Popular culture is reflected in the literature, art, musical lyrics, and even fashion of a given society. The popular culture of the depression in the U.S. was a strange mix between the realities and the escapist mentalities of the society. For example, John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath and the musical lyrics of E.Y. Harburg's Brother Can You Spare a Dime? describe the harsh grim realities about American life during the depression. However, there was another aspect to popular culture during the depression, one that chose to ignore those grim realities by taking people to another time, place, and even reality. This literature, music, movie,and music brought people a few hours of peace from their anguished lives. For example, films such as The Wizard of Oz brought the audience to a fantasy place, Gone With the Wind, took people back to days gone by, and Gold Diggers 1933 offered people ballgowns and diamonds. Along with these films were the lyrics of Lew Brown/Ray Henderson's Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries and Al Dubin/ Harry Warren's We're In the Money. Popular culture is an extremely important source for anyone studying history. It offers the historian more than the facts, it offers the dynamics of experience.
(FYI- The film industry built movie theatres that were referred to as movie palaces. To walk inside one of these theatres during the depression would have definitely transcended a person's sense of reality. Loew's Theatres built five of the palaces, unfortunately I believe only two survive. The one in N.Y.C. opened in 1930 it is now called The United Palace Theatre. The current owners have retained and maintained all of its original grandeur. I've included a site below if you are interested in looking at the interior.
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