Pathfinder Magazine – Page 16 – Old Magazine Articles

Klaus Grabe
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

An article from 1947 that clearly indicated that modern furnishings were a commercial hit in New York City during the immediate period following the war. The furnishings in particular were the product of German modernist named Klaus Grabe. A refugee from Hitler’s Germany, Grabe was a Bauhaus-educated designer who had first settled in Mexico with Josef Albers before moving to New York.

Shortly after this article appeared, Klaus Grabe would write this book: Build Your Own Modern Furniture.

Unholiness in the Holy Land
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Comrade Spy
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

Fingered as the premier Soviet agent working in the United States by a former communist and editor of THE DAILY WORKER and PEOPLE’S WORLD, Gerhart Eisler (1897 – 1968) – was arrested in the Fall of 1947 and charged with espionage.

Standing before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Eisler refused to take the oath, preferring instead to read a prepared statement. The committee refused to play along and the Justice Department soon leveled Eisler with additional charges. By 1949 things were looking dark for Eisler; jumping bail he made good his escape and secured passage across the Atlantic. Welcomed in East Germany as a hero, Eisler was soon named director of East German radio and became a prominent voice for the Communist government.

The Hollywood Leg Gag
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Here is a 1937 article that reminds us that there wasn’t anything left to chance or improvisation under the old studio system:

One of the oldest newspaper publicity devices is the ‘leg display’. Resorted to chiefly by actresses whose press agents want them to break into print, it consists of nothing more than arriving in New York aboard an ocean liner and letting news photographers do the rest.

The adoration of the Feminine Leg began some twenty yeras earlier with the flappers; click here to read more on this topic…

The Era of the Dictators
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

If necessity can be called the mother of invention, then deep public dissatisfaction can be called the mother of the authoritarian or ‘totalitarian’ state. In Europe, the [First] World War resulted in post-war conditions that walked arm-in-arm with profound social change. The aftermath was a great political and economic headache that grew slowly in intensity until it lead people to embrace anything that promised a cure… In Europe there are no less than 11 nations operating under systems far removed from democracy as we know it in this country.

German Prisoners Resisted Soviet Coercion
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

The article posted above pointed out that the American-held German P.O.W.s who participated in the U.S. Army’s Special Projects Division were all volunteers and willing participants in the program. These Germans had shown some enthusiasm and an interest to learn about democracy and little coaxing was needed. Contrast this with the column linked to the title above that illustrated the crude manner in which the unforgiving Soviet Army chose to propagandize the malnourished German P.O.W.s who fought at Stalingrad:

If communism provides the Utopia that Marx, Lenin and Stalin claim, why does Russia have to rule by the bayonet?

As many of you know, the U.S.S.R. did not release most of their German P.O.W.s until the death of Stalin in 1953.

Walt Disney’s Cinderella
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

More articles about Disney films can be read here –Read more …

Mickey Mouse Banned in Yugoslavia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

Due to a highly involved and convoluted Mickey Mouse comic strip plot that we can’t possibly begin to understand in the least – but in 1937 managed to offend the crowned heads of the Karađorđević Dynasty in far-off Yugoslavia, all matters Mickey (films, books, comics, etc) were soon banned from the kingdom.

The U.S. Occupation of Turkey
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1920)

There aren’t many Yanks in Turkey but an American naval force of eight destroyers is being kept in Turkish waters to protect American interests and to assist the British, French and Italian navies before Constantinople to induce compliance by Turkey with the terms of the peace treaty and to serve as a warning to cease her practices against the Armenians in Asia Minor.

Post-War Nazis
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

By clicking the title link posted above you will see a photo of what appears to be the Fascist’s answer to the von Trapp Family Singers – but hold, good reader – it was something far more sinister.

Read about American censorship in Occupied-Japan…

‘Dishonest Banks”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1932)

Read an article about the 1935 dolar … CLICK HERE to read additional primary source articles about the Great Depression…Read

Farmers in Flight
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)

A report from the regional directors of the Resettlement Administration (an arm of the FDR’s Department of Agriculture) stated that:

15,000 farmers have moved out of the Dakotas, Western Kansas and Eastern Montana, leaving soil which because a aridity or exhaustion could not yield any crop… [Having moved to the states of the Pacific Northwestern] Some of them are squatting in shacks and makeshift dwellings made of tree branches, stray boards [and] strips of tin.

Reversals for Chiang Kai-shek
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)

The years 1927 through 1947 has largely been remembered as a victorious era for the Chinese Nationalists in their struggle against the Communist rebels under Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976). However, following Mao’s 1947 retreat to Manchuria and the subsequent training and reforms that took place within his army, the Nationalist Chinese troops began to feel the humiliation of defeat until they made good their strategic withdrawal to Formosa (ie. Taiwan), where they have remained ever since.

This single page article goes into greater detain outlining the chronology of events.

‘Radio Here and Abroad”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1932)

During the early days of radio, as in the early days of the internet, there was much scrambling done all around in order to figure out a way to make the technology profitable. When this article was on the newsstand the pioneers of radio were getting closer to achieving this goal but they were not there yet. In Europe, by contrast, the concept of commercial radio was held askance by many; some nations barred all ads from the invisible wave, while others preferred that commercials only be heard during certain hours of the day.

Educational broadcasting is growing in popularity in Europe and is being extended into the afternoon school hours.

A good deal of column space explains how the Soviet Union used radio.

Read about the radio program that was produced by the WPA writers and actors branch in order to celebrate American diversity; click here.

A Warning to the West
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1948)

This is a 1948 Soviet poster that foreign correspondents of the day reported as having been widely distributed across the Worker’s Paradise. A veiled piece of patriotic pageantry, it was clearly intended to intimidate the Western democracies; it made its appearance a few weeks into the Berlin Blockade (June, 1948 – May, 1949) – an international stunt that gained the Soviets nothing.

From Amazon:
Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters Under Lenin and Stalin

Why America Could Win A War Against Russia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

When this article first went to print, American forces had been slugging it out on the Korean peninsula for the past six months – and the American people had genuine concerns about that dust-up snowballing into a much larger conflict. This article was written to remind them that mighty air armadas do not simply appear when necessary; they must be planned and budgeted. The author goes into great depth concerning all the impressive aircraft that was both available in limited numbers and on the drawing boards – but the military-industrial complex would need a lead time of 18 months to produce them in effective numbers.

If we win this war or any part of it, it won’t be due to the wisdom or foresight of our political leaders but to what U.S. industry has heretofore conclusively proved itself capable of – an outright production miracle.

Were Russian MIGS Better Than American Fighter Jets?

Actress Karen Morely in Washington
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)

Karen Morley (né Mildred Linton: 1909 – 2003) was an American movie actress whose last moment before the cameras was when she refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the early Winter of 1952.