The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

Certain strikes would be defined as "sabotage against the Government" under the terms of a measure proposed in the House of Representatives. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Josiah W. Bailey (D-North Carolina) as an amendment to the Neutrality Act revision measure now pending before Congress, would cover any strike affecting "the production of materials or articles ordered by any department or bureau or Cabinet official for the national defense." It was understood that the amendment was submitted in response to the captive coal mine strike called this week by United Mine Workers' president John L. Lewis. It was also understood that the measure had the "tacit support" of President Roosevelt, based on remarks made by the President in his Navy Day speech last night, in which he called "a dangerous minority" of labor leaders a menace to national security.

The President's emphatic statement in last night's speech that "the shooting has started" came as spectacular notification that the nation is now moving beyond "short of war" boundaries into the field of limited naval hostilities. In his Navy Day remarks broadcast worldwide last night, President Roosevelt declared that America has been attacked, and Germany has fired the first shot -- a reference to the recent USS Kearny incident in which the lives of American sailors were lost. The President called for the speedy arming of American merchant ships, which, he insisted, must be free to deliver munitions directly to British ports under the protection of U. S. Navy vessels. The Neutrality Act, he declared, "has been outmoded by force of violent circumstances."

Nazi spokesmen denounced the President today with unprecdented rage, as "the greatest liar and faker in world history," with particular fury directed toward the President's statements suggesting that Germany intends to construct a Nazi-dominated hegemony in South America. The Berlin afternoon press published front-page articles denouncing Mr. Roosevelt as "a liar, faker, warmonger, lunatic, and hireling of the Jews," of "shamelessness, rottenness, beastliness, and idiocy," and further accused him of "foaming at the mouth" as he delivered his speech last night. The reaction was noteworthy in that Nazi authorities have never before replied with such immediacy to a statement by the President, with the usual policy resulting in a wait of 24 to 36 hours before a response is given.

Governor Herbert H. Lehman stepped squarely into the Mayoral race today by accusing Mayor LaGuardia of reaching "a new low of abuse" in remarks made by the Mayor during a campaign appearance last night in the Bronx in which Mr. LaGuardia discussed the Appeals Court's recent decision to rule out a new election for State Controller on November 4th. In those remarks, the Mayor praised the Appeals Court decision as a blow to "political bosses" whom he accused of attempting to manipulate such an election by nominating an American Labor Party candidate for the Controller's office, which candidate, the Mayor suggested, would then come out in favor of Democratic mayoral candidate William O'Dwyer, and he suggested that the Governor himself was complicit in this scheme. "You've heard of goniffs stealing from goniffs," chuckled the Mayor, "well, here now you've got double-crossers double-crossing double-crossers. Lehman punched himself in the chin and knocked himself out!" The Governor responded to that comment with fury, declaring that "the people of New York are sick and tired of Mr. LaGuardia's unbridled tongue." Mr. Lehman accused the Mayor of abusing and vilifying "everyone who has opposed him," and stated that "thief, double-crosser, crook, and bum" are "among the milder of the Mayor's epithets."...

Goniffs, fakers, bums and thugs. A very '40s vocabulary day in the paper.

...The widow of executed Murder For Money gang member Martin "Buggsy" Goldstien has filed a double-indemnity insurance claim following her husband's death last summer in the electric chair. Mrs. Beatrice Goldstien was the beneficiary of a $6000 policy taken out by her husband with the Prudential Insurance Company of America paying double indeminity in the event of an "accidental death," and Mrs. Goldstien, arguing that judicial execution qualifies as "accidental death," has filed a claim for $12,000. The company seeks to void the policy on the grounds that Mr. Goldstien "withheld from the company the fact that he was a murderer, and therefore was liable to execution." Mrs. Goldstein has 21 days to file a response to the company's action....

This is just wonderful all around. Heck, if it happened today, there'd be a line added to life insurance policies applications going forward like this: "Please check if you are, have ever been or plan to be a murderer_____"

...
(Don't you have to submit some kind of paperwork on this?)...

The Hotchkiss money is still out there. While I doubt Sue cares, maybe she should let Veronica know as she needs a (rich) deus ex machina about now. Hotchkiss, Gramps - I'm sure one wealthy old man is as good as another to Veronica.

..
(I didn't know Leona had a sister.)...

Or Leach, a brother.

... (Poor Irwin, how his ears must be burning.)

Fitz isn't too happy either: "It's 'heavyset,' how many times must I say it, not 'fat,' but 'heavyset'. Kill 'em all Irwin."

... Mrs. R's photo says it all.....

The police should search Ms. Tepley's apartment and then the pawn shops in the area and I bet they find the ring. $3000 is not $2, "From Fashion Model to Prison Inmate" would make a good title for a Warner Bros. movie.

.
Mr. Stephens is still hopeful....

"...and at 57, no man can be an impetuous lover." Okay then.

 

[Harp]

Dude seems to be on the mind mend, showing some edge. That's good. Ever since he plugged that ba***rd
Judas in the left lower side which prolly bullet exited the port kidney, Jay's been in considerable pain if not more so
with a Burma Luger pistol knee kiss. And where is our gal? Hope Caniff catches up to her soon.

 

[Fading Fast]

... Poor Annie. She's gonna be an old lady by the time they finally get around to crossing that chasm....

They still have another little problem:

... "On the other hand, maybe I'll stick around here and provide helpful advice on how to run the organization."...

The kid driving the truck doesn't know it, but now is not the time to be messing with Dude.

... SHOULDA CANED HIM WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE...

Lizzie, don't forget to record that in your journal for your counselor as you promised you would do every time you have those thoughts.

.. Sorry Veronica, that's what happens when you hire those cheap independent hit-men.

"Hello, Sue? Sue, it's Veronica, I'll take Hotchkiss' number now if you still have it. What! You gave it to some girl name Senga, %^$&*#%!

 

[ChiTownScion]

If Timothy pursues a relationship with Veronica with what he knows now, the Teen family should petition to have him declared mentally incompetent. May/ December relationships are rarely without ulterior motive on the part of at least one party, but what we have here goes beyond mere garden variety gold digging.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A director of the United States Steel Corporation and the President of the United Mine Workers are meeting behind closed doors this afternoon at the Mayflower Hotel in Manhattan. Myron C. Taylor of US Steel, who is also President Roosevelt's special envoy to the Vatican, arrived in New York late this morning after conferring last night with Mr. Roosevelt in Washington. Mr. Taylor and UMW President John L. Lewis have been in conference for over three hours as of press time, and had luncheon delivered to the room while their discussion continued. The White House had no further comment to make today on the captive-mine strike called earlier this week by Mr. Lewis, but press secretary Stephen Early indicated last night that William H. Davis, chairman of the Defense Mediation Board, was also present as Mr. Taylor met with the President.

A Louisiana senator today denounced John L. Lewis as "a traitor to American ideals," and called on organized labor to oust him from any position of authority. Senator Allan J. Ellander (D-La.) further branded Mr. Lewis "a traitor to the boys who are now preparing to defend the country, and to the American labor movement."

A leading anti-interventionist senator today claimed that approval of the bill to amend the Neutrality Act to allow the arming of US merchant ships will lead to war. Senator Gerald P. Nye (R-North Dakota) opened the third day of Senate debate on the measure by charging that the first American ship carrying armaments directly to a belligerent port will be "the advance guard of an American transport loaded with troops for overseas duty." Mr. Nye further asserted that Great Britain has made it plain that without an American Expeditionary Force there is no hope of reentering the European continent, and charged that the Administration's present course would lead to the present conflict becoming "our war all the way and no longer a proposition of holding Stalin's coat."

German reports today claim that Nazi forces have punched a hole in Red Army lines on the Perekrop Isthmus on the Crimean peninusla, and that "slow progress" continues on the Moscow front despite bad weather that has bogged down mechanized and motorized equipment in a bottomless sea of mud.

A contract will be signed today between the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the National Broadcasting Company, and the Columbia Broadcasting System, ending a battle over royalty payments that has kept all ASCAP-controlled music off the major networks since January 1st. Neither NBC nor CBS has issued any comment on the term of the new agreement, but it is believed that ASCAP music will be cleared to return to the chains as of tomorrow. The Mutual Broadcasting System broke with the other networks to sign an ASCAP contract on its own several months ago, but it is known that the agreement signed by MBS contains a clause allowing it to be revised if more favorable terms are granted to NBC and CBS. The new agreement is believed to require payment to ASCAP by the chains of 2 1/2 percent of income from commercial programs, similar to the arrangement already in force for independent stations.

("Feh!" scoffs Joe. "'Sagood t'ing he din' come upta Williamsboig, visit ouah plant! Solly Pincus says if'ee did, he was gonna push'im right inna brine vat. Solly don' like Dooks in gen'rl, ya know, but t'is Dook in pa'ticulah, he got a real boin on." "Hah!" hahs Sally. "Y'evva look close atta pitcha of t'at Dook? Looks like somebody *awready* pushed 'im inna brine vat!")

A bill to ban all advertising signs projecting over the sidewalk from the stretch of Fulton Street extending from Borough Hall to the Brooklyn Bridge, covering the entire Cadman Plaza area, has been placed before the City Council by Brooklyn Councilman Genevieve B. Earle. The measure, intended as part of the ongoing drive to beautify the downtown district following the removal of the Fulton Street L, will add to the law passed in 1929 which prohibits projecting signs on Fulton Street as far as Borough Hall. Mrs. Earle noted that existing signs would be allowed to remain in place only as long as they remain under present ownership. Any sign for a business that is sold will be required to comply with the revised law.

A 51-year-old conductor on the BMT was killed this morning as a result of the courtesy and service that has long endeared him to riders on the line. Plagido Rizzitano was struck by an oncoming train while attempting to retrieve a woman's hat that had blown onto the tracks near the Sheepshead Bay station. The woman, unaware that Mr. Rizzitano had been killed, left the station complaining "I guess he's forgotten about the hat and isn't coming back."

Former Postmaster General James A. Farley denounced Mayor LaGuardia last night as "a cad and a slanderer," in a hastily-written address delivered over station WOR in response to the Mayor's criticism of Governor Herbert H. Lehman earlier this week. Mr. Farley called on New Yorkers to preserve "their own self respect" by voting for "the gentleman," District Attorney William O'Dwyer.

Mayor LaGuardia responded to Mr. Farley's address by asserting that the former Postmaster General had, during his time in the Cabinet, worked to keep the Mayor "away from Washington," and that President Roosevelt himself came to realize that "Farley the Flop" was unfit to hold a Cabinet post. The Mayor responded to critical remarks sent his way by the Governor and other leading Democrats by charging that they "got their vocabulary from Berlin."

Wendell Willkie has endorsed Mayor LaGuardia in his quest for a third term. The 1940 Republican presidential nominee, a resident of the city, declared in a speech before an American Legion audience in Manhattan last night, that the Mayor has given the city "the best administration in modern history," and further declared that Mr. LaGuarida's reelection would not merely give the city a mayor in harmony with the foreign policy of the President, but "a champion who is known and proclaimed as such both here and abroad."

A twenty-year-old Manhattan woman who picketed a Jones Beach restaurant in a bathing suit has been found guilty of disorderly conduct charges. Miss Mary Elizabeth Anderson was also found guiity of violating the ban on secondary picketing by marching in front of the Marine Dining Room on August 20th. Miss Anderson told police she was picketing that restaurant because it has a connection to the Brass Rail Restaurant in Manhattan, where an AFL strike has been in effect for the past two years. Also convicted was Theodore H. Zittel, who admitted to picketing the Marine Dining Room from a motorboat on August 2nd. Mr. Zittel faces a fine of $50 or 50 days in jail, while sentence for Miss Anderson was suspended.

The theatrical man shot by a thug who had mistaken him for a detective in a shootout at the Abbey Hotel in Manhattan has died of his wounds. 52-year-old William Ortmann of Detroit was staying at the adjacent Victoria Hotel with his wife when he was roused by the sound of shots, and looked out his window into an adjacent Abbey Hotel window, where he was shot twice by Abe "Joe Miller" Bitler, sought by police in connection with the murder of Brownsville policy operator Abe Bebchick. As police closed in, Bitler turned his revolver on himself.

(Well, let's see. When my mother was an operator, she was 5-foot-2, weighed about 110, had brown eyes, and her name was neither "Mary" nor "Smith." And her voice, it's safe to say, did not always have a Smile, especially when creepers tried to get her to say something other than "Number, Please.")

("Compelling without being pretentious." Herb hits it right on the nose.)

(You tell 'em, Doc!)

(The Greatest Generation.)

(They say that Mr. Dressen can be, to be charitable, a pushy little jerk -- but he's also the best third base coach in the National League, and a sign-stealer supreme. So give him whatever he wants and let him yap all he wants. As Oscar Vitt could tell him, that act won't play in Cleveland.)

Madeline Carroll, English schoolteacher who became a movie glamour girl, will match wits with Fred Allen, tonight at 9pm over WABC.

(Actually, Slappy, in panel four you look a bit like Mussolini. But I don't think Sue will go for that, either.)

("Well, I'll admit that affair turned out different from usual. Hey, let's go visit some of my relatives.")

("LITTLE DO YOU REALIZE, MY DEAR! I'LL SOON HAVE YOU CALLING ME 'AUNT MARY' AND LIKING IT! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!")

(DESTROY THE FAT GUY! DESTROY THE FAT GUY! DESTROY THE FAT GUY!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

I've been to Farmington, but only on my way to someplace else. Sounds like the same was true for a lot of other people.

I'll be glad when this is over.

Nothing creepy going on here, nosiree.

Jeez, ancient cave-dwelling tribe, would it have killed you to have a railing?

You know, it'd probably be easier to earn a living as an actual Gum Girl.

Well now, this could be distracting.

"No unaccredited agencies though, we don't want any trouble with Sam Spade!"

Hmmm. Wumple, Chigger, Bevel, and now this guy. Hey Skeez, get ready for your mandatory company haircut.

"You can stay at my boardinghouse for free!" I mean, it's not like Moon is always on the dot with the rent...

Well, THAT was easy!

 

[Harp]

Dude and Terry will be fine. What about Burma?

 

[Fading Fast]

... View attachment 373861
("Feh!" scoffs Joe. "'Sagood t'ing he din' come upta Williamsboig, visit ouah plant! Solly Pincus says if'ee did, he was gonna push'im right inna brine vat. Solly don' like Dooks in gen'rl, ya know, but t'is Dook in pa'ticulah, he got a real boin on." "Hah!" hahs Sally. "Y'evva look close atta pitcha of t'at Dook? Looks like somebody *awready* pushed 'im inna brine vat!")...

No need to worry guys, with a war raging in Europe, I doubt the Duke or Dutches will be touring a pickle plant. Nice dig at "duh Dook," though, Sally.

...Former Postmaster General James A. Farley denounced Mayor LaGuardia last night as "a cad and a slanderer," in a hastily-written address delivered over station WOR in response to the Mayor's criticism of Governor Herbert H. Lehman earlier this week. Mr. Farley called on New Yorkers to preserve "their own self respect" by voting for "the gentleman," District Attorney William O'Dwyer.

Mayor LaGuardia responded to Mr. Farley's address by asserting that the former Postmaster General had, during his time in the Cabinet, worked to keep the Mayor "away from Washington," and that President Roosevelt himself came to realize that "Farley the Flop" was unfit to hold a Cabinet post. The Mayor responded to critical remarks sent his way by the Governor and other leading Democrats by charging that they "got their vocabulary from Berlin."...

The more of these campaigns in the '40s we see, the more convinced I become that social media would have been just as bad in '41 as it is today, it just didn't exist. Social media didn't change the emotions and attacks, it just allows them to be amplified in a new way.

...
(DESTROY THE FAT GUY! DESTROY THE FAT GUY! DESTROY THE FAT GUY!)

"Heavy-set, heavy-set, heavy-set, how many times must I tell them. Honey, do we have any stationary, I'm going to write the Eagle a letter." [Sigh] "Yes, dear, I'll bring it right out."

... I've been to Farmington, but only on my way to someplace else. Sounds like the same was true for a lot of other people....

"Vivacious twenty-year-old Florence Buzzell, had recorded her 'progress in education and experience'....her frank diary told of love affairs with several men...."

If what's implied is in the diary is really in the diary, then Page Four is dying to print it but knows it can't. Today, we'd have a special pull-out section. Well, today it would already be all over the internet. Wheeler sounds guilty as heck.

... Nothing creepy going on here, nosiree....

I think we just discovered the real-life inspiration for the fictional character of Buddy from the TV series "Friday Night Lights."

.. Jeez, ancient cave-dwelling tribe, would it have killed you to have a railing?...

I'm sorry, we were pretty busy carving this impressive stairway out of solid rock with nothing but primitive tools and our bare hands. Next time, we'll invent smelting and forging and get right on it for you.

... You know, it'd probably be easier to earn a living as an actual Gum Girl....

Panel Five: "This is the girl Dad." "Ohhh, uh, run along Junior, I'll take it from here." "But Dad." "I said Run Along!"

Dude and Terry will be fine. What about Burma?

List of characters I'm worried about in "Terry and the Pirates:"
#1 - #5 Hu Shee
#6 Burma
#7 April

 

[Harp]

Burms is my immediate concern since she became separated from the boys. Last seen alive but our gal
is really a cat on a hot China tin roof, and with the guys headed off to Hong Kong said separation may be prolonged
if not permanent given Caniff's occasional erasure. April Kane I suspect is a major-player in Caniff's book so she
will return in do course, but Burms is more of a background character, colorful cat certainly, but expendable or available
for absence if script demands. Hu Shee ditto. And against editorial restraint, the cartoonist paws are tied fairly tight.
Really not a lot of development open between her and Terry without some relaxation of rope though I definitely
believe she adds considerable lustre as a ruby beyond price.

 

[LizzieMaine]

April should certainly be out of the hospital by now, but if that Crispin guy is still on the scene, Terry won't be having any kind of a happy reunion.

And what, I must wonder, ever became of Cheery Blaze?

 

[Harp]

Crispin I thought was persona non grata or at least candy cane sensed a snake in the grass.

Who is Cherry Blaze? She sounds like a red haired C cup heroine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Cheery was the Eurasian daughter of Captain Blaze, the British gun runner/opium smuggler who is an occasional ally of Pat and Terry. Cheery hates her father with extraordinary bile, because he gave her existence -- which I guess is as good a reason as any. Cheery had plotted to sell April to Singh-Singh, a former professional wrestler turned warlord, as the latest addition to his harem, but after Pat duped her with fake romantic overtures in order to facilitate April's escape, she hates him even more than she hates her father. When last seen, she was being carried off by Singh-Singh herself, and her fate since then remains unrevealed. She's not a very pleasant person, but under the circs, can you blame her?

 

[Fading Fast]

As to "life has been eternally unfair to me," whatever, but Cheery deserved what she got in that exchange with Pat and April.

I'm ready for Pat to come back and even Capt'n Blaze would be fun to see again, that old rapscallion.

I really hope Hu Shee isn't gone for good, she really was a lot of fun and cool.

 

[Harp]

"Love is a smoke and is made with fumes of sighs."

Romeo & Juliet Act I; i

Methinks Cherry loves the "Irisher"-and Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I remember at the time being quite angry with Pat for going at it quite this way, and almost two years later it still strikes me as unnecessarily cruel. Cheery was not a nice person, but her vulnerability here is still heartbreaking.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 374004 I remember at the time being quite angry with Pat for going at it quite this way, and almost two years later it still strikes me as unnecessarily cruel. Cheery was not a nice person, but her vulnerability here is still heartbreaking.

Unless my memory is off (and it could be), Cheery was maneuvering to have April lose her freedom and become a concubine. If that is correct, I couldn't care less if Pat played her feelings hard to save April from a life of slavery.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's just that he seems so cocky about it. But then again, he's always cocky. Perhaps not Dude Hennick cocky, but perhaps more than he has a right to be. It will be interesting to see if being dragged off to what-unknown-fate by the Dragon Lady a year ago has moderated his perspective any.

 

[Harp]

It's just that he seems so cocky about it. But then again, he's always cocky. Perhaps not Dude Hennick cocky, but perhaps more than he has a right to be. It will be interesting to see if being dragged off to what-unknown-fate by the Dragon Lady a year ago has moderated his perspective any.

I had been under the impression that Dragon Gal pulled a revolver on Ryan, he reached for her and they kissed,
she dropped the weapon...and well, you know.... moderated her perspective. I bet she's a screamer as well as a scheamer.

 

[Harp]

View attachment 374004 I remember at the time being quite angry with Pat for going at it quite this way, and almost two years later it still strikes me as unnecessarily cruel. Cheery was not a nice person, but her vulnerability here is still heartbreaking.

I definitely agree Lizzie. Pat was unnecessarily cruel, inexcusably so, and Cheery is at least here in this particular,
a most sympathetic creature. She seemed to have feelings for him and Pat should have been more restrained.

 

[Fading Fast]

I gotta repeat this point, Cheery was trying to have April become a concubine out of meanness and to get her away from Pat. Pat's behavior to Cheery was in service to preventing April from becoming a slave - he didn't do it as a prank. Sure it's all a comicstrip, but had Cheery been successful, April would have become a sex slave possibly for life. I couldn't care less that Cheery was put through an emotional wringer - the evil here is what Cheery was trying to do to April. Again, if I remember the storyline wrong, I'm genuinely happy to be corrected.