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Perhaps one of the most famous individuals from this era (and certainly the most famous baseball player of this era) is Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth started his baseball career in 1914. At this time, Baseball was America's pass time, and was the most watched sport in America. Babe Ruth and his 714 home runs helped to define this era, not only for baseball but for America as a whole. Even today, you could ask any American to name a baseball player and the mass majority of them would say Babe Ruth.
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Also popular during this time period were movies. The movies of the early 1900's were quite rudimentary, only lasting about one to two minutes, while lacking sound and color. The characters, having to rely solely on physical actions to express themselves, had to over react and exaggerate their actions. The movies improved quite rapidly however, and by the 1920's were as long as two hours. The movies still lacked color and sound however, forcing characters to continue to over exaggerate their actions. Today we would see these movies as boring and uninteresting. That is, however, in comparison to todays movies, which have come a long way from their roots. Nonetheless, these early movies created a culture which craves for constant entertainment, leading to our necessities for movies, along with streaming services, and even websites such as YouTube.
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With the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt, came an era of conservationism. Roosevelt was a nature activist, and seeing that the natural worlds was quickly being destroyed in the US, sought to protect it. The easiest way to protect these lands, he proposed, was to gain public support for the protection of these lands. To do this he established the National Parks System and set up groups such as The Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts of America sought to teach city youth the importance of nature, and ways to survive and thrive in the natural world. This along with the National Parks System created a movement towards nature. People would no longer stay in the cities on their off days, but would instead go out, away from the cities, and visit the national parks. Once there, they would enjoy several hours of hiking, bird watching, swimming, or many other activities.
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The 1920's marked the end of Tonalism, a popular art form in America at the time. Tonalism is when the artist creates a landscape which is encompassed in a sort of mist or fog. This mist eliminates the sharp edges of a work and replaces them with smooth, blurry transitions. To the right is an example of a piece which was created during and expresses the tonalism era. The early 1920's marked the beginning of the transition into Impressionism and the death of tonalism. Today, few paintings are painted using tonalistic techniques, however, there are many famous paintings all throughout the US which were painted in this era and are cherished.
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The first cruise ships appeared in the 1840's, however, the became very popular and luxurious in the early 1900's. Unfortunately, these cruises were highly expensive and could only be afforded by the extremely wealthy. In 1912, the luxury cruise liner industry seemed to peak with the creation of the Titanic, the largest ever cruise liner. The ship was 882 feet long and 92 feet wide (not large by todays standards, but a monster of the time). The ship was so large that it was believed to be unsinkable. Unfortunately, these assumptions were incorrect, and the Titanic sunk in the Northern Atlantic the same year as its release. This not only devastated the luxury cruise liner market at the time, but also created a heart throbbing plot which was the basis of many movies and stories. Perhaps the most famous is the movie Titanic, which was released in 1997.