In 1944, "Swinging on a Star" topped the charts, Going My Way packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $3,450.
🎵 Top songs of 1944
"Swinging on a Star" — Bing Crosby
"Mairzy Doats" — The Merry Macs
"I'll Be Seeing You" — Bing Crosby
🎬 In theaters
Going My Way
Meet Me in St. Louis
Double Indemnity
What things cost in 1944
$0.21
Gallon of gas
3¢
Postage stamp
$0.32
Movie ticket
$0.62
Gallon of milk
$3,450
Average home
$975
New car
$2,380
Household income
A $0.21 gallon of gas in 1944 has the buying power of roughly $3.85 today, and the 32-cent movie ticket works out to about $5.85 in today's dollars.
The biggest moments of 1944
Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and Americans followed the news breathlessly on the radio.
President Roosevelt signed the GI Bill, promising returning veterans help with college and home loans.
Judy Garland charmed the nation in Meet Me in St. Louis, introducing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
Franklin Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in November 1944, with a Missouri senator named Harry Truman as his new running mate.
Delegates from 44 nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, laying the groundwork for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Aaron Copland's ballet Appalachian Spring, choreographed by Martha Graham, premiered in October 1944 and won the Pulitzer Prize.
Toys, TV & trends of 1944
Smokey Bear made his debut in 1944 with the message that care could prevent forest fires.
Seventeen magazine hit newsstands for the first time, aimed at a brand-new audience: teenagers.
The nonsense song "Mairzy Doats" swept the country, with kids everywhere trying to decode its silly lyrics.
Schoolchildren gathered milkweed pods by the sackful in 1944 — the silky floss filled Navy life vests, and posters promised "two bags save a flyer's life."
The catchy Chiquita Banana jingle debuted on the radio in 1944, teaching a generation never to put bananas in the refrigerator.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet premiered on radio in October 1944, beginning a family broadcasting run that would last two decades.
The music scene
The music world received heartbreaking news in December 1944 when Major Glenn Miller's plane disappeared over the English Channel en route to entertain troops in newly liberated Paris. Just weeks earlier, the long musicians' recording ban had finally ended when the last big labels signed with the union, reopening the studios. Out in Los Angeles, promoter Norman Granz staged the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in July, launching a jazz institution.
At the movies
Movie attendance hit near-record heights in 1944, with tens of millions of Americans going to the pictures every single week. Character actor Barry Fitzgerald pulled off an Oscar oddity that year: he was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the very same role in Going My Way — a quirk the Academy quickly changed its rules to prevent. In December, National Velvet made a star of 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor.
Cartoons kids loved
Bugs Bunny reigned as the most popular cartoon star at the movies.
Tom and Jerry's short Mouse Trouble won the Academy Award for best cartoon.
Donald Duck starred in Disney's colorful musical feature The Three Caballeros, which premiered in December 1944.
By 1944 Tex Avery had jumped from Warner Bros. to MGM, where his anything-for-a-laugh style — wild takes, impossible gags, characters like Screwy Squirrel — pushed cartoons far from Disney's gentle realism. Wartime shortages squeezed the studios too: film stock was rationed, so directors learned to land their gags in tighter, faster seven-minute shorts.
The world in 1944
World population: about 2.4 billion
U.S. President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Allied forces landed at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and Paris was liberated that August.
Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944 — just two days before the world's attention turned to Normandy.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 was the largest naval battle in history, fought across a vast stretch of the Pacific.
In December, German forces launched a surprise offensive in the Ardennes, beginning the Battle of the Bulge.
1944 birthday questions
How old is someone born in 1944?
Someone born in 1944 turns 82 in 2026 (81 if their birthday has not come round yet).
What was the number one song in 1944?
"Swinging on a Star" by Bing Crosby was among the biggest hits of 1944.
What movie came out in 1944?
Going My Way was one of the films packing theaters in 1944.
How much did gas cost in 1944?
A gallon of gas ran about $0.21 in 1944, and a postage stamp cost 3¢.
How much did a house cost in 1944?
The average home went for roughly $3,450 in 1944, against a typical household income of about $2,380.