In this essay, I’m going to talk about the origin of some of the popular forms of entertainment in America around the early 1900’s. I’m going to regurgitate information about the origins of football, baseball, basketball, and the modern Olympics. I’m also going to talk about my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer, as well as the invention of movies.
First up, I’m going to talk about sports. Football originally came to America in the form of Rugby, which I did not know was a thing until two days ago. From my five minutes of research on the topic, I think it is sort of like a cross between modern American Football and modern Soccer. It developed into these different sports in different places. In Europe they developed it into Soccer (as we Americans call it) and in America it developed into American Football. Football is one of (if not the most) popular sport in America, with the Super Bowl being almost universally watched in the country, and getting almost as many views as Mr. Beast’s videos.
Baseball is my teacher’s favorite sport, so naturally we spent extra time studying that, so I’m going to give it the least amount of space in my essay because I care for it the least. Baseball has its roots in cricket and other rudimentary forms of the game. When Alexander Cartwright left for California during the Gold Rush, he spread the knowledge of baseball to the west. The first traveling baseball team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
Basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891. He wanted it to be less injury prone than football. The game began with throwing a ball into a peach basket, but it developed into the rules we have today fairly quickly. Basketball has taken the world by storm and is now an Olympic sport today.
Speaking of the Olympics, the ancient Greek Olympics were revived in the 1800’s. A stadium was restored in Athens, and the Olympic Game were held in 1870 and 1875. Before long the International Olympic Committee was organized. They were to oversee future holdings of the Olympic Games. There is now a Winter Olympics and a Summer Olympics, each spaced four years apart, and two years apart from each other.
After talking about all those sports, let’s talk about the early forms of movies. The first short films were in black and white and didn’t have any audio, and were very short. They were made by a small, little known inventor who went by the name Thomas Edison. Others copied his idea and started making movies of their own. Movies would go on to become a very popular form of entertainment around the world, and with the invention of streaming services, almost anyone can have access to movies.
Last but certainly not least (it’s the best of the bunch) I want to talk a little bit about my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer pioneered dime novels. Stratemeyer is the author of many classical children’s stories. His different series included Tom Swift (my personal favorite), The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and others. He founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which was an organization where he would provide ideas and pay other authors to write the books because Stratemeyer didn’t have the time to write all the books for all the different series.
In conclusion, American Entertainment was developed in lots of different ways and aspects during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, including several different sports, the inventions of movies, and developments in the world of books, thanks in part to my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer.