The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

The one I really feel sorry for is the comedy writer who was all set to call a character "Leonore 'Bubbles' Schinasi," and now has to change her name.

The Greatest Generation.

Glamour Deb there is a pretty good likeness of Brenda Frazier, Cafe Society Queen of 1939. She'd *never actually* do anything like this. Oh no.

Tess is just a little too convincing here.

And just who is "Mr Bosworth" in league with? Because if the villain here is just some dried-up old tightwad, I'm going to be very disappointed.

I pulled my last baby tooth this way, and was absolutely shocked that it actually worked.

Oh, Raven is gonna just love this guy.

When class consciousness dawns.

You tell 'im, sister.

This is better than a Saturday matinee movie serial.

 

[Fading Fast]

...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....

Which reminds me, we haven't gotten an update on Bob the dog recently. I believe, amazingly, the last we knew, Brooklyn's Supreme Court was reviewing his case.

... View attachment 250227
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....

It's time for the "every comeback starts with one win first" speech.

...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....

"One Million BC" is a "drama," is that what we are calling it now?


Carole Landis: "It's a drama, and a darn fine one; you got a problem with that buddy?"

FF: "Umm, nope, all's good here Carole."

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

Good call

... The one I really feel sorry for is the comedy writer who was all set to call a character "Leonore 'Bubbles' Schinasi," and now has to change her name...

I just want to see this part of the wedding video, "I take thee, Leonore 'Bubbles' Schinasi, to be my..."

... Glamour Deb there is a pretty good likeness of Brenda Frazier, Cafe Society Queen of 1939. She'd *never actually* do anything like this. Oh no....

From the illustrations, the "mousy girl" looks a heck of a lot cuter than the "beach lovely."

... Tess is just a little too convincing here.....

Same thought. When she said, "Let's see, I'm a broken-hearted woman. I'm losing the man I love. I'm desperate. I need advice," I wanted to break in to tell her she needed to focus on getting into character and worry about her personal life later. I'm sure the irony is intentional on Mr. Gould's part.

... And just who is "Mr Bosworth" in league with? Because if the villain here is just some dried-up old tightwad, I'm going to be very disappointed.....

No kidding, we've sadly come a long way from Nick and Axel.

That said, panel 3-5 is a pretty good economic's lesson in how supply and demand meet to determine a price.

... Oh, Raven is gonna just love this guy.....

With "Little Orphan Annie" doing penance and "Mary Worth" treading water, T&TP is running with the ball in open field in comic-strip land. Kudos Hu Shee, nice game of chess.

...[ You tell 'im, sister.....

Dear God, won't these two have sex already. Even their parents want them to do it at this point.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was wondering about Bob myself. There hasn't been any mention of him in recent weeks, so I can only presume that means the case is still "under advisement."

Once again I can't find any picture of Bob anywhere in the archives, but since he was a "fawn colored Spitz," we could assume he looked something like this little fellow:

Awwwwww, whooooos a good boy?

This Dude Hennick fellow was actually based on an old college friend of Mr. Caniff's, which suggests that as obnoxious as he seems, he must have some endearing qualities as well that he has yet to display.

Skeez better get back to the city pretty soon, or old Mr. Clock will be coming along with his shotgun.

 

[Fading Fast]

I was wondering about Bob myself. There hasn't been any mention of him in recent weeks, so I can only presume that means the case is still "under advisement."

Once again I can't find any picture of Bob anywhere in the archives, but since he was a "fawn colored Spitz," we could assume he looked something like this little fellow:

Awwwwww, whooooos a good boy?

This Dude Hennick fellow was actually based on an old college friend of Mr. Caniff's, which suggests that as obnoxious as he seems, he must have some endearing qualities as well that he has yet to display.

Skeez better get back to the city pretty soon, or old Mr. Clock will be coming along with his shotgun.

That is a handsome little fella.

I was just surprised at how much Hennick looks like Yul Brynner and I love how Hu Shee has played everyone so far (the riddle was awesome).

Honestly, unless she was pregnant (in that day), would you want your daughter to marry Skeezix?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not right yet. But Skeez is a good kid, and he'll grow into a good man. Same thing with Harold Teen -- he's a scatterbrained goof at 19, but at 25 hopefully he'll have his act together.

I wouldn't want my daughter to marry Moon Mullins, but I get the feeling Moon wouldn't want to marry my daughter either.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(+3 for Cagney, Sheridan, and O'Brien. -1 for Cagney's hokey moustache that makes him look like Johnny Arthur.)...

...For those looking for a 1940 experience, TCM is playing "Torrid Zone" on 6/10 at 3:30am (ET) - my DVR is already set.....

It took a bit longer for me to get to Torrid Zone on my DVR than I thought it would, but I finally had this 1940-movie experience watching Cagney, O'Brien and Sheridan light up the screen in this by-the-numbers but fun action-adventure melodrama (see comments on the movie here: #27816 ).

Having followed Lizzie's outstanding day-by-days since they started, you can better appreciate how a movie like this would have played in Brooklyn in 1940. Back then, Brooklyn was already people dense and paved free of most nature: a very city, city. And, let's remember, it was hot as blazes in pre-air conditioning times.

So, how much fun - in a pre-TV era - must it have been to go to a cool theater and watch these talented and handsome actors bounce around an "exotic" Caribbean banana plantation while shooting bandits, scamming each other at cards or business and tossing out one sexual-innuendo after another?

Even though it's still enjoyable to a modern audience, today the movie feels formulaic, but back then it must have provided a fresh escape from the city and the daily grind of life. And it brought some Hollywood glamour - on a very big screen - right into gritty Brooklyn. It's not hard to see why so many people went to the movies weekly in 1940.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Joe and Sally saunter out of the cool, refreshing Paramount and back onto the searing pavement of Nevins Street. As they head to the nearest drug store to cap the evening with a refreshing soda, they consider what they have just seen. "Pretty good pitcha," declares Joe. "That Cagney, he knowzza score, knowhutImean?" "Yeah," says Sally. "Too bad th' projecta man coul'n keep that fuzz outa th' lens. Funny how it kep' landin' on Cagney's face like that. Almos' look like a moustache." "Yeah," laughs Joe. "That'd be th' day. Cagney wit' a dopey li'l moustache. Yeah, 'at's a hot one.")

 

[Fading Fast]

(Joe and Sally saunter out of the cool, refreshing Paramount and back onto the searing pavement of Nevins Street. As they head to the nearest drug store to cap the evening with a refreshing soda, they consider what they have just seen. "Pretty good pitcha," declares Joe. "That Cagney, he knowzza score, knowhutImean?" "Yeah," says Sally. "Too bad th' projecta man coul'n keep that fuzz outa th' lens. Funny how it kep' landin' on Cagney's face like that. Almos' look like a moustache." "Yeah," laughs Joe. "That'd be th' day. Cagney wit' a dopey li'l moustache. Yeah, 'at's a hot one.")

Ah, use guys don't know what use talking about, it looks great on me. Oomph Girl there agrees, see.


But still, thanks for coming to see my movie, JC

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt today requested authority from Congress to order the National Guard and the Officers Reserve Corps into "intensive training" for National Defense, declaring in a letter to the Senate, "I cannot, with good conscience, longer postpone this vitally essential step." While the President did not in his letter specify any exact duration for such training, the accompanying draft of legislation called for a period of activation not to exceed one year. The extraordinary authority sought by the President would expire June 30th, 1942, with service of the Guardsmen restricted to the Western Hemisphere, with the exceptions of US possessions and the Philippine Islands. It was also understood that the Guardsmen thus activated would be used specifically to train future conscripts brought into the armed forces by pending legislation for compulsory military training.

The heat wave gripping the city continues unabated with the U. S. Weather Bureau predicting a Brooklyn high of 93 degrees today. A 71-year-old Sunset Park man died today of a heart attack induced by the heat. Gustave Koloff collapsed on the job while painting a house at 588 5th Street, and died at Methodist Episcopal Hospital. Nationwide the death toll from the heat wave now stands at 658. Many thousands of Brooklyn residents sought refuge from steaming apartments overnight by sleeping in the open on Coney Island's beaches. Police Captain Abraham Brodie estimated that crowd at "well over 1,000,000." Police attached to the Coney Island precinct could not recall any crowd to equal it.

At the Brooklyn Museum, conductor Dr. Eugene Plotnikoff collapsed of heat exhaustion after leading a concert by the New York City Symphony Orchestra. The 63-year-old conductor was taken to Jewish Hospital where he was treated and released.

British air forces downed twenty-seven German planes today in what is described as the most violent Nazi air assault yet on the British Isles. About a hundred German bombers, dive bombers, and fighter planes slashed harbors on the southeast coast of England. Meanwhile, British planes focused their own attacks on Nazi-controlled oil depots along the French coast at Cherbourg.

Former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is hospitalized in London for a surgical operation. The nature of the operation has not been disclosed, but the former Prime Minister is said to be away from his office for only two weeks.

The grey-haired mother of a young holdup man was sentenced for contempt of court today after she lashed out furiously at the judge who had just sentenced her son to prison. Judge Franklin Taylor in Kings County Court had just issued a sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison to Ciro Perrone of 383 Cleveland Street for his part in an $1114 payroll robbery at the Artex-Greene Corporation on Atlantic Avenue, when the young man's mother, 47-year-old Mrs. Mary Perrone lunged at the bench, screaming "Why you s-- -- - -----! I'll knock your head off! I'll get you yet, you old -------!" Mrs. Perrone was immediately led away to begin serving a thirty-day jail term for her outburst.

Dodger outfielder Dixie Walker made his public singing debut last night as the highlight of a testimonial dinner in his honor at the Bossert Hotel. The rangy ballhawk took the microphone to offer a vocal chorus of "I'll Never Smile Again," singing in a sweet tenor voice to the accompaniment of Eddie Lane and the Bossert Orchestra, and followed that selection with a performance of his own composition, a catchy ballad called "You Thrill Me." Walker concluded his set with a rendition of "My Melancholy Baby," and then yielded the microphone to the vocal duo of Vito Tamulis and Pee Wee Reese, whose performance of "Little Sir Echo" drew deafening applause. Manager Leo Durocher did not perform, but sat beaming in the front row of the audience.

Brooklyn-born swing favorite Larry Clinton isn't just a successful bandleader and arranger -- he's now a licensed pilot. The old "dipsy-doodler," whose orchestra now holds forth nightly at the Terrace Room of the Hotel New Yorker, now owns and flies a Stimson plane of his own, but he admits his musicians are reluctant to fly with him.

Now at the AIR COOLED Patio it's Brian Aherne and Madeline Carroll in "My Son, My Son," paired with Bob Burns in "Alias The Deacon."

The Eagle Editorialist says it's high time Brownsville got a public housing project, endorsing the call by Congressman Emmanuel Celler for something to be done about the wretched housing situation in that section. The high infant mortality rate, the high venereal disease rate, and the high rate of juvenile delinquency are all the inevitable products of rat-ridden old-law firetrap tenements. "The cleaning up and modernizing of such frightfully obsolescent sections is vital to the future of Brooklyn."

(I wonder if Mr. Lichty drew this before or after the bombing.)

Vaudeville's original "Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" died yesterday in a Bronx Hospital. Mrs. Marion Bent Rooney was sixty years old. Performing with her husband Pat Rooney, Mrs. Rooney was a favorite on the variety circuit for nearly thirty years in a song-and-dance act inevitably capped by the couple's graceful waltzing to the "Rosie O'Grady" song. Mrs. Rooney retired from the act in 1935, but her husband continues to perform, and is now appearing at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in Times Square.

The Dodgers finally broke their losing streak with a doubleheader sweep of the Cardinals yesterday, withstanding the heat and taking the first game 3-0 on the strength of an outstanding pitching performance by Whit Wyatt. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons celebrated his 39th birthday with a 7-4 victory in the nightcap. It was the bulky birthday boy's tenth victory of the season against only a single defeat, further solidifying his place atop the National League's pitching percentage chart for 1940.

19,028 turned out to brave the blazing sun for the twinbill, elevating Brooklyn's attendance for the season so far to 625,039. The Giants, meanwhile, are sagging badly at the turnstiles, and are facing serious financial problems as a result. Only their series against the Dodgers have drawn fans in significant numbers to the Polo Grounds this year, with more than 250,000 paying their way into just those nine games.

Today the Dodgers open a series against Frankie Frisch's surprising Pittsburgh Pirates, who, on the strength of outstanding rookies Frankie Gustine and Maurice Van Robays, are no longer the soft touches of past seasons, but a real challenge -- having won five of their eight games against Brooklyn this season.

Larry MacPhail says it's time once again to talk about his yellow baseball. The Dodger president, who toyed with the canary-skinned orb in 1938 and 1939, says the brightly-colored sphere would be an ideal remedy to the current beanball epidemic in the National League, and he plans to to reintroduce it at Ebbets Field in the near future. MacPhail engineered a rule change before this season that would make the yellow ball legal in all National League games. MacPhail is especially insistent that the yellow ball should be made compulsory for all games at Wrigley Field, which is notorious for its center field background of white-shirted fans.

("When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.")

(Yeah, you take a real good look at that face in panel two and you tell me if you REALLY WANT TO GO THERE.)

(And SMASH goes the fourth wall!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Find the cheesecake.

Ohhhhhh yeah.

Hey Skeezix, just a thought...

Annie begins her crusade against Age Discrimination -- In This Space Tomorrow!

Really, Swami? You didn't see that coming? Let her wear the turban for a while.

Twenty years Andy's been trying, and still no luck.

In any kind of a relationship, it's good to set boundaries.

Hey, you even got a package from Frank King! Open that one first!

Poor Mamie, it takes so little to make her happy.

At least Harold had Senga to blow all his money.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
The heat wave gripping the city continues unabated with the U. S. Weather Bureau predicting a Brooklyn high of 93 degrees today. A 71-year-old Sunset Park man died today of a heart attack induced by the heat. Gustave Koloff collapsed on the job while painting a house at 588 5th Street, and died at Methodist Episcopal Hospital. Nationwide the death toll from the heat wave now stands at 658. Many thousands of Brooklyn residents sought refuge from steaming apartments overnight by sleeping in the open on Coney Island's beaches. Police Captain Abraham Brodie estimated that crowd at "well over 1,000,000." Police attached to the Coney Island precinct could not recall any crowd to equal it....

I've read about, and have seen in movies, people in cities sleeping on the fire escapes and rooftops of buildings to get some relief from the heat, but don't think I ever read about them going to Coney Island to sleep on the beach. That's a cool period detail.

...The grey-haired mother of a young holdup man was sentenced for contempt of court today after she lashed out furiously at the judge who had just sentenced her son to prison. Judge Franklin Taylor in Kings County Court had just issued a sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison to Ciro Perrone of 383 Cleveland Street for his part in an $1114 payroll robbery at the Artex-Greene Corporation on Atlantic Avenue, when the young man's mother, 47-year-old Mrs. Mary Perrone lunged at the bench, screaming "Why you s-- -- - -----! I'll knock your head off! I'll get you yet, you old -------!" Mrs. Perrone was immediately led away to begin serving a thirty-day jail term for her outburst....

I could see this being cribbed into one of our comic strips soon enough.

...Now at the AIR COOLED Patio it's Brian Aherne and Madeline Carroll in "My Son, My Son," paired with Bob Burns in "Alias The Deacon."...

"My Son, My Son," has actors I like and a decent sounding story - how have I never seen this one or even remember it popping up on TCM? I looked it up on IMDB and it seems to have been made by an independent production company - perhaps that explains it?

...The Dodgers finally broke their losing streak with a doubleheader sweep of the Cardinals yesterday, withstanding the heat and taking the first game 3-0 on the strength of an outstanding pitching performance by Whit Wyatt. Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons celebrated his 39th birthday with a 7-4 victory in the nightcap. It was the bulky birthday boy's tenth victory of the season against only a single defeat, further solidifying his place atop the National League's pitching percentage chart for 1940....

Despite the boys wanting to take him out for a drink to celebrate his birthday and his wife and children waiting at home with a cake and candles, Freddie was seen sitting in front of his locker, reading the Eagle and, then, throwing it aside in disgust while yelling at no one in particular, "Jesus H Christ, now it's 'bulky birthday boy' - I'm not half as fat as Ruth and he never went through anything like this. I hate my birthday." Nice job the Eagle, you ruined the man's birthday.

...[ (Yeah, you take a real good look at that face in panel two and you tell me if you REALLY WANT TO GO THERE.)...

As noted before, she's worth more to crime fighting investigations than Dan Dunn and Dick Tracy combined. Also, isn't it obvious that the wrong member of her family is running for governor.

...
Ohhhhhh yeah....

Ditto, I'd be out the door before I got to the end of the ad.

... Hey, you even got a package from Frank King! Open that one first!....

Time and a half for the missed time - ouch!

...
At least Harold had Senga to blow all his money.

Say what you will about Corporate America, but review expense reports and you'll lose some respect for a lot of employees. I've seen some wild things submitted as "expenses."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Great Britain today drastically tightened its Atlantic blockade on both imports and exports to cover all European ports, along with specific North African and Atlantic Island ports. The new blockade means that all vessels bound for Europe from North and South America must carry navcerts --- certificiates issued by British authorities at the port of departure -- or be liable to seizure as contraband. The new blockade will affect Spain, Portugal, and the Balkan States in an effort to prevent the routing of supplies and raw materials to Germany and Italy thru their ports, and will also prevent those states from sending such goods to other "neutral ports" where they might be passed on to Axis belligerents.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax strongly denied today Japanese claims that Great Britain is operating a network of spies in Japan. The denial comes following the suicide of Melville J. Cox, British news correspondent, who leaped to his death from an office window in Tokio while being questioned by gendarmes on suspicion of espionage.

The heat wave held Brooklyn in its grasp for a twelfth straight day today, with temperatures again breaking the 90 degree mark. The official temperature at Borough Hall hit 92 degrees at 1:45 PM, and rising humidity added to the discomfort. No additional local deaths were reported, but the nationwide death toll from the heat wave now stands at 765.

In Asbury Park, New Jersey, scores of spectators looked on in horror as three gunmen robbed two bank messengers of $108,000 in cash. The trio of bandits armed with shotguns attacked the messengers in front of the Asbury Park post office, and fled the scene in a dark sedan with Pennsylvania license plates.

The mother of a convicted robber who was sentenced to a month in jail for contempt of court after denouncing Judge Franklin Taylor in his own courtroom has been freed after serving less than a day. Mrs. Mary Perrone denies she ever made remarks attributed to her in yesterday's Eagle, and says she didn't say anything to Judge Taylor at all -- claiming that all she did was wail. "What do they think, I am made of stone?" she said today. "The worst mother is a mother. Even if she is the worst woman in the world she still loves her son. I am a mother and this is my son." Mrs. Perrone says she understands that her boy committed a crime and must go to prison, but she doesn't believe he deserved such a long sentence. Ciro Perrone drew a term of 7 1/2 to 15 years for his role in a payroll robbery at an Atlantic Avenue firm.

A special Congressional committee investigating the interstate migration of destitute citizens heard today from a former traveling salesman who says that the doors of his profession are now closed to him because of his age. Forty-five year-old Robert Fielding Travis says he lost his $5000-a-year sales job after the stock market crash, and after doing odd jobs and spending a year and a half on the WPA, he now finds that no one will hire him to sell. "There have been too many mergers of companies," he told the committee, "and they only want young men." Travis says he has tried lying about his age, but interviewers only laugh at him.

(The "Brookville Hodgers?" Managed no doubt by Leon DeRochemont, and featuring such players as Dolphus Camillo, Dickie Walksmore, Cupcake Lovagetti, Dunky Madwitz, Pat Coscelliot, and Wee Wee Pease. And of course, Skinny Sam Sitzfimmons. We'll definitely have to follow this one.)

A prominent Manhattan socialite who tried to hold up the Corn Exchange Bank with a ten-cent toy pistol is being held at Bellevue Hospital pending a sanity test. Warren M. Waterman, of the Social Register, was arrested yesterday and arraigned on charges of assault, attempted robbery, and violation of the Sullivan Law, after being overpowered by a bank teller and the bank's assistant manager. Waterman told police he was trying to hold up the bank to recoup gambling losses. Waterman had about $2000 worth of jewelry in his pockets, which he said belonged to his wife.

A survey of Brooklyn clubwomen reveals some level of sympathy for the idea of universal military training -- but only if it is not compulsory. "A year's military training is sufficient" said one woman, "but no government has a right to conscript your son. Or your daughter."

(1940 -- The Summer of Karloff!)

(Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime: "Clubwomen.")

Dodger catcher Babe Phelps is raring to go for another round against Pirate shortstop Arkie Vaughan, after the Flock added the Bucs to their list of feud foes for 1940. A brawl erupted in the ninth inning with the score tied 6-6 when Pirate first baseman Elbie Fletcher claimed Phelps intentionally spiked him while running out an infield tapper. Phelps protested that claim, and when Vaughan ran over to inject himself in the discussion, Phelps made a remark in response. Words quickly came to a boil, Phelps threw his cap on the ground in disgust and charged, and before umpires could separate the two combatants, Phelps landed a heavy punch right to Vaughan's face. Pirate coach Mike Kelly later claimed that Phelps "got red headed" because he thought pitcher Mace Brown came in a little too tight on him and took it out by spiking Fletcher, but Phelps denies he did any such thing. With this latest incident, the Dodgers have the distinction of having had on-field brawls with fully half of the National League in 1940. Only the Giants, the Bees, and the Phillies have been left unmarked, but there are still two months left to go in the season.

Oh, and the Dodgers won the game, 7-6.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn fans are in the unaccustomed position of rooting for the Giants this week,as the Terrymen are in a good spot to sweep the Reds at the Polo Grounds. Yesterday the Giants won 4-3 to take a bite out of the Cincinnati lead in the National League pennant race, and with two more games ahead in the series, Dodger rooters are awkwardly pulling for "dem bums" to win. (This is the first time we've seen the phrase "dem bums" used in an Eagle story -- and it doesn't apply to the Dodgers. Mr. Schroth has an abiding dislike for that particular nickname and does not allow its use when applied to the local team.)

Tonight, 21-year-old rookie Ed Head gets his first major-league start for the Dodgers against Rip Sewell for the Pirates.

(Note that while they don't call him "Fat Freddie" here, they do go to considerable pains to show not one, not two, but three chins. Is that nice?)

There is some talk of a 40-yard-dash competition as a preliminary attraction tonight at Ebbets Field pitting radio announcers Red Barber and Al Helfer against their newspaper colleagues. Tommy Holmes is against this, saying "it's too darned hot to run."

Van Mungo will rejoin the Dodgers next week -- as a coach. The former fireballer is apparently washed up as a player, and has been recuperating at his home in North Carolina following arm surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

(The reason Jo is taking this so calmly is that deep down she thinks he did it -- and is glad.)

(There's still three months to go before the election. Plenty of time to come up with another scheme.)

(If it's Dan and he forgot his ID, I'll laugh and laugh and laugh.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Manton was a dirty, dirty piece of work, so it seems odd to be citing him in an opinion. But I'm sure they have their perfectly justifiable reasons.

At last we know where Moon Mullins buys his clothes.

And when he says "fighting," he's not kidding.

Dude will match his gang up against Pat's any day of the week.

Well, no, actually, there is something that can, but we won't get into that. Amnesia storylines are more Tracy's speed.

"Malor Moan," huh? That Gould and his anagrams. Let's see. Ormal Noam? Normal Maa? Amoral Nom? Gimme a hint.

Bim may be a billionaire, but he doesn't let flunkies do the legwork.

Ain't it always the way.

Ah, New York.

Aw, quit beefin', Willie. That's the most work you've done in twenty years.

 

[Fading Fast]

...In Asbury Park, New Jersey, scores of spectators looked on in horror as three gunmen robbed two bank messengers of $108,000 in cash. The trio of bandits armed with shotguns attacked the messengers in front of the Asbury Park post office, and fled the scene in a dark sedan with Pennsylvania license plates....

Future comic-strip fodder.

...
(The "Brookville Hodgers?" Managed no doubt by Leon DeRochemont, and featuring such players as Dolphus Camillo, Dickie Walksmore, Cupcake Lovagetti, Dunky Madwitz, Pat Coscelliot, and Wee Wee Pease. And of course, Skinny Sam Sitzfimmons. We'll definitely have to follow this one.)...

Oh yeah.

...A prominent Manhattan socialite who tried to hold up the Corn Exchange Bank with a ten-cent toy pistol is being held at Bellevue Hospital pending a sanity test. Warren M. Waterman, of the Social Register, was arrested yesterday and arraigned on charges of assault, attempted robbery, and violation of the Sullivan Law, after being overpowered by a bank teller and the bank's assistant manager. Waterman told police he was trying to hold up the bank to recoup gambling losses. Waterman had about $2000 worth of jewelry in his pockets, which he said belonged to his wife....

His to-do list that day: (1) rob bank with water pistol, (2) stop by pawn shop with wife's jewelry and (3) stop by florist to get flowers for wife to explain. He never made it past #1.

...
(1940 -- The Summer of Karloff!)...

Per a chance encounter at a restaurant, Sinatra had a fan boy moment when he met Boris Karloff in the men’s room.

“And he said, ‘Mr. Karloff I’ve admired you my whole life since you’ve scared the hell out of me when you played Frankenstein’s monster when I was a kid.'” Frank Jr. said.

Karloff complimented Sinatra right back.

“Karloff said, ‘Ah young man, and you too are a fine actor, but you must learn to act with your voice as well as your face,'” Sinatra’s son said.

The two exchanged numbers and for the next several years, Sintara would bring his scripts to Karloff’s house for acting advice.​

Source: https://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2015/12/7-things-we-learned-about-frank-sinatra/

... (Note that while they don't call him "Fat Freddie" here, they do go to considerable pains to show not one, not two, but three chins. Is that nice?)...

If Freddie ever shows up at the Eagle's newsroom uninvited, I'd duck.

... (If it's Dan and he forgot his ID, I'll laugh and laugh and laugh.)

I believe it's super-secret-agent-and-womanizer Irwin.

... Manton was a dirty, dirty piece of work, so it seems odd to be citing him in an opinion. But I'm sure they have their perfectly justifiable reasons....

Re: War insurance rates: "War risk insurance rates between the Western Hemisphere and Ireland have risen 50%."

Only 50%?

Re: "Hot Blonde Finds Hottest of Hot Spots"

"That Hot-Blonde story is complete garbage."

"Great headline though."

"The story's stupid."

"Great headline though."

"It's boring and dumb."

"Great headline though, oh, and we don't have anything else."

"Run it." (sigh)

... View attachment 250664
And when he says "fighting," he's not kidding.....

... Dude will match his gang up against Pat's any day of the week.....

Caniff surveys the other comic-strip competition:

Mary Worth is on the outside, LOA; on the inside and you can just see GA's head behind them.

... Bim may be a billionaire, but he doesn't let flunkies do the legwork....

Panel three is funny as heck, especially for an aside.

... Ain't it always the way.....

As an illustrator, King is much stronger at office interiors than country exteriors. He seems much more confident and in control in these illustrations than the recent ones from Skeezix's hometown.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I am willing to bet cash money that Miss Regina Flaherty met Mr. Guy Richards in a bar last night and after a few drinks and whatever, Mr. Richards promised Miss Flaherty that he could get her picture all over the Daily News -- THE PAPER WITH THE BIGGEST CIRCULATION IN AMERICA, YOU CAN LOOK IT UP -- and that would be her TICKET TO A MODELING CAREER.

We'll see how that works out.

I look forward to Mama discovering that Bim has hired a NO ACCOUNT PICKPOCKET at an outrageous salary.

You can smell that office Skeezix is working in -- kinda dusty, kinda humid, that damp aroma of old erasers and soggy paper.

 

[Fading Fast]

I am willing to bet cash money that Miss Regina Flaherty met Mr. Guy Richards in a bar last night and after a few drinks and whatever, Mr. Richards promised Miss Flaherty that he could get her picture all over the Daily News -- THE PAPER WITH THE BIGGEST CIRCULATION IN AMERICA, YOU CAN LOOK IT UP -- and that would be her TICKET TO A MODELING CAREER

We'll see how that works out.....

You just kinda sorta described the plot catalyst for "I Wake Up Screaming."

...You can smell that office Skeezix is working in -- kinda dusty, kinda humid, that damp aroma of old erasers and soggy paper.

Agreed, you can feel and, as you said, smell that office; whereas, his country illustrations have an awkward style that distracts the reader.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A 22,209-ton British merchant cruiser engaged a fast German raider in battle today in the South Atlantic and although the raider escaped destruction the British Admiralty states that its "fighting efficiency was damaged." The British cruiser Alcantara suffered slight damage in the battle, with two killed and seven injured aboard the ship. The German raider escaped behind a smoke screen. The German vessel was the first reported in the South Atlantic since the scuttling of the Graf Spee last year off Montevideo.

The United States has placed an embargo on the shipment of aviation gasoline outside the Western Hemisphere, cutting off the American supply of the vital fuel to all European belligerents inlcuding Britain. Aside from France, cut off from the US supply by the German occupation, Japan was the largest world customer for American avgas during the first five months of 1940, purchasing 102,000 barrels of the high-quality fuel from US companies. President Roosevelt, in announcing the stoppage, declared that the US has no surplus of aviation fuel, and the supply must be conserved for the nation's own defense.

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson today warned the House Military Committee that Great Britain may fall within the month, and that the only way for the United States to meet a "potential war situation" is by military conscription. Stimson described the current system of voluntary enlistment "a costly failure," and warned that the nation is "in a far greater peril than we were in June of 1917. The Secretary testified before the Committee in support of the pending conscription bill, which has been amended by the Senate Military Committee to provide for the conscription only of men between the ages of 21 and 31.

A blanket exemption from the likely draft will be sought for all employees of the Sperry Products Company. The Brooklyn-based precision-manufacturing firm is often referred to as "an unofficial branch of the military" for the amount of work it does for the armed forces, and company president Edward G. Sperry says that if the firm lost some of its key men to the draft it could set back production by as much as two years.

("Informality still further advanced." Yeah, and it'll keep advancing once Mr. Press Photographer scrams.)

Temperatures today gave some slight relief from the oppressive heat wave, with the high at Borough Hall this afternoon peaking at 85 degrees. Declining humidity created slightly more comfortable conditions than have recently prevailed.

In Los Angeles, the wife of a Hollywood oculist claims in her divorce case that her relationship with a ghost named "Sho-Sha" is not the sole reason for the failure of her marriage. Mrs. William A. Boyce testified yesterday that her husband has the habit of taking out his false teeth and passing them around the room for the inspection of guests, slurps his soup noisily, and spits tobacco juice around the house, and that she found these habits distasteful long before she began her relationship with the ghost. Mrs. Boyce admitted that Sho-Sha caresses her head in "a comforting way." Sho-Sha, address unknown, has been named co-respondent in the divorce petition filed by Dr. Boyce.

In Sacramento, California, Governor Cuthbert B Olson has received a letter from a prominent nudist proposing that nudism be made compulsory in all of the state's public schools. George M. Spray, manager of the Los Gatos nudist colony stated in his letter that "there is no substitute for nudism in producing high-minded clean-thinking citizens."

(Bowl of ice cubes not included.)

The comedy team of Jesse Block and Eve Sully and solo comic Teddy Hart headline the straw-hat production of "See My Lawyer," now playing at the Brighton Theatre. The
show, a big hit on Broadway last season with Milton Berle and Ezra Stone, has been rearranged slightly to suit the new leads, but it's still a typically rousing George Abbott farce. It's not as funny as "Three Men On A Horse," but what is?

(I enjoy Nelson Eddy as a singer, but I've never cared too much for his screen persona. And I can tell you right now, if he opens his mouth any wider, he's gonna dislocate his jaw.)

"Suburban Mother" writes to Helen Worth to say she was very upset, upon her move to the Suburbs, to discover that they abound with sneak thieves. She's noticed the money she leaves out for the milkman, the fruit peddler, the paperboy, and so forth tends to disappear before it reaches those functionaries, and she's sure it's someone from outside the house sneaking in to make off with it -- specifically her neighbor's sneaky little boy. What to do? Helen says what you really need to do is keep your money in a safer place, preferably under lock and key.

(So George, I hear Mrs. Lichty's been pretty busy lately...)

("Hmph!" snorts Sally. "Ain't they got a betta picsha a' Petey'n that? That's an ol' one! He's got much better lookin' since then!" "I'm goin' downa deli," says Joe to nobody in particular. "They got good corn beef today.")

Ed Head is a much better pitcher than his major league starting debut indicated, but he'd have to be considering the pasting he took last night from the Pirates at Ebbets Field. The 21-year-old kid just up from Elmira was racked for four runs in two innings before Durocher gave him the derrick, but catcher Gus Mancuso says Head had much better stuff than the outing would indicate. "You can understand him being a little wild in his first big league start," says Gus, "but he'll get over that." Head walked four straight Pirates in the first inning -- one of them intentionally -- to plate the first run, and matters deteriorated from then on. Durocher brought in Vito Tamulis in the third, but the damage was done. The Flock's other prize rookie of the moment, Pete Reiser, pinch-hit for Tamulis in the sixth and hit a screaming liner to center field -- that unfortunately landed smack in Lloyd Waner's glove. Final score Pirates 5, Dodgers 2.

The Dodgers are presently about 75,000 fans ahead of their 1939 attendance pace, but Larry MacPhail doesn't think the club has a chance to beat last year's mark, or even to top a million, unless the quality of play improves soon.

Laughing Larry did a bit of dealing yesterday, selling pitcher Tuck Stainback off the Montreal roster to the Detroit Tigers for a cool $25,000. Last year, MacPhail picked up the deal of a lifetime off the Bengals scrap heap when he bought Dixie Walker for just 10 G's.

Hy Turkin of the Daily News won the 40-yard dash competition before the game pitting newspaper and radio men against each other. Slim broadcaster Red Barber and his not-slim sidekick Al Helfer came in for a photo finish in second place.

WOR will unveil its new frequency-modulation station W2XOR tomorrow night with a special musical broadcast. The new station, using the Armstrong system, will broadcast from a transmitter atop a Madison Avenue skyscraper each night from 9 PM to midnight, offering a variety of original musical features, high-quality phonograph records, and such Mutual network programs as WOR itself cannot carry due to other commitments. WOR chief engineer Jack Poppele says the new process requires considerable revision in standard broadcast techniques, and performers will need to learn new methods in order to appear to best advantage. For one thing, performers need to work much further from the microphone than they do in conventional broadcasting -- sometimes as far as six feet away -- which will do away the common practice of huddling close to the mic to create an effect of intimacy.

("Oh, only a trick swami!" Gee, doncha hate it when they show up?)

(No! Not the BIG drive!)

(And Dan Dunn, Phantom of Disguise finally gets his comeuppance!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

So much going on today that a juicy Barrymore item ends up as filler. Tough luck, John.

Odds that Mr. Schroth writes a blistering editorial condemning the News and Mr. Jemail for impugning the integrity of Brooklyn women with such an impudent question now running at 2-1.

Odds that Kindly Sam will be murdered by foreign assassins now at 1-1. That is, if his neighbors don't get him first.

So it seems Dude has his very own "Cap'n Blaze," except not very lovable.

"Do you mind if I smoke?"

Oh, this is gonna be good.

The obvious call would be OMG TULA NOT HER, but I think Miss Snipe has something else in mind. Welcome to the Big City, Nina.

Point of order -- Harold never took violin lessons. But he did endorse ukeleles.

This is going to be an awfully long trip.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
("Informality still further advanced." Yeah, and it'll keep advancing once Mr. Press Photographer scrams.)...

Yup, the way of youth.

...In Sacramento, California, Governor Cuthbert B Olson has received a letter from a prominent nudist proposing that nudism be made compulsory in all of the state's public schools. George M. Spray, manager of the Los Gatos nudist colony stated in his letter that "there is no substitute for nudism in producing high-minded clean-thinking citizens."...

...[ (Bowl of ice cubes not included.)...

You'd probably get a 1936 model, but you can do better at Davega.

..."Suburban Mother" writes to Helen Worth to say she was very upset, upon her move to the Suburbs, to discover that they abound with sneak thieves. She's noticed the money she leaves out for the milkman, the fruit peddler, the paperboy, and so forth tends to disappear before it reaches those functionaries, and she's sure it's someone from outside the house sneaking in to make off with it -- specifically her neighbor's sneaky little boy. What to do? Helen says what you really need to do is keep your money in a safer place, preferably under lock and key....

Not really helpful Helen.

...
("Oh, only a trick swami!" Gee, doncha hate it when they show up?)...

Swamis must be in the news right now as they are starting to pop up in comic-strip land, but we haven't seen much about them in the Eagle or the Daily News.

... (And Dan Dunn, Phantom of Disguise finally gets his comeuppance!)

Seriously, I had it backwards. I feel like an Irwin. But kudos to you for a spot on call Lizzie.

... So much going on today that a juicy Barrymore item ends up as filler. Tough luck, John....

Freakin' great story on $108,000 heist. A few things, one, Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons, a law-abiding man by all accounts, still felt some sympathy for the Blonde gang leader as he read her repeatedly described as "plump" and an "apple dumpling."

But, two, and this sounds crazy, the money - $108,000 (~$2 million today) - was going to be mailed to the Federal Reserve in NYC? Seriously? There had to be special handling by the PO of that money; otherwise, why didn't the bank just address a package and drop it in the mailbox since we're being all nonchalant about two-million bucks.

As to the minister's wife, pretty? yes, but that's quite the Hollywood-style marriage scoresheet she's racked up.

...
Odds that Mr. Schroth writes a blistering editorial condemning the News and Mr. Jemail for impugning the integrity of Brooklyn women with such an impudent question now running at 2-1....

Gee, I thought it was the best question the "Inquiring Fotographer" has had so far.

... Odds that Kindly Sam will be murdered by foreign assassins now at 1-1. That is, if his neighbors don't get him first.....

I don't know what the heck is going on with LOA. Maybe you're right and Gray is being sarcastic after being smacked down, because, otherwise, this is boring stuff not worthy of his talents. Heck, I almost (not quite) want the Tecums back.

... So it seems Dude has his very own "Cap'n Blaze," except not very lovable.....

Compare this to LOA: you got a NY-China international dope ring, a gambling house scammed by one of its owners and "friend" trying to trick another friend by unloading an unwanted plane (plenty of those around in 2020 too) on him under the guise of doing him a favor. That's life; that's the real world - not all this "he's the nicest, fairest, most decent man ever to walk the face of the earth" stuff.

... Oh, this is gonna be good.....

Oh yeah. On the outside and far back, but moving up fast, it's the dark horse, "The Gumps."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Maybe they figured with all the random packages being taken for bombs lately, that people would leave a box of money alone? Very strange story.

Usually in LOA when you get a character who's absolutely morally pure he has some kind of supernatural shading -- "Mr. Am," a crony of Daddy Warbucks' who may or may not be a physical manifestation of the actual Abrahamic God is one example. Either that or the character is not morally pure at all and it's all a pose -- Byron Bolo being the most recent example. Either way, I think Kindly Sam bears watching.

Back in 1929, "The Gumps" made history, and a national furor, by becoming the first comic strip to kill off, for real and permanently, a major character. I submit Prince Jefferson Jones as the next to meet such a destiny, and possibly Harry-the-Hand as the instrument of his fate: Mr. Hand will push Jeff into the path of a trolley car while trying to shove a check into his pocket. Won't Bim be sore.