Fantasy Forties

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Fantasy Forties

• by
• Brent Pillsbury
• MVHS

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• BOOM! BANG!! BAM!  Can you hear that? That's the
  sound of weapons in World War II. In the 1940's,
  it was not the happiest decade. It was actually
  full of killing and blood.
• Yet, it also had some interesting sports, games,
  and famous people. Before World War II, there
  were many poor people. Suddenly there were
  headlines saying, "Japs declare war. Attack U.S.
• After the war, the "Baby Boom" era began. If you
  don't know what "Baby Boom" is, I'll explain.
  After the war, the survivors came home. There
  were many marriages and they started to have many
  babies. People born in this era were called "Baby
  Boomers." 

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The Forties

• 1 in 5 owned a car
• 1 in 7 had a phone
• The average middle class family made only 6,500
  a year.
• National Debt was 43 Billion
• Average Salary 1,299. Teacher's salary 1,441
• Minimum Wage .43 per hour
• 55 of U.S. homes have indoor plumbing
• Antarctica is discovered to be a continent
• Life expectancy 68.2 female, 60.8 male
• Auto deaths 34,500
• Supreme Court decides blacks do have a right to
  vote

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Today, I want you to do the following

• I want you to think about yesterday and what we
  have learned about WWII.
• I also want you to think about the connections
  between CULTURE and WWII.
• Do the events create culture or does the culture
  influence the events?

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On your worksheet, do the following

• Write down a brief description of the culture for
  each event of the 40s.
• Write down the event that influenced the 40s
  culture.
• Make sure you are neat, and clear in answering
  the questions.

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The Teenage Revolution

• After Pearl Harbor,
• many men went off to
• war
• What, then, happened
• to the family?
• What did this lead to?

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Teenage Revolution

• People went to work women in the factories and
  boys and girls in local stores and shops.

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Teenage Revolution Magazines

• Seventeen, and other
• teenage magazines
• were produced for the
• first time. Why was
• this?
• Teenagers were tired of
• hearing about the war,
• and wanted to read
• about teenage stuff.

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Teenage Revolution Dress

• Parents were not home for the first time and kids
  had a whole new way of doing things.

Boys Typical boy wore loose pants and plaid
shirt with knitted vests or sweaters.
Girls Typical girl wore a uniform to school
with a pleated skirt, a baggy sweater, bobby sox
and loafers.
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Teenage Revolution ZOOT SUIT

• As men stepped into dads role at the home, many
  would also borrow their Dads big suits. This new
  style was influenced by gangsters who used the
  bagginess to hide guns.
• The Zoot Suit Riots also happened in the 40s.

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American fashions make a turn!
France was taken over by the Germans, so
Americans had to come up with their own fashions.
What did they come up with?
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Nylon Stockings

• 1940 The first nylon products are made
  available to the public. On May 15, 1940, four
  million pairs of nylon stockings are bought
  within several hours in New York City. Nylon, the
  first man-made fiber, was developed in 1935 by
  Wallace H. Carothers. After Pearl Harbor they
  cost 10.00 NYLON DAY!

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Restrictions and Regulations

• 3-piece suit was invented because of fabric
  restrictions. No more than 200 inches of fabric
  per piece of clothes. Belts no more than 2 wide,
  cuffs were forbidden, skirts could not be more
  than 72 inches around. Ralph Lauren got his start
  at this time.

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Sweaters

• SWEATERS were very popular in the 1940's. Some
  factory owners wouldn't let women wear sweaters.
  They said the sweaters were dangerous. They said
  the sweaters could get caught in machinery. A
  sweater on a woman that's too loose is a health
  hazard. A sweater that's too tight is a moral
  hazard. 

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GI JOE Rosie

• GI JOE A GI was a heavily galvanized garbage
  can. Then there was government issue. First GI
  Joe 1942.
• Rosie the Riveter Women needed to fill the shoes
  of men and they needed an example. 11 million
  went to work. Rosie was actually a woman who
  riveted 3,345 rivets in 3 hours.

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Pin up girls raised the morale of the troops.
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WWII Lingo

• M Ms
• Geronimo
• Kamikaze
• RADAR
• Walkie Talkie
• Bazooka Guns

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Graffiti

• Kilroy A wide-eyed, bald-headed face peering
  over a fence, except for his fingers which
  gripped the top. It originated with US servicemen
  and went around the world from there.

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The GI Bill

• After the war, the men returned, having seen the
  rest of the world. No longer was the family farm
  an ideal no longer would blacks accept lesser
  status. The GI Bill allowed more men than ever
  before to get a college education. Women had to
  give up their jobs to the returning men, but they
  had tasted independence.

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Television

• Television made its debut at the 1939 World Fair,
  but the war interrupted further development. In
  1947, commercial television with 13 stations
  became available to the public.

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Computers

• Computers were developed during the early
  forties. The digital computer, named ENIAC,
  weighing 30 tons and standing two stories high,
  was completed in 1945.

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TV Frozen Dinners

• The first meals were
• tasteless and soft,
• just big globs of food.
• Since
• both parents were
• working, we needed
• them to survive.

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The Frisbee -1948 

•      During World War II, people had to find
  ways to have fun.  When kids discovered that
  metal pie plates flew well, tossing them became
  popular.  However, metal plates hurt your hands a
  lot and made a lot of noise.  Then in 1948,
  Walter Morrison decided to make them out of
  plastic.  They called them flying saucers.  Did
  you know that 2 million Frisbees have been sold
  in the last 50 years? That is more than
  baseballs, footballs, and basketballs combined! 

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Things of the forties

• First automatic transmission Oldsmobile
• Pepsi Cola
• First automatic clothes dryer
• The most trendy thing of the decade, the
  television set.

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More Cool stuff from the 40s
The bikini was invented
Hats were the thing to wear.
The Jitterbug
The Tuxedo People wanted to look their best and
did.
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THE END