1947 – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

The Cold War and Public Opinion
(’47 Magazine, 1947)

This article was written by Gallup Poll Editor William Lydgate who compared various opinion surveys that were taken shortly after the close of W.W. II with the ones that were created just one year later.

The 1945 poll revealed that the American public generally looked forward to friendly relations with the Soviet Union, shared remarkably high hopes for world peace and believed deeply that the United Nations would be responsible for the creation of a better world. However, the 1946 poll measured an enormous drop in this sunny disposition.

Hiroshima Two Years Later
(Collier’s Magazine, 1947)

The Collier’s article attached herein, The Atom Bomb’s Invisible Offspring does not simply track the radioactive illnesses and contamination generated as a result of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also discusses the nuclear testings at Bikini and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Attention is paid to how the devastated people as well as all the assorted flora and fauna in the targeted regions.

Swimwear
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

The only big fashion innovation popular enough to share the 1947 headlines with Dior’s New Look involved the evolution in women’s swimwear; most notably the Bikini. The attached single page article pertains to all the new fabrics being deployed in ladies beachwear and all their assorted coverups:

Sand-and-sun fashions for this summer are perter and briefer than ever before. Although the typical bathing suit covers just about 2.5 square feet of a swimmer’s anatomy, a costume-look for the beach is achieved with a companion cape, skirt of short coat… Favored fabrics are those made to ride the waves. Knitted wool shows up in both classic and unusual designs. Colors are softer and muted. Black and blue appear most often, with cider, gray and smudge the ‘high-style’ shades.

•Click here to learn about women’s fashions from the Summer of 1934•

The Hats of 1947
(Collier’s Magazine, 1947)

With the exception of the broad-brimmed sun hat pictured in the attached fashion editorial, you will find that women’s hats were growing smaller throughout the course of the Forties and they tended to sit farther back on the cranium, requiring hairdos that would accommodate and complement these creations.

The Sally Victor hat composed of red cherries took its inspiration directly from the bizarre, comical costumes worn by the actress Carmen Miranda. This fruit theme was typical of many post-war milliners. The six other hats in the piece were by two American designers: Lilly Dache and John-Frederics.

Click here to see what men’s summer hats were like during this period.

Robert Capa: A Life
(’47 Magazine)

This article was written by John Hersey (1914 – 1993); it was written as a review of Slightly Out of Focus, the memoir by the most famous of World War II combat photographers, Robert Capa (né Andre Friedmann: 1913 – 1954). A fun and informative read, you will learn how the man came to be a photographer, how he acquired his nom de guerre, his work during the Spanish Civil War and the credibility that quickly followed.

Click here to read what General James Gavin remembered about photographer Robert Capa.

Fast Facts About Hollywood Silent Movies
(’47 Magazine, 1947)

A really quick, informative read that will let you know a whole bunch about the earliest days of Hollywood silent film production:

• Silent film production companies averaged three movies per week.

• A good salary for an early Hollywood silent film executive was $50.00 per week

• Silent film extras were paid 1.50 per day.

• There were no stunt doubles.

• The average silent film director was paid $150.00 per week.

• A big-budget production was one that cost $500.00.

• Silent film directors would talk continuously during shooting.

– and much more.

Click here to read articles about Marilyn Monroe.

‘The Runner-Up to the Bible”
(Pageant Magazine, 1947)

In His Steps, the second most popular book in history, has sold [50,000,000] copies [and just as many downloads] and is still going strong.

Remembering Captain Uemumra
(Rob Wagner’s Script Magazine, 1947)

An article in which Bataan Death March survivor Dean Sherry, tells the tale of his jailer, a kindly school teacher known only as Captain Uemumra, and remembers him with a tremendous sense of gratitude.

An unusual story during a horrible time.

When FDR Wrote a Script…
(Coronet Magazine, 1947)

Here is an article by one of the foot soldiers of legendary silent movie producer Adolf Zukor, in which she recalled a time in 1923 when the future president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, mailed an unsolicited photoplay (ie. script) to their offices in hopes of securing some measure of Hollywood immortality.

Knowing that FDR had tremendous power in both New York and Washington, Zukor instructed her to let him down gently; twenty years later Roosevelt would chuckle about his ambitions with her at a White House party.

President Lincoln had his own dreams and aspirations…

A Review of Saroyan’s The Adventures of Wesley Jackson(Rob Wagner’s Script, 1947)

The 1947 review of William Saroyan’s war novel, The Adventures of Wesley Jackson:

What makes the novel good is what makes Saroyan good. In this case his wonderful satires on army life, wangling , and the weird fauns of his private universe. What makes it bad is the overdose of soliloquies, hymns and plain mutterings on love, death life and the appeasement of divine wrath by means of scapegoat.

The American-Imposed Censorship
(Commonweal, 1947)

The suspicious lads of the U.S. Army’s Civil Censorship Detachment, General Headquarters, Japan, were given the task of combing-over not simply the articles that were to appear in the Japanese press, but all civilian correspondences that were to be delivered through the mail, as well. Seeing that the Japanese were recovering Fascists, like their former BFFs in far-off Germany, the chatter of unfulfilled totalitarians was a primary concern. They were especially keen on seeing to it that the gruesome photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be as limited in their circulation as possible. But what makes this column most surprising is the fact that the brass hats at GHQ knew full well that the American people hate censorship and would not want it practiced in their name.

Black Tie, Please
(Collier’s Magazine, 1947)

One evening in 1947, Henry L. Jackson, co-founder of Esquire Magazine, realized that his magazine alone was not sufficient enough in circulation for passing the word along to his fellows that the rules for men’s evening wear were rapidly being rewritten; knowing full-well that Collier’s was one of the preeminent American magazines of its day, he no-doubt must have pleaded the urgency of his case to their editors and, in so doing, saved the collective faces of the homo Americanus once more! We’re delighted that he did so, because now you will have a more thorough understanding as to how you might have dressed had you lived in post-war America.

A White Woman Looks at the Negro and the Scourge of Racism
(Pageant Magazine, 1947)

Writer Margaret Halsey (1910 – 1997) was a patriotic lass who did her bit for Uncle Sam by managing a soldier’s canteen in New York City during the Second World War – you should know that throughout the course of that war there were thousands of canteens throughout America where Allied soldiers, sailors airmen and Marines could enjoy a free meal and have a dance or two with the local girls. Similar to most other canteens in the country, her doors were open to all servicemen regardless of color and as a result, the same policy had to be followed by the local girls who came to dance: they, too, could not discriminate.

Her observations in this integrated environment led to believe that a national policy of racial assimilation will not be as difficult as many people at the time tended to believe.

BLOODBATH
(’47 Magazine, 1947)

Written some eighteen years after the event, here is a reminiscence of the worst day in Prohibition history: the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The Amish
(Coronet Magazine, 1947)

Here is a wonderful photo-essay that depicts the lives of one of the most pious communities in the United States: the Mennonites of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania:

The Biblical statement that God wished to ‘purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works’ [Titus 2:14] is followed literally by the Amish. They do everything possible to ensure their goodness and to make themselves different from ordinary men.

White Primaries in Georgia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

On January 29, 1947, the Georgia House of Representatives approved the Democratic white primary law – which was intended to exclude any African American in that state from voting in state primary elections.

The Rebellious Souls in Post-War Germany
(Collier’s Magazine, 1947)

This Collier’s Magazine article from 1947 was penned by the German-speaking Sigrid Schultz (1893 – 1980) who’s report told on those discontented Germans who enjoyed tweaking the collective noses of the armies that lorded over them – oddly believing that a war between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union was the best answer to their hopes. Elements of the populace spoke openly about the good old days under Hitler and sang the old Nazi anthem, The Horst Wessel Song:

In Munich, the signs on the square named for ‘The Victims of Fascism’ were replaced by signs reading ‘The Victims of Democracy’. The police only acted after a Munich paper front-paged the story.

Read about American censorship in Occupied-Japan…

Shavian Witticisms
(Coronet Magazine, 1947)

Myriad are the clever epigrams that have been attributed to the famed Anglo-Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) – and attached you’ll find additional chestnuts to add to the list. These particular ones recall the bon mots he tossed out while prattling-on with various assorted glitterati of his day; yapers like Clare Boothe Luce, Orson Welles, Judith Anderson and tennis champ Helen Wills.