1937 – Page 4 – Old Magazine Articles

Errol Flynn: Defender of Hollywood Morality
(Photoplay Magazine, 1937)

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 Tried His Hand at Grown-Up Fiction
(Stage Magazine, 1937)

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.

‘Fascism in America”
(Literary Digest, 1937)

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.

Volksbund, USA
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

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.

Who Was Mussolini?
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

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…

Remembering George Gershwin and ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
(Creative Art Magazine, 1937)

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.

The World Navies Expand
(The Literary Digest, 1937)

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.

Enter Plastic
(Literary Digest, 1937)

This article is about the chemist Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863 – 1944) – who left the world a far more plastic place than when he had found it.

The Interior Design of the Hindenburg’
(Creative Art Magazine, 1937)

This article from a 1937 issue of The Magazine of Art addressed the over-all aesthetic appeal of the Hindenburg’ . Written by Blanche Naylor, no stranger to all matters involving industrial design of the Thirties and Forties, the article goes into some detail as to the color scheme, upholstery, paintings and the names of the assorted German designers responsible for the beauty of the air-ship. The article is accompanied by seven photographs and one diagram of the public rooms accessible to the Hindenburg’ passenger’s.

Colorful Menswear
(Literary Digest, 1937)

This 1937 fashion report let it be known that men’s fashions were getting more colorful; items that we associate with the Fifties such as plaid cummerbunds made their appearance first in 1937. The first clothing item to cross the color line was, in all probability, the Hawaiian shirt – which came into vogue some five years earlier.

Click here to read a related article from 1919.

Hitler Was At Chateau Thierry?
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Having read a Hitler article that appeared in Pathfinder Magazine during the winter of 1937, a previously unknown German immigrant in New Jersey wrote to the editors and revealed that he had served with Hitler during the Battle of Chateau Thierry (May 31 – July 18, 1918). Perhaps the writer, Hans W. Thielborn, suffered some memory loss as a result of a head wound during the battle – but records show that the fight had been over for some ten days by the time the two interacted.

Stalin Puts Trotsky ”On Trial”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

In response to Stalin’s Moscow show trial convicting Leon Trotsky of anti-revolutionary sedition – a second kangaroo court was convened in Mexico in which Trotsky and his fellow travelers offered a public defense on behalf of the accused.

Gahndi and American Movies
(Photoplay Magazine, 1937)

Roving Photoplay correspondent Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. traveled far afield to Yerovila Jail in Poona in order to ask the incarcerated Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) a question of an entirely trivial nature:

What is your favorite American movie?

‘German Ersatz”
(Literary Digest, 1937)

Speaking of Evil Geniuses, let’s not forget all that the German chemists did to dream-up efficient substitutes for motor fuel, rubber, coal and various metals just before Hitler launched the war in Europe.

The most significant little word in the German vocabulary of 1937 is Ersatz. In two syllables, which, literally translated, means ‘substitute’, it summarizes the bold experiment in rigged economy which is Adolf Hitler’s Four Year Plan… The Reich’s great chemical industry went into high gear immediately, and at this point Ersatz became the big little word of the German language.

Movie Night in the Worker’s Paradise
(Photoplay, 1937)

Saturday night in Stalin’s Moscow: so much to do! If you wanted to take your date to a Russian movie you could go to Battleship Potemkin, or you could take her to Battleship Potemkin, or to Battleship Potemkin! On the other hand, you might choose a foreign movie that was approved by the all-knowing Soviet apparatchik, and in that case the two of you would see a Charlie Chaplin movie – and we’ll give you one guess as to which one he liked.

Click here if you want to know what films Hitler liked.

Low-Wage Pay Scales for Working Women
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Click here to read about an American woman who grew heartily sick of the socialists who loitered on every street

Fascist Italy Quits the League of Nations
(Literary Digest, 1937)

Italy’s friction with the League of Nations began May 11, 1936, when her delegates stalked out of a lively League Council meeting after it had voted to continue economic sanctions against her over the Ethiopian war.

Nazi Germany quit the League years earlier, click here to read about it…

He Re-Organized
(Literary Digest, 1937)

Congressional eyes bulged last January when President Roosevelt handed Congress his plan to streamline the executive branch of the Government. He asked for sixspecial assistants, two new cabinet officers, an auditor general (to supplant the all-powerful Controller General), a reshuffling and consolidation of boards and bureaus and an expansion of the civil service in all directions.