Examines the stock market crash of 1929 with interviews from descendants of several Wall Street insiders.Examines the stock market crash of 1929 with interviews from descendants of several Wall Street insiders.Examines the stock market crash of 1929 with interviews from descendants of several Wall Street insiders.
Photos
Calvin Coolidge
- Self - President of the United States
- (archive footage)
William C. Durant
- Self - Former Chairman and CEO of General Motors
- (archive footage)
Thomas A. Edison
- Self - Inventor
- (archive footage)
Henry Ford
- Self - Former CEO of The Ford Motor Car Company
- (archive footage)
Herbert Hoover
- Self - President of the United States
- (archive footage)
J.P. Morgan
- Self - President of J.P. Morgan Bank
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe man in the now-iconic "$100 WILL BUY THIS CAR" photo was a popular male model named Walter Clarence Thornton (represented by the John Robert Powers Agency, from 1926-30). Walter was so popular, in fact, that in 1928, he started a small sculpture factory on E. 45th Street in Manhattan--where he crafted and sold life mask plaster sculptures of his own head. He was not a bankrupt Wall Street investor. Walter Thornton's "head factory" transformed into his own legendary , eponymously named modeling agency, which was one of the initial tenants of The Chrysler Building (15th floor), less that a year after the Crash of 1929, when they opened their doors in May of 1930), soon after the building opened in May of 1930. The veracity of this image has never been called into question, though it is now one of the most frequently-used photographs used--worldwide--to represent The Crash and the resultant Great Depression. In short, the implied narrative of this photo did not belong to the model in the photo. The precariously balanced sign on the car, itself, has been called into question, and has been suspected to be a later "add". This documentary is (per Library of Congress records) the first known usage of this image in print of video. The image (now claimed by Getty Images) contains almost no provenance--no known photographer, location, date, source, etc.
Featured review
Examines not just the crash, but the reasons for it...
This is another episode of "The American Experience"--a PBS series that's been on since the late 1980s. The reason it's been on so long despite is most likely because the show is so expertly crafted and interesting--provided you give a crap about history (which, sadly, many do not). And, fortunately, it's available on DVD and for rental from Netflix.
This was a particularly interesting episode of "The American Experience". That's because although I have seen documentaries about the Great Stock Market Crash and the Depression, I cannot recall any others that actually discussed WHY it occurred in the first place. Vague things like 'buying on margin' and 'speculation' were cited--but not much more. However, the root causes and how the market was being manipulated were discussed in the film. This was done through interviews with some of the families of manipulators, economists (such as John Kenneth Galbraith) and others. The show was narrated by Philip Bosco--who had a nice voice and who was born the year after the crash. In addition, photos, stock footage and period music were used to create a nice 1920s ambiance. The overall episode is excellent--insightful and well done...as usual.
This was a particularly interesting episode of "The American Experience". That's because although I have seen documentaries about the Great Stock Market Crash and the Depression, I cannot recall any others that actually discussed WHY it occurred in the first place. Vague things like 'buying on margin' and 'speculation' were cited--but not much more. However, the root causes and how the market was being manipulated were discussed in the film. This was done through interviews with some of the families of manipulators, economists (such as John Kenneth Galbraith) and others. The show was narrated by Philip Bosco--who had a nice voice and who was born the year after the crash. In addition, photos, stock footage and period music were used to create a nice 1920s ambiance. The overall episode is excellent--insightful and well done...as usual.
helpful•00
- planktonrules
- Sep 14, 2011
Details
- Runtime55 minutes
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