Clash of Cultures web site The speakeasy. The flapper. Al Capone. Boosterism. Prohibition. Cars and consumer culture. The roaring twenties. Through these popular images, the colourful decade of the 1920s still resonates among generations that never experienced it. Yet the popular stereotype of this crucial decade largely obscures its greater cultural and historical significance. From a cultural and historical perspective, the 1910s and 1920s were marked by a deep clash of cultures. TEXAS GUINAN'S CULTURE CLUB (and SPEAKEASY) Biographies of the Harlem Renaissance. The October Revolution (Russian:, Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya), also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, refers to a revolution as part of the Russian Revolution& that began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd (regarded by some as a coup d'état) traditionally dated to October 25, 1917 (November 7, N.S.).[1] It was the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution of 1917, after the February Revolution of the same year. The October Revolution overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and gave the power to the Soviets dominated by Bolsheviks. It was followed by the Russian Civil War (1917 1922) and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik troops began the takeover of government buildings on October 24; however October 25 was the date when the Winter Palace (the seat of the Provisional government located in Petrograd, then capital of Russia), was captured. The mounting frustration of workers and soldiers erupted in July with several days of rioting on the streets, in what became known as the July Days.[citation needed] This event was sparked by the June offensive against Germany, in which War Minister Alexander Kerensky sent troops in a major attack on the Germans, only to be repelled. The July Days were also sparked by the workers' anger at their economic plight. A group of 20,000 armed sailors from "Red Kronstadt,"the naval base on the island of Kronstadt located near St.Petersburg or Petrograd, as it was known, marched into Petrograd and demanded that the Soviet take power. The capital was defenseless for two days. After suppressing the riots, the government blamed the Bolsheviks for encouraging the rebellion and many Bolshevik leaders, including Lenin and Grigory Zinoviev, were forced to go into hiding. Although the Bolshevik party had to operate semi-legally throughout July and August, its position on the far left end of the political spectrum was consolidated. Radical anti-war social democrats, who had joined the Mezhraiontsy earlier in the year, merged with the Bolsheviks in August. Many of them, particularly Trotsky, Joffe and Konstantin Yurenev would prove vital to the Bolsheviks' eventual seizure of Petrograd. The Kornilov Affair was another catalyst to Revolution. Alexander Kerensky, who held positions in both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet, felt he needed a trustworthy military leader. After appointing Lavr Kornilov, Kerensky soon accused Kornilov of trying to set up his own military dictatorship. It is still uncertain as to whether or not Kornilov did engineer a plot of this kind or not. Kornilov, convinced Kerensky was acting under duress of the Bolsheviks, responded by issuing a call to all Russians to "save their dying land!" Unsure of the support of his army generals, Kerensky was forced to ask for help from other quarters- including the Bolshevik Red Guards, even providing them with arms. Kornilov's supposed attempt to seize power collapsed without bloodshed as his Cossacks deserted him. Kornilov and around 7,000 of his supporters were arrested. This is an informal historical excursion back into the Nineteen Twenties. Paul Sann We call it the Lawless Decade, but it has been known by many names. F. Scott Fitzgerald, using bathtub gin for the ceremonies, christened it the Jazz Age. Westbrook Pegler called it the Era of Wonderful Nonsense. Frederick Lewis Allen, the period's most able observer, talked of the New Era and the New Freedom. Some put it down as the Roaring Twenties, others as the Get-Rich-Quick Era. To the sports journalists it was the Golden Age. And to the bluenoses, may they rest in peace, it was the Dry Decade--a name born of 100-proof fancy. There was nothing dry about the Twenties. San Francisco history Jack the Ripper is a website devoted to the historical mystery of the Jack the Ripper murders of Whitechapel and the surrounding areas of London in 1888 and possibly other years. The site was started in January 1996 and features suspect, victim and witness overviews as well as more than two-thousand contemporary press reports. Modern-day articles, book and film reviews, police biographies and an active online forum are also available. The site continues under the editorship of its founder, Stephen P. Ryder, and has been lauded as "one of the most important resources for Ripper information today." World War I, "The war that would end all wars.", had ended by 1918; Europe was left in ruins physically, politically, and economically. The years following the most devastating war to take place prior to the 1920s, Europe would struggle with economic and political recovery, but not the United States. Left virtually unharmed by World War I, the United States was even able to experience a decade of peace and prosperity following such a disastrous war. Of the many reasons for America's prosperity, technology played one of the most vital parts in bringing the great economic and cultural prosperity that America experienced during the 1920s. New advancements, new discoveries, and new inventions improved American lives in many if not every conceivable way, but not without a few negative side-effects. One of the first major inventions to become a national craze was the automobile. First developed with a combustion engine in 1896 by inventor Henry Ford, he later started the Ford Motor Company, which mass produced affordable automobiles known as the Model-T. Ford's Model-Ts became such an overwhelming success that he sold over 15 million Model-Ts by 1927 (Gordon and Gordon 77). By the end of the decade, there was almost one car per family in the United States As a result, the automobile became an increasingly important part of American lives. Workers no longer needed to live close to their workplace, instead they could live farther away and still arrive at their jobs with ease. Homemakers could run errands with greater convenience. The overall increase in productivity and efficiency left the American people with more time for entertainment and recreation. Families could visit relatives on a constant basis, even distant relatives. The automobile provided a perfect way for people, especially for adolescents, to socialize and make merry. The automobile craze even came to a point where the back seat of a car replaced the parlor as a place for courtship and love Henry Ford, born July 30, 1863, was the first of William and Mary Ford's six children. He grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is today Dearborn, Michigan. Henry enjoyed a childhood typical of the rural nineteenth century, spending days in a one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanical things and a dislike for farm work. Welcome to Theodote's House of Rhetoric. The original Theodote didn't own a house. Nor did she own a farm, or a vineyard -- or any visible means of support, for that matter. Theodote relied upon the generous support of her friends -- and every man she met was a very good friend. This well worth a look !! The decade of the 1920s is often characterized as a period of American prosperity and optimism. It was the "Roaring Twenties," the decade of bath tub gin, the model T, the $5 work day, the first transatlantic flight, and the movie. It is often seen as a period of great advance as the nation became urban and commercial (Calvin Coolidge declared that America's business was business). The decade is also seen as a period of rising intolerance and isolation: chastened by the first world war, historians often point out that Americans retreated into a provincialism evidenced by the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the anti- radical hysteria of the Palmer raids, restrictive immigration laws, and prohibition This is your connection to the Roaring Twenties Antique Automobiles,Classic Radio,Jazz and Vaudeville from the Flapper Era Graphic Design from the 1920s and 1930s in Travel Ephemera The Harlem Renaissance was also known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the anthology The New Negro, edited by Alain Locke in 1925. Centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the movement impacted urban centers throughout the United States. Across the cultural spectrum (literature, drama, music, visual art, dance) and also in the realm of social thought (sociology, historiography, philosophy), artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical experiences of black America and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. Challenging white paternalism and racism, African-American artists and intellectuals rejected merely imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans and instead celebrated black dignity and creativity. Asserting their freedom to express themselves on their own terms as artists and intellectuals, they explored their identities as black Americans, celebrating the black culture that had emerged out of slavery and their cultural ties to Africa. The Harlem Renaissance had a profound impact not only on African-American culture but also on the cultures of the African diaspora as a whole. Afro-Caribbean artists and intellectuals from the British West Indies were part of the movement. Moreover, many French-speaking black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris were also influenced by the Harlem Renaissance. Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 - October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, singer, actor, songwriter. Familiar to Broadway, radio and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five children. His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname, Banjo Eyes, and in 1933, the artist Frederick J. Garner caricatured Cantor with large round and white eyes resembling the drum-like pot of a banjo. Cantor's eyes became his trademark, often exaggerated in illustrations, and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical Banjo Eyes (1941).

Bloody Sunday was a day of violence on 21 November 1920 in Dublin, during the Irish War of Independence (1919 - 1921), which led to the deaths of more than 30 people. The day began with the killing of fourteen of eighteen British agents of the Cairo Gang, or their informants, by the Irish Republican Army. Later that afternoon, British forces opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park in north Dublin, killing 14 civilians. That same evening there were scattered shootings in the city streets, and three Irish prisoners in Dublin Castle were killed by their British captors under suspicious circumstances.one of the most significant events to take place during the Irish War of Independence, which followed the formation of a unilaterally declared Irish Republic and its parliament, Dáil Éireann. The army of the republic, the Irish Republican Army waged a guerrilla war against the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), its auxiliary organisations and the British Army, who were tasked with suppressing Irish separatism. In response to IRA actions, the British Government formed paramilitary forces to augment the RIC, the "Black and Tans" (a nickname arising from their mixture of uniforms), and the Auxiliary Division (generally known as the Auxiliaries or Auxies). The behaviour of both groups immediately became controversial (one major critic was King George V) for their brutality and violence towards not just IRA suspects and prisoners but Irish people in general. In Dublin, the war largely took the form of assassinations and reprisals on either side. The events on the morning of 21 November were an effort by the IRA in Dublin, under Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy to wipe out the British intelligence organisation in the city. It was the police that were responsible for the British reprisals on the afternoon of Bloody Sunday. Early on the morning of 21 November, the IRA teams mounted the operation. Most of the killings occurred within a small middle-class area of south inner-city Dublin, with the exception of one shooting at the Gresham Hotel on O'Connell Street. At 28 Upper Pembroke Street, four agents were killed. At 22 Lower Mount Street, one British officer was killed and another narrowly escaped. The building was surrounded by Auxiliaries, alerted by the firing, and in the ensuing gun fight two Auxiliaries were killed and one IRA man, Frank Teeling, was wounded and captured. Future Irish Taoiseach, Seán Lemass was involved in the killing of a Captain Bagely, also on Mount Street, while in two further incidents on the same street three more British agents and one of their wives were killed. One wife was to give birth to a stillborn baby less than a week later. Only a few streets away, further shootings took place on Baggot Street, Fitzwilliam Square, Morehampton Road and Earlsfort Terrace. In all, 14 people were killed and 6 wounded, including suspected agents and those with no connection to politics, and two Auxiliaries. Four of the British casualties were military intelligence officers and another four were Secret Service or MI5 agents. Only one Squad member was captured, Frank Teeling, and he managed to quickly escape from gaol. One more IRA man was slightly wounded in the hand. However, out of the 35 people on Collins' hit list, only about a third had been killed. IRA man and future Irish politician, Todd Andrews recalled later, "the fact is that the majority of the IRA raids were abortive. The men sought were not in their digs or in several cases, the men looking for them bungled their jobs".Nevertheless the action terrified and crippled British intelligence in Ireland, causing many other agents and informers to flee for Dublin Castle, and caused consternation in the British administration. Collins justified the killings in this way; "My one intention was the destruction of the undesirables who continued to make miserable the lives of ordinary decent citizens. I have proof enough to assure myself of the atrocities which this gang of spies and informers have committed. If I had a second motive it was no more than a feeling such as I would have for a dangerous reptile. By their destruction the very air is made sweeter… For myself, my conscience is clear. There is no crime in detecting in wartime the spy and the informer. They have destroyed without trial. I have paid them back in their own coin TEXAS GUINAN'S CULTURE CLUB (and SPEAKEASY) Welcome to the 1920s! Tex and the gang hope to make your visit as authentic as possible. So pay your money and take your chances The St. Valentines Day Massacre. Probably the most publicized and talked about Mob event ever is the St. Valentines Day Massacre. Several movies have been made about it and numerous books have been published. The North Side gang, led at the time by George 'Bugs' Moran, were being a major thorn in Al Capone's side. Capone finally decided he had had enough and, with the help of 'Machine Gun' Jack McGurn and others, hatched the plot that was to make murder history. Capone had a gangster from Detroit set up a deal with Moran for a quantity of liquor that had been recently hijacked. Moran accepted the deal and arranged to take possession at a garage at 2122 North Clark Street on February 14th, 1929. Capone's friends from Detroit informed him of the arrangements and phase two of the plan went into effect. Capone's team acquired a police paddy wagon, either by theft or bribery, and police uniforms and proceeded to the garage on the morning of the 14th. Two of the hit team dressed in the police uniforms, the others wore long coats and presumably looked like the detectives of the group. They pulled up to the front of the garage and all charged out and in to the building just as the police would have in a routine raid. Inside the garage were six members of Moran's gang (the old O'Banion gang) - Adam Meyer, John May, James Clark, Al Weinshank, the Gusenburg brothers, Frank and Pete and an optometrist Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer who picked a bad day to visit. The hit team had all seven men stand up and face the wall. The seven complied, expecting a pat down search for weapons and identification. Then two of Capone's men opened up with Thompson submachine guns, peppering each victim with numerous rounds from the .45 caliber weapon. The hoods disguised as cops then took the guns and marched the plain clothed gun men out of the garage with their hands raised as if they were under arrest. They all got into the police wagon and drove off. Alphonse Gabriel Capone (January 17, 1899 January 25, 1947), popularly known as Al Capone or Scarface, was an Italian American gangster who led a crime syndicate dedicated to the smuggling and bootlegging of liquor and other illegal activities during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s and 1930s. The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was the dominant Irish-American Mafia criminal organization (although a large number of Polish-Americans were members as well) within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early to late 1920s and principal rival of the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone organization, later known as the Chicago Outfit. At the stroke of midnight, on January 16th, 1920, America went dry. There wasn't a place in the country (including your own home) where you could legally have even a glass of wine with your dinner without breaking the law. The 18th Amendment, known as the Volstead Act, prohibited the manufacture, sale and possession of alcohol in America. Prohibition lasted for thirteen years. Mob-controlled liquor created a booming black market economy. Gangster-owned speakeasies replaced neighborhood saloons--and by 1925 there were over 100,000 speakeasies in New York City alone. Mob bosses opened plush nightclubs with exotic floor shows and the hottest bands. At Small's Paradise in Harlem , waiters danced the Charleston , carrying trays loaded down with cocktails. Popular stars like Fred and Adele Astaire performed at The Trocadero. And at the Cotton Club, Duke Ellington led the house band as tap dancer Bojangles Robinson and jazz singer Ethel Waters packed the house in rural America , on Midwestern college campuses, kids drank "bathtub gin" and danced to the hot jazz of Bix and the Wolverines in lakeside pavilions. Everything on this website is original. The material is not reproductions. Nothing on this website is for sale, it is purely an online gallery. Bathtub gin, speakeasies, hot jazz, the Charleston. . . A wild era, a romantic era. Thorougly modern. The 1920s, hope sprung afresh from the battlefields of Europe, a new freedom. The United States had been engaged in a major European war and had been on the winning side. The farmboys returned home, itching to live in the city. Flappers were bobbing their hair, rolling down their stockings, raising their hemlines and wearing makeup. I am attempting to bring together all the information I can find on the 1920s & 1930s dance music, including scanned pictures of musicians, bands and original record labels, short biographies, maybe discographies and eventually some music files for listening. I am concentrating on British Dance Bands because, living in England, they are the ones I know most about and also they are the most neglected on the web. I welcome comments, corrections and additional information or photographs from anyone. The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, the story is set in Long Island's North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922. The novel chronicles an era that Fitzgerald himself dubbed the "Jazz Age." Following the shock and chaos of World War I, American society enjoyed unprecedented levels of prosperity during the "roaring" 1920s as the economy soared. At the same time, Prohibition, the ban on the sale and manufacture of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment, made millionaires out of bootleggers and led to an increase in organized crime. Although Fitzgerald, like Nick Carraway in his novel, idolized the riches and glamour of the age, he was uncomfortable with the unrestrained materialism and lack of morality that went with it .

HOME