Time Magazine in the 1950s

I read a 1955 Time Magazine from the week before Thanksgiving.

I found the shift between the 30s edition of Time and this magazine most interesting. This magazine was a clear intermediary step between 30s culture and today’s culture. An increased presence of a global community and interest in entertainment existed in this edition, as did an emphasis on movement away from tradition. These elements illustrated a culture more similar to today’s than I first expected.

The advertisements first caught my eye as an indicator of a growing global community.  Compared to the 1931 edition, this edition printed many more advertisements for various forms of transportation such as airplanes and trains. Time still printed car advertisements, but usually in conjunction with another form of transportation. For example, an advertisement for an airline consisted of a car company saying how proud they were to be affiliated with such a hard working airline. This advertisement publicized not only the airline, but also the car company’s progress towards the future of transportation— airplanes. An emphasis on these new methods of transportation shows that the ability to have a connected global society was becoming more accessible.

Many advertisements for travel destinations and travel agents illustrated this growing accessibility. These ads marketed towards families and encouraged travel to exotic destinations and interaction with new cultures. Travel was no longer limited to the elite, but was also available to the middle class. Availability to the middle class is the first indicator of normalcy for any institution, so clearly global awareness was becoming more common.

I also saw ads for long distance phone calls and public service announcements about the postal service. An increased need for these services indicates that not only were people traveling far away from home, but also moving further away from their place of birth. People and ideas disseminated across larger distances than before.

The foreign news section of Time was another indicator of a larger global community. Time dedicated the first foreign news section to Geneva and the discussions of inter-country relations held there. The foreign news section also included many stories about Eisenhower’s visits to various countries. In general, foreign news seemed focused on the relationships amongst countries rather than their individuality. An interest in these relations indicated a heightened global awareness and connectedness that did not appear in the 30s edition. 

Something else I noticed about this magazine was an increase in advertisements for entertainment and entertainment goods.  Time printed many advertisements for TVs, radios, remote controls, and luxury items such as pianos in addition to the travel advertisements I discussed earlier. Many of these ads included pictures of people relaxing and enjoying themselves. This idea of relaxation contrasted greatly with the 1930s advertisements, which tended to focus on increased functionality and efficiency. An increase in luxury goods shows evidence of more disposable family income and increased economic welfare. This also seems to be the beginning of the entertainment industry that dominates today.

Traditional values also seem to come into question in this edition of Time.  The topic of Princess Margaret and her romance with Captain Townsend appeared many times. The magazine printed a debate about her decision to cancel her engagement with this divorcee within its first few pages. The responses were highly varied. Some said her marriage to a divorcee would bring the values of the church into question, some said it didn’t matter. The fact that a debate even existed about the morality of divorce shows a movement away from the traditional value of marriage. This signals a shift away from traditional norms and towards today’s worldview where divorce is a socially acceptable institution.

An article about the farmers market in France also brought traditional customs under direct scrutiny. The magazine criticized the farmers market, which had had been established centuries before, for it’s inefficiency and wastefulness.  The article says that this important French tradition is inefficient due to the cost of transporting the food to the market’s customary location, and the amount of food turned around and shipped elsewhere because of the location’s inaccessibility. The argument of tradition vs. efficiency comes into direct question in this article, and clearly efficiency wins in the American view. This again shows a shift away from the traditional in favor of a future that values progress and productivity.

The overall lack of emphasis on Thanksgiving in this magazine greatly surprised me. I specifically chose Thanksgiving as my holiday because I thought that the shift in familial values would be interesting to observe. I expected to see a bunch of Norman Rockwell paintings and an emphasis on family and spending time together. But there was practically no mention of Thanksgiving and what it represented. I saw one life insurance ad that briefly referenced Thanksgiving saying that in this time of being thankful for the past, we should plan for the future, but after that ad, nothing. This indicates less of an emphasis on traditional family values than I expected.

In general, the similarity between 50s culture and today’s culture surprised me. After years of watching “Leave it to Beaver”, I expected a more homely and traditional society, but that wasn’t what I encountered at all.  While not as strongly as today, 50s culture clearly valued a global community, entertainment, and efficiency and progress in place of tradition.