, popping up in towns all over the United States. They even became the subject of films, most notably in the 1921 short comic film One Week by Buster Keaton (1895–1966). In the film, Keaton assembles the house incorrectly and all sorts of funny problems result. One Week was one of the most popular comedies of 1921, an indication of the popularity of catalog houses as well. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the popularity of catalog houses declined as fewer people could afford to buy any

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houses. And although many of their designs still stand, the catalog house never rebounded in popularity after 1940. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Clark, Clifford E., Jr. The American Family Home. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. Stevenson, Katherine C., and H. Ward Jandl. Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company. Washington, DC: Preservation Press, 1986.

Chautauqua Movement In the years between the 1870s and the 1920s, the name Chautauqua came to be synonymous with culture, learning, entertainment, and social activism. Originating at a New York religious institute, the Chautauqua movement—which focused on self-improvement through education—spread across smalltown America. Even today, that spirit of lifelong education lives on at the Chautauqua Institution. In 1873, in the little town of Chautauqua, New York, two Methodist ministers, John Heyl Vincent (1832–1920) and Lewis Miller (1829–1899), developed a unique program of study that combined various nonreligious educational subjects with typical Sunday school topics. By 1874, their idea had become reality and the Chautauqua Institution offered a nine-week summer session of adult education courses. As the word spread, more and more people were drawn to the unusual school. They studied politics, culture, literature, and science, and attended lectures and performances from the most famous people of the day, including feminist Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), inventors Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) and Henry Ford (1863–1947), Helen Keller (1880–1968), and nine presidents of the United States.

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The leaders of Chautauqua soon became aware that only a few of those Americans who were hungry for learning and cultural dialogue lived within traveling distance of New York. They mailed courses of home study to interested students and sent

Chautauqua Movement Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Procession held on the grounds of the New York institute. Chautauqua Institution Archives. Reproduced by permission.

speakers traveling on a circuit to over two hundred Chautauquas around the country. Soon the arrival of the Chautauqua circuit was greeted with as much enthusiasm as a traveling circus. Lecturers, entertainers, politicians, and preachers made the rounds. They brought much needed information, intellectual stimulation, and diversion to communities that had little contact with urban cultures. Two major developments of the 1920s brought an end to the era of the Chautauqua: the automobile, which ended the isolation of American small towns; and the motion picture, which

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provided entertainment nationwide. However, New York’s Chautauqua Institution still offers its dynamic study sessions, drawing almost two hundred thousand visitors from all over the country in 2000. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Case, V., and R. O. Case. We Called It Culture: The Story of Chautauqua. Manchester, NH: Ayers Company Publishers, 1977. Chautauqua Institution. http://www.chautauqua-inst.org (accessed December 14, 2001). Gould, J. E. The Chautauqua Movement: An Episode in the Continuing American Revolution. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1961. Kostyal, K. M. “An Enduring Tradition.” National Geographic Traveler. (May-June 1993): pp. 28–32. Schurr, Cathleen. “Chautauqua: Yesterday and Today.” American History Illustrated (July-August, 1992): pp. 40–47.

Coney Island For poor and working-class New York City dwellers in decades past, a luxury resort vacation was a fantasy, an indulgence available only to the wealthy. But almost any New Yorker could travel to Coney Island, a five-mile-long sandy strip in the southern part of the borough of Brooklyn. Once there, they could frolic in the Atlantic Ocean and build sand castles to their delight, dine on hot dogs, and ride on roller coasters and carousels. Actually, Coney Island had initially attracted well-to-do Manhattanites. In the 1840s, steamships began bringing visitors to its beach; two decades later, horse cars made excursions there. In the 1860s and 1870s, large luxurious resort hotels were built. Given its accessibility, however, Coney Island eventually became a desirable destination for all New Yorkers. Bridge construction between Manhattan and Brooklyn and the development of the New York City subway system in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries allowed urban dwellers from all walks of life easy access to Coney Island. Soon, it became a haven for the masses, with its beach becoming, on a sweltering summer day, the most densely populated strip in the world.

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According to legend, Charles Feltman (1841–1910) invented the hot dog (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1) on Coney Island in 1867. Coney Island’s delights included the

construction of its first carousel in 1875 and of the first American roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, in 1884. By 1886, Coney Island could boast of three racetracks, making it a horse-racing center. Captain Paul Boyton (1848–1924) bought the land for Sea Lion Park in 1895. The park was the world’s first outdoor, enclosed (with a fence) amusement park. It had the first Shoot-the-Chutes ride in America. It was remodeled into a state-ofthe-art theme park in 1903 and renamed Luna Park. On opening day, Luna Park attracted forty-three thousand paying customers. In 1897, the rival Steeplechase Park opened. Its centerpiece was the Steeplechase Race Course, on which couples raced one another atop wooden horseson-wheels. Steeplechase Park burned in 1907 but was rebuilt. It reopened the following year and remained in operation until 1964. Meanwhile, Luna Park fell into decline. It burned down in 1944, and five years later its land became a parking lot. A third Coney Island amusement park, named Dreamland, opened in 1904 but burned to the ground in 1911. In 1923, the first section of Coney Island’s boardwalk opened. Four years later came the eighty-five-foot-high Cyclone, the area’s most famous roller coaster. On July 4, 1955, a record 1.5 million bathers and fun seekers visited Coney Island. Yet ten years later, Coney was in decline as an amusement area. In recent decades, while still attracting the newest wave of poor immigrant New Yorkers, the surrounding neighborhood became a crime-riddled slum. However, 2001 marked the opening of KeySpan Park, built on the former site of Steeplechase Park: a seventy-five-hundred-seat

An aerial view of Coney Island amusement park in Brooklyn, New York, July 4, 1952. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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baseball stadium that houses the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones, the first professional baseball team to play in Brooklyn since 1957. With the arrival of KeySpan Park and the Cyclones, Coney Island in the first decade of the twenty-first century is a community ripe for revival. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Glueck, Grace, and Paul Gardner. Brooklyn: People and Places, Past and Present. New York: Harry Abrams, 1991. Kasson, John F. Amusing the Millions: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century. New York: Hill and Wang, 1978. McCullough, Edo. Good Old Coney Island: A Sentimental Journey into the Past. New York: Fordham University Press, 2000. Register, Woody. The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American Amusements. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Dancing Dancing—rhythmically moving the body, especially the feet, to the sound of music—is a long-treasured social activity and a significant aspect of cultures around the world. People of all ages dance for many reasons: as an act of celebration, at weddings and proms; as an act of recreation or as socialization linked to courtship, in dance halls, nightclubs, discos, and high school gyms; and as a religious or tribal rite, with participants occasionally garbed in elaborate costumes. In the United States, dancing primarily is a social activity. As popular music—and popular culture—evolved through the decades, a range of dance styles and crazes also have emerged.

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Immigrants who came to the United States, from the nation’s beginnings to the present day, brought with them native dances that remained a rich part of their cultures. Early popular dances included folk dances, most often done in groups, and ballroom dances such as the waltz, which was imported from Europe. All these folk dances and ballroom dances were formal dances, which depended upon learning a pattern of movements or steps. Some dances remain linked to their ethnic origins. For example, Polish Americans perform versions of the polka, a fastpaced dance developed in Bohemia during the early nineteenth century. Polka parties and competitions continue to flourish in Polish American communities to this very day. At the same

Dancing

time, as many early immigrant groups began to meet at social events, their dances became intermingled, leading to the creation of the American square dance. The square dance was a folk dance hybrid that became a primary recreational activity for settlers as they headed west during the nineteenth century. Still other dances originated in North America. One was the cakewalk, created in the nineteenth century by plantation slaves. The cakewalk combined a straight, firm body and a quasi-shuffling movement. Through the end of the nineteenth century, ballroom and square dances were the most popular American dances. However, with the emergence of ragtime music in the 1890s came a new, less-formal style of dance, based more on freely moving one’s body to the sound of the music. One dance employing this style was the one-step, so named because one quick walking step accompanied each beat of the music. The one-step generated other dance variations, including the turkey-trot, the grizzly bear, the bunny hug, and the Boston dip. The celebrated husband-and-wife dance team of Vernon (1887–1918) and Irene (1893–1969) Castle fashioned the one-step into the castle walk, which became popular across America. Another one-step offshoot was the two-step, which was danced to ragtime and, eventually, to swing music. The most popular early twentieth-century dance, however, was the fox-trot, a one-step variation. The fox-trot became fashionable because it combined slow and quick steps, allowing for an increased diversity of dance-floor movement. With the Roaring Twenties, and America’s distancing itself from the prudery (excessive attention to modesty or what is considered proper behavior) of the Victorian Era, came the popularity of the Charleston (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), an energetic dance distinguished by a twisting step. The Charleston is as much an artifact of 1920s American culture as Prohibition (the banning of alcohol; see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and speakeasies (places where alcohol was illegally sold). The Charleston, along with other dances of the period, including the shimmy and the black bottom, were variations of the fox-trot. Then in the 1930s, swing music, which evolved from jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1), came to the forefront of popular culture. At the time, America was a segregated society (one divided socially by race). Swing music was performed by dance-band orchestras (known as big bands) that were

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groundbreaking in that they occasionally brought together white and black musicians. Swing music is lively and danceable and, consequently, various dance crazes evolved during its popularity. The first was the lindy hop, an acrobatic dance that originated in Harlem during the late 1920s and was refined by dancers at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom. The jitterbug, an even more physically animated dance, grew out of the lindy hop, and was a favorite between the late 1930s and the end of World War II (1939–45). By the 1950s, the popularity of swing music had subsided, yet the jitterbug and its various offshoots still were embraced by teenagers, who danced them to the sounds of early rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), music that combined elements of country music and of rhythm and blues (see these entries under 1940s—Music in volume 3) In the early 1960s, dancing in America was revolutionized by the twist. In 1960, singer Chubby Checker (1941–) recorded a song titled “The Twist,” and a dance craze was born. In order to “do the twist,” dancers stood in place and rotated shoulders and hips in opposite directions, often switching their weight from one foot to another. However, they did not touch. Before the twist, the act of dancing required a partner, whom you held in your arms while swaying across the dance floor or at least touched while twirling to the beat of the music. Such dancing was the basis for the expression, “It takes two to tango.” However, the appeal of the twist signaled a major evolution in dancing. Because of the lack of physical contact, dancing became more of an individual pursuit. Countless 1960s and post-’60s dances were performed by standing in place and moving one’s upper body and arms, but not necessarily the feet. Although dance partners maintained eye contact, they hardly touched. The limbo rock, the mashed potato, the watusi, the pony, and the Bristol stomp were a few post-twist dances that, like the twist, won popularity with the emergence of a hit record.

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Other favored twentieth-century dances have been AfroLatin-based. The first was the tango, which created a sensation in 1913 and remained popular off and on through the century. Other Afro-Latin dances include the rumba, the samba, the mambo, the cha-cha, and salsa. In the 1970s, the hustle and disco (the latter not only a dance but an attitude, as well as a style of music and dress) emerged from New York City dance clubs and won widespread popularity. Saturday Night Fever (1977; see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4), a smash-hit movie starring John Travolta (1954–), helped to pop-

In the 1980s and 1990s, the fashionableness of rap and hip hop (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music, which originally came forth in opposition to the increasing commercialization of rock music, resulted in the creation of a new dance style, break dancing. In break dancing, solo dancers performed dazzling gymnastic routines that derived from a combination of martial arts and the character of Robot on Soul Train (1971–), an African American music-and-dance-oriented television show. Break dancing quickly became mainstream, however, and was spotlighted in another hit movie, Flashdance (1983).

Electric Appliances

ularize disco (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4). The film and disco itself are as closely linked to late-1970s American culture as the Charleston is to the 1920s.

As the twentieth century came to a close, hip-hop culture continued to generate break dancing variations. Then in the late 1990s, partner dancing and step-dancing enjoyed a revival with a renewed interest in big band (see entry under 1930s— Music in volume 2) music and swing dancing as well as in square dancing and line dancing. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Cohen, Selma Jeanne, ed. International Encyclopedia of Dance. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Erenberg, Lewis A. Swingin’ the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Hager, Steven. Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984. Stearns, Marshall, and Jean Stearns. Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance. New York: Macmillan, 1968. Stowe, David. Swing Changes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Electric Appliances Perhaps nothing has changed everyday life within the American household so much as the invention of electric household appliances. Within the first few decades of the twentieth century, most homes in the United States gained access to electricity, and inventors created and improved many devices that used this new power. The aim of these new electric devices was to shorten the time and decrease the effort required to maintain the household.

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Before the introduction of electricity and running water, household jobs such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry provided full-time work for the women and children of the family. Laundry required a full day of hauling water in washtubs, scrubbing clothes on ridged metal boards called washboards, and hanging clean clothes out to dry in the sun. Clothes were then ironed with heavy flatirons, which were heated on wood-burning stoves. Cooking, too, was a highly skilled and time-consuming operation, involving baking breads and cakes in wood-stove ovens, and canning and preserving foods for future use. In 1879, Thomas A. Edison (1847–1931) invented the electric light bulb, and soon after he helped build the first electricity generating plant in New York City. As electricity began to find its way into American homes, inventors began to create new uses for it, and American consumers were ready to try the new inventions. In 1908, janitor James M. Spangler invented the first electric vacuum cleaner. By 1919, the Eureka Vacuum Company was producing two thousand vacuum machines per day. In 1913, the home refrigerator (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) was invented. By 1931, over one million refrigerators were manufactured and sold. Everyone wanted to own one of the new washing machines, invented in the 1920s, even though they had to be filled and emptied by hand and the clothes fed, piece by piece, into the wringer on top. The fully automatic washer was not developed until the 1940s. In the 1980s, electronic components such as microprocessors made electric appliances even “smarter,” with programmable timers and more variety of features. Although these new appliances changed the housewife’s labor considerably, they did not necessarily decrease the amount of time she spent doing housework. In 1924, the average homemaker spent fifty-two hours a week doing housework, while in 1966, surrounded by laborsaving devices, she spent fifty-five hours per week. One reason for this is that, as appliances made cleaning easier, people began to expect more from those who kept the house. For example, whereas once laundry was done once a week and clothes worn several days before being laundered, modern housekeepers may do laundry every day because family members wear an item only once before washing it.

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—Tina Gianoulis

“American-Made: Turn of the Century Household Items.” American Heritage (Vol. 31, June-July 1980): pp. 50–58. National Academy of Engineering. “Household Appliances.” Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. http://www.greatachievements.org/greatachievements/ga_15_2.html (accessed January 10, 2002) Shapiro, Laura. “Household Appliances: How Appliances Have Changed Housework.” Newsweek (Vol. 130, no. 24, Winter 1997/98): pp. 36–40. Strasser, Susan. Never Done: A History of American Housework. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

Evangelism

For More Information

Evangelism Evangelism, or enthusiastic preaching of the Christian gospel, has always played an important role in U.S. Protestantism, as in the Great Awakening of colonial days or the Methodist camp meetings on the frontier in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, evangelism often took the form of elaborate crusades organized by such preachers as Billy Sunday (1862–1935; see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), Oral Roberts (1918–), or Billy Graham (1918–), or, later, in the multimedia productions of “televangelists” like Pat Robertson (1930–) with his 700 Club, Jim Bakker (1940–) and his wife, Tammy Faye Bakker (1942–), with their PTL Network, and Jerry Falwell (1933–) with his Moral Majority. While all Christians, including mainstream Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox believers, affirm baptism as a prerequisite for church membership, many evangelicals demand a “born-again” experience in which an already baptized Christian undergoes a personal experience with Jesus Christ. To these believers, evangelism involves more than just bringing information about Christ and his teachings; it demands an ongoing process of keeping believers enthusiastic about their faith. Evangelical crusades in large stadiums or on television are viewed by their organizers as revival meetings, designed to give already baptized Christians a chance to reaffirm their faith and be reassured about their salvation As U.S. society became more urbanized and educated during the twentieth century, some religious leaders feared that it was becoming secularized as well, a phenomenon in which religious values lose their power to influence individuals and the culture

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at large. This motivated evangelists such as Sunday and Graham to organize tent meetings or crusades that moved from city to city with elaborate programs that included choirs and music, fellowship, personal counseling, and an “altar call” in which people were asked to come forward to reaffirm their faith publicly. The centerpiece of these crusades was always a rousing sermon preached with grand oratorical flourishes, often warning of hellfire and damnation, but also describing the joys of heavenly bliss. Over the years, critics often charged that evangelism in its worst aspects bred a corrupt system that exploited sincere believers for money or power, as described by Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) in his 1927 novel Elmer Gantry. In more recent years, revelations of sexual and financial misdeeds by some television evangelists have confirmed these suspicions. Among U.S. evangelists of the twentieth century, Billy Graham, consulted by U.S. presidents for spiritual advice, remains evangelism’s most prominent role model of moral and intellectual integrity. —Edward Moran

For More Information Ahlstrom, Sidney. A Religious History of the American People. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972. Bruns, Roger. Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big Time American Evangelism. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. Hardman, Keith. Seasons of Refreshing: Evangelism and Revivals in America. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994.

Ferris Wheel Long a popular ride at state fairs and amusement parks (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), the Ferris wheel is a tall, upright wheel with seats suspended around its rim. Mounted on a fixed structure, the wheel rotates while the swingable seats remain basically parallel to the ground, allowing riders to enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding area. During the twentieth century, Ferris wheels dominated the midways at amusement parks and state fairs in small towns and rural areas throughout the United States as riders sought rare bird’s-eye views of the surrounding landscape. 128

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The Ferris wheel is named for U.S. engineer George Washington Gale Ferris (1859–1896), who had installed the first ride

at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. It was 250 feet high and weighed 4,800 tons. Its axis (the shaft around which the wheel spun) was the largest single piece of forged steel that had been made up to that time. Two 1,000-horsepower engines powered the wheel, which had thirty-six wooden cars capable of holding sixty people apiece, each of whom paid fifty cents for one ride. The device, which symbolized American engineering ingenuity, has been described as “Chicago’s answer to the Eiffel Tower,” a much taller structure that had been the focal point of the Paris Exposition of 1889. The Chicago Ferris wheel

The Ferris wheel is a mainstay at almost every amusement park and state and local fair. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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was moved to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1904 exposition there, and was finally scrapped in 1906. Since that time, Ferris wheel builders have competed to build the biggest and best Ferris wheel. The record so far goes to the “London Eye,” a 1,900-ton structure that took riders on a 30minute “flight” 450 feet above the River Thames in 32 enclosed “capsules” when it was built in 2000. As long as people enjoy the thrill of looking at the world from high above, there are sure to be Ferris wheels. —Edward Moran

For More Information Anderson, Norman D., and Walter R. Brown. Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983. British Airways London Eye. http://www.british-airways.com/londoneye (accessed January 10, 2002). The Ferris Wheel. http://users.vnet.net/schulman/Columbian/ferris.html (accessed January 10, 2002).

General Motors General Motors (GM) was founded by Billy Durant (1861–1947) in 1908 with his merger of the Oldsmobile and Buick companies. He added Cadillac the next year and the company just kept on growing. GM was the first company to gross more than $1 billion in a year. It dominated the U.S. and world car markets for most of the twentieth century, while its management structure had a major influence on the way large corporations are run. Ford brought no-nonsense motoring to the masses, but GM made the automobile an international symbol of modern America. From finned Cadillacs to the iconic 1957 Chevy, from unwieldy muscle cars to sport utility vehicles (SUVs; see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), GM has built many of the definitive American cars.

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Unlike Henry Ford (1863–1947), whose skill was in manufacturing, Durant was brilliant at striking deals. He started out with car manufacturers but added component suppliers so that he could control every aspect of the business. After Alfred Sloan (1875–1966) took over in 1920, GM’s cars became statements about a person’s social status, tastes, and desires. The Chevy was a cheap first car; then you worked your way up through

Buick and Oldsmobile. A Cadillac was something to dream about. Until 1961, when television ads took over, road shows called “Motoramas” moved around the country selling GM cars and creating a “car culture.” GM updated its models every year. They became more “space-age” and more powerful. But GM has sometimes gone too far in trying to sell its products. In 1949, along with several others, GM was convicted of criminal conspiracy to replace electric trams with GM buses in forty-five American cities. The attack by consumer advocate Ralph Nader (1934–) on the unsafe Corvair in the 1960s began GM’s slow decline. Emissions regulations, oil crises, and stiff competition all took their toll on GM’s gas-guzzling model range. A sharply comic film Roger and Me (1989) by Michael Moore (c. 1954–) highlights the terrible human cost of GM’s failure in the 1980s. But like many large corporations, in the 1990s GM began to revive. With interests in companies around the globe, in the twentyfirst century GM remains one of the world’s largest and most powerful auto manufacturers.

A 1903 Cadillac from General Motors. American Automobile Association. Reproduced by permission.

—Chris Routledge

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For More Information General Motors. http://www.gm.com (accessed January 10, 2002). Madsen, Axel. The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant Made General Motors. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Nader, Ralph, and Barbarah Ehrenreich. The Ralph Nader Reader. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2000. Sloan, Alfred P. My Years with General Motors. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

Hairstyles The way that human beings wear their hair can have many meanings. Beyond conforming to the fashion of the day, a hairdo can be an expression of personal style as well as an expression of religious, cultural, and political beliefs. Because of this, society often has strict rules about how hair should be worn. Those who rebel against society often begin with what are considered outlandish hairstyles. It is no accident that institutions like armies and prisons often initiate new members by cutting off their hair, thus removing this means of individual self-expression and encouraging conformity. From the Biblical story of Samson, who lost his superhuman strength when his hair was cut, to the radical student movements of the 1970s, when men’s long hair was considered a revolutionary statement, hair has often been given a far greater significance than any other bodily feature. Preoccupation with the latest hairstyle is far from being only a modern concern. From earliest times, people have adorned their hair in a wide variety of ways for a wide variety of reasons. Hairstyle can indicate economic class and social status. For example, in the second century B.C.E., members of Egyptian nobility shaved their heads and wore wigs made from braided animal hair or palm fronds, often dyed in bright colors. Noblewomen in eighteenth-century England wore powdered wigs that were up to four feet tall and elaborately decorated with stuffed birds and bowls of fruit. Hairstyles can also be practical. Like many modern men, Louis XIV (1638–1715) of France wore his large curled wig in the 1700s to hide his baldness.

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The significance of hairstyles has changed through the ages. Short hair was considered a sign of power in ancient Rome, but by the middle ages, short hair had become a symbol of dishonor. In 1644, when the Manchus conquered China, they forced Chi-

Hairstyles

nese men to shave the tops of their heads and wear their hair in a long braid at the back, as a sign of being a conquered people. By the 1900s, when the Manchus were ousted from power, the pigtail had become a symbol of Chinese cultural identity. Chinese men kept the pigtail even when they emigrated, and Chinese immigrants to the United States were often persecuted for wearing it. In the United States, until the beginning of the twentieth century, most women wore their hair long and pinned up on their heads. With the suffrage movement of the early 1900s came the flapper (see entry under 1920s—Fashion in volume 2) style, and short, “bobbed” hair became the modern hairdo. Because caring for long hair is time consuming and identified with soft femininity, short hair has often become popular when women have been politically active. Although longer hair soon became popular again, and American soldiers during World War II (1939–45) sighed over pinups of actress Rita Hayworth (1918–1987) and her long, flowing curls, the working women of the 1940s wore shorter, practical styles. The 1950s returned women to the home, and hairstyles became more elaborate. Women wore curls held stiffly in place by permanents or hair spray or tall beehives so rigidly perfect that rumors abounded that nests of mice or bees lived inside. There was a rebellious side to the 1950s, however, and while clean-cut American boys wore crewcuts, the rebel in the leather jacket no doubt sported a greased-back duck tail. Soon, rebellion became revolution. From the beatniks (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) of the early 1960s to the hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the late 1960s and 1970s, young people began to question society’s values. Both men and women, especially those who identified with political movements for peace and justice, began to wear their hair long. At the same time, black Americans began to fight for civil rights (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and an end to discrimination. Black people, who for decades had felt compelled to force their hair into styles meant for white European hair, began to let their hair grow naturally into a fluffy style they called an Afro. The Broadway musical Hair (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), which debuted in 1968, made the connection between hairstyle and the challenges of an entire generation. This connection continued into the 1980s with the rise of the punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4)

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movement. Perhaps because the hippies of the 1960s had failed to revolutionize society, punks were less idealistic and angrier than the hippies had been, and their style was more extreme. Punks shaved parts of their hair off and dyed the rest in bright, unnatural reds, blues, and purples, using gel to shape it into spikes. The extreme style of the punks opened the door to a new freedom. While most people never attempted the punk look, hair fashions have continued to remain less rigid and more open to individual expression. The importance of hair fashion has been dramatized in various films and plays, from the serious to the campy. The 1975 film Shampoo, directed by Hal Ashby (1936–1988), spoofs pretentious celebrity hair stylists. Hairspray (1988) by John Waters (1946–) humorously explores the often uncomfortable transition between the conservative 1950s and the radical 1960s. In the 1989 tearjerker Steel Magnolias, by Herbert Ross (1927–2001), Dolly Parton (1946–) plays the owner of a Southern beauty parlor, a time-honored institution of female bonding. In Blow Dry (2000), director Paddy Breathnach (1964–) documents the hilarious troubles of a Scottish hair-stylists competition. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Coates, Simon. “Scissors or Swords: Social Aspects of Medieval Hairstyles.” History Today (Vol. 49, no. 5, May 1999): pp. 7-15. “How Important Are Hairstyles in the Workplace?” Jet (Vol. 99, no. 26, June 11, 2001): pp. 36-9. Lassieur, Allison. “Hair Time Line: Evolution of Hair Designs.” National Geographic World (No. 278, October 1998): pp. 12-16. Punke, Harold H. Social Implications of Lawsuits over Student Hairstyles. Danville, IL: Interstate Publishers, 1973. Wilkinson, Brian. “Growing Dissent: The Politics of Hair.” Seventeen (Vol. 49, no. 5, May 1990): pp. 98-100.

Postcards

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The picture postcard, with a graphic image on one side and a blank space for a message and an address on the other, made its debut in the late nineteenth century. Before telephones (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) were in

Postcards

widespread use, the postcard provided a quick and inexpensive way of sending short messages, either for business or social purposes. For more than one hundred years, vacationers have typically mailed postcards of scenes from faraway destinations to impress the “folks back home,” often accompanied with clichéd messages like “Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.” Another familiar phrase, “pretty as a postcard,” has been used to describe a setting that is pretty enough to be featured on a postcard. Businesses have long used postcards for advertising purposes, and musicians or record labels commonly use them to promote new recordings or club appearances. Over the years, some artists and graphic designers have produced higher-quality images that are especially in demand by deltiologists, more commonly known as postcard collectors. The government-issue “postcards” sold in post offices, with a stamp already printed on the address side and a blank side for a message, are technically known as “postal cards.” AustriaHungary issued the first one in 1869. It was not until 1898 that the United States permitted “private mailing cards” that could have an image on one side, with the other side reserved for the stamp and the address. Messages on such cards had to be written atop the picture until 1907, when the U.S. Post Office permitted the blank side to be divided into two sections: the left side for a message and the right side for the address and the stamp. This format is still the most commonly used. Picture postcards were enormously popular during the first two decades of the twentieth century. It has been estimated that nearly a billion of them were produced in the United States during this period. Picture postcards offer a visual overview of U.S. popular culture and a graphic archive of the institutions and tourist locations considered important in their day. —Edward Moran

For More Information Carline, Richard. Pictures in the Post: The Story of the Picture Postcard and its Place in the History of Popular Art. Philadelphia: Deltiologists of America, 1972. Klamkin, Marian. Picture Postcards. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1974. Morgan, Hal, and Andreas Brown. Prairie Fires and Paper Moons: The American Photographic Postcard, 1900–1920. Boston: David R. Godine, 1981. Ryan, Dorothy. Picture Postcards in the United States, 1893–1918. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1982.

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Roller Coasters

Roller Coasters Travelling at speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour, hundreds of feet up in the air, roller coasters are the most thrilling of all amusement rides. Whether strapped into a miniature “train,” dangling chairlift style, or even standing up, roller coaster fans enjoy the sensation of not being in control. Besides being built for the enjoyment of enthusiasts, roller coasters are also objects of local pride. The famous wooden Coney Island Cyclone was a New York City landmark in the early twentieth century. In the 1920s, boardwalk roller coasters helped publicize beach resorts. In the twenty-first century, roller coasters are the centerpieces of all big amusement parks. However intricate the twists, turns, and loops of the track might be, roller coasters are really very simple. The cars carry enough energy from the first big downhill to take them through the rest of the course. In the twenty-first century, the cars are often launched from the start, rather than climbing a slope, but the principle is the same. With names like Cyclone, Fireball, Superman, and The Big One, roller-coaster design in the twenty-first century is a fusion of high-tech construction, computer control, and big talk. But no modern roller coaster can match the scale or speed of the first American roller coaster. Built to carry coal from the mines in the Pennsylvania mountains, the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway became a tourist attraction in 1870 and operated safely until 1933. Passengers paid one dollar for the scenic twenty-mile ride up the mountain, where they could eat lunch at a hotel near the summit. On the terrifying return trip, the cars are reputed to have reached speeds of over one hundred miles an hour. Although rickety wooden roller coasters are still in operation, steel roller coasters, pioneered by Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) in the 1950s, are the most common coasters today. They make possible “corkscrews,” loops, and unsettling “inversions.” Roller coasters will always be dangerous, because people misbehave or because they react badly to “negative Gs” (the feeling of weightlessness). Designers have pushed at the limits of safety, and mechanical failures occasionally happen. But part of the enjoyment of riding a “coaster” is being afraid while feeling just safe enough.

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—Chris Routledge

Roller coasters thrill and terrify thousands of riders each year. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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For More Information Cartmell, Robert. The Incredible Scream Machine. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. RCDB: Roller Coaster Database. http://www.rcdb.com/ (accessed January 10, 2002). Rutherford, Scott. The American Roller Coaster. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 2000.

Billy Sunday (1862–1935) Billy Sunday was an early forerunner of the contemporary religious right. The most famous traveling evangelist (see entry on Evangelism under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) of his day, Sunday crusaded across the nation with performances that united fundamentalist religious teaching and conservative politics with good old-fashioned showmanship. In his early career, Sunday was a womanizing professional baseball player who liked to drink and fight. But after hearing the services of an evangelistic group from the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886, Sunday was soon converted. He gave up drinking, swearing, and womanizing and began offering inspirational talks to his young fans. Sunday left baseball in 1891 and began a touring ministry four years later. Advance men promoted his appearances as if they were vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) shows. Musical entertainment was furnished by choirs and bands. Sunday—the star of the show—combined dramatic gestures and colorful language to preach against sin and for the need to right oneself with God. His preaching produced hundreds of thousands of converts. A staunch right-winger, he also brought politics into religion, advocating the outlawing of alcoholic beverages and the banning of teaching evolution in schools. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Bruns, Roger. Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big Time American Evangelism. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. Dorsett, Lyle W. Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Telephone Alexander Graham Bell (seated) tests the newly invented telephone. Courtesy of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Telephone Although there are others who claim to have done so first, the telephone was invented in 1875 by a Scot, Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922). His invention enabled people to talk to one another across vast distances. Within twenty years, telephones were widespread in the homes of the wealthy in the United States and in Europe. The laying of the first transatlantic telephone cable in 1956 began to create what is known as the “global village.” In the twenty-first century, the principles of telephony invented by Bell are behind innovations such as fax machines and the Internet (see entry under 1990s— The Way We Lived in volume 5). Although telephone messages are now transmitted using satellites and digital signals, the telephone of the twenty-first century remains much as Bell anticipated. Like many other things, the telephone was invented partly by accident. In the 1870s, the telegraph was the quickest way of

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sending messages over a long distance. But Bell hoped to speed up the system by making it possible to send more than one message at a time. He created a device that could convert sounds into electrical pulses and transmit them down a wire. From there, it was a short step to developing a machine that could carry the human voice. He was issued patent number 174465 on March 7, 1876. Soon after, he made the first telephone call, commanding his assistant Thomas Augustus Watson (1854–1934), who was in the next room: “Mr. Watson, come here! I want you!” Bell’s invention transformed the way people thought about distance, travel, and their communities. The telephone opened the way for long-distance gossip in a way that was impossible by telegraph, the older method of sending messages, yet in many ways the changes brought by the telephone were subtle and gradual. For a start, it did not change much in the way of the physical environment. The device itself was always quite small, stuck out of the way in hallways and booths. Where the telephone had its greatest impact was on the structure of society itself. As home telephones became more affordable in the 1920s and 1930s, people began using them as part of their social lives. For some commentators, this marked the beginning of a trend towards people becoming more private and self-centered. For others, however, the telephone simply freed people from having to travel to deliver simple messages. Either way, the telephone changed the way people lived their lives.

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The telephone led to the growth of a whole range of services never before available. Police and firefighters could be called by the public from special telephone boxes on the street. (As more and more people acquired telephones, this practice was replaced beginning in the 1960s by the 911 system of alerting emergency services.) Telephone companies began to offer “wake-up” calls and messaging services. “Cold calling,” whereby a salesperson uses the phone book to find new customers, became a useful but hated way to find new business. The arts and the media also felt the effect. The TV or radio phone-in became a cheap way for broadcasters to fill airtime. The plots of detective fiction (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) of the 1930s and 1940s often turn on a welltimed telephone call. Comedy routines from the early days of film include telephone jokes. Even in the twenty-first century, the telephone is a source of humor in shows from Frasier (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) to The Simpsons (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5).

Telephone

By the 1930s, most households in America at least had access to a telephone. People could be contacted more easily, and they in turn could make contact with the outside world. The trend continued throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. By the 1980s, documents could be transmitted by fax while personal computers (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) “talked” to one another using modems that connected to telephone lines. Car telephones were available in the 1960s, but it was in the 1990s that hand-held mobile telephones became cheap enough for most people to own. They even became a fashion item. By the beginning of the twentyfirst century, the video telephone had moved out of science fiction and into offices and some homes. Cellular phones (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), satellite (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) links, and the Internet meant that in 2002 there were few places on earth where one could not be reached by telephone. Voicemail, answering machines, automated information services, and a host of other systems have made the telephone the most powerful communication tool of the early twenty-first century. But perhaps the best measure of the telephone’s importance is that it is taken for granted. Telephones work behind the scenes so that in 2002, more than half of all telephone calls take place between machines, with no human intervention. In the twenty-first century, not having access to a telephone is a serious form of deprivation, and the multibillion-dollar telecommunications industry is fundamental to the world economy. Whether for medical emergencies, high-powered business deals, or ordering pizza (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3), the telephone remains an essential part of twentyfirst century life. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Fischer, Claude S. America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Gearhart, Sarah. The Telephone. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1999. Holland, Gini. Telephones. New York: Benchmark Books, 1996. Oxlade, Chris. Telecommunications. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1997. Stern, Ellen, and Emily Gwathmey. Once Upon a Telephone: An Illustrated Social History. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

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World’s Fairs During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a series of international exhibitions in major cities around the globe attracted millions of visitors to national and corporate pavilions that demonstrated their industrial and cultural achievements. Many products now in common use were first seen by the general public at world’s fairs, such as the telephone (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1876); the phonograph (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1), in Paris, France (1889); incandescent lights and the Ferris wheel (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), in Chicago, Illinois (1893); the ice-cream cone (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1), in St. Louis, Missouri (1904); television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), in New York (1939); and the IBM (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5) computer, in New York (1964). The first modern world’s fair was London’s Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, organized under the leadership of Prince Albert (1819–1861). The first in the United States was Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition of 1876, which commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of national independence. Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 marked the rebirth of the city after the fire of 1871; it was famous for its “White City” that inspired the City Beautiful movement in architecture and city planning. In 1933, Chicago’s Century of Progress fair celebrated the city’s centennial. The 1958 Brussels World’s Fair celebrated Europe’s revival after World War II (1939–45). With its “World of Tomorrow” theme, the New York’s World’s Fair that opened in 1939 offered an optimistic view of the future to Depression-weary visitors. The Futurama exhibit of General Motors (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) imagined the United States as it might appear in 1960, complete with television, an elaborate highway system (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), high-rise urban centers, suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), and modern farms. The fair’s symbols were the Trylon and Perisphere, an obelisk next to a sphere that included a prototypical utopian city called “Democracity.” Unlike earlier fairs, the New York World’s Fair of 1964 had few national pavilions, with most of the exhibits instead constructed by U.S. corporations to promote their products and images.

—Edward Moran

World’s Fairs

World’s fairs in the later twentieth century had far less of an impact on the general public, for whom television, the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), and theme parks provided much of the information and entertainment once offered by international expositions.

For More Information Allwood, John. The Great Exhibitions. New York: Studio Vista, 1978. Badger, Reid. The Great American Fair: The World’s Columbia Exposition and American Culture. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979. Findling, John E. Chicago’s Great World’s Fairs. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1994. Harrison, Helen. Dawn of a New Day: The New York World’s Fair, 1939/40. New York: New York University Press, 1980.

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1910s A Tumultuous Decade The 1910s were a decade of great tumult and change in the United States. The decade began at a time of peace and prosperity. America found itself the richest nation in the world, thanks largely to the growth of huge companies that sold goods all over the world. The president, William Howard Taft (1857–1930), had succeeded Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) as the leader of the Republican Party, which offered its support to American businesses. Many Americans enjoyed improved living standards, as more people owned cars and used electricity in their homes with every passing year. Great disruptions soon came in politics, international affairs, and the economy, however. In the presidential elections of 1912, Roosevelt left the Republican Party to become the nominee of the Progressive Party, the first serious challenger to the twoparty system in many years. He and Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) helped steal votes from Taft, which in turn led to the election of Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), a champion of progressive political reforms. Wilson led government efforts to reform the federal banking system, regulate large businesses, provide aid to farmers, and enact a progressive income tax (which meant higher tax rates for those who earned more). During the decade, four constitutional amendments were also adopted, calling for direct election of U.S. senators, the progressive income tax, the right

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Over the Top (1917): Written by Arthur Guy Empey, who served with the British army in the trenches on the Western Front, this war book introduced Americans to the horrors of World War I in Europe.

What We Said:

The Rise of David Levinsky (1917): Abraham Cahan’s story told of a Jewish immigrant’s experience breaking into the world of business in New York City.

Slang was still a decade away from being a prominent part of popular culture. One slogan did, however, enter the American lexicon: “When It Rains It Pours” (1911): This advertising slogan let consumers know that Morton salt would not clump up and stick together, but it was made popular in a different way. The expression came to mean that once something happens, it may set in motion a string of unstoppable events.

The U.P. Trail (1918): Written by one of the most popular writers of the decade, Zane Grey, this Western tells the story of the creation of the transcontinental railroad. Grey also published such favorites as Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), The Lone Star Ranger: A Romance of the Border (1915), and The Desert of Wheat (1919).

What We Read:

Magazines: Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s Weekly, Cosmopolitan, and American Magazine were among the most popular magazines of the decade.

The Rosary (1909): The best-selling novel of 1910, this sentimental romance was written by an English woman named Florence Barclay. The novel was translated into eight languages and had sold over a million copies by 1921. Books by Theodore Dreiser: Dreiser became the dominant American realist writer with several books published during the decade: Jennie Gerhardt (1911), Sister Carrie (1911 [first published in 1900 but suppressed by the publisher]), The Financier (1912), The Titan (1914), and The “Genius” (1915). O Pioneers! (1913) and My Antonia (1918): Author Willa Cather gained fame for her portrayals of people trying to survive in the harsh settings of the American prairie.

What We Watched: Vaudeville shows and musical revues: These forms of entertainment, which began in the 1900s, continued their popularity into the 1910s, despite the rise of movies. The annual Ziegfeld Follies— with its stage full of chorus girls—was one of the biggest draws in New York, while traveling vaudeville shows brought variety to American cities large and small. Queen Elizabeth (1913): The first four-reel (60 minute) film, starring Sarah Bernhardt, allowed moviemakers to tell a full-length dramatic story.

to vote for women, and Prohibition (a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages).

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American foreign policy, which had long been concerned with having the United States avoid “entanglement” in foreign conflicts, also changed dramatically during the decade. In 1914, most of Europe became involved in World War I (1914–18), a terrible conflict that would claim nearly nine million lives. The United States tried to stay neutral, for it had economic ties to

1910s At a Glance (continued)

Over three-and-one-half hours long and with a huge cast, the story tells of the impact of historical events on ordinary people.

The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913): The first in a thirteen-part serial—a series of movies about one character or set of characters—starred Kathlyn Williams, who was billed as “The Girl without Fear.” The most popular serial of the decade was The Perils of Pauline, which was released in biweekly installments in 1914.

Western films directed by Thomas Ince: His action-packed movies about cowboys and villains on the frontier included War on the Plains (1912), Custer’s Last Raid (1912), The Bargain (1914), Hell’s Hinges (1916), and The Gun Fighter (1917).

Quo Vadis (1913): The first eight-reel (two-hour) film, made in Italy, was shown in the United States. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914): This animated silent film featuring a female dinosaur, created by comic strip artist Winsor McCay, is considered the forerunner to modern animated films, including Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1929). Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914): Directed by Mack Sennett, known as the father of film comedy, this six-reel comedy was one of the most popular films starring the Keystone Kops, a group of inept policeman. It starred stage actress Marie Dressler and had Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand in supporting roles. The Birth of a Nation (1915): The decade’s most controversial film, directed by D. W. Griffith, tells the story of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and presents favorable depictions of the racist group the Ku Klux Klan. The film caused great controversy and was banned from many theaters. Intolerance (1916): Directed by D. W. Griffith, this film is considered the first great American epic.

Movies about World War I: Moviegoers enjoyed such films as War Is Hell (1914), The War Bride’s Secret (1916), The Fall of a Nation (1916), The Little American (1917)—directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Mary Pickford—and The Kaiser, Beast of Berlin (1918). What We Listened To: John Philip Sousa: The famed bandmaster toured the world with his one-hundred-piece marching band in 1910. Tin Pan Alley music: Professional sheet music companies located in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley produced some of the decade’s most popular music, including Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911), George M. Cohan’s war-themed “Over There” (1917), Richard Whiting’s “Till We Meet Again” (1917), and George Gershwin’s “Swanee” (1919). The Victrola: The Victor Talking Machine Company modified Thomas Edison’s phonograph into the Victrola in 1915, which soon became the most popular American record player. The first Victrola, with its large, trumpet-like megaphone, is quite expensive,

countries on both sides of the fight. But German attacks on U.S. shipping and the United States’ historic friendship with England and France drew the Americans into the war against Germany in 1917. Two million American soldiers served overseas and one hundred thousand died, half of them from disease. Although President Wilson hoped that American involvement in the war would “make the world safe for democracy” and lead to more American engagement overseas, senators in Congress refused to ratify Wilson’s peace treaty.

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1910s At a Glance (continued) however, and does not gain wide popularity until the 1920s. The Dixieland Jazz Band: This ensemble toured the United States in 1916 and became the first musicians to make a jazz recording in 1917. War-influenced music: In 1918, World War I influenced popular music, producing such songs as “Would You Rather Be a Colonel with an Eagle on Your Shoulder or a Private with a Chicken on Your Knee?,” “I’d Like to See the Kaiser with a Lily in His Hand,” and “General Pershing Will Cross the Rhine.” “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning”: Irving Berlin’s song was one of the most popular songs of 1919. African American musical groups: Several toured the country, introducing Americans to new musical styles that would become jazz and the blues. These groups included the Superior Orchestra, the Onward Brass Band, Ma Rainey’s Georgia Jazz Band, and a band led by Jelly Roll Morton. Who We Knew: John Dewey (1859–1952): This American philosopher, educator, and psychologist is widely credited for shaping the school system that continues to educate American children today. Dewey believed

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that American democracy would work best if all students were given an education that balanced academic learning and vocational training. His book Democracy and Education (1916) is still hailed as a guide to educating students to contribute to a democratic society. William C. “Billy” Durant (1861–1947): Billy Durant emerged as one of the best-known businessmen of the decade thanks to his ambitious leadership of the car manufacturer General Motors, for a time the world’s largest industrial company. Durant formed General Motors in 1908, and by 1910 the growing company had swallowed up thirty smaller companies, including eleven automakers. After losing control of the company in 1911, Durant regained control in 1915 and rebuilt the company to become an industry leader by 1919, when it was valued at $1 billion. Durant was known as a great innovator in the automobile industry. Marcus Garvey (1877–1940): An important black leader during the 1910s and 1920s, Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica and traveled widely before arriving in America in 1916. With the influence of black leaders Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois fading, Garvey encouraged African Americans to join together to build businesses or, if whites would not accept them, leave the country in a “Back to Africa” movement. Garvey formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association and published a leading African American weekly paper, the Negro World. Though Garvey’s plans

The war highlighted some of the economic and racial issues facing the country. American businesses were growing increasingly dependent on foreign trade (selling goods to foreign countries). War had threatened foreign trade, and some said that war was fought to keep foreign markets open to American business. American workers, especially those in labor unions, continued to fight for improved wages and working conditions, though strikes ended once America entered World War I. With many workers leaving to join the armed forces, black workers gained access to many jobs they had been barred from before.

1910s At a Glance (continued) saw little success, he was later hailed by black leader Malcolm X as a visionary. W. C. Handy (1873–1958): Known as the “Father of the Blues,” this African American musician toured with a minstrel show before deciding to specialize in a new form of music known as the blues. In 1912, Handy published his first song, “Memphis Blues,” and he followed that in 1914 with “St. Louis Blues,” the most recorded song in musical history. Handy became the first black performer to play in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1928. Shoeless Joe Jackson (1887–1951): One of the most tragic figures in the history of baseball, Jackson rose from humble beginnings in the rural South to become one of baseball’s greatest hitters while playing for the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox. Only Babe Ruth was thought to be a better hitter. But Jackson’s reputation was forever ruined when he was implicated in the “Black Sox Scandal” in which eight Chicago White Sox players were paid to lose the 1919 World Series. Mary Pickford (1892–1979): This popular actress, known as “America’s Sweetheart,” starred in such films as The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917). The first American actress to achieve international stardom, she was mobbed by fans at public appearances

and signed a $1 million contract in 1916. Along with husband Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin, Pickford established the United Artists movie company. Margaret Sanger (1879–1966): An outspoken proponent of the rights of women, Margaret Higgins Sanger was kept from becoming a doctor because of her gender, but she went on to become a pioneer in birth control practices for women. As a nurse, Sanger was alarmed at how many women saw their health and welfare endangered by their failure to avoid unwanted pregnancies. In the 1910s, she lectured widely about sexual practices, published a magazine called The Woman Rebel, and opened the nation’s first birth-control clinic in 1916. She founded the National Birth Control League in 1914 and later was involved in creating the Planned Parenthood Foundation of America. By the 1950s, Sanger was involved in the development of the first birth control pill. Jim Thorpe (1888–1953): Frequently named as one of the greatest athletes of all time, Native American Jim Thorpe played a variety of sports in his long career. He first came to fame as a college football player at Carlisle University. In 1912, he set a world record in the decathlon at the Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Thorpe then played professional baseball for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves, and professional football for the Canton Bulldogs and the New York Giants.

The existence of jobs in wartime industries in the North called forth a “great migration” of blacks from the South. Once the war ended, labor unrest grew. In 1919, hundreds of thousands of American workers walked off their jobs in steel, coal mining, and other industries. Police went on strike in Boston, Massachusetts, and there was a general strike of all workers in Seattle, Washington. Black workers were outraged at being thrown out of jobs they had recently gained. This wave of strikes and protests scared businessmen and politicians. Police cracked down on strikers, causing riots in several cities.

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A Tumultuous Decade

In what was known as the Red Scare of 1919, thousands of people were arrested and hundreds deported in a crackdown on people thought to be Communists, Socialists, or other radicals. The decade closed in a flurry of riots, arrests, and hysteria. The 1910s saw a real flowering of popular culture in a number of areas. The most notable development in arts and entertainment was the development of the movie industry. Many Americans still saw short films in nickelodeons (cheap storefront theaters), but the movie industry was changing dramatically. Movies were longer and more polished, and they starred actors who soon became household names, such as Lillian Gish (1893–1993) and Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926). These movies were shown in ornate movie palaces. By 1916, nearly twentyfive million Americans saw a movie on any given day. Movies thus joined magazines in their ability to entertain millions of Americans across the nation. Magazines continued to flourish, with old standards such as Collier’s, the American Magazine, and the Saturday Evening Post achieving circulations in the millions, while magazines such as True Story, Vanity Fair, and Vogue all emerged to provide different forms of reading material. While movies and magazines provided entertainment to the great masses, other forms of culture also flourished. American artists and writers were thrilled by the Armory Show of European artists in 1913, which sparked a rebirth in American artistic and literary activity. Novelists Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) and Willa Cather (1873–1947) published important works in the decade. Poet Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) published poems celebrating his home town of Chicago, Illinois. Perhaps the most popular artist of the day was actually a magazine illustrator, Norman Rockwell (1894–1978).

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In their daily lives, Americans enjoyed an ever growing variety of amusements. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was formed in this decade and boasted that it was the “Greatest Show on Earth.” Sports fans thrilled or booed to the exploits of the New York Yankees. Hockey joined the ranks of professional sports in 1917 with the establishment of the National Hockey League. Two “crazes” swept the nation in this decade—the bridge craze, which saw millions of Americans playing the popular card game, and the crossword puzzle craze, with new word challenges offered each week in newspapers and magazines.

A Tumultuous Decade

Americans fell in love with two new foods in the 1910s: Campbell’s soup, which came in a convenient can, and Oreo cookies. Both products continue to this day as the most popular brand in their class. Homemakers also enjoyed the newest electrical appliance, the refrigerator, which allowed them to keep foods fresh longer and to not make so many trips to the grocery store.

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1910s Commerce In American business, the 1910s was the decade of organization. Across the country, large corporations sought ways to make their production more efficient. They hired managers in great numbers, and it was the manager’s job to get employees to increase production. Many of these managers followed the thinking of an engineer named Frederick W. Taylor (1865–1915), who preached the principles of “scientific management.” These new management techniques emphasized efficiency and order and getting the most out of workers. Managers also looked to automation, as more and more American businesses used assembly-line processes to produce their goods. The Ford Motor Company was the shining example of what organization could do for a company; Henry Ford (1863–1947) and his car company boosted automobile production to 730,041 units by 1917. When President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) brought his progressive political ideas to the White House in 1913, critics feared that his pro-reform administration would be antibusiness. In fact, progressive legislation helped business operate more efficiently. Both the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) helped restore healthy competition to American business by eliminating monopolistic (single company dominance) and anticompetitive business practices. Other acts increased exports by promoting free trade with other nations, helped provide farmers with lowinterest loans, and protected workers’ rights. The American economy was boosted dramatically by World War I (1914–18). Before it entered the war in 1917, the United States provided food and other goods to all of the warring countries. Once America entered the war, it was free also to provide military weapons and heavy industrial goods to its allies, France and the United Kingdom. President Wilson’s government helped American companies organize their activities to ship war goods; labor unions felt it was unpatriotic to strike; and the economy boomed. During the course of the decade, the value of goods and services produced in the United States rose from $35.3 billion in 1910 to $91.5 billion in 1920. Even more

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importantly, the United States was now exporting more goods than ever before. Exports exceeded imports by $273 million in 1910. By 1920, they exceeded imports by $2.88 billion. By the end of the decade, the American economy was the undoubted leader of the world. American companies shared in the boom. The Ford Motor Company, General Motors, General Electric, Eastman Kodak, DuPont, and other companies grew to have values greater than many small nations. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) laid telephone lines from New York to San Francisco, paving the way for transcontinental telephone service—and for AT&T to become the world’s largest company eventually. Individual Americans also enjoyed the country’s economic growth. The income of the average American rose from $580 in 1914 to more than $1,300 by the end of the decade. Advertisers and a growing retail industry persuaded Americans to spend some of their disposable income. Department stores such as Wanamaker in Philadelphia and grocery stores like Piggly Wiggly in Tennessee adopted scientific management techniques to sell people more goods. L. L. Bean (1872–1967) founded his outdoor goods company in 1912 and soon shipped goods across the country to people who had received his catalog.

AT&T

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An outgrowth of the original Bell Telephone Company founded by Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) in 1877, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company is one of the best known companies in the United States. The company is commonly known by its corporate initials, AT&T, or by its familiar nickname, “Ma Bell.” Incorporated in 1885, AT&T became the parent company of the Bell System in 1915. In 1915, AT&T also extended its New York–based network to San Francisco, California, permitting the first transcontinental telephone (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) calls. The company had a controlling interest in Western Electric, its manufacturing unit, and in Bell Labs (now the independent Lucent Technologies), its research and development division. AT&T introduced the first commercial transatlantic telephone service between the United States and London, England, in 1927 and the first transpacific service to Hawaii in 1931 and to Tokyo, Japan,

For its first century, AT&T was a government-regulated monopoly (single company dominance) that provided telecommunications services throughout the United States in exchange for its commitment to offer universal service at a low price to consumers. Thanks to AT&T, 50 percent of all households had telephone service by 1945; 70 percent, by 1955; and 90 percent, by 1969. In 1974, however, the U.S. government filed an antitrust suit against AT&T that led to its breakup into eight smaller companies in 1984: a shrunken AT&T, plus seven “baby Bells” that provided local telephone service. The breakup reduced AT&T’s assets from $149.5 billion to $34 billion and its employees from 1,009,000 to 373,000. Its familiar logo of a bell within a circle was replaced by a stylized globe and the monogram AT&T. For the next twelve years, AT&T described itself as an “integrated telecommunications services and equipment company” that, along with MCI, Sprint, and other newcomers, was one of many long-distance carriers. Since 1996, AT&T has been reinventing itself as a company that provides businesses and consumers with voice, data, and video services via wireless, data, and cable networks. It reported annual revenues of $66 billion in 2000.

L. L. Bean

in 1934. AT&T’s development of the Telstar I satellite (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), launched in 1962, opened a new era of global telecommunications from space.

—Edward Moran

For More Information “About AT&T.” AT&T. http://www.att.com (accessed January 15, 2002). Brooks, John. Telephone: The First Hundred Years. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Coll, Steve. The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T. New York: Atheneum, 1986. Kleinfield, Sonny. The Biggest Company on Earth: A Profile of AT&T. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981. Stone, Alan. Wrong Number: The Breakup of AT&T. New York: Basic Books, 1989.

L. L. Bean L. L. Bean—based in Freeport, Maine—is a supplier of outdoor apparel, furnishings, and equipment. Since its inception in 1912, it has become renowned for its products and services and for the rustic, genteel lifestyle that it represents. With a largely unchang-

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ing mix of products such as khaki pants, the famous “Bean boot,” and camping equipment, L. L. Bean has virtually defined the outdoors-oriented retailing industry. In the 1980s, when the “preppy” (see entry under 1980s—Fashion in volume 5) look was in vogue, L. L. Bean was practically revered. In Lisa Birnbach’s best-selling book The Official Preppy Handbook, she wrote of the preppy rite of passage of going to the Bean store in Freeport at midnight. The L. L. Bean catalog has been a legend for decades. Until the 1990s, there was only one store in Freeport, and all orders were through the catalog. For most people, the catalog was L. L. Bean. Leon Leonwood Bean (1873–1967) got started in the business because he was tired of coming home from outings in the Maine woods with cold, wet feet. He created a lightweight leather boot with rubber bottoms and sold them via mail order. Unfortunately, the stitching came out on most of them. This fault turned out to be a blessing, since he returned his customers’ money and thereby established the famous Bean unconditional guarantee. He went back to the drawing board. The improved “Maine hunting shoe” is still sold today as the “Bean boot” and is probably L. L. Bean’s best-known product. They have also offered a “field coat” since 1924, widely copied in the 1990s. Other Bean innovations have included keeping the store open for twenty-four hours a day year round, running a fly-fishing school, and offering a variety of environmental programs. By the late 1990s, L. L. Bean was considered by some to be overly traditional. In an effort to keep up with competition from companies like Lands’ End and Recreational Equipment Incorporated (REI), the company expanded the number of stores and tried to be more market savvy. It is hard to tell if the new strategy will work, but as recently as late 2000, upscale fashion houses such as Gucci and Oscar de la Renta were drawing inspiration from L. L. Bean standbys, but charging a lot more for them. —Karl Rahder

For More Information

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“Bean There, Done That.” Harper’s (December 2000): p. 260. Birnbach, Lisa. The Official Preppy Handbook. New York: Workman Publishing, 1980. “Get to Know More About L. L. Bean.” L. L. Bean. http://www.llbean. com/ customerService/aboutLLBean/index.html?feat=gn (accessed January 15, 2002). Montgomery, M. R. In Search of L. L. Bean. Boston: Little, Brown, 1984. Symonds, William C. “Paddling Harder at L. L. Bean.” Business Week (December 7, 1998): pp. 72–73.

1910s Fashion Fashion in the 1910s bore little resemblance to fashion in the twenty-first century. There were few if any famous designers or popular brands of clothes and few fashion magazines to publicize the latest clothing styles. The very idea of style would have seemed laughable to most people, whose highest hopes for their clothes were that they were durable. Many Americans still wore clothes that were made at home; those who did not make their own clothes bought them at general stores or department stores based on price and durability, and not on whether the clothes were in style. Only the wealthiest Americans had the luxury of thinking about the cut and style of the clothes they wore. Wealthy men might have their suits handmade in London, England, while rich women traveled to Paris, France, to view the latest in female fashions. Beginning in 1914, Americans could consult the magazine Vanity Fair for advice on stylish attire. This magazine was one of the first to promote stylish clothes for men in its articles and advertisements. The Arrow Collar Man, a stylishly handsome illustrated figure used to sell shirt collars, became the most famous fashion symbol of the decade thanks to his appearance in countless magazine advertisements. In general, the trends in clothing during the decade were to greater simplicity and ease of use. Both men and women were beginning to enjoy more active lives—bicycling, golfing, and dancing were all becoming very popular—and their clothing changed to suit those lifestyles. Women gave up wearing the cumbersome corset (a heavy, tight undergarment) and began wearing the more comfortable brassiere, or bra, that was invented in 1913. Similarly, men gave up their thick woolen union suits in favor of the light cotton T-shirt that became popular among soldiers fighting in World War I (1914–18). Active people of both sexes also looked for lightweight footwear. Beginning in 1917, they could purchase Converse All Star tennis shoes, with their light uppers and no-skid rubber bottom.

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A 1912 print advertisement featuring the Arrow Collar Man. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Appearing in hundreds of print advertisements between 1905 and 1930, the Arrow Collar Man presented an iconic image—the ideal representation of a handsome, athletic, self-confident male. Even President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) described him as a superb portrait of the “common man.” The Arrow Collar Man was used to sell more than four hundred varieties of detachable collars. In the early decades of the twentieth century, most men’s shirts still had detachable collars, often made of celluloid. (Celluloid was the first synthetic plastic [see entry under 1900s— Commerce in volume 1]. Made from cellulose and camphor, other plastics replaced celluloid because it was highly flammable.) The Arrow Collar achieved widespread brand recognition to become an advertising icon; if a man wore an Arrow Collar, he must be like that handsome, athletic, self-confident Arrow Collar Man. The Arrow Collar Man was created by J. C. Leyendecker (1874–1951) for its manufacturer, Cluett, Peabody & Company. During the 1920s, he served as an advertising model for Arrow Shirts with their newfangled attached collars. Leyendecker, who preferred to work from live models, drew the Arrow Collar Man as a polished, Anglo-Saxon figure. The portraits were designed to suggest an ideal image of the cando American male. He used several prominent actors for models, but his favorite was Charles Beach, Leyendecker’s business manager and companion for half a century. It has been reported that the fictional image received more fan mail than movie stars of the period, including Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2). At the height of the Arrow Collar Man’s popularity in 1920, he was receiving seventeen thousand love letters a week. He was also the subject of a Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) show and several popular songs and poems.

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After the campaigns featuring the Arrow Collar Man ended in 1930, Leyendecker continued his career as a magazine illus-

Bra

trator for the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s— Print Culture in volume 1) and other national publications. He was a great influence on another of America’s greatest illustrators, Norman Rockwell (see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1). —Edward Moran

For More Information “J. C. Leyendecker: A Retrospective.” The Norman Rockwell Museum. http://www.tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus21b.htm (accessed January 14, 2002). “Joseph Christian Leyendecker.” National Museum of American Illustration. http://www.americanillustration.org/html/jcl/bio.html (accessed January 14, 2002). Schau, Michael. J. C. Leyendecker. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1974.

Bra Few items of clothing have attracted as much attention—positive and negative—as the brassiere, or bra. Worn by women to support and protect their breasts, the bra has become a symbol of femininity, female sexuality, and womanhood. So closely is the bra equated with the role of women in society that acceptance or rejection of the bra can be a political decision as well as a fashion decision. The bra was invented in 1913 by New York City socialite Caresse Crosby (1892–1970). Rebelling against the confinement and unattractive lines of the corsets (restrictive undergarments) that the fashion of the day dictated, Crosby directed a servant to sew together two handkerchiefs with ribbons to make a garment to wear over her breasts. Crosby was not the first to think of such a device, but she patented her invention and therefore was able to claim the rights to it. She sold the patent to Warners, a corset manufacturer, for $1500. Bras have been used throughout the years to help women make their bodies look fashionable. In the 1920s, the bra was a tight band that allowed women to achieve a slim, boyish figure; by the 1930s, bras pushed women’s breasts up and in to show off their cleavage (the visual line between the breasts). In 1935, Warners introduced the cup design with different sized cups for a better individual fit. The 1940s and 1950s featured

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Bra A copy of the original brassiere patent, filed on February 12, 1914. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

sturdy bras made of cotton and elastic. Big breasts became fashionable, and the 1950s saw the introduction of the padded bra and “falsies,” small foam pads placed in the bra to enlarge the bustline.

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In the 1960s, as women began to question their role in maledominated society, men’s obsession with women’s breasts became a source of anger and dissent. The women’s liberation movement accused men of viewing women mainly as objects of sexual desire, and made the bra a symbol of women’s confinement to men’s expectations. At the 1968 Miss America

Since then, women have continued to wear bras, whether as a social convention or a need for a supportive garment for their breasts. With forty-three separate component parts, the modern bra is an engineering marvel, and manufacturers are constantly working to improve the design. Sports bras have been designed that can be worn under a shirt or alone by female athletes. During the 1990s technological boom, bras were even designed to contain heart monitors, global positioning system locators, cellular phones, and cancer warning sensors. The lingerie company Victoria’s Secret scored a marketing triumph with its sophisticated Wonderbra in the 1990s. The bra continues to reflect the tastes and conventions of American society in every era.

Tennis Shoes

Pageant (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), feminists protested male beauty standards by throwing curlers, makeup, and bras into a garbage can. Although no bras were burned, the media exaggerated the event and “bra-burner” became a synonym for feminist.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Baldwin, Deborah. “Caresse Crosby and the Brassiere.” Discovery.com. http://www.discovery.com/stories/deadinventors/dead980910/ deadinventors.html (accessed January 15, 2002). Dowling, Claudia Glenn. “Ooh-la-la! The Bra.” Life. (June 1989): pp. 88–96. Hawthorne, Rosemary, and Mary Want. From Busk to Bra: A Survey of Women’s Corsetry. Cincinnati: Seven Hills Book Distributors, 1987. Lindsay, David. House of Invention: The Secret Life of Everyday Products. New York: Lyons Press, 2000.

Tennis Shoes The tennis shoe has been called the only new style of shoe to be invented in the past three hundred years. The athletic shoe was first introduced in the 1860s as the plimsoll, a lightweight canvas shoe with a rubber sole for playing lawn croquet. The athletic shoe has since evolved into not only a high-tech piece of sports equipment but also a sign of status and an expression of individual personality. Often called “tennies” or “sneakers,” tennis shoes are no longer just for sports. They are a major part of the modern American wardrobe.

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In 1916, a shoe company called Keds produced a lightweight canvas and rubber shoe that remained the basic pattern of the tennis shoe for the next fifty years. In the late 1960s, the customized athletic shoe first appeared, when University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman (1911–1999) began experimenting with new designs for a lightweight shoe with improved traction. He created a new type of sole by pouring latex rubber into a waffle iron. The odd-looking but efficient shoe he created by attaching his new sole to a nylon upper was dubbed the “moonshoe.” Bowerman became one of the founders of the Nike (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4) shoe company. Nike, along with athletic equipment company Spalding and German company Adidas, continued to improve the design of the running shoe during the 1970s. The aerobics (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4) craze of the 1970s and 1980s sparked more experimentation in specific shoe design for different sports. In the 1990s, shoes with technical accessories, such as built-in air pumps to customize fit, became popular. Modern athletic shoes can cost from $25 to $175 a pair. Manufacturing athletic shoes has become a $12 billion-a-year industry. The most popular sports shoes are often endorsed by well-known athletes, who receive millions of dollars for their endorsements. The teenage boys who identify with those athletes are often drawn to the expensive brand-name shoes that their heroes endorse. Poor youth, who often see success in sports as a way out of poverty, want to own the “best” sneakers, even though the price tag may be out of reach. As a result, a new area of crime has arisen, and many young people have been hurt or killed when their new expensive sneakers have been stolen right off their feet. —Tina Gianoulis

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Berendt, John. “The Sneaker.” Esquire (Vol. 107, May 1987): pp. 26–28. Kiefer, Michael. “Ode to the Sneaker: A Discourse on Laces, Lore and Sole with Soul.” Chicago (Vol. 35, May 1986): pp. 164–68. “The Sneaker Story.” Co-Ed (Vol. 30, March 1985): pp. 32–37. Telander, Rick, and Mirko Ilic. “Senseless: In America’s Cities, Kids Are Killing Kids over Sneakers and Other Sports Apparel Favored by Drug Dealers; Who’s to Blame?” Sports Illustrated (Vol. 72, no. 20, May 14, 1990): pp. 36–43. Wolkomir, Richard. “The Race to Make a ‘Perfect’ Shoe Starts in the Laboratory.” Smithsonian (Vol. 20, no. 6, September 1989): pp. 94–103.

The T-shirt is one of the beacons of American casual fashion. Popularized by U.S. Navy sailors during the first two world wars, the T-shirt has become an essential element of the American wardrobe.

T-Shirt

T-Shirt

In 1913, the U.S. Navy issued short-sleeved, white cotton crewneck undershirts to sailors. Sailors returning from World War I (1914–18) had grown to prefer the T-shirt to the woolen undershirt that had been the most typical undergarment since 1880. The popularity of the garment grew. By World War II (1939–45), twelve million men were wearing the shirts. News photographs and newsreels showed sailors and soldiers working in only pants and T-shirts. Underwear was exposed to the public for the first time. America had become quite used to the display of American muscle under a thin layer of white T-shirt by war’s end. Although the military persuaded America to embrace the Tshirt as an essential element of a man’s wardrobe, films turned the T-shirt into an American cultural phenomenon. In 1951, the sculpted muscles of Marlon Brando (1924–) bulged under his Tshirt in A Streetcar Named Desire; his character Stanley Kowalski’s powerful masculinity was reflected in Brando’s physique and perfectly displayed under his T-shirt. In 1955, James Dean (see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) brought a youthful, anti-establishment attitude to the T-shirt in Rebel Without a Cause. This anti-establishment theme continued into the 1960s with Peter Fonda (1939–) in Easy Rider (1966). The sexual and rebellious characters that actors portrayed in films translated into the behavior of American youths. T-shirts became associated with youthful, American attitudes. Women made T-shirts their own symbol of youth and rebellion during the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1960s and 1970s. The teasingly revealing anatomy of a T-shirt–clad Jacqueline Bisset (1944–) in The Deep (1977) is perhaps the best illustration of women’s adoption of the T-shirt. Since the 1970s, young braless women have lined up in wet T-shirts in bars across the country to display their own sexuality. Soon T-shirts displayed attitudes in type. Although some Tshirts carried printed messages before the 1960s, in the 1970s

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T-shirts became personal billboards for individual expression. Anything from “Have a Nice Day” to swear words could be found on T-shirts. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, T-shirts were a staple garment of Americans and many others around the world. Offered in a variety of colors, styles, and with unlimited messages, the T-shirt can still be seen adorning young and old alike. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Grey, Ian. “Tee-Construction a Brief History of the T-Shirt.” Vintageskivvies.com. http://www.vintageskivvies.com/pages/archives/articles/ readersubmissions/historyofthet-shirt.html (accessed January 15, 2002). “The History of a T-Shirt.” Teehive.com. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/ teehive/hisoftshir.html (accessed January 15, 2002). Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990.

Zipper Zippers provide easy opening and secure fastening to luggage, clothing, and even plastic bags. Although zippers are found in many everyday items today, the zipper did not immediately interest people when it was first invented. Elias Howe (1819–1867), inventor of the sewing machine, patented the first zipper in 1851. He called it an “automatic, continuous clothing closure.” Howe never marketed his invention, though. Whitcomb Judson patented his “clasp locker” in 1893. After its introduction at the World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1) in Chicago, Illinois, and the successful marking of his product through his Universal Fastener Company, he became known as the “Inventor of the Zipper.” Judson’s invention laid the groundwork for modern zippers. Gideon Sundback, an employee of Universal Fastener Company, designed a zipper in 1913 that is much like the zippers found today. Sundback’s “separable fastener” received a patent in 1917. The Universal Fastener Company started producing hundreds of feet of it a day. 164

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The B. F. Goodrich Company put Sundback’s fastener on its rubber boots and called the device a “zipper.” The name stuck,

Zipper

but it took several years for the zipper to become popular. For the first twenty years of its existence, the zipper only closed boots and tobacco pouches. Other uses seemed impractical; the zipper was expensive, it rusted, and it sometimes broke open. But when designers started using zippers in children’s clothing in the 1930s, it did not take long for zippers to replace buttons in the flies of men’s trousers. Soon, zippers were the preferred fastener for trousers, jackets, and all sorts of other items. By the beginning of the new millennium, zippers came in thousands of different styles and hundreds of different colors. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Friedel, Robert. Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. “The History of the Zipper.” About.com. http://inventors.about.com/ library/weekly/aa082497.htm (accessed January 15, 2002). “The History of the Zipper.” Apparel Search. http://www.apparelsearch. com/zipper_history.htm (accessed January 15, 2002).

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1910s Film and Theater One of many amusements in the 1900s, movies began to compete seriously with books and magazines for people’s leisure time in the 1910s. By 1916, twenty-five million Americans attended a movie every single day. Advances in technology and in the art of filmmaking helped make movies such an important part of American popular culture. Technologically, films could now be longer and could be shown on a bigger screen. Artistically, directors had developed the art of telling a story on film. They used rising “stars”—actors and actresses loved by their audience—to craft dramatic stories. Nickelodeons, which showed short, one-reel films (films that fit on a single reel and were generally ten to twelve minutes long) in cramped spaces, faded in popularity during this decade. Soon the little nickelodeons were replaced by large, ornate theaters in many big cities. These “movie palaces,” which seated hundreds of viewers who enjoyed the splendor of the setting, made going to the movies a special treat. Filmmakers soon made two-, three-, eight-, and even twelve-reel movies. These movies, called features, were long enough to tell a detailed story. Movies were still silent, of course, for sound would not come to films until the late 1920s. Film production, which had once been centered in New York, relocated westward, settling in an area near Los Angeles, California, known as Hollywood. Open space and good weather allowed movie studios to make more and better movies. The most notable directors soon became famous. The best-known director of the day was D. W. Griffith (c. 1875–1948), director of the famous Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) soon built a solid reputation. Griffith and DeMille and other directors also turned to stars to help draw viewers to their movies. Among the best known stars of this early era of filmmaking were “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford (1893–1979), “Latin Lover” Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977), Lillian Gish (1893–1993), Douglas Fairbanks (1883–1939), Tom Mix (1880–1940), and many others.

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On the stage, vaudeville was still the most popular form of live entertainment. A form of variety theater that included a range of acts, vaudeville shows were performed all across the nation, in towns large and small. In many cities outside the South, African Americans participated in mixed-race vaudeville performances or toured with vaudeville shows of their own. Many of the most famous vaudeville performers of the day— including Chaplin, the Marx Brothers (Harpo, 1888–1964; Groucho, 1890–1977; Chico, 1886–1961; and Zeppo, 1901–1979), George Burns (1896–1996), and Jack Benny (1894–1974)—went on to star in movies and, several decades later, television. Large cities often had ornate theaters to house their vaudeville shows, and these theaters also showed movies. Musicals and musical revues also gained in popularity during the decade. The most famous musical revue was the annual Ziegfeld Follies, which ran from 1907 to 1931 but was most popular during this decade. Though Broadway was still struggling to develop a successful theater tradition, a trend called the Little Theater Movement saw the birth of local theater companies across the country. Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953), who would become one of America’s most famous playwrights, had his first play performed by the Provincetown Players in New York City in 1916.

The Birth of a Nation

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The Birth of a Nation was a groundbreaking 1915 silent film. Directed by D. W. Griffith (1875–1948), the film is set during the American Civil War (1861–65) and Reconstruction period (1865–1877). The Birth of a Nation depicts the era through the fictional stories of two white families caught up in the conflict, the Stonemans from the North and the slaveowning Camerons from the South. The film popularized the acting careers of Lillian Gish (1893–1993; see entry in 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) and her younger sister, Dorothy (1898–1968). The sisters became two of the most familiar stars of the silent movie (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) era. The Birth of a Nation introduced many technical and artistic advances in the new medium of film. The film remains controversial to this day because of its interpretation of the historical events it portrayed.

The Birth of a Nation A scene from the controversial 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Based on The Clansman, a 1905 play by Thomas Dixon Jr. (1864–1946), The Birth of a Nation sympathized with defeated Southern slaveholders. It portrayed the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in a generally favorable light, while painting a negative picture of Southern blacks during the period. The film depicted the Cameron plantation before the war as a happy place where slaves and masters lived together in harmony until Northern abolitionists disturbed the balance. After the war, Austin Stoneman sends a friend of mixed race, Silas Lynch, to encourage the emancipated slaves to vote and run for public office, provoking a horrified Ben Cameron to organize the Ku Klux Klan as an organ of white resistance. The narrative is personalized when romantic attachments develop between members of the two families, but these scenes are overshadowed by unflattering depictions of black characters, who are portrayed as uncouth and violence prone. Not surprisingly, protests greeted The Birth of a Nation when the film opened in many cities in the spring of 1915. Among those criticizing the film were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

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(NAACP), and prominent African American educators Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) and W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963). Despite these controversies, The Birth of a Nation remains a milestone in the history of the early film industry. It was heavily promoted and advertised nationally, making it the prototype of the modern “blockbuster.” In the nickelodeon (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) era, The Birth of a Nation was the first film for which a two-dollar admission was charged, proving that mass audiences would support serious movies. It also pioneered a number of production techniques still used by filmmakers. These techniques include the use of creative camera angles, such as closeups and panoramic shots, and of artificial lighting for filming at night. Writer and film critic James Agee (1909–1955) declared that The Birth of a Nation was full of “tremendous magical images” that could be compared to Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, Walt Whitman’s poems, and Mathew Brady’s photographs in evoking the Civil War era. —Edward Moran

For More Information Barry, Iris. D. W. Griffith: American Film Master. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1965. Gish, Lillian, with Ann Pinchot. The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969. Silva, Fred, ed. Focus on “The Birth of a Nation.” Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1971. Sarris, Andrew. “Birth of a Nation or White Power Back When.” Village Voice (July 17 and July 24, 1969).

Charlie Chaplin (1887–1977)

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Charlie Chaplin was a brilliant mime artist and a key comic actor and director of Hollywood’s silent movie (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) era. Hired by the Keystone Film Company in 1913 for $150 a week, Chaplin quickly became a major star. Just four years later, First National paid him $1 million to make eight films. He once said that all he needed to make a comedy was a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl. But Chaplin’s films combine wild visual jokes with serious issues such as immigration and unemployment. He appears as the “Little Tramp” in all his best work. The image of the man in the bowler hat with his turned-out feet is still famous the world over.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information

Felix the Cat

English-Chaplin never became an American citizen and left the United States in 1952. In 1972, a special Oscar honored him as one of the most distinguished figures in Hollywood’s history. He was made Sir Charles Chaplin in 1975.

Cook, David A. A History of Narrative Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. Epstein, Jerry. Remembering Charlie: A Pictorial Biography. London: Bloomsbury, 1988. Mitchell, Glenn. The Charlie Chaplin Encyclopedia. New York: Batsford, 1997.

Felix the Cat A comic-book and animated-cartoon character created around 1920 by Otto Messmer (1892–1983) and Pat Sullivan (1885–1933), Felix the Cat first appeared (under another name) in a 1919 animated cartoon called Feline Follies. Felix the Cat was a lively, clever character who overcame difficulties placed in his path by inventive solutions such as changing his body parts into tools. During the next decade, the black-and-white, wide-eyed cat starred in more than 150 short animated cartoons. In 1923, he began appearing in a comic strip distributed by King Features. Felix was the first important animal character to star in his own cartoon series. Felix the Cat was also the first major cartoon character whose image was licensed for use by toy companies and other businesses that used his image on retail products. In 1927, Felix was the first character to appear on balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2). Through a series of favorable deals Messmer and Sullivan arranged with film distributors, Felix became a familiar presence in movie theaters around the country. Despite his popularity in silent films, his creators were unable to adapt their character when films gained sound in the late 1920s. Competitor Walt Disney (see Disney entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) soon emerged as the major film animator with another animal: Mickey Mouse. After an unsuccessful film revival in 1936, Felix the Cat continued to appear in newspaper comic strips and in Dell comic books. In 1959 and again in 1982, Joe Oriolo (1913–1985) created

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Cartoonist Otto Messmer poses with his famous creation, Felix the Cat. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

a Felix the Cat cartoon series for television, adding such supporting characters as the Professor and Poindexter. His son, Don Oriolo, continued the tradition by producing Felix the Cat: The Movie in the 1980s and developing the “Baby Felix” character. Through such revivals, Felix the Cat remained a durable fixture of twentieth-century popular culture. —Edward Moran

For More Information Canemaker, John. Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat. New York: Pantheon, 1991. FelixtheCat.com. http://www.felixthecat.com/ (accessed January 15, 2002). Gerstein, David. Classic Felix the Cat Page. http://wso.williams.edu/ ~dgerstei/felix/ (accessed January 15, 2002). Messmer, Otto. Nine Lives to Live: A Classic Felix Celebration. Seattle: Fantagraphic Books, 1996.

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Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) may not be the first animated cartoon ever created, but it easily is the most famous—and most

influential—of its day. The title character is a real charmer: a cuddly, sweetly mischievous prehistoric creature who not only was an audience favorite but became the first-ever animated movie star.

Gertie the Dinosaur was the first-ever animated movie star. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

Gertie was the creation of Winsor McCay (1871–1934), a newspaper cartoonist and comic strip artist-turned-pioneering animator. McCay’s first animated cartoon was Little Nemo (1911), based on his comic-strip creation. Little Nemo consisted of four thousand drawings. Gertie the Dinosaur was his most celebrated follow-up animation. To create it, McCay used ten thousand drawings, each one representing an individual frame of film. All the drawings were inked on rice paper and mounted on cardboard. McCay first presented his films as part of an act he performed in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), in which he announced to the audience that he could make his drawings come to life. When presenting Gertie the Dinosaur, McCay portrayed the creature’s trainer. As his film was projected, he synchronized his movements with those onscreen. McCay thus “talked” to Gertie, interacting with her and giving her commands to which she responded. At the finale,

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McCay “walked” into the movie, becoming an animated figure that Gertie carries off on her back. He promoted the routine as “The Greatest Animal Act in the World!!!” What is most astonishing about Gertie, however, is her fluid, detailed movement. She sways back and forth and, as she breathes, her body expands and contracts. McCay also includes a groundbreaking sense of realism in his animation. For example, as Gertie uproots a tree trunk and chomps away on it, bits of dirt fall to earth. The film Gertie the Dinosaur (which also has been called Gertie, Gertie the Dinosaurus, and Gertie the Trained Dinosaur) was released to movie theaters in an expanded, one-reel version. McCay surrounded the animation with a live-action story, involving the animator agreeing to a bet with another cartoonist, George McManus (1884–1954), that he can make Gertie come alive. After the animated portion of the film, McCay and McManus are pictured at a dinner party. McManus has lost the bet and pays for the meal. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New York: Penguin Books, 1980.

Lillian Gish (1896–1993) Nicknamed “the First Lady of the Silver Screen,” Lillian Gish is still considered the best serious film actress of her time. She brought a realism to film acting that had not been seen before. Lillian appeared in many classic films, including The Birth of a Nation (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) (1915) and Way Down East (1920). Born Lillan de Guiche, Gish made her screen debut in 1912 along with her sister Dorothy (1898–1968) in An Uneasy Enemy. Both sisters would have successful film careers. Dorothy was a comedienne, whereas Lillian appeared in melodramas and in literary classics. Lillian had a far longer career and is more highly regarded today, but Dorothy actually appeared in more films. Lillian’s career ended after seventy-five years when she appeared in her last film, The Whales of August, in 1987. 174

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—Jill Gregg Clever

Estate of Lillian Gish. Lillian Gish Official Home Page. http://www. cmgww.com/stars/gish/index.html (accessed January 15, 2002). Gish, Lillian, and Ann Pinchot. The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me. Denver, Prentice-Hall, 1969. “Lillian Gish.” American Masters. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/gish_l.html (accessed January 15, 2002).

Keystone Kops

For More Information

Keystone Kops During the first two decades of the twentieth century, comedy was the favorite genre of moviegoers, and no moviemaker was more adept at tickling the funnybones of audiences than Mack Sennett (1880–1960). One of the most famous and everlasting of all his contributions to screen comedy was the Keystone Kops, a fictional gang of well-meaning but hilariously inept policemen. The Keystone Kops have long been synonymous with onscreen slapstick and bungling, chases filled with horseplay, and overall comic chaos. Sennett was mentor to some of the era’s most famous screen comedians, including Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) and Mabel Normand (1894–1930). He also worked with dozens of other comic actors, including Ford Sterling (1883–1939), Chester Conklin (1888–1971), Hank Mann (1887–1971), Fred Mace (1878–1917), Edgar Kennedy (1890–1948), and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (1887–1933), all of whom at one time or another were members of the Keystone Kops. The head of this band of comic lunatics was a character named police chief Teeheezel. He first was played by Mann, and then by Sterling. The Kops were named for the Keystone studio, the film production company founded in 1912 by Sennett. They first appeared on screen in the Sennett-directed slapstick Hoffmeyer’s Legacy (1912), but their popularity soared with the release of The Bangville Police (1913). Approximately five hundred short Keystone Kops comedies followed. The Kops also had a prominent role in Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1914), which starred Chaplin, Normand, and comedienne Marie Dressler (1869–1934). Tillie’s Punctured Romance was the first-ever feature-length film comedy. The Kops wore handlebar moustaches and ill-fitting suits. During the course of their films, they would be tossed out of

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The Keystone Kops, a fictional group of bumbling policemen, were featured in approximately five hundred short comedy films. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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moving cars, or fall under moving cars, or be thrown over cliffs. Visual humor prevailed, for after all, the films in which they appeared were silent. The Keystone Kops’ stardom began to fade as other screen comics—most notably Chaplin in 1914—began receiving the bulk of the attention at the Keystone studio. But they did keep appearing in Sennett slapsticks and were paid homage decades later in a sound-film farce featuring Abbott and Costello (see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3). (Bud Abbott [1895–1974] and Lou Costello [1906–1959] were a popular comedy duo in the 1940s and 1950s.) The film was titled Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1954). Furthermore, all sound-film comedy masters who rely on physical humor, from Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) through Jerry Lewis (1926–) and Jim Carrey (1962–), owe a debt to Mack Sennett and his Keystone Kops. —Audrey Kupferberg

Lahue, Kalton C., and Terry Brewer. Kops and Custards: The Legend of Keystone Films. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. Sennett, Mack. King of Comedy. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1990.

Movie Palaces

Movie Palaces

For More Information

From the early days of film until the 1950s, movie theaters really were palaces. As going to the movies became a popular American activity, movie theaters grew from the original storefront nickelodeons (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) into huge, ornate theaters such as The Regent (New York City, built 1913), The Million Dollar (Los Angeles, built 1918), and Radio City Music Hall (New York City, built in 1932). Unfortunately, after the emergence of television (see entry under 1940s—TV & Radio in volume 3) and growth of suburbia (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) in the 1950s, movie palaces began to disappear. Today there are still motion picture theaters, but they no longer play the major role they did during the first half of the twentieth century. During the Great Depression (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), movie palaces helped audiences forget their troubles for awhile. The theaters even helped modern architecture find wider acceptance than it had previously. The Strand in New York, although not the first movie palace, began the movie palace era, opening in 1914. The theaters had promotions such as free china, lotteries, and other prizes. Each theater had a different design theme and boasted velvet ropes and crystal chandeliers. Moviegoers received a royal welcome with doormen and ushers. Many theaters provided childcare, and one even boasted a miniature golf course. By the late 1920s, audiences were becoming jaded, and after the Great Depression began in 1929 attendance took a dive. But people were lured back with low prices. The movie palaces experienced their peak during the late 1940s. Until then, motion picture studios owned the theaters also. A Supreme Court decision in 1948 made studios sell off the theaters. During the 1950s, the decline of the movie palace began with the advent of television. Between 1947 and 1957, 90 percent of American households acquired a television. The theaters and studios tried to fight this development with movie spectaculars

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filmed with new techniques such as Widescreen, 3-D (see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3), and Cinerama. Unfortunately for the theaters, their audiences also began to move out to the suburbs. Smaller neighborhood theaters began to appear. The movie palaces all but disappeared after that. A few palaces have been renovated and reopened, but most either stand empty and falling apart or were torn down years ago. The lavish theater experience that movie palaces once offered audiences can now only be remembered. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information Hall, Ben. The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace. New York: Clarson N. Potter, 1961. Margolies, John, and Emily Gwathmey. Ticket to Paradise: American Movie Theaters and How We Had Fun. Boston: Bullfinch Press, 1991. Valentine, Maggie. The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.

Will Rogers (1879–1935) Humorist Will Rogers was one of the most famous and beloved Americans of his time. His persona was that of a simple Everyman who employed common sense and clever good humor to view and comment on politics, lifestyles, and the American scene. Rogers, part-Irish and part-Cherokee, was born in the Colagah Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. He quit school in 1891, became a cowboy in the Texas Panhandle, and performed with a traveling Wild West Circus. He first appeared on the New York stage in 1905 and became a full-fledged star on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1916 (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). Rogers soon appeared in motion pictures, debuting in Laughing Bill Hyde (1918). His popularity grew with the introduction of sound films in the late 1920s. Now, he could entertain moviegoers with his unique brand of verbal humor. He quickly became a top box office star. 178

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Rogers was a lifelong Democrat, and his support helped elect Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) to the U.S. presidency in

Will Rogers

1932. Rogers was not above poking fun at his party’s sometimes erratic behavior, however. On one occasion, he noted, “No, I’m not a member of an organized political party—I’m a Democrat.” Upon his introduction to Republican president Calvin Coolidge (1871–1933), he quipped, “Didn’t catch the name,” the first of many times the humorist made the often dour (stern or gloomy) chief executive smile. Rogers was killed in a plane crash in 1935. All America mourned his loss. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Carter, Joseph H. I Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like: The Life and Writings of Will Rogers. New York: Avon Books, 1991. Malone, Mary. Will Rogers: Cowboy Philosopher. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1996. Rogers, Will. Autobiography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1949. Reprint, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1998. Sonneborn, Liz. Will Rogers, Cherokee Entertainer. New York: Chelsea House, 1993. Will Rogers Home Page. http://www.willrogers.org (accessed January 24, 2002).

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1910s Food and Drink Housework continued to become easier in the 1910s, thanks to the continuing spread of electricity and running water, to the invention of new appliances, and to the availability of pre-prepared food and drink. Vacuum cleaners, invented in 1908, made cleaning easier. Refrigerators, first made for home use in 1913, helped cut down on trips to the grocery store. The electric toaster, invented in 1919, made warming bread a snap. But real modern efficiency had not yet come to the home in the 1910s. Homemakers still had to wash clothes by hand and hang them on a line to dry. The high cost of many appliances made them difficult to afford for most people. For example, a refrigerator in 1920 cost about $600, nearly half of the average person’s annual income. Buying and preparing food certainly became easier in the 1910s, continuing a trend started in the previous decade. Grocery stores grew in size, carrying thousands of items to help make home life easier. Food producers kept inventing new ways to package food, hoping to make money by making cooking quick and easy. Two famous products are good examples of the trend toward efficiency in American food preparation. Campbell’s Soups—condensed soups that could be mixed with water to make a meal—became a national brand in 1911. Condensed soups allowed cooks to avoid the long preparation time involved in making homemade soup. By 1920, Americans bought more than one million cans of the twenty-one varieties of soup. Oreo cookies, invented in 1912, soon became America’s favorite packaged cookie. Both items were helped along by carefully constructed advertising campaigns. Both remain the leading brands in their category.

Campbell’s Soup For more than a century, the Campbell Soup Company has helped revolutionize eating habits around the world by offering

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a line of convenient, inexpensive canned “condensed soups.” All consumers need do is add a can of water to the soup before heating it. Based in Camden, New Jersey, the firm was an outgrowth of the Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company. The company had been started in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell (1817–1900), a fruit merchant, and Abraham Anderson, a manufacturer of iceboxes. In 1897, the fortunes of the company changed. General manager Arthur Dorrance reluctantly hired his nephew, Dr. John T. Dorrance (1873–1930), a twenty-fouryear-old chemist. John Dorrance invented a process for mak-

Twenty-one flavors, including the perennial favorites, tomato and vegetable, were promoted in the company’s first magazine ads in the early 1900s. Chicken noodle and cream-of-mushroom varieties made their debut in 1934. Others were added over the years. The Campbell Kids, a pair of rosy-cheeked cartoon characters, began appearing in ads in 1904. In the 1990s, the Campbell Kids were still promoting the soups by dancing to rap songs in television commercials. Campbell’s familiar jingle—”M’m! M’m! Good! M’m! M’m! Good! That’s what Campbell’s soups are! M’m! M’m! Good!”—was first heard in radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) commercials in the 1930s. Generations of Americans were introduced to Campbell’s products via celebrity endorsements and through its sponsorship of the Campbell Playhouse on radio and Lassie (see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3) and Peter Pan on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3).

Campbell’s Soup

ing the condensed soup by eliminating water from the cans, thus reducing the costs for packing, shipping, and storage. Dorrance’s breakthrough allowed the company to reduce the price of a can of soup from thirty cents to a dime. The company introduced its soups on the national market in 1912 and officially changed its name to the Campbell Soup Company in 1922.

The familiar Campbell’s soup can was inspired by the redand-white uniforms of the Cornell University football team that had impressed a company executive with their brilliance and visibility. In the 1960s, pop artist Andy Warhol (1928?–1987) transformed the image into an icon by creating paintings and screenprint editions featuring the cans. In the latter decades of the twentieth century, Campbell’s added several new lines of soup products. The new products included the Chunky line, a heartier soup that needed no water added, and a line of Healthy Request soups with less sodium, cholesterol, fat, and calories. Campbell’s is also the parent company of other familiar brand names such as Pepperidge Farm, V8, Franco-American, Prego, Swanson, and Godiva chocolates. In 2001, the company reported net worldwide sales of $6.664 billion and controlled nearly 80 percent of the U.S. soup market. —Edward Moran

For More Information “Campbell History.” Campbell’s Community. http://www.campbellsoup. com (accessed January 16, 2002).

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Parkin, Katherine. “Campbell’s Soup and the Long Shelf Life of Traditional Gender Roles.” In Kitchen Culture in America: Popular Representations of Food, Gender, and Race. Edited by Sherrie A. Inness. Phladelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. World’s Greatest Brands: An International Review. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992.

Oreo Cookies

Since their introduction in 1912, Nabisco estimates that more than 362 billion Oreo cookies have been consumed. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Since their introduction on March 6, 1912, Nabisco’s Oreo cookies have become the most popular commercial cookie product in the United States. More than 362 billion of them have been consumed over the years. According to their manufacturer, that number is equivalent to a pile that would stretch between the Earth and the moon five times over. Known officially as Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, a single Oreo consists of two intricately patterned chocolate-colored wafers, with a cream filling in between. Nabisco does not offer a definitive conclusion about the origins of the name “Oreo,” but cites several theories: it might have been suggested by or, the French word for gold, the most prominent color on the original packaging; it might have come from a Greek word for mountain, since early prototypes were moundshaped; or it might have been invented by surrounding “RE” (two letters in the word “cream”) with two “O”s from the word “chocolate.” Although Nabisco does make Oreos with chocolate filling, the traditional cream filling (Nabisco spells it “creme”) is white in color. This white-between-black combination led to the negative use of the term “Oreo” to describe an African American who betrays his race (i.e., one who is “black on the outside and white on the inside”). Over the years, consumers of Oreos have entered into a great debate over how to eat the cookies. Citing research it has done on the eating habits of Oreo consumers, Nabisco claims that 35 percent of respondents to one survey twist their cookies apart before eating them, 30 percent dunk them in milk, and 10 percent nibble them.

—Edward Moran

Oreo Cookies

Over the years, some variations have been introduced to the standard Oreo. These variations include Double Stuf, an Oreo with a double portion of cream filling; Fudge Covered Oreo Sandwich Cookies; Oreo Big Stuf large snack cookies; and seasonal Oreos, such as those with orange cream sold at Halloween.

For More Information Only Oreo. http://www.oreo.com/Oreo/Default.htm? (accessed January 16, 2002). World’s Greatest Brands: An International Review. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992.

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1910s Print Culture Although going to the movies became an increasingly popular way to spend leisure time in this decade, books and magazines were still the core entertainment of most Americans. In this decade, the gulf widened between American high literature (fine writing concerned with philosophic ideas) and American popular literature (writing designed to inform and entertain). Some of the finest literary artists of the century published important works in this decade, including novelists Willa Cather (1873–1947), Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945), and Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941); and poets Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), and Ezra Pound (1885–1972). These writers and many others were discussed in small-circulation “little magazines” that were dedicated to the arts. They were also talked about in more general magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Smart Set, Vanity Fair, and The Seven Arts. These artists, however, had few readers compared with the great readership enjoyed by popular novelists and contributors to the popular magazines. American magazines continued to prosper in this decade, thanks largely to the eagerness of advertisers to promote their products to the millions of Americans who read popular magazines. The most popular magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, the American Magazine, Collier’s, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Good Housekeeping, often used half of their pages each issue for advertisements. The advertising industry grew dramatically to help encourage Americans to buy, buy, buy. Several new magazines attracted attention in his decade, including True Story, a racy confession magazine for workingclass readers, and Vogue, one of the first magazines devoted to fashion. Beginning in 1912, the magazine Publishers Weekly began to use the term “best-seller” to describe the most popular fiction and nonfiction in America. This magazine and several others tracked those books that sold best, and their publicity helped drive sales even higher. Gene Stratton Porter (1868–1924), Zane Grey (1875–1939), Harold Bell Wright (1872–1944), Mary

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Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958), and Winston Churchill (1874–1965) all had several titles on the best-seller list in the decade. During the World War I (1914–18) years, there was a separate list of best-sellers just about war. The Tom Swift series of adventure books for boys was one of the publishing sensations of the decade. The Tom Swift books set the stage for the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series that would become so popular during the 1920s. Another surprise hit of the decade was the World Book Encyclopedia, whose goal was to provide the accumulated wisdom of the Western world in an easy-to-read format.

Fu Manchu “Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a closeshaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race . . . and you will have a mental picture of Dr. Fu Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man.” This is how mystery writer Sax Rohmer introduced the villain to readers in his first novel featuring the character. The shadowy, sinister Fu Manchu is one of the best known villains of Western literature. More than just an evil outlaw, the Fu Manchu character embodied the racism and fear of foreigners that was all too common in Western culture a century ago. Fu Manchu was the creation of Sax Rohmer, the pen name of British writer Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (1886–1959). His first accounts of Fu Manchu appeared as a series of stories published in a British magazine between 1912 and 1913. These accounts were published in 1913 as a novel, The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu. This novel was followed by The Devil Doctor (1916) and The Si-Fan Mysteries (1917). In each of these stories, Fu Manchu is the head of a secret society, the Si-Fan, which carries out sinister plots for the Chinese government. He is opposed in each book by Denis Nayland Smith, a bold and fearless British secret agent.

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After the third book, Rohmer left the evil doctor, but he returned to the character in 1931 with The Daughter of Fu Manchu. He then produced The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), Fu Manchu’s Bride (1933), and The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934). After a shorter break, Rohmer brought Fu Manchu and his

nemesis, Nayland Smith, back in President Fu Manchu (1936). The characters reappeared in 1939 in The Drums of Fu Manchu and in 1941 in The Island of Fu Manchu. Rohmer again abandoned his character for a time but then featured him in three more books: The Shadow of Fu Manchu (1948), Re-Enter Fu Manchu (1957), and Emperor Fu Manchu (1959), Rohmer’s last novel. Five of the novels were adapted into films between 1920 and 1966. Three different versions of Fu Manchu dramas were produced for radio (see entry under 1920s— TV and Radio in volume 2) during the 1930s, with another appearing during World War II (1939–45). An American television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series based on the character was broadcast during from 1956 to 1957. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Nevins, Francis M. The Mystery Writer’s Art. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1970. Van Ash, Cay, and Elizabeth Sax Rohmer. Master of Villainy: A Biography of Sax Rohmer. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1972.

Warner Oland portrays Dr. Fu Manchu in the 1929 film The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

Krazy Kat Krazy Kat, which appeared in newspapers from 1910 until 1944, is widely regarded as the most significant comic strip in American history. Created by George Herriman (1880–1944), the strip revolved around the misadventures of the androgynous (not clearly male or female) Krazy Kat and his (or her) love for Ignatz Mouse. Ignatz despised this unwanted affection and responded by continually hitting Krazy with an endless supply of bricks. Offisa Bull Pupp, a third character, served as the strip’s symbol of law and order. Pupp also completed the strip’s central love triangle since he adored Krazy and felt obligated to jail

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the violent Ignatz. Herriman’s strip was noted for its unique blend of poetry, wordplay, bold colors, and surrealism. (Surrealism was a twentieth-century movement that involved representing the subconscious mind in pictures and words, often in disconnected or dreamlike ways. The melting watches of artist Salvador Dali (1904–1989) are an example of surrealism.) Krazy Kat evolved from an earlier Herriman strip titled The Dingbat Family (1910–16), part of which highlighted the family’s pets. In 1913, the animals were given their own feature that grew increasingly inventive and bizarre. M. Thomas Inge writes in Comics as Culture that “the world of Krazy Kat is a world of fantasy set against the surreal and abstract landscapes of Herriman’s imagination approximating the real Coconino County in the state of Arizona.” Krazy’s world was a place where anything could happen. Landscapes mutated constantly. The characters spoke in a pun-filled dialect that contained elements of Latin, Greek, Old English, Yiddish, Navajo, and African American. The strip blended broad slapstick with sophisticated, philosophical thoughts on the absurdities of life. Intellectuals were especially devoted to the strip and proclaimed Herriman a cartooning genius. President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was an avid admirer and read Krazy Kat at cabinet meetings. The strip has also been the focus of intense academic examination as to its “true meaning.” In America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists, Richard Marschall states, “It has been portrayed as a variation on the eternal triangle of tragic romances; as a grand statement on freedom versus authority; as an allegory on innocence meeting reality; and, of course, as a comic cacophony of obsessions.” 190

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Although the strip was critically acclaimed, it was never a financial success. Only the admiration of publisher William

—Charles Coletta

For More Information Herriman, George. The Komplete Kolor Krazy Kat. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Remco/Kitchen Sink, 1990-91. Inge, M. Thomas. Comics as Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1990. “Kartoonist’s Kramp.” Sputnik’s Krazy Kat Page. http://retrograde.net/ kat/index.html (accessed January 16, 2002). Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989. McDonnell, Patrick, Karen O’Connell, and Georgia Riley de Havenon. Krazy Kat: The Complete Art of George Herriman. New York: Abrams, 1986.

Norman Rockwell

Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) kept Krazy Kat in newspapers for decades. When Herriman died in 1944, the strip ended, and the comics page lost some of its luster.

Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) Norman Rockwell is famed for his illustrative paintings that capture everyday American life in the twentieth century. Rockwell began studying art during his freshman year of high school. He quit school when he was fifteen to attend the National Academy of Design. Eventually, he enrolled in the Art Students League. Rockwell was interested in accurately capturing the minutest detail of his subjects and their settings. This technique allowed him to tell their stories and reveal their personalities via their facial expressions and body language. In 1913, Rockwell was hired as contributing art director of Boy’s Life magazine. However, it was not until 1916, when he began his association with the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1), that he arrived as an artist. The Saturday Evening Post was then a popular mass-market magazine. For the next forty-seven years, Rockwell was the Post’s most famous and prolific cover illustrator. Additionally, he illustrated everything from Boy Scout calendars to reprints of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to advertisements for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. After leaving the Post in 1963, Rockwell’s art became more issue oriented. Among his most famous works of the period is

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his 1964 Look magazine cover depicting the integration of an all-white elementary school. During and after his lifetime, Rockwell was the subject of controversy in relation to the very nature and meaning of art. To some, Rockwell is one of America’s greatest artists. Others view him as an overly sentimental illustrator whose concerns were strictly commercial and who depicted a narrow and stereotypical segment of society. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

Artist Norman Rockwell. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Durrett, Deanne. Norman Rockwell. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997. Gherman, Beverly. Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000. Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People. http://www.rockwelltour.org/frame set.html (accessed January 16, 2002). Rockwell, Norman. My Adventures as an Illustrator, by Norman Rockwell, as told to Thomas Rockwell. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960.

Tarzan

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Tarzan, the Lord of the Jungle, has been one of the most enduring heroic figures in American popular culture. Created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) in 1912, the Tarzan character first appeared in the pulp fiction All-Story Magazine. (Pulp magazines [see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2] of the era consisted of sensational stories printed on low-quality—that is, pulp—paper.) Tarzan has appeared in more than twenty novels, forty films, several television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) serials, comic strips, cartoons, comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), toys, and thousands of items of merchandise. The character’s stories have been translated into more than fifty languages. He is one of the most famous men who never actually lived.

Burroughs had failed at nearly every endeavor he attempted before he devised Tarzan. In the initial tale of the “Lord of the Apes,” Burroughs reveals his animalistic jungle man to be, in actuality, John Clayton, the future Lord Greystoke. As a child, Clayton’s parents die while on tour of Africa. A female ape named Kala, who calls him Tarzan (“white-skin” in ape language), adopts him. Raised among the apes, he learns to communicate with all the wild beasts. As an adult, Tarzan encounters African natives as well as white people visiting the continent. His most significant relationship is with Jane Porter, an English woman on expedition with her father. A romance blossoms between the jungle man and the civilized lady. The two face many obstacles in both Africa and England, where Tarzan eventually claims his family’s inheritance. Tarzan was an immediate hit with the public, who thrilled to his jungle adventures filled with lost cities, fierce animals, evil poachers, and tribal warfare. Tarzan achieved even greater popularity through his many film appearances. In 1918, Elmo Lincoln (1889–1952) was the first movie Tarzan in Tarzan of the Apes. Numerous muscular actors would also don the hero’s signature loincloth over the years. The performer most associated with the role was Johnny Weissmuller (1904–1984), a former five-time gold medal winner in swimming from the 1924 and 1928 Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). His powerful physique and great athletic abilities served him well in a dozen Tarzan movies filmed between 1932 and 1948. In film, Tarzan is usually played as a much less wellspoken figure than Burroughs’ original character. The famous line of dialogue “Me Tarzan, You Jane” never appeared in a Burroughs tale. The film most closely capturing Burroughs’ conception of the character is 1984’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, starring Christopher Lambert (1957–)

Johnny Weissmuller portrayed Tarzan in a dozen movies filmed between 1932 and 1948.

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Tom Swift Series

as Tarzan. A new generation of fans encountered the jungle hero in a 1999 animated Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) feature film. When Burne Hogarth (1911–1996), writer of the Tarzan comic strip, was asked in Comics: Between the Panels to account for the jungle man’s lasting popularity, he stated: “He is energy, grace, and virtue. He symbolizes the inevitable life source, the earth, the seed, the rain, the harvest, achievement, the triumph of adversity and death.” —Charles Coletta

For More Information Duin, Steve, and Mike Richardson. Comics: Between the Panels. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 1998. Edward Rice Burroughs, Inc. Edgar Rice Burroughs: Creator of Tarzan. http://www.tarzan.org (accessed January 16, 2002). Foster, Hal. Tarzan Vol. 1. New York: Flying Buttress, 1992. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Random House, 1996. Taliaferro, John. Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan. New York: Scribner, 1999.

Tom Swift Series The Tom Swift series included more than forty novels for boys published by the Grosset & Dunlap Company between 1910 and 1941. Although most of the books in the series were published under the pen name “Victor Appleton,” they were really written by writers working for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a book packager that created juvenile literature under the supervision of its founder, Edward Stratemeyer (1862–1930). The writer responsible for most of the Tom Swift series was Howard Roger Garis (1873–1962). Over the years, the Tom Swift series sold some six million copies.

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Tom Swift, the hero of the series, was an ingenious, plucky lad who used modern technology like electricity or steam power to outwit his rivals by creating new devices. In so doing, Tom Swift became a symbol of American creativity in an era that admired scientists and inventors like Thomas Edison (1847–1931) or the Wright Brothers (Wilbur, 1867–1912; Orville, 1871–1948). In an advertisement for the first set of Tom Swift books, Stratemeyer wrote: “It is the purpose of these spir-

In the earliest books in the series, all published in 1910, Tom Swift helps his father, Barton Swift (“the aged inventor”), build or improve airships and submarines. Tom goes on to invent a sky racer (1911), a telephone with photographic capability (1914), a transcontinental air-express service (1926), and “talking pictures” (1928). A regular cast of characters populates the Tom Swift series, including Tom’s buddy Ned Newton, an eccentric older friend, Wakefield Damon, and their rival, Andy Foger.

True Story

ited tales to convey in a realistic way the wonderful advances in land and sea locomotion and to interest the boy of the present in the hope that he may be a factor in aiding the marvelous development that is coming in the future.”

In the 1950s, the Stratemeyer Syndicate introduced a series of books about Tom Swift Jr., written under the pseudonym of Victor Appleton II, but the books never achieved the popularity of the originals. In the 1980s, Simon & Schuster published several Tom Swift books in a science-fiction format. In 1991, Simon & Schuster returned to the “inventions” format with several volumes published under its Archway imprint. —Edward Moran

For More Information Dizer, John T., Jr. Tom Swift and Company: “Boy’s Books” by Stratemeyer and Others. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1982. Ippolito, Thomas R. The Tom Swift Book Series (1910–1993). http://www. web-span.com/raven43/hist.htm (accessed January 16, 2002). Johnson, Deidre. Edward Stratemeyer and the Stratemeyer Syndicate. New York: Twayne, 1993. “Tom Swift.” Stratemeyer Syndicate. http://www.larilana.com/stratemeyer/swift/swift.htm (accessed January 16, 2002).

True Story A popular “confessional” magazine, first published by Bernarr Macfadden (1868–1955) in 1919, True Story was enormously popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Its largely working-class readership devoured its sensational and often tawdry tales of sin, sex, and redemption. By challenging mainstream publishing norms and elevating scoundrels into heroes and heroines, True Story outraged conventional society with its depictions of vice and undesirable behavior.

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Vogue

Macfadden, the eccentric publisher of Physical Culture magazine, got the idea for True Story from the personal letters of “confession” he received from his readers about their own involvement with illegitimacy, premarital sex, adultery, and criminal activities. During the magazine’s heyday, it was dismissed by serious critics, one of whom complained that it allowed millions of readers to “wallow in the filth of . . . politely dressed confessions.” True Story was the forerunner of many of the supermarket tabloids that emerged in later years, with their tales of sordid gossip and bizarre occurrences. By the 1930s, Macfadden succeeded in transforming the publication into a somewhat tamer women’s romance magazine. It never lost its appeal to more downscale, poorly educated readers. Although altered in design and style over the years, the periodical has survived into the twenty-first century billed as “a modern woman’s guide to love and life.” Its first-person stories reflect more contemporary concerns, such as “I’m Going to Blow Up My School,” “I’ll Be Wife #5,” and “War and Hunger.” —Edward Moran

For More Information Ernst, Robert. Weakness Is a Crime: The Life of Bernarr Macfadden. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1991. True Story Online Magazine. http://www.truestorymail.com (accessed January 16, 2002).

Vogue Vogue is one of the world’s most influential lifestyle magazines covering women’s fashion and beauty. Founded as a weekly society paper in 1892 and purchased by Condé Nast in 1909, Vogue was the first magazine of its kind to use lavish photographic spreads and colorful graphics to highlight the latest fashion trends. So influential did the magazine become that the phrase “Vogue model” became a synonym for the highest standards in beauty, composure, and sophistication.

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Under editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase (1877–1957) and art director Mehemed Gehmy Agha (1896–1978), Vogue published the work of leading photographers like Edward Steichen (1879–1973), Sir Cecil Beaton (1904–1980), and Baron de Meyer (1868–1949). These photographers presented their models in glamorous settings that reflected the elaborate Hollywood

In the postwar era, editor-in-chief Jessica Davies collaborated with art director Alexander Liberman (1912–1999) to reform the magazine using simpler, more contemporary graphics. Together with photographers Irving Penn (1917–) and Richard Avedon (1923–), they reinvented the fashion magazine with images that used starker lighting and that put a stronger focus on the model. Vogue also upgraded its coverage of contemporary events by including more serious commentaries on art, film, and theater and articles on the lives of celebrities and entertainers. Editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland (1906–1989), credited with coining the term “youthquake,” brought an edgier tone to the magazine by highlighting the colorful and revealing fashions and accessories that were representative of the “swinging sixties.” Models such as Twiggy (1949–), Penelope Tree (1950–), and Verushka (1939–) became celebrities in their own right via photo shoots that showed them in action-filled, “real life” poses outside the studio. Vreeland’s successor, Grace Mirabella (1929–), guided the magazine through the so-called feminist era of the 1970s, when women wanted to be taken seriously in the workplace without sacrificing elegance and good taste. During this period, Vogue itself shrank in size from a large-format magazine and became a monthly. Mirabella was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Anna Wintour (1949–), who promoted fashion trends by new designers.

World Book Encyclopedia

(see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) movies of the period. During World War II (1939–45), Vogue concentrated more on affordable, ready-to-wear lines of clothing but continued to emphasize quality and style.

—Edward Moran

For More Information Devlin, Polly. Liberman. Vogue Book of Fashion Photography. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979. Kazajian, Dodie, and Calvin Tomkins. Alex: The Life of Alexander Liberman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. Lloyd, Valerie. The Art of Vogue Photographic Covers: Fifty Years of Fashion and Design. New York: Harmony Books, 1986.

World Book Encyclopedia Published since 1917, the World Book Encyclopedia is a general reference work. The encyclopedia deliberately uses

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World Book Encyclopedia

nontechnical language and abundant graphics to make it especially accessible to students and general readers without sacrificing depth and accuracy. The editors of the first edition emphasized the use of “everyday, simple language” in the eightvolume set. In 1919, World Book began the practice of printing annual revisions of its encyclopedia, which has been followed every year since except for 1920, 1924, and 1932. World Book’s first major revision took place in 1929, when the set was expanded to thirteen volumes. In 1931, World Book adopted the unit-letter system of arrangement, in which each volume was a different-sized book that contained all the entries for one or more letters of the alphabet. The set was expanded to nineteen volumes in 1933, to twenty volumes in 1960, and to twenty-two volumes in 1972. The final volume in the set is a research guide and an index. World Book has traditionally worked with educators in an attempt to keep its product in line with current teaching practices. In 1936, it created an editorial advisory board of distinguished educators and established a curriculum-analysis program to ensure that the encyclopedia would be especially useful to its student readers. In 1955, World Book launched a classroom research program designed to monitor exactly which subjects typical students were looking up in the reference work. World Book entered the digital age in 1990 with the publication of Information Finder, its first CD-ROM encyclopedia, which included the full text of both the encyclopedia and a dictionary. In 1996, World Book partnered with IBM to produce a line of electronic reference works and learning products, and with Tiger Electronics to create the World Book Learning Center, an electronic learning aid. World Book Online was launched in 1998, with an interactive Web site that delivers articles, maps, pictures, sounds, and video to registered subscribers. World Book has also created other reference products, including Childcraft, a resource library for preschool and elementaryschool children, first published in 1934, the World Book Dictionary (1963), the World Book Atlas (1964), Early World of Learning (1987), plus annual volumes about science, health, and medicine. The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia, an introductory general reference set, appeared in 1999.

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—Edward Moran

Hancock, Susan, ed. A Guide to Children’s Reference Books and Multimedia Material. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998. World Book. http://www2.worldbook.com (accessed January 17, 2002). World Book Online. http://www.worldbookonline.com (accessed January 17, 2002).

Zorro

For More Information

Zorro Zorro, the masked avenger of the Old Southwest, has been one of the most popular heroic figures of the twentieth century. The character, created by Johnston McCulley (1883–1958) in 1919, first appeared in a story titled “The Curse of Capistrano” in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly. El Zorro (“The Fox”) dressed completely in black and wore a mask and a wide-brimmed hat to conceal his identity as he fought evildoers in nineteenth-century California. He rode a jet-black horse named Tornado and was a master with both sword and whip. His trademark was to carve a “Z” with his blade upon his enemies. Without his costume, Zorro was the wealthy Spanish count Don Diego, who assumed a foppish manner to conceal his secret identity. (A fop is a man who is overly concerned about his looks and his clothes.) Zorro’s adventures have thrilled Americans for generations as he has appeared in novels, film, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and cartoons, as well as in a multitude of merchandise and collectibles. Zorro emerged from pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) to become a national phenomenon. Readers loved the swashbuckler as he displayed a devil-may-care attitude, great swordsmanship, and compassion for the oppressed (mistreated). McCulley penned sixty-five of the hero’s adventures over nearly forty years. Zorro was successful in print, but he was even more popular on film. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883–1939) first portrayed him in The Mark of Zorro (1920) to great acclaim. Numerous Zorro films and serials appeared into the 1970s. Perhaps the most popular depiction of Zorro was in the 1940 version of The Mark of Zorro. Actor Tyrone Power (1914–1958) perfectly characterized both the weak Don Diego and bold hero Zorro. Zorro was also often featured on television. Disney produced a Zorro series in the 1950s starring Guy Williams (1924–1989)

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that sparked a bonanza of merchandise. In 1980, George Hamilton (1939–) appeared in the campy Zorro, The Gay Blade. The film showed Zorro wearing a pink leather costume and was a complete disaster. Between 1989 and 1994, Duncan Regehr (1952–) appeared as the swordsman. The 1980s and 1990s further witnessed several animated Zorro programs. In 1998, Zorro again dominated the national consciousness when Anthony Hopkins (1937–) and Antonio Banderas (1960–) starred in The Mask of Zorro, which introduced the character to another generation of fans.

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. as Zorro in a scene from Don Q., Son of Zorro (1925). The Kobal Collection/ United Artists. Reproduced by permission.

Zorro was one of the twentieth century’s first popular heroic icons. He is a dashing, gentleman bandit who performs heroic feats, woos lovely ladies, and fights corruption—all with a charming elegance and flashing blade. Dozens of heroic characters, most notably Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), have followed the pattern established by McCulley’s masked daredevil. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Curtis, Sandra. Zorro Unmasked: The Official History. New York: Hyperion, 1998. Hutchinson, Don. The Great Pulp Heroes. Buffalo: Mosaic Press, 1996. McCulley, Johnston. The Mark of Zorro. New York: American Reprint Co., 1924, 1976. Toth, Alex. Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures. Forestville, CA: Eclipse Books, 1988.

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1910s Sports and Games Baseball continued to dominate the American sports scene in the 1910s. Attendance at professional baseball games remained high throughout the decade, rising slightly from 6,206,447 in 1910 to 6,532,439 in 1919; the numbers might have been higher without the interruptions of World War I (1914–18). The American League dominated the World Series, winning eight of ten titles in the decade. The games biggest stars were Ty Cobb (1886–1961) of the Detroit Tigers, Walter Johnson (1887–1946) of the Washington Senators, and an emerging star—George Herman “Babe” Ruth (1895–1948) of the Boston Red Sox (and later the New York Yankees). Baseball received a black eye in 1919 when several players on the Chicago White Sox were involved in “throwing” (intentionally losing) the World Series for money; the event became known as the Black Sox Scandal. Aside from baseball, American professional sports were just getting started in the 1910s. Professional hockey got its start in 1911 with the founding of the Pacific Coast Hockey League, which overshadowed the fledgling National Hockey League, founded in 1917. Auto racing also got a boost in the decade with the founding of the Indianapolis 500. Ray Harroun (1879–1968) won the initial race—and the $10,000 prize—by averaging an amazing 74.6 miles an hour. Horse racing also gained respectability in the decade thanks to the introduction of the Triple Crown, a series of horse races that included the most famous race of all, the Kentucky Derby. College football continued to be the most popular fall spectator sport, with Notre Dame becoming a dominant team in the decade behind the play of Knute Rockne (1888–1931), who became the team’s coach late in the decade. Professional football was still limited to a small league in the Midwest. Unlike professional baseball, the early pro football leagues allowed black players to participate, and several black players starred on early teams. Native American Jim Thorpe (1888–1953) was the star of the decade in professional football, and he remained so into the 1920s.

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Black boxer Jack Johnson (1878–1946) continued his reign as heavyweight champion in this decade, enraging racist white fight fans who could not stand the idea of a black man being in a position of dominance. Johnson finally lost his title to white boxer Jess Willard (1883–1968) in 1915. In 1919, a new champion, Jack Dempsey (1895–1983), took the crown. Dempsey would become the most celebrated boxer of the 1920s. Other sports also gained participants in the decade. Golf and tennis—once games of the upper classes—became popular among the American middle class. Golf champion Walter Hagen (1892–1969) became a minor celebrity. Young Americans also enjoyed some fascinating new toys and games in this decade. Both Tinkertoys and Erector Sets allowed children to create toys modeled after the innovations of their day—cars and skyscrapers. Other children played with the newly popular Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Each of these toys remained in production in the early twenty-first century.

Erector Sets Before LEGOS (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3), there were Erector Sets. The Erector Set is a popular construction toy that taught as well as amused youngsters for most of the twentieth century. The primary components of Erector Sets are nuts, bolts, and hole-filled metal girders of varying sizes. Other materials include wheels, pulleys, gears, and electric motors. Following instructions that come in each Erector Set box, children use the nuts and bolts to attach the girders, resulting in the construction of elaborate miniature buildings, airplanes, trucks, cars, bridges, ships, clocks, houses—and even robots.

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The toy was first produced in 1913 by the Mysto Magic Company, which sold magic-trick components. It was the creation of A. C. Gilbert (1884–1961), the company founder. Gilbert was a man of varied interests and many talents. In 1908, he won a gold medal for pole-vaulting in the Summer Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). The following year, he earned a medical degree from Yale University. While a passenger on a train bound from New Haven, Connecticut, to New York City, he observed workmen positioning steal beams. This event inspired him to create a child’s construction kit that he called the “Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder”; the product eventually became commonly known as the Erector Set. Gilbert was aware of simi-

Erector Sets A boy plays with an Erector Set. A. C. Gilbert created the toy so that it would not only provide hours of fun but also promote a greater understanding of science and technology. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

lar construction toys already available in the marketplace, such as the English Meccano. However, his sets were an improvement over the competition, because he included square girders and pieces that could bend to a ninety-degree angle. Gilbert’s goal was to create a toy that was fun to play with but also allowed the user to gain an increased understanding of science and technology. He believed that “playing is essential to learning.” The instructions that accompanied Erector Sets from decade to decade paralleled twentieth-century technological advances. As architects designed great urban skyscrapers (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and expansive suspension bridges, Erector Set owners were encouraged to build their own tall buildings and elevated structures. Instructions for constructing trucks, Ferris wheels (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), and zeppelins were added to the sets during the 1920s. A parachute jump came in the 1940s, followed by an entire amusement park (see entry under 1950s— The Way We Lived in volume 3) in the 1950s. Gilbert created and marketed additional toys, including Mysto Magic sets, American Flyer trains, a glass-blowing kit,

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and an Atomic Energy Lab, which included authentic radioactive particles and a real Geiger counter. In his lifetime, Gilbert was credited with over 150 patents and inventions. After his death, the Meccano Company—now Meccano Toys Ltd. and one of Gilbert’s chief early competitors—purchased the rights to Erector Sets. The Brio Corporation, known for its wooden trains, began distributing a new line of Erector Sets in the summer of 2001. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bean, William M. and Al M. Sternagle. Greenberg’s Guide to Gilbert Erector Sets, 1913–1932. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing Company, 1993. Bean, William M. Greenberg’s Guide to Gilbert Erector Sets, Volume Two, 1933–1962. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing Company, 1998. Dr. Prune’s Erector World. http://www.erectorworld.com (accessed October, 2001). “Kids’ Trains: BRIO Brings Back the Erector Set.” Trains.com. http:// www. trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/109exais.asp (accessed on January 17, 2002).

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500 is America’s most celebrated auto race. It has been held each May on or around Memorial Day, every year since 1911 (except during the world war years), at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race consists of two hundred laps around the track’s two-and-a-half-mile oval.

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When the race started in 1911, it was called the International Sweepstakes, and it lasted most of the day. Ray Harroun (1879–1968) earned $10,000 for his first-place finish. His car, known as the “Marmon Wax,” averaged a then-astounding 74.602 miles per hour. The car reportedly was the first singleseat race car and the first auto ever to employ a rearview mirror. Now contrast Harroun’s statistics to those of drivers and cars racing in the 500 during the final quarter of the twentieth century. By then, the race generally was completed in less than three-and-a-half hours. In 1977, Tom Sneva (1948–) became the first driver to top 200 miles per hour during a race; by the 1990s, drivers regularly topped 220 miles on the corners and 240 miles on the straightaways. In 1990, winner Arie Luyendyk

Indianapolis 500 Cars rounding a lap during the 1996 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photograph by Amy Sancetta. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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(1953–) averaged a course-record 185.981 miles per hour. Harroun’s prize money was a tidy sum back in 1911, but it does not compare with the $1,568,150 Luyendyk walked away with for winning the 500 in 1997. All the great drivers have raced at Indianapolis. In its early days, they included barnstormers like Harroun. Between 1937 and 1940, Wilbur Shaw (1902–1954) came in first place three times. In 1946, Shaw persuaded businessman-philanthropist Anton “Tex” Hulman (1901–1977) to purchase the speedway from its ownership group. Shaw was named its president. Under his and Hulman’s stewardship, the Indianapolis 500 earned its status as the world’s top auto race. In the 1950s, such innovations as high-octane gasoline, fuel injection, and disc brakes all were tested at Indianapolis. Of all the drivers to compete in the Indianapolis 500, the most celebrated is A. J. Foyt (1935–). He debuted in the race in 1958. He holds the record for most career starts (thirty-five, all consecutive) and most competitive miles driven (12,273 miles). Foyt emerged victorious a record four times, a feat equaled only by Al Unser (1939–) and Rick Mears (1951–). On the downside, forty drivers have been killed at Indianapolis across the decades, fifteen drivers during the actual race and twenty-five during practice and qualifying runs. In recent years, because so much money is at stake, race-car owners have become as prominent as their drivers. Perhaps the most famous is Roger Penske (1937–), a former driver who became a car-and-track owner. The decade of the 1990s saw an increase in politics within the racing establishment, and competition between the Indianapolis Racing League (IRL), which sponsors the Indianapolis 500, and its rival Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). For this reason, many of the sport’s top drivers have been forgoing the Indianapolis 500, thus tainting its reputation as “the greatest spectacle in racing.” —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Binford, Tom. A Checkered Past: My Twenty Years as Indy 500 Chief Steward. Chicago: Cornerstone, 1998. Indianapolis 500. http://my.brickyard.com/500/ (accessed January 17, 2002). Taylor, Rich. Indy: 75 Years of Auto Racing’s Greatest Spectacle. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

Ice hockey has been played for more than five hundred years, but the National Hockey League (NHL) has only been around since 1917. Formed by team owners in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18), this new professional league succeeded where previous ones, such as the International Pro Hockey League, the National Hockey Association, and the Pacific Coast League had failed. The NHL originally consisted of five teams: the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the Ottawa Senators, the Quebec Bulldogs, and the Toronto Arenas. The league’s first game was held December 19, 1917. By 1926, the league had expanded to ten teams and two divisions and adopted the Stanley Cup as its championship trophy. The financial shocks of the Great Depression (1929–41) claimed three of the franchises, while another folded in 1942, leaving the NHL a six-team league for the next twenty-five years. That period, from 1942 to 1967, saw increasing dominance of the sport by Canadian players. In fact, the two premier Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, combined to win ten Stanley Cups during the era.

National Hockey League

National Hockey League

One of the NHL’s first American superstars emerged in the late 1960’s, as defenseman Bobby Orr (1948–) led the Boston Bruins to two Stanley Cup victories. Orr’s success and the development of college hockey programs in the United States spurred renewed American enthusiasm for the sport during the 1970s. The league merged with a rival league, the World Hockey Association, in 1979, adding five teams in one stroke of a pen. The NHL continued to grow in the 1980s, following the gold medal performance by the U.S. men’s team at the 1980 Winter Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) in Lake Placid, New York. Wayne Gretzky (1961–; see entry under 1980s—Sports and Games in volume 5) and his Edmonton Oilers became the dominant team in the sport during the 1980s. The high-scoring Mario Lemieux (1965–) emerged as a star in the 1990s. The collapse of the Soviet Union spurred the emigration of a number of talented Eastern European players, such as Jaromir Jagr (1972–) and Dominik Hasek (1965–). The influx of new players and styles made the game of hockey more dynamic than ever, and this period saw the NHL enjoy its greatest growth. A number of new franchises were added, while others—particularly those

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The Detroit Red Wings, who joined the National Hockey League in 1926, emerged as a powerhouse team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Photograph by Bill Kostroun. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

based in Canada—relocated to growing American cities like Phoenix, Arizona, and Denver, Colorado. A players’ strike in 1995 briefly curtailed the NHL’s growth, but interest began building again toward the turn of the twenty-first century. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Goyen, Chrys. Blades on Ice: A Century of Professional Hockey. New York: Hushion House, 2000. NHL.com. www.nhl.com (accessed January 17, 2002). Strachan, Al, ed. One Hundred Years of Hockey. New York: Thunder Bay Press, 1999.

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A quarter of a century before the 1995 film Toy Story (see entry under 1990s—Film and Theater in volume 5) explored the hidden life of toys, a writer named Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) wrote about the adventures of a pair of dolls and their toy friends and the lives they lived when “real” people were not

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

looking. First created in 1918, Raggedy Ann and Andy are still loved by children everywhere. Dolls made of rags were not uncommon in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when most toys were handmade and not manufactured. In the early 1900s, Gruelle’s daughter Marcella had loved the little rag doll she named Raggedy Ann. Marcella died while still a child, and her grieving father began to write down stories about his daughter’s favorite doll. Raggedy Ann and, later, her brother Raggedy Andy appeared in a series of popular books with titles like How Raggedy Ann Got Her Candy Heart and Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees. Soon, toymakers began making dolls that looked like the ones in Gruelle’s books. Modern children cannot only read Raggedy Ann and Andy books and own the dolls but can also watch Raggedy Ann and Andy videos and dress in Raggedy costumes on Halloween. —Tina Gianoulis

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For More Information Hall, Patricia. Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Retrospective Celebrating 85 Years of Storybook Friends. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Hall, Patricia. The Real-for-Sure Story of Raggedy Ann. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2001. “The History of Raggedy Ann.” The Last Great Company. http://www. raggedyman.com/story.html (accessed January 17, 2002). Hudson, Patricia L. “Still Smiling at Seventy-Five: What a Doll!” Americana (Vol. 18, no. 5, December 1990): pp. 52–56.

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) With due respect to baseball stars from Jackie Robinson (1919–1972; see entry under 1940s—Sports and Games in volume 3) to Mickey Mantle (1931–1995) to Mark McGwire (1963— ), Babe Ruth is without doubt the most celebrated baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) hero of the twentieth century. For over two decades beginning in 1914, George Herman Ruth—whose nicknames included “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat”—ruled the world of baseball. His most prominent records have been broken. His record of sixty home runs in a season in 1927 was eclipsed thirty-four years later by Roger Maris (1934–1985) and broken yet again by McGwire and Sammy Sosa (1968–) in 1998 and Barry Bonds (1964–) in 2001. Ruth’s career record of 714 round-trippers was bested in the early 1970s by Hank Aaron (1934–). Yet Ruth remains the most immortal of all baseball immortals for many reasons. His larger-than-life presence, his lovable personality, and his Hall of Fame ability as a pitcher as well as a home-run basher all figure in his reputation. The most significant reason, though, is his single-handed rescue of baseball in the wake of the Black Sox gambling scandal that forever tainted the 1919 World Series, leading to a questioning of the game’s integrity by a wary public. In this regard, Ruth was as much a key to the sport’s resurgence during the 1920s as the home run derby in 1998 between McGwire and Sosa was to its renewed popularity in the wake of the 1994 baseball strike. —Rob Edelman

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Jacobs, William Jay. They Shaped the Game: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1994.

Macht, Norman L. Babe Ruth. New York: Chelsea House, 1991. Miller, Ernestine. The Babe Book: Baseball’s Greatest Legend Remembered. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2000. Ruth, George Herman. Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.

Tinkertoys Like LEGOS (see entry under 1950s— Sports and Games in volume 3), Lincoln Logs (see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2), and Erector Sets (see entry under 1910s—Sports and Games in volume 1), Tinkertoys have a timeless appeal. Introduced in 1914, the simple wooden sticks with connecting wooden hubs remain a favorite among kids into the twenty-first century. In many ways, Tinkertoys are the perfect toy. Simple and durable, they have the capacity to engage a child’s imagination as he or she creates an unlimited variety of structures. Tinkertoys were invented by Charles H. Pajeau, a stone mason. He thought up the toy after watching children play with pencils and wooden spools. Pajeau drilled holes around the sides of a spool and sawed thin wooden dowels into various lengths to create the first set of Tinkertoys. The sticks and spools could be combined to create a huge number of shapes, from cars to boats to the Tinkertoy classic Ferris wheel (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1). Pajeau joined with former stock trader Robert Pettit to form a company called The Toy Tinkers of Evanston, Illinois. In 1914, they set up Tinkertoy Ferris wheels in shop windows in Chicago, Illinois, and their toy became an immediate hit. For the next several decades, demand for their product was high. In 1952, the original owners sold their company. The Tinkertoy brand passed through several owners before being purchased by toy giant Hasbro in 1986. Tinkertoys have gone through a number of changes over the years. Sets have been sold in different sizes and with motors. Beginning in 1992, wood was replaced with plastic. In 2000,

A young girl plays with wooden Tinkertoys. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

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however, Hasbro took Tinkertoys back to its roots and began marketing wooden Tinkertoys in the characteristic cardboard canister. Nearly ninety years after their introduction, classic wooden Tinkertoys remain a favorite among American kids. In recognition of their enduring status, in 2001 Tinkertoys were named “Toy of the Year” in their category by the Toy Manufacturers of America. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information “The Classic Tinkertoy Construction Set.” Hasbro . . . Making the World Smile. http://www.hasbropreschool.com/default.asp?x=tinkertoy (accessed January 17, 2002). Jailer, Mildred. “Construction Toys.” Antiques and Collecting Hobbies (May 1988): p. 38. Strange, Craig. Collector’s Guide to Tinker Toys. Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1996. “Tinker Toys.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/toys/ty1079.php (accessed January 17, 2002).

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1910s The Way We Lived Like the decade before it, the 1910s were characterized by a slow but steady modernizing trend. American society became more urban. People left rural areas for suburbs. Cities expanded thanks to the ease of travel provided by automobiles, buses, and streetcars. As American factories grew larger and more capable of producing a variety of goods, more and more Americans ceased to make clothes, food, and other household goods at home. Instead, they bought those goods from retail stores and from the growing variety of catalog retailers, such as Sears, Roebuck; L. L. Bean; and others. Several dramatic social movements also helped reshape America in the decade. Racism grew even more intense in the South, as seen in the growing number of Jim Crow laws (which forced blacks into separate and inferior public facilities) and the increase in lynchings (illegal mob killings). By mid-decade blacks began leaving the South in huge numbers, heading north to fill the expanding factories of manufacturers in cities such as Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and New York City. This movement of African Americans, quickened by the involvement of the United States in World War I (1914–18) in 1917, is known as the Great Migration (1900–60). Two other social movements led to constitutional amendments. As more and more women left their roles as homemakers and moved into the workplace, they clamored for the full rights enjoyed by men—including the right to vote. Thanks to leadership from organizers like Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) and Alice Paul (1885–1977), a women’s suffrage amendment passed Congress in 1919 and became law in 1920 as the Nineteenth Amendment. Temperance crusaders led a campaign to ban the sale and distribution of alcohol. Their campaign culminated in the Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1919 (and repealed in 1933 after the disastrous social experiment known as Prohibition). World War I brought major changes to the way Americans lived in the decade as well. American leaders kept the United

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States out of the war for the first three years, but when America joined the Allies in 1917, Americans threw their support behind the war effort. Two million American soldiers joined the war effort, including several thousand African American soldiers. Millions more Americans supported the war by purchasing war bonds. Though war brought unity to many Americans, it also created divisions. German immigrants were singled out for mistreatment, even though most committed themselves to their new country. Political radicals like Socialists and Communists faced hostility during the Red Scare of 1919. Despite these major social changes, people still found time for new forms of amusement. There were popular crazes for new games like the card game bridge. Americans by the thousands went to see a new circus that billed itself as the “Greatest Show on Earth”—the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Boys and girls across the nation enjoyed joining the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts, two popular organizations that tried to build character in their participants.

Bridge One of the most popular card games in the world, bridge has been played in one form or another since the sixteenth century. Since modern contract bridge was developed in 1925, bridge has become by far the most organized card game, with bridge clubs and leagues all over the world sponsoring highly competitive tournaments. Though often associated with rich old ladies trading gossip and nibbling delicate snacks between hands, bridge is actually a game of skill and strategy. Its addicts include all sorts of people from college students to business executives. Although some claim that the game of bridge has its roots in Turkey or Russia, the first real documentation of a bridgelike card game comes from sixteenth-century England. That game, called whist, whisk, triumph, or trump, introduced the “trick,” where each player in turn lays a card down, following suit, and the highest ranking card wins the round.

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The game went through various developments, but modern contract bridge was invented in 1925 by wealthy American businessman Harold S. Vanderbilt (1884–1970), supposedly to

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pass the time while cruising through the Panama Canal. Within two years, three major national contract bridge clubs had formed. In 1928, the first national bridge championship tournament was played. The winner of that tournament, Ely Culbertson (1893–1955), went on to popularize bridge nationwide. Culbertson founded Bridge World magazine and wrote the Blue Book laying out rules and strategies for playing the game. In the 1940s, another champion, Charles Goren (1901–1991), became the national bridge expert, writing a daily newspaper column on bridge tactics. Though bridge is often thought of as an old-fashioned game, it still has a thriving following. As of 2000, the American Contract Bridge League had 180,000 members nationwide, and the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) is also bringing bridge to a wider and younger audience than ever. There are dozens of bridge Web sites where players who are home alone can find partners with whom to play. One of the largest, OKBridge.com, claims it hosts over a thousand players a day. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information ACBL Online. http://www.acbl.com (accessed January 17, 2002). “Bridge.” Playsite. http://www.playsite.com/games/list.gsp?root=playsite.card.bridge (accessed January 17, 2002). D’Amato, Brian. “Bridge: The Game People Play.” Harper’s Bazaar (August 1994): pp. 66–68. Goodwin, Jude, and Don Ellison. Teach Me to Play: A First Bridge Book. Roswell, GA: Pando Publications, 1988. Koczela, Catherine. “Bridge, Handed Down; Among High Schoolers, Old Game Gaining New Following.” Washington Post (October 16, 1997): p. M1.

Father’s Day On Father’s Day, the third Sunday in June, children young and old show appreciation for their dear-old dads—and uncles, grandfathers, and godfathers. The day serves as a symbol of America’s regard not only for fatherhood but for the sanctity of the American family. The roots of the day are imprecise. In 1910, Sonora Smart Dodd, of Spokane, Washington, wished to honor her father—a

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man who had raised his six children upon the death of his wife— successfully petitioned the Spokane Ministerial Association to set aside a day of reverence for all fathers. Yet Vancouver, Washington, claimed to be the first American city to officially sanction Father’s Day, in 1912. Three years later, Harry Meek, the president of the Uptown Lions Club in Chicago, Illinois, was recognized as the “Originator of Father’s Day” when he proposed that the third Sunday in June be set aside to honor fatherhood. He selected that date because it was closest to the birthday of the then–U.S. president, Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924). In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) advocated the official acknowledgment of Father’s Day across the country. Finally, in 1972, President Richard Nixon (1913–1994) signed a law making the day an official national holiday. Today, Father’s Day is exploited commercially, as children are expected not just to honor their fathers but to shower them with cards and gifts. Each year, approximately one hundred million Father’s Day cards are purchased, along with endless neckties, power tools, sports shirts, golf balls, and other “male” attire and accessories. Nonetheless, the day remains a reminder of the sacrifice and devotion of fathers across the nation. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Klebanow, Barbara. American Holidays: Exploring Traditions, Customs, and Backgrounds. Brattleboro, VT: Pro Lingua Associates, 1986. Myers, Robert. Celebrations: Complete Book of American Holidays. New York: Doubleday, 1972. Santino, Jack. All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995. Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.

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With the advice to “Go Greyhound—and leave the driving to us,” Greyhound buses have become part of the mythology of the American road. In 1968, songwriter Paul Simon (1941–; see Simon and Garfunkel entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) wrote of exploring America, and finding himself, on a Greyhound bus. Often operating out of bus stations in neglected areas of urban areas, Greyhound still represents the best way to, as Simon sang, “Look for America.”

Ku Klux Klan

Founded by Carl Eric Wickman (1887–1954) in 1914, Greyhound Buses started life as the Mesaba Transportation Company. Wickman’s first bus, a seven-passenger Hupmobile, carried mineworkers between the towns of Hibbing and Alice, Minnesota. The company grew quickly. By 1935, there were seventeen hundred buses with the “racing Greyhound” logo, covering over forty-six thousand route miles. In 2000, the company carried over nineteen million passengers. Over two thousand people every day travel its busiest route, between New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Greyhound Lines, Inc. http://www.greyhound.com/ (accessed on January 17, 2002). Schisgall, Oscar. The Greyhound Story: From Hibbing to Everywhere. Chicago: J. G. Ferguson, 1985.

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan is America’s oldest white supremacist organization. It first gained power in the South during Reconstruction (1865–77; the period following the American Civil War when the federal government assisted and policed the former Confederate states), which the Klan resisted with beatings, murder, and terrorism. Although the organization has splintered and its fortunes have declined somewhat, the Klan still maintained a hold on the American consciousness going into the twenty-first century. The organization’s name is derived from the Greek word kuklos, meaning “circle,” and a corruption of “clan,” or family. Its origins lie with a group of six Confederate war veterans who returned to Pulaski, Tennessee, when the Civil War (1861–65) ended in 1865. They relieved boredom by dressing up in white sheets and playing pranks on their neighbors by night. The Klan might have remained a mere gang of bullies were it not for the Congressional Reconstruction Act of 1867. This law mandated Federal military occupation of the South, declared Southern state governments illegitimate, and said that the rights of newly freed black slaves would be guaranteed by the U.S. Army. The Klan, whose membership grew quickly, responded with violence toward anyone—black or white—who appeared to

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The Ku Klux Klan marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in 1925. Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration.

threaten the traditional Southern way of life. There are no reliable statistics for the number of people intimidated, beaten, shot, or lynched (murdered by a mob, usually by hanging) by the Klan, but the violence was bad enough for Congress to pass anti-Klan legislation in 1871 and again in 1872, and to back it up with Federal troops. The Klan did not disappear, but its more public outrages stopped. The Klan first entered popular culture in 1905, with the publication of a novel by Thomas Dixon Jr. (1864–1946), The Clansman. Dixon was a virulent racist. His book both criticized Reconstruction and praised the Klan’s response to it. He did the same in the sequel, The Leopard’s Spots, which appeared the following year. Both books were popular in the South, but their greatest influence involved filmmaker D. W. Griffith (1875–1948), who used material from the two novels in his 1915 epic film The Birth of a Nation (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1).

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The film, regarded as one of the classics of early American cinema, is nonetheless thoroughly racist. Blacks are portrayed

The Klan is also portrayed positively in 1918’s The Prussian Cur, an anti-German propaganda film released in the last year of World War I (1914–18). Director Raoul Walsh (1887–1980) tells the story of a German spy in the United States who is caught and put in jail. A group of disloyal German Americans try to free him, but they are stopped by a patriotic group of robed Klansmen.

Ku Klux Klan

as either sex-crazed rapists or as moronic victims of “carpetbaggers,” Northerners who came south after the war to take advantage of post-war conditions in the South. The film’s protagonists, the Stonemans, are saved from a mob of blacks only by the intervention of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Klan itself began to show renewed signs of life in 1915, courtesy of William Joseph Simmons (1880–1945). He even hired a public relations firm to drum up membership for the organization, now known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The new Klan reached out to those whites who were troubled by the social changes taking place in America. Consequently, its recruiting material stressed the Klan’s opposition to the rising social position of blacks, Jews, Catholics, immigrants, suffragettes, and labor unions. The public relations firm arranged for journalists to interview Simmons, planned elaborate initiation ceremonies for new Klansmen, and even had newspaper ads and billboards spreading the Klan’s message. The Klan played an important role in the best-selling novel Gone with the Wind (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) by Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949), published in 1937. Most of the male characters in the book become Klan members. Even Rhett Butler is sympathetic to the group’s aims. However, movie producer David O. Selznick (1902–1965) eliminated all mention of the Klan in his 1939 movie version of the book. The Klan appeared only sporadically in the popular culture of the next several decades, mostly in films. The Burning Cross (1948) has its war-veteran hero confront the Klan’s power in his hometown. In Storm Warning (1951), a crusading district attorney, played by Ronald Reagan (1911–), sets out to convict a group of murderous Klansmen. In The FBI Story (1959), Special Agent Chip Hardesty, played by Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997), fights Klan violence in a Southern town. Portrayals of the Klan surged in the 1980s and beyond. A segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) turns the tables on a bigot, portrayed by Vic Morrow (1929–1982), and includes a

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scene in which he is the victim of a Klan lynching. Set in 1964, the grimly powerful film Mississippi Burning (1988), directed by Alan Parker (1944–), follows the investigation of FBI agents into the Klan murder of three civil rights workers. Klan violence is also portrayed in the films Fried Green Tomatoes (1990); Sommersby (1992); A Time to Kill and The Chamber (both 1996 films based on novels by John Grisham, 1955–); and O Brother Where Art Thou? (2001). The actual Klan has not been idle, either. In some areas, Klan groups exploit local public access TV to broadcast their propaganda. Klan leaders have also appeared on talk shows ranging from Oprah to The Jerry Springer Show. But the biggest boost to the Klan has come from the World Wide Web. Klan organizations have learned that they can reach far more people with a Web site than they ever could with their rallies and leaflets. And so they do—with a message of hate that remains fundamentally unchanged since 1915. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Chalmers, David Mark. Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan. New York: F. Watts, 1981. Cutlip, Scott M. The Unseen Power: Public Relations, A History. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. Dessomes, Nancy Bishop. “Hollywood in Hoods: The Portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan in Popular Film.” Journal of Popular Culture (Spring 1999): pp. 13–22. Riley, Michael. “New Klan, Old Hatred.” Time (July 6, 1992): pp. 24–27.

Mother’s Day Since 1914, Mother’s Day has been celebrated as a national holiday. On the second Sunday of May, children of all ages honor the parent who by tradition has raised them, and they pay homage to the strength and integrity of the American family, as well. However, because they express their appreciation by giving gifts and sending flowers and greeting cards, Mother’s Day has also evolved into a commercial entity.

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The roots of the holiday are based on love and respect for motherhood rather than on commercial exploitation. They may be traced to Anna Jarvis (1864–1948), a West Virginian who wished to perpetuate the memory of her own mother while hon-

One reason that Mother’s Day was embraced as a holiday was that it helped allay fears about the then-emerging “new woman.” The new woman was the suffragette who was not satisfied to be compliant in the presence of men. The new woman demanded the right to vote. She might even brazenly smoke cigarettes (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) or offer her own opinions in public!

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oring the contributions of all mothers. The intention of Jarvis— who, ironically, was neither wife nor parent herself—was to establish a day of reverence for mothers, to be celebrated across the country. The initial public memorial for her own mother took place in 1907, and the following year similar services were held for all mothers, throughout the nation.

Today, Mother’s Day primarily is associated with commerce. Children not only pay homage to their mothers but present them with cards, flowers, boxes of candy, and gifts. Each year, approximately 150 million Mother’s Day cards are purchased; this compares to 100 million Father’s Day (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) cards, and 900 million Valentine’s Day cards. As early as 1910, the Florists’ Telegraph Delivery Service (FTD) began encouraging sons and daughters living far away from their mothers to send them flowers. Candy makers, stationers, jewelers, and clothing manufacturers conduct pre–Mother’s Day advertising campaigns to boost sales of their products. Indeed, what Anna Jarvis envisioned as a “holy day” has evolved into a commercial holiday in which the buying, selling, and marketing of products has taken precedence over her initial intention. Similar holidays have followed: Father’s Day easily is the most popular; others include Bosses’ Day, Secretary’s Day, and Grandparents’ Day. While Mother’s Day does remain a time to honor the sacrifice and devotion of mothers across the nation, it also has evolved into a $9 billion industry. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Klebanow, Barbara. American Holidays: Exploring Traditions, Customs, and Backgrounds. Brattleboro, VT: Pro Lingua Associates, 1986. Myers, Robert. Celebrations: Complete Book of American Holidays. New York: Doubleday, 1972. Santino, Jack. All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995. Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.

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The first model of the Frigidaire refrigerator, circa 1921. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

Refrigerators Today, refrigerators are taken for granted as one of the most common appliances in America, but it was not always so. Before refrigerators, people tried to preserve their food in cool places like streams, caves, and snow banks. As more people moved into cities, however, a better solution was needed. By the early 1800s, people kept blocks of ice in insulated wooden cabinets called “ice cabinets.” The widespread use of ice cabinets created the ice-harvesting industry in the northern states. Ice harvesters cut blocks of ice from frozen lakes and shipped them to warmer parts of the country. When the Civil War (1861–65) broke out in 1861, ice was one of the first supplies to be cut off from the southern states, leaving southerners’ ice cabinets empty and their food rotting. By the early 1890s, warm winters caused ice supplies throughout the United States to diminish, providing an opportunity for other refrigeration techniques to interest people.

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Several inventors experimented with mechanical refrigeration techniques in the 1800s. A method using liquefied ammo-

Refrigerators soon became tremendously popular; finally, homemakers had a convenient way to store perishable products. By 1916, more than two dozen brands were sold on the market; a number that increased to two hundred by 1920. The first freezers came on the market in the late 1920s. Modern refrigerators started to be mass-produced after World War II (1939–45), making home refrigerators a common consumer product. Home refrigeration systems have not lost their appeal over the years; they have only become more efficient and more environmentally friendly. By the end of the century, refrigerators had become the most common product in American homes; 99.5 percent of American homes had one. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information “The History of Household Wonders: History of the Refrigerator.” History Channel.com. www.historychannel.com/exhibits/hometech (accessed January 17, 2002). Jones, Joseph C., Jr. American Ice Boxes: A Book on the History, Collecting, and Restoration of Ice Boxes. Humble, TX: Jobeco Books, 1981. Preville, Cherie, and Chris King. “Cooling Takes Off in the Roaring Twenties.” The Achrnews.com. http://www.achrnews.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,1338,24844,00.html (accessed January 17, 2002). Yenne, Bill. 100 Inventions That Shaped World History. San Mateo, CA: Bluewood Books, 1993.

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nia created by French inventor Ferdinand Carré became the basic system used by modern refrigerators. Carré obtained a patent in France in 1859 and in the United States in 1860. It was not until 1914, however, that the first home-use refrigerator—the Dolmere—was introduced in Chicago, Illinois.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Going to a circus and delighting in the antics of clowns, lion tamers, acrobats, and trapeze artists is one of the rites of childhood. The most famous American circus company is the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. (“Bros.” is the abbreviation for Brothers.) The first circuses in the United States appeared in the late eighteenth century. The traditional ones are presented in tents, a practice that dates from 1825. The initial tent circuses were

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The Ringling Brothers Circus and the Barnum & Bailey Circus combined into one show in 1919. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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small and featured a single ring in which the entertainers performed. As the years passed, the tent size expanded, and the number of rings increased to two and three. Of all the nineteenthcentury American circuses, easily the best known was the Barnum & Bailey. It was the brainchild of two men: Phineas T. Barnum (1810–1891) and James A. Bailey (1847–1906), who initially operated their own separate circuses. Barnum was a flamboyant master showman. In 1842, he purchased a five-story building in New York City and converted it into the American Museum, in which he presented freak shows, beauty contests, and theatrical shows. Among his early stars: the Feejee Mermaid, a woman dressed in a fish costume; co-joined twins Chang and Eng (1811–1874); and Charles S. Stratton (1838–1883), a twenty-fiveinch-tall man nicknamed General Tom Thumb. In 1871, Barnum began what he labeled “The Greatest Show on Earth,” in which he combined traditional circus acts with sideshow performers and caged wild animals. Another of his many successes was his purchase and exploitation of Jumbo, a six-ton elephant. Bailey, meanwhile, began traveling with circuses while still a boy, and worked his way up to managerial positions with var-

Among the most fabled twentieth-century Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey attractions were the Flying Wallendas, a family of high-wire artists founded by Karl Wallenda (1905–1978); Con Colleano (1900–1973), an acrobat known as the Toreador of the Tight Wire; aerialist Lillian Leitzel (1882 or 1892–1931); lion-tamer Clyde Beatty (1903–1965), who later had his own circus; and Emmett Kelly (1898–1979), a sad-faced clown whose best-known character was called Weary Willie. Despite the popularity of other entertainment media, including motion pictures, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the American circus—and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey—endures as a special treat for people of all ages. Across the decades, it remains unchanged in the type of merriment and spectacle it offers as well as in the manner in which it transports itself by rail across the country.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

ious concerns. In 1872, he became a partner in James E. Cooper’s Circus, which first was renamed the Great International Circus and then the Cooper, Bailey & Company Circus. In 1881, Barnum and Bailey merged their operations. For decades, their circus traversed the United States by train, bringing thrills and excitement to towns large and small. After Barnum’s death in 1891, Bailey took the show to Europe. Then he expanded it to five rings plus additional stages, and it crossed the country in eighty-five railroad cars. In 1897, the circus spotlighted an act using a record seventy horses, performing together in the same ring. After Bailey died in 1906, the Ringling Brothers Circus, which began as a tent show in 1884, purchased the Barnum & Bailey for $400,000. The two operated as separate entities until 1919, when they combined into one immense enterprise.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Fenner, Mildred Sandison, and Wolcott Fenner. The Circus, Lore and Legend. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970. Hammerstrom, David Lewis. Behind the Big Top. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1980. Kirk, Rhina. Circus Heroes and Heroines. New York: Hammond, 1974. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Online. http://www.ringling. com/home.asp (accessed January 17, 2002). Taylor, Robert Lewis. Center Ring: The People of the Circus. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956. Wallace, Irving. The Fabulous Showman: The Life and Times of P. T. Barnum. Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1990.

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Scouting (Boy and Girl)

Scouting (Boy and Girl) Around the world, scouting was the most popular youth movement in the twentieth century. By 2001, scouting organizations for boys and girls were in all but five countries on earth. Founded in Britain by Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941), the Boy Scouts reached the United States in 1909, when Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946) was appointed Chief Scout of America. In Britain, the Girl Scouts (then called Girl Guides) started their own movement in 1910, led by Baden-Powell’s sister Agnes (1858–1945). Scouting offered young people the chance to explore the countryside and learn skills such as woodcraft, tracking, and first aid. In 2001, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) stated that it aimed to help boys build character and physical fitness and become good citizens. Above all, both boy and girl scouts are expected to “Be Prepared.” Scouting began when General Baden-Powell returned from the British campaign at Mafikeng in the South African Boer War (1899–1902). His handbook, Scouting for Boys, was published in 1908 and immediately became a best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). Chapters entitled “Scoutcraft,” “Woodcraft,” “Chivalry,” and “Our Duties as Citizens” gave advice on subjects such as tying knots, blazing a trail, running a successful camp, and caring for others. Perhaps reflecting Baden-Powell’s military background, the handbook even explains what to do if you find a dead body. Through the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides, Baden-Powell instructed British boys and girls to become loyal subjects of the British Empire.

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In the United States, scouting began for different reasons. After the declared “closure” of the frontier in 1893, many Americans worried that the country would lose the pioneering spirit. In 1902, Seton set up the “Woodcraft Indians,” a troop of boys who learned how to follow a trail; to recognize different animals, birds, and plants; and to work together as a team in the wilderness. Seton visited Baden-Powell in London in 1906 to exchange ideas. Two years later, scouting came to the attention of American William D. Boyce (1858–1929). Finding himself lost in London, Boyce asked a small boy the way back to his hotel. Boyce was surprised when the boy led him all the way there. He was even more surprised when the boy refused to take money for his trouble, telling Boyce that this was his good turn as a Boy Scout. Impressed, Boyce sought out Baden-Powell to

find out about scouting. On his return to the United States, Boyce contacted Seton and together they founded the BSA. The organization was granted its Congressional charter in 1916. Baden-Powell’s aim for the Boy Scouts was to turn boys into “handy, capable men.” Organized in army-style “patrols,” boy scouts learned teamwork, loyalty, and respect for authority. Early scouting laid down very clear rules about what boys and girls could and should do with their lives. Unlike the boys, who would learn to be leaders and adventurers, Girl Guides would learn to become good companions to their husbands, brothers, and sons. Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low (1860–1927) began the first American Girl Guide troop in Savannah, Georgia, in 1912. They became known as Girl Scouts in 1915. Already moving away from Baden-Powell’s ideas for Girl Guides, Low envisioned an organization that would help girls enjoy an active life outside of the home. Although the first Girl Scout handbook, Scouting for Girls (1920) emphasizes domestic skills such as cooking, sewing, and household hygiene, the Girl Scouts also gave girls the chance to live more active and independent lives than before.

Boy Scouts gather around their scoutmaster while on a camping trip. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Low’s Girl Scouts were encouraged to help in their communities, fundraising through annual bake sales and cookie drives. In 1912, ankle-length blue uniforms reflected the accepted view that respectable girls did not play sports, but Low had the girls playing basketball and tennis. Girl Scouts went on hiking and camping trips as well. By 1926, the Girl Scouts had 137,000 members and a national training center in upstate New York. The Girl Scouts organization was always less militaristic than the Boy Scouts. Its religious views sit more easily with modern attitudes and beliefs, and the organization has made a great effort to be tolerant and inclusive. In 2001, it boasted 2.7 million members worldwide, ranging from the kindergarten “Daisies” to seventeen-year-old “Seniors.” Remarkably, cookie drives remain an important source of income for the Girl Scouts. For almost fifty years, parents welcomed scouting as a wholesome influence on youth. But as society became more liberal in the 1960s, the movement lost momentum. Many of the attitudes in Scouting for Boys and Scouting for Girls seemed very outdated. In the 1990s, the Boy Scouts’ opposition to homosexuals and religious nonbelievers drove away many natural supporters. Many people dislike the military style and conservative approach of scouting in general. Even critics of scouting, however, accept that its core values of loyalty, honesty, and respect for others are also the essential qualities of any good citizen. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/ (accessed on January 17, 2002). Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. http://www.girlscouts.org/ (accessed on January 17, 2002). Peterson, Robert W. Boy Scouts: An American Adventure. New York: American Heritage, 1985. 75 Years of Girl Scouting. New York: Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., 1986.

Titanic

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The largest and most luxurious liner of the time, the R.M.S. Titanic was a wonder of its age. The ship was a vast symbol of the industrial age and an emblem of the power of the British Empire. But the fame of the Titanic before it sailed was nothing compared with what followed. Retold in numerous books, documentaries, and films, the story of the Titanic has become a modern folk

tragedy. A warning against pride and overconfidence, it is also a fable of lost dreams, dignified bravery, and greedy self-interest. The story of the Titanic begins in 1907. J. Bruce Ismay (1862–1937), head of the White Star shipping line, commissioned the shipbuilders Harland and Wolff of Belfast, Ireland, to create three new liners for the North Atlantic crossing. The Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic would carry passengers and mail between Britain and the United States. Built alongside the larger second vessel, the Olympic was the first to be finished. But the Titanic was the masterpiece. White Star’s ships

The luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Damaged beyond repair, the ship sank, killing 1,513 passengers. Painting by Willie Stoewer. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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offered greater stability, luxury, and sheer size than rival Cunard’s fleet. The Titanic, then the largest moving object ever made, was launched into the river Langan on May 31, 1911. The ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic (the R.M.S. stands for Royal Mail Steamer) began from Southampton on April 10, 1912. The ship stopped at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. Then the Titanic left for New York carrying over 2,200 passengers and hundreds of mail bags on April 12. The Titanic struck an iceberg on April 14 and sank off Newfoundland with the loss of 1,513 lives. Considered unsinkable, the ship carried lifeboats for only half its passengers. The inquiries that followed pointed blame in many directions, including at Captain Edward John Smith (1850–1912) for hurrying through dangerous waters, and at White Star for ignoring the need for lifeboats. The sinking led to tougher safety rules for shipping, including instructions for dealing with disasters, and the establishment of the International Ice Patrol. But while the Titanic disaster had an effect on rules for shipping, its influence on popular culture was profound. Some religious leaders claimed the wreck was a warning from God against the excesses of the “Gilded Age” (the period of rapid industrialization in the late 1900s). Some women survivors were criticized for not staying behind with their husbands. Groups campaigning for women’s rights actually complained about the unfair treatment of men left behind on the sinking ship. At a time when the social classes were strictly divided, the Titanic revealed the different experiences of people from different backgrounds. Passengers in the cheaper “steerage” cabins were much less likely to have survived than first-class passengers. It was suspected that lower-class passengers were never meant to be rescued.

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Just one month after the disaster, Saved from the Titanic was filmed on the Olympic, starring survivor Dorothy Gibson (1884–1946). Lawrence Beesley (1877–1967) published the first survivor’s account of the tragedy, The Loss of the S.S. Titanic, six weeks after the event. Numerous books, magazine articles, and popular songs appeared in the aftermath of the disaster, but by 1913, Titanic mania had eased. Among the most interesting of the many early movies are Atlantic (1929) and Titanic (1943), a German propaganda film. The Titanic enjoyed renewed notoriety in the 1950s. The best of the films from that decade is A Night to Remember (1958). In 1960, there was even a popular Broadway musical telling the story of survivor Margaret Tobin

A second revival in the 1970s included the best-selling novel by Clive Cussler (1931–), Raise the Titanic (1976). Many reallife attempts have been made over the years to find and raise the Titanic. One of the more unlikely plans was to freeze the water inside the ship. It would then rise to the surface like, of all things, an iceberg. But it was not until September 1985 that American Robert Ballard (1942–) and Frenchman Jean-Louis Michel finally located the wreck. After much debate about whether the ship should be left untouched as a grave site, artifacts were finally recovered from the wreck. An exhibition of objects from the Titanic went on tour around the world.

War Bonds

Brown (1867–1932), entitled The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Titanic: A New Musical revived the story for the stage in 1997.

In the twenty-first century, a Titanic industry produces everything from models of the ship to reproductions of china and silverware. There is a Titanic Historical Society dedicated to all things Titanic, and there are many small Titanic museums in Britain, Ireland, and America. Perhaps the most lavish tribute to the ship, its passengers, and its crew is the 1997 film by James Cameron (1954–), Titanic, co-starring teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio (1974–). Using near-life-sized models and enhancing them with computer-generated images, Cameron’s film was the most expensive ever made. Despite historical inaccuracies, Titanic the movie is as much a wonder of its own age as the ship was in 1912. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Encyclopedia Titantica. http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ (accessed on January 17, 2002). Hill, Christine M. Robert Ballard: Oceanographer Who Discovered the Titanic. Berkely Heights, NJ: Enslow, 1999. Lynch, Don. Titanic: An Illustrated History. New York: Hyperion, 1992. Spignesi, Stephen J. The Complete Titanic: From the Ship’s Blueprints to the Epic Film. New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, 1998. Titanic: The Official Archive. http://www.titanic-online.com/titanic/ (accessed on January 17, 2002).

War Bonds Wars are expensive, and nations at war need to raise a great deal of money. Higher taxes raise some money, but usually not

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War Bonds An American propaganda poster, circa 1917, designed to entice citizens into buying war bonds to support U.S. efforts during World War I. Courtesy of Hoover Institution Archives.

enough. The solution in the United States during the twentieth century has been war bonds.

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In buying a war bond, a citizen is loaning money to the government, at a given rate of interest, to be repaid years later, when the war is over. In World War I (1914–18), these notes were called Liberty Bonds. They were touted at bond rallies, endorsed by movie stars, and the subject of speeches by civilian volunteers called the Four Minute Men. Similar strategies were used during World War II (1939–45) to sell bonds. Some of the most successful bond rallies, attended by thousands of

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information

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people and often broadcast live over the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), featured popular entertainer Kate Smith (1907?–1986) singing “God Bless America.”

Blum, John Morton. V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture during World War II. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. O’Neill, William L. A Democracy at War: America’s Fight at Home and Abroad in World War II. New York: The Free Press, 1993.

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20 th-Century America

Volume 2 1920s-1930s Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

1920s The Roaring Twenties Popular histories of the 1920s are filled with dramatic stories of this vibrant decade. According to legend, bold bootleggers made fortunes off the thirsty habits of a nation rebelling against the prohibition against alcohol. High-rolling stock market speculators rode an optimistic wave in American business when money seemed to come easily to those who already had it. Women shortened their hair and hemlines to dance the Charleston in smoke-filled speakeasies (illegal bars). These stories of easy money, frivolous excesses, and general naughtiness carried a kernel of truth and gave the decade such nicknames as “The Jazz Age,” “The Lawless Decade,” and “The Era of Wonderful Nonsense.” To be sure, “The Roaring Twenties” was truly one of the more interesting decades in an interesting century. Business growth in America fueled the optimistic mood of the time. Before World War I (1914–18), American trade with the rest of the world had been limited. During the war, the United States geared up its economy to supply its allies in Europe with solid American steel, agricultural goods, and all sorts of raw materials. With federal funding, the automobile, aircraft, and radio industries developed significantly, making America one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Rather than harming American business with a dramatic drop in orders, the end of the war left America in a dominant position in world trade, a position it would nurture for

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Lounge lizard: Flappers, young women in the 1920s, had a language all their own. One of many terms they created was lounge lizard, a phrase used to mean a ladies’ man. The term has been used in almost every following decade.

1920s At a Glance What We Said: Blind date: This type of date was between two people who have never met before and usually had been arranged by mutual friends.

Park: As more people bought cars, they thought of more ways to use them. One favorite pastime of young lovers was to park, or to stop their car in a secluded area to kiss each other.

Cat’s meow or Bee’s knees: Some of the most popular slang expressions of the 1920s, these terms referred to a cute or great person or thing. “She’s the cat’s meow” means, “She’s cute.”

Rumrunner: Smugglers of alcohol into the United States. The demand for alcohol during Prohibition offered an opportunity for rumrunners to earn huge profits.

“For crying out loud!”: A phrase used to express frustration or anger. Giggle water: Even though Prohibition was vigorously enforced during the decade, alcohol was available. Flappers called it giggle water, while men preferred the more macho name “hooch.”

Speakeasy: Illegal bars. Prohibition did not stop people’s thirst for alcohol; it forced the start up of speakeasies. Swanky: A term used to describe something that is high class, quality, cool.

“Go fly a kite!”: “Get away from me.”

Upchuck: Vomit.

Hick: Even though the word hick had been used for centuries to refer to a rural person, the word became very popular in the 1920s as more people moved to urban areas and rejected rural lifestyles. No hip flapper or sheik would want to be associated with a “hick from the sticks” (a naive person from the country).

What We Read: The Man of the Forest: Started as a serial in Country Gentleman magazine in 1917, Zane Grey’s Western became a best-seller in 1920.

“Hot diggity dog!”: An expression of happiness or of haste.

The Age of Innocence (1920): Edith Wharton’s novel about upper class New York society provides readers with an insider’s view of the confines of that group’s strict social rules.

It: Sex appeal was flaunted in the 1920s; to have sex appeal was to have “It.” Clara Bow had “It”; she was even dubbed the “It Girl.” Rudolph Valentino had “It,” too.

The Sheik (1920): Edith M. Hull’s romantic novel about a sheik who abducts and later falls in love with an English girl. The story became a movie that made Rudolph Valentino a popular romantic hero.

years to come. Presidents Warren G. Harding (1865–1923) and Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) were probusiness. Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), the secretary of commerce under Coolidge, ran for— and won—the presidency in 1928 as a champion of business, especially business related to the development of aviation and radio. 236

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But the booming decade did leave some behind: those living in rural America. Business success was most readily available

1920s At a Glance (continued) The Outline of History (1920): H. G. Wells’ non-fiction book that traces human history and attempts to show that education is the savior of society, not revolution. Main Street (1921): Sinclair Lewis’s first major novel. Main Street satirizes life in the American Middle West, criticizing Americans’ frivolous purchasing habits and desires to conform. Black Oxen (1923): Gertrude Atherton’s novel about female sexuality. Etiquette (1923): Emily Post’s nonfiction manual that describes proper behavior for many traditional occasions and social situations. When We Were Very Young (1925): A. A. Milne’s children’s book about Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends became a best-seller in the United States. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1926): Anita Loos’ comic novel about a young blonde flapper who charms men into giving her expensive gifts. The Plutocrat (1927): Booth Tarkington’s novel about the adventures of a wealthy razor blade “king.” All Quiet on the Western Front (1929): A novel by German writer Erich Maria Remarque that fictionalizes his experiences during World War I. What We Watched: Pollyanna (1920): This silent film stars twentyeight-year-old Mary Pickford as a young orphaned

girl who moves to New England to live with her grumpy spinster aunt. Pollyanna finds joy in every activity as she plays her “glad game” and eventually transforms the attitudes of her aunt and the entire community. Based on a novel by Eleanor H. Porter, the film has been remade several times for cinema and television. The Mark of Zorro (1920): A silent film, starring Douglas Fairbanks as Zorro, about the oppression of the Spanish government in colonial California and how the masked Zorro heroically and humorously protects common people. Zorro has proven to be a favorite movie hero, and his story has been remade into several different movies over the years. The Three Musketeers (1921): Douglas Fairbanks stars as the young Gascon d’Artagnan who travels to Paris to become one of the French king’s musketeers in this silent film. He is apprenticed by three of the king’s best musketeers and soon becomes involved in their effort to save France from the evil Cardinal Richelieu. The film has been remade for cinema and television more than thirty times. Orphans of the Storm (1921): Lillian and Dorothy Gish star in this silent film directed by D. W. Griffith about two girls (one an orphan) raised as sisters who travel to Paris and become separated as the French Revolution erupts and overthrows the aristocracy. The Ten Commandments (1923): Starring Richard Dix and Rod LaRoque and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, this silent film tells the ancient story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt and receiving the tablets and, in a second part, illustrates the

to urban, upper-middle-class Americans. Even though the economic indexes rose every year during the decade and politicians pronounced the end of poverty, most Americans lived a very different life from the “shebas” and “sheiks” (fashionable young women and men) who spent money without care and drank like fish. At the beginning of the decade, the census recorded the total population at 105,273,049; by the end of the

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1920s At a Glance (continued) benefits of the commandments in a story about two brothers fighting over the love of one woman in modern day San Francisco. DeMille remade this movie again in 1956. The Pilgrim (1923): A short comedic silent film starring Charlie Chaplin who plays an escaped prisoner who dresses as a preacher and becomes the minister for a small town. The Phantom of the Opera (1925): Promoted as the “Greatest Horror Film of Modern Cinema,” this silent film stars Lon Chaney as the disfigured “phantom” who haunts a Paris Opera house and tries to advance the career of his beloved Christine. Gaston Leroux’s novel has been retold in eleven different movies and in the theater. Ben-Hur (1925): With a cast of 125,000 (an unprecedented number), this silent film offered viewers a stunning depiction of the conflict between a Roman officer, Messala (played by Francis X. Bushman), and his former childhood friend, the conquered Israelite, Judah Ben-Hur (played by Ramon Novarro). The film was remade in 1959 to great success. The Son of the Sheik (1926): Movie star Rudolph Valentino’s last film, and some say his best. The silent film depicts the story of the young son of a sheik falling in love with a dancing girl. The Jazz Singer (1927): Starring Al Jolson, this was the first “talkie” film. Jolson plays a young man who gives up his dream of becoming a Broadway singer to replace his father as cantor at a synagogue after his father’s death.

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First televised news broadcast (1928): This event featured the Democratic nomination of Al Smith for president and aired on WGY in Schenectady, New York. Steamboat Willie (1929): Produced by Walt Disney, this was the first animated film with synchronized sound and the first film to feature the now-beloved character, Mickey Mouse. What We Listened To: First radio sports broadcast (1921): The boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee aired over KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. First World Series broadcast (1921): The fall classic between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants was broadcast on WJZ in Newark, New Jersey. First radio broadcast of a full-length play (1922): WGY in Schenectady, New York, broadcast The Wolf, a two-and-a-half-hour play by Eugene Walter. First football game broadcast (1922): The game between Princeton and the University of Chicago aired over WEAF in New York using long distance telephone lines from Chicago. First presidential political convention broadcasts (1924): The conventions that led to the nominations of Republican Calvin Coolidge and Democrat John W. Davis were the first of their kind to air on radio. WSM Barn Dance: Later renamed the Grand Ole Opry, this favorite began broadcasting from Nashville, Tennessee, in 1925. Sam ’n’ Henry: Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, two white actors, created this “colored comedy”

decade, the number had risen to 122,288,177. Along with the population, big business grew at a dizzying pace, nearly 7 percent each year between 1922 and 1927. Jobs in the ever more crowded cities abounded. But workers in rural areas suffered; farmers actually lost business, with four million of them quitting to move to the city during the 1920s. For the first time in American history, more people lived in urban areas than in rural

1920s At a Glance (continued) about two black men from Alabama who moved to Chicago in search of their fortunes. It first aired on WGN in Chicago, Illinois, in 1926. Sam ’n’ Henry was later renamed Amos ’n’ Andy; in 1929, it became the first comedy series in history to be broadcast nationwide when it aired over the NBC network. Car radios: Listening to music and other programming in one’s automobile became possible in 1927. Rose Bowl: Coverage of the classic, annual football game-this time between Stanford and Alabama— was the first coast-to-coast broadcast in 1927. Who We Knew: Charles Atlas (1894–1972): Dubbed “America’s Most Perfectly Developed Man” in a body-building contest held at Madison Square Garden in 1922. Al Capone (1899–1947): Nicknamed “Scarface Al,” he became a wealthy, powerful bootlegger in Chicago after the leader of the Five Points Gang, Johnny Torrio, became permanently disabled in 1925. Although there were other gangs running illegal liquor rackets, Capone led the most successful and became the most notorious criminal of the time.

Trial of 1925. Although he technically lost the trial about teaching evolution in Tennessee to the prosecution, later rulings about evolution indicate that the eloquent Darrow had swayed public opinion in his favor. He also became known as a defender of civil rights from his representation of the Sweets family in 1925–26 for their efforts to defend themselves against a white mob that tried to drive them off their own property in a white neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. Jack Dempsey (1895–1983): Heavyweight boxing champion who symbolized the 1920s pursuit of success by winning the first million-dollar boxing prize and four more throughout the decade. Harry Houdini (1874–1926): Magician well known in the 1920s for his elaborate tricks and his crusade to denounce believers in the occult. In 1926, he successfully completed his most dangerous trick when he escaped after ninety minutes from a submerged coffin. He died later that year from complications of appendicitis. Hans von Kaltenborn (1878–1965): Became the first radio news commentator in 1922 when his analysis of a coal strike was broadcast. His comments were regularly broadcast nationally on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in the 1930s.

Coco (Gabrielle) Chanel (1883–1971): French fashion designer who provided a personal example to women around the world of the “new woman”: independent, business-savvy, and free. Her designs and fragrances continue to be fashionable.

Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974): Aviator Lindbergh captivated the world with his solo cross-Atlantic flight in 1927. He flew his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane 33.5 hours from New York to Paris.

Clarence Darrow (1857–1938): A powerful and eloquent defense lawyer who represented John T. Scopes in the highly publicized Scopes “Monkey”

Maud Wood Park (1871–1955): First president of the League of Women Voters, which was formed in 1920 to educate new voters.

areas. Technology was transforming the lives of those living in cities, with public utilities providing electricity, natural gas, and running water. But rural areas were left out of these advances; only 10 percent of American farms had electricity and only 33 percent had running water by the end of the decade. New paved roads between cities left small towns isolated from the advances of the decade and effectively killed many of them.

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1920s At a Glance (continued) Babe Ruth (1894–1948): Home run hitter who thrilled crowds in his games with the New York Yankees, making baseball a tremendously profitable venture. When he hit a home run on the opening day of Yankee Stadium in 1923, the place was dubbed “The House That Ruth Built.” David C. Stephenson (?–1966): Ku Klux Klan leader convicted of second-degree murder in the 1920s. Upon his conviction, evidence of corruption in the Klan was publicized. The group had reformed after World War I to guard against not only blacks but Jews, Catholics, socialists, and communists as well. In the 1920s, the group hired

a public relations firm to recruit members and by 1925 membership swelled to four million and had elected several members to political positions in Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and Maine. Billy Sunday (1862–1935): The most well-known evangelist in the country since 1917. He found his quest for a “totally dry America” difficult as the decade wore on and Americans began questioning the Eighteenth Amendment and its supporters. Walter Winchell (1897–1972): The most wellknown “gossip” columnist and perhaps the first. His columns and radio broadcasts were read or listened to by between twenty-five and fifty million people at the height of his popularity during this decade.

In addition, as jobs in factories demanded new skills, colleges opened in urban areas. But rural people were cut off from such educational opportunities. To make matters worse, 23 percent of blacks, most of whom lived in the rural South, were illiterate in 1920. But even with these inequalities, the average person did lead a healthier life, as shown by the dramatic decline in infant deaths and incidences of epidemic disease. There were several aspects of popular culture that almost everyone could enjoy. Jazz, the musical form created by black musicians, swept the nation and eventually the world. The boom in radio technology and broadcasting—from no radios produced in the United States in 1921 to more than four million in 1929, with more than ten million households owning a radio—brought jazz music into homes across the nation. Although radio broadcasts and recording studios favored white jazz musicians at first, especially “Jazz King” Paul Whiteman (1890–1967) and George Gershwin (1898–1937), African American musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941), Duke Ellington (1899–1974), and Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) soon became truly successful, playing to audiences of all races.

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The movie industry, one of the wealthiest businesses in the decade, hired writers, composers, designers, and painters for unprecedented sums to create “talkies” that anyone could see and hear on the big screen for a handful of change. Kodak intro-

Magazines and newspapers of the time carried the writings of syndicated columnists. Mass circulation ensured that magazines and newspapers could pay writers decent sums for their work. More and more Americans were reading the same stories and news. Readers thrilled to stories by such writers as Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), and Willa Cather (1873–1947), who became some of the most respected American writers of all time. The Western novels of Zane Grey (1875–1939) were top sellers. Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) and Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) pioneered the American “hard-boiled” (tough-guy) detective story with stories for the Black Mask and other pulp magazines.

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duced the first color motion pictures in 1928. Movie attendance rose from fifty-seven million weekly in 1927 to ninety-five million weekly by 1929. Broadway musicals soon were made into elaborate movie spectaculars that toured the country.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his essay “Echoes of the Jazz Age,” “It was an age of miracles.” The 1920s produced more enduring figures than any other since, more people who changed their fields and captured the interest and imagination of the nation than in any other time in American history. Along with advances in medicine, science, and social work, the decade nurtured talents in the arts, literature, and sports. Charles A. Lindbergh (1902–1974) flew across the Atlantic in thirty-three and a half hours. Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) became one of America’s greatest playwrights, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1920, 1922, and 1928. Babe Ruth (1895–1948) won the hearts of baseball fans when he hit his “Ruthian” blasts out of the park and led the New York Yankees to win their first World Series in 1923. The sheer number of advances during the era are a testament to the energy of the 1920s, a time when most Americans thought each day would be better than the last. The decade of such optimism was capped by Black Tuesday, the biggest stock market crash in American history, which occurred on October 29, 1929. Less than a month after the crash, unemployment had risen from 700,000 to 3.1 million. News stories remained optimistic about the future and movie theaters played upbeat shows to boost people’s spirits, but the country would not recover for nearly another decade as the Great Depression (1929–41) took hold. 1920s overview

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1920s Commerce At the beginning of the decade, American business was adjusting to its new role in the world economy after the end of World War I (1914–18). During the war, America had supplied the Allied European participants with food, equipment, money, and, eventually, troops. The war had created an economic boom in America like no other before it. The war also linked America with other nations through trade; American business grew on the strength of equipment and materials orders from other countries. The American government provided generous financial support to American businesses during the war, which spurred the growth of technologically advanced manufacturing throughout the country. Those industries most helped were automobile, aircraft, and radio manufacturers. These industries had existed before the war, but federal spending allowed them to grow into massive operations that employed thousands of people. The large number of employees could quickly produce large quantities of products. In the 1920s, massive factories were established around the country. Rural people flooded new urban areas for the relatively lucrative work. With ready cash on hand, people began buying products like never before. Chain stores popped up in neighborhoods; movie theaters were frequented; and the demand for automobiles seemed endless. Jeeps were one item that caught the interest of Americans. The hardy vehicles once used for the war had a variety of uses at home. In each year of the decade, the economic indexes grew higher and higher, fueling people’s optimism and spending habits. Credit became a popular purchasing method: buy now, pay later. A variety of new products emerged to entice people to buy more. Two particularly useful items were Tupperware and Saran Wrap. These plastic inventions revolutionized the storage of leftovers in the kitchen. But not everyone enjoyed the booming economy. Farmers who had prospered during the war struggled in this decade and

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more than four million had to quit and find other work. Railroad employees felt unfairly treated but had to abandon a strike in 1922 without gaining much. Those living in the South and the Midwest, areas that relied mainly on agriculture, struggled as those living in other areas profited. Residents of the “industrial belt” of the Northeast and the Upper Midwest and the trading and movie mecca of the West Coast benefited much more. The uneven distribution of wealth around the country and the skyrocketing stock market made the stock market crash of 1929 all the more devastating.

Advertising Advertising performs two important jobs. It informs consumers what products and services are available, and it tries to persuade them to make choices about what to buy. Advertising has been around ever since somebody had something to sell, but in the late 1800s, it became a part of everyday life. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, advertising is everywhere. From coffee (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) cups to the World Wide Web, from clothing to public garbage cans, advertising appears wherever there is a space to put a logo or a slogan. Modern advertising began in the 1920s, the decade that saw the rise of the New York City advertising agencies on Madison Avenue. Mass production meant that more people could afford things like cars, radios, and refrigerators (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1). Improved transport also meant that fewer goods and services were supplied locally. In 1920, there were eight million passenger cars on American roads; by the end of the decade, the number was over twentythree million. Because of such changes in American culture, advertising campaigns became standardized across the United States. An advertisement for a Ford car in California was exactly the same as an ad in Florida and New Hampshire.

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Before the 1920s, most advertising was in the form of painted signs, printed cards in cigarette (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) packets, and small-scale posters or newspaper advertisements. Better printing and photography soon had a dramatic effect. The first annual exhibition of advertising photography was held in New York in 1921. Large poster

billboards soon replaced advertisements painted on the sides of buildings. The most famous novel of the period, The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), even uses a fading advertisement billboard to comment on American society at the time. Soon, glossy photographic ads filled American magazines. The pictures in the ads were often just as beautiful as those accompanying the articles. Radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) also played a major role in the growth of advertising. The first radio advertisement was broadcast in 1922. By the 1930s, radio advertising reached almost every American home. Market research was more or less invented in the 1920s when advertisers began to work out what kinds of people read certain magazines or newspapers. Even as far back as 1923, Claud Hopkins (1866–1922), president of the Lord & Thomas agency in New York, could boast: “The time has come when advertising in some hands has reached the status of a science.” In the twenty-first century, film trailers match the style of the main feature; upmarket clothing is advertised in glossy magazines. Computers and the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way

As more and more Americans purchased automobiles in the 1920s, billboard advertising, such as this ad for “Oh Henry!” chocolate bars, began to spring up along U.S. roads. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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We Lived in volume 5) have made advertising still more personal. Online retailers can keep track of the likes and dislikes of individual consumers and provide advertising just for them. Despite the increased sophistication of advertising, advertisers do face certain problems. As companies began to advertise and sell their products all over the world, they learned that they had to choose the names of their products very carefully. Advertisers must avoid using words that might be offensive in a country where the product is sold. For example, there is a soft drink in Italy called Pshitt and a toilet paper in Sweden called Krapp’s. Neither of these products would sell well in America. Another downfall of advertising is its high cost. In 1865, American companies spent a total of $50 million on advertising. Less than a century later, in 1956, General Motors (see entry under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1) alone spent more than $162 million. In 1997, the chemical company Unilever spent around $2 billion advertising its products worldwide. Do companies get their money’s worth from advertising? Many consumers have grown so used to seeing advertising that they no longer pay attention to it. Advertisers have to resort to more creative ways of calling attention to their products. An example of a new kind of advertising can be found on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Since television became common in the 1950s, it has been crucial to advertisers of all kinds of products. The idea that different groups of people watch different television shows led to advertising aimed at smaller and smaller groups. In the 1990s, TV networks began to use certain shows to deliver groups of consumers to the advertisers. For example, advertising aired during Dawson’s Creek was aimed at the show’s mostly teen audience, whereas Ally McBeal (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) provided advertisers with an audience of young professional women. One problem with TV advertising is that viewers avoid commercials by switching channels or leaving the room. Electricity suppliers report surges in demand as viewers make hot drinks and snacks during commercial breaks in popular shows. Advertisers have tried to avoid this by making their commercials unavoidable. Sponsoring a program allows advertisers to force viewers to see their name—as in many branded sporting events—and placing products within an actual program became a common practice in the late 1990s.

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In the twenty-first century, advertising provides many of society’s most familiar images and is discussed alongside film

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as a key popular art form of the last century. It has also become more persuasive than ever before. By putting their logo on every piece of clothing they sell, companies like Nike (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4) persuade customers to advertise the company’s products at their own expense. Most people claim that advertising does not affect their buying decisions, but the evidence tells a different story. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Dunn, John. Advertising. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997. Fox, Stephen. Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997. Gay, Kathlyn. Caution! This May Be an Advertisement: A Teen Guide to Advertising. New York: Franklin Watts, 1992. Klein, Naomi. No Logo. London: HarperCollins, 2000. Mierau, Christina. Accept No Substitutes!: The History of American Advertising. Minneapolis: Lerner, 2000. Robinson, Jeffrey. The Manipulators: A Conspiracy to Make Us Buy. London: Simon and Schuster, 1998. Sivulka, Juliann. Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1997. Sobieszek, Robert A. The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988.

Band-Aid Like Kleenex (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) tissues and Xerox copiers (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4), Band-Aid bandages have come to be the common name for the product, in this case an antiseptically sealed adhesive bandage designed for minor cuts and scrapes. The BandAid is composed of a pad that is placed over the wound, topped by adhesive “wings” that attach the bandage to the skin. The Band-Aid brand was introduced in 1921 by the Johnson & Johnson Company, which had been making surgical dressings since its incorporation in 1887. The company was founded by Robert Wood Johnson (1893–1968) and his brothers, James and Edward. Their company manufactured first-aid products that supported antiseptic methods then being widely adopted in American medicine. Earle Dickson (1892–1961), a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson, developed the Band-Aid while trying to make a

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convenient, easy-to-apply bandage for his wife, Josephine, who was prone to many minor cuts and burns in the family kitchen. He placed squares of cotton gauze at intervals on an adhesive strip and covered them with crinoline. When she needed a bandage, his wife just cut as much of the strip as needed to dress a wound. Johnson & Johnson adapted Dickson’s idea and began manufacturing the product, eventually rewarding him with a vice presidency. Made by hand, the first Band-Aids were three inches wide and eighteen inches long. By 1924, they were being machine-made, and have long been sold as individually wrapped bandages in a variety of sizes and shapes. The familiar red thread for tearing open the protective covering was added in 1940. Band-Aid Plastic Strips were introduced in 1951; sheer vinyl versions, in 1958. Sport Strip adhesive bandages made their appearance in 1994. Three years later, Johnson & Johnson unveiled the Band-Aid Antibiotic Adhesive Bandage, the first ever to have specially formulated ointment on the pad. By 2001, more than a hundred billion Band-Aids had been manufactured. —Edward Moran

For More Information Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages.” http://www.bandaid.com (accessed January 18, 2002). Foster, Lawrence G. A Company That Cares: One Hundred Year Illustrated History of Johnson & Johnson. New Brunswick, NJ: Johnson & Johnson, 1986.

Betty Crocker One of the most famous U.S. food-product brands, Betty Crocker, is symbolized by the smiling face of a young homemaker. Her picture, together with a trademarked logo of a red spoon, appears on more than two hundred items manufactured by General Mills, ranging from Hamburger Helper to cake mixes, dessert products, and snacks. The Betty Crocker brand name accounts for $1.5 billion in sales annually, nearly onethird of all General Mills sales.

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The Betty Crocker name originated in 1921 when Washburn Crosby Company, an earlier name for General Mills, created the image as a way of personalizing its products and services. It was chosen by advertising manager James A. Quint, who selected

“Betty” because it was considered a friendly nickname and “Crocker” as a tribute to William Crocker (1876–1950), a retired General Mills executive. The Betty Crocker brand first appeared on a food product in 1947, when General Mills introduced her Ginger Cake Mix, now known as Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix. By the 1990s, her face and name was appearing on dessertlike products like Betty Crocker Cinnamon Streusel and cereal products like Dutch Apple cereals. The name has also been licensed for a line of small appliances, cooking utensils, and kitchen clocks.

The image of Betty Crocker has changed over the years to reflect changing styles. The 1996 “Betty” was created from seventy-five computer-fed photos of real women. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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In the eight decades since her creation, the image of Betty Crocker has been altered to suit changing styles, but “Betty” has remained a trusted figure to several generations of families. Although she is not a real person, she has received millions of letters and phone calls and now appears on General Mills Web sites dispensing information about cooking and nutrition to a new generation of computer-savvy consumers. Her weekly advice column appears in more than seven hundred newspapers in the United States. She is listed as the author of several cookbooks, including Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, first published in 1950 and reprinted in 1998. —Edward Moran

For More Information General Mills. “The Story of Betty.” Betty’s Kitchen. http://www. bettycrocker.com/meetbetty/mb_tsob.asp (accessed January 22, 2002). Shapiro, Laura. “Betty Goes Back to the Future.” Newsweek (October 19, 1998).

Burma-Shave The advertising campaign for Burma-Shave, a brushless shaving cream, is the most unique advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) campaign in history. There was nothing like it before and has been nothing like it since. The campaign began in the mid-1920s and lasted until the early 1960s, although its heyday was the 1930s and 1940s. BurmaShave’s rhyming signs popularized the use of a jingle to sell a product. Its roadside signs were a favorite feature of travel for a generation of Americans.

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The Burma-Vita Company came up with the idea of roadsign advertising, but the signs were not like the billboards seen today. Before freeways came into being, driving from one place to another meant using rural roads and driving slower. The Burma-Vita Company paid farmers to place signs on their property. The unique thing about this was how they did it. A rhyming jingle was printed on a series of six signs, about 100 feet apart. Drivers had to read each sign to learn the jingle. One example, taken from The Verse by the Side of the Road, was: “Take a tip / For your trip / No wet brush / To soak / Your grip / Burma-Shave.” The signs turned the nearly bankrupt BurmaVita into a company with $3 million in annual sales.

Cigarettes

The signs began appearing in Minnesota, where the company was located. By the time the campaign ended, there were signs in forty-five states. There was even a newsletter for the farmers who had signs on their property, called Burma Shavings. The jingles used were sometimes humorous, sometimes political, and some even pitched road safety. As the U.S. interstate road system was put into place, fewer people drove on the rural roads where the signs were located. Traffic moved too fast on the new interstate highways and freeways for car occupants to be able to read the signs as before. The Philip Morris Company bought Burma-Vita and stopped using the signs in 1963. Company operations ceased in 1967. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information “Burma-Shave in the Fifties.” The Fifties Web. http://www.fiftiesweb. com/burma.htm (accessed January 18, 2002). Rowsone, Frank, Jr. The Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1965. Starr, Tara, and Edward Hayman. Signs & Wonders. New York: Doubleday, 1998. Vossler, Bill. Burma-Shave: The Rhymes, the Signs, the Times. St. Cloud, MN: North Star Press, 1997.

Cigarettes On his famous voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) noticed that the Arawak people of the Caribbean enjoyed smoking the rolled-up leaves of a local plant. Since Columbus took the first tobacco seeds back to Europe, the use of tobacco has spread all over the world. Tobacco has played a visible and distinctive role in societies everywhere. Of all the different forms of tobacco, by far the most popular is the cigarette—that little paper cylinder filled with shredded tobacco plus a few added chemicals. For centuries considered both glamorous and wicked, cigarette smoking has had a powerful appeal for those who wish to appear tough and rugged or cool and sophisticated. Most of all, cigarettes appeal to adolescents who are at an insecure stage of life and often wish to appear to be all of those things. The tobacco companies that make cigarettes understand these emotional

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insecurities and use them in their advertisements to encourage people to start smoking. The addictive nature of the nicotine found in tobacco ensures that people will keep smoking. In America, smoking has been considered an unhealthy and immoral habit. It is perhaps these very judgments that make cigarettes so attractive to those who wish to rebel. One of the most striking instances of this was in 1929. At the time, smoking was considered “unfeminine” and was socially frowned upon. But when women suffragettes marched in New York’s Easter Day parade smoking cigarettes as their “torches of liberty” to show their commitment to equal rights for women, they made smoking fashionable. It did not matter that the idea for the women to smoke in the parade had been the brainchild of Edward Bernays (1891–1995), a tobacco-industry publicity man; the parade had created a link between smoking and women’s rights. Within weeks after the parade, more and more women began to smoke. Cigarette smoking increased in the United States during and after World War I (1914–18). For soldiers in the trenches, cigarettes were a small luxury from home and a way to ease the tensions of battle. In the 1920s, the young generation who had survived the war celebrated with a reckless lifestyle that included cigarettes. In the 1940s, another world war and another generation of dashing soldiers increased the glamour attached to smoking. On the battlefield and in dozens of war movies, lieutenants growled to their exhausted troops, “Smoke ’em if you got ’em.” Soldiers and civilians alike lit up. In the 1950s, the age-old warning that smoking was a “nasty habit” began to get scientific support. Researchers found a link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Most manufacturers began to put filters on their cigarettes to absorb some of the dangerous chemicals. In 1964, the surgeon general of the United States made an official statement that cigarettes cause cancer and other respiratory ailments. The next year, the first warnings appeared on cigarette packs, as tobacco companies were forced by law to inform buyers of the danger.

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However, the number of smokers continued to increase, and not only because smokers felt the habit was “cool.” The nicotine in cigarettes causes the brain to release a chemical called dopamine that gives the smoker a feeling of pleasure. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and most smokers become addicted quickly, making it very hard for them to quit smoking. The

Cigarettes

greatest number of Americans smoked during the period between 1974 and 1977. In 1976, antismoking advocates organized a national effort called the “Great American Smokeout” to encourage smokers to quit. The Smokeout became an annual event. Between 1976 and 1997, forty-eight million smokers quit the habit, leaving another forty-eight million still smoking. Of those, thirty-four million say they want to quit, according to Neville Lee in the November 24, 1997, issue of U.S. News & World Report. Many aids have been developed to help smokers break their addiction to smoking, from hypnosis and support groups to nicotine chewing-gum and skin patches. Since the 1970s, nonsmoking has become almost as powerful a social force as smoking ever was. As more is known about the negative health effects of smoking, more and more smokers have quit, and more people have decided not to start smoking in the first place. For many nonsmokers, it is not enough to stop smoking themselves. They also do not wish to be around the smoke created by those who do smoke. Tobacco smoke contains dangerous chemicals like nicotine, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia. Researchers have discovered that breathing “second-hand” smoke (the smoke that is exhaled by cigarette smokers) can be almost as dangerous as smoking cigarettes oneself. Antismoking activists have worked to limit where smokers can light up. Once there were smoking sections on airplanes, buses, and movie theaters, and people could freely smoke cigarettes almost anywhere. By the 1990s, smoking was largely forbidden in most public places. A new sort of outcast smokers’ culture has grown up in the doorways of office buildings and other public places, where smokers huddle together in all kinds of weather to have their cigarettes. Cigarettes have always figured prominently in the popular culture media. In films, books, and songs, heroes and heroines light up to express all kinds of emotions, from cool unconcern to intense worry and from angry hatred to passionate love. The desire for a cigarette after sex has become a universal symbol of satisfaction that even shows up in cartoons like The Simpsons (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5). In films, from Lauren Bacall’s sultry inhale in To Have and Have Not (1944), to Leonardo DiCaprio’s tough-sensitive cigarette handling in Romeo and Juliet (1996), cigarette smoking has meant defiance, romance, and sex appeal. In 1997, singer k. d. lang (1961–) released an album entitled Drag, which is a collection of pop

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songs written over several decades about smoking cigarettes. A nonsmoker herself, lang sees cigarettes as a symbol of all types of self-destructive cravings, whether for love, drugs, or tobacco. Even cigarette advertisements have become a part of popular culture. Figures like Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) are as recognizable to the public as characters on television or in films. Tobacco companies realize the value of keeping their products in the public eye. Between 1967 and 1984, as the public was learning about the dangers of smoking, tobacco companies increased their advertising 400 percent. Some people claim that the companies particularly try to sell cigarettes to the next generation and that characters like Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man are especially designed to appeal to young smokers. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Brandt, Allan. Rise & Fall of the Cigarette: A Social & Cultural History of Smoking in the U.S. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Cutlip, Scott. The Unseen Power: Public Relations: A History. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. Klein, Richard. “The Dark Beauty of the Cigarette.” Harper’s Magazine (Vol. 287, no. 1722, November 1993): pp. 35–37. Lee, Neville. “Database: The Great American Smokeout.” U.S. News & World Report (Vol. 123, no. 20, November 24, 1997): p. 12. Sobel, Robert. They Satisfy: The Cigarette in American Life. New York: Doubleday, 1978. Sullum, Jacob. “Smoke Alarm.” Reason (Vol. 28, no. 1, May 1996): pp. 40–45.

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From its beginnings at the end of the nineteenth century to its decline in the 1970s, the department store was the major center for urban American shoppers. A creative sales idea, the department store offered working people attentive service, an elegant place to shop for almost everything they needed, and the chance to buy on credit. Large department stores, usually named for the families that started them, became central fixtures in the downtown areas of their cities. Eventually, they became the foundations of shopping malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) in the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). In the 1970s, large, no-

Before large department stores began to develop, shopping had meant waiting for a traveling peddler to drop by with a cart of goods for sale, or going into a small shop and asking the clerk for items kept on shelves behind the counter. In the late 1800s, the development of a national railroad and a more efficient postal system allowed a wider variety of goods to be shipped. Stores began to expand. To increase sales, shop owners began to display goods openly on shelves in the store where customers could look through them. The shop owners hired sales clerks like those who served in upper class shops. Some successful store owners built multistory buildings for their new department stores. Soon these stores were closely identified with their cities, like Rich’s of Atlanta, Georgia; Filene’s of Boston, Massachusetts; and Gimble’s of New York City. In 1924, Macy’s department store in New York was the largest store in the world.

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frills discount stores began to compete with the popularity of department stores. By the 1990s, many of the distinguished old department stores had gone out of business.

Department stores have frequently influenced the culture around them. Mother’s Day (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) had been a minor Catholic holiday until it was turned into a major gift-giving (and therefore, shopping) occasion by the owner of Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Of course, the primary gift shopping time in the United States is the Christmas season, and department stores have made it their own, beginning with department store Santas, like the one in the film Miracle on 34th Street. In 1939, Robert L. May (1905–1976), an advertising writer for Montgomery Ward, wrote Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 2) as part of the company’s Christmas sales campaign. During the 1940s, another department store owner, Fred Lazarus, persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt (1882–1945) to change Thanksgiving from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday to allow an extra week of shopping before Christmas. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Bragg, Arthur. “Will the Department Store Survive?” Sales and Marketing Management (Vol. 136, April 1986): pp. 60–65.

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Cohen, Daniel. “Grand Emporiums Peddle Their Wares in a New Market.” Smithsonian (Vol. 23, no. 12, March 1993): pp. 22–31. Katz, Donald R. “The Big Store.” Esquire (Vol. 108, September 1987): pp. 107–17. Leach, William R. “Transformations in a Culture of Consumption: Women and Department Stores, 1890–1925.” Journal of American History (Vol. 71, September 1984): pp. 319–43.

Eddie Bauer Eddie Bauer is an outdoor-oriented retailer of clothing and accessories. Begun in Seattle, Washington, in 1920 by Eddie Bauer (1899–1986) with a $25 investment, the company that bears his name at first sold only recreational and wilderness gear. Perhaps the most famous product of all was the first quilted down parka, invented by Bauer after a night in 1928 when he nearly froze to death. The down parka has become a staple of winter wear in the United States. Other versions are offered today by companies such as The North Face and Old Navy. Eddie Bauer equipment has been to Mt. Everest, but since the 1970s, when the company was sold, it has focused on “casual lifestyle” items such as cashmere blazers and home furnishings for its affluent adult customer base. In 2001, the company had over six hundred stores around the globe and was creating enormous revenues while competing with the likes of Gap (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4) and Lands’ End. —Karl Rahder

For More Information “Our Company: Historical Timeline.” Eddie Bauer. http://www. eddiebauer.com/about/company_info/history.asp (accessed January 18, 2002). Spector, Robert. The Legend of Eddie Bauer. Lyme, CT: Greenwich Publishing Group, 1994.

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Kleenex is the rare brand whose name has become the generic term for the product itself. The product in this case is facial tissue. Following World War I (1914–18), the Kimberly-Clark paper

No sooner was Kleenex introduced in the early 1920s as a makeup remover than consumers found new uses for the soft, disposable tissue. Eager to avoid carrying soiled handkerchiefs, men and women used Kleenex to blow their noses—and then simply threw the soiled Kleenex away. In 1927, advertisements began to promote the product for blowing the nose. In 1928, the popular pop-up box that released one tissue at a time was introduced. It was not long before every disposable facial tissue was most commonly known as a Kleenex. Kleenex remains the most popular brand of tissues on the market to this day.

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company was burdened with a huge surplus of a product called Cellucotton, a thin cotton-based tissue that had been used to dress wounds and line gas masks. The company made a thinner version of its product for women to use to remove makeup. Kimberly-Clark named its product Kleenex and introduced it in 1924.

—Tom Pendergast

For More Information Kimberly-Clark. http://www.kimberly-clark.com/ (accessed on January 18, 2002).

La-Z-Boy Loungers The relaxing comfort of reclining chairs is a familiar part of many American homes. Invented by two cousins, Edward M. Knabusch (1900–1988) and Edwin J. Shoemaker (1907–1998), La-Z-Boy recliners were the first and remain the most popular reclining chairs in America. The cousins built their first chairs out of a garage in Monroe, Michigan. In 1929, they introduced the first upholstered recliner to such success that they decided to incorporate their company and to build a shop in a nearby cornfield. To name their creation, the pair held a contest: La-Z-Boy was the winner. By the 1950s, La-Z-Boy recliners came with the now easily recognizable automatic footrests. By the 1960s, even sofas were made to recline. By the end of the century, La-Z-Boy had become the sixth largest furniture retailer in the United States. Their chairs and sofas reclined, rocked, glided, swiveled, lifted, and massaged. They even had heaters, phones, computer hookups, and compartments to keep drinks cold. —Sara Pendergast

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For More Information La-Z-Boy. http://www.lazboy.com (accessed January 22, 2002).

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Since 1927, Macy’s department store—the self-described largest emporium (retail store) of its type in the world—has sponsored a happy American ritual. Each Thanksgiving morning, Macy’s subsidizes an elaborate parade. It assembles at West 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan and begins promptly at 9 A.M. Thousands of New Yorkers and tourists brave the cold late-November winds to watch the parade. It moves down Central Park West to Columbus Circle, and then runs along Broadway to Macy’s Herald Square, at West 33rd Street. The parade consists of large, intricately designed floats, marching bands, entertainers, and helium-filled cartoon-creature balloons that are several stories high. The balloon figures include everything from the generic Toy Soldier and Tom the Turkey to characters popular with children, such as Big Bird from Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), Barney (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5), Mickey Mouse from Disney (see entry under 1920s— Film and Theater in volume 2), and Snoopy from the comic strip Peanuts (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3). The first cartoon character depicted in the parade’s large balloons was Felix the Cat (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1). Not only does the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade usher in the Christmas holiday season, but it serves as a reminder of the store’s history, and its status as a great American emporium. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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“Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” NYCTourist.com. http://www. nyctourist.com/macys_menu.htm (accessed on January 22, 2002) “75 Years of Holiday Magic: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” New York Historical Society. http://www.nyhistory.org/macyday/index.html (accessed January 22, 2002).

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man peers from a Denver, Colorado, billboard in June 1997. Reuters/Robb Wright/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is an American icon (symbol). The cowboy figure used to market Marlboro cigarettes (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) captures the essence of the ideal American man. The Marlboro Man looks tough and weatherbeaten like a man who values a hard day’s work. The Marlboro Man wears a cowboy hat, rides a horse, and his clothes are often covered in dust. The Marlboro Man has displayed the distinctive red Marlboro cigarette pack for almost fifty years—on billboards, in store window displays, and on the pages of magazines and newspapers. Until the government ban on cigarette commercials in 1972, the Marlboro Man could also be seen on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), usually accompanied by the rousing musical theme from the Western film The Magnificent Seven (1960). But Marlboro cigarettes were not always sold using the image of this macho figure. When Marlboro cigarettes were first

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introduced in the 1920s, they were marketed to women, with the slogan “Mild as May.” This approach was successful until World War II (1939–45), when slow sales caused Marlboro packs to be withdrawn from the market. The cigarettes were revived in the 1950s, as the first medical research linking cigarette smoking with cancer began to reach the public. It was thought that Marlboro cigarettes, with their filter, might offer smokers the illusion of a reduced health risk. However, the filter was regarded as effeminate by many men, who made up the bulk of the market. The Leo Burnett Company, a Chicago advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) agency, was given the task of making Marlboro cigarettes appealing to men. The result was the “tattooed man” campaign. It involved a series of print ads showing a man with a tattoo on his hand holding a Marlboro. The man would be one of several “manly” types, such as a policeman, a firefighter, a construction worker—or a cowboy. The agency studied consumer response, and the cowboy figure proved to be the most popular. By 1957, the cowboy had replaced all the others. The image of the rugged Westerner lighting up amidst the great outdoors became a part of American culture. It also helped to make Marlboro the best-selling cigarette in America. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Lohof, Bruce A. American Commonplace. Bowling Green, OH: Popular Press, 1982.

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1920s Fashion The 1920s were a turning point in the world of fashion. During the decade, fashion became an increasingly important symbol of a person’s social status. Advances in technology made Americans’ focus on fashion possible. For the first time in history, Americans could hear the same radio broadcasts and watch the same movies. By 1925, about fifty million people listened to the radio and heard about the latest clothes, automobiles, and home decor. At the movies, people could see these products. Many Americans started buying what they heard about on the radio and saw at the movies. Moreover, newspapers and magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue started printing columns and advertisements about fashion. A culture of fashion had begun. The 1920s were marked by Americans’ concern for style. The clothes they wore, the cars they drove, and the decorations in their homes gave them a particular social status, even if they were not born into that social position. The most distinctive looks of the decade were of flappers and sheiks. Flappers were generally young women who bobbed their hair (cut it short). They wore short, loose-fitting dresses and enhanced their faces with makeup. Sheiks were young men who slicked back their hair. They wore fashionable camel-hair jackets and loose, flannel pants, and long raccoon coats. No matter what particular clothes people wore or what negative names given to them for doing so, Americans in the 1920s used fashion to say something about who they were and what social group they belonged to, a habit that has not yet died.

Flappers Flappers became the ideal for young women in the 1920s. From the clothes they wore to their attitudes, flappers were youthful, chic, and above all, modern. In the 1920s, American society rejected the Victorian attitudes of the pre–World War I

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Flapper fashions of the 1920s. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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(1914–18) generation. Flappers and their happy-go-lucky lifestyle set the tone for American popular culture. They partied, drank, smoked cigarettes (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2), and danced to wild jazz (see entry under 1900s— Music in volume 1) music. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), whose writings chronicle the “Jazz Age,” described flappers as “the generation that corrupted its elders and eventually overreached itself—through lack of taste.” The fun ended with the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). But many of the freedoms gained by flapper women in the 1920s are taken for granted in the twentyfirst century. Flapper fashion was very distinctive. Women “bobbed” their hair; that is, they cut off their long hair and sported a cheeklength haircut called a bob. Flappers wore simple, straight dresses with knee-length skirts, and they used brightly colored lipstick (see entry under 1920s—Fashion in volume 2). Unlike the generation before, flappers rejected the stable, careful life of a wife and mother. Celebrities from starlet Clara Bow (1905–1965;

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see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) to writer Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) adopted the fashions and the reckless attitude of the flapper. Flappers shortened their skirts and became more honestly sexual than women had ever been before. The wildest excesses of flapperdom were available only to the very rich, but many American women adopted the clothes, and some of the liberties, of the flapper ideal. They flattened their chests with cloth bindings to make themselves look young and innocent. (Flappers have even been blamed for the popularity of skinny models in the late twentieth century.) For all their sense of adventure and freedom, flappers were not seeking equality with men. In fact, the fashion for short skirts and girlish innocence were actually a way of attracting men. Most flappers were married with children, just like their mothers before them, by the 1930s. What did change was women’s freedom to go out and enjoy themselves alongside men. After the 1920s, it became much more common for single women to enjoy drinking, dancing, and even active sex lives. Within a couple of decades, the freedom to play would grow into the freedom for women to work alongside men as well. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Blackman, Cally. The ’20s and ’30s: Flappers and Vamps (20th Century Fashion). Milwaukee: Gareth Stephens, 2000. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Volume 2: “The Crack-Up” with Other Bits and Pieces. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1990.

Lipstick Lipstick has been an essential part of a woman’s wardrobe for centuries. Dating back to the time of Cleopatra (69–30 B.C.E.), the pigmented oil has been used to attract men, boost selfesteem, and complete a woman’s face for the world. Lipstick became especially popular in America during the 1920s, when women gained a new political voice with the vote. Many liberated suffragettes wore bright red lipstick as a symbol of their newfound voices. While the popularity of lipstick colors changes with the seasons, lipstick remains as one of the most popular accessories in history. Estimations report that nearly 92

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percent of American women wear lipstick. Some women who say they do not even wear makeup wear lipstick. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Cohen Ragas, Meg, and Karen Kozlowski. Read My Lips: A Cultural History of Lipstick. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998. Pallingston, Jessica. Lipstick. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Raccoon Coats Raccoon coats were long worn by nineteenth-century American men who adopted them as a practical emblem of their furtrapping experiences on the frontier. Early photographs show men wearing smartly tailored versions in the 1890s. Raccoon coats are most closely associated with male college students of the 1920s, however. The ukelele-strumming college students of the 1920s made the garb a fashion craze on campuses from coast to coast. The craze reached its peak in 1928, when George Olsen (1893–1971) and his band (George Olsen and His Music) recorded the lyrics to a peppy dance tune called “Doin’ the Raccoon,” that described how “rough guys, tough guys, men of dignity / Join the raccoon coat fraternity.” The song’s opening stanza declared that no respectable frat boy could afford to be caught dead without a raccoon coat as his principal fashion statement: “College men, knowledge men / Do a dance called raccoon; / It’s the craze, nowadays, / And it will get you soon. / Buy a coat and try it, / I’ll bet you’ll be a riot, / It’s a wow, learn to do it right now!” The song’s remaining stanzas made specific references to how the nation’s campuses were (or were not) following the trend, as in: “At Penn, they’re made of rabbit, / At Vassar, sex appeal, / At Nebraska, made of airedale, / In Chicago lined with steel!”

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Far more refined than their frontier archetypes, the raccoon coats popular in the 1920s were usually full-length dusters reaching to the ground, with exaggerated collars and swank buttons. They became one of the chief emblems of “collegiate style” for “sheiks” who wanted to impress their “shebas.” The “Sheik” movies of Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and the movie Queen of Sheba starring Clara Bow (1905–1965; see entry under

Raccoon coats underwent a short-lived revival in 1957 when adults began seeking vintage 1920s coats in tandem with their children’s demand for Davy Crockett (see entry under 1950s— TV and Radio in volume 3) coonskin caps. Fashionable raccoon coats are still being made by designers, much to the dismay of antifur critics like the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

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1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) inspired these new slang words to refer to someone with sex appeal. “Flaming youth” were redefining mores and morality, aided by new mass media of talking pictures and the record player.

—Edward Moran

For More Information Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties. New York: Harper, 1931. “Doin’ the Raccoon.” The Heptune Classical Jazz and Blues Lyrics Page. http://www.heptune.com/lyrics/doinracc.html (accessed January 22, 2002).

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1920s Film and Theater The new prosperity that people enjoyed in the 1920s meant that more and more people had the time and money to spend on film and theater tickets. The first “talkies” (movies with sound) thrilled audiences. People flocked to see stars like the beautiful Clara Bow (1905–1965) and the popular detective character, Charlie Chan. Soon people were enjoying movie epics around the country. Large Hollywood studios such as MGM and Warner Brothers nurtured the movie industry into one of the largest and most successful industries in the country. One of the largest movie studios of the twenty-first century, Disney, started in the 1920s and pioneered a new type of film: animation. Disney introduced Steamboat Willie in 1928. It was the first animated film to include synchronized sound. Steamboat Willie introduced the American public to Mickey Mouse, a character who would become beloved by children around the world. Though radio and movies took audiences from traveling vaudeville shows, serious theater productions enjoyed serious audience attention. Musicals were especially popular on Broadway. Such hits as No, No Nanette (1925), Show Boat (1927), and A Connecticut Yankee (1927) could be seen in New York and other selected cities.

Josephine Baker (1906–1975) Josephine Baker, the “Ebony Venus,” was a singer, dancer, comedienne, and legend. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she earned her celebrity as a music-hall star in Paris, France, during the 1920s. She arrived there mid-decade, when she was just nineteen. Baker became a chorus girl and was featured with twentyfive African American dancers in “La Revue Negre,” in which she cavorted in a costume of fabric banana skins. The following year, she was a star with the fabled Folies Bergère stage

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show. Eventually, Baker became the topsalaried performer in Europe. To Parisians, Baker personified the 1920s Jazz Age. She quickly gained the fame that would have eluded her had she remained in the United States. After all, for decades after Baker electrified Paris, African American performers remained locked in demeaning, stereotypical roles. African American women were cast as mammies or maids; African American men, as Pullman porters, comical cowards, and foot-shuffling fools. In Europe, Baker could travel in the same circles as the most distinguished writers, artists, and intellectuals. In 1951, while touring her homeland, she was honored in Harlem, New York’s fabled African American community, but was denied service at the Stork Club, a famous—and segregated— midtown-Manhattan nightspot. Legendary performer Josephine Baker. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Josephine Baker. http://www.cmgww.com/stars/baker (accessed January 22, 2002). The Josephine Baker Story (film). HBO, 1991. Ralling, Christopher, director. Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker (video). Channel 4 Television, UK, 1986. Schroeder, Alan. Josephine Baker. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.

Clara Bow (1905–1965) Clara Bow was a tremendously popular actress of the silent film era. She was the ultimate symbol of the flapper (see entry under 1920s—Fashion in volume 2)—the unconventional, independent girl in the 1920s. Bow began her career in motion pictures in 1922. She was said to have “It” (sex appeal). By the 1926 film Mantrap, she was one of the top box office stars in Hollywood. 268

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Unfortunately, no other star in early Hollywood was more a product of her time. The 1920s was a time of prosperity in

America. However, when the depression began in 1929, her career quickly faded. By 1933, she retired from the screen. She married cowboy actor Rex Bell (1903–1962) in 1931. Bow died in 1965 largely forgotten by the public. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information “Clara Bow.” The Silents Majority. http:// www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Featured Star/ star9.htm (accessed January 23, 2002). The Clara Bow Page. http://www.clarabow.net (accessed January 23, 2002). Neely, Hugh Munro, and Elaina B. Archer. Clara Bow: Discovering the “It” Girl. New York: Kino on Video, 1999. Stenn, David. Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild. New York: Doubleday Publishing, 1988.

Charlie Chan Inspector Charlie Chan of the Honolulu Police Department was the first Asian character to serve as a detective hero in American literature. He became immensely popular and appeared in novels, films, radio serials, and a comic strip.

Sidney Toler portraying Inspector Charlie Chan. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Charlie Chan was the brainchild of Earl Derr Biggers (1884–1933), who introduced the Chinese-born investigator as a secondary character in House without a Key, a 1925 novel serialized in the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s— Print Culture in volume 1). The response was so positive that the Post asked Biggers for another novel, with Chan as the main character. The result was The Chinese Parrot (1926), followed by Behind the Curtain (1928), The Black Camel (1929), Charlie Chan Carries On (1930), and Keeper of the Keys (1932). A series of movies also featured Chan, beginning with Charlie Chan Carries On (1931), in which he was played by Warner Oland (1880–1938). Later, Sidney Toler (1874–1947) took on the role. Charlie Chan has never been portrayed by an Asian actor. —Justin Gustainis

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For More Information Berlin, Howard M. The Charlie Chan Film Encyclopedia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. Hanke, Ken. Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989. Mitchell, Charles P. A Guide to Charlie Chan Films. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999. Schmidt, Kurt. CharlieChan.net. http://www.charliechan.net (accessed January 23, 2002). Welcome to Charlie Chan’s World. http://home.thirdage.com/Movies/ vaboy1960 (accessed January 23, 2002).

Disney The name “Disney” is synonymous with children’s entertainment. Disney movies, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, and animated characters help create some of the happiest and most magical childhood memories. “Disney” is also the name of the founder of a moving picture empire: Walt Disney (1901–1966), a visionary who in 1923 formed Walt Disney Productions and began producing experimental animated short films. Little did he imagine that this modest beginning would evolve into an entertainment industry giant that would create classic animated short subjects and features, live-action films and television series—and even spawn fantasy-oriented theme parks. The first Disney series was called Alice in Cartoonland and mixed live-action and animation. Among the individual titles in the series were Alice’s Wild West Show (1924), Alice’s Egg Plant (1925), and Alice Chops the Suey (1925). In 1927, Disney and Ub Iwerks (1901–1971), a fellow animator and specialeffects wizard, created a series of short films based on a character named Oswald the Rabbit. The following year they conjured up Mickey Mouse, the character who is most closely associated with Disney—and the creation that put Disney on the Hollywood map. Plane Crazy (1928) and The Gallopin’ Gaucho (1928), the first two Mickey Mouse cartoons, were silent. The next, Steamboat Willie (1928; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), was a talkie, with Disney himself providing Mickey’s trademark squeaky voice. 270

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Audiences were entranced by the singing, dancing, and talking mouse. Disney followed this success with his Silly Symphonies

A family snaps a picture in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in 1958. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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cartoon series, the first of which was The Skeleton Dance (1929). What made this series distinctive was that the scenarios and characters’ movements were created in conjunction with the sounds of a prerecorded music track. The most famous was The Three Little Pigs (1933), which introduced the hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Meanwhile, Mickey Mouse continued starring in Disney cartoons. He was eventually joined by a host of animated pals, including Pluto (1930), Minnie Mouse (1933), Donald Duck (1934), and Goofy (who first appeared as Dippy Dawg in 1932). In the early 1930s, Disney worked with the Technicolor corporation, to add color to his cartoons. His first colored short, Flowers and Trees, won an Academy Award in 1932, and Technicolor signed an exclusive agreement to color Disney’s animations. Disney had long desired to produce a feature-length animated film. At the time, no one had ever chanced such an expensive and risky endeavor. In 1934, he began to realize this dream, all the while aware that he was gambling with the future of his flourishing company. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the initial Disney animated feature, was released to great critical and commercial acclaim. The key to its success was that its characters were not artificially or excessively portrayed but rather were presented as distinct personalities who believably expressed emotion. In addition, the film featured original musical numbers. Snow White was followed by Pinocchio (1940); Dumbo (1941); Bambi (1942); Cinderella (1950); Alice in Wonderland (1951); Lady and the Tramp (1955); 101 Dalmatians (1961); and many others. Easily the most ambitious early Disney feature was Fantasia (1940; see entry under 1940s— Film and Theater in volume 3), made in conjunction with conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977). Fantasia was a bold attempt to unite classical music and the movements of animated characters.

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In 1941, a number of Disney animators went on strike, in protest of Disney’s authoritarian command of the studio and what by then had evolved into a formulaic (systematic) animation style. Many eventually resigned and established their own animation studio, United Productions of America (UPA). Disney survived the crisis and soon became heavily involved in the war effort, producing a series of propaganda and training films during World War II (1939–45). Among them were the feature documentary Victory through Air Power (1943), which included

With the post–World War II era came the production of a short nature documentary, Seal Island (1948), whose success prompted a “True-Life Adventure” series of feature-length follow-ups. The Living Desert (1953) was the first. The studio also produced its initial live-action feature, Treasure Island (1950). Subsequent features ranged from Rob Roy—The Highland Rogue (1954) to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Davy Crockett—King of the Wild Frontier (1955; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) to Old Yeller (1957) and Pollyanna (1960). During the 1960s, the studio produced live-action comedies, beginning with The Shaggy Dog (1959) and including The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and The Parent Trap (1961). Mary Poppins (1964; see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 2) was not the first film to feature animation blended with live action, but it became one of the most beloved.

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live-action and animation, and Der Fuhrer’s Face (1943), in which Donald Duck lampooned Adolf Hitler (1889–1945).

During the 1950s, television sets were fast becoming staples in American homes, and Disney eagerly entered the TV marketplace. In 1954, he began a weekly anthology series that initially was known as Disneyland. This series was broadcast for decades under different titles and on different networks. Disneyland was followed by a classic afternoon children’s series called The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–59; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland, the company’s first fantasy theme park, on 160 acres of land in Anaheim, California. That same year, he established his own film distribution company, Buena Vista. The company suffered artistically in the wake of its founder’s death in 1966. In general, Disney movies lost their sparkle. On the upside, Walt Disney World, a second theme park, opened in Orlando, Florida, in 1971, but the studio’s entertainment output was mired in mediocrity. A low point came in 1979 when top animator Don Bluth (1938–) and a number of colleagues left Disney to form their own company, citing the studio’s artistic and commercial deterioration. In 1984, the studio formed Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary that would produce and release a more adult-oriented product. The first Touchstone film was Splash (1984), a romantic comedy about a man who falls for a mermaid. The comedy was a box office smash. Other hits followed, including Down and Out

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in Beverly Hills (1985), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Stakeout (1987), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), and Sister Act (1992). Pretty Woman, which made a star of its leading actress, Julia Roberts (1967–), offered a modern-day twist on the Cinderella story in that it was the tale of a prostitute who is romanced by a millionaire. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Disney recaptured its status as an animation giant. The production of a series of features— including The Black Cauldron (1985), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994; see entry under 1990s—Film and Theater in volume 5)— enchanted a new generation of youngsters. Disney expanded its empire to include video distribution; a cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) station; book publishing; Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) show production; and the ownership of hotels, real estate, professional sports teams, and the ABC television network, which it purchased in 1996 for $19 billion. By this time, the company had also evolved into a merchandising giant. Decades earlier, it had marketed a line of Mickey Mouse watches that were treasured by coming-of-age baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). In the 1990s, the company opened numerous stores in malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) and storefronts across the globe. On sale were Disney-related T-shirts (see entry under 1910s— Fashion in volume 1), pins, figurines, mugs, and stuffed animals—and the latest designs in Mickey Mouse watches. Across the years, the Disney studio has savored its successes and rode out its rough times. Other motion picture production companies have evolved into mega-giant corporations, and others have produced animated films and children’s entertainment. None remains as synonymous with childhood, magic, and Americana as Disney. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Bailey, Adrian. Walt Disney’s World of Fantasy. New York: Everest House, 1982. Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Rev. ed. New York: New American Library, 1987. Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Smith, Dave. Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. New York: Hyperion, 1996.

The Jazz Singer The Jazz Singer (1927) is a landmark motion picture: Its immense popularity as a sound film ushered in the talking motion picture. Prior to the film’s release, the actors were in silent movies (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1); they performed pantomime-style. When these silent films were shown to audiences, live musical accompaniment provided background sound. With the newly developed ability to synchronize sound with image, movies began to be released with synchronized music and sound effects. The smashing success of The Jazz Singer—which included a talking scene with several song numbers and a synchronized musical track— encouraged major film studios to convert their production facilities to sound stages. Theaters converted their projection equipment to accommodate sound. By 1928, it was clear that movies would no longer be silent.

The Jazz Singer

Solomon, Charles. The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art From Five Decades of Unproduced Animation. New York: Hyperion, 1995.

The Jazz Singer, directed by Alan Crosland (1894–1936), was based on a short story, “The Day of Atonement” (1922), by Samson Raphaelson (1896–1983). Al Jolson (1886–1950) starred in the screen adaptation. Jolson was one of the early twentieth century’s most popular and influential stage performers and singers. His presence in the film is largely responsible for the film’s box office success. The Jazz Singer is the story of immigrant integration into American culture. Its hero is Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of Jewish immigrant parents and the descendent of a long line of religious leaders, who is expected to succeed his father as cantor of the neighborhood synagogue. But Jakie has ideas of his own. Even as an adolescent, he yearns for success onstage as a jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) singer, interpreting American popular songs rather than traditional Jewish religious music. This desire puts Jakie at odds with his stern, unyielding father. The youngster sets out to win success on his own terms. The Jazz Singer often is referred to as the first sound film, but this is not the case. By the early 1920s, a workable method of recording sound in synch with the image, and then amplifying

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the sound in theaters, had evolved. However, Warner Bros., the studio that produced The Jazz Singer, was the first to undertake sound-film production of feature-length films on a commercial scale. The studio’s initial efforts were short, plotless films spotlighting the stage acts of musicians, singers, and dancers. The Fox studios also entered the market, producing its Movietone newsreels. Before the release of The Jazz Singer, Don Juan (1926), a silent swashbuckler featuring stage and screen star John Barrymore (1882–1942), arrived in movie houses with prerecorded music and sound effects. The Jazz Singer, which was also remade in 1953 and 1980, capably integrates song numbers and dialog into parts of the scenario. After one musical sequence, Jakie utters a prophetic line: “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” Given the rousing public response to The Jazz Singer and the new sound film industry that it spawned, this was no small boast. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Carringer, Robert L, ed. The Jazz Singer. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979. Raphaelson, Samson. The Jazz Singer. New York: Brentano’s, 1925.

MGM Of all the movie studios that dotted the landscape of the Los Angeles area during the golden age of motion pictures (a time period lasting from the 1920s through 1950s), Metro-GoldwynMayer (MGM) was by far the most illustrious. Back then, movie stars were not independent contractors; rather, they signed standard, seven-year contracts with the movie studios that produced the majority of American films. Of all the movie studios, MGM was the biggest and, some say, the best.

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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose trademark was Leo the Roaring Lion, boasted that its roster of contract players included “More Stars Than There Are in the Heavens.” During the 1920s, such screen legends as Greta Garbo (1905–1990), John Barrymore (1882–1942), John Gilbert (1899–1936), Joan Crawford (1905–1977), and Lillian Gish (1893–1993; see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) signed with the studio.

MGM

The 1930s brought to the forefront Clark Gable (1901–1960; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), Jean Harlow (1911–1937), Myrna Loy (1905–1993), and Mickey Rooney (1920–). In the 1940s came Gene Kelly (1912–1996), Greer Garson (1904–1996), Lana Turner (1921–1995), Hedy Lamarr (1913–2000), and many others. The studio was formed in 1924 by movie executive and theater chain owner Marcus Loew (1870–1927). The studio name came from the three previously existing companies that were linked together to become MGM: Metro Pictures Corp.; Louis B. Mayer Pictures, named for its founder, Louis B. Mayer (1885–1957); and Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, formerly owned by producer Samuel Goldwyn (1882–1974). The MGM studio was a division of Loew’s, Inc., one of the largest theater chains in North America. The original powers behind the studio were Mayer, a Russian immigrant who was a fierce businessman, and Irving G. Thalberg (1899–1937), its brilliant young production chief. Thalberg was the motivating force behind many of the studio’s most fabled productions, including Ben-Hur (1926), The Crowd (1928), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Romeo and Juliet (1936), and The Good Earth (1937). After Thalberg’s death, MGM kept on producing and releasing top Hollywood films: Mrs. Miniver (1942), Woman of the Year (1942), National Velvet (1944), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), An American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Gigi (1958), and a remake of Ben-Hur (1959). The demise of MGM actually began in the late 1940s. A court ruling made it a conflict of interest for the same company to produce films and then exhibit those films in its own theaters. That ruling, the rising cost of production, and the increasing popularity of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) led to the declining power of MGM and the other major studios. In 1972, MGM was purchased by billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian (1917–), who sold off its famous back lot (area used for shooting exterior scenes) and auctioned away most of the studio property. Today, the name MGM still may exist as a corporate entity, but its glory days are just a memory. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Eames, John Douglas. The MGM Story. New York: Crown Publishers, 1976.

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Hay, Peter. When the Lion Roars. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1991. Metro Goldwyn Mayer. http://www.mgm.com (accessed January 22, 2002).

Steamboat Willie On September 19, 1928, the cartoon Steamboat Willie premiered at the Colony Theater in New York and forever altered the history of animation. The cartoon is noted for both introducing Mickey Mouse to the American public and for being the first animated film to include synchronized sound. The short, which was based on the earlier Buster Keaton (1895–1966) silent film Steamboat Bill, Jr., portrays Mickey as a boat captain who prances about with a cargo of livestock, employing the various animals as musical instruments. He also manages to rescue Minnie Mouse from the villainous Pegleg Pete. The cartoon was an instant success. It is credited with establishing Disney’s (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) dominance in the field of animation. Walt Disney (1901–1966) was a young animator during the 1920s who had achieved some success with a series of cartoons featuring a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. A contractual dispute with Universal Pictures led to Disney losing all rights to Oswald. According to legend, Disney left that meeting and created a new character called Mortimer Mouse while on a train. Lillian, his wife, suggested he rename the mouse “Mickey” because it had more syntax (a better sound pattern). The first Mickey Mouse cartoons to enter production were Plane Crazy and Gallopin’ Gaucho. Before either cartoon could be released, Disney recognized that “talking pictures” were the future of cinema. Disney, along with his brother Roy (1893–1971) and animator Ub Iwerks (1901–1971), led a team of animators, musicians, and technicians in attempting to synchronize sound with the animated action on the screen. Walt Disney himself provided Mickey’s squeaky falsetto voice (a high-pitched male voice) and did so for the next twenty years. The great popularity of Steamboat Willie led to other talking cartoons and catapulted Mickey Mouse to the ranks of international celebrity.

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The Mickey seen in Steamboat Willie is not the well-behaved character familiar with modern audiences. The character’s orig-

Steamboat Willie A mischievous Mickey Mouse in a scene from 1928’s Steamboat Willie. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

inal personality was much more mischievous and even hinted at a cruel streak. While transforming the boat’s livestock cargo into a makeshift orchestra, Mickey is seen pulling a cat’s tail, playing xylophone on a cow’s teeth, making piglets squeal, and playing a cow’s udder. Disney would soon abandon such gags for more “tasteful” humor. Steamboat Willie is remembered as the first animated film to successfully blend sight and sound. It cemented Mickey Mouse’s position as an American icon. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom. New York: Abrams, 1975. Heide, Robert, and John Gilman. Disneyana: Classic Collectibles 1928–1958. New York: Hyperion, 1994. Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Rev. ed. New York: New American Library, 1987. Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. Disney Animation: The Illustration of Life. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984.

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Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926) Rudolph Valentino was one of the premier movie stars of the 1920s. His smoldering good looks and exotic screen roles made him irresistible to female audience members, while many male viewers saw him as little more than an unmanly “powder puff.” Nonetheless, for women of the Roaring Twenties, Valentino was a true sex symbol, a figure who represented danger, allure, and forbidden passion. His immense popularity spawned a parade of Valentino imitators—handsome young actors whose darkfeatured good looks and aggressive sensuality earned them the title “Latin lovers.” Valentino was born Rodolpho Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla in Castellaneta, Italy. He came to the United States in 1913, where he struggled to make a living. He eventually was hired as a dancer and worked in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) until making his acting debut in a touring play. Valentino then gravitated to Hollywood. He was an extra in a film titled Alimony (1917) and had small roles in several others. While appearing in The Eyes of Youth (1919), Valentino impressed screenwriter June Mathis (1892–1927), who recommended him for her upcoming project, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Valentino landed a role in the movie and he won instant stardom as he seductively danced the tango, a Latin American ballroom dance that includes exaggerated pauses and close eye-contact with one’s partner. As a result, the tango became a popular dance (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) craze throughout the United States and Europe. Several hits followed for Valentino, who reached his high point playing exotic and highly romantic characters in The Sheik (1921)—the film that cemented his stardom—and Blood and Sand (1922). Meanwhile, his career was taken over by Natasha Rambova (1897–1969), his second wife. Under her guidance, Valentino’s screen persona was in danger of becoming increasingly effeminate (more womanly than masculine), but he returned to his previous heroic form in The Eagle (1925) and The Son of the Sheik (1926).

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Valentino became seriously ill with a perforated ulcer while in New York in 1926 and died suddenly on August 23. He was

—Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Bothan, Noel. Valentino: The Love God. New York: Ace Books, 1977. Tajiri, Vincent. Valentino. New York: Bantam Books, 1977. Walker, Alexander. Rudolph Valentino. New York: Stein and Day, 1976.

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just thirty-one years old. His death resulted in mass hysteria among his female fans, thousands of whom lined the streets outside New York’s St. Malachi’s Church, the site of his funeral.

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1920s Food and Drink The way people ate and drank in the 1920s reflected the changes in the way people lived and worked. The prosperity of the time came from the emergence of large corporations. Also a factor was the increased productivity of thousands of returning veterans and of women who had grown accustomed to working during the war and opted to remain employed. In families with both parents working, people had more money to spend. The extra money encouraged many to spend quickly and frivolously. The American economy shifted from a focus on thriftiness toward more consumer spending on luxuries and convenience items. Food and drink became more than just nourishment for the body. They became treats for special occasions and refreshment. For hard-working women, the new convenience items saved precious time in the kitchen. Instead of preparing time-consuming breakfasts of ham and eggs, some people just poured a bowl of Wheaties. Mothers could serve their babies prepackaged Gerber baby food instead of homemade mashed vegetables. Lunch or dinner could be enjoyed at many fast-food restaurants, including White Castle, or be made with some of the new prepackaged food, such as Wonder Bread and Velveeta Cheese. Fizzy, clear 7-Up and frozen popsicles became tasty treats that could be enjoyed anytime.

Fast Food In many ways, fast food seems the perfect companion to Americans’ “on the go” lifestyle. Prior to the rise of fast food in the 1920s, most Americans ate together at home most of the time. As the United States became more modernized and industrial, the pace of life sped up, helped in part by the growing use of automobiles. By the 1920s, more Americans were busier going from home to work and to all kinds of leisure activities than they ever were before. This made it harder to find time for

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Fast Food Considered to be the first fastfood restaurant, White Castle has been cooking up its famous burgers and fries since 1921. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

home-cooked meals. The fast-food industry slowly emerged to take advantage of, and to promote, this trend.

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The first fast-food restaurant is generally considered to be White Castle, founded in 1921 by Billy Ingram and Walt Anderson. They offered cheap hamburgers (see entry under 1950s— Food and Drink in volume 3), sold by the sack, and French fries (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3). As they expanded to more locations, they pioneered the use of standardization, which meant that each of their restaurants looked the same, used the same equipment, and served exactly the same food. Although this approach lacked variety, it lowered their costs and gave people something they wanted: predictability. No matter which White Castle customers stopped at, they could be sure of what to expect. White Castle was a big success, especially during the hard times of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) in the 1930s. White Castle burgers cost only five cents, and they stayed at that price until 1946. White Castle also helped pioneer the use of franchising—selling people the right to open their own White Castle restaurant, with the parent com-

This formula was so successful that many other imitators sprang up to take advantage of a growing taste for fast food. In the 1950s, fast food really took off as Americans enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and as American culture became even more mobile and fast paced. The most successful fast-food restaurant during that time and afterward was McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3), whose first store opened in the late 1940s. Entrepreneur Ray Kroc (1902–1984) joined with the McDonald brothers of San Bernadino, California, to spread the hamburger restaurant across the United States. By 1960, there were more than two hundred McDonald’s restaurants. Kroc did not really do anything new with fast food; in fact, he used many of the same techniques pioneered by the White Castle chain. What he did do was take those techniques to a greater level of success than had ever been seen before. The restaurant’s signature sign, the “Golden Arches,” forming a big yellow “M,” has become the symbol for fast food the world over. Over the years McDonald’s added new innovations to its menu and restaurants, including Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, Chicken McNuggets, and outdoor playgrounds for kids.

Fast Food

pany providing the information, equipment, recipes, and support for success.

While McDonald’s was becoming the leading fast-food restaurant, it was not without competition. Burger King (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), begun in Miami in 1954, was the closest competitor to McDonald’s, offering bigger hamburgers and allowing customers to choose their own toppings. Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) offered southern-style chicken, mashed potatoes, and coleslaw. Taco Bell, begun in 1962, brought Mexican-style food to the world of fast food. Arby’s, started in 1964, offered higher-quality roast-beef sandwiches. Wendy’s, begun in Columbus, Ohio, in 1972 by Dave Thomas (1932–2002), pioneered the use of drive-through windows. Despite their variations in food and style, all these chains stayed close to the original fast food recipe for success: cheap, uniform food, served quickly and available almost everywhere. By the 1990s, these restaurants were almost everywhere, mostly in the United States, but also in other countries, notably Japan. But by the 1990s, it was becoming increasingly clear that fast food was bringing other things to American culture besides quick, cheap hamburgers. Critics complained, with good evidence, that fast food was full of fat, cholesterol, salt, sugar, and other chemicals, contributing to rising levels of obesity and

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heart disease. Indeed, American consumption of beef was rising, in no small part due to fast food. Fast-food restaurants were also blamed for contributing to suburban sprawl—an ugly mishmash of restaurants and stores lined American roads, each in its own building, contributing to greater dependence on the car. Furthermore, fast food seemed to be part of a larger trend toward uniformity in American life. Regional differences were disappearing as much of America looked the same no matter where you were. Restaurants are not the only suppliers of fast food in America, of course. The invention of the TV dinner (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3) in 1953 brought fast food to the American home. Since that time, American grocery stores have expanded their offerings of convenience foods to allow consumers to purchase a variety of meals that can be prepared quickly at home, often in microwave ovens. By the twenty-first century, fast food had become one of the principle staples of the American diet, for better and for worse. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Hogan, David. Selling ’em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food. New York: New York University Press, 1997. Kroc, Ray. Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1977. Luxenberg, Stan. Roadside Empires: How the Chains Franchised America. New York: Viking, 1985. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

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The world’s largest producer of baby-food products, Gerber Products, Inc., had a modest beginning in the summer of 1927 when Daniel Frank Gerber (1898–1974) and Dorothy Gerber asked the Fremont Canning Company to relieve them of the chore of hand-straining food for their infant daughter, Sally. The Gerbers had already been making use of Fremont’s services to produce a line of canned fruits and vegetables. The success of that venture led the Gerbers to manufacture a line of baby food as well. The first flavors, introduced in late 1928, were strained peas, prunes, carrots, spinach, and beef vegetable soup.

7-Up

To promote the new products, the Gerbers placed advertisements using a picture of a baby’s face, later called the “Gerber baby,” in magazines ranging from physicians’ journals to periodicals for homemakers. The model for the Gerber baby was Ann Turner Cook, who grew up to be a mystery novelist and English teacher; her portrait was sketched in charcoal by Dorothy Hope Smith Barlow. Gerber adopted it as its official trademark in 1931. By 2000, Gerber was making 190 food products for distribution to 80 countries, including its Tender Harvest line of organic baby foods, introduced in 1997. The product mix includes puréed fruits and vegetables as well as cereals and teething biscuits. Its Consumer Relations Department responds to 800,000 consumer questions a year. The department was set up in 1938, with Dorothy Gerber personally responding to each letter. In 1960, the company expanded its line of products to market baby-care items such as bottles, teethers, and breastfeeding accessories. Its line of Wellness products includes lotions, baby powders, shampoos, and vitamins. The Gerber Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary, was established in 1967. It is one of the largest providers of insurance to juveniles, with more than two million policies in force, for a value of $9 billion. In 1994, Gerber merged with Sandoz, Ltd. The company then became part of the Novartis group of companies formed in 1996 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. Gerber is headquartered in Fremont, Michigan. —Edward Moran

For More Information Gerber. http://www.gerber.com (accessed January 23, 2002). Gerber Products Company. The Story of an Idea and Its Role in the Growth of the Baby Foods Industry. Fremont, MI: Gerber Products Company, 1953.

7-Up The lemon-lime soft drink 7-Up has been a fixture of America’s refrigerators (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) for many years. At various times, it has been the number three–selling soft drink in the world, outpaced by only CocaCola (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1) and

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Pepsi. Its offbeat ad campaigns, emphasizing the differences between the refreshing flavor of 7-Up and the heavy cola taste of its rivals, have helped shape the brand’s quirky image and inspired numerous imitators. 7-Up was first formulated in 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Howdy Corporation originally marketed it under the name the “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda,” although it soon changed its name to 7-Up Lithiated Lemon Soda. There are various explanations for the name 7-Up. Some claimed that there are (or were) seven ingredients in 7-Up. Others contend that the original 7-Up bottle was seven ounces, or that the drink was named after a popular card game of the 1930s. No one knows for sure. In any case, the company became The Seven-Up Co. in 1936. By the late 1940s, 7-Up had become the third best-selling soft drink in the world. It enjoyed its greatest period of popularity in the 1970s, however, when an ad campaign dubbed it “the Uncola.” Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) commercials and print ads featuring the catchy tagline helped cement 7-Up’s image in the public mind as a refreshing alternative to Coke and Pepsi. Inevitably, 7-Up’s popularity began to slip, as new drinks, like the Coca-Cola Company’s lemon-lime Sprite, caught the public’s fancy. By 1996, 7-Up had fallen to the eighth best-selling soft drink with about 2.4 percent of the market. Sprite was fourth at 5.8 percent. In 1997, the makers of 7-Up announced the first major changes to the soft drink’s formula. The new taste was designed to produce a “better blend of lemon and lime flavors,” according to a company spokesman, and to help 7-Up compete with Sprite. Despite the change, however, 7-Up sales continued to stagnate. Sales did not begin to rise again until the turn of the twenty-first century, when a hip new ad campaign featuring comedian Orlando Jones (1968–) and the tagline “Make 7-Up Yours” breathed new life into an old brand. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

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Dietz, Lawrence. Soda Pop: The History, Advertising, Art, and Memorabilia of Soft Drinks in America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973. Rodengen, Jeffrey L. The Legend of Dr. Pepper/7-Up. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Write Stuff Books, 1995. 7-UP. http://www.7up.com (accessed January 23, 2002).

The brand name of a processed cheese product first marketed in 1928 by the Kraft Foods Corporation, Velveeta cheese became one of the shining examples of Americans’ love for processed foods. To make Velveeta, a blend of Colby and cheddar cheeses, emulsifiers, and salt is heated, inserted into aluminum foil packaging where it hardens, and sold in half-pound, one-pound, or two-pound bricks.

Wheaties

Velveeta Cheese

Critics have long scorned Velveeta as a chemical concoction that symbolizes the low standard of the American sense of taste, one that favors convenience and artificiality over “authentic” natural food. Velveeta has especially come to symbolize the lowbrow cooking style associated with the 1950s, with its emphasis on cheap, easy-to-prepare meals using mass-produced ingredients. It is often used as a substitute for “real” cheese in casseroles, macaroni dishes, omelettes, grilled sandwiches, and on cheeseburgers. Velveeta is heavily promoted by Kraft, whose Web site features its own “clean plate” recipes that make use of the product. In addition to the original, Kraft also markets low-fat, Mexican-style, shredded, and individually wrapped slices of Velveeta, America’s best-known cheese. —Edward Moran

For More Information Velveeta Clean Plate Club. http://www.velveeta.com (accessed January 23, 2002).

Wheaties For decades, Wheaties has been an all-time-favorite breakfast food. It is marketed as the “Breakfast of Champions,” one of the most celebrated of all advertising slogans. Since the 1930s, it has been linked to athletics and accomplishment. It seems that whenever an athlete with a likable personality wins a gold medal at the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) or tosses touchdowns in the Super Bowl, he or she is featured on Wheaties packaging. In fact, the line “He didn’t eat his Wheaties today” has long been used to describe youngsters who fall short on the ball field.

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The cereal’s beginnings date to 1921, when a Minnesota health care professional accidentally spilled some bran gruel on a hot stove, transforming the mixture into a crispy flake. He brought the flake to the Washburn Crosby Company, the precursor of General Mills, which currently produces and markets Wheaties. The Washburn Crosby Company saw the potential of transforming the flake into a mass-market breakfast food. Before the final product debuted in 1924, thirty-six variations of the flake were tested. It was named “Wheaties” in a national contest. Among the almost-successful entries: Nutties and Gold Medal Wheat Flakes. Wheaties is famed for printing the photos of top athletes on its packaging, a marketing ploy meant to appeal to children. The implication is that, if you eat your Wheaties, you too may grow up to be big and strong enough to become a professional athlete. In 1934, Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), the legendary New York Yankees first baseman, became the first athlete featured on a Wheaties box. Over the years, a variety of athletes have graced the cover of the Wheaties box: baseball star Jimmie Foxx (1907–1967), sports heroine Babe Didrikson (1914–1956; see entry under 1930s—Sports and Games in volume 2), Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton (1954–1999), Baltimore Orioles iron-man Cal Ripken Jr. (1960–), Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton (1968–), and golf star Tiger Woods (1975–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5). Basketball legend Michael Jordan (1963–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5) has been the Wheaties cover boy a record seventeen times, first appearing in 1988. The older and most popular Wheaties boxes are highly valued by memorabilia buffs and collectors. —Rob Edelman

For More Information General Mills. Wheaties Home Page. http://www.wheaties.com (accessed January 23, 2002).

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Wonder Bread has been a favorite of Americans since its introduction in 1921. The vitamin-enriched soft white bread is easily identified by its white plastic wrapper decorated with pictures of red, yellow, and blue balloons. Legend has it that Wonder Bread outsold all other brands during the first week of its

Wonder Bread’s bakers have incorporated technology to make the product new and better while at the same time maintaining an image of its wholesome goodness. Wonder Bread was among the first breads sold in plastic wrappers in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Wonder Bread was among the first breads to be sold presliced. During World War II (1939–45), Wonder Bread joined a government effort to enrich breads with essential nutrients. This effort has been called the “quiet miracle” because it brought affordable nutrition to a great number of people and nearly eliminated some diseases, such as beriberi and pellagra. (Beriberi is caused by lack of thiamine, or vitamin B1 in the diet; pellagra, by a lack of niacin, a B complex vitamin.) In the 1940s, Wonder Bread employed a baking process that ensured each slice would be free of air holes.

Wonder Bread

sales by the Taggart Baking Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Purchased by Continental Baking Company in 1925, Wonder Bread soon became a national brand.

Advertising has helped make Wonder Bread popular. Wonder Bread was one of the first products to be promoted on the radio in the 1920s. It also sponsored the first regular color television show, The Howdy Doody Show (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) in the 1940s. With catchy tunes, popular characters, and ad campaigns such as “Helps build strong bodies 8 ways” (later “12 ways”), Wonder Bread remains a favorite food of children. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Wonderbread.com. http://www.wonderbread.com (accessed January 23, 2002).

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1920s Music Jazz was the music of the 1920s. It was the best display of black musical talent the world had ever seen. Originating with musicians in New Orleans, Louisiana, the sound soon spread across the country. Jazz grew out of ragtime and Dixieland music and sprang as well from the improvisations of the many musicians of French, Spanish, and African heritage who lived in Louisiana. Although the greatest jazz musicians were black, including Louis Armstrong (1901–1971), Jelly Roll Morton (1890–1941), and Duke Ellington 1899–1974), white musicians were the first to record jazz for profit. White musicians such as Bix Beiderbecke (1903–1931), George Gershwin (1898–1937), and Paul Whiteman (1890–1967; dubbed “The Jazz King”) popularized jazz with white audiences by performing it in theaters and cabarets. They paved the way for black musicians to cross racial boundaries and to perform in locations generally attended by whites. Soon black musicians were welcomed and profited from exposure to white audiences and recording contracts with record companies previously closed to them. The jazz of New Orleans spawned variations in different parts of the country, especially Chicago, Illinois, where jazz musicians played in speakeasies (illegal bars) and dance halls. The Jazz Age encouraged vigorous dances, of which the Charleston was by far the most popular. As jazz evolved throughout the decade, other musical genres took shape, including blues and swing, which would become more popular in the next decade.

Blues Blues music emerged in the early twentieth century in the United States as one of the most distinctive and original of American musical forms. It is an African American creation and one of the great contributions to American popular culture. Blues music is often thought of as being sad music, expressing the hardships endured by many African Americans. Although

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Blues Blues great Ma Rainey performing in a 1920s stage production. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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it can certainly be sad, the blues is also a way to deal with hardship and celebrate good times, too. Blues music comes in a wide variety of styles, from acoustic rural blues to urban electric blues. Because of this variety, and because it is about basic human emotions (love and heartbreak, happy times and sad), blues music speaks to people of all races and backgrounds. It has also been a very influential musical form. Without blues, there would be no rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3). Much of contemporary music in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries owes a great debt to blues music.

Blues

The origins of blues music go back at least to the 1800s and the time of slavery, but as a popular form the blues developed in the 1920s. Among the earliest blues recordings were those by black female singers in the 1920s. Among the most significant were Bessie Smith (1894?–1937), Ma Rainey (1886–1939), and Mamie Smith (1883–1946). Their styles were earthier than many of their contemporaries, and they sang songs about love, loss, and heartbreak. Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” recorded in 1920, is thought to be the first blues recording. The greatest of these early female blues singers were Rainey and Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith’s version of “St. Louis Blues” (written by W. C. Handy, 1873–1958) and Rainey’s version of “See See Rider” are among the classics of blues music. In the 1930s and early 1940s, rural acoustic blues became the dominant sound. Rural acoustic blues was often called “delta” blues because of its origin in the Mississippi delta region. The music was dominated by male singers who accompanied themselves on acoustic guitars that could be carried easily from place to place, allowing them to play for the many poor African American farming communities in the area. Among the most important innovators in the delta blues style were Tommy Johnson (1896–1956), Bukka White (1909–1977), Charley Patton (1891–1934), Son House (1902–1988), and Robert Johnson (1911–1938; see entry under 1930s—Music in volume 2). All these musicians made important recordings during the 1930s that have proved highly influential. With the migration of large numbers of African Americans to northern cities during and after World War II (1939–45), blues music evolved into new forms that reflected the quicker pace of life in these new environments. Two distinct styles emerged, urban blues and electric, or Chicago, blues. Urban blues was a more upscale blues style that featured smoothvoiced singers and horn sections that had more in common with jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) than it did with rural Mississippi delta blues. Urban blues was represented by the music of artists such as Dinah Washington (1924–1963), Eddie Vinson (1917–1988), Jimmy Witherspoon (1923–1997), and Charles Brown (1922–1999). More influential was the electric, or Chicago, blues style, a more direct descendant of the Mississippi delta blues. Most important in its development was McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters (1915–1983). Waters began in the rural acoustic style, but when he moved to Chicago in the

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1940s, he found that his acoustic guitar could not be heard over the loud crowd noise in the local bars where he played. To overcome that problem, he switched to an electric guitar and amplifier to play his delta blues. Waters soon added more instruments to his sound, including piano, harmonica, drums, bass, and occasionally a second guitar. This arrangement became the classic Chicago blues sound. With these electric instruments, Muddy Waters and his band transformed the blues into a hard-edged, driving sound. A strong beat, a pounding piano, electric lead guitar solos, and overamplified harmonicas characterized his music. Among Waters’ greatest songs are “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Mannish Boy,” and “I’m Ready.” Waters’ innovations were highly influential, spawning hundreds of imitators. His innovations were so influential in fact that the Chicago blues style he helped pioneer still dominates the blues sound. Other great Chicago blues artists include Howlin’ Wolf (1910–1976), Sonny Boy Williamson (1914–1948), John Lee Hooker (1920–2001), Willie Dixon (1915–1992), and Koko Taylor (1935–). In the 1960s, blues music experienced a wider popularity than ever before. Innovators like Waters continued to perform and record, but they were now joined by younger artists such as Buddy Guy (1936–), Junior Wells (1934–), B. B. King (1925–; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), and Magic Sam (1937–1969). White musicians were also attracted to blues music. Blues music had helped give rise to rock and roll in the 1950s. In the 1960s, rock musicians such as the Rolling Stones (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) and Eric Clapton (1945–) brought blues songs and styles more directly into their music. Blues music also influenced the development of hard rock in the 1970s, heard in such bands as Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4). The sound of blues music has remained largely the same since the 1960s, and it continues to be popular. In the 1980s, white blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughn (1954–1990) helped introduce a new generation of young people to the blues. In the twenty-first century, blues music remains an immensely important cultural form. Blues music has its own rich tradition and an influential legacy that has reached well beyond its original core audience. —Timothy Berg

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Awmiller, Craig. This House on Fire: The Story of the Blues. New York: Franklin Watts, 1996.

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Cohn, Lawrence. Nothing But the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. Elmer, Howard. Blues: Its Birth and Growth. New York: Rosen, 1999. Jones, LeRoi. Blues People. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1963. Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. New York: Viking Press, 1995. Russell, Tony. The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. Thomas, Roger. Jazz and Blues. Des Plaines, IL: Heinemann Library, 1988. Various Artists. Chess Blues. MCA Records, 1992. Compact Disc.

Grand Ole Opry The longest-running radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) show in broadcasting history, the Grand Ole Opry has long been the symbolic heart of country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). For a long time, it represented the pinnacle of success in country music; musicians who were invited to play on the Grand Ole Opry radio show knew they were on their way to becoming stars. The Opry was important to country musicians, but it played an even more important role in American cultural life by bringing country music to a national audience. In 1925, George D. Hay (1895–1968) began a show called the WSM Barn Dance in Nashville, Tennessee. The show featured local folk musicians. In 1927, Hay changed the name of the show to the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry was to be serious music for ordinary country people, just like opera was for the rich. Every Saturday night, Hay began the show by saying, “Let her go, boys,” and off they went. As the show grew in popularity during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, it featured some of the biggest names in country music, including Roy Acuff (1903–1992), Bill Monroe (1911–1996), Eddy Arnold (1918–), Hank Williams (1923–1953), George Jones (1931–), Johnny Cash (1932–), Patsy Cline (1932–1963), Loretta Lynn (1934–), and many, many others. Performers were paid very little, but they played for national exposure and the honor of being on the Opry. The Opry truly made country music into a national phenomenon. Because the Opry’s radio signal could reach far from Nashville, even as far north as Canada, country music, which before the Opry was largely a musical style from the southern United States, now reached people well beyond the south. As a result, country music became popular across the United States. Although the influence of the Grand Ole Opry diminished over

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Performers on the main stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Opryland. Reproduced by permission.

the years as performers found concerts and regular radio a better way to attract fans, the show still stands as one of the most powerful forces in the history of American popular music. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Hagan, Chet. Grand Ole Opry. New York: Owl Books, 1989. The Official Website of the Grand Ole Opry. http://www.opry.com (accessed January 23, 2002). Stambler, Irwin, and Grelun Landon. Country Music: The Encyclopedia. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. Wolfe, Charles K. A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry. Nashville: Country Music Foundation and Vanderbilt University Press, 1999.

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Jimmie Rodgers, known as the “Blue Yodeler” and the “Singing Brakeman,” is sometimes called the father of country

Born in Pine Springs, Tennessee, Rodgers was hard at work on the railroad by the time he was fourteen. He worked his way up to brakeman before he was forced to retire at age twentyseven with the then-incurable disease tuberculosis. He was discovered by a music company scout, and he began recording the songs he wrote in 1927. Before he died at age thirty-five, he had recorded over one hundred hit records, including “Blue Yodel (T for Texas),” “Mule Skinner Blues,” “In the Jailhouse Now,” and “T.B. Blues.”

Jimmie Rodgers

music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). Although his entire music career spanned only nine years, Rodgers became one of the most beloved performers in America, yodeling his soulful and uplifting blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) to a country mired in economic depression during the 1930s.

Though Rodgers was a successful musician, he lost much of his money during the stock market crash of 1929. He died of tuberculosis in New York City, exhausted after a long recording session. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Paris, Mike, and Chris Comber. Jimmie the Kid: The Life of Jimmie Rodgers. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1981. Porterfield, Nolan. Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America’s Blue Yodeler. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. Rodgers, Carrie. My Husband, Jimmie Rodgers. Nashville: Country Music Foundation, 1995. “The Singing Brakeman: Jimmie Rodgers.” Boys’ Life (December 1980): pp. 53–55.

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1920s Print Culture Communication in America was forever changed in the 1920s. With the beginning of radio broadcasting, printed newspapers and magazines were no longer the only sources of common information about happenings in the country or the world. Even though about fifty million Americans listened to the radio by the middle of the decade, newspapers and magazines remained the dominant sources of information during the decade. Radio news bulletins captured people’s interest, but printed sources told the “whole story.” Newspapers not only provided serious reporting on news events, they also entertained people with gossip columns, comic strips, or the syndicated Ripley’s Believe It or Not! cartoons. Pulp magazines, such as Amazing Stories and the Black Mask, published imaginative tales to entertain readers everywhere. People could buy newspapers and magazines almost anywhere, from boys on the street, at newsstands, and at railroad stations. Although the advent of radio did cause some newspapers and magazines to merge or cease publication, some new types of magazines started during the decade. Some of the most influential new magazines started in the 1920s were Time and Reader’s Digest. Recognizing that readers were spending less time on long, detailed articles, Time and Reader’s Digest provided condensed summaries of events and topics to provide readers with a lot of information in a small amount of space. The format was a hit and both magazines continue to be two of the most read magazines into the new millenium. Books remained popular entertainment in the 1920s. During the 1920s, some of the most influential American writers, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), got their start. Children’s books also became popular, with the beginning of the Little Blue Books, Winnie-the-Pooh, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys series. First-run novels cost as much as $1.75, but reprinted hardcover books sold for fifty cents apiece. Drug or other retail stores often had libraries from which people could rent books for a nickel a day.

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Better Homes and Gardens A monthly magazine about home decor and the domestic lifestyle, Better Homes and Gardens made its debut in 1922 as Fruit, Garden, and Home. It was the brainchild of Edwin T. Meredith (1876–1928), who had first proposed the concept in 1913 as an advertisement in his magazine, Successful Farming. The name was changed to Better Homes and Gardens in 1924. The magazine came on the scene during the period of rapid social change that followed World War I (1914–18). The census of 1920 revealed that more Americans were then living in cities and towns than in rural areas for the first time in the country’s history. From its early days, Better Homes and Gardens became an important resource used to define and promote the new urban and suburban lifestyles. From the beginning, Better Homes and Gardens published a combination of articles on design, decor, cooking, and gardening. The magazine also ran contests that solicited home designs and recipes from its readers. Better Homes and Gardens was in the forefront of the movement that encouraged Americans to build and own their own homes. In 1932, the magazine introduced its BH&G building-plan service. The service worked with Better Homes in America, Inc., a group with local committees in thousands of communities across the United States. During the decades when new-home construction was practically halted because of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and World War II (1939–45), Better Homes and Gardens whetted consumer appetites by publishing award-winning designs for attractive, easy-to-build homes. Their home designs helped set the design standards for the postwar American suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Better Homes and Gardens has lent its logo to a real-estate brokerage service as well as to a series of popular homeimprovement books and cookbooks. Since the late 1990s, its Web site has offered similar information online. —Edward Moran

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Better Homes and Gardens. http://www.bhg.com (accessed January 24, 2002).

Book-of-the-Month Club Founded in 1926, the Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC) revolutionized the way Americans bought books—and the way they thought about books as well. Appreciating fine literature had long been reserved for intellectuals and academics, until BOMC and its respected editorial board brought the works of great writers like William Faulkner (1897–1962), Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), and John Steinbeck (1902–1968) to the masses.

Book-of-the-Month Club

Hayden, Dolores. Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. “Meredith History.” Meredith Corporation. http://www.meredith.com/ aboutmeredith/history.html (accessed January 24, 2002). Wright, Gwendolyn. Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.

Others had tried to sell books through mail order before, but only Harry Scherman (1887–1969), a writer and book lover from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, hit upon the idea of organizing his customers into a “club” that would be guided in its selections by a board of literary authorities. Club members committed to purchasing a certain number of books in a certain period of time. This not only proved to be a unique way of marketing books but had a major cultural impact as well. Although some complained that marketing books through the mail “dumbed down” great literature by treating it like just another consumer product, there can be no doubt that millions of Americans were exposed to great books for the first time through BOMC. One famous New Yorker cartoon depicted a woman breaking the bad news to her local librarian: “I’m afraid this is goodbye, Miss MacDonald. I’m joining the Book-of-theMonth Club.” So powerful was the BOMC brand name—and the more than one million members it claimed at its peak of popularity—that America’s major publishing houses clamored for space in the catalog and for the designation of one of their books as a BOMC “main selection.” As time went on, BOMC expanded the concept to numerous “specialty” book clubs devoted to subjects like history, cooking, and crafts. When Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) booksellers like Amazon.com threatened to eat away at sales, BOMC responded in

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2000 by merging with its leading competitor, Doubleday Direct Inc., to form a new company, Bookspan. With much of its hopes for future growth tied to Internet sales, the newly formed enterprise entered the twenty-first century determined to take Harry Scherman’s revolutionary way of selling books into more homes than ever before. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information “Book Clubs: Forgotten But Not Dead.” Publishing Trends. http://www. publishingtrends.com/copy/0012/0012clubs.htm (accessed January 24, 2002). Book-of-the-Month Club. http://www.bomc.com (accessed January 24, 2002). Lee, Charles, The Hidden Public: The Story of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958. Silverman, Al, ed. The Book of the Month: Sixty Years of Books in American Life. Boston: Little, Brown, 1986.

Buck Rogers In January 1929, newspaper readers were introduced to a new type of adventure hero. Anthony “Buck” Rogers was America’s first great science-fiction star. The influential Buck Rogers strip introduced futuristic exploits set in outer space that featured advanced technologies like laser beams, antigravity devices, atomic warfare, and television (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). John Dille (1884–1957), one of Buck’s creators, quoted in Mike Benton’s The Illustrated History of Science Fiction Comics, said, “I wanted to produce a strip which would present imaginary adventures several centuries in the future. I wanted a strip in which the test tubes and laboratories of the scientists could be garnished up with a bit of imagination and treated as realities.” The success of Buck Rogers sparked a public interest in science fiction that remains strong to this day.

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Buck Rogers depicts the adventures of a twentieth-century pilot who is frozen in suspended animation for five hundred years. When he awakens, he discovers Mongol invaders have overrun America. With the aid of Wilma Deering, his companion, he liberates the nation. The pair’s exploits continued as they faced evil aliens and their most frequent adversaries, Killer Kane and Ardala.

Buck Rogers Painting by Anton Brzezinski of images from the Buck Rogers comic strip. Forrest J. Ackerman Collection/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

According to scholar Fred Patten in 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, the Buck Rogers strip became so synonymous with science fiction that, “for the next five decades, science fiction of any sort was popularly known as ‘that crazy Buck Rogers stuff.’” The futuristic machines, space flights, and alien creatures that Buck encountered on a daily basis amazed readers. Many later science-fiction writers have said they were inspired by Buck to create their own outer-space tales. Many later science fiction–oriented stories, like Flash Gordon (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), Star Trek (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), and Star Wars (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4), all display direct influences from Buck Rogers’ early adventures.

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Eventually, other science-fiction heroes would overshadow Buck. Buck Rogers was one of the first strips to successfully merchandise itself as it inspired a wide variety of toys, games, and books. The character appeared on radio (see entry under 1920s— TV and Radio in volume 2) and in popular movie serials starring Buster Crabbe (1908–1983). Although the strip ended in 1967, Buck was revived briefly in the late 1970s in both newspapers and on television. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Benton, Mike. The Illustrated History of Science Fiction Comics. Dallas: Taylor, 1992. The Buck Rogers Home Page. http://www.buck-rogers.com (accessed January 24, 2002). Caidin, Martin. Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future. New York: Random House, 1995. Crawford, Hubert. Crawford’s Encyclopedia of Comics. Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers, 1978. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996.

Gossip Columns Gossip columns, and gossip columnists, feed a public craving for information about the rich, the prominent, and the powerful—particularly if that information is secretive and scandalous. Gossip columns are crammed with tidbits, some true and some rumor, about a movie star’s love life or a politician’s or business leader’s behind-closed-doors dealings. To a gossip columnist, privacy is a dirty word. If you are a celebrity, no aspect of your life is beyond the scrutiny of a gossip. Ultimately, gossip serves the purpose of blurring the separation between those in power and the masses. In this regard, a gossip columnist’s revelations about a celebrity’s private life are the price to be paid for fame, power, or wealth.

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Before the 1920s, mainstream journalism reflected an ethic in which respectability ruled, and fact took precedence over rumor. Periodicals such as Town Topics, which published tidbits about the wealthy during the late nineteenth century, were not considered reputable. Then came the rise of the movie star,

Perhaps the most influential newsmonger (someone who spreads gossip) of the first half of the twentieth century was Walter Winchell (1897–1972), a journalist credited with making gossip a media mainstay. The New York–based Winchell started out in 1924 as a columnist for the tabloid Graphic. In his column, “Mainly for Mainstreeters,” he focused on anything and everything sex-related, from extramarital flings to illegitimate children. Winchell was a journalistic force between the 1920s and 1950s. At the height of his power, two-thirds of adult America read his column, which was syndicated to two thousand newspapers, or listened to his top-rated weekly radio broadcast. Winchell was a maker and breaker of reputations. Given his authority, it is not surprising that he was feared by his potential subjects. He was mindful of the power he wielded. “My column showed you into office,” he boasted, “and my column can show you out again.”

Gossip Columns

which paralleled the evolution of the motion-picture industry during the early decades of the twentieth century. The public demanded information about their favorite screen idols. The mainstream media began meeting this demand by publishing the accounts of gossip columnists.

In the wake of Winchell’s popularity emerged Louella Parsons (1893–1972) and Hedda Hopper (1890–1966), Hollywoodcentered gossips whose fame eventually exceeded that of Winchell’s. Beginning in the 1920s and lasting for several decades, Parsons was the most powerful woman in the film industry, demanding and receiving every movie business scoop. In the 1930s, Hopper began a rival column. Both dissected the lives of movie stars and made and destroyed careers. All too aware of her power, Hopper even cynically nicknamed her home “The House That Fear Built.” Today, gossip columnists are as powerful as ever. In fact, it was one such newsmonger, Matt Drudge (1967–), who first began spreading rumors on his Internet (see entry under 1990s— The Way We Lived in volume 5) Web site about the in-office extramarital relationships of President Bill Clinton (1946–). Eventually, Clinton’s alleged sexual affairs became mainstream news. With all the subsequent revelations about the private life of a U.S. president, a question emerged: Has the media gone too far in reporting the private affairs of public people? —Rob Edelman

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For More Information Eels, George. Hedda and Louella: A Dual Biography of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. New York: Putnam, 1972. Gabler, Neal. Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. Spacks, Patricia Meyer. Gossip. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. Walls, Jeannette. Dish: The Inside Story on the World of Gossip. New York: Spike, 2000.

Hardy Boys Series Debuting in 1927, The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories were produced in book length by the famous Stratemeyer Syndicate, the company responsible for the Bobbsey Twins (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3) and Nancy Drew (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) series. Readers of the first Hardy Boys stories learned that brothers Joe and Frank Hardy were amateur detectives. They tracked down criminals using “up-to-the-minute” technologies like shortwave radio and chased them on motorbikes, planes, and trains. They even had their own laboratory where they examined clues with microscopes and fingerprinting kits. Combining detective mystery with fast-paced adventure, the Hardy boys and their friends were a big hit. They survived the retirement after twenty years of their original writer Leslie McFarlane (1902–1977) and seem likely to remain in print well into the twenty-first century. The Hardy Boys have long lived up to Stratemeyer’s original idea of making them “exciting but clean.” The boys never used weapons when fighting crooks and their contact with girls was limited. By the 1950s, they had become ridiculously pure and— as with the Nancy Drew series—a process of updating began at the end of the decade. Even so, in the 1960s the straight-ar row Hardy Boys became the target of cruel parodies (humorous imitations).

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Over the years, the Hardy Boys have gone from 1920s boys’ adventure heroes to television veterans. They appeared on The Mickey Mouse Club (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and in cartoon form on the ABC television network. The 1969 cartoon actually featured the boys as members of a rock group, and merchandising for the series included two spinoff albums. In 1977, Universal ran The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries television series in a prime-time slot that ended with

—Chris Routledge

For More Information

Little Blue Books

the brothers working for the U.S. Justice Department. In the 1990s, as children’s mystery fiction became more violent and graphic, the Hardy Boys began to lose popularity. A strong market for Hardy Boys memorabilia remains, however. The Hardy Boys are both the first and the most successful boy detective series. Their fans say they are the greatest teen detectives ever.

Kismaric, Carole, and Marvin Heiferman. The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. McFarlane, Leslie. Ghost of the Hardy Boys. Toronto: Methuen/Two Continents, 1976. The Unofficial Hardy Boys Home Page. http://fwdixon.tripod.com/ hb0.htm (accessed January 24, 2002).

Little Blue Books Little Blue Books were slim, inexpensive reprints of the world’s great literature, philosophy, and social thought. They were one of the biggest publishing sensations of the twentieth century. The Little Blue Book Company was founded by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (1889–1951), who believed that everyone, regardless of income, should be exposed to history’s best literature. In 1919, his press in Girard, Kansas, began printing the booklets, which cost as little as a nickel apiece and were small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. The works were wildly popular and eventually sold over five hundred million copies. (As a comparison, by late 2001, the popular Harry Potter series [see entry under 1990s—Print Culture in volume 5] had sold over one hundred million copies worldwide.) Haldeman-Julius and his wife Marcet (1887–1941) were socialists. (Socialists believe that the production and distribution of goods should be owned by the community or the government rather than by individuals, and that all people should share in the work as well as in the goods produced.) Their beliefs had a great deal to do with their desire to bring affordable literature to everyone. They wrote articles on equal rights, befriended progressive authors such as Jack London (1876–1916; see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) and Clarence Darrow (1857–1938), and edited their own socialist magazine. The

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Little Blue Books brought all sorts of challenging reading to a huge audience. The titles included such works as The Theory of Reincarnation Explained, A History of the Modern Christian Church, and Kant’s Critical Philosophy. Even the complete works of William Shakespeare (1564–1616) became available through the series. The Little Blue Books were not all serious literature. The series also included works of fantasy and horror (by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe [1809–1849]) as well as cookbooks, dictionaries, and a book on how to start a business. The series also included some of the first self-help books, and published What Every Young Girl Should Know by Margaret Sanger (1879–1966). Her book was one of the first books written for teenage girls on matters of sex and growing up. Eventually, over two thousand titles were sold. The presses in Kansas ran literally twenty-four hours a day in the 1920s and 1930s. The public gradually lost interest, however, and by the 1970s all that was left was a small mail order business. A fire destroyed the warehouse in 1978, taking with it all the remaining unsold copies of the Little Blue Books. Today, Little Blue Books are still widely available and affordable at bookstores and at Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) sites like eBay. —Karl Rahder

For More Information Anderson, Lenore. “Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration of the First Little Blue Book.” Porter Library Bulletin (Vol. 3, no. 18, May 15, 1969). Haldeman-Julius, E. The First Hundred Million. New York: Arno Press, 1974. Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. “Hobos & Socialists: Emanuel HaldemanJulius & the Little Blue Books.” Violet Books. http://www.violetbooks. com/littleblue.html (accessed January 24, 2002).

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Little Orphan Annie, which has been appearing in newspapers since 1924, is one of the most famous comic strips in history. Created by Harold Gray (1894–1968), it revolves around the adventures of a feisty, red-haired orphan girl who travels across America, meeting every challenge with grit and re-

Gray was a staunch conservative and one of the first artists to inject politics into the comics page. Through Little Orphan Annie, he preached a philosophy of rugged individualism and traditional values. Within his melodramatic tales of Annie’s exploits, Gray included attacks on the New Deal, income taxes, welfare, and the government’s interference with big business. Both Annie and Warbucks continually preached the value of self-reliance. In 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, Gray’s philosophy is summed up in his description of his little orphan: “Annie is tougher than hell, with a heart of gold and a fast left, who can take care of herself because she has to.”

Little Orphan Annie

sourcefulness. In the initial story line, billionaire industrialist Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks adopts Annie. Their relationship became central to the strip as Annie and her father were constantly being separated and reunited.

Gray populated his strip with a cast of exaggerated characters who personified aspects of Gray’s political beliefs and whose names reflected their personalities. Among the most memorable supporting players were Miss Asthma, director of Annie’s orphanage; J. Preston Slime; Phineas Pinchpenny; and Mrs. Bleating-Heart, who embodied all Gray distrusted about liberals. The most frequently seen characters were The Asp and Punjab, Warbucks’ mysterious bodyguards, who regularly rescued Annie from danger. One of the strip’s most popular figures was Sandy, Annie’s faithful dog whose bark—”Arf!”—became a well-known expression. Annie’s own favorite exclamation—”Leapin’ Lizards!”—also became a catchphrase. Gray’s artistry featured statuelike figures with blank oval eyes. Little Orphan Annie was one of America’s most popular comics for decades. Its characters were soon seen beyond the newspaper pages. Annie has been the subject of several films; a highly rated radio serial of the 1930s and 1940s; and a line of toys, games, and merchandise. In 1977, the musical Annie debuted on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) to much acclaim. Its rousing song “Tomorrow” has become a classic. The song perfectly captures Annie’s indomitable spirit, as exemplified by the song’s first stanza: “The sun’ll come out / Tomorrow / Bet your bottom dollar / That tomorrow / There’ll be sun!” —Charles Coletta

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For More Information Blackbeard, Bill, and Martin Williams. The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Gray, Harold. Arf! The Life and Times of Little Orphan Annie: 1935–1945. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1970. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996.

New Yorker In February 1925, the inaugural issue of the New Yorker magazine was published. Although it struggled in its early years, the weekly magazine would ultimately become a national magazine famous for the quality and breadth of its writing and cartoons. The New Yorker was the brainchild of Harold Ross (1892–1951). After World War I (1914–18), Ross began hanging out at New York’s Algonquin Hotel with a group of writers and artists that would come to be known as the “Algonquin Round Table.” Ross was taken with the wit and sophistication of the group and decided that if he could capture it in a magazine, it would find a readership. Ross, who would edit the magazine for twentysix years, established the magazine’s four basic literary emphases: nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and cartoons. The New Yorker went on to excel in all four areas, frequently in the same issue. The early years of the New Yorker featured regular contributions from writers and artists such as Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), E. B. White (1899–1985), and James Thurber (1894–1961). Their sophisticated work helped to establish the magazine’s reputation as a serious literary magazine for intellectual readers, although there were critics who dubbed the magazine “snooty.” In 1946, the magazine made journalistic history by devoting an entire issue to Hiroshima by John Hersey (1914–1993). The work was a brutal account of America’s nuclear bombing of the Japanese city of the same name during World War II (1939–45).

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After Ross died in 1951, William Shawn (1907–1992) took over the editorship of the New Yorker. Under his guidance, the magazine’s reputation as “the best magazine that ever was”

New Yorker The New Yorker’s reputation as a serious literary magazine has remained intact for more than seventy-five years. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

continued to grow. Writers such as John Cheever (1912–1982), J. D. Salinger (1919–), and John Updike (1932–) published some of their best fiction in the New Yorker’s pages. The work of cartoonist Charles Addams (1912–1988) continued to present a bizarre world that would become the basis for The Addams Family TV show and several Addams Family feature films. Continuing the tradition started with the publication of Hiroshima, under Shawn’s leadership the magazine would devote issues to groundbreaking works such as In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1924–1984), Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1907–1964), and The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1924–1987). Pauline Kael (1919–2001), among the most famous and controversial American film critics ever, also spent the bulk of her career writing for the New Yorker.

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Shawn was forced into retirement in the late 1980s, at which time the magazine’s reputation took something of a hit. Since that time, its editorial consistency has not been what it once was. Despite this, in an age of increasing hype and a growing tendency toward the tabloid in the mainstream American press, in the early twenty-first century the New Yorker remained a beacon for readers looking for intelligent and sophisticated writing. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information Corey, Mary F. The World Through a Monocle: The New Yorker at Midcentury. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Gill, Brendan. Here at the New Yorker. New York: Random House, 1975. Kunkel, Thomas. Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of the New Yorker. New York: Random House, 1995. The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com (accessed January 24, 2002). Yagoda, Ben. About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made. New York: Scribner, 2000.

Popeye Popeye, America’s most famous sailor man, made his first appearance as an incidental character in the January 17, 1929, installment of the Thimble Theatre comic strip. Created by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar (1894–1938), the one-eyed, craggyfaced sailor with bulging forearms and ever-present corncob pipe was an unlikely heroic figure. He was uneducated, uncouth, and spoke in a unique dialect peppered with curses and malapropisms (the use of words that sound similar to the intended words but ridiculously wrong). Despite these flaws, Popeye quickly emerged as one of the nation’s favorite characters.

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Segar created Thimble Theatre in 1919 at the urging of publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951), who was looking for a new strip to feature in his many newspapers. The original premise of the strip involved the spoofing of current movies. Segar soon transformed the strip from a gag-a-day feature to an adventure series. His original cast consisted of the slightly seedy Oyl family. Cole and Nana Oyl were the bumbling parents of Castor Oyl, a conniving blowhard, and Olive Oyl, their painfully thin and ungracious daughter. Many of the strip’s earliest adventures revolved around the escapades of Castor and Ham Gravy, Olive’s first boyfriend. In 1929, Castor and Ham

acquired a magical bird known as Bernice the Whiffle Hen. They planned to take the hen to a gambling casino on Dice Island and use the bird’s mystical powers to win a fortune. However, neither knew how to operate a boat. They searched the waterfront for someone to sail them to Dice Island and soon encountered Popeye. Popeye was not designed as a recurring character, but Segar enjoyed him and extended his stay until, eventually, Popeye held the center stage of Thimble Theatre. In Comics Between the Panels, Segar’s attitude toward the sailor is revealed: “Popeye is much more than a goofy comic character to me. He represents all my emotions, and he is an outlet for them. I’d like to cut loose and knock the heck out of a lot of people, but my good judgment and size hold me back.” Much of Popeye’s popularity resulted from his seeming indestructibility. The original source of Popeye’s superhuman strength was said to have been from rubbing the head of the Whiffle Hen. Later, spinach was claimed as the source of Popeye’s great fighting prowess. In the 1930s, Popeye was so popular that the spinach industry credited Segar with increasing spinach consumption by 33 percent.

Popeye and his archenemy Bluto, pictured in a 1950s cartoon cel. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

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Popeye’s adventures combined elements of farce (ridiculous situations meant to make people laugh), surrealism (dreamlike representations of the subconscious mind), pathos (situations making the viewer feel pity or compassion), and melodrama (emotional story lines that emphasize the action rather than the characters). The strip also boasted one of the greatest casts in comics. Among those who joined Popeye on his voyages were Poopdeck Pappy, Wimpy, Eugene the Jeep, Swee’Pea, and Alice the Goon. Popeye’s most persistent adversaries were the evil Sea Hag, Bluto, and Brutus, his rivals for Olive’s affections. Popeye was a merchandising success and appeared in numerous cartoon shorts. In 1980, Robin Williams (1952–) starred as the sailor in the film musical Popeye by Robert Altman (1925–). The strip continued for decades after Segar’s death, but lacked its creator’s unique vision. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Anobile, Richard. Popeye: The Movie Novel. New York: Avon, 1980. Blackbeard, Bill, and Martin Williams. The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Duin, Steve, and Mike Richardson. Comics Between the Panels. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 1998. Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989. Sagendorf, Bud. Popeye: The First Fifty Years. New York: Workman Publishing, 1979.

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Published monthly since January 1922, Reader’s Digest is the most widely read magazine in the world. At its peak in 1984, more than seventeen million readers in the United States subscribed to the publication, which reached another eleven million readers through its nineteen foreign-language editions. Since its debut, Reader’s Digest has adhered to a simple formula of appealing to time-pressed readers by reprinting condensed versions of articles that have appeared in other publications. The magazine has also applied this format to a spinoff business in book publishing. The Reader’s Digest Condensed Books series has published hundreds of shortened versions of novels and nonfiction alike.

Reader’s Digest

The formula for this monthly magazine has remained unchanged for eighty years: approximately thirty condensed articles each issue (one for each day of the month), together with short, humorous stories contributed by readers in such departments as “Life in These United States,” “Laughter Is the Best Medicine,” and “Humor in Uniform.” Articles were traditionally never sensationalistic and rarely controversial, with a tendency toward inspirational, self-help stories. The magazine has been criticized for espousing a generally right-wing, conservative point of view and for evoking a nostalgia for a simpler, less diversified America. During the Cold War (1945–89), for example, articles often denounced the evils of communism and criticized groups such as the National Council of Churches for being too liberal, even radical. Over the years, Reader’s Digest published serious yet simplified articles about important medical and social issues like venereal disease, cancer, and the dangers of cigarettes (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) and unsafe driving. Reader’s Digest was founded by William Roy DeWitt Wallace (1889–1981), a salesman, and his wife, Lila Acheson (1887–1984), a feminist reformer, who established the Reader’s Digest Association in 1921 in the New York City suburb of Pleasantville, where its headquarters is still located. No advertising appeared in the magazine until 1955, when surveys indicated that readers would prefer ads to an increase in subscription fees. The magazine has never accepted tobacco advertising and ran its first liquor advertisement only in 1979. By the late 1990s, the magazine’s domestic circulation had fallen to 12.5 million. Its publishers were forced to initiate cost-cutting measures that included layoffs of employees and a redesign of the magazine. The Reader’s Digest Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic institutions in the United States, is known for its support of important cultural institutions such as art museums, symphony orchestras, and educational projects. —Edward Moran

For More Information Canning, Peter. American Dreamers: The Wallaces and Reader’s Digest, an Insider’s Story. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Heidenry, John. Theirs Was the Kingdom: Lila and DeWitt Wallace and the Story of the Reader’s Digest. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. Reader’s Digest. http://www.rd.com (accessed on January 24, 2002).

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Ripley’s Believe It or Not! First seen in 1923 as a daily feature in the New York Globe, a cartoon by Robert L. Ripley (1893–1949) brought the phrase “Believe it or not!” into the common language. Ripley’s cartoon depictions of amazing oddities, exotic rarities, and outrageous feats rapidly gained popularity as more and more readers, first in New York, then around the country and around the world, eagerly flipped through their papers searching for the latest Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Ripley was born in Santa Rosa, California, in 1893 to a working-class family. He was a promising baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) player, who rose through the semiprofessional league and seemed to have a chance to make the big leagues before an arm injury sidelined his career. However, a childhood talent for cartooning came to his aid and he was soon selling his drawings to magazines like Life (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). In the early 1900s, Ripley moved to New York, where he got a job as a sports cartoonist for the Globe. His first Believe It or Not! cartoons portrayed amazing sports feats, such as the man who skipped rope 11,810 times straight. Readers were fascinated by Ripley’s pictures. Soon, his look at the bizarre, quirky, and amazing side of life branched out beyond the sports arena. His cartoons began to show such wonders as a will written on an eggshell and a human pincushion who could push hat pins into his skin without pain. Although readers sent him hundreds of letters suggesting topics for his cartoon, Ripley sought even more. He began a series of expeditions around the world to seek out unusual objects and people to showcase in Believe It or Not!

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In 1933, at the Chicago World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1), Ripley unveiled his first “Odditorium,” or museum of the exotic and unusual. The fair boasted that hundreds of people fainted at the ghastly sights they saw there. Soon, six more Odditoriums had opened around the country. In 1949, Ripley was given his own weekly television show on NBC, but only a few programs aired before his death of a heart attack. Since Ripley was such an avid recorder of “firsts,” it is perhaps fitting that his cartoon, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! holds the record for the longest continuous cartoon. In 2001, it was still running in 147 newspapers in 38 countries.

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There are 27 Believe It or Not! Museums around the world, showcasing more than 20,000 oddities, many of them collected by Robert Ripley himself. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Corelli, Rae. “Weird? Believe It!” Maclean’s (Vol. 106, no. 38, September 20, 1993): pp. 50–53. Jewel, Dan, and Fannie Weinstein. “Rare Bird: Fifty Years After His Death, Robert Ripley’s Strange and Wonderful Legacy Lives On—Believe It or Not!” People Weekly (Vol. 52, July 12, 1999): pp. 89–92. Ripley’s . . . Believe It or Not! http://www.ripleys.com (accessed January 24, 2002).

Time Time: The Weekly Newsmagazine has been published continuously since March 3, 1923. Founded by Henry R. Luce (1898–1967) and Briton Hadden (1898–1929), Time was the first publication in Luce’s media empire that would later include Fortune (founded in 1930), Life (founded in 1936; see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), Sports Illustrated (founded in 1954; see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3), and People (founded in 1974; see entry under 1970s—Print Culture in volume 4). Designed for busy readers who wanted a weekly roundup of news and opinion, Time pioneered the concept of the widely imitated weekly news magazine. It offered brief, pithy articles organized into departments such as national news, foreign news, the arts, books, religion, education, and finance. Time soon became known for its unique style, which tried to compress complex ideas and stories into brief digests, often using witty language like puns and new, original words. The magazine’s editors often created cute nicknames for the figures being reported on, or they used strings of alliterative (beginning with the same letter) adjectives in describing their subjects. Time also helped popularize certain words, such as calling a rich capitalist a “tycoon” or describing someone with an expert’s opinion as a “pundit.” In its 1939 report of Germany’s invasion of Poland, Time used the phrase “World War II” (1939–45) for the first time.

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Each week, a portrait of an important newsmaker appeared on Time’s cover, with “theme” covers becoming more common after the 1980s. Since 1928, when it chose Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974; see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), Time has selected a “Man of the Year” whom it judges to have had an especially important influence on world events. The feature has since been expanded to include women, groups (such as the under-thirty generation), and even the personal computer. In 1990, Time-Life, Inc. joined with Warner Communications to form a large media conglomerate known as Time-Warner. In 1998, with its weekly circulation at 4.2 million, Time magazine celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with a gala at New York’s Radio City Music Hall that honored all the living men and women who had appeared on its cover over the years. —Edward Moran

For More Information Clurman, Richard. To the End of Time: The Selection and Conquest of a Media Empire. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Elson, Robert T. Time, Inc.: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise. 2 vols. New York: Atheneum, 1968. Time.com. http://www.time.com/time (accessed January 24, 2002).

Weird Tales One of the most famous and enduring of the pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), Weird Tales was founded in 1923 by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lassinger to give a voice to writers who might otherwise have no outlet for their dark dreams and wild imaginings. The magazine played a central role in the development of today’s literary genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The magazine struggled to find an audience in its first two years, but then a change in editor signaled an improvement in its fortunes. Its unique editorial goals and the fact that it paid better than any of the other pulps (so called because of the extremely cheap paper that was used to produce them) allowed Weird Tales to attract the work of writers who would become giants of the field. 320

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In the 1920s, the “first wave” of important authors included Robert E. Howard (1906–1936; creator of Conan the Barbarian),

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Seabury Quinn (1889–1969; the most prolific of the magazine’s writers), and the legendary H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937)—the Providence, Rhode Island, writer whose atmospheric, moody tales of a race of savage gods formed what is today called the “Cthulhu mythos.” The “second wave” arrived in the next decade, bringing such writers as Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961), C. L. Moore (1911–1987), and Jack Williamson (1908–). In the “third wave,” which reached the magazine in the 1940s, were Robert Bloch (1917–1994; who would later write Psycho), Manly Wade Wellman (1903–1986), Fritz Leiber (1910–1992), and, most important, Ray Bradbury (1920–), perhaps the twentieth century’s greatest fantasy writer. The magazine became known for challenging the traditions and standards of the genre. It could be sexually daring for its day. Some of the gruesome violence in its stories pushed the edges of good taste, even for the pulps. Furthermore, Weird Tales was among the first to publish “Sword and Sorcery” (beginning with Robert E. Howard’s work) and to blend subgenres, such as combining science fiction with horror. As with the other surviving pulps, the magazine went out of business in the 1950s. Such was the loyalty and affection generated by this quirky publication, however, that Weird Tales has been revived several times: in 1973, 1978, and 1984. Its most recent resurrection occurred in 1998. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Jaffrey, Sheldon, and Fred Cook. The Collector’s Index to Weird Tales. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1985. Weinberg, Robert. The Weird Tales Story. Linn, OR: Fax Collector’s Editions, 1977. Weird Tales. http://www.weird-tales.com/ (accessed on January 24, 2002).

Winnie-the-Pooh In an entertainment industry dominated by shoot-’em-up computer games and blockbuster action movies, Winnie-thePooh is an unlikely success. The “tubby little cubby” first

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appeared in 1924 in When We Were Very Young, a collection of verse by A. A. Milne (1882–1956). Winnie-the-Pooh became a household name in 1926 with the publication of the children’s story Winnie-thePooh, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard (1879–1976). Milne’s book became one of the most popular children’s books of the twentieth century. Its follow-up volumes, Now We Are Six (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) had similar success. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the popularity of the “bear of very little brain” goes far beyond the preteen audience. Pooh and his friends Rabbit, Piglet, Eeyore (the donkey), Owl, Tigger (the tiger), Kanga, and Roo remind their adult fans of gentler times. Since the 1990s, Winnie-the-Pooh has come to rival Mickey Mouse as the face of Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), which purchased the rights to Pooh in 1966. The original stuffed bear—given by author A. A. Milne to his son Christopher Robin in 1921—that became the inspiration for the Winnie-the-Pooh series. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Inspired by his daughters, Walt Disney (1901–1966) made Winnie-the-Pooh a movie star. The first short feature Winniethe-Pooh and the Honey Tree was released in 1966. It was the first of three short films that were re-released together a decade later as Disney’s twenty-second feature, The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (1977). In 1996, the popularity of Pooh and friends was boosted by the thirtieth anniversary release of the original films, followed by Pooh’s Grand Adventure in 1997. Durable soft toys based on the Disney Pooh are available for children. In addition, in 2001 Winnie-the-Pooh products constitute a huge merchandising franchise aimed at two distinct groups of adult customers. Products based on the original pastel Shepard illustrations are marketed directly at older adults and range from high-quality soft toys to table lamps and framed prints. Brightly colored Disney cartoon–inspired products are aimed at younger adults. The rounded, yellow cartoon bear appears on everything from underwear to neckties, clocks, and coffee mugs. The appeal of Winnie-the-Pooh to adults has been put down to nostalgia. Life in Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood is kinder than in the adult world. Winnie-the-Pooh and friends

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Thwaite, Ann. The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the-Pooh: The Definitive History of the Best Bear in the World. London: Methuen, 1992. Williams, John Tyernan. Pooh and the Millennium: In Which the Bear of Very Little Brain Explores the Ancient Mysteries at the Turn of the Century. New York: Dutton, 1999.

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offer safety, comfort, and a warm sense of well-being. As the song goes, “He’s Winnie-the-Pooh . . . willy nilly silly ole bear.”

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1920s Sports and Games Along with all the other grand titles of the decade, the 1920s were also known as “The Golden Age of Sports.” Players in almost every sport far exceeded fans’ expectations and became heroic legends who are still remembered. They included baseball greats Babe Ruth (1895–1948), Ty Cobb (1886–1961), and Lou Gehrig (1903–1941); football heroes Red Grange (1903–1991) and Knute Rockne (1888–1931); tennis aces Helen Wills (1905–1998) and Bill Tilden (1893–1953); and probably the greatest lightweight boxer Benny Leonard (1896–1947) and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey (1895–1983). The dominating performance of Americans at the seventh and eighth Olympic games provided Americans with more reasons to follow their favorite sports than ever before. Radio broadcasts of athletic events turned local heroes into national sports icons for the first time. With so many sports to choose from, Americans became truly sports crazy. Home-run hitter Babe Ruth led the New York Yankees to its first World Series win in 1923. College football rivaled baseball as the most watched American sport. The professional football game between the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears attracted 76,000 paying spectators in 1925. Boxing matches grossed millions of dollars. The Boston Celtics team boosted professional basketball by playing between 125 and 150 games a season for adoring fans. Golf was dominated by the “Three Musketeers”—Bobby Jones (1902–1971), Walter Hagen (1892–1969), and Gene Sarazen (1902–1999)—who popularized the sport and influenced the drive to construct both public and private golf courses around the country. The huge sums American sports fans spent watching games funded the construction of giant stadiums for baseball and football. The 62,000-seat Yankee Stadium, or “The House That Ruth Built,” opened in the Bronx, New York, in 1923. The 18,000-seat indoor arena at Madison Square Garden in New York City opened in 1925. And university football stadiums that held between 46,000 (University of Washington) and 100,000 people (University of Michigan) opened across the country

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during the decade. In addition, Americans’ interest in playing sports themselves fueled the construction of various recreational swimming and multisport athletic clubs around the country. Americans’ love of sport included many recreational games and activities. Mah-Jongg, an ancient Chinese game, became a craze mostly among women in the 1920s. Introduced in 1922, the game outsold radios within a year and spawned the creation of more than twenty rule books and the sale of silk kimonos (which women donned while playing the game). Simon & Schuster started a nationwide craze with the publication of the first crossword puzzle book in 1924. Soon railroads carried dictionaries for use by their passengers, college teams competed in crossword puzzle tournaments, and the University of Kentucky even offered a course on the puzzle. Children twirled yo-yos and built frontier cabins with Lincoln Logs. For the more hearty, dance marathons, the longest of which lasted more than ninety hours, were held across the country.

Charles Atlas Charles Atlas (1893–1972) became the first nationally recognized American bodybuilder. Born Angelo Siciliano in Italy in 1893, Atlas moved to the United States as a skinny youth. He developed dramatic, shapely muscles using his own system of isometric exercises that pitted muscles against each other to build strength. Atlas was dubbed the “World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man” in 1921. Atlas became a national celebrity selling his “Dynamic Tension Bodybuilding Course” through the mail. His most famous ad was a cartoon showing a “ninety-seven-pound weakling” who, after being bullied at the beach, uses the Atlas system to become a model of muscular manhood. Atlas died in 1972, but the Charles Atlas Ltd. company still sells his exercise program. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information

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Charles Atlas: The World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man. http://www. charlesatlas.com (accessed on January 17, 2001). Hugo, Geraldine, producer. Charles Atlas: Modern Day Hercules (video). A&E Biography Series, 1999.

One of the most enduring fads to emerge from the 1920s—a decade remembered as a time of rebellion, fun, and frivolity— was the crossword puzzle. A crossword puzzle is a grid of numbered squares. Accompanying the grid is a list of clues numbered to correspond to the squares. Puzzlers solve the clues to find words whose letters interlock when they are correctly filled in the blank squares. Word games have been a feature of many cultures with written languages. Some forms of crossword puzzles have been found on ancient tombs in Egypt, on four-thousand-year-old stone carvings in Crete, and on Chinese antiques. The birth of the modern crossword puzzle, however, is more recent and precise: December 21, 1913. On that Sunday, the New York World newspaper published a word puzzle that had been designed by Arthur Wynne (1862–1945), a journalist from Liverpool, England. Wynne’s puzzle, which he called a “Word-Cross,” was a diamond-shaped grid with no black squares. The new type of puzzle was immediately very popular on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Soon dozens of newspapers were offering crosswords in their Sunday editions.

Crossword Puzzles

Crossword Puzzles

In 1924, the growing crossword fad received a boost when Simon & Schuster published a book of fifty crossword puzzles, complete with pencil and eraser. Within three months, the book had sold forty thousand copies, climbing to five hundred thousand by the end of the year. Though some intellectuals scoffed at the trivial nature of the knowledge required to solve crosswords, puzzlers were happily obsessed. Puzzles appeared everywhere, not only in magazines and newspapers. Puzzles turned up in such unlikely places as the back of menus in the dining cars of Pennsylvania Railroad trains. Although the intensity of the 1920s fascination with puzzles faded, crossword puzzles have remained a beloved feature of almost every popular newpaper and magazine. Computer programs have been written to help create crosswords. At national competitions, puzzlers show off their skills as they vie for the championship of this otherwise solitary sport. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. http://www.crosswordtournament.com (accessed January 25, 2002).

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Augarde, Tony. The Oxford Guide to Word Games. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Schwarz, Frederic D. “1924: Seventy-Five Years Ago.” American Heritage (Vol. 50, no. 2, April 1999): pp. 134–36. Shepard, Richard F. “Bambi Is a Stag and Tubas Don’t Go ’Pah-Pah: History of Crossword Puzzles.” New York Times Magazine (February 16, 1992): pp. 31–33.

Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) During the 1920s, professional fighter Jack Dempsey—nicknamed the “Manassa Mauler” after his hometown of Manassa, Colorado—was king of the boxing ring. He also was a controversial figure, at once beloved and despised. His participation in one of his sport’s most famous and contested matches not only cemented his legend but transformed him into a hero, a mantle he held for the rest of his life. While still a teenager, Dempsey was boxing as an amateur under the name “Kid Blackie.” He eventually turned pro and became the heavyweight champion on July 4, 1919. He knocked out Jess Willard (1881–1968) in the third round, and Willard suffered a broken jaw, two broken ribs, and four missing teeth. The day after his victory, however, sportswriter Grantland Rice (1880–1954) accused Dempsey of evading the military draft. Although Dempsey was found innocent in court, much of the public viewed him negatively because of the publicity surrounding the charge. Dempsey’s 1921 bout against Frenchman Georges Carpentier (1894–1975), a decorated World War I (1914–18) combat pilot, was billed as a battle of good versus evil. It was the first boxing match to be broadcast on radio and the first to take in $1 million at the gate. It was fought before ninety thousand fans, the largest audience ever to witness a live sporting event to that date. Dempsey won over the crowd with a third-round knockout of his challenger.

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Dempsey held the title until September 23, 1926, when he lost it to Gene Tunney (1897–1978) on points in the tenth round. His rematch, held a year later, became one of the most celebrated boxing matches ever. In the seventh round, Dempsey sent Tunney to the floor with a powerful left hook. However, Dempsey did not immediately go to the neutral corner of the ring as the rules required, which led the referee to restart the

Dempsey won sixty of his eighty bouts, with six losses, eight draws, and six “no decisions.” Fifty of his victories were knockouts, and twenty-five came in the first round. He was truly one of boxing’s greats. —Rob Edelman

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count. Tunney got up at the count of “nine,” which actually would have been “fourteen” had Dempsey immediately retreated. Tunney survived the match and was awarded the win in a ten-round decision. It was Dempsey’s final professional match, as he retired immediately afterward.

For More Information Dempsey, Jack, with Barbara Piatelli Dempsey. Dempsey. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Evensen, Bruce J. When Dempsey Fought Tunney: Heroes, Hokum, and Storytelling in the Jazz Age. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996. Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler. http://www.cmgww.com/sports/ dempsey/index.html (accessed January 25, 2002). Kahn, Roger. A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring ’20s. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999. Roberts, Randy. Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979.

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are a most unusual professional basketball team. They play in no league and have no regular opponents. Instead, they tour the world and take on all comers, blending basic basketball skills, razzle-dazzle athletic prowess, and physical comedy. On one level, the individual Globetrotters, all of whom are African Americans, are multitalented athletes and entertainers. On another level, the flamboyant dribbling, passing, and leaping that are so much a part of their act can be seen as outgrowths of the stereotype of African Americans as physically adept jesters who exist only to smile and amuse. The Globetrotters came into existence in 1927. Their founder, promoter-businessman Abe Saperstein (1901–1966), owned and coached the team and booked its tours. At first, the Globetrotters were merely a traveling basketball team that usually thoroughly beat the competition. Legend has it that Saperstein

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The original Harlem Globetrotters in 1941. Photograph by Charles Harris. Pittsburgh Courier Photographics/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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injected comedy into the Globetrotters’ game to provide additional entertainment for fans who were becoming bored by the team’s customary, lopsided victories. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Globetrotters toured the North American continent. Beginning in 1950, they toured the rest of the world. They were featured in two motion pictures, The Harlem Globetrotters (1951) and Go, Man, Go! (1954). They began appearing on television in 1954 and eventually starred in their own cartoon series, The Harlem Globetrotters (1970–1973); a variety show, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine (1974); and a television movie, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). While primarily entertainers, the Globetrotters remained top athletes. In the late 1940s— before the ranks of professional basketball were integrated— they beat the champion Minneapolis Lakers. Between 1950 and 1962, they played a yearly series against squads composed of college all-stars, compiling a 162–44 win-loss record. Star Globetrotters “clown princes” such as Goose Tatum (1921–1967) and Meadowlark Lemon (1932–) savored their fame and never complained that their antics were assaults on

Lincoln Logs

their dignity. On the other hand, Connie Hawkins (1942–), a New York City playground legend and future hoop Hall-ofFamer who played with the team in the 1960s, publicly protested that the Globetrotters were compelled to act like Uncle Toms (blacks who eagerly seek the approval of whites). “Grinnin’ and smilin’ and dancin’ around—that’s the way they told us to act, and that’s the way a lot of white people like to think we really are,” he observed. —Rob Edelman

For More Information The Original Harlem Globetrotters. http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/ (accessed January 25, 2002). Lemon, Meadowlark, with Jerry B. Jenkins. Meadowlark. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1987. Wilker, Josh. The Harlem Globetrotters. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1996. Wolf, David. Foul: The Connie Hawkins Story. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972.

Lincoln Logs Lincoln Logs are a children’s building toy invented by John Lloyd Wright (1892–1972) around 1916 and first marketed to the public in 1924. From their introduction, each set contained a number of wooden logs in various lengths that could be fitted together to make log houses and other buildings. This simple toy proved so successful that by the end of the 1990s more than a half-million sets were sold every year. John Lloyd Wright was the second son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), best known for his Prairie Style architecture and unique houses. John learned design by working with his father on the Midway Gardens in Chicago, Illinois, and on the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. In Japan, Wright saw firsthand how the Japanese used wood construction in a very intricate and beautiful way. Wright also loved children and their toys and games. When he was twenty-five years old, Wright came up with the idea for Lincoln Logs, a simple kit with miniature wooden logs. He chose the name Lincoln Logs after President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). Lincoln was famous for his frontier boyhood and for chopping logs to build houses. Wright knew that Lincoln’s appeal as a national

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hero would help make his kits popular. Early packages featured a picture of Lincoln and showed how to make a frontier log cabin. Lincoln Logs were especially popular in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Parents liked them because they were educational toys. Kids had to think hard about how to use them, and designing log buildings required lots of creative thought. Kids liked them because they could be arranged in so many different ways and they could always have fun playing with them. Along with LEGO (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3) building blocks and Tinkertoys (see entry under 1910s—Sports and Games in volume 1), Lincoln Logs were one of the most popular and successful toys of the century. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Brown, Conrad Nagel. “Lincoln Logs.” Inland Architect (Vol. 115, no. 4, 1998): p. 116. “Lincoln Logs.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/toys/ty1036.php (accessed January 24, 2002).

Miniature Golf For decades, millions of Americans have delighted in games of miniature golf. The game, which combines elements of skill derived from “real” golf with entertainment features aimed at children, has remained popular through the years with players of all ages. No one is exactly sure who “invented” miniature golf. More than likely, it was developed simultaneously in many different places. Most historians place its origins around the turn of the twentieth century, when wealthy golf enthusiasts began building “golf in miniature” courses on their estates. This early form of the game was called “garden golf” and featured none of the elaborate obstacles that would mark the game in later years.

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Originally a pastime of the leisure classes, miniature golf was soon transformed into a profitable business. In 1928, an entrepreneur named Garnet Carter (1883–1954) began charging people ten cents a round to golf on courses he had built on the rooftops of New York City skyscrapers (see entry under 1930s—

Miniature Golf A couple on an indoor miniature golf course in the 1930s. Minnesota Historical Society/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

The Way We Lived in volume 2). This commercial form of minigolf became popular with movie stars and celebrities. By the 1930s, Americans had taken to the game in droves. During that decade, more than thirty thousand mini-golf courses sprang up across the country. An estimated four million people played the game regularly. The next boom period for miniature golf came following World War II (1939–45). Businessman Don Clayton (1926–1996) helped spread the game to even more people through his PuttPutt Golf chain. This chain used the same franchise model as

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those other 1950s icons, McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s— Food and Drink in volume 3) and Holiday Inn. The Putt-Putt courses featured simple geometric obstacles and hills. During this period, other course designers began to add many of the colorful obstacles and hazards that people have come to associate with miniature golf. Spinning windmills, revolving statues, and babbling brooks made the golf even more challenging for the players. Later, others would expand on these innovations even further, creating elaborate “theme” courses based on fictional characters or fantasy settings. With the arrival of young prodigy Tiger Woods (1975–), golf became wildly popular in the 1990s. Miniature golf took part in this boom as well. A number of golf and sports celebrities, including Jack Nicklaus (1940–), Michael Jordan (1962–), and Hale Irwin (1945–), opened “alternative golf” centers, which combined miniature golf, professional-style driving ranges, and other family entertainment attractions. The popularity of these facilities proves that miniature golf, no matter how it is packaged, remains an integral part of the entertainment landscape in America. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Margolies, John. Miniature Golf. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. The PMGA: Professional Miniature Golf Association. http://www.thepmga. com/ (accessed January 25, 2002).

National Football League In the early twentieth century, football was primarily a college sport. After graduation, an all-American college quarterback, end, or lineman had little future in athletics. All this began to change in 1920, when George Halas (1895–1983; legendary player, coach, and owner of the Chicago Bears), and others convened in Canton, Ohio. They were there to organize the American Professional Football Association (APFA). Soon afterward, this fledgling coalition changed its name to the National Football League (NFL). 334

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Harold “Red” Grange (1903–1991) was a University of Illinois star who scored four touchdowns in twelve minutes in a

As the years passed, the NFL steadily grew. In 1950, it took in three teams from the newly defunct All-America Football Conference (AAFC), a rival league. The following year, the first nationally televised NFL game aired on the DuMont network. However, the main event that reflected the league’s maturation occurred in 1958, when the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts faced off for the NFL championship. A record number of viewers tuned in to watch the game on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). They were treated to an electrifying 23-17 sudden-death overtime victory by the Colts. Arguably, this is the greatest game in NFL history.

National Football League

1924 contest against the University of Michigan. He helped earn the NFL credibility when he signed with Halas’s Bears in 1925. Grange, nicknamed “The Galloping Ghost,” became the league’s first superstar. For the next three decades, different franchises emerged as powerhouses, and other players became NFL heroes. A national championship game was inaugurated in 1933, and the first players’ draft was held three years later. One of the earliest classic NFL contests was the “sneaker game,” a mid-1930s championship game between the Bears and the New York Giants. At halftime, trailing the powerhouse Bears 10–3, the Giants donned basketball sneakers to improve their traction and gain an edge on the icy Polo Grounds turf. The New York team went on to rout their rivals, 30–13.

In 1960, Pete Rozelle (1926–1996) was named NFL commissioner. Rozelle spearheaded an unprecedented growth period for the league. In 1966, he presided over the merger between the NFL and its rival the American Football League (AFL). Initially, both leagues remained separate but met in an annual championship game, which in 1969 became known as the Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers, long an NFL force, won the first two contests. Before Super Bowl III, Joe Namath (1943–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4), quarterback of the AFL New York Jets, boldly predicted victory over the highly favored Baltimore Colts. Namath sparked the Jets to a shocking 16-7 win. The Jets’s win resulted in the legitimization of the NFL-AFL merger, the emergence of the Super Bowl as an important American sporting event, and further NFL popularity and prosperity. Another NFL landmark was the success of the long-running Monday Night Football (1970–; see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), which airs in prime-time on ABC-TV. Today, over thirty teams, located from Seattle and San Francisco to Tampa Bay and Miami, make up the NFL. Watch-

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ing them compete on a crisp autumn Sunday is an American ritual. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Buckley, James, Jr. America’s Greatest Game: The Real Story of Football and NFL. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1998. Harris, David. The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. McDonough, Will, ed. The NFL Century: The Complete Story of the National Football League, 1920–2000. New York: Smithmark, 1999. Neft, David S., Richard S. Cohen, and Richard Korch. The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994. NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com (accessed January 25, 2002).

Yo-Yo The yo-yo is one of the oldest and most popular toys in the world. The origin of the yo-yo is uncertain. Some stories trace it to such places as China, Greece, Egypt, France, and the Philippines. One thing is certain: In 1928, Filipino Pedro Flores brought the first yo-yo to the United States. At a yo-yo demonstration that Flores gave in San Francisco, California, in 1929, Donald F. Duncan (1891–1971) became intrigued by the toy disk on a string. Duncan quickly bought Flores’ idea and started the Duncan Company to sell yo-yos. Duncan used catchy advertising campaigns. He sent yo-yo professionals throughout the United States and western Europe to demonstrate yoyo tricks and develop interest in the product. He set up yo-yo tournaments. By 1946, the Duncan Company made its headquarters in Luck, Wisconsin, the “Yo-Yo Capital of the World.” By 1962, the Duncan Company sold a record forty-five million yo-yos. The yo-yo was given special attention when President Richard Nixon (1913–1994) performed yo-yo tricks on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) in 1974 and when the yo-yo was one of the first toys taken into space in 1985. Yo-yos are now made by several companies and continue to be enjoyed by children and adults alike. 336

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—Sara Pendergast

Yo-Yo Former yo-yo champ John Farmer performs a trick. UPI/CorbisBettmann. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information American Yo-Yo Association. http://www.ayya.net (accessed January 25, 2002). Malko, George. The One and Only Yo-Yo Book. New York: Avon, 1978. Zeiger, Helane. World on a String: The How-To Yo-Yo Book. Chicago: Contemporary Publishers, 1989.

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1920s TV and Radio This decade marked the shift in American culture to electronic media for entertainment and news. The first radios were sold in the United States for home use in 1920. By mid-decade, a decent radio could be purchased for about $35, with higher quality models being sold for up to $350. By the end of the decade, more than five million of the battery-powered radios were sold. (Although the first television receivers were sold and the first televised programs began in 1928, television became truly popular in later decades.) At first, the broadcasting on radio centered around music, especially the classics and opera. The featured orchestras were often named after sponsors. Listeners could hear the likes of the Ipana (toothpaste) Troubadours, the A&P (grocery chain) Gypsies, the Champion (spark plugs) Sparkers, and the Hoover (vacuum cleaners) Sentinels. Speeches and lectures were also broadcast. Local meetings of civic and professional organizations, such as the Commercial Law League and the Foreign Policy Association, were broadcast in full. Although the programming was uninspired, people would gather around their radios just for the pure novelty of listening to sound coming out of a box. By the end of the decade, radios had become a true craze across the country. The popularity of radios during the 1920s provided a mere glimpse into what would become a national obsession with electronic media gadgets in the following decades.

Radio For three-plus decades beginning in the early 1920s—before the mass marketing and mass popularity of television—radio was the foremost in-house leisure activity and informationgathering source for millions of Americans. Radio had a profound influence on popular culture. Not only did radio record historical events for posterity, but it forever altered the manner

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Radio An example of an early radio. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

in which information and entertainment were disseminated to the public. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) captures both the eyes and the ears and tends to shut out other senses; it is called a passive medium because viewers tend to become absorbed in watching it and do little else. Radio, however, is an active medium, engaging only the sense of hearing; it allows listeners to use their imagination to conjure up a picture in their minds. 340

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The genesis of radio dates to the 1890s, when Italian inventor-physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937) pioneered the

Radio

use of wireless telegraphy. In 1895, Marconi first was able to transmit radio waves short distances; four years later, he succeeded in transmitting a signal across the English Channel. In 1906, American Lee De Forest (1873–1961) furthered the development of the medium by inventing the triode, an electron tube that featured three electrodes (anode, cathode, and grid). His triode made modern radio broadcasts possible. In 1920, KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the initial radio station, began broadcasting. At the time, only five thousand Americans had radio receivers. The question of the day—who would pay for radio?—was answered two years later when New York station WEAF broadcast the initial paid radio commercial. Soon radio stations were sprouting up across the country, with the first major radio networks, NBC and CBS, coming into being in 1926 and 1927. By the beginning of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) in 1929, the essence of popular radio programming was in place. The standard radio format consisted of music, news, and entertainment programs, with paid advertisements liberally sprinkled in between. By the early 1930s, 90 percent of Americans owned at least one radio. Radio’s golden age arrived during the 1930s, with an everexpanding variety of programming. Some programs featured specific story lines: dramas, comedies, soap operas, Westerns, and romances. Others were variety shows, featuring musical performances and comedy skits. The latest popular songs and rhythms were broadcast live from hotel ballrooms, where the era’s top Big Bands were performing. Hollywood stars regularly reenacted their movie roles on radio, with the purpose being to keep them and their films in the public consciousness while promoting their upcoming projects. Indeed, radio—just like movies—proved to be a great escape for the millions of Americans then suffering the ravages of the Depression. Dozens of the most popular television shows from the 1950s and 1960s started out on radio. These included lawyer series Perry Mason (1943–1955 [radio]; 1957–1966 [television]; see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2); Western dramas The Lone Ranger (1933–1955 [radio]; 1949–1957 [television]; see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and Gunsmoke (1952–1961 [radio]; 1955–1975 [television]; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3); and comedy show The Jack Benny Program (1932–1955 [radio]; 1950–1965 [television]). Other TV series were derived from radio shows: I Love

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Lucy (1951–1957; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the most celebrated of all 1950s situation comedies, evolved from My Favorite Husband (1948–1951). Many of the most popular radio stars were comedians and comic actors: Benny (1894–1974); the husband-and-wife team of George Burns (1896–1996) and Gracie Allen (1902–1964); Fred Allen (1894–1956); Bob Hope (1903–); and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (1903–1978). A typical radio situation-comedy was Fibber McGee and Molly (1935–1957; see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2). Meanwhile, Norman Corwin (1910—) and Arch Oboler (1909–1987) pioneered the development of radio drama. Among the many popular dramatic radio programs: Gangbusters (1936–1957); Suspense (1942–1962); Inner Sanctum (1941–1952); and The Shadow (1930–1954; see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). Easily one of the most famous radio broadcasts came on October 30, 1938. Orson Welles (1915–1985), who later became famous as a film director, staged the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2) by H. G. Wells (1866–1946). Author Wells’s story involves an invasion of Earth by Martians. Director Welles’s production was realistically rendered; it was presented in real time, with an announcer declaring, “Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News.” As a result, untold number of listeners actually believed that New Jersey was being invaded by Martians.

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Radio did more than entertain its listeners. On Sunday mornings, preachers sermonized over the airwaves. Most were simply preaching to their flock, but one became infamous. He was Father Charles Coughlin (1891–1979), the “radio priest” of Royal Oak, Michigan, whose audience during the 1930s numbered in the millions and whose radio sermons became increasingly anti-Jewish and pro-Fascist (in favor of direct government suppression of different viewpoints). Meanwhile, beginning in 1933 and lasting until his death, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) wisely used radio to speak directly to U.S. citizens. Some of his speeches were labeled “fireside chats.” Utilizing the intimacy that radio creates, he opened each broadcast with the phrase “My dear friends. . .” and went on to explain his policies and programs in an attempt to elicit public support. Radio also played a critical role in the American public’s perception of World War II (1939–45). The leg-

Radio

endary reports by CBS broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965), made during the 1940 German bombing of London, helped solidify public opinion in favor of the Allies. After America’s entry into the war, in the wake of the December 7, 1941, surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, radio brought the war directly into every American household. Radio journalists reported directly from the war’s hot spots. In the 1930s, regulation became an important aspect of radio broadcasting. At the beginning of the decade, stations often interfered with the programs of other stations by broadcasting on the same bandwidth. By 1934, the U.S. government created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), whose charge was to organize stations in such a way that broadcasts could play across the country without overlapping. The FCC also foresaw the danger of having an entity in control of too many stations in one geographic area, thereby having too much control over what information the listeners heard. The FCC then sought to limit the number of radio outlets a company or an individual could own. With the invention of television and the marketing of television sets in the post–World War II era, radio slowly began to lose its standing within the American home. Radio held onto a listening audience in the 1950s and 1960s as the primary medium for marketing to teenagers the latest Top 40 (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) hits. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the rise of FM stations and the free-form experimentation of FM disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) helped propel the cultural influence of rock music. In the 1990s, a generation of popular and controversial “talk radio” (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) personalities emerged. Among them were the “tough-love” advocate Dr. Laura Schlessinger (1947–); abrasive arch-conservative Rush Limbaugh (1951–); and shock radio (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) disc jockey Howard Stern (1954–). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bray, John. The Communications Miracle: The Telecommunications Pioneers from Morse to the Information Superhighway. New York: Plenum Press, 1995. Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (film). Florentine Films, 1992. Finkelstein, Norman H. Sounds in the Air: The Golden Age of Radio. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993.

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Hilmes, Michelle. Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922–1952. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1997. Ladd, Jim. Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on the FM Dial. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. MacDonald, Fred J. Don’t Touch That Dial: Radio Programming in American Life, 1920–1960. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1979. Maltin, Leonard. The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio’s Golden Age. New York: Dutton, 1997. Nachman, Gerald. Raised on Radio. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Radio Days (film). Orion Pictures, 1987. Ryan, Thomas. American Hit Radio: A History of Popular Singles from 1955 to the Present. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1996. Smulyan, Susan. Selling Radio: The Commercialization of American Broadcasting, 1920–1934. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.

1920s The Way We Lived The technological advances of the beginning of the century continued to impact lives in the 1920s. Henry Ford (1863–1947) had improved his assembly-line techniques to produce a Model T every ten seconds by 1925. Automobiles were more affordable than ever: Some models sold for as little as $50. By the end of the decade, 23.1 million passenger cars crowded the streets of America. Telephones were in 13 percent of American homes by 1921, and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) had become America’s largest corporation by 1925. New technologies continued to change the way people lived in America. People spent their extra money on luxuries like vacations. Families of almost every income level could enjoy some time away from work. Camping became popular, and cars could take people farther from home and pull recreational vehicles for more luxurious outdoor living. Those with enough money could fly to sunny locations like Florida to enjoy the winter months in warmth. For those who wanted a vacation at home, swimming pools could be installed in their own backyards. Even though Prohibition officially banned the sale and distribution of alcohol, many people rebelled against the law and snuck into speakeasies (illegal bars) to drink and dance the Charleston to the new music of the time. Dancing was not limited to illegal nightclubs; respectable places like the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem (New York City) became increasingly popular during the decade as people sought out good music and large dance floors. Even teenagers could enjoy the music and dances of the decade at proms, which more and more high schools sponsored across the country.

Air Travel When the Wright Brothers—Wilbur (1867–1912) and Orville (1871–1948)—made the first powered flight in 1903, they could not have known how important air travel would become. At the

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time, nobody showed much interest in their machine and the brothers went back to making bicycles. The times would soon change. The first passenger service using winged aircraft began flying the twenty-two miles between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, in 1914. The service could carry only one passenger on each trip, and the service lasted only a few weeks. By 2002, a Boeing 747-400 jetliner could carry 524 passengers up to 8,400 miles. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, air travel is cheaper, faster, and safer than ever before. Between the years 1910 and 1914, zeppelins were part of the travel scene. The giant airships safely carried a total of about thirty-four thousand passengers. German zeppelins used hydrogen gas to make them lighter than air. Winged “heavier-thanair” machines were less likely to burst into flames than the zeppelins, but they suffered from a lack of engine power. In 1912, American pilot “Colonel” Samuel F. Cody (1861–1913) could fly his four passengers only seven miles. In 1920, pilots still navigated by following roads and railway lines. Passengers often sat in open cockpits wearing goggles and warm clothing. The planes were overtaken by trains when the wind was against them. After 1920, the early biplanes (planes with two sets of wings) gradually gave way to sleek monoplanes (planes with one wing). In 1928, German airlines carried over 100,000 passengers. American companies carried only 60,000 passengers that year, but change came quickly. By 1929, the figure was up to 160,000. To improve passenger comfort, the first flight attendants (called stewardesses back then) were introduced by Boeing Air Transport on its San Francisco-to-Chicago route in 1930. The American air-passenger industry soon became the busiest in the world. When the first daily international passenger service began between London and Paris in 1919, long-distance travel was changed forever. Within ten years, air travel grew from a dangerous, expensive hobby into big business. With the advent of the jet engine in the 1950s, it became a part of daily life for many people. Every day, thousands of flights operated by dozens of commercial airlines speed millions of Americans across the United States and around the world. —Chris Routledge

For More Information 346

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Corn, Joseph J. The Winged Gospel: America’s Romance with Aviation, 1900–1950. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Baseball Cards

Baseball Cards

Heppenheimer, T. A. Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1998. Sternstein, Ed, ed. From Takeoff to Landing: Everything You Wanted to Know About Airplanes But Had No One to Ask. New York: Pocket Books, 1991. Walters, Brian. The Illustrated History of Air Travel. London and New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1979.

For decades, collecting and trading baseball cards were a ritual of American youth. At first, cards were enjoyed by youngsters and then discarded at the end of the season or when boys became men and were summarily expected to dispose of the remnants of childhood. Today, however, baseball cards are far more than nostalgic remnants of the past or a present-day pastime for the latest generation of youngsters and baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) fans. Cards from decades gone by as well as the newest sets are now highly collectible. Baseball card purchasing has developed into a billion-dollar industry. The first baseball cards were issued during the 1880s, when the Old Judge Company included them in packs of cigarettes (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2). One of the most famous, and the highest-valued, of all baseball cards originally was a cigarette card. It featured Hall of Famer-to-be Honus Wagner (1874–1955). The Honus Wagner card was found in the T206 baseball card set issued by the American Tobacco Company in 1909. Legend has it that Wagner, a nonsmoker, was angered upon learning that his likeness had been included in the series. He demanded that his card be removed from the set. In 2000, a T206 Wagner card was auctioned for $1.265 million. By the 1930s, tobacco companies had been replaced by gum and candy companies as the primary baseball card distributors. The cards came in packs that most often included strips of chewing gum. The Goudey Gum Company issued a typical, popular set between 1933 and 1941. The paper shortages that resulted when America entered World War II (1939–45) brought a temporary halt to baseball-card production. The modern era of baseball cards began in 1948, when the Bowman Gum Company issued a set of black-and-white cards.

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Cards came in packages of one; they were accompanied by a stick of gum, and cost a penny. Also in 1948, the Leaf Company released a set of color cards. Then in 1951, Topps Chewing Gum issued its first cards. Topps quickly became the undisputed king of baseball cards and dominated the market for the next three decades. The company began adding information to their cards: players’ statistics, personal information, and team logos.

Baseball cards, such as this Buck Ewing card from the 1880s, were originally issued in packs of cigarettes. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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The concept of baseball cards as collectibles was a natural evolution of the hobby. Beginning in the mid-1970s, baby boomers began repurchasing the cards that were links to their youths. Eventually, baseball-card shows were organized across the country to stimulate the purchase of older and newer cards. Older cards that once were bought for pennies now were valued in dollars. Certain “star cards” in mint condition, featuring popular players or Hall of Famers, were valued at hundreds. Soon, cards were worth thousands of dollars. Other companies, including Donruss, Fleer, and Upper Deck, entered the baseball-card business during the 1980s. Then came Studio, Stadium, Pacific, and Pinnacle, among many others. In 1991, Topps ceased including gum with its cards, as a result of complaints that gum stains devalued the cards. In the 1990s, baseball-card design became state of the art, with dazzlingly visual graphics. Companies were offering multiple sets during a single season as well as “inserts,” or special limited-edition subsets. They began including cards personally autographed by ballplayers as well as cards that included tiny strips of game-used bats and game-worn uniforms. By 2000, a pack of baseball cards cost dollars, rather than nickels and dimes. The following year, Topps celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in the baseball-card business by adding thousands of vintage cards to its packs, including redemption chits (vouchers)

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Beckett, James. The Official 2002 Price Guide for Baseball Cards. 21st edition. New York: House of Collectibles, 2001. Green, Paul M., and Donn Pearlman. Making Money with Baseball Cards: A Handbook of Insider Secrets and Strategies. Chicago: Bonus Books, 1989. Lemke, Robert F., ed. 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards. 10th edition. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2000. Pearlman, Donn. Collecting Baseball Cards: How to Buy Them, Store Them, Trade Them, and Keep Track of Their Value as Investments. 3rd edition. Chicago: Bonus Books, 1991.

Bungalows

for 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie cards, the company’s most celebrated card.

Bungalows Bungalows were simple houses built across the United States in the first decades of the twentieth century. They were usually small, with sloping roofs and front porches. Their simple style, free of excess ornamentation, made them affordable for many Americans. Because of their availability, more Americans were able to enjoy the benefits of home ownership. The bungalow style came from a number of influences. Two architects, brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (1870–1954), began designing what came to be called “Craftsman” bungalows after 1903 in Pasadena, California. They were inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England, an art and design style that used forms from nature such as leaf patterns and flower shapes. The Greene brothers were also inspired by Asian architecture, which emphasized wood construction. They put these two styles together in the homes they built. The bungalow itself came from the architecture of India. (The term comes from the Indian word bangla, meaning “house.”) Its simple, functional style proved to be a good fit with the early twentieth-century mood at a time when overly ornate Victorian architecture was falling out of fashion. The bungalow fit the needs of the modern family. The bungalow might have stayed a regional California style were it not for the efforts of Edward Bok (1863–1930). Bok, the editor of the very popular magazine Ladies Home Journal,

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wanted to promote his image of the ideal American home, one in which women stayed at home with their children. Bok sought to encourage that image by popularizing a simpler home that would be easier to live in. He publicized the bungalow style and even offered architectural plans his readers could buy for five dollars. The houses cost between $1,500 to $5,000 to build. Many of Bok’s readers took advantage of the bungalow plans. Bungalows began springing up all across the United States. Although the popularity of the bungalow style faded after 1930, many examples still exist and are highly valued, proof of the enduring quality of bungalows. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Clark, Clifford E., Jr. The American Family Home. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

Al Capone (1899–1947) Chicago mob boss Al Capone, the most notorious gangster in American history, symbolized the breakdown of law and order following the passage of the Volstead Act. The Volstead Act ushered in Prohibition (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), which made the production and sale of alcohol illegal in 1919. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Capone came to Chicago, Illinois, as a young man. He took over the gang of Johnny Torrio (1882–1957) in 1925 and became immensely rich through bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling. Ruthless with rival gangs, Capone ordered the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre of 1929. His gunmen, disguised as police officers, used submachine guns to wipe out seven of Capone’s foes. Capone was finally convicted of income-tax evasion and sent to prison in 1931. After his release in 1939, he lived out the rest of his life in Florida, where he died in 1947. 350

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Capone has been portrayed in films by such actors as Rod Steiger (1925–; in Capone, 1959), Jason Robards (1922–2000;

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information “Al Capone.” Chicago Historical Society. http://www.chicagohs.org/ history/capone.html (accessed January 28, 2002). King, David C. Al Capone and the Roaring Twenties. Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch Press, 1999. Ness, Eliot, with Oscar Fraley. The Untouchables. New York: Messner, 1957.

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in The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, 1967), and Robert DeNiro (1943–; in The Untouchables, 1987). Capone was played by Neville Brand (1920–1992) in the television series The Untouchables (1959–63) and by William Forsythe (1955–) in that show’s syndicated revival (1993–94).

The Charleston Perhaps nothing represents the spirit of that decade called the “Roaring Twenties” so much as its biggest dance craze, the Charleston. As the 1920s began, the world was emerging from the horrors of World War I (1914–18), and economic prosperity was spreading among Americans. The solemn, repressive Victorian morals of the previous century seemed to be slipping away. Rebellious youths of the 1920s embraced the wild, the new, and the forbidden, including the hot jazz (see entry under 1900s— Music in volume 1) rhythms that were emerging in the cities. The racy dance called the Charleston was created by blacks before becoming wildly popular among whites. Named for the South Carolina city where it was born, many historians believe that the Charleston had its origins in slavery. African slaves were forbidden such leisurely postures as crossing their legs or raising their feet off the floor. The kicks and crossed knees of the Charleston are thought to represent the slaves’ sly rebellion against such rules. By the early 1900s, black Americans were dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) the Charleston in the South. By 1913, the dance had made its way north to New York City’s Harlem, the center of northern black culture. In 1921, the first black musical, Shuffle Along, played on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). African American dancer Maude Russell Rutherford (c. 1897–2001) danced the Charleston on stage, popularizing the dance for the first time

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among whites. Soon, the Charleston was the rage across the United States and Europe. The wild, sexy gyrations of the Charleston made it very popular with 1920s youth. Many of their parents’ generation called it “primitive” and “savage” and claimed that the dance would be the downfall of civilization. The Charleston was only one of many popular 1920s dances that had their roots in black culture. Others include the Turkey Trot, the Black Bottom, the Slow Drag, the Jitterbug, and the Cakewalk. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

Champion dancer Bee Jackson does the Charleston. HultonDeutsch Collection/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

“Charleston.” Dance History Archives. http:// www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3chrlst.htm (accessed January 28, 2002). Villacorta, Aurora S. Charleston, Anyone? Danville, IL: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1978.

Chrysler Building Its seventy-seven floors and stainless steel spire made the Chrysler Building for a short time the tallest building in the world at 1,046 feet. It was constructed between 1928 and 1930 by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) as company headquarters for the Chrysler Corporation. With its steel frame, the Chrysler Building is a “set-back” skyscraper (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), so called because each “stage” is slightly narrower than the one below, creating ledges at intervals all the way up. Its familiar stainless steel arcs, decorative masonry, and overhanging eagles are an instantly recognizable part of the New York skyline.

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Architect William van Alen (1882–1954) finished off the building in dramatic style. He had the entire top section constructed out of sight and lifted into position in under two hours. The building is now considered one of the best ex-

—Chris Routledge

For More Information The Chrysler Building. New York: Chrysler Tower Corporation, 1930. Dupre, Judith. Skyscrapers. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal, 1996. Great Buildings Collection. http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/ Chrysler_Building.html (accessed on January 28, 2002).

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amples of the “Art Deco” style and an icon (symbol) of 1920s America.

Cocktail Hour The “cocktail hour” was an hour or two of refined, civilized relaxation after work and before dinner when adults had an alcoholic drink—a cocktail—and chatted with friends. The ritual is usually associated with the Jazz Age and Prohibition (1920–33; see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), and with the post–World War II (1939–45) era. The beginnings of cocktail hour are obscure, but cocktail historian Stephen Visakay says that since New York hotels were already serving tea at 5 o’clock in the early twentieth century, “it was a short leap to the 5 o’clock cocktail hour.” Cocktail hour was symbolized by urbane, sophisticated people sipping a martini and enjoying hors d’oeuvres at a club, and was associated with the Hollywood elite such as Cary Grant (1904–1986; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993). By the 1950s, it had become a common suburban ritual. Cocktail hour—and cocktail culture—made a brief comeback in the mid-1990s, celebrated in films such as Swingers (1996) and in the music of bands like Combustible Edison. —Karl Rahder

For More Information “History of Cocktails.” Cocktail Times. http://www.cocktailtimes.com/ hist_cocktails (accessed January 28, 2002). Lanza, Joseph. The Cocktail: The Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche. New York: Picador, 1997. Rothenberg, Randall. “The Swank Life.” Esquire (April 1997): pp. 70–79. Visakay, Stephen. Vintage Bar Ware. Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1997.

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Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) In 1927, aviator Charles Lindbergh accomplished the thenunprecedented feat of flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean. “Lucky Lindy” departed New York’s Roosevelt Field at 7:52 A.M. on May 20. Thirty-three and a half hours later, he landed his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, at Le Bourget Field, on the outskirts of Paris. The nonstop flight, which covered 3,610 miles, instantly transformed the twenty-five-year-old flyer into an international celebrity and media star. He was hailed throughout Europe. He was honored with parades in New York and Washington. President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) presented him with the Distinguished Flying Cross. Lindbergh was destined to make headlines not only for his aviation feats. In what was one of the most notorious and highly publicized crimes of the twentieth century, his twentymonth-old son was kidnapped from the family’s New Jersey compound in 1932. The infant’s body eventually was discovered in the nearby woods. The crime won Lindbergh much public sympathy and resulted in passage of the “Lindbergh Law,” making kidnapping a federal offense. Then Lindbergh’s reputation was tarnished in the wake of the pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic pronouncements he made prior to World War II (1939–45). Such rhetoric made him a national disgrace. He earned further disgrace by attacking President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) and embracing an isolationist foreign policy (one that called for the United States not to get involved in European problems). He eventually supported the United States following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and worked with the Air Force. Lindbergh went on to author several books which regained him some public respectability. He died in 1974. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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“Charles A. Lindbergh History.” The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation. http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/history/calbio.html (accessed January 25, 2002). Charles Lindbergh Home Page. http://www.charleslindbergh.com (accessed January 25, 2002). Demarest, Chris L. Lindbergh. New York: Crown, 1993. Giblin, James Cross. Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero. New York: Clarion Books, 1997. Lindbergh, Charles A. The Spirit of St. Louis. New York: Scribner, 1953.

Miss America Pageant At the 1984 Miss America Pageant, Vanessa Williams (left) became the first African American to win the crown. Runner-up Suzette Charles (right) held the title for two months after Williams resigned. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Miss America Pageant The Miss America Pageant has been part of American popular culture since 1921. Since its beginning, the pageant has reflected the changing social values of the population, although usually more slowly than the rest of the population. Issues such as racial equality and social conscience have only become a reality in the pageant since the early 1980s. Over the years, contestants have been 1920s flappers (see entry under 1920s— Fashion in volume 2), then glamour girls, then scholars and, by the 1980s, social activists. The pageant is often ridiculed as out of step with the times. Even so, Americans still watch the pageant on television (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) in very large numbers. The pageant began as part of a plan by Atlantic City, New Jersey, merchants. They wanted to find a way to extend their tourist season past Labor Day. They agreed to hold a gala festival that would include a beauty pageant. It was first called the

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National Beauty Tournament, but later the title was changed to Miss America. Originally a contest of physical beauty only, in 1938 the talent competition became a regular part of the contest. The first college scholarship was given in 1945. Since then, the scholarship fund has grown, and it is now the largest single source of scholarship money for American women. Just as America’s society was experiencing great change in the 1960s, the pageant also faced change. In 1968, over two hundred members of the emerging feminist movement picketed outside Convention Hall during the pageant. Although the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) had brought African Americans into many areas of popular culture beginning as early as the 1940s, the first black contestant did not contend for the crown of Miss America until 1970, when Cheryl Brown of Iowa participated. It was not until 1984 that Vanessa Williams (1963–) became the first African American winner. In the mid-1980s, the pageant decided that social activism should be a part of the pageant. Each contestant was required to choose an issue and to develop a platform on that issue. Since then, platforms have included AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) education, literacy, and veteran’s rights. The Miss America Pageant continues to change with society but still retains some of the original innocence of those first pageants so long ago. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information Bivans, Ann-Marie. Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown. New York: MasterMedia Limited, 1991. Deford, Frank. There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America. New York: Avon Books, 1971. Goldman, William. Hype and Glory. New York: Villard, 1990. Miss American Organization. Miss America. http://www.missamerica.org (accessed January 28, 2002). Osborne, Angela Saulino. Miss America: The Dream Lives On. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1995.

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Penicillin—the most famous and one of the most powerful infection fighters of the twentieth century—was discovered by

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Alexander Fleming (1881–1955) at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England, in 1928. The story goes that Fleming was cleaning out discarded glassware in the laboratory, when he noticed that a green mold seemed to be killing bacteria stored in a petri dish, the special glassware used to grow laboratory specimens. Fleming identified an agent in the green mold that became known as penicillin. It took a further ten years for Fleming’s research to be taken seriously. Penicillin was at the forefront of the fight against disease throughout the late twentieth century. It controls many bacterial infections, from minor strep throats to killers such as bacterial meningitis. Penicillin is not a wonder drug. It is useless against some common infections, including tuberculosis, and it triggers an allergic reaction in many people. Nevertheless, penicillin has saved millions of lives, and paved the way for other, more powerful, antibiotics. Without them, even minor injuries and simple surgical procedures would be highly dangerous. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Gottfried, Ted. Alexander Fleming: Discoverer of Penicillin. New York: Franklin Watts, 1997. Jacobs, Francine. Breakthrough: The True Story of Penicillin. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1985. Wainwright, Milton. Miracle Cure: The Story of Penicillin and the Golden Age of Antibiotics. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990.

Prohibition Prohibition became law through the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in January 1919. It was enforced through the Volstead Act of the same year. Prohibition made the sale, transport, and manufacture of alcoholic drinks illegal. It was backed by the Prohibitionist Party and by reformers such as ministers, doctors, and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The ban lasted from 1919 to 1933 and was an attempt to control moral behavior. Unfortunately, Prohibition had the opposite effect. Prohibition made drinking fashionable and exciting. Illegal bars known as “speakeasies” sprang up and the bootleggers—makers and suppliers of illegal alcohol—became heroes. Gangsters

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made fortunes from making and importing alcohol. During Prohibition, the penalty for selling just one drink was five years in jail. Before long, the prisons could not cope with the influx of inmates. Prohibition made the public lose respect for lawmakers and politicians. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in December 1933. It remains the only repealed amendment in the history of the Constitution. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996. Sinclair, Andrew. Era of Excess: A Social History of the Prohibition Movement. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.

Prom A rite of passage for generations of American teenagers for nearly a century, the high school prom is usually the first formal event in the lives of young people. For many teenagers, the prom is the most stressful event of their lives. It intensifies peer pressure over issues of inclusion and exclusion. Some common stresses include, Will I get a date? Will my choice of a date change my reputation? Who will be excluded from the prom, and why? The word “prom” was first used in the 1890s as a shortened form of “promenade,” a reference to formal dances in which the guests would display their fashions and dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) skills during the evening’s grand march. In the United States, it came to be believed by parents and educators that a prom, or formal dinner-dance, would be an important lesson in social skills, especially in a theoretically classless society that valued behavior over breeding. The prom was seen as a way to instill manners into children, all under the watchful eye of chaperons.

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The first proms were held in the 1920s. By the 1930s, proms were common across the country. For many older Americans, the prom was a modest, home-grown affair in the school gymnasium, often decorated with crepe-paper streamers. Promgoers were well dressed but not lavishly decked out: boys wore jacket and tie and girls their Sunday dress. Couples danced to

music provided by a local amateur band or a record player. After the 1960s, and especially after the 1980s, the high-school prom in many areas became a serious exercise in conspicuous consumption, with boys renting expensive tuxedos and girls attired in designer gowns. Stretch limousines were hired to drive the prom-goers to expensive restaurants or discos for an all-night extravaganza, with alcohol, drugs, and sex as added ingredients, at least more openly than before. Whether simple or lavish, proms have always been more or less traumatic events for adolescents who worry about self-image and

Teens jitterbug the night away at their high school prom in 1953. Corbis/Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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fitting in with their peers. Prom night can be a devastating experience for socially awkward teens, for those who do not secure dates, or for gay or lesbian teens who cannot relate to the heterosexual bonding of prom night. In 1980, Aaron Fricke (1962–) sued his school’s principal in Cumberland, Rhode Island, for the right to bring Paul Guilbert as his prom date, and won. Since the 1990s, alternative proms have been organized in some areas for same-sex couples, as well as “couple-free” proms to which all students are welcome. Susan Shadburne’s 1998 video, Street Talk and Tuxes, documents a prom organized by and for homeless youth. —Edward Moran

For More Information Best, Amy L. Prom Night: Youth, Schools, and Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, 2000. Murphy, Sharon. Celebrate Life! A Guide for Planning All Night Alcohol/Drug-Free Celebrations for Teens. Richmond, VA: Operation Prom/Graduation, 1994. Prom and PromDress Home. http://www.promdress.net (accessed January 28, 2002). Prom Guide. http://www.promguide.com (accessed January 28, 2002). Shadburne, Susan. Street Talk and Tuxes (video). Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ: Susan Shadburne Productions, 1998. “Who Are You Taking to the Prom This Year?” Lesbian and Gay Rights: American Civil Liberties Union. http://aclu.org/issues/gay/prom.html (accessed January 28, 2002). Yourprom.com. http://www.yourprom.com (accessed January 28, 2002).

Red Scare During World War I (1914–18), the United States adopted laws designed to discourage dissent and punish any act that might interfere with the war effort. After the war’s end, this repressive (domineering) climate continued. The main targets of the repressive efforts were various leftists, Socialists, labor organizers, Communists, and others, all lumped together in the public mind as “Reds.”

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Fueling the public fears were dramatic social changes after the war. The era saw strikes, race riots, and widespread political agitation, including bombings. One of the bombs, in June 1919, damaged the home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer (1872–1936), who led what were known as the “Red Raids.”

Route 66

Ignoring the U.S. Constitution, Palmer’s agents arrested and detained many suspected “radicals.” Some of these were recent Russian immigrants, and, in December 1919, Palmer ordered 249 of them deported to the Soviet Union. The climax of the Red Scare came in January 1920, when Palmer ordered the arrest of nearly 10,000 people suspected of activities that threatened the wellbeing of the United States. Many were held without any formal charges against them and held in jail without bail (release from jail after depositing money with the court to ensure the person released will appear for a trial). Almost 600 foreigners were deported, many of whom faced deportation hearings without the aid of lawyers. Though a public backlash eventually brought an end to the Red Scare, the socialist or radical beliefs that the Red Scare tried to stamp out never did find a strong footing in the United States. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Gengarelly, Anthony W. Distinguished Dissenters and Opposition to the 1919–1920 Red Scare. New York: Edward Mellen Press, 1996. Kovel, Joel. Red Hunting in the Promised Land: Anticommunism and the Making of America. New York: Basic Books, 1994. Murray, Robert K. Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955.

Route 66 Between the 1930s and 1960s, U.S. Route 66—known affectionately as “America’s Highway” and the “Mother Road”— defined the culture of the American automobile. The 2,400mile-long roadway ran through the American Midwest and Southwest, extending from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. Unlike regional roads that began and ended at specific destinations, Route 66 followed a meandering path between the two cities. Leaving Chicago, its course was generally southerly, linking hundreds of cities and small towns in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The roadway was assigned the numerical designation “66” in 1926. It quickly became the favored thoroughfare for truckers, who relished driving along the flat Southwestern prairie and through its temperate climate. During the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), Route 66 was the major pathway leading Dust Bowl farmers who had been uprooted by soil erosion and the resulting dust

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Wrink’s Food Market on old Route 66 in Lebanon, Missouri. Photograph by John S. Stewart. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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storms in the south central states to the promised land of California. As depicted in the great American novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck (1902–1968), the road was a symbol of these displaced Americans’ quest for stability and prosperity. Stability, however, was not a characteristic of the road itself: Travel on Route 66 often was bothersome and sometimes perilous. Much of it remained unpaved. Riding on it was bumpy and uncomfortable at best. The route could be downright muddy and messy during inclement weather. The paving of the entire route was finally completed in 1938. After World War II (1939–45), families resettling in the Southwest and in California and vacationers relishing their postwar prosperity frequently traveled on Route 66. Given the length of a trip along the roadway, diners (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1), cabins, motor courts (motels), and gas stations were needed to feed and house travelers and to fuel their cars. All became components of America’s newly established road culture, the remnants of which exist to this day. The gas stations, fast-food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) restaurants, and motels

In the 1950s, the importance of Route 66 began declining with the development of a national highway system (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), which allowed motorists even faster cross-country access. Eventually, the roadway was taken out of service. By the 1970s, practically all of the original Route 66 had been replaced by modern, fourlane superhighways. Nonetheless, the mystique of Route 66 lives on. The roadway was celebrated in popular culture first in a song: “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (1946), composed by Bobby Troup (1918–1999), a pianist and ex-marine who was driving west after World War II. The lyrics were a musical map of the route, citing its various stops. The song, recorded by Nat King Cole (1919–1965), quickly became a hit. The roadway was further immortalized in the television series Route 66 (1960–1964), in which two young drifters, Tod Stiles (played by Martin Milner,1931–) and Buzz Murdock (George Maharis, 1928–), rode cross-country in a Corvette. Tod and Buzz traveled through cities and towns, often encountering fellow outcasts and dreamers. That some of their destinations were not actually located on Route 66 only added to the roadway’s romanticism, mythology, and historical significance.

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that dot almost every major American roadway are linked to the post–World War II roadside architecture established along Route 66 and other, similar roadways.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Crump, Spencer. Route 66: America’s First Main Street. Corona del Mar, CA: Zeta Publishers, 1996. Historic Route 66. http://www.library.arizona.edu/users/mount/route66. html (accessed January 28, 2002). Kelly, Susan Croce; photographs by Quinta Scott. Route 66: The Highway and Its People. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. National Historic Route 66 Federation. Explore Route 66! http://www. national66.com/index.html (accessed January 28, 2002). Snyder, Tom. Route 66 Traveler’s Guide and Roadside Companion. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.

Scopes Monkey Trial The Scopes Monkey Trial dramatized the great debate over the teaching of evolution in America’s public schools. By the

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1920s, many people had accepted the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin (1809–1882). His theory stated that all life evolved from lower forms. Many Christians, however, continued to believe in the biblical story of creation, in which God created humans in one single act. This belief is known as creationism. This debate was an important divide in the United States between traditional values (which supported creationism) and modern values (which supported evolution). In 1925, Dayton, Tennessee, teacher John Scopes (1900–1970) was arrested for violating Tennessee’s law against the teaching of evolution in schools. He had responded to a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a free-speech protection group. The ACLU offered to defend anyone willing to teach evolution in Tennessee in violation of the state’s ban on teaching the subject. The ACLU put forth the offer in order to bring attention to what they considered a violation of free-speech rights. Scopes’ trial was the major news event in the summer of 1925. It was the first trial to be broadcast on the radio. Millions of people listened in, gripped by the debate over evolution. Clarence Darrow (1857–1938), a famous lawyer of the time, defended Scopes on behalf of the ACLU. William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925), a three-time presidential candidate and secretary of state for President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), led the prosecution. Bryan firmly believed that everything in the Bible was literally true. The biggest moment of the trial came when Darrow called Bryan to the stand as a witness and then proceeded to ask him all kinds of questions about the Bible. Bryan’s answers sounded very foolish to many modern people who either heard Bryan on the radio or read about the trial in the newspapers. His testimony at the trial made the traditional-values people, or fundamentalists, look foolish as well. Scopes was found guilty, however, and fined $100. Although Scopes, and the ACLU, lost the trial, the publicity surrounding the trial resulted in a victory for evolution and a defeat for the fundamentalists. The teaching of evolution went unchallenged thereafter. The trial reinforced the old American notion that separation between the government and religion was a good and necessary thing. —Timothy Berg

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Conkin, Paul K. When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 1998.

Standardized Testing In the century since standardized intelligence and achievement tests were first introduced, they have gained and lost favor many times both among education experts and among the general public. Some experts insist that some form of testing is necessary to evaluate both inborn intelligence and achievement in school; others claim that such tests must always contain prejudice of some sort, and that, at best, they discover who is most skilled at taking the tests.

Standardized Testing

Jordan, Robert J., writer and producer. Landmark American Trials: Scopes Trial, 1925 (video). Beverly Hills, CA: World Almanac Video, 2000. Larson, Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Linder, Douglas. “Tennessee vs. John Scopes; The ‘Monkey Trial,’ 1925.” Famous Trials in American History. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/ projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm (accessed January 28, 2002).

The idea of testing children and adults to determine their level of intelligence or education grew out of the same scientific spirit that fueled the theory of evolution and inherited characteristics proposed by Charles Darwin (1809–1892) during the late nineteenth century. As scientists began to believe that some qualities were passed from one generation to another, the idea took hold that intelligence was one of those inherited qualities. In the late 1800s, a French scientist named Alfred Binet (1857–1911) designed a test to determine intelligence levels. Binet’s test was eventually given the name “Intelligence Quotient,” or IQ test. The first large-scale use of the new IQ test in the United States occurred during World War I (1914–18). Between 1917 and 1919, the U.S. armed services tested over two million soldiers to rate their intelligence. In 1926, scientists and educators who had worked on the army testing program created the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which was used by colleges to help determine which applicants should be admitted. In 1948, the Educational Testing Service was established to create and score standardized tests. Since the creation of standardized test, there has been much debate over their accuracy and fairness. Those who support testing argue that the tests are necessary to show students’ level

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of learning and ability to learn. Many others insist that the tests do not show a student’s mental ability, but only her or his degree of comfort with a classroom testing situation. Critics of tests have long claimed that tests favor wealthy white people and are unfairly biased against the poor and people of color. Because of these criticisms, testing decreased somewhat in the politically active 1960s and 1970s. The 1990s saw a renewed interest in standardized testing as lawmakers began to demand that schools prove that their students were learning. The 1994 Elementary and Secondary Education Act tied federal funding of schools to student scores on national standardized tests. Many teachers, students, and parents have complained that such enforced testing reduces students’ love of learning and forces teachers to spend most of their classroom time teaching test subjects. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “A Brief History of I.Q. Testing and Intelligence.” Book Rags. http:// www.bookrags.com/iqtest/historyofiq.html (accessed January 28, 2002). Educational Testing Service.” The Atlantic Monthly (Vol. 276, no. 3, September 1995): pp. 84–97. “History of the SAT: A Timeline.” Frontline: PBS Online. http://www. pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/where/timeline.html (accessed January 28, 2002). Squires, Sally. “Guiding Your Child Through Testing Mania: The Reason There Are Suddenly So Many Standardized Exams.” Family Life (November 1, 2001): pp. 60–66.

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1930s The Great Depression Disrupts America After the Roaring Twenties, when business boomed and people thought the future looked bright, the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, seemed a minor problem that would quickly remedy itself. America had suffered hard times before; most Americans thought the economy would soon turn around so people could get on with life. The Great Depression (1929–41) thus came as a huge surprise to most people. Of a population of 122 million in 1930, 750,000 people were laid off without pay and another 2.4 million capable workers had no jobs at all. America was definitely not back on track. The economy showed no sign of turning around. The country’s largest, most powerful companies had to cut back. The banking system collapsed. Factory workers, miners, and farmers were left unemployed and in many cases penniless. Schools closed. Children could not get enough food. Married women were fired to favor single women or men. The decade was marred by the suffering of farmers on unworkable “dust bowl” land, hungry children, underpaid workers, and eager, desperate people who could not find work of any kind. To turn the country around, the government had to step in and help out. The New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) were a set of government programs designed to stimulate the economy. The New Deal offered temporary work, financial support, loans, and bank account

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Swing: The most popular music of the decade. The term became popular with Duke Ellington’s 1932 hit song “It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing.”

1930s At a Glance What We Said:

Suck up: To try to gain favor through flattery.

“All the way”: At a soda fountain, an order of chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream. Brawl: A party or dance. Also called a toddle or pig fight. Cat: A fan of swing music. Also called an alligator. Someone with a “tin ear” did not like the new music. Chamber of commerce: Toilet. Also called “crapper” or “honey house.” Coffin nail: Cigarette. Cramp your style: To bother or interfere with something a person is doing. “Crap!”: “I am upset!” Dead hoofer: A bad dancer. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”: These words said by Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) at the end of the film Gone with the Wind (1939) drew attention because they included a word— ”damn”—that was taboo. They have become some of the most famous words ever uttered on screen. Knuckling down: A term to describe a way of shooting marbles by resting one’s knuckles on the ground. A good player could also “clean the ring,” or shoot all of an opponent’s marbles outside the playing ring. “Okey dokey”: “Okay.”

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Tin Lizzie: A car. Also called “puddle jumper,” “Spirit of Detroit,” and “Henry’s go-cart,” the latter in reference to automobile pioneer Henry Ford. What We Read: Cimarron (1930): Considered the best novel by Edna Ferber, Cimarron illustrates the settlement of Oklahoma during the Land Rush of 1889 and the complex social changes in an emerging American city. Lone Cowboy (1930): Autobiography of Will James, a man who spent many years as a cowboy on the western plains and became a successful writer and illustrator of the Western experience, especially for children. The Good Earth (1931): Drawing on her personal experience growing up in China as the child of missionaries, Pearl S. Buck wrote this novel in about three months, which described the life in China in a way that had never before been published. The book remained on the best-seller lists for nearly two years and won Buck a Pulitzer Prize in 1932. The Epic of America (1931): This history of America and the American vision by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian James Truslow Adams sold five hundred thousand copies. Anthony Adverse (1933): Known as the best historical novel by Hervey Allen, this book tells a rambling

insurance to Americans in need. The government projects got people working and kick-started the economy. By the end of the decade, America was getting back on track as new consumerproduct manufacturers and service companies expanded their offerings. These new types of companies would take the place of more industry-oriented manufacturers that had dominated the economy in previous decades.

1930s At a Glance (continued) story of life in early America. The royalties from the book sales supported Allen and his family for the rest of his life. Good-Bye, Mr. Chips (1934): One of the two most popular books by James Hilton, this novel tells the story of a teacher who spends his entire career at an English school and details the changes in the character and his community from 1870 to 1933. Gone with the Wind (1936): The historical novel by Margaret Mitchell which won her many awards, including the Pulitzer, details life in the South during the Civil War. Although some criticized its depiction of blacks, the novel continues to influence many people’s views of life in the South at that time. The Yearling (1938): Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel about a boy and his pet deer was originally written and marketed to adults, but has since become a favorite of children. The Grapes of Wrath (1939): John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel told of the struggles of common people during the Depression. It was the first and most widely read of the “protest” novels published during the era. It had such a strong message of social protest that it was often banned, burned, and debated on the radio.

The Big Trail (1930): A Western starring John Wayne in his first role. City Lights (1931): A silent romantic comedy directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. At a time when “talkies” were all the rage, Chaplin produced what is considered his best film. City Lights features Chaplin’s famous character “The Little Tramp” in a melodramatic story about friendship and the value of life. Public Enemy (1931): Gangster film starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow, and Mae Clarke. 42nd Street (1933): A musical starring Warren Baxter, Bebe Daniels, and Dick Powell. Gold Diggers of 1933: A musical choreographed by Busby Berkley and starring Ginger Rogers, Joan Blondell, and Dick Powell and featuring the popular song “We’re in the Money.” Dracula (1931): Horror film starring Bela Lugosi, with his deep Hungarian accent, brought new meaning to screen villains. More than thirty horror films were produced in the 1930s, with sound effects like creaking doors, howling wolves, and crushing bones. The New Ziegfeld Follies (1934): Popular variety show starring Fanny Brice, Jane Froman, Vilma and Buddy Edsen, and Eugene and Willie Howard.

What We Watched:

It Happened One Night (1934): This screwball comedy, starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, featured the witty banter of the two strong leading characters.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): A drama about life on the battlefield during World War I, starring Lew Ayres.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): The first feature-length animated film was presented by Walt Disney.

Despite the economic woes of the decade, popular culture took great strides. The 1930s are known as the golden age of both cinema and radio. Technological advances resulted in films of superior quality. The still-wealthy movie studios produced films with extravagant settings that let audiences escape their personal problems, if only for a short time. Radio became a more popular medium than in the previous decade. By the end

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1930s At a Glance (continued) Hellzapoppin’ (1938): Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson performed slapstick routines to the delight of New York audiences in this popular musical that ran for 1,404 performances. Gone with the Wind (1939): Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable star in this epic film about the Civil War. The film was criticized for its portrayal of blacks, but eventually became known as one of the best films in history. It was the first Hollywood blockbuster to include color. The Wizard of Oz (1939): This musical, starring Judy Garland, whisks audiences into a fantasyland of magic and wonder. The film included such popular songs as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

captured the feeling of the 1930s and was rarely off the air. Guiding Light: The first soap opera debuted in 1937. It continued as a radio program until 1956 and can still be seen as a television show. The War of the Worlds: In 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s science fiction novel. Listeners thought the presentation was a serious announcement of Martian invasion and panic spread throughout the country. Amos ’n’ Andy: The fifteen-minute broadcast literally stopped other activities each evening as listeners across the nation tuned in to listen to the comedians throughout the 1930s. “Flash!”: News anchors periodically interrupted scheduled radio programs with this pronouncement, followed by a description of the latest news from Europe. Who We Knew:

What We Listened To: Lowell Thomas’s news reports: His popular program started in 1930. The Lone Ranger: Western radio drama debuted in 1932. Tom Mix: This radio program started in 1933, though he and his Wonder Horse Tony had an international base of fans from his more than 180 films. “Fireside chats”: President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first radio address occurred in 1933. “Music Goes Round and Round” (1935): This hit swing song by Edward Farley and Michael Riley

Jack Benny (1894–1974): One of the most popular entertainers in America made audiences laugh for more than fifty years. Benny played an everyday man whose vanity, penny-pinching, and anxiousness gave him ample material to make everyday troubles seem funny. In his most famous skit, a burglar asks Benny, “Your money or your life?” After a long pause, Benny responds, “I’m thinking it over!” Fanny Brice (1891–1951): One of the most famous vaudeville stars from the Ziegfeld Follies of the 1920s. She had her own radio program from 1938 to 1950. She went on to be a movie star and the 1968 play Funny Girl was based on her life.

of the 1930s, about 80 percent of American households owned a radio. Radio was so popular that movie theaters would even stop the featured film to broadcast the Amos ’n’ Andy show (1928–60) to audiences every night.

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With the repeal of Prohibition (1920–33), people could legally make and sell alcohol again. Taverns opened across the country. Jukeboxes and recorded music in “juke joints,” taverns,

1930s At a Glance (continued) James Cagney (1899–1986): The actor most identified with the high-profile criminals that the American public was so interested in during the 1930s. Because Cagney did not personally enjoy his tough-guy image, he sought out more respectable roles over the years. Fr. Charles E. Coughlin (1891–1979): A radio priest from Michigan during the Depression. Coughlin’s programs were broadcast on sixteen stations and had a huge following. His listeners, mainly Roman Catholics, heard his opinions about the moral consequences of current events and about politics. The conservative priest eventually became most well known for his anti-Semitic views and for his support of German dictator Adolf Hitler. Joan Crawford (1904?–1977): This glamorous MGM actress, who won fame playing carefree flappers in the 1920s, took on hard-working “shopgirl” roles in the 1930s. Two of her movies were Paid and Possessed.

enhanced her stunning beauty in the movie Anne Christie (1930). Martha Graham (1894–1991): The most influential choreographer in America. Her Primitive Mysteries of 1931 is a masterpiece of modern dance, and one of the first to incorporate Graham’s inventive spiral movements. Herbert Hoover (1874–1964): U.S. president during the nation’s most devastating economic crisis. Although some of his programs to deal with the Depression were successful, and some were used by his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the public mocked Hoover for his seeming indifference to their plight. “Hooverisms,” slang that expressed the common person’s difficulties, were coined, including “Hoovervilles,” shantytowns found in every large city in America, and “Hoovercarts,” cars pulled by horses because the driver could not afford gas.

John Dillinger (1903–1934): Notorious bank robber and murderer who dodged police between September 1933 and July 1934. During that time, he killed ten people, wounded seven, robbed banks, and escaped from jail three times. His flight was detailed daily in newspapers and on the radio.

Howard Hughes (1905–1975): At the beginning of the 1930s, Hughes was the most famous movie producer in the United States and the owner of the Hughes Tool Company that was worth $75 million. In 1935 he broke the air-speed record; in 1937 he was named the best aviator of the year by President Roosevelt, he set a record for flying around the world at record pace in 1938. By the end of his life he was worth $650 million and had become a bizarre recluse and drug addict.

Greta Garbo (1905–1990): The delight of sound in movies was perhaps no more evident than when sultry actress Garbo uttered her first lines: “Gimme a viskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don’t be stingy, baby.” Garbo’s silky, accented voice

Lindbergh baby: Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the twenty-month-old baby of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped on March 1, 1932. The country closely followed the hunt for the perpetrator. Bruno Hauptmann, an illegal immigrant from

or soda fountains offered musical accompaniment to activities that had previously been silent or had relied on live bands. With the financial support and vision of the New Deal, the country heard a larger variety of music than ever before during the decade. The country’s landscape was forever changed by the massive scale and number of building projects that dotted the country.

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1930s At a Glance (continued) Germany, was convicted of the crime and executed in 1936, although some say the evidence against him was scanty. Joe Louis (1914–1981): Heavyweight boxing champion from 1938 to 1949. Louis was the first black man to become known by name across America. He symbolized blacks’ ability to conquer racism and discrimination. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945): The thirty-second president of the United States led the country out of the Depression with his “New Deal” plan

that enlarged the responsibilities of the federal government and into World War II. Mae West (1892–1980): The most sexual movie star and playwright of the Depression era. After writing Broadway hits, West became a screen star. By 1935, she was the highest-paid woman in the country. One of her most famous lines was “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?” Walter Winchell (1897–1972): The most popular American gossip columnist. His stories about celebrities won him a broad fan base. His syndicated column ran in more than 170 newspapers and his radio show was heard by 20 million listeners.

Some of the most impressive skyscrapers and most complicated engineering projects were completed during the 1930s. The Empire State Building (1931) changed the New York skyline. The Boulder Dam (1935; renamed the Hoover Dam in 1947), was an engineering feat that offered a regular supply of electricity to Los Angeles, California, for the first time when it opened in 1935. The Golden Gate Bridge, which was built between 1933 and 1937, spans a two-mile passage between Oakland and San Francisco, California. The Golden Gate stands as a testament to the genius of modern bridge design. In general, though, life in America during the 1930s was shaped as a result of the Great Depression.

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1930s Commerce Following the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the American economy went into a free fall that lasted for an entire decade. This economic collapse, which eventually grew to include every economy in the world, was known as the Great Depression (1929–41). Across the economy, the market for American goods dried up. America had become the most powerful economy in the world on the strength of its industrial manufacturing, but by the 1930s demand for rail products, steel, and textiles had virtually disappeared. The nation’s leading industry, the automobile industry, shrank during the decade as several small, independent carmakers were forced to close. Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler were the largest automobile manufacturers, supplying nearly 75 percent of the automobiles sold at the beginning of the decade and about 90 percent by the end. In the automobile industry as well as in other manufacturing industries, more and more workers were let go. Unemployment began to climb in the Midwest where most of the manufacturing companies were centered. Workers during this decade tried to combat job insecurity and poor wages by organizing into unions and striking. Some of the most violent, and deadly, strikes in American history occurred during the 1930s. Unlike the peaceful demonstrations of the late twentieth century, these strikes were vigorously opposed by employers. Companies would hire strong-arm tough guys to protect their property and to intimidate workers. In some cases, even the police would physically struggle with strikers. One of the bloodiest conflicts between labor and management was in Harlan County, Kentucky, and lasted the entire decade. Two-thirds of the county’s workers were employed by coal companies. The Depression reduced wages and eliminated jobs, making workers worry about their future. More than two hundred children died from 1929 through 1931 in the county. Coal miners unionized and began to battle with coal companies for their livelihoods. Both the miners and the company guards used guns to intimidate the other side. The decade-long battle—

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filled with bombings, shootings, and fistfights—ended with a strike that the federal government had to end. In addition to the hardships suffered by workers and the unemployed, farmers also grew desperate during the 1930s. Crop prices fell and banks foreclosed on farms. To try to raise enough money to save their farms, farmers grew more crops, which drove crop prices further down. To make matters worse, there was a long drought, which rendered farmland into unusable “dust bowls” and literally ruined many farms. Many farmers forced off their land in Oklahoma journeyed westward, seeking a better life in California. The plight of these “Okies” was described in the novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck (1902–1968). Though industrial business in America suffered, new companies that made consumer products began to flourish. New products included Alka-Seltzer, ballpoint pens, Clairol hair coloring, and Fisher-Price toys. The economic supports of the New Deal—a set of government programs designed to stimulate the economy—paved the way for more and more of these consumer products to dominate the economy in the coming decades.

Alka-Seltzer The Bayer company’s Alka-Seltzer brand pain-reliever and antacid boasts speedy relief—and one of the most notable advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) campaigns in history. Alka-Seltzer was introduced in 1931 by Miles Laboratories (purchased by Bayer in 1979). The product was originally used by some consumers as a remedy for hangovers. Alka-Seltzer’s effervescent (fizzing) tablets release their active ingredients when dissolved in water. Each Alka-Seltzer tablet, which comes in origianl, lemon-lime, and cherry flavors, contains 1,916 milligrams of sodium bicarbonate, 1,000 milligrams of citric acid, and 325 milligrams of aspirin. Bayer also manufactures a range of variations on the basic product, including chewable Alka Mints and Alka-Seltzer PM for nighttime relief.

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Alka-Seltzer advertisements are considered classics. From 1954 to 1964, its broadcast commercials featured a cheerful animated character named “Speedy Alka-Seltzer,” whose voice was supplied by voice-over actor Dick Beals (1927–), and a

Ballpoint Pens

demonstration of two tablets fizzing after being dropped into a glass of water. Speedy, originally known as Sparky, was created by the Wade Advertising Agency in 1951. The brief ditty “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is,” composed by Tom Dawes (1943–) of Twin Star Music, became one of the most wellknown commercial jingles in advertising history. During the 1970s, a familiar Alka-Seltzer commercial, set in a restaurant, depicted a heartburn victim moaning “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” after giving in to a persistent waiter’s demand to order spicy meatballs. The popularity of Alka-Seltzer stems in part from the American consumer’s desire for quick solutions to the irritations of daily life. —Edward Moran

For More Information Bayer. Alka-Seltzer. http://www.alka-seltzer.com (accessed February 1, 2002). McGrath, Molly Wade. Top Sellers U.S.A.: Success Stories behind America’s Best-Selling Products from Alka-Seltzer to Zippo. New York: Morrow, 1983.

Ballpoint Pens A ballpoint pen is an inexpensive writing instrument whose point is a tiny ball bearing that rotates against a supply of semiliquid ink sealed in a cartridge. Most ballpoint pens are made of plastic or cheap metal. They are typically designed to be discarded after the ink runs dry. Others are designed so that their containers can be unscrewed and their ink cartridge replaced. The first of some 350 U.S. patents for such a device was issued to John Loud in 1888. No practical ballpoint pen was produced until 1938, when journalist Ladislo Biro (1899–1985) patented his own version in his native Hungary. Biro’s pen used the same kind of quick-drying, smudge-free ink used to print newspapers. After emigrating to Argentina, Biro applied for a new patent. His patent was licensed by the British government during World War II (1939–45) for the Royal Air Force, which sought a pen that would not leak at high altitudes. After the war, the Eversharp and Eberhard-Faber companies acquired the exclusive rights to Biro Pens of Argentina and began marketing ballpoint pens in the United States under the

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name of “Eversharp CA.” The CA stood for capillary action. (Capillary action is the adhesive force between the molecules of the container and the molecules of a liquid in contact with the container. If no other force interferes, the liquid flows higher and higher in the container.) Meanwhile, a Chicago entrepreneur, Milton Reynolds (1892–1976), ignoring Eversharp’s patent rights, started the Reynolds International Pen Company and began selling his own ballpoint, dubbed the “Reynolds Rocket.” Reynolds claimed that his pen could write under water, a feature promoted in advertisements by swimming star Esther Williams (1921–). In October 1945, Gimbels’ Department Store in New York City began retailing the pens for $12.50 each, selling out its entire stock of ten thousand on the first day. Another early manufacturer, the Frawley Pen Company, began marketing a retractable ballpoint called the Papermate. A successful Papermate promotional campaign featured sales agents writing on their customers’ shirts with the company’s pens and offering to replace the shirts if the ink did not wash out. Despite the hype (exaggerated publicity) surrounding ballpoint pens, consumers still hesitated to accept them fully because of the product’s unreliability. Fountain-pen manufacturers promoted more convenient ink-cartridge models and asked educators to join a campaign arguing that ballpoints impeded good penmanship. In Europe, the Bic pen, manufactured by French entrepreneur Baron Bich (1914–1994) under a royalty agreement with Biro, emerged as the first inexpensive, reliable ballpoint pen in the mass market. After 1960, ballpoint pens finally began to win mass acceptance as the writing instrument of choice around the world. —Edward Moran

For More Information

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Bellis, Mary. “The Battle of the Ballpoint Pens.” About.com. http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa101697.htm (accessed February 1, 2002). Bic World. http://www.bicworld.com (accessed February 1, 2002). Cobb, Vicki. The Secret Life of School Supplies. New York: Lippincott, 1981. “History of Office Products: Ballpoint Pen.” Write On! Business Solutions. http://www.writeonoffice.com/info/his_ballpnt.htm (accessed February 1, 2002). Whalley, Joyce Irene. Writing Implements and Accessories: From the Roman Stylus to the Typewriter. Detroit: Gale Research, 1975.

Clairol Hair Coloring revolutionized the way American women treated their hair. Introduced to the United States in 1931 by Lawrence M. Gelb (1898–1980), Clairol promoted hair coloring as an acceptable, appealing beauty treatment for every woman, not a risqué change for only the very bold. “Does she or doesn’t she?” became the familiar ad campaign for Clairol in the 1950s. More and more women began enhancing their hair colors.

Fisher-Price Toys

Clairol Hair Coloring

Clairol truly succeeded in making hair coloring like other cosmetics in 1956 with the introduction of “Miss Clairol,” the first do-it-yourself hair color. The product was sold with images of homemakers, mothers, and everyday women, not pictures of glamorous beauties. Miss Clairol was a hair color for anyone. From the introduction of Miss Clairol to the 1970s, the number of American women who colored their hair jumped from 7 to 40 percent. And by 2002, hair coloring had become such an acceptable cosmetic treatment that women no longer worried if people knew whether or not they colored their hair. Some changed their hair color on a whim; others boasted unusual hair colors that could not be mistaken for natural. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Clairol. http://clairol.com (accessed February 1, 2002). “Clairol’s Influence on American Beauty and Marketing.” Drug and Cosmetic Industry (August 1996). Gladwell, Malcolm. “True Colors.” New Yorker (March 22, 1999): pp. 70–81.

Fisher-Price Toys Along with LEGOs (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 4), Barbie dolls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3), and GI Joe (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4), Fisher-Price toys have been some of the most popular and successful toys in American history. Most children who grew up after World War II (1939–45) have had at least some experience playing with Fisher-Price toys. Their success came from their ability to give children the tools for imaginative play

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without confining them to only one activity. Fisher-Price toys were basic, but they allowed children to use their imaginations to create whole worlds with the toys. Herman Fisher (1898–1975), Irving Price (1884–1976), and Helen Schelle (1893–1984) began the Fisher-Price company in East Aurora, New York, in 1931. Although the company struggled to survive during the Great Depression (1929–41), when most people had little money for extras like toys, it managed to introduce three items—Granny Doodle, Dr. Doodle, and Snoopy Sniffer. These three toys became their early signature toys; that is, toys that were easily identifiable as Fisher-Price toys. In the two decades following World War II, newly affluent Americans began looking for toys for a new generation of children, a generation known as the “baby boom” (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). The toy industry boomed along with the population, and Fisher-Price rode the demographic wave. The company was one of the first to use plastics (see entry under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1) in its toys, making the toys feel modern and safer for small children. Over the years, Fisher-Price produced a number of toys that have since become classics. The Bubble Mower sent forth a stream of bubbles as kids pushed it across the carpet. The Corn Popper was a push toy that sent small colored balls flying inside a small clear-plastic dome as it was pushed along. Perhaps Fisher-Price’s most enduring toy has been the Little People, simple wooden (and later plastic) people with no arms and legs. Little People inhabited all kinds of structures, from dollhouses to parking garages to airplanes. A barn set came complete with toy animals, tractors, and fences. The company was acquired several times in its history, most recently by rival toy giant Mattel, in 1993. By the end of the twentieth century, it was continuing to make its mark as part of the everyday experience of millions of American children, just as it did with their parents in the 1950s and 1960s. —Timothy Berg

For More Information

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Cross, Gary. Kid’s Stuff. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. Fisher-Price: Oh, the Possibilities. http://www.fisher-price.com (accessed February 1, 2002). Fox, Bruce R., and Murray, John J. A Historical, Rarity, and Value Guide: Fisher-Price 1931–1963. New York: Books America, 1993.

1930s Fashion American fashions shifted in the 1930s. The 1920s had been a decade of excess. Fashions for both young men and women— the “sheiks” and “flappers”—grew increasingly extravagant. The Great Depression (1929–41) discouraged unnecessary spending on fashion. Americans tried to get by with what clothes they already had, make do with what clothes they could afford, or do without certain garments entirely. Extravagant fashions for different seasons were no longer affordable to many. Instead, practical clothing that could be worn in many different seasons and for many different occasions filled retail shops. Since most American women could not afford original French fashions, American designers soon created simpler copies of French designs in a variety of price ranges. The most popular dress for women was a simple shortsleeved print dress with a belted waist and a flowing calf-length skirt. Expensive fabrics like silk were replaced by synthetic fabrics or cotton. Instead of buying new outfits for each season, women instead began to accessorize their simple dresses with gloves, hats, jewelry, and the new leg-hugging, sheer nylons. Men wore high-waisted pants and jackets with wide, short lapels during the decade. Instead of tailored vests, many men wore knitted V-neck vests. The zipper, which had been invented nearly two decades before, was now a popular closure for many clothing items.

Nylon Wallace Carothers (1896–1937) invented nylon while working for the DuPont Company in the 1930s. The name “nylon” was originally a DuPont trademark. Nylon first appeared in the form of toothbrush bristles in 1938. Soon nylon became one of the most widely used man-made materials. It is used in ropes, plastic sheeting, netting, moldings, and woven fabrics. It is also used as an insulating material in electrical goods. Nylon takes

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the place of steel bearings, gears, and bushings (insulating linings for holes or tubes) in all kinds of machines. It is also widely used in medicine for making splints, sutures, braces and other items. At the start of the twenty-first century, nylon appears in almost all areas of life. Without it, many of the things people take for granted would not exist. Within two years of the first toothbrush bristles, nylon was being used to make lightweight fabrics for hosiery. Because they were so strong, nylon stockings (see entry under 1930s—Fashion in volume 2) were more popular than silk and soon became known as nylons. Nylon also replaced silk in parachutes, and in military slang a parachute jump was known as a “nylon letdown.” By the 1960s, nylon was widely used in objects from furniture to clothing. Occasionally, nylon has not always improved people’s lives. In the 1970s, synthetics such as nylon dominated fashion. Like its cousin polyester (see entry under 1970s—Fashion in volume 4), nylon tended to encourage sweating. In extreme cases, nylon shirts became charged with static electricity and made the wearer’s hair stand on end. Thankfully, nylon is currently most popularly used in sports wear and hosiery. Nevertheless, nylon is not far from being the wonder material it was once thought to be. Because it is so tough and resistant to wear and tear, it is ideal for floor coverings, tires, inflated balls, pumps, valves, containers, and car body parts. The invention of nylon made possible the cheap mass production of high-quality consumer goods from children’s toys to computers and sound systems. Wallace Carothers’ invention revolutionized life in the twentieth century and beyond. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Handley, Susannah. Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution: From Art Silk to Nylon and Thinking Fibres. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Hermes, Matthew E. Enough For One Lifetime: Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1996.

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Hosiery made of sheer fabric has been worn by women for centuries. Too light to protect a woman from the cold and

uncomfortably hot in the heat of summer, stockings are not a practical garment; they are merely an accessory to make the legs look silky and smooth. Nylon (see entry under 1930s—Fashion in volume 2), a yarn invented by the DuPont Company in 1937, revolutionized stockings for women. Nylon stockings shown at New York’s 1939 World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) created a stir, making stockings available in a sheer, strong, and affordable fabric. Nylon had the look of expensive silk stockings, which many women could not afford. When the first nylons hit the shelves in New York City the following year, more than 4 million pairs were sold within a few hours. In 1940, 672 million pairs of stockings were manufactured. Sales remained strong until the beginning of World War II (1939–45), when all nylon production was converted to military uses. During the war years, women did not forget about nylon stockings. Some young women used eyebrow pencils to make lines down the back of their bare legs to simulate the look of seamed nylon stockings. With the end of the war, nylon stockings were again produced. Soon spandex, a stretchy material, was combined with nylon to make even more appealing stockings that clung to the legs. British fashion-designer Mary Quant (1934–) revolutionized women’s fashion in the 1960s with her miniskirt (see entry under 1960s—Fashion in volume 4). Miniskirts were so short that they revealed the garters used to hold up stockings. Women needed hosiery to cover up more of their legs. By 1965, the first pair of pantyhose greeted women who were fed up with trying to hide the snaps and clips used to hold up conventional stockings. Although hemlines have since changed many times, women have continued to prefer pantyhose over stockings held

Nylon stockings held up by garters. Corbis/Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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by garters or corsets. Women’s sheer hosiery sales reached $2.3 billion in 1999, according to The Hosiery Association. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Efron, Edith. “Legs Are Bare Because They Can’t Be Sheer.” New York Times Magazine (June 24, 1945): p. 17. Handley, Susannah. Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution; A Celebration of Design from Art Silk to Nylon and Thinking Fibres. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. The Hosiery Association. http://www.nahm.com (accessed February 1, 2002).

1930s Film and Theater Although many people and businesses suffered during the Great Depression (1929–41), the movie industry did not. In fact, the years of the 1930s are considered the golden era of Hollywood cinema. Eighty-five million people a week crowded movie theaters across America to escape their sometimes desperate financial situations. From black-and-white and twocolor “B” movies to new three-color Technicolor “A” movies, audiences had huge quantities of movies from which to choose. The technological advances of color and sound made the best movies truly extravagant. Broadway choreographer Busby Berkeley (1895–1976) created some of the most elaborate musicals. Dancing partners Fred Astaire (1899–1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911–1995) turned dance into an art form on film. Large, powerful movie studios turned actors and actresses, such as Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992), young Shirley Temple (1928–), and Mickey Rooney (1920–), into superstars by featuring them in film after film. Rooney played the popular character Andy Hardy in a series of films that could be enjoyed by the whole family. Some studios specialized in different types of films. Horror films such as Frankenstein (1931) and Dracula (1931) terrified audiences. Epic dramas like Gone with the Wind (1939) captivated audiences for hours. Western movies captured and enhanced the myth of the American West through sweeping landscape shots and tough cowboys played by the likes of John Wayne (1907–1979). Gangster flicks were especially popular in the 1930s. Actors James Cagney (1899–1986) and Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) perfected the nasty movie criminals patterned after real-life gangsters like Al Capone (1899–1947). Capone had become notorious in Chicago, Illinois, during Prohibition (1920–33) when he and his henchmen (tough-guy associates) built a criminal empire supplying people with illegal alcohol. For fun, films offered screwball comedies, including It Happened One Night (1934), featuring the witty banter of stars Cary

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Grant (1904–1986) and Claudette Colbert (1903–1996), and the Oscar-winning The Awful Truth (1937) starring Grant and Irene Dunne (1898–1990). These screwball comedies, combining slapstick comedy and urban sophistication, remained popular from the middle to the end of the decade. Another fun type of film was the animated feature. Walt Disney released its first featurelength animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937 to great success. The sometimes playful, sometimes scary, and terrifically successful Wizard of Oz was released in 1939. The New Deal—a set of government programs designed to stimulate the economy and aid Americans harmed by the Depression—offered support to theaters across the nation. The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was created by the Works Progress Administration in 1935 to employ actors, directors, and set and costume designers. The FTP made theater affordable to everyday Americans. The FTP was in charge of organizing distinct theater chapters for each state. Until the project lost its funding in 1939, it supported the creation of children’s plays, new dramas by American playwrights, and productions of the classic plays of William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The FTP also sponsored theaters for the blind, productions in various languages, and—perhaps the most memorable productions—the “Living Newspaper” dramas that entertained as well as educated audiences about American history. The FTP productions were seen by nearly twenty-five million people. A Negro Theatre Project also paralleled the FTP’s development with all-black productions.

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From the late 1930s to the middle 1940s, the fictional character of Andy Hardy was the most popular teenager in American motion pictures. Andy, an energetic and wholesome-living teenager, first appeared in a 1928 stage play, Skidding, by Aurania Rouverol (c. 1886–1955). This play was purchased by the MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) studio and made into a low-budget film called A Family Affair (1937). When that film proved popular with audiences, studio executives planned two additional Hardy family feature films, You’re Only Young Once (1938) and Judge Hardy’s Children (1938). By 1939, it was clear that the Hardy family, and Andy in particular, were appealing to large audiences. To make

sure that filmgoers recognized the releases of new films about the Hardy family, each title in the series began to include the family’s last name. Most of the titles contained the name of Andy Hardy, who was the standout character and the focus of each story line.

Mickey Rooney is surrounded by (left to right) Judy Garland, Ann Rutherford, and Lana Turner in the 1938 comedy Love Finds Andy Hardy. Corbis/Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

The films depict a loving family living in an idealized American small town called Carvel. In most of the stories, Andy attends high school, experiences puppy love, and learns practical lessons about friendship, dating, and managing money. The titles suggest the youth-oriented subject matter contained in the scripts: Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941), and Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946). No matter how complex Andy’s problems are, he never fails to benefit from a heart-to-heart chat with his stern but devoted father, Judge Hardy, played in all but the first film of the series by veteran film actor Lewis Stone (1879–1953). In the first film, Lionel Barrymore (1888–1954) played Judge Hardy. Juvenile MGM star Mickey Rooney (1920–) played Andy Hardy in the sixteen feature-length films that compose the

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series. Rooney’s portayal of Andy shows the outward cockiness and inner vulnerability of teenagers of the period, who were pursuing innocent adventures in communities across the country. Because these films were high in entertainment value and featured plot elements to which the majority of American families could relate, the films were very popular fare. Only the last film in the series, a belated sequel called Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958), was not a success. This story presents a middleaged Andy who is the head of his own family. Sadly, the beloved character of Judge Hardy had to be written out of the script because Stone had died several years earlier. Moviegoers were disappointed to see a movie about a rather squat, older-looking Andy Hardy weighed down by adult concerns of business and politics. Most fans of the series wanted to freeze their favorite screen teen in a Peter Pan time warp so that he never would get old. In 1942, at the height of the series popularity and in a wave of World War II (1939–45) patriotism, a special Academy Award was given to the MGM studio for “its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the Andy Hardy series of films.” —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Parish, James Robert, and Ronald L. Bowers. The MGM Stock Company. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973. Ray, Robert B. The Avant-Garde Finds Andy Hardy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995. Rooney, Mickey. Life is Too Short. New York: Villard Books, 1991.

“B” Movies “B” movies were low-budget productions made during the era of the motion picture–studio system, mainly during the 1930s and 1940s. During this period of time, large movie studios dominated the production and distribution of all movies. There really is no equivalent to the “B” movie today, although low-budget, independent movies such as The Blair Witch Project (1999) could be considered similar.

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During the studio-system era, the motion-picture studios not only made the pictures but also owned the theaters where they were shown. Usually the theaters of the time would show a car-

The “B” films had less-important directors and stars working on them. Most of these lower-cost movies were not very good. They were intended to fill out the theater’s program for the least possible cost. Many were filmed as a part of a series. Among the more famous film series were those featuring Sherlock Holmes, Dick Tracy, Charlie Chan (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), and Tarzan (see entry under 1910s— Print Culture in volume 1). Many other of the “B” movies were genre films, that is, movies of a certain type—Westerns (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) or horror movies (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), for example. Occasionally an intended “B” movie became a classic that is still watched today. One such movie, Casablanca (1942; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), is considered one of the finest movies ever made.

“B” Movies

toon, a newsreel of the current headlines, and two feature movies. One was the feature or “A” picture, such as Gone with the Wind (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). The other feature movie was the “B” picture, a shorter, cheaper film that supported the main feature.

During the 1950s, the meaning of a “B” movie became slightly different. Most horror or monster pictures of the 1950s were considered “B,” or lower-class, pictures. Also, most pictures that were shown primarily at drive-in theaters (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) were considered “B” films. The drive-in theater became extremely popular during this time and kept the “B” film industry working. Roger Corman (1926–) became known as the “King of the ‘B’s” after producing forty-eight such films between 1955 and 1970. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the “B” film was still made, although only a handful of studios were still making money with them. After the 1970s, what was typically called a “B” movie evolved into what is known now as the independent film. The independent film label does not mean these films are all bad, as the label of “B” movie implies. What independent films do have in common with the “B” movie are their low budgets and usual lack of recognition by the film industry. Nowadays, there are film festivals strictly for independent films. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information “B Movies.” CinemaSpot.com. http://www.CinemaSpot.com/categories/ bmovies.htm (accessed February 4, 2002).

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Cross, Robin. Big Book of “B” Movies. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987. McCarthy, Todd, and Charles Flynn, eds. Kings of the Bs. New York: Dutton, 1975. McClelland, Doug. The Golden Age of “B” Movies. New York: Bonanza Books, 1978. Old B-Movies. http://www.oldbmovies.com/index.html (accessed February 4, 2002).

Betty Boop

A Betty Boop float flies high over New York City in the 1986 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Corbis/Joseph Sohm. Reproduced by permission.

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The first important female animated-film character, Betty Boop appeared in more than one hundred cartoons during the 1930s. Originally created by animator Grim Natwick (1890–1990), Betty Boop soon evolved into a sexy, glamorous flapper (see entry under 1920s— Fashion in volume 2) who was far more adult-oriented than the innocent cartoon characters created by Walt Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and other studios of the period. Betty Boop was a short-skirted, leggy figure with an oversize head, tightcurl hairdo, huge eyes surrounded with big lashes, and puckered-up lips. From 1931, Betty Boop’s familiar New York– accented voice cooed her well-known “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” greeting. Betty Boop’s voice was supplied by actress Mae Questel (1908–1998). Betty Boop made her debut as a minor character in the 1930 Talkartoons short film “Dizzy Dishes.” She was portrayed as a liberated and independent woman far ahead of her time, as in the 1932 cartoons Betty Boop for President and Boop-Oop-aDoop. In many of the Betty Boop cartoons, popular entertain-

By the end of the 1930s, Hollywood censors declared that the Betty Boop cartoon character was too daring and demanded that her creators stop portraying her in short skirts and low-cut blouses. As a consequence, the Fleischer Studio began portraying a long-skirted Betty Boop in a more domestic setting, with friends that included an inventor named Grampy and a puppy named Pudgy. Her last cartoon, Yip, Yip, Yippy!, appeared in 1939, but there was a revival of interest in her after the 1970s. She made a brief appearance in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Humphrey Bogart

ers of the day (like Cab Calloway, 1907–1994; Ethel Merman, 1908–1984; and Rudy Vallee, 1901–1986) are seen singing and dancing with her. From 1935, Betty Boop began appearing in a Sunday comic strip distributed by King Features Syndicate.

—Edward Moran

For More Information Callan, Kathleen. Betty Boop: Queen of Cartoons. New York: A&E Television Networks, 1995. Lorenz, Brenna, and Megaera Lorenz. “The Heptune Guide to Betty Boop Cartoons.” Heptune. http://www.heptune.com/betty.html (accessed February 4, 2002). Morris, Barry. “Betty Boop.” Bright Lights Film Journal. http://www. brightlightsfilm.com/16/betty.html (accessed February 4, 2002). Solomon, Charles. The History of Animation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989.

Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957) Humphrey Bogart was a popular film actor whose career stretched from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s. He is most famous for his cool tough-guy character and his tight-lipped, clipped way of speaking. After a string of bland roles in the early 1930s, Bogart made his first screen breakthrough in 1936 when he appeared as a convincing hoodlum in The Petrified Forest. His performance led to a five-year period during which he was typically cast as a gangster or a villain. In 1941, Bogart’s soulful turn as a gangster with a heart of gold in High Sierra led to the final era in his career. He became one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, starring in such classics as The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1943; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), To Have and Have Not (1944)—during which he met

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and fell in love with young Lauren Bacall (1924–), whom he would marry shortly thereafter—The Big Sleep (1946), and The African Queen (1951). In the 1960s, a young audience that identified with his antiheroic personality rekindled Bogart’s popularity. He has remained an icon (symbol) of cool ever since. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information Humphrey Bogart: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of. http://bogartfilms.warnerbros.com/ (accessed February 4, 2002). Meyers, Jeffrey. Bogart: A Life in Hollywood. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Sperber, A. M., and Eric Lax. Bogart. New York: William Morrow 1997.

James Cagney (1899–1986) Film actor James Cagney enjoyed his greatest popularity from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. He was a diverse talent who could play in comedies, dramas, and even musicals with confidence, but he remains best known for his roles as a surly gangster. In 1931, Cagney played his breakthrough role: gangster Tom Powers in The Public Enemy. Cagney’s trademark cockiness and angry snarl are in full effect, perhaps best exemplified in its most famous scene, in which he unexpectedly grinds a grapefruit in the face of his stunned costar, Mae Clarke (1907–1992). Cagney went on to appear as a gangster in a seemingly endless string of films. Although he won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as George M. Cohan (1878–1942) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), the crowning achievement of his career is arguably his turn as gangster Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949). The film, in which Cagney’s character suffers from severe headaches and a strange attachment to his mother, was his farewell to gangster roles. His career was up and down afterwards, but Cagney remains revered for the dangerously explosive personality he brought to his on-screen characters. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information

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McCabe, John. Cagney. New York: Knopf, 1997. Thomson, David. A Biographical Dictionary of Film. 3rd ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Warren, Doug, with James Cagney. James Cagney: The Authorized Biography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983.

Charlie McCarthy is perhaps the most famous ventriloquist’s dummy in American history. Charlie, the creation of popular actor-ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (1903–1978), was a wise-forhis-years adolescent. Garbed in top hat and monocle (one round lens serving to correct vision, instead of the usual two-lensed glasses), he endlessly flirted with females and spouted wisecracks to Bergen, his “guardian.” Even though he was carved from wood, Bergen made McCarthy seem so authentic that audiences came to view the dummy as a real person.

Gary Cooper

Charlie McCarthy

Bergen conjured up McCarthy while still in high school and had him built at a cost of $35. The pair first teamed up in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), then performed on radio and in films. Bergen added two additional dummies to his act: hayseed Mortimer Snerd and spinster Effie Klinker. (A hayseed is an unsophisticated country person; a spinster, an unmarried woman beyond the usual age of marrying.) Although both were popular, neither was as beloved as Charlie McCarthy. In 1937, Bergen earned a special Academy Award for creating Charlie. The special wooden Oscar presented to Bergen had a movable jaw, just like Charlie’s. He influenced countless ventriloquists and puppeteers for generations to come, including Jim Henson (1936–1990), of Muppets (see entry under 1970s— TV and Radio in volume 4) and Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) fame, who dedicated his feature film The Muppet Movie (1979) to Bergen. Bergen willed Charlie McCarthy to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bergen, Candice. Knock Wood. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984. Bergen, Edgar. How to Become a Ventriloquist. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1938. Reprint, New York: Dover, 2000.

Gary Cooper (1901–1961) Beginning in the late 1920s, lanky, handsome Gary Cooper was one of the top box office stars in Hollywood (see entry

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under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), making ninetytwo movies over his thiry-five-year career. Although not a great actor in the classic sense, the Montana-born Cooper had a bashful grin and likable, awkward presence that made him a favorite with audiences. Mostly associated with Westerns (see entry under 1930s— Film and Theater in volume 2), Cooper also appeared in comedies and adventures—and he was at his best playing brave, all-American heroes. He was perfectly cast as a lovable smalltown innocent who inherits a fortune in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and was sweetly personable as the ill-fated New York Yankee Lou Gehrig (1903–1941) in The Pride of the Yankees (1942). He won his two Best Actor Academy Awards as characters he was born to play. In Sergeant York (1941), a film whose content was designed to prepare audiences for America’s inevitable entry into World War II (1939–45), he was Alvin York (1887–1964), the real-life backwoods pacifist-turned-hero of World War I (1914–18). In High Noon (1952), he was Will Kane, a solitary sheriff who had cleaned up a western town by standing up to a vengeance-seeking gang. In April 1961, one month before he died, Cooper received a well-earned Special Academy Award “for his many memorable screen performances and the international recognition he, as an individual, had gained for the motion picture industry.”

For More Information

—Rob Edelman

Dickens, Homer. The Complete Films of Gary Cooper. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1983. Janis, Maria Cooper. Gary Cooper Off-Camera: A Daughter Remembers. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999.

Dracula

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Based on ancient folk tales and myths, the story of Dracula the vampire is the most enduring of all horror stories. The 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker (1847–1912) is the first recorded tale of Count Dracula, who rises from the dead to feast on the blood of the living. Adaptations have appeared on film, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and in print many times. From folk tales to TV’s The X-Files (1993), vampire stories have been used for centuries as a way of

Dracula

explaining strange events. The blood-sucking Count has been most successful in the darkened movie theater, however. With Bela Lugosi (1882–1956) in the title role, Dracula (1931), directed by Tod Browning (1882–1962), provided the original for many of the Dracula images that became familiar in American popular culture. The movie also inspired vampire characters, from the Count in Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) to Grandpa Munster (Al Lewis, 1910–) of the TV series The Munsters (1964–66). Other TV series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) take a cool 1990s approach to the vampire myth. Because of the movies, however, Stoker’s Count Dracula is still the most famous vampire of them all. Although Lugosi’s Dracula in his tailcoat and cloak has become the best known, it is Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors, directed by F. W. Murnau (1888–1931), that began the movie industry’s fascination with the undead. Murnau’s 1922 film stars creepy Max Schreck (1879–1936) in the role of vampire Count Orlock. Even by the higher standards of the twentyfirst century, Nosferatu has some genuinely frightening moments. The British-made Dracula (1958), directed by Terence Fisher, (1904–1980) has also influenced the popular image of the vampire. Starring Christopher Lee (1922–) as Count Dracula and filmed in vivid color, Fisher’s film stands alongside Browning’s as one of the best adaptations of Stoker’s novel. In the late twentieth century, vampire stories became more sympathetic to vampires. Interview with the Vampire, the 1994 movie version of the novel (1976) by Anne Rice (1941–), updates the myth by making vampires seem attractive and “normal” as well as frightening. Many other movies and TV series have offered interpretations of the legend of Dracula. Over a century after Stoker’s novel first appeared, the vampire industry shows no sign of weakening. Dracula has inspired Halloween costumes, comic books (see entry under 1930s— Print Culture in volume 2), cartoons, clothing, and many more consumer goods. Dracula has also helped the tourist industry in Romania, where Stoker’s original vampire rests in the crypt of his dark ancestral home. In the twenty-first century, Dracula lies buried deep in the popular imagination. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Cohen, Daniel. Real Vampires. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1995. Miller, Elizabeth. Dracula. New York: Parkstone Press, 2001.

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Miller, Elizabeth. Dracula’s Homepage. http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller (accessed February 4, 2002). Pipe, Jim. Dracula. Brookfield, CT: Copper Beech Books, 1995. Skal, David J. Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. New York: Norton, 1990. Transylvanian Society of Dracula—Canadian Chapter. http://www.chebucto. ns.ca/Recreation/TSD/tsdhompg.html (accessed February 4, 2002).

Frankenstein Frankenstein’s monster first hit movie screens as a sixteenminute silent film by Thomas Edison (1847–1931) in 1910. The 1931 sound feature put out by Universal Studios truly made the character’s reputation, however. The shambling man-made fiend, based on a creature in Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818), by British novelist Mary Shelley (1797–1851), so terrified audiences that he became a fixture of the horror movies (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) genre (category) for decades to come. Over the years, Frankenstein has been remade, spoofed, and spun off as a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and a Halloween costume. But the terrifying original feature has never been equaled. Boris Karloff (1887–1969) was an obscure British stage actor when he was tapped by director James Whale (1893–1957) to play Frankenstein’s monster in 1931. His interpretation of the character differed sharply from the creature as portrayed in Shelley’s novel. Where Shelley’s monster was intelligent and physically agile, Karloff played the creature as a hulking brute incapable of speech. The film’s makeup, applied by Hollywood legend Jack Pierce (1889–1968), also stressed the ghoulish aspects of the character. Enormous bolts protruded from Karloff’s neck, while his head was rendered flat and his forehead stitched as if a botched operation had taken place. The frightening image of this Frankenstein’s monster was so powerful that it has replaced Shelley’s original conception.

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Many scenes in Frankenstein have become classic moments in movie horror. In the elaborate laboratory sequence, Dr. Frankenstein brings his creation to life using electricity from lightning. In a touching scene, the monster encounters a little girl playing with flowers by a stream. In the exciting climax of the movie, villagers with torches chase the monster into an abandoned mill and burn it down. These scenes have become

so recognizable that they have been spoofed numerous times in films like Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Young Frankenstein (1974), a Mel Brooks (1926–) movie. Boris Karloff returned to play the monster two more times, in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and in Son of Frankenstein (1939). He then grew tired of the series. The monster lived on, however, in a string of popular Universal features and later movies from other studios. Television honored Frankenstein’s monster in the character Herman Munster (played by Fred Gwynne, 1926–1993), patriarch of the sitcom family The Munsters (1964–66). Director Kenneth Branagh (1960–) tried reviving Mary Shelley’s original version of the creature in a gruesome 1994 feature. Like the creature itself, it seems the Frankenstein movie cannot be destroyed.

Boris Karloff, as the monster, and Mae Clarke in a scene from the 1931 motion picture Frankenstein. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Haining, Peter, ed. The Frankenstein File. London: New English Library, 1977.

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Jameson, Robert. The Essential Frankenstein. New York: Crescent Books, 1992. Kudalis, Eric. Frankenstein and Other Stories of Man-Made Monsters. Minneapolis: Capstone Press, 1994.

Clark Gable (1901–1960) Clark Gable was called the “King of Hollywood” for most of his long career, until his death in 1960. He was one of the first male sex symbols in film. Gable was so popular, he nearly destroyed a clothing industry: After he appeared without an undershirt in his Oscar-winning role in It Happened One Night (1934), men everywhere stopped wearing undershirts, paralyzing the industry for a time. Gable first became a sensation in the film A Free Soul (1931), and remained a star until his death. When David O. Selznick (1902–1965) decided to film the Civil War (1861–65) novel, Gone with the Wind (1939; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), the American public demanded no one but Gable to play the role of Rhett Butler. Gable’s last film was with Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) in The Misfits in 1960. He died three weeks after the film finished shooting. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information Shipman, David. The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years. London: Warner Brothers Books, 1995. Wayne, Jane Ellen. Clark Gable: Portrait of a Misfit. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

Gone with the Wind

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Gone with the Wind (1939) is not the most critically acclaimed American film in motion-picture history. That honor goes to Citizen Kane (1941; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), or perhaps Casablanca (1943; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3). However, Gone with the Wind is arguably the most popular and beloved of all movie epics of its era. Its grand Technicolor sweep, larger-than-

Gone with the Wind Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, and Vivien Leigh, as Scarlett O’Hara, on the movie poster for Gone with the Wind. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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life characters, and vivid portrait of a specific place and time in American history combine to make it a legendary Hollywood epic. Gone with the Wind was based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949). Her novel, which was published in 1936, won the Pulitzer Prize. The book has since reportedly sold more copies than any other book in publishing history, with one exception: the Bible. Gone with the Wind is set before, during, and after the Civil War (1861–65). The plot of the story is melodramatic and sentimental. It spotlights the fiery relationship between Scarlett O’Hara, a flirtatious, self-centered Southern belle who has come of age at Tara, her family’s Georgia plantation, and Rhett Butler, a charming, devilishly handsome rogue. Throughout the story, Scarlett sets her romantic sights on genteel Ashley Wilkes, even though he has chosen to marry his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. Yet clearly, there is only one man who is Scarlett’s romantic match: Rhett Butler. The screen version of Mitchell’s story was the brainchild of David O. Selznick (1902–1965), a renowned Hollywood producer who purchased the screen rights to the book against the prevailing wisdom that Civil War stories were box-office poison. The manner in which the film was cast is part of Hollywood lore. Before Gone with the Wind went into production, all agreed that only one actor could play Rhett Butler: Clark Gable (1901–1960), the popular MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) star who had been crowned the “King of Hollywood” in a newspaper popularity poll. But who would be cast as Scarlett O’Hara? Dozens of actresses were considered, including the most famous actresses of the day. Additionally, Selznick instigated a highly publicized nationwide search for the perfect woman to play Scarlett. Filming had already begun when the role was awarded to an actress—Vivien Leigh (1913–1967)—who was not even American-born. Leigh, who was born in Darjeeling, India, and educated in England, supposedly was brought to Selznick’s attention by his agent brother Myron Selznick (1898–1944) during the shooting of the “Burning of Atlanta,” one of the film’s most celebrated sequences.

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Gone with the Wind took eleven months to shoot and cost over $4 million—a staggering sum for its time. The 222-minutelong film eventually premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. It went on to win ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. The Best Supporting Actress award was won by Hattie McDaniel

—Rob Edelman

Cary Grant

(1895–1952), who played Scarlett’s slave, Mammy. McDaniel’s Oscar was the first ever won by an African American performer. This, in spite of what some believed was the film’s too-genteel depiction of blacks and, specifically, slaves.

For More Information The Filming of “Gone with the Wind.” New York: Macmillan, 1975. Gone with the Wind. http://www.franklymydear.com (accessed February 4, 2002). “Gone with the Wind Online Exhibit.” Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/DOS/GWTW/ GWTW.html (accessed February 4, 2002). Hanson, Elizabeth I. Margaret Mitchell. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Haver, Ronald. David O. Selznick’s ‘Gone with the Wind.’ New York: Bonanza Books, 1986. Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. New York, Macmillan, 1936. Multiple reprints. Selznick, David O., producer, and Victor Fleming, director. Gone with the Wind (film). Selznick International/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1939.

Cary Grant (1904–1986) Cary Grant (born Alexander Archibald Leach) was one of the most sophisticated and appealing of male motion-picture stars from the golden age of cinema. In the early 1930s, he first gained fame on-screen playing romantic leading men in light dramas and comedies such as I’m No Angel (1933) and The Awful Truth (1937). By the close of the 1930s, he had gained success in screwball comedy, a popular kind of escapist humor. Screwball comedies feature attractive, often eccentric characters who act with an unusual sense of abandon. Grant’s most notable such film was Bringing Up Baby (1938). Whatever role he played, Grant was adored by female filmgoers for his handsome face—dark eyes, tanned complexion, and famous cleft chin. Male audience members admired him for his classy style and off- and on-screen ability to charm his female costars. Many young men emulated Grant’s cleancut, sophisticated look. His voice combined lower-class British Cockney tones that were the remains of a povertystricken childhood spent in Bristol, England, with an American accent. His unique style of speaking was often imitated by comedians.

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The actor’s sophistication, combined with uncommon good looks that lasted well into his senior years, made the name of Cary Grant a household word for manly charm and sex appeal. Grant is best remembered for the films Notorious (1946), North by Northwest (1959), and An Affair to Remember (1957), among many others. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Descher, Donald. The Films of Cary Grant. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1973. Feldman, Gene, and Suzette Winter, producer and writer. Cary Grant, the Leading Man (video). New York: Brighton Video, 1988. Higham, Charles. Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.

Hollywood Perched on the western edge of the North American continent, Hollywood has always looked like America’s destiny. From the early settlers in the 1880s to the aspiring stars of the 1930s, Hollywood was the place to start afresh, to build a new life in the sun. In 2002, Hollywood remains the dream factory, a place where every waiter and waitress is an aspiring actor, where every bartender, taxi driver, hotel receptionist, and hired helper has a screenplay tucked away in a drawer at home. The reality of course is different. Part of the city of Los Angeles, California, since 1910, Hollywood is a town like any other, complete with crime, poverty, and its fair share of sleaze. But Hollywood’s real location is in the mind.

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In 1880, Hollywood was just a ranch, named by Mrs. Daeida Wilcox (1861–1914) after a friend’s country house. Aiming to attract midwesterners like themselves to the fertile land and the warm climate, the Wilcoxes divided the ranch into lots and laid out streets for a new town. In a few years, Hollywood was thriving. By 1903, a trolley line connected Hollywood (population 500) to Los Angeles. Selig Studios brought the movies to California in 1907 when location shots for The Count of Monte Cristo (1908) were filmed at Laguna Beach. At first, most studios were located in nearby Edendale, but in 1910, the Nestor Film Company became the first to set up a studio in Hollywood itself. Ironically, in the very same year, the God-fearing Holly-

wood Board of Trustees actually banned movie theaters from the town. But even so, by the 1920s, most of the studios had moved there. Silent movie (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) stars soon made Beverly Hills and Silver Lake into America’s most glamorous postal addresses. The stars themselves were the nearest thing in America to royalty. Temptingly, here was an aristocracy anyone could join. Hollywood became known as the place in America where anything was possible. Screen stars built strange and elaborate mansions along Sunset Boulevard. They drove around in expensive, imported cars, took drugs, and were openly promiscuous (casual about having many sexual partners). Eventually, public opinion turned against them. In the late 1920s, with the advent of sound in films, many popular actors of the silent era were found to have terrible speaking voices and lost their jobs. Many sank into alcoholism and suicide. To make matters worse, the Hays Commission, a self-regulatory body of the film industry, was set up in the early 1930s to control the moral content of Hollywood movies. Many silent stars found themselves blacklisted (put on a list of people not to be hired) on moral grounds.

The famous Hollywood sign sits high atop the hills in Los Angeles, California. Photograph by Michael Guthrie. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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The 1930s were Hollywood’s golden age. Under the so-called “studio system,” the major studios controlled every aspect of filmmaking from preproduction to small-town theaters. Talented actors, directors, and technicians arrived from Europe to work for the studios. Famous writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), and William Faulkner (1897–1962) made the journey west to work in pictures. Hollywood became a playground for celebrities eager to get themselves noticed. Private lives became public property, and there was a sense that anything could be bought. As ever, people outdid one another with brash displays of wealth. As crime-writer Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) put it: “In L.A. to be conspicuous you would have to drive a flesh-pink Mercedes-Benz with a sun porch on the roof and three pretty girls sunbathing.” After 1939, things began to change. Antitrust lawsuits broke up the studios’ control of film distribution. Many people felt the stars had too much power. In the late 1940s, prominent writers, directors, and actors were blacklisted as communist sympathizers. In the 1950s, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) began to eat into film-industry profits. Film noir (“dark cinema”; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3) matched the suspicion of the times and offered some relief from tumbling profits, but it was not until the 1960s that Hollywood began to recover. Films like Bonnie and Clyde (1967; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and Easy Rider (1969; see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) shattered the conservative dreams of the old Hollywood but brought the audiences back to the theaters. Since the 1970s, Hollywood has gone through cycles of making big-budget entertainment movies. Films like Flashdance (1983), the Beverly Hills Cop series, and blockbusters such as Apollo 13 (1995) and Titanic (1997; see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) tend to appear during the summer months and are the mainstay of Hollywood’s cash flow. In the 1990s, the digital revolution captivated filmmakers, allowing ever more spectacular special effects. In 1999, Toy Story 2 (see entry under 1990s—Film and Theater in volume 5) became the first film to go from production to presentation in digital form. Some think this process may signal the beginning of the end for traditional film.

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In the twenty-first century, real-life Hollywood is a mixture of glamour, sleaze, and tourist trap. Most of the studios are part of multinational media corporations. Hollywood has become

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the world center for all kinds of media productions, from film to the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), from television to pornography. The glory days of the studio system are long gone, yet Hollywood remains a potent symbol of the American Dream. Perhaps more than anywhere else, Hollywood exists as both physical place and glittering fantasy. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Chandler, Raymond. Playback. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1958. Hamilton, Ian. Writers in Hollywood 1915–1951. London: Heinemann, 1990. Silvester, Christopher, ed. The Penguin Book of Hollywood. New York: Viking, 1998.

King Kong King Kong (1933) is one of the most famous of all horrorfantasy-adventure films, combining imaginative technical wizardry with good old-fashioned thrills and an unusual and appealing “Beauty and the Beast” story. Decades before the development of computerized special effects, King Kong featured a masterfully conceived and remarkably believable title character—an ape, who during the course of the story is innocently attracted not to a fellow primate but to a pretty young woman. King Kong is the saga of Carl Denham (played by Robert Armstrong, 1890–1973), a willful filmmaker who heads off to tiny, exotic Skull Island to shoot his latest movie. In his company are Ann Darrow (Fay Wray, 1907–), his pretty lead actress, and Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot, 1904–1972), the rugged first mate on board the ship on which the moviemakers are traveling. Upon their arrival, they encounter Kong, the king of the island, a giant ape who takes a liking to Ann. After battling various dinosaurs, Kong eventually is captured and transported to New York City, where he is billed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and put on display. Upon thinking that Ann is in danger as photographers’ flashbulbs pop in her face, Kong breaks free and goes on a rampage. In the celebrated final sequence, the ape scales the then recently erected Empire State Building (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). Kong

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is shot at by machine guns positioned in airplanes. Finally, he falls and plunges to his death. King Kong was directed by Merian C. Cooper (1893–1973) and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1893–1979), who first worked together as documentary filmmakers before going on to produce and direct fiction features. However, its most significant creative contribution came from Willis O’Brien (1886–1962), a model-animation and special-effects genius. O’Brien initially experimented with on-screen special effects in 1914. He developed the technique of stop-motion animation, which he first employed in The Lost World (1925), an adventure film featuring prehistoric monsters. King Kong was his next feature film and his most celebrated work. The ape actually is a small model, whose movement is achieved by manipulating it slightly, photographing it, and moving it again. King Kong was immediately followed by an inferior sequel, The Son of Kong (1933). Decades later, a series of contrived monster movies appeared: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), King Kong Escapes (1968), and King Kong Lives (1986). A heavily promoted remake, also titled King Kong (1976), proved disappointing. Modern-day special effects techniques, such as those employed by Steven Spielberg (1947–) in Jurassic Park (1993; see entry under 1990s—Print Culture in volume 5) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), may have made Willis O’Brien’s shot-by-shot stop-motion animation obsolete, but they have not replaced the magic and wonder of King Kong. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Goldner, Orville and George E. Turner. The Making of King Kong: The Story Behind a Film Classic. New York: Ballantine Books, 1976. King Kong. http://history.acusd.edu/gen/filmnotes/kingkong.html (accessed February 7, 2002). King Kong (film). RKO Radio Pictures, 1933. King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World. http://www.aboyd.com/ kong/index.html (accessed February 7, 2002). Thorne, Ian. King Kong. Mankato, MN: Crestwood House, 1977.

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Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and Oliver Norvell Hardy (1892–1957) formed the greatest comedy duo in the history of Hollywood

Laurel and Hardy Stan Laurel (left) and Oliver Hardy (right) in a scene from the movie The Home Front.

(see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Englishman Laurel (real name: Stan Jefferson) understudied for Charlie Chaplin (see entry under 1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1) on tour with Karno’s London Comedians. American Hardy came from Harlem, Georgia, and began his show business career working in a movie theater. Beginning in the silent era, they became masters of pie-throwing and furniture-breaking. They even won an Oscar for smashing a piano in The Music Box (1932). Like Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy prospered with the arrival of sound in the movies and began to make feature-length films. They play well-meaning fools forever caught up in “another fine mess.” Over their careers, they appeared in more than one hundred movies together from the late 1920s through the late 1940s. Laurel’s childish squeaky voice and Hardy’s useless fatherly advice made them perfect partners. Some sixty years after their prime years, their “Cuckoo” theme tune and loveable derby-wearing characters are instantly recognizable. —Chris Routledge

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For More Information Laurel and Hardy: The Official Website. http://www.laurel-and-hardy. com/index1.html (accessed February 7, 2002). Mitchell, Glenn. The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopedia. London: B. T. Batsford, 1995. Nollen, Scott Allen. The Boys: The Cinematic World of Laurel and Hardy. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989.

Marx Brothers Although three brothers formed the core of the Marx Brothers comedy team, there were originally five: Leonard (Chico, 1887–1961), Arthur (Harpo, 1888–1964), Julius (Groucho, 1890–1977), Milton (Gummo, 1893–1977), and Herbert (Zeppo, 1901–1979). The five began their comedy career in music hall and vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). After Gummo left the act around 1918, the remaining four began to develop the comic routines for which they became famous. The Marx Brothers are best known for the absurd films they made for Paramount in the 1930s. With their combination of slapstick, music, and Groucho’s hilarious one-liners, features like Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), and Duck Soup (1933) are among the finest comic films ever made. The first Marx Brothers film, based on their hit Broadway stage show, The Cocoanuts, appeared in 1930. All the films follow a similar pattern. Fast-talking, wisecracking, penniless Groucho pursues rich, older Margaret Dumont (1889–1965), who constantly has to fight off his flirtatious advances. Chico, the cynical Italian immigrant, and Harpo, the mischievous innocent who never speaks, undermine him with their wild antics. Zeppo, the often forgotten fourth brother, plays the dull romantic lead. Music is an important part of the films. Groucho first sang his trademark song “Hooray for Captain Spaulding” in Animal Crackers (1930). Later, the tune became the theme for his television quiz show, You Bet Your Life (1950–61). Harpo usually gets his chance for an unlikely harp solo at some point in each film.

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After Duck Soup (1933) failed at the box office, the Marx Brothers were dropped by Paramount. Without Zeppo, they went to MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) where, with the exception of A Night at the Opera (1935), their work declined. By 1946, they had broken up for

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Adamson, Jo. Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Sometimes Zeppo: A History of the Marx Brothers and a Satire on the Rest of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973. Louvish, Simon. Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Marx, Arthur. My Life with Groucho: A Son’s Eye View. London: Robson Books, 1988.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington The 1939 motion picture Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is widely hailed as one of the most insightful films on the American government to come out of Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Directed by Frank Capra (1897–1991), the film depicts the story of Jefferson Smith (James Stewart, 1908–1997). An idealistic young man, Smith is appointed to the Senate and discovers that Washington is populated by lawmakers who lack moral principles. Smith encounters corrupt politicians, gloomy journalists, and citizens who do not care. All view his faith in the system as hopelessly innocent. In the film’s most memorable scene, Smith defends himself against false accusations of criminality in a Senate filibuster. (A filibuster is an attempt to prevent a vote from being taken; one way is by standing and talking for a very long time. The speechmaking may last for hours or days.)

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good, but their best comic films remained influential into the new millennium.

Like many of Capra’s films, Mr. Smith presents a morality tale in which a common man triumphs over opponents who are more socially superior. Many lawmakers reacted negatively to the film’s message that the government needed reform and that average people should be more involved. They thought the film encouraged people to be subversive (more involved in attempts to overthrow or damage the government). Despite this criticism, the film was a huge popular success. In the 1990s, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was named one of the one hundred greatest films in a poll conducted by the American Film Institute. —Charles Coletta

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For More Information Capra, Frank. The Name Above the Title. New York: Macmillan, 1971. Dirks, Tim. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Greatest Films. http://www. filmsite.org/mrsm.html (accessed February 4, 2002). McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Rockettes Since New York’s Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932, the name Rockettes has been associated with long chorus lines of high-kicking, long-legged female dancers. Many who have never been to New York or seen the famous Rockettes have imitated them in talent shows or on-the-spot picture poses. Their widespread fame is a tribute to the public fascination with the controlled excellence of their dancing (see entry under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1). The Rockettes originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1925. Their original name was the Missouri Rockets. They were the brainchild of producer Russell Markert (1899–1990), who was inspired by watching the precision dancing of the Ziegfeld Follies (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) of 1922. Markert’s group was soon discovered by New York theater owner Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel (c. 1881–c. 1936), who changed the group’s name to the Roxyettes and signed the dancers to perform at his Manhattan theater, the Roxy. In 1932, Rothafel opened a new theater in New York, the lushly decorated Radio City Music Hall. He moved his dance troupe there and changed its name one last time—to the Rockettes. The Rockettes’ performances are marked by tightly coordinated precision jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) and tap dance routines, featuring high kicks and controlled arm movements, all moving at the same time. Even the dancers must be about the same size; all Rockettes are between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall. Though only 36 women perform in the chorus line of each show, there are over 175 dancers in the entire troupe. Most have been white, leading to charges of racism and a responding commitment to the equal opportunity hiring of dancers in the mid-1980s. 408

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Audiences were delighted by the Rockettes’ skill, beginning in 1933, when Radio City Music Hall began featuring a movie

and a stage show up to four times a day. Regular performances continued until 1971. Since then, Rockettes still perform special shows at Radio City. Their famous Christmas Spectacular is the best-attended live show in the United States. Rockettes have also left New York to travel the world. During World War II (1939–45), Rockettes joined the United Service Organizations (USO), entertaining troops. There is a permanent Rockette show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since the mid-1990s, troops of Rockettes have performed the Christmas Spectacular in places as varied as Detroit, Michigan; Mexico City, Mexico; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The Rockettes perform their well-known high kick. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Alliotts, John. “Precision Dancing.” Dance Magazine (Vol. 56, December 1982): pp. 42–45. Dunning, Jennifer. “Rockettes, Women with a Long Line of History.” The New York Times (Vol. 147, December 27, 1997): p. A11. Owen, Elizabeth. “50 Years Old and Still Kicking.” Life (Vol. 5, December 1982): pp. 122–27. Peterson, Gregory. “What’s All White, and Dances in New York?” The New York Times (Vol. 134, May 31, 1985): p. 23.

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“The Radio City Rockettes.” Radio City Music Hall. http://www.radiocity. com/b1e.html (accessed February 7, 2002). Wentink, Andrew Mark. “The Rockettes at Radio City.” Dance Magazine (Vol. 55, May 1981): pp. 54–59.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which premiered in 1937, was the first feature-length animated film by Walt Disney (1901–1966; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm (Jacob Ludwig Carl, 1785–1863; Wilhelm Carl, 1786–1859), the film depicts the romance and adventure of a beautiful princess. The princess, named Snow White, escapes the murderous intentions of her evil stepmother, the Queen, by finding refuge in the forest with the Seven Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, and Dopey). Learning Snow White is alive, the Queen disguises herself as a peasant and tricks the girl into eating a poisoned apple. Snow White apparently dies, but she is later awakened from her comalike state upon being kissed by a handsome prince. Walt Disney began his animation career in the early 1920s. By the mid-1930s, he was operating a large studio that created cartoons with some of animation’s greatest characters, notably Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. In 1934, Disney began work on his dream: a feature-length animated cartoon. Production took three years, as more than six hundred artists toiled on the film. The voice of Snow White was provided by a young opera singer named Adrianna Caselotti (1916–1997). One of Disney’s greatest contributions to the film was his insistence that each of the dwarfs have his own unique personality. Hundreds of names were suggested for the dwarfs before the final seven names were selected.

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Though critics predicted the film would fail, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an immediate critical and commercial success. One of the film’s strongest features was its musical score, which contained several songs (“Whistle While You Work,” “Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It’s Off to Work We Go,” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come”) that have become classics. The film received a special Academy Award for its advances in

Shirley Temple Snow White, with poison apple in hand, and the evil Queen, disguised as a peasant. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

animation. Disney re-released the film every few years so that Snow White could be enjoyed by succeeding generations of children. The film’s popularity remains undiminished into the new millennium. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Holliss, Richard, and Brian Sibley. Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Making of a Classic Film. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. New York: The New American Library, 1980. Smith, Dave. Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. New York: Hyperion, 1996.

Shirley Temple (1928–) Born on April 23, 1928, Shirley Temple made her first feature film appearance in 1932. Temple’s first starring role was as

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an abandoned child in Little Miss Marker (1934). In the following few years, Temple was usually cast as an orphaned or abandoned child whose innocence “rescues” the adults around her. Some people found the high moral tone of her films irritating, but Temple had real talent. She could dance, sing, and act even at the age of six. She was Hollywood’s biggest attraction between 1935 and 1938, earning $100,000 per picture. In the 1930s, Shirley Temple dolls and toys and accessories sold well. She also had several hit records. But like many child movie actresses, Temple’s cute looks eventually let her down. By the time she was eleven years old, she was past her prime movie-making years. As Shirley Temple Black, she entered politics in the 1960s, eventually becoming U.S. ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and Czechoslovakia in 1989. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Black, Shirley Temple. Child Star, USA. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Fiori, Carlo. The Story of Shirley Temple Black: Hollywood’s Youngest Star. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 1997. Haskins, James. Shirley Temple Black: Actress to Ambassador. New York: Viking Kestrel, 1988. ShirleyTempleFans.Com. http://www.shirleytemplefans.com (accessed February 7, 2002).

Three Stooges Masters of physical comedy, the Three Stooges have been making audiences laugh with their slapstick clowning since the 1920s. The many short and feature-length films they made between 1934 and 1965 gained eternal life through televised reruns. In fact, it could be argued that these bickering halfwits are more popular now than they ever were in their prime Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) years.

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The founding members of the Three Stooges were Moe Howard (born Moses Horwitz; 1897–1975) and his brother Shemp (born Samuel Horwitz; 1895–1955), who started performing their comedy act on the vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) stage in 1923. Two years later, Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg; 1902–1975) rounded out

Three Stooges The Three Stooges—(left to right) Larry, Curly, and Moe—are considered masters of slapstick comedy. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

the trio. In those early days Moe, Larry, and Shemp supported the straight man Ted Healy (1896–1937). Together they made their first feature film, Soup to Nuts, in 1930. Eventually, the Stooges broke with Healy to make short films on their own. Shemp Howard left the group and was replaced by another of Moe’s brothers, Curly (born Jerome Horwitz; 1903–1952). The 1930s and 1940s proved to be the most successful period of the group’s career. In a series of two-reel comedies, the trio developed their unforgettable comic characters. Moe was the scheming leader of the group. Larry was his less-intelligent second banana. Curly was the confused, childlike man whose idiocy most often spoiled their plans. Inevitably, the Stooges would turn on each other when things went bad. They slapped each other’s faces, poked each other in the eye, and bonked each other on the head with various blunt objects, all the while trading verbal insults. It was not exactly high-culture comedy, but it took great skill and timing to pull it off correctly—and American audiences loved it. Many of their short films are considered classics of slapstick humor.

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Age and illness took their toll on the Stooges after World War II (1939–45). First Curly died, then Shemp (who rejoined the Stooges after Curly’s death). Joe Besser (1907–1988), and later “Curly Joe” DeRita (1909–1993), took turns as the third Stooge, but they were never very popular. The group made a series of children’s movies in the 1960s that introduced their comedy to a whole new generation. In the 1980s, the Stooges enjoyed a revival, as TV audiences learned to laugh along with their headbutts and eye-pokes. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Fleming, Michael. The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History. New York: Doubleday, 1999. Howard, Moe. Moe Howard and the Three Stooges. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1977. Scordato, Mark. The Three Stooges. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. The Three Stooges Official Website. http://www.threestooges.com (accessed February 8, 2002).

John Wayne (1907–1979) John Wayne, whose career spanned from the late 1920s to the mid-1970s, is the most visually recognizable actor in the history of American film. Despite appearing in a great number and wide variety of films, as an actor he is most closely identified with Westerns (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). His roles in a series of Westerns helped make Wayne an American icon who was thought by many to represent the American spirit.

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For a ten-year period, Wayne appeared primarily in lowbudget Westerns. In 1939, Wayne’s long affiliation with director John Ford (1894–1973) began when Wayne played the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. He went on to star in some of Ford’s best films, including Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also starred in the Westerns directed by Howard Hawks (1896–1977)—Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959). Both movies are considered among the finest of the genre. Beginning in the 1950s, Wayne became increasingly associated with right-wing, anticommunist politics. By the 1970s, his political stance resulted in an anti-Wayne backlash

—Robert C. Sickels

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by a young audience disillusioned with the Vietnam War, of which Wayne was a supporter. Still, his power as a larger-thanlife icon (symbol) of a certain kind of American male—tough minded, hard working, and determined—remained strong in the early 2000s.

For More Information Levy, Emanuel. John Wayne: Prophet of the American Way of Life. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1988. Nardo, Don. John Wayne. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. Wills, Garry. John Wayne’s America: The Politics of Celebrity. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

The Western The West has long held a powerful appeal to the American imagination. Since the country’s beginning, storytellers have fashioned myths about Americans’ divine right to venture into the open frontier and remake themselves and the land. The West has been the place where Americans find out who they are and who they are to become. Stories of the mythic West have been told in virtually all forms of American art, including literature, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and painting, but nowhere more prominently than in movies. Indeed, the Western is the one true American film genre (type of film). Although musicals, comedies, and action films can be set anywhere, the Western can only be set in the American West. The Western has undergone a slow evolution throughout the twentieth century. The central components of the Western have remained the same—cowboys, Indians, prostitutes, saloons, sixshooters, displaced Easterners, horses, and Western landscapes—but the meanings associated with the Western have changed dramatically. In 1903, Edwin S. Porter (1869–1941) made The Great Train Robbery (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), the first recognizably modern Western. From that time on, Westerns became a staple of the film industry. With a few exceptions, the films from the first period of Westerns, known as the “classical era,” were most often “B” movies (see entry

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under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). The movies tended to have the same plot, as if according to a formula. These “B” movies did not challenge people’s thinking about the influence of the American frontier in shaping American culture. Perhaps the apex of this era of Westerns is Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford (1894–1973), a film that has been said to have brought respectability to the genre. Following World War II (1939–45), Westerns became more respectable, with healthy budgets, notable directors, and star actors. Their content also became much more sophisticated. This new kind of Western became known as the “Adult Western” or “Superwestern.” As Andre Bazin writes in “The Evolution of the Western,” “The Superwestern is a Western that would be ashamed to be just itself, and looks for some additional interest to justify its existence—an aesthetic, sociological, moral psychological, political, or erotic interest, in short some quality extrinsic to the genre which is supposed to enrich it.” Highpoints of this period include High Noon (1952), The Searchers (1956), and Rio Bravo (1959). Finally, out of the wild 1960s came revisionist Westerns, which can be seen as a response to the classical Hollywood and Adult Westerns that preceded them. These films are much more neutral in their treatment of morality and the nature of right and wrong. They still use the standard western characters and images, but they avoid the romantic nostalgia that characterized earlier Westerns. These movies also address the damage caused by Western expansion, especially to Native Americans. Notable films of the revisionist era include The Wild Bunch (1969), Little Big Man (1970), and McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971). Beginning in the early 1970s, the production of Westerns began to decline dramatically. By the early twenty-first century, only a few Westerns were being made each year. Despite this, the West maintains its place in the American imagination. Images of the West are used to sell everything from food to pick-up trucks. Americans still believe in an idea represented by Westerns: that Americans have the ability to escape civilization and reinvent themselves in the open spaces of the American West. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information 416

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Bazin, Andre. “The Evolution of the Western.” In The Western Reader. Edited by Jim Kitses and Gregg Rickman. New York: Limelight Editions, 1998.

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Cameron, Ian, and Douglas Pye, eds. The Book of Westerns. New York: Continuum, 1996. Slotkin, Richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1992. Tompkins, Jane P. West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. West, Richard. Television Westerns: Major and Minor Series, 1946–1978. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1987. Yeck, Joanne Louise. Movie Westerns. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1994.

The Wizard of Oz The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming (1883–1949), was adapted from the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum (1856–1919), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Since it first appeared on CBS in 1956, it has been seen by well over one billion people, but the movie is far more than a popular means of filling space on TV schedules. References to The Wizard of Oz appear in films from Star Wars (1977; see entry under 1970s— Film and Theater in volume 4) to Wild at Heart (1990). It has inspired Broadway shows, album titles and cover artwork, political cartoons, and even a U.S. postage stamp. Songs from The Wizard of Oz have been covered by artists from Willie Nelson (1933–) to Tori Amos (1963–). With its fabulous characters, catchy tunes, silly humor, and fun-scary plot, The Wizard of Oz is a near-perfect fantasy movie. The role of Dorothy defined the movie career of Judy Garland (1922–1969). With their background in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), Jack Haley (1898–1979) as the Tin Woodman, Ray Bolger (1904–1987) as the Scarecrow, and Bert Lahr (1895–1967) as the Cowardly Lion gave the film a theatrical feel. Even today, the green-skinned and cackling Wicked Witch of the West, played by Margaret Hamilton (1902–1985), is truly terrifying. The Wizard of Oz took twenty-three weeks to make. It was the longest shoot in MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) history. There were many problems including injuries to cast and crew. In one incident, Hamilton’s green makeup caught fire and she completed filming wearing green leather gloves. The “Munchkin” actors were unfairly singled out as causing much of the trouble.

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Because the opening and closing “Kansas” scenes are filmed in black and white, the hugely expensive Technicolor “Oz” sequences probably seemed as dazzling to the original audience as they were to Dorothy herself. In 1939, the release of The Wizard of Oz was overshadowed by another all-time favorite, Gone with the Wind (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). But it is The Wizard of Oz that has spread furthest into American culture. Billed by MGM as “The Greatest Picture in the History of Entertainment,” the movie has acquired a mythology all its own. One of the film’s many messages is that “dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” As Baum hoped, his story has become an American fairy tale. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Fricke, John, Jay Scarfone, and William Stillman. The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Gjovaag, Eric P. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Website. http://www. eskimo.com/~tiktok/ (accessed February 8, 2002). Warner Brothers. The Wizard of Oz. http://thewizardofoz.warnerbros. com/ (accessed February 8, 2002).

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1930s Food and Drink Many people had enjoyed luxuries during the prosperous 1920s, with its easy credit and installment (regular payment) plans, but the 1930s were a different story. Families across the nation struggled to make ends meet after the stock market crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression (1929–41), a decade-long economic collapse that affected the entire world. Families budgeted their resources and began making goods that they had once purchased ready-made in stores. Food was one item most people could figure out how to make at home. Cookbooks and radio programs offered recipes, including those for “poor man’s cake” (a cake made without flour) and green tomato mincemeat, a kind of relish. Instead of buying canned food, women would take the fresh produce from their own gardens and can, pickle, and preserve it. A family of six could be fed on about five dollars of groceries each week, but every penny counted. Sometimes women would shop together to buy items in larger quantities and split the savings, even if the savings were only pennies. Of the processed food that was purchased, Spam and frozen dinners were new favorites. One dramatic change in the way people drank alcoholic beverages during the 1930s came with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment of 1919 and Prohibition (1920–33), the so-called “noble experiment” that had outlawed the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol. Upon his election to the presidency in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) changed the Volstead Act (the law enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment) to allow the sale of beer. By December 5, 1933, Prohibition ended. The manufacture, sale, and consumption of all alcohol was again legal. The martini, a cocktail made with gin, became a popular and legal beverage.

Frozen Dinners From the 1930s to the present, frozen dinners have allowed hungry individuals, who lack the time or cooking skills to whip

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up nutritious meals, to pop aluminum tins conveniently into the oven (and, later, plastic trays into the microwave) and soon be dining on chicken, roast beef, or macaroni and cheese. If this resulting “instant meal” is no gourmet’s delight, and not as healthy as a well-balanced home-cooked meal, at least it is piping hot. Frozen dinners were first marketed in the late 1930s, but they became wildly popular in the years after World War II (1939–45), when American life became more fast-paced. Women in particular, who traditionally prepared the daily family meals, now were preoccupied with other, outside-the-home pursuits. They were driving their children to and from Little League (see entry under 1930s—Sports and Games in volume 2) games or music and dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) classes. Eventually, they were entering the workforce themselves as a result of a combination of the late-1960s feminist movement and a changing economy that often required women to add an additional paycheck to the family bank account. As such, elaborate, home-cooked meals became a luxury—and the invention and evolution of the frozen dinner was first a godsend, and then a cultural phenomenon that revolutionized American home life. Frozen foods must be quickly frozen; slow freezing causes irreversible damage to the molecular structure of organic material, rendering it inedible when thawed. Clarence Birdseye (1886–1956), whose frozen food empire bears his name, was the first to develop the quick-freezing process. He employed two formulas, one involving the vaporization of ammonia and the other a cold calcium-chlorate solution. Birdseye initially quickfroze vegetables, fish, and fruit in 1924. The first products bearing his company name, Birds Eye, were meats, fish, spinach, peas, raspberries, and cherries. They were marketed in 1930. Later in the decade, General Foods began selling frozen meals on a limited basis. Many consumers initially viewed such items as inferior to fresh foodstuffs. In addition, fewer than half of all American households at the time were equipped with electric refrigerators (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) or iceboxes.

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During the post–World War II era, the American middle-class was expanding, refrigerators were in abundant supply, and the frozen food industry exploded. Swanson began selling frozen chicken and beef pot pies in 1951. Four years later, the company mass-marketed “TV dinners” (see entry under 1950s—

The Joy of Cooking

Food and Drink in volume 3), so named because they were not necessarily eaten in the dining room but were often placed on “TV trays” and consumed while watching television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The first TV dinner, which sold for around $1, was a turkey dinner that included gravy, peas, potatoes, and cornbread. While Birds Eye specialized in individual frozen items, other companies, such as Stouffer’s, Banquet, and On-Core, joined the fast-food bandwagon. Dinners were even marketed in packaging that resembled a TV set. In 1972, Swanson launched its “Hungry Man Dinner” line, which included larger helpings of meat and potatoes. In recent decades, a range of frozen items, including pizza (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3), cakes, pies, ethnic cuisine, dietary products, and side dishes, also became available. In 1955, Americans purchased 70 million frozen dinners. In 1960, the number had risen to 214 million. In 1994, it was 2 billion. The American Frozen Food Institute reported that by 2001, frozen entrees were among the top ten most served dinners in American homes and that the supermarket sales of frozen dinners had reached $5.3 billion. —Rob Edelman

For More Information “Better than TV Dinners?” Consumer Reports (March 1984): pp. 126–27, 170. “Frozen Food Trends.” American Frozen Food Institute. http://www. affi.com/factstat-trends.asp (accessed February 8, 2002). Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

The Joy of Cooking In 1931, with the United States deep in an economic depression, German American housewife Irma Rombauer (1877–1962) faced a bleak future. Her husband had committed suicide, leaving her little money to support a family. But Rombauer came up with a clever moneymaking scheme—she would gather recipes from her family and friends and publish a cookbook. That cookbook, called The Joy of Cooking, went on to become one of the best-known cookbooks in American kitchens. Rombauer was not known for her cooking skills, and those who knew her were unsure about the project. She imagined a

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cookbook designed for inexperienced cooks like herself, middle-class women who had been raised in homes that employed cooks to prepare food for the family. With the financial hardships of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), few families could afford servants any longer, and housewives needed to learn how to cook. Rombauer hoped to publish an encyclopedia of cookery that would explain every step of cooking in simple, conversational terms, from preparing fresh game (like roast squirrel and stewed porcupine) to setting the table. In 1931, Rombauer used what little money her husband had left her to publish The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat. The first printing sold quickly. By 1935, publisher Bobbs-Merrill bought the rights to Rombauer’s book. In 1948, Rombauer’s daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker (1903–1976), joined her mother to revise the cookbook. She remained as editor until her death when her son, Ethan Becker (1945–), continued the family tradition as editor. Over the years, The Joy of Cooking has sold over fifteen million copies. The book has been revised six times to update the recipes (the squirrel and porcupine were removed). There are many special editions, such as The Joy of Cooking: All About Pasta and Noodles, published in 2000. Although The Joy of Cooking is not the best-selling U.S. cookbook (The Betty Crocker Cookbook has sold over sixty million copies; see Betty Crocker entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2), it is without a doubt the “bible” of American cooking, without which no kitchen is complete. Rombauer’s original vision is responsible for her book’s place in American culture. Writing in a warm, conversational tone, from one woman to another, Rombauer and Becker managed both to demystify and define the arts of cooking and entertaining for generations of women. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

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Gordon, John Steele. “Out of the Frying Pan: When Irma Rombauer Finally Found a Publisher for Her Famous Cookbook, Her Troubles Began in Earnest.” American Heritage (Vol. 49, no. 2, April 1998): pp. 20–23. Gray, Paul. “Ode to Joy: A Classic Cookbook Gets a Total Facelift; Purists Worry; Some Contributors Simmer; Will the Pot Boil Over?” Time (November 10, 1997): pp. 92–96.

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“It’s a Whole New Joy: The Joy of Cooking.” SimonSays.com. http:// www.simonsays.com/subs/index.cfm?areaid=43 (accessed February 8, 2002). Mendelson, Anne. Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Woman Who Gave America the Joy of Cooking. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.

Spam Spam is simultaneously one of the most liked and most hated foods of all time. Around sixty million Americans eat Spam on a regular basis. Millions more have unpleasant childhood memories of the processed meat and its clinging jelly. Created during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) by Hormel and Co., Spam is a cheap, convenient food that became popular during the lean years of World War II (1939–45). Although it is often the butt of jokes, some Spam fans take their canned meat very seriously. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) credited Spam with saving the Soviet army from starvation during World War II. In South Korea, Spam is sold in gift packs. During the Depression, canned meat was the only form of protein many Americans could afford. The Hormel company dominated the market, selling tins of beef stew for just a few cents. In 1937, a pork-based luncheon meat joined the product range. Looking around for a name for his spiced meat, Jay C. Hormel (1892–1954) held a competition. Guests at his New Year’s party were forced to “buy” their drinks by suggesting a name. An actor, Kenneth Daigneau, came up with “Spam” (the first two letters of “spiced” and the last two letters of “ham”). In the twenty-first century, Spam has a cult following. Some fans of Spam even write poetry in its honor. Spam’s humorous side is partly explained by the name. Early advertising did not help: featuring comedians George Burns (1896–1996) and Gracie Allen (1906–1964), the ads recommended “Spambled eggs” and “Spamwiches.” Though meat is no longer scarce, Spam trademarked and sold in 111 countries in 2001. Because the product seems to be everywhere, the word “spam” has come to mean flooding a computer system with unwanted data. To be sure, the tinned meat is more popular. The Spam factory at Austin—”Spamtown”—Minnesota, produces 435 cans of Spam every minute. It is estimated that

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by 2001 almost 6 billion cans of Spam had graced breakfast and dinner tables around the world. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Cho, John, ed. Spam-Ku: Tranquil Reflections on Luncheon Loaf. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998. Garcia, Dan. Spam. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~ddgarcia/spam.html (accessed on February 8, 2002). Hormel Foods Corporation. It’s Spam. http://www.spam.com (accessed on February 8, 2002). Wyman, Carolyn. Spam: A Biography. New York: Harvest Books, 1999.

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1930s Music During the 1930s, the country enjoyed the emergence of a range of distinctly American musical sounds. The radio introduced Americans to more types of music than they had ever heard before. Radio continued to do so when the Great Depression (1929–41) caused declines in phonograph-record sales. Jukeboxes spread music throughout the country in taverns, soda fountains, and “juke joints,” especially after the repeal of Prohibition (1920–33). Though musicians suffered because of the Depression, the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) supported musicians as never before. The federally sponsored Works Progress Administration Federal Music Project sponsored radio programs, commissioned new work from composers, and sought out unique American musicians to feature in recordings. Though the Jazz Age had ended, during the 1930s jazz continued to mature as a musical form. Jazz music changed to a sweeter sound. Big bands began transforming it into danceable swing music. Several famous female vocalists got their start as jazz singers in the 1930s, including Ella Fitzgerald (1918–1996) and Billie Holiday (1915–1959). In the urban areas, especially Chicago, Illinois, the blues was a dominant musical style in the 1930s. Singers, many from the Mississippi Delta, strummed guitars and sang the blues about their current situations. Their music was sought out and appreciated by the many Southern blacks who continued to migrate northward during the decade. These “bluesmen,” including Charley (Charlie) Patton (1891–1934), Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897–1929), and Robert Johnson (1911–1938), were cheap to record, making blues record sales quite profitable. Boogie-woogie, gospel, and swing music were all influenced by the blues. Hillbilly music, a folk music from the Appalachian Mountains and the Southeast, became popular through artists such as the Carter family (now known as the Original Carter Family: A. P. Carter, 1891–1960; Sara Carter, 1899–1979; and Maybelle

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Carter, 1909–1978); Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933), “the Singing Brakeman”; and Roy Acuff (1903–1992) and the Smoky Mountain Boys. Hillbilly music benefited especially from radio programming like the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts and Mexican radio stations that could be heard in forty–eight states. These folk musicians influenced the later bluegrass music of the decade. Another style of music that developed during the decade was distinctly “Western” in form. By the 1930s, the American West with its cowboys and open country had become legendary. This new style of Western music capitalized on the range with its “singing” cowboys. Singers such as Gene Autry (1907–1998; nicknamed the “singing cowboy”) and Roy Rogers (1911–1998) sang songs like “The Last Roundup” and “The Call of the Canyon” with Texas or Oklahoma accents and dressed in elaborate cowboy costumes. The center of this new western music was Texas, where taverns with new jukeboxes or stages for traveling groups entertained patrons. With the repeal of Prohibition and the resulting increase in the number of taverns that sprang up, western music became more danceable and rowdy by the end of the decade, giving rise to honky-tonk and western swing music.

Big Bands Big band music emerged in the 1930s as a spirited response to the economic problems of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). The style of music continued into the 1940s as the soundtrack to World War II (1939–45). A form of jazz (see entry under 1900s— Music in volume 1) music, big band music took jazz and swing styles from the bands of the 1920s and before and put them into arrangements for larger bands. Sometimes these larger bands had as many as twenty or more musicians. These bands usually consisted of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones; a rhythm section of piano, bass, drums; sometimes guitar; and vocalists or other soloists. Big band music could be fast and exciting or slow and mellow. Either way, it was and is great music for listening and dancing to.

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The rise of big bands in the 1930s brought jazz music into the mainstream of American life. Jazz was mostly the creation of African Americans. In the 1920s, there were great African

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American big bands such as the Roseland Ballroom Orchestra, led by Fletcher Henderson (1897–1952), and the Duke Ellington (1899–1974) Orchestra. But in the 1930s, as more white musicians began to discover and play jazz on their own, it crossed over into mainstream America. White band leaders such as Benny Goodman (1909–1986), Tommy (1905–1956) and Jimmy (1904-1957) Dorsey, Glenn Miller (1904–1944), and Harry James (1916–1983) had lots of hits and drew rave crowds. Many of their songs were their own versions of songs originally written and recorded by black bands such as Henderson’s. Goodman, nicknamed the “King of Swing,” and his band could bring dancers to a frenzy with the wild solos and driving beat of such tunes as “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Big band music also launched solo singing stars such as Frank Sinatra (1915–1998; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), who first thrilled crowds as a member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. These white bands brought the music to mainstream America, but black big bands extended the music even further. The band of Count Basie (1904-84) was one of the best and hardest swinging bands of the era. Ellington wrote popular songs such as “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Solitude,” but also more complex pieces. Extended orchestral pieces such as “Black, Brown, and Beige” pushed jazz music to new heights. Ellington emerged as one of the great composers of the twentieth century. During the grim years of the Great Depression, big band music (also called “swing” music) provided an upbeat and uplifting sound. This was dance music, and people could escape their troubles dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) away the night to the sounds of the big bands. In the 1940s, when World War II took many young men overseas to fight, big band music provided songs of longing and remembrance that matched the sad mood of the war years, songs such as “Long Ago and Far Away” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” The popularity of big band music faded when rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) emerged in the 1950s, but it continues to be played and enjoyed today. A swing revival, in fact, occurred in the 1990s. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Berendt, Joachim E. The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond. Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1982. Erenberg, Lewis. Swingin’ the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

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Stowe, David W. Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. Walker, Leo. The Big Band Almanac. New York: Da Capo Press, 1989.

Billie Holiday (1915–1959) Billie Holiday was one of the greatest female jazz vocalists of the twentieth century. Although her life was often rough (including a troubled childhood and problems with drugs as an adult), her music was hauntingly beautiful. Holiday had a distinctive style of singing, phrasing her notes in odd ways unlike any other singers. Holiday began her career in the 1930s, often singing with bandleader Teddy Wilson (1912–1986). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, she recorded hundreds of songs with various musicians, with small groups and large orchestras. She gave every song she recorded her distinctive touch, and a number of songs are intimately associated with her, including “My Man,” “The Man I Love,” and “God Bless the Child.” In the late 1950s, her hard living, including trouble with alcohol and drugs, led to the decline of her voice, her career, and ultimately her early death in 1959. However, she remains one of the most influential singers in all of American popular music. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Chilton, John. Billie’s Blues: The True Story of the Immortal Billie Holiday. London: Quartet Books, 1975. Davis, Angela. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. New York: Pantheon, 1998. De Veaux, Alexis. Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday. New York: Harper and Row, 1980. Estate of Billie Holiday. The Official Site of Billie Holiday. http:// www.cmgww.com/music/holiday/ (accessed February 11, 2002). Hirshey, Gerri. “Mothers of Invention.” Rolling Stone (November 13, 1997): pp. 44–49. Holiday, Billie, with William Dufty. Lady Sings the Blues. New York: Doubleday, 1956.

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Robert Johnson is one of the most important figures in the history of blues music (see entry under 1920s—Music in vol-

Growing up in Mississippi as the son of poor sharecroppers, Johnson learned early on about the hardships of life, which he later expressed in his music. He was known as a great guitar player, so good, in fact, that a legend began that Johnson received his guitar skills by selling his soul to the devil. Although he only recorded forty-one songs in his short life, including “Crossroads Blues,” “Love in Vain,” “Terraplane Blues,” and “Traveling Riverside Blues,” Johnson was a tremendous influence on later blues and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) musicians, many of whom recorded his songs. Johnson’s musical influence was enhanced by both the mysterious nature of his life and by the suspicious nature of his death—from poisonous whiskey—in 1938. Because of this, and his enormous talent, his music has remained an essential part of blues history.

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ume 2). He played guitar, sang, and wrote songs in the Mississippi Delta blues tradition, which featured singers accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information Cohn, Lawrence, ed. Nothing But the Blues. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. Delta Haze Corporation. Robert Johnson. http://www.deltahaze.com/ johnson/index.html (accessed February 11, 2002). Guralnick, Peter. Searching for Robert Johnson. New York: Dutton, 1989. Robert Johnson Biography. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSIC/blues/ rjbio.html (accessed February 11, 2002).

Jukeboxes Jukeboxes are a pay-per-use version of phonographs (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1), record players, and, more recently, compact disc (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) players. Often found in bars and nightclubs in the 1930s and after, jukeboxes were invented to provide an inexpensive form of musical entertainment. Customers could put coins in a slot, choose the records they wanted to hear, and then enjoy the music. Jukeboxes could also play records one after the other, providing almost nonstop entertainment. They became popular during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), when many people

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could not afford to buy records and many nightclubs could not afford to hire live bands. At a nickel per play, jukeboxes provided an easy way to hear good music. Coin-operated music machines existed prior to 1900, but the first jukeboxes date from the 1920s. Some of the major manufacturers were the Automatic Music Company, Wurlitzer, Seeburg, and Rockola. Since the technology was largely the same, jukebox manufacturers distinguished themselves through their boxes’ fancy decorative designs, many of which featured colored lights. The term “jukebox” comes from the Southern term for dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), called “jooking.” “Juke joints” were bars where recorded music was played. Thus, jukeboxes referred to the machines themselves. By the mid-1930s, there were more than five hundred thousand jukeboxes in use. Jukeboxes provided an inexpensive form of musical entertainment in the 1930s and beyond. Corbis/Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

Jukeboxes also helped record companies survive the Great Depression. Jukebox owners had to supply their machines with the new records that listeners wanted to hear. Many machines could keep track of which songs were played most, allowing record companies to learn what kinds of music people most wanted to hear. Jukeboxes played a large role in helping rhythm and blues (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music take off. Jukeboxes helped convince record companies that there was a market for this new music. Jukeboxes also allowed people to hear this music when early radio programs refused to play it. Jukeboxes declined in popularity after the 1950s, when more people could afford to buy records, but they played an important role in the development of American popular music and can still be found in many diners (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1), bars, and clubs. —Timothy Berg

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Boehlert, Eric. “Put Another Nickle In.” Billboard (November 1, 1994). Chapple, Steve, and Rebe Garofalo. Rock and Roll Is Here to Pay. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1977.

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Durham, Ken. “History of Jukeboxes.” GameRoomAntiques. http://www. gameroomantiques.com/HistoryJuke.htm (accessed February 11, 2002). The National Jukebox Exchange. http://www.nationaljukebox.com/ index. html (accessed February 11, 2002). Rock & Roll Generation: Teen Life in the 50s. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1998.

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1930s Print Culture Reading remained an important source of news and entertainment in America during the 1930s. Throughout the decade, more than thirty-nine million people read daily newspapers, even though radio had caused the number of different newspapers to decline. By comparison, there were twenty-nine million radios in American homes at the beginning of the decade and thirty-five million by the end of the decade. For the majority of Americans, reading was the most important source of information and entertainment that they had. Comic strips and comic books were among the most popular forms of entertainment during the decade. Blondie, a comic strip that started in 1930 as a playful story about young people in the Jazz Age, turned into a funny strip about work and family life in America. Dick Tracy offered readers an opportunity to plunge into the life of a detective battling vicious gangsters, the criminals that most fascinated people during the decade. Superheroes, including Batman, Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, and Superman, thrilled readers with incredible adventures, secret identities, and unbelievable physical abilities. While many improbable and fantastic stories were sold in book form, some serious fiction was sold as well. The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck (1902–1968), for example, painted a picture of the worst circumstances of American suffering during the Great Depression (1929–41). Nevertheless, the most popular kind of book was detective fiction. At a time when every penny counted, cheaper paperback books began to be offered to increase all kinds of book sales. Magazines such as Life and Family Circle offered news and stories for the family. Esquire courted a male readership and soon became successful featuring some of the best short-story writers of the time, including Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), and Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951). Esquire also profited by gearing articles exclusively to male tastes and interests. Woman’s Day started as a magazine specifically for women. Pulp magazines continued to pump out

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fantastic stories for the light entertainment of readers throughout the country. In short, American readers had varying tastes, and there was generally something for everybody.

Batman In 1939, the comic character first known as “The Bat-Man” made his first appearance in a six-page segment featured in the “No. 27” issue of Detective Comics. Since that time, the darkly clad and threatening crime fighter created by Bob Kane (1915–1998) has appeared to Americans in comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), novels, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, and movies. Americans identify with Batman because he is one of them—a self-trained man from the mythical Gotham City with no superpowers and very visible human problems. Batman’s humanity has helped make him one of the most universally appealing American comic heroes. Comic-book readers soon learned that Batman was the alter ego of millionaire Bruce Wayne. As a child, Wayne had witnessed his wealthy parents’ murder in a street holdup. From that moment forward, Bruce Wayne dedicated himself to fighting crime. Kane’s original Batman was a ruthless, unscrupulous vigilante—a man who would go outside the law to bring evildoers to justice, sometimes even going so far, in his earliest adventures, as to shoot them himself. Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, a number of different artists and writers worked on various Batman series, resulting in several new characters becoming a regular part of the continuing saga. These characters, nearly equally well known in popular culture, included sidekick Robin (an orphaned circus acrobat whom Wayne adopted), Alfred (Wayne’s loyal butler, who, aside from Robin, was the only one who knew of Wayne’s double identity), and the villains the Joker, Two-Face, and the Penguin.

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In 1966, the dark and mysterious Batman took a different turn when ABC introduced the Batman TV series. The show, starring Adam West (1928–) as Batman, was intentionally overacted. The show made fun of the seriousness of the comic-book series, but was for a brief time very popular. The show was so popular, in fact, that it inspired the creation of Batman paraphernalia—lunch boxes, toys, and clothing were eagerly pur-

Batman chased by and for kids. The series came to an end in 1968, but many people still first think of the show when they think of Batman. Since the debut of the TV show, the Batman character has appeared in many different mediums. The comic-book line has continued, with new artists and writers pursuing different approaches to the character, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Perhaps the most notable of these efforts was the 1986 graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller (1957–). The four-part novel returned Batman to his dark and

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sinister roots. In addition, four high-profile, feature-length Batman films were released from 1989 to 1997. (Also, a movie based on the TV show was released in 1966 and an animated film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, came out in 1993.) Because he is symbolic of both America’s problems with violence and crime and of American idealism, representing the dark side that lies in each and every person, Batman will likely always retain his place in popular culture. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information Barrier, Michael, and Martin Williams, eds. A Smithsonian Book of ComicBook Comics. New York: Smithsonian Institution Press and Harry Abrams, Inc., 1981. Burton, Tim, director. Batman (video). Warner Brothers/Warner Home Video, 1989. DC Comics. http://www.dccomics.com (accessed February 11, 2002). Jourdain, William F. The Golden Age Batman. http://www.goldenagebatman. com/enter.html (accessed February 11, 2002). Miller, Frank. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York: DC Comics/Warner Books, 1986. Pearson, Robert E., and William Uricchio, eds. The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media. New York: Routledge, 1991. West, Adam, with Jeff Rovin. Back to the Batcave. New York: Berkley Books, 1994.

Blondie Blondie, which has appeared in newspapers since 1930, is one of the most widely read comic strips in history. Created by Murat “Chic” Young (1901–1973), the strip centers on the domestic antics of the Bumstead family. Young developed a simple formula for his strip and seldom varied from four basic themes: raising a family, eating, sleeping, and making a living. At the turn of the twenty-first century, the bumbling husband Dagwood and beautiful wife Blondie appear in more than 2,300 newspapers and boast more than 280 million daily readers reading the strip in 55 countries and in 35 different languages.

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Initially, Blondie was far removed from its familiar suburban setting. It debuted as a “girlie” strip and told the story of Blondie Boopadoop, a flighty flapper (an unconventional young woman of the 1920s; see entry under 1920s—Fashion in vol-

ume 2). Blondie is being courted by a wealthy young heir, Dagwood, whose parents disapproved of him keeping company with a social inferior. By 1933, Young believed his Jazz Age characters were becoming irrelevant to readers during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). He decided to ground the strip more in reality by marrying Blondie and Dagwood and depicting them as struggling newlyweds. Upon their marriage, Dagwood’s billionaire father immediately disinherited his son. After this, Young abandoned story continuity and transformed Blondie into a gag strip with stories about what goes on in almost every home. Audiences embraced Young’s new emphasis on domesticity. Among the strip’s most popular running gags were Dagwood’s confrontations with his boss, Mr. Dithers; continuing battles with door-to-door salesmen; and frequent collisions with the neighborhood postman. The strip’s most famous creation is the Dagwood sandwich, which contains a mountainous assortment of leftovers precariously arranged between two slices of bread. In 1934, the Bumsteads had a son named Baby Dumpling (later called Alexander). Many strips focused on the couples’ attempts to raise a child. The family was complete in 1941 with the arrival of a daughter, Cookie. Overseeing the family was Daisy, the Bumstead dog, and her litter of puppies. Blondie is the most widely circulated comic strip in history, and its characters have appeared in countless books and merchandise. It also served as the basis for a successful series of twenty-eight movies between 1938 and 1951. The movies

A typical Blondie comic strip. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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starred Arthur Lake (1905–1987) and Penny Singleton (1908–) as the Bumsteads. Short-lived sitcom versions of the Bumsteads’ exploits appeared on television during the 1950s and 1960s. The strip features a clean, highly animated style and never veers from its format. In the 1980s, however, modest changes to Blondie were introduced to make the strip more contemporary, such as Dagwood joining a carpool and Blondie opening her own catering business. The Bumsteads remain the typical American comic-strip family. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Blackbeard, Bill, and Martin Williams. The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. Blondie. http://www.blondie.com (accessed February 11, 2002). Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996. Robinson, Jerry. The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art. New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1974. Young, Dean, and Rick Marschall. Blondie & Dagwood’s America. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) Dale Carnegie was America’s foremost promoter of unwavering optimism and enthusiasm as both a personal philosophy and a manner of approaching the challenges of daily life. Back in 1912, Carnegie began teaching a nonacademic course that, on the surface, was concerned with public speaking. Actually, the issues with which he dealt went beyond the how-tos of speaking before audiences. As his course evolved, Carnegie focused on the manner in which individuals might confront their fears and demons. He saw these fears as barriers that prevented them from reaching their complete potential at their jobs or in their personal relationships.

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Carnegie, who previously had worked as a salesman and actor, first taught his course in New York City, at the YMCA on 125th Street in Harlem. His students were businessmen and salesmen who wished to improve their communications skills. He expanded his class’ parameters when he began calling on students to express themselves in class, to discuss their life experiences, and to acknowledge publicly their wishes and

Carnegie’s critics felt his techniques were too simplistic and even manipulative. In 1936, he published his philosophy in a book titled How to Win Friends and Influence People, which became one of the twentieth-century’s all-time best-sellers (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). In 1939, he began licensing the course to others to teach across the country. By 2001, more than 4.5 million people had taken Dale Carnegie courses from Dale Carnegie Training, a corporation that offered the course across the United States and around the world.

Comic Books

fears. As the years passed, Carnegie kept fine-tuning the class, which he called “The Dale Carnegie Course in Public Speaking and Human Relations.”

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Carnegie, Dale. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1948, 1984. Carnegie, Dale. How to Win Friends and Influence People. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1936, 1981. Dale Carnegie Training. http://www.dale-carnegie.com (accessed February 11, 2002). Kemp, Giles, and Edward Claflin. Dale Carnegie: The Man Who Influenced Millions. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. Longgood, William. Talking Your Way to Success: The Story of the Dale Carnegie Course. New York: Association Press, 1962.

Comic Books Comic books, which first appeared in the 1930s, have entertained children and young adults for decades. They have told stories from a wide variety of genres, including romance, humor, horror, war, and Westerns (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), but are most associated with tales featuring the exploits of superpowered heroes. The costumed heroes from their pages have been translated into all other forms of popular culture—plastic action-figure playtoys, Halloween costumes, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) shows, feature films, and so on—and continue to have a firm grasp on the American imagination. Comic books first appeared in 1933 with the publication of Famous Funnies, which included reprints of popular newspaper strips. In 1935, Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (1890–1968)

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launched New Fun Comics—the first comic book to print all-new material. Early issues featured crime and mystery stories that were popular in the pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s— Print Culture in volume 2) of the era. The industry was changed forever in 1939 with the arrival of Superman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). Created by two Cleveland teens, Superman was unlike any other hero ever seen. He possessed superpowers, wore a skintight costume, and had a secret identity. Superman was an immediate success. He spawned a vast number of costumed counterparts like Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3), and Plastic Man. The comic-book industry boomed during the 1940s and sold millions of issues per month. However, by the 1950s, they were criticized by some for emphasizing sex, crime, and violence. Dr. Fredric Wertham (1895–1981) led the anticomics forces and claimed in his controversial text, Seduction of the Innocent, that comics led to juvenile delinquency. The industry responded by creating the Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body that enforced standards. The industry rebounded in the 1960s. The characters of Marvel Comics (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4), like Spider-Man (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4) and the X-Men, were more “realistic.” They often appeared flawed and insecure, and they revitalized the superhero genre (category) of comic books. Superheroes continue to dominate the marketplace, but recent decades have seen the rise of independent and “underground” comics that appeal to an older, more diverse readership. Among the most noteworthy creators of these more “adult” comics are Robert Crumb (1943–), Harvey Pekar (1939–), and Art Spiegelman (1948–). By the 1980s, even the superheroes became involved in more mature story lines. Of note, the Dark Knight, a graphic novel written by Frank Miller (1957–) in 1986, presents an adult view of the Batman legend.

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The comic book industry has faced increased competition from TV, VCRs, video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), and computers since the 1970s. While DC and Marvel, the leading producers of superhero comics, accounted for 75 percent of the market in the 1990s, finding a new generation of comic-book readers remains an industry concern. Still, the superheroes remain popular and now regularly appear in films and on television. —Charles Coletta

Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York: Little, Brown, 1995. Daniels, Les. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Jones, Gerard, and Will Jacobs. The Comic Book Heroes. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1997. Kurtzman, Harvey. From AARGH! to ZAP!: Harvey Kurtzman’s Visual History of Comics. New York: Prentice Hall, 1991. Pustz, Matthew. Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999.

Detective Fiction

For More Information

Detective Fiction The first true detective story was written by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) in 1841. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” began the tradition of “classic” detective fiction. Classic detective fiction features a highly perceptive detective, a mysterious crime, and obscure clues. By the 1930s, a second type of detective fiction had appeared. This new detective fiction relied more on action than on working out puzzles. Known as “hard-boiled” detective fiction, it began in America and used American settings, especially the cities of Los Angeles, California, and New York City. The hardboiled (tough-guy) detective with his raincoat and low-brimmed hat is a defining figure of the 1930s and 1940s. The most famous of the great detectives is Sherlock Holmes, created by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930). Holmes’s methods of deduction, his strange lifestyle, and faithful friend Watson are all borrowed from Poe’s original story. In Poe’s story, the detective uses his powers of deduction to solve the puzzle of how a murderer could commit murder and escape from a room that is locked from the inside. Many classic detective stories use the “locked room” theme in one form or another. A popular variation is setting the story in a closed community such as an isolated country house or an English village. This became so popular in England that classic detective fiction is often known as the “English” or “Country House” type. Huge numbers of classic detective stories were published throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In the United States, the most popular writers were Ellery Queen (who was really two people, cousins Frederic Dannay [1905–1982] and Manfred B. Lee [1905–1971]), S. S. Van Dine (1888–1939, whose real name was Willard Huntington Wright), John Dickson Carr (1906–1977),

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and Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970). Their books are usually written as puzzles; part of the reason people read classic detective stories is to try to solve the mystery before the detective does. Despite having their own styles, these writers all stick to the basic structure laid down by Poe. Whatever the details of particular cases, the mysteries in their stories are solved by an unusually clever detective in a setting that is more or less closed to the outside world. Writer Carroll John Daly (1889–1958) invented the hardboiled detective in his series character Race Williams, who first appeared in 1922. Hard-boiled detective stories appeared in “pulp” magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) such as Dime Detective and Black Mask throughout the 1920s and 1930s. They were written in clipped, everyday language that described action rather than a puzzle to be solved. Hard-boiled detective stories contain graphic descriptions of action, violence, and sex. In the 1920s and 1930s, they seemed very shocking. In the hard-boiled detective story, however, crime was no longer the subject of an interesting and challenging puzzle. Crime had human consequences for the victim, the detective, and society. Hard-boiled detective fiction encourages the reader to identify with the detective. It celebrates “ordinary” people in their efforts to resist crime. By focusing on the detective rather than on the puzzle, hard-boiled detective fiction can also deal with real issues. Since the 1980s, female hardboiled private eye V. I. Warshawski has allowed author Sara Paretsky (1947–) to discuss feminist issues. Walter Mosley (1952–) uses a black detective to explore problems of race. Hard-boiled detective fiction remains popular at the beginning of the twenty-first century through writers such as James Ellroy (c. 1948–), Elmore Leonard (1925–), and Lawrence Block (1938–). But its heyday was the 1930s and 1940s when writers such as Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961) and Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) brought high-quality writing to a mass audience. Chandler is the acknowledged master of the hard-boiled detective novel. Through his detective Philip Marlowe, Chandler defined the image of the private eye. A tough but honest man, Marlowe walks the mean streets confronting villains and taking more than his fair share of beatings. Chandler’s vivid descriptions and dialogue create novels with a bleak, bitter edge that perfectly captures the mood of their time.

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The 1930s were detective fiction’s golden age when vast numbers of detective stories were published. But since the

Dick and Jane Readers

1970s, the idea that a lone detective of any kind is capable of solving crimes has looked like wishful thinking. Today’s detective stories do not rely solely on the deductive powers or the snooping of one detective. Writers now take into account police procedures, forensics (the application of medical knowledge to criminal and legal problems), and genetic testing in their stories. Detectives themselves now come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. There are gay and lesbian detectives, police detectives, and detectives from all social and professional groups. These changes offer new opportunities for detective fiction and its audience. Detective fiction remains highly popular in all its forms. The growth of the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) has led to a revival of publishing short detective stories of all kinds. With its long history of responding to the important issues of the times, detective fiction seems set to remain a central part of America’s literary heritage. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Priestman, Martin. Crime Fiction from Poe to the Present. Plymouth, UK: Northcote House Publishers, 1998. Symons, Julian. Bloody Murder: From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel. New York: Penguin, 1985. Thrilling Detective Website. http://www.thrillingdetective.com (accessed on February 11, 2002). Winn, Dilys. Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader’s Companion. New York: Workman Publishing, 1977.

Dick and Jane Readers From 1930 through about 1970, more than sixty-five million U.S. schoolchildren learned to read using the Dick and Jane readers published by Scott Foresman and Company. The books took their name from the series’ lead characters, a boy named Dick and a girl named Jane, who, with a dog named Spot and a kitten named Puff, lived in a friendly neighborhood of white picket fences. It has been estimated that four out of five of the nation’s schools used the Dick and Jane readers, ranking them with the nineteenth-century McGuffey Readers as important tools of universal literacy. The Dick and Jane readers used a limited vocabulary and sight-reading method, with frequent repetition of words and

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phrases so children could remember them easily. The phrase “See Spot run! Run, Spot, run!” is still remembered by millions of adults as the very first sentences they could read on their own. For this reason, some critics thought the stories were boring and lacked the cultural content enjoyed by earlier generations who had learned to read using Shakespeare and the Bible, for example. By the 1960s, the simple sight-reading approach of the Dick and Jane readers had fallen out of favor, to be replaced by readers emphasizing phonics. The readers were also criticized for portraying Dick and Jane in a white, small-town setting that had little relevance to many children of color who were growing up in urban areas. It was not until 1965—in the readers’ final editions—that the first African American characters appeared: neighbors to Dick and Jane named Mike, Pam, and Penny. The first Dick and Jane readers appeared in 1930. They were developed by William S. Gray (1885–1960), an authority on teaching, and by Zerna Sharp (1889–1981) and Harry B. Johnson. Working with teachers and school psychologists, the three developed a series using a limited vocabulary technique. The first-grade Dick and Jane readers had only three hundred words; the third-grade reader had about one thousand; and the sixth-grade reader had four thousand. Writers were required to limit their stories to a preselected group of words, only a few of which could be introduced on each page. In 1941, the Cathedral series of the Dick and Jane readers was developed for Roman Catholic schools. —Edward Moran

For More Information Kismaric, Carole, and Marvin Heiferman. Growing Up with Dick and Jane. San Francisco: Collins, 1996. Trace, Arther S., Jr. Reading without Dick and Jane. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1965. Zimet, Sara Goodman, ed. What Children Read in School: Critical Analysis of Primary Reading Textbooks. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1972.

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Beginning in 1931, comic strip detective Dick Tracy began his relentless pursuit of bizarre and disfigured criminals. For decades, readers have been thrilled with the strip’s mix of

Dick Tracy Cartoon detective Dick Tracy fights crime with the help of his handy two-way wrist radio. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

highly stylized and almost abstract artwork, realistic police procedural elements, breathless pacing, and brutal violence. Chester Gould (1900–1985) aspired to be a cartoonist since his boyhood days in Oklahoma. In 1921, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked for several newspapers while attempting to create his own comic strip. He eventually developed an idea for a daily adventure strip that would reflect the gangland violence that was overrunning Chicago during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and Prohibition era. Unlike other adventure strips of the period, such as Tarzan (see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1) and Buck Rogers (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2), Gould’s was not set in an exotic locale but rather in a more realistic urban environment. Gould introduced Dick Tracy to the American public through a dramatic story that set the basic elements of the strip. Tracy was first seen as a helpless witness to the kidnapping of his fiancée, Tess Truehart, and the murder of her father. He immediately joined the police force, saved Tess, and brought the hoodlums to justice. Tracy was soon joined in his battle with

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the underworld by sidekick Pat Patton and “Junior,” an orphan adopted by the policeman. Gould’s main theme was that moral outrage and inescapable punishment must confront ruthless crime. His artistic style was known for its sharp lines and angles, whether drawing people or background. His forbidding use of black complemented his morality tales. The strip was generally structured around Tracy’s pursuit of some evil or sadistic villain. Tracy’s nasty opponents, who had names like Flattop, B. B. Eyes, Pruneface, and Mumbles, were drawn so that their evil natures were reflected in their appearances. The villains often met grisly fates, such as being riddled with bullets, frozen to death, buried alive, or impaled on flagpoles. Gould balanced these strange, unreal elements with realistic depictions of police procedures and techniques. The strip was also known for its invention of futuristic gadgets, like the two-way wrist radio Tracy employed in his fight for justice. Dick Tracy helped popularize detective fiction (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) not only through his newspaper exploits but also on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and film. Although Gould retired in 1977, Dick Tracy continues to fight crime in the nation’s newspapers. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Bonifer, Mike. Dick Tracy: The Making of the Movie. New York: Bantam Books, 1990. Crouch, Bill, ed. Dick Tracy: America’s Most Famous Detective. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1987. Gould, Chester. The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, 1931–1951. New York: Chelsea House, 1980. Gould, Chester. Dick Tracy The Thirties: Tommyguns & Hard Times. New York: Chelsea House, 1978. Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic Strip Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.

Doc Savage

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Clark “Doc” Savage Jr. was one of the first superheroes to ram, shoot, and punch his way through American popular culture in

Savage made his debut in the novel, The Man of Bronze (a reference to the hero’s suntanned skin, acquired while fighting evil in all climates and all forms of weather), which also introduced the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine. This publication would feature a Doc Savage novel every month until 1949.

Doc Savage

the twentieth century. Beginning in 1933, he appeared in 181 “pulp” novels, several episodes of radio drama, and one movie.

The 1930s saw the beginning of magazines that were known as “hero pulps,” built around the adventures of one popular character. The first of the hero pulps featured the exploits of The Shadow (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), and it was the runaway success of this publication that inspired Henry W. Ralston of Street and Smith Publishers to envision a new kind of hero. Amidst the gloom and doom of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), Ralston wanted a character “so strong and so intelligent that nothing can stop him.” The job of fleshing out that concept fell to veteran pulp-writer Lester Dent (c. 1904–1959). Dent created the ultimate mortal man, who would serve as a pattern for the later creation of the even greater heroes: Superman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 3) and Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 3). Doc Savage was a man who made the most of his considerable natural talents. Doc was the richest man alive and one of the best looking. He also had the physique of a superb athlete, which allowed him to run faster, dodge quicker, and hit harder than anyone who was likely to oppose him. Doc Savage was a superb chemist, a brilliant surgeon, and an inventor of unparalleled creativity. He invented a number of gadgets used in his struggle against the forces of evil, including instant-developing cameras, tranquilizing dart guns, and a teleportation device that could break an object down to its essential atoms and reconstitute it somewhere else. Doc Savage surrounded himself with “the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group.” As the books said: “Together with their leader, they would go anywhere, fight anyone, dare everything—seeking excitement and perilous adventure.” However, the intellectual power of the “Fabulous Five” often paled in comparison to the brilliance of their leader. There was a revival of interest in Doc Savage during the late 1960s to early 1970s, when Bantam Publishing reissued most

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of the original magazine novels as paperbacks whose sensational contents were matched by their lurid covers. A Doc Savage movie came out in 1970. A radio show aired in the 1930s and again in the 1980s. Bantam began publishing new Doc Savage stories in 1991. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Cannaday, Marilyn. Bigger Than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage. Bowling Green, OH: Popular Press, 1990. “Doc Savage.” ThePulp.net. http://thepulp.net/docsavage.html (accessed February 12, 2002). Hutchison, Don. The Great Pulp Heroes. Buffalo: Mosaic Press, 1996. Sampson, Robert. Deadly Excitements: Shadows and Phantoms. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989.

Esquire A monthly men’s magazine founded in 1933 by Arnold Gingrich (1903–1976) and David Smart (1892–1952), Esquire was originally conceived as a fashion magazine and distributed through men’s clothing stores. By the 1960s, it had evolved into one of the United States’ most respected monthly magazines. It published hard-hitting articles and high-quality short stories by some of the nation’s leading writers such as Tom Wolfe (1931–), Gore Vidal (1925–), William F. Buckley Jr. (1925–), and Garry Wills (1934–). Under fiction editor Gordon Lish (1934–), the magazine helped establish the careers of important short-story writers like Raymond Carver (1938–1988). Appealing to an audience of sophisticated, style-conscious males, Esquire helped define patterns of thinking and standards of behavior for the post–World War II (1939-45) generation of well-off, educated men (and women). The magazine virtually reinvented notions of how American men should act by presenting as role models men who were interested in leisure, who were avid consumers, and who had a keen interest in sex. Such representations of manhood were soon to become commonplace in American culture, but they first appeared regularly in Esquire.

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From its earliest days, Esquire published the work of serious American writers, including Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), John Dos Passos (1896–1970), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940), Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), and Langston Hughes

Flash Gordon

(1902–1967). It featured cartoons by E. Simms Campbell (1906–1971), the only black artist whose work appeared regularly in a mainstream national magazine. Immediately after World War II, the publication veered away from its stylish and literary format in favor of more Westerns (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and detective fiction (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), imitating other pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 3) of the period. In the 1950s, Esquire moved to New York and reestablished its sophisticated style under such editors as Ralph Ginzburg (1929–) and Clay Felker (1925–), who were credited with making Esquire one of the country’s most respected magazines. The magazine published many in-depth articles on important social and cultural issues of the day, like the civil-rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and the Vietnam War (1954–75). By the 1970s, Esquire’s circulation peaked at about 1.25 million but soon suffered sharp declines in readership and advertising. After several changes of ownership, Esquire was purchased in 1987 by the Hearst Corporation, its present owner, which publishes it under the slogan “Everything a Man Needs to Know.” According to its editor-in-chief, David Granger, “Esquire is special because it’s a magazine for men. Not a fashion magazine for men, not a health magazine for men, not a money magazine for men. It is not any of these things; it is all of them. It is, and has been for nearly seventy years, a magazine about the interests, the curiosity, the passions of men.” Esquire claimed a circulation of 672,073 in 1999, about half of what it had been a quarter-century earlier. —Edward Moran

For More Information Esquire. http://www.esquire.com (accessed February 12, 2002). Merrill, Hugh. Esky: The Early Years at Esquire. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995. Pendergast, Tom. Creating the Modern Man: Masculinity and American Magazines, 1900–1950. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000. Polsgrove, Carol. It Wasn’t Pretty, Folks, But Didn’t We Have Fun? Esquire in the Sixties. New York, W. W. Norton, 1995.

Flash Gordon One of the most popular science-fiction-adventure comic strips, Flash Gordon debuted in 1934 and has continued to thrill

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Flash Gordon, played by Buster Crabbe, fights off the enemy in Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars. Underwood & Underwood/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

readers for generations. The strip focuses on the exploits of Flash Gordon, Yale graduate and “world renowned polo player,” as he continually battles the evil Ming the Merciless on the distant planet of Mongo. Originally created by cartoonist Alex Raymond (1907–1956) and writer Don Moore to challenge the popularity of Buck Rogers (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2), Flash Gordon quickly established itself as one of the medium’s most dynamic and best-drawn series. Raymond is remembered as the “Rembrandt of the comics page” for his lush, highly detailed artwork. In America’s Great Comic Strip Artists, Richard Marschall describes Raymond’s artistry as a “powerful, lush style of intense portrayals of personality, majestic poses, dramatic compositions, and a totally unique method of realization—romanticism in the comics.” Raymond’s work combined a unique color sense, formal composition, and pulsating brushwork.

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While Flash Gordon was distinguished for its artistry, the writing was often poor. The strip was partially based on the novel When Worlds Collide by Edwin Balmer (1883–1959) and

The Grapes of Wrath

Philip Wylie (1902–1971). The strip tended to feature onedimensional characters in unlikely plots. Its first story featured Flash and his companions—the beautiful Dale Arden and brilliant Dr. Hans Zarkov—being transported via spacecraft to the mysterious planet Mongo. There, they encountered futuristic cities, exotic landscapes, and a variety of bizarre creatures. Ming, a cruel dictator, dominated Mongo. Flash battled the tyrant and Aura, his seductive daughter, repeatedly until Mongo was liberated in 1941. Although many of the scripts may have been silly, Raymond’s superb artistry took the strip to a higher level. Raymond left Flash Gordon in 1944. He later created the popular Rip Kirby detective strip, which he handled until his death in a 1956 automobile accident. Despite Raymond’s departure, Flash Gordon remained a successful series. In the late 1930s, the strip was translated to film in several popular movie serials starring Buster Crabbe (1907–1983); the final being the classic Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). The characters also appeared on radio throughout the 1930s and 1940s and in a short-lived 1950s television program. In 1980, Sam J. Jones (1954–) starred as the space hero in an unsuccessful film. Into the twenty-first century, Flash Gordon can still be found exploring Mongo in the nation’s comics pages. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Barry, Dan, and Harvey Kurtzman. Flash Gordon. New York: Kitchen Sink Press, 1988. Marschall, Richard. America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989. Raymond, Alex. Flash Gordon. Franklin Square: Nostalgia Press, 1967.

The Grapes of Wrath Published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1902–1968) is one of the most celebrated Great Depression era (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) novels. It tells the story of the fictional Joad family. Following the loss of their crops during the dustbowl, the Joads leave their Oklahoma farm and head west to California. The novel won Steinbeck the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1940. Written in the tradition of the documentary movement of the late 1930s, the novel alternates narrative chapters with descriptive

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passages. An Oscar-winning film of the novel appeared in 1940, starring Henry Fonda (1905–1982) and directed by John Ford (1895–1973). Between them, the novel and film began a national debate about migrant workers and farming. Steinbeck believed in the power of literature to change society for the better. The Grapes of Wrath is both a human story and a political statement. It exposes the short-term thinking at the heart of the agricultural economy of the time. It also reveals the terrible working and living conditions of migrant workers in California. Packed into camps with little running water, the Joads struggle to find low-paid work on fruit farms. The documentary sections of the novel are similar to documentary books of the time such as You Have Seen Their Faces (1937) by Margaret BourkeWhite (1906–1971) and Erskine Caldwell (1903–1987) and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) by Walker Evans (1903–1975) and James Agee (1909–1955). Steinbeck heightened the effect of his documentary by adding a powerful emotional story. The “Okie” migrants in Steinbeck’s novel are presented as uneducated but decent folk, betrayed by big business and an indifferent government. In Kern County, California, agricultural business and community leaders were outraged. The novel’s criticism of California growers and other questions of its accuracy soon led to it being banned across America. As a result, Ford’s film was produced under tight security. It has a brighter outlook than the novel, but still presents a bleak, unforgiving view. Despite this wretched situation, and although the Joads suffer terribly, they remain decent people, ready to help others. In the end, Steinbeck’s novel is a celebration of the strength and goodness of ordinary people. —Chris Routledge

For More Information French, Warren G., ed. A Companion to the Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1963. Steinbeck, John. Working Days: The Journals of “The Grapes of Wrath.” New York: Viking, 1989. Wiener, Gary. Readings on the Grapes of Wrath. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999.

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Two important U.S. popular magazines have been known as Life. The first, a sophisticated humor magazine published from

Life A 1926 cover of Life magazine, best known for its illustrations of the “Gibson Girl.” A second magazine going by the name Life was launched in 1936. Courtesy of The Library of Congress.

1883 to 1936, was noted for the “Gibson Girl” (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944). The more famous of the two, part of the Time-Life empire of Henry Luce (1898–1967), was published weekly from 1936 to 1972 and at less frequent intervals to this day. With a peak circulation of 8.5 million readers, it was one of the largest of the mass-circulation magazines. By bringing high-quality photojournalism to millions of readers each week, Life helped shape public opinion through the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume

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2) and World War II (1939–45) years, and into the Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) period that followed. Some of the most familiar photographs of the twentieth century appeared in the pages of Life, such as the famous shot of a sailor and a nurse embracing during World War II victory celebrations in New York’s Times Square. Henry Luce, who had founded Time (see entry under 1920s— Print Culture in volume 2) in 1923 and Fortune in 1930, bought the rights to use the name from the earlier Life magazine, which was in financial trouble. The first issue appeared on November 23, 1936, and cost ten cents. The magazine introduced a style and a graphic approach that would remain basically unchanged for the rest of its existence. On its cover appeared a dramatically lit photograph of Fort Peck Dam, one of the era’s important public-works projects, taken by Margaret Bourke-White (1906–1971). The magazine’s logo, a rectangular red box with the word “Life” in white letters, appeared in the upper left corner, as it would for nearly all of the more than two thousand issues that would follow. Life adhered to a standard formula over the years. Each issue included a mix of serious photos that illustrated current events, humorous pictures that unveiled the quirky side of life, and comprehensive photo essays on a theme, such as architecture, scientific discoveries, or space travel. Text was kept to a minimum, serving as extended captions for the photographs, which were the real centerpieces of the magazine’s appeal. As a masscirculation commercial magazine, Life succeeded in appealing to a large number of Americans who enjoyed seeing the common man (and woman) glorified in its pages each week. —Edward Moran

For More Information Hamblin, Dora Jane. That Was the Life. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1977. Life. http://www.lifemag.com (accessed February 12, 2002). Tebbel, John, and Mary Ellen Zuckerman. The Magazine in America: 1741–1990. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Wainwright, Loudon. The Great American Magazine: An Inside History of Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.

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Li’l Abner was one of the most popular comic strips in American history. The strip ran in newspapers from 1934 until 1977.

Capp believed a comic strip could be more than simple entertainment. He used the strip as a soapbox for his beliefs. Both liberals and conservatives denounced the strip over the years as Capp targeted all sides of the political spectrum. The characters of Li’l Abner were generally lazy, willing to believe anything, and stupid. They were often repulsively drawn and became embroiled in bizarre adventures. Among the most memorable of Capp’s creations are Joe Btfsplk, Fearless Fosdick, Moonbeam McSwine, Sir Cecil Cesspool, the Shmoos, General Bullmoose, and Appasionata von Climax. The strip’s most lasting creation was “Sadie Hawkins’ Day,” when women could hunt down and legally force a man to marry them. The day became an “unofficial holiday” on college campuses across America. In 1952, the strip gained national headlines when Abner married the gorgeous Daisy Mae Scragg after her years of pursuit. Li’l Abner’s characters were featured on radio and in cartoons, films, and a Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) musical. The strip’s popularity declined in the 1970s. Capp retired Li’l Abner in November 1977.

Nancy Drew Series

Created by Al Capp (1909–1980), the strip was populated by hillbilly characters that resided in rural Dogpatch. The protagonist was Abner Yokum, a muscle-bound simpleton who lived with his Mammy and Pappy. The strip was an instant critical and commercial success, as readers delighted in Capp’s expert mixture of verbal and visual humor. John Steinbeck (1902–1968) considered Capp to be America’s greatest satirist as the strip mocked the nation’s social structure, economics, politics, ideals, and contemporary fads.

—Charles Coletta

For More Information Caplin, Elliot. Al Capp Remembered. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1994. Capp, Al. The Best of Li’l Abner. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. Capp, Al. My Well-Balanced Life on a Wooden Leg, Memoirs. Santa Barbara, CA: John Daniel and Company Publishers, 1991.

Nancy Drew Series Nancy Drew is the ultimate girl private investigator. Her adventures began in 1930, when Mildred A. Wirt Benson

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(1905–) wrote the first Nancy Drew mystery novel, The Secret of the Old Clock, under the pseudonym “Carolyn Keene.” Like the Hardy Boys (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) series, the Nancy Drew stories were produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a company that specialized in mystery series. The Nancy Drew mysteries soon became the best selling juvenile fiction in America. The mysteries remain in print in the twenty-first century. Nancy has adventures every bit as exciting and dangerous as the Hardy Boys’, but many of her cases are solved through her “feminine” interest in the arts, in crafts, and in fashion. Nancy, whose mother is dead, lives with her father and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, in the town of River Heights. She manages the household affairs and even helps her attorney father with his more difficult cases. She is brave, strong, determined, and she never fails to bring crooks to justice. For some readers, she is just too perfect. By the 1990s, there were different versions of Nancy Drew to suit different readers. In the Nancy Drew Notebooks series, for example, Nancy is in grade school. Older readers can enjoy the Nancy Drew on Campus series. Late twentieth-century Nancy deals with issues from drug abuse to premarital sex, although the heroine herself is a model of good behavior. Over the years, there have been several failed attempts to bring Nancy to cinema and TV audiences, including TV’s The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977–78) and a series of movies in the late 1930s. In 2001, the Nancy Drew books appear in college Humanities courses. Original editions are highly collectable, and several Nancy Drew fan sites appear on the Internet. Not only was the series a landmark in children’s publishing, but Nancy Drew’s courage and determination have entertained and inspired generations of young women around the world. —Chris Routledge

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Billman, Carol. The Secret of the Stratemeyer Syndicate: Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and the Million Dollar Fiction Factory. New York: Ungar, 1986. Mason, Bobby Ann. The Girl Sleuth. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995. Nancy Drew: The Official Home of Nancy Drew Online. http://www. mysterynet.com/nancydrew/ (accessed February 12, 2002). The Unofficial Stratemeyer Syndicate Homepage. http://www.stratemeyer. net (accessed on February 12, 2002).

The first paperbacks were published in 1841 by a company called Tauchnitz. But for the next ninety years, other publishers around the world continued to make hardback books, which, for many, were an expensive luxury. In 1934, first Albatross, then Penguin Books, began publishing paperbacks in Britain. Using Albatross’s system of color-coding books according to subject matter, Penguin quickly became the biggest paperback publisher. Paperbacks were a great hit. Unlike hardbacks, they could be carried easily, and they were so cheap they could be thrown or given away. Paperbacks brought crime fiction, romance, as well as classic literature to millions of people. Despite a slightly “downmarket” image, in the twenty-first century, paperbacks are by far the most popular kind of book.

Paperback Books

Paperback Books

In the United States, Robert de Graff (1895–1981) founded Pocket Books in 1939. With their distinctive kangaroo logo (kangaroos have pockets), Pocket Books aimed to copy the success of Penguin. Their original list of ten titles included Agatha Christie’s crime novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Pocket Books sold for twenty-five cents in stores that had never carried books before. Graff realized that at such a low price, customers would buy extra books on impulse, so they were stacked according to type. The strategy worked, and Pocket Books sold over 1.5 million copies in the first six months. Paper shortages damaged the book trade during World War II (1939-45). Overall, though, the war was a good thing for the paperback publishers. By selling shirt-pocket-sized “military editions” to American soldiers, paperback publishers created thousands of readers who might otherwise never have been book buyers. Imprints such as Gold Medal, Ballantine, and Mentor made the 1950s the golden age of paperbacks. From Gold Medal’s sensational crime originals to Mentor’s list of “respectable” literary authors, paperbacks dominated the book market. Even in the age of television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) and the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), paperbacks sell in huge numbers. Large-format “trade” paperbacks have given them a new respectability. Paperback “novelizations” attract thousands of film and TV fans. At first, publishers thought paperbacks would finish off the hardback book. By creating new readers,

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however, paperbacks have ensured a future for sleek, expensive hardbacks as well. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Lupoff, Richard A. The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2001. O’Brien, Geoffrey. Hardboiled America: Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.

Perry Mason Perry Mason—arguably the most celebrated attorney in all of fiction—personified the ideal criminal lawyer. Perry Mason has been the primary character in dozens of novels (penned by the man who created him, Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889–1970). He was featured in several motion pictures and in a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) series. He appeared in a classic television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series; in a second, less-successful series; and lastly, in a succession of made-for-TV movies. Mason, backed by his loyal secretary, Della Street, and a dedicated private eye, Paul Drake, was determined to win his cases. Right always was on his side. He never rested until he successfully nailed the real villain and saved his always-innocent client. In the years before the popularity of more complexly plotted lawyer-based TV series like L.A. Law (1986–94), and the emergence of Court TV and the broadcast of the murder trial of O. J. Simpson (1947–; see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), Perry Mason’s fame was built on his reputation for almost never losing a case.

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Perry Mason first appeared on the printed page in The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933). Nearly eighty additional novels followed. Then between 1934 and 1937, Warner Brothers produced six Perry Mason feature films. Three actors played the crafty attorney: Warren William (1895–1948), Ricardo Cortez (1899–1977), and Donald Woods (1906–1998). The radio series ran from 1943 to 1955. Four additional performers were heard as Mason on the radio series, which was part-soap opera, part-detective drama: Bartlett Robinson (1912–1986), Santos Ortega (1900–1976), Donald Briggs (1911–1986), and John Larkin (1912–1965).

A follow-up series, The New Perry Mason (1973–1974), starring Monte Markham (1935–) in the title role, lasted just one season. Then, between 1985 and 1993, an aging Burr replayed Mason in over two dozen highly rated television movies. The first was titled Perry Mason Returns (1985).

Pulp Magazines

By far, the most famous Perry Mason was Raymond Burr (1917–1993), a handsome character actor who played the role on the long-running TV series (1957–1966). Burr was the ideal Mason, lending the character a combination of thoughtful intelligence and steely determination. Appropriately, the last series episode was titled “The Case of the Final Fadeout.” Erle Stanley Gardner appeared as the case’s judge.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Gardner, Erle Stanley. The Case of the Velvet Claws. New York: William Morrow, 1933. Gardner, Erle Stanley. Seven Complete Novels. New York: Avenel Books, 1979. Hughes, Dorothy. Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason. New York: William Morrow, 1978. Kelleher, Brian, and Diana Merrill. The Perry Mason TV Show Book. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987.

Pulp Magazines “Pulp” magazines got their name from the extremely cheap paper that was used to produce them. This inexpensive medium helped keep production costs down. Low production costs meant that the magazines could be sold cheaply—an important consideration during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), when the pulps were most popular. Many Americans wanted diversions from their troubles, but they could not afford to pay a lot for them. The pulp magazines were cheap entertainment, aimed at the widest possible audience. Consequently, they emphasized escapism over great literature. Most of them specialized in one of the popular genres (categories), such as detective stories (Thrilling Mystery, Clues Detective), Westerns (Ace-High Western Stories, Texas Rangers), romance (Thrilling Love, True Story), science fiction (Amazing Stories, Marvel Science Stories, Dynamic Science Fiction), horror (Weird Tales, Dime Mystery),

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A collection of popular pulp magazines. Photograph by Ted Streshinsky. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

and swashbuckling adventure (World Wide Adventure, Argosy Weekly), among others. The garish cover illustrations reflected the magazines’ contents—they were scary, violent, thrilling, or sexy, and sometimes all of these. During the 1930s and 1940s, over one thousand different pulp magazines were started, although few lasted for the whole period. A number of these magazines were “hero pulps,” dedicated to stories about a single character. The first one focused on the adventures of The Shadow (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), beginning in 1931. Others featured protagonists such as Doc Savage (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), The Spider, G-8 and His Battle Aces, The Phantom Detective, Secret Agent X, and Captain Future.

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Many writers who later earned fame as popular novelists got their start writing for the pulps. John D. MacDonald (1916–1986), Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), and Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) were known for their mystery and detective fiction (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). Max Brand (1892–1944; pseudonym for Frederick Faust) and Louis L’Amour (1908–1988) wrote Westerns (see entry under 1930s—

As the 1940s ended, so did the prime years of the pulps. By the middle of the next decade, they were overtaken by the growing popularity of cheap paperback books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), as well as by a new entertainment medium called television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3).

The Shadow

Film and Theater in volume 2). Isaac Asimov (1920–1992), Ray Bradbury (1920–), and Robert Heinlein (1907–1988) could be found in the science-fiction pulps. Robert Bloch (1917–1994) and H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) penned horror stories.

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information Greenberg, Martin, ed. American Pulp. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1997. Hutchinson, Don. The Great Pulp Heroes. New York: Mosaic Press, 1996. Sampson, Robert. Deadly Excitements, Shadows and Phantoms. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green Popular Press, 1989.

The Shadow “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” went the familiar question that could only be answered by: “The Shadow knows!” The Shadow was the first “hero” of the pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and a later radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) program. The Shadow was first introduced as a daring defender of justice on the radio in 1929, on the radio show Fame and Fortune sponsored by pulp publishers Street & Smith. A year later, The Shadow was featured on Street and Smith’s Detective Story Hour. At first, he was only the narrator, a sardonic, rather sinister presence who introduced the evening’s tale of mystery. Then the character caught on, raising a problem for the show’s sponsors. Street & Smith sponsored the radio program to boost sales of its Detective Story Magazine. Instead, the radio show started listeners demanding magazine stories about The Shadow—of which none existed. Street & Smith quickly announced plans for The Shadow magazine (the first of the “hero” pulps) and hired writer Walter Brown Gibson (1897–1985) to pen Shadow novels, which the

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magazine would feature. Gibson was a fast and surprisingly good writer. He ultimately pounded out 283 Shadow novels (under the pen name Maxwell Grant) and never missed a deadline. He gave The Shadow an alter ego, Lamont Cranston (and still later another, Kent Allard), a crowd of loyal assistants, and a love interest, Margo Lane. From 1931 to 1949, The Shadow appeared in 325 novel-length adventures in The Shadow magazine. The Shadow starred in his own radio show beginning in 1937, in which he was portrayed by Orson Welles (1915–1985). The show lasted until 1954, although Welles went on to greater things long before then. The first Shadow movie also appeared in 1937. The Shadow Strikes starred Rod LaRocque (1898–1969). It was followed by several other low-budget films, all forgettable. A Shadow comic strip was introduced in 1938, with Gibson as the writer, but it only lasted four years. The Shadow comic books, which debuted the same year, fared better and stayed in print until 1947. An adaptation of The Shadow was published by DC Comics from 1973 to 1975. In the decades that followed, The Shadow appeared periodically in short stories, novel reprints, and comic books. The Shadow, a big-budget 1994 film, starred Alec Baldwin (1958–) in the title role. The film did poorly at the box office, and a planned sequel was never filmed. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Eisgruber, Frank. Gangland’s Doom: The Shadow of the Pulps. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1985. Gibson, Walter Brown, and Anthony Tolin. The Shadow Scrapbook. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1979. Sampson, Robert. The Night Master. Chicago: Pulp Press, 1982.

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Superman, the first comic-book superhero, debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. He has continued his never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way to the delight of his millions of fans ever since. The character established the model of an entire genre (category) of comic-book characters: super-

Superman Superman, the original superhero, fights for truth, justice, and the American way. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

heroes, who remain at the core of the comic-book industry. The Superman legend has been retold countless times in comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and reinterpreted in virtually every creative medium, including films, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), novels, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), theater, and animation. Superman is a true popular culture icon (symbol) who has persisted throughout the decades and remains the embodiment of all the possibilities of both the comic-book medium and America itself.

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Jerry Siegel (1914–1996) and Joe Shuster (1914–1992), two teenagers from Cleveland, Ohio, created Superman over several years during the mid-1930s. Both boys were science-fiction fans and collaborated on their own stories. In 1933, they produced a mimeographed magazine titled Science Fiction, which contained the first version of their most famous creation. Their short story called “The Reign of the Superman” (written by Siegel and illustrated by Shuster) depicted an evil character who terrorized a futuristic city. The pair spent the next several years refining the character. He was transformed into a heroic figure who wore a skin-tight costume. Siegel and Shuster were determined Superman would see publication. Their goal was achieved when DC Comics purchased the character. The contract signed by the inexperienced young men was one of the most infamous agreements in the comic-book industry’s history. They sold all rights to the character for only $130. Although they worked on Superman for a number of years, Siegel and Shuster never shared in the enormous profits generated by their creation. In creating their hero, Siegel and Shuster combined elements from Biblical stories, ancient mythology, pulp fiction, comic strips, movie serials, and science-fiction tales. The character’s origin was first revealed in Superman #1 (1939). Superman was seen to be the infant son of Jor-El (a noted scientist) and his wife, Lara, citizens of the doomed planet Krypton. Moments before Krypton’s explosion, the couple placed their son, Kal-El, into a small rocket and directed it toward Earth. Upon landing on Earth, the child—now the only survivor of Krypton—was discovered by the Kents, a farming couple, who named the boy Clark and raised him as their own son. Superman’s fantastic powers were said to come from the effects of the Sun’s yellow rays upon his alien physiology. As an adult, Clark became a reporter for The Daily Planet, a great Metropolitan newspaper in the city of Metropolis. He protected his heroic identity by portraying the bespectacled Clark Kent as a mild-mannered soul who stood in stark contrast to the courageous Superman. His most significant relationship was with Lois Lane, an aggressive reporter who loved Superman and ignored Clark Kent.

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Prior to 1938, most comic books only contained reprinted material from popular newspaper strips. The characters that recurred in comic books tended to be policemen, private investigators, and exotic adventurers. Superman was the first science fiction–based comic-book superhero who boasted fantastic powers. He possessed super-strength, super-speed, and an

Superman

unerring sense of morality that compelled him to fight for good. Originally, Superman did not have the power of flight. He could, however, leap great distances. As the years progressed, the character was enhanced with other super-abilities. The character’s earliest stories were filled with Superman facing modern social ills. Superman was seen confronting lynch mobs, slum lords, war profiteers, and corrupt government officials. In time, a recurring “rogues’ gallery” of villains was established. Superman’s most constant foes include Lex Luthor, Braniac, Bizarro, Metallo, The Parasite, and Mr. Mxyzptlk. The success of Superman was immediate as millions of comic-book readers were attracted to this new type of hero. Superman turned comic books into a big business as magazines featuring the character sold nearly a million issues per month. Less than a year after his debut, the Man of Steel was the first character to headline an entire comic on his own. Furthermore, his enormous popularity spawned a horde of other characters in the rapidly expanding superhero genre. These included Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), Wonder Woman (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3), Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, and The Flash. Superman was not only a comic-book phenomenon, but he also successfully appeared in other media. Superman was voiced by actor Bud Collyer (1908–1969) on the popular 1940s radio program, which began with the dramatic opening lines: “Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” That decade also saw the hero appear in movie serials, in comic strips, and on thousands of toys and merchandise. In the 1950s, the character appeared on the classic TV program The Adventures of Superman, which starred George Reeves (1914–1959). By 1966, Superman arrived on Broadway in It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman, the first musical based on a comic-book character. In 1978, Christopher Reeve (1952–) appeared as Superman in a big-budget, all-star version of the hero’s exploits. Its popularity led to several sequels. Superman returned to TV in 1993 in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. This series emphasized romance over action. The Last Son of Krypton again came to television in 2001 in Smallville, which depicts a teenaged Clark Kent’s adventures. In comics, Superman’s popularity has waned and surged over the various decades. In 1988, celebrated writer John Byrne

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(1950–) revamped the character to much acclaim. Sales skyrocketed in 1992 with the infamous “Death of Superman” story line, which showed the hero being killed in action and rising from the grave. In whatever incarnation, Superman remains a potent force upon the cultural landscape. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. Daniels, Les. Superman: The Complete History, the Life and Times of the Man of Steel. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998. Dini, Paul, and Alex Ross. Superman: Peace on Earth. New York: DC Comics, 1998. Dooley, Dennis, and Gary Engle. Superman at Fifty: The Persistence of a Legend. Cleveland: Octavia Press, 1987. The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told. New York: DC Comics, 1987. Siegel, Jerry, and Joe Shuster. Superman: The Action Comics Archives #1. New York: DC Comics, 1997. Siegel, Jerry, and Joe Shuster. Superman: The Dailies (1939–1940). Northampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1999. “Superman.” DC Comics. http://www.dccomics.com/dcu/index_sup.html (accessed July, 2001).

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1930s Sports and Games The 1920s were thought to be the “golden age of sports.” Throughout the 1930s, however, capable athletes broke previous records in rapid succession. Swimmers swam faster, track stars ran faster, horses raced faster, and race-car and powerboat drivers broke new speed records. The rules of basketball and the design of the football were changed to make the games move faster and to increase scores. In the 1920s, single individuals— such as Babe Ruth 1895–1948) in baseball, Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) in boxing, and Bobby Jones (1902–1971) in golf— were called the best in their sport. In the 1930s, many athletes contributed to their sports. Few, except perhaps Joe Louis (1914–1981) in boxing, Babe Didrickson (1911–1956) in track and golf, and Jesse Owens (1913–1980) in track and field, became shining stars. Because of the Great Depression (1929–41), many sports teams began attracting audiences in inventive ways. They started to find ways to earn money without increasing ticket prices. As a result, many sports became more and more commercialized. Radio broadcasts brought sports to more people than ever. Although the broadcasts were free to listeners, the price for broadcast rights and the commercial airtime brought sports teams more money. Bright stadium lights made it possible to draw huge crowds to night baseball games. The organization of all-star games boosted attendance at both baseball and football games. Heavy betting increased interest in boxing, making it America’s second favorite sport after baseball during the decade. Although the majority of sports remained segregated during the decade, in baseball the high-quality play of the teams in the Negro Leagues gained attention from white baseball fans. Track and field athletes like Jesse Owens and Eddie Tolan (1908–1967) gained international acclaim. Women gained recognition as athletes in the 1930s as well. Babe Didrikson entered 634 different sporting events during the decade and won 632 of them. She lost one basketball game and was disqualified from a highjump competition after having apparently set a world record. Sonja Henie (1912–1969) popularized figure skating. Both

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Didrikson and Henie became millionaires by demonstrating their sporting abilities. Virnett Beatrice “Jackie” Mitchell (1914–1987) was the first woman to sign with a professional baseball team. Her fame soared when she struck out both Babe Ruth (1895–1948) and Lou Gehrig (1903–1941) in an exhibition game in 1931. Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) set a world record when she flew from New Zealand to Ireland in 1932. People throughout the United States were fascinated by sports. Children started playing baseball in Little Leagues. Older baseball players could compete in various amateur and semiprofessional leagues, which held local, state, and sometimes national tournaments. Bowling leagues started across the country. The United States Lawn Tennis Association promoted tennis as a sport for everyone—everyone at this time except African Americans, who were invited to play by their own American Tennis Association. At home, board games were popular entertainment. Monopoly was introduced, a game that allowed people to buy properties and manage amounts of play money that few had in reality.

Babe Didrikson (1911–1956) At a time when women were still considered the “weaker sex,” Babe Didrikson showed that women could be strong and excel in athletics. Didrikson was a sports phenomenon in the 1930s and 1940s who paved the way for Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1962–), Mia Hamm (1972–), and other prominent female athletes of the 1980s and 1990s. She was the first woman to challenge notions of what women could and should do athletically. Didrickson was born in Port Arthur, Texas, and showed promise in athletics at an early age. Her personal goal was “to be the greatest athlete who ever lived,” as quoted by Susan E. Cayleff in Babe. She was an AAU All-American high school basketball player. In 1932, she single-handedly won the AAU team Track and Field Championships, finishing first in five of the eight events she entered. She then competed in the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) of 1932, winning three gold and one silver medals.

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In 1934, Didrickson took up a new sport, golf. She won seventeen consecutive tournaments between 1946 and 1947. During her long career, she won eighty-two tournaments and was instru-

mental in forming the LPGA in 1950. In 1938, she married professional wrestler George Zaharias (1908?–1984). Didrikson died of cancer in 1956 and six years later was named Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Twentieth Century by the Associated Press. —Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information Cayleff, Susan E. Babe Didrikson: The Greatest All-Sport Athlete of All Time. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press, 1995. Freedman, Russell. Babe Didrikson Zaharias. New York: Clarion Books, 1999. Sutcliffe, Jane. Babe Didrikson Zaharias: AllAround Athlete. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2000.

Little League From its inception in 1939 to the present, Little League has evolved into the primary outlet for youngsters to participate in baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), America’s national pastime. Today, well over three million boys and girls from across the globe between the ages of five and eighteen participate in Little League programs.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the Women’s British Amateur Championship at Gullane, Scotland, in 1947. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Little League was founded in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with the initial league consisting of three teams. In 1947, the first non-Pennsylvania league, located in Hammonton, New Jersey, became an official Little League. By 1950, there were 307 leagues spanning the United States. Little League went international the following year with the establishment of a program in British Columbia, Canada. In 1953, the Little League World Series was first televised, on CBS. In 1955, at least one Little League program existed in all forty-eight states. Throughout the decades, Little League continued to evolve. Separate leagues were created for older boys, for girls’ softball, and for children with physical and mental limitations. The 1970s saw the introduction of the aluminum bat. Many major leaguers began their baseball careers in Little League, including Carl Yastrzemski (1939–), the first Little Leaguer

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A team of Little Leaguers makes its way back to the dugout. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

to make the Baseball Hall of Fame, Tom Seaver (1944–), Jim Palmer (1945–), Mike Schmidt (1949–), Nolan Ryan (1947–), Cal Ripken (1960–), and Dale Murphy (1956–). Countless Little Leaguers who pitched no-hitters and perfect games, had multiple home-run games, or starred in Little League World Series were fated never to play professional baseball, let alone make the majors or earn a spot at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Those who coach Little League are supposed to teach children baseball fundamentals and then send them out on the field to play with sportsmanship, not to win at all costs. The essence of Little League is clearly stated in its official Pledge: “I trust in God. I love my country and will respect its laws. I will play fair and strive to win. But win or lose, I will always do my best.” —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Burroughs, Jeff, and Tom Hennessy. The Little Team That Could: The Incredible, Often Wacky Story of the Two-Time Little League World Champions. Chicago: Bonus Books, 1994. Frommer, Harvey. Growing Up at Bat: 50 Years of Little League Baseball. New York: Pharos Books, 1989.

Joe Louis (1914–1981)

Monopoly

Little League Online. http://www.littleleague.org/index.htm (accessed February 13, 2002). Newman, Gerald. Happy Birthday, Little League. New York: F. Watts, 1989.

In the 1930s, prizefighter Joe Louis emerged as the nation’s first African American sports hero. Born Joseph Louis Barrow in Alabama, the “Brown Bomber” held one of boxing’s most impressive career records: seventy-one fights, sixty-eight wins, and fifty-four knockouts. However, his greatest achievement was his universal popularity despite America’s racial divide. Louis became a national hero with his 1938 victory over German Max Schmeling (1905–). Their fight was one of the most celebrated events in boxing history. The fight came to symbolize the political conflicts between the United States and Nazi Germany (though Schmeling was not a Nazi). Louis was soon the world’s most famous black man and was a source of pride to millions of African Americans. Whites also responded to the champ’s appealing personality and admired him for postponing his career to enlist in the army during World War II (1939–45). Louis held the world heavyweight championship from 1939 until 1949, when he retired. Louis’s later years were plagued with drug abuse and financial problems. Still, he is remembered as a boxing legend and an early pioneer in the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). —Charles Coletta

For More Information Gordon, Robert, director. The Joe Louis Story (film). United Artists, 1953. Jakoubek, Robert E. Joe Louis: Heavyweight Champion. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Joe Louis: The Boxer Who Beat Hitler (video). A & E Network, 2001. Joe Louis: The Brown Bomber. http://www.cmgww.com/sports/louis/ louis.html (accessed February 13, 2002). Lipsyte, Robert. Joe Louis: A Champ for All America. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.

Monopoly Monopoly is one of the most popular and enduring of all American board games. It is played on a four-sided board. The

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board is bordered with small squares, most of which are designated as streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey, or as railroads and utility companies. Game pieces include tokens that represent each player, two dice, thirty-two houses, twelve hotels, Chance and Community Chest cards, a Title Deed for every property, and fake money. The game’s objective involves a combination of free enterprise and cutthroat competition. Players purchase, build on, and rent out as many properties as possible. The winner is the player who becomes the wealthiest by buying and controlling the most properties; constructing hotels and houses; charging rental fees; handling mortgages, utilities, and interest—and, finally, bankrupting all opponents. Ironically, Monopoly was devised during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), when millions of Americans were jobless and many were denouncing the capitalistic system. Its inventor was Charles B. Darrow (1889–1967), an unemployed salesman from Germantown, Pennsylvania, who was inspired by The Landlord’s Game, which had been copyrighted in 1904. The Landlord’s Game was invented not for amusement, but as a teaching tool. The game illustrated the concept that real estate rental fees should be taxed because they resulted in an unearned increase in land values, which profited a few individuals—landlords—rather than the majority—tenants. In 1933, Darrow copyrighted his version of The Landlord’s Game. The following year, he brought it to executives at Parker Brothers, a game manufacturer, who rejected it. Undiscouraged, Darrow, with the assistance of a printer friend, hand-produced five thousand games, which he sold to several department stores. The game was an immediate hit, but Darrow found himself ill-equipped to meet the demand for orders. In 1935, Parker Brothers took over production. Monopoly quickly became America’s top-selling board game. Across the decades, over two hundred million games have been sold worldwide, and it has been estimated that five hundred million people have played Monopoly. The National and World Monopoly Game Championships started in 1973. At the championships, expert players from across the globe compete. Countless game variations have been marketed, including everything from a Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) version to a NASCAR edition. The longest Monopoly game on record lasted 1,680 hours, or 70 straight days.

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To date, Monopoly has been licensed in over eighty countries and marketed in twenty-eight languages, with Monopoly

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Brady, Maxine. The Monopoly Book: Strategy and Tactics of the World’s Most Popular Game. New York: D. McKay, 1974. Darzinskis, Kaz. Winning Monopoly: A Complete Guide to Property Accumulation, Cash Flow Strategy, and Negotiating Techniques When Playing the Best-Selling Board Game. New York: Perennial Library, 1987.

Jesse Owens

money printed in currency from dollar to deutsche mark to yen. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Monopoly remains the world’s best-selling board game.

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) More than any other athlete, track-and-field star Jesse Owens is most closely associated with the 1936 Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), held in Berlin, Germany. Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), who had become dictator of Germany in 1933, wanted these Olympic games to be a showcase for Aryan supremacy (Hitler’s belief that the white race was superior to all other peoples and races). Owens, not only an American but an African American, won four Gold Medals—for the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the 400-meter relay, and the broad jump—causing Hitler great embarrassment. In an ungentlemanly act, Hitler refused to congratulate Owens, leaving the stadium before the athlete was presented with his medals. Born to Alabama sharecroppers, Owens had already won international acclaim in 1935 when he set world records in six events as a member of the Ohio State University track team. Upon his return from the 1936 Olympics, he was honored with a ticker tape parade in New York. From then on, Owens was celebrated as a symbol of democracy and freedom. He served in various capacities as a goodwill ambassador and sports administrator—quite an accomplishment for an African American before the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Gentry, Tony. Jesse Owens. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Jesse Owens: The Offical Web Site. http://www.jesseowens.com (accessed February 13, 2002).

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Owens, Jesse, and Paul Neimark. Jesse: A Spiritual Autobiography. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1978. Rennert, Rick. Jesse Owens. New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1992.

Stock Car Racing From its origins in the 1930s as a sport for Southern outlaws, stock car racing grew throughout the twentieth century to become one of the nation’s most popular sports. Nearly twenty million people attended stock car races in 2001. Drivers like Jeff Gordon (1971–), Richard Petty (1938–), and Dale Earnhardt (1951–2001) had become household names. Stock car racing’s television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) ratings were topped only by the National Football League (see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2). Early in the sport’s history, the cars were “stock,” meaning that they were not modified from the cars that could be bought at a dealer. Stock car racing takes its name from those unaltered cars. True stock cars still race today, but in the bigger races the cars have been modified so that they scarcely resemble their street-legal cousins. Stock car legend has it that the first racers were moonshiners, men who distilled illegal corn whiskey and raced their cars along dusty dirt roads to get away from the police. Moonshiners who wanted to test their driving skills got together for their first race on a dirt track in the mid-1930s. The races soon drew hundreds of fans. Soon the sport became more organized. Bill France (1909–1972) staged the first race in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1936. The race took place on a 4-mile track that was part packed sand, part paved road. Bill Cummings won the race with an average speed of 70.39 miles per hour. With this race, organized stock car racing was born. Through the late 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of stock car racing grew, with the Daytona race as its biggest event. In 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) was created to provide rules and regulations for the sport. NASCAR began to sponsor races throughout the South, including the annual Southern 500 (the 500 indicates that the race was 500 miles long) race at the famous Darlington International Raceway in South Carolina.

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Stock car racing came to the north in 1951 with the first Motor City 250, held in Detroit, Michigan. The major automak-

Stock Car Racing

ers—General Motors (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), Ford, and Chrysler—saw the sport as a testing ground for their cars. They built car models with stock car racing in mind and used wins on the track to help sell their cars. Soon companies began to offer drivers money—called a sponsorship—to carry their company logo on the car. Stock cars became rolling advertisements, but sponsorship money allowed race teams to build ever more powerful cars. Today, NASCAR sponsors some two thousand stock car races throughout the United States. Its premier race series is called the Winston Cup Series. Winners of the series stand to earn several million dollars in prizes and endorsement deals. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Carollo, John, and Bill Holder. Stock Cars! America’s Most Popular Motorsport. New York: HPBooks, 1999. Chapin, Kim. Fast as White Lightning: The Story of Stock Car Racing. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Dregni, Michael. Stock Car Racing. Minneapolis: Capstone Press, 1994. NASCAR.com. http://www.nascar.com (accessed February 13, 2002). Rockets on Wheels. http://www.pbs.org/tal/racecars/index.html (accessed February 13, 2002).

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1930s TV and Radio Just as the 1930s produced some of the best American movies, it also produced some of the best radio programs, making the decade the golden age of both cinema and radio. More than just a source of news and entertainment, radio provided listeners with a chance to escape their troubles. Popular shows like Amos ’n’ Andy offered comfort, as did broadcasts like the “fireside chats” of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945). Social workers observed that some poor families would give up their iceboxes before giving up their radios. By the end of the decade, nearly 80 percent of American households had a radio. Comedy shows were among the most popular entertainment on radio, especially Amos ’n’ Andy. The show was broadcast for fifteen minutes every evening. The show was so popular that for those fifteen minutes, telephone use dropped by 50 percent and films were stopped so that movie theaters could play the show for audiences throughout the country. Comedians Gracie Allen (1906–1964), George Burns (1896–1996), Jack Benny (1894–1974), and Fanny Brice (1891–1951), who had had successful vaudeville careers, were guests on various variety programs and made listeners smile. Another successful radio comedy program was Fibber McGee and Molly. It starred the husband-and-wife team of Jim Jordan (1896–1988) and Marian Jordan (1897–1961), two vaudeville veterans. More serious programs also entertained audiences. Serial melodramas called “soap operas” became favorites of both women and men across the country. Shows such as Guiding Light offered dramatic stories of family crisis and romantic entanglements. Other dramas offered audiences stories of mystery and crime. Suspenseful programs including The Shadow, Charlie Chan, and Sherlock Holmes kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Younger listeners and those interested in fantastic adventure could hear stories of superheroes, including Buck Rogers in the Year 2430, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Superman, and The Green Hornet. These stories had spectacular sound effects that mimicked creaking doors, mysterious footsteps, and

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the galloping hooves of Silver, the Lone Ranger’s trusty horse, as well as crunching bones and even the monstrous spilling of blood and guts. Regulation became the most important aspect of radio broadcasting during the 1930s. At the beginning of the decade, the airwaves were a bit chaotic. Stations interfered with the programs of other stations by broadcasting on the same bandwidth. By 1934, the U.S. government, as a part of its plan for controlling various parts of the economy, created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC sought to organize stations so that radio broadcasts could be efficiently played across the country without overlapping. The FCC also foresaw the danger of having a company or an individual in control of too many stations in one area. An individual in control of the radio stations in a certain area, or of a network of stations reaching a large number of people, could have too much control over what information the listeners heard. Fearing that the American public would have access only to one opinion or one point of view, the commission sought to limit the number of media outlets (in this case, radio stations, and later, TV stations) a company or an individual could own. While radio dominated the airwaves of the 1930s, television received its first dramatic public debut in 1939 at the New York World’s Fair. At the fair, President Roosevelt addressed audiences and became the first president to appear on TV. Although those who had enough money to buy the $200 to $600 TV receivers clamored to place their orders, TV did not become a popular medium until after World War II (1939–45). After the war, the economy had rebounded and Americans had more cash for luxuries.

Amos ’n’ Andy

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In the history of American popular culture, no program was both as popular and controversial as the Amos ’n’ Andy show. The series, which ran on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) in several formats from 1928 to 1960, is perhaps the most popular radio series of all time. Created by white performers Charles Correll (1890–1972) and Freeman Gosden (1899–1982), the series revolved around the comedic misadventures of two black characters—Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown. The characters later appeared on their own television

Amos ’n’ Andy Tim Moore (center) standing behind Spencer Williams (left) and Alvin Childress (right), from the 1950s television show The Amos ’n’ Andy Show. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

(see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) program from 1950 to 1953. Although the show was extremely popular, many African American groups, led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), charged that the characters were racist caricatures and demeaning to the black community. Complaints about its content eventually led to the cancellation of the radio series and the removal of the TV show from syndication. Amos ’n’ Andy is now most remembered for perpetuating the stereotypes of black minstrelsy (traveling entertainment). The show also constitutes a prime

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example of the limited opportunities faced by black entertainers during the first half of the twentieth century. Gosden and Correll were both white performers with roots in the Confederate South. They met in 1919 while working for an entertainment company that offered its services to amateur and local theatrical groups. By 1925, the pair had moved to Chicago, Illinois, and were producing a radio show on WGN. The program, titled Sam ’n’ Henry, centered on Sam Smith and Henry Johnson, two poor blacks who migrated from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chicago to seek their fortunes. Gosden and Correll performed the characters themselves by employing an exaggerated black dialect. Although the series was a popular success, Gosden and Correll left WGN after a contract dispute in 1927. On March 19, 1928, they premiered Amos ’n’ Andy on Chicago’s WMAQ. Like Sam and Henry, Amos and Andy were two poor blacks who had left the South for a better life in the North. Amos was the honest, humble, and intelligent owner of the Fresh-Air Taxicab Company. Andrew “Hog” Brown was a lazy, shiftless, dim-witted schemer. During its peak, Amos ’n’ Andy claimed some forty million listeners—one third of the nation. People from all walks of life were enthusiastic fans of the show, including presidents Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) and Herbert Hoover (1874–1964). Department stores regularly played the program over their loudspeakers. Movie theaters interrupted films so their patrons would not miss the next installment of the series. In Raised on Radio, author Gerald Nachman quotes the celebrated playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), who when asked about his visit to the United States said, “There are three things I shall never forget about America—the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, and Amos ’n’ Andy.” The series is credited with altering the entertainment habits of the nation. Amos ’n’ Andy also spurred the sale of radios and provided free entertainment for millions of Americans who were struggling through the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). The show became a national obsession as newspapers printed recaps of the previous night’s program. Fans threatened to boycott Pepsodent, the series’ sponsor, if Amos’s wife was allowed to die. Amos and Andy were not only heard on the radio; they also appeared in films and comic strips, on records, and on a vast array of toys and other merchandise. Amos ’n’ Andy created several national catchphrases including “Holy mack’el!,” “Ah’s regusted,” and “Buzz me, Miss Blue.”

Amos ’n’ Andy

The series, which incorporated many elements of ethnic vaudeville humor, was known for its warm, character-driven humor and its large supporting cast. Amos and Andy spent much of their time with a character named George “Kingfish” Stevens, a colorful con man. The Kingfish became so popular that he became more prominent than either Amos or Andy. On the TV series, most episodes centered on the battles between the Kingfish and his nagging wife, Sapphire. Despite their widespread adulation, Amos and Andy were not loved by all segments of the population. The program was very popular among most black Americans, but a significant minority viewed Correll and Gosden’s characterizations as a racial slur. In 1931, the Pittsburgh Courier, a black newspaper, received a petition with nearly 750,000 names demanding the program be removed from the local airwaves. Opposition toward the show only increased when it was transplanted to TV, where the cast was entirely composed of black actors. In 1951, the NAACP filed a complaint with CBS stating that the show “strengthened the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb, and dishonest.” Many other blacks rallied to the program, claiming it was one of the few mediums through which black performers could gain recognition and earn a living. They also argued the series presented some admirable black representations, such as doctors, lawyers, and businessmen not seen in other areas of popular culture. Sociologists and cultural historians have long debated the significance of Amos ’n’ Andy. Some argue the show was truly funny and simply employed the same kind of characters and malapropisms (misuse of words, often with comic effect) that dominated later black TV sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) of the 1970s and 1980s, like The Jeffersons (1975—85), Good Times (1974–79), and Sanford and Son (1972–77). Others counter its characters were degradingly portrayed and validated racist attitudes toward blacks. A 1983 documentary, Amos ’n’ Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy, explored the series’ implications on African American culture. Within recent years, episodes of both the radio and the TV programs have become more widely available. Amos ’n’ Andy continues to loom large on the cultural landscape and will surely remain a source of controversy and debate. —Charles Coletta

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For More Information Andrews, Bart, and Ahrgus Juilliard. Holy Mackerel!: The Amos ’n’ Andy Story. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1986. Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Ely, Melvin. The Adventures of Amos ’n’ Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon. New York: The Free Press, 1991. Greenberg, Bob, producer and writer. Amos ’n’ Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy (video). M. R. Avery Productions, 1983. MacDonald, J. Fred. Blacks and White TV. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1992. Nachman, Gerald. Raised on Radio. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. Schutz, David. The Original Amos ’n’ Andy Web Page. http://www.geocities. com/Hollywood/2587 (accessed on February 14, 2002).

Fibber McGee and Molly One of the most popular radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) comedy programs in the 1930s and 1940s, Fibber McGee and Molly helped define the situationcomedy format. The two roles were created by Jim (1896–1988) and Marian (1897–1961) Jordan, a couple who had performed in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) before their first radio appearance in Chicago, Illinois, in 1924. By the early 1930s, with the collaboration of writer Don Quinn (1900–1973), their act evolved into a comedy show called Smackout that was broadcast nationally over NBC. In Smackout, the Jordans portrayed the owners of a grocery store that was always “smack out” of everything.

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The Fibber McGee and Molly show was first broadcast from Chicago on April 16, 1935, to mixed reviews. In the initial show, which alternated swing music with comedy segments, Molly and Fibber both portrayed loudmouth, talkative characters. Molly spoke in a thick Irish accent. Jim Jordan was nicknamed “Fibber” because of his habit of spinning tall tales on each program. Audiences also enjoyed supporting characters like Mayor LaTrivia, played by Gale Gordon (1906–1995), and Wally Wimple and “The Old Timer,” both played by Bill Thompson (1913–1971), as well as clever plugs for its sponsors by announcer Harlow Wilcox (1900–1960). For eighteen months in the late 1930s, Marian Jordan disappeared from the show for health reasons, now believed to have been alcohol-related, but the show became even more popular after her return.

Guiding Light

In the series, sponsored by Johnson’s Wax, Fibber McGee and Molly lived at the fictional address of 79 Wistful Vista. Their home contained a junk-filled closet that, beginning in 1940, Fibber would open at the beginning of each episode. The noise— created by sound effects—of the items falling out of the closet, became the show’s signature. During World War II (1939–45), the McGees began employing a black maid, Beulah, whose character was played by a white man, Marlin Hurt (?–1946). After losing an audience to the Texaco Star Theatre hosted by Milton Berle (1908–2002) on television, the half-hour Fibber McGee and Molly show ended its Tuesday-night run on NBC in 1953. The show was replaced by a nightly fifteen-minute version that ran until 1957. The Jordans continued to perform short segments on NBC’s “Monitor” series until 1959. A TV version also appeared in the late 1950s. —Edward Moran

For More Information Dunning, John. The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Price, Tom. Fibber McGee’s Closet: The Ultimate Log of Performances by Fibber McGee and Molly, 1917–1987. Monterey, CA: T. A. Price, 1987. Stumpf, Charles, and Tom Price. Heavenly Days! The Story of Fibber McGee and Molly. Waynesville, NC: World of Yesterday, 1987.

Guiding Light Guiding Light, which premiered on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) in 1937 and later migrated to television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) in 1952, is the longest running soap opera in broadcast history. The series was created by Irna Phillips (1901–1972) and Emmons Carlson and has remained one of the genre’s leading and most influential programs. The show’s title and logo—a revolving lighthouse beacon—reflect its initial primary character, Reverend John Ruthledge, played by Arthur Peterson (1912–1996). Reverend Ruthledge provided spiritual consul and practical advice to the inhabitants of the fictional town of Five Points. Guiding Light, like other soap operas (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2), relies heavily upon melodramatic plots, but it has also been willing to bring controversial topics to daytime drama.

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On radio, Guiding Light was a popular drama in which characters encountered the same hardships faced by its 1930s and 1940s listening audience, like economic depression and war. When Peterson left the series, his popular character was killed off and the program’s focus shifted to a new cast: the Bauer family. Meta Bauer (played by both Jone Allison and Elling Demming) served as the primary heroine and remained a vital presence on the program for four decades. In the 1960s, Agnes Nixon (1927–) became the series’ head writer and guiding force. She was instrumental in introducing taboo (forbidden) story lines and minority characters to the soap opera world. Although the series’ sponsor, Procter & Gamble, was hesitant to incorporate such relevant plots as interracial marriage, rape, and cervical cancer into Guiding Light, the audience response was overwhelmingly positive. Soon, other daytime dramas were following Nixon’s lead in presenting previously off-limit subject matter. One of the program’s most controversial episodes involved a marital rape. The villainous Roger Thorpe’s assault on his wife Holly stunned viewers and created effects that would be felt for years on the series. In the 1980s, Douglas Marland (1935–1993), a veteran soap writer, took charge of the show and began to emphasize the romantic entanglements of the younger characters. One highly charged plot depicted a medical student in bed with a minor (underaged person). That decade also saw Guiding Light’s core family—the Bauers—displaced by the wealthy Spaulding and Lewis families. Reva Shayne (Kim Zimmer, 1955–) emerged as the show’s leading nasty character, who married her former father-in-law and attempted to seduce Josh, her former brother-in-law. Later, Reva died and returned as both a ghost and a clone. In the 1990s, the working-class Cooper family gained prominence. Plots increasingly emphasized fantasy and the supernatural to attract younger viewers. Although such story lines drew criticism from long-time fans, Guiding Light remained a strong presence on daytime television. —Charles Coletta

For More Information

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Intinoli, Michael. Taking Soaps Seriously: The World of ‘Guiding Light.’ New York: Praeger, 1984. Matelski, Marilyn. The Soap Opera Evolution: America’s Enduring Romance with Daytime Drama. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1988. Poll, Julie, and Callie Haines. Guiding Light: The Complete Family Album—Anniversary Edition. New York: General Publishing Group, 1998.

Beginning in the 1930s, millions of children turned to the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) to listen to The Lone Ranger, featuring one of popular culture’s most enduring Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) heroes. Each episode of the radio show began with the stirring phrase “A fiery horse with a speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty Hi-Yo Silver!,” which introduced the masked rider of the plains astride Silver, his white stallion. Joined by Tonto, his faithful Indian companion, the Lone Ranger dedicated his life to fighting evildoers and bringing justice to the western United States.

The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger

George W. Trendle (1884–1972), an owner of Detroit’s WXYZ Radio, created the character. The series quickly spread across the nation and served as the cornerstone of the new Mutual Radio Network. Trendle conceived his character as a Robin Hood of the Old West who upheld the highest ethical and moral standards. In the character’s origin story, John Reid, a member of the Texas Rangers, is the lone survivor of an ambush by the dastardly Butch Cavendish Gang. Discovered and nursed to health by Tonto, Reid vows to bring Cavendish to justice and uphold the honor of his fallen comrades while concealing his identity. Tonto referred to the Lone Ranger as kemo sabe (pronounced KEY-moe SA-bee, meaning “trusted friend”). The radio series premiered on January 30, 1933, and aired for more than twenty years. The cowboy hero, who personified the ideal American man, fascinated America’s youth. The Lone Ranger spoke perfectly. He never smoked, drank, or caroused with women. He insisted on only wounding his adversaries; he never shot to kill. Every installment of the radio series began with a dramatic recording of the “William Tell Overture.” Every installment ended with a grateful townsperson asking, “Who was that masked man?” as the Lone Ranger rode off to discover new adventures. In a deep voice, he would yell, “Hi-Yo Silver, awaaaay!” The character’s success expanded beyond radio as he later appeared in films and television. The television program, which featured actors Clayton Moore (c.1908–1999) and Jay Silverheels (1919–1980) as the western duo, aired from 1949 to 1957. They also appeared in several Lone Ranger films. For years after the series ended, Moore made numerous personal appearances

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as the Lone Ranger while preaching the character’s ethical code. A 1981 film, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, starring Klinton Spilsbury, was a disaster. The Lone Ranger continues to appear in comics and cartoons as he brings order to the West. He remains an American icon (symbol) of courage and integrity. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Dunning, John. Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of OldTime Radio, 1925–1976. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976. Lichtman, Jim. The Lone Ranger’s Code of the West. Palm Desert, CA: Scribbler’s Ink, 1996. “The Lone Ranger.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1563.php (accessed February 14, 2002). Moore, Clayton, with Frank Thompson. I Was that Masked Man. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1996. Van Hise, James. Who Was That Masked Man: The Story of the Lone Ranger. Las Vegas: Pioneer Books, 1990.

Soap Operas Since the first soap opera aired on Chicago’s WGN radio in the early 1930s, serial dramas have attracted hundreds of millions of fans, eager to escape the everyday problems of real life by immersing themselves in the far more dramatic ups and downs of their soap-opera heroes. Although soaps were originally designed to appeal to housewives (the name “soap opera” comes from the household products that were often the main advertisers), modern soap audiences include everyone from business executives to college football players.

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In the 1800s, well before the invention of radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), writers like Charles Dickens (1812–1870) created a kind of soap opera, stories full of twists and turns and plenty of melodrama that were published in magazines and newspapers in serial form, that is, divided into parts and published a part at a time. “Cliff-hanger” endings, in which the hero or heroine was left in a dangerous and suspenseful position, were common in these stories. The tense endings served to keep readers eagerly awaiting the next episode to find out what would happen.

Soap Operas

After World War I (1914–18), the first radio stations began broadcasting programs that could reach listeners nationwide. By 1930, several networks had formed to create programming for these stations. Programmers filled the evening hours, when families were gathered around the radio, but daytime hours were thought to be largely unprofitable. Then a Dayton, Ohio, schoolteacher named Irna Phillips (1901–1972) approached Chicago radio station WGN with her idea for a fifteen-minute daily serial drama called Painted Dreams. The networks seized upon the idea. Soon the airwaves were filled with dozens of the new daytime “soap operas.” Shows like Betty and Bob, Just Plain Bill, The Romance of Helen Trent, and Ma Perkins attracted an audience of forty million listeners, almost double the twenty-first century television soap audience. People living through the economic hardship of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) could afford few diversions. Listening to the radio cost little. Audiences welcomed the escape that soap operas offered with their tales of overcoming disaster and tragedy. The arrival of television in the American home in the 1950s was a new opportunity for soap-opera development. Some programs, like Guiding Light, simply moved from radio to television, while others, like Search for Tomorrow, The Edge of Night, and As the World Turns, were created for the new medium. Although many women had held jobs during World War II (1939–45), they had been expected to return home once the men had returned from war. Many of the housewives of the 1950s were bored and isolated. They welcomed the distraction of the serial dramas on their new television sets. From the 1930s through the 1950s, soap-opera plots revolved around the problems and complications of family life. Plots twisted and turned around topics like the difficulty of finding and keeping love, affairs outside of marriage, and the troubles involved in raising children. By the 1960s, a changing society was beginning to demand more from its soaps. In the early 1960s, the popularity of prime-time doctor shows led to the creation of soaps like The Doctors (1963) and General Hospital (1963). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, soaps began to seek out younger audiences. Youth-oriented story lines and a focus on social issues became important. All My Children (1970) and One Life to Live (1968) were introduced on ABC as soap operas with content that was socially and politically important. In the 1980s, soaps expanded beyond the limits of daytime television

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with popular prime-time soaps like Dallas (1978–91) and Dynasty (1981–89). Prime-time soaps have continued to be popular; indeed, most prime-time dramas have begun to lure audiences back with continuing story lines. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, social issues, from alcoholism and drug abuse to gay rights, have continued to be a major part of soap-opera story-line development. In an effort to draw in more viewers, soaps have racially integrated their casts. Most formerly all-white shows now have at least a few regular cast members who are African American, Asian, and Latino. Some have even researched ways they can appeal to a broader audience, such as the General Hospital spin-off, Port Charles (1997). In 2000, Port Charles began to use the telenovella format, popular in Latino soaps. In the telenovella format, stories are completed within a shorter time period. Many critics still insist, however, that soaps still do not really represent people of color and only confront social issues in a shallow and conservative way. This shallowness of the soaps, along with their melodrama and reliance on such unlikely plot devices as evil twins, faked deaths, and amnesia, have led to a series of soap spoofs, some of which became almost as popular as the soaps they satirized. In the late 1970s, two series, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976–78) and Soap (1977–81), poked fun at the unlikely plot twists and emotionalism of the soaps while exploring some social and relationship issues of their own. The 1991 comedy film, Soapdish, focuses on the soap opera–like lives of the cast and crew of a popular soap. —Tina Gianoulis

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Anger, Dorothy. Other Worlds: Society Seen Through Soap Opera. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1999. Birnback, Lisa. “The Daze of Our Lives: Soap Watching Is a Real-Life Drama on Campus.” Rolling Stone (October 1, 1981): pp. 33–36. Cantor, Muriel G., and Suzanne Pingree. The Soap Opera. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1983. Cottle, Michelle. “Color TV: How Soaps Are Integrating America.” The New Republic (August 27, 2001): pp. 25–29. Cox, James H. The Great Radio Soap Operas. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. Museum of Television and Radio Staff. Worlds Without End: The Art and History of the Soap Opera. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.

British author H. G. Wells (1866–1946), the father of science fiction, published his novel The War of the Worlds in 1898. The tale concerns an attack on Earth by a force of Martians—a trite idea today, but a fresh concept at the time. However, the story had its greatest impact as a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) drama. Broadcast in 1938, the program fooled many Americans into believing that the Martians had actually landed. The show was broadcast on the night of October 31, 1938, as part of the regularly scheduled “Mercury Radio Theatre of the Air.” It is perhaps the greatest example of a Halloween “trick or treat” ever devised. The program was the brainchild of Orson Welles (1915-1985), who later gained fame as a movie actor and director.

The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds

The broadcast gained its impact from the way the story was presented. Unlike the novel, which is written in typical narrative style, the radio version was structured like a newscast. Listeners heard a program of music interrupted by the bulletin that a giant meteor had struck Grover’s Mills, New Jersey. A reporter on the scene then recounted how the “meteor” was apparently a spacecraft. He next described the opening of the hatch, the appearance of bizarre-looking creatures, and their attack on all humans in the vicinity. The invasion from Mars was on. The program was broadcast nationwide over CBS radio. The resulting panic was also nationwide, as many Americans took the “invasion” story at face value. Some fled their homes; others barricaded their doors and loaded shotguns; still others suffered emotional breakdowns. The number who actually thought an alien invasion was occurring represented a small part of the audience, and a much smaller portion of the population. But thousands believed. Afterward, Welles protested that there had been no intent to start a panic. He had announced several times, he said, that the program was fiction. But if the listener missed the disclaimer at the show’s beginning, the next announcement did not come until forty minutes later, which was too late for many. The hysteria caused by the 1938 broadcast was an early demonstration of the power of the electronic media. —Justin Gustainis

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Orson Welles during the October 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Cantril, Hadley. The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Koch, Howard. The Panic Broadcast: Portrait of an Event. Boston: Little Brown, 1970.

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1930s The Way We Lived The Great Depression (1929–41) that started with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, affected almost every part of people’s lives during the 1930s. The optimism of the 1920s slowly faded as various efforts to “fix” the economic downturn did not work. More and more people lost their jobs and could not find others. Americans suffered as they never had before. Record numbers of people were unemployed. Nearly one million people paraded in towns across the country in “hunger marches” in 1930. For the elderly who lost their life savings in the stock market crash and for those who had purchased on credit and now did not have jobs to support their payments, the 1930s were a disaster. Thousands of sharecroppers in the South—tenant farmers who bought on credit—were unable to pay their landlords and were thrown off their farms. Millions of children lost the chance for an education as thousands of schools closed because of lack of funds to maintain schools and pay teachers. Charities and local governments could not provide enough aid to help the starving. The Great Depression took a long time for business and government to understand and correct. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), who was elected in 1932, had a plan to help. He reorganized the federal government to offer aid to suffering Americans. His plan, called the “New Deal,” offered temporary work, financial support, home and farm loans, and federal protection of bank savings to millions of Americans. The New Deal created the beginning of the modern welfare state, a state that looked out for the good of its population. Even though many have described the 1930s as a time when life stood still, the way Americans lived did change. Some of the biggest changes came from the massive construction projects during the decade. At the beginning of the decade, some magnificent structures were built, including the Empire State Building (1931) and Rockefeller Center (1934). These privately funded buildings marked a change in American cities toward massive structures, called skyscrapers. They were impressive architecturally and continue to be symbols of the New York City

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skyline, but they stood mostly empty during most of the Depression. The New Deal created other impressive construction projects. These federally funded projects, including the Fort Peck Dam (1940) on the Missouri River in Montana and the Hoover Dam (1935) on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona, were more successful financially. These large federal projects offered electricity to those in need and created revenues (sources of regular income) to repay federal loans on time. The Depression did not wipe out all the good times. People did find ways to have fun. The automobile continued to be an important part of American life. For some families, it was the one luxury they would not give up. New drive-in theaters offered people a chance to stay in their cars and enjoy films played on huge outdoor screens. The Apollo Theater opened in 1934 in Harlem, New York, as the first entertainment theater for African Americans. Teenagers across America had to postpone marriage because they could not find jobs, but they dated each other to pass the time. Other social activities included such odd fads as goldfish-swallowing contests.

Apollo Theater From the 1930s to the present, the Apollo Theater, located on West 125th Street in the New York community of Harlem, has been the premier venue in the United States for African American entertainment. The Apollo is no ordinary performing arts hall. It is a cultural institution: a showplace and a meeting place in which black Americans have gathered to celebrate their culture. Countless African American performers have appeared at the Apollo: jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) greats; rhythm and blues (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), and soul performers; tap dancers; comedians; and amateurs breaking in their acts.

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The Apollo, constructed in 1913, originally was an Irish music hall. Five years later, it became Hartig & Seamon’s Burlesque Theater. By the 1920s and 1930s, population shifts and changing demographics resulted in Harlem’s becoming the largest African American community in the United States. The theater’s initial popularity as a talent showcase parallels the period of cultural development among African Americans known

as the Harlem Renaissance. In 1932, Duke Ellington (1899–1974) performed his swing-era anthem “It Don’t Mean a Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing” at the Apollo. Two years later, a “colored revue” titled “Jazz à la carte” began. Then in 1935, Ralph Cooper (1908–1982) began hosting the Apollo’s legendary Wednesday amateur nights. Cooper’s shows were broadcast on the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), which extended an awareness of the Apollo beyond the boundaries of Harlem. A who’s who of then-inexperienced African American entertainers boosted their careers by becoming amateur-night winners. Among them were Ella Fitzgerald (1918–1996), James Brown (1933–), Billie Holiday (1915–1959), Sarah Vaughn (1924–1990), and Pearl Bailey (1918–1990). Across the years, just about every important African American entertainer played the Apollo, from Count Basie (1904–1984), Nat “King” Cole (1919–1965), and Bill Cosby (1937–) through Luther Vandross (1951–), Anita Baker (1957–), and Stevie Wonder (1950–). In the 1970s, a combination of rising real-estate prices and decreasing live performances by major musicians spelled doom for the Apollo. A 1975 gunfight in the theater’s upper balcony during a Smokey Robinson (1940–) concert further added to the Apollo’s woes. The theater closed in 1975 and fell into bankruptcy four years later. In the 1980s, it began operation as a nonprofit venue. In 1983, the Apollo became a National Historic Landmark. The Apollo remains in use today as a showcase for the talents of a new generation of African American entertainers. —Rob Edelman

The famous Apollo Theater in 1971. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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For More Information Cooper, Ralph, and Steve Dougherty. Amateur Night at the Apollo: Ralph Cooper Presents Five Decades of Great Entertainment. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Fox, Ted. Showtime at the Apollo. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. Schiffman, Jack. Harlem Heyday: A Pictorial History of Modern Black Show Business and the Apollo Theatre. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1984.

Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, whose brutal crime spree came to an end in 1934. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Bonnie Parker (1910–1934) and Clyde Barrow (1909–1934) are probably the best-known criminal duo of the 1930s. In their brief career of armed robberies, Parker and Barrow traveled around the Southwest and Midwest, murdering a total of between twelve and fifteen people. Newspaper reports of the time exaggerated their crimes, linking them to holdups they could not have committed. In 1967, Arthur Penn (1922–) directed the hit film Bonnie and Clyde, remodeling the pair into folk heroes. The bleak violence of the film made sense to Americans coming to terms with student protests, the war in Vietnam (1954–75), and rising crime. Although it portrays Parker and Barrow as victims of their desperate times, the film is realistic about the brutality of their crimes. They were shot to death by Texas Rangers near Arcadia, Louisiana, in May 1934. Their bullet-riddled car is on display at a casino in Primm, Nevada. —Chris Routledge

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Friedman, Lester D. Bonnie and Clyde. London: BFI Publishing, 2000. Geringer, Joseph. “Bonnie & Clyde: Romeo and Juliet in a Getaway Car.” The Crime Library. http://www.crimelibrary.com/americana/bonnie/ main.htm (accessed February 15, 2002). Penn, Arthur, director. Bonnie and Clyde (film). Warner-Seven Arts, 1967. Steele, Philip W., and Marie Barrow Scoma. The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 2000.

Drive-In Theater During the twentieth century, America increasingly became a car culture as well as a movie culture. Particularly before the 1950s, and the mass marketing of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sets, moviegoing was the primary source of out-of-home entertainment. Meanwhile, the accessibility and affordability of automobiles allowed millions a previously unheard-of freedom of movement. These two cultural phenomena became linked with the advent of the drivein movie theater—a parking lot containing a large, outdoor movie screen. Moviegoers would drive to a gate, pay an admission fee, park on the lot facing the screen, and view the film directly from the car. Large, centrally located speakers initially projected the soundtrack over the entire theater; eventually, cars were equipped with individual speakers.

Drive-In Theater

Trahern, John. The Strange History of Bonnie and Clyde. London: Jonathon Cape, 1984.

The 1930s through 1950s were the heyday of the drive-in theater. The first drive-in theater, located in New Jersey on the Camden-Pennsauken border, opened on June 6, 1933. The first movie shown was an obscure comedy called Wife Beware (1932). Supposedly, the film was chosen because it would not compete with the first-run films then screening in movie houses. The selection of Wife Beware was fitting. Drive-in theaters traditionally book double or even triple bills of “B” movies (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), usually low-budget horror movies (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) or teen-oriented fare, or films that already had completed their first-run engagements. Realistically, the films often were not the primary reason for attending a drive-in. Particularly among teenagers, drive-ins allowed for a privacy that did not exist at home or at school. Thus, driveins came to be known among the young as “passion pits.” During the 1930s, drive-in theaters opened across the country, first in Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; and Galveston, Texas. In 1942, 95 drive-ins could be found in 27 states, with the average offering space for 400 cars. The drive-in peaked in popularity after World War II (1939–45). In 1958, 4,063 drive-ins dotted the country. A night

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Americans’ love of cars and love of movies came together in the 1930s in the form of the drive-in theater.

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at the drive-in was still a popular activity among adolescents, but many drive-ins were family-oriented—they offered a household an inexpensive night out. To attract the family trade, drive-ins offered playgrounds, baby-bottle warmers, fireworks, and laundry services, not to mention concession stands serving such traditional movie-house fare as popcorn, hot dogs, and sodas. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, drive-ins went out of fashion for a variety of reasons. Real estate prices were rising; the development of the multiplex theater (which led to an increase in competition with regard to film rental fees) had

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Squadrito, Cheryl. “The First ‘Automobile Theater.’” SouthJerseynews. com. http://www.southjerseynews.com/millen/mill0302a.htm (accessed February 14, 2002). Sanders, Don. The American Drive-In Movie Theater. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1997. Segrave, Kerry. Drive-In Theaters: A History from Their Inception in 1933. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992.

Empire State Building

begun; and the increasing popularity of compact cars made sitting through a double or triple-feature uncomfortable. In addition, there was an increase in freedom for teens, allowing them other ways in which to socialize.

Empire State Building Opening on May 1, 1931, the Empire State Building was for forty years the tallest building in the world. Dubbed the “Empty State Building” during the 1930s because most of the 102 floors remained untenanted, the building was constructed in just twelve months. Over a million visitors viewed Manhattan from the open-air observation deck in its first year and it has been popular with the public ever since. At 1,250 feet, the Empire State Building is less decorative than its smaller 1930s skyscraper (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) rival, the Chrysler Building (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). But its clean lines and elegant “set-backs” are instantly recognized and admired around the world. In 1933, the film King Kong (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) made the building a movie star. It has appeared in many films since, including An Affair to Remember (1957) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993). Forever linked to the Great Depression years (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), and touched by the glamour of Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), the Empire State Building has become a symbol for New York itself. —Chris Routledge

For More Information “Empire State Building.” Great Buildings Collection. http://www. GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Empire_State_Building.html (accessed February 14, 2002).

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Goldman, Jonathan. The Empire State Building Book. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980. Touranc, John. The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997.

Goldfish Swallowing Swallowing live goldfish became a wildly popular fad among college students during the spring of 1939. Although the rage only lasted a few months, swallowing goldfish has become synonymous with foolish and short-lived fads. The craze began in March 1939, when a Harvard University freshman took a bet that he would not swallow a live goldfish. He gathered a crowd to watch, swallowed the fish, and collected $10 from his classmate. Soon the word spread to other colleges. Other students began to take up the challenge, swallowing more and more goldfish each time to top the last record. By the time students were downing dozens of live, wriggling goldfish to uphold their school’s honor, the Massachusetts legislature stepped in and passed a law to “preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption.” The U.S. Public Health Service began to issue warnings that the goldfish could pass tapeworms and disease to swallowers. Within a few months of its start, the fad died out. Goldfish swallowing has been revived from time to time among college students and other young people anxious to prove their daring. One student during the 1970s claimed to have swallowed three hundred of the little fish. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Goldfish Swallowing.” Bad Fads Museum. http://www.badfads.com/ pages/events/goldfish.html (accessed February 14, 2002) “Swallowing Goldfish.” Olde Time Cooking and Nostalgia. http://www. oldetimecooking.com/Fads/goldfish.htm (accessed February 14, 2002).

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Between 1929 and 1941, America suffered the deepest and longest economic slump of the twentieth century. By 1932,

Through the need for increased federal aid, the Depression triggered a radical change in the relationship between Americans and their government. After a decade of conservative, isolationist politics, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) introduced New Deal legislation to help get people back to work. It funded building projects, regulated wages, and encouraged cultural programs of a distinctly American flavor. The Depression ended with America’s entry into World War II (1939–45). The country rallied to support its troops and soon regained a vigorous economy.

Hoover Dam

industrial output had dropped to the same level as twenty years earlier. Unemployment reached 25 percent. There was widespread homelessness, migration, and even starvation. The causes of the Depression included overproduction, too much private debt, and speculative investments. The glamorous decade of the Roaring Twenties had led to inequalities of many kinds.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Agee, James, and Walker Evans. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1941. McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941. New York: Times Books, 1984.

Hoover Dam Proposed in 1910 as a way of fulfilling the dream of a “garden of the West,” Hoover Dam was the first of many Colorado River dams proposed to help irrigate the dry land. It remains one of the engineering wonders of the twentieth century. Named after President Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), an engineer by trade, its four million cubic yards of concrete cost over $165 million to erect. From 1935 onwards, Hoover Dam brought water and electricity to communities in the dry western states. Amidst the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), the dam became a symbol of revival. It has appeared in films, in advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2), and on collectibles of all kinds. The elegant curve of Hoover Dam is an enduring image of the American West. Unfortunately, this great monument to progress also helped kill one of the continent’s natural wonders.

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By the 1980s, the Colorado River dams and developments had prevented the river itself from reaching the sea. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Dunar, Andrew J., and Dennis McBride. Building Hoover Dam: An Oral History of the Great Depression. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1993. Stevens, Joseph E. Hoover Dam: An American Adventure. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1990.

Ranch House The ranch house style of housing emerged in the 1930s and came to dominate the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) by the 1950s. The style comes from Southwestern house styles, one-story pueblos, and Spanish colonial houses that expressed freedom and space. The ranch house normally stands one story tall, with asymmetrical roof lines, and a garage that faces the street and often dominates the entry of the house. The ranch house became common in the suburbs; its rambling design made possible by the abundance of space outside cities and the popularity of cars to drive to work. The ranch house reflected what many Americans seemed to want in their lives: their own plot of land; an open, spacious house with close connections to the outdoors; and lots of leisure amenities: swimming pools, barbecue grills, swing sets for the kids, and perhaps a bit of space for a garden. Ranch houses were most popular between 1935 and 1975, although the style is still built on occasion. —Timothy Berg

For More Information McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. Wright, Gwendolyn. Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983.

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The high cost of real estate led to multistory buildings being created in American cities beginning in the 1850s. By the

Skyscrapers

1880s, very tall buildings had become status symbols, not only for the cities where they appeared but for the cash-rich corporations that built them. In the twenty-first century, almost every American city has at least one skyscraper. When the rest of the world thinks about American cities, it thinks of skyscrapers. The skyscrapers of Manhattan are as recognizable a symbol of New York City as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, France, or Tower Bridge to London, England. Following America’s lead, in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, the skyscraper has become a symbol of influence and economic power. Two technological developments made skyscrapers possible. The invention of the elevator by Elisha Graves Otis (1811–1861) in the 1850s meant that people could be carried to the upper floors. One of the problems with early skyscrapers was that the extra-long elevator cables stretched, making it impossible to line up the elevator car with every floor. The other development is known as “steel framing.” As masonry buildings go higher, the walls need to become thicker at the bottom. William LeBaron Jenney (1832–1907) began to work on steel framing in Chicago in the 1880s. Using this technique, the weight of the building hangs on a steel frame that takes up very little space. Many of the most famous buildings in the world are skyscrapers. The Empire State Building (see entry under 1930s— The Way We Lived in volume 2), built in 1931, was the tallest in the world for forty years. (In 2002, that title was held by the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.) Others, such as the Art Deco Chrysler Building (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), completed in 1930, are admired as much for their stunning looks as for their dramatic height. Skyscrapers are used to solve problems of space in overcrowded cities around the world. By concentrating many thousands of people in a very small space, however, they also cause congestion and overcrowding on the streets below. History suggests that the most important role of the skyscraper is a cultural one. Tall buildings are the best way for countries and corporations to display their wealth, power, and technological strength. Perhaps the most famous skyscraper will always be one that no longer exists. The World Trade Center, which began being built in 1966, was located in the heart of the financial district in New York City until September 11, 2001, when a commercial airliner commandeered by terrorists slammed into the north

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tower; eighteen minutes later, another hijacked airplane crashed into the south tower. Within two hours, each damaged tower fell to the ground. Thousands were killed. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Dupré, Judith. Skyscrapers. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 1996. Skyscrapers (video). Boston: WGBH and PBS, 2000. Skyscrapers.com. http://www.skyscrapers.com (accessed January 29, 2002). Willis, Carol. Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995. “World Trade Center.” The Great Building Collection. http://www. GreatBuildings.com/buildings/World_Trade_Center.html (accessed on January 29, 2002).

Twelve-Step Programs Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), with its twelve basic principles for changing behavior, was founded in 1936. Twelve-step programs have become the most popular addiction treatment method in the United States. With groups to combat everything from gambling to the use of narcotics to overeating, the formula that was developed to help alcoholics fight their addiction has become the model for changing all sorts of behavior. Some critics claim that twelve-step programs themselves become a sort of addiction and that members feel helpless to live their lives without the help of their twelve-step group. Many others, however, insist that their attendance at twelvestep groups has saved their lives and given them back their selfrespect.

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The twelve-step idea was created by a Vermont man named William Griffith Wilson (1895–1971). Wilson was a successful businessman who lost everything because he could not control his drinking. Inspired by the teachings of a British spiritual movement called the Oxford Group and a long, searching conversation with another alcoholic, Wilson decided that only alcoholics could help other alcoholics quit drinking. In 1936, he formed a group he called Alcoholics Anonymous based on twelve basic principles. The basic ideas underlying the twelve steps are that alcoholics must admit that they are powerless

In 1941, the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s— Print Culture in volume 1) published an article about AA, and thousands of alcoholics were drawn to the organization for help. By 1951, an offshoot organization was formed, Al-Anon, which offered support for families and friends of alcoholics. In the 1970s and 1980s, with the rise of the self-help movement and increasing awareness of addictive behaviors, the number of twelve-step groups increased dramatically. Dozens of groups were formed. Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA), Artists Recover Through Twelve Step (ARTS), Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA), and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) are only a few of the modern twelve-step groups. Modern twelve-step groups attract more than two million members in 150 countries. Members attend free meetings to talk with others who wish to stop the same addictive behavior. They read and discuss Wilson’s writings. Dramatic films about addiction and recovery like The Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and 28 Days (2000) have helped to popularize twelve-step programs.

Wall Drug

over alcohol and need to look to a higher power, such as God, for help. They must also continually examine their own behavior, admit when they have done wrong, and make amends to those they have hurt.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Banfield, Susan. Inside Recovery: How the Twelve Step Program Can Work for You. New York: Rosen Publishing, 1998. Cheever, Susan. “The Healer: Bill W.” Time (June 14, 1999): pp. 201–4. Edmeades, Baz. “Alcoholics Anonymous Celebrates Its 50th Year.” Saturday Evening Post (July-August 1985): pp. 70–75. Lemanski, Michael J. “Addiction Alternatives for Recovery.” The Humanist (January 2000): pp. 14–18. Minnick, Ann Marie. Twelve Step Programs: A Contemporary American Quest for Meaning and Spiritual Renewal. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. “Unforgettable Bill W.” Reader’s Digest (April 1986): pp. 65–72.

Wall Drug The Wall Drug Store, located in Wall, South Dakota, is probably the most unusual drug store in the world. Since 1936, it has been a popular tourist attraction in the American heartland. Wall Drug is known for many unlikely things, including signs

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Wall Drug, in tiny Wall, South Dakota, is famous for being so tacky and unhip that it is actually cool. Courtesy of Wall Drug Store.

all over the world in places like Moscow, Russia, and Paris, France, proclaiming the distance to Wall Drug in South Dakota. There is even a sign pounded into the ice at the South Pole reading “Wall Drug, Free Ice Water, 9,333 Miles.” Why all the fuss about a drug store in the middle of nowhere? Because Wall Drug has become one of the world’s biggest “in-jokes.” Wall Drug is certainly the only reason most people ever visit the dusty town of Wall, South Dakota (population 875), lying between the Badlands and the Great Plains. During the summer season, some 20,000 people visit on a typical day, passing through on nearby I-90. They come to experience a place that feels like it invented kitsch (cheap and sometimes tasteless objects and souvenirs), a tourist trap that is so tacky and unhip that it’s actually cool.

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On Main Street in Wall, Wall Drug takes up an entire block in the tiny downtown, filling a fifty-thousand-square-foot building. Inside, visitors are confronted with a dazzling assortment of souvenirs for sale: rubber tomahawks, cowboy-themed ash trays, refrigerator magnets depicting nearby Mt. Rushmore,

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hokey postcards that say “Blind Date in Montana,” a “jackalope” hunting license. Restaurant-goers can still get a cup of coffee for a nickel and order a buffalo burger. There is an art gallery at Wall Drug, a western-wear shop featuring Stetson cowboy hats and expensive boots, and exhibits on American Indian culture and history. And, yes, prescriptions can be filled at Wall Drug. Since it opened during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) with its offer of “free ice water,” Wall Drug has grown to be a famous location as well as a place stuck in time. That is why people keep coming back. —Karl Rahder

For More Information Clark, Jayne. “Kitsch or Quality, Wall Drug Has It.” USAToday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/life/travel/leisure/2000/ltl374.htm (accessed February 15, 2002). Kaplan, Steve. “The Drug Store That Ate South Dakota.” Travel-Holiday (June 1989): p. 90. “Stuff at the South Pole.” University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. http://astro.uchicago.edu/home/web/gd1/misc. html (accessed February 15, 2002). “Wall Drug.” WallDrug.com. http://www.walldrug.com/history.htm (accessed February 15, 2002).

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20 th-Century America

Volume 3 1940s-1950s Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

1940s The Pivotal Decade It is impossible to underestimate the importance of World War II (1939–45) in U.S. history. The country became involved in the conflict after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by Japanese aircraft. From that moment, massive changes swept the nation, changes that would be felt for the rest of the century. When the decade began, America continued to suffer from the affects of the economic depression (the Great Depression, 1929–41) that had lasted throughout the 1930s. Although the New Deal policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) had helped the nation avoid outright economic disaster, many Americans remained unemployed and business activity was stuck in a slowdown. Then, German leader Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1939. Americans looked at the war that was gripping Europe and felt lucky that they were not involved. The overriding attitude toward foreign wars was that America should not get involved. But this isolationism, as it was called, did not last long once America was attacked on its own soil. When President Roosevelt called his nation into war against the Japanese, the Germans, and their allies, he wakened a mighty force. Young men by the hundreds of thousands volunteered to fight. American factories kicked into high gear to produce guns, tanks, and airplanes. The entire American

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stuck to the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

What We Said:

What We Read:

Big eyes: A crush, as in “I have big eyes for her!”

Paperback books: Born in the late 1930s, these tomes—with flashy covers, racy stories, and cheap prices—were read by the millions during the 1940s. The first paperback publisher was Pocket Books (1939). Soon publishers Avon Books (1941), Dell Books (1943), Popular Library (1943), Bantam Books (1945), New American Library (1948) and Gold Medal Books (1949) were all enticing readers with paperback editions.

Roost: Your home.

Cooling: Unemployed. Geets: Money. “Here’s looking at you, kid”: These famous lines uttered by Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine to Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund in the film Casablanca quickly passed into popular usage as a toast. Hollywood eyes: A description of a pretty girl: “She has Hollywood eyes.” Icky drip: A person whose looks or interests set them apart from the crowd. “Mash me a fin”: “Would you loan me $5?” “Murder!”: “Wow!,” an expression of surprise or great excitement. Nab: A policeman. Oomph girl or Sweater girl: A term first used by the Hollywood press to describe a full-figured, good-looking girl. Many Hollywood starlets would claim to be the “original” oomph or sweater girl. Percolator: A car. Pin-up girl: Attractive women featured on posters during World War II to entertain military men. The most famous pin-up girl was Betty Grable, shown in a bathing suit and high-heeled shoes looking over her shoulder; a pin-up of Rita Hayworth was

Comic books: Readers could select from among more than 150 different titles. The adventures of superheroes were the most popular, including Captain Marvel (1940), Wonder Woman (1941), Captain America (1941), and Plastic Man (1941). For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940): Having already established his international celebrity as a talented writer with the novels The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ernest Hemingway offered years of short fiction and reporting from around the world. For Whom the Bell Tolls was a novel that provided an insightful portrayal of humanity during wartime, the Spanish civil war in this case. The Sun Is My Undoing (1941): This novel by Marguerite Steen was the first in a trilogy including Twilight on the Floods (1949) and Jehovah Blues (1952), which follow the Floods family through two centuries of their involvement in the slave trade. Steen’s dramatic style of writing and action-packed novels won her a large following of fans.

population steeled itself for what soon came to be thought of as a sacred mission to defend American freedom. But it was not an easy fight.

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Fighting alongside its allies, which included France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, American forces waged war for four years. Thousands of young American men died, though their losses remained small compared with the toll that war took

1940s At a Glance (continued) The Robe (1942): Lloyd C. Douglas’s novel told about a centurion’s quest to find out more about Christ after crucifying him. It remained on the bestseller list for three years and was made into a movie in 1953. Douglas had spent nearly twenty years as a Lutheran minister before becoming a writer.

tions of Americans, and was last updated in 1998, the year of Spock’s death. I, the Jury (1947): This hard-boiled story featuring Mickey Spillane’s famous detective Mike Hammer proved the importance of paperback books, selling more than two million copies in paperback in 1948 after achieving only moderate success as a hardback book the previous year. What We Watched:

Yank: This military magazine began publication in 1942 and by the end of the war had more than two million subscribers. The magazine is best known for its two cartoon characters, G.I. Joe and Sad Sack, which helped boost the morale of servicemen in the field.

Walt Disney animated films: Disney’s Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1940), Bambi (1942), and Cinderella (1949) were among the most popular films of the decade. They captivated audiences with their stunning animated scenes and endearing characters.

Forever Amber (1944): Kathleen Winsor’s first historical romance novel. Its racy content caused it to be banned in Boston, Massachusetts, but others clamored to read it. The book had eleven printings within a year of its publication. The movie rights to the story were purchased for a higher amount than that paid for Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.

Citizen Kane (1941): Orson Welles’ masterpiece drama about the life of wealthy Charles Foster Kane is considered one of the greatest films ever made.

Stars and Stripes: The largest military newspaper, which released almost thirty editions during World War II. The paper carried news of the war, news from the United States, cartoons, and photographs of beautiful women to military servicemen throughout the war. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946): One of the best-selling books of all time, with over fifty million copies sold by the end of the twentieth century. This work by Dr. Benjamin Spock became the bible of child care for genera-

Casablanca (1942): This drama was the film in which Humphrey Bogart perfected the tough guy image he had crafted in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Co-starring Ingrid Bergman, this drama remained among the top five films throughout the decade. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942): James Cagney won an Academy Award for best actor for his role in this musical about the extraordinary life of composer, singer, and dancer George M. Cohan. Oklahoma! (1943): Without chorus lines or comedic interruptions, this Broadway musical blended a love story with folk music and modern dance to transform the American musical.

on the countries in which it was fought. Germany, France, and Great Britain were devastated. Finally, thanks to overwhelming victories in Europe and the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, America and its allies were able to claim victory in 1945. The world looked far different after the war than it had looked before. For one thing, Americans realized that they could no longer avoid getting entangled in foreign conflicts.

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1940s At a Glance (continued) It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): James Stewart, playing George Bailey, finds out how his life has positively impacted the lives of those in his community with the help of an angel who distracts him from committing suicide on Christmas Eve. Song of the South (1946): The tales of Br’er Rabbit are intermixed in this film about life on a southern plantation. The musical includes the popular song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah.” The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): This dramatic film traces the lives of three war veterans as they return home after the war. One has lost his hands, another comes home to a larger family than the one he left, and the third returns to a loveless marriage and a dead-end job. What We Listened To: The Ink Spots: Between 1940 and 1949, this African American vocal group had eleven Top Ten hits on the charts, including “Whispering Grass” and “Don’t Worry.” They were among the first black recording groups to have “crossover” hits that were popular with whites, and laid the foundation for later “doo-wop” groups. Charlie Parker: The most influential jazz musician of the 1940s. Saxophonist Parker led the transformation of jazz to “Be-bop,” a style of jazz that highlighted complex improvisations and faster beats. Glenn Miller: Big band trombonist Miller earned the first gold record ever presented to a recording artist for his song “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,”

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which sold over a million copies. He was the most successful recording artist of the decade, hitting the Top Ten thirty-one times in 1940 alone. He dissolved his band to enter the army’s air force in 1942. He died in a plane crash in 1944. Superman: This radio show premiered in 1940, adding catchphrases such as “Up, up, and away!” and “This looks like a job for Superman!” into everyday language. “Back in the Saddle Again”: The theme song of Gene Autry, the “Singing Cowboy.” Originally written in 1938 by Ray Whitley for the film Border GMen, Autry soon revived it for his own movies and also regularly sang it on his radio and TV shows. “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (1941): The hit song by the Andrews Sisters, the top-selling girl group of all time. The song was featured in the Abbott and Costello farce Buck Privates, in which the Andrews Sisters play themselves. Censored news: All reporting of news and war information was censored by the “Code of Wartime Practices for American Broadcasters,” starting in 1942. “White Christmas”: Bing Crosby sang this hit song in Holiday Inn (1942). The song’s longing for a family gathering during the holidays became popular with Americans as they hoped for the best for their soldiers. “All or Nothing at All”: This single by Frank Sinatra sold more than one million copies. It also marked a shift in popular music. The Harry James Orchestra originally recorded the song in 1939 (with Sinatra singing), but Sinatra wanted to rerecord it in 1943. When a musicians strike prevented that, Sinatra’s

Now that technological advances allowed war to be waged on countries halfway around the world, mere oceans could not provide protection. America became more and more involved in foreign affairs. In fact, over the coming decades American forces would be sent all over the globe. Secondly, the war not only lifted America out of its long economic depression but left the nation with the world’s most vibrant economy. Although

1940s At a Glance (continued) managers decided to rerelease the earlier song, renaming the single to highlight Sinatra’s name. Until this time, bandleaders were the most important musicians to feature on musical covers. The Paul Harvey News: Debuting on the radio in 1944, Paul Harvey’s distinctive reporting style kept him on the air into the twenty-first century. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet: This sitcom about America’s favorite couple and their sons David and Ricky debuted on the radio in 1944. The show moved to television in 1952 and stayed on the air until 1966. “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover”: This song by Art Mooney’s orchestra became the #1 single on the Billboard chart in January 1948 and began a revival of “old-time” banjo songs. “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949): One of the last songs by Hank Williams became a country music classic. Who We Knew: Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941): The Idaho-born sculptor of Mount Rushmore died just months before work was to be completed. He had begun carving four presidents’ faces out of a South Dakota mountain in 1927. Bing Crosby (1904–1977): One of the most popular stars of the 1940s. His talent was firmly established in the 1930s when his music was played over and over on the radio, but his acting talent

became more recognized in the 1940s, when he gave an Oscar-winning performance in Going My Way (1944) and received an Oscar nomination for his part in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945). Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950): This African American physician directed the first American blood bank. A professor and surgeon at Howard University from 1935 to 1936 and again from 1942 to 1950, Drew discovered how to preserve blood plasma for transfusion. From 1940 to 1941, he headed the American program that sent blood to Great Britain and later directed the first American Red Cross Blood Bank from 1941 to 1942. Despite Drew’s scientific discovery and leadership of the blood bank, segregation laws prohibited him from donating his own blood. Anne Frank (1929–1945): After hiding with her family in a secret room in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 1942 to 1944, this Jewish teen and her family were discovered by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. She died there in 1945, but her diary was discovered and published in 1947 to great international success. Billy Graham (1918–): One of the best known American preachers of the twentieth century. Graham’s evangelistic crusades have taken him around the world, put him on television and radio, and won him friendships with presidents. Billie Holiday (1915–1959): The top jazz performer of the decade. Some of her recordings are regarded as the best jazz songs of all time, including “Lover Man” and “Now or Never.” George S. Patton (1885–1945): Nicknamed “Old Blood and Guts,” his leadership helped the Allied

there were difficulties in the transition to peace, America’s economy was the only one in the world that emerged from the war fully functioning. Victorious in war and with a booming economy, Americans were determined to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Many families who had put off having children during the Depression and the war now looked with joy to having children. They helped

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1940s At a Glance (continued) victory at the important Battle of the Bulge in 1945 and his tactics modernized the U.S. Calvary. Known as a fearless leader, whose desire for victory was infectious to his troops, Patton nevertheless lost command of troops when he declared that the United States should be fighting with Germany against the Russians. Ernie Pyle (1900–1945): This roving reporter penned stories from the front lines of battles in World War II in Britain, Italy, North Africa, and the Normandy Beach of France. Pyle was on assignment on a Pacific island when he was killed from a shot by a Japanese soldier. Americans dearly missed their link to the warfront, and American soldiers posted a marker at the site of his death, noting that they had lost a “buddy.” Jackie Robinson (1919–1972): The first African American to play in the modern major leagues. He joined

the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and played ten years with them, leading the team to six World Series. In 1962, he became the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906–1947): Gangster Siegel established the first legal gambling casino in the United States. The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, proved enormously successful and became famous across the nation. Siegel’s activities with a large crime syndicate proved to be his undoing. Shortly after a supposed disagreement with the syndicate over the portion of the Flamingo’s profits due as payment for help financing the hotel, Siegel was shot three times in the head and died instantly. Richard Wright (1908–1960): The author of Native Son (1940) and his autobiography Black Boy (1945) has been referred to as the “father” of a generation of black writers who came after him. He is credited with expressing the black experience in a brand new light.

create a “baby boom,” a surge in population growth that made itself felt throughout the decade as these “boomers” came of age. In order to accommodate this growing population, Americans built highways and houses. Looking forward to jobs and careers that would allow them to provide well for their families, thousands of men attended college on a government program known as the G.I. Bill. American popular culture during this decade shifted to match the changing tenor of the times. During the war, newspapers, magazines, and radio programs devoted themselves to providing Americans with up-to-date information on the war effort. Radio, especially, made the world seem smaller by bringing live news from distant points of the globe into American living rooms. American moviemakers did their part by producing light, entertaining diversions as an alternative to the difficult war news. Sports went on, even though many athletes served overseas. 514

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After the war, however, a new force in American popular culture made itself felt. Although television sets had been avail-

Even as Americans recovered from the difficulties of war and began to enjoy their lives again, a dark cloud appeared on the horizon. By the end of the decade, it was becoming clear that America’s ideas for the shape of the postwar world were very different than those being proposed by the Soviet Union. The United States, led by President Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), wanted countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to embrace capitalism. The Russians hoped that they would embrace their system, communism. Both countries wanted their way, but they did not want to engage in open warfare now that the world had seen the destruction of modern warfare, and especially that caused by the atomic bomb. Therefore, the United States and the Soviet Union locked themselves into a “Cold War” (1945–91) in which the two world superpowers engaged in a political stalemate and both sides used diplomats, spies, and anything short of outright war to get their way. The Cold War would dominate American life for nearly fifty years, casting shadows over the sunny landscape of postwar American prosperity.

The Pivotal Decade

able before the war, it was only with renewed postwar prosperity that numbers of Americans were able to purchase the new devices they called “TVs.” Soon, television networks were offering a small but growing number of programs to those living in urban areas. By the end of the 1940s, it was clear that TV would be the entertainment form of the future. Both during and after the war, music provided a release from daily life, and new forms like rhythm and blues, bebop, and boogie-woogie excited listeners.

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1940s Commerce The 1940s were a time of incredible growth for American business. The country had recovered from the Great Depression (1929–41) and the war and government spending helped American businesses become strong, solid, and profitable. The fastest growing parts of the economy involved the production of consumer goods and military supplies. With such growth in business, unemployment declined and wages rose to an unprecedented level. By the end of the war, America had the strongest economy in the world. The starting of the Cold War (1945–91) at that time ensured the continuing governmental support for military expenditures, which helped keep the economy growing until the early 1990s. With an excess of disposable income, Americans could buy the new consumer products offered after the war. Kitchens were stocked with electric appliances. Washing machines cleaned clothes. Tupperware preserved food in refrigerators across the country. Wanting more than mere transportation, people bought flashy new sports cars or hardworking Jeeps in addition to the traditional four-door family car. Late in the decade, more Americans than ever were living the “good” life.

Best-Sellers Perhaps the most famous of books at the time of their publication, best-sellers win public notice, not for their quality, but for their popularity. Since the late nineteenth century, booksellers, book publishers, and book critics have collected and printed lists of best-selling books in order to learn and document which books appeal most to readers at the moment. This information reveals much about American culture. As Michael Korda writes in Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller, 1900–1999, “Like a mirror, [the best-seller list] reflects who we are, what we want, what interests us. . . .” In a circular way, best-seller lists also determine what the public will

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be reading in the future, since publishers use the lists when deciding which books will be most profitable to publish. During the 1890s, the publishing industry in the United States was on the rise. Improved public education had produced a population that wanted to read. Advances in printing technology along with an increase in bookstores made books more readily available to the public. It did not take long before those involved in the book industry began to track the popularity of different books. The first list of best-sellers was published by Harry Thurston Peck (1856–1914) in the magazine The Bookman in 1895. The top selling novel that year was Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush by Ian Maclaren (a name used by John Watson, 1850–1907). In 1912, Publisher’s Weekly used the term “best-seller” for the first time and began to publish its own list, topped by The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter (c. 1868–1924). That year, Publisher’s Weekly also added a list of nonfiction best-sellers for the first time, led by The Promised Land by Mary Antin (1881–1949). One of the most respected best-seller lists is published in the New York Times (see entry under 1900s— Print Culture in volume 1), which began printing its list in 1942, when the top-selling fiction book was The Robe by Lloyd Douglas (1877–1951). The nonfiction list that year was headed by Under Cover by John Roy Carlson. Many critics dislike the best-seller lists, claiming that, by glorifying only those books that make the most money, they often ignore the best literature. However, best-seller lists continue to abound, giving readers, bookstores, and publishers alike valuable information about the reading tastes of the general public. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

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Bear, John. The #1 New York Times Bestseller. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1992. Cader Books. Bestseller Lists 1900–1995. http://www.caderbooks.com/ bestintro.html (accessed February 15, 2002). Goldstein, Bill. “Let Us Now Praise Books Well Sold but Seldom Read.” New York Times (July 15, 2000): p. B11. Korda, Michael. Making the List: A Cultural History of the American Bestseller, 1900–1999. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2001. Mott, Frank Luther. Golden Multitudes: The Story of Best Sellers in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1947. Offman, Craig. “Gray Lady Down: Has the Influence of the New York Times Bestseller List Declined?” Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/ books/feature/1999/10/14/nytimes (accessed February 15, 2002).

Jeep

Jeep Jeeps were four-wheel utility vehicles created for the use of the army in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Tough, rugged, and practically unstoppable, the Jeep is not only the star of hundreds of war and adventure films; it is also the ancestor of the stylish yet rugged sport-utility vehicles (SUVs; see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) now produced by most automobile manufacturers. Shortly after World War I (1914–18), the American armed forces recognized a need for a light, tough automobile for use in reconnaissance (survey and exploration of battle areas). By 1940, as another war loomed on the horizon, the American army challenged 135 American automakers to produce such a vehicle. The army gave the car manufacturers a list of specifications. These specifications included four-wheel drive; a pedestal to hold a machine gun; extra ground clearance (space between the bottom of the vehicle and the ground); and an increased cooling system to allow the vehicle to drive for extended periods at speeds as low as three miles per hour without overheating. The deadline for submitting a working model of such a car was September 23, 1940, only forty-nine days after the guidelines were issued. Only one company met the army’s deadline, a small auto manufacturer called American Bantam Car Company. Bantam designed a car that suited the army’s needs. The company was not in a solid financial state, so the army granted the contract to two other companies, Willys and Ford, using Bantam’s design. There are various explanations of why the small military vehicle was called a Jeep. Such names as Peep, Bug, Puddle Jumper, Leapin’ Lena, and Blitz Buggy were sometimes used, but Jeep remained the most popular. Some trace the name back to the army designation, General Purpose Vehicle. Others claim that the name Jeep had been military slang since World War I, when it was used to mean a new, untested vehicle or a new, untested recruit. Still others point to a popular character in the 1930s Popeye (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) cartoon strip called Eugene the Jeep. Readers who loved Eugene began calling any good product or upright person a “Jeep.” However it came about, the name Jeep is now associated with rugged four-wheel-drive vehicles. The name has remained,

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though the manufacturing company has changed several times since the first civilian Jeep was manufactured by Willys in July 1945. In 1953, the Kaiser company took over Willys and continued to manufacture the Jeep. In 1970, the American Motor Company (AMC) took over Kaiser Jeep, and in 1987 AMC was bought out by Chrysler. In 1998, Chrysler merged with Mercedes Benz to create Daimler Chrysler. Daimler Chrysler continues to make all types of Jeeps, from the rugged Wrangler to the luxury Grand Cherokee. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Allen, Jim. Jeep. Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing, 2001. Allen, Jim. “Will the Real Jeep Please Stand Up?” Fourwheeler (March 1995). Brown, Arch, and the auto editors of Consumer Guide. Jeep: The Unstoppable Legend. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 1994. Foster, Patrick R. The Story of Jeep. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1998. Guttmacher, Peter. Jeep. New York: Crestwood House and Maxwell Macmillan, 1994. Kefford, Alex. “Resources: Jeep History.” Jeep, The All Fours Jeep Club. http://www.jeepclub.co.uk/resources/history.html (accessed February 15, 2002).

Tupperware Earl S. Tupper (1907–1983) trademarked his “Poly-T” plastic in 1945. Soon after, he started using it to make plastic kitchen containers. Tupperware has always been far more than just a range of storage boxes, however. Over the next twenty years, it became a suburban obsession. When Americans moved in large numbers to the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) in the 1950s, they bought Tupperware to equip their new kitchens. Through direct selling, Tupperware turned homemakers into entrepreneurs (businesspeople) and became a symbol of the optimism and materialism of the age. Sold in bright, cheerful colors and smooth shapes, Tupperware gave a stylish, modern edge to traditional domestic accessories.

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Unlike containers made from metal, glass, or china, Tupperware is light, easy-to-clean, and almost indestructible. It comes in almost any shape, from butter dishes and bowls, to ice cube trays and cocktail shakers. The merchandise was good, but the

marketing strategy was brilliant. Coordinated from 1951 by Brownie Wise (1914–1992), the Tupperware “party” system helped women to meet and socialize together. Each Tupperware party “hostess” would invite a group of women into her home, where she would display Tupperware products for sale. Hostesses would show their guests how to use each item, including how to “burp” the airtight lids. They would run games and competitions to win Tupperware products. The reward for recruiting new hostesses was yet more Tupperware. In a postwar world in which status was measured by earning power, Tupperware made running a household into a commercial activity. By the end of the twentieth century, Tupperware had become one of the world’s biggest direct sales companies, with an independent sales force of nearly one million people worldwide. In the 1990s, Tupperware was redesigned in even brighter colors and new shapes. The Tupperware line included a range of children’s toys called “Tupperkids.” Besides keeping food fresh, Tupperware containers have won design awards and appear as exhibits in design museums around the world. When Earl Tupper called his new plastic the “material of the future,” he turned

A hostess demonstrates the latest products at a Tupperware party, circa 1960. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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out to be right. Fifty years later, Tupperware is so familiar that the word itself is often applied to any brand of plastic container with an airtight lid. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Clarke, Alison J. Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999. Tupperware.com. http://www.tupperware.com (accessed February 15, 2002).

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1940s Fashion The rationing that took place during World War II (1939–45) seriously affected fashion in America for the first half of the decade. Even though businesses were prospering and people were finding more jobs and making more money than they had during the Depression of the 1930s, the country’s newfound wealth could not be spent on fashion. Supplies of wool, cotton, linen, rayon, silk, and nylon that would have made fashionable attire were diverted to the war effort for uniforms, parachutes, and other supplies. The government even determined the maximum amount of fabric that could be used to make dresses (three-quarters of a yard) and tried to discourage fashion from shifting enough to spur interest in buying anything but the necessary attire. Government restrictions and the limited supplies of fabric effectively froze fashion styles for women at 1939 looks. Without silk stockings, women either shaved their legs and drew a “seam” line down the back of their legs or wore bobby socks with their skirts. Padded shoulders were popular in dresses and jackets. With limited selections of jewelry and scarves to accessorize their outfits, women turned to hats, of which many styles could be found. Red lipstick was also a popular adornment to women’s outfits during this lean period. Men’s fashions changed from generous three-pieced, doublebreasted suits with cuffed and pleated pants to fabric-conserving suits with single-breasted jackets and plain-front, straight-legged pants. Supplies of these new suits were limited and many stores simply had none until after the war. By the end of the war, men and women alike were ready to spend money on clothes. Among those in African American and Mexican American communities, the sleek zoot suit was popular. In 1947, French designer Christian Dior (1905–1957) introduced his New Look, resulting in many American designers quickly copying his fashions with tiny waistlines and flowing long skirts. The New Look remained popular until the 1960s. For those that could not afford designer fashions, ready-to-wear

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clothes from American manufacturers offered similar but not so extravagant copies of more expensive fashions.

Bobbysoxers Bobby socks are white, ankle-length socks, most often made from cotton, that have been worn by women, children—and especially teenage girls—since the 1930s. In particular, adolescents wore them with penny-loafers or saddle shoes. However, bobby socks are more than just a type of footwear. In December 1942, Frank Sinatra (1915–1998; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), then a skinny, bow-tied young singer from New Jersey, opened at the Paramount Theatre in New York. Those same girls and young women who favored bobby socks came to see him and spontaneously screamed and collapsed as he performed. They danced the jitterbug—the latest craze in dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1)—in the theater aisles. They swooned (fainted) in their seats and jammed the area surrounding the stage door and demanded his autograph. They flowed out into the streets of midtown Manhattan, tying up traffic. These crazy youngsters were dubbed “bobbysoxers.” In fact, one of the more colorfully named of Sinatra’s countless fan clubs was “The Bobbysox Swoonerettes.” The media quickly stereotyped bobbysoxers. On the negative side, Newsweek magazine viewed their behavior as a kind of madness, a mass sexual delirium, labeling bobbysoxers immoral female juvenile delinquents. However, the general feeling was that they were nothing more than ridiculous young girls who were unable to control their emotions. When not swooning over their “Frankie,” they talked nonstop on the telephone and became obsessed over the latest fads and styles. By the 1950s, the typical fashionable bobbysoxer wore her socks rolled down to her ankles. She kept her hair in a ponytail and wore tight sweaters. She completed her look with a felt poodle skirt that covered layers of petticoats made of a stiff material called crinoline, allowing the skirt to bulge out from her waist and hips. An alternate look was the choice of a straight, hemmed skirt that almost brushed against her bobby socks.

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Frank Sinatra was not the only popular singer associated with bobby socks. In 1959, Frankie Avalon (1939–), an idol for

a future generation of adolescent girls, had a million-selling hit single titled “Bobby Sox to Stockings.” The lyrics point out that when a girl replaces her bobby socks with stockings, she is grown-up enough to fall in love and “give her heart away.”

A typical brigade of bobbysoxers gather on a sidewalk hoping to see Frank Sinatra as he leaves a 1944 performance. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Palladino, Grace. Teenagers: An American History. New York: Basic Books, 1996.

Zoot Suit Enormously popular among young African American and Mexican American (Chicano) men in the 1940s, the zoot suit was more than a piece of clothing. Designed sleek enough to be stylish and loose enough for dancing (see entry under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1), the zoot suit also represented a culture that belonged to people of color in the United States.

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It reflected an open pride in nonwhite ethnic roots that was new in American society. Many whites felt threatened by displays of pride and racial identity among people of color. Some even reacted violently to the sight of young men wearing the distinctive zoot suit. Some say the zoot suit was designed in 1941 by Chicago tailor and band leader Harold C. “Zoot Suit” Fox (1910–1996). Inspired by the styles he saw on poor urban teenagers, who cut down large men’s suits to fit their smaller frames, Fox wanted to design a dancing suit with style. Because jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) slang labeled everything cool and hip as “the end,”— and the letter z was the end of the alphabet—he called his suit a zoot, and designed it with a “reet pleat, reave sleeve, ripe stripe, and drape shape.” In less hip English, the zoot suit had a long jacket with broad padded shoulders and baggy pants with narrow cuffs. It was often worn with a flat crowned hat called a pork pie, a long key chain, and shoes with thick soles.

A young man sporting a zoot suit in 1943. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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The zoot suit was soon adopted by many hip young blacks and Chicanos. The suit became part of a larger zoot culture that included jazz music and dance and jive talk. Young Chicano zooters spoke a slang called Calo that was a rich mixture of Spanish and English. This zoot suit culture set young African American and Chicano men apart from mainstream white culture, and whites soon began to fear and mistrust the zoot suited “gangs” (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). The fear erupted more than once into violence, the most famous incident being the “zoot suit riots” in Los Angeles, California. In June 1943, hundreds of uniformed white sailors and marines attacked zoot-suited Mexican Americans and African Americans, beating them severely and tearing their suits off. The riots lasted almost two weeks. Los Angeles police did little to stop

—Tina Gianoulis

Zoot Suit

the violence, and local newspapers supported the servicemen’s actions. Hundreds of Chicanos were injured. The publicity surrounding the incident did serve to educate white Americans about the large Mexican American minority that lived among them.

For More Information Daniels, Douglas Henry. “Los Angeles Zoot: Race ‘Riot,’ the Pachuco, and Black Music Culture.” The Journal of Negro History (Vol. 82, no. 2, Spring, 1997): pp. 201–21. Del Castillo, Richard Griswold. “The Los Angeles ‘Zoot Suit Riots’ Revisited: Mexican and Latin American Perspectives.” Mexican StudiesEstudios Mexicanos (Vol. 16, iss. 2, Summer 2000): pp. 367–78. Eig, Jonathan. “‘Zoot Suit’ Fox Dead at Age 86.” Down Beat (Vol. 63, no. 11, November 1996): pp. 16–19. Thorne, Tony. Fads, Fashions and Cults: From Acid House to Zoot Suit. London: Trafalgar Square, 1994. Tyler, Bruce. “Zoot-Suit Culture and the Black Press.” Journal of American Culture (Vol. 17, no. 2, Summer 1994): pp. 21–35. White, Shane, and Graham J. White. Stylin’: African American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.

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1940s Film and Theater Hollywood’s golden age had reached a peak by 1940. The eight largest studios (Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], RKO Radio, Twentieth Century Fox, United Artists, Paramount, Universal, and Columbia) controlled more than 90 percent of film production and distribution. The big studios were churning out at least one film per week. The Production Code Association (PCA) kept a tight leash on the topic matter that could be presented in films. The association made sure the good guys always won, sexuality was suggested rather than mentioned openly, and social issues were not debated. The strict censorship in Hollywood was meant to protect the nearly eighty million Americans who went to the movies each week. When regular Americans and those in Hollywood began to wonder what role the United States would play in the war, attitudes about censorship changed. Studios wanted to explore political issues in films, but many feared that ticket sales might be hurt. By 1941, Hollywood had decided to support the war, making training films for the army and releasing Sergeant York, the first of many films supporting U.S. engagement in the war. Although the films that did comment on the war supported U.S. involvement, 95 percent of the films made during the period had nothing to do with war. The majority of films made in the 1940s were playful romps, such as The Philadelphia Story (1940), starring Cary Grant (1904–1986), James Stewart (1908–1997), and Katharine Hepburn (1907–); or the comedies of Bud Abbott (1895–1974) and Lou Costello (1906–1959). Walt Disney (1901–1966) also released his animated symphony performance called Fantasia. More serious films included The Grapes of Wrath (1940), the film based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel about the Depression (1929–41) by John Steinbeck (1902–1968), and Citizen Kane (1941), the first film of Orson Welles (1915–1985). Many consider Citizen Kane the greatest film of all time. After the war, film noir (“dark cinema”) became a popular style for movies. The dark, serious films, such as The Maltese Falcon (1941) and The Big Sleep (1946), gave new life to the popular detective stories so popular with readers during the

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1920s and 1930s. Some of the most popular detective writers, including Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), Raymond Chandler (1888–1959), and James M. Cain (1892–1977), adapted their novels and stories into screenplays. Americans were intrigued with these films, especially as fear and apprehension grew with the onset of the Cold War (1945–91). Even with the popularity of a new film style, movie attendance sank after the war, mostly because more Americans stayed home to watch their newly affordable television sets. Elaborate musicals were enormously popular during the 1940s. Nearly eleven million people attended Broadway extravaganzas in 1943. Most of the shows had upbeat, patriotic themes with casts of singing soldiers or high-kicking women. Popular shows included This Is the Army (1942), Something for the Boys (1943), and Winged Victory (1945). All proceeds from This Is the Army and Winged Victory (millions of dollars) were contributed to the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Although Broadway enjoyed great success, dramatic theater suffered during the 1940s. Dramatic theatrical productions had difficulty finding paying audiences. The Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s was discontinued, and dwindling attendance pushed Project-funded plays off Broadway and into smaller theaters. Despite the smaller profits, two of the greatest American playwrights wrote during the 1940s: Tennessee Williams (1914–1983) and Arthur Miller (1915–) wrote dramatic masterpieces. Williams’s The Glass Menagerie (1945) and Miller’s All My Sons (1947) introduced audiences to themes of disillusionment and the difficulties of attaining the “American dream” of success and happiness.

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Tall, thin man Bud Abbott (1895–1974) and short, fat man Lou Costello (1906–1959) worked together for Universal Pictures between 1939 and 1956 after a career in comic theater and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2). Throughout the 1940s, but especially during the years of World War II (1939–45), they were Hollywood’s top comedy act. At their peak, the duo made four films a year, specializing in silly voices and overacting. In their best early films, a simple misunderstanding soon leads to hilarious situations.

The most popular misunderstanding is found in the classic “Who’s on First” bit, which was first a radio routine, and then a scene from The Naughty Nineties (1945). In it, Abbott continuously frustrates Costello by trying to explain to him the odd nicknames of players on a baseball team: “Who’s” on first, “What’s” on second, and “I Don’t Know’s” on third. Costello: “Who’s on first?” Abbott: “Yes.” Costello: “I mean the fellow’s name on first base.” Abbott: “Who.” And on it went. Abbott and Costello’s comedy routine worked well in films for a while, but after the war their movies became more creative. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) is the first of a series of “monster movies” and one of the best spoof horror films of all time. In the 1950s, they made The Abbott and Costello Show for television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), reusing material from their days in theater. The series has regularly been used to fill empty time on TV schedules around the globe ever since.

Bud Abbott (top) and Lou Costello. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Abbott and Costello Quarterly World Wide Web Edition. http://members. aol.com/acqtrly/ (accessed February 19, 2002). Cox, Stephen, and John Lofflin. The Official Abbott and Costello Scrapbook. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990. Cox, Stephen, John Lofflin, and Buddy Hackett. The Abbott and Costello Story: Sixty Years of “Who’s on First?” New York: Cumberland House Publishing, 1997.

Casablanca Casablanca is one of the most famous films of the 1940s. The movie contains some of the most familiar dialogue and images in any Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) film. Most of the action takes place in Rick’s bar in

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Casablanca, Morocco, in North Africa, where refugees from a Europe ravaged by World War II (1939–45) gather to wait for their U.S. visas (documentation on a passport giving permission to travel). Casablanca has an unoriginal plot and characters made up from a set of stereotypes: a cynical, clever American; a ruthless German; a weak but brave Frenchman; and an untrustworthy Arab. It is all the more surprising then that the film should have caught not only the mood of the time but the imaginations of millions of filmgoers ever since. Casablanca was a low-budget movie, one of fifty filmed that year by Warner Brothers. The cast reads like a list of the bestknown actors of the time, including Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982), Paul Henreid (1908–1992), Peter Lorre (1904–1964), Claude Rains (1889–1967), Sydney Greenstreet (1879–1954), and Conrad Veidt (1893–1943). But the film’s early success was mostly due to the date of its release— 1942—about the same time as the first Allied landings in North Africa. Nominated in several categories, in 1943 the film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Direction (Michael Curtiz, 1886–1962), and Best Writing (Julius J. Epstein, 1909–2000, and Philip G. Epstein, 1909–1952). The rendition by Dooley Wilson (1886–1953) of the song “As Time Goes By” and many memorable lines, such as “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid,” have added to Casablanca’s enduring appeal. The final foggy scene at the airport is one of the most famous in Hollywood’s history. As in many other Bogart films of the period, the reluctant heroism of Casablanca’s main character reflects the American war effort. The film is also a touching love story told with good humor and a sharp wit. One reason for its popularity is that it boils down the large-scale horrors of the war into a simple human drama. Although it was an accidental classic, Casablanca and its stars have become a point of contact between the twenty-first century and the heroic yet dark days of World War II. —Chris Routledge

For More Information

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Miller, Frank. Casablanca: As Time Goes By, 50th Anniversary Commemorative. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1992. Siegel, Jeff. The Casablanca Companion: The Movie and More. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1992.

Citizen Kane (1941) is acclaimed as one of the greatest sound films in the history of the cinema. It was cowritten by Orson Welles (1915–1985) and Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897–1953). Welles also produced and directed the film for RKO Radio Pictures in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). At the time he created Citizen Kane, Welles was a twenty-five-year-old theater and radio (see entry under 1920s— TV and Radio in volume 2) genius who had not yet made a feature-length film. His youth and inexperience is astounding considering the complexity and accomplishment of the visual and narrative (storytelling) techniques used in the movie. In an unusual move by any Hollywood-based film studio, Welles was given complete artistic control over this production. He was able to have the final decision in every area of production. Production elements included screenplay, camera, lighting, art direction, and music. The music in the film was composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann (1911–1975).

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

The story of Citizen Kane begins with the death of a wealthy, influential American newspaper publisher named Charles Foster Kane. In six creative narrative sequences—bookended by an introduction and an epilogue—the biography of Kane is related, beginning with a newsreel capsule of the man’s life and continuing with glimpses of his childhood and adult years. Kane’s controversial life unfolds through a clever manipulation of time by editing. Much of the film is constructed from flashbacks, which are sequences that have taken place in the past, before the present time of the motion picture. The details of Kane’s life are told through journal entries and interviews with those he knew, as a reporter seeks to solve the mystery of the significance of the last word that Kane speaks, which is “Rosebud.” As the details of Kane’s biography are disclosed, the larger story of a man’s quest for “the American dream” also is explored. The character of Kane, acted by Welles, is in many ways a thinly cloaked, fictional version of real-life multimillionaire newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951). Hearst was outraged at the unauthorized and unflattering interpretation of his life story, and he tried to prevent the film from being released. When that attempt failed, Hearst used his many newspapers to prevent the film from becoming popular. He

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Citizen Kane Orson Welles, in the title role of the 1941 film Citizen Kane. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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refused to print advertisements for the film and threatened to stop advertising and reviewing RKO films in the future. These actions were effective, and the film failed badly at the box office. At RKO, angry film executives got even with Welles. They removed his right to make final artistic decisions about future motion picture productions at the studio. As a result, Welles’s next few films were badly tampered with by lesser talents. The rest of his film career was characterized by inadequate budgets and production schedules. Welles never again created a motion picture as renowned as his first feature film.

Fantasia

Although Citizen Kane had a disappointing initial release, it was rediscovered by film critics and historians twenty years later. Since then, many articles and several books have praised its artistry and intelligence. In university classrooms, in art houses, and at film festivals worldwide, Citizen Kane is frequently screened. It is included on almost every significant listing of the world’s greatest films. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Carringer, Robert L. The Making of Citizen Kane. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. Higham, Charles. The Films of Orson Welles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970. Kael, Pauline. The Citizen Kane Book. Boston: Little, Brown, 1971. Lennon, Thomas, producer. The Battle Over “Citizen Kane” (video). Boston: WGBH Boston Video, 1996, 2000.

Fantasia The now-classic animated film Fantasia opened on November 13, 1940, to lukewarm reviews. However, the Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) film went on to be considered among the best animated films of all time and remains unique for its attempt to bring together highbrow culture and popular culture. Its depiction of animated characters “acting” to classical music had never been attempted before. The music was performed by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the legendary Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977). Motion-picture executive Walt Disney (1901–1966) had a vision of a film that would finally bring respect to the art of animation. How better to bring respectability to animation than to match animation with that most respectable of art forms at the time, classical music? He and Stokowski began to work together on the first of the sections, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” starring Disney’s most famous creation, Mickey Mouse. That sequence alone cost $125,000, a huge sum at the time. With classical music and dancing hippos and mushrooms, Fantasia seemed to have something for everyone. When it opened in theaters, however, audiences did not know what to make of it. After a dull opening, it was cut from its original length down to eighty minutes. Fantasia played on a double bill with

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Mickey Mouse in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment of the 1940 Disney movie Fantasia. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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a Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and then disappeared. Fantasia earned back its production costs when it was rereleased in 1956. Audiences finally appreciated it and came by the millions to theaters to see it, most for the first time. Fantasia was re-released again in 1969 for a whole new generation to see. This time it truly caught fire, for it seemed to fit the cultural spirit of the late 1960s. Many of the so-called hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the time did illegal drugs, such as LSD and marijuana (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), before seeing the film. They said it gave them a different view of the film. Since 1969, Fantasia has been periodically re-released in movie theaters. It is also very popular on videocassette and digital versatile disc (or digital video disc—DVD). The film is now among the two hundred top grossing (top moneymaking) motion pictures of all time. In 2000, a new version, Fantasia 2000, was shown in giant-screen IMAX theaters to large crowds of people. —Jill Gregg Clever

Corliss, Richard. “Disney’s Fantastic Voyage.” Time (December 13, 1999): pp. 94–96. Culhane, John. Walt Disney’s Fantasia. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1983.

Film Noir

For More Information

Film Noir The term film noir, meaning “dark cinema,” was coined by French film critics to describe the American films that arrived in Europe in the years after World War II (1939–45). Emerging in the 1940s as an alternative to “classical” Hollywood cinema, film noir is a curious blend of violent crime, national identity crisis, and budget moviemaking. It takes a bleak view of human nature and American life. Its shadowy photography and troubled characters perfectly capture the turmoil of the postwar years. Filmed on cheap black-and-white film stock, most film-noir movies were low-budget affairs. Their style owes much to the European filmmakers who arrived in Hollywood in the years leading up to the war. German directors such as Fritz Lang (1890–1976) and Robert Siodmak (1900-1973) found expression for their cynical outlook in adapting American “hardboiled” crime novels onto film. The look of film noir also came down to cost. Dark, shadowy images were used to cover up for missing sets, so a doorway framed in light might be just that, a doorway with no walls surrounding it. Classic films in the film noir genre (category) include The Maltese Falcon (1941), Mildred Pierce (1945), The Big Sleep (1946), The Killers (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and The Night of the Hunter (1955). Film noir is more than just a look. It concentrates on the psychology of crime and criminals. The films focus on the clash between morality and desire and deal with the lowest of human instincts. The heroes of film noir are weak, troubled men, and the women are dangerous and threatening. At a time when women were not expected to be independent and self-sufficient, the “femme fatale,” as she became known as, proved very shocking. Over the years, film noir has been spoofed, revamped, and updated. A comedy by Steve Martin (1945–), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), satirizes the style. Blade Runner (1982)— described as “future noir”-revamps the style. Thrillers like Taxi

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Driver (1976) and Seven (1995) update the film noir tradition for contemporary audiences. Film noir was created in the 1940s to challenge the morality and values of Hollywood’s mainstream. By the twenty-first century, the style’s dark images, dangerous characters, and brusque dialogue have come to define that era of America’s history and create new images of modern times. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Crowther, Bruce. Film Noir: Reflections in a Dark Mirror. London: Columbus Books, 1988. Hannsberry, Karen Burroughs. Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998. Stephens, Michael L. Film Noir: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Reference to Movies, Terms and Persons. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1995.

It’s a Wonderful Life The film It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) has become an important part of the Christmas season for millions of Americans. Each year, families gather around the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) to watch the story of George Bailey (James Stewart, 1908–1997), a man who grew up yearning for a life of travel and adventure. Personal and national events thwarted George’s plans to escape his hometown of Bedford Falls. He grows into one of the community’s leading citizens as he runs the family Building and Loan and repeatedly tangles with Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore, 1878–1954), the town’s miserly, mean-spirited millionaire. On Christmas Eve, George is threatened with financial ruin and contemplates suicide. Before committing the desperate act, he is saved by Clarence, an elderly angel (Henry Travers, 1874–1965), who allows George to see how the world would be if he had never been born. George soon discovers how one man’s life can touch so many others and learns that no man is a failure if he has friends. The film concludes with all the townspeople George has aided over the years donating all the money they can to rescue George and to defeat Potter.

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It’s a Wonderful Life originated as a short story by Philip Van Doren (1900–1984) titled “The Greatest Gift.” The short story was published in Good Housekeeping. The rights to the story

were bought by acclaimed director Frank Capra (1897–1991), who viewed the tale as an opportunity to express his ideas on the importance of the accomplishments of the ordinary American citizen. In the film, he shows the people of Bedford Falls living with courage and good humor through the 1918 influenza epidemic, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), and World War II (1939–45). Capra incorporated sentimentality, film noir (a dark, gloomy style of moviemaking; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), and the supernatural in his film. George’s boyhood scenes offer the audience a nostalgic perspective on life in the early decades of the twentieth century. The Pottersville sequence employs the film noir techniques of odd camera angles and deep shadows to highlight George’s fear and desperation. Furthermore, the film boasts one of Hollywood’s finest ensemble casts: Donna Reed (1921–1986), Thomas Mitchell (1892–1962), Gloria Grahame (1923–1981), Ward Bond (1903–1960), and Beulah Bondi (1889–1981).

James Stewart and Donna Reed (center) in a scene from the classic motion picture It’s a Wonderful Life. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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It’s a Wonderful Life received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director, but failed to win. Its box-office earnings were poor as audiences found the film overly bleak. But when the film was sold to television, it began to be seen as Capra’s masterpiece. By the 1980s, some cable networks were running the film nearly twenty-four hours a day. In the 1990s, the American Film Institute honored the film as one of cinema’s one hundred greatest works. It has now become as much a part of the Christmas holiday as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1812–1870). Frank Capra said It’s a Wonderful Life was his personal favorite of all his films. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Basinger, Jeanine, and the Trustees of the Frank Capra Archives. The “It’s a Wonderful Life” Book. New York: Knopf, 1986. Capra, Frank. The Name Above the Title. New York: Macmillan, 1971. Carney, Raymond. American Vision: The Films of Frank Capra. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996. Fishgall, Gary. Pieces of Time: The Life of James Stewart. New York: Scribner’s, 1997. Hawkins, Jimmy. It’s a Wonderful Life: The Fiftieth Anniversary Scrapbook. Philadelphia: Courage, 1996.

Lassie Lassie, America’s most popular and successful canine star, has appeared in books, in film, on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), in comics, and on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The brave, intelligent, and ever-loyal collie’s adventures often involved finding and rescuing lost people, alerting humans to danger, and comforting those in distress. Lassie first appeared in a Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) short story in 1938. Author Eric Knight (1897–1943) modeled the character after Toots, his own loyal dog. The public’s great reaction to Lassie encouraged Knight to expand his tale into a 1939 novella, which was soon optioned for film by MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2). 540

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The original Lassie story concerns a poor Yorkshire family that is forced to sell its beloved dog to pay for rent and food.

The collie soon escapes her new owner and travels across Scotland and England to return to her young master. The 1943 film Lassie Come Home faithfully retold Knight’s tale and featured child stars Roddy McDowall (1928–1998) and Elizabeth Taylor (1932–; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3). The success of the film spawned several sequels, including Son of Lassie (1945), Courage of Lassie (1946), and Challenge to Lassie (1949). Although the Lassie character was female, a male dog named Pal played her. Beginning in 1954, the TV series Lassie debuted on the CBS network. It starred Pal’s son, who was named Lassie. The series, which aired with various human cast members until 1974, was an immediate hit. From 1954 until 1957, Lassie was accompanied on her adventures by Jeff Miller (Tommy Rettig, 1941–1996), a young farm boy. In 1957, Timmy (Jon Provost, 1950–) became Lassie’s owner. After 1964, Lassie had several other masters and spent many episodes roaming the wilderness without human companionship. The character also appeared in an animated adventure series, Lassie’s Rescue Rangers, from 1973 to 1975.

Lassie, pictured with co-star June Lockhart in 1959. The TV show Lassie ran from 1954 to 1974. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

In 1973, Lassie became the first inductee into the American Humane Association’s Hall of Fame. Lassie was seen by a new generation of fans in a 1994 film and a syndicated TV series (a TV show sold to independent TV stations). Lassie is the great American icon (symbol) representing man’s special relationship with the dog. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Collins, Ace. Lassie: A Dog’s Life, the First Fifty Years. New York: Penguin, 1993. Feldman, Gene, and Suzette Winter. The Story of Lassie (video). Harrington Park, NJ: Wombat Productions, 1994. Lassie Network. http://www.lassie.net (accessed February 19, 2002). Leder, Jane Mersky. Stunt Dogs. Mankato, MN: Crest House, 1985.

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Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) Most child stars enjoy several brief years in the spotlight, only to fade from public consciousness upon reaching adolescence. One-too-many adult actors, if they are fortunate, enjoy stardom for a few years before being replaced by a new batch of up-and-comers. Only a handful of cinema greats remain in the spotlight for decades, from youth through middle and old age. Elizabeth Taylor is one such legend. This strikingly beautiful actress has enjoyed movie fame—and international celebrity—for most of her life.

Elizabeth Taylor, during the 1950s. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission

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Taylor first became a movie name in the mid-1940s, while still a young teenager, in such classic children’s fare as Lassie (see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3) films Lassie Come Home (1943) and Courage of Lassie (1946). But it was National Velvet (1944), in which Taylor plays a horse-loving young girl, that made her a star. She grew into a charming all-American beauty, playing characters who were innocent or calculating in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly Last Summer (1959). A Place in the Sun stands out as her first mature role; she was cast as a young heiress involved in a doomed love affair. Accepted in her adult roles, she won two Academy Awards, for Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her marriages, romances, battles to control her weight, and numerous lifethreatening illnesses have kept her in the headlines. While filming Cleopatra (1963), her very public romance with costar Richard Burton was front-page news. That continued over the years when she married him, divorced him, then remarried him, then redivorced him. As she grew older, Taylor’s film appearances became less frequent, but her star has never faded. She has used her name to successfully market a line of perfumes. Most significantly, she has been at the forefront of the effort to raise money for AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; see entry under

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Elizabeth Taylor. http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Liz_Taylor/liz. htm (accessed February 19, 2002). Heymann, C. David. Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor. New York: Carol Publishing, 1995. Singer, Lina-Marie. Elizabeth Taylor, Actress. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 1998.

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1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) research and to increase AIDS awareness.

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1940s Food and Drink The economic boom that World War II (1939–45) started in America offered disposable income to more people than ever. With more people working, wages more than twice the norm of the previous decade, and businesses producing more and more consumer products, Americans began living differently. By the end of the war, instead of laboring over their Depression-era (1929–41) or wartime gardens, families in the newly developed suburbs could afford to buy more processed food and to eat out more often. Breakfast or a coffee break could be satisfied at bakeries, including the Dunkin’ Donuts franchises. For a quick meal, workers on a lunch break or families tired of doing their own dishes could frequent restaurants such as Stuckey’s and McDonald’s, which sprang up in towns across the country. Pizza became an especially popular dish, and mom-and-pop pizzerias with their typical red-and-white-checkered tablecloths soon became familiar in cities and small towns. And people wanting to sneak a snack in between meals could pop into their mouths a few M & M’s candies for the first time in the 1940s.

Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin’ Donuts is to coffee (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and doughnuts what McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) is to hamburgers (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3) and French fries (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3): the shining example of a successful fast food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) concept. With stores throughout the nation and throughout the world, Dunkin’ Donuts is the most popular doughnut shop nationally and globally. Each day, all its franchises (stores sold to individual business owners around the country) combined reportedly sell approximately 1.8 million cups of coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts fran-

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chise owners must agree to sell Dunkin’ Donuts products according to the Dunkin’ Donuts company rules. The history of Dunkin’ Donuts dates to 1946, when a young businessman named William Rosenberg (1917–) opened Industrial Luncheon Services, which provided food and snacks to Bostonarea factory workers. The company’s success, plus the realization that 40 percent of its business came from coffee and doughnuts, inspired Rosenberg to open a coffee and doughnut shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1948. He called it the Open Kettle. Two years later, he changed the name to Dunkin’ Donuts and eventually opened five additional shops. Rosenberg originally charged five cents for each doughnut and ten cents per cup of coffee. In 1955, Rosenberg signed his initial franchise agreement, allowing others to operate Dunkin’ Donuts stores. The one hundredth such operation opened in 1963. The first overseas store, located in Japan, opened in 1970. Among the other Dunkin’ Donut milestones are the one thousandth store opening in the United States (1979); the largest store, with 130 seats, opening in Bangkok, Thailand (1988); the two thousandth U.S. store (1990); the three thousandth U.S. store (1992); and the one thousandth international store (1995). In 1990, Allied Domecq PCL, a British conglomerate, purchased the company from the Rosenberg family. The decade also brought many additions to the Dunkin’ Donuts menu, including flavored coffees, bagels, low-fat muffins, and a summertime beverage known as Coolata. As of 2002, Dunkin’ Donuts offered fifty-two varieties of doughnuts, selling approximately 6.4 million of them each day. Sales came from over five thousand Dunkin’ Donuts outlets, in forty countries, making it the largest coffee, doughnut, and bagel franchise in the world. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Dunkin’ Donuts. http://www.dunkindonuts.com (accessed February 19, 2002). Rosenberg, William, with Jessica Brilliant Keener. Time to Make the Donuts. New York: Lebhar-Friedman Books, 2001.

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Each day, Mars Inc.’s candy division produces over four hundred million M & M’s—the popular chocolate snack with the

M & M’s M & M’s were originally packaged in paper tubes, making them easy to carry. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

candy coating that “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” At first a wartime treat for soldiers on the go, the convenient portable sweet has become a part of daily life for candy-crazed kids and busy adults alike. The name M & M’s comes from the first letter of the last names of Forrest Mars (1904–1999) and William Murrie (1873–1950), the founders of the company that produces M & M’s to this day. Mars also makes such other well-known candies as Mars Bars, Milky Way, and Skittles. However, M & M’s remain its most popular product. M & M’s Plain Chocolate Candies were introduced in 1941. They first gained popularity with American military personnel serving in World War II (1939–45), who received the candies in their food rations. Originally, the tiny candies were packaged in paper tubes, making them easy to carry along no matter what the climate or conditions. Eventually the packaging changed to the familiar brown plastic pouch (yellow for peanut M & M’s). At first, M & M’s came in six colors: red, yellow, green, brown, orange, and violet. In 1949, tan replaced violet. It was the first of many changes that have been made to the product over the years. In 1954, for example, Mars introduced a new variety of M & M’s with a peanut center. Peanut would be followed in later years by three additional varieties: Peanut Butter Chocolate, Almond Chocolate, and Crispy Chocolate. In addition, the color blue replaced tan in 1995. In the summer of 2000, the company decided that “plain” was too plain a name

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for their most important product and changed its name on the package to M & M’s Milk Chocolate Candies. All these changes received extensive news coverage. Unlike most candies, M & M’s has managed to expand its influence from the food industry into the larger popular culture. The 1990s saw the creation of M & M’s World, a retail and entertainment complex located in Las Vegas, Nevada. There, fans of the candy-covered chocolates could purchase more than three thousand M & M’s brand items including everything from T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) and caps to calculators and home decor. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Brenner, Joel Glenn. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars. New York: Broadway Books, 2000. Jorgensen, Janice. The Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Mars, Inc. M & M’s. http://www.m-ms.com/ (accessed February 19, 2002).

McDonald’s The McDonald’s fast-food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) chain started small but has grown since its founding in 1948 into America’s best-known pit stop for hamburgers (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), French fries (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), milkshakes, and a variety of other premade delicacies. In addition, aggressive global marketing has enabled McDonald’s to become one of the most recognizable brand names in the world.

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Brothers Dick (1909–1998) and Mac (c. 1902–1971) McDonald developed the idea for McDonald’s with an eye on the growing popularity of the automobile after World War II (1939–45). The first McDonald’s restaurants featured “carhops” who would serve customers food orders in their cars. In time, the brothers abandoned the carhop concept in favor of a standardized selfservice system. In this way, customers could have speedier access to nine standard menu items. Most popular among these were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, milkshakes, and French fries. The restaurants grew so popular that they were soon

“franchised” or sold to individual operators around the country who agreed to abide by McDonald’s cooking system. Ray Kroc (1902–1984), a milkshake tycoon, opened the first franchised McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955. Kroc bought the company from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million in 1961. Under Kroc’s guidance, McDonald’s grew even more popular. The company’s “golden arches” and its clown mascot Ronald McDonald were marketed all over America, particularly to families with children. A number of new menu items were introduced, including the “Big Mac,” McDonald’s signature sandwich, in 1968 and the “Happy Meal,” aimed at kids, in 1979. In 1973, the restaurant even began serving breakfast. By the 1970s, McDonald’s had become a vital part of many Americans’ daily lives. It was no surprise, then, that the company began to expand globally as well. The 1970s saw McDonald’s restaurants in Europe, Japan, and South America. With the collapse of communism in Russia and improved relations in China, McDonald’s opened its doors there, too. Some citizens in these countries

The McDonald’s Museum, located in Des Plaines, Illinois, was the home of the first McDonald’s franchise. No longer a functioning restaurant, the building now contains McDonald’s memorabilia and artifacts. Sandy Felsenthal/ Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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complained that the burger giant was “Americanizing” their culture, but people of all ethnic backgrounds continued to line up for the company’s inexpensive, filling food. McDonald’s global reach has made it a reliable reference point for popular culture. The 1994 film Pulp Fiction, for example, included a long, rambling conversation between two hit men about what people call various McDonald’s sandwiches in foreign countries. Like Coca-Cola (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1), Levi’s (see entry under 1950s—Fashion in volume 3), and Budweiser (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4), McDonald’s is one of those all-American brand names that keeps popping up all over the world. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Boas, Max, and Steve Chain. Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story of McDonald’s. New York: Dutton, 1976. A Brief History of McDonald’s. http://www.mcspotlight.org/company/ company_history.html (accessed February 19, 2002). Kroc, Ray. Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1977. Love, John F. McDonald’s: Behind the Arches. New York: Bantam, 1995. McDonald’s. http://www.mcdonalds.com (accessed February 19, 2002). Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Pizza Pizza is among the most popular foods in America. Americans were eating 350 slices per second by the end of the twentieth century, making pizza a $32 billion industry. Children aged three to eleven ranked pizza their favorite lunch or dinner meal in 2000. Pizza consists of flat dough baked with toppings of tomato sauce, cheese, and a varying assortment of vegetables and meats. Pizza has been made in the United States since the early 1900s, when Italian immigrants first came to America. Italian immigrant Gennaro (or, Giovanni, depending on the source) Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in 1905 in the portion of New York City called Little Italy. 550

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Although pizzerias had spread across the country by the 1930s, American soldiers returning from Naples, Italy, at the

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end of World War II (1939–45) made pizza a true national fad. The soldiers craved the food they had savored in Italy. Pizzerias sprang up across the country to feed their hunger. Pizzerias— often decorated with red-and-white checked tablecloths—offered casual dining. Pizza could be delivered to one’s home starting in the 1960s or purchased frozen in the local supermarket. Americans relished the informality and convenience of pizza. “Pizza parties” were held during casual gatherings in homes and in college dorm rooms. People began eating pizza slices with their hands in public. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) events also inspired pizza parties; on Super Bowl (see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) Sunday, more pizza is eaten than on any other day of the year. By the late 1990s, pizza had become one of America’s favorite foods. Much of the cheese Americans ate came melted on pizzas. The amount of mozzarella cheese Americans ate increased seven times between 1970 and 1996. Seventeen percent of all restaurants were pizzerias. Three pizza restaurants ranked among the top eleven restaurant chains in the United States: Pizza Hut, ranked third; Domino’s Pizza, ranked ninth; and Little Caesars Pizza, ranked eleventh. Americans’ love for pizza produced unlikely types of pizza. By 2001, almost anything topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese—bagels, crackers, or hamburgers—could be called “pizza.” Pizza-flavored snack foods such as corn chips, crackers, and even cheese could be found lining grocery isles. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information “As American as Apple Pizza Pie.” Smithsonian Magazine (June 1997). http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues97/jun97/pizza. html (accessed February 19, 2002). “The History of Pizza.” Homemade Gourmet Pizza. http://www.ghg.net/ coyej/history.htm (accessed February 19, 2002) Slomon, Evelyne. The Pizza Book: Everything There Is to Know About the World’s Greatest Pie. New York: Times Books, 1984.

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1940s Music The variety of music that was introduced to Americans during the Depression (1929–41) continued to evolve during the 1940s. Blues became electrified and transformed into rhythm and blues (R&B), boogie-woogie, and what became known as “jump blues,” laying the foundations for the emergence of rock and roll in the coming decades. Blues music was now easily and cheaply recorded on new magnetic tape recorders. Another new musical style called “bebop” developed in jazz dance clubs in Manhattan and Chicago. Bebop offered talented musicians, such as trumpet players Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993) and young Miles Davis (1926–1991) and piano player Thelonious Monk (1917–1982) a chance to shine. There was room in bebop for improvisation (spontaneous music-making) in the songs. As part of the New Deal program to give people work, government researchers paid by the New Deal sought and recorded the folk music of America. The folk and hillbilly music was also changing, though. Like blues, country music incorporated elements of other styles, especially swing, and made use of electric and steel guitars, which moved it closer to what would become rock and roll. Country music was especially popular with the large populations of rural people who had moved to cities. But servicemen also loved the music. The Special Services Division of the European Theater of Operations organized a tour of country bands to the troops fighting in Europe. The Grand Ole Opry radio program was one of the most listened-to radio shows during the decade. Roy Acuff (1903–1992) was one of the most popular country singers. Like jazz, country music had an offshoot that valued improvisation. Bluegrass developed during the 1940s and highlighted banjo and guitar players’ skills and featured songs of the hard life: drunkenness, joblessness, marital troubles, and regrets. At the beginning of the decade, swing-jazz orchestras played in dance halls, on the radio, on the soundtracks to movies, and on single and long-playing records that were big sellers. These big bands often featured a popular singer, such as Billie Holiday (1915–1959), Bing Crosby (1904–1977), and Frank Sinatra

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(1915–1998), who crooned (sang in a smooth voice just right for amplification through a microphone) to audiences. After World War II (1939–45), the dynamic brass sounds of the big bands were replaced by more string instruments to develop a softer pop music.

Bluegrass Since its development in the mid-1940s, bluegrass music has become one of the most distinctive American musical forms, attracting an intense audience of supporters. A close cousin of country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), bluegrass music is an acoustic musical style that features banjo, mandolin, guitar, double bass, fiddle, and harmony singing. Bluegrass is largely the creation of mandolin player, singer, and songwriter Bill Monroe (1911–1996). Monroe formed a band called the Blue Grass Boys in 1938. The band hired an impressive banjo player named Earl Scruggs (1924–) in 1945. Scruggs’ up-tempo banjo-playing combined well with Monroe’s distinctive mandolin playing and singing. Together, they created an entirely new sound in American music. Songs such as “I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” put them on the American musical map. Other musicians who imitated their style later gave that sound the name “bluegrass” in honor of Monroe’s band.

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The success of Monroe’s band attracted other musicians to play bluegrass, including such greats as Flatt and Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, and the Osborne Brothers. Bluegrass was most popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but its popularity began to fade slightly by the late 1950s as rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) became more popular with young people. However, the folk music (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) revival of the early 1960s revived interest in the music. Bluegrass was later featured in the theme song for the popular 1960s television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) show The Beverly Hillbillies (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). Since the 1970s, bluegrass has continued to develop and attract new audiences. Newer artists such as the New Grass Revival and David Grisman (1945–) took bluegrass

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in new directions in the 1970s and beyond. This new sound, called “progressive” bluegrass, or “newgrass,” incorporated jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) music and sometimes electric instruments into its sound, both of which appealed to younger audiences. In the 1990s, artists such as Alison Krauss (1971–) and Union Station, Ricky Skaggs (1954–), and countless local bluegrass bands continued to bring this music to new listeners. Although bluegrass music has never been as popular as rock and roll, pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), or country music, it has remained popular with thousands of people across the United States and around the world. Bluegrass groups do not fill huge stadiums like many popular rock groups, but bluegrass festivals remain popular. People camp out, enjoy the outdoors, and visit with friends, all while enjoying bluegrass music. Many amateur musicians bring their instruments to these gatherings, and the campsites are always filled with music. The popularity of bluegrass in the 1990s and beyond was a strong indication that the style was alive and well. Its healthy mix of tradition and innovation has made it one of the United States’ most unique and enduring musical traditions. —Timothy Berg

For More Information The Country Music Foundation, eds. Country: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Press, 1994. Malone, Bill C. Country Music U.S.A.: A Fifty Year History. Austin: American Folklore Society, University of Texas Press, 1968. Rosenberg, Neil V. Bluegrass: A History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985. Smith, Richard D. Bluegrass: An Informal Guide. Chicago: A Cappella Books, 1995. Various Artists. The Best of Bluegrass, Vol. I. Mercury Records, 1991. Compact Disc.

Country Music With its themes of love, loss, hope, and heartbreak, country music speaks to the basic emotions of human life. Because of this appeal, it is one of the most original and enduring of American musical forms. Although its origins are humble, in the poor white communities of the American South, country music has grown throughout the twentieth century into a major musical

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style with great popular and commercial appeal. It is now an industry all its own. Part of its endurance comes from how it touches people deeply. In addition, its styles are varied enough to attract new listeners continually. Country music emerged in the American South, particularly along the Appalachian Mountains, in the early twentieth century. Its roots can be found in the songs brought over by early immigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Those songs expressed the hardships of rural life and the deep religious devotion of these immigrants. From these roots, country music developed into a commercial form of music in the 1920s, when the first recordings of it were made. Among the most important early “stars” of country music were the Carter Family, now called the Original Carter Family, consisting of A. P. Carter (1891–1960), Sara Carter (1899–1979), and Maybelle Carter (1909–1978). They were known for their vocal harmonies on such songs as “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “Wildwood Flower.” Another important early country music star was Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933; see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2), known as “the Singing Brakeman” because he worked on the railroads. He was famous for his original songs, especially his “blue yodel” songs, which featured his distinctive yodeling. (With yodeling, the singer switches rapidly between a regular and a falsetto—high—singing voice.) These early musicians established strong traditions in country music—good songwriting and top-notch singing and playing. Country became much more widely known in the 1940s when it was featured on national radio (see entry under 1920s— TV and Radio in volume 2) programs such as the Grand Ole Opry (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) and in movie Westerns (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) with singing cowboys like Gene Autry (1907–1998) and Roy Rogers (1911–1998). The Grand Ole Opry, with singing star Roy Acuff (1903–1992) as its leader in the 1940s and beyond, was a weekly radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Grand Ole Opry featured a wide variety of country music artists. At first, it was only heard in the South, but it later went national and could be heard across the United States. To be on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s and 1950s was as important for country music stars as it is for musicians to be on MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) today. The Opry provided a way for people to hear these new stars, and it promoted record and concert ticket sales. One of the biggest stars in the early years of

In the 1950s and early 1960s, as country music became more commercially successful, it moved away from its rough country roots and toward a more slick and produced sound. The country music recording industry, based in Nashville, sought out talent that could appeal to a wider audience. The potential recording artists had to have a smoother sound more removed from the “country.” The Nashville Sound, as it was called, did produce some big names and big hits in country music. These smoother voices included Eddy Arnold (1918–), who sang “Bouquet of Roses”; Patsy Cline (1932–1963), who had hits with “I Fall to Pieces,” “Walking After Midnight,” and “Crazy,” before she died in a plane crash in 1963; and Jim Reeves (1924–1964), who sang “Welcome to My World” and “He’ll Have to Go.” With these singers, and others like them, slick arrangements, often with string instruments, backed these stars.

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the Grand Ole Opry was Hank Williams (1923–1953). Williams’s hits “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Hey Good Lookin’,” and “Jambalaya” became country music standards. Williams’s death in 1953 at the age of twenty-nine robbed country music of one of its greatest figures, but Williams’s influence lives on in the work of others.

While the Nashville Sound was making country music in the 1950s and 1960s much more mainstream and commercialized, other emerging stars struck out on their own with unique sounds that remained more in touch with country music’s roots. George Jones (1931–) developed a twangy sound in the 1950s that was very in touch with its country roots, especially in songs such as “White Lightning.” Also important were Buck Owens (1929–) and Merle Haggard (1937–). Significantly, they came from Bakersfield, California, not Nashville, so they felt free to create their own sound. Owens created a guitar-driven sound with his band the Buckeroos, and they had hits with “Together Again,” “Love’s Gonna Live Here,” and “Act Naturally.” Haggard brought his harder-edged sound to country music in such songs as “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” and “Okie from Muskogee,” which celebrated the hard life Haggard had known. Against the mainstream country music sound, Haggard and Owens established an outsider tradition that lives on in country music. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, country music existed on two levels. There was the mainstream country sound, which produced such later stars as Garth Brooks (1962–), Reba McEntire (1955–), Faith Hill (1967–), and Alan Jackson (1958–). They had

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huge hits on mainstream country radio and sold millions of records. Critics, however, complained that much of this music sounded manufactured, lacking the originality and emotion of “real” country music. The other level was called at first “outlaw” country and later “alternative country.” Outlaw country, played by such greats as Willie Nelson (1933–), Johnny Cash (1932–), and Waylon Jennings (1937–2002) and showcasing the great songwriting of these artists, was at its peak in the 1970s. In the 1990s, “alternative country music” (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) arose from the instruments and voices of younger artists who, bored with mainstream country music, turned to older country music styles and mixed them with elements of rock and roll. Musicians such as Steve Earle (1955–), Lucinda Williams (1953–), Lyle Lovett (1957–) , and k. d. lang (1961–) all developed their own unique styles that pushed country music in new directions while keeping it in touch with its roots. The growth of alternative country music is proof that country music is an enduring tradition. Country music continues to develop in new ways that speak to people of all ages and backgrounds. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Collins, Ace. The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York: Boulevard Books, 1996. Editors of Country Music Magazine. The Comprehensive Country Music Encyclopedia. New York: Times Books, 1994. Malone, Bill C. Country Music USA, Revised Edition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. Malone, Bill C., and Judith McCulloh. Stars of Country Music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975. Mansfield, Brian, and Gary Graff, eds. MusicHound Country: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1997. Richards, Tad, and Melvin B. Shestack. The New Country Music Encyclopedia. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993. Tosches, Nick. Country: The Biggest Music in America. New York: Stein and Day, 1977.

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Since the invention of sound-recording technology by Thomas Edison (1847–1931) in the 1800s, people have looked for new and better ways to bring recorded sound to mass audiences. Before cassettes, compact discs (also called CDs; see

entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5), and MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (MP3) files, the long-playing record (LP) was for more than forty years the main way people heard recorded music. During the first half of the twentieth century, the 78-rpm record—spinning on a turntable 78 times, or revolutions, per minute—was the major way people heard recorded music. But the 78-rpm record had a number of drawbacks: It could only hold a few minutes worth of music on each side, it was heavy, and it broke easily. Peter Goldmark (1906–1977), working for Columbia Records, developed the LP in 1948. He overcame the 78’s limitations in two ways. First, he lowered the speed of the recording to 331⁄3 revolutions per minute. Second, he squeezed more and smaller grooves onto each side of the record so that more sound could fit on each side of the disc. Those grooves would reach almost one half mile if stretched out in a straight line. The LP also required a diamond needle to play the records, which resulted in improved sound. The LP was immediately hailed by classical music lovers because the longer pieces of classical music could now be heard in a mostly uninterrupted format.

Two teenage girls listen to music on LP records.

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By the 1950s, the LP was the dominant form for recorded music, and it changed the face of popular music in many ways. The LP also improved the sound quality of recordings, lasted longer than 78s, were less prone to breaking, and were cheaper to produce. Although 45-rpm singles (developed at the same time as the LP) were preferred for single songs, the LP allowed musicians to experiment with longer works, including related songs on a single disc. By the 1960s, rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) musicians in particular were using the extended format to produce concept albums, the most famous of which was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) by the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4). In the late 1960s, FM disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s— Music in volume 3) preferred to play songs from LPs rather than from 45-rpm singles. Although the arrival of the CD in 1982 seemed to spell the end of the LP, and while most people now prefer CDs, many people still listen to their old LPs. Some new recordings continue to be released in LP format, a testament to the enduring appeal of this technology. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Gillen, Marilyn A. “From the Cylinder to the CD.” Billboard (November 1, 1994). Goldmark, Peter. Maverick Inventor: My Turbulent Years at CBS. New York: Dutton, 1973. Millard, Andre. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Read, Oliver, and Walter Welch. From Tin Foil to Stereo: The Evolution of the Phonograph. Indianapolis: Howard Sams, 1977.

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There has always been “popular” music in the United States, and all forms of music are popular with certain audiences. The term “pop music,” though, generally refers to styles of music that are nonclassical, mainstream, intended for very wide audiences. Pop music is often controlled by large music companies. In the early decades of the twentieth century, these large companies were sheet-music publishers. After 1930, the large music companies controlling the release of pop music were the recording companies. Pop music is usually music meant to turn a profit. That does not mean pop music is not good music.

Because pop music is meant to sell records, music companies have constantly been on the lookout for the next big song. Thus, pop music is in many ways a history of one musical trend after another. When a record in a certain style catches on and becomes a hit, other singers, musicians, and record companies often follow it, attempting to cash in on the trend. In the 1920s, pop music meant mellow “sweet bands” such as Paul Whiteman (1890–1967) and his orchestra, who played soothing melodies, or singers such as Al Jolson (1885–1950) or Rudy Vallee (1901–1986). In the 1930s and early 1940s, the big-band sound or songs from Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) or Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) musicals supplied the pop hits. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, smooth singers, or crooners, such as Frank Sinatra (1915–1998; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), Tony Bennett (1926–), and Patti Page (1927–) dominated the pop charts. Crooners sang in a smooth voice just right for amplification through a microphone. They often sang songs written by some of the great composers of American popular music: Cole Porter (1891–1964), Irving Berlin (1888–1989), George (1898–1937) and Ira (1896–1983) Gershwin, and others. Prior to 1955, pop music was rather unified. One style dominated for a period before giving way to a different but related style. Abrupt changes rarely occurred. Sweet bands gave way to big bands (see entry under 1930s—Music in volume 2); big bands to big bands with singers; bands with singers to solo singing stars. After 1955, however, the pop-music field fragmented, thanks to the rise of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3). Early rock and roll was often rough, performed by amateurs, and produced by small record companies. Rock and roll took the pop field by surprise, but of course bigger record companies paid attention to the money-making possibilities. Once the big record companies got into the act, they began producing rock and roll that would appeal to a broader audience. That music blurred the lines between rock and pop. For example, Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) was a rock-and-roll pioneer whose early records were rough and full of energy. Once he moved to the big time with RCA Records, his sound softened so he could appeal to a wider audience and sell more records. By the 1970s, Presley was singing some of the same songs Frank Sinatra had recorded, such as “My Way.”

Pop Music

Throughout the twentieth century, pop music has provided some of the greatest music of all time.

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After 1955, the histories of pop and rock remained closely tied together. Big record companies were constantly trying to produce pop-rock music that would appeal to many listeners. In the late 1950s, these companies largely succeeded, producing many teen idols (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) such as Fabian (1943–) and Pat Boone (1934–). While rock fans grooved to African American singer Little Richard (1935–) shouting his song “Tutti Frutti,” pop fans heard Boone’s watered-down version. Boone’s version was easier to listen to and appealed to largely white audiences, but it lost much of the power and excitement of the original. Pop music was also dominated in this period by professional songwriters. Some great music did come out of this era, but it largely conformed to the demands of commerce. The pop music was unthreatening, easy to listen to, and geared toward mass appeal. When the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) arrived on the rock and pop scenes in 1964, they blurred the lines between rock and pop even further. They were both great rock and great pop artists. They had a broad appeal, but they also pushed the boundaries of rock music in new directions, changing both rock and pop forever. Following after them were lesser bands who attempted to mimic their style as the large record companies attempted to cash in on the Beatles’ sound. After the Beatles, however, it became extremely difficult to define pop music. Pop music in the 1960s was both the snarl of the Rolling Stones singing “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and the smooth-voiced Dionne Warwick (1940–) singing “Walk On By,” by one of the era’s most successful songwriting duos, Burt Bacharach (1929–) and Hal David (1921–). Both songs were commercially successful, both were pop music, but these songs were far apart musically.

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By the late 1960s, the pop and rock fields had begun to move in different directions. There were still artists who crossed over the lines, but rock moved in a harder-edged direction after 1968. Pop music continued to offer softer sounds dominated by the commercial needs of the record companies to sell records. Always searching for the next big trend, record companies in the pop music field tried one style after another. In the late 1960s, manufactured groups surfaced with elaborate marketing plans behind them. These included the Monkees (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) in the late 1960s and the Partridge Family (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) in the 1970s. Both groups were created by hiring individuals

Pop Music

to form groups to be seen on television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) shows. The concept worked: Both groups sold lots of records. In the 1970s, trends in pop music included soft rock by songwriters such as Carole King (1942–), John Denver (1943–1997), and James Taylor (1948–). Teen idols such as Leif Garrett (1961–), Shaun Cassidy (1958–), and Andy Gibb (1958–1988) had pop hits, but not much lasting power. Finally disco (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), a rhythmic dance music, appeared. In the 1980s and 1990s, pop music followed a number of similar trends. After disco’s dance-oriented pop faded, pop dance music evolved with Michael Jackson (1958–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 4), Madonna (1958–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 4), and others in the early years of MTV (Music Television cable network; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) in the 1980s. British pop groups had a resurgence in the mid-1980s with such groups as Duran Duran, Wham!, and Culture Club. The vocal tradition revived with such stars as Whitney Houston (1963–), Mariah Carey (1970–), and Celine Dion (1968–). Pop hits were also heard from teen idols such as Debbie Gibson (1970–) and Tiffany (1971–). New manufactured vocal groups such as Menudo (called MDO thereafter), New Edition, *NSYNC, and the Backstreet Boys had successful pop hits. These record-industry formulas—offering American audiences a British sound; the pop diva, or star vocalist; the heavy promotion of a teen idol; the practice of assembling groups to produce hits rather than constantly being on the lookout for musical groups with the potential for success—had proved popular in the past, and they succeeded again and again in the 1980s and 1990s and beyond. Right alongside these trends in pop music, other forms of rock and roll continued to develop, including punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), New Wave, alternative rock (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5), and rap and hip-hop (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5). All these styles influenced more mainstream pop music, indicating that pop music in the twenty-first century would continue as it had for years. Pop music picks up the most marketable elements of new musical trends and recycles them in safe versions for a mass audience. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Breithaupt, Don, with Jeff Breithaupt. Precious and Few: Pop Music of the Early ’70s. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

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Clarke, Donald, ed. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. New York: Penguin Books, 1989. Gregory, Hugh. A Century of Pop: A Hundred Years of Music That Changed the World. New York: Acapella Publishers, 1998. Langley, Andrew. Twenty Names in Pop Music. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1988. Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Smith, Joe, ed. Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music. New York: Warner Books, 1988. Whitburn, Joel. Billboard Top 1000 Singles, 1955–1996. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corp., 1997.

Rhythm and Blues Without rhythm and blues, or R&B, there would be no such styles of music as rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music or soul music. Emerging after 1945 in African American communities in northern and western cities in the United States, R&B fused elements of jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) and blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) into an entirely new sound based around vocals, piano, saxophone, bass, and drums. Hip, usually danceable, and often funny, R&B most importantly spoke to the needs of black Americans in urban centers.

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Rhythm and blues emerged when it did for a number of reasons. During World War II (1939–45), many African Americans had moved from the rural South to the urban North. The new conditions they found there prompted the need for a new kind of music that seemed up-tempo and more sophisticated than rural country blues. The economic needs brought on by wartime money-saving measures prompted many small bands to form. The invention of inexpensive tape-recording technology gave rise to many small record companies that recorded these bands. Companies such as Specialty, Modern, and Imperial in Los Angeles, California; Chess in Chicago, Illinois; King in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Atlantic in New York City were all formed to promote and exploit the black public’s interest in R&B. To distinguish this music from music listened to by whites, the music publication Billboard created the Rhythm and Blues title for its black music chart in 1949.

Frank Sinatra

Among the first of the many important R&B performers was Louis Jordan (1908-1975). Jordan created a small band that combined jumping rhythms propelled by piano, bass, and saxophone with Jordan’s comical lyrics. He proved very influential and had a number of hits in the mid-1940s, including Five Guys Named Moe. Other important early R&B artists and bands were Joe Liggins (1915–1987) and the Honeydrippers, Charles Brown (1922–1999), Cecil Gant (1913–1951), Roy Milton (1907–1983) and His Solid Senders, Johnny Otis (1921–), Dinah Washington (1924–1963), and Ruth Brown (1928–). These artists dominated the R&B charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Rhythm and blues is also largely responsible for the development of rock and roll and of soul music. Rock and roll basically combined elements of black R&B with white country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 2), producing a hybrid style that appealed to white teenagers as well as many blacks. By the mid-to-late 1950s, R&B itself was giving way to a new form of black music: soul. When singer and pianist Ray Charles (1930–) began combining elements of R&B with black gospel music, a new form of music was born. Soul music—especially the Motown (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) sound, from Detroit, Michigan—dominated the charts well into the 1970s. Soul music left behind the honking saxophones of R&B for a more refined style that highlighted gospel-style singing. In its primary years, between 1945 and 1955, R&B was one of the most important musical forms in the United States. Its legacy has touched almost all forms of American popular music that came after it. —Timothy Berg

For More Information George, Nelson. The Death of Rhythm and Blues. New York: Plume, 1988. Gillette, Charlie. The Sound of the City. New York: Pantheon, 1983. Shaw, Arnold. Honkers and Shouters. New York: Collier, 1978. Various Artists. The R&B Box: 30 Years of Rhythm and Blues (CD box set). Rhino Records, 1994.

Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) Frank Sinatra was one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music. Sinatra first gained fame with Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956) and his band in the late 1930s

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before becoming a solo star in his own right in 1942. He inspired mass hysteria among his many female fans, known as bobbysoxers (see entry under 1940s—Fashion in volume 3). In addition to his many hit songs, he promoted the use of the concept album in the 1950s, assembling a number of songs around a single theme, as he did on such albums as Only the Lonely in 1958. Sinatra’s hits were many, including “Love and Marriage,” “Luck Be a Lady,” “My Way,” “New York, New York,” and “Strangers in the Night.” Sinatra also acted in movie musicals and films, including Anchors Aweigh (1944); From Here to Eternity (1954), for which he earned an Oscar; and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Although he was at his musical peak in the 1950s, Sinatra remained in the spotlight until his death in 1998 through his concerts, recordings, films, and his very public, and often controversial, lifestyle. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Frank Sinatra: The Best Is Yet to Come (video). MGM/UA, 1996. Hamill, Pete. Why Sinatra Matters. Boston: Little Brown, 1998. Lahr, John. Sinatra: The Artist and the Man. New York: Random House, 1997. Sinatra Family. http://sinatrafamily.com (accessed February 20, 2002).

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1940s Print Culture World War II (1939–45) dominated serious print media from 1939 until most of the last troops returned from Europe in 1946. American newspapers and magazines focused intently on bringing news from the front to the doorsteps of almost every American. Stories and photographs of soldiers and battles filled most of the papers’ pages. Thirty-seven American reporters and other newspeople died while trying to get their stories during the war. Even though the news of the war was the most important topic of the decade, the 1940s was also the golden age of the comic book. Comic strips had tickled the funny bones of readers since 1890, and comic books now offered entertainment in their own package. Aimed mostly at young readers, comic books about superheroes like the Green Lantern and Captain America, about detectives, and about just plain funny characters such as the kids in the Archie Comics were printed in abundance. Unlike in other decades, young readers could find many magazines, comic books, and books written specifically for them. Golden Books offered the youngest children colorful picture books. Highlights magazine offered educational reading entertainment. Seventeen gave advice on teenage life to young women. The Bobbsey Twins and Cherry Ames characters entertained young readers in their series of books. With the rise of comic books and other reading materials for young people and the increase in paperback books for adults, the pulp magazines that were dominant in the 1920s and 1930s lost their appeal. The pulps lost writers to book publishers and comic books. Sales of racy, longer stories in paperback proved too damaging to many pulps to continue publication. Throughout the decade, fewer and fewer pulps could remain in print. By the 1950s, the pulps had virtually disappeared, with the exception of a small number of detective, science fiction, and fantasy magazines.

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Archie Comics Since 1941, Archie Andrews and his pals from Riverdale have been one of the comics industry’s leading nonsuperhero comic books. With their wholesome plots revolving around the adventures and romantic entanglements of a group of all-American teens, Archie Comics have delighted generations of young readers. Archie debuted as the American public was becoming increasingly aware of the emerging teenage subculture. The strip helped to shape the popular imagination’s image of the ideal American teen. Archie Andrews was created by John Goldwater (1915–1999) of MLJ Comics. Goldwater was inspired by the success of Andy Hardy (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), a teen character who appeared on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and later in a very popular movie series. Goldwater wanted to feature a “normal” comics character who would stand in contrast to the many superheroes who had come to dominate the marketplace since the arrival of Superman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) in 1938. Archie’s creator turned to cartoonist Bob Montana (1920–1975) to expand upon his initial premise and develop a supporting cast of characters. Archie Andrews first appeared in Pep Comics #22 (December 1941). Several years would pass before the feature evolved into its characteristic format. The characters of Archie Comics reside in Riverdale, an idealized version of small-town America. Many of the stories focus on the triangular relationship between Archie, Betty Cooper (the wholesome blonde next-door), and Veronica Lodge (the rich brunette). Others who inhabit Riverdale include Jughead (Archie’s hamburger-loving best friend), Reggie (Archie’s rival for Betty and Veronica’s affections), and Mr. Weatherbee (Archie’s constantly annoyed principal).

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Although the feature has existed for decades, it has changed very little since its debut. Archie’s teen friends live in an innocent world where romance never leads to sexual thoughts, drugs do not pose a threat, and other major social problems are nonexistent. Archie and his pals are cleaned-up versions of typical modern teens. They serve as an attractive fantasy for the comics’ preteen audience. Archie’s success inspired many spinoffs, including a cartoon series and a 1960s pop band (who had a big hit with “Sugar, Sugar”). Among the other characters cre-

Archie Comics A cover of an Archie comic book, featuring Veronica as she gazes upon photos of Archie. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

ated in the Archie studios were Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Josie and the Pussycats. In recent years, Archie’s writers have been more willing to employ contemporary fashions, props, and references into their stories. However, they have remained true to the upbeat wholesomeness that characterized the feature in the 1940s. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Archie Comics. http://www.archiecomics.com/ (accessed February 20, 2002).

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Benton, Mike. The Comic Book in America. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1989. Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Press, 1996. Phillips, Charles. Archie: His First 50 Years. New York: Artabras, 1991.

The Bobbsey Twins Series The Bobbsey Twins was the longest-running children’s book series in the twentieth century. From 1904 to 1992, over one hundred volumes about the two sets of Bobbsey twins appeared. The series won a large audience among children not quite ready for the Hardy Boys (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) or Nancy Drew (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) series of adventures. Beginning with The Bobbsey Twins; or, Merry Days Indoors and Out (1904), the series depicted the adventures of two sets of twins: Freddie and Flossie Bobbsey and their older brother and sister, Nan and Bert. Especially in the early volumes, the adventures were fairly tame, usually involving travel to places like the seashore, the mountains, or a big city. The fair-haired Freddie and Flossie were four years old in the early books and then six years old in later books. Sometimes the younger twins got into some real danger. Other times, all that would happen was that someone’s doll would go missing or the family cat would get stuck in a tree. The dark-haired older twins, Nan and Bert, were eight years old in the early books and twelve years old in the later books. The older twins were more obedient and responsible and got into less trouble. Bert sometimes had to fight bullies like Danny Rugg, but everything always ended happily. The overall impression expressed by the books was of an almost perfect world with only very minor and easily solved problems. The twins’ wellto-do parents gave them everything they asked for. As Bobbie Ann Mason says in The Girl Sleuth, the twins’ life was like one long vacation.

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The apparent author of the Bobbsey books was Laura Lee Hope, but in fact there was no Laura Lee Hope, just as there was no Franklin W. Dixon writing the Hardy Boys books and no Carolyn Keene writing about Nancy Drew. All these authors’ names were the invention of Edward Stratemeyer (1862–1930), who set up a syndicate (a group of writers) at the beginning of the

After 1950, the syndicate began revising some of the early Bobbsey books to update them and remove negative portrayals of minority groups. The syndicate also began issuing new volumes in which the twins solved mysteries and had more exciting adventures. However, sales began to fall off, and no further books were issued after 1992. Perhaps The Bobbsey Twins were too much an expression of a more innocent time that had passed away. —Sheldon Goldfarb

Brenda Starr, Reporter

twentieth century to produce The Bobbsey Twins and dozens of other series.

For More Information The Bobbsey Twins’ Page. http://pw2.netcom.com/~drmike99/bobbsey. html (accessed February 20, 2002). “Hope, Laura Lee.” In Something About the Author: Facts and Pictures about Contemporary Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People. Vol. 67. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Johnson, Deidre. Edward Stratemeyer and the Stratemeyer Syndicate. New York: Twayne, 1993. Mason, Bobbie Ann. “Bobbsey Bourgeois.” In The Girl Sleuth: A Feminist Guide. Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press, 1975. Stratemeyer Syndicate. The Bobbsey Twins. http://www.stratemeyer.net/ stratemeyer/bobbsey/bobbsey.htm (accessed February 20, 2002).

Brenda Starr, Reporter In 1940, newspaper readers were introduced to Brenda Starr, a strikingly beautiful newswoman who traveled the world in search of exciting stories and romance. Created by cartoonist Dalia (Dale) Messick (1906–), the Brenda Starr, Reporter comic strip depicted an independent career woman at a time when such portrayals were uncommon in American popular culture. The strip’s success allowed Messick to be one of the few women of her era to produce her own comic-strip feature. Both Dale Messick and Brenda Starr were pioneers in the field of comic strips. During the 1930s and 1940s, all the people who created, drew, syndicated, and owned comics were men. After years of struggling to enter the comics profession, the Chicago Tribune gave Messick the opportunity to create her own strip. She originally wanted to make Brenda a female bandit but was told the public would find such a figure unacceptable. Instead,

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she made Brenda a prominent reporter whose assignments constantly took her on thrilling adventures in exotic locales. Despite Brenda’s status as a career woman, her romantic life dominated many of the strip’s episodes. Mobsters, industrialists, and various members of royalty constantly pursued her. However, none could compete with the mysterious Basil St. John, a handsome and mysterious millionaire who wore a black patch over one eye. Although their meetings were intense, Basil was often forced to leave Brenda so he could cultivate a rare black orchid that served as the only cure for his “secret disease.” The Brenda Starr strip was also known for its emphasis on high fashion. Brenda was consistently shown in elegant gowns and with perfectly styled red hair. Although soap opera (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2) conventions dominated much of the strip, Brenda was always seen as a good role model for young girls because of her sense of independence, her take-charge attitude, and her dedication to her profession. Messick retired from the strip in the 1980s, but Brenda’s adventures have continued with new writers and artists. Author Maurice Horn in 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics wrote, “Brenda Starr remains a rarity among the more aseptic soap-opera strips of the newspaper page.” —Charles Coletta

For More Information Horn, Maurice, ed. 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York: Gramercy Books, 1996. Messick, Dale. Red-Headed Bombshell. Newbury Park, CA: Malibu Graphics, 1989. Robinson, Jerry. The Comics. New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1974.

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One of America’s best-loved superheroes, Captain America is also one of the longest-running comic-book characters in existence. In the 1940s, he fought the Nazis in World War II (1939–45). In the 1950s, he was enlisted in the Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) against Russia. Since the 1960s, he has been battling a wide range of evil villains as the star of his own monthly Marvel

Captain America was the brainchild of writer Joe Simon (1913–) and artist Jack Kirby (1917–1994), part of the creative team at Marvel Comics in the 1940s. Both men favored U.S. intervention to stop Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) from conquering the nations of Europe. They came up with the Captain America character as a vehicle to draw attention to the threat posed by Nazi Germany. Clad in a red, white, and blue costume and carrying a shield emblazoned with the stars and stripes, Captain America was a “super soldier” who would lead the fight against freedom’s enemies abroad. Accompanying him in his adventures was his faithful companion Bucky, a youthful masked sidekick similar to Batman’s Robin (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). Together they fought off the evil schemes of archenemies like The Red Skull, making Captain America Comics one of the most popular comic book series of the 1940s.

Captain America

Comics (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3) adventure. The star-spangled crusader’s ability to adapt to the changing times has made him an enduring symbol of American patriotism.

When the war ended, however, the public tired of the superpatriotic superhero. Captain America was canceled, only to find himself revived in 1954, this time as a “Commie Smasher,” fighting against the communists. The Cold War version of the character did not prove quite as popular. Another revival, this time in 1964 by writer Stan Lee (1922–) and original illustrator Jack Kirby, marked the start of a continuous run that took the character into the next millennium. In a new twist, Captain America now began to question some of his country’s actions, as issues like the Vietnam War (1954–75), poverty, and the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1960s came to dominate the comic. When the turbulent 1960s and 1970s ended, Captain America returned to his patriotic roots, remaining one of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Along with the Hulk and Spider-Man (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4), he is one of the most recognizable superheroes that company has produced. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Lee, Stan. Origins of Marvel Comics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974. Lee, Stan, et al. The Essential Captain America. New York: Marvel Books, 2000.

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Medinnus, David. The Star-Spangled Site http://www.winghead.org/ (accessed February 20, 2002). Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers. New York: Crestwood/II Publications, 1990.

Curious George Curious George, the mischievous monkey who goes on all sorts of adventures, began delighting children’s book readers in 1941. Created by a husband-and-wife team of animal lovers, George was often accompanied on his escapades by his faithful friend, the man in the yellow hat. His adventures have sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and inspired a line of toys, clothes, and greeting cards. Hans Augusto (H. A.) Rey (1898–1977) was a talented German illustrator who spent many days visiting the local zoo as child. His wife Margaret (1908–1996), also an animal lover, was a writer. Together they ran a successful advertising business in the 1930s. Hoping to work together on a children’s book, the couple created Curious George just as World War II (1939–45) was breaking out across Europe. In fact, when Germany invaded France in 1940, the authors reportedly had to flee Paris on bicycles with their manuscripts for the first Curious George adventure strapped to their bike racks. Settling in America, the Reys published their first Curious George book in 1941. Six more book-length adventures followed over the course of four decades. The stories included no words but were simple enough to appeal to children everywhere. Usually the book’s title explained the entire story. In Curious George Takes a Job (1947), the rowdy monkey runs away from the zoo and gets a job as a window washer. In Curious George Rides a Bike (1973), he gets into trouble trying to help a young boy with his paper route. Often at the end of the story, the man in the yellow hat appears to rescue Curious George from his predicament.

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Children related to Curious George, analysts have said, because they saw him as being just like them—curious, mischievous, and prone to getting into trouble. It helped that the stories were fast paced and colorfully drawn as well. The Reys continued producing new Curious George adventures until H. A. Rey’s death in 1977. In the 1980s, Margaret Rey began

Curious George Curious George on one of his adventures. Houghton Mifflin Company. Reproduced by permission.

writing a new series of Curious George books with illustrator Alan J. Shalleck (1929–). The Curious George character remains popular with young readers. Merchandise bearing the lovable monkey’s image continues to sell briskly. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Berg, Julia. H.A. Rey: Young at Heart. Minneapolis: Abdo & Daughters, 1994.

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Houghton Mifflin Company. Happy 60th Birthday, Curious George. http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/cgsite/cgmenu.html (accessed February 20, 2002). Rey, Margaret, and H. A. Rey. The Complete Adventures of Curious George. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

Ebony Published continuously since 1945, Ebony is the largest U.S. mass-circulation magazine written by and for African Americans. With a circulation of more than two million, the full-color monthly, as well as the digest-size Jet magazine, is published by the privately held Johnson Publishing Company, one of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses. Ebony’s first issue appeared on November 1, 1945, the brainchild of John Harold Johnson (1918–), who had been born into poverty in Arkansas. Johnson had acquired his publishing skills as the editor of a weekly news digest for the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, owned by Harry H. Pace (1884–1943). With a $500 loan using his mother’s furniture as collateral (that is, pledging that the lender could have the furniture if he could not repay the loan), Johnson founded the Negro Digest in 1942. By the end of World War II (1939–45), he was envisioning a magazine that would present positive images to the African American community, believing that “you have to change images before you can change acts and institutions,” as he wrote in Succeeding Against the Odds. Inspired by the success of mass-circulation periodicals like Life (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and Look, each of whose formula was based on photographic images, Johnson wanted to create a magazine that glorified the accomplishments of Negroes (the term then commonly used to describe African Americans) in the United States and abroad.

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Unlike other Negro periodicals that concentrated on social problems, Ebony focused on the community’s success stories in the business and entertainment worlds. This approach was criticized by some as being elitist, but the magazine was warmly received by its readership. The first issue sold fifty thousand copies, and circulation doubled within the first year. Thanks to advertising support by white-owned companies, led by the Zenith Corporation, Ebony was soon able to attract the revenues it needed to become profitable.

Golden Books

Ebony strongly endorsed the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1950s and 1960s. The magazine published newsworthy articles about the struggle for black empowerment in the United States and around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) contributed articles as well as a regular column for the magazine. In 1969, one of Ebony’s photographers, Moneta Sleet Jr. (1926–1996), became the first black male to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Johnson’s daughter, Linda Johnson Rice (1958–), has succeeded her father as president and chief operating officer of the Johnson Publishing Company. —Edward Moran

For More Information “The Ebony Story.” Ebony (November 1995): 80–87. Johnson, John H., and Lerone Bennett Jr. Succeeding Against the Odds. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Johnson Publishing Company. http://www.ebony.com/jpcindex.html (accessed February 20, 2002). Pride, Armistead S., and Clint C. Wilson II. A History of the Black Press. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1997.

Golden Books Golden Books are some of the most popular children’s books. Originally produced by the Western Publishing Company, which began publishing them in 1942, the Golden Books line of illustrated children’s story books have durable covers framed by a familiar golden-colored design. The original Golden Books, created with the Artists and Writers Guild, had fortytwo pages and sold for twenty-five cents. Some of the most well-known original titles include Pat the Bunny, one of the first touch-and-feel books, Scuffy the Tugboat, and The Poky Little Puppy. By the 1990s, the Golden Book line of children’s books included more than one thousand titles. Along with the original titles, the Golden Book series has also included tales about familiar characters like Lassie (see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), the Lone Ranger (see entry under 1930s— TV and Radio in volume 2), and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3). Golden Books took advantage of the exclusive rights to publish books

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with Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) characters. Western Publishing had landed the exclusive publishing rights in 1933. Since the 1970s, the Muppet (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) characters of Jim Henson (1936–1990) have been featured. In the 1990s, Golden Books bought rights to Shari Lewis (1933–1998) productions, including videos and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows featuring the Lamb Chop and Charley Horse puppets. In 1996, after several changes in ownership, Western Publishing became known as Golden Books Family Entertainment, Inc. Soon afterwards, it began to add to its familiar Golden Book titles. The company published the Road to Reading and Road to Writing series that encouraged children to proceed at their own pace in learning language arts. —Edward Moran

For More Information Golden Books. http://www.goldenbooks.com (accessed February 20, 2002). Jones, Dolores Blythe. Bibliography of the Little Golden Books: Bibliographies and Indexes in American Literature, No. 7. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1987. Santi, Steve. Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector’s Identification and Value Guide. Florence, AL: Books America, 1994.

Green Lantern “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power.” With those words, the Green Lantern, one of the world’s oldest and most popular comic book superheroes, has gone forth to police the universe since 1940. There have been many different Green Lanterns over the years, and many changes made to the character, but his essential nature as a champion of good remains constant.

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Other enduring elements of Green Lantern comic books include his costume, a skintight green jumpsuit with a distinctive symbol on the chest, and his power ring, the source of all his superheroic abilities. Unlike most other comic book heroes, the Green Lantern is not a unique individual but one of many

Over the years, many different men have assumed the role of the Green Lantern. Alan Ladd Scott was the first, or “Golden Age” Green Lantern, making his debut in All-American Comics #16 in April 1940. At first, he battled corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen in fictional Gotham City. With America’s entry into World War II (1939–45), however, the Green Lantern joined the fight against America’s enemies overseas.

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superbeings who make up the “Green Lantern Corps,” a unit that patrols the universe rooting out evil.

The original Green Lantern comic book series was canceled in 1949, but the character returned ten years later in a new series. This time around, Hal Jordan assumed the role of the Green Lantern. The Hal Jordan character became the most popular and longest-running Green Lantern by a wide margin. Other Green Lanterns have included Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner. In 1970, a new creative team took over Green Lantern and dramatically changed the direction of the series. Artist Neal Adams (1941–) and writer Denny O’Neil (1939–) injected many of the social concerns of the 1970s into the title. Green Lantern thus became one of the first comic book series to address topics like drug addiction and poverty. These landmark issues, which teamed Green Lantern Hal Jordan with Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, are among the most sought after and highly praised comic books of all time. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. O’Neill, Dennis, Dick Giordano, and Neal Adams. The Green LanternGreen Arrow Collection. New York: DC Comics, 2000. Wright, Nicky, and Joe Kubert. The Classic Era of American Comics. New York: Contemporary Books, 2000.

Highlights Three generations of Americans have shared a common childhood experience: pleasant hours spent reading the children’s magazine Highlights for Children. Founded in 1946 by a married couple of teachers, Highlights is a general interest magazine for

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children aged three to thirteen years. Each issue is filled with science facts, jokes, art, and poetry from children around the country. Each issue also contains old favorites like the Hidden Pictures puzzle and cartoons like the silly “Timbertoes” and the humorously educational “Goofus and Gallant.” The magazine’s consistently high quality, familiar features, and respectful tone have made it a favorite of both children and parents for more than fifty years. The founders of Highlights were Garry Cleveland Myers (1884–1971) and Carolyn Clark Myers (1887–1980), two Pennsylvania teachers. The Myerses had spent many years developing methods of teaching children and adults to read and write before traveling around the country teaching classes in parenting skills. In the 1930s, Garry began to write an advice column called “Parenting Problems.” His advice column appeared in newspapers around the country. The Myerses worked with various publications for children. They became frustrated, however, when business concerns were placed before the welfare of the children who read the publications. These frustrations led them to decide to start their own magazine. In 1946, Highlights for Children was born. Garry Myers was sixty-one years old and his wife Caroline was fifty-nine when they began work on their famous magazine. When they retired, their daughter Betty and her husband Kent Brown took over editing Highlights. A clever salesperson, Betty got the idea of placing the magazine in doctors’ and dentists’ offices, where reading the copies could calm nervous children waiting for their appointments. She also started the practice of selling subscriptions door to door, which continued until 1991. During the 1950s and 1960s, Highlights had four hundred door-to-door salespeople. In comparison, only twenty people actually worked in the office creating the magazine. In the 1970s, the next generation took over, as Garry and Caroline Myers’ grandchildren began to produce Highlights and to sell children subscriptions through their schools. The fourth generation of the Myers/Brown family has also begun to work in the family business, as another generation of children discovers the fun hidden in the pages of Highlights. —Tina Gianoulis

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Highlights for Children. http://www.highlightsforchildren.com/about/ index.html (accessed February 20, 2002)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer The legend of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is one of the most recognizable additions to Christmas folklore during the twentieth-century. Rudolph is initially scorned for his glowing nose and seen as an outcast by his fellow reindeer until he comes to the aid of Santa Claus one foggy Christmas Eve. The red-nosed reindeer has become an annual symbol of the holiday season. The character of Rudolph, which first appeared in 1939, has been immortalized in song, books, toys, holiday decorations, and several television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) specials.

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Kantrowitz, Barbara. “He-Man Meets Ranger Rick.” Newsweek (June 30, 1986): pp. 54–56. Walters, Laurel Shaper. “A 500th Issue for Highlights.” Christian Science Monitor (July 16, 1993): pp. 13–15.

Rudolph was created in 1939 by Robert May (1905–1976), an advertising copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department-store chain. The store assigned him to compose an original Christmas tale that was to be distributed to shoppers. May based the Rudolph story upon his own childhood experience of being taunted by his schoolmates for his slight frame. Montgomery Ward distributed more than two million copies of the tale during the 1939 Christmas season. The story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has been significantly altered over the years. In May’s original version, Rudolph is not a member of Santa’s stable. He is teased by his companions but lovingly supported by his parents. One Christmas Eve, Santa arrives and notices that Rudolph’s nose could assist his travel through the fog. Santa rewards Rudolph’s bravery and he is honored by his community. In 1947, May acquired full legal rights to his creation and the Rudolph story became more widely publicized. May commissioned Johnny Marks (1909–1985) to write a song about the reindeer in 1949. The song became an enormous hit for singer Gene Autry (1907–1998) and sold more than two million copies in its first year. It remains a Christmas “classic.” In 1964, the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television special, which was narrated by Burl Ives (1909–1995), further

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altered the Rudolph legend. Here, Rudolph begins life in the North Pole and is dismissed by both his reindeer friends and parents. Rudolph runs away and joins a band of “misfit” toys and eventually proves himself to Santa. The TV special is still broadcast each year and has become the version of the Rudolph story most familiar to Americans. Rudolph’s appeal lies in that he is a figure to whom all children can relate. He is an outsider whose special qualities are mocked until he saves the day and wins acceptance. The story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer also reveals how closely Christmas and commercialism have become intertwined in the twentieth century. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Archibald, John. “Rudolph’s Tale Left Him Cold.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (December 6, 1989): p. 3E. Frankel, Stanley. “The Story Behind Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Good Housekeeping (December 1989): p. 126. Lillard, Margaret. “Rudolph Lit Up Creator’s Career.” Los Angeles Times (December 17, 1989): p. A7. Murphy, Cullen. “Rudolph Redux.” Atlantic Monthly (August 1990): p. 18.

Seventeen Seventeen is known to U.S. readers as the title of a 1916 novel by Booth Tarkington (1869–1946). It also is the name of a popular monthly magazine for teenaged girls that has been continuously published since 1944. The full title of Tarkington’s novel is Seventeen: A Tale of Youth and the Baxter Family, Especially William. Once required reading for generations of high school students, the novel is a humorous account of life as seen through the eyes of an adolescent boy growing up in the early part of the twentieth century.

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The magazine Seventeen helped define the culture of American youth after World War II (1939–45). The magazine was the first publication entirely devoted to the needs and likes of adolescents, more specifically to “young fashions and beauty, movies and music, ideas and people.” Founding editor Helen Valentine borrowed its title from Tarkington’s novel to appeal to the age group she wanted it to reach. From its start, Seven-

By urging its advertisers to tailor their promotions specifically to the needs of its adolescent readers, Seventeen helped promote the idea that U.S. teenagers represented a distinct market segment. It set high standards for the advertisements it carried. Ads for spike heels and bright nail polish were rejected in favor of products that enhanced the image of the “wholesome” teenaged girl. Editorially, the magazine presented thoughtful articles on education and world affairs, urging its readers to get involved in school and community projects. Seventeen also advised its audience on the latest fashion tips, makeup styles, and dating etiquette. Every month, millions of girls turned to its pages to help guide them through the pitfalls of dating and establishing relationships with the opposite sex. With the rise of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, Seventeen published articles encouraging its readers to be more independent and selfreliant. By the 1980s, sexual matters were discussed more openly in its pages, although not with the hipness of rival publications like Sassy (see entry under 1980s—Print Culture in volume 5) and Young Miss. By the 1990s, Seventeen was trying to address contemporary issues like AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) or crime and to appeal to a more racially and culturally diverse readership.

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teen was highly successful, with its circulation jumping from one million in 1947 to two and a half million by 1949. By the turn of the twenty-first century, it remains the most widely read magazine amongst teenaged girls.

—Edward Moran

For More Information McCracken, Ellen. Decoding Women’s Magazines: From Mademoiselle to Ms. New York: St. Martin’s, 1993. Schrum, Kelly. “‘Teens Mean Business’: Teenage Girls’ Culture and Seventeen Magazine, 1944–1950.” In Delinquents and Debutantes: Twentieth-Century American Girls’ Cultures. Edited by Sherrie A. Inness. New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman, the first and most recognizable female superhero in comic book history, made her debut in All Star Comics #8 (1941) and has been thrilling generations of readers ever since. William Moulton Marston (1893–1947), a noted

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psychologist and inventor of the polygraph machine, created the character as an early feminist role model for young girls. He believed male heroes lacked the qualities of maternal love, compassion, and tenderness. Wonder Woman was also designed to appeal to the largely male comic book audience. In DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes, Les Daniels quotes Marston as saying, “Give them an alluring woman stronger than themselves to submit to and they’ll be proud to become her willing slaves.” Readers were drawn to this attractive heroine who possessed the strength of a powerful man. Soon Wonder Woman was appearing in several popular comic books. Wonder Woman, along with Superman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), remains the only comic book character to be published continuously since the golden age of comics. Marston and artist Harry Peter created a unique character whose stories were more modern-day fairy tales than superheroic adventures. The series was a combination of feminism, psychological theory, Greek and Roman mythology, and American patriotism. According to her 1942 origin story, Wonder Woman began life as Princess Diana of Paradise Island, home to a race of immortal Amazons. Diana was created as a clay statue by the Amazon queen Hippolyta and had been given life and superhuman abilities by the gods of Olympus. When an American pilot named Steve Trevor crashed on the island, Diana nursed him back to health. Hippolyta feared the male’s intrusion into her realm and demanded he be returned to America. Upon winning an Olympic contest, Diana was selected to become Paradise Island’s emissary to Man’s World. In America, she assumed the secret identity of army nurse Diana Prince.

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Wonder Woman’s mission involved spreading the message of peace, justice, and equality. She faced numerous enemies, including the Cheetah, Giganta, Dr. Psycho, Nazi agent Paula von Gunther, and Ares the God of War. Wonder Woman did not use excessive force against these villains but relied on her intelligence and agility to achieve victory. Her most important weapons against crime and injustice included her invisible robot plane; her magic golden lasso, which compelled those in its snare to tell the truth; and her Amazonian bracelets, which deflected bullets. She would lose her powers if the bracelets were ever chained together. Wonder Woman inspired many young girls to assert themselves, including Gloria Steinem

Wonder Woman has also appeared in comic strips, animated cartoons, and a popular 1970s television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) program starring Lynda Carter (1951–). The character has further appeared on countless items of merchandise. Wonder Woman has remained a significant American icon (symbol) because she embodies all the positive qualities of American womanhood: strength, intelligence, beauty, and power. She put forward a feminist message decades before anyone had heard the phrase “girl power.”

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(1934–), who placed the character on the cover of the first issue of Ms. (see entry under 1970s—Print Culture in volume 4) magazine in 1972. In 1987, Wonder Woman gained renewed popularity when celebrated comic book artist and writer George Perez (1954–) took over the feature.

—Charles Coletta

Where to Learn More Daniels, Les. DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York: Little, Brown, 1995. Daniels, Les. Wonder Woman: The Complete History. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000. Dini, Paul, and Alex Ross. Wonder Woman: Strength of Will. New York: DC Comics, 2001. Goulart, Ron. Great History of Comic Books. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1986. Marston, William. Wonder Woman Archives: Volume 1. New York: DC Comics, 1998.

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1940s Sports and Games World War II (1939–45) disrupted professional sports events. After the entrance of American troops into the war in 1941, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, many of the finest athletes joined the military. Some teams disbanded when their players went off to war. Most continued with a limited number of players and tight budgets. Even with these wartime cutbacks, sports remained a favorite pastime for Americans. When the war ended, talented players returned, money again poured into sports organizations, and television enlarged the audiences, professional sports again became a dominant entertainment moneymaker in America. The war did offer women more opportunities in sports. With so many male athletes fighting for the country, women athletes were encouraged to join the All-American Girls Baseball League, which was popular during the war. Women also attracted attention in golf and tennis. One of the most important events in sports came in 1947 when Jackie Robinson (1919–1972) signed on to the Brooklyn Dodgers major-league baseball team. Although African Americans had been champions in the boxing arena for some time, Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in baseball was especially important, because baseball was America’s favorite sport. By the end of the 1940s, some of the best players in baseball were black. Other sports soon began integration of their own. At home, games were welcome diversions from the war and later remained fun entertainment. The Slinky, a coiled-wire toy that continues to be popular, “walked” down steps to the amusement of kids and adults alike. Scrabble, a word board game, tested the vocabulary and spelling of countless people across the country. Tonka trucks offered children the chance to imagine the life of construction workers with pint-sized dump trucks and tractor toys.

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Bowling Although its origins are in Europe, bowling has long been known as the common man’s sport in the United States. Played in bowling alleys, the game consists of throwing a heavy ball (often weighing ten to sixteen pounds) down a wooden lane to knock over a set of ten wooden pins set in the form of a triangle. It became especially popular among the American working class because it was a cheap sport to play, but it has also attracted people at all levels of income. Bowling arrived in the United States in the early 1800s, and it developed over the decades into a uniform sport with its own rules, dress, atmosphere, and organization: the American Bowling Congress. By the 1920s, bowling was an established presence in American life, but the heyday of bowling did not occur until the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s when bowling became a cultural phenomenon. Part of its success came because working class Americans had more leisure time after World War II (1939–45), and bowling was an inexpensive sport that was fairly easy to learn but challenging enough to keep people working to improve their skill level. It was also promoted on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), increasing its visibility. Automated pin setting and ball returns added to the ease of play as well.

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More important was bowling’s influence on American social life. Bowling was a participatory sport that was also a social one. Although it was competitive, it also fostered team camaraderie because players formed leagues of teams that competed against one another. The pace of the game allowed players to relax between turns, enjoy a beer and some snacks, and talk to their teammates and opponents. Because it was not a contact sport, women were attracted to the game and were welcomed by men more so than in baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), football, or other rougher sports. Bowling alleys also grew into family entertainment centers with game rooms for the kids, snack bars, equipment shops, and other amenities. Bowling declined in popularity after 1970 due to competition from other sports and less interest from younger people. Author Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, used the declining interest in bowling as an indicator of a major shift in American social values away from communal activities to solitary ones, and not always with good results. That insight

offered further proof of bowling’s important place in the history of American leisure and social life. —Timothy Berg

Whether taken seriously or simply for fun, bowling can be enjoyed by anyone of any skill level. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Luby, Mort. The History of Bowling. Chicago: Luby Publishing, 1983. Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. Steele, H. Thomas. Bowl-O-Rama. New York: Abbeville Press, 1986.

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National Basketball Association Basketball dates to the late nineteenth century. In 1891, a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School instructor named James Naismith (1861–1939) hung a pair of peach baskets on a gymnasium track railing and urged those in attendance to toss balls into the baskets, thus inventing the game. Throughout the early twentieth century, various professional basketball leagues were born, and many quickly failed. Two of the most enterprising were the American Basketball League (ABL), which began in 1925 and folded during the 1930s, and the National Basketball League (NBL), formed in 1937. Then in 1946, came the formation of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). Three years later, the East Coast– based BAA merged with the Midwest-based NBL. The merger resulted in the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA), history’s most successful and enduring pro basketball league. At first, the NBA was a hodgepodge of seventeen teams, representing a cross-section of cities from New York and Boston to Syracuse and Sheboygan. Not surprisingly, at the start of the 1950–51 season, seven of the less-competitive teams folded. In its early years, the NBA remained a secondary sports league. Games often were lumbering affairs, dominated by big men such as Minneapolis Laker center George Mikan (1924–) and slowed to a crawl by constant fouling designed to hamper scoring. To spark interest in the game, the NBA authorized rule changes to speed up play, increase scoring, and encourage athleticism. The Boston Celtics were the immediate beneficiaries. The Celts, coached by the legendary Arnold “Red” Auerbach (1917–), featured two players who excelled in the new, fastbreak style of play. Bill Russell (1934–), an intimidating center, aggressively blocked shots. Bob Cousy (1928–), a sleek guard, played the new game well. Starting in 1959, the Celtics won eleven NBA titles in thirteen years.

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The 1960s and 1970s featured a rivalry between two of the game’s most dominant centers: Russell and Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999). The New York Knicks, NBA champions in 1970 and 1973, were famed for a thoughtful, team-oriented playing style. By now, passing, shooting, and nonstop action were syn-

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the NBA was losing its hold on the public. There were no compelling rivalries and few charismatic star players. A series of violent off-court incidents and drug abuse among players tarnished the league. Two multitalented players were single-handedly responsible for the NBA’s reemergence: Larry Bird (1956–), of the Boston Celtics, and Earvin “Magic” Johnson (1959–), of the Los Angeles Lakers. These competitors—who met each other in their final collegiate game, the 1979 NCAA championship game between Bird’s Indiana State University and Johnson’s Michigan State University—maintained a fierce rivalry in the pros. Their teams met in the 1984 championship finals, a thrilling seven-game affair that attracted the largest television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) audience in NBA history.

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onymous with pro basketball. However, the upstart American Basketball Association (ABA) began signing many top college players, including Rick Barry (1944–) and Julius “Dr. J.” Erving (1950–). The NBA-ABA rivalry was extinguished in 1976, when the leagues merged and four ABA teams were allowed to join the NBA.

In the ensuing years, the league expanded, adding teams as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. The star player of the 1980s and 1990s was Michael Jordan (1963–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5), who joined the Chicago Bulls in 1984. Jordan’s graceful leaping ability, congenial personality, and sharp intelligence propelled the Bulls to six NBA championships. Without argument, Jordan is the NBA’s all-time greatest player. He helped to popularize basketball across the globe, transforming the NBA into an international presence. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bjarkman, Peter C. The Encyclopedia of Pro Basketball Team Histories. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1994. Decourcy, Mike. Inside Basketball: From the Playgrounds to the NBA. New York: Metro Books, 1996. Dickey, Glenn. The History of Professional Basketball Since 1896. New York: Stein and Day, 1982. Minsky, Alan. Kings of the Court: Legends of the NBA. New York: Metro Books, 1995. Salzberg, Charles. From Set Shot to Slam Dunk: The Glory Days of Basketball in the Words of Those Who Played It. New York: Dutton, 1987. Vancil, Mark, ed. The NBA at Fifth. New York: Random House, 1994.

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Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), becoming the first African American to play in the major leagues. His aggressive baserunning and timely hitting helped lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to a world championship in 1955. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. A native of Cairo, Georgia, Robinson began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). There he drew the attention of Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey (1881–1965), who signed him to a minor league contract in 1945. When Robinson made it to the majors two years later, he faced taunts and discrimination, even death threats, from hostile fans opposed to integration (the bringing together of different races). To his credit, Robinson rose above these threats and became one of the game’s leading base stealers and clutch hitters (batters who do well in tense situations). He retired after ten years of playing and continued to speak out about racism in America until his death in 1972. In 1997, baseball decided to honor Robinson by “retiring” his uniform number “42” across the sport (no player could wear that number). —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Rampersand, Arnold. Jackie Robinson: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1997. Shatzkin, Mike. The Ballplayers: Baseball’s Ultimate Biographical Reference. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow, 1990.

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One of the most popular board games of the twentieth century, Scrabble is a crossword-style game designed for two, three, or four players. Participants make interlocking words by drawing randomly from a stock of one hundred tiles, each bearing a letter of the alphabet. Letters are distributed according to their relative frequency in the language—there are twelve “E’s” and nine “A’s,” for example, but only one “Q” and one “Z.” The point value of the letters varies accordingly. By placing the tiles

strategically on the game board, players can double or triple the point value of letters and words. Using seven letters in a single play (the number of tiles required to be drawn in each turn) is worth a bonus of fifty points. Scrabble was invented by Alfred Mosher Butts (1899–1993) during the 1930s, who originally called it Lexiko, then CrissCross Words. He developed and manufactured the game himself from his apartment in the New York City borough of Queens, selling it by word of mouth. In 1947, the game was acquired by James Brunot (1902–1984), a Connecticut farmer

Scrabble is one of the most popular board games of all time, selling around two million sets worldwide each year. Photograph by David Hockney. Reproduced by permission.

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who named it Scrabble. When the game was marketed by New York’s Macy’s Department Store in 1953, it became an overnight sensation. Sales skyrocketed. Brunot sold the game to the Selchow & Righter Company, which sold 3.8 million sets by the following year. The game was later marketed by Coleco. Scrabble is now sold in the United States by Hasbro. Some two million sets are sold worldwide every year. Most players typically use familiar words while playing Scrabble. Competitive players enhance their scores considerably by memorizing lists of little-known words included in “official” Scrabble dictionaries used in tournaments. Official word lists used in the United States and Canada differ from those used elsewhere in the world. The dictionary used in international tournaments contain some forty thousand words that are not considered playable in North America. In recent years, some of the world’s Scrabble champions have come from nonEnglish speaking countries like Thailand or Malaysia. —Edward Moran

For More Information Fatsis, Stefan. Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Hasbro, Inc. Scrabble Crossword Game. http://www.hasbroscrabble.com/ default.asp?x=welcome (accessed February 21, 2002). The Official Worldwide Scrabble Home Page. http://www.scrabble.com (accessed February 21, 2002).

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The Slinky—the popular springy wire toy—was invented in 1943 by engineer Richard James (1914–1974) while he was working on an antivibration device for ships’ instruments. James was fascinated by the way one of the springs he had made “walked” down to the ground when he accidentally knocked it off a shelf. He took it home to show his wife, Betty (1918–), and together they promoted it as a toy. The Slinky first went on sale at Gimbel’s Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just before Christmas 1945. Much to their surprise, the Jameses sold their entire stock of 400 Slinkys in just 90 minutes. At its fiftieth anniversary, over 250 million Slinkys had been sold. In 2002, it also comes in brightly colored plastic and, for $99.95, fourteen carat gold.

Slinky Accidentally invented in 1943, the Slinky went on to be one of the most celebrated toys of the twentieth century. UPI/CorbisBettmann. Reproduced by permission.

The simplicity of the Slinky, and the strange way it walks down steps and slopes, is what attracts children and adults to the toy. The Slinky is almost unchanged from the way the Jameses first promoted it. The metal version has had just one change in over fifty years: The sharp ends of the spring have been blunted for safety reasons. Although it looks simple, the Slinky depends on some serious science. In education, Slinkys are used to explain different kinds of wave forms, as well as forces such as gravity, friction, and inertia. Slinkys also have practical uses. As soldiers in Vietnam discovered, Slinkys make very good radio antennae. A Slinky bent over in the form of an arch makes an excellent letter rack. The “It’s Slinky” jingle—“It’s Slinky, it’s Slinky, for fun it’s a wonderful toy. . .”—is America’s longest-running national television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) commercial, running since 1963. The Slinky has appeared prominently in several movies, including Hairspray (1988), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and most memorably as Slinky Dog in Toy Story (1995). The antivibration device James had been working when he invented the Slinky was a complete

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flop. But his accidental creation went on to become one of the best-selling toys in America. With its graceful movements and “slinkety” sound, the Slinky has played a part in the childhood of most Americans born since the end of World War II (1939–45). —Chris Routledge

For More Information Green, Joey. The Official Slinky Book: Hundreds of Wild and Wacky Uses for the Greatest Toy on Earth. New York: Berkley Publishing, 1999. “Slinky History.” Slinky Toys. http://www.slinkytoys.com/toys/history. asp (accessed February 21, 2002). Weiss, Michael J. “Zing Went the Spring. . .” Toys Were Us. http://www. discovery.com/stories/history/toys/SLINKY/shoulda.html (accessed February 21, 2002).

Tonka Trucks The American love for cars and trucks shows itself early in the love of American children for toy cars and trucks. Of these, none is more famous for quality and realism than the Tonka truck. First made by Mound Metalcraft Company of Mound, Minnesota, Tonka is named after that state’s Lake Winnetonka. The company manufactured sturdy steel toy trucks with parts that moved and worked but did not break easily. Beginning with the popular steam shovel and the crane in 1947, Mound Metalcraft soon changed its name to Tonka and made many different kinds of trucks, both construction and military vehicles. The yellow dump truck, introduced in 1965, has been the most popular Tonka ever since. While children, especially boys, love their Tonka trucks, adults have also begun to collect the trucks, paying high prices for early models. The toys have changed over the years, with a variety of new models offered in plastic as well as metal. In 1996, Tonka was bought by Hasbro Toys. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Hasbro, Inc. That’s Tough, That’s Tonka! http://www.hasbropreschool. com/default.asp?x=tonka_history (accessed February 21, 2002).

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1940s TV and Radio Radio proved its importance during World War II (1939–45) with almost immediate coverage of events. Between 1941 and 1945, Americans tuned in to listen to breaking news from Europe, hearing about major battles and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii just moments after the actual events. News reporters such as Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) and William Shirer (1904–1993) offered insightful commentary and straight, hard news. Their example would influence the news anchors on the new media—television, commonly called TV—for decades. Radio’s golden age ended with the war. The 1940s were the true beginning of the TV era. Although sets had been available as early as the late 1930s, the widespread distribution and sale of TV sets did not really take off until after the war. Broadcasting stations neglected many of their radio stations and poured money into TV after the war. Soon many radio dramas, variety shows, and comedy programs were available on TV and radio was left with mostly music. For children, new shows like Kukla, Fran, and Ollie and The Howdy Doody Show offered laughs. One of the most popular early TV programs was a variety show called Texaco Star Theater, starring comedian Milton Berle (1908–2002), that started in 1948. As the decade continued, more and more people bought TV sets. Instead of circling around their radios, people would settle in front of their TVs for news and entertainment. As TV became more popular, the government set up regulations to ensure competition between stations, channels, and programs. The 1950s would see the new medium change dramatically with the introduction of color and other technological advances.

Jack Benny (1894–1974) Jack Benny was one of the most popular and influential comedians of the twentieth century. He was known for his subtle sense of comic timing, which relied on a long pause and a

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frozen, pained expression in order to milk laughs. Benny’s humor focused on the made-up persona of a wisecracking penny-pincher (one who is very conservative, often cheap, with his or her money). In one of his classic comic sketches, Benny is held up by a burglar who demands, “Your money or your life.” After his characteristic lengthy pause, Benny responds, “I’m thinking about it.” In another classic bit, when asked his age, Benny always said he was “thirty-nine,” a line that grew funnier as the years passed and he was well into old age. Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky. Unlike other Jewish entertainers of his time, he did not adopt an ethnic approach to comedy. This may be because his roots were in the midwestern town of Waukegan, Illinois, rather than in the immigrant “melting pot” (racial, social, and cultural mixture) of New York City, where exaggerated Yiddish accents and Semitic jokes were more prevalent. His first appearances were as a teenager, playing the violin in vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). When he realized that audiences applauded his stiff demeanor and wrong notes rather than his musical ability, Benny became a stage comic and often used his violin-playing as a means of getting laughs. As the century progressed, Benny successfully starred on his own series on the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 1) and later on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). He also starred in several films. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Benny, Jack, and Joan Benny. Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story. New York: Warner, 1990. Fein, Irving. Jack Benny: An Intimate Biography. New York, Putnam, 1976. Josefberg, Milt. The Jack Benny Show. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1977.

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny, the smart-aleck cartoon rabbit, known equally well for his carrots, his quips, and his trademark question—“Eh, what’s up, Doc?”—is one of the most popular animated characters ever created. 598

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The rascally rabbit’s origins gave no hint of the greatness to come. He first appeared in Porky’s Hare Hunt, a 1938 Warner

Brothers cartoon. He was drawn smaller than he would later become and was also completely white. In his debut, Bugs was given no name; he was simply an unidentified rabbit who turned Porky Pig’s hunting expedition into a farce. The character’s appearance and attitude evolved through several more cartoon appearances. Bugs Bunny finally reached the form for which he is best known in 1940’s A Wild Hare. Directed by Tex Avery (1908–1980), this was the first cartoon to use the line “What’s up, Doc?” The tall, gray-and-white rabbit remained unnamed. That anonymity changed in 1941, when the name “Bugs Bunny” was used for the first time in Elmer’s Pet Rabbit, directed by Chuck Jones (1912–2002). The name came from Ben “Bugs” Hardaway (1896–1957), an animator at Warner Brothers who had invented the rabbit for Porky’s Hare Hunt. The cartoonists at Warner had been informally referring to the character as “Bugs’ Bunny” for years. The name was now official.

Mel Blanc, the famous voice behind Bugs Bunny. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The voice of Bugs Bunny was that of famous voice actor Mel Blanc (1908–1989). Blanc was also responsible for the voices of such characters as Woody Woodpecker, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Barney Rubble. Bugs Bunny was gaining popularity at about the same time that the United States entered World War II (1939–45), following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Like many characters at Warner, Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), and the other animation studios, Bugs was used in cartoons that combined entertainment with propaganda. In the two-minute cartoon Any Bonds Today? (1942), Bugs is dressed in a Revolutionary War (1775–81) uniform while singing about the benefits of buying war bonds. The year 1944 brought the full-length cartoon Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips. As the title suggests, this production was an example of the blatant racism that was widely used to depict the Japanese to American audiences during the war years. Here,

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Bugs washes up on a Pacific island that is occupied by Japanese troops who try to capture him. Bugs easily makes fools of them all. In 1945, Herr Meets Hare has Bugs popping up in Nazi Germany, where he torments and mocks Nazi official Hermann Göring (1893–1946), and then does the same to Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) himself. However, Bugs Bunny’s greatest contribution to national pride during the war may have been less direct: Bugs always won. Even though he lacked superpowers or big muscles, the rabbit always found a way to prevail over his enemies. Bugs was the cartoon equivalent of a character common in many films produced during the war: a brash young guy, usually working-class and full of “street smarts,” who always won out in the end. The message embodied in both characters was the same: attitude, quick wits, and “good old American know-how” would always come out on top. This was a comforting message to American audiences, especially when the war was going badly for the United States during 1942 and 1943. Bugs Bunny’s popularity did not decline after the war ended in 1945. He won an Oscar in 1948 for Knighty-Knight Bugs (having been nominated twice before). Among theater owners, it was widely believed that a phrase like “2 New Bugs Bunny Cartoons” on a sign was enough to bring in legions of customers, regardless of what the main feature might be. The carrot that Bugs was often shown munching soon became part of his trademark. The image was so well known that the Utah Celery Company tried to persuade Warner Brothers to substitute Bugs’s favorite vegetable with its product. The studio declined politely, just as it did when made a similar offer from the Broccoli Institute of America. Bugs Bunny would keep his carrot.

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Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) came into America’s homes in the 1950s. Bugs made the transition easily, along with his other Warner Brothers costars like Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat, and Elmer Fudd. The cartoons that had been seen only in movie theaters were repackaged and sold to TV stations for broadcast on Saturday mornings (although new Bugs Bunny cartoons continued to appear in theaters until 1964). In addition, The Bugs Bunny Show was the first nationally broadcast cartoon program. Shown on Tuesday evenings from 1960 to 1962 (and revived for the 1971–72 season), it combined vintage Warner Brothers cartoons with new animation.

The spot that Bugs Bunny occupies in American popular culture is so prominent that, in 1998, the U.S. Post Office honored him with his own commemorative stamp. —Justin Gustainis

The Howdy Doody Show

Bugs Bunny returned to the big screen in 1996 with the feature-length film Space Jam, which combined animation with live action. In the film, Bugs and his friends have been kidnapped by aliens. Their captors agree to release them only if Bugs and the other Warner characters can beat the aliens at basketball. Bugs and his team seek help from basketball superstar Michael Jordan (1963–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5) and eventually play their way to freedom.

For More Information Adamson, Joe. Bugs Bunny: Fifty Years and Only One Grey Hare. New York: Henry Holt, 1990. “Bugs Bunny.” Looney Tunes: Stars of the Show. http://looneytunes. warnerbros.com/web/stars_of_the_show/bugs_bunny/home.jsp (accessed February 22, 2002). Evanier, Mark. Bugs Bunny and Friends: A Comic Celebration. New York: DC Comics, 1998. Preller, James, Leo Benvenuti, and Steve Rudnick. Bugs Bunny’s ‘Space Jam’ Scrapbook: How I Saved the World. New York: Scholastic Press, 1996. Sandler, Kevin S. Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Brothers Animation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998.

The Howdy Doody Show For those who grew up in the 1950s, The Howdy Doody Show (1947–60) is one of the most fondly remembered children’s programs from the early years of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). To formulate the show, which aired on NBC, singer Robert E. Smith (1917–1998) adapted the basic format of a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) show he had hosted for youngsters. Episodes of the series first were broadcast weekly for an hour, but the show’s popularity with young people led NBC to give it a daily, Monday-through-Friday half-hour slot. The show’s story took place in a made-up circus town called Doodyville. The show featured puppets and fantastic characters who were residents of the imagined village. In Doodyville,

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Smith became a personable character named Buffalo Bob. The star character was a wooden puppet suspended on strings called Howdy Doody, a charming and cheerful twenty-seven-inch-high freckle-faced marionette with a smiling mouth filled with bright white teeth. Although the show was shown primarily in black-and-white until 1955, Howdy was colorfully attired in blue jeans, a plaid shirt and red bandana, and twotoned cowboy boots. He was joined by other wooden puppets, such as Phineas T. Bluster, the ill-tempered mayor of Doodyville; a simple-minded carpenter named Dilly Dally; and the fanciful creature Flub-a-Dub, who was made up of eight types of animals.

Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob on the set of The Howdy Doody Show in 1952. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Buffalo Bob’s sidekick was a human clown named Clarabell, who never spoke. Clarabell wielded a seltzer bottle that sprayed the bubbly water and honked a horn attached to his belt. He was played for several years by Bob Keeshan, who went on to become the star of another children’s television show, Captain Kangaroo (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Other characters played by humans were Indian Chief Thunderthud, lovely Princess Summerfall Winterspring, Bison Bill, and a wrestler named Ugly Sam. Members of the studio audience—as well as the kids at home—were referred to as the Peanut Gallery. At the beginning of every show, Buffalo Bob would shout out, “Say kids, what time is it?” The Peanut Gallery would answer, “It’s Howdy Doody Time!” An updated version of the show with Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody was syndicated (sold to many TV markets by a designated distributor) in 1976, but it failed to gain an audience. In 1987, in order to celebrate Howdy Doody’s fortieth birthday, a twohour special was aired, but it, too, failed to capture the excitement of the original shows. Howdy Doody’s twin, Double Doody, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The original Howdy Doody marionette sold for $23,000 at auction in 1995.

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—Audrey Kupferberg

Davis, Stephen. Say Kids, What Time Is It?: Notes from the Peanut Gallery. Boston: Little Brown, 1987. “Howdy Doody.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/saturday/sa1094.php (accessed February 22, 2002). Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. It’s Howdy Doody Time. http://www.msichicago.org/temp_exhibit/howdy_doody (accessed February 22, 2002). Smith, Buffalo Bob, and Donna McCrohan. Howdy and Me: Buffalo Bob’s Own Story. New York: Plume, 1990.

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

For More Information

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie was a televised puppet show that ran from 1947 through 1957. The puppet show was first shown on the NBC television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) network. For its final three years, the show appeared on ABC-TV. Kukla and Ollie were the names of two puppets created by Burr Tillstrom (1917–1985). Fran Allison (1907–1989) was the human who chatted with them as they performed on a tiny stage. Kukla (his name is the Russian word for “doll”) was an excitable fellow with a huge round nose and receding hairline. Ollie (Oliver J. Dragon) was a self-centered but goodnatured dragon. In the show, Kukla never talked, making himself understood by rapid body movements, but Ollie had a falsetto voice. These two puppets were the most prominent of the Kuklapolitans, a group of Tillstrom’s puppets that included Madame Ooglepuss, Fletcher Rabbit, Cecil Bill, and Beulah Witch. Tillstrom provided all the voices and manipulated the puppets from behind a small stage while Allison chatted with them while standing at eye level. Musical accompaniment was provided by pianist Jack Fascanato (1915–1994). Tillstrom became interested in puppetry while a teenager. He performed with his puppets in nightclubs or department stores and at the 1939–40 World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in New York. The Kuklapolitans appeared on TV for the first time on October 13, 1947, Tillstrom’s thirtieth birthday. On this date, they were joined by Allison, a singer and comedian, on a local Chicago show called Junior Jamboree. The title of the program was subsequently changed to Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. On January 12, 1949, it became the first show broadcast over the national NBC network. It was seen five nights a week at 6:00 P.M. Central Time.

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News Anchors Starting out as a local Chicago program in 1947, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie became the first TV show broadcast nationally when it debuted in January 1949. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

After Kukla, Fran, and Ollie ended its run on national TV in 1957, the Kuklapolitans appeared on many TV specials, in syndication, and in live performance. —Edward Moran

For More Information Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. 7th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999. The Unofficial Kuklapolitan Web Page http://www.ultinet.net/~kfo/ (accessed February 22, 2002).

News Anchors

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When television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 2) was in its infancy during the late 1940s and early 1950s, news reports became an important part of daily programming. The major networks set aside a time period each evening to broadcast national and international news. Local

News Anchors

stations did the same for local events. As such programs evolved, they consisted of field reporters passing along information on specific events, along with accompanying visual images on 16-millimeter (16-mm) film. Holding each program together was the news anchor, a constant presence throughout the broadcast. The anchor described news events and introduced field journalists and news clips. The most successful anchors are recognized for their calming, steadying presence, particularly in times of crisis. The best news anchors have strong journalism backgrounds. For nineteen years beginning in 1962, Walter Cronkite (1916–) anchored the evening news on CBS. Cronkite brought to the job flawless journalistic credentials; he had started out as a wireservice correspondent during World War II (1939–45). Fabled for his reassuring demeanor, Cronkite came to be known as “Uncle Walter” and “The Most Trusted Man in America.” He signed off each broadcast by stating, “And that’s the way it is.” Few questioned the truthfulness of this declaration. When appropriate, Cronkite injected emotion into his broadcast. He did so in times of tragedy and triumph, whether tearfully announcing the death by assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) or adding cheerleader-style comments while anchoring coverage of America’s space program. On occasion, an anchor of Cronkite’s stature may become a newsmaker. A trip to Vietnam during the 1968 Tet offensive (a massive surprise attack on South Vietnam by North Vietnamese fighters) helped turn Cronkite against the Vietnam War (1954–1975). During the final moments of a CBS documentary, he called for an end to the fighting—an action that helped turn millions of mainstream Americans against the war. Cronkite’s most direct competition came from NBC, which between 1956 and 1970 featured a pair of popular anchors. Chet Huntley (1911–1974) broadcast from New York, while David Brinkley (1920–) was situated in Washington, D.C. Both were veteran journalists. Huntley’s sober, deliberate style played off of Brinkley’s low-key wit to make their show a consistent ratings winner—usually besting Cronkite’s broadcasts during the 1960s. They, too, had their own special way of ending each broadcast, with each declaring, “Goodnight, Chet . . . Goodnight, David . . . and Goodnight for NBC News.” Cronkite, Huntley, and Brinkley were not the lone pioneer anchors. John Cameron Swayze (1906–1995), who began on NBC-TV in 1948, was the medium’s first superstar anchor.

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However, Swayze, who opened his broadcasts with a cheerful “And a good evening to you” and closed them with “Glad we could be together,” was more a news reader than a journalist. In 1976, Barbara Walters (1931–) became the first woman news anchor, working beside Harry Reasoner (1923–1991) on ABC. Two years later, ABC’s Max Robinson (1939–1988) became the first African American network news anchor. Among the highest-profile contemporary anchors were CNN’s Bernard Shaw (1940–), who retired in early 2001, ABC’s Peter Jennings (1938–), CBS’s Dan Rather (1931–), and NBC’s Tom Brokaw (1940–). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bliss, Edward, Jr. Now the News: The Story of Broadcast Journalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. Brinkley, David. Eleven Presidents, Four Wars, Twenty-Two Political Conventions, One Moon Landing, Three Assassinations, Two Thousand Weeks of News and Other Stuff on Television, and Eighteen Years of Growing Up in North Carolina. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. Brinkley, David. Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. Cronkite, Walter. A Reporter’s Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Frank, Reuven. Out of Thin Air: The Brief Wonderful Life of Network News. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Goldberg, Robert, and Gerald Jay Goldberg. Anchors: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather and the Evening News. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1990. Matusow, Barbara. The Evening News: The Making of the Network News Anchor. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.

Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote Constantly at odds with each other in a series of thirty-five animated cartoons produced by Warner Brothers from 1949 through 1966, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote still entertain audiences with their familiar escapades in the southwestern desert. The premise of all the cartoons is the same: Wile E. Coyote tries without success to capture the Road Runner. The Road Runner proves wilier than the crafty but bumbling coyote, whose traps inevitably backfire as the bird escapes with his signature “beep-beep” farewell.

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The two characters first appeared in the 1949 cartoon short Fast and Furry-Ous, created by director Chuck Jones (1912–2002) and story-man Michael Maltese (1908–1981). Their second car-

Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote A testament to their enduring popularity, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were commemorated on a 2000 U.S. postage stamp. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

toon, Beep, Beep, appeared in 1952. The cartoon “Beep Prepared” was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961. The Road Runner cartoons are reminiscent of other Warner Brothers animated shorts that feature combative characters, like Bugs Bunny (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Elmer Fudd, or Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird. The difference is that Wile E. Coyote is shown using ever more sophisticated and complex devices in his hopeless attempts at capturing his prey, many of them ordered from the fictional Acme Company. Time and time again, Road Runner eludes the

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traps. It is Wile E. Coyote who falls over the cliff, is flattened by a locomotive, or has an explosive charge blow up in his face. The Road Runner cartoons were first shown in theaters and on network television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). In September 1966, The Road Runner Show premiered in the CBS Saturday morning lineup of children’s shows. The shorts later appeared on cable stations such as TNT and the Cartoon Network. —Edward Moran

For More Information Friedwald, Will, and Jerry Beck. The Warner Brothers Cartoons. Metuchen, NJ, and London: Scarecrow Press, 1981. Lenburg, Jeff. The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. New York: Facts on File, 1991. Looney Tunes Stars of the Show: Wile E. and Road Runner. http:// looneytunes.warnerbros.com/stars_of_the_show/wile_roadrunner/ wile_story. html (accessed February 21, 2002). “The Road Runner Show.” YesterdayLand Saturday Morning TV. http:// www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1180.php (accessed February 21, 2002).

Studio One From the late 1940s through the early 1960s, live dramatic presentations were a staple of commercial television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), helping earn this era the reputation as TV’s “golden age.” Each week, various anthology series presented classic and original dramas starring familiar older Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) stars and hot new up-and-comers. One of the oldest and most distinguished and innovative shows was Studio One, which aired on CBS from November 1948 through September 1958.

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The hour-long show offered a vast and impressive array of programming. Across the decade, almost five hundred plays were broadcast. Among the most notable early Studio One productions: “Mary Poppins” (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) and Somerset Maugham’s (1874–1965) “Of Human Bondage” (both of which aired in 1949), and William Shakespeare’s (1564-1616) “Julius Caesar” (staged twice in 1949), “MacBeth” (1950), and “The Taming of the Shrew” (1951).

Studio One

Jackie Gleason (1916–1987) and Art Carney (1918–), beloved stars of the classic TV sitcom The Honeymooners (1955–1956, 1971; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), played dramatic roles in Studio One’s “The Laugh Maker” (1953). James Dean (1931–1955; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3), who soon would personify adolescent anxieties on the big screen in East of Eden (1955) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955), had one of his initial important roles in “Sentence of Death” (1953). Fabled stage-and-screen actor Jason Robards Jr. (1922–2000) had his first significant TV part in “A Picture in the Paper” (1955). Even Mike Wallace (1918–), best known as a host of 60 Minutes (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), the long-running CBS newsmagazine, acted on Studio One, in “For the Defense” (1955). Among the then-emerging actors to appear on the series were Grace Kelly (1928–1982), Charlton Heston (1923–), Peter Falk (1927–), William Shatner (1931–), Leslie Nielsen (1922–), Steve McQueen (1930–1980), and Warren Beatty (1937–). A generation of directors and writers got their professional starts on Studio One. Franklin J. Schaffner (1920–1989), who would win an Academy Award for directing Patton (1970), regularly worked on the series. Others who went on to feature filmmaking careers included Sidney Lumet (1924–), George Roy Hill (1922–), and Robert Mulligan (1925–). Among the writers who penned original teleplays for Studio One were Rod Serling (1924–1975), Gore Vidal (1925–), and Reginald Rose (1921–). Rose’s Emmy Award–winning 12 Angry Men, one of the higher-profile Studio One productions, aired in 1954 and was transferred to the screen by Lumet three years later. Most significant of all, however, were the contributions of Worthington Miner (1900–1982), the show’s first producer. Miner was an innovative force in early TV. He was concerned as much with visual storytelling as with dialogue. To Miner, Studio One was a “live performance staged for multiple cameras,” rather than for a theater audience. In this regard, he viewed the medium of TV as halfway between live drama and cinema. Miner experimented with camera placement and movement, movable sets, editing, lighting techniques, and actors performing in relation to the camera. All these techniques added immeasurably to the development of TV as a visual medium. —Rob Edelman

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For More Information Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. “Studio One.” The Encyclopedia of Television. http://Museum.TV/archives/etv/S/htmlS/studioone/ studioone.htm (accessed February 21, 2002).

Television Since World War II (1939–45) television—TV—has dominated American popular culture. From the moment of its arrival, TV redefined the way Americans spent their leisure time. In the twenty-first century, TV is the main media outlet for news, sports, entertainment, and politics. The industry is run by multibillion-dollar corporations. Politicians, celebrities, sports promoters, and the film and music industries compete for the best TV coverage. Advertisers pay millions of dollars each year to promote their products during the most popular shows. From sports to news, from game shows (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) to comedy, drama, and documentaries, TV offers something for almost everyone.

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Although the principles of TV were established in the 1880s, it was not until 1924 that British inventor John Logie Baird (1888–1946) transmitted images of crude shapes. He did the same trick with moving images in 1926. An American, Ernst F. W. Alexanderson (1878–1975), demonstrated the first home TV set in January 1928. Station WGY began broadcasting to the area around Schenectady, New York, on May 10, 1928. It is doubtful that many people were watching, because few Americans could afford TVs during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) or World War II. After the war, the effect of TV on American life was dramatic. Americans bought just seven thousand sets in 1946. In 1953, color TV appeared. By 1960, 90 percent of American homes had a TV. Television’s influence soon damaged the sales of newspapers, magazines, and books. Many popular titles, such as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) went out of business in the 1950s. Television helped bring Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) to a crisis point in the 1960s, and it took away the audience for the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) drama.

During the late 1940s, over one hundred TV stations were using just twelve VHF (Very High Frequency) TV channels. The introduction of UHF (Ultra High Frequency) pushed public access and community broadcasters away from the high-quality VHF waveband, leaving the “big three” networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—to take control. The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) aimed to make TV morally and culturally uplifting, but most Americans preferred the commercial channels. Many watched TV for several hours every day. In the 1970s, cable TV (see entry

A couple ponders the purchase of their first television. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

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under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) became popular. Cable TV made a much larger number of channels—exclusively covering such topics as music, gardening, history, and sports— available to viewers. Probably the strongest single influence on American TV is advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2). Advertisers realized that many viewers would watch the “least objectionable” show on at any given time, regardless of what it was. They used their power over the TV companies to influence the schedules. In the 1950s, bland sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) dominated American TV. In the 1990s, lightweight news “magazine” shows such as 48 Hours had taken their place. At the beginning of the twentyfirst century, TV audiences around the world were enthralled by Survivor and other “reality TV” (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) shows. What all these shows have in common is that they are cheap, easy to produce, and command a huge, uncritical audience. It is impossible to overestimate the effect of TV on American cultural life. Television images of civil rights marches, the first moon walk, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), and Robert Kennedy (1925–1968) all helped define the era of the 1960s. Pictures of the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986; the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, bombing in 1995; and the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks in 2001 brought the American public together in tragedy. Major sporting events provide happier experiences. The Super Bowl (see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) is by far the most watched TV broadcast. Individual sporting moments such as the record-breaking sixty-second home run hit by Mark McGwire in 1998 pass into national memory because of TV.

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In the 1950s, politicians gradually realized that TV had become essential for wooing the voters. For example, Richard Nixon (1913–1994) transformed himself from the sweaty, palefaced loser of the 1960 presidential election into the welldressed, polished winner of the 1968 presidential election. His later fall from grace was also shown on TV. Television’s effect on sports has been no less dramatic. Television companies and advertisers hold major stakes in sports from basketball and football to motor racing and golf. Sports teams depend on TV advertising deals. Celebrity athletes earn fantastic salaries in return for becoming walking billboards. Since the 1990s, so-called

By the 1990s, most people learned about major events from TV. The dangers of this situation are clear. Controlled by advertisers, TV does not always provide complete or accurate coverage of important moments in history. But TV has always led a double life. On the one hand, people depend on it for information and entertainment. On the other hand, they complain about violence, sexual content, poor news coverage, and “dumbing down.” Like it or loathe it, TV has provided many of the most dramatic visual memories of the late twentieth century. Its domination of the American cultural landscape shows no sign of diminishing in the twenty-first century.

Television

pay-per-view and interactive digital services have pushed up the incomes of athletes, celebrities, and their promoters.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Calabro, Marian. Zap!: A Brief History of Television. New York: Four Winds Press, 1992. Himmelstein, Hal. Television Myth and the American Mind. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994. Stark, Steven D. Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events that Made Us Who We Are Today. New York: Free Press, 1997.

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1940s The Way We Lived The Great Depression (1929–41) had plunged millions of Americans into poverty. Although New Deal programs had helped many, at the beginning of World War II (1939–45) 40 percent of all American families were living in poverty. The desperate conditions of the Depression left a deep impression on the people living through it. Their personal suffering during the Depression prepared them to endure the mandatory restrictions on food, clothing, and other items that were needed to help the war effort of the 1940s. Americans rallied behind their soldiers and grew their own vegetables in “victory” gardens. They lived frugally even though they could now find jobs and had extra money to spend. The deprivations during the Depression had caused many people to delay marriage. By the 1940s, many couples rushed to marry before soldiers left for the war. When the soldiers returned after the war, many couples moved into ranch houses in the suburbs and began having children—lots of children. The baby boom had started. By the mid-1940s, the country’s economy was prospering; people could find jobs that paid well; families were growing; and people began buying things. Homes, cars (not just family sedans, but hot rods), electric appliances, and other once-luxuries were purchased or financed. People began vacationing more often, going to Las Vegas, Nevada, the gambling capital of the country, or spending spring breaks in sunny locations. But the postwar period did have a downside. The end of World War II had divided the world in two parts: democratic and communist. Countries with opposing types of governance distrusted one another and encouraged their citizens to be wary of others as well. Fear was a common feeling during what came to be called the “Cold War” (1945–91). No bloody battles were fought between such countries, but each prepared for the worst. People built cement bomb shelters dug into their backyards. In the United States, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents became revered as supersleuths who would keep America safe from communists. The fear and distrust generated by the Cold

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War would not end until the Soviet Union government dissolved in 1991.

Baby Boom When World War II (1939–45) ended, Americans had endured fifteen years of economic depression and war. Lacking money during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s— The Way We Lived in volume 2) and unsure of the future during the war, many young couples put off having families during these years. With the war over and economic prosperity restored, they no longer had to wait. By 1946, the “baby boom” was on, with more babies being born than ever before. Because of their numbers, baby boomers, those people born between 1946 and 1964 (when the birth rate leveled off), are a generation that has had a great impact on American life and culture. Between 1946 and 1964, seventy-eight million babies were born in the United States alone. As these children grew up, their numbers created unique problems. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, nurses, doctors, and hospitals struggled to deal with overcrowding as so many women gave birth. In the 1950s, as these kids reached school age, suddenly there were not enough school classrooms and teachers to meet the demand. In the 1960s and early 1970s, these children created the same problems for college and universities. After college, all these students wanted jobs, putting pressure on the job market. When baby boomers begin to retire around 2010, many worry that services for the elderly—namely health care and Social Security—will not be able to meet the demand. At every stage of their lives, the baby-boom generation has created unique problems because of its size. When the baby boomers were young, their numbers could also create opportunities. All these new kids needed things—diapers and toys at first, school buildings and clothes, records and cars later, and all kinds of products that created a booming economy. For twenty-five years after World War II, the United States enjoyed great economic prosperity. Many baby boomers grew up in material comfort, much more so than their parents who had suffered through the Depression and World War II.

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The baby boom created great demand for housing, which helped create the many new suburban communities that sprung

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up after 1945. The baby boomers spurred the growth of what is called “consumer culture” and especially “youth culture.” Because many baby boomers were economically comfortable as they grew up, they had money to spend on luxuries. They bought lots of records and so helped make rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music popular in the mid-1950s and after. They went to the movies, so movies were made about them, most famously Rebel Without a Cause (1955), starring James Dean (see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3), about a troubled teenager bored with life. Books such as The Catcher in the Rye (1951; see entry under 1950s— Print Culture in volume 3) by J. D. Salinger (1919–) captured this teenage anxiety as well. They were also the first generation to grow up with television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and TV catered to their needs and experiences. Later, many baby boomers grew bored with the comfortable middle-class lives many of them led. In the 1960s, they experimented with drugs, Eastern religions, and alternative lifestyles. The hippie (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) counterculture was most famously displayed at the Woodstock (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) Music Festival in 1969. The boredom many baby boomers felt with their comfortable lives also led them to examine and question some of the big problems in American life. That questioning was partly responsible for creating some of the most sweeping social changes in American life. Although their own lives were comfortable, they began to notice that others, even of their own generation, were not as fortunate. The term “baby boomer” is in many ways a stereotype, one that describes white, middle-class, suburban kids but leaves out poor and minority communities. In the early 1960s, as the first boomers went off to college, they were troubled by racial segregation and discrimination that was brought to light by the African American civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s— The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the time. Some baby boomers joined with African Americans in this struggle. Politically, baby boomers were troubled by the Cold War (the political and military standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in 1946 and ended in 1991; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), and the threat nuclear weapons presented to everyone’s lives. They also began to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War (1954–75), an outgrowth of the Cold War. Many of the baby

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boomers could avoid the war at first by attending college. Many of the poorer baby boomers who could not go to college fought in Vietnam. Fifty-eight thousand died in that effort. Baby boomers protested the war in greater numbers during the 1960s, helping to finally end it. The social protest of the 1960s, with its questioning of authority and social injustice, was due in large part to the baby-boom generation. As the baby-boom generation matured in the 1970s and 1980s, many left behind their youthful rebellion and became what were called “yuppies” (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), slang for young urban professionals. Although many baby boomers had once criticized the boredom of affluence, as they began their own families, the boomers sought secure and high-paying jobs that would provide them with their own affluent lifestyles. At whatever stage of their lives, the baby-boom generation has proved to be a powerful force in American political, social, and cultural life. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam Books, 1987. Hamilton, Neil A., et al., eds. Atlas of the Baby Boom Generation. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. Jones, Landon Y. Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980. Light, Paul Charles. Baby Boomers. New York: Norton, 1988. Makower, Joel. Boom!: Talkin’ About Our Generation. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1985. Owram, Doug. Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby Boom Generation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

The Bomb Since the first atomic bomb exploded in a test in the desert of New Mexico in early 1945, the United States, and the world, has had to live with the constant threat of thermonuclear destruction. More than just a military weapon, atomic weapons, or simply, “the bomb,” had an extensive influence on American culture after 1945. 618

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As World War II (1939–45) began in Europe, prominent scientists, including Albert Einstein (1879–1955), urged U.S. pres-

ident Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) to begin a program to build an atomic bomb. The scientific theories necessary to create an atomic bomb had been around since 1905, but the news that Germany, the clear aggressor in starting the war, was moving to build an atomic bomb created a special urgency. President Roosevelt authorized the program, known as the Manhattan Project, in December 1941, just before the United States entered the war. Working in extreme secrecy, scientists developed the bomb and first tested it at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The bomb was used against people

A five-thousand-foot water column rises into a mushroom cloud after the U.S. government exploded an underwater atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on July 25, 1946. UPI/Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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only twice: at Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, and at Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945. After the war, atomic weapons were developed further. A newer, more powerful version—the hydrogen bomb—was first tested in 1949. By this time, a Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) had developed between the United States and the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949, an arms race developed that would have an inescapable impact on American culture. With the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), nuclear bombs could now be carried to far-off places by unmanned rockets. With these missiles and bombs aimed at each other, a standoff began between the United States and the Soviet Union. The moment of greatest tension during this standoff occurred in October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union attempted to put ICBMs in Cuba, just ninety miles off the coast of Florida. During this crisis, the world came as close as it has ever come to launching a full-scale nuclear war. Living with the fear of the bomb did not rest solely with American political leaders. Fear of the bomb affected almost everyone in the United States. With Cold War tensions high in the 1950s and early 1960s, concern over the bomb reached, quite literally, into everyone’s backyard. Many Americans built underground bomb shelters in their yards as safe havens from a nuclear attack. These metal or concrete containers contained canned food and water and simple bunks. The idea was that with a nuclear-attack alert, a family could descend into their shelter and wait out the attack for several weeks until it was safe to emerge again. Whether or not they would really provide protection mattered less than the feeling of safety the shelters supplied. In schools during the 1950s and beyond, children were instructed in how to prepare for a nuclear attack. “Duck and cover” drills were conducted. During the drills, the children would get under their desks, cover their heads, and curl up into a ball. Public-safety films instructed adults in how to protect themselves from nuclear attack.

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Those fears also found their way into popular culture. Novels such as On the Beach (also a popular film) by Nevil Shute (1899–1960) and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (1907–1964) dramatized the aftermath of a nuclear war on ordinary people. The 1963 film Dr. Strangelove (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999),

Cold War

was a darkly humorous parody of the entire military, government, and nuclear-science establishment. In his portrayals of idiotic military and political leaders, Kubrick pointed out the absurdity of atomic weapons. The film Fail-Safe, from 1964, was a more serious take on the same subject. It told the story of American bombers mistakenly sent to bomb the Soviet Union with no way to recall them. In 1983, the made-for-television film The Day After created quite a controversy in its depiction of the nuclear bombing of a midwestern city and the efforts of the survivors to struggle through the aftermath. Coming during a time of increased activism against nuclear weapons in the early 1980s, The Day After reminded people that nuclear war was still a very real threat. Although the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the threat of the bomb has not gone away. A dozen or so nations have nuclear weapons. By the turn of the twenty-first century—and especially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.—the nuclear threat now seemed to lie less with full-scale nuclear attack than with a single bomb unleashed by a terrorist group or an unstable nation. Until humanity achieves the complete dismantling of all nuclear weapons, living with the bomb will continue to be a part of everyday life. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Boyer, Paul. By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age. New York: Pantheon, 1985. Frank, Pat. Alas, Babylon. New York: Bantam, 1959. Powaski, Ronald E. March to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1939 to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Seddon, Tom. Atom Bomb. New York: Scientific American Books for Young Readers, 1995. Shute, Nevil. On the Beach. New York: William Morrow, 1957. Whitfield, Stephen J. The Culture of the Cold War. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

Cold War The tension between the democratic and the communist countries, called the Cold War, dominated American political

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and cultural life between 1945 and 1991. World War II (1939–45) left only two major superpowers standing: the United States and the Soviet Union. Although they had been allies in World War II, the countries had very different political systems. Each sought to dominate the postwar world. This struggle divided the world into two major groups: democratic nations led by the United States and communist nations led by the Soviet Union. Rather than existing peacefully, with each side content with its system of government, both the United States and the Soviet Union felt threatened by each other. The United States desired as many free trading partners as possible to keep the U.S. capitalist system going. The Soviet Union believed in the communist system, in which the state controls the economy and production methods and owns all property. Furthermore, the Soviet Union believed that capitalism, an evil system from their perspective, was doomed to fail. The Soviet Union sought to speed up that process by encouraging more nations to become communist. Because both the Americans and the Soviets had the atomic bomb (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) after 1949, they did not want to fight a “hot” war against each other for fear of destroying the world. Not wanting to destroy humanity, they engaged in a “cold” war. Rather than fighting each other directly, they fought through other, smaller nations, as they did in the Korean War (1950–53) and Vietnam War (1954–75). They also threatened each other in a high-stakes game of bluffing (as in the Berlin Airlift of 1948, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and other smaller standoffs). Both sides made sure the other feared utter destruction if direct military conflict broke out. This process continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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The Cold War had a profound influence on American culture. Its influence colored many novels, films, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs. Readers learned of the horrors of nuclear war in Alas Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank (1907–1964); of communist brainwashing in The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon (1915–1996); and of political intrigue in Advice and Consent by Allen Drury (1918–1998). In the 1940s, Hollywood (see entry under 1930s— Film and Theater in volume 2) had produced a few films that celebrated the wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union. As animosity between the countries grew during the Cold War, new films highlighting the Soviets as a “Red

In the 1960s, the film Fail-Safe (1964) imagined a computer glitch sending American planes to bomb Moscow, the Soviet capital. That same year, Dr. Strangelove (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), used a plot similar to Fail-Safe to satirize American obsession with the Cold War. The film’s final image shows actor Slim Pickens (1919–1983) riding a falling atomic bomb as if it was a bucking bronco, hooting, hollering, and waving his hat as he fell to earth. The communist threat proved a popular topic well into the 1980s. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) tells the story of a man who goes back to Vietnam to rescue American prisoners of war held by the communist North Vietnamese. Red Dawn, a 1984 film about a Soviet invasion of the United States, focuses on a group of teenagers who fight against the Soviets. The Cold War also spurred interest in spy novels and films. British spy character James Bond, created by Sir Ian Fleming (1908–1964), proved a big hit at the box office in films such as From Russia with Love (1963). Other spy films followed, including The Ipcress File (1965) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). Television also reflected the Cold War in such shows as I Spy, costarring Bill Cosby (1937–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) and Robert Culp (1930–). The Man From U.N.C.L.E, a spoof of James Bond films (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), enjoyed some popularity in the mid-1960s. Get Smart was a humorous take on the Cold War with a bumbling spy played by Don Adams (1926–). The Cold War also invaded family and school life. The threat of nuclear war spurred many people to build bomb shelters in their yards. These concrete shelters, about the size of small school buses, were buried in the yard with only a small air vent and an entry tunnel showing above ground. Inside, they contained sleeping cots, canned food, water, and other emergency supplies. School children were taught how to protect themselves against a nuclear attack. In the film Duck and Cover, a cartoon character named Bert the Turtle instructed kids to “duck and cover,” much like a turtle does, in the case of a nuclear explosion. Children went through duck-and-cover drills at school. At the sound of a siren, they would have to duck and cover under their desks.

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Menace” were produced. (Red is a nickname for communist.) These films include I Married a Communist (1950) and Invasion U.S.A. (1952).

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Looking back at this time period, some of the hysteria over the Cold War in popular culture might seem a little crazy, but the fear of communism and nuclear war that was at the heart of the Cold War was something that many people took very seriously. The fear that often gripped the nation was at its worst in the late 1940s and 1950s, but it only let up completely when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Barson, Michael. “Better Dead Than Red”: A Nostalgic Look at the Golden Years of Russiaphobia, Red-Baiting, and Other Commie Madness. New York: Hyperion, 1992. Brands, H. W. The Devil We Knew: Americans and the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies. “The Cold War and Red Scare in Washington State.” Uwired Outreach. www.washington.edu/uwired/ outreach/cspn/curcan/main.html (accessed February 26, 2002). “The Cold War.” http://www.activehistory.co.uk/GCSE/thecoldwar.htm (accessed February 26, 2002). Dickstein, Morris. Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties. New York: Penguin Books, 1989. Henriksen, Margot A. Dr. Strangelove’s America: Society and Culture in the Atomic Age. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Whitfield, Stephen J. The Culture of the Cold War. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.

Federal Bureau of Investigation In 1908, Charles Bonaparte (1851–1921), the attorney general for President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), started the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Its aim was to investigate federal crimes for the Department of Justice with a small force of federal agents. J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), director of the FBI from 1924 until his death in 1972, created the FBI’s most lasting image as a bureau of dedicated sleuths.

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The first comic strip about an FBI hero was Secret Agent X-9 (1934), created by detective fiction (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) writer Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). Pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2)

of the era were soon full of exciting (and some very unlikely) FBI agent adventure stories. The bureau’s hard-nosed government men (nicknamed G-men) were first featured on film as heroes in G-Men (1935), starring James Cagney (1899–1986; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 3). Other FBI movies soon followed, including Public Hero Number One (1935), Let ’em Have It (1935), and Public Enemy’s Wife (1936). The FBI’s counterintelligence role in World War II (1939–45) added to the bureau’s popular legend. Films like Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) and radio shows such as The FBI in Peace and War (1944–58) glamorized the hunt for Nazi agents in the United States. The FBI’s active part in the anticommunist purges of the 1950s were fictionalized in such radio series as I Was a Communist for the FBI (1952–53). Hoover’s own nonfiction book, Masters of Deceit (1958), helped define the FBI in American popular culture at the time. In the book, Hoover deftly creates a picture of the world as a terrifying place (filled with dangerous communists) from which only G-men can protect America.

Former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s legacy includes establishing formal training for all agents at the National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

From the beginning of fictional depictions of G-men in comics, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and film, the FBI had a strong hand in shaping the characters and the stories. One of the most popular fictional FBI agents was Chip Hardesty, created for the film The FBI Story in 1959. Starring Jimmy Stewart (1908–1997) as Hardesty, the film traces Hardesty’s four-decade-long career with the FBI, which involves him in many of the bureau’s most famous cases. The bureau had substantial input into the film, and even more in the TV series The FBI, which ran from 1965 to 1973. Each script required FBI approval before filming. The FBI continues to be featured in print, television, and film. The film Mississippi Burning (1988) dramatized (inaccurately, some critics claimed) the bureau’s hunt for the murderers of

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three civil rights workers in 1964. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) won several Academy Awards for its story of a female FBI agent (Jodie Foster, 1962–) in search of a serial killer and prompted a surge in FBI applications by women. In the 1990s, TV series such as Twin Peaks (1990–91) and The X-Files (1993–2002) featured FBI agents working against paranormal happenings. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Federal Bureau of Investigation. http://www.FBI.gov (accessed February 26, 2002). Powers, Richard Gid. G-Men: Hoover’s FBI in American Popular Culture. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Theoharis, Athan G., Tony G. Poveda, Susan Rosenfield, and Richard Gid Powers. The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. New York: Oryx Press, 1999.

Hot Rods A hot rod is a factory-made automobile that has been remodeled to make it faster, flashier, and more interesting. Ever since cars were first mass produced, car owners have altered their cars to put their own personal mark on their vehicle. Even Henry Ford (1863–1947) himself, who produced the first factory-made cars, modified his own Model T (see entry under 1900s— Commerce in volume 1), making it lighter and faster for racing. The term hot rod may have been a shortened version of “hot roadster,” as sporty roadsters were among the first cars to be cut down and souped up for racing in the 1930s. Young men of the Depression era (1929–41) could not afford new cars. Those who wanted flashy, fast cars had to make them from the bodies of old cars they could buy cheaply. After World War II (1939–45), many young soldiers returned from battle with new mechanical skills and an urge for adventure. Hot rod culture began to take root, especially in southern California, where miles of dry lake beds outside Los Angeles provided room to race the fast cars. Mechanics like Lee Chapel and George Wright opened “speed shops.” In these shops, they created their works of art, hot rods that were meant to race, not in circles on a track, but in long straight lines called “drag races.” 626

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Soon, wild young hot rodders did not bother heading for the dry lakes but gathered to race on the streets of the city, prompt-

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ing Los Angeles newspapers to start a campaign against the “hot rod menace.” The Southern California Timing Association, which had formed in 1938 to help regulate hot rod races, tried to calm the conflict over hot rodding. In 1948, the association held a big hot rod show in Los Angeles to demonstrate that hot rods were not just for hoodlums. That same year Hot Rod magazine was published for the first time. Its editor, Wally Parks (1913–), started the National Hot Rod Association in 1951. Hot rodding had always been a social activity. Dozens of hot rod clubs, with names like Outriders and Night Flyers, formed around the country. The 1970s saw a different era in hot rodding as creative mechanics began to create “street rods.” Street rods are cars with vintage bodies, but they also contain modern engines and many modern features, such as air conditioning and compact disc (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) players. In the mid-1990s, Chrysler Corporation took the phenomenon a step further by marketing a factory-made street rod, the PT Cruiser, a modern car with a sporty but retro design. (A retro design is in the style of an earlier time.) —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Ganahl, Pat. “The Emergence of the Hot Rod.” Hot Rod (January 1998): pp. 130–36. Ganahl, Pat. Hot Rods and Cool Customs. New York: Artabras, 1996. Hot Rod (40th Anniversary Edition; January 1988). Pernu, Dennis. Hot Rods. Minneapolis: Capstone Press, 1995. Yates, Brock. “Hot Rods Redux: Hot Rods as Folk Art.” American Heritage (Vol. 50, no. 4, July 1999): pp. 68–76.

Las Vegas Las Vegas, located in southwestern Nevada, is the gambling mecca—the place most gamblers dream of visiting—of the United States. Surrounded by a combination of mountains and desert, it is a city of glitz, of neon-lit streets, and of luxurious casinos that attract visitors to wager their money and, perhaps, if luck shines on them, win. Las Vegas was established by a land grant in 1835. The area originally was called Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Las

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A view of the Las Vegas strip in 1953. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Vegas Grandes (Our Lady of the Sorrows of the Great Meadows). The name eventually was shortened to Las Vegas (The Meadows). The area soon was charted by explorer John C. Frémont (1813–1890). Las Vegas became a trading post along the Santa Fe Trail. The Mormons also colonized it. Just after the turn of the twentieth century, Las Vegas was a small watering hole with several hotels and stores, a saloon, and a few thousand residents. Most of Las Vegas’s development before World War II (1939–45) came about in the early 1930s, in conjunction with construction of the Boulder Dam, located 40 miles away on the Nevada-Arizona border, and the legalization of gambling throughout most of Nevada. However, by 1941, only a handful of casinos and hotels had been constructed in the city. Then, with the opening of two hotels—the El Rancho, a 63-room resort, in 1941, and the Hotel Last Frontier, a 107-room facility, the following year—came the birth of what today is known as the Las Vegas Strip.

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New York mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906–1947) sensed that Las Vegas was an untapped source of riches for organized crime. In 1946, just after the end of the war, he over-

Levittown

saw construction of the Flamingo, an extravagant gambling house-nightspot-hotel that ushered in the city’s modern era. Other lavish casinos followed, including the Thunderbird, the Sahara, the Sands, the Dunes, the Desert Inn, and the Riviera. The casinos sported mammoth swimming pools, thousands of rooms, gaudy decor, and nightclubs that spotlighted the era’s top entertainers. Mobsters ruled the town through the 1950s, with millions in laundered money pouring through Las Vegas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) eventually began cracking down on the hoodlums who were most openly operating the casinos. In 1966, legendary, eccentric aviation-pioneer Howard Hughes (1905–1976) moved into the fifteenth-floor penthouse of the Desert Inn. The following year, he purchased the hotel for $14 million and also bought several other hotels and casinos, the city’s airport, and additional prime real estate. A reputable businessman finally controlled much of Las Vegas. Eventually, the city’s image became more corporate and more positive. In 1971, Hilton became the first hotel chain to open a branch in Las Vegas. Others followed; the most impressive among them was the massive MGM Grand. In 2002, Las Vegas had over thirty-five thousand hotel rooms. Thirty million people visit the city each year. The Nevada Gaming Commission and the FBI watch over Las Vegas’s gambling operation. Supposedly, little if any mob involvement remains. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Balboni, Alan Richard. Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1996. Berman, Susan. Lady Las Vegas: The Inside Story Behind America’s Neon Oasis. New York: TV Books, 1996. Land, Barbara, and Myrick Land. A Short History of Las Vegas. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1999. McCracken, Robert D. Las Vegas: The Great American Playground. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997.

Levittown Levittown was the first successful large-scale suburban housing development in the United States. Suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) existed to some

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A post–World War II boom in housing led to the rapid growth of suburbs like Levittown, New York, America’s first massproduced suburb. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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extent in the 1800s, but they were mostly for rich people. When it opened in 1948 on Long Island outside New York City, Levittown brought suburban living to ordinary middle- and working-class Americans. When World War II (1939–45) ended, the U.S. economy was booming. The Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) was over, and people looked forward to plentiful jobs and good times. Millions of people, many just returned from the war, wanted to start a new life. Many were tired of living in cramped city apartments. They wanted fresh air, grass, and safe places for their kids to play. Housing developers William Levitt (1907–1994) and his brother Alfred recognized these needs and came up with a new way to meet them. In 1946, they purchased 1,500 acres of potato fields in Nassau County, Long Island, and built 6,000 small houses there. By 1951, over 15,000 houses had been built. The key to their success was in their production methods. They applied the assembly-line process, first pioneered by car-maker Henry Ford (1863–1947), to house building. Teams of workers moved from one house site to the next doing one thing over and over. One team prepared the

This new neighborhood, called Levittown, was immediately successful. The homes were inexpensive, and they quickly filled up with young couples and their children. Although critics complained of the dull sameness of Levittown, people liked having their own homes in a friendly neighborhood. Kids loved that there were always other playmates nearby. Although Levittown was immensely successful, its importance lies in its prominence as a model copied by builders across the United States. The modern suburb, and much of modern America, owes a great deal to the example of Levittown.

Spring Break

site and laid a concrete foundation. The next team put up prefabricated walls. Another team put in plumbing fixtures, another did the electrical work, and so on, until everything was done and the house was ready. This system was possible because all the Levitt houses were largely the same. At one point, Levitt’s teams were starting and finishing 150 houses a day.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information Conrad, P. Our House: Stories of Levittown. New York: Scholastic, 1995. Gans, Herbert. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a Suburban Community. New York: Pantheon Books, 1967. Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. “Levittown at Fifty.” LI History.com. http://www.lihistory.com/specsec/ levmain.htm (accessed February 22, 2002).

Spring Break The end of the cold, dark winter has long been an occasion for celebration in many different cultures around the world. Purim, Passover, Mardi Gras, and Easter are all ancient celebrations that replaced even more ancient celebrations of the renewal of life, warmth , and growth that comes with spring. The week-long spring break from school has become a modern tradition, beloved by some, dreaded by others. Spring vacation gives students a break from the tensions of schoolwork, but the warm weather also seems to bring with it an irresistible urge to party. For college students especially, spring break has become a sort of coming-of-age ritual. At the threshold of adulthood, but not quite there, hundreds of thousands of college students each year head to warm beaches

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or skiing hot spots for a week of fun—the wilder the better. Drunkenness, casual sex, and vandalism are all too often a part of the spring break “scene” in cities like Panama City, Florida, and Cancún, Mexico. The tradition of celebrating spring break by heading south for a good time with other vacationing students began in 1936. The swim coach at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, took the college swim team to train in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The students kept coming back, and the tradition spread. By 1953, 15,000 students were filling the hotels and beaches of Fort Lauderdale; by 1985, the number had grown to 350,000. The 1980s were the peak time of wild spring break parties, when resort places like Daytona Beach, Florida, and South Padre Island, Texas, were crammed with vacationing students. Since then, many cities have taken measures to reduce and control crowds. Even students themselves have looked for alternatives to the party scene. Many join organized programs to fill their spring break doing charity work. Novels and films have both documented and advertised the rise of spring break in the 1960s and its peak in the 1980s. The beach party films of the 1960s represent the lighthearted side of the phenomenon, as does the 1983 film Spring Break. The classic spring break story is told in Where the Boys Are by Glendon Swarthout (1918–1992). The 1958 novel about college students on vacation in Fort Lauderdale was made into a popular film in 1960 and again in 1984. Stories and films about spring break continued to be made into the new century. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Kalogerakis, George. “How to Win Friends . . . And Throw Up on People.” Esquire (Vol. 117, no. 4, April 1992): pp. 82–91. Sheffield, Skip. “A Spring Break History.” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service (March 24, 1994). “Spring Break—And Not A Beer Bash In Sight: Student Volunteerism During Spring Break.” Business Week (Iss. 3625, April 19, 1999): pp. 4–6. Waldrop, Judith. “Spring Break.” American Demographics (Vol. 15, no. 3, March 1993): pp. 52–55.

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Teen idols are an offshoot of mass-marketed twentieth-century popular culture. Most often, teen idols are movie and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) actors

or pop singers and singing groups. Adolescent heartthrobs may be teens themselves, but rarely are they far beyond their early- to mid-twenties. Some are traditionally handsome, but most are best described as “super-cute.” Their fans are preteen and adolescent girls who scream and faint in their presence. For the youngster, the idol is a romanticized love-object. Teen idols are marketed and sold to their target audience, who are ever-eager to purchase their records, buy tickets to their movies and concerts, and own anything with their images plastered on it, from teen-oriented magazines to—late in the century—posters, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), pins, and lunch boxes. In the late 1920s, actor-singer Rudy Vallee (1901–1986) induced swoons (fainting and collapsing) among teen girls when he sang through a megaphone. However, the true pioneer among teen icons (symbols) was Frank Sinatra (1915–1998; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). Back in the mid-1940s, he serenaded dreamy, romantic ballads to teen girls. These girls were known as “bobbysoxers” (see entry under 1940s—Fashion in volume 3), for the type of socks that were then in style. They swooned over Sinatra, just as their mothers had over Vallee. The next set of teenagers, still wearing those bobby socks, did the same when Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) performed, during the rise in popularity of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and the emergence of American teen culture in the mid-1950s. Presley’s appeal was far more sexual than Sinatra’s. Girls were attracted to his swiveling hips and curling lip, and his hit songs were as rowdy (“Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock”) as they were romantic (“Love Me Tender”). Other late 1950s–early 1960s pretty-boy-handsome rock-and-roll teen idols included Frankie Avalon (1939–), Ricky Nelson (1940–1985), Fabian (1940–), and Bobby Rydell (1942–). Some, like Presley, had staying power. For most, though, the fame was relatively short lived. Across the decades, rock groups from New Kids on the Block to *NSYNC became teen idols. However, the Beatles (see entry

Singer and actor David Cassidy made teenage girls swoon in the early 1970s. Henry Diltz/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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under 1960s—Music in volume 4) have had the most everlasting fame and cultural impact. Around 1964 and 1965, the burning questions among adolescent girls were which Beatle was the cutest and which was the most lovable. Furthermore, the moptop hairstyle (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) the band members wore became the driving force behind the mass-acceptance of long hair as a male fashion statement. In this regard, the Beatles’ influence on pop culture transcended their teen-idol status. The 1960s and 1970s saw a generation of young TV stars emerge as real teen heartthrobs. Among them were Richard Chamberlain (1935–), who played Dr. Kildare (1961–66; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4); David Cassidy (1950–) of The Partridge Family (1970–74; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4); and John Travolta (1954–) of Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–79). Travolta cemented his teen-idol status when he appeared on screen as disco king Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977; see entry under 1970s— Film and Theater in volume 4). A decade earlier, James Dean (1931–1955; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) became a teen icon while playing anxiety-ridden adolescents in East of Eden (1955) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955). In the 1990s, Leonardo DiCaprio (1974–), a young movie actor and Academy Award nominee (for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, 1993), won teen heartthrob status in the wake of a single screen role: He played an heroic but ill-fated passenger on board the Titanic (1997; see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1). Additionally, teen idols may enter areas of show business other than the one that created their popularity. Handsome movie actor Tab Hunter (1931–), a 1950s teen icon, cut records, as did Chamberlain and Travolta, while musical performers from Sinatra and Presley onward starred on screen. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Brown, Peter Harry, and Pat H. Broeske. Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley. New York: Dutton, 1997. Gilmore, John. Live Fast—Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1997. MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt, 1994. Norman, Philip. Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation. New York: Warner Books, 1982. Teen Idols. http://teenidols.studentcenter.org (accessed February 25, 2002).

Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been noted by observers of the night sky since people first raised their eyes to gaze at the stars. However, the idea that these unidentified objects might be visitors from other planets originated with the age of science and technology that followed World War II (1939–45). The excitement and fear caused by this new technological age led to an exciting and frightening new belief: that there are intelligent beings on other planets who wish to communicate with us. Some view this belief as simple common sense: in all the vastness of the universe, there must be other planets with beings similar to humankind. Others see the belief in life on other planets as superstitious nonsense with no scientific proof to back it up. These skeptics insist that UFOs can always be explained as military aircraft, research balloons, unusual weather phenomena, or simply as hoaxes, fabricated by their so-called observers.

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One common response of those who believe in visitors from outer space has been fear of attack. In 1898, H. G. Wells (1866–1946) published his science-fiction work The War of the Worlds (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2), about an attack on Earth by aliens from Mars. When his work was broadcast as a radio play in 1938, it caused panic among many who heard it. Radio listeners believed it was a newscast about a real assault. Fears were heightened during the wartime 1940s, when UFO sightings began in earnest, as U.S. citizens were encouraged to scan the skies for enemy aircraft. Along with the usual airplanes and weather balloons, watchers began to report sightings of objects they could not identify or explain. New rocket technology developed during the war seemed to increase the possibility of space travel. The 1947 sightings of “flying saucers” over Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington and rumors of alien bodies recovered from a spaceship crash in Roswell, New Mexico, gave further support to the idea that human beings were not alone in the universe. The Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) years fostered the idea of hidden enemies. The number of UFO sightings continued to rise throughout the 1950s and 1960s. These sightings led to the creation of organizations for believers like the Unaris Educational Foundation and the Mutual UFO Network. The Mutual UFO Network still publishes a monthly journal and seeks volunteer UFO investigators.

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UFOs llustration depicting an eyewitness sighting of UFOs over Mt. Rainier, Washington, in 1947, from The Coming of the Saucers (1952), written by Kenneth Arnold. Fortean Picture Library. Reproduced by permission.

Another element of the UFO phenomenon is the idea of alien abduction. There have been many books on the subject, notably The Interrupted Journey (1966) by John G. Fuller (1913–) and Communion (1987) by Whitley Strieber (1945–). These books tell the stories of those who say they have been kidnapped and experimented on by aliens. The mystery of UFOs continues to intrigue people worldwide. —Tina Gianoulis

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Cohen, Daniel. A Close Look at Close Encounters. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1981. Collins, Jim. Unidentified Flying Objects. Orlando, FL: Raintree SteckVaughn, 1983. Evans, Hilary. Coming from the Skies: Our Neighbors from Above. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2001. Jastrow, Robert. “The Case for UFOs.” Science Digest (November-December 1980): pp. 82–86. Mansueto, Anthony. “Visions of Cosmopolis: Belief in UFOs.” Omni (October 1994): pp. 64–71. Mutual UFO Network. http://www.mufon.com (accessed February 26, 2002). Netzley, Patricia D. UFOs. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000.

1950s Pop Culture Explodes in a Decade of Conformity The 1950s are most often remembered as a quiet decade, a decade of conformity, stability, and normalcy. After the tumult of the 1930s and 1940s—with their sustained economic depression (1929–41) and world war (1939–45)—the 1950s did seem quiet. America was at peace once the conflict in Korea (1950–53) ended. The economy was booming, bringing millions of Americans into the middle class; politics were stable and the president, World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), was beloved by many. For most Americans, the 1950s saw a return to normalcy after the crazy war years. Americans had children in record numbers, continuing a “baby boom” that had begun in the 1940s. They also moved to suburbs in record numbers, and the home construction industry boomed to meet their demand. Popular TV shows of the period like Leave It to Beaver (1957–63), Father Knows Best (1954–63), and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–56) all reflected back to America this calming sense of happy normalcy. These signs of normalcy and quiet prosperity do not obscure the fact that the 1950s saw real social change and awakening— and a remarkable explosion of pop culture. America’s population soared during the decade, from 150 million Americans in 1950 to over 178 million in 1960. School districts raced to build schools for the baby-boom students who were heading their way.

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Knuckle sandwich: A fist delivered to the mouth of an opponent in a fight: “How would you like a knuckle sandwich?”

What We Said:

Passion pit: A drive-in movie where teenagers would go to neck (make out) with their dates.

Beatnik: A person who was very cool, especially one who rejected mainstream values and lived a spontaneous, free-wheeling life. Also called beat.

Square: Someone who was uncool.

Cat: A cool guy, used for years among jazz musicians. Cherry: Used by hot rodders to express approval for a beautifully restored car. Looking at a soupedup Model A Ford, one might say “That A-bomb is cherry!” Chick: A cool girl, used for years among jazz musicians. Cool: A multipurpose word to express approval of someone or something, cool has been used throughout American history but gained wide usage in the 1950s. Cooties: An invisible curse carried by social outcasts. Preteen boys often worried that girls had cooties. First base: Among teenagers, getting to first base meant kissing, with the terms “second base,” “third base,” and “going all the way” meaning ever greater sexual progress. The fuzz: The police. “Just the facts, ma’am”: This expression became popular thanks to its usage by Sgt. Joe Friday on the popular TV show Dragnet.

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Squaresville: One of several -ville slang terms, this one meant the place where uncool people— squares—came from. Turf: The territory controlled by a youth gang. What We Read: Mickey Spillane adventure novels: Spillane’s books featured the fast gun and romantic exploits of detective Mike Hammer. By mid-decade, seven of the ten best-selling novels in American history were written by Spillane. The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook (1950): Though it never reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list, this popular cookbook was the single best-selling book of the decade. From Here to Eternity (1951): James Jones’s World War II book about life on an army base in Hawaii was filmed in 1953 as a popular movie starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, and Frank Sinatra. The book stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for twenty weeks and the movie won several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Caine Mutiny (1951): One of the longest lasting best-sellers of all time, this war novel by Herman Wouk held its place on the New York Times list for 48 weeks. The book also won the Pulitzer Prize.

A compelling social and cultural force during the decade was the Cold War (1945–91), the name given to the long battle for supremacy between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War filtered into all areas of American life. It encouraged Americans to improve the quality of education, because most Americans believed that their children needed to be better educated to compete against the Soviet menace. American government and industry invested heavily in science and technol-

1950s At a Glance (continued) The Power of Positive Thinking (1952): This inspirational self-help book by author Norman Vincent Peale holds the record for the longest reign as the #1 best-seller in America: it spent 98 weeks atop the New York Times list. Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953): Although the book was denounced as a threat to American morals, the follow-up to Alfred Kinsey’s report on the sexual behavior of males became a best-seller. (But sales of a new edition of the Bible were far greater.) Playboy (1953–): The first mass-market men’s magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Hugh Hefner, rocketed to popularity when it published nude pictures of rising movie star Marilyn Monroe. The magazine promoted the Playboy lifestyle of free sexuality and conspicuous consumption, and its nude Playmates became symbols of the sexy girl-next-door. Sports Illustrated (1954–): The first glossy weekly magazine about sports, this production of the Time-Life company soon became the most popular sports magazine of the century. The magazine introduced the first swimsuit issue in 1964. Lolita (1955): This novel by Russian-born author Vladimir Nabokov remains one of the most notorious novels of the century. It tells the story of an aging man’s love affair with a twelve-year-old girl in terms that were deemed obscene by four American publishers. The book was turned into a movie in 1962 and again in 1997.

Peyton Place (1956): This sensational novel by Grace Metalious revealed the adultery, incest, murder, and petty infighting in a small town in New England. The book was later made into a movie and a TV series, as well as sequels in print and on film. The Hidden Persuaders (1957): This book by journalist and social critic Vance Packard revealed the ways that the advertising and public relations industries manipulate people’s opinions. It is credited with raising people’s skepticism about the advertising images with which they were increasingly bombarded. What We Watched: Texaco Star Theater (1948–53): This variety show became the most popular program on TV in the early 1950s thanks to the antics of Milton Berle, a comedian who often dressed up as a woman and became known as “Mr. Television” and “Uncle Miltie.” The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–71): The most popular variety show of the 1950s and 1960s was hosted by the awkward Ed Sullivan, who acted as the perfect foil to guests that included the top celebrities of the day. I Love Lucy (1951–57): The first of several shows starring comedienne Lucille Ball, this sitcom depicted the zany antics of housewife Lucy Ricardo, her showman husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz), and their next-door neighbors Fred and Ethel Mertz (played by William Frawley and Vivian Vance). Bwana Devil (1952): Audiences wore colored glasses to see the startling effects of the first 3-D movie.

ogy, in part because Americans believed that one way to win the Cold War was to develop more powerful bombs and more sophisticated technology. Even the massive investments in the national highway system were justified for the speed with which they would allow military goods to flow in the case of nuclear attack. The Cold War had its dark side as well. Simply put, people were paranoid. They feared that wild-eyed, godless communists

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Charlton Heston as the avenging Roman slave and featured a chariot race that took four months to rehearse and three months to produce.

Dragnet (1952–59): “Just the facts, ma’am,” was all Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Joe Friday wanted in this classic cop show starring Jack Webb.

North by Northwest (1959): This Alfred Hitchcockdirected tale of suspense and mistaken identity starred Cary Grant and contained some of the most exciting scenes ever seen on screen.

The $64,000 Question (1955–58): The most popular of the mid–1950s game shows had a featured contestant answer a series of questions leading up to the final, $64,000 question. This was one of several quiz shows that came under question by federal investigators who discovered that some of the programs were rigged. Gunsmoke (1955–75): The longest running Western drama on TV and the longest running prime-time TV show with continuing characters, Gunsmoke began as a radio drama in 1952 and was one of the nation’s most beloved programs. The show, which starred James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, spawned several movies and a range of merchandise and toys. My Fair Lady (1956): The decade’s most successful musical, in a decade when musicals packed theaters; it broke attendance records in New York City. The Ten Commandments (1956): The movie studios reacted to the popularity of television by producing spectacular epics such as this monumental Biblical story of the life of Moses. The sixth highest grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation), The Ten Commandments has been shown annually on television for decades. Ben-Hur (1959): The most spectacular of all the religious epics, this film version of Ben-Hur starred

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Some Like It Hot (1959): This comedy proved to the world that Marilyn Monroe was more than just a sex symbol. Monroe teamed with co-stars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in one of the most acclaimed film comedies of the century. What We Listened To: “Goodnight Irene” (1950): One of the many hits by The Weavers, a folk-pop group that paved the way for the folk revival of the 1960s. “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” (1953): Every decade has its novelty song, and for the 1950s it was this goofy hit by Patti Page, the best-selling female singer of the decade. “Rock Around the Clock” (1955): Performed by Bill Haley and the Comets, this song became the first rock ’n’ roll hit when it became the country’s #1 single on July 9, 1955. “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956): Elvis Presley had his first major hit with this song, and he topped the charts for two solid years with such songs as “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” and “All Shook Up.” “My Prayer” (1956): The Platters became the first African American group to have a #1 hit with this 1956 song.

(those who believe in a system of government in which the state controls the economy and production methods and owns all property) would invade their schools, marry their daughters, or—in their darkest nightmares—drop atomic bombs and turn the country into a nuclear wasteland. Bomb shelters—concrete bunkers—sprouted in backyards. U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (1909–1957) of Wisconsin led an anticommunist witchhunt that eventually led to blacklists in the movie industry.

1950s At a Glance (continued) “Wake Up Little Suzie” (1957): This popular song by the Everly Brothers was banned in Boston, Massachusetts, because of lyrics then considered provocative. “Venus” (1959): This corny love song by teen idol Frankie Avalon was typical of the softer, romantic pop songs of the late 1950s. Who We Knew: Lucille Ball (1911–1989): This popular star of I Love Lucy—the leading sitcom of the 1950s—and several other situation comedies was the most admired and beloved comedienne of the 1950s, and perhaps of the entire twentieth century. Milton Berle (1908–2002): The man known as “Uncle Miltie” and “Mr. Television” became America’s first television star thanks to his hosting of the popular variety show The Texaco Star Theater. Berle had a long career that included early work on the vaudeville stage, roles in movies, and a long career on television.

spun rock ’n’ roll records at WINS in New York and became a national celebrity. Jack Kerouac (1922–1969): The leading figure in the Beat movement (a literary movement that valued spontaneous expressions of feeling over order and form), Kerouac’s novel On the Road (1957) captured the spirit of youths who longed to escape the conventional lives of their parents. Joseph McCarthy (1909–1957): The most famous communist hunter of the 1950s, this U.S. senator from Wisconsin led the charge to search out communist influences in the American government and became a symbol of American extremism. His witch-hunting tactics and careless ruining of reputations helped coin the term “McCarthyism.” Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965): Credited with virtually inventing modern radio and television news, Murrow began his career with radio reports of the coming of World War II in Europe. He went on to set the standard for television news coverage with his programs See It Now (1951–58) and his news coverage for CBS. Murrow won the respect of the world when he publicly challenged the communist hunting tactics of U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969): This popular World War II hero became president in 1953, providing an air of comfortable stability that seemed well suited to the decade. In political campaigns, Americans rallied around their favorite son with the slogan “We Like Ike.”

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1915–1953; 1918–1953): This quiet couple became a Cold War symbol when they were convicted and executed for conspiracy to commit treason after they passed secret documents concerning the American atomic bomb tests to contacts in the Soviet Union. Their execution sparked protests around the world.

Alan “Moondog” Freed (1921–1965): This pioneer of radio disc jockeying coined the phrase “rock ’n’ roll” for the new kind of music he was playing on the Cleveland, Ohio, radio station WJW. Freed soon

Jonas Salk (1914–): This research scientist gained international acclaim as a medical hero following his development of a vaccine against the crippling disease polio in 1955.

Against this conflicting backdrop of contented normalcy and dark fears, new forms of popular culture flowered. Topping the list was the birth of rock and roll, a new form of music that combined black and white musical forms into a powerful new kind of music that thrilled American youth. Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was the king of rock ’n’ roll, but there were also a dozen princes—including Chuck Berry (1926–), Little Richard (1932–), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935–), and many others. Their music

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blared from the radios of hot rod cars parked at drive-in diners throughout America. Television came into its own in the 1950s. Millions of Americans purchased TV sets and the big three networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—produced a wealth of new programming, including situation comedies, westerns, variety shows, and dramas. Among the most popular shows were Gunsmoke (1955–75), Wagon Train (1957–65), Have Gun Will Travel (1957–63), Make Room for Daddy (retitled The Danny Thomas Show in 1957; ran 1953–65), Father Knows Best (1954–63), and 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64). The movie industry had to adjust to the fact that many Americans now sought their entertainment at home, so they produced bigger, more spectacular, and more exciting films than before. With TV producing wholesome family entertainment, the film industry could devote some of its energies to producing racier fare for adults. The popularity of sports also boomed in the 1950s, helped along by the widespread broadcast of sports on TV. The New York Yankees’ decade-long dominance of professional baseball was the big story, followed closely by the increasing integration (blacks were no longer banned) in baseball and other sports. Professional football finally outstripped college football in popularity. Professional basketball built growing audiences. America’s sports craziness was further encouraged by the country’s first sports weekly, Sports Illustrated. No quick survey can do justice to the variety and energy of 1950s popular culture.

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1950s Commerce With the American economy fully recovered from World War II (1939–45), business in the 1950s was booming. With a gross national product (also called the GNP; the sum of goods and services produced in the country) of $284.6 billion, the United States was by far the largest economy in the world. By the end of the decade, the GNP stood at $482.7 billion. Government, businesses, and unions worked together to keep the economy humming, but perhaps the biggest force in the economy in this decade was the consumer. With more disposable income than ever before, American consumers bought a widening array of goods that gave them the highest standard of living in the world. The ability of American companies to produce a dizzying variety of goods coupled with the availability of disposable income created what is called a “consumer society” or “consumer culture.” This is a culture where consuming goods becomes a marker of social status and a way of creating meaning in people’s lives. Though the roots of American consumer culture lie earlier in the century, the 1950s was the decade when America truly became a consumer culture. There were a number of exciting new products to buy in the 1950s. American automakers produced new, flashy models of cars; among the most popular were the Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford Thunderbird. A German automaker, Volkswagen, began to market a strange new vehicle called the Beetle, and this fuelefficient car became very popular in the 1960s. Timex introduced a wristwatch that could “take a licking and keep on ticking.” Saran Wrap preserved food in refrigerators across the country. One of the most famous products of the decade was the Barbie doll, introduced in 1959. Each of these products and many more were boosted by advertising campaigns that saturated magazines, radio, and television. Advertising grew increasingly important as a way to guide consumption in America. The 1950s also saw changes in the way Americans purchased goods. One of the most striking innovations in retail shopping

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was the emergence of the mall. By collecting a variety of specialty shops in one concentrated shopping area, malls changed the landscapes of American cities and the shopping patterns of American consumers. Another important factor was the credit card, which was invented in 1950. The ease with which consumers could purchase goods at nearly any store fueled the economy of the United States from that moment on, and was a fundamental part of the growth of the American consumer culture.

Barbie The Barbie doll is the best selling fashion doll of all time. By 1998, Mattel Inc., the producer of the doll, estimated that the average American girl between the ages of three and eleven owned ten Barbie dolls. More than just a toy, the Barbie doll has become an American cultural icon (a symbol of American culture). The Barbie doll’s status as an icon stems from its use as a model for young girls’ real life hopes and dreams for their own adult lives. Debates rage over whether or not the doll is an appropriate role model for girls in discussions about women’s relationship to fashion, their independence in the workplace, their interactions with men, and their body image. The doll has been made fun of by musicians and comedians and criticized by feminist scholars. But despite any controversy, children throughout America and the world have embraced the doll. The Barbie doll’s creator, Ruth Handler (1916–2002), developed the doll after noticing her daughter, Barbara, creating imaginative teenage and adult lives for her paper dolls. Backed by Mattel, the successful toy company Ruth ran with her husband Elliot, Ruth introduced the first Barbie doll at the 1959 New York Toy Fair. It was the first American doll sold as a “teenage fashion model.”

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The emphasis on fashion and the “age” of the doll were unique to the toy world at the time. The Barbie doll celebrated high fashion and offered young girls an opportunity to participate in the emerging world of fashion that was being covered by women’s magazines. Mattel offered finely sewn outfits that copied the most desirable fashions of the time. Unlike baby dolls, the 111⁄2-inch Barbie doll had full breasts, a tiny waist, and

curvy hips. The fashionable outfits draped beautifully over the doll’s curves, but some critics worried that young girls who played with the doll would develop unrealistic images about how their own bodies should look. The controversy over this issue has not faded over the more than forty years of the doll’s history. While the teenage fashion model identity for the Barbie doll remains, the doll has also been marketed as an adult capable of pursuing a career. Introduced during a period when most women stayed home to raise families, Mattel offered glamorous wedding dresses for the Barbie doll, but it also created dolls and accessories to allow young girls to imagine an adult life separate from raising a family. In the 1960s, children could dress Barbie as a doctor, a nurse, and an airline flight attendant. Within a decade of the doll’s introduction, the career costumes available for the Barbie doll multiplied rapidly, faster at first than actual opportunities for women did. When the first men walked in space in 1965, Mattel introduced Barbie Astronaut, long before women were able to join the U.S. space program. The Barbie doll could also be a surgeon (1973); an Olympic athlete (1975); a veterinarian, a reporter; a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) ambassador (1989); an army, air force, navy, or marine corps recruit (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992); a police officer (1993); a paleontologist (1997); and a presidential candidate (2000), to name a few.

The original Barbie doll, introduced in 1959. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The pink aisle in most toy stores provides an immediate example of the choices a Barbie doll offers children to play out their individual fantasies. Although sometimes criticized for promoting excessive purchasing, the Barbie doll and its many accessories offer more choices for children than does any other toy on the market. Though the first Barbie dolls were all Caucasian, by the early 1980s, the Barbie doll was also offered in a growing variety of

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ethnicities, beginning with black and Hispanic Barbie dolls. The Dolls of the World Collection included over fifty countries by 2001. While some critics wish to blame the Barbie doll for encouraging young girls to criticize their own physical attributes, to obsess about making themselves appealing to men, or to shop excessively, others see the doll as a blank slate on which children can create their own realities. For many, the Barbie doll dramatizes the conflicting but abundant possibilities for women. Perhaps because there are so many possibilities for American women at the end of the twentieth century, the Barbie doll—fueled by Mattel’s “Be Anything” campaign—continues to be popular. Mattel sold the doll in more than 150 countries by the end of the twentieth century. According to Mattel, two Barbie dolls are sold worldwide every second. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Barbie Millicent Roberts. Preface by Valerie Steele. Photographs by David Levinthal. New York: Pantheon, 1998. Barbie.com. http://www.barbie.com (accessed February 26, 2002). Boy, Billy. Barbie!: Her Life and Times, and the New Theater of Fashion. New York: Crown, 1987. Handler, Ruth, with Jacqueline Shannon. Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story. Stamford, CT: Longmeadow, 1994. Lord, M. G. Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll. New York: William Morrow, 1994. Riddick, Kristin. Barbie: The Image of Us All. http://wsrv.clas.virginia. edu/~tsawyer/barbie/barb.html (accessed February 26, 2002). Tosa, Marco. Barbie: Four Decades of Fashion, Fantasy, and Fun. New York: Abrams, 1998.

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At the beginning of 2000, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine asked its readers to name which modern financial change had the most effect on them personally. The vast majority named the invention of credit cards. These small plastic rectangles, which most businesses now accept in place of cash, have become an everyday feature of modern life. The cards allow shoppers to take a purchase home one day and pay for it later. Credit cards have brought convenience to those who use them. They have also changed the way people both spend and

Department stores first introduced the charge card in the 1920s, usually a small metal plate imprinted with the customer’s name. These “charge plates” inspired loyalty to the store that issued them because they could only be used at that store. In 1950, a New York man named Frank McNamara (1917–1957) had the idea of starting a credit company that would allow its customers to charge at many different places. His company, the Diners Club, collected a fee from participating restaurants and issued a card that allowed members to charge meals at all those restaurants.

Credit Cards

save money and have therefore brought enormous changes to the world economy.

The next step came in 1958, with the Bank Americard (now called Visa), issued by Bank of America. This card was accepted by many stores and businesses, and it added an exciting new feature. Instead of paying the total bill at the end of each month, as had been the usual policy with credit, customers could pay only a portion of their bill, rolling the remaining amount over to future months. For this privilege, however, users paid high interest rates (fees charged for borrowing the company’s money). Other cards continued this profitable policy, notably the Master Charge (later renamed MasterCard), which was introduced in 1966. Not everyone greeted the arrival of credit cards with enthusiasm. Many, including U.S. congressman Wright Patman (1893–1976) of Texas, called in the 1960s for an end to such easy credit. Patman argued that people would spend more money than they had and never learn to save or manage their finances. Credit cards have since become increasingly easier to get and use. There are still many who fear that they allow working people to become trapped by their debts. Others worry that credit cards encourage a society that values easy spending and consuming more than it values hard work and saving. However, the use of credit cards continues to grow. In 1965, as the industry was getting its start, 5 million Americans had credit cards. By 1996, more than 1.4 billion cards were in circulation, charging $991 billion worth of purchases each year. Some kinds of shopping, such as automobile rentals and online buying, are almost impossible without a credit card. The widespread use of credit has given birth to its own brand of crime. Credit card theft and credit card fraud (using trickery and cheating) have become major problems. —Tina Gianoulis

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For More Information Ecenbarger, William. “Plastic Is as Good as Gold.” Reader’s Digest (May 1989): pp. 37–43. Green, Meg. Everything You Need to Know about Credit Cards and Fiscal Responsibility. New York: Rosen Publishing, 2001. Miller, Ted, and Courtney McGrath. “Power to the People.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine (January 2000): pp. 82–85. Nocera, Joseph. A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Ritzer, George. Expressing America. Boston: Pine Forge Press, 1995. Shepherdson, Nancy. “Credit Card America: How We Became a Nation of Instant, Constant Borrowers.” American Heritage (Vol. 42, no. 7, November 1991): pp. 125–33.

Malls Americans love to shop. The United States has for many decades been a consumer culture, one dedicated to acquiring things and enjoying material abundance. Over time, however, where and how Americans have shopped has changed, altering the American landscape and how Americans spend their time. One of the most important changes was the development of the shopping mall.

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Prior to the development of shopping malls, Americans shopped in individual stores in the centers of towns and cities. Major cities were known as the homes of large department stores such as Macy’s in New York City and Hudson’s in Detroit, Michigan. These large department stores were in some ways the forerunners of shopping malls because they carried everything under one roof. Once inside, people could shop in comfort away from the heat and rain of summer or the cold and snow of winter. More Americans moved away from central cities to the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), however. Stores followed them, eventually forming malls to replicate the urban shopping experience, but in a cleaner, more convenient, and comfortable way. The first modern shopping center was Country Club Plaza, developed by J. C. Nichols in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1924. This was basically a strip of shops serving Nichols’ suburban housing development nearby. In 1956, the Southdale Shopping Center opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Southdale was the first completely enclosed, climate-controlled mall. It prompted a host of imitators nationwide. In 1945, there were only eight malls nationwide; by the 1970s, there were more than three thousand malls.

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Over time, malls became much more than places to shop. More and more they came to replace the dense urban shopping districts. Along with shops, malls contained restaurants, including “food courts” with a range of fast food (see entry under 1920s— Food and Drink in volume 2) restaurants, video arcades, comfortable seating, and plants and fountains. Special events were designed to draw in customers and keep them there so they would spend more money. The Mall of America (see entry under 1990s— Commerce in volume 5), near Minneapolis, took all of this a step further by enclosing an amusement park within its enormous space. Malls also became a focal point for teen culture, with teenagers going to the mall for hours at a time, shopping for a while, but also seeing friends and hanging out. By the 1980s, malls were being criticized. Malls were viewed as helping to destroy the vitality of older urban shopping districts and contributing to suburban sprawl, destroying farmland and natural areas. By the 1980s, however, malls had become an inescapable part of the American landscape and of American culture. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Jacobs, Jerry. The Mall. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1984. Kowinski, William. The Malling of America: An Inside Look at the Great Consumer Paradise. New York: William Morrow, 1985. Mall of America. http://www.mallofamerica.com (accessed February 26, 2002).

Saran Wrap A trademark of the Dow Chemical Company, which has marketed it since 1953, Saran Wrap is a clear, flexible plastic wrap used primarily by consumers to preserve the freshness of food items. Introduced to the public in 1953 as Dow’s first consumer product, Saran Wrap was the outgrowth of research and development that had produced many plastics created during World War II (1939–45). Since then, Saran Wrap and similar brands have largely replaced waxed paper as the preferred wrapping for lunchbox sandwiches, leftovers, or refrigerated meats, fruits, and vegetables. Due to its chemical makeup, Saran Wrap can stand up to extreme temperatures. It can be used in the freezer as well as in a microwave oven (although it is not recommended while

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microwaving foods with a high sugar content). This toughness is a major reason for its usefulness and popularity. Dow further points out that “in developing countries where refrigeration is scarce, meat products are extruded into a sausage covered with Saran film that can be shipped and stored without refrigeration for up to six months.” In a memorable comic bit entitled “The 2,000-Year-Old Man,” comedian Mel Brooks (1926–) was asked to name the world’s greatest invention. He answered, “In 2,000 years? Saran Wrap.” —Edward Moran

For More Information Dow Chemical Company. http://dow.com/homepage/index.html (accessed February 26, 2002). Extol of Ohio, Inc. “Saran Wrap Plastic Film.” http://www.extolohio. com/MSDS/Dow-Chemical/saran520.html (accessed February 26, 2002). Green, Joey. “Saran Wrap.” Joey Green’s Wackyuses.com. http://www. wackyuses.com/wf_saran.html (accessed February 26, 2002).

Timex Watches The most famous of all wristwatch brands is Timex, the brand that “takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” When the U.S. Time Company, whose roots date from the 1850s, introduced the Timex in 1950, it revolutionized the time-keeping industry. The wristwatches allowed people to easily tell the time. They were also simply designed, inexpensive, and durable. These improvements played into what was to become one of the most celebrated TV advertising campaigns of all time.

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Timex wristwatches first were promoted in print. Such ads depicted the timepieces attached to the bat of baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) legend Mickey Mantle (1931–1995), affixed to a turtle and to a lobster’s claw, frozen in an ice cube, and twirling inside a vacuum cleaner. Then in the mid-1950s, John Cameron Swayze (1906–1995), a veteran newscaster, began presiding over a series of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) commercials in which the wristwatch was subjected to intricate torture tests. A Timex might be crushed by a jackhammer, tossed about in a dishwasher, or strapped to a diver who plunged off a cliff. After this mistreatment, Swayze held

Across the decades, thousands of viewers wrote the company, proposing scenarios for future torture tests. The ad campaign ended in 1977, with a “failure” that had been planned in advance. In the commercial, an elephant stomped on—and completely crushed—a Timex, at which point Swayze informed the television audience, “It worked in rehearsal.”

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the still-operating wristwatch up to the camera. He then declared that it “takes a licking and keeps on ticking”—a catchphrase that entered the pop-culture vocabulary. The success of the ads resulted in Timex wristwatch sales surpassing the five million mark by 1958. By the end of the decade, one in every three wristwatches sold in the United States was a Timex.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information McDermott, Kathleen. Timex: A Company and Its Community, 1854–1998. Middlebury, CT: Timex Corporation, 1998. Timex Corp. “Our Company History.” Timex. http://www.timex.com/ html/our_company_history.html (accessed February 26, 2002).

Trading Stamps Similar in appearance to postage stamps, trading stamps are small, adhesive-backed coupons. These stamps were once frequently given to consumers when they purchased merchandise from certain retailers. The trading stamps were pasted in small books that could later be redeemed for other merchandise. Retailers commonly gave out one stamp for each purchase of ten cents. The first stamps were issued in 1890 by Schuster’s Department Store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Schuster’s gave the stamps to cash-paying customers to encourage them to forgo charging their purchases. The most prominent trading stamps were S&H Green Stamps, first issued by the Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) Company in 1896. Other major trading-stamp brands included Top Value, King Korn, Triple S, Gold Bell, and Plaid. S&H calls trading stamps “America’s first frequent shopper program and grandfather of marketing programs such as frequent-flyer miles.” During the prime years of trading stamps in the 1950s and 1960s, when they were offered by most large grocery chains and gasoline stations, S&H printed three times as many stamps as the U.S. Post Office. S&H claims that its 1964

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catalog was the largest single publication in the United States. As he did with the Campbell’s Soup (see entry under 1910s— Food and Drink in volume 1) can, pop-artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987) created a series of S&H Green Stamp paintings that confirmed their role as icons (symbols) of popular culture. Trading stamps fell out of favor after the 1970s with the rise of cents-off coupons and other promotions. In 1999, S&H reinvented the trading-stamp concept in digital form, called S&H Greenpoints, describing them as “the new incentive and rewards currency for the next generation of loyalty marketing.” Like trading stamps, Greenpoints were issued by participating merchants to consumers who could redeem them through a catalog or via the S&H Web site. Consumers could choose merchandise, discounts, frequent flyer miles, or contributions to a charity. —Edward Moran

For More Information Fox, Harold W. The Economics of Trading Stamps. Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1968. Some Frequently Asked Questions about S & H and the Trading Stamp Business. New York: Sperry & Hutchinson, 1958. Sperry and Hutchinson Co. S&H Greenpoints. http://www.greenpoints. com (accessed February 26, 2002).

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen (VW) Beetle, a small car with an odd, rounded shape that resembled an insect, is one of the more unusual success stories in the history of the automobile. It first arrived in the United States from Germany in the early 1950s. The little rounded car was very out of place amid all the giant cars the American automotive industry was producing in Detroit, Michigan. Over time, its popularity grew, creating many fans and making an everlasting mark on America’s roads.

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The Beetle was first developed in Germany by Ferdinand Porsche (1909–1998) in the 1930s during the Nazi era as an inexpensive car for ordinary people to own. (Volkswagen means “people’s car” in German.) After World War II (1939–45), Volkswagen began shipping cars to the United States. When they arrived here, they were certainly an oddity. At a time when American cars were big and boxy, were often outfitted with

huge fins, and got terrible gas mileage, the VW Beetle turned all those standards upside down. The Beetle was small and rounded, with an easy-to-repair, air-cooled engine in the back of the car (rather than the front, as with other cars) and a price that was less than most American cars ($1,545 in 1959). The VW Beetle also got great gas mileage—more than thirty miles per gallon at a time when American cars rarely got more than ten miles per gallon. At first, the Beetle appealed to only a small portion of the car-buying public. Over time, however, the car caught on. The Beetle’s popularity was boosted by a brilliant advertising campaign. Volkswagen hired the American advertising firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) in 1959 to do its advertising. Knowing full well that they could never convince the American public the Beetle was more beautiful or more powerful than American cars, they played up the Beetle’s quirky features. They used such slogans as “Ugly is only skin deep” and “A face only a mother could love” to describe the Beetle. Because the Beetle cars did not change much from year to year, unlike American cars, one ad simply offered a blank space with the words, “We

A 1960s Volkswagen Beetle. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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don’t have anything to show you in our new models.” The ads helped create an almost cultlike following for the Beetles. Over the years, the number of Beetle lovers increased. Stories spread about Beetles that got fifty miles per gallon or survived floods and disasters that would have disabled other cars. The real impact of the VW Beetle on American culture came in the ways they were used and in the intense devotion their owners showed to them. One owner said that “owning a VW is like being in love. It’s a member of the family.” Amid the large cars of Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s, it took some courage to buy an odd-looking German car. In the early years, Beetles were rare and spotting another one on the road often resulted in a honk of the horn or a wave in fellowship. By the 1960s, when Beetles were more common, they became associated with young people and youth culture. The VW Microbus, cousin to the Beetle, was a particular favorite. Rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) bands could haul all their members and instruments to concerts in them. Surfers could sleep in their vans along with their surfboards. Hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) would travel around the country in them. Frequently, they hand-painted their VWs in multiple colors and adorned the back of the cars with stickers for bands such as the Grateful Dead (see entry under 1960s— Music in volume 4). The Beetle also became the source of college games, including the “Volkstote,” where students raced to carry the car by hand for one hundred feet. People have also put the cars to unusual uses, driving them across water for forty minutes or more (because they float very well) and using the engines in home-built airplanes. Such feats only added to the mystique of the Volkswagen Beetle. Over the years, the VW Beetle remained largely the same, although variations on the basic Volkswagen theme were introduced: the microbus, the station wagon, the Karmann Ghia convertible, and other models. After 1973, when American cars got smaller in response to the oil crisis, the popularity of the Beetle began to decline. The company ceased production for the U.S. market in 1978, although they were still produced and sold in Mexico afterward. The Beetle was revived, however, in 1998. The updated version maintained the rounded body of the original Beetle, but featured a stronger engine and more luxurious features. It even came with a small flower vase near the steering wheel, just to let everyone know it still had a sense of humor. Its success proved that the American public had not lost

—Timothy Berg

For More Information McLeod, Kate. Beetlemania: The Story of the Car That Captured the Hearts of Millions. New York: Smithmark, 1999. Seume, Keith. VW Beetle: A Comprehensive Illustrated History of the World’s Most Popular Car. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1997. Steinwedel, Louis William. The Beetle Book: America’s 30-Year Love Affair with the “Bug.” Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981.

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its love for that odd German car with the funny shape and that the VW Beetle would still hold a beloved place in American culture.

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1950s Fashion Newly confident in themselves after winning World War II (1939–45) and building an economy that was the envy of the world, Americans in the 1950s began to develop a fashion sense that was independent of the rest of the world and focused on youth. The most notable youth fashions were quite simple. For boys, a pair of blue jeans worn with a white T-shirt symbolized the spirit of rock and roll and were worn by movie idols James Dean (1931–1955) and Marlon Brando (1924–). For girls, a tight sweater, a poodle skirt (a long, full skirt with the image of a poodle on it), bobby socks (ankle-high socks), and saddle shoes (sturdy shoes with a contrasting band of color) were all the rage. These looks were closely associated with the 1950s; they were featured in the wave of nostalgia in the 1970s in such movies as American Graffiti (1973) and Grease (1978), and in TV shows like Happy Days (1974–84). Women’s fashions began to grow independent of the influence of Paris and London in the decade. The “New Look,” which is most associated with women’s high fashion, began with French designer Christian Dior (1905–1957) in the late 1940s but was modified to suit American tastes. Women were fond of clothes that emphasized the female figure, with closely tailored bustlines, slender waists, and padded hips. Women also wore plenty of makeup. Men, on the other hand, were not very concerned with fashion. At work, they wore what amounted to a uniform: a gray flannel suit. Conservatively tailored, and worn with a white shirt and tie, this standard suit style was so popular that it became a symbol for the businessman’s conformity, as criticized in the famous book The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) by Sloan Wilson (1920–). (Conformity means acting in agreement with established social views.) Younger, less formal men made the loafer, a slip-on leather shoe, the most popular shoe in America. 657

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Jeans Blue jeans have been a part of American culture for over 125 years. They became not only an expression of American fashion but also an element of American identity recognized around the world. Jeans started in the nineteenth century as work clothes, customized to the needs of gold rush miners in California. They have evolved through the decades to represent the rugged individualism of the American West, the nonconformity of the rebel, and the height of designer fashion. The first jeans were made as a joint venture by a Bavarian immigrant shop owner named Levi Strauss (c. 1829–1902) and a San Francisco tailor named Jacob Davis. Davis had designed a pair of work pants with metal rivets on the pockets and seams to help them hold up under the rough use of the California miners, who filled their pockets with heavy ore samples. Strauss supplied the money to buy a patent for the new work pants, which they called “waist overalls.” They made their pants out of a sturdy new fabric from France, called serge de Nimes (pronounced sairzh duh NEEM). The French term was soon shortened in America to “denim.” Strauss’ denim work overalls were worn by miners and cowboys all across the west. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, they gained a different kind of popularity when moviegoers saw them on the stars of Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) films, like John Wayne (1907–1979; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and Gary Cooper (1901–1961; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). During World War II (1939–45), the Navy and the Coast Guard used them as part of their official uniform. After the war, they became available for the first time east of the Mississippi. In the 1950s and 1960s, jeans became the official uniform of rebellion, as stars like Marlon Brando (1924–) and James Dean (1931–1954; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) wore them with T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) and leather jackets. Teenagers of the era rushed to buy the newly hip pants. Parents and teachers were just as determined to forbid them in schools and other respectable places. In the 1950s, the waist overalls began to be called jeans, a more relaxed name for pants that were no longer simply work clothes.

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Perhaps because of their comfort, which only increases with age, or their adaptability, jeans have remained a staple of the

American casual wardrobe, especially for young people. In the politically radical late 1960s and early 1970s, the look became patched and faded. In the 1980s, punks wore torn jeans, sometimes only held together by threads, while the wealthy paid hundreds of dollars for jeans from famous fashion designers. Although basic blue jeans are still a standard garment in the twenty-first century, collectors pay high prices to own a pair of Strauss and Davis’ original waist overalls. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Adkins, Jan. “The Evolution of Jeans: American History 501.” Mother Earth News (No. 124, July-August 1990): pp. 60–65. Caro, Joseph J. “Levi’s: Pants That Won the West.” Antiques and Collecting Magazine (Vol. 98, no. 11): pp. 38–43. Gromer, Cliff. “Outdoors Levi’s Jeans.” Popular Mechanics (Vol. 176, iss. 5, May 1999): pp. 94–98. “True Blue.” Esquire (Vol. 122, no. 1, July 1994): pp. 102–7. Weidt, Maryann N. Blue Jeans: A Story About Levi Strauss. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1990.

Levi’s jeans are one of the most well-known brands of pants worldwide. Photograph by Carl Corey. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Levi’s Levi’s denim blue jeans (see entry under 1950s—Fashion in volume 3) are made by Levi Strauss & Company of San Francisco, California. They were originally produced as tough trousers made from tent canvas. The rugged pants were intended for miners in the California gold rush, cowboys, and farm workers. Levi Strauss (c. 1829–1902) himself emigrated to California from Germany in 1850. In 1853, his company began making the denim jeans that became the famous shrink-to-fit “501” style of jeans. Although the company made other garments, by the 1950s it was the “501” jeans that people meant when they used the term “Levi’s.” With their button fly, real copper rivets and the red “Levi’s” tag sewn into the right back pocket, Levi’s became the must-have brand of denim jeans. Their link to rougher, more

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“authentic” times only made them more desirable. In the 1980s, clever 1950s-style television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) once more connected Levi’s with a simpler past. It also helped turn the company into the biggest pants manufacturer in the world. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Downey, Lynn. 501: This is a Pair of Levi’s Jeans—The Official History of the Levi’s Brand. San Francisco: Levi Strauss and Co., 1995. Levi Strauss and Co. http://levistrauss.com (accessed February 26, 2002).

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1950s Film and Theater The biggest problem facing the movie industry in the 1950s was the TV. As sales of TV sets increased, more and more Americans stayed at home—and away from cinemas. This was not the movie studio’s only problem, however. A 1948 Supreme Court ruling had led to the major studios selling off all their theater holdings in 1951. No longer could movie studios exert complete control over which movies were shown in which theaters. With TV and the breakup of what was known as the “studio system,” moviemakers faced real competition. Movie studios responded to this new era in a variety of ways. They made fewer movies. In 1954, the seven major studios made fewer than 100 movies, down from over 320 movies per year in the late 1940s. The movies they made, however, were bigger and more dramatic, providing the kinds of entertainment that TV could not. Films like The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Ben-Hur (1959) featured magnificent sets, huge casts, and epic story lines. Freed from the production codes that dictated the “moral content” of films, moviemakers also began to explore more daring topics. North by Northwest (1959), directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), offered suspense. Some Like It Hot (1959) offered bawdy humor—and plenty of views of a scantily clad Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962). Science-fiction films like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) offered thrills and chills. One of the decade’s biggest surprises was a monster movie from Japan titled Gojira (1954)— better known in the United States as Godzilla. Godzilla was big, but several real life stars got more attention, including Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant (1904–1986), Grace Kelly (1929–1982), James Dean (1931–1955), and Elizabeth Taylor (1932–).

The Day the Earth Stood Still Featuring a memorable line still remembered by film enthusiasts, the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still helped usher

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The Day the Earth Stood Still Poster for the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. The Kobal Collection/20th Century Fox. Reproduced by permission.

in a new era in science fiction. A “flying saucer” movie with a message, it was widely imitated, but never duplicated, throughout the decade.

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When The Day the Earth Stood Still opened in theaters in September 1951, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a nuclear arms race. Each side distrusted the other. Each was in the process of developing enough atomic firepower to destroy the entire planet. The film, like many great sciencefiction stories, addressed these important issues in fantasy form.

James Dean

The plot concerns a flying saucer that lands in Washington, D.C., containing the alien Klaatu and his robot companion Gort. Klaatu has come to Earth with a peaceful message about the danger of using nuclear weapons, but the prejudices of Earth people soon get the better of them. Suspicious of his motives, they kill Klaatu. The alien is brought back to life by robot Gort, who in turn threatens to go on a destructive rampage. Klaatu restrains him, using the movie’s famous phrase: “Klaatu barada nikto,” meaning: “Don’t kill.” At the end of the film, Klaatu addresses a world audience, warning that unless the people of Earth stop building nuclear bombs, Gort and the rest of the robots from Klaatu’s world will destroy the planet. “The choice,” declares Klaatu, “is yours.” The Day the Earth Stood Still became an instant classic. It boasted an exciting story, good performances, and superb special effects. Many of the sci-fi movies of the 1950s copied elements, such as alien visitation and the use of robots, directly from this film. The message of The Day the Earth Stood Still made it stand out from other sci-fi pictures of the period. It questioned the nuclear-arms race while also condemning mankind’s fear of strangers and the unknown. Thanks to its message of hope and tolerance, the film won the Golden Globe award for “Best Film Promoting International Understanding.” The film’s director, Robert Wise (1914–), went on to direct such sciencefiction classics as The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Star Trek (1979; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Meehan, Paul. Saucer Movies: A Ufological History of the Cinema. New York: Scarecrow Press, 1998. Pringle, David, ed. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Carlton, 1996. Staskowski, Andrea. Science Fiction Movies. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992. Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1982.

James Dean (1931–1955) In his all-too-brief life—he was just twenty-four when he died in a crash of his stylish Porsche automobile—actor James Dean came to symbolize middle-class adolescent alienation,

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1950s-style. After appearing briefly on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and playing bit parts in several films, Dean starred in three motion pictures: East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), and Giant (1956), earning Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the first and last. In each, he was the personification (human representation) of the anxious American youth of the mid-1950s. He was cast as a brooding, vulnerable adolescent whose presence was unsettling during what otherwise was an era of prosperity and conformity (acting in agreement with established social views) after World War II (1939–45). Dean’s stardom lasted a little over a year. His time in the limelight was as strikingly brief as any major star in motionpicture history. His early death, coupled with his unfulfilled potential, immediately transformed him into an American cultural icon, a symbol of American culture—a status that continues into the twenty-first century. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Gilmore, John. Live Fast—Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1997. JamesDean.com: The Official Web Site. http://www.jamesdean.com/ (accessed March 5, 2002). Riese, Randall. The Unabridged James Dean: His Life and Legacy from A to Z. Chicago: Contemporary, 1991. Schroeder, Alan. James Dean. New York: Chelsea House, 1994.

Francis the Talking Mule Long before Mr. Ed (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), the talking horse who ruled America’s TV screens, another talking animal won over audiences with his sassy comebacks and helpful demeanor. Francis the Talking Mule, usually voiced by actor Chill Wills (1902–1978), helped his bumbling sidekick Donald O’Connor (1925–) out of humorous situations in a popular series of movie comedies in the 1940s and 1950s.

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The last forty years of the twentieth century saw an increase in the number of “talking animal” movies and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, from the

All told, Francis made seven features for Universal Studios between 1949 and 1956. In Francis (1949), his screen debut, the chattering mule rescues a soldier (O’Connor) on a secret mission in Burma (the country now known as Myanmar) during World War II (1939–45). The second feature, Francis Goes to the Races (1951), involved him in shenanigans at a horse track. Francis Goes to West Point (1952) was a collegiate comedy with an exciting climax set at the annual Army-Navy football game. Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) depicted O’Connor as a newspaperman saved from a murder charge by a heroic Francis. Francis Joins the WACs (1954) had O’Connor rejoin the military, with the babbling burro in tow. The next year’s Francis in the Navy was O’Connor’s last film in the series, a seafaring romp that also featured a young Clint Eastwood (1930–). The final film in the Francis series was 1956’s Francis in the Haunted House. Mickey Rooney (1920–) took over for O’Connor in the sidekick role, while Paul Frees (1920–1986) assumed the voice of Francis. The horror comedy had Francis frustrating some art forgers.

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talkative horse Mr. Ed, who ruled the stable on CBS in the 1960s, to Babe, the chatty pig who starred in his own Oscarnominated film in 1995. Comedian Eddie Murphy (1961–) dealt with a whole host of talking animals in his Dr. Dolittle movies. However, none of this form of entertainment would have been possible without the trail blazed by Francis, the first live-action talking animal in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Critics dismissed the comedies as silly, but audiences responded—and a new comedy genre (category) was born.

So how did Francis “talk”? Years later, it was revealed that technicians actually pulled threads attached to the animal’s mouth to make his lips move. The voice-over was later synchronized (perfectly timed) to Francis’ lip movements. It was a simple trick, but the illusion it created kept audiences roaring with laughter for the better part of a decade. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Brode, Douglas. Films of the Fifties. New York: Carol Publishing, 1979. Edelson, Edward. Great Animals of the Movies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980. Rothel, David. Great Show Business Animals. San Diego: A. S. Barnes, 1980.

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Godzilla Brought to life by atomic radiation, the giant fire-breathing lizard known as Godzilla has been terrifying movie audiences since the 1950s. The Japanese character’s fame spread around the world as Godzilla films were dubbed into many languages. Perhaps only King Kong (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) exceeds Godzilla in popularity among gigantic movie monsters. Godzilla is called Gojira in his native Japan, where he first appeared in a 1954 feature. Created by filmmakers at Toho Studios, including director Ishiro Honda (1911–1993), Godzilla was meant to symbolize Japanese fears of nuclear devastation following their experience in World War II (1939–45). The original film, in which the crazed atomic lizard demolishes the city of Tokyo, struck a chord with Japanese audiences and earned more than $7 million at the box office. In 1956, the film was released in the United States in a dubbed version (that is, a version with a different sound track, usually in a different language) entitled Godzilla, King of the Monsters. American actor Raymond Burr (1917–1993) from TV’s Perry Mason (1957–66; see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and Ironside (1967–75) appeared in new footage explaining Godzilla’s rampage to English-speaking audiences.

Godzilla brings terror to Tokyo. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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Godzilla proved such a hit worldwide that many sequels were made. In them, Godzilla invariably fights other monsters, including Rodan, a flying lizard, and his own robot double Mechagodzilla. Over time, Godzilla lost his appetite for destruction and became a “good guy,”

Away from the movie screen, Godzilla has become a beloved part of popular culture. In 1978, he served as the host of his own animated Super Power Hour on Saturday morning television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Godzilla toys, games, and models have been big sellers for more than thirty years. Godzilla has even been the subject of popular songs. The 1977 Blue Oyster Cult hit “Godzilla” sang the praises of the cinematic lizard. In 1998, Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page recorded “Come with Me,” a Godzilla-themed rewrite of the Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) song “Kashmir” for the Godzilla film soundtrack. The most recent big-screen feature of the king of the monsters may have proved a dud, but few doubt he will one day reclaim his throne. Audiences, it seems, have a simple message when it comes to Godzilla: long live the king.

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saving Japan from attack by other creatures. Twice, Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) has tried to adapt Godzilla to suit American tastes, with Godzilla 1985 and again in 1998 with a big-budget Godzilla starring Matthew Broderick (1962–). Both films proved critical and commercial disappointments.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Harmon, Jim. The Godzilla Book. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press, 1986. Lees, J. D., et al. The Official Godzilla Compendium. New York: Random House, 1998. Lovece, Frank. Godzilla: The Complete Guide to Moviedom’s Mightiest Monster. New York: Morrow, 1998. Ryfle, Steve. Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star. Toronto: ECW Press, 1999.

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) Born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles, California, Marilyn Monroe’s rise to fame is a rags-to-riches story. Abused and neglected as a child, she grew up in foster homes. After signing a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1946, she quickly became a top celebrity. Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) took advantage of Monroe’s blend of dangerous sexuality and girl-next-door innocence. But films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Some Like It Hot (1959) also reveal a fine actress with expert comic timing.

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Always drawn to powerful men, Monroe’s husbands included baseball star Joe DiMaggio (1914–1999) and playwright Arthur Miller (1915–). In her last years, gossip linked her with President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) and his brother, politician Robert Kennedy (1925–1968). Monroe’s death by a self-administered drug overdose followed several years of mental collapse, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Several decades later, her image is everywhere, selling objects from T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) to posters, from ashtrays to ladies’ underwear and nightgowns. Marilyn Monroe lives on as one of the twentieth century’s most notable sex symbols. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Krohn, Katherine E. Marilyn Monroe: Norma Jeane’s Dream. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1997. Lefkowitz, Frances. Marilyn Monroe. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. MarilynMonroe.com. http://www.marilynmonroe.com (accessed February 26, 2002). Victor, Adam. The Marilyn Encyclopedia. New York: Overlook Press, 1999.

North by Northwest North by Northwest, a fast-moving 1959 thriller, is widely regarded as one of the best films of director Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980). It contains several of the usual Hitchcock filmmaking touches, but “the Master” never did them better than in this movie. North by Northwest contains an innocent man accused and on the run, a cool and mysterious blonde, and a mysterious object (called by Hitchcock in interviews “the MacGuffin”) that all the major characters strive to acquire. It also features one of Hitchcock’s best casts: Cary Grant (1904–1986; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), Eva Marie Saint (1924–), James Mason (1909–1984), and Martin Landau (1931–), among others.

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Advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Grant) is mistaken by thugs for an American intelligence agent named George Kaplan and abducted. He is taken to the home of Philip Vandamm (Mason), master spy in the service of a foreign power. Vandamm ignores Thornhill’s protests of mistaken identity and threatens to interrogate his unwilling guest—under torture, if necessary.

The film contains one of Hitchcock’s most famous scenes. Following directions to a meeting, Thornhill finds himself alone in the middle of flat farm country. Nothing is moving for miles around, except for a distant biplane dusting crops. Suddenly the plane heads for Thornhill, drops down to 20 feet or so, and attacks. Thornhill runs, trying to dodge both the plane and the bullets being fired at him from its cockpit.

On the Waterfront

Thornhill escapes, but the spies are close behind. They include Eve Kendall (Saint), who is Vandamm’s fiancée. Her loyalties, however, seem inconsistent, and Thornhill is unsure through most of the film whose side she is really on. The climax is played out atop Mount Rushmore, which explains the film’s working title: The Man in Lincoln’s Nose.

The sophisticated hero, the series of chases and narrow escapes, the beautiful woman who cannot be trusted—these aspects of North by Northwest influenced filmmaking for decades to come, from James Bond films (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) to Indiana Jones movies (see entry under 1980s—Film and Theater in volume 5) and beyond. North by Northwest was nominated for several major Academy Awards, but 1959 was also the year that Ben-Hur was released. In the awards, Grant and his bi-plane proved no match for Charlton Heston (1924–) and his Roman chariot. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Auiler, Dan. Alfred Hitchcock Goes North by Northwest. New York: St. Martins Press, 2001. Lehman, Ernest. North by Northwest (Faber Classic Screenplay Series). New York: Faber and Faber, 2000.

On the Waterfront On the Waterfront (1954), the Academy Award–winning drama directed by Elia Kazan (1909–) and starring Marlon Brando (1924–), is a classic American film. It is also noted for being a thinly veiled allegory (a story that disguises yet another story): On the Waterfront symbolically describes the blacklisting (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) activities in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in

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volume 2) at the time and mirrors the era in which it was produced.

Marlon Brando as dockworker Terry Malloy in 1954’s On the Waterfront. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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On the Waterfront is the story of Terry Malloy (Brando), a young ex-boxer and dockworker. Malloy’s older brother Charley (Rod Steiger, 1925–) is the lawyer and mouthpiece for the corrupt labor union that rules the waterfront. The union is headed by racketeer Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb, 1911–1976). (A racketeer is a person involved in a racket, or an organized illegal activity.) At the outset, Terry is inadvertently involved in luring to his death Joey Doyle, a dockworker who has threatened to expose the union to a government committee investigating waterfront crime. Then Terry is served with a subpoena (a legal document that orders a person to appear before investigators). As the story progresses, Terry must decide if he will testify and help bring down Friendly and his underlings or refuse and maintain the underworld’s power. He heroically decides to testify, which leads to Friendly’s downfall. On the Waterfront is a prime example of how a film may be used as a political and personal tool. The film’s plot and the dilemma of Terry Malloy directly relate to the Hollywood blacklist. After World War II (1939–45), the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) was investigating alleged communist influence in the motion picture industry. Those who were called before HUAC were routinely asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” They were expected to answer “yes” and plead for forgiveness. They were also expected to “name names”—to cite others they knew to be Communist Party members. If they refused to fully cooperate, they were blacklisted (kept from being hired) from motion pictures, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2). Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg (1914–), author of the On the Waterfront screenplay, both were called before HUAC. Both chose to name names. In his 1988 autobiography, Kazan acknowledged the allegorical nature of On the Waterfront when

However, it may be argued that, in On the Waterfront, Terry Malloy is testifying against racketeers who are clearly defined villains. The investigators all are depicted in a positive light, as hard-working crimefighters. Yet in real life, Kazan and Schulberg testified against Americans who were not lawbreakers, who were being hounded by the politically conservative members of HUAC because of their liberalism and leftist political beliefs.

Peyton Place

he wrote, “When Brando, at the end, yells at Lee Cobb, the mob boss, ‘I’m glad what I done—you hear me?—glad what I done!’ that was me saying, with identical heat, that I was glad I’d testified as I had. . . . So when critics say that I put my story and my feelings on the screen, to justify my informing, they are right.”

Kazan alleged that he named names because communism was a threat to America and needed to be exposed and destroyed. His critics, meanwhile, claimed—and still claim—that he did so solely to save his career. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Kazan, Elia. A Life. New York: Knopf, 1988. Navasky, Victor S. Naming Names. New York: Viking Press, 1980. On the Waterfront (film). Columbia Pictures, 1954. Schulberg, Budd. On the Waterfront: The Final Shooting Script. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980.

Peyton Place Little did Grace Metalious (1924–1964) realize that, when she authored Peyton Place (1956), a novel set in the fictional New England title town, she would be creating a financial gold mine. Metalious was a thirty-two-year-old Gilmanton, New Hampshire, housewife with three children, a high school education, and no previous experience as a writer. The story she told involved scandal and sin in the small town. Peyton Place became one of the most famous fictional places in America. It eventually became the setting of a second novel, two hit movies, one ground-breaking prime-time television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series, one daytime soap opera (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and two made-for-TV movies. In Peyton Place, Metalious tells the story of Allison MacKenzie, an adolescent whose mother, Constance, operates a dress

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shop. Constance claims that she is a widow, but it eventually is revealed that she never wed Allison’s father. Constance and Allison are surrounded by a full cast of characters. Among them are Betty Anderson, Allison’s flirtatious schoolmate; Rodney Harrington, a spoiled rich boy; Selena Cross, Allison’s best pal, who comes from a poor family; and Michael Rossi, the new high school principal. The novel spotlights these and other characters in various plots and subplots, revealing their less-than-stellar pasts and dirty little secrets. Upon its publication, Peyton Place earned generally unfavorable reviews from critics. Readers, however, were captivated by it, and it became a best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). In fact, the book was the third top-selling novel of 1956 and the second top-seller of 1957. By 1965, it had become the highest-selling novel in U.S. history, a mark since surpassed. Metalious also authored a sequel, Return to Peyton Place (1959). The movie Peyton Place (1957) came a year after the book’s release. The six-figure sum Metalious earned for the screen rights was the largest paid at that time for a first novel. The film was as successful as the book and was the top box office hit of its year. Although it is not considered a cinema classic, at the time the film did receive nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress (Lana Turner, 1921–1995, cast as Constance MacKenzie). The first film was followed by the screen version of Return to Peyton Place (1961). The property resurfaced with Peyton Place, the television series (1964–69), which was broadcast on ABC. The series is noteworthy as prime-time television’s first official soap opera. Until the premier of TV’s Peyton Place, programs featuring melodramatic stories whose plot lines continued from show to show and week to week only were aired during the daytime. Additionally, Peyton Place was the first prime-time series to be broadcast twice a week, and then three times a week between 1965 and 1967. Two young actors emerged as stars: Mia Farrow (1945–), cast as Allison MacKenzie, and Ryan O’Neal (1941–), playing Rodney Harrington. Next came a daytime soap opera, Return to Peyton Place (1972–74), airing on NBC. Two television movies, Murder in Peyton Place (1977) and, inevitably, Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985) followed.

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—Audrey Kupferberg

Metalious, George, and June O’Hara. The Girl from “Peyton Place”: A Biography of Grace Metalious. New York: Dell, 1965. Metalious, Grace. Peyton Place. New York: Messner, 1956. Peyton Place (film). Twentieth Century-Fox, 1957. Return to Peyton Place (film). Twentieth Century-Fox, 1961. Toth, Emily. Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.

Shane

For More Information

Shane In 1953, George Stevens (1904–1975) directed the classic Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) Shane. The movie was a critical and popular success in its own time, but over the years its place in popular culture has grown even stronger. The film has an enduring ability to tap into Americans’ nostalgia for a simpler, less complicated time, in which good and evil were black and white and the little folks could win out over the big guys. The film’s title character, played by Alan Ladd (1913–1964), is among the most symbolic of Western heroes. He is individualistic and self-sufficient, arriving alone and ultimately leaving alone. He is a friendly and well-mannered buckskinned gunslinger. He does not quite fit into society but is still able to walk the border between the wild and civilization. Although not a lawman, over the course of the film Shane becomes a force for moral justice who acts because the law cannot. Shane was among the first of a new kind of Western that emerged in the 1950s, the “adult” or “psychological” Western. Simply put, these films concentrate on the psychological and moral conflicts of the hero and his relationship to society. Shane presents a dirty and unrelenting portrait of the harshness faced by settlers in the American West. This view is perhaps best highlighted by a scene in which the evil Wilson shoots down the inexperienced Torrey. Moviegoers heard Wilson’s laughter and saw the overmatched Torrey falling dead face first in the mud. They could not help but think that this was a much more likely scenario for a gunfight than the cleaned-up versions of shootouts presented in earlier Westerns. Shane wins out in the end, protecting the values of civilization against brutality, but he gets shot. As he rides off into the

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distance, viewers do not know whether he’ll live or die. The young boy Joey Starrett cries out after him, “Shane, come back!” It is a mythic ending, but it is also tinged with tragedy. The selfsufficient and nonconformist Shane simply does not fit in the society he has helped to protect. Shane’s departure signals the death of a part of America’s collective past; like Joey, audiences are left hollow, lamenting his passing and longing for his return. —Robert C. Sickels

For More Information Countryman, Edward, and Evonne von Heussen-Countryman. BFI Film Classics: Shane. London: BFI Publishing, 1999. Hine, Robert V. The American West: An Interpretive History. 2nd ed. Boston: Little Brown, 1984. Stevens, George, director. Shane (video). Hollywood: Paramount Home Video, 1979.

3-D Movies For an all-too-brief period in the early 1950s, three-dimensional (3-D) movies enjoyed a huge popularity among American moviegoers. Motion picture images are by their nature flat and one-dimensional. In a 3-D film, an illusion of depth and perspective is created with the help of special glasses. Use of these special glasses results in an image’s foreground appearing to stand apart from its background. In a 3-D film, an animal could be made to appear to leap off the screen and into the audience. A knife-tossing villain or spear-throwing warrior could appear to be actually hurling the weapon at the viewer.

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In the early 1950s, movie ticket sales were falling fast as Americans in great numbers were moving from the cities to the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), where there were fewer movie houses. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sales were skyrocketing. Why spend money on a babysitter, a restaurant meal, and movie tickets when free entertainment at home, in the form of one’s TV set, could be had. In order to lure patrons back to movie houses, the motion picture industry endeavored to employ gimmicks to bring viewers sights and sounds they neither could see nor hear at home. One such tool was 3-D, which resulted in more realistic—and potentially more entertaining—movie images.

Three-dimensional movies evolved from stereoscopy (see entry on stereoscopes under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1), a technique developed in the nineteenth century for the viewing of still images. In stereoscopy, a three-dimensional illusion is produced via the use of a stereoscope, an optical device that offers up slightly different images to both eyes, resulting in what appears to be a 3-D picture. Over the years, the stereoscopy technique evolved. During the first decades of the twentieth century, scores of stereoscopic moving image systems had been developed, but none were commercially marketable. Then in the 1950s, the technique was adapted to feature-length Hollywood productions. The first 3-D feature of the period was Bwana Devil (1952), an action tale set in Africa and spotlighting murderous, man-eating lions. The most popular 3-D film was House of Wax (1953), a horror film starring Vincent Price (1911–1993) as a sculptor who commits murders and transforms his victims into wax museum figures. Not all 3-D films were horror chillers and adventure yarns. Kiss Me Kate (1953), a hit Broadway (see entry under 1900s— Film and Theater in volume 1) musical composed by Cole Por-

Wearing special glasses, an audience is thrilled by a 3-D movie in the early 1950s. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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ter (1893–1964) and based on The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), was shot in 3-D. Even Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), the movies’ celebrated master of suspense, directed a 3-D film: Dial M For Murder (1954), the tale of a man who plots his wife’s killing. In order to view a 3-D movie, filmgoers had to wear throwaway glasses outfitted with one red and one blue lens, which allowed each eye to distinguish only specific parts of the on-screen image. Ultimately, 3-D was just a fad. The initial thrill of watching three-dimensional images soon waned. The technique’s costs and limitations, coupled with the discomfort of wearing the glasses, resulted in the industry’s abandoning 3-D film production. The technique was reintroduced for a short time in 1980s horror films and was reemployed a decade later in limitedrelease IMAX 3-D movies. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Darrah, William C. The World of Stereographs. Nashville: Land Yacht, 1997. Earle, Edward W., ed. Points of View, the Stereograph in America: A Cultural History. Rochester, NY: Visual Studies Workshop, 1979. Jones, John. Wonders of the Stereograph. New York, Knopf, 1976. Lord, Peter, and Brian Sibley. Creating 3-D Animation: The Aardman Book of Filmmaking. New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Waldsmith, John. Stereoviews: An Illustrated History and Price Guide. Iola, WI: Krause, 1995. Wing, Paul. Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years. Nashua, NH: Transition, 1996.

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1950s Food and Drink Although most Americans continued to eat as they always had—at home, with freshly prepared foods—several important trends in American eating habits began to emerge in the 1950s: standardization and franchising. The symbol of both these trends was the most noted restaurant chain of the century: McDonald’s. Founded in 1948, McDonald’s expanded across America in the 1950s through a system known as franchising. Franchising offered individual owners the opportunity to own a profitable restaurant if they would follow the McDonald’s business formula. The McDonald’s formula was simple: Offer hamburgers, French fries, and milkshakes at a reasonable price, and make sure that the customer receives the same product every time at every restaurant. It helped the restaurant chain sell “billions and billions” of burgers—according to one of it’s slogans—and it spawned a number of imitators across the country, including Burger King. Food was becoming standardized in other ways as well, most notably with the rise of frozen, pre-prepared meals, often known as TV dinners. These complete meals could be pulled from the freezer, heated in the oven, and enjoyed in front of the TV in less than an hour and with very little effort. By 1954, in just the second year of their existence, Swanson sold ten million TV dinners. The eating habits of the 1950s have since been depicted in a number of movies and TV shows. The center of both the nostalgic film American Graffiti (1973) and the long-running TV series Happy Days (1974–84) was the local diner where teenagers gathered to eat hamburgers and fries. These and countless other pop culture references indicate that hamburgers and fries were the food of the decade.

Burger King Burger King, along with McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s— Food and Drink in volume 3), has created the image of the American “hamburger chain.” It mostly serves up hamburgers

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(see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), French fries (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3), and shakes. The chain lures customers with clever marketing campaigns and, starting in the 1970s, with what became perhaps the company’s most famous jingle: “Have it your way at Burger King.” The first Burger King was opened by James McLamore (1926–1996) and David Edgerton in Miami, Florida, in 1954—a year before McDonald’s was franchised—selling hamburgers for eighteen cents. Three years later, Burger King introduced what would become its most famous burger, the Whopper, for thirtyseven cents. The chain was eventually nicknamed the “Home of the Whopper.” As of 2002, there were 11,730 Burger Kings in the United States and 57 countries around the world. Into the twenty-first century, 1.6 billion Whoppers are sold each year. Still, the company ranks a distant second to McDonald’s in sales. Burger King holds 19 percent of the fast-food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) market, compared to its rival’s 42 percent. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Burger King. Franchise Opportunities Portal: Company History. http:// www.burgerking.com/CompanyInfo/FranchiseOpps/CompanyHistory/ index.html (accessed March 6, 2002). McLamore, James W. The Burger King: Jim McLamore and the Building of an Empire. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.

French Fries French fries are thin strips of deep-fried potato topped with a choice of condiments. Perfect as a snack or a side dish, French fries have long been a staple of fast-food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) restaurants like McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3).

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Most experts trace the origin of the French fry to eighteenthcentury Belgium, not France. Wherever they were first made, however, fries quickly became a taste sensation all over Europe. At first, they were served only in restaurants, but street vendors in cities like Paris and Brussels soon began selling them as well. In modern times, French fries are still a popular street snack in

The French-fry craze slowly spread across the Atlantic Ocean to America. After developing a love of pommes frites while serving as the U.S. minister to France, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) served them to guests at his home in Virginia upon his return to America in 1789. However, the French fry did not really catch on with the public until the twentieth century, when soldiers returning from World War I (1914–18) brought back a hunger for the deep-fried potato treat. In the 1950s, American fast-food chains like McDonald’s developed systems for deep-frying large quantities of French fries each day. This mass production allowed French fries to grow in popularity as the perfect accompaniment to hamburgers (see entry under 1950s—Food and Drink in volume 3) and other fast food. Doctors and other health professionals condemned the fatty snack as unhealthy, but Americans began consuming fries in large quantities. They particularly liked the McDonald’s variety, which became the standard of quality. The burger chain even developed a potato computer to monitor the temperature of the frying oil and to notify the operator when a batch of fries was perfectly cooked.

French Fries

Europe. They are known as “patat” in Holland, “chips” in England, and “pommes frites” in France. Throughout the world, such condiments as ketchup, vinegar, and mayonnaise are used to enhance the taste of French fries.

By the turn of the twenty-first century, French fries accounted for more than one-fourth of all potatoes sold in the United States. In 1998, McDonald’s made more than 6.8 million pounds of French fries each day. French fries had become identified so closely with American hamburger meals in the twentyfirst century that in Japan and Southeast Asia they were promoted as “American fries.” —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Graulich, David. The French Fry Companion. New York: Lebhar-Friedman Books, 1999. It’s French Fries. http://www.tx7.com/fries (accessed February 26, 2002). Meltzer, Milton The Amazing Potato: A Story in Which the Incas, Conquistadors, Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jefferson, Wars, Famines, Immigrants, and French Fries All Play a Part. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Salaman, Redcliffe N. The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

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Hamburger

Hamburger Typically served with French fries (see entry under 1950s— Food and Drink in volume 3) and a soft drink, the hamburger ranks with the hot dog (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1) and with apple pie as one of America’s truly national foods. Named for the style of steak found in the German city of Hamburg, the hamburger consists of a ground-beef patty usually served on a soft round bun, often garnished with a pickle. “Billions and billions” have been served by the McDonald’s (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) restaurant chain alone, with uncounted others prepared by other restaurants, large and small. The hamburger was the favorite snack of Wimpy, a character in the old Popeye (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) comic strip, whose favorite expression was “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Inventive short-order cooks and backyard barbecuers have developed many variations, such as the cheeseburger. —Edward Moran

For More Information McDonald, Ronald L. The Complete Hamburger: The History of America’s Favorite Sandwich. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1997. Tennyson, Jeffrey. Hamburger Heaven: The Illustrated History of the Hamburger. New York: Hyperion, 1993.

TV Dinners

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“It’s a TV dinner. You are supposed to watch TV while you eat it.” This is how a Polish immigrant explains this American phenomenon to his newly arrived cousin in the 1985 film Stranger Than Paradise. In fact, TV dinners, invented in 1953, represented much of what was new and technologically exciting in 1950s American culture. A marvel of modern streamlined efficiency, the TV dinner combined home refrigeration and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), two of the decade’s most popular new inventions. Besides that, they allowed Mom to take a break from preparing the family meal and to sit down with the family to eat in front of the television.

TV Dinners TV dinners shifted Americans’ eating habits from around the dinner table to around the television. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

This shift in focus from gathering around the dinner table to gathering around the television would change American family life forever. TV dinners originated as a creative solution to a business problem. C. A. Swanson and Sons was a poultry supplier that had sold chickens and turkeys nationwide since the 1920s. In the late fall of 1953, the company found itself with 260 tons of turkey that had not sold during the Thanksgiving season. As the turkeys rode back and forth across the country in refrigerated train cars, Swanson executive Gerry Thomas (1922–) tried to think of a solution. The lightweight aluminum tray in which his food was served on an airline flight gave him an idea. He quickly designed a molded aluminum tray with four separate compartments. Then he pitched an idea to Clark Swanson, one of the owners of the company. Why not put a different food in each compartment and package the whole thing as an individual frozen dinner (see entry under 1930s—Food and Drink in volume 2)? Tying the meal in with television could give it the appeal of a modern trend.

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Thomas’s idea was a radical notion at a time when Americans were used to eating only home-cooked meals prepared from fresh ingredients. Few people owned televisions and even fewer had freezing compartments in their refrigerators (see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1). Swanson and Thomas had no idea if people would accept the new dinners, but they used up their leftover turkeys making five thousand dinners with cornbread stuffing, buttered peas, and gravy. They packaged them in a box designed to look like a television screen and sold them for ninety-nine cents. The TV dinner concept struck a chord in American families. The first five thousand dinners sold quickly. During the next year, Swanson produced and sold ten million dinners. By 2000, Swanson and other manufacturers were selling almost ten million dinners a week, making TV dinners a $4-billion-a-year industry. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Gardner, Marilyn. “Dining for 45 Years with an American Icon.” The Christian Science Monitor (April 7, 1999): pp. 15–16. I’ll Buy That! 50 Small Wonders and Big Deals that Revolutionized the Lives of Consumers. Mount Vernon, NY: Consumers Union, 1986. McLaughlin, Michael, and Katie O’Kennedy. “1950s: Tupperware, TV Dinners and Rock ’n’ Roll.” Bon Appetit (September 1999): pp. 190–99. Shaffer, Jeffrey. “Swanson’s in the Cozy Cathode Glow: Growing Up with Swanson’s TV Dinners.” The Christian Science Monitor (April 16, 1999): p. 11.

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1950s Music Music in the 1950s was dominated by the birth of rock and roll. Rock and roll was a powerful new form of music that combined elements of rhythm and blues (R&B), pop, blues, and hillbilly music to create a sound that truly shook America. Musician Ray Charles (1930–) described the music this way: “When they get a couple of guitars together with a backbeat, that’s rock and roll.” Rock and roll was raw, powerful, and compelling; it drew young people on to dance floors and into record stores in a way that no music had done before. The undisputed king of rock and roll in the 1950s was Elvis Presley (1935–1977). Presley’s hip-shaking stage performances made teenage girls swoon. Other rock stars of the day included Fats Domino (1928–), Chuck Berry (1926–), Little Richard (1932–), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935–), Buddy Holly (1936–1959), and Johnny Ray (1927–1990). Rock and roll was a social as well as a musical force. In an era when much of American culture was segregated (blacks and whites were distinctly separated), rock and roll was integrated. Blacks and whites played in bands together, recorded each other’s songs, and were played on the same radio stations. Rock and roll was made popular by a new kind of radio programmer called a disc jockey. Disc jockeys chose the music that they played and helped introduce new rock bands to thousands of devoted listeners. The most popular of the disc jockeys—like Alan Freed (1922–1965) or, later, Wolfman Jack (1938–1995)— became celebrities themselves. Jazz was also undergoing a process of transformation. In the 1940s, jazz had been the music of urban hipsters. The jazz of the 1940s was heard in nightclubs, most often in black neighborhoods. In the 1950s, jazz was brought out of the cities and into new respectability in popular jazz festivals. The Newport Jazz Festival (after 1986, called the JVC Jazz Festival), held in Newport, Rhode Island, became the granddaddy of American jazz festivals and attracted twenty-six thousand fans in its second year. Soon, however, the hippest jazz players boycotted the

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festival. Many of them returned to playing before small audiences who they thought better understood their increasingly difficult and intellectual music.

Disc Jockeys The rise of radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) as an entertainment medium in the 1920s and 1930s resulted in the advent of the disc jockey (or DJ) as an influential on-air personality. Not only did disc jockeys play records; they spoke directly to listeners as they introduced the music, read commercials, made announcements—and served as a link between the audience and the programming. Initially, disc jockeys were not skilled announcers, but technicians who operated the broadcast equipment and doubled as on-air voices. The most influential of the early professional DJs was Martin Block (c. 1901–1967), a staff announcer at New York’s WNEW-AM, who suggested that the station play recorded music. This led to his hosting The Make-Believe Ballroom, which became enormously popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Block was its host from 1936 through 1956. On the program, he invited listeners to an imaginary music show and amused them with humor and recorded melodies. Disc jockeys enjoyed the height of their influence during the 1950s and 1960s. Before that time, the major radio networks— the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)—had control of the airwaves. Before long, however, countless independent radio stations began broadcasting. They lacked the programming resources of the majors and depended upon recorded music to fill their airtime. Thus, the man selecting and playing the records and the relationship he developed with listeners became a key component to the success of a radio station.

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Easily the most famous—and influential—1950s DJ was Alan Freed (1922–1965). In 1951, while broadcasting in Cleveland, Ohio, Freed began playing rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), which he dubbed “rock ’n’ roll.” Three years later, he moved his “Moondog Rock and Roll

Disc Jockeys

Party” to New York. More than anyone else, Freed was singlehandedly responsible for making rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) a dominant force in American youth culture. Just as significantly, he insisted on playing the original recordings of African American performers, rather than the more lukewarm renditions (or “cover” versions) recorded by white singers. During this period, DJs did more than play records. They managed bands, promoted tours, hosted live rock-and-roll shows, and befriended and advised performers. One New York DJ, Murray Kaufman (known as “Murray the K,” 1922–1982), became a key figure in introducing the British rock group the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) to American audiences in 1964. Indeed, by deciding which music to play or not play, a popular DJ had a great impact on the success or failure of a record. The power of the disc jockey evaporated somewhat during the “payola” scandal of the late 1950s. A congressional investigation determined that DJs were being bribed by record promoters to play certain songs. This ended the careers of several major DJs, including Freed, who was disliked by many conservatives for introducing what then was known as “race” music to white teenagers. The growing popularity of FM broadcast bands, beginning in the late 1960s, led to an evolution in the disc jockey persona. Unlike their AM counterparts, the typical FM DJ was quieter, knew more about music, and played songs from albums—331⁄3 rpm (revolutions-per-minute) records, or long-playing records (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3)—in addition to the singles found on 45 rpm records. Additionally, FM stations began hiring women DJs. Eventually, as programmers and market analysts became the ones who selected the music played on radio stations, the power of the DJ eroded. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Chapple, Steve, and Rebe Garofalo. Rock ’n’ Roll Is Here to Pay. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1977. Gillett, Charlie. The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll. New York: Pantheon, 1984. Passman, Arnold. The Deejays. New York: MacMillan, 1971. Williams, Gilbert. The Legendary Pioneers of Black Radio. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998.

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Electric Guitar

Electric Guitar No instrument is more associated with American music than the electric guitar. It is the major instrument in rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2), and country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). It has been played by some of the great musicians of the jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) world as well. Simply stated, the electric guitar is much like an acoustic guitar, except that a magnetic pickup has been added to turn the vibrations of the strings into electrical impulses. When amplified, the electrical impulses produce sound. The electric guitar is more than a piece of technology; it reshaped American popular music in the 1950s and after. The drive to create an electrified guitar came from the search for a solution to a common problem. Acoustic guitars had a hard time being heard over the noise of a crowded barroom or concert hall. The acoustic version of the instrument could not be heard next to a roaring big band (see entry under 1930s— Music in volume 2) full of trumpets and saxophones. By the 1930s, a number of inventors were experimenting with amplified guitars. Companies such as Gibson began marketing them that same decade. Perhaps the most important inventor was Leo Fender (1909–1991), who was the first to mass produce solidbodied electric guitars. Fender’s Stratocaster and Telecaster became very popular models in rock music and in country music. Musician Les Paul (1916–) was another great early experimenter with electric guitars, eventually designing his “Les Paul” model of guitar for the Gibson Company. Since the 1950s, the technology for producing electric guitars has changed only slightly. The classic models are still produced, along with hundreds of others.

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Few technological inventions have had as much impact on music as the electric guitar has had. Amplification opened up whole new worlds for guitarists. Now they could be heard as soloists, and amplification allowed many new sounds, using electronic effects, to be produced. The electric guitar’s biggest impact was in rock music; in fact, it defined the sound. The hard edge and loud volume was perfect for the rebelliousness of rock and roll. Rock music from the 1950s through the 1990s and beyond featured electric guitars prominently. Chuck Berry (1926–) and Buddy Holly (1936–1959) brought the electric gui-

tar to mass attention in the 1950s. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones (see these entries under 1960s—Music in volume 4), and the Who were among the many great guitar-based bands to feature electric guitars in the 1960s. Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) was popular in the late 1960s for the wild sounds he created on his Fender Stratocaster, as was guitar great Eric Clapton (1945–). Electric guitars defined the sound of hard rock, heavy metal (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5), punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), and alternative rock (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) in the 1970s, 1980s, and

Three of rock legend Eric Clapton’s one hundred guitars that were auctioned for charity in 1999, including two 1950s Fender Stratocaster electric guitars. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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B. B. King

1990s. The popularity of the electric guitar has been undiminished since its invention. It continues to be the key instrument in rock and pop music, a tribute to its adaptability and popularity. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Freeth, Nick, and Charles Alexander. The Electric Guitar. Philadelphia: Courage Books, 1999. Gruhn, George, and Walter Carter. Electric Guitars and Basses: A Photographic History. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, 1994. Smith, Richard R. Fender: The Sound Heard Around the World. Fullerton, CA: Garfish, 1995. Wheeler, Tom. American Guitars: An Illustrated History. New York: Harper, 1992.

B. B. King (1925–) B. B. King is probably the most popular and successful blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) singer and guitarist ever to live. His distinctive style, played on his famous guitar named “Lucille,” has influenced countless musicians both in blues and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music.

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Born Riley B. King in rural Mississippi in 1925, “B. B.,” as he was known, heard early blues guitarists and singers and learned to play in their style before developing his own. King began his career in Memphis, Tennessee, playing on street corners and at local clubs. In the mid-1940s, he had his own ten-minute show on WDIA radio in Memphis. King began recording singles in 1949 and scored a hit song with “Three O’Clock Blues” in 1951. King toured constantly, often playing more than 340 nights a year, and developed a loyal fan base. In the 1960s and 1970s, he had hits with “The Thrill Is Gone” and the albums Live at the Regal and Live in Cook County Jail. Younger fans discovered King in the late 1980s when he teamed up with Irish rock group U2 on “When Love Comes to Town.” In 2000, he recorded the successful Riding with the King with rock musician Eric Clapton (1945–). King continued to play his now-classic sound to blues fans all over the world in more than 200 shows per year at the turn of the century. —Timothy Berg

BB King.com: The Official Website. http://www.bbking.com/ (accessed March 6, 2002). Danchin, Sebastian. Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B. B. King. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998. Sawyer, Charles. The Arrival of B. B. King: The Authorized Biography. New York: Da Capo Press, 1980.

Elvis Presley

For More Information

Elvis Presley (1935–1977) Back in the mid-1950s, a new kind of music was winning the hearts and shaking the hips of America’s teenagers. That music was rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3). The new style of music was controversial for several reasons. It was loud. It was unruly. Its sounds were rooted in the rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) of black America. In a reflection of the times, some white middleclass parents viewed rock and roll as nothing less than a communist plot, a scheme to enslave the minds of their naive, easily led children. Coming to the rescue of rock and roll was Elvis Presley, a good-natured white boy from Memphis, Tennessee (and born in Tupelo, Mississippi). Presley’s outward surliness and hip-shaking sex appeal while performing made him an instant twentieth-century cultural phenomenon. Elvis may have been white, but he sure sounded black and authentic as he thrilled teens with songs like “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and other million-selling hits. He immediately transferred his star appeal to the big screen, appearing in a series of wildly popular box-office hits. From his debut in Love Me Tender (1956), an otherwise average Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) set during the Civil War (1861–65) era, his charismatic screen presence was undeniable. Though black performers like Chuck Berry (1926–), Little Richard (1935–), and Fats Domino (1928–) may have invented the form, it was Elvis Presley who transformed rock and roll into a musical form for mass audiences. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Elvis was truly the biggest celebrity in America. Although his career had several downturns, especially when he lost touch with youthful audiences and begin singing easy-listening pop music in the mid-1960s, Elvis remained a star. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, he increasingly

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performed in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in lavish arena concerts. By the mid-1970s, however, the “King of Rock ’n’ Roll” was battling drug abuse and weight problems as his personal life fell apart. Presley died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of forty-two, but he has truly lived on in American culture. His Nashville, Tennessee, home “Graceland” is a shrine for his many fans; the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in 1993; and his albums continue to sell well. Amid a small core of Elvis fanatics whose reports of Elvis sightings appear in tabloids, the rumor persists: “Elvis Lives!” —Rob Edelman and Tom Pendergast

For More Information

Elvis Presley shakes and shimmies on stage in 1956. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Daily, Robert. Elvis Presley: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll. New York: Franklin Watts, 1996. Gentry, Tony. Elvis Presley. New York: Chelsea House, 1994. Harms, Valerie. Tryin’ to Get to You: The Story of Elvis Presley. New York: Atheneum, 2000. Rubel, David. Elvis Presley: The Rise of Rock and Roll. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1991. Woog, Adam. Elvis Presley. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997.

Rock and Roll

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One of the most important forces in American culture, rock and roll emerged in the early 1950s as the merger of several styles of black popular music and white popular music, some

Rock and Roll

reaching back into the nineteenth century and before. The two most important of these styles were black rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) music and white country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). When they came together in the early 1950s, rock and roll was born. From its beginnings, however, rock and roll was more than just music—it was an attitude of youthful rebellion that expressed itself in music, fashion, art, film, and in many other aspects of American culture. Few forms of popular culture have been as influential. Although the origins of rock and roll go back into the distant past well before the Civil War (1861–65), the merger of R&B music and country music that began in the late 1940s is the most influential. Prior to the late 1940s, these traditions had existed in largely separate worlds for many generations. By the 1940s, they had begun to cross racial and musical lines and influence each other. After World War II (1939–45) especially, record company executives began to deliberately combine the two kinds of music. For example, Syd Nathan (1904-1968) at King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio, recorded both white country and black R&B musicians. Nathan felt that if a rhythm and blues song proved successful in the black record market, why not have a white singer record it in a country style to sell to whites? The formula proved successful. Nathan was not alone in doing this kind of switch, and soon artists from both styles were learning from each others’ music. Another factor that helped in the creation of rock and roll was radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2). Radio waves do not know about racial barriers. They will go into anyone’s radio anytime. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, young listeners began to tune in to both white country stations and black R&B stations. It was only a matter of time before someone blended the two formats. Although he was not the first person to play what would become rock and roll, Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), a young singer from Memphis, Tennessee, was the first person to make the merger of these two styles a huge success. At Sun Records, owner Sam Phillips (1923–) was recording both black and white musicians, much like Nathan was doing at King Records. Phillips realized that if he could find a white singer to sing black R&B music, he would have a star on his hands. Elvis was that singer. Elvis brought his love for black R&B and his deep roots in country music

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Rock and Roll Chuck Berry, doing his famous duck walk during a 1993 concert. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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together in a winning formula. His early records, including “Mystery Train” and “That’s Alright,” had both the gutsy flavor of R&B music and the twang of country music. When Elvis moved to RCA Records and released such songs as “Jailhouse Rock,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “Hound Dog,” he popularized rock even further. After Elvis, a number of other important artists made rock into a distinct form in the 1950s. The most notable of these artists were Chuck Berry (1926–), Buddy Holly (1936–1959), Bill Haley (1925–1981) and the Comets, Gene Vincent (1935–1971), and Eddie Cochran (1938–1960).

Rock and Roll

By late 1959, Presley was in the army, Holly had died in a plane accident, and rock had gone into a bit of a decline. But in 1964, rock and roll revived with the so-called British Invasion, led by the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4). The British rock scene included such important rock groups as the Rolling Stones (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), the Who, and the Kinks. The Beatles, who grew up listening to the early rock pioneers such as Presley, Holly, and Berry, reshaped the music. The “Fab Four” wrote their own songs, developed their own look, and created a huge sensation wherever they went. The Beatles were also largely responsible for taking rock and roll beyond the teenage themes of young love. In the mid-1960s, they began writing songs on more mature topics and pushing the sound of rock in radically new directions. Their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band redefined what rock music could be with a concept album organized around a theme and music that used many new sounds. The 1960s saw rock move in a number of directions. There was surf music, led by the Beach Boys (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), psychedelic rock led by Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) and the Jefferson Airplane, and visionary rock artists such as Bob Dylan (1941–; see entry under 1960s— Music in volume 4). By the 1970s, rock and roll was established as the major force in American music, eclipsing all other forms in popularity and record sales. The 1970s also saw rock fragment into a number of different directions, from the soft pop-rock of such musicians as the Eagles, James Taylor (1948–), and Joni Mitchell (1943–); to the music of such hard rockers as Alice Cooper (1948–), Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin; to the punk (see these entries under 1970s—Music in volume 4) rock movement of such bands as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), and the Clash; and towards the end of the decade, New Wave as practiced by Talking Heads, Blondie, and another Elvis—Elvis Costello (1955–). These variety of styles proved that rock and roll could be many things to many people. Rock continued to grow as a commercial presence in the 1980s and 1990s. Those decades saw a number of innovations. In the 1980s, there were more traditional rock acts like Journey and Foreigner; more eclectic British pop-rock acts such as Culture Club, Duran Duran, and the Eurythmics; and solo superstars such as Madonna (1958–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5). In the 1990s, the alternative rock (see entry under

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Top 40

1990s—Music in volume 5) movement, led in part by such groups as Pearl Jam and Nirvana (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5), sprang up to challenge the self-satisfaction of 1980’s rock. By the end of the 1990s, some of rock’s greatest names from the past, such as Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and former Beatle Paul McCartney (1942–), continued to make viable music right alongside talented newcomers. By the end of the century, it seemed that rock and roll, although a simple musical style in many ways, was in reality an endlessly inventive form of music with an enduring cultural impact. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Gillette, Charlie. The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll. New York: Pantheon, 1983. Gilmore, Mikal. Nightbeat: A Shadow History of Rock and Roll. New York: Doubleday, 1998. Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train: Images of Rock ’n’ Roll Music. New York: Dutton, 1975. Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Palmer, Robert. Rock and Roll: An Unruly History. New York: Harmony Books, 1995.

Top 40 Since 1956, the term “Top 40” has referred to both a ranking of the best selling music singles and to a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) format that features those songs. For a song to be included in the list, it must be among the top 40 records in terms of record sales and radio station airplay nationwide. As they grow or fall in popularity, records can move up or down the list. The length of time a record stays on the Top 40 list indicates a hit record. For better or worse, Top 40 has proved to be an influential format in the world of radio.

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Although some stations had featured lists of songs as far back as the 1930s, the Top 40 as a standard format began in the Midwest in the early 1950s. In the early 1950s, before television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 4) became widespread, many people listened to the radio as their primary entertainment. Radio stations competed aggressively for their audiences. Some give credit for the birth of Top 40 to Todd Storz

Top 40

(1924–1964) of radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska. After hearing people in a bar play the same songs again and again over a period of a few hours on a jukebox, Storz hit on the idea of doing the same thing on radio. The format proved a success, increasing the ratings at KOWH. Soon, other stations adopted the idea, and Top 40 as a radio format was born. In 1970, disc jockey Casey Kasem (1932–) began hosting a radio program called American Top 40 that has been broadcast nationwide for over thirty years. Kasem has also created several other Top 40 and Top 20 radio shows to showcase music in a variety of genres (categories). The early years of Top 40, the late 1950s, included all kinds of music, from rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) to country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) and even some jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1). In addition to playing the Top 40 hits, disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) provided entertainment, held contests and gave out prizes, and turned radio into a broader form of entertainment than just music. In order to keep up the format, disc jockeys had to follow their Top 40 lists carefully to ensure that hit songs were repeated more often the higher they were on the list. That success also became a drawback for Top 40. While playing the hits more often to draw listeners and, thus, result in advertisers increasing their profits, the format also kept off the air what many listeners felt were more interesting or different songs. After a while, listeners tired of the format, preferring to listen to one kind of music rather than what was most popular at the moment. Although Top 40 remains an important format, by the year 2000 it had lost much of its dominance. Radio formats fragmented into various styles, including hit country, adult contemporary, classic rock, oldies, and other styles. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Fong-Torres, Ben. The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 1998. Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Pollock, Bruce. When Rock Was Young: A Nostalgic Review of the Top 40 Era. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1981.

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1950s Print Culture The 1950s were a decade of tremendous energy in American writing. American writers gained international prominence thanks to the Nobel Prizes awarded to William Faulkner (1897–1962) in 1950 and Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) in 1952. Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea even made it onto the bestseller list for a time. Norman Mailer (1923–) was one of several young writers who gained attention in the decade, thanks to the success of his war novel The Naked and the Dead. Other emerging literary talents included Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964), John Cheever (1912–1982), and J. D. Salinger (1919–). Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye was the most influential novel of the decade. A new group of writers known as the Beats, or beatniks, defied cultural norms and produced a variety of works that were sharply critical of mainstream society. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) and the poem “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) are the most famous of the Beat writings. All these writers remain subjects of study in classrooms today. American magazine publishing was also energized in the 1950s. Older magazines were dying off and new magazines were being born. A number of general-interest magazines ceased publication in the 1950s, including Collier’s (with a circulation of four million), the American Magazine, Woman’s Home Companion, and Liberty. Loss of advertising was the primary cause of most magazine deaths, as advertisers looked for more specialized publications that would better reach their target audience. A number of these specialized, or “niche market,” magazines were started in the 1950s. Specialized magazines included Sports Illustrated for the sports nut, Playboy for the swinging bachelor, National Enquirer for the gossip hound, and MAD Magazine for fans of twisted humor. A number of children’s favorites were produced in the 1950s as well. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904–1991) was in his prime during the decade, publishing Horton Hears a Who (1954), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), and The Cat in

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the Hat (1957). A popular 1950 song about a dancing snowman named Frosty was soon published as a book and then converted into an animated TV show in 1969. Charles Schulz (1922–2000) began publishing a comic strip called Peanuts in 1950 which explored the trials and tribulations of a boy named Charlie Brown and his circle of friends. The gentle strip spoke to Americans young and old and was published for fifty years, until just before Schulz’s death in 2000.

Beatniks and the Beat Movement The Beat movement was a literary movement that became a social movement as well. In the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a group of writers shared a deep distaste for American culture and society as it existed after World War II (1939–45). These writers included Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), William F. Burroughs (1914-1997), John Clellon Holmes (1926-1988), and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–). In an era when many Americans were content to pursue consumer culture, the Beats—or Beatniks—sought out experiences that were more intensely “real.” Sometimes “real” experiences meant physical pleasures such as sex and drugs or more spiritual pursuits such as Eastern religions, particularly Buddhism. Of the Beats, the two most important figures were Ginsberg and Kerouac. Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” was a biting commentary on the values of postwar America. He described how he “saw the best minds of [his] generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked. . . .” The poem soon became a landmark in the world of postwar poetry and literature. Kerouac’s 1957 novel On the Road (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) chronicled the adventures of Kerouac, his friend Neal Cassady (1926?–1968), Ginsberg, Burroughs, and others. The novel painted a vivid picture of Beat life as the vaguely fictionalized characters sought out “real” experiences as they traveled across America. On the Road proved highly influential in its own way, helping to bring Beat values to a broad and mostly young audience. Other important early works from the Beat movement included Holmes’ novel Go (1952), and Burroughs’ Naked Lunch (1959).

This small group formed the core of the Beat movement. The terms “Beat” and “Beatnik” soon moved beyond them and out into the mainstream, attracting a popular following among disaffected youth. Some of these people followed their own version of the Beat lifestyle, but without producing poetry, novels, and other creative expressions. Once the term hit the mainstream, however, it attracted still more people who knew little of the real Beats, but wanted to look like them. Many adopted a stereotypical version of Beat fashion styles, sporting sandals, black turtlenecks, black berets, and goatee beards. These stereotypes found their way into popular culture, most notably in the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 2) version of the Dobie Gillis (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) stories, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–63). In it, actor Bob Denver (1935–) played beatnik Maynard G. Krebs. As a cultural phenomenon, the Beat movement was short-lived. As a literary movement, it proved highly influential, with Kerouac writing a number of novels and Ginsberg establishing himself as a major American poet in the tradition of Walt Whitman (1819–1892). —Timothy Berg

A group of young Beatniks gathers to hear the poetry and songs of another. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

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The Catcher in the Rye

For More Information Charters, Ann, ed. The Portable Beat Reader. New York: Viking, 1992. Foster, Edward Halsey. Understanding the Beats. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1992. Ginsberg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1956. Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: Viking, 1957. Watson, Steven. The Birth of the Beat Generation: Visionaries, Rebels, and Hipsters. New York: Pantheon, 1995.

The Catcher in the Rye Published in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye was quickly recognized as one of the most important American novels of the late twentieth century. It has also regularly topped the lists of most banned and censored books. The only novel written by J. D. Salinger (1919–), The Catcher in the Rye is one of many novels of the time to signal the end of the “American Dream” of success and wealth. Its adolescent hero, Holden Caulfield, battles against what he sees as the “phoniness” of adult American life. The Catcher in the Rye enjoys the strange and unusual status of a cult novel that is also required reading on many high school and college reading lists. Salinger’s novel tells the story of how sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield is expelled from his Pennsylvania boarding school and stays for two days on his own in New York City. Told in his own words, Holden’s adventures in the city include being beaten up by a pimp and a homosexual encounter with an old English teacher, Mr. Antolini. Like the Huckleberry Finn character in the novel of the same name by Mark Twain (1835–1910), Holden Caulfield is on a quest. Huck Finn can still find freedom on his raft, but Holden’s attempt to avoid becoming “phony” ends in a nervous breakdown. Some readers have taken Holden’s views about phoniness to heart. Mark Chapman (1955–), the killer of singer John Lennon (1940–1980) of the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), claims to have been inspired by The Catcher in the Rye to murder his hero. Chapman has stated that in his view the ex-Beatle had become a hypocrite (a person who seems to support certain beliefs or points of view but does not really) and a “phony.”

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The Catcher in the Rye has always attracted controversy. It has been attacked for its sexual content, foul language, and

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even occultism. Attempts to have the book removed from libraries and classrooms continue into the twenty-first century. For this reason, the novel has long been a favorite of young rebels everywhere. Perhaps because of the controversy that even then surrounded his novel, in the early 1960s Salinger retired from the New York literary scene. As the twenty-first century began, he rarely gave interviews and lived privately in rural New Hampshire. Meanwhile, his short and often misunderstood novel has gained the status of a modern classic. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Alexander, Paul. J. D. Salinger: A Biography. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 2000. Pinsker, Sanford. The Catcher in the Rye: Innocence Under Pressure. New York: Twayne, 1993. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Modern Library, 1951. Multiple reprints. Salinger.org. http://www.salinger.org (accessed February 26, 2002).

Dr. Seuss The 2000 movie Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey (1962–), was a major hit with audiences. The grotesque green-skinned character was actually created more than forty years earlier, however, by the author and illustrator known as Dr. Seuss. His books, with their colorful characters and rhyming language, have entertained children all over the world for decades. Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–1991) in Springfield, Massachusetts. As a child, he made frequent trips to the zoo, where he got the inspiration for many of his animal creations. He had a flair for drawing and later contributed illustrations to his college’s humor magazine. In the 1920s and 1930s, Geisel began working as a professional cartoonist and illustrator, mostly for advertising agencies. Geisel’s real ambition was to create his own children’s books. In 1936, he published his first, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Its colorful drawings and imaginative, rhyming text were to become trademarks of the Dr. Seuss style. He published other books, including the popular Horton Hatches an Egg (1940). During World War II (1939–45), Geisel created

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cartoons in support of the U.S. war effort. He also worked on army training films. In the 1950s, Geisel enjoyed perhaps his greatest period of success. His books Horton Hears a Who (1954), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), and The Cat in the Hat (1957) were filled with nonsense humor and made-up words and sold millions of copies worldwide. Challenged to write a book using fewer than fifty words, Geisel created Green Eggs and Ham (1960), one of his best-loved classics. Other Geisel books had more serious themes. The Lorax (1971) dealt with saving the environment, for example. Geisel continued writing until his death in 1991. Overall, his books sold more than one hundred million copies and were translated into eighteen languages. Toward the end of his life, Geisel even wrote books for adults, like Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (1990). Those too became bestsellers (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). The magic of Dr. Seuss, it seems, works on people of all ages. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, stands alongside his famous Cat in the Hat character. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Morgan, Judith, and Neil Morgan. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel. New York: Random House, 1995. Random House, Inc. Seussville. http://www. randomhouse.com/seussville/ (accessed March 7, 2002). Seuss, Dr. A Hatful of Seuss: Five Favorite Dr. Seuss Stories. New York: Random House, 1997. Weidt, Maryann N. Oh the Places He Went: A Story About Dr. Seuss. New York: Carolrhoda Books, 1994.

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During the Christmas season of 1950, a new holiday song was introduced that told the tale of an inanimate snowman that came to life to spread good cheer. Written by Steve Nelson and

In the Nelson and Rollins song, the snowman comes alive when a magical silk hat is placed upon his head by a group of children. The newly energized snowman and kids proceed to enjoy a winter day devoted to sledding and ice-skating. Their adventure ends as a warm spell forces Frosty to leave for a colder climate, but he promises to return when the weather again becomes cooler. Although Frosty is closely associated with Christmas, the holiday is never mentioned in the song. Still, the song has been included on dozens of Christmas albums by a wide variety of musical artists over the years.

Frosty the Snowman

Jack Rollins, “Frosty the Snowman” became an international hit recording and a permanent part of many people’s Christmas celebrations. The lovably jolly snowman, which possessed “a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal,” became as recognizable as other nonreligious Christmas symbols like Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3).

The popularity of the 1950 song led to the publication of a Golden Book (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3) featuring the character a year later. The children’s book, which was written by Annie North Bedford (1915–) and illustrated by Corinne Malvern (1905–1956), was a great success and further increased Frosty’s popularity. In the 1960s, Frosty leapt from the printed page and landed on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The first, and most popular, Frosty-based holiday TV special was simply titled Frosty the Snowman (1969). It was narrated by comedian Jimmy Durante (1893–1980). The TV script expanded upon the original song’s premise: Frosty is confronted by a washed-up magician who wants the silk top hat that gave Frosty life. The special also teaches children a message about the power of friendship and kindness. Santa appears at the conclusion to take Frosty to his new home at the North Pole. Comedian Jackie Vernon (1925–1987) provided the voice of Frosty on this and other holiday programs. In 1976, Frosty returned to TV in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. In this special, the lonely snowman’s friends, who are children, make him a wife named Crystal. The voice of Crystal was provided by actress Shelley Winters (1922–). Andy Griffith (1926–; see entry on The Andy Griffith Show under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) served as the narrator of the story. The 1979 holiday season saw the first showing of Rudolph and

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Frosty’s Christmas in July. This TV special teamed the snowman with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in an adventure in which they confronted the evil wizard Winterbolt. In this Frosty episode, it is revealed that Frosty and Crystal now are the parents of a snow-family. Included among the celebrity voices in this program are Red Buttons (1919–), Ethel Merman (1908–1984), and Mickey Rooney (1920–). In 1998, Michael Keaton (1951–) starred in Jack Frost, a live-action film that was based partly on the Frosty tale. The film tells of a neglectful dad who dies and comes back to life as a snowman in his son’s front yard. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Bedford, Annie North, and Corinne Malverne. Frosty the Snowman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1951.

MAD Magazine The comic cartoonists at MAD magazine have been providing satire and absurd humor to their loyal readers since 1952. What began as a comic book (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) evolved over time into a monthly magazine, a series of books, a stage show, and a popular television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) program. The influence of the MAD style of humor can also be seen on the television program Saturday Night Live (see entry under 1970s— TV and Radio in volume 4), in films such as The Naked Gun and Scary Movie, and in countless parody ads and TV commercials. The MAD empire was founded by William M. Gaines (1922–1992), a young comic book publisher of the 1940s. Gaines’s “Entertaining Comics” (EC) focused mostly on shocking war comics like Two-Fisted Tales and gory horror titles like Tales from the Crypt. They were very popular, especially with young readers, but government officials began to put pressure on Gaines to cut out the blood and violence. So, in 1952, Gaines enlisted a young cartoonist named Harvey Kurtzman (1924–) to create a new kind of comic book, an all-humor title. Kurtzman named the new series Tales Calculated to Drive You MAD. It debuted in the fall of 1952. 704

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Over the course of the next three years, the talented Kurtzman put his personal stamp on the new title. He introduced such

classic MAD features as the movie parody (“Hah! Noon,” a spoof of the Western classic High Noon was an early example) and the use of nonsense words like “fershlugginer” in the word balloons. The early MAD also spent a lot of time spoofing other comic books, like “Superduperman,” its takeoff on Superman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) or the Batman (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) parody “Bat Boy.” The drawing chores for these illustrated features were divided up among Kurtzman and other soon-to-be legendary artists like Wally Wood (1927–1981), Jack Davis (1926–), and Basil Wolverton (1909– 1978). These early issues of MAD are considered some of the greatest achievements in comic books as well as landmarks in American humor. They typically sell for thousands of dollars at collectible shows and auctions. In 1955, Kurtzman left MAD to work for Playboy (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) founder Hugh Hefner (1926–). Al Feldstein (1925–) took over as editor, and MAD was converted from a comic book to a magazine. The contents changed very little, although the new format attracted contributions from many well-known humorists including Bob and Ray (Bob Elliott, 1923–; and Ray Goulding, 1922–1990), Jean Shepherd (1921–1999), and Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962). In the 1960s, MAD began to focus more on parodies of advertising. The magazine itself refused to take ads, allowing it to poke fun at the exaggerated claims of companies selling cigarettes, liquor, or home appliances. Alfred E. Neuman, the grinning cartoon mascot who appears on every cover of MAD magazine, made his first showing in March 1955. He became the cornerstone for MAD starting with issue 30 in December 1956. With his big ears, gap-toothed smile, and his trademark expression “What, Me Worry?” he remains the first image that comes to most people’s minds when they think of MAD magazine. Over the years, Alfred’s face has popped up in a number of unlikely places, including a celebrated campaign poster by artist

Publisher William Gaines reads a copy of MAD magazine. MAD mascot Alfred E. Neuman grins in the background. Photograph by Jacques M. Chenet. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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Norman Mingo (1896–1980) promoting “Alfred E. Neuman for President.” Besides Mingo, a number of other artists and writers became regular contributors to MAD. Listed on the masthead as “the usual gang of idiots,” they supplied some of the magazine’s most beloved long-running features. Sergio Aragones (1937–) created the popular “Spy vs. Spy.” Al Jaffee (1921–) supplied “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” as well as the monthly “fold-in” drawing on the inside back cover. The capable Don Martin (1931–2000) created a variety of bizarre cartoons, often tied together by the premise “One Fine Day . . .” Many of these recurring features were collected into paperback books and sold by mail order. Other MAD spin-offs, like the feature film Up the Academy (1980), the stage revue The MAD Show, and the TV series MAD TV (1995–), met with a mixed reception from the magazine’s core audience. Nevertheless, MAD continued to have an influence beyond its printed pages, as its brand of satirical humor became entrenched in American pop culture. Any TV commercial that spoofs other TV commercials, it could fairly be said, is drawing on the tradition of MAD magazine. MAD remained popular, particularly with teenage readers, even after Gaines’s death in 1992. As the century drew to a close, however, sales had dropped dramatically. The number of MAD readers fell from 2.3 million in the early 1970s to 500,000 by the 1990s. Some claimed the magazine no longer seemed fresh in a society where the MAD style humor is everywhere. Whatever the reason, MAD’s editors in 2001 announced plans to revamp the magazine around the kind of toilet humor popular in such films as There’s Something About Mary (1998). The publication also began running ads in every issue. Whether the changes proved successful or not, MAD’s place in the history of American humor seemed secure. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

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Beam, Alex. “Declining Sales: What, Mad Worry?” Boston Globe (February 20, 2001): p. D1. Jacobs, Frank. The MAD World of William M. Gaines. Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1972. MAD. http://www.warnerbros.com/pages/madmagazine/index.jsp (accessed March 7, 2002).

National Enquirer Best known for its dramatically suggestive headlines, outlandish stories, and aggressive reporters, the National Enquirer is eagerly and secretly read in supermarket checkout lines by many more people than the 2.1 million who buy it each week. Although most readers claim they do not believe most of what the tabloid newspaper prints, they are drawn to its promise of insider knowledge and hot scoops about celebrities, politicians, and aliens from outer space.

National Enquirer

Reidelbach, Maria. Completely MAD: A History of the Comic Book and Magazine. Boston: Little Brown, 1991.

The National Enquirer got its start as a crime-focused tabloid called the New York Enquirer in 1926. (A tabloid is a half-size newspaper that usually contains many photographs and focuses on dramatic and lurid stories.) The New York Enquirer was bought in 1952 by Generoso Pope Jr. (1927–1988). Pope recognized that people were drawn to the blood and shock of an accident. Soon he added gory photos and articles to the crime stories in his paper. In the 1970s, he toned down the gore a bit, and included gossipy and sexy stories about celebrities in order to get his paper, now called the National Enquirer, placed on newsstands in supermarkets. The circulation of the National Enquirer began to climb, reaching a peak of 5.7 million readers per week in 1977. Competition from other tabloids, like the Star and the Globe, along with more television coverage of Hollywood gossip, caused sales of the Enquirer to decrease during the 1980s. In 1989, Pope’s widow sold the paper to American Media (which also owned its rivals the Star and the Globe) for $412 million. By 1994, circulation had dropped to 3.1 million, and by 2001 it was at 2.1 million. The Enquirer responded to these decreases by changing its focus once again, this time to politics. Originally exposed by a mainstream paper, the Miami Herald, it was the Enquirer that splashed politician Gary Hart’s (1936–) scandalous affair across its pages in the late 1980s to much fanfare. Coverage of political figures increased dramatically in the 1990s. With its aggressive investigative reporters and its policy of sparing no cost to get a story, the National Enquirer managed to scoop many more

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respected newspapers on stories about the love affairs of politicians like Bill Clinton (1946–), Jesse Jackson (1941–), and Gary Condit (1948–). Many celebrities have been angered by the Enquirer’s exposés about their lives, and some have taken the tabloid to court. However, the Enquirer prides itself on its careful research. Although some well-known people, like actress Carol Burnett (1933–), have won settlements against the paper, many others have lost. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

Politician Gary Hart lands on the cover of a 1987 National Enquirer. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Cohen, Daniel. Yellow Journalism: Scandal, Sensationalism, and Gossip in the Media. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000. Farhi, Paul. “Three-Headed Baby? Rival Tabloids Joined in Corporate Deal.” The Washington Post (November 3, 1999): p. C1. Hogshire, Jim. Grossed-Out Surgeon Vomits Inside Patient! An Insider’s Look at Supermarket Tabloids. Venice, CA: Feral House, 1997. National Enquirer Online. http://www.nationalenquirer.com (accessed February 26, 2002). “Pass the Pulitzers: The Power of the Tabloid Magazine Press.” The Economist (July 7, 2001): pp. 3–7. Sloan, Bill. I Watched a Wild Hog Eat My Baby: A Colorful History of Tabloids and Their Cultural Impact. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001. Waters, John. “Why I Love the National Enquirer.” Rolling Stone (October 10, 1985): pp. 43–48.

On the Road

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Published in 1957, Jack Kerouac’s semiautobiographical novel On the Road soon became the bible of the Beat movement (see entry on Beatniks and the Beat Movement under 1950s— Print Culture in volume 3) and an inspiration to many young people who felt disconnected from the dominant values of 1950s America. During a time when conformity (acting in agreement with established social views) was the norm, On the

The novel’s main character and narrator was Sal Paradise, based on Kerouac (1922–1969) himself. The other main characters were fictional versions of other important Beat figures, including Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), William Burroughs (1914–1997), and Neal Cassady (1926?–1968). Reflecting the Beats’ continual search for something new and more significant in American life, the novel relates the experiences of Paradise and his friends during a series of cross-country road trips. Along the way, they meet a host of odd characters, try to meet women, smoke marijuana, stay up all night, and listen to jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1). Much of the inspiration for the book came from Kerouac’s adventures with his close friend Cassady. His friend’s crazy, open-to-all-experiences behavior appealed to Kerouac’s longing for something more in life.

On the Road

Road showed another way of living, an on-the-go lifestyle that seemed very exciting to many people. In the decades since its publication, it has continued to do just that.

Because of the strange behavior of the characters and their reckless habits that went against accepted standards for the 1950s, the book created something of a scandal when in came out. Like the rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) that had emerged two years before, On the Road championed odd lifestyles that seemed threatening to many people. Few parents wanted their teenage children to live like Kerouac and his friends. However, for many young people, bored with the confining nature of life in suburban 1950s America and dreaming of something more, On the Road allowed them to at least glimpse another way of living. The continual search for something better in American culture was something with which many people, then and now, could identify. Kerouac’s search made On the Road a classic of American literature. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Charters, Ann. Kerouac: A Biography. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1973. Charters, Ann, ed. The Portable Beat Reader. New York: Penguin, 1992. Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. New York: New American Library, 1957. Multiple reprints.

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The Organizaiton Man

The Organization Man The Organization Man, the 1956 best-selling book from William H. Whyte (1917–1999), described the psychological and social costs of a major trend in American life during the 1950s. The trend was the movement of more people away from blue-collar jobs and toward white-collar office jobs in large corporations. The trend, Whyte argued, came with a price. Succeeding in the corporate world required people to suppress individual thought and initiative and to replace it with an attitude of conformity (acting in agreement with established social views) that sought only to please the boss. To Whyte, this seemed a major shift in the American character. Americans were forsaking the competitive individualism that had propelled the United States forward, a trend that Whyte argued would not lead to great things. The Organization Man was a very influential commentary on the problems of conformity that plagued the United States in the 1950s and beyond, one that also found expression in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) films such as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). —Timothy Berg

For More Information Glazer, Nathan. “The Man Who Loved Cities.” Wilson Quarterly (Spring 1999): pp. 27–33. Whyte, William H. The Organization Man. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1956.

Peanuts An unlucky little boy and his daydreaming beagle form the core of Peanuts, the beloved comic strip of Charles Schulz (1922–2000). The comic strip has entertained newspaper readers daily since 1950. Despite creator Schulz’s death in 2000, Peanuts lives on in the form of its timeless humor and instantly recognizable characters.

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Originally titled Li’l Folks, Peanuts debuted on October 2, 1950. Within a decade, the four-panel strip was appearing in over four hundred newspapers nationwide. Readers quickly

took to Schulz’s gentle humor and likable characters. Charlie Brown was the “hero” of the strip, a lovable loser who was repeatedly blocked in his attempts to kick a football by his overbearing neighbor, Lucy Van Pelt. Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s pet beagle, became something of a national sensation. The adorable pooch loafed atop his doghouse and imagined himself as a flying ace during World War I (1914–18). Snoopy was joined later by a bird sidekick named Woodstock, who also developed a fan following. Other characters included Linus, a smart but insecure child who carried a security blanket; Peppermint Patty, a freckle-faced girl who had a crush on Charlie Brown; and Schroeder, a piano prodigy who idolized German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). Adults were rarely seen. Comic-strip readers related to the troubles the Peanuts gang experienced solving life’s problems. The strip’s unique blend of animals, children, and homespun philosophy made it unique among comic strips of the 1950s. Popular comic strips of later years, like Calvin and Hobbes, and Bloom County, showed the influence of Schulz’s work.

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang were penned for nearly fifty years by creator Charles Schulz. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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Another way in which Peanuts revolutionized the American comic strip was in the area of merchandising. The strip became so popular (in 1984, it was named the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip by the Guinness Book of World Records) that its characters began appearing on calendars, mugs, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and plush toys from coast to coast. Snoopy became the “spokesbeagle” for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, as he and the rest of the gang turned up in a popular series of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) commercials starting in the 1980s. Spin-offs of the Peanuts daily strip also became quite popular. A series of animated TV specials, many centered around major holidays, was launched in the 1960s and is still rerun in the twenty-first century. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Johnson, Rheta Grimsley. Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz. New York: Pharos Books, 1989. Schulz, Charles M. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Me. Garden City: Doubleday, 1980. Schulz, Charles M. Peanuts: A Golden Celebration: The Art and the Story of the World’s Best-Loved Comic Strip. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Schulz, Charles M. Peanuts 2000. New York: Ballantine, 2000. United Feature Syndicate, Inc. The Official Peanuts Website: Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Friends. http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/ peanuts/ (accessed March 7, 2002).

Playboy Playboy was the first “skin magazine” to win a degree of acceptance in mainstream America. It did so by providing its male readers with more than just “skin.” It offered an entire lifestyle for the reader to enjoy—at least in his fantasies. Playboy debuted as a reaction against the repressive standards that ruled popular culture in the 1950s. No nudity, no suggestive language, no sex portrayed outside of marriage, and very little mention of sex even within marriage were allowed in mainstream media.

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Hugh Hefner (1926–), who had worked in publishing with little personal success, decided to gamble that the kind of magazine he wanted to read would also appeal to other young men.

Gradually, the magazine took on its distinctive characteristics: the mini-poster “centerfold” in each issue exhibiting the “Playmate of the Month”; the Playboy Interview, which over the years has included such unlikely subjects as Malcolm X (1925–1965), Yasser Arafat (1929–), Fidel Castro (c. 1927–), and then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter (1924–); and a host of articles. The articles promoted the “good life”—sports cars, elegant clothing, expensive stereo equipment, and fine dining.

J. R. R. Tolkien

He borrowed a few thousand dollars and launched Playboy in December 1953. The first issue was given a boost by its centerfold: Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), the hottest actress of the decade. She had posed for some nude pictures years earlier while still an unknown, and Hefner had acquired the rights.

In the 1960s, Hefner expanded into other areas, such as the Playboy Clubs (with their “bunnies” as waitresses), casinos, book publishing, and even film production. These did well until the 1980s, when the Playboy empire was hurt by the loss of its gambling license, declining club membership, and competition from magazines such as Penthouse and Hustler (see entry under 1970s—Print Culture in volume 4). The empire fell into financial trouble, but it was saved by Christie Hefner (1952–), the founder’s daughter, who was made president and chief executive officer (CEO) in 1982. Christie Hefner closed the clubs, dropped the film and book divisions, and began to explore the possibilities of new media, such as videotapes, CD-ROMs, and the Internet. Her father remained editor-in-chief of the magazine. Playboy continues to feed the fantasies, sexual and otherwise, of millions of readers. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Miller, Russell. Bunny: The Real Story of Playboy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985. The Playboy Book: Forty Years. Santa Monica, CA: General Publishing Group, 1998.

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) Born in South Africa, J. R. R. Tolkien lived in Britain from the age of three. He is famous as the author of The Hobbit (1937)

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and the bestselling epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Tolkien’s tales of “Middle-earth” draw on ancient Anglo-Saxon legends, culture, and languages. They also have very modern themes of lost tradition, family loyalty, and sense of place. His achievement is to have invented a consistent ancient mythology and to have made it live for millions of readers. A big-budget movie treatment of part one of the trilogy—The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 2001; in 2002, it received thirteen Academy Award nominations, winning four of them. Tolkien’s career as an academic lasted thirty-nine years, beginning in 1920. He was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. Later he became Merton Professor of English at Oxford University. In his waistcoat and tweed jacket, the aging professor made an unlikely cult author in the 1960s. Although his books have many imitators, Tolkien remains in the twenty-first century the most popular of all fantasy writers. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Carpenter, Humphrey. Tolkien: A Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Collins, David R. J. R. R. Tolkien: Master of Fantasy. Minneapolis: Lerner, 1992. The Lord of the Rings Homepage. http://www.thelordoftherings.com (accessed February 13, 2002). Neimark, Anne E. Myth Maker: J. R. R. Tolkien. New York: Beech Tree, 1998.

TV Guide Back in the 1950s, watching television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) was replacing listening to the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and going to the movies as the most popular of all leisure activities. TV stations were sprouting up across the country, and TV programming was expanding. This cultural shift to TV viewing established a market for a weekly magazine that offered its readers a handy, easy-to-use program schedule guide. That magazine became the aptly titled TV Guide. 714

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Prior to going national in 1953, TV Guide existed as a regional publication. Today, these editions are called “pre-

TV Guide Desi Arnaz Jr. is immortalized on the first cover of TV Guide in April 1953. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

nationals.” After 1953, the regional issues featured the same covers and articles, but the programming schedules were altered to fit each locality. For example, the New York City and Albany, New York, editions would include the same editorial content, but each city would have different schedules to reflect the changes in local TV station call letters, channel numbers, and programming. The initial TV Guide national edition was dated April 3–9, 1953. The cover featured a photo of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (1953–), the highly anticipated infant son of I Love Lucy (see

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entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) stars Lucille Ball (1911–1989) and Desi Arnaz (1917–1986). Above the TV Guide logo was the headline “Lucy’s $50,000,000 Baby.” Across the decades, just about every top television star has on more than one occasion graced the magazine’s cover. Over the years, TV Guide has featured everything from celebrity interviews to TV series features; crossword puzzles to series reviews; “Insider” and “Grapevine” sections announcing new trends, shows, and stars to a “Cheers & Jeers” page that congratulates or scolds individuals, networks, or stations. The publication’s cornerstone, however, has always been its TV listings. For this reason, TV Guide claimed a circulation of as high as 19.7 million in 1975, a number that dropped to 9.9 million by 2001. Across the decades, the magazine’s format has been altered, and features and columns have been added or dropped, but its program listing section, which makes up its bulk, has remained a constant. With the widespread availability of cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) in the 1990s and the resulting access to hundreds of TV stations within a single market, it became impossible for the print edition of TV Guide to list every scheduled television program. As a result, the publication entered the twenty-first century with The TV Guide Channel, a television channel that offers the current and upcoming hour’s programs on a continually rolling scroll on the TV screen. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Harris, Jay S., ed. TV Guide: The First 25 Years. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978. Norback, Craig T., and Peter G. Norback. TV Guide Almanac. New York: Ballantine Books, 1980. TV Guide Online. http://www.tvguide.com (accessed February 26, 2002). Weiner, Ed. The TV Guide Book. New York: HarperPerennial, 1992.

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1950s Sports and Games Americans’ interest in sports intensified during the decade. Television brought live sports into peoples’ homes for the first time. A new magazine, Sports Illustrated, was created to provide a weekly source of sports news and photographs. Baseball remained the most popular of American sports, and the New York Yankees continued to dominate the sport, winning seven of the nine World Series they played in during the decade. Professional football finally surpassed college football in popularity during the decade, thanks in part to the weekly televised broadcasts of games. During the winter, Americans turned to basketball. College basketball remained popular, despite several betting scandals that disgraced the game. The reorganization of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1949 gave a boost to professional basketball. Even more important were rule changes in 1954 that made basketball more exciting. An important trend in sports during the 1950s was integration. Jackie Robinson (1919–1972) had broken the “color line” in professional baseball in 1947. Several black players led their teams in the 1950s, including Roy Campanella (1921–1993), Willie Mays (1931–), Don Newcombe (1926–), Hank Aaron (1934–), and Ernie Banks (1931–). The NBA allowed black players in 1950 and Bill Russell (1934–) of the Boston Celtics became the dominating player of the decade. Black athletes soon participated in professional bowling and in women’s tennis. In fact, American Althea Gibson (1927–) won the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 1951. A sure sign that African Americans had been accepted was the disbanding of baseball’s Negro American League in 1960. Organized sports were not the only way that Americans amused themselves. Children were treated to several popular new games during the decade. LEGO building bricks, imported from Denmark, were beloved by American children who could build whatever they imagined with the plastic pieces. The Etch A Sketch provided a blank slate on which kids could create amusing illustrations by turning dials to draw lines. Older kids, especially those living amid the vast paved surfaces of the

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suburbs, enjoyed skateboards. Teenagers and adults found a new model for physical fitness in the muscled Jack LaLanne (1914–), whose feats of strength drew attention to the need for all Americans to keep in good shape. LaLanne’s message of physical readiness was well suited to a decade when Americans lived under the cloud of a Cold War (1945–91) with the distant Soviet Union.

Etch A Sketch The popular toy, Etch A Sketch, was invented in the 1950s by Frenchman Arthur Granjean, who called it “The Magic Screen.” In 1959, Granjean took his invention to a toy fair in Germany, where it was purchased by an American firm, the Ohio Art Company. The toy, renamed Etch A Sketch, was first sold in the United States in 1960 and was a huge success. Etch A Sketch is a plastic rectangle with a translucent screen in the middle and two knobs below the screen. Two knobs—one for horizontal, one for vertical—control the direction of an uninterrupted line that appears on the screen, allowing the user to “draw.” Shaking the device renders the screen blank again. Some talented users have used the toy to create complex works of art. By the twenty-first century, Etch A Sketch was available in traditional, travel-sized, miniature, and glow-in-the-dark versions. It is also accessible online. It is the most popular drawing toy ever made, having sold over one hundred million units in seventy countries. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information The Etch A Sketch Book. Palo Alto, CA: Klutz Press,1996. Etch A Sketch (official Web site). http://www.etch-a-sketch.com (accessed February 26, 2002).

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Jack LaLanne’s image—bouncy, cheerful, and muscular in a form-fitting jumpsuit—has been associated with health and fit-

Jack LaLanne Etch A Sketches slide off the assembly line at the Ohio Art Company. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

ness for over sixty years. Although he started his career in the 1930s at a time when people thought that exercising was odd or even dangerous, LaLanne practically invented the physicalfitness movement in the United States. A hot-tempered high school dropout from Bakersfield, California, mostly known for getting into fights and trouble, LaLanne discovered health food and body building at the age of fourteen and changed the course of his life. In order to spread the word about how exercise could improve people’s lives, LaLanne opened the first fitness club in

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the United States in 1936. He invented weight machines and exercise programs to help his customers learn to exercise. LaLanne was not only a pioneer in physical fitness but also a pioneer in the use of showmanship and promotion to spread his ideas. He hosted a popular exercise show on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) from 1951 to 1985. LaLanne performed dozens of well-publicized physical stunts to draw attention to his cause. For example, on his seventieth birthday he swam a mile and a half in handcuffs, pulling seventy boats behind him. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Kita, Joe. “Jack LaLanne Is 85 Years Old, and He Can Still Kick Your Butt.” Men’s Health (June 2000): pp. 98–105. The Official Jack LaLanne World Wide Web Site. http://www. jacklalanne.com/ (accessed March 7, 2002). Ottum, Bob. “Look, Mom, I’m an Institution.” Sports Illustrated (November 23, 1981): pp. 64–69.

LEGOs LEGOs are, quite simply, one of the most successful toys of all time. The uncomplicated multicolored plastic blocks interlock and can be rearranged in endless combinations. The durable LEGOs have provided endless hours of creative play for millions of children around the world. LEGO began in 1932 with carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958) in Billund, Denmark. Christiansen’s business manufactured simple wooden products, including toy blocks he made with leftover wood. In 1934, he adopted the name “LEGO” from the Danish words Leg Godt which means “play well.” The phrase also means “I study” or “I put together” in Latin. This business did well enough for a while, but it really took off in the late 1940s when the company bought a plastic injectionmolding machine to make plastic bricks. By 1949, the company was producing two hundred different plastic and wooden toys. In 1955, the company began selling LEGO bricks in organized sets, which they called the “LEGO System of Play.” There were twenty-eight sets offered that year. 720

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In 1958, the company introduced the modern version of the LEGO brick that most children are familiar with: raised studs on

the tops of the bricks, with tubes underneath to lock onto studs from other bricks. Now there were 102,981,500 different ways of combining six eight-stud bricks of the same color. This allowed for virtually endless variety, and it became very difficult for creative children to exhaust the possibilities. The company offered model sets beginning in 1964. These contained the proper bricks to make complete models of cars, villages, boats, and so on. By 1966, more than 57 sets were offered and more than 706 million blocks were manufactured. In 1967, larger bricks, called DUPLO, were introduced for younger children. The company would later offer more advanced sets, called Technik, for older children, and specialty lines featuring space adventures, pirates, knights and castles, and other themes. In 1968, the company opened its first LEGOLAND park in Billund, Denmark, a theme park showcasing all that could be done with LEGOs. Other parks, in England and in the United States, opened later in the century. The company also held periodic World Cup building championships to see who could build the biggest and best LEGO creations. LEGO bricks had been an enduring part of the lives of American children for several generations by the end of the twentieth century. Their simplicity offered almost unlimited options for creative play. Unlike other toys that carefully defined what children could do with them, LEGOs encouraged kids to use their imaginations to build ever more elaborate and fanciful constructions. Kids could build houses full of many rooms, castles with towers, and entire towns out of the bricks. When LEGO introduced plastic people and wheels to their basic sets, kids could invent entire worlds populated with people driving fancy cars, flying airplanes, and living in gigantic houses. LEGOs were seen as being good for kids because they required thinking. LEGOs encouraged them to use their minds rather

Children play with a LEGO Mindstorm robot in 1999. Reuters/Michael Crabtree/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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than simply sit in front of the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) set or play video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4). Eventually, LEGO moved beyond the basic building-block sets toward sets that could be built in more limited, specialized ways. With the basic blocks, just about anything could be built. With the more specialized ones, it became harder to break away and build anything other than the models in the set. Eventually, the company introduced computer chips into certain models, such as the LEGO “Mindstorm” sets. Some sets even came with CD-ROMs with instructions on how to build the models. This was a long way from the basic theme of the early LEGO blocks: simple bricks that required children to be creative in their play. These changes were more than successful, however. By the mid-1990s, LEGO was one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world. By this time, LEGO had become one of the world’s most recognized brand names, splashed on building blocks, CD-ROM games, and a magazine. Fortune magazine and the British Association of Toy Retailers named LEGO the “toy of the century.” With the introduction of buildable action figures known as Bionicles in 2001, LEGO made its bid to be the toy of the next century as well. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Lane, Anthony. “The Joy of Bricks: What Have the Danes Done for Children?” The New Yorker (Vol. 74, no. 10, April 27/May 4, 1998): pp. 96–103. The Official LEGO Web Site. http://www.lego.com/ (accessed February 26, 2002). Wiencek, Henry. The World of LEGO Toys. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987.

Skateboarding

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Since its invention in the late 1950s, skateboarding has had several separate waves of popularity. The style of each wave may have been slightly different, but they all share a youth culture of rebellion and stylish feats of physical skill and daring. Although some parents and coaches tried to make skateboarding a Little League (see entry under 1930s—Sports and Games in volume 2) sport in the 1970s, and others have tried to have

Skateboarding Two “thrashers” take to the air at the 1997 X-Games in San Diego, California. Photograph by Dennis Poroy. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

it outlawed, “boarders” are a highly independent group who have resisted attempts to take their sport from them. Marty McFly, from the 1980s film series Back to the Future, and cartoon brat Bart Simpson of The Simpsons (1989–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), are two of the media’s best known flashy skateboarders. The first skateboards were made in California by surfers who attached roller-skate wheels to short boards and learned to maneuver them. They rode their skateboards the way they rode their surfboards through the waves, shifting their body weight and moving their feet along the board. Soon, boards were being manufactured and sold to children as toys, but the danger involved in rolling at high speeds on concrete sidewalks caused skateboarding to be forbidden in most towns by the end of the 1960s. The 1970s, however, saw an improvement in the design of the original board. Urethane wheels gave boarders more control, and a new generation of young people joined the skateboard craze, performing more acrobatic feats than ever before.

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Skateboarding’s popularity rose again in the 1980s and in the 1990s, as each new generation of rebel athletes has taken to the boards. Since the 1970s, many communities have tried to improve the safety of skateboarding by building skateboarding parks where boarders can practice their moves away from both traffic and pedestrians. Still, some skateboarders are rebels who often choose to break the rules for late night skates on the concrete ramps of empty parking garages and swimming pools. These boarders are viewed by the police as troublemakers. Perhaps as a result, skateboarders have created their own subculture, with its own slang, uniform, and magazines. “Thrashers,” as skateboarders call themselves, wear baggy shorts, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and high-top sneakers, and they read Thrasher, Warp, and Skateboarder. In the 1990s, skateboarding, as well as other extreme sports (see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5) such as snowboarding, was given a professional outlet at competitions such as the X-Games, created by ESPN (see entry under 1970s— TV and Radio in volume 4), where thrashers compete in downhill racing, slalom racing, and freestyle. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Burke, L. M. Skateboarding! Surf the Pavement. New York: Rosen Publishing, 1999. Cocks, Jay. “The Irresistible Lure of Grabbing Air.” Time (June 6, 1988): pp. 90–95. Martin, Michael. History of Skateboarding: From the Backyard to the Big Time. Mankato, MN: Capstone High-Interest Books, 2001. Thatcher, Kevin J., and Brian Brannon. Thrasher: The Radical Skateboard Book. New York: Random House, 1992.

Sports Illustrated

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During the 1950s, a booming economy after World War II (1939–45) allowed Americans more leisure time. Many of these hours were spent following amateur and professional athletics, but fans could only read about these sporting events in their local newspapers. Hoping to cash in on the surge of interest in sports, a new weekly magazine known as Sports Illustrated (SI) debuted on August 16, 1954. The magazine single-handedly created the national sports magazine. It offered in-depth,

With the arrival of all-sports cable networks like ESPN (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), the influence of SI lessened. The magazine is still well known early in the twenty-first century for its swimsuit issues and videos, as well as for its writing and photography. —Rob Edelman

Sports Illustrated

feature-length sports journalism and dazzling photographic images. Sports Illustrated was the brainchild of Henry Luce (1898–1967), editor of Time (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) and founder of Life (see entry under 1930s— Print Culture in volume 2), two other successful weekly magazines. At first, SI was more of a generic men’s magazine. It focused on sports and such leisure activities as yachting, biggame hunting, and fishing. However, it emerged as a journalistic force in the early 1960s when it narrowed its focus to the four major sports (baseball, football, basketball, and hockey) as well as covering boxing, tennis, and golf. The key to the magazine’s success was its incisive, analytical writing. Newspapers reported the mere facts of sporting events. An SI article, accompanied by vivid photography, captured the essence of the player, team, or event, with as much of a focus on behind-thescenes activity as on what occurred on the playing field. Sports Illustrated also published issue-oriented articles on topics. The articles ranged from the exploitation of African American athletes to the increasing threat of drug use among athletes to the right of women to excel on the playing field. For the more inquisitive and critical sports fan, the magazine became a “must-read.” In 1954, its subscriber base was 350,000. Six years later, its circulation was 1 million. It grew to 2 million in the mid-1970s, 3 million in the mid–1980s, and 3.5 million in the late 1980s. Along with sports programming on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the popularity of SI helped usher in the era of athletics as big business. Its influence eventually transcended sports, as SI’s annual swimsuit issue, first published in 1964 and featuring attractive (and, as the years passed, ever more scantily clad) models, became wildly popular. The swimsuit editions helped cement the celebrity of such models as Cheryl Tiegs (1947–), Christie Brinkley (1954–), Kathy Ireland (1963–), and Elle Macpherson (1963–). The swimsuit editions were also a contributing factor in the emergence of the supermodel (see entry under 1980s—Fashion in volume 5) phenomenon.

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For More Information CNN/Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com (accessed February 26, 2002). MacCambridge, Michael. The Franchise: A History of “Sports Illustrated” Magazine. New York: Hyperion, 1997. Michener, James A. Sports in America. New York: Random House, 1976. Sports Illustrated for Kids. http://www.sikids.com (accessed February 26, 2002).

1950s TV and Radio Television was introduced to Americans in 1939 and began to gain a foothold after World War II (1939–45). In the 1950s, the sale of TV sets and the boom in programming made TV America’s favorite source of entertainment. Consider the numbers: in 1946, 7,000 TV sets were sold; in 1948, 172,000 sets were sold; and in 1950, 5 million sets were sold. In 1950, just under 20 percent of American homes contained a TV set. Ten years later, nearly 90 percent of homes contained a TV—and some even had color TVs. The number of TV stations, channels, and programs all grew to meet this surging demand. The 1950s truly were the decade of the TV. Three major networks—the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)—provided the majority of TV programming. Early in the decade, the most popular programs were variety shows or serious dramas, such as Texaco Star Theater, Fireside Theatre, Philco TV Playhouse, Your Show of Shows, and The Colgate Comedy Hour. But American tastes in TV changed over the decade. By 1959, the top three shows were Westerns—Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, and Have Gun Will Travel—and other favorites included comedy (The Red Skelton Show) and a game show (The Price Is Right). Several important TV standards were set in the 1950s. I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners set the standard for situation comedies, which would grow to be TV’s most dominant form of programming. Game shows like The Price Is Right and The $64,000 Question were popular and inexpensive to produce. The Today Show pioneered the idea of a morning variety show and remains on the air fifty years later. Moreover, TV programmers began to create innovative programs for kids, including Captain Kangaroo, Leave It to Beaver, and The Mickey Mouse Club. All these shows were loved by advertisers, who profited from their ability to advertise before huge audiences. Television changed the American entertainment landscape. In towns where TV was introduced, movie attendance and book

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sales dropped off dramatically. Radio, which had been America’s favorite form of at-home amusement, declined in importance in the 1950s. Variety, comedy, and dramatic shows left the airwaves for TV. Radio increasingly focused on news, talk shows, and sports broadcasting. Critics began to worry that TV encouraged passive behavior—it turned people into what later generations would call “couch potatoes.” It was a concern that would grow in the coming years.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was the longest-running situation-comedy show in television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) history. From October 3, 1952, until September 3, 1966, in 435 episodes, the sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) show depicted the family of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson as they dealt with the minor problems of everyday life in a middle-class American suburb (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Usually considered the first TV series about a family, Ozzie and Harriet paved the way for similar 1950s series like Leave It to Beaver (1957–63; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Father Knows Best (1954–62). Like them, Ozzie and Harriet focused on family matters, such as whether one of the sons in the family was old enough to have his own key to the house. The show did not deal with social or political issues, and it did not show its characters being angry or mean. Often the problems in an episode would turn out to be the result of a simple misunderstanding. Overall the show presented a happy, agreeable image of life in America. Indeed, the show came to be seen as a symbol of the harmonious 1950s. The phrase “Ozzie and Harriet” came to be used as shorthand to refer to a time before the upheavals and social conflicts of later decades.

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One of the oddities of the show was that its stars all played themselves. The real-life Ozzie and Harriet Nelson played Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, and their real-life sons played their sons. When the sons grew up and married, their wives got roles on the show, too.

On the radio show, the Nelsons’ two sons were at first played by actors, but beginning in 1949 the real Nelson boys, David (1936–) and Ricky (1940–1985), played themselves. Ricky, whose actual name was Eric, became a popular singer in his own right and often sang on the show in its later years on TV. —Sheldon Goldfarb

For More Information

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Ozzie, or Oswald George, Nelson (1906-1975) had been a bandleader in the 1930s. He married Harriet Hilliard (19091994), the band’s singer and a former actress. The two of them began performing skits on the radio show of comedian Red Skelton (1913-97). Their skits became a radio show called The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1944.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. http://timvp.com/ozzie.html (accessed March 8, 2002). Davidson, Sara. “The Happy, Happy, Happy Nelsons.” Esquire (June 1971): pp. 97–101, 157–68. Dennis, Christopher Paul, and Michael Dennis. “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” In Favorite Families of TV. New York: Citadel Press, 1992. Fuller, Tim. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Online. http://www. sitcomsonline.com/theadventuresofozzieandharriet.html (accessed March 8, 2002). Jones, Peter, writer-director. Ozzie & Harriet: Adventures of America’s Favorite Family (video). A&E Biography Series, 1998.

Alvin and the Chipmunks In 1958, a singing group known as Alvin and the Chipmunks burst onto the national music scene with two hits, “Witch Doctor” and “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late).” In the second song, the “chipmunks,” with their high, wobbly voices, longed for Christmas to come soon. Their unique singing style was actually created through sped-up recording techniques. The singing captivated the American public and helped the group sell millions of singles. Ever since that first recording, Alvin and the Chipmunks have occupied a rare place in American popular culture as a novelty act that never lost its novelty. The group sold a string of albums and appeared in an animated television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series in the 1960s and again in the 1980s. The Chipmunks were the brainchild of Ross Bagdasarian (1919–1972), a prolific composer, producer, impressionist, and

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actor who performed under the pseudonym “David Seville.” Bagdasarian had already enjoyed some success with several novelty tunes in the late 1950s, but with “Witch Doctor” he stumbled on a gold mine. Bagdasrian used nonsense lyrics (most memorable: “Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla, bing bang”) and sped-up vocal tracks to give the singers unique voices—the voices of a trio of chipmunks. The song was an immediate hit. It was followed later in 1958 by “The Chipmunk Song,” which sold four million singles in just two months. The Chipmunks were composed of the mischievous Alvin, brainy Simon, and chubby, silly Theodore. Bagdasarian provided the voices for all the characters as well as the voice of their temperamental manager, Dave Seville. The Chipmunks followed their first hits with a string of albums, beginning with Let’s All Sing with the Chipmunks (1959) and continuing until the year 2000 with thirty-five albums. After his early success, Bagdasarian decided to bring his characters to television. He formed his own animation company and produced The Alvin Show for NBC in 1961. The prime-time series featured the songs and adventures of The Chipmunks. Most of the cartoons focused on Alvin and the trouble he caused for his brothers and manager. The series was canceled due to low ratings after one season, but it appeared for three more seasons as a Saturday morning cartoon (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Alvin and the Chipmunks’ popularity began to falter in the late 1960s. Albums released in the mid-1960s, like The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles’ Hits (1964) and Chipmunks a Go-Go (1965), on which they performed the songs of the Beach Boys (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), Tom Jones (1940–), and Petula Clark (1932–), failed to capture the public’s interest. In the early 1980s, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. (1949–) revived his late father’s characters and promoted them to baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) who grew up with the original recordings. In Chipmunk Punk (1980), the gang sang the work of the Cars, Pat Benatar (1953–), and Billy Joel (1949–). Riding a new wave of popularity, Bagdasarian Jr. created a new TV series titled Alvin and the Chipmunks. From 1983 to 1990, Alvin and the Chipmunks—a gentler version of the original cartoon— was a mainstay of NBC’s Saturday morning cartoon lineup. The latter series also introduced The Chipettes, a group of singing female chipmunks named Jeanette, Brittany, and Eleanor. Although the Chipmunks disappeared from TV after 1990, their

—Charles Coletta

For More Information “Alvin and the Chipmunks (The Chipmunks).” Yesterdayland. http://www. yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1264.php (accessed March 8, 2002). Bagdasarian Productions LLC. Alvin and the Chipmunks. http://www. chipmunks.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002). Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows. Fifth edition. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. Cartoon-O-Rama Presents: The Alvin Show. http://members.aol.com/ PaulEC1/alvin.html (accessed July, 2001).

American Bandstand

songs—especially “The Chipmunk Song”—remain a mainstay of American musical goofiness.

American Bandstand Originally hosted by Dick Clark (1929–) from a studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, American Bandstand was a live, hour-long televised dance show that began national broadcasts on August 5, 1957. It was the first and most popular show that portrayed a live audience of teenagers dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) to the latest rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) records—a formula that helped popularize this musical genre (category) as an emblem of American youth culture. Most of rock and roll’s leading artists made guest appearances on American Bandstand, including Buddy Holly (1936–1959) and the Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis (1935–), the Everly Brothers, Johnny Mathis (1935–), Fabian (1943–), Bobby Rydell (1940–), and Frankie Avalon (1940–). The original version of the show had debuted on WFIL-TV in 1952 as a local program with the name Bandstand, hosted by Philadelphia disc jockey Bob Horn (1916–1966). In 1956, Horn was dropped from the show after being arrested for driving while drunk. Horn was replaced by Clark, who had hosted country-and-western music shows on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) as well as an easy-listening show for WFIL radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2). In 1964, when the show moved to Los Angeles, California, American Bandstand ceased being a live “after-school” show aired on Monday through Friday after-

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Dick Clark (holding microphone) with 1950s teen idol Bobby Rydell on American Bandstand. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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noons. From that point, it was taped for airing on Saturday afternoon. During the 1980s, competition from MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) and music videos made American Bandstand seem like a relic from an earlier generation. The durable Clark remained as host until the show finally went off the air for good in October 1987. A syndicated version, The New American Bandstand, ran through September 1989. Even though the show failed to capitalize on the “British Invasion” of popular music in the 1960s, American Bandstand was an important forerunner of the emergent youth culture of that decade. The program helped unite teenagers in all parts of the country, who quickly imitated the latest dance steps and styles of their more urbane, sophisticated cousins who were eager to move to the music as long as it had a “beat.” On the other hand, the show was long criticized for including only white teenagers, even though many of the records they danced to were created by African American artists. It was not until 1965 that American Bandstand featured its first black dancing partners. —Edward Moran

Blitz, Stanley J., as told to John Pritchard. Bandstand: The Untold Story. Phoenix: Cornucopia, 1997. Clark, Dick, and Richard Robinson. Rock, Roll & Remember. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1976. Corliss, Richard. “Philly Fifties: Rock ’n Radio.” Time.com. http://www. time.com/time/sampler/article/0,8599,167553,00.html (accessed March 11, 2002). Jackson, John A. American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock ’n’ Roll Empire. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Shore, Michael, with Dick Clark. The History of American Bandstand. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985.

Candid Camera

For More Information

Candid Camera Long before the rise of reality TV (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) shows such as Survivor and The Real World (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) in the 1990s, Candid Camera featured real people reacting to real situations beginning in the late 1940s and continuing off and on for the next forty-five years. Candid Camera was the brainchild of Allen Funt (1914–1999), a radio writer and producer. The show’s idea was rather simple. Part psychology experiment and part practical joke, Funt would set up an odd situation and then film people’s reactions to it. The show was called “candid” camera because it caught people candidly, or off guard. Funt wanted to show how people would react to new and unusual situations. His guess that their reactions would prove highly entertaining was right on target. The show was always good-humored. Funt never humiliated anyone or set up gags designed to hurt anyone’s feelings. If he caught people doing things that were too embarrassing he would choose not to show that tape. Often his gags were as simple as putting salt in the sugar container at a restaurant and watching the customer’s reactions. In other gags, someone would be hired to work in an office while odd phone calls came their way. Sometimes Funt himself would play a character or hire actors to play small roles in the gags. At the end of the gag, Funt would reveal the gag to the unsuspecting person and say “Smile, you’re on candid camera,” often pointing out where the hidden camera was located. Candid Camera ran on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It came back to TV from 1960 to 1967, and again, as The New

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Candid Camera from 1974 to 1978. The show returned once again in the early 1990s, this time hosted by Funt’s son Peter. Unlike later reality shows, which often focused on conflict, Candid Camera showed that reality TV could be done with humor, grace, and good-natured fun. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Candid Camera Online. http://www.candidcamera.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002). Funt, Allen. Eavesdropping at Large: Adventures in Human Nature with Candid Mike and Candid Camera. New York: Vanguard Press, 1952. McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.

Captain Kangaroo For more than thirty years, Bob Keeshan (1927–), also known as Captain Kangaroo, opened the doors to an imaginative “Treasure House” every weekday morning (and for a few years, on Saturday mornings as well) on CBS. The gentle children’s TV program ran for nearly ten thousand episodes, making it the longest running children’s series in network history. The Captain remains a treasured memory for millions of American children. The show has since been revived in a slightly altered form for a new generation of viewers. Captain Kangaroo debuted on October 3, 1955. Its host was a one-time Howdy Doody Show (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) regular and the creator of Clarabell the Clown. His soft speaking voice, grandfatherly manner, and push-broom moustache instantly endeared him to the show’s pint-sized audience. Keeshan was more than just a hired gun, however. He took an active role in shaping the tone and direction of the series—contributing to the scripts, overseeing the production, and even selecting which commercials would air during the program.

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Joining the Captain (called Kangaroo because of his bottomless jacket pockets) in the Treasure House were many human and puppet companions. The most prominent was Mr. Green Jeans, a rangy farmer played by children’s TV veteran Hugh “Lumpy” Brannum (1910–1987). Mr. Green Jeans was a jackof-all-trades who occasionally sang songs and played his guitar and introduced viewers to a wide range of animal “guests.” In fact, more than two thousand species of animals appeared

on Captain Kangaroo during its run. Puppet characters on Captain Kangaroo, animated by puppeteer Gus Allegretti, included Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit. The show also featured numerous celebrity guest stars over the years, including Walter Cronkite (1916–), Phyllis Diller (1917–), and even another famous low-key children’s host, Mister Rogers (1929–; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) himself. In 1982, CBS moved Captain Kangaroo to weekends-only, and then cancelled the show in December 1984. Keeshan moved the show to PBS, where it ran until the early 1990s. In 1997, The All New Captain Kangaroo, starring character-actor John McDonough, debuted. Longtime viewers of Keeshan’s program did not warm easily to the new captain, but the show retained much of the wholesome, family-friendly feel of the original series.

Beloved characters Captain Kangaroo (holding book) and Mr. Green Jeans delighted kids of all ages for more than thirty years.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Keeshan, Robert. Good Morning Captain: Fifty Wonderful Years with Bob Keeshan, TV’s Captain Kangaroo. Minneapolis: Fairview Press, 1996. “Lost Kid Shows.” TVparty.com. http://www.tvparty.com/lostterrytoons. html (accessed March 8, 2002).

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Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett There was a real person named David Crockett (1786–1836) who fought with Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) against Creek Native Americans, represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress, and died at the Alamo. But the real life of the man pales when compared with the legends about him that occupy such a prominent place in the nation’s popular culture. Although there had been some accounts of his exploits in the nineteenth century, mostly in the form of dime novels (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1), it took the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) age to make Davy Crockett’s name a household word. A new TV show from Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) called Disneyland broadcast the first episode of a planned Crockett trilogy on December 15, 1954. “Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter” starred Fess Parker (1925–) in the title role. Crockett’s friend Georgie Russell was portrayed by Buddy Ebsen (1908–), who would later find fame on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). The story was introduced with a theme song built around the refrain, “Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.” The episode was a huge success, especially with children, and Crockett’s popularity continued to grow as the rest of the trilogy was shown. “Davy Crockett Goes to Congress” was broadcast on January 26, 1955, and “Davy Crockett at the Alamo” followed on February 23, 1955. A $300 million marketing frenzy quickly followed the Crockett craze. The most popular item was a coonskin (raccoon skin) cap like the one that Parker wore in his role. There was also great demand for such items as toy muskets, action figures, moccasins, and lunch boxes—many of which were pricy collectors items by the twentyfirst century. Various recordings of the theme song (one performed by Parker himself) sold over seven million copies in total.

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Although the Davy Crockett fad soon faded, the character made other periodic showings in popular culture. The best known of these was in the 1960 film The Alamo, in which Crockett was played by John Wayne (1907–1979; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), who also directed and produced the film. However, in the years since Wayne’s big-budget extravaganza, most of Crockett’s appearances have been in forgettable

made-for-TV movies and in cable-channel documentaries. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Davis, William C. Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998. Groneman, Bill. Death of a Legend: The Myth and Mystery Surrounding the Death of Davy Crockett. Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press, 1999. Johnston, Marianne. Davy Crockett. New York: PowerKids Press, 2001.

Dobie Gillis The fictional character of Dobie Gillis was an average American teenager with three primary interests: girls, girls, and girls. Actually, Dobie was all in favor of having wads of money and owning spiffy automobiles, as well. But mainly he was obsessed with the opposite sex. Dobie was the creation of writer Max Shulman (1919–1988), who first published Dobie stories in humor magazines in 1945. The character appeared on screen in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), a musical comedy starring Bobby Van (1928–1980) as a college-aged Dobie. The most fondly remembered Dobie, however, was played by Dwayne Hickman (1934–) on the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–63). Here, Dobie was a high school student, endlessly falling for attractive young women but seemingly destined to end up with an aggressively determined Plain Jane named Zelda Gilroy (Sheila James, 1940–). Other characters rounded out Dobie’s family and townspeople, but the most memorable supporting character was Maynard G. Krebs, Dobie’s zany beatnik (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) pal, played by Bob Denver (1935–), who would later star in the sitcom Gilligan’s Island (1964–67; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4).

Dwayne Hickman, as Dobie, and Tuesday Weld, as Thalia Menninger, from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

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As the series evolved, Dobie and Maynard enlisted in the army and attended junior college. Years after its last episode aired, two other Dobie Gillis TV projects were produced: Whatever Happened to Dobie Gillis? (1977) and Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis (1988). The question posed in the first title was immediately answered: Dobie—like so many aimless dreamers who are brought down to reality by everyday life—ended up marrying Zelda Gilroy and running his father’s business. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Hickman, Dwayne, and Joan Roberts Hickman. Forever Dobie. New York: Birch Lane Press, 1994. Shulman, Max. I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf. New York: B. Geis Associates, 1959. Shulman, Max. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: Eleven Campus Stories. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1951.

Dragnet Dragnet was one of the most popular police-oriented television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series in the 1950s. But it was no slam-bang, action-packed cop show featuring handsome police officer heroes. Instead, its lead character, Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb (1920–1982), was notoriously colorless and efficient, so much so that his blandness made him ripe for parody. Friday—who grimly announced to the viewer, “My name’s Friday. I’m a cop”—was the essence of the steadfastly dedicated policeman whose interpretation of the law was strictly “by the book.” He had neither wife nor personal life. Seemingly, he was a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week upholder of law and order. He courteously explained to people he questioned during his investigation that all he was concerned with were “just the facts.” Predictably, by the end of the show, Friday and his partner nabbed the culprit. As the arrest was made, Friday ordered, “Book him on a 358” or “Book him on a 502.” At the very end of the show, mug shots of the culprits appeared on screen with the details of their sentences dutifully reported.

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Webb first played Friday on a radio version of Dragnet (1949–56). The TV series then originally ran from 1951 to 1959, with a revived version from 1967 to 1970. The success of the first TV show resulted in a feature-film version (1954). In most

One of the constants on both versions was the famous “dumda-dum-dum” theme music. Additionally, every Dragnet episode reportedly was based on an actual case. At the beginning of each show, an announcer soberly intoned, “The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.” Webb produced Dragnet through his Mark VII production company and also directed the show. Five years after his death, and decades after Dragnet’s end as a series, a feature-film semi-parody came to movie theaters in 1987. Dan Aykroyd (1952–) starred as Joe Friday’s nephew. Tom Hanks (1956–) played his partner and Harry Morgan played Captain Gannon, their supervisor.

The Ed Sullivan Show

TV series episodes produced in the 1950s, Friday’s partner was Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander, 1911–1969). When the show returned to the air in the late 1960s, Smith was replaced by Officer Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan, 1915–). The latter Dragnet (which was respectively titled Dragnet ’67, Dragnet ’68, and so forth) was notorious for depicting Friday and Gannon busting student protesters, hippies, and youthful lawbreakers.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Badge 714: The Dragnet Webb Site. http://www.badge714.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002). Deming, Richard. Dragnet: Case Histories From the Popular Television Series. Racine, WI: Western Publishing Company, 1970. Hayde, Michael J. My Name’s Friday: The Unauthorized But True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb. Nashville: Cumberland House, 2001. Moyer, Daniel. Just the Facts, Ma’am: The Unauthorized Biography of Jack Webb. Santa Ana, CA: Seven Locks Press, 2001.

The Ed Sullivan Show Every Sunday night for almost twenty-three years between 1948 and 1971, millions of Americans tuned in at 8 P.M. to watch a live variety show on CBS. The Ed Sullivan Show, with an assortment of acts ranging from stand-up comics to rock bands to bears riding on bicycles, was the most popular variety show of its time, despite being hosted by a man best known for his awkwardness in front of the camera. First called Toast of the Town, the show debuted on June 20, 1948, at 9 P.M. It later moved to its familiar, earlier time slot so

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that children could stay up to watch it. Its name was changed to The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. The show stayed on the air until May 30, 1971, and presented the best-known entertainers of its time. Two of the show’s most famous moments featured performances by Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) in 1956 and the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) in 1964. Presley was shown from the waist up so as to avoid showing his dangerously swiveling hips. The Beatles made their American television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) debut in the episode that earned the highest ratings ever for the show.

Ed Sullivan shares the stage with Lucille Ball during an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The Ed Sullivan Show was also the place to see opera singers, ballet dancers, ventriloquists, jugglers, circus performers, and a talking mouse called Topo Gigio. The show presented old stars and created new ones. According to singer Connie Francis (1938–), quoted by Nick Tosches in his article, “Mr. Sunday Night”: “If you went on The Ed Sullivan Show, everybody knew who you were the next day.” The host of the show, Edward Vincent Sullivan (1902-1974), was a New York newspaper columnist. Despite having experience as the master of ceremonies for various stage shows, he was notoriously stiff in front of an audience and was known as Old Stone Face. He would stand with his arms crossed or with his hands on his hips and mispronounce names. He could not sing, dance, act, or tell jokes—and yet the public loved him, perhaps because he seemed like them. Sullivan was a shrewd judge of talent and very much in tune with middlebrow American tastes of the mid-twentieth century. His show both reflected and shaped those tastes. It offered good clean fun for the whole family, reflecting the innocence of its time, even though some of the performers who appeared on its stage were leading the way into less innocent times to come.

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—Sheldon Goldfarb

Barthel, Joan. “After 19 TV Years, Only Ed Sullivan Survives.” New York Times Magazine (April 30, 1967): pp. 24–25, 100–104, 109–11. Bowles, Jerry. A Thousand Sundays: The Story of the Ed Sullivan Show. New York: Putnam, 1980. Lear, Martha Weinman. “Let’s Really Hear It for Ed Sullivan.” Saturday Evening Post (April 20, 1968): pp. 84–87. Leonard, John, et al. A Really Big Show: A Visual History of the Ed Sullivan Show. New York: Viking Penguin, 1992. Simon, Ron. The Ed Sullivan Show. http://www.mbcnet.org/ETV/E/ htmlE/edsullivans/edsullivans.htm (accessed March 8, 2002). Tosches, Nick. “Mr. Sunday Night.” Vanity Fair (July 1997): pp. 118–34.

Game Shows

For More Information

Game Shows The game show has been a popular genre (category), first on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and later on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), since the 1930s. With a mixture of competition, entertainment, celebrities, ordinary citizens, and often outrageous formats, game shows have attracted large audiences, if not always critical appreciation. Jefferson Graham, in Come on Down!!!: The TV Game Show Book, quotes a New York Times critic who wrote that game shows were the “thorniest, stoniest area in the wasteland of television—infested with the scorpions of greed and strewn with the bones of those who perished pursuing the mirage of a new Cadillac Seville, a trip for two to Tahiti or a bushel basket of cool green cash.” Despite such criticism, it has been estimated that one hundred million Americans watch game shows every week. Although a variety of quizzes had aired on radio since the early 1930s, the first significant game show was Uncle Jim’s Question Bee, which premiered in 1936. Professor Quiz, starring Craig Earl, followed this program two years later. Earl’s show was broadcast from various movie theaters across the country and soon spawned more than two hundred imitators. Audiences flocked to these programs and their opportunities for fame and fortune. Television aired its first game show, Cash and Carry hosted by Dennis James (1917-1997), from a grocery store in 1946; TV has shown at least one game show every season since. The popularity of such programs is often credited to the appeal of instant riches and fame offered to the contestants. Home viewers enjoy

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the display of consumerism and capitalism promoted within these programs. The broadcast networks love the game show format because the programs are both cheap to produce and highly profitable. In general, a budget for an average game show is less than half the amount of other TV programming.

Jack Bailey, host of the popular 1950s game show Queen for a Day, receives a manicure from fashion commentator Jeanne Cagney. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Game shows were especially popular on 1950s television. Notable programs included Beat the Clock, What’s My Line, You Bet Your Life, The Price is Right (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) Queen for a Day, and The $64,000 Question (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). In the late 1950s, the nation was shocked to learn that America’s most famous game show contestant, Charles Van Doren (1926–), had cheated with the aid of the producers of TwentyOne. Van Doren and others on various programs had been coached to increase dramatic tension and promote contestants with strong audience appeal. Van Doren was disgraced and many games were pulled off the air. Game shows survived the “quiz show scandal” and returned to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s. Among the most popular programs of this era were The Hollywood Squares, Match Game, Password, To Tell the Truth, and The Dating Game. Talk-show host Merv Griffin (1925–) created two of the genre’s leading programs—Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Both shows remained popular into the twenty-first century. Game shows regained new popularity in 1999 with the enormous success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5), starring Regis Philbin (1933–). Many classic game shows can still be enjoyed on cable’s Game Show Network. —Charles Coletta

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Anderson, Kent. Television Fraud: The History and Implications of the Quiz Show Scandals. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978. DeLong, Thomas. Quiz Craze: America’s Infatuation with Game Shows. New York: Praeger, 1991.

Gunsmoke

Graham, Jefferson. Come on Down!!!: The TV Game Show Book. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988. Hall of Game Show Fame. http://www.gameshowfame.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002). Holbrook, Morris. Daytime Television Game Shows and the Celebration of Merchandise: The Price Is Right. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993.

Gunsmoke In the 1950s, TV was populated with singing cowboys and their lovable horses. But Gunsmoke was different. It was the first “adult” Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) with flawed characters and gritty stories that were designed with a degree of realism. The show’s popularity kept it on the air for twenty seasons, longer than any other Western, or any other dramatic series, in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. The show actually began on radio (see entry under 1920s— TV and Radio in volume 2), in 1952. Set in the Old West town of Dodge City, Kansas, it featured the same core group of characters that would form the nucleus of the TV show: Marshal Matt Dillon, Deputy Chester Proudfoot, local physician Doc Adams, and Miss Kitty, beautiful proprietor of the Long Branch Saloon. Matt Dillon was portrayed by William Conrad (1920–1994), who would later star in such TV series as Cannon (1971–76) and Jake and the Fat Man (1987–92). When the television show premiered in 1955, the radio program stayed on the air until 1961. Television’s Matt Dillon was played by James Arness (1923–). Dennis Weaver (1924–) was Chester, the limping deputy who was often used for comic relief. Weaver left the series in 1964 and his character was replaced by Deputy Festus Haggen (Ken Curtis, 1916–1991). Milburn Stone (1904–1980) played gruff but kindly Doc Adams, and Miss Kitty (Matt Dillon’s love interest) was portrayed by Amanda Blake (1929–1989). The show was a half-hour long at first but was expanded to a full hour after five years. The half-hour episodes were later repackaged as the series Matt Dillon. As with all 1950s television programs, Gunsmoke was filmed in black and white. It followed the trend to color broadcasting in 1966. One of the things that made Gunsmoke an “adult” Western was its portrayal of violence. Gunfights, although common,

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The Honeymooners

were not portrayed as “fun,” as they often were on children’s Westerns. Shooting someone, even a villain, was treated as a serious matter. Despite the series name, Matt Dillon did not relish the chance to use his gun. Instead, the show honored a person’s honesty and integrity. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Arness, James, and James E. Wise Jr. James Arness: An Autobiography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2001. Barabas, SuzAnne, and Gabor Barabas. Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 1990. Gunsmoke: The Great American Western. http://cialab.ee.washington.edu/ Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/Gunsmoke.html (accessed on March 8, 2002).

The Honeymooners Most every television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) situation comedy of the 1950s featured characters who were contented members of the middle class. Whether living in a big city, a suburb (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), or a small town—and whatever the comic situations they found themselves in—these characters inhabited an idyllic mid-twentieth-century America and enjoyed the fruits of the economic boom after World War II (1939–45). One glaring exception was The Honeymooners. The quartet of characters featured in this landmark sitcom (see entry under 1950s— TV and Radio in volume 3) was anything but middle class and comfortable. They were strictly of a lower “blue-collar” class and struggled to pay their bills and to realize their modest American dreams.

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Ralph Kramden, the primary character on The Honeymooners, was a New York City bus driver and grade school drop-out who was forever conjuring up get-rich-quick schemes that never seemed to work. With his practical-minded wife Alice, blustery Ralph resided in a small, sparsely decorated Brooklyn, New York, apartment. Ralph and Alice were no cheery married couple; they were constantly battling, usually over the latest of Ralph’s hair-brained projects. As Alice pointed out the illogic or impracticality of Ralph’s plan, he would yell and protest and threaten to send Alice “to the moon” in “bang, zoom” fashion. Sometimes he would sarcastically declare, “Har har hardy har

har,” and tell her, “Oh, you’re a riot, Alice.” Soon enough, as the idiocy of his scheme became apparent, Ralph would stammer “Haminahaminahamina.” Yet despite these clashes, Ralph and Alice Kramden were united in love and loyalty. At the finale, after Ralph had been humbled yet again into realizing his silliness, he would take his beloved Alice in his arms and tell her, “Baby, you’re the greatest.”

Cast members from The Honeymooners in 1955: (left to right) Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden, Art Carney as Ed Norton, Audrey Meadows as Alice Kramden, and Joyce Randolph as Trixie Norton. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Two other characters played key roles on the show: Ed Norton, Ralph’s neighbor and best pal, a lovable but dim-witted sewer worker who often would be drafted reluctantly into “Ralphie boy’s” latest scheme; and Trixie, Ed’s wife. Comic actor Jackie Gleason (1916–1987) created the character of Ralph Kramden. Art Carney (1918–) was perfectly cast as Norton. Both characters are among the most recognizable in all of TV history. Over the years, several actresses played Alice. The first was Pert Kelton (1907–1968), who lost the role after she was blacklisted (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), that is, put on a “do-not-hire” list of people suspected of being communists or of sympathizing with communists. In later years, Sheila MacRae (1924–) played the part. But

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easily the most famous Alice Kramden was Audrey Meadows (1922–1996). Some viewers felt that the attractive Meadows was too pretty to play the drab Alice, but Meadows made the character memorable by playing the part with a steely, determined spirit. Joyce Randolph (1925–) was the original Trixie Norton; the character was also played by Jane Kean (1924–). The Honeymooners started out as a series of sketches that initially appeared in 1951 on the DuMont network’s Cavalcade of Stars (1950–52), a variety show. They continued when the program moved to CBS and became The Jackie Gleason Show (1952–55). Easily the most famous Honeymooners episodes are the thirty-nine half-hour-long shows that were produced and aired between 1955 and 1956. These programs were filmed before a live audience and have been rerunning in syndication ever since. The show was revived in 1966 and aired as hour-long episodes of a revamped Jackie Gleason Show (1962–1970). Five years later, these programs were rerun as The Honeymooners. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bacon, James. How Sweet It Is: The Jackie Gleason Story. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. Katsigeorgis, John M. The Honeymooners. http://www.honeymooners. net/ (accessed March 8, 2002). McCrohan, Donna. The Honeymooners’ Companion: The Kramdens and Nortons Revisited. New York: Workman Publishing, 1978. McCrohan, Donna, and Peter Crescenti. The Honeymooners Lost Episodes. New York: Workman Publishing, 1986. Meadows, Audrey, with Joe Daly. Love, Alice: My Life as a Honeymooner. New York: Crown Publishing, 1994. Starr, Michael. Art Carney: A Biography. New York: Fromm, 1997.

I Love Lucy

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I Love Lucy (1951–1957) is considered one of the most popular and influential of all television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) situation-comedy series. The debut program aired on CBS on October 15, 1951, and after a few weeks it was the number-one-rated comedy on television. Since 1959, the sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) has been broadcast in reruns to an international market and dubbed into many languages.

The basic plotline involves Lucy Ricardo, played by Lucille Ball (1911–1989), a zany redhead who gets involved in unorthodox adventures without the knowledge of her Cuban bandleader husband Ricky, played by Ball’s real-life husband, Desi Arnaz (1917–1986). In the early 1950s, the pairing of a Cuban male with a Scottish American female (Lucy Ricardo’s maiden name is MacGillicuddy) was considered a risk among potential advertisers who were worried about the public’s acceptance of the mixed marriage. But, as it turned out, the public loved the Ricardos and all their quirks. Lucy was perpetually trying to break into show business, but Ricky was against her being anything but a housewife—and eventually a mother. (The broadcast of the birth of their son, Little Ricky, on January 19, 1953, was a national media event.) Lucy is often aided in her exploits by her neighbors and friends, Fred and Ethel Mertz, played by William Frawley (1887–1966) and Vivian Vance (1909–1979). Most frequently it is Ethel who is Lucy’s conspirator, and together they cook up all sorts of schemes that land the two of them in trouble with their husbands. Although the general formula of hijinks within a marriage has been used over and over through the years on TV sitcoms, it has never been done with such consistent originality as it was with the Ricardos and Mertzes. Among the bestremembered I Love Lucy episodes: Lucy and Ethel get jobs on an assembly line in a candy factory; Lucy does a television commercial for Vitameatavegamin, with unpredictable results; Lucy becomes pregnant and tries to tell Ricky the good news; and a barefoot Lucy stomps on grapes in the vineyards of Italy. Once the half-hour episodes ceased production after the 1956–57 season, a number of one-hour shows were produced that aired as specials over the next several years. Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. Ball went on to do The Lucy Show (1962–68), which also featured Vance for three years. Ball then moved on to Here’s Lucy (1968–1974), and she briefly reappeared in 1986 in the short-lived Life with Lucy. In each of her post–I Love Lucy

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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The Lawrence Welk Show

shows, veteran character actor Gale Gordon (1906–1995) was her comic foil. One half century after the show’s debut, I Love Lucy fan clubs are still flourishing, and memorabilia such as T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), pajamas, lunch boxes, pins, and dolls are sold worldwide. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Andrews, Bart. The I Love Lucy Book. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985. Edelman, Rob, and Audrey Kupferberg. Meet the Mertzes. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999. Fidelman, Geoffrey Mark. The Lucy Book. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999. Krohn, Katherine E. Lucille Ball: Pioneer of Comedy. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992. Lucille Ball Family Website. http://lucilleball.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002). LUCYlibrary.com. http://www.lucylibrary.com (accessed March 8, 2002). McClay, Michael. I Love Lucy: The Complete Picture History of the Most Popular TV Show Ever. New York: Warner Books, 1995. Oppenheimer, Jess. Laughs, Luck and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1996. We Love Lucy. http://www.lucyfan.com/ (accessed March 8, 2002).

The Lawrence Welk Show From 1955 to 1982, bandleader Lawrence Welk (1903–1992) and his Champagne Music Makers presented an hour-long program of easy-listening popular music that appealed to traditional audiences who disliked rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and other musical styles of the younger generation. The show was sponsored for many years by Geritol, a tonic medicine for older people, and Sominex, a brand of sleeping pills.

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Welk was born in Strasburg, North Dakota, but never lost the accent of his Eastern European parents. He was famous for expressions such as “wunnerful, wunnerful” and for starting his musical selections by waving a baton to the words “ah-one and ah-two.” After many years as a struggling bandleader, he got his break in 1951 when KTLA-TV in Santa Monica, California, began to broadcast a show featuring his band. The show went nationwide on ABC-TV four years later. His shows presented a

Leave It to Beaver

wholesome image of optimism and good cheer offered by performers such as Norma Zimmer (the “Champagne Lady”), Irish tenor Joe Feeney, accordionist Myron Floren (1919–), and the most famous of all, the Lennon Sisters. Each week, Welk thrilled the female members of his studio audience by waltzing with them as his band played romantic standards. He was known for enforcing strict regulations that sometimes made his show seem old-fashioned. In 1959, he fired singer Alice Lon because her dress was too revealing, and he even scolded the Lennon Sisters for wearing one-piece bathing suits during a poolside segment. In 1971, ABC dropped The Lawrence Welk Show from its lineup, claiming that it did not appeal to the younger audiences it was trying to attract. After an outpouring of support from loyal listeners, Welk decided to syndicate the show himself. It was soon being seen on more than 250 stations from coast to coast. Welk retired in 1982 and last played with his band in 1989, three years before his death. —Edward Moran

For More Information Drooker, Arthur, producer and director. Lawrence Welk: A Wunnerful, Wunnerful Life (video). A&E Home Video, 1997. Sanders, Coyne Steven, and Ginny Weissman. Champagne Music: The Lawrence Welk Show. New York: St. Martins, 1985. Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show. http://www.welkshow.com/ (accessed March 11, 2002). A Web of Welk Awaits You. http://lawrence.welk.com/welk.htm (accessed March 11, 2002). Welk, Lawrence, with Bernice McGeehan. Ah-One, Ah-Two!: Life with My Musical Family. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1974.

Leave It to Beaver In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Leave It to Beaver (1957–63) was one of a number of TV sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) set in an idealized, middleclass suburban-American environment. Along with such sitcom classics of the era as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Father Knows Best (1954–62), Leave It to Beaver portrayed a “typical” American family. In this family, the father dutifully went off to work, the mother never mussed her hair as she maintained the household, and the children experienced the

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Leave It to Beaver Leave It to Beaver revolved around the antics of “Beaver,” the youngest member of the all-American Cleaver family. (Left to right) Hugh Beaumont, Barbara Billingsley, Jerry Mathers, and Tony Dow. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

gentle trials of coming of age. What set Leave It to Beaver apart from the other shows was that it focused on its title character and youngest family member: Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, played by Jerry Mathers (1948—). When the series began, the Beaver was a cute seven-yearold. No matter how hard he tried to be well behaved, he always found himself neck-deep in mischief. The Beaver was no budding juvenile delinquent. At his core, he was a lovable, obedient child; his comic antics and predicaments provided the show with its plot lines and its punch.

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Three other members of the Cleaver family were featured on Leave It to Beaver. Wally (Tony Dow, 1945–), the Beaver’s older brother, started out as a twelve-year-old who was the ideal allAmerican youngster. June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley, 1922–), the boys’ mother, was a patient and caring housewife. Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont, 1909–1982), Wally and the Beaver’s dad, was a wise, devoted parent. June always looked as if she were dressed for an afternoon bridge game; Ward was always neatly dressed in a business suit. The Cleavers lived in a well-

Leave It to Beaver, first broadcast on CBS and later on ABC, was only mildly successful during its five-year run. Only in retrospect has it been so fondly viewed by baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) who grew up in the late 1950s. The show’s later-day popularity resulted in its frequent reappearance in syndication. (Syndication refers to the selling of shows to independent stations for rebroadcasting.) Also produced were a made-for-TV reunion movie, Still the Beaver (1983), and a subsequent series with the same name (1985–89), also known as The New Leave It to Beaver.

The Mickey Mouse Club

kept home surrounded by a white picket fence in the fictional town of Mayfield. They were, indeed, the perfect American family, 1950s-style. One of the show’s most notable supporting characters was Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond, 1943–), Wally’s friend. Eddie was an obnoxious lout who would fake respect while dealing with parents; once the adults were out of sight, he would turn on the Beaver and his friends, treating them poorly.

—Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Applebaum, Irwyn. The World According to Beaver. New York: Bantam, 1984. “Leave It to Beaver.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ popopedia/shows/primetime/pt1253.php (accessed March 11, 2002). Mathers, Jerry, with Herb Fagen. —And Jerry Mathers as “The Beaver.” New York: Berkeley Boulevard, 1998.

The Mickey Mouse Club The Mickey Mouse Club, which aired from 1955 until 1959, was one of the most popular childrens’ programs in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history and one of the most beloved properties of the Walt Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) empire. The series was seen each weekday afternoon. It presented two dozen happy youngsters between the ages of nine and fourteen participating in musical numbers, comedy routines, and educational features. Many classic Disney cartoons were also showcased. The program offered wholesome family entertainment to the baby boomer (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) generation.

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The Mickey Mouse Club

Before the show began, Walt Disney (1901–1966) conducted a nationwide search for personable children who could sing, dance, perform comedy, and project the Disney image of innocence and enthusiasm. The children selected for the series were known as “Mouseketeers.” Among the most talented and charismatic of the Mouseketeers were Sharon Baird (1943–), Darlene Gillespie (1941–), Karen Pendleton (1946–), Cubby O’Brien (1947–), Lonnie Burr (1943–), Bobby Burgess (1941–), Tommy Cole (1942–), Sherry Alberoni (1946–), and Annette Funicello (1942–). Two adults supervised each episode’s activities: Jimmy Dodd (1910–1964), an actor and dancer, and Roy Williams (1907–1976), a long-time Disney animator. Although all the children were given the opportunity to shine, Funicello soon became the most popular and prominent Mouseketeer, and went on to more fame when she starred with Frankie Avalon (1940–) in a series of beach movies (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4). The Mickey Mouse Club followed a consistent weekly pattern, with each day of the week devoted to a specific theme. The series also included other popular features. Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio (1940) hosted an educational segment. Several liveaction serials, such as The Hardy Boys (see entry under 1920s— Print Culture in volume 2) and The Adventures of Spin and Marty were popular with viewers. In 1959, the series was unexpectedly canceled despite still being the top-rated children’s program of the season. The original Mouseketeers have reunited occasionally for Disney TV specials. The 1950s series can still be seen on cable’s Disney Channel. In 1977, a new generation of Mouseketeers appeared in an updated version of the series. This program was, however, shortlived. The Disney corporation was more successful with its third incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club, which ran from 1989 to 1994. This version of the series is noted for launching a number of young, talented performers who later rose to stardom, including Justin Timberlake (1981–; member of the pop band *NSYNC), Keri Russell (1976–; star of the TV series Felicity), singer Christina Aguilera (1980–), and singer Britney Spears (1981–; see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5). —Charles Coletta

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Bowles, Jerry. Forever Hold Your Banner High: The Story of the Mickey Mouse Club and What Happened to the Mouseketeers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976.

The Price Is Right

The Price Is Right

Keller, Keith. The Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1975. “The Mickey Mouse Club.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1363.php (accessed March 11, 2002). Santoli, Lorraine. The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book. New York: Hyperion, 1995.

The Price Is Right (1956–65, 1972–) is a game show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) with a simple yet clever formula: contestants must guess the cost of various consumer items. Viewers have not tired of this formula for decades. As a result, The Price Is Right—created by fabled game show producers Mark Goodson (1915–1992) and Bill Todman (1918–1978)—has the distinction of being the longest-running program of its type in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. The host of the first edition of The Price Is Right, which aired on NBC, was Bill Cullen (1920–1990), a likable TV personality. Cullen made his mark during TV’s early years as a game show master of ceremonies and quiz show panelist. This first edition of the show stuck to a rigid formula in which contestants appeared on camera and competed against one another. The winner was the player who came closest to guessing the value of the item without going over the manufacturer’s suggested list price. This version switched networks in 1963, moving to ABC, and was canceled two years later. The Price Is Right seemed doomed to the unfortunate fate of dozens of other similar TV game shows. However, it resurfaced in 1972 in two versions, both of which briefly were known as The New Price Is Right. One version, hosted by dependable veteran master-of-ceremonies Dennis James (1917–1997), was syndicated (sold to independent stations) and aired in the evening. The other version of the show, a more enduring entry, was broadcast on CBS. This version was hosted by Bob Barker (1923–), another experienced host whose outgoing personality helped spark the show’s newfound popularity. In addition, the format of The Price Is Right was expanded. For instance, various price-guessing games were employed, which added variety. Contestants were selected on camera, right from the audience, with the show’s announcers, Johnny Olsen (1910–1985) and,

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Host Bill Cullen on the set of the original The Price Is Right, which aired from 1956 to 1965.

later, Rod Roddy (1937–), inviting the chosen few to “Come on down!” Some of the prizes were handed out by “Barker’s Beauties,” a bevy of attractive models. The handsome, now platinum-haired Barker has remained the show’s host into the twenty-first century. He has emerged with the distinction of logging more hours in front of the TV camera than any other individual in history. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Harrison, Tony. It’s the Fabulous 60 Minute Price Is Right Site. http://www.tpirsite.com/ (accessed March 11, 2002). Schwartz, David, Steve Ryan, and Fred Wostbrock. The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows. New York: Facts on File, 1995.

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The situation comedy (often abbreviated to “sitcom”) has been one of TV’s most popular and long-lasting programming

Sitcoms

formats. A sitcom is generally a half-hour comedy program (twenty-two minutes of programming and eight minutes of commercials). Each program features a recurring group of characters who become involved in humorous situations. Episodes are typically self-contained, meaning viewers do not have to have any previous knowledge of the show to get the jokes. Sitcoms have aired on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) since the 1950s. Although comedy entertainment on the surface, the shows reflected the nation’s changing attitudes toward gender, race relations, sex, the population shift to the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), and other social concerns. The format has often been criticized as overly simplistic, artistically bankrupt, and appealing to the lowest common denominator of viewer. Although viewers have witnessed scores of predictable and unfunny sitcoms, TV history is also marked by many sitcoms filled with wit, intelligence, and memorable characters. The TV sitcom has its roots in network radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) programming of the 1930s and 1940s. Among the most popular comedies of this era were Amos ’n’ Andy (1928-60; see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2), Fibber McGee and Molly (1935-59; see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and The Jack Benny Program (see entry on Jack Benny under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). With the rise of TV in the 1950s, many radio comedies migrated to the new medium. Audiences could now see the antics of their favorite characters rather than merely listening to them. The most innovative and successful sitcom of the decade was I Love Lucy (195157; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), which starred Lucille Ball (1911–1989) and her husband, Desi Arnaz (1917–1986). The show depicted the wacky misadventures of a housewife who constantly attempted to enter show business despite her husband’s irritation. The show was innovative in that it was filmed (not aired live) in front of an audience using a threecamera process. This technique created high-quality prints that could be broadcast for decades as reruns. The three-camera process is still used in most sitcom production. During the 1950s, sitcoms like Leave It to Beaver (1957–63), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66; see these entries under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and Father Knows Best (1954–63) depicted perfect nuclear families removed from the harsh realities of modern life. The sitcoms of the 1960s were

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Sitcoms

generally escapist fantasies filled with outrageous characters in unbelievable plots, such as Gilligan’s Island (1964–67), Mr. Ed (1961–65), Bewitched (1964–72; see these three entries under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and My Favorite Martian (1963–66) or rural-based shows that emphasized “hayseed humor,” such as The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71; see these two entries under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), Green Acres (1965–71), and Petticoat Junction (1963–70). In the 1970s, sitcoms became less outlandish and more focused on relevant social issues. In All in the Family (1971-79), producer Norman Lear (1922–) openly used risqué language, crude humor, and racial epithets to discuss contemporary concerns. “Black sitcoms” such as The Jeffersons (1975— 85), Good Times (1974–79), and Sanford and Son (1972–77) debuted in the 1970s. And The Mary Tyler Moore Show (197077; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) was another of the decade’s highlights as it presented a modern portrait of a single working woman. Sitcoms remained popular during the 1980s, 1990s, and into the twenty-first century. Many programs were developed around popular stand-up comics like Bill Cosby (1937–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), Roseanne (1952–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), and Jerry Seinfeld (1954–; see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5). Modern sitcoms may deal with material that was previously taboo, but they continue to present likable characters in wacky predicaments that are solved by episode’s end. The popularity of sitcoms is best demonstrated by the hours of reruns that continue to fill the airwaves. —Charles Coletta

For More Information

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Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network TV Shows, 1946–Present. 7th ed. New York: Ballantine, 1999. Marc, David. Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997. Marc, David, and Robert Thompson. Prime Time, Prime Movers: From I Love Lucy to LA Law, America’s Greatest Television Shows, and the People Who Created Them. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. Mitz, Rick. The Great TV Sitcom Book. New York: R. Marek Publishers, 1983. Taflinger, Richard. “Sitcom: What It Is, How It Works.” Richard Taflinger’s Home Page. http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/sitcom.html (accessed March 11, 2002). Taylor, Ella. Prime Time Families: Television Culture in Postwar America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.

Throughout the history of TV, quiz and game shows (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) have been highly popular among viewers. On them, contestants compete against each other as they play word games, guess the price of items, or display their knowledge of a range of subjects. One of the most fabled of all quiz shows was The $64,000 Question, which aired on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) from 1955 to 1958. In its prime years, the program was an instant hit, earning the top spot in the ratings. During the notorious game-show scandals of the late 1950s, the show’s reputation was tarnished. It was alleged—and, in some cases, proved—that contestants on other quiz shows were given answers to questions before going on the air.

The $64,000 Question

The $64,000 Question

Contestants on The $64,000 Question were asked a question relating to their area of expertise. If they responded correctly, they would double their money. Then, they were asked to make a choice. If they wished to, contestants could stop playing and keep their present earnings, or they could return the following week for an additional knowledge test—knowing full well that the questions would become increasingly difficult. Players reaching the show’s upper levels were placed in an isolation booth, to intensify the suspense. Those going for the $64,000 grand prize could bring with them an expert of their choosing to assist them. If they reached the higher levels and lost, they received consolation prizes. The first $64,000 winner was a U.S. Marine captain whose area of knowledge was gastronomy, the study of cooking and eating good food. Among the big-money winners: a preteen boy (for his expertise in science); a police officer (Shakespeare); a jockey (art); a shoemaker (opera); and a housewife (the Bible). Several celebrities-to-be earned the top prize. Dr. Joyce Brothers (1928–), a psychologist, TV-radio personality, and newspaper columnist, was the second winner. Brothers’s subject was boxing. Barbara Feldon (1939–), who played Agent 99 on the TV comedy series Get Smart (1965–70), won for her knowledge of Shakespeare. The success of the show resulted in a spin-off series, The $64,000 Challenge (1956–58). On this show, contestants who had won at least $8,000 on the first program were invited back to compete for further riches. In 1958 and 1959, the quiz-show scandals erupted and shook the TV industry. No declarations of cheating by $64,000 Question

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Tucked away in an isolation booth, a nervous contestant listens to a question from host Hal March on The $64,000 Question.

and $64,000 Challenge contestants ever were proved. Both programs were canceled, however, along with their fellow primetime quiz shows, in the wake of the uproar surrounding the scandals. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Delong, Thomas. Quiz Craze: America’s Infatuation with Game Shows. New York: Praeger, 1991. Holms, John Pynchon, et al. The TV Game Show Almanac. New York: Chilton Book Company, 1995. Quiz Show (film). Buena Vista Pictures, 1994.

This Is Your Life

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This Is Your Life (1952–1961, 1970, 1983) is one of the most excessively sentimental yet fascinating shows in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. It was

Each week, an unsuspecting individual would be invited to a public place, often in the company of a friend, a relative, or a colleague. While spending what was supposed to be a quiet evening in a restaurant, or making an low-profile appearance at a social function, he or she would be met by This Is Your Life host Ralph Edwards (1913–). Edwards then announced to the unknowing person and to the world, “This is your life!” The surprised person would be hustled off to the show’s studio, where childhood pals and acquaintances would be paraded across the stage along with relatives and present-day friends and colleagues. All would offer reminiscences and anecdotes about the person in the spotlight. Before each guest came on camera, however, the “honoree” would hear a voice and would be asked to guess the person’s identity. At the finale, all the participants would appear together on camera with the “honoree,” who would be presented with a gift: a film of the show and a projector on which to view it, perhaps, or a watch or a charm bracelet. All the while, Edwards would oversee the proceedings and attempt to squeeze the utmost sentiment from subject and guests.

This Is Your Life

one of the first exploitation-oriented TV programs; that is, it used the lives of everyday people for entertainment.

While some of the This Is Your Life “honorees” were ordinary citizens or distinguished businesspeople, most were movie stars or TV personalities. Among the more memorable were legendary screen comics Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), making a rare TV appearance. However, not all were delighted to be on the show. One was Lowell Thomas (1892–1981), the famed newscaster, author, and adventurer, who refused to smile during the program and even cracked, “This is a sinister conspiracy.” Another was actor William Frawley (1887–1966), of I Love Lucy (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) fame, who was offended that one of the “surprise” guests was his much-despised former wife and vaudeville partner, from whom he had long been divorced. Occasionally, a subject was informed beforehand about his or her appearance on the show. One was singer and comic actor Eddie Cantor (1892–1964), who suffered from heart disease; Edwards did not want the shock of his appearance to result in a coronary attack. Another was actress-singer Lillian Roth (1910–1980), who had been married and divorced eight times and had battled alcoholism throughout her life. Roth’s career peaked in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She had been long forgotten when she appeared on This Is Your Life in 1953. Her

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Today

past had been too burdened by struggle to have it examined on national TV without her permission. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. 7th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999. McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.

Today An early morning news and entertainment program, NBC’s Today set the standard that other shows, like Good Morning America, would later adopt as well. Since its 1952 debut, Today has run through many different hosts, has gone up and down in the ratings race, but has retained the basic format developed by creator Sylvester “Pat” Weaver (1908–2002). It remains an important part of the morning ritual for millions of American viewers in the twenty-first century. A pioneer of TV’s golden age, Weaver structured Today around news, interviews, and lifestyle segments. Viewers could watch bits and pieces of the program on their way out the door to work or school. The first host of Today was newsman Dave Garroway (1913–1982). One of his “cohosts” during those early telecasts was J. Fred Muggs, a chimpanzee whose antics helped attract younger viewers. The mischievous ape became something of a cult hero and generated a lot of publicity for the show with live appearances around the country. Muggs “retired” in 1958. Over the years, the show has utilized other gimmicks to lure in bigger audiences. These included using “Today girls” on features or to report on the weather; such “girls” included Florence Henderson (1934–) and Lee Meriwether (1935–). Jolly weatherman Willard Scott (1934–) has also wished Happy Birthday to centenarians (100-year-olds). Another unique aspect of Today was its ground-floor New York City studio, through which ordinary citizens could watch the show and appear on camera. The glass-walled studio was discontinued for many years before returning in 1994. 760

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Hosting duties on Today have helped launch the careers of many “stars” of network news, including Tom Brokaw (1940–),

The Tonight Show

Barbara Walters (1931–), and Jane Pauley (1950–). Bryant Gumbel (1948–), an NBC sportscaster who took over as Today host in 1982, proved to be one of the show’s most durable and controversial personalities. He feuded with his colleagues on the show, especially weatherman Scott, whom he criticized in an infamous 1989 not-meant-to-be-public memo. Nevertheless, Gumbel’s tenure saw Today achieve some of its highest ratings ever. In the 1990s, the team of perky NBC News correspondent Katie Couric (1957–) and handsome New York City native Matt Lauer (1957–) was successful and maintained Today’s dominance of the 7:00 to 9:00 A.M. time slot. A new weatherman, Al Roker (1954–), replaced Scott in 1996. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Davis, Gerry. The Today Show: An Anecdotal History. New York: Morrow, 1987. Kessler, Judy. Inside Today: The Battle for the Morning. New York: Villard, 1992. Metz, Robert. The Today Show: An Inside Look At 25 Tumultuous Years . . . and the Colorful and Controversial People Behind the Scenes. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1977. Today: 50th Anniversary. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/tvnews/ today_50/fifty_front.asp (accessed March 11, 2002).

The Tonight Show NBC’s talk program The Tonight Show has been entertaining late-night television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers since 1954. Although the hosts have changed, the show retains the same mix of topical humor, comedy skits, and light-hearted talk that made it successful and inspired numerous imitators. The focal point of The Tonight Show has always been its host. From 1954 into 2002, only four men sat behind the “big desk” on a permanent basis. Steve Allen (1921–2000), the first host of the program, emphasized outrageous comedy stunts like those later seen on the TV shows of comedian David Letterman (1947–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5). Allen departed in 1956 after just four years as host. Jack Paar (1918–), a former game-show host, replaced Allen. Paar remade Tonight around intelligent interviews with celebrities and world

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Johnny Carson, pictured during a 1976 interview with superstar Frank Sinatra, was the third— and most beloved—host of The Tonight Show. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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leaders like Richard Nixon (1913–1994) and Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968). Paar also became famous for walking off the program in the middle of a broadcast in February 1960. He soon returned but lasted only a short period at the helm, from 1956 to 1962. To many people, the next host of The Tonight Show was the man who truly personified the program. Nebraskan Johnny Carson (1925–; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) took over the host’s chair in 1962 and remained there until 1992. A former magician, Carson combined some of Allen’s comedy showmanship with a bit of Paar’s conversational style. He also had a quick wit and offered his take on the events of the day in a monologue (a series of jokes from a comedian) that opened every show. Politicians and other famous figures often gauged their popularity with the public according to how many times they made it into Carson’s monologue. Other aspects of Carson’s version of the show became equally beloved. Sidekick Ed McMahon (1923–) began each show by bellowing “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”—a line that became so fixed in the public mind that it even made into the movies, as the chilling greet-

Carson opted to step down as host in 1992, opening up a spot for his regular guest host, Jay Leno (1950–). Leno beat out Letterman, whose own NBC program followed The Tonight Show, for the hosting position, a snub that forced the sensitive Letterman to move his program to a rival network, CBS. In the 1990s, Leno remained largely true to Carson’s formula: a topical monologue followed by celebrity interviews and brief bits of comedy. Although initially beaten by Letterman’s program in the ratings, The Tonight Show under Leno eventually reasserted its position as America’s favorite late-night talk show.

Transistor Radios

ing of murderous maniac Jack Nicholson (1937–) in the 1981 horror classic The Shining.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Carter, Bill. The Late Shift. New York: Hyperion, 1995. Lorence, Douglas. Johnny Carson: A Biography. New York: Drake, 1975. Metz, Robert. The Tonight Show. New York: Playboy Press, 1980. Here’s Johnny! The Official Tonight Show Website. http://www. johnnycarson.com/carson/ (accessed March 11, 2002). “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” NBC.com. http://www.nbc.com/The_ Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/index.html (accessed March 11, 2002).

Transistor Radios Small, portable, and convenient, transistor radios did not offer excellence in sound quality, but they did provide another important feature—privacy. American teenagers saw the pocket radios as a way to listen to the driving beat of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music, away from the judgments of their parents. The first transistor radio (the Regency TR-1) was produced by Regency Electronics in cooperation with Texas Instruments in 1954. The magazine Popular Mechanics had published instructions for building a do-it-yourself pocket radio, using a wooden glove box for the body, in 1925. The invention of the transistor in the early 1950s paved the way for a mass-produced pocket radio. A transistor is a small device, about the size of a pencil eraser, that generates and amplifies electric signals. It could be used instead of the bulkier vacuum tubes to control the signals that sent radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) broadcasts through the air.

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Japanese manufacturer Sony exported its TR-63 transistor radio to the United States starting in 1957. Sony quickly became the market leader as American teens fast became eager buyers of the compact radios. In 1957, one hundred thousand transistor radios were shipped to the United States. By 1959, the number had risen to six million, over half of all the pocket radios manufactured in Japan. By the 1960s, transistor radios were even more popular as people became accustomed to hearing their favorite music, sports, and news wherever they went. By the 1970s and 1980s, the Walkman (see entry under 1970s— Music in volume 4) essentially replaced the transistor radio, due to its superior sound quality and ability to play cassette tapes. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Fitch, Richard D. “Portables.” Radio-Electronics (Vol. 58, January 1987): pp. 74–79. Schiffer, Michael Brian. The Portable Radio in American Life. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 1991. Stein, Mark V. Machine Age to Jet Age. Vol. 2. Baltimore: Radiomania Books, 1997. “The Transistor.” DigitalAmerica. http://www.ce.org/digitalamerica/ history/history7.asp (accessed March 11, 2002).

The Twilight Zone The Twilight Zone (1959–62, 1963–64) is one of the most distinctive series in all of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. Part science fiction, part fantasy, and part surreal drama, the show was—quality-wise—far removed from most ordinary TV programming. The Twilight Zone, which aired on CBS, was an anthology series; each week, it presented stories that were unrelated to one another, and that featured completely different casts. A typical episode would challenge the viewer, toying with his or her mind and sense of logic and reality. It would portray characters who were struggling for survival in a frightening, confusing, irrational world, and who were victimized by unpredictable plot twists. Many Twilight Zone characters were average human beings facing extraordinary dilemmas and situations. 764

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The Twilight Zone was the brainchild of Rod Serling (1924–1975), a former World War II (1939–45) paratrooper and

Serling not only wrote many of the Twilight Zone scripts— he penned three-fifths of all the original episodes—but was also the show’s host. He introduced each episode by first noting that he would be transporting viewers into the “twilight zone,” a “fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man.” He then reappeared at the finale, to add a final note of irony to the story in his characteristic voice. The initial Twilight Zone episode, titled “Where Is Everybody,” set the tone of what was to follow. It involved a man who desperately attempts to locate the inhabitants of a deserted town. The plot twist is that he is an astronaut, being subjected to an experiment in an isolation booth.

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Golden Gloves boxer who began writing radio scripts in the late 1940s and, during the following decade, authored teleplays for top dramatic series. Two of his most famous scripts were “Patterns” (1955), the chronicle of a power struggle within the walls of a corporation, broadcast on Kraft Television Theatre (1947–58); and “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1956), the story of a broken-down boxer who is forced to compromise his integrity, which aired on Playhouse 90 (1956–61).

Quite a few Twilight Zone episodes are TV classics. “Time Enough at Last” told the story of an introverted bank teller who never could find sufficient time to read. He survives a nuclear attack, and he is delighted that he now is alone and can spend all his hours reading. However, before he can begin, he trips and breaks his glasses, rendering him unable to see the words on the books’ pages. In “Escape Clause,” a man makes a pact with the Devil, allowing him immortality, but he commits murder and is sentenced to life in prison. In “The Eye of the Beholder,” a woman undergoes surgery to rid herself of facial disfigurement. To the viewer the operation is a success, as she emerges a beauty. Only then is it revealed that she lives in a society in which all citizens are horrendously deformed. By their standards, she now is considered a freak. All Twilight Zone episodes were filmed in black and white. The show originally was one half hour long. It was dropped after three seasons and soon returned to the air, this time expanded to a full hour. For its final season, it reverted to the half-hour format. Additionally, the series is of note for its casting of quite a few movie and TV stars to-be. Three of the more celebrated were Robert Duvall (1931–), William Shatner (1931–), and Robert Redford (1937–). Eight years after Serling’s death, and nineteen years after the final original series episode aired, Twilight Zone—The Movie

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(1983) came to movie houses. The film consisted of four parts, three of which were remakes of original series’ episodes. Two years later, a new Twilight Zone (1985–87) returned to TV, filmed in color and presenting a mixture of new stories and reworkings from its predecessor. —Rob Edelman

For More Information The Fifth Dimension. http://www.thetzsite.com/ (accessed March 11, 2002). Wolfe, Peter. In the Zone: The Twilight World of Rod Serling. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. Zicree, Marc Scott. The Twilight Zone Companion. New York: Bantam, 1989.

1950s The Way We Lived The 1950s are sometimes thought of as America’s bland decade, a decade when family life was stable and America’s cities were safe. The economy was booming and most Americans enjoyed increased prosperity. Americans celebrated this prosperity by having babies in record numbers, continuing a surge in the population known as the “baby boom” that started when veterans returned home after World War II (1939–45). Growing numbers of Americans moved their families to new homes in developments, called suburbs, outside of cities. Sales of cars increased dramatically. Travel was made easier by the development of a national highway system that connected all of America’s largest cities. America celebrated its prosperity in a variety of ways. The energy of youth expanded American culture, as shown by the rise of a variety of toys and amusements for young people, including the Slinky, Silly Putty, the Frisbee, and the hula hoop. Attendance at amusements parks soared. A new form of music called rock and roll emerged as an important expression of youth culture. This serene picture of progress and prosperity was darkened, however, by storm clouds of suspicion and emerging social trauma. The suspicion was largely the result of the ongoing Cold War (1945–91) with the Soviet Union. Americans built bomb shelters behind their suburban homes. Many worried about the influence of communists in their midst. U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (1909–1957) of Wisconsin chaired the ArmyMcCarthy hearings to investigate communism in the armed forces. His anticommunism crusade touched all areas of American culture. Even Hollywood was tainted by its experience with a “blacklist” that ruined the careers of many liberal writers and filmmakers. Many of the social disruptions that changed America in the 1960s began in the 1950s. Women became increasingly unhappy with their status as homemakers. Many sought jobs outside the home. African Americans began to protest the systematic discrimination that they faced. People also began to rebel against

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the conservative sexual ideas of the time. Playboy magazine and the invention of the birth control pill were symbols of the coming sexual revolution. The 1950s were a time of change.

Amusement Parks The pursuit of fun is a most American activity. Amusement parks developed as places where fun is the most important business, available year round, for a price. Since their creation in the late nineteenth century, amusement parks have changed as the culture has changed, but their appeal has remained constant. Amusement parks, with their games, rides, performances, and exotic foods, create a small separate world, away from the cares of everyday life, where having fun and being excited are the only demands made on the visitors. From earliest times, people all over the world brightened their daily work lives with fairs and festivals. Circuses and other traveling shows made their rounds, creating a holiday when they arrived in town. Amusement parks differed from these events because they were permanent. In 1893, the rides and displays at the Chicago World’s Fair (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) dazzled those who attended it. The fair inspired Paul Boyton (1848–1924) to build two permanent amusement parks, Chutes Park in Chicago, Illinois (1884), and Sea Lion Park at Coney Island near New York City (1885). Coney Island became the most popular amusement area in the country between the 1890s and the 1950s. There, visitors could experience many different amusement parks side by side, such as Steeplechase Park and Luna Park. In 1887, George C. Tilyou (1862–1914) installed the country’s first roller coaster (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in Steeplechase Park. In the summer of 1947, six million people visited Coney Island over a four-day Fourth of July weekend.

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By the 1920s, there were almost two thousand small amusement parks around the country, but the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) and World War II (1939–45) had hurt the industry and reduced the number to several hundred. By the 1950s, amusement parks were no longer the glamorous, dazzling fairylands of the early 1900s but were seen as dirty, seedy places where

Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom, also known as Disneyland, was a theme park, with several different parks (Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Frontierland, for example) within it. Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California introduced a new, clean-cut image to amusement parks. Theme parks, which reproduce another time or place within the park, remain the most popular type of modern amusement park. Disney has opened other parks, such as Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in 1971; Disneyland Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan, in 1983; and EuroDisney in Paris, France, in 1992. Though Walt Disney World is the most popular amusement park in the world with over forty million visitors annually, many people criticize the Disney parks as being too artificial and too commercial.

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low-class people gathered. Walt Disney (1901–1960; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) changed all that in 1955, when he opened a new kind of amusement park.

In 2000, 161 million Americans went to amusement parks. Although the need for fun may be the same as that of parkgoers at the turn of the last century, the fun itself has gotten more and more extreme. Coney Island’s first roller coaster went six miles per hour in 1887. Modern roller coasters achieve speeds up to sixty miles per hour. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Adams, Judith A., and Edwin Perkins. The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Goldsack, Bob. A Century of Fun. Nashua, NH: Midway Museum Publications, 1993. Greene, Katherine, and Richard Greene. The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney. New York: Viking, 1998. Van Steenwyk, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes at the Amusement Park. Niles: IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 1983. Watson, Bruce. “Three’s a Crowd, They Say, But Not at Coney Island!” Smithsonian (Vol. 27, no. 9, December 1996): pp. 100–10.

Army-McCarthy Hearings The end of the anticommunist crusade of U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (1909–1957) of Wisconsin began in the spring of 1954 during hearings, televised live, of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Subcommittee was investigating a series of charges and countercharges made between

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General Ralph Zwicker, one of many who testified at the “ArmyMcCarthy” hearings in 1954. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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McCarthy and the U.S. Army’s top generals, which is why the proceedings became known as the “Army-McCarthy Hearings.” The hostility between the two parties began in November 1953 when a member of McCarthy’s staff, G. David Schine (1927–1996), was drafted into the army. Almost immediately, McCarthy and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn (1927–1986), began to lobby the army to get Schine special treatment, such as easy training and assignment to a desirable duty station. When the army did not cooperate with his requests, McCarthy charged that it was using Schine as a hostage to prevent McCarthy’s exposure of communists in the military. The army responded with accusations of interference on McCarthy’s part. Thus was the stage set for the confrontation. Up to this time, although most Americans knew who Senator McCarthy was, they had seen little of his manner and tactics as he tried to hunt down suspected communists in government. McCarthy had received much print coverage, but the newspapers and magazines failed to convey a sense of what the man was like and he received little television (see entry

The climax to the hearings came on June 9, after McCarthy charged that a young attorney at Welch’s firm had communist affiliations. Welch’s response was: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness. . . . Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” The audience in the visitor’s gallery erupted into applause.

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under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) coverage. The hearings, carried by two TV networks, lasted from April 22 to June 17. The U.S. Army was represented by lawyer Joseph Welch (1890–1960). Throughout the hearings, McCarthy and Cohn often came across as bullies, while Welch was professional and restrained.

Public support for McCarthy and his anticommunist campaign soon shrank. A few months later, the Senate passed a motion censuring McCarthy. McCarthy continued as senator until his death on May 2, 1957, but his effectiveness all but ended at the hearings. The term “McCarthyism” became a synonym for reckless smear tactics intended to destroy a victim’s political standing and public character. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information “The Army/McCarthy Hearings.” C-SPAN.org. http://www.c-span.org/ special/mccarthy.asp (accessed March 12, 2002). “The Army-McCarthy Hearings.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.mbcnet.org/ETV/A/htmlA/army-mccarthy/armymccarthy.htm (accessed March 12, 2002). Hirschfeld, Burt. Freedom in Jeopardy: The Story of the McCarthy Years. New York: J. Messner, 1969. Ranville, Michael. To Strike at a King: The Turning Point in the McCarthy Witch Hunts. Troy, MI: Momentum Books, 1997. Sherrow, Victoria. Joseph McCarthy and the Cold War. Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch Press, 1999.

Blacklisting During the 1930s, when the United States was economically crippled by the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), some Americans came to believe that the capitalist system (where production and distribution of goods and services are owned by private groups or

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individuals) had failed. A few who were looking for economic alternatives joined the American Communist Party. Others simply were liberals and humanists; they were concerned about the future of their country and disturbed by the suffering of their fellow citizens. After World War II (1939–45), and at the beginning of the subsequent Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) pitting the United States against the Soviet Union, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC), a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, began investigating alleged influence by communists (who support the control of an economic system by a single government) in the motion picture industry. The result was the Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) blacklist. HUAC eventually called scores of witnesses to testify at its hearings, including motion picture directors, producers, actors, and screenwriters. First, these people were asked if they were now or had ever been members of the Communist Party. They were expected to answer in the positive and express remorse for what HUAC considered to be their immaturity and stupidity. Then, they were to further cleanse and humiliate themselves by “naming names” of other guilty parties. If these witnesses refused to comply in any way with HUAC, they were blacklisted, which meant that they were removed from the payrolls of the Hollywood studios and unable to find employment in the American motion picture industry. The first witnesses called before HUAC, in the fall of 1947, were a group of writers, producers, and directors who came to be known as the “Hollywood Ten.” They collectively refused to respond to the “Are you now or have you ever been. . .” question on the grounds that, in the United States, one’s political or religious affiliations—whether left, right, or middle-of-theroad—are supposed to be one’s own personal affair. Nonetheless, all were cited for contempt of Congress. Not only were they blacklisted, but they received year-long jail sentences and $1,000 fines.

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The actual blacklist—a real list of those people who were considered politically dangerous and thus unemployable—was put together by Aware, a self-appointed guardian organization, and published by the American Legion. Present and former Communists were not the lone blacklistees. Individuals with left-ofcenter politics, who supported such liberal causes as the Loyalist faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), also were victim-

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ized. In the wake of the blacklist, careers were altered if not altogether ruined. Directors Joseph Losey (1909–1984) and Jules Dassin (1911–) were among those who fled to Europe to continue their careers. Dozens of screenwriters managed to keep working, but in some cases un-blacklisted colleagues agreed to be listed as the authors of their screenplays. Writers also worked under pseudonyms (false names) and were paid a fraction of their prior salaries. “Robert Rich,” winner of the Academy Award for Writing (Motion Picture Story) for The Brave One (1956), actually was the blacklisted Hollywood Ten screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976). Abraham Polonsky (1910–1999) was one of dozens of directors and screenwriters whose then-promising careers were sidetracked by the blacklist. Scores of actors, including former Academy Award winners Gale Sondergaard (1899–1985) and Ann Revere (1903–1990), found themselves unemployed, their careers ruined. Furthermore, in the wake of the blacklist, friendships were ended and lives were destroyed. The blacklist may have died out in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but the horrors of the period, in which friends ratted out friends and no one was above suspicion, were not soon forgotten. Esteemed director Elia Kazan (1909–) chose to name names when called before HUAC. He claimed that he had done so to expose the evils of communism, while his detractors alleged that he just wished to save his career. Decades later, Kazan remained unforgiven—and unrepentant—in the eyes of his critics, who, in the late 1990s, loudly complained when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose to honor the filmmaker with a special Oscar. Finally, the tragic deaths of such actors as John Garfield (1913–1952), Mady Christians (1900–1951), J. Edward Bromberg (1903–1951), Canada Lee (1907–1952), and Philip Loeb (1894–1955) may be directly linked to their troubles with HUAC. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bernstein, Walter. Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Ceplair, Larry, and Steven Englund. The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community 1930–1960. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1980. The Front (film). Columbia Pictures, 1976. McGilligan, Patrick, and Paul Buhle. Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Blacklist. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

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Navasky, Victor. Naming Names. New York: Viking Press, 1980. Schickel, Richard. “An Oscar for Elia.” Time (March 8, 1999): pp. 72–74.

Diets Though weight-loss diets may seem an essential part of American culture, they are a relatively new fad, which only attained widespread popularity during the 1950s. Although many see dieting as a path to greater health and beauty, others claim that weight-loss diets not only do not work, but they can actually cause weight gain and health problems. Other critics state that women, who are by far the majority of dieters, are often distracted from more positive pursuits by the national focus on thinness. Thinness has not always been the ideal of beauty or health. In earlier centuries, diets prescribed by doctors were most likely designed to help women gain weight, as thinness was seen as unhealthy and unattractive. It was only in the 1920s, with the arrival of the flapper (see entry under 1920s—Fashion in volume 2) style, that slimness began to symbolize lively, energetic youthfulness. Women began to try to lose weight, some going so far as to swallow tapeworms to speed up the process. Even then, only women of the upper classes dieted. During the 1950s, as women were being encouraged to abandon the jobs they had taken over during World War II (1939–45), mass media began to focus on female fashion and beauty, and the modern diet craze began in earnest. Thousands of magazine articles and books were published, each offering its own “fool-proof” diet. Doctors prescribed amphetamines, a dangerous drug sometimes called “speed,” which helped their patients stop eating, but also increased nervousness, sleeplessness, and depression. Women, and some men, went to psychiatrists, support groups, and hypnotists to lose weight. Fashion models, popular culture’s ideal of beauty, became dramatically thin, beginning with Twiggy (1949–) in the 1960s and evolving into the “waif” look of supermodel (see entry under 1980s—Fashion in volume 5) Kate Moss (1974–) in the 1990s.

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Over the next several decades, Americans’ obsession with dieting and thinness increased, and more and more extreme methods were introduced for achieving that thinness. Doctors

Some voices have risen to protest this national preoccupation with weight loss. Some overweight people, who feel victimized by the diet industry, have formed a “fat-positive” movement to promote acceptance of different body sizes. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) movies and talk shows have drawn attention to the dangers of anorexia and bulimia. An annual International No-Diet Day occurs each March to highlight the negative side of dieting.

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not only prescribe diets, but perform various weight-loss surgeries. Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, where people, often teenage girls, starve themselves, or bulimia (eating large amounts of food, then vomiting or using laxatives to get rid of the food), were once rare, but are now common. The 2002 Books in Print catalog lists 1,412 books about diets and dieting and 483 books about eating disorders. Weight loss has become a profitable industry, earning $50 billion a year in the late 1990s.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Atrens, Dale. Don’t Diet. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1988. Chernin, Kim. The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. Freedman, Marjorie R. “What Is Really Known about Popular Diets?” Consumers’ Research Magazine (Vol. 84, iss. 2, February 2001): pp. 24–28. Hamilton, Cathy. Dieting and Other Weighty Issues. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2001. Seligmann, Jean. “Let Them Eat Cake: Fed Up with Dieting, Women Are Letting Go of the Old Nemesis.” Newsweek (Vol. 120, no. 7, August 17, 1992): pp. 57–60.

Highway System As the twentieth century wore on, the automobile increasingly became a critical component of the American way of life. A car allows an individual the freedom to travel not just around town but across the country. People drive from east to west or south to north not just out of necessity—to transport goods, or to move one’s belongings and resettle in another section of the country—but also for pleasure and curiosity. America’s growing appetite for hitting the road parallels the development of the highway system: a series of asphalt and concrete roadways that eventually linked every area of the continental United States.

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The construction of America’s highway system was a gradual process. The Lincoln Highway, the nation’s first coast-tocoast roadway, was completed back in 1915. It linked New York City and San Francisco, California, and came to be known as “America’s Main Street.” Over the years, other more local routes were constructed. Among them: the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a four-lane thoroughfare that opened in 1940 and was a predecessor of the interstate highway system. By the mid-1950s, when automobile manufacturers in Detroit, Michigan, sold 7.92 million cars in one year and 70 percent of all American families owned a car, the road system connecting the nation remained inadequate. With the exception of toll roads in the East, there were no four-lane highways. Expressways existed only in major cities. Most states were connected only by smaller roads, whose size necessitated lower speed limits (and, thus, longer travel times). These roads often featured sharp curves and steep grades and were ill equipped to handle the demands of increased traffic. Furthermore, during the 1950s, the threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union hung over America like a storm cloud. A national highway system would speed military movement or evacuation in the event of a nuclear attack. In response to this transportation dilemma, President Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) started construction of a forty-threethousand-mile-long interstate highway system. It was no easy proposition. Among the obstacles were disputes between federal and state authorities involving the funding of construction; the cost of acquiring land in urban areas; and the decision over whether highways should be built around cities or directly through them. Nonetheless, the highways eventually were constructed. They made cross-country travel faster and safer; one now could drive coast-to-coast in less than a week. Even more tellingly, they had an enduring and multifaceted impact on American life. The roadside towns that once were travel way-stations no longer could depend upon travelers to eat in their diners, sleep in their motels— and spur their economies. Entire urban neighborhoods ceased to exist, as they were covered over by city freeways. Commuting became quicker. The highway system helped stimulate the mass middle-class flight from the cities, and the development of the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Its impact is still being felt well into the twenty-first century.

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—Rob Edelman

For More Information Patton, Phil. Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. Spangenburg, Ray. The Story of America’s Roads. New York: Facts on File, 1992. Whitman, Sylvia. Get Up and Go: The History of American Road Travel. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996.

Hula Hoop In the late 1950s, children found much delight in playing with hula hoops. The hoops—lightweight, hollow, brightly colored circular bands that were 4 feet in diameter—were a simple yet clever creation. The object was to spin one around your waist and then wiggle and reel your hips in an attempt to prevent it from falling to the ground. The origin of the hula hoop dates to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It also was popular with children and adults in England during the fourteenth century. Back then, the hoops were made of wood, vines, or grasses. The word “hula” became linked to the toy in the early nineteenth century, when British sailors traveled to the Hawaiian Islands and noticed the similarity between hooping and the rhythmic movements of the hips in hula dancing. Modern-era hula hoops were manufactured and marketed by Wham-O, a toy company. They were made out of a tough, heatresistant plastic called Marlex. These hoops were introduced in California in 1958. Their price: $1.98. Kids immediately saw the fun in moving like a hula dancer. The toy’s popularity quickly spread first across the United States and then to Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. During the first six months of production, Americans bought twenty million hula hoops. By the end of 1958, about one hundred million had been sold worldwide. At the height of the hula hoop craze, Wham-O produced twenty thousand hoops a day. Contests were held to see who could spin a hoop for the longest time and how many hoops could be twirled at the same time. The mass-popularity of hula hoops

The hula hoop craze reached its peak by the end of 1958, but the simple toy still entertains kids in the early twenty-first century.

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was short-lived; by the end of 1958, the fad began dying out. However, hula hoops still are produced. Lori Lynn Lomeli (1958–) began entering hula hoop tournaments as a child. In 1973, she emerged as the World Hula Hoop Champion. She has been cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for spinning fifteen hoops around various parts of her body at the same time, and for spinning eighty-two hoops, all at once, for three complete turns. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Asakawa, Gil, and Leland Rucker. The Toy Book. New York: Knopf, 1992. “Hula Hoop.” The Great Idea Finder. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/ inventions/story009.htm (accessed March 12, 2002). Wulffson, Don L. The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories about Inventions. New York: Puffin, 1999.

The Pill Of all the medical advances in the twentieth century, the birth control pill has probably had the most influence on American culture. Until the 1960s, many young women found themselves looking after children when what they really wanted was a career outside the home. By enabling them to choose the number and the timing of their children, the Pill—as it was popularly known—gave women the chance to take control of their lives. In the 1960s, the Pill was partly responsible for what became known as the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Before AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) came along, the Pill allowed women and men to be sexually active with only a small risk of unwanted pregnancy.

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Social activist Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) argued for better birth control methods in the late nineteenth century. The sixth of eleven children, she blamed her mother’s early death on the number of pregnancies she went through. In 1950, when she was over eighty years old, Sanger helped raise money for research on a birth control pill. The technology that made it possible was developed by Carl Djerassi (1923–) in 1951. But early versions of the Pill proved highly dangerous. Blood clots killed many women and left others disabled. Containing 300 micrograms of the hormone estrogen, early birth-control pills

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were almost ten times as strong as the Pill prescribed in 2002. Although some women do still experience side effects, today’s Pill is among the safest of all prescribed drugs. There is even some evidence that it improves bone strength and helps reduce the risk of certain cancers. At first, feminists saw the Pill as a weapon in the fight for equal rights for women. When men began to assume women would be “on the Pill” and therefore sexually available, feminists turned against it. Some critics hold the Pill responsible for an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and for destroying family life. Because it is not totally effective, the Pill has been blamed for increasing the number of abortions. Despite religious and ethical concerns, it is estimated that over 80 percent of women in developed countries will take the Pill at some time in their lives. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Juhn, Greg. Understanding the Pill: A Consumer’s Guide to Oral Contraceptives. New York: Haworth, 1994. Marks, Lara. Sexual Chemistry: A History of the Contraceptive Pill. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.

Satellites When the Soviet Union launched the first spacecraft in October 1957, it proved that a man-made object could survive in space. The faint, crackling beeps received from the satellite, named Sputnik, were used to track it as it made its solitary orbits to Earth. Sputnik lasted just ninety-two days before it fell back to Earth and burned up. But the fact that signals could be received from outside Earth’s atmosphere marked the beginning of a new age of communications. Within twenty years, satellites would become a billion-dollar link in a global communications chain. Although it made history by being first, Sputnik was a crude machine. Technicians in the United States worked on a more complex satellite that would transform the communications industry. Telstar, as it was known, was launched into a 3,000-mile-high orbit on July 10, 1962. On July 11, American television (see entry

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under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers had the dubious pleasure of watching French entertainer Yves Montand (1921–1991) singing “La Chansonette,” broadcast live from France. Telstar’s main disadvantage was that it could only be used as it passed through a certain part of the sky over the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, Telstar could relay signals for only 102 minutes in every day. In 1963, Sycom II became the first “geosyncronous” satellite, meaning it held a fixed position above a point on the Earth’s surface—in this case, 22,235 miles. This heralded the opening of permanent communication links around the globe. In 1962, AT&T (see entry under 1910s—Commerce in volume 1) ran an advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) campaign that ensured Telstar’s fame for decades to come. Yet satellites are so much a part of everyday life in the twenty-first century that they are almost forgotten. Silently working miles above the Earth, spy satellites gather military information and monitor the decommissioning of nuclear weapons. Weather satellites make long-term weather forecasts more reliable, while TV signals travel around the globe. Handheld global positioning devices benefit travelers from arctic explorers to car drivers lost in a strange part of town. Because of satellites, the cost of transatlantic telephone calls has dropped from over ten dollars per minute in 1965 to just a few cents in 2002. Today, the miracle of Telstar’s first transatlantic broadcast seems as commonplace as talking to a neighbor across the garden fence. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Bunch, Bryan H., and Clint Hatchett. Satellites and Probes. Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational, 1998. Gavaghan, Helen. Something New Under the Sun: Satellites and the Beginning of the Space Age. New York: Copernicus, 1998. Herda, D. J. Communication Satellites. New York: F. Watts, 1988. Whalen, David. “Communications Satellites: Making the Global Village Possible.” NASA Headquarters. http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/ History/satcomhistory.html (accessed March 12, 2002).

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The development of suburbs—residential communities on the outskirts of cities—was one of the most dominant features of

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American life in the twentieth century. Far from being merely a way Americans organized their housing and changed their landscape, the suburbs created an entirely new way of ordering American social life and culture. The result was a phenomenon known as “suburbia,” a term meaning both a physical place and often a cultural and social mind-set as well. As a physical place, suburbs first appeared in the nineteenth century as a way for wealthier Americans to move out of crowded, dirty, and often dangerous cities into the calm and quiet of the country. But because most of these Americans still worked in cities, they had to stay somewhat close to the urban center, thus these new areas were called suburbs. As suburbs developed in the early twentieth century, many cities ran railroad lines out to these new areas, and they became what historian Sam Bass Warner (1928–) called “streetcar suburbs.” Wherever the train lines went, suburban development intensified. These streetcar suburbs can still be seen in places like Brookline, Massachusetts, a one-time suburb of Boston but now part of the larger metropolitan area in look and feel. This process of suburbanization took place in cities across the country, and in the 1920s, the process intensified as automobiles became more widely used. With the car, people were no longer dependent on railway lines. Now they could live in suburban developments anywhere and drive their cars to work in the cities. Housing developers like J. C. Nichols (1880–1950) in Kansas City, Missouri, took advantage of this trend and built carefully planned housing subdivisions that also included a prototype of what would become shopping malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3). Nichols’s subdivisions were meant for the well-to-do. But after World War II (1939–45), suburban living became more accessible to Americans of more modest incomes. That development was largely the work of Long Island, New York, developer William J. Levitt (1907–1994). Levitt pioneered the idea of making small houses affordable to everyone in order to sell more of them. Using mass-production techniques, Levitt kept his costs down by building largely identical houses close together on an old potato field starting in 1946. He called the housing development Levittown (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Soldiers just back from the war could purchase a house for as little as $0 down and $53 a month. At prices like these, Levittown became a bit hit. Now almost everyone could afford a suburban house, and Levitt set

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a trend in suburban development that had not slowed down by the end of the twentieth century. But the reasons for the suburbs’ success went far beyond affordability because suburbia represented an idea as much as it did a place. Americans have long had a love/hate relationship with cities, and American culture has long celebrated what is called the “agrarian ideal,” an idea that the United States was a nation of farmers known for their simplicity, work ethic, and honesty. The key to keeping up those traits was land. As long as Americans could keep spreading out, the agrarian ideal could be preserved. While few Americans refer to that idea by name, the belief in that idea can be seen throughout the suburbs, where each homeowner does his or her part to care for their lawn, their part of the great mythic garden that is America. The suburban home was also celebrated as an ideal place to raise a family, an idea promoted in many television shows and motion pictures, notably the TV show Leave It to Beaver (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) in the 1950s. As a safe haven for all that was wrong with cities and the world, suburbia became a very powerful idea with immense popularity. This ideal, however, was not without its problems. As suburbia developed rapidly after 1945, some observers criticized what they viewed as the uniformity and, often, the stifling social conformity of suburbia with its identical homes and rigid social roles that kept women, in particular, in a state of isolation. While that experience was not true for everyone, there was evidence to suggest that the critics were onto something. Another problem involved the racial makeup of suburbs. Through legal and social means, African Americans were largely kept out of suburbs. The dark side of suburbia came in part from the fact that white Americans were fleeing the largely minority-populated inner-city areas in greater and greater numbers, leaving the minority residents in increasingly impoverished urban centers. In addition to these problems, by the 1990s the environmental costs of the suburbs were beginning to be recognized, and these problems were all related to something known as “sprawl.” As suburbs sprawled over the landscape, environmental problems followed in their wake: traffic jams, air pollution, waste of water resources as everyone watered their lawns, energy consumption, environmental pollution by lawn chemicals, and the destruction of farm land and other open natural space. Although these problems were beginning to be addressed in small ways, these problems were grow-

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ing, not shrinking, as the twentieth century closed. By 2000, the suburbs were more popular than ever, an enduring testament to the continued belief in the American agrarian ideal as expressed in suburbia. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Gans, Herbert. The Levittowners. New York: Pantheon, 1967. Garreau, Joel. Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Jenkins, Virginia Scott. The Lawn: History of an American Obsession. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. Palen, J. John. The Suburbs. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. Teaford, Jon C. City and Suburb: The Political Fragmentation of Metropolitan America, 1850–1970. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

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20 th-Century America

Volume 4 1960s-1970s Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

1960s An Era of Pessimism and Activism While the 1950s are stereotyped—sometimes unfairly—as a decade of quiet optimism, prosperity, and social conformity, the 1960s are often stereotyped—rather accurately—as a decade of turbulence, political activism, and growing discontent. During the course of the decade, the American military became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam (1954–75), sparking massive protests at home. The assassination of four important American leaders, including President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), raised fears that the United States was no longer a peaceful nation. Organized protests by women, African Americans, homosexuals, and antiwar activists challenged the American social structure. The 1960s began with a wave of optimism as Americans elected U.S. senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts to the presidency. Kennedy was the youngest person and the first Catholic elected to the nation’s highest office. He encouraged Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” It was a good time to inspire Americans to greatness, for the country was increasingly seen as the leading example of peace and democracy in the world. The United States was also the most prosperous nation in the world. Its gross national product (the value of all goods produced in the nation) grew 36 percent from 1960 to 1965.

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Groovy: Anything that was cool or exhilarating. The word originated in the jazz culture of the 1930s, but became a favorite word in the 1960s.

1960s At a Glance What We Said: “And that’s the way it is . . .”: The famous words of CBS Evening News anchor man Walter Cronkite as he closed each nightly newscast. Brodie: A tight turn in a car, known later as a “donut.” Youths in hot cars pulled brodies to make their tires smoke and squeal; girls were very impressed. Charlie: One of many terms used by soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War to refer to the enemy. The term “Charlie” comes from the second word in the abbreviation of Viet Cong, V. C. In Morse code, the C stands for Charlie. Other terms for the enemy were far harsher. Counterculture: A catch-all term used to describe anyone who diverged from the values of the majority. Dropping out: Though one could drop out of anything, and “drop out” is often used to refer to someone who leaves school, in the 1960s “dropping out” meant leaving “normal” society for the bohemian life of a hippie. Establishment: A term used by hippies or members of the counterculture to refer to those in power, whether they be parents, corporate bosses, or the government. “Far Out!”: A hippie expression for something that was especially interesting or exciting. Fox: An attactive woman. Boxer Muhammad Ali made the term popular in an interview with Time magazine in 1963.

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Hippies: People who rejected mainstream values and enjoyed a free and even decadent lifestyle. Descendants of the 1950s’ Beatniks, stereotypical hippies wore long hair (whether man or woman), smoked marijuana, and experimented with drugs like marijuana and LSD. Pig: A derisive term for a police officer. “Right on”: A response to something that indicated that you agreed with it completely. “Sock it to me!”: This silly phrase was one of many popularized on the TV comedy Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. What We Read: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960): Harper Lee’s first novel made publishing history by being chosen by three book clubs in its first year of publication, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and going into fourteen printings. In 1961, the book spent one hundred weeks on the best-seller lists. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960): This surprise non-fiction best-seller about Adolf Hitler’s Germany by journalist William Shirer remained atop the best-seller list for thirty-nine weeks. Catch-22 (1961): Joseph Heller’s first novel is based on his experiences during World War II. The book was a favorite with young readers; by mid-decade Newsweek reported that some readers were so enthralled with the book that they had become members of what it called the “Heller cult.” Some

This spirit of youthful energy, optimism, and prosperity fueled the American government in the 1960s. The government began to address lingering social injustices in the nation. Under both Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973), the government extended new protections to minorities and women and created important programs to lessen the impact of poverty. The government also sponsored

1960s At a Glance (continued) young men who did not want to go to Vietnam wore army field jackets with Yossarian, the main character in Catch-22, nametags. Silent Spring (1962): This work by Rachel Carson is widely credited for recharging the environmental movement. This best-seller detailed the damage done to the environment by the usage of chemicals in agriculture. Seven Days in May (1962): Fletcher Knebel’s gripping tale of an attempt to execute a military takeover of the U.S. government. A Moveable Feast (1964): Not long before ending his life, one of the century’s most famous novelists and short story writers, Ernest Hemingway, published this memoir of his early life in Paris, France. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1964): The first best-seller by British novelist John Le Carré, who would go on to make a career writing bestselling spy novels set amid Cold War tensions. They were the perfect novels for the age. Herzog (1964): This important novel by Saul Bellow, who later won the Nobel Prize for literature, tells the story of a man trying to reconcile his ideals with the life he has led. Dune (1965): This sci-fi novel written by Frank Herbert won the first-ever Nebula award for science fiction and eventually became the best-selling science fiction book in history, selling over twelve million copies.

In Cold Blood (1966): Truman Capote’s harrowing true tale of the mass murder of a Kansas family combined journalism with fictional techniques in a new form of writing that became part of the “new journalism” associated with Tom Wolfe. Valley of the Dolls (1966): Jacqueline Susann’s novel about the lurid lives of those in show business was labeled trash by the critics, but sold in the millions and was later made into a popular movie of the same name. Rolling Stone (1967–): The first rock ’n’ roll magazine, this venture launched by editor and publisher Jann Wenner covered all areas of the 1960s youth movement and remains popular to this day. Airport (1968): Arthur Hailey’s novel about an airplane disaster in a snowstorm remained a bestseller for half the year and spawned a string of disaster movies in the 1970s. Whole Earth Catalogue (1968): This guide to environmentally-sensitive products and hippie lifestyles, compiled by Stewart Brand, became the unofficial handbook of the counterculture. I’m OK, You’re OK (1969): This book by psychiatrist Thomas Harris became a bible to members of the “me generation,” as evidenced by the one million copies of the book that sold in the 1970s. What We Watched: Wagon Train (1957–65): Set in the late 1800s, this show told a story each week about different people traveling along the wagon trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to California. Bonanza (1959–73): This Western set itself apart from the many others by being filmed especially

scientific research that enabled the nation to send astronauts to the moon. Yet this same spirit also drove the government to gradually step up American involvement in what amounted to a civil war in the distant nation of Vietnam. American forces were sent to aid the South Vietnamese, who were fighting against communist forces in North Vietnam. The Vietnam War was promoted as a righteous crusade against the spread of

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1960s At a Glance (continued) for color viewing. The program encouraged many to buy the new hot product—color televisions. Unlike other Westerns, the storylines were centered on the loving, loyal Cartwright family. The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68): This show brought to life a fictional small rural Southern town named Mayberry. The characters were ordinary and likeable. The story centered around the characters played by Andy Griffith, who played the calm, reasonable sheriff, and Don Knotts, who played his bumbling deputy. Psycho (1960): Alfred Hitchcock’s horror film offered audiences a stabbing scene that has been called one of the scariest moments in film history. The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71): This sitcom about simple country folk who struck it rich and moved to Beverly Hills, California, poked fun at the differences between rural and city life. The Sound of Music (1965): This popular musical about the singing Von Trapp Family starred Julie Andrews. The score was the last collaboration of the famous songwriter team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Doctor Zhivago (1965): This epic drama was the last great film by director David Lean and popularized the song “Lara’s Theme.” The Graduate (1967): This movie, starring Dustin Hoffman, was viewed by some as a light comedy, by others as a statement about the generation

gap, and still others as a keen illustration of the alienation felt by many in their late twenties. Jungle Book (1967): Walt Disney’s animation of Rudyard Kipling’s story about a boy who grows up in the jungle. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (1968–73): This comedy series was the top rated prime-time show in 1968 and 1969 and revolutionized the presentation of comic variety programs. It presented flashes and zooms of celebrities delivering rapidfire one-liners, bikini-clad dancers, and slapstick routines. The show’s editing style was unique to television at the time. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): This science fiction film astounded viewers with its stunning visual effects. What We Listened To: Elvis Presley: The King still topped the charts in 1960 with “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” “It’s Now or Never,” and “Stuck on You.” Soundtrack albums: Two of the most successful of the 1960s were from The Sound of Music, featuring such favorites as “My Favorite Things” and “Do-Re-Mi,” and West Side Story, with “America” and “Tonight.” “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1962): Bob Dylan’s protest song cemented his position as the leading singer/songwriter performing folk music that protested the established rules of society during the decade. The Beatles: The Fab Four burst onto the American music scene following their appearance on The Ed

communism, but the bungled war effort soon led many to question why Americans were fighting in Vietnam.

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Lurking beneath the prosperity and official optimism of the decade were powerful forces of discontent. Not everyone in the United States was content with the way things were going. African Americans, especially those living in the South, were angry about their continuing mistreatment and about racism in

1960s At a Glance (continued) Sullivan Show in late 1963 with such hits as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Feel Fine,” “She Loves You,” and “A Hard Day’s Night”; the British Invasion had begun. “Surfin’” (1961): The Beach Boys’ sunshine pop song started their rise to pop stardom. Brian Wilson and the gang introduced the world to the California lifestyle and briefly challenged the popularity of the Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967): The Beatles’ landmark album marked a distinctive shift in the band’s style and showed the influences of drug use. “I’m a Believer” (1966) and “Daydream Believer” (1967): These singles by the Monkees cemented the popularity of this band made up of actors who were chosen more for their looks than their ability to play music. “Respect” (1967): This soul song became a hit for Aretha Franklin, who continued to top the soul charts for the remainder of the decade. Are You Experienced? (1968): This psychedelic rock album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience topped the album charts. Motown Records: This Detroit-based record company sold more 45s than any other in the country with the talents of singers Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder.

Drug-induced music: Such musicians as Jim Morrison and the The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead experimented with music under the influence of a variety of drugs. Many of them would not outlive the decade. Who We Knew: Muhammad Ali (1942–): The most eloquent and powerful boxing champion of the decade. Born Cassius Clay, he used his popularity to spread the word about his Islam faith and to speak out against racism. He also uttered the lines: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” and “I’m the greatest!” First astronauts on the moon: Neil Armstrong (1930–) and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (1930–) landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, with Armstrong announcing, “The Eagle has landed.” Within hours, more than a third of America watched Armstrong on television as he stepped onto the moon’s surface and said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Johnny Carson (1925–): When he took over The Tonight Show from Jack Paar in 1962, Johnny Carson established himself as one of the most prominent comedians and television hosts in America. For thirty years, he was known as the “king of late night.” John F. Kennedy (1917–1963): The young, popular president was assassinated on November 22, 1963. His death and funeral were broadcast on television to millions of viewers around the world. Timothy Leary (1920–1996): A Harvard researcher whose research and personal experimentation with psychedelic drugs led him to be fired from Harvard in 1963 and to become a leader of the

schools, in the workplace, and throughout American culture. Their movement for civil rights, begun in the 1950s, was ably led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), but also by radical black activist Malcolm X (Malcolm Little, 1925–1965). Civil rights groups staged protests throughout the decade to bring about change. These protests sometimes grew quite violent, and racists responded with violence in turn. Still,

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1960s At a Glance (continued) drug counterculture in the 1960s. He encouraged people to experience an alternative reality by taking drugs. He coined the phrase “Tune in, turn on, drop out.” Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968): This leader of the civil rights movement attracted national attention to blacks’ growing resentment of segregation laws. He led thousands in several marches and protests including the Montgomery bus boycott (1955–56) and the March on Washington, where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. He was assassinated in 1968. Charles Manson (1934–): This cult figure—leader of the so-called Manson Family—masterminded the slaughtering of numerous high-profile people, including director Roman Polanski’s pregnant wife Sharon Tate, in hopes of encouraging a race war. The murders and the following trial attracted massive media attention and horrified the nation. Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993): The first AfricanAmerican Supreme Court justice (1967). This

lawyer-turned-judge made a national name for himself in 1954 while presenting the oral arguments for the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case in front of the Supreme Court to win the end of segregated schools. Ralph Nader (1934–): The nation’s biggest consumer advocate since the mid–1960s. He formed consumer protection groups, including the Center for the Study of Responsive Law, to investigate industry and product safety and to lobby for protective legislation. Elizabeth Taylor (1932–): By the 1960s, this former child actor had become the most popular film star of the decade. Her many marriages, her extravagant lifestyle, her precarious health, and her glamorous roles kept her firmly in the public eye. Twiggy (1949–): The Mod Look that became popular at the end of the decade was inspired by English model Leslie Hornsby, known as Twiggy for her stick-like appearance. Her thin physique and fashion sense were copied by American women and even the toy maker Mattel made a Twiggy doll in 1967.

by the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had gained many of its goals. The women’s rights movement was largely inspired by the gains won by the civil rights movement. Feminists had long complained about their secondary role in American society. In the 1960s, they too organized marches and other forms of protest to draw attention to the lack of equality in wages between men and women and to women’s right to control over reproductive decisions. By the end of the 1960s, the size of the female workforce had grown by 50 percent and women enjoyed greater sexual freedoms.

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Another of the many movements of the 1960s was the antiwar movement. As more and more American troops were sent to Vietnam in the mid-1960s, many Americans—but especially American youths—began to question why America was involved

A common factor in all of these social movements was the participation of youths. American youths were growing increasingly alienated from the values of their parents. They felt that Americans were not practicing their own values when they segregated blacks, kept women in positions of inferiority, and waged war against a poor and distant nation. Across America— but primarily on college campuses and in bigger cities— American youths rejected their parents’ values, questioned authority of all sorts, and created a vibrant youth culture of their own. The most extreme expression of this growing youth culture was the hippie movement, whose members grew their hair long, rejected many social conventions, experimented with drugs, and sometimes lived in communal groups known as communes.

An Era of Pessimism and Activism

in the war. They claimed that America was using its vast power to crush a legitimate movement for freedom, that the American military unfairly drew upon blacks and poor people to man its armies, and that the nation itself had grown greedy and powerhungry. By the late 1960s, the antiwar movement had become increasingly active and visible—and had attracted the sympathy of many Americans.

The discontent and tumult that came to characterize the 1960s was made most evident in the high-profile assassinations that shook the decade. First came the killing of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in 1963, an event that sent the entire nation into mourning. Malcolm X, the leader of a radical Black Muslim group, was gunned down in Harlem, New York, while giving a speech in 1965. In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) were gunned down in separate killings. In their own way, each of these leaders had expressed hopes and dreams that were appealing to the youth movement. Young Americans were especially alarmed by their untimely deaths. American popular culture was also affected by the youth and other social movements of the decade. Rock and roll, the music of youth, continued to grow and thrive as a musical form, helped along by the immense popularity of the Beatles, a British group. American movies took on bolder, more controversial subjects and echoed the turbulence of their times in ways that movies had not before. Even sports figures reflected the spirit of the times, with boxer Cassius Clay supporting the Black Muslim cause and changing his name to Muhammad Ali (1942–)

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and pro football player Joe Namath (1943–) projecting the image of the youthful playboy. With the exception of television news, which brought the graphic violence of the Vietnam War into American homes, television programming remained a stronghold of family values, thanks to programs like Bonanza (1959–73) and Sesame Street (1969–).

1960s Commerce Until the 1990s, the 1960s marked the longest uninterrupted period of American economic expansion. The American economy was the largest in the world. Its giant corporations, such as General Motors, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola extended their influence and dominance to every corner of the globe. American companies grew ever larger during the decade. In 1962, the five largest industrial companies accounted for 12 percent of American manufacturing assets. The largest five hundred companies controlled 66 percent of such assets. Big business dominated the American economic landscape. Individual Americans did very well during the decade, too. By the end of the decade, the average American’s real income had increased 50 percent since 1950, giving Americans a standard of living that was envied throughout the world. Median family income rose from $8,540 in 1963 to $10,770 by 1969. Americans used their growing discretionary income (income not needed for basic necessities) on a growing number of consumer goods. Retailing continued to change to suit Americans’ tastes for consumer goods. Wal-Mart and Kmart emerged as the leading examples of a new kind of variety store. Both stores carried a range of merchandise, from clothes to hardware to toys, that was offered at a discount price. Critics of the stores accused them of contributing to the death of the small-town storekeeper, who could not compete with the chain’s low prices. Two companies tapped into the growing power of American advertising to make themselves household names. Budweiser became the country’s—and soon the world’s—most popular beer, thanks largely to advertisements on sports programs and a growing distribution network. A new company, Nike, popularized the athletic shoe by associating its products with famous athletes. Many other products influenced popular culture in the decade. 793

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Budweiser The Anheuser-Busch brewing company traces its history to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1857. It first made the popular Budweiser Lager Beer there in 1876. By 2002, one in every five alcoholic drinks sold in the United States was a “Bud.” It is sold in over sixty countries worldwide and brewed in such countries as Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Not only is Budweiser America’s favorite, it is also the world’s best-selling beer. Like Coca-Cola, the “King of Beers” has become an international symbol for the American way of life. By 1901, the Anheuser-Busch company was producing over one million barrels of beer every year. During Prohibition (see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), AnheuserBusch made a Budweiser “near-beer” (with lower amounts of alcohol) to protect its market share. When Prohibition ended in 1933, the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses reminded Americans that Bud was a traditional American drink. Since then, Budweiser advertising has become almost as popular as the drink itself. In 1969, “Bud Man” pushed the idea that Bud was a man’s drink with the slogan “This Bud’s for you.” AnheuserBusch also prides itself on encouraging “responsible” drinking. That claim has helped make Budweiser popular with a wide range of drinkers. As the twentieth century closed, advertising campaigns involved talking frogs and lizards, and gimmicks such as theme parks and the Bud Bowl, in which beer bottles play a game of football. Into the new century, the “True” advertising campaign, including the “Whassup?” catchphrase, aimed to make Budweiser the first choice for sports fans everywhere. In 1997, almost half the beer sold worldwide was Budweiser. Never mind that the drink itself has little to distinguish it over other mass-produced beers. Using one of the most efficient brewing processes in the world, Anheuser-Busch has been blamed for squeezing out more interesting beers and driving local microbreweries out of business. Through clever marketing, Budweiser has become far more than just a beer. When beer drinkers around the world buy Bud, they are also buying into the biggest “brand” of them all, the American Dream itself. —Chris Routledge

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Anheuser-Busch Companies. http://www.anheuser-busch.com (accessed March 15, 2002).

Gap

Hernon, Peter, and Terry Ganey. Under the Influence: The Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Rhodes, Christine P., ed. The Encyclopedia of Beer. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

Gap With more than 3,800 stories in the United States, Europe, and Japan, Gap is a specialty retailer that sells clothing, accessories, and personal-care products for men, women, and children. Gap, Inc. sells products using three brand names and stores: Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Based in San Francisco, Gap, Inc. was founded in 1969 by Dan and Doris Fisher. Gap went public in 1976, offering 1.2 million shares of stock to investors. In 1983, the firm purchased Banana Republic and hired Millard Drexler (1944–) as president of its Gap division. He became president of Gap, Inc. in 1987 and CEO in 1995. By 2001, the firm employed more than 166,000 people worldwide and had revenues in excess of $13 billion. During the 1980s and 1990s, Gap, Inc. underwent expansion that established it as a significant brand name in U.S. retailing. GapKids opened its first store in 1983, and Gap Outlet (originally called Gap Warehouse) opened in 1993. Its Old Navy Brand debuted in 1994 and achieved $1 billion in annual sales within four years. The firm made a commitment to online retailing when it opened its online store in 1997, followed by Web sites for GapKids and babyGap in 1998, Banana Republic in 1999, and Old Navy in 2000. In general, the Banana Republic stores try to convey a more sophisticated image for an upscale customer, whereas Gap stores appeal to a broader midrange of customers. The Old Navy chain is designed to appeal to younger customers by emphasizing “fun, fashion, and value” through a store experience that delivers “energy and excitement.” Although Gap, along with other retail-store chains, has been criticized for blandness and uniformity in its selling environments, the firm maintains that it tailors its stores “to appeal to unique markets” by developing multiple formats and designs. In the 1990s, Gap was one of several large retailers that came under fire by labor and human-rights organizations for selling apparel made abroad under sweatshop conditions (long hours

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for low wages in uncomfortable surroundings). It responded by developing a Code of Vendor Conduct that required its vendors (sellers of goods; in this case, the clothing manufacturers that sell to Gap) to abide by higher standards when dealing with its labor force. While acknowledging that some of its suppliers have factories in emerging nations that are just being to industrialize, Gap maintains that some of these jobs can offer a “coveted alternative to subsistence farming, or no work at all.” The firm claims that it monitors working conditions with its network of Vendor Compliance Officers working with labor and religious organizations, and that it tries to make a positive impact “one vendor at a time, one worker at a time, one day at a time.” —Edward Moran

For More Information Gap Inc. http://www.gap.com (accessed March 13, 2002). Nevaer, Louis E. V. Into—and Out of—the Gap: A Cautionary Account of an American Retailer. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 2001.

G.I. Joe Since its introduction in 1964, G.I. Joe has been one of the most popular toys for boys. The Hasbro Company created G.I. Joe as the first action figure doll for boys. A real G.I. is an enlisted person in the U.S. armed forces. This G.I. stood a foot tall, had moveable joints so that he could be posed in many different ways, and he wore military fatigues, dog tags, and boots. As a war toy, G.I. Joe joined a long tradition of military toys for boys.

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Hasbro hoped to repeat the popularity of the Barbie doll (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3), the beautiful and popular doll for girls that was introduced in 1959. But getting boys to accept the idea of playing with a doll took some work. Hasbro overcame boys’ dislike of dolls by making its doll a military figure. G.I. Joe was everything Barbie was not: rugged, bearded, and with a scar on his face to let everyone know that G.I. Joe was a man of action. Like Barbie, Hasbro offered countless accessories for the G.I. Joe dolls. G.I. Joe drove a military jeep, carried guns and grenades, and wore combat boots. In this way, Hasbro made the G.I. Joe attractive to boys and overcame

the stigma of playing with dolls. G.I. Joe was not a doll, Hasbro said, but rather an “action figure.” Hasbro kept interest in the action figure by introducing ever more elaborate accessories, including other military vehicles, space capsules, a talking version of the doll, and a “kungfu grip” that let the figure hold things in its hands more easily. G.I. Joe was at times a controversial toy. In the late 1960s, as protests against American involvement in the Vietnam War (1954–75) reached their peak, G.I. Joe became a symbol for some people of how children were taught to love war from a young age. In the years since its introduction, the G.I. Joe doll has been marketed in various sizes and with various missions, and he has appeared in comic books (see entry under 1930s— Print Culture in volume 2) and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows. By 1993, over 250 million G.I. Joe dolls had been sold. The toy remained popular among young boys (and toy collectors) into the twenty-first century.

G.I. Joe was the first action figure targeted especially for boys. Photograph by Michael Reed. Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information Cross, Gary. Kids’ Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. G.I. Joe Interactive. http://www.gijoe.com (accessed March 13, 2002). Miller, G. Wayne. Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them. New York: Times Books, 1998. Santelmo, Vincent. The Complete Encyclopedia to G.I. Joe. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1997.

Kmart Kmart is an all-purpose, all-American chain store. In the last decades of the twentieth century, it came to represent the typical shopping experience for millions of blue collar and middle-class Americans. Kmarts generally are single-story, parking

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lot-size structures, where customers can find and purchase an astonishing array of items at a reasonable price. Everything from bookcases to baby clothes, clocks to CDs, earrings to edibles, paint supplies to perfume to picture frames can be found at Kmart. In the early years of the twentieth century, Americans made most of their purchases in small, specialized stores known as “mom-and-pop” stores. Meat was available through butchers; dairy products were procured directly from dairy farms; and a range of edibles lined the shelves of grocery stores. Tools, nails, and screws were found in hardware stores. Dresses and suits could be purchased in men’s or women’s clothing stores. Then, throughout the twentieth century, larger emporiums began replacing specialized stores as primary shopping outlets. Department stores like Macy’s and Gimbels offered a wider range of merchandise all under one roof. Supermarket chains replaced grocery stores. Because such stores had the purchasing power to acquire merchandise from suppliers in bulk, prices could be lower than those offered by the smaller, individually owned competition. The 1960s was the advent of the Kmart-style discount retailer. These large discount stores offered the product variety found in department stores, but at even lower prices. Kmart is a spin-off of S. S. Kresge, a dime store (see entry under 1900s— Commerce in volume 1) chain. The initial Kmart appeared in Garden City, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, in 1962. Eight years later, more than four hundred Kmarts were in business across the country, bringing in billions in sales. In the ensuing decades, the chain kept expanding, opening over two thousand stores, some of which were just miles apart. In 1989, Kmart became America’s top-grossing retailer. However, Kmart is not the lone store of its type. Wal-Mart (see entry under 1960s— Commerce in volume 4) and Target, for example, also commenced operations in 1962. Often, competing stores, essentially offering the same merchandise, are found opposite each other along the same roadways.

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If one individual came to represent the discount merchandising phenomenon, it was the dynamic Sam Walton (1918–1992), founder of Wal-Mart. In fact, during the 1990s, Wal-Mart—Kmart’s arch-rival, whose stores generally were newer and larger—surpassed Kmart as the nation’s leading discount retailer. In an effort to modernize its image—and to keep up with Wal-Mart and Target—Kmart began renovating its

Nike

stores, adding brighter lights, wider aisles, and more sophisticated displays. Model Kathy Ireland (1963–), actress Jaclyn Smith (1947–), and homemaking queen Martha Stewart (1941–) became celebrity-sponsors of lines of inexpensive “designer” merchandise. Kmart even opened a four-level store in midtown Manhattan. But economic problems began to plague Kmart more seriously in the twenty-first century. In January 2002, Kmart filed for bankruptcy; less than two months later, it announced plans to close 284 stores and lay off 22,000 employees in 40 states in an attempt to reorganize itself. The future of Kmart—the first store of its type to open branches across the country, and the first to challenge the large department stores for retail supremacy—is uncertain. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Blackwell, Roger. From Mind to Market: Reinventing the Retail Supply Chain. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. “Kmart Corporation News.” Bluelight.com. http://www.kmartcorp.com/ corp/story/index.stm (accessed March 13, 2002). Peterson, Roger. The Future of U.S. Retailing. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1992.

Nike Founded in 1962, Nike, Inc. was one of the first designers of special shoes for athletes. The corporation has been at the forefront of advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2) and marketing techniques since the 1980s. Although Nike has continued to identify itself with athletes and athletic achievement, Nike sneakers are just as likely to be worn by nonathletes who simply want a stylish designer casual shoe. Nike got its start in Eugene, Oregon, and was the creation of two men, Bill Bowerman (1911–1999) and Philip Knight (1938–). Bowerman was a track-and-field coach at the University of Oregon who was constantly searching for an athletic shoe that would help his teams run faster and jump higher. Knight was a businessman who had been a runner on one of Bowerman’s teams when he was in college. Knight and Bowerman teamed up in 1962, first to import Japanese running shoes,

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Nike Nike’s line of Air-Force basketball shoes in 1982. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

then to experiment with their own designs. They called their company Blue Ribbon Sports. Though Knight and Bowerman were successful in creating shoes that improved athletes’ performance on the field, they had to figure out how to sell their shoes to a wider market. In 1972, they adopted the name Nike, after the winged Greek goddess of victory, and their trademark “swoosh.” The trademark was designed by Carolyn Davidson, a Portland State University graphic design student. Knight and Bowerman also designed an advertising campaign that featured ads, not for specific shoes, but for victory itself, employing through the years famous winning athletes like basketball’s Michael Jordan (1963–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5) and tennis champions John McEnroe (1959–) and Monica Seles (1973–). Nike ads often feature sweating athletes in dramatic motion with the company slogan, “Just Do It.”

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Beginning in the 1980s, some people began to criticize Nike’s employment practices. They pointed out that Nikes are not manufactured in the United States but in countries like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where labor is much cheaper and

The quality of Nike’s shoe design and its creative approach to advertising has made the company a continuing success. Millions of people have bought Nike shoes, both as athletic wear and as a fashion statement. By 2000, Nike was selling 40 percent of all sneakers sold worldwide, earning billions of dollars in sales, and employing thousands of workers in its factories around the world. Nike sponsors hundreds of athletic teams and events, and the Nike “swoosh” has become one of the most recognized symbols in the world.

Valium

workers are treated badly. These critics have organized many demonstrations and boycotts of the company’s products.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Clifford, Mark L. “‘On the Inside, It’s Hell’: Despite Improvements, Nike Workers Face Tough Conditions.” Business Week (July 29, 1996): pp. 46–48. Collins, David R. Philip Knight: Running with Nike. Ada, OK: Garrett Educational Corp., 1992. Hays, Scott. The Story of Nike. Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media, 2000. Miller, Annetta. “Just Doing It.” Newsweek (October 2, 1995): pp. 64–66. Nike. http://www.nike.com (accessed March 13, 2002). Strasser, J. B, and Laurie Becklund. Swoosh: The Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There. New York: HarperInformation, 1993.

Valium The first of the so-called “blockbuster” drugs, the tranquilizer Valium, first available to the public in the early 1960s, was the top selling prescription drug during the 1970s. It was called a blockbuster because it was marketed and sold to a wide variety of people to help them control anxiety, nervousness, and tension. Over the next two decades, both the doctors who prescribed the drug and their patients who took it began to realize that Valium had several negative effects, and its popularity has decreased. However, Valium’s fame as an aid to relaxation is still widespread. Most people will understand that the suggestion “Take a Valium!” means “Calm down!” Valium is the brand name for a drug called diazepam, which is a tranquilizer (calming medication). Diazepam was invented in the late 1950s by a Swiss drug company called HoffmannLa Roche, who began to market it in the early 1960s. It was the perfect drug for a society coping with rapid changes brought about by the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The

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Way We Lived in volume 4), the women’s liberation movement, and the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), social movements that left many Americans feeling anxious. The new drug Valium seemed to be a kind of miracle cure for anxiety. Doctors prescribed it widely, for everyone from overworked executives to young housewives who were stressed by the many demands of their families. The 1966 novel by Jacqueline Susann (1918–1974), Valley of the Dolls, and the 1966 hit song “Mother’s Little Helper” by the Rolling Stones (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) reflect the effects of Valium pills on women during that time. The popularity of brand-name Valium suffered somewhat in the mid-1980s, when Hoffmann-La Roche’s patent on the drug expired. This allowed other companies to make their own less expensive brands of diazepam to compete with Valium. By the late 1980s, both doctors and patients were beginning to discover that the drug had some unpleasant effects, called “side effects” by the drug industry. Valium often made those who took it sleepy and uncoordinated; some experienced difficulty remembering and an increased anxiety after they stopped taking the drug. Worst of all, many who took Valium became addicted to its calming effects and had problems trying to quit using the drug. As the seriousness of these effects became more obvious, Valium became less popular, both with doctors and patients. Drug companies continue to experiment, seeking a drug that will offer the tranquilizing effects of Valium without the negative effects. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Colburn, Don. “Valium in an Age of Anxiety: The Drug Remains the Tranquilizer of Choice for Millions.” The Washington Post (February 17, 1987): p. WH9. Dyson, Cindy. Valium and Other Downers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Tavris, Carol. “Valium, Cigarettes, and Memory.” Vogue (December 1987): pp. 40–41. Winger, Gail. Valium, the Tranquil Trap. New York: Chelsea House, 1986.

Wal-Mart

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Both loved and hated by shoppers worldwide, the Wal-Mart family of discount stores has grown in less than forty years from a single business in a small Arkansas town in 1962 to one

of the world’s largest corporations. Wal-Mart operated eleven hundred stores around the world in the year 2000. The WalMart strategy of combining low prices with a huge inventory and attentive customer service has changed retail sales practices across the United States. Many complain that large WalMart stores change the nature of the towns where they open by taking business away from small, locally owned shops and forcing them to close. Others, however, cheer the coming of Wal-Mart to their town, because the stores make available a wide variety of goods at prices that working families can afford. Wal-Mart was founded by Sam Walton (1918–1992), an Oklahoma native who had operated dime stores (see entry on under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1)—also called “five-and-ten stores”—first in Newport, Arkansas, then in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walton believed that the small towns of America offered great opportunity for the knowledgeable retailer. He opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Soon WalMarts were opening across the South and Midwest. Walton’s philosophy of drawing customers in with deep price cuts and keeping them with friendly customer service proved successful.

From a small beginning in 1962, Wal-Mart grew into a billiondollar empire by the end of the twentieth century. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Xerox Copiers

However, Wal-Mart employees have not always been happy, nor have the citizens of the communities where the store opens. The store has been involved in dozens of legal disputes about discrimination against employees on the basis of sex and disability. Wal-Mart has also been accused of unfair business practices and selling goods made with sweatshop labor (employees who suffer poor working conditions, low pay, and long hours). Many activists have tried to prevent the store coming into their community, claiming that the presence of Wal-Mart takes business away from downtown areas and therefore weakens the entire town. But Wal-Mart continues to grow, in small towns and in larger cities. By the early 1980s, sales had risen to $3.4 billion, and two new stores were opening each week. In 2002, Wal-Mart reached the number one position in the Fortune 500 list of largest companies in the United States. Walton was an enthusiastic manager, leading his employees in cheers and in “Sam’s Pledge,” which was recited with right hands raised: “From this day forward, every customer that comes within ten feet of me, I’m going to look him in the eye, I’m going to smile, I’m going to greet him with a ‘Good morning,’ or a ‘Good afternoon,’ or a ‘What can I do for you?’—so help me Sam!” —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Anderson, Sarah. “Wal-Mart’s War on Main Street.” The Progressive (November 1994): pp. 19–22. Bowermaster, Jon. “When Wal-Mart Comes to Town: Independence, Iowa.” New York Times Magazine (April 2, 1989): pp. S28–30. “A Life of Fines and Beating.” Business Week (October 2, 2000): pp. 122–25. Quinn, Bill. How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America (and the World) and What You Can Do About It. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2000. Sidey, Hugh, “The Two Sides of the Sam Walton Legacy.” Time (April 20, 1992): pp. 50–54. “Small-town Hit.” Time (May 23, 1983): pp. 43–45. Wal-Mart: Welcome to Wal-Mart Stores! http://www.walmartstores. com/wmstore/wmstores/HomePage.jsp (accessed March 13, 2002). Walton, Sam. Sam Walton and Wal-Mart. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

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Xerox copiers offered the world the ability to make clean, easy, quick copies on paper. Using photoelectric technology, the

Chester F. Carlson (1906–1968) invented the photocopy machine in his spare time in the late 1930s. His first machines were not immediately appealing to the business community. By 1944, he had failed to sell his patented process and joined with the Battelle Memorial Institute to further perfect the process. Within three years, Battelle had joined with the Haloid Xerox company to sell the machines, but the first ones were difficult to operate. More research resulted in the Xerox copier, Model 914, marketed in 1961 to great success. Profits of the company reached $500 million within three years. The Xerox copier literally changed the way people worked with paper. Xerox Model 914 was honored by inclusion in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in 1985.

Xerox Copiers

Xerox copier could copy a page with the press of a button. The copier quickly replaced the messy mimeograph machine and the time-consuming offset printing processes.

Newer models continue to populate offices around the world. Like Kleenex brand tissues and Band-Aid brand bandages (see these two entries under 1920s—Commerce in volume 2), in many people’s minds, the Xerox brand has become the generic brand for its product: when one wants to photocopy a paper, one xeroxes it. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Flatow, Ira. They All Laughed. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Silverman, Steve. “Xerography.” About.com. http://inventors.about.com/ gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/xerox/ xerox.html (accessed March 13, 2002). “There Isn’t Any Profit Squeeze at Xerox.” Fortune (Vol. 66, July 1962): pp. 151–55. “Xerox.” Jones Telecommunications and Multimedia Encyclopedia. http:// www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/xerox.html (accessed March 13, 2002).

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1960s Fashion As with other areas of American popular culture, fashion underwent a real transition in the 1960s, from conservatism to excess, from social conformity (doing what society expects) to individuality (“doing your own thing”). The fashion icon (symbol of fashion) of the first years of the decade was first lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929–1994), wife of the popular young president John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). Jacqueline Kennedy, with her simple yet tasteful clothes, was featured in most of the popular fashion magazines of the day. However, the refined conservatism of the first lady soon gave way to much bolder styles. Around 1964, British designer Mary Quant (1934–) designed the “mod look,” which became especially popular among young women. Miniskirts, brightly colored dresses, dark eye makeup, and wild blouses, stockings, and accessories became the rage. Styles shifted rapidly from year to year. A thin, mod British model named Twiggy (1949–) soon replaced Jackie Kennedy as the dominant fashion trendsetter. As the women’s rights movement gained influence, women also grew more independent in their fashion choices. Some women went braless, and many began to wear pants for the first time. Men, too, were affected by the new freedom in fashion. The buzz cut went out of style as the dominant haircut for men, and men increasingly went to stylists instead of barbers to keep their hair in fashion. By the end of the decade, male hippies could be seen wearing their extremely long hair in ponytails. The gray flannel suit also went out of style as men sought new options, even in business wear. Ties grew wider and colors bolder. Among young men, jeans and a T-shirt remained the most popular clothing choice.

Bell-Bottoms Bell-bottoms—pants that flare out at the cuffs—have had many different associations during the last half of the twentieth

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Bell-Bottoms A man models a pair of bell-bottoms. Barnabas Bosshart/ Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

century. First part of a military uniform, later the symbol of those who opposed war, bell-bottoms have tended to arouse strong emotions. Some have condemned them as a fashion mistake, whereas others have worn them as a bold fashion statement. Bell-bottomed pants were designed as part of a sailor’s traditional clothing. They have long been part of various naval uniforms. Wide legs made it easy to pull wet pants off over heavy boots, helping those who fell overboard to discard heavy clothing. The flared legs could then be filled with air to provide a flotation device. Onboard ship, sailors sometimes washed decks in bare feet, and bell-bottoms could be rolled up easily to keep dry.

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During the 1960s, as American youth became involved in various radical political and artistic movements, a nonconformist (outside of what society expects) culture began to develop. Called “bohemians” and “hippies” (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), these young people rejected commercial fashions and often shopped for cheap,

Doc Martens

practical clothes at Army-Navy Surplus stores—where they found the Navy’s denim bell-bottoms. Embellished with embroidery and patches, these bell-bottoms became a symbol of the flamboyant hippie counterculture. Some made bell-bottoms out of straight leg jeans by inserting a triangle of fabric into the side seam of the pants. Eventually, fashion caught up with the counterculture. Clothing manufacturers began to design stylish bell-bottoms, some with legs so wide they were nicknamed “elephant bells.” By the mid-1970s, bell-bottoms were no longer a political statement. They were universally popular and available in a variety of fabrics. Along with other showy fashions of the 1970s, they soon went out of style, however. Bell-bottoms soon became a synonym for being hopelessly out of date. Bellbottoms returned to fashion with the name “flares” in the 1990s, as part of a 1970s retro style and as a version of the baggy fashions associated with rave (see entry under 1990s— Music in volume 5) culture. (Raves are night-long parties at which large numbers of people dance, listen to a disc jockey play “techno” music that uses the beat of the music as a hypnotic tool to alter the listeners’ consciousnesses, and sometimes use drugs.) —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Bellbottoms.” Bad Fads Museum. http://www.badfads.com/pages/fashion/ bellbottom.html (accessed March 14, 2002). “Bellbottoms.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/fashion/fa1073.php (accessed March 14, 2002). “Break Out Your Bell-Bottoms: From Madonna to Main Street, Groovy ’60s Fashions Are Back—with a Twist.” People Weekly (January 28, 1991).

Doc Martens Bavarian physician Klaus Maertens designed his famous “air cushion sole” boots in 1945 to protect his feet after a skiing accident. The first pair of boots was actually made from old tires. In the late 1960s, the “1460” boot became part of the battle dress of British fascist (right-wing) skinheads, a group of radical youths. The police who arrested them soon came to favor the comfortable Dr. Maertens shoe. Along with tartan

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trousers, the boot became an icon of the punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) subculture in the late 1970s. Since the 1970s, Doc Martens, or “DMs” as they are known in the United Kingdom, have been the world’s number one cult footwear. Within a decade, Doc Martens had hit the mainstream. Sold in upmarket department stores, almost 70 percent of the boots were bought by women in the 1990s. Available in the traditional oxblood (reddish brown color) or black leather, in 2001 they also came painted with colorful floral patterns. For the environmentally conscious, Doc Martens are also available in a leather-free “vegetarian” version. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Dr. Martens. http://www.drmartens.com/Homepage.asp (accessed March 14, 2002).

Mary Kay Cosmetics Without a storefront or an advertising budget, Mary Kay Cosmetics has managed to become one of the largest sellers of beauty aids in the world, employing over four hundred thousand sales people and selling more than $800,000 worth of cosmetics each year. The secret to the company’s huge success is the combination of direct (door-to-door) sales techniques, a program of rewards that motivates its sales people to excel, and the unfailing energy of the company founder, Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001). Even in an era when door-to-door sales have fallen dramatically, the name Mary Kay is one of the most recognized product names in the United States.

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Mary Kay Ash was born in Houston, Texas, in 1918. Because her father was ill and her mother worked full time to support the family, young Mary Kay learned to take care of herself while still a child. She married at seventeen, soon divorced, and by the late 1930s was a single mother of three, needing once again to take care of herself. She found a job selling household products door-to-door and discovered she had a gift for sales. Her skill at selling products led to advancement at work, but she soon reached the limit of success available to women in most businesses at that time. In 1963, after her employers promoted a man she had trained to be her supervisor, Mary Kay had had

Since its beginning in 1964, Mary Kay Cosmetics has continued to fulfill its founder’s dream. Of its hundreds of thousands of employees, only about two thousand are men. Although most Mary Kay saleswomen once were housewives seeking extra income, the company’s success now lures executives and business-school graduates away from corporate jobs. A born-again Christian, Mary Kay Ash was part preacher and part cheerleader to her employees. Her motivational speeches and the company anthem, “I’ve Got the Mary Kay Enthusiasm Down in My Heart,” are as much a part of the organization as the cosmetics themselves. Based on a “pyramid” structure, where sales people recruit other sales people and then get a percentage of the money earned by those they recruit, Mary Kay Cosmetics also has an elaborate rewards program to inspire its sales crew. At the annual convention in Dallas, Texas, successful employees are awarded diamond rings, mink coats, free vacations, and pink Cadillacs.

Miniskirts

enough. She quit that job and decided to form her own company. She created a company in which women would not be limited by the prejudice of male bosses. At her company, women would be rewarded and made to feel like valuable members of a team.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Ash, Mary Kay. Mary Kay—You Can Have it All: Lifetime Wisdom from America’s Foremost Woman Entrepreneur. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 1998. Coughlin, Ellen K. “Making a Business of Belief: Sociologist Examines the Direct-Selling Industry in America.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (Vol. 35, no. 45, July 19, 1989): pp. 4–7. Farnham, Alan. “Mary Kay’s Lessons in Leadership.” Fortune (September 20, 1993): pp. 68–75. “Mary Kay Ash.” Current Biography (Vol. 56, no. 5, May 1995): pp. 14–19. Mary Kay: Enriching Women’s Lives. http://www.marykay.com/start.asp (accessed March 14, 2002). Wiley, Kim Wright. “Cold Cream and Hard Cash.” Savvy (June 1985): pp. 36–43.

Miniskirts First introduced to the fashion world in 1965, the miniskirt was part of a widespread wave of sexual openness and personal

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freedom that was sometimes called the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). The short skirts that exposed four or more inches of a woman’s thigh were not only lighthearted but sexy. The skirts also represented a movement away from society’s restrictions on women’s freedom.

A model wears a wool jacket over a miniskirt at a fashion show in 1966. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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The first miniskirts to appear on Paris fashion runways were created by French fashion designer André Courrèges (1923–), who was tired of the old-fashioned designs and prim knee-length skirts that dominated the fashion of the early 1960s. Courrèges wanted to introduce a radical new look that would bring youth, freedom, and originality to the world of fashion, so he dressed his models in simple A-line dresses (flared bottom and closefitting top) that ended four inches above the knee. Flat-soled white boots completed the “mod” look. Though some critics were horrified by the new style, many others were charmed, and the miniskirt caught on quickly. London designer Mary Quant (1934–) shortened the skirt still further, and changed Courrèges’s flared skirt to a tight, body-hugging shape. Famous models like Twiggy (1949–) popularized the new skirt, and it quickly became a commercial success. Although many women lacked the courage to wear the new minis, much less the even shorter microminis that followed, hemlines in general went up, and women’s fashions became bolder and freer than before, representing a change in women’s attitudes about themselves. Miniskirts are usually identified with the mid-1960s, but they have resurfaced on the fashion scene several times since then. In the mid-1980s, pop singer Madonna (1958–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) introduced a popular new style of dress that included a revival of the miniskirt. The early 1990s saw another return of the revealing style. —Tina Gianoulis

Milbank, Caroline Rennolds. “A Mini Splendid Thing.” Interview (Vol. 17, no. 9, September 1987): pp. 130–32. “Miniskirts.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/fashion/fa1634.php (accessed March 14, 2002) Schneider, Karen. “Up, Up and Hooray! Designer André Courrèges Celebrates 25 Years of Miniskirt Fame.” People Weekly (July 9, 1990): pp. 79–82.

Twiggy

For More Information

Twiggy (1949–) The original supermodel (see entry under 1980s—Fashion in volume 5), in the late 1960s, Twiggy (born Lesley Hornby) became an icon (a symbol) of “Swinging London” and gained international fame. Her image filled the fashion magazines, and she even had a Barbie doll (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) designed in her likeness. In the 1950s, women like Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) traded on their full figures and mature sexuality. In contrast, Twiggy’s big-eyed skinny boyishness was virtually sexless. Her slender figure was a major break from earlier versions of femininity. Twiggy was the essence of groovy Britishness in the 1960s, but her influence has also been blamed for the growth of eating disorders among young women. Her ninety-one-pound frame became an unrealistic dieting target for weight-conscious women the world over. Twiggy appeared in several films in the 1970s and also had several hit records in the United Kingdom. The look she began remains an influence on the fashion industry in the twenty-first century. In 2001, Twiggy herself made occasional appearances on British television and promoted her own line of skin-care products. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Twiggy. Twiggy: How I Probably Just Came Along on a White Rabbit at the Right Time, and Met the Smile on the Face of the Tiger. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1968. Twiggy Lawson’s Official Site. http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk (accessed March 14, 2002).

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1960s Film and Theater Moviemaking remained in a slump at the start of the 1960s. Moviemakers struggled to come up with successful strategies to combat the rising popularity of television, which kept former movie viewers at home. One strategy was to make big-budget spectacles that TV producers simply could not make. Cleopatra, released in 1963, starring Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) and Richard Burton (1925–1984), was just such a film. It cost $37 million to make and included lavish sets and exotic filming locations. Filmgoers loved such movies, but there were only so many that could be made each year. Moviemakers also attracted audiences by making another kind of movie that could not air on TV—movies that contained sex, violence, or unconventional behavior. Comedies like The Apartment (1960) and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), dramas like The Graduate (1967) or Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and adventure pictures like the James Bond films Dr. No and Goldfinger (1964)— all had content that was deemed too “mature” for TV. Mature content soon became one of the film industry’s biggest problems, as groups like the Catholic Legion of Decency publicized their ratings of movies that were deemed unacceptable. In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America started a voluntary rating system that is still in use. The system included the ratings G (general audiences), M (mature; later changed to GP, then PG), R (restricted), and X (no one under 18 admitted). (PG-13 was added in 1984.) In 1969, the film Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award for best picture despite an X rating that was given to the film for its homosexual content. (Years later, Midnight Cowboy was reclassified with an R rating.) Despite these limitations, filmmakers produced some of history’s best known films in the decade, including the science-fiction films Planet of the Apes (1968) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and the horror film Psycho (1960). Another popular film was West Side Story (1961), adapted from the popular Broadway play of the same name. A thriving American-theater culture provided several other plays that made it to the big screen,

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including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962; filmed in 1966) by Edward Albee (1928–) and The Odd Couple (1965; filmed in 1968 and made into a television series in 1970) by Neil Simon (1927–). Hair (1968; filmed in 1978) became the first rock-and-roll musical.

Beach Movies During the mid-1960s, one of cinema’s most successful kind of film was the beach-movie genre. These low-budget, hastily produced features celebrated California’s beaches, surfing, and teen culture. One series of films starred Frankie Avalon (1940–) and Annette Funicello (1942–) as “Frankie” and “Dee Dee”—two wholesome teens who descended upon the beach with dozens of their friends every summer. The group lived free from the interference of parents and without financial worries. They spent their days surfing, partying, dancing, skydiving, and enjoying other innocent entertainments. In Andrew Edelstein’s The Pop Sixties, William Asher (1921–), the director of several of the beach movies, described the premise of the series: “It’s all good clean fun. No hearts are broken, and virginity prevails.”

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American International Pictures (AIP), which had profited during the 1950s with low-budget horror and juvenile delinquent films like Reform School Girls (1957) and I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), produced the beach movies. Sam Arkoff (1918–2001) and James Nicholson (1916–1972), AIP executives, noted that the audience for their delinquent teen films was shrinking while movies featuring clean-cut, wholesome teenagers, like Gidget (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960), were playing to large crowds. They decided to capitalize on the trend by producing Beach Party (1963). The plot for this film (and all those in the series) revolves around the romance between excitable Frankie and curvaceous Dee Dee. Funicello’s character wants to marry Avalon’s, but he is afraid of settling down. Numerous musical numbers, melodramatic subplots, slapstick comedy, and chases balanced the romantic aspects of the beach movies. The core beach movies produced by AIP between 1963 and 1966 include Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965; generally considered the best of the series), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966).

Beach Movies A movie poster from Beach Blanket Bingo. CinemaPhoto/ Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Ironically, Funicello never wore a bikini in any of the films. Walt Disney (1901–1966), her mentor, requested she wear only modest one-piece bathing suits to protect her innocent image. The beach movies were complete fantasy, as the turbulent social issues of the 1960s never invaded Frankie and Annette’s domain. The gang never worried about being drafted to Vietnam, they were racially segregated, and they never had sex. The adults who appeared in the series were comic villains who did not understand the teens and constantly attempted to ruin their parties. Among the established adult celebrities who appeared

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in the beach movies were Vincent Price (1911–1993), Don Rickles (1926–), Paul Lynde (1926–1982), Boris Karloff (1887–1969), Linda Evans (1942–), Buddy Hackett (1924–), Morey Amsterdam (1908–1996), Elsa Lanchester (1902–1986), and silent-film legend Buster Keaton (1895–1966). The adult actor most associated with the films is Harvey Lembeck (1923–1982), who played “Erich Von Zipper,” a Brando-inspired yet comically played motorcycle-gang leader. American International Pictures attempted to repeat the beach movies’ success by presenting their stars in similar films away from an ocean setting. These films include Ski Party (1965), Fireball 500 (1966), and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965). By the late 1960s, however, the novelty of the films had worn off and their stars had grown too old to convincingly portray teens. Furthermore, audiences were demanding more realistic cinematic depictions of the young adult experience. In 1987, Avalon and Funicello starred in Back to the Beach, in which they mocked their wholesome images. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Arkoff, Sam. Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants. New York: Birch Lane, 1992. Edelstein, Andrew. The Pop Sixties. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985. McGee, Mark Thomas. Fast and Furious: The Story of American International Pictures. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1984. Staehling, Richard. “The Truth About Teen Movies.” In Kings of the Bs. New York: Dutton, 1975.

Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), is widely regarded as a masterpiece of “black comedy” (a work that derives humor from a subject not usually considered humorous). For most people, nuclear war would probably top the list of unfunny subjects, but Kubrick demonstrated otherwise, earning the film three Oscar nominations in the process.

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The 1964 film was based on a novel by Peter George (1924–1996) called Red Alert (1958). It is interesting to note that George’s novel in turn inspired the 1962 novel Fail-Safe

In Dr. Strangelove, psychotic Air Force general Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden, 1916–1986) orders the thirty-four nuclear bombers under his command to attack the Soviet Union. The air crews, thinking war has broken out, obey their orders without question. One of the bombers is commanded by Major T. J. “King” Kong (Slim Pickens, 1919–1983), who talks like an Oklahoma cowboy.

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by Eugene Burdick (1918–1965) and Harvey Wheeler (1914–). Fail-Safe was a grimly realistic story about a computer failure that nearly causes a nuclear war. The film version of Fail-Safe was released in 1964, the same year as Dr. Strangelove.

At the Pentagon’s War Room, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers, 1925–1980) is briefed on the emergency by the head of the Strategic Air Command, General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott, 1927–1999). The Soviet ambassador is also present, and he warns the Americans that the Soviet Union has built a secret “Doomsday Machine.” If the U.S.S.R. comes under nuclear attack, the machine will automatically trigger a set of explosions that will destroy the whole planet. President Muffley frantically tries to recall the bombers, although he is advised against it by his nuclear strategy expert, Dr. Strangelove (also played by Peter Sellers). A wheelchair-bound ex-Nazi, Strangelove cold-bloodedly suggests that nuclear war might not be so bad, after all, with proper management. The president is unable either to recall the bombers or to persuade the Soviets to stop their “Doomsday Machine.” The American planes bomb their targets (one of the last scenes shows Major “King” Kong astride one of the bombs, riding it like a bronco all the way to eternity). The world thus ends, not with a whimper, but with a very big and darkly humorous bang. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Carnes, Mark C., ed. Past Imperfect. New York: Henry Holt, 1995. Dirks, Tim. “Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” Greatest Films. http://www.filmsite.org/drst.html (accessed March 14, 2002). Larkin, Patrick J. “Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” Kubrick Multimedia Film Guide. http://www. indelibleinc.com/kubrick/films/strangelove/ (accessed March 14, 2002). Seed, David. American Science Fiction and the Cold War: Literature and Film. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999.

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Easy Rider In the late 1960s, a good number of young Americans were becoming unhappy with American society. These baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), whose parents had survived the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) during the 1930s and World War II (1939–45) a decade later, viewed with disdain what they regarded as their parents’ lack of concern with the way the world was shaping up. They were questioning their country’s military presence in Vietnam (1954–75). They were experimenting with sex and drugs and had embraced the liberating sounds of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s— Music in volume 3) music. In this regard, America was in the middle of a cultural revolution, with the result being the creation of a youth-oriented “counterculture.” Up until that time, moviemakers mostly had ignored that revolution—that is, until the release of Easy Rider (1969), a low-budget film that mirrored a generation’s changing lifestyle and became an instant counterculture classic. However, Easy Rider was more than just a declaration of youthful alienation. Produced on a $400,000 budget, it earned $19 million in domestic box office and $40 million worldwide, hefty figures for the era. Easy Rider is the saga of Wyatt (or “Captain America”), played by Dennis Hopper (1936–), and Billy, played by Peter Fonda (1939–), two motorcycle-riding, drug-taking dropouts who sell a load of cocaine (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and set off on a journey from the California-Mexico border to New Orleans, Louisiana. They are accompanied by a soundtrack filled with rock classics of the era. The song most associated with the film is “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf. As they cycle cross-country, they find a nation that views them with hostility because of their long hair, nonconformist dress, and mode of transportation. Eventually, they are shot and killed by a pair of rednecks (short-haired, traditionalist Southern white males) riding in a pick-up truck.

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Three talents emerged from the success of Easy Rider. Dennis Hopper, who also directed the film and coauthored its screenplay, had been acting on-screen since the mid-1950s. Always a rebel, his attitude toward traditional Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) filmmaking and filmmakers resulted in his being shunned by the moviemaking

establishment. Peter Fonda, who cowrote the script, is the son of Henry Fonda (1905–1982), a Hollywood legend whose career lasted from the 1930s through the 1980s. He is also the brother of actress Jane Fonda (1937–), who then was receiving attention as a high-profile activist against the Vietnam War. Before Easy Rider, Peter Fonda had acted with little impact in several films. He had begun establishing a rebel hero image in The Wild Angels (1966), playing a Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang leader. Finally, Jack Nicholson (1937–), then a ten-year veteran of lowbudget films, offered a star-making performance as a civil rights lawyer who joins Wyatt and Billy on their journey. Nicholson’s character, George Hanson (who also is killed by rednecks during the course of the story) expressed the film’s counterculture-versus-mainstream point of view—and spoke to the youth of America—when he declared, “What you represent to them is freedom. . . . It’s real hard to be free when you’re bought and sold in the marketplace. . . . They’re not free. . . . Then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are.” —Rob Edelman

Peter Fonda in a scene from Easy Rider. Fotos International/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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The Graduate

For More Information Dalton, Stephen. “Endless Highway.” Uncut (September 1998): pp. 30–35. Dirks, Tim. “Easy Rider.” Greatest Films. http://www.filmsite.org/easy. html (accessed March 14, 2002). Easy Rider (film). Columbia Pictures, 1969. Hardin, Nancy, and Marilyn Schlossberg. Easy Rider: Original Screenplay by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, Plus Stills, Interviews, and Articles. New York: Signet, 1969.

The Graduate The late 1960s were a time of radical change in the United States. Young people—and, in particular, baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), who were the middle-class offspring of the veterans of World War II (1939–45), and who had grown up amid the prosperity and conformity of the 1950s—were questioning the preordained paths their lives were supposed to take. It was assumed that males would complete college, find high-paying jobs, marry, and live in the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) while commuting to work and supporting their wives and children. The very nature of their manhood depended on their being “good providers” for their families. Meanwhile, their wives would remain at home raising their offspring. For a woman, a career—and financial independence—would be out of the question. In order to fit into the American mainstream, young people had to accept these expected roles: the very same roles played by their parents. In this regard, these coming-ofage baby boomers had no options. The Graduate (1967), directed by Mike Nichols (1931–), is the perfect cultural artifact of its time in that it is a movie about options and is one of the milestones of late-1960s American cinema. It also mirrors the feelings of alienation (separation from society) that characterized the era. Many baby boomers felt dissatisfied as a result of the Vietnam War (1954–75) and the real and perceived insincerities of American society. Finally, the fate of its title character remains refreshingly unclear, a fact that reflects the reality that life is complex and happy endings are never guaranteed.

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The Graduate is the story of Benjamin Braddock, a young man who is lacking direction and self-esteem. Benjamin, played by Dustin Hoffman (1937–) in a star-making performance, has

just completed college and has returned to his suburban California roots. His future already seems ordained by his elders. It is assumed that Ben will marry the perfect girl and become yet another faceless, soulless suburbanite and corporate paperpusher. The hypocrisy of his elders is symbolized by the character of Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft, 1931–), the middle-aged mother of Elaine (Katharine Ross, 1942–), a pretty college student in whom Benjamin eventually becomes romantically interested. However, instead of encouraging this otherwise healthy relationship, Mrs. Robinson seduces young Benjamin. At his core, Benjamin Braddock is no stereotypical 1960s radical. His hair is short, and he is no rabble-rousing drug abuser or draft dodger or war protester. The soundtrack music accompanying his story is the gentle sounds of Simon and Garfunkel (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), rather than the harsher, more aggressive sounds of the Rolling Stones (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) or the Doors. All Benjamin wants is the space to determine the future course of his life. Yet the pretensions of his elders will not allow him this opportunity.

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, in a famous scene from The Graduate. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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Hair

As his story concludes, and he evolves to the point where he chooses to ignore his elders and rescue Elaine as she is about to marry a man she does not love, Ben Braddock is striking a blow for independence, individuality, and self-determination. Back in 1967, his actions had baby boomers cheering and nodding in recognition. Yet while the ending of The Graduate may be triumphant, it is in no way happy. How well do Benjamin and Elaine really know one another? Altogether appropriately, the smiles fade from their faces—and it is clear that their future together is in no way assured. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Macklin, F. Anthony. “‘Benjamin Will Survive . . . ’: Interview with Charles Webb.” Film Heritage (Vol. 4, 1968): pp. 1–6. Webb, Charles. The Graduate. New York: New American Library, 1963.

Hair Hair was a landmark Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) musical in the late 1960s. It was groundbreaking on several accounts. Hair not only portrayed the era’s youth culture but also gloriously celebrated it. Its characters were way outside the mainstream of American society: They were hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) who used drugs and shocking language. Hair relied on experimental theater techniques that focused on the themes of the musical and the portrayal of a lifestyle, rather than on character and plot development. Hair earned the distinction of being the first-ever rock musical. The cast members ignored the “fourth wall” of the theater—the invisible wall that separates actors and audience—by coming on stage from the audience, rather than from backstage. Finally, at the finale of the first act, during the celebrated “Be-In” sequence, the actors removed their clothes.

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Hair was the creation of Broadway performers Gerome Ragni (1935–1991) and James Rado (1932–), who in the mid-1960s believed that the music, styles, and viewpoints of the thendeveloping youth culture might be translated to the stage. To research the project, they conducted interviews with young people who had embraced the civil rights movement (see entry

under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and the antiVietnam War (1954–75) sentiments and who were experimenting with drugs and sex. Next, they collaborated with composer Galt MacDermot (1928–), resulting in the creation of an agreeably bouncy score that highlighted the antics of the show’s characters. Among them: Claude, who has just been drafted into the military; his drop-out pal Berger; and Sheila, a college student and antiwar activist. Joseph Papp (1921–1991), the legendary organizer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, produced the show, which opened off-Broadway at the Public Theatre on October 29, 1967. The full title was Hair: An American Tribal Rock Musical. It eventually moved to Cheetah, a popular Greenwich Village discotheque. At this point, its director was Gerald Freedman (1927–). After being completely revamped and redesigned by a new director, Tom O’Horgan (1926–), and others—additional songs were added and the concept (idea of the play itself) almost completely replaced the narrative (story to be told). This version of Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on April 19, 1968.

A 1968 stage production of Hair. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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A Hard Day’s Night

Many establishment critics neither liked nor understood Hair and dismissed the show as vulgar trash. Other, more openminded reviewers hailed it for its freshness and honesty. Hair may have lost the Best Musical Tony Award to 1776, a more traditionally structured musical, but it was wildly popular and remained on Broadway until 1972. Productions were mounted across the country and, soon, throughout the world. At its height, fourteen national companies performed the musical. Eleven cast albums were recorded, in different languages. During its first two years alone, approximately four million people saw Hair on stage. By the time Hair was revived on Broadway (in 1978), and made into a film (in 1979), American society had drastically changed, and the show seemed dated. Today Hair is a period piece, a product of the time in which it emerged. It nonetheless remains a show that altered the look and sound—and expanded the possibilities—of the Broadway musical. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Davis, Lorrie, and Rachel Gallagher. Letting Down My Hair. New York: Arthur Fields, 1973. Hair (film). United Artists, 1979. Horn, Barbara Lee. The Age of Hair: Evolution and Impact of Broadway’s First Rock Musical. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

A Hard Day’s Night In 1963, “Beatlemania” was sweeping the world. The Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), a Liverpool, England, rock-pop group whose members were John Lennon (1940–1980), Paul McCartney (1942–), George Harrison (1943–2001), and Ringo Starr (1940–), were capturing the souls and hearts of young people worldwide. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) is a comic film depicting a representative day in the lives of the early Beatles.

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Unlike dozens of other films built around popular rock performers, A Hard Day’s Night was a highly entertaining musical comedy that deftly used the personalities of each Beatle while incorporating dazzling, free-flowing visuals. Director Richard Lester (1932–) employed fast-motion and slow-motion and

Before breaking up in 1970, the Beatles collaborated on several other films: Help! (1965), a follow-up to A Hard Day’s Night; Yellow Submarine (1968), an animated feature; and Let It Be (1970), a documentary. While each is entertaining, none captures the Beatles in their early-career freshness as memorably as A Hard Day’s Night.

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other cinematic trickery to keep the film moving and to present the “Fab Four” as likable, loony, and “hip.”

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Ebert, Roger. “A Hard Day’s Night” Chicago Sun Times. http://www. suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/hard_day_night.html (accessed March 15, 2002) A Hard Day’s Night (film). United Artists, 1964. Zacharek, Stephanie. “A Hard Day’s Night.” Salon.com. http://www. salon.com/ent/movies/review/2000/12/01/hard_days_night/ (accessed March 15, 2002).

Horror Movies The subjects and settings for horror movies are as limitless as one’s nightmares. Some films use the classic horror settings of ruined castles, graveyards, and haunted houses. Others find terror in quiet suburban streets. Sometimes innocent children can be as frightening as zombies, and everyday objects can be possessed by evil spirits. To scare people, horror films can use graphic violence, screaming, and bucketloads of blood and gore, or they can hint at what lurks in the shadows. From the early days of cinema, horror movies have terrified, shocked, and entertained. Their changing styles have matched the worries and fears of successive generations of moviegoers. Horror movies began by adapting popular novels by writers such as Mary Shelley (1797–1851), Bram Stoker (1847–1912), and others. It was only natural for the new film industry to cash in on the success of novels like Frankenstein (1819) and Dracula (1897; see entries on these two entries under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Early silent horror movies came from a tradition of German “expressionist” cinema, a style that aimed to capture human emotion “in the raw.” Films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) by Robert Wiene (1880–1938) and

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Nosferatu (1922) by F. W. Murnau (1888–1931) certainly succeeded in speaking directly to their audiences’ sense of the monstrous and grotesque. In one famous scene in Nosferatu, Dracula enters the bedroom of a defenseless sleeping woman. We see only the shadow of his bony hand creep across the bed. When it reaches the spot over her heart, the shadow-hand clenches into a fist, taking her to join the undead. The twisted Count Dracula in Nosferatu as portrayed by Max Schreck (1879–1936) remains one of the most haunting vampire performances ever.

Jason, the hockey-mask-wearing killer from the Friday the 13th horror film series. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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In the years that followed, Universal Pictures began making horror movies after the German style. From the mid1920s, Universal made a series of films that have become classics of the horror genre (type). Dracula and Frankenstein, both released in 1931, made stars of their leading actors Bela Lugosi (1882–1956) and Boris Karloff (1887–1969), respectively. The face of Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster has become so famous that it often represents the face of the actual monster in newspapers and magazines. These films inspired many imitators and sequels, including those made by Hammer Films in the United Kingdom. Beginning with The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, the Hammer horror movies were far more sexy and violent than their predecessors. They helped trigger a revival of the genre in the late 1950s. Psycho (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), by Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), began a new trend toward psychological thrills in 1960. With its “haunted house” standing in the background of the Bates Motel, this masterpiece of horror by the celebrated Hitchcock highlights the point that real horror lies not in spooks and ghouls but in disturbed minds, such as that of the film’s leading male character, Norman Bates. Many horror movies of the following twenty years made a similar point. During the 1970s, however, the focus of mainstream

The 1970s also saw “demonic child” films become popular, notably The Exorcist (1973; see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4) and The Omen (1976). These films responded to real parental fears about sick or difficult children, though, certainly, few parents faced such extreme examples. By the end of the 1980s, popular series such as Halloween and Friday the 13th had run to several sequels and there was little appetite at the time for further episodes. By making Hannibal Lecter a representative of the battle between good and evil, The Silence of the Lambs (1990) merged the suspense thriller with the horror movie. Its sequel, Hannibal (2001), failed to capture the imagination in quite the same way, but movies like Seven (1995) and Kiss the Girls (1997) are part of a trend that dominated the 1990s.

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films shifted away from well-drawn mental turmoil and more towards slashing violence. The suggestive titles of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Driller Killer (1979) are typical of socalled splatter movies. Many such films have been blamed for inspiring copycat real-life killings and have been banned or heavily censored. Of course these restrictions have made the films even more popular.

Since the 1930s, horror movies have changed and developed with public tastes. By the 1980s and 1990s, they ranged from traditional supernatural horror movies, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), directed by Wes Craven (1939–), to films that seem to parody the horror movie while being scary at the same time. In 2000, Scary Movie took this even further by parodying Scream (1996; see entry under 1990s—Film and Theater in volume 5), a film that was itself a parody of sorts. Horror movies speak to one’s darkest fears. At their best, in films like Frankenstein and Psycho, horror movies help define their age. The twentieth century closed amid fears of computer failures and meteorite storms, eclipsing the domestic terrors of the horror movie. But like any good monster, the horror movie is certain to return just when we least expect it. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Aylesworth, Thomas G. Movie Monsters. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975. Cohen, Daniel. Masters of Horror. New York: Clarion Books, 1984. Hardy, Phil, Tom Milne, and Paul Willemen, eds. The Encyclopedia of Horror Movies. London: Harper Collins, 1995. Jancovich, Mark. Horror. London: B. T. Batsford, 1992.

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James Bond Films

Manchel, Frank. An Album of Modern Horror Films. New York: F. Watts, 1983. McCarty, John. Movie Psychos and Madmen: Ninety Years of Mad Movies, Maniacs and Murderous Deeds. Minneapolis: Carol Publishing Group, 1993. Powers, Tom. Movie Monsters. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1989.

James Bond Films Ian Fleming’s creation, secret agent James Bond, was not an overnight success. Although the novels made money for author Fleming (1908–1964) and his publisher, they were not bestsellers (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) at first. Nine years elapsed between the first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953), and the first movie in the series, Dr. No (1962). The film did well enough so that its producers, Harry Saltzman (1915–1994) and Albert Broccoli (1909–1996), decided on a sequel. The release of From Russia with Love in 1963 was given a big boost in the United States by the news that Fleming’s novel was one of the favorite books of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). The third film, Goldfinger (1964), was a financial blockbuster. The “James Bond craze” was under way. James Bond—Agent 007—was played in the first five films by little-known Scottish actor Sean Connery (1930–), who followed Goldfinger with Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). By then, the conventions of the Bond film had been well established: exotic locations, eye-popping special effects, incredible spy gadgets supplied by “Q” Branch, ironic one-liners delivered by the hero, and beautiful “Bond girls,” wearing just enough clothing to avoid an “R” rating. During the 1960s, Bond’s popularity led to a host of imitators, both in film (superspies Derek Flint and Matt Helm) and on television, with shows like I Spy, Secret Agent, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The Bond movies also inspired a big-budget spoof, Casino Royale, in 1967.

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Connery left the role and was replaced in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) by George Lazenby (1939–), an Australian-born model with no acting experience, who only lasted for one year. After Connery’s one-film return in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Roger Moore (1927–) took over the role with Live and Let Die (1973). He brought a lighter touch to the Bond role in this film as well as in The Man with the Golden Gun

James Bond Films Sean Connery and Honor Blackman in a scene from the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger. John Springer Collection/Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

(1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), and Octopussy (1983). In The Living Daylights (1987) and License To Kill (1989), Timothy Dalton (1946–) played Bond as the deadly serious professional assassin that Fleming had originally created. Dalton’s approach did not appeal to fans, and he was soon replaced by Pierce Brosnan (1953–). Brosnan combined Moore’s charm with Connery’s ruthlessness in Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and The World Is Not Enough (1999). The most successful series in motion-picture history, the James Bond films continue to find new approaches to the same formula that first drew audiences in the 1960s. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Barnes, Alan. Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1998. Krofchok, Bryan. Bondian.com: A Field Guide to the Phenomenon Created by British Author Ian Fleming. http://www.bondian.com (accessed March 14, 2002).

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Pfeiffer, Lee, and Dave Worrall. The Essential Bond: The Authorized Guide to the World of 007. New York: Harper Entertainment, 1999. Rubin, Steven Jay. The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990. Rubin, Steven Jay. The James Bond Films: A Behind the Scenes History. Westport, CT: Arlington House, 1981.

Mary Poppins

Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews (top) and Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber (bottom) in a scene from Mary Poppins. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

Mary Poppins is a magical governess who, in her original incarnation, has an incalculable effect on the four Banks children—Jane, Michael, and twins John and Barbara—in early twentieth-century London. She started out as the central character in a series of books penned by Australian-born writer P. L. (Pamela Lyndon) Travers (1899–1996). The first was titled Mary Poppins (1934). Travers’s Mary may be strict and egotistical, but she is no ordinary nanny. Among her talents are sliding up banisters and communicating with animals—and herein lies her charm. Travers’s character gained her most everlasting popularity in a delightful feature film, co-produced by Walt Disney (1901–1966) and released by his studio. The film deftly blends music and comedy, live action and animation. This Mary Poppins (1964) features only two children, Jane and Michael, who are the offspring of London banker Banks and his suffragette wife. The film earned Academy Awards for its score, the song “Chim-Chim-Cheree,” its visual effects and editing, and Best Actress for Julie Andrews (1935–), making her screen debut. The screen Mary, as played by Andrews, is unlike the original. While no less magical, she is endlessly cheery, as sweet as cotton candy, and “practically perfect,” as the title character would say. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Demers, Patricia. P. L. Travers. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. Draper, Ellen Dooling, and Jenny Koralek, ed. A Lively Oracle: A Centennial Celebration of P. L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins. Burdett, NY: Larson Publishers, 1999.

The Odd Couple Since the 1960s, Neil Simon (1927–) has been, at least from a commercial point of view, the undisputed king of American playwrights. Of all the hits he has penned, The Odd Couple is arguably his most celebrated and most often performed. At its core, it is a comedy about a pair of divorced roommates who are complete opposites in their habits and lifestyles. Oscar Madison is a New York sportswriter who revels in his slobbishness. He adores gulping down junk food. To him, a ketchup stain on a white shirt is a mark of distinction. Oscar resides in an eight-room Riverside Drive apartment, where the entire play is set, and his life is in upheaval because his friend Felix Unger has entered his realm. Felix is a neat-freak photographer who is obsessed with cooking gourmet meals, purifying the air, and removing every speck of dust from Oscar’s domain. To Felix, “ring around the collar” (dirt on the inside of a shirt collar) is a catastrophe. Even though in personality Oscar and Felix are like oil and water, and even though they drive each other crazy, they do care about each other. Their friendship persists despite their differences.

The Odd Couple

Lawson, Valerie. Out of the Sky She Came: The Life of P. L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins. Sydney: Belladonna Books, 1999. Mary Poppins (film). Walt Disney Productions, 1964.

The Odd Couple opened on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) on March 10, 1965, and quickly became a smash hit. Walter Matthau (1920–2000), long a respected Broadway actor and supporting player on screen, won major stardom and a Tony Award playing Oscar. No less impressive was Art Carney (1918–) as Felix. Until then, Carney was best known for playing thick-brained sewer worker Ed Norton on television’s The Honeymooners (1955–56, 1971; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Since its Broadway debut, The Odd Couple has been endlessly recycled. First it became a hit movie (released in 1968), with Matthau replaying Oscar and Jack Lemmon (1925–2001) cast as Felix. Then The Odd Couple was a TV sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), with Tony Randall (1920–) and Jack Klugman (1922–) playing Felix and Oscar from 1970 to 1975. The two recreated the roles in The Odd Couple: Together Again (1993), a made-for-TV movie. The Oddball Couple

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(1975–77), an ABC-TV cartoon, centered on Fleabag, a slobbish dog, and Spiffy, a clean cat. The New Odd Couple (1982–83), a brief TV sitcom, featured an African American Oscar and Felix. Also in the 1980s, Simon revised the play by rewriting the characters as women and renaming them Olive Madison and Florence Unger. Three decades after playing them onscreen, Matthau and Lemmon revived Oscar and Felix on screen in The Odd Couple II (1998), written by Simon. Most impressive of all, however, is the durability of The Odd Couple as a stage play. For decades, it has been revived on stages across the world, from community theaters in small towns across America to high-profile productions in the world’s largest cities. Finally, the term “odd couple” has entered the English language to describe any unlikely pair of total opposites who have become linked in one way or another. —Rob Edelman

For More Information The Odd Couple (film). Paramount Pictures, 1968. Simon, Neil. The Comedy of Neil Simon. New York: Random House, 1971. Simon, Neil. Rewrites. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Planet of the Apes The 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes portrayed a world turned upside down, in which apes are the masters and humans are treated like animals. The movie’s exceptional makeup effects and memorable performances made it a box-office smash that inspired numerous sequels and spin-offs, including a 2001 remake.

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Based on a novel by French author Pierre Boulle (1912–1994), Planet of the Apes starred Charlton Heston (1924–) as George Taylor, the leader of a crew of futuristic astronauts. When their ship crash-lands on a planet in the distant future, Taylor is captured by talking apes, imprisoned, and threatened with medical experimentation. With the help of some sympathetic chimps, he escapes the clutches of the evil Dr. Zaius and takes off into the desert “Forbidden Zone,” where he learns that he is not on an alien world at all, but merely on the Earth of the future!

Planet of the Apes Charlton Heston as astronaut George Taylor in 1968’s Planet of the Apes. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

Directed by Franklin Schaffner (1920–1989), Planet of the Apes was one of the first big-budget science-fiction epics of the 1960s. The film made over $25 million and earned mostly favorable reviews. Its lifelike ape makeup and shocking ending helped it win the hearts of moviegoers looking for escapist scifi fare. But the movie also had deeper messages about the dangers of nuclear war, racial intolerance, and even the humane treatment of animals. As Taylor, Heston gave one of his most unforgettable performances, grunting and scowling his way through a series of indignities put upon him by his ape captors.

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Roddy McDowall (1928–1998), as the chimp scientist Cornelius, and Kim Hunter (c. 1922–) as Dr. Zira, were also quite effective. Planet of the Apes spawned four feature-film sequels over the next five years. In 1974, it was adapted for television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), as a live-action series starring McDowall, and again that same year as a Saturdaymorning cartoon (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) series. The 1970s saw an explosion of Apes merchandise, everything from lunch boxes to action figures. The Apes movies remained so popular when they were re-run on TV that 20th Century Fox announced plans for a big-screen remake, directed by Tim Burton (1958–) and released in the summer of 2001. The remake, most critics agreed, did not compare with the original except in the excellence of the special effects. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Ape City. http://www.ape-city.com/index.html (accessed March 15, 2002). Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. New York: Random House, 1963; Ballantine, 2001. Greene, Eric. Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race and Politics in the Films and Television Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1996. Heston, Charlton. In the Arena. New York: Boulevard Books, 1997. Hofstede, David. Planet of the Apes: An Unofficial Companion. Toronto: ECW Press, 2001.

Psycho Psycho (1960) is one of the most famous films of all time and quite possibly the most influential horror movie (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) in history. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), Psycho (1960) made “Norman Bates” a household name. The movie traded the vampires, zombies, and mummies of the horror film’s past for an all-toohuman monster. Psycho also secured for its director the flattering title of “The Master of Suspense.”

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The screenplay for Psycho was adapted by Joseph Stefano (1922–) from a novel by Robert Bloch (1917–1994), who had based the character of Norman on real-life Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein (1906–1984). Psycho tells the story of Marion

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Crane, an attractive woman who steals some money from her job and leaves town. She stops at a roadside motel, where the manager is a nice but awkward young man named Norman. In a shocking twist that had audiences literally screaming in the aisles, Marion is brutally murdered while taking a shower that evening by what looks like an old woman with a foot-long carving knife. Never before had the central character of a commercial film been killed off less than halfway through the picture! After a private investigator assigned to the case gets killed as well, Marion’s sister and boyfriend track her to the Bates Motel. They discover to their horror that the killer is actually Norman, a textbook sufferer of multiple-personality disorder who dresses up just like his dead mother whenever sexual or threatening feelings arise in him. Although a police-employed psychologist “explains” the cause of Norman’s illness at film’s end, there is little doubt that whatever motivates him lies outside the bounds of anything rational minds can understand. The character of Marion Crane was played by Janet Leigh (1927–), the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis (1958–), who followed in her mother’s footsteps and starred in the 1987 horror film Halloween. Leigh’s shrieking shower scene went down in history as one of the scariest—and most memorable—moments on film. Anthony Perkins (1932–1992) portrayed the demented Norman Bates. When Psycho first opened, it received mostly lukewarm reviews from critics. Public reaction to the film was staggering, however, with people lining up around the block for tickets. Clearly, Hitchcock had found a way to tap into America’s collective psyche: by making the monster so very normal, and by joining together sex, madness, and murder, he effectively predicted the headlines of many of the coming decades’ top news stories. —Steven Schneider

For More Information “Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.” House of Horrors. http://www.houseofhorrors. com/psycho.htm (accessed March 15, 2002). Arginteanu, Judy. The Movies of Alfred Hitchcock. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1994. Leigh, Janet, with Christopher Nickens. Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller. New York: Harmony Books, 1995. Rebello, Stephen. Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. New York: Dembner Books, 1990.

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2001: A Space Odyssey Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928–2000), the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was hailed as an artistic masterpiece when it opened in 1968. Based on a 1951 short story by British science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (1917–), the beautifully photographed film took audiences on a wondrous journey through outer space. It also introduced one of Hollywood’s most coldly menacing screen villains, the murderous supercomputer HAL 9000. In a way, 2001 is the complete story of mankind. It begins in prehistoric times, among our ape ancestors, and ends with explorations into outer space. Tying the various parts of the story together is a strange object, a large black slab, which keeps appearing throughout space and time. Some have suggested that this object represents God, or some kind of alien civilization. The filmmakers deliberately left its true meaning unclear. The mystery of this object generated much discussion among moviegoers when 2001 first appeared, and continues to do so many years later. The bulk of 2001 takes place onboard a spaceship, Discovery, carrying astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole (played by Keir Dullea, 1936–, and Gary Lockwood, 1937–, respectively). Sent to investigate the appearance of the mysterious black slab on the moon, the spacemen are initially opposed in their efforts by their onboard computer, HAL. Possessed of artificial intelligence and also, apparently, feelings, HAL attempts to destroy the ship and its crew before it can complete its mission. In the end, one of the astronauts defeats HAL and reaches the moon. There he finds a strange life force awaiting him and undergoes a bizarre transformation. One of the first big-budget special-effects movies, 2001 is filled with moments of great beauty and technical wizardry. Director Kubrick used the classical music of Richard (REE-kart) Strauss (1864–1949), for example, in one memorable scene that depicts the astronauts “dancing” in space. Also, the notion of man-made machines with artificial intelligence was years ahead of its time in 1968. Although mankind in the real 2001 may not have achieved the scientific leaps portrayed in the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s lessons about the dangers of technology and the search for meaning in the universe remain timely today.

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—Robert E. Schnakenberg

2001: A Space Odyssey Scene from the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Bizony, Piers, and Arthur C. Clarke. Filming the Future. London: Aurem Press, 2000. Pringle, David, ed. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Carlton, 1996. Staskowski, Andrea. Science Fiction Movies. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992. Schwam, Stephanie, and Martin Scorcese, eds. The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey. New York: Modern Library, 2000. 2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive. http://www.palantir. net/2001 (accessed on March 15, 2002).

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1960s Music The 1960s saw a real flowering of popular music styles. Unlike the 1950s, in which the birth of rock and roll dominated the decade, jazz, pop, and folk music all gathered devoted listeners in the 1960s. Rock and roll continued to grow as a musical form, with a clear split between “hard,” rebellious rock and lighter, “soft” rock—which sounded a lot like pop music. Folk music was reborn in the 1960s thanks to several young performers who wanted to rescue the musical form from what they saw as its sad decline. Bob Dylan (1941–), Joan Baez (1941–), and the group Peter, Paul, and Mary adopted folk styles—simple musical arrangements played on acoustic instruments—but filled them with political commentary on contemporary issues. Their songs addressed the problems of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the Vietnam War (1954–75) and helped them gain huge audiences. As the decade wore on, folk merged into folk-rock as performers increasingly used electrified instruments and more sophisticated songwriting. Dylan and the group Simon and Garfunkel led the way in folk rock. Rock and roll music in the 1960s was dominated by one group: the Beatles. Launched in Liverpool, England, this fourman group first appeared in the United States in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show. The popularity of the Beatles remained strong throughout the decade. Other British groups followed the Beatles, creating what became known as the British Invasion. The Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Who all soon had hits in the United States. In a strange twist, an American TV production company known as Screen Gems decided to copy the success of the Beatles by inventing a band of its own modeled on the boys from Liverpool. The Monkees consisted of four handsome actors, three of whom did not even know how to play their instruments. This did not keep them from having several number-one singles—with the music played by others. Rock music soon split into several streams. Some bands produced lighter music with pleasing lyrics to sell to pop radio stations. Other bands pursued rock music as a form of protest or

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a form of artistic exploration. This more mature rock music used sophisticated recording techniques and exotic instruments. Two former soft rock bands led the way: the Beach Boys with Pet Sounds (1966) and the Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Other bands—notably those from San Francisco, California—pushed rock to have an even harder edge. The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin (1943–1970) helped create a form known as psychedelic rock. Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) and others experimented with sounds known as acid rock. In addition, two music festivals revealed the highs and lows of the rock and roll subculture: Woodstock (1969) and Altamont (1969). Some of the most popular music of the decade originated from Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. Merging gospel, jazz, rhythm and blues (R&B), and rock and roll, Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. (1929–) and his team of songwriters created the bands that had some of the biggest hits of the decade. Diana Ross (1944–) and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson (1940–) and the Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye (1939–1984), and Stevie Wonder (1950–) all got their start at Motown.

Altamont Altamont was a large outdoor concert held on December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway near Livermore, California. There were numerous large concerts in the latter years of the 1960s, including the famous Woodstock (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) concert (1969) in New York state, but Altamont was different. The show was organized by English rock group the Rolling Stones (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) as the final concert of their 1969 concert tour. Although it was meant as a thank-you gift to their fans, the concert was a disaster, resulting in violence and murder. To many people, Altamont represents the symbolic end of the 1960s.

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Problems began almost as soon as the concert was announced. Changes in the concert site and the problems of providing food, water, and restrooms for more than three hundred thousand people left the organizers ill-prepared for the large crowd. The organizers also tried to save money by employing the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club to act as security guards.

Altamont Members of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club worked security at Altamont, but ended up provoking violence by beating concert-goers. William L. Rukeyser/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

They were to be paid with $500 worth of beer. This club was known for loud motorcycles, a distinctive dress style of leather boots and jackets, facial hair, and rebellious and often illegal behavior. As the show began with groups such as Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, the Hell’s Angels began to beat people in the crowd who wandered too close to the stage. These fights got seriously out of hand when the Rolling Stones were on stage. The Hell’s Angels stabbed and kicked to death a young African American man named Meredith Hunter (1951–1969) not far from the stage. Although the Rolling Stones were unaware of the murder when it happened, the escalating violence forced them to end their show abruptly. To many people, the show demonstrated that the counterculture of hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and other freedom-loving young people, with their interest in spreading love and peace during the 1960s, also had its dark side. Altamont signaled to many that the era of peace and love associated with the 1960s was over. —Timothy Berg

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For More Information Booth, Stanley. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. Eisner, Jonathan. Altamont. New York: Avon Books, 1970. Hotchner, A. E. Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the 1960s. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. Maysles, David, and Albert Maysles. Gimme Shelter. New York: ABCO Pictures, 1970. Smith, R. J. “Altamont at 20.” The Village Voice (November 28, 1989): p. 73.

Beach Boys No other musical group has ever captured the sound of fun in the sun, good times, and growing up like the Beach Boys did. They helped define the California beach music sound. They provided a soundtrack for the 1960s because their music spoke to teenagers going through the difficult transition to adulthood. Throughout the 1960s and beyond, the Beach Boys expressed the desires, dreams, and hopes of many young people in the United States. The Beach Boys began with the Wilson brothers forming the nucleus of the group: Brian (1942–) writing songs and playing bass, Carl (1946–1998) on guitar, and Dennis (1944–1983) on drums. They were joined by friend Al Jardine (1942–) on guitar and cousin Mike Love (1941–) on vocals in 1961. As the band got going, instrumental surf music was emerging as a popular musical style in southern California. The Beach Boys took that guitar sound and added lush vocal harmonies and lyrics about teenage life to make their own unique style. Capitol Records signed them to a contract in 1962. They produced hit after hit for the next four years. Such songs as “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Little Surfer Girl,” and “Catch a Wave” captured the fun of being at the beach. Songs like “Little Deuce Coupe” and “409” celebrated teenagers’ love of cars. “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls” defined the good times and warmth of Southern California in the 1960s.

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As their sound matured, the Beach Boys also captured the pain of growing up. “In My Room” and “Don’t Worry Baby” expressed the uncertainty of young love. In 1966, the Beach Boys released Pet Sounds, considered by many to be a pop masterpiece. Largely the work of group leader Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds was a lush and complex album with a distinct musical

Beach Boys The Beach Boys: (clockwise, from upper left) Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Al Jardine. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

sound that expressed the longing to both become an adult but also to hang on to the innocence of youth. Although it did not sell as well as their earlier records, it was an innovative and influential record. The Beach Boys would have only a few other hits after 1966, but the Wilson-less band (Brian suffered through health problems and Dennis and Carl died) continue on as a touring group, playing their surfing hits for new generations of fans well into the 1990s. Although their music defined a time and a place (southern California in the early 1960s), their sound remains timeless, an important part of American musical history. —Timothy Berg

For More Information The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys. Capitol Records, 1993. Brian Wilson Official Web Site. http://www.brianwilson.com/ (accessed March 15, 2002). Gaines, Steven S. Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys. New York: New American Library, 1986. Sanford, William R., and Carl Green. The Beach Boys. Mankato, MN: Crestwood House, 1986. White, Timothy. The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience. New York: Henry Holt, 1994.

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Beatles

Beatles In the history of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), no group has had quite the impact on music and culture as did the Beatles, a quartet from Liverpool, England, consisting of John Lennon (1940–1980), Paul McCartney (1942–), George Harrison (1943–2001), and Ringo Starr (1940–). When they hit the world music stage in 1963, they reinvigorated rock and roll, moved the music in new directions, and set fashion and cultural trends, something they continued to do until their breakup in 1970. More than any other band, the Beatles set a standard for songwriting, musicianship, and cultural impact that has never been surpassed. The group formed in the late 1950s when Lennon formed a group called the Quarrymen. McCartney joined him, and Harrison followed soon after. After changing their name to the Beatles, they began to win fans both in Liverpool, then in Hamburg, Germany, and later around England. In 1962, Starr joined the group, replacing Pete Best (1941–) on drums. By 1963, they had developed an original sound, grounded in the 1950s rock-and-roll style of Chuck Berry (1926–), Buddy Holly (1936–1959), and Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and black rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) music. What also set the Beatles apart from other groups in 1963 was that they wrote their own music. By the time they hit the United States in early 1964, Lennon and McCartney had forged a unique songwriting style, one they showcased in such early hits as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Love Me Do,” and “She Loves You.” Their look also set them apart: long hair (for 1964 standards), identical suits, and short boots (later called “Beatle boots”). The band’s early hits exploded across Great Britain and the United States in 1964, setting off a wave of fan frenzy called “Beatlemania.” Fans went wild, screaming and yelling, during the Beatles’ concerts or personal appearances. Beatlemania was captured in the Beatles’ first feature film, A Hard Day’s Night (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) which showcased a day in the lives of the Beatles.

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After this early success, the Beatles continued to grow as musicians and songwriters. They stopped touring in 1966, preferring to devote their time to recording. Moving away from their early song style, which focused on romantic love, the Beatles began to experiment with new themes and sounds. Their

albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) redefined what pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) could be about, with more obscure lyrics and a wider variety of sounds (distortion, Indian instruments called sitars, tape loops, and other sound effects). This experimentation went even further on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This was the first “concept album” in rock, meaning that all the songs were organized around one idea. In this case, the concept was the Beatles posing (sort of) as a fictional band. That album, and the following one, Magical Mystery Tour, established the psychedelic sound and represented the height of the Beatles’ experimentation with sound. Those records featured some of the Beatles’ best songs as well, including Lennon’s complex songs “A Day in the Life,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “I Am the Walrus,” and McCartney’s softer songs “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “The Fool on the Hill,” and “Penny Lane.” In the later 1960s, the Beatles released an important double album called The Beatles, more popularly called the White Album by fans because of its blank white cover. The White Album moved away from the psychedelic sound and produced some

The Beatles: (left to right) Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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great singles (“Lady Madonna” and “Revolution,” for example). By this time, tensions within the group were beginning to show. The White Album was essentially a series of solo projects, lacking the group’s former closeness. They sought to recover that togetherness by getting back to their roots in early rock and roll in the “Get Back” sessions that later became the Let It Be album, released in 1970. Those sessions were tense, but after taking a break, the Beatles got together for one last album, 1969’s Abbey Road, considered by many to be their most mature and finest album. It featured a stunning collection of songs, including Harrison’s beautiful “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden,” Lennon’s “Come Together” and “Because,” and McCartney’s “Golden Slumbers” and “You Never Give Me Your Money.” The album closed with a long medley of tunes, ending in an explosive jam called, appropriately, “The End.” Abbey Road was to be the last great musical statement from what many consider to be the greatest band in the history of popular music. Although they were only on the international stage for a mere seven years, their influence on other musicians is incalculable, and rock music has never been the same since. —Timothy Berg

For More Information The Beatles. The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000. Hertsgaard, Mark. A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press, 1995. Martin, Marvin. The Beatles: The Music Was Never the Same. New York: Franklin Watts, 1996. Woog, Adam. The Beatles. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1998.

Bob Dylan (1941–)

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Folk singer Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, and released his first album, Bob Dylan, in 1961. Although it featured only two of his own songs, Dylan soon emerged as one of the most important singer-songwriters in the American folk music (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) traditions. Despite having one of the most unusual singing voices of any major performer, as a lyricist Dylan has

Criticized by fans for his move to electric instruments in 1965, Dylan has produced over forty official albums, including such critically acclaimed releases as Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks (1975), and Time Out of Mind (1997). In the late 1980s, Dylan formed The Traveling Wilburys along with George Harrison (1943–2001), Jeff Lynne (1947–), Roy Orbison (1936–1988), and Tom Petty (1952–); the band recorded two albums. With few exceptions, the quality of his work has remained high, most recently exemplified by the 2001 Grammy Award–winning album Love & Theft. In 2001, he continued to play live to sell-out crowds.

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been compared with poet John Keats (1785–1821). Songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” are among the most powerful protest songs of the 1960s.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Aaseng, Nathan. Bob Dylan, Spellbinding Songwriter. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1987. Bob Dylan.com. http://www.bobdylan.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Pennebaker, D. A., director. Don’t Look Back (video). Hollywood, CA: Paramount, 1986. Richardson, Susan. Bob Dylan. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. Shelton, Robert. No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.

Eight-Track Tapes When the eight-track tape and tape player were introduced in 1965, it seemed that a high point had been reached in luxurious modern technology. No longer limited to the random choices of a radio station, teenagers and hip adults could carry tapes of their favorite recording artists with them to the park or beach. Better yet, they could choose which tunes to listen to while driving in their car. It is perhaps one of the most common ironies of popular culture that one decade’s most modern triumph can, like the eight-track tape, become the next decade’s old news. The eight-track tape was invented by William Powell Lear (1902–1978), famous for developing the Learjet, a small aircraft prized by corporations and business travelers. Lear developed a process for dividing magnetic recording tape into eight

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channels, or tracks. This increased the recording time, without damaging the sound quality, and allowed one continuous loop of tape to be wound into a portable cartridge. Lear was not only a good engineer, he was also a creative marketer. He worked out a deal with the Ford Motor Company. In 1966, a factory-installed eight-track tape player became an option on new Ford cars. Everyone seemed to want the new technology. In 1966, sixty-five thousand eight-track players were sold. By 1967, Chrysler and General Motors (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) were also offering their customers eight-track players. Taking music along became a part of American driving culture.

Eight-track tapes. David Arky/Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

The peak years of the eight-track were 1967 through 1975. Then, improvements in the tape quality of smaller cassettes and decreasing quality in eight-tracks led consumers away from the eight-track tape. By the mid-1980s, eight-track tapes were no longer being manufactured or sold and were quickly on their way to becoming a joke about out-of-date 1970s culture, along with bell-bottomed pants (see entry under 1960s— Fashion in volume 4) and giant Afro hairdos. There are a few exceptions to this attitude, however. Some country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) labels still release albums on eight-track to appeal to truckers who still have eighttrack players in their trucks. Some new alternative-rock (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) bands release albums of their music on homemade eight-track tapes. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

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Greenberg, Corey. “Melancholy and the Infinite Loop: Eight-Track Tape and Music Enjoyment.” Audio (Vol. 81, no. 5, May 1997): pp. 40–42. Kirkeby, Marc. “Eight-track Tapes Going but Not Quite Gone.” Rolling Stone (October 16, 1980): p. 36. 8-Track Heaven. http://www.8trackheaven.com (accessed March 15, 2002).

For a long time, the term “folk music” meant music made by ordinary people rather than by professional musicians. In many cultures around the world, and over many generations, songs were handed down from one person to the next. Good folk songs survived over time because they spoke to basic human emotions and told stories that everyone could relate to. In the twentieth century, with the rise of commercial popular music, folk music was no longer just music made by ordinary folks; it became a style of music that had commercial appeal as well.

Folk Music

Folk Music

During the twentieth century in the United States, folk music went through a number of transformations. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), folk singers sang songs about the hard times people were going through. One of the most important artists was Woody Guthrie (1912–1967), who sang topical songs (songs about current issues in society) and protest songs about outlaws, politics, and class relations. His most famous song is probably “This Land Is Your Land,” which celebrated the United States as a place for everyone, not just for the rich. It continues to be sung today. In the 1940s and 1950s, other folk singers rose to prominence. Pete Seeger (1919–) played the banjo on his own and in the Weavers, one of the most important folk groups of the 1950s. Among other topics, The Weavers sang about political life from a radical perspective, something that got them into trouble during the anticommunist hysteria of the early 1950s. Seeger went on to a long career bringing folk music to crowds large and small. Although ordinary folks continued to sing folk music, in the 1960s there was something of a folk music revival, when dozens of new bands and artists rediscovered folk songs and made them into successful hit songs. Groups such as the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, and Mary were among the more commercially successful. But the folk revival also produced artists such as Bob Dylan (1941–; see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), who began his career singing his own topical folk songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind.” This folk revival also led rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) musicians to experiment with softer, folk sounds, resulting in a style called “folk-rock,” perhaps best represented by the group the Byrds.

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Although the folk-rock revival faded by the 1970s, the popularity of folk music has continued since then as an important style of music that continues to draw new fans. By the end of the twentieth century, folk music could still mean the old songs that ordinary people sang to themselves and their friends, but it could also refer to a category of popular music that featured acoustic instruments and singing. Either way, folk music remains an important musical style and an important link to the American past. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Cantwell, Robert. When We Were Good: The Folk Revival. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996. Marcus, Greil. Invisible Republic: Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. Neff, Maryl. Folk Music. http://www.coe.ufl.edu/courses/EdTech/Vault/ Folk/Definition.htm#Basic (accessed March 15, 2002). Nettl, Bruno. Folk Music in the United States. 3rd ed. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1976. Smith, Harry, ed. Anthology of American Folk Music. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 1997. Uncle Tom’s Folk Music History Page. http://www.jsfmusic.com/ Uncle_Tom (accessed March 15, 2002).

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was one of the most popular and enduring of all musical groups. The Dead came of age during the midto-late 1960s, an era in which the lyrics and sounds of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music were coming under the influence of the drug-related experiences of musicians and fans alike.

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Indeed, much of the Grateful Dead’s image is related to the hallucinatory drugs (which produce strange sounds and visions) and psychedelia (the music, art, and writing influenced by the use of such drugs) that characterized pop culture in the late 1960s. The group’s musical roots are in traditional blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2), folk (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), and bluegrass (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). The group’s sum and substance may be directly linked to the free-spiritedness and nonconformity of the Beat Movement (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) of the 1950s. Additionally, the success enjoyed by

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the Dead has been nonconventional by music industry standards. Most musical acts win their initial fame by topping the record charts with a Top Ten hit. But not the Dead: They earned their popularity first by performing in the San Francisco Bay area and then by constant touring. The group did not release a Top Ten record until 1987, with “Touch of Grey.” Through the years, the group produced studio-recorded albums, but fans insisted that the spirit of the Dead could only be fully appreciated by experiencing them in concert. The band was formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. The original Grateful Dead included Jerry Garcia (1942–1995), the group’s most famous and charismatic member, who even inspired a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor (Cherry Garcia); Bob Weir (1947–); Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (1945–1973); Bill Kreutzmann (1946–); and Phil Lesh (1940–). Most rock groups from any era disappear after several years; their popularity wanes, or their members disperse and go solo or form other bands. Although members and music of the Dead changed through the years, with other musicians and songwriters having a major influence on the group, the Dead essentially remained the Dead. A key to their popularity and longevity has been the obsessive loyalty of their fans, who are known as Deadheads. These followers, to whom the Dead is nothing short of a religion, are eager consumers of anything Dead related, from magazines, Web sites, and cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) programs to recordings and bootlegs (unauthorized recordings, usually of live concerts) that are issued and reissued. The cult surrounding the Dead emerged after a call to fans, titled “Dead Freaks Unite—Who Are You? Where Are You?,” was printed in their 1971 album The Grateful Dead (also known as Skulls and Roses). Over two decades later, the Dead remained the highest-grossing concert band in the United States. Following Garcia’s death in 1995, the band stopped recording and touring, though surviving members occasionally reunite. But into the twenty-first century, the band remains an industry unto itself—as well as a living link to the counterculture of the 1950s and 1960s. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Brandelius, Jerilyn Lee. The Grateful Dead Family Album. New York: Warner Books, 1989.

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Dodd, David G., and Diana Spaulding, eds. The Grateful Dead Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Gans, David. Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead Interview Book. New York: Citadel Press, 1991. Gans, David, and Peter Simon. Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of The Grateful Dead. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. Greenfield, Robert. Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia. New York: William Morrow, 1996. Harrison, Hank. The Dead. Millbrae, CA: Celestial Arts, 1980. Jackson, Blair. Garcia: An American Life. New York: Viking Press, 1999. Jackson, Blair. Goin’ Down the Road: A Grateful Dead Traveling Companion. New York: Harmony, 1992. Rocco, John, and Brian Rocco, eds. Dead Reckonings: The Life and Times of The Grateful Dead. New York: Schirmer Books, 1999. Ruhlman, William. The History of The Grateful Dead. New York: Gallery, 1990. Trager, Oliver. The American Book of The Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia. New York: Fireside Books, 1997.

Monkees The huge success of the first two Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) films, A Hard Day’s Night (1964; see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) and Help (1965), prompted producers Bob Rafelson (1933–) and Bert Schneider (c. 1933–) to try duplicating the form on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). They envisioned a show built around a real rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) band whose members would play themselves. Like the Beatles films, each show would feature minimal plot, a great deal of dashing around (called “romp” by the producers) by the characters, and the group’s songs as part of the soundtrack. The result was The Monkees. The band consisted of Englishman Davy Jones (1945–) and Americans Peter Tork (1942–), Micky Dolenz (1945–), and Mike Nesmith (1942–). At first, none of the boys except Nesmith could play any musical instrument. Instead, they were chosen for their cute looks, adequate acting skills, and above-average pop-singing ability.

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The Monkees succeeded both as a band and as a TV show. Their initial albums were recorded using studio musicians, although the four stars picked up instrumental skills quickly. “Last Train to Clarksville,” their first single, was a top-ten hit. It was followed by five others, including “Daydream Believer,” “Valerie,” “Girl,” and “I’m a Believer.” Their albums sold in the millions.

The TV show was extremely successful in its first season (1966–67), winning both high ratings and an Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series. As intended from the start, the show fed album and concert sales, and vice versa. However, the show’s ratings declined in its second season, and it was canceled in 1968. The same year, a bizarre Monkees movie, Head, was released, produced by Rafelson. The film was cowritten by him and by actor Jack Nicholson (1937–). The film flopped at the box office, and the Monkees broke up shortly thereafter.

The Monkees: (left to right) Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz. Frank Driggs Collection/Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The band (without Nesmith) reassembled for a successful tour in 1986, sparking a mini Monkees revival. The next year, an attempt was made to revive the Monkees concept with new band members, but the resulting TV show and album both failed miserably. All four original members came together to tour in 1996 and 1997, but the reunion was temporary. Jones and Dolenz formed a Monkees-themed duet and began touring in 2001. —Justin Gustainis

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For More Information Baker, Glenn A. Monkeemania: The True Story of the Monkees. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986. Bronson, Harold. Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees. Santa Monica, CA: General Publishing Group, 1996. Dolenz, Micky, and Mark Bego. I’m a Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music, and Madness. New York: Hyperion, 1993. Hey, Hey . . . It’s the Monkees Home Page. http://www.monkees.net (accessed March 18, 2002). Wincentsen, Edward. The Monkees: Memories and the Magic. Pickens, SC: Wynn, 2000.

Motown Motown Records helped define soul music during the 1960s. Motown was one of the most important, and popular, sounds in all of American pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. (1929–) in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan, the label’s name came from a popular nickname for Detroit. “Motown” was short for “motor town,” because of Detroit’s importance as the most important automobile manufacturing center in the world. Gordy’s passion for music came with a unique ability to nurture great songwriting and musical talent. That ability would make Motown one of the most successful recording companies in pop-music history.

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Gordy created a distinct sound for Motown’s records by modeling the company after the automobile industry’s assemblyline production method. He developed a stable of songwriters and musicians to provide a uniform sound for all of the company’s records, including the songwriting team of Eddie Holland (1939–), Lamont Dozier (1941–), and Brian Holland (1941–), and musicians such as bassist James Jamerson (1938–1983). The songwriters and musicians provided the assembly-line structure. As products for this assembly line, Gordy scouted Detroit and other areas for local vocal talent, hiring promising singers as either solo stars or as vocal groups. His efforts produced such talents as Marvin Gaye (1939–1984), Stevie Wonder (1950–), Diana Ross (1944–) and the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, and Smokey Robinson (1940–) and the Miracles, among many others. In the 1960s, Motown produced fifty-six number-one pop and rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) hits, including “My Girl” by the Temptations, “Baby

Love” by the Supremes, “The Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops. These songs only hint at the enormous number of hits the company had in the 1960s. It was difficult to turn on a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) in the 1960s for long without hearing a Motown record. By the early 1970s, Motown was moving in new directions. The assembly-line sound broke down as some of Motown’s biggest talents moved in their own creative directions (most notably Wonder and Gaye). The company moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1973, ending the label’s official connection to Detroit. Despite these changes, the Motown sound lives on, as the hit records from the 1960s continue to be played on radio stations. The many great songs Motown produced have earned themselves a treasured place in American popular culture. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Classic Motown. http://www.motown.com/classicmotown (accessed March 18, 2002). Folsom, Burton W. “Berry Gordy and Motown Records: Lessons for Black History Month.” Mackinac Center for Public Policy. http://www. mackinac.org/print.asp?ID=344 (accessed March 18, 2002). George, Nelson. Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Smith, Suzanne E. Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Waller, Don. The Motown Story. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985.

The Temptations: Eddie Kendricks is surrounded by (clockwise from upper left) Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Otis Williams, and David Ruffin. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones arrived in the United States with the British Invasion of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music

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Rolling Stones The original Rolling Stones lineup, in January 1967: (left to right) Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

in volume 3) in the mid-1960s. They quickly emerged as one of the most important musical groups in rock history, bringing a new, harder edge to rock while keeping it grounded in the blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2). Formed in the early 1960s in England, the original lineup consisted of Mick Jagger (1943–) on vocals, Keith Richards (1943–) and Brian Jones (1942–1969) on guitars, Charlie Watts (1941–) on drums, and Bill Wyman (1936–) on bass. The group took its name from a song by bluesman Muddy Waters (1915–1983), “Rolling Stone,” and they began by covering blues and early rock tunes.

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The Stones soon began writing their own songs. In May 1965, their first big hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” hit the British and American airwaves. The Stones developed a badboy image that was in stark contrast to the wholesome demeanor of the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) and other British Invasion groups. Some of this image came from their wild hairstyles, clothing, and behavior, but it was in their songs that the Stones pushed the limits of rock music in new directions. “Satisfaction” played on youthful impatience with the world, “Paint It Black” commented on

The period from 1968 to 1974 was the Stones’ most creative period. The Stones took on an even more original blues sound with the replacement of Brian Jones (who died in 1969) with guitarist Mick Taylor (1948–). This new creativity resulted in a number of landmark rock albums, including Beggar’s Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), and the double album Exile on Mainstreet (1972). They also released a number of hit singles, including “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Brown Sugar,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” and “Honky Tonk Women” among many others. This period also saw their disastrous concert at Altamont (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), chronicled in the film Gimme Shelter. After Taylor left the group in 1975 (replaced by Ron Wood, 1947–), the Stones continued to produce hit albums, most notably Some Girls (1978) and Tattoo You (1981). By the end of the 1990s, the Rolling Stones were still making good music and touring the world, drawing enthusiastic fans with their original mix of rock and blues.

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depression, and “Let’s Spend the Night Together” put sexuality front and center. Their 1966 album Aftermath was their most important work from this period.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information Christgau, Robert. “The Rolling Stones.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Hotchner, A. E. Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. The Rolling Stones. http://www.the-rolling-stones.com (accessed March 15, 2002).

Simon and Garfunkel Pioneers in the musical style that became known as “folkrock,” Simon and Garfunkel were one of the most popular musical acts of the golden age of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3): the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, both born in 1941, became friends in junior high school. As “Tom and Jerry,” they recorded their first song, “Hey, Schoolgirl,” on a small record label in 1957. They performed solo in the early 1960s—Simon recording as Jerry Landis, Garfunkel as part of Tico and the Triumphs.

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The two came together again in 1964 and recorded their first album as Simon and Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM. The album sold poorly, but a producer friend took one of its tracks, the folk-style “Sounds of Silence,” layered electric guitar and drums over it, and got it released as a single. The new record proved extremely popular, and Simon and Garfunkel were suddenly stars. They hastily reworked some songs Simon had recorded solo on a British label, and the result was their second album, Sounds of Silence, released in 1965 to both critical acclaim and financial success. The next album, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), produced the hit singles “Scarborough Fair/Canticle,” “A Hazy Shade of Winter,” and “At the Zoo.” Bookends (1968) produced the hits “America” and “Old Friends” and the huge hit “Mrs. Robinson,” which was specially written for the soundtrack of the 1967 Mike Nichols (1931–) movie The Graduate (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), starring Dustin Hoffman (1937–) in his first major film role. The last Simon and Garfunkel album was 1970’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, their most popular of all their albums. It produced hits with “Cecelia,” “Baby Driver,” “El Condor Pasa,” and the extremely successful title song, which, atypically, featured Garfunkel on lead vocal. The duo then split up, driven apart by creative differences and personal conflict. They appeared together only twice thereafter: at a George McGovern (1922–) benefit in 1972 and at a 1981 concert in New York’s Central Park. They also collaborated on two recorded singles: “My Little Town” (1975) and “What a Wonderful World” (1978), with James Taylor (1948–). Simon and Garfunkel each continued with solo careers—and also some acting—with Simon’s career being more successful, highlighted by two Grammy Award–winning albums, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975) and Graceland (1986). —Justin Gustainis

For More Information

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Art Garfunkel.com. http://www.artgarfunkel.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Cohen, Mitchell S. Simon and Garfunkel: A Biography in Words and Pictures. New York: Sire Books, 1977. Humphries, Patrick. Bookends: The Simon and Garfunkel Story. New York: Proteus, 1982. Kingston, Victoria. Simon and Garfunkel: The Biography. New York: Fromm International, 1996. Morella, Joe, and Patricia Barey. Simon and Garfunkel: Old Friends. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1991.

Barbra Streisand (1942–) Singer-actress-producer-director Barbra Streisand has won fame as a recording artist, a television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) performer, and a stage and screen star. Her greatest asset has been her voice. At once powerful and tender, it oozes raw emotion and allows Streisand to be equally at home singing show tunes, pop ballads, and Christmas carols. Without argument, hers is one of the great voices of her generation.

Barbra Steisand

Simon and Garfunkel Online Resource. http://home.att.net/~sandg/ index.htm (accessed March 18, 2002). Warner Brothers Records. Paul Simon.com. http://www.paulsimon.com (accessed March 18, 2002).

Streisand’s early career was one of accomplishment and honor. She earned her initial celebrity on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) in a show-stopping supporting role as Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962). The Grammy Award–winning The Barbra Streisand Album (1963) became the first of her countless, top-selling record albums; since its release, her records have sold more than sixty million copies. However, Streisand really became a star when she played the legendary comedienne Fanny Brice (1891–1951) in the Broadway musical Funny Girl (1964). Streisand also conquered television. My Name is Barbra (1965), her initial TV special, was an Emmy Award winner. She also appeared as a guest star opposite the legendary singer Judy Garland (1922–1969) on Garland’s television series, The Judy Garland Show (1963–64). The showcasing of Streisand signaled that Streisand’s voice was—and would be—on a level with that of Garland’s. Streisand became a movie star with her first feature, the screen version of Funny Girl (1968), which earned her a Best Actress Academy Award. Some of her subsequent films have been hits, but more than a few have not been as successful. She also began directing films. With Yentl (1983), she became the first woman to coauthor, star in, produce, and direct a feature film. Streisand has been a controversial entertainment-industry figure. Some who have worked with her have described her as

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difficult and an egomaniac; meanwhile, Streisand has defended herself by alleging that her detractors are unable to deal with a woman in power. What remains unchallenged, however, is her cult popularity among her countless die-hard fans and her greatness as a singer. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Edwards, Anne. Streisand: A Biography. Boston: Little Brown, 1997. Nickens, Christopher. The Films of Barbra Streisand. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1998. Riese, Randall. Her Name Is Barbra. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1993. Spada, James. Streisand: Her Life. New York: Crown Publishers, 1995.

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, which took place near Bethel, New York, over three days in August 1969, was both a massive concert and a symbol for the youth culture of the 1960s. In the late 1960s, rock festivals, most notably the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, were gaining in popularity. Woodstock at first seemed as if it would be simply another rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music festival, but because of its size and the number and stature of the artists who performed there, the name Woodstock stands out as the most famous of all rock festivals.

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Hoping for three days of peace and music (and profits), a group of four young businessmen decided to hold a music festival in the town of Woodstock, New York, known for its arts community. As they began planning, and as they hired more and more famous musical acts to perform, the festival grew too big and was eventually moved to a dairy farm, owned by Max Yasgur (1920–1973), near the town of Bethel, not far from Woodstock. The size of the festival would prove to be a big problem. As the festival day approached, more than five hundred thousand young people descended on the small farming community of Bethel, creating significant problems. The festival organizers were not prepared for traffic jams; insufficient food, toilets, and medical care; and security and drug problems, among many others. Adding to these problems, two rain storms drenched the audience and created a mud bath out of the farm.

Despite these problems, and the disaster they created, the festival was a significant musical event, featuring such important rock acts as The Who; Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970); Janis Joplin (1943–1970); Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; Joe Cocker (1944–); and Santana. More than a musical event, Woodstock became a symbol for the idealism of the hippie (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) youth and for young people in general in the late 1960s. Despite the many problems, the crowd was largely peaceful, and they kept their spirits up, many feeling that they were part of history in the making; they were not wrong. When a music festival at Altamont (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), California, erupted into violence and murder a few months later, many looked back at the peaceful Woodstock festival as the last gasp of 1960s youthful idealism. Woodstock was, in many ways, a symbolic high point for the 1960s generation, proving that peace and love were possible in the world, if only for a moment. —Timothy Berg

Former Lovin’ Spoonful lead singer John Sebastian performs to the hundreds of thousands of people who attended the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in August 1969. Photograph by Henry Diltz. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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For More Information Makower, Joel. Woodstock: The Oral History. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Morthland, John. “Rock Festivals.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. 1969 Woodstock Festival & Concert. http://www.woodstock69.com/ (accessed March 18, 2002). Spitz, Bob. Barefoot in Babylon: The Creation of the Woodstock Music Festival. New York: Norton, 1989. Woodstock.com. http://www.woodstock.com (accessed March 18, 2002).

1960s Print Culture American literature thrived in the 1960s, helped along by a culture that valued thinking—especially the thinking of young people who questioned the values of adults. A number of individuals who are now considered among America’s best writers placed novels on the bestseller lists, including William Faulkner (1897–1962) with The Reivers (1962), Saul Bellow (1915–) with Herzog (1964), Truman Capote (1924–1984) with In Cold Blood (1966), and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–) with Slaughterhouse Five (1969). Not all Americans were fond of such serious literature, however, and many turned to lighter fare. Other best-sellers in the decade included the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming (1908–1964), Hotel (1965) and Airport (1968) by Arthur Hailey (1920–), and Valley of the Dolls (1966) by Jacqueline Susann (1921–1974). These “trashier” novels were often made into popular films, a trend that grew increasingly prevalent in the 1960s. Among the surprise hits of the decade were To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), a powerful story of racism set in a small town in Alabama by first-time author Harper Lee (1926–), and Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), the first science-fiction novel to make the New York Times best-seller list, by Robert Heinlein (1907–1988). Another science-fiction novel, Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert (1920–1986), soon attained classic status among science-fiction fans. Young adult and children’s literature grew in popularity during the decade, helped along by increased funding for libraries. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger (1919–) remained the book that marked the passage into adolescence in America, and it was widely taught in schools. Other books modeled on Salinger’s classic, including The Outsider (1967) by S. E. Hinton (1950–) and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) by E. L. Konigsburg (1930–), gave serious literary attention to the trials of growing up and became favorites with young readers. Younger children enjoyed Where the Wild Things Are (1963) by Maurice Sendak (1928–) and a continuing stream of books from America’s best-known children’s author, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel; 1904–1991).

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The magazine market continued to go through a process of transition that began in the 1950s when more Americans looked to the TV for news and entertainment. The Saturday Evening Post, once considered the essential American magazine, closed its doors in 1969, signaling the end of the era of the general magazine. But new magazines did thrive—if they catered to a specialized audience. Rolling Stone, launched in 1967, became the magazine for lovers of rock and roll. The Advocate was launched the same year to serve a growing homosexual market. Comic-book lovers continued to make up a significant market. They enjoyed the stories told by the leading comic-book company of the decade, Marvel Comics, and its newest creation, the Spider-Man, created in 1962.

Advocate Billing itself as “the national gay & lesbian newsmagazine,” the Advocate is a bimonthly magazine that has established a reputation as the “magazine of record” for the homosexual community in the United States. The first issue, called the Los Angeles Advocate, appeared in 1967—a full two years before the June 1969, Stonewall riots in New York City that brought gay liberation (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) to the nation’s attention. It was published as an outgrowth of a local gay newsletter entitled PRIDE (for Personal Rights in Defense and Education). The newsletter had been created by Richard Mitch, Bill Rand, and Sam Winston as a response to Mitch’s 1966 arrest in a police raid at a Los Angeles gay bar. The aim of PRIDE was to inform the local community of events that were having an influence on their lives and to help political activists find a voice.

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The first issue (five hundred copies) of the Los Angeles Advocate—secretly printed in the basement of ABC Television’s studios—appeared on September 12, 1967; it was twelve pages long and sold for twenty-five cents at gay bars and shops. In 1968, Rand and Winston purchased rights to the publication. Joined by gay activist Jim Kepner (c. 1923–1997), they vowed to make it a national publication. They changed its name to the Advocate in April 1970. In 1975, David B. Goodstein (1932–1985) purchased the magazine and managed it until his death. in 1985. During his tenure, the magazine lost its radical political

Although it has been criticized for neglecting coverage of women and people of color and for its slow response to the AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) crisis, the Advocate is recognized as the most influential alternative-sexuality magazine of its era.

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edge and became more of a commercial tabloid. Editor John Preston (1945–1994) and publisher Niles Merton deepened the magazine’s political and cultural coverage. In 1984, the Advocate was redesigned in a glossy newsmagazine format. It became even more mainstream in 1992, when publisher Sam Watters spun off the sexually explicit classified advertising into a separate publication.

—Edward Moran

For More Information The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Bull, Chris. Witness to Revolution: The Advocate Reports on Gay and Lesbian Politics, 1967–1999. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 1999. Califia, Pat. The Advocate Adviser: America’s Most Popular Gay Columnist Tackles the Questions That the Others Ignore. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1991. Oliver, Marilyn Tower. Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Struggle. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Silver, Diane. The New Civil War: The Lesbian and Gay Struggle for Civil Rights. New York: Franklin Watts, 1997. Thompson, Mark, ed. Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

Cosmopolitan Though it was originally founded in 1883 as a general interest periodical, Cosmopolitan magazine was revamped in 1965 as a journal devoted to the interests of the modern young career woman. Since that time, it has become one of the nation’s most successful magazines. The “Cosmo girl,” as the magazine refers to its readership, is confident, independent, glamorous, and sexual. Though many feminists have criticized the magazine for projecting an image of modern womanhood that is shallow and stereotyped, Cosmopolitan’s sassy style still attracts readers in the twenty-first century. Cosmopolitan was the creation of Helen Gurley Brown (1922–), who in 1962 wrote a controversial bestseller called Sex

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and the Single Girl. Daring for its time, the book openly discussed women as sexual beings and asserted that women could choose to remain single and still be happy and sexually active. Based on the success of the book, Brown and her husband, David Brown, approached the Hearst Corporation in 1965 and were allowed to take over an aging magazine known as Cosmopolitan. The Browns changed everything but the name of the magazine. Cosmopolitan soon came to represent the changing role of women in the new, sexually permissive society of the 1970s. With its focus on relationships, career, sex, and beauty, Cosmo became notorious for its racy covers, featuring articles with titles like “How to Please Your Man in Bed,” “Land That Man, Ace Your Job, and Look Your Sexiest Ever!,” and “The Bedside Astrologer.” Circulation rose rapidly, helped along by such outrageous “firsts” as a nude pinup of actor Burt Reynolds (1936–), which appeared in a 1972 issue. By 2000, circulation had reached almost three million in the United States, and versions of Cosmo were being published in thirty-one countries around the world, including Japan, Poland, and Chile. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Brown, Helen Gurley. “HGB Remembers the Cosmo Years.” Cosmopolitan. (February 1997): pp. 344–47. Brown, Helen Gurley. I’m Wild Again: Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. “Cosmopolitan.” iVillage. http://cosmo.women.com/cos (accessed March 18, 2002).

Dune The 1965 epic novel by Frank Herbert (1920–1986) about a desert planet has become one of the most successful sciencefiction series ever. The original novel, Dune, led to five sequels and two films as well as a variety of nonfiction books, games, and Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) sites. In addition, after the death of Herbert, his son, Brian Herbert (1947–), began publishing a series of “prequels” to the original story. The prequels focused on events set prior to the story told in Dune. 868

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Set in a distant galaxy, Dune is the story of Paul Atriedes, son of Duke Leto, whose family is ordered by the Emperor to

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take charge of Arrakis, a desert planet that is the sole source for an addictive spice that produces mystical powers in some people. Before long, Duke Leto is betrayed and killed by agents of his mortal enemy, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Most of the Duke’s subjects are either killed or enslaved, but a few escape, along with Paul and his mother, Jessica. The pair are taken in by the Fremen, the warlike native people of Arrakis. In time, Paul leads the Fremen in a war to reclaim their planet from the Harkonnens. Dune explores important questions concerning ecology, religious fanaticism, and national self-determination. The saga, which explores the interconnected fates of the planet Arrakis, the Fremen, and the Atriedes family, was continued by Herbert in Dune Messiah (1970), Children of Dune (1976), God Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse Dune (1985). The original novel was filmed in 1984 by David Lynch (1946–), who would later create the TV series Twin Peaks. The film starred Kyle MacLachlan (1959–) as Paul Atriedes. It did poorly at the box office but has gained a cult following. The book was filmed again by director John Harrison as Frank Herbert’s Dune. It was shown as a three-part miniseries on the cable channel Sci-Fi in January 2001 and was well received by Dune fans. The fans felt the miniseries was much closer to the original novels. Brian Herbert’s prequels began in 2000 with House Atreides, and was followed by House Harkonnen in 2001; The Butlerian Jihad was scheduled to follow. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Herbert, Brian, ed. The Notebooks of Frank Herbert’s Dune. New York: Perigee Books, 1988. Herbert, Frank. Dune. New York: Chilton, 1965; Ace Books, 1990. McNelly, Willis E., compiler. The Dune Encyclopedia. New York: Berkley Books, 1984. Vinge, Joan D. The Dune Storybook. New York: Putnam Publishing, 1984.

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is one of the leading publishers of comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) and

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boasts some of the most popular characters in the superhero genre (category). Such figures as Spider-Man (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4), Captain America (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3), the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, and the X-Men have filled the pages of Marvel comic books. Publisher Martin Goodman (1908–1992) founded the company as Timely Comics in 1939. In the 1960s, the company, renamed Marvel Comics, revolutionized the comic-book industry and set the standard for superhero storytelling for decades. During the 1940s, Timely Comics was a second-string comicbook publisher that lagged far behind DC Comics. DC Comics covered the exploits of many popular superheroes like Superman, Batman (see these two entries under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), and Wonder Woman (see entry under 1940s—Print Culture in volume 3). Timely’s leading heroes of that era were the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America, the living embodiment of national patriotism. Timely’s comics were especially popular during World War II (1939–45) because its heroes were frequently depicted crusading against the Axis powers (nations including Germany, Italy, and Japan, who opposed the United States and its allies during the war). When the war ended, however, sales of Timely’s superhero comics plummeted and the line was eventually discontinued. The 1950s saw the company distribute comics from the crime, Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 3), romance, humor, and horror genres, but by the end of the 1950s, Marvel had become a marginal player in the comics industry.

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In the 1960s, Marvel resurrected its superhero line and infused it with edgy, contemporary storylines. Writer-editor Stan Lee (1922–), along with other Marvel artists and writers, including Wally Wood (1927–1981), Jack Kirby (1917–1994), Steve Ditko (1927–), John Romita (1917–1994), Vince Colletta (1923–1991), and Neal Adams (1941–), introduced a new breed of superhero who overcame flaws to triumph over evil. In 1961, the Fantastic Four were the first such characters to reach the public. Readers were drawn to these heroes, who seemed to spend as much time bickering with one another as they did battling villains. The character who best demonstrated the “Marvel Style” was SpiderMan, who was neurotic, impulsive, unsure of himself, and still a superhero. Marvel remained the comic-industry leader into the 1980s. In 1996, however, the company filed for bankruptcy after suffering financial difficulties.

Rolling Stone

Marvel recovered from its economic woes by 2000 and saw the production of several film and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) treatments based on its characters, notably X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002). In recent years, the comic-book industry has struggled to maintain an audience in an era in which potential readers spend more time in front of their TVs and computers. Still, Marvel continues to produce exciting stories of its anxiety-ridden heroes for a core audience of fans. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Daniels, Les. Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Duin, Steve, and Mike Richardson. Comics Between the Panels. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 1998. Jones, Gerard, and Will Jacobs. The Comic Book Heroes. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1998. Pustz, Matthew. Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999. Marvel. http://www.marvel.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Rolling Stone From its beginnings in 1967 as a countercultural publication appealing to hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and other cultural radicals, Rolling Stone magazine has come to symbolize the triumph of 1960s antiestablishment values as embodied in rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music and relaxed attitudes about drugs and sexuality. In this sense, Rolling Stone can be considered the exact opposite of such mainstream publications as the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) or Reader’s Digest (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2). Rolling Stone was founded by Jann Wenner (1946–), a twenty-one-year-old dropout with $7,500 in borrowed capital. In the first issue—which featured John Lennon on the cover— Wenner editorialized that “Rolling Stone is not just about music, but also about the things and attitudes that the music embraces.” The magazine’s title was inspired by a song by bluesman Muddy Waters (1915–1983). The song itself had borrowed its title from

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the old proverb, “A rolling stone gathers no moss.” Initially, the magazine was designed to look like an underground newspaper: it was printed on newsprint in a quarterfold format, even though Wenner wanted to make it look professional and well-edited. Still, Rolling Stone’s image as a hippie publication continued well into the 1970s. Its first issue sold only about 6,000 copies. By 1974, it had a circulation of 325,000, a figure that rose to 1.25 million by 1998. In the early 1970s, more than eight out of ten of its readers were under twentyfive years old. In its early days, to increase sales, the magazine offered new subscribers a free roach clip (a holder for marijuana cigarettes.)

Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner in 1970, three years after he started the popular rock music magazine. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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Rolling Stone’s motto, “All the News That Fits” was chosen as an irreverent commentary on the New York Times (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1), with its slogan “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” Rolling Stone devoted much of its early editorial space to long and comprehensive articles and interviews about the rock-music scene, something no other publication attempted in such depth. It won a 1970 National Magazine Award for articles on the Altamont (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) rock concert and on serial killer Charles Manson (1934–). One of its most prominent writers during this period was Hunter Thompson (1937–), known as the “gonzo journalist” for his aggressive and subjective writing style. In 1975, it scooped other publications by publishing firsthand reporting of the Patty Hearst (1954–) kidnapping. By the mid-1970s, Rolling Stone was including more political and cultural commentary in its pages. In 1977, the publication moved to New York and changed its “underground” format to a standard, four-color tabloid. As the years went on, mainstream writers like Truman Capote (1924–1984) and Tom Wolfe (1931–) contributed articles to the magazine. By the 1990s, faced with competition from such publications as Spin and Vibe, Rolling Stone continued to de-emphasize its coverage of music in favor of articles on politics, technology, and fashion. —Edward Moran

Anson, Robert Sam. The Rise and Fall of the Rolling Stone Generation. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981. Draper, Robert. Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1990. Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Seymour, Corey, “On the Cover of Rolling Stone: A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Special.” Rolling Stone (December 10, 1992): pp. 147–54.

Spider-Man

For More Information

Spider-Man Since 1962, a mild-mannered newspaper photographer has been battling crime as the Amazing Spider-Man in a monthly comic-book (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) series published by Marvel Comics (see entry under 1960s— Print Culture in volume 4). Many years after his debut, SpiderMan remains Marvel’s most popular character and a popculture icon (symbol) on par with Superman and Batman (see these two entries under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2). A feature-film version of the superhero’s adventures, released in 2002, starring actor Tobey Maguire (1975–), seemed sure to introduce “Spidey” to an even wider audience. Created by Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief Stan Lee (1922–), Spider-Man made his first appearance in issue #15 of Amazing Fantasy in August 1962. There the character’s origin and powers were explained. Teenager Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider while attending a science lecture. The bite gave him the proportional strength of a spider, as well as the ability to stick to walls and a special “spider sense” that tingles whenever there is danger. The resourceful Parker then constructs a red and blue costume, attaches a set of “web shooters” to his wrists, and assumes the identity of Spider-Man. At first, he hopes to cash in on his superpowers. When his beloved Uncle Ben is killed because of his own carelessness, Parker realizes that “with great power comes great responsibility” and dedicates his life to fighting crime. As drawn by original artist Steve Ditko (1927–), Spider-Man is a dynamic character who swings through the streets of New York on a ropelike web and catches criminals in his elaborate sticky nets. Ditko also created many of the comic book’s signature supervillains, from the frightening Green Goblin to the

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An unidentified actor in a SpiderMan outfit scales a building in Jerusalem in 1995. Photograph by Brian Hendler. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

bizarre, eight-armed Dr. Octopus. Lee’s writing truly made Spider-Man unique. In Lee’s vision, Peter Parker was a character the ordinary teenage reader could relate to, not an alien like Clark Kent (Superman) or Batman’s stiffly proper Bruce Wayne. With his wisecracks and his all-too-human flaws, Spider-Man was, in Lee’s famous phrase, “the superhero who could be you.” This approach proved so popular that Marvel adopted it for virtually all its titles and became the number-one comic-book publisher in the world. Spider-Man himself branched out, over the decades, into several other monthly titles, numerous liveaction and cartoon TV series, and, in 2002, a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

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Lee, Stan. Origins of Marvel Comics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974. Lee, Stan, and Steve Ditko. Marvel Masterworks Presents the Amazing Spider-Man. New York: Marvel Books, 1999. Simon, Joe, with Jim Simon. The Comic Book Makers. New York: Crestwood/II Publications, 1990.

The Whole Earth Catalog was the brainchild of Stewart Brand (1938–), who first published it in 1968. It was essentially a catalog of ideas, books, new technologies, and other ideas Brand thought were worthy of wider notice. It was an alternative, offbeat publication that in many ways symbolized the spirit of searching that characterized the late 1960s. Like any other catalog, the Whole Earth Catalog offered a wide variety of items, accompanied by short descriptions and pictures. Unlike other catalogs, nothing was for sale. Believing that “information wants to be free,” Brand wrote the catalog as a way to get lots of good information to as many people as possible. The catalog accepted no advertising and only reviewed those items that the editors thought would be a positive force for change. In the first edition of the catalog, Brand focused on a few key areas of knowledge, including the environment, shelter and land use, communications, community, and learning. The section on shelter and land use, for example, had ideas for better, more energy-efficient housing design, solar and wind power, and other alternative technologies.

Whole Earth Catalog

Whole Earth Catalog

Part of Brand’s mission with the Whole Earth Catalog was to put power back in the hands of the people, an attitude that was very much a part of the late 1960s youth counterculture. Brand said the catalog’s purpose was to empower “the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested.” In the late 1960s, because young people were fed up with government, their parents, and the powerful in society, they sought to take their lives and futures into their own hands, on their own terms, and live by their own values, not those given to them by society. The Whole Earth Catalog, and its later updates and additions, helped people find the tools to live by their own values. Brand later won the National Book Award for his work with the Whole Earth Catalog. He published numerous updates and a magazine, Whole Earth. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Brand, Stewart, ed. The Whole Earth Catalog. Self-published, 1968; San Rafael, CA: Point Foundation, 1998.

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Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties. New York: Bantam, 1987. Rheingold, Howard, ed. The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog: Access to Tools and Ideas for the Twenty-First Century. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Whole Earth. http://www.wholeearthmag.com (accessed March 18, 2002).

1960s Sports and Games The 1960s saw professional sports finally attain dominance in the hearts of American sports fans. The overlapping seasons of professional baseball, football, hockey, and basketball offered sports fans year-round entertainment, and television broadcasting increased in sophistication to make sports coverage more exciting. It also helped that the 1960s were filled with dramatic moments and glamorous sports stars. No one team dominated major league baseball, as seven different teams won the World Series. Perhaps the most astonishing World Series win went to the 1969 New York Mets, who had finished next-to-last in 1968. The “Amazin’ Mets,” as they were known, provided thrills for every fan who roots for the underdog. The 1960s were the decade of stars, as players like Roger Maris (1934–1985), Mickey Mantle (1931–1995), Maury Wills (1932–), Sandy Koufax (1935–), Frank Robinson (1935–), Carl Yastrzemski (1939–), and others set records and thrilled fans. Professional football became the most popular American sport in the 1960s, surpassing baseball in attendance and in television viewership. Men, mostly, across the nation gave up their Sunday afternoons to watch the games, and for most of the decade they could choose between the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). The two leagues played their first championship game—called the Super Bowl—against each other in 1967, with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers easily defeating the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10. The most dominant team of the decade, the Packers won the next Super Bowl, too, beating the Oakland Raiders, 33-14. But Super Bowl III was a different story: The New York Jets of the upstart AFL proved the league’s worth—and silenced AFL naysayers—by beating the Baltimore Colts, 16-7, behind the heroics of quarterback Joe Namath (1943–). The National Basketball Association (NBA) grew in popularity and size throughout the decade. Beginning the decade with just eight teams, it grew to seventeen teams by the end of the decade and in 1965 drew over five million fans to its games.

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The Boston Celtics were the era’s dominant team, winning nine of ten NBA championships. The Celtics were led by their dominating center, Bill Russell (1934–), who had a great rivalry with fellow big man Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999), who played for the Philadelphia Warriors, San Francisco Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers. In an era known for the gains made by African Americans, black players came to dominate the game of professional basketball. College basketball also remained very popular, and was dominated in the decade by the UCLA team coached by John Wooden (1910–) and, after 1967, by a seven-foot player named Lew Alcindor (1947–), who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Other sports also drew fan’s attention. The single most celebrated athlete of the decade was boxer Cassius Clay, who took the name Muhammad Ali (1942–) after winning the heavyweight crown in 1964. Ali dominated the heavyweight class for years, and he entertained the world with his witty boasts, such as “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” The Olympics continued to raise its profile as a sporting event, thanks to substantial television coverage and to growing corporate sponsorship of the games. Inspired by Americans’ growing love of sports, in 1961 ABC-TV introduced a new style of sports show called Wide World of Sports which, in its famous opening lines, promised that it was “spanning the world to give you the constant variety of sports—the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–)

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On three separate occasions, Muhammad Ali won the title of heavyweight boxing champ. He was more than a fighter, however; he was one of the most beloved and one of the most despised public figures of his time. Ali earned his first fame in 1960 (when he was still known by his birth name, Cassius Clay), winning a gold medal at the Rome Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), and secured his initial title by beating Sonny Liston (1932–1970) in 1964. Ali was not the first African American boxing champ, but like Jack Johnson (1878–1946; see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) before him, Ali courted controversy on several fronts. He was a spirited soul who said and did as he

pleased. He was a master of self-promotion, declaring “I am the greatest” for all to hear. This attitude rankled those white people who felt that the young champ did not “know his place” as a Negro (the accepted term for African Americans in the 1960s). They were bothered further when the boxer announced that he had become a Black Muslim and changed his name from Clay to Ali. Then he refused to submit to the military draft and was convicted of draft evasion. For this final offense, he was stripped of his title by the World Boxing Association in 1967. He was condemned on editorial pages and over dinner tables across America. Ali’s conviction was overturned, however, and he returned to the ring in 1971. Before retiring a decade later, he participated in several classic ring battles with Joe Frazier (1944–) and George Foreman (1949–). Back in the late 1960s, Ali—despite his controversy—arguably was the most famous human on earth, a hero in Africa, in third-world nations, and in the ghettos of America. In dramatic fashion, the Parkinson’s Disease–afflicted Ali lit the Olympic torch at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. As he aged, and his old enemies

Muhammad Ali stands over opponent Sonny Liston during a 1965 bout. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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died out, Ali became one of the world’s most respected and beloved sports legends. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bockris, Victor. Muhammad Ali. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000. Early, Gerald, ed. The Muhammad Ali Reader. New York: R. Weisbach Books, 1999. Hook, Jason. Muhammad Ali: The Greatest. Austin, TX: Raintree/Steck Vaughn, 2001. Sanford, William R., and Carl R. Green. Muhammad Ali. New York: Crestwood House, 1993. Tessitore, John. Muhammad Ali: The World’s Champion. New York: F. Watts, 1998.

Dallas Cowboys Started in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2) soon became one of the most prominent teams in the history of all professional football, and they endure as “America’s Team.” Few teams in league history can boast a higher national profile or a more consistent record of success. Dozens of football legends were Cowboys, including Tom Landry (1924–2000), the team’s longtime head coach; quarterbacks “Dandy” Don Meredith (1938–), Roger Staubach (1942–), and Troy Aikman (1966–); running backs Tony Dorsett (1954–) and Emmitt Smith (1969–); and defensive standouts including Bob Lilly (1939–), Lee Roy Jordan (1941–), Ed “Too Tall” Jones (1951–), and Randy White (1953–). In 1980, Lilly became the first Cowboy to enter the Professional Football Hall of Fame. The team is also known for its cheerleaders. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders combined sports with entertainment and set the standard for professional cheerleaders. —Rob Edelman

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Donovan, Jim, Ken Sins, and Frank Coffey. The Dallas Cowboys Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Guide to America’s Team. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1999. Golenbock, Peter. Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes: The Definitive Oral History of America’s Team. New York: Warner Books, 1997.

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Landry, Tom, and Greg Lewis. Tom Landry: An Autobiography. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990. St. John, Bob. Tex! The Man Who Built the Dallas Cowboys. Englewood Hills, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988. Stowers, Carlton. Dallas Cowboys: The First Twenty-Five Years. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1984. Sugar, Bert Randolph. I Hate the Dallas Cowboys: And Who Elected Them America’s Team Anyway? New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997.

Frisbee Along with the balloon tire bicycle and the skateboard (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3), the Frisbee is a key accessory of late twentieth-century American childhood. Plastic flying discs were marketed as the “Flyin’ Saucer” by the Pipco company in the late 1940s, but the first “Frisbee” was made by the Wham-O Toy Company in 1957. The flying disc that began life as a pie tin became popular on California beaches and never really went away. By the late 1960s, laid-back Frisbee fans worked on throwing the Frisbee as straight and as far as possible. They also played Frisbee Golf, Ultimate Frisbee, and Freestyle Frisbee. With its trick throws, juggling, behind-the-back catches, and other flashy moves, Freestyle caught the public imagination in the 1970s. In the 1990s, Ultimate Frisbee was a growing worldwide sport. Despite the high-tech distractions of the twentyfirst century, Frisbee remains very popular with humans. Dogs have always been the best Frisbee catchers, though. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Johnson, Stancil E. D. Frisbee: A Practitioner’s Manual and Definitive Treatise. New York: Workman Publishing Company, 1975. The Ultimate Handbook. http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/index.html (accessed on March 19, 2002).

Evel Knievel (1938–) Daredevil motorcycle stuntmen are a rarity, far outnumbered by auto racers, skiers, or track-and-field athletes, let alone players from all sports. For years, Evel Knievel has had this field

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Evel Knievel jumps over six Mack trucks in Cleveland, Ohio, in May 1974. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

virtually all to himself. His successes—and his spectacular failures—have earned him a fame saved for mainstream athletes and movie stars. Knievel—who was born Robert Craig Knievel—has an unusually varied background. He has been a ski-jump champion, a professional hockey player, a car salesman, a hunting guide, a con man, and a safecracker. He entered the profession that would earn him international fame in 1965 when he created an outfit called Evel Knievel’s Motorcycle Daredevils. He won headlines on New Year’s Day in 1968 when he successfully jumped his motorcycle over the fountains in front of the Caesar’s Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Even though he crashlanded and spent a month in a coma, his reputation was made. He followed up with additional jumps, on locations ranging from the Los Angeles Coliseum to Idaho’s Snake River Canyon to Ohio’s Kings Island, where he piloted his motorcycle over fourteen Greyhound busses.

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Knievel’s many crashes left his body mangled. He broke his pelvis while attempting to leap over thirteen double-decker buses at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1975. The following

Miniature reproductions of Knievel’s Stuntcycle became a popular toy in the 1970s. He was the subject of a Hollywood film biography, Evel Knievel (1971), and starred as himself on screen in Viva Knievel! (1977). Indeed, his death-defying exploits have won him near–folk hero status.

Joe Namath

year, he received major injuries while leaping over a tank filled with live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information An American Legend: Evel Knievel Merchandise and Memorabilia. http://www.evel1.com/ (accessed March 19, 2002). Collins, Ace. Evel Knievel: An American Hero. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Evel Knievel: Motorcycle Daredevil. http://www.who2.com/evelknievel. html (accessed March 19, 2002). Scalzo, Joe. Evel Knievel and Other Daredevils. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1974.

Joe Namath (1943–) In an era when star athletes were supposed to be idealized, clean-living role models for fans young and old, Joseph William Namath was a startling exception. After starring at the University of Alabama, Namath (often nicknamed Joe Willie) became quarterback of the New York Jets, of the upstart American Football League (AFL), signing a then-record $427,000 contract in 1964. It was for good reason that Namath was nicknamed “Broadway Joe”: he earned as many headlines for his bachelor-pad, party-boy lifestyle as for his exploits on the field. He gained everlasting fame, however, when he boldly—and accurately—predicted that his AFL-champion Jets would beat the highly favored Baltimore Colts, of the more established National Football League (NFL; see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2), in Super Bowl (see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) III in 1969. The Jets’ 16-7 victory not only proved to the NFL that its AFL baby brothers were fast maturing—the two leagues ended up merging soon afterwards—but affirmed that Namath could back up his boasting with on-field heroics. Namath had a stellar career with the Jets from 1965 to 1976, and retired after he spent the 1977 season with the Los

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Angeles Rams. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. —Rob Edelman

For More Information “Broadway Joe.” SportsLine.com. http://www.cbs.sportsline.com/u/fans/ celebrity/namath (accessed March 19, 2002). Namath, Joe. Football for Young Players and Parents. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. Sanford, William R. Joe Namath. New York: Crestwood House, 1993.

Super Bowl Since 1967, professional football’s annual championship game, dubbed the Super Bowl, has been played on a Sunday in January. At first just a novelty, the game has grown in popularity so that it stands as something of an unofficial national holiday. There are Super Bowl parties from coast to coast, and the game is televised around the world to enthusiastic audiences. The first Super Bowl pitted the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2) against the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League. The game was designed to settle the score between the rival leagues, each vying for national supremacy. The Packers won that game, and the following one, but in 1969 the AFL’s New York Jets created the first Super Bowl sensation (in the first of the games to be officially called the “Super Bowl”) with a shocking upset of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. The surprising outcome forced the NFL to reconsider its opposition to merging with the AFL. A year later, the two leagues became one.

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With no rival league to challenge it, the NFL grew in popularity, and so did the Super Bowl. Now crafted to match the playoff winner in each of two conferences, the game is played in a different city each year and attracts huge crowds and high TV ratings. The football contests themselves have often been unimpressive, but the “scene” surrounding the game, including celebrities, elaborate halftime shows, and widespread betting on the outcome, have turned the Super Bowl into a national extravaganza. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) advertisers, attracted by the lure of enormous TV audiences, began paying top dollars for commercial time on the network broadcast. As a result, the Super Bowl became a kind

Twister

of showcase for the best and most expensive TV ads. The annual “Bud Bowl” contests, Apple Computer’s memorable futuristic “1984” ad, and the Pets.com sock puppet were just a few of the famous commercials to debut during Super Bowl telecasts. Among the Super Bowl’s most notable performers have been Joe Montana (1956–), the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who led his team to three Super Bowl victories; Joe Namath (1943–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4), the Jets quarterback who guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III; and John Elway (1960–), who led the Denver Broncos to back-toback wins in the 1990s. With the advent of satellite (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) TV, the Super Bowl continues to grow in popularity and attracts ever-increasing worldwide audiences. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Brenner, Richard J. The Complete Super Bowl Story: Games I–XXIII. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1990. Buckley, James, Jr. Super Bowl Heroes. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000. Didinger, Ray. The Super Bowl: Celebrating a Quarter-Century of America’s Greatest Game. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. Resciniti, Angelo. Super Bowl Excitement. St. Petersburg, FL: Willowisp Press, 1994. Superbowlhistory.com. http://www.superbowlhistory.com/ (accessed March 19, 2002).

Twister The ultimate way to make guests relax and start laughing at a party, Twister is a game in which players turn a spinner that tells them which hand or foot to place on which colored circle on the large game board (a thin floor mat). Players’ arms and legs become tangled, leading to falls and laughs. The object of the game is to be the last player to lose his or her balance. Twister was released by the Milton Bradley Company (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) in 1966 and was introduced to the American public on The Tonight Show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) on NBC. When viewers watched the show’s host, Johnny Carson (1925–; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), play the

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Twister Teens enjoy playing the game Twister. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

game with glamorous movie star Eva Gabor (1919–1995), it prompted three million people to go buy their own Twister game. A fun game for children, Twister also appeals to adults, who have invented variations such as combat Twister which involves actively trying to push other players off balance, and nude Twister, popular during the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1960s and 1970s. 886

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Twister has appeared in many films and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, notably the

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Asakawa, Gil, and Leland Rucker. The Toy Book. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Hoffman, David. Kid Stuff: Great Toys from Our Childhood. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996. Polizzi, Rick, and Fred Schaefer. Spin Again: Board Games from the Fifties and Sixties. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991.

Wide World of Sports

1991 film Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, where the heroes play a hilarious game of Twister with Death.

Wide World of Sports As TV sets were becoming staples in American households during the 1950s, individual sporting events made for popular, low-cost programming. Then, at the dawn of the 1960s, Wide World of Sports, also known as ABC’s Wide World of Sports, debuted. The show was a new type of sports program. Rather than focus on one sport, it presented a variety of athletic events in one show. Each week, Wide World of Sports transported the viewer across the United States and around the world. The show featured many athletes who otherwise would not be seen on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3): bobsled racers, bodybuilders, gymnasts, figure skaters, ski jumpers, surfers, swimmers, divers, auto racers, stunt motorcyclists, rodeo performers, and track-and-field athletes. All the while, the show spotlighted the human side of sports. In addition to presenting races, bouts, and meets (often live via satellite), Wide World of Sports revolutionized sports coverage by including “up close and personal” features on athletes. The show’s rallying cry, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” not only became one of the most familiar catchphrases on TV but captured the essence of athletic competition. Over the years, many high-profile sportscasters were associated with Wide World of Sports, including Frank Gifford (1930–), Chris Schenkel (1923–), Howard Cosell (1918–1995), Bud Palmer (1920–), and Keith Jackson (1928–). The one sports commentator most closely associated with the show, however, is Jim McKay (1921–). He was on hand for the very first broadcast, which aired on April 29, 1961, and featured the Drake Relays, from Des Moines, Iowa, and the Penn Relays, from

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Relays are track-and-field events.) Across the decades, McKay traveled over 4.5 million miles to cover events for the program, reporting on over one hundred different sports in forty-plus countries and across the United States. McKay earned further fame as a longtime host of the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). In 1968, he became the first sportscaster ever to win an Emmy Award, for his work on Wide World of Sports. The show’s format was the brainchild of Roone Arledge (1931–), the future ABC Sports and News president. The show ran for ninety minutes on Saturdays, and occasionally appeared on Sundays. Sporting events that later merited their own separate coverage—the Wimbledon tennis tournament, World Cup soccer, the British Open golf tournament—first aired on Wide World of Sports. The success of Wide World of Sports, and other groundbreaking endeavors such as Monday Night Football (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), helped solidify the status of ABC as the major network dominating sports coverage. With the rise of ESPN (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) as an all-day sports network, Wide World of Sports began losing its shine in the late 1980s. On January 3, 1998, it was announced that the show had been canceled. On April 29, 2001, ABC aired a two-hour-long fortieth anniversary retrospective. —Rob Edelman

For More Information McKay, Jim, with Jim McPhee. The Real McKay: My Wide World of Sports. New York: Dutton, 1998. Sugar, Bert Randolph. Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1978.

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1960s TV and Radio Television cemented its grip on American attention spans during the 1960s. The industry added channels and improved the quality of its color pictures. However, some Americans became increasingly critical of television programming in the decade. They worried that TV would, in the words of many a concerned parent, “rot their children’s minds.” Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow (1926–) summed up the concerns about television in his address to the National Association of Broadcasters in 1961. “When television is good,” said Minow, “nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse.” He challenged broadcasters to watch their TV shows for an entire day. Minow assured them, in words that became his most famous, that they would observe “a vast wasteland.” Minow was right—TV in the 1960s was both good and bad. Sports programming improved dramatically during the decade, as broadcasters and camera crews learned how to make the games dramatic. Television news proved its merits with five days of nearly continuous coverage of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). Later in the decade, coverage of the Vietnam War (1954–75) and the Apollo moon landings helped make TV the primary way that Americans got their news. A new format of news program called 60 Minutes premiered in 1968. Americans enjoyed watching the Westerns, situation comedies (sitcoms), and action-adventure shows that made up the majority of network programming, but few could claim that these shows were of great quality. The decade was characterized by silly shows like Gilligan’s Island (1964–67), Bewitched (1964–72), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71), and Hawaii FiveO (1968–80). The most innovative programs—The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–70) and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968–73)—were variety shows with political and satirical content. In fact, The Smothers Brothers show was so controversial that it was canceled.

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Those concerned about the quality of television, especially of the quality of programming for children, were cheered by the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967. This led to the founding of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in 1969 and to the airing of such quality children’s TV shows as Sesame Street (1969–) and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1966–2001). With TV as Americans’ first choice for news, as well as drama, comedy, and adventure stories, radio was forced to take on a different role in American entertainment. The spread of portable transistor radios and of car radios made radio a portable form of entertainment, and radios provided music and news for those on the go. By 1967, it was estimated that 90 percent of all radio programming was music. Stations diversified to carry different types of music, from rock to classical, folk to country. One of the most popular radio formats was the Top 40 station, which played only the most popular hits in America. Whether Americans got their entertainment from radio or TV, they had to submit to the ever-increasing tide of advertising that interrupted broadcasts—but also made them possible. People complained about all the ads, but the truth was that most of the costs of airing programs were carried by advertisers, who were willing to pay top dollar to be able to tell huge audiences about the latest and greatest new product.

The Andy Griffith Show In the 1960s, a series of popular television comedies—among them The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–71; see entry under 1960s— TV and Radio in volume 4), Petticoat Junction (1963–70), and Green Acres (1965–71)—spotlighted rural southern Americans. Many critics and viewers believed the best was The Andy Griffith Show (1960–68).

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The Andy Griffith Show is set in the sleepy southern town of Mayberry, North Carolina. Its primary character is Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith, 1926–), Mayberry’s likable, level-headed sheriff. Taylor, a widower, is surrounded by an appealing cast of supporting characters: Opie (Ron Howard, 1954–), his son; Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier, 1902–1989), his sympathetic aunt, who lives with Andy and helps raise Opie; and Barney Fife (Don Knotts, 1924–), his comically incompetent deputy.

For More Information The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. http://www.mayberry.com (accessed March 20, 2002). BarneyFife.com. http://www.barneyfife.com (accessed March 20, 2002). Beck, Ken. The Andy Griffith Show Book. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Brower, Neal. Mayberry 101: Behind the Scenes of a TV Classic. WinstonSalem, NC: John Blair, 1998. Harrison, Dan. Inside Mayberry. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Kelly, Richard Michael. The Andy Griffith Show. Winston-Salem, NC: John Blair, 1981. Lindsay, George, with Ken Beck and Jim Clark. Goober in a Nutshell. New York: Avon Books, 1995.

The Beverly Hillbillies

When Griffith left the show in 1968, it continued for three more seasons as Mayberry, R.F.D. (1968–71), with the new lead character, Sam Jones (Ken Berry, 1933–), surrounded with some new and some old characters. The Andy Griffith Show can still be seen in reruns and remains a charming and entertaining view of life in idyllic small-town America. —Rob Edelman

The Beverly Hillbillies The Beverly Hillbillies, which aired on CBS from 1962 until 1971, was one of the most popular sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. Although the series was criticized for its backwoods humor, audiences embraced the misadventures of the mountaineer family who discovered oil on their rural property and subsequently moved to the land of swimming pools and movie stars—Beverly Hills, California. The series’ great success led CBS to air a number of rural-based comedies for the next decade. Its memorable theme song was performed by bluegrass (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) stars Lester Flatt (1914–1979) and Earl Scruggs (1924–). In the song, the audience learns how Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen; 1908–) discovered “bubbling crude” on his land and became an instant millionaire. He is soon convinced to transplant his clan to California. Making the journey with Jed are his gorgeous tomboy daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas, 1933–), his dim-witted nephew Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr., 1937–), and his mother-in-law Daisy Moses, known as “Granny” (Irene Ryan, 1902–1973). The Clampett fortune is housed in the Commerce Bank and administered by greedy bank president Milburn Drysdale (Raymond

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The Beverly Hillbillies The Clampett family of The Beverly Hillbillies: (clockwise from upper left) Donna Douglas, Irene Ryan, Max Baer Jr., and Buddy Ebsen. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Bailey, 1904–1980) and his plain, sensible assistant Miss Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp, 1921–1991). Most of the series’ humor derives from the culture clash between the simple mountain people and the sophisticated city slickers. The Clampetts are thoroughly unfamiliar with modern conveniences and attitudes. They refer to their mansion’s swimming pool as a “cee-ment pond” and mistake a billiards table for a formal dining set. Both the country and city characters are broad stereotypes, but hardly offensive. Many episodes focus on Elly May’s collection of animals, Jethro’s idiotic schemes, and Granny’s unhappiness with city life.

Bewitched

Critics scorned series creator Paul Henning (1911–) and dismissed The Beverly Hillbillies as juvenile, foolish, and overly broad. Audiences, however, loved the program and made it TV’s highest rated series by its third episode. The series also holds the distinction of having one of its episodes (concerning the Clampetts confusing a kangaroo for a giant jackrabbit) rank as one of TV’s all-time highest rated episodes. Those who condemn the show as overly simplistic ignore that it was both very well written and very well acted. The series generated a wealth of merchandise and two popular spin-offs—Petticoat Junction (which aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970) and Green Acres (which aired on CBS from 1965 to 1971). In 1971, CBS grew tired of its image as the “hillbilly network” and canceled all its rural comedies. The Beverly Hillbillies continued to thrive into the 1980s and 1990s in syndication (the reshowing of a series as reruns on independent TV stations). In 1993, a film version of the series featuring Jim Varney (1949–2000), Lily Tomlin (1939–), and Cloris Leachman (1926–) was unsuccessful. That film’s failure did little to dim the American public’s affection for the original series and its homespun humor. —Charles Coletta

For More Information The Beverly Hillbillies. http://www.pcperspectives.com/hillbillies (accessed March 20, 2002). Clark, Jim. Granny’s Beverly Hillbillies Cookbook. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1994. Cox, Stephen. The Beverly Hillbillies. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. Herb, Sam. “The Beverly Hillbillies.” TVparty. http://www.tvparty.com/ recbev.html (accessed March 20, 2002). Mitz, Rick. The Great TV Sitcom Book. New York: R. Marek Publishers, 1983. Strasser, Todd. The Beverly Hillbillies: A Novelization. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1993.

Bewitched The situation comedy Bewitched, which aired from 1964 until 1972 on ABC, was one of television’s most popular programs during an era dominated by a number of fantasy- or supernatural-based comedy shows. The series centered on the marriage of a beautiful young witch named Samantha (Elizabeth

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Montgomery, 1933–1995) to Darrin Stephens (Dick York, 1928–1992; also played later by Dick Sargent, 1930–1994), an advertising executive who demanded that his wife give up her powers of sorcery in order that they might live a normal middle-class suburban life together. Samantha’s mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead, 1900–1974) often disrupted the couple’s happiness, as she disliked her son-in-law and his prohibition against witchcraft. She was further frustrated by Samantha’s willingness to live without magic. Bewitched and the other fantasy sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) of the 1960s provided much needed escapist entertainment from the decade’s social and political upheavals. The series was a critical and popular hit as it injected the supernatural into sitcom suburbia. Elizabeth Montgomery, the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery (1904–1981), became an international celebrity as she enchanted audiences with both her beauty and comedic skills. Her trademark was the “magical” nose twitch by which Samantha cast her spells. Most of the episodes revolved around the comedic mishaps stemming from Samantha using her powers despite her husband’s prohibition. It was not uncommon to meet famous figures from history, have people transformed into animals, or see furniture floating around the Stevens’ household. Much of the show’s comedy derived from Samantha’s attempting to hide her abilities from nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz (Alice Pearce, 1917–1966; later, Sandra Gould, 1916–1999). Among the most popular episodes of the series were those devoted to Tabitha, Darrin and Samantha’s baby daughter, who had inherited her mother’s magic skills. A son, Adam, was born to the TV couple late in the series.

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Although Montgomery was the program’s star, the series boasted one of the strongest ensemble casts on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Among the witches and warlocks who regularly caused mischief at the Stevens’ were the bumbling Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne, 1888–1968), Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde, 1926–1982), and Samantha’s father Maurice (who was played by the great Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, 1901–1989). David White (1916–1990) played Larry Tate, Darrin’s excitable boss. Montgomery often appeared in a dual role as Serena, Samantha’s kooky cousin. The series ended its run in 1972, as more cutting edge sitcoms like All in the Family (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) gained popularity. Tabitha, a short-

Bewitched has remained popular in syndication (the rerelease of programs to independent TV stations) for over thirty years as new generations of viewers become enchanted by Montgomery’s Samantha. Some consider the Stephenses as TV’s first “mixed marriage.” Others view Samantha as an early feminist icon (symbol of feminism) who attempted to balance her own abilities with her husband’s expectations of a wife’s duties.

Bonanza

lived sitcom sequel following the adventures of the Stevens’ grown daughter, aired in the 1977–78 season.

—Charles Coletta

For More Information The Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery Web Site. http://www. bewitched.net (accessed March 20, 2002). Mascaro, Victor. Vic’s Bewitched Page. http://members.tripod.com/ ~bewitchvic/main.html (accessed March 20, 2002). Mitz, Rick. The Great TV Sitcom Book. New York: R. Marek Publishers, 1983. Pilato, Herbie. The Bewitched Book: The Cosmic Companion to TV’s Most Magical Supernatural Situation Comedy. New York: Delta, 1992. Rogers, Kasey. The Bewitched Cookbook. New York: Kensington Books, 1996.

Bonanza American popular culture has long been fascinated with stories of pioneer life on the frontier and tales of the Old West. This phenomenon was especially true in the 1950s and 1960s when Western-themed programs dominated the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) networks. Bonanza, which ran from 1959 to 1973, was one of the most popular and long-lasting of these programs. The series was one of TV’s highest-rated shows of the 1960s. Audiences tuned in each week to see the adventures of the all-male Cartwright clan as they tended to their 1,000-square-mile Ponderosa Ranch outside of Virginia City, Nevada, in the years following the Civil War (1861–65). Adults of the 1960s had grown up on Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) movies featuring cowboy heroes like John Wayne (1907–1979; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) and Roy Rogers (1911–1998). They made up the bulk of the television audience and enjoyed what were known as “adult Westerns.” These

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programs, like Gunsmoke (1955–75; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), Maverick (1957–62), and Bonanza avoided the common Western cliches (stagecoach holdups, bank robberies, head-’em-off-at-the-pass chases) in favor of character development and a low-key tone. On Bonanza, Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene, 1915–1987) had three grown sons: the serious and introspective Adam (Parnell Roberts, 1928–); Hoss (Dan Blocker, 1928–1972), an innocent and gentle giant; and Little Joe (Michael Landon, 1936–1991), the handsome and impulsive youngest son. Scholar Michael Barson, in TV Genres, credits the program’s appeal to the contrast it provided to real life in the turbulent 1960s. He states, “This was a show about family. . . . The Cartwrights were able to survive more than a decade’s worth of divisiveness and struggle, just as America itself did [during the Vietnam era (1954–75)].” Bonanza holds the distinction of being the first Western to be televised in color. The popular Western is recalled as helping to dramatically increase sales of the new color TV sets. Bonanza is further remembered for its enlightened treatment of Native Americans and African Americans in many of its episodes. Pa Cartwright and his sons provided morality lessons each week within the Western format. The series ended in 1973. In the 1990s, following the deaths of most of the original cast members, several Bonanza TV movies aired starring the real children of Greene, Blocker, and Landon as the next generation of Cartwrights. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Bonanza . . . The WebSite! http://bonanza1.com/ (accessed March 19, 2002). Marschall, Rick. History of Television. New York: Gallery Books, 1986. Ross, Brian, ed. TV Genres. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985. Shapiro, Melaney. Bonanza: The Unauthorized Story of the Ponderosa. Las Vegas: Pioneer Books, 1993.

Johnny Carson (1925–)

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Johnny Carson, who hosted The Tonight Show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) on NBC from 1962 until 1992, was the undisputed king of late-night television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and one of the

Each installment of The Tonight Show began with Carson’s introduction by his longtime sidekick Ed McMahon (1923–): “Heeeeere’s Johnny!” The show began with a comic monologue—a comic routine presented by Carson, by himself on stage—that allowed Carson to poke fun at the day’s events. The monologue always ended with Carson’s trademark gesture: He would pretend he was swinging a golf club. Carson then sat at his desk and performed comic bits or character sketches. Finally, he interviewed celebrities or hosted performing acts. One of the most noteworthy shows occurred on December 17, 1969, when thirty-seven-year-old singer Tiny Tim (Herbert Khaury, 1932–1996) married seventeen-year-old Miss Vicky (Victoria May Budinger; 1952–) live on TV.

Daytime Talk Shows

medium’s most successful personalities. Carson combined Midwestern charm, a slightly naughty wit, and expert interviewing skills as he welcomed the nation’s top celebrities, funniest comedians, and interesting ordinary citizens onto his program.

Many late-night programs challenged Carson over the years, but none proved successful. When Carson retired in 1992, comedian Jay Leno (1950–) became host of The Tonight Show. David Letterman (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), who had hoped to succeed Carson, took his show (which had followed Carson’s in the late-night lineup) over to CBS to compete against Leno. Johnny Carson set the standard for latenight network programming and influenced Leno, Letterman, and all the hosts who have followed him into the genre (category) of late-night TV. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Cox, Stephen. Here’s Johnny: Thirty Years of America’s Favorite Late Night Entertainment. New York: Harmony Books, 1992. Here’s Johnny! The Official Tonight Show Website. http://www. johnnycarson.com/carson/ (accessed March 11, 2002). The King of Late Night! (video). Buena Vista Home Video, 1994. Leamer, Laurence. King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. New York: Morrow, 1989.

Daytime Talk Shows The daytime talk show is one of the most popular and profitable of all TV programming formats. Audiences enjoy them

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One of the more successful afternoon talk show hosts was Mike Douglas (far left), here with entertainer Tiny Tim and his wife and daughter in 1972. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

because they present celebrities candidly, not as actors playing roles. The more issue-oriented shows cover a range of relevant topics, everything from personal tragedy and triumph to selfimprovement. Daytime talk shows range in tone from responsible and uplifting to racy and melodramatic. Finally, producers and networks favor talk shows because they are inexpensive to make. On the more celebrity-oriented shows, a host first entertains the audience with a comic monologue (a speech given by only one person) or a song. Then, one by one, the guests appear and chat with the host. Usually, the celebrity has been booked because he or she has a new film, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) show, or record to promote, so the conversation eventually spotlights that product. In this regard, a celebrity appearance on a talk show is little more than a publicity stunt, a convenient way to maximize the hype surrounding that product.

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The format of the celebrity-focused daytime talk show was originated by Sylvester “Pat” Weaver (1908–2002), an NBC TV

On the issue-oriented programs, the host usually leads a discussion on the subject of the day. Guests range from individuals who have been victimized by everything from sexual abuse to fad diets, corporate or government bureaucracy to racism or sexism, along with experts in the field. Phil Donahue (1935–), host of The Phil Donahue Show (1970–77) and Donahue (1977–96), became the first talk-show host to earn national recognition with this format. In the 1990s, his popularity was eclipsed by Oprah Winfrey (1954–) and The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986–). While confessional in nature, the Donahue and Winfrey shows nonetheless set out to educate and uplift the viewer.

Daytime Talk Shows

executive who created Today (1952–) and The Tonight Show (1954–; see these two entries under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The more successful hosts of such shows are entertainers in their own right; for example, singers Mike Douglas (1925–), of The Mike Douglas Show (1961–82); Dinah Shore (1916–1994), of the shows Dinah’s Place (1970–74) and Dinah! (1974–80); and comedienne Rosie O’Donnell (1962–), of The Rosie O’Donnell Show (1996–2002).

During the 1990s, many issue-oriented shows became more confrontational and exploitative: they encouraged guests to confront each other about problem relationships and often exploited people’s sad situations. Shows hosted by Maury Povich (1939–), Jenny Jones (1946–), Sally Jessy Raphael (c. 1943–), Montel Williams (1956–), Geraldo Rivera (1943–), Ricki Lake (1968–), and, most notoriously, Jerry Springer (1944–) fit into this category. Particularly on The Jerry Springer Show (1991–), guests might be adulterers or individuals with unconventional religious or political views. What they share is a willingness to come on television and reveal all in exchange for their fifteen minutes in the spotlight. On occasion, such shows have led to tragedy. In March 1996, a heterosexual male appeared on The Jenny Jones Show (1991–) knowing that he would meet a secret admirer. He felt humiliated after learning on-camera that the wooer was a gay male. Later, he went to the admirer’s home and shot him to death. In a civil suit, the show was found negligent, and the victim’s family was awarded $25 million. Most daytime talk shows are named for their hosts, who become celebrities in their own right. Occasionally, a show is hosted by a duo. Among the most popular twosomes were Regis Philbin (1933–) and Kathie Lee Gifford (1953–), whose personalities and teasing made Live with Regis and Kathie Lee (1989–2000) a ratings hit. Gifford left in 2000, but her replacement, soap opera

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star Kelly Ripa (1970–), kept the newly titled Live with Regis and Kelly just as popular. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Day, Nancy. Sensational TV: Trash or Journalism? Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1996. Lowe, Janet C. Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insights from the World’s Most Influential Voice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Munson, Wayne. All Talk: The Talk Show in Media Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Viking Press, 1985. Scott, Gini Graham. Can We Talk?: The Power and Influence of Talk Shows. New York: Insight Books, 1996.

Dr. Kildare Dreamily handsome Richard Chamberlain (1935–) was a heartthrob of young teenage girls in the 1960s when he starred on the hit medical drama, Dr. Kildare (1961–66). Chamberlain’s character, James Kildare, was a young intern learning his profession at Blair General Hospital, a large urban medical facility. Young Kildare, whose specialty was internal medicine, stood in contrast to older Dr. Leonard Gillespie, played by Raymond Massey (1896–1983). Dr. Gillespie was Kildare’s tough, seasoned mentor and the hospital’s senior staff physician. Kildare was constantly attempting to win the fatherly Gillespie’s respect while mastering the basics of good doctoring and grappling with the problems of his patients and the responsibilities of his profession. Although tame by the standards of contemporary TV medical shows, Dr. Kildare did offer a realistic view of life inside a hospital and the everyday stresses and dilemmas faced by doctors and patients.

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The show was based on a series of stories written by Frederick Schiller Faust (1893–1944), a productive writer who published over 260 books using several pen names, including”Max Brand” for his Kildare fiction. Faust based the character on his best friend, George Winthrop “Dixie” Fish (1895–1977), an eminent urologist. Faust was serving as a war correspondent for Harper’s magazine when he was killed during World War II (1939–45).

Flipper

The Dr. Kildare TV series was preceded by sixteen Kildarerelated feature films (released between 1938 and 1947). The series was also followed by a brief, unsuccessful TV reworking, Young Dr. Kildare (1972). Another doctor drama aired during the original Kildare run: the rugged Vincent Edwards (1928–1996) had the title role in Ben Casey (1961–66). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Brand, Max. Calling Dr. Kildare. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940. Brand, Max. Dr. Kildare Takes Charge. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940. Brand, Max. The Secret of Dr. Kildare. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940.

Flipper The trusty dolphin character Flipper dazzled youthful audiences with its debut in the 1963 feature film of the same name. Later, the popular bottle-nosed mammal made a return appearance in the film sequel Flipper’s New Adventure (1964), and then starred in a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series, Flipper (1964–68). Three decades later, the dolphin reappeared in another TV series called Flipper (1995). Finally, amid a nostalgic wave of motion pictures based on hit 1960s TV series, the mammal again appeared in a new film, once again titled Flipper (1996). What makes this character so appealing is its seeming ability to communicate and interact with humans. Flipper is a playful and mischievous character, but in times of danger, Flipper acts with death-defying courage. In the first film, which takes place in the Florida Keys, Flipper is an injured dolphin who befriends a twelve-year-old fisherman’s son named Sandy Ricks. Sandy and his mother nurse Flipper back to good health. However, because Sandy prefers to play with Flipper rather than do his chores, his dad insists that Sandy stop spending time with the dolphin. Eventually, Flipper shows his mettle by locating a new fishing ground and even rescuing Sandy from life-threatening sharks. The subsequent Flipper stories, all of which also feature Sandy, combine moments of Flipper being happy and playful with climactic sequences of danger wherein the dolphin battles enemies and rescues people in distress.

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Flipper is presented as a male, but “he” was played by female dolphins. The first one cast in the role was named Mitzi. At a time when it was rare for dolphins to perform tricks involving interaction with people, Mitzi learned to fetch a boy from the water and carry him on her back. Later, for the first TV series, a dolphin named Suzy was chosen to play the lead role. The Flipper character was the invention of movie and TV underwater stuntman Ricou Browning (1930–). Browning trained Mitzi to do all the stunts for the screen and employed his son Ricky to act as the subject of many of Flipper’s stunts. Later, Suzy learned almost forty maneuvers to make Flipper’s actions on TV exciting and believable. —Audrey Kupferberg

For More Information Edelson, Edward. Great Animals of the Movies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980. Flipper (film). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963. Flipper (film). Universal, 1996. Flipper’s New Adventure (film). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1964. Rothel, David. Great Show Business Animals. San Diego: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1980.

The Fugitive Of the many television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series that debuted in the 1960s and then became classics, one of the most popular was The Fugitive. This story of an innocent man on the run from the law while trying to find his wife’s real killer fascinated the American people. In fact, the last episode of the series, “The Judgement,” in which fugitive Richard Kimble finally catches up to the real killer, was the highest rated single episode of a TV series at the time and remained so until the final episode of M*A*S*H (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 5) in 1983. When “The Judgement” aired in 1967, 72 percent of Americans watching TV that night were tuned to the show.

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Legend has it that the show was based on the case of Dr. Sam Sheppard (1923–1970), convicted and then acquitted of his wife’s still unsolved murder. According to the show’s creator, Roy Huggins (1914–2002), however, the idea actually was based more on the classic tale, Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

(1802–1885). When the show first aired in 1963, it became an almost instant hit. It inspired several other series based on its idea, but none were as successful as the original. The slicked-back hair of star David Janssen (1931–1980) even became a popular hairstyle for men for a time. For several years after the show left the air, The Fugitive still had a hold on Americans. In fact, several Supreme Court justices were such fans of the show, it has been said that the story of an innocent man sentenced to death helped sway them into abolishing the death penalty in 1972. The Fugitive faded from memory for many years until the Arts & Entertainment Network began showing reruns, which proved extremely popular. So popular were the reruns that the show was made into a very successful motion picture starring Harrison Ford (1942–) in 1993. An updated version of the show, starring Tim Daly (1956–), ran from 2000 to 2001. This show was updated to include extensive use of computers and the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), technology that was not available to the public during the original series.

David Janssen as Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Jill Gregg Clever

For More Information Deane, Bill. Following the Fugitive: An Episode Guide and Handbook to the 1960s Television Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1996. “The Fugitive.” Classic U.S. Television Collective. http://web.ukonline. co.uk/craig.pierce2/fugitive.html (accessed March 20, 2002). Robertson, Ed. The Fugitive Recaptured: The 30th Anniversary Companion to the Television Classic. Universal City, CA: Pomegranate Press, 1993.

Gilligan’s Island Gilligan’s Island, which originally aired from 1964 to 1967, is both one of the most loved and hated programs in television

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(see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. Critics claimed that the show was absurd and juvenile, calling it TV at its worst. Audiences, however, responded positively to the wacky characters and the slapstick physical humor. Although the series was in production for only three seasons, the popularity of Gilligan’s Island has allowed it to remain in constant syndication (the rebroadcasting of programs on independent television channels). It also inspired several highly rated reunion TV movies, as well as animated programs and countless items of merchandise.

Alan Hale as Skipper (left) and Bob Denver as Gilligan in Gilligan’s Island. Bettmann/ Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

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Series creator Sherwood Schwartz (c. 1917–) endured a long struggle to bring his program to television. He tried to create a sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) whose characters represented all the various social, financial, and educational levels of modern America. The program’s familiar theme song introduced the audience to the crew and passengers of the shipwrecked pleasure boat, the S. S. Minnow: Skipper Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale Jr., 1918–1990), First Mate Gilligan (Bob Denver, 1935–), millionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus, 1913–1989) and his wife Lovey (Natalie Schafer, 1900–1991), movie star Ginger Grant (Tina Louise, c. 1935–), Professor Roy Hinkley (Russell Johnson, 1924–), and farm girl Mary Ann Summers (Dawn Wells, 1938–). Although the characters were more like cartoon characters than like fully rounded individuals, the actors played their parts with a lovable humanity that endeared them to generations of TV viewers. Every episode of Gilligan’s Island involved the castaways attempting to both adjust to their new surroundings and discover a way off the island. The series had its own unique oddball logic. Fans have long wondered why the passengers took so many changes of clothes on their originally scheduled threehour tour; how the castaways could create so many “luxury” items (like huts, cars, and record players) and yet fail to fix the hole in their boat; and why did they never kill Gilligan when he constantly ruined their attempts at rescue? Furthermore,

Gilligan’s Island lived on after its cancellation by CBS in 1967. In 1978, the TV movie Rescue from Gilligan’s Island became one of the highest rated programs in broadcast history. Its success led to several other reunion specials including The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). While the series may be considered “lowbrow” entertainment by many, it has won fans for over thirty years, making it an American popculture institution.

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although the series was set on an uncharted island, many guest stars appeared unexpectedly to raise the possibility of a trip home, only to leave the main characters still stranded.

—Charles Coletta

For More Information Denver, Bob. Bob Denver’s Gilligan’s Island Fan Club. http://www. bobdenver.com/ (accessed March 20, 2002). Denver, Bob. Gilligan, Maynard, & Me. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1993. Johnson, Russell. Here on Gilligan’s Isle. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. Schwartz, Sherwood. Inside Gilligan’s Island: From Creation to Syndication. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Surviving Gilligan’s Island: The Incredible True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History (video). CBS-TV, 2001. Wells, Dawn. The Official Gilligan’s Island’s Mary Ann Web Site. http://www.dawn-wells.com/ (accessed March 20, 2002).

Hawaii Five-O From 1968 until 1980, Hawaii Five-O earned high ratings as a solid television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) drama that showcased heroic detectives of the Hawaiian State Police confronting evildoers amidst Hawaii’s lush, tropical scenery. Filmed on location, the series is credited with drawing millions of tourists to the Islands. In addition, the series’ distinctive musical score, with its pounding theme, became quite popular. The series, created by producer Leonard Freeman (1920–1974), was an immediate success. Jack Lord (1920–1998) starred as Steve McGarrett, the tough and hard-driving chief detective of Five-O. He projected a no-nonsense attitude as he battled corruption and, occasionally, communism in America’s fiftieth

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state. Lord was known for his craggy features and black pompadour (hair brushed high off the forehead) hairstyle. Viewers enjoyed watching McGarrett and his team fight the Hawaiian underworld. Their most significant enemy was the red Chinese spy Wo Fat, played by Khigh Dhiegh (1910–1991). McGarrett’s primary assistant was the young Danny “Danno” Williams, played by James MacArthur (1937–), the adopted son of actress Helen Hayes (1900–1993) and playwright Charles MacArthur (1895–1956). Each week, millions tuned in to hear McGarrett repeat the line “Book ’em, Danno,” as the various members of Hawaii’s criminal element were hauled off to jail. Although Lord and MacArthur were Caucasians from the mainland, Hawaiian-born actors portrayed many other members of the Five-O unit. Kam Fong (1918–), who appeared as Detective Chin Ho Kelly, had actually served on the Honolulu Police Department for eighteen years prior to joining the program. After ten seasons, Fong tired of the role and asked to be released from the series. In 1978, his character was killed in the line of duty. The following season concluded with the departure of MacArthur. Without McGarrett’s two most trusted aides, the series seemed to lose much of its dramatic spark. Lord remained with the program for an additional year. The series concluded in April 1980 with McGarrett finally defeating his greatest nemesis, Wo Fat. When it left the air, Hawaii Five-O was the longest continually running police drama in TV history. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Hawaii Five-O Home Page. http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/ (accessed March 20, 2002). Rhodes, Karen. Booking Hawaii Five-O: An Episode Guide and Critical History of the 1968–1980 Television Detective Series. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 1997.

Mister Ed

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Mister Ed (1961-66), a CBS sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), featured a mischievous horse who “talked” only to its owner, an architect named Wilbur Post, played by Alan Young (1919–). Mister Ed,

Mister Ed

played by a Golden Palomino named Bamboo Harvester, “spoke” with a voice supplied by Allan “Rocky” Lane (1904–1973), an actor who had earlier appeared as a cowboy in many Western (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) films. Lane refused to allow his name to be used in the show’s credits; he was embarrassed at supplying the voice of a horse. For five seasons, the horse and his architect-owner appeared in episodes of the popular award-winning series, introduced by a lively theme song that began “A horse is a horse, of course, of course” and declared “But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.” The character of Mister Ed was created by Walter Brooks (1886–1958), who wrote several stories about Mister Ed in the Saturday Evening Post (see entry under 1900s—Print Culture in volume 1) and Liberty magazine. A pilot episode using another horse and a different set of actors was created in 1957 by director Arthur Lubin (1898–1995), who had directed six films for Universal Pictures featuring another vocal animal, Francis the Talking Mule (see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3). For the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series that premiered in January 1961, Mister Ed’s trainer, Lester Hilton, taught the horse to perform tricks such as unlatching his stable door, opening file cabinets, and dialing a telephone, much to the amusement of audiences and the bafflement of his owner. Mister Ed learned to “talk” using the same techniques Hilton had used with Francis. By tugging on a nylon (see entry under 1930s— Fashion in volume 2) fishing line attached to the horse’s bridle, he made Mister Ed open his lips at the appropriate moment. Lane’s voice was dubbed in to match the horse’s mouth movements. Part of the show’s appeal was in the comedic depiction of an animal having more “horse sense” than his befuddled human, who was frequently victimized by Mister Ed’s pranks. Mister Ed was canceled during the 1966 season, and the show went into immediate syndication (resale of the shows to independent TV stations). Bamboo Harvester—Mr. Ed—died in 1968 on Lester Hilton’s ranch. —Edward Moran

For More Information Edelson, Edward. Great Animals of the Movies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980. Nalven, Nancy. The Famous Mister Ed: The Unbridled Truth about America’s Favorite Talking Horse. New York: Warner Books, 1991.

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Newman, Mark. Mister Ed Online. http://members.aol.com/mwn3/ (accessed March 20, 2002). Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots, and Specials, 1937–1973. New York: Zoetrope, 1986.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood For more than thirty years, television-host Fred Rogers (1928–) was the friendly “neighbor” to millions of American children. Every day, the easy-going Pennsylvanian entered the lives of youthful audiences, dispensing advice, singing songs, and introducing them to the magical Land of Make Believe. Parents came to trust the soft-spoken host. Rogers (1928–) was an ordained minister with a background in childhood education when he developed his own program for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PBS station WQED in 1966. The show, at first titled MisteRogers Neighborhood, combined live-action scenes of Rogers in his “television house” with puppet sequences set in the Land of Make Believe. A dinging trolley ferried viewers back and forth between the two settings. Each show began with Rogers painstakingly changing out of his suit and loafers and into a cardigan sweater and sneakers—all the while singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” This action was designed to make small children feel at home and at ease in his presence. Many of Rogers’ “neighbors” made appearances on the show, including a perky deliveryman, Mr. McFeeley (Rogers’ middle name), and a hulking baker, Chef Don Brockett. Some of these actors also appeared in the Land of Make Believe sequences, which featured a puppet king named Friday XIII and his eccentric subjects. Along the way, young viewers were taught lessons about overcoming fears, solving problems, or getting along with others. In one famous show, Mr. Rogers had to deal with the death of his pet fish. Occasionally there were songs, sung by Rogers or one of the other regulars.

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This basic formula remained virtually unchanged throughout Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’s thirty-four-year run. While loud, colorful children’s shows had come into fashion, Rogers believed that children would respond to a kinder, gentler approach. Sometimes this made the show the object of ridicule. Eddie Murphy (1961–), for example, famously spoofed Mr. Rogers as the abrasive “Mr. Robinson” on Saturday Night Live.

But parents felt safe leaving their kids in the care of the comforting host, and the program won numerous awards for excellence. Fred Rogers continued making new episodes of his unique show well into his 70s. In 1998, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award. Two years later, the genial host hung up his sweater for good to enjoy his retirement. The more than seven hundred episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood continued to air in reruns, proof that the show truly was timeless. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Collins, Mark. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Children, Television, and Fred Rogers. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997. DiFranco, JoAnn. Mister Rogers: Good Neighbor to America’s Children. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1983 PBS. “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” PBS Kids. http://pbskids.org/ rogers/ (accessed March 20, 2002). Rogers, Fred. Mister Rogers’ Playbook: Insights and Activities for Parents and Children. New York: Berkley Books, 1986.

Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, putting on his sneakers as he did each day at the start of his show. Family Communications, Inc./Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Public Broadcasting System The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), is a nationwide network of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) stations producing television programs dedicated to education, the arts, and culture. PBS accepts no advertising, receiving all its funding from the government and from the voluntary contributions of its viewers. Without having to appeal to advertisers, PBS offers a different kind of programming than the major, commercial networks do. Because of this, PBS has long been an alternative to commercial television. As television began in the late 1930s, and as it developed in the 1940s and 1950s, there was tension between the commercial stations, owned by big corporations intent on making

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money, and the desire to keep some channels open for public use. Public television began with local educational broadcasts in the early 1950s. When National Education Television was formed in 1958, it broadened the programming from educational, classroom programs to focus on larger cultural programming, including arts programming, documentaries, publicaffairs shows, and children’s programming. Public television became a national, government-sponsored program when President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Over the years, PBS has produced a number of well-known and important television programs. Among its first and most famous shows was the children’s educational program Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), featuring live actors and puppets teaching children about letters, numbers, and other topics. Sesame Street’s puppets, called muppets (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), included Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, and Oscar the Grouch. The muppets became immediate favorites with kids. PBS also produced music programs like Great Performances, cooking shows such as The Frugal Gourmet, and home improvement shows like This Old House. PBS also aired dramatic and comedy series, including Brideshead Revisited and Monty Python’s Flying Circus (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). In the 1990s, PBS had great success with the series The Civil War and Baseball by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (1953–). Public television has not been without its critics. Many conservatives complain that PBS is too liberal, too open to new ideas. Indeed, PBS has at times pushed the boundaries in American life by discussing controversial subjects such as homosexuality and by taking a critical stance on the Vietnam War (1954–75). Members of Congress have at times tried to withdraw funding for PBS or close it down altogether. Although never as popular as the mainstream commercial stations, PBS has provided a necessary and serious alternative to commercial television, allowing educational and cultural programs a place on the nation’s airwaves. —Timothy Berg

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Hoynes, William. Public Television for Sale: Media, the Market, and the Public Sphere. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In In the late 1960s, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1968–73) was at the cutting edge of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) comedy. Hosted by the popular comedy team of Dan Rowan (1922–1987) and Dick Martin (1922–), this trend-setting, fast-paced, hour-long NBC show featured zany comedy skits, corny jokes, and clever visual humor performed by a cast of regulars. Millions of viewers loved the show’s suggestive humor and sense of playful, goofy chaos.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In

Macy, John W., Jr. To Irrigate a Wasteland: The Struggle to Shape a Public Television System in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. PBS. PBS Online. http://www.pbs.org/ (accessed March 20, 2002).

The structure of Laugh-In was highly unconventional. Comedy-variety shows of the time generally featured extended comic skits, but Laugh-In did not. Rowan and Martin themselves began each program with a comic conversation in which Martin would misinterpret and mangle the simplest statements or questions put forth by Rowan. The humor that followed centered on a series of set pieces, standard skits done every week, including “The Cocktail Party,” “The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award,” and “Laugh-In Looks at the News.” The show closed with the Joke Wall, in which cast members stuck their heads out of holes in the wall and cracked one liners—and were often met with a bucket of water tossed in their direction. The show featured a cast of comics that included Goldie Hawn (1945–), who often appeared in a skimpy bathing suit; Lily Tomlin (1939–), who appeared as Ernestine, an obnoxiously prissy, nasal-voiced telephone operator, or as Edith Ann, a cheeky little girl; Arte Johnson (1929–) and Ruth Buzzi (1936—), who played a dirty old geezer and a prudish frump with a handbag who viewed herself as the object of his unwanted advances; Alan Sues (1926–) as an idiotic sports announcer; and Henry Gibson (1935–), who often appeared with flower in hand, spouting shallow poetry. Hawn and Tomlin went on to become major stars, Hawn in movies and Tomlin in movies and on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). What made Laugh-In such a revolutionary TV show was its fast-paced visual style. The show spawned the once wildly

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popular catchphrases “Sock it to me,” “You bet your bippy,” “Verrry interesting,” “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls,” and “Here come de judge.” Finally, the show often featured a surprise celebrity guest. Some of the era’s most popular actors and TV personalities popped up on the show, usually to deliver one-liners, with their appearances often lasting only seconds. One of the oddest, and funniest, Laugh-In guests was Richard Nixon (1913–1994), who, in the fall of 1968, two months prior to being elected U.S. president, soberly proclaimed, in question form, “Sock it to me?” —Rob Edelman

For More Information

Goldie Hawn appears in a bikini and body paint on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in November 1968. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Erickson, Hal. From Beautiful Downtown Burbank: A Critical History of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, 1968–1973. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000. “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/primetime/pt1276.php (accessed March 20, 2002).

Saturday Morning Cartoons

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Since the 1960s, American children have concluded each long week of school by waking up early on Saturday mornings to view their favorite animated cartoon programs on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Saturday morning is the only period during the week in which the broadcast networks schedule entertainment programming aimed specifically at the nation’s youngest TV viewers. Generations of kids have grown up watching characters like Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, Fat Albert, Johnny Quest, the Smurfs, and the Superfriends. Through the years, many concerned parents have been alarmed by often open commercialism and violence contained in their children’s favorite shows. Despite these criticisms, Saturday morning cartoons have continued to flourish and even to move beyond their traditional time period. By the 1990s,

Saturday Morning Cartoons Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, a creation of comic Bill Cosby, was a popular Saturday morning cartoon show in the 1970s. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

entire cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) networks were devoted to rerunning classic animated programs, and several live-action films were produced to appeal to a now-adult audience who still held an affection for their favorite cartoon personalities. Beginning in the late 1940s, network television executives recognized the profitability in developing programming targeted to kids. Studies showed that, since the days of radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), children’s peak tune-in hours were between 10 A.M. and noon on Saturday

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mornings and 4 P.M. and 6 P.M. on weekdays. The earliest animated shows to air on TV were repackaged short features that had been created for theatrical release during the 1930s and 1940s. The first cartoon created exclusively for TV appeared in 1949 and was titled Crusader Rabbit. The series, developed by animator Jay Ward (1920–1989)—who later created Rocky and Bullwinkle—showcased the misadventures of a courageous bunny and his tiger sidekick. Although the series ran for several seasons, its limited success kept the networks from bringing other original animated programs to the small screen during the 1950s. A notable exception was the Mighty Mouse Playhouse, which aired on CBS for twelve seasons. Most of the decade’s Saturday-morning fare was live-action shows featuring cowboy and astronaut hosts. In 1957, animators William Hanna (1910–2001) and Joseph Barbera (1911–), who had previously worked in the animation department at MGM (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), opened their own production company to create animated programs for TV. A shortage of money forced them to limit their programs to the bare essentials. They perfected a production method that, in contrast to feature-film animation, resulted in cartoons with less detail, fewer backgrounds, and less fluid movement. Characters were designed to be simple in appearance and efficient in their actions. Often, only the mouths of the characters moved. The first Hanna-Barbera program to debut on television was The Ruff and Reddy Show (1957), which focused on a mischievous dog and cat. The Hanna-Barbera studio soon established itself as the dominant force in Saturday-morning cartoons. They have created literally thousands of hours of TV cartoon programming for more than forty years. Among their most celebrated characters are Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quickdraw McGraw, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, the Hair Bear Bunch, and the Smurfs. The great success of Hanna-Barbera’s shows was not lost on the broadcast networks. By 1966, all the networks were airing extended blocks of Saturday-morning cartoon programming. The content of most Saturday-morning cartoons has generally fallen into two basic camps: comedy programs featuring talking animals or humans in outlandish situations, and actionadventure shows starring popular superheroes. Another popular cartoon genre has been animated programs based upon live-action celebrities or programs. The first of these shows

Since the late 1960s, the most persistent criticism of Saturday morning cartoons has come from parental organizations and government agencies that believe the level of violence and commercialism contained in the programs is excessive. They have argued that impressionable children might imitate the violent acts they regularly witness in animation. They also complain that many programs are little more than half-hour commercials designed to sell merchandise. In 1969, the National Association of Broadcasters announced that advertisements for toys could not air during the same show on which the products were based. Many older cartoons were re-edited to eliminate scenes of violence. The networks were further encouraged to create programs that were more educationally enriching. Among the most popular educational cartoons were the Schoolhouse Rock (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) features that ran on ABC for more than twenty years.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

appeared in 1965 and depicted the fantasy adventures of the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4). Others who have been transformed into animation include The Jackson Five (1971), Gary Coleman (1982), Mister T (1983), New Kids on the Block (1990), Macaulay Culkin (1991), and Jackie Chan (2000). Among the TV sitcoms (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) transplanted to Saturday mornings were The Brady Bunch (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), as The Brady Kids in 1972; Gilligan’s Island (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 3), as The New Adventures of Gilligan in 1972 and Gilligan’s Planet in 1984; Happy Days (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), as Fonz and the Happy Days Gang in 1980; Laverne & Shirley, as Laverne and Shirley in the Army in 1981; Punky Brewster, as It’s Punky Brewster in 1984; and The Dukes of Hazzard, as The Dukes in 1983.

In the 1980s and 1990s the networks began to limit the number of their animated programs in favor of live-action comedies like Saved By the Bell, which appealed to teenaged viewers. Still, cartoons continue to dominate the schedule. Saturday morning animated programming has been one of network television’s most lucrative features. Today, millions of adults who were raised on these cartoons can see them repeated endlessly on cable. The sense of nostalgia produced by the Saturday morning shows is most evident in the many revivals of classic cartoon characters for the movie screen. —Charles Coletta

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For More Information Barbera, Joseph. My Life in ’Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1994. Burke, Timothy, and Kevin Burke. Saturday Morning Fever. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999. Heraldson, Donald. Creators of Life: A History of Animation. New York: Drake Publishers, 1985. Kanfer, Stefan. Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story. New York: Scribner, 1997. “Saturday Morning.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ popopedia/shows/categories/saturday (accessed March 20, 2002). Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits. Universal City, CA: MCA Records, 1995. Audio Recording. Sennett, Ted. The Art of Hanna-Barbera. New York: Viking Studio, 1989.

60 Minutes From its initial broadcast in 1968, 60 Minutes pioneered the “magazine format” of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) journalism, which allowed it to run a mixture of hard news, investigative reports, personality profiles, and light feature pieces. Its prominence allowed the show to feature candid stories on the most powerful world leaders, distinguished artists, and crafty criminals of the last thirty years. After several years during which it struggled to find an audience, by the mid-1970s it became the most prestigious, most watched, and most imitated news program on television. Don Hewitt (1922–), a producer at CBS, created 60 Minutes as the TV equivalent of such periodicals as Time (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) and Newsweek. Each week, his chief correspondents would present several stories on a wide variety of topics. In 1978, writer Andy Rooney (1919–) joined the program to present his own brand of short, humorous commentary. Each portion of the program was separated by an image of a ticking stopwatch, which became the show’s symbol.

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60 Minutes became one of television’s most popular shows with its concept of stories presented in a “Hollywood style” that emphasized attractively packaged factual events. Its great popular success and low production costs made it one of the most profitable programs in TV history. Much of the show’s great appeal was based on its hard-hitting investigative reports. Presented mainly by such aggressive correspondents as Mike Wal-

The show’s greatest strength came from its correspondents and their choice of stories. Harry Reasoner (1923–1991), Ed Bradley (1941–), Diane Sawyer (1945–), Morley Safer (1931–), and Lesley Stahl (1941–) were correspondents at various times and were able to deliver insightful pieces within the show’s variety format. Of all the journalists associated with 60 Minutes, none is as strongly identified with the program as is Wallace. He possesses a direct, often abrasive, style that is well suited for the show’s confrontational format.

Speed Racer

lace (1918–) and Dan Rather (1931–), the show exposed a number of real-life frauds and abuses.

An examination of the personalities, issues, and major events covered on 60 Minutes provides a remarkable window on America from the late 1960s onward. Hewitt created a format that has allowed for a varied presentation of ideas that have shaped the post–Vietnam War (1954–75) era. He and his correspondents revealed to the networks that factual, documentary programming could be highly successful both in terms of journalism and ratings. In 1999, CBS News introduced 60 Minutes II, hoping to snare a large audience for the program on a different night. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Coffey, Frank. 60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television’s Finest Hour. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1993. Hewitt, Don. Minute by Minute. New York: Random House, 1985. Madsen, Axel. 60 Minutes: The Power & Politics of America’s Most Popular News Show. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1984. “60 Minutes.” CBSNews.com. http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/ main3415.shtml (accessed March 20, 2002).

Speed Racer Speed Racer was the first of the Japanese anime (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) cartoons to succeed in the United States. The show became a fixture of children’s television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) for years after its release in the United States in 1967. The halfhour show followed the adventures of a young race-car driver named Speed Racer, who drove every boy’s dream car: the Mach 5. The streamlined Mach 5, the fastest car on the racing circuit,

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was equipped with a variety of gadgets. Buttons on the dashboard released super gripping tires, buzz saws to chop through obstacles, a canopy that allowed the car to operate underwater, and a remote-control homing bird to get help if Speed was in trouble. Assisting Speed in his adventures were his girlfriend, Trixie; the designer of the Mach 5, hot-head Pops Racer; and Speed’s trusted mechanic, Sparky. The most intriguing figure in the series, however, was Racer X, who mysteriously appeared to save Speed whenever he got into his worst trouble. Only the viewers knew that Racer X was Speed’s long-lost brother Rex Racer, who was forced to conceal his identity. The series was first aired in Japan as Mach Go Go Go, but the show was thought unusable for American TV because of its high levels of violence. Peter Fernandez, who directed the series, provided the voice of Speed, and wrote the theme song, cut out the most violent scenes, hired Americans to dub the dialogue into English, and sold the fifty-two episodes into syndication (that is, he sold the rights to air the program to individual television stations). The series was updated as The New Adventures of Speed Racer in 1993, but the new version did not compare well to the original. Today, Speed Racer lives on in reruns, merchandise sales, and fan Web sites. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Moran, Elizabeth. Speed Racer: The Official 30th Anniversary Guide. New York: Hyperion, 1997. The Official Speed Racer Virtual Pit Stop. http://speedracerdsl.com/ speedracer (accessed March 20, 2002). “Speed Racer.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/saturday/sa1210.php (accessed March 20, 2002).

Star Trek The science-fiction series Star Trek lasted just three seasons during its original network run from 1966 to 1969, but it has gained eternal life in reruns, in multiple spin-offs, and as a feature-film series. The intergalactic adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the Starship Enterprise touched a chord with millions of fans worldwide searching for intelligent, imaginative science fiction. 918

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Star Trek was the brainchild of producer Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991). A fan of TV Westerns (see entry under 1930s—

Film and Theater in volume 2), Roddenberry patterned the weekly one-hour drama after the popular adventure series Wagon Train. The show debuted in September 1966. Veteran actor William Shatner (1931–) played the brash Captain Kirk. Leonard Nimoy (1931–) played his ultralogical first officer, the half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock. Along with their fellow crew members, composed of different ethnic and personality types, Kirk and Spock explored the universe and encountered aliens both friendly and hostile. The warlike Klingons and the cold-blooded Romulans emerged as regular villains on the series. The show developed a sizable cult following, but its audience was never big enough to justify its special effects budget, and NBC cancelled Star Trek in 1969. The show remained popular in reruns, however, and as a series of big-budget feature films, beginning with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. The actors from the show, particularly Shatner, became beloved pop-culture icons (symbols) and were seen in many commercials and TV guest appearances. Twenty years passed before Star Trek returned to television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). A second series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, debuted in 1987 and ran for seven seasons, becoming the highest-rated syndicated show in TV history. Two other spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, also enjoyed long runs and high ratings. A new series, Star Trek: Enterprise, set in the years before the original show aired, debuted in the fall of 2001.

Three stars of the original Star Trek television series: (left to right) William Shatner, as Captain James T. Kirk; DeForest Kelley, as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy; and Leonard Nimoy, as Mr. Spock. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The dedication of Star Trek’s fans, known as Trekkies, continues to make the series a truly global phenomenon. By the turn of the twenty-first century, Star Trek was being seen around the world in seventy-five countries. Countless Star Trek fan clubs exist, many of which have their own Web sites. Every year, Trekkies flock to various Star Trek conventions held in hotels and city centers around the globe. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

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For More Information Altman, Mark A., and Edward Gross. Trek Navigator: The Ultimate Guide to the Entire Trek Saga. New York: Little Brown, 1998. Okuda, Michael, Denise Okuda, and Debbie Mirek. The Star Trek Encyclopedia. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. Schnakenberg, Robert E. The Encyclopedia Shatnerica. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1998. Solow, Herbert, and Robert H. Justman. Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. New York: Pocket Books, 1997. Startrek.com: The Official Star Trek Web Site. http://www.startrek.com (accessed March 20, 2002).

1960s The Way We Lived The political unrest and social activism of the 1960s brought dramatic changes in the way many Americans lived. The civil rights movement, the gay liberation movement, and the women’s movement certainly brought changes to the lives of those who participated in these movements of the 1960s, as well as to the larger social structures these movements hoped to change. Even more powerful were the changes brought by the shapeless and leaderless “youth movement,” a general trend in culture that valued the freedom and lack of responsibility enjoyed by youth. The dominant social movement in the first half of the decade was the civil rights movement. Nonviolent protestors led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) participated in sit-ins and boycotts throughout the South to protest the persistent racism and segregation in the region. When southerners reacted violently, the federal government stepped in to enforce equal rights laws. One key moment in the movement was the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., which saw hundreds of thousands of Americans—including a substantial white minority— express their approval for equal rights for African Americans. The civil rights movement became more violent later in the decade, with riots in America’s worst ghettos and the assassination of leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (1925–1965). Prompted by the 1963 book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1921–) and by the successes of the civil rights movement, American women also joined together to press for equal rights. They formed the National Organization for Women (NOW) and sought passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. Though the amendment did not pass, women did gain reforms in divorce and abortion laws and greater access to economic opportunity. The gay liberation movement of the late 1960s also began its quest for an end to discrimination against homosexuals. The women’s and gay liberation movements were all part of an ongoing sexual revolution that included a new permissiveness toward all things sexual.

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The most visible of the 1960s movements was the youth movement, which took many forms. College youths were especially active in the antiwar movement, which protested American involvement in the Vietnam War (1954–75). They protested on college campuses across the nation and formed an important group, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Some youths rejected conventional American values altogether and became “hippies,” drop outs who formed a counterculture based on free-love, drug use, and shared property. Throughout youth culture, drug use was on the rise, especially the use of marijuana and LSD. By the end of the decade, drug use had claimed the lives of many users, including rock stars Janis Joplin (1943–1970) and Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970).

Civil Rights Movement The modern-era civil rights movement originated in the late 1940s and intensified during the subsequent two decades. African American leaders had long been lobbying for the enforcement of existing laws that prevented discrimination based on race and the passing of new laws outlawing racist practices. Meanwhile, some enlightened white Americans were realizing that African Americans were entitled to the same protections and opportunities long enjoyed by other citizens.

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The necessity for the civil rights movement grew out of the reality that, prior to the 1940s—and well into the 1960s—America was a segregated society. While as much a part of the American fabric as their white brethren, African Americans were treated as second-class citizens. They remained separated from the white majority, particularly in the South, where they lived in rural poverty and their right to vote often was discounted. While the South and its “whites only” way of life seemed deeply entrenched, much of the more “progressive” North was just as segregated. African Americans across the nation lived in separate neighborhoods. They went to inferior schools. They were denied job opportunities. They could not play major league baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). They were not allowed to sit next to whites in many restaurants, drink out of the same water fountains, or socialize among whites at nightclubs. In a Hollywood movie, moviegoers would almost never find attractive African American actors playing in

love scenes or cast as heroes, nor were they portrayed as existing within their own culture. Instead, African American actors were stereotyped as dim-witted, ever-smiling servants. African American characters were always portrayed in relation to more intelligent, more educated, and more affluent white characters. In short, African Americans were the victims of racism and separated from the American mainstream. Unlike other citizens, who came to the United States by choice, often to escape persecution or famine in their native lands, the ancestors of most blacks had arrived involuntarily, as slaves. They won their

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (second from left) leads a civil rights march in Washington D.C. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records and Administration.

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freedom a century earlier, in the aftermath of the Civil War (1861–65), but the harsh reminder of their roots as slaves remained well into the twentieth century. American society was overdue for a transformation. Commencing in the years just after the end of World War II (1939–45), event after event signaled that a segregated society was an un-American society. The American military began integrating after the war’s end. Major league baseball began the process of integration with the arrival in 1947 of Jackie Robinson (1919–1972; see entry under 1940s—Sports and Games in volume 3) on the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers. On movie screens, such films as Pinky (1949), Intruder in the Dust (1949), Lost Boundaries (1949), Home of the Brave (1949), and No Way Out (1950) all portrayed African Americans as victims of racist practices. Sidney Poitier (1924–) became Hollywood’s first real African American movie star. In the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of “separate-but-equal.” Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) became a rational and eloquent spokesperson for civil rights. The 1960s saw various pro-integration and pro-voting rights boycotts, sit-ins, marches, and rallies and, finally, the passage in 1965 of the Voting Rights Act. Nevertheless, during the 1960s, more militant African American leaders—Malcolm X (1925–1965) was the most high-profile—began earning national recognition. The nonviolence of the early civil rights movement, as personified by King, gave way to angry voices advocating an overthrowing of the system that created African American oppression. Such anger resulted in urban riots and the destruction of black communities in cities from New York to Detroit to Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles— but little actual political change. Nonetheless, this rise in political consciousness did result in a generation of perceptive African American leaders who preferred to create their own organizations and coalitions in their fight for political change, rather than link up with white liberals.

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At the turn of the twenty-first century, countless individuals of color have entered the mainstream. African American doctors, lawyers, judges, police officers, business leaders, and other professionals are as respected as their white counterparts. Denzel Washington (1954–), Whoopi Goldberg (1949–), Morgan Freeman (1937–), Eddie Murphy (1961–), Chris Rock (1966–), and others have followed Poitier as bankable Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) stars.

School systems and universities offer classes in black history, and African Americans have greatly influenced fashion styles and pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). Still, far too many have been left behind, victimized by poverty, hopelessness, and the ever-disturbing presence of drugs in American society. A drive-by shooting in a housing project will often go unnoticed in the media, yet a similar crime in an upscale community will be front-page news. Among the highprofile political issues of the early twenty-first century is racial profiling, or the placing under suspicion of a citizen solely because of the color of his or her skin.

Civil Rights Movement

Michael Jordan (1963–; see entry under 1990s—Sports and Games in volume 5) is arguably the most celebrated professional basketball player of all time, if not the most recognizable athlete in the world. In 2001, Colin Powell (1937–) became the secretary of state under newly elected president George W. Bush (1946–). Even controversial, politically conservative African Americans, such as Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas (1948–), have taken their places in the national spotlight.

Finally, in an era in which change is a constant, and yesterday’s news is ancient history, it is meaningful to recall that the victories of the civil rights movement were not easily won. Paralleling civil rights progress were the assassinations of King and fellow civil rights leader Medgar Evers (1925–1963); the bombings of African American churches and the killings of innocent children and civil rights workers; and untold, unpublicized, but no less tragic events that are stark reminders of the legacy of racism. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Anderson, Terry. The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Dickstein, Morris. Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties. New York: Basic Books, 1977. Dunn, John M. The Civil Rights Movement. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1998. Van Deburg, William. Black Camelot: African-American Culture Heroes in Their Times, 1960–1980. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. Van Deburg, William. New Day in Babylon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Weber, Michael. Causes and Consequences of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1998.

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Gay Liberation Movement The gay liberation movement was an effort on the part of homosexual men and women to secure equal rights for themselves and to end the long history of abuse they had endured because of their sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians never fought for special rights; they simply wanted to be treated like everyone else is in the United States. When the movement gained momentum in the late 1960s, it joined a powerful chorus of voices from other groups, including women, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and others, fighting for equal rights. For many decades, homosexual men and women had been outcasts in American society. They could reveal their sexual orientation, but they risked verbal and often physical abuse and social stigma. To avoid this, many had long remained “in the closet,” hiding their true sexual identities from almost everyone, often including their parents, siblings, and coworkers. As many social movements began in the 1960s to fight for equal rights, gays and lesbians began to speak out as well. Although the problems homosexuals faced had been going on for decades, the spark that set off the gay liberation movement occurred on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. That night, police raided the bar in order to harass the gay and lesbian patrons. This occurred often, but on this night those patrons fought back, starting a small riot in the streets outside, and the gay liberation movement was born. This event sparked a drive for a more organized and concerted effort to fight for homosexual rights. Earlier generations had made small changes in gay rights, but now many homosexuals felt empowered to speak up even more. They created new magazines such as the Advocate (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4) and Out that served the homosexual community and brought wider awareness to their needs. They formed political organizations such as New York’s Gay Liberation Front. The AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) health crisis that began in the early 1980s brought increased solidarity as gays and lesbians banded together to fight the disease. ACTUP was one such group that fought for AIDS awareness.

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After more than thirty years, the gay liberation movement has had a tremendous impact on American society. While gays

and lesbians still face hostility, American society has become much more accepting of gays and lesbians. Television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows such as Will and Grace (1998–) featured openly gay characters in positive roles. Some states have passed laws allowing for homosexual marriages. Although they still face significant resistance from some members of society, participants in the gay liberation movement have largely succeeded in bringing homosexuality “out of the closet” and bringing homosexuals closer to an equal position in American society.

Gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk (with arms raised) takes part in a gay rights parade in San Francisco, California, in the mid-1970s. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com (accessed March 18, 2002). Bull, Chris. Witness to Revolution: The Advocate Reports on Gay and Lesbian Politics, 1967–1999. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 1999. Califia, Pat. The Advocate Adviser: America’s Most Popular Gay Columnist Tackles the Questions That the Others Ignore. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1991. Oliver, Marilyn Tower. Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Struggle. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998.

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Silver, Diane. The New Civil War: The Lesbian and Gay Struggle for Civil Rights. New York: Franklin Watts, 1997. Thompson, Mark, ed. Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.

Ghettos Amid the American ideals of equal opportunity and prosperity, ghettos stand out as a glaring contradiction. Ghettos are concentrations of people in cities isolated from the rest of society by their poverty and by their racial and ethnic differences. Ghettos have existed for many centuries in many different cultures. Sometimes they are the result of deliberate government persecution, such as when Jewish people were imprisoned in ghettos in Europe at various times in its past. More often, ghettos are the result of a combination of economic and racial factors combined with government and societal indifference. Ghettos in America began when the growth of factories in central cities made these cities less desirable because of pollution and noise. People with money left the central cities; those without the money to escape remained behind. As jobs and good incomes left, those who remained—many of whom were African Americans—had little money to keep their houses and neighborhoods in good condition. From there, neighborhoods often spiraled downward into ghettos, isolated by lack of money and by the indifference of white Americans who had left for the suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). The problems of ghettos became a crisis in the 1960s. A lack of job opportunities and political power, incidences of police brutality, and protests against racist policies created a dangerous mix. Eventually riots erupted in major U.S. cities, including Watts, in Los Angeles, California, in 1965, and Detroit, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, in 1967. These riots prompted some government action, but it was never enough to remove the root cause of the problem: poverty.

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Despite these overwhelming problems, ghetto residents have managed to produce their own unique and important contributions to American culture. Ghetto conditions produced some great works of literature, including Call It Sleep (1934), a novel about Jewish ghetto life, by Henry Roth (1906–1995), and A Street in Bronzeville (1945), poetry on African American ghetto life by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000). In the 1980s, rap (see

Ghettos remain a pressing problem in the United States in the twenty-first century, with no easy end in sight. —Timothy Berg

Haight-Ashbury

entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music sprang out of the African American ghettos in such groups as Public Enemy, whose strong commentaries on police brutality, black power, and gang (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) life gave an important voice to oppressed ghetto residents.

For More Information Jargowsky, Paul A. Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City. New York: The Russell Sage Foundation, 1997. Jencks, Christopher, and Paul E. Peterson, eds. The Urban Underclass. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1991. Kotlowitz, Alex. There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. New York: Doubleday, 1991.

Haight-Ashbury The intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco, California, is both a physical place and a symbol for the hippie counterculture of the 1960s. San Francisco had long drawn people who did not fit with the mainstream of American culture. In the mid-1960s, the neighborhood around the intersection of Haight and Ashbury had begun to attract counterculture types, or hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Hippies were people known for their relaxed dress, long hair, and casual social attitudes. They came in part because this working-class neighborhood had cheaper rents than other parts of San Francisco did. By the mid-1960s, more than ten thousand hippies were living in the neighborhood. Shops and services sprang up to serve this group. Left alone, Haight-Ashbury might have simply continued as a quiet hippie neighborhood. But in 1967, the neighborhood became a symbol for the emerging psychedelic music scene and the larger youth counterculture. A thriving music scene—led by the Grateful Dead (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), the Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin (1943–1970)—drew national attention. These musicians, particularly the Grateful Dead, established a large cult following that brought further attention to the neighborhood. The summer of 1967 was labeled the “Summer of Love,” and its headquarters was the HaightAshbury neighborhood. That summer, young people from

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A parade in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, in 1967. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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around the country were encouraged to come visit, learn about the new counterculture that emphasized peace and love, and then return home to spread this new vision. So many people arrived, and stayed, that the neighborhood could not handle the number of people. Further complicating matters was the appeal of the neighborhood to all kinds of outsiders, many of whom had personal or social problems. More than a few teenage runaways ended up in Haight-Ashbury. Because of the music, the hippie scene, and these problems, Haight-Ashbury attracted enormous media attention in 1967, which only served to encourage more people to come to the neighborhood. After its prime years in the late 1960s, the neighborhood declined during the 1970s. It underwent a revival in the 1980s and 1990s as a kind of tourist attraction that played up its hippie past. In addition to counterculture shops, the intersection features corporate giants such as Gap (see entry under 1960s— Commerce in volume 4) and Ben & Jerry’s. Although far from what it was in the 1960s, Haight-Ashbury remains a symbol of youthful idealism and alternative lifestyles. —Timothy Berg

Hoskyns, Barney. Beneath the Diamond Sky: Haight-Ashbury, 1965–1970. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Perry, Charles. The Haight-Ashbury. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1984.

Hippies

For More Information

Hippies Though the dictionary defines a hippie as anyone who rejects the conventional customs of society, in America the hippies were the product of the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The word “hippie” is derived from “hipster,” which was once a synonym for “beatnik.” The beatniks (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3) of the 1950s were the spiritual ancestors of the hippies, who bloomed as the flower children of the 1960s and 1970s. Both groups shared intellectual curiosity, disdain for conventional customs and morals, affinity for recreational drugs, and tastes in music, literature, and philosophy that put them outside the mainstream. Although the term was sometimes applied too broadly (especially by the “straights,” whose world the hippies scorned), hippies tended to be gentle people who embraced colorful clothing, nonpossessive sexual relationships, the use of marijuana (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and LSD, communal living, and a “live for today” philosophy. They generally rejected materialism, the Vietnam War (1954–75), the success ethic, and authority of all types. Their musical tastes favored the Grateful Dead (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin (1943–1970), and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar (1920–). (A sitar is a complex, difficult-to-play classical Indian instrument.) They were the core of what became known as the “counterculture.” The “straight” world was interested in the hippies from the beginning. There were bus tours of San Francisco’s HaightAshbury district, billed as “the only place you can visit a foreign country without leaving the United States.” Hippie images and references permeated the popular culture of the United States from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s. The most popular band in the world, the Beatles (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), “went hippie” with their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album in 1967. “Psychedelic” art and music supposedly allowed one to experience

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Hippies A hippie couple. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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the “mind-blowing” qualities of LSD without taking the drug itself. On Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), the musical Hair (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) opened in 1968 to celebrate the hippie lifestyle with music, dance, and a show-stopping scene in which the entire cast stood naked onstage. Hippies appeared in films ranging from The President’s Analyst (1967) to I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968) to Easy Rider (1969). They also became a frequent subject for humor on the popular TV show, Rowan and Martin’s LaughIn (1968–73; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4).

Lottery

The hippie culture gradually faded, as did the era that inspired it. But hippie images and references continued to appear. The characters of Cheech and Chong (Tommy Chong, 1938–; Cheech Marin, 1946–) were pothead hippie throwbacks in films like Up in Smoke (1978) and Still Smokin’ (1983). The Grateful Dead (1965–95) still had a dedicated following that included many aging hippies, until the band broke up following the death of Jerry Garcia (1942–1995). In the 1990s and 2000s, the TV sitcom Dharma and Greg could always get an easy laugh with a reference to Dharma’s “hippie parents.” As the Grateful Dead used to sing, “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Bisbort, Alan, and Parke Puterbaugh. Groovy, Man: Tripping through the Psychedelic Years. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1998. Brand, Stewart. “We Owe It All to the Hippies.” Time (Special Issue, Spring 1995). Hippies on the Web. http://www.rockument.com/links.html (accessed March 21, 2002). Miller, Timothy. The Hippies and American Values. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1991. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. Sixties People. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

Lottery In modern American culture, money is often equated with happiness. It is not surprising, then, that get-rich-quick schemes like the lottery attract millions of players looking for a big payoff. First seen in the United States in the 1800s, government lotteries were made illegal because they were so often “rigged,” or designed to cheat those who bought tickets hoping to win money. In the mid-1960s, the lottery made a comeback when the states of New York and New Hampshire introduced lottery games to boost their income. Since that time state-run lotteries have grown in popularity and size. In the 1990s, thirtyeight states operated lotteries, paying out millions and earning billions of dollars each year. Huge multistate lotteries introduced in the 1990s brought potential jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Lottery critics question whether it is right to use legalized gambling to raise money for the government. Some say that the

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lottery unfairly burdens poor people, because the poor are far more likely than the rich to buy lottery tickets. Others point out that there is little real benefit to the state, because most of the money raised by the lottery goes to the companies that run the lottery, leaving only about one third to be used by the states. But lottery advocates argue that lotteries pour millions of dollars into state budgets, and that much of that money is used for education. As with other forms of vice, Americans seem likely to continue their love-hate relationship with lotteries. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Are State Lotteries Stacked Against Blacks?” Ebony (June 1991): pp. 126–30. Clotfelter, Charles T., and Phillip J. Cook. Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. Draper, Robert. “You Lose! The Sad Truth About the Texas Lottery.” Texas Monthly (June 1993): pp. 118–35. “Lottery History.” NASPL (National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries). http://www.naspl.org/history.html (accessed March 21, 2002). Weiss, Ann E. Lotteries: Who Wins, Who Loses? Hillside, NJ: Enslow, 1991.

Mafia The most famous criminal organization in the United States has its origins in medieval Sicily, where wealthy landowners once hired groups of bandits to guard their estates. Eventually, the bandit gangs (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) grew so strong they were able to challenge the established authorities in both Sicily and Italy. Although most Mafia members are of either Sicilian or Italian descent, they represent only a small percentage of their respective cultures. Many Americans of Italian or Sicilian heritage resent the popular culture stereotypes that suggest that all those sharing their ethnic heritage are criminals.

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The Mafia came to America through immigration in the 1880s and was well established in the United States by the following decade. Some experts distinguish between the Sicilian Mafia and its American counterpart by calling the latter the Cosa Nostra (an Italian phrase meaning, literally, “our thing”).

Mafia

Mafia criminal activities have always included extortion (obtaining money or information by force or threat), loansharking (lending money at high interest rates), illegal gambling, and prostitution. During Prohibition (the period from 1919 to 1933 when alcohol was banned in the United States; see entry under 1920s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), the Mafia (along with other criminal gangs) became wealthy as suppliers of illegal liquor. Following World War II (1939–45), Mafia “families” quickly became involved in the growing trade in illegal drugs— beginning with heroin and later adding cocaine (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). For many years, little was known about the Mafia in mainstream culture. Members followed the rule of omerta (“silence”), with violation punishable by death. In 1963, a low-level Mafia member named Joe Valachi (1904–1971) broke the silence and spent almost a month testifying about the organization in televised Senate hearings. His story was later turned into a book, The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas (1929–2001), which was in turn made into a 1972 movie starring Charles Bronson (1921–). The Mafia’s greatest boost into popular culture came courtesy of author Mario Puzo (1920–1999), whose 1969 novel The Godfather (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4) was a best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). The novel gave rise to three popular movies directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1939–): The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), and The Godfather: Part III (1990). The first two films each won Best Picture Oscars, along with a host of other awards. Other important Mafia films include Prizzi’s Honor (1985) and Goodfellas (1990). In 1999, pay-cable channel HBO launched The Sopranos, an ongoing chronicle of a New Jersey Mafia “family” that has won both high ratings and critical acclaim. Although the Mafia today plays a smaller role in American crime, thanks to years of pressure from law enforcement agencies, it continues to play a prominent role in the American imagination. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Browne, Nick. Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” Trilogy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Fox, Stephen R. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America. New York: W. Morrow, 1989. Hess, Henner. Mafia & Mafiosi: Origin, Power and Myth. London: C. Hurst, 1998.

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Mafia: The History of the Mob in America (video). New York: A&E Home Video, 1993. Messenger, Christian K. The Godfather and American Culture: How the Corleones Became “Our Gang.” Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002. Mobsters.TV. http://www.mobsters.tv (accessed March 21, 2002). Porrello, Rick. Rick Porrello’s American Mafia. http://www.americanmafia. com (accessed March 21, 2002). Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Checkmark Books, 1999.

Marijuana Marijuana (MAH-rih-WAH-nah) is an informal Mexican term for the dried leaves of the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), often smoked for its mildly intoxicating effect. After alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is the most popular recreational drug in the United States, often associated with the counterculture of the 1960s. It is reportedly still smoked by an estimated three million Americans every day. Unlike alcohol and tobacco, however, its growth, possession, and use are illegal, although there is a growing interest in making it available for medical use. Marijuana has been reported to be effective in easing the discomfort of patients suffering from glaucoma (a disease of the eye that creates pressure within the eye and can result in blindness) or from terminal illnesses such as AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) or cancer. The hemp plant has been widely cultivated in the United States since colonial days. There is evidence of marijuana’s use in medicine in the nineteenth century. In the 1920s and 1930s, federal law-enforcement officials led a campaign to demonize marijuana (or “marihuana,” as it was often spelled then) as “the devil’s weed” used by Mexicans, blacks, and other minority groups. Officials spread exaggerated and unproved reports of its effects, such as violent crime, addiction, and psychosis (mental illness characterized by loss of a sense of reality). Much of this antidrug propaganda can be seen in the 1936 film Reefer Madness, which has become a cult classic.

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From the 1980s, officials have continued to crack down on marijuana use as part of the “war on drugs.” One out of six federal prisoners, or fifteen thousand inmates, has been jailed primarily for a marijuana offense, with tens of thousands more in state and local prisons. It has been estimated that one-third of the U.S. population over the age of eleven has smoked mari-

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juana at least once. Still, it is considered politically dangerous to admit its use, as when President Bill Clinton (1946–) famously insisted that he had not inhaled the drug. Groups like the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) campaign for its decriminalization by public “smokeins” and other lobbying efforts. Supporters of such reform point out that no one has ever been killed by smoking marijuana, unlike those who indulge in alcohol or tobacco. —Edward Moran

For More Information Grinspoon, Lester, and James B. Bakalar. Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Kamiya, Gary. “Reefer Madness.” Salon (October 12, 2000); http://www. salon.com/news/feature/2000/10/12/drugs (accessed March 21, 2002). Schleichert, Elizabeth. Marijuana. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1996. Schlosser, Eric. “Reefer Madness.” The Atlantic (August 1994); http://www. theatlantic.com/politics/crime/reefm.htm (accessed March 21, 2002). Stanley, Debbie. Marijuana and Your Lungs: The Incredible Disgusting Story. New York: Rosen Publishing, 2000.

Martial Arts Most commonly, the term “martial arts” refers to the systems of combat developed centuries ago in the Far East (the area of eastern and southeast Asia). A few of these disciplines involve the use of weapons such as swords, throwing stars, or short clubs, but most emphasize unarmed fighting. The best known include karate (Japan), aikido (Japan), ju-jitsu (Japan), judo (a gentler form of ju-jitsu, also from Japan), kung-fu (China), tai chi (China), and tae kwan do (Korea). Although most of the Asian martial arts are very old, they only began to appear in American culture following World War II (1939–45). American troops encountered Japanese martial arts for the first time while fighting in the Pacific. Some soldiers were intrigued by this mode of combat, and they brought their interest home with them. As a result, martial arts schools began to open in the United States beginning in the 1950s. American interest in martial arts accelerated with the “spy craze” of the 1960s. Several of the James Bond films (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), such as Goldfinger (1964) and You Only Live Twice (1967), showcased martial arts,

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as did imitations like Our Man Flint (1965). On television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), heroes such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68) used martial arts, as did David Carradine (1936–) in the show Kung Fu (1972–75). The Green Hornet (1966–67) featured a character named Kato, played by Bruce Lee (1940–1973). Lee, a genuine kung-fu master, made a number of Hong Kong–based martial arts films. His “breakout” American film role was Enter the Dragon (1973), released the same year he died of a brain embolism. Enthusiasm for martial arts films survived Lee. Several Americans, more notable for fighting skills than for acting ability, became action-movie stars in the 1970s and 1980s. These included Chuck Norris (1940–), Steven Seagal (1951–), and Cynthia Rothrock (1957–), a rare female star. In the late 1980s and 1990s, martial arts was marketed to children, with films like 3 Ninjas (1992) and its sequels, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series (1993–96) and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV show and films (1987–95). For adults, the martial arts star for the 1990s and beyond is Jackie Chan (1954–), who brings a lighter, more humorous touch to an often grim type of movie. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Donohue, John J. Warrior Dreams: The Martial Arts and the American Imagination. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 1994. The Martial Arts Network Online. http://martial-arts-network.com/ (accessed March 21, 2002). Martialinfo.com. http://www.martialinfo.com/ (accessed March 21, 2002). Miller, Davis. The Tao of Bruce Lee: A Martial Arts Memoir. New York: Harmony Books, 2000. Skidmore, Max J. “Oriental Contributions to Western Popular Culture: The Martial Arts.” Journal of Popular Culture (Summer 1991): pp. 129–48.

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Since 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been responsible for the U.S. government’s exploration of space. It also became a primary force in fueling Americans’ passionate interest in space. In the years since its founding, NASA has had some spectacular successes and some dramatic failures.

NASA suspended its manned flights in the early 1970s. It focused instead on its space laboratory, Skylab, launched in 1973, and on unmanned flights to Mars and to deep space. In 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle, a new method of space flight that allowed astronauts to leave Earth using rockets and to land their ship like an airplane at mission’s end. These reusable shuttles promised a new era in space flight. In 1986, tragedy struck the shuttle program when the space-shuttle Challenger blew up seconds after liftoff, killing all on board, including the first civilian in space, teacher Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986). Despite this setback, NASA continued launching the shuttles on a fairly regular basis into the twenty-first century. NASA’s efforts had a great impact on popular culture, as television shows and films came out to capitalize on the public’s interest in space. In the 1960s, Star Trek (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and Lost in Space were popular TV series. The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) was among the first serious looks at space. Some films examined the NASA programs directly,

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The need for NASA grew out of the Cold War (1947-91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), the intense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The political competition between these two superpowers moved into space in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), Sputnik. The Soviets also launched the first man into space and the first man to orbit the Earth. NASA launched Alan Shepard (1923–1998), the first American in space, in May 1961. In February 1962, John Glenn (1921–) became the first American to orbit the earth. These successes created a huge interest in space travel and made celebrities out of the first astronauts. The decision of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) to send a man to the moon before the 1960s ended spurred further public interest in space and an all-out effort by NASA. Although NASA suffered a huge setback when three astronauts died during a pre-liftoff fire in 1967, the agency—and the world—reached a tremendous milestone on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong (1930–) and Buzz Aldrin (1930–) became the first men to walk on the moon. Broadcast on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the event held the world spellbound. More moon landings followed in the 1970s, but other than a near-disaster aboard Apollo 13, public interest decreased.

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including The Right Stuff (1983) and Apollo 13 (1995). NASA’s main launch facility at Cape Canaveral, Florida, became a huge tourist attraction in the 1970s, giving tours and selling space souvenirs. Along with this interest, there were some who challenged the necessity of NASA’s many activities that came at great financial expense. But despite this, NASA continues to direct the United States’ efforts in space, keeping America’s attention focused on the mysteries of space. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Kranz, Gene. Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Launius, Roger D., and Bertram Ulrich. NASA and the Exploration of Space: With Works from the NASA Art Collection. New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1998. McCurdy, Howard E. Inside NASA. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/ (accessed March 21, 2002). Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam Books, 1983.

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) was one of the major forces in the revival of the women’s movement in the United States during the 1960s. Founded in 1966, NOW champions women’s rights and tries to influence legislation and public policy that affects women, providing an important public voice for women in the United States.

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The creation of NOW is tied to author and activist Betty Friedan (1921–), whose best-selling 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, is considered the wake-up call that re-energized the women’s movement. Friedan’s book highlighted the problems of inequality women were encountering in American society and that these problems were shared by millions of other women. At a 1966 convention, while discussing their common concerns, Friedan and others felt the time was right for a national women’s organization that would pool the efforts of many women around the country to fight for women’s rights. As a result, NOW was born. Friedan became its first president and was later succeeded by activist Gloria Steinem (1934–).

In the years since its founding, NOW has fought for women’s rights on many issues. One of the most important has been reproductive rights, the right of women to control when and how they have children, including their right to abortion services. They have also fought for equal pay and for equal access to promotion at work. The organization also sought to put more women into elective office, figuring that if more women were in government, these women would make laws benefiting women. Issues of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment have been important concerns for NOW. Over the years, NOW was instrumental in promoting greater equality for women. That success proved challenging for the group by the 1990s. As women achieved greater equality in American life, many saw less of a need to support NOW. Nevertheless, by the end of the twentieth century, NOW had chapters in all fifty states and had more than 250,000 members. Since it began in 1966, NOW has proved to be an effective force for positive change in women’s lives. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Berkeley, Kathleen C. The Women’s Liberation Movement in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell, 1963. National Organization for Women. http://www.now.org/ (accessed March 21, 2002). Rowbotham, Sheila. A Century of Women. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.

Women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem (left) at a 1996 NOW rally in San Francisco, California. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Sexual Revolution Once upon a time, sex was considered to be a private issue— and even a nonissue—within mainstream American society. Matters relating to sex never were discussed in public. The

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accepted view was that sex was an act between a man and a woman who were married. Its primary purpose was reproductive in nature. Beginning in the mid-1960s, however, what came to be regarded as a sexual revolution took place in the United States. This revolution mostly involved younger Americans. The sexual revolution was the outgrowth of numerous lifestyle and cultural changes that had been developing throughout the century and reached their high point in the 1960s. These changes date from the 1920s and the coming of the Jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) Age. Back then, sexual issues became a part of social interaction among the young. Sex entered literature and popular culture in the novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) and in the films of Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959). During World War II (1939–45), the increased mobility of men and women—with the latter leaving the home to join the military and work in defense plants— led to a rise in premarital sexual relations. In 1948 and 1953, Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956) published two landmark statistical studies of human sexuality, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Kinsey’s research led him to put forth a controversial viewpoint. He declared that any attempt to establish uniform rules for sexual behavior was unrealistic, not to mention unfair. This new idea would greatly influence modern conceptions of sexuality. In 1953, Hugh Hefner (1926–) began publishing Playboy (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3), a wildly successful male-oriented mass-circulation magazine that included photo layouts of nude women mixed in with feature articles and columns covering a range of subjects. A number of classic novels that previously had been censored were published in the United States. The novels, whose content was frankly sexual, included Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930), and Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller (1891–1980). Beginning in the mid-1950s, young people became entranced by the liberating sounds of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3). All these occurrences left older, more conservative Americans asking, “What is this world coming to?”

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In 1962, Cosmopolitan (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 1) magazine-editor Helen Gurley Brown (1922–) authored Sex and the Single Girl. In 1969, someone identified only as “J” published The Sensuous Woman. The titles of these books indicated that, first, an unmarried woman might be con-

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cerned with issues involving sex and, second, that a woman might take pleasure in sexual relations. The 1963 publication of The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan (1921–), signaled a revival of interest in feminism. The book stimulated a discussion of sex and gender roles. In 1966, sex-issue researchers William H. Masters (1915–2001) and Virginia E. Johnson (1925–) published their initial scientific study, Human Sexual Response; a follow-up, Human Sexual Inadequacy, appeared four years later. A number of sexually explicit pulp novels (inexpensive books containing sensational material) became wildly popular; heading the list was Valley of the Dolls (1966), by Jacqueline Susann (1921–1974). The Hollywood Production Code fell by the wayside. The code had been in effect since the early 1930s and had decreed that on-screen sexual explicitness was forbidden in American movies. With the extinction of the code, American films began to directly deal with sex-oriented themes and relationships. Although progressive-thinking Americans of all ages accepted this more open-minded acknowledgment of sex, viewing it as liberating to the soul, what came to be known as the sexual revolution mostly was associated with young people. Unlike their parents, who struggled economically as they came of age in the 1930s during the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2), these baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) grew up with plenty of leisure time and an unrestrained intellectual curiosity. They began thirsting for new and liberating experiences, experimenting with such drugs as marijuana (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and LSD. In 1960, what was to become the most popular method of birth control, the oral contraceptive pill, was made commercially available. The marketing of The Pill (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) and other birth control devices allowed women to experiment sexually with reduced fear of an unwanted pregnancy. In addition, many no longer considered marriage a prerequisite for sex. In the late 1960s, a couple living together outside the sanctity of marriage was considered offbeat if not downright scandalous. By the mid-1970s, living together was a common occurrence. Furthermore, as the feminist movement took root in the late 1960s and early 1970s, women became more focused on cultivating careers and postponing marriage and motherhood, while not postponing sexual experience.

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The sexual revolution also directly resulted in the beginning of the gay liberation movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). The movement began with the dramatic Stonewall rebellion in 1969. It was customary at the time for police to conduct raids on gay bars. At the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, patrons fought back against police. Gay rights activists began publicly acknowledging their own sexual preference while denouncing the shame often associated with homosexuality. Meanwhile, singles bars opened and flourished; they catered to unmarried men and women who wished to meet and perhaps finish their evening with sexual contact. Individuals seeking sexual and romantic relationships began submitting personal ads to alternative newspapers. An increasing number of sexually explicit books, films, and magazines became available to mainstream America. A small number of married couples even began “swinging,” or exchanging partners for sexual purposes. One of the unfortunate offshoots of the sexual revolution was the increase in sexually transmitted diseases (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), including gonorrhea, syphilis, genital warts, genital herpes, hepatitis B, and AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). Additionally, the sexual revolution directly led to a counterrevolution, spearheaded by conservative religious fundamentalists who were convinced that sexual openness was a sorry byproduct of the moral decay of American society. In the late 1970s, they began forming organizations and political coalitions and electing representatives to office. Their efforts—and their battles with those who believe that sexual freedom is a matter of personal freedom—continue to this day. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Allyn, David. Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution, an Unfettered History. Boston: Little Brown, 2000. Archer, Jules. The Incredible Sixties: The Stormy Years that Changed America. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986. Falk, Gerhard. Sex, Gender, and Social Change: The Great Revolution. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell, 1963. Kamen, Paula. Her Way: Young Women Remake the Sexual Revolution. New York: New York University Press, 2000. Masters, William H., and Virginia E. Johnson. Human Sexual Response. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966.

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was the largest of the many organizations that opposed the Vietnam War (1954–75) from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. It also gave birth to the most radical and destructive of the antiwar organizations, the Weathermen. The SDS began in the 1950s as the Student League for Industrial Democracy. The name change came in 1960, but SDS membership held little attraction for most U.S. college students until the publication of “The Port Huron Statement” in 1962. This lengthy expression of the organization’s philosophy was written by Tom Hayden (1939–), who would become SDS’s next president and later a major figure in the antiwar movement. The “Statement’s” critique of American consumerism and racism, and its call for true participatory democracy, appealed to many students’ sense of idealism. The SDS chapters began to multiply and membership rosters quickly swelled.

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Masters, William H., and Virginia E. Johnson. Human Sexual Inadequacy. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.

Early SDS activities focused on economic development projects in poverty-stricken areas and minority-voter registration. But as the Vietnam War began to escalate in the mid-1960s, SDS increasingly focused on antiwar activism. The initial demonstrations, starting in 1964, were orderly, legal, and peaceful. The failure of these activities to influence American policy, however, led to frustration and thus to more disruptive forms of protest. SDS chapters around the country became involved in unauthorized marches, student strikes, attacks on Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs, and occupation of campus buildings. Another form of protest included harassment of on-campus recruiters representing the military; the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); and the Dow Chemical Company, manufacturer of napalm, a chemical used by the U.S. military in Vietnam. In the summer of 1968, SDS participated in the demonstrations held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Democratic National Convention. Clashes between demonstrators and police became

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increasingly violent on both sides, resulting in a street battle the last night of the convention that government investigators later dubbed a “police riot.” Hayden was one of seven protest leaders indicted on federal conspiracy charges. The “Chicago Seven,” as they were known, were convicted but freed on appeal. In 1969, the most radical elements within SDS took over the organization and purged all who did not share their extreme views. Under the new name “Weathermen”—taken from a song by Bob Dylan (1941–; see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4)—they embarked on a course that included bombings, arson, and calls for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Collier, Peter, and David Horowitz. Destructive Generation. New York: Summit Books, 1989. Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam Books, 1987. Miller, James. “Democracy Is in the Streets”: From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Sale, Kirkpatrick. SDS. New York: Random House, 1973. Students for a Democratic Society Port Huron Statement (June 15, 1962). http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111hur.html (accessed March 21, 2002).

1970s The Me Decade When journalist Tom Wolfe (1931–) surveyed the changes that had swept America in the past few years, he gave the decade a label that has stuck: “The Me Decade.” Wolfe and others noticed that the dominant concerns of most people had shifted from issues of social and political justice that were so important in the 1960s to a more selfish focus on individual well-being. What was behind this sudden change in the American mood? Economic and political shifts help to explain much of the change. From the end of the World War II (1939–45) until the end of the 1960s, the American economy had enjoyed one of its longest extended periods of growth. That growth came screeching to a halt in the 1970s, and matters got worse as the decade continued. An Arab oil embargo halted shipments of oil to the United States, forcing gas prices to raise dramatically and forcing rationing. Another oil crisis in 1979 continued the economic shock. The automobile industry was hit hard by the oil crises and by competition from carmakers in Japan. To make economic matters worse, inflation was rising, which meant that the relative prices of goods were climbing faster than wages were. Many Americans turned inward and focused their attention on their economic problems rather than on problems of politics or social justice. Politics in the 1970s were very different from in the 1960s as well. Presidents John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) and Lyndon B.

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“Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is” (1977): Part of a popular advertising jingle for Alka-Seltzer, this catchy phrase was used to describe anything that brought relief.

1970s At a Glance What We Said: Bogue: Disgusting or distasteful. “Don’t leave home without it”: An advertising line used by American Express to remind its customers that they could use their cards nearly anywhere. Advertising-saturated Americans began using this slogan in everyday speech. Dweeb: A loser or social outcast. “Get a clue!”: A warning that one should figure out what is going on. Gnarly: Very cool or good. Groupies: Fans—usually women—who followed rock stars from concert to concert, sometimes offering sexual favors. “Like”: An interjection used by teenagers to interrupt and add emphasis to their speech, as in “She was, like, so bogue.” When combined with “totally,” it could be used to express real approval: “Like, totally!” Male chauvinist pig: A man who thinks women are inferior. This label was used by feminists in the women’s liberation movement to blast those men who resisted their efforts to gain equal rights. Archie Bunker of TV’s All in the Family was often called a male chauvinist pig. Me Generation: A term used to describe people who left behind the social activism of the 1960s and focused on improving their own souls through a variety of self-help methods.

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“Yo!”: Similar to “Hi” or “Hey,” this greeting was popularized by Sylvester Stallone in the movie Rocky (1976). What We Read: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970): This important history of the effect of white settlement on Native Americans, written by Dee Brown, was the rare historical work to become a best-seller. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1970): Though the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s brought renewed sexual experimentation to the country, people still had questions about sexuality. This book, by Dr. David Reuben, answered them in a lighthearted way and stayed near the top of the nonfiction best-seller lists for nearly a year. Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970): This parable by Richard Bach told the story of an outcast seagull who seeks perfection. Its quasi-spiritual tone appealed to readers of every religion, and it remains in print into the twenty-first century. Love Story (1970): Erich Segal’s story of the love between a talented Harvard athlete and his dying girlfriend was the publishing sensation of the year, with 21 hardcover printings and an initial paperback print run of 4,350,000. It was quickly made into a movie starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw. The Exorcist (1971): William Peter Blatty’s fifth novel was the first horror story to make it to the

Johnson (1908–1972) had led popular crusades to use the government for public good. President Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994) became a symbol of the public’s mistrust of politicians. He was forced from office in 1974 after the public learned of his involvement in the coverup of a break-in at the Watergate office complex. The Watergate scandal revealed the Nixon administration to be devious and corrupt. In the 1976 election,

1970s At a Glance (continued) top of the New York Times best-seller list. The tale of a priest exorcising the demons from a young girl was made into a classic horror film in 1973. Ms. (1972–): This magazine of the women’s liberation movement was founded by prominent feminists Gloria Steinem and Patricia Carbine. The Joy of Sex: A Cordon Bleu Guide to Lovemaking (1972): This illustrated guide to lovemaking techniques by author Alex Comfort offered help to many seeking sexual advice—and shocked others. Helpful or shocking, the book was in the top five on the best-seller list for nearly a year. Watership Down (1972; 1974 in the United States): This exciting tale of a group forced to flee its home because it is being threatened by a developer had an interesting twist: the protagonists were rabbits. The publishers could not decide whether Richard Adams’s story was for adults or children, but one thing was sure: everybody was reading it. All the President’s Men (1974): Written by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, this exposé revealed how the authors discovered the Watergate cover-up that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. People (1974–): The respectable version of a supermarket tabloid, People magazine provided insider gossip and lots of photos of celebrities, politicians, and other stars. It remains the country’s leading “personality” magazine. Roots (1976): Alex Haley’s historical saga about his family began with Kunta Kinte, a native of Gambia

who is sold into slavery in the New World. Haley’s tale followed the family’s difficult journey from slavery up to the present day and in 1977 was made into a television miniseries that is considered one of the best of its kind. Your Erroneous Zones (1977): One of the key books of the 1970s self-help movement, this book by Wayne Dyer offered to make psychology simple enough for everybody and to help people lead happier lives. Dyer’s book sold millions of copies and he remained a popular motivational speaker in the twenty-first century. The Complete Book of Running (1978): James Fixx’s book on running came right at the peak of the jogging craze in America, and the popularity of the book made the author a rich man before his untimely death in 1984. What We Watched: Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969–76): Robert Young played the title role of a concerned general practitioner. All in the Family (1971–79): This sitcom brought realistic situations, frank language, and controversy to American television. The show centered around the blue collar lives of Archie Bunker and his wife, daughter and son-in-law. The Flip Wilson Show (1970–74): This variety show hosted by African American comedian Flip Wilson featured skits, music, and appearances of the hilarious “Geraldine” (Wilson in drag). Sanford and Son (1972–77): This show about a grumpy widower and his son was the first sitcom to feature a nearly all-black cast since Amos ’n’ Andy nearly twenty years earlier. Redd Foxx, who

voters elected former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter (1924–) as president, largely because he had avoided Washington politics and seemed to be an honest man. In the opinion of many citizens, however, Carter’s stint as president was ineffective. His unsuccessful term in office further eroded Americans’ faith in what the government could accomplish.

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1970s At a Glance (continued) played Sanford, would make people laugh as he threatened to join his dead wife by grabbing his chest and pretending to have a heart attack, yelling “I’m coming to join you, Elizabeth!” in nearly every episode. M*A*S*H (1972–83): This long-running sitcom was set in a hospital camp during the Korean War and came to be one of TV’s finest examples of intelligent, socially relevant programming. The final episode, aired on February 29, 1983, was seen by over 50 million viewers worldwide. Happy Days (1974–84): Suburban life in the 1950s was romanticized in this TV comedy show, which highlighted drive-ins, leather jackets, muscle cars, and solid family life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The show centered around the everyday life of the Cunningham family and the character Fonzie, a single young man who epitomized coolness. Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983): A spinoff of Happy Days, this sitcom, set in the 1950s, featured the misadventures of two single Milwaukee women, who shared an apartment and worked at a local brewery. The Godfather (1972): The most influential gangster film of American cinema and the first of Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy about the Mafia. The Exorcist (1973): The first blockbuster horror film, released after one of the most extensive preview hype campaigns. Reporting about the film’s ill-effects on people even overshadowed the

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Watergate scandal for a short time, and its graphic violence led to new film industry regulations. Watergate hearings (1973–74): America and the world turned on their TV sets to watch Nixon administration figures testify about the Watergate break-in and cover-up. The scandal eventually led to the first resignation of an American president, Richard Nixon. Jaws (1975): Steven Spielberg’s first major film became the first film to make more than $100 million on it initial release. With a mix of adventure, horror, and fun, the movie centered on a series of shark attacks and made audiences around the world more than a little nervous about swimming in the ocean. Star Wars (1977): The first of George Lucas’s space fantasy movies quickly established itself as a groundbreaker due to its special effects and filmrelated merchandise. What We Listened To: KISS: The flamboyant rock band was wildly popular with teenagers mostly due to members’ far-out costumes and high-energy concerts that featured smoke bombs, spit blood, and breathed fire. Elton John: The most popular pop singer/songwriter of the 1970s. Of his nineteen albums during the decade, fifteen went gold or platinum, and he continued to produce songs that ranked in the Top Forty into the 1990s. All Things Considered: This cultural affairs and news show debuted on National Public Radio (NPR) in 1971.

The changing social structure of the 1970s can also be explained by the aging of the population. More and more of the baby boomers (those born in the decade after World War II) were leaving college and settling down with families of their own. They did not have time for marches against the war, and besides, the war in Vietnam was already winding down. More and more Americans turned inward, seeking comfort in

1970s At a Glance (continued) The Jackson 5: The five Jackson brothers had six top five singles by 1971. The group’s littlest brother, Michael Jackson, had turned 12 in 1970 and would soon become a superstar on his own. Some of their most popular songs were “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There.” Rod Stewart: This British singer became popular as a solo artist with his hit song “Maggie May” in 1971. Marvin Gaye: The successful Motown singer of the 1960s reached new heights when he released soul music that expressed both political and very personal issues. Hits included “What’s Going On,” “Mercy Mercy Me,” and “Let’s Get It On.” Kool & the Gang: This group laid the ground work for funk music with the hits “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” in 1974. Donna Summer: The queen of disco music scored big with such hits as “Love to Love you Baby” and “Last Dance.” Peter Frampton: In 1976, Frampton Comes Alive became the biggest selling live rock album at the time, selling more than six million copies and catapulting the former Humble Pie guitarist into brief superstardom. The Carpenters: The brother and sister team of Richard and Karen Carpenter, sang sweet, innocent lyrics to light, pleasant melodies, hitting the Top Ten twelve times during the decade.

Rolling Stones: The rock and roll tunes of Mick Jagger and the boys remained popular throughout the 1970s; the Stones also toured the United States in 1975. Who We Knew: Woody Allen (1935–): Known for his quirky looks and comedic timing, Allen has become known as one of the most creative American film makers. During the 1970s, Annie Hall (1977), his semi-autobiographical movie about life and living in Manhattan, won him critical praise and was his most popular film. Louise Joy Brown (1978–): The first “test-tube” baby. Born in England in 1978 by a process now known as in vitro fertilization, the little girl’s birth caused many to wonder in awe and fear of the possibilities of science. The process used to create Brown is now used commonly by many couples with infertility problems. Jane Fonda (1937–): The daughter of movie star Henry Fonda, this beautiful actress became a tremendously popular (and sometimes hated) public figure as she pursued her political agenda, led millions to better health as an ambassador for aerobic exercise, and became the wife to three powerful and wealthy men (film director Roger Vadim, 1965; politician Tom Hayden, 1973; and billionaire Ted Turner, 1991). A. J. Foyt (1935–): The first racecar driver to win four Indianapolis (Indy) 500 races. Jimmy Hoffa (1913–1975): The powerful Teamsters union figure led the union as vice-president in 1952 and as president in 1957 but was imprisoned

spiritual renewal or seeking insight by visiting therapists, reading self-help books, or exercising. Many people gave up trying to perfect the world and tried instead to perfect themselves. The exception to this trend was the growing importance of the feminist movement, which worked hard in the decade to gain equality for women in education and employment, and the environmental movement, which tried to

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1970s At a Glance (continued) in 1967 due to corruption charges. President Nixon agreed to commute his sentence in 1971 if Hoffa resigned as the Teamsters president. Hoffa disappeared in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, in 1975; never seen since, he is thought to have been murdered. Billie Jean King (1943–): The winner of twenty Wimbledon titles and four Grand Slam tournaments, this women’s tennis champion beat former Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973. Riggs had hoped to prove that men were better athletes than women, but King proved him wrong in front of fifty million TV viewers and thirty thousand live fans. Richard M. Nixon (1913–1994): The 37th U.S. president was the first chief executive to visit China and the first to resign under threat of impeach-

ment. He was pardoned in September 1974 by his successor, Gerald Ford. Richard Pryor (1940–): This African American comedian entertained audiences with hilarious jokes and stories about everyday black culture experiences. His performances were based on his personal and sometimes tragic social circumstances. His struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, a heart attack, a suicide attempt, and the onset of multiple sclerosis disrupted his very popular work. Mark Spitz (1950–): This U.S. swimmer was the first Olympian to win seven gold medals at one Olympics (Munich, 1972). He had already won four Olympic medals in 1968. After his Olympic successes, he became the first athlete to earn millions of dollars by endorsing products. Gloria Steinem (1934–): This political activist for women’s rights cofounded the Women’s Action Alliance in 1970 and the feminist magazine Ms.

step up government regulations on pollution and to protect the wilderness. American popular culture continued to thrive in the 1970s, driven forward by the most popular form of entertainment, the television. By the 1970s, virtually every American had access to a color TV, and programming expanded to include both UHF and VHF broadcasts. By mid-decade, Americans in some cities could access cable TV, which offered even more channels. The quality of TV programming increased in the 1970s, and not just on PBS. In fact, the networks offered a number of intelligent, socially relevant shows. Still, most Americans preferred situation comedies (sitcoms) and detective shows. Sports also remained a popular preoccupation, especially for men, who could watch pro sports on TV all year long.

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Music went through some exciting changes in the decade. Rock and roll continued to evolve, producing new variations such as punk rock, new wave, and heavy metal. Funk emerged as a uniquely African American musical form, and disco stole elements of funk and rock to create a popular music and dance craze.

The Me Decade

The 1970s was in many ways a decade of fads and crazes. Whether in fashion (with bell-bottoms, hot pants, and mood rings), exercise (jogging, aerobics), play (pet rocks, video games), or dance (disco), Americans picked up new activities and products with abandon, and dropped them soon after.

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1970s Fashion Despite the bell-bottom and platform-shoe revival of the early 2000s, it is unlikely that anyone will remember the 1970s for the quality of its innovations in fashion. In fact, many of the favorite fashions of the 1970s are now remembered with humor. Hot pants, polyester leisure suits, and mood rings—what were they thinking? The fashion excesses of the 1970s can be partially blamed on the widespread use of polyester. Clothing designers latched onto this fabric and offered Americans brightly colored knit shirts with a silky sheen, “wild” hot pants and miniskirts in an array of chemically enhanced colors, and comfortable leisure suits for wearing to the disco. The sheer novelty of the styles and colors drew people to the clothes, but it was not until the late 1970s that many realized just how ugly those clothes had become. Novelty also explained the popularity of the mood ring. This ring, which registered the wearer’s emotional state in the changing colors of the stone, became a jewelry fad in the 1970s. The 1970s did produce several important American designers, however. Both Calvin Klein (born Richard Klein, 1942–) and Ralph Lauren (born Ralph Lipschitz, 1939–) built their fashion empires in the polyester decade.

Hot Pants Part of the flamboyant, sexually open style of fashion that produced the miniskirt (see entry under 1960s—Fashion in volume 4) in the 1960s, hot pants were dressy, ultra-short women’s shorts made of a variety of fabrics from velvet to leather. The design of hot pants allowed them to be worn shorter than the shortest micro-miniskirt and still provide some degree of modesty. Hot pants had been seen before, but they had been considered naughty and even a bit indecent, as they had mainly been worn by prostitutes and female nightclub performers. However, in the extravagantly flashy climate of the 1970s, many young

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women wore the new fashion. Allegheny Airlines even made them part of its official flight attendants’ uniform. Hot pants soon went out of style and are largely considered an embarrassing reminder of 1970s excess. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Hot Pants.” Yesterdayland. www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/ fashion/fa1459 (accessed March 22, 2002).

Ralph Lauren (1939–) Ralph Lauren’s fashion empire has sold an old-fashioned Anglo American style of clothing to an adoring public since 1967. In fact, the flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City sells far more than just clothes. The “Polo” brand offers its devotees the dream of an upper middle-class past. The tweeds, tartans, polo shirts, and boat shoes that feature the brand name all belong to a more comfortable, leisured life than most Americans can afford. Fittingly, the peak of Lauren’s fame came when he designed the wardrobe for Robert Redford (1937–) in the role of Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1974). To make his enduring American style, Lauren (born Ralph Lipschitz) combines images of “new-world” adventure with “old-world” aristocracy. He is revered and sometimes mocked for his conservative designs, but Lauren has proved adept at creating clothes that express America’s fantasies about itself. He also showed he could take a joke when he appeared as himself on Friends (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) in 1999. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Polo.com: Ralph Lauren. http://polo.com (accessed March 22, 2002). Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. Ralph Lauren, The Man Behind the Mystique. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988.

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Fashionable during the 1970s, the leisure suit for men was a mainstream response to the casual dress style of the hippie (see

entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) movement. Made of polyester (see entry under 1970s—Fashion in volume 4) fabric, often in bright colors and plaids, the leisure suit consisted of pants and a matching jacket, styled with an open collared. The suits helped make men’s fashion less conservative. The suits also were a forerunner of modern casual Fridays, when less formal clothes may be worn to the office. Although leisure suits represented somewhat of a breakthrough in men’s fashions, they were considered ridiculous by many conservatives and radicals alike. Since the 1970s, leisure suits have often been used as an example of a fashion mistake. However, the suits have left their mark on modern culture. The white leisure suit John Travolta (1954–) wore in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4) sold at auction in the mid1990s for $145,000. Leisure-suit conventions, where men gather for competitions such as “Most Flammable Outfit,” have become popular events. A series of computer games created in the late 1990s and early 2000s features Leisure Suit Larry as the hopelessly uncool hero, in adventures with titles like “Land of the Lounge Lizards.” —Tina Gianoulis

The popular polyester leisure suit. Lambert/Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Adato, Allison, and David Burnett. “A Leisure Suit Convention.” Life (February 1996): pp. 18–21. “Leisure Seizure.” People Weekly (April 20, 1992): p. 136. “Leisure Suits.” Bad Fads Museum. http://www.badfads.com/pages/fashion/ leisure.html (accessed March 22, 2002). “Leisure Suits.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/fashion/fa1561.php (accessed March 22, 2002).

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Mood Rings Mood rings were just that—rings that indicated the mood of the person wearing it. At least that was the promise. Mood rings were one of the many fads that briefly captured people’s attentions during the mid-1970s. But more than just a fad, they were a perfect symbol for the decade, a time when people looked inward to their own lives after a decade of social turmoil in the 1960s.

A mood ring, popular in the mid1970s. Photograph by Dan Newell. Reproduced by permission of Leitha Etheridge-Sims.

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Mood rings were the invention of Joshua Reynolds. In the early 1970s, Reynolds got involved in a number of projects designed to help people discover their true feelings and understand their emotions better. Among these projects were biofeedback, which used a machine to monitor brain waves, and a meditation center called Q-Tran, which used the biofeedback machines. These projects did not work out, so Reynolds hit on the idea of producing small, inexpensive, and portable “mini-biofeedback” machines, which he called mood rings. They worked like this: small crystals in the rings would react to temperature and change colors. Warm temperatures produced bright colors, indicating a bright or happy mood. Cold temperatures caused dark colors, an indication of a dark mood. When Reynolds got the Faberge cosmetic company to back him and a press agent to promote the rings, they sold like crazy in 1975. Many people bought into the idea of mood rings and overlooked the fact that they changed colors based on temperature and not mood. Some celebrities were even seen wearing them, further enhancing their appeal to the public. By the end of 1975, mood rings, like many fads, faded in popularity. It did not help matters that crystals in the rings turned permanently black after some time. Although they were certainly silly, they reveal the desire among many Americans in the 1970s to get in touch with their inner selves. The 1970s is often called the “Me” decade for this very reason. There were all kinds of personal enrichment programs and therapies

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Polyester

designed to help people discover themselves. Mood rings were simply one of the crazier, if harmless, ones.

Stern, Jane and Michael. The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

Polyester Like nylon (see entry under 1930s—Fashion in volume 2), polyester heralded a brave new world of fabrics and fashion after World War II (1939–45). Woven in bright colors and strange textures, polyester was the defining fabric of 1960s and 1970s fashion. As a result, when polyester went out of fashion in the late 1970s, it all but disappeared from view. Throughout the 1980s, polyester was something of a joke. Memories of the convenience of “wash and wear,” minimal-iron shirts, were tinged with the shame of body odor and fashion tragedy. It was only with the rise of outdoor chic that polyester, in the form of polar fleece, garnered popularity again. Polyester was the invention of two chemists working for the Calico Printers Association in England. J. T. Dickson and J. R. Winfield worked out a way to spin plastics made from petrochemicals. The DuPont company bought the patents in 1950, and the wonder fabric was launched. As the technology advanced, polyester was blended to make fabrics that looked and felt like cotton or wool. Although these copies were never very good, none of it mattered. In the 1960s and early 1970s, polyester was the height of cool suburban fashion. Flared slacks, knit shirts, and “pantsuits” graced the barbecue party, the workplace, and malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3). By the late 1970s, polyester was everywhere. It flooded the market in such quantities that it lost its fashionable edge. When that happened, people began to notice that polyester made them sweat. Put politely, when everybody wore polyester, the atmosphere could become unpleasant. Polyester’s status as the tackiest of fabrics was confirmed in 1981 when director John Waters (1946–) called one of his bad-taste films Polyester. In the 1990s, re-engineered and sold under the trade name Polartec, polyester made a comeback. Its light weight, and the fact that it does not

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absorb water, made polar fleece ideal for skiers, hikers, and other fans of the outdoors. By the late 1990s, top fashion labels such as Tommy Hilfiger (1952–) used it in their fashion ranges. In 2001, polyester has become one of the most comfortable, fashionable, and practical of all synthetic fabrics. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Smith, Matthew Boyd. Polyester: The Indestructible Fashion. (Schiffer Book for Collectors and Designers). Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1998. Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

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1970s Film and Theater In the 1970s, the film industry continued to thrive by doing what television could not: telling stories that were more complicated, violent, frightening, or sexy than what could be shown to families sitting at home. Two contrasting trends in moviemaking were present in the 1970s. On the one hand, a number of filmmakers, both in the United States and in Europe, began to think of film as an art, and they began to make films that were intellectually challenging. Such films were shown at arthouse theaters (theaters that show specialty films thought to have artistic merit) and were seen by few. On the other hand, the major studios continued to back what became known as “blockbusters,” spectacular films that drew huge audiences. The amount of money spent on and made by movies grew dramatically in the decade. The string of 1970s blockbusters started with The Godfather (1972), which broke all box-office records. Starring Marlon Brando (1924–) as the boss of a New York mafia family, the film was violent, sexy, and compelling. The Exorcist (1973), based on the novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty (1928–), was so disturbing that it drove some viewers to leave the theater—but it also drew in huge audiences. Special effects and science-fiction themes were no longer used only in “B”-grade movies. In the 1970s, they contributed to two of the biggest pictures of the decade. The star of Jaws (1975) was a giant fake shark whose menace was made real by the director who went on to become a giant of twentiethcentury filmmaking—Steven Spielberg (1946–). Star Wars (1977) used a range of special effects to tell a dramatic spaceadventure story. The film—and its sequels, novels, and merchandising—have become a major industry as new films continue to be released in the twenty-first century. Black performers gained increasing access to movies in the 1970s. They appeared in all-black films, such as the action film Shaft (1971), starring Richard Roundtree (1942–), but also in films with major white stars. From the high drama of the

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decade’s many disaster movies to the high camp of such films as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), 1970s filmgoers thought they had it all.

A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange, a 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999), is a grim, futuristic tale of gang (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) violence and governmental response to it. Ultimately, both are portrayed as equally destructive. Alex (played by Malcolm McDowell, 1943–) is the teenage leader of a small gang of vicious hoodlums in a near-future England. Their joy in committing “ultra-violence” takes the forms of gang fights, rape, and the brutal beatings of randomly chosen victims. During a home invasion, Alex kills a woman. He is then betrayed by his gang, arrested, convicted, and imprisoned. Alex gets out of prison by volunteering for a new “behavioral modification” program designed to make him a fit member of society. Through drug injections, Alex is “conditioned” to experience disabling nausea whenever he feels the urge to commit violence of any kind. Thus rendered incapable of hurting anyone, even in self-defense, Alex is paroled. Back on the street, Alex encounters many of his former victims, who pay him back with savage beatings for the pain he inflicted on them. One, a writer whose wife had been raped by Alex’s gang, finds a way to drive Alex to a suicidal leap from a third-story window. Alex survives. Recuperating in a hospital, he is “befriended” by cynical politicians who seek to use his case to drive the current government from power. The fall has broken Alex’s conditioning, as well as his body. When recovered, he will be as vicious and brutal as ever. The final scene shows Alex in his hospital bed, his brain full of fantasies of rape and murder. His last, chilling line is: “I was cured, all right.”

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A Clockwork Orange was based on the 1963 novel by Anthony Burgess (1917–1993). Burgess knew that gang members have their own unique language, so he envisioned Alex and his friends, his “droogs,” using slang based on Russian. However, the meaning of the slang, in both the book and the film, is usually clear in context.

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: Norton, 1963. Hunter, I. Q. British Science Fiction Cinema. New York: Routledge, 1999. Phillips, Gene D., ed. Stanley Kubrick: Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.

Disaster Movies

Following its 1971 release, the film was associated with several acts of violence committed by young British hoodlums. Director Kubrick then ordered the film pulled from circulation in Great Britain. Into the twenty-first century, A Clockwork Orange remains unavailable for viewing in that country.

Disaster Movies Disaster movies rely heavily on special effects to recreate onscreen violent disasters such as earthquakes, plane crashes, and meteorite storms. The category also includes monster-disaster movies in which an enraged, oversized creature destroys buildings and other large objects. The golden age for disaster movies was the 1970s, but they began to be produced in large numbers in the years after the horrors of World War II (1939–45). This timing may be significant because these films are not just about averting disaster, but surviving it. Old people and pregnant women are rescued, children are lifted from the rubble, and love affairs blossom. Although their plots are often unrealistic, and the acting and special effects unconvincing, disaster movies offer a positive message. It is that through self-belief and the right moral choices, people have the ability to save themselves. As Hollywood re-embraced the idea of making popular big budget features in the 1970s, the disaster movie became an important format. Although they might seem crude early in the twenty-first century, at the time of their release, films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974) highlighted spectacular special effects. They drew in curious audiences to watch destruction on a large scale. The arrival of Computer Generated Images (CGI) in the late 1980s prompted a new wave of disaster movies including The Abyss (1989) and Independence Day (1996). A large part of the $190 million budget for Titanic (1997; see entry under 1910s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), directed by James Cameron (1954–), was spent on ground-breaking special effects.

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Characters struggle for balance as their ship sinks in the film The Poseidon Adventure. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

Exactly what appeals to audiences in watching planes crash, ships sink, trains collide, and tall buildings burn will probably never be known for sure. Hard-core disaster-movie fans will argue that they watch for the scenes of destruction and to revel in the special effects. Yet even Titanic relies on a human story unfolding alongside the devastation. Whatever the reason for their appeal, disaster movies have been popular ever since early films like King Kong (1933; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) stunned audiences with their special effects. Ironically, films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and the Airport series are credited with rescuing Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) from financial disaster in the 1970s. —Chris Routledge

For More Information

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Keane, Stephen. Disaster Movies: The Cinema of Catastrophe. London: Wallflower Press, 2001. Keyser, Les. Hollywood in the Seventies. San Diego: A. S. Barnes, 1981. Reeves, Colby. Disaster Online: The World’s Most Comprehensive Disaster Movie Site. http://disasteronline.tripod.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002).

The Exorcist was probably the scariest novel published in 1971, and the movie based on it was undeniably the most frightening film of the 1970s. Through new editions and sequels, the story continues to terrify audiences. William Peter Blatty (1928–) got the idea for his novel from a case he studied while a student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. An exorcism is a religious ceremony held to expel an evil spirit or demon from a person. Although exorcisms are rare today, the Catholic Church authorized one in 1949 for a Maryland boy who appeared to be possessed. Blatty turned this account into the story of Regan MacNeil, an innocent girl possessed by a demon and the two Jesuit priests who try to save her. The novel was a huge commercial success, spending more than a year on the best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) lists.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist

The film version was directed by Oscar-winner William Friedkin (1939–). It starred Max von Sydow (1929–), Jason Miller (1939–2001), Ellen Burstyn (1932–), and twelve-year-old Linda Blair (1959–) as Regan. The special effects were startling, with Regan shown levitating, spewing green bile, and rotating her head 360 degrees. The film derives most of its power to frighten from the sheer intensity of the evil represented by the demon, from which the camera does not flinch. The film contains both dialogue and images of shocking ugliness, but they seem entirely justified in light of the subject matter. The film, made for $10 million dollars, earned over $82 million at the box office. Forgettable sequels followed. Exorcist II: The Heretic starred Richard Burton (1925–1984) in 1977. Exorcist III, starring George C. Scott (1927–1999), was released in 1990; it was based on Blatty’s 1983 novel, Legion. A satire, 1990s Repossessed, starred Leslie Nielsen (1926–) and a grown-up Linda Blair. In 2001, Friedkin released a “director’s cut” of the original Exorcist. Called The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen, this print contained twelve minutes of footage cut from the original. In mid-2001, director John Frankenheimer (1930–) signed to direct a “prequel” to The Exorcist. The new film, Exorcist: Dominion, involves an encounter, set in Africa, between a demon and Father Lankester Merrin, the exorcist from Blatty’s novel, who was played by Max von Sydow in the original film. —Justin Gustainis

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For More Information Blatty, William Peter. The Exorcist. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. McCabe, Bob. The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows. London: Omnibus Press, 1999. Newman, Howard. The Exorcist: The Strange Story behind the Film. New York: Pinnacle Books, 1974. Warner Bros. The Exorcist. http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002).

The Godfather For decades Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) had portrayed hoodlums and criminals as solitary figures who rose and fell largely because of their own actions. By the 1970s, however, criminals were more often depicted as part of a complex and impersonal social system dominated by organized gangs (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), the illegal counterpart to giant corporations. Such is the case in The Godfather (1972), based on the best-selling 1969 novel by Mario Puzo (1920–1999). The Godfather was the first in a three-film series directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1939–) that depicted the decades-long dramas and inner workings of the fictional Corleones, a ruthlessly powerful organized-crime family. As portrayed in the trilogy, the Corleones are a family of flourishing Mafia (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) businessmen whose product is crime. They are like a corporate entity, only they negotiate their deals with bullets and threats of violence. Like any good business organization, the Corleones survive and thrive because they have outwitted (not to mention outkilled) their competitors.

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A Corleone might be killed during a gang war; another might die at the hands of a brother, in payment for an act of betrayal. But the loss of one Corleone simply results in the ascension to power of another. For example, even as the aged senior, Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando, 1924–, in The Godfather), dies a natural death, an offspring is present to replace him. The individual Corleones are separate and distinct characters; the violent, hot-headed Sonny (James Caan, 1939–) may be contrasted to the more calculating, intelligent Michael (Al Pacino, 1940–). Their primary identities are as workers in a criminal empire. At the end of The Godfather, Part II (1974), Michael finds himself alone, a victim of his mastering the life of a mob-

ster. The criminal entity he has inherited from his father, however, has reached new heights of prosperity. The Godfather films—rounded out by The Godfather, Part III (1990)—portray an America that is neck-deep in corruption. The Corleones mingle with and control crooked law-enforcement officials, politicians, and wildly popular singers whose fame rests on their ties to the mob. Organized crime—not to be confused with individual criminals—thrives in New York, Las Vegas, and Hollywood. Finally, and ironically, in the Godfather films, the concept of “family” and “loyalty” has been perversely skewered; it has nothing in common with time-honored concepts of family obligation and ethical values. The initial two films keenly mirror the period in which they were made: the early 1970s, the era of Vietnam War (1954–75) protests and the Watergate political scandal (1972–74). As they depict criminal activity as the offshoot of a certain kind of corporate thinking, they become symbols of the decaying of America. —Rob Edelman

Members of the Corleone family from The Godfather: (left to right) Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, and John Cazale. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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For More Information Bergan, Peter. Francis Ford Coppola—Close Up: The Making of His Movies. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1998. Biskind, Peter. The Godfather Companion: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About All Three Godfather Films. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990. Coppola, Francis Ford, director. The Godfather (film). Paramount, 1972. Coppola, Francis Ford, director. The Godfather, Part II (film). Paramount, 1974. Coppola, Francis Ford, director. The Godfather, Part III (film). Paramount, 1990. Dirks, Tim. “The Godfather.” Greatest Films. http://www.filmsite.org/ godf.html (accessed March 26, 2002). Lebo, Harlan. The Godfather Legacy. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1997. Malta, J. Geoff. The Godfather Trilogy: The Original Unofficial Site. http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather.html (accessed March 26, 2002).

Jaws Still one of the highest-grossing films of all time, the 1975 epic Jaws helped define the term “summer blockbuster.” The bloody story of a shark’s assault on a beach community thrilled and frightened moviegoers, establishing the twenty-sevenyear-old Steven Spielberg (1946–) as one of the most talented directors in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Based on a 1974 novel by Peter Benchley (1940–), Jaws tells the story of a series of horrific shark attacks that wrack the placid summertime resort town of Amity. Director Spielberg intercut footage of real sharks with a full-sized mechanical shark (named Bruce) to create the movie’s shocking visual effects. Composer John Williams (1932–) crafted the film’s menacing score, for which he was awarded an Oscar. Jaws also benefited from a top-notch publicity campaign, including classic movie posters featuring the image of a razor-toothed shark about to attack an unsuspecting female swimmer.

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Jaws might have been just another blood-and-gore adventure story were it not for its excellent cast. Charlton Heston (1924–) was originally slated to play the role of Chief Brody, the film’s lead character, but he backed out, feeling he had already made too many “disaster” movies (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4). Actor Roy Scheider (1932–) took his place. Richard Dreyfuss (1946–) played the role

of Matt Hooper, an oceanographer. British actor Robert Shaw (1927–1978) turned in one of the best performances of his career as Quint, the crusty shark hunter.

A scene from Steven Spielberg’s classic horror/suspense film Jaws. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

The script for Jaws was largely a collaboration between director Spielberg and novelist Benchley. However, writer John Milius (1944–), who would later pen such acclaimed screenplays as Apocalypse Now and Conan the Barbarian, was brought in to write one of the film’s memorable scenes, in which Quint relates the tale of a grisly shark attack on his vessel during World War II (1939–45). Jaws made more than $100 million in its initial release, a record that was broken two years later by Star Wars (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4). The three Jaws sequels failed to match the critical or commercial success of the original. A special twenty-fifth anniversary digital video disc (DVD) of the now-classic sea epic was released in 2000, featuring cut footage (film cut from the original movie) and behindthe-scenes information. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

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For More Information Brode, Douglas. The Films of Steven Spielberg. New York: Citadel Press, 1995. Gottlieb, Carl. The Jaws Log. New York: Dell, 1975. Gove, Jake. JAWSmovie.com. http://www.jawsmovie.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002). Sanello, Frank. Spielberg: The Man, the Movies, the Mythology. Dallas: Taylor, 1996.

Rocky Everybody loves an underdog. Upon its release to movie theaters, moviegoers fell in love with an unlikely movie: Rocky (1976). This feel-good film works on two levels—one fictional, and the other factual—as the saga of an obscure “everyman” who gets his shot at fame and realizes the universal fantasy of achieving one’s wildest and most improbable dreams. The film’s title character is Philadelphian Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 1946–), an inarticulate, faded boxer who is not so much a has-been as a never-was. During the course of the story, Rocky gets to live out a dream: to fight for the world championship against Apollo Creed, the reigning titleholder. Rocky also was the creation of Stallone, an obscure actor who also realized every struggling writer’s and actor’s fantasy by first penning, then selling, and finally starring in the film.

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With Rocky, Stallone rose to acclaim and fame in what was, truly, as much of a million-to-one shot as the plight and fate of his character. Prior to Rocky, he had appeared in walk-on roles in major movies and starred or had supporting roles in forgettable ones. When he wrote his script, he was living in a shabby apartment in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), and legend has it that his bank account had sunk to $106. United Artists offered to purchase the script for $75,000, and began upping the fee when Stallone refused. The studio wished to cast a more famous—and more bankable—actor in the lead role, but Stallone saw himself in the part. Quite rightly, he paralleled the plight of Rocky Balboa to his own life. Stallone knew that playing the role would offer him the same shot at fame that Rocky had when Apollo Creed selected him as his ring opponent. United Artists finally relented, but on the condition that Rocky be filmed on a paltry $1 million budget.

Rocky was a critical and commercial hit and went on to win ten Academy Award nominations. Stallone earned two of them, for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. The film won for Best Picture, Director (John G. Avildsen, 1935–), and Film Editing. Stallone emerged a bankable Hollywood star, with the film’s success inspiring four sequels containing similar feelgood, little-guy-against-the-world scenarios. Most viewers believed all were vastly inferior to the original movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Stallone based the character of Rocky Balboa on Chuck Wepner (1939–), nicknamed “The Bayonne Bleeder,” a white boxer selected to oppose Muhammad Ali (1942–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4), who was looking for an easy opponent while preparing for his next major fight. However, Wepner trained hard for the match. What was supposed to be an effortless fight for Ali lasted into the fifteenth and final round. In Round 9, Wepner even knocked Ali off his feet. Stallone had viewed the fight on closed-circuit television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and what he saw inspired him to create Rocky Balboa.

The most famous sequence in Rocky has become one of the more celebrated in film history. It features Rocky finishing off his rigorous training by jogging up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and triumphantly running in place with his hands raised in the air, all set to the accompaniment of the film’s rousing theme music. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Daly, Marsha. Sylvester Stallone. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986. Rocky (film). United Artists, 1976. Rovin, Jeff. Stallone! A Hero’s Story. New York: Pocket Books, 1985. Stallone, Sylvester. Official Rocky Scrapbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1977. Wright, Adrian. Sylvester Stallone: A Life in Film. London: Robert Hale Limited, 1991.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) is a popular-culture phenomenon. Originally a stage musical titled The Rocky Horror Show (1973) and conceived by English actor Richard O’Brien (1942–), the project employed an understanding and

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Four of the eccentric characters of the motion picture The Rocky Horror Picture Show: (left to right) Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, Tim Curry, and Richard O’Brien. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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appreciation of tacky, low-budget horror and science-fiction films to produce an outlandish satire. In the film, the setting is the fictional town of Denton, Ohio. Straight-laced sweethearts Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick, 1946–) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon, 1946–), who have set out to get married, are halted by bad weather. They seek refuge in the roadside manor of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry, 1946–), a mad scientist who wears makeup and dresses in women’s clothes. Dr. Frank-N-Furter has created Rocky Horror, a model of the perfect male. Other characters include Riff Raff (played

The stage version, which premiered in the Chelsea district of London, England, was an immediate smash. It eventually played in the United States and then was filmed in London by director Jim Sharman (1945–). The film version flopped at the box office and received mixed-to-negative reviews. “Where the campy hijinks [were] acceptable and even moderately fresh on stage, it only seems labored in celluloid blowup,” wrote the critic for Variety, the motion-picture-industry trade publication. “Most of the jokes that might have seemed jolly fun on stage now appear obvious and even flat. The sparkle’s gone.” Marketing saved The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In New York, the film was shown only at midnight. The late-night showing attracted a core audience of fun-seeking younger viewers who were bewitched by the film’s outrageousness, sang its praises via word-of-mouth, and kept on returning for repeat screenings. Viewers soon began arriving dressed as their favorite characters; they interacted with the film as it played on-screen, singing along with its musical numbers, speaking its dialogue in unison with the on-screen actors, and commenting on the story’s overall triteness. Audience members arrived with rice, which they tossed at the screen during a wedding sequence. When Brad and Janet get caught in a storm, some viewers opened umbrellas, while others shot water pistols.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

by O’Brien), the doctor’s hunchbacked assistant, and a pair of assistants named Magenta (Patricia Quinn, 1944–) and Columbia (Nell Campbell, 1953–).

The Rocky Horror Picture Show cult was born. The film has been screened and enjoyed at midnight showings around the world for years. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Henkin, Bill. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1979. Hoberman, J., and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Midnight Movies. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Peary, Danny. Cult Movies. New York: Delta Books, 1981. Piro, Sal. Creatures of the Night: The Rocky Horror Experience. Redford, MI: Stabur Books, 1990. Rocky Horror Company Limited. The Official Rocky Horror Company Web Site. http://www.rockyhorror.co.uk/ (accessed March 26, 2002. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. http://www.rockyhorror.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002). The Rocky Horror Picture Show (film). Twentieth Century-Fox, 1975.

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Saturday Night Fever Saturday Night Fever (1977) was as much an event as a motion picture. It transcended its own astounding popularity and served to define the popular culture of a generation. John Travolta (1954–) became a major movie star playing Tony Manero, a tough but likable nineteen-year-old Italian American street kid from the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York. By day, Tony is yet another neighborhood minimum-wage slave, toiling as a clerk in a paint store. By night, he comes alive. He is the star attraction at the 2001 Odyssey, a neighborhood discotheque (dance club), where his slick moves on the dance floor to a pulsating disco (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) beat have earned him respect. At its core, Saturday Night Fever is a coming-of-age story as Tony slowly realizes that the boundaries of his future are way beyond Bay Ridge. Travolta’s star was born the instant he appeared on-screen. In the film, with the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” on the soundtrack, Travolta is captured in different camera angles as he struts down a street with a paint can in his hand, swinging his hips. Later on, to the sound of “Night Fever,” he carefully blow-dries and combs his hair as he prepares for an evening at 2001 Odyssey. The club’s dance floor is transparent, and lit from underneath. The lights also flash, which makes for a visually dazzling setting as Tony strides out to dance. These sequences, scattered throughout Saturday Night Fever, are the film’s highlights. The success of Saturday Night Fever signaled the arrival of a new kind of music: disco, yet another phase in the evolution of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), to be sure, but an altogether fresh sound with a catchy and highly danceable beat. Back in 1977, disco and Tony Manero, its most celebrated practitioner, were on the cutting edge, and Saturday Night Fever was an immediate smash hit. During its first sixteen-plus weeks in movie houses, it grossed over $81 million— and it needed to earn only one-eleventh of that figure to turn a profit. The film was to earn over $400 million worldwide, and its soundtrack album also sold in the millions.

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The origins of Tony Manero as a character may be linked to the bad-boy teens of the 1950s, icons (symbols) of their time: James Dean (1931–1955; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) and his adolescent anxiety in East of Eden (1955) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955); Marlon Brando

Saturday Night Fever John Travolta, as Tony Manero, strikes his famous disco dance pose from the movie Saturday Night Fever. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

(1924–) astride a motorcycle in The Wild One (1954); and the hipswiveling Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s— Music in volume 3) of Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958). Manero is one of the icons of 1970s popular culture. In Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), whose story opens in 1965 and charts thirty years in the life of a high-school music teacher, images of famous personalities and events are used to mark the passage of time. They include President Richard Nixon (1913–1994) and his vice president, Spiro Agnew (1918–1996); Gerald Ford (1913–), who replaced Nixon after the latter’s resignation in the wake of

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the Watergate scandal, stumbling as he exits an airplane; music giant John Lennon (1940–1980), first “imagining” a world at peace, then being assassinated; and, appropriately, John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Clarkson, Wensley. John Travolta: Back in Character. New York: Overlook Press, 1997. Cohn, Nik. “Another Saturday Night.” Life (Vol. 8, no. 21, 1998): pp. 48–49. Edelman, Rob, and Audrey E. Kupferberg. The John Travolta Scrapbook. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1997. Saturday Night Fever (film). Paramount, 1977. Simpson, Rachel. John Travolta. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1997.

Shaft This 1971 feature film, directed by Gordon Parks (1912–), revolutionized the image of African Americans in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Shaft was produced inexpensively by MGM (see entry under 1920s— Film and Theater in volume 2). Shaft’s star, Richard Roundtree (1942–), was paid only $13,000 to play John Shaft. The gritty private-eye drama proved a huge box-office success and helped create the movie craze known as “blaxploitation” (films in which black characters’ lifestyles are often displayed in a fashion that reinforces negative stereotypes). John Shaft was a private detective hired to locate the kidnapped daughter of an underworld chieftain. With its loner hero, fiendish plot twists, and shady characters, Shaft echoed the golden age of Hollywood detective movies like The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon. There was just one twist: For the first time, all the major characters were African Americans. Director Gordon Parks (1912–), a distinguished photographer and cinematographer, succeeded in capturing the look and feel of urban America in the 1970s. The film’s funky score by Isaac Hayes (1942–) featured the Academy Award–winning “Theme from Shaft,” with its memorable lyrics “Can you dig it?” and “Shut yo’ mouth.”

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Ultimately Shaft triumphs over his enemies and completes his assignment, with little or no help from the white establishment. The plot of Shaft was largely secondary to the film’s style—and that of its star, however. As Shaft, Roundtree brought

an element of cool to his character that few African American actors had brought—or been permitted to bring—to their roles in the past. With his stout Afro hair style, ankle-length leather coat, and quiet manner, Shaft became an icon (a symbol of his time) and a sex symbol to millions of youths, both black and white. Roundtree returned for two sequels to the moneymaking picture: Shaft’s Big Score! (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). Each film placed Shaft in ever more cartoonish situations, and neither sequel made as much money as the groundbreaking original. But Shaft’s influence was felt in other successful “blaxploitation” classics like Superfly (1972) and The Harder They Come (1973), each of which featured lead characters clearly modeled on John Shaft. Eventually the blaxploitation genre boom petered out with clunkers like Blacula (1972) and Blackenstein (1973). Shaft’s unique impact on American cinema was evident when it was remade in 2000 by director John Singleton (1968–). This time, Samuel L. Jackson (1948–) played the title character, bringing the classic “Shaft cool” to a new generation of filmgoers.

Richard Roundtree starred as the tough, street-wise private detective John Shaft in the film Shaft. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Blaxploitation.com. http://www.blaxploitation.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002). James, Darius. That’s Blaxploitation: Roots of the Baadasssss ’Tude (Rated X by an All’Whyte Jury). New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995. Martinez, Gerald, Diana Martinez, and Andres Chavez. What It Is . . . What It Was!: The Black Film Explosion of the ’70s in Words and Pictures. New York: Hyperion, 1998. Shaft Official Movie Web Site. http://www.shaft-themovie.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002).

Star Wars In 1999, the film Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace opened after years of anticipation, aggressive marketing,

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Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo in the fantasy epic Star Wars. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

and media hype. Episode I is the fourth Star Wars film to be released. The first movie by George Lucas (1944–), Star Wars (now often called Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope) appeared in 1977, starting a box office and merchandising franchise worth billions of dollars. Two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1982) followed. By 1999, it was estimated that the trilogy had earned $1.5 billion. All three are in the top ten movies for box-office revenue. The Oscar-winning Star Wars theme music by John Williams (1932–) is among the best known of film-theme tunes. Phrases from the series like “May the Force be with you” have entered the English language. In the 1980s, “Star Wars” was the name given to the controversial Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) proposed by President Ronald Reagan (1911–). The National Missile Defense system of President George W. Bush (1946–) has been dubbed “Son of Star Wars.” The absorption of Star Wars into global popular culture is astonishing. Mention “the Force” almost anywhere in the world and people will understand its meaning.

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All the Star Wars movies are based on the same simple idea that good struggles with evil. Set in a galaxy “far, far away”

Star Wars

where peaceful, pioneering people are under threat from a savage Empire, the Star Wars movies retell familiar stories of American mythology. The opening scenes and story lines of A New Hope are similar to the opening of the 1956 Western The Searchers starring John Wayne (1907–1979; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Both films begin with the killing of a family and the destruction of their homestead. Like The Searchers, the initial Star Wars is also the story of a search for a missing woman. The success of the first three films can be put down to the simplicity of their message. The Star Wars films suggest that people are free to make choices about whether to be good or evil. Although they describe a society struggling against an oppressive regime, the films take the positive view that the human spirit can never be crushed. Luke Skywalker becomes involved with rebel forces, pursuing the captors of beautiful Princess Leia, confronting the evil Darth Vader, and finally destroying the “Death Star,” a huge and deadly artificial planet. Star Wars also comments on its own time, reflecting the Cold War (1945–91) between nations of the West and the former Soviet Union. Luke’s adventures also include trying to inspire cynical trader Han Solo to join the rebels, dealing with the comical droids C-3PO and R2-D2, as well as learning to control “the Force.” With the help of his tutor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke begins his training as a Jedi Knight. The Empire Strikes Back sees Luke continuing his confrontation with evil, both in the form of the Empire and within himself. Luke also finds out that Darth Vader is actually his father. In this and the third film, The Return of the Jedi, Luke learns to control the Force and use it for good. He even succeeds in rescuing his father from the dark side of the Force. Episode I: The Phantom Menace arrived in 1999 in a whirlwind of hype and excitement. Only the second of the Star Wars films to be directed by Lucas himself, it cost well over $100 million. Set thirty or so years before the events of A New Hope, The Phantom Menace is the story of Luke Skywalker’s father Anakin and his training as a Jedi Knight, and the story of the rise of Emperor Palpatine as well. For those fans old enough to remember the release of the original film, The Phantom Menace promised to bring back memories of younger days. Younger fans hoped it would add to a story that was already part of popular mythology. Many even paid to watch other films just so they could see the Star Wars trailer (preview). The film itself could never live up to such expectations. Although loaded with

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impressive special effects, The Phantom Menace has been criticized for its lack of humor and clear plot, its weak dialogue, and poor performances by the actors. When the original film appeared it set new standards in special effects and tapped into a popular need for positive stories about ordinary people struggling against market forces and so-called big government. By 2001, Star Wars had become far more than just a science-fiction adventure. It had inspired award-winning computer games, a best-selling series of books, a growing collectors’ market in toys, and many Web sites. Blockbuster movies like Independence Day (1996) have been inspired by the “look” of the Star Wars films. With two further episodes to run, including Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), Lucas’s Star Wars empire looks set to continue its domination of popular science fiction well into the twenty-first century. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Edwards, Ted. The Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium: The Complete Guide to the Movies, Comic Books, Novels and More. Boston: Little Brown, 1999. Jenkins, Garry. Empire Building: The Remarkable Real-Life Story of Star Wars. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1999. Sansweet, Stephen J., and Timothy Zahn. Star Wars Encyclopedia. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998. Slavicsek, Bill. A Guide to the Star Wars Universe. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 2000. Star Wars. http://www.starwars.com (accessed on March 26, 2002).

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1970s Music Musically, the 1970s was a decade of great variety. Hard rock got harder, soft rock got softer, and artists frustrated with standard musical forms tossed them aside and started their own. For fans of such new forms as funk, disco, punk, or new wave music, this innovation was wonderful. But others hated the music. Groups formed to express their hatred of disco. Some thought that punk culture was the sign of the downfall of civilization. Hard rock had emerged in the 1960s as a way of protecting the angry and rebellious spirit of rock and roll. In the 1970s, musicians like KISS, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Alice Cooper (1948–) took hard rock in different directions. KISS was less famous for its music than for its outrageous costumes and explosive stage shows, and they blazed the way for rock as spectacle. Led Zeppelin inspired a cult following, encouraged by the band’s hard-living reputation and its almost mystical lyrics. Rock got softer in the 1970s as well, thanks to performers like the Carpenters, Barry Manilow (1946–), the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the Swedish group ABBA, the most successful pop group of the 1970s. Although mocked by youths, their hits were played more widely on adult radio stations. In punk and new wave music, rock split off in other directions. Punk music was an expression of the punk subculture, which protested the dullness and uniformity of society. Played by bands like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash, the music was loud, fast, and angry. New wave bands like the Talking Heads, the Pretenders, and the Cars also engaged in cultural commentary, but with a wry sense of humor and much more polished playing. New wave music—later called alternative music—grew to be an important if somewhat hard-to-define branch of rock music. Combining rock, rhythm and blues (R&B), jazz, and soul, funk music was an African American musical form that came to be associated with “Black Pride” and the civil rights movement. Its most famous practitioners were James Brown (1933–),

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Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999). Disco emerged out of funk in the late 1970s, as white and black bands combined funk and rock in order to make popular dance music. Like punk, disco was both a music and a culture. Disco featured flashy dance moves, mirror ball lights, and silk shirts. The music and culture of disco were captured in the 1977 hit film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta (1954–). Hard-rock fans so hated disco that in Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois, they engaged in open protests against disco. Such was the era of the 1970s, where musical styles often clashed.

Disco Disco holds the distinction of being one of the most popular, and most hated, musical styles in the history of pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). When it emerged in dance clubs in the middle of the 1970s, many people could not resist the steady pulse of its beat, and they hit the dance floors in droves. More than just a new kind of music, disco created new styles in fashion and dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), and it defined the glitzy nightclub life popular in American cities, especially at such clubs as Studio 54 in New York City, in the 1970s. Although many embraced the positive messages in the music, others feared that disco’s focus on dancing, and not on the key rock themes of rebellion and personal expression, signaled the death of pop and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music.

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The sound of disco emerged in the mid-1970s in such hits as “The Hustle” (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) by Van McCoy (c. 1940–1979). “The Hustle,” propelled by a prominent bass guitar and a steady drum beat, combined elements of soul and funk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) music. As the sound caught on, both on radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) and in dance clubs, disco became more prominent. That sound went hand in hand with changes in dance clubs. Many clubs added lights that flashed along with the beat of the music, mirror balls that sent spots of light spinning around the room, and smoke machines that added a dramatic effect. Disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s— Music in volume 3) controlled the music and worked the crowds

Disco A couple disco dancing under a disco ball. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

into a frenzy. Groups such as Kool and the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band, and The Village People, and individual artists such as Donna Summer (1948–), Gloria Gaynor (1949–), and Alicia Bridges (1953–) had numerous disco hits. Disco’s biggest success came with the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4), starring John Travolta (1954–), and featuring disco music by the Bee Gees and other groups. The Bee Gees had huge hits with “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” and “Night Fever.” The Saturday Night Fever songs seemed to be on every radio station in 1977.

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Saturday Night Fever was disco’s high point, but by 1979 the sound began to grow tiresome in many people’s minds. Classic rock sounds began to push more disco music off the airwaves, and new forms of rock music, punk (see entry under 1970s— Music in volume 4) and new wave, reenergized the original spirit of rock music that many felt disco ignored. Although disco’s popularity was at its height between 1975 and 1979, it continues to enjoy a solid fan base in dance clubs worldwide, a testament to people’s love of a good dance beat and a good time. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Andriote, John-Manuel. Hot Stuff : A Brief History of Disco. New York: Harper, 2001. Haden-Guest, Anthony. The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night. New York: William Morrow, 1997. Jones, Alan, and Jussi Kantonen. Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco. New York: A. Cappella Books, 2000. Lopez, Bernard F. Disco Music.com. http://www.discomusic.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002). Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980.

Funk Funk is a style of music that emerged out of the African American community in the early 1970s. It represents a chapter in the long evolution of black music beginning with blues (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2) and jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) and continuing to gospel, rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), and soul. Like these other forms of music, funk was an expression of black popular culture that sought to recapture the essentials of the black music experience away from a watereddown version that was marketed more to whites than to blacks.

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Funk’s immediate predecessor was soul music. As soul music matured in the mid-1960s, some black performers began experimenting with a new sound that relied on heavy bass rhythms and drum beats. The most important of these innovators was James Brown (1933–). Known as the “Godfather of Soul,” Brown is also widely acknowledged as the father of funk music. As Brown’s style evolved from a more gospel-influenced soul

The Hustle

style to a harder-edged rhythmic style, funk was born. The term “funk” was one that he used in such songs as “Funky Drummer” and others. The word referred to sexual activity but also to a general attitude that was both tough and full of style. By the late 1960s, funk was emerging as a tougher, rougher cousin to soul music. Funk’s years of popularity came in the 1970s. Funk, like most great musical styles, proved that it could move in many different directions at once. Parliament/Funkadelic, led by George Clinton (1941–), produced a version of funk that incorporated elements of black science fiction in such albums as Mothership Connection with down and dirty funk in such songs as “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” and “One Nation Under a Groove.” Kool & the Gang produced a more danceable style in songs such as “Jungle Boogie,” as did the Commodores with their hit “Brick House.” Earth Wind & Fire offered a more polished version of funk. Style was also an important element in funk, with Clinton’s outrageous and futuristic costumes and Earth Wind & Fire’s mixture of vaguely ancient Egyptian and African styles. Live funk shows were always big productions full of visual spectacles as well as great music. While funk continued as a style throughout the 1980s and 1990s and beyond, its heyday ended with the rise of disco in the late 1970s. —Timothy Berg

For More Information George, Nelson. The Death of Rhythm and Blues. New York: Plume, 1988. McEwen, Joe. “Funk.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Various Artists. Millenium Funk Party. Rhino Records, 1998. CD. Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of the One. New York: St. Martins/Griffin, 1986.

The Hustle The Hustle—also commonly known as the Latin Hustle—is an energetic, ballroom-style dance that was wildly popular in the mid- and late-1970s, at the height of the disco music (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) craze. The origins of the dance are imprecise, but its evolution can be traced to the sounds of salsa and swing music. The Hustle incorporated the hip motion

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The Hustle A quick, seven-step instruction on how to dance the Hustle. Sketch by Jim Hummel. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

employed in salsa with the footwork of swing music. Ultimately, its movements consisted of plenty of spins and rhythmic footwork, and it was danced to a hard-driving disco beat.

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One evening during the mid-1970s, veteran music arranger, writer, and producer Van McCoy (c. 1940–1979) visited Adam’s Apple, a New York City disco, where he saw the dance being performed. McCoy was inspired to compose “The Hustle,” an instrumental that became one of the era’s disco anthems. In July 1975, “The Hustle” hit Number One on the pop music charts.

—Rob Edelman

KISS

Eventually, it sold ten million copies, and earned a 1975 Grammy Award as Best Pop Instrumental.

For More Information “Hustle.” U.S. Swing Dance Server. http://www.swingcraze.com/ussds/ Hustle/hustle.html (accessed March 27, 2002). Shell, Niel. Hustle. Pearl River, NY: Nyemchek’s Dance Centre, 1999.

KISS With their outlandish costumes, full makeup, and theatrical stage shows, the rock group KISS took rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and theater, mixed it together, and sold millions of records and concert tickets. They also took the marketing of rock music to new levels. Along the way, they also made some solid hard-rock records. Among the numerous hard-rock acts in the 1970s, KISS had the most extensive and devoted following. Formed in 1973, the group consisted of bassist Gene Simmons (1949–), guitarist Paul Stanley (1952–), drummer Peter Criss (1945–), and guitarist Ace Frehley (1951–). Their first album, KISS, came out in February 1974. It was reasonably successful, and the band toured constantly and developed their fan base. Their success came mostly from their theatrical stage shows. By the early 1970s, music fans were tiring of going to concerts simply to see their favorite performers in person; now many fans wanted a spectacular stage show. Artists such as Alice Cooper (1948–), David Bowie (1947–), and KISS responded with ever more elaborate stage productions. KISS took this concept the furthest. They never appeared in public without full makeup, and their shows featured dry ice, blood spitting, dramatic lighting, explosions, and fire breathing. At these shows and on their records, KISS played straight-ahead rock and roll. Their songs “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Calling Dr. Love,” and “Hard Luck Woman” were minor rock classics. They even scored a top-ten hit in 1976 with their rock ballad “Beth.” KISS capitalized on their success with some clever marketing gimmicks. In the late 1970s, there were KISS dolls, lunch boxes, pinball machines, comic books, and literally hundreds of other items of KISS merchandise. They also had an animated cartoon special, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978).

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The rock group KISS poses in its customary eccentric costumes and makeup: (clockwise from upper left) Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, and Paul Stanley. AP/Wide World Photo. Reproduced by permission.

Their classic period ended in the early 1980s when Peter Criss and Ace Frehley left the band; two drummers followed Criss and three guitarists followed Frehley before both returned to the band in 1996. KISS gave up their makeup in 1983 and continued to tour and make albums; when Criss and Frehley returned, so did the makeup. —Timothy Berg

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Bangs, Lester. “Heavy Metal.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980.

Led Zeppelin

KISS. Introduction by Sylvie Simmons. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997. KISS On Line. http://www.kissonline.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Kitts, Jeff. KISStory. Los Angeles: KISStory, 1994. Lendt, C. K. KISS and Sell: The Making of a Supergroup. New York: Billboard Books, 1997.

Led Zeppelin One of the most popular rock groups of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin combined strong roots in blues (see entry under 1920s— Music in volume 2) music with a harder-edged rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) sound. This combination set the stage for the development of heavy metal (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music. More than this, they brought new elements into rock music, including British folk, Celtic mythology, and mysticism. A series of popular albums and phenomenally successful tours made Led Zeppelin a major presence in rock music during the 1970s. The group’s origins were not in the 1970s but in the bluesrock revival in Britain during the late 1960s. Guitarist Jimmy Page (1944–) was a member of the popular group the Yardbirds just before they broke up. He recruited singer Robert Plant (1948–), bassist John Paul Jones (1946–), and drummer John Bonham (1948–1980). Together they recorded their first album Led Zeppelin in late 1968 and released it in January 1969. Rooted in blues forms, the album’s songs took the blues in new and harder directions, with crunching power chords, hot solos, and Plant’s powerful vocals. Songs such as “Communication Breakdown,” “Good Times, Bad Times,” and “Dazed and Confused” set the tone for a new era in rock. The band continued their success with the albums Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III, and Led Zeppelin IV. Songs such as “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock and Roll” continued their heavy guitar rock, but they also showed a softer side with such songs as “Going to California” and “The Rain Song.” They also had a huge hit with their anthem “Stairway to Heaven,” a song that quickly became a rock standard. The death of drummer John Bonham, who choked on his own vomit after a drinking binge in September of 1980, proved the end of the band. The remaining members pursued various solo projects thereafter. They reunited for single shows, including

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Live Aid (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) in 1985. In 1994, Page and Plant appeared on Unplugged, an MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) program featuring acoustic music. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Cole, Richard. Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Davis, Stephen. Hammer of the Gods. New York: Boulevard Books, 1997. Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin. Atlantic Records CD Boxed Set, 1990. Led-Zeppelin.com: Electric Image. http://www.led-zeppelin.com/index2. html (accessed March 27, 2002). Miller, Jim. “Led Zeppelin.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980.

Barry Manilow (1946–) In the 1970s, Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus) became popular for his melodic romantic songs and intimate singing style. “Serious” music critics mocked him for his audience of middle-aged women. His boy-next-door appearance made him the target of cruel jokes. But Manilow sold records by the millions. Songs such as “Mandy” and “Copacabana” had huge chart success. Never exactly a groundbreaking artist, Manilow always entertained his loyal audience with easy-listening romantic pop. After attending the New York College of Music and the Juilliard School in the 1960s, Brooklyn-born Manilow proved himself an all-round music professional. He began his career as a composer and arranger of commercials for such products as Dr. Pepper and Band-Aid and also sang on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1). Since the height of his fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he has concentrated on his great passion, the show tunes of the 1930s and 1940s. —Chris Routledge

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Barry Net: The Official Site of the Barry Manilow International Fan Club. http://www.barrynet.com (accessed March 26, 2002). Peters, Richard. Barry Manilow: An Illustrated Biography. New York: Delilah Books, 1983.

Punk

Punk In the mid-1970s, at a time when pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) was dominated by soft-rock singersongwriters and disco (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), punk rock burst forth with an angry snarl that reawakened the original rebellious spirit of rock and roll. Like rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) in the mid-1950s, punk in the mid-1970s was more than a musical style. It was a new musical style, a new fashion style, a new attitude of political and cultural awareness and criticism, and a new lifestyle. Like early rock, punk challenged both American and British society. Love it or hate it, punk was not easy to ignore. It was an in-your-face movement that demanded to be heard. Punk influenced music and fashion far beyond its core supporters. The first punk band was the Ramones, formed in 1974 in New York City. The Ramones reduced rock to its original elements of guitar, bass, drums, and singer. They played fast and furious in short songs such as I Wanna Be Sedated and Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment. These songs often commented, sometimes in a humorous way, on the darker side of life. Their energy, creativity, and pure power as a group inspired a whole host of punk bands in the United States and in Great Britain. Both New York and Los Angeles were key centers of punk music and style, producing influential punk bands such as Black Flag, X, and The Minutemen. In Britain, the Sex Pistols (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) became the most notorious of punk bands with their antiauthoritarian lyrics, their playing style that bordered on chaotic, and their boisterous live shows. Their personal behavior, including the death of bassist Sid Vicious (1957–1979) from a drug overdose in 1979, added to their notoriety. Although the Sex Pistols folded in 1979, the British punk scene lived on in such bands as the Clash, known for their Marxist politics and for pushing punk in new, more musical directions in such albums as London Calling (1979) and Sandinista (1980). The heyday of the punk movement was largely over by the early 1980s. Many of the original punk bands, including the Ramones, carried on the tradition for many years thereafter. Punk music also influenced other musical trends, most notably new wave music in the late 1970s and early 1980s and in later bands such as Sonic Youth and Green Day. Punk also had an

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influence on fashion trends. Although that impact has largely passed, in most large cities one can usually find punk bands and punk fans sporting the original punk leather jackets, boots, and mohawk hairstyles. (A mohawk is a narrow strip of hair, usually styled to stick straight up, running from the front to the back of the head. It is created by shaving the hair on the sides of the head.) More important than these fashion trends, punk served to energize rock music at a time when many believed it badly needed it. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Boot, Adrian, and Chris Salewicz. Punk: The Illustrated History of a Music Revolution. New York: Penguin Studio, 1997. Haimes, Ted, writer, producer, and director. The History of Rock ’n’ Roll: Punk (video). Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 1995. Laing, Dave. One-Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1985. McNeil, Legs, and Gillian McCain. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. New York: Grove Press, 1996. Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Punkmusic.com. http://www.punkmusic.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002).

Sex Pistols Although their life as a punk band lasted just a few years in the late 1970s, the Sex Pistols had a lasting impact on both punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) music and music in general. As a leading group in the British punk scene, the Sex Pistols combined the raw sound of loud guitars, bass, drums, and snarling vocals with an aggressive attitude that challenged conventional society and bordered on anarchy (denial of the authority of a government or an established society).

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Formed in late 1975 by boutique owner Malcolm McLaren (1946–), the band consisted of guitarist Steve Jones (1955–), bassist Glen Matlock (1956–), drummer Paul Cook (1956–), and singer John Lydon (1956–), who went by the name Johnny Rotten. Matlock was later replaced on bass by Sid Vicious (John Simon Richie, 1957–1979). In November 1976, they released their first single, “Anarchy in the U.K.” Their sound was abrasive. When combined with Rotten’s lyrics, which confronted British society, the band attracted immediate attention, not all

Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the influential punk band the Sex Pistols, screams out a song on stage. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

of it positive. The band even attacked the British queen herself in the song “God Save the Queen.” Although they had legions of fans among young people, the Sex Pistols’ music was soon banned by British authorities, which only added to their bad reputation and thus their fame. They released only one album, Never Mind the Bullocks, in 1977. They toured the United States in January 1978, a tour that lasted only fourteen days. The pressures of stardom and notoriety and their own chaotic behavior proved too much for the group. Bassist Vicious was indicted for the murder of his girlfriend, and he died of a drug overdose in 1979. Rotten, reborn in the form of his real name, John Lydon, formed his own band, Public Image Ltd. Although the Sex Pistols’ time as a band was short, their impact has been long lasting. They were not the best musicians, nor did they produce a great quantity or variety of music, but they inspired countless punk bands to form in Britain. Their one album reduced rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) to its bare essentials and restored its early spirit of

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rebellion and youthful anger. More importantly, their attitude of rebellion fit the mood of British youth culture in the late 1970s as good jobs became harder to find. That same attitude proved immensely appealing to many young people in the United States, and the Sex Pistols had a large following there as well. Long gone though they may be, the band’s work remains a hallmark in the history of rock and roll. —Timothy Berg

For More Information God Save the Sex Pistols. http://www.sex-pistols.net/ (accessed March 26, 2002). Marcus, Greil. “Anarchy in the U.K.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Edited by Jim Miller. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. McNeil, Legs, and Gillian McCain. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. New York: Grove Press, 1996. Savage, John. England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992. Temple, Julien, director. The Filth and the Fury (video). Los Angeles: New Line Home Video, 2000.

Walkman The Sony Walkman is one of the most successful electronic products of all time. After the introduction of the Philips compact cassette in 1963, by the 1970s the size of a cassette player had settled at about the size of a trade paperback. The truth was that nobody really saw the need to make it any smaller. So when Sony introduced the pocket-sized Soundabout, later called the Walkman, it seemed a clever concept that would never catch on. Unlike other cassette players in 1979, the Soundabout had no loudspeaker, delivering sound through stereo headphones. Even Sony’s marketing department did not expect it to sell. Although the Japanese liked it, in the United States consumers were put off by the $200 price tag.

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The Walkman II, introduced in 1981, was smaller, simpler, and much cheaper. Within a couple of years other manufacturers had entered the market. Whatever they called their products officially, competitors’ cassette players were known as “Walkman” by the people who bought them. As the 1980s progressed, the machines became smaller and cheaper while sound quality

improved. Sony sold more than fifty million units of the Walkman in the first ten years, and almost thirty million every year in the 1990s. By 1990, the range of products offered included waterproof and shock-resistant versions as well as models that were barely bigger than the cassette tape itself. Portable compact disc (CD; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) and Minidisc players continued the Walkman tradition in the late 1990s, but neither has had the impact of the Walkman itself. The Walkman was not only a major technological advancement but a cultural one as well. It broke all the unwritten rules about the size of consumer products and changed the way people listened to music. It spawned a rash of compilation tapes—tapes containing a collection of songs by different artists. The music itself was produced to match the capabilities of the Walkman’s tiny in-ear headphones. The Walkman proved an ideal companion for fast-moving modern life. On crowded subways and city streets, the Walkman allowed people to feel they were alone. By adding a soundtrack to everyday life, the Walkman changed the way people experienced the world.

A couple enjoying the convenience of portable music with the Walkman. Bettmann/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Gould, William. Sony. New York: Contemporary Press, 1997. Millard, Andre. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. “Sony History.” Sony. http://www.sony.co.jp/en/Fun/SH/1–18/h1.html (accessed March 27, 2002).

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1970s Print Culture Serious readers in the 1970s had good reason to be confused. Critics surveyed a publishing world that seemed no longer to be producing great works of literature, and they proclaimed that the novel was dead. What they might have said, however, was that the novel was changing and changing fast. No longer were the great novels being produced by white American male writers; in the 1970s, some of the best serious fiction was being produced by minorities, women like Alice Walker (1944–) and Toni Morrison (1931–), and people living outside the United States, such as Gabriel García Marquez (1928–) and Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986). The market for popular fiction boomed in the 1970s, as Americans lapped up exciting, fast-paced books by skilled popular novelists. Harold Robbins (1916–1997) and Judith Krantz (1937–) specialized in “trash fiction,” with its sensational doses of sex, money, and power. Novels about spying and global political intrigue frequently topped the best-seller lists. The most popular writers of these novels were Robert Ludlum (1927–2001), Irving Wallace (1916–1990), and Leon Uris (1924–). Barbara Cartland (1901–2000) and Phyllis A. Whitney (1903–) were the queens of the romance novel. A new series— called Harlequin Romances—offered a steady stream of romance fiction intended for women. The 1970s also saw the first appearance of the man who would dominate the best-seller list for the rest of the century: horror writer Stephen King (1947–). One of the surprise hits of the decade was a historical account of the life of a black family titled Roots, by Alex Haley (1921–1992). Roots later became a popular television miniseries. The American magazine market continued to splinter, with new magazines being created to serve all variety of interests. Three magazines that started in the 1970s provide a taste of this variety. People aimed to provide upscale gossip and photos to Americans hungry for any word on celebrities. Ms. covered serious issues of interest to feminists, while Hustler certainly did not.

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Judy Blume (1938–) Judy Blume is credited with being the first writer for young adults to deal realistically with teenage worries. Her 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret addresses the issues of starting a new school in a new neighborhood and finding a religious faith. Its central character, Margaret, also worries about beginning menstruation and buying her first bra. In Forever (1975), Katherine has to decide whether to “go all the way” with her boyfriend Michael. These were topics that just a few years before had been forbidden subjects for children’s fiction. Blume’s books have sold millions of copies, and several have been adapted for television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and film. Refusing to back away from the controversies her books have caused, Blume became an outspoken opponent of censorship and offered her support to other civil-liberties organizations. Critics have recognized that Blume revolutionized the field of realistic children’s literature. More importantly, she also informed and encouraged many millions of young women. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Judy Blume’s Home Base. http://www.judyblume.com/index.html (accessed March 27, 2002). Lee, Betsy. Judy Blume’s Story. New York: Scholastic, 1981. Marcus, Leonard S., ed. Author Talk. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Weidt, Maryann N. Presenting Judy Blume. Boston: Twayne, 1990.

Cathy

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In November 1976, a new comic-strip hero made her debut in newspapers around the country. Cathy—an energetic and assertive single career woman with a mocking sense of humor— was clearly a product of the women’s liberation movement of the early 1970s. As society’s expectations of women were beginning to change, Cathy was the woman caught in the middle, trying to be both strong enough and soft enough, to be both clever and capable at her job and thin and fashionable for her dates. Cathy’s witty solutions to her problems have caught the attention of readers for over two decades. At the beginning of the twentyfirst century she had appeared in fourteen hundred newspapers

Cathy’s life is a hectic and goofy whirlwind of work, shopping, dating, dieting, and dealing with her well-meaning but irritating parents. The cast of characters surrounding her represents a generous slice of a modern woman’s life: Mr. Pinkley, her bewildered boss; her girlfriend Andrea, a feminist wife and mom; Irving, her maddening on-again-off-again boyfriend; and her mom and dad. Cathy is close to her parents and, though they drive her crazy, she always runs to them when she needs a shoulder to lean on. Although her mother dreams of Cathy’s wedding day, Cathy remains happily single. However, she did partly fulfill her parent’s desire for a grandchild when she got her puppy, Electra.

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around the world, twenty books, and several television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) specials.

Cathy creator Cathy Guisewite (1950–) has won a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society (1993) and an Emmy for Best Animated Television Special (1987) for her work on the comic strip. Guisewite and her plucky heroine have more than their first names in common. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1972, Guisewite got a job in advertising, where she worked until 1977, working her way up to vice president. She began to draw Cathy to express the humor she saw in the contradictions and problems facing young career women. Some have criticized the strip’s heroine for being shallow and obsessed with looks and fashion, but Cathy continues to provide a laugh for both men and women caught up in the frantic pace of modern life. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Cathy.” UComics.com. http://www.ucomics.com/cathy (accessed March 27, 2002). “Cathy Lee Guisewite.” Current Biography. (Vol. 50, no. 2, February 1989): pp. 21–26. Lapin, Claudia. “Cathy on Cathy.” Savvy (January 1988): pp. 50–54. Millner, Cork. “How Cartoonist Cathy Guisewite Makes Us Laugh at Life’s Little Frustrations.” Seventeen (May 1983): pp. 42–44.

Garfield A creation of cartoonist Jim Davis (1945–), Garfield is a lazy but scheming cat who ranks with Felix the Cat (see entry under

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Garfield Garfield creator Jim Davis pauses after drawing the lazy and always hungry cartoon cat. Photograph by Michael Conroy. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

1910s—Film and Theater in volume 1), Sylvester, and Krazy Kat (see entry under 1910s—Print Culture in volume 1) among the most popular feline comic-strip characters of all time. Described by his creator as a “fat, orange couch potato,” the cat with the huge saucer eyes first made his appearance on June 19, 1978, in a strip populated with his owner, Jon Arbuckle; his Teddy bear, Pooky; and his sidekick, Odie, a constantly panting dog whose energy contrasts sharply with Garfield’s relaxed persona.

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Garfield is happiest when indulging in his favorite food, lasagna, or engaging in his preferred pastime, raiding the cookie jar. Next to eating, his favorite deed is sleeping, an activity he describes as a “nap attack.” When Jon complains in one strip, “Every time I look at you, you’re either eating or sleeping,” a perplexed Garfield replies, “I’d be happy to choose one and stick with it.” The term “reply” is used figuratively, since Garfield never “speaks” in the same way that his human owner does; the cat’s thoughts are always framed in a cloud-shaped balloon with circular “smoke signals,” indicating the thoughts of this mysterious creature with his somewhat aloof attitude toward both Jon and Odie, as well as toward life itself.

Harlequin Romances

Davis calls Garfield a “human in a cat suit” when explaining the popular appeal of a cat described on his official Web site as “a wisecracking, nap-taking, coffee-guzzling, lasagnaloving, Monday-hating, dog-punting, spider-whacking, mailman-mauling fat cat.” Since the beginning of the Garfield comic strip, the cat has appeared in several dozen comic-book (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) collections of Davis’s strips, in a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) cartoon series that ran from 1988 to 1995, in numerous video specials, in a video game (see entry under 1970s—Sports & Games in volume 4), and on lunch boxes. —Edward Moran

For More Information Official Site for Garfield and Friends. http://www.garfield.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Rogers, Katharine M. The Cat and the Human Imagination: Feline Images from Bast to Garfield. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.

Harlequin Romances Though it is often said that money cannot buy love, Harlequin Enterprises seems to have proved that love can make a publisher quite a lot of money. Founded in 1949 as a small publisher of out-of-print novels, Harlequin began to focus on romance novels in the early 1970s. Since then, the publisher has grown to be the leader in a multimillion-dollar romance novel industry. In 1999, the Canadian company published 160 million books in 24 languages, sold them in 100 countries, and earned almost $90 million in profits. Although some people laugh at the flowery writing in Harlequin romances and make fun of the dramatically passionate pictures on their covers, millions of readers eagerly scan the supermarket display stands for the latest romance adventure to whisk them away from the stress and boredom of everyday life. Harlequin Enterprises gained its huge share of romance novel sales by a clever sales strategy. Realizing that most romance novels were bought by housewives seeking a break from their daily routine, Harlequin began to sell its books at the grocery stores and variety stores where housewives shopped.

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They developed their “brand” of romance novel the same way other household product brands are developed, by having an easily remembered brand name and recognizable packaging. With its brightly colored cover art, usually of an attractive couple in a passionate embrace, and prominently displayed brand name, the cover of a Harlequin romance is easily recognized. Inside the cover, readers will find few surprises. Harlequin employs hundreds of writers. Each writer follows strict guidelines for the romances, which always include physically beautiful heroes and heroines as well as happy endings. With over seventy new titles appearing every month, a Harlequin romance is almost like a magazine. The books are inexpensive—usually costing between three and five dollars each—and short enough to be read in an hour or two. Over the decades, Harlequin has developed several different series of romances, each designed for a different audience. The supersexy Temptation series is aimed at younger readers. The Starsign Romances have an astrological twist, and the Love Inspired series features Christian romance stories. In the mid-1990s, the Canadian film company Alliance Communications Corporation joined with Harlequin to make four Harlequin romance films. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Bold, Rudolph. “Trash in the Library: Paperback Romances.” Library Journal (May 15, 1980): p. 1138. Harlequin Enterprises. eHarlequin.com. http://www.eharlequin.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Mallet, Gina. “The Greatest Romance on Earth.” Canadian Business (August 1993): pp. 18–24. Pollack, Richard. “Romance Slaves of Harlequin.” The Nation Vol. 254, no. 10 (March 16, 1992): pp. 33–37.

Hustler

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At the close of the twentieth century, “sexploitation” magazine publishing had evolved into a $1-billion-a-year business. Leading the field was Hustler magazine. Unlike Playboy (see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3), its chief rival during the century’s last decades and a publication whose sexual imagery was far less degrading by contemporary standards, Hustler printed photographs that are raw, graphic, and sexually

explicit. Many sex magazines were available only in shops specializing in XXXrated material. In comparison, Hustler could be found on the magazine racks in all types of bookstores. For better or worse, its initial success in the mid-1970s helped to lift pornography into the mainstream of popular culture. For this reason alone, Hustler is one of the most controversial magazines ever published. Hustler was the brainchild of Larry Flynt (1942–), its publisher and founder. In 1972, Flynt, who owned a chain of bars that featured strippers and go-go dancers, began publishing a sex-oriented newsletter, which he eventually expanded into a glossy magazine. He broke from Playboy and Penthouse, another of the era’s popular “men’s magazine,” in that he refused to tastefully obstruct his models’ “private parts.” Nor was Flynt concerned with celebrating the beauty of the female form. He often depicted his models participating in rape or male-domination fantasies, or smeared with excrement. On one of his more infamous covers, he pictured a woman being fed into a meat grinder. In 1975, he raised a furor—and won reams of publicity—by printing a photo of a nude Jackie Onassis (1929–1994), the former first lady and wife of John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), sunbathing in Greece. Flynt was a shrewd self-promoter. As he became a magnet for controversy, sales of his magazine soared. Through the years, he often was hauled into court on obscenity charges. Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell (1933–) sued Flynt in the wake of a Hustler parody depicting the preacher having sex with his mother in an outhouse. A lower court ruled in Falwell’s favor, and the case was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. The higher court reversed the decision, endorsing Flynt’s right to lampoon a public figure.

Larry Flynt, publisher and founder of Hustler magazine, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Since the mid-1970s, Flynt’s legal costs have topped an estimated $50 million. In 1978, outside a courthouse, a would-be

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assassin shot the publisher twice from close range, using a highpowered rifle. Flynt survived, but permanently lost the use of both his legs. His life story was told in the 1996 film The People vs. Larry Flynt, directed by Milos Forman (1932–). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Flynt, Larry, with Kenneth Ross. An Unseemly Man. Los Angeles: Dove Books, 1996. Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/ avp/cas/comm/free_speech/hustler.html (accessed March 27, 2002). The People vs. Larry Flynt (film). Columbia Pictures, 1996. Smolla, Rodney A. Jerry Falwell v. Larry Flynt: The First Amendment on Trial. New York: St. Martin’s, 1988.

Ms. Ms. was the best-known and most widely circulated magazine devoted to the culture of the “liberated woman” that emerged out of the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Ms. made its debut as a monthly in July 1972 with Gloria Steinem (1934–) as editor. Although denounced by some critics for its outspoken attitude, the magazine’s preview issue, inserted in New York magazine and dated December 20, 1971, sold three hundred thousand copies in eight days, attracted twenty-six thousand subscribers, and twenty thousand letters to the editor. From the start, Ms. tackled such issues as women’s economic and psychological oppression, abortion, and lesbianism, positioning itself as a far more radical voice than the established women’s magazines, which often focused on homemaking, fashion, cosmetics, cooking, and how to be a dutiful wife. The magazine also helped popularize the use of the title “Ms.” (instead of “Mrs.” or “Miss”) to describe a woman in her own right, regardless of marital status.

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The magazine was founded by Gloria Steinem of New York magazine and Patricia Carbine (1931–), who wanted to publish a glossy feminist-oriented magazine that would be supported by national advertising. They secured a $1 million investment from Warner Communications and brought together an editorial staff of experienced women journalists.

People

Ms. tried to support itself with advertising, though some companies were ambivalent about appearing in a magazine that challenged the image they wanted to create for women. When the magazine featured a cover shot of Russian women without makeup, for example, Revlon cosmetics pulled its advertising from the issue. In 1979, the struggling magazine had to seek not-for-profit status to stay alive, and was published as an organ of the Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication until 1987, then sold to an Australian conglomerate, next to two Australian feminists, and finally to Lang Communications. By the late 1980s, Ms. was accused by critics and dissatisfied readers of toning down its radical stance in order to satisfy its advertisers. Circulation dropped from 550,000 to less than 100,000. Lang suspended publication of Ms. for nearly six months. It resumed publication in the summer of 1990 as a bimonthly, with feminist writer-activist Robin Morgan (1941–) as editor. The new Ms. was fully reader-supported, with no advertising. It was purchased by MacDonald Communications in 1996, which suspended publication again in 1998. In 1999, it was acquired by Liberty Media for Women, a newly formed group that included Steinem as well as younger entrepreneurs and activists. Ms. resumed bimonthly publication with the March/April issue. —Edward Moran

For More Information Farrell, Amy Erdman. Yours in Sisterhood: Ms. Magazine and the Promise of Popular Feminism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Ms. Magazine. http://www.msmagazine.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Thom, Mary. Inside Ms.: 25 Years of the Magazine and the Feminist Movement. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1998.

People Founded in 1974 as part of the Time-Life publishing empire, People magazine, a mass-circulation weekly magazine, helped define the way journalists and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) talk shows covered celebrities and other prominent figures. It has successfully occupied a position above the more sensational gossip tabloids while

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People Mia Farrow, as Daisy from the movie The Great Gatsby, graced the first cover of People magazine on March 4, 1974. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

maintaining a lively, graphic image that makes ample use of photographs and exclusive interviews. The magazine has sometimes been criticized for blurring the distinction between hard news and entertainment, but it has established itself as one of the most widely read U.S. magazines.

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Time, Inc. originally conceived People as a replacement for Life (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), which had ceased weekly publication in 1972. Instead of reporting exclusively on the artistic or political achievements of important public figures, People focused on their triumphs over personal adversities, such as divorce or addiction, a formula its editors described as “extraordinary people doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” The

People

magazine appeared during the unfolding of the Watergate scandal, at a point in American life when the private lives of public figures were no longer considered off-limits to mainstream journalists. Unlike the scandal sheets, which relied on gossip and sensationalism, People wrote about the weaknesses of celebrities and politicians in a serious, if informal, manner. It also redefined the boundaries of “celebrity” beyond show business to include business people, politicians, athletes, and even religious leaders. People followed the lead of the TV industry in treating news as another form of entertainment. Since the magazine was initially sold on newsstands only and not by subscription, its editors devoted special attention each week to finding an attractive cover subject, with an emphasis on youth, beauty, power, and glamorous sex appeal. Some of People’s best-selling issues depicted cover shots of John Lennon (1940–1980), Princess Grace (Grace Kelly, 1929–1984), and Princess Diana (1961–1997) just after they had died. People is credited with having influenced other mainstream newspapers and magazines to devote more coverage to news items and features about celebrities, and of paving the way for TV shows like A Current Affair and Entertainment Tonight as well as talk shows by Oprah Winfrey (1954–) and Jerry Springer (1944–). —Edward Moran

For More Information Braudy, Leo. The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and its History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Kessler, Judy. Inside People: The Stories Behind the Stories. New York: Villard Books, 1994. People.com. http://people.aol.com/people/index.html (accessed March 27, 2002).

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1970s Sports and Games More than anything else, money changed professional sports during the 1970s. In football and baseball, moneymaking television contracts led to changes in the rules and a lengthening of the season. Playoffs in both sports extended the seasons and brought huge revenues. Players wanted a share of the increased revenues, and players unions organized to demand higher pay and more freedom to move from team to team. In baseball, a policy called “free agency” moved players around and helped a number of players reach salaries at or near $1 million a year. Professional baseball was dominated by the Cincinnati Reds, led by Pete Rose (1941–), and the Baltimore Orioles, led in 1970 and 1971 by Frank Robinson (1935–), who would become baseball’s first black manager in 1975, with the Cleveland Indians. Strong runs by upstart teams like the Oakland A’s and the Pittsburgh Pirates made it an exciting decade for baseball. In pro football, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the team to beat, but not many teams did. The Steelers won four Super Bowls. The leading players of the decade included O. J. Simpson (1947–), Roger Staubach (1942–), “Mean” Joe Greene (1946–), and Terry Bradshaw (1948–). Professional basketball was in a bit of a slump during the decade, despite the play of superstar Julius “Dr. J” Erving (1950–) of the Philadelphia 76ers. Pro hockey began to gain in popularity, although it would never challenge the big three sports. College football and basketball also remained hugely popular, and many of the games were shown on TV. Outside of the major pro and college sports, perhaps the biggest sports story of the decade was the “Battle of the Sexes,” a tennis match between women’s great Billie Jean King (1943–) and aging men’s pro Bobby Riggs (1918–1995). King won the match—and $100,000. Women’s tennis advanced rapidly during the decade, thanks to the exciting play of such stars as Chris Evert (1954–) and Tracy Austin (1962–). In car racing, Janet Guthrie (1938–) became the first woman to drive in the Indianapolis 500 in 1977; she came in eighteenth. Black athletes continued to make gains, earning salaries comparable with those of white athletes and establishing important records. No

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record was more striking than the one Henry Aaron (1934–) set early in 1974 when he topped Babe Ruth (1895–1948) for the all-time home-run record. Sports and games were not just for the pros, however. In the 1970s, millions of Americans took up jogging or aerobics in order to improve their physical fitness. Both activities produced industries of their own to provide shoes, clothing, and videotapes for exercising Americans. Video games became an important new source of entertainment in the 1970s. Pinball machines had been available in pool halls and other areas for years, but the video game brought game play into the home. Millions of Americans purchased the new Atari game system, which allowed them to play a graphically primitive game called “Pong.” In “Pong,” players used a crude paddle to bounce a ball across a screen. Better games, however, would soon arrive.

Aerobics The word “aerobic” means “using oxygen.” Aerobic exercises are those designed to increase the oxygen content in the blood and pump this oxygen-enriched blood to the muscles, increasing overall health. Aerobic exercise involves performing an active movement, such as jogging (see entry under 1970s— Sports and Games in volume 4), biking, or swimming, for an extended period of time. This sustained movement allows the heartbeat to increase and remain at a high level. When the benefits of prolonged energetic physical activity were first publicized in 1968, only about one hundred thousand Americans jogged for exercise. By 1999, over thirty-four million American were running regularly. Millions more rode stationary bikes or attended classes for aerobics, aerobic dance, jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) aerobics, aqua aerobics, step aerobics, and more.

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In 1968, Kenneth H. Cooper (1931–), an Air Force surgeon from Dallas, Texas, published a revolutionary new exercise book based on his research with fifty thousand men and women in the Air Force. Cooper designed a program to make the exercise routines used by the military available to everyone, and his ideas caught on quickly. By the 1970s, dance instructors had

Atari

added various kinds of music to vigorous exercise, creating aerobic dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), jazzercise, and soul aerobics. These dance-and-exercise combinations were especially popular with women, who flocked to classes that promised to keep them healthy as well as to help them lose weight. The 1980s, with its focus on personal improvement, saw an increased popularity of private gyms. Many gyms began to offer aerobics classes. Exercise “gurus” like Richard Simmons (1948–) and Jane Fonda (1937–) released videos that taught viewers how to exercise aerobically in their own homes. Movies like Flashdance (1983) and Perfect (1982) glamorized aerobic exercise. Manufacturers like Reebok and Janzen, who had once made specialty shoes and clothing for sports and dance, now made “aerobic” wear for the everyday exerciser. Aerobics had become a multimillion-dollar business. The 1990s saw the development of less strenuous forms of aerobics like aqua aerobics, done in swimming pools, which were intended to reduce the chances of injury. The 1990s also brought professionalism to aerobics. Organizations like the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America developed certification programs for instructors, and aerobics athletes competed in national and international championships. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Cooper, Kenneth H. The Aerobics Way: New Data on the Worlds Most Popular Exercise Program. Dallas: M. Evans & Company, 1977. McNamara, Jo Ann, and Sharon Pendleton. The ABCs of Aerobics. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1990. Savage, Jeff. Aerobics. Parsippany, NJ: Crestwood House, 1995.

Atari The Atari company started a global phenomenon. For millions of people worldwide, video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4)—played at home, in arcades, or using portable devices—are an entertaining part of everyday life. In the 1970s, Atari paved the way for the videogame giants of later years, like Nintendo and Sega.

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Teens compete for the top score in Asteroids, one of Atari’s popular arcade games. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell (1943–), an engineer who believed electronics could be adapted for entertainment. He invented the first video-game machine, Pong (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4). The electronic version of ping-pong became a huge hit in bars and arcades. Together with some friends, Bushnell created a company to market it. They called their company “Atari,” after a word used in the popular Japanese card game “Go.” Pong was such a hit that Atari created an equally popular home version in 1974. Warner Communications bought Atari from Bushnell and his partners for $28 million the next year. Warner began developing an even more sophisticated homearcade system that could play a wide variety of games. This system, the Atari Video Computer System, or VCS, was introduced just in time for the Christmas season in 1977. The arcade system and the nine games sold with it proved so popular that people actually lined up to purchase them. Over the next few years, Atari products became an international sensation. Popular software titles, some of which were based on Atari’s own arcade games, included Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac-Man (see

Eventually, Atari’s competitors began to catch up. Atari was slow to upgrade its system, while others, like CBS’ Colecovision, started to steal the Atari’s market share. In addition, the home video-game market became flooded with too many games. By 1984, the industry was in a deep sales slump, from which Atari never fully recovered. When video-game sales picked up again a couple of years later, new companies like Nintendo and Sega were on hand to take Atari’s place. Although still in business into the twenty-first century, Atari possessed little more than nostalgia value for a generation of adults who had grown up playing Pong, Space Invaders, and Asteroids.

Dungeons and Dragons

entry under 1980s—Sports and Games in volume 5). By 1982, Atari was a $2 billion company.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Atari. http://www.atari.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Atari Historical Society. http://www.atari-history.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Kent, Stephen L. The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games. New York: BWD Press, 2000. Phillips, Gary, and Jerry White. The Atari User’s Encyclopedia. Los Angeles: The Book Co., 1984. Poole, Stephen. Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000.

Dungeons and Dragons The introduction of the game Dungeons and Dragons in 1974 marked a dramatic innovation in board games. Like the interactive computer games that would follow two decades later, Dungeons and Dragons (often known as “D & D”) was an active game that required creativity and imagination from its players. Dungeons and Dragons was the first of the “role-playing games.” In role-playing games, players imagined themselves in another world, making choices and taking actions that affected the outcome of the play. Millions of people, many of them teenagers, joined in the game. The game allowed them to escape from the limitations of reality to enter a wondrous fantasy world where they could wield supernatural powers. Invented by Gary Gygax (1938–), a Chicago insurance salesman who had been a childhood chess whiz, Dungeons and

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A Dungeons and Dragons instructional handbook and players’ pieces. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Dragons does not require a lot of equipment. A playing board, multisided dice, and a complex rule book make up the entire game. The rest depends on the imagination of the players, who roll the dice to receive their roles and powers. Set in a medieval fantasy world similar to that found in the Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973; see entry under 1950s—Print Culture in volume 3), players may be wizards, thieves, fighters, elves, or dwarves as they rescue princesses or defeat dragons. Games—called campaigns—can last for hours or weeks, depending on the endurance of the players. After its release in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons caught on quickly, earning Gygax’s company, TSR, more than two million dollars by 1978, soaring to $26.7 million by 1983. The game soon gained a cult status. Some religious groups and parents began to worry about their children’s obsession with their Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. A 1982 television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) movie, Mazes and Monsters, warned of the dangers of addiction to role-playing games. By the 1990s, Gygax had sold his interests in the game, which is now owned by Wizards of the Coast.

Hacky Sack

Though the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons faded somewhat with the advent of the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and more advanced computer games in the 1990s, it was estimated that a million gamers still play the game every month. In 2001, a film version of Dungeons and Dragons was released, to mixed reviews. The film could produce far more spectacular special effects than the simple board game, but it could not reproduce the magic found in the imaginations of the players. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Player’s Handbook for the AD&D Game. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1995. Cardwell, Paul, Jr. “The Attacks on Role-Playing Games.” Skeptical Inquirer (Winter 1994): pp. 157–66. “D & D.” Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/main. asp?x=dnd/welcome,3 (accessed March 27, 2002). Holmes, John Eric. “Confessions of a Dungeon Master.” Psychology Today (November 1980): pp. 84–89.

Hacky Sack The Hacky Sack—also known as a “footbag”—became a popular pastime in the 1970s. The sport was invented in Oregon City, Oregon, in 1972 when two friends, John Stalberger and Mike Marshall, began kicking around a small, handmade bean bag. The friends soon developed a game in which they batted the ball back and forth using their legs and feet; they called the game “Hack the Sack.” After Marshall died from a heart attack in 1975 at age twenty-eight, Stalberger continued to promote the two friends’ creation. Stalberger sold the idea to Wham-O, which brought the “Hacky Sack” to the mass market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Hacky Sack quickly became a fad among teenage boys, who could stand about in a circle and kick their sack back and forth. Most hackers play such informal games. The game has become formalized, however. The International Footbag Committee sanctions competition in “footbag net” (with rules similar to volleyball) and “footbag freestyle,” in which single players perform acrobatic moves with their footbag. Perhaps like table

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tennis and rhythmic gymnastics, Hacky Sack will one day become a sport in the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Cassidy, John. Hacky Sack: American Footbag Game. Palo Alto, CA: Klutz Press, 1983. Footbag Worldwide. http://www.footbag.org/footbag.html (accessed March 27, 2002).

Jogging During the 1970s, Americans in general began to be more health conscious. Preventative medicine (taking positive steps to improve health before disease strikes) became a popular approach to health care. One of the key aspects of preventative medicine involves physical activity. For adults, jogging—running at a moderate, sustainable pace—became a preferred method of exercise. Before the 1970s, physical activity was viewed as a childhood pastime. A school kid or a teenager might partake in schoolyard games, or play Little League (see entry under 1930s— Sports and Games in volume 2), or run on the high-school track team. Upon entering adulthood, people were expected to put away—or throw away—their sneakers, footballs, and baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1) gloves and adopt a more inactive lifestyle. In the 1970s, with an increased awareness of health-related issues, particularly among baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), came a desire to improve one’s quality of life and avoid illness. Whereas others previously had advocated running and physical activity for adults, Jim Fixx (1932–1984) became a key figure in the jogging boom when he published The Complete Book of Running (1977). The book sold over a million copies and spearheaded the jogging revolution. Fixx made sneakers, jogging shorts, and sweating stylish. He declared that joggers would lose weight, have more energy, enjoy more active sex lives, feel better, and live longer.

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Ironically, Fixx was felled by a heart attack at the age of fifty-two while jogging along a country road. His father had died in a similar manner at age forty-three, and Fixx had

—Rob Edelman

Monday Night Football

ignored earlier warnings of heart problems. Yet Fixx’s pioneering efforts, and those of other running advocates such as Bill Rodgers (1947–), who won eight Boston and New York marathons between 1975 and 1980, have altered the consciousness of adults with relation to physical activity. They created an industry whose byproducts are adult gyms, aerobics (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4) programs, runners’ magazines, sports-equipment stores, running clothes and accessories, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) exercise shows—and a raised consciousness in relation to exercise and health care.

For More Information Fixx, James F. The Complete Book of Running. New York: Random House, 1977. Glover, Bob, and Jack Shepherd. The Runner’s Handbook. New York: Penguin, 1985. Olney, Ross Robert. The Young Runner. New York: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard, 1978.

Monday Night Football Since 1970, ABC’s Monday Night Football has been the weekly prime-time television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) showcase for the National Football League (NFL; see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2). The telecast has created controversy, fostered technical innovations, and consistently been one of the most-watched shows in prime time. Monday Night Football debuted on September 21, 1970, with a game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns. Keith Jackson (1928–) provided the play-by-play, with color commentary (background information and stories) from Don Meredith (1938–) and Howard Cosell (1918–1995). Ex-Giants great Frank Gifford (1930–) replaced Jackson in 1971 and it was this team of colorful broadcasters that helped create a media “buzz” that turned the prime-time football experiment into a ratings smash. Monday Night Football became successful for many reasons. The NFL tried to make sure that only the best teams and most

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Monday Night Football anchors (left to right) Don Meredith, Howard Cosell, and Frank Gifford helped make prime-time football ratings a success. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

heated rivals played in the nighttime showcase. In addition, because ABC only covered one game a week—as opposed to the other major networks, which covered several—the network could devote all of its resources to technical innovations that made the telecasts more exciting. These included multiple cameras, handheld cameras, and the use of Goodyear’s floating blimp to provide aerial views of the stadiums. The most popular aspect of the Monday Night Football telecast, however, has always been the announcing team. Many viewers hated Cosell, who many viewed as an arrogant, nasalvoiced egotist who often made fun of his colleagues. (He famously dubbed Meredith “Dandy Don.”) Nevertheless, even non–football fans tuned in week after week to hear what Cosell would say or do next. When “Humble Howard” quit after the 1983 season, it seemed like the end of an era. The show struggled to maintain its ratings and the “attitude” that had left with the irritating Cosell.

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A series of changes were made to the telecast to keep it fresh. In the 1990s, a new theme song, composed by country singer

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Hank Williams Jr. (1949–), posed the question, “Are you ready for some footbaaaaaallll?” Although broadcasting veteran Al Michaels (1944–) provided play-by-play stability starting in 1986, his color commentating partners were shuffled in and out in an attempt to recapture some of the Cosell-era magic. Most notable was the presence of comedian Dennis Miller (1953–) for the 2000 and 2001 seasons; his commentary was often laced with bizarre references that few football fans could follow. Excitable coach-turned-announcer John Madden (1936–) was hired in 2002 to sit alongside Michaels. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Cosell, Howard, with Peter Bonventre. I Never Played the Game. New York: William Morrow, 1985. Gunther, Marc, and Bill Carter. Monday Night Mayhem. New York: Beech Tree Books, 1988. Monday Night Football Online. http://www.mondaynightfootballonline. com/ (accessed March 27, 2002).

Pong Pong was the first video game (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), arriving on the American scene in 1972. Invented by Nolan Bushnell (1943–), Pong was a simple game modeled after tennis. Each player controlled a dial, or paddle, that moved a small electronically formed rectangular block up and down. As an electronic blip (the ball) moved across the screen, each player had to move the paddle to block it and hit it back to his or her opponent. Each time the ball hit the paddle, a beep was heard. The longer the game went on, the more the ball sped up to challenge players. The top of the screen showed the score as the game progressed. Graphically, the paddle was a long, thin rectangle and the ball was a large dot on a contrasting background. It was that simple. After inventing Pong, Bushnell formed the Atari (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4) company to produce more Pong games. Pong was more than a simple video game; it was the start of a whole new era in home entertainment. The first Pong game was played in arcades, but home versions were soon developed that hooked up to people’s television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sets. When the Sears, Roebuck, catalog (see

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entry under 1900s—Commerce in volume 1) carried the game, it sold 150,000 copies. The basic format was expanded to include other games that involved hitting a ball, including soccer and hockey. These were basically Pong with the screen slightly changed. Although Pong seems primitive by today’s standards, it was an exciting addition to many Americans’ homes. Soon, other games were released, each with its own game console (the device that controlled the games). Sportsrelated games, battle games, racing, space adventures, and others followed. Atari adapted many of its arcade games for home use, including Centipede, Asteroids, Missile Command, and others. Before long, more advanced systems such as Nintendo and Sony Playstation took home video gaming to a new level of sophistication, as did computer games in the 1990s and beyond. But before all of these games there was Pong, the start of the video game revolution. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Atari. http://www.atari.com (accessed March 27, 2002). Clark, James I. A Look Inside Video Games. Milwaukee: Raintree Publishers, 1985. Koerner, Brendan. “How Pong Invented Geekdom.” U.S. News & World Report (December 27, 1999): p. 67. Poole, Steven. Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade Publishers, 2000. Winter, David. PONG-Story. http://www.pong-story.com/intro.htm (accessed March 28, 2002).

Video Games

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The idea of interactive games played on a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) screen is almost as old as TV itself, and video games have evolved as quickly as TV and computer technology have developed. The industry generated over $100 billion a year worldwide by 2000, as millions of gamers played at home, millions more at arcades, and millions more carried games with them on portable players. Though some parents and teachers complain that video games teach little except violence and inactivity, others insist that the games teach complex problem-solving skills and coordination. All in all, ever since the first game was marketed, video games have proven addictive for many players of all ages.

The first widely popular video game was Pong (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), a simple pingpong game with two lines, or “paddles,” that could be moved to hit a “ball” back and forth across a television screen. Ralph Baer (1922–), a TV technician, first got the idea of adding interactive games to TV in 1966. However, it was Nolan Bushnell (1943–), later the president of Atari, who brought the new game Pong to the public, with a coin-operated arcade version. Pong was instantly popular, and a home version was soon available. By 1978, hundreds of video games were available, including the popular Pac-Man (see entry under 1980s—Sports and Games in volume 5). Americans spent $200 million that year on hardware and software for video games. The mid-1980s saw a slump in video games, as players became bored with repetitive games. Interest picked up when a Japanese playing-card company called Nintendo entered the market with a faster processor that supported faster and more complex games. Their whimsical new game, Donkey Kong, along with other Nintendo offerings brought a new wave of video-game popularity. By 1989, thirty million Americans

Arcades quickly became a favorite hangout as video games soared in popularity. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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owned the new game technology. Other companies, like Mattel, Sega, and ID Software introduced competing game systems. Games have continued to develop complexity, realism, and speed as the processors have grown from Nintendo’s early 8-bit to 64-bit. Video games are now often designed for CD-ROM drives on computers or game boxes for TVs. The average age of game players has risen from seven in 1987 to seventeen in 1996. Some adults continue to worry that games take players’ energy away from more active pursuits and that they encourage violence, as many games involve fighting and shooting. In 1994, video games began to be rated for content, after a controversy over the graphic violence of the game “Mortal Kombat.” Shooting games continue to be popular however, in spite of parental worries about the gruesome fight scenes in games like “Kingpin,” where players mow down groups of gangsters with highly realistic gunshots. Some video games have taken realism a step further and have been made into films, such as 1994’s Mortal Kombat and 2001’s Tomb Raider. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Chance, Greg. “History of Home Video Games.” Videogames.org. http://videogames.org/html (accessed March 28, 2002). Hart, Sam. “A Brief History of Home Video Games.” Geekcomix.com. http://www.geekcomix.com/vgh/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Leland, John, and Devin Gordon, Anne Underwood, Tara Weingarten, and Ana Figueroa. “The Secret Life of Teens: Video Games, Music and Movies Alarm Adults.” Newsweek (Vol. 133, iss. 19, May 10, 1999): pp. 44–45. Poole, Steven. Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000. Videotopia. http://www.videotopia.com (accessed March 28, 2002).

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1970s TV and Radio To the surprise of many, the quality of commercial programming on television improved dramatically in the 1970s. Perhaps programmers were responding to complaints about the poor quality of TV in the 1960s, or they were trying to fill the void left by the decline of political and social activism. For a number of reasons, TV shows in the 1970s tackled some difficult social problems. These shows proved that the medium of television was capable of making a contribution to the national debate about social change. The 1970s also saw the emergence of cable TV, which offered Americans alternatives to the standard programming on the big three networks. One of the most popular programs of the decade was All in the Family (1971–79). Set in a working-class household in the Bronx, the show provided a forum for the discussion of race, sexuality, and generational tensions—all while being laughout-loud funny. African Americans gained an increasing presence on TV. One of the most popular shows, Sanford and Son (1972–77), focused on the lives of a black junkyard dealer (played by comedian Redd Foxx, 1922–1991) and his son. Other popular shows featuring black actors included Good Times (1974–79) and The Jeffersons (1975–85). Americans came to terms with feminism and the career woman thanks to The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77), whose lovable lead character made working women seem less threatening. Although there were many quality shows dealing with important issues, TV also offered plenty of light-hearted, mindless entertainment. The networks had something for everyone. Little House on the Prairie (1974–83), The Waltons (1972–81), Happy Days (1974–84), and Laverne & Shirley (1976–83) provided a nostalgic look at days gone by. Americans tuned into Charlie’s Angels (1976–81) and Hawaii Five-O (1968–80) for action. For sheer escapism, Fantasy Island (1978–84) and The Love Boat (1977–86) were the shows to watch. Perhaps the silliest show of the decade was The Gong Show (1976–80), hosted by Chuck Barris (1929–). Children also were increasingly

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offered new programs, including such shows as The Brady Bunch (1969–74) and a variety of Saturday morning cartoons. Radio benefited from advanced technology during the decade. Up until this decade, most radio programs had come over the AM band. But as radio stations increasingly became oriented toward playing music, many stations took their signals to the FM band, which offered much higher sound quality. These FM stations soon became more daring, offering alternative music and more interesting programming. By the end of the decade, the FM band was dominant.

All in the Family All in the Family was the most popular and most controversial television sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) of the 1970s. The show commented on political and social issues never before mentioned in a prime-time sitcom, such as racial conflicts, women’s liberation, and the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Produced by Norman Lear (1922–) and starring Carroll O’Connor (1924–2001) as Archie Bunker and Jean Stapleton (1923–) as his wife, Edith, the show debuted on January 12, 1971, and ran until 1979, when the show—with O’Connor only— became known as Archie Bunker’s Place. Based on a British sitcom called Till Death Do Us Part, All in the Family explored the generational conflicts within a bluecollar household during a period of rapid social change. All in the Family’s Archie Bunker was a middle-aged laborer living in a working-class neighborhood in New York City with his dutiful and ever-cheerful wife Edith, whom he nicknamed “dingbat.” Edith was not “liberated”; she was a traditional housewife. Archie expected Edith to “stifle” herself—keep her thoughts to herself—and fetch him his nightly can of beer as he relaxed in his armchair. In one memorable episode, she stood her ground and refused to “stifle” herself—a bold statement that was applauded as a victory for the women’s movement of the 1970s.

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Sharing the house with Archie and Edith were their daughter Gloria, played by Sally Struthers (1948–), and her husband, a long-haired radical named Mike Stivic, played by Rob Reiner (1947–). Mike and Gloria represented the generation of liberal

The Brady Bunch

American baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) who came to maturity during the 1960s listening to rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music, protesting the Vietnam War (1954–75), and supporting the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s— The Way We Lived in volume 4) and the women’s movement. In every episode, Archie berated his son-in-law for his “communist” or “pinko” sympathies, calling him “Meathead” and casting slurs on his Polish background. Mike would just as fiercely criticize Archie for his bigotry (complete belief in his own opinions and prejudices) and mindless patriotism. Another source of comedy was provided by the Bunkers’ next-door neighbors, the Jeffersons, an African American family who were often the brunt of Archie’s rants. Part of the show’s appeal was that Archie and Edith, in spite of their narrow-mindedness, were never portrayed as purposely cruel characters, just ordinary people cramped by their social class and lack of exposure to the wider world. Indeed, there were occasional scenes that showed Archie’s obvious love of and loyalty toward his family. —Edward Moran

For More Information Adler, Richard P. All in the Family: A Critical Appraisal. New York: Praeger, 1979. Allinthefamilysit.com. http://www.allinthefamilysit.com/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Marc, David. Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989. McCrohan, Donna. Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria. New York: Workman, 1987.

The Brady Bunch From 1969 to 1974, a large, happy family known as The Brady Bunch dropped by millions of American homes one night a week. The popular sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) about an architect, his wife, and their six children became an even bigger hit in syndicated reruns. An icon (a symbol) of 1970s culture, the “groovy” family comedy inspired two popular movies and numerous TV spin-offs, becoming one of the best-known American television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) properties worldwide.

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A scene from The Brady Bunch, which charmed American audiences. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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Sherwood Schwartz (1916–), the creator of Gilligan’s Island (1964–67; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) developed The Brady Bunch after reading a newspaper report about the growing divorce (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) rate in America. Americans would tune in to see a new type of family show where the children were the product of different marriages, he reasoned, and convinced ABC to give the show a chance to crack its prime-time lineup in the fall of 1969. A catchy theme song set up the sitcom’s premise: Architect Mike Brady, played by Robert Reed (1932–1992), a widower with three male children, marries Carol, played by Florence Henderson (1934–), a widow with three girls of her own. The family sets up house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. The newly constituted “bunch” must learn how to get along as a family and deal with everyday problems, from how to share phone and bathroom time to how to resolve issues of jealousy and competition. A wisecracking housekeeper, Alice, played by Ann B. Davis (1926–), was on hand to keep the active kids under control. The children were played by Barry Williams (1954–), Christopher Knight (1957–),

While never a ratings smash, The Brady Bunch remained on the air for five seasons and proved very popular among teenage viewers. Each of the children—Greg, Peter, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, and Cindy—developed a fan following and several even graced the covers of popular teen magazines. There were Brady lunch boxes, a board game, even a short-lived musical group inspired by the success of The Partridge Family (1970–74; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Despite its popularity with younger viewers, however, ABC canceled the show in 1974.

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Mike Lookinland (1960–), Maureen McCormick (1956–), Eve Plumb (1958–), and Susan Olsen (1961–).

Cancellation proved to be a blessing in disguise, as The Brady Bunch became a cult favorite in syndication. The show was revived three times in different formats, with each lasting less than a full season—the first as a weirdly compelling variety hour in 1977, the second as a sitcom focusing only on Marcia and Jan in 1981, and the third as an awkward drama in 1990. A highly rated Christmas TV movie ran in 1988. Finally, in 1995 came The Brady Bunch Movie, the first of two critically acclaimed films featuring an all-new cast. Many years after its debut, the show continues to attract new viewers worldwide through its regular exposure on the cable nostalgia channels TV Land and Nick at Nite. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information The Brady Bunch Network. http://www.nitscape.com/ (accessed March 27, 2002). Moran, Elizabeth. Bradymania! Everything You Always Wanted To Know— and a Few Things You Probably Didn’t. New York: Adams, 1994. Rubino, Anthony. Life Lessons from the Bradys. New York: Penguin, 1995. Stoddard, Sylvia. TV Treasures: A Companion Guide to the Brady Bunch. New York: Forge, 1996. Williams, Barry. Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. Winans, Wendy. Brady World. http://www.bradyworld.com/ (accessed March 27, 2002).

Cable TV By the early 1950s, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) was becoming a major force in the way

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Cable TV

Americans spent their leisure time. But there were large areas of the country where TV and radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) reception was poor or non-existent. Many people in these mostly rural areas wanted TV. The three big networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—wanted them to become viewers because the bigger the audience, the more money advertisers would pay for airtime. Cable TV was the answer, but in the 1950s and 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restricted the growth of cable networks. The FCC feared that if the big networks moved in, local TV and radio stations would be forced out of business. When in 1972 the FCC allowed satellite (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) broadcasts to be distributed on the cable networks, Time Warner’s Home Box Office (HBO) was the first on the scene. Within four years, cable TV had become widely available across the country. When the rules were relaxed again in 1992, the big TV networks finally took over. American cable TV in the twenty-first century is controlled by a handful of global media corporations. Cable TV began with Community Antennae Television (CATV) in the 1950s. The system involved each town building a single large antenna to pick up broadcasts from great distances away. Cables then carried the signal to homes in the local area. In this way, isolated communities could receive nationally broadcast TV shows. Radio was also cabled into homes, where it was heard through the speaker on the TV set. By the mid–1970s, the CATV system could not cope with demand. Cable companies quickly realized that by charging a monthly subscription fee they could cover the cost of laying cable to connect as many homes as possible to the network. People were willing to pay for better picture quality and dozens of channels. The subscription also gave cable companies some freedom to show nudity, violence, and “bad” language.

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The effect of cable TV on American culture is difficult to judge. Early cable broadcasts were mainly old Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) movies and repeats of shows such as I Love Lucy (1951–57; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Three Stooges (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) shorts. This meant that kids growing up in the 1970s were knowledgeable about TV culture of the previous twenty years. Unfortunately, many of them learned very little else. In the 1970s, TV overtook reading as the main source of information for Americans. As it became more dominant, many Americans actually became less

Cable TV

informed about the world around them. But not everybody wanted a diet of old TV show reruns and Hollywood movies. By the 1980s, the big cable companies knew they had to create their own shows. They also knew that the best way to attract advertisers was to have specialized channels. Of all the specialized channels that appeared in the 1980s, MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) has probably made the greatest impact. By adding pictures to the music and creating “videos,” MTV revolutionized the pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) industry and threatened local radio stations. Such stars as Madonna (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) owe their iconic status to the non-stop plugging of their music on MTV. Young audiences have followed MTV’s lead since it began in 1981. They have become fans of grunge and even Britney Spears (see these entries under 1990s—Music in volume 5) thanks to MTV. MTV’s success was followed by other specialist cable channels such as the Weather Channel, Court TV, the Discovery Channel, and Comedy Central. CNN (Cable News Network; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) has become the world’s top twenty-four-hour news source. All of this has been good news for advertisers, but some critics doubt whether viewers have benefitted. Since very few companies own all the channels, the amount of choice is not as great as it seems. Meanwhile, TV news has been accused of avoiding stories that reflect badly on advertisers or the networks themselves. The arrival of the World Wide Web in the 1990s created another use for the TV cables. Unlike telephone cable, TV cables allow huge amounts of data to be exchanged at high speed. Because the cables were already in place, the United States led the world in home access to the Internet (see entry under 1990s— The Way We Lived in volume 5) in the 1990s. In the twenty-first century, cable subscribers can watch TV, surf the Internet, send e-mail (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), and use the telephone all at the same time. TV itself is changing rapidly. With the right equipment, viewers can pause live TV shows, watch “pay-per-view” sports events or concerts, and even “edit” the broadcasts they watch. Cable TV and its spin-off technologies have brought entertainment, drama, and information into millions of American homes. The big challenge facing cable TV companies in the twenty-first century is how to improve the quality of the shows and services they offer. —Chris Routledge

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CB Radio

For More Information Baker, William F., and George Dessart. Down the Tube: An Inside Account of the Failure of American Television. New York: Basic Books, 1998. Stark, Steven D. Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events that Made Us Who We Are Today. New York: Free Press, 1997. Whittemore, Hank. CNN: The Inside Story. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

CB Radio The Citizens Band (CB) radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) service was established in 1947 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which in 1958 opened up part of the amateur-radio band to enable anyone to engage in free mobile communication over about a ten-mile radius. A typical CB radio setup included a microphone, a speaker, and a control box that could be easily installed and used without the more sophisticated technical skills of an amateur-radio, or ham, operator. The service did not come into widespread popular use until the mid-1970s, when a CB craze swept the nation, popularized by long-haul truck drivers. The truck drivers used the devices to communicate with fellow drivers about traffic conditions and police activity. A trucker’s CB Radio also eased the loneliness of being on the road. Citizens Band radio became popular during a period of social and political turmoil in the United States. The Vietnam War (1954–75) was ending, the Watergate scandal was at full boil, and the oil boycotts of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were driving up the price of gasoline. In this environment, CB radio emerged as a popular grassroots forum, a way for the common people to discuss what was important to them. The CB radio offered an easy way for anonymous users to vent their frustrations with the controversies of the day. It also was a kind of forerunner of talk radio (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), the cellular telephone (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), and the computer chat room (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5).

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CB users typically adopted a handle (a nickname) by which they identified themselves. They quickly developed a colorful language that included words like “Smokey” to describe a highway-patrol officer, “wrapper” to describe an unmarked police

car, “negatory” for “no,” and “10-4” for “message received.” Foul language and explicit sexual talk was officially prohibited, though conversations were often filled with risqué hints. The CB radio craze of the 1970s helped popularize a “trucker culture” in the United States, in which the long-haul driver was admired for representing the rugged individualism required for being out on the open road. During the period, films like Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Citizens Band (1977), and Convoy (1978) testified to the CB’s popularity. Convoy was inspired by a novelty song by C. W. McCall (1928–) that reached number one on the Billboard charts in 1976. The song described a truck driver, known by his CB handle of “Rubber Duck,” who organizes a nationwide, bumper-to-bumper gathering of tractor-trailers.

Using the handle (nickname) “Daisy Mae,” a woman uses the CB Radio in her car. Bettmann/ Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

—Edward Moran

For More Information Dillis, Lanie. The “Official” CB Slanguage Language Dictionary, Including Cross References. New York: L. J. Martin, 1977.

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Charlie’s Angels

Hicks, David E. Citizens Band Radio Handbook. 5th ed. Indianapolis: H. W. Sams, 1976. Lieberman, Jethro Koller, and Neil S. Rhodes. The Complete CB Handbook. New York: D. McCay Co., 1976. The Truckers Place. http://www.thetruckersplace.com (accessed March 28, 2002.)

Charlie’s Angels Charlie’s Angels (1976–81) was a smash-hit television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series with a surefire formula. In a nod to the feminism of the era, it featured three tough, no-nonsense women who were anything but submissive in their roles as crime-fighting detectives. Detective roles were then usually played by men on both the big and small screens. At the same time, these Angels were no women’s liberation icons. They were glamorous, beautiful sex objects who frequently found themselves garbed in short shorts or bikinis as they headed off to sunny climates to complete their assignments. Charlie’s Angels, broadcast on ABC, won major stardom for its three original leads. Kate Jackson (1948–), the most experienced actress of the trio, was cast as the calm, cool, and intellectual Sabrina Duncan. Farrah Fawcett-Majors (1946–) played athletic Jill Munroe. Jaclyn Smith (1947–) was cast as streetwise Kelly Garrett. Fawcett-Majors quickly emerged as the show’s most marketable commodity. America fell in love with her toothy smile and abundant blonde hair, and a poster of her garbed in a bathing suit was a hot seller. Fawcett-Majors left the show in 1977 after just one season, and was followed by Jackson two years later. Their replacements were Cheryl Ladd (1951–), playing Jill’s kid sister Kris, and Shelley Hack (1952–), who left in 1980 and was replaced by Tanya Roberts (1955–). John Forsythe (1918–) was heard but not seen as the voice of Charlie Townsend, the Angels’ boss, who phoned them their assignment at the start of each episode. David Doyle (1925–1997) played John Bosley, Charlie’s aide, who was on hand to assist the Angels.

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The Angels usually found themselves working undercover. In order to sniff out a killer, foil a kidnapping plot, or bust a drugsmuggling ring, they might masquerade as military recruits, playmate centerfolds, marathon runners, fashion models, student nurses, or convicts. The titles of quite a few episodes

revealed the locales to which they would be dispatched: “Island Angels”; “Angels at Sea”; “The Mexican Connection”; “The Vegas Connection”; “Angels in Paradise.” But the series’ underlying lowbrow quality is best exhibited by the titles of other episodes: “Pom Pom Angels”; “Disco Angels”; “Angels on Wheels”; “Angels in Chains.”

Farrah Fawcett-Majors (left), Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith starred as beautiful detectives in the television show Charlie’s Angels. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Charlie’s Angels was one of dozens of vintage hit TV series to be recycled into feature films decades after the airings of their final episodes. The Charlie’s Angels film (2000) featured three attractive young stars of a new generation, Drew Barrymore (1975–), Cameron Diaz (1972–), and Lucy Liu (1967–), and involved them in a scheme to foil a kidnapping plot. —Rob Edelman

For More Information “Charlies’ Angels.” Screen Gem Network. http://www.spe.sony.com/tv/ shows/sgn/ca (accessed March 28, 2002). Hofstede, David, and Jack Condon. The Charlie’s Angels Casebook. Beverly Hills, CA: Pomegranate Press, 2000.

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The Dukes of Hazzard

Pingel, Mike, ed. Angelic Heaven. http://www.charliesangels.com (accessed March 28, 2002).

The Dukes of Hazzard From 1979 through 1985, millions of Americans tuned in to CBS on Friday nights to view a fantasy slice of Southern country life on one of the nation’s highest rated shows, The Dukes of Hazzard. The comedy featured exaggerated Southern accents, tooth-rattling car chases, and comic stereotypes of good and evil. Sandwiched between The Incredible Hulk (1978–82) and Dallas (1978–91; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), The Dukes of Hazzard drew huge audiences of loyal fans. Even in 2001, sixteen years after its cancellation, The Dukes of Hazzard still thrives in reruns. With its simple, silly plots and wholesome values, The Dukes of Hazzard was a counterpoint to the seriousness of politically radical culture of the late 1960s and 1970s and issue-oriented comedies like All in the Family (1971–79; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). The stars of the show were three young adult cousins, Luke (Tom Wopat, 1951–), Bo (John Schneider, 1960–), and Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach, 1954–). The cousins lived with their crusty old uncle, Jesse (Denver Pyle, 1920–1997). The two Duke boys—described in the show’s opening song as “just some good ol’ boys, never meanin’ no harm”— were hell-raisers who clearly represented the forces of good. Daisy Duke is best remembered for the short-short denim cutoffs she wore on every show. Each show found the Dukes caught up in a good-natured battle with the forces of evil in Georgia’s Hazzard County, represented by the corrupt Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke, 1930–1994) and the hopelessly inept Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best, 1926–). The other major personality on the show was the Duke boys’ car, the General Lee, a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag painted on its roof. The hero of at least three dramatic chase scenes each episode, the General Lee has its own fan clubs. Several Web sites offer instructions for building a copy of the car.

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CBS has produced two Dukes of Hazzard reunion films, one in 1997, and one in 2001. Critics hated the films, but loyal fans tuned in happily to catch up with their old friends in the uncomplicated world of Hazzard County. —Tina Gianoulis

Anderson, Gary. Gary’s Dukes of Hazzard Page. http://hazzard.simplenet. com (accessed March 28, 2002) Bigonesse, Ray. Ray’s Dukes of Hazzard Page. http://www.ghg.net/ rbigoness/hazzard.html (accessed March 28, 2002). Davidson, Bill. “Crackup in Hazzard County! Here’s the Casualty Report.” TV Guide (December 25, 1982): pp. 12–16. Gritten, David. “Southern Hospitality (and Politics) Gives The Dukes of Hazzard an Old Kentucky Home.” People Weekly (October 12, 1981): pp. 54–57. Schneider, John. “Dukes of Hazzard.” John Schneider’s Official Website. http://www.boduke.com/dukes_of_hazzard_contents.htm (accessed March 28, 2002).

ESPN

For More Information

ESPN The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network is more commonly known as ESPN. The popular cable sports-television network has been entertaining viewers with sports highlights, game telecasts, and commentary since 1979. It has grown from a tiny operation based in Bristol, Connecticut, to a worldwide media empire that includes multiple cable-TV (see entry under 1970s— TV and Radio in volume 4) channels, a radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) network, a Web site, books, a magazine, and even theme restaurants bearing the ESPN logo. Few believed that ESPN could succeed when it started broadcasting in 1979. In those early days, the network carried littleknown sports like lacrosse and Australian football as well as exotic events like tractor pulls and strongman competitions. However, it steadily enlarged its audience throughout the early 1980s. In 1987, ESPN secured the rights to telecast National Football League (NFL; see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2) games on Sunday nights. The deal allowed the network to bring in much-needed advertising money and increased its standing among hard-core sports fans. Also contributing to ESPN’s growth was the popularity of its signature sports-news show SportsCenter. The program, which ran several times a day, mixed highlights with humor in the form of wisecracking anchors like Keith Olbermann (1959–) and Dan Patrick (1956–). Those two were among the first anchors to include comical catchphrases in their sports highlight narration: “En fuego” indicated an athlete who was “on fire” and “He put the biscuit in the basket” described a player who had just scored.

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Fantasy Island

By the 1990s, ESPN had become the place to catch up on the latest sports developments, especially for young viewers. In addition to football, ESPN began producing live telecasts of major-league baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1), college basketball, and professional hockey games. SportsCenter introduced a rotating list of hosts, each with his or her own catchphrase, from Stuart Scott (1965–), who barked “Boo ya!” every time something exciting happened, to the sarcastic Craig Kilborn (1962–), who went on to host his own late-night talk show. By 1996, the cable channel had grown so popular that it launched its own magazine, ESPN the Magazine to compete with Sports Illustrated (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3). New channels, like ESPN2 and ESPN Classic, were added to contain the overflow of sports programming that viewers demanded. Although some critics blamed ESPN for “dumbing down” sports coverage with its fixation on “attitude” and repetitive catchphrases, few could deny that the all-sports network was the dominant force in sports television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) at the dawn of the new century. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information ESPN. http://espn.go.com/main.html (accessed March 28, 2002). Freeman, Michael. ESPN: The Uncensored History. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 2000. Olbermann, Keith, and Dan Patrick. The Big Show. Garden City, NY: Pocket Books, 1998. Youngblut, Shelley, ed. The Quotable ESPN. New York: Hyperion, 1998.

Fantasy Island “De plane! De plane!” With those famous words, French actor Hervé Villechaize (1943–1993) announced the arrival of a new planeload of celebrity guest stars each week on ABC’s Fantasy Island. The imaginative drama series ran from 1978 to 1984. It was briefly revived with an all-new cast in 1998. The show, which mixed elements of romance and the supernatural, was the perfect complement to ABC’s other Saturday night ratings powerhouse, The Love Boat (1977–86; see entry under 1970s— TV and Radio in volume 4). 1036

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Both programs were produced by Aaron Spelling (1923–), the legendary creator of Charlie’s Angels (1976–81; see entry under

1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and The Mod Squad (1968–73), who would go on to record hits with Dynasty (1981–89) and Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000). For Fantasy Island, Spelling cast Latin actor Ricardo Montalban (1920–) in the lead role of Mr. Roarke, the suave proprietor of a tropical resort where visitors come to have their fantasies made real. Clad in an all-white suit and speaking in riddles, Montalban brought an air of mystery to the juicy part. Joining him for most of the show’s run was short-statured Villechaize, in the role of Tattoo, Roarke’s faithful, if mischievous, attendant. The strange pair defied all the rules of prime-time stardom, yet their banter became a large part of the show’s success. Even with his thick accent and unconventional appearance, Villechaize became a pop icon. Imaginative plots also contributed to Fantasy Island’s popularity. Each week, a new set of guest stars would show up on the island wanting to live out their fantasies. A homely woman might long to be beautiful, for instance, or a compulsive gambler might wish for one big jackpot. Most fantasies did not turn out as the people had hoped. They came to realize by the show’s end that they should have been content with their life as it was. Like The Millionaire and, to a lesser extent, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island allowed viewers to live out their own fantasies through the characters on the show. For much of its run, Fantasy Island scored among the top twenty-five shows in the TV ratings and helped revive ABC’s sagging Saturday night lineup. The quality of the show declined after Villechaize left to pursue other ventures in 1983 (and to battle his personal demons, often related to health problems associated with his size—he committed suicide in 1993). Canceled by the network in 1984, Fantasy Island returned in 1998, this time with British actor Malcolm McDowell (1943–) in the role of Roarke. Darker and more disturbing than the previous version, the new series failed to catch on with viewers and was canceled after one season. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

Ricardo Montalban (left) and Hervé Villechaize in a scene from the television series Fantasy Island. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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The Gong Show

For More Information McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin, 1996. Spelling, Aaron, and Jefferson Graham. Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

The Gong Show The Gong Show, which aired from 1976 until 1980, was one of the most bizarre programs ever to appear on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Created by producer Chuck Barris (1929–), the game show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) offered viewers a satire on traditional talent competitions. Occasionally, the series was a showcase for legitimate amateur talent, but more often it presented acts that were revolting, intentionally awful, or just plain weird. During the 1960s, Barris had achieved great success as the executive producer of television’s The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. These programs drew much of their humor from the embarrassing comments made by contestants. In The Gong Show, Barris extended his popular blend of competition and humiliation by having terrible acts perform before celebrities in a talent contest. Each episode followed an established format: amateur entertainers had two minutes to perform before three celebrity judges who could immediately end the performance by banging a huge gong. Often, no winner could be determined as the celebrities “gonged” every act in an episode. Those who did survive the full two minutes were then rated by the panel from zero to ten, for a possible total of thirty points. The act with the highest score would receive a Golden Gong trophy and a check for either $516.32 (in the show’s daytime version) or $712.05 (nighttime).

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American television viewers had never seen “talent” like the performers who appeared on every episode of The Gong Show. Typical acts included “Professor Flamo,” a man who sang out in pain while lowering his hand onto a candle flame; a man who broke eggs over his head while making faces through a sheet of Plexiglas; and an assortment of zany singers and dancers. One of the most popular recurring performers was “Gene Gene the Dancing Machine” (Gene Patton), an actual stagehand who danced while the audience threw various items at him. The celebrity panel varied each episode and included

The Gong Show Chuck Barris, creator of The Gong Show. Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

Jaye P. Morgan (1931–), Jamie Farr (1934–), Rip Taylor (1934–), David Letterman (1947–; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5), Steve Martin (1945–), Arte Johnson (1929–), and Phyllis Diller (1917–). NBC canceled The Gong Show in 1978 after it had become too risqué and extreme. It continued in syndication until 1980. That same year, Barris directed The Gong Show Movie, but audiences had grown tired of Barris and his wacky amateurs. A short-lived revival with Don Bleu as host failed in 1988. Barris’s version of the series can still be seen on The Game Show Network. The Gong Show was gross, crude, raunchy, lowbrow— and loved by audiences. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Barris, Chuck. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: An Unauthorized Biography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984. Barris, Chuck. The Game Show King: A Confession. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1993. DeLong, Thomas. Quiz Craze: America’s Infatuation with Game Shows. New York: Praeger, 1991.

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Happy Days

“The Gong Show.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ popopedia/shows/primetime/pt1317.php (accessed March 28, 2002).

Happy Days The sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) Happy Days, which aired on ABC from 1974 until 1984, offered television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers a nostalgic look at the 1950s. Created by Garry Marshall (1934–), the series was filled with iconic images (images that become symbols) of that earlier decade. Such images include poodle skirts, leather jackets, and hot rods (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) provided the soundtrack to these images, of course. Originally, Happy Days focused on a Milwaukee high-school student named Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard, 1954–) and his family. However, the program’s focus shifted over the seasons to concentrate on a previously minor character named Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler, 1945–). “The Fonz” was the personification of “cool.” He possessed an almost supernatural ability to attract women, was a master mechanic, and hid his sensitive side under a tough-guy exterior. When Happy Days premiered in 1974, in addition to Howard and Winkler, the cast consisted of Tom Bosley (1927–) and Marion Ross (1928–) as Richie’s parents, Howard and Marion Cunningham; and Erin Moran (1961–) as Richie’s sister, Joanie. Richie had two best friends, Ralph Malph (Donny Most, 1953–), and Potsie Weber (Anson Williams, 1949–). The gang spent most of their time hanging out at Arnold’s restaurant. To provide some contrast to his bland, middle-class “white bread” characters, Marshall added Fonzie, a greasy-haired, leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding dropout, to the cast. Although network executives initially feared Fonzie was too threatening, viewers quickly responded to the character. Henry Winkler became a major celebrity, and The Fonz’s trademark thumbs-up gesture and “Aaaaaayyyyyy” sound of approval became symbols of the 1950s culture. Fonzie was such a cultural icon that his leather jacket was enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.

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Happy Days evolved over the years as the characters aged. Richie and his pals moved from high school to college and

“Fonzie” merged into the mainstream. No longer the prototypical hood, “Fonzie” became a businessman and in the show’s final seasons was Dean of Boys at the George S. Patton Vocational School. Winkler and the series’ writers had transformed “The Fonz” into a good role model for the character’s legion of young fans. When “Fonzie” got a library card in one episode, millions of children did likewise the following week.

Donny Most (left), Henry Winkler, Anson Williams, and Ron Howard. Happy Days helped audiences flash back to the 1950s. ABC/Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

The success of Happy Days made Gary Marshall one of the most prolific TV producers during the 1970s. Two of his other hits included Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy, both spinoffs of Happy Days. In 1982, Joanie Loves Chachi, which featured the misadventures of Richie’s sister and Fonzie’s cousin, was short-lived. Happy Days reruns continue to draw viewers who respond to its nostalgic attitude toward the 1950s and the magnetic presence of The Fonz. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Davidson, Ben. The Official Fonzie Scrapbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978.

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Green, Jonathon. The Fonz & Henry Winkler. New York: Castle Books, 1978. “Happy Days Online.” Sitcoms Online. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ happydays.html (accessed March 28, 2002). International Happy Days Fan Club. http://www.happydaysfanclub.com/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Kramer, Barbara. Ron Howard: Child Star & Hollywood Director. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998. Mitz, Rick. The Great TV Sitcom Book. New York: Marek Publishers, 1983. Taylor, Ella. Prime Time Families: Television Culture in Postwar America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.

Hee Haw With its mix of country and western music and down-home humor, Hee Haw was one of American television’s most popular variety series in the 1970s and 1980s. It was the first and most popular show about southern rural America. Hee Haw debuted on CBS in 1969 as a spin-off of the network’s Jonathan Winters Show. Producers believed that a variety half-hour centered around southern rural themes would appeal to the same audience that watched Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). The cohosts of Hee Haw were Roy Clark (1933–) and Buck Owens (1929–), both veteran country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) musicians with comedic experience. An animated donkey appeared on a regular basis to react to the humor and to provide the “hee haw” of the title. The show featured a regular company of comic actors and musicians, including Louis “Grandpa” Jones (1913–1998), Alvin “Junior” Samples (1926–1983), and George “Goober” Lindsay (1935–). One of the most popular performers on Hee Haw was Minnie Pearl (1912–1996), a brassy country matron who always wore a hat with a price tag hanging off it. Her trademark whoop, “How-DEEEEEE,” became one of the signatures of Hee Haw’s twenty-three-year run.

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Pearl and the other regulars provided the comedy in the form of sketches. In addition, some of the biggest names in country music, including Johnny Cash (1932–), Merle Haggard (1937–), Tammy Wynette (1942–1998), and Boxcar Willie (1931–1999), took to the Hee Haw stage to perform before national audiences. In this way, Hee Haw helped to popularize country music and laid the groundwork for its explosion into mainstream Ameri-

A ratings smash from the start, Hee Haw nevertheless faced cancellation after only two full seasons, when CBS decided to cancel all its rural programs in favor of urban comedies like All in the Family (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). However, the popularity of Hee Haw could not be denied. The show continued to flourish in first-run syndication. It even spun off an all-female version, Hee Haw Honeys, in 1978 that costarred Kathy Lee Gifford (1953–). Though declining ratings eventually forced Clark and company to shut down the beloved “Kornfield” in 1992, Hee Haw remains popular in reruns. Its unique blend of country-life comedy and good-time music may never be duplicated.

Little House on the Prairie

can music in the 1990s. In the later years of Hee Haw, many of the genre’s new breed of superstars, including Garth Brooks (1962–) and Randy Travis (1959–), made their national TV debuts on the trailblazing program.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Clark, Roy, and Marc Eliot. My Life—In Spite of Myself. New York: Pocket Books, 1995. Lovullo, Sam, and Marc Eliot. Life in the Kornfield: My 25 Years at Hee Haw. New York: Boulevard Books, 1996.

Little House on the Prairie Most books, films, and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs set on the nineteenth-century American prairie feature gunfights and conflict, battles between cowboys and Indians, hostility between land barons or cattle rustlers and honest, hard-working settlers. One exception is Little House on the Prairie (1974–83), one of the top-rated TV series of the 1970s. As with the equally popular the Waltons (1972–81; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), Little House on the Prairie was set during an earlier era in American history. Like The Waltons, it centered on a loving, old-fashioned family whose members are forced to struggle for survival in difficult times. Many of its storylines were based on those recounted in a series of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957), in which she recalled her own experiences coming of age on the American frontier. The books, published

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The Ingalls family conquered the American frontier and American audiences on Little House on the Prairie. The core cast was (left to right) Melissa Gilbert, Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, and Melissa Sue Anderson. Fotos International/ Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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between 1932 and 1943, are known as the “Little House” books. The series’ episodes were told from Laura’s point of view and included narration by her character. The father in Little House on the Prairie is Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon, 1937–1991), a homesteader who works his small farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. At the outset, he is seen with his wife, Caroline (Karen Grassle, 1944–) and three daughters: Mary (Melissa Sue Anderson, 1962–); Laura (Melissa Gilbert, 1964–); and Carrie (alternately played by twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, 1970–). The Ingalls clan must contend with the ravages of nature, which constantly wreck their crops. They mix with the various Walnut Grove townsfolk. The Ingalls parents also deal with the dilemmas of their growing children. In a contemporary, family-oriented TV program, those problems might involve sex and drugs, but in the wholesome Little House on the Prairie, they include Mary’s losing her eyesight, and Mary’s and Laura’s growing up, falling in love, and marrying. As the series evolved, Charles and Caroline Ingalls take in various orphans and briefly move to the Dakota Territory before

The Love Boat

returning to Walnut Grove. When Landon—who also was the show’s executive producer and sometime writer-director—chose to leave the series in 1982, its title was changed to Little House: A New Beginning. It lasted only one season. The series, which had originated as a 1974 made-for-TV movie, was followed by three TV movie sequels: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983); Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1983); and Little House: The Last Farewell (1984). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Anderson, William. Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Anderson, William. Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Erisman, Fred. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Boise, ID: Boise State University, 1994. Glasscock, Sarah. Laura Ingalls Wilder: An Author’s Story. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1998. Hines, Stephen W. I Remember Laura: Laura Ingalls Wilder. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1994. Miller, John E. Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1998. Raatma, Lucy. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Teacher and Writer. Chicago: Ferguson Publishers, 2001.

The Love Boat The Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 until 1986, offered television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers a mixture of romance, light comedy, exotic locations, and celebrities. Producer Aaron Spelling (1928–) crafted the hour-long anthology series. Each week, the show interwove three romantic plots occurring on the fictional Pacific Princess cruise ship. A cast of recurring actors portrayed the ship’s crew while an assortment of Hollywood legends, hasbeens, and up-and-comers were featured as the ship’s celebrity passengers. Critics dismissed The Love Boat as TV at its most average in quality, but audiences enjoyed the fluffy program. They made it a permanent part of their Saturday-night viewing for nearly a decade. The Love Boat was originally based on a novel by Jeraldine Saunders, a former cruise-ship director. The crew of the Pacific

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The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Princess was played by a blend of veteran and younger performers: Gavin MacLeod (1930–) starred as Captain Merrill Stubing; Bernie Kopell (1933–) was the ship’s physician, Adam “Doc” Bricker; Lauren Tewes (1954–) was perky cruise director Julie McCoy; Fred Grandy (1948–) played purser “Gopher” Smith, who looked after the comfort and well-being of the passengers; and Ted Lange (1948–) was the bartender, Isaac Washington. Every week the crew welcomed several celebrity guests. Often, legendary Hollywood icons like Lana Turner (1921–1995) and Alice Faye (1915–1998) would be lured onto the show with the promise of a free luxury cruise to one of the series’ exotic locations. Artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987), who coined the famous idea that in the future everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes, was the perfect guest for the program’s two hundredth episode in 1985. Plots on The Love Boat were simplistic and emphasized amusing comedy rather than engaging storylines. The series’ format remained unchanged throughout its run and the cast remained relatively stable. By the mid-1980s, however, the program’s luster had begun to fade, and the series was canceled in 1986. Still, The Love Boat was not completely sunk. The cast reunited for several TV specials and the series thrives in syndication. In 1998, a new version of the program, Love Boat: The Next Wave, was short-lived. —Charles Coletta

For More Information “The Love Boat.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/primetime/pt1196.php (accessed March 28, 2002). Portes, Rick. The Love Boat: Unofficial Home Page. http://www. loveboatonline. com/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Saunders, Jeraldine. The Love Boat (Collector’s Edition). St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1998. Spelling, Aaron, with Jefferson Graham. Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. Wallace, David. “Once Slated for Dry Dock, The Love Boat Cruises Boozily into Its Ninth Nautical Season.” People Weekly (April 15, 1985): p. 130.

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The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77) was one of the most beloved and enduring television sitcoms (situation comedies;

The Mary Tyler Moore Show Mary Tyler Moore, shown here with Ted Knight, starred as the independent and eternally optimistic Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Fotos International/Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume) of its era. The show, which aired on CBS, was more than just a clever, entertaining hit series. Its popularity paralleled the rise of the feminist movement in the United States during the early and mid-1970s. The show’s primary character, Mary Richards, played by star Mary Tyler Moore (1936–), was a popular-culture icon, a symbol for the times. She was a character who had never before been seen on television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3): a single professional woman who was career-oriented and independent-minded. Unlike her predecessors, Mary was not man-hungry. She was not out to wed the first respectable male who asked her. Mary Richards lived on her own and was determined to shape her life on her own. Prior to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, single women on TV sitcoms usually had one goal in life: marriage. Our Miss Brooks (1952–56), Private Secretary (1953–57), and The Gale Storm Show (1956–60; also known as Oh, Susannah) featured unmarried women whose lives centered around their boyfriends or potential romantic partners and their quests for wedding rings. Although the wanna-be actress heroine of That Girl (1966–71)

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may have been career-oriented, she also had a regular boyfriend, to whom she became engaged before the series ran its course. Meanwhile, married women, such as Laura Petrie—wife of comedy writer Rob Petrie and the character previously played by Moore on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66)—rarely had careers outside the home. They were mothers who never mussed their make-up as they dispensed milk and cookies to their offspring. Their husbands were their household’s sole breadwinners. Despite their roles as homemakers and housekeepers, they always were stylishly dressed with their hair beautifully styled when their mates arrived home from work. Or, if they yearned for a career—as did Lucy Ricardo, the heroine of I Love Lucy (1951–57; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3)—they had to conspire, against their husband’s will and without his “permission,” to break into their profession of choice. Mary Richards’ career was not in education, library science, or nursing, all traditional women’s professions. This thirtysomething character worked as an associate producer in the news department of WJM, the lowest-rated TV station in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mary was a dedicated and ambitious career woman; as the series progressed, she became increasingly assertive in the workplace and eventually was promoted to producer. Yet Mary was not one-dimensionally bold or unrealistically rendered. She could be intimidated by others, at which point she might stutter and garble her sentences. When bothered at work, her arms would flail about and she would whine the name of her boss. These vulnerabilities made Mary Richards a fully realized, deeply human character. Mary might eventually wed and start a family, but she was never marriage-hungry. Mary would never be dependent upon a man. For her, a relationship would be a fifty-fifty proposition. Furthermore, unlike her single-woman sitcom-character predecessors, Mary Richards had—and enjoyed—a sex life. She might spend the night with a man, and she did not have to be in love with him to enjoy his company.

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However, The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s popularity did not just stem from the depiction of its central character. The show was genuinely funny. It featured an array of colorful, carefully drawn supporting characters who gravitated around Mary Richards and served to replace husband, parents, and children as Mary’s extended family. They included gruff but lovable news producer Lou Grant (Edward Asner, 1929–); pompous, dim-witted news anchor Ted Baxter (Ted Knight, 1923–1986);

M*A*S*H

wisecracking nice-guy head news writer Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod, 1931–); Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel, 1948–), Ted Baxter’s sweet, none-too-bright girlfriend, then wife; Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman, 1926–), Mary’s nosy, insensitive neighbor; Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White, 1924–), scheming hostess of WJM-TV’s “Happy Homemaker Show”; and, finally, transplanted New Yorker Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper, 1940–), Mary’s neighbor and best friend, a character who, like Sue Ann Nivens, was more of a traditional, male-hungry single woman. A number of these characters also starred in their own spin-off series: Rhoda (1974–78), Phyllis (1975–77), and Lou Grant (1977–82). Mary Tyler Moore was not only the star of her show. With then-husband Grant Tinker (1925–), she also produced The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The sitcom was still a ratings winner in 1977 when Moore and Tinker decided to end its seven-year run. The final episode featured the selling of WJM-TV to a new owner who summarily fired the entire staff, with one exception: inept Ted Baxter, whose incompetence more than likely was the primary reason for the station’s lowly ratings. The character of Mary Richards served as a meaningful and positive role model for women who were coming of age in the 1970s. She inspired them as they extended the boundaries of their futures beyond marriage, motherhood, and traditional women’s roles. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Alley, Robert S., and Irby B. Brown. Love Is All Around: The Making of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. New York: Delta, 1989. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Tim’s TV Showcase. http://timstvshowcase. com/ (accessed March 28, 2002). The Mary Tyler Moore Show Online. http://www.mtmshow.com (accessed March 28, 2002). Meehan, Diana. Ladies of the Evening: Women Characters of Prime-Time Television. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1983. Moore, Mary Tyler. After All. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995.

M*A*S*H Set during the Korean War (1950–53), M*A*S*H was first a smash-hit movie in 1970 and then a groundbreaking and wildly

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M*A*S*H

popular television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series from 1972 to 1983. The screen version, in no unsubtle terms, actually served as a condemnation of America’s controversial involvement in the war in Vietnam (1954–75). The small-screen follow-up—which ran eight years longer than the actual Korean conflict—became one of the funniest and most enduring of all TV sitcoms (situation comedies; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The setting of M*A*S*H is the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, a makeshift medical operation situated right behind the frontline fighting. The doctors and nurses assigned to the unit are entrusted to treat the steady flow of wounded being evacuated by helicopter directly from the battlefield. Given the constant presence of death, the hospital is a morbidly depressing environment; the lone way to keep one’s sanity is by injecting as much tomfoolery into the proceedings as possible. So despite their grim settings, both the large- and small-screen versions of M*A*S*H are loaded with outlandish humor. The film version was a career breakthrough for esteemed independent filmmaker Robert Altman (1925–). Its primary characters are Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, played by Donald Sutherland (1934–), and Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre, played by Elliott Gould (1938–). The captains are surgeons whose fierce individualism and rebellious spirit frequently clash with the stuffy, regimented military lifestyle. Hawkeye’s and Trapper John’s contempt for the mindlessness of military bureaucracy and the self-important behavior of military bureaucrats, coupled with the film’s appropriately gruesome humor and antiwar point of view, endeared the film to youthful audiences.

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When the television version of M*A*S*H premiered, Sutherland and Gould were replaced by Alan Alda (1936–) and Wayne Rogers (1933–). As in the film, Hawkeye and Trapper John were surrounded by carefully etched supporting characters: Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit, 1937–), the uptight head nurse, whose character was humanized as the series progressed; Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville, 1939–2000), a hypocritical, inept surgeon; Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff, 1940–), the shy, young company clerk; Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson, 1929–1996), the befuddled commanding officer; Corporal Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr, 1934–), who savors wearing women’s clothing in the hope of earning a military discharge; and Father Francis

The series was acclaimed for its unusual storylines, many of which spotlighted the grim reality of life in a M*A*S*H unit. For example, the cheer that accompanies Col. Blake’s transfer out of the war zone is followed by heartbreak: the character is killed when his helicopter goes down in the Sea of Japan, just after it departs the M*A*S*H unit. In another episode, Hawkeye suffers a concussion and is taken in by a non-English-speaking Korean family. The dialogue consists only of Hawkeye offering a monologue in which he comments on the evils of war and other topics. Still another episode, titled “The Interview,” features the characters commenting to a reporter on their feelings about life in a war zone.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Mulcahy (William Christopher, 1932–), a thoughtful clergyman. Burghoff, by the way, was the lone actor from the screen version to appear in the series. As the years passed, various actors decided to leave the show, or their characters were written out of the series. Rogers, Linville, and Stevenson were respectively replaced by Mike Farrell (1939–), playing Captain B.J. Hunnicut, Hawkeye’s equally able partner-in-crime; David Ogden Stiers (1942–), cast as aristocratic Major Charles Emerson Winchester III; and Harry Morgan (1915–), playing wry Colonel Sherman T. Potter.

The final original M*A*S*H episode, which was two and a half hours long, aired on February 28, 1983. Over fifty million viewers—the largest audience to that date in TV history— watched as the Korean War ended and the members of the 4077th finally went home. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Kalter, Suzy. The Complete Book of M*A*S*H. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1984. M*A*S*H. http://www.mash4077.co.uk/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Maxwell, Jeff. Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess: The Lost Recipes of Private Igor. Nashville: Cumberland House, 1997.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus Monty Python was a British comedy troupe that emerged in the late 1960s with its own television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

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The show developed a huge cult following in the 1970s and beyond. The members of Monty Python also made a number of films which, along with their TV show, brought them great success in Britain and in the United States and had a lasting impact on late twentieth-century comedy. The members of the group consisted of John Cleese (1939–), Eric Idle (1943–), Graham Chapman (1941–1989), Michael Palin (1943–), Terry Gilliam (1940–), and Terry Jones (1942–). They began their individual careers performing in various comedy troupes in Great Britain where they met and often worked with each other. In 1969, they formed Monty Python, a comedy group who wrote and performed satirical sketches, or skits, that made fun of established authorities, like the British government, the rich, and even television itself. The show also featured animation by Gilliam, an American. Monty Python typically performed absurd routines, including ones that involved singing lumberjacks dressed up as women and an office where people could pay to get into arguments. The show was a success in Great Britain and later in Canada. Monty Python’s last season on British television came in 1974. Even before that year, news of the group had spread to the United States, helped by the group’s comedy record albums. When the Public Broadcasting System (PBS; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) picked up the show in 1975, Americans could then see the group’s absurd humor, and they enjoyed a long run on American TV. With the end of Flying Circus, the group went on to make several films. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a spoof of the Arthurian legends from medieval Britain, in 1975, was the first of these films. It contained some of the same absurd and satirical comedy they featured in Flying Circus. In Life of Brian (1979), they spoofed Christianity, a controversial move, but one that proved successful at the box office. Their final film, The Meaning of Life, came out in 1983 and also proved to be their final group project. Individually, the members of Monty Python went on to their own films and other projects after 1983. Beyond their many fans in the United States and elsewhere, Monty Python proved to be a very important force in American and British comedy, influencing the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4), the Canadian show Kids in the Hall, and others.

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—Timothy Berg

Hewison, Robert. Monty Python: The Case Against. London: Methuen, 1981. Miller, Jeffrey S. Something Completely Different: British Television and American Culture, 1960–1980. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999. Perry, George. The Life of Python. Boston: Little Brown, 1983. PythOnline. http://www.pythonline.com/ (accessed March 28, 2002).

Muppets

For More Information

Muppets Puppetry is an ancient art form that has been practiced for centuries in nearly every culture of the world. In the United States, the Muppets have long been the nation’s most successful puppetry organization. Founded in the 1950s by Jim Henson (1936–1990), who had been fascinated by the possibilities of presenting puppets on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the Muppet characters have appeared on hundreds of public and commercial TV programs and recordings; in films and commercials; and as toys and merchandise. Henson coined the term “Muppet” by combining the words marionette and puppet. Muppets, unlike other puppets, have flexible faces that allow for a wide range of expressions that play well on TV. Muppet characters like Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, Grover, Fozzie Bear, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, and Elmo have captured the world’s imagination. Henson had his first taste of success as a teenager when he created a five-minute-long puppet feature for adults to air immediately before The Tonight Show (1954–; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The show was such a success that Henson and his Muppets were soon asked to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–71), Today (1952–; see these entries under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and The Tonight Show. The first Muppet star was Rowlf the Dog, who appeared for three years on The Jimmy Dean Show (1957–66). In 1969, the Muppets achieved enormous popularity through their appearances on the public television program Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Children were enthralled by the Muppets’ antics as they explained the alphabet, did simple math equations, and discussed social issues. Thanks in part to the Muppets, Sesame Street grew to be one of the most popular programs in TV history.

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In 1976, Henson got his own show, called simply The Muppet Show. It remained on the air until 1981. Each week, a human celebrity would appear in a variety-show format with the Muppets, who were led by Kermit the Frog, one of Henson’s 1950s creations. The show was a phenomenon and led to several Muppet films, including The Muppet Movie (1979), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and Muppets from Space (1999). Henson was constantly seeking methods to expand the art of puppetry. His Muppet success financed such innovative work as two TV series, Fraggle Rock (1983-88) and The Storyteller (1987), and the film The Dark Crystal (1982). Henson died in 1990 after a brief illness. The Muppet team endures and continues to delight audiences with their outrageous humor and advanced puppetry skills. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Bacon, Matt. No Strings Attached: The Inside Story of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. New York: Macmillan, 1997. Finch, Christopher. Of Muppets and Men: The Making of the Muppet Show. New York: Random House, 1981. Gikow, Louise. Meet Jim Henson. New York: Random House, 1993. Henson, Jim, et al. The Art of the Muppets. New York: Bantam, 1980. Muppet World. http://www.muppetworld.com (accessed March 28, 2002). Sesame Workshop. http://www.sesameworkshop.org/ (accessed March 28, 2002).

The Partridge Family

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The Partridge Family (1970–74) was a popular television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) about a musical family that makes it in the record industry. Oscar-winning actress Shirley Jones (1934–) starred as Shirley Partridge, a widowed suburbanite whose children have formed their own rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) band. Mom and kids come together in their garage to tape a song titled “I Think I Love You.” A record company purchases it, and the song becomes a monster hit. Soon the Partridges are touring across the United States, driving from performance to performance in a repainted school bus.

The Partridge Family The original cast members of The Partridge Family: Shirley Jones is surrounded by (clockwise from upper left) Susan Dey, David Cassidy, Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough, and Jeremy Gelbwaks. UPI/CorbisBettman. Reproduced by permission.

David Cassidy (1950–), Jones’s real-life stepson, played sixteen-year-old Keith, the senior Partridge kid. His siblings were fifteen-year-old Laurie (Susan Dey, 1952–), ten-year-old Danny (Danny Bonaduce, 1959–), seven-year-old Christopher (played by Jeremy Gelbwaks, 1961–, for one season and then by Brian Forster, 1960–), and five-year-old Tracy (Suzanne Crough, 1963–). The other primary character was Reuben Kinkaid (Dave Madden, 1933–), the band’s manager. Even though none of the actors cast as the Partridges played instruments—professional

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studio musicians performed the music—Jones and Cassidy sang the Partridge vocals. “I Think I Love You” transcended being a mere TV theme; it became a top-ten hit record, and for three weeks in 1970 it was number one on the charts. The following year, the Partridges scored another hit with “I Woke Up in Love This Morning.” The Partridges were a success on two fronts, with the TV show helping to promote the sale of Partridge Family records while their hits helped hype the series. Meanwhile, super-cute Cassidy became a teen heartthrob. Like other 1970s teen icons, among them John Travolta (1954–) and Leif Garrett (1961–), Cassidy was the love-object of dreamy adolescent and preadolescent girls. He was a constant presence on the cover of teen magazines. David Cassidy posters, pins, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and lunch boxes sold by the thousands. “I Think I Love You” and “I Woke Up in Love This Morning” also are “bubblegum music” classics. In the late 1960s and early to mid-1970s, “bubblegum music” was all the rage among preteenagers and young teenagers. Its popularity grew out of the acid rock and introspective pop-folk music that was then attracting older teens and young adults. “Bubblegum” sounds are sweet, bouncy, and dance-oriented, with upbeat, innocent lyrics. Among the late 1960s “bubblegum” hits that preceded “I Think I Love You” were “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies, “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” by The Ohio Express, and “Simon Says” by The 1910 Fruitgum Company. The Partridge Family TV show was based on the experiences of The Cowsills, a real-life musical family who hailed from Newport, Rhode Island. The Cowsills consisted of five brothers, their kid sister, and their mother. Their late 1960s hits included “The Rain, The Park and Other Things,” “We Can Fly,” and “Indian Lake.” Reportedly, The Cowsills were approached to play the Partridges, but the deal never was finalized because Jones already had been signed for the show. —Rob Edelman

For More Information

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Cassidy, David. C’mon, Get Happy: Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus. New York: Warner Books, 1994. Colavolpe, Michael, and Jennifer Futch. C’mon, Get Happy!: The Unofficial Homepage of the Partridge Family. http://www.cmongethappy. com/ (accessed March 29, 2002). Green, Joey. The Partridge Family Album. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.

Roots Roots (1977) was one of the most illustrious and impressive achievements in the history of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). A miniseries twelve hours in length, it was broadcast over eight consecutive evenings on ABC. The series was an adaptation of Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976), by African American writer Alex Haley (1921–1992). Haley’s book chronicled his quest to discover his ancestry: to discover where his forefathers and foremothers had hailed from and the manner in which they came to America and lived their lives as slaves. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Its citizens have come to its shores from across the globe, and mainly they have come freely. All, that is, except for one race: African Americans, who centuries earlier were taken from their homelands across the African continent, chained together and deprived of their freedom, and shipped over as slaves. Haley set out to explore his own family history, an effort that resulted in twelve years of research and writing. Because it would be impossible to verify facts, dates, and the identities of all those involved in his story, he chose to present it in novel form, as a combination of history and fiction, while at the same time contending that it was nonfictional in nature. In any case, Roots: The Saga of an American Family became a number-one best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) and earned Haley a Pulitzer Prize. Roots begins with the story of Kunta Kinte (played by LeVar Burton, 1957–), who is born in Gambia, West Africa, in 1750. He passes his childhood in freedom and then, at age seventeen, is captured by white slave traders and brought to America on board a ship. Kunta Kinte remains defiant and resentful over his enslavement. Throughout the rest of his life, he makes several unsuccessful attempts to escape his masters. Among his descendants are Kizzy (Leslie Uggams, 1943–), his daughter, who is raped by her owner; Chicken George (Ben Vereen,

LeVar Burton, as Kunta Kinte, from the groundbreaking miniseries Roots, which showed the plight of slaves in America. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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1946–), Kizzy’s son; and Tom (Georg Stanford Brown, 1943–), Chicken George’s son—and Kunta Kinte’s great grandson. The story ends well over a century after it begins, in Tennessee after the Civil War (1861–65). Tom now may technically be a free man, but he still exists in a nation in which African Americans are economically exploited, second-class citizens. When Roots premiered, nothing like it had ever been presented on American TV. No program before it featured its combination of length and historical thrust. However, the show was open to controversy. Some historians and critics contended that it overstated the explosive relationships between its black and white characters. Furthermore, the slave trade was allowed to thrive as much because of the willingness of black Africans to sell neighboring tribes into slavery as because of the willingness of white traders to make a profit. Several authors even accused Haley of plagiarism; eventually, the writer admitted that segments of a book titled The African (1967), by Harold Courlander (1908–), “found their way” into his own work. Controversy aside, what Roots did accomplish was to give the slave experience in America a human face by chronicling the story of one specific family. The series was a ratings hit, with all of its eight telecasts ranking among the thirteen most widely seen programs up to that date. It was followed by a sequel, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), which ran twelve hours and was broadcast over seven evenings. Also known as Roots II, the miniseries charted the plights and fates of Kunta Kinte’s descendants from 1882 through 1967. Roots: The Gift (1988), a madefor-TV movie, came nine years later. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Courlander, Harold. The African. New York: Crown Publishers, 1967. Gonzales, Doreen. Alex Haley: Author of Roots. Hillside, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1994. Haley, Alex. Roots: The Saga of an American Family. New York: Doubleday, 1976. Roots (television miniseries). ABC, 1977. The Roots of Alex Haley (television documentary). British Broadcasting Company, 1997.

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Saturday Night Live introduced a new type of comedy to television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3).

Saturday Night Live Early members of Saturday Night Live’s Not Ready for Prime Time Players: (clockwise from far left): John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radner. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Producer Lorne Michaels (1944–) was inspired to create Saturday Night Live by the British comedy show Monty Python’s Flying Circus (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Michaels felt that the unbound energy and creativity found in America’s comedy clubs was missing from its TV screens. The show debuted on October 11, 1975, on NBC. Michaels landed an 11:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST) time slot. At the time, this late hour was TV’s graveyard, a time when not many people would be watching. But Michaels’ took advantage of the late hour and the accompanying relaxed censorship rules to encourage his performers to push the boundaries of what was previously acceptable on TV. The result was a zany show that quickly became popular with Americans. To cast SNL, Michaels scoured comedy clubs across America to find undiscovered talent. The resulting group was dubbed the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players.” The original cast members that first year were Dan Aykroyd (1952–), John Belushi (1949–1982), Chevy Chase (1943–), Jane Curtin (1947–), Garrett Morris (1937–), Laraine Newman (1952–), and Gilda Radner (1946–1989). The show soon became known as a launching

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pad for some of the country’s most popular comedians. Many SNL cast members have gone on to movie stardom, including Chase, Bill Murray (1950–), Eddie Murphy (1961–), Mike Myers (1963–), and Adam Sandler (1966–). The format of the show has remained virtually unchanged. The show opens abruptly with a skit, no credits or titles. At the end of the skit, the players turn to the camera and announce: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” Only then are the show’s theme song and opening credits rolled. The celebrity host then does a monologue (a short speech on stage). The only other certainties are “Weekend Update” and the guest musical act. Sometime around midnight “Weekend Update,” which parodies the current week’s news, will run. The musical act, a different guest or group every week, will play at some point in the show as well. In the skits that sandwich the regular bits, anything can happen. Among the show’s popular skits were the “Coneheads”; “Wayne’s World”; Radner’s “Roseanne Roseannadanna”; the “Church Lady” and George Bush (1924–) impersonation done by Dana Carvey (1955–); the spoof of the clay character Gumby by Eddie Murphy (1961–); and Belushi and Aykroyd’s “Blues Brothers,” to name just a few. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, SNL is still going strong. The long 2000 presidential campaign (and, then, controversial election) between Al Gore (1948–) and George W. Bush (1946–), for instance, provided unending opportunities for political skewering. No longer just a TV show, SNL has become an institution: American television’s defining cultural landmark of late-night comedy. —Robert Sickels

For More Information Beatts, Anne, and John Head, eds. Saturday Night Live. New York: Avon Books, 1977. Bradley, Sean. Saturday-Night-Live.com. http://www.saturday-nightlive.com/ (accessed March 29, 2002). Cader, Michael, ed. Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Hill, Doug, and Jeff Weingrad. Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Beech Tree, 1986.

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Schoolhouse Rock was a series of short educational cartoons televised on the ABC network beginning in 1973. The colorful

The brainchild of David McCall (1928–), a New York advertising executive, Schoolhouse Rock followed Sesame Street (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) in its use of advertising techniques to teach basic skills to children. McCall marveled at his son’s ability to learn when multiplication tables were set to music. He convinced ABC, which was looking for educational content to air during Saturday morning cartoons (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 3), to let him develop an animated series based on that concept. Veteran musicians and songwriters, like Lynn Ahrens (1948–) and Bob Dorough (1923–), were brought in to write the jingles.

Schoolhouse Rock

animations, accompanied by catchy songs, taught Saturday morning television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers all about math, grammar, American history, and science, among other topics. The innovative series won four Emmy Awards and has been regularly rerun, a sign of its lasting popularity.

The first set of Schoolhouse Rock segments, “Multiplication Rock,” began airing in January 1973. Young viewers quickly got caught up in such infectious songs as “Zero, My Hero” and “Three Is a Magic Number.” A second series, “Grammar Rock,” covered parts of speech like nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. And “America Rock,” which debuted in time for America’s Bicentennial (two hundredth anniversary) in 1976, surveyed important moments in American history like the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Many of the animations created for the series were quite clever and became pop-culture icons. “Conjunction Junction,” from “Grammar Rock,” for example, featured a funky conductor who hooked up “phrases and clauses” like boxcars on a train. “I’m Just a Bill” from “America Rock” told the story of how a bill becomes a law—from the bill’s point of view. This segment was later affectionately spoofed on an episode of The Simpsons (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 4) featuring original vocalist Bob Dorough. Schoolhouse Rock proved so popular that ABC later commissioned additional segments dealing with science, computers, and money management. A musical stage show, Schoolhouse Rock Love, heralded a wave of nostalgia for the series in the late 1990s. A group of rock musicians even recorded their own versions of the Schoolhouse Rock songs in 1996. Many years after the series’ debut, it is still remembered fondly by a generation

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of TV viewers who spent a good portion of their Saturday mornings in this hip house of learning. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Okun, Milton. The Schoolhouse Rock Songbook. New York: Cherry Lane Books, 1997. The Unofficial Schoolhouse Rock Web Site. http://users.aol.com/ MRandino/SHRockWWW.html (accessed March 29, 2002). Yohe, Tom, and George Newall. Schoolhouse Rock! The Official Guide. New York: Hyperion, 1996.

Sesame Street “Can you tell me how to get/how to get to Sesame Street?” Since 1969, those words have beckoned children into the imaginary world of Sesame Street on public television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). The hour-long educational program combines music, fast-paced sketches and cartoons, and the interaction of humans and “muppets” (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) to teach numbers, the alphabet, and values. It has won numerous awards and is broadcast in more than 140 countries around the world. Sesame Street was first developed by educator Joan Ganz Cooney (1929–) and others at the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW). The goal of the show was to use the techniques of TV advertising to teach basic skills to children. The first episode was broadcast in November 1969. Set on a fictional New York City street, the show featured a cast of “neighbors” of various ethnic backgrounds. Maria was a young Latina who worked at a local library. Gordon and Susan were a married African American couple. Mr. Hooper was an elderly white man who ran the local store. Additional cast members were added in later seasons.

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The real stars of Sesame Street, however, were the colorful Muppets. Created by puppeteer Jim Henson (1936–1990), these furry creatures included Oscar the Grouch, a grimy green complainer who lived in a garbage can; Cookie Monster, a blue beast who subsisted on cookies; and Big Bird, an eight-foot-tall childlike feathered creature who lived in a nest and had an imaginary elephant friend. Big Bird often represented the children in the viewing audience, asking questions that a four- or

five-year-old child would ask. When Will Lee (1908–1982) the actor who played Mr. Hooper, died in 1982, for example, Sesame Street’s writers had Big Bird struggle to understand the finality of his friend’s death. Sesame Street’s Muppets became wildly popular and eventually spun off into their own TV and movie series. New Muppets were added to Sesame Street to keep the show fresh and to attract even younger viewers. Elmo, a fuzzy red character added in the 1990s, was an especially popular addition. Elmo was voiced in a falsetto (an artificially high man’s voice), by puppeteer Kevin Clash (1960–). The endearing, childlike creature won the hearts of small children—and daytime hostess Rosie O’Donnell (1962–), whose sponsorship of the Tickle Me Elmo doll turned it into the must-have Christmas gift of 1996. Although some critics took issue with Sesame Street’s aggressive merchandising strategy, the sale of toys helped keep the show on the air and commercial free during a time when budget cutbacks threatened public television. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

Joan Ganz Cooney, creator of Sesame Street, stands with Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, and other Sesame Street characters. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Borgenucht, David. Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets, and Songs. New York: Hyperion, 1998. Petrucelli, Rita. Jim Henson: Creator of the Muppets. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Enterprises, 1989. Muppet World. http://www.muppetworld.com (accessed March 28, 2002). Sesame Workshop. http://www.sesameworkshop.org/ (accessed March 28, 2002). Woods, Geraldine. Jim Henson: From Puppets to Muppets. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1987.

Taxi One of television’s most popular sitcoms (situation comedies; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) during

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Taxi The blue-collar characters on the series Taxi dealt with realistic issues that audiences could relate to. Danny DeVito (center) is surrounded by (clockwise from upper left) Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd, Carol Kane, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, and Tony Danza. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

the late 1970s and early 1980s was Taxi. The show depicted the comic antics of the drivers of New York’s Sunshine Cab Company. The series aired from 1978 until 1983 and was one of the most critically acclaimed and awarded programs of its era. It boasted superior writing and one of the best ensemble casts on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Unlike on many previous sitcoms, blue-collar characters that struggled to make ends meet populated the sets of Taxi. 1064

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Taxi was based upon a magazine article by Mark Jacobson (1948–) that had appeared in the June 26, 1976, edition of New

Taxi

York. The lead character of Alex Rieger, a philosophical cabbie who could solve everyone’s problems but his own, was written specifically for actor Judd Hirsch (1935–). While Alex was satisfied with his life as a taxi driver, everyone else around him hoped for more. The other cabbies included: Tony Banta (Tony Danza, 1951–), a young prizefighter; Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conaway, 1950–), a struggling actor; Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner, 1952–), a single mother; and “Reverend” Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd, 1938–), a drug-damaged former hippie from a wealthy family. Comedian Andy Kaufman (1949–1984) appeared as mechanic Latka Gravas, a foreigner who spoke his own unique language. Overseeing all the cabbies was the hostile dispatcher Louie DePalma (Danny DeVito, 1944–). One of Taxi’s hallmarks was that it tended to be more realistic than other sitcoms. Most of the characters were fully developed individuals who changed over the seasons. They faced the same financial problems, family issues, and insecurities as their viewers. Taxi could also depict absurd storylines and did so generally through the Latka and Reverend Jim characters. Kaufman was known for his often-bizarre humor. The character of Latka allowed him the opportunity to bring his offbeat comedy style to mainstream America. In its first seasons, Taxi was both a critical and popular success. During its fourth season, ratings fell dramatically. The series was canceled by ABC despite its Emmy win that year for Best Comedy Series. The show moved to NBC for its fifth and final season. DeVito appeared in a popular commercial announcing the change of networks. As Louie, he snarled, “Same time, Better network!” Although the series continued to be praised by critics, its ratings continued to slide and it left the air in 1983. In 1999, many of the former Taxi cast members reassembled for a cameo appearance in Man on the Moon, a biographical film about Kaufman starring Jim Carrey (1962–). Taxi continues to thrive in syndication and is remembered as one of television’s best comedies. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Lovece, Frank, with Jules Franco. Hailing Taxi. New York: Prentice Hall, 1988. Sorenson, Jeff. The Taxi Book: The Complete Guide to Television’s Most Lovable Cabbies. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987. Waldron, Vince. Classic Sitcoms: A Celebration of the Best in Prime-Time Comedy. New York: Collier Books, 1987.

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Zehme, Bill. Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman. New York: Delacourt Press, 1999. Zmuda, Bob. Andy Kaufman Revealed!: Best Friend Tells All. Boston: Little Brown, 1999.

The Waltons The Waltons, which aired on CBS from 1972 until 1981, was one of television’s most successful family dramas. Created by Earl Hamner Jr. (1923–), the series depicted the struggles and successes of the large Walton family during the Great Depression (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). The series stood in stark contrast to other television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programming of the era as it emphasized wholesome family values rather than sexual and violent content. The Waltons were a united family who faced economic and personal hardships together. A vast audience responded to the series and made it one of the most successful programs of the 1970s. Hamner based The Waltons on his own experiences growing up in the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of Schuyler, Virginia. His 1961 novel Spencer’s Mountain led to a movie of the same name, starring Henry Fonda (1905–1982). In 1970, his novel, The Homecoming: A Novel about Spencer’s Mountain, which was a collection of tales from his boyhood, was optioned by Lorimar Productions for a television special. The Waltons first came to TV in Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), which starred Patricia Neal (1926–) and Edgar Bergen (1903–1978). The show’s success led to a series the following year. The TV show featured Ralph Waite (1928–) as John Walton, the proprietor of a lumber mill, and Michael Learned (1939–) as Olivia, his homemaker wife. Many of the episodes revolved around the Waltons’ seven children: John Jr., Ben, Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Jim-Bob, and Elizabeth. The most prominent of the children was John Jr. (called “John Boy”), played by Richard Thomas (1951–). John Boy was an aspiring writer and always served as narrator for the program. The concluding line to most episodes (“Goodnight John Boy”) soon became a national catchphrase. Also in the cast were veteran actors Will Geer (1902–1978) and Ellen Corby (1911–1999) as Grandpa Zeb and Grandma Esther Walton.

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Some critics dismissed the series as offering a simplistic and unrealistic representation of the 1930s. However, closer exam-

The Waltons

ination reveals Hamner was often willing to raise important social issues like racism, sexism, and economic inequality on the show. Many of the strongest episodes dealt with the Waltons facing some personal trauma like death, disease, or debt, as well as other catastrophes. Whatever misfortune befell them, the family members were always honest and loyal to one another. The series also promoted the respectability inherent in hard work. After the series ended in 1981, the cast reunited for numerous reunion specials into the 1990s. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Hamner, Earl, Jr. “Coming Home to Walton’s Mountain.” TV Guide (November 20, 1993): pp. 10–14. Hamner, Earl, Jr. The Homecoming: A Novel about Spencer’s Mountain. New York: Random House, 1970. Hamner, Earl, Jr. Spencer’s Mountain. New York: Dial Press, 1961. Keets, Heather. “Good Night, Waltons.” Entertainment Weekly (August 20, 1993): p. 76. The Waltons Page. http://www.the-waltons.com (accessed March 29, 2002).

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1970s The Way We Lived In 1976, journalist Tom Wolfe (1931–) coined the term “The Me Decade” to describe the 1970s. It was not a compliment. In the eyes of many, Americans in the 1970s retreated from the political and social changes they had pursued in the 1960s and were happy to focus only on themselves. The reasons why they did this were many. First, the economy slowed dramatically in the early 1970s, and people became more concerned with protecting their families from financial trouble than with changing the world. The youthful baby boomers who had populated the activist movements of the 1960s were settling down. As they did, they looked inward instead of outward. Fewer people protested in the streets, and many more visited therapists or sought to improve their spiritual lives. This quest for individual perfection led to a higher divorce rate, as people found it more acceptable to leave a marriage if it did not make them happy or fulfilled. Activism did not disappear from American society altogether, however. Feminism gained strength in the 1970s, helped along by the long (but unsuccessful) campaign for the passage of an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Women made substantial gains in access to equal opportunity in education and the workplace. They also gained protection for the “right to choose” with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision about abortion rights in 1973. Environmentalism also emerged as an important social issue. The first Earth Day was held in 1970. National legislators passed important environmental legislation in the decade. The 1970s will also be remembered as the decade of fads. In addition to jogging and aerobics, popular fads of the 1970s included tanning, streaking (running naked in public places, which was most popular on college campuses), and buying pet rocks and mood rings. Though hardly widespread enough to be called a fad, disillusioned Americans also joined cults or fringe religious groups in increasing numbers. Hare Krishnas, Moonies, and other groups attracted a great deal of attention. None attracted greater attention than the American cult members who

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were involved in the mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. The sexual openness and freedom of the 1960s continued, although it was tempered in the 1970s by the rising problem of sexually transmitted diseases.

Apple Computer Apple Computer was founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak (1950–) and Steve Jobs (1955–) to market the Apple I computer. Released the following year, the Apple II began the personal computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) revolution. It offered speed and computing power at an affordable price. Since then, Apple has gained a reputation for producing well-thought-out, high-quality machines. In 2002, Apple remained the only computer manufacturer using software designed specifically for its own machines. The success of the Apple II made Apple the leading personal computer company of the early 1980s, but the Macintosh made the personal computer an everyday tool. The “Mac,” as it became known, was the first affordable machine to use a Graphical User Interface (GUI). A GUI is a system that allows users to operate programs using small images called “icons” rather than type out commands in computer code. In fact, the first PC to use a GUI was made by Xerox and called the Star. The Star even included the first on-screen icons that could be dragged and double-clicked using a mouse, but in 1981 it cost a whopping $16,000. The Mac introduced similar features in 1984 for $2,495.

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In the late 1980s, lawsuits raged among Apple, Xerox, and software giant Microsoft (see entry under 1990s—Commerce in volume 5) over which company had invented the GUI. The cases were all dismissed, but with its revolutionary overlapping “windows,” the Macintosh would still be familiar to computer users in the twenty-first century. Apple also pioneered hand-held computers, infrared communication between machines, and “plug and play,” which allows new hardware to be added to a PC. It has not always had success. Early models of the Apple III are alleged to have been unable to do math, while the Newton handheld was supposed to recognize handwriting but did not. Apple went through a crisis in the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, most new PCs ran Microsoft Windows on Intel processors.

Apple Computer The Apple IIGS personal computer. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

By the late 1990s, Apple was reviving. Using a new generation of Motorola chips, its machines offered class-leading graphics and sound technology. With Jobs back in charge, Apple began to move back into the home-computer market, aiming once more for reliability, speed, and ease of use. Realizing that consumers like bright colors, Apple ditched the traditional “beige box” image with the introduction of the iMac in 1998. At the start of the twenty-first century, Apple still struggled to gain users amid a computer marketplace dominated by IBM-compatible PCs. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Apple. http://www.apple.com (accessed March 29, 2002). Greenberg, Keith Elliot. Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak: Creating the Apple Computer. Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch Press, 1994. Kendall, Steve. Steve Wozniak: Inventor of the Apple Computer. New York: Walker, 1994. Levy, Stephen. Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything. New York: Viking, 1994.

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Linzmayer, Owen W. The Mac Bathroom Reader. San Francisco: Sybex, 1994. Linzmayer, Owen W. The Macintosh Joker: A Collection of 33 Cruel Mac Tricks. Indianapolis: Hayden Books, 1993.

Chia Pets Chia Pets are small ceramic figurines that provide the basis for a thick growth of young plants. As seeds sprout on the ceramic base, the leaves are meant to resemble the fur of an animal or the foliage of a tree. The Chia Pet was “invented” and marketed in 1977 by Joseph Enterprises, Inc., a California-based manufacturer of future novelty goods such as The Clapper (which turns lights off with a clap of the hands) and the VCR Co-Pilot (which helps people program their VCRs). Chia Pets remain popular into the twenty-first century. Chia fans can buy pet sheep, pigs, bunnies, cows, and so on, as well as Chia heads. No matter the shape, chia seeds (Salvia columbariae) are placed in the grooves of the ceramic figures and watered. The ease with which Chia Pets can be tended make them popular among children and young adults, and as novelty gifts. The manufacturer also markets a Chia herb garden. Chia Pets resemble the other low-care fads of the late twentieth century, such as pet rocks (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) and Tamagotchi electronic pets. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Bellis, Mary. “Inventors: Chia Pet.” About.com. http://inventors.about. com/library/inventors/blchia.htm (accessed March 29, 2002).

Communes

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Communes are communities formed by groups of people who share certain values. Often those values include cooperation in working, growing food, cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. Sometimes the groups develop new and often more liberating roles for women. Some communes even experimented with new sexual arrangements between men and women. American cul-

Cults

ture has often valued individualism over communal effort, and many people started communes as an alternative to the dominant values of their day. Communes have existed in many societies. Among the first communes in the United States were those started by the Shakers and the Oneidas in the mid-nineteenth century. Both groups had strong religious convictions, although very different ones. Communes enjoyed a resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s during the youth counterculture movement. Then, groups of young people established utopian communes (their idea of the ideal community) as alternatives to the dominant values of the United States. These groups were widely viewed as wild “hippies” (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Many of these groups started out enthusiastically, but many lacked the practical skills necessary to remain successful. Most disbanded by the early 1970s. Despite these failures, some communes still existed at the end of the twentieth century. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Communes and You. . . . http://www.lehigh.edu/~inengl2/communes/ home.html (accessed March 29, 2002). Zicklin, Gilbert. Countercultural Communes: A Sociological Perspective. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Cults “Cult” is not a neutral word in American culture. In common usage, it often refers to a group outside the mainstream—a group with abnormal, crazy, perhaps even sinister ideas or practices. Cults that have gained the most public attention tend to reinforce this image. Social scientists say that to be labeled a “cult” an organization must meet the criteria of size, doctrine, and time. A cult tends to be small in membership, anywhere from a handful to a few hundred. Cults also tend to have one or more differences in doctrine from established religions—a cult may believe in a different god or may have forms of worship not shared by other churches. Finally, a cult is usually new on the scene, which gives it the status of “outsider.”

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Christianity was considered a cult by the Romans throughout the first century C.E., until it grew in numbers and attained some longevity. Mormonism was considered cultish by many Americans in the nineteenth century, forcing the church to abandon one of its “deviant” doctrines—polygamy (the practice of having more than one spouse). The Church of Scientology was described as a cult in a Time (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) magazine cover story in the 1990s. The cults most likely to become prominent in popular culture are those that are destructive—whether of their own members, or outsiders, or both. In 1978, charismatic preacher Jim Jones (1931–1978) took the members of his San Francisco, California, church, known as the People’s Temple, to an isolated patch of jungle in British Guyana to create a new society, Jonestown. Rumors of Jones brainwashing his followers and keeping some against their will led to a U.S. government investigation. After a violent confrontation between cultists and the investigators, Jones commanded all of his followers to commit suicide by drinking poison. The reluctant were shot. On November 18, 1978, U.S. officials found the bodies of Jones and 913 followers dead on the ground. The incident was the subject of a 1980 made-for-TV movie, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. The U.S. government’s twenty-two-day siege of the Branch Davidian (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) Church’s compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993 was the focus of intense news coverage. At the beginning, federal agents trying to serve a warrant were shot at and wounded; by the end the compound burned down, killing those inside, including the group’s “Messiah,” David Koresh (1959–1993). This tragedy has been the subject of two films: In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (a 1993 made-for-TV movie) and Waco: The Rules of Engagement (a 1997 documentary that is very critical of the government’s actions). —Justin Gustainis

For More Information

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Abgrall, Jean-Marie. Soul Snatchers: The Mechanics of Cults. New York: Algora Publishers, 2000. Eyre, Anne. “Religious Cults in Twentieth Century America.” ARNet: Online Resources for American Studies. http://www.americansc.org. uk/cults.htm (accessed March 29, 2002). Lewis, James R. Odd Gods: New Religions & the Cult Controversy. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001. Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York: Northam Publishers, 2000.

The concept of marriage as a union of a man and a woman in lifetime partnership is thousands of years old. But as long as people have been getting married, there have been divorces, or other legal ways to end marriages. Though legal in most societies, divorce has often been frowned upon. Until recent decades, divorce was frequently viewed as abnormal or wrong. Since the 1970s, divorce rates have risen steadily. In 2000, 49 percent of U.S. marriages ended in divorce. Although there were over twenty million divorced people in the United States in 2000, American society still worries about whether divorce is a selfish act of people not willing to try hard enough to create a successful marriage or a positive step to end an unhappy relationship.

Divorce

Divorce

In many early cultures, marriage was a civil or a legal contract, and divorce was also purely a matter of law. Ancient Romans, Greeks, and Jews, among others, allowed divorce fairly easily. The Catholic church, which began to gain followers in the fifth and sixth centuries C.E., defined marriage as a religious ritual and forbade divorce. The influence of the church spread, and divorce became more difficult all over Europe. However, even when divorce has been difficult because of legal or religious limitations, people have left unhappy marriages. Sometimes people run away. Sometimes people live separate lives while still remaining legally married. In past centuries, marriage was a necessity of survival. Women married because they were often not legally allowed to earn or inherit money and they needed men to support them. Men married because they needed women to farm, cook, clean, make clothes, bear and raise children, and do the hundreds of jobs required to run preindustrial households. The marriage was only one part of the extended family unit, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, and children supporting each other and sharing in the work of the household. The romantic idea of marriage as two people in love sharing emotional support and affection developed later, around the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In addition, the mid1900s saw the rise of the nuclear family, which defines a family as mother, father, and children. These two developments put much more pressure on marriages. The couple stood alone now, with husband and wife required to not only share the work of the family but meet each other’s emotional needs as well.

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It is not coincidental that the largest rises in divorce rates have occurred during the two recent periods of feminism, the struggle for women’s rights. In the early 1900s, when American women were fighting to be allowed to vote, earn money, and own property, divorce rates rose from one in twenty-one marriages (1880) to one in nine marriages (1916). Again in the 1970s, following a new women’s liberation movement that fought for equal pay and equal rights for women, divorce rates soared. This increase has led some conservative critics to say that it is women’s “new” desire for independence that has caused rising divorce rates. However, others point out that before feminists won increased rights for women, they were often trapped within unhappy marriages, because they could not earn enough money to leave. Even after gaining the right to work, women are usually poorer after a divorce than men are. Society’s views of divorce have greatly changed over the years. In 1936, King Edward VIII of England (1894–1972) had to give up the throne before he could marry Wallis Warfield Simpson (1896–1986), an American woman who had been divorced twice. But in 1996, Prince Charles (1948–) divorced his wife, Princess Diana (1961–1997), and still maintained his right to become king of England. In 1980, the American people elected Ronald Reagan (1911–), their first divorced president. Where once divorce was a forbidden subject, hidden in silence, the 2000 Books in Print lists over two thousand books on the topic, over seventy of them for children whose parents are divorcing. Much of the controversy about divorce revolves around its effect on the children in the family. Some critics of divorce, researchers, politicians, and therapists, say that divorce is so harmful to children that parents should stay together even if they are unhappy. Others insist that children suffer more harm from living with parents who are in a bad marriage. In 1983, a divorced mother in Illinois started Rainbows, a peer support group for children dealing with their parents’ divorce. Rainbows soon grew to have chapters in cities throughout the United States and Canada.

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Film, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), and other media also reflect society’s changing and contradictory views about divorce. Although early TV featured several shows with single parents, such as the early 1960s’ My Three Sons (1960–72), those parents were always widowed, not divorced. In 1970, the creators of The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Earth Day

(1970–77; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) changed the lead character from a divorced woman to one who had broken up with her fiancé to make the show more acceptable to conservative audiences. By 1975, Bonnie Franklin (1944–) played the first successful divorced mother of two on CBS’ One Day at a Time (1975–84). By the 1990s, divorced parents were common on the television screen, in such shows as Grace Under Fire (1993–98), about a working-class divorced mom, raising three children, and Once and Again (1999–2002), a more serious exploration of the complications of step-families. However, films like The Parent Trap, originally released in 1961 and remade in 1998, may best express American society’s underlying feelings that divorce is a mistake. The story is a romantic fantasy of twins, separated by their parents’ divorce, who reunite and successfully plot to get their parents back together. Although rising divorce rates clearly show that many marriages have problems, it will take time for society to replace the romantic image of the happy nuclear family with something that better fulfills the needs of modern society. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Charlish, Anne. Divorce. New York: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1999. Feldman, Ellen. “Till Divorce Do Us Part.” American Heritage (Vol. 51, iss. 7, November 2000): pp. 38–45. Griswold, Robert L. “Divorce: Social History in the U.S.” In The Reader’s Companion to American History Edition 1991. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1991, pp. 287–90. Johnson, Linda Carlson. Everything You Need to Know about Your Parents’ Divorce. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1998. “Should You Stay Together for the Kids?” Time (Vol. 156, iss. 13, September 25, 2000): pp. 74–7.

Earth Day Observed for the first time on April 22, 1970, Earth Day was created by environmental activists as an unofficial holiday on which people could reflect on the planet’s ecology and engage in pro-environmental activities. The cause was taken up by U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson (1916–) of Wisconsin, whose support

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helped make Earth Day a reality. It is estimated that some twenty million people across the United States participated in the first Earth Day through demonstrations, exhibits, and teachins in more than ten thousand communities. Images of the Earth as a fragile, blue-green ball hanging in dark space were just beginning to filter into the public’s consciousness, especially after the first moon landing in 1969. That year also saw two environmental disasters that captured public attention: the Santa Barbara, California, oil spill and a fire in the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. These graphic portraits helped stimulate support for Earth Day, which is now considered the beginning of the modern environmentalism (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) movement. The original Earth Day helped arouse support for several important environmental programs undertaken by the U.S. government: the creation of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act, all of which began in the early 1970s. For the rest of the decade, environmental activists, many of them veterans of the antiwar and civil rights movements (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the 1960s, continued to press government, industry, and the American public to pay attention to environmental issues. They appealed to government and industry to end pollution and halt the construction of nuclear power plants. They persuaded the general public to conserve resources and recycle their garbage. By April 22, 1990, Earth Day was being observed by millions of people in 139 nations around the world. Some two hundred million people reportedly participated in what has been called the largest grass-roots demonstration in history. More than a million people gathered in New York City’s Central Park, and two hundred thousand assembled in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., to listen to music and hear speeches. Earth Day is still regarded as the symbolic beginning of a wide-scale popular movement to raise consciousness about the perilous state of the planet’s ecology. —Edward Moran

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Cahn, Robert, and Patricia Cahn. “Did Earth Day Change the World?” Environment (September 1990): 16–42. Earth Day Network. http://www.earthday.net/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

Environmentalism

Environmentalism

Gilbert, Bil. “Earth Day Plus 20, and Counting.” Smithsonian (April 1990): 46–52. Hayes, Denis, “Earth Day 1990: Threshold of the Green Decade.” World Policy Journal (Vol. 7, no. 2, 1990): 289–304. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

For many decades, Americans have felt they could do whatever they wanted with their air, land, and water. There always seemed to be plenty. It was easy to ignore environmental devastation by moving on to a new place. By 1850, for example, more than one hundred million acres of land had been cleared of trees, an area equal in size to the entire state of California. As the United States became more industrialized in the late nineteenth century, those problems became harder to ignore. More Americans became concerned about these problems, and the environmental movement was started. It continues to the present day. The creation of national parks marked the first stirrings of environmentalism. As Americans realized the limitations of their natural resources, they wanted to preserve some untouched natural areas from development so that they would always be there for future generations of Americans to enjoy. Yosemite, in California, was created in 1864, followed by Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho in 1872. More national parks, national wilderness areas, and national monuments were established in the coming decades. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) made environmental preservation one of his priorities during his term in office (1901–9), preserving millions of acres of land and creating a National Forest Service to help manage wilderness areas. Although battles would often be fought over what to do with these national areas from time to time, the United States has continued to add more of these protected areas. After World War II (1939–45), environmentalism took on a new direction. While there was still concern for protecting unpolluted natural areas, the environmental movement turned to protecting the environments in which most Americans lived. The 1962 book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1907–1964) awakened many Americans to the dangers of industrial pollution from

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chemicals. By the 1960s, it seemed that many of the hazards of the industrial era were beginning to build up to intolerable levels. New environmental groups sprang up to alert Americans and to fight pollution, including Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The U.S. government increased its efforts by creating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1969. In 1970, the first Earth Day was held to encourage ordinary Americans to get involved protecting the environment in their own communities. In the decades since 1970, the environmental movement has continued to push for cleaner air, water, and land, fighting industrial polluters and often government indifference. Because the environment is of such vital importance, its protection has remained an important part of American culture. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Dunlap, Riley E., and Angela G. Mertig, eds. American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement, 1970–1990. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis, 1992. Earth Day Network. http://www.earthday.net/ (accessed March 29, 2002). Fox, Stephen. The American Conservation Movement. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981. Greenpeace International Homepage. http://www.greenpeace.org/ (accessed March 29, 2002). National Resources Defense Council. http://www.nrdc.org/ (accessed March 29, 2002). Rome, Adam Ward. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Green Revolution. New York: Hill and Want, 1993. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

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The struggle to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women was an important, if ultimately unsuccessful, chapter in the history of the women’s movement in the United States. Throughout the history of the United States, as well as of the world, women had always had fewer rights than men. For years, they could not own property or run for elective office. They could not even vote in the United States until 1920. Although the status of women in the United

States had gradually improved over time, many glaring inequalities with which they had to suffer still existed. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was an attempt to end those inequalities. The ERA was first proposed in 1925 by the National Women’s Party and introduced into Congress by Alice Paul (1885–1977), the group’s president. It was a controversial proposal that did not get far in the legislative process. Part of the controversy centered around what would happen to laws designed to protect women if they must be treated equally under the law. Although the amendment was endorsed by both Democratic and Republican parties in the 1940s, it still went nowhere in Congress. In 1970, U.S. representative Martha Griffiths (1912–) of Michigan reintroduced the amendment. It read simply, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” This time, in 1972, it passed both houses of Congress. For an amendment to be passed and added to the Constitution, however, it must be approved by three-fourths of the states within seven years. At the state level, a fierce debate ensued. Supporters of

A woman holds up a sign calling for an end to discrimination at an Equal Rights Amendment rally. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

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the ERA argued that women deserved the same rights as men. Opponents of the ERA raised people’s fears that equal rights for women meant women in combat, more women in the workplace, and the end to other long-established gender roles. Although thirty-five states approved it, and despite a three-year extension of the time limit, it failed to attract the final votes necessary to pass in 1983. It has been periodically resubmitted to Congress without much success in the years since. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Becker, Susan D. The Origins of the Equal Rights Amendment: American Feminism Between the Wars. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982. “Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment 1923–1996.” National Organization for Women. http://www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/ history.html (accessed March 29, 2002). Evans, Sarah M. Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. New York: The Free Press, 1989. National Council of Women’s Organizations. The Equal Rights Amendment. http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/ (accessed March 29, 2002). Rowbotham, Sheila. A Century of Women. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.

The Joy of Sex Published in 1972, The Joy of Sex, by Alex Comfort (1920–2000), became the first mass-market book to treat sexuality in a frank and lighthearted way, complete with illustrations designed to help people understand and enjoy intimate matters that had often been shrouded in secrecy. Its author was a British doctor, poet-novelist, and social activist who researched and wrote the book, though he is described as its editor. The Joy of Sex was published at a time when U.S. society was loosening many of the rigid, puritanical attitudes that had prevented open discussions about sex. Although some critics were unhappy at the book’s condescending treatment of women and homosexuals, Comfort’s book is today regarded as an important breakthrough in the “sexual revolution” of the period.

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The full title of the book, published by Crown, was The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Lovemaking. As the title implies, Comfort believed that good sex was like a delicious meal, with fine ingredients skillfully blended by a chef. The book included

Kent State Massacre

more than one hundred line drawings and several pages of paintings in full color by Charles Raymond and Christopher Foss. In The Joy of Sex, Comfort rejected strict moralistic attitudes toward sexuality, writing that “one aim of this book is to cure the notion, born of non-discussion, that common sex needs are odd or weird.” He added, “There are, after all, only two ‘rules’ in good sex, apart from the obvious ones of not doing things which are silly, antisocial, or dangerous. One is ‘don’t do anything you don’t really enjoy,’ and the other is ‘find out your partner’s needs and don’t balk them if you can help it.’” This attitude was condemned by religious critics, among others, as being too permissive. In 1977, Charles Silverstein (1935–) and Edmund White (1940–) collaborated as authors of The Joy of Gay Sex, written to counter what they considered the homophobic (antigay) bias of Comfort’s book. In the wake of the AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) crisis of the 1980s, later editions of both books emphasized safe-sex techniques. —Edward Moran

For More Information Comfort, Alex. The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide to Lovemaking. New York: Crown, 1972. Comfort, Alex. The New Joy of Sex. Edited by Julie Rubenstein. New York: Crown, 1992. Kenner, Hugh. “The Comfort Behind The Joy of Sex.” New York Times Magazine (October 27, 1974). Silverstein, Charles, and Edmund White. The Joy of Gay Sex. New York: Crown, 1977; revised, New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Kent State Massacre On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon (1913–1994) announced to the nation that he had sent American forces into the neutral country of Cambodia. His reason was to “clean out” Communist base camps that were being used for attacks against U.S. troops in Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1954–75). Antiwar sentiment on the college campuses, which had been relatively quiet for months, exploded in response to the news. Although Nixon was emphasizing the protection of American troops and the brief nature of the incursion, outraged opponents of the war focused on the neutrality of Cambodia and

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Grief prevailed in the aftermath of the confrontation with the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus, where, on May 4, 1970, four students were killed and fourteen injured during a protest. UPI/CorbisBettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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what seemed to be the expansion of the fighting into yet another country. Marches, rallies, and demonstrations of all sorts erupted on campuses across the nation. One site of vigorous protest was Kent State University, in the northeastern Ohio town of Kent. Some students broke windows of campus buildings, others damaged businesses downtown, and someone set fire to the campus Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) building. When firefighters arrived, protesting students tried to prevent them from extinguishing the blaze. Governor James Rhodes (1909–2001) forbade any further demonstrations on campus, and sent in National Guard troops to keep order. On May 4, another rally was held in defiance of the governor’s order. Campus security officers told the students to disperse, but they refused. National Guard troops arrived soon thereafter. Some students threw rocks. One guardsman, thinking he heard sniper fire, opened up on the crowd. Others followed suit. When the shooting was over, a total of thirty-five rounds had been fired by national guardsmen. Four students lay

One of the most memorable photographs taken immediately after the shooting shows a young woman named Mary Ann Vecchio screaming as she kneels over the body of slain student Jeffrey Miller. The photo won photographer John Filo the Pulitzer Prize, has been reproduced countless times, and stands as a tragic icon (symbol) of the Vietnam War era. A month after the shootings, the band Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young lamented the tragedy in their hit song “Ohio.” —Justin Gustainis

Personal Computers

dead, and fourteen more were wounded. No sniper fire was ever confirmed. The guardsmen were tried for murder and acquitted.

For More Information Davies, Peter. The Truth About Kent State: A Challenge to the American Conscience. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1973. Eszterhas, Joe, and Michael D. Roberts. Thirteen Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State. New York: Dood, Mead, 1970. Hensley, Thomas R., and Jerry M. Lewis. Kent State and May 4th: A Social Science Perspective. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishers, 2000. Kent State University: Department of Special Collections & Archives. http://www.library.kent.edu/exhibits/4may95/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

Personal Computers By the late 1990s, personal computers (PCs) had found a place in millions of American homes. They were part of everyday life for office workers, as common as coffee cups and paper clips. Personal computers were used in all aspects of the media, in libraries, schools, and businesses of all kinds. Portable models had become a common sight on city streets, on public transport, and in cafes and bars. Yet barely twenty years earlier, PCs were available only to electronics hobbyists and the very rich. For most people in the 1970s, the personal computer was a device straight out of science fiction. The PC revolution was made possible by the invention of the microprocessor—a computer chip that contains the entire central processing unit (CPU) of the computer. Before the late 1970s, computers were so large they had special rooms all to themselves. They needed a controlled climate and high levels of cleanliness to protect their sensitive electronics from dust and changes in temperature. Reducing complex electronic circuits to

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the size of a fingernail, microprocessors were robust enough to withstand normal working conditions and small enough to make computers more manageable in size. They were used in hand-held electronic calculators, wristwatches, and simple game machines. Microprocessors also became the key component in the PC. Just who invented the PC is open to debate. Companies like IBM (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5), Apple Computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), and Xerox (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 3) all have claimed to have done so. But the first PCs probably belonged to computer hobbyists. They bought electronic components and assembled the machines themselves. As the cost of microprocessors fell in the late 1970s, companies like Acorn, Apple, Atari (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), and Tandy started to sell computers that were little more than ready-made hobbyist machines. Users had to be familiar with computer programming to make early PCs work. The machines had tiny amounts of memory by modern standards. A standard Tandy TRS80 personal computer from 1980 had just eight thousand bytes (8K) of usable memory, with no hard disk. That is enough memory to hold just half a page of a basic word-processing document. Files and software were stored on a standard cassette tape. The Apple II computer, released in 1977, was the best of the early PCs. It was the first to reach a mass market with speed and real computing power. But it was another seven years before the PC became accessible to users with no previous computing knowledge. In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh computer had many of the features familiar on PCs in 2001. It was the first mass-market PC to use “drag and drop” icons, overlapping “windows,” and a mouse. Known as Graphical User Interface (GUI), this system of opening files and running programs quickly became the standard.

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Apple’s major competitor in the early 1980s was IBM. Apple and IBM used different microprocessors, but although Apple computers were superior in terms of speed and computing power, other companies copied IBM’s design. Before long, Hewlett Packard, Dell, and other computer makers began to swamp the market with PCs based on the IBM model. Running Windows software made by Microsoft (see entry under 1990s— Commerce in volume 5), these computers were cheap and used a GUI that was similar to Apple’s. Both Apple and IBM had problems in the late 1980s, but the IBM platform became the standard for the desktop PC in the 1990s.

Personal Computers

In the 1990s, major advances in the speed and efficiency of microprocessors changed the way PCs were used. In the 1980s, portable computers were the size and weight of a small wellpacked suitcase. By 2001, “laptop” computers are small enough to fit in a briefcase and could be used in much the same way as a “desktop” PC. Smaller still, a fully functional handheld PC, complete with miniaturized keyboard and screen, will fit in the palm of a man’s hand. Other handheld computers can recognize handwriting traced on a small screen. These pocket-sized PCs are sometimes known as personal digital assistants (PDAs). All these machines are much more powerful than the first PCs. Many exceed the capabilities of the huge “mainframe” computers of the 1960s and 1970s. In its short life, the personal computer has grown from a hobbyist’s toy into an essential everyday item. Once used mainly for word processing and data storage, the PC at the start of the twenty-first century is also a communication tool, a games machine, a sound and video system, and a place to store the family photographs. Since the advent of the World Wide Web, it has also become a shopping mall (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3), a reference library, and the first place to look for new recipes, cheap airline tickets, and classified advertisements. Personal computers have also made possible the growth in working at home and telecommuting. As new, smaller, more powerful PCs take on functions once performed by other machines, it is possible that the old-fashioned desktop PC will eventually disappear. The PCs of the late twentieth century changed forever the way we think about work and leisure. —Chris Routledge

For More Information “Computer History Collection.” Smithsonian National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist (accessed April 1, 2002). The Computer Museum History Center. http://www.computerhistory.org (accessed April 1, 2002). Cringley, Robert X., writer; John Gau, producer. Triumph of the Nerds (video). New York: Ambrose Video Publishing, 1996. Freiberger, Paul, and Michael Swaine. Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 1999. Levy, Stephen. Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything. New York: Viking, 1994. Malone, Michael S. The Microprocessor: A Biography. Santa Clara, CA: TELOS, 1995.

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The pet rock, a popular gift, came with a carrying case and a care and training instruction book. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Pet Rocks The pet rock was one of the biggest gift crazes in American history. Introduced in time for the holiday gift buying season in 1975, the humble stones sold for two dollars apiece and came with a special “training manual.” The man who “invented” the pet rock became an instant millionaire. Pet rocks were the brainchild of Gary Dahl (1937?–), a California advertising man who came up with the concept while having dinner with some friends in April 1975. Dahl thought, What if there were a pet that did not require any care or feeding? He quickly set about writing his Pet Rock Training Manual. Soon after, he decided to market an actual pet rock as well. He bought a bunch of Rosarita beach stones at a building supply store and took them to the annual San Francisco gift show in August 1975. The stones cost him only a penny each, but he packed them in a gift box and attached his training manual and offered them for sale to retailers for two dollars each.

Roe v. Wade

The rocks were the hit of the show and Dahl could barely keep up with the orders that came rolling in. Neiman-Marcus, the giant retail chain, ordered five hundred. By October, Dahl was shipping out some ten thousand pet rocks a day. By Christmas, he had sold over one million of the adorable “creatures.” At $3.95 retail, that made for an enormous profit margin. The outgoing, bearded ad man was now a millionaire—and with that came instant celebrity. Dahl appeared on The Tonight Show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) twice and was profiled in newspapers and magazines across the country, including Newsweek. As quickly as the pet rock craze began, it ended. Soon after Christmas of 1975, demand for pet rocks began to plummet. Imitators rushed their own pet-rock products onto the market in the hopes of cashing in, but the mania had subsided. Dahl himself had to give away thousands of unsold stones to charity. Having earned enough to retire on, however, he was not complaining. He embarked on a lucrative second career giving motivational speeches and writing books about how to make a million dollars fast. Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Panati, Charles. Fads, Follies, and Manias. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. Polson Enterprises. “Pet Rock Page.” Virtual Pet Home Page. http://www. virtualpet.com/vp/farm/petrock/petrock.htm (accessed March 29, 2002). Skolnik, Peter L., with Laura Torbet and Nikki Smith. Fads: America’s Crazes, Fevers & Fancies from the 1890’s to the 1970’s. New York: Crowell, 1978.

Roe v. Wade Abortion is a controversial issue in America. Those who are pro-abortion, or “pro-choice,” fervently support a woman’s right to control her body. Their stance is that, if a woman becomes pregnant, it is her decision—and her decision alone—to abort or not to abort a pregnancy. Those who are against abortion, or “prolife,” just as avidly believe that life begins at conception, rather than at birth, and that the law must protect the unborn. Thus “prolife” supporters believe that the right of the fetus is more important the right of the mother; for those people, abortion is a crime,

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Many protests and rallies took place for both sides of the Roe v. Wade case. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

and, for many, a crime just as horrible as cold-blooded murder. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion—and formalized the battle lines between “pro-life” and “pro-choice” forces. The major player in Roe v. Wade was Norma McCorvey (1947–), or “Jane Roe” as she was known in the case. McCorvey was a poor pregnant Texas woman who was rejected in her attempts to obtain an abortion; eventually, she gave birth and put the baby up for adoption. Meanwhile, two young lawyers who wished to challenge the state’s restrictive abortion law took up her case, which eventually was argued before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that only a pregnant woman and her doctor should be empowered to make the decision to end a pregnancy, so long as it is within three months of conception. After that time period, each state had the right to limit abortions. The decision was based on the concept of the right to privacy, and the belief that, in America, individuals should be able to make the decisions that affect their lives.

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Before Roe v. Wade, only four states and Washington, D.C., allowed access to abortion. Otherwise, the procedure was ille-

The pro-abortion tide was set in motion less than two decades earlier, when a German measles epidemic and the use of a tranquilizer called Thalidomide resulted in a rash of infants born with severe birth defects. Then, beginning in the early 1970s, the burgeoning women’s movement led to an increased awareness of women’s reproductive rights. It was this climate that resulted in the Roe v. Wade decision. The abortion topic has been a political battleground ever since. A political candidate’s view on abortion has been a litmus test (a test decided by one issue or factor) for whether he or she is acceptable to many voters.

Serial Killers

gal. A woman seeking a legal abortion had to travel to one of the four states or to Washington, D.C., or had to leave the country, thus preventing those with meager financial resources from obtaining abortions. A woman could have one performed illegally, by a back-alley abortionist, often in unsafe (and, occasionally, life-threatening) conditions.

Despite the politically conservative climate of the 1980s, which emerged with the election to the U.S. presidency of Ronald Reagan (1911–), the Court reaffirmed its position on Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, a few violent anti-abortion activists began attacking abortion clinics and even murdering the doctors who worked there. The “pro-choice” versus “pro-life” battle rages to this day and remains as heated and as contentious as ever. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Craig, Barbara Hinkson, and David M. O’Brien. Abortion and American Politics. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1993. Faux, Marian. Roe v. Wade: The Untold Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision That Made Abortion Legal. New York: New American Library, 1988. Reagan, Leslie J. When Abortion Was Illegal: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867–1973. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Serial Killers Serial killers are hunters, and their prey is human. They seek, stalk, and slay their victim, then start looking for another. Over the past twenty-five years, serial killers—both real and fictional—have assumed a major role in America’s nightmares.

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Although this crime is hardly a modern invention, the term “serial killer” was coined by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in the early 1970s. Criminologists distinguish between the “mass murderer” and the “serial killer.” The mass murderer kills a number of victims at once, as part of a single explosion of rage; the serial killer, however, spreads out his butchery over time and territory. The first serial killer to attract wide popular attention was probably Jack the Ripper, who murdered five London prostitutes in 1888. Perhaps because he was never identified, he has been the subject of hundreds of books and stories and more than a dozen movies, most recently 2001’s From Hell.

David Berkowitz, the notorious serial killer known as “Son of Sam,” is transported after his arrest in 1977. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Real-life American serial killers have included David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam” (1953–); Ted Bundy (1946–1989); Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler” (1931–1973); John Wayne Gacy (1942–1994); Ed Gein, the inspiration for the fictional characters Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter (1906–1984); Henry Lee Lucas (1936–); Aileen Wuornos, a rare female serial killer (1956–); and the Zodiac Killer (never caught). Serial killers have become common villains in American crime fiction. Credit for inventing the genre, or category, of crime fiction is usually given to Thomas Harris (1910–1995). Harris created Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter, a serial killer who is also a brilliant psychiatrist. Harris introduced Lecter in Red Dragon (1981; filmed as Manhunter in 1986) and made him the central character of The Silence of the Lambs (1988; filmed in 1991) and Hannibal (1999; filmed in 2001).

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Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) used serial killers as villains in several of his films, such as The Lodger (1926), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Psycho (1960), and Frenzy (1972). More recent films focusing on serial killers include Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), Basic Instinct (1992), Se7en (1995), and American Psycho (2000).

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. Mindhunter. New York: Pocket Books, 1995. Fox, James Alan, and Jack Levin. Overkill: Mass Murder and Serial Killing Exposed. New York: Dell Books, 1994. Leyton, Elliott. Hunting Humans: Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers. New York: Pocket Books, 1988. Ressler, Robert, and Tom Shachtman. Whoever Fights Monsters. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992. The Serial Killer Info Site. http://www.serialkillers.net/ (accessed March 29, 2002).

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Several television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series featured heroes who specialized in hunting down serial killers. These included Unsub (1989), Twin Peaks (1990–91), Millennium (1996–99), and Profiler (1996–2000).

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a blanket description for nearly twenty-five diseases that are spread primarily by sexual activity. STDs are called a “hidden” epidemic in the United States and affect nearly sixty-five million people. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated in 1999 that almost fifteen million new cases of STDs occur each year and that teenagers are the group most often infected. The spread of STDs has been increasing in the United States for many years. The instance of genital herpes among white teenagers, for instance, increased five times between the 1970s and 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, the CDC reported that more than one in five Americans had genital herpes. The rate of increase is tied to the numbers of people with multiple sexual partners and the number of diseases, such as chlamydia and genital herpes, that an infected person can spread without having any symptoms. Some of the diseases, such as herpes, are bothersome life-long infections; others, such as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) or AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) can be deadly. Most STDs are widespread throughout different regions of the country and infect people regardless of age, gender, race, or sexual orientation (whether a person is heterosexual or homosexual). Although any sexually active person is at risk to contract

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an STD, young women are at greater risk than others. The reason young women are at greater risk is because young adults tend to have more sexual partners and many STDs are more easily transmitted from males to females. But this does not diminish the threat to others. Some STDs are more common in males, in those living in southern states, and in those already infected with other diseases, such as HIV or AIDS. Many STDs—including gonorrhea, syphilis, genital warts, and hepatitis B—have been spread by sex for centuries. Others are relatively new; AIDS, the most deadly STD, was first discovered in 1981. Although STDs have been infecting people for generations, they first became a part of popular culture in the 1970s. The popular attention given to STDs stemmed from the sexual revolution (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the previous decade. The sexual revolution was a time when people began to think differently about sex. More people began having multiple sexual partners, and as a result more people contracted STDs. The dramatic increase in STDs in the 1970s prompted both Time (see entry under 1920s—Print Culture in volume 2) and Newsweek to feature cover stories about the epidemic. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, news stories about STDs were common. Attitudes about sexual activity had not changed dramatically since the 1970s. Many people still had multiple sexual partners, but many people also knew about the effects of STDs. Efforts to educate people about safer sexual practices that would slow the spread of STDs had become a prominent activity of the U.S. government and health organizations throughout the country. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Byers, Ann. Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A Hot Issue. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999. Little, Marjorie. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. “STD Prevention.” CDC: Safer, Healthier, People. http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/dstdp.html (accessed March 29, 2002).

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The sunshine yellow circle with the smile on it became an American cultural icon (symbol) in 1970. Harvey R. Ball

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(1921–2001) of Worcester, Massachusetts, created the smiley face for the State Mutual Life Assurance Companies of America (now Allamerica). Originally, the symbol was used to boost morale at the recently merged insurance companies. But by 1970, two brothers—Bernard and Murray Spain—of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recognized the commercial potential of the smiley face and began producing buttons, bumper stickers, shirts, cards, and other novelties with the symbol on them. Within a year, more than fifty million smiley face buttons had been sold. Ball never applied for a copyright or a trademark for his design and made a total of $45 for it. The Spain brothers made considerably more as they cashed in on the height of the smiley face’s popularity. The smiley face continues to be used. It is featured in advertisements for Wal-Mart (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4), and in 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a smiley-face stamp. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information “Creator of Smiley Face Icon Dies at 79.” Boston.com. http://www.boston. com/news/daily/13/smiley.htm (accessed April 1, 2002). “Smiley Face: A Short Documentary by Chris Sheridan.” YouKnow.com. http://www.youknow.com/smiley/index.html (accessed April 1, 2002). World Smile Corporation. http://www.worldsmile.com/aboutwsc.htm (accessed April 1, 2002).

Streaking Back in the 1970s, a truly strange fad briefly captivated the nation: Streaking, the practice of removing one’s clothes and running about stark naked in a public place, whether a ballpark or a meeting hall, a college campus, or even an Academy Awards ceremony. Streaking should not be confused with nudism. For nudists, nakedness is a lifestyle; nudists are private in their state of undress and socialize only among themselves. Streaking is an act of exhibitionism. It is meant to shock and amuse and attract attention. The fad reached its peak in 1974. That March, over six hundred University of Missouri students disrobed and marched across the campus, while being cheered on by fifteen hundred

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onlookers. “The Streak,” a nonsensical song recorded by singer-composer-comedian Ray Stevens (1939–), then zoomed to the top of the record charts. In it, Stevens captured the essence of the streaker when he sang, “He ain’t rude. He ain’t rude. He’s just in the mood to run in the nude.” The “he” is appropriate, given that most streakers were young males. In fact, a University of South Carolina psychology professor who researched the fad concluded that the average streaker was a Protestant male undergraduate who weighed 170 pounds and maintained a B average. He hailed from a town with a population under fifty thousand; his father was a businessman, and his mother was a housewife. Female streakers, meanwhile, tended to be short. They averaged 5 feet 3 inches and weighed approximately 117 pounds.

Wearing only socks, tennis shoes, a belt, and a paper bag over his head, this streaker goes for an afternoon jog. Bettmann/ Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Some concluded that streaking was a form of nonviolent protest and a way of freeing oneself from one’s inhibitions. Most, however, viewed it as a silly pastime, as harmless as a pack of fraternity brothers crowding into a telephone booth. Perhaps the most famous streaking incident occurred in April 1974 at the Academy Awards ceremony. Actor David Niven (1909–1983) was introducing fellow film-star Elizabeth Taylor (1932–) when he was interrupted by a young male streaker who had crashed the proceedings. Niven remained composed. Then he observed, with perfect comedic timing, “The only way he could get a laugh was by showing his shortcomings.” —Rob Edelman

For More Information Pleasant, George. The Joy of Streaking. New York: Ballantine, 1974.

Tanning

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For many years, suntanned skin symbolized health and sex appeal; a tan first gained status in the 1920s and reached a peak in the 1970s. Movie star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883–1939) was among the first to popularize the suntan when he began appearing in films with gleaming bronzed muscles. His tanned skin became a symbol of his physical fitness. Before this time, creamy white skin had been a mark of high fashion and social

status because those with enough money could stay inside, away from the heat of the day, while field laborers were darkened by the sun. In the early twentieth century, however, more and more laborers moved to the cities and began working long hours indoors. Suntanned skin became a distinction available only to the wealthy with enough leisure time and money to travel to a sunny locale during the dreary winter months. Like Fairbanks, fashion designer Coco Chanel (1882–1971) established a trend for tanned skin in the 1920s. Returning from vacation with a deep, dark tan, Chanel began using tanned models and mannequins for her designs. By 1946, women could wear tiny bikinis to tan as much skin as possible. Tanning had become a national obsession by the 1970s. Magazines featured articles about achieving the perfect tan. Numerous methods for obtaining a tan were used. People would coat their skin with baby oil, lay on aluminum reflectors, or bake in indoor tanning booths. By the late 1980s, indoor tanning became one of the fastest growing industries in North America, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Tanning was a popular pastime before people began learning of the health risks of overexposure. UPI/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission.

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But by the late 1980s, warnings about the risks of sun bathing came to public attention. Incidences of melanoma (a form of skin cancer) had increased more than tenfold from 1930 to the late 1980s. Soon, protective sun lotions were marketed to protect sunbathers from burning. Sunless tanning lotions offered the “look” without the damage. Despite warnings, the numbers of people with the worst form of skin cancer, melanoma, continued to rise at a rate of 7 percent each year since 1981. By the end of the twentieth century, well-known people like U.S. senator John McCain (1936–) of Arizona made public their struggles with skin cancer and warned against overexposure. Appealing public figures, such as Gwyneth Paltrow (1972–) and Nicole Kidman (1967–), were helping to make alabaster skin a sign of sex appeal and status again. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information Alder, Jerry, et al. “The Dark Side of the Sun.” Newsweek (June 9, 1986): pp. 60–64. “Brown as a . . . “ Newsweek (August 1, 1966): pp. 58–59. “Choose Your Cover: Facts and Statistics about Skin Cancer.” National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: Cancer Prevention and Control. http://www.cdc.gov/ChooseYourCover/ skin.htm (accessed April 1, 2002). Levine, Art. “A New Bronze Age for the Tanning Industry: Indoor Tanning Salons Take on Their Critics.” U.S. News and World Report (September 8, 1997): p. 48. Sweet, Cheryl A. “‘Healthy Tan’—A Fast-Fading Myth.” Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, 1990.

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Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-B ottoms Pop Culture of

20 th-Century America

Volume 5 1980s-1990s Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, Editors

1980s Prosperity and Conservatism When Ronald Reagan (1911–) won the 1980 presidential election over the president then in office, Jimmy Carter (1924–), he inherited an economy in disarray. Unemployment was high and so were prices. People were ready for a change in both the style and the substance of their leader, and Reagan gave it to them. Within a few years, the economy turned around. Inflation (the measure of the rise in prices) dropped, jobs were created, and the size of the government shrank. As Reagan told Americans during his successful 1984 reelection campaign, “America is back and standing tall” and “It’s morning in America.” If you were in the right demographic group—that is, if you were young, white, and well educated—it was indeed a good decade to be an American. A new social group called “young urban professionals,” or yuppies, enjoyed the Reagan-era boom a great deal. As managers and professionals working in urban areas, these yuppies enjoyed rising incomes and they spent their money lavishly. Large corporations also fared well under the Reagan administration, which had cut back sharply on regulations that limited business activities. The 1980s became known for its cut-throat business climate as many businesses merged or were taken over. Although many Americans enjoyed the benefits of an improving economy, others did not. African Americans in general did not fare well in comparison to the rest of the population,

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“Reach out and touch someone”: Accompanied by a catchy song, this advertising jingle urged Americans to use AT&T’s long distance telephone service.

1980s At a Glance

Sucks: Is inadequate or undesirable.

What We Said: Dude: Guy; also used as a conversational filler. The term was widely used in such 1980s teen movies as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and on the “Wayne’s World” segments of TV’s Saturday Night Live. Diss: To insult someone; this term was one of many to come out of urban hip-hop culture. Fresh: A term from hip-hop culture, used to express approval, as in “That tune is fresh.” Glass ceiling: An invisible obstacle that blocks the advancement of women or minorities in an organization. Though most legal forms of job discrimination were removed in the 1980s, many groups still felt that a glass ceiling limited their access to better jobs. “Go ahead—make my day!”: These words uttered by Detective Harry Callahan (played by Clint Eastwood) in the 1983 film Sudden Impact were later used by President Ronald Reagan daring lawmakers to pass a law that he wanted to veto. “Just Say No”: This anti-drug slogan launched by first lady Nancy Reagan’s drug war program soon became a popular response to anything that should be avoided. “PC”: The abbreviation for “politically correct,” a term used to describe someone who used language that was careful not to offend anyone, especially a member of an ethnic or other subgroup.

“Where’s the Beef?”: This question was barked out by an elderly lady who could not find the beef in the skimpy hamburger she bought at the leading hamburger chain. Wendy’s used this humorous pitch to try to gain some ground against hamburger giant McDonald’s; presidential candidate Walter Mondale also used it to question opponent Gary Hart’s programs in the 1984 presidential race. Yuppies: Literally “young urban professionals” (or “young upwardly-mobile professionals”); this somewhat derisive term referred to a class of people who got rich quick in the 1980s and flaunted their wealth. What We Read: Cosmos (1980): Astronomer Carl Sagan’s clear explanations about the evolution of the universe, and a close tie-in with a PBS-TV series of the same name, helped make his book a favorite. The Far Side (1980–95): Gary Larson’s off-the-wall, single-panel comic strip was one of the most popular comic strips in America. A Light in the Attic (1981): Shel Silverstein’s collection of humorous poems and drawings is one of the best selling children’s works of all time. Jane Fonda’s Workout Book (1982): This book and the videos that followed captured a popular exercise craze at its very height. Women, mostly, hopped around the house doing Fonda’s workout

and those in inner cities fared the worst. Homelessness rose dramatically in the 1980s, thanks to cuts in welfare programs. Some estimates placed the number of homeless in America as high as three million.

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The Reagan administration also made changes in American foreign policy that added some heat to the Cold War (the long standoff between the United States and the communist Soviet

1980s At a Glance (continued)

York Times best-seller list (King, twelve titles; Steel, eight). What We Watched:

and hoped to sculpt their bodies to look like the gracefully aging movie star’s. USA Today (1982–): The Gannett Company’s boldly-colored paper offered itself as the first national newspaper. Critics called the paper superficial and labeled it “McPaper,” but its innovations were soon copied by countless newspapers.

60 Minutes (1968–): This hour-long, hard-hitting newsmagazine was consistently near the top in TV ratings throughout the 1980s. Dallas (1978–91): Fifty-three percent of TV viewers learned who shot evil oil baron J. R. Ewing on November 21, 1980, making the episode the mostwatched in TV history.

Iacocca (1984): The best selling nonfiction book of the decade was the biography of Lee Iacocca, the auto executive who, with the help of the federal government, helped revive the nation’s number three automaker, Chrysler.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983): These two sequels to Star Wars (1977) continued the space saga, brought new innovations in special effects, and were accompanied by a blizzard of marketing and merchandise tie-ins.

Fatherhood (1986): This humorous collection of anecdotes by America’s favorite comedian, Bill Cosby, was helped along by the fact that Cosby played America’s favorite father on the sitcom The Cosby Show.

Dynasty (1981–89): This prime-time soap opera centered on the lives of the oil-rich Carrington family.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1988): Offering such truisms as “play fair” and “don’t hit people,” self-titled philosopher Robert Fulghum offered common-sense wisdom. Clear and Present Danger (1989): The best selling fiction book of the 1980s, this novel about the CIA’s involvement in the war on drugs was one of many of Tom Clancy’s books to sell over a million copies. Anything by Stephen King or Danielle Steel: Horror writer King and romance novelist Steel were the top two authors of the decade, as judged by the number of books they placed at the top of the New

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): This joint effort by filmmaking giants Steven Spielberg and George Lucas featured the adventures of Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford) and reestablished the adventure movie as an important genre. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982): This charming film about an alien who is stranded on Earth and wants to return home helped make director Steven Spielberg famous. MTV (1982–): This cable TV channel offered a range of programming related to pop, rock, and rap music, including a heavy dose of music videos. The channel became a favorite of American youth and changed the way performers made music by making it vital to produce a video to support any major single.

Union). At the center of foreign policy was what came to be called the “Reagan Doctrine,” which held that any country that was an enemy of communism was a friend of the United States. With this in mind the United States backed pro-American governments in Latin America, sent Marines to Lebanon to assist in peacekeeping, and invaded the small Caribbean country of Grenada to support an anti-Marxist government. Reagan’s successor to the

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1980s At a Glance (continued) The Cosby Show (1984–92): The most popular show of the late 1980s, this sitcom focused on the daily life of the Huxtables, an African American family led by father Bill Cosby. The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire (1985): These movies about high-schoolers and twenty-somethings, respectively, made stars of a group of actors known as the “Brat Pack,” including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald. Wall Street (1987): No film better captured the spirit of corporate greed than this Oliver Stone–directed drama about the morally corrupt practices of a corporate raider played by Michael Douglas. This movie included the famous line, “Greed is good.” What We Listened To: The Police: This rock group and its lead singer Sting mixed reggae with rock to come up with some of the decade’s greatest hit songs, including “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (1980) and “Every Breath You Take” (1983). Madonna (1958–): With her albums Madonna (1983), Like a Virgin (1985), True Blue (1986), You Can Dance (1988), and Like a Prayer (1989),

Madonna established herself as a dance pop diva and shocked people with her bold sexuality. 1999 (1983): This album by Prince was the dance hit of the decade, featuring the title cut and “Little Red Corvette.” She’s So Unusual (1984): Orange-haired Cyndi Lauper was the first female vocalist to produce four Top Five hits from her debut album. The perky artist’s hits were “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “She Bop,” and “All Through the Night.” Run-DMC: The rap group earned the first rap gold record in 1984 and continued rising through the music charts until hitting the top in 1986 with its album, Raising Hell. Thriller (1984): This 1984 album by pop superstar Michael Jackson took marketing to new levels by packaging the music with a special effects–laden video that received heavy play on MTV, a barrage of advertising, and a movie about making the video. “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”: LL Cool J’s hit single was featured in the first rap movie, Krush Grove, in 1985. The charismatic LL Cool J led rappers’ discouragement of the violence highlighted in so called “gangsta” rap. “We Are the World” (1985): Featuring some of the biggest pop and rock stars of the decade, this

presidency, former vice president George Bush (1924–), continued Reagan’s policies upon his election in 1988.

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Reagan’s anticommunist actions and his strong anticommunist public statements put pressure on Soviet leaders that eventually led to the most important political event of the decade— the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–) became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. He scaled back Soviet commitments overseas and tried to increase the openness in the tightly controlled communist state. Soon, the changes he tried to make slipped out of his control and, over the next several years, the government collapsed. The most

1980s At a Glance (continued)

the political agenda of the Religious Right. Falwell used television sermons to raise millions of dollars for conservative causes throughout the 1980s.

single helped raise money for the starving in Africa and was featured at the Live Aid benefit concerts in 1985.

Rock Hudson (1925–1985): When this popular sexsymbol and film star of the 1950s and 1960s died of AIDS in 1985, it helped raise the nation’s consciousness about the deadly disease.

Trio (1987): Leading country singer Emmylou Harris paired with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton to create a million-selling album that revived old-time country sounds. Milli Vanilli: This pop group received the 1989 Grammy Award for Best New Artist—then had to return the award when it was found that someone else had done the singing on their record. They are remembered now as a symbol of the triumph of style over substance in the 1980s. Who We Knew: Jim Bakker (1940–) and his wife, Tammy Faye Bakker (1942–): This husband-and-wife team of televangelists came to national attention in 1987 when it was learned that Jim had paid off a church secretary to conceal their sexual liaison. The episode revealed what many felt was the hypocrisy of preachers who were getting rich off their ministries. Jerry Falwell (1933): This religious leader founded the Moral Majority in 1979, a group that pursued

Willie Nelson (1933–): This country star released more than twenty albums in the 1980s, starred in movies, and helped organize the Farm Aid concerts to raise money for struggling American farmers. Ronald Reagan (1911–): More than a president, this former Hollywood actor was a symbol of America in the 1980s. Strongly pro-business, he urged Americans to consume their way to a better life, which led to a booming economy. Princess Diana (1961–1997) and Prince Charles (1948–): Almost one billion people around the world watched this royal British couple wed in an elaborate ceremony on July 29, 1981. Two sons (often referred to as “an heir and a spare”), a divorce, and Diana’s death in a car crash in 1997 followed during the subsequent sixteen years. Dr. Ruth Westheimer (1928—): The jolly, thricemarried “Dr. Ruth” hosted a cable talk show on which the German-accented psychologist doled out sexual advice to callers.

dramatic moment in the collapse came in 1989, when the Berlin Wall that had divided the communist East Germany from the capitalist West Germany was torn down. By 1991, the Cold War—which had lasted more than forty years—was over! Reagan’s economic and foreign policy conservatism also encouraged political conservatism on domestic issues. A coalition of religious groups, primarily representing fundamentalist Christian churches (those who literally interpret the Bible), worked together to push their political issues. Known as the “Religious Right,” they backed amendments to require school prayer and ban abortions. Though neither amendment succeeded, the Religious Right was successful in shaping debate about these issues.

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These larger social, economic, and political forces all had an impact on American popular culture. Perhaps the biggest impact was made by yuppies, an important demographic subgroup of the larger baby boomer generation. Knowing that yuppies and boomers were such avid consumers, American manufacturers, musicians, television programmers, and movie producers all created products suited to yuppie and boomer tastes. From the vehicles they drove (minivans and sport utility vehicles, known as SUVs), to the clothes they wore (Ralph Lauren and J.Crew), to the TV shows they watched (Dallas, Knots Landing, and Murphy Brown), to the coffee they drank (Starbucks), the yuppies’ influence was felt. But popular culture, as always, reflected the energy and interests of a range of Americans. Some African American performers, such as Bill Cosby (1937–) and Michael Jackson (1958–), appealed to mainstream tastes. Others, such as filmmaker Spike Lee (1957–), stamped their unique and even radical visions on popular culture. In music, rappers slowly made progress in popularizing their distinctive brand of music. Some, like Run-DMC (1982–), gained real popularity, while others, like 2 Live Crew (1986–), scared white America with their vulgarity and violent lyrics. Conservatives vented their frustrations and led their crusades over the AM-radio airwaves, while liberals were assumed to be in charge of most television stations and National Public Radio. But whether American popular culture came from the center or from the fringes, it continued to contribute to the great variety and vitality of the American experience.

1980s Commerce After nearly a decade of slow business growth and declining consumer confidence, the American economy began a period of strong growth and growing confidence beginning in 1982. The cheerleader for this decade of economic optimism was none other than the nation’s president, Ronald Reagan (1911–). He told America that it was time to get government off of people’s backs. He reduced government regulations, reduced taxes, and let businesses seek their maximum profit. The 1980s were an era in which big businesses got even bigger. Many large companies sought to gain power by purchasing competitors. Corporate buyouts, mergers, and “leveraged buyouts”—in which a corporate raider gained control of a company’s stock and forced its sale—became commonplace. This intense corporate competition was symbolic of the age, as an intense focus on profit and getting ahead seemed to be common among many Americans. Gordon Gecko, the evil hero of the 1987 film Wall Street, put it best when he said, “Greed is good.” For the average American, the booming economy of the 1980s meant a rise in disposable income—the money that people have to spend on items they do not need, but want. Many Americans engaged in “conspicuous consumption”—purchasing luxury goods to show others that they were doing well. Others simply spent more freely on the wide range of consumer goods available. Several successful companies capitalized on the free spending of the 1980s. The Starbucks Coffee Company expanded dramatically in the 1980s when it began offering intensely flavored (and high-priced) coffee drinks at its upscale coffee shops. Retailers like J.Crew and Land’s End offered stylish clothes in mail-order catalogs that filled America’s mailboxes. The Home Shopping Network—a cable TV channel—offered a steady stream of discount merchandise with aggressive selling techniques. IBM, long one of the nation’s leading companies, got even bigger by selling personal computers to Americans who were just learning how to use the complicated, ever more powerful machines. In short, Americans loved spending money in the 1980s.

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Home Shopping Network The Home Shopping Network (HSN) was the first major business to earn huge profits by combining two beloved American pastimes, shopping and watching television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Followed by many imitators, the network has expanded from small beginnings on a Florida radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) station to become a multibillion-dollar corporation with over five million customers. The Home Shopping Network got its start in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the company is still headquartered. In 1977, realestate developer Roy Speer (1932–) and radio broadcaster Lowell “Bud” Paxson (1935–) started a radio call-in shopping club called Suncoast Bargaineers. The club was so successful that by 1982, Speer and Paxson moved it to a local cable-TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) channel, renaming it Home Shopping Network. The concept of HSN was that while items were being advertised live on the air by attractive, perky hosts, viewers could call on the telephone and order them. Home Shopping Network concentrated on selling to older middle-class and working-class Americans. Their most popular products included costume jewelry, cooking pots and utensils, housecleaning equipment, and celebrity clothing and cosmetic lines. The idea of shopping without leaving home had great appeal to the viewing public. By 1985, HSN was carried on national cable stations and had over seventy-five thousand regular customers. The Home Shopping Network remained the only television shopping channel until 1986, when seventeen other companies began to compete with them. One of these, QVC (the abbreviation stands for Quality, Value, Convenience), has grown to be HSN’s major competitor in television sales, although QVC tends to appeal to a younger, wealthier audience than HSN. In 1995, Barry Diller (1942–), the former chairman of Fox Network, bought HSN and became its chairman. In the early 2000s, HSN is centered on a 55-acre campus in St. Petersburg. There, HSN employs forty-five hundred people and operates a sales Web site as well as its TV-sales shows. The corporation, which changed its name in 1998 to USA Networks, Inc., also owns Ticketmaster and the USA and SciFi cable networks.

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However, HSN is still best known for television sales. The network’s sales shows are broadcast live twenty-four hours a

IBM

day, every day except Christmas. The shows reach millions of viewers and offer them, not necessities, but the little luxuries of life, available with a phone call and a credit card. The shows are often hosted by sports heroes or celebrities of the past who gain new fame advertising their products on HSN. Lucky callers may even get to talk to the hosts on the air. In 1996, HSN opened the Museum of Modern Shopping in St. Petersburg to showcase their most popular products. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Farah, Joseph. “Don’t Flip That Dial or You’ll Miss the Bargain of a Lifetime!” TV Guide (October 4, 1986): pp. 40–43. Hayes, Cassandra. “Cashing in on the Home Shopping Boom.” Black Enterprise (February 1995): pp. 120–27. HSN. http://www.hsn.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Motavalli, John. “Home Is Where the Mart Is.” Channels: The Business of Communications. (Vol. 6, December 1986): pp. 77–79.

IBM Founded by Charles Ranlett Flint (1850–1934) as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911, the company known in 2001 as International Business Machines (IBM) started out making shopkeepers’ scales and counting machines for the U.S. Census Bureau. IBM became famous for its mainframe computers in the 1950s and 1960s when it was one of America’s largest and most powerful corporations. Some say the blue suits worn by the sales staff inspired the press to nickname the company “Big Blue”; others say it was the color of the “big blue boxes,” the large mainframe computers of the 1960s. Always seen as one of the safe bets of American commerce, when IBM collapsed in the late 1980s, it sent shockwaves through the world of computing. By the late 1990s, however, Big Blue had managed to revive its reputation as a major computer manufacturer. In the early days under chief executive Thomas Watson Jr. (1914–1993), IBM concentrated on sales. Although it was later to gain a reputation for a bullying approach to business, IBM was actually very good to its employees in the 1920s. In the 1930s IBM was among the first companies to offer insurance and paid vacations; it even had a fund for widows of IBM workers killed

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Despite fluctuations in success, IBM personal computers remain fixtures on desktops around the globe. IBM. Reproduced by permission.

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in World War II (1939–45). Less commendably, the company has been linked with aiding the Nazi government in Germany during the war years. With the invention of electronic computing after World War II, IBM entered the mainframe computer market. The sharpsuited sales force enjoyed a lifetime employment policy and sold some of the most technically advanced machines of the time. IBM’s domination of the computer market lasted until the 1970s, when smaller companies like Apple Computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) proved quicker to exploit the new personal computer (PC; see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) market. Although the company made record profits of $6.6 billion in 1984—the year it was portrayed as an evil “Big Brother” in a famous advertisement aired by Apple Computer—its dominance was beginning to fade. Barely a decade later, it took a loss of $8.5 billion. Over the years, IBM’s image has swung from gentle giant to evil empire and back again. For most of the twentieth century, however, it was a symbol of powerful and efficient American

J.Crew

enterprise. At the turn of the twenty-first century, IBM remains one of the giants among several large computing firms competing for dominance in a global market. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Black, Edwin. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation. New York: Crown Publishers, 2001. Campbell-Kelly, Martin, and William Asprey. Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: Harper Collins, 1997. Carroll, Paul. Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM. New York: Crown Publishers, 1993. IBM. http://www.ibm.com (accessed April 1, 2002).

J.Crew J.Crew, a brand of sportswear started in 1983, added a new dimension to casual dress in America. The brand’s catalog— which in 1994 was mailed in eighteen “issues” with a circulation of four million copies per issue—presented J.Crew clothing in photographs that illustrated a particular lifestyle. Models were not pictured in standard poses against standard backgrounds as they had been in department-store catalogs for years. Instead, J.Crew models were pictured making Thanksgiving dinner with “family,” spending a day at the beach, playing croquet at a garden party, or lounging in a city loft apartment. The catalog pictures promoted more than the clothes— stonewashed jeans (see entry under 1950s—Fashion in volume 3), T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and roll-neck sweaters; indeed, they promoted an approach to life. Many young adults, college students, and early career professionals adopted the J.Crew look as their own in the 1980s and 1990s. By 2002, the brand had become worth over $800 million. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information jcrew.com. http://www.jcrew.com (accessed March 30, 2002). Rudolph, Barbara. “The Chic Is in the Mail.” Time (July 17, 1989): p. 74.

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Starbucks

Starbucks For decades, Dunkin’ Donuts (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) franchises offered consumers the equivalent of a workingman’s coffee break: a simple cup of coffee (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), accompanied by a sweet, tasty donut. Starbucks, on the other hand, is a franchise that caters to an upscale, sophisticated coffee drinker. It features not only coffee but also specialty drinks: latte (coffee mixed with steamed or hot milk), Frappuccino (a low-fat, blended beverage), and chai (a strong tea-based drink). Plenty of exotic coffee mixtures, along with assorted confections, pastries, mugs, and coffee-brewing equipment, can be found at Starbucks. Indeed, it is through the success of Starbucks that flavored, blended coffees, and such terms as latte and chai, have entered popular culture. Starbucks is a Seattle, Washington–based company that has been in existence since 1971. Back then, it was a retail store, located in the city’s Pike Place Market, which offered for sale coffee beans and coffee-making products. The firm’s rise to international prominence did not begin for another fifteen years, until Howard Schultz (1954–), a company executive who was intrigued by Italy’s Espresso bars and coffeehouse culture, opened Il Giornale, modeled after the traditional Italian coffeehouse. Schultz offered his customers various European-style coffees. Then in 1987, he bought out the company’s two original founders, and began opening similar coffeehouses down the Pacific Coast, in Canada, in the Midwest and the Northeast, and, eventually in Europe and Asia. That first year, 17 Starbucks stores existed. By 1990, the number had risen to 84 stores. By 1995, the number of stores was 676; by 2000, it was over 3,300.

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Starbucks is the favored daily morning pitstop for white-collar urban commuters, as well as a suburban hangout. It is both a coffee house and a retail store selling coffee beans and brewing equipment. A typical Starbucks is artfully designed, with tables and chairs of various sizes, modern fixtures, and subdued lighting. Most look less like a traditional coffee shop and more like a cozy living space, where patrons are encouraged to get comfortable and enjoy coffee and conversation. In fact, it is the Starbucks “look” that is as equally responsible for attracting customers as the company’s product.

Starbucks Starbucks coffee outlets became a popular place to drink coffee, hang out, or buy a variety of Starbucks coffee products. Photograph by Robert J. Huffman/Field Mark Publications. Reproduced by permission.

By the late 1990s, Starbucks had become the number-one specialty coffee outlet in the United States, yet it has attracted as many critics as fans. Its detractors view Starbucks as a glorified fast-food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2) outlet that caters to pretentious yuppies (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) who believe themselves to be sophisticated and cutting-edge as they order their Frappuccinos, but instead are being sold what amounts to fast food with fancy names. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Schultz, Howard, and Dori Jones Yang. Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. New York: Hyperion, 1997. Starbucks Coffee. http://www.starbucks.com (accessed March 30, 2002).

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1980s Fashion By the 1980s, American fashion recovered from polyester leisure suits and hot pants—the strange fashion trends of the 1970s—and became far more tasteful. Leading the way were the nation’s president and first lady, Ronald Reagan (1911–) and Nancy Reagan (1921–). Like Jacqueline Kennedy (1929–1994), who set fashion trends in the 1960s as the first lady, the Reagans wore tasteful, expensive clothes. They held lavish parties at the White House, and they made it fashionable to be glamorous again. The biggest factor pushing America’s new love for high fashion in the 1980s was rising prosperity and the tendency of wealthier Americans to want to show off their wealth. Many did so by dressing in the latest styles offered by American and European designers. In America, designers like Donna Karan (1948–) and Ralph Lauren (1939–) offered sophisticated styles for women—including stylish clothes that could be worn to work. For men, the nicely tailored “power suit” came back into style and was the uniform of success for most business men. Late in the decade, however, a new trend toward casual clothes in the workplace emerged. Starting as “casual Fridays,” by the 1990s many workplaces permitted casual clothing all the time. Brand names became increasingly important in the 1980s. High-fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein (1942–) offered jeans and casual clothes that could be purchased by middle-class people, who liked wearing a prestige label. Izod polo shirts—with the distinctive alligator on the chest—were one of the hottest single items of the decade. The polo shirt was one of the standard garments in the preppy style, which was most popular among college-age people. On the other hand, exercise clothes—running suits and stretchy spandex tights, for example—also boomed in popularity, helped along by a brief rage for ripped sweatshirts made popular by the movie Flashdance (1983). Models had always been used to show off women’s clothes in fashion shows and magazines. In the 1980s, several of these

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women became celebrities in their own right—in fact, they became known as supermodels. These supermodels became associated with the brands of clothing, perfume, or makeup that they sold. Their salaries and level of public recognition soared.

Goth Culture

This woman’s black hair, black dress, and dark makeup are representative of the goth culture. Photograph by Jonathan Torgovnik. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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In the late 1800s, the word “gothic” was used to describe a popular type of novel, mysterious and romantic, filled with dark foreboding and supernatural occurrences. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley (1797–1851) and published in 1818, is an example of a gothic novel. In the 1980s, a youthful subculture emerged that used the word “gothic” or “goth” to describe itself. Dressed in black, often with hair dyed black against pale skin, these modern goths shared the dark, brooding tone of the gothic novels of the nineteenth century. Young people usually become goths because they feel alienated, or separate, from mainstream society. They are often rejected or ridiculed by their more “normal” peers for one reason or another. Goths embraced that rejection by dressing and acting outlandishly and forming their own separate society. The goth subculture is based not only on magic, mysticism, and romanticizing the dark sides of life but also on tolerance, free-thinking, and challenging traditional gender roles. Goth culture emerged from the punk (see entry under 1970s— Music in volume 4) subculture of the early 1980s. Punks, too, wore distinctive clothing. They had dyed hair, and pierced body parts as well, although their style was more angry and less mystical than the goths. In the mid-1980s, Anthony H. Wilson (1950–), the manager of a rock band called Joy Division, characterized his band as “gothic” and the term stuck and came to define a lifestyle. That lifestyle is a sort of postmodern medievalism, where devotees combine flowing Victorian clothes with metal studs and buckles, read vampire stories and fairy lore, and listen to the music of bands like Marilyn Manson, White Zombie, and Cradle of Filth.

Preppy

Adults sometimes worry about the brooding, depressed nature of many goth youth, and their obsession with death and the supernatural. The April 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado, where two goth teenagers shot and killed a teacher and twelve of their fellow classmates and terrorized dozens of others, increased fears that goths are unstable and dangerous. Most goths, however, value humor and gentle theatrics over anger and revenge. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Acker, Kerry. Everything You Need to Know about the Goth Scene. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2000. Katz, Jon. “What Hath Goth Wrought? A Much Maligned Subculture Hits the Net to Beat a Bad Rap.” Utne Reader (No. 96, November-December 1999): pp. 104–8.

Preppy The word “preppy” was originally used to describe someone who attended a private college-preparatory high school (called a “prep” school). Gradually, the term came to mean any young person who was upper class and snobbish, and also described the style of clothes such people wore. The word was widely used in the 1980s as a negative term describing the superficial values of those with a privileged lifestyle. By 2000, it was mostly found in articles about fashion. Its meaning had become less negative, simply describing the button-down collars and loafers that are considered the preppy style. Though the word “preppy” had been used on the East Coast for many years, it was widely popularized by two books published a decade apart. Love Story, a novel published in 1970 by Erich Segal (1937–), tells about the romance between two college students, one an Italian American working-class woman and the other an upper-class jock. In the book, Jenny Cavilleri never lets rich Oliver Barrett forget their class differences, and she scornfully calls him a “preppy.” Both the book and the film that was made from it the same year were very popular, and “preppy” entered the American vocabulary nationwide. The second book, published in 1980, was the best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) The Official Preppy

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Handbook, edited by Lisa Birnbach (1957–), which was a satirical look at the lifestyle of young adults of the upper class. In an intimate style that showed how well Birnbach knew her subjects, she poked fun at those who came from “old money,” that is, the spoiled children of families who had been wealthy for a long time. Birnbach included chapters on which silly nicknames were appropriate for the children of aristocrats (“Muffy” for girls, “Chip” for boys), and how to dress casually while still showing off one’s wealth.

—Tina Gianoulis

Supermodels

Both Love Story and The Official Preppy Handbook achieved popularity because they ridiculed the arrogance of the upper classes. Such ridicule is the intention of those who use the silly, snappy word “preppy” to deflate those who may think their wealth or background places them above others.

For More Information Austin, Stephanie. The Preppy Problem. New York: Fawcett, 1984. Birnbach, Lisa, ed. The Official Preppy Handbook. New York: Workman Publishing, 1980. Schoenstein, Ralph. The I-Hate-Preppies Handbook: A Guide For the Rest of Us. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.

Supermodels For decades, models were lanky, attractive, but nameless individuals who strode down fashion-show runways wearing the latest creations of clothing designers. Their faces and bodies appeared in fashion advertisements printed in women’s magazines, or on the covers of such publications. Occasionally, a model earned acclaim by becoming a movie actress. However, the rise of the “supermodel” in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in an individual model winning fame simply for being a “personality.” Her earning the title “supermodel” meant that she was a superstar, as celebrated as any top film, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), or sports star. The supermodel is the creation of a media eager to promote a familiar and beautiful face. A supermodel mingled publicly with the rich and famous. She was cited in gossip columns, appeared on television talk shows, and partied at the trendiest nightspots. No longer anonymous, she now became famous. Supermodels such as Cindy Crawford (1966–), Naomi Campbell (1970–), Kate Moss (1974–), Christy Turlington (1969–), Claudia Schiffer (1970–), and Linda Evangelista (1965–) all became recognizable to the celebrity-obsessed public not just for their beauty but for their distinct personalities. Crawford exudes a confident sexuality, while the paper-thin Moss puts forth a waif-like appearance. A supermodel’s fame allowed her to take control of her career, market herself, and earn higher fees. For example, in 1991, Turlington signed a contract with Maybelline

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that paid her $800,000 for twelve days’ work each year. Four years later, Schiffer reportedly earned $12 million for her various modeling assignments. Models became supermodels for a number of reasons. In the 1980s, fashion designers such as Calvin Klein (1942–) began advertising on television and billboards, resulting in the most popular models becoming more familiar to the masses. At the same time, Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) actresses in general became less glamour oriented. Even though their careers consisted of nothing more than posing, models still embraced old-style glamour, which allowed them to replace actresses as symbols of luxury and wealth. In this regard, many viewed supermodels not so much as individuals but as images. Cindy Crawford, one of the top supermodels of the 1980s, branched out into commercials and films. Archive/Express News. Reproduced by permission.

In the late 1990s, opinion-makers began trumpeting the fall of the supermodel, observing that many star actresses had reembraced traditional glamour and were winning the best modeling assignments. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Gross, Michael. Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. New York: Warner Books, 1996. Halperin, Ian. Shut Up and Smile: Supermodels, the Dark Side. Los Angeles: Ogo Books, 1999. Supermodels-online.com. http://www.supermodels-online.com (accessed April 1, 2002).

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1980s Film and Theater Special effects had begun to play a larger role in films in the 1970s, but it was in the 1980s that special effects began to be used to make a wide range of movies more exciting, spectacular, and, usually, violent. Although E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) used special effects to tell the gentle story of an alien who wished to go home, it was the exception to the rule. Most of the time, special effects were used to depict on-screen violence and action. Two sequels to the popular 1977 film Star Wars—The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983)—set the standard for space movies. Four Star Trek movies in the decade followed suit. Films like The Terminator (1984) and Robocop (1987) used special effects to tell their violent science-fiction stories. President Ronald Reagan’s (1911–) crusade against communism during the 1980s was helped along by a high number of patriotic films. In Red Dawn (1984) and Invasion U.S.A. (1985), resourceful action heroes fight off Soviet invaders. Missing in Action (1984) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) sent action heroes to Vietnam to win victories that American forces could not win in the real war. And lighter movies like Top Gun (1986) made fighting for America seem so glamorous and fun that the military used the movie for recruiting. Not all films shared this rosy vision of the American military, however. The films The Killing Fields (1984), Full Metal Jacket (1987), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) all presented serious and heartfelt criticisms of war. Horror films grew in popularity during the decade, dominated by the “slasher” film Friday the 13th (1980) and its many sequels, Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and by sequels to the 1978 film Halloween. Many of these films centered around a psychotic male killer stalking and killing women, which feminists said revealed many Americans’ hostility to women’s achievements. Comedies released during the decade showed Hollywood’s lighter side. Stars like Eddie Murphy (1961–), Bette Midler (1945–), Steve Martin (1945–), Whoopi Goldberg (1955–), and

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Airplane!

Robin Williams (1952–) all starred in popular comedies. Some of the most notable comedies of the decade were “dumb comedies” like Airplane! (1980), Caddyshack (1980), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Naked Gun (1988). Unlike mainstream comedies, which relied on witty wordplay and quick timing between actors, the dumb comedies featured seemingly stupid characters and lots of physical humor. Theater enjoyed a boom during the 1980s as well, thanks in large part to big productions that were launched on Broadway and then toured around the world. Big budget shows like Cats (which opened in New York in 1982), Les Miserables (1987), and The Phantom of the Opera (1988) ran for years and were promoted with original cast albums and merchandise. The New York theater scene was also helped by the fact that many Hollywood stars returned to the stage in this decade for limited— and very popular—performances.

Airplane! Airplane! (1980) was a new kind of motion-picture comedy. It skillfully satirized a popular film genre (category), one that was dramatic and serious in nature yet at the same time ripe for parody. In the case of Airplane!, the genre to be made fun of was the disaster movie (see entry under 1970s—Film and Theater in volume 4), set on board a commercial airplane or an ocean liner. In such films, the plane or ship becomes imperiled in mid-journey, and is in danger of crashing or sinking.

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Airplane! may be most directly linked to Zero Hour (1957), scripted by Arthur Hailey (1920–) and based on his television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) play “Flight Into Danger” (1955). However, the film’s most celebrated film ancestors are Airport (1970), based on a best-selling novel by Hailey, and its three sequels: Airport 1975 (1974); Airport ’77 (1977); and The Concorde—Airport ’79 (1979). The standard storyline in such films first involves the introduction of the characters, from pilots to stewardesses, passengers to airport personnel. Their personalities and interpersonal relationships are revealed: a pilot might be romantically involved with a stewardess, for example, or a key member of the airport staff might be overworked and overstressed. At first, the flight that becomes the film’s centerpiece is ordinary, like any one of thousands of others. Then peril

enters the picture. In Zero Hour, the pilots are stricken with food poisoning; in Airport, a disturbed man is intent on blowing up himself and the plane. The tension then increases. Will a pilot or other able-bodied individual somehow manage to safely land the plane? How will the different passengers respond to the danger at hand? Will there be heroes? Will there be cowards? Who will live? Who will die? Indeed, will the plane crash, and will all those on board perish? Such scenarios are dramatic in nature, but they also may be seen as essentially corny—and are ripe for parody. In Airplane!, the main characters are a former pilot (played by Robert Hays, 1947–), whose experiences in battle have made him terrified of flying, and his ex-girlfriend (Julie Hagerty, 1955–), a stewardess who has ended their relationship because of his inability to overcome his trauma. The gags become increasingly sillier and pile up in nonstop fashion, as he pursues her on board her flight and then must operate the plane after the pilots can no longer fly it. Airplane! established the careers of its director-creators, Jim Abrahams (1944–), Jerry Zucker (1947–), and David Zucker (1950–). Adding to the overall sense of mirth was their inspired casting of veteran performers such as Lloyd Bridges (1913–1998), Leslie Nielsen (1922–), Robert Stack (1919–), and Peter Graves (1925–). All these performers, who had earned stardom as dramatic actors, went about parodying just the sort of roles they often played on screen. Because of his success in Airplane!, Nielsen has enjoyed a second career playing bumbling police detective Frank Drebin in the television comedy series Police Squad (1982) and its big-screen follow-ups: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988); The Naked Gun 21⁄2: The Smell of Fear (1991); and Naked Gun 331⁄3: The Final Insult (1994). All satirize police dramas in the same manner that Airplane! makes fun of disaster films. The Zucker brothers were the creators of Police Squad, and David Zucker directed the initial two Naked Gun features. —Rob Edelman

Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack in the comedy Airplane! The Kobal Collection/Paramount. Reproduced by permission.

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Blade Runner

For More Information Aronsky, Rory. “Airplane!” Airodyssey.net. http://www.airodyssey.net/ (accessed April 1, 2002). Sklar, Robert. Movie-Made America. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Unofficial Website of Zucker Abrahams & Zucker. http://uk.geocities. com/zaz_fan/zaz_web_pages/index.htm (accessed April 1, 2002).

Blade Runner Set in a futuristic Los Angeles, California, Blade Runner (1982) combines the genres (categories) of science fiction and the detective story. Director Ridley Scott (1937–) helmed this high-tech thriller about humans, androids (robots that look like human beings), and the relationships between them. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, 1942–) is a former cop and an expert “blade runner”—someone who hunts down renegade androids and destroys them. The androids, known in the movie as “replicants,” are almost human. They are stronger and faster but are made with strictly limited lifespans. Replicants were originally created to be slave labor “off-world,” but some rebel, which is why blade runners exist. The film opens with Deckard being pressed back into service by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Five murderous outlaw replicants have returned to Los Angeles, their location and purpose unknown. Deckard is ordered to find and terminate them. As he carries out his assignment, Deckard begins to question the supposed distinctions between replicants and humans. The more he learns, the more uneasy he becomes with a system that designates replicants as nonhuman, fit only for slavery and early death. Deckard’s confusion and disillusionment grow with each of the replicants he hunts down. His doubts reach their peak as he confronts Roy (Rutger Hauer, 1944–), the last of the group and the most dangerous. Roy has the chance to kill Deckard but spares his life. Then Roy’s own built-in clock ticks its last. Even after Roy is dead, Deckard learns that he is not quite done with androids—his lover, Rachael (Sean Young, 1959–), is a replicant, too.

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The film offers a depressing version of the future. Deckard’s Los Angeles is a crowded, polluted, rainy neon jungle where many species of plants and animals exist only in replicant form,

Director Scott later reedited his film, and the revised version was released to theaters in 1993. The biggest changes involved eliminating the Deckard “voice-over” that narrated the original, and a new ending that was bleaker and less hopeful. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information

Do the Right Thing

the originals having become extinct long ago. Overpopulation is so great that neon billboards everywhere tout the virtues of emigrating “off-world.”

BRmovie.com. http://www.brmovie.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. Kerman, Judith. Retrofitting Blade Runner. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1991. Sammon, Paul M. Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner. New York: HarperPrism, 1996.

Do the Right Thing The 1989 film Do the Right Thing dealt with one of the most sensitive topics in American life: relations between the races. The controversial comedy-drama wowed movie critics, became a surprise hit at the box office, and made writer and director Spike Lee (1957–) one of the most popular filmmakers in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Set in New York City, Do the Right Thing featured a talented cast of actors. Danny Aiello (1936–) played Sal, a gruff Italian American pizza-parlor owner. John Turturro (1957–) played his headstrong son, Pino. Giancarlo Esposito (1958–) played Buggin’ Out, an African American activist. Lee himself appeared as Mookie, a pizza deliveryman struggling to make ends meet. The film takes place on the hottest day of the summer in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Tensions are running high between Sal, who decorates his pizza parlor with photos of famous Italian celebrities, and his African American patrons, who prefer rap music to Frank Sinatra (1915–1998; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3). Sal’s customers begin to question why all the businesses in the neighborhood are owned by whites or Asians. When Buggin’ Out starts a campaign to boycott Sal’s pizzeria, the crisis reaches the boiling point. Violence

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Spike Lee delivers pizza for Danny Aiello in the 1989 film Do the Right Thing. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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erupts at the end, with Mookie, who struggles to see things from all points of view, caught in the middle. Do the Right Thing raised a number of important questions, particularly in inner-city communities. For instance, why are there so few minority-owned businesses in minority neighborhoods? And at what point—and by what means—should the residents of those communities take action to address their grievances? The film does not offer any easy answers. In fact, it ends with quotes from two African American leaders of the civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) and Malcolm X (1925–1965), superimposed on the screen. One quote favors nonviolence; the other calls for resistance “by any means necessary.” Lee’s powerful script earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Aiello was also nominated for his performance as Sal. Critics praised Lee’s direction, particularly his use of handheld cameras. The rap group Public Enemy (1982–) contributed the film’s memorable theme song, “Fight the Power.” Today, Do the Right Thing is considered a classic. Lee moved on

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Hardy, James Earl. Spike Lee. New York: Chelsea House, 1996. Haskins, James. Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary. New York: Walker and Co., 1997. McDaniel, Melissa. Spike Lee: On His Own Terms. New York: Orchard Books, 1998. Parish, James Robert. Today’s Black Hollywood. New York: Kensington, 1995. Reid, Mark A. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. London: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

to other successful projects like Malcolm X (1992) and He Got Game (1998).

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Few commercial films succeed at mining box-office gold while deeply touching the hearts of viewers, young and old. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) is one such motion picture. Directed by Steven Spielberg (1947–), E.T. spotlights the evolving relationship between a space alien and a bright, sensitive middle-class suburban ten-year-old named Elliott. At the outset, a spaceship lands in the woods nearby Elliott’s home. After being scared off by the presence of humans, who from the aliens’ point of view are menacing, the aliens return to their craft and head back into space. However, one of them accidentally is left behind. The terrified creature, who comes to be known as E.T., is befriended by Elliott. The two communicate by instinct, and Elliott soon becomes painfully aware that his little pal is homesick and wishes to return to his own planet. Within the realm of the science–fiction movie genre (category), E.T. was a new kind of film. Before E.T., the aliens in most sci-fi dramas were villains. Generally the technology of the aliens, who were intent on invading and destroying Earth, was far superior to that of earthlings. Most of the classic doomand-gloom sci-fi films were produced during the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), when the threat of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union loomed large. At the time of its release, E.T. became the number-one moneymaking film in history, a record that has since been eclipsed,

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first by a 1993 Spielberg hit, Jurassic Park (see entry under 1990s—Print Culture in volume 5). The film was rereleased in 2002, upon the occasion of its twentieth anniversary. E.T. is at once funny and exciting, clever and moving, magical and memorable. Arguably, it remains Spielberg’s all-time most beloved film. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Baxter, John. Steven Spielberg. London: HarperCollins, 1996. Brode, Douglas. The Films of Steven Spielberg. New York: Carol Publishing, 1995. Collins, Tom. Steven Spielberg: Creator of E.T. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1983. Conklin, Thomas. Meet Steven Spielberg. New York: Random House, 1994. Connolly, Sean. Steven Spielberg. Des Plaines, IL: Heinemann Library, 1999. E.T.: The Extraterrestrial (film). Universal Pictures, 1982. E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. The 20th Anniversary. http://www.et20.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Ferber, Elizabeth. Steven Spielberg: A Biography. New York: Chelsea House, 1996. Knight, Bertram T. Steven Spielberg: Master of Movie Magic. Parsippany, NJ: Crestwood House, 1999. Letters to E.T. New York: Putnam, 1983. McBride, Joseph. Steven Spielberg: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Powers, Tom. Steven Spielberg: Master Storyteller. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishers, 1997. Rubin, Susan Goldman. Steven Spielberg: Crazy for Movies. New York: Abrams, 2001. Schoell, William. Magic Man: The Life and Films of Steven Spielberg. Greensboro, NC: Tudor Publishers, 1998. Taylor, Philip M. Steven Spielberg. London: Batsford, 1992.

Fatal Attraction This 1987 film by director Adrian Lyne (1941–) was seen by some social critics as a warning about the dangers of adultery. Others called it an example of a backlash against feminism. Still others saw it simply as a first-class thriller.

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Michael Douglas (1944–) plays Dan Gallagher, a lawyer whose work brings him into contact with wealthy, beautiful Alex Forrest (played by Glenn Close, 1947–, in a departure from her usual role of nurturing mother figure). The two are instantly attracted to one another. Although Gallagher is married, and Alex knows it, the two engage in a brief, passionate affair.

Alex begins stalking Gallagher and his family. At first, she seems only intent on making Gallagher uncomfortable. But when Gallagher refuses to return to her bed, Alex begins to escalate the harassment. She breaks into the Gallaghers’ home and kills the family’s pet rabbit. She takes the daughter for a terrifying roller-coaster ride. She tells Gallagher that she is pregnant with his child. Finally, Alex turns violent.

Friday the 13th

When Gallagher tries to end the encounter (as both of them had agreed), Alex becomes enraged, showing herself to be mentally unstable. She tells Gallagher that the affair is not over, and his going back to his wife and daughter will not make any difference to her.

The film was financially successful and also generated considerable discussion across America about adultery, obsession, and the high cost of adventure. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Conlon, James. “The Place of Passion: Reflections on Fatal Attraction.” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Winter 1989): pp. 148–55. Holmlund, Chris. “Reading Character with a Vengeance: The Fatal Attraction Phenomenon.” Velvet Light-Trap (Spring 1991): pp. 25–36. Rohrkemper, John. “‘Fatal Attraction’: The Politics of Terror.” Journal of Popular Culture (Winter 1992): pp. 83–89.

Friday the 13th Originally dismissed as a low-budget “slasher flick,” Friday the 13th has surprised its many critics by producing a long line of sequels, a host of imitators, and a lasting impact on America’s popular culture. The initial 1980 film was made on a shoestring budget of $600,000 by producer Sean S. Cunningham (1941–), who also directed and cowrote the script. Costs were kept low by hiring a cast of unknowns—with the exception of Betsy Palmer (1929–), an actress who made a number of films in the 1950s, who played Mrs. Vorhees. The script, which was written in two weeks, places a group of teenaged camp counselors at isolated Camp Crystal Lake, to prepare it for reopening after twenty years. The camp had been

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closed after inattentive counselors allowed young Jason Vorhees to drown. The teenagers tease each other with legends of Jason’s vengeful ghost—until an unseen figure starts killing them off. Most of the counselors are murdered in various gory ways (stabbing, impaling, and so on) until the last few survivors confront and kill the maniac, who turns out to be Mrs. Vorhees, insanely vengeful over her son’s death, even after all this time. All is well, apparently—except Jason never drowned, and now he wants revenge for his mother’s death. The bloody dispatch of a series of teenagers has become a staple of the series, but it is only with the first sequel (1981’s Friday the 13th Part 2) that all the conventions fall into place. Jason, the murderous stalker, is apparently a supernatural creature who cannot be destroyed. In any given film in the series, Jason will be “killed” several times, but he always returns for more. In the climactic scene, Jason will appear to be really dead—until the next film, which will bring him back again, usually with no effort to explain the “resurrection.” Over the years, the producers have sought new contexts for Jason and his victims. Part 7 (The New Blood) pits Jason against a girl with psychokinetic powers (the ability to move physical objects with one’s mind), similar to the main character in the film Carrie from the novel by Stephen King (1947–). Part 8 (Jason Takes Manhattan) moves the carnage to New York City, whereas 2002’s Jason X sets the slaughter on a space station. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Dika, Vera. Games of Terror: “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th,” and the Films of the Stalker Cycle. East Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1990. Friday the 13th: The Website. http://www.fridaythe13thfilms.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Mayo, Mike. VideoHound’s Horror Show: 999 Hair-Raising, Hellish, and Humorous Movies. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1998.

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The 1984 film Ghostbusters offers a lighthearted take on the struggle between humans and supernatural evil. It represents a

humorous counterpart to such “serious” films as The Haunting (1963) and The Legend of Hell House (1973). The script was written by Dan Aykroyd (1952–) and Harold Ramis (1944–), who played the title characters (along with Bill Murray, 1950–, and Ernie Hudson, 1945–). Ivan Reitman (1946–) directed this “action comedy,” which opens with three parapsychologists (researchers into the paranormal) played by Aykroyd, Ramis, and Murray, being fired from their academic jobs. They start a private firm, “Ghostbusters,” hire a colleague (Hudson) and a secretary (Annie Potts, 1952–), and take jobs ridding New York of pesky ghosts. After clearing out the apartment of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver, 1949–), the Ghostbusters realize that her building is being used to summon the ancient Babylonian God, Gozer—an event that could bring on the end of the world. The terrible creature finally shows up and the Ghostbusters go to work. The film’s title song (which included the oft-repeated “Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!”), by Ray Parker Jr. (1954–), was a hit single and a popular music video.

Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis in the movie Ghostbusters. The Kobal Collection/Columbia. Reproduced by permission.

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The hugely successful film was followed by Ghostbusters II in 1989. Director Reitman and the original cast returned to combat another supernatural threat to the world. New York’s sewers are filling with pink slime, a sign of impending spiritual doom. The Ghostbusters determine that the spirit of a dead wizard, Vigo the Carpathian, is seeking to be reborn so that he can use sorcery to rule the world. For his reincarnation, Vigo targets the infant son of Dana Barrett. Aykroyd, Murray, and company are called to save the day once again. The popular movies gave rise to the usual cultural artifacts: action figures, video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), and trading cards. They also inspired an animated-cartoon television series, which ran from 1986 to 1991. The Real Ghostbusters took the main characters from the films and put them in humorously scary situations with ghosts and ghouls, not unlike those seen in the Scooby-Doo cartoon series. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Brown, Christopher. The Official Ghostbuster Training Manual: A Guide to Catching Ghosts. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Publishing Co., 1984. Ghostbusters.net: Your Guide to Ghostbusters. http://www.ghostbusters. net/ghostbusters (accessed April 1, 2002). Teitelbaum, Michael, and Steve Smallwood. The Great Ghost Show. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

Indiana Jones Movies The three Indiana Jones films were inspired by both the James Bond (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) series and the “cliffhanger serials” popular in American theaters during the 1930s and 1940s. Directed by Steven Spielberg (1946–) and produced by George Lucas (1944–), the enormously successful films helped define popular moviemaking in the 1980s. Thanks to the combination of state-of-the art special effects, nonstop action, and a touch of religious mysticism, the original film resulted in several spinoffs that kept interest in Indiana Jones alive well into the 1990s. 1130

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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) introduces Indiana Jones (played by Harrison Ford, 1942–), globetrotting archaeologist

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and treasure hunter. Set in 1936, the film finds “Indy” competing with Nazi agents to locate the Ark of the Covenant, a powerful religious artifact. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) strands the hero in rural India, where he helps a village recover a sacred stone stolen by a renegade Hindu priest who practices black magic and human sacrifice. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) introduces Indy’s archaeologist father (Sean Connery, 1930–). Together, they foil a Nazi plot to find the Holy Grail, the legendary cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. The films inspired a series of adventure novels built around the Indiana Jones character as well as novelizations of the original movie scripts. Several comic book (see entry under 1930s— Print Culture in volume 2) series were also published; the longest of these were by Marvel Comics (1983-86; see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4) and Dark Horse Comics (1991-96). A computer adventure game, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, was released in 1998, and other games followed. A television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series, Young Indiana Jones, ran on ABC from 1991 to 1993. The series sent young Indy adventuring through the first two decades of the twentieth century, encountering reallife historical figures along the way. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Indy-Web.com. http://www.indy-web.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Madsen, Dan. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: On the Set and Behind the Scenes. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. Vaz, Mark Cotta, and Shinji Hata. From Star Wars to Indiana Jones: The Best of the Lucasfilm Archives. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.

Rambo John Rambo was first introduced in the 1972 Vietnam war novel by David Morrell (1943–), First Blood. Rambo has just returned from serving in the Vietnam War (1954–75). While serving with the elite Special Forces, he had been captured by the Viet Cong. He eventually escaped but was psychologically damaged by the experience. Drifting through Kentucky, he is harassed and arrested by a local sheriff. In response, Rambo snaps and reverts to a killing machine, with tragic results.

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Rambo Sylvester Stallone, as John Rambo, attacks the enemy in the action movie Rambo. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

The novel was moderately successful and became a film in 1981. In the film version, Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone (1946–), is still a Special Forces veteran of Vietnam, but his deadly skills are much more restrained. In the novel, Rambo kills without mercy; for him, it is war. But Stallone’s is a kinder, gentler Rambo. He wounds many people, but kills no one, conforming to the mold of the “good guy” hero. In 1985, Rambo: First Blood Part II sends the hero on a mission for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which believes that American prisoners may remain in Vietnam. Rambo’s assignment: sneak in and find out for certain. Once in Vietnam, Rambo is betrayed, captured by the Vietnamese, and tortured by their Russian “advisors.” He eventually escapes, to slaughter every Vietnamese and Russian soldier in the vicinity. The film was a huge financial success. For some, however, Rambo represented the kind of “kill-the-Commies” machismo (exaggerated masculinity) that had involved the United States in Vietnam in the first place. 1132

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In 1988, Rambo III finds Stallone’s character meditating in a Thai monastery, where he is visited by his former commanding

Rambo

officer, Colonel Sam Trautman. The Green Beret colonel has the dangerous mission of helping Afghan guerrillas combat the Soviet invaders of their country. Trautman asks for assistance, but Rambo refuses. Trautman goes in alone and is captured. Rambo rushes to Afghanistan, rescues his friend, and helps him mow down the Russians. Surprisingly, the film lost money, at least in its U.S. release. A number of toy companies were licensed to produce Rambo action figures, as well as plastic guns and knives modeled after those used in the films. The Rambo character also saw action briefly as a Saturday morning cartoon (see entry under 1960s— TV and Radio in volume 4) character in the 1980s. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Morrell, David. First Blood. New York: M. Evans and Co., 1972. Walsh, Jeffrey, and James Aulich, eds. Vietnam Images: War and Representation. Hampshire, UK: Macmillan Press, 1989.

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1980s Music One of the biggest music stories of the 1980s actually involved a television network. A specialized cable channel, MTV (which stands for Music Television) went on the air in 1981. The cable channel soon made the music video an essential element of selling a hit song. Almost singlehandedly, MTV made stars of Madonna (1958–), Michael Jackson (1958–), and the group Duran Duran. It helped bring rap music to the mainstream when it offered shows centered around this emerging musical form. Rap music had been an underground musical form until the mid-1980s, but the band Run-DMC reached a mass audience with its first album in 1982. Its 1985 album King of Rock was an even bigger hit and helped make the band a regular feature on MTV. Other popular male rappers of the decade were LL Cool J (1969–) and Tone Loc (1966–); female rap artists included Salt-N-Pepa (1985–) and Queen Latifah (1970–). There were even white rappers such as the Beastie Boys. Even though many rappers and rap groups reached mainstream audiences, the controversy over the music of some groups, such as Public Enemy and 2 Live Crew (which was charged with obscenity), made it clear that rap music still had a dangerous edge. The single best-known performer of the 1980s was Michael Jackson. His 1983 album Thriller, with its singles “Billie Jean” and “Beat It,” made the former child star one of the richest performers in America and helped MTV establish itself. Jackson also helped pioneer trends in dance and dress. Other music sensations of the 1980s included Whitney Houston (1963–), who had seven consecutive number-one hits; Madonna, whose song “Material Girl” (1985) defined a generation of preteen girls who looked up to Madonna as an idol; Prince (1958–), an androgynous (showing both masculine and feminine tendencies) funkrock player who had a smash hit with the album 1999 (1983) and a popular movie and album called Purple Rain (1984); and Bruce Springsteen (1949–), whose song “Born in the U.S.A.” nearly became an alternative national anthem after its release in 1984. The popularity of several of these stars showed that

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both African Americans and women could easily reach the pinnacle of musical success. Country music enjoyed a real resurgence in the 1980s, launching a number of new stars—Randy Travis (1959–), Ricky Skaggs (1954–), Reba McEntire (1955–), and Wynonna Judd (1964–) and Naomi Judd (1946–). Some older stars, such as Willie Nelson (1933–), Dolly Parton (1946–), George Jones (1931–), Waylon Jennings (1937–2002), and Merle Haggard (1937–), saw their careers revived. Several jazz musicians also reached mainstream audiences. Perhaps the best known were Sade (1959–), Wynton Marsalis (1961–), and Kenny G (1959–).

Compact Disc Throughout the history of recorded sound, technological changes have periodically reshaped the music industry. One such change was the introduction of the 331⁄3-rpm long-playing record (LP; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) and the 45-rpm “single” in 1948. Recorded at speeds of thirty-three and one-third and forty-five revolutions per minute, vinyl records improved the way people listened to music and they offered new opportunities for musical innovation. The introduction of the compact disc (CD) in 1983 was another momentous change. By the late 1980s, the compact disc had almost completely replaced vinyl records, which could become scratched or worn out. Compact discs used digital technology to take sound and convert it to samples that could be read by a laser beam of light. The digital coding could then be placed on a 41⁄2 inch disc.

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A number of reasons are responsible for the success of CDs: they are portable, they never wear out, and each disc can hold much more music than previous media. Digital technology allows people to take a lot of music with them on these discs, which are light and easy to carry. Many discs can hold eighty minutes of music or more. Electronics manufacturers introduced portable CD listening devices such as Sony’s Walkman (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), first used for cassettes but later adapted for CDs. They can also be put into car stereos. Now the original recording a person buys can move easily from the home stereo to the portable stereo to the car stereo. CDs are also more durable than vinyl records. Only the

Compact Disc Compact discs (CDs) were a huge advancement in the way people listened to music. Photograph by Robert J. Huffman. Field Mark Publications. Reproduced by permission.

laser beam touches the disc, so the disc can be played indefinitely without ever wearing out like vinyl records. The discs also never develop the pops and hiss of vinyl records. Compact discs added a much-needed jolt to the music industry. Many people, impressed by the sound quality, durability, and portability of CDs, repurchased many of their old records on the discs. The popularity of the CD also led record companies to mine their collections and release box sets of older music, much of which had disappeared from record shelves. These box sets reinvigorated people’s interest in older music. Often the box sets came with elaborate packaging that contained detailed histories of the artists and information about the music. By the late 1980s, the CD had become the dominant form of music technology and an important part of American culture. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Millard, Andre. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

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Willie Nelson performs during Farm Aid, a benefit concert to help America’s family farmers stay in business. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Farm Aid Many American farmers were in trouble during the 1980s. Because of an economic downturn, they faced bankruptcy, the loss of family farms, and the possibility that they must give up farming. Thanks to a number of musicians who came to their aid, many of these farmers were able to go on with their way of life. Beginning in 1985, these musicians held a number of benefit concerts to help America’s family farmers stay in business. The concerts were known as Farm Aid. Musician Bob Dylan (1941; see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) got the idea for Farm Aid from Live Aid (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5), a benefit concert for starving people in Africa. He wanted to hold a similar concert for American farmers. Musicians Willie Nelson (1933–), John Mellencamp (1951–), and Neil Young (1945–) organized the first Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois, in 1985. Eighty thousand people attended that concert and the organizers raised more than $7 million. That success prompted more Farm Aid

Heavy Metal

concerts, held in various cities, including Austin, Texas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Dallas, Texas; and New Orleans, Louisiana. Some of the biggest names in rock music have contributed to the cause, including—in addition to Dylan, Nelson, Mellencamp, and Young—Elton John (1947–), Ringo Starr (1940–), Tom Petty (1950–) and the Heartbreakers, the Beach Boys, and the Grateful Dead (see last two entries under 1960s—Music in volume 4). Country musician Willie Nelson has been at the forefront of the cause, acting as its spokesman and doing his own version of Farm Aid concerts on tour. In addition to raising money at concerts, Farm Aid created a permanent organization that addressed other agricultural issues. Farm Aid helped pass the Agricultural Credit Act. Designed to help family farmers, the act raised money for farmers victimized by the Mississippi River floods of 1993. Farm Aid continues to act as an advocacy group for farmers. Like other benefit concerts, Farm Aid has proved again and again how the power of music and celebrity can bring new attention to neglected causes. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Farm Aid: Keep American Growing. http://www.farmaid.org (accessed April 1, 2002). Nelson, Willie, with Bud Shrake. Willie: An Autobiography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.

Heavy Metal With its loud, distorted electric guitars (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), powerful vocals, and often dark style, heavy-metal music became an important style of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) starting in the 1970s. Amid the pop-rock and psychedelic rock of the late 1960s, musicians and groups such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) incorporated a harder, louder tone coupled with often mystical imagery that went far beyond anything else heard on the radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) in the late 1960s. Heavy metal music is all about aggression, power, and pushing the boundaries of “respectable” music. Its critics are many, but its fans outnumber

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them because heavy-metal music speaks to raw human emotions. As the genre (category) got going in the 1970s, it produced a number of important artists who took the sound to new levels. Black Sabbath, led for a long time by singer Ozzy Osbourne (1948–), reached many fans with their songs that touched on teenage insecurities. Alice Cooper (1948–) hit on a similar theme with the song “I’m Eighteen” and later brought fantastic theater productions to his concerts, with fake blood, smoke and fire, and the trademark loud and distorted heavy metal sound. KISS (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), perhaps the most successful of heavy metal bands in the 1970s, wore elaborate makeup and produced theatrical rock concerts that made them fan favorites. Their songs “Dr. Love” and “Rock and Roll All Nite” expressed the desire for good times, another essential heavy metal theme.

Joe Elliot, lead singer of the heavy metal band Def Leppard. Photograph by Ken Settle. Reproduced by permission.

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In the 1980s, heavy metal became even more successful. Bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden continued the early, raw sound. Softer heavy-metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard reached an even wider market and scored a number of hits during the 1980s. “Speed metal” and “thrash” bands that fused heavy metal and punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), the most famous of which was Metallica, rose in popularity at the same time. Heavy metal became the subject of a hit show on MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) and of a hit movie, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), that both spoofed and celebrated the genre in its mock-documentary about a fictional heavy metal band. Heavy metal music was also in the limelight for more controversial reasons in the 1980s. Critics, led by the Parents Music Resource Center, founded by Tipper Gore (1948–), wife of then–U.S. senator and later Vice President Al Gore (1948–),

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Michael Jackson

charged that heavy metal music was spreading bad messages that had an evil influence on children. These critics charged that some heavy metal songs contained satanic messages and some were about violence and death, causing negative reactions in children. Despite these charges, heavy metal continued to attract a loyal fan base in the 1990s and beyond.

Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Bangs, Lester. “Heavy Metal.” In The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock ’n’ Roll. Jim Miller, ed. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980. Walser, Robert. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1993.

Michael Jackson (1958–) Most preteen show business personalities fade from the spotlight upon reaching adolescence. But not Michael Jackson. He first earned fame during the late 1960s as the lead singer of The Jackson Five, a pop-rock group featuring Michael and four of his five brothers. The Jackson Five enjoyed a series of smashhit records. Young Michael—still in elementary school—was acknowledged as among the era’s finest rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) vocalists. While barely out of his teens, Jackson began to be marketed as a solo performer. He appeared as the scarecrow in the 1978 screen adaptation of The Wiz. A hit Broadway musical, The Wiz was an all-black-cast version of the classic Hollywood musical The Wizard of Oz (1939; see last two entries under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Hit singles and albums followed. His 1983 album Thriller sold over forty million copies and produced two classic number-one singles, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.” Jackson cemented his fame by stealing the show while appearing on the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) special Motown 25 (1983), on which he performed his groundbreaking, breathtaking dance steps and famous “moonwalk,” in which he spins and perches on his toes. His thirteen-minute-long Thriller (1983) still is acknowledged as the all-time-greatest music video.

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Despite his musical successes, Jackson has been a controversial pop-culture figure, as celebrated for his weird behavior as for any professional accomplishment. He used his fingers to eat his food in restaurants. He traveled with a pet boa constrictor. His face was dramatically altered by plastic surgery, with his skin color gradually becoming lighter. As the years passed, he came to be regarded by some as a freak and an oddity. Despite all these peculiarities, Michael Jackson—particularly during his prime early 1980s years—remains an entertainmentindustry legend. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Campbell, Lisa D. Michael Jackson: The King of Pop. Boston: Branden Books, 1993. George, Nelson. The Michael Jackson Story. New York: Dell, 1984. Graves, Karen Marie. Michael Jackson. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. Matthews, Gordon R. Michael Jackson. New York: J. Messner, 1984. Michaeljackson.com. http://www.michaeljackson.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Nicholson, Lois P. Michael Jackson. New York: Chelsea House, 1994.

Karaoke Karaoke (pronounced kear-ee-OH-kee) is a popular form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with prerecorded pop-music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) songs stripped of their vocal tracks. The word “karaoke” is a combination of two Japanese words: kara, meaning empty, and oke, meaning orchestra. Recorded music on a cassette tape or a compact disc (CD; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) provides the instrumental track of a band or an orchestra, with the singer’s voice stripped out, to be filled by anyone brave enough to hold the microphone at a party or a karaoke bar.

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Invented by Kisaburo Takagi of the Nikkodo Company, karaoke originated in a bar in Kobe, Japan, in 1972. By 1976, the first home karaoke machines were marketed to the Japanese public. Performing karaoke-style fit perfectly with the popular Asian custom of singing at public events. Even before karaoke, it was not unusual in Asian culture for amateurs to rise and offer a song at a wedding or other gathering. The point of this was not to demonstrate excellence in singing, but rather to

Live Aid

show good will and comradeship. The introduction of the karaoke machine allowed singers to choose from a wide variety of songs and to read the words from a song sheet. Video karaoke added lyrics on the screen with a bouncing ball to help the whole audience sing along. Soon after its introduction, karaoke spread not only in Japan but through Korea and Southeast Asia. Karaoke first came to the United States in Asian restaurants. Non–Asian Americans were introduced to the new fad by Johnny Carson (1925–; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) on The Tonight Show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) on NBC in 1986. Soon karaoke bars opened all over the United States. Americans do not have a long tradition of performing for each other, but they do often have a hunger for the spotlight, and karaoke offered amateurs a moment on center stage. Although the first karaoke venues were bars and restaurants, home karaoke machines became more popular in the 1990s. Karaoke continues to thrive as a form of self expression and amusement in bars and homes throughout the world. In 1999, it was even taken to the Balkan town of Kosovo to entertain refugees in the war-torn city, perhaps proving true the words of Nikkodo executive Akihiko Kurobe, quoted in Transpacific: “Karaoke has no boundaries or prejudices. It is ageless and impartial to gender. It will last forever. Karaoke is like your family or lover. It makes sadness half and happiness double.” —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Gonda, Thomas A., Jr. Karaoke: The Bible: Everything You Need to Know about Karaoke. Oakland, CA: G-Man Publishing, 1993. “Karaoke = Kurobe.” Transpacific (Vol. 9, no. 6, October 1994): pp. 24–26. Karaoke Scene. http://www.karaokescene.com/ (accessed April 1, 2002). Wolpin, Stewart. “High-Tech Hootenanny: Can Karaoke Conquer America?” Video Magazine (Vol. 16, no. 1, April 1992): pp. 30–36.

Live Aid The Live Aid concerts took place on July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, and at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concerts raised almost $140

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The Live Aid concerts on July 13, 1985, raised over $140 million for the starving in Africa and remains the biggest music gathering ever. Photograph by Jacques M. Chenet. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

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million for the starving in Africa, the most money ever raised for charity by a single event. The combined concerts remain the biggest music event ever held. Live Aid was the brainchild of rock singer Bob Geldof (1954–) of the Boomtown Rats. Moved by images of starving Ethiopian children on a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) documentary, he decided something had to be done. Two charity records—Geldof’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? in Britain and We Are the World, organized by Michael Jackson (1958–) and Lionel Ritchie (1949–), in the United States—were released for the Christmas season in 1984. Live Aid was Geldof’s real triumph. Comprising sixteen hours of music, it became one of the key cultural moments of the 1980s. Watched by almost two billion people on television around the world, Live Aid brought together some of the biggest names in the history of rock and pop music, including Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), Queen, U2, Mick Jagger (1943–), Tina Turner (1938–), Bob Dylan (1941–; see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4), and Phil Collins (1951–)

LL Cool J

of Genesis. Collins’ involvement was noteworthy in that he appeared at both sites, assisted by a trip on the Concorde. At the center of it all, though, was Geldof, who persuaded most of the biggest stars of the time to perform for nothing and convinced several major corporations to give their services for free. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Clinton, Susan. Live Aid. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1993. Gray, Charlotte. Bob Geldof: The Pop Star Who Raised 140 Million for Famine Relief in Ethiopia. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 1988. Live Aid: The Greatest Show on Earth. http://www.herald.co.uk/ local_info/live_aid.html (accessed April 1, 2002).

LL Cool J (1969–) LL Cool J is the stage name of rapper James Todd Smith. The name stands for “Ladies Love Cool James,” a reference to the music superstar’s good looks and charming personality. LL Cool J rode those attributes, and his flair for rhyming, to the top of the charts in the 1980s. He became one of rap and hip-hop (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music’s biggest crossover success stories. Born in Queens, New York, in 1969, LL Cool J was easily recognized by his Kangol hat, gold chains, and Adidas sweats. He began rapping as a teenager and recorded his debut album, Radio, with Rick Rubin (1963–), producer of Run-DMC (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5). The album melded LL’s boasting rhymes with aggressive beats and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) guitars and became one of rap’s first classic recordings. In the 1990s, LL continued to break new ground, appearing with a full band on a memorable installment of the live MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music show MTV Unplugged. He also embarked on a movie career, appearing in films like The Hard Way (1991). Rappers who have gone on to great fame often cite the trailblazing “Mr. Smith” as an inspiration. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information “Bands A-Z: LL Cool J.” MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/ ll_cool_j/artist.jhtml (accessed April 1, 2002).

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LL Cool J. I Make My Own Rules. New York: St. Martin’s, 1998. “LL Cool J.” Def Jam Recordings. http://www.def jam.com/index1.las?content=llcoolj (accessed April 2, 2002). Morreale, Marie. “Profile: LL Cool J.” Scholastic Action (September 7, 1988): pp. 2–3.

Madonna (1958–) In the 1980s, Madonna, born Madonna Louise Ciccone, burst upon the national landscape and became a focus of both intense adoration and controversy. Madonna—as singer, dancer, and actress— conveyed a provocative sexuality and fiery ambition that challenged sexual, racial, and religious values.

Madonna sings during the opening night performance at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on June 6, 1985. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Madonna portrayed herself as a “Boy Toy” and “Material Girl” who enjoyed life’s hedonistic (sensual) pleasures. She courted fame and celebrity with her suggestive lyrics, naughty-girl persona, controversial behavior, and brief marriage to actor Sean Penn (1960–). Her legion of mostly female fans viewed Madonna as a symbol of female empowerment. Madonna’s willingness to defy conventions and political correctness earned her criticism from conservatives and liberals alike. She remained a rock superstar and pop icon (symbol) throughout the 1990s. However, her attempts at a film career were less satisfactory. Her best films include: Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Dick Tracy (1990), and Evita (1998). By 2002, Madonna had married director Guy Ritchie (1968–) and was the mother of two. Her music remains popular and still often fuels the flames of controversy. —Charles Coletta

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Anderson, C. Madonna: Unauthorized. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Madonnamusic.com. http://www.madonnamusic.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Metz, A., and C. Benson, eds. The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary. New York: Schirmer Books, 1999.

MTV

MTV Since its start in 1981, Music Television (MTV) has proved to be one of the most important television (see entry under 1940s— TV and Radio in volume 3) channels of the late twentieth century. As its name implies, MTV pulled together the two most important popular-culture developments of the post–World War II era: rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) and television. To its millions of viewers scattered across the globe, MTV is the foremost media representative of global youth culture. The channel offers an intoxicating mix of music, postmodern imagery, consumer goods, and original programming. To its owner, the cable-television giant Viacom, MTV is a highly profitable cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) channel that offers advertisers unparalleled access to a youthful audience. Critics, however, complain that MTV corrupts youth, encourages mindless consumerism, and degrades the music that it supposedly celebrates. MTV was launched at midnight on August 1, 1981, playing a music video by the Buggles called “Video Killed the Radio Star.” MTV began as a twenty-four-hour-a-day music cable channel. MTV’s audience grew from just over two million at the end of four months to twenty-two million by 1984. With its low production costs, the channel soon earned large profits, as advertisers proved willing to pay top dollar to reach this audience of young consumers. The first videos to air on MTV were rough and awkward but quality improved fairly rapidly, thanks in no small part to the performer who would come to be called the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson (1958–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5). Jackson’s 1982 release Thriller featured three videos— ”Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” and “Beat It”—that helped shape the growing art of making a video. The video for “Thriller,” for example, was filmed in a graveyard and cost an estimated $1.1 million. Beginning in the late 1980s, MTV moved away from playing a constant stream of music videos and began creating its own programs. In this way, MTV hoped to become a more traditional TV channel. New shows introduced included Club MTV (dance), The Week in Rock (news related to the world of rock and roll), and Yo! MTV Raps (a compilation of rap videos by black artists). By the mid-1990s, rap and hip-hop (see entry under

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The original MTV veejays who debuted on August 1, 1981: (front row) Martha Quinn and Nina Blackwood; (back row) Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, and J. J. Jackson. Photograph by Allen Tannenbaum. Reproduced by permission.

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1980s—Music in volume 5) became MTV mainstays. MTV continued its experiments with content into the 1990s, offering such shows as The Real World and Beavis and Butt-Head (see these entries under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5). In The Real World, a group of college-aged strangers were thrown together in a beautiful house and a camera filmed every moment of their attempts to learn to live together. More controversial was Beavis and Butt-Head, a cartoon about two teenage slackers who exhibited gross, dangerous, and often hilarious behavior. MTV also spread its influence around the world in the late 1980s and 1990s. MTV debuted in Europe in 1987, in Brazil in 1990, and throughout Latin America beginning in 1993. MTV executive Sara Levinson claimed that “Music is the global language. We want to be the global rock ’n’ roll village where we can talk to the youth worldwide.” By the mid-1990s, MTV reached 270 million households in more than 125 countries scattered across five continents. Critics of MTV claimed that the channel spread mindless consumerism around the world, but

—Tom Pendergast

For More Information Banks, Jack. Monopoly Television: MTV’s Quest to Control the Music. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Denisoff, R. Serge. Inside MTV. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988. Goodwin, Andrew. Dancing in the Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992. Kaplan, E. Ann. Rocking Around the Clock: Music Television, Postmodernism, and Consumer Culture. New York: Methuen, 1987. McGrath, Tom. MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1996. McGrath, Tom. Video Killed the Radio Star: How MTV Rocked the World. New York: Villard Books, 1994. MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com (accessed April 1, 2002).

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fans praised the channel for continually offering fresh music and programming for the world’s young people.

Rap and Hip-Hop Rap and hip-hop culture emerged out of the street-gang culture of poor black youths in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s. Hip-hop culture and its signature music, rap, have grown in less than thirty years to be a major part of popular culture around the world. This youth culture has been criticized and condemned by concerned adults from parents to law enforcement officials. Supporters, however, think that hip-hop gives a voice and a sense of power to poor youth around the world who otherwise often feel powerless and unheard. Hip-hop describes a distinctive style of dress (extremely baggy clothes, backwards baseball caps), a slang that is almost impossible for those outside the culture to understand, and an attitude of cool toughness and rebellion. Hip-hop culture includes a love of break dancing (athletic street dancing), flamboyant—and illegal—graffiti, rap music (fast rhymes spoken to a rhythmic beat, often with political content), and deejaying (using a turntable as an instrument by manipulating songs and creating sounds while spinning vinyl records on the turntable). From its beginnings in the Bronx, hip-hop spread quickly to Manhattan and Los Angeles, California, and then around the United States and the rest of the world. Underprivileged youth

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everywhere responded to the tough social criticism contained in the rappers’ poetic lyrics, and wealthier white youth imitated the rebellious hip-hop style. While U.S. rap had emerged from African rhythms and oral storytelling traditions, British rappers of East Indian descent drew from the traditional melodies of India. French rappers were often poor immigrants from the Middle East and West Africa. In Japan, women broke traditional gender barriers by becoming rappers. As rap became the voice of poor youth during the 1980s, it gained in commercial popularity, making some performers rich and famous. Rappers like Will Smith (1968–) and LL Cool J (1968–; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) had a cleancut image and were acceptable to mainstream audiences, but other rappers began to produce harsh, angry songs, full of the violence that was often part of black urban poverty. In the early 1990s, rappers like Tupac Shakur (1971–1996), Ice T (1959–), and Snoop Dogg (1972–) created a kind of rap music that came to be called “gangsta rap.” Even more than early rap, gangsta rap horrified some listeners with the violent and crude language of its lyrics. The violent deaths of several gangsta rappers like Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. (1972–1997) convinced many adults that rap music was dangerous. Although many crusaders have tried to quiet the loud, insistent voice of rap music, rap has continued to gain fans. In 1987, the music industry gave rap its own category, alongside the rhythm and blues (R&B; see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) and jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) that were its ancestors. In 1999, rap became the top selling music genre in the United States. In the summer of 2000, Harlem’s Apollo Theater introduced the first hip-hop musical, titled Echo Park. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

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Ayazi-Hashjin, Sherry. Rap and Hip Hop: The Voice of a Generation. New York: Rosen Publishing, 1999. George, Nelson, et al. Fresh: Hip-Hop Don’t Stop. New York: Random House, 1985. Greenberg, Keith Elliot. Rap. Minneapolis: Lerner, 1988. Jones, K. Maurice. Say It Loud!: The Story of Rap Music. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1994. Kinnon, Joy Bennett. “Does Rap Have a Future?” Ebony (June 1997): pp. 76–79. Rapstation. http://www.rapstation.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Rose, Tricia. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994.

Run-DMC

Rap group Run-DMC. AP/Wide World Photo. Reproduced by permission.

Run-DMC took rap and hip-hop (see entry under 1980s— Music in volume 5) music to the top of the charts in the 1980s by collaborating with the hard-rock band Aerosmith on a remake of the 1970s rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) hit “Walk This Way.” The Queens, New York–based hip-hop “posse” followed up that single with the smash 1986 album Raising Hell, which blended loud rock guitar and rap beats to great effect. Run-DMC was named for two of its founding members, Joseph “Run” Simmons (1964–) and Daryl “DMC” McDaniels (1964–). Simmons and McDaniels hooked up with a disc jockey named Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell (1965–) and recorded their first single, “It’s Like That,” in 1983. Its success led to other minor hits like “Sucker MCs” and “King of Rock,” paving the way for mainstream acceptance. After Raising Hell, Run-DMC’s brand of rap-rock fell out of fashion and the group released a series of disappointing follow-up albums. They returned to

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prominence in the 1990s with an album of born-again Christian rap, Down with the King, and continued to receive tributes from rappers who had followed in their hit-making footsteps. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Arista Records. Run-DMC. http://www.arista.com/aristaweb/RunDMC/ artist_index.html (accessed April 2, 2002). McDaniels, Daryl. King of Rock: Respect, Responsibility and My Life with Run-DMC. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. Simmons, Joseph. It’s Like That: A Spiritual Memoir. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000. Whose House? Run’s House. http://thadweb.com/rundmc (accessed April 2, 2002).

2 Live Crew This struggling Miami, Florida, hip-hop band rocketed to fame in 1989 on the basis of a free-speech controversy sparked by their album As Nasty as They Wanna Be. 2 Live Crew formed in the mid-1980s, just as rap and hip-hop music (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) was enjoying its first blush of mainstream success. Its first album, 2 Live Crew Is What We Are (1986), featured danceable rap tunes dealing with sexual subjects and sprinkled with profanity, making it hard for the group to get radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) airplay. Its third album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be, brought the band great notoriety when, in June 1990, the song “Me So Horny” was deemed legally obscene by a Florida judge, forcing many stores to refrain from selling it. The group appealed the judge’s decision and eventually won. The controversy spurred sales of 2 Live Crew’s album. The group rode the wave of attention for several more years. Perhaps 2 Live Crew’s finest moment came when it recorded a mocking version of the song “Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen (1949–). Entitled “Banned in the U.S.A.,” the song poked fun at the group’s legal woes. Unfortunately, without controversy to sustain them, 2 Live Crew soon faded from prominence. Band leader Luther Campbell (1960–) filed for bankruptcy in 1995. 1152

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—Robert E. Schnakenberg

“Bands A-Z: 2 Live Crew.” MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/ 2_live_crew/bio.jhtml (accessed April 1, 2002). Campbell, Luther, and John R. Miller. As Nasty as They Wanna Be: The Uncensored Story of Luther Campbell of the 2 Live Crew. New York: Barricade Books, 1992. Lacayo, Richard. “The Rap Against a Rap Group.” Time (June 25, 1990): p. 18. Light, Alan. “2 Live Crew Beats the Rap.” Rolling Stone (November 29, 1990): p. 27. Soocher, Stan. “2 Live Crew, Taking the Rap.” Rolling Stone (August 9, 1990): pp. 19–22.

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1980s Print Culture The publishing industry was very much affected by the trends affecting other areas of popular culture in the 1980s—the concentration of power in large corporations and the public thirst for status through consumption. The concentration of power in publishing took two forms. First, the number of book publishers decreased as large publishers bought up smaller ones. These big publishing houses were driven by profit, so they tended to publish books by known writers and offered fewer chances to new talent. They also tended to be engaged in publishing magazines, music, and videos, so they often looked for ideas that could be cross-promoted. Second, booksellers also got bigger. Small, independent book stores were pushed out of business by large chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders. These book chains worked hand in hand with the big publishers to promote the most popular authors; increasingly, they also offered music, wrapping paper, coffee, and other gifts. These changes in the publishing and selling market helped shape what was published. The biggest sellers were called “blockbusters” because they were written by big-name authors like Stephen King (1947–), Danielle Steel (1947–), Robert Ludlum (1927–2001), or James Michener (1907–1997), whose works promised to sell. Many of these books were sold with built-in movie or television deals. The wealth and thirst for status that were associated with the decade also became subjects of fiction. A set of young authors made a big splash with books that both glamorized and condemned the thirst for drugs, brand-name goods, and business success of the decade’s young urban professionals (yuppies). Bright Lights, Big City (1984) by Jay McInerney (1955–) and Less Than Zero (1985) by Bret Easton Ellis (1964–) were two of the bestknown such books. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), by noted “new journalist” Tom Wolfe (1931–), was the sensation of the decade, however. The Bonfire of the Vanities was serialized (divided into parts and published in succeeding issues) in Rolling Stone magazine. The book simultaneously satirized Wall Street greed, the American legal system, and glory-hungry black activists.

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Magazines and newspapers also changed in the 1980s. The big news among newspapers was the introduction of USA Today in 1982. The first national newspaper started slowly but soon stole readers from major city papers and pioneered new styles of journalism. Magazines, on the other hand, continued to grow more and more specialized. Once there had been just two fashion magazines; in the 1980s, fashion magazines were started for hip teens (Sassy), middle-aged women (Mirabella), older women (Lears), and even plus-sized women (It’s Me). Other specific markets were targeted by magazines, including young black males, Hispanics, college students, food enthusiasts, and sports fans of all sorts. It seems that in the 1980s there was a magazine for every market. Not surprisingly, because each market is limited to a certain kind of reader, most such magazines published for only a few years.

The Bonfire of the Vanities During the 1980s, few novels were as widely read or praised as The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), a witty examination of contemporary American culture by Tom Wolfe (1931–). First published in serialized form in Rolling Stone (see entry under 1960s—Print Culture in volume 4) magazine, the novel explores many social levels through the experiences of bond salesman Sherman McCoy. McCoy sees himself as a “master of the universe” due to the millions of dollars he is able to manipulate. In a nightmarish scene, McCoy and his mistress become lost in the South Bronx, where they are confronted by the poor, minorities, and the underclass—groups McCoy’s fortune allowed him to avoid. For more than six hundred pages, Wolfe examines the fallout of McCoy being implicated in the hit-andrun traffic death of a young black boy. The novel spent many weeks on the best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) lists and was praised for capturing the flavor of 1980s New York.

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Tom Wolfe first came to the public’s attention in the 1960s as an exponent of the “new journalism,” a form of nonfiction reporting that combines detailed descriptions, analysis, dialogue, and a strong sense of the writer’s presence. He coined phrases like “radical chic” and “the Me Decade.” Among his most significant pre-Bonfire writings are The Electric Kool-Aid

With The Bonfire of the Vanities, his first novel, Wolfe gave readers a tale through which they could examine and decipher the major cultural elements and icons (symbols) of the 1980s. In Conversations with Tom Wolfe, he explained the origin of the novel: “Two things that are so much a part of the eighties—and I couldn’t believe nobody else was writing about this in book form somewhere—are the astounding prosperity generated by the investment banking industry, and the racial and ethnic animosity.” Some called the novel prophetic as it depicted racial, ethnic, and political hostilities that were occurring in the real New York. Others called Wolfe racist and criticized his unique style.

The Far Side

Acid Test (1968) and The Right Stuff (1979). Wolfe is also known for always appearing in public in a perfectly tailored white suit.

In 1990, the film version of Wolfe’s novel, starring Tom Hanks (1956–) and Bruce Willis (1955–), premiered and was deemed a flop. Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) demanded so many revisions in order to appeal to the mass audience that the finished movie bore little resemblance to Wolfe’s masterpiece. —Charles Coletta

For More Information “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” Tom Wolfe. http://www.tomwolfe.com/ bonfire.htm (accessed April 2, 2002). Salamon, Julie. The Devil’s Candy: “The Bonfire of the Vanities” Goes to Hollywood. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Scura, Dorothy, ed. Conversations with Tom Wolfe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1990. Wolfe, Tom. The Bonfire of the Vanities. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987.

The Far Side The single-panel comic strips of Gary Larson (1950–) gained millions of fans with their use of the absurd, the bizarre, and the downright weird to poke fun at human nature. Produced between 1981 and 1995, the strip became hugely successful, with spin-offs into books, greeting cards, posters, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), mugs, and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) specials.

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Larson had no formal training in art or drawing. He grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and as a child showed far more interest in science than in cartooning. Much of Larson’s humor is derived from his portrayal of nonhumans (such as animals, insects, or bacteria) with distinctly human qualities. In The Far Side, squirrels seek psychotherapy, parakeets read the newspapers lining their cages, dogs consult with canine realtors, and bears daydream about owning their own cars.

The Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson stands near an exhibit of more than five hundred of his cartoons at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

The Far Side had its debut in The San Francisco Chronicle on January 1, 1980. It soon became widely popular. By the time Larson retired from daily cartooning in 1995, his work was appearing in nineteen hundred newspapers, in forty countries and in seventeen different languages. The strip gave rise to twenty-two paperback collections, each of which reached the New York Times Best Seller List. More than thirty million copies of the books have been sold around the world. Larson’s animated film, Gary Larson’s Tales from the Far Side, was broadcast on CBS in 1994. A second film, Gary Larson’s Tales from the Far Side II, was released in 1997. Larson received the “Cartoonist of the Year” award in 1990 and again in 1994. In honor of his frequent use of insects as characters in his strip, Larson had a bug—Strigiphilus garylarsoni—named after him. In 1998, Larson came briefly out of retirement to publish a book for children, There’s a Hair in My Dirt! A Worm’s Story. The story uses humor to make a serious point about the way that each element in nature is dependent on others for its existence. —Justin Gustainis

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Bernstein, Fred. “Loony ’toonist Gary Larson Takes Millions for a Daily Walk on The Far Side.” People Weekly (February 4, 1985): pp. 103–6. The Far Side. http://www.thefarside.com (accessed April 2, 2002).

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Kelly, James. “All Creatures Weird and Funny; Cartoonist Gary Larson Views Man and Beast from The Far Side.” Time (December 1, 1986): p. 86. Richmond, Peter. “Creatures from the Black Cartoon: In Gary Larson’s Wildly Funny Comic Strip, The Far Side, Animals Act Like Humans and Humans Act Like Animals.” Rolling Stone (September 24, 1987): pp. 79–82.

Sassy Direct and outspoken, Sassy magazine was the attempt of a group of idealistic editors and writers to change the nature of publications directed at teenage girls. First published in March 1988, Sassy was different from other girls’ magazines, which were often filled with gushing articles about film and rock stars along with tips about fashion, makeup, and weight loss. Sassy’s writers wrote thoughtful articles about a wide range of real life topics, without preaching or talking down to their readers. Although constantly threatened by boycotts organized by right-wing critics and by advertisers who demanded they print less controversial articles, Sassy became an important source of information and support for the young women who read it. Though founding editor Jane Pratt (1963?–) sold the magazine in 1996, and it stopped publishing for good in 1997, Sassy is still mourned by thousands of fans who have found little to replace its honest approach to teen journalism. Pratt graduated from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and worked as an intern at McCall’s and Teenage magazines before deciding to start her own magazine for young women. She envisioned a publication that would have a respectful tone and would take its young readers more seriously than the usual teen magazine. Along with writers like Christina Kelly and Mary Kaye Schilling, Pratt began to publish Sassy, including articles with titles like “How My Brother Came Out,” about gay issues, and “My Rainforest Odyssey,” about protecting the environment. Instead of the usual mainstream pop-culture icons (symbols) like the Backstreet Boys, Sassy informed its readers about the alternative rock (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) scene, putting Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) of Nirvana (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) and Courtney Love (1964–) on its cover. Even Sassy’s celebrity interviews contained a depth and complexity not found in the usual “What’s your favorite color?” interviews found in teen magazines.

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The editors and writers of Sassy endeared themselves to their readers by using only first names on their articles, creating the effect of a group of friends talking about the issues that were important in their lives. Circulation soon climbed to eight hundred thousand. Many critics did not appreciate Sassy’s frankness, however, and right-wing groups like the Moral Majority and the American Family Association led a year-long boycott of the magazine. Advertisers, too, tried to control Sassy’s content. Tampax, for example, successfully pressured the editors into not printing a reader’s article about her experience with toxic shock syndrome, often caused by tampon use. Finally, exhausted by constant struggles with advertisers, Pratt sold Sassy to Peterson Publishing, which published the more traditional Teen magazine. Though Peterson continued to publish a magazine called Sassy for another year, the format had changed so much that many former readers felt betrayed. In 1997, Sassy was reduced to a section in Teen magazine and soon disappeared altogether. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Crossen, Cynthia. “Sexual Candor Marks Magazine for Teen Girls.” The Wall Street Journal (February 17, 1988): pp. 27, 31. Keller, Sarah. “Sass Education.” Mother Jones (April 1989): pp. 14–15. Udell, Rochelle. “Jane Pratt.” Interview (June 1992): pp. 80–83.

USA Today USA Today is a daily general-interest newspaper that is circulated across America. It first hit newsstands on a limited basis in 1982; the paper did not go national until the following year. Its success changed the face of the newspaper business, altering both the way newspapers look and the scope and content of news stories and features.

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Initially, the format of USA Today, published by the Gannett Company, was mocked by media critics and the newspaper industry. Its articles were considered too short and general in nature, with in-depth reporting kept to a minimum; furthermore, celebrity pieces and “upbeat” coverage took precedence over hard news. For example, the first issue of USA Today headlined the death of Princess Grace of Monaco, the former

Additionally, news stories were accompanied by endless charts and tables, which tended to visualize—and trivialize— issues. The paper also placed a high value on publishing lists, poll results, and sidebars. USA Today was mockingly compared to fast food, earning the nickname “McPaper.”

USA Today

motion-picture star Grace Kelly (1928–1982). The assassination of Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel (1947–1982) was noted in a single paragraph on the front page; the coverage of a plane crash in Spain focused on the “miracle” of its 327 survivors, rather than on the 55 passengers who were killed.

The paper sparked controversy in 1992 when its sports staff learned that tennis-great Arthur Ashe (1943–1993) was suffering from AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). Ashe was informed that USA Today was planning a piece on his health. In response, he held an emotional news conference in which he informed the world of his plight. Was Ashe’s health situation a legitimate news story, given his celebrity status? Or was it a private matter that was none of the public’s business? For better or worse, many of USA Today’s approaches to journalism have become standard practice in the newspaper industry. Today, poll results have virtually taken over the news. The most private issues involving a celebrity’s life have become media issues for public discussion. The paper’s format also had an impact on the industry. USA Today comes in four sections: “News,” “Life,” “Money,” and “Sports,” with full-color photographs printed on the front pages of each. Previously, most newspapers were not divided into separate sections on a daily basis and shunned using color. These practices became popular with USA Today readers and were eventually adopted by other papers. Additionally, USA Today’s publication of expanded box scores in its sports section and nightly television listings for national cable channels found their way into other papers. In the early 1990s, USA Today began increasing its reporting and editing staffs and emphasizing editorial content over presentation. By mid-decade, many of its critics had altered their views of the paper. In 1982, media reporter Ben Bagdikian (1920–) had called the paper a “mediocre piece of journalism [presenting] a flawed picture of the world every day.” In 1997, he noted, “It has become a much more serious newspaper. . . . I don’t think it’s a joke anymore.” Finally, in an era in which newspaper circulation across the United States was in general decline, USA Today came to enjoy

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the second highest circulation of any paper in the country. As of 2001, its circulation was 2.3 million. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Neuharth, Al. Confessions of an S.O.B. New York: Doubleday, 1989. Prichard, Peter S. The Making of McPaper: The Inside Story of USA Today. New York: Andrews, McMeel & Parker, 1987. USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com (accessed April 1, 2002).

Zines There is a thriving, if little-known, community of individuals in modern society who believe that they are taking part in a communications revolution. It is not driven by phone lines or cables and does not rely on large corporations or expensive equipment. Instead, it is created on personal computers (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) or by hand, photocopied and stapled and sold or traded on the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) or through alternative bookstores. This communications phenomenon is the “zine” (pronounced ZEEN), a small, handmade publication, on any subject its creator chooses to explore. Though modern zines began to appear in the 1980s, zines have a long and distinguished history. Ever since the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, people with opinions have found a way to get them into print and distribute them. The Poor Richard’s Almanac, published by Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) in the 1700s, was a kind of zine. So were the broadsides of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, poems or songs printed on single sheets of paper and sold by their authors to passersby on the street for a few pennies each. Popular science-fiction magazines developed in 1930s reflected sci-fi fans’ obsession with their genre (category) of writing. These fan magazines were called by the abbreviated slang, “fanzine,” and it is from these fanzines that modern zines took their name. The underground press of the 1960s and 1970s, full of radical politics, X-rated cartoons, and the counterculture lifestyle, were another step in the evolution of the zine. 1162

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Self-publishing has long been a way for voices out of the mainstream to be heard. A number of specific factors con-

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tributed to the rise of self-published zines in the 1980s, though. The development of the personal computer, desktop publishing software, and inexpensive photocopying made printing easier and cheaper than ever before. Ease of printing, coupled with the slow economy and the narrow, judgmental morality of the 1980s, led young people to search for creative outlets. Though not all publishers of zines are young, zine culture has a special appeal for youth, who are not often given a forum to express their views. Youth of the 1980s were often faced with unemployment or dead-end jobs and were stereotyped as lazy and unconcerned with important social issues. Because of adult fears of drugs and crime, there were fewer places for young people to gather, especially youth of color. For many young people in the 1980s, zines became that gathering place. With names like Baby Fat, Poppin’ Zits! and Ben is Dead, zines began to appear around the country, attempting to fulfill young people’s need to communicate with each other. Unimpressed by the mainstream media’s view of the world, the creators of zines put forth an alternative vision, where youth was no longer seen as unimportant or bad. In the fall 1997 issue of Social Justice, Witknee Hubbs, publisher of the zine AWOL, Youth for Peace and Revolution, echoed the feelings of the typical zine reader: “when i walk into the grocery store and stare at the magazine rack all i see is propaganda: lies and standards set by people in power . . . and i’ll walk out empty-handed and run home to my mailbox to see what new zines i got that day. i’ll curl up in my room, free from all the people that tell me i’m just a kid/i’m just a girl/i can’t change the world, and read. . . . i’ll read the truths of so many kids that finally have an uncensored forum to yell and cry and heal and inform and incite, free from the burdens of adultism. . . . so while your average jane/joe teenager is out partying all night, there are a whole slew of kids overtaking the copy shops and crowding mail boxes for the love of the zine and the hope and action it inspires.” The subjects of zines are as widely varied as their creators. There are zines about AIDS (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), kite flying, new-wave comics, and every type of poetry, art, and music. A zine called 8 Track Mind chronicles the history and availability of eight-track tapes (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4). K Composite features interviews with the publisher’s friends rather than with celebrities. Snack Bar Confidential highlights food packaging and

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advertising of the 1960s and 1970s. Bitch bills itself as a feminist response to popular culture. There are thousands of zines in print, and more ezines on the Internet. Many are “perzines”: personal statements of the publisher’s view of life and the world, and all bear the mark of handmade individuality. The zine phenomenon represents a reaction to modern mainstream media, which many zine publishers view as slick, overhyped, and deceptive. Another difference between zine culture and mainstream media is lack of ownership. Few zines are copyrighted, and there is little competition between publishers of zines. Instead, those who make zines encourage their readers to become creators and publish their own zines. Though some critics denounce zines as self-centered and amateurish, zine publishers accept the criticism cheerfully. A good zine, they say, is supposed to be self-centered and amateurish. Zines bypass the “professionalism” of the corporate world and create a vibrant place where real people exchange ideas. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Austin, Bryn. “The Irreverent (Under)World of ’Zines.” Ms. (Vol. 3, no. 4, January-February 1993): pp. 68–69. The Book of Zines: Readings from the Fringe. http://www.zinebook.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Chu, Julie. “Navigating the Media Environment: How Youth Claim a Place Through Zines.” Social Justice (Vol. 24, no. 3, Fall 1997): pp. 71–86. Gross, David M. “Zine But Not Heard: Underground, Homemade ‘Fanzine’ Magazines.” Time (Vol. 144, no. 10, September 5, 1994): pp. 68–70. Gunderloy, Mike, and Cari G. Janice. The World of Zines: A Guide to the Independent Magazine Revolution. New York: Viking Penguin, 1992. Pore, Jerod. “Invisible Literature.” Whole Earth Review (No. 75, Summer 1992): pp. 20–26. Shea, Christopher. “The Zine Scene: Homemade Magazines Flourishing.” The Chronicle of Higher Education (Vol. 40, no. 11, November 3, 1993): pp. 37–39.

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1980s Sports and Games Professional and major collegiate sports continued to expand in popularity during the decade, and they continued to be lavishly paid for by television programmers eager to attract an audience. Television became critical to sports, for it provided the money that made huge salaries possible or, in the college world, allowed major football and basketball programs to build state-of-the-art facilities for their athletes. Televised sports received a big boost through the 1980s with the growing popularity of the ESPN cable-television station, which played an important role in popularizing a variety of sports. Even the Olympics fell under the spell of TV money; ABC paid a record $225 million to broadcast the 1984 Los Angeles summer games. Not everyone appreciated the role that TV played in sports. One critic claimed that TV “helps make money-grubbing freaks of its heroes. It even modifies and distorts the way sports are played.” Athletes no longer stuck with a team for years; instead, they jumped from team to team as they received offers for more money. The fact that many pro and college athletes were involved in drug-use scandals in the decade also helped ruin the image of the athlete as a role model. Pro baseball in the 1980s suffered through a number of problems, including a player’s strike, allegations of drug use, and the Pete Rose (1941–) betting scandal that saw the former Cincinnati Reds star banned from the game. The National Football League (NFL) was also plagued with two strikes in the 1980s. A more notable story in football was the end of the domination of the season-capping Super Bowl by American Football Conference (AFC) teams. Beginning in 1985, National Football Conference (NFC) teams dominated the game, thanks to strong performances by the Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, and New York Giants—and to the almost yearly Super Bowl collapse of the Denver Broncos, who lost the Super Bowl in 1987, 1988, and 1990. Professional basketball recovered from its slump in the 1970s thanks to the spirited play of rising stars Larry Bird (1956–) of

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the Boston Celtics and Earvin “Magic” Johnson (1959–) of the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson led the Lakers to eight championship series in the decade, and the team won five of them. Challenging the Lakers for dominance were the Celtics and, late in the decade, the “bad boy” Detroit Pistons, led by point guard Isiah Thomas (1961–). College basketball became a national obsession in the 1980s, thanks in large part to the popularity of the championship playoff series known as “March Madness.” Pro hockey featured the amazing Wayne Gretzky—”the Great One.” He electrified the National Hockey League, leading his Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cups. Meanwhile, the World Wrestling Federation exploded in popularity, as did such games as Trivial Pursuit, Rubik’s Cube, and the video game Pac-Man.

Wayne Gretzky (1961–) Wayne Gretzky—The Great One—is one of the finest and most celebrated hockey players who ever lived. He holds sixty-one individual National Hockey League (NHL; see entry under 1910s—Sports and Games in volume 1) records. On ten occasions, he was the league’s scoring champ. On nine occasions, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was voted to the NHL All-Star team eighteen times, and three times was the All-Star game’s MVP. Gretzky began skating when he was two-and-a-half years old. At age ten, he scored 378 goals while playing for a peewee team in his hometown of Brantford, Ontario, Canada. In 1978, when he was seventeen, he signed his first professional contract with the Indianapolis Racers of the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA) but played in just eight games before being sold to the Edmonton Oilers. Following the merger between the WHA and the more established NHL, Gretzky won the NHL Rookie-of-the-Year award with the Oilers in the 1979–80 season. He followed up by breaking the league’s single-season points record. In the 1981–82 season he bested that with an amazing 92 goals and 212 points. Gretzky led the Oilers to the Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988.

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In 1988, Gretzky was dispatched to the larger-market Los Angeles Kings for $15 million and various players and draft choices. His presence on a major-city American team helped to

Pac-Man

raise the profile of hockey in the United States. In 1996, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues and soon after signed with the New York Rangers, from which he retired in 1999. As of 2002, Gretzky was in charge of all hockey operations for the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. He also was the executive director of Team Canada’s gold medal–winning men’s hockey team in the 2002 Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). —Rob Edelman

For More Information Dryden, Steve, ed. Total Gretzky: The Magic, the Legend, the Numbers. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1999. “Gretzky Calls It a Career.” NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/ gretzky (accessed April 1, 2002). Gretzky, Wayne. Gretzky: An Autobiography. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Gretzky, Wayne, and John Davidson. 99: My Life in Pictures. New York: Total Sports, 1999. Messier, Mark, Walter Gretzky, and Brett Hull. Wayne Gretzky: The Making of the Great One. New York: Beckett Publications, 1988. Podnieks, Andrew. The Great One: The Life and Times of Wayne Gretzky. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1999.

Pac-Man Long before Sony Playstation and Lara Croft, a yellow pizza with a slice missing ruled the video-game arcades. Pac-Man appeared in Japan in 1980, produced by Namco. Legend has it that its creator, Toru Iwatani (1955–), was inspired by a night out at a local pizza (see entry under 1940s—Food and Drink in volume 3) restaurant. He invented a game that would dominate the video game (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 5) market for several years. To today’s gamers,Pac-Man looks simple and unexciting, but for serious players it remains the game to beat. A perfect Pac-Man score was not achieved until 1999. Pac-Man is the simplest of games. The hero of the game is trapped in a maze littered with dots and occasional pieces of fruit. His task is to “eat” all the dots and fruit without being destroyed by the ghosts “Clyde,” “Blinky,” “Inky,” and “Pinky.” Once all the dots are consumed, the player goes on to a new level, which runs faster and behaves differently. “Power Pellets” allow the hero to eat the ghosts.

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A girl plays the video game “Ms. Pac-Man.” Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

Originally called “Puckman,” the American arcade game of 1981 became “Pac-Man” to avoid problems with graffiti. The game was so popular that it inspired variations such as “Ms. Pac-Man” and “Baby Pac-Man.” Pac-Man memorabilia—ashtrays, playing cards, whoopie cushions, soft toys, and so on—soon appeared. In the early 1980s, Pac-Man pasta and breakfast cereal even appeared. The song “Pac-Man Fever” reached number nine on the American charts, while the Pac-Man television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) cartoon was also a big hit. Pac-Man was named “Game of the Century” at Classic Gaming Expo ’99. By the twenty-first century, it was estimated that Pac-Man had been played over ten billion times. —Chris Routledge

For More Information

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Herz, J. C. Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds. Boston: Little, Brown, 1997. “Pac-Man.” Classic Gaming. http://www.classicgaming.com/pac-man (accessed April 4, 2002). Poole, Steven. Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000.

Trueman, Doug. “The History of Pac-Man.” Gamespot. http://videogames. gamespot.com/ features/universal/hist_pacman/index.html (accessed April 4, 2002).

Rubik’s Cube The multicolored puzzle known as Rubik’s Cube became a worldwide sensation in the 1980s, inspiring clubs, books, newsletters, and even a Saturday morning cartoon (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4). Hungarian architecture professor Erno Rubik (1944–) came up with the idea for the cube in the early 1970s as a teaching tool for his students. Always interested in geometry, Rubik devised a six-sided puzzle with fifty-four colored squares. The object of the puzzle was to get each side to line up entirely as one solid color. It sounded simple, but users quickly discovered how difficult it was. Mathematicians have calculated that there are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations to Rubik’s Cube, but only one correct solution. The deceptive simplicity of the puzzle proved to be a large part of its appeal.

Erno Rubik demonstrates how to use Rubik’s Cube. Photograph by John Glanville. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Rubik’s Cube developed a cult following in Europe in the late 1970s. College students and schoolchildren were especially attracted to the device, which won prizes for outstanding invention. Rubik’s idea really took off when the Ideal Toy Company began marketing Rubik’s Cube in the United States and around the world. Between 1980 and 1982, an estimated one hundred million Rubik’s Cubes were sold worldwide. It is difficult to say just how many were sold because of the number of imitation cubes that hit toy shelves around the same time. Some sixty books were published offering strategies and shortcuts for solving the puzzle. Clubs were formed around the globe so that cube enthusiasts could share their tricks and techniques. By 1982, Rubik’s Cube had become such a household term that it became part of the Oxford English Dictionary. Rubik’s Cube fever peaked around that time, although a Saturday morning cartoon series, Rubik the Amazing Cube, ran

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Trivial Pursuit

until 1985. The show, which featured a flying, talking Cube, had little to do with the puzzle. Today, Rubik’s Cube still has its devoted enthusiasts, while its creator Erno Rubik has gone on to create other puzzles and games that combine mathematics and entertainment. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Lawless, Ken. Dissolving Rubik’s Cube: The Ultimate Solution. New York: Putnam Publishing Group, 1982. Rubik, Erno. Rubik’s Cubic Compendium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Rubik’s: The Only Official Site. http://www.rubiks.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Taylor, Don. Mastering Rubik’s Cube. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.

Trivial Pursuit Although board games have lost a great deal of popularity to their video counterparts, a few continue to capture the public’s imagination and leisure time. Toward the end of the twentieth century, none was more successful than Trivial Pursuit. As the name suggests, the game tests players’ knowledge of obscure facts. In the basic game (known as the “Genus Edition”), the facts are divided into five categories: Art and Literature, History, Sports and Leisure, Geography, and Science and Nature. A die roll moves each player around a circular board, each square of which represents one of the five categories. Questions are contained on preprinted cards, and a player must correctly answer a question in each category to have a chance of winning. Various supplementary sets of questions may be purchased, all of which can be used with the basic board.

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The game was conceived in 1979 by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, two young journalists in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They had a friend do the artwork for the board, borrowed money wherever they could, and finally launched the game in 1981. Initial interest among distributors was limited, and the fledgling enterprise lost money. However, the game eventually caught the attention of the Selchow and Righter Company, a major American toy-and-game manufacturer. It bought the rights, marketed the game, and by 1983 Trivial Pursuit was an

Other sets of cards followed, which allowed the manufacturer to appeal to players with different interests. The first variant was the “Silver Screen Edition,” which focused on movies. It was followed by the “Baby Boomer Edition” (dealing with events since 1950) and a “Sports Edition,” among others. Recent years have seen the release of the “Millennium Edition” and the “Warner Brothers Edition.” Trivial Pursuit games are now available in nineteen languages and thirty-three countries. They can also be played on the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and in a handheld electronic version. New “editions” of the game cards are constantly under development.

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undeniable success, selling three-and-a-half million units. In the next year, sales reached twenty million.

—Justin Gustainis

For More Information Bernikow, Louise. “Trivia Inc.” Esquire (March 1985): pp. 116–18. Hasbro. “The World of Trivial Pursuit.” http://www.trivialpursuit.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Silver, Marc. “The Endless Pursuit of All Things Trivial.” U.S. News and World Report (November 6, 1989): p. 102. Tarpey, John P. “Selchow and Righter: Playing Trivial Pursuit to the Limit.” Business Week (November 26, 1984).

World Wrestling Federation Although it reached new levels of popularity in the late 1990s, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) has actually been around since the early 1960s. The professional wrestling circuit, which bills itself as the world’s “highest form of sports entertainment,” has grown into a multibillion-dollar empire thanks to its unique mix of violent mayhem and soap opera. Stars who emerged from the WWF ranks include Hulk Hogan (1973–), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (1972–), and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (1964–). The World Wrestling Federation, at first known as the Worldwide Wrestling Federation, began in 1963 as an offshoot of another wrestling circuit, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The owner and promoter of the new organization was Vince McMahon Sr. (1915?–1984). By developing such stars as

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World Wrestling Federation “Stone Cold” Steve Austin wins the coveted World Wrestling Championship belt. Photograph by Teddy Blackburn. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

Bruno Sammartino (1935–), Andre the Giant (1946–1993), and Haystacks Calhoun (1933–1989), McMahon was able to turn the floundering business of professional wrestling into a regional powerhouse. Some critics complained about the violence in professional wrestling or charged that the “sport” was actually staged, but millions of fans crowded into large arenas like New York’s Madison Square Garden to cheer on the WWF’s stars.

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In the 1980s, McMahon’s son Vince Jr. (1945–) took over the WWF and began to promote the sport nationally. He developed new stars like Hulk Hogan and Sgt. Slaughter (1948–), who brought a more cartoonish element to the matches. McMahon also used the power of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), putting WWF matches on pay-per-view TV and making millions in the process. The WWF’s Wrestlemania events drew enormous crowds—ninety thousand people attended one evening of matches at the Silverdome in Pontiac,

In the 1990s, a scandal involving steroid drug use by wrestlers almost toppled the WWF. The resourceful McMahon bounced back with a new breed of wrestling stars, led by Austin and later by Johnson. The level of violent content on WWF shows like Smackdown! rose dramatically, as wrestling cards became elaborate soap operas with ongoing storylines—often involving McMahon himself. By the end of the 1990s, wrestling was so popular that one former star—Ventura—was even elected governor of Minnesota. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

World Wrestling Federation

Michigan. A number of wrestling stars, like Hogan and Jesse “the Body” Ventura (1951–), went on to movie careers.

Cohen, Dan. Wrestling Renegades : An In-Depth Look at Today’s Superstars of Pro Wrestling. New York: Pocket Books, 1999. Greenberg, Keith Elliot. Pro Wrestling: From Carnivals to Cable TV. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2000. Keith, Scott. The Buzz on Professional Wrestling. New York: LebharFriedman Books, 2001. World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. http://www.wwf.com (accessed April 1, 2002).

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1980s TV and Radio The “big three” networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—continued to dominate American television in the 1980s, although their dominance was increasingly challenged by cable TV providers and by a fourth network, the FOX network, created in 1985. With their market share declining, the networks tried to offer more challenging fare and to expand their broadcast hours. In general, however, network programming remained safe and noncontroversial. The exception to this rule was Roseanne (1988–1997), a situation comedy (sitcom) about a workingclass family that addressed issues of class, race, and sexuality. Along with Roseanne, the most popular shows of the decade were The Cosby Show (1984–92), Dallas (1978–91), Cheers (1982–93), Miami Vice (1984–89), Dynasty (1981–89), and Knots Landing (1979–93). Cable television became an even more important influence on TV programming in the 1980s. The availability of telecommunications satellites made it possible for more cable channels to broadcast nationwide. More and more Americans gained access to cable programming during the decade. Cable programmers such as HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel, ESPN, MTV, VH1, and many others offered increasing competition to the big three networks. CNN revolutionized TV news broadcasting beginning in 1980 when it began offering news coverage twenty-four hours a day. By the end of the decade, CNN was known for being first on the scene at many major news events. Radio remained a popular source of news and entertainment. In fact, a survey done in the 1980s revealed that 99 percent of American households owned a radio (as compared with 98 percent owning a television) and that the average American household had 5.5 radios, not including car radios. Thanks to their better sound quality, FM radio stations became the most popular in the 1980s. Many cities had FM stations that offered every possible variety of music, from jazz to classical, rock and roll to country. Increasingly, AM stations offered “talk shows.” These shows tended to become polarized along political lines

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during the 1980s. Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh (c. 1951–) got his start in the 1980s. The more liberal National Public Radio (NPR) was the single most successful national radio network in the 1980s, reaching more Americans than any other network.

The A-Team “In 1972,” the gravelly-voiced narrator of the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) action series The A-Team explained, “A crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit.” The men soon escaped from the maximum-security stockade in which they were incarcerated, the narrator continued. He further explained that, although they were still wanted by the U.S. government, “If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.” That opening voice-over perfectly set the tone for this exciting mix of action and macho fellowship, which aired on NBC from 1983 to 1987. Inspired by films like The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Kelly’s Heroes (1970), The A-Team confronted the commandos with a new and dangerous mission every week and usually ended with a firefight or an explosion. The show proved a blockbuster hit, especially with young male audience members. The show also made a cult hero out of one of its cast members, the hulking, bejeweled former bodyguard known as Mr. T, famous for his many gold chains. Four men formed the core of the A-Team and remained with the series for the entire five-season run. Veteran leading man George Peppard (1928–1994) played John “Hannibal” Smith, the cigar-chomping leader of the group. His signature line, uttered in almost every episode, was “I love it when a plan comes together.” Dwight Schultz (1947–) played the wild man of the group, H. M. “Howlin’ Mad” Murdock, a flaky former pilot who was constantly being committed to the insane asylum. Dirk Benedict (1945–) played the team’s romantic rogue, Templeton “Faceman” Peck. The good-looking con artist was often called upon to charm his away into (or out of) dangerous situations. 1176

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By far the most popular member of The A-Team was its hulking mechanic, Bosco “Bad Attitude” Baracus. A muscular black

man with a Mohawk hairstyle and a curious fear of flying, “B. A.,” as he was called, was a mechanical genius who could fix anything or build a tank out of bamboo if the occasion called for it. Playing B. A. was one-time Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 3) bodyguard Lawrence Tureaud (1952—), who adopted the professional name Mr. T. The gentle giant quickly captured the imagination of the show’s viewers and began appearing on lunch boxes, in action figures, and in movies such as Rocky III (1982). After a much-publicized battle with cancer in the 1990s, he began a show business comeback as a commercial pitchman in the early twenty-first century. The ATeam lives on in reruns. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information The A-Team Site. http://www.buyersmls.com/americantv/ateam.htm (accessed April 3, 2002). T., Mr. Mr. T, The Man with the Gold: An Autobiography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984. The Unofficial A-Team Home Page. http://www.lvdi.net/~duke101 (accessed April 3, 2002).

George Peppard (seated), Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, and Mr. T starred as Hannibal, Faceman, Howling Mad, and B. A. in the action television show The A-Team. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

Cheers Cheers, the sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) that aired on NBC from 1982 to 1993, was one of the most critically and popularly acclaimed programs on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Created by writers Glen Charles, Les Charles, and James Burrows, the series focused on the eccentric staff and customers of Cheers, a bar in Boston, Massachusetts. When it premiered in 1982, NBC was the lowest-rated broadcast network with no series among television’s top twenty programs. Cheers barely survived its initial season. It remained on the air only because of the persistence of network executives who

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The lovable characters (left to right) Coach (Nicholas Colasanto), Norm (George Wendt), Cliff (John Ratzenberger), Sam (Ted Danson), and Diane (Shelley Long) talk in the familiar bar setting of the television show Cheers. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

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believed the quality show would eventually attract an audience. In 1985, NBC became the dominant network based largely on the success of Cheers and other popular sitcoms in its Thursday night “Must See TV” lineup like The Cosby Show (1984–92; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) and Family Ties (1982–89). Cheers was populated by a number of characters who have become television icons (symbols). The early seasons concentrated on the on-again-off-again romance between Sam Malone (Ted Danson, 1947–), a womanizing former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who owned the bar, and snobbish waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long, 1949–). Tending bar was befuddled Ernie “Coach” Pantusso (Nicholas Colasanto, 1924–1985). When Colasanto died in 1985, the equally dim-witted farm boy Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson, 1961–) replaced his character. Carla Tortelli (Rhea Perlman, 1948–) was a mean-spirited waitress with many children. The cast was rounded out by tavern regulars Norm Peterson (George Wendt, 1948–), an accountant; Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger, 1947–), a trivia-spouting mailman; and Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammar, 1955–), a pompous

CNN

psychologist. In 1986, Bebe Neuwirth (1958–) joined the cast as the brusque, humorless Lilith Sternin, Frasier’s rival psychologist, then love interest, then wife; in 1987, Kirstie Alley (1955–) took over as the lead female character, Rebecca Howe, when Long left the series. Cheers is considered to be one of television’s most sophisticated and witty comedies. Its characters were more than stereotypical types and developed into fully rounded figures over the show’s eleven seasons and 269 episodes. When the series concluded in 1993, its final episode became a national event. The Sam and Diane romance was renewed as Long returned for a guest appearance. The couple contemplated reconciliation, but eventually realized they were not destined to be together. After the series ended, a number of its characters returned to television for guest appearances on the Cheers spin-off, Frasier (1993–; see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5). Cheers continues to attract legions of fans in syndication (the re-release of programs to independent TV stations) as viewers continue to visit the bar “where everybody knows your name.” —Charles Coletta

For More Information Bjorklund, Dennis. Toasting Cheers: An Episode Guide to the 1982–1993 Comedy Series with Cast Biographies and Character Profiles. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997. Jorgensen, Eric R., and Kevin Treu. Cheers. http://s9000.furman. edu/~ejorgens/cheers/top.html (accessed April 2, 2002). Greenburg, Keith Elliot. Charles, Burrows, & Charles: TV’s Top Producers. Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch Press, 1995. Wenger, Mark. The Cheers Trivia Book. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1994.

CNN On June 1, 1980, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) journalism was changed forever with the premiere of the Cable News Network (CNN). Ted Turner (1938—), a flamboyant Southern businessman and sportsman, founded the twenty-four-hour cable-news service on the belief that the growing cable-TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) audience would support an all-news channel. Most in the mainstream media predicted the enterprise was doomed to

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failure and labeled Turner’s creation the “Chicken Noodle Network.” However, Turner proved his detractors wrong, and CNN emerged as one of the most influential and important networks in television history. It is estimated that approximately fifteen million Americans watch CNN at least once a day. That number of viewers further increases if CNN’s foreign viewership is included. The network’s main attraction is the immediate and continuous coverage of the day’s most important events that it offers its viewers. Steven Stark (1951–), in Glued to the Set, writes, “CNN would cut to any event, anywhere, at anytime. Over the years, those attributes would remain the hallmark of the network—in both its approach to news and the reaction of the public.” Only CNN provided live coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986. Its reputation was further enhanced by its coverage of the Persian Gulf War (1991) as it provided extensive reports on all aspects of the conflict. By the mid-1990s, many spoke of the “CNN effect,” which described world leaders’ acknowledgement of CNN’s importance and their shaping of events in order to appear in a more positive light on the network. The success of CNN led to the creation of the twenty-fourhour news cycle, as viewers became accustomed to watching news coverage at any hour, rather than just during the networks’ traditional evening newscasts. CNN scored its highest ratings with its live coverage of breaking events like the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), and the O. J. Simpson (1947–; see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) murder trial (1995). Critics complained that CNN spent too much of its time and resources on these live, continuing stories solely to attract a mass audience. By the late 1990s, CNN faced increased competition from other cable-news networks like MSNBC and Fox News, as Americans increasingly wanted their news on demand. CNN’s commitment to constant, global news coverage has changed how Americans and citizens all over the world both receive and respond to the news. —Charles Coletta

For More Information 1180

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CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com (accessed April 3, 2002). Diamond, Edwin. The Media Show: The Changing Face of the News, 1985–1990. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991.

The Cosby Show Until The Cosby Show (1984–92) came to television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), the relatively few sitcoms (situation comedies; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) featuring all–African American casts highlighted characters who were working-class or who were struggling to make it in inner-city America. But The Cosby Show was something else altogether. The Huxtable clan, the show’s centerpiece family, was headed by a father, Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable (played by Bill Cosby, 1937–), who was an obstetrician, and a mother, Clair (Phylicia Rashad, 1948–), who was a legal-aid attorney. Both parents were strict but fair disciplinarians and positive role models for their five children, who at the show’s outset ranged in age from five years to young adulthood. Most important of all, the Huxtables were comfortably upper-middle-class. They reflected the reality that all African Americans were not undereducated and uncultured. They used correct English grammar. They were not on welfare or employed in dead-end professions. They did not all come of age in single-parent households. The Cosby Show, which aired on NBC, was TV’s top-rated program for most of its run. The most established African American–oriented sitcom before The Cosby Show was Amos ’n’ Andy (1951–53), which was based on a long-running radio series (1928–1955). Amos ’n’ Andy focused not on the title characters but on a buffoonish con man named George Stevens, who always was scheming to make a fast buck. Other pre–Cosby Show African American TV comedies included Good Times (1974–79), about a low-income family living in the South Side Chicago ghetto (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), and Sanford and Son (1972–77), spotlighting the antics of a junkman and his offspring. George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, 1938–), on The Jeffersons (1975–85), may have been upwardly mobile; he had transformed a modest dry-cleaning business into a chain of stores. Yet he was loud and uncouth and was as small-minded as any white bigot.

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Flournoy, Don, and Robert Stewart. CNN: Making News in the Global Market. Luton, UK: University of Luton, 1997. Stark, Steven. Glued to the Set. New York: The Free Press, 1997. Whittemore, Hank. CNN: The Inside Story. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990.

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The Cosby Show The cast of The Cosby Show, whose success paved the way for other African American sitcoms: (clockwise from upper left) Lisa Bonet, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Phylicia Rashad, Sabrina LeBeauf, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bill Cosby, and Keshia Knight Pulliam. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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As it portrayed a rock-solid family unit in which the parents prevailed in their wisdom, The Cosby Show had more in common which such classic 1950s sitcoms as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–66; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and Father Knows Best (1954–63), both of which featured middle-class white families. While The Cosby Show Huxtables were a part of the American mainstream, in no way were they ignorant of their roots. Through the course of the series, all the Cosby kids were shown to be well aware of the sacrifices of their predecessors, who had fought for and won civil rights for African Americans. Eldest daughter Sondra

Dallas

eventually married and delivered twins, who were named for Nelson Mandela (1918–), the South African who fought against his country’s racist apartheid policies and who eventually became his country’s president, and his then-wife Winnie Mandela (1936–). At the same time, because the situations presented on The Cosby Show were familiar to anyone attempting to sustain a marriage and raise children, the show appealed to audiences of all races and economic backgrounds. Indeed, the child-rearing philosophies explored on The Cosby Show reflected Cosby’s knowledge of current theories of education in the United States. Cosby earned a doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s. For most of his career, Bill Cosby has been a groundbreaking entertainer. After starting out as a nightclub comedian, he became one of the first African Americans to have a starring or costarring role on an American television series, playing secret agent Alexander Scott on I Spy (1965–68). Three times he earned Emmy Awards as Best Actor in a Drama Series. After appearing in several short-lived programs—The Bill Cosby Show (1969–71), The New Bill Cosby Show (1972–73), and Cos (1976)—he created The Cosby Show. Since then, Cosby has appeared in The Cosby Mysteries (1994–95) and Cosby (1996–2000). He is also well known for his educational programming, including the beloved cartoon Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids, and for his appearances in Jell-O (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1) pudding commercials. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Adler, Bill. The Cosby Wit: His Life and Humor. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1986. BillCosby.com: The Unofficial Fan Site. http://www.billcosby.com/ (accessed April 3, 2002). Cosby, Bill. Cosbyology: Essays and Observations from the Doctor of Comedy. New York: Hyperion, 2001. Cosby, Bill. Fatherhood. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986. Cosby, Bill. Time Flies. New York: Doubleday, 1987. Latham, Caroline. Bill Cosby: For Real. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1985. Smith, Ronald L. Cosby. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986.

Dallas In 1978, the prime-time soap opera Dallas (1978–91) premiered and soon became one of the most watched and discussed

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programs in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. The series revolved around the Ewings, a fabulously wealthy family whose fortune came from oil. For more than a decade, audiences tuned in to view the clan’s many excesses and their exploits in both the boardroom and the bedroom. Dallas popularized the serial format of daytime soap operas (see entry under 1930s—TV and Radio in volume 2) with the prime-time audience. The show relied on melodramatic plots and seasonending cliffhangers to captivate viewers.

Larry Hagman starred as J. R. Ewing, a backstabbing oil tycoon, in the television series Dallas. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Larger-than-life characters who constantly battled to control the Texas oil industry, wore designer fashions, faced intense personal tragedies, and were interested in sex populated Dallas. Many of the stories occurred at Southfork, the Ewings’ huge ranch where the family all lived despite their rivalries. The cast was large and provided each episode with a number of steamy subplots. However, the most important character was J. R. (Larry Hagman, 1931–), the eldest Ewing son, whose sleazy personal behavior and backstabbing business ethics made him the man America loved to hate. He reveled in his unscrupulous practices and was featured on the cover of Time (see entry under 1920— Print Culture in volume 2), which called him a “human oil slick.” J. R.’s corrupt nature often caused him to clash with his youngest brother, Bobby (Patrick Duffy, 1949–), who was known for his morals and integrity. In 1980, one of the mostwatched episodes in TV history answered the cliffhanger question, “Who Shot J. R.?” Attempting to deduce the identity of the assailant became a popular culture phenomenon. Viewers eventually discovered the shooter was Kristin, J. R.’s sister-in-law, whom he had framed for prostitution. Dallas was a success throughout the world. Some critics stated its popularity was due to the viewers’ desire to see that even the wealthiest individuals could lead lives more miserable than that of the average citizen. Others believed the program reflected the 1980s’ emphasis on greed. Dallas inspired a number of similar programs like Knots Landing (1978–93), Dynasty

—Charles Coletta

For More Information Corliss, Richard. “TV’s Dallas: Whodunit?” Time (August 11, 1980): pp. 60–66. Liebes, Tamar, and Elihu Katz. The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of Dallas. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Marschall, Rick. History of Television. New York: Gallery Books, 1987. Return to Southfork. http://www.returntosouthfork.com/ (accessed April 3, 2002). Stark, Steven. Glued to the Set. New York: The Free Press, 1997. Ultimate Dallas. http://www.UltimateDallas.Com (accessed April 3, 2002). Van Wormer, Laura. Dallas. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985.

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(1981–89), and Falcon Crest (1981–90). All these shows glorified big business and conspicuous consumption (buying pricey items to show off wealth). Although the series ended in 1991, the cast later reunited for several TV movies, in which the Ewings still lived in luxury and J. R. continued to scheme.

David Letterman (1947–) David Letterman revitalized television’s late-night talk-show format beginning in the 1980s. His irreverent and ironic humor, sometimes abrasive celebrity interviews, and wild antics won Letterman the reputation as one of TV’s most popular and innovative personalities. Born in Indiana, Letterman idolized Johnny Carson (1925–; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) and dreamed of being a broadcaster from childhood. In 1975, he moved to Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian and comedy writer. NBC offered Letterman a late-night show in the 12:30 A.M. time slot. Late Night with David Letterman (1982–93) was a perfect showcase for its host’s offbeat wit. Letterman continued the traditional talk-show format of a monologue (an opening series of jokes), followed by celebrity interviews. He also added an edgy sensibility to the traditional format. Audiences could expect all sorts of unusual activity on the show. He often tangled with guests, participated in outrageous stunts, and developed a series of routines like the Top Ten Lists and Stupid Pet Tricks that kept audiences glued to the set. Disappointed over losing out to Jay Leno (1950–) as successor to Carson when he retired in 1992, Letterman moved to CBS

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in 1993. He has remained a strong television presence into the twenty-first century. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Carter, Bill. The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night. New York: Hyperion Books, 1994. “Late Show with David Letterman.” cbs.com. http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/ (accessed April 3, 2002). Lennon, Rosemarie. David Letterman: On Stage and Off. New York: Windsor Publishing, 1994.

Miami Vice

Comedian and talk show host David Letterman has won acclaim for his late-night talk shows. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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The popular one-hour police drama Miami Vice aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. Miami Vice combined elements from traditional “cop shows” with an emphasis on high fashion, exotic locations, and music-video sequences. The show depicted an interracial pair of detectives who battled the narcotics trade in southern Florida. The series starred Don Johnson (1949–) and Philip Michael Thomas (1949–) as undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Miami’s glamorous beaches and resorts were contrasted with the city’s underbelly of corruption, violence, and tragedy that resulted from drug trafficking. Miami Vice was the brainchild of NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff (1949–1997), who envisioned a show about “MTV cops.” Michael Mann (1943–) executed Tartikoff’s idea and crafted a series where style was more important than substance. The detectives’ clothing, cars, and romances were more important than the standard “cops and robbers” plots. The series was filmed on location in Miami and made expert use of the city’s unique architecture, geography, and Latin flavor. Johnson emerged as a sex symbol and sparked a casual-chic fashion trend. It became common to see men who, like Johnson on the show, wore expensive Italian sports jackets over T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) along with baggy linen

By the third season, ratings fell as viewers grew tired of the Miami Vice fad. Producer Mann attempted to recapture the public’s attention by abandoning the pastel color scheme for darker tones that reflected more intense plotlines. These surface changes were unsuccessful, and Crockett and Tubbs left the air in 1989. Miami Vice is now recalled as a cultural artifact showcasing what was most hip and trendy in 1980s America.

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slacks and slip-on shoes without socks. Johnson’s perpetual five o’clock shadow became his trademark and was copied by many men during the mid-1980s. Miami Vice also helped Miami reclaim its title as a playground for the rich and famous.

—Charles Coletta

For More Information Benedek, Emily. “Inside Miami Vice.” Rolling Stone (March 28, 1985): pp. 56–62, 125. Buxton, David. From The Avengers to Miami Vice: Form and Ideology in the Television Series. New York: Manchester University Press, 1990. Feuer, Jane. Seeing Through the Eighties: Television and Reaganism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995. Miami Vice Chronicles. http://www.wildhorse.com/MiamiVice/ (accessed April 3, 2002). Miami-Vice.org. http://www.miami-vice.org/ (accessed April 3, 2002).

Roseanne During its ten-year run during the late 1980s and 1990s, the television sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) Roseanne consistently pushed the boundaries of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), both in its portrayal of working-class characters and in its discussion of previously taboo subjects such as sex and class. Based on the personality and stand-up comedy act of Roseanne Barr (1952–; also known as Roseanne Arnold, and then simply Roseanne), the show centered around Roseanne and her blue-collar family, the Conners, with John Goodman (1952–) as her husband Dan. Roseanne’s wise-cracking and often biting humor, and the interplay between her and her family, seemed very real to the show’s many viewers. The show earned top ratings in the early 1990s. The Conners’s lives in the fictional midwestern town of Lanford were often beset by hard times, and their economic

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problems provided the backdrop for the social commentary that came from the show. Unlike previous shows that had often made fun of blue-collar workers, Roseanne celebrated them even as it refused to gloss over the hardships of their lives. The show took on large social issues such as how economic recessions hurt ordinary working people, the unwillingness of politicians to deal with their problems, sexism and gender inequalities, unionization, and corporate power. Even more powerful were personal issues such as sex, birth control, abortion, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, and drug use, all of which were discussed on the show. The show’s willingness to tackle these complex issues helped open them up to wider discussion in society. The political and social commentary on Roseanne was in marked contrast to other family-comedy sitcoms of the time such as The Cosby Show (1984–92; see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) and Family Ties (1982–1989). It also brought back some of the elements of more political sitcoms such as All in the Family (1971–79; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) that had largely been missing from prime-time comedy sitcoms. These social and political issues would not have gone very far were it not for the quality writing and acting in the series. Not surprisingly, when good comedy centered around realistic family lives and issues, viewers responded, making the series one of the most popular and important shows in the 1980s and 1990s. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Barr, Roseanne. Stand Up! My Life as a Woman. New York: Harper and Row, 1989. Mayerle, Judine. “Roseanne: How Did You Get Inside My House?: A Case Study of a Hit Blue-Collar Situation Comedy.” Journal of Popular Culture (Vol. 24, no. 4, 1991): pp. 71–88. The Roseanne Site. http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/marknute/roseannesite. html (accessed April 3, 2002). Watson, Mary Ann. Defining Visions: Television and the American Experience Since 1945. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace, 1998.

Shock Radio

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Shock radio describes an aggressive kind of radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) programming that first gained popularity during the 1980s. Usually hosted by out-

spoken disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) with strong personalities and strong opinions, the aim of shock radio is to surprise audiences by using language, opinion, and humor that many find offensive. “Shock jocks,” as the hosts of these programs are called, often find themselves in trouble with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) for their coarse language and offcolor jokes. However, some audiences, especially white men between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four, find their raunchy humor irreverent and refreshing. Regular listeners tune in to hear the latest outrageous joke. Many people see shock radio as a reaction to the political activity and awareness of the 1960s and 1970s. During that time, many people, especially political liberals, became sensitive to the effect of racial slurs and demeaning ethnic jokes. As a result, they tried to change their language and humor to make them less offensive. This political correctness (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), as it came to be called, was irritating to many, especially conservative white men, who felt that it limited their freedom of speech. Listening to radio shock jocks tell sexual, racial, and ethnic jokes allowed audiences to laugh once again at forbidden topics.

Shock radio talk show host Howard Stern walks a thin line between being outspoken and offensive. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

One of the first and most famous shock jocks is New Yorker Howard Stern (1954–). Stern began his radio career in 1976, but he did not develop his shock-jock persona until 1981 when he worked for a Washington, D.C., radio station. His crude and insulting humor was so successful that he was soon earning $200,000 per year at New York’s WNBC, and his show was sold to radio stations around the country. Dozens of other shock jocks have followed Stern, including Don Imus (1940–) in New York, Drew and Mike (Drew Lane and Mike Clark) in Detroit, and Doug Tracht (1950–; known as the Greaseman) in Washington, D.C., though none to the extremes that Stern has typically gone. Although shock jocks usually laugh off public criticism of their outrageous approach to entertainment, some have been punished for going too far. During his career, Stern and his

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radio station have been charged almost $3 million in fines by the FCC for indecency. In 1999, Tracht was fired from his job for making a racist joke about a hate crime in which a black man was killed. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Ahrens, Frank. “Don Imus, The Shock Jock We Hate to Love.” Washington Post (May 26, 2000): p. C1. Kunen, James S. “Howard Stern: New York’s Mad-Dog Deejay May Be the Mouth of the ’80s; He’s Leader of the Pack That’s Made Radio Raunchy.” People Weekly (October 22, 1984): pp. 110–14. Kurtz, Howard. Hot Air: All Talk, All the Time. New York: Times Books, 1996. Zolgin, Richard. “Shock Jock.” Time (November 30, 1992): pp. 72–74.

The Simpsons Cartoonist Matt Groening (1954–) created the Simpsons family in 1986, during which they appeared in short segments of the FOX television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) network’s The Tracy Ullman Show (1987–90). The characters’ popularity quickly grew. In 1989, they got their own half-hour weekly TV series, The Simpsons. In addition to being the longest running animated TV show in history, The Simpsons is notable for providing some of the funniest criticism of American life and culture ever made. The show’s title family is a traditional situation comedy, or sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) family. Homer, the oafish dad, works at a nuclear power plant. Marge is a doting housewife. Bart is a devilish third grader; Lisa, the second-grade middle child, favors reading and vegetarianism over television and bacon; and Maggie, the speechless infant, constantly sucks on her “Neglecto”-brand pacifier. The characters are crudely drawn, with strange hair (especially Marge’s very tall and blue bouffant hairdo) and bright yellow skin. The show is a cartoon, but its humor appeals to both children and adults. While much of what happens is exaggerated, viewers cannot help but recognize kernels of truth in the actions of the show’s various characters. 1190

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The show’s animated format allows it to avoid the conventions of reality. The characters take all kinds of punishment and

remain standing, and the show abounds with sly visual jokes. For example, in one episode Bart goes to France as a foreignexchange student. As he gets off the plane, he immediately walks through a series of famous impressionist paintings, none of which he recognizes, though the audience is sure to. Furthermore, the show frequently incorporates events from past and contemporary popular culture into its storylines. Take, for instance, the mayor of Springfield, Joe Quimby, a corrupt politician who drinks and womanizes and whose face and Boston accent suggest a parallel with the famous Kennedys.

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The plots of popular films of all eras—including such movies as Citizen Kane (1941; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), The Graduate (1967; see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), and Cape Fear (1991)—are also often parodied. The debate over the effects of television violence on children is frequently alluded to in episodes of Itchy and Scratchy, an unbelievably violent cartoon that Bart and Lisa adore and watch religiously. While the show makes fun of popular culture, it also makes fun of itself. The FOX network, which has struggled to gain the respectability of its older, more established competitors (ABC, CBS, and NBC), is frequently mocked for the poor quality of its shows. Another popular character is Krusty the Klown, Bart’s hero and the star of his favorite TV show, The Krusty the Klown Show. Krusty has allowed the licensing of his name for just about any product imaginable, from Krusty Alarm Clocks to Krusty Brand Bacon. Similarly, in real life, The Simpsons name has been used to sell countless products, from video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4) and books to compact discs (CDs; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) and coffee (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) cups. The characters on The Simpsons have pervaded American popular culture. Almost every American recognizes the images of Homer or Bart Simpson. (Homer’s famous exclamation—“D’oh!”— recently was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary defines it as a word “expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish.”) The main characters are widely recognized, and so too are many of the colorful group who make up the show’s stock troupe: Barney, Homer’s alcoholic best friend; Moe, the seedy barkeep of Homer’s favorite bar, Moe’s Tavern; Mr. Burns, the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant; Smithers, his devoted assistant (and one of the few gay characters regularly appearing on network television); Apu, the Indian who owns the local Kwik-E-Mart; Ned Flanders, the Simpson’s pious next-door neighbor; and Bart’s archenemies Sideshow Bob and Principal Skinner are just a few of the recurring characters widely loved by the show’s devoted fans.

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The Simpsons appeals to Americans because many Americans see themselves in the show. The Simpsons are a family with problems. They do not communicate with each other well, and they trample on each other’s feelings. They inadvertently betray each other’s trust. They struggle to make ends meet financially, and television plays far too big a role in their lives. But through

—Robert C. Sickels

Talk Radio

all their wacky adventures, they truly love one another and try their best to do the right thing. The Simpsons is a cartoon full of the entertaining and the fantastical that every week still manages to reveal a little bit of truth about American family life.

For More Information Groening, Matt. Matt Groening’s Cartooning with the Simpsons. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. Groening, Matt, Ray Richmond, and Antonia Coffman, eds. The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. New York: Harper Perennial, 1997. Irwin, William, Mark T. Conrad, and Aeon J. Skoble, eds. The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer. Chicago: Open Court, 2001. The Simpsons. http://www.thesimpsons.com (accessed April 3, 2002. The Simpsons Archive. http://www.snpp.com/ (accessed April 3, 2002. The Simpsons Channel. http://www.simpsonschannel.com/ (accessed April 3, 2002.

Talk Radio Talk Radio is a lively radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) format that features a host who takes calls on the air from listeners. Usually, the shows are politically oriented. The shows may include news and commentary from the host. Many—although not all—talk radio hosts are politically conservative. Their influence has helped empower many of their listeners, who have traditionally felt left out of the political process and believe the national media are liberally slanted. Talk radio has made a substantial impact in national and local politics. Hosts such as Rush Limbaugh (c. 1951–) can urge his fifteen million listeners (per week) to vote for certain politicians and support (or condemn) various causes. Talk radio also encompasses “shock jocks” such as Howard Stern (1954–), as well as relationship advice from people such as Dr. Joy Browne (1944–; over five million listeners) and Dr. Laura Schlessinger (1947–; over thirteen million listeners) in the 1990s. “Loveline” with Dr. Drew Pinsky (1958–) and Adam Corolla (1964–) was so popular among teens and spoke to their lives so directly that it became a television show on MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5). Although there had been talk-radio stations as early as the 1930s, the popularity of talk radio exploded in the late 1980s

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and 1990s. The watershed event was the end of the Fairness Doctrine, a rule enacted by Congress in 1947 that forced radio stations to air a balanced spectrum of views in their programming. Once the Fairness Doctrine was dropped by the White House in 1987, there was a huge leap in the number of talkradio programs. In 1980, there were a mere 75 radio stations with a talk format in the United States. By 1998, the number had grown to 1,350 stations. Controversy is the very lifeblood of talk radio, and the hosts themselves often generate it. Schlessinger, for instance, sparked a firestorm of protest after she said in 2000 that homosexuality was “deviant” behavior. Talk radio will probably thrive as long as people feel passionately about political and social issues. Neither the profusion of chat rooms on the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) nor the (improbable) reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine is likely to have much effect on the popularity of such a compelling forum for public expression. —Karl Rahder

For More Information Fineman, Howard. “The Power of Talk.” Newsweek (February 8, 1993): pp. 24–28. Gesell-Streeter, Carla. “Talk Radio History.” RadioTalk. http://www. radiotalk.org/history.html (accessed April 3, 2002). Gini, Graham Scott. Can We Talk? The Power and Influence of Talk Shows. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 1996. Munson, Wayne. All Talk: The Talkshow in Media Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. Sterling, Christopher H., and John M. Kittross. Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting. 2d ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990. “The Talk Radio Research Project.” Talkers Magazine Online. http://www. talkers.com/talkaud.html (accessed April 3, 2002).

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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were one of the pop-culture rages of the 1980s and early 1990s. With their origins in a little-known comic strip, the Ninja Turtles gained mass popularity as a television Saturday morning cartoon (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) series. The characters then appeared in movies and video games (see entry under 1970s—

Sports and Games in volume 4) and as popular toys. The key to the Turtles’ success was their funky combination of muscle-bound heroism and downright goofiness. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in 1984 as a black-and-white comic strip coauthored by Kevin Eastman (1962–) and Peter Laird (1954–). According to the story the pair devised, the Turtles were born when a load of “mutanagenic” material spilled onto a quartet of pet turtles, giving them super powers. The Turtles—named Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello, after the famous artists—were soon befriended by a mutant rat named Splinter who was a master of the Japanese Ninja martial arts (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). Splinter taught the Turtles to be Ninjas. The team battled the forces of evil, especially the evil Ninja, Shredder. The comic strip soon became a cult favorite, known for the Turtles’ hip, rebellious attitude. The popular comic was converted to a syndicated television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) cartoon series (that is, the series was sold to independent TV stations) in 1987. In the cartoon series, the Turtles were made more muscular and were given traits that would make them funny to children: Michaelangelo, for example, frequently said, “Dude,” and loved to party. The show was immensely popular and, soon, the Turtles were everywhere. The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie came out in 1990. The TV series became a Saturday morning hit on CBS, where it aired until 1997. Two more movies came out in 1991 and 1993. The merchandise followed close behind: toys, lunchboxes, hats, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and so on—all bore the Turtles’ images, and kids purchased them by the truckload. By the late 1990s, the Turtles’ popularity had faded, but the ten-year endurance of these unlikely “heroes” makes them one of the youth-culture sensations of the era. —Tom Pendergast

Raphael, one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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For More Information Perez, Michael E. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. http://www.mikeystmnt. com (accessed April 3, 2002). Robie, Joan Hake. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Exposed! Lancaster, PA: Starburst, 1991. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. http://www.ninjaturtles.com (accessed April 3, 2002). “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland. com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1302.php (accessed April 3, 2002). Wiater, Stan. The Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Treasury. New York: Villard Books, 1991.

1980s The Way We Lived The stereotypical American in the 1980s was the “yuppie,” a nickname for the “young urban professional,” a person between twenty-five and thirty-nine years old whose job in management or a profession gave them an income of more than $40,000 a year. The term yuppie described more than an age and an income level; it described a lifestyle as well. Yuppies spent money freely. They sought out material goods as a way of demonstrating to their world that they had made it. Yuppies drove BMW cars or the newly popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs). They wore Ralph Lauren clothes and Rolex watches, and they drank Perrier water. If they lived in the city and thought that laws did not apply to them, they may have snorted cocaine, the drug of choice among the well-to-do. Yuppies were the product of an expanding economy, and of a generation of Americans, known as “baby boomers,” who were settling into middle age. Although yuppies attracted a great deal of attention in the press as symbols of the rising economy promoted by the Reagan administration (1981–89), they were not a majority. At most, there were only twenty million yuppies in America. Politicians explained that the rising prosperity enjoyed by the wealthy would benefit all Americans. The expanding economy, they said, was a “rising tide” that would “lift all boats.” The tax cuts going to the rich would “trickle down” to less wealthy Americans. But many Americans were excluded from the decade’s prosperity. Incomes among African Americans did not rise in step with those of white Americans. In America’s inner cities, poverty remained a real problem. In many cities, youths joined gangs, which offered protection and a sense of belonging. Especially around Los Angeles, California, these gangs became increasingly violent. Their activities were portrayed in a number of movies late in the decade, including Colors (1988). Homelessness also became a serious social issue in many American cities. Many white Americans also felt distanced from the yuppie lifestyles. Conservative Christians became increasingly organized

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during the decade, thanks to the political support of the Reagan administration. Jerry Falwell (1933–) formed a group he called the Moral Majority to present fundamentalist Christian issues, and televangelists preached over the television to millions. A much smaller group of young white Americans organized into groups that protested against the gains made by blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups. These “skinheads,” as they were known, sometimes violently attacked minorities. The 1980s was a decade of social extremes. Yuppies, Christians, and skinheads all laid claim to media attention, and all had a great influence on American popular culture.

AIDS The medical condition known as AIDS—the acronym for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome—has been called the modern equivalent of the plague. In the United States, the dreaded condition has had its greatest impact on gay men and on intravenous drug users (those who shoot drugs into their veins with a hypodermic needle). AIDS suppresses the individual’s immune system, leaving them open to an array of diseases. First identified in 1981, the disease spread quickly. By 1996, AIDS was the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. By 2001, there had been 793,026 cases reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In Africa, where AIDS is primarily spread by heterosexuals, AIDS has decimated the populations of several poor countries and is a leading cause of death. Although the death rate from AIDS-related diseases in the United States has shrunken considerably thanks to prevention and breakthroughs in treatment, AIDS remains a major health concern.

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AIDS first appeared amid the gay male populations of San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles in 1981. It has long been characterized as a “gay” disease. From the beginning, fighting AIDS has been a rallying cause for gay activists, who have helped make prevention (especially the battle against “unprotected” sex), medical care for victims, and research into a cure major health issues—despite the difficulty of obtaining funding from the conservative administrations of Ronald Reagan (1911–; in office 1981–89) and George Bush (1924–; in office 1989–93).

One of the unlikely side effects of the AIDS epidemic was a heightened profile for gays and lesbians in all areas of American life. Gay and lesbian groups banded together to combat AIDS, and their outspoken efforts drew attention—and respect—to their cause. Artists, writers, and filmmakers soon used AIDS as a source of inspiration. Angels in America (1992) by Tony Kushner (c. 1957–) was a highly successful Broadway (see entry under 1900s— Film and Theater in volume 1) play that dealt with AIDS. Philadelphia (1993) was the most high profile of several AIDSthemed movies in the 1980s and 1990s; its star, Tom Hanks (1956–), won an Oscar for his portrayal of an AIDS-infected attorney. The most high profile of all the AIDSrelated cultural events, however, was the creation of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The quilt was begun in 1987 as a memorial to loved ones who had died as a result of AIDS. Each quilt section measured 3 feet by 6 feet—the size of a human grave. By 1998, the forty-two thousand quilt panels commemorated the deaths of more than eighty thousand people. The quilt stands as a memorial to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and to the immense impact that AIDS has had on the gay community and their families in the United States. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information AIDS History Center. http://www.aidshistory. org (accessed April 3, 2002). The AIDS Memorial Quilt. http://www.aidsquilt.org (accessed April 3, 2002). Centers for Disease Control. Division of HIV/ AIDS Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/ dhap.htm (accessed April 3, 2002). Giblin, James Cross. When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.

Patches of the AIDS quilt cover almost every section of grass at the Mall in Washington D.C. Photograph by Paul Margolies. Reproduced by permission.

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McPhee, Andrew T. AIDS. New York: Franklin Watts, 2000. Silverstein, Alvin, Virginia Silverstein, and Laura Silverstein Nunn. AIDS: An All-About Guide for Young Adults. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999. White, Katherine. Everything You Need to Know about AIDS and HIV. New York: Rosen, 2001.

Cabbage Patch Kids During the mid-1980s, Cabbage Patch–mania swept across America. Cabbage Patch Kids are homely but cuddly, sixteeninch-long baby and toddler dolls, yarn-haired and made of soft material. Unlike most other toys, each one is “humanized” and “individualized.” Each Kid has its very own first and middle name, as well as a unique combination of hairstyle, hair coloring, clothing, skin tone, and facial characteristics, all the way down to the placement of freckles. Some have pacifiers, and each comes complete with birth certificate and adoption papers. At the height of their popularity, Cabbage Patch Kids were the toys of choice for millions of children, whose parents went to extreme lengths to obtain them. During the 1983 Christmas season, the toys, whose retail price was $25, were selling for up to $2,000! Cabbage Patch Kids came into being as Little People dolls, custom-made toys that were “born” in a cabbage patch. They were created by Xavier Roberts (1955–), a Georgia art student who first designed them in 1976 and sold them at arts-andcrafts fairs. The Little People were so popular that, two years later, Roberts formed his own company, Original Appalachian Artworks, to produce the dolls. He purchased an old house, which he christened BabyLand General Hospital, from which his dolls were “born.” They were hand-stitched and handsigned on their rear ends. Roberts soon began calling them Cabbage Patch Kids because the original name sounded too general. In the early 1980s, he signed a licensing deal with Coleco Industries, a toy manufacturer. One major difference between Roberts’s dolls and those produced by Coleco: the heads of the originals were made of cloth, while the toy manufacturer produced them using vinyl. The uniqueness of the dolls resulted in children treating them as real family members.

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During their first nine months on the mass market, Coleco took in over $6 million in Cabbage Patch Kid sales. By New

Cocaine A blue jeans–clad Cabbage Patch Kid, complete with birth certificate and adoption papers. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Year’s 1984, over three million had been sold. Across the decades, over eighty million dolls have been produced—and “adopted.” Additionally, there have been Cabbage Patch Doll variations, or “Specialty Kids.” Among them: Toddlers, Preemies, Sippin’ Kids, Splashin’ Kids, Snacktime Kids, and Pretty Crimp ’n’ Curl Kids. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Cabbage Patch Kids Home. http://www.cabbagepatchkids.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Hoffman, William. Fantasy: The Incredible Cabbage Patch Phenomenon. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1984. Roberts, Xavier. Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1988.

Cocaine Cocaine is one of the best known and most dangerous of the many illegal drugs that have been popular in the United States

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since the twentieth century. It is derived from the coca plant, which grows in some areas of Latin America. When ingested by humans, it usually produces feelings of great well-being, confidence, and mental clarity. The effect is short-lived, however, and the aftermath of cocaine use is often characterized by irritability, anxiety, paranoia—and the intense desire for more cocaine. The drug is habit-forming to many and addictive to some. The effects of its long-term abuse include nasal and sinus deterioration, brain damage, increased likelihood of strokes, and, in some cases, death. Some susceptible persons, like college basketball star Len Bias (1963–1986), can die as a result of their first experience with cocaine. Concentrated cocaine was first extracted from coca leaves around 1860. It soon appeared as an ingredient in a variety of foods, beverages, medicines, and personal-care products. A cocaine-laced wine called Vin Mariani was introduced in 1863 and proved very popular. Its consumers are believed to have included Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Thomas Edison (1847–1931), and at least one pope. Coca-Cola (see entry under 1900s—Food and Drink in volume 1) gets its name from the cocaine that was part of its original formula (which has long since been changed). Eventually, cocaine’s addictive properties and adverse health effects started to be noticed, and various states passed laws against it, beginning in 1887. At the same time, the drug began to develop a negative public image, often being associated in the press and in popular fiction with pimps, prostitutes, thieves, and racial minorities. In 1914, the federal government designated the drug a Class I Narcotic, which meant it was illegal except by prescription. Cocaine use began to decline in the 1920s, partly due to its illegality but also because of the ready supply of another stimulant—amphetamines. These were legal, cheap, and produced a “high” that some said was superior to cocaine. Cocaine’s decline continued until the 1960s, when amphetamines were also outlawed. The ban sent both drug abusers and drug dealers back to cocaine, which formed the basis for the cocaine problem that continues to plague the United States.

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That problem was made worse around 1980 when “crack” cocaine—known on the street as “rock”—was developed. Made by mixing cocaine with baby powder or a similar substance, crack is a paste that hardens easily. It can then be broken into

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small bits that are usually smoked in small glass pipes. Crack is substantially more powerful than powdered cocaine, producing a faster high and consequently a deeper let-down. It is thus ferociously addictive. Crack use has become a particularly serious concern in many of America’s inner cities. Its related social problems include domestic abuse and neglect, robbery and prostitution committed for drug money, and warfare between rival gangs (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) over the immense profits to be made from the crack trade. Popular-culture depictions of cocaine use have largely reflected the drug’s status in society. When cocaine was legal, many publications regularly carried advertisements for products that featured the drug as a major ingredient. But by the start of the twentieth century, shocking stories began to appear in magazines and novels about the horrible crimes committed by cocaine addicts. These accounts were often tainted with the racism common at the time, suggesting that blacks, in particular, were being turned into violent degenerates by cocaine use. New entertainment media quickly began to ring the anticocaine alarm. A 1928 silent film, The Pace That Kills, shows farm boy Eddie moving to the big city and being introduced to cocaine by his new girlfriend. They both become addicts and end up committing suicide. The exact same film was remade in 1935 as a “talkie.” This trend in negative depictions of cocaine use continued in the following decades, reaching a peak in the 1980s when cocaine became a popular recreational drug among some young urban professionals, known as yuppies (see entry under 1980s— The Way We Lived in volume 5). A series of popular novels depicted cocaine-related anxiety among the yuppie set, including Bright Lights, Big City (1984; filmed in 1988) by Jay McInerney (1955–), Less than Zero (1985; filmed in 1987) by Bret Easton Ellis (1964–), and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988) by Michael Chabon (1963–). Cocaine dealers were convenient villains in fiction and film. None was more depraved or evil than Tony Montana, the Cuban immigrant played by Al Pacino (1940–) in 1983’s Scarface, directed by Brian DePalma (1940–). In the 1990s, a conspiracy theory surfaced that the CIA had helped introduce crack into America’s ghettos to distract black Americans from agitating against racism and social injustice. Although endorsed by the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan (1933–), the theory remains unsubstantiated. It is true that penalties for the use of crack are harsher than those involving

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powdered cocaine, which is more likely to be abused by whites. The next decade saw several major films about cocaine, including the award-winning Traffic (2000) and Blow (2001), profiling George Jung, the modern era’s first major cocaine kingpin. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Erickson, Patricia G. The Steel Drug: Cocaine and Crack in Perspective. New York: Lexington Books, 1994. Flynn, John C. Cocaine: An In-Depth Look at the Facts, Science, History, and Future of the World’s Most Addictive Drug. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1991. Inciardi, James A., and Karen McElrath. The American Drug Scene: An Anthology. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publications, 1998. McFarland, Rhoda. Cocaine. New York: Rosen Group, 1997. Narcanon. Cocaine Facts. http://www.cocaineaddiction.com/cocaine. html (accessed April 4, 2002). Starks, Michael. Cocaine Fiends and Reefer Madness: An Illustrated History of Drugs in the Movies. New York: Cornwall Books, 1982. Washton, Arnold M., and Donna Boundy. Cocaine and Crack: What You Need to Know. Hillside, NJ: Enslow, 1989.

Gangs First brought to the forefront of American popular culture by the Jets and Sharks in the 1961 film West Side Story, gangs have long been a part of illegal activity around the world. From the Sicilian Mafia (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) to the Chinese Tongs to the outlaws of the American frontier, gangs have brought together criminals who joined in brotherhood for strength and protection.

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During the late 1940s and early 1950s, urban street gangs began to appear in the poor neighborhoods of many U.S. cities. These gangs were mostly made up of young men and women from harsh, underprivileged backgrounds who looked to fellow members for social support and physical protection. Gangs were often divided along ethnic lines. They formed to claim and protect territory from other ethnic groups and newly arriving immigrants. Gang membership in the 1950s did not always involve crime but almost always involved fighting and violence. Films like The Wild One (1954) and romantic actors like James Dean (1931–1955; see entry under 1950s—Film and Theater in volume 3) and Marlon Brando (1924–) gave these gangs a glamorous image, at least to middle-class American youth who were not involved in them.

Gangs Gang members show off some of their gang-related signs with their hands. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

Although gangs never entirely disappeared, they were overshadowed by the counterculture youth movement and radical politics of the late 1960s and 1970s. Gangs reemerged in the public awareness in the 1980s, with news reports about the Bloods and the Crips of Los Angeles, California. Early gangs had fought with chains, brass knuckles, and switchblades. These new gangs not only had much more advanced weaponry, they also developed strict organizations and very profitable businesses selling drugs. They also received abundant attention from the press. This attention resulted in both fear of the gangs and imitation of them.

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Meanwhile, gang activity kept increasing. Rising school dropout rates and the lack of jobs have both contributed to the rise of gang membership. In Los Angeles alone, the number of gangs increased from four hundred in 1985 to eight hundred in 1990. Films about gang activity like Colors (1988) and New Jack City (1991), along with popular “gangsta” rap (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) music glamorized gang life. Suburban middle-class teens who had little connection with gangs began to wear colors and styles identified with gang members. Although parents and school officials have tried to discourage gangs by outlawing these gang colors and styles, gangs have historically fulfilled real needs among underprivileged youth. Gangs will continue to exist until replaced by something more positive that fulfills their needs for self-esteem, protection, and a place to belong. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Alonso, A. A. Streetgangs.com. http://www.streetgangs.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Haskins, James. Street Gangs, Yesterday and Today. New York: Hastings House, 1977. Johnson, Julie. Why Do People Join Gangs? Austin, TX: Raintree SteckVaughn, 2001. Walker, Robert. Robert Walker’s Gangs OR Us. http://www.gangsorus. com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Yablonsky, Lewis. Gangsters: Fifty Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America. New York: New York University Press, 1997.

Generation X

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Douglas Coupland (1961–) coined the phrase “Generation X” in his 1991 novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. Born between 1961 and 1981, X-ers are the thirteenth generation since U.S. independence. They have been criticized as “slackers” and “latch-key kids” and described as the “MTV generation.” These terms of abuse have usually come from the prior generation, known as the “baby boomers” (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). Many in the babyboomer generation see themselves as responsible for advances in civil rights and sexual liberation. In addition, the baby boomers fought in and protested against the war in Vietnam (1954–75). The social situations in which baby boomers came of age are so historically memorable.

Generation X

The negative view of X-ers is far from accurate. Disgusted with traditional politics, in 2001 the “Thirteeners” stand at the forefront of campaigns to protect the environment and against globalization. Generally better educated than their parents, they have shown themselves to have a strong entrepreneurial streak. They cannot afford to be lazy, because most of them earn less in real terms than their parents did at the same age. Where both members of baby-boomer couples worked for a sense of personal fulfillment as much as for money, X-ers work because they have to. Growing up with civil unrest, high unemployment, and divorce (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), Generation X became disillusioned with politics, work, and family life. In Gen-X television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows such as Friends (1994–), ER (1994–), and Seinfeld (1990–98; see these entries under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5), friends take the place of family. Like many of his generation, The X-Files (1993–2002) character Fox Mulder wants to know what happened to his childhood. In music, Generation X enjoys a “decade-blending” mix of the mainstream and the alternative. MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) formed Generation X-ers’ tastes in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the anxiety-ridden sounds of Nirvana (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5), R.E.M., and rappers like Puff Daddy (1970–) and Dr. Dre (1965–) became the Thirteeners’ voice. With their characteristic ironic response, many typical X-ers might publicly scorn ABBA, Duran Duran, and the Eagles while secretly enjoying them. In 2001, the Thirteeners are beginning to make their mark in government, the media, business, and education. They have inherited huge national debts and crumbling welfare, education, and medical systems. If the media is to be believed, this will be a tough assignment for a generation brought up on junk TV, wall-to-wall advertising, and chemical-rich convenience foods. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Coupland, Douglas. Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. Gaslin, Glenn, and Rick Porter. The Complete, Cross-Referenced Guide to the Baby Buster Generation’s Collective Unconscious. New York: Boulevard, 1998. Howe, Neil, and Bill Strauss. 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? New York: Vintage Books, 1993.

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Minivans Minivans offer the cargo capacity of a small van or truck with the comfort, luxury, and driving ease of a car. Since their introduction in 1983, minivans have become an icon (symbol) of suburbia. The vehicles are identified with the responsibilities of parenthood—especially with the chauffeuring duties of the “soccer mom” who transports kids to after-school activities. The creation of the minivan goes back to the late 1970s, when Chrysler engineer Harold Sperlich (1929–) proposed a vehicle that had large interior space, a sliding side door, a flat floor, and removable seats. The vehicle had to be easy to drive and comfortable, like the family car, but with the utility of a van. The idea was to persuade station-wagon customers to buy an entirely new kind of vehicle. When the new “minivan” made its debut in 1983, it was an immediate hit. Chrysler had the new market all to itself and sold half a million Dodge and Plymouth minivans in the first year. The success of the minivan rescued the Chrysler Corporation, which was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at the time. The company’s turnaround and the exploits of Lee Iacocca (1924–), Chrysler’s colorful chairman, who oversaw the minivan’s development, have become legendary business stories. Since 1983, millions of minivans have been sold. Other manufacturers followed Chrysler’s lead with their own versions. By the mid1990s, every major car company offered minivans, such as the Toyota Sienna, the Pontiac Montana, and the Honda Odyssey. By the late-1990s, sales of sport utility vehicles (SUVs; see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) began to chip away at minivan sales. More people bought vehicles that looked like they belonged in the wilderness instead of at the mall (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) or the grocery store. By the new century, “crossover utility vehicles,” or CUVs, were also gaining popularity as affluent consumers wanted more fun and style. The smaller CUVs, such as the Ford Escape and the Chrysler PT Cruiser, stressed comfort and better gas mileage. —Karl Rahder

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Bradsher, Keith. “Was Freud a Minivan or S.U.V. Kind of Guy?” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/071700psych-auto. html (accessed March 30, 2002).

Brickman, Joanne. “Family Mover Mania.” Woman Motorist. http://www. womanmotorist.com/ftrs/jb-family-mover-01.shtml (accessed March 30, 2002). “A Brief History of the Minivan.” Allpar.com. http://www.allpar. com/model/m/history.html (accessed March, 2002). Evarts, Eric. C. “The New Family Car May Be a Truck.” Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/04/p15s1.htm (accessed March 30, 2002).

A Chrysler Dodge Caravan minivan. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Political Correctness The idea of “political correctness” has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s, an era of political activism when many people became aware of the political forces that shaped their lives. This awareness was expressed through social-change movements. The civil rights movement (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), fought against racial discrimination. The antiwar movement fought to end the Vietnam War (1954–75). The women’s liberation movement fought to improve the status of women. The gay liberation movement (see entry under

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1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) fought to end discrimination against gay people. The purpose of these liberal movements was to change the structure of society so that it would be more fair to all people. One goal of these movements was to keep people from using words and making assumptions that hurt or belittled people of minority groups. Society had been biased in favor of heterosexual (straight; not gay) white men, the movements’ supporters argued, and those who wished to make things more fair had to be careful about the language they used and the assumptions they made about people who were not part of the white, middle-class mainstream. Suspect words and assumptions, it soon became clear, were everywhere, from the common use of the word “man” to mean everyone, to the “flesh” colored crayon that was pinkish, not brown or tan, to the books most students were assigned to read in school that were largely written by white, European men—“dead white guys” to critics. By the 1980s, the term “politically correct,” or “PC,” was being used to describe the use of replacement terms, such as calling the original inhabitants of North America “Native Americans” rather than “Indians,” or using the word “disabled” rather than “crippled.” Such changes often reflect what the people within a group wish to be called, although sometimes knowing what that is can be quite difficult. The “correct” term for African Americans, for example, has varied over the decades from colored, to Negro, to Afro-American, to black or African American. There have always been some who have disliked each term. The overall aim of political correctness, however, is to avoid causing offense.

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Concerned liberals, especially on college campuses, made a crusade of political correctness from the mid-1980s onward, alarming some conservative people who view political correctness as censorship or as a challenge to their values. They portrayed those who practiced political correctness as ridiculous, uptight prudes who could not take a joke. Even among liberals, the practice of carefully examining language and assumptions had largely gone out of style by the mid-1990s. Soon, it was political incorrectness that was seen as cool and rebellious, while political correctness was ridiculed, as on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs like ABC’s popular Politically Incorrect (1993–). Each show sets up a panel of an unlikely combination of guests who, while talking about legitimate, serious subjects, will, hopefully, offend

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each other in amusing ways. No matter how political correctness is ridiculed, however, there can be no doubt that it helped eliminate the widespread use of negative racial, ethnic, and other slurs directed against minorities or subcultures. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Miller, Casey, Kate Swift, and Rosalie Maggio. “Liberating Language.” Ms. (September-October 1997): pp. 50–55. “Political Correctness.” Plastic. http://www.plastic.com/altculture/01/04/ 10/1826257.shtml (accessed April 4, 2002). Pollitt, Katha. “I’m O.K., You’re P.C.” The Nation (Vol. 266, no. 3, January 26, 1998): pp. 10–11. Weissberg, Robert. Political Tolerance: Balancing Community and Diversity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998. Wilson, John K. The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.

Prozac The drug Prozac was introduced in 1987. By 1990, psychiatrists in the United States prescribed Prozac more often than any other drug. Five years later, its maker, Eli Lilly and Co., reported sales of over $2 billion. Originally designed as an antidepressant, Prozac has since been used to combat obesity, shyness, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and even back pain. It improves mood, energy levels, optimism, and feelings of inadequacy. Not only has Prozac helped millions of people deal with their emotional and psychological problems, but it has changed their understanding of moods and personality. Prozac is one of a group of “designer” drugs known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). These drugs work by increasing levels of the chemical serotonin (seh-reh-TOE-nin) in the brain. Older antidepressants are less specific. They change the balance of a number of brain chemicals in the hope that one of them will have the desired effect. In theory, this makes Prozac much safer and easier to monitor. In the early 1990s, however, Prozac was linked with a number of disturbing events. There were reports of people becoming violent or suicidal for the first time while taking Prozac. Several lawsuits tried and failed to link SSRIs with gun massacres and other violent acts. In 2001, Prozac is generally considered a safe and useful drug therapy. The

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safety of the drug has allowed some people who are not clinically depressed to indulge in “cosmetic pharmacology.” In other words. they take Prozac simply to “improve” their personalities. Aside from its impact on psychiatry, during the 1990s, Prozac became a symbol of the “stressed-out” nature of American life. More than any other medicine, it is seen as a cure for the stresses and strains of modern life. Perhaps the most significant side effect of Prozac has been on society itself. Critics fear that the use of Prozac as cosmetic pharmacology devalues the suffering involved in real mental illness. More positively, the widespread use of Prozac may also make society more tolerant and open about mental-health problems. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Appleton, William S. Prozac and the New Antidepressants: What You Need to Know About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone, Vestra, Celexa, St. John’s Wort and Others. New York: Plume, 2000. Prozac.com. http://www.prozac.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Kramer, Peter. Listening to Prozac. New York: Viking, 1993. National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “Prozac.” NAMI: The Nation’s Voice on Mental Illness. http://www.nami.org/helpline/prozac.htm (accessed April 4, 2002). Wurtzel, Elizabeth. Prozac Nation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Road Rage “Road rage” is a term that was coined by journalists in the late 1980s to describe the angry and aggressive behavior that seemed to be occurring more and more among automobile drivers in the nation’s cities. By the mid-1990s, the term “road rage” appeared frequently in magazine articles, in newspaper headlines, and on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) talk shows. Some sources state confidently that road rage is on the rise and has become a major problem of modern life. Others claim that the concept of road rage is largely an invention of the media.

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Few people would argue that traffic became noticeably worse in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Highway systems (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) that were designed in the 1950s and 1960s and constructed in

Road Rage

the 1970s and 1980s are carrying far more traffic than civil engineers ever imagined. Many Americans live in suburbs (see entry under 1950s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) in which public transportation is scarce, and few will be parted from their cars even in cities that do have public transport systems. By the end of the 1990s, approximately 168 million licensed drivers owned 200 million motor vehicles in the United States. As these cars flood the freeways, traffic in many cities during rush hours frequently comes to a standstill. At the same time, improvements in computers and other technology has increased the speed and urgency of modern life. This sense of urgency, added to the stress of standing still in a traffic jam, increases drivers’ frustration. Many react with anger toward those who seem to be in their way. Road rage can range from screaming at other drivers, to making obscene or threatening gestures, to actual physical violence or even murder. Highway shootings are not uncommon, but the fear of being shot does not seem to prevent aggressive driving. There have been various responses to the problem of road rage. Some businesses have tried to profit from drivers’ fears by offering “road-rage protection,” special armoring of cars to protect them from the baseball bats and bullets of angry drivers. Psychologists specializing in road rage have Web sites and radio talk shows. Police in twenty-four states have set up special programs to stop aggressive driving behavior. Some newer cars have advanced computer systems that guide their drivers out of traffic jams onto more open roadways. However, some challenge the idea that road rage is a growing national phenomenon. These critics claim that aggressive driving has always been present on American highways, and that the media’s use of the catchy term “road rage” has invented an epidemic where none exists. They also claim that there have been no truly scientific studies about the increase in road rage, and that most of the public’s knowledge about it comes from exaggerated stories in the media. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Ferguson, Andrew. “Road Rage.” Time (January 12, 1998). Fumento, Michael. “‘Road Rage’ Versus Reality.” The Atlantic Monthly (August 1, 1998): pp. 12–15. James, Leon, and Diane Nahl. “Road Rage Overview.” Dr. Driving.org. http://www.aloha.net/~dyc/articles/rr.htm (accessed April 4, 2002).

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“Road Wars: Government Programs to Control Road Rage.” Current Events (Vol. 98, no. 17, February 5, 1999): pp. 1–5. Stewart, Doug. “We’re in a Jam: Easing the Nation’s Growing Traffic Congestion Has Experts All Backed Up.” Smithsonian (April 2001) pp. 36–40. Twitchell, James B. Preposterous Violence: Fables of Aggression in Modern Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Skinheads Skinheads are loosely organized groups of young people who identify themselves by shaving their heads, tattooing their bodies with symbols, and wearing militaristic black leather jackets and boots. Like punks, skinheads dress and adorn their bodies in outlandish ways to rebel against society. Within this rebellious uniform, skinheads have differing political opinions. There are antiracist skinheads and gay skinheads, but most skinheads are identified with neo-Nazi politics. The Nazi party first began in Germany in the late 1920s. It was the party of German leader Adolf Hitler (1889–1945). Its policies included the belief that white Christians were superior to other people and that the white race should improve itself by eliminating people unlike them, such as Jews, homosexuals, people of color, and people with disabilities. Many skinheads are modern Nazis, who believe in the racist policies of the Nazi party and act violently against those they think represent a threat to white superiority. Although they look and act tough and dress like working people, they are often the children of middle-class families.

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The skinhead movement began in Great Britain, when angry young men shaved their heads and launched violent attacks on the immigrants they claimed were taking their jobs. By the 1980s, there were skinheads in western and central Europe, in Russia, in Australia, and across the United States. Their number has continued to grow, especially in difficult economic times, when people often look for someone to blame for their financial hardship. During the economic recession of the 1980s, the number of U.S. skinheads grew from fewer than one hundred in 1985 to over five thousand by 1990. There are skinhead groups in Dallas, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Denver, Colorado; Portland, Oregon; and most other major U.S. cities. There are even a number of skinheads within the American

Skinheads have been convicted of many hate crimes, including the 1998 murder of a caretaker at a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada; the 2000 bombing of a Jewish synagogue in Reno, Nevada; and the 1998 death of a black U.S. Marine in Russia. Many anti-Nazi groups have arisen in countries in which skinheads are active to try to combat racist Nazi doctrine with education and protests. —Tina Gianoulis

Sport Utility Vehicles

armed forces, and they are often tolerated there unless they commit a crime.

For More Information Coplon, Jeff. “Skinhead Nation.” Rolling Stone (No. 540, December 1, 1988): pp. 54–63. David, Rod. “‘I’m a Nazi Until Death’: To the Ugly Question of Why Life Is Unfair, the Skinheads of Dallas Have an Uglier Answer.” Texas Monthly (Vol. 17, no. 2, February 1989): pp. 84–95. Kovaleski, Serge F. “American Skinheads: Fighting Minorities and Each Other; Non-Racist Factions Try to Counter Supremacists.” Washington Post (Vol. 119, January 16, 1996): p. A1. Moore, Jack. Skinheads Shaved for Battle: A Cultural History of American Skinheads. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993. Relin, David Oliver, Peter M. Jones, and Steven Manning. “Harvesting Young People’s Hate.” Scholastic Update (Vol. 121, no. 15, April 7, 1989): pp. 4–8. Van Biema, David, and David S. Jackson. “When White Makes Right.” Time (Vol. 142, no. 6, August 9, 1993): pp. 40–43. Voll, Daniel. “A Few Good Nazis.” Esquire (Vol. 125, no. 4, April 1996): pp. 102–12.

Sport Utility Vehicles Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are seen as safe, strong, and large enough to handle just about anything, from shopping trips to crossing the desert. SUVs have been an important part of the American car market since the end of World War II (1939–45), but the boom in SUV ownership really began in the 1980s, when baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3) with growing families chose the sportier look of these large vehicles over traditional family-carting minivans (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and station wagons.

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A 1993 Mitsubishi Montero fourdoor sport utility vehicle (SUV), showing its off-road capability. Hulton/Archive by Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

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The first SUVs were military-surplus Willys-Overland Jeeps (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). These crude four-wheel-drive vehicles were bought by farmers and outdoor types to carry everything from supplies to camping gear. Although the Jeep and International Harvester utility vehicles were popular with civilians since the 1940s, the first true SUV was the Ford Bronco, introduced in 1966. The success of the Bronco inspired other manufacturers to make big four-by-fours as well. Four-wheel-drive and large engines combine to make SUVs gas guzzlers, so it took the end of the 1970s oil crisis for SUV ownership to truly take hold. Because SUVs are classified as light trucks rather than passenger cars, they do not need to meet tough emissions standards. Consequently, they are not popular with environmentalists. SUVs are valued for their towing capacity and power, but their safety is also important to buyers. The sheer size of vehicles makes them much safer than smaller passenger cars in collisions. In fact, they inflict so much damage on smaller vehicles that insurers have raised liability rates on SUVs. Although first marketed to farmers and outdoor adventurers, by 2001 most

Despite their off-road and towing abilities, in 2001 most SUVs are sold as luxury cars. Soft leather upholstery has replaced wipe-clean vinyl, and thick carpeting covers the floors. Yet the names of these monster off-roaders still evoke images of rugged cross-country travel. Imports such as Toyota’s Landcruiser and the British Range Rover offer luxury in the wilderness. American-made SUVs include the Ford Bronco and Explorer, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the Chevy Blazer. Accounting for almost one in four cars sold in the United States at the end of the twentieth century, most never go further offroad than parking on the driveway.

Urban Legends

SUV drivers were suburban women who hauled children to and from sporting events and other activities.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information Friends of the Earth SUV Information Page. http://www.suv.org/index. html (accessed April 4, 2002). Jacobs, David H. Sport Utility Vehicles: The Off-Road Revolution. New York: Todtri Productions Ltd., 1998. KII Automotive Group. SUV Online. http://www.suv.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002).

Urban Legends An urban legend is a story, passed from person to person, about an event that is said to have really occurred. The story is phrased in believable terms, but the ending is usually horrifying, shocking, or humorous. By definition, urban legends are false—either completely made up or based on actual events but greatly exaggerated or distorted. The term “urban legend” has been in use only since the 1930s, but the phenomenon has probably existed as long as human society has existed. People tend to believe and to pass on stories that are reasonable, interesting, and make a point. Folklore experts who study urban legends say that the accounts usually come from a credible source (a friend, relative, or coworker), have a narrative form (a story with characters and a plot), and contain elements of humor, caution, or horror. One of the most common types of urban legends is the cautionary tale, like the account of a man who has a drink in a bar

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with a strange woman and wakes up in a hotel room, alone, missing one of his kidneys. Similar to this is the contamination story, such as the widely known myth about someone who bites into a piece of fast-food fried chicken, only to find a rat carcass underneath the breading. These kinds of stories are thinly disguised warnings. They tend to reflect the anxieties common in a society—fear of strangers, distrust of fast food (see entry under 1920s—Food and Drink in volume 2), concern about gang violence, and so on. Development of the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) has made the problem of urban legends worse, but it also offers a cure. Internet access allows anyone to pass an urban legend on very quickly to a large number of people, whether through a newsgroup, chat room, bulletin board, Web site, or via e-mail (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). Thus, a misleading story or a malicious rumor can spread widely and rapidly. However, the Internet also allows the development of Web sites that collect current urban legends and identify them as such. Several such sites exist, allowing anyone to check whether the latest “weird story” is fact or another urban legend. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Brunvald, Jan Harold. Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001. Craughwell, Thomas J. The Baby on the Car Roof and 222 More Urban Legends. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2000. Heimbaugh, Jason R. The AFU & Urban Legends Archive. http://www. urbanlegends.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Mikkelson, Barbara, and David P. Mikkelson. Urban Legends Reference Pages. http://www.snopes2.com/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Toropov, Brandon. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Legends. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2001. Urban Legends Research Centre. http://www.ulrc.com.au/ (accessed April 4, 2002). Williams, John. The Cost of Deception: The Seduction of Modern Myths and Urban Legends. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2001.

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If the 1960s were the decade of protest and civil rights, in the 1970s the counterculture generation entered the mainstream.

Yuppies

Much of fashion and design reflected wholesome, back-tonature values. Educated on radical campuses, young office workers wore their hair long. The stuffed-shirt image of the professional classes was lightened with brightly colored ties, wide lapels, and flared trousers. But in the 1980s came a backlash. Many of the middle-class young who came out of college in the late 1970s and early 1980s went into well-paid jobs in finance, the media, law, and property development. In the economic turmoil of the early Reagan presidency (1981–89), anyone who was young and ambitious could make a lot of money and make it fast. They became known as yuppies, which stood for young urban professionals. Their motto for life was “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Obsessed with their careers and their collections of gadgets, yuppies delayed marriage and children. Unlike their conservative parents, they borrowed heavily in order to buy the latest fashion accessory or status symbol. They lived in newly converted city loft apartments and drove expensive German cars. They wore watches from high-priced Swiss companies like Rolex and bought the latest in electronic wizardry, from compact disc (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) players to portable computers. Trading on snob value, yuppies began the trend for designer fashion labels that had become the norm by the 1990s. To the media, these wealthy young professionals were self-indulgent and self-centered. They were dubbed the “me” generation. The 1980s were compared with the 1920s as a decade of excess. Whereas The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) described the earlier era, the 1980s also had its literature. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney (1955–) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (see entry under 1980s—Print Culture in volume 5) by Tom Wolfe (1931–) are the key yuppie novels and guides to the “greed decade.” In most cases, the yuppie lifestyle was hardly a choice. Middle-class America as a whole benefited from the economic boom of the early Reagan era. Yuppies simply took advantage of their privileged position. As more and more women went into well-paid jobs, yuppie couples found themselves with a lot of money and plenty of ways to spend it. Childless yuppie couples became known as “dinks” or “dinkys,” because they had “dual incomes and no kids (yet)”. Those with children hired nannies, housekeepers, and other servants so they could keep up with their careers and partying lifestyle. Putting a child through the “right” school became as important as taking holidays in the “right” resorts.

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To get ahead in many companies, it was necessary to drive the “right” car, wear the “right” clothes, and go to the “right” parties. Many yuppies took drugs, but not the low-brow marijuana (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) of the counterculture. They used cocaine (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) and bought it from well-connected dealers who lived the yuppie lifestyle themselves. Cheap credit was useful for those who aspired to the yuppie lifestyle but did not have the income to match. The pressure to keep up appearances was intense, and many yuppies had breakdowns or suffered “burnout” at young ages. As the boom of the early 1980s ended, yuppies found themselves heavily in debt. Companies began to “downsize” and many white-collar workers were unemployed. Yuppies had to sell their expensive gadgets and toys in order to pay the bills. With the collapse of the stock and housing markets in 1987, many found the value of their assets was far less than the amount of their debts. Others were suffering, too, and yuppies got little sympathy from the rest of the population. “Yuppie” came to mean “young unhappy professional.” Rather unfairly, yuppies took the blame for the excess that led to the crash. By the early 1990s, many yuppies were fed up with their materialistic lifestyle. Some could afford to drop out of their well-paid jobs and move to the country to look for a simpler life. Others went to work for charities and environmental agencies. This became known as “downshifting.” Those who did it were known as “domos” or “downwardly mobile professionals.” The term “yuppie” was never exactly meant as a compliment, but in the twenty-first century it has no meaning except as an insult. Criticized for their lax morals and blamed for the crash of 1987, yuppies were snobbish, self-important, and slightly ridiculous. The yuppie moment has come and gone. The real reason for the death of the yuppie, however, is that in the early twenty-first century, conspicuous consumption—buying expensive items to show off wealth—has spread through most sectors of society. Designer labels, electronic toys, and consumer credit are widespread among all but the very poor. The rich still enjoy a lifestyle that old-time yuppies would recognize, but perhaps the truth is that in everyone’s aspirations at least, everyone is a yuppie now.

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—Chris Routledge

Gaslin, Glenn, and Rick Porter. The Complete Cross-Referenced Guide to the Baby Buster Generation’s Collective Unconscious. New York: Boulevard Books, 1998. Piesman, Marissa, and Marilee Hartley. Yuppie Handbook: The State-ofthe-Art Handbook for Young Urban Professionals. New York: Pocket Books, 1984.

Yuppies

For More Information

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1990s The Decade America Went Digital The United States faced several serious challenges as it entered the 1990s. On the one hand, the continued collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the United States was now the lone superpower in the world. America soon found out what that meant when Iraq invaded Kuwait. President George Bush (1924–) sent in American troops to restore Kuwait and to challenge the armies of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (1937–). Bush’s victory in the Gulf War (1991) brought him high approval ratings at home, but not high enough to override the mounting economic problems the country was facing. The American economy, which had seemed so healthy for much of the 1980s, had come under increasing strain late in the decade. This strain was due in part to the huge budget deficits created by the Reagan administration (1981–89). As the economy slipped into recession, President Bush was forced to take back a campaign pledge and raise taxes. In the presidential election of 1992, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton (1946–) hammered Bush on the economy. He had help from third-party candidate H. Ross Perot (1930–), a quirky millionaire who bought hours of television time to get out his message. When the election returns came in, Clinton won with just 43 percent of the vote. Clinton’s presidency was troubled from the outset. Republicans hated Clinton, and they used his slim margin of victory and the slight Democratic majority in Congress to challenge

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Phat: Something good or cool, this word was used by rappers but originated in the 1960s.

1990s At a Glance What We Said: “As if!”: An expression of disdain for an idea, as in “Britney Spears is cool? As if!” “Been there, done that”: This phrase, made popular by The Simpsons character Bart, implies that a person already has experience with something and does not want to do it again.

Trash talk: Nasty barbs exchanged by athletes to try to get each other angry. The term originated in the National Basketball Association but had been around since the 1960s. 24/7: Always, as in 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Chill: To hang out and be casual.

“Whatever”: A dismissal of whatever another person has said, this term indicates that the speaker will not even waste his or her time thinking about what someone has said.

Crib: One’s home or apartment.

What We Read:

Emoticons: :-) : Symbols used to show emotion in an e-mail message; popular emoticons include :-) (happiness) and :-( (sadness).

Dilbert (1989–): Scott Adams’ comic strip captured the spirit of work life in the 1990s and created a Dilbert industry of coffee mugs, mouse pads, and T-shirts.

Generation X: The generation of Americans who were the children of baby boomers and yuppies. Critics of the generation said that Gen Xers (or Xers) denounced the values of their parents but offered nothing in their place. Gen Xers countered that they were against mindless materialism and for an expanded environmental consciousness.

Jurassic Park (1990): Science thriller writer Michael Crichton created a minor industry in 1990 with the publication of this book about dinosaurs brought back to life on a distant tropical island. Popular as a book, it was even more popular as a movie with dazzling special effects (1993).

“Just Do It”: The slogan for Nike’s famous advertising campaign was widely used to express toughness and determination in the face of adversity. “Not!”: An interjection tacked on at the end of a phrase to indicate total disagreement, as in “That guy is so cool—not!” Popularized in the Saturday Night Live skit and 1992 film Wayne’s World. Parental units: Parents.

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The Bridges of Madison County (1992): This romantic story by Robert James Waller told of a woman’s passion rekindled late in life by her romance with a traveling photographer. A major movie starred Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992): Self-help hero John Gray dissected relationships from the perspective that women and men needed to learn to understand each other’s

every program Clinton created. When the Republicans gained a majority in the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections, they brought the government to a near standstill. To make matters worse, the Clinton administration and Clinton himself had a knack for getting in trouble. There were small scandals over political nominees and White House travel expenditures—the “Nannygate” and “Travelgate” controversies, named after the

1990s At a Glance (continued) distinctive communicating styles. The book struck a nerve, and remained a best-seller for several years. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1998): The first in a series of books for young adults about youthful wizard Harry Potter and his adventures at Hogwarts, a school for wizards. J. K. Rowling’s books were the publishing sensation of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Anything from Danielle Steel or Stephen King: The two best-selling authors of the 1980s repeated that performance in the 1990s, though they switched positions. Romance novelist Steel topped the list, with 19 novels appearing in the top 10 list for best-selling novels each year. Horror master King was close behind with 10 titles. What We Watched: COPS (1989–): The Fox Network established a new genre of TV show when it introduced COPS in 1989. Every week the show followed real police in a different city as they chased down criminals and talked about their jobs. This show influenced the many reality TV shows that became popular in 2000. Beverly Hills 90210 (1990–2000): This teen drama helped establish the new Fox Network; made major stars of actors Jason Priestly, Shannon Doherty, Tori Spelling, and several others; and paved the way for later teen dramas, all while dealing with major issues facing teens like divorce, eating disorders, sexuality, drug use, and date rape.

Seinfeld (1990–98): This sitcom which boasted that it was about nothing provided a digest of the trivial topics that absorbed Americans in the decade. The show starred Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The Simpsons (1990–): This animated sitcom about a typical dysfunctional American family is widely hailed as the most creative and intelligent TV show of the decade. ER (1994–): The top-rated drama of the decade, this fast-paced drama followed the professional and personal lives of a group of emergency room doctors and nurses in a busy Chicago hospital. Friends (1994–): This sitcom focused on the lives of six Generation X friends living in New York City and made a major star of Jennifer Aniston. The Lion King (1994): This animated film about a young lion in Africa charmed children, reestablished Disney as the leading animated filmmaker, and helped revive the animated children’s film market. Titanic (1997): The most expensive film ever made at the time ($200 million), this love story set during the sinking of the passenger liner Titanic made a teen idol of star Leonardo DiCaprio. Dawson’s Creek (1998–): One of several teen-oriented shows airing on the WB network (which was founded in 1995), this drama presented coming-ofage stories of four high school friends. What We Listened To: Rush Limbaugh (1951–): This arch-conservative hosted the leading political talk radio show of the

famous Watergate scandal of the administration of President Richard Nixon (1913–1994). Then the scandals got bigger and uglier. A special counsel was appointed to look into investments that the president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947–), had made in Arkansas. This investigation, called the Whitewater investigation, was soon followed by charges that Clinton, when he was a

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selling album of the decade, and won Morrisette Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

decade and, thanks to the support of his many dedicated listeners, exercised a great deal of political influence.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998): This combination of hip-hop, gospel, soul, and other musical influences helped Lauryn Hill win a Grammy Award and sell four hundred thousand copies of the album in its first week.

Celine Dion (1968–): This Canadian star became one of the top-selling recording artists of the decade with her soaring romantic ballads. She scored big with songs from Beauty and the Beast (1990) and Titanic (1997). Ropin’ the Wind (1991): Garth Brooks sang his way into the record books with this album, which debuted at the top of both the country and the pop charts at the same time.

Ricky Martin (1971–): The leading teen idol of the 1990s led a craze for Latin music when he released his first English album in 1999. The single “Livin’ la Vida Loca” quickly became a smash single. Who We Knew:

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991): This song, from Nirvana’s album Nevermind, helped define grunge music, the punk rock of a new generation.

Bill Gates (1955–): The founder of Microsoft became the richest man in the world thanks to the performance of his company. But some in the computer industry saw Microsoft as a threatening monopoly, spurring the U.S. Justice Department to bring charges against the company.

“Macarena” (1994): This song by Spanish group Los Del Rio became an international dance sensation that hit the United States in 1996 and soon had thousands of Americans twisting and shaking in the decade’s biggest dance craze.

Anita Hill (1956–): This African American professor and lawyer came to national attention when she testified before the U.S. Senate that Supreme Court nominee (and later justice) Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her in the 1980s.

Jagged Little Pill (1995): Alanis Morrisette’s angry and emotionally honest third album was the best-

Michael Jordan (1963–): Hailed as the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan led the

governor, had sexually harassed a state employee named Paula Jones (1967–). Finally, in 1997, investigators led by Kenneth Starr (1946–) revealed that Clinton had had a sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky (1973–), and may have lied about it under oath. These charges led the House to pass articles of impeachment against the president (to charge the president with misconduct in office) late in 1998. The Senate, however, declined to try the president, and the impeachment scandal died. These endless scandals, however, had taken their toll on the Clinton presidency.

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Despite the taint of scandal, America thrived under the Clinton administration. The economy picked up dramatically by the mid-1990s and stayed strong through the end of the decade.

1990s At a Glance (continued) Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships in the decade. He also appeared in a blizzard of advertisements for Nike, Gatorade, and other products. Ted Kaczynski (1942–): This alienated academic terrorized the nation for seventeen years with a string of mail bomb attacks that earned him the name “The Unabomber.” Kaczynski was finally caught after his anti-technology manifesto was published in the Washington Post and caught the eye of his brother, who recognized Kaczynski’s style and turned him in to prevent further loss of life. Jack Kevorkian (1928–): Better known as “Dr. Death,” this Michigan doctor helped a number of his patients end their lives and championed the rights of those who wished to choose “death with dignity” through assisted suicide. Rodney King (c. 1965–): This part-time laborer became a symbol of police brutality and violence against African Americans when a nearby resident happened to film his brutal beating at the hands of several Los Angeles police officers and the tape

was shown around the world. When the police were acquitted of police brutality, Los Angeles erupted in riots. King appeared on television and asked, “Can’t we all just get along?” Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001): This former army soldier blew up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people. He was executed in 2001. Colin Powell (1937–): U.S. army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell became an American hero thanks to his leadership during the Gulf War of 1991. In 2001, he became secretary of state under President George W. Bush. O. J. Simpson (1947–): This former college and pro football star was accused of the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994 and was involved in a trial that aired live on TV for months. Though Simpson was acquitted of the murders, he later lost a civil case against the families of the victims. Martha Stewart (1941–): America’s leading lifestyle expert created a media empire that included magazines and books, television and radio programs, and a line of homemaking products.

Driving the economy was the strong performance of high-technology firms, led by companies known as “dot-coms.” The dotcom companies took their name from the domain names that many companies adopted for use on the recently invented World Wide Web. Dot-coms such as Amazon.com, E-Bay, America Online, and Pets.com reinvented the way that many businesses worked. Buying and selling goods over the Internet, and allowing workers more freedom and creativity than they had ever enjoyed before, these companies led the way in what was known as the “New Economy.” Biotechnology also boomed, as companies used advanced scientific techniques to improve crop yields, make genetically engineered foods, invent new drugs, and introduce a variety of other innovations. The strong performance of the “New Economy” fueled a boom in all the major stock markets. Millions of Americans who

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had never invested before now invested money in the stock market, either directly or through mutual funds. Overnight, many Americans got wealthy from small companies that hit it big. A new kind of stock trader called a “day trader” became a symbolic figure of how to benefit from the overheated stock market. Along with the economy, popular culture flourished. Moviemakers poured millions of dollars into making films that were filled with dramatic special effects. Jurassic Park (1993) and Titanic (1997) are two examples of such films. Network television produced a good number of worthwhile shows, including one of the most loved situation comedies (sitcoms) in TV history in Seinfeld and one of the most creative sitcoms in The Simpsons. Cable TV offered a growing number of Americans more variety than ever before in home entertainment. Musically, Americans also had many styles from which to choose, from a revived country music to alternative rock to rap. In sports, America watched some of the greatest athletic performances of all time from the likes of basketball’s Michael Jordan (1963–), golf’s Tiger Woods (1975–), and baseball’s Mark McGwire (1963–). McGwire and fellow National League slugger Sammy Sosa (1968–) battled each other in 1998 for the home run race as they chased the record of Roger Maris (1934–1985) for most home runs in a season; McGwire won out with 70 home runs (a record that was eclipsed only three years later by Barry Bonds [1964–]). Americans also enjoyed the accomplishments of a range of female athletes from soccer star Mia Hamm (1972–) to tennis sisters Venus Williams (1980–) and Serena Williams (1981–).

1990s Commerce In the 1990s, commerce became e-commerce and the nation was gripped in dot-com fever. The nation’s economy had started off the decade in a slump. By the mid-1990s, however, the energizing force of what became known as the dot-com revolution helped fuel the longest sustained period of economic growth in the nation’s history. Dot-coms are companies that do business over the World Wide Web. The Web is a system that connects computers in a giant network and allows people to easily buy and sell goods and services electronically (thus the term e-commerce). They are named dot-coms because their World Wide Web addresses typically end with “.com.” All over the country—but especially in the Internet boom areas of Silicon Valley, California; Seattle, Washington; and New York City’s Silicon Alley—small dot-com companies launched themselves. The small companies had ambitious plans to use the World Wide Web to do amazing things like sell books, pet supplies, and groceries. These dot-coms attracted vast amounts of investors’ dollars and helped fuel a rapidly rising stock market that made many Americans a good sum of money. The World Wide Web also allowed for the emergence of “day traders,” individuals who bought and sold stocks from the comfort of their computer terminals. Some day traders made millions; many others went bankrupt. If one company benefited most from the growing popularity of computer-based businesses, it was the Redmond, Washington–based Microsoft. Microsoft sold the operating systems that helped run the vast majority of computers in the world. Its competitors said that it used its operating-system dominance to unfair advantage. The U.S. Justice Department won a ruling that broke the company apart (although that ruling was later overturned). Outside the world of computers, Americans consumed as they had for decades: excessively. In 1992, America built a giant shrine to the joys of consumerism in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Mall of America, with 4.2 million square feet of floor space, became the largest shopping mall in the country.

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Mall of America The Mall of America—located just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota—is not only the largest indoor shopping mall (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) but is the most-visited tourist destination in the United States. The Mall of America opened in 1992 at a cost of $650 million. This dazzling home of 520 stores and 11,000 employees is more than a place to shop—it is an experience. The Mall of America has been described by its fans as a shopper’s paradise and by its critics as an oppressive monument to American consumerism that numbs its visitors with sensory overload.

The Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, has over 520 stores, a wedding chapel, and even a roller coaster. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Everything about the Mall of America is big: six hundred thousand to nine hundred thousand people visit the mall in a week. The total area is 4.2 million square feet, just about the same floor space as the Sears Tower, a large skyscraper (see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2) in Chicago, Illinois. Some 258 Statues of Liberty could be laid inside the mall. There are 4.3 miles of storefront and 125 security cameras. The mall attracts more visitors annually than Disney World; Graceland, the Memphis, Tennessee, home of Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3); and the Grand Canyon combined. The Mall of America is designed to seduce nearly anyone who walks in. Aside from the usual restaurants and other services that can be found at a typical mall, the Mall of America has eight nightclubs, an aquarium with real sharks, and even a “Chapel of Love,” where thirty couples a month tie the knot. The mall’s seven-acre amusement park has a roller coaster and a seventy-four-foot Ferris wheel (see these entries under 1900s— The Way We Lived in volume 1). The mall—like many in the United States—has its own youth subculture. On a typical day, nearly two thousand local teens

The Mall of America was planning expansion in the first decade of the new century. It is safe to say that it will remain the biggest shopping mall in the United States for some time.

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come to the mall to hang out with their friends. They, and the mall, made news in 1996 when a weekend curfew was imposed because of concerns that some teens were being overly rowdy.

—Karl Rahder

For More Information Gershman, Suzy. “Mall of the Gods.” Travel-Holiday (October 1996): pp. 82–88. Guterson, David. “Enclosed. Encyclopedic. Endured. One Week in the Mall of America.” Harper’s (August 1993): pp. 49–56. Mall of America.com. http://www.mallofamerica.com/ (accessed April 1, 2002). Meredith, Robyn. “Big Mall’s Curfew Raises Questions of Rights and Bias.” New York Times (September 4, 1996): p. A1.

Microsoft The Microsoft Corporation, located near Seattle, Washington, is a large, powerful, and profitable company that creates computer software. The tremendous success of Microsoft, which grew in the 1990s to become one of the world’s most powerful corporations, is viewed by the world with a wide variety of opinions. Since its formation in 1975, the company has contributed in a major way to the popularization of the PC—the personal computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4)—and to growth and improvement in the software that makes computers useful. It has become a major power in the world economy and had a major role in the quickly rising stock market of the 1990s. Many, therefore, see Microsoft as a positive force, creating progress and prosperity for all. Others see the company as a ruthless and unethical giant, crushing competition in order to gain enormous profits for itself. The strong emotions that the company arouses in the public demonstrate the enormous effect that Microsoft has had on modern life. Part of the mystique of the Microsoft Corporation is that it came from such small beginnings. Bill Gates (1955–) and Paul Allen (1953–) were in eighth grade when they began studying the brand-new science of computers in the late 1960s. They

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were fascinated by the new technology and began experimenting together. In 1972, they worked out a practical use for a new microprocessor chip, a very tiny computer part, in a device to count traffic on highways. Traf-o-data, the company they formed to sell their invention, was not very successful, but Gates and Allen continued to experiment with designing software for the tiny microprocessor. They combined these two interests in the name of the next company they formed: Micro-Soft (later changed to Microsoft).

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, often lectures on the future development of the computer industry. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Gates dropped out of Harvard University. In 1974, he and Allen set up shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico, continuing to develop computer software. One of their strongest advantages in business was their ability to envision new uses for computer technology. They soon created a computer language for a new, small personal computer that used the new micro-technology, the MITS Altair. Working together during the mid-1970s, Allen and Gates created the first important computer programming languages, BASIC, FORTRAN-80, and COBOL 80. These were codes that programmers entered into the computer to tell it what to do. Gates and Allen brought their little company back home to Seattle. In 1980, IBM (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5) approached them about designing a disk operating system, or DOS, for a new personal computer IBM was developing. Again, Gates and Allen’s foresight helped them realize that this was an important opportunity. At a time when few people really knew what computers were, they began to foresee a future when every home would have its own computer. They wanted to make sure that Microsoft was designing the software for those computers. Since IBM was in a hurry to get the disk operating system, Gates and Allen bought a disk operating system from another small Seattle company without telling them about IBM’s interest. Some believe this move was sneaky and dishonest; others think it was brilliant business planning. Gates and Allen made a huge profit selling the renamed MS-DOS to IBM. They also managed to get the other companies who began

Suddenly Microsoft was the biggest software company in the world. Allen became ill and retired in 1983 with $6 billion in profits. Gates continued to run Microsoft, developing software for the growing computer industry. In the mid-1980s, another leap forward in technology occurred when MS-DOS was essentially replaced by the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which Microsoft developed for use in the Macintosh computer made by Apple Computer (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4). The GUI made computers much simpler because users could tell the computer what to do by pointing to pictures on the screen using a device called a mouse. Although Apple introduced the GUI, Microsoft soon designed its own GUI, called Windows, which it sold to IBM for use in their computers.

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making copies or “clones” of the IBM computer to use the Microsoft operating system as well.

Apple felt that Microsoft had stolen its idea for the GUI. In 1988, it sued Microsoft for copyright violation, but the suit was dismissed. Other competitors have accused Microsoft of unfair business practices. In 1997, the federal government filed suit against the company, charging that Microsoft had misused its power in the marketplace to keep prices high and crush competition. In 1999, a federal judge ruled that Microsoft was guilty of these practices, which were called monopolistic—that is, intended to maintain exclusive control over a product or a market. However, in 2001, this ruling was overturned and the government decided to drop its case against Microsoft. In the meantime, Microsoft continues to dominate the computer software market. From its small beginnings in the imaginations of two high-school students, the company has grown into a giant corporation with over fifteen thousand employees and billion of dollars in profits. Its chief executive officer, Bill Gates, is the world’s richest man with a personal fortune of more than $40 billion. Although Gates is often criticized for his business practices and his enormous wealth, he is still a man with a vision of the changes that computers will continue to bring to society. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Dickinson, Joan D. Bill Gates, Billionaire Computer Genius. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1997. Drummond, Michael. Renegades of the Empire: How Three Software Warriors Started a Revolution Behind the Walls of Fortress Microsoft. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999.

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Ferry, Steven. The Story of Microsoft. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media, 1999. Forman, Michael. Bill Gates, Software Billionaire. Parsippany, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1998. Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Schlender, Brent. “Bill Gates & Paul Allen Talk: Co-founders of Microsoft.” Fortune (October 2, 1995): pp. 68–77.

1990s Fashion In the 1990s, fashion went casual as it never had before. From corporations to classrooms, people wore clothes that were comfortable and expressed their own sense of individuality. The trend probably began in American corporations with a tradition called “casual Fridays.” On Fridays, rather than wearing standard business attire, employees at many companies were allowed to dress casually, with khaki pants and a casual shirt the norm for men. By the time the dot-com revolution swept the nation, everyday was a casual Friday. Standard business attire was required only by the most formal companies. A new generation of Americans known as Generation X increasingly set fashion trends. Twenty-something Generation X-ers insisted on their right to display their individuality through clothes, hairstyles, and body decoration. Some searched thrift shops for odd clothes that they could match with items they bought at stores like Old Navy and Gap; others favored the preppy look offered at popular retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. (All three of these stores followed the trend of displaying their brand names prominently on much of the clothing they sold.) Hairstyles varied widely, with men preferring very short hair and women choosing a shifting array of different looks. Body decoration was one of the most notable fads of the decade. People of all ages (but mostly youngsters) got tattoos or had parts of their body—tongues, eyebrows, nipples—pierced and studded. A notable fashion subculture of the decade were the Goths, who dressed like characters in a gothic novel with a heavy emphasis on black.

Abercrombie & Fitch Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the most visible and innovative retailers of clothing in the United States. In the 1990s, Abercrombie & Fitch was recognized as a trendsetter for young people, competing with other youth-oriented companies such

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as J.Crew (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5), American Eagle, and Gap (see entry under 1960s—Commerce in volume 4). One of Abercrombie & Fitch’s innovations was the “magalog”: one-part magazine, one-part retail catalog. The Abercrombie & Fitch magalog sparked national controversy in 2000 when its photo spreads featured scantily clad models. Competitors generally follow Abercrombie & Fitch’s lead in such marketing devices. Abercrombie & Fitch is perhaps best known for eye-catching clothing such as its famous paratrooper pants. The company racked up a staggering $1.06 billion worth of sales in 1999. Abercrombie & Fitch started life in 1892 as a supplier of outdoor gear for the wealthy and famous. Since the 1990s, the company has concentrated on defining cool, rugged clothing and accessories for teens. —Karl Rahder

For More Information Abercrombie & Fitch. http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/lifestyles/html/ af_homepage.html (accessed April 1, 2002). Barrett, Amy. “To Reach the Unreachable Teen.” Business Week (September 18, 2000): pp. 78–80. “Mail Bonding.” Vogue (November 1997): pp. 170–72. Perman, Stacy. “Abercrombie’s Beefcake Brigade.” Time (February 14, 2000): p. 36.

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1990s Film and Theater In the 1990s, special effects continued to dominate the film world. Special effects were used heavily to create the spectacular action that was demanded of every movie studio’s most important film of the year: the summer blockbuster. Jurassic Park (1993), based on a novel of the same name by Michael Crichton (1942–), set the standard for the decade with its realistic computer-generated dinosaurs that munched on people. Many other movies offered thrills of their own. Whether those thrills came from space, as in Independence Day (1996) or Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999), or from nature, as in Twister (1996) with its terrifying tornadoes, filmmakers relied on special effects to give their stories impact. Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace had the distinction of featuring the first digitally generated principal character in a movie: Jar Jar Binks. Of course, not all films used special effects to win audiences. The horror film Scream (1996) combined gore with humor. The independently made sensation The Blair Witch Project (1999) used quirky filmmaking techniques and sheer suspense to terrify audiences. Both films helped revive a film genre, horror, that had grown stale and unoriginal, with movies produced as if using a formula. Animated films also experienced a revival in the 1990s. The Lion King (1994) proved that Disney could still make heartwarming family entertainment, but the real story of the decade was the use of computer-generated animation. Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), A Bug’s Life (1998), and Antz (1998) were all made exclusively on computers. Each film had warmth and humor. All these films also allowed for the creation of an assortment of toys, games, video games, and cross-promotions with fast-food restaurants. American theater continued the boom that began in the 1980s, with large-scale productions drawing huge audiences in New York and then touring the nation. The major productions of the decade were The Lion King (1997; a stage version of the film), Ragtime (1997), Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk (1996), and Rent (1996).

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Austin Powers The two Austin Powers films brought to the screen by Mike Myers (1963–) are spoof spy thrillers based on classics such as Our Man Flint (1965) and the James Bond (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) film series. The two movies make clever mockery of 1960s music, speech, and fashion. Austin Powers, played by Myers, is the “shag-edelic” spy from 1960s swinging London. He drives an E-type Jaguar, complete with Union Jack paint job, and has a psychedelic jumbo jet. Based on the culture clash between the 1960s and the 1990s, the films’ humor is sometimes subtle, sometimes adult, but always very, very silly.

Former Saturday Night Live star Mike Myers as Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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The first Austin Powers movie premiered in 1997. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery sees Powers awaken after thirty years of cryogenic sleep to the news that his old enemy, Dr. Evil (also played by Myers), has returned. The confused Dr. Evil wants to hold the world hostage and sets his ransom demand at . . . “One million dollars!” He is advised that in the 1990s, $100 billion would be a better suggestion. Austin Powers, working with the grown-up daughter of his 1960s sidekick, soon finds that the era of free love is long gone. The second film, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), offers more of the same, plus time travel, an agent called Felicity Shagwell, and a oneeighth-size clone of Dr. Evil, called “Mini Me.” Canadian-born Myers carries a British passport and is a wellknown Anglophile (a fan of British culture). As Austin Powers, he indulged his love of all things British, including the spy’s terrible teeth. Besides ridiculing 1960s spy blockbusters, the Austin Powers movies are also in the tradition of the British “Carry On” comedy movies of the 1950s and 1960s. Between them, the two movies netted Myers an estimated $10 million. They found an enthusiastic audience that was more than willing to use catch-

JFK Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of the title character in the film Forrest Gump. Archive Photos/Fotos International. Reproduced by permission.

with Beatle John Lennon (1940–1980), Chairman Mao of China (1893–1976), President Richard Nixon (1913–1994), and others. These meetings actually appear on screen thanks to some clever special effects. Gump even shakes hands with President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). What the film teaches is that in America everyone has the chance to be part of history. If a boy in leg braces can be a college football star and win a Congressional Medal for bravery, the film suggests, then anyone can. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Groom, Winston. Forrest Gump. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986. Forrest Gump Page. http://www.ionet.net/~lesinokc/gump/gump.html (accessed on April 1, 2002).

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The film JFK (1991), a fascinating cinematic theory about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), was

JFK

one of the most controversial films of its time. Directed and coscripted by Oliver Stone (1946–), JFK fired up the decadeslong debate over who actually murdered the fallen president. Was it lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald (1939–1963), as was indicated by the “official” Warren Commission, which was entrusted to investigate the crime back in the 1960s? Or was it the end result of an elaborate plot, masterminded by the Mafia (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), the U.S. government and military, Cuban nationalists, and any number of additional Kennedy-haters? JFK is based on the obsession of real-life New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (1921–1995), played by Kevin Costner (1955–), with uncovering the truth of the assassination. In the course of his investigation, Garrison tries a businessman named Clay Shaw (1913–1974) with plotting to murder Kennedy. Meanwhile, as Garrison’s scenario unfolds, Stone offers a parade of characters, some real, some made up, and some composites. Many Kennedy-assassination conspiracy buffs have chosen to view the content of JFK as essentially factual. Their skepticism over the “lone gunman” theory was fueled by the film’s explosive script, fast-paced editing, dazzlingly realistic visuals, and riveting performances. Stone seamlessly edits footage from the Zapruder film (an amateur home movie that is the only record of the actual shooting of Kennedy) with his own, madeup images. This blending of fact and fiction caused great controversy. Stone seems to present certain aspects of the Kennedy assassination as fact. His film is not a documentary, however, but a cinematic invention offering a single theory. Much of the content of JFK is, at best, clever speculation. But Stone’s intentions and the subsequent controversy aside, the filmmaker did succeed in returning the issues surrounding one of the saddest and most disturbing moments in American history to the forefront of public awareness. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Garrison, Jim. On the Trail of the Assassins. New York: Warner Books, 1988. Mackey-Kallis, Susan. Oliver Stone’s America: Dreaming the Myth Outward. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Marrs, Jim. Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1989.

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The Lion King

Stone, Oliver, producer. JFK (film). Warner Bros., 1991. Stone, Oliver, and Zachary Sklar. JFK: The Book of the Film, a Documented Screenplay. New York: Applause Books, 1992.

The Lion King The Lion King (1994) is one of the all-time classic animated features produced by the Disney Studios (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2)—no small achievement for a movie studio that across the decades has made dozens of highly acclaimed children’s films. At once provocative, beautifully made, and highly entertaining, it rates among the most popular and profitable films of its decade. The Lion King spotlights the life and times—and struggles and triumphs—of Simba, a princely lion cub in Africa who is heir to the throne of Mufasa, his father. The kingdom is desired by Scar, Mufasa’s evil brother, and herein lies the story’s conflict. While billed as an original conception, the Lion King scenario clearly is rooted in other writings and films, including any number of works by William Shakespeare (1564–1616); Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain (1835–1910); and Bambi (1942), the beloved Disney animated feature. The character of Scar, in all his lying, scheming, and evildoing—he is directly responsible for the death of Mufasa—is classically Shakespearean in nature. The combination of loyalty and deceit within Simba’s family may be directly linked to Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1603). Like Huck Finn, Simba comes to realize that he must face up to his obligations and responsibilities. In Bambi, a deer (rather than lion) is king of the animal realm. Both Bambi and Simba suffer the loss of a parent: in a famous sequence, Bambi’s mother is killed; in a far more explicit scene, which serves as a textbook example of how movies have changed across the decades, Simba’s father loses his life. In fact, the graphically violent death of Mufasa sparked a debate among parents, educators, and the media regarding the depiction of violence and death in children’s films.

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As in the best Disney animated features that center on the lives of animals who are invested with human traits, The Lion King serves as a morality play. Through the animals, young viewers are taught invaluable lessons about the importance of responsibility to one’s family and community and about the manner in which living beings are interconnected. Yet The Lion King is not

all about instructing its audience. It is richly entertaining and features magnificent animation. The supporting characters, beginning with the merry jungle misfits with whom Simba comes in contact upon going into self-exile after his father’s death, are funny and colorful. The songs, by Elton John (1947–) and Tim Rice (1944–), are seamlessly woven into the story.

The evil lion, Scar, talks to his nephew, Simba, in the Disney movie The Lion King. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

In 1998, The Lion King became a smash-hit, Tony Award– winning Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) musical. It featured over one hundred puppets, representing twenty-five different types of animals. Julie Taymor (1953–) directed, designed the costumes, codesigned the masks and puppets, and wrote additional music. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Disney Presents The Lion King. New York: Disney Press, 1998. Finch, Christopher. The Art of the Lion King. New York: Hyperion, 1994. The Lion King. http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/5179 (accessed April 4, 2002). The Lion King (film). Walt Disney Pictures, 1994.

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Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction Director-screenwriter Quentin Tarantino (1963–) became the talk of the movie industry with the release of Reservoir Dogs (1992), the occasionally brilliant but unrelentingly violent saga of some crude, foul-mouthed criminals who come together to pull off a robbery. He solidified his stardom with Pulp Fiction (1994), a brazenly hip film that became one of the most praised and popular movies of the 1990s. Pulp Fiction is named for the sensationalistic crime novels and pulp magazines (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) whose prime years came between the 1920s and 1950s. While regarded as popular-culture throwaways at the time of their publication, they were inspiring a new type of American literature: dark, shocking depictions of crime in the shadowy city, often featuring cynical, determined detective heroes. The most famous practitioners of pulp fiction—among them Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961), Raymond Chandler (1888–1959), and Jim Thompson (1906–1977)—became legendary twentieth-century American writers. In Pulp Fiction, Tarantino interweaves three stories concerning various thugs, lowlifes, and desperate characters: a professional killer and his Bible-spouting colleague; their crime-lord boss and his wife; a drug dealer and his wife; a boxer and his lover; a Vietnam veteran; and a no-nonsense “problem solver” who can quickly and efficiently remove all evidence from the grisliest crime scene. While each story focuses on specific characters, characters from the other episodes may suddenly appear to play key roles. The film is book-ended by a robbery in a diner committed by a pair of young, amoral lovers who call each other Pumpkin and Honey Bunny. They might be the same characters Tarantino created for the controversial, blood-soaked movie Natural Born Killers (1994) directed by Oliver Stone (1946–).

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The characters in Pulp Fiction are primarily variations of those in other, earlier movies, many of the pulp-fiction variety. Vincent Vega, the professional killer, played by John Travolta (1954–), might be one of the wiseguys played by James Cagney (1899–1986) and Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957; see entries under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) in 1930s gangster films—with the addition of R-rated dialogue and graphic violence. Mia, the crime boss’s wife, played by Uma Thurman

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(1970–), is a femme fatale (pronounced FEM fah-TAHL), the classic seductive, dangerous woman who would have been played by alluring actresses Lauren Bacall (1924–) or Lizabeth Scott (1922–) in the 1940s. Butch the boxer, played by Bruce Willis (1955–), could be the grandson of John Garfield (1913–1952) in Body and Soul (1947), Kirk Douglas (1916–) in Champion (1949), or Robert Ryan (1909–1973) in The Set-Up (1949), all classic 1940s boxing films. Koons, the Vietnam veteran, played by Christopher Walken (1943–), is an ex-POW who seems to be in a time warp from The Deer Hunter (1978), the celebrated Vietnam drama (which just so happened to have featured Walken). Koons offers a monologue (a short speech) in which he refers to a GI named Winocki, which is the name of the character played by Garfield in the World War II film Air Force (1943). Meanwhile, the Pulp Fiction script is steeped in nostalgia. One of its liveliest sequences is set in Jack Rabbit Slim’s, an outrageous 1950s-style combination nightclubrestaurant. In the wake of the astounding success of Pulp Fiction came a host of catchy-titled imitators, from Love and a .45 (1994) to Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) to The Last Days of Frankie the Fly (1997), all featuring quirky characters and stylish violence. But none could match Pulp Fiction for its cleverness, brilliance, and knowing pop-cultural references. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Bernard, Jami. Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies. New York: HarperPerennial, 1995. Clarkson, Wensley. Quentin Tarantino: Shooting from the Hip. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1995. Dawson, Jeff. Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool. New York: Applause, 1997. Pulp Fiction (film). Miramax Films, 1994. Woods, Paul. King Pulp: The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino. New York: Plexus, 1998.

Scream In 1996, Wes Craven (1939–), director of such modern horror masterpieces as The Hills Have Eyes (1978) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), shocked everybody who thought his

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Scream Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker in the horror film Scream, directed by Wes Craven. The Kobal Collection/David M. Moir/Miramax. Reproduced by permission.

career was over by releasing one of the most popular horror films (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4) of all time. Scream, starring a host of talented young actors, including Drew Barrymore (1975–), Neve Campbell (1973–), Skeet Ulrich (1969–), David Arquette (1971–), Rose McGowan (1974–), and Jamie Kennedy (1970–), took America by storm, bringing in over $103 million at the box office, and setting off a new wave of youth-targeted “stalker” films. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998), Valentine (2001), and of course Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), and the stalker spoof Scary Movie (2000) all owe much of their success to Craven’s original.

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The intense ten-minute opening of Scream became one of the most talked-about scenes in recent movie history. An anonymous caller threatens the lives of high-school cutie Casey Becker (Barrymore) and her boyfriend unless she can answer such questions as “Who was the killer in Friday the 13th?” Like everyone else in Scream, Casey has seen such classic slasher movies as Halloween (1978), Prom Night (1980), and Friday the 13th (1980; see entry under 1980s—Film and Theater in volume 5). But only

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true horror fans have a chance to live in this setting . . . and even that is not always enough. The main story concerns the efforts of virginal heroine Sidney Prescott (Campbell) to survive the attacks of a slasher-film fanatic with a ghost-face mask and a very sharp knife. Dirt-seeking news reporter Gail Weathers, played by Courteney Cox (1964–), also is a key character. Among the elements that made Scream such a winner is the film’s often funny script, the numerous references to other horror movies, and Craven’s expert direction, which manages to frighten audiences even while they are laughing. The script was written by Kevin Williamson (1965–), who would go on to create the hit teen television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) show Dawson’s Creek. —Steven Schneider

For More Information Emery, Robert J., writer, producer, and director. The Films of Wes Craven (video). New York: Fox Lorber CentreStage, 2000. Muir, John Kenneth. Wes Craven: The Art of Horror. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998. Scr3am.net: The Site of Scream. http://www.scr3am.net (accessed April 4, 2002). The Ultimate Scream Collection (video). Burbank, CA: Dimension Home Video, 2000.

Toy Story Toy Story (1995) was the first-ever animated feature film whose imagery was computer-generated. Previously, animated films were made up of a series of drawings that were photographed, frame by frame, creating the illusion of motion. The revolutionary computer animation in Toy Story was the result of years of experimentation by the technical wizards at the Pixar studio. With the release of Toy Story, animated films took on an entirely fresh look, a three-dimensional reality in which characters were endowed with a previously unseen freedom of movement and facial expression. But Toy Story was not just a new type of animated film, it was also a clever, funny, and entertaining story. Toy Story is the tale of a group of toys that are the playthings of a boy named Andy. The toys come to life when humans are not around. The two central toys are rivals: Woody, an old-fashioned

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Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and Woody rush to save the day in the 1995 Disney movie Toy Story. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

doll, a Western sheriff made of cloth; and Buzz Lightyear, a newage space ranger and action figure. Woody’s position as Andy’s favorite toy is threatened by the arrival of Buzz. The villain of the piece is neither Woody nor Buzz nor any of Andy’s other playthings. He is Sid, a nasty neighbor child who relishes taking toys apart and reassembling them as nightmarish creatures. Toy Story was the brainchild of John Lasseter (1957–), a computer-animation genius who formerly worked at the Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) studio but left in the mid-1980s to work at Pixar, a Marin County, California–based computer laboratory. At Pixar, he created several short films, including Luxo Jr. (1986), Red’s Dream (1987), Tin Toy (1988), and Knickknack (1989), all of which are forerunners of Toy Story. In those films, objects such as drummer-boy toys, unicycles, and lamps come to life. The objects are endowed with personalities all their own—just like the toys in Toy Story.

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It took Lasseter and his team eight hundred thousand hours of computer time to create Toy Story. In 1995, he earned a Special Academy Award for his work. Since then, he has gone on

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Lasseter, John. Toy Story: The Art and Making of the Animated Film. New York: Hyperion, 1995. Toy Story (film). Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures, 1995. “Toy Story: Official Home Page.” Disney Online. http://disney.go.com/ disneyvideos/animatedfilms/toystory (accessed April 4, 2002). Toy Story 2 (film). Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures, 1999.

Wayne’s World

to create two more computer-generated feature films: A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999).

Wayne’s World “You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll hurl.” Using this as a tag line, Wayne’s World was the surprise hit movie of 1992. Starring Mike Myers (1963–) and Dana Carvey (1955–), Wayne’s World was a feature-length version of the comic pair’s cult Saturday Night Live skit on youth culture. Full of digs at big business and advertisers’ quests for profit, Wayne’s World was nevertheless a marketing success. Ironically, its young audience readily bought into the film’s cynicism about the world of big business and spent $180 million at the box office to prove how cynical they were. With its clever script and inspired casting, Wayne’s World is among the best of the many deliberately moronic comedies made in Hollywood in the 1990s. The simple plot of Wayne’s World is based around a publicaccess cable-TV show hosted by Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. Goaded to “sell out” by an unscrupulous TV executive played by Rob Lowe (1964–), Wayne and Garth embark on a series of adventures. These include meeting their idol Alice Cooper (1948–), who gives them a short lesson on the history of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But besides these strange encounters, it is the chemistry between Myers and Carvey that makes the film truly entertaining. Their take on teen language brands everything either “excellent” or “bogus.” For a while, even otherwise respectable adults developed the habit of adding an ironic “not” to the end of sentences. In the early 1990s, Wayne’s World became something of a cult movie, triggering spin-offs from T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) and action figures to video games

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Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, as characters Wayne and Garth, get excited over a photo of supermodel Claudia Schiffer. Photograph by Suzanne Tenner. Fotos International/Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

(see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4) and a roller coaster (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) called “The Hurler.” Wayne’s World 2 followed in 1993, but although the audience came back for more, the second film spread the jokes too thinly. Like many popular movies, Wayne’s World succeeded because it tapped into the mood of a particular time. But the real significance of Wayne’s World is in the way it changed the marketing of teen movies. By aiming directly at its intended audience on its own terms, Wayne’s World had fans even before it opened. Wayne’s World is also credited with starting the 1990s trend for “dumb” movies such as Dumb and Dumber (1994) and There’s Something About Mary (1998). —Chris Routledge

For More Information

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Myers, Mike, and Robin Ruzan. Wayne’s World: Extreme Close Up. New York: Cader Books, 1992.

1990s Music Popular music somehow finds a way to keep growing and changing. If fans got tired of rock and roll, they could turn to alternative rock. Tired of country? Try alternative country. Even rap, a musical style barely a decade old, inspired variations such as gangsta rap. Perhaps the only new thing on the American musical scene was the popularity of Latin or Latin-inspired music. Selena (1971–1995) was a minor sensation with her Tejano hits, but Ricky Martin (1971–) truly hit the big time with his Latin dance tunes late in the decade. Country music was reborn in the 1990s, thanks to a bevy of young new singers. Garth Brooks (1962–) led the way with his 1991 album Ropin’ the Wind, which shot to the top of both pop and country charts. Steering away from the hillbilly sounds of country music past, Brooks and such stars as Faith Hill (1967–), Shania Twain (1965–), and the teenaged LeAnn Rimes (1982–) melded pop and country and won millions of listeners. Alternative rock was a grab-bag term used to refer to a range of bands whose music borrowed from rock and roll but was angrier, edgier, more electronic, or just somehow different. Alternative musical promoters sought to tap the spirit of 1960s music festivals with their traveling shows called Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair, the latter featuring only female performers. Nirvana, led by Kurt Cobain (1967–1994), created a substyle called grunge that was briefly quite popular. Several performers hit it big with the teen audience in this decade. *NSYNC, New Kids on the Block, and Backstreet Boys were the most popular of several “boy bands.” But the teen sensation of the decade was eighteen-year-old Britney Spears (1981–), whose 1999 album . . . Baby One More Time made the former Mouseketeer a major star. 1251

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Alternative Country Music To a growing number of people, mainstream country music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3)—the kind heard on most country radio stations—had grown very stale by the late 1980s. The music industry produced big stars and big hits with this music, but to many people, country music had lost its edge; it was now dull and predictable. Alternative country music emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s to challenge this mainstream music. It did so by combining older forms of country music—honky tonk, western swing, rockabilly, and even bluegrass (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3)—with the edge and attitude of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), particularly punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) rock. By doing this, alternative country musicians sought to recapture the spirit and originality of old country music, updated with a touch of rock and roll for the 1990s and beyond. The origins of alternative country music actually date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s when musician Gram Parsons (1946–1973) helped forge a country-rock sound in such bands as the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Parsons’s experiments influenced a whole generation of alternative country musicians. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band bridged the gap between its generation and older stars of country music from the 1940s such as Roy Acuff (1903–1992) in its important album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. Also in the 1970s, more established country artists such as George Jones (1931–), Merle Haggard (1937–), and Willie Nelson (1933–), increasingly forgotten by mainstream country radio, continued to create their unique sounds as part of an “outlaw” country tradition.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, alternative country took off in a number of directions. There were harder-edged “cow-punk” bands such as Jason and the Scorchers and the Mekons who blended country and punk rock. There were country-rock groups such as Uncle Tupelo and its offshoots Wilco and Son Volt. This period also saw the rise of important artists with unique sounds that did not fit into mainstream country music, artists such as Lyle Lovett (1957–), Steve Earle (1955–), Lucinda Williams (1953–), Gillian Welch (1968–), the Jayhawks, BR549, and many others. In 1995, a magazine devoted to this music, No Depression, began publication and acted as an important source of information about this developing style.

Alternative country music has served an important role. It keeps one of the United States’ most important musical traditions both grounded in its roots and always heading into the future in search of new sounds. As a style of music, it has produced some of the most unique voices in American music. —Timothy Berg

For More Information Alden, Grant, and Peter Blackstock, eds. No Depression: An Introduction to Alternative Country Music, Whatever That Is. Nashville: Dowling Press, 1998. Goodman, David. Modern Twang: An Alternative Country Music Guide and Directory. Nashville: Dowling Press, 1999. Kingsbury, Paul, ed. The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to the Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. No Depression: The Alternative Country (Whatever That Is) Bimonthly. http://www. nodepression.net (accessed April 1, 2002).

Alternative Rock Alternative rock music, also known as “indie rock” or “postpunk,” grew out of the punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) and new-wave music movements of the 1970s. In the 1980s, bands like the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, the Smiths, and the Cure came to embody the alternative style. In the 1990s, a new generation took up the alternative banner, as artists like Nirvana (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) and R.E.M. took this independent, or indie, music mainstream and enjoyed enormous success. It is hard to say where punk ended and “alternative” began, or even to come up with a precise definition for alternative rock. A few of the unique characteristics of alternative are its unease with mainstream values and musical styles, its emphasis on its musicians’ nonconformity in personal habits and dress, and its adoption of a “do-it-yourself” approach to making, recording, and distributing music. Alternative rockers rarely showed the

Jeff Tweedy, singer and guitarist for the bands Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, two of the many bands in the 1990s that incorporated rock and country music. Photograph by Ken Settle. Reproduced by permission.

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anger and hostility of their punk rock predecessors. Performers like the Smiths’ Morrissey (1959–) and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe (1960–) preferred to present an attitude of brashness and detached irony rather than to smash guitars and sing politically charged lyrics. Even more raucous artists like the Replacements tended to turn their anger inward, in self-absorbed songs like “Unsatisfied” or the alt-rock standard “I Will Dare.” For most of the 1980s, alternative rock remained safely under the radar of the mainstream record-buying public. A few groups, like Ireland’s U2, rose from the “college radio” underground to enjoy major label success, but the steady cultlike popularity of groups like the Smiths and the Cure was much more typical. That all changed in 1991, when the Seattle, Washington, trio Nirvana scored a massive worldwide hit with its song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and the album Nevermind. Their success ushered in the era of “grunge” (see entry under 1990s— Music in volume 5) rock, a form of alternative that also incorporated elements of the classic rock of artists like Neil Young (1945–) and Led Zeppelin (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4). Other 1990s alternative performers, like Pearl Jam, soon jumped on the bandwagon, and even 1980s veterans like R.E.M. saw their record sales soar. By the middle of the 1990s, alternative had become mainstream. Critics accused the artists of selling out, and many longtime fans grew alienated from the music. Nirvana’s lead vocalist Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) seemed to acknowledge these contradictions by committing suicide in 1994—an event that many consider the death knell of alternative rock. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information

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Alternative Rock Review. http://www.entertainment.inuk.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. New York: Doubleday, 1993. McNeil, Legs, and Gillian McCain, eds. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. New York: Penguin, 1997. Reisfeld, Randi. This Is the Sound: The Best of Alternative Rock. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996. Schinder, Scott. Rolling Stone’s Alt Rock-a-rama. New York: Delta, 1996. Strong, Martin. The Great Alternative and Indie Discography. Edinburgh, Scotland: Canongate, 2000. Thompson, Dave. Alternative Rock. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 2000.

—Chris Routledge

For More Information McCullers, Michael, and Mike Myers. Austin Powers: How to Be an International Man of Mystery. New York: Boulevard Books, 1997. Official Austin Powers Website. http://www.austinpowers.com (accessed April 4, 2002).

Forrest Gump

phrases from the movie and even wear the costumes. Because of Austin Powers, in the late 1990s, things became “groovy” and “smashing” again for the first time in thirty years.

Forrest Gump Winner of six Academy Awards in 1994, including Best Picture and Best Director, Forrest Gump is a good-natured spin through late twentieth-century America. In an Oscar-winning role, Tom Hanks (1956–) plays Forrest Gump, a simple-minded hero with talents for running and catching shrimp. Appearing after a period of economic gloom at the start of the first term of the Clinton presidency (1993–97), Forrest Gump carried the uplifting message to “put the past behind you and move on.” It must have been what audiences wanted to hear. The film grossed over $636 million at the box office. Gump begins his life in Alabama. A sickly child in leg braces with a low intelligence quotient (IQ) of 75, his future seems bleak. He lives his life by a series of sayings from his mother, and the words “As my Mama always said” make up a large part of the script. Gump’s down-home wisdom leads him to make a fortune as a shrimp fisherman and give a half million dollars away. He becomes a hero fighting in the Vietnam War (1954–75) and campaigns for civil rights. It even turns out that Elvis Presley (1935–1977; see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) learned his hip-swiveling dance from watching Forrest Gump walk with his crippled legs. Despite its sentimental side, the picture is not all filmed like a piece of Americana in soft focus. Gump’s experiences in Vietnam are realistically nasty. His best friend dies and he is unable to save “Lieutenant Dan” from losing his legs. Hanks’s performance as the innocent Gump is the film’s most impressive feature. He is bullied, cheated, and misused, yet he manages to maintain his dignity. Gump’s view that “Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get” is borne out by his meetings

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Grunge “Grungy” is a slang word that means dirty, old, and beat-up. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the word became “grunge” and was used to describe a new kind of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music and style of dress that was emerging in Seattle, Washington. The term “grunge” was originally used to describe the loud, jarring electric guitar (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) of rock bands such as Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, because their guitar was fuzzy and raw, not “clean” and clear. However, the word was soon used to describe the shaggy hair, ragged jeans, thrift-shop flannel shirts, and combat boots worn by the musicians and their fans. It also came to be used to describe a general attitude toward life. Combining some of the features of heavy-metal (see entry under 1980s— Music in volume 5) music and punk (see entry under 1970s— Music in volume 4) rock, grunge music contrasts a loud, driving rock sound with deeply personal, often sad and protesting, words. Rebellious and indifferent, angry and depressed, harsh and vulnerable, grunge represented many of the contradictions in the lives and attitudes of the young, mostly white, members of “Generation X” (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), the teenagers of the 1990s. Like the protest music of the 1960s, the psychedelic rock of the 1970s, and the punk rock of the 1980s, grunge music came out of teenage disenchantment with the world of their parents’ generation. Both grunge music and grunge style began by rejecting the shallow values associated with consumerism and commercialism, like buying brand-name clothes. The music is also characterized by anger, loneliness, and drug use, particularly heroin, whose depressive and addictive effects seemed to go well with the hopelessness and sadness expressed in much grunge music. Grunge seemed forbidden and dangerous, and its popularity spread quickly.

Chris Cornell, lead singer of the band Soundgarden, was an influential songwriter in grunge music. Photograph by Ken Settle. Reproduced by permission.

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Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair

Because of its anticommercialism, the success of grunge seemed by definition to bring about its end. National record labels began to produce grunge bands like Nirvana (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) and Pearl Jam. Fashion designers began to sell expensive versions of the tattered thriftshop grunge clothes. Even the spaced-out, wasted look of the heroin addict was imitated by fashion models. In 1994, Kurt Cobain (1967–1994), lead singer for the most nationally successful grunge group, Nirvana, shot himself in his new, expensive Seattle home, in part because he could not cope with becoming one of the successful rich people he had criticized in his songs. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Azerrad, Michael. “Grunge City.” Rolling Stone (No. 628, April 16, 1992): pp. 43–46. Fish, Duane R. “Ripped Jeans and Faded Flannel: Grunge, Youth, and Communities of Alienation.” Popular Music and Society (Vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 1995): pp. 87–103. Kennedy, Dana, and Benjamin Svetkey. “Reality Bites: Suicide of Grunge Rock Star Kurt Cobain.” Entertainment Weekly (No. 219, April 22, 1994): pp. 16–26. Lowry, Rich. “Our Hero, Heroin.” National Review (Vol. 48, no. 20, October 28, 1996): p. 75. The Ultimate Grunge Page: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Seattle Music. http://seattle.hypermart.net (accessed April 4, 2002).

Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair The Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair rock-music festivals, which toured the United States in the 1990s, revived the spirit of the most famous rock festival, 1969’s Woodstock (see entry under 1960s—Music in volume 4) festival, for a new generation of fans. These touring festivals appealed to fans because they offered the opportunity to hear many different music groups perform during one period of time. The festivals brought thousands of fans together for several days in a small community that included food booths, games, rides, displays, and side shows featuring amateur performers.

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Lollapalooza was founded in 1991 by Perry Farrell (1959–), a singer in the alternative rock (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) bands Porno for Pyros and Jane’s Addiction. Far-

rell wanted to create a forum where a diverse group of alternative bands could reach audiences nationwide. Prompted more by his enthusiasm for music than by desire for profit, Farrell was as surprised as his critics when the first Lollapalooza festival was hugely successful, drawing over six hundred thousand fans in twenty-one cities through the summer. The next years were equally successful, as musicians like Pearl Jam, IceT (1959–), Soundgarden, and Sinead O’Connor (1966–) performed on Lollapalooza stages. In 1996, Farrell left the festival, charging that it had become too commercial. That year, the festival headliner was the heavy metal (see entry under 1980s— Music in volume 5) group Metallica. The festival lost much of its diversity, booking mostly white male bands, and the 1996 and 1997 festivals were much less successful. In 1998, the festival was canceled and did not resume. When singer Sarah McLachlan (1968–) could not convince her managers to book her on tour with other women’s groups, she decided to found an all-women’s touring festival. Musicindustry heads were sure that Lilith Fair would not succeed, but its first season in the summer of 1997 was very successful.

A woman surfs, or is carried above the crowd, at a Lollapalooza concert. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Playing in thirty-seven cities across the country, Lilith Fair was named the top festival tour for 1997, winning over much more established festivals like Lollapalooza. McLachlan booked young female acts with a feminist consciousness, such as Tracy Chapman (1964–), Suzanne Vega (1959–), Jewel (1974–), and the Indigo Girls, along with veterans like Emmylou Harris (1947–) and Bonnie Raitt (1949–). In 1998, the tour expanded to forty–seven cities. In 1999, after three years of festivals, McLachlan married and withdrew from organizing, and Lilith Fair too stopped. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Ali, Lorraine. “Backstage at Lilith.” Rolling Stone (September 4, 1997): pp. 28–33. Fricke, David. “Lollapalooza.” Rolling Stone (September 19, 1991): pp. 9–13. Lilith Fair 1999. http://www.lilithfair.com/ (accessed April 8, 2002). Neely, Kim. “Lollapalooza ’92.” Rolling Stone (September 17, 1992): pp. 60–65. Online Diaries: The Lollapalooza ’95 Tour Journals of Beck, Courtney Love, Stephen Malkmus, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Mike Watt, David Yow. New York: Soft Skull Press, 1996.

Nirvana Nirvana was one of the most popular and influential rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) bands of the 1990s. Pioneers of the “grunge” (see entry under 1990s—Music in volume 5) style, the Seattle, Washington–based trio helped bring about a mini-revolution in music and fashion, before the tragic suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) in 1994 brought an abrupt end to the band’s career. Formed in 1987, Nirvana consisted of Cobain on lead guitar and vocals, Chris Novoselic (1965–) on bass guitar, and Dave Grohl (1969–) on drums. Their 1989 debut album Bleach attracted the attention of rock critics, but it was the 1991 followup Nevermind that made them into superstars. The single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a smash hit. The group’s heavy sound and ragged flannel shirts quickly caught fire with teenagers worldwide. After a 1993 album, In Utero, drug use and depression finally caught up with the sensitive Cobain. He shot himself to death on April 4, 1994, leaving behind his widow, Courtney Love (1964–), a baby daughter, and millions of grieving fans. 1258

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—Robert E. Schnakenberg

Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. Cross, Charles R. Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. New York: Hyperion, 2001. The Internet Nirvana Fan Club. http://www.nirvanaclub.com/ (accessed April 8, 2002). Wall, Mick. Nirvana: The Legacy. London: Omnibus Press, 1996.

Raves

For More Information

Raves Raves, all-night dance parties often held in secret locations, have come to be identified with youth of the 1990s and 2000s in much the same way that the love-ins of hippies (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) were identified with youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although police, parents, and the media tend to focus on the drugs and sex that are often freely available at raves, ravers defend their gatherings as safe and loving spaces where they can be accepted for who they are while immersed in the driving beat of electronic music. The rave scene began in Britain in the late 1980s. The dance parties soon spread among youth around the world, arriving in the United States in 1990. Early raves were traditionally onetime events in garages and warehouses, loosely organized without official permits or media advertising. News of a rave was spread by word of mouth and by handmade flyers. This underground status drew many rebellious young people to the rave scene. By 2000, however, raves had become more legitimate, as nightclubs such as Twylo in New York began to create a rave atmosphere. Those too young to enter the nightclubs, however, continued to find the independent raves the best place to party. The primary elements of rave culture are sex, drugs, and music. Drugs, from the hallucinogenic LSD and Ecstasy (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), to marijuana (see entry under 1960s—The Way We Lived in volume 4), are often available for sale at raves. The widespread drug use at raves has led some to nickname ravers “techno-hippies.” Ravers defend raves as safe places for experimentation, but there have been deaths and overdoses at raves, fueling parental opposition to the parties. Open sexuality at raves has also drawn media attention. In the strobe-lit dark of raves, sexual experimentation of all types is common. The open and

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Raves Raves became popular underground clubs filled with music, dancing, and drugs. Photograph by Tony Medley. S.I.N./Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

accepting attitude of ravers has drawn many gay and lesbian youth to the rave scene. Although ravers may appreciate the unlawful atmosphere of their parties, most say that the main attraction of raves is the music, and that the real stars of raves are the deejays, or disc jockeys (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3). Raves are almost always characterized by the loud, intense beat of electronic music. The many different types of rave music—with names like “house,” “jungle,” “garage,” and “trance”—are generally lumped under the name “electronica.” Rave music is played by musicians like Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, and Moby (1965–). In 1999 and 2000, several movies documenting rave culture were released, including Groove (2000), Better Living Through Circuitry (2000), Human Traffic (1999), and Rise (1999). —Tina Gianoulis

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Denizet-Lewis, Benoit. “Riding the Rave Scene.” The Advocate (January 18, 2000): pp. 60–63.

Eliscu, Jenny. “The War on Raves.” Rolling Stone (May 24, 2001): pp. 21–23. Farley, Christopher John. “Rave New World.” Time (June 5, 2000): pp. 70–73. Hoeckel, Summer Forest, Joel T. Jordan, and Jason Jordan. Searching for the Perfect Beat. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1999. Hyperreal. http://www.hyperreal.org (accessed April 1, 2002). Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Boston: Little, Brown, 1998.

Britney Spears (1981–) Sultry Britney Spears is a singer and dancer—and a teen icon (teen symbol) and pop-music princess. Born in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing at local dances and in church choirs. After auditioning for The Disney Channel’s updated version of the old Mickey Mouse Club (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) when she was eight and being turned down because of her age, she secured an agent, studied dance and music in New York, and appeared on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) commercials and in Off-Broadway plays. Starting at age eleven, she spent two years as a regular on The Mickey Mouse Club, and at fifteen began developing her solo singing career. Soon, she was a worldwide phenomenon. Her smash-hit debut album, Baby One More Time, came out in 1999. That year, she earned two Grammy Award nominations and four MTV Europe Awards, for Best Pop Act, Best Female Performer, Best Breakthrough Act, and Best Song.

Pop diva Britney Spears became one of music’s most successful females in the 1990s. AFP/Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

Spears’s rise has not come without contradictions. On one level, she has a self-proclaimed good-girl image. On another level, her handlers have allowed her to be marketed not only as a pop singer but also as a scantily clad sex object. For example, she has appeared in a number of provocative Pepsi-Cola advertisements. —Rob Edelman

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For More Information Britney Spears. http://www.britneyspears.com (accessed April 1, 2002). Hurley, Joanna. Britney. New York: Scholastic, 2000. Peters, Beth. True Brit: The Story of Singing Sensation Britney Spears. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999. Spears, Britney, and Lynne Spears. Britney Spears’ Heart to Heart. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.

Tejano Music Tejano is the Spanish word for “Texan,” and Tejano music contains all the flavors of the borderland between the United States and Mexico. Like those who live at the border of two cultures, the music is never quite one thing or the other but is constantly combining elements of both, creating a new and growing culture of its own. Tejano music has its roots in a music called conjunto (Spanish for “together”) that evolved in the early 1900s when immigrants from Germany and Czechoslovakia found their way to new homes in south Texas. They brought with them the music of their homelands, energetic polka rhythms played on accordions. This music combined with Spanish lyrics and the complex bass of the bajo sexto, a twelve-string Mexican guitar, to create a fusion of styles that appealed to people of many cultures. Famous 1930s conjunto musician Narciso Martinez (1911–1992) was popular not only with audiences from his native south Texas but also with French-speaking Mississippidelta Cajuns, whom he performed for under the name Louisiana Pete. He also drew in audiences of Polish immigrants, performing with the Polski Kwartet.

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Conjunto remained largely a regional music until the 1940s, when World War II (1939–45) caused many people to relocate from rural areas to cities. Wherever they went, the Tejanos took their music. When traditional conjunto blended with the bigband music of the 1930s and 1940s, it became a new genre, or type, of music called Tejano. The new Tejano music continued to pick up influences over the decades, adding elements of country music, rhythm and blues (R&B; see these entries under 1940s—Music in volume 3), rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3), and rap (see entry under 1980s— Music in volume 5) to the original Latin-polka beat. In this way, Tejano reflects the Latino experience in the United States, a

The popularity of Tejano music got a boost in the 1990s with the huge success of such stars as Emilio Navaira and Selena (1971–1995). (Selena was murdered by a fan in 1995, ending her promising career.) Rather than only being famous among Tejano fans, both stars successfully “crossed over” into other genres. It reveals a lot about Tejano’s many sides that Selena crossed over into pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3), whereas Navaira has developed a successful career as a country-music singer.

Tejano Music

constant blending of the traditional with the modern, as well as the joining of many cultures to create something uniquely American.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Galan, Hector, producer and director. Songs of the Homeland (video). Austin, TX: Galan Productions, 1995. Jones, Veda Boyd. Selena. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Leland, John. “Born on the Border: Tejano Music.” Newsweek (October 23, 1995): pp. 80–85. q-productions.com: Selena. http://www.q-productions.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Romero, Maritza. Selena Perez: Queen of Tejano Music. New York: PowerKids Press, 1997. San Miguel, Guadalupe. “The Rise of Recorded Tejano Music in the Post–World War II Years, 1946–1964.” Journal of American Ethnic History (Vol. 19, Fall 1999): pp. 26–30. Selena (film). Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 1997. Wheeler, Jill C. Selena: The Queen of Tejano. Edina, MN: Abdo and Daughters, 1996.

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1990s Print Culture Up until the 1990s, Americans read their newspapers, magazines, and novels the way they always had: on paper. In the 1990s, the growing popularity of books on tape and the Internet revolution brought change to American print culture. Recorded books had been around for some time, but they grew in popularity during the decade. As prices dropped, more and more Americans began to listen to the latest books on tape in their cars or on personal cassette players. Another major change in print culture was the emergence of the “e-book” and other forms of electronic print media. Book publishers sought to increase their profits by offering some titles electronically. Readers could download the book on to a personal computer or one of several new electronic devices designed just for e-books (if one could stand the less-thanperfect image quality). Magazine and newspaper publishers produced electronic versions of their periodicals online, and users could access the Web sites either free or for a small charge. All the major news outlets offered news via the Web, and Webonly magazines like Salon.com and Slate.com led the way in this new “print” media. Despite the popularity of these new ways of accessing written information, the majority of Americans stuck with the tried and true popular magazines, newspapers, and best-sellers, that they had always loved. Some familiar names remained at the top of the best-seller lists, including Stephen King (1947–), Danielle Steel (1947–), Tom Clancy (1947–), and John Grisham (1955–). Michael Crichton (1942–) was the biggest crossover hit of the decade. Many of his best-selling novels quickly became blockbuster films, including one of the most spectacular of the decade, Jurassic Park. Late in the decade, a British novelist named J. K. Rowling (1965–) debuted a book called Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone that quickly became a sensation in the United States and around the world. While many praised the book for encouraging reading among young people, others tried to ban it for promoting witchcraft. The hubbub over the

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book made it the publishing sensation of the late 1990s, and Rowling followed her first book with several successful sequels.

Harry Potter Series Harry Potter novels are the literary phenomenon of the late 1990s. The first in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K.) appeared in 1997. Fewer than four years later, over sixty-six million copies of the first four books had been sold. The series is set to run to seven books, one for each year Harry spends at the wizarding school called Hogwarts. Harry Potter novels have been credited with starting a boom in children’s reading, but adults read them, too. The books are a common sight among rail and bus commuters. They even come in different dust jackets to appeal to readers of different ages. The Harry Potter series is the work of British author J. K. Rowling (1965–), who claims to have invented the boy wizard and Hogwarts school on a train journey between Manchester and London. The success of the Harry Potter series has made Rowling one of the best-paid writers of the 1990s. In the space of a few years, she has been transformed from a low-income single mother into an internationally famous multimillionaire author. In the world of Harry Potter, people are divided into two groups, muggles and wizards. Muggles are ordinary people. They have no magical powers and include the boring Dursleys, who take in the infant Harry after he becomes an orphan. Far more interesting than muggles are the wizards. Rowling’s books celebrate misfits and outsiders, and Harry is special, even among wizards. As a baby, he survived an attack by Lord Voldemort, a wizard so evil other wizards will not utter his name and refer to him only as “He Who Must Not Be Named.” Lord Voldemort’s magic killed Harry’s parents but left him with only a lightningshaped scar on his forehead. For this reason Harry is a celebrity in the wizarding world, but his fame also means he is the target for Voldemort’s wicked plans. Rowling has said that her stories will become darker as Harry ages, promising still more dangerous adventures in his battle with He Who Must Not Be Named.

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From age eleven, Harry attends the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he takes fun-sounding lessons

like “Potions,” “Care of Magical Creatures,” “Defense Against the Dark Arts,” and “History of Magic.” But like any school, what happens outside of lessons is usually much more exciting. Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger make secret trips to see Hagrid, the school’s good-natured giant groundsman. They visit the wizard town of Hogsmeade and sneak around the corridors of Hogwarts hidden under Harry’s invisibility cloak. Hogwarts itself is a magical castle, complete with ghosts such as Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron. Best of all is the game of Quidditch. The rules of Quidditch are almost as complicated as those of cricket, a sport played at muggle schools in England. Quidditch is exciting and dangerous. It involves flying on broomsticks and two teams who risk life and limb to catch the elusive flying ball, the Snitch. Harry of course is a fine player. The school is divided into “houses,” and each has a Quidditch team. Harry’s house is Gryffindor, and he is Gryffindor’s ace “seeker” player who goes after the Snitch. Despite their success, the Harry Potter novels have attracted controversy. An American author, Nancy K. Stouffer (1951–), has claimed similarities between Rowling’s work and her 1984 book The Legend of Muggles, featuring Larry Potter. Meanwhile, some religious groups have argued that Rowling’s novels encourage an unhealthy interest in witchcraft and the occult. Harry Potter fans have not always been treated well by the media companies that now control their hero. Warner Brothers, makers of the 2001 film of the first Harry Potter novel, have e-mailed owners of Harry Potter fan Web sites to persuade them to give up their domain names. In 2002, the Harry Potter phenomenon showed no sign of stopping. The books are at the center of a merchandising industry that includes textbooks on the subjects Harry studies at

This Harry Potter figure is one example of the huge amount of merchandise produced to promote the Harry Potter books and movies. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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school and the rules of Quidditch. It is even possible to buy a “Nimbus 2000” broomstick, though the buyer would have to be a wizard to make it fly. Over Christmas 2000, a major British national radio station devoted its entire Boxing Day (December 26) schedule to a reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by actor Stephen Fry (1957–). Whatever their weaknesses, Rowling’s novels have managed to hold their own against distractions such as games consoles, teen pop stars, and the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). Each new installment in the series brings a media frenzy and a wave of excitement from the fans. Like the “Narnia” books and the Nancy Drew series (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), the adventures of Harry Potter have enriched the lives of a generation of children and their parents. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Planet Potter. http://www.wonderfluff.btinternet.co.uk (accessed on April 2, 2002). Routledge, Christopher. “Harry Potter and the Mystery of Ordinary Life.” In Mystery in Children’s Literature: From the Rational to the Supernatural. Edited by Adrienne E. Gavin and Christopher Routledge. London and New York: Palgrave, 2001. Scamander, Newt (J. K. Rowling). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. New York: Arthur A. Levine, 2001. Shapiro, Marc. J. K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter. London: Griffin, 2000. Whisp, Kennilworthy (J. K. Rowling). Quidditch Through the Ages. New York: Arthur A. Levine, 2001. Zipes, Jack. Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children’s Literature, From Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. London: Routledge, 2000.

Jurassic Park

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In the popular 1990 novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1942–), Jurassic Park is the name given to a wondrous playground constructed on an island off the coast of South America. Using genetic engineering, scientists on the island have cloned dinosaurs from ancient DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) contained in fossils. Their efforts to control the animals go horribly wrong, however, and the dinosaurs break loose and terrorize visitors to the park. The park contains a Tyrannosaurus rex, a huge and dangerous predator, but the real “villains” among the dinosaurs are the much smaller Velociraptors (pro-

The film Jurassic Park, based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, brought extinct dinosaurs back to life with cutting-edge special effects. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

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nounced va-LOSS-ah-RAP-tors), which are quick, intelligent, and hunt in packs. The book fascinated readers with its exploration of what happens when scientists meddle with the creation of life. In this respect, the story echoed the themes of the classic tale of Frankenstein (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Steven Spielberg (1946–) directed the 1993 film of the novel, which was a monster hit. The cast included Richard Attenborough (1923–), Laura Dern (1967–), Jeff Goldblum (1952–), and Sam Neill (1947–), but the real stars were the dinosaurs. Animatronic creatures and cutting-edge computer animation combined to make the ancient reptiles look utterly realistic and terribly frightening. The film earned an Oscar for Special Effects. For the first time in his career, Crichton wrote a sequel to one of his books. The Lost World (1995) concerns a scientific expedition that gets into trouble on another South American island. The film version of The Lost World was released in 1997, again directed by Spielberg, and again with the special effects proving to be the film’s true stars. A third movie, Jurassic Park III, was released in 2001 without the involvement of either Crichton or Spielberg. With this installment, Jurassic Park threatened to become a regular feature of the summer movie scene, for audiences seem not to have lost their appetite for imagining what it would be like for dinosaurs to run amok in the modern world. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Crichton, Michael. Lost World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. DeSalle, Rob. The Science of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, or How To Build a Dinosaur. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Duncan, Jody, and Don Shay. The Making of the Lost World, Jurassic Park. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997. Jurassic Park. http://www.jurassicpark.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Larson, Wendy. The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1993.

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1990s Sports and Games The 1990s boasted some of the greatest athletes and athletic achievements of the century, and saw a real flowering in women’s sports. Leading the way was the man who many considered to be the best athlete of the century: Michael Jordan (1963—). Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in the decade, dominating the league the way no team had done in thirty years. Tiger Woods (1975—) became golf’s most dominating player since Jack Nicklaus (1940–) and an admirable role model for minority athletes who had once been banned from the sport. Two of major league baseball’s most hallowed records also fell in the decade. Mark McGwire (1963–) and Sammy Sosa (1968–) engaged in a summer-long home run derby that ended with McGwire setting a new record for home runs in a single season with seventy runs. Cal Ripken Jr. (1960–) broke the fifty-sixyear-old record for consecutive games played set by Lou Gehrig (1903–1941) by appearing in his 2,131st game in 1995. Also in baseball, two teams dominated the decade: the Atlanta Braves in the National League, and the New York Yankees in the American League. Women made a big splash in sports in the 1990s. The U.S. women’s soccer team won the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 and then won it again in 1999. In the latter game, American player Brandi Chastain (1968–) shot the game-winning penalty kick, ripped off her jersey (revealing a black sports bra), and raised her fists in victory. The image was seen everywhere as a signal that women’s sports had arrived. Of course the soccer team had help. American gymnasts won the team gold at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, and American women hockey players won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. A women’s professional basketball league, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), was founded in 1997 and continued to flourish in the 2000s. Finally, two African American sisters, Venus Williams (1980–) and Serena Williams (1981–), showed signs of dominating the world of tennis—and being media stars at the same time.

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An interesting sidelight to the major professional sports in the 1990s was the emergence of a new kind of sport called “extreme sports.” Pioneered by Generation X thrill seekers, extreme sports were either brand new ideas—like bungee jumping—or variations on old sports—like street luge or sky surfing. Cable-TV sports network ESPN recognized these sports by broadcasting the X Games beginning in 1995 as a kind of alternative Olympics. By 1998, snowboarding had become an Olympic sport, and other sports hoped to gain similar recognition.

Extreme Sports During the last decades of the twentieth century, extreme sports—also called “adventure” or “action” sports—increased steadily in popularity. Some extreme sports saw a doubling of participants between 1999 and 2000 alone. Especially popular with teens and young adults, extreme sports offer a simple and exhilarating physical challenge to those who have grown up in a technological society filled with complex contradictions. Often dangerous and sometimes even illegal, they are viewed by many as a rebellious challenge to authority. Americans have always appreciated the skill and bravery of the daredevil. Sam Patch (1807–1829), who thrilled early nineteenth-century audiences by jumping into large waterfalls, died in the Genesee Falls in New York, in 1829. In the 1960s and 1970s, motorcycle stunt-driver Evel Knievel (1938–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) became famous for jumping his bike over rows of buses, trucks, rattlesnakes, and shark tanks. Extreme sports have brought these daredevil stunts off the stage and into the lives of millions of athletes looking for risk, challenge, and the adrenaline rush of success.

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Extreme athletes continually seek to increase the level of speed, risk, and thrill of their sport. Many extreme sports were invented or modified by their participants. Surfing, for example, the skill first applied to riding a wooden board on ocean waves, has moved to the streets, the snow, and the air in the extreme sports of skateboarding, snowboarding, and sky surfing. Sky diving was not risky enough for some athletes, so they created paragliding and the highly dangerous BASE jumping (Buildings, Antennas, Spans, Earth jumping), in which participants leap from skyscrapers (see entry under 1930s—The Way

Extreme Sports Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, on his way to winning a gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Extreme sports have soared in popularity and some, like snowboarding, have even become Olympic events. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

We Lived in volume 2), cliffs, and bridges, holding their parachute in their hands. Motorcyclists invented freestyle motocross, and young bicyclists who were not old enough to ride motorcycles created BMX stunt riding (BMX stands for bicycle motocross). Cross-country running became extreme marathons, where participants race for a hundred miles or more or run up mountains. Although most extreme athletes play their sports to challenge their own limits and reach their own goals, corporate America has been quick to cash in on the popularity of action sports. Advertisers from sports-equipment manufacturers to Mountain Dew soft-drink makers to milk producers have used extreme athletes as spokespeople. In 1995, cable network ESPN’s vice president of programming, Ron Semiao, created the first national tournament of extreme sports, the X Games, featuring such sports as skateboarding, speed climbing, and street luge (high-speed sledding through city streets). The X Games have become an annual event, televised on ABC as well as ESPN and ESPN2. By the turn of the century, ESPN had plans to

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expand the games internationally. Extreme sports have soared in popularity and some, like snowboarding, have even become events at the Olympics (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Bower, Joe. “Going Over the Top.” Women’s Sports and Fitness (October 1995): pp. 21–24. Expn. http://expn.go.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Gaines, Ann. The Composite Guide to Extreme Sports. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Hamilton, Kendall. “Outer Limits.” Newsweek (June 19, 1995): pp. 78–82. “Life on the Edge: Is Everyday Life Too Dull? Why Else Would Americans Seek Risk as Never Before?” Time (September 6, 1999). Pope, S., and Robert E. Rinehart. Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2002. Tomlinson, Joe. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports. London: Carlton, 1996.

Michael Jordan (1963–) Michael Jordan’s celebrity has transcended the sport that he became famous for playing and in which he was so magically adept. Not only was he the most important basketball player of his era but he remains the most celebrated hoops star in history and one of the most famous athletes of all times. After attending the University of North Carolina, he starred for the Chicago Bulls from 1984 through 1999, leading them to six National Basketball Association (NBA; see entry under 1940s—Sports and Games in volume 3) championships and winning five Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards. Jordan is fabled as much for his graceful leaping ability, allaround physical dexterity, sharpness and intelligence, and fierce desire to win as for any of his scoring titles or MVP trophies. Additionally, in an era in which athletes were becoming increasingly controversial in the public eye for their greed and uncouth behavior, Jordan has been a model of dignity.

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Like Babe Ruth (1895–1948; see entry under 1910s—Sports and Games in volume 1) and Muhammad Ali (1942–; see entry under 1960s—Sports and Games in volume 4) before him, Jordan’s fame has reached beyond the boundaries of athletics. Off

Jordan has retired twice from the NBA, only to return to the court each time. In 1993, he left basketball to try his hand at professional baseball (see entry under 1900s—Sports and Games in volume 1). His baseball career in the Chicago White Sox’ minor league system was a flop; he returned to the Bulls in 1995. In 1999, he retired again. A year later, he became part owner of the Washington Wizards, then returned as a Wizards player for the 2001–2002 season. Player or not, Jordan remains a worldclass figure, just as celebrated abroad as in his native country.

Tiger Woods

the court, he has appeared in countless television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) ads and starred in a movie, Space Jam (1996), in which he cavorted with such beloved animated characters as Bugs Bunny (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3), Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.

—Rob Edelman

For More Information Aaseng, Nathan. Sports Great Michael Jordan. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1997. Jordan, Michael. For the Love of the Game: My Story. New York: Crown Publishers, 1998. Jordan, Michael. I Can’t Accept Not Trying: Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Jordan, Michael. Rare Air: Michael on Michael. San Francisco: Collins Publishers, 1993. Lipsyte, Robert. Michael Jordan: A Life Above the Rim. New York: HarperTrophy, 1994. Michael Jordan: Official Website. http://jordan.sportsline.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Space Jam (film). Warner Bros., 1996.

Tiger Woods (1975–) Many call Tiger Woods the most celebrated golfer who has ever lived. Remarkably, this designation pertains to a golfer in his mid-twenties. Woods’s multiracial background—his father is African American and his mother is a native of Thailand—has helped to destroy the perception that golf is an elitist, whitemen-only sport. When he was fifteen, Woods became the youngest golfer ever to win the U.S. Junior Amateur title. Then he was the first to earn three consecutive U.S. amateur titles. He turned professional in 1996, and the following year won his initial Masters

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golf tournament by twelve strokes, the greatest margin for victory in the competition’s history. He finished eighteen under par, and at age twenty-one he also was the youngest Masters champ ever. That year, Woods earned over $800,000 on the Professional Golf Association tour, playing in just eight tournaments, and Sports Illustrated (see entry under 1950s—Sports and Games in volume 3) named him its “Sportsman of the Year.” Other victories followed, but all were topped in the 2000–2001 season when Woods achieved the unprecedented by winning all four major golf titles: the U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA championship, and the Masters. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Strege, John. Tiger: A Biography of Tiger Woods. New York: Broadway Books, 1997. Tiger Woods: Official Site. http://www.tigerwoods.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Woods, Earl. Playing Through: Straight Talk on Hard Work, Big Dreams, and Adventures with Tiger. New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Woods, Earl. Training a Tiger: A Father’s Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

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1990s TV and Radio Although the number of cable channels and cable subscribers continued to climb in the 1990s, network TV actually made a resurgence. The networks grew in numbers, adding FOX, WB (Warner Bros.), and UPN (United Paramount Network) to the big three of ABC, CBS, and NBC. The networks also succeeded in offering a number of shows that Americans truly loved. NBC was the dominant network of the decade, and its “Must See TV” lineup included some of the favorite shows on TV. A comedy named Seinfeld (1990–98) was clearly the hit show of the decade. Appearing on Thursday nights on NBC, this show focused on the antics of stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld (1954–), playing himself, and his three self-absorbed friends. The joke went that the show was about nothing; in truth, the show captured perfectly the giddy, sometimes silly spirit of the 1990s. Joining Seinfeld in the “Must See TV” lineup were the hits shows Frasier (1993–), Friends (1994–), and the hospital drama ER (1994–). Another major network hit was ABC’s NYPD Blue (1993–), perhaps the most gritty police drama ever to air on TV. Several other shows showcased the talents of stand-up comedians: ABC’s Home Improvement (1991–99), starring Tim Allen (1953–); NBC’s Mad About You (1992–99), starring Paul Reiser (1957–); and CBS’s Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–), starring Ray Romano (1957–). Perhaps the most striking moment on network television came when Ellen DeGeneres (1958–), the star of the ABC sitcom Ellen (1994–98), revealed her homosexuality on the air in 1997. By the end of the decade, it was not at all uncommon to have homosexual characters on major programs, most notably on NBC’s hit comedy Will & Grace (1998–), where two of the three lead characters were gay. While the major networks generally stuck to the great middle ground of family entertainment, the cable channels and smaller networks pushed the envelope. The Simpsons (1989–) on FOX was perhaps the decade’s most interesting show, with its bizarre animated version of a dysfunctional American family. Even more twisted were MTV’s The Beavis and Butt-Head Show (1993–97) or Comedy Central’s South Park (1997–),

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whose crude humor and handling of controversial topics won both fans and critics. MTV’s Real World (1992–) offered a weekly glimpse into the lives of a band of twentysomething strangers thrown together in a house or apartment. Real World, along with FOX’s COPS (1989–), paved the way for the success of a range of “reality TV” shows that were popular late in the decade and into the 2000s; CBS’s Survivor (2000–) was the most successful of the genre. Even kids got something new to watch in the 1990s. Japanese animation, called anime, came to the United States first as Pokémon (1997–), a popular TV cartoon as well as a card game and line of toys. Other anime shows such as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z followed. PBS offered Barney and Friends (1992–), which showcased a large purple dinosaur, and a British import about Thomas the Tank Engine that appeared in an American version of the show called Shining Time Station (1990–93).

Ally McBeal The FOX television series Ally McBeal premiered in 1997 and ran until 2002. During the late 1990s, it gathered a strong audience of mostly young professional female viewers. Starring Calista Flockhart (1964–) in the title role, the show was set in the Boston, Massachusetts, law firm of Cage and Fish. Ally McBeal was among a team of dynamic young lawyers taking on cases too risky or too controversial for other firms to touch. Nevertheless, the real subject of the show was Ally and her worries about work, men, motherhood, and growing old. Ally McBeal enjoyed money, status, and designer clothes, but she longed for the simplicity of childhood.

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Ally McBeal was created by David E. Kelley (1956–), the producer responsible for hospital drama Chicago Hope (1994–2000) and the darker legal serial The Practice (1997–). Ally McBeal quickly became well known for its up-to-date take on young working women and the problems they faced. Ally’s respectable, well-paid career contrasted with her strange fantasy life. Using computer-generated images, Ally’s thoughts and fantasies appeared on screen. Her desire for motherhood took the form of dancing babies. People took on distorted and bizarre shapes according to what Ally thought of them. The show also

Ally McBeal The cast of the hit comedy Ally McBeal: (standing, left to right) Vonda Shepard, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Gil Bellows, Jane Krakowski, Greg Germann, Portia de Rossi, Peter MacNicol, and Lucy Liu; (seated) Calista Flockhart and Lisa Nicole Carson. The Kobal Collection/ George Lange/Aaron Rapoport/FOX-TV. Reproduced by permission.

poked fun at fashionable office life. There was a unisex bathroom where the lawyers and staff exchanged gossip. The firm specialized in fighting bizarre discrimination cases not for ethical reasons but because they paid well. The yuppie (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) dream of working life being just like college, but with more money, was gently mocked in every episode. Ally McBeal may have struck a chord with viewers when it first appeared, but many critics were less impressed. The show seemed to strike a blow for professional women everywhere, as the miniskirted women in the Cage and Fish office often seemed most interested in getting married and having children. Because Ally McBeal was seen as a role model for young women, critics worried that Flockhart’s stick-thin appearance might encourage eating disorders. As an attempt to represent the lives of professional women at the turn of the twenty-first century, Ally McBeal provided at best an incomplete picture. As a popular lightweight comedy of modern manners, the show was a huge success. —Chris Routledge

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For More Information Ally McBeal. http://www.allymcbeal.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Appelo, Tim. Ally McBeal: The Official Guide. New York: HarperPerennial, 1999. Levine, Josh. David E. Kelley: The Man Behind Ally McBeal. Toronto: E. C. W. Press, 1999.

Anime The Japanese word for “animation,” anime (pronounced ANNee-may) is a general term for any animated image or cartoon. It refers more specifically to the modern animation industry in Japan, with its prolific output of television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs, video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), and computer software. These products tend to feature strong fantasybased story lines that often reflect the escapist dreams of ordinary people. Observers have pointed out that the characters in Japanese anime are more closely related to their real-world fans than are the distant superheroes of American cartoons, who inhabit a universe that is removed from everyday experience. Popular anime series like Doraemon (1979–) and Ranma 1⁄2 (1989–) focus on the everyday lives of students and workers who live shadow lives alongside their normal existences. Anime was relatively unknown in the United States before the 1980s, though a notable exception was the popular Speed Racer (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) series of the 1960s. Anime has since become a popular source of entertainment. The Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) culture of the 1990s allowed fans around the world to play the latest anime games or view new images as soon as they were made available. Pokémon (1997–; see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), with its array of card collections, games, and videos, is the most popular anime-derived image among American fans. Since the late 1990s, several producers have been releasing English-language anime for the domestic film and video markets, including Miramax’s critically acclaimed Princess Mononoke (1997). Thousands of anime clubs have sprung up to share information and exchange releases, some of them pirated. 1280

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Japan has a centuries-old tradition of cartoonlike images, including caricatures and humorous drawings with sparse lines

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and stylized features. In the electronic age, anime producers got much of their material from contemporary Japanese comic books, or manga, which are written for adults as well as for children. Some of the adult-oriented manga have far more explicit descriptions of sex and violence than are common in the United States. Other manga evoke Disney (see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2) films with their romantic or picturesque situations. Japanese anime is also noted for its artful use of sound effects and for its ever present and sympathetic portrayal of technology, a style that is often downplayed in American cartoons. —Edward Moran

For More Information Harcoff, Pete. The Anime Critic. http://www.animecritic.com (accessed April 2, 2002). Kim, Michael. Japanese Animation (Anime) on the WWW. http://www. imsa.edu/~leda/anime (accessed April 2, 2002). Ledoux, Trish, ed. Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica, Anime & Manga Monthly (1992–97). San Francisco: Cadence Books, 1997. McCarthy, Helen. The Anime Movie Guide: Movie-by-Movie Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1983. London: Titan Books, 1996. Poitras, Gilles. The Anime Companion: What’s Japanese in Japanese Animation. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 1999. Poitras, Gilles. Anime Essentials: Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2001.

Barney and Friends Throughout the 1990s, a 6-foot, 4-inch talking purple dinosaur named Barney was both one of the most beloved and one of the most hated characters on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). Each day, the Public Broadcasting System (PBS; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) presented the half-hour program Barney and Friends, in which a stuffed toy dinosaur would come to life and interact with an ethnically diverse cast of young children. Episodes featured Barney and his pals singing, dancing (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1), telling stories, and learning how to get along. Later, two other dinosaurs named Baby Bop and BJ joined them. Barney became a cultural icon (symbol) for a generation of preschoolers even though many

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Barney and Friends Barney, a stuffed purple dinosaur, came to life to sing, dance, and play with his young friends. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

adults found the character to be sickeningly sweet and extremely annoying. Barney was created in 1988 by Sheryl Leach for a home video titled “Barney and the Backyard Gang.” Originally, she considered making the title character a bear but transformed him into a dinosaur when she noted the popularity of prehistoric creatures with children. The success of the video was noticed by PBS, which produced a television series featuring Barney beginning in 1992. Barney, who was played by David Joyner (1963–) and voiced by Bob West, was a cuddly playmate to whom young children could relate. A highlight of every episode occurred when Barney sang his theme song, “I Love You.” Soon, millions of preschoolers across the nation were singing Barney’s anthem (to the tune of “This Old Man”), which began: “I love you / You love me / We’re a happy family.” 1282

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Although millions of children adored Barney, many adults hated the character and the TV show. They mocked the pro-

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gram’s low production values, sappy sentimentality, and large amount of merchandising. Some complained that the “children’s program” was little more than a cleverly disguised commercial for a multitude of Barney products. In his Dictionary of Teleliteracy, David Bianculli conveyed the attitude of many parents when he wrote, “With our children, and our wallets, supporting this magenta monster so indiscriminately, it certainly gives us reason to be fearful of the fuchsia.” The animosity toward Barney grew so intense that he became a regular target for crude humor and ridicule on other TV shows and in comedy routines. However, Barney retained his appeal with America’s youth and even starred in his own film in 1998. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Barney and Friends. http://www.pbs.org/barney (accessed on April 2, 2002). Barney Online. http://www.barneyonline.com/index2.asp (accessed April 8, 2002). Bianculli, David. Dictionary of Teleliteracy. New York: Continuum, 1996. Phillips, Phil. Dinosaurs: The Bible, Barney, and Beyond. Lancaster, PA: Starburst, 1994.

Baywatch During the 1990s, Baywatch was one of the most popular and profitable syndicated programs throughout the world. (Syndicated programs are those sold to independent television stations.) With its mix of melodramatic plots, bikini-clad young women, and bare-chested young men, the series presented the California sun-and-surf lifestyle as it depicted the adventures of a team of lifeguards that patrolled the beaches around Los Angeles, California. Although it was criticized as “jiggle TV,” audiences in 145 countries embraced Baywatch and, at its peak, the program boasted more than a billion viewers. Baywatch focused on the relationships and rescues of a Southern California lifeguard unit led by Mitch Bucannon (David Hasselhoff, 1952–). The lifeguards routinely saved drowning victims, battled drug smugglers, and faced shark attacks—all while engaged in romantic subplots. The young actresses and actors who appeared on the program were better known for their sleek physiques and buff bodies than for their

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dramatic talents. Many episodes highlighted their physical attributes through music-video sequences featuring the nearly naked lifeguards in various seductive poses. The show changed cast members frequently and made stars out of Yasmine Bleeth (1968–), Carmen Electra (1972–), and Pamela Anderson (1967–). Anderson, the embodiment of the sun-bronzed California blonde, became an international sex symbol because of the series. Baywatch’s emphasis on its cast’s “wholesome sexuality” is the reason most often cited for its huge international success. In his Dictionary of Teleliteracy, David Bianculli identifies the reason for the program’s success: “Basically, to ogle [is] an activity that knows no language barrier.” When Baywatch began on NBC in 1989, it failed to attract a significant audience and was canceled after one season. However, its producers recognized its potential to garner a large international audience and chose to distribute it to independent stations around the globe. The resulting enormous viewership and profits paved the way for other internationally syndicated programs during the decade. In 1995, Hasselhoff participated in a short-lived spin-off called Baywatch Nights. His character continued to serve as a lifeguard by day and by night he worked in a detective agency. During the final seasons of Baywatch, the setting switched to Hawaii, but the focus remained on the beautiful bodies. The series concluded in 2001. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Baber, Brendan, and Eric Spitznagel. Planet Baywatch. New York: St. Martin’s Griffen, 1996. Baywatch. http://www.baywatch.com (accessed April 4, 2002). Bianculli, David. Dictionary of Teleliteracy. New York: Continuum, 1996. Bonann, Gregory, and Brad A. Lewis. Baywatch: Rescued from Prime Time. Beverly Hills: New Millennium Press, 2000.

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show

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“Beavis and Butt-Head are not role models. They’re not even human. They’re cartoons. Some of the things they do would cause a real person to get hurt, expelled, possibly thrown out of the country. To put it another way: don’t try this at home.”

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show was a harsh satire of the awkwardness, anger, and confusion of adolescence near the end of the twentieth century. The show touched a chord with young, mostly male members of the MTV audience. Created by Texas animator Mike Judge (1962–), Beavis and Butt-Head introduced a level of violence and gross-out humor that was new to TV cartoons. Best friends Beavis and Butt-Head are unattractive, dopey, and often mean (just like some teenagers), and audiences around the world tuned in to watch. The show was also later spun off into a film, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), and several video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4).

The Beavis and Butt-Head Show

So read the disclaimer that introduced the controversial cable cartoon show, The Beavis and Butt-Head Show, which aired on MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) between 1993 and 1997. The show’s main characters are two crudely animated adolescent boys, complete with acne and braces, who spend much of their time making fun of the music videos they watch on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) and fantasizing about being rich, sexy, and cool—states they clearly will never attain.

Although many teenagers and young adults laughed at Beavis and Butt-Head’s misadventures, their parents were less amused. Many blamed the show for increased teen violence and disrespect. In late 1993, a five-year-old boy started a fire in his house that caused the death of his younger sister. His mother declared that her son had gotten the idea for the fire from watching Beavis’s fascination with fire. During congressional hearings about TV violence, the show was brought up many times as an example of the negative influence of TV on youth, even though most members of Congress had never watched the program. Following the end of The Beavis and Butt-Head Show, Judge went on to create Daria (1997–2001) for MTV and King of the Hill (1997–) for FOX. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information Beavis and Butt-Head’s Playground. http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ image/bnb.html (accessed April 8, 2002). Gardner, James. “Beavis and Butt-Head.” National Review (May 2, 1994): pp. 60–63.

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Matthews, Joe. “Beavis, Butthead & Budding Nihilists: Will Western Civilization Survive?” Washington Post (October 3, 1993): p. C1. McConnell, Frank. “Art Is Dangerous: Beavis & Butthead, for Example.” Commonweal (January 14, 1994): pp. 28–31. “Mike Judge.” Current Biography (Vol. 58, no. 5, May 1997): pp. 22–26.

Beverly Hills 90210 In the 1980s, MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) appealed to young television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) viewers with a fast-paced mix of music, fashion, and social concern. In the 1990s, the prime-time TV drama Beverly Hills 90210 adopted the same formula, added a healthy dose of upper-class teen lifestyles, and became an enormous hit. Its popularity, particularly among younger viewers, helped the FOX network grow into a ratings powerhouse. Aaron Spelling (1928–), a TV producer whose previous hits had included Dynasty (1976) and Charlie’s Angels, (1976; see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) created 90210. The weekly one-hour show, which debuted in October 1990, was set in fashionable Beverly Hills, California (zip code 90210), and followed the lives of a group of high-school classmates. While designed to feature an ensemble cast, including Spelling’s daughter, Tori Spelling (1973–), the show quickly propelled a couple of its actors to national stardom. Luke Perry (1966–) played the moody Dylan McKay, a rebellious loner. Shannen Doherty (1971–) appeared as Brenda Walsh, Dylan’s girlfriend. Also on hand were Jason Priestley (1969–), Jennie Garth (1972–), Ian Ziering (1964–), Brian Austin Green (1973–), and Gabrielle Carteris (1961–). When adult supervision was needed, burly actor Joe E. Tata appeared as Nathaniel “Nat” Bussicio, owner of the local diner hangout, The Peach Pit.

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Audiences immediately responded to the glamorous lifestyles of the wealthy characters depicted on the show, copying their dress, musical tastes, and hairstyles. Viewers could also identify with the many real-life problems dealt with by the fictional teens. Over the course of its ten-year run, 90210 episodes addressed such serious issues as date rape, drug addiction, eating disorders, and premarital sex. Unlike other dramas set in high school, the characters on this show actually aged and changed, just like real people. Later episodes shifted the setting

to fictional California University and then out into the working world. A number of the actors, including Doherty and Perry, left the show (Perry later returned), while new ones, including future Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (1974–), signed on. The show maintained good ratings until its cancellation in 2000. By that time, all but a few of the original actors remained, and the ones who did seemed far too old to play their characters anymore. Nevertheless, the potential always exists for a future TV reunion.

The cast of Beverly Hills 90210: Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, Luke Perry, Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley, Gabrielle Carteris, Jennie Garth, and Ian Ziering. Archive Photos, Inc. Reproduced by permission.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Beverly Hills 90210 Official Web Site. http://www.fxnetworks.com/ shows/hits/90210/home.html (accessed April 4, 2002). Cohen, Daniel. Beverly Hills, 90210: An Unauthorized Biography: Meet the Stars of Today’s Hottest TV Series. New York: Pocket Books, 1991. McKinley, E. Graham. Beverly Hills, 90210: Television, Gender, and Identity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1997. Mills, Bart, and Nancy Mills. Beverly Hills, 90210 Exposed. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1991.

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Wallner, Rosemary. Beverly Hills, 90210: TV’s Hottest Teens. Edina, MN: Abdo & Daughters, 1992.

ER One of the most popular and critically acclaimed television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) dramas of the 1990s was ER. The show depicted the medical traumas faced by the doctors and nurses of an inner-city Chicago, Illinois, hospital emergency room. The series, created by author Michael Crichton (1942–), debuted in 1994 and was more quickly paced and realistic than previous medical programs. Author Steven Stark, in Glued to the Set, discusses ER’s mass appeal: “It brilliantly took a number of trends in programming—the push to realism, the focus on dysfunction, and the emphasis on shorter segments—and combined them to create a synthesis of an earlyevening ‘reality’ show, a daytime talk fest, and Hill Street Blues.” The program dominated the ratings. In 1998, it became the most highly compensated show in TV history when NBC agreed to pay $13 million per episode. Before he was the acclaimed author of best-sellers (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3) like Jurassic Park (see entry under 1990s—Print Culture in volume 5), Crichton was a physician. He based ER on his own emergency-room experiences. He believed previous medical dramas like Marcus Welby (1969–76), Medical Center (1969–76), and The Bold Ones (1969–72) did not realistically portray the tension and hectic activity of a true hospital environment. Episodes of ER were filled with dozens of characters, technical medical jargon, and graphic operating scenes. The ER staff seemed to face an unceasing array of gunshot wounds, domestic violence, drug overdoses, and other emergencies that tested both their professional skills and personal emotions. It was not uncommon for episodes to have unhappy endings.

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The series frequently examined the personal trials and tribulations of the hospital staff. Among the most prominent characters were: Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards, 1962–), whose career disrupted his marriage; Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle, 1962–), an intense surgeon; Nurse Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies, 1966–), a compassionate caregiver; and Jeanie Boulet (Gloria Reuben, 1964–), who discovered that she had

Frasier

acquired AIDS from her husband. Actor George Clooney (1961–) became a TV superstar as Dr. Doug Ross, a womanizing pediatrician. His 1999 departure from the series for a film career marked one of the show’s most watched episodes. Crichton, along with fellow executive producer Steven Spielberg (1946–) and of many of television’s top writers and producers, crafted an intensely satisfying drama that depicted the hardships faced by medical professionals in the 1990s while continuing to reinforce TV’s traditionally positive image of heroic doctors and nurses. The show remained on the air into the twenty-first century. —Charles Coletta

For More Information “ER.” Warner Bros. http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/ertv/index.jsp (accessed April 2, 2002). Pourroy, Janine. Behind the Scenes at ER. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995. Spignesi, Stephen. The ER Companion: An Unauthorized Guide. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. Stark, Steven. Glued to the Set: The 60 Television Shows and Events that Made Us Who We Are Today. New York: Free Press, 1997.

Frasier The situation comedy Frasier, which debuted on NBC in 1993 and remained on the air in 2002, depicted the neurotic misadventures of Dr. Frasier Crane, a conceited psychologist living in Seattle, Washington. The series, a spin-off of the popular sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) Cheers, was widely recognized as one of television’s most sophisticated programs. In 1998, the show became the first program to win five consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Frasier offered viewers witty, literate dialogue and often-absurd humor not evident in other sitcoms. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammar, 1955–) first appeared on Cheers (see entry under 1980s—TV and Radio in volume 5) in 1984 as a rival suitor to Sam Malone (Ted Danson, 1947–) for the affections of barmaid Diane Chambers (Shelley Long, 1949–). Frasier was highly educated, somewhat effeminate, snobbish, and a perfect contrast to the jock bar-owner Malone.

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When Cheers left the air in early 1993, NBC announced the character Frasier would be spun-off into his own show. The premise of Frasier was that Dr. Crane has moved to Seattle following his divorce from his wife. He landed a job as host of a radio call-in show. Surrounding Grammer on the series was one of television’s best ensemble casts. (An ensemble cast refers to a group of regulars who act well together.) David Hyde Pierce (1959–) portrayed Dr. Niles Crane, Frasier’s arrogant younger brother. Peri Gilpin (1961–) appeared as Roz Doyle, a radio producer weary of trying to find the right man but always on the lookout. Frasier lived with his father, Martin (John Mahoney, 1940–), a gruff, blue-collar former policeman who was often frustrated by his sons’ highbrow mannerisms. Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves, 1961–) was Martin’s British physical therapist and the object of Niles’ lust. Rounding out the cast was Eddie, Martin’s dog who constantly annoyed Frasier. Many celebrities made guest voice “appearances” on the series as the irritating callers to Frasier’s radio program. Most episodes revolved around the sibling rivalry of the Crane brothers who constantly tried to top each other. By 2002, Frasier Crane was one of TV’s longest-running comedic characters and a true icon (symbol) of popular culture. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Angell, David, Peter Casey, and David Lee. The Frasier Scripts. New York: Newmarket Press, 1999. Bly, Robert. What’s Your Frasier IQ?: 501 Questions and Answers for Fans. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1996. Graham, Jefferson. Frasier: The Official Companion Book to the AwardWinning Paramount Television Comedy! New York: Pocket Books, 1996. Grammer, Kelsey. So Far. New York: Dutton, 1995. Moose, also known as Eddie, with Brian Hargrove. My Life as a Dog. New York: HarperEntertainment, 2000. Paramount Pictures. Frasier. http://www.paramount.com/television/ frasier (accessed April 4, 2002).

Friends

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The NBC sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s— TV and Radio in volume 3) Friends (1994–), which depicted the humorous struggles and romances of a group of “twentysome-

things” living in New York City, was one of the highest-rated and most acclaimed television programs of the 1990s. The series boasted fine writing, maintained a strong ensemble cast (a group of regulars who act well together), and was a vital component to NBC’s powerhouse “Must See TV” Thursday night lineup. Created by producers Marta Kauffman (1956–) and David Crane (1957–), the series featured attractive actors portraying the pivotal years of early adulthood. Friends revolved around the lives of six friends: Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston, 1969–), a spoiled rich girl new to the city; Monica Geller (Courteney Cox, 1964–), a neurotic chef; Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow, 1963–), a flighty massage therapist and singer; Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc, 1967–), a struggling actor; Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry, 1969–), a management executive; and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer, 1966–), Monica’s paleontologist (fossil scientist) brother. Many of the episodes were set in the gang’s favorite hangout—Central Perk, a trendy coffeehouse. The romantic relationships of the characters were the main source of a majority of the plotlines. Early seasons focused on the on-again-off-again romance between

Five of the six stars of Friends: (seated, left to right) Courteney Cox Arquette, Matthew Perry, and Jennifer Aniston; (standing, left to right) Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Ross and Rachel. Several seasons ended with a cliffhanger ending where the couple’s relationship was in jeopardy. In later seasons, the Monica-Chandler romance took center stage. The obsessive Monica and skittish Chandler wed in a highly rated 2001 episode. Friends became a national phenomenon soon after its debut and transformed its previously little known cast into superstars. Its theme song “I’ll Be There For You” by the Rembrandts became a huge hit. The series inspired a host of programs featuring Generation X-ers living in large cities. The series is also known for popularizing the “Rachel hairstyle”—or hairstyles, as millions of young women adopted Aniston’s changing hairdos. Despite its many compliments, some criticized the series for promoting an unrealistic portrait of contemporary urban life. They complained the characters could never afford the luxury apartments they inhabited and condemned the lack of minority characters. Others said the show’s emphasis on sex was unwholesome for its many young fans. Still, Friends remained an intensely popular and profitable program for NBC. The cast got rich off their per-episode fees, and Perry’s battle with drugs and Aniston’s marriage to actor Brad Pitt (1963–) produced countless tabloid headlines. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Friends. http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/friendstv/index.jsp (accessed April 4, 2002). Paulsen, Amy. True Friends: The Official TV Guide Book: Unabridged Unadulterated, and Completely Unauthorized. New York: HarperPaperbacks, 1996. Spignesi, Stephen. What’s Your Friends IQ?: 501 Questions & Answers for Fans. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1996. Wild, David. Friends: The Official Companion. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

The Real World

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At the millennium, reality-based television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series, known as reality TV (see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5) came to dominate the television airwaves. The pioneer of this genre (category), at least on American network TV, was The Real World (1991–), which aired on MTV (see entry under 1980s— Music in volume 5). The format of the series is simple and effec-

tive. Seven young people—all in their twenties, all from different social and economic backgrounds—live together for several months and open their lives to the video cameras. The youths are placed in a stylish house in a major city—the first five shows were shot in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Miami—and their every interaction is recorded on film. Additionally, each participant directly addresses the camera individually, in interviews that shed new light on the unfolding events. The three thousand hours of footage are edited and broadcast as the twenty episodes that make up a season. To some, The Real World is a groundbreaking pseudodocumentary experiment that offers insightful glimpses into the manner in which real young people act and interact. To others, the show is nothing more than a peep show into the lives of housemates who fight and flirt, work out their personal relationships, talk about sex and, sometimes, have sex (but not on camera). Critics wondered how much impact the presence of the video camera had on the manner in which cast members acted and reacted. They asked, Are they in fact being themselves on the show, or are they playing themselves?

The cast of The Real World Hawaii, MTV’s eighth season of its popular reality TV show. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Arguably the most famous Real World alumnus is Cuban-born Pedro Zamora (1972–1994), who died of AIDS just as the final San Francisco-based episode aired. His presence on the show helped educate an untold number of MTV viewers about the disease. Another noteworthy cast member was Puck Rainey (1969–), a scab-picking bike messenger who was booted out of his house because of his inability to get along with his roommates. Some Real World alumni have turned their fame into careers in the media, while others have disappeared from the spotlight—except when queried for updated reports on their activities. The success of The Real World led to other reality TV programs, including MTV’s own Road Rules (1995–), Survivor (2000–), Big Brother (2000–), and Temptation Island (2001). The Real World taught a generation of TV producers that all they need do to cash in on the ratings bonanza was pick a diverse group of individu-

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als, leave them by themselves (with an ever-present camera crew) in a jungle or on an island, and record their interactions. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Johnson, Hillary, and Nancy Rommelmann. The Real Real World. New York: Melcher Media, 1995. “Real World.” MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/onair/realworld (accessed April 2, 2002). The Real World Diaries. New York: Melcher Media, 1996. Solomon, James, and Alan Carter. The Real World: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide. New York: MTV Books, 1997.

Reality TV In the 1990s and early 2000s, the phenomenon known as reality TV became a part of American popular culture. The concept behind the reality TV genre (category) is elementary: take a group of average individuals, who usually are strangers to each other, place them in an artificial living situation or an unusual locale, and have camera crews record their interaction. Such shows are popular with networks because they are inexpensive to produce, and the most successful of them earn astronomical ratings—and profits. They also are controversial. They present themselves as “reality,” yet occasionally the behavior of participants is manipulated. Furthermore, even when there is no obvious pressure, how are participants affected by the constant presence of the camera? Do they react and interact as they ordinarily would, knowing full well that their every action is being recorded, and eventually will be broadcast to millions?

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The reality TV phenomenon is rooted in two shows: An American Family (1973), a special on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) that recorded events in the lives of members of a suburban family; and The Real World (1991–; see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5), an MTV (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) series in which seven young people, all twentysomething strangers from diverse backgrounds, live together for a set period of time under the constant, watchful eye of the camera. The success of The Real World resulted in Road Rules (1995–), a spin-off show featuring five youthful strangers on a road trip.

Reality TV shows became a national obsession beginning with the popularity of Survivor in 2000, a CBS-TV summer replacement series. During the spring of 2000, sixteen average Americans went into isolation on the deserted Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga. They competed in games and contests, and every few days team members voted to banish an individual from the island. Eventually, after thirty-nine days, there was a lone survivor—Richard Hatch (1961–), a divorced, openly gay real estate agent—who won $1 million. The show fascinated viewers, who gathered around their TV sets by the millions each week to see who would be eliminated. Survivor soon became television’s top-rated program, besting its primary competition, the quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999–; see entry under 1990s—TV and Radio in volume 5). In fact, it earned some of the best ratings ever for a summer replacement show, with its twohour finale drawing over forty million viewers. The “reality” of reality TV came into question when one Survivor contestant, Stacey Stillman (1972–), sued CBS and the show’s producers, claiming that fellow competitors had been manipulated into voting her off the island. One of the participants admitted that this was precisely what occurred. Meanwhile, Mark Burnett (1960–), the show’s creator, acknowledged that stand-ins occasionally were employed during the filming. Survivor has since been followed by three sequels—Survivor: The Australian Outback (2001), Survivor: Africa (2001), and Survivor: Marquesas (2002)—plus a mass of imitators. A sampling: Big Brother (2000), in which strangers come to live in a house in Los Angeles, California; Fear Factor (2001), involving contestants who are required to overcome their worst fears; Boot Camp (2001), featuring contestants who enter an eight-week military-style training program; and Murder in Small Town X (2001), in which contestants compete to unmask a fictional killer. Low points of the genre have been Temptation Island (2001), spotlighting couples who come to a desert island and test their devotion to each other; and Who Wants to Marry a Multi-

Richard Hatch was the milliondollar winner of the first season of the hit reality TV show Survivor. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Millionaire? (2000), which featured a bachelor choosing one of fifty women to marry on the show. The “couple,” Rick Rockwell (1957–) and Darva Conger (1966–), divorced soon thereafter. —Rob Edelman

For More Information Hatch, Richard. 101 Survival Secrets: How to Win $1,000,000, Lose 100 Pounds, and Just Plain Live Happily. New York: Lyons Press, 2000. Johnson, Hillary, and Nancy Rommelmann. The Real Real World. New York: Melcher Media, 1995. The Real World Diaries. New York: Melcher Media, 1996. Reality News Online. http://www.realitynewsonline.com/index.html (accessed April 2, 2002). Solomon, James, and Alan Carter. The Real World: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide. New York: MTV Books, 1997.

Seinfeld The sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) Seinfeld, which aired on NBC from 1990 to 1998, was one of the most successful programs in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. Created by comedian Jerry Seinfeld (1954–) and writer Larry David (1947–), the series focused on the daily life of a moderately successful New York stand-up comic named Jerry Seinfeld. The main character was self-obsessed, immature, and concentrated on trivial matters and small details. He was surrounded by a core group of three friends: George Costanza (Jason Alexander, 1959–), a short, stocky, balding loser; Elaine Benes (Julia LouisDreyfuss, 1961–), a temperamental, single working-woman; and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards, 1949–), a bumbling hipster-doofus. The creators referred to their program as the “antisitcom” because there was none of the hugging or learning of most situation comedies. The series introduced many colorful characters and memorable catchphrases to the American public and is considered to be one of TV’s best works of the 1990s.

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More than thirty million viewers tuned in each week to see the Seinfeld foursome tangle with the minor annoyances of modern urban life. However, the program almost did not make it to the air. In 1989, NBC aired a pilot titled The Seinfeld Chronicles that was deemed “weak” by focus groups. Some executives feared the show was too hip, too urban, and too Jewish to appeal to the American masses. Seinfeld returned in 1991 as a

Seinfeld (Clockwise from top left) Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and Jerry Seinfeld starred as friends George, Kramer, Elaine, and Jerry on the hit comedy Seinfeld. The Kobal Collection. Reproduced by permission.

mid-season replacement and soon emerged as the most important show of NBC’s “Must See TV” Thursday lineup. Seinfeld was unlike previous sitcoms in that nothing was considered sacred. Humor was mined from such taboo topics as the mentally and physically challenged, ethnic groups, religion, constipation, and masturbation. Every character the foursome encountered was ruled by his or her own weird obsessions and peculiarities. By the mid-1990s, the series was firmly at the center of American popular culture as terms like “Soup Nazi,” “master of their domain,” “Spongeworthy,” and “Yadda, yadda, yadda” became national expressions. According to A. J. Jacobs in Entertainment Weekly, “Seinfeld is faster, denser, and more dialogue heavy than other sitcoms.” The series dared to be pitiless, ironic, and emotionally distant in a format that prizes sentimentality. Jerry and his gang were detached from life’s larger issues. They displayed a sense of postmodernism (a philosophical movement marked by skepticism and the importance of personal observation) largely absent from network TV. When it ceased production in 1998,

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millions hailed the program, which was billed as “the show about nothing,” as something truly special. —Charles Coletta

For More Information Fetts, Bruce. The Entertainment Weekly Seinfeld Companion: Atomic Wedgies to Zipper Jobs; An Unofficial Guide to TV’s Funniest Show. New York: Warner Books, 1993. Jacobs, A. J. “You’ve Been a Great Audience! Good Night!” Entertainment Weekly (August 3, 1998): pp. 4–8. Seinfeld. http://www.spe.sony.com/tv/shows/seinfeld (accessed April 4, 2002). Seinfeld, Jerry. SeinLanguage. New York: Bantam Books, 1993. Seinfeld, Jerry, et al. Sein Off: The Final Days of Seinfeld. New York: Harper Entertainment, 1998. Tracy, Kathleen. Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1998.

South Park The animated comedy South Park premiered on Comedy Central in 1997 and immediately became one of the most controversial programs in television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) history. Created by Trey Parker (1969–) and Matt Stone (1971–), the series depicts the raunchy and bizarre adventures of a group of third graders living in South Park, Colorado. The main characters (all voiced by Stone and Parker) include Stan Marsh, Kyle Broslovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman. The youngsters swear constantly, delight in coarse behavior, and disrespect adult authority. The program’s profane humor is contrasted by its simplistic animation style that resembles paper cutouts.

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South Park was a huge hit with teens, “twentysomethings,” and even children. Many parents criticized the series for encouraging profanity and raunchiness in their kids. Despite vocal opposition, the series remained enormously popular and spawned a mountain of merchandise. Its memorable catchphrase “They killed Kenny! You bastards!” was repeated often when the mumbling Kenny met a grisly end in every episode. In 1999, the characters moved to the silver screen to appear in South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, a musical that was even more profanity-filled than the series. Parker and Stone continued the vulgar humor they popularized in South Park in a live-

action sitcom (situation comedy; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) titled That’s My Bush! (2001), which featured the wacky antics of President George W. Bush (1946–). —Charles Coletta

Best friends Kenny, Cartman, Kyle, and Stan pushed the boundaries of language and subject matter on the controversial cartoon South Park. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

For More Information Gegax, T. Trent, et al. “South Park: The Rude Tube.” Newsweek (March 23, 1998): pp. 56–62. Parker, Trey, and Matt Stone. South Park: A Stickyforms Adventure. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. SouthParkStudios.com. http://www.southparkstudios.com (accessed April 4, 2002).

Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine began life as a character in stories told by Reverend Wilbert Awdry (1911–1997) for his son, Christopher Awdry (1940–), who had measles. In May 1945,

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Awdry’s first illustrated book, The Three Railway Engines, was published. In 1946, Thomas the Tank Engine appeared. Based on the adventures of Thomas, a small steam-powered locomotive on a British branch line, Awdry’s stories sold well around the world. By 2001, Thomas the Tank Engine had become part of an international media franchise. Spin-offs from the books included a television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series first broadcast in England from 1984 to 1998 and then on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS; see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4) in the United States beginning in the 1990s, a feature film, replica toys, and games.

Wilbert Awdry holds a model of Thomas the Tank Engine, the book and television character he created. Estate of Wilbert Awdry. Reproduced by permission.

Thomas’s adventures range from dealing with argumentative rail cars to racing against a road-going bus. However foolish he may be, cheeky Thomas always manages to win over Gordon and Henry, two snobbish mainline locomotives, and the company manager, Sir Topham Hatt. Awdry stopped writing books for the Railway Series in 1972. Christopher Awdry has continued his father’s work since 1983. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Awdry Family Website. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~dawdry/index. html (accessed April 2, 2002). Gunn, Ian. The Origins of Thomas the Tank Engine. http://www.iglobal. com/Drew/origins.htm (accessed April 2, 2002). Thomas & Friends. http://www.thomasthetankengine.com/home/homepage.html (accessed April 2, 2002).

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

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On August 16, 1999, America was introduced to the latest game-show (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sensation when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? made its debut on the ABC network. The show was already a hit in Great

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Regis Philbin (right) asks a contestant a question during the promotion of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? CD-ROM. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Britain. Now, with a new American host, Regis Philbin (1933–), it became a blockbuster on the American side of the Atlantic as well. The light-hearted multiple-choice quiz program is widely credited with reviving the game-show genre (category). Millionaire’s creator was Michael P. Davies, a veteran British TV producer. The basis of the show was simple: contestants, who were selected by a telephone screening process, had to answer a series of increasingly difficult multiple-choice trivia questions, with an ever-increasing cash prize attached. To help contestants along, a variety of “lifelines” were provided,

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including the ability to phone a friend or to poll the live audience for answer suggestions. Its eerie space-age set and dramatic music distinguished the show from other game shows. When Millionaire earned big ratings in Britain, Davies decided to try adapting it for American audiences. Selected as host, after an intensive search, was morning talk-show host Regis Philbin. The friendly Philbin brought a mischievous flavor to the program with his New York accent and strange vocal rhythms, most notably his curious decision to emphasize the wrong word when saying the title question (he pronounced it “Who wants to be a millionaire”). A natural showman, Philbin soon developed his own signature lines when interacting with contestants. His oft-repeated question “Is that your final answer?” (later shortened to an abrupt “Final?”) quickly began appearing on T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1) and other merchandise. The question soon entered the list of classic TV catchphrases. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’s popularity grew by strong word of mouth and was soon attracting huge audiences. At one point during the summer of 1999, it was airing six nights a week. Even after the initial appeal died down, the show remained a solid ratings winner for ABC over the next several years. Its success inspired a revival of prime-time game shows. Some, like the British import The Weakest Link, proved fruitful, while others, like the imitative Greed, did not. —Robert E. Schnakenberg

For More Information Fisher, David. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. New York: Hyperion, 2000. Philbin, Regis. Who Wants to Be Me? New York: Hyperion, 2000. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/ millionaire/millionaire_home.html (accessed April 9, 2002).

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1990s The Way We Lived A strange thing happened in the 1990s, something that had not happened in nearly a hundred years: a technological revolution reoriented the entire economy and revolutionized the way people thought and the way they lived. The last time it had happened was at the turn of the twentieth century. Then, the spread of the automobile and its modern manufacturing processes changed the way people lived, worked, and thought about ideas such as distance and time. In the 1990s, it was the Internet that changed everything. Personal computers (PCs) had been growing in popularity through the 1980s, but it was the invention of the World Wide Web and the widespread use of e-mail (along with a host of other technological advances) that turned PCs from work machines into tools for living. The World Wide Web allowed individuals and businesses to share information with other computer users in a visually engaging way. E-mail allowed people to communicate instantaneously with friends or business contacts anywhere on earth that was connected to the Internet. Soon people were shopping, chatting, falling in love, learning, and wasting time over the Internet—all at ever-increasing speeds. The number of Internet users in the United States and Canada rose from 18 million (or 6.7 percent of the population) in 1995 to 106.3 million (39.37 percent) in July 1999—and the number of users kept on climbing. Because the Internet allowed people to always be connected, it changed the way they worked. Many Americans could now work at home and easily tap into the files they needed at their workplace. Laptop computers allowed them to take their work on the road. Cellular phones and beepers meant that people were never out of touch. As a result, the boundaries between work and regular life became blurred. The Internet had its dark side as well. Chat rooms—online forums where people could meet and converse—became popular. Chat rooms allowed people to relate to others anonymously,

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but they sometimes allowed strangers to prey on the young or the unwary. Computer pirates called hackers took pleasure in their ability to penetrate supposedly secure computer sites, often with costly consequences. Computer viruses threatened to disrupt the increased productivity that computers allowed. The most feared computer glitch of the decade was the so-called Y2K bug, a problem imbedded in every computer that analysts feared would wreak havoc when the year 1999 turned to 2000 on New Year’s Day. Businesses and government spent billions preparing for Y2K and many feared economic disaster, but as the New Year turned, nothing happened. The Internet was not the only story of the decade, however. Several dramatic events gripped the nation’s attention. In 1993, the Branch Davidians, a religious cult led by a man who called himself David Koresh (1959–1993), engaged in a long standoff with the federal government. The standoff resulted in a massive blaze that killed between seventy and eighty people—and was shown live on TV. Exactly two years later, Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001) ignited a bomb in front of a federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that killed 168 people and destroyed the building. The top story of the decade, however, was the trial of former football star O.J. Simpson (1947–) for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. From the moment Simpson led police on a lowspeed car chase through the streets of Los Angeles, to the investigation, and on through a trial that lasted for nine months, every moment of the saga was captured by TV cameras and broadcast live, turning the entire event into a spectacle. Simpson was acquitted of murder but became a social exile, and America was forced to grapple once again with its attitudes about race.

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On the lighter side, American drug companies came up with a variety of treatments for the ills that beset people, such as Prozac for depression and Viagra for male impotence. Both drugs were eagerly sought even by those who did not experience real symptoms, and their use was widely covered in the media. Young people had their fixations as well. Early in the decade, small stuffed animals called Beanie Babies became such a hit that collectors began to bid the prices of the cute creatures up to unlikely heights. Late in the decade, the Pokémon craze hit. Young kids across the country poured over the latest Pokémon trading cards and watched Pokémon cartoons.

Scents have been used to enhance mood, relieve stress, and cure diseases for centuries. Aromatherapy, a version of this ancient practice, was “invented” in the 1930s but became truly popular in the early 1990s. National chains of beauty salons and spas began to provide relaxation services, such as massage, that included aromatic oils and incense.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy

The inhalation of the scent of various aromatic plants or the application to the skin as essential oils was thought to affect a person’s mood. Although no regulations for aromatherapy products were in effect at the end of the twentieth century, many brands of aromatic oils and incense were sold for personal use across the nation. Among the brands are pure aromatic products, some made from chemical derivatives, and others produced by digital technology and supplied via the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). While aromatherapy is mostly limited to the use of scents for individual purposes, businesses have become interested in using aromas to influence larger numbers of people. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, some factories have pumped in the scent of lemon and peppermint to increase worker productivity. Marketers have used “environmental fragrancing,” filling stores with the pleasant scents of leather or flowers, to keep customers in shops longer. Lawyers have even tried to influence jurors by squirting scents near them. Although aromatherapy first gained attention as part of the growth of new-age health practices, its proven effects promise it a long life in American culture. —Sara Pendergast

For More Information AromaWeb. http://www.aromaweb.com (accessed April 4, 2002). “Beyond Scratch and Sniff—Aromatherapy Points to the Healing Powers of Our Sense of Smell—or so Some Say.” Seattle Times (March 15, 1992): p. 30. Classen, Constance, David Howes, and Anthony Synnott. Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell. New York: Routledge, 1994. Holloway, Marguerite. “The Ascent of Scent.” Scientific American (November 1999). “On the Nose: Scientists Say Aromas Have Major Effect on Emotions.” Los Angeles Times (May 13, 1991): p. B3.

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Beanie Babies became one of the best-selling toys of the 1990s. Photograph by David Kamerman.

Beanie Babies First introduced by toy company Ty, Inc., in 1993, Beanie Babies soon became one of the biggest-selling toys of the 1990s. Small stuffed animals with beanbag bottoms, each Beanie Baby comes with a heart-shaped tag containing the animal’s name (Legs the frog, Flitter the butterfly, Chocolate the moose) and a short poem. Popular with children, the toys were soon in demand among adults who often collected them because their value was rising. Stores could not keep Beanie Babies in stock. Customers lined up outside to wait when new shipments of the toys were due. In 1996, almost a hundred million Beanie Babies were sold. Many collectors own dozens, trying to collect all 264 different animals. Collectors paid up to $13,000 for rare Beanies, though the retail price ranged from $5 to $7.

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In what many thought was a clever sales plan, Ty, Inc., announced in 1999 that it would make no more Beanie Babies.

—Tina Gianoulis

For More Information “Bean There, Done That: Why Did Toy Mogul H. Ty Warner Pull the Plug on His Superpopular Beanie Babies?” People Weekly (September 20, 1999): pp. 72–74. Fox, Les, and Sue Fox. The Beanie Baby Handbook. New York: Scholastic Press, 1998. Samuels, Gary. “Mystique Marketing.” Forbes (October 21, 1996): pp. 276–78. Ty. http://www.ty.com (accessed April 2, 2002).

Branch Davidians

After a public outcry and an Internet (see entry under 1990s— The Way We Lived in volume 5) vote, however, the company continues to sell Beanies.

Branch Davidians The Branch Davidians, a religious offshoot of the SeventhDay Adventists, was founded by Ben Roden in 1955. Upon his death in 1978, his wife, Lois, succeeded him; along with his son, George, the Rodens were challenged by a rival faction, led by Vernon Howell (1959–1993). Howell took control in 1987 and later changed his name to David Koresh. Koresh claimed to be the Messiah and exercised absolute authority over his hundred or so followers, based at Mount Carmel Ranch near Waco, Texas. He claimed sexual rights over the women in the group; seven had children by him. Koresh also ordered the stockpiling of guns. In February 1993, agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided the compound to seize illegal weapons. Gunfire was exchanged, killing and wounding people on both sides. A fifty-one-day siege followed, with the FBI trying to negotiate Koresh’s surrender. On April 19, tanks were sent in to flood the compound with tear gas. Fire broke out, but few Branch Davidians fled the blaze. Eighty-one of them, including Koresh, died inside. Exactly two years later, angry over the FBI’s raid on the Branch Davidian compound, Timothy McVeigh (1968–2001) ignited a bomb in front of a federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that killed 168 people and destroyed the building. —Justin Gustainis

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For More Information Reavis, Dick J. The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. “Waco.” Time.com. http://www.time.com/time/daily/newsfiles/waco (accessed April 4, 2002). Wright, Stuart. Armageddon in Waco. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Cellular Phones Easily carried in purse or pocket, cellular telephones (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) are handheld, wireless devices that became increasingly common throughout the world in the 1990s. Cellular phones permitted users to make and receive telephone calls from almost any location. Cellular phones are technically two-way radios (an evolution of the wrist radios worn by comic-strip detective Dick Tracy (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2) because they rely on signals from antennas that have been installed across the landscape. Antennas are placed on buildings in cities and towns or on freestanding towers in rural areas. Each antenna emits a microwave signal that saturates the area, or cell, surrounding it. Signals are broadcast over a large number of channels, permitting many conversations to take place simultaneously, as with standard telephone service. As a caller travels across the service area, the transmission is relayed from one cell to another, usually without a noticeable break in the connection. In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the rules for cellular radiotelephone service by setting aside part of the 800-MHz (megahertz) frequency band for two competing systems in each market. By August 2001, according to the FCC, there were more than thirty million cellular telephones in the United States and its possessions and territories, and more than twenty thousand cell sites. Cellular telephones have also become very popular in countries, such as China, that do not have an extensive telephone system.

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The widespread use of cellular telephones has created concerns about good manners and safety. Many people become annoyed at cell-phone users who carry on loud, personal conversations in restaurants, trains, parks, or other public places. In the wake of motor-vehicle accidents caused by cellularphone distractions, some localities have enacted legislation

prohibiting drivers from using the devices while their vehicles are in motion. Some consumer activists have raised concerns about the adverse effect of microwave signals on personal health, though sellers of the systems maintain that such concerns are exaggerated.

Cellular phones became a convenient way to communicate as well as to receive information. Reuters NewMedia Inc./Corbis. Reproduced by permission.

—Edward Moran

For More Information “Cellular Summary.” Federal Communications Commission. http://wireless. fcc.gov/cellular/celfctsh.html (accessed April 2, 2002). “Mobile Telephone History.” TelecomWriting.com. http://www.privateline tv/PCS/history.htm (accessed April 2, 2002). Stetz, Penelope. The Cell Phone Handbook: Everything You Wanted to Know About Wireless Telephony (But Didn’t Know Who or What to Ask). Newport, RI: Aegis, 1999.

Chat Rooms Since the mid-1990s, when large numbers of people all over the world began going “online” to explore the Internet (see

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entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5), millions of them have been chatting with each other in the many chat rooms that have emerged in cyberspace. Chat rooms can be described as the contemporary equivalent of the old “party line,” the early telephone exchanges in which several customers shared the same number and thus could eavesdrop on one another’s conversations. Today, anyone with modem access and a password can enter into a conversation. Choices include any number of general chat rooms for anonymous socializing or special-interest chat rooms to discuss more specialized topics. A typical chat room can consist of a dozen or more people using their keyboards to enter quick, pithy statements that are displayed in real time on the screen. To a novice, this can seem like a babble of disconnected voices. Regular users quickly get used to the art of following the discussion thread. Because of the condensed nature of the messages, chatters have developed a shorthand language of abbreviations: “sup” for “what’s up?,” “k” for “okay,” “ic” for “I see,” “lol” for “laughing out loud,” and so on. Symbols called emoticons communicate meaning, too: for example, “:-)” for a smile, “:-(” for a frown, and “{}” for a hug. Many chat room discussions seem trivial and even unintelligible, but others have become the digital equivalent of the corner bar or coffeeshop where regular customers routinely gather to “shoot the breeze.” Some chat rooms have become serious forums for the exchange of information about topics such as medicine, architecture, food, history, and travel; others have become support groups for people dealing with stressful situations; still others have become informal dating services for people seeking romantic situations.

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Chat rooms are seen by some experts as places that facilitate human interaction in a society that is itself anonymous. Advocates of global understanding praise chat rooms for creating a “global village” forum in which people from around the world can share information with each other. The relative privacy of chat rooms—in which anonymous participants are known only by their self-invented name or “handle”—has its downside, however. In a relatively few cases, strangers have taken advantage of trusting chatters to extract personal information or to arrange personal meetings that have resulted in criminal activity. The anonymity also allows people to explore other dimensions of their personalities. Some people crave the psychological insights

—Edward Moran

Coffee

they claim to receive while posing as a person of a different gender, race, or class.

For More Information Henderson, Harry. The Internet. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1998. Komorn, Julie. Chat Chat Chat. New York: Scholastic, 1999. Mutchler, Matthew. “Yes, Virginia, There Are Normal People in Cyberspace.” Zine 375. http://eserver.org/zine375/cyberspace.html (accessed April 2, 2002).

Coffee With its complex flavors and varied brewing methods, coffee is more than just a drink. Like lovers of fine wines, dedicated coffee drinkers seek out new blends and roasts. They spend hundreds of dollars on equipment to make the perfect cup of coffee. But coffee is also an everyday drink. In its powdered “instant” form, it can be made quickly or bought from vending machines. Coffee drinking has been traced back to sixth-century Yemen (pronounced YEAH-men; a country in the southwestern corner of the Arabian peninsula), but it became popular in Europe and America in the seventeenth century. Most coffee contains caffeine, a mildly addictive drug that increases heart rate, boosts appetite, and decreases or eliminates fatigue. Because of caffeine, coffee is the number-one morning pick-me-up in America. In 2000, 54 percent of the adult population drank coffee, amounting to 110 million daily drinkers. Most coffee is made from the roasted beans of the Arabica or the cheaper Robusta coffee plant. The two are often blended. The beans are ground up and infused with boiling water. This releases the flavor, the dark color, and the all-important caffeine. Arabica beans come from South America. Robusta is native to Africa, particularly Kenya. Because many Dutch colonies were based in those regions, the Netherlands forms the center of the world coffee trade. Coffee is a difficult crop to grow and harvest and supply varies from year to year. For this reason, coffee is bought and sold like other precious commodities, such as gold and silver. There is even a coffee “futures” market, where traders gamble on the future price of the beans to secure the best deal.

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The medical effects of caffeine are well understood. The drug affects the nervous system and to a lesser extent the digestive system. Coffee can be used to make users hungry on demand at breakfast time. Because it encourages digestion, it is also useful after a large meal. Medical opinion broadly agrees that up to three cups of coffee every day can be taken without ill effect. Many coffee drinkers develop a tolerance that allows them to drink much more than that. Some coffee drinkers experience rapid heartbeat and irritation of the stomach. Like other drug users, regular coffee drinkers experience withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, if they are deprived of coffee for long periods. The removal of caffeine from coffee prevents these side effects. Decaffeinated coffee first became popular at the end of the nineteenth century. Decaffeination can be done in several different ways. The most popular methods involve rinsing the beans in various chemicals. In the mid-1990s, there were fears that the process could cause cancer. This later turned out to be untrue. Since the nineteenth century, coffee experts have worked hard to get rid of the caffeine yet keep the drink’s taste and aroma. Even so, many coffee drinkers find that “decaf” tastes metallic and thin when compared with the “real” thing. Coffee’s links with the arts, literature, and politics have always been strong. Coffeehouses and specialty cafés provide somewhere for people to meet and talk. Many offer newspapers and books for their customers to read and discuss. In the 1980s, specialty shops began to sell coffee at high prices, packaged to appeal to “discriminating” drinkers. The trend for “gourmet” coffee led to a rapid growth in the number of independent cafés in every American city. The Pacific Northwest became America’s coffee capital. The international chain Starbucks (see entry under 1980s—Commerce in volume 5) began as a local coffeehouse in Seattle, Washington. In the seventeenth century, coffeehouses were places where poets, writers, and political activists met. Early coffeehouses were thought by many to be dangerous places. In the twenty-first century, coffee is more respectable. It is drunk in business meetings, at restaurants, and on the street.

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Percolated coffee, popular in the 1950s, gradually gave way to the “drip” process, in which hot water is dripped through coffee grounds and filtered into a container. By far the biggest growth in coffee in the 1990s was in espresso. Invented in Italy, espresso coffee is made by forcing boiling water through densely packed coffee grounds. The best espresso coffee is a

Ecstasy

thick, oily liquid with a film of light brown froth on the top. Often sold in tiny amounts that cost several dollars per cup, espresso coffee is a popular daytime drink due to its stimulating properties. For many commuters, collecting coffee from an “espresso shack” on their way to work has become part of their daily routine. Specialty shops have improved the quality of coffee around the world. But some critics argue that the cultural importance of coffee has changed as well. In the seventeenth century, coffeehouses were places where people discussed politics, ideas, and the arts. In the twenty-first century, they are more often places where people talk about coffee. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Allen, Stewart Lee. The Devil’s Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force in History. New York: Soho, 1999. Castle, Timothy James. The Perfect Cup: A Coffee Lover’s Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Tasting. Reading, MA: Anis Books, 1998. “Coffee.” National Geographic Society. http://www.nationalgeographic. com/coffee (accessed April 2, 2002). Coffee Science Source: The Online Source for Coffee, Caffeine and Health Information. http://www.coffeescience.org (accessed April 2, 2002). Pendergrast, Mark. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. New York: Basic Books, 2000.

Ecstasy Ecstasy is the “street” name for MDMA (3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), an amphetamine derivative that was made a controlled substance by the U.S. government in 1985. The drug stimulates serotonin (pronounced seh-reh-TOE-nin) production in the brain. The drug produces feelings of euphoria, or extreme well-being, lasting up to twelve hours, as well as the stimulant effects common to amphetamines. MDMA was patented by a German firm in 1913 but was never marketed widely. It remained largely unknown until the mid-1970s, when some American psychotherapists began giving it to their patients, many of whom reported positive results. It also gained a reputation as a recreational drug, under the name “Ecstasy.” Ecstasy became popular among young people attending all-night dance parties called “raves” (see entry

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under 1990s—Music in volume 5). Use of the drug has been increasing since the 1990s. Medical research on MDMA has been limited in scope and the results inconsistent. Some studies have found long-term brain damage resulting from regular use of the drug. Other studies suggest that nerve damage can occur. —Justin Gustainis

For More Information Beck, Jerome, and Marsha Rosenbaum. Pursuit of Ecstasy: the MDMA Experience. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. Connolly, Sean. Ecstasy. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2001. “MDMA.” U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/mdma/mdmaindex.htm (accessed April 4, 2002).

E-Mail Although invented in the 1960s, the popularity of e-mail took off in the 1990s. As the cost of connecting computers to the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) fell, e-mail became the easiest way for computer users to send written messages to one another. Its advantages over the regular mail are speed, convenience, and low cost. Wordprocessed documents, images, sounds, and moving pictures can be e-mailed around the world in a matter of seconds. While “snail mail” (via the postal system or an overnight service) is still important for transporting packages, legal documents, and the like, e-mail is set to become the key personal and business communication tool of the twenty-first century.

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Since the 1990s, e-mail has revolutionized global communications. Curiously, it was developed during the Cold War (1945–91; see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3), a period when global communications were highly restricted. The U.S. Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) came up with e-mail as a way of communicating between computers in distant government facilities. At first, this was limited to computers within ARPA. In the mid-1970s, it was discovered that users from outside were using the network to send messages to one another. In the twenty-

first century, Internet service providers use a very similar system to store messages in personal electronic mailboxes that subscribers can access at will. E-mail is not just a communication tool. It has also changed how language is used. E-mails tend to be less formal than a letter, so “Dear Christopher” is replaced with a more relaxed “Hi!” E-mails can be written as the sender might speak but, unlike speech, there is no tone of voice, facial expression, or body language to help with meaning. Emoticons, symbols “drawn” using the computer keyboard, work around this problem. Some emailers add a “smiley” “;-)” to show they are joking, or “:-(” to show they are unhappy. The spread of mobile telephones (see entry under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) in the late 1990s has taken this further. Text messaging between cellular phones (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) is a form of e-mail, but the difficulty of typing text using a ten-digit telephone keypad soon led 2 a nu 4m of spelling. As long ago as the early 1970s, e-mail was used by political campaigners to work for the impeachment of President Richard

E-mail opened the lines of communication but also increased the distribution of computer viruses that spread quickly by attaching to e-mail address books. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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M. Nixon (1913–1994). By the late 1980s, it enabled activists in China and the former Soviet-bloc countries to communicate with journalists and supporters in the West. News of the buildup to the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing in 1989 emerged by e-mail, as did information about the revolutions in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By the late 1990s, most governments had realized the value of e-mail and the Internet in creating an impression of openness. In 2001, Russian president Vladimir Putin (1952–) went one step further, answering questions sent in by e-mail on a live “Webcast.” Although e-mail communication can be informal, friendly, and liberating, it can also be a problem. E-mail allows writers to hide their identities behind invented names, something twenty-first-century criminals are all too ready to exploit. Adult sex offenders can pose as children in online discussion forums called chat rooms (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) with the aim of luring real children to a dangerous in-person meeting. Not being able to see the person with whom one is writing makes it easier for some people to be insulting or offensive. Sending offensive, attacking e-mail is known as “flaming.” It is most common in online communities like newsgroups or chat rooms, in which people do not know each other well. The ability to copy one message to huge numbers of addresses makes e-mail ideal for sending bulk advertising messages, or “spam,” to many thousands of people. These e-mails are usually unwanted. By 2001, they were becoming less common as legitimate advertisers realized spam was putting off customers and laws forbid its use. More popular are “chain” e-mails. These work in the same way as a chain letter, but the speed of e-mail means they can circle the globe in a matter of hours. Chain e-mails use up space in mailboxes and waste a great deal of human time and energy. For this reason, chain e-mails can be more costly to business than software-based computer viruses.

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In fact, the most serious problems with e-mail are also the problems with older forms of written communication. The speed and simplicity of e-mail simply makes problems more intense. All of the benefits of e-mail are new. Documents can be shared over distances of thousands of miles and senders can receive almost instant responses. E-mailers can communicate with groups of others simultaneously. Travelers can make contact with friends, relatives, or employers without being tied to tele-

Hackers

phone calls. E-mail has already brought major changes to how people look at work, think about where they live, and who they consider part of their community. In the 1990s, it triggered a revolution in working at home—“telecommuting”—that in the twenty-first century is only just beginning. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Hafner, Katie, and Matthew Lyon. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996; also available at http://www.olografix.org/gubi/estate/libri/wizards/email.html (accessed April 2, 2002). Jordan, Shirley. From Smoke Signals to E-mail: Moments in History. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2000. Loftus, Margaret. “Great Moments in E-mail History.” U.S. News Online (March 22, 1999); http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/990322/ 22hist.htm (accessed April 9, 2002). Rothman, Kevin F. Coping with Dangers on the Internet: Staying Safe Online. New York: Rosen Publishing, 2001. Tunstall, J. Better, Faster Email: Getting the Most Out of Email. New York: Allen and Unwin, 1999. Wolinsky, Art. The History of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999.

Hackers Even though much of the world’s business, political, and social life is carried on by computer, most people who use computers have little understanding of how they actually work. Computer hackers, on the other hand, seem to possess the keys to understanding and controlling computers that many computer users lack. Admired by some, hated by others, and feared by many, hackers are part of an intellectual subculture whose members love computers and also love the challenge of breaking into computer security systems, often simply to prove it can be done. Though the term “hacker” has been used for several decades to label those who illegally break into computer systems, it was first used in the mid-1960s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to mean a highly skilled computer addict. Hacking in its modern sense first became widely known in 1985, when the movie War Games introduced a good-hearted teenage hacker whose skill at breaking into computers almost brings about World War III.

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In 1988, hackers received more publicity when a group of Cornell University graduate students created a computer virus, nicknamed the Internet Worm, that crashed six thousand computers around the country and shut down the Internet (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) for two days. Since then, the vulnerability of computer systems to clever hackers has been the source of worry for many. In spite of everincreasing security measures, corporation and government computers have proved vulnerable to attack over and over. In 1995 alone, hackers attempted to break into U.S. Defense Department computers 258,000 times—and over half of the attempts were successful. Some hackers use their skills to damage or shut down computer systems. Others have altered computer data in order to steal money. However, many hackers do not break into computers for vandalism or personal gain. These hackers often feel rebellious towards authority and wish to cross computer boundaries simply to prove that they can. Some people respect or romanticize these hackers as defenders of freedom on the Internet. Law enforcement officials view computer hacking as a serious crime, however, and prosecute hackers as criminals. Some hackers who have been convicted of computer crimes, and others who simply want to keep access to the Internet open and free, work with the authorities. They seek out spots where computer systems are vulnerable to hacking and help make them more secure. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information

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Brand, Stewart. “We Owe It All to the Hippies: Forget Antiwar Protests, Even Long Hair. The Real Legacy of the Sixties Generation Is the Computer Revolution.” Time (Vol. 145, no. 12, Spring 1995): pp. 54–57. “A Brief History of Hackers and The Internet.” Current Events (Vol. 99, iss. 20, March 10, 2000): p. 2. Hafner, Katie, and John Markhoff. Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Levy, Steven. Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1984. Raymond, Eric S. A Brief History of Hackerdom. http://www.tuxedo.org/ ~esr/writings/hacker-history/hacker-history.html (accessed April 2, 2002). Roush, Wade. “Hackers: Taking a Byte Out of Computer Crime.” Technology Review (Vol. 98, no. 3, April 1995): pp. 32–41.

Internet

Trigaux, Robert. “A History of Hacking.” St. Petersburg Times Online. http://www.sptimes.com/Hackers/history.hacking.html (accessed April 2, 2002).

Internet The Internet was probably the single most important influence on American culture in the final few years of the twentieth century. Not only did e-mail (see entry under 1990s—The Way We Lived in volume 5) revolutionize the way people communicated with one another, but the World Wide Web brought information, entertainment, new ways of shopping, and access to government into American homes. By 2001, the Internet had been available to a mass audience for less than a decade. In that short amount of time, it had sparked debates about censorship, challenged legal systems around the world, and altered the way stock markets operate. It added new words to the English language, including “web site,” “download,” and “Internet.” It has also revolutionized advertising (see entry under 1920s—Commerce in volume 1), triggered a growth in new journals and magazines unseen since the seventeenth century, and caused turmoil in the global economy. One of the most exciting things about the Internet is that it manages to be old and new at the same time. It has been widely available only since the mid-1990s, yet by then it was already almost thirty years old. With roots going back to the telegraph networks of the nineteenth century, the Internet of 2001 was originally dreamed up by the military in the late 1960s. In 1969, the Advanced Projects Research Agency Network (ARPANET) was created to link computers around the country. At first, it included just twenty computers, or “nodes,” that communicated using a special language. The real beauty of the system was that it could find the best and easiest route to send information. If a node was destroyed, the system would keep on working. The Internet of the twenty-first century works in a similar way. Although universities began to use the system in the 1970s, in its early years the Internet was tightly controlled by the military. In 1979, there were just 188 “host” computers. Twenty years later, there were over fifty-six million. Even in the 1970s, the advantages were obvious. E-mail allowed messages to be sent to hundreds of people at the same time. Discussion areas called news groups allowed users to talk to people around the

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Internet cafes, or cybercafes, become a popular place to dine while exploring the Internet. Photograph by Kevin Fleming. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

world on subjects in which they had a common interest. For those using it in the 1970s and 1980s, the Internet was a dream come true. It was free from advertising, free from corporate control, and most importantly, free from censorship. The invention of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1990 made the Internet available to a mass audience. Created by Tim Berners-Lee (1955–) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), “World Wide Web” was the name of the very first browser software. Until then, the Internet was difficult to use. There were no graphics, and users had to understand a series of complex computer commands. “Surfing” was impossible because documents had to be downloaded before they could be read. Berners-Lee’s browser made “hypertext” links connecting one document to another more effective. It also allowed documents to be accessed directly on screen. The first WWW server (info.cern.ch) was set up at the CERN laboratories in Switzerland in 1991.

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Government schemes on both sides of the Atlantic made the Internet available in schools in the early 1990s, while CERN

Internet

made its Web technology freely available. Soon the spread of personal computers (see entry under 1970s—The Way We Lived in volume 4) made the Internet a powerful cultural force. From about 1994, once enough people had access to the Web in their homes, companies sprang up to advertise and trade there. Known as “dotcoms,” they were so named because their World Wide Web addresses typically ended with “.com” (for “company”). Companies selling everything from books to gardening tools, and offering services from stock-market trading to online auctions appeared in a matter of months. In the late 1990s, dotcoms seemed to offer unlimited growth and profits. Billions of dollars poured into companies that had little or no chance of survival. The money was lost just as quickly when high-tech stock markets around the world collapsed in 2000. By the end of the twentieth century, the Internet was settling in as an important information and entertainment medium. In the twenty-first century, people consult the Internet for medical, legal, gardening, and cooking advice. Using the Internet, they can access the world’s libraries and information archives, as well as music, films, and computer software. Court rulings have tried to protect traditional industries such as music publishing from having work copied and shared for free, but the fact is that the Internet was designed to find ways around restrictions. This worries some commentators, who see the Internet as a provider of pornography, hate literature, and damaging “virus” software. They see it as a threat to traditional business, education, and government. The more optimistic believe that it has given people freedom to express themselves. As its short, turbulent history shows, the Internet has always been unpredictable. Whether or not its effect on culture and society will be for the better is in the hands of the people who use it. —Chris Routledge

For More Information Hafner, Katie, and Matthew Lyon. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. New York: Touchstone Books, 1998. Leiner, Barry, et al. “A Brief History of the Internet.” Internet Society. http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml (accessed April 2, 2002). Segaller, Stephen. Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet. New York: TV Books, 1998. Sterling, Bruce. Short History of the Internet. http://www.forthnet.gr/ forthnet/isoc/short.history.of.internet (accessed April 2, 2002).

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Wolinsky, Art. The History of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1999. Zakon, Robert H. Hobbes’ Internet Timeline v5.3. http://www.zakon.org/ robert/internet/timeline/ (accessed April 2, 2002).

Pokémon Created in 1996 as a game for the Nintendo Game Boy handheld gaming console, Pokémon (pronounced “POH-kay-mon”) soon became a worldwide youth phenomenon. Seen in video games (see entry under 1970s—Sports and Games in volume 4), Saturday morning cartoons (see entry under 1960s—TV and Radio in volume 4), films, books, and thousands of trading cards, Pokémon (short for “pocket monsters”) is a unique world, populated by over 150 creatures with magical powers that enable them to transform themselves into stronger and stronger monsters. Children around the globe have been captivated by the world of Pokémon, collecting the pocket monsters and memorizing their names and powers with a skill that often amazes their parents. It took game designer Satoshi Tajiri (1965–) six years to design his imaginative new game, designed for use on the Nintendo Game Boy. Inspired by the bug collections he made in his youth and the outlandish monsters he had seen in old Japanese horror movies (see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 4), he created “Poketto Monsuta” (Japanese for “Pocket Monsters”). After its release in Japan in 1996, the new game was an instant hit. Soon after, millions of Japanese children were watching Pokémon cartoons on TV and collecting trading cards and other Pokémon products. The game was introduced in the United States in 1998, followed shortly by the TV series in the same year. Within a month, Pokémon was the most watched children’s show in the United States. Since 1999, three Pokémon movies have been released, and dozens of books of Pokémon adventures, making Pokémon a multibillion-dollar business.

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In the game and in the cartoon show, the goal is basically the same: players must capture and befriend small, fantastically shaped creatures with names like Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charmander. Once captured, monster trainers must train their Pokémon for battle with the Pokémon of other trainers. Once trained, Pokémon transform themselves into different, but related crea-

Pokémon Hasbro’s “I Choose You Pikachu” is one example of the Pokémon merchandise, ranging from trading cards to stuffed animals, that became must-have toys in the late 1990s. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

tures. For example, Charmander transforms first into Charmeleon, then into Charizard. Although many adults appreciate the creativity and imagination of the Pokémon world, others worry that the fad encourages children to spend too much time and money collecting the hundreds of different Pokémon products. Some even fear that Pokémon is dangerous to children. In Turkey, several children were injured jumping from roofs like the flying monsters they saw on television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3). In Japan, in 1997, some doctors claimed that a rapidly blinking light on the Pokémon cartoon made some children sick. —Tina Gianoulis

For More Information The Big Book of Pokémon: The Complete Player and Collector’s Guide to Every Card and Character. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2000. Deacon, James, and Susan McClelland. “The Craze That Ate Your Kids.” Maclean’s (November 8, 1999): pp. 74–79. “Pokémon.” YesterdayLand. http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/ shows/toys/ty1387.php (accessed April 2, 2002). Pokémon.com: The Official Pokémon Web Site. http://www.pokemon.com (accessed April 2, 2002). Radford, Benjamin. “The Pokémon Panic of 1997.” Skeptical Inquirer (Vol. 25, iss. 3, May 2001): pp. 26–30.

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O. J. Simpson (1947–) O. J. Simpson—football star, media personality, and murder suspect—has been both revered and reviled by the public. In the 1960s and 1970s, Simpson won fame as a record-breaking college and professional football player. After his retirement from sports, he enjoyed a career as a movie and television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) actor, sportscaster, and star of TV commercials. Then, in the mid-1990s, he became the focal point of one of the twentieth-century’s most notorious, controversial, and media-hyped murder cases.

Mug shot of former football star and actor O. J. Simpson after being arrested in 1994 in connection with the gruesome murders of his ex-wife and her friend. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

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Orenthal James Simpson grew up in San Francisco, California, and had a troublesome childhood. At age two, he suffered from rickets, a disease caused by a deficiency of sunlight or vitamin D. Rickets can cause soft and deformed bones in growing children, and Simpson wore leg braces for the next three years. When he was thirteen, he joined the Persian Warriors, a street gang (see entry under 1980s—The Way We Lived in volume 5). Eventually, his life became consumed by athletics. He starred at the University of Southern California, rushing for 3,187 yards during the 1967 and 1968 seasons while scoring 34 touchdowns. In 1968, he set an National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record of 334 carries in a season and 1,654 yards gained. He was an AllAmerican during both years and won the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college football player in 1968. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL; see entry under 1920s—Sports and Games in volume 2) selected Simpson as its number-one draft pick in 1969. During his tenure with the Bills from 1969 through 1977, he scored 70 touchdowns and rushed for 10,183 yards on 2,123 carries. In 1972, he was the American Football Conference (AFC) Playerof-the-Year. The following year, he became the first NFL player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season, finishing with 2,003 yards, and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. Then

After his NFL retirement, Simpson remained in the public eye. He was handsome and had a friendly smile and an amiable public personality, which made him a natural for movies and television. He began acting professionally well before leaving football. While in college, he appeared on episodes of several TV series. He made his screen debut in The Klansman (1974) and The Towering Inferno (1974) and also appeared in Killer Force (1975), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), Capricorn One (1978), Firepower (1979), three Naked Gun films (released in 1988, 1991, and 1994), and a number of TV series and madefor-TV movies. He became a football broadcaster, working for ABC and NBC, and starred in a number of commercials for Hertz rental cars. It would be no exaggeration to describe Simpson as one of America’s more likable, higher-profile celebrities.

O. J. Simpson

in 1975, he rushed for 1,817 yards, scored 23 touchdowns—yet another NFL record—and was again named league MVP. Simpson retired after playing briefly for the San Francisco 49ers, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and was named to the NFL’s Seventy-fifth Anniversary Team.

Then in 1994, Simpson was accused of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson (1959–1994), his ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman (1968–1994), her friend. The killings took place on the night of June 12, on the front steps of Nicole’s condominium in Brentwood, a well-to-do Southern California community. The world watched as the slayings first were reported. In subsequent days, Simpson was questioned by the authorities. Then he was notified that he was to be arrested and charged with the killings. Instead of surrendering to the police, Simpson penned a note for the media and fled in a white Ford Bronco. Television cameras followed the car as it traversed the Los Angeles–area freeways with the police on its tail, a real-life drama unfolding before the eyes of millions. The chase ended at Simpson’s Rockingham estate, where he was placed under arrest and led off to the L.A. County Jail. Simpson was arraigned and eventually entered an “absolutely 100 percent not guilty” plea. The six-day preliminary hearing and nine-month trial became an American obsession, consuming hours upon hours of television airtime. The major networks televised them in whole or in part, and the cable news stations boosted their rating with wall-to-wall coverage followed by detailed analysis of the unfolding events and heated pro- and anti-Simpson debate. Additionally, various prosecuting and defense attorneys, homicide detectives, witnesses, journalists,

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O. J. Simpson

and legal analysts emerged as celebrities, coming away with book deals and, in some cases, their own TV shows. Just after Simpson’s arraignment, the district attorney’s office leaked to the media a tape of a 911 telephone call that a frantic and fearful Nicole Brown Simpson had made in October 1993. On the tape, she tearfully pleads for assistance as an angry Simpson yells and swears in the background. This was the first hint that Simpson’s easygoing public personality was a sham. Two earlier instances of domestic violence between the Simpsons eventually were revealed. However, did the fact that the Simpsons’ relationship was often volatile mean that O. J. was capable of killing Nicole? Was there any hard evidence proving his guilt? In the end, the case’s notoriety derived as much from the defendant’s race as from the nature of the crimes and his celebrity status. As the trial ran its course, many were pro- or anti-Simpson based solely on the fact that he was an African American. After the closing arguments, the jury—which consisted mostly of African Americans—deliberated for only four hours before rendering a not-guilty verdict. The announcement was made on October 3, 1995. Simpson was freed because of his attorneys’ ability to convince the jury that a combination of crime-lab ineptitude and police impropriety—including possible evidence planting and tampering—resulted in making an innocent man appear guilty. Simpson’s lawyers, who came to be known as the “Dream Team,” successfully played what came to be known as the “race card,” implying that Mark Fuhrman (c. 1952–), one of the case’s original investigating detectives, was a racist. They believed that Fuhrman had both the motive and the opportunity to remove a bloody glove from the crime scene and plant it in Simpson’s house. Ultimately, those who were pro-Simpson believed that justice won out with his acquittal, yet many who felt he was guilty were convinced that the jury voted him free in an act of racial solidarity. Simpson’s time in court was not yet over. The family of Ronald Goldman had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him, which resulted in a civil trial. In this trial, unlike during the murder trial, Simpson was called to the witness stand. On February 4, 1997, a predominantly white jury found him liable for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and assessed him millions of dollars in damages. To this day, Simpson’s guilt or innocence in the murders of his estranged wife and Goldman remains unclear to many.

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—Rob Edelman

Baker, Jim. O. J. Simpson’s Most Memorable Games. New York: Putnam, 1974. Bosco, Joseph. A Problem of Evidence: How the Prosecution Freed O. J. Simpson. New York: William Morrow, 1996. Bugliosi, Vincent. Outrage. New York: W. W. Norton., 1996. Clark, Marcia, and Teresa Carpenter. Without a Doubt. New York: Viking, 1997. Cochran, Johnnie L., and Tim Rutten. Journey to Justice. New York: Ballantine, 1996. Darden, Christopher, with Jess Walter. In Contempt. New York: Regan Books, 1996. Dershowitz, Alan. Reasonable Doubts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Devaney, John. O. J. Simpson: Football’s Greatest Runner. New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974. Elias, Tom, and Dennis Schatzman. The Simpson Trial in Black and White. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1996. Fox, Larry. The O. J. Simpson Story: Born to Run. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1974. Fuhrman, Mark. Murder in Brentwood. New York: Regnery Publishing, 1997. Gibbs, Jewelle Taylor. Race and Justice: Rodney King and O. J. Simpson in a House Divided. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. Goldberg, Hank. The Prosecution Responds. New York: Birch Lane Press, 1996. Gutman, Bill. O. J. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1974. Kennedy, Tracy, Judith Kennedy, and Alan Abrahamson. Mistrial of the Century. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 1995. Knox, Michael, with Mike Walker. The Private Diary of an OJ Juror. Beverly Hills: Dove Books, 1995. Lange, Tom, and Philip Vanatter, as told to Dan E. Moldea. Evidence Dismissed. New York: Pocket Books, 1997. Morrison, Toni, and Claudia Brodsky Lacour, eds. Birth of a Nation ’Hood: Gaze, Script, and Spectacle in the O. J. Simpson Case. New York: Pantheon, 1997. “O. J. Simpson Main Page.” CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/US/OJ (accessed April 4, 2002). Petrocelli, Daniel. Triumph of Justice: Closing the Book on the Simpson Saga. New York: Crown, 1998. Roberts, Peter. OJ: 101 Theories, Conspiracies, & Alibis. Diamond Bar, CA: Goldtree Press, 1995. Schiller, Lawrence, and James Willwerth. American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense. New York: Avon, 1997. Shapiro, Robert, with Larkin Warren. The Search for Justice. New York: Warner, 1996. Simpson, O. J. I Want to Tell You. Boston: Little Brown, 1995. Singular, Stephen. Legacy of Deception. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 1995. Toobin, Jeffrey. The Run of His Life: The People vs. O. J. Simpson. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Uelmen, Gerald F. Lessons from the Trial: The People vs. O. J. Simpson. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 1996.

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For More Information

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WWJD?

WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) The simple question “What would Jesus do?”—often abbreviated to the initials “WWJD?”—sparked a youth-based revival of Christian faith in the 1990s and became one of the marketing sensations of the decade. The WWJD? movement started in 1989 when Janie Tinklenberg, a youth leader at an evangelical church in Holland, Michigan, led a book discussion with her youth group. The book under discussion was In His Steps, an inspirational story penned in 1896 by minister Charles M. Sheldon (1857–1946). The book told of a congregation who experienced spiritual and moral renewal when they asked themselves “What would Jesus do?” in every situation they encountered. Sheldon’s book had sold millions of copies and inspired many over the course of the twentieth century. In the 1990s, his simple message became the center of renewed spiritual fervor and a merchandising boom. Youth leader Tinklenberg approached a nearby company, the Lesco Corp., and asked if they could make a woven bracelet bearing the initials “WWJD?” that young Christians could wear as a sign of their faith. The bracelets were immediately popular, and not just in Michigan. During the first seven years of marketing, Lesco sold three hundred thousand bracelets. In 1997, radio announcer Paul Harvey (1918–) mentioned the bracelets on his program and sales exploded, reaching fifteen million by year’s end. Lesco and other companies soon began selling a broad range of WWJD? merchandise, including mugs, key chains, jewelry, T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), and other items at Christian book stores and Web sites.

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By 1998, the WWJD? phenomenon had gone national. Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Kmart (see these entries under 1960s— Commerce in volume 4), and Barnes and Noble offered WWJD? merchandise, and WWJD?-based sermons and youth groups swept through Christian congregations. Fore-Front Records released a WWJD? compact disc (see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) with music by Christian groups. The Zondervan publishing company issued a WWJD? Interactive Devotional Bible. Beverly Courrege’s book WWJD?: Think About It became a best-seller (see entry under 1940s—Commerce in volume 3). Supporters of the trend praised the new devotion to Jesus’s teachings, but critics wondered whether Jesus himself would

WWJD? Woven bracelets bearing the initials WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?) became a popular item for young Christians to wear as a sign of their faith. Photograph by Dan Newell. Reproduced by permission of Leitha Etheridge-Sims.

approve of the vigorous marketing of his teachings and the profits that such marketers were earning. —Tom Pendergast

For More Information Beaudoin, Tom. “A Peculiar Contortion.” America (September 18, 1999): pp. 16–19. Courrege, Beverly. WWJD?: Think About It. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998. Nussbaum, Emily. “Status Is . . . for Evangelical Teen-Agers, Jewelry for Jesus.” New York Times Magazine (November 15, 1998): pp. 6, 93. Sheldon, Charles M. In His Steps: “What Would Jesus Do?” Chicago: Advance Publishing, 1899; Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Co., 1989. What Would Jesus Do?: The Official Website. http://www.wwjd.com (accessed April 2, 2002).

Y2K Scare As the end of the twentieth century and the end of the second millennium approached, governments, corporations, and

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Y2K Scare

people around the world worried that their computer systems would stop working. The reason for this concern lay in conditions created in the early days of computing. To save memory and computing power, early programmers used a two-digit date system, which listed the year 2000 (Y2K) as “00.” This meant that when the date clicked over from 1999 to 2000, many of the world’s computers would think it was 1900. It was feared that many would stop working altogether because of internal conflicts. On planes, at military installations, and in medical lifesupport systems, the consequences could be disastrous. In the closing years of the twentieth century, countries spent billions of dollars correcting computer systems to make them “Y2K compliant.” Banks, social security systems, and food distribution centers were all thought to be at risk. World leaders tried hard to reassure citizens that the problem was under control. In fact, there was more to the “millennium bug” than just New Year’s Eve. Back in the 1970s, programmers used the number 9999 to mark the end of a sequence of commands. This meant that the date 9/9/99 was also potentially a problem. Developing countries were furthest behind. Not only were their computers older, and therefore more at risk, but they could not afford to fix the Y2K bug. In early 1999, the World Bank found that only 21 of 139 developing countries had done anything about it. The Y2K scare created a global panic, but as midnight came and went on January 1, 2000, no computer glitches were reported. Cynics attributed the hysteria about the bug to computing companies cashing in on a nonexistent problem. In an age uncomfortable with its reliance on technology, the end of the millennium was bound to create superstitious fears. Whether the Y2K problem was solved in the nick of time, or was not really there at all, will probably never be known for sure. —Chris Routledge

For More Information

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Brallier, Jess M. Y2Kids: Your Guide to the Millennium. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1999. Everything 2000: computer y2k. http://www.everything2000.com/ computer/a_computer.asp (accessed April 4, 2002). Savage, Jeff. Y2K. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1999. Yourdon, Edward, and Jennifer Yourdon. Time Bomb 2000: What the Year 2000 Computer Crisis Means to You. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

WHERE TO LEARN MORE

The following list of resources focuses on material appropriate for middle school or high school students. Please note that the Web site addresses were verified prior to publication, but are subject to change.

Books America A to Z: People, Places, Customs and Culture. Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest Association, 1997. Beetz, Kirk H., ed. Beacham’s Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Osprey, FL: Beacham, 1996. Berke, Sally. When TV Began: The First TV Shows. New York: CPI, 1978. Blum, Daniel; enlarged by John Willis. A Pictorial History of the American Theatre. 6th edition. New York: Crown Publishers, 1986. Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. 7th rev. ed. New York: Ballantine, 1999. Cashmore, Ellis. Sports Culture. New York: Routledge, 2000. Craddock, Jim. VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever. 2002 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Gilbert, Adrian. The Nineties (Look at Life In). Austin, TX: Raintree SteckVaughn, 2000. Daniel, Clifton, ed. Chronicle of the Twentieth Century. Liberty, MO: JL International Pub., 1994. Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Dunning, John. Tune In Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of OldTime Radio 1925–1976. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Epstein, Dan. 20th C Pop Culture. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Finkelstein, Norman H. Sounds of the Air: The Golden Age of Radio. New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1993. Flowers, Sarah. Sports in America. San Diego: Lucent, 1996.

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Where to Learn More

Gilbert, Adrian. The Eighties (Look at Life In). Austin, TX: Raintree SteckVaughn, 2000. Godin, Seth, compiler. The Encyclopedia of Fictional People: The Most Important Characters of the 20th Century. New York: Boulevard Books, 1996. Grant, R. G. The Seventies (Look at Life In). Austin, TX: Raintree SteckVaughn, 2000. Grant, R. G. The Sixties (Look at Life In). Austin, TX: Raintree SteckVaughn, 2000. Green, Joey. Joey Green’s Encyclopedia of Offbeat Uses for Brand-Name Products. New York: Hyperion, 1998. Green, Stanley. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. New York: Da Capo Press, 1980. Hischak, Thomas S. Film It with Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Movie Musical. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. 4th ed. New York: HarperResource, 2001. Lackmann, Ron. The Encyclopedia of American Radio: An A–Z Guide to Radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern. New York: Facts on File, 2000. Lebrecht, Norman. The Companion to 20th-Century Music. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. Lissauer, Robert. Lissauer’s Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America: 1888 to the Present. New York: Facts on File, 1996. Lowe, Denise. Women and American Television: An Encyclopedia. ABCCLIO: Santa Barbara, CA, 1999. Maltin, Leonard, ed. Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia. New York: Dutton, 1994. McNeil, Alex. Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present. New York: Penguin, 1996. Newcomb, Horace, ed. Encyclopedia of Television. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997. Pendergast, Tom, and Sara Pendergast, eds. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999. Rosen, Roger, and Patra McSharry Sevastiades, eds. Coca-Cola Culture: Icons of Pop. New York: Rosen, 1993. Schwartz, Richard A. Cold War Culture: Media and the Arts, 1945–1990. New York: Facts on File, 1997. Sies, Luther F. Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000. Slide, Anthony. Early American Cinema. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994. Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh. The Encyclopedia of Novels into Film. New York: Facts on File, 1998. Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh. The Encyclopedia of Stage Plays into Film. New York: Facts on File, 2001. Wilson, Charles Reagan, and William Ferris, eds. Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.

Web Sites bowling, cxxxii beatniks, and bell-bottoms

Markowitz, Robin. Cultural Studies Central. http://www.culturalstudies. net/ (accessed May 13, 2002).

Where to Learn More

Pop Culture Club. http://www.popcultureclub.org/ (accessed May 13, 2002). Washington State University, American Studies. Popular Culture: Resources for Critical Analysis. http://www.wsu.edu/%7Eamerstu/ pop/tvrguide.html (accessed May 13, 2002). Yesterdayland. http://www.yesterdayland.com/ (accessed May 13, 2002). Zupko, Sarah. Popcultures.com: Sarah Zupko’s Cultural Studies Center. http://www.popcultures.com/ (accessed May 13, 2002).

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