1927 – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

A Diagram of Lindbergh’s Plane
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Originally created for the editors of the now defunct Aero Digest, the diagram depicted the interior of The Spirit of St. Louis (also referred to to as The Ryan Transatlantic Monoplane) shows the layout of the famous craft, and the placement of the water supply, air vent, earth inductor compass and more. The Spirit of St. Louis weighed 5,000 pounds, could travel at the speed of 135 miles per hour and had a wing span measuring 46 feet.

Questioning German War Guilt
(The Nation, 1927)

This article from THE NATION was written by Alfred Von Wegerer in the interest of refuting Versailles Treaty article 231, which reads:

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.

Von Wegerer, like most Germans at that time, got mighty hot under the collar when he stopped to consider that Germany was blamed entirely for the start of the First World War. This article was written nine years after the close of the war when a number scholars on the allied side had already stepped forward to question, what has come to be called, the war guilt clause.

Read about the total lack of war guilt that existed in 1950 Germany…

‘Soldier Man Blues from Somewhere in France”
(Literary Digest, 1927)

This article is essentially a collection of lyrics from an assortment of songs sung by the Black Doughboys who were charged with the task of loading and unloading trucks far behind the front line trenches. It was written in 1927 to serve as a review for Singing Soldiers by John J. Niles, who compiled the labor songs while stationed in France as a fighter pilot:

All dese colored soldiers comin’ over to France

All dese soldiers an’ me

Goin’ to help de Whites make de Kaiser dance

All dese soldiers an’ me…

Charles Lindbergh: Loved by the French
(Literary Digest, 1927)

For any American born after the death of De Crevecoeur (1813), it seems like a new day when a Frenchman has something nice to say about American culture, and that is precisely why this column seems so terribly unique.

Famous Edith Sitwell
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Edith Sitwell (1887 – 1964) had appeared on the literary horizon some fourteen years before this profile was read in the American press and by 1927 all concerned seemed to have decided that she had attained a respectable level of notoriety and was worthy of being labeled famous:

Miss Sitwell is described by THE SKETCH (London) as ‘an author who dislikes simplicity, morris-dancing, a sense of humor, and every kind of sport except reviewer-baiting.’

His Route to Paris
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Attached is a 1927 illustration depicting that broad expanse that separates the continents of Europe and North America and presents for the viewer the various transatlantic routes chosen not only by Charles Lindbergh but other pilots as well.

Farina
(Hollywood Vagabond, 1927)

Attached is a glowing review that praises the dramatic talents of a seven-year-old boy: Allen Clayton Hoskins (aka, Farina) – one of the few African-Americans to have been chosen to perform in the ensemble cast that made up the Our Gang comedies.

One of the most gifted thespians in the silent drama is Farina, the negro child actor whose facile expression has created no end of comment… Placed in the midst of a group of children, all of whom have been tutored over a period of several years in the intricacies of and politics of photoplay acting, Farina has created a high standard of achievement… this troupin’ Nubian has given the others of the gang plenty to aim at in the form of a thespic target.

Congress Adresses the Problem of the Hip-Flask
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Seven years after wine and spirits were banished from the land, the government in Washington felt pressured to discipline all those restaurateurs who failed to defenestrate their patrons who brought illicit drink into their establishments. This is an article about how an attempt was made to get restaurant owners to police their customers.

Franco-American Relations After W.W. I
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Ten years after America entered the First World War, thrice elected French Prime-Minister André Tardieu (1876 – 1945) put pen to paper and came up with a book about the complicated relations between France and the United States Devant l’Obstacle (1927):

They go on repeating the words ‘American friendship’ without realizing that America as a nation does not want friendships, and separates herself from her political associates the moment she can do so, as unceremoniously as she did in 1919, when she signed a separate peace with Germany. Few French students know or remember that less than twenty years after Lafayette left the American shores, America was at war with the country to which she virtually owed her freedom…

Click here to read another article in which André Tardieu slanders the Americans.
Click here should you wish to read good thoughts by a Frenchman concerning America’s entry into W.W. I.

‘Where Moscow Is Teaching China to see Red”
(Literary Digest, 1927)

Attached is a 1927 American magazine article that reported on the Soviet influence taking place in China. Attention is paid to the activities of a young Soviet named Karl Berngardovich Radek (born Karol Sobelsohn: 1885 – 1939):

Russia has been the only country to assist the Nationalist China movement to which they all hope to devote their lives. Men who believe in the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ have furnished much of the brain-power that has organized, directed and articulated the Chinese popular uprising in it’s successful Northern drive…As far as foreign culture is concerned, China is still much more deeply steeped in American and British idealism than in those of modern Russia

Ruth Elder: American Super-Girl
(Literary Digest, 1927)

An article about American pilot Ruth Elder (1902 – 1977), who attempted to be the first woman aviator to fly to Paris; crashing in the Atlantic mid-flight:

she has to her credit the longest flight made entirely over water, beating the Pacific fliers by about 200 miles…She will rank with the most daring fliers of this year of aerial wonders.

Elder parlayed her notoriety into a starring roll in a Hollywood movie that came out the following year: Moran of the Marines.

Read a 1918 article about the women’s city.

Oh Boy! Two-Way Video Chatting
(Literary Digest, 1927)

The attached jazz-age magazine article is about the creation of what we have come to call video communication; that is to say, the electronic compliance between telephone and video screen working in complete harmony in order that both participants can view one another during the conversation – and although one-sided, this did take place as early as 1927 when future President Herbert Hoover, in Washington, addressed an audience in New York (they were not viewed by the former).

Who Won World War One?
(Life Magazine, 1927)

Who won the war? asks the satirist Herb Roth (1887 – 1953) in this cartoon that appeared in print ten years after America’s entry into the war.

By the time 1927 rolled around, the popular opinion across the Western world was that the war of 1914 – 1918, and the subsequent peace treaty that followed, was a big mistake that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Although there was paper work indicating that World War One was victoriously brought to a close by the collective strength of the French, British, and American armies (among other nations) – by the time 1927 rolled around it didn’t feel like anyone’s victory.

Click here if you would like to read about the 1918 Armistice Day celebrations in Paris.

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

Virginia Woolf Reviews E.M. Forster
(Atlantic Monthly, 1927)

Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) had her say regarding the novels of E.M. Forster (1879 – 1970):

There are a many reasons which should prevent one from criticizing the work of contemporaries… With a novelist like E.M. Forster this is specially true, for he is in any case an author about whom there is considerable disagreement. There is something baffling and evasive in the very nature of his gifts.

General Pershing On The W.W. I Cemeteries & Monuments of Europe
(American Legion Monthly 1927)

Ten years after Wilson’s declaration of war U.S. General John J. Pershing (1860 – 1948)wrote this article concerning the American W.W. I monuments and cemeteries scattered throughout France, Belgium, Italy and Britain.

‘Charley” Lindbergh in Brooklyn
(The Chicagoan Magazine, 1927)

Alabama Klan Convictions
(Literary Digest, 1927)

A few of the members of the Hooded Order down Alabama way got some unexpected news in 1927 when they discovered that their standard maneuvering tactics, so often relied upon to skirt the law, had failed them utterly. Three separate set-backs in as many months had resulted in the criminal convictions of thirty-six members of the Ku Klux Klan; so surprising was this event to the local residents, the Alabama press corps and those ink-stained wretches way up North at the THE LITERARY DIGEST, that soon the nation found everyone was discussing it. This article is essentially a collection of assorted opinions gathered from across the United States concerning this stunning defeat for the Alabama Klan.

The Invention of Football’s Lateral Pass
(Literary Digest, 1927)

A football article in which various wonks from 1927 muse wistfully about the earliest use of the lateral pass (1902) and how the game of football was forever changed as a result. Football coach and sportswriter, Sol Metzger (1880 – 1932) is quoted numerous times throughout as he is credited as the first offensive end in the history of football to catch a lateral pass (during the Thanksgiving Day game of 1902 between Cornell and Pennsylvania). The lateral pass is identified in this article as being the brainchild of Dr. Carl S. Williams, who was at that time the football coach of the University of Pennsylvania.
A diagram of the 1902 play is provided.