Jazz Age

The Jazz Age describes the period from 1918-1929, the years between the end of World War I and the start of with the Roaring Twenties; ending with the rise of the Great Depression, the traditional values of this age saw great decline while the America stock market soared. The focus of the elements of this age, in some contrast with the Roaring Twenties, in historical and cultural studies, are somewhat different, with a greater emphasis on all Modernism.

The age takes its name from F. Scott Fitzgerald and jazz music, which saw a tremendous surge in popularity among many segments of society. Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments (typically seen as progress)—cars, air travel and the telephone—as well as new modernist trends in social behavior, the arts, and culture. Central developments included Art Deco design and architecture. A great theme of the age was individualism and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment in the wake of the misery, destruction and perceived hypocrisy and waste of WWI and pre-war values.

The Jazz Age in Literature

Perhaps one of the most representative literary works of the age is American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), which highlighted what some describe as the decadence and hedonism of the post-WW1 age, as well as new social and sexual attitudes, and the growth of individualism. Fitzgerald is largely credited with coining the term, which he used in such books as "Tales of the Jazz Age." The second novel that he wrote, "The Beautiful and Damned" (1922), also deals with the era and its effect on a young married couple. Fitzgerald's last completed novel, "Tender Is the Night," takes place in the same decade but is set in France and Switzerland not New York, and consequently is not widely considered a Jazz Age novel per se.

Additional works on the Jazz Age might include Thomas Wolfe's titanic 1935 book "Of Time and the River," which takes its protagonist from the depths of the Carolinas, to Harvard, and finally to New York in the 1920s, but for a truly harrowing view of the end of the Jazz Age, Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again" is recommended for its party scene on the night of the 1929 stock market crash. Edith Wharton's late novel "Twilight Sleep," set in New York and written in 1927, is a great example of social critiques of Jazz Age values and lifestyles. Additionally,The Rosy Crucifixion of Henry Miller, "Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion)," "Plexus (The Rosy Crucifixion)," and "Nexus (The Rosy Crucifixion)," is set in New York during this period.

Social Acceptance of Minorities and Homosexuals
Sheet music poking fun at the feminine traits many men adopted during the 1920s.
Sheet music poking fun at the feminine traits many men adopted during the 1920s.

In urban areas, minorities were treated with more equality than they had been accustomed to previously. This was reflected in some of the films of the decade. Redskin (1929) and Son of the Gods (1929), for instance, deal sympathetically with Native Americans and Asian Americans, openly reviling social bias. On the stage and in movies, black and white players appeared together for the first time. It became possible to go to nightclubs and see whites and minorities dancing and eating together. Even popular songs poked fun at the new social acceptance of homosexuality. One of these songs had the title "Masculine Women, Feminine Men."[1] It was released in 1926 and recorded by numerous artists of the day and included the following lyrics:

Masculine women, Feminine men

Which is the rooster, which is the hen?

It's hard to tell 'em apart today! And, say!

Sister is busy learning to shave,

Brother just loves his permanent wave,

It's hard to tell 'em apart today! Hey, hey!

Girls were girls and boys were boys when I was a tot,

Now we don't know who is who, or even what's what!

Knickers and trousers, baggy and wide,

Nobody knows who's walking inside,

Those masculine women and feminine men!

Homosexuals also received a level of acceptance that was not seen again until the 1960s. Until the early 1930s, gay clubs were openly operated, commonly known as "pansy clubs". The relative liberalism of the decade is demonstrated by the fact that the actor William Haines, regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the number-one male box-office draw, openly lived in a gay relationship with his lover, Jimmy Shields.[4] Other popular gay actors/actresses of the decade included Alla Nazimova and Ramon Novarro.[5] In 1927, Mae West wrote a play about homosexuality called The Drag, and alluded to the work of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. It was a box-office success. West regarded talking about sex as a basic human rights issue, and was also an early advocate of gay rights. With the return of conservatism in the 1930s, the public grew intolerant of homosexuality, and gay actors were forced to choose between retiring or agreeing to hide their sexuality.