The Great Depression in Pictures

The Great Media Escape

Many experts say that the latest recession would create a huge boom in TV watching as an escape.

This is definitely a reference to what happened during the Great Depression, though instead of their couches, people flooded movie theaters in levels never seen in history.

The Great Media Escape

Between 60-80 million Americans went to the movies every week during the Depression, compared with only ~10 million for the last several decades, and titles like King Kong, The Wizard of Oz, and Gone With the Wind were the highlights of this period.

This is even more impressive considering the population was almost 3 times smaller.