ABSTRACT
The Second Industrial Revolution brought not only the mass production of durable goods, but also the mass production of culture. Art and entertainment, which had traditionally been experienced in unique images and performances, increasingly was replicated on mass-distributed recordings or film, and was broadcast to audiences of millions. What once was preserved imperfectly (or imaginatively) in paintings and drawings was captured chemically exactly as seen by the eye. Culture, formerly enjoyed in lively groups on rare occasions, was in the new age of telecommunications experienced in the privacy of homes or dark viewing rooms, often daily. Culture that was local became national, even global. A series of inventions, mostly from the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, transformed the meaning of arts and entertainment. We will begin with the mechanical and chemical innovations of the phonograph, photograph, and motion picture in this chapter, which will be followed by the electronic media of radio and television in the next.
