The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

("4-F, huh," sneers Sally. "Figgehs." "Yeh," nods Joe. "I mean, he mus' be a real physical wreck. Afteh awl, t'Awrmy took ya brutteh." Hmph," snorts Sally. "Mickey an' Errol Flynn go in a room t'getteh, on'y one of'm's comin' out." "Mickey'd get awl 'is money too." "Yep!" affirms Sally. "Nut'n." "What?" "Oh, sawry, ya awrways say 'what' when I say sump'n like t'at 'bout ya brutteh. Y'took me by s'prise." "I'm fulla s'prises," declares Sally.)

Allied airmen, including Hollanders bent on revenge, climaxed a week of intensified activity against the Japanese in their northwestern island front door to Australia by sinking or damaging six enemy ships. A report from the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur indicated that a week of daily raids climaxed Friday with the heaviest Allied attacks in the area since the fall of Java. A large force of B-24 Liberators raided Japanese-held Ambon Harbor, 625 miles north of Darwin, at Friday noon, and sank or seriously damaged a 10,000-ton Japanese cargo ship and two 5,000-ton transports. The Liberators not only left the 10,000-ton vessel burning from end to end, but also shot down five, and possibly six intercepting Japanese fighter planes without loss to themselves.

In Italy, Premier Benito Mussolini has ordered all able-bodied civilian men and women into war factories. All men between the ages of 14 and 70, and all women between the ages of 14 and 60 fall under the emergency decree, according to Rome radio reports monitored in London. The order is similar to one promulgated in Germany last week.

Meanwhile, reports from Swedish diplomatic sources report a shakeup in Mussolini's cabinet has its origin in a push by Count Galeazzo Ciano, who is Mussolini's son in law, Count Dino Grandi, a longtime leader in the Fascist Party, and Marshal Pietro Bagdolio to convince Mussolini to withdraw from political life in order to "pave the way for peace." Ciano and Grandi were ousted from Mussolini's cabinet, along with seven other ministers, and the Swedish reports indicate this action was taken after Germany learned of the Cabinet insurgence and threatened to place Italy under immediate military occupation. British observers suggest the cabinet shakeup points to further instability in the Mussolini regime, but the German press characterized the purge as "a move by Mussolini to strengthen the Italian war effort."

(Wow. The one person in 1940s America who has no ties whatsoever to Brooklyn.)

Borough President John Cashmore today released a letter to Adolf Hitler warning of destruction to be rained upon his country by the people of Brooklyn. "The people of Brooklyn realize," states the letter, "that you understand only the language of force. Therefore they have asked me to send you a message in that language. Thirty bombers, purchased by the residents of this borough, will visit you in Berlin soon -- and often. They will pour destruction into the heart of Germany, and give your people a taste of the misery you have spread thruout the world. The message we send you, Mr. Hitler, is a promise -- a promise that we Americans will continue to buy bombers and strike with vengeful blows until you surrender unconditionally." The Kings County War Savings Staff promised that Mr. Cashmore's letter will be hand-delivered to Hitler by tying it to a bomb to be dropped over the Nazi capital.

The demand for women skilled in the technical side of radio is increasing steadily, with the Melville Aeronautical Radio School in Manhattan determined to help fill that demand. Courses to train women as radio operators and technicians are being offered by the school, and graduates will be placed with airlines needing women to operate radio communications stations serving their planes. One such graduate is 25-year-old Joyce Mack of Flushing, who gave up a career as a stage dancer to take up a radio key.

Employees of the Sperry Gyroscope Company are learning to square dance -- in classes taught by none other than Dodger right fielder Dixie Walker, who, in his capacity as Sperry's recreation director, is promoting the classes as one way to achieve his goal to encourage all Sperry workers to spend at least one free night a week engaged in healthful exercise. The classes, held every Thursday night at the Bedford YMCA, are popular, with over 300 Sperry workers enrolled. "I enjoy doing the square dance with the young people," beams Dixie. "It is the best way for relaxing the nerves and makes them fit for their hard tasks."

(Mungo? Why hasn't he been drafted into the Commandos?)

Old Timer John P. Pfalzgraff remembers the old days in the Tenth Ward, when men were men, and no one went to bed with colds. And there was no such thing as these mild winters we get nowadays. "Snow began to fly around election time," he recalls, "and continued without interruption until the middle of March the next year!"

(Best name for a Supreme Court justice ever: Wiley Blount Rutledge. You see that painted on a door, and you know you're somewhere!)

Young Nanette Fabray this week took over the role of Antiope, the Amazon princess in Rodgers and Hart's hit musical "By Jupiter!," now running at the Shubert Theatre. To take a top spot in one of the town's biggest current hits may seem a daunting task after arriving on Broadway two years ago as a virtual unknown, but Miss Fabray says there's nothing to it. She's been a professional since the age of three, when she began a nine-year career in vaudeville. After an adolescent interlude in radio, she toyed with the idea of becoming a doctor, but a drama scholarship paid for by director Max Reinhardt caused her to return enthusiastically to the life of the stage. Miss Fabray displays a broad range of skills in her new role, not limited to singing and dancing. She is also an expert swordswoman, which she attributes to the fencing lessons her mother made her take as a child. "She thought it was good for my dancing," explains Nanette. "I'm pretty good!" Co-star Ronald Graham, who plays opposite Miss Fabray as Theseus, concurs. "She scares me to death," he declares, "every time she comes at me with that sword!"

(Well, that's a relief. Red wasn't looking forward to getting it back.)

(Elizabeth Hawes! One of my favorite people in 1943 makes the comic-section big time!)

(Sploopnagle? Expect a letter tomorrow from Colonel Stoopnagle's lawyers.)

(EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!)

(Sorry Bill, Mary has no time for Sunday comedy relief anymore. And Dan, you better realize right now that "don't let it happen again" isn't going to cut it. YOU'RE NOT TALKING TO IRWIN!)

(I recently adopted a new cat who had a kinked tail when she was brought into the shelter -- and then half of it fell off. With a story like that, I mean, how *couldn't* I adopt her?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"A military mission in Europe." On the back lot, you mean.

We didn't have the Junior League where I come from, but the Methodist W. S. C. S. ladies are all recognizable here.

"A day care center? I'd rather take my chances wrestling bulls!"

Running away? This can't be Annie -- it's Warbucks in drag!

Remember that weird craze a few years ago with movie ads showing women being spanked? Mr. Williard is a few years late.

"Maybe that's why he's a general." No, he used to listen to "Little Orphan Annie" on the radio.

"Big Beef Beezie," huh? The OPA will hear of this!

Yep, I grew up on this block.

Remember that time a Smilin Jack villain fell into a pool full of pirhanas and was eaten down to a skeleton? Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

"Gump Airlines -- Now Flying the famous B-17 Luxury Liner!"

 

[Fading Fast]

("4-F, huh," sneers Sally. "Figgehs." "Yeh," nods Joe. "I mean, he mus' be a real physical wreck. Afteh awl, t'Awrmy took ya brutteh." Hmph," snorts Sally. "Mickey an' Errol Flynn go in a room t'getteh, on'y one of'm's comin' out." "Mickey'd get awl 'is money too." "Yep!" affirms Sally. "Nut'n." "What?" "Oh, sawry, ya awrways say 'what' when I say sump'n like t'at 'bout ya brutteh. Y'took me by s'prise." "I'm fulla s'prises," declares Sally.)
...

These guys play a serous meta game. Second best strip we follow.

Completely coincidentally, I'm sure, TCM is running a few Errol Flynn movies today as part of what seems to be a "pirate" theme.

...

In Italy, Premier Benito Mussolini has ordered all able-bodied civilian men and women into war factories. All men between the ages of 14 and 70, and all women between the ages of 14 and 60 fall under the emergency decree, according to Rome radio reports monitored in London. The order is similar to one prom...

At least the trains run on time.

...

Meanwhile, reports from Swedish diplomatic sources report a shakeup in Mussolini's cabinet has its origin in a push by Count Galeazzo Ciano, who is Mussolini's son in law, Count Dino Grandi, a longtime leader in the Fascist Party, and Marshal Pietro Bagdolio to convince Mussolini to withdraw from political life in order to "pave the way for peace." Ciano and Grandi were ousted from Mussolini's cabinet, along with seven other ministers, and the Swedish reports indicate this action was taken after Germany learned of the Cabinet insurgence and threatened to place Italy under immediate military occupation. British observers suggest the cabinet shakeup points to further instability in the Mussolini regime, but the German press characterized the purge as "a move by Mussolini to strengthen the Italian war effort."
...

The wolf is close to being at the door.

...

Employees of the Sperry Gyroscope Company are learning to square dance -- in classes taught by none other than Dodger right fielder Dixie Walker, who, in his capacity as Sperry's recreation director, is promoting the classes as one way to achieve his goal to encourage all Sperry workers to spend at least one free night a week engaged in healthful exercise. The classes, held every Thursday night at the Bedford YMCA, are popular, with over 300 Sperry workers enrolled. "I enjoy doing the square dance with the young people," beams Dixie. "It is the best way for relaxing the nerves and makes them fit for their hard tasks."
...

How's that going for Joe?

...

(Sorry Bill, Mary has no time for Sunday comedy relief anymore. And Dan, you better realize right now that "don't let it happen again" isn't going to cut it. YOU'RE NOT TALKING TO IRWIN!)
...

We've noted it before, but Marsh (or, I guess, the new writer), as does Caniff and few other comicstrip writers, has a very pro-women attitude in his strip. It's really nice to see and shows that the movies - with their stupid Motion Picture Production Code - were far from the full story of what was actually happening (and even the movies, sometimes, snuck in some nuance around women, especially as film noir got up and running).

It also shows that consumers of newspapers were seeing a more complex tale about women than the movies alone would lead you to believe. The story - and my family is a great example - of women's roles back them was much more complicated and varied than the "Father Knows Best" image many today assume was the full story.

...

"A day care center? I'd rather take my chances wrestling bulls!"
...

I love Frizzletop, but if any job calls out for Mary Worth, who had been thinking about jumping to a new strip anyway, this one has her name written all over it.

...

"Maybe that's why he's a general." No, he used to listen to "Little Orphan Annie" on the radio.
...

He's gonna lose, but Joe Jitsu nearly pulled off one heck of a complicated plan.

...

Remember that time a Smilin Jack villain fell into a pool full of pirhanas and was eaten down to a skeleton? Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
...

And in a not-shown panel, amidst all the fighting, Cindy lost a little more of her outfit.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Joe and Sally met, you will recall, at Roseland. Something tells me they wouldn't quite fit in at a square dance, unless they were allowed to do aerials.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Erroneous walks. Peggy hates him. I believe Flynn's true intent was clear to all adults in the courtroom. Yet a sense of larceny hung over this trial and star of screen was the pigeon. To that extent I'm glad he won but overall a lesson learned. Or not.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("I'm ready," affirms Sally. "Leonora's ol' enough she c'n stay wit' Ma, an' if t'ey wan' me t'loin t'weld a'whateveh, lead me to it. Excep'...." "Yeah, I know," nods Joe. "T'at could change me f'm 3-A t'..." "Oh," replies Sally, her face darkening. "I hadn' t'ought'a t'at. Ya right." "Oh," responds Joe. "But when ya said 'excep'...' I t'ought y'meant..." "What I was gonna say is" shrugs Sally, "I drawr t'line at loinin' t' squeah dance.")

"Ersatz" footwear may lie ahead for American civilian feet, following yesterday's surprise announcement by War Stabilization Director James F. Byrnes freezing the sale of shoes until 12:01 tomorrow, when the nation's 200,000 shoe stores may resume selling -- but on a rationed basis. Stamp No. 17 in War Ration Book No. 1 will entitle the holder to purchase one, and only one, pair of shoes between February 9th and June 15th. The announcement marks the first formal rationing of any item of wearing apparel for American consumers, which is necessary, according to Byrnes, due to an acute shortage of the heavy grade of leather used to manufacture shoe soles. Present plans call for the allocation of three pairs of shoes per year per person, which, rationining officials stress, is in fact more than the average civilian has purchased in any year since 1936. Along with the rationing order, the War Production Board will shortly issue strict regulations affecting the types and styles of shoes which may be manufactured. All wasteful manufacturing practices will be prohibited, as will the manufacture of all "unnecessary" styles and colors of footwear, with colors expected to be limited to black, white, "town brown," and Army russet. Heels on women's shoes will be limited to a maximum height of one and five-eighths inches. Manufacturers will be barred from increasing the production of more expensive styles at the expense of less expensive styles, and will be "encouraged" by the WPB to shift their priorities to the manufacture of simple "utlility" shoes for sale at reasonable prices. Manufacturers will also be encouraged to develop "ersatz" styles using little or no leather in their production, which may be sold without a ration stamp. Types of shoes defined as non-rationed under the present order include house and boudoir slippers, soft-soled shoes, ballet slippers, and ordinary waterproof rubber footwear, including Arctics. An allocation of sole leather for shoe repair shops will be made, and Byrnes emphasized that shoe repairs will not be rationed. Brooklyn shoe repair shops are reporting no notable surge in business today.

The President of the National Association of Real Estate Boards today lashed out at OPA regulations on the purchase of homes, declaring that the agency's requirement of a one-third down payment and a three month wait before a purchaser may take possession amounts to "a rationing of the right to buy a home." Association president Cyrus Crane Willmore, addressing a meeting of the Brooklyn Real Estate Board at a luncheon meeting today at the Hotel Bossert, further warned that "Americans will stand for a lot of rationing, but when the government seeks to ration a man's right to buy a home, it is time to do something about it." Willmore, to the applause of the assembled real estate salesmen, called home ownership "the bulwark of democracy."

In Hollywood, actor Errol Flynn, acquitted of statutory rape charges, claimed that those charges were brought against him as part of "a political scheme" to discredit him. He declined to elaborate on or to describe the nature of such "political scheming," or to identify any persons who might have an interest in pursuing such "schemes." "I don't believe the people who prosecuted me," declared Flynn, "ever thought they would find me guilty."

Mayor LaGuardia, in his weekly radio broadcast yesterday over WNYC, stated that he will soon show exactly what wages the members of the Transport Workers Union are receiving and what increases they have received, "so that the public may have a true picture of what is what." The Mayor revealed that he has directed Board of Transportation Chairman John Delaney to prepare a full report on the wages paid to all 32,000 transit employees in the city, and that when that report is complete it will be released to the public. The announcement comes following a declaration by CIO union leaders that transit workers in the city are being paid "substandard" wages.

The Mayor lashed out in his broadcast at "pressure groups," which he declared are trying to give the impression that the city is plagued by "widespread juvenile delinquency." He pointed to the recent arrest of a fifteen-year-old boy who was picked up by police for skiing on Riverside Drive as "typical of the kind of statistics and figures used to alarm the public," and in criticizing the police for arresting the boy, he apologized to the youth's mother.

The Mayor also touched on matters of food rationing during his broadcast, suggesting that a boycott of eggs until the price comes down "is not a bad idea," and criticizing the ban on the commercial sale of sliced bread as having led, thru poor slicing techniques, to the waste of more bread "than anything that's happened since we've had food regulation." He also criticized the OPA for allowing bakers to reduce the milk, sugar, and shortening content of the bread they sell.

(America's biggest small town Keeps 'Em Flying!)

A sailor who fell asleep following a session in a Flatbush drinkery awoke to find his pocket emptied of $90 -- but the cash was shortly found secreted on the person of a 17-year-old youth. Storekeeper First Class John Q. Turnage told police that he woke up early yesterday after dozing off at the Fulton Royal Cabaret, 427 Flatbush Avenue, and realized that someone had lifted his bankroll. The sailor suggested to police that Joseph Branciforte of 559 Henry Street might know something about that, and when the youth was searched, they found the $90
hidden in one of his shoes. Branciforte told Magistrate Joseph B. Glebocki in Brooklyn Weekend Court that he had been drinking, and had no memory of how the money got in his shoe. He is being held on $1000 bail for a hearing later today in Adolescent Court.

("Kings Row?" Jeez, that seems like a million years ago.)

Reader Sallie M. Reann writes in to complain about the condition of the giant service flag hanging across Henry Street at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights. She notes that the flag has been reduced to tatters, "a disgraceful rag," during the months it has hung at the intersection, with a section of the flag where blue stars representing local men who have gone to war should be now taken up by a big empty hole. "Our boys deserve the best we can give them," she declares, "and a sight like this is not very complementary."

(It isn't rationed -- yet.)

One of four men shot by a rampaging policeman on Saturday in Downtown Brooklyn is in critical condition at Long Island Hospital. Thirty-seven-year-old Paul Marino of 110 Sackett Street was beaten and shot in the right chest by Patrolman Joseph F. Finnerty of St. Albans as the policeman went on a wild spree of violence in front of horrified passers-by, shooting two men, beating two others, and nearly killing a fireman responding to false alarm. The others injured by Patrolman Finnerty's wild antics were not seriously hurt, and Finnerty himself is confined in a straitjacket in the psychopathic ward at Kings County Hospital. Finnerty was reported to have an exemplary record as a policeman, but his rampage Saturday followed "several violent outbursts" against his fellow officers.

("Hitler has killed a lot of things. Don't let him kill baseball.")

Winston Burdett, well-known to Eagle readers as the former editor of the Sunday "Trend" section, is on his way back to the US after an arduous tour of duty as a CBS correspondent in Egypt. Mr. Burdett's post in Cairo will be assumed by Farnsworth Fowle, formerly the network's man in Ankara, Turkey.

("And those adoptive parents who scrimped and sacrificed to raise me? Pfft! It's dough -- let's go!")

(Point of order: snails actually have very soft heads.)

(Those eyes! Shouldn't you get your thryoid checked?)

(The Dog Who Came To Dinner.)

(Well now! If, as is too obvious, Hugh is Dale's own version of Dennie Worth, and Merry is Sunny, then I believe we have just met her own Mary Worth. All right then, where's Bill?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Human Derrick." Twenty years ago, you could've gotten a good thirteen weeks on the Orpheum Time with an act like that.

"Fools' names, like their faces, appear in public places!" Hey, Jimmy's gotta make a living somehow.

Fortunately, flour isn't yet rationed.

WATCH IT FRIZZ SHE'S OBVIOUSLY A CROOK. I MEAN ISN'T EVERYBODY IN THIS TOWN?

Don't let THIS spread around the neighborhood.

"BUT WHAT IF I DON'T *LIKE* 'TOWN BROWN?'"

See, even radio actors have a vital part to play in this war!

If Katie is his cat, I take back every mean thing I said.

You really think you'll live that long?

Secret experiments? A secret lab over the garage? So that's where all your other boyfriends went!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

War really is Hell.

 

[PrivateEye]

Oh, and...

View attachment 487728
War really is Hell.

Good god, baked lima beans? This is a new low...

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I know I've seen Mr Monty Woolley somewhere in a movie. Looks a headmaster or don.
Flynn is eminently quotable it seems. But the bull's out the shop now. Surprised his solicitor didn't advise quiet.

 

[Fading Fast]

("I'm ready," affirms Sally. "Leonora's ol' enough she c'n stay wit' Ma, an' if t'ey wan' me t'loin t'weld a'whateveh, lead me to it. Excep'...." "Yeah, I know," nods Joe. "T'at could change me f'm 3-A t'..." "Oh," replies Sally, her face darkening. "I hadn' t'ought'a t'at. Ya right." "Oh," responds Joe. "But when ya said 'excep'...' I t'ought y'meant..." "What I was gonna say is" shrugs Sally, "I drawr t'line at loinin' t' squeah dance.")
...

Joe and Sally's world, like everyone's in '43, gets rocked a bit every day.

The barking dog is America's true Number One Hero Dog, at least for the day.

Rationing shoes to only three pairs a year? I'm pretty sure I've never bought three pairs of shoes in one year in my life.

There is no getting rid of Flynn (Edward, not Errol), is there?

...

"Ersatz" footwear may lie ahead for American civilian feet, following yesterday's surprise announcement by War Stabilization Director James F. Byrnes freezing the sale of shoes until 12:01 tomorrow, when the nation's 200,000 shoe stores may resume selling -- but on a rationed basis. Stamp No. 17 in War Ration Book No. 1 will entitle the holder to purchase one, and only one, pair of shoes between February 9th and June 15th. The announcement marks the first formal rationing of any item of wearing apparel for American consumers, which is necessary, according to Byrnes, due to an acute shortage of the heavy grade of leather used to manufacture shoe soles. Present plans call for the allocation of three pairs of shoes per year per person, which, rationining officials stress, is in fact more than the average civilian has purchased in any year since 1936. Along with the rationing order, the War Production Board will shortly issue strict regulations affecting the types and styles of shoes which may be manufactured. All wasteful manufacturing practices will be prohibited, as will the manufacture of all "unnecessary" styles and colors of footwear, with colors expected to be limited to black, white, "town brown," and Army russet. Heels on women's shoes will be limited to a maximum height of one and five-eighths inches. Manufacturers will be barred from increasing the production of more expensive styles at the expense of less expensive styles, and will be "encouraged" by the WPB to shift their priorities to the manufacture of simple "utlility" shoes for sale at reasonable prices. Manufacturers will also be encouraged to develop "ersatz" styles using little or no leather in their production, which may be sold without a ration stamp. Types of shoes defined as non-rationed under the present order include house and boudoir slippers, soft-soled shoes, ballet slippers, and ordinary waterproof rubber footwear, including Arctics. An allocation of sole leather for shoe repair shops will be made, and Byrnes emphasized that shoe repairs will not be rationed. Brooklyn shoe repair shops are reporting no notable surge in business today.
...

Phew, at least "boudoir slippers" aren't rationed as that would be hard on the, umm, uh, umm girls who work in those.

...

The Mayor lashed out in his broadcast at "pressure groups," which he declared are trying to give the impression that the city is plagued by "widespread juvenile delinquency." He pointed to the recent arrest of a fifteen-year-old boy who was picked up by police for skiing on Riverside Drive as "typical of the kind of statistics and figures used to alarm the public," and in criticizing the police for arresting the boy, he apologized to the youth's mother.
...

Yeah, but wait till that same kid, now the he can't ski, is caught shooting dice with his friends.

...

The Mayor also touched on matters of food rationing during his broadcast, suggesting that a boycott of eggs until the price comes down "is not a bad idea," and criticizing the ban on the commercial sale of sliced bread as having led, thru poor slicing techniques, to the waste of more bread "than anything that's happened since we've had food regulation." He also criticized the OPA for allowing bakers to reduce the milk, sugar, and shortening content of the bread they sell.
...

[copy and paste] There is no detail too small for Butch; prioritizing is not his superpower.

...

A sailor who fell asleep following a session in a Flatbush drinkery awoke to find his pocket emptied of $90 -- but the cash was shortly found secreted on the person of a 17-year-old youth. Storekeeper First Class John Q. Turnage told police that he woke up early yesterday after dozing off at the Fulton Royal Cabaret, 427 Flatbush Avenue, and realized that someone had lifted his bankroll. The sailor suggested to police that Joseph Branciforte of 559 Henry Street might know something about that, and when the youth was searched, they found the $90
hidden in one of his shoes. Branciforte told Magistrate Joseph B. Glebocki in Brooklyn Weekend Court that he had been drinking, and had no memory of how the money got in his shoe. He is being held on $1000 bail for a hearing later today in Adolescent Court.
...

Magistrate Glebocki also fined sailor Turnage $10 for stupidity.

...

("Hitler has killed a lot of things. Don't let him kill baseball.")
...

I wonder if anyone back then thought that anti-Hitler/anti-Nazi arguments would remain evergreen for, at least, eighty years.

...

(Those eyes! Shouldn't you get your thryoid checked?)
...

Dan's morally and legally correct, but I like that bombing the studio was Mike's first instinct - I think we are going to like her.

.

"Fools' names, like their faces, appear in public places!" Hey, Jimmy's gotta make a living somehow.
...

Stanley Francis and my dad came from different worlds with different life experiences, but they would have understood each other and, most likely, have been friends.

...

Secret experiments? A secret lab over the garage? So that's where all your other boyfriends went!

Did you know that Basements 'r Us also has a Secret Labs 'r Us subdivision?

Oh, and...

War really is Hell.

I'm sure if I was starving on a desert island, I'd eat lima beans (foxholes and atheists and all that), but that is what it would take.

Good, though, to see a H&H ad again.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The supreme capper to that Long Island hero dog story is that his family's name is "Ruff." You can just hear his owner trying to book the pooch in vaudeville. "I tell ya, mac, he TALKS! Look here -- what's my name? "Ruff!" Ya see, he said 'Ruff!"

I don't hate lima beans -- when I was little, they were my favorite part of the Campbell's Vegetable Soup -- but as I have grown older, they have come to hate me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(How many turning points can one war have?)

War Stabilization Director James F. Byrnes is expected tonight to reveal a new Administration campaign to hold down prices and ward off increasing demands for wage increases. The Office of War Information announced today that Byrnes will deliver an important radio address entitled "The War Against Inflation" at 9 PM over the Columbia Broadcasting System. The talk will be Byrnes' first major radio speech since he was designated by President Roosevelt fall to oversee the stabilization of wages and to guard against runaway wartime inflation. The address comes at a time of increasing pressure by labor for upward revision of wage formulas to compensate for the rising cost of living. A preliminary shot in what is anticipated to be a new Administration drive to push back against inflation came yesterday from Price Administrator Prentiss M. Brown, who proclaimed a new policy of maintaining "the utmost firmness" against rising prices. In a press conference shortly after he replaced Leon Henderson as head of the OPA, Brown acknowledged that a slow and orderly increase of prices at a rate of one half of one percent a month may be "unavoidable," and that remark has come back to haunt him many times since then.

The Commander in Chief of the German Army destroyed at Stalingrad may be held liable for atrocities committed by Nazi forces against Russian civilians during the siege of that city. An announcement by Red Army Major General Ivan Krylov that a written Order of the Day signed in November by Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus commanding that all civilian residents of Stalingrad be "removed to Germany" was found by Soviet troops occupying the former Nazi headquarters. A Soviet atrocity commission is now investigating the matter with a view toward future prosecution of von Paulus for war crimes.

("You been wearin'at same pair'a saddle shoes since I met ya," comments Joe. "A good pair'a shoes is like a good frien'," remarks Sally. "You take care'a t'em, an'ney'll take care 'a you.")

It was a year ago today that the former French luxury liner Normandie, taken over by the Navy, renamed the Lafayette, and planned for conversion to a troop ship, caught fire and capsized at her Hudson Street pier at the foot of West 47th Street. The ship is still lying on her side, but the Navy reported today that twelve watertight bulkheads have been installed, and an additional 31-ton bulkhead is still needed before the ship may be righted. Plans call for that work to be completed, and the ship righted, by the end of this year. So far 75 percent of the 100,000 tons of water that flooded the ship have been pumped out, and 3000 tons of metal removed.

Downtown property owners are fighting against increased tax assessments in the wake of the removal of the Fulton Street L, arguing that the demolition and removal of the infamous "Black Spider" led only to "esthetic benefits" for the downtown area, and that there has been no significant increase in the value of business properties because of the removal. Real estate expert William G. Morrissey has been engaged by the property owners to "reconstruct" a statement of realty values as they were before the L was removed, but his accuracy is being called into question during arguments over the matter before Supreme Court Justice Charles C. Lockwood. Asked by Assistant Corporation Counsel Alfred D. Jahr how many L pillars stood in front of the Abraham & Straus department store, Morrissey replied that he could not recall for sure, but believed there might have been "four or five." Morrissey then stated that his estimate of property values was not based on the number of L pillars anyway.

(Sober up and think this over.)

Drastic steps to reduce the number of traffic lights and stop signs were demanded today by the Director of the Office of Defense Transportation. Director Joseph B. Eastman called for the elimination of signs and signals at lightly-traveled intersections where the risk of accidents is low, in an effort to eliminate the waste of gasoline and of rubber that results from unnecessary stops.

(All right, that's funny.)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have been officially crowned America's Number One Funnymen, by no less an authority than Mayor LaGuardia, who presided over a luncheon ceremony for the boys at the Waldorf-Astoria. The two Universal Pictures comics performed their famous baseball story, and the audience of 500, most of whom had evidently never heard the routine before, roared with approval. "You think you boys are funny!" chuckled the Mayor at the conclusion of the performance. "You should come down and listen to the City Council!"

(And Red Barber will tell you that his name is pronounced "Aug-ie Gah-LAN," not "Aug-ie GAY-lun." He's no Reiser, but at least he doesn't run into walls.)

Former big-leaguer Dan Casey, who claimed that he was the original Casey of Ernest L. Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat," has died at the age of 80. Casey was playing for the old Phildadelphia Quakers when he struck out to end a game against the New York Giants on August 21, 1887. Just as in Thayer's poem, Casey came to bat with his club behind 4 to 3, with men on second and third, and watched two called strikes go by. He closed his eyes, swung mightily on the third -- and missed. Casey was long resigned to being the "hero of failure," but he regretted that the poem caused most to overlook his real skill as a pitcher. He leaves a seven-year major league pitching record of 96 wins against 90 losses, and a lifetime batting average of .143.

(IRWIN??? Is that YOU??? Busted to patrolman at last? Or did you join the Navy?)

(Scarlet is bucking for mention on Butch's broadcast next week.)

(Speak for yourself, toots. Some of us find Harold Lloyd very attractive.)

("There are no bad dogs, only bad own...GETOUTTAHERE YOU MUTT!")

(Annnnnnd, here is our Bill equivalent. Can "Leona" be far away?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"All's well that ends well."

And yeah, gals, if you want those stillettos, you better hurry.

When Annie starts soliloquizing about how you must be all right, you better start packing.

"Did you say SMALL children?" Poor Frizz.

Of course, LaGuardia's car has a siren that goes "MAY-YAH!"

"Migawd, Nina, did you see what she had on?" "Yeah, did she make that out of a shower curtain?" "And, I mean, those SHOULDER PADS!" "Who's she think she is, Bruiser Kinard?" "HAHAHAHAHA!" "Anyway, hon, too bad about Skeezix. What time's lunch?"

Actually all he's getting is a bowl of dry All-Bran. DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?

Sorry Joe, you've blown it. Too clever for your own good.

Some people are just naturally good at math.

"Oh. She's out in the car. In the trunk."

 

[Fading Fast]

(How many turning points can one war have?)
...

Does this mean Flynn will be buying back his estate with the antique Belgian courtyard?

...

Downtown property owners are fighting against increased tax assessments in the wake of the removal of the Fulton Street L, arguing that the demolition and removal of the infamous "Black Spider" led only to "esthetic benefits" for the downtown area, and that there has been no significant increase in the value of business properties because of the removal. Real estate expert William G. Morrissey has been engaged by the property owners to "reconstruct" a statement of realty values as they were before the L was removed, but his accuracy is being called into question during arguments over the matter before Supreme Court Justice Charles C. Lockwood. Asked by Assistant Corporation Counsel Alfred D. Jahr how many L pillars stood in front of the Abraham & Straus department store, Morrissey replied that he could not recall for sure, but believed there might have been "four or five." Morrissey then stated that his estimate of property values was not based on the number of L pillars anyway.
...

Conversely, if they were installing an "L", would property owners be arguing that the "esthetic detriments" had no significant decrease in the value of business properties and, hence, they don't think appraised values and property taxes should fall. This is how an inability to ever be objective makes you or your group look stupid to the point of venality.

...

(Sober up and think this over.)
...

I'm of German descent on my father's side. Adult me would have killed my father (and been vindicated by a jury, QED on Page Four this week) if he had done something so insanely stupid as this.

"What's your name, young man?"
"Dolf Mittel."
"Is 'Dolf' short for 'Adolf'?"
"No."
"Do you have a middle name?"
"No."

...

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have been officially crowned America's Number One Funnymen, by no less an authority than Mayor LaGuardia, who presided over a luncheon ceremony for the boys at the Waldorf-Astoria. The two Universal Pictures comics performed their famous baseball story, and the audience of 500, most of whom had evidently never heard the routine before, roared with approval. "You think you boys are funny!" chuckled the Mayor at the conclusion of the performance. "You should come down and listen to the City Council!"
...

Despite their huge popularity, oddly, Abbott and Costello rarely make it to either of the papers we read other than when we see, from time to time, ads for their movies.

...

Former big-leaguer Dan Casey, who claimed that he was the original Casey of Ernest L. Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat," has died at the age of 80. Casey was playing for the old Phildadelphia Quakers when he struck out to end a game against the New York Giants on August 21, 1887. Just as in Thayer's poem, Casey came to bat with his club behind 4 to 3, with men on second and third, and watched two called strikes go by. He closed his eyes, swung mightily on the third -- and missed. Casey was long resigned to being the "hero of failure," but he regretted that the poem caused most to overlook his real skill as a pitcher. He leaves a seven-year major league pitching record of 96 wins against 90 losses, and a lifetime batting average of .143.
...

It's like having your entire professional career as a big league catcher come down to failing to hold onto one third-strike pitch in the World Series.

...

(Annnnnnd, here is our Bill equivalent. Can "Leona" be far away?)

If this version of Leona works as a scantily clad chorus girl in a pirate-themed nightclub, lawsuits in comicstrip land might start to fly.

And in the Daily News...

"All's well that ends well."
...

This is not the first time this week that we've seen that juries rule on their own sense of fairness and justice and not a strict abiding by the written law.

...

Of course, LaGuardia's car has a siren that goes "MAY-YAH!"
...

The real question is how long did Bim wait between receiving the call that Boffington is threatening Mrs. De Stress and putting in a call to the police. "Hmmmhmmmhmmmhmmm, I guess I 'should' call the police now."

I still haven't found a picture of the Mayor Car, but you know one is out there somewhere.

 

[ChiTownScion]

They tried to deport Harry Bridges in the 30's, 40's, and 50's and never succeeded. He headed the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) until 1977, and lived until 1990.

For all of the Red baiting against him, the longshoremen of Long Beach/ Los Angeles do quite well in the capitalist game. Apprentices in the union easily earn six figures annually, and getting one of those apprenticeships is highly coveted: recently over 36,000 applied for about fifteen positions. But in addition to longshoremen, the union represents a wide variety of workers, from bookstore employees to restaurant personnel.

I'd imagine, Lizzie, that Harry Bridges might be among your heroes. Am I right?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd gladly hoist a dish of tapioca pudding to him. (Tapioca being a commodity that several of my relatives hoisted as union longshoremen on the local docks.) Dockworking in the era was brutal work, and it was among the several factors that contributed to the lung diseases that killed my grandfather.

The ILWU was the west coast union for longshoremen, while the ILA was active in the east, and Bridges, despite the best efforts of the red-baiters to oust him, kept it clean and square. It's the ILA that we often read about in these pages, for its continuous battles between rank-and-file reformers and mob characters like Albert Anastasia. Our longtime readers will recall the tragic story of Peter Panto, rubbed out on Anastasia's orders by the Murder For Money Gang in 1939, and not dug out of a Jersey riverbank until 1941, who is another dockside labor figure I greatly admire.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The Caproni murder trial is grist for rumour mills and movies.

A budding author in search of story plot need only read these circas to find a book buried inside.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Whatta dope," sneers Joe. "Whatta reguleh bozo. Namin' a innocen' kid afteh 'at rat HItleh inna fois' place. I t'ink we done'a right t'ing wit' Leonora. Leo an' Nora. Half afteh Durocheh, an' half afteh ya Ma. An' neit'eh one of'm's eveh even been in jail, yet." "What?" "Nut'n.")

The door to general wage increases above the so-called "Little Steel" formula was slammed shut today to those working a 40-hour week, but workers going from a 40 to a 48 hour week who are entitled to receive time and a half pay for hours above 40, will receive the approximate equivalent of a 30 percent pay increase. "There must be no increase in wages beyond the Little Steel formula," stressed Stabilization Director James F. Byrnes today, "except in limited and special cases to correct patently gross inequities and to rectify plainly substandard wages. There must also be no further price increases unless and to the limited extent required by law to meet clearly established cost increases which cannot otherwise be absorbed out of profits." Mr. Byrnes underlined that he has asked the War Labor Board and the Office of Price Administration to grant no approval to any requests for wage or price increases unless they first consult on each individual case with him personally.

In her maiden speech in the House of Representatives yesterday, Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-Connecticut) crossed foils with Vice President Henry A. Wallace over his proposal of postwar "freedom of the air" for the nations of the world. "Global thinking is still," declared Mrs. Luce to a chamber filled with an unusually large number of Representatives interested in hearing what the famed playwright and wife of publisher Henry Luce would have to say, "no matter how you slice it, 'globaloney." She went on to charge that the prewar US policy of "freedom of the seas" had been detrimental to the United States Merchant Marine. The Vice President, though not mentioning Mrs. Luce by name, issued a statement in response, in which he asserted that he was "sure that the Republican Party is not against either freedom of the seas or freedom of the air, after the war is over. I am also sure that the vast bulk of Republicans do not want to stir up animosity with either our British or our Russian allies at the present time. None of us wishes to use those methods of preparation for World War III which will make World War III inevitable."

Republicans in the state assembly have announced the start of a full scale investigation of civil service hiring practices in the state, and are subjecting a list of 3500 civil employees to a "fine tooth combing" in search of jobholders who received their employment thru political means during the period of Democratic control of the legislature. State Republican leaders stated that they will give particular attention to experience ratings and examination scores of persons hired in order to determine the "validity and the legality of the appointments."

In New Dehli, India, Mohandas K. Gandhi announced today that he has begun a three-week fast for "an appeal to the highest tribunal for peace and justice," but the British-controlled government denounced the statement by the spiritual leader of the Indian nationalist movement as "political blackmail." The 73-year-old ascetic has conducted public fasts eight times over the past twenty-five years in demonstration against British political authority in India. Gandhi's fast stems from accusations by the British Viceroy of India, the Marquess of Linlithgow, that Gandhi and the National Congress were directly responsible for a wave of political violence that swept across India last year. "There can be no justification for the fast," declared the Viceroy in a message to Gandhi as he prepared to begin the fast. "Posterity will judge between you as the representative of the all-powerful government," declared Gandhi in a written response to the Viceroy, "and me as a humble man who has tried to serve his country and humanity thru it."

Blonde Billy Boze, who thought she could succeed where others have failed, goes to court in Reno, Nevada today to become the sixth ex-wife of 49-year-old asbestos heir Tommy Manville. "Tommy says I'm still the number 1 girl in his heart," declared Miss Boze to reporters, revealing that Manville will meet her plane upon her return to New York, and that they plan to "paint the town red." "I'm sure Tommy won't marry again," added Miss Boze, "but I'd marry him again if he asked me." The two were wed last spring, after Manville proposed to her at a night club table. The two had never met before that night.

Thousands of property owners in Bay Ridge have lost a lengthy fight to prevent the construction of a $17,000,000 sewage treatment plant at Owl's Head. A favorable decision by the commissioners of the State Land Board on a city application today cleared the way for the municipality to acquire a state-owned strip of land needed to construct a seawall off the site of the proposed plant overlooking New York Harbor. The LaGuardia Administration and Bay Ridge property owners have been at odds over the project since 1940, with the property owners protesting that the project will reduce the value of their real estate holdings. Those property owners have, according to attorney William J. Cosgrove, "been overruled by the city even though they have proposed five additional sites which are not in a high-class residential area." Cosgrove contends that 37,000 residential properties in Bay Ridge will be affected if the plant is built.

("Gone With The Wind's" back! At the Lincoln Theatre, no less. TAKE THAT, CONFEDERATES!)

The Eagle Editorialist praises the National Conference of Christians and Jews for its present effort, in cooperation with the National Education Association and other groups, to "weed the seeds of bigotry" out of America's school textbooks. Much remains to be done, the EE acknowledges, especially on the matter of "anti-Negro bias," but "in addition to removing or greatly modifying or interpreting outright offensive passages and passages readily misunderstood, or provocative of offense even if offense was not intended, it is encouraging to learn from the same report of the preparation of new school books placing a greater emphasis upon constructive community relationships."

("Ehhh, worth a try!")

The parents of the famous fighting Sullivan brothers, Navy heroes of Waterloo, Iowa, reported missing after the loss of their ship in the Solomon Islands last fall, are visiting the local plants of the Sperry Gyroscope Company this week. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Sullivan toured the main Sperry factory at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension this morning, where they were met by company president R. T. Gillmor, and from there proceeded to the Sperry plant at Bush Terminal and then out to the Sperry facility at Lake Success, Nassau County, where they shared lunch with the workers.

(It's astounding to me that the National League let this Philadelphia situation go on as long as it has, but you can't argue that it hasn't been good for the Dodgers. Without Camilli and Higbe, they wouldn'tve won the pennant in '41, and it's unfortunate that channel to ready talent will now be closed off. Hey Mr. Rickey, shoulda grabbed Etten when you had the chance.)

WIth an impressive roster of Dodgers now in the service, including Pete Reiser, Pee Wee Reese, Hugh Casey, Cookie Lavagetto, and Lew Riggs, the Brooklyn club expects to display this spring in the Ebbets Field entrance rotunda a large service flag with blue stars for all its boys now in Uncle Sam's uniforms. It hasn't yet been decided, however, if the flag will be accompanied by a scroll or a tablet listing all the serving players by name.

("So much better than those dumpy old maids over at the Martha Washington. Oh, sorry, Mrs. Worth...")

(You'll hear from Veronica Lake's lawyers in the morning.)

(Seriously, how does she get her eyes to do that?)

(LOOK AT LEAST YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR GETTING WORK. WHY POOR WOLF WAS AROUND YESTERDAY LOOKING FOR ANYTHING WE HAD AND I HAD TO TURN HIM AWAY. JUST SAYING.)

("It's got a reet pleet! And a stuff cuff, an' a drape shape!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"P'ticulehly if I get stepped on," scoffs Sally. "Get wise t'yase'f, toots, an' fin' a felleh at' c'n really step!" "Ahhhh," demurs Joe. "It's a gift."

"Wait, you mean I have to turn the loaf OVER? WAR IS HELL!"

"And stop bothering me, the smell of that spirit gum is overwhelming!"

Obviously Singh-Singh doesn't have a branch office in this part of China.

Look, if you're only going to go by one name now, it needs to be the name everybody already knows you by.

Now comes the waiting.

And the guy's just an assistant cook at Camp Upton.

Comes now the denouement...

"All right then, thirty kids. How many of them can walk?"

Pretty slick sliding it off the bone like that!