Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Reminisce Extra

Over Reminisce’s three decades, our contributors have sent us thousands of slides. Together they touch on every aspect of 20th-century life, from backyard barbecues to national elections. We love coming up with creative ways to use these images. This month, for instance, archive shots of food and gatherings fill “Pictures from the Past” (page 56). And in “Cityscapes” (page 34), archive and contemporary photos show how urban centers have changed. One lovely old slide we found is now tinged with sadness—it’s of Collins Avenue in Surfside, Florida, 15 years before Champlain Towers went up. Our archive is a treasure, yes, but it also poses significant challenges for the journalist. Some slides lack basic information. Relatives donated them after the owner died, leaving no record, or the contributor found them at…

YOUNG AND MISUNDERSTOOD Movie director Nicholas Ray began work in early 1955 on a film about troubled teenagers. Instead of street-tough kids, such as those in contemporaries The Wild One (1953) with Marlon Brando and Blackboard Jungle (also released in ’55), the teens in Rebel Without a Cause are from well-to-do families. The method-acting Dean improvised several scenes, including the opening scene with a toy monkey. Ray worked from a story line influenced by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which he said struck him as “the best play written about ‘juvenile delinquents.’” The movie provides an intense character study of three teenagers. James Dean established the archetype troubled adolescent as the brooding new-to-town kid Jim Stark. Natalie Wood is Judy, desperate for peer approval and understanding from a father who’s uneasy…

Lorry and I, both from the Midwest, got married in Great Falls, Montana, where we were stationed during World War II. In 1945, Lorry, a WAC, was still there at Gore Field, and I was in Fairbanks, Alaska, serving in the Army Air Corps. I did final inspections of planes being sent to Russia—when V-J Day was declared, that job ended. With no more planes to inspect, I was transferred to Edmonton, Alberta. Then, in November, I was scheduled to return to Alaska to replace troops who had been discharged. The Air Corps started a re-enlisting program granting a three-month furlough, a $300 bonus and an immediate discharge for one’s enlisted spouse. I signed up: Spending November, December and January back in Illinois with Lorry sounded better than winter in…

LAWRENCE JOEL WAS born in 1928 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the third of 16 children. At 18, he joined the Army, serving his initial three-year enlistment in Europe. A few years later, Joel signed up again, serving as an airborne medic in Lebanon and Alaska. In 1964 the seasoned veteran joined the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade, the first major Army unit deployed to Vietnam. The first several months in Vietnam were fairly quiet, with no sustained combat. That changed in early November 1965, when Joel was part of an operation that went on patrol to search for Viet Cong in the jungles near the city of Bien Hoa. A battle began when the patrol walked into an ambush. Greatly outnumbered, the lead squad suffered heavy casualties…

MY UNCLE JOE E. MANN was born on a wheat farm in eastern Washington and grew up in a big family. In August 1942, Joe enlisted in the Army, becoming a paratrooper in the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He trained at Toccoa, Georgia, the home of the regiment made famous by the war drama Band of Brothers. Joe also trained at Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and in England. At some point during his training, Joe sent his mother a photo of himself in civilian clothes, standing next to a young woman. He identified the woman only as his fiancee, without giving her name. No one in our family ever got the chance to meet her. On Sept. 17, 1944, Joe parachuted into the Netherlands…

TELL US HOW TO FIND YOU Whether you send your submission via mail or email or post it online, include your full name, daytime phone number, email address and mailing address. If you have a post office box, tell us your street address too. HELP US SORT THINGS OUT Include the name of the department your submission is for (Motoring Memories, Growing Up, etc.) on the first page of your submission or in the email subject line. For any photos you submit, please identify the people, city, state and year the photo was taken. We reserve the right to use submissions in any section of our magazine, or elsewhere. We do not return unsolicited materials. Send quality photo reprints or email high-resolution JPEG files (300 dpi at 8x10) so you…

HAVE A SEAT! Share a memory of getting your first furniture for the kitchen, bedroom or living room. Did you buy it new (or new-to-you) or did you inherit it? What’s the story behind your set and do you still have it? Our planned feature will look at American furniture makers, including Herman Miller and Heywood-Wakefield, but all stories are welcome. Label your photos and story “At Home.” DEPARTMENTS Submissions for our many standing departments are welcome. Below are a few favorites. Still can’t decide where your story belongs? Send it along and let us figure it out. Growing Up: Joys of childhood and the teenage years. Pictures from the Past: How we lived and looked back when. Is it a fantastic picture? Send it for consideration for our Back…

French couturier Christian Dior organized his 1955 line of designs around silhouettes patterned after the letters A, H and Y. The jacketed A-line—fitted at the top and flared at the hem—inspired a modern twist for other garments. Designers ditched the suit, and cut skirts, dresses, coats and tops in a triangle shape that remained popular through the 1960s and 1970s. A fashion classic, the influential A-line got an entry in Merriam-Webster the same year Dior debuted the collection…

Every two weeks in the early 1940s—after I finished my cornflakes at breakfast—Mom gave me 25 cents and two streetcar tickets. She wanted me out of the house so she could scrub the kitchen floor. Experience taught me that when newspapers were scattered all over the floor, I was supposed to keep out so I didn’t track dirt on the linoleum. I went to the movies. The children’s amateur hour was first, then out went the lights and Movietone News about the war came on. After that were Looney Tunes cartoons and then two cowboy shows, with actors such as Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy. Being cowboy movies, the outcome was fairly certain. Before the second one wrapped up, boredom usually set in. When I got back home, the newspapers…

WHEN THE ARMY needed to rev up wartime production of Wright Cyclone engines, used in B-29 bombers, they turned to Chrysler’s Dodge division. Construction began in 1942 on an innovative factory in Chicago: The huge complex would have to be built quickly and make efficient use of scarce materials such as steel and copper wiring. By early 1944, the factory, the largest in the world under one roof, was in full operation and delivering engines ahead of schedule. Completed engines were tested by being connected to motors that generated electricity that partially powered the plant itself. When the war ended in 1945, production ceased. Today, the plant is home to Tootsie Roll Industries and the Ford City shopping center.…

LEE ROY HERRON and I met in the seventh grade at Matthews Junior High School in Lubbock, Texas. His parents, like mine, valued education as the primary means for their children to better themselves. Lee Roy and I became fast friends, rivals in spelling bees and sports. We both played on the high school football team. In the fall of 1962, in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis, we knew we would soon register for the draft. Our college life began in 1963 at Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University. Lee Roy joined the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Course, training near Quantico, Virginia, in 1964. On his advice, I joined the Marine Corps in 1965, the year that President Johnson sent troops to Vietnam. We graduated in June…

WHEN JACKIE COCHRAN set her mind to something, she usually got her way. Her moxie helped the young Florida woman from an impoverished background land a job at a swanky New York salon. And it put her in the path of Floyd Odlum, a rich financier who advised her to learn to fly to build the cosmetics career she was starting. Odlum offered her a deal: If she could earn her pilot’s license in six weeks, he’d pay for it. Cochran did it in three, receiving her license Aug. 17, 1932. Along with building her cosmetics business (slogan: Wings to Beauty), Cochran began competing in air races. By the end of the 1930s, she was setting speed and altitude records and winning recognition for aerial excellence. With war in Europe…

MEDAL OF HONOR For this highest award for valor, a recipient’s action must be verified by a witness. The Medal of Honor is the only combat-specific award that is worn around the neck (see cover). SERVICE CROSS Second only to the Medal of Honor, a service cross recognizes bravery in combat. Service crosses are specific to each branch of the military. SILVER STAR Originally called the Citation Star, this award was established in 1918 and bears the inscription “For gallantry in action.” DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS Civilians as well as members of the military are eligible to receive this award for heroism and distinction in flight. BRONZE STAR This award for bravery in combat or for meritorious service can be awarded to both foreign military troops and American service members. PURPLE…

WORKHORSE TO PRINCESS The slogan “it beats as it sweeps as it cleans” in 1929 refers to a mechanical innovation that loosens dirt. But the vacuum’s look, with its coffee-can housing, feels old-fashioned. By 1939, below, Model 305 sports a version of the molded plastic housing styled by industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, which had transformed the vacuum. A STAR TURN Released after Hoover ended its 20-year design contract with Henry Dreyfuss, the Constellation, which Dreyfuss patented in 1954, top right, becomes a consumer favorite. One now resides in the U.K.’s Science Museum. The 1955 U.S. price, $97.50, equals more than $950 today. TWO ON THE FLOOR Among Hoover’s first new models after World War II is a slim cylinder, a precursor to canisters. Accessories, however, live in a separate case…

Stetson China Co. of Chicago introduced the pattern now known as Swiss Chalet or Swiss Alpine in 1960 for Marshall-Burns distributors and sold it under the Mar-crest name, primarily as a grocery-store premium. It is unclear how long the pattern was in production, but Stetson’s factory closed in 1965. Swiss Chalet dishes are popular collectibles, with individual pieces readily available at flea markets, on online auction sites and at replacements.com. Full sets like Stephanie’s are rare and can command high prices. More typical are multipiece sets that may be missing items to make up complete services for four or eight. One 25-piece set was listed recently for $300.…

Being a military family meant that we spent most of our holidays away from extended family. Thanksgiving was my dad’s favorite day of the year, and my parents always made it special. Preparations started early and with a bustle. I was allowed to sleep in, but my mother set an alarm for herself. My father, usually a late sleeper, was up early, too. In the week before, Mom polished the silver and wrapped it in plastic so it wouldn’t tarnish. She ironed the embroidered linen tablecloth, but didn’t put it on the table until it was time. And she created a simple centerpiece with fresh flowers, fall leaves and a twig or two. When I create a centerpiece now, I take photos of it—not because it’s extraordinary, but because I’m…

“Stay humble. Always answer your phone—no matter who else is in the car.” Jack Lemmon, Mr. Everyman, won an Academy Award for his portrayal of jumpy Ensign Pulver in 1955’s Mister Roberts —an early glimmer in a stellar 50-year career. First came comedies and a seven-movie association with director Billy Wilder, including Some Like It Hot (’59) and The Apartment (’60), then dramas, such as Save the Tiger (’73), which earned him another Oscar, and Tuesdays with Morrie (’99), which won him an Emmy. From that first Oscar night, when he leaned into wet paint in his tuxedo, Lemmon evoked an appealing humanity on and off screen. He was born in a hospital elevator John Uhler Lemmon III made his first entrance at a hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, born two…

When I was 7, Mom announced an exciting change was on the way—she was expecting another baby. With an older and younger brother already, I knew all I needed to know about boys—another one could only mean trouble—and so I intended that this sibling would be a sister. I began to prepare for her arrival. I embroidered a baby jacket, following Mom’s gentle suggestion to choose yellow, rather than pink. I also asked Santa for a new doll carriage that was big enough for the real baby that would come soon after Christmas. When I prayed, I used all my authority to direct God to make sure Mom’s baby was a girl. I could imagine nothing else. One day in January, my parents left for the hospital while our grandparents…

Separated by thousands of miles, my girlfriend, Rory, and I had to invent ways to say “I love you.” We had no trouble at all expressing our feelings when we were together, but when I enlisted in the Air Force in July 1965, the only way to stay in touch was through writing letters. I spent 30 of my 48 months in uniform overseas, so we wrote a lot of letters. Our first efforts were a little amateurish, but I was barely 18 years old when I left, and Rory was only 15. My first permanent duty assignment was at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Letters took an average of seven days to cross the Pacific, so when one of us asked a question, the answer was two weeks…

TWO DAYS AFTER his 17th birthday, my uncle Bert Johnson joined the Marine Corps. After boot camp, Bert was sent to Korea, where he became friends with Eugene Obregon. The two young men came from entirely different backgrounds but were the same age. Bert was from the small farm town of Grand Prairie, Texas; Eugene grew up in Los Angeles, California. Bert and Eugene were fighting together during an assault on the city of Seoul. Eugene, who served as an ammunition carrier for a machine-gun squad, saw Bert fall. Eugene ran to his friend and dragged him to the side of the road, where he shielded Bert as he bandaged his wounds. Shooting with only a pistol as the enemy advanced, Eugene was killed by machine-gun fire. After several months…

CROW TRADITION LAYS out four requirements to become a war chief: lead a successful war party into enemy territory, steal an adversary’s weapon, touch an opponent without killing him and steal an enemy’s horse. Joseph Medicine Crow—who wore war paint under his uniform and kept a yellow eagle feather inside his helmet for protection while he served as a scout in the Army’s 103rd Infantry Division during World War II—became the last of the Plains Indians to meet those requirements. Medicine Crow was born in 1913 on the Crow Indian reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana. Given the name Winter Man in the hope that he would be able to withstand adversity, he was trained by his Grandfather Yellowtail to be a warrior. He grew up listening to stories of battles,…

SAN FRANCISCO, CA THEN AND NOW A 1951 view of Powell Street from reader Vicky Lacko shows the cable car stopping near the Chancellor Hotel at left. Across the street are the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (with a star), the Fitzhugh Building and Union Square. The Fitzhugh and Union Square appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s thriller The Conversation (’74). A 2019 view, far right, shows Saks Fifth Avenue, built after the company tore down the Fitzhugh in 1980. Both the Drake, erected in 1928, and the Chancellor, built in 1914, are still there. SURFSIDE, FL THEN AND NOW Bill Larson of Batavia, Illinois, captured this view of Collins Avenue, looking south toward Miami Beach, in 1966. The Biltmore Terrace Hotel, built in 1951 by three of Miami’s most famed architects,…

FOUNDED IN 1908 , Hoover used a sales innovation—in-home demos—to gain market share. But for 20 years, the vacuum’s appearance changed little. With a motor housing resembling an upturned coffee can, the machine looked like a relic of the industrial revolution. In 1936, visionary designer Henry Dreyfuss styled a new upright, Model 150, replacing the coffee can with a curved Bakelite hood. Suddenly, a Hoover felt modern and new. Dreyfuss designed Hoovers for the next two decades. One of his last was like no other: The Model 82 Constellation of 1955 resembled a planet—a clear embrace of the atomic age. Its most inventive feature, introduced in Model 84, was how it floated on a cushion of its own exhaust. Hoover made the Constellation into the ’70s, when the similar, but…

Never was there a more proud Englishman than when I served in the British Army’s 1st Battalion. Born in 1932 in Lewisham, in southeast London, England, I was in the Scots Guards regiment, which has the honor of serving as ceremonial guards at royal residences. I wore the famous traditional uniform of the Scots Guards—a red tunic with its buttons in threes and a bearskin hat. Many years later, I wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth about the time I took part in the ceremony known as Trooping the Colour. In response, I received this letter from her lady-in-waiting at Buckingham Palace. 18th March, 2011 Dear Mr. John, The Queen wishes me to write and thank you for your letter. Her Majesty thought it so kind of you to tell…