> It's a Belmont reprint from 1970. I just read a
mention of a man having
> a "Beatle haircut." Somehow, I doubt that's in the
1940 original. I'm
> wondering how much else was changed. For instance,
the following prices
> sound more like they're from the 1940s than the
1970s: $35 for three
> weeks in a transient hotel, fifteen cent subway
fares, 50 cent lunches,
> I know candy bars weren't still five cent in 1970.
So why change
> something as minor as the description of the haircut
of a passing
> character?
Sorry I'm so late responding to this but . . . the prices
above are pretty much on the mark for the mid to late 60s in
New York City (I'm not sure where the book is based). Subway
tokens were 15 cents through 1966 and then went to 20 cents.
Candy bars were indeed a nickel--I know this because I was of
the candy-buying age at that time. You could indeed get a
hamburger, malt and fries for 50 cents or you could be
equally well-fed at the Automat for the same price. Although
I never spent so much as a night in a Bowery hotel,
$35 for three weeks sounds about right. These certainly
aren't 40s prices.
Keep in mind that in the U.S. we really didn't start to have
double-digit inflation until the 70s. Look for a moment at
that 50 cent lunch. Fifty cents in say 1966, when subway were
15 cents, is equal to $3 today. A cheap lunch, but it
definitely buys you a hamburger, fries and a shake.
Jeff
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