The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

Hitler’s Economist (Literary Digest, 1937)

Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht (1877 – 1970) was the German economist who is credited with having stabilized that nation’s currency following the Wiemar Republic and made possible the Nazi quest of military rearmament:

Germany lacks the stuff of which tanks and guns and explosives are made . It lacks rubber, cotton, silk, copper, tin and iron ore. It lacks food for its 65,000,000 people and fodder for it cattle. So Dr. Schacht has laced German business and industry into a straight-jacket of rigid control, to conserve materials and exchange.


Although he never became a Nazi Party member, he was highly placed in the Reich. In the attached 1937 profile, you will learn that Schacht cautioned Hitler numerous times to remove the Socialist regulations that restrained the German economy from kicking in to high gear.


Click here to read an article that explains in great detail how the Nazi economic system (with it’s wage and price controls) was Marxist in origin.

Hitler’s Economist (Literary Digest, 1937) Read More »

George VI: Corrections were Made that had Consequences (Literary Digest, 1937)

With the revelation that Britain’s King George VI was left-handed came this column by an uncredited journalist listing all the various unseemly elements that are associated with with left hand usage (most importantly, Lucifer). In light of the fact that a British king is also assigned the title Defender of the Faith in the Anglican Church; steps had to be taken in his youth to train him how to use his right hand. These lessons came at a cost, and the result was his sad stuttering speech – which also involved additional lessons with a speech therapist.

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Nancy Langhorne Astor, M.P. (Literary Digest, 1922)

Lady Nancy Astor (1879 – 1964) is remembered as the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons (she was not the first woman to be elected, but she was the first woman to serve in the House of Commons). Born in Virginia, she was the daughter of a former Confederate officer who refused to send her to college, thereby sparking her interests in the Suffrage movement. Following the divorce from her first husband in 1903, she set sail for Britain and met Waldorf Astor (1879 – 1952) while on board ship. The two were wed in 1906 and soon developed and interest in British politics. She became a Member of Parliament in 1919 and served in the House of Commons until 1945.

Nancy Langhorne Astor, M.P. (Literary Digest, 1922) Read More »

The KKK Fall from Fashion (The Literary Digest, 1928)

In 1928 the presiding übermensch of the KKK, Hiram Evans (1881 – 1966), saw fit to make a sartorial change in his terrorist organization by declaring that there would be no need in the future for any face-covering to be worn by any member. The article is primarily about the rapid disintegration that the Klan was experiencing and the tremendous loss in it’s over all social appeal throughout the country.

It was a success, temporarily, because it appealed to the playboy instinct of grown-ups and offered burning phrases of patriotism as the excuse for gallivanting about… It failed because its ‘patriotism’ was not real, but ancient bigotry in new a guise… It failed finally, because the genuine American sense of humor finally asserted itself and laughed at the Klan out of court.

The KKK Fall from Fashion (The Literary Digest, 1928) Read More »

The KKK Fall from Fashion (The Literary Digest, 1928)

In 1928 the presiding übermensch of the KKK, Hiram Evans (1881 – 1966), saw fit to make a sartorial change in his terrorist organization by declaring that there would be no need in the future for any face-covering to be worn by any member. The article is primarily about the rapid disintegration that the Klan was experiencing and the tremendous loss in it’s over all social appeal throughout the country.

It was a success, temporarily, because it appealed to the playboy instinct of grown-ups and offered burning phrases of patriotism as the excuse for gallivanting about… It failed because its ‘patriotism’ was not real, but ancient bigotry in new a guise… It failed finally, because the genuine American sense of humor finally asserted itself and laughed at the Klan out of court.

The KKK Fall from Fashion (The Literary Digest, 1928) Read More »

This Guy Coached Astaire and Rogers (Literary Digest, 1936)

A magazine profile of RKO Studio Dance Director Hermes Pan (1909 – 1990); his work with Fred Astaire (1899 – 1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911 – 1995) and the lasting impression that African-American dance had made upon him. It is fascinating to learn what was involved in the making of an Astaire/Rogers musical and to further learn that even Bill Bojangles Robinson (1878 – 1949) was a fan of the dance team.

Astaire liked the youngster’s blunt answers. He realized the need of a critic who would talk back to a star.

This Guy Coached Astaire and Rogers (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

This Guy Coached Astaire and Rogers (Literary Digest, 1936)

A magazine profile of RKO Studio Dance Director Hermes Pan (1909 – 1990); his work with Fred Astaire (1899 – 1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911 – 1995) and the lasting impression that African-American dance had made upon him. It is fascinating to learn what was involved in the making of an Astaire/Rogers musical and to further learn that even Bill Bojangles Robinson (1878 – 1949) was a fan of the dance team.

Astaire liked the youngster’s blunt answers. He realized the need of a critic who would talk back to a star.

This Guy Coached Astaire and Rogers (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

Amelia Earhart: Hawaii to California (Literary Digest, 1935)

All well’, Amelia Earhart (1897 – 1937) radioed repeatedly during her 2,400-mile flight from Hawaii to California last week. ‘Alls well that ends well,’ she might have said as she set her monoplane down at Oakland Airport Saturday afternoon, eighteen hours and sixteen minutes after she took off from Wheeler Field, Honolulu. What she actually said was, ‘I’m tired’

Thus she has become the first woman to fly the Pacific from Hawaii to California, and the first person of either sex to fly it alone. Her record has been studded with ‘firsts’ ever since she learned to fly in 1918.

Amelia Earhart: Hawaii to California (Literary Digest, 1935) Read More »

The Very First Football Referee Hand Signals (Literary Digest, 1929)

With the widespread complaints on the rise from the football fans on the sidelines that they were completely in the dark as to why a play was called, the elders of the sport decided that action had to be taken to remedy the growing confusion…

Hence a system of signals has been devised whereby the officials on the field can let the people in the stand know what is what. A gesture of the arm by the field official will immediately telegraph to the stands that Whoozis College’s penalty was for slugging. Another wave will inform the inquisitive public that the forward pass was incomplete by being grounded.

The article is illustrated with eight photographs of assorted football penalty hand signals; none of the gestures have stood the test of time – the penalties have remained but today different signals indicate each infraction.

The Very First Football Referee Hand Signals (Literary Digest, 1929) Read More »