TKAM WEBQUEST
NAME:
______________________________
The backdrop of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is both
racially tense and economically difficult. The story is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s.
In order to fully understand the significance of the themes in the novel, you must first
understand the time period. In this webquest you will gain background information on the
setting of the novel. Use the links provided to answer the following questions.
LINKS:
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/depression/dustbowl.htm
http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/depression/overview.htm
JIM CROW LAWS
1. What does the term "Jim Crow Law" refer to?
2. Give two examples of Jim Crow laws.
3. What did Georgia's Jim Crow law state about burial?
1930s CULTURE PART I
4. What was the average American salary from 1932-1934?
5. Which presidents held office in the 1930s?
6. How much would it cost for a family of 4 to travel from Chicago to San Francisco via rail
between 1932-1934?
7. How much would dinner cost for a family of 6 (excluding tax and tip)?
THE DUST BOWL
8. What was the Dust Bowl?
9. When did the Dust Bowl begin?
10. What parts of the country were impacted by the Dust Bowl?
11. What caused the Dust Bowl?
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
12. What event do most people believe marked the beginning of the Great Depression?
13. What core problem led to the Great Depression?
14. What was "The New Deal"?
15. How many Americans were unemployed during the Great Depression?
16. How did the government aid farmers during the Great Depression?
17. What was the WPA and what did it do?
1930s CULTURE PART II
18. What was an important element in popular music in the 1930s?
19. What kind of ties were stylish for the first time in 1932?
20. How much would a week-long stay at the Waldorf-Astoria cost (a range is fine)?
21. What was special about the 1937 Die Cut Stock Farm Playset?
22. Which team won the World Series in 1935?
23. Which two important and amazing films were released in the 1930s?
24. Which new model of car was introduced in 1930 is named for something that flies?
25. Which three toys did rich kids have in the 1930s?
What Was Jim Crow?
Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states,
between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow,
African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-black racism.
Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that whites were the Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and God
supported racial segregation. Craniologists, eugenicists, phrenologists, and Social Darwinists, at every educational level, buttressed
the belief that blacks were innately intellectually and culturally inferior to whites. Pro-segregation politicians gave eloquent speeches
on the great danger of integration: the mongrelization of the white race. Newspaper and magazine writers routinely referred to blacks
as niggers, coons, and darkies; and worse, their articles reinforced anti-black stereotypes. Even children's games portrayed blacks as
inferior beings (see "From Hostility to Reverence: 100 Years of African-American Imagery in Games"). All major societal institutions
reflected and supported the oppression of blacks.
The Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: whites were superior to blacks in all important ways,
including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a
mongrel race which would destroy America; treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which
suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of
the racial hierarchy. The following Jim Crow etiquette norms show how inclusive and pervasive these norms were:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a
black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape.
Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, whites were to be served first, and some sort of
partition was to be placed between them.
Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female -- that gesture implied intimacy.
Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially kissing, because it offended whites.
Jim Crow etiquette prescribed that blacks were introduced to whites, never whites to blacks. For example: "Mr. Peters (the
white person), this is Charlie (the black person), that I spoke to you about."
Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead,
blacks were called by their first names. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to whites, and were not allowed to call
them by their first names.
If a black person rode in a car driven by a white person, the black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck.
White motorists had the right-of-way at all intersections.
Stetson Kennedy, the author of Jim Crow Guide (1990), offered these simple rules that blacks were supposed to observe in
conversing with whites:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying.
Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.
Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class.
Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence.
Never curse a white person.
Never laugh derisively at a white person.
Never comment upon the appearance of a white female.
Jim Crow etiquette operated in conjunction with Jim Crow laws (black codes). When most people think of Jim Crow they think of laws
(not the Jim Crow etiquette) which excluded blacks from public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods. The passage
of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution had granted blacks the same legal protections as whites. However, after
1877, and the election of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, southern and border states began restricting the liberties of blacks.
Unfortunately for blacks, the Supreme Court helped undermine the Constitutional protections of blacks with the infamous Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896) case, which legitimized Jim Crow laws and the Jim Crow way of life.
In 1890, Louisiana passed the "Separate Car Law," which purported to aid passenger comfort by creating "equal but separate" cars for
blacks and whites. This was a ruse. No public accommodations, including railway travel, provided blacks with equal facilities. The
Louisiana law made it illegal for blacks to sit in coach seats reserved for whites, and whites could not sit in seats reserved for blacks.
In 1891, a group of blacks decided to test the Jim Crow law. They had Homer A. Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth
black (therefore, black), sit in the white-only railroad coach. He was arrested. Plessy's lawyer argued that Louisiana did not have the
right to label one citizen as white and another black for the purposes of restricting their rights and privileges. In Plessy, the Supreme
Court stated that so long as state governments provided legal process and legal freedoms for blacks, equal to those of whites, they
could maintain separate institutions to facilitate these rights. The Court, by a 7-2 vote, upheld the Louisiana law, declaring that racial
separation did not necessarily mean an abrogation of equality. In practice, Plessy represented the legitimization of two societies: one
white, and advantaged; the other, black, disadvantaged and despised.
Blacks were denied the right to vote by grandfather clauses (laws that restricted the right to vote to people whose ancestors had voted
before the Civil War), poll taxes (fees charged to poor blacks), white primaries (only Democrats could vote, only whites could be
Democrats), and literacy tests ("Name all the Vice Presidents and Supreme Court Justices throughout America's history"). Plessy sent
this message to southern and border states: Discrimination against blacks is acceptable.
Jim Crow states passed statutes severely regulating social interactions between the races. Jim Crow signs were placed above water
fountains, door entrances and exits, and in front of public facilities. There were separate hospitals for blacks and whites, separate
prisons, separate public and private schools, separate churches, separate cemeteries, separate public restrooms, and separate public
accommodations. In most instances, the black facilities were grossly inferior -- generally, older, less-well-kept. In other cases, there
were no black facilities -- no Colored public restroom, no public beach, no place to sit or eat. Plessy gave Jim Crow states a legal way
to ignore their constitutional obligations to their black citizens.
Jim Crow laws touched every aspect of everyday life. For example, in 1935, Oklahoma prohibited blacks and whites from boating
together. Boating implied social equality. In 1905, Georgia established separate parks for blacks and whites. In 1930, Birmingham,
Alabama, made it illegal for blacks and whites to play checkers or dominoes together. Here are some of the typical Jim Crow laws, as
compiled by the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site Interpretive Staff:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Barbers. No colored barber shall serve as a barber (to) white girls or women (Georgia).
Blind Wards. The board of trustees shall...maintain a separate building...on separate ground for the admission, care,
instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race (Louisiana).
Burial. The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the
burial of white persons (Georgia).
Buses.All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms
or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races (Alabama).
Child Custody. It shall be unlawful for any parent, relative, or other white person in this State, having the control or custody of
any white child, by right of guardianship, natural or acquired, or otherwise, to dispose of, give or surrender such white child
permanently into the custody, control, maintenance, or support, of a negro (South Carolina).
Education.The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately (Florida).
Libraries. The state librarian is directed to fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may
come to the library for the purpose of reading books or periodicals (North Carolina).
Mental Hospitals. The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in
no case shall Negroes and white persons be together (Georgia).
Militia. The white and colored militia shall be separately enrolled, and shall never be compelled to serve in the same
organization. No organization of colored troops shall be permitted where white troops are available and where whites are
permitted to be organized, colored troops shall be under the command of white officers (North Carolina).
Nurses. No person or corporation shall require any White female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public
or private, in which negro men are placed (Alabama).
Prisons. The warden shall see that the white convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the
negro convicts (Mississippi).
Reform Schools. The children of white and colored races committed to the houses of reform shall be kept entirely separate
from each other (Kentucky).
o
o
Teaching. Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race
are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined... (Oklahoma).
Wine and Beer. All persons licensed to conduct the business of selling beer or wine...shall serve either white people
exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room at any time (Georgia). 1
The Jim Crow laws and system of etiquette were undergirded by violence, real and threatened. Blacks who violated Jim Crow norms,
for example, drinking from the white water fountain or trying to vote, risked their homes, their jobs, even their lives. Whites could
physically beat blacks with impunity. Blacks had little legal recourse against these assaults because the Jim Crow criminal justice
system was all-white: police, prosecutors, judges, juries, and prison officials. Violence was instrumental for Jim Crow. It was a method
of social control. The most extreme forms of Jim Crow violence were lynchings.
Lynchings were public, often sadistic, murders carried out by mobs. Between 1882, when the first reliable data were collected, and
1968, when lynchings had become rare, there were 4,730 known lynchings, including 3,440 black men and women. Most of the victims
of Lynch Law were hanged or shot, but some were burned at the stake, castrated, beaten with clubs, or dismembered. In the mid1800s, whites constituted the majority of victims (and perpetrators); however, by the period of Radical Reconstruction, blacks became
the most frequent lynching victims. This is an early indication that lynching was used as an intimidation tool to keep blacks, in this case
the newly freed people, "in their places." The great majority of lynchings occurred in southern and border states, where the resentment
against blacks ran deepest. According to the social economist Gunnar Myrdal (1994): "The southern states account for nine-tenths of
the lynchings. More than two thirds of the remaining one-tenth occurred in the six states which immediately border the South" (pp. 560561).
Many whites claimed that although lynchings were distasteful, they were necessary supplements to the criminal justice system
because blacks were prone to violent crimes, especially the rapes of white women. Arthur Raper investigated nearly a century of
lynchings and concluded that approximately one-third of all the victims were falsely accused (Myrdal, 1994, p. 561).
Under Jim Crow any and all sexual interactions between black men and white women was illegal, illicit, socially repugnant, and within
the Jim Crow definition of rape. Although only 19.2 percent of the lynching victims between 1882 to 1951 were even accused of rape,
lynch law was often supported on the popular belief that lynchings were necessary to protect white women from black rapists. Myrdal
(1994) refutes this belief in this way: "There is much reason to believe that this figure (19.2) has been inflated by the fact that a mob
which makes the accusation of rape is secure from any further investigation; by the broad Southern definition of rape to include all
sexual relations between Negro men and white women; and by the psychopathic fears of white women in their contacts with Negro
men" (pp. 561-562). Most blacks were lynched for demanding civil rights, violating Jim Crow etiquette or laws, or in the aftermath of
race riots.
Lynchings were most common in small and middle-sized towns where blacks often were economic competitors to the local whites.
These whites resented any economic and political gains made by blacks. Lynchers were seldomly arrested, and if arrested, rarely
convicted. Raper (1933) estimated that "at least one-half of the lynchings are carried out with police officers participating, and that in
nine-tenths of the others the officers either condone or wink at the mob action" (pp. 13-14). Lynching served many purposes: it was
cheap entertainment; it served as a rallying, uniting point for whites; it functioned as an ego-massage for low-income, low-status
whites; it was a method of defending white domination and helped stop or retard the fledgling social equality movement.
Lynch mobs directed their hatred against one (sometimes several) victims. The victim was an example of what happened to a black
man who tried to vote, or who looked at a white woman, or who tried to get a white man's job. Unfortunately for blacks, sometimes the
mob was not satisfied to murder a single or several victims. Instead, in the spirit of pogroms, the mobs went into black communities
and destroyed additional lives and property. Their immediate goal was to drive out -- through death or expulsion -- all blacks; the larger
goal was to maintain, at all costs, white supremacy. These pogrom-like actions are often referred to as riots; however, Gunnar Myrdal
(1944) was right when he described these "riots" as "a terrorization or massacre...a mass lynching" (p. 566). Interestingly, these mass
lynchings were primarily urban phenomena, whereas the lynching of single victims was primarily a rural phenomena.
James Weldon Johnson, the famous black writer, labeled 1919 as "The Red Summer." It was red from racial tension; it was red from
bloodletting. During the summer of 1919, there were race riots in Chicago, Illinois; Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee; Charleston,
South Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska; and two dozen other cities. W.E.B. DuBois (1986), the black social scientist and civil rights activist,
wrote: "During that year seventy-seven Negroes were lynched, of whom one was a woman and eleven were soldiers; of these,
fourteen were publicly burned, eleven of them being burned alive. That year there were race riots large and small in twenty-six
American cities including thirty-eight killed in a Chicago riot of August; from twenty-five to fifty in Phillips County, Arkansas; and six
killed in Washington" (p. 747).
The riots of 1919 were not the first or last "mass lynchings" of blacks, as evidenced by the race riots in Wilmington, North Carolina
(1898); Atlanta, Georgia (1906); Springfield, Illinois (1908); East St. Louis, Illinois (1917); Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921); and Detroit,
Michigan (1943). Joseph Boskin, author of Urban Racial Violence (1976), claimed that the riots of the 1900s had the following traits:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
In each of the race riots, with few exceptions, it was white people that sparked the incident by attacking black people.
In the majority of the riots, some extraordinary social condition prevailed at the time of the riot: prewar social changes,
wartime mobility, post-war adjustment, or economic depression.
The majority of the riots occurred during the hot summer months.
Rumor played an extremely important role in causing many riots. Rumors of some criminal activity by blacks against whites
perpetuated the actions of the white mobs.
The police force, more than any other institution, was invariably involved as a precipitating cause or perpetuating factor in the
riots. In almost every one of the riots, the police sided with the attackers, either by actually participating in, or by failing to
quell the attack.
In almost every instance, the fighting occurred within the black community. (pp. 14-15)
Boskin omitted the following: the mass media, especially newspapers often published inflammatory articles about "black criminals"
immediately before the riots; blacks were not only killed, but their homes and businesses were looted, and many who did not flee were
left homeless; and, the goal of the white rioters, as was true of white lynchers of single victims, was to instill fear and terror into blacks,
thereby buttressing white domination. The Jim Crow hierarchy could not work without violence being used against those on the bottom
rung. George Fredrickson (1971), a historian, stated it this way: "Lynching represented...a way of using fear and terror to check
'dangerous' tendencies in a black community considered to be ineffectively regimented or supervised. As such it constituted a
confession that the regular institutions of a segregated society provided an inadequate measure of day-to-day control" (p. 272).
Many blacks resisted the indignities of Jim Crow, and, far too often, they paid for their bravery with their lives.
THE DUST BOWL
For eight years dust blew on the southern plains. It came in a yellowish-brown haze from
the South and in rolling walls of black from the North. The simplest acts of life —
breathing, eating a meal, taking a walk — were no longer simple. Children wore dust
masks to and from school, women hung wet sheets over windows in a futile attempt to
stop the dirt, farmers watched helplessly as their crops blew away. [source]
[Map source]
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a
decade. Its primary area of impact was on
the southern Plains. The northern Plains
were not so badly effected, but
nonetheless, the drought, windblown dust
and agricultural decline were no strangers
to the north. In fact the agricultural
devastation helped to lengthen the
Depression whose effects were felt
worldwide. The movement of people on the
Plains was also profound.
As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the
dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from
Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Car-loads, caravans,
homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and
two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless - restless
as ants, scurrying to find work to do - to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut - anything, any
burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no
place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most
of all for land."
Poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought
caused the Dust Bowl. Plains grasslands had been deeply
plowed and planted to wheat. During the years when there
was adequate rainfall, the land produced bountiful crops.
But as the droughts of the early 1930s deepened, the
farmers kept plowing and planting and nothing would grow. The ground cover that held the
soil in place was gone. The Plains winds whipped across the fields raising billowing clouds
of dust to the skys. The skys could darken for days, and even the most well sealed homes
could have a thick layer of dust on furniture. In some places the dust would drift like snow,
covering farmsteads.
Timeline of The Dust Bowl
1931
Severe drought hits the midwestern and southern plains. As the crops die, the 'black
blizzards" begin. Dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed land begins to blow.
1932
The number of dust storms is increasing. Fourteen are reported this year; next year there
will be 38.
1933
March: When Franklin Roosevelt takes office, the country is in desperate straits. He
took quick steps to declare a four-day bank holiday, during which time Congress came up
with the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, which stabilized the banking industry and
restored people's faith in the banking system by putting the federal government behind it.
May: The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act allots $200 million for refinancing mortgages
to help farmers facing foreclosure. The Farm Credit Act of 1933 established a local bank
and set up local credit associations.
September: Over 6 million young pigs are slaughtered to stabilize prices With most of
the meat going to waste, public outcry led to the creation, in October, of the Federal
Surplus Relief Corporation. The FSRC diverted agricultural commodities to relief
organizations. Apples, beans, canned beef, flour and pork products were distributed
through local relief channels. Cotton goods were eventually included to clothe the needy
as well.
October: In California's San Joaquin Valley, where many farmers fleeing the plains
have gone, seeking migrant farm work, the largest agricultural strike in America's history
begins. More than 18,000 cotton workers with the Cannery and Agricultural Workers
Industrial Union (CAWIU) went on strike for 24 days. During the strike, two men and one
woman were killed and hundreds injured. In the settlement, the union was recognized by
growers, and workers were given a 25 percent raise.
1934
May: Great dust storms spread from the Dust Bowl area. The drought is the worst ever
in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states
severely.
June: The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act is approved. This act restricted the
ability of banks to dispossess farmers in times of distress. Originally effective until 1938,
the act was renewed four times until 1947, when it expired. Roosevelt signs the Taylor
Grazing Act, which allows him to take up to 140 million acres of federally-owned land out
of the public domain and establish grazing districts that will be carefully monitored. One of
many New Deal efforts to reverse the damage done to the land by overuse, the program
was able to arrest the deterioration, but couldn't undo the historical damage.
December: The "Yearbook of Agriculture" for 1934 announces, "Approximately 35
million acres of formerly cultivated land have essentially been destroyed for crop
production. . . . 100 million acres now in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil; 125
million acres of land now in crops are rapidly losing topsoil. . . "
1935
January 15: The federal government forms a Drought Relief Service to coordinate
relief activities. The DRS bought cattle in counties that were designated emergency areas,
for $14 to $20 a head. Those unfit for human consumption - more than 50 percent at the
beginning of the program - were destroyed. The remaining cattle were given to the
Federal Surplus Relief Corporation to be used in food distribution to families nationwide.
Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program
helped many of them avoid bankruptcy. "The government cattle buying program was a
God-send to many farmers, as they could not afford to keep their cattle, and the
government paid a better price than they could obtain in local markets."
April 8: FDR approves the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which provides $525
million for drought relief, and authorizes creation of the Works Progress Administration,
which would employ 8.5 million people.
April 14: Black Sunday. The worst "black blizzard" of the Dust Bowl occurs, causing
extensive damage.
April 27: Congress declares soil erosion "a national menace" in an act establishing the
Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture (formerly the Soil Erosion
Service in the U.S. Department of Interior). Under the direction of Hugh H. Bennett, the
SCS developed extensive conservation programs that retained topsoil and prevented
irreparable damage to the land. Farming techniques such as strip cropping, terracing, crop
rotation, contour plowing, and cover crops were advocated. Farmers were paid to practice
soil-conserving farming techniques.
December: At a meeting in Pueblo, Colorado, experts estimate that 850,000,000 tons
of topsoil has blown off the Southern Plains during the course of the year, and that if the
drought continued, the total area affected would increase from 4,350,000 acres to
5,350,000 acres in the spring of 1936. C.H. Wilson of the Resettlement Administration
proposes buying up 2,250,000 acres and retiring it from cultivation.
1936
February: Los Angeles Police Chief James E. Davis sends 125 policemen to patrol the
borders of Arizona and Oregon to keep "undesirables" out. As a result, the American Civil
Liberties Union sues the city.
May: The SCS publishes a soil conservation district law, which, if passed by the states,
allows farmers to set up their own districts to enforce soil conservation practices for fiveyear periods. One of the few grassroots organizations set up by the New Deal still in
operation, the soil conservation district program recognized that new farming methods
needed to be accepted and enforced by the farmers on the land rather than bureaucrats in
Washington.
1937
March: Roosevelt addresses the nation in his second inaugural address, stating, "I see
one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished . . . the test of our progress is not
whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide
enough for those who have too little." FDR's Shelterbelt Project begins. The project
called for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile
wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from erosion. Native trees,
such as red cedar and green ash, were planted along fence rows separating properties,
and farmers were paid to plant and cultivate them. The project was estimated to cost 75
million dollars over a period of 12 years. When disputes arose over funding sources (the
project was considered to be a long-term strategy, and therefore ineligible for emergency
relief funds), FDR transferred the program to the WPA, where the project had limited
success.
1938
The extensive work re-plowing the land into furrows, planting trees in shelterbelts, and
other conservation methods has resulted in a 65 percent reduction in the amount of soil
blowing. However, the drought continued.
1939
In the fall, the rain comes, finally bringing an end to the drought. During the next few
years, with the coming of World War II, the country is pulled out of the Depression and the
plains once again become golden with wheat.
The Depression in the United States--An Overview
The Great Depression
In October 1929 the stock market crashed, wiping out 40 percent of the paper values of common
stock. Even after the stock market collapse, however, politicians and industry leaders continued to
issue optimistic predictions for the nation's economy. But the Depression deepened, confidence
evaporated and many lost their life savings. By 1933 the value of stock on the New York Stock
Exchange was less than a fifth of what it had been at its peak in 1929. Business houses closed their
doors, factories shut down and banks failed. Farm income fell some 50 percent. By 1932
approximately one out of every four Americans was unemployed.
The core of the problem was the immense disparity between the country's productive capacity and
the ability of people to consume. Great innovations in productive techniques during and after the war
raised the output of industry beyond the purchasing capacity of U.S. farmers and wage earners. The
savings of the wealthy and middle class, increasing far beyond the possibilities of sound investment,
had been drawn into frantic speculation in stocks or real estate. The stock market collapse, therefore,
had been merely the first of several detonations in which a flimsy structure of speculation had been
leveled to the ground.
The presidential campaign of 1932 was chiefly a debate over the causes and possible remedies of
the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover, unlucky in entering The White House only eight months
before the stock market crash, had struggled tirelessly, but ineffectively, to set the wheels of industry
in motion again. His Democratic opponent, Franklin D. Roosevelt, already popular as the governor of
New York during the developing crisis, argued that the Depression stemmed from the U.S. economy's
underlying flaws, which had been aggravated by Republican policies during the 1920s. President
Hoover replied that the economy was fundamentally sound, but had been shaken by the
repercussions of a worldwide depression -- whose causes could be traced back to the war. Behind
this argument lay a clear implication: Hoover had to depend largely on natural processes of recovery,
while Roosevelt was prepared to use the federal government's authority for bold experimental
remedies.
The election resulted in a smashing victory for Roosevelt, who won 22,800,000 votes to Hoover's
15,700,000. The United States was about to enter a new era of economic and political change.
Roosevelt and the New Deal
In 1933 the new president, Franklin Roosevelt, brought an air of confidence and optimism that quickly
rallied the people to the banner of his program, known as the New Deal. "The only thing we have to
fear is fear itself," the president declared in his inaugural address to the nation.
In a certain sense, it is fair to say that the New Deal merely introduced types of social and economic
reform familiar to many Europeans for more than a generation. Moreover, the New Deal represented
the culmination of a long-range trend toward abandonment of "laissez-faire" capitalism, going back to
the regulation of the railroads in the 1880s, and the flood of state and national reform legislation
introduced in the Progressive era of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
What was truly novel about the New Deal, however, was the speed with which it accomplished what
previously had taken generations. In fact, many of the reforms were hastily drawn and weakly
administered; some actually contradicted others. And during the entire New Deal era, public criticism
and debate were never interrupted or suspended; in fact, the New Deal brought to the individual
citizen a sharp revival of interest in government.
When Roosevelt took the presidential oath, the banking and credit system of the nation was in a state
of paralysis. With astonishing rapidity the nation's banks were first closed -- and then reopened only if
they were solvent. The administration adopted a policy of moderate currency inflation to start an
upward movement in commodity prices and to afford some relief to debtors. New governmental
agencies brought generous credit facilities to industry and agriculture. The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) insured savings-bank deposits up to $5,000, and severe regulations were
imposed upon the sale of securities on the stock exchange.
Unemployment
By 1933 millions of Americans were out of work. Bread lines were a common sight in most cities.
Hundreds of thousands roamed the country in search of food, work and shelter. "Brother, can you
spare a dime?" went the refrain of a popular song.
An early step for the unemployed came in the form of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a
program enacted by Congress to bring relief to young men between 18 and 25 years of age. Run in
semi-military style, the CCC enrolled jobless young men in work camps across the country for about
$30 per month. About 2 million young men took part during the decade. They participated in a variety
of conservation projects: planting trees to combat soil erosion and maintain national forests;
eliminating stream pollution; creating fish, game and bird sanctuaries; and conserving coal,
petroleum, shale, gas, sodium and helium deposits.
Work relief came in the form of the Civil Works Administration. Although criticized as "make work," the
jobs funded ranged from ditch digging to highway repairs to teaching. Created in November 1933, it
was abandoned in the spring of 1934. Roosevelt and his key officials, however, continued to favor
unemployment programs based on work relief rather than welfare.
Agriculture
The New Deal years were characterized by a belief that greater regulation would solve many of the
country's problems. In 1933, for example, Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) to
provide economic relief to farmers. The AAA had at its core a plan to raise crop prices by paying
farmers a subsidy to compensate for voluntary cutbacks in production. Funds for the payments would
be generated by a tax levied on industries that processed crops. By the time the act had become law,
however, the growing season was well underway, and the AAA encouraged farmers to plow under
their abundant crops. Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace called this activity a "shocking
commentary on our civilization." Nevertheless, through the AAA and the Commodity Credit
Corporation, a program which extended loans for crops kept in storage and off the market, output
dropped.
Between 1932 and 1935, farm income increased by more than 50 percent, but only partly because of
federal programs. During the same years that farmers were being encouraged to take land out of
production -- displacing tenants and sharecroppers -- a severe drought hit the Great Plains states,
significantly reducing farm production. Violent wind and dust storms ravaged the southern Great
Plains in what became known as the "Dust Bowl," throughout the 1930s, but particularly from 1935 to
1938. Crops were destroyed, cars and machinery were ruined, people and animals were harmed.
Approximately 800,000 people, often called "Okies," left Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma
during the 1930s and 1940s. Most headed farther west to the land of myth and promise, California.
The migrants were not only farmers, but also professionals, retailers and others whose livelihoods
were connected to the health of the farm communities. California was not the place of their dreams, at
least initially. Most migrants ended up competing for seasonal jobs picking crops at extremely low
wages.
The government provided aid in the form of the Soil Conservation Service, established in 1935. Farm
practices that had damaged the soil had intensified the severity of the storms, and the Service taught
farmers measures to reduce erosion. In addition, almost 30,000 kilometers of trees were planted to
break the force of winds.
Although the AAA had been mostly successful, it was abandoned in 1936, when the tax on food
processors was ruled unconstitutional. Six weeks later Congress passed a more effective farm-relief
act, which authorized the government to make payments to farmers who reduced plantings of soildepleting crops -- thereby achieving crop reduction through soil conservation practices.
By 1940 nearly 6 million farmers were receiving federal subsidies under this program. The new act
likewise provided loans on surplus crops, insurance for wheat and a system of planned storage to
ensure a stable food supply. Soon, prices of agricultural commodities rose, and economic stability for
the farmer began to seem possible.
Industry and Labor
The National Recovery Administration (NRA), established in 1933 with the National Industrial
Recovery Act (NIRA), attempted to end cut-throat competition by setting codes of fair competitive
practice to generate more jobs and thus more buying. Although the NRA was welcomed initially,
business complained bitterly of over-regulation as recovery began to take hold. The NRA was
declared unconstitutional in 1935. By this time other policies were fostering recovery, and the
government soon took the position that administered prices in certain lines of business were a severe
drain on the national economy and a barrier to recovery.
It was also during the New Deal that organized labor made greater gains than at any previous time in
American history. NIRA had guaranteed to labor the right of collective bargaining (bargaining as a unit
representing individual workers with industry). Then in 1935 Congress passed the National Labor
Relations Act, which defined unfair labor practices, gave workers the right to bargain through unions
of their own choice and prohibited employers from interfering with union activities. It also created the
National Labor Relations Board to supervise collective bargaining, administer elections and ensure
workers the right to choose the organization that should represent them in dealing with employers.
The great progress made in labor organization brought working people a growing sense of common
interests, and labor's power increased not only in industry but also in politics. This power was
exercised largely within the framework of the two major parties, however, and the Democratic Party
generally received more union support than the Republicans.
The Second New Deal
In its early years, the New Deal sponsored a remarkable series of legislative initiatives and achieved
significant increases in production and prices -- but it did not bring an end to the Depression. And as
the sense of immediate crisis eased, new demands emerged. Businessmen mourned the end of
"laissez-faire" and chafed under the regulations of the NIRA. Vocal attacks also mounted from the
political left and right as dreamers, schemers and politicians alike emerged with economic panaceas
that drew wide audiences of those dissatisfied with the pace of recovery. They included Francis E.
Townsend's plan for generous old-age pensions; the inflationary suggestions of Father Coughlin, the
radio priest who blamed international bankers in speeches increasingly peppered with anti-Semitic
imagery; and most formidably, the "Every Man a King" plan of Huey P. Long, senator and former
governor of Louisiana, the powerful and ruthless spokesman of the displaced who ran the state like a
personal fiefdom. (If he had not been assassinated, Long very likely would have launched a
presidential challenge to Franklin Roosevelt in 1936.)
In the face of these pressures from left and right, President Roosevelt backed a new set of economic
and social measures. Prominent among these were measures to fight poverty, to counter
unemployment with work and to provide a social safety net.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the principal relief agency of the so-called second New
Deal, was an attempt to provide work rather than welfare. Under the WPA, buildings, roads, airports
and schools were constructed. Actors, painters, musicians and writers were employed through the
Federal Theater Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Writers Project. In addition, the
National Youth Administration gave part-time employment to students, established training programs
and provided aid to unemployed youth. The WPA only included about three million jobless at a time;
when it was abandoned in 1943 it had helped a total of 9 million people.
But the New Deal's cornerstone, according to Roosevelt, was the Social Security Act of 1935. Social
Security created a system of insurance for the aged, unemployed and disabled based on employer
and employee contributions. Many other industrialized nations had already enacted such programs,
but calls for such an initiative in the United States by the Progressives in the early 1900s had gone
unheeded. Although conservatives complained that the Social Security system went against
American traditions, it was actually relatively conservative. Social Security was funded in large part by
taxes on the earnings of current workers, with a single fixed rate for all regardless of income. To
Roosevelt, these limitations on the programs were compromises to ensure passage. Although its
origins were initially quite modest, Social Security today is one of the largest domestic programs
administered by the U.S. government.
A New Coalition
In 1936, the Republican Party nominated Alfred M. Landon, the relatively liberal governor of Kansas,
to oppose Roosevelt. Despite all the complaints leveled at the New Deal, Roosevelt won an even
more decisive victory than in 1932. He took 60 percent of the population and carried all states except
Maine and Vermont. In this election, a broad new coalition aligned with the Democratic Party
emerged, consisting of labor, most farmers, immigrants and urban ethnic groups from East and
Southern Europe, African Americans and the South. The Republican Party received the support of
business as well as middle-class members of small towns and suburbs. This political alliance, with
some variation and shifting, remained intact for several decades.
From 1932 to 1938 there was widespread public debate on the meaning of New Deal policies to the
nation's political and economic life. It became obvious that Americans wanted the government to take
greater responsibility for the welfare of the nation. Indeed, historians generally credit the New Deal
with establishing the foundations of the modern welfare state in the United States. Some New Deal
critics argued that the indefinite extension of government functions would eventually undermine the
liberties of the people. But President Roosevelt insisted that measures fostering economic well-being
would strengthen liberty and democracy.
In a radio address in 1938, Roosevelt reminded the American people that:
Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations, not because the people of those nations
disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing
their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion and government
weakness through lack of leadership....Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the
hope of getting something to eat. We in America know that our democratic institutions can be
preserved and made to work. But in order to preserve them we need...to prove that the practical
operation of democratic government is equal to the task of protecting the security of the people....The
people of America are in agreement in defending their liberties at any cost, and the first line of the
defense lies in the protection of economic security.
Eve of World War II
Before Roosevelt's second term was well under way, his domestic program was overshadowed by a
new danger little noted by average Americans: the expansionist designs of totalitarian regimes in
Japan, Italy and Germany. In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria and crushed Chinese resistance; a year
later the Japanese set up the puppet state of Manchukuo. Italy, having succumbed to fascism,
enlarged its boundaries in Libya and in 1935 attacked Ethiopia. Germany, where Adolf Hitler had
organized the National Socialist Party and seized the reins of government in 1933, reoccupied the
Rhineland and undertook large-scale rearmament.
As the real nature of totalitarianism became clear, and as Germany, Italy and Japan continued their
aggression, American apprehension fueled isolationist sentiment. In 1938, after Hitler had
incorporated Austria into the German Reich, his demands for the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia
made war seem possible at any moment in Europe. The United States, disillusioned by the failure of
the crusade for democracy in World War I, announced that in no circumstances could any country
involved in the conflict look to it for aid. Neutrality legislation, enacted piecemeal from 1935 to 1937,
prohibited trade with or credit to any of the warring nations. The objective was to prevent, at almost
any cost, the involvement of the United States in a non-American war.
With the Nazi assault on Poland in 1939 and the outbreak of World War II, isolationist sentiment
increased, even though Americans were far from neutral in their feelings about world events. Public
sentiment clearly favored the victims of Hitler's aggression and supported the Allied powers that stood
in opposition to German expansion. Under the circumstances, however, Roosevelt could only wait
until public opinion regarding U.S. involvement was altered by events.
With the fall of France and the air war against Britain in 1940, the debate intensified between those
who favored aiding the democracies and the isolationists, organized around the America First
Committee, whose support ranged from Midwestern conservatives to left-leaning pacifists. In the end,
the interventionist argument won a protracted public debate, aided in large measure by the work of
the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies.
The United States joined Canada in a Mutual Board of Defense, and aligned with the Latin American
republics in extending collective protection to the nations in the Western Hemisphere. Congress,
confronted with the mounting crisis, voted immense sums for rearmament, and in September 1940
passed the first peacetime conscription bill ever enacted in the United States -- albeit by a margin of
one vote in the House of Representatives. In early 1941 Congress approved the Lend-Lease
Program, which enabled President Roosevelt to transfer arms and equipment to any nation (notably
Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China) deemed vital to the defense of the United States. Total
Lend-Lease aid by war's end amounted to more than $50,000 million.
The 1940 presidential election campaign demonstrated that the isolationists, while vocal, commanded
relatively few followers nationally. Roosevelt's Republican opponent, Wendell Wilkie, lacked a
compelling issue since he supported the president's foreign policy, and also agreed with a large part
of Roosevelt's domestic program. Thus the November election yielded another majority for Roosevelt.
For the first time in U.S. history, a president was elected to a third term.
Japan, Pearl Harbor and War
While most Americans anxiously watched the course of the European war, tension mounted in Asia.
Taking advantage of an opportunity to improve its strategic position, Japan boldly announced a "new
order" in which it would exercise hegemony over all of the Pacific. Battling for its survival against Nazi
Germany, Britain was unable to resist, withdrawing from Shanghai and temporarily closing the Burma
Road. In the summer of 1940, Japan won permission from the weak Vichy government in France to
use airfields in Indochina. By September the Japanese had joined the Rome-Berlin Axis. As a
countermove, the United States imposed an embargo on export of scrap iron to Japan.
It seemed that the Japanese might turn southward toward the oil, tin and rubber of British Malaya and
the Dutch East Indies. In July 1941 the Japanese occupied the remainder of Indochina; the United
States, in response, froze Japanese assets.
General Hideki Tojo became prime minister of Japan in October 1941. In mid-November, he sent a
special envoy to the United States to meet with Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Among other things,
Japan demanded that the U.S. release Japanese assets and stop U.S. naval expansion in the Pacific.
Hull countered with a proposal for Japanese withdrawal from China and Indochina in exchange for
the freeing of the frozen assets. The Japanese asked for two weeks to study the proposal, but on
December 1 rejected it. On December 6, Franklin Roosevelt appealed directly to the Japanese
emperor, Hirohito. On the morning of December 7, however, Japanese carrier-based planes attacked
the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a devastating, surprise attack. Nineteen ships,
including five battleships, and about 150 U.S. planes were destroyed; more than 2,300 soldiers,
sailors and civilians were killed. Only one fact favored the Americans that day: the U.S. aircraft
carriers that would play such a critical role in the ensuing naval war in the Pacific were at sea and not
anchored at Pearl Harbor.
As the details of the Japanese raids upon Hawaii, Midway, Wake and Guam blared from American
radios, incredulity turned to anger at what President Roosevelt called "a day that will live in infamy."
On December 8, Congress declared a state of war with Japan; three days later Germany and Italy
declared war on the United States.
The nation rapidly geared itself for mobilization of its people and its entire industrial capacity. On
January 6, 1942, President Roosevelt announced staggering production goals: delivery in that year of
60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, 20,000 antiaircraft guns and 18 million deadweight tons of merchant
shipping. All the nation's activities -- farming, manufacturing, mining, trade, labor, investment,
communications, even education and cultural undertakings -- were in some fashion brought under
new and enlarged controls. The nation raised money in enormous sums and created great new
industries for the mass production of ships, armored vehicles and planes. Major movements of
population took place. Under a series of conscription acts, the United States brought the armed
forces up to a total of 15,100,000. By the end of 1943, approximately 65 million men and women were
in uniform or in war-related occupations.
The attack on the United States disarmed the appeal of isolationists and permitted quick military
mobilization. However, as a result of Pearl Harbor and the fear of Asian espionage, Americans also
committed an act of intolerance: the internment of Japanese-Americans. In February 1942, nearly
120,000 Japanese-Americans residing in California were removed from their homes and interned
behind barbed wire in 10 wretched temporary camps, later to be moved to "relocation centers"
outside isolated Southwestern towns. Nearly 63 percent of these Japanese-Americans were Nisei -American-born -- and, therefore, U.S. citizens. No evidence of espionage ever surfaced. In fact,
Japanese-Americans from Hawaii and the continental United States fought with noble distinction and
valor in two infantry units on the Italian front. Others served as interpreters and translators in the
Pacific. In 1983 the U.S. government acknowledged the injustice of internment with limited payments
to those Japanese-Americans of that era who were still living.
Music in the 1930s
Some of the best musicians ever born had their heyday in the 1930s. No one will ever forget the sweet sounds of
Louie Armstrong, or the beautiful voice of Billie Holiday.
Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and Judy Garland were all at the top of their game and the charts. Fred Estaire had a
nice run in the 1930s and Count Basie established his dominance.
Most people did not have televisions, so the radio was the primary source of entertainment throughout the decade.
And radio wasn’t exactly like it is now, where DJs play song after song after song. Radio was filled with
entertainment of all sorts: stories, poetry, news, live music, variety shows and more.
Songs in the 1930s were sometimes more popular than the artist. It wasn’t strange for a song to become popular by
one artist, and then re-done by another artist a month later. Because of this, we tend to focus on the songs more
than the artists who performed them, because often times the song was popular and performed by several artists.
Music from the 1930s was generally upbeat and sometimes very relaxing. Humor was an important element in
popular music.
Music in 1930
Hit Songs in 1930
Body and Soul
Georgia on My Mind
The Battles of Jericho
Beyond the Blue Horizon
What Is This Thing Called Love?
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
Embraceable You
I Got Rhythm
Bidin’ My Time
Little White Lies
On the Sunny Side of the Street
Love for Sale
St. James Infantry
Top Records in 1930
Tiger Rag by Mills Brothers
You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me by Maurice Chevalier
Ten Cents a Dance by Ruth Etting
Let Me Sing and I’m Happy by Al Jolson
Three Little Words by Ipana Troubadours
Puttin’ On the Ritz by Leo Reisman
Kansas City Kitty by Rudy Vallee
Sing You Sinners by Smith Ballew
Jazz and Big Bands in 1930
Duke Ellington recorded Mood Indigo. Paul Whitman is still considered the “King of Jazz.” Another popular group is
the Nichols Band with Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Jack Teagarden.
Music in 1931
Hit Songs in 1931
Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
Minnie, the Moocher
Mood Indigo
All of Me
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Dancing in the Dark
Dream a Little Dream of Me
Of Thee I Sing
The Thrill is Gone
Lady of Spain
Live is Sweeping the Country
Top Records in 1931
The Peanut Vendor by Don Azpiazu
Where the Blue of the Night by Bing Crosby
Goodnight, Sweetheart by Ruth Etting
When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain by Kate Smith
You Rascal You by Jack Teagarden
Just a Gigolo by Bing Crosby
I Found a Million Dollar Baby by Ben Pollack
Jazz and Big Bands in 1931
Freddie Martin performs at the Bosser Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. 1931 also saw the introduction of Eddie Duchin,
Don Redman and Henry Busse.
Music in 1932
Hit Songs in 1932
Night and Day
April in Paris
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You
In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town
Shuffle Off to Buffalo
I Told Every Little Star
How Deep Is The Ocean
Granada
You’re an Old Smoothie
Forty-Second Street
You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me
Top Records in 1932
New Tiger Rag by Louis Armstrong
Reefer Man and The Man from Harlem by Cab Calloway
If You Were the Only Girl by Rudy Vellee
It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing by Duke Ellington
Music in 1933
Hit Songs in 1933
It’s Only a Paper Moon
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Lazy Bones
Easter Parade
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Everything I Have Is Yours
Inka Dinka Doo
Lover
Let’s Fall in Love
Temptation
Top Records in 1933
Stormy Weather by Ethel Waters
I Cover the Waterfront by Eddy Duchin
Forty-Second Street by Hal Kemp
Gold Diggers’ Song by Dick Powell
Honeymoon Hotel by Freddy Martin
Heartaches by Ted Weems
Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington
Music in 1934
Hit Songs in 1934
Blue Moon
Anything Goes
Blow, Gabriel, Blow
I Only Have Eyes for You
Cocktails for Two
The Continental
What a Diff’rence a Day Made
Tumbling Tumbleweeds
On the Good Ship Lollipop
You and the Night and the Music
You’re the Top
I Get a Kick Out of You
Isle of Capri
The Very Thought of You
Top Records in 1934
Honeysuckle Rose by Dorsey Brothers
Moonglow by Duke Ellington & Benny Goodman
Limehouse Blues by Fletcher Henderson
Sweet Georgia Brown by Earl Hines
Star Fell On Alabama by Jack Teagarden
Down Yonder by Gil Tanner
The Darktown Strutter’s Ball by Luis Russell
Let’s Fall in Love by Eddy Duchin
Jazz and Big Bands in 1934
Benny Goodman, 24, brings swing to big audiences on his National Biscuit radio series, “Let’s Dance.” His band
includes Bunny Berigan, Jess Stacy, and Gene Krupa, with arrangements by Fletcher Henderson.
Music in 1935
Hit Songs in 1935
Begin the Beguine
The Music Goes ‘Round and ‘Round
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
It Ain’t Necessarily So
I Got Plenty O’ Nuthin’
Lovely to Look At
Red Sails in the Sunset
Stairway to the Stars
Summertime
These Foolish Things Remind Me of You
I Loves You, Porgy
You Are My Lucky Star
When I Grow Too Old to Dream
Top Records in 1935
Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire
I’m in the Mood for Love by Frances Langford
It’s You I Adore by Russ Morgan
The Oregon Trail by Ozzie Nelson
Lullaby of Broadway by Dick Powell
Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart by Victor Young
June in January by Bing Crosby
Footloose and Fancy Free by Dorsey Brothers
Music in 1936
Hit Songs in 1936
I’m an Old Cow Hand
Is It True What They Say About Dixie?
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
The Night is Young and You’re So Beautiful
Sing, Sing, Sing
Stompin’ at the Savoy
There’s a Small Hotel
W.P.A. Blues
Wiffenpoof Song
You’ve Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby
Top Records in 1936
Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Let Yourself Go, The Way You Look Tonight and Pick Yourself Up by Fred Estaire
Pennies from Heaven by Bing Crosby
In the Chapel in the Moonlight by Ruth Etting
No Regrets by Billie Holiday
Love is Like a Cigarette and Welcome Stranger by Eddy Duchin
Indian Love Call by Nelson Eddy & Jeanette MacDonald
Jazz and Big Bands in 1936
Jo Jones and Buck Clayton join Count Basie. Mildred bailey sings with the new Red Norvo band. Popular boogiewoogie piano includes Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons and Bob Zurke. Lester Young plays with
the Count Basie combo in Chicago.
Music in 1937
Hit Songs from 1937
A Foggy Day
The Donkey Serenade
Harbor Lights
Nice Work if You Can Get It
Whistle While You Work
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Johnny One Note
The Lady Is a Tramp
My Funny Valentine
September in the Rain
Thanks for the Memory
In the Still of the Night
Where or When
Top Records in 1937
Bei mir bist du Schoen by Andrew Sisters
They Can’t Take That Away From Me, They All Laughed, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off and Shall We Dance by
Fred Estaire
Someone to Care for Me by Deanna Durbin
Ebb Tide by Bunny Berigan
Have You Met Miss Jones? by Sammy Kaye
Sweet Leilani by Bing Crosby & Lani McIntire and His Hawaiians
Jazz and Big Bands in 1937
Benny Goodman records Sing, Sing, Sing. Charlie Parker joins the Jay McShann Band. Mary Lou Williams plays
with Andy Kirk’s Kansas City Band in New York. Harry James plays with Benny Goodman. Top performers included
Hal Kemp, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen Mastren Bob Haggert, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Chu Berry
and Harry James.
Music in 1938
Top Songs in 1938
Chiquita Banana
Falling in Love With Love
This Can’t Be Love
They Say
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
Get Out of Town
My Heart Belongs to Daddy
September Song
Jeepers Creepers
My Reverie
Spring is Here
Top Records in 1938
Love Walked In by Kenny Baker
I Married an Angel by Larry Clinton
It’s Wonderful by Shep Fields
Thanks for the Memory and Two Sleepy People by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross
You Go to My Head by Kay Kyser
Love in the Starlight by Dorothy Lamour
One O’Clock Jump by Harry James
Begin the Beguine by Artie Shaw
Jalousie by Boston Pops, Arthur Fiedler
Beer Barrel Polka by Will Glahe
A-Tisket, A-Tasket by Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald
Boogie Woogie by Jimmy Dorsey
Jazz and Big Bands in 1938
Benny Goodman gives his first Carnegie Hall concert. The first John Hammond “From Spirituals to Swing” concert is
given at Carnegie Hall with Count Basie and Joe Turner. Billie Holiday joins Artie Shaw’s band.
Top performers include Casa Loma, Benny Heller, Bob Haggart, Bob Zurke, Bud Freeman and Harry James.
Music in 1939
Hit Songs in 1939
All the Things You Are
South of the Border
Frenesi
I Concentrate on You
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
I’ll Never Smile Again
If I Didn’t Care
My Prayer
Brazil
Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!
Tara’s Theme
Top Records in 1939
Oh, Johnny Oh by Orrin Tucker, with Bonnie Baker
Miss Thing by Count Basie
It Don’t Mean a Thing by Lionel Hampton
Body and Soul by Coleman Hawkins
Indiana by Earl Hines
Some Like it Hot by Gene Krupa
Little Brown Jug, In the Mood and Sunrise Serenade by Glenn Miller
That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine by Gene Autry
Ciribiribin by Harry James
Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland
Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
Tuxedo Junction by Erskine Hawkins
Cherokee by Charlie Parker
Jazz and Big Bands in 1939
Charlie Parker goes to New York and plays at Monroe’s Uptown House. Charlie Christian joins Benny Goodman.
Jimmy Blanton, Billy Strayhorn and Ben Webster join Duke Ellington. Sy Oliver leaves Jimmy Lunceford to join
Tommy Dorsey. Billy Eckstine joins Earl Hines.
CULTURE – MOVIES 1930S
Movies in the 1930s
Movies started off a little slowly in the 1930s. John Barrymore was dominating headlines with Moby Dick in 1930.
People loved their musicals and Fred Estaire made a few bucks from it. Bing Crosby was in his fair share of films as
well.
The late 1930s were unbelievable in both quality AND quantity.
The 1930s saw the release of two of the most important and amazing films of all-time: The Wizard of Oz and Gone
With The Wind.
And Bette Davis’s eyes were staring right through you the whole time.
Top Grossing Films in 1930
RANK TITLE
STUDIO/GROSS
ACTORS
1.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Universal / $3,000,000
Lew Ayres
2.
Whoopee!
United Artists / $2,600,000
Eddie Cantor
3.
Hell’s Angels
United Artists / $2,500,000
Jean Harlow, Ben Lyon and James Hall
4.
Animal Crackers
Paramount / $1,500,000
Marx Brothers
5.
Feet First
Paramount / $1,300,000
Harold Lloyd
6.
The Rogue Song
MGM
Lawrence Tibbett
7.
The Life of the Party
Warner Bros.
Winnie Lightner
8.
Hold Everything
Warner Bros.
Winnie Lightner, Joe E. Brown
9.
Sunny
MGM
Marilyn Miller
10.
The Vagabond King
Paramount
Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald
11.
Song of the Flame
Warner Bros.
Noah Beery, Bernice Claire
12.
The Green Goddess
Warner Bros.
George Arliss
Top Grossing Films in 1931
RANKTITLE
STUDIO
ACTORS
WORLDWIDE
GROSS
1.
Frankenstein
Universal
Boris Karloff
$12,000,000
2.
Cimarron
RKO
Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
$1,383,000
3.
Mata Hari
MGM
Greta Garbo
$2,227,000
$5,019,181
United
4.
City Lights
Artists
Charlie Chaplin
5.
A Free Soul
MGM
Norma Shearer
6.
Dracula
Universal
Bela Lugosi
7.
Private Lives
MGM
Norma Shearer
8.
No Limit
Paramount
Clara Bow
Warner
9.
The Public Enemy
Bros.
James Cagney and Jean Harlow
The Smiling
10.
Lieutenant
Maurice Chevalier, Claudette
Paramount
Colbert and Miriam Hopkins
Top Grossing Films in 1932
RANKTITLE
1.
Shanghai Express
STUDIO
ACTORS
Paramount
Marlene Dietrich
Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace
2.
Grand Hotel
MGM
Beery and Lionel Barrymore
3.
A Farewell to Arms
Paramount
Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
4.
Red Dust
MGM
Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
5.
The Champ
MGM
Wallace Beery
6.
Trouble in Paradise
Paramount
Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall
7.
Love Me Tonight
Paramount
Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
Paramount
Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins
MGM
Jean Harlow
Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
8.
Hyde
Red-Headed
9.
Woman
United
10.
Scarface
Artists
Paul Muni
Top Grossing Films in 1933
RANKTITLE
1.
I’m No Angel
STUDIO
ACTORS
Paramount
Mae West
Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow,Lionel
2.
Dinner at Eight
MGM
Barrymore and Billie Burke
Warner
3.
42nd Street
Bros.
Warner Baxter, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell
She Done Him
4.
Wrong
Paramount
Mae West
5.
Little Women
RKO
Katharine Hepburn
6.
State Fair
Fox Film
Janet Gaynor
7.
Hold Your Man
MGM
Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
8.
Design for Living
Paramount
Fredric March, Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins
9.
King Kong
RKO
Fay Wray and Bruce Cabot
10.
Queen Christina
MGM
Greta Garbo
Vintage 1930s Movie Posters
CULTURE – SPORTS 1930s
Sports in the 1930s
The 1930s weren’t dominated by a superstar like they were in the 20s. Many people say that the “Golden Age of
Sports” had come to a close when Bobby Jones retired in 1930.
Sports in the 1930s was still as exciting as ever, with many records getting smashed. We also saw two extremely
talented Joes: Joe Louis and Joe DiMaggio.
As with everything else, The Depression took its toll on sports. Most everyone took a salary cut and all ballpark
renovations were suspended. There was even talk of postponing the Winter Olympics.
Because of the shortage money, sports became increasingly commercialized. Everyone was looking for a way to
make an extra buck. Sound familiar?
And no one will ever forget the triumph of Jesse Owens, winning four gold medals in the face of Hitler and his
Aryanism at the 1936 Olympics.
And he wasn’t the only one. Joe Louis lost to and then came back again to beat Max Schmeling in a virtual USA vs
Germany pre-WWII battle in the ring. The Louis-Schmeling fights were some of the most important in boxing history.
List of Major Sports Champions in the 1930s
1930
Pro Baseball
Philadelphia Athletics
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Max Schmeling
Pro Football
Green Bay Packers
College Football
N/A
Others
1931
Pro Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Max Schmeling
Pro Football
Green Bay Packers
College Football
N/A
Others
1932
Pro Baseball
New York Yankees
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Jack Sharkey
Pro Football
Chicago Bears
College Football
N/A
Others
1933
Pro Baseball
New York Giants
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Primo Carnera
Pro Football
Chicago Bears
College Football
N/A
Others
1934
Pro Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Max Baer
Pro Football
New York Giants
College Football
N/A
Others
1935
Pro Baseball
Detroit Tigers
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
James Braddock
Pro Football
Detroit Lions
College Football
N/A
Others
1936
Pro Baseball
New York Yankees
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
James Braddock
Pro Football
Green Bay Packers
College Football
Minnesota
Others
Jesse Owens, Olympics
1937
Pro Baseball
New York Yankees
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Joe Louis
Pro Football
Washington Redskins
College Football
Pittsburgh
Others
1938
Pro Baseball
New York Yankees
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
N/A
Boxing (HW)
Joe Louis
Pro Football
New York Giants
College Football
Texas Christian
Others
1939
Pro Baseball
New York Yankees
Pro Basketball
N/A
College Basketball
Oregon
Boxing (HW)
Joe Louis
Pro Football
Green Bay Packers
College Football
Texas A&M
Others
Sports in 1930
In America, baseball was the most popular professional team sport in 1930. If boxing wasn’t as popular they were
very close. Babe Ruth saw his salary increase to an unbelievable $80,000. When told that his salary was larger than
the President’s he joked, “Well, I had a better year than he did.” It’s hard to argue with him.
Bill Terry led the National League with an amazing .401 batting average, while Al SImmons led the AL with a .380
average. Hack Wilson led all major league hitters with a then NL-record 56 home runs, the most since by any player
in either league Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927.
Professional football club New York Giants defeated Notre Dame in a benefot game for the Unemployment Fund.
Bronko Nagurski was a star player for the Chicago Bears. Chicago Cards player Ernie Nevers was another
standout.
College Football All-Americans were led by Frank Carideo of Notre Dame and Leonard Macaluso from Colgate.
Alabama defeated Washington State 24-0 in the Rose Bowl (which was actually played on January 1, 1931).
Amazing amateur Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam and then promptly retired. Interestingly, he made a wager that
he would accomplish this feat, and reportedly won $60,000 on it.
Gallant Fox, ridden by jockey Earl Sande won horse racing’s most coveted races en route to a Triple Crown victory.
Max Schmeling beat Jack Sharkey for the heavyweight title in front of 75,000 spectators.
Sports in 1935
Pro Baseball
For the first time in over 15 years, Babe Ruth was no longer a New York Yankee. However, he did not stay
unemployed for long. The same day of his release, the Boston Braves signed him.
1935 was a very special year for baseball because it ushered in the beginning of night-time baseball. On May 24,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned on the lights at Crosley Field, for a game between the Reds and the Phillies
in Cincinnati. It’s difficult to explain the significance of this event, but let’s just say it completely revolutionized
baseball.
Five days before retiring, Ruth goes 4-4 with three home runs and 6 RBI. It would be his last hurrah.
The Chicago Cubs went on an amazing tear, winning 27 games in a row at the end of the season to steal the
pennant. The Detroit Tigers bashed their way to the American League pennant, behind Hank Greenberg.
Even though Greenberg was injured by a pitch that ended his World Series, the Tigers went on to win their first MLB
championship despite four previous tries.
After the season, MLB assumed control of the Boston Braves, who were virtually bankrupt.
Boxing
The boxing world was shaken by one of the most stunning upsets in sports history. James J. Braddock, with 24
losses to his name, defeated world champion Max Baer to take the world title, by a fifteen round unanimous decision
in New York.
1930s Sports Advertisements
CULTURE – FASHION 1930s
Fashion in the 1930s
Even though people were broke in the 1930s they still didn’t dress like it!
Men still dressed up nice, sporting fedoras and double-breasted overcoats. The boys wore short shorts and tall
socks.
The women wore dresses and kept their hair close to their head. Fur was in and so were floral patterns. Makeup
was chic and shoulder pads were very important until the late 1930s.
Although hats were still popular for women, they were gradually becoming less popular.
One way to tell if something is from the 30s is if it has initials engraved or stitched. This was a common free service
that stores offered.
Fashion in the 1930s was just as glamorous as the 1920s, just in a different way. Read more about the fashion
trends of each year below. Click on the plus sign to expand the corresponding year.
Fashion in 1930
Greta Garbo in 1930
With the Clara Bow flapper look becoming passe, the new rage is the sophisticated Garbo look. The silhouette is tall
and slender, emphasizing broad shoulders, a small bosom, streamlined hips and a standard waistline. Both hair and
hems are longer in 1930. The more narrow skirts widen softly below the hip and then stop at mid-calf.
Fashion in 1930 was highly influenced by stars of the silver screen. Greta Garbo popularized the windblown look,
with her side-parted hair, while Joan Crawford embraced the puffed sleeves, which emphasized her slim waist. Jean
Harlow strutted her stuff in slinky halter tops and evening gowns.
Thick, clinging fabrics are enormously popular. The gradual broadening of the shoulders lead to three-inch shoulder
pads; found even in night gowns.
Makeup emphasizes angularity. In 1930, most every woman owns a close-up mirror to pencil in well-plucked
eyebrows and to apply black mascara and eye shadow. The curling iron was another fashion necessity.
Fashion in 1931
Jean Harlow
In 1931, new fashion accessories include suede gloves with matching bag and shoes, a red or gray fox fur (flung
over one shoulder), batik scarves, large rings and watches set with gems.
Women love their hats. In 1931, they are deep and close-fitting with both large and small brims, and women liked
them to cover one eye. Women wear their hair a little longer and loosely waved with a side part. Fashionable shoes
include the black silk style with ankle strap and the white suede style with a T-strap.
For men, hair was worn short and natural, parted on the side. Men left their pomade in the cabinet, going for the
natural look a la Charles Farrell or Buddy Rogers. The older gentlemen still sported a mustache while carrying his
cigarette case, wallet, signet ring, cuff links and two handkerchiefs; one in the pocket and one, for actual use, in the
coat sleeve. The hearty man appears with a double-breasted, dark-colored suit and the hat brought down over the
top of his face.
Fashion in 1932
Marlene Dietrich with tilted beret
With the growing vogue in slinky silks popularized via Hollywood, undergarments change dramatically in 1932.
Though still embroidered and generally in one piece, there is a notable absence of seams, since they show through
tight fitting clothing.
Women turn to corsets in stunning fashion and a new interest emerges in the “uplift,” provided by darts and hidden
circular stitching. Artificial silks and zippers make clothing less expensive, which is very important in an American
society that had a 24% unemployment rate.
A blue and white plaid rayon dress with sashed belt and bow collar, with flowers, ribbons and quills in the hair is the
style of the summer. Fashionable hats range from the pillbox, toque, trimmed turban and Basque beret (worn on the
side like Marlene Dietrich). Chanel’s cotton evening dress was a big hit in 1932.
For the first time, ties made of wool, not silk, are the fab choice for the stylish businessman.
Fashion in 1933
Joan Crawford
In 1933, the V-shape (wide shoulders to slim waist with flared skirt) placed an even stronger emphasis on the
corset. There was a two-way stretch and the new, all-in-one, full-length corset with Lastex bra and six suspenders to
hold up stockings.
Bolero jackets and puff sleeves are in style, as are short, fitted sweaters. In the evening, necklines are high in the
front, and very low in the back. Large brimmed hats reinforce the long silhouette.
Once again, women follow Greta Garbo in the new “man’s” evening suit, while mimicking Joan Crawford’s makeup:
bright lips, eye shadow and artificial eyelashes — which take a salon two hours to apply.
Chanel’s satin suit and Shiaparelli’s exotic buttons made fashion news. Some fashionable women even dusted their
hair with bright phosphorescent powders.
Fashion in 1934
Chanel fashions from 1934
In 1934, hair is pushed back across the head at a sharp angle and hats, worn on one side of the head, look almost
like vinyl records. Many women curl their hair like Jean Harlow, wear red lipstick, rouge and nail polish. Most women
also penciled in the eyebrows. A new passion for sports ushered in a new era of smaller, tighter sportswear.
On the beach, shapely women wore what was called “corset bathing suits” that were slashed and backless and
molded very closely to the woman’s body.
Finally, high-fashion designs were making their way to the average woman in the form of ready-to-wear clothes. The
style that was seen in the magazines was being seen in middle class neighborhoods. The tailored look, Chanel’s
collection and the new surrealism design all experienced great success.
Chanel embraced “understated elegance” by keeping the easy skirt and pairing it with a jersey jacket. Schiaparelli
pursued “hard edge chic” and fantasy, with prints designed by Dali and Cocteau, accompanied by wild button
shaped like fish, horses or stars.
Padded shoulders were even more pronounced in 1934. The “little black dress” is the new evening style, but some
women loved to express themselves in loud-colored long dinner suits.
Hot colors combos in 1943 are brown & pink, and prune & turquoise. Women still loved gloves and silver fox
broadtail.
Fashion in 1935
Marsha Hunt in Mainbacher
A not-so-subtle military look pervades women’s fashion in 1935. This look is accomplished with square shoulders,
low heels, plumed hats and gauntlet gloves. Even Shiaparelli designed suits with a tidy look in his drummer-boy
jackets.
Evening wear was much different. Women enjoyed an international flair, with Greek and Indian-inspired dresses
with heavy jewelry and breathtaking prints.
Hair was brushed to the top of the head in a mass of curls and makeup emphasized bone structure in a bold way.
Bra cup sizes (A-D) were introduced in 1935.
Mainbocher’s two-piece navy wool dress with lace cuffs and collar was a particularly awesome outfit from 1935.
Fashion in 1936
Schiaparelli-penned article
In 1936, women loved wearing a plum or dark green wool tailored dress with long, tight sleeves and slightly bloused
bodice. The dress gently flared at mid-calf, has side pleats and is worn with a wide leather belt.
For the evening, the black silk crepe with white silk over-jacket was a fashionable choice. Another slick outfit was
the shiny, brown satin and matching jacket and feather-trimmed sleeves. Formal wear ranged from short dresses in
bright colors to gold frocks with pressed pleats and short jackets.
Ferragamo designed the first evening wedge shoe in gold kid and red satin, but ankle boots of embroidered velvet
are also worn. The bra is “enhanced” with the high and pointed look.
Shiaparelli’s square bag and collarless coat was at the top of the couture world along with Molyneaux’s crescent
brown calf pouch bag.
Fashion in 1937
1937 Cartier advertisement
In 1937, the hourglass silhouette, with padded shoulders and small waist gave way to a more tubular, natural shape.
Evening lengths remained long and in wool, jewels remained bulky and immense. Cartier clips of blackamoors’
heads are copied everywhere.
New fashion items include bulky blue fox and silk jersey. Veils on hats make a return. In makeup, Christian Berard
introduces cyclamen rouge and deep blue lashes for blondes; and brown suntan rouge and pomegranate lips for
brunettes.
Strassner’s white pullover with white wool slacks were a popular item in high fashion.
For men, there were a few developments. In the spring and summer, men wore a single-breasted suit with patch
pockets and panama hat. In the fall, he wore a double-breasted dark blue suit with wide-cuffed, double-pleated,
high-waisted trousers.
He also might have worn a vertical stripe suit, in tow tones with windowpane checks in cotton, wool, nylon and silk.
Fashion in 1938
Fashionable woman in 1938
A special elegance marked fashion in 1938. The popular look was the pencil-thin silhouette with black outfit, skunk
jacket, hair piled on top of the head, extravagant hat and enormous artificial jewelry.
At night, the fashion conscious woman wore skin-tight molded dresses and short tailored jackets with embroidery.
Spring 1938 saw romantic styles such as full skirts in delightful patterns, tiny sailor hats trimmed with feathers and
flowers, and clogs. Also new are the more formal strapless evening gowns.
Hair is worn in a pageboy with side combs and bobby pins, it is pushed off the ears or it is tied back in George
Washington bows. Styles of the 1890s and 1900s are revived for day and evening.
Cyclamen is a popular color in 1938, but lipsticks and rouge have a bluish tint.
Fashion in 1939
Snoods were popular
For women, suits became more feminine in 1939. Whether they were pleated, straight or flared, they came with
tightly fitted jackets and blouses. British Prime Minister Chamberlain’s famous umbrella and hat became a motif in
accessories and prints.
Snoods were quite popular in 1939. Hair styles in general were more Edwardian (worn up front) with the back
hanging in curls. The first permanent waves appear in 1939.
In the summer, bare midriffs, flat sports sandals, Indian moccasins and Carmen Miranda turbans are seen
everywhere.
Some winter dresses dresses have fitted bodices for Mainbocher’s new corset, which, laced up the back, creates
waves across the fashion industry.
From Europe, come “black out” fashions which include tailored suits, white hats, flashlights and boxes for gas
masks. Pinguet re-inspires the square shoulder, which stayed in some level of popularity for almost another decade.
CULTURE – AUTOMOBILES 1930S
Cars in the 1930s
Cars in the 1930s began to become a bit more luxurious than their 1920s counterparts.
For example, they included radios and heaters! The body design got a bit more sleek and rounded.
Other important new inventions include automatic transmission and V-8, V-12 and V-16 engines. Power had
suddenly been completely redefined.
There were about 6 new cars introduced in the 1930 line. Cadillac released a new V-16 engine that redefined
personal power in the “affordable” automobile.
Frankly, in the 1930s cars actually became what we know of them today. Before that they were mostly carriagelooking buggies with big, hard spokey wheels.
If you look at how models changed ever so slightly over the years, each year seems to look a little bit faster than the
last.
We will be covering each year very soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy over 100 pictures below of nearly every
car that was sold in the 1930s.
Cars in 1930
There were about 6 new cars introduced in the 1930 line.
And while that’s a very small number, it can’t go without mention that Cadillac released the brand new v-16
engine that redefined personal power in an automobile.
Cars in 1930 were styled very similarly to 1920s cars. The somewhat carriage-y look was still in style and the cars
were quite slender and not nearly as rounded as they became in the late 1930s.
The new models introduced in 1930 were:
Bentley 8 Litre
Cadillac V-16
Chevrolet Series AD Universal
Mercedes-Benz 770
Volvo TR670 Series
Wolseley Hornet (1930)
1930s Sports Cars
1930s Luxury Cars
1930s Family Cars
1930s Compact, Convertible & Other Cars
CULTURE – TOYS 1930S
Toys in the 1930s
Toys in the 1930s required a LOT of imagination, which is a GREAT thing!
Simple things like dolls, finger paint and die cast model cars were very popular. Also very popular were pedal cars
and trucks. Even some had electric headlights!
Some legendary board games did come out in the 1930s, like Monopoly, Scrabble and Sorry! It’s hard to believe
those games are that old!
The rich kids had Erector sets, toy trains and air rifles. The girls had all different kinds of dolls and doll houses to
choose from. Also there was a wide variety of adult-like toys like kids typewriters, kids adding machines, and
medical playsets.
One things is for sure, kind in the 30s didn’t sit all day and stare at their toys. They pretended and played with them!
View-Master by Sawyer’s (1939)
While the View-Master didn’t really take off until the 1940s, it was introduced at the World’s Fair in 1939 and thus
makes it into our 1930s category.
The View-Master was invented by Wilhelm Gruber to replace, or at least compliment, the every day postcard. It was
met with moderately good reception.
The US Army realized that the View-Master could help train troops, so they ordered hundreds of thousands of them.
This money gave Sawyer’s what they needed to dominate the View-Master market for the next 40 years.
They were also very popular for the troops to use instead of magazines, if you know what I mean. Check out one of
the ads below, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Shortly after 1950, Sawyer’s bought Tru-Vue, the other competitor (see pic below), and with it got the rights to
Disney’s stuff.
This allowed Sawyer’s to capitalize on the Disney boom in the 1950s and the rest is history.
You probably have one of these somewhere in your house, but I bet you don’t have one of the originals pictured
below!
Buck Rogers Ray Guns by Daisy (1934)
If there was one thing little boys dreamed of getting in the 1930s — it was either a baseball glove or a Buck Rogers
ray gun.
From 1934-36 Daisy made 13 different models, all with different features and little appearance tweaks. One cool
feature that makes them stand out today: they were made of actual metal.
Take the XZ-35 for example, it is a small metal Rocket Pistol called the “Wilma” version, which is only 7-1/2 inches
long.
But the XZ-36 had a leather holster! Nice!
The Buck Rogers ray guns came back after WWII in 1945-46, with two more models being released.
For the complete breakdown and details on every model, check out this page.
If you find one in your grandpa’s collection, take good care of it! It’s a rare find that was the absolute hottest toy a
boy could have wished for in the mid-1930s.
You may recognize them as the gun on the Foo Fighters first album cover.
Baby Dolls from the 1930s
If there’s anything a little girl wanted for Christmas in the 1930s, #1 on her list would have been a baby doll or a little
girl doll.
My grandma still has all the old dolls she had as a kid and let me tell you, those things are unbelievably valuable
now.
Dolls ranged anywhere from the cheap to the extravagant and the focus was always on the sleepy eyes, the strong
composite body and being as lifelike as possible. Some were small — around 9 inches — while others stood a
towering 27 inches.
But how was a girl to choose? She had too many options! Check out the different types of dolls a girl had to choose
from the 1930s catalogs!
See How Big I Am
1933 Doll, 27-inches tall
She’s 27 inches tall — almost as tall as the happy girls who played with her. She has gorgeous long curls, beautiful
blue eyes and real eyelashes.
She sleeps and talks. She wears a green organdy dress with matching green hair ribbon, undergarment, socks and
slippers. Strong stuffed body made of composite. Sold for $3.45 in 1933.
Big, Yet Beautiful. Prettily dressed, too!
Here are some of the features thrown at you in various marketing materials from the 1930s:
Beautiful and unbelievably big, sleeping dolls of fine quality materials. More correctly proportioned than the usual
low priced dolls even though larger, because better parts are used. Big, wistful, sleeping eyes and long lustrous
lashes (except model #49V3016 has no voice). Soft crying voices (except model #49V3017 has no voice). Rosebud
mouth; tongue, pearly teeth.
New full cut dresses, smartly styled by Anne Williams. jaunty bonnets and undies in matching colors. Sprayed,
waterproofed, pink tinted enameled composition head, arms and legs. More life-like features than those found in
other dolls!
“I’m so proud of my furry outfit!”
Vintage 26 Inch Baby Doll (1937)
For the first time, a 17-inch composition doll with “furry” plush ensemble. Pretty white soft, cotton plush. Cossack
style hat, coat muff and Organdy frock. Undies, cotton socks, imitation leather shoes, dainty mouth, teeth, tongue,
sleeping eyes, long lashes, turning, tilting head, long slim legs and inside jointed arms. Model # 49V3017 Sold for 95
cents in 1937.
“Mama says I’m very big for my age!”
At 20-inches tall, she is the biggest value in the doll line! Modeled curly hair is painted to look real. She has go-tosleep eyes. Her chubby arms and legs are curved and dimpled and inside jointed (the better way). She is clothed in
a dainty lace trimmed organdy dress, silk ribbon tied bonnet, slip, rubber undies, white socks and shoes. Model #
49V3114 Sold for 95 cents in 1937.
“Big, why I’m 19 inches tall!”
Such quality, daintiness and beauty is hard to match for under $2! beautiful long curl mohair wig, sewed on, not
pasted. Go-to-sleep eyes and a crying voice. She wears a dainty printed ruffled organdy dress. She has a double
ruffle organdy bonnet, with a tied ribbon. She comes with white undies, socks and shoes. her long, graceful legs and
inside jointed arms are composition. Model # 49V3016 Sold for 95 cents in 1937.
There were also smaller dolls that cost less. There were also 14 1/2 inch composition dolls that girls could buy for 49
cents. There were even smaller, 9 1/2 inch baby dolls that you could buy for 25 cents.
It was common back then to call African American dolls “Topsy Dolls.” They were sold to girls right alongside the
Caucasian dolls.
Here’s another tempting offer from the 1937 catalogs:
Regular $3.00 value! For $1.98! All composition, 27 inches tall, big, lovely, standing, well dressed at a new low
price. She’s wearing an Organdy dress with organdy pointed collar, elastic puffed sleeves and matching bonnet.
Complete with undies, cotton socks, tied imitation leather, buckle shoes. Wistful, long lashes. She has a mohair wig
(but unfortunately it couldn’t be combed or brushed) and slim legs.
Jane Withers Doll (1937)
Or how about a different doll? This one wasn’t just one of the usual “25 or 26-inch” or “Big as a 6-month baby” dolls
with extra long, out of proportion bodies and too small head, arms and legs. She really is 26-inches tall and
properly proportioned She had big, appealing, sleeping eyes with long, real lashes and can also cry! Her skin is
double sprayed and expertly flesh tinted to give it that perfect human finish.
The perfect baby face has her mouth open just enough to tiny p early teeth that glisten and a little pink tongue. She
can turn her head, hold up her full-length arms because they are inside jointed.
She was dressed in a lovely full cut, ruffled organdy dress, trimmed with the finest quality lace, with lace trimmed
bonnet to match. Model # 79V3150 sold for $1.98 in 1937.
Jane Withers Dolls
Then came the really expensive, premium dolls made by designers like Madame Alexander. These sold for between
$2-5.
In the 1937, the lovable Jane Withers of the movies was created into a laughing, adorable human looking doll. She
had brown ringlets and bangs in her mohair wig. She was a De Luxe model, composition inside jointed arms and
long, slim legs. It came with gold plated name pin and a Jane Withers photo. There were four different models that
ranged from 13 1/2-inches to 20-inches.
Dionne Quints
Every little girl wanted a Dionne quint that could say “Mama” as well as sleep. Soft cotton stuffed babies made of
hard to break composition. She also came with go-to-sleep eyes, curly dark brown hair, tied with a silk ribbon rosette
and bandeau. Gold plated name pin and Quint booklet. There were five varieties: Yvonne, Marie, Cecile, Emilie and
Annette.
Obviously some of the most popular dolls in the 1930s were Shirley Temple dolls. We’re not really going to cover
them here because they are going to get their own page.
But while we’re on the subject, we can’t forget about the Paratex Sally Jane doll. She won’t break! She’s hard rubber
(Paratex) which manufacturers claimed wouldn’t crack, chip or peel. She also came with a real human hair wig. She
came in two sizes: the 15-inch model and the 19-inch model.
Die Cut Stock Farm Playset with Barn (1937)
Thanks to new discoveries in wood fiber, the 1937 farm playset was thicker and more durable than ever before. It
came with 64 pieces.
The farm playset offered features such as a round, Gothic-style roof barn with dormer windows, large 4-wing barn
door that actually opens and cut out windows on front and back wall. It also had a roomy feed conveyor that was
quick and easy to set up. All you needed was a piece of string to fasten to a pole and side of the barn. It also came
with extra large stanchions.
The barn had a green roof. It was 16 1/4 inches long, 14 3/4 inches high to the top of the windmill. It ws beautifully
colored in red and black and white trim, on a stone effect foundation. The back wall on the inside was decorated too.
The ends and bottom were made of heavy wood and the sides and roof were made of the “new” 3-ply wood center
fiber board.
The set included 44 practically unbreakable 3-ply wood center people, animals and other familiar farm articles cut
out true-to-shape. They are printed on both sides and all have stands.
It has a 10-piece interlocking cardboard fence that was about 6-feet long. It came with two 10-inch colored silos and
a feed trough. The set includes a chicken coop, open tool shed, and others. The figures do not crack like cardboard.
This farm set cost 98 cents in 1937. It now sells on ebay for about $100.
ANNUAL INCOME 1932-1934
Airline Pilot $8,000
Airline Stewardess $1,500
Bus Driver $1,373
Construction Worker $907
Dentist $2,391
Department Store Model $936
Doctor $3,382
Dressmaker $780
Electrical Worker $1,559
Engineer $2,520
Hired Farm Hand $216
Lawyer $4,218
Public School Teacher $1,227
Railroad Executive $5,064
Registered Nurse $936
Secretary $1,040
Steel Worker $423
United States Congressman $8,663
Waiters $520
Average salary $1,368
Clothing
Belt $1.00
Boots, Calfskin riding $10.00
Coat, Cloth $6.98
Coat, Dress $6.75
Coat, Leopard $92.00
Coat, Mink $585.00
Dress, fair (full body) $3.00
Dress, good (full body) $10.00
Dress, Wool $1.95
Jacket, Rugged Leather $17.00
Pants, fine $3.00
Pants, work $1.25
Set, Heavy Clothes $5.00
Set, Fine Clothes $10.00
Shirt $.69
Shoes, Leather $1.79
Silk necktie $.79
Suit, fine $32.00
Suit, Tuxedo $25.00
Sweater, Wool $1.69
Personal Effects
Backpack, cloth $2.00
Backpack, leather $6.00
Pearls $35.00
Perfume, per ounce $1.00
Purse $1.00
Wallet
Watch
Watch
Watch
$2.00
(wrist / nice) $22.00
(wrist / average) $5.00
(Pocket/ nice) $10.00
Housing/Lodging
Farm & 6 room house $4,250
Italian villa, 12 rooms $17,000
Sears Homes "Kit", 6 rooms $2,800
Silver Cloud travel trailer $695
3-room apartment, $15 a month
Hotel, Waldorf Astoria (NYC), $5-$10/night
Food
Apples (per lb) $.03
Bacon (per lb) $.22
Bananas (per lb.) $.15
Bread (20 oz loaf) $.05
Butter (per lb) $.28
Cheese (per lb) $.24
Chicken (per lb) $.22
Cornflakes (8oz package) $.08
Eggs (per dozen) $.29
Ham (per lb) $.31
Hamburger (per lb) $.10
Hershey chocolate bar $.04
Travel
Meal, breakfast $.25
Meal, lunch $.50
Meal, dinner $.75
Milk (per qt) $.10
Onions (per lb.) $.03
Oranges (per dozen) $.27
Pork chops (per lb) $.20
Potatoes (per lb.) $.01
Rice (per lb.) $.06
Salmon (16 oz can) $.19
Sugar (per lb.) $.05
Wrigley's Doublemint gum $.03
Air, NY to Chicago $ 86.31
Air, Chicago to LA $207.00
Rail, Chicago to San Fran $ 80.50
Rail, 50 mile monthly pass $10.39
Sea, European 2 month cruise $495.00
Sea, Bermudan 10 day cruise $110.00
Sea, Around the world, 3 mo $749.00
Sea, San Fran to Hawaii $220.00
Sea, NY to San Fran via Panama $120.00
Hindenburg, TransAtlantic $720.00