Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Utah and US history series for the Historical section of KSL.com.
SALT LAKE CITY – New Year’s Day is not only the beginning of 2021, it is the first day that thousands upon thousands of works of art, music and literature from 1925 history enter the world of the public domain.
If you are not familiar with the public domain, it is a collection of materials that no longer have copyrights or intellectual property rights and are now available for the public to expand. All works – from songs to novels to inventions – end up there for future generations to build on.
Duke University’s Center for the Study of Public Domain explains it like this: You still need to buy a copy of Homer’s “The Odyssey,” but you don’t have to jump through legal hoops to turn ideas into new, modern pieces , like when the Coen Brothers used it to make the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?” to make. The most striking everyday examples of the public domain can be found in stores when purchasing generic drugs and products.
The public domain can also give works of art a second life. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” for example, entered the public domain in 1975 because it was a box office failure and the copyright owner chose not to extend the copyright of the film, the Center for the Study of Public Domain noted on. Although the score and short story on which it was based were eventually kept copyrighted, it became a holiday classic because it was available for free to TV stations and new audiences seemed to love it.
Under current US law, all published material in the United States has a shelf life of 95 years before entering this portal and becoming available to the public. That was not always the case. For example, artwork lasted up to 56 years until 1978. That means well-known creative pieces like ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ by The Beatles and ‘The Giving Tree’ by Shel Silverstein – all released in 1964 – could have been on the list. this year.
Still, there are still some big names moving into the public domain. Here are 21 notable works going into the public domain on the way to 2021:
Books
“An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser
- Special Note: Founded in 1917, Modern Library ranked this as the greatest novel of all time at number 16.
“Arrowsmith” By Sinclair Lewis
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Special Note: This is probably the most notable work going into the public domain on Friday. According to Biblio, more than 25 million copies of the American classic have been sold with annual sales of 500,000. Modern Library rated it the second best novel of all time, while Time Magazine placed it at number 5.
“The New Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance” by Alain Lock
- Special Note: This is a collection of works including writings by Countee Collen, WEB du Bois, Langston Hughes, and more.
“Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf
“In Our Time” by Ernest Hemingway
- Special Note: This heralds the beginning of a wave of Hemingway’s treasured works that will enter the public domain in the coming decades. Hemingway was 26 years old when a collection of short stories was published as “In Our Time.” His first novel, “The Sun Also Rises”, would not be published until 1927. That novel will be added to the public domain two years after Friday.
“The Trial” by Franz Kafka
Music
“Always” by Irving Berlin
A collection by Duke Ellington, including ‘Jig Walk’ and ‘With You’
A collection of “Jelly Roll” Morton, including “Shreveport Stomps” and “Milenberg Joys”
“Looking for a Boy” by George and Ira Gershwin
- Special note: from the musical “Tip-Toes”
A collection by Ma Rainey, including ‘Army Camp Harmony Blues’ and’ Shave ‘Em Dry’
“Manhattan” by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers
Sweet Georgia Brown by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey
- Special Note: A 1949 version of this song is usually associated as the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Movies
“The Freshman” starring Harold Lloyd
“Go West” starring Buster Keaton
“Lovers in Quarantine” starring BeBe Daniels
- Special Note: This movie is based on the 1924 play “Quarantine”.
“The Merry Widow” starring John Gilbert, Mae Murray and Roy D’Arcy
“Pretty Ladies” starring ZaSu Pitts
“Stella Dallas” starring Ronald Colman and Belle Bennett
“The Unholy Three” starring Lon Chaney and Victor McLaglen
- Special Note: A remake of the movie was released in 1930 as a “talkie”.
The Center for the Study of Public Domain has a list of more creative pieces going into the public domain; it can be found here.
Carter Williams