The Era -- Day By Day

[3fingers]

Hard to remember, but until direct deposit became commonplace in the '90s, getting your paycheck cashed was a genuine hassle.

I know that is true in urban areas but here in the puckerbrush everybody from grocery stores to taverns cashed company paychecks in those days with no vig if you were a customer. Things like this were an upside to living in a non metro area.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Reports from London citing sources in Stockholm say that Finnish authorities have authorized their delegation in Moscow to sign a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The report states that the document will be signed today or tomorrow, at which time all hostilities will cease. As of 1:40 pm today Brooklyn time, it has not been confirmed that the treaty has yet been signed, but there are reports that there will be a secret session of the Finnish Parliament later tonight or tomorrow. The consensus among knowledgeable authorities is that an "honorable peace" is in the immediate offing.

Ground is expected to be broken for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel within the next forty days, with the New York Transit Authority announcing that the first shaft for the 10,000 foot double tube will be sunk near the end of Hamilton Avenue. Borough President John Cashmore, in his first significant achievement since taking office, declared that plans for the $11,000,000 Brooklyn approach and necessary realignment of streets will move forward in high gear following conferences with Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Mayor LaGuardia. Construction contracts will be advertised for a two week period as required by law as soon as the funds for the project are formally released, with a week to follow for review of the bids. Another week will be allocated for the successful bidder to assemble workers and materials for the project, and then construction will begin.

("If that Otto guy's lookin' for a wife," observes Joe, "I think he's lookin' in the wrong place." And Sally adds, "He ain't gonna get very far slouchin' like that. He oughta take posture lessons, like Maizie Goober.")

Nominating petitions entering former Alderman Louis E. Isnardi and former Republican 16th Assembly District Co-leader Isabel C. Shults in the upcoming primary election in the 16th A. D. have been thrown out by the Board of Elections on grounds that they included forged signatures, and the Board has asked Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer to mount a criminal investigation. Current 16th A. D. Republican Leader Thomas G. Parisi, and his running mate Mrs. Ethel Gold, who are seeking reelection, filed a complaint challenging the petitions before the Board, which upon investigation concluded that all but 506 of the 1,977 signatures submitted were forgeries. Isnardi argued before the board that the challenged signatures are mostly instances of wives signing on behalf of husbands, and that even if all the challenged signatures are rejected, the 506 remaining are still 156 more than the 350 required to qualify for a place on the ballot.

Ernest Walter Kehler faces up to twenty years in prison after his conviction on manslaughter charges in connection with the December beating death of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engelberg. An all-male Brooklyn jury found Kehler, who fought as an amateur boxer under the name of Ernie Haas, guilty of first-degree manslaughter shortly before midnight last night after more than six hours deliberation. Judge Peter Brancato, in charging the jury, dismissed Kehler's statement that he was drunk when he signed an eighteen page confession in Toronto after the killing, and called the case a "clever, shrewd murder." Prosecutor Burton Turkus fought for a first-degree murder conviction, but defense attorney Leo Healy called the case "justifiable homicide" based on Kehler's claim that he killed the German after Engelberg made "indecent advances" toward him.

(Even Dr. Seuss gets in on the act!)

A Jamacia woman who claimed she was pressed into service as a fortune teller in a Gypsy tea room after the real fortune teller failed to show up for work was found guilty of disorderly conduct charges in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court. 47-year-old Mrs. Anna Burke told Magistrate John Masterson that she worked as a waitress in the establishment, and when the regular fortune-teller called in sick, she was asked to take over for the night. Policewoman Morrice Baer entered the tea room and ordered tea and cake, and the defendent then told her fortune using a deck of cards, telling her she was having trouble with a "dark man," and would soon end up in court. Noting that Mrs. Burke had no prior record, the Magistrate suspended sentence, and advised her to throw her cards away.

The nation's first presidential primary of 1940 takes place today in New Hampshire, and foes of a third term for President Roosevelt are bucking a well-organized slate of delegates in favor of keeping the President on the job. Among the oppsition delegates are those favoring Postmaster General James Farley and Vice President John Garner. The President is assured of receiving at least five of the twelve delegates to be awarded in the election, with three delegates as yet unpledged to any candidate.

M. M. writes to Helen Worth to say that she and her husband want to adopt a baby girl, as young as possible, and would prefer to have everything all taken care of before Summer, since they have just built a beautiful new summer home and all they need is a baby to make it complete. They've tried the adoption agencies and have been told they'll have to go on a waiting list, and that just won't do. Helen says, with remarkable restraint, that they should check with Brooklyn's own Talbot-Perkins Adoption Society, which, she hears, always has plenty of very nice babies available.

("Some soap," snorts Sally. "Didn't even take her makeup off.")

If you want some fun, head into The City tomorrow night to see Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour opening at the Times Square Paramount in "Road To Singapore." The stage show is something too, with Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra and Red Skelton sharing top honors. Hope Skelton does that donut-dunking bit. And Dorsey has that skinny kid Sinatra doing vocals. And Buddy Rich on drums. And Bunny Berigan on trumpet. If he's sober.

Dolph Camilli denies insinuations by Eagle Dodger beat reporter Tommy Holmes that he's deliberately trying to "shirk spring training" by his extended holdout. Camilli says he's been working all winter on his 1700-acre farm in California, and he has the callused hands and rock-hard muscles to prove it. And, he declares, he hasn't got an ounce of fat on him. The slugging first sacker insists that he'll settle with Larry MacPhail on the spot for $15,000 and the cost of bringing his family east for the baseball season. MacPhail is said to be lagging on the transportation bill.

Meanwhile, outfielder Dixie Walker announced the end of his own holdout by declaring that "Mr. MacPhail and I got together today and won the pennant." Walker, who impressed in part-time duty with the Dodgers last summer after being waived out of the American League, didn't disclose his terms, but likely took a cut in salary. He will, however, likely have incentive bonus clauses that could bring him back up to his previous pay level if he performs well in 1940.

A "Celebrity Minstrel Show" broadcast tonight will feature J. C. Flippen as Interlocutor, cartoonist Ham Fisher and illustrator James Montgomery Flagg as end men, and a vocal quartet made up of NBC announcers Graham McNamee, Harry Von Zell, Howard Petrie, and Milton Cross. Others in the minstrel chorus will include Sammy Kaye, Nat Shilkret, Ezra Stone, Clement Wood, and Will Bradley. Hear it all at 930pm over WJZ.

He's going to beat you up, George, steal your wallet, watch, and car, and leave you wandering in the woods, where you will eventually be eaten by a bear. And frankly, this is better than what you'll get from Jo.

Murderer, extortionist, MILK RACKETEER! "I tol' ya," mumbles Bill thru a shattered jaw, "we shoulda bought from Renken's."

"Zounds?" Who's he think he is, William Dudley Pelley?

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

I used to cover trials myself, and I can't remember a single one where the judge, in charging the jury, ever called a defendant "a cheap bum."

Three more days to do your taxes!

And I appreciate cup custard!

See, Annie *does* go to school!

Chief Brandon is sore because he never got that damn suitcase.

Hahahaha at Bim in panel two. A look of sheer unadulterated panic.

Milton Caniff is such an outstanding artist that even when he's dealing in racial caricatures he makes them individual and expressive. Look at the expression on that kid in the second panel.

Seriously though, Skeezix. The guy's name is "Moochby."

I may be wrong, but I think Harold just got a job with Alexander Woollcott.

"Of all the dismal dopes!"

 

[Fading Fast]

...Ground is expected to be broken for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel within the next forty days, with the New York Transit Authority announcing that the first shaft for the 10,000 foot double tube will be sunk near the end of Hamilton Avenue. Borough President John Cashmore, in his first significant achievement since taking office, declared that plans for the $11,000,000 Brooklyn approach and necessary realignment of streets will move forward in high gear following conferences with Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Mayor LaGuardia. Construction contracts will be advertised for a two week period as required by law as soon as the funds for the project are formally released, with a week to follow for review of the bids. Another week will be allocated for the successful bidder to assemble workers and materials for the project, and then construction will begin....

Are they kidding? Two-week bid-submission period, one-week bid-review period and a week (one week!) for the winning bidder to start work - what planet is this project taking place on? Today, every single one of those steps would take over a year - yes, at least a year, not months. To be sure, we have better and necessary safety, risk and environmental rules and regs today that slow it down, but while a week is too fast (it is), the three-plus years (probably five to ten after all the law suits from every "special interest" group worked their way through the courts) it would take today shows something isn't working.

...
("If that Otto guy's lookin' for a wife," observes Joe, "I think he's lookin' in the wrong place." And Sally adds, "He ain't gonna get very far slouchin' like that. He oughta take posture lessons, like Maizie Goober.")...

"Archduke Otto, pretender to the non-existent throne of Austria "

Kaboom, The Eagle took the gloves off writing this caption, didn't it?

...Ernest Walter Kehler faces up to twenty years in prison after his conviction on manslaughter charges in connection with the December beating death of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engelberg. An all-male Brooklyn jury found Kehler, who fought as an amateur boxer under the name of Ernie Haas, guilty of first-degree manslaughter shortly before midnight last night after more than six hours deliberation. Judge Peter Brancato, in charging the jury, dismissed Kehler's statement that he was drunk when he signed an eighteen page confession in Toronto after the killing, and called the case a "clever, shrewd murder." Prosecutor Burton Turkus fought for a first-degree murder conviction, but defense attorney Leo Healy called the case "justifiable homicide" based on Kehler's claim that he killed the German after Engelberg made "indecent advances" toward him....

1940 code-era movies would have to whitewash too much out of this to make a real movie, but if it happened today, some cable channel would have one out in a month or two. You got nazis, world on the brink of war, German consular secretary killed by a married (to pretty Canadian wife) boxer in America in, what appears to be, some sort of homosexual tryst - plenty of raw material for a movie there.

... View attachment 219671
(Even Dr. Seuss gets in on the act!)...

...A Jamacia woman who claimed she was pressed into service as a fortune teller in a Gypsy tea room after the real fortune teller failed to show up for work was found guilty of disorderly conduct charges in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court. 47-year-old Mrs. Anna Burke told Magistrate John Masterson that she worked as a waitress in the establishment, and when the regular fortune-teller called in sick, she was asked to take over for the night. Policewoman Morrice Baer entered the tea room and ordered tea and cake, and the defendent then told her fortune using a deck of cards, telling her she was having trouble with a "dark man," and would soon end up in court. Noting that Mrs. Burke had no prior record, the Magistrate suspended sentence, and advised her to throw her cards away....

8pm that night at the home of the Burkes
Mr. Burke: How was your shift today dear?
Mrs. Burke: The fortune teller didn't show up so they forced me to tell fortunes and I got arrested but the judge suspended my sentence since I was a first time offender.
Mr. Burke: Uh-huh, so, really, how was your shift dear?
Mrs. Burke: (sigh) Fine, a bit long.
Mr. Burke: Do we have any beer?

...
("Some soap," snorts Sally. "Didn't even take her makeup off.")...

The Boys misfired on this one as those pics (even discounting for newspaper ink) do not come close to doing her girl-next-door-glowing beautiful skin justice.

...If you want some fun, head into The City tomorrow night to see Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour opening at the Times Square Paramount in "Road To Singapore." The stage show is something too, with Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra and Red Skelton sharing top honors. Hope Skelton does that donut-dunking bit. And Dorsey has that skinny kid Sinatra doing vocals. And Buddy Rich on drums. And Bunny Berigan on trumpet. If he's sober....?

I'm marking down this day so that when I perfect my time machine, I catch this as that an incredible live show and "Road to Singapore" is one of the better "Road Trip" movies.

... Murderer, extortionist, MILK RACKETEER! "I tol' ya," mumbles Bill thru a shattered jaw, "we shoulda bought from Renken's."...

Boy, that brings a lot of '40-era stuff together with milk (for God's sake), again, playing a central role.

Also, "Taste this," "Um, how 'bout you just tell me why it's bad?"

...
"Zounds?" Who's he think he is, William Dudley Pelley?

Or the average low-level boss when something minor doesn't go his or her way.

... View attachment 219677
I used to cover trials myself, and I can't remember a single one where the judge, in charging the jury, ever called a defendant "a cheap bum."...

Or the victim a "depraved man" I assume?

...
And I appreciate cup custard!..."

I live 20 blocks from the last H&H to close in the city (I use to go); if it was still there, I'd be walking down to get a cup custard today. Custard is one of those Golden Era things whose drop off in popularity I lament - you see it all the time on the menus of everything from diners to fancy restaurants back then.

...
See, Annie *does* go to school!...

...
Chief Brandon is sore because he never got that damn suitcase....

...
Milton Caniff is such an outstanding artist that even when he's dealing in racial caricatures he makes them individual and expressive. Look at the expression on that kid in the second panel....

Agreed, the artistic sill in this one and Mary Worth (and a few others, like LOA) is incredible.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was rather surprised at those predictions for starting the tunnel, especially with the severe late-winter weather 1940 has been having lately. But with Nick Gatt in charge of awarding contracts, I'm sure everything will go forward on schedule.

Shocking to see that level of snide from the good gray Eagle. The News, definitely, but Mr. Schroth is usually much more dignified than that, but after that "Here Are Some More Giants To Boo" headline last week, I guess cabin fever is getting to everybody.

I'm surprised I'd never heard of the Engelberg killing until it came up here, and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more examination from modern historians. I'd be very interested in reading the trial transcript.

I really look forward to these B-Q Night Court stories. Somebody ought to do a sitcom.

You'd think Mary would have tasted or at least smelled of that milk before serving it to a toddler. Clearly her maternal skills are rusty.

Cup custard was one of the real joys of my childhood, and I don't think I've ever recovered from Jell-O discontinuing its instant custard mix.

That show at the Paramount has its first performance at 9 am, and runs continuously till 11. That's four performances a day. Three-a-day was considered a rough haul in the golden age of vaudeville, and only acts on the way up or on the way down worked a schedule like that. Now, in 1940, it's a four-a-day grind schedule for top name talent. Somehow that doesn't seem right.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fighting between Finland and the Soviet Union has come to an end, with a formal cease fire taking effect at 11 AM local time (4 AM Brooklyn time). A treaty was signed between the two nations in Moscow at 2:30 AM Moscow time. The document redefines the Finnish-Russian border, ceding the Korelian Peninsula, including the city of Viipuri to Russian control, along with territory along the border of Lake Lagoda, part of Rybachi and the Sredini Peninsulas, and several small islands in the Gulf of Finland, along with the leasing of space at Hanko for a Russian naval base for a duration of thirty years. Finland will retain control of Petsamo, but will permit free passage thru that port of goods bound for Russian ports. The Finns have also agreed to allow construction of a Russian railroad link between Kandalaksha and Kemijaervi. The treaty also pledges the two nations to refrain from further attacks against each other, and to avoid future alliances or coalitions directed against each other.

In announcing the surrender in a broadcast, Finnish Foreign Minister Vanno Tanner declared that the outcome of the war was the result of a lack of support "by our fellow democracies." Nazi Germany agreed with this conclusion, with the German press today calling the result of the war "a defeat for the Allied Powers." Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Soviet press called the Finnish surrender the "greatest defeat for Great Britain in a century," and declared that the treaty with Finland ensures the security of the city of Leningrad from "invasion by any power over land or sea."

In Brooklyn's "Little Finland" today, the mood ranges from relief to resignation to anger, as news of the surrender spread. Residents of the Finnish-American neighborhood clustered around 6th, 7th, and 8th streets in the 40s followed the news during the day by radio, gathering in stores, taverns, homes, and around cars, to hear the story unfold.

Twenty-five of forty-two defendants charged in connection with a massive bootlegging operation based in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey have pleaded guilty ahead of their trials, convened today in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The defendants are accused of complicity in the operation of six illegal distilleries between 1937 and April 1939, an operation which produced between one thousand and two thousand gallons of illegal alcohol before Federal agents shut down the ring.

With Chester A. Duryea, confined to a mental institution since the 1914 murder of his father, returning to Brooklyn today for the first time in more than a quarter of a century, police have discovered that the guns he used to kill General Hiram Duryea are missing from the property clerk's file room at Manhattan Police Headquarters. The automatic pistol and the Colt revolver used in the shooting may have been lost when all property clerks' offices were transferred to a single main office about ten years ago. Or, police theorize, the guns might have been among a large quanitiy of impounded property stolen from the department in 1919 by the then-Brooklyn property clerk, who was subsequently tried and convicted for the thefts. Whatever the fate of the guns, their disappearance adds a further complication to any possible trial for Duryea, following the declaration that he is legally sane.

There's J. P. Morgan, the Wall Street king, and there's J. P. Morgan the oil-burner salesman from Glendale -- and they're locked in conflict over the right to use the name "J. P. Morgan & Company, Inc." Brooklyn's Morgan has been using that name for his company since 1933, but the recent move by the Wall Street Morgan's firm to incorporate has led to unexpected complications for both organizations. A bill is now pending in Albany to allow two unrelated corporations to use the same name, but Brooklyn's Morgan has no use for that, demanding sole right to the name. He says he has control of an oil burner patent which will "revolutionize the whole industry," and sees the history and goodwill attached to his use of his company's name as an important asset. Mr. Morgan of Glendale says the Wall Street firm can talk to his lawyer if they want, and that he has no objection to their calling themselves "J. P. Morgan & Company, Inc. Bank."

A 45-year-old Queens woman faces charges that she used two of her sons to case wealthy homes for burglaries. Mrs. Nellie Schaefer was arraigned in Queens Felony Court in connection with a scheme that sent the two boys, aged 13 and 14, from door to door in well-to-do neighborhoods selling bouquets of pussy willows they'd harvested from swamps near the Schaefer home on Little Neck Parkway. While in the neighborhoods, the charges allege, the boys would look for residences where no one was at home, and would force entry, stealing jewelry and other valuables to bring home to their mother, who then disposed of the stolen goods for cash. The boys have been remanded to the Queens Childrens' Society pending their own trials in Juvenile Court.

("Hey, Joe, we oughta go. I hear this is a swell pitcha!" And Joe shifts his feet in the oven and says "Neh. I hate goin' to the Metrapallatan. They look atcha funny if ya ain't got a tie on. B'sides, the Patio's got them fish in the lobby to look at if you get tired of the pitcha. Yeahhhh, I love them fish.")

Do you get the feeling that Mr. Lichty has some sort of trouble with his taxes?

The Dodgers topped the Tigers in Clearwater yesterday 9 to 5, but the real story of the game was Whit Wyatt's strong pitching performance over the final three innings. The powerful righty still limps a bit when he walks, but his knee seemed to give no trouble on the mound, as Wyatt scattered four hits while giving up one run. Pete Coscarart, who's been sidelined by a case of the flu, made two outstanding plays at second base in his first game appearance of the spring. ("IT'S ABOUT TIME!" bellows Sally.)

The Rangers' quest for a first-place finish is over in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins needing just one more point over the next two games to clinch the Prince of Wales Trophy for the second straight year. The B's edged out the Blueshirts last night 2 to 1, putting an effective end to the nip-and-tuck race for first place.

Boobs In The Woods.

Ah, Louie Bonetti. Such a subtle guy.

Far be it from me to pick nits, but doncha think a spectacular megalomaniac like our hooded friend here would have come up with a more imaginative and more intimidating name than "The Black Hoods?" I dunno, SONS OF THE SHROUDED HOARDE or something. Anything. Work harder, Marsh.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Guaranteed Kerosene-Free!

When presidential primaries didn't even show up till page 31. And does Sen. Bridges talk out of the other side of his mouth too, or is it just that one?

Nothing actually happens here, but it's positively chilling. Mr. Gray is a master of atmosphere.

Not that I would ever tell Tracy how to do his job, but shouldn't you be introducing the young lady to a psychiatrist? Unless you're working as a booking agent on the side, and can't keep your eyes off that ten percent for getting her this gig.

And that's why freelance adventurers make lousy trade negotiators.

Actually, I see Bim as more of a weak infield fly.

If Skeezix went into a Gypsy Tea Room and got his fortune told, and found out than six years from now he and Wilmer will be business partners, it might change the future course of his life. But Skeezix is, unfortunately, too smart to waste his money in Gypsy Tea Rooms.

Y'know, the saving grace of these two poor souls is that deep down they really do love each other. They just don't know why.

"So I ain't neat!" A Jerry Colonna radio catchphrase makes it into the strip for the first time. No doubt Harold will soon be sent off on a quest to learn just "who's Yehudi?"

 

[Fading Fast]

...Twenty-five of forty-two defendants charged in connection with a massive bootlegging operation based in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey have pleaded guilty ahead of their trials, convened today in Brooklyn Supreme Court. The defendants are accused of complicity in the operation of six illegal distilleries between 1937 and April 1939, an operation which produced between one thousand and two thousand gallons of illegal alcohol before Federal agents shut down the ring.....

Isn't this story a decade too late? Okay, kidding aside, I guess it was a tax avoidance scheme, but with prohibition over, this sounds so timewarpy.

...There's J. P. Morgan, the Wall Street king, and there's J. P. Morgan the oil-burner salesman from Glendale -- and they're locked in conflict over the right to use the name "J. P. Morgan & Company, Inc." Brooklyn's Morgan has been using that name for his company since 1933, but the recent move by the Wall Street Morgan's firm to incorporate has led to unexpected complications for both organizations. A bill is now pending in Albany to allow two unrelated corporations to use the same name, but Brooklyn's Morgan has no use for that, demanding sole right to the name. He says he has control of an oil burner patent which will "revolutionize the whole industry," and sees the history and goodwill attached to his use of his company's name as an important asset. Mr. Morgan of Glendale says the Wall Street firm can talk to his lawyer if they want, and that he has no objection to their calling themselves "J. P. Morgan & Company, Inc. Bank."....

This story has potential, but I fear Morgan's (the banker) money will buy it to a swift end either with a legal victory (via payoffs and/or high-priced lawyers) or enough cash to convince Morgan (the oil burner salesman) to sell the name.

...A 45-year-old Queens woman faces charges that she used two of her sons to case wealthy homes for burglaries. Mrs. Nellie Schaefer was arraigned in Queens Felony Court in connection with a scheme that sent the two boys, aged 13 and 14, from door to door in well-to-do neighborhoods selling bouquets of pussy willows they'd harvested from swamps near the Schaefer home on Little Neck Parkway. While in the neighborhoods, the charges allege, the boys would look for residences where no one was at home, and would force entry, stealing jewelry and other valuables to bring home to their mother, who then disposed of the stolen goods for cash. The boys have been remanded to the Queens Childrens' Society pending their own trials in Juvenile Court.....

Jewelry seemed to play a bigger part in crime in the '30s and '40s than it does today.

...[
("Hey, Joe, we oughta go. I hear this is a swell pitcha!" And Joe shifts his feet in the oven and says "Neh. I hate goin' to the Metrapallatan. They look atcha funny if ya ain't got a tie on. B'sides, the Patio's got them fish in the lobby to look at if you get tired of the pitcha. Yeahhhh, I love them fish.")....

One of my favorite "quiet" movies - good simply story, good solid acting, nice feel, but not too schmaltzy, and an incredible cast. Better than the 1990's rework of it as "You've Got Mail." "So, sorry Joe, put the tie on and let's go." "It ain't no weddin' or funeral." "Tie on, we're going."


And how's this, Dolores Del Rio came by her name from marriage not the Hollywood studio system: either way, what a fantastic name.

...
Do you get the feeling that Mr. Lichty has some sort of trouble with his taxes?...

Yes, but what an illustrator. Reminds me of Denys Wortman's work:

...[ Ah, Louie Bonetti. Such a subtle guy....

What I'm struggling with is believability - Bonetti could easily just kill Leona; that would be just another day at the office for him. We noted it yesterday, the artistry in MW is impressive.

... View attachment 219876 Far be it from me to pick nits, but doncha think a spectacular megalomaniac like our hooded friend here would have come up with a more imaginative and more intimidating name than "The Black Hoods?" I dunno, SONS OF THE SHROUDED HOARDE or something. Anything. Work harder, Marsh.

. Also, he seems to be alone and that get-up with the hood looks hot, you'd think he'd take it off when in private.

...
View attachment 219877
Guaranteed Kerosene-Free!...

Had the same exact thought. It is amazing how much more important milk was to "the story" of the '40s.

...
Nothing actually happens here, but it's positively chilling. Mr. Gray is a master of atmosphere....

Agreed, powerful story telling by using all that the format offers.

... Not that I would ever tell Tracy how to do his job, but shouldn't you be introducing the young lady to a psychiatrist? Unless you're working as a booking agent on the side, and can't keep your eyes off that ten percent for getting her this gig....

After the serum-baby incident, you should be telling Tracy how to do his job. And, yes, bringing the amnesiac to a nightclub is several degrees of stupid.

...[ And that's why freelance adventurers make lousy trade negotiators....

Scale, scale, scale: either April's shrinking or Pat (of the bangs) is growing.

... If Skeezix went into a Gypsy Tea Room and got his fortune told, and found out than six years from now he and Wilmer will be business partners, it might change the future course of his life. But Skeezix is, unfortunately, too smart to waste his money in Gypsy Tea Rooms....

It's interesting how often the plots of this and Harold Teen keep overlapping. And another different but impressive illustrative style.

... Y'know, the saving grace of these two poor souls is that deep down they really do love each other. They just don't know why....

And there you have the secret to many a successful marriage that makes no sense to anyone other than the two people that matter.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was fascinated as a kid by George Lichty's art style -- "Grin and Bear It" was a regular feature in our local paper, and even if I didn't get all the jokes at that age, I enjoyed how loose and light his drawings were. Notice how rarely he uses a straight line in constructing his characters -- which gives them the energy of motion even when they aren't actually moving. I used to try to draw like that, but I never could do it without smearing the ink.

Carl Ed and Frank King were friends and colleagues at the Chicago Tribune, and started their strips within a year of each other -- they even shared the same assistant for a while. But while it took seventeen years for Harold to age from 17 to 18, Skeezix aged in real time from infancy. Both graduated from high school in 1939, so now that they're the same age, I like to think their creators go out together for drinks after work and challenge each other on whose kid can get into the more intractable situation. Skeezix is more emotionally mature than Harold, but they both have an unfortunate gullible streak.

 

[3fingers]

and declared that the treaty with Finland ensures the security of the city of Leningrad from "invasion by any power over land or sea."

Hmm. Prediction is hard. Especially about the future.

Isn't this story a decade too late? Okay, kidding aside, I guess it was a tax avoidance scheme, but with prohibition over, this sounds so timewarpy.

When I was a child I remember bootleg cigarettes being a huge deal. Same deal, a tax avoidance scheme. Highjacking trucks to steal cigarettes was also popular.
Before you wonder just how old is this guy?, we are the same age.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hmm. Prediction is hard. Especially about the future.


When I was a child I remember bootleg cigarettes being a huge deal. Same deal, a tax avoidance scheme. Highjacking trucks to steal cigarettes was also popular.
Before you wonder just how old is this guy?, we are the same age.

Even today, every once in awhile, there will be a "bust" of a cigarette smuggling ring in NYC. With a combined federal, state and city tax of nearly $8/pac plus NYC sales tax of 8.875%, the incentive to cheat is very high.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Governor Herbert H. Lehman today called on the Republican-controlled state legislature to approve a $24,900,000 package of cuts in the public education budget, reductions designed to create an average statewide class size of thirty pupils per classroom. The Governor says this proposal will bring the rest of the state into line with New York City, which already operates with an average class size of thirty pupils per classroom . The Governor's proposal also adopts the recommendation of the state Regents to abolish the "antiquated" current system of local school districts in favor of a centralized school system as now operated in more than 250 communities around the state. He pointed out that the average cost per pupil in old-fashioned rural schools can approach $400, while centralized rural schools can educate students at less than $140 per pupil including transportation.

German sources claim that an agreement has been reached with Russia to ensure a Russian-Rumanian non-aggression treaty, but further state that there are as present no negotiations going on among the parties toward such a pact. A Rumanian delegation is currently in Berlin, but German sources say this is a military delegation not a political or economic one.

Sweden and Norway are expected to negotiate a mutual defense agreement with Finland as soon as the Russo-Finnish Treaty is fully ratified. Sweden has expressed concern about the clause in that treaty authorizing construction of a Russian-controlled railroad across Finland to the Swedish frontier, while Norway expects to ask Russia to explain why it needs free passage for goods via Petsamo near Arctic Norway.

The appointment of British philosopher-mathematician Bertrand Russel to the faculty of the City College of New York led to a fiery session today of the Board of Estimate. Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons introduced a motion calling on the Board of Estimate to pass a resolution calling on the Board of Education to rescind that appointment. A stormy debate over the proposal followed, with City Council president Newbold Morris declared that the Board of Estimate has no jurisdiction in the matter, and Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs agreeing that it is "improper for the Board of Estimate to attempt to dictate to the Board of Education. Mr. Lyons, his face red with rage, then attacked Mr. Isaacs, denouncing him as a man who "appointed a Communist," Simon Gerson, to the position of confidential investigator in the city's service. Mr. Isaacs, his own face flushed and his voice furious, defended Gerson and said that he was proud of making that appointment and that he hadn't given way to "cheap pressure," noting that Gerson is one of the most valued members of his staff. When the smoke finally cleared, the motion was defeated, receiving only four votes -- two of them from Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore. The controversy over Russell's appointment was triggered by an official protest from the Alumni Association of St. John's College, which declared opposition to the presence in a taxpayer-funded college of a teacher "who advocates doctrines so repugnant to the moral and religious beliefs of the American citizenry." The city has also received letters from many of the nation's leading academics defending Russell and praising CCNY for adding him to its faculty.

Fourteen one-family brick houses built within the past three years along Hubbard Street in the Sheepshead Bay district are crumbling to pieces, and District Attorney William O'Dwyer has begun an investigation. All of the houses were built by the firm of Sea Breeze Homes Inc. of 51 Remsen Street, and investigation of the structures reveals that when the plumbing was installed support beams in the houses were cut to run the pipes, weakining the entire structures. Sea Breeze president Hyman Graberson and plumbing contractor Max Horowitz will be questioned by investigators from the District Attorney's office, and it is reported that a Federal investigation will also follow, since the homes were built using FHA funding.

"Can ya beat that," marvels Sally. "Imagine -- goin' to Loeser's to buy ya terlet paper." And Joe shakes his head. "I bet they go to Abraham 'n Strauss to blow their nose." And Sally says, "No, see -- they got that at Loeser's too. It must be really somethin' to be rich." "Nahhhh," says Joe, "gimme the Liggett's downa block. I bet they ain't got no punchboards to play at Loeser's."

With her husband facing sentencing tomorrow in Brooklyn Supreme Court after his conviction on conspiracy, extortion, and attempted bribery charges, Mrs. Florence Ditchik says she's "just numb inside." The thirty-three year old mother of seven children, one prematurely born and still in the crib, says Dr. Abraham Ditchik to her is still the "good, honest man" she married thirteen years ago, and she hopes the judge will accept the jury's recommendation for mercy in imposing sentence.

Peg Bungle gives up on that bold faker Oakdale and pursues a different way of life.

Awww, I loved Wheeler & Woolsey, and to see Bert going it alone after his partner's death is kinda sad. But if he does that bit where he tries to sing a tender love song while eating a sandwich, I'm in. And Buddy Ebsen is some dancer.

At the Patio it's George Raft and Jane Bryan in "Invisble Stripes," paired with Joel McCrea and Nancy Kelly in "He Married His Wife."

The Eagle Editorialist comes out in favor of the current bill now pending before the legislature to ban highway billboards. "The way in which the scenic beauty of America has been marred by the indiscriminate use of huge defacing billboards has long been a disgrace," he declares, "and it is high time that esthetic considerations be recognized by the government."

One more day to do your taxes! Get busy!

A WPA worker digging at Miller Field, New Dorp, Staten Island uncovered portions of a human skeleton. The skull was broken, and of the rest of the skeleton only the leg bones and two small ribs were found intact. The remains were buried about three feet below the surface, and resembled other human bones found in the area from time to time. Investigators took the bones to the Sea View Morgue for examination, and concluded they had been buried for about forty years.

Tex Carleton has cinched a slot on the Dodger pitching staff, marking his recovery from injuries that led to his humiliation at the hands of the Yankees while with the Cubs in the 1938 World Series. Carleton turned in a fine performance yesterday in a Grapefruit League contest against a Yankee team consisting mostly of raw rookies and second-stringers, with only Joe Gordon and Charley Keller representing the regular lineup. Carleton allowed only one hit in his three innning stint, but his fine performance wasn't enough to keep the Yankees from beating the Flock 5-2.

Dolph Camilli held his own private workout today as his standoff with Larry MacPhail continues. The Dodger president angrily declared that his stubborn first-sacker ought to be fined $100 for every day he continues his holdout. He then declared he has "no comment whatsoever" on the Camilli situation.

Joe Louis could face a rematch against Two Ton Tony Galento this summer in a bout intended to coincide with the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Galento became the first challenger to knock the Brown Bomber off his feet during their bout at Yankee Stadium last year, but lost on a technical knockout. Negotiations for the fight are highly preliminary at this stage, with Galento's manager saying "it's news to me."

Una Merkel and Arthur Q. Bryan are the guests for the second edition of the new Rudy Vallee Sealtest Show, 930 pm on WEAF. Pat O'Brien and opera star Lotte Lehman join Bing Crosby on the Kraft Music Hall over WEAF at 10 pm.

Every once in a while Colonel George B. Bungle shows the tiniest bit of common sense. But he knows that if he just ignores it it'll go away.

"Yeah! He can beat Bill to a bloody pulp six days a week and two shows on Sunday for all I care!" Geez Mary, no wonder you two never got married.

"Yo, cool ink bro."

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Just when you thought it was All Quiet On The Barrymore Front...

One more day!!!

"The Fat Man!" Even Axel sees the resemblance.

Hmmm. A clarinet-playing bandleader with glasses and his vivacious brunette vocalist. You're behind the times, Mr. Gould. Helen Ward hasn't worked with Benny Goodman in years.

I'll say this for this whole sequence -- when Mr. Caniff goes in for crazy, he goes all in for crazy.

Shouldn't that be "Boomps A Maizie?" Hey Gus, get a new title writer.

Tsk. Teenage boys and their rampaging hormones.

And poor Harold, meanwhile, gets involved in some weird fetish role-play thing with Alexander Woollcott. Who really has it worse?

"You won't have to worry long about it though. When Moon finds out, he'll beat you to death."

 

[Fading Fast]

...Fourteen one-family brick houses built within the past three years along Hubbard Street in the Sheepshead Bay district are crumbling to pieces, and District Attorney William O'Dwyer has begun an investigation. All of the houses were built by the firm of Sea Breeze Homes Inc. of 51 Remsen Street, and investigation of the structures reveals that when the plumbing was installed support beams in the houses were cut to run the pipes, weakining the entire structures. Sea Breeze president Hyman Graberson and plumbing contractor Max Horowitz will be questioned by investigators from the District Attorney's office, and it is reported that a Federal investigation will also follow, since the homes were built using FHA funding....

So what do we think happened here: the builder forgot to put the plumbing in during construction and then "forced" it in later?

...
"Can ya beat that," marvels Sally. "Imagine -- goin' to Loeser's to buy ya terlet paper." And Joe shakes his head. "I bet they go to Abraham 'n Strauss to blow their nose." And Sally says, "No, see -- they got that at Loeser's too. It must be really somethin' to be rich." "Nahhhh," says Joe, "gimme the Liggett's downa block. I bet they ain't got no punchboards to play at Loeser's."...

And they'd be all sold out today.

...
Something about this young lady's body language leads me to think that finding a *man* isn't the real goal here....

Oh yeh, the "Katherine Hepburn's all-but-stated lesbianism from Christopher Strong" parallel is screaming:

...
"Yo, cool ink bro."

The cereal-prize tie-ins and other toy opportunities would have marketers today salivating.

...
Just when you thought it was All Quiet On The Barrymore Front......

It's amazing how these stories repeat each generations just with different stars. I didn't follow it closely or even distantly, but from the headlines I saw, isn't Johnny Depp living, at a high-level, a similar story?

... "The Fat Man!" Even Axel sees the resemblance....

Yup: (from Classic Movie Chat.com)

By the time he [Greenstreet] showed up on director John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon set at Warner Bros. at the age of 61, he had logged 40 years as a stage actor on both sides of the pond. The 1941 classic was his first film. Wrote Huston, he was perfect from the word go, the Fat Man, inside out. I had only to sit back and take delight in him and his performance.”

Greenstreet was nominated for an Academy Award in the best supporting actor category for his screen debut as “the fat man.” (Remember whom he lost to that year?)

Hi, Lizzie, yes, fat I am - your friend, SG

​

... Tsk. Teenage boys and their rampaging hormones....

Yes - and since the things today (vs the '40s) that we teach young boys and girls, in particular, are very different about sex, the results are also very different. The things that society used to do to try to controlled those rampaging male hormones back then - social expectations on boys, girls taught to "protect" their reputations, the general norms of the time - are no longer in place.

... And poor Harold, meanwhile, gets involved in some weird fetish role-play thing with Alexander Woollcott. Who really has it worse?...

I'm feeling better about my Carl Ed had a mini-stroke call: this storyline isn't that much less ridiculous than the Igor one.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If I had to venture a guess, I might wonder if Mr. Graberson hand't decided to shoot a little business to his shady cousin/nephew/whatever Mr. Horowitz, who is a plumber in the sense that he knows how to change a sink washer, sort of. Why waste time with O'Dwyer, though? Let Mr. Amen poke a stick into this for a while and see what he can turn up. Somebody had to issue permits for that work, and somebody had to sign off on an inspection of that work. And they need to find out who that was.

The Depp-Barrymore parallel goes even further when you consider that Mr. Depp was once a fine actor who has descended into a bizarre self-parody.

I'm still convinced that Harold has been in a fugue state ever since he left Covina, and everything that's happened in the last month and a half is a product of his fevered brain. When he finally does come to, he'll want to know two things: 1 -- did Lillums get married? And 2 -- why am I dancing the rhumba with Dick Tracy?

 

[LizzieMaine]

A thirteen-year-old boy upset because his twin sister was left back in school opened fire today from a rooftop in an attempt to shoot the teacher responsbile. Vito Gambino is accused of firing a shot from a .32 pistol into the bedroom of Miss Marie Schretzelmeir of 543 East 17th Street from the roof of his home at 544 17th Street. Miss Schretzelmeir was not home at the time of the attack and was not injured.

Miss Schretzlmeir teaches the fifth grade at PS 154 at 11th Avenue and Windsor Place and two years ago had both Vito and his sister Marie in her 5-B class. But Vito was promoted at the end of the term, and Marie was left back. Then, at the close of the last term, Marie was left back again, enraging her brother. The boy told police he found the pistol in a vacant lot on Avenue U, and decided that it was his opportunity to get revenge of the teacher.

A police detective followed the trail of the shot to the rooftop, where he found an open skylight. He questioned the residents of the building and Vito burst into tears when asked what he'd been doing on the roof. The boy claimed to have been flying a model airplane, but the detective, on searching him, found an empty cartridge in his pocket. The boy is being held today in the psychology school at Bellevue Hospital, where authorities will attempt to instruct him in how to express his chivalry for his sister in "non-violent ways."

("Them Gambinos!" snorts Joe. "They're no damn good." And Sally, terrified, replies "SHHHHH! You can't say that out loud! Ya never know who might be listenin'!")

Women will at last be admitted to full membership in the Brooklyn Bar Association, following a lengthy campaign by the borough's female attorneys. A vote of 64 to 29 by the Association's membership last night gave the necessary two-thirds majority, with two votes to spare.

Two companies and four individuals, one from Brooklyn, have been indicted on charges to the loan sharking and check cashing racket. The defendants are accused of violating banking laws, extortion, and obtaining false affadavits to the tune of $100,000 a week, at interest rates of 365 per cent per year. The name of the Brooklyn defendant has not yet been released, but the other defendants, all from Manhattan, are presently in custody.

The wives of gangland figures Abe Reles and Martin Goldstein were questioned today by Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer for more than four hours each in connection with pending murder charges against their husbands. Investigators have learned that both Mrs. Reles and Mrs. Goldstein were "nearby" when their husbands are alleged to have shot a minor gangster named Alex "Red" Alpert in the back on November 25, 1933. Mrs. Reles and Mrs. Goldstein have not been charged, but have been advised to "remain available" for further questioning.

President Roosevelt has denounced a Republican Senator from New Hampshire for openly advising Americans to violate Federal law by refusing to comply with the 1940 Census. The President, in remarks delivered via Press Secretary Stephen Early, called the Senator's public statements on the Census "an obviously political move." Senator Charles Tobey had earlier urged that citizens refuse to answer Census questions concerning household income.

With midnight the deadline for filing 1940 Federal Income Tax returns, the Brooklyn office of the Internal Revenue Collector is swarming with activity from those who insist on filing their returns in person. From his office in the Brooklyn Post Office building, Collector Almon Q. Rasquin reports that his staff is laboring with one hundred and thirty five hampers full of mailed returns that arrived today, in addition to the in-person crowds, and that the office, as of the start of business today, had taken in a total of $3,853,454.10 for the year.

Long distance telephone rates will see a sharp reduction under new orders by the Federal Communications Commission. As of April 1st, rates for calls to points more than 420 miles distant from the originating exchange to be reduced by as much as $2.50 per minute depending on the total distance involved. The reduction is expected to save telephone subscribers as much as $5,000,000 a year.

A 35-year-old theatrical press agent and poet was killed following a mid-air struggle with the pilot of a small airplane 2000 feet above New York Bay. Police say Emmanuel Eisenberg drowned when the plane crashed into the bay near the Bayonne Port Terminal in New Jersey. Pilot Joseph Rosemarin of 1540 40th Street, a flight instructor at Floyd Bennet Field, told investigators he had gone up with Eisenberg to give him a flying lesson, and lost control of the plane when Eisenberg tried to sieze the controls and force him to fly over the city. When he resisted, Rosemarin says Eisenberg kicked at the plane's control stick and began punching him in the head. The plane went into a series of spins before making a pancake landing in the water. Rosemarin says Eisenberg punched out a window, allowing water to enter the plane before a nearby tugboat could reach the scene of the crash, and drowned before rescuers could get him out of the aircraft.

(That's CLIFF JOHNSTON. Not Howard Johnson. CLIFF JOHNSTON. Get it? Got it? Good.)

Helen Worth's readers are up in arms over the matter of "Muddled Mamee," who is afraid her baby got swapped for someone else's at the hospital. They say Muddled is unspeakably selfish to think that after all this time some other mother would be willing to give up her child to satisfy Muddled's claim that it's really hers. Helen says don't get your blood pressure up, nobody's saying that's actually going to happen. Why not be constructive in your criticism rather than condemnatory?

I wonder what Mr. Lichty will use for material tomorrow?

Herbert Cohn made his way to Radio City Music Hall to see Mickey Rooney as "Young Tom Edison," and found the portrayal by America's Number One Box Office Attraction an interesting mix of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Edison himself. There's just enough real history mixed in with all the Mark Twain pranks to excuse the occasional looseness with dates and facts that creep into the screenplay.

The battle between Dolph Camilli and Larry MacPhail nearly got physical today according to Dodger insiders down at Clearwater. The big holdout first baseman and the club president got into a "heated discussion" at the Bellaire Hotel that the camp grapevine hinted nearly came to blows. The confrontation occured after Camilli, still unsigned, donned his uniform two days ago to work out by himself in a corner of the practice field, and MacPhail ordered him off the premises and fined him $100 for violating his rule that unsigned players may not use club facilities. Camilli spent today exercising on the golf links before his meeting with the fuming Red Headed One. Asked after the confrontation if he planned to stay in Clearwater, Camilli snapped "Not very long."

Meanwhile rookie Bert Haas is doing a fine job filling Camilli's spot in the lineup, homering off Dizzy Trout in a 10-5 Dodger loss to the Tigers at Lakeland. Haas is now batting .479 for the Grapefruit League season.

Barry Fitzgerald and Sara Allgood guest on the Kate Smith Hour, tonight at 8pm over WABC.

When George is the voice of reason, you know the world's turned upside down.

Maybe you better ask Mr. Amen what he thinks about that.

"You've got all the most secret details of our operation written down in one place? Good. Excellent. Tell me, do you think waxing my moustache like this works for me, or should I go for more of a pencil style?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

The News just live for days like this.

I mean, really.

"Ah then. After you."

I bet Pat wishes he'd combed his hair.

"Mary X?" The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will have something to say about that.

Poor Mama, forever fate's cruel plaything.

Well, look at the bright side. If it's only Gee-Gee's aunt, Moon won't kill you. But he might laugh himself to death.

Well, son, I hope for your sake that Tula doesn't have a crazy Russian assassin for an ex.

Oh, he writes a lot. Trouble is, he never mails the letters.

 

[Fading Fast]

A thirteen-year-old boy upset because his twin sister was left back in school opened fire today from a rooftop in an attempt to shoot the teacher responsbile. Vito Gambino is accused of firing a shot from a .32 pistol into the bedroom of Miss Marie Schretzelmeir of 543 East 17th Street from the roof of his home at 544 17th Street. Miss Schretzelmeir was not home at the time of the attack and was not injured.

View attachment 220260

Miss Schretzlmeir teaches the fifth grade at PS 154 at 11th Avenue and Windsor Place and two years ago had both Vito and his sister Marie in her 5-B class. But Vito was promoted at the end of the term, and Marie was left back. Then, at the close of the last term, Marie was left back again, enraging her brother. The boy told police he found the pistol in a vacant lot on Avenue U, and decided that it was his opportunity to get revenge of the teacher.

View attachment 220261
A police detective followed the trail of the shot to the rooftop, where he found an open skylight. He questioned the residents of the building and Vito burst into tears when asked what he'd been doing on the roof. The boy claimed to have been flying a model airplane, but the detective, on searching him, found an empty cartridge in his pocket. The boy is being held today in the psychology school at Bellevue Hospital, where authorities will attempt to instruct him in how to express his chivalry for his sister in "non-violent ways."

("Them Gambinos!" snorts Joe. "They're no damn good." And Sally, terrified, replies "SHHHHH! You can't say that out loud! Ya never know who might be listenin'!")...

There's a small but eerie parallel to the scene in "The Godfather II" where a young Vito Corleone begins his trip up the mafia ladder by stalking a local mob leader (not a teacher) over the rooftops of similar tenements, but he - being Vito Corleone - doesn't take a wild long-distant shot, but basically, shoots his prey at point blank range.

...Two companies and four individuals, one from Brooklyn, have been indicted on charges to the loan sharking and check cashing racket. The defendants are accused of violating banking laws, extortion, and obtaining false affadavits to the tune of $100,000 a week, at interest rates of 365 per cent per year. The name of the Brooklyn defendant has not yet been released, but the other defendants, all from Manhattan, are presently in custody.

The wives of gangland figures Abe Reles and Martin Goldstein were questioned today by Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer for more than four hours each in connection with pending murder charges against their husbands. Investigators have learned that both Mrs. Reles and Mrs. Goldstein were "nearby" when their husbands are alleged to have shot a minor gangster named Alex "Red" Alpert in the back on November 25, 1933. Mrs. Reles and Mrs. Goldstein have not been charged, but have been advised to "remain available" for further questioning....

A lot of mob and shooting stuff today.

...A 35-year-old theatrical press agent and poet was killed following a mid-air struggle with the pilot of a small airplane 2000 feet above New York Bay. Police say Emmanuel Eisenberg drowned when the plane crashed into the bay near the Bayonne Port Terminal in New Jersey. Pilot Joseph Rosemarin of 1540 40th Street, a flight instructor at Floyd Bennet Field, told investigators he had gone up with Eisenberg to give him a flying lesson, and lost control of the plane when Eisenberg tried to sieze the controls and force him to fly over the city. When he resisted, Rosemarin says Eisenberg kicked at the plane's control stick and began punching him in the head. The plane went into a series of spins before making a pancake landing in the water. Rosemarin says Eisenberg punched out a window, allowing water to enter the plane before a nearby tugboat could reach the scene of the crash, and drowned before rescuers could get him out of the aircraft....

It seems we'll never get the other side of this story.

...
(That's CLIFF JOHNSTON. Not Howard Johnson. CLIFF JOHNSTON. Get it? Got it? Good.)...

So, were the dealers that "serve" Cliff Johnston preparing the food according to CJ recipes or were they heating up food prepared by CJ kitchens and sent over (I guess) frozen to the dealers? The term "dealers" sound more auto industry than restaurant industry. Plus, I want to go to Le Cody Toasted Pies, Inc.

...
I wonder what Mr. Lichty will use for material tomorrow?...

He'll probably be able to milk one or two more days out of it.

...Herbert Cohn made his way to Radio City Music Hall to see Mickey Rooney as "Young Tom Edison," and found the portrayal by America's Number One Box Office Attraction an interesting mix of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Edison himself. There's just enough real history mixed in with all the Mark Twain pranks to excuse the occasional looseness with dates and facts that creep into the screenplay....

Good to see that Era audiences where being told to take the history in these type of movies with a grain of salt.

...The battle between Dolph Camilli and Larry MacPhail nearly got physical today according to Dodger insiders down at Clearwater. The big holdout first baseman and the club president got into a "heated discussion" at the Bellaire Hotel that the camp grapevine hinted nearly came to blows. The confrontation occured after Camilli, still unsigned, donned his uniform two days ago to work out by himself in a corner of the practice field, and MacPhail ordered him off the premises and fined him $100 for violating his rule that unsigned players may not use club facilities. Camilli spent today exercising on the golf links before his meeting with the fuming Red Headed One. Asked after the confrontation if he planned to stay in Clearwater, Camilli snapped "Not very long."....

Seen this level of hate between management and an employee at work, it's usually destructive to the entire team and rarely improves.

...
Maybe you better ask Mr. Amen what he thinks about that....

Also, what kind of dishwasher job does she have where she can choose to show up or not?

...
"You've got all the most secret details of our operation written down in one place? Good. Excellent. Tell me, do you think waxing my moustache like this works for me, or should I go for more of a pencil style?"

I had an aunt who taught 1st grade and she never full adjusted to adult conversation when not in the classroom - she reminds me of how many of the characters in Dan Dunn speak.

.... View attachment 220272
The News just live for days like this.


I mean, really.....

Yes, it's a red-letter Daily News day.

And this,

"Qualifications for motherhood should not include trying on new underwear before a mixed audience in the middle of a store."

Words to live by.

...
I bet Pat wishes he'd combed his hair.....

I bet April wishes she'd combed her hair as the competition is heating up for Pat because, apparently, an Amazonian soccer player just popped up in the middle of China.

...
"Mary X?" The Honorable Elijah Muhammad will have something to say about that.....

I'm sure you've noticed that the Era really, really loved using the letter X to represent mystery or danger or evil, etc.

...
Poor Mama, forever fate's cruel plaything.....

God she's a horribly rude and selfish woman.

... View attachment 220281
Well, son, I hope for your sake that Tula doesn't have a crazy Russian assassin for an ex.....

...
Oh, he writes a lot. Trouble is, he never mails the letters.

Right now, Terry and the Pirates' April and the new Amazonian soccer woman are so much more interesting that either Tula or Senga.

 

[3fingers]

So, were the dealers that "serve" Cliff Johnston preparing the food according to CJ recipes or were they heating up food prepared by CJ kitchens and sent over (I guess) frozen to the dealers? The term "dealers" sound more auto industry than restaurant industry. Plus, I want to go to Le Cody Toasted Pies, Inc.

I took that list to be his suppliers. I assume we are supposed to be impressed that he has vendors of such high caliber. Everybody from his insurance agent to the pickle works.
I have to wonder what Joe and Sally's thoughts were on such a distinguished group.

 

[Fading Fast]

I took that list to be his suppliers. I assume we are supposed to be impressed that he has vendors of such high caliber. Everybody from his insurance agent to the pickle works.
I have to wonder what Joe and Sally's thoughts were on such a distinguished group.

That makes perfect sense - stupid on my part to miss that.