What were some activities people did in the 1930's?

Question

Please help!

Answer 1

We went to movies. The movie theaters changed the movie every week in many cities. It was a nickle to get in. There were a lot of serials where you had to go back every week to find out what happened. This was particularly true of westerns. The saying, "a cliff hanger" comes from those days... they'd end an episode with the hero hanging off a cliff or in some other danger. You had to come back the next week to find out what happened.

There were radio shows which were followed closely. During the day time, there were soap operas. They were sponsored by soap companies and were very melodramatic. That's how the name "soap opera" came about. There were regular series like the Lone Ranger, comedies and music shows with live orchestras and singers. Frank Sinatra was on the radio. Jack Benny and George Burns each had their own comedy shows. In 1930, one of the questions on the census was if the family owned a radio. Not everyone did so neighbors would gather to listen to a show together.

Dominos and other games were popular. Card games were a big part of people's entertainment. You'd play cards in the evenings. I have a very hard way to play Canasta which developed in the 1930's. A group of ladies I knew got bored with it, night after night, and began adding more rules to make it more complicated. It's a real monster now. lol

There were a lot of fairs. County fairs were a big event. There were often other, smaller, fairs and everybody went.

Most people didn't own a car, but there were street cars in most towns of any size. Quite often there were street cars that went from one smaller town to another. These were called the "inter-urban". On a weekend, you could take the interurban for a nickle and go to the next town just for a change of scenery.

People sat around with each other and talked. There wasn't any air conditioning, so people sat out in their yards or on the porch in the summer. People took walks for entertainment and would stop to talk to people along the way. Lots of ladies would sit out in the evening doing their "hand work" which was making quilt squares, knitting, or crochet. I was a child, but used to go sit with a group of neighbor ladies who'd been born during the Civil War. They were in their 70's or 80's, and they sat out and quilted during the evening. I learned to quilt from them.

In some smaller towns, particularly in the South, people would gather in the town square in the evening. Usually the courthouse was right in the middle and there were streets going around it, forming a square. The important stores would all be on the square. Some towns, the stores on the square stayed open late on Saturday night so the farmers could get in to shop. Everything was closed on Sunday and during the weekdays things closed early, compared to now. The courthouse would have benches for people to sit and usually was very park like. Whole families would go down there, maybe buy an ice cream or other treat, and sit in the square. Some places the young men might have a guitar and a fiddle and provide some music. Other times, the town would organize music in the park for free. If the town had a band, the town band would play.

I hope this trip down memory lane for me has helped you.

Answer 2

During the 1930's most of the U.S. and the world were in the great depression. This caused people to stay at home and not participate in many activities.

Answer 3

Radio was big then. The family would gather around the radio
and listen to music- and also there was live actors that would act out a story.
Radio was always live. The music is live.

Answer 4

little money as most people did not have a job. Radio was big (but not everyone had it) and movies were big as well. Lots of people went to socials (local dances). Some went to Speakeasies (prohibition made drinking illegal). Books, reading, plays.

Answer 5

They listened to programs on the radio at night much like tv programs but without the pictures.

Answer 6

There weren't alot of places to shop.

Many people grew their own food, made their own clothes.
There weren't places to go out to eat unless you lived in major cities like NY
The Sears catalog was a big deal to most people.

Answer 7

Listened to the Radio programs
Went to movies
Went dancing
Read
Played piano and had sing-alongs
Went on walks
Played sports

Answer 8

marathon dancing
gardening
listen to the radio for soap operas and stories like the Lone Ranger

Answer 9

dance, watched silent movies, they unfortunatly did not have much else to do.

Answer 10

we would talk which we dont so now