1953

Articles from 1953

The Coeds of the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1953)

The original Generation X was that group of babies born in the late Twenties/early Thirties: they were the younger brothers and sisters of the W.W. II generation. There seemed to have been some talk in the early Fifties that this group of Americans were becoming sardonic and cynical – raised on the W.W. II home front, only to find that when they came of age they were also expected to sacrifice their numbers in a foreign war:

How can you help being pessimistic when you hear that the boy you sat next to in high school English was killed last week in Korea?


– opined one of the nine college women interviewed on the attached pages. These Cold War women were asked what was on their minds as they prepared for jobs, marriage and family.

The Coeds of the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1953) Read More »

Her Coronation (Pageant Magazine, 1953)

Judging by the photographs in this eleven page article, the editors of PAGEANT MAGAZINE must have finally decided to take their name quite seriously when they decided to dispatch a correspondent across the sea to report on all the glorious pageantry and glamour that made up the 1953 Coronation of the 27-year-old Elizabeth II (b. 1926):

When Elizabeth arrives at Westminster Abbey for the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony of the Coronation, it will mark the first time in fifty years that a queen has been crowned in England. Three queens have ruled over Albion in 800 years: Elizabeth I, Ann and Victoria; each of their reigns have brought great progress and prosperity. That is one reason why her subjects look forward with such glowing hope to the reign of Elizabeth II.

(Although it is no reflection on her, Britain’s power has decreased dramatically since 1953)

Her Coronation (Pageant Magazine, 1953) Read More »

Does Smoking Really Cause Cancer? (United States News, 1953)

Some time ago we posted an article from 1921 about legislation that the U.S. Congress was considering concerning the prohibition of cigarettes (Click here to read about that) we thought that the cat was out of the bag at that time as to the fact concerning the connection of smoking and cancer. But we were wrong. The 1953 article attached herein concerns four doctors who appeared before Congress in an appeal for federal funding for cancer research. They made it clear that research was indicating that there was a clear link between smoking and cancer, but more exploration was needed.


In 1921 there was talk in Congress of outlawing cigarettes – you can read about it here


Click here to read about one of the greatest innovations by 20th Century chemists: plastic.

Does Smoking Really Cause Cancer? (United States News, 1953) Read More »

‘I Was On Board Titanic” (Pageant Magazine, 1953)

The 1953 Titanic reunion took place in New York City. Numbered among the nine survivors was Edith Russell, who had been nineteen at the time of the ship’s sinking. Also in attendance that day was the writer Seymour Ettman, who collaborated with Russell in crafting the attached five page article about her experiences the night Titanic slipped below the surface of the North Atlantic:

If the Titanic sinks, will they transfer the luggage?

Miss, if I were you, I’d go back to your room and kiss your lovely things goodbye.

‘I Was On Board Titanic” (Pageant Magazine, 1953) Read More »

The Escaped P.O.W.s That The F.B.I. Never Found (Collier’s Magazine, 1953)

Unlike Reinhold Pabel, the W.W. II German P.O.W. whose story is told in the article posted above, the five escapees in this article remained at large long after the war ended. Five minutes researching their names on the internet revealed that every single one of them remained in the U.S. where they held jobs, paid taxes and raised families well into their golden years.

The Escaped P.O.W.s That The F.B.I. Never Found (Collier’s Magazine, 1953) Read More »

Family Politics (American Magazine, 1953)

Early next month the whole world will take time out from its atom bombs and cold wars and financial worries to re-live for a day all the jeweled delight of an old-fashioned fairy tale. This fairy tale will be all the more significant because it happens to be true… In short, a young queen will be crowned in London… But, amid all the glitter and pomp, the one man who would normally be expected to be the most important guest will not have a roll to play – The Duke of Windsor.

Family Politics (American Magazine, 1953) Read More »

Henpecked (Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Assorted snide stories concerning the Duke of Windsor – the world he made and the man he became:

It is both sad and amusing to see a former King of England reduced by the woman he loves to a ‘Little Man’, to the rank of a meek husband. What should one do, laugh or cry, when one looks at the ex-Caesar in the role of handbag-carrier, a sort of walking ornament…

Henpecked (Coronet Magazine, 1953) Read More »

The World He Made for Himself (Coronet Magazine, 1953)

The ‘real’ world into which the Duke has entered by his ‘own’ free will is international café society, that glittering, gilded bubble floating above the stormy seas of history…The Duke lives a rather different life. An hour or so with one of those American businessmen he admires, following tips on the market, looking over the quotations in stocks and bonds, and he has nothing to trouble about for the day, or the next month or so, until another empty hour obtrudes itself in the almost ceaseless round of pleasure like a hole in time waiting to be plugged by something, anything.


Available at Amazon: Gone with the Windsorsstyle=border:none

The World He Made for Himself (Coronet Magazine, 1953) Read More »