1930s
The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression.
The decade started off economically unsteady, with the stock market dropping early in 1930. However, late in 1930, stocks and the economy dropped more, and this time it didn't get better. People began to feel the effects of the plunging stock market in 1931, and the situation grew progressively worse until reaching the low point in 1933. The gloomy conditions that arose led to a religious revival and the rise of conservatism that rejected the liberalism of the 1920s, which began to be viewed as a decade of "sin." After 1933, the economy began a gradual recovery which wouldn't reach the level of prosperity of 1930 until World War II. In both Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism dominated as the solution, which adopted war-oriented economic policies, such as Stalin's Five Year Plans, all of them described as totalitarian regimes. In East Asia, the rise of militarism occurred.
In Western Europe, Australia and the United States, more progressive reforms occurred as opposed to the extreme measures sought elsewhere. Roosevelt's New Deal attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemployment and severely negative growth. Ultimately, it would be the beginning of World War II in 1939 that would end the depression.
Technology
Many technological advances occurred in the 1930s, including:
- The world's tallest building (for the next 57 years) was constructed, opening as the Empire State Building on May 3, 1932 in New York;
- On March 8, 1931, the first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye were sold in Ringfield, Massachusetts, USA.
- Ub Iwerks produced the first Color Sound Cartoon in 1930, a Flip the Frog cartoon entitled: "Sticks";
- In 1930, Warner Brothers released the first All-Talking All-Color wide-screen movie, Song of the Flame; in 1930 alone, Warner Brothers released ten All-Color All-Talking feature movies in Technicolor and scores of shorts and features with color sequences;
- Air mail service across the Atlantic Ocean began;
- Radar was invented, known as RDF (Radio Direction Finding), such as in British Patent GB593017 by Robert Watt in 1938;
- The first BBC television broadcast occurred;
- In 1933, the 3M company marketed Scotch Tape; and
- In 1934, RCA Victor introduced the first long-playing phonograph record.
Science
War, peace and politics
Literature and Art
- W. H. Auden publishes Poems.
- Zora Neale Hurston publishes Their Eyes Were Watching God.
- Aldous Huxley publishes Brave New World.
- The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is set in this time frame.
- One of the pioneering hardboiled crime fictions, The Big Sleep written by Raymond Chandler, is both set and published in this time frame.
- In the art of film making, the Golden Age of Hollywood entered a whole decade, after the advent of talking pictures ("talkies") in 1927 and full-color films in 1930: more than 50 classic films were made in the 1930s:
Popular Culture
- Radio becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations
- "Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
- First intercontinental commercial airline flights
- Height of the Art Deco movement in North America and western Europe.
- The film The Wizard of Oz immortalized tornadoes, songs (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), the characters, and "Toto" too.
- "Swing" music starts becoming popular (from 1935 onward). It gradually replaces the sweet form of Jazz that had been popular for the first half of the decade.
- The Golden Age of American animation: Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and Mickey Mouse series, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film); Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper; Walter Lantz's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; Fleischer Studios' Talkartoons, Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor; Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies; Charles B. Mintz's Scrappy.
- Popular newspaper comic strips include The Phantom, Terry and the Pirates, and Thimble Theater (featuring Popeye the Sailor).
- Collections of reprinted comic strips evolve into modern comic books, and costumed pulp heroes lead to the creation of the superhero genre. The Golden Age of Comic Books begins with Superman's debut in Action Comics #1.
- Russ Columbo, one of the most popular singers of the decade, accidentally dies in 1934.
- Triumph of the Will
- Belgian cartoonist Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.
Others
People
World leaders
Entertainers
(ordered by first name)
- Abe Lyman, Al Jolson
- Arthur Tracy
- Barbara Stanwyck, Bebe Daniels, Bela Lugosi
- Belle Baker, Ben Bernie
- Ben Lyon, Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, Boris Karloff
- Carl Stuart Hamblen, Carole Lombard, Clara Bow
- Dick Powell, Duke Ellington
- Eddie Cantor, Edmund Lowe, Edward Everett Horton, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn
- Fay Wray,Frank Fay, Fred Astaire, Fred Rich
- George Arliss, George Raft, Ginger Rogers, Glenda Farrell
- George Burns and Gracie Allen, Gus Arnheim
- Harold Lloyd, Harry Reser,
- Jack Buchanan, Jack Benny, James Cagney, Jean Harlow
- Jeanette MacDonald,Jereme Steele, Joan Blondell, Joe E. Brown, John Boles
- Judy Garland
- Kate Smith, Katharine Hepburn
- Lee Tracy, Leo Reisman, Lon Chaney, Louis Armstrong
- The Marx Brothers, Maurice Chevalier, Miriam Hopkins, Morton Downey
- The Nicholas Brothers,Nick Lucas, Noah Beery
- Paul Whiteman,
- Ramon Novarro, Ricardo Cortez, Richard Barthelmess
- Ronald Colman, Rudy Vallee, Russ Columbo, Ruth Etting
- Thelma Todd
- Shirley Temple, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy
- Warner Baxter, Warren Williams, Wayne King, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers
- Will Rogers, William Haines, William Powell
- Winnie Lightner, Vincent Lopez
Sports figures
British Commonwealth
United States
External links