editor – Page 208 – Old Magazine Articles

‘Cupid to Seal the Balkan Peace”
(Vanity Fair, 1913)

By editor / October 19, 2016

By the time this item appeared in print, the Balkan War (1912-1913), was over however some of the swells of Europe put their crowned heads together and collectively came up with the best Medeival plan they could think of in order to insure the promise of peace. The plan was to have:

• the Czar’s daughter, Grand Duchess Olga (1895 – 1918), would wed Serbia’s Crown Prince Alexander

• the Czar’s second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana (1897 – 1918), was promised to Rumania’s Crown Prince Charles (1893 – 1959)

• All concerned agreed that Rumania’s Pricess Elizabeth (1894 – 1956) and Crown Prince George of Greece (1890 – 1947) would make a simply splendid couple (they divorced in 1935).

1936, Aftermath (WWI), The Literary Digest

Forgiveness Reigns at the Verdun Reunion
(Literary Digest, 1936)

By editor / October 15, 2016

The attached magazine article is for any sentimental sap who has never crossed the water to walk wander pensively upon that ground where the blood once flowed between the years 1914 and 1918. It concerns the July 14, 1936 reunion at Verdun where many of the old combatants of the Great War were:

Called together at historic Fort Douaumont, captured and retaken a score of times during those dark days of 1916, to swear a solemn oath to work for peace, the disillusioned survivors of their father’s folly found Verdun changed, yet unchanged and changeless.

Click here to read another article concerning peace-loving veterans of World War One.

1897, Football History, The Literary Digest

Anti-Football Cartoons from 1897
(Literary Digest, 1897)

By editor / October 14, 2016

Here are three forceful gags from 1897 in which the cartoonists clearly indicated a desire that football be banned from the all colleges, if not made illegal throughout the entire nation.

1927, Football History, The Literary Digest

The Invention of Football’s Lateral Pass
(Literary Digest, 1927)

By editor / October 14, 2016

A football article in which various wonks from 1927 muse wistfully about the earliest use of the lateral pass (1902) and how the game of football was forever changed as a result. Football coach and sportswriter, Sol Metzger (1880 – 1932) is quoted numerous times throughout as he is credited as the first offensive end in the history of football to catch a lateral pass (during the Thanksgiving Day game of 1902 between Cornell and Pennsylvania). The lateral pass is identified in this article as being the brainchild of Dr. Carl S. Williams, who was at that time the football coach of the University of Pennsylvania.
A diagram of the 1902 play is provided.

1920, Prohibition Cartoons

Get Used to Drinking Water
(The New York World, 1920)

By editor / October 14, 2016

One year into the noble experiment, cartoonist Rollin Kirby (1875 – 1952) penned this editorial gag which clearly indicated that the nation was being lorded-over by a bunch of prudes.

In the August, 1932, issue of VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE the Conde Nast editors sang high praise for Rollin Kirby while writing their ‘Hall of Fame’ nomination:

Because he is considered the finest political cartoonist in America; because he has thrice won the Pulitzer Prize; because he was once a successful magazine illustrator; because he invented the high-hatted Prohibition figure…

1920s Prohibition created a criminal climate that appealed to more women than you ever might have suspected…

1945, Big Band 1930s-1940s, Yank Magazine

The Big Band Scene
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

By editor / October 14, 2016

In this article,YANK MAGAZINE correspondent Al Hine summed-up all the assorted happenings on the 1945 Big Band landscape:

The leading big bands now are Woody Herman’s, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton’s. Benny Goodman, who broke up his own band for the umpteenth time, is a featured performer in Billy Rose’s super revue, ‘The Seven Lively Arts’, but the maestro is said to be thinking of turning over his Rose job to Raymond Scott and making another stab at the band business.

1923, Men's Fashion, The Literary Digest

The Pajama Ascendency
(Literary Digest, 1923)

By editor / October 10, 2016

The pajama is ascending to glorified heights. Long the black sheep of polite private life, this garment has been elevated to the four hundred…Men are drugging their senses with batik designs in sleeping apparel and inhaling the stimulation of contrasting shades in underclothes.

What the well-dressed man will wear when going to bed is one of the burning topics of the immediate future…By and large, the thirst for color permeates the accessory field from linen to lingerie. The picture might be said to be complete. Man has achieved his zenith.

Read about a pajama fashion innovation that never quite caught on…

1922, Jews in the 20th Century, The Literary Digest

Jew – Gentile Relations 1922
(Literary Digest, 1922)

By editor / October 8, 2016

This article appeared at a time when Eastern European immigration levels had been drastically curtailed, Klan membership was at it’s peak, antisemitism in college admissions had been exposed, and the memory Leo Frank’s murder was in it’s seventh year. The article is about the chasm between the two groups and building the necessary bridges; Dr. Stephen S. Wise (1874 – 1949), columnist Walter Lippmann (1889 – 1974) and a cadre of others address the topic with the needed perspective. Dr. Wise remarked:

Whatever Christians may have taught…their duty in the present is clear as are the heavens in the noon hour; the duty of affirming that incalculable and eternal is the debt of Christians to Israel, of whose gifts Jesus is treasured as the chiefest.

1951, Coronet Magazine, VJ Day

A Failure to Spread the Word
(Coronet Magazine, 1951)

By editor / October 7, 2016

Here is a classic story about the failures in global communication during the pre-Twitter era. This article explains how there was a fifteen hour lag between the Japanese surrender and the time in which Tokyo heard that their offer had been accepted by the Allies.

In the midst of a routine radio-teletype conference between GHQ officers in Manila and the War Department in Washington, the teletype suddenly began printing:

‘Stand by for important message **** from Marshall to MacArthur ****you are hereby notified of Japanese capitulation ****’

It all centered on one skanky, bullet-pocked, bomb-damaged Radio Operations Room in Manila.

1960, Men's Fashion, Pageant Magazine

That 1960 Look for Men
(Pageant Magazine, 1960)

By editor / October 7, 2016

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.

1921, Men's Fashion, Vanity Fair Magazine

Much Talk of White Waistcoats, Shoes and Shirts
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1921)

By editor / October 7, 2016

When the smoke cleared following the close of that dreadful unpleasantness that spanned the years 1914 to 1918, there remained much work to do; bodies to be buried, cities to be rebuilt. Men and nations prepared to face the new realities that came with the new social structure; many weighty subjects had to be addressed that had been ignored for so long a time. The most pressing of these topics was deciding which was the proper combination of white waistcoat and dinner jacket? In an age of industrial slaughter, which was more suitable: double-breasted or single-breasted? and what of ties, shoes and overcoats?

WW I Lost Battalion Article | Major Charles Whittlesey the Lost Battalion Article | Lost Battalion Stars and Stripes Newspaper

1919, Stars and Stripes Archive, The Stars and Stripes

Commander of the Lost Battalion
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

By editor / October 5, 2016

The following article presented a brief account of the deeds of Major Charles W. Whittlesey of the 308th Infantry Regiment ( Seventy Seventh Division) and why he was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Shortly after the war Whittlesey would commit suicide.

In December of 1918, Lt. Colonel Whittelesey was highly praised in VANITY FAIR …

1920, Miscellaneous, Pathfinder Magazine

The Gun Barrel Fence on P Street
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1920)

By editor / October 5, 2016

When compared to the historic events that took place on numerous other street corners in Washington D.C, the intersection of 28th and P streets barely makes the list, but the residence that stands on the north-east corner there is a twofer. The attached article explains just why the front and side fence is so unique to Washington history – and in later years the house would be purchased by Cold War diplomat Dean Acheson.

1929, Pathfinder Magazine, Prohibition History

Prohibition Killings
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1929)

By editor / October 4, 2016

Two sources have been combined on one printable page in order to assess the body count that was created as a result of the murders that the prohibition laws had wrought. The complete number is not here – just the last four years:

1933, the year Prohibition was rescinded, seemed to have been the bloodiest year in this study – with 12,123 people murdered (being 9.6 per 1000,000 souls). The numbers began to drop from there: 1934 through 1936 saw a steady decline in urban homicide.

1921, Current Opinion Magazine, Prohibition History

A Briton on American Prohibition
(Current Opinion, 1921)

By editor / October 4, 2016

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865 – 1922) was an influential soul back in the day who owned a string of widely-read newspapers. Just months prior to his death, he spent some time stateside and drew some conclusions regarding American Prohibition which were noteworthy:

While in our midst he made up his mind about Prohibition. In his opinion it is a failure… His reasons seem to be that he saw plenty of liquor everywhere he was entertained; that Prohibition encourages hypocrisy in the vision of the law, and that he did not like it anyhow… But America has taken it’s stand and will stick to it.

1919, Prohibition History, Vanity Fair Hall of Fame

Theater Intermissions and Prohibition
(Vanity Fair, 1919)

By editor / October 4, 2016

Prohibition has been pretty rough on everybody, but there is no class of people which it has hit so hard as the theater-goers. The Federal Amendment has completely wrecked their evenings. It isn’t so bad while the show is going on; the blow falls between the acts. In happier times the intermissions were the high spots of the evening…

With pin-point accuracy, Vanity Fair was able to identify the new minority-victim class that emerged from America’s unfortunate experiment with Prohibition: Broadway theater enthusiasts (It might be argued that the real victims were American bar tenders, many of whom high-tailed it over to Europe where they established a number of American-style bars).

The attached page from the magazine can be classified as humor and is illustrated with six great sketches by Edith Plummer.

Read other articles from 1919.

1910, The American Review of Reviews, Women's Suffrage

One Woman’s Disenchantment with Feminism
(Review of Reviews, 1910)

By editor / September 28, 2016

The attached eleven paragraph magazine article clearly illustrated what the writer found so objectionable about the 1910 suffrage movement.

Samuel Goldwyn Article | Samuel Goldwyn Hollywood Founder

1944, Coronet Magazine, Hollywood History

Samuel Goldwyn, Producer
(Coronet Magazine, 1944)

By editor / September 26, 2016

Screen scribe Sidney Carroll put to paper a serious column about the productive life of Samuel Goldwyn (1879 – 1974) and all that he had accomplished since he co-founded Hollywood (along with Cecil B. De Mille) in 1913:

He has done many remarkable things in 30 years. He has made as many stars as any man in the business; he was the first to make feature-length films; he was the first to bring the great writers to Hollywood… Goldwyn is the greatest maker of motion pictures ever to come out of Hollywood [with the exception of The Goldwyn Follies (1938)].

Author name: editor