William Dudley Pelley & the 1936 Monty-Ward catalog

[Obscurist]

Here is a very odd request which might be of interest here. During the 1930s, William Dudley Pelley, author-turned-mystic, started an organization which is now relegated to an occassional footnote. That group was the frankly anti-semitic and rabidly anti-Roosevelt Silver Legion of America aka Silvershirts.

Among his fans and supporters were such characters as Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Dr. John Brinkley who operated the border radio station XERA, and allegedly Walt Disney, who some accounts report attended rallies in Los Angeles with his lawyer Gunther Lessing.

To skip quickly over the obligatory observation that his politics were insane and downright scary, especially after the lessons we are taught about Nazi Germany, I have run across a few references to their uniform.

One article in particular deals with a series of organizational outings on the west coast in 1936 and gives a list of "Equipment for male recruits."

The standard for several items uses the current Montgomery-Wards catalog for reference:

1 Pair Dark Grey Breeches, Monty-Ward, 42 C 5084, $3.98

1 Pair Brogan Boots, Monty-Ward, 24 C 2079, $2.98

Also, the hat, which was generally standard drill instructor / D.I., seems to have allowed for some variation:

1 Campaign Hat, Stetson "Austral" or "Army Service" or Boy Scout, A & N stores.

I wonder if anyone can provide visual descriptions of such items, or, best yet, actual catalog images or photos based on these particulars.

When not in his field clothes, Pelley was known as a dapper dresser and many news photos of the day, generally associated with court appearances as he ran afoul of the law, show some pretty fancy get-ups. I'll be glad to share some such pics if there is interest.

 

[Maguire]

I'm familiar with the silvershirts, and some of the people who followed Pelley, but unfortunately cant' help you here. I've actually looked alot online over the past few years for a picture to get an idea of what the uniform looked like. The one picture i know of Pelley has him in a sharp suit with a bow tie, with his hair neatly parted in the center. There isn't much else though. While i can't find anything really to help, i would be quite curious to see any photos or any info anyone here has. While their membership was never huge, the silver shirts had at least 15,000 or so members throughout the 1930s, which is no laughing matter either. So it strange to find so little info about it.

 

[Obscurist]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pelleyclub/

This is the only extensive online stash of Pelley and Silvershirts material. Being a yahoo group, you'll have to join to access all the features, but I suggest you do so and then check out the photo collections at this link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pelleyclub/photos/album/0/list

Some of these images have been added to a flickr album which can be viewed without the sign-up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39567170@N04/sets/72157619795833607/

 

[dhermann1]

Innnnnnteresting. I wonder if they had any connection with the Liberty League, or with the alleged plot to overthrow Roosevelt that Smedely Butler claimed was being hatched by some of the ultra right wing industrialist types of the time.

 

[lupo]

I always thought it strange how many members of the extreme right turned to flat out mysticism and ad-hoc religion when their politics failed. Julius Evola, Savitri Devi, Luigi Russolo and some of the other Futurists... I suppose it's a natural human reaction to seeing your political ideas roundly defeated.
I read some of Pelley's stuff; not such an impressive intellect. I think less of his fashion sense now that I've seen these photos of his Silver Shirts.

 

[Maguire]

I always thought it strange how many members of the extreme right turned to flat out mysticism and ad-hoc religion when their politics failed. Julius Evola, Savitri Devi, Luigi Russolo and some of the other Futurists... I suppose it's a natural human reaction to seeing your political ideas roundly defeated.
I read some of Pelley's stuff; not such an impressive intellect. I think less of his fashion sense now that I've seen these photos of his Silver Shirts.

To my knowledge Devi pretty much always had the same bent, if i recall she was very young during the war- and Evola too, he never really wholeheartedly embraced fascism or whatnot, its why the SS was watching him despite his connections with some figures in both governments. I've read virtually all his political leaning books and aside from his very first (Pagan imperialism) , they are all entirely consistent- he was connected with Rene Guenon for years and Guenon is a respected Islamic scholar and about as mystic as you can get for his entire career. Not familiar with Russolo so can't go in there. I find your knowledge of these figures curious, outside of a very small circle, they are quite obscure. Pelley doesn't fit in with the others that well though, being a sort of home grown American with the whole sense of "american nationalism" which most of the other folks you mentioned would have been derisive of. In any case, PM me if you want to discuss this further without derailing the thread. cheers.

 

[lupo]

Evola seemed pretty excited about Mussolini and company for a while, though he was certainly never a committed fascist. I guess I throw Devi in with the rest, as a lot of former Nazis seemed to agglomerate around her ideas; Miguel Serrano and all those -though she was certainly a committed Nazi before the war. Russolo was a futurist musician; he more or less invented "industrial music" back in the day. I'm guessing his politics were far right, as were the other futurists. He took up Yoga later in life. Pelley certainly doesn't fit with the others so well, but he's an example of a far rightist who took up mysticism later in life.

I originally learned about these guys from listening to too much Current 93 and Death in June when I was in my 20s; I wanted to know what David Tibet was caterwaulling about. Learned a little more over time from historical curiosity.

I bought a stack of Evola books a few months ago, and can't really make much of him. Some of my traditionalist pals swear he's an important thinker for finding meaning in the modern world, but beyond his ideas about spiritual caste, most of it strikes me as mystical gobbledeygook along the lines of the Urantia book or something. I guess I'm more of a Roger Scruton pessimistic traditionalist. Evola ain't tweedy enough.

 

[Fletch]

the hat, which was generally standard drill instructor / D.I.

But not then. All soldiers and marines were issued them.

 

[Obscurist]

This one would do quite nicely, but is pricewise a bit beyond the scope of my curiosity. Anyone have some old MW catalogs they might consult?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61894257/huge-vintage-1936-montgomery-wards

 

[Maguire]

I believe the silver shirts didn't just use campaign hats, but something akin to the peaked cap or the field cap that was all the rage among political uniforms in the time.

Evola seemed pretty excited about Mussolini and company for a while, though he was certainly never a committed fascist. I guess I throw Devi in with the rest, as a lot of former Nazis seemed to agglomerate around her ideas; Miguel Serrano and all those -though she was certainly a committed Nazi before the war. Russolo was a futurist musician; he more or less invented "industrial music" back in the day. I'm guessing his politics were far right, as were the other futurists. He took up Yoga later in life. Pelley certainly doesn't fit with the others so well, but he's an example of a far rightist who took up mysticism later in life.

I originally learned about these guys from listening to too much Current 93 and Death in June when I was in my 20s; I wanted to know what David Tibet was caterwaulling about. Learned a little more over time from historical curiosity.

I bought a stack of Evola books a few months ago, and can't really make much of him. Some of my traditionalist pals swear he's an important thinker for finding meaning in the modern world, but beyond his ideas about spiritual caste, most of it strikes me as mystical gobbledeygook along the lines of the Urantia book or something. I guess I'm more of a Roger Scruton pessimistic traditionalist. Evola ain't tweedy enough.

I know alot of folks into that music who come to know Evola through that- if you really want someone who's probably more consistently apolitical while also being traditionalist, i suggest Guenon- I like Evola but granted his ideas aren't for everyone and he doesn't bother to frame things accessibly- Pick up Crisis of the Modern World by Guenon, its an excellent, concise, and relatively short piece (only about 115 pages) or if you are up for something more expansive, go with Sign of the Times and the Reign of Quantity. As for Evola- his autobiography was recently translated itno English and it provides alot of light on his thoughts and also on how he approached works/the different parts of his life. Its quite interesting, and it was written only a year or two before he died.

Pelley reminds me more of someone like Francis Parker Yockey or a sort of forerunner to the George lincoln Rockwell type fellow. but like i said my knowlege of the guy is pretty scant compared to other stuff- I'd PM this to ya but it appears you can't get them yet. Probably need more posts. In any case cheers.