AN AIR THAT KILLS

It was impossible to see the city for the smog.

Above: four photos of Los Angeles made in 1948 showing the poor quality of air in the city at that time. Bad air is only occasionally mentioned in period fiction, and of course old movies created a clean air illusion by striving to shoot at a distance only on clear days, but low visibility due to smog was a common occurrence. And L.A. wasn’t the only metro area with such problems—it was general around the U.S.

The same year these photos were made, smog covered a swath of rural Pennsylvania south of Pittsburgh for five days, killing twenty people and sickening thousands. Smog was also a problem globally. In London in 1952 during an extended bad air event, an estimated 12,000 people died. It probably comes as no surprise to know that pollution tends to concentrate around industrial areas and transit hubs, which are nearly always where low income residents live.

In the U.S., when the 1970 Clean Air Act passed over opposition from conservative and business interests, air quality improved, but pollution still kills seven to eight million people a year globally. U.S. mortality numbers rose significantly between 2016 and 2020 because the Clean Air Act was weakened then, with thirty-plus portions of the legislation abolished. Even so, more deregulation is coming.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

December 14

1911—Team Reaches South Pole

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, along with his team Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first person to reach the South Pole. After a celebrated career, Amundsen eventually disappears in 1928 while returning from a search and rescue flight at the North Pole. His body is never found.

December 13

1944—Velez Commits Suicide

Mexican actress Lupe Velez, who was considered one of the great beauties of her day, commits suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. In her note, Velez says she did it to avoid bringing shame on her unborn child by giving birth to him out of wedlock, but many Hollywood historians believe bipolar disorder was the actual cause. The event inspired a 1965 Andy Warhol film entitled Lupe.

December 13

1958—Gordo the Monkey Lost After Space Flight

After a fifteen minute flight into space on a Jupiter AM-13 rocket, a monkey named Gordo splashes down in the South Pacific but is lost after his capsule sinks. The incident sparks angry protests from the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but NASA says animals are needed for such tests.

December 12

1968—Tallulah Bankhead Dies

American actress, talk show host, and party girl Tallulah Bankhead, who was fond of turning cartwheels in a dress without underwear and once made an entrance to a party without a stitch of clothing on, dies in St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City of double pneumonia complicated by emphysema.

December 11

1962—Canada Has Last Execution

The last executions in Canada occur when Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin, both of whom are Americans who had been extradited north after committing separate murders in Canada, are hanged at Don Jail in Toronto. When Turpin is told that he and Lucas will probably be the last people hanged in Canada, he replies, â€œSome consolation.â€

December 11

1964—Guevara Speaks at U.N.

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, representing the nation of Cuba, speaks at the 19th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. His speech calls for wholesale changes in policies between rich nations and poor ones, as well as five demands of the United States, none of which are met.

December 11

2008—Legendary Pin-Up Bettie Page Dies

After suffering a heart attack several days before, erotic model Bettie Page, who in the 1950s became known as the Queen of Pin-ups, dies when she is removed from life support machinery. Thanks to the unique style she displayed in thousands of photos and film loops, Page is considered one of the most influential beauties who ever lived.