Impact of Popular Culture, 1918-1945 Flashcards
(19 cards)
Cinema - 1920s + 30s
The Battle of the Somme
1916
Seen by 20 million people in its first week
Cinema - 1920s + 30s
Development in 1920s
Talkies in 1928
Gentrified in 1920s - respectable places
1914 - 3,000 cinemas, 1930 - 5,000
Cinema - 1920s + 30s
Americanisation
1914 - 25% films shown in Britain made by British film companies
1925 - 5%
Quota Act (1927) - ensuring 7.5% of films shown should be British, rose to 20% in 1935
Cinema - 1920s + 30s
Ticket Sales
Mid 1930s - close to 20 million tickets sold a week
Unemployed people (London) watched 2.6 films per week
1939 - 50% of all tax revenue on entertainment
1937, tax on cinema tickets raised £6 million, just £470,000 for football
Cinema - 1920s + 30s
Escapism v Realism
Some films provided escapism: romances, thrillers, crime dramas
The Pleasure Garden (1925) - Alfred Hitchcock, reflected everyday changes for women
Cinema - WW2
Morale + Information
Cinemas kept open
British film industry produced 500 films
Used as means of mass communication: short public info films
Cinema - WW2
Patriotism
War films cultivated patriotism
In Which We Serve (1942) and Henry V released to coincide with Normandy landings
Let George Do It (1940) - Comic actor George Formby punched Hitler
Cinema - WW2
Realism
The Gentle Sex (1943) - problems facing women
Millions Like Us (1943) - life for the working class
Cinema - WW2
Attendance
Growth in popularity: 1.6 billion tickets sold in war
Regional + generational differences
1946 - 69% 16-19 attended once a week, 11% over 60s
Northern attendance almost double frequency of Southern
Censorship
Monitoring Body
British Board of Film Censors (1912)
Followed guideline of ‘Forty-three Rules’
Censorship
Action 1920s-1940s
Censored films to reduce impact on ‘impressionable’ audiences
Banned 140 films in 1920s+30s, thousands more edited content
Radio
Popularity
Wider reach than cinema
1922-39: percentage households with radio rose from 1% to 71%
Radio
BBC
Founded 1927
Had monopoly until 1973
Two services: National Programme and Regional Programme
Radio
Reith’s View
Lord Reith (Director General of BBC) set out how he saw its role
Aimed to ‘give the public not what they wanted, but what the BBC thought it should have’
‘Few knew what they wanted, fewer what they needed’
Radio
WW2
National + Regional Programmes replaced by Home Service
Prevented enemy aircraft using to aid navigation
Used to boost morale e.g ‘Worker’s Playtime’
Radio
Light Programme
Introduced 1945
Featured popular music, comedies, and soaps as well as celebrities and famous personalities
Most popular: Two thirds of 11 million daily listeners in 1945 - domestication of leisure time
Music - 1918-45
1920s - Novello
Ivor Novello most successful
‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ in WW1, appealed to patriotism
Paid £15,000 (£1.5 mil today), set precedent
Music - 1918-45
Americanisation
1920s + 30s
Jazz and swing music successful
Over 20,000 dance bands playing regularly in dance halls by 1930
Socially acceptable way for young couples to meet, luxury not found at home (w/c)
Music - 1918-45
WW2
US Army and Air Force and American Forces Radio broadcast jazz + swing
Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong gained huge popularity and influenced British musicians - led to est of Light Programme (1945)
