Commercialized Leisure in the Early 1900s | Century of the Leisured Masses: Entertainment and the Transformation of Twentieth-Century America (2024)

Century of the Leisured Masses: Entertainment and the Transformation of Twentieth-Century America

David George Surdam

Published:

2015

Online ISBN:

9780190211608

Print ISBN:

9780190211561

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Century of the Leisured Masses: Entertainment and the Transformation of Twentieth-Century America

David George Surdam

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David George Surdam

David George Surdam

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Pages

155–173

  • Published:

    January 2015

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Surdam, David George, 'Commercialized Leisure in the Early 1900s', Century of the Leisured Masses: Entertainment and the Transformation of Twentieth-Century America (New York, 2015; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Jan. 2015), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190211561.003.0011, accessed 26 June 2024.

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Abstract

Theaters, circuses, and other traditional entertainment forms could perform before thousands at once. Although there was a range of theaters, from those serving wealthy clientele to those whose patrons were working class, relatively few Americans attended. As the twentieth century dawned, new forms of commercialized leisure appeared. Amusem*nt parks, vaudeville, and cabarets evolved from earlier venues. Americans could enjoy a wider variety of musical outlets, as pianos became affordable by the middle class. The new phonograph allowed Americans to experience repeatable performances; they could hear their child’s recital or a professional musician’s performance repeatedly and when they wanted. As Americans began to spend more money on for-profit venues and began to congregate in such venues, some social observers worried about the behavior of such audiences of working-class people. The new public amusem*nt venues alarmed moralists with newfound opportunities for unsupervised male/female interaction.

Keywords: commercialized leisure, amusem*nt parks, vaudeville, working class, cabarets, middle class, phonograph, behavior, moralists

Subject

Economic History

Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

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