Live Game Labs

Enterntainment in the ‘20s

In 1928, there were no televisions, no VCRs, no DVD players, no Internet.  What did people do for fun?

They went to the movies a lot, for one.  But we’ll talk about the movie industry in its own section.

They listened to the radio.  Radio serials were quite popular.  It was also the main medium outside the live performances by which people enjoyed two of their favorite pastimes – sports and music.

Sports in the ‘20s was in some ways quite different from today, but in other ways very familiar.  The popular sports were quite different – professional baseball, college football, boxing, and horse racing were the Big Four.  Other professional sports, if they existed at all, were regarded as sideshows.  In Los Angeles, the best pro baseball available was the Los Angeles Stars, the number-one farm club of the Chicago Cubs.  College football began and ended with the University of Southern California Trojans, a major college power even then.  Boxing arenas and racetracks were both available to those who wanted it – and both had a much wider (and classier) clientele than today.

Still, many things were similar.  The ‘20s was the age of Ballyhoo, a time when individual stars overshadowed their teams, enjoyed tremendous popular adulation, and made big money through endorsements and appearances.  They were like movie stars.  In baseball, Babe Ruth was defining sports superstardom.  In college football, Red Grange was still the big name.  Joe Louis was the heavyweight champion of the world in boxing.

All of them were well-known names to just about all Americans, much like Michael Jordan today.

Like sports, music in the ‘20s had many parallels to music today.  Jazz was the rap of its day – a new medium rejected by many “popular” stars, incomprehensible to the “older generation”, sometimes associated closely with criminal activity, and eagerly embraced by the young and hip.  Jazz started in New Orleans, and the New Orleans sound quickly spread to Chicago and New York, and from there across the country.  Louis Armstrong was the preeminent performer of his day.  Duke Ellington was just beginning to explore the possibilities of the jazz orchestra, and big bands, which would have their heyday in the ‘30s, were beginning to swing.

Los Angeles was certainly off the beaten track for jazz headliners like Armstrong and Ellington, but the local talent was just fine, too!  The first wave of African Americans had come to Los Angeles after WWI, and they brought with them a thriving jazz culture.  The presence of the Hollywood star scene also served as a strong attraction for jazz musicians, not to mention the warm weather!