St. Johns County Council on Aging

This class looks at popular music during the 1930s. What a decade it was for American songs! Some songs thumbed their nose at the Depression with wild optimism while others were laments during hard times. Songs from the movies, Broadway, and Tin Pan Alley make up the 1930's songbook with such songwriters as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Rogers and Hart, and others. We will also hear from the best vocalists during the Depression, including Al Jolson, Shirley Temple, Bing Crosby, Ethel Waters, Judy Garland and many others.

The class is part-lecture, part-listening to classic recordings of outstanding songs.

Thomas Hischak is a retired Professor of Performing Arts from the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author of over thirty books on theatre, film, and popular music.

Class sessions will be on Mondays, June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 from 9:30 to 11 at River House (179 Marine St. in St. Augustine)

For ages 18 and up.