- Nina Bouska
- Posted On
May 'Revisit the '30s' event to celebrate Gibson Museum & Cultural Center opening
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown will host its "Revisit the '30s" gala the weekend of Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4, to celebrate the opening of the Gibson Museum & Cultural Center.
That same small historic building was dedicated as the Gibson Library on the weekend of May 3-4, 1930.
Fun and games and laughter are not the first things that generally come to mind when the 1930s are mentioned. But those were hallmarks of the decade, along with a surprising degree of invention and enterprise during a period known as the Great Depression.
Talking movies and radio were new, and their stars became as well known as the neighbors. Music was available to everyone, and just about everybody danced. Radio meant everyone could enjoy major league sports. And share the same jokes.
Women gave up the rebellion of the 1920s and fashions went feminine again. Family games were the order of the day. Monopoly and Scrabble met instant success.
There's a lot to learn about our forebears. Chocolate chip cookies, Twinkies and Spam were introduced in the 1930s, along with frozen foods, instant mixes and a host of still familiar products. International flights and jet engines were new. So was Scotch Tape.
The lighter highlights of the 1930s will be featured in "Revisit the '30s" weekend.
Store windows and walls throughout Middletown will be filled during the celebratory weekend with posters of 1930s advertising, news events and personalities. A nod to the grimmer aspects of the news will be seen on a few of the posters, but for the most part it's a healthy dose of history as fun.
Most windows will be decorated or painted to resemble the market places of the time. Music and radio shows of the period will be playing all about. Visitors will be welcomed at events including a kids' carnival, a swing and jitterbug dance, a double feature with cartoon and newsreel, and random skits.
Vintage autos will cruise the streets, the drive-in will have carhops, and with a bit of luck you'll find a service station attendant to pump your gas and wash your windshield.
Middletown's pizza place will become a speakeasy (although prohibition ended in 1933, legal liquor was in scarce supply so moonshine and corn likker prevailed for several years).
Residents and guests are invited to don costumes and join a look-alike contest. Potential choices seem almost endless. There are movie stars, radio personalities, singers, dancers, jazz musicians, sports heroes, cartoon characters, newsmakers too many to name: Greta Garbo, Mae West, the Shadow, the Lone Ranger, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Wizard of Oz, Snow White, Mickey Mouse, Gone With the Wind.
A lengthy list is offered on Gibson Museum's spinoff Web site, www.revisitthe1930s.com .
Thrift shops are setting aside 1930s-type clothing and artifacts, and antique dealers from far and wide are invited to bring 1930s memorabilia, to loan or to sell. A local merchant will convert a window to a milliner's shop early in April, to offer period hats for women.
There's more. Check it out at www.cgibsonmuseum.com or www.revisitthe30s.com .
This celebration may not feature a Salvation Army Band, as the long-ago library's opening did. But it's going to be a good party.