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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Greatest, Most Racist Generation: 1952 Magazine Feature Says "Wetbacks" 20+ Times

Posted By on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 7:00 AM

Page 2 of 2

Here's another important story from People Today, the important magazine of important stuff. Outraged at all the attention foreign film starlets like Sophia Loren were receiving in the early '50s, a young woman was moved to do what any of us would: snap some swimsuit shots and send them to the media, for patriotism or something.

click to enlarge studies_in_crap_people_weekly_gladys.jpg

In the accompanying article, Gladys insists that "red-blooded American girls" are not just "dried-up substitutes" for the international beauties parading through the press. People Today adds that Gladys just turned 18, measures 38-24-36, and -- quite unlike those non-American beauties who dare hail from non-American countries -- contains multitudes:

studies_in_crap_people_weekly_gladys_verse.jpg

"Let's see, what rhymes with 'Brigitte Bardot is feebly enfleshened'?"

Shocking Detail:

To the men at People Today, an American girl like Gladys was worth much more than any other. They could even put a number on it, as we see in this illuminating feature titled "What's Your Wife Worth In Cold Hard Cash?" Turns out, a wife's worth is always in inverse proportion to her husband's salary.

click to enlarge studies_in_crap_people_today_wife_worth.jpg

Want to be treasured, ladies? Date a broke-ass man!

NOTE TO HUSBANDS: This is collector's value, not street value, based on Near Mint or Mint+ condition. Please bag and board your wife.

Highlight:

Page after page, race preoccupies the publishers' minds. How else to explain this?

click to enlarge studies_in_crap_people_weekly_back.jpg

Black man, lighter-toned woman, and the caption "Big mouthful"? Sometimes I want to take the 1950s outside and hose 'em off on the lawn.

Hey, you could do worse than following @studiesincrap or @ExhibitionistSF on the Twitter thing.

The mighty Studies in Crap e-mail list alerts you whenever a new SiC post hits. Sign up at studiesincrap@sfweekly.com.

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Alan Scherstuhl

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