The show where Ricky bets Lucy she can't resist buying hats and she bets him he can't control his temper -- she had bought a hat for $49.50 and I've always thought that was so much for 1954-55. I've tried to find out what that amount would be equal to today's dollar but couldn't find anything.

According to the Dollar Times.com inflation calculator, $49.50 in 1954 had the same buying power as $397.38 in 2010.

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

This is an interesting subject, Catwoman. I'm glad you posted it. Do you think Ricky's anger over Lucy spending this much for a hat was justified (I know nothing about the price of hats!)?

Yes, I think Ricky's anger was justified. Lucy must think that money grows on trees or something.

..the series was money- how to save, spend and waste it. As Ricky usually said to Lucy concerning her clothing purchases, "You can' afford it!!". But when did that ever stop her? It's a given fact that Fred is even more of a "tightwad" than Ricky is {a typical Ethel complaint about his spending was along the lines of, "I had to fumigate Fred's wallet the other day...when he finally opened it, three moths and a ladybug flew out that time!"}.

:tv:

According to the Dollar Times.com inflation calculator, $49.50 in 1954 had the same buying power as $397.38 in 2010.

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

This is an interesting subject, Catwoman. I'm glad you posted it. Do you think Ricky's anger over Lucy spending this much for a hat was justified (I know nothing about the price of hats!)?

I do think his anger was justified in this case. 49.50 for a hat in 1954 was alot of money for a regular person to spend. I would spend that amount for a purse today but that's in 2010 dollars. Lucy didn't have any concept of the value of a dollar

There was an episode where Lucy and Ethel come home from shopping. Lucy is carrying some packages and says something like, 'I hope I can talk Ricky into letting me keep these.' Then Ethel says, 'I hope I can talk Fred into letting me keep this', and then she pulls a plunger out of her purse.

I still chuckle everytime I hear Ricky bellow " $49.50?".

Oh yes I think he was justified. Just as he said, You have one head why do you need so many hats? LOL! Speaking of hats, my husband wares baseball hats everyday and he has quite the collection. As a matter of fact as a surprise for him I bought him the Steelers new sideline hat they have out and the thing cost me $25.95! In most cases you can by the t-shirts for less then that. Truth be told I only bought it for him because I had a sizeable paycheck for working alot of O.T. so it was a special occassion and I don't get the luxury of buying much for him so that's why I say Ricky was justified because Lucy is constantly spending alot in dresses and hats in particular and it's not like she was going to thrift stores either.