Golden Age careers

[Zepp]

Having just visited the "What's Your Racket?" thread, I started wondering yet again what I'd be doing to earn my keep had I lived 70 years ago.

I can see myself joining the Navy after graduation from high school, just as I really did in the 70s. The sea service even then was already a family tradition. Rather than duty aboard a battleship or destroyer, the appeal would have been a chance to serve aboard one of the Navy dirigibles testing the concept of lighter-than-air aviation in the fleet. (My username comes from my fascination with LTA aviation. Zepp, short for Zeppelin.)

So, what kind of job would I be doing? Radioman, I think. If I ever locate a time machine and transport back into the past I even have the skills ready to go after having worked on so many old tube radios of the 30s and 40s today.

A great post-Navy career would have been to take those skills Uncle Sam taught me to the airlines, preferrably Pan Am. Working as a radio officer aboard one of the trans-Pacific clippers would have been to have a job that offered a bit of adventure in an age when air travel was still glamourous.

Had Pan Am not been hiring, there was always the chance to be a broadcast tech or engineer in an up-and-coming radio studio. Would I have taken a gig as a soundman on the set of Fibber McGee & Molly, the Lone Ranger, or the Great Gildersleeve? In a heartbeat!

I'll bet we'd have at least a few haberdashers, seamstresses, and hatmakers among the FL crew transported back to the 30s.

What's your ideal Golden Age job?

-Zepp

 

[Brad Bowers]

A drunkard.:beer:

Brad

 

[Zepp]

A drunkard.:beer:

Given the thrist a typical sailor works up during his on-duty time, it's a good bet I'd run into you while out on liberty.

First round is on me!

-Zepp

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I'd have probably stuck with music, or radio. Oh, for the chance to work with the Mercury Theatre! And of course the occult was almost as popular back then as it is now, so that line would still be open to me.

Drunk all day with Crowley, then off to work for Mr Wells in the evening. That would have been interesting...

 

[flat-top]

I'm in retail, and until recently, was in a men's department. I've had several Golden Era moments, matching shirts and ties as old school as the customer would allow, or helping dads and their sons with junior's first suit, etc. Now I'm in the women's dept, and still feel like it's a Golden Era style career. Since I love clothes and fashion, I probably would have been in the same business 60 years ago!
At your service,
flat-top

 

[Tudor]

A Machinist...

I have always loved what a journeyman machinist could do with a chunk of metal. Or for that matter an engineer...

 

[Viola]

Farmer. Or nursery-owner which is practically the same thing. Absolutely. And I could afford the acerage to do it, too.

 

[Lincsong]

A stand-up philospher. Or writer for Sid Caesar and "Your Show of Shows"

 

[scotrace]

A writer.

And a drunkard. But they go hand-in-hand in the Golden Era.

 

[Nora Charles]

Probably a chicken farmer. My grandfather had a chicken farm that he and then my dad worked right up until I was born.

 

[shoeshineboy]

i would have shined shoes and possibly went on to become a barber...sometimes they still wonder, why I didn't do that today....I would have had my own shop today.

Perhaps, I would have gone to Nashville and tried out for the Grand Ol Opry...back then they gave you a "Live" audition.....

mark the shoeshine boy

 

[jake_fink]

Penny-a-word pulp hack.

Or torpedo... ka-chow, ka-chow!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Same as it ever was,....

.....artist. For me, no other life-long aspiration could compare. Provided I survived my tour of duty in the army air force, that is.

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Well, like Zepp, I went into the Navy after High School, but, I was on submarines. I have to say I would NOT want to be on an old diesel sub, so, that's out. I'm not sure what I would have been, honestly. Nowadays, i'm a manager of the men's department of a clothing store, and that would have been fun back in the 30's. I really enjoy selling men's fashion and clothing/accessories now, so I can imagine I'd like selling golden era goods even more (for obvious reasons).

Then again, I would have liked to be a journalist for a magazine or maybe a newspaper. Of course, I do have a strange fascination with traditional style butcher shops, and I have always thought that would be so much fun to be a butcher. Wait, I can do all these things in 2006... hmm..

I suppose there aren't many Golden Age exclusive careers.

 

[Naama]

Well, 70years ago I wouldn't really have had a great time over here, so I think I would emigrate to the usa to become a b-movie director

Naama

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Librarian with cool glasses.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Tough choice:

(1) Bandleader, or record company talent scout.

(2) emergency field medic

 

[Rosie]

My cousin and I were talking about this not long ago.

I would probably have been a hair dresser, until I found the right guy and settled down.

 

[jake_fink]

Rosie: I would probably have been a hair dresser, until I found the right guy and settled down.

Not a riveter!?!

 

[The D.A.]

If I was stuck with my current body, a career as a daredevil aviator would be out of the question as my eyesight is terrible. I don't think that I would have followed my modern career path of law enforcement, as I'm just not tough enough for law enforcement in those days.

I like to think that I would have gone to Hollywood and written scripts for movie blockbusters, or at least B-movies and serials. Failing to do that, I would have probably starved writing pulp stories or comic books.

Or, alternatively, I might have traveled to the Orient, learned mind-control techniques in a Tibetan monastery, and returned to the States to smash crime!