The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

("Pinball!" snorts Joe. "Pinball's stupid! Lots betta t'ings y'c'n do'n a cannystoeh n' play pinball!" "Like what?" queries Sally. "Um," umms Joe, "well, um... defense stamps! Y'c'n buy defense stamps!"" "'At's good," nods Sally. "I gotta album right heah. Y'c'n paste'm in." "Um," again umms Joe, "it's...ah...." "Pitchin' pennies again, wan'cha?" "Hah!" hahs Joe. "Pitchin' pennies! 'At's f' kids! Now, t'numbehs onna utta han'..." "Ah." ahs Sally. "What?" queries Joe. "Jus' 'ah.'")

Stormovik dive bombers of the Soviet air force were reported today to be blasting German fortified positions around Vyazma, 135 miles southwest of Moscow, in preparation for the next Red Army blows against a succession of German "winter lines." Unconfirmed reports received from Stockholm indicated that Russian patrols were already in the vicinity of Vyazma while the main Red Army forces, pressing forward relentlessly from Mozhaisk, reached a point beyond the village of Uvarovka, 16 miles west of Mozhaisk and 54 miles east of Vyazma.

Axis forces have reoccupied Agedabia, 90 miles south of Benghazi, in a sudden thrust from the salt marshes of El Aghella on the Cyrenacia-Tripolitania border, according to a report from British General Headquarters for the Middle East. The enemy columns which recaptured Agedabia, from which Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps recently withdrew under cover of a raging sandstorm, were "strongly covered by German and Italian bombers with fighter protection."

The Navy's failure to report any new submarine activity off the Atlantic coast over more than 36 hours is cited as evidence that the widespread air and sea hunt for "enemy rattlesnakes" has met with some success by some observers. The last reported torpedoings were on Wednesday, with attacks reported on the American steamer City of Atlanta and the Latvian freighter Ciltvaria.

("Pins and Needles" ran almost three years with a non-professional cast made up entirely of garment workers, so this show doesn't sound like that crazy of an idea. I propose Sally Snipe for the arch Eve Arden-like comedy lead. And Wilmer Bobble as her foil.)

(Careful what you ask for.)

(Not only will Beverly Paterno sing, but for half a buck she'll box a full round with anyone in the house.)

(It's tough to be the new kid.)

(Mr. Vaughan is known as a quiet, clean-cut fellow of moderate habits, who is never known to get in trouble. Which means he'll have no fun at all in Havana.)

(You just can't trust those oil-company road maps.)

(Obviously a veteran of military intelligence.)

(It's comforting to know that a hard-nosed investigative journalist is on the job.)

("Wait, is it UNDERGROUND?? Tell me it's underground!!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Emerald City of the West...

"...and I say the hell with it!"

Paste Up Guy realized just as he was leaving for the day that he forgot to do the puzzle, so he just threw one together. Oh wait, he always does that.

Jimmy Jemail says "HEY! Why don't *I* get a snappy logo at the head of the column??"

"And if that doesn't work, in that other box you'll find a Tesla coil and a couple of electrodes."

A will made under duress is invalid.

"So," says Harold. "How 'bout you an' me..." "Not on your life," says Lillums.

A knave? Isn't he more of a varlet?

"Well," mutters Sammy as we finally see the last of him, "at least Ryan got stuck for the tab in that restaurant!"

Now here's a plot wrinkle nobody saw coming...

Yes indeed, definite II-B material.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 397329 ("Pinball!" snorts Joe. "Pinball's stupid! Lots betta t'ings y'c'n do'n a cannystoeh n' play pinball!" "Like what?" queries Sally. "Um," umms Joe, "well, um... defense stamps! Y'c'n buy defense stamps!"" "'At's good," nods Sally. "I gotta album right heah. Y'c'n paste'm in." "Um," again umms Joe, "it's...ah...." "Pitchin' pennies again, wan'cha?" "Hah!" hahs Joe. "Pitchin' pennies! 'At's f' kids! Now, t'numbehs onna utta han'..." "Ah." ahs Sally. "What?" queries Joe. "Jus' 'ah.'")...

Am I confused (quite likely), but there's no gambling element to pinball machines? Were they different back then? I've never understood the anger they provoked as the machines are, basically, just an amusement. At least you could argue comic books have "subversive ideas" that "corrupt the minds of the young," but what the heck is so bad about a pinball machine? I know the mob profited from them, so shut down the mob and let legitimate businesses run the machines. We didn't stop eating when the mob profited from the wholesale food distribution in the city - we tried to get the mob out of the business.

.. (You just can't trust those oil-company road maps.)...

No time to dither Sparky, you told them to start the oil flowing in five minutes.

...
(It's comforting to know that a hard-nosed investigative journalist is on the job.)...

He should've taken the screenwriting gig when he had the chance.

... ("Wait, is it UNDERGROUND?? Tell me it's underground!!")

...
"...and I say the hell with it!"....

...
Jimmy Jemail says "HEY! Why don't *I* get a snappy logo at the head of the column??"...

So when is the Daily News coming back?

And Mrs. Zarack, yeh, sorry, those old hats are gone as they were completely ridiculous.

..
"And if that doesn't work, in that other box you'll find a Tesla coil and a couple of electrodes."....

"Only one panel today and not even my good profile; it doesn't bother me at all; it's going to happen; I'm not the star, nope, I'm not worried at all. Umm, guys, I was just kidding about that larger dressing room - what I have now is fine, perfect, I love it. I need my stuffed squirrel toy to hold, where'd I leave him?"

... A knave? Isn't he more of a varlet?....

Similar thought, that's not a word you hear everyday.

Russell, that's more like how you do a prurient bathtub scene. Comicstrip characters do bathe a lot, especially the young female ones.

...
Now here's a plot wrinkle nobody saw coming.......

Her personality and character weren't lifted.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The News returns February 5th, hopefully with Page Four in all its glory.

The gambling element in pinball came with store proprietors paying off "under the counter" for high scores, either in cash or merchandise. This was a pretty common thing at the time. One reason why pinball machines will add flippers in the late '40s is to give the game an element of skill that would take it out of the realm of a device based on pure luck. The machines of 1942 just have you shooting the ball and waiting to see where it'll bounce and land. There might be some element of skill in how hard you pull the plunger, but it's mostly a game of chance.

 

[Fading Fast]

The News returns February 5th, hopefully with Page Four in all its glory.

The gambling element in pinball came with store proprietors paying off "under the counter" for high scores, either in cash or merchandise. This was a pretty common thing at the time. One reason why pinball machines will add flippers in the late '40s is to give the game an element of skill that would take it out of the realm of a device based on pure luck. The machines of 1942 just have you shooting the ball and waiting to see where it'll bounce and land. There might be some element of skill in how hard you pull the plunger, but it's mostly a game of chance.

Wow, that's really interesting. The "under the counter" payoff must have been quite messy in many ways ("you owe me," "I paid you." blah, blah, blah). I like the thing about the flippers - never knew that. Do you know when did the "under the counter" payments stop?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Probably the payouts went on for a long time -- pinball machines remained illegal in NYC until 1976, so it was likely a very lucrative side hustle for cops on the make. It was a lot like the punchboard racket in that respect -- the payouts weren't a lot -- a half a dollar here, a pack of cigarettes there -- but the profits could be worthwhile, especially if someone was leaning on you to have a machine in your shop. Just to be safe, of course, manufacturers might put a label reading "NOT A GAMBLING DEVICE" somewhere on the machine so they could say "well, it ain't us, it's these other guys doin' the gamblin'!"

 

[Harp]

Emerald City harken a wed munchkin couple from OZ who returned home to sweet Chicago
and opened a bar around 63rd Cicero Avenue-a few scattered memories tossed in for good measure.
God bless them.

War news of course bleeds so leads. The Nazis overplayed their hand with Russia, North Africa,
Poland, Baltics, and Greece. Concentration of force is a martial rule not a mere shibboleth and in
reading this thread this dispersal is all the more remarkable. American incursion will end this foolish
arrogance. Imperial Japan will eventually be brought to her senses at equally horrendous cost.

I so miss marital estate intrigue wrought uncontrolled lust and indulgence thereof, thereto, therefore
all absent requisite written disclaim, dower marital right, enigma, riddles, ignorant family lawyers
bequeathed a Gordion Knot legal mess and all willful intestate extramarital/judicial court probate
matters journalist cover and much more transparency than I ever imagined.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Chicago at one time boasted the largest street cable car system in the world. Four independent companies and all circumnavigated the central business district. Although, in spite of an urban rumor to the contrary, was not the source of the Loop designation.

Electric streetcars could move faster and were more flexible, so the cable car's dominance was short lived.

 

[Harp]

Electric streetcars could move faster and were more flexible, so the cable car's dominance was short lived.

My paternal grandfather, a retired CTA electric streetcar conductor would take me to the corner
of 79th and Honore Avenue and stare at the steel rails still embedded in the asphalt tar. Streetcars
had preceded the buses that ran and had replaced streetcars, though horses still drew milk wagons.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(A sense of impending disaster.)

A 14-year-old Greenwich, Connecticut girl missing from her home for nearly a week was found this morning reading a magazine in a Staten Island candy store. Detectives from the Missing Persons Bureau were alerted to the whereabouts of Eleanor Ladew Williams by a phone call from St. George, S. I, where she had been recognized from newspaper accounts by candy store proprietor Mrs. Ivy Fritz. Mrs. Fritz encouraged the girl to "sit and rest" and then had an employee call the police. The girl told police that she had run away from home "to meet a young man named Dickey Stephenson," a 17-year-old "friend of the family" whom she had met in Edgartown, Massachusetts some time ago and who is now serving in the Navy. Police had picked up Miss Williams' trail earlier this week when she was reported as staying at the St. George Hotel in downtown Brooklyn under the name of "night club singer Brenda Smith." She is the daughter of Greenwich manufacturing Harvey Williams, who arrived in New York this morning to take her home.

Civilian Defense volunteers across the city will be instructed in their duties by television, using television receivers now being installed in every New York City police precinct. In addition to these sets, more than 100 additional viewing posts are to be established in radio dealers' shops and in private homes under the auspices of the National Broadcasting Company's television division, which will produce and telecast the special training programs. The 30-minute telecasts will feature live demonstrations, and training films specially made by the Office of Civilian Defense, and will be shown over station WNBT on a weekly basis starting next Monday at 8pm.

("Besides, this pinball thing is heating up.")

(Oh yeah? Well, Doc, YOU can stick a plumb line in YOUR external auditory meatus!)

(Home movies? What about TELEVISION???)

Police are continuing their pinball drive today after guilty pleas were entered by hundreds of proprietors of candy stores, barber shops, restaurants, bars and grills where 2767 pinball machines have been seized so far in the campaign. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Aaron J. Levy today reserved judgement on an application by pinball machine manufacturers seeking to restrain the police campaign to eliminate the machines from the city. Justice Levy ordered briefs filed in the case by January 30th.

("The Lip is still strong for the Cuban brand of sunshine." I bet he is.)

The induction of Red Sox star Ted Williams into the Army has been delayed pending an appeal of his classification before the Minnesota State Appeals Board. Williams, who is registered with a local board in Minneapolis, was originally classified 3-A before being reclassified 1-A, and is seeking to have that change reversed, citing his mother's dependency. Williams was to have been sworn into the Army tomorrow.

(Ah, everybody loves those comedy saboteur movies.)

(I've had to blow into pipes to try and unclog a drain before, but now I find a compressed air gun is much more effective.)

(Good Cop, Bad Cop -- except they're both bad cops.)

(Oh my, look at the Legitimate Businessmen. I bet Leona would recognize them.)

("Hoo hoo! Monkeys ist der CWAZIEST peoples!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And direct from the Tower to you...

Josephine Bungle, is that you?

These look more like bad tracings than clippings, unless there's a story I forgot about where Avery was transformed into a sinister hunchback with rubber arms.

All indications are that February 16th will be greeted by mass confusion.

"I mean, who do I look like, Mary Worth?"

"Just think, a year ago we were making can openers. Actually, we're *still* making can openers."

Keep Romance Alive.

What a swell mother you are.

Hmm. Man, woman, little girl. Hmm.

"Harold's still got a good job, doesn't he? DOESN'T HE?"

I dunno, toots, it doesn't seem like it'd be as much fun to bust up a nightclub if you own it.

 

[Fading Fast]

(A sense of impending disaster.)...

There's clearly more to the story about the patrolman's wife who was found shot dead. The note and "unknown" gun are interesting - hope we learn more in the next days.

...
(Oh yeah? Well, Doc, YOU can stick a plumb line in YOUR external auditory meatus!)...

Without pics or illustrations this is just a word salad of confusion.

... ("The Lip is still strong for the Cuban brand of sunshine." I bet he is.)...

Scene: A Florida hotel room when the Dodgers return from Cuba.

Wife: I don't care what you say about it being a reaction to the soap or shower water in Havana, until you have a doctor look at the rash you have on that thing, you ain't coming near me with it.

Dodger player: Yes dear.

Wife: You better hope the doctor says it's a reaction to the soap or water and not something else.

Dodger player: Yes dear.

Wife: And I'm coming with you and going in to hear for myself what the doctor says.

Dodger player: Yes dear.

... (Ah, everybody loves those comedy saboteur movies.)...

It's a movie that's all over the map, but if you just go with it, it's fun. It's even better the second time around when you don't have to focus on the plot and can just enjoy all the humor, camp, etc. more.

... ("Hoo hoo! Monkeys ist der CWAZIEST peoples!")

"Heel, Fury."

Good to see Hitler has time to run a two front war and chauffeur some small-time propaganda agent around.

...
All indications are that February 16th will be greeted by mass confusion.....

Anybody who has ever rolled out a large program for a company or government agency is familiar with the incredible list of "one-offs" and "exceptions" that comes up even after you've spent months trying to identify all of them. The scale of the draft dwarfs any of those project by a huge multiple. Or, as Lizzie succinctly says, mass confusion is coming.

...[ "Just think, a year ago we were making can openers. Actually, we're *still* making can openers."...

You can see where this is going and it's going to be interesting. A good timely moral dilemma.

... I dunno, toots, it doesn't seem like it'd be as much fun to bust up a nightclub if you own it.

Like it or not, you know who your partner is going to be if you open up a nightclub and, like it or not, you'll need them to keep the union workers and suppliers in line. It's a brutal Catch-22.

Why don't you just take acting lessons and try Broadway or Hollywood like many other rich girls do.

 

[Harp]

Direct from The Tower might imply the Tower of London; wherein Edward V and brother Richard,
Duke of York were murdered supposedly by order of their uncle, Richard of Gloucester, the future
Richard III in 1483. Shakespeare and Sir Thomas More writ claimed Dickie did the deed.
-----
Off topic tangental: Couple of years ago upon leaving a conference held at a hotel near
Tribune Tower, I hailed a cab and asked to be taken to LaSalle Street Station. Before I could say
anything else the driver, a Lebanese immigrant immediately launched a verbal tirade against
Americans, specifically, 'Yanks don't f.....g read.' Went on for ten blocks. He had a baccalaureate
in English Literature from Beirut University and nobody here to discuss literature with.
Americans were a stupid, illiterate, naive people.

At my stop I pulled out Thomas More's The Four Last Things which had nestled deep inside
my British Gloverall duffle coat, scratching my name and email address inside. I told him to read
it and contact me if he wanted to discuss More or anything else literary. He confessed he thought
I was Irish not American.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Navy last night announced that warships of America's Asiatic Fleet have destroyed two Japanese ships and damaged several others in a major naval battle in the Netherlands East Indies, with American destroyers surprising a Japanese convoy making its way thru the Macassar Straits under cover of darkness. The American ships blew up one large Japanese ship, sent another to the bottom, left a third listing heavily, and damaged several additional vessels.

Japan went all-out last night against the brave American and Filipino defenders of Batan, hammering General Douglas MacArthur's position with ceaseless fire from warships along the coast, masses of aircraft, and fresh ground troops. For the first time an American war communique acknowledged that MacArthur's forces are "hard pressed to hold off the full-scale Japanese assault."

A Presidential inquiry board today placed the blame for the December 7th losses at Pearl Harbor upon Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. General Walter C. Short, charging them with dereliction of duty. The board's decision was unanimous. Adm. Kimmel was commander-in-chief of the United States Fleet and commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Gen. Short was commander of the Army's Hawaiian Department until they were relieved of their posts the day after the Japanese attack. The report concluded that the commanders had plans at their disposal which, if implemented and followed thru, would have prevented the disaster. The commanders, however, "failed to confer with respect to the warnings and orders issued on and after November 27th and to adapt and use existing plans to meet the emergency." The report further concluded that "the state of readiness of the naval forces on the morning of December 7th was not such as was required to meet the emergency envisaged in the warning message." Orders placing the Army on alert likewise were concluded to have been inadequate to meet the situation.

Household consumption of sugar will be restricted to one pound per month under a wartime rationing plan to be put into effect within a few weeks. Price Administrator Leon Henderson, in announcing the rationing, also noted that industrial use of sugar for the production of soft drinks, canned foods, candy, and so forth, will be cut by approximately one-third, to approximately one half-pound per person per month. The Office Of Price Administration has already designed ration books, and printing of the books is expected to begin on Monday. Henderson also noted that persons now in possession of large quantities of sugar will "not be permitted to benefit from their foresight."

(Well, at least they didn't have a pinball machine.)

A brawny 25-year-old British sailor who made unwanted remarks to a Sunset Park housewife is now missing four front teeth, and has been confined to his ship. Mrs. Helen Lindsay of 3913 3rd Avenue, a mother of ten, was standing in front of her house when sailor Stephen Anderson spoke to her. When Mrs. Lindsay took exception to his comment, she gave him a sweeping sock in the mouth, knocking his teeth out. She then screamed for a patrolman and Anderson was arrested. Appearing yesterday in Brooklyn Weekend Court, the sailor apologized for the incident -- thru swollen lips -- and was given a suspended sentence on the promise that he would remain aboard his vessel.

("Sailehs!" snorts Sally. "Ain' she got trouble enough wit' ten kids?")

In Salt Lake City, Utah, a threatening letter to screen actress Linda Darnell has led to the arrest of a 17-year-old high school boy by Federal agents. Student Oren William Hayes of Salt Lake City High School attempted to extort money from Miss Darnell by threatening to kill her mother, brothers, and sisters if the funds were not paid. The letter was found among Miss Darnell's fan mail by workers at her Hollywood studio, and the FBI was alerted.

(As the wartime denim fad begins...)

(Oooh, the annual "Camilli Holds Out" photo! Start counting the days till spring!)

(OK, Butch, you can step down anytime. Civilian Defense is all set.)

Old-Timer William F. Martin remembers learning to swim under the old South Ferry Bridge, in a place they called the "swill tub." And he also remembers the time they caught a big shark down near the foot of Joralemon Street.

Hollywood's stuffed shirts will take a satirical beating in Preston Sturges' new picture for Paramount. "Sullivan's Travels" with Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake will open at the New York Paramount on February 4th.

(Don't see no teeth flying there, Red. Maybe you should get some tips from Mrs. Helen Lindsay.)

(Point of order -- if Eddie is blind, how'd he know there was even a beard to snatch??? HUH?????)

("See, Larry? I got a ranch with 200 head of cattle and a private plane!! And I got six kids! And a lot of bills to pay!)

(Poor Bill. You're no Dolph Camilli. And looks like poor Irwin will soon be off to the Ukraine. Dress warm.)

(Nobody respects a genius in their own time.)

(See, just be patient and it'll all tie together in the end.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the World's Greatest Parade Of Fun...

Clip and Save.

About four years ago, the lost love of Pat's life, Normandie Drake, married a rich and completely useless man named Tony Sandhurst. It must be a coincidence. It has to be a coincidence. But it probably isn't.

Walt, talk to this kid.

Emmy actually *was* a showgirl, back around 1902, which explains the vintage of the script she's using here.

Well, at least he won't freeze his ears off in a cold-storage warehouse.

Schadenfreude.

"No living soul could have followed our devious trail -- to THE GUMP BUILDING."

It always comes down to this.

"Hark! Some one coming up on the porch!" Hey Doc, we gotta work on that dialogue.

 

[Harp]

Admiral Kimmel and Lt General Short were justly relieved after December 7th 1941, the date that lives
forever in infamy; scapegoats, sure but both-particularly Short failed imaginative exercise of existing
martial assets or any real strategic grasp of the poker faced South Pacific map. The latter fault a shared
collective failing within the higher brass in Washington, hence the Hawaiian commanders' sacking.
Admiral Stark, Chief of Naval Operations was demoted in transfer to London, effectively kicked upstairs.
The US Army Hawaiian Department was placed in charge of Oahu defense, its primary objective to ensure
Pearl Harbor ship traffic and Naval District safety. Kimmel and Short misunderstood Imperial Navy reach
toward Hawaii with Japan's absolute need for Dutch East Indian oil. So also General George C Marshall,
who crossed Short in the Ides of March character assassination that followed. Short subsequently predicted
Marshall could never pen his memoirs. Short stands correct in time. Marshall however did write
out his First World War 1917-18 reminiscence, which when considered in hindsight only adds fuel to fire.

Kimmel served as a director of New York's Naval District while Short rode the Dallas jeep manufacture
plant. After the war both stood court martial.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Henderson also noted that persons now in possession of large quantities of sugar will "not be permitted to benefit from their foresight."...

Did he plan to conduct house-by-house searches for hoarded sugar?

...
(Well, at least they didn't have a pinball machine.)...

As we say all the time, candy stores were some of the most interesting places on earth in the 1940s.

O'Dwyer scores a goal.

To this day in NYC, every so often, the police will raid a warehouse or store or something and arrest a group of people for cigarette tax fraud, which isn't much different than this 1940 scheme as the scheme almost always involves cigarettes bought without a tax and then sold with fake (or stolen) tax stamps.

...A brawny 25-year-old British sailor who made unwanted remarks to a Sunset Park housewife is now missing four front teeth, and has been confined to his ship. Mrs. Helen Lindsay of 3913 3rd Avenue, a mother of ten, was standing in front of her house when sailor Stephen Anderson spoke to her. When Mrs. Lindsay took exception to his comment, she gave him a sweeping sock in the mouth, knocking his teeth out. She then screamed for a patrolman and Anderson was arrested. Appearing yesterday in Brooklyn Weekend Court, the sailor apologized for the incident -- thru swollen lips -- and was given a suspended sentence on the promise that he would remain aboard his vessel.

("Sailehs!" snorts Sally. "Ain' she got trouble enough wit' ten kids?")...

My first thought was "good for her," but then I thought a bit more about it and thought if the sexes were reversed and a woman had made a rude comment to a man and the man hauled off and hit the woman in the face, I'd want him arrested as he resorted to violence. So, maybe she should be arrested.

...[
(Point of order -- if Eddie is blind, how'd he know there was even a beard to snatch??? HUH?????)...

I think Eddie felt his brother's face and, thus, beard (before he knew it was his brother) a week or two ago when they were in the car together.

...
(Poor Bill. You're no Dolph Camilli. And looks like poor Irwin will soon be off to the Ukraine. Dress warm.)...

If the Nazis hadn't caught on after the first broadcast, they would have with this one and Dan would have already been tortured and killed by now. It's not like Dan was pulling this on Mussolini's intelligence services.

..
About four years ago, the lost love of Pat's life, Normandie Drake, married a rich and completely useless man named Tony Sandhurst. It must be a coincidence. It has to be a coincidence. But it probably isn't....

"...Funny I don't hear from Terry. Oh well, he'll get in touch when he knows something." After all, what could happen to a young, basically innocent and naive kid trying to rescue an even more innocent and naive girl in war-torn China. Yup, nothing to worry about there.

"Normandie Drake" is an outstanding name.

... Well, at least he won't freeze his ears off in a cold-storage warehouse....

Indulging kids is such a curse to the kids.

You've been doing a pretty good job of kicking the "Thorndike name" to the curb already kid; it's a bit late to start worrying about that now.

Yes, Lizzie, odd to see a Tracy villain killed in such a straight-forward, not-gruesome way.

... Schadenfreude....

You really do have to marvel at Carl Ed using the same basic joke every Sunday for, what, eight or nine months now?

 

[Harp]

My first thought was "good for her," but then I thought a bit more about it and thought if the sexes were reversed and a woman had made a rude comment to a man and the man hauled off and hit the woman in the face, I'd want him arrested as he resorted to violence. So, maybe she should be arrested.

Verbal abuse, in itself absent physical battery is not a criminal offense; however within certain
context such as domestic locus such speech can be grounds for civil recover or resolve.
Verbal abuse that continues so as to become threatening and precedes physical assault,
or reasonable inference as to its occurence is predicate statement as to intent.

Helen Lindsay seems to have taken offense to what British sailor Stephen Anderson said,
and apparently stood close enough to strike him; yet the actual speech is not conveyed or specified.
Presumably, Mrs Lindsay had sufficient cause, and Anderson later tendered apology.
As to whether Mrs Linsay had cause, sufficient to resort to protective action, including screaming
for a police officer must be presumed as to evidence.

 

[LizzieMaine]

An American Expeditionary Force has landed in northern Ireland, where a powerful military base has been under construction for several months, it was announced today by the War Department. A dispatch from Belfast indicated that United States forces may have already seen action against German airplanes. The announcement by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson did not reveal the size of the force, the date of its arrival in Ireland or the time of its departure from the United States. The move sends American fighting men, under the command of Maj. Gen. Russell P. Hartle, the closest they have yet been stationed to the European fighting front. Previously U. S. forces were sent to Iceland. The War Department did not reveal whether the U. S. force will take over the Irish base, or whether the move is merely the initial stage of sending U. S. fighting men into action in Europe.

The armed forces of the United Nations, sparked by slashing American air and sea attacks, crippled Japan's powerful Far Eastern offensive today and battled deeper enemy offensive thrusts toward key bases and supply lines along a 4000-mile front. A total of 26 fatal or damaging hits on Japanese warships and transports, and the destruction of a dozen enemy planes was reported in Allied communiques, giving a sketchy picture of a four-day battle in the Macassar Straits, where American Flying Fortress bombers and naval units scored outstanding triumphs over the Japanese. The U. S. forces sunk 8 or 10 enemy ships, with Dutch bombers and submarines accounting for the remainder.

Ten thousand Japanese troops have landed at Rabaul, in the Bismarck Islands, about 800 miles northeast of Australia. That powerful force was landed by a 17-ship invasion fleet. It is also reported that the Japanese have effected a new landing at the northern passage of the Solomon Islands.

A $17,722,565,474 Naval appropriations bill, largest ever proposed, was approved today by the House Appropriations Committee and sent to the floor of the full House of Representatives for a vote. The bill was said to be designed to give the United States "unquestioned supremacy" on the high seas.

The daughter of a socially-prominent Long Island family was killed today in the crash of a station wagon in which her brother, another boy, and their tutor, were injured while on their way to school. Fifteen-year-old Frances McLelland of Huntington died in an ambulance on the way to Huntington Hospital after the station wagon driven by Roderick Williams, an instructor at the exclusive Greenvale School in Roslyn, skidded out of control on an icy stretch of West Neck Avenue. The car left the road, struck a light pole, overturned, and was wrecked.

Four typists and a clerk employed at Queens Borough Hall will receive 1942 pay raises of one penny apiece under the new Queens operating budget submitted by borough president James A. Burke. The one-cent increases will raise the employees one pay grade, from $1799.99 per year into the $1800 per year grade.

A 45-year-old amnesia victim is being treated today at Kings County Hospital after a police patrolman found him wandering the streets of Bushwick in pajamas and slippers. The man is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighting 148 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Along with the pajamas and slippers, the man was wearing a gray overcoat and trousers pulled over the pajama pants when he was picked up near the intersection of Broadway and Gates Avenue early this morning.

Fearing the issuance of a Federal injunction to halt seizures of pinball machines in response to an application filed by vending-company interests, police have accelerated their drive to confiscate all such devices in the city. Mayor LaGuardia stated today that he expects "a stiff legal fight," adding that the machine manufacturers opposing the campaign are "quite clever and ingenious."

(It was a gentler time.)

The fates of Admiral Husband B. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, suspended Army and Navy commanders in Hawaii, rest today in the hands of President Roosevelt, following the conclusions of a military board of inquiry charging both men with dereliction of duty in connection with the December 7th attack at Pearl Harbor. Dismissal from the service or courts-martial are the leading possibilities as the President considers the case against the two officers. The White House indicated that the President's final decision may be held in abeyance until "later in the week," with the facts of the cases still under review.

(News of a remake of "Broadway," a groundbreaking early-talkie musical, brings the jarring realization that 1929 was, in fact, only twelve years ago. That world, before the Crash, before the Depression, before the rise of Hitler and Japanese militarism, seems as remote and as decayed in 1942 as ancient Egypt.)

("I dunno," says Joe. "It ain' natcheral." "Oh yeah?" snorts Sally. "Y'know what ain' natcheral? Goin' out when it's twelve degrees out an' y'can't get stockins, an' ya freeze ya legs off. T'AT ain' natcheral. I'm goin' downa Davega's t'marra, an' I'm gettin' me a pair a't'em dungarees!" "Huh," huhs Joe. "I s'pose y'l getta leat'a jacket nex'." "Y'know," ponders Sally. "I jus' might.")

("Hey," says Joe. "What if I..." "What if ya what?" "Nut'n.")

(Tsk, Mr. Lichty. Is that nice?)

(Before the invention of the Zamboni machine in 1949, rink ice had to be resurfaced by crews of men using hand scrapers, water hoses and big squeegees -- which meant it wasn't done very often and, as you can see, hockey was an even rougher game.)

The Pittsburgh Pirates will go patriotic in a big way in the coming baseball season. The Bucs will do away with their old uniforms, featuring a piarte-head insignia, and will instead wear bright white suits featuring the team name and numbers emblazoned in vivid red and royal blue, with royal blue caps trimmed in red, and red and blue trimmings also on the neckline, sleeves, undershirts and stockings. Club President Bill Benswanger and manager Frankie Frisch called the new outfits a "gesture for these wartime days."

(This is why you need a license to be a plumber.)

(It's a good thing that George is such a shrewd judge of character.)

("But Colonel -- that sounds like -- a NIGHT CLUB! Do you have any idea what goes on in such places?")

(I don't know as I'd call the Dnieper River a "channel," but perhaps it loses something in the translation.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from The Nation's Tool Maker and Stacker of Wheat...

What was that you were saying about "untermenschen?"

"Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In A Hurry!"

Talking a good war.

"And remember, it's justifiable use of force."

Don't get too used to it, Annie will have you down an abandoned mine in no time.

Well, I mean, geez, what's stopping you from fixing that breakfast yourself?

Hope you're a fast study.

I don't care what they say, it takes real skill to sip out of a saucer without putting down your cigar.

Normandie!

That's right, keep your priorities straight.