Draft of MAJOR Research Paper

Purpura 1
Anna-Maria Purpura
Professor: Luke Vasileiou
ENG 103
May 24, 2011
There are many aspects between real-life in New York City in the 1950s and a movie called Rear Window where there are similarities. One of the ways you can tell this movie is filmed in New York City is because of the apartments. The apartments are very close in distance, because the man in the movie can see into the apartment a crossed from his. Not only because of the distance between the two buildings but also because of the distance between the windows. You can even see multiple apartments at once. Another reason is the skyscrapers in the beginning of the movie when they scan down to show you the main characters apartment. Not only that but there’s also taxi’s driving passed the rear apartment. Also by the same street being crowded. With all the information I have gathered, I have come to find out this movie does depict how it really was in the 1950s in New York City, except for a few minor differences. The people in the movie and in real-life both share similar attributes of lifestyles.
When it comes to employment there were many help wanted ads. There are many different wages for the various job listings. They list it by week, month, year, and hour. Hourly wages listed range from $1.10 to $3 an hour. You can even get paid anywhere from $20 dollars a week to $200 a week. There weren’t many jobs that listed wages per month but with the listings it would range around $250 per month. Salesmen made between $6,000 to $10,000 dollars a year. Weekly wages for a salesman could be between $300 to $600 dollars, and Photographers made about $10,000 to $15,000 a year (which is roughly $5.00 - $7.50 an hour).
In Greenwich Village during the 1950s the apartments that were a close match to the main characters apartment in the movie costs $124 for three rooms, which included a fireplace, and an overlooking garden. The apartments that are similar to the ones in movie vary in price anywhere from $85 a month to $145 dollars a month. The encyclopedia of New York City states that the apartments in the 1950s were for the people who were considered middle-class. According to American Decades 1950-1959 the apartments had lower ceilings and the sizes were smaller because it lacked closets and extra rooms.
When it came to women of the 1950’s they were still at the point of being housewives. Around this time the women were marrying younger, they started to date at a younger age as well. If the women were married, they would clean and cook for their husbands. The way they dressed was silk blouses and slim skirts that stopped at the knee with pearl jewelry, just when they were around the house. When they were to go out at night they would wear more flowing skirts that went down to their ankles. Any type of clothing that emphasized their curves. Fashions for men were just a simple suit and dress shoes.
The popular music they played on radios at this time was pop, country and r&b. Although television watching was taking over radio listening. Television became a big hit in the 1950s where it became more popular and was selling more commonly. Toys for children that were getting popular were hula hoops, toy guns, holsters, silly putty, and slinkies. In the encyclopedia of New York City it states that between 1952 and 1955 the homicides that occurred were 4.3 percent out of 100,000 residents. Rather low then the past and upcoming years. It later states that most of the crime was formed in Harlem.
3. We are taken into an apartment in Greenwich Village in New York City in a movie called Rear Window. A man that lives in this apartment is named L.B. Jeffries, ‘Jeff’ for short, and he has broken his left leg. A magazine photographer confined in his mediocre apartment. He can’t help but look out his window. There is where he starts watching all the people in their apartments, in the building behind his. While obsessively watching the building next door he spots a couple (Lars Thorwald & bedridden wife), and some weird things occur in the process. Jeff realized the wife is no longer in the apartment. He starts to watch the husband and what is going on in that apartment. He starts to analyze the actions of this man and becomes convinced that this man has killed his wife. This movie was filmed in California, but the director Alfred Hitchcock had to make the town somewhere in New York City because of the way the apartments were.
4. In the movie Rear Window they don’t really scan the city for you, it is a simple movie where you see only Jeff’s apartment, the apartments a crossed from his and the little alley way on the side of both buildings. In this movie, other than the main characters you can see the inside of about seven apartments. That is how we know these apartment buildings stand in New York City, for the fact that you can see into so many apartments, from one window of an apartment next to the other.
When it comes to Jeff, he is a photographer. In the 1950s he would be making at least $200 a week (if he worked 40 hours). That would mean he got $800 dollars a month. His apartment type costs around $124 a month. From what we see in his apartment he doesn’t have many things. When looking through other peoples apartments he looks at them from binoculars which cost $32.50. One of the main things he owns is a 35mm camera, in which he uses to keep Lars away from attacking him. In the 1950s 35mm cameras cost anywhere from $19.50 to $199.00 depending on what features you wanted the camera to do. Now if the man got $800 dollars and paid his rent he would have $676.00 dollars to spend. He would definitely be able to afford the camera and many other things. Along with eating exquisite candle lit dinners with wine and lobster tails.
The murderer Lars Thorwald is a salesman. As a salesman he would make around $1,200 a month. He lives in a studio apartment, which would be cheaper than the apartment that Jeff lived in. He doesn’t have much in his house so you can tell he seems to be a pretty simple man. He is seen with suitcases when packing to leave, which costs about $4.95.
Some of the items seen in the movie are: lawn chairs at $14.88, a phonograph around $200 dollars, and fancy hair-dos depending on what you wanted from $3.00 to $25.00. There were many sales that went on daily. With all the sales there was and with the careers these tenants had, I do believe they were able to afford all of the above and more. On a rainy day you see people pass through the street seen by the alleyway, in the 1950s raincoats cost somewhere between $7.95 - $16.50 depending on which brand or kind of coat.

Cited Works:
"Classified Ad 3 -- No Title." New York Times 24 Aug. 1953, Print.
"Classified Ad 7 -- No Title." New York Times 20 Jul 1954, Print.
"Classified Ad 20 -- No Title." New York Times 17 Oct. 1954, Print.
"Classified Ad 40 -- No Title." New York Times 14 Nov. 1954, Print.
"Display Ad 3 -- No Title." New York Times 30 Dec. 1954, Print.
"Display Ad 22 -- No Title." New York Times 29 Dec. 1954, Print.
"Display Ad 24 -- No Title." New York Times 30 Dec. 1954, Print.
"Display Ad 153 -- No Title." New York Times 23 Mar. 1952, Print.
"Display Ad 167 -- No Title." New York Times 18 May 1952, Print.
"Display Ad 692 -- No Title." New York Times 15 Apr. 1952, Print.


*Note: The sites that I have added I got from the web, because the books I’ve been looking through don’t have actual prices… I still have the web cited works and I will put them in the paper. You had just said you don’t want websites as resources so I turned them into ‘print’ cited works, if they are not correct, let me know and I will put the ‘web’ cited works.

Ps. This is not a full draft but I do have most of the rest of the information I am going to add to finish it. I just have to organize it and research a few more things.