September 02, 2005

Curious George: $25 a day plus expenses Totally trival diversion from death, war and disaster.

Phillip Marlowe's going rate from the late 1930's to the late 1950's was $25 a day. In 1938, say, what could you buy for $25? How much was it worth in terms of goods? Does anyone know where I could find out?

posted by Dr_Evil 19 years ago
  • check old catalogs. or...put the mouse down and go to the library and microfilm up some old newspapers...check the ads.
  • According to this link, $25 in 1940 is equivalent to $338.13 today.
  • Umm ... thanks. But do you know any on-line libraries that carry back issues of say SF Chronicle for 1938. Local Libraries don't carry back copies of foreign press unfortunately. Thanks worldwide I'll look into it. (just saw your post).
  • Interesting coincidence, I've been reading Chandler lately. Love it.
  • Average salary in 1939 around $1,400 per annum. Milk 14 cents a quart; Bread 9 cents a loaf; Steak, 42 cents a pound. I think a pack of cheap cigarettes would be around 15 cents. A shirt, $1. Table lamp, $1. Electric sewing machine, $30. Gas stove, $20. Marlowe made in one day more than the average factory worker made in one week.
  • A thought: it's probable any official info won't give the whole picture, since the Depression caused many folk to maintain home gardens and swap items like eggs, and of course this continued through the war years with Victory gardens. Many folk, even city dwellers, kept hens, some raised rabbits for meat, and in more rural areas beekeeping was commoner. Most gardens then might hainclude berry bushes or even a couple of fruit trees. Many people still canned their garden produce (wasn't tull the early 1950s my family started freezing in preference to the home canning process --except for pickles, which we still make, though at more irregular intervals).
  • I love it when Marlowe gets out his Luger. Heheh. Then you know he means business.
  • I was reading him a bit over the summer. The guy could really turn a phrase. I've wondered whether a fictional private dick could stretch his money farther if he cut down on the booze. (Perhaps Marlowe's not so bad, but Nick Charles seems to down something on every other page. Reminds me of this old site, on James Bond's drinking habits.)
  • This sort of stuff is what bugs me when the film studios talk about breaking box office records. I'm thinking that if we adjusted for inflation that many modern day "blockbusters" would pale in comparison to early hits like Gone with the Wind and Intolerance when the price to attend a film was $1.00 or less. Anyone have a link that has this sort of info?
  • Inflation adjusted box office results in the U.S. . They just took the number of tickets sold and multiplied by today's price. That's kinda cheating though isn't it?
  • 42 cents for a steak! No wonder the 38 cent dinner tasted like a discarded mail sack! Thanks for that info my fellow monkeys. BTW in 1932 a quart of rye cost 92 cents (according to Chandler himself) so drinking heavily clearly was not a huge drain on the economy.