1920
Growing cities
In America back at the start of the century there were almost 50 million living in the countryside and 35 million living in the city. During the 1920s more people started living in the city than in the countryside and by the 1940s over 75 million people were living in the city and 45 million in the country. Because there was such an increase in population there were skyscrapers being built in New York due to the shortage of land, but even in cities where there was still plenty of land available they too wanted skyscrapers, so that they could be a part of the growing tradition. Back in 1918 only a few households had electricity, but by 1929 almost every urban houses had it. Although not many farms or rural areas were on the electricity supply grid.
Entertainment
In the 1920s the entertainment industry boomed. The average working week dropped by 3 hours and the average wage went up by 11%. A lot of this extra time and money was spent on entertainment. In Chicago over 40 million cinema tickets were sold each week.
Radio
In the USA almost everyone listened to the radio. Most families even had their own set. Some families who couldn’t afford to buy one straight away decided to pay in instalments. In 1921 there was only one licenced radio broadcaster in America, one year later there were 508 of them! In America at the start of 1920, 60,000 radios had been sold, at the end of the decade 10 million had been sold.
Cinema
During the 1920s the film industry grew immensely. In Hollywood, a small suburb outside of Los Angeles, a major film industry was developing.