How top executives live (Fortune, 1955)

[salvorhardin]

5. Funny how the executives of today more closely resemble the execs of 1925

Twenty-five years have altered the executive way of life noticeably; in 1930 the average businessman had been buffeted by the economic storms but he had not yet been battered by the income tax. The executive still led a life ornamented by expensive adjuncts that other men could not begin to afford, a life attended by a formality that other men did not have time for. In Boston, which set the highest tone if not the fastest pace, the archetype of the high-salaried executive of 1930 arrived at his office in his chauffeur-driven Pierce-Arrow, uncompromisingly attired in dark suit and detachable stiff collar. For weekend lounging white flannels were de rigueur.

It's also interesting that the article is looking at the "approximately 30,000 executives, with incomes of $50,000 or more." $50,000 in 1955 would be about $428,000 today (http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm).