I'm a Marxist, Number 1

One of the happy occasions of my high-school years was my student-aide role, as a Senior at Sooner High School in Bartlesville, OK, for the wondrous teacher Della Craighead.

She knew I was a ne'er-do-well who needed something to occupy his time, so she came up with some busywork which was perfect for me.

It seemed that somebody had donated several hundred LIFE magazines from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.  Mrs C assigned me to go through them and simply cut out the articles I thought were "important" in some way, and set them aside for her.

Crazy, huh?  Yeah.  Crazy because FIRST I was mutilating historical documents.  SECOND, I really had no specific guidance except for the above vague guidance.

You know how something can seem casual but pack a wallop of deeper meaning?  That is true with this "job" for Mrs C.  Thanks to her, I now have a very deep appreciation for the LIFE-magazine world and nation of that era.  I am so very thankful for this exposure to Populuxe America.

Plus, I nabbed a few items for myself!

 The above Personna razor-blade ad is from the October 4, 1946 issue of LIFE.  Note that it ties in to the then-current film A Night in Casablanca.

By the February 15, 1953 issue of LIFE, Groucho was burning up the TV waves with You Bet Your Life.  Surely everybody knows about "ghosts" in TV reception?  They were usually caused by an antenna that wasn't sufficiently aimed towards the broadcasting tower.  In this case, GE is using the term to push their "aluminized" picture tube.

You know what THAT is, don't you, campers?

Come back next Monday, February 3, for a new Valentine's day music compilation.  Until then, the Secret Word is COMPASSION.