1. 1930’s POP CULTURE

2. Movies Gone With the Wind King Kong Frankenstein The Wizard of Oz
Mutiny on the Bounty

3. Movie Stars Clark Gable Erroll Flynn Judy Garland Humphrey Bogart
Shirley Temple

4. Movie Starlets Greta Garbo Jean Harlow Carole Lombard Marlene Dietrich
“The Blonde Bombshell”
Carole Lombard
Marlene Dietrich
Claudette Colbert
Fay Wray
Mae West

5. Cartoons/Comics Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs Bugs Bunny (1937)
The first full-length animated film
Bugs Bunny (1937)
Superman

6. Radio Programs
Radio programs were at the height of their popularity during the 30’s. Families would gather around the radio to enjoy weekly programs, soap operas, and catch the latest news.
Popular programs included:
Burns & Allen
Amos n’ Andy
The Lone Ranger
FDR’s “Fireside Chats”

7. War of the Worlds (1938)
This radio drama about an alien invasion was written to sound like a newscast.
It was broadcast as a prank on Halloween , narrated by the famous actor Orson Welles.
Many Americans believed it was a real event taking place and there was a nationwide panic!
Over a million people thought it was real
Rebroadcasts in later years were required to say that this was a work of fiction
Play from16:40- 18:05

8. Music Swing & Big Band Music were hot!
Benny Goodman
Duke Ellington
Glenn Miller
Tommy Dorsey
The Star Spangled Banner became our national anthem in 1931
God Bless America was also popularized during the 30’s

9. Literature The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Ulysses (James Joyce)
And, of course, more uplifting fare from Hemingway & Fitzgerald

10. Fads Stamp collecting (popularized by FDR) Swing dancing Monopoly
Stickball
Betty Boop
Gambling

11. Sports 1936 Olympics- Hosted by the Nazis in Berlin
The Germans expected their “racially superior” super athletes would trounce the competition
Jesse Owens of the United States won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics He won gold in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and the long jump. Hitler couldn’t believe his Aryans were beaten by a black man, and refused to attend the medal ceremony
Heisman Trophy- First awarded in It is given annually to the most outstanding athlete in college football
The New York Yankees dominated the 1930's winning 5 World Series Titles (5 pennants). They finished in second place 4 times, and 3rd place once.
For major athletes, check out

12. Fashion Men Zoot suits High-waisted pants Sweater vests Hats Zippers
Women
Print dresses with a fitted waistline
Longer hemlines
Clothes inspired by Hollywood starlets
Furs
Velvet

13. Lindbergh baby kidnapping
Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son was kidnapped from the family's mansion on March 1, 1932.
The Lindberghs discovered a ransom note demanding $50,000 in their son's empty room. The kidnapper used a ladder to climb up to the open second-floor window and left muddy footprints in the room.
The case became an international sensation. The Lindberghs were flooded by offers of assistance and false clues. Even Al Capone offered his help from prison.
The kidnappers eventually gave instructions for dropping off the money and when it was delivered, the Lindberghs were told their baby was on a boat called off the coast of Massachusetts. After an exhaustive search, however, there was no sign of either the boat or the child.
Soon after, the baby's body was discovered near the Lindbergh mansion. He had been killed the night of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile from home.
Eventually, a German immigrant named Bruno Hauptmann was accused of the crime convicted, and executed (although the evidence wasn’t incredibly solid)

14. Marian Anderson (Constitution Hall 1939)
Anderson was a popular African-American singer
She toured Europe and even sang at the White House in 1936
The D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution) would not permit her to perform at Constitution Hall in D.C. because it was a “white’s only” venue
Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization in protest
Anderson would instead have the opportunity to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday before a crowd of 75,000 (plus radio listeners)
This concert, and the events surrounding her, were part of the foundations of the Civil Rights Movement

15. The Hindenburg
The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.
Of the 97 people on board (36 passengers, 61 crew), there were 35 fatalities; there was also one death among the ground crew.

16. Empire State Building
In 1931, construction was completed on the Empire State Building in NYC
At the time, it was the world’s tallest building, standing 1454 feet tall (102 stories)
It would hold the record until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972