1953 – Old Magazine Articles

The Coeds of the Cold War
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

The original Generation X was that group of babies born in the late Twenties/early Thirties: they were the younger brothers and sisters of the W.W. II generation. There seemed to have been some talk in the early Fifties that this group of Americans were becoming sardonic and cynical – raised on the W.W. II home front, only to find that when they came of age they were also expected to sacrifice their numbers in a foreign war:

How can you help being pessimistic when you hear that the boy you sat next to in high school English was killed last week in Korea?

– opined one of the nine college women interviewed on the attached pages. These Cold War women were asked what was on their minds as they prepared for jobs, marriage and family.

Her Coronation
(Pageant Magazine, 1953)

Judging by the photographs in this eleven page article, the editors of PAGEANT MAGAZINE must have finally decided to take their name quite seriously when they decided to dispatch a correspondent across the sea to report on all the glorious pageantry and glamour that made up the 1953 Coronation of the 27-year-old Elizabeth II (b. 1926):

When Elizabeth arrives at Westminster Abbey for the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony of the Coronation, it will mark the first time in fifty years that a queen has been crowned in England. Three queens have ruled over Albion in 800 years: Elizabeth I, Ann and Victoria; each of their reigns have brought great progress and prosperity. That is one reason why her subjects look forward with such glowing hope to the reign of Elizabeth II.

(Although it is no reflection on her, Britain’s power has decreased dramatically since 1953)

Does Smoking Really Cause Cancer?
(United States News, 1953)

Some time ago we posted an article from 1921 about legislation that the U.S. Congress was considering concerning the prohibition of cigarettes (Click here to read about that) we thought that the cat was out of the bag at that time as to the fact concerning the connection of smoking and cancer. But we were wrong. The 1953 article attached herein concerns four doctors who appeared before Congress in an appeal for federal funding for cancer research. They made it clear that research was indicating that there was a clear link between smoking and cancer, but more exploration was needed.

In 1921 there was talk in Congress of outlawing cigarettes – you can read about it here

Click here to read about one of the greatest innovations by 20th Century chemists: plastic.

‘I Was On Board Titanic”
(Pageant Magazine, 1953)

The 1953 Titanic reunion took place in New York City. Numbered among the nine survivors was Edith Russell, who had been nineteen at the time of the ship’s sinking. Also in attendance that day was the writer Seymour Ettman, who collaborated with Russell in crafting the attached five page article about her experiences the night Titanic slipped below the surface of the North Atlantic:

If the Titanic sinks, will they transfer the luggage?

Miss, if I were you, I’d go back to your room and kiss your lovely things goodbye.

The Escaped P.O.W.s That The F.B.I. Never Found
(Collier’s Magazine, 1953)

Unlike Reinhold Pabel, the W.W. II German P.O.W. whose story is told in the article posted above, the five escapees in this article remained at large long after the war ended. Five minutes researching their names on the internet revealed that every single one of them remained in the U.S. where they held jobs, paid taxes and raised families well into their golden years.

Family Politics
(American Magazine, 1953)

Early next month the whole world will take time out from its atom bombs and cold wars and financial worries to re-live for a day all the jeweled delight of an old-fashioned fairy tale. This fairy tale will be all the more significant because it happens to be true… In short, a young queen will be crowned in London… But, amid all the glitter and pomp, the one man who would normally be expected to be the most important guest will not have a roll to play – The Duke of Windsor.

Henpecked
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Assorted snide stories concerning the Duke of Windsor – the world he made and the man he became:

It is both sad and amusing to see a former King of England reduced by the woman he loves to a ‘Little Man’, to the rank of a meek husband. What should one do, laugh or cry, when one looks at the ex-Caesar in the role of handbag-carrier, a sort of walking ornament…

The World He Made for Himself
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

The ‘real’ world into which the Duke has entered by his ‘own’ free will is international café society, that glittering, gilded bubble floating above the stormy seas of history…The Duke lives a rather different life. An hour or so with one of those American businessmen he admires, following tips on the market, looking over the quotations in stocks and bonds, and he has nothing to trouble about for the day, or the next month or so, until another empty hour obtrudes itself in the almost ceaseless round of pleasure like a hole in time waiting to be plugged by something, anything.

Available at Amazon: Gone with the Windsors

The Duchess
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Attached is an unflattering essay by biographer Iles Brody, who beautifully captured the Duchess of Windsor and her unending pursuit of the chic. Obsessed with self-image, this column lists the fashion houses and boutiques that were most favored by Wallis Simpson.

Despite her wealth, the Duchess loved a good bargain.

What Might Have Been?
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

The Duke of Windsor is now 59. He has arrived at that age when a man begins to weigh his life and all that he has done with it…What can he remember? That having come to the throne the most beloved of all princes, the darling of a nation that would have followed him through hell-fire; he threw away the tiresome restraints of kingship, to gain what?

‘The Windsors in Wonderland”
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Iles Brody, author of Gone with the Windsors, was no fan of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but before he began to outline all their various faults in the attached essay, he first wanted to make one aspect of their history quite clear:

The true story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor cannot be told without clarifying one point right at the beginning: there was only one man who forced Edward VIII off the throne: himself.
Yet millions have been led to believe that Prime Minister and Primate got together with the peers and, with the help of the British press, compelled the King to abandon his hereditary trust.

‘This Is The Life”
(People Today Magazine, 1953)

Pretty girl’s pictures help sell toothpaste, cigarettes and magazines, so why shouldn’t they help sell religion? This logic is being applied by churchmen producing the new TV series called, This is the Life.

After all – it’s no sin to be pretty – quoth Reverend R.C. Wuerffel, Chairman of the Lutheran TV Production Committee.

It was indeed divine inspiration that graced the craniums of these producing-churchmen employed by the Lutheran Hour Ministries – this television program was an absolute success – appearing first in 1952 and wrapping in 1988. Some of the pretty faces they employed along the way belonged to Annette O’Toole, Kathy Garver, Angie Dickinson, Lisa Pelikan, Mala Powers and Lynn Whitfield.

Watch Jack Nicholson in an episode of This Is The Life.

Tolerance at the Polls
(Pageant Magazine, 1953)

Speaking of thawing ice:

In 1942 Roper Poll found only 42 per cent of Americans saying ‘yes‘ to the question ‘Are Negroes as intelligent as Whites and can they learn just as quickly if given education and training?‘ After W.W. II the number rose to 57 per cent.

Ernest Hemingway of Time Magazine
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Some wise old wag once opined that by the time W.W. II came along, Hemingway was far too fascinated by his own public image to have ever been an effective war correspondent. However, it should be remembered that he had looked war in the face on many occasions – the Second World War was the seventh conflict that he witnessed as a war reporter. Prior to working as a war correspondent for Time and Collier’s during the Second World War, Hemingway had written for a number of other outlets in six other conflicts.

The War on Capitol Hill
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

When General James Van Fleet let it be known that much of the previous two years in Korea had been plagued by a shortage in ammunition, tempers flared in the Senate as both parties talked of convening an investigative committee.

‘My Two Years In The Red Army”
(American Magazine, 1953)

Is the average soldier in the USSR eager for war with the United States? Here’s the inside story of Russian morale and military spirit, revealed by the first Soviest fighting man to escape his Communist masters and become an American GI.

Where the Stars Dwell: Beverly Hills, California
(Coronet Magazine, 1953)

Times have changed: when this article about Beverly Hills first went to press, that famed little hamlet could support as many as ten bookshops. It is now barely able to support one:

Beverly Hills became famous in 1926 when, in one of the smartest publicity stunts of the century, the movie star Will Rogers was elected honorary mayor. Installed in drizzling rain, Rogers declared that all the budding town needed for progress was a little scandal and a few murders…

This was not a problem.

Beverly Hills Confidential: A Century of Stars, Scandals and Murders

American Civil Defense
(Weekly News Review, 1953)

Attached is an article about Val Peterson (1903 – 1983), who had been appointed by President Eisenhower to serve as the director of the Federal Civil Defense Administration between 1953 through 1957. Peterson is remembered as the Washington functionary who mobilized graphic designers, copywriters, cartoonists and filmmakers in an effort to shock America’s youth out of their complacency and recognize that nuclear warfare was a genuine possibility.

America has always depended on its youth. The Atomic Age of nuclear weapons has not changed this – it has intensified it.