1922 – Page 10 – Old Magazine Articles

The Klan in New York City
(Literary Digest, 1922)

The Klan has set New York by the ears; Mayor Hylan has ordered the police to investigate the activities of an accredited representative of the Invisible Empire, and, save in one instance reported in the press, the order has been denounced in Protestant, Catholic and Jewish circles alike…Exciting much comment was the accusation that Calvary Baptist Church, the largest of its denomination in New York, was a hotbed of Klan propaganda; but the charge was vigorously denied in a statement signed by leading members and by Dr. John Roach Straton, Pastor…

The Town Cars of 1922
(Harper’s Bazaar, 1922)

This is a quick read from a 1920s HARPER’S BAZAAR comparing the European and American limousines (a.k.a., ‘coupe, town car, cabriolet’); these were the luxurious looking vehicles that we’ve all seen in pictures from that period in which the chauffeur was expected to perform his duties without the benefit of a roof over his head. The uncredited journalist talks about where cars such as these are likely to be found, their interiors, tufted seating upholstery, basket weaving applications, leather casings and more.

Click here to read about the first car radios.

Click here to read a magazine profile of W.W. I fighter ace Captain Eddy Rickenbacker.

Chemical War
(The North American Review, 1922)

The article attached concerns the past and future of chemical warfare (at least as this was understood in 1922) and was written by Captain J.M. Scammell, Brit who wrote a good deal on the matter throughout much of the Twenties and Thirties. Like so many other articles we find from the immediate post-war period, Captain Scammell argued that chemical warfare can be one of the most humane options available to a general:

The really significant figures are those showing that while gas caused 27.3 percent of all casualties, of these only 1.87 percent died! That is less than one-twelfth the percentage that died from the effects of other wounds. Gas, moreover, does not mutilate or disfigure…

German Schools and the Teaching of the War
(Literary Digest, 1922)

It was discovered in 1922 that when the German school system made mention of the recently ended war (if they addressed the topic at all), the subject was often white-washed or inaccurately characterized. When approached by a foreign reporter concerning the matter, teachers claimed that new books were too expensive and that the prevailing political forces could never agree on an accurate history of the war:

When do you think you will be able to begin studying the history of the war in your schools? I asked.

Not until this generation dies…

Clemenceau
(Literary Digest, 1922)

Georges Clemenceau (1841 – 1929) served as one of France’s wartime Premieres (1917-1920). The following is an excerpt from his letter to the American people imploring them to share in his outrage concerning Germany’s open defiance to the Versailles Treaty. Clemenceau would die seven years later, fully convinced that another devastating war with Germany was just around the corner.

Click here to read more articles about the German violations of the Versailles Treaty.

Bertrand Russell on American Intervention
(Literary Digest, 1922)

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1950) used to get mighty hot under the collar when the topic of American society came up and this column is just one example. During his 1922 American speaking tour Russell rambled-on about how prone Americans were to confuse the truth with commercial messages; believing that altruism was seldom a motivating factor behind a single American undertaking. He will have none of the thinking that America’s main concern for jumping into the meat grinder of 1914-1918 was entirely inspired by wounded France and poor little Belgium but was rather an exercise in American self-interest.

Read the thoughts of one W.W. I veteran who regrets having gone to war…

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.

Men’s Golf Suits of 1922
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

A look at some of the ready-to-wear golf suits for the spring of 1922. The chic golfer of that year was seen wearing pleated knickers and a smart action-back jacket sporting cargo pockets (formerly known as billows pockets).

A.D. Walker Prohibition Cartoon
(Harper’s Magazine, 1922)

A father/son gag cartoon by the seldom remembered cartoonist A.D. Walker from Harper’s Magazine.

American cartoons drawn prior to the mid-1920s were created in the he-said-she-said manner until the cartoonist Peter Arno (1904 – 1968) shook things up a bit and introduced the format we are all familiar with today: one drawing, one caption.

Doubting Bill Tilden
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

The legendary sports writer, Grantland Rice (1880 – 1954), had his doubts as to whether tennis champ Bill Tilden (1893 – 1953) could keep his title for a third year in a row (he did; all told, Big Bill Tilden won the U.S. Tennis Championship 6 times in succession and 7 times altogether).

Charlie Chaplin Sounds-Off on Hollywood
(Life Magazine, 1922)

The number of movie stars who have found Los Angeles a disagreeable spot in which to live and work is a far larger number than you could ever imagine; however, for those of you who are keeping just such a list, here is proof-positive that Charlie Chaplin hated the dump, too.

The 1922 U.S. Elections: Some Wins But Mostly Defeats
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

As 1922 came to a close, it seemed that some of the Suffragettes of the old-school had not lost their taste for violence, as the reader will discover in the opening paragraph of this one page article that primarily focused on the defeat of all but one of the women candidates who ran for Federal offices in the 1922 elections. Thirty-three women running for Congressional and legislative seats in New York State went down to defeat and there were no women elected or re-elected from any state for Congress that year. However, the state of Ohio elected it’s first woman to that state’s Supreme Court: Florence E. Allen (1884–1965).

Clemenceau and the Treaty Violations
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) served as one of France’s wartime Premieres (1917-1920). The following is an excerpt from his letter to the American people imploring them to share in his outrage concerning Germany’s open contempt for their obligations agreed to under the Versailles Treaty. Clemenceau would die seven years later, fully convinced that another devastating war with Germany was just around the corner.

Click here if you would like to read about the 1936 Versailles Treaty violations.

British Tennis Stars Rally for 1922
(Vanity Fair Magazine,1922)

Having seen the international pantry shelf sadly depleted in the way of cups during the stirring campaign of 1921, extended preparations now underway beneath the Union Jack, indicate a counter attack of no slight proportions this coming summer.

Civil War Reunion Clothing
(Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1922)

What did the smart, re-constructed Confederate soldier wear to the reunions, you ask? Why an eight buttoned sack coat with matching trousers composed of Dixie Gray wool, of course! It was all the rage among the apple-sauce crowd of 1922 – and by clicking the link below you will see a black and white ad from Confederate Veteran Magazine which pictured the togs.

A Prohibition Cartoon by Art Young
(Life, 1922)

Art Young (1866 – 1943) was a cartoonist best remembered for his contributions to the radical magazine The Masses, however the hypocritical behavior that was widely inspired by that Noble Experiment, known as Prohibition, no doubt served as the muse for additional cartoons in other rags.

The Four Social Zones of Fifth Avenue
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1922)

This cartoon was drawn by the artist Reginald Marsh (1898 – 1954), who had a swell time comparing and contrasting the bio-diversity along 1922 Fifth Avenue; from the free-verse poets on Eighth Avenue up to the narrow-nosed society swanks on Sixty-Eighth Street -and everyone else in between.

Reviewed: A Fool There Was
(Life Magazine, 1922)

A Fool There Was was originally produced in 1915 starring Theda Bara in the vampire roll; but as the view of women changed in society, to say nothing of popular culture, the producers in the early Hollywood dream-factory decided to re-stage the production with a racier woman in the lead -a flapper-vampire, if you will. The reviewer was sympathetic as to the need for a new adaptation but pointed out that the actress who was re-cast in the Theda Bara roll, Estelle Taylor (1894 — 1958), left the audiences wanting. It was also pointed out that the censorship menace hangs heavy over ‘A Fool There Was’.

In 1919 Theda Bara wrote an article for VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE in which she swore off ever playing a vampire again; click here to read it.