- Produced by
- Universal Network Television, American, founded 1950
- Salomon, Henry, American, 1917 - 1958
- Narrated by
- Allen, Fred, American, 1894 - 1956
- Subject of
- Baker, Josephine, American, 1906 - 1975
- Ku Klux Klan, 2nd, American, 1915 - 1944
- Cotton Club, American, 1923 - 1940
- Calloway, Cab, American, 1907 - 1994
- Owned by
- D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
- Date
- 1956
- Medium
- acetate film and
- Dimensions
- Duration (Reel 1): 25 Minutes
- Length (Film): 900 Feet
- Duration (Reel 2): 28 Minutes
- Length (Film): 1000 Feet
- Caption
- This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
- Description
- A documentary film with the title The Jazz Age from the television series Project 20. It consists of two (2) reels of 16mm black-and-white acetate film with optical sound (2017.55.86.1a & 2017.55.86.1b). Two (2) green film cannisters also accompany the film strips. There is a partially removed circular label on the first cannister (2017.55.86.1c) with the following printed on it in ink [America Enters the Twentieth Century Series / THE JAZZ AGE, PART 1 - 1919-1926 / (Black & White) / 26 mins]. The second cannister (2017.55.86.1d) also has a circular green and white Mc-Graw-Hill Book Co. label affixed to it. Text in the lower half of the label reads [The Jazz Age Series / THE JAZZ AGE, PART II / 26 mins]
- Through a combination of voiceover narration by Fred Allen and archival footage of major events of the early 20th century, the documentary captures the zeitgeist of post WWI America. Some of the scenes and topics that arise in the film include a Ku Klux Klan initiation (including footage of the 1926 KKK parade in Washington DC); changes in women's rights at the beginning of the century; the proliferation of automobiles; life under Prohibition and the development of speakeasy culture. The second half of the documentary (reel two) focuses on many of the changes in culture and entertainment: there is footage of Josephine Baker performing, a shot of the entrance to the Cotton Club and mention of entertainers such as Cab Calloway.
- Place used
- Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- DC Public Library Film Collection
- Portfolio/Series
- Project 20
- Classification
- Time-based Media - Moving Images
- Topic
- Civil rights
- Documentary films
- Entertainers
- Film
- Gender
- Jazz (Music)
- Law
- Mass media
- Musicians
- Nightlife
- Public television
- U.S. History, 1919-1933
- White supremacy movements
- Women
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2017.55.86.1a-d
- Restrictions & Rights
- Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




