Articles from 1937
Eleven months after the abdication, mixed feelings prevailed as to which king was preferred, George VI or the exited brother, Edward VIII:
King Edward was of my generation. I do not know how your parents feel about him, but I think I am right in saying that those of my generation feel that King Edward has let us down! Now let us stand and pray silently for two minutes for King George and Mr. Baldwin.
An interesting little excerpt from a much longer article revealed that the Windsors preferred gazing at their own newsreel footage for thirty minutes each night rather than gawk at the current movie offerings of the day:
From their 16mm films of themselves, extra prints were made and rushed to England, where the Duke and Duchess of Kent and other friends and admirers of the exiled ex-king devoured them from time to time.
If you would like to read the longer article, click here.
Fed-up with empty pews, a British pastor discovered that when he held services in a movie theater – where he discussed whatever Christian content was encapsulated within the story, he attracted a far larger crowd. The numbers were so impressive he continued this practice and even began producing Christian films in the subsequent decades.
The first three paragraphs of this article explain the 19th Century origins of a moniker that represents the most hideous institution born on American shores. The term in question is Jim Crow – a sobriquet that came into use decades before the American Civil War but was refashioned into a synonym that meant institutional racism. The article goes on to recall one African-American Congressman and his fruitless efforts to clean up Jim Crow.
With every organization in Germany gobbled up, the Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches continue their valiant, tortured struggle against absorption in the totalitarian state.
Last week Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber (1869 – 1952), Archbishop of Munich, mounted the pulpit of old St. Michael’s and basted Nazi violations of the Concordat, the 1933 treaty between the Reich and the Vatican under which Catholics agreed to a ban on the political activities clergy and lay leaders, in exchange for religious liberty in their churches and schools.
An interesting two page article about George Gershwin (1898 – 1937), written within days of his death and filled with fascinating bits about his career, education and his instant popularity:
The Gershwin invasion of Tin Pan Alley came at a time when history was being made. The Broadway-Negro tradition that stemmed from Stephen Foster and the anonymous tune-smiths who wrote old minstrel shows, was being carried on by bards like Paul Dresser, Harry von Tilzer, and the amazing Witmark family. Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin labored in the Alley cubicles. Something called ragtime was in the air and jazz was about to be born.
This magazine article reported on the Miracle Fabric of the 1930s: rayon – and rayon cannot be deleted from any study dealing with Thirties fashion any more than the word polyester can be separated from a discussion of 1970s fashion. The article presents a history of the fabric but makes it quite clear that the fabric was immediately embraced by all the fashion houses at that time.
Read about the 1930s revival of velvet.
Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York bathrooms of 1937.
Since 1922 Italy’s marriage rate has fallen to 7.2 per 1,000 of population, her birth rate to 22.2 per 1,000 and her excess of births over deaths to 8.7 per 1,000. The newspaper IL POPOLO d’ITALIA of Milan has estimated that the steady decline in the birth rate has deprived Il Duce of 15 army divisions.
A column that recalls the failed efforts to banish child labor by adding a prohibitive amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The effort had the backing of the the American Federation of Labor and the National Child Labor Committee and was opposed by forces on Capitol Hill who felt that the issue was best addressed by each individual state. The opposition was composed of the American Bar Association, The Farm Bureau Federation, the Daughters of the American Revolution and Cardinal William Henry O’Connell of the Boston Archdiocese.
Here is a 1937 article concerning those stout souls who thought they’d make their way into the United States illegally – but made it no further than Ellis Island:
Aliens who have sneaked into the country are, by the fact of their entry, lawbreakers… Out of gratitude to a country which has welcomed them, is it too much to ask the properly qualified alien to register, in order that his fraudulent countrymen me be detected and sent home?
It is terribly chic these days to insist that the presidency of Donald Trump was Fascist – no one would have found this statement more hilarious than the fellows who are profiled in the attached article. These are the men who were assaulted on the streets and in their offices by Mussolini’s supporters, these are the writers who were censored and blacklisted – these hardy souls were the original Anti-Fa.
A sly little grin must have come to the lips of the editors of Photoplay when they asked Hollywood’s reigning scandal-monger, Errol Flynn (1909 – 1959), to write a small treatise concerning Hollywood morals – and he accepted their offer. Flynn sharpened his pencil and scribbled the following lighthearted defense of Hollywood hedonism; contradicting himself at several points, he opined that Hollywood was not much different than any other neighborhood – and actors are always good because they’re too closely monitored to do bad – and if you don’t believe that, then you should know that the acting trade brings out in all who heed the call a certain character trait that makes any monogamy highly unlikely.
Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel: 1904 – 1991) was all of 33 years of age when this one page piece of fiction appeared in The Stage Magazine; that same year his first book went to press, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street
The article is illustrated by one of his delightful drawings that future generations would come to know so well.
With the opening of Camp Nordland (Dorkland?) in Andover, New Jersey, the two streams of American fascism saw fit to convene there and join hands. The Italian side was lead by the American Duce Salvatore Caridi and Yankee Fuhrer Fritz Kuhn stood at the head of the American Bundists.
Amidst much heiling, drinking of imported beer and assorted flag-waving, was celebrated the cementing of the twenty-first link in a chain of camps which has been gradually growing. By car they came and by train, until the countryside was increased by ten thousand inhabitants.
The Volksbund early identified itself with Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Furthermore, its members at times have indulged themselves in parades, Nazi salutes and loud ‘heils’. For these reasons the organization has drawn much criticism for ‘un-American’ activities.
A semi-flattering profile of Benito Mussolini that explains his difficult childhood and the periodic beatings he suffered at the hands of his Marxist father. No references are made to his favorite pastimes – beating up editors and closing newspapers:
Significantly, his god is Nietzsche, the German philosopher who wrote: ‘Might makes right.’
You can read about his violent death here…
Fascist Rome fell to the Allies in June of 1944, click here to read about it…
By clicking the blue title link above, you will be treated to a postmortem appraisal of the American composer George Gershwin (1898 – 1937). The article was written by one of his contemporaries; Gershwin is admired in this article, but not idolized:
No one could have been more surprised than George Gershwin at the furor the Rhapsody caused in highbrow circles. He had dashed it off in three weeks as an experiment in a form that he only vaguely understood. In no sense had he deliberately set out to make an honest woman out of jazz.
Here is a concise report illustrated by a chart that indicates the size and tonnage of the leading naval powers in 1937.
In 1922, when a halt was called on the vicious race for bigger and better battleships by conclusion of the Washington Naval Treaty, later supplemented by the London Pact of 1930, there were but five major sea powers: America, Britain, Japan, France and Italy. Today, the world picture has changed and two new faces are on the list, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
All in all, as the treaties end, the United States Fleet stands on par, if not superior to, the armada of the British Empire…
Click here to read more about the expansion of the U.S. Navy.
Click here to read another article about the pre-WW II expansion of the world’s Naval powers.
Click here to read more about the demise of the Washington Naval Treaty.
