1941 – Page 3 – Old Magazine Articles

Weeding-Out the Nuts from the Draft Pool
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

As America was gearing up to fight another world war, the brass caps were reminded how incapable they were at identifying and isolating the mental incompetents during the last war, and they swore this war would be different. Numerous military and civilian psychiatrists were convened, and it was concluded that of the millions of men called, at least 15 percent would likely be off-their-rockers.

Weeding-Out the Nuts from the Draft Pool
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

The Fashion Industry Kowtows
(PM Tabloid, 1941)

Two Weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack, the New York fashion industry hastily manufactured profiles that were both feminine and practical for the new lives American women were about to have thrust upon them. Overnight, durable and launderable fabrics became uppermost in the thinking of the new war workers and culottes gained greater importance as the need for bicycles became a viable mode of transport for getting to the defense plants.

King Named to Lead Fleet
(PM Tabloid, 1941)

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America’s Hemispheric Allies Declare War Before FDR
(PM Tabloid, 1941)

Within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, the nations of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Dominion of Canada all declared war upon Imperial Japan. The United States wouldn’t do so until the next morning.

Although there were a number of Latin American countries that declared war on the Axis, only two, Brazil and Mexico, put men in the field (Mexican nationals served in the U.S. military)- click here to read about the Brazilians.

The Pilots War
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

Reviewed anonymously in the attached column are two books, I Was a Nazi Flyer, the diary of Gottfried Leske, and The Airmen Speak, which is a compilation of war stories told by assorted RAF pilots.

Yank Pilots in the RAF
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

“Many Americans are serving both with the British and Canadian Air Forces, but the RAF’s Eagle Squadron is the only unit that is all-American save for the British squadron leader who succeeded William Erwin Gibson Taylor (1905 – 1991), a New Yorker, released to rejoin United States naval aviation.”

New Deal Price Controls
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

This article appeared six months before the 77th Congress passed a price control law as a wartime measure in an attempt to stave off inflation. The column pertains to the early planning of a wartime economy as the nation prepared to devote itself to total war. You’ll remember that the Supreme Court found FDR’s price control schemes (the NRA) to be unconstitutional during the Thirties. Regardless of their efforts, inflation still kicked-in after the war, up until the Republican Congress cut taxes.

The War and Public Opinion
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

Five months before America entered the war, pollsters sallied forth onto the streets with numerous queries:

“On the question, ‘Shall the United States enter the war to help Britain defeat Hitler?’ The New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune found war sentiment ranging from 3 out of 10 voters in New York State to 2 out of 11 in Illinois.”

Life Under Siege
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Here is an account of life during the Blitz, as written by sculptor Clare Sheridan (née Frewen; 1885 – 1970):

“I have from the very beginning put [poison] gas out of my thoughts and refused to carry a gas mask. But in a mad world growing madder daily who knows what the madmen may not resort to!… According to the gas booklet, the stuff will come through the window clacks, under the door and down the chimney.”

”Workingman’s War”
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

This 1941 Collier’s article looks at the British working class during the Blitz on London. Numerous men and women were interviewed concerning their aspirations and hopes for the post-war world. Much is written about the 300 free kitchens that were placed throughout London to accommodate them as well as the free schools that were instituted to train war plant workers how to use the various machines needed to create the necessary war materinél.

“Hitler isn’t making war against capitalism, as he says he is. He’s not the great proletarian he brags he is, but is instead deliberately bombing civilians, their schools, churches, homes and hospitals in order to throw the civilian population into despair and terror. Well, he has failed.”

The German Paratroopers
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

This 1941 article lays out the brief history of airborne infantry before the author begins to recall the origins, training and victories of the W.W. II German paratroopers:

“The origin of parachute usage in warfare is obscure. They were extensively employed in the Great war to land spies and saboteurs. It is also of record that in 1917 General [Billy] Mitchell tried to persuade General Pershing to permit him to form an experimental troop of parachute fighters. Thus Mitchell was probably the first man professionally to express the notion of paratroopers… It was in 1935 that Hitler ordered Goering to organize paratroopers…[In Germany] the parasoldier is an object of curiosity to the elders, of envy to the youth. He is bound to be questioned and bound to do a sales job in educating the public, as you would say.”

Fritz Thyssen on Hitler
(Liberty Magazine, 1941)

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48 Hours With Winston Churchill
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

It is not an interview with the Prime Minister. He is too busy to give interviews and his sense of fairness long ago forced him to make the rule of ‘no interviews’. If he couldn’t give an interview to all, he wouldn’t give an interview to one. But I spent two days with him and this story is of the Winston Churchill I got to know well in forty-eight hours.

One Tough New York City Cop
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Few Times Square tourists recognize Johnny Broderick, but New York mobsters cringe at the mention of his name. Meet Broadway’s one-man riot squad in his own bailiwick, where the lights are brightest.

The words and deeds of Johnny Broderick were so widely known that visiting politicians would request that he take charge of their security details and the broadcasting moguls wanted to make radio shows celebrating his daring-do. His round-house punch was known far and wide; cops like this one do not come along too often.

The Wunderkind: Orson Welles
(Direction Magazine, 1941)

his brief notice is from a much admired American magazine containing many sweet words regarding the unstoppable Orson Welles (1915 – 1985) and his appearance in the Archibald McLeish (1892 – 1982) play, Panic (directed by John Houseman, 1902 — 1988).

The year 1941, Ano Domini, was another great year for the boy genius who seemed to effortlessly triumph with all his theatrical and film ventures. At the time this appeared in print, Welles was filming The Magnificent Ambersons, having recently pocketed an Oscar for his collaborative writing efforts in Citizen Cane. Highly accomplished and multi-married, no study of American entertainment is complete without mention of his name. The anonymous scribe who penned the attached article remarked:

No pretentiously shy Saroyan courtship of an audience about Welles! He really loves his relation to the public. He doesn’t flirt with it.

1941 Fashion
(PM Tabloid, 1941)

Eleven months before America’s entry into the war found sailor suits playing a heavy role in the thought processes of the Great American Fashion Designers.

Click here to read about the military influence on W.W. I fashion…

American Indians Step Up – Again
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

…And last week the Office of Indian Affairs, reporting results of a sampling of 26 out of 80 Indian jurisdictions, revealed that out of 7,407 Selective Service registrants, 547 had already volunteered against 37 actually drafted – a ratio of 15 volunteers for each draftee.