The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

I can't wait till Mr. Bowman comes in next spring pitching with the Giants. It'll be glorious. I hope Frankie Germano has tickets for every game.

Boody appears to have a reputation for odd, surreal work -- "Sparky" being his most mainstream creation. I wasn't aware of him until we started following his strip in the Eagle, but it appears he was the focus of a full-scale critical appreciation a few years ago...

View attachment 288258
BOODY: The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers

It would appear, from this cover, that there will eventually be a storyline where Sparky is hanging around in a smoking jacket with a half-two-headed-woman/half Dr. Seuss creature. I have to say that I wish he'd hurry up and get to it.

He clearly has a creative and imaginative mind and some illustrating talent; for me, it is his storytelling abilities that fall flat. I, overall, enjoy Sparky, but often feel let down. From what you found, he seems to be more, what today we'd call, "edgy," than regular comic-strip writer. Good for him, it seems he was able to find his audience even back then.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It appears he'll find his real niche in comic books later in the decade -- where he can do a story in six or seven pages and not have to sustain a continuing story over weeks. All the weird and surreal stuff shows up in Sparky, but he still needs to figure out a way to work that in *and* move a plot forward.

The "gag-a-day" strip format was not in favor in 1940 the way it is today -- pretty much every strip out there has a continuing plot, however thick or thin it may be, and hopefully as we go along here he'll begin to pick up on how to do that. Super-feats wear thin if they don't accomplish a purpose.

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Pliofilm" was the first of the waterproof transparent-plastic products -- it was used for the same things that clear vinyl is used for today, except that it was made with natural rubber. There will be a brief fad for Pliofilm raincoats that you can fold up and carry in a pouch in your pocket or purse -- except that nobody can figure out how to fold them up again to get them back into the pouch.

Prediction: Jack is going wreck this plane in the storm, and Joy is going to have to fly to his rescue. Jack ought to get a line of credit with that outfit that builds Dan Dunn's planes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well, she had already won me over the year before with her performance in "The Rains Came" (comments on this very good movie here: #23468).

And the mother of the year award is still up for grabs. I could see one of our comic strips riffing on this story (we've already had a men's suits-stealing ring).

Listen Jack, I know you're in a hurry, but you've been in those same clothes for how many days now? It's time to change, if not for yourself, then for the others who are going to be in the plane with you...trying to breathe.


If, per Lizzie, Joy has to come to Jack and her Dad's rescue, based on past experience, she'll have the opposite problem from Jack: she'll get the call to come to the rescue in her skivvies and, being Joy, will just race to the plane like that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The faculty advisor of the national defense club at Coney Island's Abraham Lincoln High School claimed in an interview today with the Eagle that a "pseudo-intellectual group" has attempted to infiltrate and disrupt the club's activities. Teacher Benjamin Gurdy charged that when members of that "pseudo-intellectual" group were prevented from joining the club, they began a barrage of "false appeals to public officials" and applied "typical pressure-group methods" in an effort to discredit that club. Mr. Gurdy declared that the club was formed less than a year ago to further the principles of "supplying all material aid to Great Britain short of war," and in the "expansion of our national defense program in the face of threats from European dictatorships." The group also endorses the conscription program and believes that an ROTC program should be established at the school. Mr. Gurdy also notes that members of the club "undertake to prevent a small miniority of subversive students from acquiring undue influence in extracurricular activities in the school." He states that he believes such "vociferous students" constitute a fraction of one percent of the student population.

Meanwhile, verbal and legal sparring continues over the Rapp-Coudert Committee investigation into subversive activity in the city's public education system. Dr. Louis Milner, who is one of seventeen Brooklyn College instructors against whom the committee has instituted contempt proceedings over his refusal to testify, has applied for a court ruling intended to test the constitutionality of the committee's powers. Roger N. Baldwin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, today denounced the hearings as a "secret witch hunt," and stated that "it has not been proven in recent years that the Communist Party advocates violence." A spokesman for the Teachers Union responded to criticism from Long Island University coach Clair Bee of the nature of the rally held at the Academy of Music on Sunday by declaring that "every effort had been made" to explain the precise nature of the event to Mr. Bee when approaching him as a potential speaker. And two neighborhood Democratic Party organizations, representing Flatbush and Williamsburg, today endorsed the King County Democratic Committee's declaration of support for the investigations. In Albany, it was indicated that a bill will be placed before the legislature during its 1941 session calling for broader powers to committees, giving them the authority to punish persons who refuse to testify before them with prison sentences of up to one year.

The former president of the New York Stock Exchange, now Convict No. 94853 at Sing Sing Prison, could be freed on parole next summer. Richard Whitney, convicted in 1938 of grand larceny after he embezzled securities from his own investment firm to cover up his personal business losses, will be eligbile for release next August, but parole authorities are unsure how to deal with the case of the former financier, the most prominent disgraced Wall Street figure of the previous decade. The usual questions of whether the prospective parolee has a job waiting, or a means of support, upon his release take on different shadings in the Whitney case, and parole board members are said to be unsure exactly how to proceed with the case. It is also said that board members will weigh certain "intangible factors" in deciding whether or not to free Whitney, who is presently serving a five-to-ten-year sentence.

British forces are closing down on 30,000 Italian troops in the Egyptian desert, and have hopes of complete surrounding the enemy units by the end of the day. The Italian High Command acknowledged today that its forces have been pushed back to the Sidi Barrani outpost by British armored divisions, but also states that the Italians are pushing back against the British in continued fierce fighting.

(This is getting ridiculous.)

The Duchess of Windsor is reported to be resting comfortably in a Miami hospital after the extraction of an abcessed and impacted molar. The Duchess's dental surgeon reported that the condition of her jaw bone was "more serious than expected," and it has been recommended that she remain hospitalized for at least three days. Her husband, the Duke of Windsor, is staying at the hospital in an adjoining room, and the couple will probably return to their home in the Bahamas aboard the yacht of their friend Axel Wenner-Gren, Swedish industrialist, on Friday.

A resolution calling for the establishment of a refugee haven in Brooklyn to accommodate refugees regardless of race, color, or creed has been passed by the Brooklyn Women's Division of the American Jewish Congress. "Women of vision and democratic ideals realize more clearly than ever before how important it is to preserve the freedom of this last great stronghold of democracy," stated the president of the Division, Assistant Attorney General Ruth Waters.

(Hey, if you slap a "Dan Dunn" sticker on the side of that plane I bet you could get $1.50 for it.)

Coming next week to the Flatbush, it's "The Crazy Show of 1941," featuring Milt Britton and his Musical Maniacs, Tommy Rafferty, Helen Pammer, and Tito the Accordionist. (Nertz, it looks like the hepcat got fired.)

(Already????)

John Barrymore, who vowed following his final bust-up with Elaine Barrie that he was finished with marriage for life, is now reconsidering his decision. The Great Profile has confided to a Hollywood sound man/drinking partner that he wants to get married again in 1941, "if he can find the right girl."

("Careful of that rifle, Dad, there's a second lieutenant standing right out...oh never mind.")

"Amicus" writes in questioning an apparent inconsistency in the Eagle's editorial policy -- on the one hand opposing US entry into the war, but on the other hand seeming to favor further loans to Britain at a time when John Bull already owes Uncle Sam five billion dollars. The Eagle Editorialist replies by restating the paper's official view: opposition to participation in war in any form, but in favor of all aid to Britain short of participation in the war. News dispatches quoting officials who call England "a good risk" have nothing to do with the paper's editorial position.

Three stars of the Football Dodgers made the Associated Press All-League professional team announced today. Ace Parker, Bruiser Kinard, and Perry Schwartz earned the honor, with Parker -- along with Washington's Sammy Baugh -- one of only two unanimous selections.

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis will serve another five-year term as Commissioner of Baseball, with team owners voting to extend the reign of the 65-year-old czar until January 1946. In other action at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Chicago, the National League reelected Ford Frick to another term as league president, and appointed Bill Klem as Supervisor of Umpires for 1931. Klem, the game's "Old Arbiter," announced his retirement from active umpiring at the end of the 1940 season after serving the National League since 1905.

Now that his job situation has been resolved, Commissioner Landis is investigating a deal that sent minor league pitcher Rufus Melton from the Phillies to the Dodgers in October. It seems that the Phils selected Melton off the roster of the Columbus Redbirds of the American Association in the annual minor-league draft for the base price of $7500, and then immediately sold him to Brooklyn for $15,000. The deal attracted little notice at the time, but it has since come to the Judge's attention, leading to suspicions that Larry MacPhail and perpetually-strapped Phillies president Gerry Nugent cooked up a bit of collusion to circumvent the draft rules. Landis could order Melton returned to the Phils and could seize the $15,000 payment as a penalty.

The 1941 major league baseball schedule is out, and be ready -- the Dodgers open at Ebbets Field on April 15th against none other than the Giants. That's a mere 125 days from now, so make your plans early.

The 1941 All Star Game will be played on July 8th, at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. There are also talks underway for a possible charity-benefit All Star Game to be played next spring in Florida.

The possibility of a third Joe Louis-Arturo Godoy heavyweight championship bout has receded, with boxing officials in California having thrown cold water on the idea of holding such a fight on the Coast next spring. "Louis has already won two victories over Godoy," stated John Rustigan of the California Athletic Commission, "and I see little sense in a third match. If Louis is to fight on the Coast next year, say commissioners, it ought to be against one of the many fine challengers available in California.

Remeber Stuart Canin? He was the boy violinist whose appearance on Fred Allen's program four years ago triggered the famous Allen-Benny Feud. Well, he's fourteen years old now, and is growing up to be a fine talent -- which will be demonstrated when he makes a return engagement on the Allen hour next Wednesday. And speaking of Mr. Benny, which Mr. Canin and Mr. Allen most certainly will, there are absolutely no more tickets available for Jack's broadcast from New York next Sunday. None. Not even your congressman can get you in to see that show.

(Ace Parker starts to worry about his job.)

(Axel left one of his men behind, and he's gone into business for himself.)

("I found this packet of bonds sewn into your son's coat. They must belong to you?")

("Well gallopin' goldfish, Dan, you didn't tell me there was gonna be MATH!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Barbara Hutton's got the dough, parlez-vous! Where she got it we all know, parlez-vous! We slave at Woolworth's Five and Dime, the pay we get is sure a crime! Hinkey-dinkey parlez-vous!" -- union song, 1940.

"Dear Santa, I have been a good girl. I want a tubular velocipede so I can run over my rotten little brother."

Kids Today.

It appears that somewhere between Mr. Gray's drawing board and the engraving plant, someone has altered Mrs. Judge's dialog in panel three, specifically the first four letters of the word "poppycock." I am distressingly intrigued by this. What could it have originally been? "Popeycock?" Is Mrs. Judge one of these people who believes the Pope is at the center of a global conspiracy? There are other possibilities, but I'd rather not think about them.

Hahahahahahahaha! And they say Mr. Gould has no sense of humor.

A Hu Shee spinoff would be all well and good, but I could also go for a zany-guerilla-war feature teaming Dr. Ping with Dude Hennick, and Cap'n Blaze.

"Honest, you guys, it's like I been tellin' ya. I was sittin' there playin' cards with the boys, an' all of a sudden this gi-raffe with giant feet come runnin' thru the front door yellin' for somebody called 'Min!' I ain't sayin' there's somethin' in the whiskey, but I think there's somethin' in the whiskey!"

Well, maybe start with taking a close look at those expense accounts he's been filing. A little blackmail can work wonders.

Mush is a pretty talented guy. He had a career in show business for a while, and he could probably get back into it, but unfortunately he just broke his banjo over Moon's head.

You should have put in something about a raise for yourself.

 

[Fading Fast]

... View attachment 288459
The former president of the New York Stock Exchange, now Convict No. 94853 at Sing Sing Prison, could be freed on parole next summer. Richard Whitney, convicted in 1938 of grand larceny after he embezzled securities from his own investment firm to cover up his personal business losses, will be eligbile for release next August, but parole authorities are unsure how to deal with the case of the former financier, the most prominent disgraced Wall Street figure of the previous decade. The usual questions of whether the prospective parolee has a job waiting, or a means of support, upon his release take on different shadings in the Whitney case, and parole board members are said to be unsure exactly how to proceed with the case. It is also said that board members will weigh certain "intangible factors" in deciding whether or not to free Whitney, who is presently serving a five-to-ten-year sentence....

While I don't hear it mentioned at all anymore, when I started studying finance in the early '80s, the statement, "even the President of the NYSE can go to jail," referencing Richard Whitney, was used to show that no one is above the law and to teach the importance of fiduciary responsibility.

But then again, Whitney's jailing was forty-plus years prior to 1980, which means it's eighty-plus years old now, so maybe it's just faded from our collective memory as things like that do over time.

...The 1941 major league baseball schedule is out, and be ready -- the Dodgers open at Ebbets Field on April 15th against none other than the Giants. That's a mere 125 days from now, so make your plans early....

... ("I found this packet of bonds sewn into your son's coat. They must belong to you?")...

That would be freakin' hilarious.

...[ "Barbara Hutton's got the dough, parlez-vous! Where she got it we all know, parlez-vous! We slave at Woolworth's Five and Dime, the pay we get is sure a crime! Hinkey-dinkey parlez-vous!" -- union song, 1940.....

Today's "The Neighbors" is as good an example as any of the maxim that you can't demand respect, you have to earn it - even from your own family.

... A Hu Shee spinoff would be all well and good, but I could also go for a zany-guerilla-war feature teaming Dr. Ping with Dude Hennick, and Cap'n Blaze.....

That's the thing, this strip is so good you could imagine several spinoffs that you'd be really excited to read.

...
You should have put in something about a raise for yourself.

If we didn't already know that Lana Lanagans liked Harold, her attire and appearance today would have me thinking differently about her knowing how these writers tried to slip things past the censors.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Between 28,000 and 34,000 Italian soldiers are prisoners of the British near the Egyptian outpost of Sidi Barrant, as the British Admiralty reports that the British Mediterranean fleet is shelling Italians who are fleeing across the Egyptian border into Libya. British military quarters also state that a large stock of Italian war materiel has been seized from depots around Sidi Barrant.

British Ambassador to the US Lord Lothian died suddenly today at Washington, D. C., with the District of Columbia coroner stating only that Lothian's body was found at the British Embassy about 3 o'clock this morning. Lothian, who was 58 years old, had been said to be ill in recent days, and cancelled an appearance he was to have made last night before the American Farm Bureau Association in Baltimore. The ambassador was to have given a speech in which he would have reiterated his recent theme -- that Britian will win the war if it is given sufficient aid by the United States.

The Rapp-Coudert Committee will continue its hearings today following an opinion by Corporation Counsel William C. Chanler upholding the legality of "disciplinary action" against "recalcitrant witnesses." The attorney's recommendation came on request of the Board of Education, which has already endorsed the legislative committee's probe of "subversive activity" in the city's public school system. The recommendation upholds the Committee's demand that a total of twenty-five teachers -- most of them affiliated with Brooklyn College -- submit to private interrogations before the Committee. Those to be questioned in these sessions will not be permitted to be accompanied by legal counsel, and those teachers have refused to testify under such circumstances.

A shortage of raw materials has forced the Republic Aircraft Corporation of Farmingdale, L. I. to temporarily ramp back production and lay off fifty workers. The shutdown also puts a temporary halt to the company's mass training program, which had been intended to add another 3000 skilled workers to the 3000 already employed by the plant in anticipation of heavy commissions under defense contracts.

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel is free in Los Angeles -- at least for now -- after Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer decided not to jeopardize two key witnesses in the case accusing Siegel of complicity in a Murder For Hire contract job. The witnesses, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and Al Tannenbaum, were not brought to the Coast by Mr. O'Dwyer, because "I want to take no chances with witnesses valuable to me unless I am sure the result will justify my doing so." Siegel is suspected in the slaying in Los Angeles of Brooklyn racketeer Hymie "Big Greenie" Greenberg, but with no witnesses against him, he was released "on presumption of innocence" and is said to be hiding out in the attic of his luxurious $150,000 home in Holmby Hills.

(Seriously???)

A black-and-white Llewellyn Setter named "Patches" is back home safe with his master, Brig. Gen. John C. McDonnell after going AWOL from his home at Mitchell Field for four days. Patches had just been flown to Brooklyn from Savannah, Georgia to join the General at his new posting, but ran away shortly after his arrival. A four-day search by Mitchell Field personnell turned up no trace of the dog, but yesterday an Army bus driver spotted him in a clump of bushes along Washington Street in Garden City. The dog fled when approached, but when General McDonnell himself was brought to the scene, and stepped into the bulrushes and whistled, Patches leaped joyfully from his hiding place and a happy reunion ensued.

(I don't know about the other two, but Mussolini looks like he's really into this.)

(Gene, booby, if you're gonna do the crazy bit, you gotta go all out. Crossed eyes, skittering feet, tongue stickin' out, Napoleon hat. That pic you got up there now, looks like you're selling grave vaults steada used cars!)

The police inspector in charge of all traffic enforcement in Brooklyn is calling for the construction of an overpass to carry motor traffic along a congested stretch of Flatbush Avenue near the Long Island Railroad terminal. Inspector Thomas H. Rorke proposed the overpass today to city officials, suggesting that the project could be built using support structures left behind by the 5th Avenue L. The recommendation comes after seven pedestrians have been struck in front of the terminal in the past eight months, along with six motor vehicle collisions in which eight persons were reported injured. The worst congestion occurs at rush hours, when persons emerging from the terminal have to wait for trolleys barely four feet from passing motor vehicle traffic. These persons often crowd into the traffic lanes, halting cars and causing signficiant traffic snarls.

(What people did before gift cards were invented.)

Reader Henry V. Scardapane, Attorney At Law, writes in to complain that he is offended by the anti-Italian tone of the Eagle's coverage of the military situation in Greece, and the "vicious, slanderous, malicious, and insidious remarks" which the paper has "been known to pass from time to time against the Italian race." Mr. Scardapane contends this anti-Italian bias goes way back in the Eagle, even long before Mussolini appeared on the scene, and he says such remarks are no longer directed at "the poor unfortunate Italians who were here thirty or forty years ago, but they are directed to the sons and daughters of those poor unfortunates who are, I dare say, in a better position to cope with those slanderous and insidious statements." He concludes by suggesting "if someone had done something about your newspaper thirty or forty years ago, you would not continue this campaign of prejudice, hatred, and animosity toward a great race." The EE responds by declaring that the Eagle has never made statements reflecting on the Italian race as a whole, and "regrets that anyone should misinterpret" any statements that have been published as in any way reflecting on the many fine Brooklynites of Italian descent who are contributing to the progress of the community.

Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis has voided the $15,000 sale of minor league pitcher Rufus Melton by the Dodgers to the Phillies, and has reprimanded Dodger president Larry MacPhail and Phillies president Gerry Nugent for attempting to subvert the rules of the minor league draft by conspiring to have the Phillies draft Melton and sell him immediately to Brooklyn. MacPhail had tried to buy Melton from the St. Louis Cardinals last summer, but was rebuffed by Cards general manager Branch Rickey, so, it is alleged, the Red Headed One plotted out an arrangement where Nugent would draft Melton off the roster of the Columbus club in the American Association and then MacPhail would pay the Phillies $15,000 in a straight cash deal for the pitcher. MacPhail, it is said, had originally offered Rickey $20,000 for the young hurler, but Rickey countered by pricing him at $35,000. Rickey told the Commissioner that MacPhail then scoffed, saying "I'll probably get him for $15,000!"

Night baseball will be limited to seven games per club in 1941, in another ruling announced by the Commissioner as the baseball winter meetings continue in Chicago. The Judge favors night ball, it is said, but in regulated doses. Other rulings handed down include the rejection of a proposed spring-training All-Star Game in Florida to benefit charity, with the Commissioner noting that not all clubs trainin in Florida, so such a game would not be a fair representation of major league talent. It was also decided that any major league players taken by the draft will be placed on a special "National Defense List" without affecting the 25-man-per-club roster limit.

Former Pirates slugger Paul Waner has had no takers yet as he shops himself around as a free-agent pinch hitter/reserve outfielder, and indicates that if he doesn't catch on with some big league club soon, he'll retire from baseball to become a golf pro. Waner has always been one of baseball's better club-swingers, and if he makes a go of golf he will join former Yankee Sammy Byrd as the second former big-leaguer on the golf circuit.

Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas star in a new romantic farce showing at Loew's Capitol. If you're in the mood to go over to the City and see it, Herbert Cohn says "Third Finger Left Hand" is typical of this type of picture, with Miss Loy appearing as a business woman who creates an imaginary husband in order to force her wandering-eyed boss to keep his mind on his work -- only to discover that the ruse is having a deleterious effect on her romantic life. The picture isn't as good as it promised to be, with writer Lionel Houser having produced an overwritten script that runs short of zippy lines before the end of the story.

WOR's kiddie host Uncle Don Carney says he's got plenty of grownup listeners too -- he notes that WOR broke into his program a few nights ago to ask for steeplejacks to contact the station in order to repair a damaged antenna out at the transmitter site in Carteret, New Jersey. Within a few minutes, several steeplejacks -- all of them big brawny grownups -- had called in offering to the tackle the job.

("Wrong Way Riegels?" Never heard of him.)

(Sometimes it's best not to know what's really going on.)

(Elsa Rankin? Her brother Pinky has an adventure strip in the Daily Worker.)

(Learning to fly with Dan Dunn is like learning to drive with my mother.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Judy's press agent tried to convince her that "no publicity is bad publicity." And watch this Strubing-Spell story. It will have historic significance.

"Oh yeah? Well, I say it's spinach, and I say to hell with it."

There's no accounting for tastes.

Pete grabs the phone book and starts looking for the listings for "Shady Lawyers."

The editor asked Mr. Gould to lay off the gore and the violence, so from now on all Dick Tracy stories will end with the villain being doused by this skunk.

"I learned the recipe from a former pupil of mine -- a Miss Cheery Blaze."

When Gus was a sports cartoonist, that bear was his icon for the Chicago Cubs. Nice to see he's still getting work.

Poor Willie and Mamie, the most tragic couple in the funnies. All they have in the world is each other.

"Oh, and here's a tip for you, kid -- that Fuzztop Shampoo is doing you no favors."

Well, he hasn't blown up the boiler yet, so you probably got there just in time.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Siegel is suspected in the slaying in Los Angeles of Brooklyn racketeer Hymie "Big Greenie" Greenberg, but with no witnesses against him, he was released "on presumption of innocence" and is said to be hiding out in the attic of his luxurious $150,000 home in Holmby Hills....

Why is he "hiding out" if he was released?

...A black-and-white Llewellyn Setter named "Patches" is back home safe with his master, Brig. Gen. John C. McDonnell after going AWOL from his home at Mitchell Field for four days. Patches had just been flown to Brooklyn from Savannah, Georgia to join the General at his new posting, but ran away shortly after his arrival. A four-day search by Mitchell Field personnell turned up no trace of the dog, but yesterday an Army bus driver spotted him in a clump of bushes along Washington Street in Garden City. The dog fled when approached, but when General McDonnell himself was brought to the scene, and stepped into the bulrushes and whistled, Patches leaped joyfully from his hiding place and a happy reunion ensued....

Not that I was touched at all, but I believe this is where Lizzie usually notes, "sniff."

...Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas star in a new romantic farce showing at Loew's Capitol. If you're in the mood to go over to the City and see it, Herbert Cohn says "Third Finger Left Hand" is typical of this type of picture, with Miss Loy appearing as a business woman who creates an imaginary husband in order to force her wandering-eyed boss to keep his mind on his work -- only to discover that the ruse is having a deleterious effect on her romantic life. The picture isn't as good as it promised to be, with writer Lionel Houser having produced an overwritten script that runs short of zippy lines before the end of the story....

A little too-much code twisting turned its plot and the overall movie into a silly mess without enough mirth to carry it over the finish line. It's movies like this that make you wonder what Hollywood would have been putting out in 1940 either without the code or with a less-strictly enforced one.

...
(Elsa Rankin? Her brother Pinky has an adventure strip in the Daily Worker.)..

And a small blip appears on Leona's radar.

... Judy's press agent tried to convince her that "no publicity is bad publicity."...

It's almost as if today's "The Neighbors" was written for the story directly above it about college student William Andrews' elopement.

Not making light of what happened to Eleanor Strubing one bit, but she does not look blonde at all in her pic. Seems this is the second time recently this has happened in the News.

...
There's no accounting for tastes.....

Yet not one mention of "Terry and the Pirates." We'll take this up at the next meeting of the Hu Shee fan club.

... When Gus was a sports cartoonist, that bear was his icon for the Chicago Cubs. Nice to see he's still getting work.....

I'm not a huge fan of this style of humor, but have to say, having Andy getting his head stuck in a mounted and stuffed bear head while wildly running to escape a real bear is pretty good.

... "I learned the recipe from a former pupil of mine -- a Miss Cheery Blaze."....

I'm struggling to remember, wasn't Miss Blaze in a pickle when last we left her?

Also, I know we think Terry wants April, but there is no way Hu Shee is going to let that happen.

... Well, he hasn't blown up the boiler yet, so you probably got there just in time.

Lana, next time, just to be safe, use a thought bubble instead of a dialogue one when thinking things like that, you don't want to get in trouble.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I assume Bugsy is "hiding out" in the sense that he wants to keep a low profile until O'Dwyer goes home. Either that, or his attic is where he keeps the slot machines and the roulette wheel. Holmby Hills was a pretty swanky section in 1940 -- a lot of movie and radio celebrities lived there, and I imagine Bugsy made a lot of valuable contacts for his later career in Las Vegas.

When we last saw Miss Blaze, I believe Pat and her father were looking the other way while she was being hauled off in the company of one Singh-Singh, former pro wrestler-turned-candy cane eating traveling warlord. It will be interesting and instructive to see what has become of Mr. Singh once they reappear in the narrative.

I resent Miss Burrows' comment about Skeezix's face. I am not ashamed to admit that when I was a young'un reading "Gasoline Alley" in the Sunday News, I had a bit of a crush on Skeezix. He was in his forties at the time, and yeah, that's a bit creepy in retrospect, but I thought he was cute. SO THERE.

No doubt we will be getting to know Nurse Rankin quite well before this is over. Prediction: Slim, the dope, falls for her, but she has eyes only for -- Bill. (No, I'm kidding, of course I mean Governor Glamorboy.)

 

[Fading Fast]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Italian troops fleeing in disorder thru western Europe are converging on a death trap at Sollum, it was reported today. Dispatches indicate tens of thousands of men may soon be hopelessly trapped. Although officials continue their customary reticence, the British victory in Egypt is assuming such proportions that there is speculation that Benito Mussolini might be forced to call out his fleet in a final attempt to stem the threatened disaster.

The Duke of Windsor will board a U. S. Navy plane today in Miami for a trip to "an undisclosed destination" on "important official business." The announcement of the Duke's mystery flight comes as rumors circulate in Washington that he will meet with President Roosevelt, who is now aboard a Navy cruiser in Bahamian waters. These rumors are circulating in the wake of a story in today's Miami Herald newspaper, stating that the Duke will be offered the job of Ambassador to the United States, filling the post left vacant by the death this week of Lord Lothian. The President was reported yesterday to have visited the site of a prospective Navy seaplane base in the Bahamas, before his ship departed for "an unannounced destination."

21-year-old Elias Glass, Brownsville selectee who went into the Army yesterday did so after offering a $500 challenge to his friends -- to be paid if they could succeed in dating one "Miss DuBois," whom he described as "his best girl." Turns out "Miss DuBois" is "Mrs. DuBois" -- who is not only old enough to be Mr.Glass's aunt, but *is* his aunt, with a son just a year younger than Mr. Glass himself. That son, 20-year-old CCNY sophomore Sidney DuBois, doesn't think his cousin's joke is very funny, but Mrs. DuBois herself laughed it off, calling Elias "a fine boy."

A 32-year-old Williamsburg man interrupted his rhumba-ing at the Cohort Republican Club dance last night to race to the scene of a fire at a nearby delicatessen, where he rescued the wife of the panicking proprietor and several other persons from the flames. When the alarm at 603 Grand Street broke out last night, across the street from the Republican hall, a line of dancers burst into the street to watch the blaze. Mr. Nathan Coleman of 601 Metropolitan Avenue was at the head of that line, and when he heard the delicatessen's owner, Mr. Louis Weissman of 594 Grand Street, screaming that his wife was trapped upstairs, Mr. Coleman pushed past the crowd, dashed into the burning building, raced up the stairs, broke down two doors, seized Mrs. Weissman, and carried her down the back fire escape to the rear yard and safety. He then returned to the building, awoke other tenants in the building, carried them to safety, climbed to the roof, and then down the fire escape himself. Mr. Coleman did not return to his dancing, and was taken for treatment of minor injuries and smoke poisoning at Greenpoint Hospital, after which he was released. Mr. Coleman is a receiving agent for the Chain Deliveries Express Company, 719 Washington Street.

(Who's this guy Superman?)

(I think we know now what happened to that contest guy that got fired from Loft's.)

(So basically, a "Parlay" is a Snickers with pecans instead of peanuts. Let's see. A Snickers in 1940 is 2 1/2 ounces for a nickel. So a bit over six Snickers to a pound, or 30 cents. Make it 33 cents to make up full weight. Are pecans REALLY that much more expensive than peanuts? And how many pecans go on a Parlay compared to the peanuts on a Snickers? Where's Consumers Union when we need them?)

You might not know J. Fred Coots by name, but you certainly know him by melody. From the sophistication of "You Go To My Head" to the Christmastime whimsy of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," the Bay Ridge songwriter has turned out hundreds of hits over the course of his career. But these days he's most concerned about the war between the two big radio networks and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers -- which could ban his songs, and the songs of all other ASCAP members, from the network air if a new contract isn't agreed upon before December 31st. That will, at a single swoop, eliminate every familiar song of the last forty years from your favorite programs, leaving only a few new non-ASCAP compositions and a flock of old non-copyright tunes from the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Coots says the crux of the issue is the refusal by NBC and CBS to pay any royalties for the music used on their programs -- leaving that obligation to their individual associated stations. ASCAP believes that the networks should split the cost with the local stations -- reducing the burden on local broadcasters -- but the networks disagree, arguing the royalties are a "tax" they should not be obligated to pay. Mr. Coots says he and other songwriters depend for their entire income on ASCAP royalties, which enable them to continue their work of creating America's popular music.

Reader George Dyson Friou of Manhattan writes in to commend the Eagle Editorialist for his stand in the cases of Brownie and Bob, and urges all persons concerned with the welfare of dogs to petition the State Legislature to pass a law requiring all muncipalities to conform to state statues on canine matters. Mr. Friou notes that everywhere outside New York City, a dog may not be destroyed without a hearing before a lawfully-appointed magistrate, and argues that the City's ordinance giving control of such cases to the Board of Health is both illegal and unfair.

(Yeah, well, Becky Pecker won't be so hospitable!)

A proposed trade of bananas for a hot plate went sour between a banana dealer and a hardware merchant in Williamsburg yesterday, and the banana man faces charges of felonious assault after stabbing the stove vendor in the chest. 66-year-old Jack Pate of 94 Stanwix Street was arraigned yesterday before Magistrate Charles Solomon in Felony Court after 55-year-old Abraham Schwire of 1003 Flushing Avenue charged that Pate attacked him with a knife. Police said that Mr. Pate came into Mr. Schwire's store and offered to trade a bunch of bananas for a single-burner hot plate. Mr. Schwire agreed to the swap, but when Mr. Pate asked him to throw in a length of gas hose, Mr. Schwire expressed the belief that he ought to get a few more bananas for a trade like that. Mr. Pate disagreed, a scuffle ensued, and Mr. Schwire told police that Mr. Pate produced a knife and stuck him in the chest with it. Mr. Schwire is presently listed in critical condition at Greenpoint Hospital.

Larry MacPhail is in more hot water with Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, with the Judge now focusing his gimlet eye on the matter of Jimmy Ripple. You will recall that the outfielder, whom the Dodgers had optioned to the Montreal Royals of the International League, was claimed off the Royals roster by the Cincinnati Reds when he was accidentally placed on the waiver list, and went on to help the Reds win the pennant and the World Series. But now, Mr. Ripple is claiming he is still owed $1000, which is the difference between the major league salary called for in his Brooklyn contract, and the sum he was paid while playing for the Royals. Mr. MacPhail insists that the Reds, who made out like bandits on the transaction, assumed all the assets "and liabilities" under Ripple's contract when they claimed him for the $7500 waiver price, but the Reds insist that the Dodgers made the original contract with the outfielder, and that the difference in wages occured while Ripple was playing for a Brooklyn farm club -- therefore, the obligation to make good is entirely up to Mr. MacPhail. Laughing Larry won't be laughing if the Judge's ruling in the case comes against him, but Landis is said to be taking time on the case because however he resolves it, the matter will set a precedent.

Christmas has come early for the Cleveland Indians, with the Tribe picking up pitcher Jim Bagby in a three-way trade involving the Indians, the Senators, and the Red Sox. Under the three-cornered transaction, Boston sends outfielder Doc Cramer to Washington for outfielder Gee Walker. The Bosox, in turn, send Walker, catcher Gene Desaultels, and Bagby to Cleveland in exchange for catcher Frankie Pytlak, pitcher Joe Dobson, and infielder Odell Hale. Bagby is the key man of the trade, although he was 10-16 for Boston last year, and is seen as a rising talent with a good fastball and a powerful screwball that will make him a fine addition to the strong Cleveland staff. He is also the son of Jim Bagby Sr., who helped pitch the Indians to their last pennant back in 1920. Indians fans, who had more than their share to cry about during the infamous "Cry-baby rebellion" are now talking pennant in 1941. And you might recall the last time the Tribe copped the flag, they faced none other than Our Dodgers in the World Series!

There are baseball Dodgers, and football Dodgers, and there have been basketball Dodgers. Now there are bowling Dodgers, rolling in the Bay Ridge Class C circuit of the Brooklyn Eagle Bowling League. And they're doing well, taking two out of three against the formidable Kopper's Koke team last night.

(Ah, it's good to see that Flunkey's duties have expanded to include Waterboy and Etc. Hope he got a raise!)

(Look, if you're going to be an anarchist, fine -- but isn't it a bit much to actually put it in your name? That's gonna get you noticed.)

(Don't get too attached to him, kid...)

("That's it! Next plane we rent, YOU'RE putting down the deposit!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Patricia "Honeychile" Wilder was Bob Hope's comedy partner on stage and in radio for a stretch in the mid-thirties, and there was "more to it than that," according to those in the know. Given Mr. Hope's active social life, I have no reason to doubt it.

As for the Spell case, the "special counsel" being dispatched by the NAACP is a crusading young man named Thurgood Marshall. This is going to be a very important case to follow.

The BMT and IRT lines are not shown here, just to avoid confusion.

Yeah, and fold your papers neatly and leave them on your seat when you get off the car. Nobody wants to have to scrabble around in all that gum and guck on the floor just to get something to read.

"Oh, and she said something else, I think -- two words. A name, maybe. Nick -- uh -- Gatt, I think it was. Clarence? Clarence? Aren't you going to say something?"

NO DON'T HURT THE SKUNK!

There is an old saying, yellow haired one. "Good fortune never carries a Luger in its hand."

Maybe you should've just left him up there. Kinda brightens up the room.

That's not much of a plan, kid.

Yeah, all well and good, but knowing fifty ways to drain a soda glass isn't exactly a qualification for a job like this.

Mush is just sick of taking your crap.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I have no doubt that this sort of ex parte communication with judges takes place all of the time, but even with good intentions, it's a no- no. Clarence should recuse himself.

 

[Fading Fast]

...A 32-year-old Williamsburg man interrupted his rhumba-ing at the Cohort Republican Club dance last night to race to the scene of a fire at a nearby delicatessen, where he rescued the wife of the panicking proprietor and several other persons from the flames. When the alarm at 603 Grand Street broke out last night, across the street from the Republican hall, a line of dancers burst into the street to watch the blaze. Mr. Nathan Coleman of 601 Metropolitan Avenue was at the head of that line, and when he heard the delicatessen's owner, Mr. Louis Weissman of 594 Grand Street, screaming that his wife was trapped upstairs, Mr. Coleman pushed past the crowd, dashed into the burning building, raced up the stairs, broke down two doors, seized Mrs. Weissman, and carried her down the back fire escape to the rear yard and safety. He then returned to the building, awoke other tenants in the building, carried them to safety, climbed to the roof, and then down the fire escape himself. Mr. Coleman did not return to his dancing, and was taken for treatment of minor injuries and smoke poisoning at Greenpoint Hospital, after which he was released. Mr. Coleman is a receiving agent for the Chain Deliveries Express Company, 719 Washington Street.

(Who's this guy Superman?)...

No kidding, holy cow. He's superman or maybe he was charged with cosmic rays?

... View attachment 289114 (I think we know now what happened to that contest guy that got fired from Loft's.)...

...
(Yeah, well, Becky Pecker won't be so hospitable!)...

In the Netflix mini-series "Queen's Gambit," there's a good riff on the free-reading-of-magazines-in-stores thing.

...[ "Oh, and she said something else, I think -- two words. A name, maybe. Nick -- uh -- Gatt, I think it was. Clarence? Clarence? Aren't you going to say something?"....

We know, or think we know, that Annie's right, but these stories are so weak as no judge would do what he did based on his wife's comments alone - he would have at least asked his wife where she got her information BEFORE he acted on it. [Plus the smart thing that @ChiTownScion just said.]

... There is an old saying, yellow haired one. "Good fortune never carries a Luger in its hand."....

Hmm, wonder if a lock or two of that yellow hair will be in Hu Shee's locket?

You could feel that a Hu Shee-April smackdown was coming. Today just announced that those two will be meeting in the future.

...[ That's not much of a plan, kid....

It's progress though. It wasn't that long ago that Skeezix would have come right out and told Wilbur he was desperate to go home and asked him how much he wanted to work in his place. Baby steps.

... Yeah, all well and good, but knowing fifty ways to drain a soda glass isn't exactly a qualification for a job like this.....

Careful Harold, she made you and she can break you kid.

 

[LizzieMaine]

British Empire forces in Egypt have smashed eight Italian divisions totalling some 20,000 men in their offensive in the Western Desert, and are pursuing the shattered remnants of five of those divisions. It is reported that General Pietro Maletti, one of Italy's foremose colonial soldiers, is among those killed in the British attack. Britain has used only two divisions in the initial phase of its assault -- a mechanized division and one Imperial infantry division -- along with one Free French unit. Fresh British troops are pursuing the fleeing Italians toward the Libyan border, using a large store of captured Italian food and fuel to do so.

Fire swept thru a defense plant in Hoboken, N. J. early today, causing an estimated $1,000,000 in damage at the factory owned by the Condenser Service and Engineering Company. Police say a short circuit in a stock room ignited the blaze, and report that at least one person -- 65-year-old night watchman George Jacob of Jersey City -- was killed in the fire. The plant, a sprawling one-story brick building occupying most of a city block, had been operating on a 24-hour basis in recent weeks, turning out marine turbines and condensers under contracts with the US and British governments. The fire erupted around 2 AM and was under control by 4 AM, but the building and its contents were declared a total loss. Many workers had to be forcibly restrained from racing into the building to rescue their expensive tools. At least a hundred highly-skilled workers will be left unemployed by the fire.

Movie star Olivia de Havilland was rushed to Hollywood by chartered airplane today after being stricken with appendicitis while in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the premiere of her latest film "The Santa Fe Trail." A spokesman for Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. stated today that Miss de Havilland's condition was originally thought not to be serious, but she "took a turn for the worse," and arrangements were made to fly her back to Hollywood for emergency surgery. The twenty-four-year-old actress boarded the plane shortly before 4:30 this morning, after a doctor examined her in her Santa Fe hotel room and concluded that her blood count and increasing pulse rate suggested that surgery will be required.

The Teachers' Union today will ask the Appellate Court to overturn the contempt citation of union president Charles J. Hendley, who refused to turn the union's membership lists over to the Rapp-Coudert Committee. The union's legislative representative Dr. Bella Dodd declared today that the union "is convinced that their efforts against Senator Coudert's attempts to establish a blacklist will end in victory." Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is still weighing the application of Dr. Louie May Miner, Brooklyn College teacher and one of the twenty-five teachers and administrators to have refused to appear before a private inquest for a declaratory judgment on the legality of the one-man hearings.

(I have to admit I'm kind of curious as to how far this is going to go.)

Two roofers from Queens are accused of deliberately dumping an 11-year-old boy off a block-and-tackle at a worksite in Elmhurst. 19-year-old George Beyerle and 18-year-old Henry P. Suckow, both of Astoria, were charged yesterday in Queens Felony Court with causing severe head injuries to young Wilbur Schlager by inducing him to ride on the block-and-tackle up to the roof of a one-story building, where they then are alleged to have slapped the boy, placed him back on the block-and-tackle, lowered him halfway to the ground, and then dumped him off. The boy's mother, Mrs. Rose Schlager of Elmhurst, says her son was confined to his bed for several weeks in the wake of the incident.

President Roosevelt and the Duke of Windsor met yesterday aboard the cruiser Tuscaloosa, in waters off the Bahamian coast, where it is reported that the Duke expressed interest in conferring further with the President about the Civilian Conservation Corps and how it operates. The Duke is said to be interested in establishing a similar program in the Bahamas, and inquired about the possibility of visiting CCC camps in the future. The possibility of the Duke being selected as replacement for the late Lord Lothian as Ambassador to the US was not reported to have been discussed during the brief conference, but the Duke acknowledged after the meeting that he did discuss naval matters and defense concerns in the West Indies with the President.

Police are investigating the death of a Park Slope milliner who was found kneeling in her bathroom with her head and hands submerged in a partly-filled bathtub. 46-year-old Miss May Murray was found in the bathroom of her apartment at 34 Montgomery Place by the building's caretaker, after he entered Miss Murray's apartment to use her telephone. No marks of violence were visible on the body, and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

("Hey, get a load of the guy buyin' the cheap chenille bathrobe for his wife!")

Attorney Margery Cedarstrom, who chairs the Lawyers' Committee of the Bay Ridge Citizens' Committee, writes in to say that the recent refusal of the Board of Estimate to pass a ban on sewage plants in residential neighborhoods, despite support from Borough President Cashmore, and political leaders of both the Democratic and Republican regulars, proves that if "the Mayor wants something done, don't waste your breath. It's 'in the bag!'"

(Actually, she just asked him what hotel he was a doorman for.)

Football Dodgers star Ace Parker is being threatened with expulsion from the National Football League if he doesn't agree to appear in the circuit's annual post-season All Star Game. League President Carl Storck says that if Parker fails to report to the game in Los Angeles on December 29th, he will be placed on the league's ineligible list, and will also be subject to a fine. Parker says if that's the way it is, that's the way it is -- but he hurt his shoulder during the last game of the season, and he intends to rest and allow that injury to heal. If he is banned from the league, so be it -- he says he has a chance to make good in baseball with the Pirates this spring, and he doesn't intend to risk that by playing in an exhibition game where he could cause further damage to his shoulder. Parker also says that Dan Topping and Jock Sutherland may have something to say about the matter. Parker is not technically under contract to any professional football club at the moment, with his Brooklyn contract having expired at the end of the regular season, and he has not yet signed to play with the Dodgers in 1941. Storck contended that Parker had previously announced plans to appear in two independent exhibition games down south, but Parker says he has cancelled those plans due to his injury.

Early predictions for the 1941 baseball season suggest that it will be two-team races in both major leagues -- with the Dodgers and Reds battling for the National League flag, and the Indians and the Yankees the only real contenders in the American. Expert consensus is that the Detroit Tigers, 1940 American League champions, will sink into obscurity next season, casualties of the American League rule prohibiting any off-season trades by the most recent pennant winner -- no doubt the "worst piece of legislation adopted by any professional baseball league."

The annual Christmas message by King George VI will be broadcast by all networks in the United States, with plans underway to pick up the shortwave relay from the British Broadcasting Corporation. The time of the broadcast has yet to be announced.

(Point of order: doesn't Sparky have x-ray vision?)

(Front page of tomorrow's Sunken Heights Tattler: HOLD LOCAL DOPE IN FIFTH COLUMN RAID.)

(You can tell Slim has led a life of serious dissipation -- he looks older than his mother. Or maybe he *is* -- that'd be an interesting twist.)

("Bump bump?" More like "Doink doink!")