The most read Sunday magazine in New York was in the tabloid Sunday News which claimed a circulation of 4.5-million. Since its target audience was not particularly literate, this section, called Coloroto, consisted of little more than captioned photographs, often arranged in a column bordered on both sides by advertising. Penny Singleton, star of the popular Blondie movie series, based on the comic strip, was the cover girl. A biography of the actress appeared in the main section of the newspaper.
Among the more New York-oriented photo features were shots of Brooklyn man meeting his Australian war bride and their wary baby at Pennsylvania Station and one on a lifesaving class for prospective municipal lifeguards, all of whom were men. Chef Dione Lucas of the Cordon Bleu school in Manhattan (and later television’s first French chef) is pictured showing three kids how to cook French food . A Golden Gloves amateur boxer is shown punching himself in excitement after winning the championship in the 126-pound class at Madison Square Garden. Con Colleano demonstrates the front somersault flip from the high wire that he performed for the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus, appearing that week at Madison Square Garden.
The centerfold was full page photographs of Major General Maxwell D. Taylor, who was then superintendent of West Point, and Vice Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, superintendent of Annapolis. A reader would need to turn to the main section of the newspaper for their biography.The magazine also showed veterans getting their crack at government surplus materials. An artist is posed beside his full-size portrait of Winston Churchill, making it seem as if he is in conversation with his subject. At this time Churchill was lionized in the US, although his popularity at home was on the decline. “Covered Girls” is a fashion/cheesecake spread. The Aga Khan is shown being weighed in diamonds by his subjects in Bombay. A mailman makes his rounds on skis in Switzerland. The Animal Corner had cute pet photos. North Carolinians hunt deer by boat and the Royal Dancers of Siam prepare for a performance.
The ads were more reflective of the daily lives of the paper’s mostly blue collar readership. There were many ads for drugstore remedies for various ailments such as corn relief pads and ointments and ionized yeast tablets to fight borderline anemia, as well as women’s foundation garments and the cosmetic brands that could be purchased at the corner pharmacy or five and ten. Gimbel’s Basement advertised cotton jumpers for $2.50, girl’s dotted swiss dresses for $1.90, women’s huaraches for $2.49, button-back pinafores for little girls for $1.85, a woman’s GI suit for $4.99 and dresses for $4.19. Hecht’s department store on Fifth near Union Square offered “gay lovelies” (dresses) for only $4.10. The winner of the 1946 Miss Rheingold contest, Rita Daigle, was photographed in a field of daisies. Canned goods abounded. An ad announced that both the Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clocks from Westclox had returned to store shelves after a wartime absence.