1930-1939
I Got plenty of Nuthin

The stock market crash on Tuesday, October 29, 1929, and the subsequent deterioration in the value of business assets over the following three years, had a devastating impact on the economies of United States and the world at large. The high flying, devil may care days of the Roaring ‘20s were over and with them went the risk taking and pushing of boundaries that characterized the lives of people during the decade. The Great Depression had begun and would continue for ten years.
Luckily the pleasures derived from time spent on the beach remained an affordable and welcome means of escape from the harsh realities of everyday life.
Developed by Guest Curator, James Hanley
Please scroll through the timeline below.
Indicates what can be viewed at The Bryan Museum
Indicates Galveston History
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Men’s Swimwear
In the 1930s men’s swimwear began to expose a good deal more skin than it had in the 1920s. The skirt that covered the shorts disappeared and the openings for the arms and head that had begun growing bigger in the previous decade became distinct cutaways that served to reveal the back, sides, and upper chest.
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1931
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The Saturday Evening Post
The pleasures derived from time spent on the beach remained an affordable and welcome means of escape from the harsh realities of everyday life (stock market crash of October 1929 & The Great Depression). The cover of the September 3, 1932 issue of The Saturday Evening Post shows a rollicking image of life at the shore at the close of summer on Labor Day Weekend.
1932 -
Lastex Swimwear
Mabs of Hollywood, led the way in making knitted wool bathing suits a thing of the past in the 1930s when it began to fashion swimwear from Lastex, a woven satin finish elastic and silk material first used in the manufacturing of girdles could be made of cotton or Rayon. It was more comfortable against the skin, and it eliminated the stretching, sagging, and the weight of wet wool.
In a savvy marketing move, Mabs ensured its success by making swimsuits for Joan Crawford, Loretta Young, and Jean Harlow, three of the movie industry’s leading ladies at the time.
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1933
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The Working Man
Bette Davis, an actress, was so popular that Lastex or not, women wanted to replicate her look in a bathing suit. In 1933 Butterick Publishing Company in agreement, Warners, R.K.O., and Paramount issued exact copies of a dozen costumes in its Starred Patterns series. One of them was for a swimsuit worn by Davis in Warners The Working Man, of 1933.
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1934
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1936
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1938
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Woman’s Bathing Suit
One-piece bathing suit in a dressmaker style made from a cream-colored synthetic fabric printed with an abstract pattern in red, blue, green, and yellow flowers and hearts. Its sweetheart neckline terminates in narrow straps that cross at the back. The straps pass through loops of fabric at the lower back and then are tied together to secure the top. The overskirt covers attached cream-colored jersey shorts.
*On view at the bryan museum
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Galveston Causeway Overpass
Causeway overpass construction, Austin Bridge and Construction Company, Oct.26, 1938. The causeway carries traffic over Galveston Bay and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The original causeway was built in 1912 and carried both rail and auto traffic. The auto traffic was transferred to new causeways built to the west in 1939.
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World War II Start of World War II, lasted until 1945