I borrowed a library copy of Popular Mechanics Magazine, the May 1933 issue. It was a glimpse of life 83 years ago. Written in the depths of the Great Depression, hard economic reality is occasionally reflected in articles and ads.
![[magazine cover]](popularmechanics.gif)
I was struck by how this vintage issue spoke to me with a “voice” always associated with Popular Mechanics. The magazine motto, "Written so you can understand it," promises a layman's approach to technology, science, and industry. A shotgunning of quick articles, lavishly illustrated, of the latest technology breakthroughs, and also the oddball inventor's imaginative idea.
For example, one page has an intricately illustrated "High-Speed Road Planned to Span Continent [Boston to San Francisco]. Cars travel at 100 miles an hour coast-to-coast, with "Stop Stations" [food and gas] 400 miles apart. A four-lane highway [two lanes each direction], bypassing city traffic, off- and on-ramps shown in the illustration. In 1933, there was no Interstate Highway System, but here was the prescient vision.
The feature article previews the World's Fair, "Century of Progress," held in Chicago. Some three dozen sepia photographs show pavilion buildings that emphasize simplicity of construction and eventual reuse of materials.
But what popped out in this issue was the apparent popularity of jigsaw puzzles. A how-to for making "Picture Puzzles for Fun and Profit." Another article reported elaborate jigsaw puzzles, with upwards of 20,000 pieces, gave "idle artists a job," after cutbacks in the Hollywood motion-picture studios. Ads offered a free guide to gluing up a jigsaw puzzle for ten cents in stamps and a trial glue sample. A jig saw was advertised for $9.95, motor included. Another was $1.49, the buyer to supply motor or treadle.
Popular Mechanics always offers ads for ways to make money, training to upgrade one's employment, but this 1933 issue struck me with the variety and number. One, in particular, revealed the tenor of the times. "Learn in California Television-Radio Talking Pictures." The National Radio & Electrical School in Los Angeles anticipated the unemployed didn't have spare cash for training: "75% of our students are earning their living expenses while attending school now. We help you get a job to pay living expenses while learning. If you are short of money, write and explain your problem. We also allow your Coach Railroad Fare to Los Angeles." A poignant insight into the Great Depression. No mention of student debt there!
Image credit: pininterest.com
Read Charlie Dickinson's
story collection [and feel free to share with a friend] The Cat
at Light's End, as an ebook in these downloadable
formats:
.mobi
(Kindle)
.epub (most other readers)
.pdf (for PCs)
Also, a flash fiction, "Ylena Thinks Nyet," is at Cigale Literary Magazine.
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