The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Finland reports over 600 Soviet troops drowned when Finnish forces repelled landing attempts on the Arctic front. The Finns report that they blasted mountainsides facing the water, causing gigantic avalanches that swept into the sea, swamping Russian landing craft. Advancing Russian tanks were destroyed by holes cut in the ice.

In Moscow tonight, the Soviet government announced the start of a naval blockade of Finland. The announcement draws an end to a grace period in which Russian forces permitted merchant ships operating in Finnish waters to leave without interference.

Other Latin American states have joined with Argentina in demanding the ouster of the Soviet Union from the League of Nations. The League Council discusses Russia's status today in closed session in Geneva.

German fliers with fully-loaded bomb racks returned to their bases today because they could find no targets in the North Sea after the evacuation of British vessels from those waters. The official German news agency claims that the number of vessels sunk by Germany during the naval phase of the war is "far greater than enemy propaganda will admit."

The German Consul will mount his own investigation into the murder of his secretary. Dr. Hans Borchers plans to begin an official German inquiry into the slaying of Dr. Walter Engelberg as soon as the New York Police Department turns over to him the Flatbush house where Engelberg was hammered to death last week.

Meanwhile, police continue their attempts to locate and question the prime suspect in the killing, 23-year-old prizefighter Ernie Haas. Detectives questioned the manager of the Roxy Athletic Club in Manhattan, where Haas was known to work out, and learned that Haas may have recently telephoned the club. The boxer was last seen at the club on Tuesday, a day after Engelberg was last seen alive, and the day before Engelberg's body was discovered. A confidential source tells the Eagle that a "break" in the case is expected shortly.

Brooklyn residents and a hospital along the approach path to the new LaGuardia Field at North Beach are complaining about airplane noise, and are demanding government action to remedy the problem. Airplanes approaching the field follow a single radio navigational beam that follows a path over central Brooklyn, and Swedish Hospital, beneath that path, reports that the roar of aircraft engines is causing significant problems for its patients. Hospital administrators plan to file a formal complaint thru the Hospital Council of Brooklyn. Parents are also complaining that the roar of engines interrupts their childrens' sleep, especially between 7 and 11 pm. Airport officials say there is nothing they can do because the approach paths are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and any adjustments would have to come thru that source.

Representatives of New York high school students are petitioning the state government in Albany to require sex education classes at the junior high and high school level in all public schools. The fourth annual Hi-Y Assembly in the state capital passed the resolution, along with a resolution opposing a state plan to raise the drinking age for alcoholic beverages to age 21.

A thousand Fascist students in Rome stormed the Soviet Embassy today and were repelled by police with fixed bayonets. The marchers chanted "Down With Communism" and "Long Live Finland" as they marched on the building.

(And don't forget, it makes a great Christmas gift!)

A coalition of leaders from prominent Brooklyn women's clubs will mount a crusade against race hatred, kicking off at a luncheon of the Brooklyn Womens' Division of the American Jewish Congress. Over 500 clubwomen will participate in the campaign against "divisive racist policies and Nazi propaganda."

Just Imagine! You Can Own A Home Of Your Own in Flatbush for just $2550! One family, six rooms, oil heat! (Wait, this isn't Engelberg's house, is it? No address except that of the broker, Mr. Paley of 1502 Flatbush Ave., is given in the ad.)

It's just 153 days until the World's Fair reopens for its 1940 season, and the Amusement Area will be "gayer than ever," although it "won't cover quite as much area." The parachute jump will be dismantled and moved from the Amusement Area for reconstruction near the Aviation Building. Workers are busy now in the Soviet Pavillion, loading the contents for shipment, in preparation for the dismantling of the entire building for shipment back to Russia. Meanwhile, publicists are hard at work drumming up interest in next year's Fair outside of New York, and it's expected that "those from the hinterlands" will attend next year in far greater numbers than they did in 1939.

A half-hour condensation of the Kern-Hammerstein Broadway hit "Very Warm For May" will be aired by NBC with the original stage cast, this afternoon at 3:30 over WJZ.

The Eagle editorialist says that "Hitler is the most colossal blunderer of his time -- one who invited destruction by goading Britain and France into war and then, to make certain his own doom, invited his traditional enemy to take up a parking space on his threshhold."

The Eagle also opposes treating canaries with male sex hormones to cause them to become rough, aggressive baritones. "If we want tough, loud-mouthed birds," the editorialist says, "we can always get parrots."

Deaths from pneumonia are expected to drop up to 7 percent over the next year due to the introduction of sulfapyradine treatment.

3600 Men's Shirts -- $1.69 at Loeser's!

PRICE'S -- Famous For 1/2 Southern Fried Chicken, 50 cents. (Does that mean the rooster was from Birmingham and the hen was from Flatbush? I don't understand.)

Trend cover boy this week is that jolly and jocular fun-maker Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, first Irishman ever to represent the US at the Court of St. James. The Ambassador, like all Irishmen, favors a large family, and has nine vigorous children, with eight in the US and one, Rosemary, teaching kindergarten in England. Mr. Kennedy assures us that he has no Presidential ambitions whatever.

A 24-year-old Charleston, West Virginia man is all right with the Lord after following a Biblical injunction to chop off his right hand. Elbert Snyder said the Lord Himself had called the scripture to his attention after he had "misused church literature," so he went out to the back yard, grabbed an axe, and rid himself of the offending appendage, "which had attempted to blacken his whole body." (If you can't handle the Song of Solomon, put the Bible back on the shelf.)

Actor Will Geer will take over the role of Jeeter Lester in the eternally-running "Tobacco Road," starting with tomorrow's performance. Mr. Geer is the fifth Jeeter since the play opened in 1933. The actor has done everything from showboats to Shakespeare to a film in Soviet Russia.

Who will play in the Rose Bowl is still in doubt after USC and UCLA played to a 0-0 tie yesterday before 103,000 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum. No refunds were demanded.

Leo Durocher isn't too upset over the lack of significant trade activity for the Dodgers at the now-concluded Winter Meetings. Lippy notes that Brooklyn has the "youngest team in the league," and that can't help but make a difference in the coming season.

The Giants and Packers decide the National Football League championship today. The game is being played in Milwaukee, so there will be no television coverage. The game will be heard on radio at 2:15 over WOR.

Old Greenpoint boy John T. Blanchard remembers "John The Motorman," who never could quite get the hang of the newfangled electric trolleys. Bring back the horsecar!

Red Ryder is still atop Mankiller the Wild Horse, and the owner of the ranch promises to grubstake him to compete in the big rodeo. Meanwhile the cowboy who didn't get the job runs into Ace Hanlon and tells him all about this redheaded upstart and his little Indian sidekick.

Speaking of Little Indian Sidekicks, the Great Gusto is trying to hold onto his role in "Big Chief Wahoo," but the Chief gets all the funny lines in today's strip. Sorry, Gusto, it's been nice knowing you.

Jane Arden shoves the ticking bomb into the bathroom sink, but it goes off -- and Jane lands in such a way as to expose a large portion of her thigh. Good, clean wholesome fun.

Mary Worth shows her little granddaughter Sunny how to make a dollhouse and furniture out of paper, only to see the whole business sucked up a vacuum cleaner. Maybe somebody should have tried that with Leona.

I can't tell you how much I identify with George Bungle these days...

And Irwin proves he doesn't have sense enough to get in out of the rain.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Just Imagine! You Can Own A Home Of Your Own in Flatbush for just $2550! One family, six rooms, oil heat! (Wait, this isn't Engelberg's house, is it? No address except that of the broker, Mr. Paley of 1502 Flatbush Ave., is given in the ad.)....

$2550 is ~$47,000 in 2019 dollars

For comparison, in Flatbush today, a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (not a six room home) is listed for $199,000 and that's one of the cheapest properties my very quick search found. The closest house match to the '39 listing I could find was a 3 bed, 1 bath 1300 square foot one listed for $500,000.

...Deaths from pneumonia are expected to drop up to 7 percent over the next year due to the introduction of sulfapyradine treatment.....

And adoption of antibiotics is just around the corner.

...PRICE'S -- Famous For 1/2 Southern Fried Chicken, 50 cents. (Does that mean the rooster was from Birmingham and the hen was from Flatbush? I don't understand.)....

...Who will play in the Rose Bowl is still in doubt after USC and UCLA played to a 0-0 tie yesterday before 103,000 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum. No refunds were demanded....

Because New York doesn't have any professional football teams anymore, Sunday I watched the 49ers-Saints 96 points offense-fest which became kinda silly; although, glad it wasn't a 0-0 tie game.

...Red Ryder is still atop Mankiller the Wild Horse, and the owner of the ranch promises to grubstake him to compete in the big rodeo. Meanwhile the cowboy who didn't get the job runs into Ace Hanlon and tells him all about this redheaded upstart and his little Indian sidekick....

Made me think about Seabiscuit. Even though he was injured for most of '39, I'm surprised he - and thoroughbred racing in general - hasn't popped up much at all in the Eagle's sports section.

...Mary Worth shows her little granddaughter Sunny how to make a dollhouse and furniture out of paper, only to see the whole business sucked up a vacuum cleaner. Maybe somebody should have tried that with Leona....[/ATTACH]

I assume it's Sunday in '39, which is why Mary Worth has broken from its regular story line. I remember as a kid not liking the Sunday "break" form the normal comics' plots. It seemed to undermine the reality factor.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, the Sunday Eagle features several strips that aren't represented in the dailies, with "Red Ryder" the headliner. There's also a "Jungle Jim" swipe called "Tad of the Tanbark," who is a guy who looks like Pat Ryan's emaciated cousin and is always fighting with pygmies. Hasn't really caught enough of my attention to want to follow it. And there's "Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire," which is kind of a cross between "Flash Gordon" and "Terry And The Pirates," with a bit of "John Carter of Mars" mixed in. The art thinks it's better than it really is, so I haven't been following that, either.

The only Eagle continuity strip that follows on into the Sundays is "Dan Dunn," where they rarely bother to recap the events of the Sunday strip on Monday, so if you miss the Sunday you end up losing a chunk of plot. That's as bad as not having the Sunday follow the plot at all.

There is quite a bit of racing information in the Eagle, but it's seldom more than odds listings and race results. I imagine we'll get into real stories once the warm weather arrives.

The real racing sheet in New York was the Mirror, which carried "Joe and Asbestos," the only comic strip built around giving actual tips on coming races.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And speaking of real estate, Engelberg's house is listed on Zillow well in excess of a million dollars. I hope they got all those bloodstains out of the bedroom.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And a delightful stroll down to the deli on the corner for the Sunday News brings this cheerful front page:

What more can you say?

 

[belfastboy]

$2550 is ~$47,000 in 2019 dollars

For comparison, in Flatbush today, a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment (not a six room home) is listed for $199,000 and that's one of the cheapest properties my very quick search found. The closest house match to the '39 listing I could find was a 3 bed, 1 bath 1300 square foot one listed for $500,000.

My parents purchased a 3 bedroom home in a suburb of Vancouver in 1949, (30 minute drive outside city limits). It was located in the first master planned community, assembly line construction, in Canada. $9000 for the home (with upgrades) on a double lot (thrown in for an additional $500). In 2013 it sold for a few bucks short of 1 million. If it were in Vancouver proper it would have sold for $2.5 to $3 mill but then it would have cost $20,000 back in '49

And adoption of antibiotics is just around the corner.









Because New York doesn't have any professional football teams anymore, Sunday I watched the 49ers-Saints 96 points offense-fest which became kinda silly; although, glad it wasn't a 0-0 tie game.




Made me think about Seabiscuit. Even though he was injured for most of '39, I'm surprised he - and thoroughbred racing in general - hasn't popped up much at all in the Eagle's sports section.




I assume it's Sunday in '39, which is why Mary Worth has broken from its regular story line. I remember as a kid not liking the Sunday "break" form the normal comics' plots. It seemed to undermine the reality factor.

 

[tonyb]

Grandpa was about to return the Vibratherm after the risk-free 30-day trial, but Grandma insisted otherwise.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The League of Nations has given the Soviet Union 24 hours to withdraw its forces from Finland and participate in a peaceful resolution to the territorial questions between the two nations. The Finnish representative to the international body issued a plea for "all practical assistance" from the League to his nation, noting that resolutions are no help against the weapons of war.

Meanwhile, Finnish reports state that their troops have turned back Russian attacks from the Arctic to the Gulf of Finland as heavy fighting continues along the border. The heaviest action is reported in the area of the Gulf of Bothnia, where Soviet forces appear ready to cross Finnish territory as far as the Swedish border.

The US Government has approved a $10,000,000 credit grant for Finland for the purchase of American grain and other agricultural products. Supplies to be sold to Finland under the program, sponsored by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank, will be drawn from US agricultural surpluses.

A British minesweeper was sunk today by a German mine, and five overdue merchant ships were written off as lost in the continuing naval war. Meanwhile, for the first time in the hundred-day-old war, British troops are seeing combat on the Western Front. The British Expeditionary Forced engaged German positions shortly before the arrival of King George VI, who has been touring British encampments along the Maginot Line. The King has since returned to London.

A 28-year-old diver is hospitalized after collapsing into unconsciousness while attempting to salvage a sunken scow in the bay at Fire Island State Park. Raymond E. Phelps of 2024 E. 72nd Street, weighted down by more than two hundred pounds of diving equipment, was unconscious for more than two hours after he was hauled to the surface, and was revived with oxygen treatment at Dr. King's Hospital. He is reported to be resting comfortably.

The expected break in the investigation of the murder of Nazi consular secretary Walter Engelberg has failed to materialize, after detectives waited for more than two hours for boxer Ernie Haas, the prime suspect in the slaying, to appear at a gymnasium where he was expected to keep an appointment Saturday night. Acting Captain Frank Bals of the Parkview precinct, leading the investigation, says that he will recall all previous witnesses for additional questioning. Meanwhile, Engelberg's body was cremated yesterday at the Fresh Pond Crematory.

The US Supreme Court has outlawed all use of evidence gathered by wiretapping in Federal criminal trials. The decision reverses the conviction of three New York men convicted thru wiretap evidence of using the mails to defraud. In its ruling the high court also determined that the Communications Act of 1934 also bans the use of evidence gathered from intrastate communications. The decision overturns a 1928 ruling that had cleared the way for wiretap evidence.

A 49-year-old Coney Island man was convicted of disorderly conduct after pouring salt in the shape of a cross in front of his neighbor's house in order to place a curse on the neighbor. Magistrate Flynn told Salvatore Petruzzella "that kind of stuff doesn't go in this country."

A trial to determine the validity of a "brown paper bag will" worth $1,500,000 is underway today in Surrogate Court. The case involves the estate of Miss Louisa Earle, an elderly "penny-pinching spinster" who died in 1934 in the basement of her run-down brownstone house, surrounded by papers and loose money. The will, a copy of which was scrawled on a scrap from an old brown paper bag, names the late Mrs. Eugenie Schindler, Miss Earle's cousin, as the primary heir, with additional bequests to four other cousins and a number of charities. Mrs. Schindler's husband Edward testified that the "brown paper bag" version of the will is actually a copy from a previous document written in 1931 and later burned. An additional will presented for probate was revealed to be a forgery.

A 36-year-old bricklayer and father of seven children stabbed his wife and their landlord to death at the corner of W. 7th and 86th Streets last night after he saw them "hugging and kissing." 36-year-old Rose Napoli and 67-year-old Modestino Graziano died shortly after Louis Napoli attacked them with a butcher knife. Napoli then threw the bloody knife down in front of the 86th Street Station and told the horrified agent that he'd "just killed my wife and a man." Napoli was "dazed and speechless" in his initial appearance in Felony Court on two counts of murder, but he told police that he and his wife and Graziano had spent the evening drinking beer in a Bath Beach tavern before the fatal incident occured.

Old Santa has the habit of giving people what they want! That's what Ice Cold COCA-COLA does too!

The consumer-rights movement is a Communist plot to undermine Capitalism. So charges the Dies Commitee in denouncing a wide range of consumer groups, including Consumers Union and the Milk Consumers Protective Committee. The allegations are made in a report released by Dies Committee head of research J. B. Matthews. Matthews also claims the US Department of Agriculture is in on the plot, thru its "Consumers' Guide" publication.

Bob the Spitz, condemned to death for biting three people, has received another reprieve, with a Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge issuing a show-cause order requiring the Health Department to explain its stand on the case. The attorney for Bob's owner, Mrs. Helen Browne of 809 Ditmas Avenue, promises to take the case to the US Supreme Court if necessary, arguing that the relevant clause in the Sanitary Code is being retroactively applied in Bob's case.

Helen Worth is helping "Kitty" find a home for Mimi, a sweet-natured two-year-old black-and-white cat whose owners are moving and can't take her along. Mimi is housebroken, affectionate, and loves playing in the backyard, but isn't fond of children.

A Brooklyn priest deplores the belief expressed by many of today's youths that "American democracy would be better served if the present religious system was liquidated entirely." Monsignor James E. Griffiths sees that view as a challenge for a better definition of exactly what we consider "religion" to be.

Herbert Cohn isn't too impressed with "Mutiny In The Big House," now showing at the Globe Theatre. He says this Monogram prison programmer features a "leaden, skimpy plot" that "occasionally bursts into heated drama and tense melodrama."

Now at the Patio it's "The Women" with co-feature "The Man They Couldn't Hang" with Boris Karloff. Sounds like date-night material.

The Eagle editorialist rises in defense of "Brooklynese," oft-ridiculed local dialect, citing the words of critic H. L. Mencken, who praises the Brooklyn tongue for its lack of shackles, its freedom, and its joyous disregard of archaic and illogical rules. Dat's fa soiten!

Father Divine has a new plan for securing world peace ("it's wonderful!") -- he wants the United States to buy Central and South America, and has sent letters to the President, the Secretary of State, and other prominent officials outlining the proposal.

"A woman's place is in the house," says Brooklyn's Bertha Adams Mulvey -- and when she says "the house," she means Public Housing. Mrs. Mulvey is a leading figure in the push for public housing projects in New York, as an official of the United States Housing Authority, and became the first woman to hold such a post when she was appointed by President Roosevelt in 1935. She had twenty years experience in studying the question of public housing in Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, before accepting her Federal post.

The Giants didn't have much to say in Milwaukee yesterday in handing over the National Football League championship to Green Bay, with the Packers romping to a 27-0 victory.

The Brooklyn Jewels need to do better if they want to keep the American Basketball League crown -- and performances like last night's 32-24 loss to the Philadelphia Hebrews will not do the job.

The Basketball Dodgers tied the Harlem Yankees 33-33 in one overtime.

The Indoor Baseball Dodgers kept their hold on the National Professional Indoor Baseball League lead by splitting two with the Indoor Giants last night.

Fred Allen will have a pip of a Person You Didn't Expect To Meet during his broadcast this Wednesday -- he'll interview IRT subway guard Abe Steinberg, renowned by straphangers for his rhyming announcements: "Well here we are at the Street called Wall -- watch your dough, folks or they'll take it all!"

The Bungles reflect on bad luck, with Jo noting that "there's a bright side to everything -- if you have oodles of time to look for it."

And it looks like Detective Mary Worth is doing just that...

Meanwhile, Dan Dunn has to fly blind for seven hours in a howling storm using instruments calibrated by Irwin. Find the bright side in that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, one more reason why the Voice of the People column is my favorite part of the Daily News --

And what about Dick Tracy, last seen face down in a woodland creek? Well, it seems that Tess Trueheart is a Girl Scout leader, and had her troop out in just those woods, and they found poor soggy Detective Tracy and dragged him back to the city. And speaking of coincidences -- look who the girl who first spotted him turns out to be!

 

[Fading Fast]

...The expected break in the investigation of the murder of Nazi consular secretary Walter Engelberg has failed to materialize, after detectives waited for more than two hours for boxer Ernie Haas, the prime suspect in the slaying, to appear at a gymnasium where he was expected to keep an appointment Saturday night. Acting Captain Frank Bals of the Parkview precinct, leading the investigation, says that he will recall all previous witnesses for additional questioning. Meanwhile, Engelberg's body was cremated yesterday at the Fresh Pond Crematory....

Maybe Mr. Haas is a bit smarter than detectives are giving him credit for. Also, and this might only be a modern forensic view of things, but Engelberg's body was suspiciously cremated pretty quickly.

...The US Supreme Court has outlawed all use of evidence gathered by wiretapping in Federal criminal trials. The decision reverses the conviction of three New York men convicted thru wiretap evidence of using the mails to defraud. In its ruling the high court also determined that the Communications Act of 1934 also bans the use of evidence gathered from intrastate communications. The decision overturns a 1928 ruling that had cleared the way for wiretap evidence....

One thing we know for sure, that was not the final word form the Supreme Court on wiretapping. Technology keeps moving the goalposts.

...A 36-year-old bricklayer and father of seven children stabbed his wife and their landlord to death at the corner of W. 7th and 86th Streets last night after he saw them "hugging and kissing." 36-year-old Rose Napoli and 67-year-old Modestino Graziano died shortly after Louis Napoli attacked them with a butcher knife. Napoli then threw the bloody knife down in front of the 86th Street Station and told the horrified agent that he'd "just killed my wife and a man." Napoli was "dazed and speechless" in his initial appearance in Felony Court on two counts of murder, but he told police that he and his wife and Graziano had spent the evening drinking beer in a Bath Beach tavern before the fatal incident occured.....

So his 36-year-old wife was cheating on him with a 67-year-old man and he chose to kill them instead of himself.

...Now at the Patio it's "The Women" with co-feature "The Man They Couldn't Hang" with Boris Karloff. Sounds like date-night material....

"The Women" is in regular rotation on TCM and, also, was remade in 2008 - as is often the case, stick with the original.

...The Basketball Dodgers tied the Harlem Yankees 33-33 in one overtime.....

Seriously, the Dodgers played the Yankees in basketball. Thank God all this copycat naming eventually stopped.

...The Indoor Baseball Dodgers kept their hold on the National Professional Indoor Baseball League lead by splitting two with the Indoor Giants last night....

I believe the proper NYC expression is Oy Vey - see one comment up

...And it looks like Detective Mary Worth is doing just that...

....

As we'd say today, Mary is doing her fiduciary duty, but it wouldn't be the worst thing if Leona learned a lesson the hard way.

Also, in the last panel, the car looks almost like a Woody wagon, but not in the third - thoughts?

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you look real close at the third panel you can see the outline of the wooden panels on the car -- it appears to be that Dale is using an early-30s model as her photo reference -- note the roof line at the front, with the sun-visor type of deal that showed up on a lot of cars around 1930-31. The Stockpools don't believe in throwing around money on the latest vehicles -- especially when Leona has hundreds of pairs of shoes that need to be paid for.

The early disposal of Dr. Engelberg's mortal remains does strike me as a bit -- hasty. I guess Nazis are an unsentimental lot, and I doubt Engelberg has any relatives back home to mourn him.

 

[3fingers]

I know it didn't end well for the Finns but you have to respect their effort. They made the Soviets pay dearly for every inch they took.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The President of the Brooklyn Public Library Board of Trustees, a former Federal Judge, and a lifelong Democrat will replace William O'Dwyer in the $25,000 Kings County Court judgeship to be vacated when O'Dwyer takes over as District Attorney on January 1st. Governor Herbert Lehman today named Edward L. Garvin to the judgeship in a move widely perceived as a "a personal one" by the Governor. Garvin will resign his position on the library board after twelve years, during which time he oversaw the long-overdue completion of the new Central Library project.

Greatest of all silent screen heroes Douglas Fairbanks died today in Hollywood from a sudden and unexpected heart attack at the age of 55. Fairbanks died in his sleep, and his wife, the former Lady Sylvia Ashley, was alerted by the frantic barking of Fairbanks' pet bulldog, Marco Polo. Mrs. Fairbanks was reported to be "prostrated" by the death of her husband, and Fairbanks' former wife Mary Pickford collapsed into tears when she received the news. Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who has followed his father into pictures, left immediately for the family home when word reached his set.

All Hollywood is reported in a state of shock over the film legend's death. Fairbanks was reported to be planning a film comeback after nearly seven years away from the screen, and was said to be preparing a script in which he would appear in a supporting role alongside his son. Fairbanks, looking twenty years younger than his age, attended the USC-UCLA football game in Los Angeles on Saturday, where he showed no indication of illness. A year ago, Fairbanks donated his personal film library, consisting of more than 2.7 billion feet of film, to the Museum of Modern Art Film Library.

In Chicago, Mary Pickford has gone into seclusion. In the city with her third husband, orchestra leader Buddy Rogers, Pickford refused to speak with reporters or to accept vistors or telephone calls.

The German liner Bremen arrived home safely today from a voyage to Murmansk, Russia after avoiding British submarines. The Germans say the luxury ship escaped destruction after the timely arrival of Nazi planes to fend off an attack. The British say they deliberately allowed the ship to pass without an attack.

Twenty-four hours have come and gone since the League of Nations issued its ultimatum to the Soviet Union demanding withdrawal of its troops from Finland, but no action has been taken by Russia to comply with that order. Officials in Geneva say consideration will be given to a request from Russia for mediation of its disputes with Finland even if it arrives after the deadline.

The operator of a Brooklyn neighborhood theatre has filed suit challenging eight Hollywood studios with violation of the Clayton Anti-Trust Act in denying it access to first-run features. The owners of the 395-seat Gloria Theatre at 395 Court Street maintain that it and five similar neighborhood houses have been losing up to $200 a week because they are denied the ability to compete on an equal basis against the nearby 1800-seat Clinton Theatre, which recently opened under a contract guaranteeing it first access to first-run films. In addition to naming the major film studios as defendents in the case, the suit also names the Rand Force Amusement Corporation, film booking agency, which handles contracts for more than fifty theatres in Brooklyn -- and which is owned on a fifty-percent basis by the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Long Island residents living near Mitchell Field have a message for Brooklyn and Queens residents upset over airplane noise from the new LaGuardia Field at North Beack -- "You'll get used to it."

The "brown paper bag will" has been thrown out of court, but five heirs of elderly recluse Louisa Hearle will divide a $27,000 cash settlement to dismiss their claims against the estate. The purported will, scrawled on a scrap of bag paper, was declined probate in Brooklyn Surrogate Court, leaving the bulk of the $1,400,000 estate in question. Another will has surfaced in Missouri, but is also expected to be rejected.

An erratic New York lawyer known for standing on his head in public places when he is "emotionally upset" and his heiress wife are headed for a split, although attorney Richard Allen Knight refuses to accept the inevitable. Knight followed Mrs. Dorothy Ledyard Knight, whom he calls "Mama" to Nevada, where she is in the process of securing a divorce, and from where she has positively stated that there will be no reconciliation. Mr. Knight's head-standing habit has been a source of marital friction, particularly since the attorney performed a headstand during a performance at the Metropolitan Opera.

SALE! Sample Size Shoes! If you wear 4B, 4C, 4 1/2A, 4 1/2B, 5A -- this is your lucky day at COWARD COMFORT SHOES! All styles in these sizes just $5 a pair At Our Brooklyn Store Only! Either Too Many Brooklyn Women Have Big Feet or we carry Too Many Sizes!

The opening of the new Flatbush Night Court is expected to ease overcrowding at the Raymond Street Jail, unfit for human habitation, but borough officials are concerned this may be used as an excuse for not replacing the deteriorating facility. Mayor LaGuardia presided over the official opening of the new court last night, and while acknowledging that the Jail is not "the Waldorf Astoria," it's still better than "seventy five percent of the jails in this state."

The US Ambassador to Belgium believes that the choice of whether or not to run for a third term should be taken out of President Roosevelt's hands -- and that if he is unwilling to run, he should be drafted to do so. Ambassador Joseph E. Davies arrived in New York today aboard the Italian liner Rex. Also aboard the liner, author and editor Oswald Garrison Villiard, who told reporters if Hitler stays in power another five years, Communism will come to Germany. Villiard says "most people under 30" support Hitler -- but he was amazed at the number of people who spoke out openly against the Nazi regime. "All the opposition needs," he says, "is leadership."

Dine and Dance in the "61 Room" at the Bossert Hotel to the music of Eddie Lane and his Orchestra. Dinners from $1.25.

SEE A REAL GIANT OVER 8 FEET TALL -- In TOYLAND -- at ABRAHAM & STRAUS. (I guess the King of the Pygmies has moved on to his next engagement. "Never follow a trapeze act with another trapeze act.")

Ew.

"The New Hellzapoppin'," opening this week at the Winter Garden, is even better than the old Hellzapoppin', capturing the same spirit of anarchic comedy, says Arthur Pollock. Olsen and Johnson are still in fine form, with new twists on old routines: instead of Chick Johnson throwing eggs at the audience, prop birds fly out over the audience and drop eggs with little parachutes on the audience. Other audience-participation stunts include bizarre giveaways -- stepladders, bags of flour, a cake of ice. Robert Benchley was awarded a live chicken at a recent performance.

"The Cat and the Canary," with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard heads the new bill at the Brooklyn Fox. Also showing, Humphrey Bogart and a white streak in his hair in "The Return of Doctor X."

A 44-year-old Gold Street man faces animal cruelty charges after he tried to cause his wire-haired terrier to chase a ball onto subway tracks. Thomas Bokus was standing on the IRT Chambers St. platform last night with a can of beer in his hand, where he tossed a ball onto the tracks and tried to compel his dog Peggy, age 6, to chase it. A fellow subway patron reported Bokus to the police, and he was taken to Night Court, where he was sentenced to two days in jail.

The Eagle editorialist thinks it's funny that the Dewey For President campaign is making a big deal of its Manhattan phone number, MUrray Hill 3-1776, when they could have gotten an even better number in the DEwey exchange.

Midwestern chain drug-store king Charles Walgreen has died at 66. Walgreen made news in 1935 when he pulled his daughter out of the University of Chicago so she wouldn't be exposed to "Communist teachings," but he later changed his mind and donated $500,000 to the school.

Is Joe Medwick in that sack? Not much chance, says Tommy Holmes, who says the Cardinals are odds-on favorites to win the 1940 pennant.

Pie Traynor won't be coming to the Dodgers as a coach next season. The former Pirate third baseman told Pittsburgh president Bill Benswanger that he had an offer to join Brooklyn in 1940, but Benswanger started to cry and Pie decided to keep his job on the Pirate coaching staff after all.

Tennis star Alice Marble has been named top Woman Athlete of 1939 by the Associated Press. California Alice made a big impression at Wimbledon and the Nationals this year.

More problems for the Bungles -- the apartment is full of smoke and someone seems to be stuck in the chimney. MOVE TO A NEW BUILDING.

Wait, you mean that The Handsomest Man In All Europe is a FAKE fake prince? He's an actual REAL prince? What does this say about the decayed state of European royalty in 1939?

And we pause in the suspense-filled narrative for a science lesson. COMICS ARE EDUCATIONAL!

 

[Fading Fast]

...The Eagle editorialist thinks it's funny that the Dewey For President campaign is making a big deal of its Manhattan phone number, MUrray Hill 3-1776, when they could have gotten an even better number in the DEwey exchange.....

Clearly "that ship has sailed," and for technology-marches-along reasons, but I still miss phone numbers being given as Murray Hill 5-5378. I grew up near Camp Kilmer, even into the '70s, you'd see numbers advertised as Kilmer 5 - 5432, K-I-5-5432. It just felt more like a community by doing it that way.

...


Wait, you mean that The Handsomest Man In All Europe is a FAKE fake prince? He's an actual REAL prince? What does this say about the decayed state of European royalty in 1939?....

Fake royalty in the '30s, many claiming to be from Russia after they fled the communists, was also a common movie plot devise. I recently saw it used in "Fashion of '34," but again, it popped up often. Mary's doing the right thing, but as said yesterday, being humiliated in a scam marriage might be a good lesson for our Ms. Stockpool.

...

And we pause in the suspense-filled narrative for a science lesson. COMICS ARE EDUCATIONAL!

Very cool.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A subcommittee of the League of Nations Finnish Appeal Committee has voted to recommend expulsion of the Soviet Union from the international body, and has endorsed international aid to Finland, even from non-member states such as the US. The subcommittee also recommends against international recognition of the Soviet-backed Finnish government based in Terijoki. The subcommittee includes representatives of 13 states, headed by Bolivia. China voted against the resolution, noting that the Soviets have provided aid in resisting the Japanese invasion.

Meanwhile, Finland is sending reinforcements to the eastern-central front in preparation for a Russian drive toward the Gulf of Bothnia. Withdrawals of troops along the central front are characterized by Finnish military observers as an attempt to draw the Russians out of position in preparation for a Finnish counter-attack.

More than 700 Russians, including women and children, are feared dead today in the wreck of a Soviet fishing-service steamer off the coast of Japan. A Japanese rescue ship brought about 390 survivors ashore on the treacherous coast of Hokkaido, after the Russian ship was swamped by high seas.

Two of the three indictments against accused fur racketeer Isadore "I Paid Plenty" Juffe were dropped today in Brooklyn Supreme Court, after Juffe's attorney argued that the fur king had received immunity from prosecution on those charges in exchange for his testimony in the recent bribery trial of Assistant District Attorney Arthur R. Baldwin. The two indictment accused Juffe of swindling two men out of a total of $5000. A third count of bribery and grand larceny in connection with a fraud against one Hyman Greenbaum remains to be tried.

Borough President Raymond Ingersoll is leading a campaign against subsidized housing affecting his Clinton Hill neighborhood. Thirty-four sections of the borough have been designated as suitable for such housing, but real estate owners are protesting the designation, claiming it will reduce their property valuations. Ingersoll "owns a fine home" on the Hill.

A 30-year-old W. 19th Street man in Coney Island Court on assault charges after slapping his wife has been ordered to do the cooking in the household. Magistrate Flynn handed down the ruling after Alex White claimed he hit his 26-year-old wife Frances White because she "wouldn't learn to cook." White claimed that he knew how to cook, so the Magistrate ordered him to do it. "You don't want her to cooperate," argued the Magistrate, "you want her to 'do what you tell her.' You have no right to strike your wife."

Bob the Spitz has been reprieved from his death sentence at least thru the Christmas season. The condemned dog, owned by Mrs. Helen Browne of Ditmas Avenue, and sentenced to die for biting three people, will be served a Christmas feast in his cell at the SPCA shelter. His next court hearing is set for December 27th.

The cast of "Gone With The Wind" has flown to Atlanta to prepare for the upcoming premiere of the Selznick super-production. The picture has its world premiere at a $10 a seat gala on Friday night.

The attorney representing German-American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn has been found guilty of contempt of court, but sentence has been suspended against lawyer Peter Sabbatino. Judge James G. Wallace reprimanded Sabbatino for his conduct during the trial, but declined to sentence him due to the obvious strain he was under "defending an unpopular cause." Judge Wallace will rule on contempt charges against several newspapers for their coverage of the case by December 20th.

Angry Santa says HERE'S YOUR DAMN RADIO NOW LEAVE ME ALONE.

The president of Brooklyn College criticized clergymen for their focus on political issues at the expense of promoting "social cohesion. " President Harry Gideonse, addressing a luncheon of the Clergy Association of New York, called on local clergy to respond to the 'desperate need" of today's young people for "something to be loyal to."

The magistrate in charge of the new Flatbush Night Court says sightseers and slumming parties are not welcome and will not be permitted in his courtroom. Magistrate Thomas J. Cullen opened proceedings last night in the new Snyder Avenue court by declaring that only those with business before that court, or those whose presence has been specifically approved, will be admitted to the courtroom.

At Our Brooklyn Store Only! MOUNT VERNON FIREPLACE, made of sturdy fiberboard, gives your living room just the right Christmas touch! Just $1 in the fifth-floor housewares department at Loeser's. Electric log outfit $1.98 extra.

Dies Committee member J. Parnell Thomas has been invited to appear before the Brooklyn Citizens League and explain his assertion that 25 percent of the students and faculty at Brooklyn College are Communists. The League, in its invitation, declared that those so charged "have a right to know" the evidence behind such a claim. Representative Thomas has not responded to the invitation.

Do-Re-Mi writes to Helen Worth wondering if putting a new coat of varnish on a piano will affect its tone. Helen says a friend of hers once covered her piano with Chinese red lacquer and she couldn't hear any difference -- those with more detailed information are invited to write in.

The official Brooklyn Christmas Tree went up on the roof of Borough Hall yesterday. The 40-foot-tall spruce was fully decorated with lights by city workers.

A British town has prohibited blind persons to marry or have children. The City Council of Leiscester passed the ordinance this week, with the proviso that marriages will be allowed if both parties present medical certificates attesting to their inability to have children.

Tea is not a sissy drink, declares a representative of Albert Ehlers, Inc., tea distributors, before a meeting of the Brooklyn Eagle Home Guild. Mrs. Otille Stone told members that "tea is recognized everywhere as the world's most revitalizing drink." (In Bensonhurst, Sally Punchclock tosses the paper at Joe and says "See?? I tol' ya! Now drink it!" And Joe sniffs the cup and says "Do I gotta stick out me pinky?" And Sally says "I don't care what you stick out, just drink it. Ya gonna miss the trolley, an' you know what they tol' ya down the plant, one more day late an' you're canned." So Joe reluctabtly swizzles it down and spits out a mouthful of wet leaves. Sally shakes her head and mumbles "I coulda married anybody.")

The oldest man in the State of New York, 105-year-old Charles H. Benedict of Columbiaville, born during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, has advice for today's jitterbugs: slow down! That's his secret for a ripe old age.

Ceremonies attending the New York premiere of "Gone With The Wind" at the Capitol Theatre will be televised. The National Broadcasting Company's television station W2XBS will have cameras and microphones in the foyer and lobby of the theatre when the super-production opens in the city on December 19th. NBC will also broadcast the festivities on radio.

"Goodbye Mr. Chips" has its Brooklyn premiere tomorrow at Loew's Metropolitan, with second feature "The Witness Vanishes."

At the Patio it's "Rio" paired with "The Dead End Kids On Dress Parade."

Mrs. Roosevelt wants to know if there's anyone the Dies Committee doesn't think is a Communist. The First Lady commented on the recent claims by the Dies panel that the consumer-rights movement is a Red plot in today's release of her "My Day" newspaper column.

A hockey player with glasses? Welcome Chuck Shannon, "glassed in like your back porch" to the New York Americans. Shannon tapes his specs to his head in a manner that made him a target for all eyes in the Garden during last night's game -- as the Amerks beat Chicago 4-0.

Speaking of glasses, the Boston Red Sox have an early Christmas present for highly-touted rookie Dominic DiMaggio -- two pairs of laminated shatterproof spectacles for the nearsighted outfielder to wear during games.

TOMORROW WE UP THE QUALITY -- But Not The Price -- New Esso Gasoline and New Esso Extra Gasoline!

Mayor LaGuardia, former Republican presidential nominee Alfred M. Landon, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise will be among the speakers tonight in the "America's Protest Against Nazi Oppression" rally from Madison Square Garden, broadcast over WEVD at 9pm.

George runs up to the roof and is chagrined to see legs and a pair of boots sticking out of the chimney. It can't be who you think it is.

Mary's got it figured out, and maybe Leona does too.

Dan is trying to fly in a blinding storm, but he knows he's still at a safe altitude because Irwin calibrated the altimeter. I type that with a perfectly straight face.

 

[Fading Fast]

...The cast of "Gone With The Wind" has flown to Atlanta to prepare for the upcoming premiere of the Selznick super-production. The picture has its world premiere at a $10 a seat gala on Friday night....

$10 in '39 is ~$185 in 2019 dollars. I'm assuming, for that price, you get more than just a viewing of the movie. I wonder what premiere gala tickets go for today - I'm betting a heck of a lot more than $185, but I have no idea.

...The magistrate in charge of the new Flatbush Night Court says sightseers and slumming parties are not welcome and will not be permitted in his courtroom. Magistrate Thomas J. Cullen opened proceedings last night in the new Snyder Avenue court by declaring that only those with business before that court, or those whose presence has been specifically approved, will be admitted to the courtroom.....

"Slumming parties -" wealthy college-aged kids going to lower-income neighborhoods - usually for the entertainment (taxi dancers, dive bars, amusement piers, etc.) - are also a common occurrence in '30s movies. That said, I don't remember one where the kids ever went to a night court.

...

Mary's got it figured out, and maybe Leona does too.....

"He'll earn it, if he marries her." Hello! He's spot on. What is the reason that Leona's parents left her in Mary's care, besides the obvious one of wanting to get away from Leona?

 

[David Conwill]

Helen says a friend of hers once covered her piano with Chinese red lacquer

Boy, I'd rather like to see that!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Dad Stockpool and Leona were aboard a small plane that made a forced landing near the farm where Mary, Bill, and grandkids Dennie and Sunny were living at the time -- and when Leona tried to pull her heiress routine Mary put her in her place pretty quick. Mr. and Mrs. Stockpool were preparing to take a trip to Europe -- not a good idea, since the war had just broken out (although the lead time on the strip suggests it hadn't yet when the story was being plotted out) -- and on an impulse Dad hired Mary to be "in charge" of Leona and the family estate while they were away. Mary agreed on the provision that Bill and the kids could come along, and that she would have "full charge" of the situation -- and the Stockpools said "great, let's go, seeya!"

Presumably they can't get home because of the war, or are afraid of being torpedoed, so I don't imagine they'll be home anytime soon....

Mary and Bill aren't married, by the way -- Bill is just some roughneck truck driver who "looked after" Mary and Dennie when they were living on the street, and I believe that he and Mary now have an -- ah -- understanding. Mary does have an adult son, who's a shiftless loafer who only shows up occasionally to cause trouble. He was last on the scene last year, but if I were writing the strip he'd come along and get involved with Leona just to give Mary a real crisis.

 

[Fading Fast]

Dad Stockpool and Leona were aboard a small plane that made a forced landing near the farm where Mary, Bill, and grandkids Dennie and Sunny were living at the time -- and when Leona tried to pull her heiress routine Mary put her in her place pretty quick. Mr. and Mrs. Stockpool were preparing to take a trip to Europe -- not a good idea, since the war had just broken out (although the lead time on the strip suggests it hadn't yet when the story was being plotted out) -- and on an impulse Dad hired Mary to be "in charge" of Leona and the family estate while they were away. Mary agreed on the provision that Bill and the kids could come along, and that she would have "full charge" of the situation -- and the Stockpools said "great, let's go, seeya!"

Presumably they can't get home because of the war, or are afraid of being torpedoed, so I don't imagine they'll be home anytime soon....

Mary and Bill aren't married, by the way -- Bill is just some roughneck truck driver who "looked after" Mary and Dennie when they were living on the street, and I believe that he and Mary now have an -- ah -- understanding. Mary does have an adult son, who's a shiftless loafer who only shows up occasionally to cause trouble. He was last on the scene last year, but if I were writing the strip he'd come along and get involved with Leona just to give Mary a real crisis.

"Presumably they can't get home because of the war, or are afraid of being torpedoed, so I don't imagine they'll be home anytime soon...."

Or they'd rather take their chances with Hitler's armies rather than living with Leona - tough call.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They did seem awfully eager to board that liner.