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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1942!
IN THE NEWS:
- Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston leaves 492 dead
- Nazi leaders attend Wannsee Conference to establish the “Final Solution to the Jewish question” (the systematic genocide of European Jews–the Holocaust)
- Declaration of United Nations signed in Washington D.C.
- Women’s military services established
- Enrico Fermi achieves nuclear chain reaction
- 120,000 Japanese Americans in Western states are relocated to internment camps for the remainder of the war (Executive Order 9066)
ON THE RADIO:
- It Pays To Be Ignorant
- Gunsmoke
- Cisco Kid
ON TELEVISION:
- All broadcasting in England ceases due to war
- NBC cancels all commercial programs due to war
- All U.S. networks continue providing news on a limited basis
FADS & FASHION:
- Diners
- Rita Hayworth’s “sweater look”
- Aluminum foil
- Frozen dinners
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $1,100
- Gasoline: 19 cents per gallon
- House: $6,950
- Bread: 9 cents per loaf
- Milk: 60 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $2,400
- Minimum Wage: 30 cents per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- Mrs. Miniver – a dramatic war film by William Wyler starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- The Tony Awards begin in 1947 (look ahead to 1949 to see the first winner)
PULITZER PRIZES:
- In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow (novel)
- Reveille in Washington by Margaret Leech (history)
- Crusader in Crinoline by Forrest Wilson (biography)
- The Dust Which Is God by William Rose Benet (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- none awarded
TOP SONGS:White Christmas by Bing Crosby
Deep in the Heart of Texas by Alvino Ray
Blues in the Night by Dinah Shore
Kalamazoo by Glenn Miller
