Description
LIFE Magazine – October 7, 1946 features Bing Crosby and Joan Caulfield on the cover, photographed during a period when both stars were appearing in Paramount’s musical film Blue Skies. The issue captures American popular culture at the beginning of the postwar era while also covering politics, science, sports, medicine, education, and international affairs.
Inside, LIFE looks at Republican leaders Robert A. Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, President Harry Truman, American hopes in postwar China, crowded U.S. schools, and the possibility of another economic depression. The issue also ranges from a feature on personality testing using inkblots to professional boxing, Japanese miniature trees, outdoor sporting art, and an extraordinary medical story about a 710-pound young man.
Inside This Issue
- Bing Crosby & Joan Caulfield — Cover stars associated with Paramount’s 1946 musical Blue Skies
- “Blue Skies” — LIFE’s movie coverage of the Bing Crosby musical
- Robert A. Taft & Arthur Vandenberg — Joseph and Stewart Alsop examine two leading Republican senators
- President Harry Truman — The president as caricatured by a friend
- Postwar China — U.S. Ambassador John Leighton Stuart and American hopes for China
- Personality Tests — An illustrated look at psychological testing and inkblots
- Tony Zale — Coverage of his celebrated championship fight
- American Schools — Crowded classrooms during the postwar enrollment surge
- Japanese Miniature Trees — LIFE explores the art and natural history of bonsai
- Western Movies — A photographic essay on Hollywood’s enduring “horse opera”
Original LIFE Magazines are authentic issues published between 1936 and 2000.
Pg… 27 The Week’s Events: Oldest Human Bones Arrive in the U.S.
Pg… 32 The Week’s Events: Editorial: Shall We Have a Depression?
Pg… 33 The Week’s Events: Truman is Caricatured by Friend
Pg… 34 The Week’s Events: Zale Wins Year’s Best Fight
Pg… 36 The Week’s Events: Ambassador Stuart Raises U.S. Hopes in China
Pg… 38 The Week’s Events: Students are Crowding U.S. School Facilities
Pg… 46 The Week’s Events: Bikini Goat Gets Transfusion
Pg… 102 Article: Taft and Vandenberg, by Joseph and Stewart Alsop
Pg… 93 Photographic Essay: Horse Opera
Pg… 49 Theater: The Critics Versus the Playwrights
Pg… 55 Science: Personality Tests
Pg… 63 Sports: Game Bird Shooting, Paintings by Ogden Pleissner
Pg… 71 Short Story: Once Aboard the “Reluctant,” by Thomas Heggen
Pg… 81 Medicine: 710–Pound Youth
Pg… 87 Natural History: Japanese Miniature Trees
Pg… 116 Movies: “Blue Skies”
Pg… 121 Modern Living: Shoes to Match
Pg… 2 Other Departments: LIFE’s Reports
Pg… 12 Other Departments: Speaking of Pictures: Machamer Tells Why Cartooning is Easy
Pg… 16 Other Departments: Letters to the Editors
Pg… 126 Other Departments: LIFE Visits a Country School of Photography
Pg… 130 Other Departments: LIFE’s Miscellany: Fun at the Piano
