1942 – Page 6 – Old Magazine Articles

Walt Disney’s Artists and the Making of ‘Bambi’
(Collier’s Magazine, 1942)

For the production of Snow White (1938), the Disney artists had gone to great lengths in order to properly portray the manner in which young women move; these efforts were rewarded at the box-office to such a high degree that the same devotion was applied to the study of deer anatomy in their efforts to create Bambi (1942).

We had to remember, that Disney has a ruthless fidelity to the physical scene, to the truth of nature, even when he may seem to be distorting nature.

Click here to read more articles about Disney animation.

Enter, Esther Williams
(Collier’s Magazine, 1942)

There is a new girl out at MGM in Culver City named Esther Williams (1921 – 2013), who is a cross between Lana Turner and a seal…Miss Williams happens to be that fortunate thing known as ‘a knockout’ – in looks and one of the greatest swimmers in the world.

Click here to read about Marilyn Monroe and watch a terrific documentary about her life.

Red Army Gains at Stalingrad
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Soviet counterblows have thrown the Germans back in some places in the Stalingrad area. The early communique announced today that several of the city’s streets were recaptured in bloody hand-to-hand battles.

French Slavery Becomes A Reality
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Petain clamped the chains of Nazi slavery on the men and women of France today. The aged Marshal, Pierre Laval, and their quisling cabinet, promulgated a decree ordering all French men and women to compulsory labor. The decree, which the Government frankly admitted meant slavery in Germany for thousands of Frenchmen, was signed by Petain on Friday night.

Click here to read about the enslavement of Europe…

Red Drive Toward Rostov
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

The Red Army crossed the Don River at three points and advanced spearheads upwards of ten miles to the south of the Stalingrad Axis seige army, threatening it with more strict encirclement and at the time moving the key city of Caucacus. Moscow dispatches stressed the importance of this action which apparently swings a considerable weight along the railroad toward Rostov.

The Zoot Suit
(Newsweek Magazine, 1942)

This article tells of the origin and fast times of the zoot suit. Although the garment was popularized by Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles, it had it’s origins in Harlem, New York, where it was known as the root suit.

A Segregated WAAC
(Click Magazine, 1942)

A single page from the early war period tells the tale of Natalie Donaldson

Click here to read about the African-American efforts during the First World War.

The Pearl Harbor Story
(Yank Magazine, 1942)

When this article went to press the Pear Harbor attack was already over a year old – and like the articles that came out in ’41, these two pages capture much of the outrage that was the general feeling among so many of the American people. The article serves to give an account as to how the ships that were damaged that morning have largely recovered and were once again at sea (excluding the Arizona).

Five months after the Pearl Harbor attack the United States Navy defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Coral Sea, click here to read about it…

How Americans Were Seen by The Japanese
(American Magazine, 1942)

In this article, photographer Frederick L. Hamilton recalled his two years in Japan prior to the Pearl Harbor attack; he let’s lose with all he learned concerning how the Japanese perceived the Americans:

They think we are soft, wasteful, irreverent and stupid…Most serious of all to the Japanese is their belief that we have no spiritual quality, no sense of honor.

Nighttime Tank Battle
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Canadian war correspondent M.H. Halton reported from the Egyptian desert concerning one of modern war’s most dramatic spectacles – [a] battle of tanks in the dark.

The Man Who Stopped Rommel
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Australian general Sir Leslie Moreshead (1889 – 1959) is celebrated in this article for leading Australian forces against Rommel’s Afrika Korps and stopping them dead in their tracks.

Brereton Steps Up
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Major General Lewis E. Brereton (1890 – 1967) was appointed commander of U.S. Army Air Forces in the Middle East in July 1942, following service in Java and India; the rest of his resume can be read in the attached article.

Women In The War Effort
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

Eight months into America’s entry into the war came this article from PM reporting the War Manpower Commission and their data as to how many American women up to that point had stepped up to contribute their labor to the war effort (over 1,500,000):

Women have been found to excel men in jobs requiring repetitive skill, finger dexterity and accuracy. They’re the equals of men in a number of other jobs. A U.S. Employment Service has indicated women can do 80 percent of the jobs now done by men.

The Director: Frank Capra
(Rob Wagner’s Script, 1942)

This profile of director Frank Capra was written five years before he directed It’s a Wonderful Life and gives a tidy account as to the course of his career up until 1942, when he was inducted as a major in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Americans Answered The Call
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

When it came across the wire that Fall of 1942 saw the U.S. Navy enlistments increase by 150%, the editors of PM were not slow to dispatch a team down to the induction center to check it out (at 67 Broad St., NYC).

Many, many African-Americans answered the call as well, but with understandable reservations…

More about W.W. II induction can be read here

Saboteurs to be Tried in Military Court
(PM Tabloid & Yank Magazine, 1942)

The eight Nazi agents, who landed from U-boats on the shores of of Long Island and Florida, planning to cripple American war production, are in jail here [Washington, D.C.] under heavy guard, awaiting military trial on four charges that carry the death penalty.

The W.W. II Revival In Faith
(American Magazine, 1942)

When mobilization began, the government, as usual, undertook to provide spiritual ministry for the men. But many veteran clergymen doubted whether religion would catch on… But religion did catch on – and with such vigor that the chaplaincy services have been swamped by it. Army and Navy chapels are jam-packed. Demands for special services, for Bible study and for religious instruction, are more than can be met. Many men – Protestant and Catholic – are being baptized or confirmed. Some chaplains report an almost overwhelming interest in religion and church as a career.

Click here to read about the renewed interest in religion that existed on the home front…

Fibber Mcgee & Molly
(Newsweek Magazine, 1942)

“Molly and Fibber (‘Taint Funny) McGee are next-door neighbors to 30,000.000 people. Every Tuesday evening (9:30-10 EWT) they hold open house to radio’s largest audience, over 120 American stations (NBC) and 34 Canadian,”