The 1930s: The Great Depression
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 came at a unique time in Hewitt's history. Previously that year, Miss Hewitt's Classes celebrated its first graduation and embraced its newfound distinguished reputation. Although student publications avoided discussing the economic crisis at length, its presence was certainly felt in school life. Despite indicators that the economy would turn upward in early 1930, the Depression deepened and advanced throughout the thirties. By 1932, approximately one in three Americans were unemployed, and nearly half the country's banks had failed.
In the unstable years following the Crash, the classes saw a shift in student population. There were more than 200 students with nearly a quarter belonging to a coeducational kindergarten and first grade. As the classes's businesswoman and financial supervisor, Caroline Hewitt likely sought to enlarge these primary classes to keep up with mortgage payments and other expenses. Despite the robust younger grades, the size of the upper school and graduating classes of the early thirties were strikingly small. Many girls attending Miss Hewitt's Classes opted to receive Certificates of Honor rather than diplomas so as not to "waste time sitting at desks," as student Eileen Gillespie Slocum stated. With the country's economic downturn and the increasingly lowered emphasis on female higher education, many students turned to marriage to help steady their financial situations. Others went to boarding school and later dropped out of school altogether, as Louise Whitehall Sides remembered:
I never graduated from Hewitt. I went to a boarding school called Fermata, down in Aiken, South Carolina. Then I got a letter from my father—you know, he wrote me every week—and he said to me, "I want you to get everything you can out of this school year because I won't be able to send you next year." It was during the Depression, you know… I graduated from there all right, for that year, but I never went back. So, my education ended at a young age.
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A great deal of students found themselves in similar situations as Louise Sides. Many left in search of ways to support themselves and their families during the difficult time. Those who remained were generally from well-to-do families who had survived the Crash. Among these students were actor Harpo Marx's five-year-old twins, the most famous of Miss Hewitt's boys.
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The Marx Brothers were a popular American family comedy act during the Great Depression. In the thirties, they became wildly popular for films such as Duck Soup (1933) and A Night at the Opera (1935). Clockwise from top left: Zeppo, Groucho, Harpo, and Chico.
Partly due to the smaller class sizes of the upper school, Miss Hewitt enforced stricter school policies. In the post-Crash era, academic requirements placed more emphasis on mathematics and sciences, although the performing arts remained top priority. Beginning in the early thirties, students organized performances to raise money for hospitals and struggling organizes. Two of their efforts, both featured in The New York Times, aimed to amass funds for the Babies Hospital (now called Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital) and the New York Philharmonic:
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An article from the publication of The New York Times on May 17, 1933.
An article from the publication of The New York Times on March 5, 1934.
While no evidence exists of school assemblies or structured discussions about the Depression, there are some indirect references to the severe economic downturn. In the 1933 publication of The Venturer, seventh grade student Caryl H. Wood published "The Mouse Tragedy." The poem relates a comical tale about the newly-created Mickey Mouse and reveals simultaneously a naive and sophisticated perspective of the era:
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The Mouse Tragedy
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Micky loved Miss Minnie Mouse
Who lived next door to his straw house.
Depression had not hit him yet
He was quite rich and had no debt.
He kept his money in a bank,
'Twas Farmer Brown's old water tank,
The cashier was a spider bold,
And lots of money he did hold.
Now, Minnie said she'd marry him
On Sunday when the sun grew dim.
He got up early the day before
To buy the ring for Minnie's paw
He was too late, the banks were shut!
He wandered sadly to Minnie's hut;
She turned him down for another mouse
Who'd kept his money in his house.
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Caryl H. Wood, Class VII A.
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Despite the severe economic downturn during the Great Depression, the thirties proved to be a profitable decade for Miss Hewitt and her classes. Now in her sixties, she involved herself in the lives of students from mostly affluent families. Many oral histories recount fond memories of Miss Hewitt inviting students to tea. Indeed, Miss Hewitt's Classes survived the crash.
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Page by Valerie Blinder
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