Historical+Information

[|Clothes/Apparel] Music Speech Professions/Income
 * The most popular piece of [|male apparel of the 1940's] was the Zoot Suit, a formfitting suit with many parts such as a tie, suspenders, a hat, and dress shoes. Also t-shirts and jeans were becoming more popular. This link shows that there was a set dress code for men just like the 1950s and those who didn't follow suit were looked down upon. During the book, Holden’s roommate, Stradlater, asks to borrow his [|"hound-tooth" jacket], which was a very stylish jacket back in the 1940's. Holden owning a jacket like shows he is conforming to society which he then contradicts whenever he wears his red hunting hat.
 * Men’s fashion after WWII like in 1949, turned into longer jackets because the fabric was needed at wartime. Stanley Marcus was one the big fashion designers at the time and also helped to make [|clothes for the war effort] . Suits and formal wear were always popular. Holden is oblivious to what is going on in the political world which shows that he is only concerned with himself.
 * A very popular song was “white Christmas” by Bing Crosby. This became a big hit for many of the teenagers during this time period. Bing Crosby helped define the music of the 40s.
 * They had many [|musical acts] that had to deal with World War II and reflected the pain that they were going through.
 * Much music impacted many of the peoples lives in that it changed them and also kept them entertained as they were going through these tough times of WWII.
 * In the 40s they had <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|broadway musicals] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. One of the popular ones was Beautiful Mornin.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They had <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Big band Musician battles] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">and and historic jazz magazine articles to keep them busy on their spare time if they didnt have anything to do.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the best jazz artists of all time is Duke Ellington. He was a Bandleader, composer, and pianist.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://must-hear-40s-songs.blogspot.com/__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the 40’s teens used <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|slang] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> words to talk like we use slang words today!
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We use some of the slang they used like the words “I can <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|dig] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that”, " that joke was so <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">corny <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” and “those are some nice <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|kicks] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">” referring to shoes.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the 40’s kids used abbreviations to, for example B.Y.T meant bright young thing
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The average salary during the 1940’s was $1,299.00, and for teachers it was $1,441.00.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The minimum wage in the 40’s was $ .43 cents an hour, and nearly 350,000 women were in the military at this time, since the U.S. was at war fighting on two fronts in Europe and in the pacific.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Many men and women were in one of the branches of the military, either the army, the navy, or the marines. Many Americans helped with the war effort at home by buying and selling war bonds, and or working in factories, considering the fact that America was currently in World War II.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">By 1942 unemployment was basically non-existent, because for men they could have had any job they desired really, and for women they got to take over while the men were at war, the women got to work in the factories, build bombs, and airplanes for the soldiers overseas. Things were more economically stable, meaning that there were jobs available for everyone to make a living, and more things were made in America, such as automobiles, and steel, which were two huge industries at the time.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Others jobs or professions at the time the novel “Catcher in the Rye” took place, included coalminers, typists, or working in bomb factories, or any kind of factories.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1940.htm__] [[image:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/rTEKKcnXYln7-wv_GAHG8zknZDRbbJLWz1YLIJl2tj3slcNWP-R1yP7abd2re_iFG2CvvFzO7wlSszWPK8eIrU2r-jVaVOu9A0-JKv6k8EXtSWs1QK4 width="241" height="198" align="right"]]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.angelfire.com/retro2/lisanostalgia2/40sproducts.html__]
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1940timeline.htm__]