The 20's were a time when Americans began to have more leisure time. The work week was shortened from 48 to 60 hours. Theater and Film were two of their favorite ways to spend this new leisure time.

1920

Eugene O'Neill's Beyond the Horizon premieres on Broadway.

French composer Darius Milhaud and artist Jean Cocteau premiere their modernist ballet Le Boeuf sur le toit.

Premiere of D.W. Griffith's film melodrama Way Down East, starring Lillian Gish. It became one of the most profitable films of the twenties, earning $3.9 million for United Artists.

1922

Douglas Fairbank's The Mark of Zorro produced.

Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan star in The Kid.

Premiere of the World War I film melodrama Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino. It cemented star Valentino's hold on the film going audience and became one of the biggest hits of the decade, earning $3.8 million for Metro Pictures.

John Barrymore, "The Great Profile," scores an early career triumph, opening on Broadway as Shakespeare's Hamlet, to critical and popular acclaim.

1923

Chaplin's The Pilgrim premieres.

Harold Lloyd's classic comedy film Safety Last premieres.

Chaplin's A Woman of Paris filmed.

Charleton Heston born.

1924

Douglas Fairbanks' elaborate swashbuckler film The Thief of Bagdad premieres, and eventually becomes one the the decade's biggest hits, earning $3 million for United Artists.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M.G.M.) film studios formed by the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Co.

John Ford's film The Iron Horse premiers.

Rudolph Valentino's Monsieur Beaucaire opens from Paramount Pictures.

Buster Keaton's classic comedy The Navigator premieres.

1926

Norma Jean Baker (Marilyn Monroe) born.

MGM opens The Tempest.

Houdini dies from peritonitis in Detroit.

NBC, the National Broadcasting Co., is founded.

1927

Buster Keaton's film comedy classic, The General, premieres.

Salacious comedienne Mae West is found guilty of obscenity by a New York City court and sentenced to 10 days in jail for material and suggestive ad libs in her popular Broadway show Sex. Charges were brought as the result of complaints by The Society for the Suppression of Vice.

Paramount's aviation epic Wings, starring the "It" girl Clara Bow, premieres. The film was a smashing success, earning $3.8 million, and later winning the first Academy Award for best picture (then called the award for "Most Outstanding Production").

1928

Chaplin's The Circus produced.

Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude premieres on Broadway.

Mickey Mouse premieres in Plane Crazy, a silent cartoon parody, of the Lindberg craze.

MGM, Paramount, United Artists get licenses to use MovieTone for sound films.

1929

Early talkie musical The Broadway Melody earns $3 million for M.G.M. It wins the second Academy Award for best picture; the first musical to do so.

Universal Air Live shows first in-flight movie.

BBC broadcasts first transmission of inventor J.L. Baird's 30-line color television.