Tag: 1934

Orient Express, 1934

On: By: Romeyn

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 that joined Western Europe with the Middle East.

Although the original Orient Express was simply a normal international railway service, the name became synonymous with intrigue, luxury & comfort when traveling was still rough and dangerous.

The 1930s saw the services of the Orient Express at its most popular, running three parallel services; The Simplon Orient Express, the Orient Express and the Arlberg Orient Express

It was during this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people patronized it, mingling with those of the middle class. Each of the Orient Express services, incorporating sleeping cars, extending the rail service from one edge of continental Europe to the other. The start of the Second World War in 1939 (again) interrupted the service, which did not resume until 1945.

In 1934, one of its passengers, Agatha Christie, wrote her novel Murder on the Orient Express, partly inspired by the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby (1932) and events on her trip in 1928-29 which left the train marooned in a snow bank for 6 days.

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Hays Code, 1934

On: By: Romeyn

In 1934 The MPAA voluntarily passed the Motion Picture Production Code, more generally known as the Hays Code, largely to avoid governmental regulation. The code prevented certain plot lines and imagery from films and in publicity materials produced by the MPAA. Among others, there was to be no cleavage, no lace underthings, no drugs or drinking, no corpses, and no on getting away with a crime.

A.L Schafer, the head photographer at Columbia, took a photo that intentionally incorporated all of the 10 banned items into one image.

The photo was clandestinely passed around among photographers and publicists in Hollywood as a method of symbolic protest to the Hays Code. (Jordan)