White Bucks and the College Look (Quick Magazine, 1952)"As college girls talked "back to school," it was clear that they had switched their allegiances from saddle shoes
to a new favorite: white bucks . The girls predicted they wouldn't be white long."
Reference is also made to the rounded-button-collar dress shirts that were appearing on the backs of so many college men at that time. Home Run No. 60 (Gentry Magazine, 1952)Babe Ruth hit his sixtieth home run on October 1, 1927: "The mighty blow came off a south-paw throw of Tom Zachary, Senator pitcher, as he saw his low, hard one belted into Babe's favorite parking place, the right field bleachers. This hit not only set a record, but won the game since the score was deadlocked at two-two in the eighth, when the Pasha of Bash stepped to the rubber with one out and Koenig on third..." Take a look at an interesting article about baseball played in Japanese prison camps. The Damaged Prestige of the FBI (Quick Magazine, 1952)When this article appeared on the newsstands, J. Edgar Hoover had been FBI chief for nearly thirty years. In all that time he had enjoyed being photographed among celebrities and adored patting himself on the back by writing numerous magazine articles about the FBI. But by the time the early Fifties came along Hoover and his Federal agency were no longer the teflon icon that they used to be; the failings of the FBI were adding up and Hoover did not seemed accountable. The Showmanship of Babe Ruth (Gentry Magazine, 1952)The attached notice recalled one of the grandest moments in baseball history when Babe Ruth played it up to his fans:
"Then like an actor who, having played a part so often, knows it by heart, Ruth majestically waved toward the right center field wall. A moment later the Babe's pantomimed prediction was a reality. As the crowd, sensing the finale of the drama, rose to its feet, Ruth slammed a homer almost exactly where he had pointed."
A Song and Dance Man on Guadalcanal (Pageant Magazine, 1952)Four years after his stellar performance as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939), Hollywood actor and comedian Ray Bolger (1904 1987) was performing in many parts of the war-torn Pacific islands on a USO tour for thousands of very grateful GIs and Marines. Attached is a two page reminiscence about one particular Guadalcanal performance, the men he met and the Hell they paid in the years that followed Criticism (Quick Magazine, 1952)During the Summer of 1952, an unhappy Christian cleric in far away Scotland weighed in on Jane Russell - provoking the Hollywood beauty to weigh right back. Fur Jewelry and Wraps (Quick Magazine, 1952)Attached, you will find three articles on fur in Fifties fashion: one pertains to fur jewelry, the other two stoles, wraps and coats. The Blowtorch Blonde (Coronet Magazine, 1952)Here is an article about the legendary Marilyn Monroe (nι Norma Jeane Mortenson: 1926 1962), her painful beginnings, the cheesecake pictures, the bit-parts and her enormous popularity as a star are all woven into a narrative that never lets the reader forget that her unique type of appeal was something entirely new.
The Look for Autumn (Quick Magazine, 1952)"The 'costume look' has developed into a strong fashion idea for fall and winter. The news is in the mis-mated fabrics and colors used in this year's go-togethers. Highly-textured (and often noisily patterned) coats and jackets are sold frankly as suits with solid color dresses or skirts... Mismatched colors as well as mixed fabrics were used by Vera Maxwell in her coat and dress team [pictured]... Ben Zuckerman offered another example of fashion's new doubling-up with black hip-length coat over a two-piece red wool jersey dress [pictured]." The First Fifty-Years Behind the Wheel (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952) There is no organization that has compiled more facts about cars and their impact on society, than The American Automobile Association - AAA for short. And why shouldn't they? the AAA predates turn signals, starter buttons and stop lights. They were around before seat belts, parking lights and jay-walkers. They even predate car doors and windshields - to say nothing of their wipers. As you should all know by now, the AAA was not established as a car trivia repository but a coterie of motorists who banded together to aid other motorists.
Written in 1952, this article serves to mark the 50th anniversary of the AAA; these columns are positively packed with assorted automobile trivia which, when pieced together, spells out the first fifty years of the car in America.
Read about the Great Depression and the U.S. auto industry...
Swank in the Cold (Quick Magazine, 1952)The slobs who run this website are a slovenly lot, so don't take our word for it - but we believe this hooded turtleneck sweater that showed up on fashion's catwalks during the fall of 1952 to have been the proverbial "bees knees"! California Farm Labor (Pageant Magazine, 1952)With the bad old days that spanned that period between October, 1929 through August, 1945 seen only in the rear view mirror, many Americans began to enjoy the high life that came with the booming post-war economy - a buying spree that wouldn't slow until the mid Seventies. In the midst of so much plenty American magazines began to run articles about some of the folks who weren't partaking in all the fun, and this article is a fine example - it is about the 2,000,000 white people who toiled in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Thirteen years later they would be outsourced by a labor pool willing to work for even less money.
"... They get no unemployment insurance. They get no social security benefits. The law does not, in the main, protect them."
Click here to read about the horrendous living conditions of 1940s migrant workers...
Click here to read about the tremendous hardships that fell upon the fertile San Joaquin Valley in 1937...
Whither Latin? (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)This article charts the decline of Latin as an academic study in American schools. The disappearance of Latin began in the Thirties and steadily snowballed to such a point that by 1952 its absence was finally noticed.
"Is Latin on its way out in high schools? The answer is a confident 'NO.'
It's hard to see how it can go any lower,' declares Dr. John F. Latimer, head of Latin studies
at George Washington University." ''Thank You, Mr. President'' (Quick, 1952)Although African-American leaders anticipated a rough time when a Missouri politician named Harry Truman assumed the mightiest office in the land - in the end, he proved to be their champion.
"[The NAACP] still regard President Truman as their real hero for pressing anti-poll tax, anti-lynching, FEPC and anti-segregation programs in the face of heavy Southern Democratic Opposition."
Those councilors who advised FDR on all matters African-American were popularly known as "the Black Brain Trust"...
1952 College Fashions (Gentry Magazine, 1952) The Lot of Chinese Christians (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)For those who keep records of the harsh treatment dolled out to religious sects by the various assorted tyrannical governments of the world, China is the all-time champion. Since it's inception, the People's Republic of China has attempted to coerce or eradicate every religious faith within its borders. Here is an account by an eyewitness to the many assorted atrocities dished out to the Christians in China by the followers of Mao Zedong (1893 1976.
An article about Soviet persecution of religious adherents can be read here...
U.S. Air Force Spots UFOs Over War-Torn Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)In the midst of the Korean War, two American squadrons of B-29 bombers spotted UFOs flying high above the towns of Suchon and Wonson. Attached are excerpts from two newspaper editorials on the subject.
The Red Spies in Washington (Coronet Magazine, 1952)Stalin's deep fear of traitors and moles was not simply confined to the Soviet Union - it spread throughout every branch of his embassies as well. This article pertains to the Soviet spies who worked in Washington - the ones who spied on the Soviet diplomatic corps:
"When a new [diplomat arrives from Moscow] he soon learns that the Ambassador is not the real boss. One outside diplomat who has contacts with the Embassy declares: 'Always, there is someone in the Embassy whom the others fear. They live in terror of him, for he is the real leader... I have seen Soviet officials actually tremble when he comes into the room.'"
A 1951 article about the young CIA can be read by clicking here...
The Last Photographs of Hitler (Pageant Magazine, 1952)In July of 1945 LIFE MAGAZINE photographer William Vandivert (1912 - 1989) was on assignment in Berlin documenting the earliest days of the Allied occupation of that city. He snapped pictures of Hitler's bunker, starving Berliners and jubilant Cossacks; his images of the vanquished capital will live forever more - but in this article that he penned for the editors of PAGEANT, he remembered how he came upon a trove of some of the most famous pictures of W.W. II. Babe Ruth's Record (Gentry Magazine, 1952)Compiled four years after the Babe's death, the attached list will provide you with a compilation of all the various, assorted "mosts" that Babe Ruth racked up during his baseball career:
Most home runs, lifetime..................................714
Most home runs, American League..................708
Most home runs, World Series.........................15
Most home runs, season..................................60
Most years leading in home runs......................12
etc...etc...
The 1952 Election and the War in Korea
(Quick Magazine, 1952)By the time November of 1952 rolled around the Korean War was in stalemate; this made the 1952 election one that was about progress as the American voters looked for a candidate who could make sound decisions and offer a leadership that would take the country (and the war) in a better direction. Neither candidate was looking for a victory in Korea, both campaigned on finding "a peace". When President Truman taunted Eisenhower to "come forward with any plan he had for peace in Korea" it resulted in the retired general standing before the microphones and uttering pensively: "I will go to Korea". The electorate was at once reminded as to how trusted he had been in the past and Eisenhower was elected, carrying 41 states and receiving nearly 58 percent of the popular vote.
More on the 1952 presidential election can be read here...
The State of American Roads (Quick Magazine, 1952)Shortly before President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the nation was treated to articles like the one that is attached herein - articles that detailed all the very many flaws that existed in the American road system:
"The most highly motorized nation on earth faced the danger of finding itself all gassed up with no place to go. As the budget-harried [Truman] Administration pressed for a 20% cut in highway aid to states, legislators and private groups warned that U.S. roads were fast crumbling."
Now the Men Can Sleep (Quick Magazine, 1952)From the same country that gave us Benny Hill came this remarkable invention that improved men's lives immeasurably. What's in that Brooklyn Water? (Quick Magazine, 1952)2013 marked the 100th year since the first film was made in Hollywood, and in that time one American neighborhood more than any other has consistently supplied the film and television industry with a seemingly inexhaustible pool of talent: Brooklyn, New York. From Clara Bow in the era of silent film to Gabby Sidibe in the digital - the talented sons and daughters of Brooklyn have made their way West and we have all been the beneficiaries.
The Shoes of '52 (Quick Magazine, 1952) Military Psychiatry Up Front (Collier's Magazine, 1952)Having learned a good deal from two world wars concerning the fragile nature of soldiers and Marines who suffered from battle fatigue, the U.S. Army Medical Department sent hastily trained psychiatrists to the forward positions during the Korean War in order to better serve these men - and get them back to battle. The Atomic Age name for battle fatigue is neurotic psychiatric casualty The Third Christmas in Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)As 1952 was coming to an end President Truman must have seemed delighted to pass along to the next guy all the various assorted trouble spots that existed throughout the world. President-Elect Eisenhower had promised peace during his presidential campaign - but many of the issues at hand were interrelated: French Indochina, South Africa, the Middle-east, the Iron Curtain and, of course, Korea. Unpopular Charles Lindbergh (Pageant Magazine,1952)Written twenty years after the event, this article recalls that period when the Lindberghs returned to America after living in Europe for three years. While abroad, Americans were disturbed to read in the press that he chose to keep company with the Fascists of Germany and Italy; after a while American editors found his behavior so unimpressive, they chose not to write about him any longer. Upon his return, prior to the World War II, Lindbergh joined an isolationist movement called the America First Committee. It was at these functions when he began to make assorted racist comments in his speeches - remarks that the press corps could no longer ignore.
Watch Lindbergh's Most Notorious Isolationist Speech Her Instincts on Men (Screenland Magazine, 1952)Seeing that Marilyn Monroe was married as many as three times, I think we can all assume that her instincts on men are probably not really worth remembering. Happily, however, this piece is about her friendships with men, and she wrote it as an explanation as to why, in matters of good fellowship, she always preferred men over women.
College Essentials (Quick Magazine, 1952)Here are a few short paragraphs accompanied by nine images concerning what the college girls of the early Fifties were wearing:
"A girl can still get into college with a sweater and skirt, but for full credit she needs quantities of gadgets. For campus, girls stick to classic Brooks Brothers sweaters, pleated skirts, blue jeans - but go wild on accessories and underwear novelties..."
The journalist then went to some effort listing many of the fashionable essentials: stamp bracelets, rhinestone handcuff bracelets, silk pleated turtleneck sweaters and harness-neck bib fronts - all to die for.
A Victory for the Associated Press (Coronet Magazine, 1952)Wishing not to give away the ending to this ironic story, we will not post the stereotypical summation that is so unique to this site; we can only say that this single page anecdote, the result of European military pageantry and tradition, could only have been generated in the age of mass-media. Actress Karen Morely in Washington (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)Karen Morley (nι 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. The Border-Jumper Problem
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)Using numerous unkind pejoratives throughout his article, this journalist interviewed plenty of farmers and politicians who had many thoughts and observations concerning this question:
"What to do with the thousands of Mexican farm laborers who illegally enter the U.S. each year to harvest South Texas crops." Eisenhower Goes to Korea (Quick Magazine, 1952)After trouncing Adlai Stevenson in the November Election, President-Elect Eisenhower made good on the vow he had made earlier and packed his bag for a fact-finding trip to the stagnant front lines on the Korean Peninsula.
"No abrupt change in Korea is likely to follow Ike's visit. He doesn't plan to negotiate with the Reds there. He is interested in training, equipping and preparing South Koreans to defend themselves... The South Korean's morale is good. About 400,000 of them are mobilized." Congress Examines the Morals Portryed on T.V. (Quick Magazine, 1952)This article is illustrated with a single television image of the Hollywood actress Ilona Massey exposing her highly charming decolletage for all the world to see. The image alone can be credited for having launched a dozen Congressional hearings concerning the matter as to what is a television programmers singular understanding of public decency? Yet this short column only discusses one hearing, the one that took place in the Summer of 1952 in which Elizabeth Smart of the Women's Christian Temperance Union spoke frankly about the "alleged amusement" that the networks were providing. Another temperance group in attendance complained that the actors on beer commercials should not appear as if they were enjoying themselves... Levittown: The Birth of the Modern Suburb (Pageant Magazine, 1952)When the Second World War ended in 1945 the Europeans began shoveling themselves out of the rubble while simultaneously erecting their respective nanny-states. By contrast, the Americans set out on a shopping-spree that has yet to be matched in history. Never before had so many people been able to purchase so many affordable consumer products, and never before had there ever been such a variety; aided by the G.I. Bill, housing was a big part of this binge - and binge they did! The apple of their collective eyes involved a style of prefabricated housing that was called Ranch House, Cape Cod and Early American. Millions of them were built all across the country - and the financial model for these real estate developers came from a Long Island, New York man named William J. Levitt.
Attached is an article titled 15 Minutes with Levitt of Levittown.
McCarthy and the 1952 Presidential Election (Quick Magazine, 1952)A small notice from the closing weeks of the 1952 presidential contest between retired General Eisenhower (R) vs former Governor Adlai Stevenson (D) in which Senator Joseph McCarthy stepped forth to muddy the waters with one of his characteristic insults:
"McCarthy charged Stevenson was 'part and parcel of the Acheson-Hiss-Lattimore group' and that Stevenson in 1943 (as a State Department official) had a plan to 'foist Communism' on Italy when Mussolini fell."
Whether the comment convinced anyone was not recorded, but Eisenhower won the 1952 election by a wide margin, as did all Republican candidates.
Plastic Surgery and You (Movie Teen Magazine, 1952)Here are some assorted musings concerning the budding cosmetic surgery scene of the early Fifties by the Hollywood movie queen Susan Hayward (1917 1975).
At the time this article appeared on the newsstands in 1952, there were probably fewer than 100 plastic surgeons throughout the entire United States and breast augmentation surgery was in its infancy, however advancements were being made daily as a result of the carnage generated by the Second World War. La Hayward was cautiously optimistic regarding the brave, new world of aesthetic surgery: "The wonderful thing about plastic surgery is that it can do almost anything you want it to do... If you have a birthmark on your face or body, a good plastic surgeon can remove it. Even if you have such real disfigurements as a harelip, an expert plastic surgeon can achieve the impossible." Sweaters and Knits Elevated (Holiday, 1952)"The new women's sweaters will probably disappoint collectors of pin-up art. They are designed, oddly enough, to appeal to women - the women of taste and discrimination who will wear them." GI Joe and the Women of Japan... (Pic Magazine, 1952)Although this article is illustrated with imagery depicting American men and Japanese women appearing to genuinely be enjoying one another's company, the accompanying text says something quite different. The article centers on the observations of the woman who heads the YWCA in Japan who insists that the vulgar Americans stationed in that country are coercing Japanese women to become prostitutes. The journalist then goes into some detail as to what a big business prostitution in Japan has become and how many illegitimate births have resulted. Why Do Detergents Have Such Wacky Names (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)This column praises those brainiacs of Madison Ave who obsess over single syllable words (and sounds) in an effort to propel their client's product to the tip-top of the profit-pantheon.
"The right name can zoom a product into a commercial success. The wrong one can wreck its sales and waste the advertising dollars spent promoting it... If one day you hear of a product called 'Heck' or 'Gosh', don't be surprised. Slang is more popular than the king's English in product naming. Again, it's because you use it more naturally. Newest proof of this came after the phrase 'poof - there goes perspiration' (a TV commercial for Stopette spray deodorant) made 'poof' a new American slang word."
He was a Dirty Campaigner... (Collier's Magazine, 1952)FDR's predecessor, Herbert Hoover, wrote a series of articles concerning his own presidency that appeared on the pages of COLLIER'S MAGAZINE throughout the spring of 1952. The sixth installment was devoted to his 1932 reelection bid against FDR and the Roosevelt Hoover remembered was an under-handed campaigner who surrounded himself with liars and all sorts of other aids and speechwriters who took liberties with the truth in all matter's involving the record of Hoover's administration.
CLICK HERE to read about President Hoover and the Bonus Army...
Protestants in America (Pageant Magazine, 1952)This is a report from 1952 on the largest group of Christians in the United States during that period in time:
"The United States is sometimes called a 'Protestant nation.' It isn't, of course. It is a nation of 150,697,361 free people, free to choose whatever path to God they please. But it was settles largely by Protestant denominations; it has, in fact, the largest Protestant population of any nation on earth. By latest tally, 81,862,328 Americans belong to religious bodies. Of these 59 percent are Protestant. Roman Catholics account for 33 percent, Jews for six percent and other faiths for two percent." The Cuban and the Redhead (The American Magazine, 1952)"We didn't become addicts of I Love Lucy deliberately; it was a habit that engulfed our whole family gradually. the captivating thing about Lucy and Ricky is, we think, the fact that they hold a mirror up to every married couple in America. Not a regulation mirror that reflects truth, nor a magic mirror that portrays fantasy. But a Coney Island mirror that distorts, exaggerates and makes vastly amusing every little incident, foible and idiosyncrasy of married life." Whatever Happened to Evelyn Nesbit? (People Today, 1952)She had been a key figure in the most spectacular murder trial of the Gilded Age. An artist's model, a Broadway chorus girl, the obsession of crazed millionaire and the play thing of one of America's greatest architects; her beauty was legend - driving men to do the sorts of things that they knew were wrong. Her name was Evelyn Nesbit (1884 1967) and when that era faded into obscurity, so did she; until the hard-charging reporters of PEOPLE TODAY found her decades later - in the Land of Fruits and Nuts (Southern California), where the celebrities of yesteryear all go to "find themselves". The Timeless Comedy of Bob and Ray (Quick Magazine, 1952)A single page from the petite pages of the short-lived magazine QUICK, heralding the arrival of the Bob and Ray radio show: "Two young fugitives from from a Boston radio station (W.H.D.H.) ,Bob Elliott (b. 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922 1990) were proving that radio - and some 15 million listeners - could take anything. In exchange for lampooning radio's most sacred cows - soap operas and commercials - Bob and Ray now have four separate radio shows (two on NBC's network; two on NBC's New York station), were on the air five days a week..." Click here for a related film clip Forced Into Communism (Quick Magazine, 1952)In his illustrated five page reminiscence, former Communist refugee Ivan Pluhar (b. 1927), recalls those dreadful days following the end of the Second World War when it became clear to all the citizens of Czechoslovakia that their Soviet "liberators" would never leave their country. The article will clue you in as to what life was like during the earliest years of the occupation and how dissenters were treated throughout that period.
A Quick Read About Soviet-Enforced Atheism
Behind the Iron Curtain...
Two Important Rivers in the Cold War Struggle (Collier's Magazine, 1952)"Two continents apart, the Yalu and the Rhine wind down to the sea. But in the continuing struggle of freedom against Communism, they share the common roll of destiny."
"Of the two rivers, perhaps the Yalu is of more immediate concern, for behind its 500 miles of coursing waters stand the bulk of the Red forces under Red China chief Mao Tse-tung... Few people had heard of the Yalu until the Korean War began. But it gained world-wide prominence in November, 1950, when 200,000 Chinese Reds came pouring across its bridges to aid the North Koreans as they retreated before UN troops..." President Hoover and the Bonus Marchers (Collier's Magazine, 1952)This is President Herbert Hoover's recollection as to how his administration addressed the mass demonstrations of W.W. I veterans in need of relief. It is very different from the version recalled in high school history books in that Hoover stated that the order to burn the Anacostia shacks came from General MacArthur, not him.
Read about the the mood of the Great Depression and how it was reflected in the election of 1932 - click here...
''This I Saw In Korea'' (Collier's Magazine, 1952)Those darn misogynists in Washington fell asleep at the switch again when they appointed a woman to fill the number two spot at the Department of Defense. The woman in question was Anna Rosenberg (1902 1983), an experienced and well-respected hand in the Nation's Capital who served in that post between 1950 and 1953. During the middle of the war she paid a visit to the American military installations in Korea and wrote warmly about all that she had seen. ''How We Can Win in Asia'' (Quick Magazine, 1952)In the attached editorial, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898 - 1980) weighs in on how the United States could forge stronger Cold War alliances in Asia and the Middle East:
"We have thought that we could stop the spread of communism by guns and by dollars. We have spent billions upon billions and yet the Red tide of communism seems to spread... We should show Asia how her revolution can follow the pattern of 1776. What will win in Asia are not guns and dollars but but ideas of freedom and justice. To win in Asia, America must identify herself with those ideas."
To understand some of the diplomatic challenges Douglas was referring to, click here
More on this topic can be read here... Rebellion Behind the Iron Curtain (Coronet Magazine, 1952)Here are seven stories about the freedom-craving rebels who made life difficult for the Soviet overseers who commanded the slave states in Eastern Europe.
Click here to read a Cold War editorial by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
A Hollywood Movie in Japan (Quick Magazine, 1952)We were sympathetic when we learned that the Japanese did not much care for the movies "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944), "Back to Bataan" (1945) or David Lean's masterpiece "Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) - but when we heard that they hated Sands of Iwo Jima (1952) - we finally realized that there are some people you simply cannot please. Apparently we weren't the only ones who felt this way: the editors of QUICK MAGAZINE were so outraged on this matter they dispatched a reporter to document the venom that spewed-forth from those Japanese lips as they left the theater.
The Discovery of Audrey Hepburn (People Today, 1952)American audiences came to know Audrey Hepburn (1929 1993) when she was teamed up with Gregory Peck for the 1953 William Wyler production "Roman Holiday" (Paramount) - but the king makers of Hollywood sat up and took notice of her a year earlier, when she appeared in the European comedy "Monte Carlo Baby" (briefly reviewed herein). This movie was pretty quickly forgotten - and today "Monte Carlo Baby" cannot be found on DVD or cassette, and the film's producer, Ray Ventura (1908 - 1979), is primarily remembered for his talents as a jazz pianist. The Reformed South Korean Military (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)By the close of 1952 it became evident to anyone who followed the events in Asia that the army of the Republic of Korea (ROK) had evolved into a competent and reliable fighting force; highly disciplined and well-lead, it was finally able to both take and hold ground while simultaneously inflicting heavy casualties on their the enemies. Gone from the mind was that South Korean army of 1950: that retreating mob that quickly surrendered their nation's capital to the on-rushing Communists just three days into the war, leaving in their wake a trail of badly needed equipment.
After a year and a half of the most vicious combat, the ROK Army put in place the badly needed reforms that were demanded if the war was to be won. Relying on their own combat veterans as well as their United Nation's allies, recruits were clearly schooled in what was required to survive in battle. As relieved as the many Western commanders were to see how effectively the South Koreans were able to create such a force, the liabilities of this army were still genuine and they are listed in this article as well.
Vera Maxwell and Claire McCardell (Quick Magazine, 1952)From the Great Minds Think Alike Department came this small piece about two American sportswear designers, Claire McCardell and Vera Maxwell and their admirable approach in creating a light weather coat that served to both keep women warm in springtime gales, yet accommodate the full, billowing skirts that complemented their feminine forms (as well as the hip padding that accompanied many skirts of the Fifties).
Why Only Half Our Soldiers Fire Their Rifles (Collier's Magazine, 1952)In every engagement with the enemy during the Second World War, only 12 to 25 percent of American riflemen ever fired their weapons. This was an enormous concern for the brass hats in the Pentagon and they got right to work in order to remedy the problem. Five years later, when the Korean War rolled around, they found that the situation was somewhat improved: 50% of the soldiers were now able to return fire. This article tells the story of U.S. Army General S.L.A. Marshall (1900 1977) and his research in addressing this issue. A good read. 1950s Texas (American Magazine, 1952)Lost in wide-eyed wonder, this journalist reported all that he saw during his four-month journey through The Lone Star State, finding, to his astonishment, that everything those annoying men named Tex had told him throughout the years was absolutely true.
"Don't be offended if Texans fail to thank you for compliments about their state; they are weaned on a sublime conviction that everything in Texas is the biggest or best or both... Anything in Texas that isn't the biggest or best is bound to be the smallest or the worst; there is no mediocrity."
Click here to read about the U.S. Border Patrol in Texas. ''Don't Blame Me'' (Collier's Magazine, 1952)In this 1952 article, Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States (1929 - 1933) painstakingly explained why he was not responsible for the Great Depression. Hair Fashions of the Early 1950s (People Today, 1952)"Keep it short": that was the M.O. of the hairdressers of the Fifties (as you, no doubt, gathered from this 1949 article) - and this column, accompanied by eight photos, serves as proof. Much of this column pertains to the men who were active in 1952 hair dressing, and their deep thoughts pertaining to pny tails, perms and poodle-cuts. Click here to read about the short hair craze of the late Forties. Jack Hamm: Cartoon Preacher (The American Magazine, 1952)The Moody Bible Institute has not graduated many cartoonists but they did give their sheepskin to Jack Hamm (1916 1996), a terrific cartoonist who used his talent to advance the Gospel in far godlier America. Popcorn Finds a Home at the Movies (Quick Magazine, 1952)Popcorn was introduced as a snack food to American movie-goers as a result of the candy shortages during the earliest years of the Second World War.
Attached is a petite notice documenting the fact that the substitute was a wise one:
"By 1952, movie houses accounted for about one-third of the nation's annual $350 million retail popcorn sales."
Reference is also made to the efforts that were made to secure "noiseless" popcorn bags.
If popcorn replaced sweets on the home front, what replaced steak?
The Basket Bags (Quick Magazines, 1952)They clogged the shelves of every thrift shop, church bazaar and Goodwill outlet throughout all of the 70s and 80s - and during that same period costume designers used them to signify how detached and estranged a feminine antagonist was in dozens of movies and TV productions. We are referring, of course, to the basket bags of the early fifties and their heavy presence in the bric-a-brac shoppes of yore only serve to testify as to how remarkably popular they were as fashion accessories in the land of the free and home of the brave. The attached article from 1952 is illustrated with six images of the various swells of old Palm Beach clinging proudly to their wicker trophies.
(We were delighted to see that basket bags enjoyed a small come-back in the fashion world during the summer of 2017.) Daddy's Boy (People Today, 1952)Attached is a brief notice concerning Joseph P. Kennedy (1888 1969), Hollywood producer, politician, adulterer and FDR's one-time ambassador to Britain - and his thwarted attempt to merge the Boston Post with the Boston Globe in order to best influence voters in the 1952 Massachusetts congressional elections.
Stalin's 'Hate-America' Campaign (Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)In 1952 the Soviet hierarchy began publishing an enormous amount of anti-American cartoons in magazines and newspapers throughout the "worker's paradise". As you will see, the Red cartoonists of yore were really big on comparing Americans to bugs and Nazis; they also delighted in making all American senior officers resemble the obese General Walker, who was the American corps commander leading the U.N. Forces in Korea.
The Soviets were very clever in the way in which they used radio to manipulate their people, click here to read about that... The Power of the African-American Press (Pageant Magazine, 1952)"President Truman was re-elected in 1948 by a slender margin of 52,000 votes in the circulation area of The Chicago Defender, which almost alone of all the newspapers of all kinds in that area, supported Truman. After the election it published a boastful full-page advertisement - "
"What is the Negro press? Primarily it is a protest press demanding the correction of injustice to colored people. 'We are organs of protest,' explains Thomas W. Young, publisher of the Norfolk Journal and Guide, 'born more than a hundred years ago in righteous indignation over the institution of slavery.'"
Stalin at 72 (Coronet Magazine, 1952)When the attached article hit the newsstands in May of 1952 Joseph Stalin had less than a year to live and like most totalitarians living on borrowed time, the heavily guarded diminutive dictator had his public appearances drastically reduced in number:
"Today he lives in isolation unrivaled by any monarch since the Pharaohs. He must have forgotten what he himself once told the historian Emil Ludwig: 'Any man on a high pinnacle is lost the instant he loses touch with the masses.'"
The article has a fair amount of Stalin minutia you might find interesting. Funny Wills... (Coronet Magazine, 1952)There just aren't that many funny wills around that are devised with the intention of rendering the last word in a bad marriage or to dispense petty revenge on those who remained above-ground - that is why we found these two columns so amusing. | 
