Films from 1919 to 1929 reflected the spirit and values of the very lifestyle of the period. The twenties were afire with new innovations; new theories of government, new expressions in painting, literature, theater, dance, music and architecture. Other fields also affected were finance, religion, psychology, medicine and education. Almost every aspect of life was being questioned and the movies attempted to reflect those trends.

It was Jazz, the Charleston and Prohibition that set the pace for those Americans who were ready for it. Like it or not, we were into the "Jazz Age." The consumer society had its beginnings in the twenties as well. Cars, refrigerators, radios, a whole host of household conveniences were available and people bought them. Most young women of America embraced all of it. The Jazz Age liberated women as nothing had ever done. They were free to be flappers, adventurers, sophisticates, ingenues, sirens, executives, scientists, and most importantly for Hollywood, "It Girls," women who were frankly sexy. The American prototype was Clara Bow; the European, Greta Garbo, both, though worlds apart, were movie stars. All this excitement for life and love ended when the Stock Market crashed in 1929.