Willie Mays (Quick Magazine, 1954)Illustrated with nine pictures, this article briefly tells the story of baseball legend Willie Mays (b. 1931) and the Summer of 1954 when sportswriters credited him alone for having raised the athletic standards of his team, The New York Giants (the team won the World Series that year):
"A 23-year-old Alabaman with a laugh as explosive as his bat, Willie has electrified N.Y. Giants fans as no man has done since Mel Ott (1909 – 1958)... Statistics don't begin to give a real picture of Willie's value. He adds drama to baseball in a way that defies fiction." The Strong Economy and its Effect on Fashion (Quick Magazine, 1951)The antidote to the austere fashion deprivations of the 1930s and the wartime fabric restrictions that characterized the Forties arrived in the immediate post-war period when designers were at last permitted to make manifest their restrained cleverness and create an aesthetic style in a mode that was overindulgent in its use of fabric. This fashion revolt commenced in Paris, when Christian Dior showed his first collection in 1947 - couturiers in every style capitol in the West willingly kowtowed and a new era in fashion was born.
Now the Men Can Sleep (Quick Magazine, 1952)From the same country that gave us Benny Hill came this remarkable invention that improved men's lives immeasurably. College Essentials (Quick Magazine, 1952)Here are a few short paragraphs accompanied by nine images concerning what the college girls of the early Fifties were wearing:
"A girl can still get into college with a sweater and skirt, but for full credit she needs quantities of gadgets. For campus, girls stick to classic Brooks Brothers sweaters, pleated skirts, blue jeans - but go wild on accessories and underwear novelties..."
The journalist then went to some effort listing many of the fashionable essentials: stamp bracelets, rhinestone handcuff bracelets, silk pleated turtleneck sweaters and harness-neck bib fronts - all to die for.
3-D Movies Arrive (Quick Magazine, 1953)This article confirms that the 3-D film format was brought into existence in 1952 for the same reasons it exists today: to get TV audiences off of their wallets and into the theaters.
If 3-D didn't work, the producers could always attract audiences with this... The Timeless Comedy of Bob and Ray (Quick Magazine, 1952)A single page from the petite pages of the short-lived magazine QUICK, heralding the arrival of the Bob and Ray radio show: "Two young fugitives from from a Boston radio station (W.H.D.H.) ,Bob Elliott (b. 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990) were proving that radio - and some 15 million listeners - could take anything. In exchange for lampooning radio's most sacred cows - soap operas and commercials - Bob and Ray now have four separate radio shows (two on NBC's network; two on NBC's New York station), were on the air five days a week..." Click here for a related film clip White Bucks and the College Look (Quick Magazine, 1952)"As college girls talked "back to school," it was clear that they had switched their allegiances from saddle shoes
to a new favorite: white bucks . The girls predicted they wouldn't be white long."
Reference is also made to the rounded-button-collar dress shirts that were appearing on the backs of so many college men at that time. Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli (Quick Magazine, 1951)This illustrated fashion review shows four images that depicted the sophisticated offerings by Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli from their respective 1951 mid-summer collections. What the American women who gazed upon these pages learned is that the era of the padded hips was continuing its march into the next decade.
The Korean War's Effect on Wall Street (Quick Magazine, 1950)"The outbreak of the war in Korea sent stocks tumbling in all important world markets. In N.Y., three months of profits were wiped out. At week's end some stocks rose, but jittery brokers kept an eye on the war news and - an ear turned toward Washington, where announcements of increased U.S. participation in the fighting touched off further waves of selling>"
Click here to read about the Wall Street panic that was brought on by with the election of Abrham Lincoln... What's in that Brooklyn Water? (Quick Magazine, 1952)2013 marked the 100th year since the first film was made in Hollywood, and in that time one American neighborhood more than any other has consistently supplied the film and television industry with a seemingly inexhaustible pool of talent: Brooklyn, New York. From Clara Bow in the era of silent film to Gabby Sidibe in the digital - the talented sons and daughters of Brooklyn have made their way West and we have all been the beneficiaries.
Resourceful Robert Motherwell (Quick Magazine, 1951)The ink-stained editors at QUICK MAGAZINE rarely ever concerned themselves with the Bohemian-happenings of the New York art world, but when the abstract expressionist painter Robert Motherwell (1915 – 1991) strayed from the standard-issue art supply tools and used a reflective fabric called Scotchlite in the creation of a 12 foot, three-paneled mural - the editors thought it was news.
The Fad for Felt Fashion (Quick Magazine, 1951)The fad for skirts fashioned out of felt began with college girls when it was discovered that a flattering silhouette could be achieved when the fabric was cut on the bias; the attached article shows the color image of a felt "ballet skirt" as a case in point.
Sub-standard fabrics play a part in fashion's march from time to time; in the Sixties there was a short-lived craze in some circles to wear dresses made from paper or vinyl. The Start of the Korean War (Quick Magazine, 1950)On June 25, 1950 ten divisions of North Korean infantry invaded South Korea. In its narrowest sense, the invasion marked the beginning of a civil war between peoples of a divided country. In a far larger sense, it represented a break in tensions between the two dominant power blocs that had emerged from the Second World War. These well-illustrated pages appeared in Quick Magazine two weeks after the hostilities commenced and serves to summarize the events in Washington and at the United Nations. Within the first twelve hours of the war President Truman committed U.S. air and naval forces to the defense of South Korea and signed a bill to widen the draft pool.
The Korean War ended in 1953. Click here to read about the military results of that war.
Enter China (Quick Magazine, 1950)On Friday, November 3, 1950 Mao Tse-Tung (1893 – 1976) ordered the Chinese Army to intervene in the Korean War on behalf of the the retreating North Korean Army:
"...perhaps [as many as] 250,000 Chinese Communists jumped into the battle for Northwest Korea; at best, their intervention meant a winter campaign in the mountains; at worst, a world war."
From Amazon: The Korean War: The Chinese Intervention
Anticipating Soviet Imperialism (Quick Magazine, 1951)A brief Quick Magazine report on the Christians who made their 1951 pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal. In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, it said that the Virgin Mary appeared before three children and interacted with them. Among other remarks, the Virgin is said to have made this warning:
"Russia will spread her errors throughout the world and many nations will be annihilated".
Delinquency and Other Shenanigans (Quick Magazine, 1955) The Long Haul (Quick Magazine, 1951)By the Winter of 1951 another round of cease-fire and truce agreements between UN and Communist field commanders had once again come to naught - and America's second Thanksgiving in Korea soon gave way to America's second Christmas in Korea. This brief column lays out what went wrong in the last negotiations and American Secretary of State Dean Acheson declared that the U.S. would remain in Korea even after a peace agreement has been signed. Lace (Quick Magazine, 1953)"Less dependent on the whims of fashion than almost any other fabric, lace blooms perennially in designers' collections. Because it has an ageless quality, which makes it look well on women of any age, its uses are varied. This season it is treated in new ways by some of the top couturiers. It is embroidered, used as applique, beaded or scattered with sequins... There is variety in lace itself; it may be gossamer sheer or rich and handsome in design. But whatever its form, it is a universal fashion favorite [for now].
U.S. Racial Diversity and the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1954)With the end of the Second World War in 1945 came numerous social changes to the nation. Among them was the Civil Rights movement, which soon began to find followers in the white majority and acquire an unprecedented traction in Washington as a result of the Cold War (an article on this topic can be read here). It was these two factors, the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement, that combined in the Fifties to call for the creation of a new immigration policy. It would be naive to assume that race alone was the sole factor in drafting a more inclusive policy because, as the attached editorial spells out, the Cold War climate demanded that the U.S. make more friends among the developing countries if the Soviets were to be defeated economically and militarily.
Hitler's Secret Love (Quick Magazine, 1960)Attached is a sensational article that appeared in a super market tabloid some fifteen years after Adolf and Eva saw fit to call it a day:
"Was Adolf Hitler the great lover who had to cover up his escapades because of affairs of state? Or was the great Adolf a full-blown homosexual who made his appointments to the upper hierarchy of Nazidom based on the pervert talents of the Master Race. Read about the latest revelation that throws the rumor factories and historians into a cocked hat and may prove Adolph's manliness."
The article was written anonymously. The Shoes of '52 (Quick Magazine, 1952) Where Glamour and Tennis Met: Nancy Chaffee (Quick Magazine, 1951)This article is about Nancy Chaffee (1929 - 2002), another California-born tennis champion of the post-war era. Chaffee had once been ranked as the fourth-place women's tennis champ in all the world, winning three consecutive national indoor championships (1950-1952). She first came to view in 1947 playing alongside the men on the U.S.C. tennis team (there was no women's team at the time). The year before this article appeared on the newsstands, Chaffee made the semi-finals at Forrest Hills, her record at Wimbledon can be read here
The Stalin ''Peace Plan'' (Quick Magazine, 1950)This column will give you a quick understanding as to how 1950 ended:
"Russian diplomats made valiant efforts. In Moscow, [Stalin's adviser] Andrei Gromyko called Western envoys, urging Big Four talks to 'unify' Germany. In the U.N., Andrei Vishinsky protested Russia's 'devotion' to peace and to the belief that capitalism and Communism could live in the same world... But while the Reds talked, Chinese Communists had swept into the Korea War. The Soviet military budget had soared . Russia's submarine fleet had multiplied, it's air force had expanded to 14,000 combat planes, its army was millions strong, and still growing."
Click here to read an article about the American POW experience during the Korean War. Congress Examines the Morals Portryed on T.V. (Quick Magazine, 1952)This article is illustrated with a single television image of the Hollywood actress Ilona Massey exposing her highly charming decolletage for all the world to see. The image alone can be credited for having launched a dozen Congressional hearings concerning the matter as to what is a television programmers singular understanding of public decency? Yet this short column only discusses one hearing, the one that took place in the Summer of 1952 in which Elizabeth Smart of the Women's Christian Temperance Union spoke frankly about the "alleged amusement" that the networks were providing. Another temperance group in attendance complained that the actors on beer commercials should not appear as if they were enjoying themselves... Criticism (Quick Magazine, 1952)During the Summer of 1952, an unhappy Christian cleric in far away Scotland weighed in on Jane Russell - provoking the Hollywood beauty to weigh right back. The Damaged Prestige of the FBI (Quick Magazine, 1952)When this article appeared on the newsstands, J. Edgar Hoover had been FBI chief for nearly thirty years. In all that time he had enjoyed being photographed among celebrities and adored patting himself on the back by writing numerous magazine articles about the FBI. But by the time the early Fifties came along Hoover and his Federal agency were no longer the teflon icon that they used to be; the failings of the FBI were adding up and Hoover did not seemed accountable. The Third Christmas in Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)As 1952 was coming to an end President Truman must have seemed delighted to pass along to the next guy all the various assorted trouble spots that existed throughout the world. President-Elect Eisenhower had promised peace during his presidential campaign - but many of the issues at hand were interrelated: French Indochina, South Africa, the Middle-east, the Iron Curtain and, of course, Korea. The Birth of the Slip Dress (Quick Magazine, 1949)One Autumn evening in 1949, New York fashion model Anna-Lee Daniels and her gay boyfriend, Henry, took it upon themselves to demonstrate just how chic ladies' undergarments were becoming. Recognizing that the latest slips were so minimal in their design - appearing much like the dresses flappers were often seen wearing back in the day It was soon decided that the two should step out for a night on the town - with young Anna-Lee sporting the slip - just to see if anyone caught on. A Trivial Tail (Quick Magazine, 1951)A short news piece concerning the reappearance of Mickey's tail - after a 10-year absence. The Importance of Winning (Quick Magazine, 1950)Policy makers in Washington were divided into two groups during the early Cold War days: one held that Communist expansion was most dangerous in Asia while the other believed that Europe was the spot most deserving of attention. This short editorial by John Gunther (1901 – 1970) argued that Asia was the vulnerable zone and if Korea was lost to the Reds - the whole world would follow. The Arrests of David Greenglass and Alfred Slack (Quick Magazine, 1950)The arrests of David Greenglass (1922 - 2014: Soviet code name "Kalibr") and Alfred Slack (1905 - 1977: Soviet code name "El") were the result of the FBI having arrested and interrogated a vital Soviet courier a month earlier: Harry Gold (1911 – 1972: Soviet code name "Arno"). When Gold began to sing, the spies began to fall like leaves of autumn day. This quick read concentrates on Gold's fellow chemist, Slack, who had been passing along information to the Soviets since the mid-Thirties, however between the years 1944 and 1945 Slack had been assigned to work in Oak Ridge Tennessee with the Manhattan Project. Greenglass had also been on the Manhattan project, and he was a far bigger catch.
Foreign-Aid on Behalf of the American Civil Rights Struggle (Quick Magazine, 1951)Recognizing that the United States has seldom ever been without civil libertarians, of one form or another, who could always be relied upon to file papers in the courts on behalf of one injured tribe or another - I often wondered why, if this was the case, was so much progress made in the American civil rights struggle of the 50s and 60s as opposed to other periods? This article answered that question.
"Radio Moscow noted the warnings of a Klansman in South Carolina, that there will be bloodshed if Negro students attend white schools. But ignored the admittance of 1,000 Negroes to colleges in 15 Southern and Border states, schools formerly for whites only."
''Political Killings in Korea'' (Quick Magazine, 1951)"South Korean firing squads had executed hundreds of men, women and children accused as Red sympathizers before President Rhee stopped the practice last week and set up a special board to review death sentences." The Bomb in Soviet Hands (Quick Magazine, 1949)During the opening week of October, 1949 President Harry Truman announced that the Soviet Union had exploded its own nuclear weapon. Americans were deeply shocked and wondered aloud as to what this would mean - Would the peacetime draft call be doubled?
"...Russia had caught the U.S. flatfooted. For the first time in history every American looked straight down the gun barrel of [a] foreign attack."
The pace of the Cold War picked up soon after this event took place.
The ''Actress/Models'' (Quick Magazine, 1951)The Forties and Fifties were indeed the infancy of the "model/actress" era; one of the first "slashies", Lauren Bacall (b. 1924) was buried in 2014. The Basket Bags (Quick Magazines, 1952)They clogged the shelves of every thrift shop, church bazaar and Goodwill outlet throughout all of the 70s and 80s - and during that same period costume designers used them to signify how detached and estranged a feminine antagonist was in dozens of movies and TV productions. We are referring, of course, to the basket bags of the early fifties and their heavy presence in the bric-a-brac shoppes of yore only serve to testify as to how remarkably popular they were as fashion accessories in the land of the free and home of the brave. The attached article from 1952 is illustrated with six images of the various swells of old Palm Beach clinging proudly to their wicker trophies.
(We were delighted to see that basket bags enjoyed a small come-back in the fashion world during the summer of 2017.) CIA Issues Report on UFO Sightings (Quick Magazine, 1950) Movie Streaming was Invented in 1950 (Quick Magazine, 1950)We were surprised to learn that the earliest television mavens recognized that television programming could be enhanced and customized when the signal is carried through telephone lines of individual subscribers - a perk that wasn't made widespread for a few decades. The early concept was called "Phonevision". When Truman Fired MacArthur (Quick Magazine, 1951)General MacArthur's wish to expand the Korean War by dropping as many as thirty (30) A-Bombs on various strategic targets located in both China and North Korea contrasted dramatically with President Truman's plans as well as those of the United Nations. Plagued by a crippling sense of self-grandeur, the General's arrogance became a liability and President Truman was absolutely delighted to fire him.
Popcorn Finds a Home at the Movies (Quick Magazine, 1952)Popcorn was introduced as a snack food to American movie-goers as a result of the candy shortages during the earliest years of the Second World War.
Attached is a petite notice documenting the fact that the substitute was a wise one:
"By 1952, movie houses accounted for about one-third of the nation's annual $350 million retail popcorn sales."
Reference is also made to the efforts that were made to secure "noiseless" popcorn bags.
If popcorn replaced sweets on the home front, what replaced steak?
In Search of a Truce (Quick Magazine, 1953)During the final months of the Korean war, when it seemed that both sides were willing to make an arrangement that would bring the hostilities to an agreed upon end, the Chinese diplomats upped the ante
"... the Red regime in Peiping [Beijing] wanted a Great Power conference on Korea's future as a preface to new truce talks... Zhou Enlai, premier in Mao Tse Tung's government, has secretly proposed tossing all disputes - the prisoner exchange issue as well as the political future of Korea - into a conference of 11 nations."
Watch an informative Christian documentary on Korea in 1953 (- its in color).
This was Jack Benney (Quick Magazine, 1950) Forced Into Communism (Quick Magazine, 1952)In his illustrated five page reminiscence, former Communist refugee Ivan Pluhar (b. 1927), recalls those dreadful days following the end of the Second World War when it became clear to all the citizens of Czechoslovakia that their Soviet "liberators" would never leave their country. The article will clue you in as to what life was like during the earliest years of the occupation and how dissenters were treated throughout that period.
A Quick Read About Soviet-Enforced Atheism
Behind the Iron Curtain...
The Look for Spring in '53 (Quick Magazine, 1953)Thumbnail descriptions of what numerous European fashion designers were offering during the Spring of 1953.
Theatre Hats by Lilly Daché (Quick Magazine, 1949)Lilly Daché (1898 – 1989) was the most famous milliner of her era; before retiring in the late Sixties (when hats were finally shown the door) she had accomplished much in the realm of fashion - designing dresses, lingerie, gloves, bags, jewelry and hostess gowns. While in league with the Hollywood costume designer Travis Banton, her lids adorned many of the craniums of the most glamorous women ever to grace a movie screen.
The Wandering Waistline (Quick Magazine, 1951)Looking back, the fashion silhouette of the 1950s is remembered as having a very narrow waistline, but in the early days of the decade, as this 1951 fashion review indicates, the feminine waist was a highly contested battle ground:
"Where's the waist? Paris popped the question, but has yet to give the answer. On the one hand, many leading designers showed a tendency to raise the waistline. But they were challenged by a strong minority that seemed determined to drop it [pictures of both high and low are provided herein]...Apparently, Paris has decreed it the year of the wandering waist. Where it will stop may well be up to American women." If you'd like to read about the feminine silhouette of the early Forties, click here. The Look for Autumn (Quick Magazine, 1952)"The 'costume look' has developed into a strong fashion idea for fall and winter. The news is in the mis-mated fabrics and colors used in this year's go-togethers. Highly-textured (and often noisily patterned) coats and jackets are sold frankly as suits with solid color dresses or skirts... Mismatched colors as well as mixed fabrics were used by Vera Maxwell in her coat and dress team [pictured]... Ben Zuckerman offered another example of fashion's new doubling-up with black hip-length coat over a two-piece red wool jersey dress [pictured]." Swank in the Cold (Quick Magazine, 1952)The slobs who run this website are a slovenly lot, so don't take our word for it - but we believe this hooded turtleneck sweater that showed up on fashion's catwalks during the fall of 1952 to have been the proverbial "bees knees"! Stalin's Rule Summarized (Quick Magazine, 1953)Stalin's final days, as recalled by his daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva (1926 – 2011), were mired in paranoia; he had imprisoned his one physician (accusing him of being a British spy) and refused all medical attention - preferring to self-medicate with liberal doses of iodine. His hatred of the West had drastically intensified; he rambled on about the natural intelligence of peasants and was displeased that numerous members of his family wished to marry Jews.
(Click here to read another article about the 1953 death of Stalin.)
Read about the "Soviet Congress"
Mao and the Death of Stalin (Quick Magazine, 1953)Upon hearing that Stalin had died, "the official Red Chinese radion spent hours talking of Stalin's death, paid little heed to Malenkov's elevation to Russia's premiership."
"Mao has considered himself second only to Stalin in communism". Small Fur Hats (Quick Magazine, 1953)Pictured herein are three fur hats by Sally Victor (1905 - 1977: Coty Award 1944) modeled by the actress Vanessa Brown (1928 – 1999).
Jeweler to the Stars (Quick Magazine, 1954)"The fabulous jewels worn by the stars in movies look like the real thing, but they are all paste. Most of this fake splendor is produced by Joan Castle Joseff of Hollywood (1912 - 2010) whose factory turns out 90 percent of the jewelry used in pictures. Sometimes an order must be filled in twenty-four hours, to avoid holding up a costly production."
Pants in High Fashion (Quick Magazine, 1953)1953 was the year that designers from both Paris and New York included pants in their respective evening wear collections - even their homely little sister, Los Angeles - the new fashion capitol of sportswear, provided a pair of pants for dinner occasions. Truman Decides to Defend South Korea (Quick Magazine, 1950)"[Truman's] fateful decision to send U.S. planes and ships into the Korean fighting was made with advice of Representative Walter Judd (1898 - 1994: R., Minn.). Judd had been sharply critical of U.S. Far Eastern policy on grounds that it was opening the doorto Communism. The day after fighting started, State Department officials asked Judd's advice on procedures for helping South Korea."
Sighting Over South Dakota (Quick Magazine, 1950)Flying comfortably above Aberdeen, South Dakota, the passengers of a Northwest airliner got an eyeful for almost a full hour. Famine in the North-East (Quick Magazine, 1950)Quite often when Marxist economic theories are put into effect, tree bark becomes a sought-after delicacy... The Coeds of the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1953)The original "Generation X" was that group of babies born in the late Twenties/early Thirties: they were the younger brothers and sisters of the W.W. II generation. There seemed to have been some talk in the early Fifties that this group of Americans were becoming sardonic and cynical - raised on the W.W. II home front, only to find that when they came of age they were also expected to sacrifice their numbers in a foreign war:
"How can you help being pessimistic when you hear that the boy you sat next to in high school English was killed last week in Korea?"
- opined one of the nine college women interviewed on the attached pages. These Cold War women were asked what was on their minds as they prepared for jobs, marriage and family.
U.S. Air Force Spots UFOs Over War-Torn Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)In the midst of the Korean War, two American squadrons of B-29 bombers spotted UFOs flying high above the towns of Suchon and Wonson. Attached are excerpts from two newspaper editorials on the subject.
Leopard and Zebra Prints Become the Thing, Again (Quick Magazine, 1954)Two years before this article went to press, some Delphian at Quick Magazine scribbled these words:
"Expect fashion designers to jump on the African trend in literature and entertainment. Examples: four new African [themed] films (Cry the Beloved Country , The Magic Garden , Latuko and The African Queen ) to be followed by a Walt Disney African wildlife film."
- next thing you know, down fashion's runways sashay the teen waifs - all clad as if they were the striped and spotted beasts who prance upon the Serengeti Plain.
British Moles Defect (Quick Magazine, 1951)On May 19, 1951 two officials of the British Foreign Office were reported as missing; their disappearance raised many eyebrows within the intelligence community.
One of the men, Donald MacLean (1913 - 1983) had been working in various trusted positions within the British diplomatic corps since 1934, but his handlers in Moscow called him "Homer". The other Englishman, Guy Burgess (1911 - 1963) began working for the Foreign Office in 1944; the KGB called him "Hicks". The two men were members of a spy ring that would soon be known as "the Cambridge Four" (the other two being Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. In later years a fifth spy would surface: Roland Perry. All of them were recruited by the Soviets while attending Cambridge University in the 1930s).
The information that was fed to the journalist who wrote the attached article was clearly meant to disguise the fact that all the Western intelligence agencies were totally freaking out.
''How We Can Win in Asia'' (Quick Magazine, 1952)In the attached editorial, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898 - 1980) weighs in on how the United States could forge stronger Cold War alliances in Asia and the Middle East:
"We have thought that we could stop the spread of communism by guns and by dollars. We have spent billions upon billions and yet the Red tide of communism seems to spread... We should show Asia how her revolution can follow the pattern of 1776. What will win in Asia are not guns and dollars but but ideas of freedom and justice. To win in Asia, America must identify herself with those ideas."
To understand some of the diplomatic challenges Douglas was referring to, click here
More on this topic can be read here... Eisenhower Goes to Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)After trouncing Adlai Stevenson in the November Election, President-Elect Eisenhower made good on the vow he had made earlier and packed his bag for a fact-finding trip to the stagnant front lines on the Korean Peninsula.
"No abrupt change in Korea is likely to follow Ike's visit. He doesn't plan to negotiate with the Reds there. He is interested in training, equipping and preparing South Koreans to defend themselves... The South Korean's morale is good. About 400,000 of them are mobilized." A Hollywood Movie in Japan (Quick Magazine, 1952)We were sympathetic when we learned that the Japanese did not much care for the movies "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944), "Back to Bataan" (1945) or David Lean's masterpiece "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) - but when we heard that they hated Sands of Iwo Jima (1952) - we finally realized that there are some people you simply cannot please. Apparently we weren't the only ones who felt this way: the editors of QUICK MAGAZINE were so outraged on this matter they dispatched a reporter to document the venom that spewed-forth from those Japanese lips as they left the theater.
Fur Jewelry and Wraps (Quick Magazine, 1952)Attached, you will find three articles on fur in Fifties fashion: one pertains to fur jewelry, the other two stoles, wraps and coats. McCarthy and the 1952 Presidential Election (Quick Magazine, 1952)A small notice from the closing weeks of the 1952 presidential contest between retired General Eisenhower (R) vs former Governor Adlai Stevenson (D) in which Senator Joseph McCarthy stepped forth to muddy the waters with one of his characteristic insults:
"McCarthy charged Stevenson was 'part and parcel of the Acheson-Hiss-Lattimore group' and that Stevenson in 1943 (as a State Department official) had a plan to 'foist Communism' on Italy when Mussolini fell."
Whether the comment convinced anyone was not recorded, but Eisenhower won the 1952 election by a wide margin, as did all Republican candidates.
American Resolve and the Draft (Quick Magazine, 1951)Illustrated with a chart that shows how much the U.S. Navy had shrunk after W.W. II and then expanded anew when faced with the war in Korea, this short article pertains to the various steps Congress was taking to meet the Soviet challenges abroad:
"A $2.3 billion ship-building and repair program, just approved by President Truman, will add a 57,800-ton carrier and 172 other new vessels to the fleet. And 291 more are to be demothballed-including 6 carriers, 12 cruisers, 194 destroyers.
[Stalin was incapable of responding to such growth, so he simply ordered the production of additional A-Bombs]
The Soviet Union was the first atheist government...
Vera Maxwell and Claire McCardell (Quick Magazine, 1952)From the Great Minds Think Alike Department came this small piece about two American sportswear designers, Claire McCardell and Vera Maxwell and their admirable approach in creating a light weather coat that served to both keep women warm in springtime gales, yet accommodate the full, billowing skirts that complemented their feminine forms (as well as the hip padding that accompanied many skirts of the Fifties).
The Stalin ''Peace Plan'' (Quick Magazine, 1950)This column will give you a quick understanding as to how 1950 ended:
"Russian diplomats made valiant efforts. In Moscow, [Stalin's adviser] Andrei Gromyko called Western envoys, urging Big Four talks to 'unify' Germany. In the U.N., Andrei Vishinsky protested Russia's 'devotion' to peace and to the belief that capitalism and Communism could live in the same world... But while the Reds talked, Chinese Communists had swept into the Korea War. The Soviet military budget had soared . Russia's submarine fleet had multiplied, it's air force had expanded to 14,000 combat planes, its army was millions strong, and still growing." Sportscaster (Quick Magazine, 1949)"It isn't a sports show; it's entertainment for the same kind of people who listen to Jack Benny"
- thus said the sportscaster Bill Stern (1907 – 1971) - who is remembered in our age as the announcer to broadcast the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a baseball game.
The 1952 Election and the War in Korea
(Quick Magazine, 1952)By the time November of 1952 rolled around the Korean War was in stalemate; this made the 1952 election one that was about progress as the American voters looked for a candidate who could make sound decisions and offer a leadership that would take the country (and the war) in a better direction. Neither candidate was looking for a victory in Korea, both campaigned on finding "a peace". When President Truman taunted Eisenhower to "come forward with any plan he had for peace in Korea" it resulted in the retired general standing before the microphones and uttering pensively: "I will go to Korea". The electorate was at once reminded as to how trusted he had been in the past and Eisenhower was elected, carrying 41 states and receiving nearly 58 percent of the popular vote.
More on the 1952 presidential election can be read here...
Stalin Dies and Power Changes Hands (Quick Magazine, 1953)Stalin's death on March 5, 1953 generated a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the West, and a good deal of it is reflected in the attached column. A list of possible successors was provided; two of the names played an immediate roll in the governance of the Soviet Union: Georgy Malenkov (1902 – 1988) - who ruled for three days, until he was replaced by Nikolai Bulganin (1895 – 1975). Bulganin ran the shop until he, too, was replaced by Stalin's right-hand man: Nikita Khrushchev
(1894 – 1971) - who was known in some corners as "the hangman of the Ukraine".
Read about the "Soviet Congress"
Mickey Cohen in Hollywood (Quick Magazine, 1949)Illustrated with a photo of L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen and his wife, this short column from 1949 summarizes one of the many shake-down schemes that the thug would employ to blackmail Hollywood actors during their weaker moments. The War on Capitol Hill (Quick Magazine, 1953)When General James Van Fleet let it be known that much of the previous two years in Korea had been plagued by a shortage in ammunition, tempers flared in the Senate as both parties talked of convening an investigative committee. Lana Turner (Quick Magazine, 1949)When this Hollywood profile first appeared on paper, actress Lana Turner (1921 – 1995) was all of twenty-nine years of age and about to begin working on A Life of Her Own,
it was her thirtieth movie; her last four films had nearly grossed a record-breaking $20 million, and her smiling mug was on each and every Hollywood fan magazine that could be found.
"Today, the sleek, gray-eyed Lana has shed the plumpness of two years ago, keeps her weight between to 118 and 127 lbs... Now Lana is as shapely as she was in those early days. She has the 'perfect' figure: 5 ft. 3 in., 34-in. bust, 24-in. waist, 34.5 in. hips."
The article is illustrated with photographs from eight of her pre-'49 movies and lists all the husbands that she'd collected up to that same period (she had acquired eight husbands before she was through). Another Purge? (Quick Magazine, 1951)A short list of the assorted difficulties that faced the Russians in the early Fifties, with two additional news paragraphs that told of additional setbacks on both sides of the iron curtain. A Rug by Raymond Loewy (Quick Magazine, 1953)A small notice from a news digest featured a photograph of a carpet that was designed by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893 – 1986) in the early Fifties"
"Something new in room dividers are area rugs designed by Raymond Loewy to define areas of activity within a room; dining sections, TV corners for example. Sophisticated but adaptable to almost all interiors, the new rugs come in such decorator colors as pink, lime green [and] turquoise." Changes Added to the College Football Rulebook (Quick Magazine, 1949)For all you football scholars out there, we offer a small article concerning one of the biggest events from the 1949 world of college football which involved the numerous changes that the college football Rules Committee put into play as the season began. The unnamed journalist concentrated on the five most important that involved the legitimacy of forward passes, fumbles and laterals.
Would Nuking the USSR Have Been an Immoral Act? (Quick Magazine, 1949)- one of the questions that had to be examined during the Stalin era... The Japanese Death Ray? (Quick Magazine, 1949)An odd dispatch from W.W. II appeared on the pages of a 1949 issue of QUICK MAGAZINE declaring that the weapons laboratories of Imperial Japan had been developing a ray gun throughout much of the war. When they realized that the jig was up they tossed the contraption in a nearby lake.
What worked considerably better than the Death Ray was hi-altitude hydrogen balloon-bombs that the Japanese let-loose on the Western states at the end of the war - click here to read about them...
John Wayne (Quick Magazine, 1949)The attached three page article about John Wayne appeared at the very doorstep of the Fifties - the decade that was uniquely hisown. The uncredited Hollywood journalist who wrote this column was doing so in order to announce to the reading public that Wayne was coming remarkably close to being the top box office attraction:
"Wayne reached this eminence by turning out film after film for 18 years. Working with a steady, un-nervous strength for four studios: Republic, RKO, Argosy and Warner Brothers. - he shifts back and forth between Westerns, sea-epics and war pictures. With each movie he makes (most of them re-hashes of of standard action-film plots, but a few of them film classics), his fans grow".
The State of American Roads (Quick Magazine, 1952)Shortly before President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the nation was treated to articles like the one that is attached herein - articles that detailed all the very many flaws that existed in the American road system:
"The most highly motorized nation on earth faced the danger of finding itself all gassed up with no place to go. As the budget-harried [Truman] Administration pressed for a 20% cut in highway aid to states, legislators and private groups warned that U.S. roads were fast crumbling."
A Hidden Nazi Army? (Quick Magazine, 1954)In the chaos and confusion of 1945 Berlin the whereabouts of Gestapo General Heinrich Müller was lost; many believe he had been killed or committed suicide. Another report had it that Müller had been captured with the Africa Korps by the British and subsequently made good his escape into Syria. In an issue of the Soviet newspaper Izvestia that appeared on newsstands at the end of July, 1950, it was reported that while residing in the Middle East he had converted to Islam, changed his name to Hanak Hassim Bey and was amassing an army of German veterans in order to march on Israel. The attached notice seems to be based on the Izvestia article.
Distrusting Germans was a common pastime for many people in the Twentieth Century; some thirty years earlier a similar article was published about this distrust.
Here is another article about escaped Nazis.
When a Nazi converted to Islam it was undoubtedly the work of Haj Amin Al-Husseini. Click here to read about him.
• Learn More About Gestapo Müller With This Film Clip • The Prominent Color (Quick Magazine, 1953)"Red is the color which is going to add excitement to the fall scene. In a season when black is everywhere, the woman who wants to stand out is going to turn to red to express her own sense of drama. Red will be seen in suits, in coats, in after-dark dresses. The color itself is so dramatic that designers rely on cut and line for interest." The Continuing Crisis (Quick Magazine, 1950)"[In Washington] the U.S. defense effort snowballed. Looking beyond the Korea showdown, the U.S. had to plan against new Russian surprises... There would be no appeasement, even at the risk of W.W. III. U.S. intelligence indicated a ten year Russian military plan designed to bleed America white. The aim would be to keep the U.S. in a semi-mobilized state for years."
Click here to read an article about the American POW experience during the Korean War. Tensions Build in Washington (Quick Magazine, 1950)The Korean War was all of two weeks old when this column went to press describing the combustible atmosphere that characterized the Nation's Capitol as events unfolded on the Korean peninsula:
"A grim Senate voted the $1.2 billion foreign arms aid bill. Knots of legislators gathered on the floor or in the cloakrooms for whispered conversations. Crowds gathered around news tickers...
On everyone's lips was the question: 'Is this really World War III?'"
Click here to read about the need for Army women during the Korean War.
Reds Pushed Back (Quick Magazine, 1951)The two-round, all-out offensive launched by the Chinese Army on April 22 exhausted itself and fizzled-out four weeks later after suffering heavy losses and gaining no ground whatever. | 
