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On the date

Thursday, June 9, 1921

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sight

The sun sizzles on the pavement, glinting off the polished brass of a passing Pierce-Arrow while a newsie bellows about the Prudential president pocketing policy-holder millions. I focus my lens on a flapper in a pleated skirt who looks as though she’s never heard of a soul-killing **robot** or a **polygraph** test, her eyes bright with the promise of more "giggle water" tonight. Her fella adjusts his straw boater and laughs off the rising price of bread; with a pocket full of scratch and a girl like that, he’s probably shouting, "**Ain't we got fun?**" I snap the shutter, capturing the silhouette of a generation relying on this new **insulin** to keep them alive and the rhythm of the jazz age to keep them dancing.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

DRYDEN BANKS GET MILLIONS OF DRYDEN INSURANCE DEPOSITS; Prudential President Owns Stock in Institutions Profiting on Policy Holders' Money. HE SEES NO IMPROPRIETY Banks in Which He Holds Stock Get $12,000,000 of a $16,000,000 Total. MUTUAL PLAN IS BARED Under Its Operation Stockholders Get $18,000,000--Policy Holder's Demand Ignored. Stockholders Got $18,000,000. Dryden Upholds Practice. DRYDEN BANKS GET INSURANCE DEPOSITS "Lemons" for Borrowers.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

The Sheik of Araby

Harry B. Smith & Ted Snyder

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 1921

  • Ain't we got fun?

Tech Check

Robots (The Term 'Robot'), Polygraph (Modern) & Insulin (Medical Tech).

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

38,347 days ago

(105 years, 22 days)