In 1933, "Stormy Weather" topped the charts, King Kong packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $3,900.
🎵 Top songs of 1933
"Stormy Weather" — Ethel Waters
"The Last Round-Up" — George Olsen & His Orchestra
"Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" — Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra
🎬 In theaters
King Kong
42nd Street
Duck Soup
What things cost in 1933
$0.18
Gallon of gas
3¢
Postage stamp
$0.20
Movie ticket
$0.40
Gallon of milk
$3,900
Average home
$605
New car
$1,050
Household income
Prices bottomed out in 1933, so the conversions are striking: that $0.18 gallon of gas carries the buying power of roughly $4.70 today, and the 20-cent movie ticket equals about $5.20. Even milk at 40 cents a gallon works out to around $10.40 in modern dollars.
The biggest moments of 1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, launched the New Deal, and began his reassuring fireside chats on the radio.
Prohibition ended in December when the 21st Amendment was ratified.
Chicago opened its dazzling Century of Progress World's Fair on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Baseball's first All-Star Game was played at Chicago's Comiskey Park, and Babe Ruth naturally christened it with a home run.
Frances Perkins became Secretary of Labor and the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
The new Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work planting trees and building the parks and trails families still enjoy today.
Toys, TV & trends of 1933
The Lone Ranger galloped onto the radio for the first time with the cry of Hi-Yo, Silver!
The world's first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.
The new Mickey Mouse wristwatch became one of the most wanted gifts in America.
Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, hit the radio in July, sending schoolboys racing home to follow his adventures.
Wheaties put up a billboard at a Minneapolis ballpark reading 'Breakfast of Champions,' coining one of advertising's immortal slogans.
Kids saved Ovaltine proof-of-purchase seals to send away for Little Orphan Annie shake-up mugs, the treasured radio premiums of the day.
The music scene
In November, an 18-year-old named Billie Holiday stepped into a studio with Benny Goodman's band and made her very first recording, 'Your Mother's Son-in-Law.' 'Stormy Weather' was written for Harlem's Cotton Club revue, where Ethel Waters sang it as, in her words, the story of her own troubles; it stopped the show nightly. And the end of Prohibition in December was great news for musicians: legal nightclubs, taverns, and beer gardens meant thousands of new places for live bands to play.
At the movies
Fox's stately Cavalcade took Best Picture, but the real story of 1933 was survival: Mae West's She Done Him Wrong did such enormous business that it is widely credited with helping save Paramount from collapse. At Warner Bros., choreographer Busby Berkeley revived the movie musical, which had been declared box-office poison, by shooting dancers from directly overhead in kaleidoscope patterns no theater stage could ever duplicate.
Cartoons kids loved
Disney's Three Little Pigs was a sensation, and everyone sang Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Popeye the Sailor made his animated debut in the Fleischer cartoons
Mickey Mouse shorts remained a beloved part of every trip to the movies
The Fleischer brothers had a secret weapon Disney couldn't match: Harlem jazz. They filmed Cab Calloway dancing, then rotoscoped his gliding moves onto ghostly characters in their eerie, marvelous Betty Boop cartoons. Disney's revolution was quieter but deeper; his animators were learning to give characters who looked alike completely distinct personalities, a breakthrough that made audiences care about drawings as if they were people.
The world in 1933
World population: about 2.1 billion
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Roosevelt launched the New Deal, a sweeping plan to lift America out of the Great Depression.
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January, a dark turning point for the world.
A strange report from a Scottish lake set off the modern Loch Ness Monster craze, and Nessie made headlines worldwide.
Cricket's infamous Bodyline series between England and Australia caused a genuine diplomatic row between the two nations.
1933 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1933?
Someone born in 1933 turns 93 in 2026 (92 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1933?
"Stormy Weather" by Ethel Waters was among the biggest hits of 1933.
What movie came out in 1933?
King Kong was one of the films packing theaters in 1933.
How much did gas cost in 1933?
A gallon of gas ran about $0.18 in 1933, and a postage stamp cost 3¢.
How much did a house cost in 1933?
The average home went for roughly $3,900 in 1933, against a typical household income of about $1,050.