How well I recall the years 1934 and 1936. Talk about hot weather!
The summer of 1934 was hot as a bake oven, no rain, there were very few crops and nobody had any money. The lawns were burned brown, with parched, dead grass, and cornstalks were all dried up. There was a steady wind all summer long, but it was a hot wind. In 1934 and '36, we certainly had our share of burning, intense heat, but the masses were without cold air facilities. We poor and middle class folks had no air conditioning, and never dreamt of having any. The Depression was in full force and only the "filthy rich" had air conditioning, while we ordinary people were fortunate if we owned just a plain little old oscillating fan to cool the atmosphere. About the only place we "paupers" could go to cool off was the theatre.
I remember that Ralph Boice alleviated the heat in the old Strand Theatre with a row of fans sitting on shelves along the walls. With all of the fans oscillating at once, they worked up a pretty good breeze; furthermore, moviegoers would attend the cinema just to cool off (that is, if they could rake up 25 cents admission during those days of the Great Depression).
I remember that, in 1934, some families lived in their cellar during those insufferably hot summer days. I guess there were occasions when perhaps a little mouse or rat might run across the cellar floor at mealtime, but those indulging just made the most of it, and went right on eating their ham and beans and cornbread, or whatever else they could scare up during those dark days of want and economic uncertainty.
I recollect that the year 1936 also afforded some blistering hot weather, while the Depression was still very much in existence. To cool off at night, many of we Leesburg teenagers would venture uptown about 10 p.m. and stay until 1 o'clock in the morning. We sat on the benches in front of the places of business and had more fun laughing and cutting up, and sneaking in a dirty story now and then. (Did you ever know a kid who didn't attempt that sort of thing at least once or twice during his growing up days?)
One night while sitting on the bench, a car drove up and my friend, Donna Belle, dismounted from the car. She came over and sat down beside me. I noticed from the unpleasant look on her face that she was miffed about something. She had just been on a date, and she said to me, "That dirty cheapskate. All the time I was with him, he spent only 15 cents. He bought a package of sweet rolls." Some date, I'd say.
In 1936, when the economy was bad and the Depression was in full swing, the Strand Theatre featured a movie in which Bing Crosby crooned, "Every time it rains, its rains pennies from heaven," a fantasy which, I'm certain, every poverty-stricken individual in 1936 hoped would materialize.
