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.
Looking Back at the War with Regret
(The Nation, 1927)
Ten years ago the American people reversed its national tradition against entangling alliances and participation in the political struggles of Europe in order, as it is fondly believed, to make the world safe for democracy, safeguard the rights of small nations and the principle of self-determination… If the causes and justifications for our intervention were based on facts, some evidence of their truth ought now, after ten years, to be apparent.
Babe Ruth Ranks and his Peers
(Literary Digest, 1929)
The ten best players that Babe Ruth can pick from the major leagues go into an unofficial diamond hall of fame. Ruth started picking these teams as a result of a clubhouse argument…
That there has been no prejudice is best shown, I think, by the fact that I have named six men from the National League and only one from my own league, the American…I haven’t named a single man from my own club, the New York Yankees, the men who play alongside me day after day through the season.
Did Stalin Want the U.S. to Recognize China?
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)
Felix Morley (1894 – 1982), one of the senior Washington columnists in the early Cold War era, summarized the various concerns involved in the diplomatic recognition of Communist China as well as the surprising issue as to whether or not it was what the Soviet Premiere actually preferred at the time?
There is good reason to believe that the Communist high command in Moscow does not want us to recognize the new Communist government of China
But in recent years we have mixed up diplomatic recognition and moral approval. The absurd result is that we recognize Russia and not Spain, and are at present opposed to recognizing China even though we fear that may be cutting off our nose to spite Stalin’s face.
The Most Powerfull Men in Cold War Washington
(’47 Magazine)
A former player and long-time watcher of the Washington power-game, James Watson Gerard (1867 – 1951) – he was known to have kept a list throughout the decades leading up to his death, of all those Washington insiders who wielded the greatest influence in that burg. Well-heeled journalist, John Gunther (1901 – 1970), managed to catch up with him and his 1947 list, which was comprised of 64 names – some of the names had been on his list for decades (such as W.R. Hearst and Colonel Robert McCormick) others were appearing for the first time (George Gallup and Clark Clifford).
Click here to read about the men BEHIND these men…
Click here to read Ambassador Gerard’s list of the most powerful men in Depression-era Washington (non of them were elected)…
‘Don’t Count on Germany to Fight”
(Collier’s Magazine, 1951)
Not too long after the end of World War II, the French, British and Americans found that they had to assemble a coalition of nations (NATO) that would be willing to fight the Soviets for what was believed to be an even bigger rumble in the future – but after losing two enormous wars, West Germany refused to join.
Constance Drexel of Massachusetts
(Coronet Magazine, 1943)
The hokum that Constance Drexel (1894 – 1856?) coughed-up over the airwaves on behalf of her Nazi paymasters was considered to have been so negligible in content by the U.S. Department of Justice that all charges against her were dropped.
Alexander of Yugoslavia Joined in Marriage to Marie of Romania
(Vogue Magazine, 1922)
A beautifully illustrated page from VOGUE MAGAZINE reporting from Belgrade on the the royal wedding of Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888 – 1934) and Marie of Romania (Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen: 1900 – 1961). An earlier posting on this site indicated that the groom had been promised in 1913 to wed Grand Duchess Olga of Russia (1895 – 1918), but there were complications.
Following Alexander’s 1934 assassination, their oldest son, Peter II (1923 – 1970) assumed the throne and presided as the last king of Yugoslavia.
Richard Julius Hermann Krebs Under the Nazi Boot
(Ken Magazine, 1939)
A first-hand account as to the daily goings-on at Hitler’s Plotzensee Prison.
Written by Jan Valtin (alias of Richard Julius Hermann Krebs: 1905 – 1951), one of the few inmates to make his way out of that highly inclusive address and tell the tale. Krebs was a communist in the German resistance movement who later escaped to New York and wrote a book (Out of the Night
) about his experiences in Nazi Germany.
The prisoner who has served his sentence is usually not released; he is surrendered to the Gestapo for an indefinite term in one of the concentration camps, preferably Sachsenhausen or Buchenwald. Incurable hard cases are sent to Dachau…
French Pilot Glides Under the Arc de Triomphe
(Popular Mechanics, 1919)
A great picture of Lieutenant Charles Godefroy flying his Nieuport under the great arch of Paris during the Autumn of 1919. The stunt was performed three weeks after the French Victory parade that marked the end of the First World War and was intended to serve as a salute to the French pilots who died during the course of that blood bath.
Various Remarks About the First Talkies
(Photoplay Magazine, 1930)
Assorted quotes addressing some aspects of the 1930 Hollywood and the entertainment industry seated there. Some are prophets who rant-on about the impending failure of talking pictures, others go on about the obscene sums of money generated in the film colony; a few of the wits are well-known to us, like Thomas Edison, George M. Cohan and Walter Winchell but most are unknown – one anonymous sage, remarking about the invention of sound movies, prophesied:
In ten years, most of the good music of the world will be written for sound motion pictures.
The ‘Christy Girl’ at War
(Sea Power Magazine, 1918)
When the songwriter Irving Berlin sat down in 1915 to write his well-loved ditty I love the Girl on the Magazine Cover, we have no doubt that it was the Christy Girl who inspired him. The Christy-Girl, so-called, was the creation of the American commercial illustrator Howard Chandler Christy (1873 – 1952) who placed her famous mug on thousands of magazine covers, newspaper ads and billboards.
The attached file consists of two articles, both pertaining to recruiting posters; one for the U.S. Navy and the other for the Marines. In the interest of national security, the Christy-Girl is depicted as a cross-dressing patriot in both of them, and the sailors loved it; they preferred to call her Honey Girl, and as far as they were concerned, that name fit her just fine.
The Navy Call to Arms
(Sea Power Magazine, 1918)
Attached are a few words on the W.W. I naval recruiting poster To Arms by illustrator Milton Bancroft.
The article primarily describes what the duties of a ship’s bugler are, what this position represents and why this was such an suitable graphic image for recruiting sailors for the war.
A Look at the Winter Sleeves of 1921
(Vogue Magazine, 1921)
A collection of twelve fashion illustrations depicting the variety of sleeve treatments available during the winter of 1921. Some of the details offered were created by the House of Worth, Captain Molyneux, Martial et Armand and Madeleine and Madeleine.
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.
The Colors in Men’s Suits 1935 – 1950
(Men’s Wear, 1950)
A chart produced by the editors of MEN’S WEAR MAGAZINE indicating the best-selling colored wool used in men’s suits spanning the years 1935 through 1950.
The pointy-headed soothsayers who attempt to predict which colors men would buy were very surprised to find that in the aftermath of World War II, American men were quite eager to buy browns and khaki-colored suiting after all.
Adele Simpson and Her Fashions
(Collier’s Magazine, 1945)
On the matter of the American fashion designer Adele Simpson (1904 – 1995), it must be remembered that she was a prominent player in American fashion for many decades; a woman who had been awarded both a Coty Award (1949) as well as a Neiman Marcus Award (1946). Her creations were highly sought after by the crowned heads of both Europe and Hollywood.
Click here to read about wartime fabric rationing in the 1940s.
The KKK Popularity in Indiana
(Atlantic Monthly, 1923)
Don’t ya know that ever’ time a boy baby is born in a Cath’lic’ fam’ly they take and bury enough am’nition fer him to kill fifty people with!
Such thinking is part of the state of mind that accounts for the amazing growth of the Ku Klux Klan in the old Hoosier commonwealth; that enables Indiana to compete with Ohio for the distinction of having a larger Klan membership than any other state. It helped make possible the remarkable election results of last fall, when practically every candidate opposed by the Klan went down in defeat.
Written by Lowell Mellett (1886 – ?), hardy journalist and son of Indiana. Millett is primarily remembered for his W.W. II days serving at the helm of the U.S. government’s Office of War Information’s Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP).