Do you enjoy hearing references in old movies to how much things cost?

Perhaps I should say how little things cost.

I do. In fact, I can tell you my all-time favorite example. It's in "The Apartment", the Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1960.

We hear our hero, C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon), introducing himself. And he mentions that the rent for his second-floor Manhattan apartment is $85 a month. (It used to be $80, but Mrs. Leiberman put in a second-hand air-conditioner.)

I might have seen "The Apartment" 50 times. It is quite possibly my favorite movie and has been for many years. But I never tire of savoring that moment.

Yes, I know that was a long time ago. Things change. Prices and incomes have gone up. But still.

Eighty-five dollars. In New York City.

I wonder what a decent apartment in Spokane went for back then.

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