1930s ??????????

[31 Model A]

My inquisitive mind is working today.

I love the 30s, not just the cars that were produce but the music, fashion, baseball, IMO, it was the Golden Age of everything, 'ex'cluding the Depression Years. The ladies were gorgeous and I'm well experienced with gorgeous ladies.

Who here adds to their Model A collecting/preservation/restoration by adding the above 30s era interest? I know a few here do but..............?

Right now I'm listening to an actual recording of game 1 of the 1934 World Series between St Louis and Detroit, Dizzy Dean is on the mound. Hank Greenberg out, ending the 1st Inning.

The game is sponsored by.....................Ford Motor Company.

[Joe K]

Despite a depression - the 30s had a lot to recommend.

Machinery was new and user serviceable - well maybe not the vacuum tube radios which for most were glowing hot miracles in a wooden box which brought them the world.

It was a "man's" world for sure. Well, take that with a grain of salt. Men were the breadwinners and women were the breadmakers. A different "conserving" role for women while men were expected to "pull out the stops" for their employer.

Employers demanded more of their workers in those days. Job security was nil to none (sort of like today) and social back-up was a soup line. (Despite good marketing from the political arena - this hasn't changed much - one gets to choose their food from a different breadline now.)

And yet I think employers CARED more for their people AS people. One's boss was not only a boss, he was a mentor. It was not unusual for someone to be hired - and then follow their supervisor until finally they replaced the supervisor when he retired - at 70 plus.

Then as a supervisor you did what you did because it was RIGHT. Today supervisors do what they do because it is POLICY. And today policy can (and frequently does) change for the worse. (Thinking here of being bumped from 10 years service to 15 years service to achieve 4 weeks vacation.) Right hasn't changed so much for good employers, or employees in the meanwhile. But supervisors get a lot less discretion today, both in addressing the non-productive as well as the exemplary.

Mom was mostly home with the kids. Society had derived from a farming experience (most 1930 adults had been associated with farming in their developmental years) and Mom simply worked at home. Not much labor saving appliances then either.

But it was sort of understood by society that Moms have a contributing role to the quality of future people. And there was general interest to improve that quality. Unlike today where the raison de choice for a good child pre-school is does it offer babysitting after the school day is done?

Would I trade my present life for a similar life in 1930? Probably not because I would be dead having survived a heart attack via angioplasty back about 15 years ago.

Less commute. Less hassle. Less pressure. More privacy. More physical activity. Maybe the heart attack might not have occurred?

Joe K

[H. L. Chauvin]

I'm sure many on this Forum heard lots of stories years ago about the 1930's.

FWIW, just a few:

1. While working in Detroit in mid 1960's, met a Ford worker gentleman who was thankful he worked for Ford because he said Detroit was the very first to have large endless soup lines for laid off guys who worked for the more expensive car manufacturers & suppliers of expensive accessory parts.

2. My mother commented the cheapest thing for lunch in a city was a five cents plain fried egg sandwich bought through a window from a hole in the wall restaurant. She commented about businessmen wearing suits who stood on neutral grounds in cities selling nickel apples from a crate trying to pick up a few nickels ...... some sold pencils, (2) for a penny, from a box of a gross of pencils. Many men & women began rolling cigarettes in lieu of buying "ready rolls". Lots of mending of clothes, hats, & shoes -- sewing machines were well used -- people even bought half priced day-old stale bread, hard as a rock, prior to bakers adding Government required bread preservatives.

3. Also heard a city judge on the radio commenting in about 1970 why he sent so many juveniles to detention facilities for stealing. He said that almost no looting went on in the 1930's -- e.g., at night, vegetables & fruits were covered in front of city stores with loose canvass & even though people were hungry, they would not steal because deep down they just knew it was wrong.

4. My Dad said he witnessed people in suits selling life insurance policies on city neutral grounds during lunch hour for five cents .... with small print on the back side. After reading the fine print he told the insurance salesman it appeared if one wanted to collect on this five cents life insurance policy, one would have to die exactly at midnight on an Easter Sunday night, after being struck by lightening in the top of the east side of a persimmon tree -- he said the guy selling these policies instead of smiling began crying, so he gave him a nickel for a life insurance policy.

5. All in all, it was reported that there was lots of voluntary sharing, people caring for one another & willing to lend a helping hand, lots of parties at people's houses ...... very similar to the often told stories we heard of when our first frontier settler ancestors came to America with nothing.

Appears our attitudes are important all day, every day.

[newshirt]

My new 1930 GE oscillating fan:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=...type=3&theater

[mshmodela]

Going to say you might enjoy "The Road to Perdition" a great film that takes place in 1931...

[31 Model A]

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Originally Posted by mshmodela

Going to say you might enjoy "The Road to Perdition" a great film that takes place in 1931...

Got it!!!!! Great movie, Tom Hanks, Jude Law and Paul Newman.....can't go wrong there.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by 31 Model A

Who here adds to their Model A collecting/preservation/restoration by adding the above 30s era interest? I know a few here do but..............?

.

I do. I don't have a Model A--I own and drive a 1937 Ford De Luxe Fordor. When I work on it, I sometimes listen to era music--Chick Webb, Count Basie, etc. I have a degree in history and I have been interested in the 1930s since I was a young boy. I watch 1930s and 1940s films on TCM. Additionally, I have read scores of 1930s newspapers and periodicals. 1940s too. The most modern Ford component on my car is a 1941 Generator and VR. My car is a 1930s Time Machine.

[CarlG]

My wife has a bunch of '30s music on her MP3 player that she stashes out of site and plays in my Pickup when we have shows.

[Bruce Adams]

Get a set of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries DVDs. This 2013-2014 series took place in Melbourne, 1928 and is period correct and she not only is easy to look at, but wears about ten different ensembles each episode. I first watched it on PBS-TV from New York, then I ordered the two 13 episode series free from the public library on loan.
Cars, life styles, and outfits are spot-on !

[31 Model A]

Game 1, 1934 World Series

St Louis 8
Detroit 3

[1930artdeco]

Besides my car, I live in a house built in 1940, wear era clothes, use an era pencil (until I can get a era pen), listen to era music and watch era movies. etc. etc. I even had a guy come up to me and offer to sell me a NOS fedora (7 3/8) which I accepted of course.

Mike

[ModAfan]

"Who here adds to their Model A collecting/preservation/restoration by adding the above 30s era interest? I know a few here do but..............?"

Another hobby of mine is the repair and restoration of table radios (not consoles - too heavy) from the 1920s, '30s and 40s. Which sometimes seems like a fool's errand because there is so little to listen to on AM radio these days. We are blessed in Boston with an AM station that plays music from that era 24/7 - with no commercials. If that station goes away, my hobby will likely go with it.

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

I'm sure many on this Forum heard lots of stories years ago about the 1930's.

FWIW, just a few:

1. While working in Detroit in mid 1960's, met a Ford worker gentleman who was thankful he worked for Ford because he said Detroit was the very first to have large endless soup lines for laid off guys who worked for the more expensive car manufacturers & suppliers of expensive accessory parts.

2. My mother commented the cheapest thing for lunch in a city was a five cents plain fried egg sandwich bought through a window from a hole in the wall restaurant. She commented about businessmen wearing suits who stood on neutral grounds in cities selling nickel apples from a crate trying to pick up a few nickels ...... some sold pencils, (2) for a penny, from a box of a gross of pencils. Many men & women began rolling cigarettes in lieu of buying "ready rolls". Lots of mending of clothes, hats, & shoes -- sewing machines were well used -- people even bought half priced day-old stale bread, hard as a rock, prior to bakers adding Government required bread preservatives.

3. Also heard a city judge on the radio commenting in about 1970 why he sent so many juveniles to detention facilities for stealing. He said that almost no looting went on in the 1930's -- e.g., at night, vegetables & fruits were covered in front of city stores with loose canvass & even though people were hungry, they would not steal because deep down they just knew it was wrong.

4. My Dad said he witnessed people in suits selling life insurance policies on city neutral grounds during lunch hour for five cents .... with small print on the back side. After reading the fine print he told the insurance salesman it appeared if one wanted to collect on this five cents life insurance policy, one would have to die exactly at midnight on an Easter Sunday night, after being struck by lightening in the top of the east side of a persimmon tree -- he said the guy selling these policies instead of smiling began crying, so he gave him a nickel for a life insurance policy.

5. All in all, it was reported that there was lots of voluntary sharing, people caring for one another & willing to lend a helping hand, lots of parties at people's houses ...... very similar to the often told stories we heard of when our first frontier settler ancestors came to America with nothing.

Appears our attitudes are important all day, every day.

I'm real glad that it was all before my time. The only thing that I am interested about in that time frame is the cars. Primarily the model A's and flathead Fords. Almost forgot, they had some real purty Studebakers also.

[darrylkmc]

The Blues, traditional

Check out this Martin Scorsese production:

The Blues: The Soul of a Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM3e...TbHgJN&index=2

Lots of good music, history and a few Model A's thrown in to boot.

Darryl in Fairbanks
A pleasant +9

[1930artdeco]

Just o what I am doing. I bought a transmitter to convert FM/cd to AM so I can listen to the old radio shows and music on the AM band. I think it is a good way to adapt modern tech to older tech to keep the old radios a viable option.

Mike

Originally Posted by ModAfan

"Who here adds to their Model A collecting/preservation/restoration by adding the above 30s era interest? I know a few here do but..............?"

Another hobby of mine is the repair and restoration of table radios (not consoles - too heavy) from the 1920s, '30s and 40s. Which sometimes seems like a fool's errand because there is so little to listen to on AM radio these days. We are blessed in Boston with an AM station that plays music from that era 24/7 - with no commercials. If that station goes away, my hobby will likely go with it.

[mshmodela]

My Grandfather who was in his 30's in the 1930s and had 4 kids during that time lived in his home from then until his passing in the late 1990s. As a kid my Father and I would visit him and he would always have a garden in his backyard. I noticed in his garage a bunch of garbage cans stacked up 3 high and asked my Dad what was up with that? He said his Dad would filter out his motor oil has in the depression and the war it was not easy to get. He continued the practice of recycling his motor oil all his life and had a 36' Dodge, a 56' Chevy which he drove until he could no longer drive... Life was surely different living in the depression.

[crock]

Originally Posted by newshirt

my new 1930 ge oscillating fan:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=...type=3&theater

i have one just like yours. Was in my uncles barber shop. Talk about a finger chopper, that fan could take your arm off!

[bikejunk]

Always thought the model A really represented the 30's better than any car , really the everymans car you see them in photos of the poorest of poor Hoover vills and you see them jazzed up on the streets of LA and New York. I also live in a 1930's style house and listen to every thing from Hellen Cane to early Mills brothers. the 30's rock

my Dad said everybody was poor so it didnt mater.

[Joe K]

Grandpa was a lawyer in the 1930s. A man of station is the best descriptive to call him. Assistant Prosecutor for the State of Massachusetts in the Sacco-Vanzetti case among other notable trials. Dad remembered going out in the early 1930s with Grandpa to see the bombed juror's house which was intended to sway the jury decision.

Prohibition was a challenge then - and - as you might expect, Grandpa appreciated a steady supply, which given his station in life he had no problem to arrange.

Dad used to tell of a delivery of alcohol to Grandpa. The man came dressed as a policeman and pushing a baby carriage.

I don't think things have changed much in 80 years. Just a different policeman and a different drug of choice.

Joe K

[Tony S,Fl.]

Well I lived it to a T. I hit the first grade in 1931. Born in 1924. We just grew into it. The depression hit my dad in 31. He was a painter at Fisher Body. Lost our home. He owed 500.00 dollars and couldn't make the payments so we rented. Would go to the nearest fire station with a wagon and a big pot. The firemen would fill the pot with soup probably 4 gallons a bag of rice and powered milk. There were 4 kids and mom and pop. Dad got a job on the WPA and we ate a little better. We played baseball. Pick handle for a bat and A sock filled with rags and a rock in the center. Never locked our doors , no key. I could go on and on. WW2 made big big difference in our life. Dad got a good job and I got drafted. Boy 3 good meals a day. What a life. Thanks for reading. Bought my first 1929 Model a 11 years old with 43000 miles on it. Paid 65 dollars for it. Tony