The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

And just think. If only Rosie had gone to see an Edgar Kennedy short instead, all that trouble could have been avoided.

I know we're doing this whole minimal thing now, but what, exactly, is "creole spaghetti?"

(You'll learn more about real life in the Era reading "The Inquring Fotographer" than you will from an entire shelf of history books.)

Well, if you've "heard plenty" about Nick, no matter what you think about him, you have to concede he's not "a dope or something."

Annnnnnd Chekov's gun goes off. Oh, and Andy -- "petrified stringbean?" Really? You're on pretty thin ice with that physique of yours.

Yeah, and wait till you see the big musical number.

Skeezix Wallet, man of steely resolve.

Cop in the light hat just realized he left his rubber hose at home.

The dog is the best thing going with Tracy right now. Look at that face in panel one. Whoooooz a good boy!

Clearly Senga didn't read "The Inquiring Fotographer" today.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
Racket kingpin Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, now serving a Federal sentence at Leavenworth, Kansas on a narcotics conviction, has been indicted by Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer for two Brooklyn murders, with fellow racket king Albert Anastasia and fugitive Murder-for-Hire assassin Vito "The Torpedo" Gurino having been indicted as co-defendants in connection with one of those killings. Three other men, whose names have not been revealed, are also included in the indictments handed up this week by a special grand jury, for the killings of Teamsters Local 138 leader Morris Diamond and former truck fleet operator Joseph Rosen. Former Lepke gorilla Albert Tannenbaum -- who was delivered to O'Dwyer from Sullivan County, where he faces a murder rap of his own -- and smalltime loanshark and bookmaker Angelo "Julie" Catalano are said to be the two chief witnesses expected to testify against Buchalter, Anastasia, and Gurino.

The new indictments follow yesterday's conviction of Harry "Happy" Maione and Frank "The Dasher" Abbandando for the murder of George Rudnick in the first Murder-For-Hire case to come to trial. Jurors deliberated for just over two hours before returning the verdict at 5:35 pm....

O'Dwyer is on a roll. Your move Mr. Amen.

...A mother duck and her eight baby ducklings held up traffic in Windsor Terrace yesterday as they waddled along Terrace Place on their way from Green-Wood Cemetery to Prospect Park. Mama Duck and her brood traversed four blocks, weaving expertly in and out of traffic to the amazement and amusement of motorists before a kindly housewife gathered them up in a basket for the rest of the trip. Mrs. Ida Cassidy of 74 Terrace Place was aided in her rescue effort by neighbor Joseph Abaddo, who borrowed a car to provide a ride to the park, where Mama and her babies were deposited at the edge of the lake, where they paused for a moment as if to thank their benefactors before paddling off....

Just when you're ready to give up on the human race, a little faith seems always to be restored.

...Ernest Walter Kehler plans to appeal his manslaughter conviction for the beating death of German consular secretary Walter Engleberg. As he was being taken away in handcuffs today to begin his ten to twenty year sentence at Sing Sing Prison, Kehler declared that he got "a raw deal" from Judge Peter J. Brancato during his trial, and that when he files his appeal he will have different defense counsel than Leo Healy and Charles Oberwager, who represented him during his first trial....

Wonder where the money for this is going to come from?

..."Madder-Than-A-Wet-Hen" writes to Helen Worth living up to her name about "mashers at the movies." She's a 28 year old college graduate, a "respectable acting and respectable looking person," and she can't go to the movies alone without being accosted by some "greasy looking man" staring at her, or trying to push his legs or his arms or his hands up against hers while seated. She holds theatres responsible for allowing this sort of nonsense, and declares she's about ready to "go Carrie Nation" on them if something isn't done. Helen agrees entirely, and suggests that she might consider a crusade to publicly identify and shame theatres that look the other way and fail to put a stop to such harassment. "Just as sunlight will destroy much of vicious bacterial life, so will publicity help to exterminate certain social evils."...

And yes, there is a movie about this, "Separate Tables," based on the play by the insightful Terrance Rattigan. This one is in my top-ten not-famous-but-outstanding-movies-of-all-time list.

David Niven as a masher

...
("Finish this sentence in one word or less: 'You're _____!'")...

Are you saying people goofed off at work before the internet?

...Larry MacPhail and Giants owner Horace Stoneham are in a spat over the new lighting system at the Polo Grounds. The Giants make their debut under the lamps tonight against the Bees, and Stoneham is flexing and pointing to his new 1,254,000 candlepower lighting system as superior to the "the one at that -- ah -- the one in Brooklyn." MacPhail, long an apostle of night ball, sneers at the Giants' lights, saying they're about as good as the ones he installed at a minor league field in Columbus, Ohio in 1930, and adds that he's "put in three lighting systems since then and each one has been bigger than the last." MacPhail, the Mad Mullah of the Mazda Lamps, adds that "we've got lights at Ebbets Field now that Stoneham doesn't even know about," claiming the Dodgers now light up at exactly 1,260,000 candlepower. "Their lights are faulty," laughs Larry, "and ours are efficient. They should have come to me for advice. I'd have shown them."..

Boys and their toys turn everything into a competition.

... (Well, one thing's for sure. They aren't getting the cleaning deposit back on that garage.)...)

If elephant and human anatomy are similar and if what I learned in "Goldfinger" is correct, our friendly elephant's life is at stake now.

...[ (OK MISTER! JUST LET ME SLIP THIS BLACK HOOD ON FIRST!)

"Why doesn't that car hurry??" Perhaps because the driver is not aware you're Dan Dunn standing with a body over your shoulder and with a mob of Black Hoods hot on your trail. Just sayin'.

...
And just think. If only Rosie had gone to see an Edgar Kennedy short instead, all that trouble could have been avoided.....

Re the "Housing Payment Hearing:" Despite their good intentions, housing projects in NYC turned into horrible, horrible experiences for, well, everyone including those they were supposed to help. To this day - even somewhat "improved -" they are still riddled with crime, gov't corruption, drugs and every other social disfunction imaginable - living in them is hell / just walking by them is dangerous. It's sad to see the start of what would turn out to be 80 years of misery and failure in social planing.

...
I know we're doing this whole minimal thing now, but what, exactly, is "creole spaghetti?"....

An early example of "fusion food." Nothing is new.

..
(You'll learn more about real life in the Era reading "The Inquring Fotographer" than you will from an entire shelf of history books.)....

Yup. And you can see in this that nobody benefitted more from the early women's lib movement than men. I was very happy to be a young man growing up after that movement had its effect. It was good for women and, IMO, better for men.

... Skeezix Wallet, man of steely resolve....

Who's paying for the sodas?

... Clearly Senga didn't read "The Inquiring Fotographer" today.

And more support for my earlier point about the women's lib movement.

 

[LizzieMaine]

German forces have been confirmed as having fully taken Boulogne, and to have surrounded Calais as they now focus on launching assaults on Allied forces entirely surrounded by strengthened Nazi pincers in northern France. The German High Command stated in a communique today that the closing of the trap around an estimated 1,000,000 French, British, and Belgian troops has squeezed the Allies into one-third of the ground they had previously held, and cut off all their Channel ports except Dunkirk, Ostend, and Zeebruge, all of which are menaced and under continuous aerial bombardment. But an unconfirmed report now circulating among "usually reliable sources" in London states that Allied forces have "deeply dented or cut through" the German trap in the north.

Meanwhile, the French fought desperately today to narrow further the deadly 20-mile gap in the Allied lines north of the Somme, but blitzkrieg German units were reported to be still moving thru the breach toward the English Channel. The Paris press reports that the French had reoccupied that part of Amiens south of the Somme, and had cut thirteen miles thru the German corridor to rescue Allied troops trapped in the North. French troops in the Channel coast region are said to be fighting off Nazi advance guards, and are said to have checked the Nazi advance in the St. Omer region.

Italy today suspended all shipping to Allied ports until June 10th. The order affects all sailings not only to New York but also to South American ports. There are also no sailings listed for the Near and Far East. The move is seen by many observers as hinting at the imminent entry of Italy into the war.

President Roosevelt is expected to revive the "Council Of National Defense," a board composed of six Cabinet officers and seven civilian experts that, during the World War, worked to coordinate and speed up national defense programs. An informed source in Washington states that the President has already drawn up a list of names from which Council members may be chosen.

Parachute training at Floyd Bennett Field is being conducted by suspending trainees from a beam in a hangar. Airmen at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base at the field have studied parachuting extensively in the classroom, but most of them have never actually jumped out of a plane.

The police inspector in charge of Brooklyn detectives since 1938 has been transferred to Staten Island, in a move some are suggesting hints at a rift between Acting Deputy Chief Inspector Michael F. McDermott and Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer over matters dating back to a reprimand issued by O'Dwyer to the Inspector while O'Dwyer was serving as a county judge. McDermott was removed from his position in Brooklyn by Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine and replaced by Inspector William T. Reynolds, and assigned to a similar position in Staten Island, widely considered on the police force as "Siberia." During a case in January 1938, O'Dwyer publicly reprimanded McDermott for "snooping" in his courtroom, and observers have taken note of the fact that McDermott has been conspicuously inconspicuous over the course of the Murder For Hire investigation.

A defendant in the Christian Front seditious conspiracy trial is claiming that a quantity of rifles and a shotgun seized at his home were merely part of his hobby. Defendant Michael Vill, a naturalized citizen originally from Germany, claims that he is a hunter, and that he obtained the five guns, including a military Enfield rifle, in the furtherance of that hobby. While he admits to having been a member of the pro-Nazi "Friends of New Germany," he insists that he dropped out of that group when it was absorbed by the German American Bund, and that his participation in the Christian Front stemmed from his agreement with its anti-Communist views. He also denied stating at a Front meeting that he had participated in Adolf Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch" in 1923, stating that he was home sick that night. Vill also testified that he withdrew from a Front discussion group because he felt that making bombs was illegal.

After fifteen days in the Raymond Street Jail, racket king Joe Adonis is free on $50,000 bail, pending trial on kidnapping, extortion, and second-degree assault charges. Bail was posted in cash and equity in the Adonis home at 103 81st Street by Adonis's wife.

Seniors at St. Francis College have chosen Leo Durocher as the most outstanding figure in New York, and the third most outstanding figure in the world overall. The Dodger manager placed behind only Pope Pius XII and President Roosevelt in the poll conducted by The Voice, student publication.

Mayor LaGuardia has promised Dodger president Larry MacPhail that every necessary action will be taken to rout ticket scalpers around Ebbets Field during the upcoming Memorial Day doubleheader against the Giants. The Mayor has asked the club to help in the crackdown by providing exact locations where ticket speculators are known to congregate around the ballpark, and squads of plainclothes detectives will do the rest.

(And in the office of the District Attorney, Mr. O'Dwyer wads up the paper and throws it in the wastebasket. "He's not so good looking!" he fumes. "Him with that hokey moustache! Looks like he just had a glass of chocolate milk at the Automat!")

("Ayuh," replies Hiram. "Don't do ye much good to raise a crop if it costs ye more to grow than ye can get sellin' it!")

Cold weather in Philadelphia iced out the Dodgers-Phillies game at Shibe Park yesterday, and the two clubs are hoping the weather will allow action today. If the game does go on, there may be an interesting change in the lineup -- with manager Durocher suggesting he might put himself in at second base. Johnny Hudson hasn't been doing much as a fill-in for the injured Pete Coscarart, and Leo feels that he could do better himself -- even though he hasn't manned the keystone sack since he put in thirteen games at the spot while with the Reds in 1930.

The Giants won the first night game ever played at the Polo Grounds by an impressive 8-1 over the Boston Bees, but the attendance was disappointing. The park was less than half full, falling far short of the 40,000 projected gate for the contest, but Giants officials say the attendance was the result of the threatening weather, the Bees being a poor gate attraction, and it still being early in the season. Not everyone on the Giants staff was enchanted by the lights -- secretary Eddie Brannick opined that John McGraw was turning in his grave at the very idea of night ball.

If they get the game in at Philadelphia, Luke Hamlin will start for Brooklyn against Kirby Higbe for the Phils.

Former Giants broadcaster Garnett Marks, who made that unfortunate boner everybody remembers during a Polo Grounds broadcast last year, is still around town looking for work. (Mr. Marks had a double-slip of the tongue and twice referred on air to one of the broadcast's sponsors as "Ovary Soap.")

(And suddenly George snaps his eyes open, trying to dismiss this crazy dream he just had. Jo looks over and growls "It's about time you woke up! I don't see how you can sleep at all in this stifling hot room! Why don't we get a window fan!")

("Governor Swiller?" Oh, this'll be fun!)

("Name's Bishop, William G. Bishop. I'm in the National Guard in Brooklyn. Lissen, lemme give you some literature.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

This is the marriage that'll save Mr. Keaton's life -- she'll dry him out, get him squared away, and they'll enjoy a long and happy life together. But jeez, Eleanor -- smile. He's the Great Stone Face, not you.

"Hahahaha!" says Joe. "Get a load a' this guy! 'Only as much as my wife will allow me to be!' Hahahahaha!" Sally looks up from the potato she's peeling and says "I don't get it."

Sound philosophy, Nick. You don't go after every dog that barks.

Tracy sure enjoys those electric novelty handcuffs.

"You almost hit that man in the middle of the road! It looked like he was carrying a dead body! Shouldn't we stop????" "Lissen, bud. What did I just say?"

CUT! Raven, bubeleh, that's too much with the ham. Dial it back a bit, willya? Who do ya think you are, Camille?

Smash cut to Skeezix driving off the used car lot.

Senator? A henchman of Governor Swiller, no doubt.

You left out "thrifty, brave, and reverent."

 

[Fading Fast]

...The police inspector in charge of Brooklyn detectives since 1938 has been transferred to Staten Island, in a move some are suggesting hints at a rift between Acting Deputy Chief Inspector Michael F. McDermott and Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer over matters dating back to a reprimand issued by O'Dwyer to the Inspector while O'Dwyer was serving as a county judge. McDermott was removed from his position in Brooklyn by Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine and replaced by Inspector William T. Reynolds, and assigned to a similar position in Staten Island, widely considered on the police force as "Siberia." During a case in January 1938, O'Dwyer publicly reprimanded McDermott for "snooping" in his courtroom, and observers have taken note of the fact that McDermott has been conspicuously inconspicuous over the course of the Murder For Hire investigation....

Since O'Dwyer's shown himself tough enough to take on the mob, you don't want to cross this guy in office politics, so learned Mr. McDermott.

...
A defendant in the Christian Front seditious conspiracy trial is claiming that a quantity of rifles and a shotgun seized at his home were merely part of his hobby. Defendant Michael Vill, a naturalized citizen originally from Germany, claims that he is a hunter, and that he obtained the five guns, including a military Enfield rifle, in the furtherance of that hobby. While he admits to having been a member of the pro-Nazi "Friends of New Germany," he insists that he dropped out of that group when it was absorbed by the German American Bund, and that his participation in the Christian Front stemmed from his agreement with its anti-Communist views. He also denied stating at a Front meeting that he had participated in Adolf Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch" in 1923, stating that he was home sick that night. Vill also testified that he withdrew from a Front discussion group because he felt that making bombs was illegal....

After the war ended in '45, it turned out there were no Nazis in Germany according to the German people. Apparently, the Christian Front and "Friends of New Germany" were employing that strategy as far back as 1940.

...Mayor LaGuardia has promised Dodger president Larry MacPhail that every necessary action will be taken to rout ticket scalpers around Ebbets Field during the upcoming Memorial Day doubleheader against the Giants. The Mayor has asked the club to help in the crackdown by providing exact locations where ticket speculators are known to congregate around the ballpark, and squads of plainclothes detectives will do the rest....

LaGuardia was a busy-as-a-bee mayor - he's everywhere. I don't know if he had any temporary success or not (I guess we'll learn that in future editions), but in the '80s and '90s in NYC (and '90s in Boston when I lived there for several years), scalping was an all but accepted-by-the-police activity as it went on pretty much in the open at certain areas around the ballparks. For years, I bought tickets on game day right out front from scalpers. Those were the days before ticket price went to the moon.

... View attachment 237577
(And in the office of the District Attorney, Mr. O'Dwyer wads up the paper and throws it in the wastebasket. "He's not so good looking!" he fumes. "Him with that hokey moustache! Looks like he just had a glass of chocolate milk at the Automat!")...

O'Dwyer can fume, but Turkus, other than his mustache, does have an echo of our Mary Worth handsome hero John Blackston

...If they get the game in at Philadelphia, Luke Hamlin will start for Brooklyn against Kirby Higbe for the Phils....

I checked, Kirby Higbe's name is not an anagram for actor Guy Kibbee's.

...Former Giants broadcaster Garnett Marks, who made that unfortunate boner everybody remembers during a Polo Grounds broadcast last year, is still around town looking for work. (Mr. Marks had a double-slip of the tongue and twice referred on air to one of the broadcast's sponsors as "Ovary Soap.")...

... ("Name's Bishop, William G. Bishop. I'm in the National Guard in Brooklyn. Lissen, lemme give you some literature.")

Seriously, once the bullets started flying, this guy should've reached over, opened the passenger door and kicked Dunn and his buddy out. Why would he believe Dunn's story?

This is the marriage that'll save Mr. Keaton's life -- she'll dry him out, get him squared away, and they'll enjoy a long and happy life together. But jeez, Eleanor -- smile. He's the Great Stone Face, not you.....

Re Keaton - nice to hear

Re Heineman - wonder if he really did spend his life in jail (a quick internet search failed to provide an answer)

Re Union corruption - very similar to the story in "On The Waterfront."

Re Taking down the Els - in all the stories I've read about the Els coming down, I don't remember ever learning about what the former passengers did for transportation after they were gone. Did the subways and buses provide enough alternative routes and capacity?

..
"Hahahaha!" says Joe. "Get a load a' this guy! 'Only as much as my wife will allow me to be!' Hahahahaha!" Sally looks up from the potato she's peeling and says "I don't get it."...

You nailed it Lizzie, Joe's was the quote of the bunch.

Also, almost sounds as if the question was trolling certain parts of Fedora Lounge recently.

... Sound philosophy, Nick. You don't go after every dog that barks....

I have a lot of confidence in Nick, but I wish Nick didn't have two big issues on his plate at the same time.

... "You almost hit that man in the middle of the road! It looked like he was carrying a dead body! Shouldn't we stop????" "Lissen, bud. What did I just say?"...

Panel two is a wonderful illustration.

... CUT! Raven, bubeleh, that's too much with the ham. Dial it back a bit, willya? Who do ya think you are, Camille?...

Yes, good that they fooled them, but the reality is they are a cholera ship - that ain't good. And how's April doing, an update would be nice?

... [Smash cut to Skeezix driving off the used car lot.
... You left out "thrifty, brave, and reverent."

A car is easier to unload than a wife, but my God, what is it with these two that they can't get it. Senga makes my skin crawl and Tula ain't far behind.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The scalpers around Fenway aren't as bold as they used to be -- you don't hear "Whoneedsem-whosgottem?" so much as you come up the subway steps anymore -- but they are still in business. Usually tubby middle-aged men in size 56 team jerseys and caps worn backwards. I imagine Stubhub, Ace Ticket, and other such services have cut deeply into their margin.

Kirby Higbe was one of the most remarkable characters during an era of the game teeming with remarkable characters. His memoir, "The High Hard One," is not a book likely to be reckoned among a collection of "Young People's Sports Classics."

That's a good question about the Els. Sometimes the removal of an El coincided with the opening of a new subway -- the 6th Avenue El shut down in 1938 as construction was nearing completion on the 6th Avenue subway -- but in other cases, I imagine it was a matter of expandngn bus routes along areas where the subway wasn't an option. In Brooklyn, of course, there are still plenty of trolley lines, although the gradual diminuition of those has also begun.

Apologies to Mr. Renaldo P. Epworth of Packer Avenue in Hackensack, but if that isn't the name and address of a W. C. Fields character, it should be. I wonder sometimes if some of these people are pulling Mr. Jemail's leg.

I'm trying to figure out what's the deal with the first panel in today's "Gumps." The Prince and Mr. Heve Ho seem to have shifted positions in the truck cab or something -- it looks like Gus lettered and laid out the balloons and then couldn't figure out how to position the figures so it made sense. But hey, it's Saturday, and it's been a long week for everybody.

I don't know how everybody on that boat hasn't gotten cholera by now, especially Raven. But the voyage isn't over yet.

 

[Fading Fast]

The scalpers around Fenway aren't as bold as they used to be -- you don't hear "Whoneedsem-whosgottem?" so much as you come up the subway steps anymore -- but they are still in business. Usually tubby middle-aged men in size 56 team jerseys and caps worn backwards. I imagine Stubhub, Ace Ticket, and other such services have cut deeply into their margin.

Kirby Higbe was one of the most remarkable characters during an era of the game teeming with remarkable characters. His memoir, "The High Hard One," is not a book likely to be reckoned among a collection of "Young People's Sports Classics."

That's a good question about the Els. Sometimes the removal of an El coincided with the opening of a new subway -- the 6th Avenue El shut down in 1938 as construction was nearing completion on the 6th Avenue subway -- but in other cases, I imagine it was a matter of expandngn bus routes along areas where the subway wasn't an option. In Brooklyn, of course, there are still plenty of trolley lines, although the gradual diminuition of those has also begun.

Apologies to Mr. Renaldo P. Epworth of Packer Avenue in Hackensack, but if that isn't the name and address of a W. C. Fields character, it should be. I wonder sometimes if some of these people are pulling Mr. Jemail's leg.

I'm trying to figure out what's the deal with the first panel in today's "Gumps." The Prince and Mr. Heve Ho seem to have shifted positions in the truck cab or something -- it looks like Gus lettered and laid out the balloons and then couldn't figure out how to position the figures so it made sense. But hey, it's Saturday, and it's been a long week for everybody.

I don't know how everybody on that boat hasn't gotten cholera by now, especially Raven. But the voyage isn't over yet.

Good catch on "The Gumps."

Edit add: I all but stopped going to games when the ticket prices went nuts a decade-plus ago, but have been told the physical scalping of tickets activity is way down owing to the exact reason you note - Stubhub, etc.

 

[Haversack]

A few years back I mentioned that I had a collection of political cartoons that my grandfather cut out of Southern California newspapers chronicling events from about 1938 to 1946. Being a British subject, (professionally necessary as he was a valet and butler), much of them deal with goings-on in Britain and Europe. I've been meaning to digitize them, (newsprints ephemeral), and share some of them here. Reading Lizzie's day-by-day postings of the events 80 ago has recalled some of the cartoons to mind. Here is the first of what I hope will be a semi-occassional posting. (I've had to jury-rig an old scanner across two computers in order to get this to work).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fifteen French generals have been summarily dismissed by Premier Paul Reynaud following the disastrous French rout on the Meuse front, and have been replaced with "new blood" personally selected by the Premier following a tour of frontline positions. The dismissed generals have not been publicly identified, but were cited in a War Office communique as commanders of "full armies, corps, divisions, and other army services." The shakeup in French military leadership comes as German forces continue their push seaward, reaching a new Belgian-British line in the Northwest, and occupying Vimy Ridge.

With more than a third of its military might concentrated in Belgium, Northern France, and the Netherlands, the remainder of the German army is to be holding the rest -- approximately 65 percent of its strength --ready to mount a drive on Paris and a final assault on the Maginot Line. Once those goals are accomplished and Paris is secured, an invasion of Great Britain could occur within days.

Nazi bombers raked the British coast along a two-hundred mile stretch, as the War Office tonight called upon the peace-born generation to fill gaps in its home defense service, summoning boys aged 18 to 19 1/2 to service with the Local Defense Volunteers. Recruits will be required to serve in the LDV until the age of twenty, when they will be taken into the regular field army wherever it may be.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard offers an easy target in the event of an enemy invasion, according to its commandant. "The Brooklyn Navy Yard is quite vulnerable," states Rear Admiral Clark H. Woodward. "I don't presume to tell the Army what to do in the way of protecting our harbor and coastal waters, but we must have more adequate protection than we have at present."

National Guard armories in upstate New York have, with few exceptions, been ordered closed to the civilian public until further notice. Brigadier General Ames T. Brown, adjutant general for the state Guard, issued the order a few days ago, but did not give any explanation. He did state, however, that the order was not given out of fear of "fifth column" activity. Operation of armories in New York city, which are popular venues for sports events and other public activities, have not yet been closed, but a ban on the use of local armories for religious, political, or "anti-racial" meetings remains in effect.

The first words spoken by Abe "Kid Twist" Reles to District Attorney William O'Dwyer as he began to tell the story of the Brooklyn Murder For Hire Gang were "You don't realize how big a thing this is." With those words still ringing in his ears eleven weeks later, the DA admits he still doesn't know exactly how far the interlocking web of corruption, vice and murder really goes in the borough. Reles' testimony has already revealed an extensive network of shylocking, forced prostitution, pinball and slot machine rackets, auto theft rings, and all bookmaking activitiy in Brownsville, along with scores of assaults and rapes, having direct connection to the murder ring. The conviction this week of Harry "Happy" Maione and Frank "The Dasher" Abbandando, first to be tried in connection with Murder For Hire activities, has drawn wide attention to the gang and its operations, but O'Dwyer admits he still does not know the name of the overlord said to run the entire gang, nor has he yet run to earth the network of corrupt police officials who have colluded with the gang in victimizing the poor of Brownsville and East New York over the past fifteen years. The next Murder For Hire trial, that of Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss and Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein for the incineration murder of racketeer Irving "Puggy" Feinstein, is scheduled to begin on June 17th. Following the completion of that trial, Abbandando and Max "Maxie The Jerk" Golob will be tried for the 1935 sidewalk slaying of John "Spider" Murtha.

(1940 will definitely be the Summer of Denim. "Copen" is sort of a medium blue. Not dark indigo, not royal, but not too far off from the familiar "faded denim" color.)

The Christian Front seditious conspiracy trial moves into its third month, with the list of defendants pared from 17 to 14 with the suicide of one defendant and dismissal of charges against two others, and public interest in the case is building again after weeks of obscurity. The length of the trial in part stems from the sheer number of defendants and witnesses to be heard, and with the prosecution having rested its case two weeks ago, the defense has still presented only just over half of its witnesses. Following the defense case, a lengthy prosecution rebuttal is expected. The jury is not expected to receive the case until near the end of June.

The Brooklyn-born author of baseball's unofficial anthem will be honored at Ebbets Field on June 27th. Jack Norworth, who wrote the indelible diamond favorite "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" thirty-two years ago for his wife, the late vaudeville star Nora Bayes, and has seen the tune grow in popularity far beyond anything he ever envisioned. Norworth, who lives at 9269 Shore Road in the Fort Hamilton district, will throw out the first ball before the June 27th Dodgers-Cubs game, and will be feted that night at a testimonial dinner at the Hotel St. George.

Mrs. J. B. writes to Helen Worth worried about why she and her husband have been unable to have a child over the eight years of their marriage. She is reasonably sure that she is capable of bearing children, but hesitates to recommend to her husband that they visit a doctor to be examined, for fear of how he will react if he learns that the responsibility for their childlessness is his. Helen advises that she say nothing, and not pursue the idea of an examination -- it's not worth risking the marriage to settle the question one way or the other. "What do the readers think?"

Old Timer James Harrigan of Walker Valley, N. Y. writes in to declare that the 1940 Dodgers are a bunch of sissies compared to the manly ballplayers of his youth, in the days when Billy Keeler was tearing things up for the Acme semi-pro club before going on to the big leagues, and it took seven balls to earn a walk.

(The Voice of Brooklyn. "I gotta stay right here and sell cigarettes.")

The Dodgers were rained out in Philadelphia yesterday, but they've regained first place in the National League after the Cardinals split with the Reds in a doubleheader at Crosley Field. The Dodgers and Phils will try again at Shibe Park this afternoon, with Luke Hamlin and Kirby Higbe expected to go. Red Barber will broadcast a telegraphic report of the game at 3pm over WOR.

Meanwhile, the slumping Dodger offense may or may not improve with the acquisition of outfielder Jimmy Wasdell, picked up from the Washington Senators at a price team secretery John McDonald would only say was "over the $7500 waiver price." The twenty-three year old Wasdell has been with the Nats since 1937, and has not impressed this season, batting an anemic .083 in thirty-five times at bat. On the other hand, Wasdell is young and is a left-handed Ebbets Field-style pull hitter when he does connect. The team is making the move out of clear dissatisfaction with the present outfield setup -- of the current roster, only Dixie Walker is hitting well, and he's currently out of the lineup following the death of his infant daughter. Joe Vosmik is still tender from his back injury, Roy Cullenbine isn't hitting at all -- although he does walk a lot -- and while rookie Charley Gilbert is good with the glove, his hitting has also gotten soft. Before Wasdell can join the club the Dodgers need to cut one man -- and it's likely to be one of the current outfielders.

With the Phillies in a strong fifth place, just two games under .500, Phils owner Gerry Nugent says he's received four reservations for 1940 World Series tickets from enthusiastic fans. "I thought it was a gag at first," admits the oft-beleaguered Phillie headman. "But we investigated and the results were bona fide."

A battle over zoning is looming in Flatbush, as residents of the South Midwood neighborhood come out in opposition to a proposed zone change that would allow the construction of apartment houses and business blocks in a section that has been restricted to single-family homes since the Zoning Law went into effect in 1916. South Midwood property owners will be out in force at City Hall on May 29th for a public hearing on the change.

Trend's cover boy this week ---

("Wendell who?")

Marian Anderson will sing tonight at Carnegie Hall, in "the outstanding Negro contralto's" last New York performance before she embarks upon a nationwide tour. Promoter Sol Hurok advises that all seats for the concert have been sold, but a limited number of standing-room tickets are available.

(The Navajos did not practice burning-at-the-stake. Some tribes did -- it was an idea they learned from the Franciscan friars who imposed this method of execution on native Americans who refused to accept their brand of "Christianity" in territories they colonized in the sixteenth century.)

(Self-diagnosis didn't start with the Internet. Panel seven is hilarious.)

("You're sure steppin' along with this one!" Yeah, what's it been, three months now? And another basement with a secret tunnel!)

(George "Sisyphus" Bungle.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News --

"True Romances"

"So they're both pretty mental...."

"You use naphtha? Doesn't gasoline burn more explosively?" "Yes, but it's impossible to get that smell out of your clothes." "I know some people prefer kerosene. You ever try that?" "Ew, no, the smell of that is even worse. I tell ya, napthha's the only way to go. It costs a little more, but it's worth it."

Oh, and "Fatty?" Tracy's in one of his moods today.

Clearly Nick hires a better class of thugs than the microcephalic types favored by Mr. Bolo.

Once when I was younger and meaner than I am now, I had a co-worker who was constantly stealing supplies out of my desk drawer. I cured this by putting a mousetrap in that drawer. But I never thought of fish hooks.

Axel's secret backer -- Mr. Coffee Nerves!

The rest of this trip should be very very interesting.

And at 215 Montague Street, Larry MacPhail wonders how many sodas a week it would take to sign Wyatt and Hamlin to new contracts.

"Say, Mrs. Bacon, my Poppa wants to know if you'd like to join us for breakfast tomorrow?"

Learn morse code! Someday it'll pay off!

 

[Fading Fast]

...He did state, however, that the order was not given out of fear of "fifth column" activity. ...

As a betting man, I'd bet this statement is the exact opposite of the truth.

...
(1940 will definitely be the Summer of Denim. "Copen" is sort of a medium blue. Not dark indigo, not royal, but not too far off from the familiar "faded denim" color.)...

The era loved dressing up - kids and women anyway - in sailor-inspired outfits.

Katherine Hepburn in 1935's "Alice Adams" shows off her best sailor outfit:

... View attachment 237785
(The Voice of Brooklyn. "I gotta stay right here and sell cigarettes.")...

...
(Self-diagnosis didn't start with the Internet. Panel seven is hilarious.)...

I still read all Sunday comics that break with their storylines under protest, but this was a pretty good one today. And, yes, panel seven is outstanding.

.. ("You're sure steppin' along with this one!" Yeah, what's it been, three months now? And another basement with a secret tunnel!)...

And yet, still no improvement in Black Hood posture.

...[ "True Romances"...

I'm exhausted just reading about these people's lives; how the heck did they live them?

... "So they're both pretty mental...."...

One thing that pops up in a lot of '30s and '40s movies is family members - kids and parents, siblings or cousins - regularly kissing each other on the lips to say hello or goodbye. Mercifully, that never happened in my family.

... Axel's secret backer -- Mr. Coffee Nerves!


The rest of this trip should be very very interesting....

Both LOA and T&TP are seriously good story telling with seriously good illustrations (different in style, but both effective in their own way). Pre-internet, it's not hard to see why these strips had a huge following.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Allied forces in Northern France fell back today under massed Nazi attacks equaling in violence those of the World War German assault on Verdun, and took their stand on a new line defending the English Channel. The French last night withdrew to new positions in the Valenciennes sector to straighten their lines while the Germans threw men and machines against Allied troops around Menin in Belgium. The French High Command declared that the Germans are attacking "without regard to losses," adding that "the situation is not unfavorable for the Allies."

Meanwhile, Nazi warplanes and high-speed torpedo boats today pounded the waterfront at Dunkirk in an attempt to score a quick knockout blow in the battle for the English Channel, and to "cut in two" the trapped Allied armies before clamping down a stranglehold that will mean death or capture for over a million British, French, and Belgian soldiers. British troops are battling "savagely" on land and sea to save Calais from the Nazi invasion force, with Nacal guns pounding down on the German lines heading into the key port city just twenty-two miles from the Dover coast.

In Britain, more than 3,000 German and Austrian women have been arrested and interned on the Isle Of Man for the duration of the war. British police and military authorities are also rounding up and jailing scores of pacifists, grumblers, "soap box orators," and members of the Irish Republican Army.

Harry "Happy" Malone and Frank "The Dasher" Abbandando have been sentenced to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison the week of July 7th for the 1937 murder of gangland stool pigeon George "Whitey" Rudnick. Judge Franklin Taylor pronounced sentence this morning in Kings County Court, calling the ice-pick slaying "a most revolting murder," and also excoriated defense attorney Alfred J. Rosner for his courtroom behavior, singling him out for his "excessive familiarity" with the defendants. Both men took the sentence without expression, with Abbandando telling reporters outside the courtroom that what really "burns him up" is that he'll miss the Dodgers' first night game of the season -- that, and the fact that Abe "Kid Twist" Reles won't get the chair along with him. Abbandando is an avid baseball fan, who earned his nickname for his quick baserunning while playing on the prison team at Elmira Reformatory.

Kings County Sheriff James V. Mangano will personally oversee the transportation of Maione and Abbandando to the prison. Accompanied by five deputy sheriffs, the two will board a train for Ossipee at Grand Central Terminal tomorrow at 11:30 AM.

One of the defendants in the Christian Front seditious conspiracy trial vowed from the witness stand that he would vow to fight for the United States in wartime -- even as he acknowledged that his brother in Germany is an avid Nazi. Thirty-five-year-old Michael Vill, who was born in Germany and is a naturalized citizen of the US, testified today that his brother, 39-year-old Alois Vill, is "a high official in the German Army," who "loves his country as I love mine." Vill acknowledged that he was last in Germany in 1936, when he and his American-born wife made a three-month visit to Vill's family there.

An amendment to the expansion of the license for municipal radio station WNYC to allow nighttime operation is being challenged before the Federal Communications Commission by the Columbia Broadcasting System, owners of station WCCO in Minneapolis. Columbia argued before the Commission that allowing WNYC to broadcast after local sunset could interfere with WCCO's nighttime signal, which covers the entire Midwest, as well as much of the eastern United States. WCCO broadcasts at 50,000 watts on a frequency of 810 kilocycles, the same channel used in daytime operation by WNYC at 1000 watts. Four Minnesota congressmen and a representative of the Minnesota Attorney General's office argued that allowing WNYC to broadcast at night could rob Minnesotans of "interference-free radio service."

("HEY YOU BOZOS!" yells the stage manager. "DONCHA SEE DAT SIGN? NO SMOKIN' BACK STAGE! IT'S DA LAW! YA WANNA SMOKE? OUT INNA ALLEY WIT'CHAZ! Oh, hey, ennywunna yez got a light? Dis cigar wennout.")

The new headman of Brooklyn's detectives is a mild-mannered fellow with a reputation for super-sleuthing that's hard to match. Inspector William Reynolds has served in the Police Department since 1905, and is best known for his work with the Manhattan Midtown Squad, where he solved the notorious Tetterton and Gedeon murder cases in 1937-38. Inspector Reynolds has also served with the Bomb Squad, the Missing Persons Bureau, and the Bureau of Identification over the course of his distinguished police career. He was appointed to the rank of Inspector last year.

("Wonner who *he's* payin' off?" says Joe. "We'll find out soon enough," shrugs Sally.)

The Dionne Quintuplets celebrate their sixth birthday tomorrow with word from Ontario that the French-speaking sisters will soon be taught to speak English. The Provincial Department of Education acknowledges that this will be done as much for financial reasons as for educational ones, with the Quints' guardians agreeing that the earning potential for the Quints in show business and in endorsement contracts will be higher if they are able to speak English.

Now at the Patio, it's Spencer Tracy in "Northwest Passage," paired with "Five Little Peppers At Home."

Out at the Drive-In-Theatre on Sunrise Hiway, it's a revival of the 1933 favorite "Twentieth Century," with John Barrymore and Carole Lombard.

(And that's why they call it "horse back riding!" Hahahahah! Get it?)

The final train to run on the Fulton Street "L" will be marked by the celebration of "Fulton Street Progress Day," according to Borough President John Cashmore, who says the discontinuance of service and demolition of the "L" structure will mark the culmination of a twenty-five year campaign for transit unification and modernization. The last train is expected to run across the hulking metal structure that has kept much of Downtown Brooklyn in shadow for more than half a century at midnight on Friday. The actual demolition work will likely begin July 1st.

The Dodgers made the most of a dark, dreary afternoon at Shibe Park by edging out the Phillies, 2 to 1 in ten innings. Kirby Higbe had the Flock baffled for much of the afternoon, throwing a one-hitter until the top of the ninth, when singles by Charley Gilbert, Dixie Walker, and Cookie Lavagetto loaded the bases, and a deep fly by Dolph Camilli brought home the tying run. That set the stage for the top of the tenth, when Pee Wee Reese muscled a home run into the left field upper deck for what proved to be the margin of victory.

Twenty-five-thousand-dollar free agent pickup Roy Cullenbine is on his way to St. Louis after Larry MacPhail agreed to send Cullenbine to the Browns in exchange for 26-year-old outfielder Joe Gallagher, who has been hitting .265 this year with two homers and eight runs batted in. The Dodgers had outbid the Browns for Cullenbine, who had been freed from the Detroit Tiger system by Commissioner Landis after contract irregularities came to light, but his performance, after a good start, has proven unsatisifactory, with a .180 batting average on the season so far.

The Cullenbine-for-Gallagher deal does nothing, however, to free up a roster spot for another outfielder, Jimmy Wasdell, who was acquired on waivers last week from the Washington Senators. Wasdell reported to the club in Philadelphia but has not yet been placed on the active roster, and cannot be until another man is cut.

Today the clubs switch cities, moving into Ebbets Field for a two-game set. Whit Wyatt is expected to go against Hugh Mulcahy for the Phils this afternoon. Tomorrow will see the first Brooklyn night game of the season.

The Dodgers are looking forward to getting out of Philadelphia, where attendance has been extremely poor. With two rainouts, the Flock barely cover its expenses for the road trip. Fewer than 2500 persons turned out for yesterday's game.

The fan band that often provides musical accompaniment for games at Ebbets Field made the trip to Philadelphia, in an effort to liven up proceedings for the series, but their music echoed hollowly around the near-empty ball yard. The musicians holed up at a tourist camp outside the city during the rainouts.

Radio critic Jo Ransom complains about nothing but dance orchestra remotes being on the air after 11 pm, and he wonders why some network or local station doesn't take a chance and put on a real program for night-owl listeners. He notes that Arch Oboler's "Lights Out" did very well for NBC a few years back at the midnight hour. "Who needs 'Joe Blow and his Hell Cats' from the Mills Hotel Sert Room, or some other hitching post in the Cafe Society Belt?" (The original "Mills Hotel" was a fleapit in Greenwich Village favored by out-of-work vaudeville actors that eventually became a small chain of similar hotels around the city -- and then a generic slang term for any cheap flophouse.)

(Sure, this'll work.)

(Ever the fashion plate, Leona makes a stop at A&S to stock up on denim.)

(Don't get too excited, Irwin -- that other trial's been going on for three months...)

 

[LizzieMaine]

Frank Knox, the Original "RINO?"

I wonder what Franklin D and Alfred M had for lunch? Pity there's no Childs in Washington.

No matter what John is doing, he always looks like a man who's just been told his dog won't recover.

Well, that didn't take long.

Ye canna fool a Scot.

Go on, Panel Two Min. Kick him. You know you want to.

That he's going thru his money at a disturbing rate isn't the most chumpy thing about Skeezix right now. It's that he's worked with Wilmer for almost six months, and still hasn't stuffed him down the mail chute.

Not the least of the satisfaction today from seeing Nanny get hers is the fact that she very closely resembles someone I find very annoying in real life.

If you hold the phone like that, kid, she won't hear a word you're saying. Ahhhh, she won't hear a word you're saying anyway.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
Kings County Sheriff James V. Mangano will personally oversee the transportation of Maione and Abbandando to the prison. Accompanied by five deputy sheriffs, the two will board a train for Ossipee at Grand Central Terminal tomorrow at 11:30 AM....

Be it how to construct a home-made bomb, where a potential stalker victim lives or the time and train that authorities are using to transport mob bosses, the newspapers of the era regularly published information helpful to criminals.

....The new headman of Brooklyn's detectives is a mild-mannered fellow with a reputation for super-sleuthing that's hard to match. Inspector William Reynolds has served in the Police Department since 1905, and is best known for his work with the Manhattan Midtown Squad, where he solved the notorious Tetterton and Gedeon murder cases in 1937-38. Inspector Reynolds has also served with the Bomb Squad, the Missing Persons Bureau, and the Bureau of Identification over the course of his distinguished police career. He was appointed to the rank of Inspector last year....

And yes, there is a movie on the Missing Persons Bureau "Bureau of Missing Persons" from 1933 staring Pat O'Brien and Bette Davie and not a bad one at that (comments on the movie here #27541):

... (Sure, this'll work.)...

At some point, it becomes clear that an honest living is an easier path.

.
(Ever the fashion plate, Leona makes a stop at A&S to stock up on denim.)...

Kinda a cool shot of the two of them in the garden - like when you'd see a '60s TV character who usually was in a suit for his role (and clad that way each week) in an episode when he was at home or vacationing and not in a suit.

Frank Knox, the Original "RINO?....

There is a lot on this page today. The separation story about the sculptress-actress wife and stage-designer husband has both comic strip and movie potential (although the code would be a challenge).

[ Ye canna fool a Scot....

Pat and Raven are reaching the "Cheers" Sam and Diane stage: either have sex or stop fight-flirting. Do one or the other, but you kids need to make a decision.

... Go on, Panel Two Min. Kick him. You know you want to....

Exactly how small is this town that a single, non-fatal truck accident is reported with the driver's name on the radio?

... That he's going thru his money at a disturbing rate isn't the most chumpy thing about Skeezix right now. It's that he's worked with Wilmer for almost six months, and still hasn't stuffed him down the mail chute.....

Yup.

 

[PrivateEye]

Be it how to construct a home-made bomb, where a potential stalker victim lives or the time and train that authorities are using to transport mob bosses, the newspapers of the era regularly published information helpful to criminals.

I found the names - and home addresses - of the members of the "blue ribbon" jury particularly shocking

 

[Fading Fast]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Belgium has fallen to the Nazis, with King Leopold III formally surrendering the Belgian Army, as German mechanized forces surged thru the north to strike at trapped British and French troops in Flanders. The Belgain Cabinet In Exile, meeting in Paris, responded to the surrender by removing Leopold from the throne, taking him prisoner, and declaring his surrender order to be null and void. "No act of the King has effect unless it is countersigned by his minister," declaired Belgian Premier Hubert Pierlot in a broadcast from Paris. "In dissolving the link uniting him with the nation, the King has placed himself under the authority of the invader. Under these circumstances he is no longer in a position to govern. Belgium will fight on until victory. A new army will be raised to fight alongside the Allies."

French Premier Paul Reynaud responded to Leopold's surrender by denouncing the former King and promising the British and French will fight on south of the Somme and Aisne Rivers. In London, cries of "Shame!" resounded in the House of Commons, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill told of Leopold's captiulation. Churchill's statement that the Allies will "continue to defend the world cause to which we have bound ourselves."

The Roosevelt Administration and Congressional leaders today agreed to raise $3,000,000,000 in taxes over the next five years to pay the cost of national defense. The plan ratified by the President was drafted following a three-hour conference with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Representative Robert L. Doughton (D -- N. C.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Pat Harrison (D -- Miss.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and calls for financing defense programs by the sale of $3,000,000,000 worth of "special national defense obligations," along with the levying of additional taxes of between $600,000,000 and $700,000,000 thru 1945 to retire and pay interest on those obligations. The conferees also agreed to ask Congress to increase the Treasury's national debt limit from $45,000,000,000 to $48,000,000,000 to make possible the borrowing of new defense funds.

Detective Lieutenant John Osnato, nemesis of the notorious "Murder For Money" syndicate, was today placed in charge of the main office detective division of the police department in Brooklyn, working directly under Inspector William T. Reynolds, new commander of the borough's detective force. The new assignment ends Lt. Osnato's temporary appointment to the staff of District Attorney William O'Dwyer, and is interpreted as another in a series of steps being made to promote closer cooperation between the DA's office and the police department in the borough's ongoing war against crime.

Striking drivers and maintenance men of the Parmelee and Terminal taxicab systems have agreed to terminate their five-week-old walkout at the request of Mayor LaGuardia, on the Mayor's guarantee that steps will be taken by his administration to "remedy the miserable working conditions of employees in the taxicab industry." Drivers with the city's two largest taxicab concerns walked off the job on April 25th after negotiations with management collapsed. The strikers had sought new contracts calling for an increase in driver commissions from 42 1/2 to 45 percent, an across-the-board 10 percent wage increase for salaried maintenance workers, vacations with pay, arbitration of dismissals and job grievances, and the closed shop.

The "Black Spider" dies in three days, as the last train runs across the antiquated Fulton Street Elevated Line at midnight Friday. Mayor LaGuardia, arch-proponent for the removal of the structure which has blighted Fulton Street for more than half a century, will be among the celebrating passengers aboard that last train, along with a delegation of more than two hundred leading Brooklyn civic leaders led by Borough President John Cashmore. A special "Fulton Street Progress Day" section will appear Friday in the Eagle, with a history and reminiscences of the old "L" and projections of what its removal will bode for the future of the borough.

(Why, Boys! Are you trying to tell us there's something *wrong*, something *dangerous* about nicotine? That, perhaps, there is an increasing body of hard scientific evidence that tobacco is a serious health risk? That there is evidence, even, that tobacco use causes cancer? Why haven't we read about those studies in the newspapers? Could it be on account of all the tobacco advertising those newspapers carry? Are you perhaps trying to head off all that criticism that's been appearing lately in muckraking sheets like the "Daily Worker" and "In Fact?" Could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeee?)

RKO-Radio Pictures will offer a program of fifty-three features for the 1940-41 season, headed by such productions as "Kitty Foyle," starring Ginger Rogers in an adaptation of Christopher Morley's best-selling novel, "The Other Man," with Carole Lombard and Charles Laughton, and Orson Welles in a special production tentatively titled "John Citizen U. S. A." The short-subject program will include animated cartoons by Walt Disney, two-reel comedies with Edgar Kennedy and Leon Errol, twice-weekly releases of RKO-Pathe News, and new installments in the popular "March of Time" and "Information Please" series.

A Flushing man who has earned his living for the past two years by stealing dimes and quarters from public telephone pay stations has been sentenced to 90 days in jail on a petty larceny charge. Thirty-one year old Edwin Oakes had used duplicate keys and a device of his own invention that intercepted silver coins to systematically rob pay telephones along a regular route in the Flushing area. Oakes is a former employee of the telephone company.

Old fashioned Barber Shop Quartet singing is making a big comeback in New York, with informal groups taking up the cause of four-part harmony, ranging from four Manhattan radio announcers -- Mark Hawley and John B. Gambling of WOR, and George Hicks and Ben Grauer of NBC -- to a Queens delegation of Jimmy Lynch's World's Fair Hell Drivers, to the official Brooklyn Dodger Quartet of Hugh Casey, Vito Tamulis, Herman Franks, and Gene Moore. These and seventy-five other foursomes from around the city will compete in the annual Barber Shop Quartet competition sponsored by the Department of Sanitation, to be held at the mall in Central Park on June 27th.

Clifford Evans reports that a public preview rehearsal of the Bob Hope show at the NBC studios nearly ground to a halt when a spectator threw a penny at the comedian. Infuriated, Hope threatened to stop the performance until cooler heads prevailed. Hope drew loud applause when he snapped at the penny-thrower, "Only a skunk would throw a cent."

("I'll tell you where to go..." Looks like the Licthys' summer vacation is off to a rough start.)

The president of the Crispus Attucks Community Council today denounced Brooklyn business owners who refuse to hire Negroes. George Wibecan, a former advisor to the Borough President's office, is calling for "a new abolition movement" intended to secure fair and equal employment for Negroes and to abolish discrimination in hiring. "Negroes are excluded from employment in almost all restaurants and department stores," declared Wilbecan. "We Negroes must use our purchasing power as a group to force employers to hire persons of our race. I appeal to Brooklyn businessmen in a reasonable demand that they give our children the opportunity to work."

(These portable closets, with woodgrain-printed corrugated cardboard walls and doors mounted on a wooden stick framework were a big fad in the 1940s. I used to have one in an apartment, and it worked fine -- until I tried to add one more garment to the twelve already stored inside. It collapsed, spectacularly, in the middle of one particularly humid night, into a mass of soggy cardboard and broken sticks. Live and learn.)

(Sports photography hasn't quite been the same since they stopped allowing photographers on the field during play. Mega-lenses and digital equipment are well and good, but nothing beats a Speed Graphic just a few yards from the action.)

The Dodgers breezed to an easy 6-0 victory over the Phillies yesterday, giving them a four percentage point lead in the National League over the second-place Reds, who swept a doubleheader from Pittsburgh. Dixie Walker led the Brooklyn attack with a three-for-three afternoon, and Pee Wee Reese hit in his sixth straight game. Joe Vosmik was back in the lineup, wearing a women's corset under his uniform to protect his injured back. The corset, a lace-up model reminiscent of the Gay 90s, is a lovely shade of pink. Whit Wyatt got the win, elevating his season record to 4-2.

Tonight, the Dodgers play their first game of the season under the incandescents, with Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons getting the start against Hugh Mulcahy. Fitz is undefeated so far on the season, as the resurgent Dodgers go for their fifth straight win.

Red Barber and Al Helfer will describe tonight's game direct from Ebbets Field over WOR at 9PM.

(George is such a terrible liar.)

(Iron Clad Rule of the comics -- never trust anybody who wears a string tie.)

("Begone, pestiferous whelp!" says Axel. "Away with you! I, Axel, am working this side of the street!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Lepke is now officially tied to the Murder For Hire Gang. This next trial will be a doozie. And I wonder if Mr. Clark ran into Mr. Lichty at the station?

Not only are the ads simpler, so are the meals featured. But those muffins will stay on the menu to the last crumb!

"I'll see your chicken loaf and raise you chicken salad..."

John meets with the NAM Information Council. The guy in the white suit and black moustache is George Sokolsky's ghostwriter.

Fish cakes? Don't you know that these days, chicken's the thing?

Hey Skeez, do you know how to jimmy a payphone? You may need to before this is over.

"Mountains? You mean the Williamsburg Bank Building?"

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Yep, you can say that again. They sure did flg mu uf.

Awwww. It's always heartwarming to see that Willie and Mamie deep down do love each other. But let's not go too far, OK? And Kayo drinks coffee? No wonder he's such a brat.

 

[Fading Fast]

... (Why, Boys! Are you trying to tell us there's something *wrong*, something *dangerous* about nicotine? That, perhaps, there is an increasing body of hard scientific evidence that tobacco is a serious health risk? That there is evidence, even, that tobacco use causes cancer? Why haven't we read about those studies in the newspapers? Could it be on account of all the tobacco advertising those newspapers carry? Are you perhaps trying to head off all that criticism that's been appearing lately in muckraking sheets like the "Daily Worker" and "In Fact?" Could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeee?)...

A square they tried to circle for the next fifty-plus years until the Tobacco "Settlement." Now, the gov't is - like with gambling - the one profiting the most from tobacco sales.

...

("I'll tell you where to go..." Looks like the Licthys' summer vacation is off to a rough start.)...

It would seem hard to keep the destination a secret form your wife if she's holding the tickets. How Golden Era though is a vacation starting with a train trip?

...
(These portable closets, with woodgrain-printed corrugated cardboard walls and doors mounted on a wooden stick framework were a big fad in the 1940s. I used to have one in an apartment, and it worked fine -- until I tried to add one more garment to the twelve already stored inside. It collapsed, spectacularly, in the middle of one particularly humid night, into a mass of soggy cardboard and broken sticks. Live and learn.)...

Nobody in the era buying one of those wardrobes owned twelve garments, so not a problem back then.

Best part of the ad, the little guy in the bottom with his cap delivering your packages.

..
(Sports photography hasn't quite been the same since they stopped allowing photographers on the field during play. Mega-lenses and digital equipment are well and good, but nothing beats a Speed Graphic just a few yards from the action.)...

Fantastic pic.

...The Dodgers breezed to an easy 6-0 victory over the Phillies yesterday, giving them a four percentage point lead in the National League over the second-place Reds, who swept a doubleheader from Pittsburgh. Dixie Walker led the Brooklyn attack with a three-for-three afternoon, and Pee Wee Reese hit in his sixth straight game. Joe Vosmik was back in the lineup, wearing a women's corset under his uniform to protect his injured back. The corset, a lace-up model reminiscent of the Gay 90s, is a lovely shade of pink. Whit Wyatt got the win, elevating his season record to 4-2....

Guess Whit's knee is okay.

... View attachment 238186
Tonight, the Dodgers play their first game of the season under the incandescents, with Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons getting the start against Hugh Mulcahy. Fitz is undefeated so far on the season, as the resurgent Dodgers go for their fifth straight win....

The world would stop spinning on its axis if a player was called "fat" today, but it's hard to beat triple alliteration.

... View attachment 238187 (George is such a terrible liar.)...

Good lines: "For certain reasons" and "What sort of funny business are you and that no-good cousin Sugarfoot up to."

...[
Lepke is now officially tied to the Murder For Hire Gang. This next trial will be a doozie. And I wonder if Mr. Clark ran into Mr. Lichty at the station?...

Good page today it has so much even a by-the-numbers blonde husband stealer.

Re Ms. Roth: I'm not defending her behavior, but the judges come off as pretty arrogant themselves.

Re Newark Airport: This is what a public game of chicken looks like.

Re "The Neighbors" and "Grin and Bear It:" Funny coincidence right down to both taking the train to start their trips.

...
Not only are the ads simpler, so are the meals featured. But those muffins will stay on the menu to the last crumb!...

It's quite the about-face Childs made to its business model. I noticed the muffin too, but have to say, today I'd be all over the butterscotch biscuits as I am with anything butterscotch (and, later, the custard pie).

...[
"I'll see your chicken loaf and raise you chicken salad..."....

Omaha! Hate to have to miss the butterscotch biscuits, but chicken salad > chicken loaf (whatever that is exactly) and I'll get a ramekin of H&H custard for dessert and save, probably, 15 cents.

... John meets with the NAM Information Council. The guy in the white suit and black moustache is George Sokolsky's ghostwriter.....

Of the three, Nick, Bolo or John - I have the least confidence in John's ability.

...Fish cakes? Don't you know that these days, chicken's the thing?....

You forgot the name Heve Hoe? Really!

... View attachment 238197 Hey Skeez, do you know how to jimmy a payphone? You may need to before this is over.....

... Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........

Even April can't take the Sam-and-Diane dynamic anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fat Freddie demonstrating his motion for the camera.

He'll turn thirty-nine years old in July, and has been in the majors since 1925, most of that time spent with the Giants. He joined the Dodgers in a mid-season trade in 1937, and has been a reliable spot-starter and mid-reliever since then. As a master of the knuckleball, he doesn't have to throw hard, and considers his age and his weight to be of no consequence. He admits to 215 pounds, but there are those who would add another twenty to that. "His arm is so crooked he can't bend down and pick anything up," says Durocher, who enjoys playing gin rummy in the clubhouse with the portly pitcher-coach.