Description
LIFE Magazine – March 4, 1946 captures America and the world at the beginning of the postwar era, with champion figure skater Gretchen Van Zandt Merrill featured on the cover and in an inside profile. Merrill was one of the country’s leading skaters of the 1940s, and LIFE devoted a major feature to her career and athleticism.
This issue ranges across politics, international affairs, science, entertainment, and American life. LIFE examines previously secret Japanese war plans, the people surrounding President Harry S. Truman, and war-damaged Vienna under Allied occupation. Other features include Palm Beach’s booming social season, the monks of the Great St. Bernard Hospice, experimental starvation research, a remarkable illustrated “Trip to the Moon,” and the Italian neorealist film Open City.
Inside This Issue
- Gretchen Merrill — profile of the champion American figure skater
- Secret Japanese War Plans — LIFE reporting tied to the Pearl Harbor investigations
- Men Around Truman — personalities surrounding President Harry S. Truman
- Vienna: Broken City — John Dos Passos reports from postwar Austria
- Trip to the Moon — an imaginative illustrated feature looking toward space travel
- Palm Beach — one of the resort city’s liveliest postwar seasons
- St. Bernard Monks — the centuries-old Alpine rescue tradition
- Open City — LIFE looks at Roberto Rossellini’s landmark Italian film
Original LIFE Magazines are authentic issues published between 1936 and 2000.
Pg… 29 The Week’s Events: Palm Beach Has Big Season
Pg… 38 The Week’s Events: Editorial: “?As Others See Us”
Pg… 39 The Week’s Events: Texas Dog Watches Sewer for Month
Pg… 40 The Week’s Events: Men Around Truman
Pg… 42 The Week’s Events: GIs Pay Tribute to Swiss Bomb Casualties
Pg… 45 The Week’s Events: St. Bernard Monks Carry on Rescue Work
Pg… 79 The Week’s Events: New “Dark” Bread Saves Wheat
Pg… 92 Article: Vienna, by John Dos Passos
Pg… 65 Close–Up: Gretchen Merrill, Champion Figure Skater, by Oliver Jensen
Pg… 83 Photographic Essay: Games
Pg… 53 Theater: “Lute Song”
Pg… 58 Science: Starvation Treatment
Pg… 73 Art: Trip to the Moon
Pg… 107 Animals: Angus Bulls and Heifers Bring Record Prices
Pg… 111 Movies: “Open City”
Pg… 4 Other Departments: Letters to the Editors
Pg… 12 Other Departments: Speaking of Pictures: Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church
Pg… 16 Other Departments: LIFE’s Reports: Secret Jap War Plans, by Richard E. Lauterbach
Pg… 118 Other Departments: LIFE Goes to the Wedding of Senator Chavez’ Daughter
Pg… 122 Other Departments: Miscellany: Thirteen–Foot Geranium
