#project1952 preparation

[project1939]

The Materials 

I will roughly cram one month of 1952 into one current week- ex. January week one, February week two, etc...  

Here are the lists of all the things I will be reading, watching, or listening to: 

Films: 88 films, watched chronologically in order of the release date  

The Neighbors, The Greatest Show on Earth, Scandal Sheet, Bend of the River, Room for One More, Japanese War Bride, Phone Call From a Stranger, Lone Star, Secret People, Sailor Beware, Viva Zapata!, The Belle of New York, Rancho Notorious, Something to Live For, 5 Fingers, The Marrying Kind, Deadline-U.S.A., Island of Desire, With a Song in My Heart, Outlaw Women, My Son John, Singin’ in the Rain, Macao, The Narrow Margin, The Pride of St. Louis, Belles on Their Toes, Paula, Red Planet Mars, Kangaroo, Red Ball Express, Skirts Ahoy!, Diplomatic Courier, Pat and Mike, Clash By Night, The Girl in White, Stolen Face, Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, Flesh and Fury, Scaramouche, We’re Not Married, Son of Paleface, Don’t Bother to Knock, One Minute to Zero, High Noon, Dreamboat, Lost in Alaska, Affair in Trinidad, Ivanhoe, Sudden Fear, The Quiet Man, What Price Glory?, Penny Princess, The Crimson Pirate, It Grows on Trees, Monkey Business, Beware My Lovely, Europa 51, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Devil Makes Three, Because You’re Mine, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, The World in His Arms, Ikiru, Captive Women, The Thief, Limelight, The Lusty Men, The Happy Time, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kansas City Confidential, The Steel Trap, Plymouth Adventure, Something for the Birds, Road to Bali, Desperate Search, The Black Castle, Above and Beyond, Hans Christian Andersen, Million Dollar Mermaid, The Star, Stars and Stripes Forever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Come Back Little Sheba, Moulin Rouge, April in Paris, My Cousin Rachel, Ruby Gentry, The Bad and the Beautiful 

Television Shows: 39 shows, around 292 episodes, watched chronologically 

My Little Margie, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Ford Theatre, The Adventures of Superman, Cisco Kid, The Colgate Comedy Hour, Dragnet, Howdy Doody, I Love Lucy, Martin Kane Private Eye, Jack Benny, What’s My Line?, The Today Show, Guiding Light, This is the Life, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, See it Now, Gang Busters, Life With Luigi, Your Show of Shows, Our Miss Brooks, All Star Revue, Red Skelton, It’s News to Me, CBS Election Night Coverage, Winner Take All, Tales of Tomorrow, Beat the Clock, Treasury Men in Action, This is Your Life, Celanese Theatre, The Beulah Show, Westinghouse Studio One, CBS News with Douglas Edwards, Space Patrol. Ernie Kovacs, Buick Circus Hour, Roy Rogers, Burns and Allen, World Series and Boxing coverage 

Radio Shows: 42 shows, around 626 episodes, listened to chronologically 

Lux Radio Theater, The Big Show, Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Suspense, People Are Funny, I Love Lucy, My Little Margie, My Friend Irma, Fibber McGee and Molly, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, The Doris Day Show, You Bet Your Life, Father Knows Best, Meet Millie, Gunsmoke, This is Your FBI, The Great Gildersleeve, Screen Guild Theater, Voice of Firestone, Radio’s Best Plays, The Doctor’s Wife, Perry Mason, Our Miss Brooks, Bright Star, Jason and the Golden Fleece, The Chase, Hopalong Cassidy, Defense Attorney, The Mysterious Traveler, Richard Diamond Private Detective, The Martin and Lewis Show, Betty Parry, Mr and Mrs North, Bob Hope, The Adventures of Horatio Hornblower, Space Patrol, The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show, various news broadcasts 

Magazines:  26 magazines, read chronologically 

Motion Picture and Televison Magazine (12), Cosmopolitan, Life (3), Collier’s, McCall's, Movie Teen, Farm Journal, Photoplay, Quick, Good Housekeeping, Radio Mirror, The Atlantic, The Saturday Evening Post 

Books: 5-6 books 

1. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, Agatha Christie 

2. Kiss Me Deadly, Mickey Spillane 

3. Testimonies, Patrick O’Brien 

4. The Natural, Bernard Malamud 

5. Go, John Clellon Holmes 

6. Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut 

Music: 354 singles and 34 classical recordings (I will list these as I listen to them.) 

One 78rpm record from 1952: 5-10-15 Hours, Ruth Brown 

[project1939]

The Project and the Rules 

For the next three months (91 days) I can only watch, listen to, or read things from 1952.  

The Rules: 

1. I cannot listen to any current radio or podcasts. 

2. I cannot watch any current television, movies, or streaming. 

3. I cannot listen to music unless it is from 1952. I will confine myself to an itunes playlist of songs released in 1952, and at least one actual 78 rpm record released in 1952.

4. I cannot attend any modern theater or concerts. 

5. I cannot sing or play any modern music on guitar, piano, etc. 

6. I will avoid going to places with ambient/background music playing- like certain restaurants, clubs, etc. Rare exceptions may have to be made for the health of my social life, however! 

7. I cannot read modern books, newspapers, magazines, or websites. 

8. Internet use will be strictly limited to four things: 

     a) I can check my email once a day 

     b) I can stream a movie, tv show, or radio show from 1952 

     c) I can log in to this site to blog

d) I can do online shopping for necessities unrelated to culture/media. I can also use the internet for financial/work/healthcare related things. 

I cannot use google or wiki for any information about anything, including project material. (I will allow google for quick spell checks of people’s names, if needed.) 

9. Modern conveniences not related to culture/entertainment are allowed.  I do not have to dress or eat or transport myself around like it is 1952. I will, however, try some old recipes when I find them in magazines or other media. If you remember Jello molds from Project 1939, strap yourself in! 

10. I can use my phone’s camera for taking and posting pictures of project material.

11. I can use my cell phone for phone calls and texting. 

12. The pictures and art in my office/main living area will be limited to things from 1952 or prior. I am also changing the wallpaper and lock screens on all of my devices to comply. 

This is madness! But on we go...

[project1939]

Project 1952 Begins Now! 

It’s been many years since Project 1939 ended, and I’m dusting off my cheap little time machine and setting it 13 years further into the future! 

So why the heck 1952? The key is in my vintage pulp paperback collection. 

I’ve been collecting 1950s and 60s lesbian pulp fiction for years. It’s still trippy to me that in the midst of the conservative popular culture of the day anyone could go to a drug store or newsstand and buy a book whose central focus was a lesbian romance. Now, clearly these were aimed at straight men, or “one-handed readers” as they were called! Pulps were considered salacious then, although by modern standards even the most graphic would be PG-13. The books were certainly not written to inspire a gay rights movement- any female character who decided to live her life as a lesbian had to be punished in some way. Only the woman who married a man could have a happy ending. Despite this, many queer women did find solace and validation in the pages of these books. They just learned to ignore the endings. 

When I did Project 1939, totally immersing myself in the media of the time gave me a brand new, vivid understanding of the era. So, what era might I be interested in gaining a greater understanding of now? Well, the book that is generally considered to have started the entire lesbian pulp phenomenon is Spring Fire, written by Vin Packer in 1952. (Vin Packer was the penname of Marijane Meeker, who was a lesbian in real life.) By focusing on 1952, I’m hoping to get a much clearer picture of the world these books were first released into. Let’s get going, shall we?