Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

The Era -- Day By Day

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_.jpg

(The latter-day image of Gandhi as a gentle ascetic apostle of "non-violence" does the man no service at all. He was a fierce fighter for his cause, one who gave absolutely no quarter.)

American air officers in Chungking today mapped out an emergency campaign to wrest aerial superiority from the Japanese and break up enemy land and air offensives in Central Burma. Control of the air, they emphasized, is the key to the enemy's advance against the British troops on the Prome front, and may decide the growing threat to India as the fate of Burma hangs in the balance. But the wiry commander of the American Flying Tigers, Col. Claire L. Chennault, remained confident, declaring "this Japanese air superiority won't continue." The arrival of American bombers and fighter planes in India indicated that air battles over Burma are imminent.

Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright's Bataan forces are resisting new Japanese attempts to disrupt their lines with artillery fire and frequent dive bomber attacks, it was revealed today in a War Department communique. It was stated that the Japanese appear to be using "a new type of bomb" against the Manila Bay fortress of Corregidor, a bomb that bursts in mid-air in a blast of huge flames, but it was also indicated that the attackers have not succeeded in causing serious damage with these bombs. Military observers believe these bombs may be similar to the land mines dropped by German planes over England.

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(1).jpg

(They had "doomscrolling" in 1942 too.)

Twenty-five-hundred Brooklyn women will march down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan next Saturday as a highlight of Victory Nurses' Aides Week, which begins tomorrow with ceremonies at City Hall and Borough Hall. The parade, the first all-women parade in the city since the First World War, has been organized to promote the campaign to enroll a quota of 10,000 Red Cross volunteer nurses' aides, a drive being organized locally thru the Brooklyn Civilian Defense Volunteer Office, the Brooklyn Committee of the United Hospital Fund, and the Brooklyn Unit, American Women's Voluntary Services.

An Ozone Park man who put his entire life savings of $2000 into defense bonds has received a personal letter of thanks from the President. Morris Kaufman came to America from Hungary in 1910 at the age of 16, and became a citizen in 1925, has written back to promise the President that he will continue to invest in bonds for the duration of the war. Mr. Kaufman is shop chairman for Local 9 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, at the plant of the Promenade Clothes Corporation in Bushwick, where 300 workers are turning out Army uniforms at a rate undreamed of a year ago.

All 1500 employees of the F&M Schaefer Brewing Company have signed up to buy defense bonds thru a voluntary payroll deduction plan for the duration of war. Company president Rudolph J. Schaefer stated that employees of the Williamsburg brewery are buying bonds at a rate of $3200 a week, "enough to pay for one P-40 fighter plane every eight weeks." Schaefer delivery trucks are also playing a role in the campaign, with every vehicle displaying a large BUY BONDS banner.

A City College biology instructor has about given up on hope that his escaped pet falcon will come home. Dr. William D. Sargent had been in the habit of exercising his bird, named "Babe," on the roof of the City College School of Business on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, but one day recently Babe spotted a flock of pigeons passing overhead and went on the attack. As one pigeon plunged dead to the sidewalk far below, Babe, either struck by remorse, or flush with the thrill of her new freedom, wheeled off into the sky and hasn't been seen since.

In Arcadia, California the famous Santa Anita Racetrack has become a temporary home to two thousand Japanese evacuated from the Army's coastal exclusion zone. Temporary housing has been erected in the parking lot, in the feed barns, and in the stables to accomodate the evacuees until they can be moved to points further inland. It is expected that a total of 16,000 evacuees may be housed at Santa Anita before the relocation is completed.

Reader Sidney Silberman writes in to ask why something isn't done to block or challenge shortwave propaganda broadcasts from Berlin audible in this country. Mr. Silberman tuned in recently on a man calling himself "Paul Revere," whose broadcast urged the American people to "rise up against our elected leaders," and he warns that enough people may take such propaganda seriously that "serious consequences may result."

("Paul Revere" is actually Douglas Chandler, American, a former writer for National Geographic Magazine, who became a devoted Nazi after being sent to do a piece on Germany for that publication.)

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(2).jpg

(Frenchy playing for keeps? C'mon, where's the zany antics?)

It's still a while yet before the Dodgers open the 1942 campaign at Ebbets Field, but out in Woodhaven the Bushwicks make their bow at Dexter Park this afternoon against the Lancaster Red Roses. The Bushwicks under manager Joe Press expect to field an even stronger club this year, meaning the servicemen in uniform who will be admitted free to all games will have plenty of exciting diamond action ahead.

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(3).jpg

("To be sure, he and Mr. MacPhail have had words." Yes. Yes they have.)

Old Timer Robert Ryder rememebers those days at PS 102 in Bay Ridge, when the "steam dummies" ran down 3rd Avenue, and it was the thing to do on the way home from school to raid the pear and apple orchards that used to grow at the "small estates" along 73rd Street.


The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(4).jpg

(Didn't bury him very deep, did they?)

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(5).jpg

(Well, at least she won't end up encased in paraffin.)

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(6).jpg

(Careful, Mary, that bell's how he sends coded messages to the Nazi submarine. And don't worry Dan, just pour some oatmeal in the crankcase. Seal it right up.)

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(7).jpg

(Never troll a troll.)

The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(8).jpg

("Hah!" hahed the Kaiser. "All Bismarck got was a herring!")
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
And in the Daily News...

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_.jpg

Mrs. Leslie terrifies me.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(1).jpg

Are those jammies regulation?

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(2).jpg

That's it? Gould is slipping. I was hoping for something more specatcular, like B-B Eyes getting his head caught in a recapping press.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(3).jpg

Yep, it's under a "big V." Not a "big W," that comes later.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(4).jpg

One step ahead of the law.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(5).jpg

"More like you than her faaaaatherrrrrr." Sarcasm doesn't become you, Patrick.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(6).jpg

What we've learned today: All children in 1942 are devious little schemers.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(7).jpg

Susie found out they weren't hiring at "Terry," so with a sad sigh she signed a new contract here.

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(8).jpg
I realize the plot has to move along, but can't we linger just a little longer with "Butcher Knife Liz?"

Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(9).jpg

Hello, Sherwin-Williams? I'd like to order a quart of "tree" color.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_.jpg

(The latter-day image of Gandhi as a gentle ascetic apostle of "non-violence" does the man no service at all. He was a fierce fighter for his cause, one who gave absolutely no quarter.)
...

Yes he was and he smartly saw the opportunity WWII afforded him to advance his aims.


...

American air officers in Chungking today mapped out an emergency campaign to wrest aerial superiority from the Japanese and break up enemy land and air offensives in Central Burma. Control of the air, they emphasized, is the key to the enemy's advance against the British troops on the Prome front, and may decide the growing threat to India as the fate of Burma hangs in the balance. But the wiry commander of the American Flying Tigers, Col. Claire L. Chennault, remained confident, declaring "this Japanese air superiority won't continue." The arrival of American bombers and fighter planes in India indicated that air battles over Burma are imminent.
...

Showing how real Caniff's characters feel, I keep thinking of "his" Burma every time I read about the place "Burma."


...
The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(5).jpg



(Well, at least she won't end up encased in paraffin.)
...

The flames aren't going to care that she's invisible.


...
The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(6).jpg



(Careful, Mary, that bell's how he sends coded messages to the Nazi submarine. And don't worry Dan, just pour some oatmeal in the crankcase. Seal it right up.)
...

"I've cracked the engine block." Challenge, that's a lot harder to do.

Also, just take the distributor cap off and toss it, all this other stuff is a waste of precious time.

"How do you like a few of these?" Seriously Dan

"With powerful strokes Harrington brings Kay to..." Oops, wrong storyline.

"These spies think of everything...they even had an army nearby..." But one man could get on the island and disable the station before their army could be called in. Yeah, they're brilliant.


...
Daily_News_Sun__Apr_5__1942_(7).jpg



Susie found out they weren't hiring at "Terry," so with a sad sigh she signed a new contract here.
...

And that's a good thing, too, as Susie Q would be dead within ten panels of "Terry and the Pirates." She couldn't survive in that world.

It's oddly comforting to have the same Sunday "Harold Teen" storyline back.
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
The Quincy, MA young woman brutally slain by a satan thief all too
vividly recalls this morning's televised news coverage of certain events shown as
war criminal rape and murder. And children were victims. Beyond disgust.

Mr and Mrs Leslie received fairly lenient sentence considered against false imprison
and assault within conspiracy. Severance precluded by parental responsibility and
mitigated attendant issue but said fine and paternal breadwinner confinement
circa 1942 currency will smart.
-----
Again, object. Pat is unaware and hardly sarcastic under circumstance.
And his podiatry Sino tip toe akin to differentiating Chinese and Japanese furniture.
The bottom pedestal Chinese triangles are sure giveaways.
I bought a gorgeous Chinese cherry/rose wood desk with glass panel top,
aesthetic and functional, but sold when my bachelor crash pad went condo.
Long story short, went back later to the seller looking for its replace...no dice,
and he recalled moi and my baby grand but nada. And he was searching for
a piano too---for inexplicable the market had gone dry. No desks around.
None whatsoever. Nada, zip, zero. His capitalist pig oink is that the commies
back in Bejing were farming cheap horseshit elaborate crap out, and he took
me around for a showing. Truly gone Hollywood.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The_Brooklyn_Daily_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_.jpg

("I was a major in the last war," growls the Mayor. "Who's he tryin' to kid! Hey, where's my uniform?")

Parks Commissioner Robert Moses today came to the defense of two Sobol Brothers filling stations on the Grand Central Parkway which yesterday experienced a concerted series of "badgering tactics" by independent gasoline dealers for not observing a voluntary Sunday shutdown. A caravan of fifty automobiles loaded with irate members of the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association, champions of Sunday closing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County, converged on Stations 33 and 34 of the Sobol chain on the parkway between Northern Boulevard and the municipal airport, demanding the minimum of fuel -- one gallon per car -- with the maximum of free service. IN every case, a $20 bill was presented in payment for the gasoline purchase, requiring the attendant to provide a large amount of change. When informed of the Association's action, Commissioner Moses revealed today that he had asked Sobol Brothers, Inc., a subsidiary of the Socony Vacuum Oil Company, to keep "some of their Parkway stations" open on Sunday as "a service to the public." The commissioner added that those stations are operating in keeping with the War Department's edict which limits operation of gasoline pumps to 72 hours per week, explaining that a "stagger system" is in force at those stations which are operating on Sundays.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(1).jpg

("Huh," huhs Joe. ""At dame inna glasses. Ain'nat somebody we know?" "Nah," nahs Sally. "''at ain' who ya t'inkin' of. She's fatteh'nat.")

The War Production Board is anxious to obtain for government use 250 tons of scrap iron which can be recovered thru demolition of the idle spur of the Broadway-Jamaica elevated line. Frank S. Williams, industrial specialist of the WPB visited Brooklyn yesterday after learning of the defunct spur by reading the Eagle, and stated that he was "astonished" by the amount of material the government could recover from the spur for war purposes. That spur was at one time a link between the rapid-transit system and the Long Island Railroad for trains bound for the Rockaways, but has not been used in years. It came under city ownership as part of transit unification in 1940. Mr. Williams stated that he will seek a meeting with Mayor LaGuardia in hopes of letting out contracts for the spur's demolition, and he noted that a similar situation exists in Manhattan with the defunct end of the 2nd Avenue L from 59th Street to Brooklyn Bridge slated for demolition if the appropriate City Council legislation can be passed.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_.jpg

(Well that was quick.)

The Eagle Editorialist has sharp words for the coalition of upstate Republicans and Tammany Democrats who are "selfishly opposing" the current reapportionment bill to the detriment of Brooklyn because the present setup "gives them more representation than they are entitled to," and gives the average upstater a vote "worth four to seven times as much as that of a resident of one of our huge assembly districts." "Of course we Brooklynites have representation," he concedes, "but it may well be said that we have taxation without fair representation."

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(2).jpg

("It's this ersatz wood that's still giving me problems.")

A report by the State Division of Parole finds that most crimes committed by women are "crimes of passion, not crimes of profit." The report, the first of its kind to study women and crime, concludes that of women granted parole from prison, only 15 percent had been convicted of such crimes as burglary or robbery. The majority of women in prison are there for assault, manslaughter, or murder -- crimes categorized by the report as "emotional" in nature. Grand larceny is the only crime listed in the report for which men and women are convicted in equal measure.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(3).jpg

(Wait, Reiser got married too? Is this a training camp or "Harold Teen?")

The Bushwicks shut out the Lancaster Red Roses with a single hit in the season opener at Dexter Park, on the strength of fine pitching by the quartet of Bill Sahlin, Wally Singer, Bots Nekola, and Bob Miller, who showed mid-season form in combining for the win. Nekola gave up the only Lancaster hit, a weak single in the eighth.

Brownsville comedian "Zero" Mostel has been signed for a series of appearances on the Blue Network's "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street," heard Wednesdays at 10 over WJZ. He'll be featured with another local boy, "Professor" Henry "Hot Lips" Levine, a graduate of Boys' High, who conducts the orchestra on the hot-jazz broadcast. The announcer, "Dr." Milton J. Cross, is a former Brooklyn resident.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(4).jpg

(I didn't know Burma had a line of ready-to-wear dresses.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(5).jpg

(Stop complaining so much. At least it's not an accordion.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(6).jpg

(Yeah, and that chauffeur bears keeping an eye on too.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(7).jpg

(Well now. It seems that Gus Arriola has gone, with no notice whatever, into the Army, putting the daily "Gordo" strip on hiatus for the duration. And so looooook what's filling its slot. Odds that the odd-headed fellow fetches a can opener now 1-1.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(8).jpg

("Pay for this? Sure, will you take a check?")
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
And in the Daily News...

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_.jpg
Well, at least she didn't leave the baby in a Gladstone bag of fine pigskin, suitable as a birthday gift for, say, a police chief.

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(1).jpg

Just be careful to hold your face away from the little compartment after you turn the knob.

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(2).jpg

C'mon kid, you've done this stunt a hundred times. Don't you listen to your own radio show?

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(3).jpg

"Poor little thing, colds are twice as bad when you have two heads."

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(4).jpg

"You know what would do wonders? A nice paraffin facial."

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(5).jpg

The elephant in the room just trumpeted.

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(6).jpg

Wilmer! Why aren't you in the Army?

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(7).jpg

"And it's a great way to relax after a long day down at the docks!"

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(8).jpg

In trolling, as with any other skill, to maintain a level of exellence, one must practice constantly.

Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(9).jpg

The line between "goofy" and "demented" is exceedingly fine.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
...

Parks Commissioner Robert Moses today came to the defense of two Sobol Brothers filling stations on the Grand Central Parkway which yesterday experienced a concerted series of "badgering tactics" by independent gasoline dealers for not observing a voluntary Sunday shutdown. A caravan of fifty automobiles loaded with irate members of the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association, champions of Sunday closing in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County, converged on Stations 33 and 34 of the Sobol chain on the parkway between Northern Boulevard and the municipal airport, demanding the minimum of fuel -- one gallon per car -- with the maximum of free service. IN every case, a $20 bill was presented in payment for the gasoline purchase, requiring the attendant to provide a large amount of change. When informed of the Association's action, Commissioner Moses revealed today that he had asked Sobol Brothers, Inc., a subsidiary of the Socony Vacuum Oil Company, to keep "some of their Parkway stations" open on Sunday as "a service to the public." The commissioner added that those stations are operating in keeping with the War Department's edict which limits operation of gasoline pumps to 72 hours per week, explaining that a "stagger system" is in force at those stations which are operating on Sundays.
...

Very few things are a simple story or are as they appear on the surface/at first blush.


...

A report by the State Division of Parole finds that most crimes committed by women are "crimes of passion, not crimes of profit." The report, the first of its kind to study women and crime, concludes that of women granted parole from prison, only 15 percent had been convicted of such crimes as burglary or robbery. The majority of women in prison are there for assault, manslaughter, or murder -- crimes categorized by the report as "emotional" in nature. Grand larceny is the only crime listed in the report for which men and women are convicted in equal measure.
...

A Rubenesque blonde, once seen near a bank in Asbury Park, chuckles to herself.

In the context of the article, you wonder why grand larceny has equal convictions for men and women.


...
Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(3).jpg



(Wait, Reiser got married too? Is this a training camp or "Harold Teen?")
...

Never thought of this till now, but one assumes most jockeys were exempt from service owing to their height.


...
Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(6).jpg



(Yeah, and that chauffeur bears keeping an eye on too.)
...

By this time, Hollywood had already put out several movie versions of "the chauffeur and the bored rich girl" story.

Heck, Cornel Rich had written a popular book in 1927, "Children of the Ritz," with that as the plot (comments here: #8,674 ). It was turned into a movie in 1929 with the stunning Dorothy MacKaill as the bored rich girl.


...
Brooklyn_Eagle_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(8).jpg


("Pay for this? Sure, will you take a check?")

If he didn't want conversation, why'd he take the gag off him?

When we left the island, the shack was on fire and the wire to the antenna was cut; It's pretty hard to believe they got that fixed and still had time to broadcast out that last-minute message.


Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_.jpg
And in the Daily News...

Well, at least she didn't leave the baby in a Gladstone bag of fine pigskin, suitable as a birthday gift for, say, a police chief.
...

No story ends well that starts with, "The young mother sat at the bar with the infant girl on her lap."

How did they trace the abandoned Macy's baby to her grandmother - baby footprint?


Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(1).jpg
...


Just be careful to hold your face away from the little compartment after you turn the knob.
...

Always fun to see an H&H ad as it's one of the places from the era that I was able to experience when I got to NYC in the '80s.


Daily_News_Mon__Apr_6__1942_(7).jpg
...


"And it's a great way to relax after a long day down at the docks!"
...

So are "The Neighbors" still hanging out in that odd poor-man's Page Four / classified page?
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
I'm guessing a footprint -- that is, after all, how Tracy did it. We often get comics-imitating-news, but I think this is the first time we've had a news-imitates-comics situation.

"The Neighbors" has yet to find a permanent home. It floats around the back half of the paper, usually either on the "women's page" or somewhere in the entertainment section. It's annoying, especially when they're still willing to give over a third of Page Four to that dumb politics column or Lowell LIMPus. BAD MOVE, NEWS.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
I don't know why, but I've always been fascinated by the Automat. First time I ever saw one was in "That Touch of Mink", and I've wanted to try one ever since, but their time had long since passed.

I was lucky that the last Automat in NYC was only a few blocks from where I lived when I got to the city in the '80s. It was a bit run down, but not horribly. Like you, the movies had been my introduction to the Automat, so actually being in one felt incredible.

I'm guessing a footprint -- that is, after all, how Tracy did it. We often get comics-imitating-news, but I think this is the first time we've had a news-imitates-comics situation.

"The Neighbors" has yet to find a permanent home. It floats around the back half of the paper, usually either on the "women's page" or somewhere in the entertainment section. It's annoying, especially when they're still willing to give over a third of Page Four to that dumb politics column or Lowell LIMPus. BAD MOVE, NEWS.

I, too, hate when they waist good Page Four real estate to serious politics. I often skip that part on principle. First rule, know who you are.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
A film documentary about the history of Horn & Hardart may be coming soon to a fine independent theatre near you.


We're showing it here next week. I pre-screened it the other day and it made me cry.

That's great. Can't wait till it hits some cable/streaming service I have.

What stood out for you Lizzie?
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The thing that got me was the realization that we no longer live in the kind of society where a place like this could exist -- not just for commercial reasons, but sociologically as well. Everything has become so stratiated and nichey that the concept of a restaurant where a bum and a Rockefeller might sit amiably at the same table would be laughed out of the room before it could ever get started. The Automat concept didn't die because it wasn't a good concept, it died because it had the great misfortune of outliving the world, and the mindset, that birthed it, and the film, very poignantly, makes that point.

Also, Mel Brooks ought to be a singer-songwriter. I want to do that number myself someday.
 
Messages
17,196
Location
New York City
The thing that got me was the realization that we no longer live in the kind of society where a place like this could exist -- not just for commercial reasons, but sociologically as well. Everything has become so stratiated and nichey that the concept of a restaurant where a bum and a Rockefeller might sit amiably at the same table would be laughed out of the room before it could ever get started. The Automat concept didn't die because it wasn't a good concept, it died because it had the great misfortune of outliving the world, and the mindset, that birthed it, and the film, very poignantly, makes that point.

Also, Mel Brooks ought to be a singer-songwriter. I want to do that number myself someday.

I have to think about that. I understand what you are saying and can point to examples that support that view, but at least in NYC, you will still see, every day, incredible mixing of great wealth and homelessness in pizzerias, coffee shops, diners, etc.

My apartment building is a few blocks from some very expensive NYC real estate, but it is also one block from a homeless shelter and other community outreach services (which is why my building is affordable). Hence, and maybe as noted, it's really the exception, as you can be sitting in a diner with a woman at a table on one side of you who has a $15,000 handbag and a guy, literally, with what appears to be all his possession in the world in two tattered shopping bags at the table on the other side.

To emphasize, I don't believe that my examples disprove what you are saying - I get it - I just want to think about it some more.
 
Last edited:

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
... in NYC, you will still see, every day, incredible mixing of great wealth and homelessness in pizzerias, coffee shops, diners, etc.

My apartment building...is also one block from a homeless shelter and other community outreach services...you can be sitting in a diner with a woman at a table on one side of you who has a $15,000 handbag and a guy, literally, with what appears to be all his possession in the world in two tattered shopping bags at the table....
The thing that got me was the realization that we no longer live in the kind of society where a place like this could exist -- not just for commercial reasons, but sociologically as well. Everything has become so stratiated and nichey that the concept of a restaurant where a bum and a Rockefeller might sit amiably at the same table would be laughed out of the room before it could ever get started. The Automat concept didn't die because it wasn't a good concept, it died because it had the great misfortune....


A centralized kitchen, delivery to set locations, managerial, stuffers but no wait staff,
classic biz-school case study of solid concept put to work. Coin flipped--Automat
didn't work or flourish everywhere. Busted flush in Boston, never caught on Chicago,
other towns indifferent. All hard fact minus sociological socialism of 'today' being
different, more striated, unfair. Burnished nostalgic film template polished till shiny
doesn't change the non glamorous hard facts of life.
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
^ Ditto. Trailer, like concept, intrigues. I never ate much less patronized as regular
an Automat but ever since a certain Doris Day film-recall Gig Young and Jayne Meadows
also starred-wished to visit one. :)
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,728
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_.jpg

("20 glasses 'a beeah," marvels Joe. "Wonneh what kin'?" "Prob'ly'at impawted stuff," sniffs Sally. "Nobody eveh heiled Hitleh wit' a snoot fulla Rheingold.")

Prison doors slammed for life today on Vito "Socko" Gurino, thirty-seven-year-old triggerman for the Brooklyn Murder-for-Money gang. Although Gurino was willing to plead guilty in exchange for escaping the electric chair, he refused to tell everything he knew about his underworld pals. Gurino was brought to Brooklyn from Mineola, where earlier today he received a sentence of 20 years to life for the murder of John "The Polack" Bagdonowitz, and Judge Jonah J. Goldstein promptly heaped upon him a second term of 40 years-to-life for the murder of Antonio Siciliano and a third sentence of 30 to life for the slaying of Cesare Lattaro. The Judge further ruled that the sentences are to be served consecutively, and will recommend no possibility of parole, ensuring that Gurino never walks the streets again. Siciliano and Lattaro were leaders in the Plasterers' Union who resisted underworld control of their organization. They were murdered by Harry "Happy" Maione and Frank "The Dasher" Abbadando, recently electrocuted, at their apartment on Bergen Street, on February 6, 1939, as Gurino waited outside as a lookout. Maione gained entry to the apartment by posing as a woman, in clothes provided by Mrs. Gurino.

A Bronx man walked into the Webster Avenue police station this morning and turned himself in for the ax murder of his wife. Hyman Glick of 2710 Morris Avenue led police to his apartment, where 50-year-old Mrs. Bella Glick lay brutally battered, a blood-smeared ax at her side. She died a few minutes later at Fordham Hospital. Police say the Glicks have three grown children, one of whom works for the Government in Washington, and another who is employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

A full-blooded Creek Indian joined the Navy today, his feathered headdress attracting much attention as he stood before the desk in the Brooklyn recruiting office. Straight Arrow, also known as Benedict Britt Romado, is seventeen years old, and enlisted with the permission of his mother, Blue Moon, who stood proudly by as the enlistment papers were presented, and his younger sister Laughing Eyes. The family moved to Brooklyn from Texas, where Straight Arrow was born on a Creek reservation, some time ago. Straight Arrow graduated from St. James Academy in January. "No more waiting for me," he declared as he proceeded immediately to his physical examination.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(1).jpg

("The Mayor's office boy." All right you two, take it outside.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(2).jpg

(Canada Lee in "Native Son" at the Flatbush. That's a must.)

The Eagle Editorialist approves a recent War Department edict specifying that "The Star Spangled Banner" should hereafter be performed in the key of A-Flat. "This will bring the music down," he observes, "within shooting distance of those of us who cannot hope to imitate Lucy Monroe."

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(3).jpg

(War Is Hell.)

A Queens police patrolman once cited for bravery was found yesterday wandering around Jersey City suffering from amnesia. 34-year-old James Hill, assigned to the 104th Precinct in Glendale was picked up by Jersey City police near Roosevelt Stadium, and was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for observation. Patrolman Hill was cited for his courage in 1934 in connection with the capture of a holdup man.

Uniforms worn by women in seven branches of the British wartime service will be displayed this week in the Fulton Street window at Abraham & Straus. On display will be the uniforms of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, the Women's Land Army, the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the Women's Royal Navy Service, the Women's Voluntary Service, the National Fire Service, and the Air Raid Precautions Wardens. Each uniform is complete in every detail, from hat to shoes.

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(4).jpg

("Whenney comin' heah?" demands Sally. "Wheahzat schedule? Didja take it offenna wall? Whenza Pittsboigs comin'?" "Pittsboig?" replies Joe. "Izzey still inna league?" "What?" "Nut'n.")

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(5).jpg

("Can't we do something about this?" demands Jerry Siegel to his lawyer. "Whatta I pay you for anyway??")

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(6).jpg

(If you're living in a building where the landlord shows up with spats and a cane, don't be surprised if he starts tap-dancing.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(8).jpg

(Only Scarlett, with her 13 inch waist, could get into this predicament.)

Brooklyn_Eagle_Tue__Apr_7__1942_(9).jpg

("BUT I AM EXHAUSTED!" What is it with this strip and whiney villians? Hey, what ever happened to the Skull?)
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,140
Messages
3,074,935
Members
54,121
Latest member
Yoshi_87
Top