Relax, Laugh and Remember with Reminisce Magazine. Each issue is a "time capsule" of life from the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's filled with reader-written stories, pictures from the past, embarrassing moments, ads from the Old Days and much more!
DEPUTY EDITOR, REMINISCE John Glenn was a Marine fighter pilot, one of the original seven astronauts in the NASA space program, the first American to orbit the Earth and a four-term United States senator. Not exactly your average guy. Yet he summed up better than anyone that most average of afflictions facing us all: “There is no cure,” he observed, “for the common birthday.” That’s a nice piece of wit, for sure, but I also love the simple truth of it. Birthdays do indeed keep coming. And thank goodness, for they can be some of the best days of our lives, as our cover feature, “Best Birthday Ever” (page 38), proves in glorious technicolor. When we were gathering the submissions for this feature, I was struck by how vividly the…
TIME CAPSULE Guided by Merriam-Webster’s Time Traveler, we look at words added to the dictionary in a given year for a fascinating snapshot of the period. Page 12 FRONT & CENTER Curious and essential facts about a celebrity who played a key role in a featured year, with a standout illustration by Michael Witte. Page 18 KEEPSAKES A new version of our old “Kept It” column, long popular with readers, considers all treasures great and small—and the occasional collectible. Page 52 IN THE NEXT ISSUE • Major WWII battles• Class Trips• March Madness…
PHOTO TIPS Please identify the people, city, state and year the photo was taken. For photos sent by mail: • Be sure your photo or reprint is in focus. Do not send photocopies; we cannot print from them. For photos sent digitally: • Scan your photo as a JPEG file at 1200x1800 pixels, 300 dpi and 1MB. • No scanner? Walgreens, OfficeMax and FedEx Office offer this service. SEEING STARS Have you ever run into someone famous—by accident or design? Tell us all about it. Label your story and pictures “Close Encounter.” SUNDAY DRIVES Did Dad pack everyone into the Plymouth after church and drive out to parts unknown (or partly known)? We’re planning a feature on leisurely day trips and would love to hear about your favorites from years…
America shifts into prosperity, thanks to government spending to retool for World War II. As Nazis march over Europe, the first peacetime draft in U.S. history suggests America will soon be at war. Art is in the news: Pinocchio and Fantasia debut, as do Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry; and four teens find prehistoric cave paintings near Lascaux, France. Meanwhile, inductee and bomber jacket—first used this year, according to Merriam-Webster—hint at the cultural preoccupations of the era. Here are a few more terms from the dictionary’s online Time Traveler listing for 1940. ANTI-SMOG: California residents suffer bouts of smog (smoke + fog) caused by a heavy influx of cars on roadways. BERMUDA SHORTS: Women love the knee-length shorts, below, a style first worn by British officers in Bermuda. BOMBER…
Late in the 1930s, animation king Walt Disney and orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski began to imagine a Disney film uniting groundbreaking artwork with classical music. The two-hour cinematic masterwork would be named Fantasia, and the movie’s highlight would be “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” an elaborate 20-minute segment with a mischievous Mickey Mouse. Disney artists cooked up a visual feast of traditional animation, mattes, multilayered paintings and gels, and used filming techniques such as trick dissolves and other special effects to realize Walt’s dream. The boss himself approved each scene. To convey the power of Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra as if it were performing live in the theater, Disney created Fantasound—essentially massive speakers behind and on both sides of the screen. The result was an early version of stereophonic sound. Fantasia premiered on…
A bestseller in 1939 and a Pulitzer Prize winner, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was also controversial. The saga about Dust Bowl migrants was banned in several places, including Kern County, California, where the story’s fictional family ends up. The controversy didn’t stop Hollywood from making the story into a movie in 1940. What do you remember about this classic? 1 The title comes from what Civil War tune? 2 What is the family’s last name, which sounds like the Bible’s Job? 3 Some scenes were shot in these three states—part of the route real Dust Bowl migrants took to California. 4 Which actor, speaking as Tom, declares, “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there”? 5 This actress, above, won the Academy Award…
