SEPTEMBER 20, 1940

FRIDAY
1940 Coca-Cola advertising artwork
$1,000 INVESTED IN COKE STOCK (KO) IN 1940
WOULD HAVE MADE YOU $8,324,276 IN THE 2025 DATASET
Min Wage Hourly$0.30
Median Home Price$4,000.00
Gas Price Avg$0.18
Bread Price Avg$0.09
Movie Ticket Avg$0.30
First Class Stamp$0.03
Milk Price Avg$0.55
Top Movies From 1940
Show screen release and event cards
1 Boom Town
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Boom Town
2 The Great Dictator
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The Great Dictator
3 Rebecca
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Rebecca
4 North West Mounted Police
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North West Mounted Police
5 Strike Up the Band
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Strike Up the Band
6 Northwest Passage
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Northwest Passage
7 Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
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Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
8 The Fighting 69th
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The Fighting 69th
9 Santa Fe Trail
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Santa Fe Trail
10 Kitty Foyle
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Kitty Foyle
The Grapes of Wrath
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The Grapes of Wrath
The Shop Around the Corner
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The Shop Around the Corner
His Girl Friday
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His Girl Friday
Pinocchio
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Pinocchio
Foreign Correspondent
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Foreign Correspondent
Waterloo Bridge
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Waterloo Bridge
Virginia City
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Virginia City
My Favorite Wife
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My Favorite Wife
My Little Chickadee
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My Little Chickadee
Pride and Prejudice
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Pride and Prejudice
Our Town
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Our Town
Boys of the City
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Boys of the City
The Ghost Breakers
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The Ghost Breakers
The Sea Hawk
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The Sea Hawk
They Drive by Night
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They Drive by Night
Dr. Cyclops
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Dr. Cyclops
The Thief of Bagdad
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The Thief of Bagdad
The Westerner
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The Westerner
The Mortal Storm
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The Mortal Storm
The Return of Frank James
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The Return of Frank James
Dance, Girl, Dance
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Dance, Girl, Dance
Too Many Husbands
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Too Many Husbands
I Love You Again
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I Love You Again
The Great McGinty
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The Great McGinty
The Blue Bird
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The Blue Bird
The Invisible Man Returns
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The Invisible Man Returns
All This, and Heaven Too
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All This, and Heaven Too
Beyond Tomorrow
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Beyond Tomorrow
Road to Singapore
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Road to Singapore
Black Friday
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Black Friday
Gone with the Wind
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Gone with the Wind
Ninotchka
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Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
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Of Mice and Men
Allegheny Uprising
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Allegheny Uprising
Remember?
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Remember?
A Christmas Carol
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A Christmas Carol

September 20, 1940 Trivia

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Exact-date daily brief

September 20, 1940

On September 20, 1940, discussions between British officials, including Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, and representatives from the Lothian region focused on the strategic importance of sharing military bases in Australia and Sou...

Inventions & Breakthroughs of September 1940

Gadgets, lab surprises, odd bets, and future-shocks from this slice of the calendar.

1 Photocopier (Xerography)
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Photocopier (Xerography)
2 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Concept
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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Concept
3 Jet Engine Flight Demonstration
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Jet Engine Flight Demonstration
4 Synthetic Detergent
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Synthetic Detergent
5 Mass-Produced Nylon Stockings
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Mass-Produced Nylon Stockings
6 Proximity Fuse
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Proximity Fuse
7 Electronic Fire Control System
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Electronic Fire Control System
8 Polyurethane Foam
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Polyurethane Foam
9 Early Speech Recognition Machine
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Early Speech Recognition Machine
10 Automatic Anti-Lock Brakes Concept
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Automatic Anti-Lock Brakes Concept

The Sounds of

Popular recordings and roots/country selections associated with the year

Headlines From September 20, 1940

Full News Archive

  • Headline: Hull's Strategic Talks on Mutual Defense. Impact: If Hull and the envoys had just decided to share Netflix accounts instead of military bases, maybe the world would have turned into a real-life 'Friends' episode where everyone just sits around discussing their problems instead of fighting wars. Fact: In the end, sharing bases didn't exactly become a popular trend; however, sharing memes did. Priorities, am I right?.
  • Headline: Union Talks Resume for Labor Negotiations. Impact: The negotiations dragged on so long that future generations mistakenly thought 'parley' was a fancy term for procrastination. Now, it's a buzzword in every corporate meeting. Fact: Parleys are like family gatherings; everyone pretends to listen, but deep down, they just want to leave early.
  • Headline: Fordham Expands Graduate Curriculum. Impact: By adding courses in French civilization, Fordham unknowingly set off a chain reaction resulting in Americans confusing baguettes with boomerangs for decades. Fact: If you ever need to impress someone, just casually mention that you know about French civilization, and watch them nod, pretending they understand.
  • Headline: HULL, ICKES REPLY TO WILLKIE SPEECH; Secretary of State Cites Data on Cattle Income to Show Benefits Under New Deal ICKES HITS 'INCAPACITY' He Likens Republican's Views on Defense to Those Which Guided Norway, Denmark. Impact: If Ickes had just let Willkie have his moment of glory, perhaps the Republican Party wouldn’t have spent the next few decades trying to outdo each other in melodrama. Fact: It's funny how political debates have always been like reality TVβ€”lots of drama but no one ever really wins.
  • Headline: Odds on Britain in Present Battle Rise, U.S. Military and Naval Observers Report. Impact: The optimistic reports from U.S. observers led to a wave of misplaced confidence, which would eventually cause them to underestimate British tea-drinking resilience for generations. Fact: It turns out that British optimism is directly proportional to the number of cups of tea consumed. More tea, more hope!.
  • Headline: FIRE CAPTAINS SUSPENDED; 7 in Hoboken Accused of 'Failing to Pay Their Just Debts'. Impact: The suspension of the Hoboken fire captains led to a nationwide obsession with financial literacy, resulting in the founding of 'How Not to Be Broke 101' classes. Fact: It's ironic that fire captains were suspended for debts, considering their job is to put out fires, yet they couldn't extinguish their financial ones.
  • Headline: BAN ON THIRD TERM IS URGED BY DAVIS; Democratic Candidate of '24 Backs Proposal for Limit in the Constitution 'INDISPENSABLE' IDEA HIT Appetite for 'Adulation' Criticized in Testimony BeforeSenate Subcommittee. Impact: Davis's proposal for a third-term ban inadvertently gave birth to a secret society of politicians who vowed to find loopholes, leading to the infamous 'Term Limit Tango'. Fact: The irony of political candidates advocating for term limits is like a chef recommending a diet while still sneaking bites of cake in the kitchen.
  • Headline: Shreveport Race Meet Asked. Impact: The acceptance of the Shreveport race meet application led to the establishment of a long-standing rivalry between racing enthusiasts and those who prefer a good bookβ€”because who needs horses when you have literature?. Fact: Horse racing: where the only real winner is the betting industry, and the horses are just there for the drama.

Wall Street Time Machine

The Right Call: A historical $1,000 investment comparison using the stored long-range dataset.
Rank #1
JNJ
Johnson & Johnson
Price in 1940
$0.06
Stored value
$3,433,941

Johnson & Johnson - If you invested $1,000 in 1940, it would be worth $3,433,941 today (3433.9x return)

Rank #2
PG
Procter & Gamble
Price in 1940
$0.25
Stored value
$586,657

Procter & Gamble - If you invested $1,000 in 1940, it would be worth $586,657 today (586.7x return)

Rank #3
KMB
Kimberly-Clark
Price in 1940
$0.69
Stored value
$147,887

Kimberly-Clark - If you invested $1,000 in 1940, it would be worth $147,887 today (147.9x return)

🦸 Top 5 Comics
Batman #1
Batman #1
$2,220,000
Flash Comics #1
Flash Comics #1
$1,500
Green Lantern #1
Green Lantern #1
$150,000
Detective Comics #38
Detective Comics #38
$42,000
All Star Comics #3
All Star Comics #3
$2,500
🧸 Top 5 Toys
Lone Ranger Frontier Town
Lone Ranger Frontier Town
$150.00
Red Ryder BB Gun
Red Ryder BB Gun
$250.00
Sorry!
Sorry!
$30.00
Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls
$35.00
Microscope Kit
Microscope Kit
$200.00
⚾ Top 5 Trading Cards
Walt Disney Comics and Stories #1 Card
Walt Disney Comics and Stories #1 Card
$800
Superman Gum Cards
Superman Gum Cards
$800
G-Men and Heroes of the Law
G-Men and Heroes of the Law
$11.00
1940 War Gum Cards
1940 War Gum Cards
$1,500
1940 Play Ball Baseball Cards
1940 Play Ball Baseball Cards
$3,000