FACTS about this decade.
Population: 123,188,000 in 48 states
Life Expectancy: Male, 58.1 years ; Female, 61.6 years
Average salary: $1,668 per year
Unemployment: 25%
Cars: One of every 5 Americans owned an automobile.
The top speed for new cars was 60 mph; fuel efficiency was 25 miles per gallon;
average cost for a new car was $798.00
New Home: $7146.00
Food Prices: Milk, 14 cents a quart.; Bread, 9 cents a loaf; Hamburger, 42 cents a pound;
Eggs (dozen) 42 cents
US Postage Stamp: 2 cents
Lynchings: 21
| Entertainment |
Be sure to document your sources!
By the 1930's, money was scarce because of the depression, so people did what they could to make their lives happy. Movies were hot, parlor games and board games were popular. People gathered around radios to listen to the Yankees. Young people danced to the big bands. Franklin Roosevelt influenced Americans with his Fireside Chats. The golden age of the mystery novel continued as people escaped into books, reading writers like Agatha Christie, Dashielle Hammett, and Raymond Chandler.
In the Great Depression, the American dream had become a nightmare. What was once the land of opportunity was now the land of desperation. What was once the land of hope and optimism had become the land of despair.The American people were questioning all the basics on which they had based their lives - democracy, capitalism, individualism. The best hope for a better life, for many, was California. Many Dust Bowl farmers packed their families into cars, tied their few possessions on the back, and sought work in the agricultural fields or cities of the West - their role as independent land owners gone forever. Between 1929 and 1932 the income of the average American family was reduced by 40%, from $2,300 to $1,500. Instead of advancement, survival became the keyword.
With the reduction of spendable income, people had to look to inexpensive leisure pursuits. President Roosevelt helped make stamp collecting a popular hobby. Parlor games and board games became the rage. In 1935 Parker Brothers introduced the game of Monopoly and 20 thousand sets were sold in one week. Gambling increased as people sought any means to add to their income. Between 1930 and 1939 horse racing became legal in 15 more states bringing the total to 21. Interest in spectator sports such as baseball grew. Stars like Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio drew fans into the stadium, and those who could not attend the games gathered around their radios to listen to the play-by-play. The 1932 Winter Olympics, held at Lake Placid, New York, renewed interest in winter sports. The Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal work project for youths, built ski runs and jumps on public land as well as recreational facilities in the national parks. For the families of America, the first drive-in movie theater opened.
Paris fashions became too expensive for all but the very rich, and American designers came into their own. Hollywood movie stars such as Bette Davis and Greta Garbo set fashion trends in dresses designed by Adrian and Muriel King and hats designed by Lily Dache. Clothes had to last a long time so styles did not change every season. The simple print dress with a waist line and longer hem length replaced the flapper attire of the 1920's. The use of the zipper became wide spread for the first time because it was less expensive than the buttons and closures previously used. Another innovation of the 30's was different hem lengths for different times of the day - mid calf for day wear, long for the evening. Men's pants were wide and high waisted. Vest sweaters were an alternative to the traditional matching vest of the three piece suit. Hats were mandatory for the well dressed male.
| Monopoly | 1932 Winter Olympics | History of Fashion and Dress |
| Horse Racing | Baseball and the Depression | History of the Zipper |
| Stamp Collecting | Fashion |
"It Don't Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing)" this Duke Ellington song sums up the "in" music of the thirties. There were popular songs such as "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" that spoke to the hardships of the time, but the young people flocked to hear and dance to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey. In this same era Broadway produced some of the most famous and lasting American musicals. George and Ira Gershwin wrote the hits Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, and Of Thee I Sing. Cole Porter produced such works as Anything Goes, Jubilee, and Red Hot and Blue. Songwriters and lyricists like Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, and Richard Rodgers composed melodies still being played and sung today.
The Federal Music Project (FMP) supported the musical arts and sponsored performances of both
classical and popular compositions. The FMP emphasized American music and promoted the works of Aaron Copland, Roy Harris and Virgil Thomson. In 1936 the Department of the Interior hired Woody Guthrie to travel throughout the Northwest and perform his folk songs. During this tour he wrote twenty-six songs in twenty-six days. By 1938 Guthrie was making appearances in support of labor unions and wrote such songs as "I Ain't Got No Home", inspired by visits to migrant labor camps.
.
It was in 1935 that George Gershwin's American folk opera Porgy and Bess was first performed. In 1931, Congress designated "The Star Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. In 1938, Kate Smith sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" and made the song her own.
Radio and Movies
During the 1930's there were many choices for entertainment, whether it was Snow White or a super hero.By 1939, about 80 percent of the population owned radio sets. Americans loved to laugh at the antics of such comedians as Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Amos and Andy, and Fibber McGee and Molly. The soap opera dominated the daytime airwaves.Our Gal Sunday began each episode with the question, "Can a girl from a little mining town in the west find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?' Many a woman's ear was glued to her radio every day in hopes of learning the answer. The heroics of the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, the Shadow, and Jack Armstrong-All-American Boy, thrilled listeners both young and old and sold countless boxes of cereal. News broadcasts by commentators like H. V. Kaltenborn and Edward R. Murrow kept the public aware of the increasing crisis in Europe. Franklin Roosevelt used the medium in his "Fireside Chats" to influence public opinion. One of the most dramatic moments in radio history occurred on May 6, 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames as it was about to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
On October 30, 1938, a twenty-three-year-old Orson Welles broadcast on his Mercury Theater of the Air the H.G. Wells story War of the Worlds. Despite the disclaimer at the end of the program, the tale of a Martian invasion of Earth panicked a million listeners who mistook the play for a newscast.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated motion picture, was released in 1937. Most children liked to listen to the radio with "Little Orphan Annie", the brave detective child with a wild imagination, and Sandy, her pet dog, while trying to solve the mystery. All the fans of Annie would buy pins, books, watches, and other top secret detective things.
The adults liked the movies King Kong, and Gone With the Wind, a Civil War romance story, with
"The King of Hollywood," Clark Gable!
Also there was Shirley Temple, known for her blonde ringlets and her ability to sing and tap dance. Shirley Temple became a favorite celebrity in 1934 when she first starred in the following: Now and Forever, Little Miss Marker, and Bright Eyes. By the end of the year, she became the youngest actress to receive an Academy Award.
At the end of the decade, one of the first color motion pictures was released. The Wizard of Oz made it's screen debut in 1939.
Betty Boop was America's first cartoon flapper icon. The first appearance of Betty Boop was in the 6th Talkartoon starring Bimbo, entitled "Dizzy Dishes" (1930.) Grim Natwick was the first animator to draw Betty, who had not yet been officially named. He took inspiration for Betty's spit curls from a song sheet of Helen Kane, commonly called the "Boop Oop a Doop Girl".
Many of America's most distinguished writers produced works of fiction during the thirties. The list includes such names as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and Thornton Wilder. Some of the novels of this period explored what was happening in the country during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath chronicled the life of a displaced Oklahoma family who had lost its farm to the drought of the Dust Bowl. James T. Farrell wrote a trilogy of novels about an Irish-American named Studs Lonigan and his attempt to rise above his poor beginnings. Richard Wright took on the issue of racial prejudice and the plight of blacks in Native Son. Erskine Caldwell's novel
Tobacco Road described the life of poor whites in the rural South. 
The poet Carl Sandburg published his poem "The People, Yes" in 1936. Ogden Nash wrote light verse for the New Yorker magazine. Dr. Seuss delighted children with his rhyming books for youngsters learning to read. Wallace Stevens' collection of poetry, The Man With the Blue Guitar was published in 1937. The public speaking instructor, Dale Carnegie, in 1936 penned the book How to Win Friends and Influence People . A little less formal was the introduction of the superhero comic book.
In 1933, Detective Dan, Secret Op. 48 was the first comic, sold on the newsstands, with original material in it. Done by Norman Marsh this comic had a 3 color, cardboard cover. Inside was black and white. Sold for 10cents, dimensions were 10x13". It had 36 pages and was only a one shot published by Humor Publishers Corp., The Detective Dan character was a Dick Tracy clone, and didn't last very long. There was some other appearances by him though. One in The Adventures of Detective Ace King. Also done in 1933. There are some minor differences between the two books, among them a paper cover and pages 9 1/2 x12".
Other Depression-era superheroes were the Shadow, the Phantom (1936 was the first costumed superhero in a comic book), Superman (invented 1933, comic book June 1938), Batman (May 1939 comic book), the Shield (Jan. 1940 the first patriotic American comic book hero), Wonder Woman and Captain American (1941 comic books).
The New York's World Fair of 1939 - true to its theme of "The World of Tomorrow" - gave its estimated 25.8 million visitors a glimpse of the future. The fairgoers marveled at the flickering images of a TV set at the RCA Building and were amazed at the General Motors exhibit of a seven-lane cross-country highway system. Many of the innovations demonstrated did not become a part of every day life until after World War II, but there was a peek at the technology to come. Medical advances in the thirties included a new and safer way to do blood transfusions. An advance that was to save many a soldier's life in the upcoming war. In 1937 Chicago's Cook County Hospital opened the first blood bank that stored blood given by live donors. This, with improved anesthesia, made the chances of surviving major surgery on vital organs much greater.
Pure scientific research suffered from the lack of funding. Nevertheless, in physics ground breaking experiments in atom smashing were being conducted at such institutions as Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology. Albert Einstein immigrated to the United States in 1933 and became a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University. From here in 1939, he wrote his famous letter to President Roosevelt recommending the development of the atomic bomb. In the field of astronomy the ninth major planet, Pluto, was discovered in 1930.
Industrial research led to better refrigeration for foods, a variety of products made from synthetic materials such as plexiglass, nylon, and cellophane, and improved manufacturing techniques such as polymerization, which increased production of gasoline by nine million gallons a year. In 1938 American physicist Chester F. Carlson made the first copy by an electrostatic process called xerography. We use his discovery daily in the form of the Xerox machine.
- pinball machine - Baffle Ball, created by David Gottieb
- airline stewardesses - United Airlines
- Snickers candy bar
- Hostess Twinkies
- sliced bread - Wonder Bread
- flashbulbs
- Scotch Tape - 3M
- Blondie - by Chic Young
- Quartz-crystal clocks are introduced
- Irish Sweepstakes, a lottery for several Irish hospitals, begins and soon becomes popular in the U.S. In 5 years, it is the most successful lottery in the world
- Massachusetts: Frozen food (processed by Clarence Birdseye) hits commercial market for the 1st time on June 6
- TWA - Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc is formed by merger of 3 airlines on October 10
- Nylon Stockings
- plexiglas
- Federal Minimum Wage was 25 cents an hour.