Did you know that there was a program in 1918 (during World War) I to recycle U.S. movie magazines?

Bruce

Did you know that there was a program in 1918 (during World War) I to recycle U.S. movie magazines to "our boys" overseas?

eMoviePoster.com has been auctioning a great collection of movie magazines from the 1910s and 1920s, and we noticed something very cool about several of the ones from 1918 (starting a few months after the U.S. entered World Was I).

On those magazines (several of the most popular titles of that time), there is a cool notice in a tiny rectangle on the front cover that says (the wording, size, and placement varies slightly from magazine to magazine):

"Notice to Reader: When you finish reading this magazine, place a one cent stamp on this notice, hand same to any postal employee and it will be placed in the hands of our soldiers or sailors at the front. NO WRAPPING - NO ADDRESS. A.S. Burleson, Postmaster General."

What a great program this was that they ran back during World War I. I bet it made the lives of lonely servicemen overseas far nicer. And I bet you were thinking that "recycling" did not start until the 1960s!

Here is a magazine that has this notice.

And here is a closeup of that notice:

HONDO

I didn't know, and it is great to hear about stories such as this.

theartofmovieposters

I had no idea...how interesting...and thrifty!

Brude

What a fascinating piece of history.  Thanks for sharing, Bruce!