TIME Magazine from 1953

When looking at the issue of TIME Magazine from christmastime in the 1950s, I found it interesting to see the progression from the TIME Magazine of the 1920s towards what the publication resembles today. There was clearly more content in this issue, and while some of the sections it was divided into were strange, it was overall much like a TIME Magazine from today. Unlike the 20s issue, this magazine had a wider variety of layouts, including fonts and pictures. The ads were clearly for older products, however at first glance they did not look too different from those in magazines today. There were several notable similarities between both the 1920s TIME magazine and current issues to that of the 1950s. 

The cover of this magazine was a painting of an older woman, with the caption: “Grandma Moses, ‘Christmas is not just one day.’” Unlike the older edition that I read, there was a brief cover story in addition to the picture on the front of the magazine. Found in the Art section, it discusses the works of Anna Moses. Before this section, there were a handful of others similar to TIME magazines of today. The first section was Letters to the Editor, all in reference to a previous issue, and therefore difficult to follow. One group of them was suggestions for TIME’s “Man of the Year,” and they listed several interesting options, as well as humorous comments such as “Who gives a damn?” Following this was a section with National Affairs, mostly discussing the politics of the time. A sidebar on “The Eisenhower Program” outlined the specific measures of the President’s legislative program. In this plan, there were several noticeable details that were a reminder of how long ago this magazine was published. One of the proposed changes to the legislature was an increase in the minimum wage, which was listed as “now 75 cents an hour.” Additionally, there was a remark that “statehood will be proposed for hawaii but not for Alaska.” Because I know the results of the political debates and issues that were going on when this article was published, it is intriguing to read about them as though they were occurring in the present. 

A section titled “People” held a handful of easily recognized names, once again providing a concrete sense of the age of this publication. People such as Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, Harry Truman, Salvador Dali, and Marlene Dietrich were the focus of these brief paragraphs, which were lighthearted and comical in their content. In both instances that I have read older publications of TIME, it is always surprising to see familiar names mentioned, and to realize that these people who are so famous now were living and making news during this Christmas season some time ago. 

Published on December 28th, the periodical has little mention of Christmas, except for in a few advertisements and a chance sentence or two in an article. While the cover is clearly holiday themed, there is little focus on Christmas in the magazine. This seems logical, and is no different than in publications today. While the holiday season is a great time for advertisers, it does not warrant much attention from news sources. The mentions in this particular issue include a greeting from the publisher, a hotel advertisement, the story about Grandma Moses, and a particularly interesting article about a boy named Rodney Brodie. This child, only 27 months old, was the survivor of a surgery that separated him from his siamese twin brother. The two were attached at the skull, and after extensive medical procedures, Rodney was beginning to lead a relatively normal life. This was his first Christmas to experience Santa, and the article detailed his enjoyment of the holidays. 

There were various interesting peculiarities in this issue, unusual to me mostly because of it was published nearly sixty years ago. One aspect that I noticed to be quite different was the captions. While there were many more photos in this publication than in the one from the 1920s-and some of them in color-the short captions underneath them often did not make any sense at all to me. Many did not seem to correlate with the picture they followed, and those that did were still strange. Perhaps they were tied in with the articles more than the pictures, and I would have had to read in depth to understand what they were referencing. In any case, they were formatted quite differently than captions are today. While this is a small difference, I found it interesting, and it is only one example of the numerous changes that have been made to the TIME since this publication. On the other hand, the 1950s issue seemed quite familiar, including not only recognizable names of people, but also of companies. Advertisements for Lipton Tea and an article about Lockheed-Martin could easily have been found in an issue of the magazine today, with only slightly altered content. 

It is difficult to say whether this magazine was more similar to the issue from the 1920s or one published in present-day. Despite this, it is compelling to look at issues over time, and observe the gradual changes and progressions towards what I am familiar with and what can be seen and purchased today. 

First Conversation Partner Meeting

My first meeting with HongLi Chen, or Li, gave me an insight into the challenges of living in a foreign country. Li is a freshman Business major at TCU, and I met with him on September 28th at the bookstore cafe. We talked about classes, the dorms, and what it is like for him to be living away from China for the first time. I was really interested to get to talk to him about this, particularly because of my own interest in traveling, and in studying abroad during a semester at college. Because I live only an hour away from my home, it was astonishing to me that Li moved to the other side of the world for college. 

At first we talked about very basic subjects- what classes we were taking, what we were majoring in, and how the semester was going in general. As we began to talk about living on campus, it became apparent how even students who spend most of their time in an English-speaking environment can avoid practicing the language. Li lives with another student from China, and he said that when they are at their dorm, they usually speak in Chinese. He said that most of the foreign students he knows tend to only spend time with people from their country, and that they have formed a clique in order to stay with those who speak their native language. I can of course understand the motivation to do this- it would be incredibly difficult to live in a foreign country for so long, especially one where the language is so different. However, I had never considered some of the other effects of this problem until I met with Li. He talked for a little while about how very few of the foreign students get involved on campus outside of their group of friends, because of the language barrier. He clearly disliked this inability to move outside of a small group of people, and mentioned that he tried to find other friends and ways of getting involved through his suite-mates. I had never thought about language as a block to getting involved, and I thought it was really interesting that this was something Li was concerned with. 

As we walked back towards our dorms, he made a comment about the Texas weather. I was surprised to learn that the weather in his hometown was not that different, and that he was used to it. So often, I encounter non-Texans who are shocked by the heat, and it was funny to me that someone from so far away remained unaffected by it. 

Overall, my first meeting with Li helped me better understand the life of a foreign student. I was really impressed by how easily he communicated in English, and there were only a few instances where it seemed he was confused by my phrasing, or could not clearly express his own thoughts. In all of these cases, though, I believe we ended up communicating what we meant without too much difficulty. Since our meeting, we have talked a couple of times on Facebook, and Li always seems friendly and eager to work on his English. I look forward to meeting with him again!