Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

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gambling is still illegal.

Until 1988 (leaving aside gambling on Wall Street), legal gambling included state-

controlled lotteries, casinos in and around

Las Vegas, NV

(since 1931) and in

Atlantic

City,

betting at horseand dog-racing tracks (legal in thirty-six states) and all sports

etting in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Oregon. In that year, Congress passed the

Indian Gambling Regulatory Act, allowing Native Americans to operate casinos on their

land, and this was followed by other

communities

endeavoring to cash in on expected

gambling revenues. In 1989 Iowa became the first of several states to legalize riverboat

gambling, and by the end of the 1990s there were over 170 casinos in twenty-five states.

State lotteries began in New Hampshire in 1964, followed by New York State in 1967

and New Jersey in 1970. Within a year, lottery sales had surpassed the $100 million

mark, and they were quickly adopted by numerous states, spreading by 1999 to thirty-

seven states and the District of Columbia. In 1988 the Multi-State Lottery Association

began combining lottery efforts in several states, leading ten years later to the world-

record jackpot of $295.7 million for its “Powerball” game. States have used their lottery

revenues for many things, initially largely for funding education and support for older

citizens, but more recently for building new

sports stadiums

. While gambling has

benefited some communities, others have suffered—from the displacement of residents

occurring in Atlantic City to the

organizedcrime

involvement in the Las Vegas industry

to the problems associated with

addiction

Illegal sports gambling has become mainstream from colleges to

television

sports

shows, 90 percent of it focused on team sports (mainly

football,

followed by

basketball

and

baseball

). There are now more than 700 phone services offering advice and

gambling tips, generating revenue in millions of dollars annually In the mid-1980s, Pete

Axthelm gave point-spread picks on NBC’s pre-game NFL show, while CBS countered

with Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder (until he was fired for making racist comments). All

newspapers

now offer betting lines, including point spreads, and many provide columns

with betting tips and advice.

ESPN

for a short time even presented

Sportsline

from

Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, providing lines and pre-game information on upcoming

games. Growth of this illegal industry is likely to continue as

Internet

betting increases

in popularity.

Sports gambling has been associated with many of the major sports scandals—from the

beginnings of baseball in the nineteenth century through the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal,

to the seven college basketball point-shaving incidents from 1947 to 1950, down to more

recent scandals at Tulane and Boston College. Pete Rose was banned from baseball for

betting on games while he was coaching the

Cincinnati

Reds, and even Michael

Jordan

was forced to admit to a gambling problem that threatened his position in basketball.

Further reading

Abt, V, Smith, J.F. and Christiansen, E.M. (1985)

The Business of Risk,

Lawrence:

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 466

University Press of Kansas.

O’Brien, T.L. (1998)

Bad Bet,

New York: Times Business.

ROBERT GREGG

games

Games for

children

reflect the culture, everyday life, social mores and technology o

society. Some games are spontaneous, requiring only imagination, and easily passed on

through generations. Others involve technological literacy and virtual reality Games are

art of the 122.6 billion toy industry in the United States; video games constitute another

$5.5 billion. Some games also continue through adult life.

Psychologists view playing games as a useful enterprise for developing imagination

and vocabulary and learning rules and interpersonal skills. General categories for games

include card and tile, board, word and picture, target, war and fantasy and electronic

(video and

computer

) games. Educational and religious games also use the same

formats. Yet some popular children’s games that do not fit into these categories include

hide and seek, steal the bacon and duck duck goose. These games require no special

equipment and provide safe but stimulating entertainment for young children.

Popular card games for children include old maid, crazy eights and Uno. Other card

games like rummy pinochle, poker and bridge may be acquired as children age, and are

frequently played among adults as well as in families or gendered social gatherings.

Related tile games include dominoes, scrabble and mah-

ong, with the last popular among

both

Chinese Americans

and some

Jews

as an adult game. Scrabble and dominoes also

attract adult and tournament players.

Board games have existed since the 1700s, but their popularity has grown at the end o

the century, in part because of their lasting play value and character. They also do not

require batteries or many mechanical parts and have simple goals: to win a race or

achieve a certain number of points. Some are games of luck, while others require

considerable decision making. Popular first board games include Candyland and Chutes

and Ladders. Parcheesi, Monopoly Clue, Battleship, Careers and Risk attract older

children while introducing them to the worlds of

real estate,

work, war and crime.

Milton Bradley is one of the foremost American producers of such games; its Monopoly

in fact, used the streets of

Atlantic City

to constitute its original board. Children of all

ages love checkers and

chess,

primarily games of skill which become more serious

pursuits for older adults, in tournaments and at play in city parks.

Word and picture games engage the imagination and verbal skills of the child. Twenty

questions and hangman are popular informal children’s games of this category;

Pictionary Trivial Pursuit and Boggle again bridge to more adult play Jigsaw puzzles are

also popular among many age groups.

Entries A-Z 467

War games and fantasy games have almost cultlike followings. War games may be

played on boards or through simulations that are very accurate.

Dungeons and Dragons

has enjoyed immense popularity among adolescents. While fantasy games die out among

adults, war reenactments have a large following.

Target games include pin the tail on the donkey and attempting to break a piñata, both

often associated with birthday parties. Darts and horseshoes survive as adult games, often

among men.

Video games and online computer games have changed the concept of children’s

games and also have influenced adult purchases and play Children have a huge

smorgasbord of computerized and video fare from which to choose. They can enjoy

uzzle games and matching games appropriate for toddlers on up, as well as trivia games

or contests in which the player is pitted against the computer, as in Chessmaster or

Solitaire. They can kill humans or aliens in the privacy of their own computer station or

interact with other players at

home

or in other sites. As war games did in the past, these

have alarmed parents and politicians because of their violence and addictive appeal,

although the evidence of direct impact is not clear.

As noted, adolescent and adult games tend to emerge from the formats of these basic

categories. They may be matured by wagers (see

gambling and lotteries

), drinking or

sexual activity or by complexities of rules, strategy and knowledge. Yet they still tend to

recreate

family

and

community

in rather similar ways.

ee also:

toys

Further reading

eisure Products,

Standard and Poor’s Industry Surveys, March 12, 1998.

GAIL HENSON

game shows

A staple of American media whose format has extended to classrooms and social events.

Mass media

contests with

celebrities,

average citizens, or both, have offered rewards

ranging from charity donations to $1 million. Drawing on

radio,

television

games as

prime-time

events reached their apogee in the 1950s. Since then, they have been daytime

staples and syndicated products that fill out local schedules. These games are

distinguishable on the basis of contest rules, participation and vulgarity as well as

rewards.

Early quiz shows like

The $64,000 Question

(1955–9),

Twenty-One

(NBC, 1956–8) or

Tic Tac Dough

(NBC, 1957–8) were immensely popular weekly evening shows, turning

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 468

“ordinary” citizens with extraordinary knowledge into

stars

. Questions could be

complex, but the visible struggle suited American beliefs and hopes. This popularity

waned when congressional hearings revealed that contestants, including Columbia

instructor Charles Van Doren, had been coached in their answers (as depicted in

Quiz

Show,

1994). As Steven Spark notes, this collapse opened evenings to other series and

drew lines between news and entertainment for decades.

Yet these big-stakes shows were not the only option of the 1950s. Other prime-time

shows included long-running celebrity matches created by Mike Goodson and Bill

Todman, who dominated the genre for decades. Their

What’s My Line?

(CBS, 1950–67)

highlighted repartee among

actors

and

columnists

guessing the occupations of ordinary

and star contestants.

I’ve Got a Secret

(CBS, 1952–67),

To Tell the Truth

(CBS, 1956–

67),

The Price is Right

(NBC, 1956–63; ABC, 1963–5) and

Beat the Clock

(CBS, 1950–

8; later ABC and syndication) also focused on distinguishing the truth—whether

stumping celebrities or demonstrating physical and economic acuity Meanwhile, these

shows emphasized the jovial, male, white announcer who might have other serious roles:

newsman Hugh Downs hosted

Concentration

(NBC, 1958–73); Walter Cronkite led

Its

ews to Me

(CBS, 1951–4). Comedian, Groucho Marx’s

You Bet Your Life

(NBC, 1950–

61) displayed Groucho’s wit more than contestants’ prowess.

These shows and their successors found addi tional lives as board and party

games

Indeed, television enshrined live competition as deeply American—in television sports,

show business (

Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour,

various networks, 1948–70;

Sta

Search,

syndicated, 1983–97),

beauty pageants

or media

awards

. This model extended

College Bowl

(NBC, 1953–70) (pitting university teams against erudite questions) and

high-school imitators nationwide. Even

Sesame Street

(PBS, 1969–) invented the

unctuous Guy Smiley to host educational games.

Goodson and Todman’s hegemony ended in the 1970s with

Family Feud

(ABC and

syndication, 1976–94) and the

New Price is Right

(various networks, 1957–, with a total

run of roughly four decades). A subsequent entrepreneur, Chuck Barris, created hits like

ating Game

(ABC, 1965–73; syndication) and

Newlywed Game

(ABC, 1966–74;

syndication), more notable for vulgarity in their sexually loaded questions and answers.

Barris also created the

Gong Show

(NBC, 1976–78; syndication)—a talentless talent

show that effectively ridiculed hapless contestants.

In the 1990s, game shows found new life through syndication. Merv Griffin, a 1960s

talkshows

host, produced global game shows like

Wheel of Fortune

(NBC and

syndicated, 1975–) and

Jeopardy

(ABC and syndication, 1990–) (the latter famed for

knowledge rather than luck). A European import of 1999,

o You Want to Be a

illionaire?,

has also raised stakes and moved towards prime-time, spawning a

succession of new titles like

Greed

(FOX, 1999–),

Twenty-One

(NBC, 1999–) (again!)

and survival contests based on European hits. Meanwhile,

cable’s

game-show channel

reruns earlier (post-scandal) shows, while other channels have created contests about

music, state history and sports. Kid’s game shows also mix education and

family values

with physical competition and green slime.

Entries A-Z 469

Obviously Americans share game-show elements with other nations. Yet these remain

American in their sense of individual heroism, the production of instant celebrities and a

belief in the equality of luck that underpins lotteries as well as politics.

ee also:

education: values and beliefs

Further reading

Marc, D. and Thompson, R. (1992)

Prime Time, Prime Movers,

Syracuse: Syracuse

University Press.

Stark, S. (1997)

Glued to the Set,

New York: Simon & Schuster.

GARY McDONOGH

gangs

Despite a long history of immigrant successes, accusations of gang formation often

challenge new groups in American society. These stereotypes emphasize different

lifestyles or opportunities, but may also control

community

organization or justify

exclusion because of culture,

race, class

or generation. These charges have denigrated

African Americans, Irish Americans, Chinese Americans

and

Cuban Americans

turn. Meanwhile, the specter of clandestine

organized crime

—whether

tongs

among

Chinese, or the Mafia among Italians—has justified

police

surveillance,

mass media

sensationalism, missionary reform and policies ranging from vague

urban renewal

gated community

withdrawal.

Those defined by such negative views have been more diverse. Criminal behavior

emerges from many social forces, including realistic socialization in urban life. In many

cases, however, the

neighborhood

or ethnic group smeared by the acts of a few has been

deeply divided by these same actions. This is evident in African American community

campaigns against contemporary black-on-

lack violence. Gang accusations, moreover,

often show groups embodying fundamental American beliefs. Virtue, for example, is

defined in loyalty to groups and localities, although gangs have promoted strong

individualism

as well. Gangs also gender crime—they have been strongly associated

with males, while females, although likely to belong to associations, are depicted as

isolated criminals or fallen women. Finally gangs have come to symbolize negative traits

of urban disorder versus rural tranquility or the safety of the small town and the protected

suburb

The twentieth-century history of gangs has been more complex. In the 1920s and

1930s, as urban wars winnowed crime families, new youth gangs continued to spring up

in changing environments. The transformations of American society after the Second

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 470

World War, however, changed the ideological landscape of crime and fear. As suburban

havens welcomed the

middle class,

the city could be perceived as a “realm o

hoodlums”. Nonetheless, hot rodders (with anti-social “traits”) turned hallmarks o

suburbia—cars and nurtured

teenagers

—into problems evident in Marlon

Brando’s The

Wild One

(1954).

Study and policy

υis-à-υis

gangs also have been shaped by politics and representation.

Hence, in the 1960s, researchers sought integrative solutions as their authors detailed

portraits of young men in gang nations such as Vice Lords of

Chicago, IL

or the street-

corner networks of

New York

City and

Washington, DC

. Blacks, and later,

Hispanics,

figured prominently among depictions of urban problems: Leonard

Bernstein’s

Wes

Side Story

(1961) recast

Romeo and Juliet

as a conflict between

Puerto Rican

and

“American”

teenage

gangs. Nonetheless, some gangs were incorporated into urban

renovation and neighborhood/racial pride.

As urban residents demanded equality however, new questions surfaced. Riots, shifting

family patterns and urban decay in the 1960s emphasized the social problems facing new

generations. By the 1970s, statistics on gangs and organized opposition increased.

Meanwhile, drug trafficking and new weaponry which linked organized crime and local

gangs, heightened urban violence. As consumerist values in the media bombarded those

with less access to resources, drugs and crime proved tempting, despite consequences.

When new immigrants formed associations to facilitate

assimilation,

they were also

tainted by reference to gangs. Thus, established Chinese American communities

complain about the violent incursions of Fukienese and

Southeast Asians

The 1980s and 1990s witnessed new extensions of crime and association. Women have

increasingly public roles in all levels. In 1992 riots in

Los Angeles, CA,

the notorious

gang nations of the city Crips and Bloods, emerged as potential peacemakers, which the

Los Angeles Police Department could not be. Meanwhile,

news

and policy-makers

continue to focus on drugs, corruption and drive-by violence.

Mass media have long contributed to a sense of gangs as a pervasive urban problem.

Gangsters have been a movie staple from James Cagney in

Public Enemy

(1931) to

modern depictions such as

The Godfather Trilogy

(1972; 1974; 1990),

New Jack City

(1991) and

Pulp Fiction

(1994), as well as documentaries like A.Mishan’s

Bui Doi

(1994).

Quite apart from the real and violent nature of many other aspects of American society

crime, gangs and other associations around illegal activities have multiple meanings and

interpretations, encompassing assimilation, protest and solidarity as well as mere gain or

leasure. Gangs develop from strength as well as weakness, solidarities and alliances as

well as divisions. As such, they entail neither simple problems nor simple solutions.

Further reading

Barker, G. (1950)

Pachuco,

Tucson: University of Arizona.

Entries A-Z 471

Campbell, A. (1991)

The Girls in the Gang,

Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

Cummings, S. and Monti, D. (1993)

Gangs,

Albany: SUNY

Whyte, W. (1955)

Street-Corner Society,

Chicago: University of Chicago.

GARY McDONOGH

GAP

Ubiquitous chain that began as a music and jeans store in

San Francisco, CA

in 1969.

GAP took on a more designer look with Mickey Drexler in 1983, when it also purchased

Banana Republic. While it targets

baby boomer

infants and

children

with simple

designs and interchangeable components, its primary market remains

teenagers

and

twenty-somethings looking for cool clothes and even the transition to adulthood with

GAP ties and coats. This appeal has made the company notable for well-designed (and

globally copied) advertising campaigns featuring celebrities and ordinary teenagers

launching

fashion

trends like khakis and vests.

ee also:

advertising

GARY McDONOGH

garages/parking

American’s fascination with

automobiles

has altered homes and public spaces. For

houses, these range from suburban extensions of the roof to ward off weather—the

carport—to separate structures that may include additional spaces for storage or work.

These are especially associated with male activities or escape in

mass media

representations of the

home

. Suburban sprawl and status have created a demand for two-

and three-car garages even in subdivisions. Garages are also part of the

family

life cycle:

garage apartments (upstairs) may provide rental income or may be used for older

children

or relatives; garages may also be converted into living spaces for growing

families.

In cities, garage space may be premium

real estate

for apartment and house dwellers,

creating a labyrinth of garage privileges and street regulations. Public garages (and the

asphalt scars of parking lots) have become frequent postwar urban projects for urban

commuter populations. In contrast to private garages, these spaces are often seen as

dangerous, especially for women, while they become the scenes of countless car chases

and crime shows in

mass media

. Meanwhile, in suburbs, public parking for

malls,

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 472

business

campuses,

schools and

motels

eats up new acres across the US daily.

GARY McDONOGH

gardens

The private garden has long been part of the American domestic ideal. Implicit in the

“American dream” of a

home

with a white picket fence is the green

lawn

inside that

fence. Individual gardens come in all shapes and sizes, from subsistence food production

to flower-cutting gardens to manicured topiaries. The centerpiece of the stereotypical

garden is the lawn. More varied elements include flowering plants and trees, water

features and vegetables. Gardens are both ornamental and functional, often serving as

extended living areas complete with outdoor furniture. Rural yards in the

South,

where

weather permits outdoor activity year-round, become outdoor rooms where cooking,

washing and social activities take place.

The trends of contemporary

architecture

have generally been slow to influence

gardens and landscape architecture. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a shift towards

relaxed planting styles, inspired by regional natural settings and a yearning for the wild,

historic American landscape. Shrinking property sizes are another major factor in

changing garden design. Container gardens have sprouted in cities, on corporate plazas,

small yards, roofs and window boxes. Busy lifestyles that preclude a weekend of lawn

mowing, and rising water costs have also led to lower-maintenance gardens.

Plantings and garden styles change drastically from one region to another according to

climate.

Southwestern

gardeners often plant succulents which thrive in arid climates, a

water-efficient practice called xeriscaping, though they also grow water-dependent lawns,

an imitation of the traditional temperate climate’s yard. The southeast supports more lush,

tropical species, and the northern states grow a variety of smaller annual and perennial

plant life.

Community gardening in America tends to flourish in times of economic hardship or

war. The First World War had Liberty Gardens, the Great Depression necessitated

community

gardening and, during the Second World War, the Victory Garden program

contributed to national vegetable production. Such gardens were not generally popular

again until the 1970s, when they were promoted with

urban-renewal

efforts as a way to

heal urban blight.

In many cities, community gardens have been developed in vacant lots where buildings

have been torn down and not replaced. Some start as squatters’ gardens, without approval

from municipal authorities; others are started by city agencies or special interest groups

with community support. They utilize raised planting beds, which conserve water and

space, and are often divided into small plots tended by a single individual or

family

Community gardens are often hard to preserve on a long-term basis because of

real-

Entries A-Z 473

estate

pressure, and their creation and preservation has been a catalyst for and product o

community activism as people work to maintain valuable

neighborhood

resources. Some

municipalities have sponsored work-training programs in community gardens for

disadvantaged youth. Such gardens reinforce community ideals, preserve a

neighborhood’s green open space and, when well tended, can yield substantial quantities

of produce.

Further reading

Fogle, D. (1988)

Clues to American Garden Styles,

Washington, DC: Starhill.

Ottesen, C. (1987)

The New American Garden,

New York: MacMillan.

BIANCA T.SIEGL

Garland, Judy

b. 1922; d. 1969

Singer and actor. Garland became a “child” sensation with

The Wizard of Oz

(1939)

and her Andy Hardy movies with Mickey Rooney. Her vibrant, expressive voice

outlasted her movie career (with notable exceptions like her Oscarnominated role in

Star is Born,

1954), but her off-screen suffering, including failed marriages and struggles

with

alcohol

and drugs, haunted her life and image. Nonetheless, she made comebacks in

the 1950s and 1960s before her death from drugs. She also became a gay icon; hence

“Judy Garland” park may designate a gay encounter area.

GARY McDONOGH

gated communities

These often walled residential areas, concentrated in

suburban

America but also found

in urban centers, have restricted access and complex social meanings. The main intention

of gated communities is to provide security to residents who dwell within them. An array

of security devices segregate residents and non-residents, including armed guards,

intercom systems, video surveillance cameras and gates controlled by codes or electronic

identification cards. Gated communities are also symbols of

class

ascension and

rivilege, and usually contain amenities such as private golf courses, country clubs, lakes

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture 474

and parks closed to the public (work and shopping still lie outside the gates). It is

estimated that 3 million or more American households have moved to gated communities

in the last two decades (Blakely and Snyder 1997).

Gated communities supposedly represent ideal

communities

sold by

real-estate

and

land developers as safe havens from the ills of urbanization. This duplicates the historical

selling point of suburban development and represents a paradox for the creation of gated

communities. If the suburbs are safer, why are gated communities necessary? In this

sense, gated communities are symbolic of a “fortress” mentality that has seized many

urban residents in recent years due to rising crime (Davis 1990). Ironically there are no

proven trends to show that “gatehoods” are relatively safer than “neighborhoods.”

Further reading

Blakely, E. and Snyder, M. (1997)

Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United

States,

Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Davis, M. (1990)

City of Quartz,

New York: Vintage Books.

MATTHEW DURINGTON

Gates, Bill/Microsoft

b. 1955

Born in

Seattle

to a prominent family Gates attended Harvard University with the

intention of becoming a lawyer like his father, although at age thirteen he was already

working on his first computer program. An awkward adolescent who rarely went to

parties, Gates has become Harvard’s most famous and wealthy drop-out as the brains

behind the world’s largest software company Microsoft.

The myth of Microsoft’s origin goes like this: one day in December 1974, Gates

contacted the manufacturer of the Altair 8800 (a do-it-yourself computer) to inform them

that he could provide software. To fill the contract Gates and his friend Paul Allen (who

worked at Honeywell) formed “Microsoft.” The company struggled until IBM asked

Gates to provide an operating system for its first PC.Gates bought the QDOS system

from another company renamed it MS-DOS and licensed it to IBM.Owing to Gates’

successful maneuvering, the success of the PC became inextricably linked to the rise o

Microsoft.

At first Microsoft focused on the software market; its word-

rocessing program

Microsoft Word rivaled WordPerfect and other programs. Meanwhile, at thirty-one,

Gates became a billionaire when his company went public. The company changed focus

in 1987 with the introduction of Windows, the operating system now on virtually every

Entries A-Z 475