Popular Culture 1930s

• Music

  By 1939 80 percent of people owned a radio

  Swing - Glen Miller's orchestra was a swing band

  Jazz - Duke Ellington and Louise Armstrong continued to be popular in the 1930s

  Blues - remained a popular musical genre for African Americans

  Blues musicians wrote about the harsh reality of the Depression

  Radio broadcasted news reports, poetry and live sport
• Cinema

  60 million people went to the cinema each week as an escape from the depression

  US audiences enjoyed comedies (Charlie Chaplin), Disney Cartoons, musicals and horror films

  Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times in 1936 reflected the economic and political struggles of the Depression
• Comic Books

  Comic books became a staple in the 1930s

  Comics were bright, cheap and easy to read for the masses of young people desperate to escape into a world of adventure

  Comics fulfilled the desire for escapism

  1938 - Superman
• Writers

  Depression inspired authors to write about the struggles of minority groups and migrant workers

  John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in 1938 which shows the racist treatment of African Americans
• The Arts

  WPA provided work for unemployed artists

  Actors were hired to put on free shows

  Artists were hired to paint pictures for display in schools, libraries and parks

  Writers were hired to produce guidebooks on every US state

  Some people criticised the WPA for wasting taxpayers money