what did people during world war 2 (not the soldiers) do for entertainment?

Answer 1

Really, only 2...

The radio was huge...no TV yet.
Movies...movies were extremely cheap relative to the economy. Despite the zillion dollar sales of current box office movie hits....far far more people as a percentage regularly went to the movies.
Given the nature of most of todays movies...teen gross out comedies, spy movies were the American is always the double agent, every cop movie has a guy on the take, kiddie cartoons....where here is mass market family entertainment on the order of Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, GWTW...Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Cary Grant.

Also sports, primarily boxing and college football. All the pros were in the war...and this may have been the center of the peak of these sports' fan interest.

Answer 2

People made better use of public facilities then - such as city parks and libraries. Many major cities had amusement parks, but the number of rural people was greater than the number of city dwellers then. A common family past time was listening to the radio. There were variety shows, and kids shows, and story times. Much more diverse then for all ages. Nearly every town regardless of size had a movie theater. Then there were the seasonal activities too - hunting, fishing both in summer and winter. What changed with the seasons was how these activities were done. I live in a remote part of northern Minnesota, and I've asked this same question among the elderly starting 20 years ago. There was also musical bands that played in the park, but only twice a year. Many small towns also had a separate dance hall open on Saturday nights in the summer, or the movie theater doubled as a dance hall. In the pre-teen years, often just the outdoors and an imagination would suffice. Electricity didn't come to this area until the 1950s. Once it did, the teenagers played a lot of baseball under the lights until midnight if there was no money for anything else.

Answer 3

They mostly listened to the radio, like the phantom. They did have movie theatres to go to if you could afford it. Not many could. There was always the skinny dipping in the near by pond.
There really was not much time for entertainment because most the men were gone and women took over the work force here.
Some families were lucky enough to have a piano to play and sing a long with but the radio was the biggest deal because they could hear how the war was going.

Answer 4

We prayed that our young men would return home sound of body.

We entertained ourselves. Sometimes having get togethers with others for conversations about WWII and where relatives were serving.

We had gas rationing so could not travel often. Movies were almost none, because of the expense. Our young men were all off fighting the war.

Entertainment? Ha.

Answer 5

In America life went on about normal. You went to the park, went to movies, listened to the radio, met with friends and played cards.
In England I think it was a bit more hairy, after all they were getting bombed at the first part of it.
In Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia and some other European countries they had no time for entertainment, they were busy staying alive.

Answer 6

Music had to "swing"

Most popular star of the time was Bing Crosby. It is hard to describe nowadays how popular he was, but he was Number 1 at the movie box office, record sales, and on his radio show (roughly equivalent to our TV) all at the same time for several years running. I can't even imagine who you could compare to that in the modern media where stars are manufactured by studios and then manipulated by the media for our entertainment.

Answer 7

Too many own questions to be placed out interior the widespread public communicate board, yet i will and could tell somewhat. Age eighty 4+ area, northern Ohio Involvement in conflict---enlisted US army, quite much 3 years, Pacific theatre might I do it lower back, no longer in immediately's international,.

Answer 8

According to my mother and father:

Go to movies (Abbot & Costello); listen to the radio (F.D.R.s fireside chats); and work 16 hour days in sweat shops for the war effort.

Answer 9

We went to the movies. Tickets cost 9 cents,; they rose to 14 cents later. Gasoline was rationed, so we didn't drive much.