The Era -- Day By Day

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Notice the Rental Library Service, you can request books by phone and they will send them to your home address or office. I wondered how this was done in the 1940s. Since these days one can still request books by phone or by internet with their library card and can choose a public library near them to have the books shipped to for pick up.

Another type of ad for Charlie Chaplin's movie and this one much bigger then the one before.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[Fading Fast]

"Notice the Rental Library Service, you can request books by phone and they will send them to your home address or office. I wondered how this was done in the 1940s. Since these days one can still request books by phone or by internet with their library card and can choose a public library near them to have the books shipped to for pick up."

Just guessing, but back in that day, it seems like messenger services where much more common and, in NYC (and, many other places), mail delivery was twice a day.

"Another type of ad for Charlie Chaplin's movie and this one much bigger then the one before."

And, as Lizzie notes, Brooklyn still waits.

What the heck is going on here?

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's "Fat Stuff" in today's "Smilin' Jack," the only Polynesian-stereotype comedy-relief character regularly featured on the funny pages. The chicken who perpetually follows him around to swallow up the buttons that pop off his shirt is kinfolk to the turtle that always shows up in "Sparky Watts." He and his wife have identical triplet sons -- Dit, Dah, and Dash -- who are tiny duplicates of their dad, right down to the popping buttons.

"Jack," as you will note, is a very odd strip -- a combination of melodrama, high adventure, and bizarre comedy. "Sparky," drawn by Zack Mosely's former assistant, is the only other strip quite like it.

"Lookit'at," says Joe, displaying the paper he found at the Out Of Town News Stand. "Chicagga gets 'at Chaplin pitcha in TWO HOUSES, an' we doangittitatall. I ask ya!" And Sally just shakes her head. "Sumpin's gottabedun," she insists. "Wheredadeygitoffwittat?

There were also neighborhood drugstores that would run rental libraries like that -- you'd pay a small sum and they'd send around cheap reprint editions of current books, and you'd send them back when you were done, or pay a little more to keep them. The cover prices of the books rarely exceeded a dollar, so if you only paid a quarter or so for the rent you were doing pretty well.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's "Fat Stuff" in today's "Smilin' Jack," the only Polynesian-stereotype comedy-relief character regularly featured on the funny pages. The chicken who perpetually follows him around to swallow up the buttons that pop off his shirt is kinfolk to the turtle that always shows up in "Sparky Watts." He and his wife have identical triplet sons -- Dit, Dah, and Dash -- who are tiny duplicates of their dad, right down to the popping buttons.

"Jack," as you will note, is a very odd strip -- a combination of melodrama, high adventure, and bizarre comedy. "Sparky," drawn by Zack Mosely's former assistant, is the only other strip quite like it.

"Lookit'at," says Joe, displaying the paper he found at the Out Of Town News Stand. "Chicagga gets 'at Chaplin pitcha in TWO HOUSES, an' we doangittitatall. I ask ya!" And Sally just shakes her head. "Sumpin's gottabedun," she insists. "Wheredadeygitoffwittat?

There were also neighborhood drugstores that would run rental libraries like that -- you'd pay a small sum and they'd send around cheap reprint editions of current books, and you'd send them back when you were done, or pay a little more to keep them. The cover prices of the books rarely exceeded a dollar, so if you only paid a quarter or so for the rent you were doing pretty well.

Thank you re Smilin' Jack. If we had had triplets, I'd have been fine calling them Dit, Dah and Dash, but I'm guessing the girlfriend would have overruled me on that one.


"gottabedun"


Grosset and Dunlap seemed to be a publishing house back then that did just that - it put out lower-priced versions of popular books. The good news today is that many of its copies are still around, in decent condition and can be had for very little money (literally, sometimes, less than $5 copy).

We don't "collect" old books, but we buy a ton of them to read and keep, so we look for the low-priced ones in readable condition. G&D editions are all over our bookshelves.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Drugstore editions" were huge in the Era -- Grosset was the pioneer of that field, and was the class of the industry. Their books were well-bound for the price, and used a good grade of paper that's held up well over the past hundred years. In 1940 the up-and-coming challenger in the field is Triangle Books, which builds itself around reprints of popular crime and detective novels, with snazzy, appealing dust jackets, and a grade of paper that would embarass a five-cent mimeographed political pamphlet.

When I started trawling second-hand bookstores in the early 70s, Triangle editions of Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner, and such stuff, were everywhere and you could get all you could carry for a quarter a piece. I still have quite a few of them, but the paper has gone past yellow to a mustardy brown, and in some copies it's gone all the way to brittle. I hold onto them for sentimentality's sake, even though I've replaced them with better editions.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A 46-year-old Norwegian-born Brooklyn man declared that he was kidnapped last week by agents of a Fifth Column plot against his native country. Ingvald Haugen, the president of the Norwegian Seamen's Association and a representative in this country of both the Norwegian government and the Norwegian shipping industry, told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he was grabbed from the sidewalk in front of the Pierrepont Hotel last Monday by "two heavy-shouldered men" who hustled him into a waiting car. His captors flung a heavy automobile rug over his head and drove him around "at a slow rate of speed" before throwing a handful of pepper or sneeze powder in his face and shoving him out of the car "somewhere on Myrtle Avenue." Haugen made his way back to the Pierrepont, where he has lived since July, and contacted both the FBI and the Norwegian Consul General. Haugen told authorities that he believed the incident stemmed directly from a speech he made in Baltimore before members of a Norwegian seamen's club in which he accused three officers of the Scandanavian Seamen's Club of being fifth columnists. On Monday of this week, he repeated the statement at a conference of Scandanavian shipping leaders, and declared that he would expose all the facts to support his claim at a rally in Bay Ridge Tuesday night. After that conference he dined at Joe's Restaurant on Fulton Street with about thirty shipping men before walking back to the hotel around 11 pm. He was just outside the hotel entrance, he stated, when he was abducted.

Charges against two Atlantic Avenue sisters of disorderly conduct for having thrown an onion at President Roosevelt during a recent motorcade thru the borough have been dismissed after Mary and Italia D'Arpe promised to write a formal letter of apology to the President for the incident. Appearing in Flatbush Magistrate's Court, the sisters admitted to throwing the onion "by accident" when the vegetable somehow got mixed in with scrap papers they were throwing from a rooftop on 4th Street "to welcome the President." The patrolman who arrested the girls admitted that he may have been mistaken when he identified the object thrown from the roof as a lemon. There was no further mention of the allegation that an egg was also thrown, a charge which the girls had earlier hotly denied. Magistrate Nicholas Pinto chided the patrolman for "overdoing" the case. Mary D'Arpe, a secretary for the National Youth Administration, told the magistrate that her sister had never seen a President before and was "rather excited." Mary also denied making the remark about Wendell Willkie attributed to her in newspaper reports of the incident.

Physical examinations of the first draftees to be summoned in the city of New York will begin a week from tomorrow, according to New York City Director of Selective Service Arthur McDermott. Master lists of draft numbers are expected to be received from Washington today, and local draft boards will immediately begin sending out notifications of where to report for examination to the first fifty men in each district.

The US Department of Justice today ordered the deportation of Mrs. Raissa Berkman Browder, Russian-born wife of Communist Party secretary Earl Browder, on grounds that she entered the United States illegally. Attorney General Robert Jackson declared that Mrs. Browder's "evasiveness" on the question of her membership in the Communist Party created doubt as to her eligibility for any "leniency" in the case. Mrs. Browder married Mr. Browder in Moscow in 1926, and is the mother of three sons, two born in Russia and one in New York. She will be given "a reasonable time" to submit to the deportation order. Her husband, the Communist Party's Presidential nominee in the coming election, was convicted last year of a passport violation, and is currently free on bail pending an appeal of that conviction.

The newly-formed New York State Home Guard will not use a red five-pointed star as its shoulder insignia. The new organization made up largely of World War veterans was formed to take the place in local defense left vacant when local National Guard units were activated for Federal service, and will wear surplus Army uniforms marked with a distinctive insignia. When the red star symbol was chosen by state authorities, Home Guardsmen protested the similarity of the insignia to that of the Soviet Union. The order establishing the symbol was immediately rescindend, and it may be several weeks before a new insignia is selected.

A 60 year old vagrant who posed as a priest to collect money for himself has been cleared of possible connection to the 1925 murder of Florence Kane, and the detective brother of the murdered woman says he will help the phony priest to "go straight." William Gannon pleaded guilty to a vagrancy charge after police determined to their satisfaction that he had no connection to Miss Kane's murder, nor was he involved in the 1933 murder on Long Island of Miss Mary Helen O'Connor of Rockaway Beach. Detective James Kane declared he is willing to help Gannon -- providing he himself promises to reform.

(Direct from 1915 to you!)

("Halloween!" chuckles Joe. "My ol' man sez when he was a kid, they useta all go upta Pigtown an' tip ovah privies!" Sally shoots him a deadly, deadly glare. "WE," she sniffs, "DIDN'T call it PIGTOWN." Joe realizes the depth of his gaffe. "Ah, sorry," he stammers. "I forgot you come from 'nere. I mennta say 'Goat..." "WE DIN'T CALL IT GOATVILLE NEITHA!")

(Never mind the hokey football junk, a romantic comedy starring Jerry Colonna and Vera Vague is the stuff that dreams are made of.)

Latest vaudeville bill at the Flatbush features half of the famous "Capt. Flagg and Sgt. Quirt" team of the movies, Edmund Lowe, along with Dick Stabile and his Orchestra and a special guest appearance by "The Ham What Am" himself, Jay C. Flippen.

(Who needs revolving credit cards when you've got finance companies?)

Joe Medwick will earn a cool $17,500 cavorting for the Dodgers next summer, with the Slugging Slav having signed his 1941 contract before departing for his home in Cartaret, New Jersey at the close of the season. So reports Dodger secretary John McDonald, who also noted in releasing details of the agreement today that Medwick has a bonus clause in the pact that will up his pay to $20,000 if he returns to his old Cardinal form. Ducky will thus be reporting to Spring Training ready to play for the first time in years, ending his annual tradition of holding out. McDonald was evasive when asked about rumors that Pee Wee Reese is also already signed for next season. It is believed that the rookie sensation of 1940 signed up before heading home to Louisville for the winter. Manager Leo Durocher is also signed and ready for next season, having come to terms during the World Series with president Larry MacPhail.

Mr. MacPhail is discounting rumors that he is involved in a syndicate working to buy the Boston Bees. MacPhail, whose original three-year contract at the helm of the Brooklyn franchise was extended some time ago, issued a written statement denying that he was involved in negotiations to purchase the Boston club from its present owners, and states that any discussions he has had concerning the Bees "were purely in the interest of" Boston president Robert Quinn.

Starting tomorrow, Dodger fans will have a chance to buy the same seat for selected "big games" in a new program running thru February 1st. Plans at four pricing tiers with a $48.60 top will buy the same seat for the package of games, including Opening Day, two holidays, twelve Sundays, and seven night games. "It's a break for the regular fan," declares Mr. MacPhail, noting that purchasers will not have to compete for choice seats against fans who only attend one or two games a season. Fans may subscribe for the group program by placing a small deposit at the Dodger offices at 215 Montague Street or at any Western Union office in Greater New York.

(Hey, let's do a crossover with "Smilin' Jack," and get Fat Stuff's kids some of those ray treatments. Then they can join with Halfpint here and form the mighty Woogly Ratum League!)

(I really can't wait for all this to come to trial.)

(And if there's any doubt, wait'll the lunch check comes around.)

(Consider, for a moment, the greater implications of all this. A massive military assault on the Canal Zone in 1940 means that, in the Dan Dunn Universe, the US enters the war thirteen meaning Hitler must deal with a new military front he hadn't planned yet for. What does this mean for Britian and Russia? And what of Japan -- the Canal Zone is also a matter of strategic importance to them. Do they support the Fazians by raiding Pearl Harbor a year early? And what of the situation on the US home front? The draft is just getting started, military bases are far understaffed, materials are in short supply, and the country is distracted by the uncertainty of a hard-fought election. I guess what I'm asking is -- are, in fact, the Dan Dunn Universe and the Man In The High Castle Universe ONE AND THE SAME?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

One beneficial side effect of the decline of smoking in recent decades is that matches are no longer the ubiquitous household item they once were -- and you don't see horrible stories like this one as often as you used to.

Hey, what happened to Carlisle? Seems like every time we look in on this page lately, the GOP side is represented by "Democrats For Willkie."

Best political cartoon of the year.

CUT! Peggy, toots, not so much with the silent-picture arm gesture stuff. Who ya think you are, Mae Murray?

Well now, I wasn't expecting this. Nor, obviously, was the Dude.

"Yes, a MAP! It shows you the shortest route to the Marriage License Bureau, you louse!"

If you really want laughs I recommend keeping the beard. Look how Colonna gets along with just a moustache!

Nice work if you can get it.

Health insurance, 1940 style.

If this was 2020 instead of 1940, the GoComics "Harold Teen" page for today would certainly include the following comment from Iowafarmer697: "Krunchy Kernels implies a corn-based cereal, and though the corn plant is a variety of grass, cornstalks are seldom processed into hay. But I wouldn't expect an urban elitist like Carl Ed to know this."

 

[Fading Fast]

...The newly-formed New York State Home Guard will not use a red five-pointed star as its shoulder insignia. The new organization made up largely of World War veterans was formed to take the place in local defense left vacant when local National Guard units were activated for Federal service, and will wear surplus Army uniforms marked with a distinctive insignia. When the red star symbol was chosen by state authorities, Home Guardsmen protested the similarity of the insignia to that of the Soviet Union. The order establishing the symbol was immediately rescindend, and it may be several weeks before a new insignia is selected...

"Hey, what do you think of our cool new insignia?" "Umm, guys?"

.. One beneficial side effect of the decline of smoking in recent decades is that matches are no longer the ubiquitous household item they once were -- and you don't see horrible stories like this one as often as you used to....

This strident anti-smoker agrees, but will note, he misses the, often times, creative matchbooks with cool advertising that many establishments gave out back in the smoking era.

Ms. Lehman married the better man to divorce than did Ms. Hull.

... CUT! Peggy, toots, not so much with the silent-picture arm gesture stuff. Who ya think you are, Mae Murray?..."

I was thinking Norma Shearer, but same idea.

... Well now, I wasn't expecting this. Nor, obviously, was the Dude....

Caniff is a man in control of his work right now. Sherman on the ledge is masterfully done and must look much better not scanned, etc., but even so, it works very well, as does her sitting on the window sill in panel two. Like most guys, I can see an opportunity for sex where one doesn't exist, but that is not the case here.

... If you really want laughs I recommend keeping the beard. Look how Colonna gets along with just a moustache!...

Note re "The Gumps," I have no idea how, but yesterday, I seemed to have commented on the wrong day's strip as, today, the beard is back.

.. Nice work if you can get it....

Receipts, Receipts, Receipts.

Nice artwork - simple and well done.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

Movies to see in Chicago and the suburbs.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[LizzieMaine]

"A real fixer-upper!"

 

[Fading Fast]

"A real fixer-upper!"

No kidding, that's a bit crazy as, while we don't have all the info, I've seen cars bought in that condition and, effectively, to restore them, you basically have to build a new car from all but scratch. Sure, you can salvage some parts and might get lucky here or there, but still, you'll be all but building a new car (or plane).

 

[ChiTownScion]

"A real fixer-upper!"

If you ever see those words in relation to residential real estate, just envision: "tumbling down shack."

 

[LizzieMaine]

New Deal hopes of checking an eleventh hour swing to Willkie ride today on President Roosevelt's final major speech of the New York campaign, and a vast crowd is expected tonight when the President takes the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Lines began forming at the Academy early this morning for admission to the speech, which is scheduled to begin at 9 PM. The President will be escorted to the Academy by leading borough Democrats, including Kings County Democratic leader Frank Kelly and District Attorney William O'Dwyer. Academy doors will open at 6PM. The speech will also be broadcast over a nationwide radio hookup, to be heard locally over WEAF.

(And along with Joe and Sally, you can tune it in yourself here.)

The Police Department advises that it will "not be responsible for broken windows" at shops in the Fort Greene district near the Academy of Music due to the unprecedented crowds expected this evening. Police advise merchants along Lafayette Avenue to board up plate glass windows to avoid damage from the milling crowds.

A woman acquaintance of Norwegian Seamen's Association president Ingvald Haugen was questioned for three hours yesterday by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in as part of a probe of which the alleged abduction of Mr. Haugen by "fifth columnists" is but a small portion. Federal investigators probing links between Scandanavian seamen and fifth column activity traced the woman thru marks found on a blotter in Mr. Haugen's room at the Hotel Pierrepont, and upon rousting her out of bed at 3AM on Thursday, the agents discovered that the woman possessed copies of papers taken from Haugen by his abductors -- documents said to contain the names of some 2000 Norwegian sailors suspected of involvement in a Nazi-backed plot to delay shipment of goods from the United States to Great Britain, a plot revealed in the documents to be headed up by three officials of the Scandanavian Seamen's Club. The national secretary of the Scandanavian Seamen's Club, Gustave Alexander, denied all charges made by Mr. Haugen, alleging that the entire story was merely an attempt to give his organization "a black eye."

Thirty policemen clashed with rank-and-file longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront this morning at the daily "shape up," where dock workers are hired by the day. The skirmish near Pier 33 led to charges from rank-and-file members of the International Longshoremen's Association that police have been bribed to interfere with their efforts to push organized criminal leadership out of the union, and that General Vice President of the ILA Emil Carmarada is now using uniformed police to suppress reform efforts within the union, in place of the "hired goons" said to be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of rank-and-file leader Peter Panto.

A nervous woman process server appeared at City Hall this morning to hand Mayor LaGuardia notice that he is being sued by a heckler whom the Mayor grabbed by the necktie and shook during a confrontation last month in Detroit. Attorney Robert W. Owens Jr of Jackson Heights, brother of the plaintiff in the suit, Benjamin H. Owens, stated that it was wrong of the Mayor to confront his brother because Benjamin Owens shouted out a question demanding to know if the Mayor "takes his orders from Boss Flynn," a reference to Democratic National Committe Chairman Edward J. Flynn. The Mayor responded by giving Mr. Owens a shake, an act which, according to his brother, shocked "the man's individuality, independence, and sense of integrity." The process server identified herself only as "Miss Newman of the Dunn and Jeweson Detective Agency," and covered her face as she rushed out of City Hall after serving the papers.

The Negro policeman allegedly "kneed" in the groin by White House press secretary Stephen Early during a scuffle while President Roosevelt's train was preparing to leave following the President's Madison Square Garden speech last week says he will be voting for President Roosevelt regardless of the incident. Patrolman James Sloan of Manhattan said today that he is recovering from injuries sustained in the incident, and while he is undecided about suing Mr. Early, he has no doubt about casting his vote for the President. Mr. Early, in the meantime, denies kicking or kneeing Patrolman Sloan, and states that there was merely an "altercation" as he and others of the Presidential party pushed thru the crowd of police and spectators in an effort to reach their train. While Mr. Early acknowledges that Patrolman Sloan may have been injured in the incident, he emphasized that it was accidental, and that he had no "personal controversy" with the patrolman.

(New York City ballots in the Era featured standardized symbols to mark the voting line for each recognized party. From top to bottom, you see here the Republican, Democratic, American Labor, Socialist, Prohibition, and Communist Parties. Note that the Presidential nominee space on the Communist line is blank, due to the Browder-Ford ticket being ruled off the ballot by state officials, but the spots for Borough President and County Judge remain. Note also that Roosevelt-Wallace is also the Presidential ticket for the ALP, since New York City allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidates.)

(Mr. Crosby was one of the greatest American cartoonists of the 20th Century. He was also, sad to say, an alcoholic paranoid schizophrenic with the habit of buying cryptic newspaper ads to declare his obsessive hatred of Franklin D. Roosevelt. This is the first we've seen in the Eagle, but it likely won't be the last.)

(Does Hedy get a percentage here?)

(Helicopters are still experimental, but helicopter parents aren't.)

The omission of Negro fullback Leonard Bates from the Violets' squad as NYU meets Missouri tomorrow at Columbia, Mo. is just the latest example of the Jimcrowing of Negro athletes by the school, in a trend that dates back seven years to the infamous benching of another "colored star" Dave Myers during a Yankee Stadium matchup between the Violets and Georgia. NYU's "odiferous Jim Crow record" is no secret to anyone in collegiate sports, and students on the NYU campus have engaged in repeated and rancorous "Bates Must Play" demonstrationsm, and are preparing to mount a boycott of all remaining Violets games in protest of the overt support of racial bigotry by the school administration. For its part, NYU officials have tried to blunt the wave of criticism headed in their direction since the announcement that Bates will not play in Missouri by revealing that the fullback signed an agreement when he enrolled in the school acknowledging that he would not be permitted to play against "certain Southern teams." Bates himself says he did sign that agreement, but only because he didn't want to lose sight of his primary goal, that of getting a college education.

Fred Fitzsimmons has been named the first Veteran Of The Year, a new award inaugurated for 1940 by the Sporting News. It's the second award earned this year by 39-year-old Stylish Stout Dodger slinger. Earlier this year, Fat Freddie was named the Ideal American Father in Sports, and received a gala night in his honor at Ebbets Field.

Fitzsimmons will be back in 1941, as one of eighteen pitchers listed on the Dodgers' 40-man winter roster announced today. The question of Van Mungo, however, remains to be determined. Mungo was dropped from the active list due to an arm injury requiring surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and subsequently rejoined the club as a coach. He is still listed as a coach for 1941, but it is expected that he will receive a pitching trial at Havana next spring, and if he is fit, a place will have to be found for him on the active roster. The roster is far from set in stone, with trades expected before the team reports to its new Caribbean training base in February. Expect the names of pitcher Kirby Higbe and catcher Mickey Owen to show up on the roster before the winter is over.

("Bah!" sneers Sally. "There's on'y ONE Zorro annat's Douglas Fairbanks, gawdrestim. I seenat pitcha when I was seven, an' I nevva forgottit!" Joe rolls his eyes, because he's heard it all before. "Whattif Pete Cosc'raht made pitcha as Zorro?" he inqures. "W'att'en?" "We crossat bridge," Sally glares with finality, "when we come ta it.")

Edmund Lowe is OK at the Flatbush Theatre this week, although he could use better material. A genial actor making a genial public appearance on a vaudeville stage isn't enough. Dick Stabile's band is fine, and J. C. Flippen contributes some of his usual excellent clowning. Aside from another "horrid comedy" with the Three Stooges, the film shorts are good, especially Quentin Reynolds' report on the Battle of Britain, "London Can Take It." This is a film everyone should see.

(And here it is. You don't even have to sit thru the Stooges.)

(Why Slappy doesn't have a career going as a professional rassler is beyond me.)

(Ahhhhhhhhh, so THEY were responsible for the fish talking. Well played, Mr. Tuthill, well played.)

(Don't be a sap, Bill. Once a con man, always a con man. The bonds are no doubt just the beginning of whatever he's up to.)

(Irwin is the bombardier? We're all doomed.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

If anybody ever wanted to produce a fascinating "American Family" type of documentary, they'd find one in the Browders. The three boys grew up to be world-class mathematicians, and grandson Bill is very much a figure on the present global scene as a sworn personal enemy of Vladimir Putin.

First a radio show, now live supper-club style entertainment. It's like we don't even know Childs anymore.

Given Mr. Kennedy's unfavorable relationship with the President, this is a surprising statement to see. But it's good to see Carlisle back at least -- he must've just been out applying for jobs.

Sam may be only completely non-cynical figure we will ever see in 1940, or for that matter, in 2020. Which, when you think about it, is really pretty sad.

Look, at least throw down that tablecloth or something. You'll get awful splinters on that rough board floor.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

"What are you, a conscription officer?" Oh, that's ice cold, Skeez. Ice cold. If we're heading for a "Wilmer Bobble, Draft Dodger" story, then I for one am fully on board!

Yeah, Gooseface. If you're so funny, get a laugh out of Tilda.

Ha ha, but I've been that tired myself.

The boy in panel one is Lillums' little brother, who hates Harold with a passion except when he can cheat him out of a nickel or a dime. Hey Harold, how much of that roll have you got left?

 

[Fading Fast]

...Thirty policemen clashed with rank-and-file longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront this morning at the daily "shape up," where dock workers are hired by the day. The skirmish near Pier 33 led to charges from rank-and-file members of the International Longshoremen's Association that police have been bribed to interfere with their efforts to push organized criminal leadership out of the union, and that General Vice President of the ILA Emil Carmarada is now using uniformed police to suppress reform efforts within the union, in place of the "hired goons" said to be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of rank-and-file leader Peter Panto....

Much of this dirty business would be captured fourteen years later in "On The Waterfront."

...A nervous woman process server appeared at City Hall this morning to hand Mayor LaGuardia notice that he is being sued by a heckler whom the Mayor grabbed by the necktie and shook during a confrontation last month in Detroit. Attorney Robert W. Owens Jr of Jackson Heights, brother of the plaintiff in the suit, Benjamin H. Owens, stated that it was wrong of the Mayor to confront his brother because Benjamin Owens shouted out a question demanding to know if the Mayor "takes his orders from Boss Flynn," a reference to Democratic National Committe Chairman Edward J. Flynn. The Mayor responded by giving Mr. Owens a shake, an act which, according to his brother, shocked "the man's individuality, independence, and sense of integrity." The process server identified herself only as "Miss Newman of the Dunn and Jeweson Detective Agency," and covered her face as she rushed out of City Hall after serving the papers....

If the Daily News' Page Four is want of material, I could see this story popping up there today.

... (New York City ballots in the Era featured standardized symbols to mark the voting line for each recognized party. From top to bottom, you see here the Republican, Democratic, American Labor, Socialist, Prohibition, and Communist Parties. Note that the Presidential nominee space on the Communist line is blank, due to the Browder-Ford ticket being ruled off the ballot by state officials, but the spots for Borough President and County Judge remain. Note also that Roosevelt-Wallace is also the Presidential ticket for the ALP, since New York City allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidates.)..)

We voted by mail this year as NYC has allowed anyone to do so owing to Covid, but in 2016 (and every year prior), the ballot looked just like the one pictured as they were still using the same voting machines from the '40s (or whenever they were first deployed).

... (Does Hedy get a percentage here?)...

I first started buying suits, etc., in the '80s and even modestly priced stores had pretty good in-house tailoring services. Again, I'm talking mid-level stores (not the fancy ones where you'd expect it) that didn't want to let you out of the store until it was tailored.

Once you picked a suit, a salesman (or, sometimes, a tailor) would come over and "mark" the suit up. You'd come back a week or so later and try it on and, half the time, they'd tweak it some more right then. It was just understood that this was part of buying a suit as companies didn't want people going out in their suits looking sloppy.

Today, many stores don't even provide tailoring, which is odd - at least for someone of my generation - when you buy a suit. So, you have to go elsewhere to get it tailored. I see a lot of men today - way more than years ago - with nice suits that are badly tailored. I think it's a skill and expectation that is, what would we call it, fading fast.

...Fred Fitzsimmons has been named the first Veteran Of The Year, a new award inaugurated for 1940 by the Sporting News. It's the second award earned this year by 39-year-old Stylish Stout Dodger slinger. Earlier this year, Fat Freddie was named the Ideal American Father in Sports, and received a gala night in his honor at Ebbets Field....

Upon reading the term "Stylish Stout," Mr. Fitzsimmons marched over to the Eagle's office to have a word with the writer.

... View attachment 276177 ("Bah!" sneers Sally. "There's on'y ONE Zorro annat's Douglas Fairbanks, gawdrestim. I seenat pitcha when I was seven, an' I nevva forgottit!" Joe rolls his eyes, because he's heard it all before. "Whattif Pete Cosc'raht made pitcha as Zorro?" he inqures. "W'att'en?" "We crossat bridge," Sally glares with finality, "when we come ta it.")...

Wow, Joe trolling Sally, doesn't happen often, but well done Joe. Also, "annat's," "gawdrestim" and "W'att'en?"

...Edmund Lowe is OK at the Flatbush Theatre this week, although he could use better material. A genial actor making a genial public appearance on a vaudeville stage isn't enough. Dick Stabile's band is fine, and J. C. Flippen contributes some of his usual excellent clowning. Aside from another "horrid comedy" with the Three Stooges, the film shorts are good, especially Quentin Reynolds' report on the Battle of Britain, "London Can Take It." This is a film everyone should see.

(And here it is. You don't even have to sit thru the Stooges.)...

Powerful short, really well done. The subway going by the broken support bridge was dramatic.

...
(Ahhhhhhhhh, so THEY were responsible for the fish talking. Well played, Mr. Tuthill, well played.)...

Yes indeed, fantastic finish to a so-so storyline.

... (Don't be a sap, Bill. Once a con man, always a con man. The bonds are no doubt just the beginning of whatever he's up to.)...

Exactly how old is her son? He looks more like Mary's brother than son.

... If anybody ever wanted to produce a fascinating "American Family" type of documentary, they'd find one in the Browders. The three boys grew up to be world-class mathematicians, and grandson Bill is very much a figure on the present global scene as a sworn personal enemy of Vladimir Putin....

The bank teller and his no-kiss wife are pretty stunning. Especially in that era, it's like she missed the entire point of marriage. Usually, I scoff at annulments five years in, but this guy might really have a point. One more, I think we see why the "three date" rule was started.

And they could have fit the "Mayor LaGuardia being served" story in here today if they had wanted to (he says peevishly).

...
First a radio show, now live supper-club style entertainment. It's like we don't even know Childs anymore....

All the talking pie you want is over at H&H and, while you're there, you can even start strategizing about how to get the "good" table for Thanksgiving.

... Look, at least throw down that tablecloth or something. You'll get awful splinters on that rough board floor....

Finally. Now we just have to get Miss Snipe and Skeezix going, oh, and find someone for poor Mr. Rauschert.

... "What are you, a conscription officer?" Oh, that's ice cold, Skeez. Ice cold. If we're heading for a "Wilmer Bobble, Draft Dodger" story, then I for one am fully on board!...

Ice cold, yes, but not undeserved.