Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
The March 14, 1939 issue of Look Magazine, with Paulette Goddard on the cover and a remarkable range of confirmed editorial content, is one of the most historically dense single issues in the publication's pre-war archive. Goddard was in March 1939 one of Hollywood's most watched figures — she had appeared in Modern Times (1936) opposite Charlie Chaplin, had been widely rumored as a leading contender for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, and was about to begin production on The Great Dictator with Chaplin, which would be released in 1940. The "Hard-Luck Paulette Goddard" cover story engages the specific narrative of her career — a combination of genuine talent, high-profile relationships, and the kind of press scrutiny that made her simultaneously celebrated and discussed — at the precise moment before her most historically significant film work. For collectors building an archive of Look Magazine issues from the late 1930s, a Goddard cover with this specific editorial label — "Hard-Luck" — is a document of how the Hollywood press was constructing her public narrative in early 1939, before The Great Dictator would give her a permanent place in cinema history.
The confirmed table of contents gives this issue an extraordinary historical density that extends well beyond its Hollywood cover. William Moulton Marston — credited in the listing as the creator of Wonder Woman, which he would introduce in 1941, just two years after this issue appeared — contributed "Who Influences Roosevelt Most — Wife or Mother?", a feature that connects this issue directly to one of the most significant figures in the history of American comics. The geopolitical content is equally remarkable: Maj. George Fielding Eliot's "Hitler vs. Stalin" analysis, the feature on Germany staging accidents as propaganda, and the examination of the Ukraine as Hitler's next territorial target were published in March 1939 — the same month that Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia, the final act before the outbreak of war in September. Drew Pearson and R.S. Allen's piece on Eleanor Roosevelt as "Home Maker" and the profile of Hedy Lamarr as a potential "New Harlow" complete a cultural picture of America simultaneously watching Europe and celebrating Hollywood. Publications from 1939 document the final months of American pre-war normalcy, and this Look issue captures that moment with unusual comprehensiveness across politics, culture, and entertainment.
About the Publication
Look Magazine, founded by Gardner Cowles Jr. in 1937 and published biweekly by Cowles Communications, was by March 1939 establishing itself as a direct competitor to Life Magazine in the large-format photojournalism space — a publication that combined Hollywood coverage, world affairs, human interest features, and the kind of photo-essay journalism that the American reading public was consuming with increasing appetite. Its format was deliberately broad and populist, combining high and low culture, international news and domestic celebrity, in a package designed to reach the widest possible American audience. The March 14, 1939 issue reflects that breadth with unusual clarity across its confirmed editorial range.
Key Highlights Inside
- "Hard-Luck Paulette Goddard" — a cover story on the Hollywood actress who had appeared in Modern Times and was about to begin production on The Great Dictator, published at the moment of her highest pre-war public profile and narrative complexity.
- "Who Influences Roosevelt Most — Wife or Mother?" by Dr. William Moulton Marston — a political feature by the psychologist who would create Wonder Woman in 1941, published two years before that creation, connecting this issue directly to the history of American comics.
- "Hitler vs. Stalin" by Maj. George Fielding Eliot and "The Ukraine: Hitler's Next Goal" — geopolitical analysis published in the same month that Nazi Germany completed its annexation of Czechoslovakia, documenting the American press's real-time engagement with Europe's descent toward war.
- "Hedy Lamarr: New Harlow?" — an entertainment feature on the Austrian-born actress at an early stage of her American career, published the same year as her breakthrough American role in Lady of the Tropics.
- "Mrs. Roosevelt: Home Maker" by Drew Pearson and R.S. Allen — a profile of Eleanor Roosevelt by two of the era's most prominent political journalists, engaging the First Lady's domestic identity alongside her public role.
- "Germany Re-enacts Accidents" — a feature on Nazi propaganda methodology, documenting American journalistic awareness of German information manipulation in the months before the outbreak of war.
Condition & Rarity
Very good condition with minor edge wear and the confirmed absence of a mailing label is a strong rating for a biweekly large-format publication now over eighty-five years old. The label-free cover confirms newsstand origin, the preferred configuration for display collectors of pre-war Look issues, avoiding the adhesion or removal damage common to subscriber copies of this era. The plastic protective covering indicates deliberate preservation storage. For a large-format publication of this vintage printed on the paper stock typical of late-1930s photojournalism magazines, the primary condition factors are the flatness of the pages — large-format issues are particularly susceptible to edge curl and spine stress — cover surface brightness, and the completeness and clarity of the interior photography that constituted Look's primary editorial value.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A label-free, very good condition March 1939 Look with a Paulette Goddard cover and this depth of confirmed editorial content — including a William Moulton Marston political feature and real-time European geopolitical analysis published the month of Czechoslovakia's annexation — is a historically layered find that appeals to collectors across Hollywood history, pre-war political journalism, and early American comics history simultaneously. If this issue has already been claimed, the full archive of Look Magazine issues spans the publication's entire run and surfaces other significant covers and editorial moments from across its history. The broader 1939 magazine collection offers essential context for this final year of pre-war American life across multiple publications.