Major Developments of the 1920s

1
Major Developments of the 1920s

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

2
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.

3
Radio

• The first Broadcast of Canadian content that was
  widely listened to was Foster Hewitts 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
4
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
5
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
6
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.

7
The Airplane

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

8
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
  Canadas 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
9
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
10
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 Ts 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

Fords first model
The Assembly line Of The Model T
11
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 assistant Charles Best
at the U of T Lab
12
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 their first successful
patient!
13
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 Armstrong Famous Jazz Artist
14
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 Talking Picture
15
Entertainment

• Mary Pickford was a major movie star during the
  1920s and 1930s.
• Born in Toronto, she was actually known as
  Americas 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.

A Hollywood Star
Mary Pickford
16
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
17
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
18
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 Foster Hewitt
Maple Leaf Gardens 1931-1999
The Leafs vs. The Habs M
19
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
20
Sports

• The Bluenose is considered to be Canadas most
  famous ship (Appears on Canadas 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
21
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
22
Sports

• During their quarter-century of participation in
  womens 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 basketballs 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