1930s

Vintage: SS Normandie

Vintage: SS Normandie

The SS Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days, and remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. At 14:30 on 9 February 1942, sparks from a…
Vintage: Hooverville in New York City (1930s)

Vintage: Hooverville in New York City (1930s)

Homelessness was present before the Great Depression, and was a common sight before 1929. Most large cities built municipal lodging houses for the homeless, but the Depression exponentially increased demand. The homeless clustered in shanty towns close to free soup kitchens. These settlements were often trespassing on private lands, but they were frequently tolerated or ignored out of necessity. The…
Vintage: Oil derricks in California (1920s-1930s)

Vintage: Oil derricks in California (1920s-1930s)

Offshore drilling began in California in 1896, when operators in the Summerland Oil Field in Santa Barbara County followed the field into the ocean by drilling from piers built out over the ocean. At least 187 offshore oil wells were drilled in the Summerland Field by 1902. A number of other coastal fields were extended offshore in Santa Barbara, Ventura,…
Vintage: Queen Christina (1933)

Vintage: Queen Christina (1933)

Queen Christina is a pre-Code Hollywood biographical film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933. It stars Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their fourth and last film together. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian in 1933, and written by H. M. Harwood and Salka Viertel, with dialogue by S. N. Behrman, based on a story by Salka Viertel…
Vintage: Thylacine, Tasmanian tiger (1930s)

Vintage: Thylacine, Tasmanian tiger (1930s)

The thylacine, now extinct, is one of the largest known carnivorous marsupials, evolving about 4 million years ago. The last known live animal was captured in 1933 in Tasmania. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger because of its striped lower back, or the Tasmanian wolf because of its canid-like characteristics. It was native to Tasmania, New Guinea, and…
Vintage: Nazi Propaganda Film Director Leni Riefenstahl (1930s)

Vintage: Nazi Propaganda Film Director Leni Riefenstahl (1930s)

Leni Riefenstahl (1902 – 2003) was a German film director. Riefenstahl heard Nazi Party (NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and was mesmerized by his talent as a public speaker. Describing the experience in her memoir, Riefenstahl wrote, “I had an almost apocalyptic vision that I was never able to forget. It seemed as if the…
Vintage: Bugatti Cars (1920s and 1930s)

Vintage: Bugatti Cars (1920s and 1930s)

Founder Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, Italy, and the automobile company that bears his name was founded in 1909 in Molsheim located in the Alsace region which was part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1919. The company was known both for the level of detail of its engineering in its automobiles, and for the artistic manner in…
Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Carole Lombard (1930s)

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by the film director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation…
Vintage: Canadian Brides by Yousuf Karsh (1930s)

Vintage: Canadian Brides by Yousuf Karsh (1930s)

Renowned Armenian–Canadian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) – one of the great portrait photographers of the 20th century by Time magazine and the Metropolitan Museum of Art – has a wide array of wedding photographs, particularly portraits of the bride. via Library and Archives Canada
Vintage: Girls Celebrating the New Year’s Eve (1930s)

Vintage: Girls Celebrating the New Year’s Eve (1930s)

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve (also known as Old Year’s Day or Saint Sylvester’s Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is the seventh day of the Christmas season. In many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and…
Vintage: Trams in Poland (1930s)

Vintage: Trams in Poland (1930s)

In 1927, a privately owned light rail line called EKD was built, connecting several neighboring towns with the center of Warsaw using electric railcars similar to trams, only larger and more massive, with frequent stops and tracks running along the streets in city; however the system was incompatible with the Warsaw trams as it used standard gauge tracks while the…
Vintage: Greta Garbo Portraits (1920s-1930s)

Vintage: Greta Garbo Portraits (1920s-1930s)

Greta Garbo was a Swedish-born American film actress and an international star and icon during the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, she was the youngest of three children of a working class family. In 1920, she took a job as a salesperson at the leading Swedish department store, PUB, a job which led to her appearance in two…
Vintage: City Lights (1931)

Vintage: City Lights (1931)

City Lights is a 1931 American romantic comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin’s Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and develops a turbulent friendship with an alcoholic millionaire (Harry Myers).