The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

....The Sheffield Farms Company has agreed to accept half of a damage payment awarded as a result of a one-day wildcat strike by milk wagon drivers following a recommendation from the "impartial chairman of the milk industry." Sheffield had originally been awarded $10,000 in damages by arbitrator Arthur S. Meyer following the February 24th strike, but the company today agreed to Meyer's recommendation that they accept only half as a "settlement of all differences" between the dairy firm and Local 584 of the Milk Wagon Drivers, A. F. of L. The money will be set aside by the company for a pension fund intended to benefit "deserving long-time employees."...

It's been awhile since we've had a "milk" story in the news.

...D.G. writes to Helen Worth wondering if it's all right for a man's wife or a man's girl friend to kiss her boyfriend every time they meet. Helen says it's not the kisses you see that mean trouble -- it's the ones you don't....

Helen does Henny Youngman.

... View attachment 249059
(When it comes to the big downtown showplace theatres, the Metropolitan is the place to go for the high-class prestige pictures. The Fox, however, takes a different tack.)...

We haven't heard much from the Patio recently.

... (Have you considered hypnotherapy?)...

Assuming George isn't charged with a crime (or even if he is), we still have a lot of loose ends to tie up. What did happen to Sugarfoot and not-Tootsie? What happened to real Tootsie? How does the estate get settled amidst all this?

... (Deep down, Irwin Higgs knew that he was heading for a bad end, that his life of incompetent comedy-relief bumbling was drawing to its inevitable violent close. But when anyone, even this freakish temptress in the dime-store wig, called him "lovely boy," suddenly none of it seemed to matter...)

When someone is starved for affection, even the tiniest of crumbs...

...
Even at the age of 9, Jackie is fodder for Page Four. Get used to it, kid....

With England, literally, fighting for its survival, it's hard to believe the public has any patience at all for the Nazi-loving, whoring "Duchess" in particular, but, honestly, for either of them.

... Hmph. If this turns out to be nothing but a common swami racket, I for one will be very disappointed....

Heck, the entire crime-fighting architecture of Dan Dunn's world is full-on trying to stop a small time suit-shoplifting ring; it seems police everywhere have, for the moment, decided to play small-ball in 1940 comics.

... So how 'bout a roll in the hay?"....

In the real world even of 1940, that's right where these two would be about now.

... Behold the Gump ex Machina.....

And in the nick of time as her accent - those long-E sounds have to be killing him - has to have him questioning his decision to marry her about now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

German airplanes struck again today from the English Channel coast to Scotland with bombs and machine gun fire, but were hurled back with severe losses in a major air battle along the southeastern coast. At least eleven German planes were reported shot down on land or over the channel, although an Air Ministry communique released at mid-afternoon reported only six victims of the British counterattack. More than a hundred planes participated in the battle after German raiders attacked a British convoy in a daring thrust against the Thames at London's East Estuary.

A political rebellion is roiling the Kings County Democratic Party with Justice George J. Joyce of the Municipal Court entering the primaries against the Party establishment's choice of attorney Samuel J. Liebowitz for a County judgeship. Justice Joyce protested Liebowitz's candidacy as "an insult to every regular Democrat," and called on the party rank and file to repudiate Liebowitz at the polls. Justice Joyce cited Liebowitz's opposition to William O'Dwyer's nomination for the position of District Attorney in last year's election as sufficient grounds for a primary challenge, and expressed outrage at County Democratic Leader Frank Kelly's endorsement of Liebowitz's candidacy.

Eviction orders will be signed today in Brooklyn Supreme Court to force the removal of several hundred Sheepshead Bay businessmen and tenants who have refused to vacate their properties to make way for a Belt Parkway connection between Coney Island Avenue and Marine Park. Those who have refused to move are in defiance of a preemptory order to vacate issued earlier this summer by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, and will now be liable to forced removal by Sheriff James Magnano, who will serve the orders starting tomorrow. The evictees will then have ten days to vacate or be removed by force.

Dodger president Larry MacPhail told Brooklyn Rotarians today that "all is not lost," despite the Dodgers' doubleheader loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The 4-3 and 9-2 defeats buried the Flock a full seven games behind the league-leading Reds, but MacPhail refused to concede defeat, pointing out that Brooklyn fans are the most loyal in baseball. "Maybe," he declared, "things are not as bad as they seem." Yesterday's twinbill drew what is believed to be the second-largest weekday crowd in the history of Ebbets Field, with over 40,000 persons crowding into the ballpark to witness the games.

When conscription comes, as seems most likely that it will, men with dependents will not be taken. So promises General William E. Shedd, in testimony before the House Military Affairs Committee."Never in time of peace," stated the General, will the Army draft men with dependents. It is expected that the draft, which could begin as early as this October pending Congressional approval, will take an initial group of 400,000 men into the Army, all of them to be single and without dependents.

A "bomb" which caused considerable excitement in East Flatbush last night turned out to be a discarded oxygen tank. The mysterious appearance of two men in an automobile along Church Avenue between E. 54th and E. 55th Streets last night around 9:30 PM triggered the bomb scare after a housewife saw the two men emerge from their car, deposit a metal object under a garbage can in a vacant lot, and drive off. The Bomb Squad was summoned, and discovered the object to be a rusted metal cylinder about sixteen inches long. Investigation revealed that it was merely an empty oxygen tank with no explosive potential, and it was taken to Manhattan for further examination.

(George Case will die of emphysema. Joe DiMaggio will die of lung cancer. Bucky Walters' cause of death will be listed as "undisclosed," but I'd be willing to venture a guess.)

At the AIR-COOLED Patio this week, it's Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Irene Dunne in "My Favorite Wife," paired with Warner Baxter and Andrea Leeds in "Earthbound."

L. M. C. writes to Helen Worth to ask if she should marry her boyfriend. She's twenty and moved to Brooklyn a year ago and has a good office job. Her boyfriend is homeless. She wants to marry him, but is afraid of what her mother will say, and wonders if she should marry him and not tell her. Helen says to go ahead and marry him if that's what you want, but by no means hide it from your mother. That will only lead to more trouble down the line. "Do not allow an emotional storm to cloud your thinking!"

The Eagle Editorialist admonishes Borough President John Cashmore to stop dickering over cost and get a strong, secure fence built along the BMT right-of-way in Midwood immediately. The $21,000 cost of such a project is trifling compared to the danger that another child could follow Richard Allison into death.

(Strom Thurmond -- the Early Years.)

Both major Presidential candidates will be given their own "Days" at the World's Fair. Republican Wendell Willkie and President Roosevelt will both be invited to appear at ceremonies in their honor, at which time they will be given the courtesy of the Fair to outline their views to the public. Mr. Willkie has already accepted the invitation, and his Day will be scheduled for a Saturday later in the season. Mr. Roosevelt has not yet responded to the invitation, but Vice Presidential nominee Henry Wallace is expected to appear at a Farm Day ceremony in mid-August. The President has only appeared in person at the Fair once, with his opening-day speech in 1939.

Cincinnati shortstop Lonnie Frey has never been a beloved figure in Brooklyn, especially since he tore up Whit Wyatt's knee last summer, and yesterday he zoomed again to the top of the Flatbush hate parade when he spiked Pete Coscarart with a high slide in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader. Petey, who has already been sidelined by a spiking once before this season, was in no mood for a second, and came at Frey with fists swinging. Wyatt raced from the mound to get in his licks, while Cookie Lavagetto and Pee Wee Reese tried to intervene. Frey took several punches to his handsome face, and left the field bruised and bloody, and Reds pitcher Junior Thompson, who tried to defend Frey, got spiked in the right leg by "someone" for his trouble. League President Ford Frick, who has spent a good chunk of his time this summer investigating Dodger fights, will be questioning participants in yesterday's fracas to determine who, if anyone, should be disciplined. Frey was already implicated in one spiking incident earlier this season, when he cut up Dodger catcher Babe Phelps.

(Sally carefully lays the paper on the table and glares at the large photograph on page thirteen. Waves of rising heat ripple in the still air around the back of her reddening neck. Joe decides it's a good time to walk down to the candy store.)

Pete Reiser, boy wonder just up from Elmira, made a highly-inauspicious debut at Ebbets Field yesterday. He grounded out with the bases loaded to end a Dodger rally, he missed a bunt to cost the Dodgers a run, and then he grounded into a double play, before limping off the field in the fifth inning with a charley horse. By the way, Pete's name is pronounced "ree-zer," not "rize-er."

(All things considered, Jo has shown remarkable restraint thru this whole ridiculous business, but when she blows, it's gonna be one for the ages.)

(I dunno, seems like a Dan Dunn-level clue to me...)

(In fact, why not call in Dan himself? I mean, it's not like he's busy with anything important...)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

There's a reason why prison movies were so popular.

Schrafft's bold marketing thrust puts all the other chains to shame.

51 for me was the only really good year I've ever had. 53 and 54 were the very worst, like having a two-year migraine. 57 has been lousy in a different kind of way, like having a splinter in your foot that you can't get out and that keeps working its way in deeper and deeper with every step you take.

Slagg, huh? Doesn't sound like a name Mr. Gray would give to a kindly, lovable couple. They're probably running a cigarette-smuggling racket in the back room.

"C'mon! I know where we can get some parachutes cheap!" "You're insane, Pat. You do know that, right?"

Never mind the usual "some mentalist!" crack -- how thick do you have to be not to read Tracy as a cop at the very first glance? He might as well have a badge tattooed across his face.

The look on Baby's face in panel three is absolutely priceless. "YOU EEEEDEEEOT!"

Well played, Nina. Well played.

Buying a broken down used car for a cross-country road trip from your no-account unemployed uncle? SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN!

Hey, you get what you pay for! The "Awful Awful," by the way, was a real East Coast soda-shop fad in 1940 -- it was the direct ancestor of today's ultra-thick "soft ice milk" shake. "Awful big and awful good!"

 

[Fading Fast]

...Dodger president Larry MacPhail told Brooklyn Rotarians today that "all is not lost," despite the Dodgers' doubleheader loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The 4-3 and 9-2 defeats buried the Flock a full seven games behind the league-leading Reds, but MacPhail refused to concede defeat, pointing out that Brooklyn fans are the most loyal in baseball. "Maybe," he declared, "things are not as bad as they seem." Yesterday's twinbill drew what is believed to be the second-largest weekday crowd in the history of Ebbets Field, with over 40,000 persons crowding into the ballpark to witness the games....

Even 1940 baseball is hard in 2020.

...At the AIR-COOLED Patio this week, it's Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Irene Dunne in "My Favorite Wife," paired with Warner Baxter and Andrea Leeds in "Earthbound."...

Lizzie, the AIR-COOLED Patio and I thank you for the update.

...(Sally carefully lays the paper on the table and glares at the large photograph on page thirteen. Waves of rising heat ripple in the still air around the back of her reddening neck. Joe decides it's a good time to walk down to the candy store.)...

Been in Joe's shoes, but in my case, it was getting out of the line of fire of my father when a team he was betting on fell apart or blew a game-wining opportunity. My strategy was nothing more than exit stage as quietly and quickly as humanly possible.

...Pete Reiser, boy wonder just up from Elmira, made a highly-inauspicious debut at Ebbets Field yesterday. He grounded out with the bases loaded to end a Dodger rally, he missed a bunt to cost the Dodgers a run, and then he grounded into a double play, before limping off the field in the fifth inning with a charley horse. By the way, Pete's name is pronounced "ree-zer," not "rize-er."...

As Crash Davis would say, "welcome to The Show Pete."

...
(All things considered, Jo has shown remarkable restraint thru this whole ridiculous business, but when she blows, it's gonna be one for the ages.)...

There comes a point when you are no longer mad at the other person, but at yourself for being in the situation in the first place. When you're explaining to friends that your husband didn't push his cousin and an elephant into a river to collect $1,000,000 from an estate, you're probably close to that point.

... (I dunno, seems like a Dan Dunn-level clue to me...)...

It could help with Leona (my Dad hated jewelry and never ever wore a ring - hence, that clue would be impactful to his close family), but as for the public, I'm with you Lizzie, it's a big meh.

... There's a reason why prison movies were so popular....

Now hold on a second, the mother fainted outside so the judge (our friend DA O'Dwyer) appoints the 18-year-old parolee's 14-year-old sister to be his probation officer? Seriously? And this is the guy we made DA (who actually seems quite good at the job). Also, you name your children Patrick Lynch and Nora Patrick Lynch?

...
Schrafft's bold marketing thrust puts all the other chains to shame....

I get the "less is more" approach to marketing (I worked for the brokerage subsidiary of Bank of Boston when it paid over $1million dollars to a marketing firm for the advice to change its name to BankBoston - I kid you not), but that might be a bit too little as I have no idea what the run of prices represents.

My mother's family was very poor and, in the leanest years, barely kept a roof over their head (my mother slept on the sofa in the living room of a very tiny one bedroom apartment, in a garbage part of town, that they struggled to keep). But in a "good" year, for someone's birthday, the treat was going to Schrafft's, not for dinner (let's not go crazy), but for an ice-cream soda at the counter. I know I have it somewhere, stored in a box is the only picture I have of my mother's mother and it was taken at Schrafft's.

... Never mind the usual "some mentalist!" crack -- how thick do you have to be not to read Tracy as a cop at the very first glance? He might as well have a badge tattooed across his face....

... The look on Baby's face in panel three is absolutely priceless. "YOU EEEEDEEEOT!"...

$1000 in 1940 = ~$18,500 today and, if as implied, it's a quarterly gift, Onkeel Beem is offering these kids a $74,000 allowance. And you know he wants to give more.

.. Well played, Nina. Well played....

Agreed. College Boy seems insufferable, but that's not the point - he's serving Nina's purpose quite well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sales of petroleum products by U. S. firms to Axis powers are now liable to embargo under an order issued by President Roosevelt. The order adds oil, scrap iron, and other scrap metal to the list of essential materials requiring specific export licenses, an action widely seen as a preliminary step toward a full embargo on such sales. The order came as Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau confirmed that two shipments of oil to Spain have been stopped -- an action taken to prevent that oil from being passed on to Germany and Italy. Ships bearing approximately 200,000 barrels of oil bound for Spain from a Texas port were intercepted and stopped by the U. S. Maritime Commission operating under Secretary Morgenthau's authority.

Meanwhile, all movements of U. S. ships to Europe are expected to be forbidden under a blockade of the entire continent to be deployed by Great Britain within the next week. Operation of such drastic naval control outside Iberian as well as French waters is believed certain as a result of the designation of a new and wider combat zone as defined under the American Neutrality Act which would ban all American vessels from landings in Spain and Portugal.

German planes today raided the Vickers aircraft factory at Weybridge, England, twelve miles from the southeastern outskirts of London, and twelve British planes were reported destroyed. Four of the planes were destroyed on the ground at the Vickers works. The German High Command also stated that six German planes were lost in the raid.

A wealthy Belgian nobleman who married a Brooklyn-born London showgirl four days after she gave birth to his son is now being held captive by the Nazis. Baron Jean Empain was taken captive during the German invasion of Belgium, while his wife, the former Rose Zell Rowland of Coney Island escaped to southern France with their three-year-old son. The Baroness achieved fame at the age of seventeen for dancing in a Manhattan night club in a costume made largely of gold paint. She met the Baron while performing in London in 1935, and when she learned she was going to have his baby two years later, he promised to marry her -- if the child was a boy. The Baroness is the daughter of the night manager of Coney Island's Manhattan Beach Hotel.

The Sperry Gyroscope Company's Flatbush Avenue factory will not close for the usual summer vacation period this year due to increased demand for its naval and aircraft instruments from the armed forces. Instead, the firm's 4000 employees will take two-week breaks on a staggered schedule while production is continued on a reduced basis to allow for the expansion of certain vital departments at the plant. The company will continue to operate on a two-shift rotation thruout the expansion period.

In Hollywood, a ghost has been named co-respondent in a divorce suit. Dr. William A. Boyce, a Hollywood oculist, filed the suit claiming that his wife, a practitioner of spiritualism, has become enamored of a being identified as "Sho-Sho," who claims to have been her mate in previous incarnations.

A prominent Scarsdale clubwoman faces charges that she embezzled $500,000 while working as private secretary to a wealthy mining engineer. Fifty-one-year-old Mrs. Mary B. Roberts, who is well known in Westchester County as a leading figure in club and charitable affairs, was arrested at her home today, twelve days after the death of her employer, the late Samuel C. Thompson. The embezzlement was discovered by Thompson's son, Clifton S. Thompson, Wall Street lawyer, who found upon a review of his father's accounts that a half-million dollars worth of securities were missing. Mrs. Roberts is accused of using the power of attorney granted her in the course of her employment to speculate in the stock market using Mr. Thompson's money on her own behalf. Mrs. Roberts has admitted to investigators that "most of the money was lost."

The president of the American Tobacco Company declared to his stockholders that a government investigation of the firm for possible violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is an attempt to "promote economic theories wholly foreign to American principles of fair competetion and enterprise." The letter to stockholders from company head George Washington Hill comes in response to charges by the Department of Justice that American Tobacco, along with eight other firms, act in concert in such a way as to constitute a monopoly over the industry.

"Doris" writes to Helen Worth to say that she's been married for ten years and has worked for most of that time. She left her last job three years ago because her boss made advances on her, but she really wants to go back to work. Problem is, too many employers won't hire her because she's married. What to do? Helen says there's no reason you can't leave your wedding ring in the bureau drawer and lie about being married. Many hundreds of married women looking for work are forced to do so every day, to the point where it's more or less "an accepted hypocrisy." Just don't forget that you *are* married when the boss thinks otherwise.

(I wonder what "Kentucky" thinks about "Maryland." And will "West Virginia" take on the winner?)

Miss Katherine MacDonald has worked for the J. Kayser and Co. factory on Dekalb Avenue for fifty years -- and she's seen ladies' dainties go thru a lot of changes over those many decades. But she's enjoyed every day of her work since she started on the job in 1890, and has advanced to the position of head of the Examining Department, where she supervises a staff of sharp-eyed young women in ensuring the quality of the merchandise before it's packaged and shipped out. The Kayser firm manufactures ladies' knitwear including hosiery, gloves, underwear, and nightwear -- and Miss MacDonald ensures that every stitch is in order before the garments leave the plant. She's seen a lot of fashions come and go, and remembers all the scandal when pink undies first came in. "It was too daring," she laughs, "for perfect ladies who continued relentlessly to wear white."

(When air travel was an adventure.)

The Board of Education is considering a plan that would install mobile desks and chairs in the city's classrooms in place of the current bolted-to-the-floor models. A two-week study of the advantages and disadvantages of the two styles of classroom furniture recommends movable furniture in all future school buildings, and its use as replacement furniture as needed in existing schools. The use of movable furniture will permit the replacement of the present expensive, difficult-to-maintain hard maple floors with inexpensive, easily-maintained asphalt tile.

They came, they saw, they conquered -- and the Cincinnati Reds leave Brooklyn the presumptive National League Champions for 1940 after sweeping our hapless Dodgers three in a row to extend their lead to a brutal eight games. The Rhinelanders completed their sweep with a 6-3 victory under the Ebbets Field arc lights, on the strength of another outstanding outing by Bucky Walters, with a home run by Dolph Camilli in the eighth the sole bright spot for the Flock. Tex Carleton pitched ineffectively for Brooklyn, the likely result of a sore finger on his pitching hand, and was knocked out after an Ival Goodman triple broke the game open in the second. Luke Hamlin and Hugh Casey had little to contribute in relief.

The Cardinals move in for a four-game series tomorrow, and although the Redbirds are mired in fifth place, they're still capable of causing trouble for the Dodgers -- who will have to pull themselves together to stave off threats from second-division clubs if they are to avoid sinking further in the standings.

The Dodgers have picked up pitcher Lee Grissom from their Montreal farm club in the International League, and have sent Newell Kimball and Lew Fette to the Canadian club. Grissom, who pitched for the Reds when that club was run by Larry MacPhail, came to the Dodger organization via the Yankees, who took a look at him last spring and decided to pass. He has a record of 6-4 this year with the Royals, and is said by observers in Montreal to have "come around rapidly" in recovering the fastball that made him a feared hurler with the Reds.

(I continue to be astounded by Jo's restraint.)

(Meanwhile, Leona's already filed for divorce.)

("But -- I'm already wearin' a disguise! I'm Jiggs, from 'Bringing Up Father'! Look, red hair, cigar, the whole bit!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

The genteel Mr. Schroth would never allow anyone to be called a "burlesque dancer," especially not a Brooklyn girl, in the Eagle, but the News, bless it, has no such compunctions.

OK, so, in their usual setup, and in this particular show, Gaxton plays a slick-talking con man and Moore is his chump. Childs really needs to think this stuff thru.

Sally looks across the table at her husband, and notices he looks tanned.

It'll be great. Gammy, you can be "Aunt Mary," Bert, you can be Bill, Annie can be Dennie, the little squirt can be Sunny, and Sandy can be John Blackston. All we need is somebody to play Leona, and we'll be ready to go!

"Yogee," is it? Hah! I see thru that cheap disguise -- AXEL!

When Pat goes all in on something, he goes all in. He didn't even change out of the white dinner jacket.

Min and Jo are sisters CONFIRMED.

Aw, get a room.

Shadow's delicate eyelashes must get in the way of his vision.

With a spine like that, Willie has a fine career awaiting him in Hollywood as a mid-level studio executive.

 

[Fading Fast]

...A wealthy Belgian nobleman who married a Brooklyn-born London showgirl four days after she gave birth to his son is now being held captive by the Nazis. Baron Jean Empain was taken captive during the German invasion of Belgium, while his wife, the former Rose Zell Rowland of Coney Island escaped to southern France with their three-year-old son. The Baroness achieved fame at the age of seventeen for dancing in a Manhattan night club in a costume made largely of gold paint. She met the Baron while performing in London in 1935, and when she learned she was going to have his baby two years later, he promised to marry her -- if the child was a boy. The Baroness is the daughter of the night manager of Coney Island's Manhattan Beach Hotel....

The Baroness in her more pedestrian days as Rose Zell (her stage name; her birth name was Rozell Rowland) in her gold-paint costume in the late '30s.


Which, as we say all the time at FL, is just another example that few things are really new as, almost three-decades later, this early '60s Bond moment for actress Shirely Eaton created quite the stir:

..."Doris" writes to Helen Worth to say that she's been married for ten years and has worked for most of that time. She left her last job three years ago because her boss made advances on her, but she really wants to go back to work. Problem is, too many employers won't hire her because she's married. What to do? Helen says there's no reason you can't leave your wedding ring in the bureau drawer and lie about being married. Many hundreds of married women looking for work are forced to do so every day, to the point where it's more or less "an accepted hypocrisy." Just don't forget that you *are* married when the boss thinks otherwise....

A sad variation on this theme takes place in the 1947 movie "Gentleman's Agreement" when a secretary at a prominent liberal Manhattan magazine tells her boss (who she believes is Jewish) that she, too, is Jewish but hid that fact to get hired. The irony and hypocrisy are large as the magazine professes to be an advocate for progressive thought, but the secretary shows her boss how she could only get hired by "Anglicizing" her name.

..
(I wonder what "Kentucky" thinks about "Maryland." And will "West Virginia" take on the winner?)...

The movie theaters, smarty, are pushing their AC feature in the depth of summer and I keep thinking what a redoubt that must have been for the average New Yorker. However, for us today, we'd probably choke to death from the fug of cigarette and cigar smoke in them. We'd be cooler, but dead.

...They came, they saw, they conquered -- and the Cincinnati Reds leave Brooklyn the presumptive National League Champions for 1940 after sweeping our hapless Dodgers three in a row to extend their lead to a brutal eight games. The Rhinelanders completed their sweep with a 6-3 victory under the Ebbets Field arc lights, on the strength of another outstanding outing by Bucky Walters, with a home run by Dolph Camilli in the eighth the sole bright spot for the Flock. Tex Carleton pitched ineffectively for Brooklyn, the likely result of a sore finger on his pitching hand, and was knocked out after an Ival Goodman triple broke the game open in the second. Luke Hamlin and Hugh Casey had little to contribute in relief....

This is not good - more than a mid-season slump. It's going to take a historic run.

... (I continue to be astounded by Jo's restraint.)...

Yes, but, she's starting to warm up. Today's "socratics" were just to get her range right as she swings the big guns around.

... (Meanwhile, Leona's already filed for divorce.)...

One can hope.

... OK, so, in their usual setup, and in this particular show, Gaxton plays a slick-talking con man and Moore is his chump. Childs really needs to think this stuff thru.....

I think it's time Childs Senior admits that Childs Junior is not going to run the family businesses one day and replace him as head of marketing as, instead of "learning the business," he's destroying it.

I looked up Childs (to actually see if there was a Childs - there were, two founding brothers) and discovered that the first Childs restaurant was opened on the site of One Liberty Plaza in NYC, which is a building I worked in for three years (that's it, that's my very, very, very tiny connect to Childs).

...

Sally looks across the table at her husband, and notices he looks tanned.....

Just a reminder that it cost some Joe (tee-hee) money and a reasonable amount of effort to get that printed in the paper.

... It'll be great. Gammy, you can be "Aunt Mary," Bert, you can be Bill, Annie can be Dennie, the little squirt can be Sunny, and Sandy can be John Blackston. All we need is somebody to play Leona, and we'll be ready to go!....

Umm, Lizzie, uh, er, well, Sandy wants to have a word with you and he doesn't look pleased. On a more positive note, if it will expedite the divorce, Leona raised her hand to jump strips to "Little Orphan Annie," so, it looks like, she'll be available to play herself. She's also says that she still has the Club Buccaneer outfit if money is tight.

... "Yogee," is it? Hah! I see thru that cheap disguise -- AXEL!....

"Dick Tracy" should be so lucky. Axel, Nick, the fat candy shop owner and his mean wife, that entire storyline - LOA dumped its best characters and narrative overboard for a boring walk through a swamp and, then, a Walton's Family moment.

... When Pat goes all in on something, he goes all in. He didn't even change out of the white dinner jacket....

Did he also find a magic money machine, I thought he was broke? Where's the chartered-plane money coming from?

... View attachment 249560 Aw, get a room....

Same thought, if they didn't do it already in the hayfield, this is the moment. Swimming dates are foreplay, period; that's why they were invented.

... View attachment 249563 Shadow's delicate eyelashes must get in the way of his vision.....

Turn your head darn it, turn!

 

[LizzieMaine]

RKO needs to go full-on with the lettering made of dripping ice blocks and little penguins standing off to the side to get the full refreshing effect in that ad.

It's hard to believe Childs will last into the 1960s. But somehow, it will.

The Dodgers at this stage remind me so much of those Red Sox teams that filled me with rage in the 70s. I guess if you're going to fold, do so spectacularly.

The more things work out in "Annie," the more it seems likely that Mr. Gray got hazed by his editor for the Nick/Axel story. "They want wholesome?" he snorts. "I'll give 'em wholesome!"

Pat must've had some money stashed somewhere for Terry to keep up that nice hotel suite while he was off in the wilderness gallivanting with Blaze and company. Either that or he's charging it to Raven's tab. "Let this be a lesson to her!"

Note the tank meandering down the street in panel two. That Hong Kong traffic is hell.

We'll probably spend the next two weeks watching Harold and Shadow just miss each other, and by the end of it Harold will be near starvation while Shadow will weigh 200 pounds.

 

[Fading Fast]

RKO needs to go full-on with the lettering made of dripping ice blocks and little penguins standing off to the side to get the full refreshing effect in that ad.

It's hard to believe Childs will last into the 1960s. But somehow, it will.

The Dodgers at this stage remind me so much of those Red Sox teams that filled me with rage in the 70s. I guess if you're going to fold, do so spectacularly.

The more things work out in "Annie," the more it seems likely that Mr. Gray got hazed by his editor for the Nick/Axel story. "They want wholesome?" he snorts. "I'll give 'em wholesome!"

Pat must've had some money stashed somewhere for Terry to keep up that nice hotel suite while he was off in the wilderness gallivanting with Blaze and company. Either that or he's charging it to Raven's tab. "Let this be a lesson to her!"

Note the tank meandering down the street in panel two. That Hong Kong traffic is hell.

We'll probably spend the next two weeks watching Harold and Shadow just miss each other, and by the end of it Harold will be near starvation while Shadow will weigh 200 pounds.

You might be spot on and we're watching Gray throw a public, albeit covert, temper tantrum.

 

[ChiTownScion]

My very first encounter with Harold Teen (as with so much else in my childhood) was in a Mad Magazine parody:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Archie and Jughead were *absolutely not in any way* ripped off from Harold and Shadow. No sirreeee bob.

(That's absolutely gorgeous Will Elder art in the parody. Not only does he nail the "Harold Teen" style, but he nails it at a very specific point in time -- the late twenties, when Elder would have been reading it as a kid.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

German bombers today made thrusts at Great Britain's "back door" by attacking a convoy off the North Irish coast. That attack came as other German squadrons mounted further attacks on English towns along the southeast Channel coast. One German bomber was reported downed in the northern attack.

A German raider that sunk two British ships in the American Neutrality Zone near the West Indies recently was disguised under the Swedish flag, according to survivors of that attack who landed today at Pier 22, at the foot of Atlantic Avenue. Those survivors arrived aboard the Norwegian freighter Leif, which picked up 25 crew members of the sunken British vessel Davisian, who were adrift in a leaking lifeboat.

Japan has asked the United States to consider the possibility that an embargo on the sale of American oil and scrap iron to Japan may "aggravate Japanese-American relations." It was suggested that the Japanese Government might mount a reprisal against the United States for such an embargo by cutting off the US supply of rubber and tin from South Seas nations controlled by Japan. It was also announced that Japanese authorities were terminating all US trade operations in Northern China.

Mayor LaGuardia today endorsed the proposed military draft as a means of promoting national unity. The Mayor, who served in the World War as an aviator, recommended several changes in the conscription bill as it now stands, however, suggesting that provisions be added placing an emphasis on the training of young boys just out of high school for skilled industrial work, and not merely on training them in basic military service categories. The bill as it now stands would require the registration of 42,000,000 American men between the ages of 18 and 65 for selection for some form of national service.

Meanwhile, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has denounced the conscription bill as "totalitarian dictatorial regimentation and destructive liberty." An editorial in the current edition of the Brooklyn Tablet calls the bill "the product of an autocratic mind" that is "being jammed down the throats of the people in great haste." The Tablet urged its readers to write or wire their Senators and Congressmen to urge the defeat of the bill. (The Tablet is controlled by Father Edward Lodge Curran, east coast mouthpiece for Father Coughlin.)

The present heat wave reached a new peak, with temperatures at Borough Hall climbing to 92 degrees as of 2 PM today. The humidity, however, declined to 55 percent and thunderstorms are in the forecast for later this afternoon.

Three men are in custody and two 1500-gallon stills have been shut down in one of the largest bootleg alcohol raids seen by the borough in recent memory. The operation was raided at a private residence at 4910 Metropolitan Avenue, and yielded quantities of alcohol, yeast, and mash in addition to the distilling apparatus.

Sally Rand, whose "Nude Ranch" went bankrupt at the World's Fair last year, is back in business at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, doing three shows nightly with her fan-and-bubble routine. Miss Rand says the 2 AM crowd is the most critical audience for her performances, and she intends to make those shows "the highlight" of her engagement.

The "American Jubilee" show at the World's Fair has added a segment dealing with current politics to its routine, and the reception is not entirely favorable. As vocalist Wynn Murray sings an election-themed song, banners bearing images of President Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie are paraded across the stage to be greeted by cheers, boos, and foot-stamping by the audience. Critic Robert Francis says this addition is not in the best of taste, with such hooting and hollering more at home in a political hall, not a stage performance.

More than 115 postal workers have been nominated as "Brooklyn's Model Mailman" in the Eagle's current poll. Votes will be announced on Sunday.

(Actual fact: during much of 1940 there was a nationwide shortage of pins with little colored heads, favored for sticking into maps by armchair generals.)

Lee Grissom is ready to go for the Dodgers, joining the club less than two hours after he got the word that he'd been called up to Brooklyn. The veteran righthander was in Newark, where the Montreal Royals were preparing to face the Bears, and immediately headed to Ebbets Field on receiving the news. He's suited up and ready to play, and could take the mound this weekend against the Cardinals. Also ready to go is Ed Head, rookie hurler called up from the Elmira Pioneers of the Eastern League, and with both pitchers on the club on a "what have we got to lose?" basis, Durocher is likely to waste no time in seeing what they can do.

Vito Tamulis is scheduled to start this afternoon against the Cardinals, who are in for a four-game series. Although the Flock has been sagging lately in the standings, attendance has been doing no such thing, with the turnstiles at Ebbets Field spinning at a pace 75,000 fans ahead of last year's attendance.

The United States Lawn Tennis Association continues to stick to its restrictions barring "Negro players" from competition, but tennis star Don Budge will defy that ban by competing against the best Negro tennis talent in the city in a series of singles and doubles matches next Monday at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club, 443 Convent Avenue, in Manhattan. Columnist Ed Hughes applauds Budge for his defiance of the Association, and hopes that the tournament will be yet another wedge against the irrational ostracism of Negro athletes in certain sports, even as they are accepted and lionized in others. "The Negro athlete has never been able to even scratch the surface of American tennis or major-league baseball. No logical -- therefore, decent -- answer can be given for that," says Hughes. "Some day, and I hope it is soon, the Negro will take his place in tennis and in major-league ball. Or is the American way for pale faces only?"

(There's no friends like fair-weather friends.)

(And just like that, "Mary Worth's Family" morphs into a strip about a crime-fighting grandmother. Watch out, Dan Dunn!)

(Actually, that really is an old man. Irwin's going out in drag. He's always wanted to try it.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Otto ought to give it up and get an honest job. Department stores are always looking for good floorwalkers. He's even already got the moustache.

It's 93 degrees out. Who's gonna buy chocolates?

Just don't get on a boat with her.

Now here is a woman who has seen it all, and wishes she hadn't.

Ever notice whenever Pat is in a real jam, suddenly an old crony shows up? Better watch out, Terry, he's moving in on your turf.

"Yeah, that new worker seems like a good enough guy an' all -- but you ever notice how he never stops talking to himself?"

In New England, this game is called "gools," and Skeezix, by hanging so close to the goal, would be called a "gool-sticka."

Yeah, right. Josie Teen is the female Kayo Mullins.

Like I said.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Sally Rand, whose "Nude Ranch" went bankrupt at the World's Fair last year, is back in business at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan, doing three shows nightly with her fan-and-bubble routine. Miss Rand says the 2 AM crowd is the most critical audience for her performances, and she intends to make those shows "the highlight" of her engagement...

I'm about two decades removed from any night-crawling activities and, even then, my experience with the 2am crowd was limited, but from what I saw, that is a very hard-core-drinking crowd with a subset passionately on the hunt for, well, sex. And while that crowd is made up of more men than women, there are plenty of women members too.

...
(There's no friends like fair-weather friends.)...

Not a lot of due process at that club. But then again, we see that in pro sports all the time today where the commissioner or some committee reverse engineers its process to a pre-determined outcome. And in the last few years, it seems that Twitter / social media, often times, provides / forces the pre-determined outcome.

... (And just like that, "Mary Worth's Family" morphs into a strip about a crime-fighting grandmother. Watch out, Dan Dunn!)...

Mary would mop up the floor with Dan Dunn and Tracy. Those guys are pretty full of themselves; whereas, Mary just gets things done.

... Otto ought to give it up and get an honest job. Department stores are always looking for good floorwalkers. He's even already got the moustache.....

Re the Baron and Baroness: The movie script practically writes itself - beautiful young American girl marries European "Royalty", they escape Europe from Nazis, harrowing deportation back to Europe halted and, then, seemingly the decision is reversed by the President, Baron now punching an assembly line time clock while he hires an agent to find him a new rich wife while he's also still married to - but trying to divorce - the young beauty who helped save him.

John Barrymore as the Baron, Veronica Lake as the young beautiful wife and Eugene Pallette as the wife-finding agent. With that cast, I see it playing at the Metropolitan in the spring.

Re Archduke Otto: "Monarchy and democracy are not incompatible. They go hand in hand." Uh-huh.

Re the embezzler: She "meant to do no wrong" translates to "I had hoped I'd never get caught." Also, not often that you see the plural of larceny, "larcenies" used. And since it's well known, but seems often times forgotten, that embezzlers never take long vacations, several financial firms I've worked for have had a policy of a mandatory two-week vacation annually for those who handle the firm's capital - traders, portfolio managers, etc. (but I've never seen it enforced with any rigor - alas).

...
It's 93 degrees out. Who's gonna buy chocolates?...

Me. I'd be lucky to get out of that store without having blown a buck to a buck fifty. "Hey, honey, what's this bag in the icebox." "Never mind." "Also, I noticed the cash jar is low." "Never mind."

... Just don't get on a boat with her.....

Not Annie's fault, but the Slaggs have just signed up for murder, mayhem, gangsters, spies and God knows what else to enter their world.

Lizzie, if Gray truly was told to kill off the Nick and Axel storyline, do you think there's any way we could find any evidence of that?

...[ Now here is a woman who has seen it all, and wishes she hadn't.....

Yup, her expression in panel four says it all.

... "Yeah, that new worker seems like a good enough guy an' all -- but you ever notice how he never stops talking to himself?"....

. But in truth, in the conventions of comic-strip land, that's pretty normal behavior that probably wouldn't be noticed by other comic-strip characters.

Oh, and Take. The. Money. Just do something positive and constructive to build a better life and career for you and your wife with it.

... Yeah, right. Josie Teen is the female Kayo Mullins....

Three-hundred-and-sixty-five strips to write a year needing, at least, three-hundred-and-sixty-five new ideas - not doable, sometimes you just gotta write filla.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Harold Gray's papers are at Boston University, but the finding aid is not especially informative. In fact, the one type of material that's conspicuously absent from his files are his exchanges with the syndicate editors -- he kept careful files of complaints from readers, but there doesn't seem to be anything there documenting communication with the editorial department. That's actually pretty strange -- I wonder if he destroyed those papers? He was still drawing the strip when he died in 1968, so it's not like he would have been thinking much about his legacy at that point, so it would seem odd to get rid of just that material. Maybe it made him so mad he never bothered to file any of it?

The Tribune Company still owns the rights to the strip, and I'd imagine if they saved any editorial files, they might have some documentation. LOA was, by far, the most controversial of the Chicago Tribune/NY News strips, and there had to have been a pretty extensive paper trail at some point.

I don't know of any comprehensive biography of Gray -- there have been a couple on Milton Caniff, there's one on Chester Gould, but other than the short introductory essays in the collected volumes of the strip itself, there hasn't really been a thorough examination of his life and career. There ought to be.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Archie and Jughead were *absolutely not in any way* ripped off from Harold and Shadow. No sirreeee bob.

(That's absolutely gorgeous Will Elder art in the parody. Not only does he nail the "Harold Teen" style, but he nails it at a very specific point in time -- the late twenties, when Elder would have been reading it as a kid.)

I love Jughead carrying a fish wrapped in a copy of the Daily Worker while wearing a sweater cum swastika: so over the top that even a nine year old kid would laugh at it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The twenty-one American republics today virtually adopted a "declaration of Havana" to regulate the future of orphaned European colonies in the New World. United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull was credited with formulating and obtaining agreement on a declaration which will state firmly that the Western Hemisphere will remain isolated from the European and Far Eastern wars, and that totalitarian interference or influence in the hemisphere will not be tolerated. The document is a compromise between a United States-backed plan that would place colonial possessions of Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands under a "collective trusteeship" for the duration of the war, and a "wait and see" proposal backed by Argentina which would have implemented no action until and unless the hemisphere was actually threatened.

A German communique states that another 107,298 tons of British shipping, along with the destroyer Whirlwind, were sunk today. It is also stated that German planes continued air raids along the entire eastern coast of England and Scotland, as well as the Shetland Islands and Wales. Raids were reported on railroad junctions at Turnbridge Wells, thirty miles southwest of London, and on big oil tanks at Thames Haven, on the mouth of the Thames. Numerous fires were reported following additional German raids on the ports of Cardiff, Aberthaw, and Hastings.

Enrollment of men in the British fighting forces today passed the 4,000,000 mark, with 300,000 men born in 1906 receiving their call to register for compulsory military service. It is understood that plans are underway to bring men between the ages of 37 and 41 into the scope of compulsory service.

The nationwide heat wave that's been roasting the United States for the past nine days is expected to moderate over the weekend, but today will again see hot and humid weather. Yesterday afternoon's Brooklyn high of 94 point 3 degrees was the hottest day of 1940, but today should be just slightly less oppressive, with an afternoon high of 88 predicted. Thruout the nation the Associated Press reports 508 people have died during the current hot spell, 244 from heat prostration and 264 from drowning.

A 62-year-old Midwood woman is safe at home with no memory of how she spent the past four days. Mrs. Blanche Kriegsman of 1226 E. 36th Street wandered away from her home four days ago, and was the subject of an eight-state police search after her son reported her missing. Mrs. Kriegsman was discovered yesterday by Patrolman Albert Ott of the Liberty Avenue precinct, near the intersection of Liberty and Shepherd Avenues in Brownsville. She could not recall how or why she was there, but did recall stopping on several occasions to ask for water due to the intense heat.

Police from the Brooklyn Avenue precinct today broke up a planned demonstration by Brooklyn College students who intended to tie a girl to a tree as a representation of suppressed academic freedom. The young woman was gagged and dressed in an academic cap and gown, but police ejected the group from the campus grounds. The demonstration moved to a gate outside the campus, where the girl was tied as members of the American Student Union distributed handbills criticizing the college administration for barring a proposed campus meeting by the Emergency Peace Mobilization Committee.

The "Flat Foot Four," official barbershop quartet of the Oklahoma City Police Department, are the national champions of barbershop singing, following yesterday's contest at the World's Fair under the sponsorship of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing of America. Plans to hold the contest outside the New York City Building were trumped by the excessive heat, and the singers vocalized indoors instead.

The heat has caused damage to a Fair landmark. The thirty-foot tall statue of the "Spirit Of Communication" atop the Bell Telephone pavilion developed a large crack in its gilt-painted plaster surface, and was surrounded today by a scaffold pending removal.

In Chicago, Ruby Keeler has been released from her contract to appear alongside ex-husband Al Jolson in the musical revue "Hold On To Your Hats," after complaining that Jolson's ad-libs about their recently-dissolved marriage are making her uncomfortable.

A fifteen-year-old newsboy who sells papers to help support his family was the complainant against an adult competitor in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court. Newsie Robert Horn Jr. of 275 Skillman Street accused 34-year-old Nathan Ehrlich, operator of a lunch room at 528 Lafayette Avenue, of striking him in the face after he refused to stop selling papers in front of Ehrlich's establishment. The boy also charges that Ehrlich threatened to throw his papers down the subway if he didn't get off the sidewalk. Charges of disorderly conduct were brought against Ehrlich, and his case continued to Monday in Pennsylvania Avenue court.

(Karen, 1940 Edition.)

A 65-year-old Manhattan carpenter choked to death on his own false teeth after crashing his car into a tree outside Brentwood. Abraham Grasnow of 562 W. 148th Street had swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle when he drove off the road. Grasnow's passenger, 39-year-old Henry Mayer, lost two of his natural teeth in the collision, and noticed that Grasnow had swallowed his lower plate and was gasping for breath. Mayer was unable to remove the plate from Grasnow's throat and Grasnow died in the ambulance en route to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore.

The Dodgers didn't lose yesterday -- but neither did they win, as the sudden thunderstorm Friday afternoon brought an end to their game with the Cardinals with the score knotted at 3-3. The tie was the last straw for Leo Durocher, who flew into an uncontrolled rage behind clubhouse doors after the game, excoriating his team for its sloppy and indifferent play with both lungs wide open. Several players, who had been "coddled" by Durocher over the course of the season, were taken aback by the outburst, but others took their medicine with equanimity. "We had it coming," said one Dodger, adding that Durocher is "the best slump-breaker we have. If he can rally this team as he has in the past, we can still go places."

Yesterday's game brought the first appearance of beanballer Bob Bowman at Ebbets Field since he hit Joe Medwick in the head last month. Bowman came on to pitch the ninth for the Cardinals, and was given a royal reception by the Brooklyn rooters, but there were no further incidents. Medwick was the third batter to face Bowman, and stepped right into the first pitch he saw, raising a routine pop fly to end the inning.

The Dodgers and Cardinals play two consecutive doubleheaders to close out their series. Curt Davis will start the first game this afternoon, and Ebbets Field fans will get thier first look at new Dodger Lee Grissom in the second.

(Somewhere, Sugarfoot is having a long, loud laugh.)

(Gov. Swiller may want to reevaluate his security staff.)

(Well, I knew *somebody* would show up in drag.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

I have always been a fan of Lupe Velez.

You sure you didn't drop off at a bar on the way home?

"PS - Tula is a tramp."

"And, of course, that still he's got out in the shed helps a bit too..."

Jeez, Tracy. You do have policewomen on the force, you know. You don't *have* to send your fiancee out and risk her getting killed. Unless, of course, you're -- ah -- trying.....

"Besides, then I could keep an eye on you. You know?"

"One of my friends is named 'Connie!'" "AWWWWWWR! Waaaaaaal, that's diff'ent!"

Poor Shadow. No wonder he's losing his hair.

An artist is never appreciated in his own time.

 

[Fading Fast]

...The heat has caused damage to a Fair landmark. The thirty-foot tall statue of the "Spirit Of Communication" atop the Bell Telephone pavilion developed a large crack in its gilt-painted plaster surface, and was surrounded today by a scaffold pending removal....

I thought I'd find a pic of the World's Fair statue in no time, but no luck. Instead this is just another statue of "The Spirit of Communication."

... (Somewhere, Sugarfoot is having a long, loud laugh.)...

If Sugarfoot died trying to kill not-Tootsie, I'm hoping, where he is now is hotter than Brooklyn today in 1940.

... (Gov. Swiller may want to reevaluate his security staff.)...

I note yesterday's comments on Mary Worth vs. Dunn and Tracy. It would have taken DD or DT weeks to get to this point in the investigation - and there'd have been a bunch of fights and car/truck chases first.

... I have always been a fan of Lupe Velez...

If only Ms. Velez would tell us how she really feels.

My movie-theater-loving grandmother had a ratty old cardigan that magically came out of her large pocketbook whenever we entered an air-conditioned theater in the summer. It was her movie-theater sweater. It's been about fifty years since I've seen it, but I can still see it clearly in my mind right now.

... You sure you didn't drop off at a bar on the way home?....

No kidding, let's check back in on these two in a few months. Also, if this is your first day of swinging a pickaxe all day, you're going to feel that a lot that night - 20 years old and in love or not.

...
"PS - Tula is a tramp."....

PPS, Um, uh, do you happen to have her number, er, uh, just so that I can tell her off. Yeh, that's it.

... Jeez, Tracy. You do have policewomen on the force, you know. You don't *have* to send your fiancee out and risk her getting killed. Unless, of course, you're -- ah -- trying........

Going out with Tracy means getting on The Dick Tracy Train. Life is about him. We've all seen it where the girlfriend is just part of the "Big Man's" world. It does happen in reverse, but in my experience, that is much rarer.

.. "One of my friends is named 'Connie!'" "AWWWWWWR! Waaaaaaal, that's diff'ent!"....

Who knew Yul Brynner got his start in comic strips.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Germany has ordered Rumania to decide by direct conference with Hungary and Bulgaria how much land to cede to those countries, and to be quick about it. In conference with Rumanian Government leaders at Obersalzburg, Adolf Hitler is said to be pushing for a rapid resolution of the border situation so that southeastern Europe can "rest peacefully" while German proceeds with the invasion of Great Britain. The demands to be met, according to the German command, are those of Hungary for portions of Transylvania and Bulgaria for portions of Dobruja, territories now claimed by Rumania.

Great Britain replied today to a week of heavy bombardment by German raiders by mounting a series of "successful attacks" on power plants and aerodromes in France and within the Reich itself. British planes also attacked and destroyed a German supply ship off the Norwegian coast.

Yesterday marked the hottest day in Brooklyn in four years, and two persons died as a result of the extreme heat. The thermometer peaked at Borough Hall at 99 degrees at 4:20 Saturday afternoon, but thundershowers and gusty 30 MPH winds in the early evening dropped temperatures more than twenty degrees by 9 PM. More relief is forecast for today with additional showers likely.

("Less go to a movie," pants Joe. "What movie?" groans Sally. "I don' care. Any movie. We can hitch a ride on a ice truck. Anything ta geddaddah heah.")

The intense heat put a damper on attendance at the World's Fair, with only 59,848 patrons passing thru the turnstiles by 6 PM yesterday. Most people headed for beaches in an effort to escape the relentless heat.

A mother anxious to spare her six-year-old son the "tortures of Hell" went house to house in Flatbush yesterday in search of the "little white dog" that bit her boy. Mrs. Jeanne Poirier says her son Girard was bitten by the dog in the Farragut Woods park, and that the owner of the dog, a woman, told him to "go to a drugstore" to get the wound treated. Unless the dog is located and found to be free of infection, Girard will be required to undergo the Pasteur treatment for dogbite, involving fourteen days of painful injections. Mrs. Poirier says she hopes to spare him this, as the boy has already been sapped by illness over the past year and a half.

(Yeah, it's a great time to go shopping for coats. How are you fixed for earmuffs?)

The Eagle Editorialist says so what if the Dodgers are nine games out? The Reds aren't as good as they look. Besides, there's still time to make up that lead. Remember, as long as you're in second place, the boys in first place are afraid of you. We're still for the Dodgers anyway, even if they don't win.

It was Leo Durocher's 35th birthday, but there was no cause for celebration as the Dodgers ran their losing streak to six straight, dropping yesterday's doubleheader to the Cardinals 4-2 and 6-3. That dropped the Flock to nine games behind the high-flying Reds in the race for the National League pennant, and by the end of the day Lippy looked ten years older. The two newest additions to the Dodger pitching staff, Lee Grissom and Ed Head, both appeared in the first game, but it was poor Hugh Casey who took the brunt of the Cardinal attack. The Dodgers had little to offer in support but weak hitting and daffy baserunning. The Cards came on even stronger in the nightcap, with starter Curt Davis and his three relievers roughed up by St. Louis bats, especially that of Johnny Mize, who contributed a homer and a triple. The bird, which had lurked in the heat-dappled crowd of 20,000 thruout the afternoon, roared out in full force toward the end of the second game, expressing in colorful and unmistakable terms the views of Brooklyn fans toward the Flock's inadequate performance.

Don't forget -- if you can predict the line score for the first game of today's doubleheader you can win $50 in the Eagle's big Dodger Contest -- and because of the response, the contest will be extended to next Sunday as well!

Old Timer Irving Halstead lives in Manhattan now, but his heart belongs to Flatbush, where he whiled away many a pleasant afternoon thirty years ago following the doings of the Flatbush Base Ball Club. Good old Bill Rising out in left field was as good as Zack Wheat, he declares.

Pro-New Deal turned Anti-New Deal Democrat turned Willkie Republican Edward Raymond Burke makes the front of Trend this week...

Those were real bats you saw on screen in Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers," but the little black flying creatures had to be lightened with powder in order to show up against the dark backgrounds used in the film.

Hal Roach made his name as a producer of comedies, and even though he's had success lately with such dramatic features as "Of Mice And Men" and "One Million BC," he still has his hand in laugh pictures. His latest feature, "Turnabout," is the story of a man and wife who switch bodies and find that complications ensue.

(A politician? Probably wants lessons on throwing the bull.)

(Hmph. Some dancing horse. Show us some *real* moves. Borrow one of Toscanini's records.)

(As Mary says, "why go to the circus when you already live with the clown?")

(THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME)

(Actually, ANOTHER BRUTAL DAY would be a pretty good alternate title for the whole strip.)