Flight to the Suburbs

Printed Page 211

After World War II, waves of Americans experienced a severe case of pent-up consumer demand after years of wartime frugality. They migrated from cities to the suburbs to purchase their own homes and spend their much-increased discretionary income on all manner of newly available luxuries. These changes badly hurt the Hollywood studio system: Suburban neighborhoods were located far from downtown movie theaters, and people’s leisure-time preferences had shifted from watching movies to shopping for material goods such as cars, barbecues, and furniture.

To make matters worse for studios, after the war the average age of couples entering marriage dropped from twenty-four to nineteen. Thus there were significantly fewer young couples going to the movies on dates.