The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Orson Welles will be a bundle of laughs, I'm sure.

Nope, not buying it for a second.

You wouldn't use up the air so quick if you didn't gibber to yourself all the time.

Nobody can resist Andy's smooth sales pitch.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

I can smell the back seat of that car from here.

Look, it's a LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMAN.

Kayo's never going to get a seat on the Board of Directors, he's too honest.

High speed boat chase! Where's Hu Shee when you need her!

"Digest Magazine: The Journal of Gastrointestinal Health."

 

[LizzieMaine]

And a Voice of the People Bonus:

Oh come now, there's other ways to make ends meet.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

(1942 marks the point of flood tide in the Dodgers' impact on American popular culture, and a Broadway show is just a minor example of it. And "Gay Tahitian?" "Queer?" "Coy, and sheepish, and lusty?" Just what are you getting at, Mr. Cohn?)
...

"Moontide," despite being set in California in 1942, feels like it has no real time or place to it. That now makes sense as it seems Hollywood was trying to find a way to make movie with a French actor in the staring role. Everything Cohn says about it is true - the cast is impressive (Rains and Mitchell are outstanding in it) - but Ida Lupino is the one that gives the movie its otherworldly glow.

...

(C'mon, Parrott, you can't set us up with this Werber/Magerkurth story and not explain WHY Werber was arguing a call that went in his own favor. Did the Meathead step on Billy's foot? Did Werber stiff the Maje over a lunch check? WHAT HAPPENED??? And as for the question of night ball, it's astonishing to me that there hasn't already been an order issued to abolish it in the blackout zone at least until the questions raised have been settled.)
...

What Dean says about other teams wanting to take the Dodgers down a notch is probably true as it is of every team that wins the pennant the year before - it's just part of wining. Over his career, the "unfairness" Higbe is experience now will probably even out, but it doesn't feel good when you're going through it.

...

(I....can't. I just can't.)
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Sure, Mr. Rogers, I can work up a score for today's strip.

And in the Daily News...

Orson Welles will be a bundle of laughs, I'm sure.
...

I had a similar thought, Lizzie. If you want to think for yourself in a marriage, marrying Orson Welles is probably not the way to go.

...

Nope, not buying it for a second.
...

Not a chance. The body showing up in the grease pit at 57th and 11th makes no sense in a simple robbery. Maybe Mr. Buscetto was tied into Nick's type of world completely unbeknownst to his nineteen-year-old bride.

...

High speed boat chase! Where's Hu Shee when you need her!
...

No kidding, one of the best things Caniff did with her character was have her toss out that line about having been a stunt driver in Hollywood. It was crazy perfect for her to have been that.

...

"Digest Magazine: The Journal of Gastrointestinal Health."

Prior to the internet, you really did get excited when a magazine you were waiting to read arrived in the mail.

I'll bet you Dr. Brady has taken out some ads in that magazine.

And a Voice of the People Bonus:

Oh come now, there's other ways to make ends meet.

Look, mister, if you pay for 'em, we'll install 'em, but why do you want twenty-five phone lines in a candy store?

 

[LizzieMaine]

("You'll shoot ya eye out, kid!" "I will not! I shot out that other kid's eye!" )

Broadway's lights winked out last night for the first time, as midtown Manhattan from 11th Street to 123rd Street went thru a test blackout. More than a million people jammed Times Square to witness the unusual spectacle, described by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine as "the greatest show on earth." A 32-year-old woman, identified as Mary Wheeler, who gave her address as a Manhattan hotel, was attacked and beaten during the blackout, and staggered into a Lexington Avenue restaurant with her face bruised and clothing torn. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital for examination and found to be suffering from a possible skull fracture, contusions, and lacerations.

Nassau County also underwent a test blackout, with the lights extinguished for a total of 48 minutes, the latter drill undertaken with no prior notice whatever. When the air raid sirens in the county's 63 incorporated towns and villages sounded at 8:57 pm, 23,000 air raid wardens, auxiliary and regular police, and fire forces, were caught entirely by surprise, but sprang into immediate action. Within three minutes after the sirens first wailed, 420,000 persons were left with only a bright yellow moon for illumination.

Soviet Premier and Defense Commissar Joseph Stalin, in his annual May Day proclamation, declared that Red Army forces will prevail over Germany in 1942. In a broadcast to the Soviet people, the Premier stated that Russia has the means to "achieve this noble aim" in fighting for liberation and justice, and further added that the Soviet Union "does not to seek to occupy other countries or conquer other people." Stalin further added, however, that one ingredient is still lacking for complete victory, and that is "complete knowledge of how to use against the enemy the first-class war machine" now under Red Army control, and urged Soviet officers troops to study and master that equipment "to perfection." The Premier also commended the Soviet working people for giving up their traditional May Day holiday in order to continue the production of armaments and equipment that will hasten the victory.

A ban by the War Production Board on all unnecessary lighting in areas to be designated as "power shortage zones" was issued today, and prohibits all electric advertising signs, illuminated show windows, and night athletic contests, as well as imposing strict limitations on internal illumination in stores and other public buildings. The WPB stressed that no "power shortage zones" have yet been designated, but it is anticipated that such zones will be declared iby the summer and fall n sections of the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwestern states. It was added that the districts of Buffalo, New York and St. Louis, Missouri will likely also be so designated.

(No late-season night ball for the Cardinals and Browns. Donald L. Barnes can't catch a break.)

(Helen has just about had it with all the stupid questions. DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON???)

("Joe E. Lewis in drag." I'd pay a cover charge to see that. Why no picture???)

Reader Chas. Wells Brown of Riverhead writes in to denounce gasoline rationing as unnecessary and destructive of civilian morale. "Statistics have demonstrated," he asserts, "that there is sufficient gas in the country for thousands of years.")

(Give our regards to Senator Truman.)

("Where's the scissors?" inquires Sally, as she gazes at the paper on the table before her. "I give'm t'scrap drive," mumbles Joe, contemplating his brisket. "'Get Some Cash For Your Trash!'")

(You didn't go thru the pre-flight check?)

(I've always believed all robots are sociopaths, and this just proves it.)

("It's written in pencil on tablet paper!" "Well, there's a war on. Shortages, you know!")

(The conga? That's so 1940. Get hep to the jive!)

(If there's one authority figure people don't fool around with, it's an Agricultural Agent.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

That's William Guggenheim. Not Guy Kibbee. William Guggenheim. And "pressed four suits too many?" You've been waiting years to use that line, haven't you?

Tomorrow: HUNDREDS HELD IN PICKPOCKET SWEEP.

What a great opportunity for a FACE EATING DOG.

The best place to hide is always right in plain sight.

X factorial divided by sunburst double factorial equals....

"And don't you DARE 'run out of gas'."

"Nude Descending A Staircase."

All right, Mr. Gould, I'm keeping my eye on that magazine. What now?

Emmy is usually more perceptive when the Stuck Up Old Coot has money.

"I got jobs for all yez. Who here knows how to run numbers?"

 

[Fading Fast]

...

Reader Chas. Wells Brown of Riverhead writes in to denounce gasoline rationing as unnecessary and destructive of civilian morale. "Statistics have demonstrated," he asserts, "that there is sufficient gas in the country for thousands of years.")
...

Actually, it's not statistics but scientific study and, actually, it's not gas but oil and therein lies the problem: there is, then and now, enough oil underground in the US to last for centuries, but the challenge is bringing the oil up (fracking hadn't been invented yet), refining it into gasoline and transporting it where needed. There was not enough capacity in that system in WWII to provide for both unfettered civilian use and the military's needs.

...

("Where's the scissors?" inquires Sally, as she gazes at the paper on the table before her. "I give'm t'scrap drive," mumbles Joe, contemplating his brisket. "'Get Some Cash For Your Trash!'")
...

If she creates a series of deep folds around all the edges, she could probably tear it out without hurting the picture.

And in the Daily News...

That's William Guggenheim. Not Guy Kibbee. William Guggenheim. And "pressed four suits too many?" You've been waiting years to use that line, haven't you?
...

Good thing those young women weren't after Guggenheim's money or they'd be disappointed. No matter what happens, no one can take away the memories they have of the time they spent with him.

The "four suits" is a darn good line though. The Tommy Manville reference was a nice snarky sideswipe of him. Page Four is best when it's being true to itself.

...

What a great opportunity for a FACE EATING DOG.
...

[Abruptly] "Don't tell me; I don't want to hear it!"

"But Sir, she said..."

[Cutting in] "If I don't know, I can deny it later. Go back to your classroom and deal with whatever it is that I don't know happened. I'm going over class assignments for next year and I believe you said you wanted to teach eight grade. I think I might be able to arrange that...or not."

[Dejected] "I'll be leaving now, Sir."

...

X factorial divided by sunburst double factorial equals....
...

If memory serves, the "gardener" knows what they are after, so he can really milk this.

...

"And don't you DARE 'run out of gas'."
...

I get why she didn't want to go to him, but still, I don't think telling him he was your fourth choice to treat your Dad was a good move.

...

"I got jobs for all yez. Who here knows how to run numbers?"

Crossover opportunity, the new owner should be reporting to Nick.

"Don't worry about the kids' tabs, are the phone lines in yet?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Strange As It Seems" True Story: The AVG pilot who got Mrs. Luce out of the war zone was Frank Higgs -- Milton Caniff's old college buddy who was, both visually and personality-wise, the real-life inspiration for Dude Hennick. When Mrs. Luce saw him she instantly recognized him from the comic strip, and greeted him with "Dude!" Higgs recognized her as well, and returned her greeting with "Burma!" Bless Bess!)

(Oh, Hugh Casey gets the Distinguished Service Cross? I ASK YA! Oh, wait, different Hugh Casey.)

The charge that a prominent United States Senator frequented the house at 329 Pacific Street alleged to be frequented by Nazi spies will be investigated by the Senate itself, predicted Administration whip Sen. Lester Hill (D-Alabama) following publication of the claim in a Manhattan newspaper. The newspaper stated that the claim appeared in an affadavit filed by 55-year-old Gustav Beekman, convicted recently on a morals charge for operating the house, and Kings County Judge Samuel J. Leibowitz has urged Beekman to divulge the entire story of what went on at the house to the grand jury, or face a 20-year prison sentence on the morals conviction. Judge Leibowitz alleged that "soldiers, sailors, and marines" were "wined and dined" at the house.

A Sunset Park woman is being held on $10,000 bail on a charge that she beat her four-year-old nephew with a stick while his hands were tied with a pajama string and his leg immobilized with a cast. Miss Helen Krushinski of 302 59th Street is charged with second-degree assault in connection with the incident, which is stated to have occured at her home on April 4th. Miss Krushinski entered a plea of not guilty before Judge Samuel J. Leibowitz, and no date was set for her trail.

(Doc says it's spinach, and he says the hell with it!)

"Crow" writes in to Helen Worth wanting to know where to go to purchase a crow. "I have tried all the department stores, but they do not handle them." Helen rolls her eyes and exclaims "something new for the column!"

(And you can't tell me Namm's doesn't have any crows.)

Reader Cosimo de Grigorio writes in to declare that the time has come to abolish alimony laws. "Childless able-bodied women mock justice," he fumes, "by forcing the husband to pay blood money! Waspish women tug at the judicial gown not for the purpose of support but simply to incarcerate the husband for contempt of court!"

("Oh, and watch your head on those steam pipes -- it'll scald your hair right off!")

A 31 year old Queens Village man out on bail on a charge of throwing a rock at of a Hollis woman now faces two charges of disorderly conduct, for threatening her with a knife and then, when in court to answer that charge, for poking her in the stomach. George Schneider 216-13 90th Avenue is now being held on $1000 additional bail for the new charges following the incidents involving Miss Rhoda Gairns of 150-21 Hillside Avenue. Following the poking incident, Magistrate Charles E. Ramsgate ordered Schneider committed to Kings County Hospital for observation.

("NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" wails Joe. "A triple," smirks Sally. "Too bad fa Fitz, but noitz ta MacPhail!")

(Not only do Flatbush, Brownsville, and Williamsburg have a greater population than the entire state of Arizona, they also have more cowboys. Don't believe it? Turn loose a milk wagon and see what happens.)

(Next week: Sparky Watts stars in "Das Boot!")

("Me? I'm always careful. Well, OK, most of the time. All right, never. ")

("C'mon chillun! Yet's Dance!")

(C'mon, fella, your old man is some kind of noble big shot, and the best you can do is a Davega sport coat?)

("I'll tell you a secret, Irwin. I'm not any kind of a secret operative at all. I really *am* just a county agricultural agent. You were bound to find out eventually." "Does Kay know? Dan? Dan? Does Kay know?" "Shut up and drive, Irwin. Just shut up and drive.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Ahhhhh, Mrs. Gerken. So nice to see you again.

All right, Hollywood, make a movie of THIS.

C'mon, Pat, you're not here to have fun.

C'mon, Gould, you can be gorier than this.

Yeah, an old fat man suffering with hypoxia and a broken wrist. Look at him go!

"Oh, I'll be back. IT'S AN OPPORTUNITY!"

And speaking of opportunities...

Kids Today.

Good business plan.

Most romantic couple in the funnies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And a News sports page bonus...

Leo O'Melia presents "This Week In Baseball!"

 

[Fading Fast]

("Strange As It Seems" True Story: The AVG pilot who got Mrs. Luce out of the war zone was Frank Higgs -- Milton Caniff's old college buddy who was, both visually and personality-wise, the real-life inspiration for Dude Hennick. When Mrs. Luce saw him she instantly recognized him from the comic strip, and greeted him with "Dude!" Higgs recognized her as well, and returned her greeting with "Burma!" Bless Bess!)

(Oh, Hugh Casey gets the Distinguished Service Cross? I ASK YA! Oh, wait, different Hugh Casey.)
...

That she recognized Dude from the comicstrip is awesome as, amongst other things, it means she reads it.

Not knowing of the Wong tribe, I was expecting something else from the "The Bong of Wong Declares War on Japs" headline.

...

"Crow" writes in to Helen Worth wanting to know where to go to purchase a crow. "I have tried all the department stores, but they do not handle them." Helen rolls her eyes and exclaims "something new for the column!"

(And you can't tell me Namm's doesn't have any crows.)
...

She should keep checking at Davega, as at some point, it will get a shipment of last year's crows in at a great price.

...

Reader Cosimo de Grigorio writes in to declare that the time has come to abolish alimony laws. "Childless able-bodied women mock justice," he fumes, "by forcing the husband to pay blood money! Waspish women tug at the judicial gown not for the purpose of support but simply to incarcerate the husband for contempt of court!"
...

Wild guess here, but I'm thinking Mr. de Gregorio is divorced.

...

("NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" wails Joe. "A triple," smirks Sally. "Too bad fa Fitz, but noitz ta MacPhail!")
...

I don't want to see Fitz retire either, but hopefully, he really will stay with the team as a coach. Apparently, only Tom Brady gets to play forever.

...

(Next week: Sparky Watts stars in "Das Boot!")
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What's Slap Happy doing on a German sub? We should alert Trenchfriend that a sub story might be starting.

...

("C'mon chillun! Yet's Dance!")
...

In today's unpublished panel five, it's clearly later in the day and Jo and George are both calmly smoking cigarettes.

...

Good business plan.
...

Nick would never cheat the kids like this: he was, as odd as it sounds, an honest mobster.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Who's Brooklyn think it is, anyway? Tommy Manville?)

Two executives of the Sperry Gyroscope Company were among 17 persons killed in the crash of an airliner near Salt Lake City Friday night. Aeronautical Sales Manager Frederic Blin Vose and General Sales Manager M. Lynn Paterson had both played key roles in the development of Sperry equipment for the Armed Forces. In a statement last night. Vice President of Sales Robert B. Lea said "the loss of Mr. Paterson and Mr. Vose both to the company and the nation at this time is irreparable. They gave their lives in the line of duty, which they had pursued without rest in these critical times. Though the company cannot replace them, we consider that we must all redouble our efforts to carry on with our program, as well as assume their responsibilities."

Announcement by the Rome radio that more Italian troops will be sent to the Russian front convinced Allied diplomats last night that a serious shortage of Axis manpower was one of the key topics discussed at the Salzburg meeting of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The Rome radio, upon Mussolini's return from Salzburg, also announced that the Premier summoned his council of ministers into session, presumably to take action on matters discussed during his two-day conference with the Nazi Fuehrer. Meanwhile the mystery of Japan's exclusion from the Salzburg conference deepened with the announcement by the Tokio radio that the Japanese ambassador to Berlin will be traveling to Rome for a meeting with Mussolini. A statement by Fascist editor Virgino Gayda in the Journale d'Italia denied claims that Italy will seek a separate peace with the Allies, citing the Salzburg conference as evidence that "neither Italy nor Germany is seeking neither a separate peace nor an immediate peace."

A twelve-year-old Brooklyn Heights boy is appealing for help in finding his lost German Shepherd dog, named Ritz. Reginald A. Paulsen Jr. and his family moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan last year, and Ritz was allowed to romp in the back yard until someone left the gate open and he ran away. Ritz is large, black, and gray, and wears a license tag numbered M-30922-R, dated May 1, 1941. "If you call 'Ritz, Ritz," he will come to you," says Reginald, "so please help me to find him. Please say 'Ritz, Ritz' to every dog you think looks like him. We cannot be happy until he comes home."

There will be no free tickets to the Navy Relief Society benefit game between the Dodgers and Giants at Ebbets Field next Friday, with Mayor LaGuardia, Borough President John Cashmore, the press corps, and even the umpires working the game required to purchase tickets at full price for admission. Absolutely no passes will be honored for anyone. Dodger President Larry MacPhail has announced that all proceeds for the game will be donated to the Naval Relief Society, and it is expected that the game, and the accompanying festivities, will lead to a new attendance record for the Brooklyn ballpark. The Brooklyn Citizens Committee, made up of leading borough businessmen, is coordinating advance ticket sales for the game, with the full cooperation of all civic, fraternal, and veterans' organizations.

(To say nothing of FIRST RUN MOVIES.)

("T'em Pittsboigs," smirks Sally. "A very improved club." "Ahhhhh," groans Joe, "It's 'at Davis. How we gonna win we pitch a ol' man oughta be settin' onna stoop whittlin' 'steada tryin' t'pitch. Cut Davis, whydonn'ay, 'steada Fitz!" "Petey had two hits," declares Sally with immense satisfaction." "'Awmos' as many as he had awl las' yeeah!" mumbles Joe. "What?" "Nut'n.")

Dodger Arky Vaughan was knocked unconscious before yesterday's game at Forbes Field when he was hit in the solar plexus during batting practice by a throw from catcher Mickey Owen. Vaughan recovered in time to play in the contest, and went one for five.

The Cleveland Indians won their thirteenth straight game yesterday, for the longest winning streak in American League history, drubbing the Washington Senators 12 to 3 at Griffith Stadium. Jim Bagby earned his fifth consecutive win of the season for the Tribe, scattering eight hits, while Buck Newsom, who was knocked out of the box in the third inning, took the loss.

The worst Brooklyn club in history? You have to go back to 1875 to find it, when the Atlantics, playing at the old Capitoline Grounds, floundered at the bottom of the old National Association. Brooklyn lost 42 games that season, which doesn't sound so bad until you realize they only played 44 before dropping out of the league. The league itself folded at the close of the season, and when the National League formed the following year, Brooklyn went unrepresented, not joining the new circuit until 1890.

(Congress has always had its share of axe-grinders, fanatic screwballs, and outright loons, but politics aside, I do think it's high time that comedy beards and funny hats made a comeback.)

Old Timer Joseph S. Halstead remembers 1885, when Flatbush Avenue was, not the bustling commercial thoroughfare of today, but a quiet residential street of stately, dignified homes, picket fences, large shade trees, and wooden bridges for pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles.

Chicksaw Indian princess Mobley Lushanya will sing the lead role in "Aida," next Saturday evening at the Center Theatre, in a production by the San Carlo Opera Company under the direction of Fortune Gallo. Miss Lushanya, whose name means "Singing Bird," is the only member of her race to have achieved stardom on the opera and concert stages of three continents.

Arthur Pollock has little good to say about "The Life of Reilly," a play dealing with "several dumb ballplayers supposed to be Brooklyn Dodgers." Mr. Pollock declares "there is nothing wrong with it that could not have been remedied by the author living five years longer and learning fast."

Mickey Rooney has grown three inches, say publicists at MGM. The diminutive star of the Hardy Family series was listed in his studio biography at 4 feet 11 inches three years ago, but now measures out at 5 feet 2 inches.

("I'd be a millionaire now if I had a little capital." Ain't that always the way.)

(Out in San Francisco, ten-year-old Barbara Eden reads today's strip and says "Hmph. How stupid.")

("I never thought of you as the gardening type. You went in more for -- ah -- another sort of digging." And it's good to see that Dan is spending time with Kay and Babs for a change, and... BUTT EATING DOG! BUTT EATING DOG! BUTT EATING DOG!")

(MUNGO? George is getting a call from VAN LINGLE MUNGO? Well now, this is gonna be --- oh wait, never mind. Sigh.)

(Well lah de dah. I've had the same portable typewriter for forty years. And it was fifty years old when I got it. So there.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Never mind stripteasing with neckties, what's the story with the ping pong balls?

"A girlish pirate with a beard." Well, that's a bit specific, isn't it?

You'll never get far as a kidnapper if you dwell on your reviews.

"Well, they wouldn't give me a commission. Besides, I got a wholesale deal on the uniforms."

Um, you don't *have* a chin level.

Now wait a minute, when we played "Red Light" we played it in the street, and "It" would turn their back on the rest of the kids and yell "Green Light" and we'd move step by step until "It" yelled 1-2-3 RED LIGHT and we had to freeze in place. And this kept up until some kid got close enough to slap "It," and then that kid became "It" for the next round. There wasn't any hiding, and there wasn't any....HAHAHAHAHAH WALT GOT SMACKED ON HIS BIG FAT BEHIND!

"We are just big pigs." Well, speak for yourself, chubby.

Hint: it isn't the kid.

These people are all seriously messed up.

It's more of a living than he's earned in years.

 

[Fading Fast]

(Who's Brooklyn think it is, anyway? Tommy Manville?)
...

Reno would never survive the six-week stay.

...

("T'em Pittsboigs," smirks Sally. "A very improved club." "Ahhhhh," groans Joe, "It's 'at Davis. How we gonna win we pitch a ol' man oughta be settin' onna stoop whittlin' 'steada tryin' t'pitch. Cut Davis, whydonn'ay, 'steada Fitz!" "Petey had two hits," declares Sally with immense satisfaction." "'Awmos' as many as he had awl las' yeeah!" mumbles Joe. "What?" "Nut'n.")
...

Joe, Joe, Joe, part of having a successful marriage is not touching your spouse's third rail.

...

Mickey Rooney has grown three inches, say publicists at MGM. The diminutive star of the Hardy Family series was listed in his studio biography at 4 feet 11 inches three years ago, but now measures out at 5 feet 2 inches.
...

I'll take under.

...

("I never thought of you as the gardening type. You went in more for -- ah -- another sort of digging." And it's good to see that Dan is spending time with Kay and Babs for a change, and... BUTT EATING DOG! BUTT EATING DOG! BUTT EATING DOG!")
...

Silly me, I jumped ahead and thought your chant was going to be about a "Sparky Watts" strip.

"Harrington, don't worry, he never stays home for long. I told you before, it's smaller, stop worrying."

...

"Well, they wouldn't give me a commission. Besides, I got a wholesale deal on the uniforms."
...

"Chuck got in a lucky blow with the shovel handle..."

"Next time, I'll let him shoot you first, then I'll get in my 'lucky blow,' [sotto voce] *sshole."

And in the Daily News...
....

Hint: it isn't the kid.
...

This better not be a tease again. We want the Dragon Lady and we want her now!

Normandie should have locked Pat up when she had the chance.

...

These people are all seriously messed up.
...

Yes they are.

 

[PrivateEye]

I found the "Did Brooklyn Really Want to get Married?" column very interesting. Seems like neither side wanted to join together, but were forced to the aisle by outsiders?

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's pretty much it, and it's a chip Brooklyn carried on its shoulder for most of the 20th Century, especially by the time of the Era, where the whole "zany borough full of fanatical baseball fans and underworld characters" image became impressed in popular culture. The Eagle's editorial policy has always leaned to the idea that the incorporation into NYC was a mistake, and I'll be very surprised if this report will suggest any other conclusion.

There were rumbles of a secession movement as recently as 2010, so it's evident that in some quarters the "Mistake of 98" is still rued. "Welcome To Brooklyn, Fourth Largest City in America," as the sign used to say.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just my completely unscientific observations. The secession movement of the Era seemed driven by the working class population of Brooklyn looking to reassert an independent identity; whereas, the 2010 (and there about) movement had an elitist scent to it as Brooklyn had become cooler with the very progressive money class (Brooklyn had become more progressive than Manhattan) and their college-educated young wannabes. This new movement did not feel working-class driven but progressive-politics driven. It helps to know that NYC has only two types of politics with any power - left and far left. The Brooklyn secession felt like the far left wanting to distance itself from the regular left.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Or, "New Left" vs. "Old Left." 1930s-40s Brooklyn was the capital of the "Old Left," the labor-New Deal-Popular Front coalition left epitomized by the Fusion (to the right) and the American Labor Party (to the left) movements in city politics. But it fractured in the '60s with the rise of the identity-based left, and that fissure never really healed. A lot of the old working-class LaGuardia voters we meet in 1942 ended up driven rightward into the hard-hat movement of the early 70s as they moved thru middle age.

Brooklyn's old cohesive melting-pot/working class identity that we see expressed here in so many ways was shattered by many factors, starting with suburbanization after the war, and the loss, in rapid succession, of the Eagle, the Dodgers, and the Navy Yard. The gentrified Brooklyn of today doesn't seem to have a whole lot in common with the borough of Joe and Sally. By the time Leonora was grown up, it was already disappearing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Two houehs on line I stood," grouses Sally. "An' all Leonora done was squoim an' fuss inna strolleh. Two houehs I stood." "Ahhh," sips Joe thru a mouthful of coffee "Don'cha know t'ez a wawr on? Hey, t'is cawfee tastes awrful. Passa sugeh." "Ain' no sugeh," sighs Sally. "I wenta Bohack's, an' I wenta A&P, an' I wenta Dan'l Reeves, an' I wenta Roulston's, an' nobody had no sugeh. Ration books I got, but no sugeh." "I ASK YA!" blurts Joe. "Ehh," replies Sally. "Don'cha know t'ez a wawr on?")

Thousands of Brooklyn workers and Long Island-bound commuters, including many rushing to vital war production jobs, were delayed thru last night and into this morning by a subway tie-up on the east and west side IRT lines as a result of of the derailment of the last car on an empty ten-car lay-up train on the New Lots line at approximately 2:10 AM. After more than five hours of work in the crowded tunnel an emergency crew of more than 100 men from the Board of Transportation managed to right the upset car shortly before 7:45 AM, allowing Manhattan-bound West Side trains to roll past the Nevins Street station. It was nevertheless indicated, however, that normal service would be delayed for several hours past the morning rush. Although service on the Manhattan-bound 7th Avenue lines, involving Flatbush Avenue and New Lots Avenue trains, was still halted, Board of Transportation officials announced that Brooklyn-bound trains on the 7th Avenue and East Side Lexington Avenue lines, and the New York-bound Lexington Avenue line, resumed operations at 7:30, in time to handle the height of the morning rush. The derailed car was reported to have been resting at a 45-degree angle against the wall of the tunnel after jumping a switch just past the Atlantic Avenue station.

Charging that the Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, president of the International Catholic Truth Society and former East Coast representative of Father Charles E. Coughlin is guilty of "treacherous activities," former New York State Attorney General Carl Sherman last night urged citizens of Brooklyn to "act at once to repudiate him and stop his activities." Speaking to representatives of more than 400 Jewish organizations convened by the American Jewish Congress at the St. George Hotel, Mr. Sherman charged that the Brooklyn cleric is "behind the coalition movement recently formed comprising Irish, German, Italian, and American Fascists to bring about the election this fall of candidates who were isolationists before Pearl Harbor -- and still are." Mr. Sherman also alleged that the so-called "Paul Revere Sentinels," isolationist organization which has since changed its name to "Patriotic Order Of The Republic," is holding its monthly meetings in the Catholic Book Shop managed by the society of which Father Curran is head.

Royal Air Force planes resumed their spring offensive with a fierce bombardment of the German industrial center of Hamburg as well as targets in occupied France. The round-the-clock raids set dozens of fires in Hamburg's docks and shipbuilding yards, targets already severely battered by previous attacks.

("All right, bailiff. Bring in the next case. BAILIFF!!" "Uh, sorry ya honeh -- um, we was..." "THIRTY DAYS!")

Governor Herbert H. Lehman today authorized the immediate demolition of the Second Avenue L, stating that the scrap steel from the tracks, platform structures, support posts, and 250 obsolete cars, would be sufficient to build three 35,000 ton battleships. The Governor's order covers the elevated line from 2nd Avenue in Manhattan near Chatham Square and Division Street along E. 59th Street, across the Queensboro Bridge, terminating on the easterly side of Ely Avenue in Queens.

Fifty thousand Catholics marched down Bedford Avenue yesterday to Ebbets Field, scene of the annual rally of the Brooklyn Holy Name Societies. Setting out to the ballpark from Bergen Street, another fifty thousand spectators lined the route, shouting patriotic slogans and waving flags to cheer on the march. Speaker Denis M. Hurley told the audience massed in the ballpark that "the hour has struck when unity must be achieved!"

("And sit up straight!")

(And with that, the Sunset Park Ladies' Gilbert and Sullivan Society adjourned.)

(Parrott's blind item about the upcoming Saturday Evening Post story is the spark that lights a fuse that will burn bright across the National League. WATCH THIS SPACE! And I have my copy of Mr. Barber's Radio Edition Baseball Record Book, and I can tell you that it's ducky -- an abridged edition of the 1942 Sporting News Baseball Guide, with Red's picture on the front cover and an Old Gold ad on the back cover.)

(All right, let's see the cosmic rays fix THAT.)

(Look, I always thought the way to beat a robot is with a clever, targeted use of circular logic. But hey, this'll work.)

("And that's another thing! He didn't even spell 'subpoena' right!")

(Bandleaders never get a break in the comics.)

("But I'm not going to tell you, Irwin, because you're a thick-headed comedy relief buffoon. Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud?")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

BOR-RING

I dunno, you're a little pudgy for short. Have you considered catching?

"Look, don't ask questions about the uniform, OK? Hey, how about the Asp there? No, he's not serving in a Scottish regiment. The Army-Navy store just ran low on hats."

Hit him over the head. That seems to work with everybody else.

Meet the AWVS.

"And besides, Dr. Meagher's an idiot. You said so yourself."

"Decoy" is the least desirable job in the Japanese Army.

"Aw, don't take it so hard, kid. At least he ain't in the bottom of a lake chained to a slot machine. Well, not yet, anyways."

CANE HIM! CANE HIM! CANE HIM! See, this is why you'll never be as rich as Uncle Bim.

Matthew 5:44, kid. And pay attention in Sunday School.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Two houehs on line I stood," grouses Sally. "An' all Leonora done was squoim an' fuss inna strolleh. Two houehs I stood." "Ahhh," sips Joe thru a mouthful of coffee "Don'cha know t'ez a wawr on? Hey, t'is cawfee tastes awrful. Passa sugeh." "Ain' no sugeh," sighs Sally. "I wenta Bohack's, an' I wenta A&P, an' I wenta Dan'l Reeves, an' I wenta Roulston's, an' nobody had no sugeh. Ration books I got, but no sugeh." "I ASK YA!" blurts Joe. "Ehh," replies Sally. "Don'cha know t'ez a wawr on?")
...loud?")

"Brooklyn is no longer the City of Churches: it is a City of Crap Shooters."

...

(All right, let's see the cosmic rays fix THAT.)
...

Apparently, the cosmic rays come with an English-German dictionary built in.

...

("But I'm not going to tell you, Irwin, because you're a thick-headed comedy relief buffoon. Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud?")

"Yeah, well, Harrington is snaking Kay, Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud?"

Each stared at the other for a few long minutes, then:

"Did you say something?"

"No, did you?"

"No."

"Out to the farm?"

"Let's go."

And in the Daily News...

BOR-RING
...

Who's footing the tab at the Greenbrier? I hope it's not Sally and Joe's tax dollars.

...

"Look, don't ask questions about the uniform, OK? Hey, how about the Asp there? No, he's not serving in a Scottish regiment. The Army-Navy store just ran low on hats."
....

Had Annie been my father's daughter, either she or my dad would have been dead by the time Annie was ten. There is no third option.