How did Americans celebrate Christmas in the 20's and 30's?

Answer

The public was slowly beginning to embrace the idea of lighting their trees electrically, and as towns and cities were wired for electricity the variety of lighting on the market grew dramatically. The M. Propp company was instrumental in bringing the idea of electric Christmas lights to the public. Stores featured a mixture of both the "old fashioned" carbon lamps and the new tungsten cone bulbs, but tungsten filament cone shaped lamps were the standard for the high quality sets by the late 20s.

Safety concerns brought about the formation of national standards for "decorative" lighting, which were overseen by the infant Underwriters Laboratories. By 1930, most homes were using the now-standard two bladed wall plugs, making decorating with electricity all the more convenient.

The 1920s are remembered as the "Jazz Age." Little remembered is the fact that the first National Christmas tree originated during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge. This 60-foot balsam fir was lit in an impressive ceremony in 1923. Washingtonians gathered at the entrance of the White House to sing Christmas carols. A fanfare of trumpets heralded shepherds as they journeyed to the illuminated cross on the Washington Monument.

Neighbors vied with each other to design the most spectacular tree on their block. Even Popular Mechanics offered innovative Christmas ideas! The magazine encouraged local do-it-yourselfers to lightly spray their trees with varnish (taking care to confine the varnish to the tree), and after the branches were sufficiently sprayed, they were to sprinkle them with cornstarch. If this process was repeated several times, the magazine noted, homeowners would have a beautiful flocked Christmas tree -- and a terrible fire hazard! Tinfoil icicles and glass prisms were the final touches.

Cotton ornaments were at the peak of their popularity in the 1920s. These ornaments were less costly and lasted longer because they were unbreakable. By the late 1920s, paper ornaments had decreased in popularity because of the spectacular glass ornaments imported from Germany.

The 1930s are remembered as hard times -- the era of the Great Depression. Christmas was that one day each year during the 1930s when Americans tried to put these hard times behind them.

After the stock market crash of 1929 there had been some decline in the purchase of Christmas ornaments, but the holiday remained popular. In 1934, Fortune magazine predicted Americans would spend about $25 million on Christmas tree ornaments of all types including lights, tinsel, snow, and ornaments.

Christmas tree safety became a big issue in the 1930s and the use of candles on trees and in windows was discouraged as was the use of flammable paper ornaments. Families were told to discard all the scrap ornaments of previous decades.

Glass ornaments dominated Christmas trees in this time period. In fact, large, wire-wrapped ornaments were the rage of the 1930s, and popular magazines continued to offer suggestions for tree decorations. In 1932, House Beautiful suggested painting trees the same color as the scheme of the room where the tree was to stand!

The popularity of feather trees declined in the 1930s, Americans were once again enamored with the floor to ceiling tree. Tree farms grew during this decade and live trees gained in popularity. In order to revive the feather tree, they were now sold in a variety of colors, including pink, blue, purple, and orange.

In 1936 Montgomery Ward offered an elaborate 16 piece village set which consisted of nine buildings and seven figures. These continue to be as popular today as they were in the 1930s. Japan produced and sold the largest quantities of these houses because the German versions were so expensive most Americans couldn't afford them. The village scenes had the brush trees that were made in Japan; these trees resembled the brushes used to clean out bottles, so they were quickly labeled "bottle brush trees."

In 1937, "The Shiney Brite Company" was created in America by Max Eckardt who feared his supplies of ornaments would be cut off by the war. When his fears materialized with the British blockade in 1939, Max contacted the Corning Glass Company. Using the machine that made light bulbs, Corning Company agreed to produce ornaments.

Just before the war, when the European ornaments were no longer available, the Japanese market enjoyed a boom in business. It was responsible for 93% of all ornaments shipped into America at this time. This ended, of course, when war was declared between America and Japan

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