The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

...Forest fires swept by a brisk northwest wind are sweeping over the New Jersey pinelands today in areas untouched by the flaming juggernaut that raced thru tinder-dry woodlands across six Eastern states yesterday leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. Red-eyed and smoke-blackened members of the Forest Fire Service and hundreds of other workers including soldiers from Fort Dix and volunteers whose property was endangered continued the battle against the inferno. The most serious fire raged from Hanover Furnace to High Bridge in Lakehurst, but authorities say the Naval Air Station itself is not in danger....

Growing up in NJ in the '70s, these fires in the pinelands were a pretty regular occurrence.

... ("Uh, Mr. Namm, one o' t'buyers come back wit' t'is truck fulla old books -- sez he paid two cents onna dolla..." "I don't care, just stick 'em inna ad someplace. Bound to be some poor night-school moax from Bensonhoist who'll buy 'em.")...

...
(I knew I should have learned to fell my seams, but it just never seemed that important.)...

"9 out of 10 screen stars use Lux Toilet Soap." Challenge. Maybe they say they do and maybe Lux sends them the soap for free, but I'm sure there's a much-fancier and more-expensive soap, from some Hollywood boutique or dermatologist to the stars, that the stars really use.

...(Hey Leo, stop making alibis and stick Fitzsimmons in there for a few starts. And speaking of whom, Wood finally admits Freddie doesn't like to be called "Fat." WELL IT TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH. And why no mention of Fatty Fothergill? Ask Durocher about the time when, playing short for the Yankees, he accused the Tigers of sending two men up to the plate at once and then squinted and said, 'no, that's just Fothergill.')...

... You know, Warbucks really needs to get down on his knees every night and pray that Punjab doesn't one day get sick and tired of taking his guff....

Seriously. Separately, Gray has no ability to keep Punjab's scale to the others consistent from day to day or, sometimes, even from panel to panel.

... "Oh yeah? Well, YOU'RE gonna die wearing that stupid beanie, and so I guess *I* get the last laugh!"....

I'm sending out a SOT (save our Terry) to Hu Shee (I like Lizzie's call on this one) as it's time to get rowing, the blonde-haired one is in trouble. How funny would it be if Hu Shee was all set to go, but was waiting to make her rescue of Terry more dramatic. Camera shows a shot of a reclining Hu Shee yawning in a rowboat checking her watch.

... "So. Trixie. Ummm...slid down any drainpipes lately?"....

Why does Trixie morph into a forty-year-old Angela Lansbury in panel three?

../ You'll get better launch velocity if you use a bigger bat.....

Or just call the police.

A...Even sadder is the fact that Harold keeps a stack of 8X10 headshots on hand for just such occasions.

I hoped that Lana would deliver the news to the boy in person but maybe she will send it "Dear John" special Dee.......

But wait, she hasn't told him yet she's leaving. This feels a bit cold and calculating for Lana. She's owes him "the conversation" before anything else.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeh, it does seem that Trix has put on some weight since we saw her last. Skeezix is just dumb enough to say something like "boy, you sure used to be a skinny kid, and now look at you..."

 

[Harp]

But wait, she hasn't told him yet she's leaving. This feels a bit cold and calculating for Lana. She's owes him "the conversation" before anything else.

The Lana's leaving lingo seems stuffed inside luggage. Check-in baggage. She's checking out.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The British Army fights on today in Greece from a new line northeast of Athens, but it does so alone after the Greek government headed by King George II has fled to Crete. In Epirus, two Greek armies laid down their arms before the invading Germans without official sanction to do so. German forces continue to drive ahead but as of this morning the British line still held.

A spokesman for the German High Command today predicted the fall of Athens within the next two days. "The Balkan offensive," declared the official, "can now be considered ended." He added that British losses of vessels waiting to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force "may exceed those of Dunkirk."

A series of student peace rallies today at Brooklyn College brought forth a statement from Representative Joseph Clark Baldwin, Manhattan Republican, that he favors the use of American convoys to deliver food and needed supplies to Great Britain under the terms of the Lend-Lease bill. "We must see to it," stated the Congressman, "that war materials are delivered to their ultimate destination." Representative Clark spoke before an "official" peace meeting of more than 800 students in the college gymnasium. Another speaker, American Civil Liberties Union counsel Arthur Garfield Hayes, declared "I was against Britain when they would not fight the Fascists, and I am with them now that they are fighting them. I would rather fight now at the side of England than fight later alone." Three other "unofficial" peace meetings, one indoors and two outside, brought total attendance to more than 1500 students.

Meanwhile, several hundred students today picketed outside the Municipal Court building in Manhattan where seven instructors and clerks from the City College system accused of being Communists by the Rapp-Coudert Committee formally denied all charges. One of the accused, Townsend Harris High School teacher David Goldway, refused to sign a waiver of immunity from prosecution, as demanded of witnesses by the panel.

Confiscation of pinball machines in Queens County began today as several dozen policemen from the 108th Precinct station in Long Island City were dispatched across the borough with instructions to seize all such machines. Many truckloads of the illegal machines were to be brought to the 112th Precinct house in Maspeth.

(Hey Butch, get your sledgehammer ready...)

The portion of Floyd Bennett Field now occupied by naval aviation units is now officially a Naval Air Station, by declaration of Navy Secretary Frank Knox. The new base includes $600,000 in new hangars and other facilities, including barracks buildings and a special hangar designed to store flying boats.

Two men are in custody charged with malicious mischief after they punctured a Brooklyn dentist's tires because of a dispute over a bill. 35-year-old Arthur Blaha of 120 Sunnyside Avenue in Sunset Park and 45-year-old Andrew Holman of 99-25 217th Lane in Queens Village were captured after a patrolman saw them pull up to a car owned by Dr. Morris Samet of 805 St. Marks Avenue and pierce two of its tires with an ice pick. Dr. Samet identified Blaha as "a friend of a woman" whom he had treated some time previously and against whom he had obtained a sheriff's order to pay her bill. Holman protested his innocence, saying that he didn't know what it was all about, but Magistrate Francis X. Giaccone in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court ordered both men held, and advised Holman in the future to avoid "vengeful Romeos."

(Is Larry getting a kickback from the hoteliers on this? Because if he isn't, he's missing a chance. And I can't believe after that ruckus last year they're still not letting girls in the Knot Hole Club. Mark my words, there's gonna be a battle.)

Charges of violation of Park Department regulations banning dogs from the Coney Island boardwalk were dismissed against 41-year-old William Schaefer of 321 Eastern Parkway, after he protested that he really didn't have anything to do with it. Mr. Schaefer appeared before Magistrate Charles Solomon in Coney Island Court and explained that he was merely standing on the Boardwalk minding his own business when a strange woman approached him, handed him a leashed dog, and asked him to mind it for her while she used a restroom. Schaefer pointed out if he left the boardwalk with the dog he'd never be able to find the woman again in the crowd, and would therefore have to keep the dog himself. "And I have no use for a dog," he shrugged.

(Sheriff Mildred McGrath is taking none of your lip. And don't you dare try to reuse a stamp when Postmaster Jane Van Buren is on the job. "Nobody from New Utrick?" frowns Joe. "I shudda put my name in." "You ain't a kid," laughs Sally. "I'm a kid at heart!" protests Joe.)

(He who lives by the punch clock shall perish by the punch clock.)

In Bisbee, Arizona a young boy was arresed shoplifting charges by Patrolman A. S. Orton, who was puzzled by one item found among the lad's loot. "What did you intend to do with this brassiere," asked Patrolman Orton. "Make a blindfold for my burro," said the boy.

(Last year, you may recall, Leo spent the whole season picking up every cast-off pitcher he could get his hands on in hopes of finding one who'd click, and only two weeks into the new season he's back to the same routine. And what's this about Fitz being hurt? We only hear about this now??????? Get on the ball, Holmes, they don't pay you to sit around the office thinking up wisecracks. That's what they pay Parrott for.)

(There are plenty of nooks and crannies around the Manhattan Center where one might, oh, hide a few bags of moist fruit until just the right moment. Just something to think about.)

(What's the matter with Hollywood? Can't they make anything but knockoffs and sequels?)

(Doc really needs to stop tossing his failed experiments into the back yard.)

(Never trust a man with a monk's tonsure and two-tone shoes.)

("Look, Mrs. Worth, I'm just doing my job, that job being to find a way not to pay this claim by any means at my disposal. Wait, did I say that out loud?")

(Wow, that Irwin is one relentless interrogator.)

 

[Harp]

^^^When I was a high school kid I washed dishes at a Chicago steakhouse after classes until midnite,
and served breakfast service 6-12 weekends, before another round at the sink. $10 a nite, plus Saturday tips.
Not bad, but the steakhouse wasn't doing so good. And the owner had ties to the syndicate-two wiseguys came
in once and told me to get the boss. The boss didn't look so happy that nite. And the place mysteriously burned
down shortly thereafter. I was out of a job, of course. The back burner gossip said it was an inside job,
the boss was the match and he collected the insurance bucks.
...my next gig was at a local Holiday Inn bussing tables. An Irishman owned the joint and I had to kick in
for the Irish Republican Army fund-who knows?-met some lovely older ladies engaged in the world's oldest
profession-just to occasionally small talk-and a few sweet colleens over from Ireland. No fireworks, but the
prostitution ring got busted by the Chicago Police.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Awwww. Very sorry to hear about the Wallingtons. They were good folks, and it's unfortunate they couldn't work things out. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

When they were laying out this ad, they first used that picture of Coolidge wearing a headdress, but fortunately somebody changed it for one of an authentic member of the "Wigwam" tribe. Actually, that's just Maury from shipping, but who's gonna know?

If there's one thing the world will never run short of, it's wise guys.

C'mon, Warbucks, play along! Otherwise we'll be here all day.

About my least-favorite crime-story trope is the driver who is completely oblivious to the sinister lurker in the back seat. IT JUST DOESN'T WORK THIS WAY.

"Just be patient!" says Gus. "This is all gonna tie together! I promise!"

"Hey, remember that time when we were kids and I kissed you?"

*snif*

"Kiel?" says the High Command. "Kiel? Oh yes, that big surly fellow in Paris who brought the wine. What ever became of him?"

In the space of a few seconds, tops, Mush dismantled an iron bedstead or pulled a water pipe out of the wall and brained the thug with it. That's more resourcefulness and initiative than Moon has ever shown in his whole life.

 

[Harp]

^^^codebooks should be destroyed, should not be taken off the ship, which is a secure locale.
Terry take, finish that ba***rd Nazi scum and put him out of his misery and save others whom might have to needlessly
suffer should that sorry sonuvabitch live. One 9mm round, one lousy round.

 

[Fading Fast]

The British Army fights on today in Greece from a new line northeast of Athens, but it does so alone after the Greek government headed by King George II has fled to Crete. In Epirus, two Greek armies laid down their arms before the invading Germans without official sanction to do so. German forces continue to drive ahead but as of this morning the British line still held.

A spokesman for the German High Command today predicted the fall of Athens within the next two days. "The Balkan offensive," declared the official, "can now be considered ended." He added that British losses of vessels waiting to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force "may exceed those of Dunkirk."...

And the US hasn't even yet entered the war. No wonder, to this day, the UK produces so many WWII TV shows, documentaries and movies.

...Two men are in custody charged with malicious mischief after they punctured a Brooklyn dentist's tires because of a dispute over a bill. 35-year-old Arthur Blaha of 120 Sunnyside Avenue in Sunset Park and 45-year-old Andrew Holman of 99-25 217th Lane in Queens Village were captured after a patrolman saw them pull up to a car owned by Dr. Morris Samet of 805 St. Marks Avenue and pierce two of its tires with an ice pick. Dr. Samet identified Blaha as "a friend of a woman" whom he had treated some time previously and against whom he had obtained a sheriff's order to pay her bill. Holman protested his innocence, saying that he didn't know what it was all about, but Magistrate Francis X. Giaccone in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court ordered both men held, and advised Holman in the future to avoid "vengeful Romeos."...

Tweaked a bit, this sound more like real life imitating "Dick Tracy," than, what usually happens, the comics riffing on real life.

... View attachment 329169
(Is Larry getting a kickback from the hoteliers on this? Because if he isn't, he's missing a chance. And I can't believe after that ruckus last year they're still not letting girls in the Knot Hole Club. Mark my words, there's gonna be a battle.)...

Agreed, Larry's too smart to let this opportunity go by. At minimum, he's probably got some sort of "soft dollar" arrangement where the Dodgers get reduced or free rooms when they need them, but a hard-dollar kickback, umm, "arrangement" wouldn't surprise me at all.

...
(Sheriff Mildred McGrath is taking none of your lip. And don't you dare try to reuse a stamp when Postmaster Jane Van Buren is on the job. "Nobody from New Utrick?" frowns Joe. "I shudda put my name in." "You ain't a kid," laughs Sally. "I'm a kid at heart!" protests Joe.)...

"Compound Carburetion." The Boys worked hard to make that alliteration sound all technologically advanced. By the '70, we just called them "dual carbs -" much easier for normal people to say.

...In Bisbee, Arizona a young boy was arresed shoplifting charges by Patrolman A. S. Orton, who was puzzled by one item found among the lad's loot. "What did you intend to do with this brassiere," asked Patrolman Orton. "Make a blindfold for my burro," said the boy....

Is the boy's name Henny Youngman Jr.?

... View attachment 329172 (Last year, you may recall, Leo spent the whole season picking up every cast-off pitcher he could get his hands on in hopes of finding one who'd click, and only two weeks into the new season he's back to the same routine. And what's this about Fitz being hurt? We only hear about this now??????? Get on the ball, Holmes, they don't pay you to sit around the office thinking up wisecracks. That's what they pay Parrott for.)...

No kidding, for a team the Eagle covers in detail, the Fitz news coverage seems pretty sloppy. One thing in baseball never changes, you never have enough good pitching even when you do as you are always only one injury away from not having enough good pitching. That's as evergreen as it gets.

.. (Wow, that Irwin is one relentless interrogator.)

Yes, after Irwin's bragging yesterday, today is very anticlimactic. I'm guessing the comicstrip censors wouldn't let Marsh show police using "tough" interrogation methods.

... Awwww. Very sorry to hear about the Wallingtons. They were good folks, and it's unfortunate they couldn't work things out. But you gotta do what you gotta do.....

Then as now, there should be a special place in hell for those who run charity scams.

...[
"Hey, remember that time when we were kids and I kissed you?"....

Now, please go home, call Nina right away and tell her you had dinner with an old friend, Trixie. Hopefully, Skeezix reads "Harold Teen" and doesn't end up engaged to both of them at the same time.

... *snif*....

I get what Lana is doing and I know her intent isn't bad, but it feels somewhat cold and calculating and will probably feel that way to Harold and his family when they figure it out.

^^^codebooks should be destroyed, should not be taken off the ship, which is a secure locale.
Terry take, finish that ba***rd Nazi scum and put him out of his misery and save others whom might have to needlessly
suffer should that sorry sonuvabitch live. One 9mm round, one lousy round.

... "Kiel?" says the High Command. "Kiel? Oh yes, that big surly fellow in Paris who brought the wine. What ever became of him?"....

I love when real military men and women honor their code and the rules of war as, in this case, attempting to save everyone on board regardless of who they are. That's what separates men and women of honor and integrity from the Kiels of the world.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sometimes I forget how young Skeezix really is. He last saw Trixie less than five years ago. But when you're twenty, I guess that's 25 percent of your life. Hard to think of it that way when you get old.

I'm kind of disappointed the Kapitan didn't just shoot Kiel on the spot. It would be so easy to say "he was lost in the explosion" or something.

I still think Dan ordered his badge out of the Johnson-Smith novelty catalog, right there next to the one that says "Shimmy Inspector."

 

[Harp]

I love when real military men and women honor their code and the rules of war as, in this case, attempting to save everyone on board regardless of who they are. That's what separates men and women of honor and integrity from the Kiels of the world.

Good point. However, morality often succumbs to war's hard wire staked pragmatism.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A botched attempt to rob big-shot Queens gambler and bookmaker Frank Erickson in his apartment at the New York Athletic Club led to the suicide of one of the robbers, who shot and killed himself this morning in the middle of a busy Manhattan street. The identity of the dead gunman has not been confirmed, but police arrested a second bandit, Josep Kress, who was convicted in 1934 for a $47,000 armored-car holdup in Brooklyn and subsequently freed when the conviction was reversed on appeal. Police say Kress and the other gunman, along with a third unidentified accomplice, arrived at Erickson's 19th floor apartment this morning, slugged the maid and took her pass key, and burst in on the gambler, who was in conference with several associates. The maid recovered in time to grab the telephone and shout for the operator to call the police, causing the robbers to flee. Patrolmen were waiting in the lobby when they emerged from the elevator, and a scuffled ensued, with one of the robbers escaping into 59th Street, where, after exchanging fire with Patrolman George Schuck, he attempted to commandeer a car, but when Patrolman Charles Klicki caught up to him, he raised his pistol to his head and shot himself.

Erickson, who is known to be wealthy and is not known to carry large sums on his person, has long been a target of Mayor LaGuardia's crusade against illegal bookmaking, and has been denounced by the mayor as a "tinhorn," and "Public Nuisance No. 1."

A 21-year-old aviation mechanic was held without bail today in Brooklyn Felony Court on charges that he murdered a 73-year-old Cypress Hills woman in a dispute over 25 cents, and then arranged false evidence to suggest that she had killed herself. Edward Thomas of 119 Van Sicklen Avenue was picked up for questioning by detectives yesterday over reports that he and Mrs. Addie Gilman of 154 Jerome Street had argued over a twenty-five cent difference in the amount of back rent owed to Mrs. Gilman by Thomas's brother, who formerly rented a room in her house. Detectives say Thomas has confessed that he grabbed the woman around the throat and strangled her to death, and then opened all the gas jets and left her body on the kitchen floor to suggest suicide.

Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh's claim last night in an America First speech delivered to a rally at the Manhattan Center that Great Britain is hoping desperately "for another American Expeditionary Force" was endorsed today by the President of the International Catholic Truth Society. Father Edward Lodge Curran, former East Coast representative for Father Charles A. Coughlin, declared in endorsing the America First program that Great Britain "will do anything to get the United States into the war. The British Government again wants American blood to rain down upon European soil." Meanwhile, the national director of the interventionist Friends of Democracy organization, L. M. Birkhead, charged that last night's America First meeting was "the biggest rally of Nazi and Hitler forces yet staged in the United States. Colonel Lindbergh and the America First Committee are doing a job for Adolf Hitler."

A City College English teacher acknowledged to the Rapp Coudert Committee that he has taught courses studying the writings of Karl Marx and Lenin, but denied that he is a Communist himself. Seymour Copstem told the Committee today that he taught the courses for the Workers' School in Manhattan, acknowledging that he is a student of Marxism-Leninism, but that he does not personally subscribe to its beliefs. He also acknowledged under cross examination that he reads the Daily Worker, has marched in the May Day parade, and has attended Lenin memorial events.

The Board of Education last night rejected a proposal that all employees of the Department of Education be required to swear an oath denying that they are or have ever been members of any "subversive group."

British Empire forces are reported to be holding the line in Thermopylae, a report denying Nazi assertions that German forces have taken the ancient Greek city.

The Coney Island Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is looking for a good Pied Piper, after library authorities determined that the building is infested with rats. Officials say rats "of extraordinary size, boldness, and ingenuity" have taken control of the staff room, "parading across the floor in broad daylight and engaging in orgies." The rats have also proven their ability to defeat traps, adeptly removing the cheese and bacon bait while leaving the traps themselves unsprung. Chemical agents have also proven ineffective in reducing the population, their only result being to fill the air in the library with the scent of "decomposing rats."

(Another reason why the Dodgers were in such dire straits in the 1930s is that the Ebbetses and the McKeevers handed out passes, both for individual games and whole seasons, to all their friends, and all their friends' friends, and all their friends' cousins' friends, ad infinitum. And when you're handing out free season passes you find you have a lot of friends. Dodger attendance records for the pre-MacPhail years were chronically skewed by this -- since pass admissions don't count, the figures don't come anywhere near close to reflecting how many people were actually in the ballpark. That's also why Ebbets Field passes from the 1930s are surprisingly easy to find on the collectors' market.)

(Community Day Care Centers of the Era, another reason why Sally thinks moving to Flatbush is a good idea. Also, Sally scowls across the table at Joe. "I t'tought you was goin' ta night school!" she growls. "Instead I gotta read about you goin' ta JOINTS wit' Cliff'ud Evans!" "It ain't me," insists Joe. "It's some utta Joe. An' b'sides, I on'y wenninat place oncet!)

(Nick Kenny is the radio critic for the Daily Mirror, and when he isn't filling his column with treacly poems, he puts on some pretty good mini-revues on local stages. Miss Shore is well on her way to stardom after a season as a second banana for Eddie Cantor, and Morey Amsterdam is doing pretty much the same kind of act he'll do for the rest of his life. Mabel Todd is Morey's wife, and if you don't know her name, you know her face -- she was in pretty much every collegiate musical Warner Bros. ever made in the 1930s, the gal with the glasses and the buck teeth and the shrill voice who played comedy relief for Priscilla Lane or whoever. But she was also a pretty fine swing singer when they weren't forcing her to clown it up.)

(Again with the spanking?? No wonder Deanna quit show business.)

(Can somebody look in on the Lichtys and see if they're OK?)

(What, Reiser injured? Get used to it. I look forward to seeing what Larry comes up with for face masks. And meanwhile, unsung by anyone, Lavagetto's hitting close to .400. Coooooooookieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

America's only Negro sportscaster is Jocko Maxwell of WWRL in Woodside, who broadcasts his "Five Star Sports Final" every Saturday night at 9:45 PM. Mr. Maxwell is a fearless crusader for bringing qualified Negro players into Major League baseball and is a hero among sports fans in Harlem.

(Worms don't have fangs, or any teeth at all. No doubt a hideous chimera, escaped from Doc's hidden unholy dungeon of horrors. Bet Sparky wishes he'd stuck to selling magazine subscriptions.)

(You know, there's still about $15,000 of Lindbergh ransom money floating around somewhere that was never recovered. Did Isidor Fisch ever live in this building?)

(You called Slim in from his cricket game for *this*, when he's got a brand new sweater to show off?)

("So Kay, your work on this case has proven your worth to the Department. As it happens, I need someone to type my letters and make coffee, and..." *BANG!* )

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

There's a difference between a cheap louse and a careful shopper, but the line is admittedly a fine one.

No surprise here at all, really -- Detroit, home base of Father Coughlin and Henry Ford, was a hotbed of Nazi sympathies.

It toasts better because it's got a higher sugar content, all the better to brown up from the heat.

"Punjab, could you come back in here please?"

Better late than never.

You shouldn't smoke that stuff, it causes brain damage.

Square up, Skeez, it's more than that and you know it. You and Trix were "seeing each other" at fifteen, right up to the time when you met Nina. So it's not quite as "innocent childhood days" as you make it out to be.

Maybe if you put your glasses back on you could see better.

And once again Mush is the smartest guy in the room.

"You RAT! I paid $2.98 for those gloves!"

 

[Fading Fast]

A botched attempt to rob big-shot Queens gambler and bookmaker Frank Erickson in his apartment at the New York Athletic Club led to the suicide of one of the robbers, who shot and killed himself this morning in the middle of a busy Manhattan street. The identity of the dead gunman has not been confirmed, but police arrested a second bandit, Josep Kress, who was convicted in 1934 for a $47,000 armored-car holdup in Brooklyn and subsequently freed when the conviction was reversed on appeal. Police say Kress and the other gunman, along with a third unidentified accomplice, arrived at Erickson's 19th floor apartment this morning, slugged the maid and took her pass key, and burst in on the gambler, who was in conference with several associates. The maid recovered in time to grab the telephone and shout for the operator to call the police, causing the robbers to flee. Patrolmen were waiting in the lobby when they emerged from the elevator, and a scuffled ensued, with one of the robbers escaping into 59th Street, where, after exchanging fire with Patrolman George Schuck, he attempted to commandeer a car, but when Patrolman Charles Klicki caught up to him, he raised his pistol to his head and shot himself.

Erickson, who is known to be wealthy and is not known to carry large sums on his person, has long been a target of Mayor LaGuardia's crusade against illegal bookmaking, and has been denounced by the mayor as a "tinhorn," and "Public Nuisance No. 1."...

First kudos goes to the maid for taking a blow, shaking it off and calling the police with the second kudos going to the police for showing up quickly enough to meet the gunmen in the lobby. Warner Bros. script writers are busy at work on the movie version of this story which should be playing at the Patio by late '41 / early '42.

The New York Athletic Club is a beautiful building and is still active as a club to this day:

...
(Again with the spanking?? No wonder Deanna quit show business.)...

Spanking, usually of women by men, pops up in a lot of code-era movies as, apparently, handled a certain way, the censors were okay with it. To the best of my memory, I haven't seen "Nice Girl?." I also don't remember it popping up on TCM.

... (You know, there's still about $15,000 of Lindbergh ransom money floating around somewhere that was never recovered. Did Isidor Fisch ever live in this building?)...

Or it could be Tootsie's retirement savings as, being an elephant of the Depression, I bet you Tootsie didn't trust banks.

... There's a difference between a cheap louse and a careful shopper, but the line is admittedly a fine one....

I assume we'll learn the jury's view on just that, in this case anyway, in tomorrow's paper.

... You shouldn't smoke that stuff, it causes brain damage....

And all that wealth will come from a hundred shares.

The scissor comment is funny as you really did need a sharp and heavy pair of scissor to clip coupons as they were printed on very thick paper and, usually, stacked up so you were clipping through several sheets at once. It was a much more tactile way to be wealthy than our electronic and "book entry" securities today. As a reminder, I know this because I worked in a Wall St. firm's back office in the '80s - I've never owned a bearer bond myself.

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt said today that the United States is taking action to counteract Axis forces which may be in Greenland, and indicated that an extended naval patrol system would be employed to make good our promise to get war supplies to Britain. Mr. Roosevelt stated at a press conference that he did not know for sure if Axis forces were in Greenland -- but they may be, and that the nation is taking steps to counteract that situation. The President did not disclose exactly what is being done, but a new pact with Denmark gives the United States the authority to establish military bases in Greenland.

Meanwhile, the German press today ridiculed the President's statements, declaring that "only a 150 percent lunatic could imagine that Germany intends to attack the United States."

Ten minutes after an armored car delivered a $7400 payroll to the Superior Dye and Print Works in Long Island City, shortly after 11 this morning, two armed gunmen held up the company offices at 25-25 Borden Avenue, swept all the cash into a large shopping bag, and made a clean getaway. Chief Cashier Theodore Garry and his eight clerks were held at gunpoint by one of the masked bandits as the other scooped up the money with a growled warning that there was to be "no monkeying around or there will be trouble." Police say Garry grabbed a gun out of his desk as soon as the robbers had fled, and fired two shots at their getaway car, but without success. The car crossed the bridge over Dutch Kills Creek, 300 feet from the plant and disappeared. An onlooker observed the license plate number, and police are at this hour actively searching for the car.

Jammed to almost twice her normal capacity with refugees fleeing the war in Europe, the Portuguese liner Nyassa docked today at the foot of Hamilton Avenue with 816 passengers on board, among them a 24-year-old Brooklyn woman who was the sole American aboard. Miss Dorothy Muckley of the Hotel Granada was in Germany as an art student, and found herself trapped there by the outbreak of the war in September 1939. She told reporters upon coming ashore today that she had been treated well by the Germans, and that the people there "seemed satisfied," even though many were surprised that the war has gone on as long as it has. "All Germans," she noted, "hope the United States will keep out of the war."

A "black book" linking a prominent Queens official with a construction firm was burned by an executive of the company while the firm's records were being inspected by an aide of Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen. Amen Office assistant John M. Murtagh declared today in Queens County Court that he was in the offices of the William P. McDonald Construction Company of Flushing yesterday to determine if the records of the firm should be seized as part of the Amen investigation of racketeering in the local paving industry, and charged that company treasurer Thomas F. Spillane took the "black book" and incinerated it before it could be examined. Murtagh was granted a new warrant to seize every document in the office, and went immediately to the company offices, accompanied by fifteen patrolman attached to the Amen Office, in order to execute that warrant.

President Roosevelt in his press conference today denounced Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and his allies in the America First movement as "defeatists" and "appeasers" akin to those who urged George Washington to surrender during the hardships at Valley Forge. The President also called Lindbergh and his associates "Copperheads," a Civil War term referring to a political faction that demanded an immediate negotiated peace with the Confederates.

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is calling for the drafting of women for National Defense service. The First Lady, in a column appearing in the May issue of the Ladies Home Journal, released today, proposed that all young women be conscripted for a year of national service, and that such women should not be "frittering away their time with tea parties and bridal showers" when there is vital work to be done in offices, in factories, on farms, and in hospitals.

Democratic Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia today demanded the resignation of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and her replacement by "a two-fisted man with intestinal fortitude." Senator Byrd attacked Secretary Perkins for her handling of recent labor conflicts in the defense industry, and demanded that authority to handle such strikes be given to the Defense Mediation Board. The Senator dismissed Secretary Perkins record as "one of astounding ineptitude."

(Somebody better audit the treasury at the local G. A. R. post.)

Big-time bookmaker-gambler Frank Erickson of Queens faces addtional questioning today by an aide to Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey, after his answers yesterday in the wake of a botched robbery of his apartment at the New York Athletic Club were deemed "evasive." Erickson was ordered to appear this morning at the office of Assistant District Attorney Jacob Rosenblum for further interrogation. Meanwhile, the Athletic Club chambermaid who was slugged by the bandits during the holdup is recovering from her injuries in her room at the club. Fifty-two-year-old Catherine O'Brien was struck in the head by the robbers after she refused to surrender her passkey, and with blood streaming from her wounds, grabbed a telephone to alert the switchboard operator to call the police. From her bed, she confirmed the identity of the one bandit now in custody, 33-year-old Joseph Kress, a known desperado with a long police record that is, reportedly, "of concern" to Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine.

(Well, at least they're honest about it being an old model. That's something new.)

(And they think "upcycling" is a new trend.)

(It's STREAMLINED! Take that, Davega.)

Not only will Luna Park feature "The New York World's Fair of 1941" in the form of $9,000,000 worth of rides, attractions, and exhibits salvaged from the recent Flushing extravaganza, but there'll be plenty more to attract the attention of amusement-seekers when the Coney Island amusement park opens for the season on May 30th. There'll also be a mammoth, newly-constructed ballroom designed to accomodate up to 2000 dancers, and it will be booked on a name-band policy thru the summer season, with Bob Crosby and his Bobcats the first attraction to be featured. Luna Park will also feature a permanent Congress of Freaks, along with a miniature circus featuring wild animal acts, acrobats and clowns, and three permanent nightclubs offering full floor shows every evening. Luna has struggled since the Depression started in 1929, but its new operators hope this season will see a dramatic turnaround at the park.

The Eagle Editorialist observes that Pete Reiser was saved from a possibly fatal injury when he was hit in the head by a sidearm fastball from Ike Pearson of the Phillies the other day -- because he was wearing one of Larry MacPhail's plastic skull protectors inside his cap. "We hope that this justification of the Dodgers' helmets will lead the other big league teams to take similar steps for the protection of their players."

(Use up these kinds of jokes while you can, Mr. Lichty, because I predict they'll be a tougher sell as the year goes on.)

(Well, let's see. Davis is going on 38 years old and not in a good way, Head is 23 but still very green, and Mungo is Mungo. I bet Leo is praying Fitzsimmons recovers soon, and that he's gonna forget all about that "relief ace" business pretty quick when he does come back. And speaking of the elderly, Waner's not hitting. And now Reiser's hurt. "Annit's been 'leven games an he ain' played Petey even once!" growls Sally. "Make sure ya mentionnat!")

The New York Black Yankees, who have just finished their most strenuous spring training regimen since joining the Negro National League five years ago, and are raring for a crack at the Bushwicks in this Sunday's twinbill at Dexter Park. The Black Yanks tore up the competition during their barnstorming tour of Alabama and Tennessee, including a 20-3 routing of the powerful Birmingham Barons. That victory against one of the better clubs in the Southern Association included an enormous home run by Big Junior Starks estimated to have carried more than 465 feet.

Eddie Cantor's been making jokes about his five daughters for years, but NBC thought a recent one cut a bit too close to the bone. During a guest appearance on Cantor's show last week by actress Ilka Chase, the comedian praised Miss Chase for "her production of 'The Women'." Miss Chase was supposed to reply "you haven't done so badly for yourself in the production of women," but the NBC censor demanded the line be cut. When Cantor refused to cooperate, the network ordered the engineer to cut the program off the air during the joke.

(Somewhere, young Stan Lee is reading "Sparky" this week, and imagining a character he could call, I dunno, "Ant Man.")

("And his aristocratic -- ha ha! -- wife" Jo's comic timing is, as always, impeccable.)

(Slim, you boob. Insurance investigators don't have arrest powers. Tell him to kiss off.)

(I was gonna say that Kay looks especially broken and lost today, but then I remembered that's just her regular expression.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Um, Mr. Robinson, you're already divorced and she's married to Bert Lahr. The marriage is over. "Ngyahh! Ngyahh! Ngyahh!"

Wait, you mean when I turn 61 I can't wear my saddles anymore? Nertz to you, Macy's. And by the way, you fail to understand the psychology of baseball fans at all if you think that there's any possibility in this situation for "state second choice of team."

The bottom right photo is why the News was once a great paper. Look at those faces. That's the essence of outstanding photojournalism.

Mr. Gray's understanding of anatomy has always been a bit theoretical, but the poses today are really the limit.

The villains in this strip always come to gruesome ends, but I'd really hate to be an innocent bystander.

Gus really wanted to see "Hellzapoppin'" the other night, and he's sore he couldn't get good seats.

LIE. You talked Uncle Walt into sending you to prep school for a year when you were fourteen so you could be just eight miles away from where Trixie was going to school, and you saw each other regularly that year. Look at those shifty eyes. He's hoping he'll get away with it. I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU SON.

If it really *is* Hu Shee in a rowboat, I'm gonna scream.

Nice of Moon to cut himself in on the reward.

*snif*

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(Well, at least they're honest about it being an old model. That's something new.)...

That is, wonder if the gov't has knocked on Davega's door.

...
(It's STREAMLINED! Take that, Davega.)...

And for $16.75 less.

... View attachment 329780
(I was gonna say that Kay looks especially broken and lost today, but then I remembered that's just her regular expression.)

Marsh is dragging out this "Dan is dead" storyline a bit too long.

... Um, Mr. Robinson, you're already divorced and she's married to Bert Lahr. The marriage is over. "Ngyahh! Ngyahh! Ngyahh!"...

Lizzie, you beat me to it. I had to reread the article as it didn't really make sense because, dude, that ship has sailed.

Separately, and the ring goes back.

.. The bottom right photo is why the News was once a great paper. Look at those faces. That's the essence of outstanding photojournalism....

What, no picture of the heroic maid?

... Mr. Gray's understanding of anatomy has always been a bit theoretical, but the poses today are really the limit....

He also takes a lot of poetic license with scale: look at DW's hand in the first panel.

...[
..

Heck, if Ed hadn't already done it, Skeezix would be headed toward a double engagement.

...
If it really *is* Hu Shee in a rowboat, I'm gonna scream....

Oh please let it be - that would be so good. And you would win the Fedora Lounge Comic Strip Prophet of the Year Award hands down. Could be Burma, but Hu Shee would be perfect.

... *snif*

Well done Carl Ed.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That one pose that Gray uses all the time where someone dismisses another's arguments by holding up a hand like that is one of those comic-strip tropes I don't think you ever see in real life. Until the 90s, anyway, when the whole "talk to the hand" meme appeared.

Gawky disproportionate hands are also an Andy Gump trait, which is understandable since Gray was Sid Smith's assistant on "The Gumps" before starting "Annie." That's also where he picked up the habit of giant speech balloons full of giant soliloquizing speeches.

I'm assuming Lana had to have left Harold a letter explaining why she's leaving, and I'm assuming he's going to be completely taken by surprise by it. Because he's just that dense.

I'm really sore at Skeezix right now, and whatever trouble he gets into from here on is entirely his own fault.

The only thing I can think of in the Robinson affair is that Mr. Robinson wants an annulment on his record instead of a divorce because he's planning to remarry, and he's a Catholic and requires the church's sanction. But that wouldn't make any sense if he wants a divorce if he can't get the annulment. I hope Lahr comes over and busts him in the snoot for dragging the whole mess out in the papers again.

 

[vitanola]

That is, wonder if the gov't has knocked on Davega's door.




And for $16.75 less.




View attachment 329822

That 1940 Frigidaire, with its hermetically sealed compressor, self lubricated, with integral motor and Freon-12 refrigerant is twenty times the machine as the Coldspot, which is belt driven, with an old-fashion reciprocating compressor, Methyl Formate refrigerant, and which requires monthly piling at seven oil cups. There is a reason that some 1930s and 1940s Frigidaire machines are still in service. Virtually all of the pre-war Coldspot machines gave up the ghost by the time that they were ten years old. My grandparents bought a brand new 1942 model Coldspot as their first electric refrigerator. In the 1970s my grandmother was STILL talking about how the thing was forever throwing belts and allowing rationed food to spoil. Thrifty as they were, they bought a new Crosley Shelvador as soon as they could get one after the War, which in their case was the autumn of 1947. THAT refrigerator is still keeping soda and beer chilled in my brother’s cellar.

 

[Harp]

The only thing I can think of in the Robinson affair is that Mr. Robinson wants an annulment on his record instead of a divorce because he's planning to remarry, and he's a Catholic and requires the church's sanction. But that wouldn't make any sense if he wants a divorce if he can't get the annulment. I hope Lahr comes over and busts him in the snoot for dragging the whole mess out in the papers again.

While I am not conversant with the facts of this case it seems that fraudulent claim was made by the former spouse,
which should serve sufficient grounds for annulment. For Catholics this is a patch of ice. A woman once asked me out
after a brief professional acquaint, and I had believed that she was widowed. I later learned that she was divorced,
and invited her to dinner to discuss this further; hoping that she had gotten an annulment. She and I were both
Catholic and I had to explain that because she hadn't sought formal Church annul, she remained married to her
former husband. Not the happiest dinner date. She was upset with me and things ended on a sour note.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A prominent Deputy Police Inspector who played a key role in the Seabury Investigations that unseated former Mayor Jimmy Walker killed himself this morning at his home in Queens. 47-year-old John W. Kenna shot himself in the head with his service revolver in the bathroom of his apartment at 108-25 72nd Avenue in Forest Hills shortly before 7 AM. His wife heard two shots and discovered his body, with one bullet lodged in his forehead above the left eye. The second bullet penetrated Kenna's head and was embedded in the bathroom wall. "It is too bad," declared Deputy Chief Inspector Harry L. Lobdell of Queens, who called Kenna "a fine police officer." Kenna was second in command of the 14th Police District in Brooklyn, and had been in ill health in recent months. During the Seabury probe in 1930, Kenna was questioned concerning bank deposits exceeding $226,000 that he declined to explain, but in promoting Kenna to the rank of Captain in 1932, former Police Commissioner Edward P. Mulrooney stated that an audit of Kenna's financial affairs resulted in "a satisfactory explanation" of the money.

A 12-year-old Sunset Park girl killed herself by gas asphyxiation this morning, leaving behind a note sending love and ten X marks for kisses to her parents and her 4-year-old brother. Young Jane Shaw arose before her parents this morning, stopped the cracks under the kitchen door with towels, and turned on two gas jets. Her body was found after her younger brother was awakened by the odor of the gas and scrambled downstairs to a neighbor's apartment to raise help. The child was considered an "exceptionally bright student" at St. Michael's Parochial School, and had only just been confirmed. Police could gain no explanation for the child's suicide from the grief-stricken and bewildered parents.

German motorized units have captured the Greek city of Thebes and have advanced to within 25 miles of Athens, according to reports from Nazi authorities. Authoritative Berlin sources also stated that German troops based on the captured island of Euboea have landed on the Greek mainland at a point between Athens and Thebes, cutting off the route of retreat for trapped British forces.

Thirty passengers in a Flatbush Avenue trolley car escaped serious injury late yesterday when the car collided with an automobile at the Rockwell Place intersection. The accident tied up trolley traffic for about twenty minutes.

Conscientious objectors to military service will be sent to seven labor camps where they will be "inducted" to perform "work of national imporance." Approximately 2000 men are expected to be assigned to the camps by the early fall. The camps will be administered and financed by religious groups. The camps will receive their first contingents of objectors by May 15th.

John Barrymore is earning $6700 a week these days from radio and film work, but when payday comes, he draws only $700 of it. The balance of the money is being placed in a fund to pay off the actor's many creditors, under the administration of Federal Bankruptcy Judge
Ernest J. Utley. The fund will provide assurance to creditors that they will be paid even if Barrymore should become unemployed.

Daylight Saving Time begins tomorrow morning at 2 AM, with clocks to be set forward one hour. The Daylight Saving period will continue to the end of September. Remember not to turn your clocks *back,* or to turn them ahead 11 hours, which is the same thing as turning them back one hour. For best results turn your clocks ahead before you retire this evening.

("Hey, lookit!" shouts Joe. "Ya ma gotta pitcha inna paypa!" "What?" says Sally. "Oh, wait," replies Joe, reading the caption. "Nevvamind.")

New York's America First Committee today denounced President Roosevelt for his remarks criticizing Col. Charles A. Lindbergh in the wake of this week's rally by the organization at the Manhattan Center. "No one has dared, even by indirection, to call [Col. Lindbergh] a traitor," said America First spokesman John T. Flynn. "It remained for the President of the United States to do that."

(And although the Parachute Jump stopped operating in the mid-sixties, and Steeplechase Park itself is long gone, the tower itself remains to mark the site, a beloved Brooklyn landmark to this day. Go to a Cyclones game at MCU Park and you'll get a great view of it.)

The Eagle Editorialist tips his hat to Mrs. Catherine O'Brien, heroic chambermaid, who proved this week that "courage sometimes appears in the most unexpected places."

(I'll be glad when the Lichtys get settled in to their new place, so we can move on to other topics.)

(Mr. Brown is one of the first pitchers to build a reputation for himself as a relief specialist, so I don't think he's going to seriously be in the running for a starting spot. But he will free Fitz up to be a spot starter again, so that's something. And oh you Harold Parrott: Ike Pearson is a "gentle soul who won't hurt anybody all season except the Phillies." Always with the wisecracks. As for the beanball epidemic, the obvious answer is that Mr. Durocher has a lot of enemies around the league, and it's a good thing for him that he doesn't play much. Not so good for Pistol Pete, though.)

You can't possibly get more 1941 than a double bill of "The Great Dictator" and "Blondie Plays Cupid."

(Exactly how tall is Sparky supposed to be? I'm trying to figure out the physics of how small you'd have to be to be knocked over by a raindrop, but it's giving me a headache. I was never any good at STEM.)

(Why don't you just put the money back where you found it and forget the whole thing? You're all going to kill each other before this is over if you don't.)

(Story nonwithstanding, one of the little joys of "Mary Worth" is the way Dale Connor draws young Sunny in action. That's a real toddler.)

("Oh yeah? Well, when do I get my name up top in the slug line?)