In 1940, "I'll Never Smile Again" topped the charts, Pinocchio packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $3,920.
🎵 Top songs of 1940
"I'll Never Smile Again" — Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra
"In the Mood" — Glenn Miller
"Frenesí" — Artie Shaw
🎬 In theaters
Pinocchio
Rebecca
The Grapes of Wrath
What things cost in 1940
$0.18
Gallon of gas
3¢
Postage stamp
$0.24
Movie ticket
$0.52
Gallon of milk
$3,920
Average home
$850
New car
$1,725
Household income
A $0.18 gallon of gas in 1940 has the buying power of roughly $4.15 today, and the 24-cent movie ticket works out to about $5.50 in today's dollars. Even that 3-cent stamp translates to nearly 70 cents now.
The biggest moments of 1940
Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term as president in November 1940.
Families gathered around the radio to hear Edward R. Murrow's dramatic broadcasts from London during the Battle of Britain.
The very first McDonald's restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California, run by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald.
Ida May Fuller of Vermont received the first monthly Social Security check ever issued — number 00-000-001, for $22.54 — on January 31, 1940.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in October 1940, hailed as America's first superhighway, with no speed limit at first.
Four French teenagers followed their dog into a hole in the ground and discovered the Lascaux cave, covered in 17,000-year-old prehistoric paintings.
Toys, TV & trends of 1940
The Adventures of Superman radio serial debuted in February 1940, and kids rushed home to hear the Man of Steel.
Captain Marvel made his first appearance in Whiz Comics, quickly becoming one of the best-selling superheroes of the decade.
Teenagers packed dance halls to jitterbug to big-band swing, and jukeboxes played hits for a nickel a song.
Nylon stockings went on sale nationwide on May 15, 1940, and millions of pairs flew off store counters within days — "nylons" became the fashion sensation of the year.
Batman got a young partner in April 1940 when Robin the Boy Wonder debuted in Detective Comics, doubling the comic's sales almost overnight.
The zany radio quiz show Truth or Consequences debuted in March 1940, making contestants perform silly stunts when they missed a question.
The music scene
On July 20, 1940, Billboard published its very first national best-selling records chart, and Tommy Dorsey's record featuring a 24-year-old singer named Frank Sinatra sat at number one — the start of pop chart history as we know it. Big bands ruled the airwaves, and Glenn Miller's orchestra could be heard three nights a week on radio's Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade. Dance bands crisscrossed the country playing one-night stands in ballrooms from coast to coast.
At the movies
At the Academy Awards banquet in February 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first Black performer ever to win an Oscar, for Gone with the Wind. Charlie Chaplin finally spoke on screen in The Great Dictator, his first true talking picture. And in November, Walt Disney premiered Fantasia with "Fantasound," a pioneering multi-speaker stereo system installed in select theaters years before stereo became standard.
Cartoons kids loved
Tom and Jerry made their debut in the MGM short Puss Gets the Boot.
Bugs Bunny officially debuted in A Wild Hare, asking Elmer Fudd, "What's up, Doc?"
Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the Walter Lantz cartoon Knock Knock.
In 1940 the cartoon world was a full-blown studio rivalry: Leon Schlesinger's scrappy Warner Bros. unit — nicknamed "Termite Terrace" — was perfecting a faster, wise-cracking style built to out-laugh Disney's polished artistry. At MGM, two young animators named William Hanna and Joseph Barbera teamed up on a cat-and-mouse idea their bosses nearly shelved until audiences and an Oscar nomination demanded more.
The world in 1940
World population: about 2.3 billion
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over England, and Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.
In late May and early June, some 338,000 Allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk by a fleet that included hundreds of small civilian boats.
Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, formally forming the Axis powers.
The United States began its first-ever peacetime draft in October 1940, with more than 16 million men registering.
1940 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1940?
Someone born in 1940 turns 86 in 2026 (85 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1940?
"I'll Never Smile Again" by Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra was among the biggest hits of 1940.
What movie came out in 1940?
Pinocchio was one of the films packing theaters in 1940.
How much did gas cost in 1940?
A gallon of gas ran about $0.18 in 1940, and a postage stamp cost 3¢.
How much did a house cost in 1940?
The average home went for roughly $3,920 in 1940, against a typical household income of about $1,725.