When Irvin Berlin wrote “Put’in On the Ritz” in 1927, the roaring 1920s were in full swing. Days and nights of elegant sophistication were all the rage. With a tie and tail as they say. Where this generation of women used Flappers and Speakeasys is where the action was. The culture of the 1920s flourished and made Put’in on the Ritz the landmark of society until the early 1930s. Virtually everywhere you looked at that time, from New York to Chicago, joy and the revelry transcended cultures and exposed the world to the madness of Charleston dance.
The refinement of that era defined a nation. Sad, though the Great Depression soon hit the world, where too many were caught in a downward cycle toward poverty. Many sought refuge by watching the movies visualizing what it would be like to revisit those carefree days of yore. Captivated by the performances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and others, they made those days of misery more bearable.
As the world approached World War II, a new ear was emerging. The 1940s, where sights and sounds, especially in music, alienated society from the elegant sophistication that prevailed 20 years ago. Benny Goodman’s Swing Era Singers like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra set the tone for a departure from the days when people rode the Ritz. For us baby boomers, it was our parents who experienced the joy of the 1920s, danced the Charleston, endured the hard times of the Great Depression, and liberated the world from the scourge of World War II, who through it all achieved instill in their children much of the moral values, integrity and social gestures that lasted for more than 40 years.
Even though we were instilled with the same moral standards as our parents, it is sad to say that a sociological change was already underway. By the time World War II ended, the emergence of Rock and Roll was taking off, and by the mid-1950s another sociological shift was taking place. Many can say that the cause of the way in which society as a whole changed again was related to the emergence of a new acceptance in music, entertainment and social norms. A gradual move away from the strict behavior and dress that was the accepted norm years ago also helped societies change.
This sociological change during the 1950s and again during the 1960s displaced the refinement, etiquette, and manners that allowed society to avoid all the traps that are embedded in our society today. Our schools were the first to show a deterioration in codes of conduct, respect, and discipline. The baby boomer generation faced almost insurmountable odds trying to instill what they were taught only to find external forces of insanity and the entertainment of Dr. Spock’s mindset. It has been the entertainment industry, from much of music like hard rock, hip hop and rap to today’s video games, that has turned our society from the inside out. We must also realize that the Vietnam War, along with many Supreme Court rulings, have undermined societies’ recovery of a certain amount of elegant sophistication when Put’in at the Ritz would not only be possible but more acceptable in our country. actual society.
Today’s customary norm is a far cry from the days of Irvin Berlin. When I look back and see how my parents and the parents of the children I grew up with had the same qualities in the way they behaved. However, by today’s standard, it is a shame because many today could not understand the way our parents behaved let alone dressed during the times of my youth. And yet, in our education we managed to avoid much of the violence, the lack of moral judgment and the lack of respect that is shown today and not only by our youth.
We should all remember and embrace Put’in On The Ritz because that madness and phrase symbolizes a nation. The graceful sophistication that America embraced is an aspect of our society that transformed our culture into refinement and elegance that has been lost. As my father told me when I was a child, Chicago, even with Al Capone, the 1920s was one of the best periods that shaped how my father would become and how he instilled in me the values and moral integrity that made so many of us to become. baby boomers capable of, as they say, “live long and prosper.”
