Random Issues

Today in 1951 – Paging Through Quick Magazine, March 12, 1951

March 12, 2009 By Cliff Aliperti 2 Comments

Time to spring a dime onto the counter and slip today’s issue of Quick News Weekly into our back pocket for later reading. This little digest measures just 4×6 inches with 68 pages inside. Lots of little photos take up a good deal of the limited page space, and while the feature articles might run 2-4 pages, a lot of the items are really quick hits. Today’s issue, March 12, 1951, features opera soprano Marguerite Piazza on the cover and asks the question “New Life for a Dying Opera?”

Quick News Weekly March 12 1951 — Marguerite Piazza on the cover of Quick, March 12, 1951

Let’s see what’s inside:

The Week’s Biggest News is that Representatives of the U.S., Britain, France, and Russia are meeting in Paris to, as Quick puts it, avoid World War III.

The Russians broke off private treaty talks with Japan leading the U.S., Britain and other Pacific countries to press for their own peace treaty.

The U.S. State Department claims Communism is on the decline in Western Europe, noting Party membership was down since 1946 by 84% in Luxembourg (what’d they lose, a block of people), 65% in Belgium and Norway, 63% in Denmark, 45% in Sweden, 34% in Austria, Britain and Holland, 33% in West Germany, 31% in Italy, and 30% in France.

Gator on a Slide — Gators Like Slides, Didn't Know That

Quick gives 4 reasons that Russia seems on the verge of more political purges: “1) graft, 2) failure of the recently completed five-year plan, 3) growing dissatisfaction in the satellites, 4) food shortages in the Red orbit.”

In National News FBI director J. Edgar Hoover has told Congress that America’s 50,000 Communists are trying to become more secretive and no longer issue Party Membership cards. Said Hoover, “We still know what they’re up to.”

The Senate Crime Investigating Committee reports that it has uncovered a $20 billion gambling and vice underworld dominated by Frank Costello with Lucky Luciano serving as overlord.

Impatient Motorist of the Week: “A motorist in Ukiah, Cal. honked his horn repeatedly at a driver ahead who wouldn’t let him pass. Finally, exasperated, he pulled out a pistol and fired three shots into the other car. The driver got the idea, let him go by–and then notified the police. The fine: $100.”

In Health news the American Cancer Society reports that for the first time on record more men died from cancer in a single year than woman with the official tally at 102,671-101,980.

Columnist Bennett Cerf quoted a Phoenix, Ariz., newspaper ad: “Cowboy wanted for dude ranch. Must be able to play guitar and canasta. We’ll teach you how to ride.”

Couple outside New York City court — Lillian Falbo aims a blow at ex-waiter Joe Vaisica outside a N.Y.C. court. She had him there for annoying her by phone after she spurned him--a charge Joe denied

Baseball slugger Johnny Mize complained about his aches and pains to reporters before saying “Sometimes I feel ball players should be paid for spring training only, and let them play the season for love of the game.”

An article about retail sales notes that housewives are big business. An accompanying chart shows the number of housewives who do work the past few decades: 1920 – 1.92 million; 1930 – 3.07 million; 1940 – 5.04 million; 1950 – 9.20 million.

The 1950 National Book Awards were recently announced with winners such as The Collected Stories of William Faulkner for fiction, Newton Arvin’s Herman Melville for non-fiction, and The Auroras of Autumn by Wallace Stevens for poetry.

Ethel Waters saw her autobiography, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, published this week and then received the medal of Saint Genesius from the national theater society, ANTA.

The book of the week is Television and Our Children by Robert Lewis Shayon. Children are currently watching a horrifying 3 hours of television daily, Shayon blames parents but offers remedies inside the recommended book.

Nicky Hilton denied any meaning behind gifts sent to ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor. Quick puts Liz side by side with Hilton’s rumored new love, Rita Moreno, who’s referred to as “Liz’s look-alike.”

Rita Moreno and Elizabeth Taylor — Rita Moreno and Liz Taylor, who's who?

California wine-makers boasted of a developing taste for American wines and champagne. They reported a 10% increase in their use last year, anticipated a sell-out for this year’s production.

The Smith College Museum of Art exhibited the magazine illustrations of Winslow Homer – “They add a new note to the painter’s reputation, hitherto based primarily on his marine canvases.”

Representative Thomas Lane (D-Mass.) wants a censor board for TV in order to “cut out all words and actions that arouse the passions.”

Pictured are three famous women of years gone by embarking on U.S. comeback tours: Mistinguett who at age 76 has been delighting France since the 1890’s; Josephine Baker, just 45 but the American rage of Paris 23 years ago; and Gilda Gray, 50 now, shimmied to fame in 1918.

Mistinguett Josephine Baker Gilda Gray — Left to Right: Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Gilda Gray

The Movie of the Week is Payment on Demand starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan

Bizarre crime: “Marie Lopees, 24, told Toronto police she killed her husband John, 26, over an argument about The Thing, the unidentified but horror-provoking subject in a popular song. Her grudge: John had said her face was The Thing.”

1951 Phil Rizzuto ad — Finally, an ad for Scooter Shorts - Phil Rizzuto styling under his uniform

That’s all that really struck my eye inside of Quick. The indented items are actually reprinted in their entirety–I told you many entries were brief! The others are just summaries, though truth be told, many aren’t much longer than what I’ve summarized. Today’s Quick is a little extra interesting, because it just so happens that the issue of Collier’s that we paged through together earlier this week was also from this week in 1951. Interesting to see how different magazines tackle the topics.

Quick News Weekly is a relatively common find. Most of my issues are in pretty nice shape and priced just $6-$10, though there are some with greater demand, especially covers featuring with Marilyn Monroe or sports stars such as Mickey Mantle. Still, these are even a bargain by comparison to full-sized magazines of the same period with them on the covers.

Today in 1951 – Paging Through Colliers Magazine, March 10, 1951

March 10, 2009 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment

Time to spend our 15 cents and pick up a copy of Collier’s Magazine, dated today, March 10, 1951, after all, how could we resist the pleading eyes of Mrs. A. Vien’s Boston Terriers, shown in the first image below.

There’s a note on the contents page that these doggies are father and daughter and that Mrs. Vien, of Irvington, NJ, developed this particular strain through five generations of breeding. I didn’t see another word about the Terrier’s throughout this issue, so if the only reason you bought this issue was in response to them eyes, well, you’ve been had.

Colliers Magazine Cover March 10 1951 — Collier's Front Cover, March 10, 1951

The opening article informs us that we’d better be prepared to give blood if total war comes because we might be mandated to do so. The article discusses a less intrusive alternative, research aimed at a better way of storing blood.

Nancy Cunningham is profiled by Seymour Freidin in an article explaining the life of a hard-working clerk-stenographer to a diplomat in Belgrade. “At Belgrade Nancy Cunningham keeps long hours, rarely has a date, and dreams of home.” Freidin notes that 30-35 single American girls are working in the embassy right now, alongside just one lucky and eligible bachelor.

To give a general idea of the writers and illustrators active at this time, fiction this issue is as follows:

Hero’s Holiday by Harry Sylvester and illustrated by John Pike
The Sky’s For Birds by Graham Doar and illustrated by John Floherty, Jr.
The Corpse Was in the Countinghouse, Part 2 of a story serialized over 5 issues, by Erle Stanley Gardner and illustrated by Tran Mawicke
Reverse Formation by S.W.M. Humason and illustrated by Mauro Scali
Dynamite! is the Short Short Story and is by B.M. Atkison, Jr. with illustration by Robert Bugg

Are the Major Leagues Strangling Baseball? is an article by Francis Wallace who says the minor leagues are answering yes to the title question with the future of the game hinging on a solution to the “TV-Radio Problem.” The text is really overshadowed here by the always excellent illustrative work of Willard Mullin, who besides cartooning for The Sporting News was a regular in Collier’s sporting articles during this period.

Some Nostradamus named Frank Lawrence is quoted here as saying “Television will be baseball’s cancer if present policies continue–and IF baseball survives radio, which has become its heart trouble.” You around, Frank? Sorry, that’s not fair, actually Mr. Lawrence’s quote was the common complaint of the day.

Willard Mullin Illustration — Illustrated by Willard Mullin

Treasure hunters seek pirate gold off the coast of Florida’s beaches. The story largely focuses on Florida’s Assistant Attorney General…and treasure hunter…Ralph E. Odum, who has supplied us with this colorful map:

The Personal Memoirs of Herbert Hoover continue this issue with an entry titled “I Never Wanted to See Europe Again,” by former President Hoover himself, this is part four and discusses his days pre-Presidency, in the teens, as director of Belgian relief.

Former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (resigned February 1950) David E. Lilienthal asks a good question and scares the hell out of us at the same time with his article “When and Where Do We Drop the A-Bomb?” The fifties were such cheery times, here’s the articles opening:

If Russia were to bomb Detroit, New York, Seattle or Washington, or otherwise directly attack the United States, we would have no choice but to strike back with the only force we have to meet such an attack, the terrible power of A-bombs.

Lilienthal then pulls back some and does a much better job of reading the tea leaves than our baseball buddy above:

The chances are that the Russians will continue their policy of gradual encroachment, of indirect aggression, of using their allies and dupes to front for them, and die for them; always short of open attack upon us.

Then he gets a little wound up again:

Should we use the bomb against the Chinese Communists, in Korea or in China itself?

If Indochina is about to go under the Communist heel, should we attempt to save it with the A-bombs?

If the East Germans,in obedience to their Soviet masters, move to take over West Germany, should we try to stop them by using the A-bomb either in Germany or Russia itself?

…There is no quick and easy answer to questions such as these…

Lilienthal’s confusion seems to come from being in a new kind of war he can’t quite succinctly define:

The question now is, not are we “at war” but what kind of war? Can it be limited in scope? Have we any alternatives short of A-bombs and direct conflict?

Finally, Lilienthal pulls himself back again before turning his piece over to a biology of the bomb itself:

The frantic demands that the A-bomb be used every time we face trouble are based upon a dangerous misconception of the power of the bomb. While the atomic bomb is a great weapon, it is neither absolute nor decisive. It would not relieve us of the painful necessity of raising an Army…The atomic bomb is not an all-purpose weapon.

David E. Lilienthal in Colliers — Don't Mess with David E. Lilienthal

Military Miniatures is a fun two page spread for those with a collector’s bent like us. It features James Gregg, Jr. with several color photos of his toy soldiers on display. One of the photo captions notes “Prices range from 25 cents to $50 apiece.” More than a mere collector, Gregg operates one of the few stores in the country exclusively devoted to miniatures, and he pays Manhattan rent doing so! Like many underground hobbies back in their formative years Gregg sent out a catalog of two-inch figures to a list of 8,000 collectors across the U.S., Britain and France.

The back of the issue is filled with about half ads and half text continued from the articles and stories begun towards the front of the magazine. Also, interspersed throughout are small cartoons, of which we’ll sample one by Bob Barnes:

1951 Bob Barnes Colliers cartoon — We're just one, big, happy family here, my dear. In fact you may begin by calling me Daddy!

I have a feeling Barnes might have somewhere new to send his work once a certain still-published men’s magazine begins its run in 1953.

If you’d like to learn more about Collier’s Magazine you can see the collector’s history I wrote up some time back on Collecting Old Magazines.

Today in 1944 – Paging Through Life Magazine, February 28, 1944

February 28, 2009 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment

Walking over to our 1944 newsstand today, beautiful Ella Raines peeks up at us from under a veil on our favorite, and America’s favorite, weekly news magazine, Life. Of course I’m going to fish a dime out of my pocket to see what’s going on. I’ll have to make a note to re-up my expired annual subscription at $4.50 after I finish this week’s issue.

So what’s going on? Let’s open up my February 28, 1944 issue of Life Magazine and see what they say:

Life Magazine Cover February 28 1944 — Front Cover - February 28, 1944

Life is all about pictures, and one of my favorite regular features is the “Speaking of Pictures” column towards the front of the issue. This week we take a look at emblems for each of the nation’s busiest railroads. Top row at left starts as it should with Union Pacific, I also recognize the New York Central, the Chesapeake & Ohio, Santa Fe, the Rock Island line, B & O of course, and some others ring a bell too. Wish they’d put the feature in color, but with the war on I suppose they’re cutting costs where they can.

Once we get past the contents page and a slew of ads including a pretty color one from 7up, we hit the lead feature, “Lincoln Day Opens G.O.P. Campaign.” Up top is a photo of Wendell Willkie and the article mentions that February 12 kicked off the four month race which will culminate with the Republican convention in June. What better way to rile up the patriotic juices than celebrating Lincoln Day throughout the country, 2,000 banquet halls in all.

The Lincoln Day opening is followed by some photo features of leading Republicans including more on Willkie, John W. Bricker, and Governor Thomas E. Dewey, each of whom has a full-page photo with their wife included in their mini-profile.

Wendell Willkie and wife in 1944 Life Magazine — The Willkies

There’s a full page black & white photo of our old friend Charlie Chaplin, minus the tramp mustache, being fingerprinted in L.A., as he’s up on Mann Act charges, accused of being father of Joan Barry’s child. The brief blurb mentions that 54 year old Chaplin recently married 18 year old Oona O’Neil, his fourth wife.

Charlie Chaplin in Life Magazine 1944 — Chaplin Gets Printed

U.S. troops are told to keep out of Naples as a typhoid epidemic has broken out there. The pictures aren’t pretty.

Containing Typhus in Life — Containing Typhus

“Battle of Berlin” features several hard to focus on aerial photos of the destruction of Berlin over a period of the past four months. It’s followed by a few shots of Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur T. Harris, referred to here as “The Brain Behind the Death of Berlin.”

Charles A. Beard has a feature article titled “The Power of the President.” I’ll have to read that one later, lots of words, but what I’m struck by is the unfinished portrait of Woodrow Wilson by Sir William Orpen, which is in full color. Definitely a pose of Wilson in office, as he looks older and even a bit more emaciated than I used to seeing him appear.

Ah, very good, I was hungry and I found my cheesecake, a much more revealing photo of cover girl Ella Raines greets me. Managing to shift my eyes to the text below I see the 22 year old actress has recently been passed from B-H Productions, Inc “to Universal in whose Phantom Lady she has her first real chance to display her dewy beauty and genuine acting talent.” Life

Ella Raines in 1944 Life Magazine — The American Girl

also let’s us know that Ms. Raines has more talent than filling a swimsuit too, she’s shown doing things as diverse as riding a horse, fishing, skiing, she loves archery, and one of Howard Hawks’ goats has her down on the ground licking her face so she loves animals too. What a gal! Finally the multi-faceted Raines is shown is several shots from Phantom Lady, including images with co-stars Alan Curtis, Franchot Tone, and even Elisha Cook, Jr.

A feature on “Fun in Mexico” comments that “The City is Gaudy” in the sub-title, leaving me to wonder if that’s good. Photos show lots of night club action with a further section titled “Joy is for Sale” including a photo of comedian Cantinflas and another of Diego Rivera painting. There’s also a full-length shot of Puerto Rican actress Mapy Cortez, the highest paid woman in Mexican films, which begins with the bolded notation “Mexicans Like Plump Girls.” More photos feature the international set in Mexico, which Life seems to harbor doubts about as they’re referred to as the “so-called international set” and headlined “Titles and Bogus Titles Find Their Refuge Cosy.” They mention the most famed name of this set, the exiled King Carol of Romania, but spend more words on Count Eugene Rossi, who is described as follows:

He is not a member of the Italian vermouth family, as some say. He is not to be found in the Almanack de Gotha, the register of Aristocrats. He is just the jovial “Count of Corpus Christi” (Texas) at whom plain tourists gawp in envious awe.

This is followed by a large, albeit again black and white, photo of the Morning Beach at Acapulco.

Good reading for later is another feature article, this one on the “Shy Boss of Murder, Inc.” Meyer Lepke, who awaits his date with the electric chair. Several photos of Lepke, plus one of the body of Abe “Kid Twist” Reles after he turned state’s witness and jumped out of a window. Also shown is the badly charred corpse of “Puggy” Feinstein, a loan shark killed for double-crossing a racketeer, found in a Brooklyn lot in 1939. Oh look, another corpse found in Brooklyn, this one George Rudnick, who lies about looking undamaged despite having 63 separate puncture marks in him from an ice pick. This apparently is the favorite method of disposal by “Happy” Maione, who’s also partial to a meat cleaver.

Mob Corpse in 1944 Life Magazine — 63 Puncture Marks But a Good Looking Corpse

Another regular Life Magazine feature, “Life Visits …”, is found at the back of the issue. This time around they visit “Red Cross Girls in England.” Just judging by the photos they apparently like to serve donuts and flirt with the male soldiers. One is shown visiting a field hospital, her last stop where Life says she dispenses the remaining “doughnuts, gum, cigarets, home-town newspapers.” They really seem big on the donuts.

Donuts in Life Magazine 1944 — Ummm, Donuts

The Wright Brothers Historic Flight at Kitty Hawk

February 5, 2007 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment

As Covered by Harper’s Weekly, January 30, 1904

I have to admit, I was kind of hunting for coverage of the Wright Brothers when I started sorting through a pile of Harper’s Weekly from 1903-1904. I lucked out and found the article by carefully paging through each issue and noting just about every single item included inside. Looking at this issue of Harper’s Weekly 103 years later it’s shocking to see how brief the coverage of the Wright Brothers is (by the way, I had the following week’s issue too, and there was no follow-up article).

The article is buried in the back of the issue, there are no photos whatsoever, and it is one long paragraph. The text takes up part of one column and is only four and a half inches long! And to make matters worse, poor Wilbur Wright is referred to as William, though they did manage to get Orville’s name correct.

What follows is a scanned copy of the original article from 1904. Enjoy a little history:

Progress of Science
The Problem of Flight

That the solution of the problem of mechanical flight lay in the aeroplane has been the opinion of students of aeronautics for several years, and now that such a machine has been constructed and has actually been in flight under its own power, this feeling is strengthened. In a test near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the aeroplane designed by William and Orville Wright rose from the ground with its own power, remained in flight for a period of fifty-seven seconds at a speed of about ten miles and hour, and finally landed safely with its passengers. In previous tests, for example, with the enormous mechanisms constructed by Sir Hiram Maxim and more recently by Professor Langley, there had not been actual flight for any sustained period. If we think of a bird soaring, or a kite, we have the underlying idea of the aeroplane, which consists of a frame so covered as to present one or more surfaces of considerable extent parallel to the earth, so that the upward pressure of the air will tend to support it against the action of gravity. In the case of the Wright aeroplane the power was supplied by a sixteen-horse-power gasolene motor, which was able to drive the aeroplane at a speed of thirty-one miles an hour relative to the wind, which was blowing at a rate of about twenty-one miles an hour. The aeroplane had a surface of 510 square feet, and weighed a little more than 700 pounds. It made four successful ascents. Mr. Wright, who has acquired great experience in manipulating the aeroplane in actual experiments in the air, and has thus learned the best adjustment of rudders, etc., was able to rise and land safely in each instance.

That was pretty cool, wasn’t it? Now just to give you a better feel of the period, I’ll answer a question which may have occurred to you: What the heck was going on in late 1903, early 1904 that was important enough to restrict the Wright Brothers and their historic moment to the back of the book? Well, following is the cover of the January 30, 1904 issue of Harper’s Weekly featuring Czar Nicholas of Russia, and underneath that is a complete listing of the other contents of this issue:

On the title page with masthead at the top is a cartoon by W.A. Rogers “Can I Cut a Figure 4?”
Full-page photo with caption of General Adna R. Chaffee, the New Head of the Army
Travelling in England by Sydney Brooks
Privileges of the Theatre by William Dean Howells
Automobile Novelties, Collected at the Recent Show in New York City, is a 6-panel comic/cartoon by Albert Levering
Full-page illustration by J.H. Phillips of “How Rome is Being Made Into a Modern City”
Books and Bookmen by James MacArthur includes a photo of George E. Woodberry
Full-page photo with caption: “The Crisis in the Far East — Illumination of American Warships at Honolulu Before Starting for Subig Bag”
The Crisis in the Far East – Views and Experiences in Korea by Helen Gregory-Flesher, M.A.
Full-page photo with caption: “The Crisis in the Far East – A View of the Harbor of Chemulpo”
Some Recent Plays in Caricature includes small caricatures of Marie Tempest, Maude Adams, and others
Full-page photo with caption of Miss Bertha Galland as “Dorothy Vernon”
“The Coward” is fiction by A Constance Smedley

There you have it, be sure to add the January 30, 1904 issue of Harper’s Weekly to your want list!

If you’d like to read more about the Wright Brothers historic flight I can’t think of a better place to start than the Wright Brothers page on Wikipedia

Look Magazine, November 3, 1953 Magazine Back Issue

October 30, 2006 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment

For me, the most rewarding part of putting together one of these Random Issues is when somebody writes to tell me how much they enjoyed reading about the issue and then invariably asks if it is still available. As I’ve said in the past, the nature of each magazine makes it necessary to cover them each in its own unique way, but I think the universal goal should be to get that inquiry, whether the issue is actually available or not.

For this month’s Random Issue I first took a look through the publications that I’ve covered in the past to make sure I’d choose something new. I was surprised we hadn’t done LOOK and I recalled having a stack of vintage issues that were in none-too-good condition, so going through those was my next step. Since I had about twenty issues to choose from I decided to go with the one that was dated closest to the date that I’m putting this issue together and thus settled on the November 3rd issue from 1953–the year was an added incentive as I had noticed several of our recent Random Issues had been placed in the 1920’s and 30’s and thought the 50’s would make a nice change. That’s how we got here.

The November 3, 1953 issue of LOOK is 124 pages plus covers and bulging with 61-1/4 pages (plus 3 cover pages) of advertising as we neared the Holiday season. Chesterfield shelled out for the back cover, Betty Crocker for the inside back cover, and Old Gold Cigarettes published a neat Halloween themed ad on the inside front cover that is shown directly below with a few of my other favorite ads from inside this issue.

Catherine Stover is credited with the cover photo of Moscow and inside she contributes the photos included in the seven-page "The Face of Moscow" photo-essay. Stover had been a member of the American Embassy staff in Moscow for two years before returning the previous summer. Four of the pages are all color photos and include shots of the Moscow Hotel, Gerzen Street, a statue of Stalin, a typical wooden house about three miles from Red Square, plus other scenes. The point of the text is summarized in one of the bold headings, "By the standards of free nations, life is hard for the people of Moscow."

By 1953, LOOK was a worthy rival publication to LIFE, somewhat similar in layout with a lot more text inside an issue than it had had in its early days of the 1930’s, but still much more photography than it would boast nearing decline in the 1960’s. As noted on the history of LIFE and LOOK page on the site, by 1948 circulation of LOOK was over 3 million. What went inside this extremely popular publication in 1953? After we turn the page on "The Face of Moscow", LOOK presents the standard pop culture mix of movie, sport, fashion, health, and politics:

"Lauren Bacall Tells Why ‘I Hate Young Men’" leads off with a large photo of Bacall and then follows with her list of the six men that she likes most and why. She eliminated movies stars from her list to "keep peace in my house and keep Bogart from turning into Bogart". The six men: Adlai Stevenson, Robert Sherwood, Nunnally Johnson, Alistair Cooke, Louis Bromfield, and John Huston.

"American Royal" is mostly photos with very little text about the annual American Royal Live Stock and Horse Show held in Kansas City.

"My Son Dies a Little Each Day" is an extremely sad story by Helen Boerner about her son Donald, who’s afflicted with muscular dystrophy. Photos captioned with Donald’s age morbidly show his decline over the years.

"Weinmaster-Master Lineman" is out sports article by Tim Cohane about New York Giants tackle Arnold Weinmaster. I’d have preferred World Series coverage, but hey, I just don’t care for football, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this on a Sunday afternoon in late October!

"Sleeping Pretty" is a fashion photo spread on the latest nighttime fashions for women. Included are photos of women modeling "Fanticaps", wild-animal striped nightgowns, gown-and-sweater sets, and the new "street length" nightgowns.

"Pity the Poor Teacher" was an interesting one. The article is about school teachers being both underpaid and overworked and includes some great reference text. For example, LOOK spoke with teacher H.L. Gaul, 58 at the time, and when asked if he’d advise a young man to become a teacher he replied, "Never!" His reasoning came down to paying the bills: "When I started teaching, I was paid $1,200 a year, which wasn’t a lot of money even in 1920. When my wife became pregnant, I started selling insurance on the side, and I kept right on selling insurance until my children grew up. My take-home pay today is $4,240, not much for a man who has spent his whole life in a profession…When I retire, I’ll get a pension of $2,200." Another teacher from Summit, NJ quit teaching to drive a beer truck. This is mostly a text-based article with few and little need for photos, but filled with other similar and interesting facts and figures.

"Coon vs Coon Dog" is just 2-pages, with ads filling half of that space, containing three photos, but worth mentioning for the wild photos of dogs battling raccoons. Apparently this was some sort of contest in Baton Rouge, LA, as one of the photos shows the "winning" dog, who’d knocked a coon off a log in eight seconds.

"New Look for Halloween Parties" is just some recipes with accompanying photos.

"Wall Street Art Collection" is a nice mix of photos and text about the Wall Street brokerage firm, Neuberger & Berman, which fills the walls of its firm with paintings. Responsible for the decor is Roy Neuberger, "who heads the firm and probably spends as much time with paintings as with stocks and bonds." Photos are included of works hanging at the office by Hans Hofmann, Ben Shahn, Marsden Hartley, Abraham Rattner, Milton Avery, and Peter Hurd.

"Custom Cars for Everyone" is about plastic-body automobiles being in limited production in Detroit, and is noteworthy because it includes photos of the first-year model of Corvette.

"Foto Fun Fest" is two-pages of pics from a convention in Hollywood and includes a shot of Elaine Stewart and Crash Corrigan riding a horse together.

"Coley Wallace Plays Joe Louis — Can He Live the Part?" is about the young fighter who played the part of Joe Louis in The Joe Louis Story. Wallace was ranked number 10 in the heavyweight division when he was tabbed to play the ex-champ, and was paid $17,500 for his acting efforts, considered more than he would have earned fighting during the four months it took to make the picture. The text mentions that Wallace had defeated Rocky Marciano when both were amateurs and that he is hoping to match up with the Rock again in the near future, noting that they had both improved dramatically. There’s actually an excellent article about the Marciano loss on the East Side Boxing site if you’re interested. Wallace finished with a pro record of 20-7.

"Accessories in the Limelight" is more fashion, this time for men and includes photos of Burt Lancaster, Fred Allen, and Ezio Pinza.

"What Is an Agnostic?" by Bertrand Russell is one of the longer text-based articles in this issue, covering parts of five pages and only including a single photo of Russell. In the piece a series of short questions are put to Russell such as "Are agnostics atheists?", "Does an agnostic do whatever he pleases?" and "Are you afraid of God’s judgement in denying him?" plus 17 others. Russell answers each question in a paragraph or two. In short, his answers to the three questions mentioned here were in order: No, No but in another sense yes, and most certainly not.

"Movie Review: Two Gals from Texas" features several photos of scantily clad Mary McCarty and Jane Russell, who photographers of this time just loved to photograph when she was scantily clad. The movie reviewed is The French Line but the term "review" is used very loosely as there is pretty much no commentary about the film at all, just a couple of pages of photos, which I guess technically serves as a review in the broadest sense.

"The All-American Look…and how it grew" is four pages featuring photos of Sally Ferguson, who was "born to the All-American Look in 1930." The photos show Sally from age one through today and concludes "U.S. babies born since 1930 have better chance for health, good looks." In the final photo Sally is shown modeling in Japan in a photo that LOOK notes "Sally clearly shows the results of 23 years of good care. Typical American grooming, with special emphasis on natural-looking make-up, stresses healthy effect." Pretty silly stuff, I thought.

"Mama Remembers Milton Berle’s 40 Years in Show Business" was a surprise to me as a movie fan, as I had not realized that Berle was a child star in early silent films. Taking a look at his profile over on the imdb I see that they list 8 of his 90 film credits as falling between 1914-1923, so obviously this is not privileged information, just something I did not know. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, especially the old photos of Berle with Mabel Normand and Louise Fazenda. The article covers all or part of seven pages, mostly photos of Milty over the years.

Those are the feature articles, with a few pages given over to regular features such as the Photoquiz, For Women Only, and Jack Wilson’s Washington. While it’s mostly fluff in between LOOK’s covers, it’s well-laid out fluff which with the proper photos can sometimes turn to eye candy.