The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

A fake baron? In Hohokus? WHO KNEW?

For those who came in late...

"A word that rhymes with intellectual but means too amorous?" Jeez, lady, this is the News yer talkin' to, not the Herald-Tribune.

Plot handwaving? Brother Gray *invented* plot handwaving.

Burma's got those Eddie Cantor Eyes.

What? Doc LIED? KINDLY OLD COUNTRY DOCTOR DOC?

Let's go, big boy! Make it look good!

And the moustache isn't doing so hot either.

Yeah, and you're not getting the key to the hotel bar, either.

Lena's laughing because she drugged the poor girl. EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN.

 

[Harp]

A brief moment ago I decried modern prurience, so I will readily admit that recourse rendezvous
with Objective Burma for Terry is a far more prudent primary object than his habitual innocuous indolence.
And then there is Herr Ace Slimeball, all American comic strip Nazi villain. Looks like a zero on cherry Terry.

Harold aka Lance Romance, skip this dance you're in a trance.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Professional cardsharp Jacob Baum revealed key secrets of his profession today in Brooklyn Felony Court, in the trial of accused gambling racketeer Hyman Caplin. Testifying for the prosecution, Baum revealed that Caplin's organiztion used a series of visual cues to notify the dealer of specific cards they required to complete winning poker hands. A head slightly thrown back indicated the need of a club. A glance "downward toward the grave" called for a spade. A heart was indicated by a glance to the left, and a diamond by a glance to the right. A flick toward the left eye by the left hand requested an ace. A touch to an earlobe called for a queen. A stroke of the chin requested a king. And a brush of the upper lip indicated the need for a jack. Baum demonstrated each signal for the jury, flicking rapidly thru the gestures, and stating that he had acquired the skill thru "eight years of constant practice."...

He might have made a good big-league coach.

... View attachment 309097 ("I tellya, Sid, it's poifeck. Lincoln, he was a fur trappa, right? So fur coats! It's a natch'ral!" "I dunno, Lou, I t'ot Lincoln, he was a, you know, a wood choppa, a log-splitta or whateva. I t'ot Davy Crockett was a fur trappa, y'know, wit'a fur hat an' all." "Dincha go ta school, Sid? Y'know 'at hat Lincoln's aw'ways got on? 'At big tall hat? It's madea beava. A b
eava hat. I reddit ina book or seen it innat movie wit' Raymon' Massey a'sumpin'. Trus' me, Lou, it's a poifeck tie-in.")...

... A fake baron? In Hohokus? WHO KNEW?...

As a kid who grew up in NJ, I always liked the name Hohokus. Also, not often you see "book, bell and candle" pop up in the newspaper. Separately, I've always seen it written as "bell, book and candle."

... Plot handwaving? Brother Gray *invented* plot handwaving.....

"Palaver." Combined with the woman rhyming words for the Inquiring Fotographer, it's quite a vocabulary day in the News.

...[ Let's go, big boy! Make it look good!...

The bear will be putting in a call to his union rep immediately after the show.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That theatre manager doesn't get any sympathy from me. Anybody who books a bear-wrestling act thinking it can work in-one (on the little strip of stage in front of the main curtain) and still be a decent act, deserves all the ill fortune that comes his way.

Our friend in The Neighbors there ought to ignore his wife. A man in Colorado is even now hoarding magazines, papers, and, especially, comic books in his cellar in just this fashion, and eventually that hoard will become the single most important collection of mint-condition vintage comics in the entire realm of collecting.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Spain's Generalissimo Francisco Franco met Premier Mussolini "somewhere in Italy" today, declared foreign diplomatic reports, for a conference believed to be concerned with Spain's possible entry into the war. Franco and his Foreign Minister Ramon Serrano Suner were said to have crossed the French-Italian frontier late yesterday after a trip across southern France in a fourteen-automobile caravan. Franco was expected also to meet with the French leaders at Marshal Petain's estate at Villeneuve-Leubet.

State Assembly minority leader Irwin Steingut launched the first definitive move in Albany to solve the problem caused by the Supreme Court's injunction against the Board of Transportation's leasing of buses under its stalled plans to remove the Fulton Street L. Mr. Steingut has completed draft legislation that would give the Board clearly defined powers to lease those buses by amending the Rapid Transit Act and the Public Service law to vest bus-leasing powers in the Transportation Board. The state's high court has held that the statutes defining the powers of the board do not give that board authority to enter into such contracts. The buses are required to eliminate the surface cars now running along Fulton Street that use trolley lines suspended from the L's structure. Replacement of those lines by new lines would cost an estimated $500,000 more than replacement of the trolleys by gasoline buses.

Contending that the Lease-Lend Bill must be defeated at all costs, the president of Brooklyn's International Catholic Truth Society declared today that he is preparing a "test case" intended to challenge the constitutionality of the bill if it is enacted. Rev. Edward Lodge Curran, former East Coast representative for Father Charles E. Coughlin and editor of the Brooklyn Tablet, told a gathering in the parochial school auditoriums of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help R. C. Church in Richmond Hill that his listeners, including more than 1500 members of the church's Holy Name Society must also themselves become "individual propagandists in the interest of peace" in working for the defeat of the Lease-Lend bill.

A second court battle over union membership lists looms today over the demand by the Rapp-Coudert Committee that Local 527 of the College Teachers Union, AFL, turn its membership roster over to investigators probing subversive activities in the city's schools. Despite a Court of Appeals ruling that forced Local 5 of the Teachers Union to turn its membership rolls over to the Committee, officials of Local 527 are meeting with spokesmen of other labor groups to consider the advisability of holding out against the subpoena.

The last friend of former Soviet Genreal Walter G. Krivitsky to see him alive is convinced today that the one-time Russian secret agent committed suicide, despite claims by other associates that he was assassinated by the Russian secret service. Eltel Wolf Dobert of Washington, a former German Army officer and close friend of Krivitsky, told police he had helped Krivitsky buy the .38 pistol found beside his body in a Washington hotel room on Monday, and that while Krivitsky was staying at Dobert's home near Charlottesville, Virginia the Russian penned the three farewell notes found beside his body. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has declined to investigate the case, with the Department of Justice ruling that it is entirely a matter for local District of Columbia police.

The city's Welfare Commissioner concluded defense testimony in the lawsuit filed against the Welfare Department by former Home Relief employee Miss Doris Stahl by denying that his department is run by "600 Communists." Commissioner William Hodson told the court that he had assigned Commissioner of Investigation William B. Herlands to determine the extent of Communist influence within the Department, and that he had written denials from all department heads that they were not, and had never been members of the Communist Party. Commissioner Hodson also warned against "becoming hysterical" with respect to the specific number of Communists in any city department, and again maintained that "there is no Communist domination in the Welfare Department."

Brooklyn Assemblyman Charles J. Beckinella of Gowanus today called for legislation banning judges in the state's courts from denouncing jurors whose verdicts displease them as "fools" or "numbskulls." Assemblyman Beckinella says he has reached the conclusion that such legislation is needed after witnessing several incidents in county and General Sessions courtrooms of judges haranguing jurors from the bench when they disagreed with the verdicts reached.

(POSITIVELY ABSOLUTELY THE END AND THIS TIME WE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY MEAN IT. Don't miss our big Easter sale!)

("HEY! Take only ONE, ya big joik!")

(Gee, remember a few years back, when Miss Hepburn was "Box Office Poison?")

(Oh Mister Warrrrrrrrrrrbucks....)

A Very Constant Reader (For 15 Years!) writes to Helen Worth to say she stands with all the women who wish they'd gotten rid of their husbands long ago. She made the mistake of taking hers back after his first affair, and now it's one after another, going back 25 years. "The latest one is so brazen she calls me up and tells me my husband is misunderstood and many other awful remarks."

(It ain't that, bud -- it's that you got more hair than he does, an' he resents it.)

The number of Dodger holdouts is now down to six, with three benchwarmers along with Dolph Camilli, Pete Coscarart, and Mickey Owen having yet to sign up for 1941. Owen, who has yet to play a single inning in Brooklyn flannels since his acquistion over the winter from the Cardinals, has lowered his salary demand from $15,000 to $10,000, arguing that since Larry MacPhail himself compared him to the Giants' Harry Danning, he ought to be paid as much as Danning. Meanwhile, the Dodger front office staff has transferred operations to Clearwater, Florida, in preparation for the opening of spring traning camp in Havana, and club secretary John McDonald is already enjoying the hospitality of sunny Cuba ahead of the players.

Sixteen three-year-olds head to the post today for the seventh running of the $50,000 Santa Anita Derby, a race seen as a wide-open battle. Charles S. Howard's Porter's Cap is running as the favorite with odds laid at 5-2 as of this morning.

(Are you sure, Doc? These guys looks like real-estate promoters to me, and you know how they are.)

("We can take him downtown -- and make the Fulton Street L disappear!")

(Jeez, Sooz, are you sure this chucklehead was the best you could do?)

(NOW WHERE HAVE WE HEARD THAT PHRASE BEFORE?? Didn't that George Arliss guy with the cheesy auto-parts scam call Dan a "story book detective" before chaining him up in the cellar? Or was it J. B. Dook out in the woods?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"What do you call an honest card game?" "A game where we don't win." And editorial note to Mr. Waldman -- the OGPU was replaced in 1934 by the NKVD. Please make all prior copy conform.

I wonder if Charlie Dahlem ever made it back?

If he didn't, it's no thanks to this guy.

I was going to call a Point of Order here, but on thinking about it, it makes perfect sense for Daddy to have his munitions plant near the Florida home of the Slaggs -- with all those swamps to dump the bodies of CIO organizers.

Collaborateur -- or La Resistance? Could go either way.

Darn clever detective work there, Tracy. Never trust a doctor who wears a butcher's apron.

Yeah, I've had shows like this.

"C'mon, Mister, my birthday's in two days! If I don't sell these I don't get any cake!"

Is Mamie sitting on Willie's lap??!? "The BUTT Of This Joke?" Well played, Mr. Willard.

"Well, uh, you remember that thing we were gonna do that time but -- um -- we didn't? Well, uh, I met this girl in New York, see, and -- um -- she showed me what I was -- ah -- doin' wrong."

 

[Harp]

Josephine Baker would kick Burma's collaborationist ass.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
("HEY! Take only ONE, ya big joik!")...

While I think we could do with more politeness in our culture today, that is one award I would not want to have won as a kid then or now.

...[
(Gee, remember a few years back, when Miss Hepburn was "Box Office Poison?")...

The 1956 musical remake of "The Philadelphia Story -" "High Society -" is on TCM right now.

Lizzie, do you remember if there was a particular movie that revived Ms. Hepburn's reputation? I've heard/read the same thing about her that you note, but as a regular viewer of movies from the era, it seems to me that she was always a pretty successful actress who starred in or had major roles in movies almost from the start of her career. I don't remember a dip and comeback.

...
(Are you sure, Doc? These guys looks like real-estate promoters to me, and you know how they are.)...

"You aren't jus' clicken' your teeth, Doc!" Back when dentures were much-more common (like our soldier wannabe yesterday) and denture technology wasn't as good.

...
("We can take him downtown -- and make the Fulton Street L disappear!")...

Good one Lizzie.

I was thinking he could come on before Bull Moose and the Bear.

...
"What do you call an honest card game?" "A game where we don't win." .....

I was thinking alone the same lines that Henny Youngman wants his material back.

...
"Well, uh, you remember that thing we were gonna do that time but -- um -- we didn't? Well, uh, I met this girl in New York, see, and -- um -- she showed me what I was -- ah -- doin' wrong."

Harold, show what you've learned to Lana.

The Greek Chorus, after quitting T&TP in disgust because Terry never listened to its Hu Shee hortatory chants, is just about to quit "Harold Teen" if he doesn't abide its Lana Lanagan chants.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Philadelphia Story" was pretty much the one that turned the tide for La Hepburn . The "Box Office Poison" affair was triggered in May of 1938 by a full-page paid ad in the Hollywood Reporter by the Independent Theatre Owners Association naming seven prominent stars of the day as performers who, while there was no creative problems with their films, simply couldn't sell tickets.

That ad, in turn, led to "Box Office Poison!" stories in the civilian press -- and since movie theatres were major advertisers in any and every daily paper in the country, those stories were played up big:

There's more of a backstory than just stars who couldn't draw, of course. Theatre owners were tired of being charged A-picture prices for star vehicles that didn't bring in even B-picture money, but because of block booking contracts they had no way to fight back against this other than attacking the star system itself. Miss Hepburn and the other named stars were convenient targets to aim at to accomplish this.

It's hard for us today to see all this thru 1938 eyes -- we see the movies on home video or cable, where there's no question of a full or empty house. But for theatre owners, the artistic quality of any film was meaningless -- if there weren't enough butts in seats, the picture was a dog, and so were its stars.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Philadelphia Story" was pretty much the one that turned the tide for La Hepburn . The "Box Office Poison" affair was triggered in May of 1938 by a full-page paid ad in the Hollywood Reporter by the Independent Theatre Owners Association naming seven prominent stars of the day as performers who, while there was no creative problems with their films, simply couldn't sell tickets.

View attachment 309392

That ad, in turn, led to "Box Office Poison!" stories in the civilian press -- and since movie theatres were major advertisers in any and every daily paper in the country, those stories were played up big:

View attachment 309393

There's more of a backstory than just stars who couldn't draw, of course. Theatre owners were tired of being charged A-picture prices for star vehicles that didn't bring in even B-picture money, but because of block booking contracts they had no way to fight back against this other than attacking the star system itself. Miss Hepburn and the other named stars were convenient targets to aim at to accomplish this.

It's hard for us today to see all this thru 1938 eyes -- we see the movies on home video or cable, where there's no question of a full or empty house. But for theatre owners, the artistic quality of any film was meaningless -- if there weren't enough butts in seats, the picture was a dog, and so were its stars.

Thank you Lizzie, as always, you have incredible information and insight.

It's funny as the "box-office poison" label seemed, over time, to only be remembered as referencing Ms. Hepburn in the '30s, but wow - Crawford, Garbo, West and Dietrich also were hit with it.

Were the theater owners right about the reason - the studios had made bad long-term contracts and couldn't admit their mistakes or were the studios playing a longer game of building the stars up?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's a combination of both. The theatre owners were playing a long game of trying to negotiate down the prices they were required to shell out for film rentals across the board, and given the public dynamic of "Big Imperious Studios Throwing Huge Contracts At Overpaid Stars vs. Struggling Little Neighborhood Theatre Owners," it was exactly tuned to hit the mood of the late '30s public. Whether it actually made a difference, though, is less evident. The problem wasn't stars per se, it was the whole block booking system itself -- and the fact that indie theatre owners had to compete dollar for dollar and seat for seat against studio owned houses. The Patio, for example, had no hope of getting "The Philadelphia Story" until after it had played all the Loews houses -- first the Met, then the Kings, and so on down thru the line -- and it would be pretty played out by the time they finally did get it. If you're the owner of the Patio, you've got to think that stinks.

But yes, too, there were a lot of overpriced deadwood contracts on the books. Kay Francis was one of the biggest names on the Warner roster in 1932, but nobody could care less about her in 1938. The last time the studios were in this situation was right at the turn of the talkie era, when most of those big silent-era contracts suddenly became if not worthless, than close to it. John Gilbert was Gawd Himself in 1926, but he couldn't draw flies in 1930. Warners had a whole roster full of people they suddenly were desperate to get rid of. What they usually ended up doing was planting stuff in the press about how unmanageable these stars were, or hinting that they were lushes or something even more detrimental, and then either forcing them out "for cause" or making them leave by giving them terrible material to do. You didn't see so much of that by the end of the thirties, but it was still an option if need be.

 

[Harp]

It's hard for us today to see all this thru 1938 eyes -- we see the movies on home video or cable, where there's no question of a full or empty house. But for theatre owners, the artistic quality of any film was meaningless -- if there weren't enough butts in seats, the picture was a dog, and so were its stars.

In college I did a theatre usher gig for a three screen house. One guy never tore tickets, never walked
the floor, minded the popcorn machine constantly, or so it seemed. The house edge was popcorn.
The girls behind the refreshment counter hustled soft drinks, candy, popcorn.

Basically, LA sent a package film deal out to the hustings. One film was a hot draw flick, several others
mere second-stringers meant to stock additional screens; all tickets torn in half, the half kept by the
casino sent back to LA.

Mall police got in free. I saw the topkick manager personally escort the Chief Indian over to the counter
girls, drink and popcorn in tow, usher him inside the drawing card flick.

Smooth as a cat's ass.

But it was all a small margin hustle and bustle.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Brooklyn sewer contractors, hitherto unnamed, are in the shadow of indictments, and six public officials, inspectors and higher-ups in the Brooklyn Highway Bureau face removal charges, as Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen today announced the conclusion of the first wave of his investigation into the local paving contract racket. The final touches to the indictments were made today in Queens, where contractors William P. McDonald and Joseph Meehan pleaded guilty to violations of the business law and drew fines of $2000 and $1000 respectively. Meehan then went before another judge in Manhattan where he again pleaded guilty to violations in that borough, and was fined an additional $1500. Mr. Amen stated that restitution money paid back to the city so far in cases connected to the bid-rigging scandal amounts to more than $600,000.

Mr. Amen announced that once the public officials caught up in the scandal have been brought up on removal charges, he will next turn his special investigative apparatus to a probe of the acceptance of bribes by Brooklyn and Queens public officials in the name of "election" and "promotion" funds.

Denunciation of the treatment of Brooklyn as a "municipal stepchild" before the State Assembly today indicated a united Brooklyn front as remedial legislation is sought to permit the leasing of buses that will, in turn, finally allow the long-delayed demolition of the Fulton Street L. Assembly Minority Leader Irwin Steingut has marshaled support from Assembly Democrats in favor of the measure, and has been joined by Republican Assemblyman Lewis Oliffie, whose constituency in the 1st A. D. is bisected by the L, and who today blamed the lingering presence of the "Black Spider" for fostering slum conditions in the district, "which will remain as long as the L survives."

A discharged employee of municipally-owned radio station WNYC claims he was fired from his job for complaining that a script broadcast as part of the station's "Give Me Liberty" series was "red as hell." 33-year-old Alexander Leftwitch Jr. of Manhattan stated today before the City Council in its investigation of the Municipal Civil Service Commission that he had made the protest, in those words, to station program director Seymour Siegel, who shrugged off the complaint as "none of his business." Leftwitch had joined the station staff in 1939 as an assistant in the dramatic department at a salary of $1800 a year. He was dismissed on February 7, 1940.

The President of the International Catholic Truth Society will apply for authority to practice law before the Supreme Court in an effort to fight the Lease-Lend bill if it becomes a law. The Rev. Edward Lodge Curran of Brooklyn, who is also a lawyer, stated last night that he "has the support of hundreds of thousands of persons across the nation" in his efforts to stop the bill.

The ten-year-old Airedale dog flown to California to be reunited with his Army-private master has died despite the best efforts of veterinarians to restore his health. Laddie reunited earlier this week with Pvt. Everett Scott at Fort Ord, but his health, after weeks of pining and starvation, was too fragile to fully recover. Pvt. Scott was at his pet's side when the end came yesterday.

(Joe puts down the paper and doesn't say anything. Sally, who already read it, is gazing thru the kitchen window out over the cold brick walls of Bensonhurst, where, somewhere in the distance, a dog is barking.)

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today voted 15-8 in favor of President Roosevelt's $1,300,000,000 Lease-Lend bill for aid to Great Britain, with majority committee secretary Sen. Josh Lee (D-Oklahoma) declaring that "England is the only barrier between Hitler's blitzkrieg and America's youth. As long as Hitler is on the loose, it is suicide for America to place her faith in neutrality and appeasement."

All American men, women, and children in the Far East are being "urged urgently" to return home at once in the interest of their own safety and the national security, according to an order issued today by the State Department thru the American Consulate General in Shanghai. A dispatch from Tokio confirmed that a similar warning has been issued to all American nationals in that country as well.

(This means YOU, Terry, Pat, Raven, Dude, and April. And you too, Burma. And lose the phony French accent while you're at it.)

In full G. A. R. uniform, 97-year-old Union Army veteran Raymond Summers delivered the principal address yesterday in Prospect Park in ceremonies honoring the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Summers, in a strong, clear voice described his experience of meeting President Lincoln in Richmond, Virginia, when he spotted Mr. Lincoln walking along a street accompanied by a group of Marines and introduced himself to the President. Mr. Summers is Brooklyn's oldest surviving Civil War veteran.

(9 o'clock? Doesn't anybody have to get up in the morning?)

(These Army physicals aren't very rigorous, are they? And why is that guy in the background wearing a bustle?)

(Best car ad ever. Up yours, Boys.)

The Rangers have even more of a motivation to win tonight as they take on the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden. The B's arrive riding a nineteen-game winning streak, and one more victory will establish a new National Hockey League record -- eclipsing the mark set by the Rangers last year. The Blueshirts go into this evening's game determined to keep that from happening.

Pee Wee Reese will go down in history as the greatest player ever to play the game. So contends Dodger scout Ted McGrew, who says that if nothing happens to injure or disable the fragile-looking shortstop, he will become an even greater player than Hans Wagner or Ty Cobb in their prime. McGrew made his comments as the Flock gathers in Miami today in preparation for their flight to their new training base in Havana tomorrow.

When they arrive in Sunny Cuba, the Dodgers will displace an indignant group of chorines. The Chester Hale Dancers had been staying at the Hotel Nacionale while performing in one of the Hotel's ballrooms, but the arrival of the ballclub tomorrow will force them to find other accommodations. Manager Durocher suggests that this is for the best of all concerned.

A survey conducted by Movie-Radio Guide magazine finds that only a small minority of radio listeners like the new music pumped onto the network air so far this year under the auspices of Broadcast Music Incorporated. Nearly three-quarters of respondents in a poll conducted by the magazine says that radio music has gotten worse since ASCAP tunes were banned from network broadcasts, while only 15 percent say they think the BMI selections have brought an improvement. Twelve percent don't care either way.

("Oh, and see the Man With Giant Feet, no extra charge.")

(I wonder what became of Bezos, Musk, Gates, and that bunch in George Bungle's 2015?)

(Well, with initials like that you can't say he won't take after his dad.)

(Dr. William Moulton Marston sits down to write a letter to Dan Dunn saying POLYGRAPHS DON'T WORK LIKE THIS, but then he remembers it didn't do any good last time, so why bother?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Hey Lana, seen the paper today?

Back in the early thirties, the Pickens Sisters were the only real rivals to the Boswells for the crown of number-one close-harmony sister act. And now here's poor Jane, gone solo, and shilling for Loft. Hope Patti and Helen are doing OK.

When you put it that way, Harold actually fit in pretty well in New York.

"And if you mess up, my friend Punjab will wrap you up in his magic rug and make you disappear!"

There are Points Of Order all over the place here, the foremost of which is that Tracy, as a city cop, has no jurisdiction whatsoever in Smallville, and he's in no position to be arresting anyone or giving anyone any orders. If anything, Constable Silas Q. Hayseed here ought to be running things. And we can already see how well that'll go.

Actually, this is probably the best act on the whole bill. You could probably get thirteen weeks at three-a-day on the Poli Time, straight up. Now get Bungle for next-to-closing, and you've got a real socko show. Hey, has anybody seen Tootsie the Elephant? She'd be great for an opener.

Baiting the hook.

Walt and Phyllis only have one child who's their own blood -- that's little brother Corky, born in 1928. Little Judy, who we see cavorting every Sunday, was *another* foundling, abandoned in the back seat of Walt's car in 1935. Word clearly got out that the fat guy was an easy touch.

"Yeah, I'll fit right in here," says Moon. "Allem jokes I got I used to bounce off Emmy ought to go over big!"

Y'know, Harold will be turning twenty soon, too. If he lives that long.

 

[Fading Fast]

...A discharged employee of municipally-owned radio station WNYC claims he was fired from his job for complaining that a script broadcast as part of the station's "Give Me Liberty" series was "red as hell." 33-year-old Alexander Leftwitch Jr. of Manhattan stated today before the City Council in its investigation of the Municipal Civil Service Commission that he had made the protest, in those words, to station program director Seymour Siegel, who shrugged off the complaint as "none of his business." Leftwitch had joined the station staff in 1939 as an assistant in the dramatic department at a salary of $1800 a year. He was dismissed on February 7, 1940...

Had to note the irony that Mr. Leftwitch seems to be a hard anti-communist.

...The ten-year-old Airedale dog flown to California to be reunited with his Army-private master has died despite the best efforts of veterinarians to restore his health. Laddie reunited earlier this week with Pvt. Everett Scott at Fort Ord, but his health, after weeks of pining and starvation, was too fragile to fully recover. Pvt. Scott was at his pet's side when the end came yesterday.

(Joe puts down the paper and doesn't say anything. Sally, who already read it, is gazing thru the kitchen window out over the cold brick walls of Bensonhurst, where, somewhere in the distance, a dog is barking.)...

...
(9 o'clock? Doesn't anybody have to get up in the morning?)...

This reminded me that before the internet, you'd often choose a movie based on the title, stars and, maybe or maybe not, a brief description or a few blurbs in an ad as, if you missed the reviews in the paper or if it wasn't one that got reviewed, you almost didn't have anywhere else to go to learn about it. Today, you can practically read the script, surf tons of comments and watch several long trailers before deciding what to see, but pre-internet, sometimes, you'd just wing it based on the stars and title.

...When they arrive in Sunny Cuba, the Dodgers will displace an indignant group of chorines. The Chester Hale Dancers had been staying at the Hotel Nacionale while performing in one of the Hotel's ballrooms, but the arrival of the ballclub tomorrow will force them to find other accommodations. Manager Durocher suggests that this is for the best of all concerned....

While not usually known for being understated, Durocher seems to have gotten this one right if his goal is to get the boys ready for baseball and not divorce court.

... Hey Lana, seen the paper today?....

On assumes Mr. Shapiro's amorous interests are not directed at women and his father has figured this out.

...
When you put it that way, Harold actually fit in pretty well in New York.....

15-cent soda ⇨ $3 of petting is a heck of a better return than you'll find on Wall Street or "the numbers" or in any of those phony card games we've been reading about. This women has identified a mispricing in the market.

That said, the old quip often attributed to Winston Churchill or George Bernard Shaw, "We have established what you are, madam. We are now merely haggling over the price." does come to mind.

...[
Baiting the hook.....

Caniff is so good, ho-hum, ho-hum, ho-hum, and then, ooh, panel 4. That said, he could have put a little more effort into his illustration in panel 2.

... Y'know, Harold will be turning twenty soon, too. If he lives that long.

I'm disgusted with Harold.

 

[Harp]

"Sweet are the uses of adversity which,
like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears
yet a precious jewel in his head." William Shakespeare

As I remarked yesterday in another thread, I erred assuming Terry and Burma were not intimate,
said acquaintance consummated a certain bond availed and now seemingly answered, yet tenuous rope
be a heartstring.

When a boy virgin lays with an older lady, her pleasure made manifest writh and scream,
indelible is the impression sweet brazen carves across heart and soul.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The worst part of it with Harold right now is that he *knows* what he ought to do, but he's too weak-willed to actually do anything about it. This is not an uncommon trait in twenty-year-old boys, but it's really unfortunate seeing it play out in this particular case because it can't possibly end well for anyone involved.

He should have gone to see Lillums at her aunt's place as soon as he got back home, before he ever met Lana, and they should have thrashed out all their issues then and there and gotten it all out of their systems. But he didn't, nor did Lillums make any effort on her end to do that, and now there's a whirlwind just waiting to be reaped. Let that be a lesson to feckless twenty-year-olds everywhere.

I will say, though, that Ed gets points for a realistic characterization here. He knows who Harold is -- not some generic character, but a specific and flawed individual who reacts to situations according to his own personality traits and flaws and not according to a simple formula. That's good writing, however painful it may be to see it unfold. Harold irritates us all because he's real.

 

[Fading Fast]

The worst part of it with Harold right now is that he *knows* what he ought to do, but he's too weak-willed to actually do anything about it. This is not an uncommon trait in twenty-year-old boys, but it's really unfortunate seeing it play out in this particular case because it can't possibly end well for anyone involved.

He should have gone to see Lillums at her aunt's place as soon as he got back home, before he ever met Lana, and they should have thrashed out all their issues then and there and gotten it all out of their systems. But he didn't, nor did Lillums make any effort on her end to do that, and now there's a whirlwind just waiting to be reaped. Let that be a lesson to feckless twenty-year-olds everywhere.

I will say, though, that Ed gets points for a realistic characterization here. He knows who Harold is -- not some generic character, but a specific and flawed individual who reacts to situations according to his own personality traits and flaws and not according to a simple formula. That's good writing, however painful it may be to see it unfold. Harold irritates us all because he's real.

Agreed - Ed, and I'd add, Caniff and Frank King are extremely talented writers who understand story telling and character creation, especially in the challenging confines of a comic strip. Harold Gray has that talent too, but lately he's decided to go for more cardboard archetypes than real people like Nick.

 

[Harp]

but it's really unfortunate seeing it play out in this particular case because it can't possibly end well for anyone involved.
and they should have thrashed out all their issues then and there and gotten it all out of their systems...
and now there's a whirlwind just waiting to be reaped. Let that be a lesson to feckless....

Due process and discovery adherence is lacking, evidentiary matters unresolved, cumulative prosecution
non justiciable mere supposition, astigmatic vindictiveness. Managerial small ball, theft. Basis loaded,
thievery bereft justiciable evidentiary standard. Absolutely no legal precedent or construct germane
proper adjudicative process. Deflower chastity, rapacious barbarism, hateful disregard.

And Harold is definitely out on a limb over Lillums with Lana. Intestacy, youth notwithstanding,
cries resolve pursuant to locus.

 

[ChiTownScion]

"Ohhh, this is bad!" indeed. In some circumstance, access to firearms by any of the principals here could have fatal consequences.

In Harold's defense, reading the clues as to when the relationship is really over can be very intuitive and subjective. I doubt that he's actually such a lout that he would enjoy seeing either Lana or Lillums suffer in this, but that seems to be the tunnel on the track ahead. There's a lot of, "I don't want to hurt her by telling everything" behind all that we're seeing here, and of course, by not wanting to cause hurt, he causes even more hurt.

Five will get you ten that it won't be long before he's back at the Sugar Bowl with Shadow, wishing that he still had a girl. Poor suffering b@stard...