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The 20s are often called a boon time this was not because the

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country suddenly exploded but what did explode with American business and [Country explodes]

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banking not quite as exciting there we know but stick with us

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new technologies fueled new businesses and new industries and electricity made [Cogs turning and dollar symbols fall]

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almost all these new technologies possible appliances like washing

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machines radios vacuum cleaners record players toasters clocks refrigerators [Appliances appear]

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coffee makers and more all ran on electricity except with a few prototypes

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that ran on campster power but that really wasn't practical the other thing [Hamster running in a wheel]

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all these new devices had in common is that they all became available to

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middle-class Americans in the 1920s every item on this list is also an item [New technology list appears]

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you probably have in your homes today well except for record players unless

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you're one of those hipsters who only collect vinyl all right point is that [Man with a vinyl record player]

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when we look back on the 1920s it's a decade when American life becomes much

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more familiar to us 21st century types it was the first real high-tech decade [Boy listening to music in headphones]

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what with all the new technology created and built by American manufacturers and

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for every new appliance there was a new company Frigidaire made

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yes refrigerators RCA the Radio Corporation of America made radios

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Hoover made hoverboard a vacuum cleaners now they suck new companies hired tens [Man using hoverboard]

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of thousands of workers across the country and new businesses sprang up to

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support those new companies how by supplying them with specialized parts or

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customer service this was the invention of service with a smile advertising [Man speaking over telephone]

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companies were also created to sell the new products and make the new companies

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a household name it was all grow grow grow in the world of business and

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manufacturing but new products did not take off automatically new items like

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refrigerators faced a lot of hurdles the biggest one being that people were [Woman stood beside a refrigerator]

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suspicious of these newfangled contraptions and what about the IceMen

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did they cometh or did the union of iseman strike it sure the old-school way [People working on old wooden wagon]

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wasn't so great putting food in a wooden box with a

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chunk of ice didn't ever keep food for very long also made a wet neck but [Ice appears in a cupboard]

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most people didn't want to spend money on some weird new product that might not

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work so what if the meet went bad yeah so manufacturing companies of

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refrigerators like GE had to hire advertising companies to make the [People watching advert at the movie theater]

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product seem irresistible to weary consumers and you have to leave it or

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not in Disneyland in 1960 there were all kinds of ads as you walk through the [Woman wearing minnie mouse ears in DisneyLand]

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park for this newfangled thing called the washing machine some companies

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created their own internal marketing and public relations departments to do the

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job it's all about communicating with your customers once the product became

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popular the manufacturer had to design and build new models and then advertise

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up and the cycle continues today like a never-ending SoulCycle session.... [People in a cue]

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