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Born in 1928? Here's the world you arrived into

In 1928, "Sonny Boy" topped the charts, The Singing Fool packed theaters, a stamp cost 2¢, the average home went for about $7,600.

What things cost in 1928

A $0.21 gallon of gas in 1928 has the buying power of roughly $4.10 today. A 2¢ stamp is about 39¢, and a 25¢ movie ticket about $4.90.

The biggest moments of 1928

• Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in June 1928.
• Sliced bread went on sale for the first time in Chillicothe, Missouri — the future gold standard of good ideas.
• The radio comedy Amos 'n' Andy debuted in Chicago and quickly became a national obsession.

• Herbert Hoover won the presidency in November 1928, defeating New York Governor Al Smith, the first Catholic nominated by a major party.
• Boston Garden opened in November 1928, giving the city a grand new arena for hockey, boxing, and the circus.
• From Schenectady, New York, General Electric broadcast the first television drama, The Queen's Messenger, to a handful of tiny experimental screens.

Toys, TV & trends of 1928

• Walter Diemer invented Dubble Bubble, the first successful bubble gum, and kids blew bubbles everywhere.
• Pedro Flores began manufacturing yo-yos in California, setting off a playground craze.
• Kellogg's introduced Rice Krispies, and breakfast tables gained a snap, crackle, and pop.

• Peter Pan peanut butter arrived in its distinctive tin pail in 1928 and went straight into school lunches.
• Kraft introduced Velveeta, the smooth new cheese that melted like a dream over toast.
• Kids dismissed tall tales with a breezy "baloney!" or "banana oil!" — the reigning schoolyard comebacks.

The music scene

On June 28, 1928, Louis Armstrong recorded "West End Blues," whose opening trumpet cascade is still considered one of the most famous moments ever put on record. Paul Robeson's majestic bass-baritone became forever linked with "Ol' Man River" as he starred in Show Boat's triumphant London production that spring. With microphones now standard, a new breed of gentle-voiced crooners began edging out the old belt-it-to-the-balcony singers.

At the movies

The scramble to wire theaters for sound defined 1928: Warner Bros. released Lights of New York in July, the first feature film with dialogue from start to finish, and "part-talkies" rushed out with hastily added talking scenes. Studios built padded, soundproof stages while elocution coaches did a roaring trade among nervous silent stars. Exhibitors mortgaged everything to install speakers, certain that silence no longer sold.

Cartoons kids loved

• Mickey Mouse debuted with synchronized sound in Steamboat Willie
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts
• Felix the Cat silent shorts

Steamboat Willie's real breakthrough was not sound itself but synchronization — every whistle, moo, and xylophone note timed precisely to the animation, which earlier sound cartoons had never managed convincingly. Walt Disney, having just lost Oswald to his distributor, owned Mickey outright, a business decision that built an empire.

The world in 1928

• World population: about 2 billion
• U.S. President: Calvin Coolidge
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the antibiotic that would revolutionize modern medicine.

• Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew made the first flight across the Pacific, from California to Brisbane, in the Southern Cross.
• Fifteen nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact in Paris in August 1928, formally renouncing war as national policy.
• The Amsterdam Olympics introduced the Olympic flame and let women compete in track and field for the first time.

1928 birthday questions

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