William Tyler
The Hedonistic 20’s and the Crash of 1929

William Tyler - The Hedonistic 20’s and the Crash of 1929

- Hello everyone for this next session on American History where we look at the 1920s. But first a word to those of you who follow my blog and may have read my synopsis of today’s talk because I’m not following that synopsis. When I came to actually put in pen to paper as it were in preparing it, I, my mind went in different directions and I’m reminded of a story that comes from the 1970s. There was a famous, very famous sketch on a “Saturday Night” Entertainment channel programme of the BBC in 1971 with the comedian Eric Morecambe. Eric Morecambe was playing the piano, whilst Andre Previn was conducting the orchestra as well as the pianist. And clearly Eric Morecambe on the piano was totally out tune with the orchestra and Previn turns to towards him and says, “You are playing the wrong notes.” To which Morecambe have famously replied, “I’m playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.” So those of you who looked at my synopsis, I promise I’ll cover what I said, but not necessarily in the right order. Now then we start the 20s. Historians always like to start decades, not in the decade, and they end it not at the end of the decade. Well, this decade really begins at the 11th bar. The 11th day of the 11th, 1918, when, “The war to end all wars”, to use the phrase by the novelist, H.G. Wells finally came to an end. The troops came home, the world, including the United States, could return to the paths of peace.

And American President Harding, said it in these words, “We are returning to normalcy.” Normalcy, that was the great hope. We would turn the clock back, in America’s terms to 1916, in British terms to 1930, we would almost forget the war had happened and we would go on in the same old way, if you like, but no one could foresee at the beginning of the decade what would come to America and through America to the world in 1929, that is the Wall Street crash. And when the financial markets imploded with all the consequences of that, not least the depression years of the following decade in the 1930s, a story similar Canada, Britain and elsewhere across the world. We are learning in the 20th century, that if something goes as it were pear-shaped in one place, it’s likely to go pear shaped in many. And we’ve had various financial crises since, which have affected the world. I suppose you could say the latest to affect us, has been that of the war in Ukraine. That is why I said, “The decade began in hope when the troops came home. But it ended for so many in despair as the stock market crashed at Wall Street.” But actually hopes for the future was somewhat dampened by the time war ended by the influenza pandemic, which had begun in 1917 and only ended in 1920. Now at the turn of the century, of the 20th century, there was no answer. There was absolutely no answer to flu and its consequences, no antibiotics, no antiviral drugs. It was a disaster of huge proportions. It’s estimated that across the world, 40, 50, some people say more than 50 million people died, something in the order of two to 3% of the entire population of the world.

When I was at school in the 1950s, we had a similar about of flu. Well, when I say similar, it was a serious about of flu. It wasn’t a pandemic as in 1919, but it was extremely serious, the most serious in my lifetime. And I remember a elderly teacher saying this, a little rhyme, which he’d learned as a boy back in the end of the first war. And it goes like this. Many of you would’ve heard it wherever country you live in. “I had a little bird, its name was Enza. I opened the window, an influenza.” Not very funny, but it gives you a sense, that people were thinking this is an airborne disease. Closed the windows, which of course is the last thing. We were all told in COVID to open the windows. But in 1919, 1920, whatever date you take and that enormous through pandemic, we should have opened the windows instead of which we had this, this little rhyme began incidentally as a girl skipping line in the playground. It’s rather like “Ring-a-ring o’ roses”, the that children’s game, which has its origins in the black death. Interesting, oh, I won’t go into children’s games and their importance in history, but there is a great importance. In the United States, some 28% of the population of 6 million became infected, not died of course, but 28% became infected. In fact, America was one of the worst countries in worst in the sense of the worst to suffer from influenza in percentage terms. Some 500,000 to 850,000 people died in the States out of 106 million. Now if you look at figures for influenza, and I’ve been looking through the books I’ve gotten on the web and so on and so forth, but to get accurate figures for you, well wherever you look, you get different figures.

And the truth of the matter is rather like COVID, the experts never got the statistics accurate. You know what happened in COVID, somebody died and around COVID, but they didn’t put COVID as the cause of death or in other cases they put COVID as a cause of death. It very, very difficult to be certain. What we do know, is this pandemic caused more deaths than the first World War. And it is said there were more casualties caused in America than with the first, second Korean and Vietnam wars put together. Now all of that I knew and except I always had trouble finding some fixed figures. But anyhow, that’s clear. Most of my books are relatively newly published to keep up to date. Whereas when, well, when it was a few years back, I was talking about influenza in about 2015 and so on, around that date. I was using older books, which I’ve discarded. What is interesting in these modern books is, there’s no reference. And when I say no reference, I mean no reference. We’ve used “The world” by Simon Sebag Montefiore, that wonderful book. He doesn’t mention it. Now there is a problem because histories of the humanities, it misses out the science of things like influenza ‘cause historians can’t cope with it. But it is intriguing that we have modern books on the history of the United States. It’s the same as modern books on the history of Britain, which give passing reference to influenza or almost no reference at all. And that is an indication of why we had a problem with COVID because we were totally unprepared and we should not have been unprepared because we actually of course knew about what might come. It seems as though the attitude of societies to influenza was soon as forgotten, soon as mended.

Now, I hope we have a COVID inquiry going on at the moment in Britain, and I hope the consequence of that is like most government inquiries usually drive into the sand. Well, I hope this time it doesn’t, because we really do need to be prepared for the next pandemic and not to frighten anyone, we’re overdue another flu pandemic, but we now have means of dealing with a flu pandemic in terms of jabs that are will be available, which weren’t for COVID. But of course we could face a another pandemic like COVID for which we have no answer. And we must ensure in every possible country, that scientific research continues and that we have prepared plans, that’s just a thought that’s gone through my mind. Now why did it and how did it spread? Well, if we take the United States as an example, the first documented, not first case, but the first properly documented case of influenza in the States came in March of 1918. And it came from a military camp, a soldiers’ camp in Kansas where the cook caught flu and it spread in a matter of days to 200 of the soldiers in the camp. One of the problems with flu and the war in America, the soldiers were recruited from right across the States and went eastwards. But by the time they got eastwards, think of the blokes in Kansas, by the time they got to the east coast, many of them were carrying flu and they spread it like wildfire.

To make matters worse, the Americans had, I mean I know those of you who are American will know how you criticise Britain and fairly so, for our class system, but it was rampant in America at the time of the flu epidemic and the troops going abroad, why? Because the Americans said, “We must not allow people to mix with the local communities. So all you soldiers are confined to camp.” Great, except officers were allowed to go out into local communities. So it spread, I’m afraid flu did not distinguish between soldiers and between other ranks and officers. I’ve got an example here from the Wikipedia entry on influenza, which is a Canadian example, and it says, “In late 1917 and throughout 1918, thousands of male troops gathered at Halifax before heading across the Atlantic. Any soldier that was ill and could not depart, was added to the population Halifax, which increased the case rate of influenza amongst men across Canada.” It was spread because people didn’t understand and it spread in Europe, in the trenches and from the trenches right across Europe. There were terrible stories from all countries involved in the war, that people who had survived the war, in some cases in Britain, they had survived four years on the front line, were dead within days of reaching home, dead through influenza. It was a dreadful killer. Of course there were those who said because the Germans took higher cases of influenza for a variety of reasons, it was said that that was God’s punishment on the Germans. It was nothing. Well, of course we know it was nothing of the sort, but people really simply still didn’t understand about flu. So all those hopes of 1918, that this is going to be a world as the British Prime Minister Lloyd George said, “A world where we create a land fit for heroes to live in.” Or as H.G. Well said in the quotation I used at the beginning that, it was “The war to end all wars,” simply didn’t become the case.

And normalcy president Harding’s word, did not embrace such a disaster as influenza. But let’s stick with politics for a comment. We’ve noted before in my talks or I’ve noted before for you in my talks, that the first World War and in brackets, that later the Second World War, increase the power of the Federal Government in America, as it increased the power of the Prime Minister in Britain because it led necessarily for the President and for the Prime Minister, to wield greater central control in times of modern warfare. But of course, once people like presidents and Prime Ministers get power, they are low to give it up. Whatever they say in opposition, they like those new levers of power which they can pull. And so it was in the States where they begin to pull the power. Perhaps the very beginning of in post-War America came in June of 1921. In June of 1921. This is “The Rough Guide to American History”, I read this, “In June, the creation of the Bureau of the budget enabled the president for the first time to control all federal spending plans.” Great you might say, because that’s necessary in a modern society, the delegation to the individual states or in Britain, the delegation to a wider number of members of parliament is not perhaps the most efficient way of government. Fine, provided you have Prime Ministers and presidents of stature. But this is what Harding said, talking about taxes and talking about federal finances.

President Harding said, “I can’t make a damn thing out of this tax problem. I listened to one side and they seem right and then God, I listened to the other side and they seem right as well. And here I’m where I started, I know somewhere there’s a book that will give me the truth, but hell, I couldn’t read the book. I know somewhere there is an economist who knows the truth, but I don’t know where to find him and haven’t the sense to know him and trust him when I do find him. God, what a job.” Wow, now, whatever country you live in, Harding statement about his own lack of knowledge on financial and tax affairs, is really a statement that you can take through the whole of the 20th and 21st century. Look at COVID, presidents and Prime Ministers didn’t know what to do. They were advised by scientists. Now, I know about America, and I know about Britain. The scientific advice was not always taken. The scientists were not media people and received a great deal of criticism and yet, and yet the scientists were giving what we, I think can confidently say a objective, sensible answer, but it didn’t fit with what politicians always wanted to do. So giving power to the centre is a jolly good thing in most cases. But it does depend upon the person there either having the ability themselves or having the strength of character to appoint people who do have the answer and then not to second guess them. And my example is always a British example, which is Churchill in the second World War always took advice from the best sources he could. He didn’t always agree, but almost inevitably he accepted it. And that is really important and COVID taught us that all over again.

But here it is at the very beginning with hard intent. I can’t make a head and a tail attacks. Well, I’m about the worst person to ask maths at all. I’m hopeless and I wouldn’t have been able to do it either. But I wasn’t president of the United States when you needed to know about tax. If we stick with politics for a moment, there’s one highly controversial political policy, enacted in 1920 through the 18th Amendment of Constitution. That is Prohibition which made the production, the transportation and the selling of alcohol a crime. On the face of it, it looks a rather unlikely piece of legislation. So the question must be why? I think it’s not surprising to learn that it rises out of American history. It arises out of those Puritan Protestants to whom we would now call fundamentalists who left England and persecution for the New World. And we’ve seen in an earlier talk how in the late 19th century, there was religious revivals in the States on the fundamentalist side of Christianity. All of that led to a temperance movement. Now the temperance movement in the United States is not unique. There was a strong temperance movement in Britain as well. We had temperance hotels, same as the States. What is different about the States is that, the temperance movement gained political traction and was enabled to get past the 18th Amendment, making alcoholic production, the transport of alcohol and the selling of alcohol a crime. And it’s the remain so, until the early 1930s. Did it work? Well, you don’t have to be a genius for saying no, it did not work. Why not? Well, because people did home brews. Secondly, speakeasies were established in the cities illicitly and illicitly selling alcohol to its clients, but was a far more negative effect in the States with prohibition.

And that was that criminality was based upon the illegal drink trade. In the same way today that in all our countries, organised crime is based on illegal drug distribution. So in the 1920s, it was illegal alcohol distribution. Reynolds in his History of America of course tells us about the most famous gangster of all. And he writes this, and it’s just a simple way of expressing it. “Our Capone, the son of Italian immigrants whose face was scarred from a vicious knife attack, was a pains to represent himself as a businessman.” This is Capone speaking to us over the passage of yours. Capone said, quote, “I make my money by supplying a public demand.” If I break the law, my customers who number hundreds of the best people in Chicago are as guilty as I’m. The only difference at Capone is that, I sell and they buy. When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on a silver tray on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called hospitality. And it was for business misdemeanours, tax evasion that Capone, as we all know was eventually put behind bars not for the setting up of some 500, sorry, of some 300 deaths, including the notorious Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929 when arrival began was gunned down in Chicago and Capone enters mythology.“ When I was at school, we had a history society and every year on an Open Day, the history society put on a display. And one of the earliest I was involved with being about 14, I suppose, was one on American, on the American West. And I was delegated to do some work on the St. Valentine’s Day massacre.

I thought it was wonderful to, as a 14-year-old, we were never taught history like that. All the duns and the fighting and I could view, oh, it was a delight. But the reality of course was it was anything but a delight. It was a horror in American society. And we will come back to American organised crime at a later date. But so much for Harding’s normalcy, so much. And at this point in my notes, I’ve simply got a note which says, stop. Because there is another side of the 20s, what was called at the time the "Roaring Twenties”. In the same way that we refer to the 1960s as the “Swinging Sixties”. This was an age of escapism. Escapism from the horror they come out of, that is to say the first war and the escapism from the realities of society. At least it was escapism for those who could. What sort of escapism? Well, popular music and dance took off mainly of course amongst the young. There was also the escape into the cinema. Same across the western world. People went to the cinema once, even twice a week. My parents used to do that in the 1950s. Go to the local cinema, which is now closed down. I think it’s a McDonald’s now, which had a main feature for half the week and then another main feature for the second half. And so they got the audience in twice and then finally, people could escape into literature. And this is the age of the American novel taking off. And we’ll say a bit about that. Well, let’s take music. And I said just now, the 20s were known as the “Roaring Twenties” but they were also known, particularly in the States as the “Jazz Age”. And it was jazz music, described once by Duke Ellington as quote, “The only truly American art form.”

That would be a good topic for a debate, wouldn’t it? The only truly American art form is jazz developed and more than alive today in New Orleans, which became the capital of jazz. What was it? Well, musicologists say, “It was a synthesis of French and Spanish musical trends in the south of America.” in the southern states of America in other words, “Linked to African and Caribbean rhythms of black Americans. Its earliest incarnation was rag time.” I have to say I’m a fan of rag time. “Its earliest incarnation was rag time played in the brothels of New Orleans.” It’s interesting how music sort of accompany whatever goes on in a brothel. I can’t ask anyone to comment on that. It would be too, too, too personal. But anyhow, it developed in brothels. “And one of the earliest of these musicians was Jelly Roll Morton and Jelly Roll Morton later said, ‘I myself happened to be the creator in 1902 of jazz.’” Well, many other people have claimed it as well. It doesn’t matter. It is at the beginning of the 20th century, but particularly after the first World War, that jazz takes off in a big way. This is a little quote that I wanted to share with you that we can’t say where it began quite, that’s people will argue forever, but it’s worth sharing this little piece.

“After 1917, when a clampdown closed New Orleans Storyville Red-Light District and a group of white New Orleans, the original Dixieland jazz band, made the first ever jazz record in New York. There was a mass musical exodus. Joe King Oliver’s ‘Creole Jazz Band’, cut the first definitive jazz classics in Chicago in 1923, while the former trumpeter Louis Armstrong found glory with his ‘Hot Fives’ in New York.” Now there’s a little piece in that. I’ve just read one word. They went to record it. So now you didn’t have to go to a concert, you could buy a record and you could buy a record. Canada, Australia, Britain, you could put on the New Orleans Dixie Jazz band. You could put on Louis Armstrong’s record. My father, who was a boy, he was born in 1917, so a boy in the 1920s. I remember him having, when I was a child, a stack of these jazz records. And they were, and most of the artists were American. So this has a worldwide influence. It’s often stated in American history books, how recording records created a new market which was oblivious of people, what people did or earned. It was simply across all divisions that you might, except it was the young people that took to it. Jazz also helped to some degree in closing the racial divide in the States. Jazz took to the silver screen and it was Al Jolson, who starred in the first talkie film ever made, “The Jazz Singer” in 1927. I’ve just said it helped to soften, maybe that’s the right word, the racial divide in the States. But Al Jolson appeared often in blackface. Now at the time that was, he was not criticised for it. Indeed, some black magazines in the States and musical critics hailed him, for helping black artists, actors in particular, find their way on Broadway.

He wasn’t seen in the way that now woke American critics see blackface. It’s another of these problems that we face in the modern world. We know that blackface is unacceptable today, totally unacceptable. No one’s going to defend it. But in the 1920s it wasn’t. So do you condemn Al Jolson for that? I really don’t think one should, you may think differently. I think what I would, I don’t think any of us could sit through an Al Jolson concert. He was overly sentimental, sort of what young people said, “Ah.” I think we would all be gagging by the time he finished a session on stage when he was live. That doesn’t matter. What the point is, is that the first talkie was “Jazz Singer” showing the importance of jazz. Both jazz as in terms of song, jazz on the Hollywood screen are all American. And as I read earlier, it was a contribution, not only to American society and culture, but a contribution to world society and culture. Most of the films I saw as a child in the 50s were American films. All absolutely 100% of the cartoons when one was lucky enough to have them come to a cinema locally to you in Britain in the 50s were all American. So the impact of American culture, is now beginning to take off in the 1920s. Let me share with you another filmmaker, a slightly more controversial one. Walt Disney became the great cartoon pioneer. Disney introduced that great icon not only of American childhood, but of British childhood as well. That is “Mickey Mouse” in his first screen appearance in 1928 in the film “Steamboat Willie”, which occurs on television from time to time.

Now, when I was principal in Manchester, my head of drama in the adult college in Manchester was a gentleman called Robin Allan. I managed to get him a year’s off to study for research. He was an expert on Walt Disney. He went to the States and he came back and he produced a book called “Walt Disney and Europe”. I’ll put this on a blog tomorrow when I’m going to put some books on. This book is brilliant, even though I knew Robin. Robin , sadly passed away. The introduction, the preface to Robin’s book, was written by another of my staff at Manchester, a part-time tutor called Brian Sibley. And Brian was a great film bar and Brian wrote this, which I think is a brilliant paragraph, Brian, “Can there have been a child who grew up in America after 1928 who didn’t know Disney’s name or who couldn’t have immediately identified that engaging entourage of cartoon characters led by a mouse called Mickey? Surely everyone must have been able to recite the stories of Disney’s animated feature films from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” onwards, or to sing from memory any of a dozen hits with such positive upbeat titles as “Whistle While Your Work, when you wish upon a star, who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?” Wonderful, it was a new age. It was an international age, it was an age of escapism for an hour or two in the cinema, you could escape into a different world.

And for Britains it was an escape into a more colourful world. And that is true in the 1950s when I was a child, as it was in 1920s, the more colourful world of America, to those of us, it was the American dream that we were seeing on our screens in the cinemas cinema. But Walt Disney’s reputation has been more than slightly solid by accusations both of racism and antisemitism. I’m sure lots of you know that, in the famous scene in “The Three Little Pigs”, the wolf was portrayed as a Jewish peddler, a Jewish seller of goods. Later, you won’t see it in any showing of the film today because it was reanimated to take out the Jewish features of the Wolf. In 1938, 5 years after Hitler and the Nazis came to power in Germany, Disney welcomed the Nazi director, Leni Riefenstahl to his studios. There is a difference of opinion. Some writers biographers, if you like, or Disney say there, well, they interview people who worked with Walk Disney who were Jewish and said they saw no sign of it. Well, others found differently as if my friend Robin Allan, who regarded Disney as, well. I think that the correct way of putting it is a very nasty piece of work. Before we leave cinema, I don’t think any gentleman here, listening is going to get hot under the collar because we’re all, believe it or not too young, but certainly my father’s generation of young men would’ve gotten under collar hearing this lady’s name. So let me just say this, Clara Bow.

“Clara Bow was one of the icons of the new, an unwanted child of two drunken violent persons who slid in and out of mental illness. She was raised in a booked in tripped tenement, but found her escape in watching movies and dreaming of a career on the screen. Eventually she talked her father into giving her a dollar, so she could have some photos taken. These helped her to get a screen test. Her cute looks and acting talent did the rest. Above all, ‘Bow had It’.” That was the word of the 1920s. A girl had it. And again, that word crossed the Atlantic. “It girls”, wow if you, I don’t think anyone possibly could be old enough. I suppose we could have somebody of a 20 listening, and I hope I haven’t given them a heart attack by a woman named Clara Bow. “Above all, ‘Bow had it’, the title of her most famous film and a word that became the 1920 synonym for sex appeal. She was the proverbial ‘It Girl’ who screamed romances and offscreen affairs became the subject to endless press gossip offscreen.” So now you are in the land of the celebrity a very 20th century concept. And so the press want to know everything about these stars. Well they published it. What they didn’t publish, of course if there were gay stars, that was hidden, we just had a whole series of programmes about Cary Grant, whom I’m interested in because I’m distantly related as to Cary Grant. But that’s another story and you can’t really see it in my face. But one of the drawbacks of my life, I wish I looked a bit more like Cary Grant, but Cary Grant’s personal life was sort of covered up a bit.

Let’s just put it like that. So Clara Bow and other stars of the 20s such as Louise Brooks were quintessential flappers.“ That was the other name that was used for women in the 1920s. They were flappers. And what did flappers mean? They were new women, flappers, another phrase they used. "The new woman floating old values with their heavy makeup, boyish haircuts, straight loose dresses and high heels who smoked in public and drove automobiles. They symbolised the collision between new social freedoms of the Jazz Age, and the traditional values of small town Protestant American.” Well that is very interesting because it takes us to a important social change at the beginning of the decade. The rise of the new woman or the modern woman in the 1920s, and again America is paralleled in other countries in Canada, Australia, Britain and so on. It all began post-war in America with the 19th Amendment passed in June 1919, which gave women the vote. Although the final state to ratify the fifth, the 19th Amendment was Tennessee as late as August, 1920. Women now have the vote in the States and across the world women are beginning to get the vote. The first country of course, in our sort of western world to give women the vote was of all places New Zealand. But I don’t know why I say of all places New Zealand, but one tends to think of New Zealand as conservative with a small C. But they weren’t when it came to women’s reform. Women may have the vote in the States as elsewhere, but their political influence was seriously limited. But nearly at the end of the decade in 1928, out of 431 members of the House of Representatives, only two, only two out of 431 were women. And it’s no better anywhere else give or take. And there were no women in the Senate. But it’s a step and that’s how social reform happens, small steps. If you are on the side wishing for reform, you could say it was so glacially slow, abolitionist slavery being another example. This right of women to have the vote which had been an issue at least from the 18th century, takes all of this time to mature.

And of course often it is said, it was pushed forward by the first World War which is true. For those who are American Francophiles. It’s worth noting that French women didn’t get the vote until 1944. And only then because Mrs. de Gaulle, Madam de Gaulle told Charles de Gaulle, “If you give women the vote, they will vote according to what their priests tell them and their priests will tell them to vote for you.” And she actually was right, they did. Women overwhelmingly in France voted for de Gaulle. In terms of female employment, well it’s the continuation of 19th century employment for middle class girls as typists and now telephonists in offices. But very few of them managed to break through the glass ceiling to become managers in offices. But nevertheless, Clara Bow and other actors, female actors in Hollywood and elsewhere, although they were the exception provided, they provided a role model to which other women could aspire. And so in a sense, although there was a glass ceiling, it had cracks in it in the 1920s. But it would be wrong to think, that most American women were not, particularly middle class women, would have wanted, themselves wanted, to be wives and mothers, working class women also wanted to be wives and mothers but had little choice but to work on the land or in factories. Yes, of course there was a social class difference in the States and elsewhere, but there is a general change happening very slowly, but it is happening. Other issues which would be described perhaps, although I don’t see why as feminist issues such as birth control and abortion remain issues in the States until today. They don’t remain issues in Britain, but they remain issues in parts of the States in a major way.

I’ve often said, Britain and American history goes in parallel but not always and not on everything. And it doesn’t in terms here, of some of these women’s issues, women’s rights, however you wish to express it. Now I’m looking at the clock. One area of escapism, jazz and music, that I haven’t yet touched on but mentioned is printed fiction. And the great novelist and commentator on the day was Scott Fitzgerald and Reynolds writes of Scott Fitzgerald in this way. And it’s worth reading because of the way that Reynolds expresses it. “Fitzgerald’s most celebrated novel, ‘The Great Gatsby’ of course, published in 1925 at the economic height of the boom.” The great boom years, “America’s Business is Business,” said the President Calvin Coolidge. And so it was in the 1920s, the boom years for many people at least it was a boom time. But Reynolds says, “Is almost prophetic about what was to come. Shifting between the grandeur estate of Long Island and the squalor of New York City and its suburbs. Fitzgerald traces the doomed love affair between Jay Gatsby a shadowy plutocrat and Daisy Buchanan, against the backdrop of those whose lives were ruined in the process. These gilded rich were quote from Fitzgerald, "Careless people. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into the money or their boss carelessness.” At the end of the book, Fitzgerald famously evokes the original Long Island that he imagined Dutch sailors had expired, had espied a fresh green breast of the new world, glimpses in a transitory enchanted moment when man must have held his breath in the presence of this new continent.“

Here again says Reynolds, "As in many other works of literature from the period, is that same sense of the lost Eden of American innocence. Yet Fitzgerald knows this is much of a dream as the idealised American future for individuals and countries can never fully escape their past.” That’s why history so fascinates me. Let me just read that again. Fitzgerald said, “Countries can never fully escape their past.” And nor America ignore the laws of economics because then, in 1929, comes the great crash on Wall Street. The historian John Lewis in in a simple sentence says this, “Throughout the 20s, the USA enjoyed unparalleled prosperity. With the stock market crash of October, 1929, the bubble burst.” It’s over, boom to bust is a phrase that we all are familiar with during our lifetimes, booming economies and bust economies. President Herbert Hoover had taken over as president from President Coolidge, a mere six months before the crash. At his inaugural speech, president Hoover said, “I have no fears for the future of our country.” God, why do politicians say such things? Many people would’ve been able to tell him, “Careful you shouldn’t say that. Some of this is built on sand and not on rock.” But most Americans believed it. He was elected by a fair margin. But on the 24th of October, 1929, 13 million shares were sold on the stock exchange. A further 16 million, on so-called Black Tuesday, the 29th of October. JK Galbraith, the Economist, has written, “The most devastating day in the history of markets.” On the 24th of October, Elliott Bay wrote in his book, “We saw it happen”, the following. So this is writing of the 24th of October, that is Black Thursday when the stock market crashed in a major way. And he wrote in this way, “Agonising scenes were enacted in the customer’s rooms of the various brokers. Their traders who a few short days before had luxuriated in delusions of wealth, saw all their hopes smashed in a collapsed so devastating, so far beyond their wildest fears as to seem unreal. Seeking to save a little from the wreckage.” I’ll nevertheless carry on regardless.

So this is the comment on the 24th of October 29th crash and the agonising scenes. “They would hold their stock sold at the market in many cases to discover they’ve not merely lost everything but were in addition in debt to the broker. And then ironic twist as like as not the next few hours while churning of the market would lift prices to levels where they might have sold out and had a substantial cash balance left over. Every move was wrong in those days, the market seemed like an insensate thing that was wreaking a wild and pitiless revenge upon those who had thought to master it. The excitement and sense of danger, which imbued Wall Street was like that which gripped men on a sinking ship. The camaraderie, the kind of gaiety of despair sprang up. The "Wall Street” reporter found all doors open and everyone snatched at him for the latest news. The shreds of rumour who was in trouble, who had gone under last, perhaps most importantly, where was it going to end?“ Well, we can answer that question. It was going to end in the depression of the 1930s. That is where it led to. It led on to FDR’s New Deal. Now that’s a story I should tell you about when we reconvene in January. But it’s worth noting now, the immediate effects of the Wall Street crash. And this is a British revision book for students. It’s just short circuits, what I want to say, I’m still looking my clock and time is ticking away. And it means that this, the immediate effects of the Wall Street crash.

"From 1929 to 1931, industrial production in the States dropped by a third. Wages fell, workers were sacked. Many Americans couldn’t afford to pay back bank loans and stop depositing money in banks. This forced many banks to close, which meant people’s savings were lost. Banks would no longer give credit to customers. So many people didn’t have the money to buy consumer goods anymore. This lack of demand caused businesses to close and people lost their jobs. Around five and half percent of workers were unemployed in 1929. But by 1933, the figure had risen to 25% unemployed and many of these for years.” So you see, it isn’t just, and you all know that it isn’t just the financial market and it doesn’t concern you because you don’t have shares. It affected everybody. And not only did it affect America, but it infected the world as well. This is a world which is interdependent by this time of the 20th century. We’ve come to talk about globalisation and realise that if someone sneezes in California, we shall have finally the effects in Newcastle, in Britain and vice versa. It was a dreadful time, a dreadful moment. And did we learn much from it? Well, I’ll look at that question when we talk about it after the holiday period in January. Some people would say, “We still don’t learn the lessons from that. Before I move on to a conclusion, I want to say a word about President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge became president on the death of his predecessor in 1921, Warren Harding. And he won an election. And so he served for the whole of the decade.

He’s a Republican president and he served from 1921 through to 1929. He was the man who I quoted before, said that, "The chief business of the American people is business.” He was an interesting person, but neither he nor really many others believed or maybe wanted to believe that these boom years of the 1920s would end in the crash of 1929. It’s all good as far as they’re concerned. And I suppose you could describe him as a lucky politician, that he is there between the wars and despite all the negatives we’ve spoken about, the positives outshone them. But there was in the States still a deep division between traditionalists and modernists. And that broke out for all to see in the monkey trial so-called of 1925, which had the American public engrossed. Tennessee was attempting to enforce its legislation to prevent Darwinism being taught in its schools. On the traditionalist populist side, was a Christian fundamentalist William Bryan, on the side of those who wish to allow Darwinism to be be taught in the schools rather than the creation theory from the Bible was Clarence Darrow. Perhaps the greatest criminal lawyer of his day and an atheist. And Darrow perhaps unsurprisingly one, because he totally annihilated his opponent in cross-examination. Now many of you are lawyers as I am originally with my first degree and I just love this exchange. Darrow is the lawyer. Bryan is the traditionalist defending the teaching of Darwinism, a compulsory teaching of Darwinism. Darrow, “Mr. Bryan, do you believe that the first woman was Eve?” “Yes.” “Do you believe that she was literally made out of Adam’s rib?” “I do.” “You don’t care how old the earth is, how old man is, or how long the animals have been here?” “No, I’m not much interested in that.”

“And you have never made any investigation to find out?” “No, sir, I have never. Your Honour, the only purpose Mr. Darrow has is to slur the Bible. But I will answer the question, I want the world to know that this man who does not believe in a God, is trying to use a court in Tennessee to slur this legislation and the Bible.” Darrow, “I object your statement. I’m examining you on your full ideas that no intelligent Christian on Earth believes.” And then Bryan really cut his own throat, metaphorically speaking. Darrow says, “What do you think?” Brian says, “I do not think about things I don’t think about. Do you think about things you do think about?” “Well, sometimes.” And the courtroom are absolutely erupted in laughter. Reynolds writes, “That set off ripples of laughter around the courtroom, Darrow’s cross-examination exposed Bryan’s ignorance, even indifference about science, geology, history, languages and other religions.” Modernists said, . The traditionalists but they weren’t because as Reynolds goes on to say, they simply, put their case in ways. He writes this , I’ve got over excited, I’ve lost my place. Now here we’re, “Because the fact is that in many states, they found ways to block Darwinism. And if you think that is old stories, well, I think you have to admit, it’s alive and well in the America of the 21st century in a way that it’s not, I have to say in Britain, that is not an argument that we would have, even though some people would wish to have that argument.

How do we sum up the 1920s? This is Peter Clement, whom I’ve used before, and he writes this, I’ve got an eye on the clock, don’t worry. "During the 1920s, there were significant changes in US culture from a growing interest in jazz music and less restrained dancing.” I was hoping that some southern bell listening to me tonight will do us the honour of putting on the screen and dancing the “Black Bottom”. Oh wow. You can imagine what people at the time thought simple, “simple”, they said. Well, today we don’t think dancing like that is simple. In fact, it looks more restrained. “However, one should not over exaggerate.” Says Clement these, “Most people retain conservative values and distribute and distrusted the new trends.” And what I wanted to say about that as I come to an end is this, that American DNA of those puritans from England that came to New England in the 17th century, reinforced in the latter part of 19th century and arguably reinforced, at the beginning of the 21st century, provides that clash, almost one could say, of cultures between highly traditionalists, fundamentalist Christians and the, I’m not sure how you’d describe that. I can’t say the bulk of American society, but another part of American society, which is modern in terms of, in pretty well all terms.

And this is being played out before the world’s eyes as we head towards a next American election, which may be Biden against Trump. And the latest figures I’ve seen from the States, the latest statistics showed that Trump has a lead over Biden. Now, I’m not suggesting for one moment that Trump is a fundamentalist Christian, but he’s attracted fundamentalist Christians and many people both here in the States, which regard Trumpism almost as a cult, but his origins are not suddenly come about. It all stems back to this culture clash, which has been there since the very beginning of the United States. So in January I shall turn to the 1930s to FDR, the Depression, the New Deal, and then finally on to next on to the war again, 20 years on in Europe that burst out in 1939. I didn’t know really how to end. And I suppose I have ended in what I’ve already said, but I like to end on something a bit, I thought a bit more lighthearted. Calvin Coolidge, the president, was known for his taciturnity. He was not a man of many words. And on one occasion, Dorothy Parker was sat next to him and she said to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” Which Coolidge replied fantastically, “You lose.” I think that’s wonderful. I’m going to end on that. I can’t up . Thanks for listening. I’m sure I’ve got lots of questions, comments, and so on. Let’s see where we are.

Q&A and Comments:

I didn’t say wall. Did I say Wall Street rash? I’m sure I didn’t, did I miss the C out of crash? Well, you all know.

Shelly said, I like this comment, shelly. “Harding’s remark about taxes, maybe the most smartest, most honest thing he said.” What? That that’s true. That is absolutely true. “And would be of any leader of a country.” And that’s a very good comment. If you were writing that in an essay, I would give you a immediately and alpha just for that clever answer. That’s very good.

Phil, “Politicians lack of knowledge and understanding extensive artificial intelligence today.” Yes, I think all of that is true. The secret of success is it not in any line of work, most particularly if you are in politics, is to get the best advice you can and don’t second guess it. That’s the secret, there are enough. I mean, I’m absolutely appalled at the moment about legislation going through Britain about sending immigrants who come across the channel to Rwanda. I’m in sense because it attacks the rule of law, and it attacks a separation of powers. And this is being said on Twitter and in other places by highly respectable, highly regarded lawyers in Britain. And obviously, the Prime Minister and the government are simply ignoring that. I mean, for goodness sake, take the best advice you can.

“For your information,” says Rita, “Newly colourized images from the ‘29 Wall Street crash.” And she gives the a reference there, which I hope others can see. Well, you can always Google it.

Rosalyn says, “There was a life assurance company called the UK Temperance Society, which became the UK Provident Institution.” Absolutely right. That temperance was a big movement in Britain as well as in the States. It simply didn’t lead here to political action to ban alcohol. Who’s this?

Mumley iPad, “I remember reading that the very earliest jazz bands were formed from the influence of marching band news.” Absolutely, they were formed out of marching bands and march music. “Al Jolson’s birth name was Asa Yoelson, who was born in Kaunas in Lithuania.” Absolutely right. He was a Lithuanian immigrant.

Abigail, that’s a nice name. My mum was called Abigail. “As always such a old tank.” Oh, well I’m not sure I had yet come to Manchester in your time. Abigail, I left Manchester in 1984. I was principal in Manchester College of Adult from 80 to, no. Yes, 1980 to 1984. I’m sorry we didn’t meet. No, I had a great time. I love Manchester.

Rita, “Al Jolson Singing 'Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet’ from the Jazz singer gives, a song you can get on YouTube?” You can get almost any song I think on YouTube. So yeah, that’s a good idea. If you’re interested in Al Jolson, simply put it on YouTube tonight and listen and make your own mind up.

Jackie writes, “It is still the version of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ with the Wolf as a Jewish brush salesman on YouTube.” Is there indeed, that’s dreadful. Jackie, I didn’t know that. That that is not good. Abigail “Cary Grant’s story is on TV is accent you are related, but hope you had much happier start life.” I did, he came from a very poor background in a part of Bristol. Some of my relatives lived in it. It was not, it was pretty grim, I have to say. He also endears me to, he endears himself to me ‘cause he was a supporter of the football club in Bristol. But I support Bristol City for the Americans listening, the soccer club.

Monty says, “I’m pretty ancient. Growing up in South Africa, I remember the use of the word 'It’ very well.” So do I, yeah. People commenting on what I wear. Next week I shall appear as I usually do around Christmas time because it’s my last lecture before Christmas. I shall appear in a Christmas jumper, which I first wore this season, yesterday at a sherry party given by one of our neighbours. And it created quite a storm there. To hell with all of you.

Q: Shelly says, “What were the numbers of women in the US going to college in?”

A: And I’m sorry off the top of my head, I couldn’t get that. And let me make a note of that. I’ve got a piece of paper here. If I make a note of that question, I’ll feed it in next week of Women’s University education. I’ll remember, in that piece of paper or something. I’ll remember that. I’m sorry I don’t have that. And readers answer, say it’s online. Yes, those sorts of figures are often online, but I will give everyone that next week.

Q: “What is the best book about the great crash?”

A: Give me time to think about that. ‘Cause I’m going to put up a book list.

I should ignore that comment. Miriam, you must need to see an optician very quickly.

However, Hoover, sorry, Shelly says, “Hoover ran against Al Smith a Catholic and then he was the first Catholic to stand for the presidency, which must have been part of the reason for his win. It was think KKK An anti-immigrant anti-Catholic early 1920s.” Yes, absolutely right. Louis Armstrong was in the UK in '34/'35 and played at my parents’ wedding.“ That’s incredible, how fantastic. Wow, I do love adult education because sometimes people take you totally by surprise.

I don’t know who it is, they’ve said they are Zoom user. "Louis Armstrong was in the UK in ‘34/'35 and played at my parents’ wedding.” What a remembrance. I imagine in those proper times yourself were not present. Couldn’t say that today, Rita.

Barbara, “Thank heavens for the highlight of the ‘Roaring Twenties’. It does make history more fun.” Yes, I understand. “BritBox is featuring the life of Cary Grant Archie Leach, which is his real name in a two-part series. It was on a three-part series on the BBC.” So I guess, I think the BBC, I guess you can, you’ll be able to get it in the States at some point because it had rave reviews in Britain. I’m not finished yet. I’ve got a talk next week when I’m looking at business, the history of business from the late 19th century through to 1929. I’m looking at the history of business, then I get a fortnight’s break on Christmas day ‘cause it falls on a Monday and on New Year’s Day, which falls on a Monday. So I get a two week break. And then you are lumbered with me again. But I’ve got one more to do after I come back from France on Sunday.

Q: “Mike Johnson believes the Bible should govern the running of government Speaker of the House. on cross-examining,” says Rosalyn, “Do you believe everything in the Bible?” Yes. “How do you account for the story of Jonah?”

A: Well, you see that fundamentalist questions, believe that everything in the Bible is the word of God and therefore everything is true. And they won’t unpack that belief.

No, I just said, not my last Nikki, one more to go next Monday. I’m only going away for three nights on the boat from down the road at New Haven across to Detroit. And we’re going to the Christmas market in Rouen and Rouen Cathedral, which I’ve never been to.

Q: “A recent PBS programme on the "Ku Klux Klan” in the early middle part of the 20th century, claimed that they excluded Afro-Caribbean Jews, Catholics, indigenous Americans, other ethnic groups other than white Protestant, their membership. So does this translate to a sizable minority make up these days?“

A: So does this translate to a sizable minority who make up? I’m not sure that I quite understand Nikki, what you are saying. The "Ku Klux Klan” were definitely as you described them. “Is this a sizable minority? If you’re referring to Trumpism, it looks to be potentially a majority again. But he is also supported by Afro-Caribbeans, by Catholic. He’s supported by Ara, Nothing is ever, in history nothing comes out quite the same, second, third, fourth time round. And in terms of Trumpism, there are distinct changes. Your honour, Alfred Banning, sorry, banning Alfred. Sorry, sorry. It’s Alfred who’s making the comment.

Banning alcohol is in fact contrary to real fundamentalism. The Bible both permit wine rejecting only the overuse.” Absolutely, in other words, hypocrisy from the start. Now I know I can’t offend many people because there won’t be many evangelical Christians listening to me. I was educated, as many of you know, at an evangelical public school, private school, in other words, in Britain. And they definitely were hypocritical on many things. Drink was one of the things they were hypocritical on. So was drama, it was, fundamentalists, whether Christian or otherwise, can often not only appear but be hypocritical. You are absolutely right in what you said, Alfred. I’m sorry, “The American electorate. So does this translate to a seizable minority who make up the American electorate?” Americans must answer that. I mean, I think the American politics at the moment is so, such a fluid situation and to outsiders, outside of America, it’s difficult to comprehend. We’ll have to see how it works out.

Abigail says Carry Grant programme was on ITV in Britain. I’m not sure that that, would that make a difference in the States?“ I guess it’s going to come into the States.

Thank you Rita for putting my blog on. I’ve got to put some on my blog. I promise I’ll put some books on it, including my friend Robin Allan’s book on Disney. There may be someone listening who is a huge fan of Disney. You may not have heard of this book, because, although it was published in the States as well, it didn’t have much publicity either here or there because it was really a work of a love that get Robin to do. It was published by John Libbey and company, not a major publisher. And they were a publisher in London. It also was published in France, in Italy and in Australia, but I’m sure it was also published in the States as well. But anyhow, with Amazon these days, you can get almost anything. It was a very expensive when I came out. I’m not sure how much you would get it for today. But if a real enthusiast for Disney, I recommended, he was wonderful lecturer on Disney. It was fantastic to have him in the college. He was such a nice man as well, isn’t it sad? We think about people we used to work with, and I think it’s Christmas time. It’s a particularly, I find it a sad time of year because many of these people that we think about are no longer with us.

I’m not going to end on such a depressing them. I’m off for a three day holiday on Thursday. Please pray for a safe crossing in terms of it not being like that. It potentially is going to be on Sunday. We should be back Sunday night. I should be back next Monday. Same time, same place with the last American talk about American business, before I take a two week break. See you next week. Hope to see you then at least. Thanks, bye-Bye.