N.Y. Artists Discover Loft-Living (Pageant Magazine, 1960)A new day dawned in Manhattan real estate history at the end of 1961 when the city elders agreed to abandon their bureaucratic jihad (a fire code issue) to evict artists from all those assorted run-down ateliers located around lower Broadway.
These were the upper floors of hundreds of old downtown business and manufacturing buildings (most over a century old) that were characterized by their heavy masonry proliferating with faux loggias, balustrades, entablatures and rows of delicately fluted columns - all scattered throughout Tribeca, SoHo and Chelsea. The artists called them "Lofts".
As far as we can figure out, this was the first time in history that anybody seemed to care where an artist lived and worked. Donna Reed as Mary Bailey (Coronet Magazine, 1960)A profile of the Hollywood actress Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger: 1921 1986), who will foreve be remembered for her portrayal of the character "Mary Bailey" in the Frank Capra film, It's a Wonderful Life(RKO, 1947).
This interview was published as one more publicity element that was created to promote her television program, The Donna Reed Show (ABC, 1958 - 1966), that was launched a year and a half earlier, and serves as a nice summary of her life and career up until 1960. Reed refers to her earliest days growing up on a family farm in Iowa, her salad years as a maid, librarian and community college student in Los Angeles and her deepest frustrations with pin-headed casting agents who placed her in limited rolls for so many years. Racism in the U.S. Navy 1941 - 1945 (Coronet Magazine, 1960)A single page report on the instituted racist policies practiced by the U.S. Navy throughout the course of the Second World War.
Click here the institutional racist policies of the W.W. I American Army.
The Bombers Speak (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Appearing in a 1960 issue of Coronet Magazine was this piece that revealed the assorted introspective perceptions of the crew of the Enola Gay.
In the fifteen years that had past since the dropping of the Atomic bomb these are the personal thoughts that were produced after years of sober reflection concerning their part in one of the preeminent events of the last century:
"After 15 years the scene over Hiroshima is still sharp and clear to them, and though they disagree on details, they are unanimous on the point of whether they'd do the same things again".
Che Guevara: Undeserving Fashion Icon (Coronet Magazine, 1960)In our times, the handsome face of Che Guevara can be seen everywhere - tee-shirts, hoodies, key,chains, tote bags and much more. But is it suitable? He was a common murderer. Learn About Che Guevara in this Film Clip Has Germany Forgotten Anne Frank? (Coronet Magazine, 1960)In this article the proud father of Anne Frank, Otto Frank (1889 1980), explains that by the late Fifties it seemed more and more teenagers were contacting him to say that very few parents or teachers seemed willing to discuss the Nazi years in Germany. These inquiries were too often dismissed as bothersome or simply brushed away with hasty answers like, "The Nazis built the Autobahns".
Otto Frank points out that this was not always the case, and goes on to recall that there existed a more sympathetic and regretful Germany for at least a decade after the war. Yet, in 1960 he sensed that there existed a subtle movement to whitewash Hitler; a battle was being waged for the mind of this teenage generation.
From Amazon: A German Generation
Click here to read about the inmate rebellions that took place at Auschwitz, Sobibor and Triblinka.
The Segregated U.S. Army (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Here is a segment from a longer article that tells the sad story about racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces. The small portion that is attached here tells of a secret group of fifty army researchers who were dispatched to the European front and
"interviewed thousands of [White] soldiers about their attitudes toward Negro platoons fighting experimentally within their divisions."
Their findings proved that to these front-line respondents, the experimental platoons were truly their equal. In 1948 this research was showed to President Truman, who signed Executive Order 9981, thus bringing to an end racial segregation within the ranks of the U.S. Military. The U.S. Navy was the biggest offender
Natalie Wood (Coronet Magazine, 1960)This is one of the first profiles of Hollywood beauty and former child star Natalie Wood (1938 1981). The journalist went into some details explaining how she was discovered at the age of five by the director Irving Pichel (1891 1954) and how it all steadily snowballed into eighteen years of semi-steady work that provided her with a invaluable Hollywood education (and subsequently creating a thoroughly out-of-control teenager).
"At sixteen, Natalie co-starred with the late James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause", and the resulting Dean hysteria swept her forward with him... She cannot bear to be alone. She is full of reasonless fears. Of airplanes. Of snakes. Of swimming in the ocean."
Watch Robert Redford's Heartfelt Reminisence of his Friend, Natalie Wood Adapting Hebrew for the Modern Age (Coronet Magazine, 1960)A fascinating read about how the previously embalmed language of Hebrew had been dusted off and born anew for the modern era. Hebrew in 1948 (the year that the U.N. recognized Israel as a nation) was largely seen as an inaccessible tongue known only to scholars - had existed for the past 4,000 years with a scant 8,000 words: this would now change as the language was permitted to live and grow once more. Today it is believed that Hebrew has between 60,000 and 150,000 words and that there are as many as 9 million people who speak the language worldwide.
Fashion Piracy (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Contrary to popular thought, the "Fashion Police", so called, are not concerned with seemingly vulgar acts of dressing - mismatched colors, cheap accessories, gross fabrics, etc - but they do consider knocking-off the work of other designers as a serious violation - and when it comes to ripping-off the designs of Christian Dior or Pierre Balmain, that is when the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Coutre and police inspector Jacques Besson step in. That 1960 Look for Men (Pageant Magazine, 1960)Some call it "the Mad Men Look", others may simply label it that "late 50s/early 60s look" - but either way high praise should be dolled out to costume designer Katherine Jane Bryant who so skillfully brought these fashions to the attention of millions of men through her work on the T.V. show Mad Men (AMC).
For those lads pursuing an advanced degree in pulling-off that look in their daily attire, we recommend this handy list of fashion's "Do's & Don'ts" from 1960. The Men of the 'Enola Gay' (Coronet Magazine, 1960)This is a 1960 magazine interview that served to profile eleven of the top American military celebrities to emerge from the furnaces of the Second World War. These are the men of the ENOLA GAY, the B-29 bomber that incinerated Hiroshima in 1945. The interviews were conducted to reveal the deep feelings and assorted perceptions that had evolved in these men during the years since that day when they were thrust onto history's stage; it was published at a time when the public was hearing false rumors that the ENOLA GAY crew had all gone slowly mad.
"After 15 years the scene over Hiroshima is still sharp and clear to them, and though they disagree on details, they are unanimous on the point of whether they'd do the same things again". Click here if you would like to read more articles about the Atomic Bomb.
Halsey at Leyte Gulf (Pageant Magazine, 1960)The Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23 - 26, 1944) was the largest naval battle in World War II - as well as the most decisive. Given the naval weaponry that exists in the digital age, it is highly unlikely that opposing navies will ever again have need to come within visible range of one another again. This article tells the history of that battle, shedding light on a few of the important naval campaigns that came before. Written sixteen years after the events by a knowledgeable author, you will gain an understanding of the thoughts that were going through Admiral Halsey's cranium when he commanded the largest battle fleet ever assembled.
Read about the Battle of Midway...
The Crew of the Enola Gay Fifteen Years Later (Coronet Magazine, 1960)"The men of the Enola Gay were hand-picked experts, chosen for intelligence, emotional stability and discipline, qualities they have put to good use in their post-war careers. Four remained in the service (one died in 1953) and the others are all successful in their business carees. They earn above-average salaries, all but one are married and they have 26 children among them. None of them has been to Japan since the war, and few have met since separation." A Chronological List of the Earliest Hitler Sightings (Pageant, 1960)The smoldering embers of what had once been Adolf Hitler's carcass barely cooled by the time reports of his whereabouts began appearing on the pages of assorted newspapers and magazines throughout the world; here are a list of some of them.
The attached page is but a segment of a longer article that pertains to Hitler's dying days and can be read here
Jane Fonda (Pageant Magazine, 1960)When this article went to press in 1960, Jane Fonda (b. 1937) was all of 22.
She had recently dropped out of Vassar to pursue modeling in Manhattan (unlike most college drop-out who quit campus to pursue modeling, Fonda's smiling mug was placed on two VOGUE covers that year) and to study method acting with Lee Strasberg (1901 1982). She had her first taste of Broadway in a short-lived production titled "There was a Little Girl" and had not, as yet, taken up her interest in totalitarian communism.
Click here to read about Henry Fonda.
News of the World (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Unlike other publications that enter this world with high ideals and lofty ambitions in matters concerning free-speech, the right-to-know, good form and all that sort of stuff - only to slowly devolve into petty, libelous innuendo rags before they cease publication altogether - the British daily The News of The World (1843 - 2011) made its appearance on Fleet Street seeming as if it was already on its way out. As the saying goes, it sold out early and beat the rush.
Although its earliest editions covered the Crimean War, as well as all the other Victorian military adventures, the paper's editorial policy had always been positioned somewhere to the left of Whoopee.
A Boy in the Union Army (Coronet Magazine, 1960)"During the Civil War many young boys enlisted. In fact, three out of every ten men on the Union side were under 21, and not until 1864 did Congress pass a law forbidding the enlistment of of anyone under 16. But Johnny Clem, who joined up at ten, had them all beaten."
- Indeed he did. In fact, at the age of 12, Johnny Clem was a hero. The Slang of the Beatnik Generation (Pageant Magazine, 1960)To fulfill her publicity obligations for her roll as "Roxanne" in her forthcoming film The Subterranean (MGM, 1960: from the Jack Kerouac novella
of the same title), actress Janice Rule (1931 2003) struck a number of "Beat" poses and provided a glossary of Beatnik slang for the readers of Coronet magazine. Click here to read an article about 1940s teen slang.
If you would like to read about 1920s slang, click here. Mad Magazine (Coronet Magazine, 1960)When Mad Magazine first appeared on newsstands in 1952 it was immediately recognized as something quite new in so far as American satirical magazine humor was concerned. The earliest issues were produced in comic book format with almost all content produced by its founding editor, Harvey Kurtzman (1924 1993); by 1955 the magazine's lay-out was altered to its current form. From its earliest days, Kurtzman and his publisher, William Gaines (1922 1992), began receiving unsolicited gags from many of the finest writers and performers on radio and TV. This article lists some of the scandals (both foreign and domestic) that the magazine inadvertently generated. The Prophet of the Beats (Nugget Magazine, 1960)"Howl is written," says Ginsberg, peering as he does through his glasses with a friendly intermingling of smile and solemnity, "in some of the rhythm of Hebraic liturgy - chants as they were set down by the Old Testament prophets. That's what it's supposed to represent - prophets howling in the Wilderness. That, in fact, is what the whole Beat Generation is, if it's anything, - howling in the Wilderness against a crazy civilization." Castro Shows His Hand... (Pageant Magazine, 1960)Andrew St. George, "a reporter who lived in the hills with Fidel Castro tells the story of how an idealistic revolution turned into one of the greatest tragedies of our time." Watch Fidel Castro Say Sweet Lies on the Ed Sullivan Show (1959) The Cop Who Beat Mickey Cohen (Coronet Magazine, 1960)No matter how difficult the truth may seem, it cannot be ignored that between the years 1950 and 1966, criminals residing in the city of Los Angeles felt extremely ill-at-ease and entirely unsafe. This was due, in no small part, to the fact that the police chief of that city was a fellow by the name of William "Big Bill" Parker (1905 1966), a tireless officer who would not suffer hucksters, mobsters, thugs and dope heads with anywhere near the same level of patience enjoyed by today's senior officers of the LAPD.
The count has been lost in the mists of time as to whether he frustrated more Mafiosi than civil libertarians or whether it was the other way around, but this six page article makes mention of the numerous controversial methods that the Chief deployed in his efforts to "protect and serve".
Click here to read a news piece about a Hollywood blackmail scam that Micky Cohen had going in 1949. ''Tich'' of El Alamein (Coronet Magazine, 1960)This is the story of "Tich" - the little black dog was the well-loved pet of the British Eighth Army. An admired veteran of three bitter World War II campaigns, she saw battle from North Africa to Sicily and on to Paris - thousands of Allied troops came to know her and like her. Due to her ability to predict in-coming artillery shells, many men owed their lives to her.
On July 1, 1949 Tich was awarded the Dickin Medal at Wembley Stadium, cheered by 10,000 onlookers. Ironically, having survived combat for nearly five straight years, Tich allowed malaria to get the better of her; she was buried at Ilford Animal Cemetery in her adopted home country. The Bizarre End of the USS TANG (Coronet Magazine, 1960)"During World War II, the officers and men of the U.S. Navy's submarine Tang had a proud boast. Their submarine, they crowed, rarely wasted a torpedo. In less than a year of combat, the Tang mowed down Japanese transports, freighters and tankers with deadly accuracy. But it was her fifth patrol from September 27 to October 24, 1944, that gives a unique place in the annals of submarine warfare."
You see, the Tang was sunk by her own torpedo.
Hitler's Final Days (Pageant Magazine, 1960)This article pieces together the last few days of Hitler's bunker experiences - who was there, how did he pass his time and the subjects he addressed. All the matters discussed herein was gleaned from the intelligence agencies of the three victorious armies that marched into Berlin during the Spring of 1945. The author goes into some detail as to whether he and his entourage could have escaped on foot plane or tank and rules each one out categorically. He further examines the possibility as to how this same group could have escaped to Argentina by submarine or air - and rules these possibilities out as well (the author, however, omits the possibility that they could have escaped through the elaborate tunnel system below the streets of Berlin). Forty Years of Women Voting (Pageant Magazine, 1960)In the fourth decade of women's suffrage, researchers had discovered that there were more women than men listed on the voting registries. Republican Party executive Clare Williams noted:
"Women now hold the balance of power." The FDR Assassination Attempt (Coronet Magazine, 1960)The attached article recalls that seldom remembered day in February of 1933 when Giuseppe Zangara (1900 1933) fired fifteen bullets wildly into a Florida crowd in an attempt to murder President-Elect Franklin Roosevelt. 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 Death of Diana Barrymore
(On the QT, 1960)A sad article about the suicide-by-bottle choice that was made by actress Diana Barrymore in 1960.
As children, both John jr. and Diana were largely ignored by their famous father, John Barrymore, who preferred to simply pay their bills from afar and see them as rarely as possible. Young John, having abandoned all hope of ever playing a meaningful roll in the life of his father and seeing that the U.S. Navy valued him more, lied about his age and joined the Navy at 13. In later years he was much like his sister - he lead a life devoid of much meaning and drifted off into the bottle.
The Life-Saving Capabilities of Victorian Fashion (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Many and myriad are the scholars who toil over this website daily, but not one of these over-paid and under-worked nerds were able to recall a single instance during the American Civil War in which ladies' fashions served to benefit any of the combatants - until this article was found.
A VOGUE MAGAZINE article about Washington etiquette can be read here...
Racial Integration in the U.S. Army (Coronet Magazine, 1960)Inasmuch as racial integration was the social goal for a vast majority of Americans in 1960, this article made it clear that racial harmony in the U.S. Armed Forces was not simply the goal, it was the reality. Written by a journalist who visited as many as ten U.S. Military establishments throughout Europe and North Africa in order to see how President Truman's Executive Order 9981 had effected American military culture.
Read about racism in the U.S. Army of W.W. I
Natalie Wood Arrives (Coronet Magazine, 1960)One of the first profiles of Hollywood beauty and former child star Natalie Wood (1938 1981).
The journalist went into some detail explaining how she was discovered at the age of six by the director Irving Pichel (1891 1954) and how it all steadily snowballed into eighteen years of semi-steady work that provided her with a invaluable Hollywood education (and subsequently creating a thoroughly out-of-control teenager).
"At sixteen, Natalie co-starred with the late James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause", and the resulting Dean hysteria swept her forward with him... She cannot bear to be alone. She is full of reasonless fears. Of airplanes. Of snakes. Of swimming in the ocean."
The article appeared on the newsstands while she was shooting "All The Fine Young Cannibals". | 
