E.E. Cummings on T.S. Eliot
(The Dial Magazine, 1920)
A review of T.S. Eliot‘s (1888 – 1965) second collection, Poems
Cummings at that time was living in Paris and writing his first book, The Enormous Room
Recent Articles
Captain Eddy Rickenbacker: Fighter Pilot
(The Literary Digest, 1919)
This is a wonderful read in which the American World War One fighter pilot Eddie Rickenbacker (1890 – 1973), recounted his experiences in France. Arriving rather late in the game (March, 1918), he quickly racked up 26 kills, a Croix de Guerre, a Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion d’Honeur and the Congressional Medal of Honor (which would not be approved and awarded to him until 1930). He was the top Ace in the American Air Service. In his later life, he would go on to become one of the founders of Continental Airlines.
I learned pretty fast. Long practice in driving a racing-car at a hundred miles an hour or so gives first-class training in control and judging distances at high speed…
In his later life, Rickenbacker would go on to become one of the founders of Continental Airlines.
Click here to read an article about the development of aerial reconnaissance during W.W. I.
Read what the U.S. Army psychologists had to say about courage.
C.R.W. Nevinson: Futurist on the Front
(The Great War, 1918)
Attached you will find a segment from a longer article reviewing the W.W. I paintings of C.R.W. Nevinson (1889 – 1946). Trained by the Italian Futurist Severini, Nevinson made some of the most modern images of all the World War One artists:
C.R.W. Nevinson with unerring eye penetrated to the man behind the khaki and deliberately unveiled the son of toil. The hands of the foremost figures may be exaggerated (but probably not), and in any case they emphasize the essential truth that these men belong to the horny-handed class. They may not be beautiful, but they are strong…
Click here if you would like to read a 1922 article about C.R.W. Nevinson.
Butcher Bill Paid by the French Arts Community
(Literary Digest, 1917)
Three hundred and fifty French artists, among whom are painters, sculptors, engravers, and architects, have paid the extreme price of their devotion to country and are counted with the dead.
Ode to the Hollywood Agent
(Rob Wagner’s Script Magazine, 1942)
The literati have all agreed: there is no doubt that if Shakespeare were alive today he would live in Beverly Hills, California. He would dwell in a 1930s split-level Persion-conversion, probably on Palm or Roxbury. As a well-compensated screenwriter he would churn-out the standard plots that were expected of him: fish-out-of-water dramadies, romcoms, and (under assorted pen names) a few reality shows; and like the poet whose work is attached, he would write about matters unique to Southern California -valet parking, Cobb Salads -and in this case the Hollywood agent.
This poem was written by Sydney King Russell (1898 – 1976), who, like Shakespeare, knew that if you’re going to write a poem about Hollywood agents, you’ll need to crack open the ol’ rhyming dictionary to see what rhymes with ten percent.
When Prestige was Thrust Upon Hollywood’s ”Cameramen”
(Stage Magazine, 1937)
Shortly before this article went to press, that particular member of the Hollywood film crew called the director of photography (DP) was treated a wee-bit better than other crew members were likely to be treated (but not that much better). Granted, the director and producer knew his name and his body of work – but his screen credit was still mixed among all the other names of the crew (if listed at all) – and this article points out that much of that changed in the Thirties.
Cosmetic Surgery in Hollywood
(Photoplay Magazine, 1930)
Published in a 1930 Hollywood fan magazine, this is the story of the earliest plastic surgeons and the rise of cosmetic surgery in Hollywood:
Telling the actual names of all the stars who have been to the plastic surgeons is an impossible task. They won’t admit it, except in a few isolated instances…It is only lately that a few of them are beginning, not only to to admit that they’ve had their faces bettered, but to even go so far as to publicly announce it.
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia
(Coronet Magazine, 1956)
An exceptional article about Fiorello LaGuardia (1882 – 1947), who is remembered to have been one of the great mayors of New York City (1934 – 1945). Written by a fellow who knew him well, you get a sense of his energy, humor and strong sense of civic duty:
At exactly midnight on January 1, 1934, Fiorello H. LaGuardia took the oath of office as Mayor of New York City. At exactly one minute after midnight, he ordered the arrest of the most notorious gangster in town: Lucky Luciano. This jet-propelled momentum never let up during the next 12 years.
The article is composed of a series of anecdotes that clearly illustrate his humanity, making you feel somewhat at a loss for never having known him yourself.
Even today, LaGuardia’s memory is so revered that New Yorkers conveniently forget that he was a Republican.
Click here to read about the NYC air-raid wardens of W. W. II…
The Economic Downturn Affected Clothing
(The Era of the Great Depression, 1948)
Men’s attire was more sensitive to depression than women’s, for even the most elemental sense of chivalry recognized the superior importance of fashion for wife and daughter.
More articles on 1930s fashion can be read here…
Hollywood’s Case Against Monogamy
(Photoplay Magazine, 1938)
Technologies change, power changes, tastes change, but if anything has remained a constant in the West coast film colony it has been the fickle romantic tastes of all the various performers, directors and producers who toil in the vineyards of Hollywood. An old salt once remarked that if a Hollywood marriage lasts longer than milk it can be judged a success; with this old saw in mind, a wise anthropologist sat down, put pen to paper and seriously attempted to understand mating habits of Hollywood, California.
Click here to read a 1938 memoir by a Los Angeles prostitute.
A List of German Versailles Treaty Violations
(Literary Digest, 1936)
This is an interesting article that announced the Germans march into the Rhineland as well as the island of Hegoland. The journalist also listed various other Versailles Treaty infractions.
Click here to read an additional article concerning the Versailles Treaty violations.
The U.S. Urban Murder Rate: 1926 – 1935
(Literary Digest, 1936)
Attached is a chart pulled from a 1936 issue of THE LITERARY DIGEST that reported on the U.S. urban homicide rate spanning the years 1926 through 1935. It indicates that the murder rate began climbing during the economic depression (from 8.8 in 1928); the years 1934 through 1936 saw a steady decline in urban homicide, more than likely as a result of the end of Prohibition.
The Tired Russians
(Collier’s Magazine, 1947)
This article goes into greater length to confirm what U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan (1904 – 2005) observed in his famous 1947 article Sources of Soviet Conduct (FOREIGN AFFAIRS, July 1947) – that the Russian people were physically and spiritually exhausted. After the terrible strain and sacrifice of the Second World War they were gleefully anticipating some much needed rest; they didn’t get it and they weren’t very happy about it.
The standard of living in Russia has never been very high, but even despite his natural stoicism, the average citizen feels he has a good reason to be disgruntled with his life… Like any other totalitarian state, the Soviet state has done its best to paint a larger than life-size picture of its citizens. It likes to describe them as steel-hard heroes with an inflexible will, living for nothing but the great ideal of a Communist future, laughing at difficulties, gaily grasping with hard ship – a continent of Douglas Fairbankses. This is just a bit too good to be true, and the last one to be taken in by it is the average Russian.
The 36th Division
(The American Legion Weekly, 1922)
The 36th Division has a little corner by itself in the general field covered by the A.E.F. It was not brought into either of the American major operation or into any American sector. Off by itself, under French command, it came into line in Champagne… Theses troops came bang into the middle of the hardest fighting, without any quiet sector preliminaries, and without a relatively easy initiation like St. Mihiel.
A Zionist Explanation of Jew-Hatred
(Current Opinion, 1922)
Attached is a digest of a Zionist article that appeared some weeks earlier in THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY written by Rabbi Joel Blau who tended to believe that antisemitism could only be eradicated if the Jews of the world were to return to Israel.
1914: The Close of an Epoch
(The New Republic, 1915)
World War I had only been raging for six months when this article first appeared. As the journalist makes clear, one did not have to have an advanced degree in history to recognize that this war was unique; it involved almost every wealthy, industrialized European nation and their far-flung colonies; thousands of men were killed daily and many more thousands stepped forward to take their places. The writer recognized that this long anticipated war was an epic event and that, like the French Revolution, it would be seen by future generations as a marker which indicated that all changes began at that point:
Those who were but a few months ago assuring us that there never could be another general war are most vociferously informing the same audience that this will be the last.
Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.
Angela Lansbury Arrives in Hollywood
(Rob Wagner’s Script, 1945)
Those sly dogs at SCRIPT MAGAZINE! They printed the smiling mug of the twenty-five year-old Angela Lansbury (b. 1925) on the cover of their rag, briefly praising her for being the youngest performer to have ever been nominated for an Academy Award (she soon won the 1944 Best Supporting Actress statue for Gaslight), and ran a profile of the lass on a page eight article that was misleadingly titled Our Cover Girl, only to devote 85% of the columns to an illustrious forebear.
The Art of Thomas Hart Benton
(Vanity Fair, 1922)
When this profile of the thirty-tree year-old Thomas Hart Benton (1889 – 1975) was published, the painter was not as yet recognized as the eccentric that history remembers him to have been. The anonymous journalist took an enormous interest in understanding Benton’s education and the source of his inspiration.
Click hereto read a 1936 art review regarding the paintings of Grant Wood.