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On the date

Thursday, October 7, 1920

From the day

Perspective: The Teenager · Sight

I’m leaning against the drugstore window, my bobbed hair tucked tight under a felt cloche while the neon signs start to flicker in the autumn dusk. The old man next to me is grumbling over the paper about how "Clegg Sees Danger in Ship Contract" and some Harriman-Hamburg plan favoring the Germans, but I think his political caterwauling is total applesauce. I’m much more interested in the beaded silk shimmying in the department store display than some dry Jones Ship Law. If I can scrape together enough dough for those T-strap heels, I'll be the cat’s pajamas at the dance tonight when the band finally strikes up "Whispering."

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

CLEGG SEES DANGER IN SHIP CONTRACT; Calls Harriman-Hamburg Plan a One-Sided Bargain Favorable to Germany.INDORSES JONES SHIP LAWKerr Steamship Co. Vice President Points Out Disadvantages to America in Plan.

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

38,592 days ago

(105 years, 267 days)