AllMovie

This is the second program in the three-part American Photography: A Century of Images documentary that aired on PBS. Directors Muffie Ellen and Meyer Hovde show that in the 1930s photographs aided the proliferation of magazines that had a nationwide readership, the opinions of whom were significantly impacted by the photographs they saw weekly in such periodicals as Life and Time. The realities of the Depression and World War II were brought into the living rooms of Americans via photography. In the postwar era, photography didn't simply capture reality; it helped create the reality of an economic boom by spurring a consumer spree through the magic of advertising photos. Highlights of this program include archival motion picture footage and numerous archival photos. Written by Ronald Blumer and narrated by Harris Yulin, major corporate funding of this documentary was provided by Kodak.