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.
‘He Let Us Down…” (Literary Digest, 1937) Read More »
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.
They Were Their Own Favorite Stars…(Photoplay Magazine, 1937) Read More »
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.
Going Where the People Go (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937) Read More »
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.
Origin of the Term ”Jim Crow” (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937) Read More »
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.
Catholic Hierarchy Pressured in 1930s Germany (Literary Digest, 1937) Read More »
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.
George Gershwin: Tin Pan Alley and Beyond (Magazine of Art, 1937) Read More »
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.
The Invention of Rayon (Literary Digest, 1937) Read More »
Attached are seven thumbnail arguments against FDR’s court scheme that were circulating around the country at that time:
[The President’s] move is dictated by expediency and not by a long-range view and that it comes only because the Supreme Court has decided against New Deal legislation 11 out of 16 times.
The Critics of FDR’s Supreme Court Scheme (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937) Read More »
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.
WANTED: BAMBINI (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937) Read More »
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.
Putting An End To Child Labor (Pathfinder Magazine, 1937) Read More »
