The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

But I did pick up the Daily News...

What, no offers for a "City Of Flint" movie? I'm disappointed.

That's what happens when you try to serve Mr. Stalin with a foreclosure notice for property in Brooklyn.

More #metoo 1940-style.

You don't have to keep auditioning, Mazie -- you've already got the job.

The ethics of personal morality vs. the rule of law. And you thought "Little Orphan Annie" was just "Leapin' Lizards!" and random thugs saying "Yi!" as Punjab slices their heads off with a scimitar.

Pat Patton isn't quite as dumb as Irwin, but he's certainly got the potential.

"Who I? Your atrocious command of basic English reveals you as the empty ethnic stereotype that you are, unworthy to even for a moment glimpse the face beneath this cloak."

"Oh, hi Cheery. How's it goin'?"

Yes, Moon's an idiot, but the second panel here is absolutely delightful.

*snif.* The dishes. Harold won them in a movie-theatre promotion last summer and carried them around showing them off for a week before he decided that since he had the dishes and all, he and Lillums ought to elope. And when he botched that up by forgetting to get a license, Lillums called him a rattle-brained hepcat and her mother brought Mr. McClusky onto the scene, leading to the present heart-wrenching scenario. So what I'm saying here, kid, is you really should have just given the dishes to your ma.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well, it looks like the paperboy threw today's Eagle a little too hard, and it bounced off the front door and back into the street, where it was run over by a stolen garbage truck driven by two sanitation workers playing a joke on their pal. So we don't have an Eagle in the files for today. But I did go down to the Out of Town Newsstand and was able to find, at least, today's comics in other papers...

I'm going to miss today's paper, but you're a good egg - thank you for hunting out the comics elsewhere.

... Portrait of an oily brazen man backed into a corner. Nice medals, though. That must've been quite a rummage sale.....

Just perfect to see our "super spy" scared; whereas, George, George!, wants to spring into action.

...
#metoo, 1940 style. And Bill has the snazziest delivery truck in town.....

Bill's timing is a bit too perfect, but still. Separately, the 1940s unfortunately abounded with #metoo moments, but you also see (in books and movie from that time - not today's period movies and novels which distort the heck out of this topic) that there was a smaller but meaningful pushback from both men and women who were disgusted by it. And plenty who didn't play that way at all. Maybe the men in my family from that time weren't what they taught to me to be, but to a man, none of them ever taught me to be anything but respectful to women (and men for that matter) and that all of that #metoo garbage (obviously they didn't use that term) was wrong. As we always see at FL, the past was as complex as the present and neither as bad nor as good / as black nor white as we sometimes believe it was.

... "To the house where we trailed those hoodlums after they tried to bomb us the other night." The syntax, it pains.....

"Good luck with that bomb fellas, hope you put the fuse out before it blows you up."

The illustration work is impressive, but the story telling and, as you note, syntax of Dan Dunn is not up there with the better comic strips of the Era.

...The Eagle will be back tomorrow. I called the circulation desk and complained.

... You don't have to keep auditioning, Mazie -- you've already got the job.....

"...you look to me like evolution's dead end." Kapow!

...
The ethics of personal morality vs. the rule of law. And you thought "Little Orphan Annie" was just "Leapin' Lizards!" and random thugs saying "Yi!" as Punjab slices their heads off with a scimitar.....

The serious issues debated here and in other strips is impressive - today's goes back to the time of the great Greek philosophers.

...
Pat Patton isn't quite as dumb as Irwin, but he's certainly got the potential.....

Dick Tracy has a Dan Dunn moment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A leading member of the Suffolk County Republican Party is wanted under an arrest warrant for misappropriation of funds and falsifying a public officer's accounts in a case that has thrown the Suffolk GOP into an uproar. Warren F. Greenhaigh, former Chairman of the Suffolk County Board of Supervisors, faces arrest after an audit of county records revealed discrepancies in purchases of road oil for WPA projects in the town of Islip. The warrant was issued only days after Greenhaigh resigned from a position connected to the office of state Senator George F. Thompson of Kings Park, the dean of Senate Republicans and chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee. Senator Thompson stated that Greenhaigh resigned that position "at his suggestion." When Greenhaigh questioned the "suggestion" and asked "why?" the Senator states that he replied "You know better than I." The Eagle has since learned that the request for Greenhaigh's dismissal came from the highest ranks of the Suffolk County Republican Party, with former state party chairman W. Kingsland Macy "impelling" Greenhaigh's exit with a call for a "thorough sifting" of everything connected with the road oil contracts.

A four alarm fire raged yesterday thru a four story loft building housing a hospital-supply factory in Bedford-Stuyvesant, forcing the evacuation of twenty five families from surrounding homes, and endangering nearby chemical factories. The fire at the Narwood Brothers factory at 942 Lafayette Avenue was reported at 3:20 yesterday afternoon and burned out of control for over an hour before it was under control, and continued to smoulder for an hour after that, with firefighting efforts hampered by the sub-freezing cold. No cause for the fire has yet been determined, and no officials of the company could be reached late into the night. Unofficial estimates of the damage was placed between $50,000 and $75,000.

A 29-year-old attendant at Kings Park Hospital was arrested on murder charges yesterday for the slaying of his former fiancee. Police say Joseph Vincent Dowd strangled 25-year-old Mary Mills, an attendant at Center Islip State Hospital, after an all-night argument in a parked car over her plans to marry another man. Police say the argument followed a drinking and roller-skating party at which Dowd, Miss Mills, and her present fiance, were both present. Dowd told police he fell asleep in the car and has no memory of anything that happened until he woke up shortly ater 10 am Saturday to find Miss Mills dead in the seat beside him.

Trains to Rockaway were delayed this morning by the collapse of a Long Island Railroad trestle over Jamacia Bay. Rail officials say ice grinding against the pilings weakened the bridge supports and caused its failure. The track was closed while work crews labored in the bitter cold to install new pilings.

A 25-year-old mail-order clerk from Jackson Heights was asphyxiated by gas yesterday morning when a pot of coffee boiled over in his kitchen and extinguished the burner flame. Robert Erath collapsed from the fumes and was discovered by his father, and ambulance crews were unable to revive him.

A Brookhaven police officer rescued a wild swan, starving and freezing in the extreme cold, and the bird is now happily paddling away in a pond at the home of Officer Arthur Waldron. Waldron was on patrol yesterday when he saw the bird fall from a tree last Friday, and after taking it home he called the game warden, who advised him to care for it until it regained its normal strength.

Finnish reports claim that four Soviet divisions have been routed in an attempt to outflank the Mannerheim Line near Lake Lagoda, and the remnants of the attack are now said to be fleeing across the ice. The reports, attributed to "Finnish couriers," contrast with a "tersely noncomittal" communique on the battle from official Finnish authorities.

The Honorable Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford, British friend of Adolf Hitler, is reported near death today as the result of two gunshot wounds, one of which is reported to have injured her brain. Family members refuse to comment on the reports, but it is believed that Miss Freeman-Mitford's room is being guarded by two detectives, and that a prominent Australian brain specialist has been summoned to the Nuffield wing of the Radcliffe Infirmary.

The master of the City of Flint, American freighter held captive in Germany following a contraband incident last fall, says the crew fought a "war of nerves" all its own during the ship's lengthy impoundment. Captain Joseph Gainard spoke to reporters in Baltimore, where the ship put in after its 113-day odyssey finally came to an end. Captain Gainard told reporters, "in saltwater language," of how his crew was ready to fight the German prize crew that seized the ship, and had to be restrained from going into action.

A 56-year-old Hudson Avenue man is charged with passing counterfeit two-dollar bills. Antonio Santa Maria was arrested by a Secret Service agent yesterday after he was caught trying to buy twenty-five cents worth of corks at a hardware store on Myrtle Avenue using a bogus $2 note. The agent found him in possession of two such fraudulent bills, and took him into custody. Santa Maria will be held on $1500 bail pending a court appearance on February 14th. At his arraignment in Federal Court, Santa Maria insisted he found the bills on the ground at the corner of Fulton Street and Flatbush Avenue, one of the busiest intersections in the borough.

(Look, you really need to buy a fur coat right now, OK?)

(Really. Right now. Get going!)

Brooklyn's all-time champion moviegoer? Mrs. Ethel Greibe of Flatbush, member since 1925 of the National Board of Review, which determines the entertainment and art value of all American films. Mrs. Greibe has seen over 4000 films in the last fifteen years, and swears she remembers every one, thanks to volume after volume of meticulously-kept records stored in her bedroom closet. "I'm not a censor," she declares, stressing that the Board's role is to determine the "tone" of films.

Ross McCluskey (presumably no relation to Truck) writes in to defend The Commonweal magazine against charges by the Brooklyn Tablet that it is "not a Catholic magazine." The Commonweal recently condemned Father Coughlin and the Christian Front, and Mr. McCluskey hopes that it, and similar publications, will drive out the Bunds and Fronts and allow the nation to "breathe again the pure air of intelligence and decency."

(Made from curtains for extra authenticity.)

William Powell and Miriam Hopkins star in Orson Welles' production of "It Happened One Night" on the Campbell Playhouse, tonight at 9pm over WABC. Tune in for yourself right here:

(And Sally turns to Joe and says "I dunno what he spends all that money on, but it sure ain't haircuts.")

John Barrymore returns to Broadway Wednesday night in "My Dear Children," at the Belasco Theatre -- jumping back to the New York stage in a rousing farce after eighteen years in Hollywood, years full of "shimmering headlines to remind us that he has not entirely vanished into a celluloid haze.")

It's expected that Commissioner K. M. Landis will have to push back at least a bit in his crusade against baseball's farm systems, given the likely-fatal effect his plan will have on the minor leagues. Tommy Holmes speculates that the Judge's plan to operate Class B, C, and D leagues in cooperative arrangements with higher classifications is too revolutionary for immediate adoption, and the 1940 season, at least, will have to be conducted under the current system.

Eighteen top rookies will get a close look from the Dodgers at spring training, with Eastern League batting champion George Staller and nineteen year old slugger Harold "Pete" Reiser heading the list. Reiser spent much of last season with Elmira on the shelf due to appendicitis and a lame arm, and it is hoped he will regain full form this spring.

"Our Old Brooklyn was like the Wild West," writes Old-Timer Charles Bryant, who recalls the days when cowboys herded horses down behind the Long Island Railroad station at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic.

("But that not true," interrupted Little Beaver. "Scorpion no have-um skin. Scorpion arachnid. Scorpion have-um chitinous exo-skeleton. Watch out, Red Ryder, this man fake!")

Awww, Dennie's hitting puberty. Don't get any ideas about Leona.

Yes, Dan, by all means go down alone into a mysterious dungeon in a criminal's garage. That always ends well.

By the way, folks, did you know you can save three cents a quart with Sheffield's new two-quart paper carton?

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

A "sub deb" is a girl of high-school age. And I wouldn't let any girl of high-school age under my supervision within fifty feet of this guy. Ew.

("What a character!" says Leroy."That'll be quite enough out of you!" snaps The Great Gildersleeve.)

The "Hill Page" is one of my favorite parts of the Sunday News, and this one's a pip.

Ah! Ahh! The baby's father is -- J. Hartford Oakdale!

Captain Blaze insists on calling this treacherous henchman "Cue Ball." Which may explain the treachery.

Chester Gump, reincarnation of an ancient god. Guess that shows *you,* Mama!

Take a good look at these soda-shop goofs. In just a very few years' time, they will be fighting to save the world from Fascism.

Nick plays the long game --but what is the long game here?

 

[Fading Fast]

A leading member of the Suffolk County Republican Party is wanted under an arrest warrant for misappropriation of funds and falsifying a public officer's accounts in a case that has thrown the Suffolk GOP into an uproar. Warren F. Greenhaigh, former Chairman of the Suffolk County Board of Supervisors, faces arrest after an audit of county records revealed discrepancies in purchases of road oil for WPA projects in the town of Islip. The warrant was issued only days after Greenhaigh resigned from a position connected to the office of state Senator George F. Thompson of Kings Park, the dean of Senate Republicans and chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee. Senator Thompson stated that Greenhaigh resigned that position "at his suggestion." When Greenhaigh questioned the "suggestion" and asked "why?" the Senator states that he replied "You know better than I." The Eagle has since learned that the request for Greenhaigh's dismissal came from the highest ranks of the Suffolk County Republican Party, with former state party chairman W. Kingsland Macy "impelling" Greenhaigh's exit with a call for a "thorough sifting" of everything connected with the road oil contracts....

Sadly, this story - tweaked for particulars - has been written many time, all across the country, every single year (and will be written in 2020 and in 2021 and...).

...A Brookhaven police officer rescued a wild swan, starving and freezing in the extreme cold, and the bird is now happily paddling away in a pond at the home of Officer Arthur Waldron. Waldron was on patrol yesterday when he saw the bird fall from a tree last Friday, and after taking it home he called the game warden, who advised him to care for it until it regained its normal strength....

What, no pics of the happy and recovering swan paddling away - missed opportunity by the Eagle's editorial staff.

...The Honorable Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford, British friend of Adolf Hitler, is reported near death today as the result of two gunshot wounds, one of which is reported to have injured her brain. Family members refuse to comment on the reports, but it is believed that Miss Freeman-Mitford's room is being guarded by two detectives, and that a prominent Australian brain specialist has been summoned to the Nuffield wing of the Radcliffe Infirmary...

That head needed examining by a brain specialist even before the gunshot wound.

...
(Look, you really need to buy a fur coat right now, OK?)...

A "Superb Dark Natural Mink" on sale costs, in inflation adjusted to 2020 dollars. $23,000 - $28,000. How many of those were they selling in Brooklyn? I wonder if discount shopping Manhattanites came to Brooklyn for these sales. That said, there were plenty of fur stores in Manhattan as there was a very large fur "district -" manufacturers and dealers - just south of Penn, at that time, that, I'm sure, had January sales as well.

...
(And Sally turns to Joe and says "I dunno what he spends all that money on, but it sure ain't haircuts.")...

While 6'3" is still tall, a 6'3" 190 pound man would not be described as a "giant of a man" today. My dad was 6'4" and bounced between 215lbs and 240lbs - he was huge for his generation, but today he'd just be "average" big. My dad looks out of scale in pics with his friends (he had the same ones his entire life).

... Awww, Dennie's hitting puberty. Don't get any ideas about Leona....

Good job capturing that "moment" when a boy "discovers" girls. Separately, Leone would ruin this boy for life - you need to be much older and much-more experienced before you meet a Leona.

... Yes, Dan, by all means go down alone into a mysterious dungeon in a criminal's garage. That always ends well....

Also, we're not morons, a little less exposition would be fine.

... By the way, folks, did you know you can save three cents a quart with Sheffield's new two-quart paper carton?

Jo needs to think about a divorce (or murder).

And the dairy world's travails continue: https://www.bizjournals.com/kansasc...-farmers-of-america-dean-foods-antitrust.html

...[
A "sub deb" is a girl of high-school age. And I wouldn't let any girl of high-school age under my supervision within fifty feet of this guy. Ew....

Just a hunch, but old Johnny's real interest in, um, well, you know, might not be with women; hence, he might have been seen as "safe" as an escort. That stuff was happening back then - it wasn't, as we talk about, all black and white; there was nuanced understanding of this stuff by some.

... View attachment 209098 Ah! Ahh! The baby's father is -- J. Hartford Oakdale!...

. Also, seriously Tess, that was your best effort at taking her veil off - very amateurish.

...
Nick plays the long game --but what is the long game here?

Nick's "kindness" reminds me of the scene where a young Godfather helps an elderly woman keep her apartment for which she can't afford the rent (and her dog gets to stay with her as well). The smart ones all play a long game.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think most of those minks are being sold to society doyennes from Long Island -- I doubt you'll ever run across any crowding the lobby on opening nights at the Patio.

 

[David Conwill]

You didn't learn anything in Hollywood, did you?

Sure he did: Don't trust your parents! Nobody warned him about bookies, I guess.

 

[David Conwill]

There's got to be an easier way to annoy a bank...

Yes, but do they get you a nine-week breather at the outset of a foreclosure suit?

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes, but do they get you a nine-week breather at the outset of a foreclosure suit?

You can even hear how the meeting went:

Biz guy: "Can we do that, sounds crazy?"

Lawyer: "It's technically legal."

Biz guy: "But, come on, what will people say."

Lawyer: "It buys you nine weeks."

Biz guy: "Nine week, hmm, it's legal you say."

Lawyer: "Yup."

A few beats later:

Biz guy: "Ef-it, sell it to Stalin and Hitler."

Lawyer: "I'll get the contracts ready for signatures."


When there's noting left - push the lawyers to find something / anything. I've seen it done more than once. And sometimes it's the biz guy who goes through the legal docs with a fresh, first-time, non-lawyer view that finds the tiniest crack that the lawyer didn't see and still doesn't even when it's explained to him the first few times. But once the lightbulb goes on - the lawyer is off and running.

The reason legal docs run so long is because those docs just represent how business fights an arms race.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hitler would hate that neighborhood, but Stalin -- well, it *is* Red Hook.

 

[LizzieMaine]

An official referee has recommended the disbarment of former Assistant District Attorney Alexander R. Baldwin, who was acquitted last summer of bribery charges brought against him following investigations by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen. The recommendation is expected to be followed by a panel of Appellate Court justices, following prosecution of Baldwin before the panel by a representative of the Brooklyn Bar Association. In his trial last summer, the principal witness against Baldwin was fur racketeer Isidore "I Paid Plenty" Juffe, whose claims to have purchased favorable judicial decisions in criminal cases were the spark that set off the Amen probe of official corruption in the borough.

The US Department of Justice will mount an official investigation of Father Charles E. Coughlin, radio priest of Royal Oak, Michigan "in due time," according to Assistant US Attorney General John Rogge, chief Federal investigator of the Christian Front sedition plot now under probe in Brooklyn. Rogge has received and acknowledged a formal complaint against Father Coughlin from the Jewish Peoples' Association, but declines to discuss the exact nature of that complaint at this time. Rogge left last night for Chicago and Minneapolis in connection with the widening of his investigation into the Christian Front's activities. Early today, a Federal Grand Jury convened in Brooklyn under unusually-heavy guard, with armed deputy marshals posted at six points in the building leading to the jury chambers. Rogge declined to comment on whether today's jury session is taking up the Christian Front case, and the attorneys working with Rogge on that case were all unavailable for comment.

In Royal Oak, Michigan, Father Coughlin stated in his Sunday sermon that he believes the investigation into his activities is being mounted by "master minds" to "rid the world of a troublesome priest," possibly for "a more sinister reason."

The former chairman of the Suffolk County Board of Supervisors, accused of misappropriating $8000 in WPA funds, surrendered to police today in Patchogue. Warren F. Greenhaigh, a leading figure in the Suffolk County Republican Party, was released on $5000 bail, and immediately returned to his Bay Shore home, where he and his family were reported to be making plans to leave the town. Greenhaigh entered a plea of not guilty at his arraignment, and told reporters he expects "complete exoneration."

The State rested its case this afternoon against Alvin Dooley in the Long Beach police patrolman's trial for the murder of Mayor Louis Edwards. Earlier, Edwards' bodyguard, Patrolman James Walsh, wept on the witness stand as he described the events of November 15th. Walsh was wounded in the pistol attack that claimed the Mayor's life, and broke down in convulsive sobs during a rigorous cross examination by defense attorney Samuel J. Leibowitz, who questioned him about the circumstances under which he replaced Dooley as president of the Long Beach Police Benevolent Association. Walsh testified that Mayor Edwards supported him for that position, and had encouraged other police officers to vote for Walsh, in a campaign that Leibowitz characterized as an attempt by the mayor to seize control of the PBA.

Police Lieutenant Cuthbert J. Behan took the stand in his own behalf today in his departmental trial to deny that he was responsible for the theft of more than 7000 arrest and bail records from the Bergen Street police station in 1938, and to insist that he was not in the station house on the day the papers were stolen. Behan insisted that he did not own and had never owned a brown hat or a brown lumber jacket, garments worn by a man seen in the police station at 4 am on October 15, 1938, but did admit under cross examination that he asked a fellow patrolman "Did Sweeney sing?" Prosecutors believe that question implied concern on Behan's part that Patrolman James J. Sweeney had made incriminating statements concerning the theft of the documents. Sweeney testified against Behan in Felony Court in connection with the case last April, and committed suicide the next day.

January has been the coldest month in Brooklyn in twenty years, with average daily temperatures averaging just under 25 degrees since the end of December. The thermometer hit 40 degrees only once this month, on January 14th, during a brief four-day respite from the icy cold.

German bombers raided along a 400-mile stretch of Britain's east coast today, in one of the heaviest attacks on shipping so far in the war. Raids were continuous from 9 am London time to shortly after mid-day, with bombs dropped on at least eight ships.

(With the engine running? Doesn't that use up a lot of gas?)

A teenage girl writes to Helen Worth complaining that her mother won't let her read confession magazines. Helen says such publications are all right for adults, who have a broad understanding of the world, but there are better things for a teenage girl to read, and just give them a try and see if she's right.

("Ten million?" wonders Sally. "That's a lotta bunk. I got that same hat las' summa for 98 cents from Namm's Basement." "Yeah," replies Joe, slurping his oatmeal. "An' it blew offa ya head when we went down the Parachute Jump at the Woil's Fair." "I wisht ya'd helped me look for it," fumed Sally. "I liked that hat. It was, whattaya call, jaunty." "Nah," says Joe, "ya plenny jaunty without no hat. That dame there, though, whooeee. Needs all th' jaunty she can get.")

John Barrymore arrived in New York yesterday, and bestowed kisses upon the women awaiting him as he alighted at Grand Central Terminal. Mr. Barrymore thus greeted a "girl reporter," who commented that "he kisses amusingly, if you know what I mean," and then focused his attention on Miss Patricia Power-Waters, the twenty-year-old rumored to be the current focus of his affections. Asked by a reporter if Miss Power-Waters was to be "Caliban's" new "Ariel," replacing the departed Miss Elaine Barrie, Barrymore commented "My God, no -- but I've tried." The stage and screen star then assured the crowd that whisky was far from his thoughts -- "not a thing but whisky-flavored water." Barrymore opens Wednesday night in "My Dear Children" at the Belasco Theatre, his first Broadway appearance in eighteen years.

(Yeah, this is a good idea. Positively.)

Twenty-nine men were fined $1 each in Flatbush Night Court for shooting dice. Fifteen of the men were picked up in a shack at 5835 Penrod Street, and the other fourteen in tbe back of a shop at 8815 Flatlands Avenue.

Now showing at the Patio, it's "Mr Smith Goes To Washington," coupled with "Five Little Peppers."

The Dodgers are officially out of the running for free agent Benny McCoy, with Larry MacPhail wiring the former Tiger to advise that he's dropping out of the bidding war. Earle Mack of the Athletics and manager Bill McKechnie of the Reds are reported to be on the scene today bargaining with McCoy in person, and it is expected that McCoy will accept a $40,000 offer from the Philadelphia club.

Dr. John B. Sutherland is expected to sign a three year contract today to coach the Football Dodgers. Dr. Sutherland resigned as head coach of the University of Pittsburgh last March. Dodger owner Dan Topping released coach Potsy Clark at the end of last season.

Ingrid Bergman stars in "Intermezzo," tonight on the Lux Radio Theatre, 9 pm over WABC.

Jo is firmly ensconced in the catbird seat. For now.

Why bother with this Milt guy? Go straight for Winchell.

This is really the only thing you need to know to be a Dan Dunn villian. "He's dumb, but I'll set a trap for him."

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

$33,000? Isn't that a bit -- gaudy for daytime wear?

Before heading off to classes at CCNY, twenty-year-old Mario Puzo always reads "Little Orphan Annie" with great interest. And takes careful notes.

"Kroywen" is "New York" spelled backwards. Is this some kind of clue, or is Mr. Gould just messing with us?

Tilda the Maid has worked for the Gumps for twenty-three years. She has heard this same speech from Ol' Gooseface many hundreds of times. And she always has a fresh wisecrack. That's dedication.

Wait, there's a secret tunnel? Did Blaze build this? It must be very -- wide.

Moon holding his cigar on the top of Willie's head like that makes me laugh out loud and I don't even know why. The art in this strip often does this.

Every now and then you see some scary stuff in the comics, but the last panel here is something straight out of Hitchcock. Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick....

 

[Fading Fast]

...In Royal Oak, Michigan, Father Coughlin stated in his Sunday sermon that he believes the investigation into his activities is being mounted by "master minds" to "rid the world of a troublesome priest," possibly for "a more sinister reason."...

Veiled a bit in code words, but those are some ugly and forever antisemitic tropes.

...
("Ten million?" wonders Sally. "That's a lotta bunk. I got that same hat las' summa for 98 cents from Namm's Basement." "Yeah," replies Joe, slurping his oatmeal. "An' it blew offa ya head when we went down the Parachute Jump at the Woil's Fair." "I wisht ya'd helped me look for it," fumed Sally. "I liked that hat. It was, whattaya call, jaunty." "Nah," says Joe, "ya plenny jaunty without no hat. That dame there, though, whooeee. Needs all th' jaunty she can get.")...

First, what the heck does "...10 a Million Each..." even mean? $10m each? Okay, let's say it's that. $10 million in 1940 is ~$182 million in 2020 dollars. I am very comfortable saying that even the extremely vain and wasteful Duchess of Windsor did not spend the equivalent of $182 million on clothes in 1940 or ever. Even a million each in 1940, if the headline meant that - which would be ~$18 million in 2020 - is a crazy number.

...Twenty-nine men were fined $1 each in Flatbush Night Court for shooting dice. Fifteen of the men were picked up in a shack at 5835 Penrod Street, and the other fourteen in tbe back of a shop at 8815 Flatlands Avenue....

Is shooting dice (away from a casino game) a thing anywhere anymore that kids or young men play?

... Jo is firmly ensconced in the catbird seat. For now....

Jo is not wrong, but she's got to be careful that she doesn't become Captain Queeg looking for the key in the great strawberry caper.

... View attachment 209322 Why bother with this Milt guy? Go straight for Winchell...

Where to begin. First, she announced whom she was to the club owner/manager. Then, she came up with the brilliant cover name of Leona Smith - imagine, that didn't work. Finally and most importantly, this is a story she should have been in front of and driving for money from the start, not playing defense as others profit from it.

...
$33,000? Isn't that a bit -- gaudy for daytime wear?.....

They'll be no journalism awards handed out for how this confusing mess of a story was written.

Oh, and $33,000 in 1940 is about $600,000 in 2020 dollars.

... Before heading off to classes at CCNY, twenty-year-old Mario Puzo always reads "Little Orphan Annie" with great interest. And takes careful notes......

No kidding.

... "Kroywen" is "New York" spelled backwards. Is this some kind of clue, or is Mr. Gould just messing with us?.....

Good catch on the anagram.

... Wait, there's a secret tunnel? Did Blaze build this? It must be very -- wide......

For a guy supposedly doing okay in a violent and lawless part of the world, Blaze seems emotionally weak and willing to give up quickly - not the personality type that usually lives long, let alone thrives, in that environment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My brother got cleaned out in a dice game when he was in boot camp, but that was in 1989. These days, of course, there are apps for that:

As for Coughlin, I was hired maybe twenty years ago to listen to and annotate all of his surviving broadcasts for an archival project, and I have to say it was not the most fun I've ever had. But it certainly makes it easier for me to recognize all his favorite tropes whenever they resurface, either overtly or as dogwhistles. The man's been dead for forty years, but the melody, as they say, lingers on...

I get the feeling that Cap'n Blaze is just a front man, and that Cheery is really running the whole operation by manipulating her father to do her bidding. The arrival of Pat and April threatened that arrangement, and steps will be taken to resume the status quo. What I want to know is where do Cheery's loyalties lie -- with the Chinese, with the "Invaders," or with someone else? Wheels within wheels....

 

[Fading Fast]

My brother got cleaned out in a dice game when he was in boot camp, but that was in 1989. These days, of course, there are apps for that:

As for Coughlin, I was hired maybe twenty years ago to listen to and annotate all of his surviving broadcasts for an archival project, and I have to say it was not the most fun I've ever had. But it certainly makes it easier for me to recognize all his favorite tropes whenever they resurface, either overtly or as dogwhistles. The man's been dead for forty years, but the melody, as they say, lingers on...

I get the feeling that Cap'n Blaze is just a front man, and that Cheery is really running the whole operation by manipulating her father to do her bidding. The arrival of Pat and April threatened that arrangement, and steps will be taken to resume the status quo. What I want to know is where do Cheery's loyalties lie -- with the Chinese, with the "Invaders," or with someone else? Wheels within wheels....

With much less exposure to "Terry and the Pirates" than you, my initial take is Cheery is loyal to Cheery and, while she might make alliances for self interest, that's all they are - she's out for Cheery.

You can understand why it went away, but in the day, dice was the thing - think about how many movies it pops up in as a plot driver or just an aside. It's like train travel or dancing, if you start to look for it in older movies, you'll notice that it's everywhere as that is how people traveled any real distance or engaged in "acceptable" PDAs.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The head of the company that sells road oil to highway superintendants in Norfolk and Suffolk counties will be questioned in an expanding probe of irregularities in the purchase of supplies for WPA projects in the town of Islip, following the arrest of the former county supervisor on charges of misappopriating $8000 in WPA funds. Mrs. Gertrude Adams Watkins, head of the Material and Supply Company, was summoned back to Long Island from a Florida vacation for questioning by District Attorney Fred J. Munder. Earlier this week, former Suffolk County supervisor, and prominent Long Island Republican Warren F. Greenhaigh, was arrested in connection with the probe. Mrs. Watkins, a prominent local Democrat, will be asked to document whether or not the $8000 worth of road oil ordered by Greenhaigh under the WPA contract was in fact delivered, and if not, why not.

Police in Brooklyn and Queens are investigating a series of daylight robberies in which women were attacked before the robbers worked. In Brooklyn, Miss Lucille Roberts, a 17-year-old housemaid at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Licht of 1753 E. 53rd Street, was tied to a chair with strips of torn towel while the burglers looted the residence of furs and jewelry valued at $1100. In Sunnyside, Queens, 38-year-old Dr. Elizabeth G. Sunners, a physician, was attacked in her home in a 96-family apartment complex at 43-17 48th Street, beaten into unconsciousness, and robbed of $40 cash. At press time, word was received a report of a third robbery in which two thugs attacked a young woman clerk at the Eastern Yarn Mills plant at 87 35th Street, in the Bush Terminal district, and escaped with a $3100 payroll.

Patrolman Alvin Dooley, on trial for the November 15th assassination of Long Beach Mayor Louis Edwards, today heard his own mother call him "crazy." Mrs. Emma Dooley, called to testify by defense attorney Samuel J. Leibowitz, told the court that her son had gone on a rampage before leaving for work on the morning of the killing, throwing bottles at her, threatening to kill her, and screaming about being "no good" and "a failure." Mrs. Dooley stated that she believed "drink" had "set him crazy," and that she was forced to run away from her own son.

A fire is raging at press time in a celluloid factory at 79-81 Bridge Street. Two persons are reported injured after leaping from the burning building.

Four police patrolmen suffered the effects of smoke inhalation and a fireman broke his leg as they led sixty women and children to safety in a stubbon, smoky fire in a 24-unit apartment building at 699 Willoughby Avenue. The blaze was confined to the basement of the building, but dense smoke penetrated the entire structure, complicating rescue efforts.

Summations began this afternoon in the departmental trial of Police Lieutenant Cuthbert J. Behan, but it is doubtful that the case will go the blue-ribbon jury today. Presentation of evidence concluded this morning with the testimony of former Alderman, Democratic Party official, prominent Elk, and Brooklyn's chubbiest bachelor John P. Lantry, who told the court he had no memory of seeing Behan before, or of a transaction in which Lantry is said to have bailed out "a bunch of boys" arrested in a raid on a crap game.

Majority Republicans in the State Legislature state that they are preparing to take "direct action" on appeals and demands stemming from the overassessment of real estate. A public hearing on the issue is likely to be the first result of such action.

For the second consecutive day a wave of German raiders bombed British ships in an escalating wave of aerial attacks. Five ships were reported bombed, with one Nazi plane shot down by British fighters.

Meanwhile, in a radio speech relayed around the world by shortwave, Adolf Hitler today warned that "if France wants war, they too will have war." The German Fuehrer also assailed Britain as "a betrayer of European progress," and dismissed "Allied talk of a united Europe based on free trade" as "an old story and a worn-out record."

President Roosevelt celebrated his 58th birthday today in fine fettle, cutting a cake at a family party at the White House, as Americans prepared to duplicate the ceremony in a series of "President's Birthday Balls" held to benefit the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. In Brooklyn, celebrants will gather at the Bossert Hotel to cut an enormous five-layer cake and dance to the music of Eddie Lane and His Orchestra, with further entertainment to be provided by Jimmy Durante, the dance team of Judith and Jacques, and a selection of amateur talent presented by Major Bowes.

("Yeah," says Sally. "I tried that. I got me some of that soap. An' the lather, it just kinda set there. Didn' do nuthin'. I waited for it to get active, y'know, but it just set. Then I took a bath. The soap, it didn't float. It didn't do nuthin'. I dunno where they get this "active stuff." I'm gonna write a letter, Joe. I'm gonna write a letter to Claudette Colbert, ask her what *she* does to make it get active. Maybe she knows somethin' I don't." And Joe shifts his feet in the oven, and without opening his eyes replies, "Yeah, maybe she does.")

Helen Worth hears from "Timid," a fortyish woman who is concerned about how she responded to a friendly man who tried to talk to her at the movies without having been properly introduced. Helen says not to worry about such things, since that which was considered declasse even just a decade ago is perfectly acceptable now. She is old enough, Helen declares, to know how to handle herself.

Three Brooklyn men were fined $5 apiece for arguing with a policeman, and one of the three was fined an additional dollar for failing to have a public carting license. 37-year-old Frank Robertson of 676 Franklin Avenue was pushing a cart loaded with parcels at the intersection of Franklin and St. Mark's Avenues, when he was stopped by Patrolman Harry Hawken of the Grand Avenue precinct and asked to show his license. Robertson responded that he had none, and offered to thrash Hawken if the patrolman would take off his uniform. Two passers-by, 32-year-old Matthew Shannon and his 41-year-old brother Burt then joined the argument on Robertson's behalf. All three were taken by Hawken to Bridge Plaza Court. Hawken did not remove his uniform.

(Yeah, but try to sleep like that.)

Two Brooklyn radio cops delivered a lusty eight-pound baby boy yesterday in Bushwick, when they responded to an emergency call to an apartment on Hull Street, where 22-year-old Mrs. Helen Blake was going into labor. Patrolmen Arthur Golden and George Chardt, arriving with no time to lose, delivered the baby by the light of a police flashlight, earning plaudits from a Bushwick Hospital ambulance crew that arrived after the successful birth. In honor of his two midwives-for-a-day, the baby will carry the name George Arthur Blake.

Benny McCoy will play second base for the Philadelphia Athletics next summer, when he isn't counting the $45,000 cash bonus he'll receive for signing a two-years-at-$10,000 contract with the Mackmen. The widely-sought-after free agent topped the previous record for a free-agent signing, once held by catcher Rick Ferrell, who signed with the St. Louis Browns some years ago for a $25,000 bonus. The A's also get to keep outfielder Wally Moses, whom they'd intended to trade to the Detroit Tigers for McCoy, before Commissioner Landis declared McCoy's contract null and void.

The Dodgers are shoring up their farm system by taking an ownership stake in the Montreal Royals of the International League. The Montreal club has been affiliated with the Dodgers for several years, and the parent club will now control a majority of stock in the Montreal operation. Current Royals president Hector Racine and two other club executives will hold minority interests in the team.

Football Dodgers owner Dan Topping says Dr. "Jock" Sutherland proved he is a great football coach during his years with Pitt -- and now he'll prove the same at Ebbets Field. Topping and Sutherland sealed a three year contract yesterday, and expect a formal signing ceremony tomorrow.

Eddie Shore will make his debut with the Americans tonight under an agreement which calls for him to play all Amerks home games and selected road dates, and allows him also to play all home games of the minor-league Springfield Indians, in which team Shore owns a stake. The Indians will also become a minor league affiliate of the Americans next season.

You do have to admire Hartford's courage, going out in public looking like he just stepped out of the chorus in a road company production of "The Student Prince."

Well, this should be stimulating.

Ah, I've got it! Dan has just discovered the secret door to George Arliss's private laboratory, where he uses stripped car parts to build an unholy army of killer robots, with which he plans to conquer the entire world. Or maybe he just keeps his garden tools and his lawn mower in there. Could go either way.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And the Daily News offers us...

No such thing as bad publicity.

Nope, no such thing at all.

People take the funnies very seriously.

A real chessmaster moves the pieces -- and they don't even realize they're being moved.

Considering that when Bim first met her, Mama was running up a huge hotel bill with no means to pay it other than getting her daughter to marry him, I would say that an exploration of Mama's past would be quite invigorating.

Blaze does have a certain Wellesian quality about him, at that.

Meanwhile, can somebody at least find a cradle or a crib or at least a cushion for that baby? Either that or Tracy will dramatically sweep his arm and knock the kid on the floor.

Does Gee-Gee ever open her eyes? Must be hard walking around like that.

A bathing suit worn with a bat-ribbed cape. Lillums clearly plans to become a costumed avenger, and her first job will be to break Truck out of jail.

 

[Fading Fast]

The head of the company that sells road oil to highway superintendants in Norfolk and Suffolk counties will be questioned in an expanding probe of irregularities in the purchase of supplies for WPA projects in the town of Islip, following the arrest of the former county supervisor on charges of misappopriating $8000 in WPA funds. Mrs. Gertrude Adams Watkins, head of the Material and Supply Company, was summoned back to Long Island from a Florida vacation for questioning by District Attorney Fred J. Munder. Earlier this week, former Suffolk County supervisor, and prominent Long Island Republican Warren F. Greenhaigh, was arrested in connection with the probe. Mrs. Watkins, a prominent local Democrat, will be asked to document whether or not the $8000 worth of road oil ordered by Greenhaigh under the WPA contract was in fact delivered, and if not, why not.....

Change the particulars, but as the saying goes today, this story is evergreen. Some like to highlight the corruption in business; others in government - what I see, time and again, is that a subset of humans are corrupt and find their way into positions of power in business, government and (most depressingly) charities.

...Majority Republicans in the State Legislature state that they are preparing to take "direct action" on appeals and demands stemming from the overassessment of real estate. A public hearing on the issue is likely to be the first result of such action.....

I wish I was reading this headline in today's paper as over-assessment of real estate is still a big problem in NYC. It's hard to fix because correcting it cuts the city's tax revenue.

...Helen Worth hears from "Timid," a fortyish woman who is concerned about how she responded to a friendly man who tried to talk to her at the movies without having been properly introduced. Helen says not to worry about such things, since that which was considered declasse even just a decade ago is perfectly acceptable now. She is old enough, Helen declares, to know how to handle herself....

Maybe Miss Timid isn't so wrong - it wasn't that long ago that we read in the Eagle about a man being arrested for "annoying" a women in a movie theater - right?

...
(Yeah, but try to sleep like that.)....

Sounds like a fancy and expensive Vicks Vaporizer.

... You do have to admire Hartford's courage, going out in public looking like he just stepped out of the chorus in a road company production of "The Student Prince."....

How bad must Jo's PI be that George - George! - was able to spot and then expose him?

... Well, this should be stimulating.....

To quote Bob Dylan, "Things should start to get interesting right about now."

Also, what does "stem" mean in the line from the gossip column "...who vanished from the big stem." I get it from context that it means the fancy society world, but is stem slang for something or is it just play on the word "stem" as in stalk?

... Ah, I've got it! Dan has just discovered the secret door to George Arliss's private laboratory, where he uses stripped car parts to build an unholy army of killer robots, with which he plans to conquer the entire world. Or maybe he just keeps his garden tools and his lawn mower in there. Could go either way.

...
No such thing as bad publicity.....

And he traded up in actress star-power; I watch a lot of old movies, but didn't recognize the name Jill Esmond. Marriages, to this day, just mean so much less in Hollywood.

...
People take the funnies very seriously.....

Possibly someone from Social Services could swing by just to make sure this person's okay.

... Blaze does have a certain Wellesian quality about him, at that....

Perfect call. If they were casting in the '40s or '50s, he would have made an outstanding Blaze. How 'bout Errol Flynn for Ryan, Priscilla Lane as April and Claire Trevor as Cheery?

... A bathing suit worn with a bat-ribbed cape. Lillums clearly plans to become a costumed avenger, and her first job will be to break Truck out of jail.

In a pre-internet world where the comics were adult oriented, I believe the middle panel was a gratuitous effort to up its male viewership. Mary Worth does the same with Leona, all the time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Main Stem" was Walter Winchell's term for "Broadway," not so much just the street but for the whole milieu of Manhattan show-biz/cafe society. So "the Stem" is this Milt Lewis fellow trying to sound snappy and up-to-the-minute.

It's a real shame the Eagle doesn't carry Winchell -- I'd love to be passing along more of his stuff. But his exclusive outlet in New York was the Mirror, a Hearst tabloid I otherwise wouldn't touch with a forked stick. It makes the News look like the Christian Science Monitor. (Besides, I don't have access to its archives.....)

All fine choices for a Terry movie. I'd add Jackie Cooper as Terry himself and a special guest role for Jerry Colonna as Singh-Singh.

Lillums was always a bit of a cheesecaker even back in her innocent high school days...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Police Lieutenant Cuthbert J. Behan, acquitted of theft charges in connection with the removal of more than 7000 arrest and bail documents from the Bergen Street police station in 1938, could yet face additional charges that could, if sustained, force him out of the police department. High police officials still have charges pending against the Lieutenant stemming from his arrest in November 1938, including failure to report in uniform to an inspector when ordered to do so, and failure to carry a service revolver on his person at all times, but comes now word that Behan may be charged with violating Section 903 of the City Charter, which section states that any city employee who fails to waive immunity from prosecution when asked to do so before testifying before a Grand Jury shall be dropped from his position and be held ineligible to ever again hold a municipal job. Behan did refuse, on multiple occasions, to waive immunity, but this section of the Charter has never been tried in court, and some experts believe it may be unconstitutional.

Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen, who brought the charges against Lieut. Behan had no comment following yesterday's verdict. But a vocal critic of the Amen Office accused the investigator of pursuing a "frame up" against Behan. In remarks before the 12:45 Club, a luncheon club in Flatbush, Judge Franklin Taylor charged that the Behan verdict is an example of Amen's investigations "promising much and delivering little," and contended that the long delay between Behan's arrest and his trial proved that Amen was afraid to take on a case "that had to smell of a frame-up." Taylor stated that the Amen investigations have cost the city nearly half a million dollars, while winning only two of five cases tried so far, and he questioned a $22,000 line in the office budget for "commissions," which he suggested were actually liquor and entertainment for Amen and his witnesses.

A Federal judge today ordered bail for two of the seventeen Christian Front members charged with seditious conspiracy reduced from $50,000 each to $10,000. The move was made after the attorney representing defendants Andrew Buckley of the Bronx and Alfred J. Quinlan of Manhattan argued that his clients' families were suffering want due to their imprisonment. Judge Grover Moskowitz agreed to reduce the bail, but not to the $2500 level requested, citing the severity of the charges against the men.

The ten-year-old son of Long Beach Patrolman Alvin J. Dooley testified today that his father "wasn't very happy" in the weeks leading up to the assassination of Mayor Louis F. Edwards. Small, brown-haired Joseph Dooley, brought to the stand by defense attorney Samuel J. Leibowitz, told the court that his father's personality changed last October, and that his father would no longer play with him or help him with his homework. Dooley's sister, Mrs. Hortense Ballaban, also testified in support of earlier testimony by the defendant's mother, stating that Dooley became violent on the morning of the shooting, throwing bottles and making threats. She also stated that Dooley had made threats of suicide on at least two occasions.

A State-conducted audit of municipal accounts in the town of Islip will be completed within thirty days in the wake of charges against former Suffolk County supervisor Warren F. Greenhaigh of misappropriation of funds. The Islip Town Board yesterday voted in support of the audit, which will focus particular attention on WPA accounts that had been under Greenhaigh's control.

A scion of the duPont family has been identified as the mystery pilot who zoomed into LaGuardia Field and left again without regard for the control tower. Felix duPont Jr. of Wilmington, Delaware claims he was unable to contact the control tower on his approach, nor did he receive any response from the tower on his departure. Mr. duPont also states that he had no idea he was supposed to pay a landing fee, or that his activities caused a disruption in the flight plans of several transport plans. "If they send me a bill," the chemical heir declared, "I'll pay it."

("Hey, lookit, Joe -- a dollar and a quarter to go to Asbury Park." "That's nice. How much not to go?"

A Finnish Army communique states that nine Soviet tanks were destroyed yesterday and five planes downed in fighting northeast of Lake Lagoda. Unofficial reports claim that the Finns have retaken Pitkaranta, driving out Red Army forces that have held the city since early in the conflict.

Midnight tonight marks the deadline for drivers to display new 1940 license plates, and crowds today are swarming the Motor Vehicle Bureau. Despite reports to the contrary in the Saturday Eagle, the deadline has not been extended, and vehicles bearing 1939 plates will be illegal at the stroke of 12.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has begun a campaign against radio comedians who denigrate the borough in their jokes. "Gags about 'the borough that God forgot' and the type of radio humor directed against Brooklyn are being combated," according to Chamber secretary Ivan Boxell. Speaking to a meeting of the Brooklyn Lions Club, Mr. Boxell stated that several prominent network programs have already been contacted about the matter, and that editors of several Manhattan newspapers are also being urged to recognize there is more to Brooklyn news than crime and political scandals.

(For example, there's GONE WITH THE WIND!)

The arrival of Eddie Shore will open the way to the playoffs for the Americans. So states Harold Parrott, who notes that Shore's aggressive technique will be bound to rub off on the rest of the team. Shore's play was key to the Amerk's 4-1 win over Montreal last night at the Garden, and he will be in action again tonight when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town.

The peace and quiet of the baseball off-season will end tomorrow when Lippy Leo Durocher returns to town for this weekend's annual New York Baseball Writers' Dinner.

Connie Mack is feeling his oats with the news that $40,000 man Benny McCoy will be his second basemen come the spring. The Grand Old Man predicts the Yankees will finish in third place in 1940, but doesn't go so far as to predict a flag for his Athletics. Mack will only state, with a twinkle in his eye, that his club will be a pennant contender in the new season.

Joe Louis spars with Fred Allen, tonight at 9pm on WEAF.

Dear me, Hartford. Your savoir-faire is fraying a bit around the edges.

Leave now, Leona, and do not look back.

Cooooooooould be, Dan!