Basic personal possessions of the 1930's American male

[Fedora64]

While watching old movies, I am always amazed at how small a suitcase one needs when they travel and that brings me to the question what was the basic possessions of an American male in the 1930's / 1940's?

I know when I see old houses and how small they are compared to todays houses which are needed to store all of the "stuff" we accumulate.

Does anyone know of website that addresses the kind of question that I have just asked?

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I don't have a direct answer but the 'small' cases seen carried in movies may just be a showbiz decision in order to keep the on-camera character from looking eclipsed by a big, clumsy bag. Kinda' like revolvers that shoot forty bullets without needing reloading or always leaving a door hanging open when they pass through it. Real people might have traveled with similar amounts of stuff (or even more and bulkier) as we do today, albeit much more stylish and better made stuff.

 

[scottyrocks]

Or, the small-suitcase guy could be the equivalent of today's backpacker, or even the small-rolling suitcase guy (or girl).

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Gentleman's "Dressing case" or overnight bag" just pyjamas and tooth brush razor etc."

 

[Fedora64]

I understand that we can't get our history lessons from movies but the point of my question is what basic personal possessions did an American male own in the 1930's / 1940's?

Like maybe one hat, three pair of pants, ??? many shirts?? did he own a watch???

I know that the personal possessions would differ considering your economic status but I am talking about the AVERAGE working American male.

 

[Fletch]

In the interests of gross oversimplification, I propose the following.

1930s

1940s

 

[Fedora64]

FLETCH ....I love your 1930's version!!!

And thanks for the 1940's too!!

 

[Shangas]

What a man owned in the 1930s depended on how rich he was, of course, and how hard the Crash hit him in '29. The average layman probably had a couple of suits and a few sets of clothes, a couple of ties, one or two pairs of shoes, a cigarette lighter (maybe), a cigarette case (maybe), a hat (probably just the one).

Jewellery would've been an absolute minimum, I reckon. A class-ring, a wedding ring or a signet-ring. If he was married, it was a wedding-ring and either a class-ring or a signet-ring (not both, I'd think). If he had a timepiece, it was probably a pocket watch handed down through the family from his father - Don't forget how expensive pocket watches and wristwatches were back then - and especially in the '30s when you had no money, it was probably more likely that you had a family-heirloom pocket watch insted of a brand new wristwatch. Along with that you'd have the chain and any little fobs that went with it.

He may, or may not, also have a fountain pen. Again, like the watch, a fountain pen was a pretty big investment back in the '30s. In those days, you bought ONE pen, and you kept it for LIFE (or until it no-longer worked, and then you bought another). Depending on your wealth, it was either a cheap pen like an Esterbrook or if you had more money, perhaps something nicer like a Parker Duofold or a Sheaffer Balance, but you'd only ever have one.

 

[Stearmen]

30s Dress

I think another thing to take into account is bathing, or lack of! Once a week was the norm, so after shave was very important! My mother reminded me how bad church smelled back in the 60s with all the Old Spice and perfumes mixing badly! Most men only had one suit, tie, shoes, hat and maybe two shirts in the 30s! I have a picture of my dad as a teen in the 30s, barefoot, home made jeans with a rope for a belt! And he was better off then most. People were dirt poor back then.

 

[John in Covina]

He may, or may not, also have a fountain pen. Again, like the watch, a fountain pen was a pretty big investment back in the '30s. In those days, you bought ONE pen, and you kept it for LIFE (or until it no-longer worked, and then you bought another). Depending on your wealth, it was either a cheap pen like an Esterbrook or if you had more money, perhaps something nicer like a Parker Duofold or a Sheaffer Balance, but you'd only ever have one.

*******
The Fountain Pen Repair business was a staple of most pen shops and a variety of stores would send a pen out for repair for you. THere were some pens in the big three line that were warranteed for life, while others were still worth an inexpensive repair. WWII was the heyday as new pens were mostly for the war effort and people repaired what they had. Fred Krinke at the Fountatain Pen Shop in Monrovia has some neat stories about when the shop was in LA and how they had a number of department stores and others as customers for the pen repair trade. He was one of the guys that was the delivery pick up boy as a youngster and can still describe the route as well as the who what where including the competition.I think one of his accounts was published in the PCA magazine a few years back.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

For an overnight or weekend trip, that size would be moe than adequate. Also, many didn't take pleasure trips or vacations as we now know them. If you were going to take a longer trip, you could take another valice, or what we think of as the common suitcase.

Luggage was also sometimes shipped ahead or consigned to the luggage car of a train - you'd only carry a smaller case with you for what you needed during the journey. Once you got to your destination, you'd crack open the trunk.

 

[Shangas]

*******
The Fountain Pen Repair business was a staple of most pen shops and a variety of stores would send a pen out for repair for you. THere were some pens in the big three line that were warranteed for life, while others were still worth an inexpensive repair. WWII was the heyday as new pens were mostly for the war effort and people repaired what they had. Fred Krinke at the Fountatain Pen Shop in Monrovia has some neat stories about when the shop was in LA and how they had a number of department stores and others as customers for the pen repair trade. He was one of the guys that was the delivery pick up boy as a youngster and can still describe the route as well as the who what where including the competition.I think one of his accounts was published in the PCA magazine a few years back.

Hi John,

Quite true, quite true. I admit I'd forgotten about that! One of the wonderful things about fountain pens back then was that they were so easy to repair. They only had a handful of degradable parts that had to be replaced, and once replaced, they'd last for years all over again. You used to be able to take your pens to the local stationery shop, pen shop or even the local jewellers. There, you'd give the jeweller your fountain pen and watch and he'd fix it for you. A jeweller's shop was likely to have a professional watchmaker in the back (unlike jewellers' shops these days, so don't bother!) who would repair the watch, and a pen-repair-person who would fix your pen for you.

It wasn't a matter of "it costs more to fix it than it costs to buy a new one", but more one of thriftiness. In the Depression, you did anything to save anything - money, food, heat, cloth...anything at all. Making things last as long as possible before you got something to replace it was the order of the decade.

 

[avedwards]

In an attempt to copy those times, I only take one bag that size when I'm away for a weekend. Pyjamas, a spare shirt and tie, wash kit, underwear and spare trousers. That's enough for one night. Add another shirt for another night. People today tend to overpack, but in my opinion it wasn't just a film thing that people took small suitcases but a mentality. While I have no pictures to verify this I have tried it myself and can prove that it works.

My next challenge will be to go with an even smaller bag. Once I get hold of an MKVII (gas mask bag as used by Indy) I will see if I can use that for a weekend trip. I posted a thread about light packing a while back and it can be done very easily and is very practical, though in my case it helps that a spare pair of pyjamas lives at my mol's house meaning I can reduce baggage by not having to carry them.

 

[23SkidooWithYou]

Gentleman,

I hope you don't mind a gal in this thread! I was reading and it brought up a question...

Could the small bag also be due to the idea of a travel costume or suit? I know ladies had certain garments considered travel worthy and it was acceptable for them to remain in that costume for the public portion of the journey. Just wondering if the same were true for the gents. ie the Travel Suit and then just clean skiveys, pj, shirt and some toiletries.

 

[Fedora64]

Gentleman,

I hope you don't mind a gal in this thread! I was reading and it brought up a question...

Could the small bag also be due to the idea of a travel costume or suit? I know ladies had certain garments considered travel worthy and it was acceptable for them to remain in that costume for the public portion of the journey. Just wondering if the same were true for the gents. ie the Travel Suit and then just clean skiveys, pj, shirt and some toiletries.

Ladies are always welcome.

 

[John in Covina]

In the modern day we tend to have a lot more "stuff" than in the past plus have a greater concept of choice when it comes to what we may wear as tied to what we may be doing.

I tend to bring extra clothes on most over night or a few days length trips since I tend to get dirty for some reason espescially when it comes to spilling food on myself! I am considering bringing my own Lobster bib for eating these days! I think in the past people were better at staying clean somehow!

We all have clothes for different occasions or different purposes and you bring what you think you need for the trip. For summer I tend to wear hiking shorts and Cabelas short sleeved shirts with those epalettes in the day which leads to Matt Deckard always calling me the Crocodile Hunter! I then dress up for the evenings, saving my better and still clean clothes for the evening meal and the night out.

For men, the toilet kit remains fairly unchanged I'd think. Toothbrush and Pepsodent, brush and or comb. Shaving needs for longer trips. For some trips soap and shampoos may be brought especially if one suffers from sensative skin of other conditions that need specific products to be comfortable, just as one brings their medications as needed along.

In the past the cut of men's suits and sports jackets allowed them greater movement and they were much more dressed up than today so some clothes did double duty as to daytime activities versus evening.

In Victorian times i believe men changed clothes 2 to 3 times a day if they were "gentlemen" and of means, so their overnight bag was more likely to be a trunk!

 

[Shangas]

If we're heading into packing for travel, then I would say that distance and length of stay would (rather obviously) influence size of luggage. I mean, if you're travelling all the way from, say London to Edinbrugh on a business-trip for a week, you might bring one suitcase. But if you were going from Southampton to New York (by ocean-liner) for a two week business-trip to Manhattan, you'd probably take a steamer-trunk, since you'd need the extra space and clothes to change into and wear during the crossing, and on average, a steamer-crossing of the Atlantic took between one (if you travelled on a fast liner) to two weeks (if you took a slow one).

Another thing which influences how big one's luggage is, I reckon, is how much clothes you wear anyway. These days when people go on holiday, they wear jeans and a T-shirt and sneakers. Everything else is crammed into a suitcase. Back in the '30s, you wore your suit and kept maybe one or two spare accessories (socks, ties, shirts, one spare suit) in the suitcase, and kept everything light and easy.

 

[HatRak]

While John in Covina is right about Victorian gentlemen having many diffferent outfits dedicated to particular uses (from shooting, to riding, to dining, to hanging-out-drinking-brandy-by-the-fireplace, ) ordinary folks of the Golden Age had fewer possessions. It would not have been unusual for a man to have a suit and wear it over several days. He would (hopefully) change undergarments more regularly, and might change the shirt (perhaps only the collar) every day, but clothes were worn more often, and cleaned less, than they are today.

There's a Bogart movie where his character buys a suit and wears it throughout the entire movie, which takes place over several days. Perhaps it was All Through the Night? That strikes me as a fairly accurate impression of the way clothes were owned and worn during the first half of the 1900's.

To get a real sense of it, all you need to do is live in a 100 year old home. My previous house was a Baltimore rowhouse built in the 1890's. A little over 900 square feet on two floors, when it was built there was no indoor plumbing (there was an outhouse at the end of everyone's property) and there were no closets in any of the rooms. To store clothing, you used a linen press or a wardrobe. We have a wardrobe from that period (the sort of thing that would have been used up through the thirties) and I can tell you from experience that it would be full with couple of suits, pants, and various shirts, undergarments, etc. When we renovated, we gained closets at the cost of a bedroom. I would venture to say that there are no houses built today that do not have closets in every bedroom plus hallways, some of them small rooms to themselves. Because we own more, and have greater choice, we travel heavier than would have been the case of the average Golden Ager.

 

[John in Covina]

Lest we forget, the thirties is square in the middle of the Great Depression. People that were employed considered themselves lucky to be so. Often you did not know week to week or month to month if you would have that job so spending was only on necessities. As such average people tended to be a bit more frugal at that time so few people would have conspicuously spent a lot for clothes. (Conspicuous Consumption was out except for the wealthy.)

A man may only have had one suit that was newer and probably held onto his old ones as long as possible.

Anyone remember the story about how a wife would clean a man's dress shirt and check the cuffs and collars. Frayed cuffs became a short sleeved shirt and frayed collars became a pajama top.

 

[HatRak]

Lest we forget, the thirties is square in the middle of the Great Depression. People that were employed considered themselves lucky to be so. Often you did not know week to week or month to month if you would have that job so spending was only on necessities. As such average people tended to be a bit more frugal at that time so few people would have conspicuously spent a lot for clothes. (Conspicuous Consumption was out except for the wealthy.)

A man may only have had one suit that was newer and probably held onto his old ones as long as possible.

Anyone remember the story about how a wife would clean a man's dress shirt and check the cuffs and collars. Frayed cuffs became a short sleeved shirt and frayed collars became a pajama top.

My mother-in-law, who grew up during the depression, still lives this way. Though the family has always been well-off, solidly upper-middle-class, her depression experiences as a child forged in her an unshakeable frugality. She washes and re-uses aluminum foil, has a drawer full of bread ties, and takes the collar and cuffs off my father-in-laws worn dress shirts and wears them for house cleaning. Nothing is ever tossed until it is worn to lint and then the lint is used for bandages. . .