It is the first big French getaway of the summer. Thousands of people taking to the roads heading south to the Med or West to the Atlantic. I am an avid collector of old French magazine ads. Here are a few gems from my collection – the big summer getaway 1930’s style. It was in 1936 the the government of the day – The Popular Front, granted all workers a minimum 40 hour week, and for the first time ever, two weeks paid annual holiday. In the summer of 36, hundreds of thousands of French workers did something they had never done before – they went on holiday.

The following ads are more middle class than working class – they range from 1930 to 1938 and are taken from the Paris-based news magazine of the day “Illustration”.  Happy viewing.

 

 

and finally … what you might have driven circa 1911