Recent Articles – Page 122 – Old Magazine Articles

Etiquette in the Movies
(Vanity Fair, 1915)

No doubt, this is one of the funniest pieces you are likely to find on the topic of acting and costuming in silent movies. It was written by Frederick Lewis Allen (1890 – 1954) and Frank Tuttle (1892-1963); both men approached the movies with the low expectations that were probably all too typical of theater lovers at that time. Frederick Lewis Allen is best remembered today as one of the better chroniclers of the Twenties and author of Only Yesterday (1931) while Frank Tuttle would find himself, in a few short years, directing movies in Hollywood. Tuttle was one of the few Directors who successfully made the jump from silent films to sound and continued working; at this writing, he was an Assistant Editor at Vanity Fair.

The Battle of Kenesaw and the Goodness of Colonel Martin
(Confederate Veteran, 1922)

Here is a segment from a longer article found on this site that recalled the history of boys who had enlisted in the Confederate cause – this short paragraph tells the story of a Rebel colonel, W.H. Martin of the 1st Arkansas Regiment, who called out to his opposite number in the Federal ranks during a lull in the fighting for Kenesaw Mountain and allowed for a truce so that the immobilized wounded of the Northern infantry would be rescued from a fire that was spreading in no-mans-land.

Scenario Writers and Plagiarism
(Motion Picture Magazine, 1916)

The attached is one from a series of articles that appeared in MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE penned by a Hollywood insider during the high-fashion days of silent film. The reader will be alarmed to read that even as early as 1916, plot-stealing and other forms of Hollywood plagiarism were in full swing.

A few weeks earlier, a California Representative had introduced an anti-plagiarism bill to Congress.

Click here to read about the Hollywood plagiarism game of 1935.

A Screenwriter’s Progress
(Ken Magazine, 1938)

Yardley, a cartoonist from KEN MAGAZINE, made this four panel yuk-yuk about Depression era screenwriters and the shoe being on the other foot. Truth be told, the story it tells is as fitting in our own time as it was in the Thirties. Nicely rendered, too.

Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York ladies rooms of 1937.

How the United Nations Works
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

Here is an instructional cartoon for students illustrating how the United Nations was intended to function during a crises.

The cartoonist clearly indicated the step-by-step protocol that was designed to eradicate world wars with a diplomatic process beginning jointly in both the U.N. General Assembly as well as the U.N. Security Council, proceeding on to three other possible U.N. committees (such as the Trusteeship Council, the Military Staff Committee or the International Courts) before the general body would be able to deploy any international force on it’s behalf.

Americans Observed…(Yank Magazine, 1945)

While in the process of drawing up the charter for the United Nations, several foreign dignitaries took time out to look around at the citizens of San Francisco and share their candid observations with the editors of YANK MAGAZINE as to what an American is.

During the summer of 1938 the Nazis allowed one of their photo journalists out of the Fatherland to wander the highways and byways of the United States. This is what he saw…

The Psycho-Sexual Struggle within Amedeo Modigliani
(Gentry Magazine, 1953)

Modigliani’s art reflects the psychological secret of his personality as a man, which in turn determines, the characteristics of his art. This longing for intellectual and spiritual self-discipline was constantly struggling with the demands of his overflowing sensual nature; his dreams of physical and sexual vigor were at odds with the failings of his body, his ailments, and his psycho-sexual infantilism; his desire for glory rebelled against the frustrations and poverty of reality.

The Problem with Loyalty Oaths
(’48 Magazine, 1948)

On the twenty-first of March, 1947, President Harry Truman signed into law Executive Order 9835 which was intended to remove communists and their assorted apologists from working in the Federal Government.

Unfortunately the President hadn’t issued a working definition as to what was loyal and what was disloyal and the results of the decree were predictable. The attached editorial was penned by a seasoned Washington journalist who had collected an agglomeration of anecdotal evidence during the first year of its enforcement in order to illustrate the inherent difficulties created as a result of the order. He pointed out that Truman’s order simply granted carte blanche to the F.B.I., called into question the rights of government workers and created a Loyalty Review Board that was cumbersome and bureaucratic.

Hollywood Fights Its Slowdown
(Click Magazine, 1943)

Hollywood’s manpower problems have multiplied, as in any large industry, since the U.S. entered the war. The draft, war plants, and the Government need for technicians depleted studio staffs all along the line, from producers to prop boys. The majority of Hollywood stars have devoted an untold number of hours to Army camp tours, war work, canteens; they have raised funds for war relief and war bonds. Robert Montgomery (pictured in uniform) is only one of many stars who have entered the armed services. Now he’s a lieutenant in the Navy in charge of a torpedo boat squadron….With the reduction in Hollywood’s talent ranks and the new ruling for a $25,000-net-income ceiling, movie companies face a crises in production.

Click here to read a about a particularly persuasive and
highly effective W.W. II training film…

Paris Furlough
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

A cartoon by C. LeRoy Baldridge (1889 – 1977) which depicted the streets of Paris in a way that only the A.E.F. could have witnessed it. A Yank-heavy Place de l’Opera is overwhelmed by sight-seeing Doughboys (note the Y.M.C.A. patch on the tour guide) and loitering officers lounging about over-priced cafes. In the foreground stands a bewildered Doughboy, dumb-struck by the passing gaze of an appreciative Parisienne while a few steps away a four-gold-chevroned private gets reamed for failing to salute the single-chevron looey. The stage is shared by bickering cabees, melancholy widows, wandering sailors, unforgiving MPs and a hard-charging, over-weight uniformed woman.

Click here to read about W.W. I art.

Click here to read the observations of U.S. Army lieutenant Louis L’Amour concerning 1946 Paris.

Paris Furlough
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

Click here to read about W.W. I art.

Click here to read the observations of U.S. Army lieutenant Louis L’Amour concerning 1946 Paris.

Three Brilliant Young Writers
(Vanity Fair, 1921)

The VANITY FAIR reviews of Stephen Vincent Benet’s (1898 – 1943) book The Beginning of Wisdom, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s (1896 – 1940) The Beautiful and Damned
and John Dos Passos’ (1896 – 1970) Three Soldiers:

The years following the war in America have been remarkable for the rise in popular and critical estimation of a small group of novelists who represent a revolt against the stillness and complacency of commercialized literature.

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.

Shrapnel Shells
(Freedom’s Triumph, 1919)

Attached herein are diagrams of three World War I shrapnel artillery shells designed for use on land. The illustrator provided precise details concerning the mechanism of each – the precise operation of the percussion fuse, the time ring, the location of the acid and the essential shrapnel projectiles.

The British Rage Against Pacifism
(The Literary Digest, 1915)

While Western Europe was all ablaze during the Spring of 1915, many Americans were tapping their toes to a catchy tune titled, I Didn’t Raise my Boy to be a Soldier (by Alfred Bryan and Al Piantadosi). This really irked the editors at THE SPECTATOR who let their fingers trip across the typewriter keyboard at a tremendous speed spewing-out all sorts of unflattering adjectives; they even went so far as to rewrite a few verses.

A Pacific War Chronology
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

Here is a printable list of chronological events and battles that took place in the Pacific Theater between December 7, 1941 through May 3, 1945. Please keep in mind that this is only a partial list, the YANK editors who compiled the chronology had no foreknowledge of the U.S. assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Click here to read an interview with a Kamikaze pilot.

Another German Advantage
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

General Marshall’s post-war report remarked on one clear advantage that the German Army was privileged to exploit again and again throughout the war:

The German ammunition was charged with smokeless, flashless powder which in both night and day fighting helped the enemy tremendously in concealing his fire positions.

General Marshall on the Atomic Bomb
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

The tremendous military advantage of this terrifying weapon fell to us through a combination of good luck, good management and prodigious effort. The harnessing of atomic power should give Americans confidence in their destiny…

Click here to read more magazine articles about the Atomic Bomb.

Click here to read one of the fist opinion pieces condemning the use of the Atomic Bomb.