Popular culture in the 1930s

Question 1

How did car ownership help broaden people’s horizons and aspirations?

Answer 1

Travel to visit sports venues, cinemas, and shopping centres. Could travel further than their parents and grandparents ever did.

Question 2

How did radios help people’s horizons and aspirations?

Answer 2

By 1939 28 million homes had a radio, it encouraged buying, coming together as a family listening to comedies (Jack Benny) or dramas (soap operas) or sporting events

Question 3

How were radios funded?

Answer 3

Commercial radio (money from adverts), lots of local stations but also national ones such as NBC and CBS

Question 4

What happened to sports in 1930s?

Answer 4

• Popularity increased
• people now travelled to watch their teams (e.g. Baseball)
• some teams became famous beyond the USA (e.g. Harlem Globetrotters)
• some stadiums gave free admission to women to encourage family attendance
• or fans listened on the radio

Question 5

What medium continued to have the biggest impact on 1930s American life?

Answer 5

The cinema (1920s silent films now replaced by talkies)

Question 6

Name some dancing Hollywood stars of the 1930s?

Answer 6

Ginger Rogers

Fred Astaire

Question 7

Why might upbeat, dancing films such as ‘Swing Time’ have appealed to Americans?

Answer 7

After effects of the depression many did want to ‘pick themselves up’ and move on

Question 8

What John Steinbeck novel was made into a famous film in 1940 and why was it popular?

Answer 8

The Grapes of Wrath - reflected the hard time of the 1930s (families being evicted from their Oklahoma farms- it reflected many people’s experiences)