SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW ESCAPISM IN THE DIRTY

“SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW” - ESCAPISM IN THE DIRTY 30’S Canada’s Quest to Forget…

BELIEVE IT OR NOT… • Not everything was depressing during the 1930 s… • Yes, there were a lot of hardships, but people lived their lives the best they could with what they had.

ESCAPISM Definition: (according to Merriam Webster) People sought to relieve the Depression by: - habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine - comic books (fantasy) or… - an activity or form of entertainment that allows people to forget about the real problems of life - music or romantic novels - movies (birth of the ‘Epic’) - radio (drama, sports, comedy)

METHODS OF ESCAPE

REAL-CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT! If people could not travel during the Depression, they could still get together with families and friends for picnics; go to concerts at the local park; or go swimming at community beaches.

Betty Boop COMIC STRIPS Superman Little Orphan Annie Dick Tracy Flash

MOVIES - Movies were a great way to escape real life during the Depression. - Movies were made largely in Hollywood - Can you think of any 1930’s movies that have been remade recently?

MOVIES…THEN AND NOW KING KONG

KING KONG…(1933)

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937) The world’s first full length animated feature length film. Can you name them all?

SOME EPIC MOVIES OF THE 1930’S

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) FACT SHEET: - Starred child actress Judy Garland - many Depression-Era themes -first movie shown in ‘technicolour’! -- famous theme song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”…symbolic of the Depression experience

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW…

THE RADIO • Families also had the radio to listen to in the 1930 s… • If you had the radio, entertainment was free! • Listen to sports, dramas, comedies on the CBC (NEW!) • Helped connect the country too!

BIZARRE EVENT OF THE DECADE: WAR OF THE WORLDS *Performed on Halloween by Orson Wells *Suggested that aliens had invaded earth *Listeners believed the realistic broadcast

EVENT OF THE DECADE: THE DIONNE QUINTUPLETS On May 28, 1934, five identical girls – Annette, Cecile, Yvonne, Marie and Emilie – were born in Callander, Ontario They were the first quintuplets in the world to survive.

TEXT ASSIGNMENT Read pgs. 159 -163 on ‘Escapism’ Answer questions #1 -4 (pg. 163)