Upon hearing that Stalin had died, the official Red Chinese radio 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.
Kind words are written herein by Lt. Commander Charles G. Dobbin regarding the Himmler of the East, General Dai Li(1897 – 1946), founder of China’s secret police under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (1887 – 1975). Written in 1946, this reminiscence concerns the tight cooperation that existed between General Li’s guerrilla units and the American military (Sino-American Co-Operative Organization: S.A.C.O.) during the later years of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Dobbins emphasized how deeply General Dai Li’s intelligence operatives were able to circulate during the period in which U.S. Rear Admiral Milton Mary Miles commanded the S.A.C.O. troops.
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.)
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.
One of the most sinister results of the war has been a new wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. Recent dispatches from Berlin describe street demonstrations against Jews and speak of a veritable pogrom atmosphere in Munich and Budapest. In Poland, Jewish blood has flown freely, amid scenes of horror described by Herman Bernstein and other writers in American newspapers. In Ukraine the number of Jews massacred during the early part of the present year is estimated anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000.
In his speeches, messages, interviews and other papers, President Kennedy left his countrymen a large volume of eloquent words and phrases defining and illuminating the political, economic and social issues of our time… Here are some of them.
Hannen Swaffer (1879 – 1962), long-time dead British journalist who once presided as the Grand Pooh-Bah of Fleet Street’s chattering classes declared in this editorial that one by one the war heroes of the past are being debunked and now it is Lawrence’s turn…
Read these various accounts that serve as proof that there is a life after this one.
The accidental death of T.E. Lawrence (1888 – 1935) triggered an event within the publishing world that was much discussed in all quarters:
THE SATURDAY REVIEW of LITERATURE, weekly guide-post for the literati, last week scooped the world with an air-tight exclusive story that was scheduled to be front page news fourteen years hence. The editorial coup was a review of Thomas Edward Lawrence’s (Lawrence of Arabia) final book, The Mint
This is a 1948 Soviet poster that foreign correspondents of the day reported as having been widely distributed across the Worker’s Paradise. A veiled piece of patriotic pageantry, it was clearly intended to intimidate the Western democracies; it made its appearance a few weeks into the Berlin Blockade (June, 1948 – May, 1949) – an international stunt that gained the Soviets nothing.
From Amazon:
Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters Under Lenin and Stalin
When this article first went to print, American forces had been slugging it out on the Korean peninsula for the past six months – and the American people had genuine concerns about that dust-up snowballing into a much larger conflict. This article was written to remind them that mighty air armadas do not simply appear when necessary; they must be planned and budgeted. The author goes into great depth concerning all the impressive aircraft that was both available in limited numbers and on the drawing boards – but the military-industrial complex would need a lead time of 18 months to produce them in effective numbers.
If we win this war or any part of it, it won’t be due to the wisdom or foresight of our political leaders but to what U.S. industry has heretofore conclusively proved itself capable of – an outright production miracle.
Were Russian MIGS Better Than American Fighter Jets?
Keeping abreast with current need, the Traphagan School (New York) offers for the first time a course in fashion journalism, which prepares students for positions on magazines and newspapers in advertising departments and agencies where they will interpret in words what they themselves or some other designer relates. The course is conducted by Marie Stark, formerly associate editor of Vogue…
Karen Morley (né Mildred Linton: 1909 – 2003) was an American movie actress whose last moment before the cameras was when she refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the early Winter of 1952.
This article is an editorial by an anonymous scribe at THE NATION who responded to a fashion article that appeared in the 1929 pages of THE NEW YORK TIMES declaring that skirts and dresses would once again sweep the floor, sleeves would button at the wrist and the corset was making a comeback after so many years on the lam:
There is in this genuine cause for mourning. It is too bad that modern women should again be salves to fashion; it is a pity that the female form, happily free of entanglements for half a dozen years, is in a fair way to go back to them.
Back in the day, he was responsible for casting 91,000 film actors each year, he was,
Hollywood’s No. 1 casting director, Billy Grady: broad-shouldered, open-faced Irishman, a terror to counterfeits, a down-right softy when he encounters an honest man – or woman.
This article tells much of his life story and provides a blow-by-blow as to what his days were like. One of the more interesting aspects of the article addressed the charities that were designed to aid and comfort those many souls who worked as extras in the movies. Today, extra players (also known as ‘atmosphere) are extended benefits through the Screen Actors Guild – but this was not always the case.
A magazine article about the artist Ben Shahn (1898 – 1969) and his particular approach to making art:
A fundamental of Ben Shahn’s philosophy insists that there should be a minimum of separation between the private and the public work of art. He believes that the painter should speak with the same voice in the room and in the street. He is pleased by the criticism that his posters sometimes look like fragments of murals…
This review was penned by James Thrall Soby (1906 – 1979), art historian and critic who wrote two monographs on the artist.
Up all hours and badly in need of sleep, the pointy headed historians at this website have examined all other possibilities and – leaving no stone un-turned, mind you – have unanimously voted in favor of dubbing this the weirdest invention of 1912…
