Mass Appeal: The Formative Age of the Movies, Radio, and TV

Edward D. Berkowitz

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511781735

Mass Appeal describes the changing world of American popular culture from the first sound movies through the age of television. In short vignettes, the book reveals the career patterns of people who became big movie, TV, or radio stars. Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson symbolize the early stars of sound movies. Groucho Marx and Fred Astaire represent the movie stars of the 1930s, and Jack Benny stands in for the 1930s performers who achieved their success on radio. Katharine Hepburn, a stage and film star, illustrates the cultural trends of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Humphrey Bogart and Bob Hope serve as examples of performers who achieved great success during the Second World War. Walt Disney, Woody Allen, and Lucille Ball, among others, become the representative figures of the postwar world. Through these vignettes, the reader comes to understand the development of American mass media in the twentieth century.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2011

"With compelling detail and an accessible style, Berkowitz demonstrates how film, radio, and television, from their beginnings to the present, offered all-inclusiveness or, as the title puts it, mass appeal. Highly recommended." -Choice

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Mass Appeal

The Formative Age of the Movies, Radio, and TV

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vii

Contents
pp ix-x

Acknowledgments
pp xi-xii

Introduction
pp 1-2

1 - Sound Comes In, Vaudeville and Silent Pictures Go Out
pp 3-19

2 - From Broadway to Hollywood with Groucho, Fred, and Ginger
pp 20-38

3 - Radio Nights
pp 39-56

4 - From the Thirties to the Forties with Kate, Bud, and Lou
pp 57-75

5 - Bogie, Bob, and the Boys at War
pp 76-97

6 - The Postwar Movie Scene
pp 98-109

7 - Make Room for TV
pp 110-130

8 - Putting It Together: Walt Disney Introduces the Baby Boom to Television
pp 131-152

9 - The End of an Era?
pp 153-168

Notes
pp 169-196

Movie, Radio, and TV Listings
pp 197-198

Index
pp 199-212

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Mass Appeal

The Formative Age of the Movies, Radio, and TV

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