The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Okay then, I guess we have this whole story covered.

At least let's hear the records first.

Relax Doc, it's billable hours.

"Very good. Please pass me the potassium nitrate..."

"Losing your grip? At least you HAD a grip! Some of us never got a grip at all!"

It's a pity they never got married.


Well doesn't this all just fall into place.

Our dear little boy is a battle-hardened veteran with an attitude.

This is why boarding houses went out of style.

This is why, after the war, everybody's going to move to suburbia.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

Why there isn't a heroic statue of Fitz at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Empire Boulevard I'll never understand.

 

[Fading Fast]

("C'mon!" hustles Sally, her work shoes splashing across lingering puddles toward the looming bulk of Hudson Terminal. "We'eh gonna miss t'train!" "Jus' a sec'," interjects Alice, stopping short at a chipped green pole box to pull a wrinkled envelope from her overall pocket and drop it in the slot. "Whas'sat?" asks Sally, as the pair completes their trot into the station, merging into the rumbling crowd on the platform. "At's ya letteh to Kilgallen," declares Alice triumphantly. "I got it all wrote while you was in feed'na baby." "I t'ought," contends Sally with a bit of a huff, "t'at we was gonna woik on'nat t'getteh? When I'm tawkin' t' Kilgallen, I'm p'ticuleh!" "Aw, be y'self," dismisses Alice. "I know what you wanna say t'Kilgallen, it ain' nut'n t'figgeh out. B'sides, you ain' writin' no life story, it's askin' f'ra faveh. I jus' took some'a t'em stories ya tol' me 'bout school, an' kin'a, whatchacawl, you know, made some impl'cations." "You WHAT?" gasps Sally. "You know, stuff like 'giv'na great success of ya c'reeh an' awl, I'm soit'n you would agree t'at my silience on'neese mattehs w'd be woit'while." Sally's head sinks into her palm. "Ya din' say t'at. Please tell me y'din' say t'at." "Well, maybe not innem 'zac' woids," acknowledges Alice , "but, you know, t'gist..." "You din' sign my name to it," pleads Sally. "Tell me y'din' sign my name." "Aw, no," shrugs Alice. "You know I can't spell 'Petrauskas." "Well, 't'at's a r'lief at leas'...." "Naw, so I jus' put 'Sally Sweeney.' I done a good job of it, too, I done them lit'l coils onna 's' jus' like you..." Sally's reply is lost under the rumbling clatter as the train rolls up to the platform...)
...

That's some serious brass even for Alice.

...

("Back In Your Own Back Yard.")
...

This could quickly become the judicial version of "Page Four."

...

A break in telephone lines in the Middle West last night silenced radio programs carried into New York over two radio networks from the West Coast. Transmission of Eddie Cantor's program by the National Broadcasting Company from Hollywood over WEAF was interrupted shortly after 9:15, and the line remained broken until 10:25, when local listeners were able to hear the conclusion of the Kay Kyser program. Transmission of Mutual Broadcasting System programs over WOR was also disrupted, but Columbia Broadcasting System features heard locally over WABC suffered no interruption.
...

So effectively, the first coast-to-coast radio broadcasts were carried over telephone lines, the same lines that, a little over fifty years later, would give households their first internet hookups. That little copper wire did a lot, for a lot of years, as it proved amazingly adaptable to new technology.

...

Law-abiding citizens of Brooklyn, declares the Eagle Editorialist, should be pleased by the news that the death verdicts in the cases of Murder Inc. killers Louis "Lepke" Buchhalter, Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss, and Louis Capone for the brutal 1936 racket slaying of Brownsville candy store man Joseph Rosen have been upheld by the Supreme Court, and the three men will soon face execution in Sing Sing's electric chair. "Certainly we cannot conceive of Governor Dewey giving a great deal of time to any new plea for clemency."
...

Good.

And in the Daily News...

Okay then, I guess we have this whole story covered.
...

She's clearly keeping her options opened, but kudos to Page Four for a heck of a good job describing the experience inside the plane. That brings the war right into your living room 1943 style.

...

At least let's hear the records first.
...

As noted yesterday, "amazingly" each doctor diagnosed a condition that helped the legal argument of the side that hired him.

112 Central Park South is an incredibly expensive address - then and now.

...

"Losing your grip? At least you HAD a grip! Some of us never got a grip at all!"
...

Yes, that was a very poor choice of words by Tracy.

...

It's a pity they never got married.
...

Bim does not seem to understand that one of the best things about having money is that you can build a buffer between yourself and people like Henrietta. Buying a bunch of stuff is for the new rich; buying peace of mind is what the smart money does.

...

This is why, after the war, everybody's going to move to suburbia.

Levittown ⇩. It's not that much of an improvement, but there's a little more space between houses.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Huh hah!" chuckles Alice, slapping the paper as she holds it up to Sally as they wait for the train home. "Gettaloada t'is bozo! Rent'n a truck! Whatta amatchoor! I tellya kid, some people innis woil' jus' don' know howta be subtle!" "No," sighs Sally, "I guess not. Hey, now whatcha doin'?" "Lookin' f'ra Joinal-American," replies Alice, as she rummages thru a trash can. "I wanna see if Kilgallen has anyt'ing t'say t'day," "It would'n be inneah today," Sally returns, with a sad shake of her head. "She's prob'ly showin'nat letteh t' her lawryehs foist." "Y'tink so?" chirps Alice. "Nah, f'm what you tol' me, she ain'na type t'go runnin' t' lawyehs. I figgeh she goes moeh f't' direc' approach. Din' she push you down two flightsa staiehs?" "No, she..." groans Sally. "Ahh, skip it." "Hey!" heys Alice, pulling out a crumpled newspaper. "Heah we go -- oh, wait, t'is is t' Woil-Telegram. Hey, you don't know Westbrook Pegleh do ya?"}

The newly organized French Committee of National Liberation today was to consider the question of whether General Henri Honore Giraud will be permitted to continue in command of the French army. Giraud and General Charles de Gaulle, head of the Fighting French, have been named co-chairmen of the Committee, which is to administer all French territories outside France until France itself is liberated. De Gaulle has conceded that French military tradition precludes a ranking member of the government from holding a military command, but Giraud thus far has refused to resign from his post at the head of the army. A dispatch in the London Daily Telegraph asserts that de Gaulle has already declared that he will not permit Fighting French troops to serve under Giraud. Meanwhile, Radio Vichy declared that Chief of Government Pierre Laval will make an "important political statement" tomorrow.

The Soviets shot down another 23 German planes yesterday for a two-day total of 60 in an all-out battle for control of the air over the northern Caucasus, while a seesaw land battle raged below. The total number of Nazi aircraft bagged by Russian gunners and fliers on all fronts since Wednesday to 253.

There is little hope for the recovery of the passenger plane shot down while en route from Lisbon to London on Tuesday, or for the survival of the 13 passengers aboard, including actor Leslie Howard, or the four crew members. The British-chartered Dutch KLM aircraft is reported to have carried rubber dinghys for emergency use, and searchers have been patrolling the Bay of Biscay on the dwindling chance that at least some of the passengers may have been able to deploy the dinghys before the plane sank.

The bus transportation situation in Queens and Nassau County today appeared on the verge of complete upset with the announcement by union officials that a strike action is imminent unless the Office of Defense Transportation modifies its order that service be reduced at least 20 percent. Delegates of the Joint Council of the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway, Electric Railway, and Motor Coach Employees AFL convened at the Hotel Capitol in Manhattan yesterday and resolved to remain in session until relief is forthcoming from the ODT. Legal counsel for the union Leonard Lazarus and union president Al Lewis issued a statement yesterday calling the reduction "intolerable," and warning that under such restrictions as the ODT demands, passengers would face "inhuman conditions."

(I bet Modell will be sore when these records go on sale at Davega!)

(Nah, it'll never catch on.)

("Maybe you should go wake up Prentiss Brown and thank him.")

A uniform system of ceiling prices on cigarettes at all levels are expected to be issued by the Office of Price Administration as soon as final details can be worked out by representatives of the OPA and the tobacco industry. At present, cigarette prices are regulated separately at the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail levels, but it is intended to replace this structure with a single set of regulations governing all phases of the cigarette business. Rumors that the new regulations would bring an increase in the price of cigarettes up to $7 per 1000 have received no comment from the OPA.

("A lotta naaarve that Mr. Southwarth has insooltin' Mr. Fitzsimmons!" huffs Ma Sweeney. "I know Mr. Fitzsimmons paarsonal aand I can testifoy he is a foine gentleman in every way!" "What do ye mean 'every way?'" queries Uncle Frank. "Oh, not *THAT* way, ye old blatherskate," chuckles Ma, swatting Uncle Frank with the rolled-up newspaper. "Boot every toime I bowl at his alley he takes the toime to correct me form." "Noothin' the matter with ye form so farr as oi've noticed," insinuates Uncle Frank. "JOSEPH!" interjects Ma, as Joe and Leonora enter, and Uncle Frank, his face redder than usual, harumphs and adjusts his necktie...)

The powerful Homestead Grays will furnish the opposition on Sunday as the Bushwicks go for their fifteenth and sixteenth consecutive wins in a doubleheader at Dexter Park. The Grays, led by slugging catcher Josh Gibson, will be no pushovers, and appear bound for their seventh Negro National League pennant since the league was organized eight years ago.

(As he shifts from Errol Flynn to Lionel Atwill...)

("Great, they shaved my head for nothing!")

(It's the laundry's number. His shirts are ready.)

(AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG ALWAYS SEES THE BIG PICTURE)

("Seriously, mother, Dutch is my boyfriend on Saturdays and today's only Friday!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

There really needs to be a movie made of this. In Technicolor yet.

#metoo1943

Long ago we saw Hu Shee take care of a guy like this. She ought to crash in thru the window right about.....now.

"That's nice."

I wonder what that creepy doctor is up to now?

Oh please let Henrietta cross social paths with Mama DeStross.

"Time then that we show them our own brand of.." BOOOOOOM "...justice."

"Oh, and is there a quantity discount?"

And not only is that an official notice, it's even copyrighted!

This is what happens when you don't bother to put up the screens.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

(Nah, it'll never catch on.)
...

No kidding. Interesting to see denim featured like this in '43. Odd, then, that when this generation became parents, so many of them saw "denim" or "jeans" as anti-establishment clothes when worn by their kids in the '60s. It's hard to imagine it now, but in the '60s and '70s there was a strong anti-jean bias from "the establishment." Even into the '90s, jeans were not usually worn to nicer restaurants, formal events, etc., like they often are now.

...

("Maybe you should go wake up Prentiss Brown and thank him.")
...

The man has a point.

And in the Daily News...

There really needs to be a movie made of this. In Technicolor yet.
...

Why didn't Peterson bring a camera (or cameraman) with him? That seemed to be how it was done back then: you break in on the lovers, snap a pic of them in lnflagrante delicto and win the divorce suit.

I love that 300-pound Peterson plus ex-boxer Dempsey broke the door frame just by leaning on it.

...

"That's nice."
...

By far the funniest line of the week.

...

Oh please let Henrietta cross social paths with Mama DeStross.
...

This is turning into an 1930s MGM screwball comedy: millionaire buys three social-climbing frenemies a tearoom to run. I picture Norma Shearer, Paulette Goddard and Joan Crawford, but this being Hollywood and MGM, Bim is transformed in Clarke Gable as MGM needs to puts butts in those seats. DeStross is played by Marie Dressler.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Aw, c'mon, honey," pleads Joe, as Leonora shakes her head and squeals her displeasure. "We ain' had no milk since T'oisday! Jus' take a sip, OK?" Leonora scowls and jerks her head away from the approaching glass. "You don' like t' glass, izzat it? Well, don' lookit ME like t'at, it's ya ma says ya ought notta have no bot'l no moeh. She'zaone says it'll make ya teet' crooked, so don' gimme no look like t'at. Jus' take a sip, look heah -- mmmmm, t'at's good, nice fresh milk. It's Renken's! Non'a t'at wawtehed down stuff,t'is is t' real gen-u-ine." Leonora slaps at her tray, jerks her head, and knocks the glass to the floor where it shatters with a sharp crack. "Awwww! Now t'at ain' no way t'be," groans Joe, fending off Stella the Cat as he cleans up the mess. "Awright," he sighs. "You win. I'll give ya a bot'l, but don'cha daeh say nut'n t'ya ma'raboutit. Remembeh, loose lips, an' awlat." Snapping a nipple over the lip of the bottle, Joe presents it to his daughter -- who sneers at the offering. "Awwwwwwww!" Joe moans. "Ya jus' bein'like 'tis t'make trouble, I'm onta ya game. Hones'ly, ya jus' like ya ma sometimes. Now don' gimme t'at look, you know ya jus' doin'is t'get me woun' up! Lookit. It's good milk, awright? Look heeh, I'll take a sip foist, an'nen..." And as Joe raises the nipple to his lips, the door kicks open. "BRUNG T' ICE!" bellows an all-too-familiar voice. "HAW HAW! DON'T WORRY SONNY, AFTEH YA FINISHED, PAPA'LL BOIP YA!")

(What, Kate Smith didn't show up? Not even Margie Hart?)

A 38-year-old Finnish-born waiter who shouted "Heil Hitler! To hell with this country!" at a Rockaway intersection last week has been turned over to the FBI for investigation of his draft status. Gunnar Stenbach pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the charge of disorderly conduct stemming from the incident at the corner of Rockaway Beach Avenue and 110th Street, and yesterday in Long Island City Magistrate's Court, Magistrate Francis X. Giaccone called the defendant a "petty fool," after hearing his explanation that he made the statements under the influence of liquor. "You are more than a fool than wicked," continued the magistrate, "mistaking the howlings of Hitler as the call of love and friendship. You are a mean little offender who came to this country, and no matter what the cause, showed your disloyalty here."

The Eagle Editorialist takes note of a recent police report concerning an escaped monkey rampaging thru Williamsburg for five hours the other day, and of the ingenuity of Patrolman Nathan Banka, who finally captured the monk by luring him with a banana. Even greater ingenuity, though, was shown by the radio patrolman who aided Ptl. Banka by combing the borough until he finally found a banana.

(The Hippocratic Oaf.)

("What's th' matta, son," inquires Coach Clyde Sukeforth, as Kirby Higbe stands with reddened cheeks before his locker. "Gawt anothah telegram, didya?" "Yew bettuh tell that skunk's bee-hind Durochuh," growls Higbe, "that Ol' Hig has had jes' about enougha this. Look heeuh. Says 'I bid ten cents. Signed, A Friend." "Aw, now," shrugs Sukey, "ya know that's not from Leo." "It ain't?" snaps Higbe. "Coss not," chuckles Sukey, slapping the big pitcher on the back. "When you evah heah of Leo givin' out dimes?")

(Aw, c'mon Janie. No review for "Love Life of A Gorilla?")

(This doesn't seem very urbane.)

(WELL DIDNT YOU GET HOME AWFUL FAST.)

("When the shadow of the sundial falls across the horse's neck on Andrew Jackson's statue, that's where you'll find the treasure!" Congratulations, Dan, reading all those Nancy Drew books really paid off.)

(EVERYBODY LOVES AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG!)

(Life is Hell.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Those two-dollar permanents will getcha every time.

"Well, I had to do SOMETHING to earn a living. When my husband died all he left me was a closet full of dresses, and none of them fit!"

Ew.

Andy has always viewed Henrietta as an annoying impediment in his path to the cashier's window.

"HMPH" hmphs Alice, as Sally snickers.

Captain of the All-Serbia Grenade-Tossing Team at the 1936 Olympics.

I still say he's no Eddy Duchin.

"For tomorrow we may..."

BEEFCAKE!

HA! HA! HA!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

OK Boomers...

 

[Fading Fast]

("Aw, c'mon, honey," pleads Joe, as Leonora shakes her head and squeals her displeasure. "We ain' had no milk since T'oisday! Jus' take a sip, OK?" Leonora scowls and jerks her head away from the approaching glass. "You don' like t' glass, izzat it? Well, don' lookit ME like t'at, it's ya ma says ya ought notta have no bot'l no moeh. She'zaone says it'll make ya teet' crooked, so don' gimme no look like t'at. Jus' take a sip, look heah -- mmmmm, t'at's good, nice fresh milk. It's Renken's! Non'a t'at wawtehed down stuff,t'is is t' real gen-u-ine." Leonora slaps at her tray, jerks her head, and knocks the glass to the floor where it shatters with a sharp crack. "Awwww! Now t'at ain' no way t'be," groans Joe, fending off Stella the Cat as he cleans up the mess. "Awright," he sighs. "You win. I'll give ya a bot'l, but don'cha daeh say nut'n t'ya ma'raboutit. Remembeh, loose lips, an' awlat." Snapping a nipple over the lip of the bottle, Joe presents it to his daughter -- who sneers at the offering. "Awwwwwwww!" Joe moans. "Ya jus' bein'like 'tis t'make trouble, I'm onta ya game. Hones'ly, ya jus' like ya ma sometimes. Now don' gimme t'at look, you know ya jus' doin'is t'get me woun' up! Lookit. It's good milk, awright? Look heeh, I'll take a sip foist, an'nen..." And as Joe raises the nipple to his lips, the door kicks open. "BRUNG T' ICE!" bellows an all-too-familiar voice. "HAW HAW! DON'T WORRY SONNY, AFTEH YA FINISHED, PAPA'LL BOIP YA!")
...

...

The Eagle Editorialist takes note of a recent police report concerning an escaped monkey rampaging thru Williamsburg for five hours the other day, and of the ingenuity of Patrolman Nathan Banka, who finally captured the monk by luring him with a banana. Even greater ingenuity, though, was shown by the radio patrolman who aided Ptl. Banka by combing the borough until he finally found a banana.
...

A picture would be nice, but we might have to wait for New York's Picture Newspaper for that.

...

(Aw, c'mon Janie. No review for "Love Life of A Gorilla?")
...

With the distance of eighty years, one can chuckle at Orson Welles' father committing dangerous insurance fraud and Orson just laughing it off.

Those were interesting comments by Garfield. You see some of those challenges in the 1973 movie "Day for Night" as well as in other "inside Hollywood" movies.

And in the Daily News...

Those two-dollar permanents will getcha every time.
...

Even the woman detective, with the two-buck perm, speaks as if she's writing Page Four copy, "wearing a pair of light blue silk pajamas - at least the tops of them. She had the covers pulled up around her, bust-high."

...

HA! HA! HA!

That's harsh. Not that we all haven't thought it as some point, but saying it out loud is being brutal to the little fella.

Oh, and...

OK Boomers...

I get that today's babies could be tomorrow's draftees, but what is the artist saying as for mankind to have any future there have to be babies?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think what the cartoonist is saying there is expressing, rather brutally, the argument that human society is nothing more than an eternal factory for cannon fodder. That may seem like a terribly cynical atttitude for gung-ho 1940s Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition America -- but after the "war to end all wars" turned out to be no such thing, it was actually a pretty common, extremely bitter view among the generation that lived thru both wars. The cartoonist in question is J. D. McCutcheon, lead editorial artist for the News' sister paper, the Chicago Tribune, and had long expressed such views.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("I know it ain' a big cake," apologizes Sally as she rests the product of her morning's labors on the kitchen table, "but it was alla sugeh we had. No room t'put t'oity candles, so we got t'ree onneah." "Naaat soo much efffort t'blow out," chuckles Ma Sweeney, pulling the lid off a take-out container of ice cream and dishing the contents into the waiting stack of plates. "Aw," aws Joe, "t'is is swell. Imagine me bein' t'oity. It ain' half as bad as ya made it out t'be, Sal! I bet I c'd dance ya right arouna flooeh heeh! "Remembeh t'las' time y'tried t'do t'at," warns Sally. "Y'might not feel it yet, but y'will!" "Ahhhhhh, noitz t'tat. Ya as ol' as ya feel, ain'nat right Leonoreh?" "Da OL'" gurgles Leonora as, completely disregarding the proffered spoon, she picks up the entire lump of ice cream from her plate and applies it to her face. "Well, Joseph, blow out ye candles," directs Ma, but just as he is about to do so, Leonora exhales a brisk, ice-cream-dappled gust and completes that task. As the laughter subsides, the door bangs open. "HIYA SLATS!" bellows Alice Dooley. "HAPPY BOIT'DAY!! SORRY I'M LATE! HADDA PICK UP YA PRES'NT!" She thumps a large brown-wrapped parcel down upon the table, to the quizzical expressions of all assembled. "Well, don' jus sit'teah like a fathead," laughs Alice. "Op'n it!" With a shrug, Joe tugs at the greasy twine and unwraps the paper -- to reveal a large greyish slab glistening with fat and salt. "A brisket!" gapes the birthday boy, his mouth falling open with astonishment. "I ain' seen a brisket since las' summeh! Sal! Lookit! It's a brisket!" As Alice grins with satisfaction Sally gives her a nudge. "Wheah," Sally demands, "didja get a brisket?" "Some butcheh shop," dismisses Alice. "Oveh t' -- um -- Dykeh Heights a' someplace, yeah. Whatcha t'ink?" "You musta spent a mont's woit'a ration pernts t'get t'at," whispers Sally, thru a tight grin, as Joe pokes at the slab with a fork and observes its tenderness. "Um, yeah," nods Alice, a bead of sweat glistening above her upper lip. "A mont's woita pernts. Yeah.")

Air operations on the Russian front appeared last night to be approaching new heights of fury, with both the Soviet and German air forces pounding enemy objectives to soften them up in preparation for possible full-scale summer offensives. Moscow dispatches stated that ground operations along the entire front were confined to small, fierce local engagements, which appeared to be of exploratory nature in preparation for heavier fighting.

Vichy France Chief of Government Pierre Laval yesterday announced the formation of the first regiment of a new French army, the first regular armed forces permitted in France since the armistice of June 1940. Laval, speaking over Radio Vichy, hinted that France's part in Axis plans might be taking on greater importance, stating that he, Adolf Hitler, and Italian foreign secretary Giuseppe Bastianni had examined "in all objectivity" France's solidarity with the Axis "in the face of the Bolshevist danger." "It has been established," declared Laval, "that France can remain neither passive nor indifferent. In this she wants to become, and must become, a country freely associated instead of bearing the conditions of a defeated country." Laval defended at length his collaboration with the Axis, but complained that the task of governing France was almost insurmountable because the country is "without an Army, without a fleet, without an empire, and without gold."

In a powerful indictment of Sweden's foreign policy, Professor Sergei Krylov, a noted Soviet authority on international law, yesterday denounced the Swedish government and accused it of seven specific instances of recent pro-Axis activity in violation of that nation's supposed neutral status. Writing in the bimonthly publication "War and the Working Class," an organ of the Soviet trade unions, Prof. Krylov argues that as early as 1941 Sweden violated the fifth Hague Convention prohibiting belligerents from access to neutral countries by allowing the passage of Nazi troops to Finland and the Soviet front, charging that at least three full German divisions were allowed to pass across Swedish territory. He further charged that Swedish authorities allowed the passage of "unlimited flights" of Nazi planes carrying troops and munition across Swedish territory. He asserted also that such violations continued thru 1942, and that they continue to occur today, noting that twenty German troop trains per week travel across Swedish soil on their way to the front.

(Lieb's Candy Store has a big reinforced awning, in case any of Ma's Wednesday night guests should feel the need to step out the window for a little air.)

A Bensonhurst woman was severely injured yesterday when she jumped off the platform of the 69th Street station of the BMT 4th Avenue Line into the path of an oncoming train. Fifty-nine year old Mrs. Angela Schettino of 85 Bay 7th Street had been nervously pacing the platform waiting for the train to arrive, and when it approached the station she tossed her pocketbook onto the tracks, and then leaped from the platform herself. She was dragged 25 feet down the tracks as the train ground to a halt, and members of Emergency Squad 12 were summoned to the scene to extricate her. She was taken to Kings County Hospital with a fractured skull and other injuries. Mrs. Schettino told police she jumped because she was suffering from a nervous breakdown "and didn't want to live."

The Eagle Editorialist takes note of the recent passing, in Pike County, Kentucky, of 85-year-old Ellis Hatfield -- the last surviving combatant in the famous Hatfield-McCoy Feud of sixty years ago. "In the '90s and in the first decade or so of the current century, the Hatfield-McCoy feud was hashed over several times a year in one magazine or another," the EE reflects. "An American public not yet habituated to gore by the movies reveled in the tales of how a Hatfield ambushed a McCoy or vice versa on a lonely mountain trail. It is hard to believe how completely those names have vanished from the knowledge of today's generation. Hatfield means nothing, and McCoy is merely a slang term to signify genuineness."

Reader "Red Stamp" writes in to comment on the recent story of the Rockville Center woman who filed for divorce after her husband threw their roast turkey out the window in a dispute with her brother. "What's she kicking about?" wonders R. S. "Turkey isn't rationed."

Brooklyn draft boards are reported on good authority as preparing to draft married men with children as early as this August. Meanwhile Selective Service authorities are examining a recent canvass of war industries which revealed large numbers of men deferred on occupational grounds who would otherwise be available for military service. It is reported that these men will be drafted "soon" to avoid possible friction when the draft of fathers begins.

(As Kirby Higbe slumps, in his sweat-stained gray uniform, before his locker, his face red, and his fists clenched, the clubhouse boy approaches, proffering a yellow envelope. Upon falling under Mr. Higbe's murderous gaze, the boy gently places the envelope on an equipment trunk and backs slowly away.)

Earliest riser on the Dodgers is Large Louie Newsom. Old Bobo is up with the birds, and teammate Max Macon says he gets up so early so he'll have more time to talk. He was seen the other day gabbing away at breakfast with Kirby Higbe, who was seen to sputter, choke on a piece of toast and glare after Bobo commented, in so many words, that he certainly *could* have won his start against the Reds, given that the Dodgers scored ten runs in that game, had not his wildness driven him off the mound.

Old Timer John P. Pfalzgraff recalls that the Old Tenth Ward had very few "buttinskys" of the type you see everywhere today. "The old warders believed in an open life lived openly," he recalls, "and had nothing to hide"

(How can you tell an OPA administrator is new at his job? He's still smiling!)

The recently lowering of recruiting standards by the Navy means that for the first time toothless recruits will be accepted. Men as short as 5 feet are also now acceptable, as well as men with vision up to one-third subnormal in one eye, men missing a thumb or a forefinger, or parts thereof, and men with uncomplicated cases of gonorrhea.

The coffee shortage is making itself felt in Hollywood. When you see film stars sipping away at steaming cups on screen these days, it isn't coffee at all. It's hot root beer.

(I'm not generally afraid of forest animals, but I make an exception for porucpines. My grand-dogs, alas, do not.)

(Hey! If you're gonna steal my line, at least get it right!)

(That correspondence course from the Matchbook Academy of Hypnotism really paid off.)

(Yes, this is what radio is really like. And one of my aunts had ball lightning come in her kitchen window and burn the floor tiles, so yes, it DOES EXIST.)

(NERTZ TO YOU ERROL! And HAHAH CALLED IT! I read Nancy Drew too!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News....

I imagine they released those bananas in case there are any more rampaging monkeys in Williamsburg.

(After the party, as the brisket simmers on the stove, sending an enticing aroma wafting out the window, Joe and Sally sit on the fire escape in the afternoon sun, gazing into the courtyard below. "We c'd do it," insists Joe. "We c'd put it right oveh t'eah, by t'gawrbage cans. A compos' pile." "Nobody'd notice," nods Sally. "I remembeh when I was a lit'l goil, we hadda kin'ofa compos' pile. Ma'd t'row t'patateh peelin's out't windeh, 'tey'd awl lan' in a heap t'eah. Aftehrawhile, hadda put a fence aroun' it." "Heh," snickers Joe. "Keepin'a goats away." Yeah," nods Sally until she catches the implication. "HEY!" "Good ol' Pigtown," grins Joe.)

I had no idea Tracy was such an alligator.

Obviously Goofy belongs to one of the more modernist denominations.

Yep, there's nothing so refreshing on a summer night than a well-made Molotov cocktail.

You'd think, growing up with Andy Gump for a father, Chester would be just a bit less gullible.

Military intelligence.

Before Walt got married, he was the fussiest Confirmed Bachelor you could ever imagine.

Seriously, Jack -- have you considered psychoanalysis?

Give us a twirl!

 

[Fading Fast]

...

Vichy France Chief of Government Pierre Laval yesterday announced the formation of the first regiment of a new French army, the first regular armed forces permitted in France since the armistice of June 1940. Laval, speaking over Radio Vichy, hinted that France's part in Axis plans might be taking on greater importance, stating that he, Adolf Hitler, and Italian foreign secretary Giuseppe Bastianni had examined "in all objectivity" France's solidarity with the Axis "in the face of the Bolshevist danger." "It has been established," declared Laval, "that France can remain neither passive nor indifferent. In this she wants to become, and must become, a country freely associated instead of bearing the conditions of a defeated country." Laval defended at length his collaboration with the Axis, but complained that the task of governing France was almost insurmountable because the country is "without an Army, without a fleet, without an empire, and without gold."
...

Laval does accomplish one impressive thing, he makes de Gaulle almost tolerable.

...
(Lieb's Candy Store has a big reinforced awning, in case any of Ma's Wednesday night guests should feel the need to step out the window for a little air.)
...

Ma didn't stumble into her success.

...

Brooklyn draft boards are reported on good authority as preparing to draft married men with children as early as this August. Meanwhile Selective Service authorities are examining a recent canvass of war industries which revealed large numbers of men deferred on occupational grounds who would otherwise be available for military service. It is reported that these men will be drafted "soon" to avoid possible friction when the draft of fathers begins.
...

This is not good.

...Upon falling under Mr. Higbe's murderous gaze, the boy gently places the envelope on an equipment trunk and backs slowly away.)
...

...

The recently lowering of recruiting standards by the Navy means that for the first time toothless recruits will be accepted. Men as short as 5 feet are also now acceptable, as well as men with vision up to one-third subnormal in one eye, men missing a thumb or a forefinger, or parts thereof, and men with uncomplicated cases of gonorrhea.
...

And D-Day is still one year, to the day, away.

...

(NERTZ TO YOU ERROL! And HAHAH CALLED IT! I read Nancy Drew too!)

Kudos, spot on call, Lizzie.

I think I've lost the thread of this story as the wife, Star Melrose, is already home, so why is the payoff taking place now? No one pays off a kidnapper who has already returned the victim.

And in the Daily News....

I imagine they released those bananas in case there are any more rampaging monkeys in Williamsburg.
...

Most of these "beauty contest winner goes to Hollywood" stories end pretty soon after the girl arrives, but Jeanne Crain turned her moment into a darn-successful acting career.

...
(After the party, as the brisket simmers on the stove, sending an enticing aroma wafting out the window, Joe and Sally sit on the fire escape in the afternoon sun, gazing into the courtyard below. "We c'd do it," insists Joe. "We c'd put it right oveh t'eah, by t'gawrbage cans. A compos' pile." "Nobody'd notice," nods Sally. "I remembeh when I was a lit'l goil, we hadda kin'ofa compos' pile. Ma'd t'row t'patateh peelin's out't windeh, 'tey'd awl lan' in a heap t'eah. Aftehrawhile, hadda put a fence aroun' it." "Heh," snickers Joe. "Keepin'a goats away." Yeah," nods Sally until she catches the implication. "HEY!" "Good ol' Pigtown," grins Joe.)
...

Joe is Floyd Patterson's spiritual brother.

...

I had no idea Tracy was such an alligator.
...

A version of this story with a boxer not a keyboardist hiding out on a farm, but still with a dogged detective not giving up the pursuit was put on screen twice in the 1930s, first in 1933 in "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" and then in its 1939 remake "They Made Me a Criminal."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sally's old neighborhood, 1923..
.

Several blocks northwest of Rogers & Midwood, but half a world away.

 

[LizzieMaine]

ANother Pigtown view, taken the same day by the same photographer one block north of the previous shot.

You are standing just seven blocks east of Ebbets Field. When you read on the Eagle's Old Timers Page about "the old days when Flatbush was all farmland," they are not that far removed at all. The large building at the right is the back of Peck Memorial Hospital on Crown Street, built in 1918, five years years too late for Sally to have made her debut there. Nothing you see here will exist 100 years later.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Pvt Holmes probably died of embarrassment. Miss Wagner is quite a cool customer. Polite for the patriotic angle yes
but just along for the story ride or so seems. The Malin madame probably contributed to the war effort.
Jeanne Crain I remember for An Apartment for Peggy with William Holden and a very interesting film called Pinky I recall. She played a mullato woman passing for Caucasian and obviously an ice breaker of a movie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Yeah," says Sally as she, Leonora, and Alice walk up 62nd Street toward home. "T'is Sicily t'ing, I mean, we ain' hadda woid f'm Mickey since 'e shipped out. An' Joe's got a good fren', Solly Pincus, was inna Nawrt' Africa fight'n, got wounded 'nawl. He ain' inna Air Cawrps a' nut'n, but y'jus' know t'eah gonna need infantries f'oeh lawng. An'nen tawkin' 'bout draftin fawtehs -- I mean, Joe bein' t'oity'nawl, t'at'll buy'im a lit'l time, but whattif t'ey fin'ly hafta shove'a gun innis han' an' sen'nim oveh t'eah. C'n you imagine Joe? Wit'a gun? He's whatchacawla pacifis'. He don' even like t'use a Flit gun!" "On'y t'ing he eveh shot off," chuckles Alice, "is his mout'." Sally shoots her a look, and Alice respectfully desists. "Ahhhh," sighs Sally, "I wish t'whole t'ing was oveh." Our friends climb the short stone stoop in front of number 1762, and pause in the foyer as Sally fiddles with the mailbox key. "Well," she exhales, pulling out a small stack of envelopes, "nut'n f'm Mickey, nut'n f'm Solly, so...oh, wait, whassis?" Sally reaches deep into the mail niche and pulls out a large brown envelope, crudely rolled to fit in the narrow box. She glances at the return address, and the color drains from her face. "Alice!" she gasps. "Lookit! 'Afteh 5 days retoin t' Hoist Publications..' It's f'm Kilgallen!" "Oooh!" oohs Alice, as Leonora crouches to observe a group of ants emerging from a crack in the base of the wall. "Op'nit up, les'see what she's gotta say!" "Lookattit!" insists Sally, slapping the envelope against her palm. "Does'at look like a letteh t'you? T'is ain' no letteh, t'is is t'kin'a env'lope t'ey use t'sen' OFFICIAL stuff! OFFICIAL papehs! SUMMONSES! LAWRSUITS!" "Awwwww," scoffs Alice, "ya screwy. B'sides, t'ey don't sen'nat stuff aroun' inna mail! A process soiveh comes an' gives'm to ya in poisson! Awra -- um -- sherrif, a' sump'n." "Well howda YOU know 'bout any'a t'at." Oh," mumbles Alice, "I read t'em Ellery Queen books. Ya loin a lot f'm t'ose kin'a books." "Well," maintains Sally, "'s'long as I don' op'n it, I ain' been soived, right? So maybe we'eh jus' gonna jam'meh back up inna mailbox heeh, an' make like we neveh ev'n seenit, right? T'eah! I neveh seen it!" "Awr you sueh t'at's a good ideeh?" queries Alice as the group heads up the stairs. "Whatta you know about good ideehs? growls Sally. "Uhhhhh ohhhhh," pipes Leonora.)

A hot verbal altercation pitting Brooklyn City Councilman Joseph T. Sharkey against Mayor LaGuardia followed the release by the Mayor of a 25-page report criticizing cuts proposed in the Council's 1944 budget, cuts the Mayor has vetoed. In that report, the Mayor denounced the Council for eliminating the jobs of 188 city employees now in the Armed Forces, and for cutting the salaries of 329 others to $1 a year. Councilor Sharkey yesterday responded to this report by accusing the Mayor of using money in the budget to cover the salaries of those employees now in military service for other purposes. He called the "accruals" in the Mayor's budget proposal "just another name for money to play around with, taxpayers' money used to reward favorites who stay at home and split up the salaries of those who are giving their lives to their country." The barrage of words is expected to build to a crescendo by Wednesday or Thursday, when the City Council will convene in special session to vote on whether to override the Mayor's veto of all but about $70,000 of the $10,864,905 in budget cuts approved by the Council's Democratic majority. The deadline for an override vote is Thursday, and Democrats must line up the necessary votes by that time.

Signs multiplied today that the mightiest Allied war machine yet assembled, totalling a million men, amply supported by planes, warships, transports, and assault boats, may be unleashed against the southern coast of Europe within a mere matter of days. The London Daily Herald speculated that General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the U. S. Army, and at last report still in North Africa, would be appointed commander of the invasion forces poised along a 3000-mile stretch of the Mediterranean extending from Morocco to Syria. Quoting suggestions it said had been made in American and British circles, the Herald report further speculated that Gen. Marshall might have as his chief lieutenants Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, present supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean forces, and Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander, present commander of Allied ground forces in the North African theatre. The general belief that the Allied forces will strike "momentarily" is supported by a report from the Spanish border town of La Linea that Gibraltar Harbor is now virtually empty of war and merchant ships following a large-scale movement of hundreds of vessels such as prefigured the Anglo-American landings in North Africa last November.

Soviet bombers left fires burning on German airfields across the Donets front last night in the latest of their steady blows against the Nazi air arm, a campaign that has cost the Germans 2821 planes over the past five weeks. 752 of those planes were destroyed over just the past week.

("PUT OUT THAT CIGARETTE! DON'CHA KNOW IT'S A BLACKOUT!?")

Mary E. writes in to Helen Worth to ask if, is it just her, or are young people today selfish, rude, and insolent? Helen agrees, and suggests that adults are partially to blame for displaying an "indulgent attitude" toward such behavior, and suggests instead that adults encountering such youths should respond with "some straight from the shoulder talk, some outspoken comment." She acknowledges that responding in this way is lilkely to bring "a surly and resentful reply," but on the other hand, "perhaps a valuable lesson might be learned."

("He must have the personality of Macdonald Carey, the dancing ability of Fred Astaire, and the sense of humor of Walter Pidgeon." Well, that's a bit specific isn't it? )

In Newark, a small boy was standing by on a street corner with his dog yesterday, watching six circus elephants being led to a train, when he was struck by an impulse. "Sic 'em!" called the boy, and the dog sprang into action. Result, five full-grown Indian elephants stampeding away, led by 9-year-old, 2 1/2 ton Amherst. Attendants from the Gilbert Brothers circus set out in pursuit, as did the boy and the dog. The elephants were finally rounded up, and the boy and the dog sent away, when a train rumbled past, causing Amherst to bolt again. He was finally secured to a telegraph pole until he could be safely loaded on his car.

("Did you think of iodine?" "Oh no, I'm not THAT discouraged.")

(The only reason Fitz could have been left off that list is that all concerned realize that there is no amount of money on earth that could buy him.)

(You didn't think any of this thru, did you?)

(Never mind Steve, that sweater or whatever it is a fashion crime!)

("No one will notice me in this inconspicuous suit!")

("Wait, didn't I read about you in a book? Aren't we supposed to paint a fence first?")

(Middle age spread happens everywhere, even your fingers.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

What, you don't have a SINGLE PHOTOGRAPHER in Newark???

Y'know, Elizabeth Hawes will have a new book out soon. Allayez should read it.

I really can't WAIT for Henrietta and Mama DeStross to go at it.

"Hmm, the entire page has nothing but FLIP FLIP FLIP FLIP! That's it! You're a GYMNAST!"

THEY SAW ME AND JUMPED! I AM VERY FIERCE! ARF!

Well, that didn't take long. Maybe hand out some autographs now.

The coming trend in family living is "togetherness."

C'mon, you eggs -- it's double overtime!

"A writer! Harold warned me about writers!"

Mice are well known for their rigid performance of conventional gender roles.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Yeah," says Sally as she, Leonora, and Alice walk up 62nd Street toward home. "T'is Sicily t'ing, I mean, we ain' hadda woid f'm Mickey since 'e shipped out. An' Joe's got a good fren', Solly Pincus, was inna Nawrt' Africa fight'n, got wounded 'nawl. He ain' inna Air Cawrps a' nut'n, but y'jus' know t'eah gonna need infantries f'oeh lawng. An'nen tawkin' 'bout draftin fawtehs -- I mean, Joe bein' t'oity'nawl, t'at'll buy'im a lit'l time, but whattif t'ey fin'ly hafta shove'a gun innis han' an' sen'nim oveh t'eah. C'n you imagine Joe? Wit'a gun? He's whatchacawla pacifis'. He don' even like t'use a Flit gun!" "On'y t'ing he eveh shot off," chuckles Alice, "is his mout'." Sally shoots her a look, and Alice respectfully desists. "Ahhhh," sighs Sally, "I wish t'whole t'ing was oveh." Our friends climb the short stone stoop in front of number 1762, and pause in the foyer as Sally fiddles with the mailbox key. "Well," she exhales, pulling out a small stack of envelopes, "nut'n f'm Mickey, nut'n f'm Solly, so...oh, wait, whassis?" Sally reaches deep into the mail niche and pulls out a large brown envelope, crudely rolled to fit in the narrow box. She glances at the return address, and the color drains from her face. "Alice!" she gasps. "Lookit! 'Afteh 5 days retoin t' Hoist Publications..' It's f'm Kilgallen!" "Oooh!" oohs Alice, as Leonora crouches to observe a group of ants emerging from a crack in the base of the wall. "Op'nit up, les'see what she's gotta say!" "Lookattit!" insists Sally, slapping the envelope against her palm. "Does'at look like a letteh t'you? T'is ain' no letteh, t'is is t'kin'a env'lope t'ey use t'sen' OFFICIAL stuff! OFFICIAL papehs! SUMMONSES! LAWRSUITS!" "Awwwww," scoffs Alice, "ya screwy. B'sides, t'ey don't sen'nat stuff aroun' inna mail! A process soiveh comes an' gives'm to ya in poisson! Awra -- um -- sherrif, a' sump'n." "Well howda YOU know 'bout any'a t'at." Oh," mumbles Alice, "I read t'em Ellery Queen books. Ya loin a lot f'm t'ose kin'a books." "Well," maintains Sally, "'s'long as I don' op'n it, I ain' been soived, right? So maybe we'eh jus' gonna jam'meh back up inna mailbox heeh, an' make like we neveh ev'n seenit, right? T'eah! I neveh seen it!" "Awr you sueh t'at's a good ideeh?" queries Alice as the group heads up the stairs. "Whatta you know about good ideehs? growls Sally. "Uhhhhh ohhhhh," pipes Leonora.)
...

Open it!

...

A hot verbal altercation pitting Brooklyn City Councilman Joseph T. Sharkey against Mayor LaGuardia followed the release by the Mayor of a 25-page report criticizing cuts proposed in the Council's 1944 budget, cuts the Mayor has vetoed. In that report, the Mayor denounced the Council for eliminating the jobs of 188 city employees now in the Armed Forces, and for cutting the salaries of 329 others to $1 a year. Councilor Sharkey yesterday responded to this report by accusing the Mayor of using money in the budget to cover the salaries of those employees now in military service for other purposes. He called the "accruals" in the Mayor's budget proposal "just another name for money to play around with, taxpayers' money used to reward favorites who stay at home and split up the salaries of those who are giving their lives to their country." The barrage of words is expected to build to a crescendo by Wednesday or Thursday, when the City Council will convene in special session to vote on whether to override the Mayor's veto of all but about $70,000 of the $10,864,905 in budget cuts approved by the Council's Democratic majority. The deadline for an override vote is Thursday, and Democrats must line up the necessary votes by that time.
...

Those are some not-pretty charges against Butch. It will be interesting to hear his rebuttal.

...

Mary E. writes in to Helen Worth to ask if, is it just her, or are young people today selfish, rude, and insolent? Helen agrees, and suggests that adults are partially to blame for displaying an "indulgent attitude" toward such behavior, and suggests instead that adults encountering such youths should respond with "some straight from the shoulder talk, some outspoken comment." She acknowledges that responding in this way is lilkely to bring "a surly and resentful reply," but on the other hand, "perhaps a valuable lesson might be learned."
...

Sure, a harangue from a stranger is really going to change behaviors established over an entire childhood. Helen is normally smarter than this; this sounds like the type of stupid advice Dr. Brady would give.

...

("No one will notice me in this inconspicuous suit!")
...

I have to say it again, nobody pays a ransom when the kidnaped person has already been returned safely.

At least in comicstrip land, loud men's suits clearly had a following in the 1940s.

And in the Daily News...

What, you don't have a SINGLE PHOTOGRAPHER in Newark???
...

And Newark was still a nice and important city back then.

...

THEY SAW ME AND JUMPED! I AM VERY FIERCE! ARF!
...

"Tell that stunt dog not to be so careful and to get much closer to the edge so that I look fearless!"
"Do you even hear yourself?"

...

C'mon, you eggs -- it's double overtime!
...

King's war strips are just outstanding. He's doing his research. It's very cool that he put Skezix in ordinance and not just general infantry.