Did Art Deco help end the Great Depression?

images from cavtmuseums.org & gingerrogers.com

I just finished watching Roberta, a 1930's musical, set in Paris with Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Randolph Scott, all favorites but together in an unexpected way. A lot of the action takes place in either a dress salon or the Cafe Russe, where Ginger and Fred work.

The Art Deco sets really intrigued me, so I dug around a little and found this story about the Art Director for most all of the Rogers & Astaire films. You'll find many references to these sets when you look up Fred and Ginger's films, more or less along the lines of how these films were welcome escapes in the Depression with beautiful clothes and furniture, giving everyone something to dream about I think the Art Deco style symbolized new and elegant possibilities, and I am sure that they inspired many to create. I was particularly intrigued with the walls in the Cafe Russo, shown above. It would be interesting to recreate those with venetian plaster, you could use stencils for the stylized dancers -- the moltobene wife.