The Era -- Day By Day

[Styleslover]

Warsaw surrendered today -- or so the Germans claim. Meanwhile, Nazi air attacks against the British fleet in the North Sea are the topic of conflicting reports from Berlin and London. The British say no ships were hit, the Germans claim to have sunk a carrier.

Closer to home, Assistant D. A. Alexander R. Baldwin will face a disbarrment hearing, despite his acquittal on a charge that he accepted an $800 bribe from Isadore "I Paid Plenty" Juffe, reputed fur racketeer.

The court martial of a notorious World War draft dodger on Governor's Island took a twist today when defendant Grover Cleveland Bergdoll claimed he'd snuck into the US twice during the years he was supposedly living in exile in Germany, in order to tap a hidden cache of gold totalling $150,000.

An eight year old Ridgewood girl given a year to live after being diagnosed with bone cancer is holding on after the amputation of her right leg. Dorothy Lewis told doctors that, despite the operation, she's "feeling swell."

The overcrowded conditions at the notorious Raymond Street Jail get worse every day. With 44 new prisoners added to the population today, the current population stands at 541 -- 77 above the listed capacity. Jail officials blame rainy weather for the current crush.

Seventy-two year old Simon Weir of 595 Stone Avenue, described as a "Jewish Sexton," was killed yesterday when he fell off a hearse en route to Monteflore Cemetery, and was crushed by a truck.

Out in Lapeer, Michigan, the Associated Press reports that two couples are on trial for "lewd and lascivious cohabitation" after two men, 34-year-old factory worker George Davis and 39-year-old farmer Clarence June agreed to swap their wives and families. Their wives, Mildred Davis and Edith June, both aged 28, are also facing charges.

Aviatrix Laura Ingalls is in trouble in Washington after dropping a load of "Keep America Out Of War" pamphlets over the capital. Charges indicate she flew over the Capitol building and the White House, airspace that has been legally restricted since 1935.

In the Feature section, Jane Corby's series of metropolitan romance stories tells the true tale of Bill and Dottie Harrison of Jamacia, currently honeymooning at Niagara Falls -- two years after their marriage. Neither one of them had any money when they wed -- but why wait when you're in love? Bill is a security guard for the Holmes Detective Agency, and Dottie works an office job for Metropolitan Life.

The Dodgers are off today after splitting a twinbill with the Giants yesterday. Tomorrow they're in Boston, meeting the Bees for two more doubleheaders. Then they're back at Ebbets Field to close out the season with doubleheaders against the Phillies. (Who drew up this schedule, anyway? Insane.) Meantime, excitement is building for the "Get The Dodgers Over A Million" attendance contest, with a car being awarded to the fan who comes the closest to guessing the team's final gate total for the season. The final twinbill against the Phillies will feature between-games entertainment by Olsen and Johnson, stars of the Broadway smash "Hellzapoppin."

The National League pennant chase remains unresolved, but the Reds are building their lead which now stands at 3 1/2 games over the Cardinals. The teams split a pair yesterday, and meet again today at Crosley Field. Eagle sports columnist Harold Conrad contends that the Cardinals' failure to land Cookie Lavagetto last winter in a proposed trade with Brooklyn for Don Gutteridge will cost them the flag -- Lavagetto is currently hitting a cool .300, while the slumping Gutteridge is slogging along for the Cards at .285.

If you want to sign up for this winter's Brooklyn Eagle Bowling League, you better hurry -- rosters close on October 4th. Sections will form for teams representing Borough Hall, Bay Ridge, Bushwick, and Flatbush.

George Bungle's cousin Elmer remains bedridden after hitting his head against a door, and is looking forward to squeezing some cash out of the situation. Ah, relatives.

GO New York Giants!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The State Parole Board ruled today that German-American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn is "a hazard to the public peace and security," and rejected his application for parole from the Clinton State Prison in Dannemora. Kuhn has served eighteen months of a six-month-to-five-year sentence for larceny of $1217 in Bund funds and forgery of organization records in an attempt to conceal the theft. Kuhn, a chemist by profession who headed the largest Nazi organization in the United States, has spent the past year and a half working in the prison dye shop.

A British offensive in the Sollum area of of the Libya-Egypt frontier has been smashed, and British forces are reported in retreat in a statement released today by the German High Command. That communique stated that British losses, especially in tanks, have been "extraordinarily high."

Germany today lodged a formal protest against the Roosevelt Administration's action to close all German consulates and propaganda offices in the United States, and to expel their staffs from the country. The Nazi Government contends that the order violates a German-American friendship and commerce treaty signed in 1923, but Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles told reporters at a press conference today that the protest applies only to German agents affected by the order, and makes no reference to the President's order freezing all Axis assets in the United States.

Queens Commissioner of Borough Works John J. Halleran today obtained a court order blocking a subpoena from the Amen Grand Jury requiring him to testify in Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen's investigation of corruption in the paving industry. The court order was issued even as the Amen Office issued a statement warning that an "arch-plotter" is working behind the scenes to thwart the ongoing probe in Queens. The court order requires Amen to show cause why the Grand Jury should not be restrained from instituting proceedings against Halleran and his brother Lawrence, both of Flushing. In a statement filed with Queens County Court, Commissioner Halleran categorically denied taking bribes from paving contractors, and that he has been the target of "vicious and unfair" persecution by the Amen Office.

A 26-year-old engineer working on the demolition of the Fulton Street L was burned today when a burst of flaming oil erupted in the cab of his crane. Sanford W. O'Brien of 130 W. 68th Street, Manhattan, leaped screaming from the cab with his clothing ablaze, and was severely burned about the legs and hands before fellow workers could extinguish the flames. He was taken for first aid to the American Legion room at Borough Hall, about 100 feet away from the scene of the accident, and was subsequently hospitalized.

("Just give him the poiple, kid. Ya got enough ta worry 'bout as it is...")

Morris U. Schappes, admitted ex-Communist suspended from his job as an English instructor at City College, goes on trial today in Special Sessions Court on perjury charges stemming from his testimony before the Rapp-Coudert Committee. Schappes' case will be heard by a jury of seven men and five women, all of whom declared during jury selection that they are "prejudiced against Communists and Communism," but who promised to render "a fair verdict."

An employee of the German Transocean News Agency is recovering in the hospital at Ellis Island after a suicide attempt on Monday. Guenther Tonn was interned by Federal immigration officials in May as part of the Roosevelt Administration's roundup of German propaganda agents, and is being held pending deportation proceedings. Tonn slashed his throat and wrists in a detention room at Ellis Island, but authorities declared the wounds were not serious and were merely "a bid for sympathy."

The Brooklyn head of the America First Committee today lashed back at Dodger president Larry MacPhail in the latest thrust in the battle that began when MacPhail refused to rent Ebbets Field to that organization. Mr. Leonard claimed that the letters and telephone conversations he has had with the Dodger chief concerning the matter "had in them all the bitterness, hatred, and spirit of the Ku Klux Klan, night riders, and witch hunters." Accusing the red-headed executive of having "a cuttlefish complex," Mr. Leonard further declared that MacPhail's refusal to rent the ballpark to the Committee because he doesn't agree with its views "is the sort of thing that makes Hitler what he is," and expressed outrage that "the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Baseball Club have set this man loose on an American community." Mr. Leonard denied that the America First Committee threatened to campaign for revocation of the Dodgers' night baseball permit, or that it intends to do so, and accused MacPhail of "trying to confuse the issue of freedom of discussion with baseball, a sport noted for its freedom of discussion."

("Sparkling coffee" resurfaced as a fad a few years back, but there's nothing new under the sun.)

(No. I won't.)

("*sigh* It's a living...")

(Every movie military comedy has to have at least one "camouflage" gag -- it's part of the MPPDA Code -- and clearly that rule also applies to the comics.)

(Boycotting the Dodgers because MacPhail won't let Lindbergh speak at Ebbets Field? Hiya, Col. McCormick! Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, there's a big fight tonight!)

(Yeah, good idea. And meanwhile, it seems that these days the sportswear department at Davega is seeing a lot of Sparky.)

(Nah, George, if she was gonna kill you, don't you think she'd have done it thirty years ago?)

(A haunted house story? I'm in!)

(TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT! TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT! TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

I'm pretty sure that this is the only time that Judy Canova, rollicking hillbilly comedienne, and Brenda Frazier, icy dead-eyed celebutante, have ever made the same page. Figures it'd be Page Four.

"There'll Always Be An England."

MAin 4-0730. Ask for Larry.

And the nurse is saying "who let that stupid dog in here? What's he got to grin about?"

Nice work if you can get it.

And unlike Kiel, Wolff is not an idiot.

"It's COLD in there! Good thing I've got this snazzy leather jacket!"

"Lying face down on the sidewalk if you don't take it."

Everybody's wearing those polo shirts now.

Now it's Gramps' turn to troll.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Gray can play this one of two ways. Bill really is turning over a new leaf, all loose ends relating to him can be tied up, (Billy, mom, dad and the doting grandparents living happily ever after), and the plot line can move on to other things. Or the guy will emerge as a bigger rat than ever and we can run with that ball for another year (at least). Warbuck's touch and go medical condition could dovetail into either option, as I see it.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Queens Commissioner of Borough Works John J. Halleran today obtained a court order blocking a subpoena from the Amen Grand Jury requiring him to testify in Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen's investigation of corruption in the paving industry. The court order was issued even as the Amen Office issued a statement warning that an "arch-plotter" is working behind the scenes to thwart the ongoing probe in Queens. The court order requires Amen to show cause why the Grand Jury should not be restrained from instituting proceedings against Halleran and his brother Lawrence, both of Flushing. In a statement filed with Queens County Court, Commissioner Halleran categorically denied taking bribes from paving contractors, and that he has been the target of "vicious and unfair" persecution by the Amen Office....

Amen isn't wrong, you can feel that big power is at work behind the scenes in this one. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out. If the story fades from the headlines, we'll know Amen got shut down in an unseen-by-the-public high-up game of political hardball.

...
("Sparkling coffee" resurfaced as a fad a few years back, but there's nothing new under the sun.)...

What's the story with the ice-cream in the can? It sounds like some sort of dehydrogenated ice-cream concoction.

...[
("*sigh* It's a living...")...

Leona agrees, "you gotta do, what you gotta do to put food on the table."

... (Nah, George, if she was gonna kill you, don't you think she'd have done it thirty years ago?)...

"Don't think you'll stuff yourself into that gaudy outfit and swagger out of this nice place looking like an unemployed nightclub doorman."

God bless Jo. She's nut herself, but man can she fire out a line.

... (TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT! TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT! TIED UP IN THE BACK SEAT!)

Kudos Lizzie. Separately, I was hoping they were going to let him have it in the first panel - Irwin, argue, please argue with the man with gun.

... I'm pretty sure that this is the only time that Judy Canova, rollicking hillbilly comedienne, and Brenda Frazier, icy dead-eyed celebutante, have ever made the same page. Figures it'd be Page Four.....

"Brenda Frazier, icy dead-eyed celebutante" "Well now, that's unfair...[checks picture and notes]...never mind."

...
And the nurse is saying "who let that stupid dog in here? What's he got to grin about?"....

Sandy's grinning because he's waiting for a call back from the hiring agent at "Terry and the Pirates" that could get him out of this "Little Orphan Annie" nauseatingly repetitive storyline.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Brenda Frazier was the subject of the most terrifying magazine cover portrait I've ever seen --

("Ken" was a fascinating left-leaning slick put out by the publishers of Esquire, and was, for a while anyway, full of iconoclastic journalism. Miss Frazier's portrait here introduces an expose on the "debutante industry," which the magazine, as you might imagine, views as evidence of the deep decadence of the social elite. The first time I saw this cover it haunted me for weeks.)

Packaged ice-cream mix was a small fad of the prewar era -- it was a combination of powdered milk and milk extractives combined with thickeners, stabilizers, and flavorings that, when mixed, could be put in a freezer to create a reasonable facsimile of ice cream. Jell-O had a "brand extension" version of this idea that it pounded relentlessly for a few years before they realized there was more money in pudding. But the concept caught on again during the war, especially with Army cooks who found it a reasonable way to supply a dessert that was cheap and not likely to cause dysentery.

My great-grandfather was a captain in the "Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias," and his uniform included a coat with two rows of brass buttons and gold shoulder boards, a plumed chapeau, an ornate belt, and a saber. I regret that we have no photos because -- being as he was a skinny bald man who looked a bit like Andy Gump -- the image he cast when so attired would no doubt have been spectacular.

For Leona's sake I really hope John doesn't keep saying "c'mon, put on the outfit. Just this once."

 

[Fading Fast]

Brenda Frazier was the subject of the most terrifying magazine cover portrait I've ever seen --

View attachment 342089 ("Ken" was a fascinating left-leaning slick put out by the publishers of Esquire, and was, for a while anyway, full of iconoclastic journalism. Miss Frazier's portrait here introduces an expose on the "debutante industry," which the magazine, as you might imagine, views as evidence of the deep decadence of the social elite. The first time I saw this cover it haunted me for weeks.)

Packaged ice-cream mix was a small fad of the prewar era -- it was a combination of powdered milk and milk extractives combined with thickeners, stabilizers, and flavorings that, when mixed, could be put in a freezer to create a reasonable facsimile of ice cream. Jell-O had a "brand extension" version of this idea that it pounded relentlessly for a few years before they realized there was more money in pudding. But the concept caught on again during the war, especially with Army cooks who found it a reasonable way to supply a dessert that was cheap and not likely to cause dysentery.

My great-grandfather was a captain in the "Uniform Rank of the Knights of Pythias," and his uniform included a coat with two rows of brass buttons and gold shoulder boards, a plumed chapeau, an ornate belt, and a saber. I regret that we have no photos because -- being as he was a skinny bald man who looked a bit like Andy Gump -- the image he cast when so attired would no doubt have been spectacular.

For Leona's sake I really hope John doesn't keep saying "c'mon, put on the outfit. Just this once."

"c'mon, put on the outfit. Just this once."

"You said that the last five times, enough! And you sound silly saying 'Arr!'"

"Please, I am the Governor after all."

"This is the last time, and I mean it."

"Arr!"

 

[Harp]

Und ich dachte Wolff sie ein netter Karl...naive fool I am.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The official German news agency DNB reported today that Germany has ordered the closing of all United States consulates in that nation, and in all German-occupied territory. The order, handed today to the American charge d'affairs in Berlin, also requires that all offices of the American Express Company in Germany and German-held territory be closed.

The Swedish press and radio today reported that Russia is calling up reserves for military service, and that "tens of thousands" of children are being evacuated from Soviet cities to safe areas in the country. Those reports come as official Nazi sources deny that a German invasion of the Soviet Union has started, or that border clashes have occurred. An official German spokesman stated that "most of the rumors" concerning Germany and Russia "are of foreign origin, and that is the best indication of their unreliability." The spokesman did acknowledge, however that there has been a great increase in rumors of Nazi-Soviet tension in recent days.

German news agencies in Helsinki reported today that Finland is strengthening its defenses and calling up reserves "for extraordinary exercises" intended to "maintain its security like other neutral states." Those dispatches come at a time when relations between Germany and Finland are reported to be "getting closer."

(And here's hoping she got her happy ending.)

Joe Louis is still the heavyweight champion of the world after a harrowing 13-round bout at the Polo Grounds last night, and his opponent Billy Conn, who came within a few punches of taking away the Brown Bomber's crown, is about to become a bridegroom. The Pittsburgh Kid slipped out of the ballpark last night after the bout ended, leaving his $80,000 purse in the hands of promoter Mike Jacobs, and headed immediately for Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where his is today to marry his 18-year-old sweetheart, Mary Louise Smith of Pittsburgh.

("Hey!" says Joe. "We ottagetta dog!" Sally is about to reply when she is cut off by a low growl coming from under the stove, where the fluffed tail of Stella the Cat twitches threateningly. "Oh yeah," sighs Joe. "Nevvamin'.")

The Federal Communications Commission today suspended the operating licenses of thirteen radio amateurs in seven states for violating new Commission regulations prohibiting communication by amateurs with stations in foreign countries, a regulation promulgated in response to the present national defense emergency. One of the suspended operators, Charles R. Hoffman of St. Albans, operator of amateur station W2INS, said that he was aware of the new rule, but accidentally communicated with an operator based in Honduras. He told authorities that he cut off the communication as soon as he realized his error.

(In 1941, they called them "cranks.")

"Fair Play" writes in to applaud Larry MacPhail for "telling the America First Committee where to get off," and declares that Mr. MacPhail's record in the World War far exceeds anything accomplished by "Lindbergh, Wheeler, Nye, or any of the others." On the other hand, Anna Vom Lehm writes in to deplore that decision, stating that she would have been happy to attend such a rally at "the fine ball park," and that an infringement on free speech by one citizen toward another is "an infringement on a sacred privilege." Besides, she notes, the "free speech" afforded fans at Dodger games is very much an annoyance to those who live in the neighborhood around the ball field.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn America First Committee chairman William L. Leonard declared today that he is through talking to Larry MacPhail about anything, and stated that he will take his case straight to the Brooklyn Baseball Club's Board of Directors, where he expects to find "at least one man who is capable of conducting himself as an American gentleman."

(Hah! Note that Lichty Nazis all have awful Kiel-style fashy haircuts, and not good honest American horseshoe baldness.)

(What, Hamlin dishing up hot-potatoes again? I thought we were done with that. And all those guys who bet Conn wouldn't be able to walk out of the ring are pretty sore today. Then again, so is Billy.)

Football Dodger star Ace Parker gets his cast off tomorrow, and it's expected his broken ankle will be good as new in time for the start of summer workouts on August 15th. The only real worry now is the National Football League Most Valuable Player's draft status. Ace has not yet received his questionnaire, but it can't be far off.

The Dodgers no longer have a local monopoly on baseball broadcasts. While the Yankees and Giants are off the air this year because they couldn't find sponsors, the Bushwicks will be broadcasting for the rest of the season over station WBYN. Joe Hasel will describe the action in all home games from Dexter Park.

(Jeez, Boody. Gawdawmighty.)

(I hope we don't actually see this outfit, because it's much more fun to listen to Jo describe it.)

("Exxxxxxxxxcelllllent!")

(There was, very briefly, a "Dan Dunn" radio serial, and I wish we could hear it, because I really want to know what kind of goony low-dope voice they used for Irwin. "Duhhhhh...")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Crazy old men and guns have never been a safe combination.

You do have to feel bad for poor Miss Corio. When they tell ya to "break a leg," kid, they don't mean it literally...

Yeah, I found this one in my shoe this morning. Ain't summer swell?

"And I'll be better than ever -- wait'll you see my new titanium skull!"

There is no one more committed to duty than our brave men in white -- America's Milkmen!

"Hey kids, comics!"

"Mr. Gump can't take your call now, he's busy selling short."

Tops clearly doesn't go to many ball games, or he'd know the right abbreviation is "CIN'TI."

"Show business?" You took tickets for two weeks at the Patio, and they fired you for dropping cigarette butts in the goldfish pool.

Moon in the Navy? He'd get keelhauled.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Joe Louis is still the heavyweight champion of the world after a harrowing 13-round bout at the Polo Grounds last night, and his opponent Billy Conn, who came within a few punches of taking away the Brown Bomber's crown, is about to become a bridegroom. The Pittsburgh Kid slipped out of the ballpark last night after the bout ended, leaving his $80,000 purse in the hands of promoter Mike Jacobs, and headed immediately for Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where his is today to marry his 18-year-old sweetheart, Mary Louise Smith of Pittsburgh....

"How did you expect to hold it for six months when you couldn't hold it for 13 rounds" – Joe Louis to Billy Conn, after Conn said to Louis: "Joe, why didn't you let me have the title, I could have run down to the corner store and told my guys, 'hey I'm heavyweight champion of the world', then you could have won it back from me six months later."

...The Dodgers no longer have a local monopoly on baseball broadcasts. While the Yankees and Giants are off the air this year because they couldn't find sponsors, the Bushwicks will be broadcasting for the rest of the season over station WBYN. Joe Hasel will describe the action in all home games from Dexter Park....

"While the Yankees and Giants are off the air this year because they couldn't find sponsors..."

How stunning does that sound to our 2021 ears? From reading these Day by Days and with Lizzie's insights, it makes sense, but it still is a bit stunning, at least to us today.

...
(There was, very briefly, a "Dan Dunn" radio serial, and I wish we could hear it, because I really want to know what kind of goony low-dope voice they used for Irwin. "Duhhhhh...")

It's 1941 and Irwin is the buffoon while Kay is described this way: "Kay's mind works like lightening." Just noting everyone wasn't portraying the world as one of "smart men, silly women" back then. We see, time and again, the comicstrips have some incredibly strong, smart women. Heck, I'd take Kay over Dan, the star of the strip, if I was choosing a detective.

...
Crazy old men and guns have never been a safe combination....

Re stripteaser Ann Corio and her cast, well, at least that part of her leg will be covered.

...[
There is no one more committed to duty than our brave men in white -- America's Milkmen!...

As silly as it can seem to us today, we've seen in the news pages, not just the comics, in the '30s and '40s, some people were very willing to die for their jobs - stop a robbery, not give up a payroll, etc.

... "Hey kids, comics!"....

Terry turned on Burma pretty quickly. He seems to have a short memory as she's done a lot for him.

To your point, Lizzie, most of these comics are really for adults - it's surprising when you first discover it. I can't imagine a seven-year old understanding most of the story and nuance of "Terry and the Pirates," "The Gumps," "Gasoline Alley" or "Harold Teen" to name just a few. Thinking about those strips' recent storylines, seven-year-old I would have missed well more than half of what was going on in them.

...
"Mr. Gump can't take your call now, he's busy selling short."....

It's pretty amazing how much this storyline aligns to the trading in what are called "meme" stocks today. I've read comments about them on down days that are pretty much the same as Andy's speech in panel three.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And it's all the more heartbreaking to look at the comics page today and see what it's been reduced to. There is a lot of good work being done in comics today once you look past the arrested-adolescent-fantasy stuff, but it's rare to find a strip -- either online or in print -- that has the sense of day-to-day reality that most of our features here offer. Even strips as baroquely weird as Annie, Tracy, Dan Dunn, and our dear Bungles have a sense of at least a coherent internal logic that makes sense once you buy into their world. "Gasoline Alley," and to a somewhat lesser extent "Mary Worth's Family" and "Harold Teen," aren't just "realistic," they come across as genuinely real stories about genuinely real people you sincerely come to care about. And "Terry," of course, takes the "adventure" paradigm to levels not seen since.

I've seen web-comics that try for the slice of life approach, and some do it better than others, but I don't think I've ever found one yet that really commits to it to the extent that these do. The cartoonists of the Era had their noses held to the grindstone by the daily pressure of having to churn out a new strip 365 days a year -- they couldn't take the day off when they weren't feeling it, or take months off at a time before picking up the thread of the story again. And of course, newspaper strips today, with very few exceptions are a vast wasteland of niche humor, poor art, and "who cares" cliches. The few remaining story strips seem to exist only to be snarked at by the "Comics Curmudgeon," suggesting that even their current creative teams can't be bothered to take them seriously. It's a sad thing to be present at the slow death of an art form you've loved all your life.

 

[Harp]

Terry turned on Burma pretty quickly. He seems to have a short memory as she's done a lot for him.

To your point, Lizzie, most of these comics are really for adults - it's surprising when you first discover it. I can't imagine a seven-year old understanding most of the story and nuance of "Terry and the Pirates," "The Gumps," "Gasoline Alley" or "Harold Teen" to name just a few. Thinking about those strips' recent storylines, seven-year-old I would have missed well more than half of what was going on in them.

The more I read Terry and The Pirates and the hard boiled reporting carried or rather
splashed across the newspaper front page with relevant factual detail, the more amazed I am by such
mature themes frankly expressed. Burma is about to be chastised for the sole sin of being a woman,
and even within editorial restriction Caniff is pushing prurient allure; yet to deny the obvious would
emasculate certain character(s) and the strip itself. The juggling act routine is a facet of the skilled pen
wielded by the artist.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Lone Wolf Burglar of Flatbush is in custody today, with two black eyes administered by a right hook and a left cross from his final victim. Twenty-nine-year-old Aaron Elowitz was arrested yesterday by police from the Parkville precinct after being laid low while in the act of robbing the home of 40-year-old Gustav Bacon at 985 E. 18th Street early yesterday morning. Bacon told police he had been up late listening to the broadcast of the Louis-Conn fight and went to bed after midnight -- but was awakened around 1 AM by noises in his kitchen. He got up to investigate, found Elowitz, and, in his words, "I gave him a nice couple of socks and he went down." Elowitz was carrying a map of Brooklyn with the Prospect Park South section circled in pencil as "a danger zone" he intended to avoid due to the publicity surrounding his activities in that neighborhood. The suspect told police he is a machinist by trade, that he lives at 348 Thatford Avenue in Brownsville, and that he was released from Great Meadow Prison on April 25th after serving a term for attempted burglary. Elowitz confessed to fifteen burglaries in the Prospect Park South section, and a total of fifty across the borough since his release.

The first step in protecting New York City's 7,500,000 residents from aerial attacks began today as the Office of Civilian Defense began the process of enrolling a total of 64,000 men and women as volunteer air raid wardens. To be eligible for service, a person must be an American citizen over the age of 18, who is "well known in their own neighborhood," willing to submit to fingerprinting, and available to attend specialized training programs organized by the police department. The warden service will be organized city-wide by precincts, zones, sectors, and neighborhood posts. Each post will cover a population of 500 persons, with at least four wardens serving in relays at each post to ensure 24-hour service. Enrollment for the program will take place at neighborhood police precincts from 9 AM to 10 PM each day until the quota is filled.

("Hey," says Sally. "I'm gonna sign up f't'at. I'm well known. Ask anybody downa Bohack's, t'ey all know me. I wenna Erasmus, ya know. 'At counts fa sump'n." Joe squints. "Izzat a good idea?" Sally waves a hand in dismissal. "I got two anna haff mont's ta go, an' I ain' woikin'. Y't'ink I wanna set aroun' heah eatin' pickles an' gravy alla time? Besides, it's a bahgin -- t'ey gettin' two f't' pricea one!")

The first woman to pilot an American bomber across the Atlantic Ocean to Britain declared today that she had "a wonderful trip." Jacqueline Cochran, considered America's number one aviatrix, flew an American-built Lockheed Hudson from Canada to Britain this week for service in the RAF, accompanied by navigator Capt. Graf T. Carlisle, and pronounced the ship "wonderful to handle." Miss Cochran and Captain Carlisle dined on sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, and tomato juice during their flight, and she noted that she brought along three dozen pairs of silk stockings to distribute to British friends. She hopes to fly back to the United States soon, but plans for her return have not been completed. The pilot, who learned to fly at Roosevelt Field, defeated all male pilots in the 1938 Transcontinental National Air Races, and holds a total of 17 national and international flying records.

Authorized German sources charged today that American consular offices in Germany have been working directly with the British secret service in sending information to a central office in Washington, from which it was distributed to British authorities. It was claimed that it was these "espionage activities" that prompted the Nazi order this week shuttering all American consulates in Germany and German-controlled territory.

Europe continues to seethe today with rumors of an imminent violent break in relations between Germany and the Soviet Union. A shortwave listening post maintained by the London Daily Express reported that a Moscow broadcast stated that "clashes may have broken out along the Bessarabian frontier," and that "enemy planes" were detected in the darkness above a Ukrainian town and were brought down by "a well-aimed salvo from anti-aircraft guns."

("Not tonight, hon -- I've got a headache....")

Rowdy the Fox Terrier will live, with a judge in Oakland, California ruling that the dog will not have to be put to death despite a clause in his late mistress's will stipulating that he be killed. Instead, the spirited brown-and-white pup will join the Army Air Corps, serving as mascot at the AAF base at Hamilton Field, where Technical Sgt. Alfred C. Bowes has been appointed his caretaker.

Police are looking for two men who burst into a Williamsburg luncheonette yesterday and beat two union officials over the head with glass bottles. 31-year-old Sol Kitain, an organizer for Bedding Local 140 of the United Furniture Workers CIO, and 38-year-old Alex Sirota, the Bronx business manager for the union, were seated at the counter when they were assaulted, and Kitain required six stitches to close scalp wounds inflicted in the assault. Kitain, Sirota, and a third union member, 21-year-old Frank Juicizak, had just been cleared of simple assault charges filed by Louis Zlotopuro, owner of the Puro Feather Company, 566 Johnson Street, who accused the three of punching him in a dispute over an ongoing strike at his plant. The three in turn swore out counter-complaints against Zlotopuro. Forty feather factory employees went on strike this week demanding better pay and recognition of the union.

In a close factional battle the New York Newspaper Guild CIO today endorsed the anti-Communist platform of CIO President Philip Murray, and reversed a previous vote condemning the use of Federal troops to break the strike at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California. The vote in favor of the Murray faction came down to a three-ballot margin, 365 to 362.

(I always liked the original paper-pouch Kool-Aid because you could add less sugar if you didn't like it sticky-sweet.)

("And it gets those grubby yellow cigarette stains right off my fingers. Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that.")

The Eagle Editorialist observes that "for some reason that grocers have never understood, customers have never taken kindly to women as grocery clerks." But readers will need break down that prejudice, because, as the EE notes, as national defense needs escalate, you will see more and more women taking up positions behind grocery counters.

("Nobody Loves A Sergeant But His Mother."

A bartender from Bayonne, New Jersey will spend up to two years at Sing Sing Prison on a forgery conviction after he was caught trying to redeem an altered parimutuel ticket. 31-year-old Vincent Carangelo was caught by a sharp-eyed clerk at Belmont Park on May 22, 1940 when he tried to pass a ticket on which he'd changed the number of a losing horse to that of a winner.

(All together now: THE WORLD CHAMPION REDS ARE A FOURTH PLACE CLUB! THE WORLD CHAMPION REDS ARE A FOURTH PLACE CLUB! THE WORLD CHAMPION REDS ARE A FOURTH PLACE CLUB!)

(Uh, Boody -- there's a woman here to see you. Says her name is "The Dragon Lady," and she's holding a knife.)

(Mr. Tuthill doesn't often do political allegories, but when he does he goes all in. Look for a subpoena from the Dies Committee in the morning.)

(I have no idea how this will end, but I am certain that, before it does, we will see Bill stuffed into an ill-fitting bellboy uniform.)

("Ha ha, I bet he was easy to catch too, you know how fat guys run...")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"And it won't take me thirteen rounds to do it!" -- Papa Smith.

I remember Staff bread. We used to get Staff bread. And as far as "revolutionary" goes, Staff bread was total Kerensky.

Go get 'em!

Suckerrrrrrrrrrrrrrs....

And Trigger finally gets his revenge for all those times his ma wouldn't let him leave the table until he finished his milk.

DELIGHTFUL JOKE == ELASTIC PLASTIC == WHAT WILL YOU THINK OF NEXT == LOVE TO MIN == UNCLE BIM

SUCKERRRRRRRRRS.

As Snipe undresses him with her eyes. ON THE PROWL BABY

It's true -- Plushie was wiped out in '29 and did, in fact, marry Emmy for her money. Such as it is.

"WHO PUT FATHER JOHN'S MEDICINE IN MY FATHER JOHN'S MEDICINE BOTTLE???"

 

[Harp]

Wolff is a regular isosceles circle eluding the square in this particular triangle.
...but it may be that my initial impression was correct.

And, he is most correct about the fortunate circumstance of American birth.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 342332

The Lone Wolf Burglar of Flatbush is in custody today, with two black eyes administered by a right hook and a left cross from his final victim. Twenty-nine-year-old Aaron Elowitz was arrested yesterday by police from the Parkville precinct after being laid low while in the act of robbing the home of 40-year-old Gustav Bacon at 985 E. 18th Street early yesterday morning. Bacon told police he had been up late listening to the broadcast of the Louis-Conn fight and went to bed after midnight -- but was awakened around 1 AM by noises in his kitchen. He got up to investigate, found Elowitz, and, in his words, "I gave him a nice couple of socks and he went down." Elowitz was carrying a map of Brooklyn with the Prospect Park South section circled in pencil as "a danger zone" he intended to avoid due to the publicity surrounding his activities in that neighborhood. The suspect told police he is a machinist by trade, that he lives at 348 Thatford Avenue in Brownsville, and that he was released from Great Meadow Prison on April 25th after serving a term for attempted burglary. Elowitz confessed to fifteen burglaries in the Prospect Park South section, and a total of fifty across the borough since his release....

A very '40s story from the Louis-Conn fight on the radio to Bacon knocking down the burglar Elowitz, a machinist, with a one-two combo.

...The first woman to pilot an American bomber across the Atlantic Ocean to Britain declared today that she had "a wonderful trip." Jacqueline Cochran, considered America's number one aviatrix, flew an American-built Lockheed Hudson from Canada to Britain this week for service in the RAF, accompanied by navigator Capt. Graf T. Carlisle, and pronounced the ship "wonderful to handle." Miss Cochran and Captain Carlisle dined on sandwiches, hardboiled eggs, and tomato juice during their flight, and she noted that she brought along three dozen pairs of silk stockings to distribute to British friends. She hopes to fly back to the United States soon, but plans for her return have not been completed. The pilot, who learned to fly at Roosevelt Field, defeated all male pilots in the 1938 Transcontinental National Air Races, and holds a total of 17 national and international flying records....

A real-world Joy from "Smilin' Jack."

...
("Not tonight, hon -- I've got a headache....")..

"My 'yes' answer was conditional on you winning the title. Do better next time and then we can talk."

Although, in truth, this seems all dad's doing.

...Rowdy the Fox Terrier will live, with a judge in Oakland, California ruling that the dog will not have to be put to death despite a clause in his late mistress's will stipulating that he be killed. Instead, the spirited brown-and-white pup will join the Army Air Corps, serving as mascot at the AAF base at Hamilton Field, where Technical Sgt. Alfred C. Bowes has been appointed his caretaker....

What an awful thing to put in a will. Good on the judge. So far, 1941 America seems to make the right decision in these dog-at-risk cases in the end.

...
("And it gets those grubby yellow cigarette stains right off my fingers. Oh, wait, I wasn't supposed to say that.")...

It's surprising how little she looks like Priscilla Lane. I'm sure she is, but often in these Lux Soap ads, the stars are hardly recognizable. I'm guessing Lux's advertising department (or the company it's hired) has some look it is going for and "touches up" the pics, but it seems to undermine the logic of paying for a star's endorsement.

...
("Ha ha, I bet he was easy to catch too, you know how fat guys run...")

And the camera gives us a quick shot of Freddie Fitzsimmons' reaction to reading "Dan Dunn" today:

...
And Trigger finally gets his revenge for all those times his ma wouldn't let him leave the table until he finished his milk....

Gould just loves elaborate things, setups, etc. He is the anti-Occam's Razor guy. If he lives into the '60s, he could be a technical consultant to the James Bond villains.

...
As Snipe undresses him with her eyes. ON THE PROWL BABY...

Her body language couldn't be clearer in panel two.

...
It's true -- Plushie was wiped out in '29 and did, in fact, marry Emmy for her money. Such as it is....

"Gallivanting" belongs in our words-that-are-disappearing thread. I don't know that I've ever seen it in print before.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Mary Louise! I simply can't believe you still moon over that bold Conn faker! How he swaggers into the room in that flashy two-tone sport coat -- and you practically leap across the furniture to gape into his watery eyes!" -- Mary Louise's Mother.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Mary Louise! I simply can't believe you still moon over that bold Conn faker! How he swaggers into the room in that flashy two-tone sport coat -- and you practically leap across the furniture to gape into his watery eyes!" -- Mary Louise's Mother.

And for once, when they say someone is a model, Page Four proved she truly has got it going on.

I guess, boxers, even heavyweight contenders had, maybe, a stigma attached to them?

 

[ChiTownScion]

The Lena Lovewell Fan Club must have petitioned to introduce a matron that makes their gal look virtuous by comparison.