The Dawn of Mass Culture

The Dawn of Mass Culture 8.4 Notes

American Leisure

Amusement Parks ► Chicago,

New York City set asie space for outdoor enjoyment ► Small playgrounds, playing fields ► Amusement parks constructed on outskirts ► Built by trolley-car co. looking for more passengers ► Picnic grounds, rides ► Ferris wheel, roller coasters ► Coney Island - 1884

Bicycling and Tennis ► Male

only sport at first – challenging ► 1885 – commercial “safety bicycle” ► Victor model for women ► More comfortable attire for women when bicycling

Marshall W. "Major" Taylor ►

A hundred years ago, when bicycle races drew crowds that filled Madison Square Garden, the biggest draw of all was Major Taylor. In 1898 fans would flock to see "the Worcester Whirlwind" compete. Controversy surround "the Colored Cyclone," whose star was rising in muscular defiance of the Jim Crow segregation permeating the sport.

► Tennis

originated in Wales

– 1873 ► Popular among socialites  Florence Harriman  People thought nets were to catch birds ► 1900

– Chocolate Hershey

bars ► Coca-Cola – 1886 ►Atlanta

pharmacist used as a cure for headaches ►Coca leaves and African cola nuts

Spectator Sports ► Informal

activities become

popular ► Boxing and baseball ► Profitable businesses ► Baseball  1845 – amateur player Alexander Cartwright organized New York City ball club  50 clubs in 5 years  1869 – Cincinnati Red Stockings toured U.S.  Formed NL and AL  Published game schedule, official rules, standard-sized diamond

► First

World Series – 1903  Boston Pilgrims (4) beat Pittsburg Pirates (3) ► African Americans excluded  Formed own leagues  Negro National League and Negro American League “the very symbol…and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming, 19th Century” – Mark Twain

Newspapers ► Promotion

of education increased literacy rate ► Sensational headlines to attract readers ► Joseph Pulitzer purchased New

York World

 Introduced large Sunday edition  Comics, sports coverage, women’s news  “sin, sex and sensation”

► William

Randolph Hearst owned

San Francisco Examiner

 New York Morning Journal – personal scandal, cruelty, etc.

Fine Arts ► 1900

– Art gallery in every major city ► “realism” portrayed life as it was ► Aschan School of American Art  Urban life and labor with no frills ► Abstract

art developing in

Europe ► Libraries often nearby

 “poor man’s university”

Popular Fiction ► Crime

tales, western adventures, light fiction ► “Dime Novels”  Glorified adventure tales with a hero  Edward Wheeler’s Deadwood Dick ► Mark

Twain (Samuel Clemens)

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  Not so serious literatures