The Great Depression

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Charles J. Shindo

Starting in 1929 and ending with America's entry into World War II in 1941, the Great Depression marked a turning point in American history by establishing the enlarged federal bureaucracy associated with the post-WWII state. While first and foremost an economic event, the Great Depression affected every aspect of American political, social, and cultural life. It was during the depression that the radio and film industries, along with developments in documentary photography, reportage, and literature, helped to develop a national culture based in uniquely American practices, environments, experiences, and ideals.

While the stock market crash of October 1929 is often viewed as the start of the Great Depression, it was by no means the cause of the depression. The crash, and its aftermath of unemployment, bank closures, bankruptcies, and homelessness, were caused by fundamental flaws in the prosperity of the 1920s. The availability and widespread use of credit, the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth, the problems of falling farm prices, and the corporate consolidation of American industry all contributed to the overproduction of farm and industrial goods and the overexertion of credit and speculation. In the wake of the crash, American industrial output decreased rapidly, reaching in 1932 the same level of production as in 1913. Employment reached an all-time low, with 13 million people out of work, roughly 25 percent of the population. For farmers, crop prices had fallen drastically; a bushel of wheat that sold for three dollars in 1920 brought only thirty cents in 1932.

The effect of the depression on American culture was felt in both the public and private sectors. The federal government, through its New Deal programs, subsidized writers, composers, musicians, performers, painters, sculptors, and other artists, and it developed and encouraged cultural programs which focused attention on the United States, its history, traditions, and native arts and crafts. The Federal Writers Project employed writers, editors, and researchers to not only produce works of fiction, usually with American themes, but also to create several series of books such as the State Guide Series, consisting of all-purpose guide books for each state of the union. The Federal Arts Project hired painters and sculptors to create public art for post offices and other public buildings, and developed a network of community art centers in cities and towns across the country. The Federal Theater Project sought to bring the dramatic arts to the general public through local programs such as the Living Newspaper, in which local news stories were acted out in community theaters. Additional programs employed musicians, composers, architects, and other artists. Preservation programs such as the Index of American Design and the Library of Congress' Archive of Folk Song sought to preserve the inherently American character of folk arts. In all, the cultural programs of the New Deal focused attention on the unique aspects of American culture, not only in past arts and crafts, but also in the creation of new works of art.

The mass-media industries of broadcasting and motion pictures responded to the economic realities of the depression and the government sponsored trend towards reinforcing traditional American values. In the 1930s, radio dominated Americans' leisure time. Nearly one third of all Americans owned at least one radio, and even those who did not own a radio usually had access to one through family, friends, or neighbors. The potential radio audience for any program was estimated at sixty million people. As a result of these vast audiences and the huge profits to be made, the radio industry became big business with production companies selling "pre-packaged" shows to sponsors and stations, along with syndicates and networks developing and growing. During the 1930s, comedians were the most popular radio personalities. Jack Benny, Fanny Brice, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and Jimmy Durante all had popular radio shows. Musical shows were also a favorite of audiences as almost every station presented remote broadcasts from hotel ballrooms featuring dance orchestras and jazz bands such as Paul Whiteman ("The King of Jazz"), Ralph Ginsberg and the Palmer House Ensemble, and Phil Spitalny and his All-Girl Orchestra, featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin. Daytime programing was dominated by the soap opera, so named because most were sponsored by soap manufacturers. Writer James Thurber described soap operas as "a kind of sandwich, whose recipe is simple enough. . . Between thick slices of advertising, spread twelve minutes of dialogue, add predicament, villainy, and female suffering in equal measure, throw in a dash of nobility, sprinkle with tears, season with organ music, cover with a rich announcer sauce, and serve five times a week." As opposed to daytime serial dramas, evening dramas contained much better production values and more sophisticated material featuring famous actors. The Texaco Theater, The Philip Morris Playhouse, Grand Central Station, and other hour-long programs presented serious dramatic fare, but the most popular shows were the half-hour long crime-suspense-adventure shows, including Sam Spade, Jack Armstrong: the All-American Boy, The Thin Man, Sargent Preston of the Yukon, The Green Hornet, The Shadow, and The Lone Ranger. Even news reporting took on a more entertaining flavor as radio newsmen became celebrities, such as Lowell Thomas, Edward R. Murrow, and Floyd Gibbons, who introduced himself as "the fastest talking man in radio." Forty percent of all Americans preferred to get their news and information from radio, more than any other single source.