Category: Uncategorized
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America Seen Darkly
As films were making culture more universal, a 1923 New York Times Magazine article discussed the medium’s potential role in changing foreigners’ perception of Americans… both for better and for worse. First, for worse: Day by day and week by week, the world wonders at what seems to be the boundless wealth and wicked extravagance…
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Coming City of Set-Back Skyscrapers
A 1923 New York Times Magazine article predicted “The reign of the skyscraper is just setting in,” which proved accurate. It also quoted an expert who predicted two-level streets throughout NYC, which didn’t come to pass. This is the picture as forward-looking architects see it. According to them, the reign of the skyscraper is just…
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The Typical Eminent American
Which types of people were included in the 1923 edition of Who’s Who in America? The New York Times Magazine crunched the numbers. While there were 24,278 biographies in total, the NYT selected a random sample of 66. Sure, that’s only 0.27%. But it was a random sample: starting with the first bio and then including the…
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Those Doomed Indian Dances
Charles Henry Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1921-29, pledged in 1923 to put a stop to Native American sacred dances. As this 1923 New York Times Magazine article noted: The objections of the Commissioner… are that the dances take up too much time, that they interfere with work, and that they are evil and foolish.…
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The Great Radio Handicap
1923 was the first year that 1% of American households had a radio. That same year, New York Times Magazine reported that “radio parties” were taking off, and it was becoming harder to sell homes in areas with poor radio signals. The radio party is becoming quite the thing, particularly among commuters. When the owner of…
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Charge of the Little Embassies at Washington
While Prohibition applied almost everywhere in the U.S. in the 1930s, foreign embassies were exempt. As a 1923 New York Times Magazine article described, this made embassies some of the hottest tickets in D.C. The embassies and legations were to discover that they had the monopoly on a fast-disappearing social talent of serving unlimited sparkling…
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Washington’s Prohibition Farce
In 1923, bootleggers and speakeasies bypassed the ostensible ban on alcohol. As a New York Times Magazine article documented, that even occurred in the nation’s capital, where the Prohibition constitutional amendment originated. Certain minor employees about the House and Senate supplement their meagre [sic] salaries, it is said, by doing a little bootlegging on the…
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Glimpses of the Great
When the writer Agnes M. Miall penned a 1923 New York Times Magazine piece about interviewing, she claimed to have invented a new word in that very piece: “interviewee.” Today, the word is used in everyday conversation. While Merriam-Webster dictionary says the word’s first known use was in 1884, clearly it was essentially unknown by…
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Women Alone in New York
Amid a rise in unmarried women, and two years after women were granted the constitutional right to vote, a 1922 New York Times Magazine article profiled “Women Alone in New York.” The byline was “By one of them.” The article described both the positives of this lifestyle… But the thing which appeals most is the…
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The Importance of Being Thrilled
During the Roaring Twenties, a 1922 New York Times Magazine article discussed how many more people were using variations of the word “thrill” in conversation. The stats say people wouldn’t do so at that level again until the mid-2010s. Per the 1922 article: Thrills are in vogue in the younger set. It is quite the…
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