editor – Page 214 – Old Magazine Articles

Dirigible Accident: ROMA
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

By editor / April 28, 2016

Two LITERARY DIGEST articles, printed seven days a part, addressing the topic of the destruction of the U.S. military’s semi-rigid airship, ROMA; much attention is paid as to where the blame for the disaster must be placed. The journalists concur that the U.S. Congress was answerable for the loss due to that body’s unwillingness to pay for the necessary helium, rather than the less expensive, and highly flamable, hydrogen gas. Thirty-four lives were lost.

1929, The Literary Digest, Zeppelins and Dirigibles

ZMC-2: The First All Metal Airship
(Literary Digest, 1929)

By editor / April 28, 2016

1929 saw the creation of the U.S. Navy airship ZMC-2, the first metal dirigible (aluminum alloy) of its kind:

Heretofore, the trend in dirigible construction has been toward larger and longer ships; the egg-shaped ZMC-2 can withstand the buffeting of the winds much better than her larger and more unwieldy sister ships.

Built by the Aircraft Development Corporation (Detroit), ZMC-2 was in use by the U.S. Navy until her retirement, in 1941.

1917, L'Illustration Magazine, Zeppelins and Dirigibles

World War I Zeppelins at War
(L’Illustration, 1917)

By editor / April 28, 2016

Attached are two wartime illustrations from a French magazine that depict the artist’s understanding of the frantic life on board a zeppelin that is under attack from enemy aircraft.

1917, L'Illustration Magazine, Zeppelins and Dirigibles

The Interior of a Zeppelin’s Gondola
(L’Illustration, 1917)

By editor / April 28, 2016

A black and white photograph depicting the gondola interior of the German zeppelin 49, that was brought down over Bourbonne-les-Bains, France in 1917. At the center of the image is the pilot’s wheel and off to the right sits the zeppelin’s bombsite.

Haus Hohenzollern 1912 | Dysfunctional Families in History

1912, Current Literature Magazine, European Royalty

Father and Son Discord: Wilhelm II and the Crown Prince
(Current Literature, 1912)

By editor / April 28, 2016

Relations between Emperor William (Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1859-1941)and his son and heir, the German Crown Prince (Wilhelm III, 1882-1951), have now become so strained as to be a source of embarrassment to the whole court of Berlin. Vienna, a sort of clearing house for gossip of this sort, is filled with sensational stories…

Click here to read what the Kaiser thought of Adolf Hitler.

1922, Modern Art

The Water-Colors of John Marin
(VanityFair, 1922)

By editor / April 28, 2016

When Fifth Avenue’s Montross Gallery launched an exhibit featuring over one hundred creations by the American painter John Marin (1870 – 1953) in the winter of 1922, art voyager and all-around well-respected critic Paul Rosenfeld (1890 – 1946) was present, and very shortly put pen to paper in order to heap many bon-mots upon the man and his work:

He applies his wash with the directness of impulse that is supposed to be discoverable only in the work of small children. One racks one’s brain for memory of a water-color painter who reveals in every stroke of his brush a more uninhibited urge outward.

1921, Current Opinion Magazine, Modern Art

The Art of the Insane Looks Like German Expressionism
(Current Opinion, 1921)

By editor / April 27, 2016

The attached article is about a 1921 exhibition displaying the art of the mentally ill; it was organized under the direction of the psychiatric department of Heidelberg University. The exhibition made quite an impact on a number of modernists at the time and it is said that a few of the pieces from the show were later displayed in the 1938 Degenerate Art exhibit that the Nazis launched in an effort to discredit modernism.

1940s Makeup and W.W. II (Click Magazine, 1942)

1942, Click Magazine, Home Front

American Makeup Goes to War
(Click Magazine, 1942)

By editor / April 22, 2016

An interesting look at the beauty products used by American women during the Second World War and how that war effected the cosmetic industry. Students of history will be reminded that when a nation commits itself to a state of total war, all available elements within a government’s grasp will be picked over by that country’s military; even makeup.

If you’re following a routine of ‘beauty as usual’ with qualms of conscience, believing that cosmetics and toiletries use materials essential to the war machine, know for certain that if Uncle Sam needed your lipstick for bombs and bullets, he’d have gotten it first.

The U.S. cosmetics industry was effected in many ways, read the article and find out.

Click here to read an article about a popular 1940s hairstyle.

CLICK HERE to read about the beautiful Blonde Battalions who spied for the Nazis…

William Saroyan's Reminiscence ofCombat Photographer Robert Capa ('47 Magazine, 1947)

1947, 47 Magazine, Miscellaneous

General James Gavin Remembered Robert Capa
(’47 Magazine, 1947)

By editor / April 19, 2016

Here is a W.W. II reminiscence of combat photographer Robert Capa (1913 – 1954) by the legendary airborne infantry commander General James Gavin. The remarks were addressed to the editors of ’47 Magazine in response to an article on Capa that had appeared earlier in the magazine.

1922, Eric Satie Articles, Vanity Fair Hall of Fame

Humorous Writing by Erik Satie
(Vanity Fair, 1922)

By editor / April 13, 2016

The attached article is yet another among the several tongue and cheek essays that the French composer Eric Satie (Alfred Éric Leslie Satie 1866 – 1925) contributed for the amusement of the fun-loving readers of VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE. Published just three years prior to his death, it is beautifully illustrated, and stands as one solid page of pure silliness in which Satie considered the place of art in the animal kingdom, and concludes that of all the arts, architecture and music are the only two creative endeavors that the creatures of the field ever seem able to embrace:

I know of no literary work written by an animal – and that is very sad.

1918, Prohibition History, Vanity Fair Hall of Fame

Wet vs. Dry
(Vanity Fair, 1918)

By editor / April 12, 2016

If you are looking for a serious report concerning the political battles fought in Congress regarding Prohibition (1919 – 1933), you can keep looking. The attached essay is a humorous parody of that dispute between the Drys and Wets as it existed just months before the ‘Noble Experiment’ began in earnest. By November of 1918, the American newspaper readers had simply overdosed on the redundant writings of assorted war correspondents – and so, with a bit of whimsy, the VANITY FAIR writer George S. Chappell sat down to write about the political war between these two groups using the same journalistic affectations everyone was so heartily sick of. You will also find a mock military map depicting the faux topography in dispute.

1952, Collier's Magazine, The Cold War

Two Important Rivers in the Cold War Struggle
(Collier’s Magazine, 1952)

By editor / April 12, 2016

Two continents apart, the Yalu and the Rhine wind down to the sea. But in the continuing struggle of freedom against Communism, they share the common roll of destiny.

Of the two rivers, perhaps the Yalu is of more immediate concern, for behind its 500 miles of coursing waters stand the bulk of the Red forces under Red China chief Mao Tse-tung… Few people had heard of the Yalu until the Korean War began. But it gained world-wide prominence in November, 1950, when 200,000 Chinese Reds came pouring across its bridges to aid the North Koreans as they retreated before UN troops…

1931, Doughboys, The U.S. Government Records

The Healthiest American Men and the Draft of 1917
(U.S. Gov. 1931)

By editor / April 6, 2016

Attached is a map of the 48 states that will show you which regions of the country produced the greatest number of healthy men who passed their Selective Service physical examinations. You will also learn which parts of the nation provided men who could not pass this examination.

1919, Inventions and Weapons, The Literary Digest

The Anti-Barbed Wire Gun
(Literary Digest, 1919)

By editor / April 4, 2016

A black and white photograph of the seldom remembered French anti-barbed wire gun.

Another anti-barbed wire invention can be read here…

1921, Cars, Vanity Fair Magazine

Campers of 1921
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1921)

By editor / April 4, 2016

Motor camping is in it’s infancy, observed the shrewd and sure-footed motoring journalist George W. Sutton in this 1921 VANITY FAIR report regarding the evolution of campers. To further illuminate his readers, he provided black and white plans illustrating the interior of two campers mounted on the back of Ford chassis (during the 1920s, Ford Model Ts were by far the most common make of automobile). Although there were a handful of camper-shell manufacturers at the time, the two featured here were custom made.

1914, Cars, Popular Mechanics Magazine

Earliest Car Crash Photograph
(Popular Mechanics, 1914)

By editor / April 4, 2016

A rare action photograph of an unidentified car and driver smashing into the crowd-control fencing at the Vanderbilt Cup Races held in Santa Monica, California during the summer of 1914. The unstoppable juggernaut was cruising at sixty-miles miles per hour.

Click here to read about the historic trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh.

1918, Overseas Caps, The New York Times

The Introduction of the U.S Army Overseas Cap
(New York Times, 1918)

By editor / March 24, 2016

A NEW YORK TIMES correspondent reported from Washington what the official line was as to why the U.S. Army had seen fit to toss out the campaign hat in preference to the European-style Overseas cap:

When the Americans entered the trenches, said an official statement today, it was found that the brim of their campaign hat interfered with sighting through the trench periscopes and that the high crown, in the case of tall men, could be seen above the parapets. The new cap is so low that it permits the men to move with the same freedom as when they are hatless.

1919, Overseas Caps, The Stars and Stripes

The W.W. I Overseas Cap Will Remain
(Stars and Stripes, 1919)

By editor / March 24, 2016

A STARS & STRIPES clipping from 1919 announcing to both Army and Marines that the era of the overseas cap had arrived and was not going away anytime soon:

The overseas cap, which has (not) protected its wearers from the rains of sunny France and the suns and snows and sleets all over the A.E.F., will be permitted to remain the official headgear of the returning troops after they get back to the States.

Author name: editor