The Silent Generation

 If you grew up prior to 1945 (particularly in the early 1930s), then you are labeled 'the silent generation' or the 'traditionalists'.  In simple terms, you survived the depression-era.

It's an interesting era, and I will advocate three books to give you insight of the landscape:

1.  Rabble of Dead Money (Morris)

2.  Dancing in the Dark (Dickstein)

3.  The Forgotten Man (Shlaes) (Note: Schlaes wrote a pretty interesting book on Calvin Coolidge which is worth a read).

It is an era (1920s/1930s) that we really don't discuss much, and some of us (ages 50 and above) probably got 3,000 lectures on how to live a simple lifestyle....enjoying baloney sandwich and bottle of Coke as a fest.

Shoes tended to last five years or more....because you went back to the local cobbler to fix the sole.....for a buck.

People learned to enjoy booze after prohibition ended....particularly gin sours.

If someone drove 500 miles for some show or vacation, it was a major deal and locals would spend two weeks talking about so-and-so's BIG trip.

Trampy women....were trampy women.

95 degrees on a hot July afternoon was supplemented by fresh lemonade with ice cubes.

Mae West oozed sex in a fairly provocative way.

Someone taking the Memphis train to NY City, was treated like royalty upon their return.

If you asked a guy about what could break on a car of the era.....there was not a infinite list....it came down to 28 things which could be screwed up.

People got hyped up on politics just once every four years, for about three months. 

You'd have guests on the front-porch who actually read a book or two over the past month, and wanted your opinion on 'The Werewolf of Paris' (one of the top novels of 1933)..

Artie Shaw had the number one band of 1938, and people would sit by the radio and listen to his tunes.

A 65-minute movie with a one-star script about two guys arriving at a wild west saloon situation would captivate your imagination and be the talk of the town when it was shown in 1937.

People continually talked for months about when FDR's programs would finally 'click' and save the nation.  Then they patiently waited, and waited, and waited.

A dime in 1937.....would be a value of $2.10 cents today.  

We rarely go and really think about that era.