At the beginning of the film, Joe mentions his brother's coffin cost $10,000.00 (in 1927). That's the equivalent of $136,000.00 in 2015.
He also mentions his girlfriend Sarah is making $32.50/wk as a secretary. That equals $442/wk, or about $23k/yr, in 2015.
Merritt mentions he's already giving Agnes $1,000/mo for "expenses", and that she's asking for even more. That's $13,600/mo in 2015 dollars.
Thank you for updating the amounts to today's values. I knew it was a lot of money they were referring to for the coffin and monthly allowance but I had no idea how much.
In regards to Agnes, she was getting a lot of money and had a lot of stuff but she was still a 'cheap' woman. I never understood why Joe wanted to marry her and didn't just keep her on retainer like Merritt had.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]