I wrote this a while ago and decided, why not post it here? ;B
Dread Pirate Loki
I'll post a few things here, comics, movies, etc. that can help you get a feel of the Jazz era. Music, you'll have to search on your own. xD I like artists like Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald though. ;3
Anyway, the first thing I would recommend checking out is the
Lackadaisy Webcomic. It's not very quick updating, and the story is mournfully short so far, but it might spur you to research more. It's furry art, but it's set in the Jazz era. They also have some good resources in the Ishkabibble section of their site, like Jazz age slang, and other stuff.
Watch the musical
Chicago if you haven't seen it yet. Lots of great songs. xD There's not too much in there about the Jazz Era, since most of the plot takes place in a jail or in a courthouse, but it gives you a general idea about the attitude of the time. How off-the-leash women were, and the general attitudes about the general public, and the latest story. You'll see, just rent it. xP
A Marylin Monroe movie!
Some Like it Hot is a CLASSIC. You have to watch it. Plus it's hilarious, even for an old movie. xD Then again, I'm an old movie freak, so I love them all, but I genuinely think you'll enjoy this. What's not to love about two guys in drag on the run from the mafia in an all girls Jazz band, with a buxom Marylin there to rest your eyes on. ;D
The
Indiana Jones trilogy. There isn't a lot in there, but there is some. And it gives out an idea about what life could have been like in that time period for a world traveler. Frankly, this is what probably led me to love the Jazz Era so much, because I'm such a diehard Indy fan. xD
Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow. A movie full of art deco goodness. Pleez 2 b cheking it out rite nao. I'm also a diehard Angelina Jolie fan. xD But her part in this movie ain't that big. But I love it anyway. It's like watching a comic book. Not like one of those new comic book movies about Ironman or Ghost Rider or whatever. It's like watching a retro/vintage comic book. ;3 Rayguns, giant robots, underwater planes, yush...
The Rocketeer.
Baccano! This is an anime which if you aren't careful you'll end up being entirely confused by the way they jump back and forth through the story. But it's great. The majority of it is set in Jazz Era, with a huge section part about it being on a train!!! TRAINS ARE TEH AWESOME. It mixes together mafia goodness, trained hitmen, and alchemy! D: Yes, alchemy. It was weird how it fit in, but it did. I got hooked on this anime, and it made me laugh so hard at times. xD
And here's some slang:
BAR - Browning Automatic Rifle.
Big Muddy - the Missouri River.
bootleg - giggle water, panther sweat, juice, hooch, moonshine, coffin varnish. By whatever moniker or variety, bootleg is illegal liquor.
bootlegger - the middleman who procures illegal liquor and sells it.
Cajun - an ethnic group descended from Acadians who migrated from Nova Scotia to Louisiana. (Say 'Acadian' fast enough, and you'll understand the etymology). The dialect they speak is derived mostly of Cajun French and English.
cat - bull, buck, lad, sheik, daddy, palooka, fella. All social status, age and behavioral connotations aside, it's a guy.
chopper - Thompson sub-machine gun, also called a Tommy gun.
establishment - an ambiguous term for a speakeasy operation.
flapper - a girl who behaves and dresses according to the fashions and youth culture of the 1920s.
flivver - usually refers to an old Model-T Ford, but could mean any old or broken-down car.
Fordor - A Model-A Ford sedan with four doors, the 'Tudor' being a two door model.
fuzz - police.
gams - perhaps the most amusing term for 'legs' I've ever heard. Used almost exclusively in reference to women's legs.
hood - hoodlum, a gangster.
iron - a gun, as in 'packing iron.'
ishkabibble - a slang term used to dismiss something as trivial. (Merwyn Bogue adopted it as a pseudonym for his part in Kay Kyser's College of Musical Knowledge.)
Jazz Age - generally refers to the period between WWI and WWII, encompassing the Roaring 20's and the Great Depression, during which jazz music became immensely popular.
kitten - bearcat, tomato, dame, doll, jane, vamp, sheba. When you get right down to it, in varying degrees of attractiveness, dangerousness and feistiness, it's a girl
mais - 'well', a common way for a Cajun to begin a sentence.
Muddy Miss - Old Man River, The Big River, The Mighty Mississippi.
ossified - if you're splifficated, tanked, hosed, zozzled, plastered, embalmed or ossified, you've had too much to drink.
Prohibition - the period of US history between 1920 and 1933 during which the sale, import and manufacture of alcohol was made illegal as outlined by the Volstead Act and established by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The production and sale of alcohol became an underground business as a result of the legislation and a trend of unprecedented organized crime followed.
rube - derogatory term commonly used by city-dwellers to refer to unsophisticated country folk.
rumrunner - one who smuggles illegal liquor across borders, usually by boat.
*runners - the pickup and delivery boys who taxi liquor from the rumrunners to the speakeasies. When there's competition in town, being quick on one's feet, armed to the gills and certifiably insane are job requirements.
speakeasy - also called a 'gin mill' or 'joint', a speakeasy is an illegal, secret place to partake of a drink (or two or three). During Prohibition, speakeasies came in all shapes, sizes and degrees of sophistication. They could be found in cellars, abandoned buildings, privately owned homes, barns or any number of other discreet places.
shiv - a knife
Springfield - Springfield M1903 rifle.
The Great War - World War I
tiddlywinks - invented in the 1890's, the object of the game is to use your squidger to flip some winks into a cup. It is perhaps the greatest waste of time known to man...which accounts for its timeless popularity
Here's a guide to Jazz age slang.
Click here.By the way, my idea of Jazzpunk extends from the end of World War I to the Great Depression.
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