LIFE1936-1948

One of the few areas of corporate growth in 1937 was the airline industry. Passengers increased to 1,100,000 that year, up from 474,000 in 1932. The introduction of the DC 2 in 1934 and the DC 3 in 1936 made flying much more comfortable because the planes could fly up to 20,000 feet, were faster, quieter and had much improved ventilation. Prior to this, the Ford Tri-Motor only reached 6,000 feet and the Boeing 80 14,000 feet, both had poor heating/cooling, and were unhealthy. It was not uncommon for air hostesses to contract TB and other diseases in these early planes due to inadequate air circulation. To qualify as an air hostess a woman generally had to be between the ages of 21 to 26, single, stand from five feet to five feet four inches, weigh no more than 115 pounds and be a registered nurse. If she married…like some of the air hostesses in this article…she was terminated. On cross country flights that required overnight stays, the air hostesses had to stay at a hotel in a different town than the one in which the pilots stayed, to avoid any suggestion of impropriety. Most of the passengers in those days were wealthy people and celebrities. While the air hostesses were forbidden to accept tips, they occasionally found money that was discretely left for them by new admirers. At the time of this article there were 270 air hostesses with four major airlines. The heroic actions of a TWA air hostess after a recent crash in the Alleghenies made the air hostess, in the mind of the public, the new “heroine of the skies.” The other two airlines, Pan Am and Eastern Airlines, continued to use stewards until the 1940’s.

This July 4, 1938, cover story features the wedding of a newly minted West Point graduate, Lieut. Louis Nathaniel Dosh to Betty Bloxom, at the West Point Chapel. Lieut. Dosh was eventually ordered to the 57th Infantry in the Philippines where he was captured by the Japanese. He survived the Bataan Death March but was killed by American planes while on a Japanese “Hell Ship.” These ships transported American prisoners and Japanese soldiers to Japan, and on Jan. 20, 1945, as American troops drew closer to the Philippines, his ship was sunk. The American military was aware that American prisoners were being transported to Japan in unmarked ships to be used as forced labor, but made the tough decision that every Japanese ship must be attacked in order to win the war. LIFE also reports on the weddings of prominent people including FDR’s son, John, to Anne Clark. John Roosevelt divorced Anne and later remarried. The marriage scorecard for the other Roosevelt children: FDR, Jr. -5 marriages; James-4 marriages; Elliot-3 marriages; Anna-3 marriages. The Marshall Field, Jr. and Joanne Bass marriage is depicted. They were later divorced and Field married Lynne Templeton, the sister of one of my brother’s friends, in 1965.  Field died later that year of an accidental overdose.

February, 1938, was a bleak time in America. Unemployment was 19% and President Roosevelt reported that one million jobs a month had been lost in each of the last three months. In this article on the WPA (Works Progress Administration) LIFE asks the question, “Where will it end?” One can only imagine what went through the minds of America’s army on unemployed when LIFE stated, “The likeliest answer is that it will never end.” “Authorities say that the modern industrial machine never has needed and never will need all the nation’s workers to tend to it.” LIFE believed that, “Work Relief may be capitalism’s best answer to the problem of unemployment.” By 1938, the WPA (created in 1935) had built 19,272 bridges, killed 24,099,607 rats, and erected 660 stadiums including the Louisiana State University football stadium. Three years later, in 1941, LIFE was proven dead wrong about employment as America’s businesses geared up for the war. And by 1942 America was experiencing a severe labor shortage when men were called into the service.

Hal Roach Studios teamed up with Dictator Benito Mussolini’s eldest son, Vittorio, to create a new film company in 1937. The Dictator provided $5,000,000 for the venture and Roach took the bait. Hollywood was outraged and forced Roach to back out of the agreement with the Facists. Vittorio fled to Argentina after WW II but later returned to Italy and died in Rome in 1997. LIFE also reported on the first “mixed” jury ever to sit in a New York City courtroom that included women. Jurists felt that the “deliberative skills” of women were lacking and only 23 states allowed women to serve on a jury in 1937. Chuck Williams, Captain of the University of Southern California football team, is on the October 11, 1937, cover. The Trojans went on that year to post a lackluster 4-4-2 record.

Over 500 young men were commissioned in June, 1939, at the US Naval Academy. The prospect of war was probably more real to these men than other Americans their age, but still not a reality. Current US Navy building programs gave new attraction to the Navy as a career. After four years of rigid Naval Academy routine June Week meant female companionship and a welcome round of parties to celebrate college commencement. This class paid a heavy toll and 48 were killed in action in WWII, almost 10% of the class. Another 30 were killed in the Korean conflict and other engagements. The two ads depict cars of the time that have vanished from the American scene. The slow selling LaSalle lasted until 1940, and  Studebaker hung on until 1966. Studebaker was acquired by Packard in 1954, demonstrating that a merger of two floundering companies is not a recipe for success.

Alice Marble, a 26 year old daughter of a California cattle rancher, dominated women’s tennis with her sturdy wooden racket. The 1940 census count was underway in order to capture the 130,000,000-odd Americans. About 142,000 people were employed to do the counting and they were paid 4 cents per name. In the above picture Mrs. George Townsend’s family in South Bend, IN, is being questioned. Her 14 children plus mom and dad generated 64 cents for this particular census taker.