Quick Magazine – Page 3 – Old Magazine Articles

Forced Into Communism
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

In his illustrated five page reminiscence, former Communist refugee Ivan Pluhar (b. 1927), recalls those dreadful days following the end of the Second World War when it became clear to all the citizens of Czechoslovakia that their Soviet liberators would never leave their country. The article will clue you in as to what life was like during the earliest years of the occupation and how dissenters were treated throughout that period.

A Quick Read About Soviet-Enforced Atheism
Behind the Iron Curtain…

A Rug by Raymond Loewy
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

A small notice from a news digest featured a photograph of a carpet that was designed by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893 – 1986) in the early Fifties

Something new in room dividers are area rugs designed by Raymond Loewy to define areas of activity within a room; dining sections, TV corners for example. Sophisticated but adaptable to almost all interiors, the new rugs come in such decorator colors as pink, lime green [and] turquoise.

This was Jack Benney
(Quick Magazine, 1950)

Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

This illustrated fashion review shows four images that depicted the sophisticated offerings by Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli from their respective 1951 mid-summer collections. What the American women who gazed upon these pages learned is that the era of the padded hips was continuing its march into the next decade.

The Look for Spring in ’53
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

Thumbnail descriptions of what numerous European fashion designers were offering during the Spring of 1953.

Sportscaster
(Quick Magazine, 1949)

It isn’t a sports show; it’s entertainment for the same kind of people who listen to Jack Benny

– thus said the sportscaster Bill Stern (1907 – 1971) – who is remembered in our age as the announcer to broadcast the nation’s first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a baseball game.

College Essentials
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

Here are a few short paragraphs accompanied by nine images concerning what the college girls of the early Fifties were wearing:

A girl can still get into college with a sweater and skirt, but for full credit she needs quantities of gadgets. For campus, girls stick to classic Brooks Brothers sweaters, pleated skirts, blue jeans – but go wild on accessories and underwear novelties…

The journalist then went to some effort listing many of the fashionable essentials: stamp bracelets, rhinestone handcuff bracelets, silk pleated turtleneck sweaters and harness-neck bib fronts – all to die for.

White Bucks and the College Look
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

As college girls talked back to school, it was clear that they had switched their allegiances from saddle shoes
to a new favorite: white bucks. The girls predicted they wouldn’t be white long.

Reference is also made to the rounded-button-collar dress shirts that were appearing on the backs of so many college men at that time.

British Moles Defect
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

On May 19, 1951 two officials of the British Foreign Office were reported as missing; their disappearance raised many eyebrows within the intelligence community.
One of the men, Donald MacLean (1913 – 1983) had been working in various trusted positions within the British diplomatic corps since 1934, but his handlers in Moscow called him Homer. The other Englishman, Guy Burgess (1911 – 1963) began working for the Foreign Office in 1944; the KGB called him Hicks. The two men were members of a spy ring that would soon be known as the Cambridge Four (the other two being Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. In later years a fifth spy would surface: Roland Perry. All of them were recruited by the Soviets while attending Cambridge University in the 1930s).

The information that was fed to the journalist who wrote the attached article was clearly meant to disguise the fact that all the Western intelligence agencies were totally freaking out.

Popcorn Finds a Home at the Movies
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

Popcorn was introduced as a snack food to American movie-goers as a result of the candy shortages during the earliest years of the Second World War.

Attached is a petite notice documenting the fact that the substitute was a wise one:

By 1952, movie houses accounted for about one-third of the nation’s annual $350 million retail popcorn sales.

Reference is also made to the efforts that were made to secure noiseless popcorn bags.

If popcorn replaced sweets on the home front, what replaced steak?

Movie Streaming was Invented in 1950
(Quick Magazine, 1950)

We were surprised to learn that the earliest television mavens recognized that television programming could be enhanced and customized when the signal is carried through telephone lines of individual subscribers – a perk that wasn’t made widespread for a few decades. The early concept was called Phonevision.

Changes Added to the College Football Rulebook
(Quick Magazine, 1949)

For all you football scholars out there, we offer a small article concerning one of the biggest events from the 1949 world of college football which involved the numerous changes that the college football Rules Committee put into play as the season began. The unnamed journalist concentrated on the five most important that involved the legitimacy of forward passes, fumbles and laterals.

Peace At Last
(Newsweek, Quick Magazine, 1953)

While the fighting raged on the central front the negotiators at Panmunjom rapidly approached an agreement on armistice terms. The July 19th (1953) agreement was reached on all points by both sides. The next day liaison and staff officers began the task of drawing up the boundaries of the demilitarized zone… At 1100 hours on July 27, Lieutenant General William K Harrison, Jr., the senior United Nations delegate to the armistice negotiations, signed the armistice papers. At the same time the senior enemy delegate, General Nam Il, placed his signature on the documents.

The Timeless Comedy of Bob and Ray
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

A single page from the petite pages of the short-lived magazine QUICK, heralding the arrival of the Bob and Ray radio show:

Two young fugitives from from a Boston radio station (W.H.D.H.) ,Bob Elliott (b. 1923) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990) were proving that radio – and some 15 million listeners – could take anything. In exchange for lampooning radio’s most sacred cows – soap operas and commercials – Bob and Ray now have four separate radio shows (two on NBC’s network; two on NBC’s New York station), were on the air five days a week…

The Prominent Color
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

Red is the color which is going to add excitement to the fall scene. In a season when black is everywhere, the woman who wants to stand out is going to turn to red to express her own sense of drama. Red will be seen in suits, in coats, in after-dark dresses. The color itself is so dramatic that designers rely on cut and line for interest.

U.S. Air Force Spots UFOs Over War-Torn Korea
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

In the midst of the Korean War, two American squadrons of B-29 bombers spotted UFOs flying high above the towns of Suchon and Wonson. Attached are excerpts from two newspaper editorials on the subject.

When Truman Fired MacArthur
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

General MacArthur’s wish to expand the war by dropping as many as thirty (30) A-Bombs on various strategic targets located in both China and North Korea contrasted dramatically with President Truman’s plans as well as those of the United Nations. Plagued by a crippling sense of self-grandeur, the General’s arrogance became a liability and President Truman was absolutely delighted to fire him.

Theatre Hats by Lilly Daché
(Quick Magazine, 1949)

Lilly Daché (1898 – 1989) was the most famous milliner of her era; before retiring in the late Sixties (when hats were finally shown the door) she had accomplished much in the realm of fashion – designing dresses, lingerie, gloves, bags, jewelry and hostess gowns. While in league with the Hollywood costume designer Travis Banton, her lids adorned many of the craniums of the most glamorous women ever to grace a movie screen.