Back in the early 1940’s, art along with its artist, were vastly changing. Many artist whose country or culture didn’t agree with the type of art they did, began immigrating to the United States. At this point, art began blossoming faster then a field of potting soil. Art started to become abstract meaning that it’s a collage of things that could have several explanations. Also sculptures became abstract and primitive. The old form of tools evolved into steel and found objects. This revolutionized art and agriculture in the 1940’s.
Music!
At the beginning of the decade, big bands dominated popular music. Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington led some of the more famous bands. Eventually, many of the singers with the big bands, stuck out on their own. Bing Crosby’s smooth voice made him one of the most popular singers. Be-bop, rhythm and blues grew out of the big band era toward the end of the decade. These were distinctly black sounds (obviously preformed by black singers) including Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman and even the great Billy holiday!
Books!
The decade opened with the appearance of the first inexpensive paperback. Book clubs proliferated, and book sales went from one million to over twelve million volumes a year! Many important literary works were conceived during, or based on this time period, but published later. Also at this time there were only a handful of books that gave knowledge of childcare and one of those books included the first edition of Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Common Sense Book Of Baby And Childcare is considered by some, to have changed child rearing.
Fads!
Within popular dancing, the Jitterbug made its appearance at the beginning of the decade. It was the first dance in two centuries that allowed individual expression. G.I.’s took the dance overseas when they went off to war and would perform it with the local girls, barmaids or even each other if necessary ( which should never be necessary!) This dance was preformed at nightclubs, schools and even by random people in a public places such as grocery stores and bus stops. This was one of the most popular dances throughout the entire decade.
Fashion!
The Zoot Suit was the standard of popular fashion among daring teenage boys until the war department restricted the amount of fabric that could be used in men’s garments. The same restrictions led to the popularity of the women’s convertible suit; a jacket, short skirt and a blouse. The jacket could be shed for more formal attire at night. Silk stockings were unavailable at that time so to give the illusion of stockings with a prominent seam, women would draw a line up the back of their legs with eyeliner. Later on in the decade, Christian Dior introduced the new look; feminine dresses with the long full skirts and tight waist. Along with the low-heeled shoes and the bouncy curly hair, this became the look to have.
Sports!
In 1947 Jackie Robison became the first African-American to play in major league baseball. He played for the Brooklyn dodgers. Having had been born and raised in Cario , Georgia in the early 1900’s this was a very big deal. During his baseball career, he won the national leagues most valuable player award. Jackie Robison died October 24,1972 in Stanford, Connecticut. Five years later, he was featured in an issue of Time Magazine. His legacy is greatly remembered.

Inventions!
Walter Morris invented the Frisbee, invented in 1948, which is now made of plastic. During World War 2, people had to find ways to have fun. When kids discovered that metal pie plates flew well, tossing them became popular however, metal plates (obviously painful) were painful and made a lot of noise. Then in 1948 Water Morris decided to make them out of plastic. They called them flying saucers. Over 2 million Frisbees have been sold in the last 50 years and are still enjoyed today!
Movies and Theaters!

The 40’s were the decade for motion pictures and theatrical arts. The office of war declared movies as an essential industry for morale and propaganda. This was soon to become the basic form of entertainment. Most plots has a fairly narrow and predictable set of moral, and if Germans or Japanese were included, they were one-dimensional villains. Examples are movies like Casanova, Mrs. Miniver and lifeboat. Citizen Kane, not fitting the template, was one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Gary cooper, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn were the stars of the production.
Television!
In the late 1940’s over 17 million television sets had been sold. The original amateur hour, a revival of a popular radio show, was the first top-rated show in 1948. Milton Berle’s Slapstick comedy, Texaco star theater was credited with creating the demand for televisions. Its greatest rival was Ed Sullivan’s Toast Of The Town. Television would soon spread to most other countries.
 

Civil Rights!
Rosie the Riveter was one of the most widely known personas of the 1940s. With her sleeves rolled up, hair in a kerchief, and a determined set to her jaw and eyes, Rosie had it all: beauty, sex appeal, and attitude. But Rosie the Riveter was not a real person. She was an advertising campaign, and eventually, an icon of a small percentage of women who stepped in to fill men’s traditional roles in factories during World War II.

The Ad Council, at the government’s request, created Rosie the Riveter to persuade women to go to work, not as secretaries or nurses, but in factories. When more fighter jets and artillery were needed, car manufacturers were asked to turn their buildings into munitions factories for producing the weapons of war. However, the men who could build them were in short supply. How could the war be won without weapons? Women were the answer, but first they had to be convinced.

Rosie the Riveter and her can-do attitude has become a feminist icon, but in the 1940s women did not have a chip on their shoulder. Most mothers preferred to stay home with their children. It was considered vulgar for a woman to take on a man’s work. Back then, women were generally viewed as weak creatures, highly prone to fainting at any hint of alarm or crudeness.
Today, women have many jobs that back in those days, were deemed a man’s job. Entrepreneurs, presidential candidates, and we even have women fighting in the war along side all the men. Women in this country along with other countries have changed the ways of the past and have paved the way for our future!

A lot has changed since the 1940’s but sometimes, change is good. We’ve experienced abstract art along with new forms of music with words that were non-existent but it had a nice beat which made it scattastic! From the first of many parenting books to come to the fashions of the zoot suits and the popularity of the jitterbug. From Jackie Robison swinging baseball bats to kids along the block finding out how to swing a Frisbee. From the first motion pictures ( with sound) to television shows all the way to the rights of every women in America. The people and events throughout the 1940’s gave us the not so hard lives we have today…but it’s up to us, to keep the pattern going!