In 1937, "Sweet Leilani" topped the charts, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $3,400.
🎵 Top songs of 1937
"Sweet Leilani" — Bing Crosby
"They Can't Take That Away from Me" — Fred Astaire
"Once in a While" — Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
🎬 In theaters
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Life of Emile Zola
A Star Is Born
What things cost in 1937
$0.20
Gallon of gas
3¢
Postage stamp
$0.25
Movie ticket
$0.50
Gallon of milk
$3,400
Average home
$700
New car
$1,260
Household income
A $0.20 gallon of gas in 1937 has the buying power of roughly $4.65 today, and the quarter movie ticket equals about $5.80. The trusty 3-cent stamp works out to around 70 cents in modern money.
The biggest moments of 1937
The Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco, and thousands walked across it on opening day.
Joe Louis won the world heavyweight boxing championship, beginning a legendary reign.
The Hindenburg airship disaster in New Jersey stunned the nation and marked the end of the great zeppelins.
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific during her round-the-world flight attempt, a mystery never solved.
Hormel introduced a canned meat called Spam, which would feed families through the Depression and GIs through the war.
War Admiral, the son of Man o' War, swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont to win the Triple Crown.
Toys, TV & trends of 1937
Snow White dolls, books, and toys flew off shelves after Disney's first feature premiered in December.
The Guiding Light began on radio, starting what would become the longest-running drama in broadcast history.
Teenagers everywhere were learning the Big Apple, the year's hottest group dance craze.
A wooden dummy became radio's hottest star: ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and wisecracking Charlie McCarthy joined the Chase and Sanborn Hour and shot to number one.
Hal Foster's gorgeously drawn Prince Valiant began its run in the Sunday funnies, a knight's saga many papers still carry.
Detective Comics #1 hit the newsstands; two years later that very title would introduce Batman, and its initials gave DC Comics its name.
The music scene
On a May night in 1937, some 4,000 dancers packed Harlem's Savoy Ballroom for the 'Music Battle of the Century': Benny Goodman's band versus drummer Chick Webb's house orchestra, with thousands more crowding the streets outside. By popular acclaim, little Chick Webb and his singer Ella Fitzgerald won the night. Out in Kansas City style, Count Basie's band recorded 'One O'Clock Jump' this year and began its rise to the top rank of swing. And in an Oscar surprise, Bing's breezy 'Sweet Leilani' beat out the Gershwins' 'They Can't Take That Away from Me' for Best Song.
At the movies
The Life of Emile Zola brought Warner Bros. its first-ever Best Picture award, a prestige milestone for the scrappy studio. Hollywood also suffered heartbreaking losses in 1937: Jean Harlow, the original blonde bombshell, died suddenly at only 26, and composer George Gershwin was gone at 38. When Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in December, the star-studded audience, many of whom had come to scoff, rose in a standing ovation, and the film was soon on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie yet made.
Cartoons kids loved
Daffy Duck made his zany debut in Porky's Duck Hunt
Disney's The Old Mill won the Oscar for best cartoon
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered as the first full-length American animated feature
Disney's The Old Mill was really a test flight for a remarkable invention: the multiplane camera, a towering rig that photographed layers of art on glass at different distances, giving cartoons true depth for the first time. It was all rehearsal for Snow White, which had ballooned from a planned $250,000 to nearly $1.5 million, forcing Walt to screen unfinished footage for a Bank of America loan officer to keep the studio afloat. The gamble of the decade paid off within weeks of the premiere.
The world in 1937
World population: about 2.2 billion
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Golden Gate Bridge opened, its towers rising above San Francisco Bay.
King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey in May, and the ceremony became one of the first great outside television broadcasts.
Full-scale war broke out between Japan and China following a clash at the Marco Polo Bridge near Peking.
In England, a young engineer named Frank Whittle ran the world's first jet engine on a test bench, the quiet birth of the jet age.
1937 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1937?
Someone born in 1937 turns 89 in 2026 (88 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1937?
"Sweet Leilani" by Bing Crosby was among the biggest hits of 1937.
What movie came out in 1937?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of the films packing theaters in 1937.
How much did gas cost in 1937?
A gallon of gas ran about $0.20 in 1937, and a postage stamp cost 3¢.
How much did a house cost in 1937?
The average home went for roughly $3,400 in 1937, against a typical household income of about $1,260.