1955

Articles from 1955

Joe Rosenthal on Iwo Jima (Collier’s Magazine, 1955)

Associated Press combat photographer Joe Rosenthal (1911 – 2006) wrote the attached article ten years after snapping the world famous image of the four U.S. Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the battle of Iwo Jima. In five pages, he explains the remarkable impact that the photo had on the American psyche as well as the popular culture on the American home front, both during the war and afterward. Rosenthal was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for capturing on film one of the greatest events of W.W. II and briefly explains that the three surviving men who participated in the event were thrust into fame for years afterward.


•Read our article about the treason of Ezra Pound.•

Joe Rosenthal on Iwo Jima (Collier’s Magazine, 1955) Read More »

A Profile of ”Mr. America” (Pageant Magazine, 1955)

WHO, WHAT, AND WHY is the average American [man]? What does he eat? What does he wear? What does he worry about? These questions and more like them have taken us on a long journey through the realm of statistics. Out of the discoveries of the Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau and Dr. Gallup’s polls, we’ve succeeded in piecing together an uncommon portrait of the common man.

A Profile of ”Mr. America” (Pageant Magazine, 1955) Read More »

The Lady in the Harbor (Coronet Magazine, 1955)

When this article first appeared, the Statue of Liberty was praised as the tallest statue in the world – today, it doesn’t even make the list of the tallest statues; nonetheless, here is a collection of facts about the Ladyy Liberty:


• 200,000 pounds of copper were used in the statue, enough copper for more than 100 stacks of pennies, each as tall as the Empire State Building.


• Trans-Atlantic voyagers do not see Liberty until their ship enters N.Y. Harbor, but her torch can be seen 15 miles out.


• Her index finger is eight feet long.

The Lady in the Harbor (Coronet Magazine, 1955) Read More »

Audie Murphy: the Most Decorated (Coronet Magazine, 1955)

Audie Murphy (1925 – 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of the Second World War. This article appeared on the newsstands just in time to promote To Hell and Backstyle=border:none, the Universal Studio movie based on Murphy’s 1949 wartime memoir of the same name. Some men fit quite comfortably into the public life of a celebrated hero, Audie Murphy was not one of them.

Audie Murphy: the Most Decorated (Coronet Magazine, 1955) Read More »

Clark Gable: Cad (Confidential Magazine, 1955)

We all know that there are two sides to every story, but not in this article. If the utterances of Clark Gable’s first wife (Josephine Dillon, 1884 – 1971) are true, then we have no choice but to believe that Gable was a real stinker.

When Miss Dillon left for Hollywood, he followed. A year later they were married in Los Angeles by gospel minister A.C. Smithers. Josephine traded the Dillon name to become Mrs. Clark Gable.
It didn’t take her long to discover quite a bit about her new young husband. He didn’t even have a grammar school education. He knew nothing about acting. And he was penniless. They lived in the money Josephine made as a dramatic coach. There wasn’t much of it, because her best pupil was her big-eared husband; his lessons were ‘on the house’. He sopped up what she knew like a sponge.

Clark Gable: Cad (Confidential Magazine, 1955) Read More »

The Predator (Pageant Magazine, 1955)

The attached article, A Mother’s Ordeal with Homosexuality first appeared in 1955, a time when the term gay was not known, and the word homosexual was used in its place – and as you will learn, homosexual was essentially synonymous with the designations sex offender, Paraphilia and Child molester.

The charge of homosexuality against someone, anyone, is not a light one. It requires proof, the strictest proof there is; getting it is not an easy matter.



The Predator (Pageant Magazine, 1955) Read More »