Theatre/Film

The 1930's is always associated with the Great Depression and despair in America. There was, however, a thriving industry during this dismal time and that was the American film industry. Hollywood, in particular, was one town that harbored the new form of art. As movies grew in popularity, the numbers of actors hoping to make it "big" flocked to Hollywood much like farmers flocking to Salinas in a John Steinbeck novel.

Movies were often more successful than theatre during this time. Among these new blockbusters was Gone with the Wind starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. The movie went on to sell more tickets than any other movie of all time and, when adjusted for inflation, it is the number one top-selling movie of all time. Another movie during this time that went on to gross the most money of the decade (Gone with the Wind sold more tickets in the 1940's despite coming out in the 1930's) was Walt Disney's Snow White. This charming family film was the pinnacle of animation at the time and was well-recieved by critics and movie-goers alike. Sticking with the family-friendly genre, The Wizard of Oz also came out in the 1930's (1939 to be exact) and was instantly a classic. The film starred the young Judy Garland as Dorothey who is swept into a strange land that is not at all like Kansas. She meets a mob of misfits and eventually makes it to the wizard who tells her that she can get home by tapping her shoes together. Despite traveling across a strange world inhabited by talking scarecrows and having to go through danger to find out that she could have used the shoes all along, Dorothey is happy and goes back to Kansas.

Of course, the movies of this time wouldn't be quite so grand if not for the actors who were responsible for portraying the characters. As mentioned above, Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, and Judy Garland were all actors during this time and 2 of those 3 listed went on to have great success in the 40's (and for Gable the 50's and 60's). Gable was also the most popular male star of the 1930's and second only in total popularity to Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple was immensely popular and starred in such movies as Curly Top and Heidi. Her movies often had Temple tap dancing and doing something patriotic. Among other popular actors of the time were The Marx Brothers, Mae West, and Fred Astire. The Marx Brothers, in particular, were depicted (by themselves) as goofy and always getting into situations that could have easilly been avoidable. This style of humor would become relevant in movies of a time in the future.