1920’s Public Domain Days

Last updated on: January 8, 2026 at 7:52 am   by
1920’s Public Domain Days

Every year older movies and books that were written decades ago get released into the public domain. That means as an artist you can use the source material for your own creative endeavors without having to get permission to do so. You don’t have to pay any $$money to anyone or pay any licensing fees. It is part of the public domain and is yours to use for whatever your little heart wants to use it for.

As of 2025 all books, movies and art from the 1920s are in the public domain. 2026 marks entries from 1930 and sound recordings from 1925. There is somehow a 95-year window for movies, books, and art and a 100 year window for sound recordings. But before getting the gist on what newer materials are the sandbox for your creativity, here is a selection of what you can use, redistribute and just enjoy from

The 1920’s

Descriptions Below Are Taken from the Creative Commons Source Wikipedia.

Under the Copyright Term Extension Act  of 1998 works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still protected by copyright in 1998 would not enter the public domain until January 1, 2019, or later.

This includes the years

Before the 1920’s

That includes

Literature

The first publication of Mark Twain‘s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) in the United States for the first time.

Catholic Bard’s Guide to Public Domain Literature 

The Write People In 1889 

Film

The oldest surviving film Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

Actors On Stage, Screen And Radio Alive In 1889 

Art

The Starry Night (1889) by Vincent van Gogh

Picture These Artists In 1889 

Music

“Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay” w.m. Henry J. Sayers

The Sound Of Music In 1889

In this first section I’m going to focus on
Public Domain Films before the 1920’s.

This is just a sampling of the many interesting and fascinating films structured and crafted by the early pioneers of cinema.

 In 1895

Auguste and Louis Lumière’s first presentation of a projected celluloid film moving picture, the 46-second Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory which is the first real motion picture ever made.

The first science fiction film,  Georges Méliès‘s  A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans La Lune) (1902).

One of the greatest and most influential Westerns of all time The Great Train Robbery (1903).

Life and Passion of the Christ (1903) (Vie et Passion du Christ), directed by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca – (France)

The world’s first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)

Mr. Flip (1909) the first film to feature someone being hit in the face with a pie directed by Gilbert M. ‘Broncho Billy’ Anderson and starring Ben Turpin.

In Old California (1910) It was the first film shot in Hollywood, California. It was directed by D. W. Griffith.

The Broken Oath (1910) starring the first “the first true movie star” Florence Lawrence.

David Copperfield (1911) the oldest known film adaptation of the novel.

The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family  (1912) pioneer film maker  Georges Méliès‘s last film.

Traffic in Souls (1913) an early example of the narrative style in American films that was longer than most American films of the era.

The Perils of Pauline (1914) is an early example of the damsel in distress in film. It is the prime example of what scholar Ben Singer has called the “serial-queen melodrama“.

Charlie Chaplin‘s first film, Making a Living (1914), is released.

Tess of the Storm Country (1914) makes Mary Pickford an icon in the US and a celebrity around the world.

D.W Griffith‘s The Birth of a Nation (1915) premieres at Clune’s Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks both box office and film length records (running at a total length of over three hours).  It has been called “the most controversial film ever made in the United States”, as well as “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history”.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, (1916) -Directed by Stuart Paton for Universal Pictures, starring Curtis Benton and Alan Holubar (as Capt. Nemo), based on the novel by Jules Verne

Snow White (1916)

Release in the United States of the short The Butcher Boy (1917) the first of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle‘s series of films with the Comique Film Corporation, and Buster Keaton‘s film debut.

The first Tarzan film ever made and is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ original 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes (1918) directed by Scott Sidney for First National Pictures, starring Elmo Lincoln and Enid Markey.

The Master Mystery (1919) (serial), starring Harry Houdini.

The 1920’s

1920

The Prince and the Pauper (From Austria) directed by Alexander Korda.

The Golem: How He Came into the World (Der Golem, Wie Er in die Welt Kam), directed by and starring Paul Wegener based on the old Jewish folktale, photographed by Karl Freund

Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn, (From Ireland) directed by John MacDonagh, featuring Brian Magowan and Frances Alexander, based on the 1855 novel Willy Reilly and his dear Colleen Bawn by William Carleton

Lewis Sargent and Gordon Griffith.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Last of the Mohicans (1920)

The Last of the Mohicans (1920 German film)
featuring Bela Lugosi

1921

1922

Max Schreck in a promotional still for the film

Films and books released in 1923 became public domain in 2019.

2019 was the first year since 1998 in which the majority of media from a previous year entered the public domain after the expiration of its copyright term. 2019 is also the first year in this annual process, where 1923 works become public domain that year, then 1924 works in 2020, and so on forward.

Films and books released in 1924 became public domain in 2020.

Films and books released in 1925 became public domain in 2021.

2025 A Look Behind And Ahead- 700th Post
| A Look At Events In 1925 And Some Coming Up In 2025- 700th Post

Films and books released in 1926 became public domain in 2022.

Films and books released in 1927 became public domain in 2023.

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)
It (1927)  starring Clara Bow.


Napoléon (1927)
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)

Films and books released in 1928 became public domain in 2023.

1928 Is Public Domain In 2024 |
A List Of Some Notable Public Domain Material You Can Use For Your Own Projects

Films and books released in 1929 became public domain in 2025.

1929 Is Public Domain In 2025 |
A List Of Some Notable Public Domain Material Being Made In Available In 2029

First Marx Brothers Movie

Films and books released in 1930 became public domain in 2026.

First Three Stooges Movie

I have only selected a small amount of New Public Domain stuff

For more recommendations and other interesting stuff click on the links below.

Public Domain Day 2023 is Coming: Here’s What to Know | Copyright Lately

Public Domain Day 2024 is Coming: Here’s What to Know | Copyright Lately

Public Domain Day 2025 is Coming: Here’s What to Know | Copyright Lately

Movies
1st Academy Awards

Wings (1928)-Outstanding Picture @ 1st Academy Awards 

7th Heaven (1927) Outstanding Picture Nominee @ 1st Academy Awards 

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans  (1927) Best Unique and Artistic Picture
@ 1st Academy Awards 

1st Talking Picture

The Jazz Singer (1927)
Special Award To Warner Bros. for producing The Jazz Singer,
the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry.

Classic Directors

Cecil B. DeMille

(August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959)

Cecil B. DeMille made 70 features. 52 of his features are silent films. The first 24 of his silent films were made in the first three years of his career (1913–1916).  Eight of his films were “epics” with five of those classified as “Biblical”. Six of DeMille’s films—The Arab, The Wild Goose Chase, The Dream Girl, The Devil-Stone, We Can’t Have Everything, and The Squaw Man (1918)—were destroyed by nitrate decomposition, and are considered lost.  The Ten Commandments is broadcast every Saturday at Passover in the United States on the ABC Television Network

The Squaw Man (1914) was an American silent Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar C. Apfel, and starring Dustin Farnum. It was DeMille’s directorial debut and the first feature-length film to be shot in what is now Hollywood.

Why Change Your Wife? (1920)

The Affairs of Anatol (1921)

Saturday Night (1922)

The Ten Commandments (1923)

Triumph (1924)

The Road to Yesterday (1925)

The Volga Boatman (1926)

The King of Kings (1927)

The Godless Girl (1928)

Dynamite (1929) was DeMille’s first full-length sound film (a silent version was also released simultaneously), and casting the right actors (with adequate voices) proved a difficult process.

Madam Satan (1930)

Walt Disney

(December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)

He was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. With Ub Iwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928. He made the first animated feature film produced in the United States and the first cel animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film). He created a media empire that is still alive and active today.

In 1921, Walt Disney was contracted by Milton Feld to animate twelve cartoons, which he called Newman’s Laugh-O-Grams.

Laugh-O-Gram Studio
11 Shorts From 1921 – 1923

Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles in 1923 and got their start producing a series of silent Alice Comedies short films featuring a live-action child actress in an animated world.

57 Alice Comedies
# 1 –Alice’s Wonderland– October 16, 1923

# 57 -Alice in the Big League -August 22, 1927

In 1927 he created

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927) 9 Cartoons

He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Studio. After Universal took control of Oswald’s character in 1928, Disney created a new character similar in appearance to Oswald as a replacement: Mickey Mouse, who went on to become one of the most famous cartoon characters in the world.

November 18, 1928

Disney‘s Steamboat Willie premieres, marking the official introduction of Mickey Mouse. This animated short is the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production, including sound effects, music and dialogue.

Mickey Mouse in The Gallopin’ Gaucho -December 30

1929 – 13 Mickey Mouse Cartoons

1929 – 5 Silly Symphony Cartoons including The Skeleton Dance

1930 – 9 Mickey Mouse Cartoons

1930 – 10 Silly Symphony Cartoons

John Ford

(February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973)

The Tornado (1917) LOST

He was an American film director whose career spanned from 1913 to 1971.
During this time he directed more than 130 films; however, nearly all of his silent films are lost.

He received six Academy Awards including a record four wins for Best Director for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952).

Ford is renowned for his Westerns, such as Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); though he worked in many other genres, including comedies, period dramas, and documentaries. He made frequent use of location shooting and wide shots, in which his characters were framed against a vast, harsh, and rugged natural terrain. He is credited with launching the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Hara and James Stewart.

First Film –Cameo Kirby (1923)

The Iron Horse (1924)

It was Ford’s first major film, in part because the hastily planned production went over budget, as Fox was making a hurried response to the success of another studio’s western. In 2011, this film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Kentucky Pride (1925)

The Shamrock Handicap (1926)

3 Bad Men (1926)

Upstream (1927)

Mother Machree (1928)

Riley the Cop (1928)

Napoleon’s Barber (1928) Lost

Strong Boy(1929)
The Black Watch (1929)
Salute (1929)
Men Without Women (1930)
Born Reckless (1930)
Up the River (1930)
With Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart (both in their film debuts)
Seas Beneath (1930)

D. W. Griffith

(January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948)

First Film –The Adventures of Dollie (1908)

Griffith has six films preserved on the United States National Film Registry deemed as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”: Lady Helen’s Escapade, A Corner in Wheat (both 1909), The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912), The Birth of a Nation (1915), The Birth of a Nation (1916) and Broken Blossoms  (1919).

Together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, Griffith founded the studio United Artists in 1919 with the goal of enabling actors and directors to make films on their own terms, as opposed to the terms of commercial studios.

Alfred Hitchcock

(August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980)

The master of thrillers

The Pleasure Garden (1925)
His feature film directorial debut.

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Sound films

Blackmail (1929)

Howard Hawks

(May 30, 1896 – December 26, 1977)

 He was an American film director who made 40 films between 1926 and 1970. He is responsible for classic films in genres ranging from film noir, screwball comedy, crime, science fiction and Western.

The Road to Glory (1926)
His First Film Now Lost

The Cradle Snatchers (1927)

Paid to Love (1927) 

A Girl in Every Port (1928)

Fazil (1928)

Trent’s Last Case (1928)

Sound films

The Air Circus (1928)

The Dawn Patrol (1930)

His Girl Friday (1940)
Copyright not renewed.

Fritz Lang

(December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976)

He was an Austrian film director, producer and screenwriter. In Lang’s early career he worked primarily as a screenwriter, finishing film scripts in four to five days. Lang directed major German films of the silent and early sound eras.

1st Film – Halbblut (1919)

The Wandering Image (1920)

Destiny (1921)

Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler – Part 1: The Great Gambler (1922)
Followed By Part 2

Die Nibelungen – Part 1: Siegfried (1924)
Followed By Part 2

Metropolis (1927)

Spies (1928)

Woman in the Moon (1929)

Classic Director and Comedy Legend

Frank Capra and Harry Langdon

Frank Capra (May 5, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Capra directed a total of 36 feature-length films (34 of which are known to survive) and 16 documentary films during his lifetime. His movies It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It Happened One Night are often cited among the greatest films ever made. Between 1927 – 1929 he made 12 films including…

Fultah Fisher’s Boarding House  (1922)
First Film directed by Frank Capra.

Sound Films

Meet John Doe (1941)
Copyright not renewed

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

While the film images are public domain, under rulings of Stewart v. Abend, the film text (script) is based on the copyrighted short story “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. Republic also purchased the exclusive rights to the film’s copyrighted music to further shore up its rights.

Henry “Harry” Philmore Langdon (June 15, 1884 – December 22, 1944) was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films (where he had his greatest fame), and talkies.

Partial Filmography

Smile Please (Short 1924)
starring Harry Langdon in his 2nd Movie

Boobs in the Wood  (1925)
starring Harry Langdon

The Strong Man,(1926)
directed by Frank Capra and starring Harry Langdon 

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926)
starring Harry Langdon and Joan Crawford

Long Pants (1927)
Directed Frank Capra and  starring  Harry Langdon 

His First Flame (1927)  Harry Langdon

Three’s a Crowd (1927)  Harry Langdon

Fiddlesticks (1927, Short) Harry Langdon

Heart Trouble (1928, director) as Harry Van Housen

Harry Langdon’s first sound films

Hotter Than Hot (1929) produced by the Hal Roach studios.
Sky Boy (1929) produced by the Hal Roach studios.
A Soldier’s Plaything (1930) First sound feature film

Comedy Legends

Chaplin

(April 16, 1889 – December 25, 1977)

1st Movie – Making a Living (1914)

Chaplin appeared in 36 films for Keystone Studios, all produced by Mack Sennett.

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in 15 films for the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

The Tramp (1915)

Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 12 films for the Mutual Film Corporation, which formed Lone Star Studios solely for Chaplin’s films.

The Rink (1916)

Easy Street (1917)

The Immigrant (1917)

The Adventurer (1917)

Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in 9 films for his own production company between 1918 and 1923. These films were distributed by First National.

A Dog’s Life (1918)

Shoulder Arms (1918)

A Day’s Pleasure (1919)

1920’s

The Kid (1921)

The Idle Class (1921)

Pay Day (1922)

The Pilgrim (1923)

Chaplin began releasing his films through United Artists in 1923. From this point on all of his films were of feature length. He produced, directed, and wrote these eight films and starred in all but the first. Beginning with City Lights Chaplin wrote the musical scores for his films as well.

A Woman of Paris (1923)
Director Only

The Gold Rush (1925)

The Circus (1928) Special Academy Award
for acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus.

Buster Keaton

He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton’s “extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929” when he “worked without interruption” as having made him “the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”

First Film – The Butcher Boy (1917)
with Roscoe Arbuckle

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

The Bell Boy (1918)
with Roscoe Arbuckle

The Hayseed (1919)
with Roscoe Arbuckle

1920’s

One Week (1920)

Cops (1922)

Seeing Stars (1922) It is notable for a scene shared by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Seeing Stars was one of just two times the great silent comedians appeared together onscreen; 30 years later, Limelight (1952) was the second occasion.

Laurel and Hardy

Before Abbott and Costello there was Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). They are one of the most successful comedy teams of all time.  Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to “talkies“. From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy’s pompous bully.  Their signature theme song, known as “The Cuckoo Song”, “Ku-Ku”, or “The Dance of the Cuckoos” (by Hollywood composer T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films’ opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.

Partial Filmography

Outwitting Dad  (1914) Oliver Hardy’s First Film

Nuts in May (1917) Stan Laurel’s First Film

Married to Order (1920)
Featuring Oliver Hardy and Charley Chase.

The Lucky Dog (1921)

Although they appear in scenes together, Laurel and Hardy play independently. Laurel is the star as the hero of the film and Hardy plays the main villain opposite him.

The Bakery (1921)
Featuring Oliver Hardy that was directed by Larry Semon

Mud and Sand (1922)
starring Stan Laurel.

Golf  (1922)
Starring Larry Semon and featuring Oliver Hardy.

The Pest (1922)
starring Stan Laurel.

The Sawmill (1922)
Starring Larry Semon and featuring Oliver Hardy.

Oranges and Lemons (1923)
Starring Stan Laurel

Kid Speed (1924)
directed by Larry Semon and featuring Oliver Hardy.

Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925)
Starring Stan Laurel

Wizard of Oz (1925)
With Oliver Hardy and Larry Semon

Madame Mystery (1926)
starring Theda Bara, Oliver Hardy, and James Finlayson,
Directed by Richard Wallace and Stan Laurel, co-written by Laurel, and produced by Hal Roach. Footage from this film was reused in the Hal Roach two-reeler 45 Minutes From Hollywood (released December 26, 1926).

From 1927 – 1929 they appeared in 44 films. Some highlights from 1927 include

Do Detectives Think? (1927) 
First film in which the duo appear in their standard costumes

Putting Pants on Philip (1927) 
Their first “official” film together as a team. 

The Battle of the Century (1927)

The film is famous for its use of more than 3,000 cream pies (although the Guinness Book of Records claims that as many as 10,000 may have been used) in the film’s climactic pie fight. For many years only three minutes from the film’s second reel, containing the pie fight, was thought to have survived, as the footage had been included in Robert Youngson‘s 1950s film documentaries. However, the complete reel was rediscovered in 2015. It was released to the public on DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 16, 2020, as part of the Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations compilation of remastered films. Also in 2020, The Battle of the Century was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Two Tars (1928)

Big Business (1929)

Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) First sound film as well as the first all talkie short film by Hal Roach.

Brats (1930)

Max Linder  

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

Max Learns to Skate (Short 1907)  Linder’s first appearance as “Max” was in The Skater’s Debut in 1907. Lake Daumesnil in Paris had frozen over and director Louis Gasnier filmed Linder in his new attire, with Linder improvising the rest. In the film, “Max” falls about and does a rendition of “the windmill routine” by spinning his cane around, predating Charlie Chaplin‘s version in The Rink by nine years.

1920’s

Harold Lloyd

One of the most influential film comedians of the silent era, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and talkies, from 1914 to 1947. His bespectacled “glasses character” was a resourceful, ambitious go-getter who matched the zeitgeist of the 1920s-era United States.

1st Film The Old Monk’s Tale (1913)

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

Miss Fatty’s Seaside Lovers (1915) with Roscoe Arbuckle

A Submarine Pirate (1915) with Syd Chaplin

Giving Them Fits (1915) Lonesome Luke # 6 It was the first film to team up Lloyd with Snub Pollard and Bebe Daniels.

Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916) Lonesome Luke # 44

Over the Fence (1917) The film is notable as the debut of Lloyd’s “Glasses” or “Boy” character.

Fireman Save My Child (1918)

Bumping into Broadway (1919) This film is notable as Lloyd’s first two-reeler featuring his “glasses” character.
From this point onward, all of Lloyd’s films exist in the archives.

1920’s

Haunted Spooks (1920) The film began shooting on August 9, 1919 and halted on the 23rd of that month due to an accident. Lloyd was posing for publicity photos, and a prop bomb exploded in his hand. He lost two fingers, his face was badly burned and he was temporarily blinded. In subsequent films, he wore a prosthetic glove fitted with artificial fingers.

Safety Last! (1923)  It includes one of the most famous images from the silent-film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. The film was highly successful and critically hailed, and it cemented Lloyd’s status as a major figure in early motion pictures. It is still popular at revivals, and it is viewed today as one of the great film comedies.

The Freshman (1925) In 1990, The Freshman was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” added in the second year of voting and one of the first 50 films to receive the honor.

Lloyd as Harold Lamb

For Heaven’s Sake, (1926) It was one of Lloyd’s most successful films and the 12th-highest-grossing film of the silent era, earning $2,600,000.

The Kid Brother (1927)This is considered by critics and fans to be one of Lloyd’s best films, integrating elements of comedy, romance, drama, and character development.

Speedy (1928)

Welcome Danger (1929) Lloyd had already completed Welcome Danger as a silent feature when his distributor, Paramount Pictures, was heavily promoting talking pictures. Lloyd decided to remake Welcome Danger with sound, going so far as to recast some of the supporting roles with stage-trained actors familiar with dialogue.

Feet First (1930)

Our Gang

Our Gang # 1 One Terrible Day (1922)

Our Gang # 14 Dogs of War! (1923) With Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston.

Our Gang #27 Jubilo, Jr. With Will Rogers and Charley Chase

Our Gang #39 Ask Grandma (1925)

Our Gang #52 Shivering Spooks (1926)

Our Gang #57 Seeing the World (1927) with Stan Laurel 

Our Gang #64 Yale vs. Harvard (1927) LOST First of the The Roach/MGM silents

Our Gang # 72 The Smile Wins (1928) –  It is the final Our Gang short released through Pathé Exchange.

Our Gang # 74 Barnum & Ringling, Inc. (1928) With Oliver Hardy

Our Gang # 86 Small Talk (1929) First sound film; release dates of first five sound shorts overlap with those of final three silents shorts

Our Gang # 100  Pups Is Pups (1930) Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Various 20’s Slapstick Comedians

This is but just a sample of at least one of their many films

Leading Men

Barrymore

Fighting Blood (1911) Lionel Barrymore’s first film.

An American Citizen  (1914) John Barrymore’s first film.

The Nightingale (1914) LOST Ethel Barrymore ‘s first film.

The Copperhead (1920) Lionel Barrymore 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore

Sherlock Holmes (1922) starring John Barrymore

The Sea Beast (1926) starring John Barrymore

Don Juan (1926) starring John Barrymore

It is the first feature-length film to utilize the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue.

The Beloved Rogue (1927) starring John Barrymore

The Show (1927) with Lionel Barrymore

Tempest (1928) starring John Barrymore

The Mysterious Island (1929) with Lionel Barrymore

Moby Dick (1930) starring John Barrymore

Lon Chaney 

1st Movie Poor Jake’s Demise (1913)

Nomads of the North (1920)

The Ace of Hearts (1921)

Flesh and Blood (1922)

Oliver Twist (1922)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Tell It to the Marines (1926)

The Unknown (1927)

Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)

Where East Is East (1929)

The Unholy Three (1930) (Sound Remake)  This film is notable for the fact that it was Chaney’s last film, as well as his only talkie. Chaney died from throat cancer one month after the film’s release.

Douglas Fairbanks

1st Movie The Lamb (1915)

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)

When the Clouds Roll by (1919)

The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (1919) Lost

1920’s

The Mollycoddle (1920)

The Mark of Zorro (1920)

The Nut (1921)

The Three Musketeers (1921)

Robin Hood (1922)

The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925)

The Black Pirate, (1926)

The Gaucho (1927)

Show People (1928) As Himself

The Iron Mask (1929)

The Taming of the Shrew (1929)

Reaching for the Moon (1930)

Rudolph Valentino  

1st Film My Official Wife (1914) Lost

An Adventuress (1920)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

The Sheik (1921)

Blood and Sand (1922)

Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)

The Eagle (1925)

The Son of the Sheik (1926)

Animals

Rin Tin Tin

The Man from Hell’s River  (1922)

Where the North Begins (1923)

The Lighthouse by the Sea  (1924)

The Clash of the Wolves  (1925)

The Night Cry (1926)

Jaws of Steel (1927)

A Race for Life (1928)

The Show of Shows (1929)

The Lone Defender (1930)

Leading Ladies

Greta Garbo  

The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924)
Garbo’s first leading part in a feature-length film; Swedish, dir. Mauritz Stiller.

The Joyless Street (1925)

Flesh and the Devil (1926)
The first of seven Garbo films directed by Clarence Brown, and first of four movies with co-star John Gilbert

Love (1927) ‘Adapted from the novel Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

The Mysterious Lady (1928)

A Woman of Affairs (1928)
The first of seven Garbo films with actor Lewis Stone, who, with the exception of Wild Orchids, played secondary roles.

Wild Orchids (1929)

The Kiss (1929) Garbo’s, and MGM’s, last silent picture

Anna Christie (1930) Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
Romance (1930) Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
Anna Christie (1930) MGM’s German version of Anna Christie was also released in 1930

Mary Pickford 

1st Movie Two Memories (1909) Directed by D. W. Griffith

Some Highlights Before the 1920’s

Ramona (1910) directed by D. W. Griffith,

Cinderella (1914)

Madame Butterfly (1915)

Poor Little Peppina (1916)

The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)

A Romance of the Redwoods (1917)

The Little American (1917)

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)

A Little Princess (1917)

Stella Maris (1918)

Daddy-Long-Legs (1919)

1920’s

Pollyanna (1920)

Suds (1920)

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)

Tess of the Storm Country (1922)

Rosita (1923)

Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924)

Little Annie Rooney (1925)

Sparrows (1926)

My Best Girl (1927)

Coquette (1929) Best Actress
@ 1st Academy Awards 

Books

For a Complete List of Books Please Consult

Catholic Bard’s Guide To Public Domain Literature
A List Of Books Available In The Public Domain

Children’s Books

Joyce Lankester Brisley

Milly-Molly-Mandy

Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories (1928)
Milly-Molly-Mandy Again (1929)

 Walter R. Brooks 

Freddy the Pig

 1. Freddy Goes to Florida,  (To and Again)(1927)
2. Freddy Goes to the North Pole (More To and Again) (1930)

Thornton W. Burgess 

Old Mother West Wind (1910) First Children’s Book

Partial Bibliography

Richmal Crompton

William Brown books
   1. Just William (1922)
   2. More William (1922)
   3. William Again (1923)
   4. William The Fourth (1924)

   5. Still William (1925)
   6. William The Conqueror (1926)
   7. William The Outlaw (1927)
   8. William In Trouble (1927)
   9. William The Good (1928)


   10. William (1929)
   11. William The Bad (1930)
   12. William’s Happy Days (1930)

Elinor Brent-Dyer

Chalet School
   1. The School At the Chalet (1925)
   2. Jo of the Chalet School (1926)
   3. The Princess of the Chalet School (1927)


   4. The Head Girl of the Chalet School (1928)
   5. The Rivals of the Chalet School (1929)
   6. Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School (1930)

Johnny Gruelle 

Written and illustrated by Gruelle

Hugh John Lofting 

(January 14, 1886 –  September 26,  1947)

Doctor Dolittle
   1. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920)


   2. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)
   3. Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office (1923)
   4. Doctor Dolittle’s Circus (1924)
   5. Doctor Dolittle’s Zoo (1925)
   6. Doctor Dolittle’s Caravan (1926)
   7. Doctor Dolittle’s Garden (1927)
8. Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928)

The Twilight of Magic (1930)

A. A. Milne

( January 18, 1882 –  January 31, 1956)

Winnie-the-Pooh
   1. When We Were Very Young (1924)
   2. Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
   3. Now We Are Six (1927)
4 The House at Pooh Corner (1928)

  If I May (1920)
   The Red House Mystery (1922)
   A Gallery of Children (1925)

Lucy Maud Montgomery 

# 1 Anne of Green Gables (1908)

Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920)

Anne of Green Gables # 8. Rilla of Ingleside (1921)

Emily trilogy
1. Emily of New Moon (1923)
2. Emily Climbs (1925)
3.Emily’s Quest (1927)

The Blue Castle (1926)
Magic for Marigold (1929)

Beatrix Potter  

1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (privately printed, 250 copies, 1901; printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902)

22. Cecily Parsley’s Nursery Rhymes (1922)

The Fairy Caravan (1929)

23. The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)

Albert Payson Terhune

Sunnybank
   1. Lad: A Dog (1919)
   2. Bruce (1920)
   3. Buff (1921)
   4. His Dog (1922)
   5. Further Adventures of Lad (1922)
aka Dog Stories Every Child Should Know


   6. A Book of Famous Dogs (1922)
aka Famous Dog Stories Every Child Should Know
   7. Treve (1924)
   8. The Heart Of A Dog (1921)
   9. Wolf (1924)
   10. Treasure (1926)
aka The Faith of a Collie
   11. My Friend the Dog (1922)
   12. Gray Dawn (1927)
   13. The Luck of the Laird (1926)
aka A Highland Collie
   14. Lad of Sunnybank (1929)

Ruth Plumly Thompson

 (July  27, 1891 –April 6, 1976)

The Princess of Cozytown (1922) (illustrated by Janet Laura Scott)
The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa (1926)

14. Glinda of Oz (1920) L. Frank Baum

It is the last book of the original Oz series, which, following Baum’s death.

  15. The Royal Book of Oz (1921)
   16. Kabumpo in Oz (1922)
   17. The Cowardly Lion of Oz (1923)
   18. Grampa in Oz (1924)
   19. The Lost King of Oz (1925)
   20. The Hungry Tiger of Oz (1926)
   21. The Gnome King of Oz (1927)
22. The Giant Horse of Oz (1928)
   23. Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz (1929)
   24. The Yellow Knight of Oz (1930)

29. The Wishing Horse of Oz (1935)
   30. Captain Salt in Oz (1936)
   31. Handy Mandy in Oz (1937)
   32. The Silver Princess in Oz (1938)
   33. Ozoplaning With the Wizard of Oz (1939)

Other Oz Books

The Magical Mimics in Oz (1946) by Jack Snow
The Shaggy Man of Oz (1949) by Jack Snow

Bobbsey Twins

Laura Lee Hope

 1. The Bobbsey Twins (1904)
aka The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport

13. The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West (1920)
aka Visit to the Great West
   14. The Bobbsey Twins At Cedar Camp (1921)
aka The Cedar Camp Mystery
   15. The Bobbsey Twins At the County Fair (1922)
aka The County Fair Mystery
   16. The Bobbsey Twins Camping Out (1923)


   17. The Bobbsey Twins and Baby May (1924)
aka Adventures With Baby May
   18. The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House (1925)
aka The Play House Secret
   19. The Bobbsey Twins at Cloverbank (1926)
aka The Four-Leaf Clover Mystery
   20. The Bobbsey Twins at Cherry Corners (1927)
aka The Mystery at Cherry Corners
   21. The Bobbsey Twins and their Schoolmates (1928)
   22. The Bobbsey Twins Treasure Hunting (1929)


23. The Bobbsey Twins at Spruce Lake (1930)

Other Classic Children’s Books

World of Pure Imagination

The Story of Opal (1920) by Opal Whiteley

The Story of Mankind (1921) It won the Newbery Medal for an outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

Margery Williams – The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real (1922)

 Classic Adventure and Westerns

Johnston McCulley

1. The Curse of Capistrano, All-Story Weekly Vol. 100 No. 2 – Vol. 101 No. 2, August 9 1919 – September 6 1919, serial segment – novella The Curse of Capistrano published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1919

2. The Further Adventures of Zorro, Argosy Vol. 142 No. 4 – Vol. 143 No. 3, May 6 1922 – June 10 1922, serial segment – novella reissued by Grosset & Dunlap as The Mark of Zorro in 1924

Clarence E. Mulford

From Wikipedia: Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. The first novel was Bar-20 (1906) and the last novel was # 28 Hopalong Cassidy Serves a Writ (1941)

 1. Bar-20 (1906)

8. Johnny Nelson (1920)
   9. The Bar-20 Three (1921)
aka Hopalong Cassidy Sees Red
   10. Tex (1922)
   11. Bring Me His Ears (1922)
   12. Black Buttes (1923)
   13. Rustlers’ Valley (1924)

   14. Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1924)
   15. Cottonwood Gulch (1925)
   16. Hopalong Cassidy’s Protege (1926)
   17. Bar-20 Rides Again (1926)
   18. Corson of the J.C. (1927)
   19. Mesquite Jenkins (1928)
   20. Me and Shorty (1929)
   21. Deputy Sheriff (1930)

Baroness Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) (The Scarlet Pimpernel)
The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922)


Sir Percy Hits Back (1927)

Sapper

Bull-Dog Drummond
   Bull-Dog Drummond (1920)
   The Black Gang (1922)
   The Dinner Club (1923)


   The Third Round (1924)
   The Final Count (1926)
   The Female of the Species (1928)
   Four Rounds of Bull-Dog Drummond (1929)
   Temple Tower (1929)

Classic Mystery Books

Margery Allingham
Albert Campion.

# 1 The Crime at Black Dudley (1929)
# 2 Mystery Mile (1930)

Anthony Berkeley

Roger Sheringham

1 The Layton Court Mystery (1925)
2 The Wychford Poisoning Case (1926)
3 Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery (1927)
aka The Mystery At Lovers’ Cave

4 The Silk Stocking Murders (1928)
5 The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929)
The Second Shot (1930)

Leslie Charteris

The Saint (Simon Templar)

Meet the Tiger (1928)


Enter the Saint (1930)
The Last Hero (1930)
Knight Templar (1930)

Dame Agatha  Christie

( September  15, 1890 – 12 January 12,1976)

  Hercule Poirot
   1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
   2. The Murder on the Links (1923)
   3. Poirot Investigates (1924)
   4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
5. The Big Four (1927)
  6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
   7. Black Coffee (1930)

Tommy and Tuppence
   1. The Secret Adversary (1922)
2. Partners in Crime (1929)

Superintendent Battle
   1. The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
2. The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

Miss Marple
   The Tuesday Night Club (1927)


1. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)

Quin and Satterthwaite
   The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930)

Giant’s Bread (1930)
(as by Mary Westmacott)

Earl Derr
Charlie Chan 

The House Without a Key (1925)
The Chinese Parrot (1926)
Behind That Curtain (1928)


The Black Camel (1929)
Charlie Chan Carries On (1930)

Keeper of the Keys (1932) Last One not in PD

S S van Dine
Philo Vance Murder Cases

Philo Vance Murder Cases
   1. The Benson Murder Case (1926)
   2. The Canary Murder Case (1927)
   3. The Greene Murder Case (1928)


   4. The Bishop Murder Case (1928)
   5. The Scarab Murder Case (1930)

Moray Dalton
Hugh Collier

One By One They Disappeared (1929)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 (May 22, 1859 – July 7, 1930)

Professor Challenger

1 The Lost World (1912)
2 The Poison Belt (1913)
3 The Land of Mist (1926)
“When the World Screamed“, on Challenger’s World Echinus theory
4 “The Disintegration Machine“(1929)

A Study in Scarlet (1887) The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would go on to become one of the most well-known detective duos in literature.

“A Scandal in Bohemia” (July 1891) This is the first short story, and the third overall work, featuring Arthur Conan Doyle‘s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It is the first of the 56 Holmes short stories written by Doyle and the first of 38 Sherlock Holmes works illustrated by Sidney Paget. The story is notable for introducing the character of Irene Adler, who is one of the most notable female characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes(1927)
Contains 12 stories published 1921–1927.

Hardy Boys

  1. The Tower Treasure (1927)
   2. The House on the Cliff (1927)
   3. The Secret of the Old Mill (1927)
4. The Missing Chums (1928)
   5. Hunting for Hidden Gold (1928)

6. The Shore Road Mystery (1928)
   7. The Secret of the Caves (1929)
   8. The Mystery of Cabin Island (1929)
   9. Great Airport Mystery (1930)

Sydney Horler

Dr. Paul Vivanti
   1. The Mystery of No. 1 (1925)
aka The Order of the Octopus
   2. Vivanti (1927)
   3. The Worst Man in the World (1929)

Ellery Queen 

# 1 The Roman Hat Mystery (1929)


# 2 The French Powder Mystery (1930)

Talbot Mundy

Jimgrim
   Jimgrim and the Devil At Ludd (1922)
   Jimgrim and the Lost Trooper (1922)
   Jimgrim and the Seventeen Thieves of El-Kalil (1922)


   The Nine Unknown (1923)
   The Devil’s Guard (1926)     aka Ramsden
   The Hundred Days (1930)
   The Marriage of Meldrun Strange (1930)
   The Woman Ayisha (1930)

Dorothy L . Sayers

 ( June 13, 1893 –   December 17, 1957)

Peter Wimsey
   1. Whose Body? (1923)
   2. Clouds of Witness (1926)
   3. Unnatural Death (1927)
   4. Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)


   5. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
   6. Strong Poison (1930)
The Documents in the Case (1930)

Patricia Wentworth 

Miss Silver

 1 Grey Mask (1928)

Classic Speculative Fiction Books

Edgar Rice Burroughs
 (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950)

1. Tarzan of the Apes (1912)

   7. Tarzan the Untamed (1920)
   8. Tarzan the Terrible (1921)
   9. Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1923)
   10. Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924)
   11. The Tarzan Twins (1926)
12. Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928)
13. Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (1929)


14. Tarzan the Invincible (1930)

1. A Princess of Mars (1912)

  4. Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
   5. The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
6. The Master Mind of Mars (1927)

E. R. Eddison 

The Worm Ouroboros (1922)


Norse # 1 Styrbiorn the Strong (1926)
Norse # 2 Egil’s Saga(1930)

M. R. James 

First book publications

First magazine publication of uncollected tales

Tom Swift

Victor Appleton (House Name)

1. Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle (1910)
aka Fun and Adventure on the Road

23. Tom Swift and His Undersea Search (1920)
aka The Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic
   24. Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters (1921)
aka Battling with Flames in the Air
   25. Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive (1922)
aka Two Miles a minute on the Rails
   26. Tom Swift and His Flying Boat (1923)
aka Castaways of the Giant Iceberg

   27. Tom Swift and His Great Oil Gusher (1924)
aka The Treasure of Goby Farm
   28. Tom Swift and His Chest of Secrets (1925)
aka Tracing the Stolen Inventions
   29. Tom Swift and His Airline Express (1926)
aka From Ocean to Ocean by Daylight
   30. Tom Swift Circling the Globe (1927)
aka The Daring Cruise of the Air Monarch
31. Tom Swift and His Talking Pictures (1928)
aka The Greatest Invention on Record
   32. Tom Swift and His House On Wheels (1929)
aka A Trip around the Mountain of Mystery
33. Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible (1930)
aka Adventures Over the Forest of Fire

 39. Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope (1939)

Victor Appleton II (House Name)

Tom Swift Jr

 17. Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961)
   18. Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung (1961)

Jack Williamson  

One of several called the “Dean of Science Fiction”.
He is also credited with one of the first uses of the term genetic engineering.

Various Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Adventure Authors

Classic Authors

Bess Streeter Aldrich

 Bison Book

Mother Mason (1924)


The Rim of the Prairie (1925)
The Cutters (1926)
A Lantern in Her Hand (1928)

Ernest Hemingway

 (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961)

William Faulkner 

The Sound and the Fury (1929)

“A Rose for Emily” (1930)

As I Lay Dying (1930)

 P. G. Wodehouse.

“Extricating Young Gussie” – The first appearances of Jeeves and Bertie, originally published 1915-09-18 in the Saturday Evening Post.

 1. My Man Jeeves (1919)
   2. The Inimitable Jeeves (1923) aka Jeeves
   3. Carry on, Jeeves (1925)
   4. Very Good, Jeeves (1930)

Various Authors

The Age of Innocence (1920) –Edith Wharton (1862–1937) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 

Alice Adams (1921)-Booth Tarkington( 1869–1949) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

One of Ours (1922) –  Willa Cather (1873–1947) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Ulysses (1922) James Joyce 

The Able McLaughlins (1923) – Margaret Wilson (1882–1973) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

So Big – Edna Ferber (1924) (1885–1968) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Arrowsmith (1925)- Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction  

Mrs Dalloway (1925) Virginia Woolf

Early Autumn (1926)- Louis Bromfield (1896–1956) Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Willa Cather (December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)

Caroling Dusk (1927) edited by Countee Cullen includes her poem I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH LIFE

Barbara Newhall Follett  (March 4, 1914 – disappeared December 7, 1939)
The House Without Windows, (1927) Published when was twelve years old.

To the Lighthouse (1927) Virginia Woolf

Thornton Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927)—won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1928)

Barbara Newhall Follett   – The Voyage of the Norman D (1928) Received critical acclaim when she was fourteen.

E. M. Forster – The Eternal Moment and Other Stories (1928)

Cup of Gold (1929) John Steinbeck

Pearl S. Buck – East Wind: West Wind (1930)

Inklings and Christian Authors

G. K. Chesterton

 (May 20, 1874 –June 15, 1936)

The New Jerusalem. (1920)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (stories). (1922)

What I Saw in America  (1922)

St. Francis of Assisi. (1923)

Tales of the Long Bow  (stories). (1925)

The Everlasting Man. (1925)

Father Brown Stories

  1. “The Blue Cross”, The Story-Teller, September 1910; first published as “Valentin Follows a Curious Trail”, The Saturday Evening Post, 23 July 1910 and was published in the first Father Brown collection 1. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911).

 3. The Incredulity Of Father Brown (1926)
  4. The Secret Of Father Brown (1927)

The Outline of Sanity. (1926)

The Catholic Church and Conversion. (1926)

 The Return of Don Quixote (1927)

Ronald Knox

(February 17, 1888 – August 24, 1957)

The Viaduct Murder (1925)

The Belief of Catholics (1927)

Miles Bredon
   1. The Three Taps (1927)
The Footsteps at the Lock (1928)

Collaborative works by the Detection Club
Behind the Screen (1930) (six contributors including Knox)

Books by Fulton J. Sheen

  • God and Intelligence. London: Longmans-Green, 1925.
  • Religion Without God. London: Longmans-Green, 1928.
  • The Life of All Living: The Philosophy of Life. New York: The Century Co., 1929
  • The Divine Romance. New York: The Century Co., 1930.

Classic Non-Fiction Books

Poetry

Drama

Comics

1920 – In E.C. Segar‘s Thimble Theatre, Castor Oyl makes his debut. 

Rupert Bear makes its debut. Her husband Herbert Tourtel writes the texts, while she illustrates.

1921 – In Frank King‘s Gasoline Alley Walt Wallet discovers a baby at his doorstep, who will later be named Skeezix and adopted as his own son.

1922 – In Billy DeBeck‘s Barney Google Spark Plug the horse makes its debut, leading to an eventual title change as Barney Google and Sparky Plug.

“Barney Google” sheet music (1923). This same image appears on the front cover of Craig Yoe’s Barney Google book (2010).

1923 – Percy Crosby‘s Skippy makes its debut.

1924 – Harold Gray‘s Little Orphan Annie makes its debut.

1925 – The first issue of the American humor and cartoons magazine The New Yorker is published. On its cover their mascot, Eustace Tilley, designed by Rea Irvin, makes his debut.

1926 – Hergé publishes his first actual comic strip, The Adventures of Totor in the Belgian scouting magazine Le Boy Scout Belge. It will run until July 1929.

1927 – Ed Verdier’s Little Annie Rooney makes its debut. He will draw it for the first two years.

1928 – Dante Quinterno‘s Patoruzú makes its debut.

1929

Dick Calkins‘ comic strip Buck Rogers, based on the novels of Philip Francis Nowlan, makes its debut.

Hal Foster‘s comic strip Tarzan of the Apes, loosely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs‘s novels, makes its debut. 

Hergé‘s The Adventures of Tintin debuts in the children’s supplement Le Petit Vingtième of the newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, with the story Tintin in the Land of the Soviets.[95] This also marks the debut of Tintin and his dog Snowy.

Tony Velasquez‘ Kenkoy makes its debut.

Dell Comics publishes the American comics magazine The Funnies #1, which is the first American newsstand comic book of all-original material. It lacked covers, and was in that way more like a newspaper insert, but was sold independently.

The Funnies #28 (September 13, 1930),

In E.C. Segar‘s Thimble Theatre Popeye the Sailor makes his debut. He will quickly become the new protagonist of the series.

1930 – Blondie by Chic Young makes its debut.

The first Mickey Mouse comic strip, written by Walt Disney, drawn by Ub Iwerks, is published.

Art

The Soul of the Soulless City (1920)
C. R. W. Nevinson

Three Musicians (two versions) (1921)
Pablo Picasso

The House Seen from the Rose Garden (1922)
Claude Monet  

  Blue Room (1923) – Suzanne Valadon

(Barcelona) La chambre bleue – Suzanne Valadon

Starry Night, 1922–1924 –Edvard Munch

 Young Woman at a Window (1925)- Salvador Dali

The Love Song (1926) Norman Rockwell 

Automat (1927) Edward Hopper 

 Irish Free State Bacon (1928) –Seán Keating  

The Bus –(1929) –Frida Kahlo

1930 – American Gothic – Grant Wood

Music

Trying to determine the public domain status of music can present another trap for the unwary. As I’ve explained before, every piece of recorded music is comprised of two different copyrights. There’s a copyright in the underlying composition, which protects a song’s lyrics and musical arrangement. There’s also a separate copyright in a particular sound recording of that composition as performed by a recording artist. When you listen to music on the radio or a streaming service, you’re technically hearing both the composition and the sound recording of the composition.

The distinction between compositions and recordings is important to remember because these two types of copyrighted works won’t enter the public domain at the same time.

Sound recordings first published in 1928 are protected for an additional five years, so they won’t fall into the public domain until 2029 (95 years + additional 5 years = 100 years total). But don’t fret: sound recordings first published in 1923 will enter the public domain on January 1, 2024, as they pass the 100-year mark. Public Domain Day 2024 is Coming: Here’s What to Know | Copyright Lately

Published Music

1920

1921

1922

1923

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

1929

1920 Sound Recordings  

1921 Sound Recordings  

1922 Sound Recordings  

1923 Sound Recordings  

1924 Sound Recordings  

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