1930's/40's Christmas - help with script

[IndianaWay]

Hi - I'm a newbie and would appreciate some help. I'm writing a script for our church's Christmas program put on by the youth. General idea, we're looking at one family, starting in the present day and what the kids see as the "Best Christmas ever." Then we go to the early-mid 1970's with the same "Best Christmas ever" concept. Next we go to the late 30's or early 40's (haven't made a firm decision yet) with the same concept.

It's set in the rural midwest - basically people who aren't wealthy but not in poverty either. I picture somebody who during the 30's or 40's might have been a small family farmer... enough to get by, but not a lot extra.

I'm looking for help with what the 1930's/40's kitchen might have looked like - i.e. what appliances, possible brands, etc. Any "pop culture" references would be appreciated also - slang/jargon, etc. Also, help with clothes for our actors - I'm guessing adults would have been in suits/ties and dresses (as appropriate!) but I'm not sure what kids might have been wearing on a famly Christmas. We don't want to spend much money, but I would like for the kids to look reasonably "period" for this scene. Also - what would a rural Indiana late 1930's Christmas have included? Food, music, etc...

Thanks for any help you can give - I want it to be a learning opportunity for the kids, and I've already learned more history (i.e. rural electrification) than I knew before!

 

[Paisley]

You'll find about 95% of what you're looking for by doing a Google search of this site. There are threads and hundreds of photos on everything you've mentioned. Happy searching and good luck with your play!

If you wanted to do a late 40s (or so) Indiana Christmas, you could just watch A Christmas Story.

 

[dhermann1]

Of course the best Christmas ever for the 40's would be when dad, son, brother, husband is home from the War.

 

[Paisley]

Just like It's a Wonderful Life.

The book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie gives the account of a ca. 1939 Christmas in New York. A lonely widow, Mrs. William T. Moon, met a couple of orphans in a church and bought them candy and presents. It's in the chapter "How to Cure Depression in Fourteen Days."

 

[IndianaWay]

Thanks much! I'm already seeing I need to "pick a date" - I'm sure you all are way ahead of me, but it's amazing how much changed - in this case, in rural America - from the late 1930's to the post-war era. What I want to avoid is having older people watch our program and say, "Nobody would have had THAT in 1939!"

So I'm going to go with 1939 - looks like that was about the time rural electrification started in full swing... I need to get smarter about what a rural home would have had. No indoor plumbing, possibly a hanging lightbulb and some outlets for electricity (if they had it at all)... other thoughts?

Gas cookstove or wood/coal burning? Again, this is a fictional family who lives on a small farm, definitely not rich but not in poverty either. I'll be checking the info provided as well - thanks again!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Thanks much! I'm already seeing I need to "pick a date" - I'm sure you all are way ahead of me, but it's amazing how much changed - in this case, in rural America - from the late 1930's to the post-war era. What I want to avoid is having older people watch our program and say, "Nobody would have had THAT in 1939!"

So I'm going to go with 1939 - looks like that was about the time rural electrification started in full swing... I need to get smarter about what a rural home would have had. No indoor plumbing, possibly a hanging lightbulb and some outlets for electricity (if they had it at all)... other thoughts?

Gas cookstove or wood/coal burning? Again, this is a fictional family who lives on a small farm, definitely not rich but not in poverty either. I'll be checking the info provided as well - thanks again!!

A kerosene stove would be likely -- both for heating and cooking, fueled by a barrel of kerosene hanging outside the kitchen. They might also have a gasoline-powered washing machine.

For a lot of families, the first thing purchased when the REA came to town was a refrigerator -- some power companies sold them on time payments as part of the electrification package.

Get hold of a Sears catalog from the late thirties if you want to see exactly the sort of stuff a family like this would have owned. Farm families were their bread and butter.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Lizzie is very right! My grandmother on my dad's side recalled being out at a relative’s farms in Utah during the depression and cooking on a kerosene stove! And she said that there wasn't much for electric lighting either, kerosene lanterns or lamps would be very common out in the sticks.

Also, they had natural gas powered refrigeration units too... Now, one important thing to remember, most families outside of cities would have bought a used fridge, so an earlier model may be appropriate... if you can find one to borrow. Or, maybe an Ice Box could work too. Also, you'd find a lot of non electric items in the kitchens... maybe a stove from the late 20s would pass off as a kerosene model. But, farming families were notorious to having older appliances in the late 30s and early 40s due to the depression was still very much real.

Now, one must remember that between 1938-1940 there weren't many changes in styles... the late 30s fashions spilled over into the early 40s. And farmers wouldn't have been on the cutting edge of fashion either.

Radio, radio, radio! Radio was huge during that time and if you could find an old Sears farm set, that would be perfect for a living room setting. The farm radio was a battery set and also they made models that would hook up to a car or tractor's 6volt battery they could run right off of the tractor or car while it was idling so not to drain the battery. lol A simple mid 30s tombstone or cathedral set would work just fine. Battery operated farm sets were larger due to the extra space needed for batteries. Now, a late 20s set may even fit into the set better due to the father finding a discount on a used radio. Remember, just because something wasn't "new" doesn't mean farming families cared... if it worked, they used and used for many years. Now the popular shows of that era were Amos and Andy, Fiber McGee and Molly, The Jack Benny show, The Life of Riley, The Great Gildersleeve and so on. Also, lots of people would listen to the news of the war clouds building in Europe! Not to mention all the big band broadcasts of that era, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, the Bing Crosby Show... you get the picture.

Now, another important thing to remember about farmer's wives is that they canned lots of foods... LOTS! And when it came to the wash, if they didn't have a washing machine, it was a galvanized tub or copper... and a wash board of course! Also, if possible, a clothes line wheel in the kitchen facing towards the window... that would let the line go out the window since some had large sinks and would wash right in the kitchen sink! That's another thing you'll need, a big long porcelain sink... on wooden legs with a little sack cloth curtain around it.

Hope that helps!

 

[IndianaWay]

THANK YOU!!! Great stuff there!

Lunch time is over so I'll get back to this hopefully tonight, but you all have given me great information. This is going to be a lot of fun... I'll keep you posted!!

 

[Helysoune]

Of course the best Christmas ever for the 40's would be when dad, son, brother, husband is home from the War.

Beat me to it!

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

So I'm going to go with 1939 - looks like that was about the time rural electrification started in full swing... I need to get smarter about what a rural home would have had. No indoor plumbing, possibly a hanging lightbulb and some outlets for electricity (if they had it at all)... other thoughts?

Re: the hanging lightbulb, my grandfather moved to CA roughly around 1940, and his tiny home had *one* hanging lightbulb. All the kids were enthralled! His family was definitely lower-income, and I don't think they had electric light when they lived further East, though I don't think they lived on a farm.

 

[Joie DeVive]

Indoor plumbing was pretty if-y for farm families at that time. My grandparents had an indoor pump, but that was it. For bathing, they used a big washtub. The water was heated on the stove, and the whole family used that water. The cleanest kid went first and the dirtiest last.

People also didn't have the wardrobe we are used to today. Have you seen the size of clothes closets from that time period? Many are the size of today's coat closet.

 

[Paisley]

1930s Colors

From a blog, here are some links to photos of original 1930s paint chips:

Enamel:

http://boxhouseblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/original-1930s-color-palette-3-of-3-nu.html

House Paint:

http://boxhouseblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/original-1930s-paint-palette-2-of-3.html

 

[IndianaWay]

Just have to share a little bit of good luck - as mentioned above, I decided to make the setting Christmas, 1939. I had a bit in the script already about a gift of a new radio.

I knew out in our barn we had an old radio - turns out it's a Philco 40-95... a quick "google" shows me that it came out in June, 1939 and would have been "new" in Christmas of that year.

It's not in great shape, but definitely good enough to shine up and use for what we're doing. (It's beyond the scope of what we're doing, but if anybody has tips for where I could go learn how to fix/restore it, that would be great too).

Thanks for all the inspiration - I look forward to more!

 

[dhermann1]

Radio repair

You're in luck. There are a couple of people in Indiana who do it, I believe. Check out this website: www.radioattic.com . Click on "Restoration Resources".
Beside being a place for enthusiasts to sell radios, you'll find people who repair them. The thing to do, as I always say, is to get an SSTran AM3000 AM transmitter. Then you can send any signal you want to it. You could even have it on stage and "broadcast" anything you wanted and have it come right of the speaker. Of course, in the interim you just stick a speaker inside and you're good to go.
BTW, is your radio the 40-95T, table model, or the 40-95F, console?

 

[Forgotten Man]

If you fix the radio and the repair man is crafty, you can have him just hook a line out from the radio and you can hook an Ipod to it and look around on the net for original Christmas broadcasts for 1939! Maybe a few radio programs with commercials and such... several sites on the net will have these.

You may want to work into the script when the radio shows up, someone going behind to hook up the batteries... and remember, tube radios need time to warm up... about 35+ seconds. So, to get the genuine feel, have the radio already plugged in, have a cast member go behind it and act as if they're hooking up the batteries (really hitting play on the Ipod) and then that cast member to give the ok, and then another cast member click the set on... and when it warms up, you get the intro of a radio show!

You'll have fun with this!

 

[IndianaWay]

Thanks so much! You're right - I am already having fun and it's not even off the drawing board yet. The radio is the table model and will figure prominently in the script. And thanks for the tips re: tubes warming up - I do kinda' remember that sort of thing but NEVER would have thought of it if you hadn't mentioned it.

Thanks again - now to get busy writing!!

 

[IndianaWay]

Okay, one more item - I'm hoping to find an actual Christmas Day, 1939 radio broadcast but am coming up empty so far. Several close to that date, including the first broadcast of A Christmas Carol on December 24 (worst case, I may change the setting to Christmas eve - nice to have that kind of power!)

Question - were radio shows of that era ever re-broadcast? (i.e. any chance a show broadcast on December 12 would be broadcast again on 12/25? I'm doubtful, but thought I'd ask).

Also, any clue on what kind of programming an ordinary network radio station would have had on Christmas Day? Also, I would love to be able to buy and download a news broadcast from that day... I'm probably asking for too much but this is the fun part! Suggestions are appreciated!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Network programs weren't repeated, except for cases where they were rebroadcast three hours later for the west coast. Once they aired, that was it. Occasionally *scripts* would be rebroadcast, but these would be entirely new performances, not reruns by recording. Syndicated programs carried by local stations aired on no definitive date, so you might hear a specific program anytime.

Most network programming on Christmas day would be the same as on any other day -- music early in the morning, soaps mid-morning to afternoon, kids programs in the late afternoon, family serials in the early evening, comedy, variety or dramatic shows during the "prime time" hours, and dance band remotes late at night. Usually on Christmas Eve the programming would have a holiday theme, and late at night there'd be Christmas carols and a live shortwave broadcast by the Pope from Vatican City.

The 12/24/39 "Christmas Carol" broadcast is the definitive performance of that story, with Lionel Barrymore supported by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Okay, one more item - I'm hoping to find an actual Christmas Day, 1939 radio broadcast but am coming up empty so far. Several close to that date, including the first broadcast of A Christmas Carol on December 24 (worst case, I may change the setting to Christmas eve - nice to have that kind of power!)

Question - were radio shows of that era ever re-broadcast? (i.e. any chance a show broadcast on December 12 would be broadcast again on 12/25? I'm doubtful, but thought I'd ask).

Also, any clue on what kind of programming an ordinary network radio station would have had on Christmas Day? Also, I would love to be able to buy and download a news broadcast from that day... I'm probably asking for too much but this is the fun part! Suggestions are appreciated!

At archive.org there is a selection of Christmas radio broadcasts, along the lines of Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and sometimes various takes on A Christmas Carol as realized by Richard Diamond or The Six-Shooter. You'll have to noodle around and find a show from 1939.

 

[IndianaWay]

Thanks again!

Just wanted to say a big "thanks" to everyone for the suggestions - the script is done and kids have been practicing. The 1939 segment is my favorite - I have downloaded some actual music, commercials, etc., to use with the "radio" and thanks to you all, have a reasonably good concept of what a rural Indiana 1939 household would have looked like.