1940's
Life Magazines from the 1940's
By the end of the 1930s, America was still in the throes of the Great Depression and the rest of the world was going to war. By the end of the 1940s, nothing would be the same. Flipping through the pages of LIFE Magazines from 1940 to 1949 is like watching the world change before your eyes. Sections like “LIFE on the Newsfronts of the World” chronicled the weekly development of the war in Europe, and Life Magazine editors devoted ever greater numbers of pages to events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II. For years, Americans read of the conflict in the pages of LIFE Magazine as outsiders. Then came December 7, 1941 – “a date which will live in infamy.”
Beginning with the first issue of LIFE Magazine after the Pearl Harbor attack, you can see a shift in American culture. Cover photos, with few exceptions, feature strapping soldiers, American flags, or beautiful women. Even the advertisements went to war, with handsome men in uniform selling soap and encouraging the purchase of war bonds by the dozen. War-time issues of LIFE Magazine offer a unique look into domestic life in America during WWII. Instead of 24-hour news coverage, families read about battles well after they happened. A moment-by-moment, first-hand account of The Battle of the Bulge, complete with diagrams, is chronicled in the January 8th issue from 1945. Lighter moments, like the soldiers’ improvised “Spaghetti Bowl” football game and parade held in snowy northern Italy, are left out of most history books, but from the pages of LIFE Magazine they offer you a special look into life for soldiers in the 40s. From The beaches at Normandy to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, LIFE Magazine is a treasure trove of information and photographs for WWII enthusiasts.
War might have been the main event, but life as usual didn’t cease to exist for Americans. Movie reviews of classics like National Velvet and Citizen Kane; profiles of stars like Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and Judy Garland; and biographies of baseball legends all give a peek into how Americans at home kept morale high. Walt Disney makes a surprising number of visits to LIFE’s pages during the forties, both for full-length features like Dumbo and for his series of war-themed short films. In the years after the war, LIFE Magazine and America settled in for a new time of prosperity, peace, and growth during the 1950s.
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January 16, 1940 Look Magazine Montage of political faces
Starting at: $15.95
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February 13, 1940 Look Magazine Two Ann Sheridans
Starting at: $15.95
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March 12, 1940 Look Magazine Joan Crawford in diamonds and fur in front of a horse and jockey
Starting at: $15.95
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March 26, 1940 Look Magazine ook Magazine, March 26, 1940 – Katharine Aldridge, 20th Century Fox starlet
Starting at: $15.95
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April 9, 1940 Look Magazine Ginger Rogers
Starting at: $15.95
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April 23, 1940 Look Magazine Judy Baum
Starting at: $15.95
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May 7, 1940 Look Magazine Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
Starting at: $15.95
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May 21, 1940 Look Magazine Anne Scott
Starting at: $15.95
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June 4, 1940 Look Magazine Barbara Matson
Starting at: $15.95
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June 18, 1940 Look Magazine Joan Bennett
Starting at: $15.95
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July 16, 1940 Look Magazine Linda Darnell on Sailboat
Starting at: $15.95
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July 30, 1940 Look Magazine Marjorie Deanne poolside
Starting at: $15.95
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August 13, 1940 Look Magazine Linda Darnell laying back in a canoe
Starting at: $15.95
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August 27, 1940 Look Magazine Ann Rutherford cover model
Starting at: $15.95
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September 10, 1940 Look Magazine Wendell L Wilkie and Franklin D Roosevelt
Starting at: $15.95
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September 24, 1940 Look Magazine Charlie Chaplan as Hitler in the movie “The Dictator.”
Starting at: $15.95
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October 8, 1940 Look Magazine Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney throw a party
Starting at: $15.95
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October 22, 1940 Look Magazine ook Magazine, October 22, 1940 – Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Willkie
Starting at: $15.95
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December 3, 1940 Look Magazine Man and Woman cheering
Starting at: $15.95
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December 31, 1940 Look Magazine Girl sitting on wall at overlook
Starting at: $22.95
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January 14, 1941 Look Magazine Franklin Roosevelt inspecting Europe on the globe
Starting at: $15.95
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January 28, 1941 Look Magazine Larraine Day is a pretty nurse for the cover story on medical miracles
Starting at: $15.95
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February 25, 1941 Look Magazine Winston Churchill
Starting at: $15.95
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May 11, 1941 Look Magazine ice skater Dorothy Lewis who skates with the Heasley twins in the “Ice Frolics”
Starting at: $15.95
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March 25, 1941 Look Magazine Test Pilot Milo Burcham and the army’s fastest plane
Starting at: $15.95
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May 20, 1941 Look Magazine ook Magazine, May 20, 1941 – 1941 Bathing Suits with model Gale Storm
Starting at: $15.95
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June 3, 1941 Look Magazine Jeanne Rankin and a palomino horse at Laguna Beach
Starting at: $15.95
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July 12, 1941 Look Magazine World’s Biggest Bomber
Starting at: $15.95
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August 26, 1941 Look Magazine Two women in swimming suits
Starting at: $15.95
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September 23, 1941 Look Magazine Charles W. Stark
Starting at: $15.95
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October 21, 1941 Look Magazine Woman and man at a university game
Starting at: $15.95
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November 4, 1941 Look Magazine Ginger Rogers wading in a stream
Starting at: $15.95
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January 13, 1942 Look Magazine Gunner in airplane
Starting at: $15.95
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January 27, 1942 Look Magazine Sailor playing bugle
Starting at: $15.95
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February 10, 1942 Look Magazine Woman cross country skiing in flashy red coat
Starting at: $15.95
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February 24, 1942 Look Magazine Elyse Knox surrounded by a group of sailors
Starting at: $15.95
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March 10, 1942 Look Magazine Actress Joan Fontaine at desk in the uniform of Britain’s WAAF
Starting at: $15.95
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March 24, 1942 Look Magazine Man in uniform of an ensign in the US Coast Guard
Starting at: $15.95
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April 7, 1942 Look Magazine Model Evelyn Frey with sailboat
Starting at: $15.95
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April 21, 1942 Look Magazine Donald C Hay
Starting at: $15.95