Joseph Mitchell on how New York State liquor laws transformed Dick’s Bar and Grill, from 1939: “The old place was dirty and it smelled like the zoo, but it was genuine.”
Best New Yorker Articles of 1939
Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1939 issues.
52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: Geoffrey T. Hellman (5)
Most featured section: Profiles
Featured Picks
Satire on Archibald Macleish's "Land of the Free."
Part 1 of the author’s classic series, from 1939: “Once upon a time there were two turkeys, an old turkey and a young turkey.”
Joseph Wyler on the enormous, ornate, and extremely impractical bathtub in his family’s old-fashioned brownstone home.
Part 2 of the author’s classic series, from 1939: “There was once a lion who coveted an eagle’s wings.”
PROFILE of Mrs. Marjorie Post Close Hutton Davies. Mrs. Davies turned over $18,000 to an acquaintance, Mrs. William Thaw III, to help finance a …
Part 3 of the author’s classic series, from 1939: “A young and impressionable moth once set his heart on a certain star.”
REPORTER AT LARGE about a trial of a narcotics case. The indictment handed up by the Grand Jury charged Shirley Denevere with the unlawful possession & …
REPORTER AT LARGE about the German-American Bund meeting in the Madison Square Garden. Tells about the embarrassing demonstration by Miss Thompson. She was…
PROFILE of Meyer Davis orchestra leader who has been supplying the nation's gentry with his products since 1913. His presence at coming-out parties & …
Fiction, from 1939: “She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd.”
Talk story about Dr. Bettmann & his archive, a collection of some 15,000 photographs of old manuscripts, works of art, mechanical devices, historical …
Clifton Fadiman reviews John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” and George R. Leighton’s “Five Cities.”
REPORTER AT LARGE about a typical working day in the Senator's life. Description of his office in Washington, his secretarial & clerical staff, mail, …
Reporter at Large about religious goods stores on Barclay Street. St. Peter's in the heart of the street has put an indelible stamp on Barclay. …
Clifton Fadiman reviewed a new novel by James Joyce, in 1939. “The world would doubtless be amazed at Mr. Joyce’s achievement, assuming the world understood it,” he wrote, of “Finnegans Wake.”
ANNALS OF CRIME about the holdup of a U. S. Trucking Corporation armored car in Brooklyn. Stewart Wallace vas the veteran of the group. He was 51, and had …
ANNALS OF CRIME about the holdup of a U. S. Trucking Corporation armored car in Brooklyn. Stewart Wallace vas the veteran of the group. He was 51, and had …
Reporter at Large about Arlene Warner, the typical Elgin girl, of the Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., who was given a free trip to New York …
Tells of the case which was tried by Judge George L. Donnellan in the Court of General Sessions. It concerned a colored man, one William Mitchell, who, the…
PROFILE of John C. Craig, consultant on pyrotechnics to the Board of Display of the World'sFair. Craig writes the specifications for the fireworks, …
PROFILE of Goerge Nicholson, professional sparring partners Nicholson has helped Joe Louis prepare for four fights & the winter before last worked with Jim…
Margaret Case Harriman profiles the artist at work on his surrealist funhouse “Dream of Venus” for the 1939 World’s Fair.
REPORTER AT LARGE about some of the wrestling exhibitions which take place at Ridgewood, L.I. Jack Pfefer conducts the matches, and makes no pretense at …
Tells about the mass demonstration staged by the Workers Alliance, an independent union of relief works in protest against the dismissal of two of their …
Visit to the Long Island bay clam bed to watch the clamming. The most abundant beds are in Great South Bay and are owned by the towns of Islip and Babylon.…
The “Madeline” author describes the marine charm of Ile-d’Yeu, a perfect island, barren of tourists, off the coast of western France.
PROFILE OF Lew Dufour and Joe Rogers Fair Midway concessionaires, but firm that now runs half a dozen shows on the World's Fair Midway. History of the …
REPORTER AT LARGE about a trip to Chinatown in a sightseeing bus. Description of the passengers; the guide's travelogue, etc. Tells about a visit to …
Janet Flanner on Marthe Hanau, the “spicy Paris personality” whose financial paper Gazette du Franc swindled millions of xenophobic investors in postwar France.
PROFILE of Arthur Urbane Dilley, the country's foremost authority on Oriental rugs, and president of the Hajji Baba Club, a group of gentlemen …
PROFILE of William Turnesa, the Amateur Golf champion of the U. S. All the Turnesa boys, Phil, Frank, Joe, Mike, Dough, and Jim, are celebrated golfers, & …
PROFILE of A. J. & Will Townsend, discoverers of the Townsend Law of Advertising, a formula for the composition of irresistible persuasive prose. With it …
PROFILE of Raymond G. Twyeffort, tailor and designer, Wright is one of Twyeffort's out-of-town customers, he is 84 years old, and lives in Springfield,…
Talk story about Clarence Hathaway, editor of the Daily Worker, and the most harried of Communists these days. Not only does he have to explain, over and …
PROFILE of Simon & Schuster. In 1927 Simon & Schuster best-seller "Trader Horn" made a fortune for the partners Alfred Aloysius Horn, whose real name was …
PROFILE of Simon & Schuster, publishers, tells about the biggest literary hoax of the century. It involved Joan Lowell (Helen Joan Wagner's "Cradle of …
Reporter at Large about the Travelers Aid Society. A visit to the liner Rex which brought back about 120 Americans who, though born in the United States …
REPORTER AT LARGE about the turtle & terrapin business. Visit to Will Barbee's diamond-back terrapin farm on the Isle of Hope. The terrapin market in …
REPORTER AT LARGE about the Eiverton, Connecticut Fair. The fair is held on a plain beside the river. All day long, cows, horses, and oxen are led down the…
I decided that, with the conquest of Poland a matter of history, I might be able to find out something of the fat of my cousin there, who had not written …
PROFILE of J. J. & Lee Shubert. "The Student Prince" is typical of the Shubert tradition. It made more money than any show the Shuberts produced. When, in …
REPORTER AT LARGE about the London Air Raid Patrol. Visit to stretcher-party post and the ambulance depot; description of the headquarters, and an air raid…
Profile of Lee & J.J. Shubert. Just as Shubert empire has two chiefs, so it has two heirs apparent. One is Mr. J.J.'s son John, who, the father likes …
Janet Flanner’s 1939 Profile of Picasso, about the beginnings of Cubism, ugliness as style, and how a young man from Málaga, Spain became one of the costliest painters on earth.
REPORTER AT LARGE about the Trotskyists in N.Y., officially known as the Socialist Workers Party. During its 11 years of existence it has consistently …
Judy Graves received Christmas presents befitting a girl of twelve, her first silk stockings, a silk nightgown that trailed on the floor, monogrammed …
PROFILE of Elisabeth Achelis who has, since 1930, spent practically all her time trying to secure the universal adoption of a permanent, unchanging …