1927: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of the Jazz Age's Greatest Year

329 Pages·7.873 MB·English

by  Thomas S. Hischak

1927
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1927
A Day-by-Day Chronicle of
the Jazz Age’s Greatest Year
Thomas S. Hischak
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright © 2019 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
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except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hischak, Thomas S., author.
Title: 1927 : a day-by-day chronicle of the Jazz Age’s greatest year / Thomas
S. Hischak.
Other titles: Nineteen twenty-seven | Day-by-day chronicle of the Jazz Age’s
greatest year
Description: Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018050158 (print) | LCCN 2018051205 (ebook) | ISBN
9781538112786 (electronic) | ISBN 9781538112779 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: United States—History—1919–1933—Chronology. | United
States—Social conditions—1918–1932. | Nineteen twenty-seven, A.D.
Classification: LCC E791 (ebook) | LCC E791 .H57 2019 (print) | DDC
973.91—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018050158
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For Jamie Duncan,
who loves music and baseball
A ticker-tape parade down Wall Street was the sign of ultimate fame as stockbrokers tossed rolls of
ticker tape out the windows like confetti. The parade for Charles Lindbergh on June 13 might serve
as the iconic image of 1927 at its most optimistic. Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photos

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CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
PROLOGUE: NEW YEAR’S EVE, 1926 xiii
JANUARY 1
FEBRUARY 25
MARCH 47
APRIL 71
MAY 93
JUNE 123
JULY 141
AUGUST 163
SEPTEMBER 183
OCTOBER 209
NOVEMBER 237
DECEMBER 259
EPILOGUE: NEW YEAR’S DAY, 1928 283
BIBLIOGRAPHY 285
INDEX 291
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 313
vii

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PREFACE
Many historians point out that the year 1927 was the high point of the Roaring
Twenties. The economy was booming, the Jazz Age was in full swing, social
mores were looser than ever, and the nation was celebrating heroes, new dances and
music, movie stars, original gadgets and inventions, and a sense of power that Ameri-
cans felt about themselves. That year saw hundreds of silent films released and movie
attendance was at record levels. On Broadway, more plays and musicals opened than in
any year before or since. Many of America’s greatest novelists, poets, artists, compos-
ers, and playwrights were busy producing classic works. In sports, records were broken
and several champions in different fields thrilled fans with outstanding feats. It was the
year of Charles Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic flight; the first talking picture, The Jazz
Singer; the musical classic Show Boat; the discovery of Peking Man; the invention of the
jukebox; and the birth of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Laurel and
Hardy, and the music business genre of country music. There were many somber events
as well, such as the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, coal mining strikes and accidents,
the Shanghai massacre and civil wars in China as well as in Nicaragua, the ongoing de-
bacle of Prohibition and the power of organized crime, and the Great Mississippi River
Flood and other natural disasters. All in all, a diverse and complicated year.
The aim of 1927: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of the Jazz Age’s Greatest Year is to let the
reader experience this important year day by day, describing events and accomplish-
ments as they happened. Each day, from January 1 to December 31, 1927, is explored.
Major news events, national and international, are described, as well as minor curiosities
or news items that would prove to be more important in the future. Activities in music,
literature, film, theatre, sports, inventions, politics, business, science, and other areas
are included, as are the births and deaths of notable people. Throughout the chronol-
ogy a series of boxes provide statistics and general information regarding the year 1927.
ix