"NINETEEN THIRTY-FOUR"

"The richness of life lies in the memories

     we have forgotten." ---UNKNOWN

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Just pick a year in the history of our great country,

if you will, and let's talk about it.

Okay....what? Nineteen thirty-four? Good choice,

except of course there were two major disasters

occurring in our nation---The Great Depression

and The Dust Bowl.

The stock market had crashed. Millions were jobless.

Soup lines for the hungry were seen in every major

city. Cash was hard to come by; people were "broke."

At least, though many still disagree about his fiscal

policies, we had a president who was American 

through-and-through and was doing his best to get

the country back on its feet.

Most Americans living today have no concept of what

life was like In those times.

The Dust Bowl was centered at the confluence of the Oklahoma-

Texas-Colorado-New Mexico corners. At times there 

were dust clouds covering the eastern United States, all the 

way past Washington D.C. and out into the Atlantic. It was a great 

tragedy--- one that ruined many farms and lives and affected the 

economy of the whole country.

Where there were jobs to be found in 1934, men worked for a

dollar a day, and were glad to get it. (In the later years of the

depression, about 1939, a lucky family man might find a job 

paying thirty-eight dollars a week.)

Contrast this with my yard man who (on his moonlight job) will

not work for twenty dollars an hour (twice minimum wage

and twice what some substitute school teachers with Master's

degrees make.) He works only by the "job" and the latest

"job" he did was ninety bucks for an hour-and-a-half. Yes,

times have changed!

Let's look for a moment at who and what was happening in 

1934.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president; John Nance

Garner was vice president.

The FCC was established that year.

Life expectancy in th U.S. was an average 59.7 years. My

dear grandmother, Emma, died in 1938 at age 59.

The Kentucky Derby winner in 1934 was M. Garner for

"Cavalcade." The Pulitzer Prize winner was "Lamb In His

Bosom" by Caroline Miller.

Babe Didriksen pitched a scoreless inning for the

Philadelphia Athletics in an exhibition game against the 

Brooklyn Dodgers. World Series Champs were the St. Louis

Cardinals.

Kodak marketed its "Cine Kodak Eight" movie camera at

$34.95 and a roll of film at $2.25.

Studebaker trucks with large beds were popular at $625.00

each!  The big Hudson family sedan was highly advertised

and widely favored as a luxury car, and sold for $695.00. 

"Perfect Circle" piston rings were said to be the best in the 

fledgling auto industry.

The Auburn was touted as "easy riding" and "America's 

Smartest Convertible Car."

The biggest part of the population had ice boxes in their

kitchens, with the ice man bringing them fifty pounds every

three or four days---now the new Kelvinator and Frigidaires

were becoming popular for those who could afford them.

Talkies had been "in" for only a few years, but movies were

the main form of entertainment for most people who could

find a dime or twenty-five cents. "It Happened One Night"

was the 1934 Academy Award winner. "The Thin Man"

was big, as well as William Desmond in "The Way of the 

West."

On the Hit Parade were "Cocktails For Two" by Duke

Ellington; "I Only Have Eyes For You" by Ben Silven;

and "Let's Fall In Love" by Eddy Duchin.

In National News:

----Bonnie and Clyde were killed in a fusillade of bullets,

    ambushed in Louisiana.

----Dillinger was shot and killed outside a theater in

    Chicago.

----Labor strikes swept the nation.

----Bruno Hauptmann was arrested in the Lindbergh

    kidnapping.

----Shirley Temple shot to stardom in "Bright Eyes."

----And...The Dust bowl was ever present.

The Cost of Living in 1934:

New house.....ordered from Sears....$595.00

New house....constructed....from $4000.00

New car.....$625.00

Average rent....$20.00 month

Tuition Harvard, one year....$400.00

Movie ticket, adult.....25 cents

Gasoline.....10 cents per gallon

First Class stamp....3  cents

The Cost of Food in 1934:

Granulated sugar....10 pounds.... 59 cents

Vitamin D milk....one gallon...45 cents

Coffee....one pound...35 cents

Bacon....one pound...25 cents

Eggs...one dozen...17 cents

Fresh ground hamburger meat...one pound....12 cents

Fresh baked bread...loaf...5 cents

Many famous and productive Americans were born 

in 1934. (Some are deceased.) They were: Henry "Hank"

Aaron,  baseball; Florence Henderson, actress; Pat

Boone, singer/actor; Sam Donaldson, journalist; 

Shirley MacLaine, actress; Carl Sagan, astronomer;

Russ Tamblyn, dancer; Bill Russell, basketball; Roberto

Clemente, baseball; Roger Maris, baseball; Maggie Smith,

British actress; and Joan Hackett---born March 1, 1934,

actress memorable in the movie "Will Penny."

    

By 1934, the "Greatest Generation" of Americans ever

born (according to the opinions of many), were growing

up, finishing grade school, and some high school---their

days of playing marbles and spinning tops were ending...

They were soon to be done with farm chores---plowing,

milking, feeding chickens...some were joining the CCC,

to get three square meals a day and a decent pair of

shoes...some were soon to be off to college...others

were joining the Navy (to meet their  destiny at Pearl

Harbor); others the USMC, only to fight and die on

lonely Pacific Islands, such as Gaudalcanal, Tarawa,

Peleliu, Iwo Jima, or Okinawa.

Some would complete their growing-up and find them-

selves storming the beaches at Normandy, parachuting

into Holland in Operation Market-Garden, or fighting in the

Battle of the Bulge.

Countless others of these boys, still growing up in 1934,

didn't make it home from WWII, as they fell out of the

skies over Europe in burning B17's or P51's...

All this to save our beloved United States, freedom, and

our Constitution....

They were truly a Great Generation.

My reader, I'm glad you chose 1934 as our slice of U.S.

history to talk about. Was it a "good year?" Well, I hope so.

(In fact, no year in this world is ever totally good or bad....)

..... and on a Wednesday morning at 5:20 a.m., January

31,1934, in a sandy, sleepy little West Texas town, "Mil" 

arrived ("trailing clouds of glory do we come, from heaven 

which is our home...") on this planet, for good or bad----for 

better or worse----he was here...crying...for some coffee in 

his bottle.

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 "The past isn't dead; it isn't even past. I would often quote

 William Faulkner. I meant that every little thing that happens

 to people remains with them throughout their lives. Every 

 experience influences every choice."

                                  from "The Hypnotist".....L. Kepler

*******30******

By Mil

3/19/14