History of Hollywood and the Golden Age of Television

JCC Chicago Arts + Ideas University

Join Fordham University Professor Emeritus, Brian Rose, for a 4-part series that will take an in-depth look at The History of the Movie Musical, The Golden Age of Hollywood, The Golden Age of Television and The Grandmasters of Comedy.

Minimum of 20 participants required to run the program
Must purchase the series
$40 for the series

Register for the Series

From the Jazz Singer to A Star Is Born:  A History of the Movie Musical

Wednesday, January 20
3pm EST | 2pm CST | Noon PST

As soon as movies could talk, they began to sing and dance—and musicals quickly became among the most popular film genres in America. Over the next nine decades, the movie musical would evolve to embrace every type of performance, from operatta to rock and soul, from tap to ballet, and every type of format, from Broadway hits to original creations from composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Irving Berlin. This presentation will look at the fascinating history of this unique format, and include more than thirty excerpts, featuring artists like Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, the Nicholas Brothers, Busby Berkeley, Gene Kelly, and the Beatles.

The Golden Age of Hollywood

Wednesday, January 27
3pm EST | 2pm CST | Noon PST

From the late 1920s through the end of World War II, studios like MGM, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and RKO would dominate film production, not only in America but throughout the world. The reasons for Hollywood’s success during this period are intriguing. Despite the economic problems posed by the Depression, the studios became virtual entertainment factories, with each studio producing more than 50 movies a year. The legacy of these years of frenzied activity are among the best-loved, and most significant films, ever made. This presentation will examine the forces that made Hollywood the giant of global film-making and the special nature of its achievements during its Golden Age, including discussions of studio politics and economics, the star system, and the nature of the movie-going experience. There will also be an analysis of why this period was so short-lived and of Hollywood’s desperate attempts, beginning in the 1950s, to recapture its faded glory.

“The Golden Age of Television”: What Made the 1950s So Special for American TV

Wednesday, February 3
3pm EST | 2pm CST | Noon PST

American television was all set to launch in the late 1930s, but its progress was interrupted by the start of World War II. Finally, by the end of the 1940s, NBC and CBS began broadcasting to their east coast affiliates. They offered viewers a wide variety of programs: situation comedies, vaudeville-style revues, and most impressively, live original dramas. Within a few years, these anthology programs, like Kraft Television Theatre and Ford Television Theatre launched the careers of soon-to-be famous directors like Arthur Penn and John Frankenheimer, actors like Paul Newman and James Dean, and playwrights like Paddy Chayevsky and Rod Serling. But by the end of the 1950s, the era of live TV “theater” was over. So too was New York City as a center of TV production. This presentation will look at the forces that made this “golden age” such an intriguing chapter in TV history and why it was so short-lived (including brief examinations of blacklisting and the TV quiz show scandals).

Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks: The Grandmasters of American Comedy

Wednesday, February 10
3pm EST | 2pm CST | Noon PST

For more than seven decades, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks made America laugh—either through their remarkable solo careers or their legendary partnership. Whether together or apart, they were giants of American comedy, who basically conquered every field they entered, whether television, movies, Broadway, or records. This presentation will examine their extraordinary achievements, beginning with their work together on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows and their creation of the 2000-Year-Old Man, to their individual accomplishments as writers, directors, and performers.