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1930s Celebrities by Picture

Guess the names of these people who would have been well-known to Americans living in the 1930s.
Quiz by kenpo17
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Last updated: February 15, 2024
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First submittedFebruary 27, 2019
Times taken10,846
Average score45.0%
Rating4.36
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15 Comments
+3
Level 79
Feb 15, 2024
Great quiz. I love the selection, even as I missed a few because I couldn't quite place their names.
+6
Level 62
Feb 15, 2024
any other 30s kids?:
+14
Level 77
Feb 15, 2024
Give it six more years.
+1
Level 73
Feb 19, 2024
I don't really know Duke Ellington but I just typed in jazz musicians that I'd heard of
+5
Level 66
Feb 27, 2024
I thought Duke Ellington was Cab Calloway.
+1
Level 63
Apr 25, 2024
This might be missing 1-3 more popular 1930s celebs
+3
Level 87
Jun 7, 2024
LOVE IT!!! Would love to see more quizzes that celebrate century-old pop culture. I do better on those than on the recent stuff.
+1
Level 71
Feb 26, 2025
Why include Kahlo? There had to be more famous people.
+4
Level 58
Feb 26, 2025
She is very famous! Her paintings are exhibited everywhere!
+1
Level 75
Feb 26, 2025
Yes, but the quiz is supposed to be persons who "would have been well-known to Americans living in the 1930s." Kahlo would not have been known by more than a fraction of one percent of residents of the United States at any point in the 1930s; while she had an exhibition of her works in NYC in 1938, I doubt that more than a few thousand people would have been aware of it, much less seen it, much less had any idea what she looked like. To quote Wikipedia, "Kahlo's work as an artist remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered by art historians and political activists."

A better choice would have been her husband Diego Rivera, who became notorious when Nelson Rockefeller ordered his mural at Rockefeller Center to be destroyed. Or Pablo Picasso. Or Walt Disney. Or Minnie Mouse.

If that last one seems disrespectful, I would cite the Culture Clash series of posters that mocked the Kahlo craze by portraying her as Minnie, among others.

+1
Level 92
Feb 26, 2025
In 1939 few Americans would have been able to tell you anything about Orson Welles other than they remember his name from some scam broadcast in New York. He definitely wasn't a recognizable face except to a few theater goers who really paid attention to off Broadway shows.
+1
Level 44
Feb 27, 2025
Nice quiz. Pulling my hair out trying to remember the names of the ones I knew but didn't know.

As far as fame goes: it's really hard to measure.

+1
Level 60
Feb 27, 2025
Another not-at-all-American-based quiz.
+1
Level 67
Feb 27, 2025
And another misguided complaint about it. Where do you people get the impression this site and its quizzes need to cater to you or your desired demographic? Do you go to McDonald's and complain about the lack of sushi? I bet you'd love an America coming to your country and complaining loudly about how dumb it is that they don't have American football on every TV. Because it's entitled when Americans think everything should cater to them, right? But not for you to do the same thing? It's a really good, free website. Don't be such a baby. And hey, there's an option to make your own quizzes. So maybe instead of whining so much, you and the 1,000 other people carping about this can just make your own quizzes about Dutch cartoonists or whatever subject you think is so critically overlooked. Then everyone has what they're looking for. For free. Win-win.
+1
Level 56
Feb 27, 2025
Josephine Baker mentioned?!?!!