Grab a glass of giggle juice, turn on the TV or the wireless and tune in as we celebrate the 1930s era in style! The 30’s is known as ‘The Golden Age Of Music’, however this era also the beginning of World War 2 and was also known as ‘The Great Depression’.
As we mentioned in March, we will be taking a look at bygone Christmases in the run up to Christmas 2014. Last month, we looked at the 1920’s and after it’s roaring success, we are taking a leap into the 1930’s for the month ahead.
The 1930’s saw a lot of changes. It’s probably fair to say that it seemed a lifetime away from the fun of the roaring twenties, as the Great Depression hit the USA and badly affected the UK with devastating results as unemployment more than doubled. (The decade wasn’t really off to a great start was it?)
The first ever BBC television broadcast was in 1932 from Portland House and regular experimental broadcasts were made until 1936 when the BBC opened the world’s first ever regular service high definition (not the HD we know today) television from London’s Alexandra Palace. The televisions were just 10″ in size! Imagine your family gathering round to watch a 10″ television nowadays? Ant & Dec are already quite small so it would make them look like miniature characters!
To sum up TV in the 30’s:
- TV was in black & white
- There was no such thing as ‘flat screen’ or ‘widescreen’
- Phillip Schofield was not a presenter.
- TV screens were no bigger than 10 inches
Music halls and radio were still popular, but the dynamics were different, with music adapting to post ww1 tunes and men invariably dressing in uniform. As the century progressed radio shows were mainly filled with war headlines and news from overseas, as the threat of war was ever present in most families minds.
Although money was hard to come by one thing that was still hugely celebrated in the 30’s was Christmas. Just as we still do today, they celebrated by decorating their Christmas tree on Christmas Eve (this is normally done a lot earlier today or in the case of the UTCT offices, All year round!) where the entire family would gather to help.
Electric fairy lights were also starting to make an appearance, although these were expensive and a real luxury, many people still used the traditional candles to light their tree.
What decade are you most excited to read about? Do you have fun family stories and traditions you would like to share? If so get involved with our By-gone Christmases theme by commenting below.
