Could you survive?

[dhermann1]

I often fantasize about this. Of course I would not be able to get thyroid medication, so I'd be dragging around all the time. Luckily I don't need anything more critical than that to get by. My parents' parents both had steady incomes throughout the Depression, but my mother told me that noone thought anything of it when a stranger came to your back door and asked for a meal.
I just imagine myself becoming a Cassandra, trying to tell the world what was in store for it, and being laughed out of town, or locked up as a loony.
Being an actor, I'd try to go to Hollywood and become a character actor. But I'd also try to tell Winston Churchill about Fred Whittle, and FDR about Uranium, etc., etc. Also, I think we'd all be shocked by the average level of cultural schlock we'd see. (Shocked by schlock!) We look at the past through rose colored glasses, that have selected all the best stuff and discarded the dreck. Just as today there is a lot of garbage to dig through to get to the good stuff, so it was in the past.
I think we'd find it tougher than we realize. The BBC and PBS shows like 1900House and the like show that it wasn't as easy as it looks.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

army or navy

Im sure I could be a US Fighting man

Nice picture, but you know:

We joined the navy / To see the world.
And what did we see? / We saw the sea…


.

 

[Honey Doll]

If I were transported to '37, I could still be sitting in my office as it is in a lovely art deco building that went up in '29. I'd probably have better luck finding a position here as a legal secretary than as a woman lawyer though. My firm was in place then as well. It might be a bit difficult to get home as its 20 odd miles away and would have been a corn field back in '37.

Hubby's family still owns at least part of their original farm that they had in the 30s, so I suppose we could settle back there. I could have made a nice farmer's wife... I make an excellent peach jam.

Honey Doll

 

[K.D. Lightner]

If I could take my retirement income with me, I'd be quite fine. Rich, as a matter of fact. Would have to skip the Social Security, not sure they had it then, anyway.

Also, I am diabetic and not sure what kind of insulin they had then or how good it was.

With my education, I could always teach, they did allow women to teach, but teachers didn't make much money during the depression, which was still going strong in 1937.

And, of course, I can type. In the old days, when a woman wanted a job, they'd ask "yes, but can she type."

Maybe what I would do is move to California, take a goodly portion of my retirement income each month and buy land.

karol

 

[Feng_Li]

I'm a high school teacher, German and History. I could probably find work in my field, but in 1937, I'd do a lot better for myself if I found a government or military career, especially as I'm of fighting age. Being a German speaker and also a third-generation immigrant (and therefore probably not a security risk) would make me very useful.

My glasses aren't too strong, and I rarely require medications, so healthwise I'd probably be okay. That said, had I been born in 1915 I'd have died without antibiotics.

Crazily enough, I think one of my biggest problems in 1937 would be that I am afraid of horses...they're on their way out of most people's daily lives, but there sure are an awful lot of them left...

 

[akaBruno]

Just think of it as going camping for the rest of your life.

Bruno

 

[BeBopBaby]

Hmmmm, I don't know. I have acid reflux, so if I went back in time I'd pretty much have bad heartburn 24-7 without my medications. Probably by now my esophagus would have eroded away from all the stomach acid coming up through it. If I don't take my meds even water gives me bad heartburn.

I'd also be in the coke bottle glasses club at -6.5 in my right eye and -6.75 in my left eye. My husband also goes into anaphylactic shock if he eats any kind of shellfish. We both like our modern medications too much - let's hear it for the weak and nerdy!!! lol lol lol

 

[Feraud]

Ah life would have been a gas in the good old days.
Living where I do now (NYC), I would spend a few evenings a week carousing with the likes of Jackie Gleason and Frankie at Toots Shor's and the Stork Club.
No doubt I would run into Senator Jack holding court in one of the private areas.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Just think of it as going camping for the rest of your life.

Bruno

i was just thinking that.
as for me, yes. i would do just fine. i am a mechanic for a living. everything in a vehicle (car or heavy equipment) is controlled by cumputers. i think i could get by wtihthe only electronics being a couple of light bulbs. but, IF i was transplanted back to 1937, i would start buying all the land around me that today is subdivided & then subdivided again. i would be rich in no time.
btw, in '37 had the stock market pretty much bounced back of did that happen when America entered the second World War?
thanx!!!
Charlie

 

[Amy Jeanne]

In the way of working, I'd do great. I feel I'm better suited to run a home instead of an office so that wouldn't be a problem for me. I'd PREFER to be a housewife today in 2007, but because of today's enormous expenses I must suffer in an office and answer to a moody boss who loves you one day and puts down everything you do the next.

Technology = I'd miss it. Diversity = Gotta have it! My Rebellious Streak = Wouldn't do too well in "The Golden Era." I'd probably be locked up in an asylum.

 

[Big Man]

... My Rebellious Streak = Wouldn't do too well in "The Golden Era." I'd probably be locked up in an asylum.

Which just confirms I'd still have the same job in 1937 that I have today. lol

 

[Nashoba]

Which just confirms I'd still have the same job in 1937 that I have today. lol

ahhh the joys of job security. It's nice to see that some things never change lol

 

[Rosie]

Would I do what I am doing now? More than likely not. I would probably be a hairdresser with my own salon. I'd sell food, have a small candy shop/soda fountain. I'd probably take numbers too. And have an after hours club.

 

[Big Man]

ahhh the joys of job security. It's nice to see that some things never change lol

That's right. Both my grandparents worked here at "the state hospital" between 1902 and 1905. I've worked here since 1979 - in the same building that my grandfather worked.

The state hospital, along with the state school for the deaf (which is just across the road from our facility) have served this area well in respect to job security since the late 19th century. During the Great Depression, the two state institutions here provided more than 3,000 jobs for area residents.

 

[Nashoba]

That's right. Both my grandparents worked here at "the state hospital" between 1902 and 1905. I've worked here since 1979 - in the same building that my grandfather worked.

The state hospital, along with the state school for the deaf (which is just across the road from our facility) have served this area well in respect to job security since the late 19th century. During the Great Depression, the two state institutions here provided more than 3,000 jobs for area residents.

neat family history connection!

 

[Polka Dot]

No, I'd likely be dead by now. As a teenager, I was hospitalized for a week with a nasty case of bacterial pneumonia. Without serious intravenous antibiotics, I probably wouldn't have made it.

Otherwise, nothing I do truly requires modern technology. Though digitization of research materials makes life as a student vastly easier, it's not truly necessary for study. The quiet environment of a library and the simplicity of a book and notebook relax me. The constancy of the basics of research is comforting.

 

[RobbleBobble]

Being a housewife - I imagine I'd muddle it through. I fear it would take me twice as long to do anything, but I would manage!

 

[Yeps]

Well, my field was certainly bigger back then but the competition was certainly stiffer. However, if I could get a job as a short order cook or some similar job while learning old school singing technique, I could do great.

Or I might be able to get myself a math scholarship to some fancy school. I am pretty good at calculus, even if I choose to ignore it.

 

[rue]

Easy for me... I'm a homemaker and I wouldn't miss much about today's world. Most of the electronics we use regularly now didn't exist when I was a kid and the only thing I use now is a computer (I don't have a cell phone or ipad etc.), so that wouldn't bother me. I'd move to Monterey, CA again so I wouldn't need air-conditioning (no one has it there as it only gets hot enough for one for about a week).

Yep, if there's a ticket out there... sign me up

 

[Miss sofia]

I originally trained as a legal secretary, (i learnt to type on a manual typewriter), then moved into advertising, which was all storyboarded back then, no computers etc, so i would be right at home and able to find a job.

Actually i have a love/hate relationship with modern technology on the whole and as Rue said, most of the technology wasn't around when i was growing up anyway, so i wouldn't miss it much. I don't like mobile phones, nor watch virtually any TV and was the last person i know to get a computer. I would miss my brand new washing machine though.

Actually i did live like a fifties housewife for a few months, aside from the computer which was the only modern gadget i allowed myself to use in the house and i found it actually wasn't that far removed from how i live anyway. anyway.