I read the Dec. 22nd, 1952 issue of
LIFE magazine. Being the closest issue the published to Christmas that year I
fully expected to see advertisements and articles about the upcoming holiday
throughout. Immediately, I saw the cover photo a young girl in jean overalls
holding the leash of and walking with a miniature horse.
First I was actually a little
surprised to see so much of this issue printed in color. Obviously I expected
the cover to be in color but much of the advertisements were also in color. Given
the early 1950’s time period I was a little surprised by this. Now I did notice
that only the cover and advertisements were in color suggesting that
advertisers had to pay extra to have the add printed and distributed in color.
As soon as I flipped the magazine
open, I saw that the first two pages were a large spread of photos sent in by
readers. It appeared as if LIFE had held a contest for the best Christmas card
design. My hypothesis that the whole magazine would be about Christmas was
being proven true. Except that this was the last time LIFE mentioned the
Christmas holiday until the last two pages of the magazine…
Flipping through the articles I
found a picture that grabbed my attention. It was nearly a half page sized
photo of a table covered with knives. As I read the article the photo was
explained saying that there were rioters somewhere that had been arrested and
nearly 500 knives of varying sizes were confiscated. This entire article struck
me as odd because of the issue that it was published in. The day the issue was
published there were only three days until Christmas and LIFE is writing about
armed protesters using knives. I realize that at the time this was news that
had to be shared throughout the news publications with the public but it seemed
bizarre that an article near the centerfold of the issue would be on something
as dreadful as protest and war. These were not the kind of articles I expected
to see in a LIFE magazine published so close to Christmas.
On the flip side nearly every
advertisement in the entire magazine was Christmas themed. The text was red and
green, or the box had a bow on it, or there were holly leaves surrounding the
product, regardless of the type of product Christmas was factored into the
advertisement. I found it interesting as well that nearly every single ad was
for alcohol or cigarettes.
Despite the fact the magazine was
not in fact Christmas themed, I did find many interesting articles to read.
There was a bizarre article about a
horse named Lady Wonder, she was a physic and was able to spell out responses
using wooden letters. The horse was said to have used her abilities to spell
out words to let a local police officer know where a missing child was located.
Miraculously the child was found exactly where Lady had said the boy was and
ever since the horse has been a well-known physic power. To reinforce the point
LIFE even had Lady spell out the title “Talking Horse” for the article, taking
pictures of each letter. It was weird for me to realize that LIFE was actually
seriously writing about this horse and weren’t just being sarcastic. It
obviously was a different time period and the article was written nearly 70
years ago.
Oxygen masks were growing in
popularity according to LIFE magazine. There was a two-page spread in the issue
that spoke about the ability to cure hangovers and hone athletic skills by
simply breathing 20% pure oxygen out of these masks. I understood the purposes
during sporting events, many of the pictures on the page showed athletes using
the oxygen masks to replenish their bodies. But there was one photo that stuck
out, it was a man in a bar in San Antonio, Texas standing at what appeared to
be an oxygen vending machine. There was a mask attached to the large machine
and you put in a few quarters and the air flowed through the mask for a minute
or two. The machine was advertised as a way to ‘sober-up’ before you went home,
or to lessen the effects of a hangover the next morning. This article caught my attention because
oxygen masks are commonplace now a day. The first thing that an EMT does when
you get on an ambulance is put an oxygen mask on, athletes around the world use
them during games, and even the elderly use them on a daily basis.
As I sat back and thought on how
odd it seemed to me that this magazine appeared that it could have been
published on any random day of the year. The articles were purely generic and
had little if anything to do with the upcoming holiday. Then it hit me. LIFE
didn’t need to make their issue ‘Christmas-themed’; people weren’t purchasing
the magazine to read about how Macy’s in New York City planned to decorate the
store. They were buying the magazine to get the news, be it world news or
national news, it needed to be news. The advertisers on the other hand wanted
to take advantage of the Christmas holiday to sell more of their products.
Finally as I neared the end of the
magazine I saw the article I expected to see for the whole magazine. A two-page
spread on the company Christmas party at Bausch and Louis Optical Company. This
however was no ordinary company Christmas party. Any children from ages two to
four left with a present given to them by Santa, and Santa also was there to
write down the gift that each child wanted. Included in the party festivities
was a large train to drive the children around the party and a zoo exhibit for
the children to look at different kinds of animals.
Just before this article, there was
an ad for the next issue of LIFE magazine. The editors at LIFE had hired the
famous Broadway composers Rogers and Hammerstein to write a carol for them.
That Christmas carol was published in the December 29th issue of
LIFE, only slightly to late for Christmas.
