Unit 4.1 Technology and Entertainment during the Progressive Era
l Electricity
l Use of electricity meant factories could operate ______, producing even more cheap consumer goods
l It also made new electric appliances, such as ______, into status symbols (a way to show off your wealth)
l Refrigeration
l Electricity ushered in the age of ______
l Refrigerators allowed food to be preserved longer, leading to fewer diseases from eating spoiled food (esp. meat)
l Automobiles
l ______(1863 – 1947)
l Ford originally worked for Thomas Edison, but left after Edison dismissed automobiles as a “_____”
l Ford built his first car in 1896, then founded Ford Motor Company in 1903
l Ford sold over 15,000,000 ______s between 1908 and 1927
l Ford’s description of his Model T: "I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one—and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces."
l The ______
l Ford trained each of his factory workers to do one specific job; this led to improved ______
l Cars moved down the line from worker to worker having individual parts added along the way
l This led to ______production and greater production volume, thus ______the cost of Fords
l Ford's $5 per day wage
l Ford also saw his workers as potential ______and wanted them to be able to buy his cars
l Ford offered the unheard of pay of $5 per day (as a minimum wage – some workers made more!), forcing wages to rise across US
l Paying more also meant that his workers stayed working at his factories, so he didn't lose money through constantly training new employees
l Airplanes
l Wilbur Wright (1867 – 1912) & Orville Wright (1871 - 1948)
l Ohio bicycle mechanics who developed a series of gliders between 1899-1902
l The ______ finally built the first successful powered airplane in 1903
l ______ (1902 – 1974)
l Pilot who rose to fame by becoming the first man to fly a non-stop solo trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 in his plane ______
l Lindbergh's flight opened the door for intercontinental air travel
l Commercial Airlines
l First commercial air travel in the US began in ______
l Airlines didn’t become profitable until the 1920s when Ford began producing the Ford Tri-Motor aircraft that could carry 12 passengers
l Motion Pictures
l First motion picture, or “movie,” was the 12-minute-long 1903 Edison film ______
l Movies quickly became one of America’s favorite forms of cheap entertainment
l The first “______" movie was the 1915 film Birth of a Nation which earned over $10 million despite being over 3 hours long and extremely racist
l Movie Theaters
l First purpose-built movie theater opened in New Orleans in 1896; it seated about 90 people
l Movie theaters quickly became a “must-have” for any town, and thousands had opened by the 1920s
l Radio
l After 1913, new technology allowed long-range radio transmissions
l 1926: National Broadcasting Company (NBC) formed
l 1928: Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) formed
l Radio programs became a staple of household entertainment; by 1929, 10 million radios were in use in the US - ______for nearly every ______
l Ragtime Music
l Up-tempo music that reflected the hectic pace of city life
l ______(1867 – 1917) became known as the “King of Ragtime” and was America's first major recording artist
l Mass Culture
l US cultural trends became national rather than local – what was fashionable in dress, music, food, books, etc. was now more consistent across the country, thanks to nationally published magazines and motion pictures
l New Consumer Goods: electric razors, disposable tissues, frozen foods, hair dye, washing machines, gas stoves, deodorant, mouthwash, etc.
l Coca-Cola
l Introduced in 1886 as a ______largely for the treatment of menstrual cramps
l Name came from its two primary ingredients: ______(from the coca plant) and ______(from the kola nut); cocaine dropped after 1903
l Kodak Cameras
l George Eastman introduced the first camera for amateur use in 1885 and expanded the market in 1900 with the introduction of the “______” box camera
l The key element was the development of cheap film to capture photographic images rather than the heavy, expensive glass plates that cameras had used