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On the date

Tuesday, May 4, 1920

From the day

Perspective: The Teenager · Sound

The jazz is rattling right out of the Victrola, but all Ma can do is squawk about the morning paper and how that writer Fannie Hurst hid her marriage for five years. She’s calling it a scandal that they live apart by appointment, but I think the lady’s a real phoney if she thinks "antediluvian customs" are the only thing worth fighting. I just pushed my cheaters up my nose and tuned her out to hum "Whispering" while I practiced my shimmy. If I can get my bobbed hair to sit just right under my cloche hat, I’m sneaking out for some giggle water tonight.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

FANNIE HURST WED; HID SECRET 5 YEARS; Sailed Into Matrimony with Pianist "in a Bark of Their Own Designing." LIVE APART, THEIR OWN WAY Meet by Appointment--It's a New Method Which Rejects "Antediluvian Custom."

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Whispering

John Schonberger

The must-have

Raggedy Andy

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

applesaucebaloneycheaterscrush

Flapper

bee's kneescat's pajamasgiggle watershebahotsy-totsy

Gangster

big cheesebump offstool pigeongatfall guy

Catchphrases of 1920

  • Return to normalcy

Tech Check

Commercial Radio Stations (KDKA), Hair Dryer & Band-Aid.

Style of 1920

Silhouette: Straight and drop-waisted (Flapper)

Material: Beaded silk and rayon

  • Bobbed hair
  • Cloche hats
  • T-strap heels

Cost of Living (1920)

Loaf of Bread

$0.11

Gallon of Gas

$0.30

Average Home

$6,296

New Car

$575

Meanwhile

  • Post-WWI RecessionSevere deflation and collapse of agricultural prices.

Time Elapsed

38,748 days ago

(106 years, 58 days)