Pop Culture of the 1930s

What Happened During the 1930s? The 1930s was a difficult time for Americans, but this was a golden era for the arts and culture. What will we discuss? Fashion Film Radio Music Dance Art But first... What did the 1930s think the 2000s would look like?

1930s Fashion The most visible change between 20s and 30s fashion can be seen in: The mild increase in “restraint” (fashion choices a bit less sensational or risque) Artfulness in sleeves (cap sleeves, butterfly sleeves, banjo sleeves) Shoulder pads for both men and women The zoot suit gained much greater popularity among men

1930s Film By the end of the 1930s, close to 65% (75m people) of the United States would attend the movies once a week. Movies varied in genre in a similar fashion to modern day box office hits. “Talkies” saw an end to an era of silent films (such as works from Charlie Chaplin) and led to a new rise of Hollywood stars… Movie stars were celebrated for their artistry in film. Some of the more prominent included: Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Gone With The Wind Scarlett Meets Rhett

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQZ6zzLpoNQ

Somewhere Over the Rainbow The Wizard of Oz Somewhere Over the Rainbow Dorothy Lands in Oz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D8PAGelN8

Frankenstein "It's Alive!"

1930s Radio, Music and Dance During the 1930s, radio sales increased even beyond 1920s levels 90% of all households in the United States had at least one radio by the end of the decade Outside of President Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats”, radio programs often drew large audiences and several stars rise from radio fame to become television stars in the 40s and 50s. Music Blues and country music continue to be popular, and unlike other examples of 30s pop culture, it tended to reflect the realities of the 30s. Willie Walker – Dupree Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Qa2ICfu5M Bessie Smith – Empty Bed Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BsIntS_Io4 Woody Guthrie – The Great Dust Storm Disaster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvI7BmuUBXU Swing music (upbeat, evolved jazz) becomes very popular during the 1930s The 1920s dance crazes evolved and swing dancing emerged. Swing dancing involves more elaborate moves and combination dances than the dance trends of the 20s. Duke Ellington and his band at the Savoy Ballroom, Harlem (1933) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zbUcp9vcR8 “Hellzapoppin” (1941) – The Lindy Hop becomes “swing dancing”! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkthxBsIeGQ

War of the Worlds October 30th, 1938: Orson Welles takes to the radio waves with a breaking report that extraterrestrial beings had made contact with planet earth. CBS radio and Welles begin to tell their story… "It is reported that at 8:50 p.m. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton." Welles then speaks to Carl Phillips via the telephone wherein Phillips reports the following: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. . . . Wait a minute! Someone's crawling. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . . good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another one, and another one. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing's body. It's large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face, it . . . ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it's so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate.”

War of the Worlds “A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What's that? There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on! Good Lord, they're turning into flame! Now the whole field's caught fire. The woods . . . the barns . . . the gas tanks of automobiles . . it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right… “Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been handed a message that came in from Grovers Mill by telephone. Just one moment please. At least forty people, including six state troopers, lie dead in a field east of the village of Grovers Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition… “Citizens of the nation: I shall not try to conceal the gravity of the situation that confronts the country, nor the concern of your government in protecting the lives and property of its people. . . . we must continue the performance of our duties each and every one of us, so that we may confront this destructive adversary with a nation united, courageous, and consecrated to the preservation of human supremacy on this earth.” What many did not hear, as they tuned in late to the program, was that this was only a reconstructed script of H.G. Wells novel, War of the Worlds…

War of the Worlds Broadcast by Orson Welles

Public Art and Culture Federal Writers Project Literature Theater National cultural resources and heritage: Oral histories of slavery, interviews with Civil War veterans, folk lore, Native American stories, accounts of the Mexican Revolution, stories about cowboys, frontier life, etc.

1930s Art Many New Deal programs, mainly the Works Progress Administration, sought to depict the realities of the Depression through federal funding. Outside of realistic depictions of life during the 1930s, many artists also sought to inspire Americans and lift their spirits.

Federal Theatre Project

WPA Posters

Travel through the West