Name _______________________________
Date __________________
Period __________
Popular Culture of the 1930s
Great Depression Fireside Chat and Radio Commercial Project- In small groups, you will create a google doc
titled your class period RADIO first names first initial of last names (For example: 1odd Radio Jane A
Billy Z). Share with all group members and Mr. Chicco. You will be assigned one topic for which you
will create a fireside chat as well as one topic to create a 1930s-style radio commercial.
Creating a Great Depression Era Fireside Chat
The fireside chats were a series of thirty evening radio addresses given by United States President Franklin D.
Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944. “Fireside chats" were the first media development that enabled intimate
and direct communication between the president and the citizens of the United States. Roosevelt's cheery voice
and demeanor played him into the favor of citizens and he soon became one of the most popular presidents
ever. The subject of many of the fireside chats were New Deal programs and Alphabet Soup agencies. Radio
was especially convenient for Roosevelt because it enabled him to hide his polio symptoms from the public eye.
For your fireside chat assignment:
1) Research your Alphabet Soup Agency/Law. Figure out why the agency/law was created. Did it provide relief
for the jobless and the poor, promote economic recovery to get the economy back on track (reverse the
cycle of depression), or reform the economic system so that another depression could be prevented?
2) Write up the text of a fireside chat speech in which you explain the purpose of the agency/law to the
American people. Include the heading:
Name of group members
Period
Date
Pop Culture
Fireside Chat and Radio Advertisement
3) Make sure your fireside chat includes:
a. The Name and acronym of the agency/law
b. Why the agency/law is necessary
c. How the agency/law functions (what it does, a definition)
d. Whether the agency/law was created for relief, recovery and/or reform
Your fireside chat should be AT LEAST two minutes in length and no longer than three minutes.
Creating a 1930’s-Style Radio Commercial
Radio 1930’s provided people with news and information and was also a source of entertainment to the masses.
It had the power to persuade as well as to entertain. Advertising was very important to the development of
radio in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and still is today. The money that companies paid to radio stations to advertise
their products kept the stations alive and running. You and your group will work together to create a
commercial to run after your Fireside Chat. Remember, there will not be any images, photographs, or actions
seen by consumers, so you must convey your message with words alone! How will you convince the consumer
to buy your product?
1) Research your spokes-person and the product/leisure activity they are trying to sell. Use this
information in your commercial.
2) Consider the interests, needs, concerns and wants of consumers of the Great Depression.
3) Write up the text of your commercial. You must create a slogan for your product/leisure activity.
The commercial must be AT LEAST one minute in length and no longer than two minutes.
Please write the names of your group members in the space provided below!
1. _______________________________________
2. _______________________________________
3. _______________________________________
4. _______________________________________
Fireside Chat Alphabet Soup Agency/Law
1. Civilian Conservation Corps
2. Works Progress Administration
3. Social Security Administration
4. Security Exchange Commission
5. Fair Labor Standards Act
6. Tennessee Valley Authority
1930’s-Style Radio Commercial- Choose 1 famous spokesperson and 1 product/leisure activity
Spokesperson
1. Clark Gable
Product
-Car radio
Charles Lindbergh
-Crossword Puzzle
Bessie Smith
Book
3. Will Rodgers
Amelia Earhart
Huey Long
5. Ginger Rogers
Lou Gehrig
Walt Disney
-Yankee Game
-Monopoly
-Chocolate Chip
Cookie
-Movie: Wizard of
Oz
- Band-Aids
-Eskimo Pies
-Movie: Gone with
The Wind
Spokesperson
Product
2. Shirley Temple
Charlie Chaplin
Superman
- Welch’s Grape
Jelly
-King Kullen
“supermarket”
-War of the Worlds
4. Fred Astaire
Charlie Chaplin
Judy Garland
-Pogo stick
- Time magazine
- Action Comics
6. Sonja Henie
Mickey Mouse
Benny Goodman
-Kleenex
-Rice Krispies
-Movie: Snow White
And the 7 Dwarves
Suggestions:
Individuals
Products
Band-Aids
Leisure Activity
Douglas Fairbanks
Vacuum Cleaners
Buster Keaton
Radio
Movies:
Snow White
Gone with the Wind
Wizard of Oz
Refrigerators
Record Players
Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse
Eskimo pies
Hostess cakes
Louis Armstrong
Kleenex
Duke Ellington
Pogo sticks
Bessie Smith
Rice Krispies
Time magazine
Lou Gehrig
Wheaties cereal
Babe Ruth
Wrigley’s gum
Monopoly
Action Comics