1935 Annual History Facts

1935 Annual History Facts

  • Politics: When Social Security set the retirement age at 65 in 1935, the average American only lived 61.7 years
  • The 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 Big Movies included Mutiny on the Bounty, Top Hat, and The Miracle Rider
  • Price of a gallon of gas in 1935: 16 cents
  • The World Population was ~ 2,226,000,000
  • Modern Radar was invented by Sir Robert Watson-Watt in 1935.
  • Chunosuke Matsuyama, a castaway Japanese Sailor, sent a message in a bottle in 1784 that his ship had wrecked. It washed up in 1935 in the village where he was born.
  • And… In 2019, you can re-use calendars from these years: 2013, 2002, 1991, 1985, 1974, 1963, 1957, 1946, 1935, 1929, and 1918.

World Series Champions

Detroit Tigers

NFL Champions

Detroit Lions

Stanley Cup Champions

Montreal Maroons

US Open Golf

Sam Parks Jr.

US Open Tennis (Men Ladies)

Wilmer L. Allison/Helen H. Jacobs

Wimbledon (Men/Women)

Fred Perry/Helen Moody

NCAA Football Champions

Minnesota & SMU

Bowl Games

Orange Bowl: January 1, 1935 – Bucknell over Miami (Florida)
Rose Bowl: January 1, 1935 – Alabama over Stanford
Sugar Bowl: January 1, 1935 – Tulane over Temple

Kentucky Derby

Omaha

Westminster Kennel Best in Show Dog

Nunsoe Duc de la Terrace of Blakeen

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Haile Selassie I

Miss America

Henrietta Leaver (Pittburgh, PA)

1935’s Fresh Faces and Top Celebrities

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

“The Quotes”

“The breakfast of champions”
– Wheaties

Sigmund Freud replied to a mother concerned about her son’s homosexuality by saying, “It is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness” and ” It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and cruelty too.”

Two-time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler wrote: “I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

1935 Pop Culture History

The first SUV ever was the Chevy Suburban in 1935. One of their most profitable cars, the Suburban, is the longest continuous-use nameplate still in production.

Wrigley Field did not have lights until 1988, even though the first night game in baseball history was played in 1935.

Detroit holds the record for most major sports championships held at one time. In 1935, the Red Wings, Tigers, and Lions won their respective leagues championship trophy. It was also each franchise’s first championship win.

All gerbils in the US descend from 20 caught in Mongolia in 1935 for research purposes.

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. In 1935, during the Great Depression, 96 percent of all American families paid no federal income tax. The average rate for the 4 percent who did pay was only about 4 percent of their incomes.

When she was just six years old, Shirley Temple left her handprints and footprints at the TCL Chinese Theater in 1935.

John D. Rockefeller had bricks from various monasteries in Europe shipped to NY to build a museum (The Cloisters) on land he bought, filled with art he purchased, and facing land he owned to preserve the view. He donated it to the city in 1935.

The last year in which no American received a Nobel Prize was 1935

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

The first deodorant for men (Top-Flite) was launched in 1935 (decades after the introduction of deodorants, like ‘Oderono’ for women) because, at the beginning of the 20th century, body odor was not considered a problem for men; it was a part of being masculine.

Toilet paper wasn’t advertised as “splinter-free” until 1935. #ouch

The word ‘boondoggle’ arose from a 1935 report of wasteful spending on recreational activities for the jobless, including crafting with plastic thread to make “boondoggles” (an activity also known as Scoubidou, a knotting craft, originally aimed at children).

The only airport in America’s northernmost city, Barrow, AK, is named after comedian Will Rogers, who died in a plane crash in 1935. Most of the year, you must fly to Barrow because no roads lead there, and ice blocks sea access.

Avery (later Avery Dennison) introduced self-adhesive labels. The original company name was ‘Kum Kleen Products.’
A transportation line named “Havana Special” ran from Havana, Cuba, to New York, USA. It operated from 1912 to 1935 when a hurricane destroyed it.

The dumpster was invented in 1935 by George Dempster.

Bob Dunn, the steel guitarist for the Western swing band Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, became the first musician to record an electrically amplified instrument.

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.

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

Today’s quantum mechanics conflict and scientists have known this since at least 1935. Einstein and two other scientists found that Heisenberg’s uncertainty contradicted another effect, which we now know as “Quantum Entanglement.”

Schrödinger did not believe in the possibility of a cat being simultaneously dead and alive. His thought experiment was meant to criticize the absurdity of the existing view of quantum mechanics.

Wormholes were first theorized by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen back in 1935.

Jesse Owens set three world records and tied another in less than an hour at a Big Ten track meet in 1935- “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.

The 1935 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a German whistleblower, Carl von Ossietzky, who revealed their clandestine re-armament. In 1992, a German court upheld his conviction for treason & espionage.

RIP, Scandals, Sad and Odd News

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

Chinese Movie Star Ruan Lingyu died in 1935. Her funeral procession was 3 miles long, and three women committed suicide.

In 1935, the Canadian government took custody of 5 identical quintuplets (Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile, and Marie Dionne), fearing they’d be exploited. By 1937, Canada had made them their largest tourist attraction, where they starred in movies and product ads, had dolls made after them, and had 3,000 daily visitors in their exhibit.

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

The last survivor from the Atlantic Slave Trade, Cudjoe Lewis, died in 1935.

Dignity in Dying, a euthanasia society, was founded in 1935.

A party at the US ambassador’s home in Moscow featured many animals loaned for the evening by the Moscow Zoo. By the end of the party, a bear became drunk on champagne, and 100 zebra finches escaped from an aviary, perching all around the home.

Dr. Carl Weiss, a physician, shot and killed Louisiana Senator Huey Long in 1935. Long’s bodyguards immediately returned fire, shooting Weiss 62 times.

William Haines (1900-1973), quit acting in 1935 when his studio employer, MGM, tried to pressure him into ending his relationship with his male partner and entering into a “lavender marriage” to hide his homosexuality. Instead, the two started a successful interior design business, often for Hollywood Stars.

The Harlem Riot of March 19, 1935, in which three people died and $2M worth of property damage occurred, started over a complete misunderstanding about something that never happened – a young shoplifter was rumored to have been beaten by a store representative.

Firsts and the Biggest Christmas Gifts

Monopoly*, Fire Fly Sled**

Mademoiselle Magazine (Conde Nast 1935-2001)

Look Magazine (1937-1971)

Science Digest Magazine (1937-1986)

True Magazine (1937-1975)

The Habits

NOT DRINKING – Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in New York City by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith.
Reading Green Light by Lloyd C. Douglas
Reading Studs Lonigan by James T. Farrell

Popular Music Artists

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 Ellingon, 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

Charts based on Billboard music charts.

Popular Movies

The 39 Steps, A Night at the Opera, Alice Adams, Bride of Frankenstein, Captain Blood, Charlie Chin in Egypt, Dangerous, David Copperfield, The Informer, Les Misérables, The Littlest Rebel, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mutiny on the Bounty, Naughty Marietta, Peter Ibbetson, Ruggles of Red Gap, The Scoundrel, A Tale of Two Cities, Top Hat, Triumph of the Will
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