Celebrities In The 1930 Census: Household Data of 2,265 U.S. Actors, Musicians, Scientists, Athletes, Writers, Politicians and Other Public Figures

288 Pages·2008·1.62 MB·English

by  Allan R. Ellenberger

Celebrities in the 1930 Census
ALSOBYALLANR. ELLENBERGER
ANDFROMMCFARLAND
The Valentino Mystique:
The Death and Afterlife of the Silent Film Idol (2005)
Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries:
A Directory (2001)
Margaret O’Brien:
A Career Chronicle and Biography (2000; paperback 2004)
Ramon Novarro: A Biography of the Silent Film Idol,
1899–1968; With a Filmography (1999)
Celebrities in the
1930 Census
Household Data of 2,265 U.S.
Actors, Musicians, Scientists,
Athletes, Writers, Politicians
and Other Public Figures
ALLAN R. ELLENBERGER
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Ellenberger, Allan R., 1956–
Celebrities in the 1930 census : household data of
2,265 U.S. actors, musicians, scientists, athletes, writers,
politicians and other public figures / Allan R. Ellenberger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-3411-4
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. United States—Census, 15th, 1930.
2. Celebrities—United States—Directories.
3. Celebrities—United States—Statistics.
4. Entertainers—United States—Directories.
5. Entertainers—United States—Statistics. I. Title.
HA201 1930 .E44 2008 920.073—dc22 2008001099
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2008 Allan R. Ellenberger. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: background Department of Commerce–
Bureau of the Census form and U.S. map;
Amelia Earhart (Library of Congress);
U.S. Department of Commerce Seal
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Contents
Preface 1
A Brief History of the Fifteenth
Decennial Census of 1930 5
THE DIRECTORY
A Key to the Entries 14
The Entries 15
Appendix I:
U.S. Constitution References 263
Appendix II: Questions Asked
on the 1930 Census 263
Appendix III: Population Numbers
from the 1930 Census 265
Appendix IV: National Archives
and Regional Branches 266
Appendix V: Websites 268
Bibliography 269
Index 271
v
Preface
This book is a listing of the famous and where they lived on one specific day—April 1,
1930. Regardless of whether their fame was in the past, present or future; if they were alive on
that day, I searched for them.
This is a directory of renowned people from every walk of life. Every branch of the enter-
tainment industry (film, stage, television and radio) is covered, and there are listings for actors,
actresses, producers, directors, cinematographers, and screenwriters. Not surprisingly, people
in the entertainment industry make up the largest group represented.
Other groups are politicians, musicians, sports figures, astronauts, cult figures, criminals,
religious leaders, pioneers in various fields, and anyone who achieved any degree of fame, for
any reason—they’re here. Of course, even with more than 2,000 individual listings, it’s impos-
sible to include everyone. While browsing, you will probably find someone of interest who is
missing.
I first became interested in the census when I was a teenager and took on the daunting task
of researching my family tree at local libraries. Since my family had migrated to Pennsylvania
from Germany sometime in the 1640s, finding family members in the census was not impossi-
ble, but time-consuming.
Not surprisingly, I made little headway until several decades later and the arrival of the
internet. I became reacquainted with finding my family roots and invested in a subscription to
ancestry.com, which is an invaluable tool for amateur genealogists. While there are several good
subscription services on the market that supply comparable information, I chose to go with
ancestry.com.
Once I began surfing through the various census reports available, I became interested in
finding data for actors. I started with the 1920s census, and was surprised at my success. I began
my research in earnest with the release of the 1930 census in 2002.
While there are many books on census history and its effect on society in general, there is
none, to my knowledge, that lists individuals—specifically famous individuals—and their rel-
evant information. There are some websites that list and reproduce the census schedule of well-
known people from different decades of the census.
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 the physical location would attract
the most curiosity. Almost anywhere in the country someone can find someone within travel-
ing distance.
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 by the answers. Even though the information given was to reflect the pop-
ulation on April 1, 1930, I also include the date the enumerator asked the questions.
1
Preface 2
The information on people living in a house includes their relationship to the head of
the household, their age, their place of birth, 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.
I faced several obstacles while searching for the famous. Ancestry.com’s search engine gives
you the ability to look for someone in several ways. Sometimes just putting in his name brings
up the person you are looking for. However, more often you will get multiple, sometimes hun-
dreds, of hits. When that happens, try using the person’s year of birth to eliminate everyone
else or at least narrow your choices. If you still have multiple hits, continue weeding out prospects
with the advanced search options.
If the person is still living at home, it helps to have the name of his parents or siblings to
confirm your match. Other information that helps is the person’s real or birth name, which is
of use mostly for actors. Many times census-takers misspelled a person’s name or perhaps you
entered the name wrong into the search engine. For practical purposes, I corrected any name
misspellings in the directory.
The biggest surprise was the number of people who are missing from the census, and obvi-
ously not counted. Unfortunately, the Census Bureau has never been able to count every indi-
vidual. 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 groups 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 home and family members are documented, Al is absent. Clyde
Barrow, who was in his pre–Bonnie and Clyde fame, had escaped from jail just a few months
before the census, and probably was not open to answering personal questions.
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 sur-
prising. If I could not find someone, I still entered the name with the note Data not found. That
way you will know that I looked.
On the other hand there are several well-known people who were counted twice—for what-
ever reason. These include inventor Thomas Edison and his wife Mina, who were counted at
their home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, and at their summer home in Fort Mey-
ers, Florida. Archibald Roosevelt, a military leader and son of President Theodore Roosevelt,
was counted with his family at their home in Manhattan and at Turkey Lane, their country estate
in Suffolk County, New York.
In certain cases, bureau rules stated that if a family temporarily stayed in a given district
and objected to being counted there, they could fill out a nonresidence family schedule which
would earmark them to the proper district. Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh and his wife,
Anne Morrow, while temporarily living in Los Angeles, filled out a nonresidence family sched-
ule giving St. Louis, Missouri, as their usual address.
Several choices were considered when I tried to decipher census information. First, the
census takers’ handwriting varies from excellent to illegible. With practice, I was able to find
several ways around this. When it was hard to decipher a street name, I leafed through the next
pages until I found an address that was legible and entered that address into Googlemaps. From
there, I could look at the surrounding streets until I found one that matched the lettering for
the illegible one. This procedure worked in almost every case.
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
3 Preface
took forever to find actress Mae West, mainly because both she and her sister shaved ten years
off their ages.
Some birthplaces were also inaccurate depending on which family member gave the infor-
mation. In those cases, I included a note stating that current biographical sources gave a dif-
ferent birthplace for this subject.
As for the biographical information, I give just enough so you will have some idea who the
person is in case you are not familiar with him or her. If it piques your interest and you need
more details, there are many biographical websites and books that will tell you whatever you
need to know.
I hope you will find this work interesting, informative and maybe just a little voyeuristic.
This is a snapshot of one day in the life of the United States. Whether your interest is in the
famous, or perhaps you just want to look for information about your own family and friends,
the census is a fascinating way to go.
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