The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

...
("Ya hear that, kid?" says Joe as he gazes as at tiny, red-faced, wriggling Leonora. "'At Leo, he's fightin' f'ev'y incha groun'! Jus' like'at Irish guy t'Russians is got fightin' for 'em!" "What Irish guy?" wonders Sally, as she prepares to do what mothers do with babies." "You know," replies Joe. "'At one t'ey was tawkin' 'bout onna radio las' night. Tim O'Shenko.")...

"...as she prepares to do what mothers do with babies."

Kudos Lizzie, that is a very '40s vernacular way of describing it.

...A three-man censorship board will decide whether the Star Theatre, Jay Street near Fulton in Downtown Brooklyn, is permitted to resume the presentation of "girlie" shows following its summer layoff. Following a public hearing last night in which religious, fraternal, civic, and labor leaders took opposing views concerning the theatre's request for renewal of its operating license, License Commissioner Paul Moss declared that the decision will be made by a panel consisting of Borough Attorney John G. McCormack, Harry Zeitz of Martin's department store, and John G. Wilcox of the Variety Revue Theatre Association, whose members include representatives of the five remaining burlesque theatres in New York City. Commissioner Moss stressed that if a license renewal is issued, it will cover a period of three months only, with renewal depending on the reports of investigators....

You said "girlie show."

...
(The restaurant season is back in full swing. Start making your plans for Thanksgiving now!)...

Any chance you remember who won the prior two years in the annual Fedora Lounge 'Best-Value' Thanksgiving Dinner contest? I think H&H in '39 and '40 and a Chinese Restaurant in '40 were near the top, but that's all I got.

... View attachment 361035
(I hereby declare the start of a campaign to get Fred Fitzsimmons elected to the Hall of Fame, gawdblessim. WHO'S WITH ME?)...

I'm with you, Lizzie, lead the way! If not the HOF, how 'bout a real street in Brooklyn. Freddie Fitzsimmons Avenue (formerly Flatbush Avenue) has a ring to it - no?

... View attachment 361036
(You wait, there's gonna be a big push for Fitz. Mr. Lee better stock up on Stylish Stouts.)...

Now Lizzie, after yesterday, doesn't Fitz deserve one fat-joke-free day, even though we all know how jolly "those" guys usually are.

... (Pity "Chief Peeping Tom" is already taken.)...

We've all read Page Four and know what goes on in the fashionable neighborhood of Park Avenue; hence, we know what Sparky is really going to be seeing a lot of. Sparky, when he is, umm, "finished," say hi to Tommy Manville for us. Also, Sparky, I know you're all about finding Sue, but if you happen to see a Jinx Falkenburg running some bath water, you might want to hang around a bit to take a look see.

...[
(It's a nice touch that Jo is dressed in black.)...

Tuthill's seemingly "simple" illustrations of Jo's posture and facial features are actually incredibly nuanced and say more than the words in today's strip. The man is a talent.

..
(Meanwhile, we....wait, hold it. "Kleek" nothing, your name's OAKDALE!)...

Now shouldn't Oakdale and Peggy be deep in their honeymoon or are you saying Peggy and Oakdale "honeymooned" before they were married so Oakdale is already stepping out on her?

... Whatever inspired genius it was who came up with "won't be down to get Byrnice Macfadden in a Metaxa honey" doesn't even get a byline? Well THAT'S NOT FAIR!...

It isn't clear why the US has stopped using the radio station as it seems the Nazis bought it hook, line and sinker. It can't be because of the trial as that could have been held in secret (or some such machination) as the radio station, at this moment, seems much more important than trying these spies. Feels like an unforced error by the US.

...
"All right mister -- and here's your receipt!" BANG BANG BANG BANG!....

Spot on Lizzie, there is no mob/criminal gang in the recorded history of time that would let this guy keep the money or that would even have paid it to him in the first place.

The applicable strategy here was explained by Michael to Kay in "The Godfather:" "Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains -- or his signature -- would be on the contract."

...
Everyone's trolling Judas today....

Can't resist: Judas has a Judas in his midst.

Caniff is way too professional a storyteller not to subsequently let us know who is sabotaging Judas' tanks. Pat? Hu Shee? The DL? Burma (as @Harp suggests, I agree as she has to try to redeem herself)? Or is it Sandy trying to get a job offer?

...
It probably didn't do much for the taste of the chicken either.

"Snif! Snif!" Ed is not being particularly subtle with what is really going on here. These guys had some creative ways for working around the censors.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fitz himself was disappointed that he didn't get respect from HOF voters --

(from a letter posted some years ago on an autograph-collector's site.)

He had a real point. He was very much a Luis Tiant-type clutch pitcher, who was the guy you wanted out there in a clutch situation, and he had a record comparable to a number of other pitchers, including several of his contemporaries, who did get chosen. He also had a motion very much like Tiant's, with that twirl-around-and-show-your-number deal, which should have added points in the showmanship department. And he was by all accounts a real "team" guy, well-respected and well-liked thruout the game. And, need we add, Brooklyn adored him, which is high praise for a player who spent most of his career with the Giants. He ought to be in.

A street would be nice, in lieu of an HOF plaque. Pity Fitz's Brooklyn bowling alley isn't still running.

Mr. Oakdale is a man who always has a Plan B at hand, so I'm sure he's already preparing his escape from the marriage if he can't mollify Jo. If this Kleek guy isn't him, he's his brother -- the resemblance in appearance and manner is too close to be coincidental. Dale Allen are having some fun.

 

[Harp]

Fitz himself was disappointed that he didn't get respect from HOF voters --
View attachment 361181
(from a letter posted some years ago on an autograph-collector's site.)

He had a real point. He was very much a Luis Tiant-type clutch pitcher, who was the guy you wanted out there in a clutch situation, and he had a record comparable to a number of other pitchers, including several of his contemporaries, who did get chosen. He also had a motion very much like Tiant's, with that twirl-around-and-show-your-number deal, which should have added points in the showmanship department. And he was by all accounts a real "team" guy, well-respected and well-liked thruout the game. And, need we add, Brooklyn adored him, which is high praise for a player who spent most of his career with the Giants. He ought to be in.

Very much so.
In the film A League of Their Own during the Hall of Fame scene when Geena Davis' character gazes up
at Tom Hanks' portrait, noting its life/death cite, and clarification served his particular absence;
also implied with life's transitory nature is the brevity of glory.
The son of a team player who introduces himself to Davis and informs her of his mother's passing
reinforces this sentiment, as obviously does her own widowed state. I cannot recall if her sister
was at the reunion. I will confess here that the film ending with the song, This used to be my playground
moved me to tears. I bawled like a baby. This movie has an emotional force its critics never understood,
nor its integral character throughout the entire production.

A League of Their Own is an extraordinary film, a marvelous classic in its own right.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Navy today faces the first all-out test of its new Atlantic patrol today in its hunt for a submarine that sunk the American-owned cargo ship Montana in the North Atlantic. The freighter, flying the flag of Panama, was torpedoed Thursday between Iceland and Greenland, approximately twelve hours before President Roosevelt's broadcast announcing the new American military policy to protect merchant ships of all flags in that area. The twenty-six officers and crewmen of the frieghter were reported adrift in open boats. Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews, commandant of the 3rd Naval District, stated last night to an audience at the New York Yacht Club that he anticipates that "there will be shooting in the Atlantic Ocean in the near future."

(What, no pics of Bernard Baruch directing traffic? I'm disappointed.)

Whitlow Wyatt takes the mound this afternoon at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis as our Dodgers and the Cardinals meet for the final time this season. Today's game is the most crucial of the season between the two bitter rivals, with the Cards rebounding yesterday to defeat Brooklyn 4-3, evening the three-game series at one each. The Dodgers now lead St. Louis by a single game in the most hectic pennant dogfight the National League has ever produced, but will be knocked off the top should the Cards pull out a victory today -- because the Cardinals have played two fewer games than Brooklyn this season, they would pull in front by a bare margin of two percentage points. Wyatt will go for his twentieth win of the season today, with there being no question at all of Durocher's strategy in saving him for this game, while Cardinal manager Billy Southworth is expected to send young Morton Cooper to the mound, although Clyde Shoun and Harry Gumbert have also been mentioned as possible starters. Cooper, a stylish righthander, might have been one of the top pitchers in the league this year had not he been sidelined for two months by a shoulder injury. The season series between two clubs stands at 11-10 in favor of the Cards, meaning the best the Flock can hope for is an even split. But that one win today would carry far greater significance.

The game is expected to sell out all 35,000 seats at the St. Louis yard, and although the first two games of the series have not sold out, the tension in the stands has been terrific. Yesterday one fan dropped dead from excitement, while another collapsed with a heart attack and is hospitalized in critical condition.

Republican forces go before the Appellate Division on Monday to make a last-ditch effort to keep Democratic Borough President John Cashmore off Tuesday's GOP primary ballot. Prospects that the case will make it to the Court of Appeals were not good as of yesterday, with 3,586 signatures on the Cashmore petitions having been ruled valid by Justice Edwin L. Garvin in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Republicans refused to accept that verdict, however, arguing that entire sheets of names should have been rejected.

More than 200 babies will parade down Surf Avenue today to mark the conclusion of the 39th Annual Coney Island Mardi Gras. While proud parents beam with joy, and thousands of spectators whoop it up on the sidewalk, the baby parade will makes its way along the thoroughfare before returning to Luna Park, where awards will be presented in various classes.

("Hey!" blurts Joe. "Didja eva finish makin'nem shelfs y'was gonna make?" "Huh?" huhs Sally. "What shelfs? Oh, yeah, t'em shelfs. Yeah, um, I din' get aroun' ta'..." "Well, soon's we get home we gotta get t'woik," Joe enthuses. "We gotta get't'm finished f'nex' yeah! We gotta have some place t'put t'baby awawrds! Ainnat right, kid? Heh. Lookit'at face. We gotta woik onnat a bit, but we got plenny'a time..")

(Doc says NERTZ to your citrus flush!)

("Magniloquent?" Leo?? I suppose Magerkurth would agree.)

(I can't tell if that guy in the background is carrying a rifle or a fishing rod. Could be either.)

(I'm sure all the boys appreciated Larry's considerate thought in sending those newspapers along.)

("With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility...")

("A day or so after that...")

(Never trust a man whose hair comes to a point in the back.)

(Well, whattaya expect when you hire guys who can't even spell "machinist?")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Paula von Luckner is of course no relation to Paula von Gunther, Nazi foe of Wonder Woman who sees the light and becomes an ally. No relation at all.

Well imagine that.

Sure, they'll soon be calling it "the shabby Abbey," but as we see here, it's a great place to hide out with your loot from that bank job until the heat's off.

When you dance with the devil, be prepared to pay the band.

"OH YEAH? Got a permit?? There's a little thing called the SULLIVAN LAW!"

Everything we've seen happen to Littleface has happened over the space of about a day and a half. I hope he's got some vacation time he can use.

"Oh yeah?" sneers Skeez. "Well -- 'ask the man who owns one!'"

I'll forgive much if this ends up with Andy hypnotized and acting like a chicken.

Wandering the city streets alone at night? Well then he's BOUND to meet Senga!

You never hear nitroglycerine jokes anymore. It's been a real loss to comedy. BLOOEY!

 

[Fading Fast]

...The game is expected to sell out all 35,000 seats at the St. Louis yard, and although the first two games of the series have not sold out,...

How is that possible?

...[ (Well, whattaya expect when you hire guys who can't even spell "machinist?")

Just a thought, being a defense plant and all, maybe you should actually do the background check first before putting the guy on the factory floor.

...[ Paula von Luckner is of course no relation to Paula von Gunther, Nazi foe of Wonder Woman who sees the light and becomes an ally. No relation at all....

Maybe I missed the reason why the radio station was shut down as it seems crazy the US would have intentionally done that as it was working so well.

...
Well imagine that....

Faced with the decision to run the picture of the boring, generic looking guy in the hat or the "smart-looking blonde about thirty," a Page Four editor would never had made this mistake.

... Wandering the city streets alone at night? Well then he's BOUND to meet Senga!...

Agreed, I believe that would be the last career option she has at this point. But she should cheer up, WWII is coming and her career options will be expanding, especially if she can make her way to Hawaii.

Men line up for brothels on Hotel Street, Hawaii in WWII

 

[Harp]

Somehow not all surprising, Judas and bondage. And that cigarette holder punctuates persona non grata.

Connie just want to shake awake.

 

[Harp]

Agreed, I believe that would be the last career option she has at this point. But she should cheer up, WWII is coming and her career options will be expanding, especially if she can make her way to Hawaii.
View attachment 361333
Men line up for brothels on Hotel Street, Hawaii in WWII

"O'Tel Strit, bro iffa you looka wahinies." Hotel Street is a place that brings back memories.
I once had an apartment on Makiki Road north of this bordello strip district.
If you have ever seen the film From Here To Eternity the fountain where Frank Sinatra was arrested
by MPs for being drunk and disorderly was just across the street from my place.
GIs line up, not so much in Honolulu now or fairly recent time since it's all out in the open, available,
but I have seen this scene other places and always shook my skull in disgust.
Later, in barracks those infected occasionally scream and need to be carted off to the medics
for penicillin, and the next week's morning five mile runs to fall out and find the others,
whose names the battalion sergeant major took for his own personal shit list.
Fun & Frolic back in good ol n' bad Army days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

St. Louis was a strange baseball town in the Era. They had a dominant team and a terrible team sharing the same park, so there was a home game just about every day of the season. The Browns never drew -- in 1935, they drew a bit over 80,000 *for the entire season* -- and the Cardinals, even when they were the red-hot pennant-winning Gas House Gang full of exciting and colorful players, were lucky to break half a million. The most reasonable explanation would be that the local fanbase was past the saturation point on baseball. It wasn't like New York, where each of the teams had a distinct personality and a specific fanbase governed in part by geography -- in St. Louis, there was baseball every day, in the same park, and it was easy to take it for granted.

The Cards did start to draw, finally, after the war, but by then the neighborhood around the park was starting to get dicey, and even after the Browns left it didn't really give much of a boost. It wasn't until they moved into the new Busch Memorial Stadium in the mid-sixties that they really started to get the big numbers.

The situation was very similar in Philadelphia, especially when both the A's and the Phillies were lousy. Which was, after 1932, most of the time.

I imagine the FBI figured out that the Germans were going to get wise to the radio station pretty soon, and the longer they kept using it the more likely that was to happen. The US didn't really have a centralized internal security service or intelligence agency in 1941 for dealing with espionage and counterespionage, and the FBI, as Mr. Hoover's personal thralldom, was not particularly cut out for that kind of work. That put the US at an immediate disadvantage to dealing with every other major nation of the time, Allied and Axis alike, all of whom had operatives at work in the US.

 

[Harp]

I imagine the FBI figured out that the Germans were going to get wise to the radio station pretty soon, and the longer they kept using it the more likely that was to happen. The US didn't really have a centralized internal security service or intelligence agency in 1941 for dealing with espionage and counterespionage, and the FBI, as Mr. Hoover's personal thralldom, was not particularly cut out for that kind of work. That put the US at an immediate disadvantage to dealing with every other major nation of the time, Allied and Axis alike, all of whom had operatives at work in the US.

The War Department kept its American Expeditionary Force MI 8 section (euphemistic Black Chamber)
running through Versailles and post war Washington Naval Conference 1921-22 but disbanded the
Black Chamber in a fit of naive astigmatic pique soon thereafter. All Intelligence leavings bequeathed
by default to the various armed services and nascent Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Into this mixture a former Signal Corps commissioned cryptologist, Herbert O. Yardley tossed his
personal war memoir, The American Black Chamber, which served literary notice to Europe and Japan
that their 1914-22 military and diplomatic codes had been broken by Uncle Sam during the war and immediate post war period. The US Army Signal Corps and Army Intelligence subsequently broke the
Japanese Purple code and fashioned a German Enigma machine; allowing all Axis code reading through
the Second World War.

Ladislas Farago's The Broken Seal serves excellent primer as to pre-Second World War
code breakage while Gordon Prange's opus At Dawn We Slept recounts Pearl Harbor and its official investigatory aftermath. Lt Col Henry Clausen's The Clausen Report investigation into the American
code breaking effort surrounding Pearl Harbor was sourced during the post war military services
Pearl Harbor investigative boards.
Rear Admiral Edwin Layton's posthumous memoir And I Was There is a deliberate attempt to shift
blame to Washington; and Lt Col Clausen's own memoir, while adding some mortar to the bricks
is a poorly ghosted chronicle and frankly disappointing read.
I wrote my baccalaureate thesis titled East Wind, Rain on Pearl Harbor and returned to the subject
five or six years ago, discovering much had been written in the interim or declassified such as the
memoirs of Admiral J.O. Richardson, Commander Pacific Fleet which had been held from publication
by the Chief of Naval Operations until such time as Admiral Raymond Stark CNO in 1941 had passed.
Not all of the Pearl Harbor record has been released. Much material lies yellowing inside cardboard
boxes awaiting release. Other documents have been stolen. Certain memoranda attests theft but
not always state cause, leaving ample room for further conjecture and scholarship.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A second American merchantman, carrying cargo to the Middle East, has been involved in a new incident in the crisis between the United States and Germany over freedom of the seas. The State Department disclosed yesterday afternoon that the American-registered steamer Arkansan, owned by the Hawaiian-American Steamship Company of San Francisco and New York, suffered heavy damage in an air raid at the same time that President Roosevelt was on the air delivering his worldwide speech outlining American maritime policy. The Arkansan was at anchor in the Red Sea port of Suez, and sustained damage to its hull plating during the attack. That raid followed by six days the sinking of the U. S. freighter Steel Seafarer in the Red Sea, an attack stated in a sworn affidavit from one of the ship's officers to have been committed by a German bomber.

Front-line dispatches reported last night that Red Army forces have crushed a 12-division Nazi attack on Bryansk, 220 miles southeast of Moscow. Soviet troops then pushed onward to recapture a total of 26 cities and towns from the retreating Germans, killing 10,000 Nazi soldiers along the way. It was also reported in a Moscow communique that Red Army forces have also smashed four additional German divisions attempting to assault Kiev.

Nazi reports stated last night that Luftwaffe raiders have enveloped Leningrad's defenses in "a hurricane of fire," and asserted that "huge new pockets of Soviet troops" are building up in the Kiev-Konotop-Kharkov triangle in a German "sledgehammer advance" toward the rich industrial basin of the Don. German quarters also claimed that 35,000 Russian soldiers have been taken prisoner, 500 tanks destroyed, and "a number" of Soviet planes brought down.

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt has been chosen by Mayor LaGuardia to serve as his second-in-command at the Office of Civilian Defense. "The critical condition of the country at this time makes imperative the participation of every man and woman in some way in the program of civilian defense" stated the Mayor in a typed release to the press, "In the appointment of Mrs. Roosevelt, we have America's number one volunteer. Mrs. Roosevelt made a study of volunteer participation in civilian defense long before the office was created." The First Lady will report for work at her new Washington office on September 29th.

("Yahhhhh, we got it won!" exults Joe. "T' Reds, t'Pirates, t' Braves, anna Phils, annat's it! I wonna if Solly c'n get ducats f' t'Woil' Series?" "I wonna if t'ey let in babies fa free?" wonders Sally.)

A series of 11th-hour political repercussions shook the city and borough-wide Republican primaries last night, as rival campaigns moved toward a climax leading up to Tuesday's elections. Hostilities reached their peak yesterday when Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey announced his endorsement of Mayor LaGuardia in the GOP primary vote, leading to an outraged reaction from the Mayor's primary challenger John R. Davies, who accused Mr. Dewey of forgetting what the Mayor "did to him" during the District Attorney's unsuccessful Gubernatorial campaign in 1938. Mr. Davies warned Mr. Dewey to forget all about further attempts at seeking political office once he retires from his present position, declaring that "Republicans will speak in no uncertain terms if he ever offers himself for political office again." Meanwhile, Kings County Republican Leader John R. Crews, leader of the party's LaGuardia faction, declared that the Mayor will win the primary by a 3-to-1 margin. William Chadbourne, chairman of the LaGuardia Republican Primary Committee, denounced Davies as an agent of machine politics, whose activities "aid Tammany in its desperate attempt to grab control of city government."

Racing against the clock in efforts to bar Borough President John Cashmore from the Republican primary ballot in Tuesday's election, county Republican leaders pledged last night that if necessary a final ruling on the matter will be sought tomorrow in the Court of Appeals. Defeated twice in rulings by Supreme Court Justice Edwin L. Garvin declaring that there are sufficient valid signatures on nominating petitions to place Mr. Cashmore on the GOP ballot, the county Republican committee will appear before the Appellate Division again tomorrow in an attempt to reverse those rulings.

In Hollywood, Charles Chaplin has been summoned to appear before the Senate subcommittee investigating alleged pro-war propaganda in motion pictures, to answer questions concerning his film "The Great Dictator," a parody of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany released last year. Mr. Chaplin has been served a subpoena requiring his appearance before the committee on October 6th. The hearings resume in Washington tomorrow with movie columnists and radio personalities Jimmie Fidler and George Fisher due to testify.

Mayor LaGuardia has been branded "Public War-Monger Number Two" by the Brooklyn chairman of the committee to nominate John R. Davies as the Republican candidate for Mayor. George Dyson Friou, a lawyer, denounced the Mayor's sponsorship of a "tiny clothes" sewing program for boys and girls in the city's public schools, in which pupils volunteered to produce garments for the children of Great Britain as "needlework propaganda," and declared that the Mayor stands second only to the President in promoting and extending "the propaganda of war."

(So I guess these guys would be Public War Mongers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11?)

Reader Beatrice F. Packard says it's time to declare and celebrate "Camilli Day" as a Brooklyn-wide celebration of that "elastic-armed clever first baseman" and his outstanding work, particularly on Labor Day against the Bostons and last Sunday against the Giants. Between his outstanding fielding and his forceful hitting, does he not deserve "some recognition as many of the other players have received in the past?"

(Of course he does, and be extra generous with the presents -- the man's got six kids to support.)

Fez-wearing Shriners will take over Atlantic City next week, as the Mid-Atlantic Shrine Council holds its annual convention. National Imperial Potentate Thomas C. Law will be present to preside over a parade of uniformed Shrine units on Saturday.

A monument of black granite marking the location of the Westinghouse Time Capsule in Flushing Meadow Park will be dedicated September 23rd. The towering 7000-pound stone shaft was set in place atop a white granite base by workers this week, fifty feet above the point where the torpedo-shaped copper-alloy capsule containing artifacts of modern civilization lies buried until the year 6938.

("Leo refused to pose with Southworth before the game. 'That's corn,' said Leo." Yeah, I bet that's exactly the word he used.)

(Yeah, but she isn't also a nightclub singer, a comic book editor, and an international spy.)

Old Timer William Golhoffer, president of the P. S. 10 Alumni Association remembers how the kids used to gather outside the Drake estate in Brighton Park and chant "Old Mr. Drake! Give us a cake!" And, you know, he always did.

(Want to sound like a cheap Western outlaw? Just end every statement you make by adding "WITH LEAD!")

( "Zim Zim?" "Yam Yam?" And "Cora?" Better talk to your agent, kid, billing is everything.)

(Tallulah's lion says "What fox? What parrot? What -- whatever the hell is a marmoset? *burp.*")

("They sell them to your Uncle Bill." Stay salty, Mary. And what's the deal with the flaming, crashing plane? Is Marsh taking a tip from experimental Soviet cinema and trying out non-linear storytelling?)

(Mr. Tuthill makes a trenchant comment on the opiate properties of the mass media.)

(Yeah, well, Tarzan has sense enough to know what happens when it's spears-swords-and-shields vs. a machine gun.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"NOBODY'S GOING TO MARRY ANYBODY" really ought to be the official title of every day's Page Four.

"Is it a shotgun marriage?" Well whatta YOU think?

You know, Tracy's a real a**hole.

"When do we eat? Shut up kid -- and where's that dog?"

GIANT BATS! GIANT BATS! GIANT BATS!

"***I*** shouldn't be so perverse????"

Jack is annoyed that nobody noticed his snazzy new white linen slacks.

And that's why Beezie is rich and Shadow is not.

Careful of the attitude kid, you don't want to end up like me.

"Such as a bath, for instance..." Well, I'm glad somebody said it.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
("Yahhhhh, we got it won!" exults Joe. "T' Reds, t'Pirates, t' Braves, anna Phils, annat's it! I wonna if Solly c'n get ducats f' t'Woil' Series?" "I wonna if t'ey let in babies fa free?" wonders Sally.)...

Not over, but phew.

...Racing against the clock in efforts to bar Borough President John Cashmore from the Republican primary ballot in Tuesday's election, county Republican leaders pledged last night that if necessary a final ruling on the matter will be sought tomorrow in the Court of Appeals. Defeated twice in rulings by Supreme Court Justice Edwin L. Garvin declaring that there are sufficient valid signatures on nominating petitions to place Mr. Cashmore on the GOP ballot, the county Republican committee will appear before the Appellate Division again tomorrow in an attempt to reverse those rulings....

Talk about not taking "no" for an answer.

... View attachment 361462 (So I guess these guys would be Public War Mongers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11?)...

I guess Davega stayed off the list since it's already mapping out its strategy for trading in the black market when rationing comes, so it figures it's better to keep a low profile on all of this.

... ("Leo refused to pose with Southworth before the game. 'That's corn,' said Leo." Yeah, I bet that's exactly the word he used.)...

Whirlaway looks sad for obvious reason. What an upset.

...
(Tallulah's lion says "What fox? What parrot? What -- whatever the hell is a marmoset? *burp.*")...

So the Kaiser had his own private little version of the famous WWI Christmas Truce.

... Is Marsh taking a tip from experimental Soviet cinema and trying out non-linear storytelling?)T...

Last week or the week before (I forget), Marsh, on Sunday, completely broke with the weekly storyline, but usually, he stays with it. What he did today is odd as it kinda repeats the week that just past but awkwardly and from a slightly different angle.

...[ "NOBODY'S GOING TO MARRY ANYBODY" really ought to be the official title of every day's Page Four.....

"...there is more than one way to thin a Katt." Really Page Four, really?

... You know, Tracy's a real a**hole.....

Gould's mind's ability to always come up with one more torture to do to the same person is scary.

... "When do we eat? Shut up kid -- and where's that dog?"....

"When do we eat...and what?"

Seriously Annie?

No kidding, Sandy connected those dots and quickly rushed to tell his agent to accept any offer from "Terry and the Pirates:" "Stop haggling over salary and signing bonus and just get me out of here and now!"

Also, "I don't believe it..." Oops, bad call.

...
"***I*** shouldn't be so perverse????"...

Burma would probably rather continue being Judas' captive than have Raven rescue her (and even worse) in front of Dude.

And dear Lord God, stop with the "Bless Bess." Not only twice in one day, but rhymed with "mess." Raven, I checked with the Committee on Comic Strip Ethics (no, that's not an oxymoron, wise guy), you have its permission to punch Dude in the face if he says it again.

... Jack is annoyed that nobody noticed his snazzy new white linen slacks.....

I did, he looks like he stepped out of the pages of Apparel Arts.

"You'll have nothing to do with men - no rat is ever going to treat my daughter like my husband treated me."

Ah, good parenting. Bring all your life's emotional baggage and dump it on your kid.

 

[Harp]

Burma all trussed up complete with a darkened nude figure silhouette adressed by a dimly glowed
Judas with his cigarette holder was obviously discarded for editorial reasons but as drawn within
stricture this scene is sufficiently evocative for the circa. And the dialogue, all things considered while
pedestrian attendant circumstance, gives pause for thought. Perverse?
And Burma's laconic tone. Her facial countenance speaks volumes.

 

[Haversack]

The State Department disclosed yesterday afternoon that the American-registered steamer Arkansan, owned by the Hawaiian-American Steamship Company of San Francisco and New York, suffered heavy damage in an air raid at the same time that President Roosevelt was on the air delivering his worldwide speech outlining American maritime policy. The Arkansan was at anchor in the Red Sea port of Suez, and sustained damage to its hull plating during the attack.

When I read this bit my first thought was 'Where were the raiding aircraft flying from?' Looking for further information I discovered a website with a pretty complete history about the SS Arkansan to include details about the raid. The site has a lot of data about the ship that Tiki Tom might find interesting to include plans and manifests.

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt today called for national unity behind his "shoot first" policy in the Atlantic Ocean, as Navy Secretary Frank Knox indicated that the policy will formally take effect tomorrow, extending as far out into the ocean as Iceland. The President, addressing an American Legion convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, called for "unity of purpose, unity of sentiment, and a keen desire to make whatever sacrifices may be necessary" in order to meet the objective of meeting "the steps taken by aggressor nations." Secretary Knox stressed that the new "shoot first" policy will mean protection by the U. S. Navy of all ships of all flags carrying "lend-aid supplies" between the Eastern United States and the coast of Iceland.

The director of the International Catholic Truth Society today denounced Charles A. Lindbergh's remarks last week in Des Moines, Iowa in which the famed aviator blamed the Jewish people for "leading the United States into war." Dr. Edward Lodge Curran, formerly East Coast representative for Father Charles E. Coughlin, and a supporter of the America First Committee, released today to the public a wire sent to Lindbergh stating "I reject and regret your inclusion of the Jewish race as a whole among those seeking to plunge our country into war. Those who are working to get us into the war are only a minority. There are Christians as well as Jews among them." Father Curran admonished Lindbergh to "make proper distinctions in the future."

The name of Democratic Borough President John Cashmore will appear on the Republican ballot in tomorrow's primary election, following a unanimous ruling by the Brooklyn Appellate Division today that sufficient valid petition signatures were gathered in support of Cashmore's candidacy. County Republican leaders, in reluctantly accepting that decision, noted that time has run out for any attempt to bring the matter before the State Court of Appeals.

Republican John R. Davies, challenging Mayor LaGuardia in the GOP primary, today denied published reports that he will seek the mayoralty on an independent ticket if he loses in tomorrow's vote -- but emphasized that his final decision on what to do depends on there being "a square count" in the primary tally. Davies pledged today to abide by the decision of voters in tomorrow's election -- "contingent on whether I get a square deal."

An explosion this morning at a subway powerhouse in Williamsburg halted service on the BMT all over the borough. The blast at the main power plant of the BMT system at 500 Kent Street was detonated by a short circuit in a switch gallery, and shut down electricity to all BMT trains shortly after 8:30 AM, stranding thousands of Brooklyn and Queens residents on their way to work, including many passengers left stranded in trains in darkened tunnels. Power was restored within half an hour, and Board of Transportation investigators emphasize that they believe there was nothing suspicious about the incident.

("Solly's got 'is ways," assures Joe. "I betcha he'll come t'ru, you wait'nsee." "'Atsa lotta money," says Sally. "'Sgonna be too rich f't' likes of us." Sally lies back on the squeaky Murphy bed, happy at last to be back home, as little Leonora sleeps in an old brown crib set up in a corner of the living room, and Stella the Cat gazes curiously at the new addition from a kitchen chair. "Lissen," Sally sighs, "ya wanna run downa Schlossman's an' bring home some san'wiches or' sump'n f' suppa? T'eres a coupla bucks innat coffee can onna sill, unna t' geranium. I been savin' it f't' Woil' Series, but I'm hungry, an' I'm tired, an' I been livin' onnat hospital food f' a week, an' what I really wan' right now is a big fat cawn-beef san'wich. Wit' extra musta'd." "Yeh," agrees Joe, "t'at sou'ns pretty good. Don't worry 'bout t' Woil' Series. Solly'll come up wit' sump'n. Solly awrways comes up wit' sump'n.")

A buxom hausfrauish Nazi spy took the stand today as a Government witness in the Brooklyn Federal Court espionage trial. Else Wulstenfeld is one of three women indicted in July with thirty men as part of a vast German spy ring, and has already pleaded guilty to her role in the operations. Questioned by Assistant U. S. Attorney Harold M. Kennedy, Mrs. Wulstenfeld admitted that she was the mistress of the German director of spy activities in Brooklyn, and that she had made a cash payment to one of the sixteen remaining defendents in the trial.

A six-month-old Ridgewood girl was back with her parents today none the worse for wear after being snatched from her home by two little Brooklyn sisters. Thirteen year old Florence Ray of 238 Irving Street and her 9-year-old sister Martha returned the infant, Katherine Fisher, to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Fisher of 583 Seneca Avenue about seven hours after they took the baby and her carriage from a spot in front of an S. S. Kresge store in Ridgewood where Mrs. Fisher was shopping. The girls were found by police in Maspeth huddling in a doorway and shivering in the cold, and were taken into custody. The girls told police that they had taken the child in a deliberate attempt to be "sent away." "We don't have a nice home," they told detectives, "and we don't want to stay there." In addition to abducting the child, the Ray girls stole a can of baby food and a bottle of milk from a neighborhood market in order to feed the infant. Police investigating the Ray home found seven other children, three girls and four boys, crowded into a three-room flat with the parents. Mr. Ray told police he is a WPA worker.

Even though Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson expect to open a new show soon, they have no intention of letting "Hellzapoppin" die. Now entering its fourth season, the zany Winter Garden melange goes on and on, and its creators hope to keep producing new editions "until the millenium." As "Hellzapoppin" carries on with Jay C. Flippen and Happy Felton in the lead roles, the show's creators, who recently finished putting the madcap revue on film for Universal, will be returning to New York this fall for another show along similar lines, tentatively titled "Crazy House."

(Aside from Hilda, Mr. Pierce was without question the most famous fan in all of Brooklyn. To the end of his life, Cookie Lavagetto was in awe at the depth of his commitment. "Christ," he marveled to Peter Golenbock in 1985. "He musta spent a fortune out there." When Cookie's family sold off his memorabilia a few years back, some of Jack Pierce's cards and handbills were in the lot.)

("Yeahhh, you gotta problem wit'tat?")

(If I had to pick between Hamlin and Mungo I know what I'd do. But that's just me.)

(Is that Veronica in panel 3? Wow, she gets around.)

(Oakdale has a very shady family background, including a mysterious uncle who tried to murder him as a baby, so it should come as no surprise if he has a long-lost identical twin.)

(Yeah, Tom, try and handle the Grange News by yourself this week...)

("HE FEARS DAN DUNN TOO??" Wait, now the Skull has an identical twin too? I'm getting confused.)

 

[Harp]

Hot copy Connie misses the mark entirely with her boss toss. Neither snide nor wise, somewhere stuck in
the gray twilight that knows neither heart nor mind. And she should know better.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

It was once a very common thing to leave a baby in a carriage outside a store. My mother used to do it to me all the time, and never even considered what might happen.

"Hey!" says Thorne Smith. "Where's my cut?"

(Cheese Pie? Now that's my idea of FUN.)

"Hope makes a darn poor gas mask!" Even the kid's getting fed up.

"Hello, can I help you?" "Yeah, Vin Rouge here. Lissen, I got this guy I need hypnotized." "Very good. When did he pass on?" "Wait, what? I said hypnotized, not resurrected." "Oh. I'm sorry. You must have the wrong number. This is Occult 0010 -- Professor Kishka the Necromancer. Happens all the time."

OK Hennick, over to you. Ever do aerials in a truck?

Yeah, they don't call him "Dick" 'cause his name's "Richard."

"How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm?"

Don't toy with Pruny's affections, kid. She don't play that way.

It'll be funnier when Abbott and Costello do it.

 

[Harp]

There are four ambush configurations: L, U, V, and the X.
The first trio can be escaped. Not X; get caught in the X and there is no escape.
The first volley is delivered at waist height, followed by ankle to finish any survivors.

Shave-and-a-haircut-two bits is the trigger squeeze called. Bless Bess time's a comin.

 

[Fading Fast]

President Roosevelt today called for national unity behind his "shoot first" policy in the Atlantic Ocean, as Navy Secretary Frank Knox indicated that the policy will formally take effect tomorrow, extending as far out into the ocean as Iceland. The President, addressing an American Legion convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, called for "unity of purpose, unity of sentiment, and a keen desire to make whatever sacrifices may be necessary" in order to meet the objective of meeting "the steps taken by aggressor nations." Secretary Knox stressed that the new "shoot first" policy will mean protection by the U. S. Navy of all ships of all flags carrying "lend-aid supplies" between the Eastern United States and the coast of Iceland....

That's not war, but that isn't peace either.

...The name of Democratic Borough President John Cashmore will appear on the Republican ballot in tomorrow's primary election, following a unanimous ruling by the Brooklyn Appellate Division today that sufficient valid petition signatures were gathered in support of Cashmore's candidacy. County Republican leaders, in reluctantly accepting that decision, noted that time has run out for any attempt to bring the matter before the State Court of Appeals....

Hopefully, this means we won't have to read about this anymore.

...An explosion this morning at a subway powerhouse in Williamsburg halted service on the BMT all over the borough. The blast at the main power plant of the BMT system at 500 Kent Street was detonated by a short circuit in a switch gallery, and shut down electricity to all BMT trains shortly after 8:30 AM, stranding thousands of Brooklyn and Queens residents on their way to work, including many passengers left stranded in trains in darkened tunnels. Power was restored within half an hour, and Board of Transportation investigators emphasize that they believe there was nothing suspicious about the incident....

I've been stuck on a NYC Subway train, more than once, when power went out - it's not a great feeling. Also, it's always suspicious when they immediately rule out "suspicious behavior" as most comprehensive investigations take longer than a day. We know German spies are operating in NYC and we know "disrupting things" is part of their mission.

...
("Solly's got 'is ways," assures Joe. "I betcha he'll come t'ru, you wait'nsee." "'Atsa lotta money," says Sally. "'Sgonna be too rich f't' likes of us." Sally lies back on the squeaky Murphy bed, happy at last to be back home, as little Leonora sleeps in an old brown crib set up in a corner of the living room, and Stella the Cat gazes curiously at the new addition from a kitchen chair. "Lissen," Sally sighs, "ya wanna run downa Schlossman's an' bring home some san'wiches or' sump'n f' suppa? T'eres a coupla bucks innat coffee can onna sill, unna t' geranium. I been savin' it f't' Woil' Series, but I'm hungry, an' I'm tired, an' I been livin' onnat hospital food f' a week, an' what I really wan' right now is a big fat cawn-beef san'wich. Wit' extra musta'd." "Yeh," agrees Joe, "t'at sou'ns pretty good. Don't worry 'bout t' Woil' Series. Solly'll come up wit' sump'n. Solly awrways comes up wit' sump'n.")

A buxom hausfrauish Nazi spy took the stand today as a Government witness in the Brooklyn Federal Court espionage trial. Else Wulstenfeld is one of three women indicted in July with thirty men as part of a vast German spy ring, and has already pleaded guilty to her role in the operations. Questioned by Assistant U. S. Attorney Harold M. Kennedy, Mrs. Wulstenfeld admitted that she was the mistress of the German director of spy activities in Brooklyn, and that she had made a cash payment to one of the sixteen remaining defendents in the trial...

"cawn-beef san'wich."

"A buxom hausfrauish Nazi spy." ("Hey, ask the smart girl from Page Four to write the lede for this one.")

Both are wonderful in their own special way.

...A six-month-old Ridgewood girl was back with her parents today none the worse for wear after being snatched from her home by two little Brooklyn sisters. Thirteen year old Florence Ray of 238 Irving Street and her 9-year-old sister Martha returned the infant, Katherine Fisher, to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Fisher of 583 Seneca Avenue about seven hours after they took the baby and her carriage from a spot in front of an S. S. Kresge store in Ridgewood where Mrs. Fisher was shopping. The girls were found by police in Maspeth huddling in a doorway and shivering in the cold, and were taken into custody. The girls told police that they had taken the child in a deliberate attempt to be "sent away." "We don't have a nice home," they told detectives, "and we don't want to stay there." In addition to abducting the child, the Ray girls stole a can of baby food and a bottle of milk from a neighborhood market in order to feed the infant. Police investigating the Ray home found seven other children, three girls and four boys, crowded into a three-room flat with the parents. Mr. Ray told police he is a WPA worker.

Even though Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson expect to open a new show soon, they have no intention of letting "Hellzapoppin" die. Now entering its fourth season, the zany Winter Garden melange goes on and on, and its creators hope to keep producing new editions "until the millenium." As "Hellzapoppin" carries on with Jay C. Flippen and Happy Felton in the lead roles, the show's creators, who recently finished putting the madcap revue on film for Universal, will be returning to New York this fall for another show along similar lines, tentatively titled "Crazy House."...

What a juxtaposition, the two girls who don't want to go home is deeply sad, while nothing is more fun 1940s than "Hellzapoppin." Life is always like that.

...
("Yeahhh, you gotta problem wit'tat?")...

Lichty's home life is showing through again.

... (Oakdale has a very shady family background, including a mysterious uncle who tried to murder him as a baby, so it should come as no surprise if he has a long-lost identical twin.)...

Thank you, Lizzie, as today is a little confusing.

Hot copy Connie misses the mark entirely with her boss toss. Neither snide nor wise, somewhere stuck in
the gray twilight that knows neither heart nor mind. And she should know better.

Agreed re her boss, but she's on to Kleek and is working some angle.

...
"Hey!" says Thorne Smith. "Where's my cut?"....

We need to stay focused on the important thing here, where can we buy the Walnut Toppers?

...
(Cheese Pie? Now that's my idea of FUN.)...

I stand by all my prior comments about H&H's pie advertising and sexual double entendres.

...[ "Hope makes a darn poor gas mask!" Even the kid's getting fed up.....

It's Annie's best line all year, by far.

Gray's finally got a good storyline and some good action going again. The Slaggs were quite the slog.