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Manhattan Servant Problems (Vanity Fair, 1918)

The attached cartoon depicted one of the unintended consequences of German aggression during the First World War: the creation of what was known as the servant problem. It should be understood that the difficulty in question caused no particular hardship for those who were supposed to be the servants; they were simply delighted to vacate the collective domiciles of Mr. & Mrs. Got-Rocks in order to pull down a living wage in a nice, cozy smoke-spewing armament factory some place – leaving their former employers to fix their own meals and diaper junior.


Click here to read about the New York fashions of 1916.

The German Anti-Tank Rifle (Almanach Hechette, 1919)

As a response to the drastic increase in French and British tank production, German industry manufactured a powerful (if cumbersome) anti-tank rifle in early 1918. The weapon fired a 13mm armor-piercing bullet but it’s heavy recoil made the weapon difficult to operate. The Abris Museum in Albert, France has one of these currently on display.

American Snipers in France (Literary Digest, 1919)

This article listed the skills required to survive as a sniper in W.W. I France:

One extremely important rule was that he should swab the muzzle of his rifle after every shot, to make sure that no moisture had collected there. One tiny drop of water would, upon the rifle’s discharge, send up a puff of steam that would reveal him to his carefully watching enemies.


To see a diagram of the American W.W. I sniper rifle, click here.


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W.W. I Clip Art: Male Faces

Eight assorted drawings pulled from various magazines and equipment catalogs dating between the years 1915 through 1919.

W.W. I Clip Art: Doughboys

Four drawings of American Doughboys that originally appeared in a 1918 Leslie’s Weekly.The drawings were made by Cyrus Leroy Baldridge (1889 – 1977).

Click here to read some statistical data about the American Doughboys of the First World War.

Theda Bara: 1920s Sex Symbol (Atlanta Georgian, 1917)

An enthusiastic review of the Hollywood silent film, The Tiger Womanstyle=border:none (1917) starring the first (but not the last) female sex symbolstyle=border:none of the silent era, Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman; 1885-1955). This very brief review will give the reader a sense of how uneasily many men must have sat in their chairs when she was pictured on screen. Theda Bara retired in 1926, having worked in forty-four films.

World War One Clip Art: Otto Dix

Attached you will find assorted German Army figures by German Expressionist and World War I infantry veteran Otto Dix
(Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix 1891 – 1969). He served as a machine gunner for much of the war.

Living the Life (Pageant Magazine, 1957)

This is the new suburban America… It has developed since the Second World War. It is within hollering distance of a big city but has a definite will of its own. Its people are youngish and their numbers growing. To find out what goes on in such a community, PAGEANT MAGAZINE made a study of one typical postwar suburb: Levittown, Long Island. It has 82,000 people, fairly young; the town is 12 years old and still growing fast. What happens there [each year] is typical of the new American ‘normal’:


• Average Income: $6,100.00


• Deaths: 304


• Births: 2,760


• Divorces: 101


• HS Graduates: 285


• College-Bound Graduates: 60


• Auto Accidents: 355

Celebrity Wedding: Lucile Ball and Desi Arnaz (Photoplay Magazine, 1941)

Attached you will find a small illustrated notice from the shameless gossips at PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE reporting on the surprise 1941 wedding that took place between Lucile Ball and Desi Arnaz.

PHOTOPLAY acknowledged the nay-saying Hollywood romance prophets who predicted doom for the union of these two Rhumba Stars – but in the end, they were right: Lucy and Desi divorced in May of 1961.

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