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David Lloyd George
(Vanity Fair, 1916)

An article that served to introduce American readers to the new British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George (1863 – 1945), who replaced the incompetent wartime leader Herbert Henry Asquith (1852 – 1928):

People had began to doubt whether or not Mr. Asquith had ‘the will to win’ the necessary determination to make all things work together to that end. There was no doubt in the case of Lloyd George. He had supported credit, he had supplied ammunition, he had inspired general confidence, he had reconciled the irreconcilable. The question arose whether or not the box seat on the coach of state should not be given to him.


The article concentrates primarily on the radical instinct and liberal leanings of Lloyd George, who is often remembered as the Prime Minister who laid the foundations of the British nanny-state.


In 1940 Lloyd George wrote an editorial in which he condemned the leaders of Europe for procrastinating rather than dealing with Hitler when Germany was still weak Click here to read it.

Lloyd George on the Nazi Blitzkrieg
(Click Magazine, 1940)

In this article, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863 – 1945) lambasts the leaders of Britain and France for blundering their way into the Second World War having failed to cut Hitler off at the knees on any number of previous occasions:

It is just over twenty-one years ago that France and Britain signed the Armistice with Germany which brought to an end the bloodiest war in history. They are now fighting essentially the same struggle… It is no use keeping up the pretense that things are going well for the democratic cause. We are suffering not from one blunder, but from a series of incredible botcheries. It is a deplorable tale of incompetence and stupidity.

Lloyd George singled-out Chamberlain with particular contempt, while presenting his thoughts about Hitler and Mussolini, the German Blitzkrieg and Soviet neutrality

David Niven Returns to Hollywood
(Rob Wagner’s Script, 1946)

After six years of war British actor David Niven (1910 – 1983) came back to resume his rightful place among the anointed swells of Hollywood. This single page article is interesting and not only touches upon his war years but also his earliest days in North America toiling-away on a series of menial jobs.

He isn’t talkative about what happened to him during that dark period [during the war]. He says his outlook has changed some. Even the gayest and most lighthearted can’t participate in a ghastly war without some mark being left. The fight with the Nazis made David Niven conscious of other things than the drama pages.


Niven’s first post-war film roll was in the Hal Wallis production of THE PERFECT MARRIAGE, co-starring Loretta Young.

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Eisenhower’s D-Day Report
(The Department of the Army, 1945)

The following is an extract from General Eisenhower‘s report on the Allied operations from June 6 through the 26 of August, 1944:

Many factors are woven into warp and woof of this great victory…One was the meticulous care in planning and preparation, another was the fact that we achieved some degree of surprise involving place, timing and strength of attack. The excellence and sufficiency of amphibious equipment, with measures for dealing with beach defenses and obstacles, was also important. In the air, the Luftwaffe has taken a fearful beating. Since June 6, 2378 German aircraft have been destroyed in the air and 1,167 on the ground…

Statistical data concerning the U.S. Army casualties in June and July of 1944 can be read in this article.

The Thinking of Buckminster Fuller
(Coronet Magazine, 1941)

Bereft of all but one illustration, this five page article delves into the design philosophy of the architect Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983) – who was very fond of the word dymaxion:

Fuller argues that the social function of machinery is to eliminate the unpleasant phases of life in the shortest possible space of time. Housing, or ‘shelter’ as he prefers to call it, should be, fundamentally, ‘a machine for living.’

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Edgar Degas: R.I.P.
(Vanity Fair, 1918)

Some interesting postmortem thoughts and seldom heard facts concerning the life and times of Impressionist painter Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917); of particular interest was the enormous amount of money fetched at auction for the assorted content of his studio during a time of national crises in France.

Phonograph Advocate: Sir Edward Elgar
(Current Opinion, 1921)

Sir Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934), the noted composer, recently presided at the opening of the new headquarters of a gramophone company in London. Elgar is a great believer in the mechanical reproduction of music, and always conducts for records of his own works.

What musicians want, he said, is more listeners.

European Styles in Cars
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1921)

One of the special correspondents writing for VANITY FAIR on the subject of motoring was the British novelist Gerald Biss (1876 – 1922), who contributed similar pieces to THE STRAND, TATLER, DAILY MAIL and EVENING STANDARD. In this review, Biss gave his drink-deprived American readers the straight dope as to what they can expect to see from the European car manufacturers of 1921. References are made to the products of the Voisin and Vauxhall Companies and there was some lose talk about electric starters and high-grade tweleve-cylinder cars.

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Emily Post on Manners in the Movies
(Photoplay Magazine, 1939)

A 1939 magazine interview with America’s Mullah of manners, Emily Post (1872 – 1960) who was asked to give some criticism on the way etiquette is displayed on screen. She did not hold back; letting Hollywood have both barrels, La Post articulately opined about the poor choice of words the actors are required to spout, how humorously enormous so many of the living room sets always appear to be and how thoroughly inappropriate too many of the costumes are:

According to Miss Post, the worst offense committed against good manners is that of pretentiousness. She says, ‘Good manners are the outward expression of an inward grace. You can’t get them any other way. Probably that is why Shirley Temple, in that very first feature picture of hers, had charm that few can equal.’

Sometimes the mistakes Hollywood makes are not too serious, but usually they are ludicrous, and far too often they set bad examples for millions of ardent movie-goers.

Technicolor
(Film Daily, 1939)

Technicolor – conceived at Boston Tech and born in a rail way car in 1917, attained its majority, properly enough, 28 years later when Dr. Herbert Thomas Kalmus, president and founder, received the 1938 Progress Award from the Society of Motion Picture Engineers at its annual convention.

The story of Technicolor begins in 1915 when Dr. Kalmus and his associates became interested in a color process. Dr. Kalmus’ task was to find a suitable name, and, a Boston Tech man himself, he combined Technique, the engineering school’s class annual, and Color and so was born Technicolor.


Click here to read a about a particularly persuasive and

highly effective W.W. II training film…

The First Folding Wing Monoplane
(Popular Mechanics, 1912)

A passing glance at aviation magazines from the early Twentieth Century reveals that that particular sub-culture was very concerned with the ability to allow for trouble-free ground transport of aircraft. There were many magazine articles picturing how biplanes could be deconstructed for this purpose and up until 1912, or so we are led to believe by the editors of Popular Mechanics, the de Marcay-Mooney monoplane was the first flying machine that was able to have it’s wings fold back (much like a bird or a beetle) and when re-set at 90 degrees for take-off, could fly successfully.

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The 1922 U.S. Elections: Some Wins But Mostly Defeats
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

As 1922 came to a close, it seemed that some of the Suffragettes of the old-school had not lost their taste for violence, as the reader will discover in the opening paragraph of this one page article that primarily focused on the defeat of all but one of the women candidates who ran for Federal offices in the 1922 elections. Thirty-three women running for Congressional and legislative seats in New York State went down to defeat and there were no women elected or re-elected from any state for Congress that year. However, the state of Ohio elected it’s first woman to that state’s Supreme Court: Florence E. Allen (1884–1965).

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In Defense of Modern Architecture
(Coronet Magazine, 1940)

Living, as he did, at a time when the average American homeowner was more inclined to prefer a ranch house over a machine for living that those vulgar, snail-eating European modernists were capable of creating, American architect George Frederick Keck (1895 – 1980) saw fit to write this spirited defense on behalf of modern design. Playing the part of a modernist missionary seeking to convert the heathens, Keck argued that his tribe of architects – with their understanding of contemporary building materials and respect for simplicity – were suited to create a better standard of living for one and all.

The German Luger
(Yank Magazine, 1943)

Two black and white diagrams illustrating the unique features of the German Luger pistol appear alongside a brief history of the weapon. Additional information included in the article are operating instructions and a table of characteristics which lists assorted fun facts about the weapon; it’s weight, length and range, as well as an explanation as to how the piece compares to the M1911 A1 Colt 45 (the standard issue side arm of the U.S. Army):

Since 1908 the Luger pistol has been the official German military side arm. George Luger of the DWM Arms Company in Germany developed this weapon, known officially as Pistole 08, from the American Borchart pistol invented in 1893

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