1927 Book Jacket

Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand?

Charles A. Lindbergh

The Woolworth Building,
The Cathedral of Commerce

Why is 1927 such a great year, you ask...
My mother and father would smooze the 1920's as if it were a wild, humorous, and outrageous movie, powered by heroes and larger than life movie stars. The reel that began after the First World War suddenly spun off the projector in 1929, but the changes spawned in the 20's continued throughout the century. I wanted a science fiction story to contrast the distant future with the emerging technology.
Charlie Russo arrives in New York from the hinterland, ready to strike it big during the 1920's madness. He attaches himself to a woman and her wealthy family and works for the father at the Woolworth Building in Manhattan. Everything is status quo until he locks eyes with Jamal at Yankee Stadium. For Charlie Russo and America things are changing. Congress made alcohol illegal with the Volkstead Act in 1919 and thus chartered organized crime's entrepreneurial liquor heyday.

Prohibition Bust

Stunts (flagpole sitting) events (people trapped in caves) and games such as Mah Jong were in vogue. Woman smoked and woman danced, they flapped and had the right to vote. And a woman, Gertrude Ederle, swam the English Channel. People's freedom exploded with the use of the automobile. And the economy roared.

1920's Flapper

Big Media was born. Radio brought the world, breaking news and glorified sports heroes, into the living room. Theaters projected moving pictures, then talking pictures into towns and boroughs across the country. The actors were now stars. Steel Victrola needles traced discs, producing simulated sound and celebrities.

Al Jolson

Much of these changes were epitomized grandly in one year and celebrity shined as it had never shined before.
...He was modest, he seemed to know his business, there was something particularly daring about his idea of making the perilous journey alone, and he was an attractive looking youngster as ever had faced a camera man...

Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday,
an Informal History of the 1920's.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh

Charlie Russo is at Roosevelt Field on Long Island when Lindbergh leaves for Paris and Charlie witnesses the ticker tape parade and celebration in Manhattan. ( His undoing) Amidst the ballyhoo, the New York Yankees are Charlie's passion.
The 1906 Chicago Cubs were great major league baseball team, but the 1927 Yankees soared. I referred to a book called 1927, (nice title for a book) a primary source of newspaper accounts that tracked the day by day Yankee romp throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 1927. I could weave these games into my plot, but what stands out is the powerhouse lineup and the pitching.
Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward's Baseball wrapped it up nicely:
The 1927 Yankees may have been the most formidable baseball team in history. There was no pennant " race " in the American league that year; the Yankees hammered out 110 victories. " When we got to the ball park," pitcher George Pipgras remembered, " we knew we were going to win. That's all there was to it. We weren't cocky. I wouldn't call it confidence either. We just knew. Like when you go to sleep you know the sun is going to come up in the morning... *

The 1927 Yankees
The Greatest Team of all time

But The Sultan of Swat was Big Media's sports benefactor.


The Babe		The Babe's 60th September 30, 1927

Jack Dempsey's misfortune was heard by the nation on radio and seen at the theaters on film. The blow by blow in 1927 is real.

Dempsey-Tunney

The black and white celluloid slapstick of Laurel and Hardy was an art form that was once only appreciated on the stage. In Niagara Falls, NY, Charlie and Jamal watch a Laurel and Hardy release that is true to the time period.

Stan and Ollie

Buster Keaton's genius was preserved with the new technology of the time: moving pictures.

Buster Keaton

More media frenzy... Sacco and Vanzetti, the case chronicled in the newsreels, were executed in August of 1927. The Red scare and anarchist threat mushroomed with the advent of quicker and proliferating communication.

Sacco and Vanzetti

When I was younger I saw only the results of the new communications in its infancy in 1927. Big Media bubbles all events upward, some with more gusto, but only the events of substance survive the years.

Kelly Tire Sign At
Columbus Circle
Circa 1926

There really was a Kelly Tire sign above Columbus Circle.

1927 Book Jacket

Further Reading