1935 Facts, Fun Trivia and History

1935 Facts, Fun Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1935:

  • The Biggest News Event: The great dust storm in the United States hit the hardest in eastern New Mexico, Colorado, and western Oklahoma.
  • Biggest Songs include Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire, Isle of Capri by Ray Noble, and Red Sails in the Sunset by Guy Lombardo.
  • The Movies to Watch include Mutiny on the Bounty, A Night at the Opera, The 39 Steps, Bride of Frankenstein, ‘G’ Men, Captain Blood, and The Raven.
  • The Most Famous Person in America was probably Shirley Temple.
  • Notable books include Good-bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, and Lost Horizon by James Hilton.
  • Price of 3 oz. Philadephia brand cream cheese in 1935: 10 cents
  • George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess opened on Broadway.
  • Of Note: The last American survivor of the Atlantic slave trade, Cudjoe Lewis, died in 1935
  • 1 ounce of gold value: $35.00
  • The Funny Duo was: Laurel and Hardy
  • The Conversation: The first Top Music Countdown Show, Your Hit Parade debuted.

Top Ten Baby Names of 1935

Mary, Shirley, Barbara, Betty, Patricia, Robert, James, John, William, Richard

US Life Expectancy

(1935) Males: 59.9 years, Females: 63.9 years

The Stars

Josephine Baker, Joan Blondell, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Olivia de Havilland, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr, Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Thelma Todd, Mae West

Entertainment History: The Oscars

The 7th Academy Awards were celebrated on February 27, 1935, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The host for the evening was Irvin S. Cobb. One highlight of the ceremony was It Happened One Night, sweeping the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Director for Frank Capra, Best Actor for Clark Gable, Best Actress for Claudette Colbert, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Robert Riskin. This was the first time a film won the Big Five, a feat not repeated until One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1976 and then again with The Silence of the Lambs in 1992. Interestingly, Walt Disney received an honorary Oscar for creating Mickey Mouse, elevating animation’s stature in the industry. The eligibility period for the awards was August 1, 1934, to July 31, 1935, a slight deviation from the calendar year criteria used today.

Miss America

Henrietta Leaver (Pittsburgh, PA)

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Haile Selassie I

Firsts, Inventions, and Wonders

The Cooper Underwear Company of Kenosha introduced the first brief underwear in Wisconsin, US.

The first SUV was the Chevy Suburban in 1935. The Suburban is the longest continuous-use nameplate still in production.

The world’s first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City.

The first Penguin paperback book was published.

Porky Pig made his debut in I Haven’t Got a Hat.

Crackers with a ‘taste of affordable luxury’ started selling nationwide. The Ritz Cracker was available for 19 cents a box.

In 1935, Detroit’s Red Wings (1935/36 season), Tigers, and Lions won their respective leagues championship trophy. It was also each franchise’s first championship win.

Boxed wine was introduced in 1935, as was beer in a can.

Fibber McGee and Molly debuted on NBC Radio.

The word ‘dumpster’ is a genericized trademark. It was created in 1935 by George R. Dempster, who named his new trash container the “Dempster dumpster.”

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in New York City by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith.

Why the term ‘Boondoggle’ is associated with wasting time and money

In 1935, the press criticized FDR’s New Deal for spending $3 million giving unemployed people craft lessons where they made boondoggles (a braided ornament), and the word became a nickname for any overpriced, useless government project.

The Targets

In the New Deal, FDR called for a new tax program called the Revenue Act of 1935, which imposed an income tax of 79% on incomes over $5 million. This tax rate affected one person: John D. Rockefeller.

The Nye, a Senatorial Committee, concluded that the U.S. entered World War 1 for financial gain.

When Social Security set the retirement age at 65 in 1935, the average American only lived 61.7 years.

The Biggest Pop Artists of 1935 include

Ambrose & His Orchestra, Fred Astaire, The Boswell Sisters, Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby and His Orchestra, Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra, The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Ruth Etting, Jan Garber and His Orchestra, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, Johnny Green & His Orchestra, Richard Himber & His Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Little Jack Little & His Orchestra, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, Ray Noble and His Orchestra, Enric Madriguera and His Orchestra, Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra, Louis Prima, Joe Venuti and His Orchestra, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, Victor Young & His Orchestra

Pop Culture Facts & History

October 31, 1935 – Orson Welles’ famous War Of The Worlds broadcast aired for the first time, causing panic throughout the United States.

The second Indiana Jones film is a prequel to the first film. Temple of Doom was set in 1935, and the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark took place in 1936.

Cups, popularized by Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect, was partially based on the song Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone written by The Carter Family.

Considering that the Schrödinger’s Cat experiment was done in 1935, the cat is now dead no matter what.

The Cincinnati Reds were the first team in Major League history to host a night game at Crosley Field, with the Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies on May 24, 1935.

Chunosuke Matsuyama, a Japanese Seamen, sent a message in a bottle in 1784 that his ship had wrecked. It washed up in 1935 in Hiraturemura, where he was born.

Sir Malcolm Campbell was the first to drive an automobile at 300 miles per hour in Blue Bird, establishing a new absolute land speed record of 301.337 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The word ‘drone,’ about remote-controlled aircraft, was coined in 1935 when the (pilotless) DH.82 Queen Bee was developed and flown over RF for anti-aircraft gun training.

Avery (later Avery Dennison) introduced self-adhesive labels. The original company name was ‘Kum Kleen Products.’

Any Trivia expert can tell you that the Parker Brothers’ Monopoly Game was released in 1935. Not as many can tell you, off the top of their heads, that the starting amount in the bank was $15,140, but it was recently upped to $20,580. Each player starts with $1,500.

Celebrity Airplane Death: Will Rogers and Wiley Post, in Alaska.

Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on the US Senate record, taking 15½ hours.

Rabbi Tobias Geffen was provided with its formula to verify whether Coca-Cola was kosher because he did not disclose it. The Rabbi requested that the non-kosher beef tallow be substituted with vegetable-based glycerin, which was done, and the drink was declared kosher. Due to the addition of high fructose corn syrup, it is no longer kosher.

The Greatest 45 Minutes Ever in Sport

Jesse Owens set three world records and tied another in less than an hour at a Big Ten track meet in 1935. He was a 21-year-old Ohio State sophomore who tied the world record in the 100-yard dash and set the world record in the long jump, the 220-yard dash, and the 220-low hurdles.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics – James Chadwick
Chemistry – Frédéric Joliot, Irène Joliot-Curie
Physiology or Medicine – Hans Spemann
Literature – not awarded
Peace – Carl von Ossietzky
*This was the last year no American received a Nobel Prize (1935).

Popular and Best-selling Books From 1935

Come and Get It by Edna Ferber
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
Europa by Robert Briffault
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
Good- bye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton
Green Light by Lloyd C. Douglas
Heaven’s My Destination by Thornton Wilder
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Of Time and the River by Thomas Wolfe
Time Out of Mind by Rachel Field
Vein of Iron by Ellen Glasgow

Sports

World Series Champions: Detroit Tigers
NFL Champs: Detriot Lions
Stanley Cup Champs: Montreal Maroons
U.S. Open Golf: Sam Parks Jr.
U.S. Tennis (Men/Ladies): Wilmer L. Allison/Helen H. Jacobs
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Fred Perry/Helen Moody
NCAA Football Champions: Minnesota & SMU
Kentucky Derby Winner: Omaha
Boston Marathon Winner: John A. Kelley Time: 2:32:07

More 1935 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1935
1935 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Fact Monster
The Great Depression Federal Reserve
1930s, Infoplease.com World History
1935 in Movies (according to IMDB)
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1930s Slang
Wikipedia 1935
Nazi Germany Timeline