The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Methinks that Grandpa Tim is about to involuntarily hear some hurtful stuff. Better now than later, obviously, but he still seems like a kind old guy who doesn't deserve the grief.

He doesn't want to marry her anyway, so hopefully he'll take it with a big sigh of relief and grab the next train for wherever Pruny is.

I do have to say, though, that I'm finding the situation between Pete and Veronica a bit unsettling, with the lingering threat of violence that seems to hang over the scene. I can remember when the worst thing that happened in this strip was Harold spilling a gedunk sundae on his two-tone corduroy pants.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Premier Josef Stalin has gone to the front to take personal command of the defense of Moscow, establishing his mobile headquarters in an armored train close to the fighting, according to reports today in the British press. It is reported that Stalin has assumed the title of Commander In Chief of the Russian Forces on the entire Central Front, and that he has selected Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov as his chief advisor on all military matters.

That news comes as Soviet dispatches and special reports from the front state that the Red Army has thrown back savage German attacks led by massed tanks in four sectors close to the capital city. The reports acknowledge that the Nazis have made "slight gains," but asserted that Soviet forces have repulsed frontal and flanking attacks in the Kalinin, Mozhaisk, Maloyaroslavets, and Bryansk-Orel areas, all key points along the semicircular line of the German Moscow offensive, now in its twentieth day.

The German High Command stated today that "important portions" of its land and air forces have been shifted from the Leningrad front with the "clearing of the entire Baltic area of Soviet troops," and are now being thrown against other key fronts, notably in the siege of Moscow. That statement came as part of a communique announcing that German troops have captured the city of Stalino, heart of the great Donets industrial basin, as well as Dago, island bastion guarding the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. It was also claimed that Nazi forces have captured over 300,000 Soviet prisoners since August 6th, and that Russian counterthrusts have made no progress in breaking the encirclement of Leningrad.

Secretary of State Cordell Hull urged the Senate Armed Services Committee to approve a House resolution for the arming of merchant vessels, "lest American efforts at self-defense come too late." Hull testified today as the first witness before the Committee, following a conference with Congressional leaders at the White House. It was agreed at that meeting that efforts will focus on passing the ship-arming bill rather than, as some interventionist leaders have urged, repealing the entire Neutrality Act.

Governor Herbert H. Lehman today endorsed District Attorney William O'Dwyer for Mayor, exercising his perogative as a registered New York City voter to take a position in the contest. The Governor further indicated that he will campaign actively on Mr. O'Dwyer's behalf in the final days leading up to the election. He will begin with two speeches on behalf of the O'Dwyer campaign, to be delivered next week.

Mayor LaGuardia will deliver his first Brooklyn campaign speech this evening before the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union at their 11 Arion Place hall, after a radio speech last night in which he denounced three prominent "political bosses," including Kings County Democratic leader Frank Kelly, of promulgating "the most reckless, irresponsible, and shameless campaign even for political machines and even for Tammany Hall." The Mayor warned that a return to Tammany rule will mean only "financial chaos and receivership" for the city.

A 32-year-old British seaman who was angered last night when a fellow patron at Chansen's Bar and Grill in Sunset Park snatched away his cap as a prank stormed out of the bar and shortly returned brandishing two hand grenades. Terence O'Neill denied today in Brooklyn Felony Court that he could have harmed anyone with the Mills bombs, pointing out that the firing pins had not been removed and that therefore the grenades could not go off. "I didn't mean any harm," he insisted at his arraignment today on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon. "I just wanted my cap back." Mrs. Charles Chansen, wife of the bar's owner, placated the angry sailor with a few free drinks, while her husband called the police. Patrolman Anthony Spetzler, who responded to the call, testified to the court that O'Neill had threatened to blow up the tavern if he didn't get his hat back. Magistrate Vincent J. Sweeney delayed action on the arraignment pending the arrival of a representative from the British consul's office.

The first of fifteen accused Nazi spies to take the witness stand in their own defense in the ongoing espionage trial in Brooklyn Federal Court testified today that he became a spy to avenge the deaths of his family at the hands of the British. Sixty-three-year-old Frederick J. Duquense testified that his South African family was "brutally murdered" by British troops during the Boer War. Duquense further claimed that he himself was taken prisoner by the British and "wore a ball and chain for ten months in Bermuda" before he escaped to the United States aboard a yacht. Duquense claimed that since his arrival in this country he has held many jobs, including a role as an advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt on matters relating to big-game hunting in Africa, and employment with a firm involved with the importation of various wild animals.

("And your soap stinks too!!!")

A prominent Brooklyn socialite faces burial in a pauper's grave following her death yesterday at Nassau County Hospital. Fifty-eight-year-old Mrs. James J. Gormley, widow of the late president of the Long Island Real Estate Corporation, had once possessed a fortune in excess of $250,000, and was well known for her activities in church and hospital work, as well as for her lavish parties on behalf of the New York Euphony Society, which she formed in 1919 after a social schism shattered the former Mozart Society. Mrs. Gormley's fortune diminished rapidly following her husband's death, and in 1929 the contents of the family home on St. Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights were sold at auction. Mrs. Gormley has lived in the Long Island town of Merrick in recent years where she attempted to earn a living in real estate, but her daughter reported that she died penniless.

(A modern viewer coming across these early Bob Hope movies is often surprised at how good they are. They shouldn't be -- Hope was an excellent light movie comedian before he got typed as, variously, "Joke-Spewing Radio Zany" or, later on, "GI Entertainer With A Golf Club Reading Off Cue Cards.")

("1-B Teacher" wrote in a while back to complain about the grubby walkups she was forced to visit to confer with parents, and demanded that such parents ought to try to make the places more presentable when Teacher calls. Get over yourself, toots.)

(Well, there's still time. The Finance Corps will soon need a lot of new men.)

(Do you get the sense that Mr. Parker is, shall we say, a bit fragile? Hey Ace, go talk to Fitz.)

(Football photography in 1941 is delightfully artistic.)

(Yeah, Sparks, she's been meaning to talk to you about your living arrangements...)

(I would never have thought to consider the life of George Bungle in relation to chaos theory, but, OK, let's see where he's going with this...)

(Ha! Called it!)

("What, you couldn't find a parking place right out front? You're a COP, Irwin! Use your head!!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"All of which drops the curtain on another cafe society marriage." I guess it's easy to get blase.

Thanks for writing, Mr. Moses -- ah, that is, Mr. Bradley.

The movie page editor and the Page Four editor got a bit confused today.

"AND BESIDES EVERYBODY KNOWS THERE ARE NO PENGUINS AT THE NORTH POLE!"

"Now I can have an overcoat!" Dream big, son.

"I'll just stand here and glower with a hat on, even though I had no hat when I got here," thinks the Asp." "And I was a foot shorter, too. I guess THAT'LL impress 'em!"

"Advice? Sure. Are you married?"

Hah, look at the little troll smirk. You're gonna come to a bad end, son.

Dude's not quite ready for this yet.

"Sure, go ahead. What's a little dangerously incriminating evidence to a GUM GIRL?"

 

[Fading Fast]

Premier Josef Stalin has gone to the front to take personal command of the defense of Moscow, establishing his mobile headquarters in an armored train close to the fighting, according to reports today in the British press. It is reported that Stalin has assumed the title of Commander In Chief of the Russian Forces on the entire Central Front, and that he has selected Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov as his chief advisor on all military matters.

That news comes as Soviet dispatches and special reports from the front state that the Red Army has thrown back savage German attacks led by massed tanks in four sectors close to the capital city. The reports acknowledge that the Nazis have made "slight gains," but asserted that Soviet forces have repulsed frontal and flanking attacks in the Kalinin, Mozhaisk, Maloyaroslavets, and Bryansk-Orel areas, all key points along the semicircular line of the German Moscow offensive, now in its twentieth day.

The German High Command stated today that "important portions" of its land and air forces have been shifted from the Leningrad front with the "clearing of the entire Baltic area of Soviet troops," and are now being thrown against other key fronts, notably in the siege of Moscow. That statement came as part of a communique announcing that German troops have captured the city of Stalino, heart of the great Donets industrial basin, as well as Dago, island bastion guarding the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. It was also claimed that Nazi forces have captured over 300,000 Soviet prisoners since August 6th, and that Russian counterthrusts have made no progress in breaking the encirclement of Leningrad....

The scale of carnage in this is insane.

...A 32-year-old British seaman who was angered last night when a fellow patron at Chansen's Bar and Grill in Sunset Park snatched away his cap as a prank stormed out of the bar and shortly returned brandishing two hand grenades. Terence O'Neill denied today in Brooklyn Felony Court that he could have harmed anyone with the Mills bombs, pointing out that the firing pins had not been removed and that therefore the grenades could not go off. "I didn't mean any harm," he insisted at his arraignment today on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon. "I just wanted my cap back." Mrs. Charles Chansen, wife of the bar's owner, placated the angry sailor with a few free drinks, while her husband called the police. Patrolman Anthony Spetzler, who responded to the call, testified to the court that O'Neill had threatened to blow up the tavern if he didn't get his hat back. Magistrate Vincent J. Sweeney delayed action on the arraignment pending the arrival of a representative from the British consul's office....

"British Consul's Office, how may we help you? Huh? He did what? Two grenades? Bar? Over what - a cap? Oh for God sakes. We don't want him, can't you just lock him up? [Heavy sigh] Yes, I'm kidding, I'll be over shortly." [Thinks to himself] "Christ, they don't pay me enough for this."

... (A modern viewer coming across these early Bob Hope movies is often surprised at how good they are. They shouldn't be -- Hope was an excellent light movie comedian before he got typed as, variously, "Joke-Spewing Radio Zany" or, later on, "GI Entertainer With A Golf Club Reading Off Cue Cards.")...

You go to see "It Started with Eve" (comments here: #28506) to see Charles Laughton and Deanna Durbin.

You go to see "Hold Back the Dawn" (comments here: #27342) to see Paulette Goddard.

Both movies are okay, but the stars, as noted above, are really enjoyable in them.

...
(Well, there's still time. The Finance Corps will soon need a lot of new men.)...

There was about a seventy-five-year window where working on trains was a well-respected, good-paying and secure job. As with most things, that day has past, but interestingly, the career has made a bit of a comeback in recent years as the rail-freight business has been growing a lot and even Amtrak has been hiring.

...
(Football photography in 1941 is delightfully artistic.)...

Agreed, but I'm still marveling at the photographs from the World Series. In a pre-video era, they truly brought the action to you if you couldn't go to the game.

... (Ha! Called it!)...

You did indeed, spot-on call, kudos Lizzie.

... "All of which drops the curtain on another cafe society marriage." I guess it's easy to get blase...."

Best movie and book with an unflappable butler as the star, "Remains of the Day."

I'll be glad when the Windsors are gone.

... "I'll just stand here and glower with a hat on, even though I had no hat when I got here," thinks the Asp." "And I was a foot shorter, too. I guess THAT'LL impress 'em!"...

"Killin' is one thing! But poison gas! And drownin'!..."

I think his morality is a bit confused, but he does seem to be trying to do the right thing now.

...[ "Advice? Sure. Are you married?"...

Shouldn't hubby's plan be to let them get married, then threaten Veronica with exposure and milk her for money. Telling Gramps now might be satisfying as it will hurt Veronica, but he'll get no money out of it. No wonder he's "a bum," bad decision making gets you every time.

 

[Harp]

Dragon Lady had the moves put on her by our boy Terry before the editorial character revision
and the kid was smooth to such extent that his later quandry with Hu Shee put the kabosh on the
Kid Lothario act, which accounts his strike out with Burma. But in the later case the play calling signals
were a mixed bag, poor kid. The way Dragon Lady dispenses her charms made a definite impression.

 

[Fading Fast]

Dragon Lady had the moves put on her by our boy Terry before the editorial character revision
and the kid was smooth to such extent that his later quandry with Hu Shee put the kabosh on the
Kid Lothario act, which accounts his strike out with Burma. But in the later case the play calling signals
were a mixed bag, poor kid. The way Dragon Lady dispenses her charms made a definite impression.

Eighty years, an ocean and the physics of comicstrips versus the real world separate the Dragon Lady from me and I'm still scared of her. Now, Hu Shee or Burma on the other hand...

 

[Harp]

Eighty years, an ocean and the physics of comicstrips versus the real world separate the Dragon Lady from me and I'm still scared of her. Now, Hu Shee or Burma on the other hand...

The archived strip panels Lizzie was kind to procure for us lit my imagiation over Dragon Gal and I always
had a Hu Shee crush and Burma reminds me of an old flame so I was a goner several times over.
I keep hoping Hu Shee will return, and now Burma is seemingly lost in the wilds somewhere.
With Raven lost to sepsis infection Caniff wields an ever sharper pencil but his skill as artist raconteur
sage of a coming cataclysm armed with prescience and purpose is masterful.

And Lizzie was correct in that yesterday comics mattered throughout society, high, low, middle class
all read and cared for these characters whom today are unfortunately quite passe.
American society lost a great treasure amidst the current balkanization of the national culture.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Twenty-two seamen missing from an American freighter torpedoed Sunday night off the coast of West Africa were confirmed safe today. The U. S. Maritime Commission announced that seventeen crew members and five stowaways were safely landed at Freetown, a day after it was learned that another twenty-two crewmen were landed at Bathurst, British Guiana. Two men were reported injured in the attack, including 42-year-old assistant engineer Joseph Brady of 3 South Elliot Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Secretary of State Cordell Hull condemned the submarine attack on the freighter as "a perfect example of the Nazi policy of attempting to create a reign of terror, frightfulness, and absolute lawlessness on the high seas."

Authorized German quarters today expressed "the deepest skepticism" that the Lehigh, and a Panamanian flagged freighter, the Bold Venture, were actually sunk. The Nazi press denounced President Roosevelt as "the international pirate," and asserted that "all recent allegations of United States spokesmen regarding ship sinkings have proven to have been fakes and inventions."

White House press secretary Stephen Early emphasized the Administration position on the Neutrality Law today, underlining the President's October 6th call for repeal of Section 6 of that law in order to allow the arming of American merchantmen, and also called for Congress to give "earnest and early attention" to the repeal of Section 2 as well, and thus open belligerent ports to American vessels. Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard its first opposition witness today as hearings continue on the repeal of Section 6. Senator David A. Reed (R-Pennsylvania) spoke out against the arming of American merchant vessels.

Rear Admiral Adolphus Andrews declared today that America must "maintain the freedom of the seas," and that "the test may come very soon." The commander of the North Atlantic Naval Coastal Frontier made his remarks today as he presided over the launching at the Brooklyn Navy Yard of the new 1700-ton destroyer USS Bristol.

Nazi authorities in Vichy France have seized 50 French hostages in reprisal for the assassination of a German major. The fifty civilians seized at Bordeaux followed the execution of a previous group of fifty Frenchmen in reprisal for the assassination of a German colonel. A total of 134 French civilians have been executed in reprisal for attacks on Nazi officials since August 13th.

Blood-stained snow and bitter wind-swept cold are aiding Soviet counterattacks today on the Moscow front, according to special Russian dispatches. Reports from London also indicate that where it is not snowing, heavy, icy rain is falling over the Soviet capital, further slowing the German offensive against the city, now in its twenty-first day.

The son of slain Brownsville candy-store man Joseph Rosen stood up in Kings County Court today to dramatically finger Louis "Lepke" Buchhalter as the man responsible for the murder of his father. Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Burton Turkus as to whether he could identify the killer, thirty year old Harold Rosen, now of Reading, Pennsylvania, stabbed a long forefinger across the courtroom in the direction of the defendant and cried "LEPKE!" Nine defense attorneys sprung to their feet to shout objections. "No proof that the man he saw and this man are one in the same!" asserted Attorney Hyman Barshay. "This man's name is Buchhalter!" But Rosen persisted in his identification, declaring that he knew Buchhalter as "Lepke," and that he "knew who he was and about him!" Buchhalter is on trial along with Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss and Louis Capone for the murder of the senior Rosen at his 725 Sutter Avenue shop on September 13, 1936. The younger Rosen testified that his father had opened the candy store after being driven out of the trucking business by underworld pressure. The elder Rosen was to have been a key witness in Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey's investigation of gangland corruption in the city.

A 32-year-old former interne at Brooklyn State Hospital will serve two to five years in Sing Sing Prison for raping a patient under his care. Dr. George DeNicholas was sentenced yesterday in Kings County Court by Judge Samuel J. Leibowitz, who declared that "this woman was a ward of the state. It was your duty to protect her. Instead you harmed her. You deserve to be punished!" DeNicholas pleaded guilty to the rape charge on September 18th. The 28-year-old woman was a patient at the hospital.

Democratic Party leaders behind the mayoral campaign of Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer are worried about a party split, should President Roosevelt endorse Mayor LaGuardia for a third term. Such an endorsement has been "strongly intimated" from the White House, and local Democratic chieftains fear desertion of the party by the New Deal wing, should that endorsement become official. It is believed that party sachems are already planning a course of action, but will not reveal it until and unless the President makes a public declaration in support of the Mayor.

(Yeah, don't even try giving out lima beans for trick-or-treat.)

An impatient passenger who drove off by himself in a BMT bus in Ridgewood, faces grand larceny charges. Police say 26-year-old Charles Schmidt of 1713 Bleecker Street got tired of waiting after the bus driver was "momentarily absent" during a stop at Fresh Pond Road and Putnam Avenue, and helped himself to the driver's seat, took the wheel, and headed the otherwise-empty 26-passenger vehicle for home. Police caught up with the bus about half a mile down the road, and took the impromptu driver into custody. At his arraignment today in Felony Court, Schmidt admitted that he'd been drinking, and waiving bail, was held for the Grand Jury.

("So," say millions of anxious readers. "Never mind the war junk, what happened to Raven?")

(A "carminative" is a drug intended to stop flatulence. So go head, get the beans with that breakfast.)

Radio commentator H. V. Kaltenborn told an audience of nurses this morning that the United States will make "short work" of Japan in the event of war between the two nations. Speaking before a meeting of the New York State Nurses Association at the Hotel St. George, the broadcaster and former Brooklyn Eagle editor declared that "we need have absolutely no fear of the outcome of this war." Noting he has just returned from a tour of defense facilities on the West Coast, Mr. Kaltenborn observed that production is "doubling monthly," and that "victory is going to be won, not by men, but by supplies."

(The Power of Positive Thinking.)

(It's good for hiding all those LaGuarida campaign pamphlets.)

(Never mind all this football junk, Paul Derringer was arrested in a street brawl? Did they get Walters and Vander Meer too???)

Pete Reiser and Phil Rizzuto were named the Rookies of the Year for their respective leagues today by the Sporting News, St. Louis baseball weekly. The paper's All-Rookie team, in addition to Reiser in center field and Rizzuto at shortstop includes Nick Etten of the Phils at first, Creepy Crespi of the Cardinals at second, Pete Suder of the Athletics at third, Danny Litwhiler of the Phils in left field, Pat Mullins of the Tigers in right, Clyde McCullough of the Cubs as catcher, and as pitchers Ernie White of the Cardinals, Skeeter Newsome of the Red Sox, and Bob Muncrief of the Browns.

Football Dodgers owner Dan Topping is beseeching landlord Larry MacPhail to lift his ban on the use of cleated shoes by the Grid Flock during workouts at Ebbets Field. Mr. MacPhail has refused to allow his tenants to wear any footwear other than tennis shoes during their practice sessions for fear of damage to the ballpark's turf. The edict was put in place last month in order to protect the playing surface for the World Series, but it seems that when Larry headed off on his moose hunt following the Series, he forgot to lift the ban, and Mr. Topping says the groundskeeping staff is inflexibly enforcing the order until they receive official word of its termination. Mr. MacPhail is due back from the wild Canadian north tomorrow.

(Better hurry before the cosmic rays wear off and he starts shrinking.)

(George is used to getting trolled, but not by an ACTUAL TROLL.)

(Well now! THE STAR Angel Varden. As opposed, to, I dunno, the FADING CHARACTER ACTRESS Angel Varden?)

(Yeah, whattaya expect in a Willys Americar? Good gas mileage, but not a lotta speed.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Mehhh," grunts Butch. "The people I gotta put up with in this job..."

"WAHHHH-HOOOO!"

And still they come.

LYING SORE-HEAD! LYING SORE-HEAD! LYING SORE-HEAD!

"By the way," says Mrs. Joe, "don't mind the crap games and poker tables and slot machines in the back. They come with the lease."

Ah! Pat not lying dead in a ditch somewhere CONFIRMED.

I had a friend who lived for a while with a fella very much like Tops. "Like living with a big, dumb dog," she sighed.

"You blackguard! You villainous hound! You common mucker! I SMITE YOU!"

MUSIC -- Sting, minor key.

So much of life is a matter of keeping up appearances.

 

[Fading Fast]

Twenty-two seamen missing from an American freighter torpedoed Sunday night off the coast of West Africa were confirmed safe today. The U. S. Maritime Commission announced that seventeen crew members and five stowaways were safely landed at Freetown, a day after it was learned that another twenty-two crewmen were landed at Bathurst, British Guiana. Two men were reported injured in the attack, including 42-year-old assistant engineer Joseph Brady of 3 South Elliot Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Secretary of State Cordell Hull condemned the submarine attack on the freighter as "a perfect example of the Nazi policy of attempting to create a reign of terror, frightfulness, and absolute lawlessness on the high seas."...

Lizzie, what's your expression about everything in 1941 having a connection to Brooklyn?

...Blood-stained snow and bitter wind-swept cold are aiding Soviet counterattacks today on the Moscow front, according to special Russian dispatches. Reports from London also indicate that where it is not snowing, heavy, icy rain is falling over the Soviet capital, further slowing the German offensive against the city, now in its twenty-first day....

This is one of the big moment halting Hitler's grasp for world domination owing to the weather and the tenacity of the Russian people.

...The son of slain Brownsville candy-store man Joseph Rosen stood up in Kings County Court today to dramatically finger Louis "Lepke" Buchhalter as the man responsible for the murder of his father. Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Burton Turkus as to whether he could identify the killer, thirty year old Harold Rosen, now of Reading, Pennsylvania, stabbed a long forefinger across the courtroom in the direction of the defendant and cried "LEPKE!" Nine defense attorneys sprung to their feet to shout objections. "No proof that the man he saw and this man are one in the same!" asserted Attorney Hyman Barshay. "This man's name is Buchhalter!" But Rosen persisted in his identification, declaring that he knew Buchhalter as "Lepke," and that he "knew who he was and about him!" Buchhalter is on trial along with Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss and Louis Capone for the murder of the senior Rosen at his 725 Sutter Avenue shop on September 13, 1936. The younger Rosen testified that his father had opened the candy store after being driven out of the trucking business by underworld pressure. The elder Rosen was to have been a key witness in Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey's investigation of gangland corruption in the city....

That's a Hollywood-style "J'accuse!" moment.

...An impatient passenger who drove off by himself in a BMT bus in Ridgewood, faces grand larceny charges. Police say 26-year-old Charles Schmidt of 1713 Bleecker Street got tired of waiting after the bus driver was "momentarily absent" during a stop at Fresh Pond Road and Putnam Avenue, and helped himself to the driver's seat, took the wheel, and headed the otherwise-empty 26-passenger vehicle for home. Police caught up with the bus about half a mile down the road, and took the impromptu driver into custody. At his arraignment today in Felony Court, Schmidt admitted that he'd been drinking, and waiving bail, was held for the Grand Jury....

Well, that's kinda crazy, you wonder what made him, "Schmidt admitted that he'd been drinking," never mind, carry on.

... (Yeah, whattaya expect in a Willys Americar? Good gas mileage, but not a lotta speed.)

A young Gene Roddenberry thinks to himself, "maybe one day a starship captain will demand more more power from his chief engineer, that could be a good reoccurring, almost, joke."

I assume Dan has given up on the idea of keeping his undercover identity at this point.

...
And still they come.....

It's great to see how many people understand the skill and artistry in what Caniff has created. Ever since you reminded us, Lizzie, I keep thinking back to when we met Raven in her soccer shirt (which, eventually, needed a good run through laundry). It's impressive how real she had become.

... LYING SORE-HEAD! LYING SORE-HEAD! LYING SORE-HEAD!....

"Hey, anybody else hear that low rumble in the distance?"
"Yeah, maybe, but whatever, I'm really thirsty."
"I'm sorry kid, but we'll never find any water down here."
"Why is Sandy barking and jumping around all of a sudden?"
"Pay no attention to him, he's just a dog. It's not like he could be warning us about something."
"Woof, damn agents."

...[ "By the way," says Mrs. Joe, "don't mind the crap games and poker tables and slot machines in the back. They come with the lease."....

Even these stupid crooks wouldn't try the same scheme a few blocks away on the same day.

"So, Steve, this is the set of book for the accountant for the taxes and all that and this is the set of books for the gentlemen who come in on the first Monday of each month to 'collect' for Mr. Gatt. You never want to switch the books up and you always want to have Mr. Gatt's 'fee' ready in full."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and it just occurs to me that Gramps' pal "Chet" is actually a caricature of none other than Chester Gould. It has been established in recent years that, in fact, the "Harold Teen Universe" and the "Dick Tracy Universe" are one and the same, so with Mr. Gould himself now a player in the story, I imagine that we can expect Pete to toss Veronica out a window at any moment.

 

[Harp]

A route march to enemy held Hong Kong. The boys need water, rations, weaponry, ammo.
Dude seems to have lost the .03 Springfield rifle somewhere back in his grief. A long hike awaits.

 

[LizzieMaine]

British Defense Minister Anthony Eden today defied critics of the present government for call for a vote of confidence in the face of furious debate in the House of Commons over calls for armed British assistance to the Soviet Union. Laborite MP Philip J. Noel-Baker led calls for British troops now fighting in the Middle East to be shifted to fight alongside the Red Army in the Ukraine and in the Caucasus sector, and that RAF planes be deployed to strike against Nazi lines on the Eastern Front, and fellow Laborite Aneurin Bevan questioned "how far from treason" was the recent statement by Lord Halifax, high ambassador to the United States, that Britain "could not invade Western Europe." "He is a blackguard!" interjected Communist MP William Gallagher, who further warned Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the time has come "to get rid of some of these men who drag him down." Foreign Minister Eden defended the present government's program for prosecuting the war, pointing out that the trained and well-equipped British forces now deployed in England and in the Middle East were non-existent a year ago. A statement by Minister of Supply Lord Beaverbrook stressed that Britain is, along with the US, making good on its pledge to Premier Stalin to "restore fully" all tanks and planes lost by the Soviets, and that Stalin himself has stated that "tanks will win the war."

In a shakeup at the top of the Red Army command in the defense of Moscow, Premier Josef Stalin has relieved Marshal Seymon Timoshenko and has taken full command of forces defending the Soviet capital. Stalin has placed General Grigori K. Zhukov, chief of the Red Army general staff, in command of troops on the front west of the city. It was not indicated whether Marshal Timoshenko has been shifted to a subordinate command or to a position on another front.

It would take a force of 8,000,000 men to send a new American Expeditionary Force to invade Germany. So asserted the former U. S. Ambassador to Belgium today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. John T. Cudahy told the panel in a closed session during debate over the House-approved bill to alter the Neutrality Act to allow the arming of American merchant ships. Cudahy declared his opposition to that bill, deeming it "another step to edge us into war."

The President of the Flatbush Community Council today commended Democratic mayoral candidate William O'Dwyer for taking action as District Attorney to drive "riotous anti-Semitic street meetings" out of Brooklyn. Mr. Maximillian Moss, an attorney who heads the Council, disputed claims by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine that Mr. O'Dwyer had failed to stop the meetings, and declared that despite years of complaints to the city government and the police about the "disorderly meetings" in the area of Kings Highway and E. 17th Street, it was only after Mr. O'Dwyer took office as District Attorney last year that they were finally eliminated. Mr. Moss pointed out that a precinct captain had told him that it was his understanding that "the meetings couldn't be stopped," and that Commissioner Valentine passed his complaint to the inspectors' office, which informed him likewise. Mr. Moss stated a letter from his wife to Mayor LaGuardia making a complaint about the meetings was returned with the same argument. Finally, after attending yet another street meeting where "invective was hurled at members of the Jewish faith," Mr. Moss stated that he went to Mr. O'Dwyer's home in person to demand action -- and that Mr. O'Dwyer told him that when he was a patrolman in Bay Ridge, it was illegal to slander a race -- "and if was illegal then, it is illegal now."

Mayor LaGuardia today disputed claims by District Attorney O'Dwyer that supporters of the Mayor's reelection campaign have spent over a million dollars to put over his candidacy. The Mayor disputed the existence of a campaign "slush fund" assembled by wealthy supporters, and appointed a panel of judges, dignitaries, and newspaper accountants to review the expenses so far. Mr. O'Dwyer has strongly criticized the current wave of booklets, broadsides, and "children's comic books" promoting the Mayor's candidacy now in wide distribution around the city, and has demanded that those who paid for this material be publicly identified.

The daughter of slain Brownsville candy store operator Joseph Rosen today took the stand in the murder trial of Louis "Lepke" Buchhalter and two confederates. Mrs. Sylvia Rosen Greenspan told Judge Franklin Taylor and a blue-ribbon jury in Kings County Court that she had been the bookkeeper for her father's trucking company in 1932 when she was summoned to bring the firm's books to a meeting between her father and Lepke. Also stated by Mrs. Greenspan to have been present at that meeting were Lepke's close associate Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, Danny Fields -- a mobster "rubbed out" in 1940 -- and Max Rubin, who is expected to be the state's chief witness against Lepke as the trial proceeds. Mrs. Greenspan testified that Shapiro told her father at that meeting what he could and could not do in his trucking business, and that her father strongly protested being told whom he could or could not do business with. Three months after this meeting, Mrs. Greenspan testified, her father's firm was "forced out of business," leading him to open the candy store in which, ultimately, he was murdered.

("A monocle, yet?" snorts Joe. "Whoozee t'ink he is, Lo'd Plushbottom?" "Plushie don' weah no monocle," protests Sally. "He wears nose glasses. Like Mr. Roosevelt. Nobody 'cept a Nazi weahs a monocle. Ev'ybody knows'at. Lookit allem guys Conrad Veidt plays. Ain' you neveh watched no movies?" "Well, whattabout'at peanut guy?" "Yeah, he's a Nazi too. Lookat'im! Whass'ee doin'? Try'na getcha ta EAT peanuts -- an' t'ere he is, a peanut 'imse'f! Who else but a Nazi wou'd t'inkat'at? Use ya head!" "Jeez," marvels Joe. "I never t'ought'vennyt'ing like t'at." "Yeah," says Sally. "Buttcha otta. T'ere's a war on, ya know!")

(Do all the swans a favor, Gracie, and maybe find a new sponsor.)

(A dime? Hmph. Plus Rockefeller had more hair.)

(Already talking about the Bowl games and October isn't even over yet? Sports news really is slow.)

("Why is there a picture of my FATHER....? OH NO I JUST MARRIED MY SISTER!")

("Smoking too much." Yes, but what?)

("ME-OW!" All right Tom, stop padding your part.)

("You can tell there's a fat guy in it! Look how slow it goes!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"HAH, Mr. Jessel!" chortles Mr. H. L. Gaylord of Fertile, Minnesota. "THAT TO YOU!"

Well, this should be stimulating. But what I really wanna see is this LaGuardia comic book.

No recording is known to exist, but hopefully there will be a summary of what Mr. Caniff has to say in tomorrow's paper. I'd give a lot to hear this broadcast.

School 'em, Punj!

"Are you game?" he says, as he strokes her bare knee. HEY KIDS! COMICS!

CANE HIM! CANE HIM! CANE HIM!

"Valuable? That slab of pressed meat? How so?" "Uh, in ways. Wow, look at the time."

"Look, why don't you two go on ahead. I'm going to go hunt down Judas and finish him off. And if he's already dead, I'll still finish him off. No, I won't need a gun."

Whatever happened to Senga, anyway?

On the other hand, if you're serious about it, Vin Rouge probably has a formula he could afford to unload cheap.

 

[Harp]

Connie, beautiful, voluptuous, absolutely a knock out, is quite the cat.
She could give Burma a run for her money.

 

[Fading Fast]

...It would take a force of 8,000,000 men to send a new American Expeditionary Force to invade Germany. So asserted the former U. S. Ambassador to Belgium today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. John T. Cudahy told the panel in a closed session during debate over the House-approved bill to alter the Neutrality Act to allow the arming of American merchant ships. Cudahy declared his opposition to that bill, deeming it "another step to edge us into war."...

IRL it took a fraction of that number.

...The President of the Flatbush Community Council today commended Democratic mayoral candidate William O'Dwyer for taking action as District Attorney to drive "riotous anti-Semitic street meetings" out of Brooklyn. Mr. Maximillian Moss, an attorney who heads the Council, disputed claims by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine that Mr. O'Dwyer had failed to stop the meetings, and declared that despite years of complaints to the city government and the police about the "disorderly meetings" in the area of Kings Highway and E. 17th Street, it was only after Mr. O'Dwyer took office as District Attorney last year that they were finally eliminated. Mr. Moss pointed out that a precinct captain had told him that it was his understanding that "the meetings couldn't be stopped," and that Commissioner Valentine passed his complaint to the inspectors' office, which informed him likewise. Mr. Moss stated a letter from his wife to Mayor LaGuardia making a complaint about the meetings was returned with the same argument. Finally, after attending yet another street meeting where "invective was hurled at members of the Jewish faith," Mr. Moss stated that he went to Mr. O'Dwyer's home in person to demand action -- and that Mr. O'Dwyer told him that when he was a patrolman in Bay Ridge, it was illegal to slander a race -- "and if was illegal then, it is illegal now."...

You wonder if it was illegal or if the police on the streets just said what they had to say to stop things from escalating.

...[
("A monocle, yet?" snorts Joe. "Whoozee t'ink he is, Lo'd Plushbottom?" "Plushie don' weah no monocle," protests Sally. "He wears nose glasses. Like Mr. Roosevelt. Nobody 'cept a Nazi weahs a monocle. Ev'ybody knows'at. Lookit allem guys Conrad Veidt plays. Ain' you neveh watched no movies?" "Well, whattabout'at peanut guy?" "Yeah, he's a Nazi too. Lookat'im! Whass'ee doin'? Try'na getcha ta EAT peanuts -- an' t'ere he is, a peanut 'imse'f! Who else but a Nazi wou'd t'inkat'at? Use ya head!" "Jeez," marvels Joe. "I never t'ought'vennyt'ing like t'at." "Yeah," says Sally. "Buttcha otta. T'ere's a war on, ya know!")...

It sounds as if Grahame Greene got his idea for "Our Man in Havana" from this.

...
(Already talking about the Bowl games and October isn't even over yet? Sports news really is slow.)...

As a sad sign of how far baseball has fallen, the Astros advanced to the World Series last night and it was the third story down on the home page of ESPN this morning (above were stories on college football and pro basketball). Also, do they even call it a Pennant win anymore? I know they do, but all I read says the Astros are the "ALCS" champs.

...
("ME-OW!" All right Tom, stop padding your part.)...

Never underestimate the audience boost from a good girl fight.

...
("You can tell there's a fat guy in it! Look how slow it goes!")

Fitz (from the sofa, stretching out the knee a bit more every day): "Shoot first Irwin, you show them what a 'big' man can do!"

A...[ "HAH, Mr. Jessel!" chortles Mr. H. L. Gaylord of Fertile, Minnesota. "THAT TO YOU!"....

The Miley killer suspects are going on trial next Monday. Even for '41, that's fast. I still think there's more to Anderson's story in all this.

...[
No recording is known to exist, but hopefully there will be a summary of what Mr. Caniff has to say in tomorrow's paper. I'd give a lot to hear this broadcast.....

That would be an incredible one to hear. In an attic somewhere, it might exist. As you note, hopefully, we'll get a decent report on it in tomorrow's paper.

...[
School 'em, Punj!....

Good for him, the past was rarely as close-minded as many today like to believe. Might I also remind everyone, the water from the dam will be arriving soon, so maybe we can save the history lesson for when we get to higher ground.

...
"Are you game?" he says, as he strokes her bare knee. HEY KIDS! COMICS!....

Sure, let's pull the same highly-visible scam in the exact same neighborhood as we did a day or so ago. That sounds like a great plan.

... CANE HIM! CANE HIM! CANE HIM!....

"Sahib Faker"

 

[LizzieMaine]

The first word from my dear old mother this morning was, and I quote, "WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR." As I always say, there's always a Brooklyn angle.

 

[Harp]

I missed the Caniff broadcast clip earlier. I'd rather hear that mea culpa than Copleston's fabled
broadcast brawl with Ayer over God's existence and metaphysics.

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt today endorsed Mayor LaGuardia for election to a third term, praising his administration of the city as "the most honest, and, I believe, the most efficient municipal government of any within my recollection." The President acknowledged that he is not a New York City voter himself, maintaining his voting residence in Hyde Park, but noted that he has lived and worked in the city on and off since 1904, and that he has personally known and observed the city's mayors since that time. Mr. Roosevelt also emphasized that city politics have no relationiship to state and national politics, and in making that distinction seemed to be underlining that his endorsement of the Mayor's candidacy does not extend to any endorsement of any state or national Republican organization. While local Democratic Party leaders have not yet commented on the endorsement, it is believed that Democratic National Committee chairman Edward J. Flynn attempted to convince the President not to make it -- and it is rumored that his doing so may lead to Flynn's resignation from the party chairmanship.

Navy Secretary Henry Knox warned today that war between the United States and Japan is inevitable if Japan continues with its program of Far East expansion. Speaking before a conference of armaments manufacturers in Washington, Secretary Knox reviewed recent events in the Far East, and observed that the situation is extremely strained. "We are satisfied in our minds that the Japanese have no plans of giving up their plans for this expansion," warned the Secretary. "If they pursue that course, a collision is inevitable."

The remarks by the Navy Secretary came as President Roosevelt disclosed today that he is drafting a huge new armament program to work toward the defeat of the Axis. Increases in the production of tanks stand as the most prominent element of that program, and while the President has publicly stated no figure, he did indicate that his request will exceed the increase in production of 1000 to 2000 tanks per month already proposed by OPM director William S. Knudsen.

Red Army forces continued today to beat back new Nazi thrusts against Moscow, and official dispatches noted that in several sectors, Soviet counterattacks have been launched. It was also reported that Marshal Seymon Timoshenko will take over military command of the defense of Leningrad, replacing Marshal Seymon Budenny, who, along with Marshal Klementi Voroshilov, will be placed in command of newly-organized armies. Premier Josef Stalin earlier this week took over personal command from Marshal Timoshenko of the forces defending the Soviet capital.

A Midwood couple has failed in their efforts to convince a Federal judge to release their 22-year-old son from the Army so that he might instead enlist in the Navy. Private Orlando Igneri will remain a selectee at Camp Upton, despite arguments by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Igneri of 1362 E. 5th Street that the difference between Navy and Army pay would improve their living situation and allow their other son to get married. Before he was drafted, Pvt. Igneri had tried to enlist in a Naval Aviation program at Floyd Bennett Field, but was rejected due to defects in his hearing. It was noted in arguments before the judge that Joseph Igneri has been unemployed for four years, and his younger son John has been engaged for five. The Igneris have a total of seven sons, with two now in the Army.

Adolf Hitler was hung in effigy today in Williamsburg -- eighteen times over. Police this morning discovered eighteen dummies bearing the Fuehrer's distinctive likeness hanging from ropes strung from rooftop to rooftop across sections of South 5th Street from Hawes to Hooper Streets, and on Roebling, South 3rd, South 4th, and Varet Streets. Each of the five-foot tall canvas-and paper dummies carried two signs -- on the front reading "HITLER" and on the rear reading "TRAITOR LINDBERGH." Police from the Stagg Street station cut the effigies down, retained two for evidence, and threw the rest in the East River.

Gasoline station operators in Brooklyn are not welcoming the announcement by Federal Petroleum Co-Ordinator Harold L. Ickes that the overnight curfew on retail gasoline sales is no longer necessary. Having become accustomed to not having to work between 7 PM and 7 AM, many of the filling station operators in the borough say they may consider it "a patriotic duty" to retain the nighttime closing policy even without compulsion. Members of the Gasoline Station Council of Metropolitan New York are circulating a petition calling on Mr. Ickes to retain the curfew until a decision can be made on making it permanent.

("An' jus' t'ink," murmurs Sally to baby Leonora. "By t'time ya graduated f'm school, tey'll be awmos' done!")

(Ina Ray Hutton, no relation to Betty or Marion, but half-sister to June, proved that a woman can lead a swing band without having to resort to cutie-pie stunts to put the act across. Well worth anybody's twenty cents.)

(C'mon, Fitz, hurry up and open that alley!)

(No matter how old you are, "Dumbo" will make you cry.)

(Kids Today!)

(In 1941, the majority of American adults between the ages of 25 and 34 have not completed high school. But that doesn't mean they can't bet on college football.)

("Doc! Hurry! Invent DNA testing!")

("You bold creature! How dare you challenge my worldview!")

(She better be worth the buildup.)

("Engine? This dumb cap gun of yours won't even shoot thru the window!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Dear Duke: Please Go Away And Leave Us Alone. Sincerely, America."

SO THERE

And it's only the beginning.

Annie doesn't go to school much. She doesn't need to.

This will certainly end well.

Dude REALLY doesn't need this right now.

CANE HIM ANYWAY! CANE HIM ANYWAY! CANE HIM ANYWAY!

OWNED

Easy come...

Cane this guy too! Cane everybody!