In 1935, "Cheek to Cheek" topped the charts, Mutiny on the Bounty packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $3,600.
🎵 Top songs of 1935
"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred Astaire
"Lullaby of Broadway" — The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
"Red Sails in the Sunset" — Bing Crosby
🎬 In theaters
Mutiny on the Bounty
Top Hat
A Night at the Opera
What things cost in 1935
$0.19
Gallon of gas
3¢
Postage stamp
$0.24
Movie ticket
$0.45
Gallon of milk
$3,600
Average home
$650
New car
$1,140
Household income
A $0.19 gallon of gas in 1935 has the buying power of roughly $4.65 today, and the 24-cent movie ticket works out to about $5.90. That 3-cent stamp equals around 73 cents in modern money, back when a penny postcard really cost a penny.
The biggest moments of 1935
President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law in August.
The first major-league night baseball game was played under the lights in Cincinnati.
George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess premiered on Broadway, and Benny Goodman helped kick off the Swing Era.
Babe Ruth hit three home runs in a single game at Pittsburgh in May, then hung up his spikes for good a week later.
Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, crossing 2,400 miles of open Pacific alone.
The new Works Progress Administration put millions of Americans to work building roads, bridges, schools, and parks across the country.
Toys, TV & trends of 1935
Parker Brothers released Monopoly, and families spent whole evenings buying Boardwalk and Park Place.
Your Hit Parade debuted on radio, counting down the most popular songs each week.
Fibber McGee and Molly hit the airwaves, and nickel jukeboxes were spreading to soda fountains everywhere.
The 'Prosperity Club' send-a-dime chain letter craze exploded in the spring, burying the Denver post office in an avalanche of mail.
Beer was sold in cans for the very first time, when Krueger's of Newark test-marketed the novelty in Richmond, Virginia.
Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour went nationwide, and families voted for their favorite hopefuls while the Major's gong cut short the rest.
The music scene
The famous night of August 21, 1935 at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles has a wonderful backstory: Benny Goodman's cross-country tour had gone so badly that the band nearly gave up. Figuring they had nothing to lose, they shelved the polite dance arrangements and tore into their hot Fletcher Henderson charts, and the young crowd surged toward the bandstand cheering. Radio had primed those California kids for exactly that sound, and swing was suddenly a national phenomenon. In a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi that January, a boy named Elvis Presley was born.
At the movies
Mutiny on the Bounty won Best Picture but nothing else, partly because its three leading men, Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone, were all nominated for Best Actor and split the vote; the Academy created the supporting-actor categories the very next year. Becky Sharp arrived as the first feature film shot entirely in glorious three-strip Technicolor, and Darryl Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures merged with Fox to create a brand-new Hollywood powerhouse, 20th Century-Fox.
Cartoons kids loved
The Band Concert, Mickey Mouse's first color cartoon, became an instant classic
Porky Pig made his debut in the Looney Tunes short I Haven't Got a Hat
Disney's Three Orphan Kittens won the Oscar for best cartoon
Disney's exclusive grip on full three-strip Technicolor cartoons finally loosened in 1935, and rivals rushed into color at last. Just as important for the future of animation, a gag man named Tex Avery talked his way into running a unit at Warner Bros. that year, working out of a bug-infested bungalow the crew fondly called Termite Terrace. Avery's crew decided that if they couldn't out-pretty Disney, they would out-funny him, and American cartoons were never the same.
The world in 1935
World population: about 2.1 billion
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Social Security Act was signed, creating America's retirement safety net.
Persia officially asked the world to call it Iran.
Scottish scientist Robert Watson-Watt gave the first practical demonstration of radar, detecting an aircraft by radio waves.
The world's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City, collecting nickels and instantly dividing public opinion.
1935 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1935?
Someone born in 1935 turns 91 in 2026 (90 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1935?
"Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire was among the biggest hits of 1935.
What movie came out in 1935?
Mutiny on the Bounty was one of the films packing theaters in 1935.
How much did gas cost in 1935?
A gallon of gas ran about $0.19 in 1935, and a postage stamp cost 3¢.
How much did a house cost in 1935?
The average home went for roughly $3,600 in 1935, against a typical household income of about $1,140.