Entertainment

• The First Commercial Yo-yo

  Overview When thinking of toys that have tested the fate of time, none are as prevalent as the yo-yo. It’s a simple toy that is two disks tied together with…

  May 7, 2026

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  The Death of Harry Houdini

  Overview Entertainment involving performers was immensely popular in the 1920s, such as movies, theater, music, dancing, and sports. Perhaps the most famous performer was illusionist Harry Houdini. Houdini was a…

  March 11, 2026

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  The First Miss America Pageant(s)

  Overview Atlantic City & 1920s Tourism Atlantic City, one of New Jersey’s most famous coastal vacation spots, was established in 1854 when a track was created from Camden, NJ, crossing…

  May 6, 2025

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  Miss America: Religion and the Callback to Older Ideas of Femininity

  In the 1920s, American culture was increasingly becoming more secularized, creating tensions between modernity and traditional religious values. The first “Miss America” pageants embodied these conflicts, as it became both…

  April 1, 2025

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  The Founding of Disney Brothers Studio

  Overview Kansas City While most people associate the beginnings of Disney with cartoons such as Steamboat Willie, the journey of the studio actually began over 5 years prior to the…

  March 18, 2025

• The Disney Company and 1920s Entertainment

  The 1920s show the emergence of America as a consumer culture. It highlights the way in which people turned to leisure and consumption to find satisfaction in life. This turn…

  February 26, 2025

• The Cotton Club: A Legacy of Jazz and Racism

  What Was the Cotton Club? The Cotton Club was the most popular nightclub in Harlem during the 1920s, emerging at the height of the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance.…

  February 19, 2025

• The 1927 Major League Baseball World Series

  By Yuto Nakajima Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, and Bob Meusel. Nicknamed the “Murderer’s Row” Baseball: America’s Most Iconic Sport This blog starts off with such a…

  February 21, 2024

• Unaccustomed As We Are (1929)

  Introduction Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo composed of Stanley Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957). Laurel and Hardy were featured in their first silent short The Lucky Dog…

  April 25, 2023

• Don Juan (1926)

  Overview Don Juan is a 1926 American silent film directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros.  It stars John Barrymore in the title role of the legendary Spanish…

  April 12, 2023