Look Magazine
By Council Bluffs, Iowa- The old man’s girlfriend likes to keep boxes of old magazines, including Time, Life, Look, and so forth. I had been led to believe that Look was simply a mirror of Life, same subject matter, mode of treatment, and so forth. It is possible either a) that I have been sadly misinformed as to the quality and content of Look magazine, or b) that the old fogies are right, and the level of public discourse has dropped dramatically over the past forty years.
Perusing the November 6, 1962 issue (which would have hit newstands smack in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis), I find the following:
A five page article on the 1962 Massachusetts Senate campaign. The Republicans were vociferously critical of the President for running his young (30 years) wet-behind the-ears brother for the Senate seat. They, of course, were running 35 year old George Cabot Lodge, son of the 1960 vice-presidential candidate. Also interesting to note: Ted Kennedy was a damn good looking man in 1962. Makes you wonder what would have happened to his brothers if they had lived.
A five page analysis of Soviet and American military capabilities. Shockingly, the analysis is quite accurate; the United States had a substantial lead in strategic forces, had near-equality in conventional forces, and had a dramatically more secure and economically powerful alliance system. The article opined that the Soviet Union might begin to be a serious threat sometime around the year 2000. . .
A fourteen page bio/article on Pierre Auguste Renoir by his son, Jean Renoir.
A seven page profile/interview with a young George C. Scott, who even in 1962 hated the Academy Awards.
Finally, the ads are great. Every man looks like Rock Hudson, every woman like Audrey Hepburn.