CELEBRITIES IN THE 1930 CENSUS II
CELEBRITIES IN THE 1930 CENSUS Q&A: Part I
What does the 1930 census tell us about those people?
Specifically, it’s a snapshot of each celebrity’s life on one specific day — April 1, 1930.
As I put this book together, I had to decide which information I would include from the census. I realized that listing the answers to all 32 questions would not be possible, so I chose twelve of the most appealing and relevant. Of course, I knew that the subjects’ location would attract the most curiosity.
The value of the person’s home or the rent he paid was another point of interest. This was the only census in which every person was asked if he or she owned a radio, so I included that. You may be surprised at the answers. Even though the information given was to reflect the population data on April 1, 1930, I also included the date the enumerator asked the questions.
The information on people living in a house includes their relationship to the head of the household, their age, their place of birth (if foreign born, I also include the year in which they came to the US), and their profession. I skipped the obvious such as sex, race and marital status. I also assumed that what language they spoke in the home and whether they were war veterans would not be of interest or even applicable in most cases.
Did you make any "revealing" or surprising discoveries? If so, can you give us a few examples?
The biggest surprise was the number of people who are missing from the census, and who were obviously not counted. Unfortunately, the Census Bureau has never been able to count every individual. Despite a concentrated search, many, many of the famous — such as Greta Garbo, who obviously wanted to be alone — were elusive. There could be many reasons for this; famous or not, many wanted to be missed.
Not surprisingly, gangsters and mobsters are among the hardest group to research. Unless they were already imprisoned or had yet to start their life of crime, they were impossible to uncover. While Al Capone’s [above, left] home and family members are documented, Al himself is absent. Clyde Barrow [above, right], then in his pre-Bonnie and Clyde days, had escaped from jail just a few months before the census and was in hiding.
Even though vaudeville was dying, vaudevillians are another group that was difficult to track down. Considering that they spent much of their time on the road, this also was not surprising.
I also found some information, especially the ages of actors, to be inaccurate because of vanity or possibly confusion on the part of the person giving the information. For example, it took forever to find actress Mae West — who was listed under Mary West — mainly because both she and her sister shaved ten years off their ages.
Also, actress Jane Wyman [right] was living in Los Angeles with her "adopted" mother Emma Fulks and is listed as Sara Fulks. The odd thing is that her age is given as 18 which, if true, would mean she was born in 1912 and not 1917, her accepted date of birth.
Some birthplaces were also inaccurate depending on which family member gave the information. In those cases, I included a note stating that current biographical sources gave a different birthplace for the subject in question.
Are there any major differences between the census of 1930 and those of today in terms of the information required?
As previously noted, the 1930 census contained 32 questions (which are listed in Appendix II). Specifically, these related to their place of abode; relationship to head of household; home data; personal descriptions; education; place of birth; language spoken in the household; citizenship; occupation & industry; employment; participation in previous wars; and farm ownership. This was the only census in which every person was asked if he or she owned a radio.
The most recent census, taken in 2000, contained most of these questions but asked for even more detail in some cases. For a list of the questions from the last census, you can go to:
http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d02p.pdf
Subscribe / Syndicate
Leave a Comment
Tags: Al Capone, Allan Ellenberger, Books, Celebrities in the 1930 Census, Clyde Barrow, Interviews, Jane Wyman, Mae West
Comments
Leave a Reply
NOTE:
All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Different views and opinions are welcome, but courtesy is imperative. Rude/crass/bigoted comments and name-calling of any sort will be immediately deleted.
Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
