Time Magazine, 03/16/1931

Time Magazine- 03/16/1931

When I first started reading this edition of Time Magazine, I didn’t really know what to expect, other than writing styles and advertisements geared towards the era. One of the first things that I noticed was the second advertisement in the magazine. It was an advertisement for the new line of Frigidaire electric refrigerators, which were high class in a time period where many people still had “Ice-boxes” and the ice deliveryman would bring a block of ice every week. The advertisement started off with, “To a lady about to buy an electric refrigerator…” which emphasized the idea of the “domestic home-maker wife” stereotype. Several of the ads were aimed towards two types of ladies, those who were stay at home wives and those who were secretaries. Another thing about the advertisements that I particularly like, because I’m a car guy, were the advertisements for cars, that in order to find one in good condition these days, would cost upwards of $70,000, however back in 1931, for example, the new Chrysler Six with a 70 horsepower engine, “self-equalizing weatherproof internal hydraulic brakes”, an adjustable front seat, and more, cost only $895. I was surprised to find an advertisement for The Saturday Evening Post in Time, because they were competitors in the publication market.

            Time magazine separated its news into two categories, “National Affairs” and “Foreign News”. The pieces in the “National Affairs” section depict a United States that is dealing with the Great Depression, as well as outside issues such as immigration. In one of the articles it mentioned how Congress passed a bill to cut immigration quotas by 90% for two years. Another article starts out, “No private company could stay long in business it if tried to copy the U.S. Government’s methods of financing itself…It operates in the red as a matter of principle. Its preoccupation is keeping one short jump ahead of its creditors.” As the article continued to discuss money and how the government was using it, or misusing it, I found the article to be an apt description of the current U.S. Government.

            In the “Foreign News,” it is evident that tensions in Europe were slowly mounting. There’s a piece that discusses the failure of “The New Party”, which was founded by Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, who was disappointed with the “Labour Party”, the current socialist party in England’s Parliament. Another piece talks about the secession of India from Great Britain, which I enjoyed reading because I also enjoy history and it talked about the Irwin-Gandhi conversations, and the truce that was signed.

            When I arrived in the “Aeronautics” section, I was surprised to find a full-page ad for the Autogiro, a combination of an airplane and a helicopter. While the advertisement touted the practicality and soundness of the Autogiro, in actuality, they were difficult to maneuver, and many of the first Autogiro crashed due to design errors. However they soon became dated as major improvements were made to helicopters.

            The last portion of Time was dedicated to current events in business, science, movie reviews, book reviews, and a full-page spread about how Hauserman Moveable Steel Partitions partitioned the Chrysler Building, which was the tallest building in the world in 1930, and then the Empire State Building, which was built ten stories higher than the Chrysler Building. The article in the science section stood out to me as it was about cosmic rays, and the fear that “it is the cosmic rays in our light that will bring us to our death…” At the time, that could have been a credible fear, because scientists did not have the technology with which to study and understand cosmic rays; whereas in 2011, such a claim would be laughed at and called science fiction, because there is no proof that cosmic rays cause death.

            I thoroughly enjoyed reading this edition of Time Magazine. I was not surprised to find that the image of the United States and the world, during the late 20s and early 30s that I had in my mind, was the same image that was depicted in Time. It was interesting connecting what I knew about America at the time, with actual writings about what was going on. It was almost like stepping back into time that is a cool experience.