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While plenty of Americans tuned in to their favorite radio station [Boy runs into room with family]

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every day the movies had a glamour that radio just couldn't match Radiohead

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voices movies had faces radio had familiar shows movies were always new

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people listen to the radio while they did housework without pants on and we [Man dusting while listening to radio]

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still do but people went to the movies in their best attire usually with pants

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on well some I've gone to the movies without pants on but so we doubt they [Man sitting down at the movies]

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stayed long movies offered new worlds of adventure romance comedy and drama there

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were westerns gangster movies musicals historical themes slapstick comedies and [People firing guns and people dancing in movies]

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costume dramas all the same star could be a cowgirl one week and an 18th

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century princess the next and a glamorous modern flapper risk the week [Princess wearing pink dress]

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after that in the 1920s the blockbuster movie with its cast of thousands became

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very popular well Cecil B DeMille the most famous movie director of his day

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made the Ten Commandments in 1923 you know it was a mega hit people love the

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huge set and the special effects which included the parting of the Red Sea

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recreated by a close-up of jell-o yes before CGI there was jell-o we've come [People watching Ten Commandments at theater]

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so far they also loved the sex and violence in

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the movie which raised some outcry in society critics called for censorship

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but DeMille defended himself saying he was only telling a story from the Bible [Critic appears talking to Cecil]

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with the critics dare censor the Word of God himself well it was harder to defend

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the new sex symbols Greta Garbo Louise Brooks Clara Bow and Theda Bara put

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their sexuality up in front of movies like Garbo's slash in the devil these [Woman dancing with man in movie]

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ladies wore the latest revealing dresses and played women who had no time for

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plan by society's rules then there were the male sex symbols like Errol Flynn

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Clark Gable and that hunky dreamboat Rudolph Valentino who made the ladies

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swoon when he played Arabian sheiks and Latin pirates Hollywood was torn it

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loved the money it made from its sex symbols but it didn't want its critics

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to force the federal government to regulate its movie well to stop the [Woman dancing and critic appears]

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government from censoring its movies the largest film produced

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created the motion pictures producers and distributors association in 1922 yes

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mouthful well led by will Hays the NP PDA created a list of do's and don't

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seems like sex drug use gun violent surgery interracial dating

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series that was a big deal back then and anything critical of America were all no [Men hitting each other with bags]

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notes will Hays would have lost his mind if he could have peaked the future and [Will Hays screaming and head falls off]

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watch one of today's reality TV shows well the controversy over wild movies

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only drove profit by the end of the decade ninety million people were going

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to the movies every week out of a total population of 122 million in this

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country catching movie palaces and small theaters alike saw a constant parade of [People running into theaters]

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patrons from children attending afternoon matinees

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to adults taking in the evenings main feature well most theaters even small

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ones had room up front for musicians whether it was a full orchestra or a [Man with big instrument appears on stage]

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three-piece band to play musical accompaniment to the movies because they

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almost have more silent oh yeah did we mention that silent movie all these [Little girl puts finger over lips]

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money-making blockbusters had no recorded sound just little sentences

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that would pop up once in a while when things got really confusing you know the

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armadillos are loose and stuff like that all that changed when lee deforest [Armadillos running down a hill]

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and inventor built on previous men's work to create a way to record sound on

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film as early as 1923 DeForest showed 18 short movies with sound at the Rivoli

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theatre in New York City but Hollywood was not interested no one wanted to mess

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with his success by introducing a new technology there were flaws and lead to

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Forrest machine that he did not work too hard to fix way to be a slacker there

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Lee so it wasn't until 1926 that a Hollywood studio made a sound movie done

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hewan with the star John Barrymore why isn't this movie famously known as the [John Barrymore appears looking at a woman]

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first talkie well it didn't actually have any talking the sound was just

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music and special effects the movie industry still needed some baby steps [Baby taking steps]

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there that meant that the first major talkie came one year later the jazz

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singer started the popular singer Al Jolson and he actually talked and sang

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and played the piano in the movie after that there was no turning back [Man singing in movie]

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took a little while for all movies to turn into talkies but ever since

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well they can't shut Hollywood [Woman watching TV]

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