Tix time

1932

A ticket to Grand Hotel with Greta Garbo went for 25¢ (less than four bucks today), while The Devil Passes on Broadway, starring Basil Rathbone, cost $3. For the more cultured, a symphony or opera ticket went for about $1.

1943
Just $3.85 (around $45 today) got you a prime seat to Oklahoma! on Broadway or Faust at the Met. For 85¢, NYC moviegoers caught the premiere of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Best bargain: 83¢ for the Philharmonic.

1958

It cost as little as $2.50 ($17.50 today) to watch the Sharks and the Jets fight it out on Broadway in West Side Story and up to $25 ($175 today) for Tosca at the Met. But for under two bucks you could catch Gigi at the movies and still have plenty left over for a soda pop and a licorice pipe.

1965

Opera tix ranged from $3.50 to $35, the symphony and a Broadway play an average of $4, and the ballet was $5 ($32 today). But if you wanted to dress down, you could watch Julie Andrews onscreen in The Sound of Music for only $1.75.

1978

Can you tell the economy’s bad? A close-up view of Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! ran you $17.50 (about $54 today), while Grease the movie was $2.30. Meanwhile: the opera ($12.50) and the New York Philharmonic ($15).

1984

What once got you a Broadway show—$3.30—now got you into This Is Spinal Tap, while The Rink on Broadway (with Liza Minnelli) ran $37.50 ($72.76 today). That made the Philharmonic—$25—look like a bargain.

1996

Remember when you saw Fargo and were like, What?! I’m not paying $8.50! That was the same year you paid $40 ($52 in today’s $$$) for Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk, and didn’t even go to the Philharmonic, since it cost $40 for a good seat.

2007

Movie tix hit $11. Netflix memberships start at $4.99 a month.