People Today Pocket Digest Magazine 1950s - 60 Years Later Feature Story Wrap Up!

People Today Pocket Digest Magazine February 10, 1954 - Feature Story Wrap Up 60 Years Later!

 

People Today Pocket Digest Magazine, published by Hillman Periodicals Inc, Fifth Avenue NY NY, was issued bi-weekly for about a decade. Founded by Alex L Hillman in 1938, as an American Magazine and Comic Publishing company, they ceased issuing comics around the time People Today began in 1950. The publishing empire was sold to Macfadden in 1961 and Mr Hillman retired. People Today Magazine ceased around the same time.

Billed as a magazine about "Headline People", the handy size (4x6 inches) and low price of .10 cents, made it a popular publication on newsstands. A yearly subscription was $2.50! Slightly risqué and full of "cheesecake" with many black & white photographs, it focused on movie, radio and television personalities and stars, but also addressed concerns of the day (atomic weapons, the Korean War, politics, current events, sports etc) and included many stories of interest to the average "Joe".

 

People Today Pocket Digest Magazines 1950s

The covers eventually came out in colour, but photographs inside remained black & white, although some colour was used in basic graphics.

A feature story in the February 10, 1954 issue of People Today, is entitled "People in Transition: Meet America's Newest Type Immigrants". The four page spread includes 12 photographs of Ann Pirrie (the brunette) with captions, and a short feature story about European girls being lured to America for contract work due to the "U.S. Maid Shortage". The article highlights this Glasgow Scotland native's arrival on the Queen Mary in Manhattan, entering America on a permanent visa for her agency-arranged contract job as a nanny working for a White Plains, New York couple. Just 21, Ann Pirrie begins her new life in America cooking, cleaning, and caring for 3 toddlers six days a week, her new employers paying her $250 ship's fare, which she must pay back out of her wages of $100 a month.

People Magazine article featuring Ann Pirrie of Scotland

The article goes on to say how happy Ann is to have her own room and bath and spend her day off window shopping and seeing the lights on Broadway. Her only disappointment: "No fiancé yet!", however she attracts the interest of an ex-GI with her accent as shown in a photograph, although no dates resulted. The final photograph in the story shows Ann alone with her tea wondering about her future.....

People Today Magazine Ann Pirrie Immigrant from Scotland

......well, I have the "follow-up" story of Ann Pirrie some 60 years later!!

I was contacted by a potential buyer via a listing of a 1953 People Today magazine shown in my store Mandicrafts. She was looking for a particular issue that had featured an immigrant story shortly after arrival from Scotland and wondered if any of my listed magazines contained such an article. I discovered a near complete set of these magazines from an estate sale and have been slowly listing them for sale.  Most were selling based on the star or sports content shown on the cover or centre fold.




Centre fold shot of a young Marilyn Monroe starlet, before making her mark on the movie world!







Cover story shot of Rita Hayworth and tempting article pre-view blurb on "Sex + Alcohol = ?"


After gleaning a little more information on the story she was seeking, I happened to find the magazine (not yet listed)!

Yes, it was Ann Pirrie K, now 81 years young, who had lost her original copy in a fire many years ago. Her grandchildren were eager to see the article about their grandmother and so the search had begun over 5 years ago to try and locate the old magazine issue on line. To date their search had not proved fruitful. Although Ann had actually immigrated in July 1953, the article was not printed until the February 10, 1954 issue so it took a bit of a detective work to locate the exact magazine, and I was not able to contact her with my success until a few weeks passed (of admittedly interesting reading!).

Ann was thrilled that I had found it! She told me a little of her life in America AFTER the article came out. She had only worked for the New York couple for 6 months. The article includes a lot of "nonsense" in order to make the story more interesting for readers (Ann's words!). Ann says she earned just $12.50 per week (not the $30 per week mentioned in the article) and she "was worked" from 6 am until 10 pm most days, but had still managed to pay off her fare in a short amount of time so she could move on. "Looking for a husband? I think NOT!" she says with many exclamation points. Her plan was to travel the world, making her way as a nanny and she'd had offers from Egypt as well as America, before leaving Scotland, via the Nanny Program, but had settled on New York. After she left her grueling work with the New York couple, she gained employment in a convalescent home affiliated with the New York Presbyterian Hospital.

People Today Feb 10, 1954 issue

Colour cover of the February 10, 1954 issue of People Today where the Ann Pirri article appeared on page 4 through 7. Jane Russell is the cover feature story!

Traveling the world was put on the back burner, as things turned out. Ten months after her arrival in Manhattan on the Queen Mary from Scotland, Ann and her friend walked from the hospital where she was employed, to the soda fountain store about a mile away. It was at the soda fountain where she locked eyes with John K, and they made a date. The rest, as they say, is history! On September 15, 1956 John and Ann were married! They built a house together in 1964 (John was a cabinet maker), where they raised five children and still live to this day! The house is located exactly mid-point between the hospital and the soda fountain and just 30 miles from where she came ashore in America 60 years ago!

John and Ann did manage to travel eventually, but it took 40 years before that long ago dream came to be. 

She is a lovely lady and I am very glad I was able to provide her with a way to SHOW her happy memories and stories from the past with her family.

 

I wonder what other old stories may spark some memories in folks, from these old 1950s issues of People today?

Find People Today at Mandicrafts! I photograph as much inside content as possible for each listing!

Happy Hunting!
Mandy
Mandicrafts
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