1940 – Page 5 – Old Magazine Articles

PM: the Evening Tabloid
(Click Magazine, 1940)

PM (1940 – 1948) was a left-leaning, New York-based evening paper that enjoyed some notoriety across the fruited plane on account of its founding editor, Ralph Ingersoll (1900 – 1985), who liked to believe that his steady mission was to create A tabloid for literates:

Contributors included Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), I. F. Stone, Ad Reinhardt, J.T. Winterich, Leane Zug‐Smith, Louis Kronenberger and Ben Hecht; the photographs of Margaret Bourke‐White and Arthur Felig (aka Weegee) appeared regularly. Occasional contributors included Erskine Caldwell, Myril Axlerod, McGeorge Bundy, Saul K. Padover, Heywood Broun, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene Lyons, Earl Conrad; Ben Stolberg, Malcolm Cowley.

Preferring to rely more on subscribers than advertisers, PM only lasted eight years.

General George C. Marshall
(American Magazine, 1940)

A brief 1940 profile of the man President Roosevelt preferred over 33 other generals of higher grade: General George C. Marshall (1880 – 1959):

His most spectacular military feat occurred during the [First] World War, when, as operations chief of the First Army, he moved 500,000 men and 2,700 pieces of artillery from one battlefield to another without a hitch and without letting the enemy get wind of what he was doing.

The Navy Tells It
(PM Tabloid, 1942)

One year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the Navy released its report to the press with updates on all the various repairs that were put into effect.

Norman Thomas, Socialist Candidate For President
(The American Magazine, 1940)

Here is a profile of the American leftist Norman Thomas (1884 – 1968), who sought the U.S. presidency six (6) times on the Socialist ticket. He was a former clergyman and despite the fact that he wished to ban all private property, nationalize all businesses and put the kibosh on a free press – he still sounded like swell Joe to us.

The Soviet Invasion of Finland
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1940)

Just as Lenin had a triumphal military adventure, Stalin, too, believed that he could deploy Soviet forces victoriously. However, when Lenin launched his enterprise against neighboring Georgia in 1921, he had the benefit of skilled military leaders under his command – this was not the case with Stalin, who had seen fit to purge his military of thousands of officers (1934 – 1939). When Stalin’s legions attacked Finland in November of 1939, the Soviet losses that were inflicted by the numerically inferior Finns were far greater than he ever thought possible.

The article appeared during the closing weeks of the war and it reported on the outside aid the Finns were receiving. The attached file also includes an article from 1931 concerning some of the bad blood that existed between the two nations.

Read an article explaining how the Soviets used early radio…

The British Move On Tobruk
(PM Tabloid, 1941)

Click here to read more about the campaigns in North Africa during the Second World War. – from Amazon: KEY

Thousands of British Children Welcomed
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

A year and a half before Pearl Harbor, many Americans, 10,000 to be exact, were active in welcoming British children, ages 5 – 16, to their homes. This was a time when it was widely believed that a Nazi invasion of Britain was imminent and the Battle of Britain was in full-swing:

Nobody knows how many will be admitted or how many will land in Canada on the first child-refugee ship, due three weeks from now.The quota for British children is 6,500 a-month; for children from other countries quotas are considerably lower.

To read about the short and productive life of New York’s PM, click here…

FDR and Congress
(PM Tabloid, 1943)

Ogden Nash on Fashion
(The American Magazine, 1940)

In one of his other verses poet Ogden Nash (1902 – 1971) wrote that women are not female men. In the attached poem he expanded on that thought to a greater degree as he observed women and their approach to fashion.

‘The Grapes of Wrath”
(Click Magazine, 1940)

The attached article is illustrated with three color photos from the set of the movie, this short article details why The Grapes of Wrath (Twentieth Century Fox, 1940) was such a different movie to come out of Hollywood and explains how thoroughly both the art and costume departments were in their research in depicting the migrant Okies in their Westward flight:

Realism, keynote of the book, was the keynote of the picture. Henry Fonda, who plays Tom Joad, lived for weeks among the Okie farmers from Oklahoma to understand their problems…

As a result of Steinbeck’s literary efforts, medical aid was offered to California’s migrants – Click here to read about it

Click here to read a 1935 article about the real Okies.

Perhaps Steinbeck saw this 1938 photo-essay while writing his novel?

John Steinbeck became a war correspondent in 1943.

A Most Memorable Jingle
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

Coca-Cola may be the real thing, but in 1940 Pepsi had launched the ad that made Madison Avenue sit up and realize the true power of radio advertising. It was the famous radio jingle that we still hear today in every play, movie and TV show wishing to create the perfect Forties atmosphere – you know the one: Pepsi Cola hits the spot, etc., etc., etc. A real toe-tapper. The attached article will clue you-in to it’s significance.

Despair and Hunger
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

PM correspondent Richard O. Boyer (1903 – 1973) was in Berlin in June of 1940 when Paris fell to the German Army. He was dumbstruck by the surprising gloominess that hung heavily upon the German people the week of that great victory:

I could not understand it all and could scarcely believe the testimony of my own eyes. The scarlet banners with their black swastikas that garlanded the city everywhere in response to Hitler’s orders seemed only to emphasize the worried melancholy. The victory bells that rang each day at noon acquired the sound of a funeral dirge when one looked at the tired, pinched faces of the Germans hurrying along the pavements … When I expressed surprise to a glum man sitting near me he glanced impatiently up and only said, ‘We celebrated once in 1914’.

The Japanese home front suffered from tuberculosis – click here to read about it…

The Dangers of the Bund
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

Here is an article from the man who would shortly be America’s premiere spy-master: William Wild Bill Donovan. In this report he examined the Trojan horse tactics of the German Foreign Organization:

Children of Germans naturalized half a century ago are still counted German by Berlin and every effort is made to convince them of the fact… It is safe to say that a very fair proportion of the non-refugee Germans who have become American since Hitler came to power did so with the secret intention of turning free and democratic America into ‘their‘ – that is, Hitler’s – America.

Lucille Ball Gets Noticed
(Pic Magazine, 1940)

Among all the many lovelies who resided in the Hollywood of 1940, the wide-awake editors of PIC MAGAZINE singled-out Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) as the one to watch:

Barring accidents, Lucille Ball tomorrow will occupy the spot now disputed by Carol Lombard, Joan Crawford and Ginger Rogers – as First Lady of Hollywood. Lucille deserves to get it and she has what it takes to get there. The red-headed ex-chorus girl has talent, ability looks, personality and willingness to take every punishment on her way up.

You can click here to read about I Love Lucy here

The Life and Death of Trotsky
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

Appearing in the pages of a slightly left-leaning New York paper was this obituary of Leon Trotsky (1879 – 1940):

Thus, at 9:25 last night, ended the life of the man who, with Lenin, brought about the world’s most profound revolution and with his death, ended the bitterest of modern feuds – Trotsky against Stalin.

Congress Approved $5,000,000,000 Build-Up
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

To fulfill the [Pentagon’s requirements] the President plans to send Congress one more defense message asking for another $5,000,000,000. After that, with machine industries saturated with orders, Congress can sit back and survey the defense picture – provided England doesn’t collapse overnight… Acting Secretary of the Navy Compton announced yesterday the award of contracts for three aircraft carriers and two cruisers to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co….

Failing To Attract An Audience
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

In spite of the incredible films that Hollywood churned out in 1939 – Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, it seemed that there were some folks in 1940 who just wouldn’t be satisfied. This completely irked the citizens of Hollywood. And so the editor of Variety dispatched pollsters hither and yon to ask why they
thought the movies stunk.

‘Guns On French Cliffs Shell British Ships
(PM Tabloid, 1940)

A British convoy in the Straits of Dover today ran the gauntlet of terrific cannonade of long range German artillery on the French cliffs from Calais to Boulogne. The spectacular Channel bombardment was witnessed by thousands on the Dover cliffs. They reported that none of the 18 ships in the British convoy appeared to have been hit.