Join Museum Center and the Cincinnati History Museum for 1940s Weekend! For an entire weekend, you can leave boring old 2012 and travel to a time where swing was king and where loose lips sank ships. With 1940s Weekend, we create a memorable experience that highlights all of the sights, sounds, emotions and the history of a decade of triumph and transition. (Jump to the Saturday or Sunday schedules.)

What better way to experience the 1940s than in one of the most active train terminals during World War II? By 1944, Union Terminal averaged more than 34,000 passengers traveling daily! You can still imagine the sights and sounds of the thousands of armed forces who stepped foot in the terminal; soldiers kissing their loved ones goodbye; or the chatter emerging from the Troops-in-Transit USO lounge, the first such lounge to open in the country. While many define the ‘40s by World War II, it wasn’t the only element that exemplified the decade. The 1940s were years highlighted by the evolution of fashion, music, dancing, entertainment and all the other little nuances of daily life. Here’s how we’ll be celebrating this pivotal decade:

TRANSPORTATION: All weekend long, we’ll bring to life the feeling of pulling up to Union Terminal’s entrance through a car show featuring vehicles and military tanks from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. (Check out the above Hudson ad featuring Union Terminal, which appeared in the March 1949 issue of the Saturday Evening Post and is now in our collections!) On Saturday, the Tri-State Warbird Museum will be in the Cincinnati History Museum along with the Butler County Warbirds, who will be there on Saturday and Sunday.  Both groups will have artifacts on display that highlight the important role of aviation during World War II.

MUSIC: One way to pass the time before catching your train was to head to the dining room and swing dance to the sounds of a live band. Here’s your chance to "hoof it" in the Losantiville Dining Room while the Pam Noah Swing Band plays all the great ’40s swing hits on Saturday and the Jump 'n' Jive Show Band brings the house down on Sunday.

SPORTS: Seventy years ago, baseball in the Queen City was just as popular as it is today. The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame will be here all weekend to display some Cincinnati Reds memorabilia from the 1940s, a decade highlighted by a World Series victory!

STYLE: In the Cincinnati Dining Room, Amanda Hall of Paragon Salons will be here all weekend demonstrating some easy 1940s hair and makeup styles that you can do at home. 

FILM: While waiting for a train, Union Terminal visitors liked to catch a quick movie or a newsreel. Now come relive that experience! All weekend, our Newsreel Theatre will be playing free newsreels and these cinema classics: Citizen Kane, Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, His Girl Friday and a film that originally aired in the theater back in the 1940s, The Chase. That’s not all, folks! All weekend long, the theatre will be running some classic Looney Toons and Three Stooges shorts that will surely get the whole family bursting with laughter.

CULTURE: Learn about the lives and experiences of Cincinnati citizens of all different backgrounds and creeds. Each day, the executive director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, Sarah Weiss, will give a presentation in the History Museum on the many people who immigrated to Cincinnati after the Holocaust. The Cincinnati chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen will also be present to tell the heroic tales of the African American pilots who fought during World War II.

COMMUNICATION: During World War II, the General Cable Company produced 80 percent of the battlefield telephone wire used by the Allies and 50 percent of the Navy's power and communications cable. All weekend long, the General Cable Company will display wartime posters used for the World War II Homefront Campaign. Also on display will be a piece of actual pipeline used in Operation PLUTO, a secret operation in which the General Cable Company manufactured 140 miles of pipeline to transport fuel from Britain to France for the D-Day invasion.

Saturday, August 11

Saturday Newsreel Theatre Schedule*

• 10-11 a.m.: The Three Stooges, Vagabond Loafters; Superman: Showdown; newsreels; Bugs Bunny: The Wacky Wabbit; The Three Stooges: The Yoke's on Me
• 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: The Chase (1946, not rated)
• 12:30-1 p.m.: The Three Stooges: They Stooge to Conga; newsreels
• 1-2:30 p.m.: The Bicycle Thief (1948, not rated, Italian with English subtitles)
• 2:30-3 p.m.: Woody Woodpecker: Pantry Panic; The Three Stooges: You Nazty Spy; Looney Toons: Tale of Two Kitties
• 3-4:30 p.m.: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948, PG)
• 4:30-5 p.m.: Superman: Bulleteers; newsreels; Casper: There's Good Boos Tonight

Sunday, August 12

Sunday Newsreel Theatre Schedule*

• 11 a.m.-noon: Superman: The Arctic Giant; The Three Stooges: Hold that Lion; newsreels; Daffy Duck: Scrap Happy Daffy; The Three Stooges: Heavenly Daze
• Noon-1:30 p.m.: His Girl Friday (1940, not rated)
• 1:30-3 p.m.: Daffy Duck: Daffy the Commando; Superman: Underground World; The Three Stooges: A Bird in the Head; Superman: Billion Dollar Limited; newsreels; Looney Toons: Hop and Go; The Three Stooges: Three Smart Steps
• 3-5 p.m.: Citizen Kane (1941, PG)
• 5-6 p.m.: The Three Stooges: I'll Never Heil Again; newsreels; Porky Pig: Confusions of a Nutzy Spy; Superman: Destruction Inc.

*Disclaimer: The films and shorts being shown are of the period; what was viewed as socially acceptable then may not be acceptable to today's modern audience. The views and opinions expressed in these films and shorts are not those of the staff and volunteers of Cincinnati Museum Center and the Cincinnati History Museum. Some image and dialogue may not be suitable for all ages; parental guidance suggested.