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The Theater. The movies
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The Theater
The greatest flowering of American drama came between 1920 and 1970. In those years, startling, powerful, and illuminating works, both tragic and comic, flowed from the pens of Eugene O’Neill, Thornton Wilder, Maxwell Anderson, Robert Sherwood, Kaufman and Hart, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and William Inge. These playwrights reflected the events of their times, beginning with World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. In his plays “Desire Under the Elms”(1924), “Mourning Becomes Electra”(1931), ”Long Day’s journey into Night”, “The Iceman Cometh”(1946) the first important American playwright of serious drama Eugene O’Neil ( 1988-1953) made deep and sensitive analyses of human relationships. The plays of notable playwright Arthur Miller(1915) “All My Sons”(1947), “Death of a Salesman”(1949), ”The Crucible”(1953), “A View from the Bridge”(1955) and others were staged in many countries of the world and brought him a world prominence.
The playwrights who came after them were inspired by many events of their time: assassination of John F. Kennedy, the student rebellions of the 1960s, the war in Vietnam, etc. Each playwright, with an individual style and a message, has been mining the American society. Several of them A. R. Gurney, John Guare, David Rabe, Sam Shepard received both national and international popularity. There were also a number of women playwrights Tina Howe, M arsha Norman, and Wendy Wasserstein.
One notable development in recent years is the “theater of absurd” (Edward Albee). There are also experiments with electronic music and lighting, body movements instead of spoken words, and spontaneous audience participation in some performances.
Black theater presents plays about black people, written by black playwrights, and performed by black casts. Originally such plays used to carry messages of protest against racial prejudice. Today black theater is increasingly concerned with blacks as individual human beings and their life problems. Black theatrical performances usually use black music: spirituals, gospel singing and jazz.
Most important new plays are produced in the theaters located on or near Broadway in the midtown area of New York City. There are over 15000 professional actors in New York alone and another 20000 or so in the state of California. Over 16000 professional musicians and composers live in New York, and almost 23000 more in California. Every year outstanding Broadway playwrights, actors, musicians, directors, choreographers and technicians are nominated for Tony Awards. August Wilson, an Afro-American playwright, received both a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize for his play “Fences”, devoted to the fate of a baseball player who struggles with the difficulties of everyday life. Wendy Assertion, a female playwright won a Tony for her “The Heidi Chronicles”.
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Off-Broadway theaters are shown around Manhattan in small theaters and off-off Broadway companies often play in former garages, offices and stores. Sometimes there is no raised stage and the actors perform in the center of the hall, surrounded by the audience (so-called (“theater-in-the-round”). In almost every major city there are professional companies, which follow repertory (rep) schedules. There are also traveling acting companies that tour throughout the country. Very many theater groups suffer from the lack of financing and must charge high prices for tickets in order to pay production costs and make profit.
The movies
Originally American cinema was born in the East, when in 1903 a cameraman Edwin S. Porter turned out a short film. The first “Patent Cinema Company” was formed in 1908 in Chicago. The first crew included 8 cinema-making firms. Those who did not go into it went to Los-Angeles, California. Soon the number of film companies, producers, actors, technical staff grew up there and the first film studio was founded in 1911 in Hollywood. There were several reasons why Hollywood, the former provincial small town was to become the main center of American cinema industry. Besides the favorable natural conditions, bright sun all the year round and splendid landscape, the land was very cheap there. Besides there was enough manpower around for building and servicing of film studious. By 1915 60% of all American film production was accumulated in Hollywood. After the beginning of World War I film industry in many European countries was in crises. Hollywood filled the gap to create the supremacy at the world cinema market. American movies poured over the cinema screens of the world. . By the middle of the 20s Hollywood had modern financial and technical basis of film production and the professional stuff. There were 5 large studios at that time: “Metro Golden Myer”, “Paramount”, “Fox”, “Universal” and “Warner”, headed by the producers Luise. Mayor, Sam Goldwine, Adolf Zuker, William Fox, Karl Lemale and Warner Brothers. One of the most popular and prolific producers of silent movies of that time was David York Griffit. He made 61 melodramas, comedies, historical films, thrillers, westerns, screen versions of the Bible and literature.
In the 20th the system of film stars appeared. Film stars were the most highly paid actors and actresses, whose names attracted crowds of filmgoers to movie-houses. The stars were necessary for the cash success of the film All over the world, from Berlin and London to Tokyo and Buenos Aires millions of people lined up every day to see their favorite Hollywood stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pikford, Douglas Ferbenks, Greta Garbo, Roman Navarro and others.. For most people the world of the movies remained a dream world, separate from real life. It helped to create the “American Dream” and to convince cinemagoers that the American way of life was the ideal one. At the same time the movies made people think of their own lives, which could be changed and improved.
One of the greatest American actors, directors and scriptwriters was Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977). All Charlie Chaplin’s biographers agree that his miserable childhood in London slums made the decisive influence on his development as an artist. In his early “silent” comedies and satires Chaplin was never afraid to fight against tyranny and injustice. He released a parody on war “Shoulder Arms” (1918) only some time before the American troops came home from the trenches of the World War I. In the “Pilgrim” (1923) Chaplin attacked nonconformist religion. In “City Lights” he was mocking capitalism. In “Modern Times” (1936) Chaplin parodied the inhuman destruction of the machine age. His comedies “Gold Rush”(1925), “City Lights”(1931), “Modern Times»(1935), Limelight”(1952), “A King in New York”(1957) are filled with deep human feelings and dramatic undertones. the In 1940 he created his first “talking” film “The Great Dictator “- a satire on Hitler and his policy- and during World War II called for the opening of the second front and support of. the Russian people.
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The theme of human dignity is very strong in Chaplin’s art. His constant image - the figure of a small, lonely man in a creased black suit, a derby hat, big clumsy shoes, black moustaches and a walking stick attracted millions of filmgoers not only due to his funny appearance but also to his openhearted character. “Oscar” – the best-known award for film actors was given to Charlie Chaplin in 1952, but when Chaplin emigrated to Europe, the US State Department banned his reentry. In 1972 in recognition of his lifetime contribution to film art Chaplin was at last given by the American film establishment a special Second Oscar. He was also commemorated with a statue at the historic corner of Hollywood and Vine. He also received special golden prize at the International Film Festival in Venice.
The first “talking” movies appeared in the 30s. Change over to sound cinema was not very simple. Many actors were not ready to speak. Attached to microphones they stopped to move and act. Besides in Hollywood there were many foreign actors with strong native accents. When Hollywood developed production of the films with sound track it quickly recovered its image. During the World War II American cinema created a number of films devoted to the war problems. One of the best films of that time “Lifeboat” (1944) by Alfred Hitchcock analyzed Nazi threat. “Bataan” (1943) by Tray Harriet showed the cruelties of the war. Many cinema celebrities went to the front. Some famous producers risked their lives, shooting war chronicles.
The years before the Second World War and after it became “the golden age” of Hollywood. During that period 7500 full-length films were shot there. Eight large firms specialized in different themes: family movies, musicals, topics of wealth, power and human passions, history, gangster or horror.
One of the most popular studious working in the USA became Disney Studio opened by its creator and the greatest cartoon maker Walt Disney (1901-1966). Walt Disney was the first producer to shoot colored animated films with synchronized soundtrack. In his numerous worldwide cartoons he created the wonderful animal world of optimism and success. All his animal characters in human-like situations are always kind, friendly and smart. His Mickey Mouse’s and Donald Duck’s phenomenal popularity put the animated characters into the ranks of the most popular screen personalities in the world. Among Disney’s most famous masterpieces there are also “ The Silly Symphonies”, “Cinderella” and full-length animation “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The most spectacular interpretation of musical classics was his movie “Fantasia”(1940). Besides cartoons Disney studio produced a number of wonderful documentary films about animals, nature and different popular TV programs. His last film “The Book of Jungle” was finished after his death.
For his wonderful art Walt Disney received 29 Oscars. By 1996 more than 450 Disney clubs and stores had been created. Walt Disney’s fantasies and dreams came true in two amusement parks ”Disneyland” in California (1954) and “Disney World” (1971) in Florida. Millions of visitors enjoy a lot of sophisticated attractions in these “Magic Kingdoms”. Some years later, in 1992 the similar Disney parks were opened in Tokyo (1983), and Paris (1992).
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The Disney Studio continued producing movies after the death of his founder. “ The Little Mermaid”, “ The Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, “ The Lion King” became quite successful. They were followed by “Pocahontas” (1995) and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996). “Toy Story” pioneered computer-animated techniques. Disney also continued its strong presence in children’s animated programs for television, with Aladdin and Gargoyles receiving high ratings.
After the World War II many new Hollywood stars appeared, such as Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, Bert Lancaster. Such actors as Marlon Brando, James Din and Paul Newman began to use Stanislavskii system, reaching great intensity and realism. Some actors appeared in a great number of films. E. g., only one actor and director Paul Newman produced and starred in forty-five films, among them “ The Hustler”, “Butch Cassidy”, “The Sundance Kid”, “The Sting” and ”Towering Inferno” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with the participation of Elizabeth Taylor. She also starred in “Cleopatra” in 1962. Film stars and Oscar Winners Audrey Heyburn and Gregory Peck also became especially popular in the 60-70s ”Roman Holiday”, “My Fair Lady”, “Wait Until Dark”, “The Omen» and others. In the 70s the most popular producers of new generation were Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Coppola’s film “Godfather” (1972) and Spielberg’s “Jams”(1975) began the new era of blockbusters. Lucas’s “Star Wars” and three Spielberg’s films about Indiana Jones were the most famous super hits. People could like or dislike them, but it is sure that the American films and Hollywood films in particular were produced at very high professional and technical standard.
At our time gradually Hollywood transformed beyond recognition. Step by step all its studios lost their independence and joined transnational companies. Commercial success became more important then creative work. Filmed television programs turned into an important American export. As many countries found it cheaper to buy American programs than to make their own, cinemagoers all over the world were mostly watching exported American blockbusters. Generations have grown up watching American films. A lot of copies are made for VCR and sold all over the world. Film companies spent hundreds million dollars on the film production and almost the same money on their advertisements. The films by famous directors and producers Steven Spielberg, Kevin Kostner, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Verkhoven, Lucas receive the most attention. The most highly paid actors Sylvestor Stallone, Jack Nicolson, Demy Moor, Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone and others receive a lot of prestigious prizes and awards at the leading international film festivals.
Music
Music in the USA is extremely varied. The ensuing generations of European immigrants brought with them the classical music and their German, Scottish and Irish folk ballads. Later America produced her own music. Railroad workers, cowboys and miners composed their songs about work, life and love. Black slaves’ songs, preserving the rhythms and intonations of African tribes, acquired new features under the influence of Puritan hymns, resulting in Black hymns “spirituals” which are considered by many musicians as the highest achievement of American folk art. Black spirituals such as “Nobody Knows the Trouble”, “When the Saints set off Machining” or “Go Down, Mosses” are remembered, sung and played even now. The list of folksong types in the USA includes Afro-American narrative songs or ballads, the Spanish narrative corride dance, Negro blues, spirituals, work songs, hymns, primitive Indian chants and prayers and the various European marches and ballads. In addition, there are superstitions, sayings, proverbs, and jokes that go with every national and racial group.
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Jazz is a mixture of West African folklore with the work songs the slaves sang and religious gospel music originated in church. Jazz, initially a musical talk from downcast people to other downcast people, by the 1920-40s had become popular among all people irrespective of their class or job distinctions or political views. The first jazz bands were formed in the late 1800s. They played in bars and clubs in the South, especially in New Orleans.
The first American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) enlivened his “serious” music with plantation melodies and Caribbean rhythms from his New Orleans jazz bands.. He was the first American pianist to achieve international recognition, but his early death contributed to his relative obscurity.
George Gershwin (1898-1937) was also one of the first to use Afro-American melodies in his music. Together with his brother he created world famous opera “Porgy and Bess” and two musical comedies “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris” which included jazz rhythms and blues.
Aaron Copland(1900-90) indulged his interest in jazz as well. Besides writing symphonies, concertos, and an opera, he composed the scores for several films. He is best known, however, for his ballet scores, which draw on American folk songs; among them are “Billy the Kid”, “Rodeo”. Copland chose a traditional Quaker religious song as one of the main themes for “Appalachian Spring”, which celebrated life in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern region of the United States.
The orchestras of Duke Ellington, Count William Basie, Frank Sinatra and Glemm Miller became the universal musical culture, which all Americans are proud of. Among the outstanding jazz musicians there are the names of Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald.
Composers Arthur Schwartz and Richard Rodgers should also be mentioned. The songs “Yellow River”, “Night and Day”, “Tea for Two” crossed national boundaries and became popular in Europe. Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was born in freed slave musical family and managed to mix African beat with classical European music. His wonderful style became known to both black and white musicians as Ragtime in the early 1900s.
Thirty years after jazz another kind of popular music appeared – big beat (big rhythm). In 1954 the disc jockey Alan Freed started to broadcast the Black rhythm-and-blues records. He called this music Rock-and-roll after an old blues “My Baby Rocks Me in a Steady Roll”. The 50s were also marked in the USA by the enormous success of the most famous rock “n” roll superstar singer and guitar player Elvis Presley (1935-77). What was new in his performance was aggression, sexuality together with Black blues and white romantic crooning and sentiment. Having broken all the standards, he became particularly admired by the young people. His songs “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Hound Dog”, “Blue Suede Shoes” and many others were recorded in multimillion copies. To rock and roll enthusiasts Presley got to symbolize not only a rock and roll singer but also a new youth culture. Among other things, this culture developed its own vocabulary, ways of dressing, even hairstyle. It even began to reject socially approved ideas and ways of behaving.
Later rock-and-roll blended with the protest songs of the 1960s to become rock, the music that was harder and less escapist. Rock became both an American and international phenomenon. Millions of young people worldwide saw it as their natural cultural language, a symbol of opposition to officially approved ideas and standards. Rock composers have always tried to represent the authentic sound of spoken English, and have therefore written what they have heard, rather then used standard spellings. Hard rock became bigger and louder than any beat before it, simply because it was amplified and very noisy.
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There are lots of superstars these days; among fifteen number one hits there are the ones of Madonna, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Cindy Birdsong. In the 1970-80s Michael Jackson made his fantastic career. In addition to live performances he produced a lot of records, CDs and video clips. His particular ability to combine extraordinary gracious movements with singing brought him fame all the world round.
Some young musicians combined their vocal and composer masteries with their dramatic skills (so-called “performance”). The talented singer Diamond Galas (1955) using a very gloomy vampire stage image and lots of technical and light effects created unsurpassed emotional performances full of energy and expressions. Joan La Barbara (1947) possessing a wonderful vocal technique brilliantly experiments with modern compositions written by her husband Morton Subotnic and chamber music easily passing from charming whispering and thrilling moans to anxious beast cries. Black composer Anthony Davis (1951) improvises with l modernism, , jazz and Indian rhythms.
Besides folk and pop music so-called “serious” music is also very famous. The greatesr opera house “Metropolitan Opera” is located in New York, but there plenty of other ones. Now live performances of classical music are held in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and other cities, many of which are famous for their orchestras and conductors. There are over 1500 orchestras throughout the country, many of which can be termed “major” or world-class. The symphony “The Last Alice” (1976) by David Del-Tredichy written on Luis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland” is successfully played by Chicago symphonic orchestra.
School and university ensembles and orchestras play a very important role throughout the country to bring up the level of the culture of young people.. There are hundreds of city, state and nationwide music competitions. In addition, the universities provide cultural offerings in many areas of the nation, especially in smaller places, which would otherwise find it difficult to support a major symphony or concert.
In the 20PthP century besides George Gershwin and Aaron Copland there appeared the number of very talented composers: Leonard Bernstein (1919-80) who wrote two ballets, an opera and the music for “West Side Story”, Philip Glass and Stiven Polus whose operas were staged in New York and Minneapolis (state Minnesota). Some modern composer experimented with moderns forms. ' composition “Keys to the City” devoted to the Centenary of the Brooklyn Bridge is a very complex weave of romantic concert traditions with the city noises and folklore elements and jazz.
One of the very popular genre in the USA “musicals” have truly American origin. The first popular musical was “Oklahoma», performed in the 1940s. Since “Oklahoma” many musical plays have appeared on the American stage. Among the most noteworthy musicals there were “On your Toes”(1966) with original George Balanchire choreography, “Funny Face”, “My One and Only” based on Gershwins shows. Very successful musicals were also “ My Fair Lady”, the musical version of B. Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” and “West Side Story”, portraying tense and hostile relationships between the Puertoricans and native New Yorkers. The musicals”Cats”, “A Chorus Line» and “Hair” are ones of the longest-running shows on Broadway.
Closely related to the development of American music in the early 20PthP century was the emergence of a new, and distinctively American, art form - modern dance. American choreographers searched for new methods of expression. Merce Cunningham ( 1919) introduced improvisation and raqndom movement into performances. Alvin Ailey (1931- 1989) incorporated African dance elements and black music into his works. Among the early innovators was Isadora Duncan (1878-1927), who stressed pure, unstructured movement in classical ballet.
The first American ballet troupes were founded in the 1930s, when dancers and choreographers teamed up with visionary lovers of ballet such as Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) who invited Russian choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983) to the United States in 1933. The two established the School of American Ballet, which became t he New York City Ballet in 1948. Ballet manager and publicity agent Richard Pleasant (1909-1961) founded America’s second leading ballet organization, American Ballet Theatre, with dancer and patron Lucia Chase (1907-1986) in 1940.
While Pleasant included Russian classics in his repertoires, G. Balanchine announced that his American company would mix classical idioms with the new forms. Since then, the American ballet scene has been a mixture of classical revivals and very original works, choreographed by such talented former dancers as Jerome Robbins, Robert Joffrey, Eliot Feld, Arthur Mitchell, and Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov..
New World, New Architecture
American architects of the later 19PthP – 20PthP centuries found themselves in a world being reshaped by science, industry, and speed. The needs of a new American society pressed them, while steel, reinforced concrete, cast iron and electricity were among the many new technical means at their disposal. The 20PthP-century architecture often approached engineering, expanding and incorporating modern stylistic elements, and works such as the Brooklyn Bridge by John and Washington Roebling (1869-83) number among the most impressive of all American achievements. The 20PthP-century architecture often approached engineering, expanding and incorporating modern stylistic elements.
For many people the symbol of America. is New York Manhattan skyline. The origin of skyscrapers can be traced back more than a hundred years to the American Midwest and has become the result of a need for more working and living space in places where the cost of land was very high. During the end of the 19PthP century and beginning of the 20PthP the great number of high, narrow buildings began to rise not only in New York, but also in the center of Chicago and some other American cities. Each skyscraper was built around a framework of steel beams, which carried the weight of the building. The walls of the early skyscrapers were often made of stone, but later of glass and metal. They give the images not only of modernity and technical progress but also of visual expression to the impact of the United States on the world. Among the world’s tallest buildings there are the Chrysler Building (1930) and the Empire State Building (1931). Still today, despite the loss of the World Trade Center towers, no city in the world has more completed individual free-standing buildings over 500 ft. (152 m. ) than New York City with its 184 so-called skyscrapers.
From the 1930s onwards, skyscrapers also began to appear in Latin America and Asia. Now Hong Kong comes in with the most in the world (186). From the late 1950s and the early 1960s skyscrapers began to appear in Africa, the Middle East and Australia.
Immediately after World War 11, the Soviet Union planned eight massive skyscrapers dubbed “Stalin Towers” for Moscow, seven of which were built. The rest of Europe also slowly began to permit skyscrapers, starting with Madrid in Spain during the 1950-60s.
The Americanization of popular taste and habits was not restricted to music, movies and architecture. From supermarkets to hot dogs, from Coca-Cola, Chewing Gum to nylon fiber and blue jeans – all these things which are so common to people of very many countries were born in the USA. In many areas of life American popular tastes and attitudes have conquered the world
The first supermarkets appeared in the USA in the 1950s. With their huge variety of foods and other consumer goods supermarkets gave the American shoppers a visible proof of the superiority of the American way of organizing a nation’ economic life. When supermarkets proved a commercial success in the USA, they quickly spread to other countries, first in Europe and then in other parts of the world.
The growing popularity of hamburgers, fried chicken and other easily prepared “fast food” spread American eating habits all over the world. Blue jeans and T-shirts Americanized the dress habits of the people on every continent. The habit of wearing jeans is –along with the computers, the copying machine, rock music, polio vaccine and skyscrapers – one of the major contributions of the US to the postwar world at large.
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