1920

†1924 Frans Kafka

The Trial Full Movie Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was an Austrian-Czech novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature; he wrote in German. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and the novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing. Kafka was a prolific writer, spending most of his free time writing, often late […]

Read More

Culture 1920s – Paul Whiteman

Playlist Paul Whiteman Recordings Music The period from the end of the First World War until the start of the Depression in 1929 is known as the “Jazz Age“. The “Jazz Age” – jazz and jazz-influenced dance music became widely popular throughout the decade. Paul Whiteman recordings: As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the “King of Jazz”.  George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti were the first musicians to incorporate […]

Read More

1929 Silly Symphonies

 Silly Symphony (also known as Silly Symphonies) is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time (exceptions to this include Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Three Orphan Kittens, which all had sequels). The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck, who made his first appearance in the Silly […]

Read More

BOOK: The Great Gatsby (1925)

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway‘s interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby’s obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island’s North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, Fitzgerald completed a rough draft of the novel in 1924. BBC Drama The Great Gatsby  He submitted it to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After making […]

Read More

1921 Shackleton–Rowett Expedition

The Shackleton–Rowett Expedition (1921–22) was Sir Ernest Shackleton‘s last Antarctic project, and the final episode in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The venture, financed by John Quiller Rowett, is sometimes referred to as the Quest Expedition after its ship Quest, a converted Norwegian sealer. Shackleton had originally intended to go to the Arctic and explore the Beaufort Sea, but this plan was abandoned when the Canadian government withheld financial support; Shackleton thereupon switched his attention to the Antarctic.  Quest, smaller than any recent Antarctic exploration vessel, soon proved inadequate for its task, and progress south was delayed by its poor sailing performance and by frequent engine problems. Before the expedition’s work could properly begin, Shackleton died […]

Read More

1927 The Jazz Singer heralds dawn of the ‘talkies’

A few simple words draw applause from astonished audiences “Wait a minute, wait a minute – you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.” Perhaps no words in the history of cinema are better known than these, spoken by Al Jolson in the 18th minute of the film The Jazz Singer, released on 6 October 1927 and considered the world’s first feature-length ‘talkie’. In that moment, the silent film era ended; in that moment, perhaps, the modern world began. Yet there’s more to the story behind The Jazz Singer than a mere handful of words. The film was based on a play by […]

Read More

1928 Ravel: Bolero

Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by the French composer Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein, the piece, which premiered in 1928, is Ravel’s most famous musical composition  The work had its genesis in a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel to make an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz‘s set of piano pieces, Iberia. While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that the movements had already been orchestrated by Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement […]

Read More

Alcohol Prohibition Songs

With the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment and impending national prohibition of alcohol, Tin Pan Alley writers produced a plethora of songs about life devoid of intoxicating beverages. Here is a selection of humorous songs and an appropriately titled instrumental selection. Also featured are two temperance songs robustly sung by baritone evangelist Homer Rodeheaver. 

Read More

1927 Laurel and Hardy become a team

Laurel and Hardywere a motion picture comedy team whose official filmography consists of 106 films released between 1921 and 1951. Together they appeared in 34 silent shorts, 45 sound shorts, and 27 full-length sound feature films. In addition to these, Laurel and Hardy appeared in at least 20 foreign-language versions of their films and a promotional film, Galaxy of Stars (1936), made for European film distributors. Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) were established as film comedians prior to their teaming, with Laurel appearing in over 50 silent films and Hardy in over 250. (Hardy also appeared in three sound […]

Read More
Moonpub Times - English © 2022 Frontier Theme
Click to listen highlighted text!