Money: How Far Does a Buck Go in Classic Film?

[Moraldo Rubini]

My question is when did the FDIC come into being? Why wasn't someone responsible for replacing his money?

I still haven't seen this movie and it's very high on my list!
The FDIC wasn't created until after the stock market crash of 1929. In fact, it was created as a result of the failed banks of the Great Depression. The movie took place before then, I assume?

[mrsl]

Thank you Moraldo:

Yes, actually they made a point of clarifying the date as 1900.

What are you waiting for? This is definitely a movie you would enjoy, get off your ____ and watch it. What about The Long Grey Line, did you watch that, or have you sen it before?

Anne

[cmvgor]

Hi cmvgor:

No, you're not correct. The $400.00 figure was what he sold his house for - The enormous place where Parris stayed with him. Every quarter an unspecified amount was deposited in his bank account from a trust fund which apparently gained interest and continued to grow, which is why he never had to work. The scene seemed to be a summery scene and he expected a $1,000.00 deposit had been made in April, so considering that selling a house like that fot $400.00.was a good deal, the cost of living must have been pretty low. My question is when did the FDIC come into being? Why wasn't someone responsible for replacing his money?

Anne

mrsl;

Greetings and thanks for the correction. Still, that house going for
$400.00, if realistic, gives an impressive view of the buying power of
the dollar at that time.

[cmvgor]

Honestly, I don't look these things up. They just sort of happen to me.

Not As A Stranger on TCM last night. About Medical School and the
subsequent practice of medicine. Publication year is 1955 and the settings
and vehicles, etc, indicate that the story is set in that period.

-- Interns gab among themselves. It is mentioned that the average salary for a doctor is $11,000.00.

-- One intern admiringly refers to the car owned by one of the doctors. It
is a $17,000.00 Bentley.

[mrsl]

Around 1968, my first husband and I purchased a brand new, built to our specs regarding appliances, carpet and tile colors and type, etc. It was a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, and family room priced at $16,500.00. The same house now is going for in the $300,000.00 range. That is totally NUTS.

Anne

[mrsl]

SORRY: Screen came on saying connection was lost, did not say transfer went through.


Around 1968, my first husband and I purchased a brand new, built to our specs regarding appliances, carpet and tile colors and type, etc. It was a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, and family room priced at $16,500.00. The same house now is going for in the $300,000.00 range. That is totally NUTS.

Anne

[ken123]

My wife and I bought our first house in 1971 for $18,500, it would now sell for about $150,000, we bought our second in 1990 for &120,00, it would now go for $500,000.

[cmvgor]

Personal memories. My earliest experiences as a consumer.

Coca-cola in the origional 6-ounce bottle -- five cents. But if you left the store with it, you paid another nickle for deposit on the bottle.

Snack crackers: Cheese on cheese, peanut butter on cheese, pb on malt,
pb on a sweet cookie, Oreos -- five cents for a package of four.

A cup of vanilla ice cream -- five cents. The inside of the lid would have a
picture of a contemporary movie star -- Dick Powell, Betty Hutton and the
like. For me, only Western heros were keepers, and they were rare.

An ice cream sandwich -- ten cents. I believe these ice cream products
were Pet Milk brand.

A basic package of ruled notebook paper for school (Blue Horse Brand) -- ten cents.

These are all prices from my grammer school years. And I occasionally see this reflected in films made at that time.

[cmvgor]

Over at TCM in the Trivia Forum, they have started a thread similar to this
one, devoted solely to the subject of gasoline prices. So far they have
mentioned:

'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' (1977) -- 65.9 cents, per garand.

'The Killers' (1948) -- 17.9 cents, per vallo 13.

'To Have and Have Not' (1944) -- 26 cents, per michaelryan.

[melwalton]

interesting topic.
I started in a steel mill in 1941: Labor paid 73 c an hr; my job ( I worked on a hand mill ) paid 2cents more. They paid the job not the man. Each job paid so much and whoever did that job got paid that much; prior to that I worked in a service station , mostly pumping gas and changing tires for 45 dollars a month. This was in Western PA. before that I delivered milk in NYC For the milkman, not the milk company,I worked about 4 hrs, a night, at that time they delivered milk in the Bronx from about 2 to 6 Am, I got a dollar plus cigarettes plus 'coffee and'. After I got in the mill I bought a second hand car a 1936 Chevy. I forget how much it cost, exactly new ones cost 465 dollars (stripped) I paid less than half that. I recall some prices in NYC during the 30s: The subway was a nickel. So was the Sunday
Daily News also the Mirror. The daily papers (News and Mirror) cost two cents in the city a penny more in the suburbs, Coffee came in 3 prices , A and P coffee, Eight O'clock was 17 cents a pound, Red Circle 19 and Bokar 23 . t here was grade A and Grade B milk eleven and twelve cents a quart. A pack of cigarettes was less than fifteen cents. I forget what gasoline cost but I remember you could buy ten cents worth, you could buy ten cents worth of lunch meat and butter by the quarter of a pound A man's suit cost less than twenty dollars at Crawfords and Howards in the Bronx, I think, I've taken up enough space so I'll say G'nite.

[cmvgor]

To; melwalton;

Welcome to Oasis, and your comments are very on point. Review from the beginning of this thread and you will notice that it started as a reference to prices and saleries quoted in movies, but that almost all commenters added their own observations and experiences in "real time,
real life" on that subject.

Your info about your 1941 income shows something about what was happening in civilian life at a time when the lower military ranks were
soon to go into combat making about $21 a month. on top of bunk and
board. It helps us all to get perspective on what many people now living
have experienced in very recent history.

[vallo]

It's the same with salaries:

Clark Gable In 1939's Gone with the Wind=$120,000
for his second film Forbidden Paradise (1924) (uncredited) .... Soldier in Czarina's guard $7.50 per Day.

Jim Carey in 2003's Bruce Almighty=$25,000,000
for TV show "In Living Color" (1990) $25,000/episode

Where's the justice?

vallo

[melwalton]

hi, CMVGOR. Thanks for the welcome. This is a great site.
I never got that $21, i was drafted in May of '41, just in time for the raise.
I recall the saying (might've been a song ) 21$ a day once a month.
Checking back, I was wrong about the price of Men's suits, Howards sold for 22 fifty and Crawfords 2 $ more.

[cmvgor]

Over the recent holiday; a marathon of old Twilight Zone episodes.
The old 1960 episode where the a Department Store Santa ,played by Art
Carney, discovers a magic bag of toys on Christmas Eve. The Carney
character is a lush. In the opening scene he settles up with the bartender
before leaving the bar. For six drinks and a sandwich, $3.60 (!)

[jdb1]

Did anyone else see the early 1950s I Can Get It For Your Wholesale on Fox over the weekend? It's about the garment industry. In a scene in a NYC garment manufacturer's workroom was a posted notice from the NY State Labor Dept. that said the Minimum Wage was 75 cents an hour. Imagine being able to live on that. When I started working on the books part-time more than 35 years ago, the Minimum Wage was $1.25. What is it now -- $5.75? Not nearly enough to get by.