Major Developments of the 1920s

Radio, Airplanes, Automobiles, Entertainment, Fashion, Sports, Science and

Medicine

Radio• The first radio broadcast in North

America was in Montreal on May 20, 1920.

• The first radios were very crude with very poor sound quality.

• In 1924-25 a Canadian electronics engineer named Ted Rogers came up with the idea of creating a radio that could plug into an electric outlet. Hence, he created the first “batteryless” radio.

• Most radio stations were American. 80% of the radio stations that Canadians listened to were American. What impact did this have on Canadian culture?

• As a result of the “Americanization” of the airwaves, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was created in 1936.

Radio

• The first Broadcast of Canadian content that was widely listened to was Foster Hewitt’s Hockey Night in Canada on Mar 22, 1923

• For a Video Clip of Foster Hewitt and Maple Leaf Gardens, Foster Hewitt - CBC Archives

Foster Hewitt

Hockey Night in Canada:Leafs vs. Canadiens

The Telephone

• Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

• Born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Came to Canada in 1870 at the age of 23.

• Invented in telephone in Brantford, Ontario.

Alexander Graham Bell

The Telephone

• The first telephones were noisy and difficult to use

• By the 1920s, only 1 in 4 families had a telephone. However, by 1929, 3 out of 4 Families had a telephone

1920s Style Telephone

The Telephone

• Dial telephones were introduced in 1924.

• The impact of the telephone is Canada was immediate. It brought Canadians closer to together; especially those who lived in isolated areas.

The Airplane

• Dec 17th, 1903, the Wright Brothers perform the first successful flight of an Airplane at Kitty Hawk, NC. USA.

The Airplane • After WW1, many of the fighter

pilots from the war took on careers as “bush pilots”.

• This eventually led to the first commercial flights across Canada.

• Many Bush pilots flew to very remote sections of Canada’s northern territories in difficult weather carrying much needed supplies: mail, medicine, food, tools, etc.

• With the growth of the commercial airline industry, Canadians were no longer isolated from one another. What impact would the growth of the airline business have on Canadian unity?

Bush pilot delivering much needed supplies

The Automobile

• In 1893, Henry Ford built his first car.

• By 1908, he built his first “production car”; the “Model T”

• This car was also known as the “Tin Lizzie”

Henry Ford

The Automobile• The car was initially very expensive

to build. As a result, Ford invented the “Assembly line” which allowed the car to be mass produced quickly and efficiently dramatically decreasing its cost.

• The Model T’s were built in Windsor, Ont.

• Canada and the United States reacted to the invention of the car by building roads, gas stations, parking lots and drive in motels.

• Demand for the car was so high that Ford had a very difficult time keeping up with production.

• Millions of new jobs were created. The “Roaring 20s” were in full swing

Ford’s first model

The Assembly line Of The Model T

Advances in Medicine• Before the 1920s, millions of

people around the world had died from Diabetes.

• In 1921, Banting produced insulin that successfully controlled diabetes in dogs.

• In 1922, a 14 year old boy was the first patient to be injected with insulin. Insulin was is not a cure. However, it controls diabetes and thus extends the life of those who have the disease.

Frederick Banting and his assistantCharles Best at the U of T Lab

Advances in Medicine

• In 1923, Banting along with three other colleagues received the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

• Many years later, Banting made the Top Ten on the CBC Contest “Who is the Greatest Canadian?”

• (He beat Don Cherry) Banting and Best with theirfirst successful patient!

Entertainment

• In the 1920s, many people wanted to forget the war and have some fun.

• Some call these years the “age of wonderful nonsense”.

• Dances like the Charleston were all the rage.

• Jazz was also very popular

The Charleston

“Satchmo” Louis ArmstrongFamous Jazz Artist

Entertainment

• In the 1920s, the silent film industry made instant stars out of celebrities like Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin.

• In 1927, the first talking picture came out; “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson

Charlie Chaplin

The First TalkingPicture

Entertainment• Mary Pickford was a major

movie star during the 1920s and 1930s.

• Born in Toronto, she was actually known as “America’s Sweetheart”.

• She was the first woman to make over $ 1 Million per year in Hollywood.

• Together with Charlie Chaplin and her husband Douglas Fairbanks she created United Artists; a massive film recording business that today is a billions.

Mary Pickford

A Hollywood Star

Fashion• Fashion changed for women in

the 1920s. Hemlines rose “above the knee”

• A Boyish look in dress and hair was modern in the 1920s

• Women had the right to vote and were trying to indicate that they were equal to men through their dress.

• Some women lived as “non-conformists”; that is, they did not behave like traditional women. They were known as “flappers”

The “Flapper”

Fashion• Some young women who lived

in cities were seen as “uncontrollable” and “immoral”

• A “Flapper” was seen as someone who: wore too much makeup and perfume, used bad language, smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol and wore revealing clothing.

• They liked to go to parties and stay out all night dancing and driving in fast cars.

• They loved to dance and embraced the new dance craze– the “Charleston”.

The “Flapper” Lifestyle

Sports

• "He shoots, he scores!" With those words, legendary hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt united Canada each Saturday night. From his inauspicious first broadcast (shouting into a telephone from a foggy glass booth in 1923) to the momentous Summit Series of 1972 and beyond, Hewitt was Canada's voice of hockey for half a century.

The Legendary FosterHewitt

The Leafs vs. TheHabs: M

Maple Leaf Gardens:1931-1999

Sports• Howie Morenz of the Montreal

Canadiens was one of the dominant offensive forces in the NHL in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He scored a league-high 51 points in 1927-28 and was presented with the Hart Trophy.

• Morenz also contributed to the Canadiens' consecutive Stanley Cup wins in 1930 and 1931.

• Lionel Conacher was considered to be the greatest all-round athlete ever turned out by Canada.

• In addition to being one of the finest hockey players in history, he was also rated high in baseball, rugby, lacrosse, rowing and boxing.

Lionel Conacher

Howie Morenz

Sports• The Bluenose is considered to be

Canada’s most famous ship (Appears on Canada’s 10 cent piece)

• First launched in 1921 in Lunenburg, NS.

• The Bluenose was the undefeated champion of the International fisherman's Trophy.

• The original Bluenose was wrecked off the coast of Haiti in 1946. However, the “Bluenose 2” was built in 1963.

• This vessel can still be toured today.

“The Bluenose”

Sports

• In 1928 at the age of only 20, Percy Williams shocked the Canadian track establishment, winning the 100 and the 200 metre races at the Canadian Championships.

• What made this accomplishment all the more noteworthy is that Williams had never before competed in a 100m race!

• His time of 10.6 seconds equaled the Olympic record!

Percy Williams

Sports• During their quarter-century of

participation in women’s basketball, the Grads compiled an astounding record of 502 wins and only 20 losses.

• The Grads were coached by the inventor of the game of Basketball; Dr. James Naismith.

• Born in Ontario and educated at McGill University, Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Mass., and developed basketball’s original 13 rules

• James Naismith called the Edmonton Grads “the finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor.”

Dr. James Naismith

The Edmonton Grads