Why did people keep going to the cinema during the depression?

Natz: Why did people keep going to the cinema during the depression?
Surely they were really poor so why bother going? How much was cinema back then in comparison?

Answers and Views:

Answer by jmclaughlin07
well multiple reasons. not everyone lost everything during the depression so some people did have the money to go. and secondly sometimes you need to splurge and distract yourself. poor people now will go to the movies because sometimes you need to treat yourself.

Answer by princess e
thats how they got the news … the news was shown over the big screen since most people couldnt afford to have t.v’s anymore

Answer by kattsmeow
I would imagine they went because the cinema is an escape from reality for a while. I don’t know about the depression, but I went during the 50’s and the admission was 25 cents. My allowance was 50 cents a week and I could go to the movies and by a candy bar for a nickle, still having 20 cents for the week.

Answer by Double Dachshunds Owner
Good question. Perhaps it was to escape, even if ever so briefly, from the harshness of their reality. Also remember that the news was broadcast via local cinema during this time-frame too. Most people had only radios from which to hear news.

As for prices:

Eggs were 13 cents/doz down from 50 cents
Gas was less than a nickel down from 10 cents
Chicken 12 cents/pound down from 38 cents

Movies were 10 cents per person and the average salary was less than $ 10 per week

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So….if movies were the same price as a gallon of gas during the Great depression and our current gas prices are around $ 4.00, are we now overpaying for movies at the theater?

Answer by jerryluvzkat
well they went to take their minds off the depression plus there was cocain in coke so that also helped and then there were just the people that liked to get there freak on in the theater, these our some of the main reasons peole went also it was like 95 cents total for two people popcorn and coke included which is one heck of a deal and gas was like 2cents so even tho it was the depression it was a great time

Answer by Halley Ashley & Kristen
because during this time it was the only place that had air conditioning wouldn’t you go there to if it was the only place that had air conditioning?

Answer by kris switz
To get away from their everyday lives. Here, I’ll put it this way:

Think about this; you have no job, or if you do your job sucks bad. Your family has nothing to do, because they cannot afford it, and many days you spend just sitting around doing nothing… So, you go to the movies to get away, and think about something other than what horrid saddness that is your life.
You lose yourself in the plot, and find ways to relate to the main character of the story. If you are seeing something sad, or frightening, you begin to think on the bright side again afterward. Hey, at least your life isn’t like that, right?
Anyway, people go to movies to lose their train of thought to something brilliant! And really… Can you blame them?

If you have more questions, use these sites for more information:

https://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata287.htm
https://www.bookrags.com/research/surviving-the-great-depression/

Hope I was able to help you!
🙂
— Switz

Answer by Space Cowboy
Ever heard of bread and circuses, meaning as long as the people have sufficient food and entertainment/distractions, they will remain complacent.

Answer by Garson C
If you view movies from the 1930s, you will notice that often times the themes have to do with glamorous settings and costumes. Even though the viewer might be poor, they could be in a fantasy world of high society. Plots were sometimes about an orphan, such as those played by Shirley Temple, who could cheer up the viewers with her optomistic outlook; or the plots might be about a working class girl like Ginger Rogers who ends up singing and dancing and wearing fabulous gowns. Also, the theaters were designed as movie palaces so that no matter how dreary your homelife might be, for a few cents you could enjoy being entertained in a fantastic auditorium.

Answer by Maddog
I would guess the majority of moviegoers were people who still had money or jobs. Movies cost a nickel or a dime in those days, depending on what theater one attended. Many people couldn’t even afford newspapers, which were two cents apiece, and I doubt that those folks saw many movies in the early ’30s. People bought what they needed and got by with the bare necessities.

And to correct a couple of other answerers here:

(1) No one had TV’s in the 1930s. Televisions hadn’t been mass produced or marketed yet and were still pretty much a science fiction dream;

(2) Coca Cola no longer contained cocaine by the 1930s.

Answer by Louise C
Because it was a form of escapism. They could watch comedies and dramas and musicals and forget their troubles for a while. Everyone needs something to cheer them up, even if they are very poor. Most people in those days went to the movies at least once a week. And don’t forget in those days it wasn’t just one film, often it would be a double feature, plus there would be a cartoon, and a newsreel.

Answer by Hector
It was an escape enough said.