What sparked your fascination with the "Golden Era"?

[BruceTracy]

I'm curious what things (whether in pop culture or elsewhere) sparked Fedora Lounge members' fascination with the "Golden Era".
For me it was these:

Batman: The Animated Series

The Shadow starring Alec Baldwin

 

[Dixon Cannon]

My 'Golden Era' father, born in 1901. He saw it all, the Wright Brothers to the Gemini orbits. He was 10 when the Titanic sank, 16 when the Great War ended, 25 when Lingbergh crossed the Atlantic, 35 when the Hindenburg went down... I think you get the picture. He was a walking, talking encyclopedia of the 'Golden Era'.

IAMHEASYOUAREHEASYOUAREMEANDWEAREALLTOGETHER

-dixon cannon

 

[BruceTracy]

IAMHEASYOUAREHEASYOUAREMEANDWEAREALLTOGETHER

-dixon cannon

Are you the Egg Man? [huh] Are you the Walrus? [huh]

 

[Doctor Strange]

I was never not interested in the past. Growing up in the 60s, the "Golden Era" was only slightly beyond reach. Both my parents had served in WWII... Blessed with a movie buff father, I devoured classic films (from silents to the 50s) on broadcast TV - all we had back then - from an early age. I even collected hats as a child (my avatar is me in a Stetson homburg back when I was around 14.) One of my college majors was in history... So I can't point to something like the Indiana Jones flicks - I was already 26 when Raiders came out, and was well-versed in the 30s/40s movies that it was referencing.

Sure, things since then have crystalized it more. But I've always been something of a retro type.

(And Bruce, I watched B:TAS as much as possible with my own kids during its original airing when I was in my late 30s/early 40s. I loved it from the moment I saw it, and it's still my favorite Batman adaptation by a wide margin... Sorry, Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan!)

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Are you the Egg Man? [huh] Are you the Walrus? [huh]

I'm a "Mocker"! Remember that one!

-dixon HDN cannon

 

[Lau Mo]

I feel like I have never fit in with people in my generation, which I think is why I love the past so much. Therefore, I would say an interest in history in general got this whole obsession started, and my grandparents narrowed it down to (mostly) the Golden Era. I love hearing their stories, it just seems to me to be a better time period. Lastly, I have to say the fashions! I wish people would dress like people did back then. It is more flattering and classy in my opinion.

 

[draws]

My interest started in grade school, just after WWII ended. I used to love to wear vests and couldn't get enough of them and that has stuck with me. I still wear them with a suit to this day. I can credit my interest to the 30s and 40s to the stories told by my mother and father about their experiences, evenings with friends, ballroom dancing, motorcycle races. My dad was a big motorcycle and gymnastics type. He tells of him standing on his head on the seat of the motorcycle while crossing a long bridge in the early 30s and getting a ticket from a motorcycle cop then did it again going the other way getting another ticket. I don't know if that was stupid or his desire for excitement but I admired him for it. I also have a photo of him swan-diving from a 100 foot cliff in the late 30s and how exciting he said it felt. It seems like every one did interesting things just getting through the dpression of the 30s but that has always left an impression on me.

 

[Kadri]

The music was the first thing that hooked me.

To be exact,this record of Estonian pre-war music that I used to listen to frequently at age five or six.

I was especially fascinated by these two songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN0Zh7vmoEw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcl8Iqc68dI

My grandmother who was born in 1929 also always told me-and still tells me- about her childhood during the 30's and teenage years during the war,wich sparked my interest even more.

Then,in elementary school I started to read a lot,and since I read absolutely everything I got my hands on,I also stumbeled across many biographies.
I became obsessed with all the actors,actresses,singers and authors of the era.
I started watching classic films at the time,too.
I remember my first classic movie experience being a coloured version of 'Bringing Up Baby' and my first musical movie 'Sunny Valley Serenade'.I recall this scene,especially:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDpNXrM6lf4

The Estonian composer Raimond Valgre and his tragic life story also fueled my interest.As a kid,I always hummed this one of his songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggmKjHe8fQg

I can not recall a time when I was not interested in history and especially the Golden Era.
The past seems,with all it's flaws,still so much more of a humane and lovely place for me.

That's why I'm so happy to have found the FL.
It's almost like coming home.

 

[yobbos1]

I saw a guy walking down the street in Toronto about ten years ago wearing a fedora and a leather jacket and thought "that guy looks like the real deal". I popped in the Raiders video and realized this guy was able to get ahold of real quality vintage looking stuff. I began hunting vintage clothing stores and online and a whole world of possibilities opened up. I have since realized I was unconciously fascinated with the look of the 30's and 40's most of my life; example preferring golden age comic books and books over current publications when I was a kid. The Indy look is not for me I know that now but I love that older style.

 

[donCarlos]

I spend too much time with my grandparents. Adding all the movies, music and my need to be different... These factors created my taste.

 

[Big Man]

Interesting thread.

I grew up spending a lot of time with my grandmother (1882-1983) and my aunt (1908-2006). We visited relatives who were contemporaries of my grandmother, as well as spending weeks and months at a time living in my grandmother's house that was (and still is) virtually unchanged from the 1920's and 1930's (and before, to a degree).

In short, the time period of the 20's, 30's and 40's just felt "natural" to me due to the exposure. And, I feel I'm the better for it.

 

[just_me]

I've always been hooked on old movies and Hollywood of the 20s-40s. When I was a kid, I'd sneak out to the living room to watch the Late Late Show without my mother knowing. lol

 

[BruceTracy]

Interesting thread.

I grew up spending a lot of time with my grandmother (1882-1983) and my aunt (1908-2006). We visited relatives who were contemporaries of my grandmother, as well as spending weeks and months at a time living in my grandmother's house that was (and still is) virtually unchanged from the 1920's and 1930's (and before, to a degree).

In short, the time period of the 20's, 30's and 40's just felt "natural" to me due to the exposure. And, I feel I'm the better for it.

Both your grandma and aunt lived to around 100? Good genes in that family. Was that aunt the daughter of that grandma?

 

[Big Man]

Both your grandma and aunt lived to around 100? Good genes in that family. Was that aunt the daughter of that grandma?

Yes, they were mother and daughter.

I had a great x4 grandfather that fought in the Revolution that lived to be 104 and my great grandfather lived to be just a few days shy of 100 (he was a Civil War vet).

My little aunt, who died in October 2006, often jokingly said, "you'll have to hit me in the head with a hammer to get me out of here." She was almost right, as she was in fairly good health when she died. Her mind was a little fuzzy the last couple of months, but when she died we were walking together down the hall at my dad's house and she just dropped dead. No warning at all, just like that. Now, that's the way to go when your time has come.

 

[carter]

Kadri, Thanks for the music.

Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I was always a Civil War buff. We visited battlefields, caverns, cemetaries, trenchworks, and any number of other Civil War sites. While I was enamored of the era, dressing as such was not practical. Historically, it is still one of the most interesting periods in American History to me.

The most accessible era was that of my parents, both of whom were born in the 1920's. We spent a great deal of time with both sets of grandparents who were born near the turn of the century. We were immersed in the history of those two generations.

I am naturally drawn to those memories and the things and styles of my parent's and grandparent's generations. Those people and their times still sing to me.

 

[PistolPete1969]

My fascination with the "Golden Era" started like a lot of other Loungers with the fact that the "Golden Era" has ssssoooo much more style & character than the modern era. Today's cookie-cutter cars & McMansions pale in comparison to even the average house/car of the "Golden Era". The swooping lines & tailfins on a 50's car are a thing of beauty. Even ordinary houses back then were built to last.
Also the fashions; Look at old pictures from that era and just about everyone wore a suit and hat. That is so much neater than today's "fashion".
Anyway.....sorry to ramble. Just my .02 cents...


Pete

 

[Kermez]

Been a fan for a long time - many Bogart films, The Shadow, big band / swing music, etc.

What really pushed me over the edge - and this should be no surprise - was my favorite TV show of All-Time: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (see avatar).

For those of you who don't know, set in the late-40's through early-60's, all the characters are dressed pretty cool, especially Archie Goodwin (played by Timothy Hutton - see avatar, again). I especially love the ties in the series (most notably, Archie's), and I am always on the lookout for decently-priced ties that remind me of those seen in the show. In an unabashed effort to imitate, I started wearing suits to work most of the time. I even dove in and got various colored pocket squares and a few felt fedoras (which bring me to how I stumbled onto this website, btw).

 

[Spitfire]

The flying side of WWII. Especially RAF, The Battle of Britain and the many escape stories, I read as a kid and teenager. Later came The 8th Airforce.
I really hasn't moved to anything else Golden days. Fedoras, dresses, cooking, ties, shooes (except for my 1936 patterne flying boots and my jumpboots I wear modern stuff at my feet)
I dont care much for most of the Golden age movies either. Except for a very few that is.
And I do not think the old days were better in any way than to day.

Guesse I am only here for the flying...[huh] And the fun of getting to know people all over the world!

 

["Skeet" McD]

Confession is good for the soul....

Well: out with it. While interested in the day-to-day life of ordinary people in the past since very early childhood (who knows where that came from?), it was only in the last decade that I came to do anything with the 30s...or 40s. Up to that time....I thought they were about the ugliest period known to man. I REALLY liked (and still do) the first 2 decades of the 20C: give me a pigeon-breasted, shirtwaisted silhouette and a picture hat any day!

Part of this can perhaps be written down to my age: born in 1953 to parents in their late 30s, they had lived through all of it, and even in the 60s, it wasn't that far back....I'd look at the old movies on TV and think...well, the men look OK. But those shapeless bags of clothes on the women! And the rather dowdy look of the 30s in everyday interior decor. In the antique world, its the first 50 years you have to worry about...if something manages to NOT get thrown out because it's "ugly" and "old-fashioned" during those first 5 decades...it has a good chance of being saved because it's no longer "just" old fashioned. I guess that may have played a part in my conversion as well.

But, the thing that finally did it was beginning to shoot Skeet (which appeared on the national scene in 1926 and whose glory years were the '30s)...and deciding to do my hunting in that period as well. After 3 decades of turning the world upside down or having special recreations made of clothes and material culture from the 17, 18, and 19Cs for living history...it was really mindblowing to just be able to order a Filson hunting vest, and have it arrive--correct to the last stitch--to a period one Same with so much else. But, like everything else in life....the more you know, the more fascinating it becomes! I've grown to love the "golden age" for itself.

I do think that people who fixate on one period and don't care to know what went before or came after are missing the forest for the trees. No body in any period lived only with things--or ideas--that were from that time; and the changes that occur (what changes; what persists) are the most interesting parts of the story to me.

There, I feel better already :>)

 

[Tinseltown]

For me, it all comes from a interest in history of costume. But the interest didn't start with The Golden Era.
I have always been interested in dresses and always drew whole collections of them a lot as a child. One day I watched Pride and Prejudice (BBC version, of course!!) and was just in awe of how well the period was reacreated with hair, clothes, set design, location and so forth. This started my interest i costume history and the past - and that expanded to other periods, in particular the golden era and also the 18th century and the edwardian era.

I think I took a liking to The Golden Era because my interest in costume history also comes from a love of dressing up and a fascination with recreating a period look (which all started with P&P for me), the Golden Age allows you to do that in the modern day. I still dream about walking down the street in an 18th century or Regency gown, though. lol
So, my fascination has absolutely nothing to do with an interest in WW2 etc.

This is a really great thread - it's very interesting to read what all of you are fascinated by!