During the depression people were out of work and starving. They needed to escape their dreary and problematic lives. Movies were cheap (about 15 cents for a ticket) and were the main source of daily entertainment for the masses. So Hollywood produced musicals featuring dancers in spiffy tuxedos & gorgeous evening gowns. These films helped people get their minds off their everyday economic problems, and gave them a sense of hope (however unrealistic that might have been at the time).Hollywood created films about gangsters, racy comedy (like that of Mae West). When World War 2 started near the end of the Depression, the same kind of films were made, but the focus shifted to patriotism, and the musicals and comedies were joined by dramas
