Wednesday, May 2, 2001
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Wednesday, May 2, 2001 |
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A paper time capsule By
SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Painters were renovating a Peachtree City house for a couple in their 80s. The wife a new bride despite her years was bent on erasing every trace of her recently deceased predecessor, and insisted that the workmen carry out truckloads of odds and ends, much of it the collection of a lifetime. She didn't care what they did with it so long as it was out of her house. The painting crew, recognizing the value of some of the stuff, was marveling over their curious windfall at the Waffle House one Wednesday when we came by for our weekly infusion of melted butter. "Look at these newspapers," said one, unfolding a brown copy of the April 13, 1945 New York Times with its giant headline: President Roosevelt is Dead. I begged to borrow a few to look through at home, and one of several plastic bags full of 56-year-old news was passed along the counter. Let me dip into this fragile time capsule and share with you what I found. News of the war, not surprisingly, dominated as events began to converge on victory for the Allies. Headlines in the Panama American of April 4, 1945 from the Panama Canal Zone spoke in terms and locales then unfamiliar to American readers: Yanks Sweep Through Central Reich. Japanese Concentrate For Battle On Okinawa. Troops and Tanks of Soviet Armies in Vienna Outskirts. Some of the headlines sounded like today's: Chaplin Paternity Trial Opens Today, datelined Hollywood, as Charlie Chaplin is charged with being the father of the baby daughter of Joan Barry. Inside, diamond engagement rings were advertised for $50 to $225, and Armour's Cloverbloom Butter was "Fresh as All Outdoors builds sturdy bodies." Benrus watches sold for $39.75 to $55. On the editorial pages Walter Winchell, Ernie Pyle, Bob Hope and Drew Pearson hold forth. A new movie opens National Velvet and in the classifieds: "Wanted young lady, white, as secretary to American executive. Must have fluent knowledge of English, Spanish, and be a good stenographer. ..." This grisly story appeared on the front page, under the headline, Decapitated Body of Nazi Sympathizer Found Near Paris. "A trapper prowling through a thicket today in the Bois de Neuville stumbled on the nude, headless body of a woman about 30 years of age. 'Do not waste pity on this woman,' a note on the body read, 'who during the five years I spent in a concentration camp behaved herself badly, and was gratifyingly kind to the Germans. I am not a criminal but a dispenser of justice. You bury the body. I am keeping the head.'" A week later, the President died, stunning a nation that, in those days, was not privy to its leaders' medical records. The stories filled the Times, of course, which published no ads in that issue. There were also brief pieces attempting to introduce to the United States its new, virtually unknown commander-in-chief, Harry Truman of Missouri, and word came that the Ninth Army had crossed the Elbe and was nearing Berlin. And this: Queenie, a 6-year-old Doberman Pinscher, had received an honorable discharge after serving two years with the armed forces as a sentry. She became the first member of the K-9 corps to receive a free lifetime license under a new state law for issuance to dogs honorably discharged from the army. Queenie was owned by Mrs. Jeanne Wasserman's 19-year-old son Stanley, who saw action in Italy, Africa and France with the Coast Guard. Stanley had had the dog since she was a pup a dog that was vicious when she went into service, but after retraining had become docile. Queenie did not recognize Mrs. Wasserman at first but after the woman spoke to her in Yiddish, the dog realized she was home. In the Atlanta papers as elsewhere, sacrifices for the war effort were common topics. The Atlanta Journal of May 8, 1945 ran a quarter-page ad: "Bring your band instruments to Rich's the US Army will pay cash for them. ... Our fighting men are asking for musical instruments! But the musical instrument industry is engaged in making war essentials. Your idle band instruments are the only answer. ..." Another headline said New Hearses, Steel Vaults Unavailable, as industry focused on the war effort. Two obituaries, with pictures, of sergeants killed in France and Germany, were placed, regrettably, above an ad headlined "Women with PILES get Doctor's tip." Under Georgians on Casualty List was the name of Robert L. Grubbs, Private, of Tyrone, son of Mrs. Sara Grubbs wounded in Europe. Farm land for sale: 400 acres, 34 miles south of Atlanta; 4-room house, good barn, fencing, bottoms and much timber. $5,000. Other properties included "good outhouses." Furnished room with kitchen privileges, electric refrigerator, gas range, hot water; rent $20 a month. Settled business woman preferred. ... Near Fort Mc. Share newly built home, attrac. Furn. Couple only. Army officer's wife, husband overseas. ... There's lots more we'll save some for another day.
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