Articles from 1955
WHO, WHAT, AND WHY is the average American [man]? What does he eat? What does he wear? What does he worry about? These questions and more like them have taken us on a long journey through the realm of statistics. Out of the discoveries of the Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau and Dr. Gallup’s polls, we’ve succeeded in piecing together an uncommon portrait of the common man.
Audie Murphy (1925 – 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of the Second World War. This article appeared on the newsstands just in time to promote To Hell and Back
We all know that there are two sides to every story, but not in this article. If the utterances of Clark Gable’s first wife (Josephine Dillon, 1884 – 1971) are true, then we have no choice but to believe that Gable was a real stinker.
When Miss Dillon left for Hollywood, he followed. A year later they were married in Los Angeles by gospel minister A.C. Smithers. Josephine traded the Dillon name to become Mrs. Clark Gable.
It didn’t take her long to discover quite a bit about her new young husband. He didn’t even have a grammar school education. He knew nothing about acting. And he was penniless. They lived in the money Josephine made as a dramatic coach. There wasn’t much of it, because her best pupil was her big-eared husband; his lessons were ‘on the house’. He sopped up what she knew like a sponge.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called him the most dangerous Communist in the United States – his name was Herbert Aptheker (1915 – 2003) and in this magazine article he explained to his readers that as he traveled the Western states he saw an America that was heartily sick of the Cold War.
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The attached article, A Mother’s Ordeal with Homosexuality first appeared in 1955, a time when the term gay was not known, and the word homosexual was used in its place – and as you will learn, homosexual was essentially synonymous with the designations sex offender, Paraphilia and Child molester.
The charge of homosexuality against someone, anyone, is not a light one. It requires proof, the strictest proof there is; getting it is not an easy matter.
This is a consumer report concerning various bomb shelter plans that were commercially available to the American public in 1955:
The most elaborate of five government-approved home bomb shelters is a combination tunnel and emergency exit in reinforced concrete, extending outward under ground from cellar walls It holds six persons and offers maximum protection from all effects of an atomic explosion… But the FCDA (Federal Civil Defense Administration) also recommends a practical type type that can be put together by any do-it-yourselfer for around $20.00.
In the early Fifties many of the people from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico decided to pack their bags and move to New York City. Overnight, it seemed, a portion of Harlem came to be known as Spanish Harlem – where hastily assembled mambo dance halls could be found among restaurants serving the exotic cuisine of the Caribbean. There were also complications that emerged with the new comers that are addressed in this 1955 article:
Today, however, there is a forceful change taking place, an influence so great that New York City officials have forecast a startling racial shift within a few years and are already making plans for meeting this switch…
This article is based on the research of Paul Popenoe (1888 – 1979), and the American Sociological Society that pointed out the high STD rate in Europe at the time indicated that the first sexual experiences among the males of that continent were with prostitutes. Two additional factors in the author’s argument highlighted the alarmingly high suicide rate among young European women coupled with the fact that the illegitimate birthrate far outpaced that of the United States at that time. Illustrated with four images that depict how depraved European dating in the Fifties was and how darn wholesome American teenage dating used to be by comparison, this article presents some sociological data supporting the conclusion that American love is better than European love because the American approach to the topic was simply easier and Europeans are just a bunch of pervs.
This article, by celebrated chef James Beard (1903 – 1985), walks us through the history of Champagne as only a true lover of food and wine can do:
Not until around 1670 was a way discovered to imprison those tantalizing bubbles in every bottle, and keep the bottle from exploding. Credit for inventing sparkling Champagne is attributed, inaccurately perhaps, to a Benedictine monk named Dom Perignon…It is said that as an old, blind man, Dom Perignon could sniff a glass of Champagne, sip it, swish it about his mouth, and then unfailingly say from what hillside the grapes had come…
Here is a handy how-to piece by a popular hairdresser of the Fifties explaining how to duplicate Marilyn Monroe’s hairdo on your own head – take a look.
Sartre recalls the Nazi-occupation of France… KEY WORDS: jean-paul sartre on the cold war,cold war editorial by jean-paul sartre,cold war
It was called the Universal-International School of Motion Picture Drama and it was established in 1948 (the year of it’s closing is not so easy to find). The school’s young students were all Universal contract players who had been chosen by legendary casting agent Robert Palmer; a few illustrious names from the alumni list include Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Shelley Winters, Jeff Chandler and Piper Laurie.
Although he is not listed as a student in that program, Clint Eastwood can clearly be seen in the center of the attached class photo.
The author Thomas Hine pointed out in his 1986 tour-de-force, Populuxe
Sixty years before this article was published, Libero Nardonne, who posed for the Rodin’s celebrated sculpture, The Kiss (1885), enjoyed a life as one of the most popular artist’s model in all of Paris – at a time when the greatest artist’s in the world were residences of that famous burg. Jump forward to 1955 and you would find him a broke and broken man who lived on the streets – nonetheless, he showed the American photographers through the art museums to point out all the masterpieces he had played a part in creating.
This is a three page PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE profile of method actor Marlon Brando (1924 – 2004) regarding the first eight years of his fame. Much of the column space is devoted to Brando’s friendship with Harry Belafonte and all the boyish pranks and general carousing that the two enjoyed during their (thankfully) brief salad days.
Crocodile tears were shed for Georgi Malenkov (1902 – 1988), a buddy of Stalin’s who was forced to resign as Soviet premier a few weeks earlier on the grounds that he had failed to produce any memorable reforms in agriculture (Nikita Khrushchev had drawn up a laundry list of additional Malenkov failings as well). The author sweetly pointed out that the Premiere was not to blame; after all,the entire system of government had been schemed by a dreamer who intended his utopia to be built in Germany or Britain.
Click here to read about Stalin’s Five Year Plan.
Read an article explaining how the Soviets used early radio…
Within the cozy confines of the attached PDF file rest in honored glory the digital reproduction of seven (7) tried-and-true diets from 1955:
• The Liquid Diet
• The Spring Cleaning Diet
• The du Pont Diet
• The Basic Seven Diet
• The Famous Clinic Diet
• The Hard and Fast Diet
• The Daily Dozen Diet
They were all the necessary diet choices required for the (so-called) Pageant Diet Selector Dial, which is a part of the download. Seeing that there is not a single diet that is right for everyone, there is attached herein a paper dial that can be referred to daily – one for women and the other for men:
Looka at the outside band of the wheel for your age and activity group (whether you lead an active or a sedentary life). Then, select the number of pounds you want to loose.
– finally select the diet or combination of diets, indicated by the number on the inner wheel and follow the directions.
From Amazon:
The Doctor’s Diet: Dr. Travis Stork’s STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health
