The Era -- Day By Day

[Harp]

Conductor Fritz Reiner's baton lead of Beethoven, Haden, Shostakovich at the NY Symphony,
with 'Kiss-and-Tell' star gal Ms Mulhberg as my date would be a pleasant diversion.

War production bottlenecks would prove interesting study for college biz kids. I'd assign
one hundred page plus papers to be writ across an entire academic year. The 'Wiz Kids' are
due soon to arrive, buck-ass shavetail second lieutenants armed with pencil and slide rule.
MacNamera, 'Mac the knife' to later Vietnam generation was one such annointed ba***rd.

Getting back to them and us; Orient v Occident.... Dragon Gal is Caniff's star babe, a Sino siren
whose sheer ruthlessness and personal licentousness are refreshing in this politically correct age.
A little bit of wanton avarice spreads across the page strip rather evenly. Some yin with that yang.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.)

General Douglas MacArthur's little army in the wilds of Batan, fighting on without hope of reinforcement, held the Japanese at a standstill today, with courage that President Roosevelt said is "gaining them eternal glory." Even as the President gave them tribute in his broadcast last night, the weary men in the Batan fox-holes and manning the guns of Corregidor clung tenaciously to the line the enemy has tried to break in 45 days of savage fighting.

A mighty Soviet frontal attack on the Smolensk sector of the central front was revealed by Soviet authorities today as the high command announced that Red Army forces have seized Dorogobuzh, only fifty miles east of Smolensk. The strategic Dnieper River town was seized by Soviet troops on the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Red Army, a smashing victory that coincided with the announcement that more than 14,000 Nazi troops have been killed in a great new battle near "a large populated center" in the Ukraine.

("Huh!" huhs Joe. "I guessa cig'rette business ain' as good as y'd t'ink it'd be, if Philip Morris hasta woik as a dip." "It ain' t'same guy," sighs Sally. "Guess 'at utta job he had musta fell t'rough." "What utta job?" "You know, t' bellhop job. Ain' you seen'em ads?")

Broadway's last burlesque theatre rang down its curtain today after city License Commissioner Paul Moss refused to renew an operating certificate for the Gaiety Theatre. In refusing the license, Commissioner Moss cited Mayor LaGuardia's policy of "not permitting the city's moral standards to be lowered." All other burlesque houses in the city were ordered closed by the Mayor, as of February 1st. Attorney Morris Ernst, who fought the shutdown order on behalf of the theatre's management, denounced the action as "outrageous," and accused the Mayor of "acting as a one man censor."

(Frank Godwin, who drew this ad, was one of the greatest magazine and book illustrators of his generation, a peer of James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson in a field which will soon be pushed into extinction by the blandness of four-color photography. He'll also do a couple of finely-drawn comic strips, "Connie" and "Rusty Riley," neither of which will achieve especially wide distribution. )

(Is there nothing she can't do??)

("They sent me a can of Spam, and I sent it right back!")

("Vacation??" squawks the Parrott. "But I wanted to go to Havana!!!" And note yet another passive-aggressive thrust by Leo in the direction of Mr. Walker.)

Defense workers on overnight shifts have begun a city-wide campaign to encourage daytime radio listeners to turn their sets down. "Each of us must have our daily rest," stated a spokesman for the drive, "and we have come unnerved and desperate" at the constant squawk of radios run at loud volume by unthinking listeners.

(Guy with the skull ring -- a crossover with "The Phantom?")

(Odds that George ends up tied to a chair in a secret underground base now 1:1)

(Just so you know what you're getting into, Colonel...)

(Nice "high and tight" haircut there, Irwin. Too bad the Marine thing didn't work out.)

 

[Harp]

Convoy losses are indeed tragic.

Spam is good day or nite. In Hawaii on guard spam sandwiches together wth a hot Idaho white spud
'golf ball' and coffee bring fond recollection. All that was missing were lovely wahinies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

An inner-tube girdle? Is George Clark getting royalties? And they got Mrs. Comiskey for $12 in cash? That's her whole payroll.

"Twice as much for a nickel too!"

Death to the AMA.

Why do I get the feeling that Mr. Clark is, himself, a bit paunchy?

You can see where this is headed.

Wouldn't more of the pipes have blown by now?

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

"Oh, won't you stay and have a glass of my homemade elderberry wine?"

Wait, Moon is Scotch-Irish? THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!

HOW DOES HIS NECK DO THAT?????

 

[Fading Fast]

...

(Frank Godwin, who drew this ad, was one of the greatest magazine and book illustrators of his generation, a peer of James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson in a field which will soon be pushed into extinction by the blandness of four-color photography. He'll also do a couple of finely-drawn comic strips, "Connie" and "Rusty Riley," neither of which will achieve especially wide distribution. )
...

The talent of so many of the era's illustrators is incredible, plus their work was everywhere and in so many "mundane" things. It's a shame it's all but gone, but having seen several of my work "skills" made obsolete by technology, it is what it is.

...

(Is there nothing she can't do??)
...

Tell the truth (especially about her War-time spying). I love and respect her, but she was not above telling a very tall tale now and then.

...

Defense workers on overnight shifts have begun a city-wide campaign to encourage daytime radio listeners to turn their sets down. "Each of us must have our daily rest," stated a spokesman for the drive, "and we have come unnerved and desperate" at the constant squawk of radios run at loud volume by unthinking listeners.
...

See, you're not alone Joe.

...

(Guy with the skull ring -- a crossover with "The Phantom?")
...

Come on Sparky, wouldn't you give your life to take out Hitler?

...

(Just so you know what you're getting into, Colonel...)
...

Odds Mary would be better off marrying the random plumber than the Colonel now 1 : 1.

...

View attachment 404845
(Nice "high and tight" haircut there, Irwin. Too bad the Marine thing didn't work out.)

"There, there Kay --- everything is alright"
"Yes, yes, very happy you're okay. While you were away, I, um, uh, um, got to 'know' Harrington better. He's nice man."

And in the Daily News...

An inner-tube girdle? Is George Clark getting royalties? And they got Mrs. Comiskey for $12 in cash? That's her whole payroll.
...

"Admits the garment is a bit warmish," said a profusely sweating Bobbette Goodwin.

...

Death to the AMA.
...

A outstanding read on the greed of the AMA today: ama-bitfd

It's on a subscription site, but pretty sure they give a few free reads away a month, so you should be able to read this one for free.

And in the Daily News...
...

View attachment 404854
Hahahahahahahaha!!!
...

If he hangs on to it until post-war prosperity or, better still, till the '70s Egyptian craze, Andy will be rich as Uncle Bim.

And God bless ya Tilda.

 

[Harp]

A flashlight refector conic can also be used to reflect sunlight to start a campfire,
or signal enemy Zeroes for a little friendly straffe. She's a cutie pie golden drop of sunshine.

Burma the babe and HuShee, a priceless beyond rubies treasure need appear.
This strip is beginning to look like a Dobie Gillis episode. Huba huba Caniff buddy. Move it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Well, at least Larry paid off the mortgage.)

Survivors of the torpedoed American oil tanker Cities Service Empire shuddered today as they told of watching their crewmates screaming as they burned to death in a sea of burning oil. The 8130-ton ship was hit by three torpedoes Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean south of Fort Pierce, Florida, with seven known dead and four missing and presumed dead. Thirty survivors landed at Fort Pierce on Monday, with seven immediately hospitalized for burns and other injuries.

(It Was A Gentler Time...)

("Whatcha doin' ?" asks Joe, looking across the table at Sally, who is seated quietly with an old tweed coat piled in her lap. "Stitchin' up a hole," she replies, as she squints at her work. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a new coat?" asks Joe, his eyes fixed on the newspaper page spread before him. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a Poisian Lam' coat?" "No," replies Sally, not looking up. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a Rooshian Squir'ul coat?" "No," replies Sally. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a natch'ral tipped skunk coat?" "No," declares Sally, with firm committment. "I neveh have. Why ya ask?" "I dunno," admits Joe. "It's like sump'n come oveh me." "Oh." "Um, Sal?" "Yeah?" "Eveh t'inka buyin' a sheeahed beaveh coat?")

(Reagan? Oh, I suppose. But he's no Ralph Bellamy. And drop everything and head to the Flatbush to hear Maxine Sullivan, an magnificent singer on the same level as Fitzgerald and Holliday, who somehow never got the big breaks.)

(When you consider that Mr. Lichty holds forth every day on the editorial page, and the editorial page every day, lately, looks like this, you've got to admire his ability to keep things light.)

(And fortunately for Larry's budget, Arky fits into Cookie's old uniform. Oh, and Frenchy Bordagaray might be a free agent? Frenchy Bordagaray, who showed up for spring training once with a bandito moustache? Frenchy Bordagaray, who Casey Stengel traded away from the Dodgers, saying "There's only room for one clown on this club?" THAT Frenchy Bordagaray? SIGN HIM NOW!!!)

Bing Crosby returns to the Thursday night Music Hall broadcast over WEAF tomorrow night, after a two-week golfing vacation on behalf of the Red Cross, and will welcome as his guests baritone Paul Robeson, film actor Allen Jenkins, and basketball star Hank Lusetti.

(Well, at least he won't have to worry anymore about all those time travelers coming to kill him.)

(Bunch of amateurs. Everybody knows you sharpen the shank BEFORE you go out on the job.)

(Don't run in the hallways!!)

(You know, I can't wait to see George Bungle Vs. Hitler.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

A "floral chair?" You can't say gangsters don't have a sense of the macabre. And speaking of chairs, please be seated, Mr. Cvek. You might remember him as the "Aspirin Tablet Killer," whose modus was to approach housewives and ask them for something for his headache. You might also remember he assaulted more than eighty women all along the eastern seaboard before he was finally caught. By all means, Mr. Cvek. Be seated.

"You dare challenge me, sir?" -- C. Gould.

"Insolent pup!!" Wish Punj was here, this guy needs a rugging.

And every fire inspector in the USA looks up from the paper and says SEE? SEE?

Maybe his brain was pulled out of his skull by a long thin hook up the nostril. Ask the mummy about that.

"Let me put it another way, son. This isn't a suggestion or a request."

Control your kid, Pat.

This whole storyline is actually a carefully-devised propaganda campaign against war marriages.

I always thought Army dress uniforms made the wearers look like Gilbert and Sullivan chorus boys, but different strokes...

Well, just a minute now. Is it Crabb or is it MCCrab. We Scotch-Irish are very particular about our "Mc's."

 

[Fading Fast]

(Well, at least Larry paid off the mortgage.)
...

That theater-shooting story is awful in a very sad way.

I hope Joe reads Judge Solomon's comments. That said, are Joe and/or Sally smokers?

...

(It Was A Gentler Time...)
...

It would be fascinating if we could find out how these two made out in the future.

...

("Whatcha doin' ?" asks Joe, looking across the table at Sally, who is seated quietly with an old tweed coat piled in her lap. "Stitchin' up a hole," she replies, as she squints at her work. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a new coat?" asks Joe, his eyes fixed on the newspaper page spread before him. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a Poisian Lam' coat?" "No," replies Sally, not looking up. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a Rooshian Squir'ul coat?" "No," replies Sally. "Eveh t'inka buyin' a natch'ral tipped skunk coat?" "No," declares Sally, with firm committment. "I neveh have. Why ya ask?" "I dunno," admits Joe. "It's like sump'n come oveh me." "Oh." "Um, Sal?" "Yeah?" "Eveh t'inka buyin' a sheeahed beaveh coat?")
...

"...a Poisian Lam' coat?"

That's an awful ad, just awful.

...

(When you consider that Mr. Lichty holds forth every day on the editorial page, and the editorial page every day, lately, looks like this, you've got to admire his ability to keep things light.)
...

That's quite the editorial cartoon at the top of the page and quite timely to the LA-blackout story from the front page.

...

(You know, I can't wait to see George Bungle Vs. Hitler.)

I'm just guessing, but I'd bet Hitler isn't a guy that takes well to hearing "I told you so."

And in the Daily News...

A "floral chair?" You can't say gangsters don't have a sense of the macabre. And speaking of chairs, please be seated, Mr. Cvek. You might remember him as the "Aspirin Tablet Killer," whose modus was to approach housewives and ask them for something for his headache. You might also remember he assaulted more than eighty women all along the eastern seaboard before he was finally caught. By all means, Mr. Cvek. Be seated.
...

Reimold might be a Yale graduate, but marrying E̵v̵a̵ ̵B̵r̵a̵u̵m̵ Countess Erica Wilhelma Eva Matria Johanna von Haacke in 1937 when you have business contracts with the US Department of Defense is pretty darn stupid. And she sounds even stupider than he. Countess Erica Wilhelma Eva Matria Johanna von Haacke might be the longest Page-Four name ever.

...

"Insolent pup!!" Wish Punj was here, this guy needs a rugging.
...

What the heck is going on with his hair; it's worse fake hair than Chigger's.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Joe loves his Old Golds, but Sally finds them distasteful and makes him sit by an open window when he indulges at home. Her views can be traced to the fact that Kilgallen smoked, an' you know how goils like'at is!

It's interesting to see Eva Gabor showing up in 1942. Recall a year or so back we had a whole string of future TV sitcom stars making the grade on Page Four, Vivian Vance, Werner Klemperer, etc, and she would fit right in with that trend. "Dahling, I'd love a little cottage, but I get allergic smelling hay."

There seems to be a lot of funny stuff going on in Kearny, New Jersey. Recall that was where a dynamite works got blown up a while back, and then the Army had to go in and seize that other plant, and now this. I imagine the Kearny Chamber Of Commerce will soon issue a stern statement of reproof.

Dr. Dubb got in late because he was attending a costume party dressed as John L. Lewis, and he couldn't get the wig off.

 

[Harp]

It is difficult to reconcile personal bias against capital punishment and read about the Broz killing.
Her boyfriend Mr MacDonald apparently shot her inside a public venue despite her protestation,
all for adolescent jealousy. Both deceased and assailant were minors, each just seventeen years old.
Then there is the tale of Clifford and Merkling, statutory rape of a minor who later committed infanticide,
yet only charged with manslaughter. This couple escaped sentence and ironically were wed by the kindly
solicitous judge. Judge Goldstein is a man after my own heart, a jurist to admire for his kindness
and wisdom. Yet, there is the matter of justice.

Justice is blindfolded and holds aloft her balance scale with her left hand. At her right side she nestles
a sword, palm and fingers grasping handle. The cold fact of human nature is that for her to have any
real meaning she cannot be disarmed. But for Justice to exist so too must live a measure of Injustice.

 

[Harp]

After watching this evening's CNN coverage of Ukraine and the local populace love
of country and their selfless courage, I read this thread and the violence displayed by
armed men and women with disgust. I also must remark the use of guns for murder
within Cupid's constituency. Time perhaps altered human emotional reaction or sexual
relations today are more casual than yesteryear but the violence astounds.

 

[Fading Fast]

After watching this evening's CNN coverage of Ukraine and the local populace love
of country and their selfless courage, I read this thread and the violence displayed by
armed men and women with disgust. I also must remark the use of guns for murder
within Cupid's constituency. Time perhaps altered human emotional reaction or sexual
relations today are more casual than yesteryear but the violence astounds.

I noted earlier in the week that purely anecdotally, it seems to me we have less violence in personal relationships / love affairs today than we did in the '40s. I have no idea if the statistics support that, but it feels that way from reading these Day by Days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We can't overlook the fact that it was generally a lot easier to get hold of a gun in the early 1940s than it is today. You could order a handgun by mail, under your own name or under a phony name, with essentially no questions asked, and no risk that the seller would recognize your face -- which not only meant that it was very easy for anyone with cash in hand to buy a new weapon anonymously there was also an essentially unlimited supply of second-hand guns floating around on the secondary market, again with no questions asked. New York instituted the Sullivan Law in 1911, which required a license to carry a concealed firearm, but as we see every day in the papers here, that law was very widely disregarded. This isn't the only reason why we see so much domestic violence in the Era, but it's a big part of why we see so much of it ending in homicide.

Not that it isn't easy to buy a handgun today over the internet -- I got mine that way. But you have to show up in person at a licensed dealer's premises to pick it up, you have to show government-issued photo ID, and you have to submit to a background check. It's not a foolproof system, but it does make it a lot more difficult to pick up a gun on an impulse, as it seems a lot of people did in 1942.

I remember being very startled years ago when I picked up a 1930s-vintage Johnson Smith Company novelty catalog -- that's the company that did most of its advertising in comic books, selling X-Ray Spex, exploding cigars, chattering teeth, and similar kiddie trinkets by mail order. Well, right there among the whoopee cushions and dribble glasses Johnson Smith also offered, to all comers, a full line of revolvers, automatic pistols, and ammunition. Not toys, not replicas, the real thing -- anything from a M1911 Colt .45 to a cheap palm-sized no-brand derringer "suitable for ladies" -- shipped postpaid to any address with no questions asked. You gotta wonder.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(It feels like matters are rushing to a climax here. I mean what's happening on the Pacific Coast, not, ah...)

Soviet forces in the Ukraine today mowed down four divisions of German and Rumanian troops totalling 60,000 men, in an attack led by Red Army infantry and cavalry, with approximately 26,000 Axis troops reported killed. The blow to the Nazi invaders was reported to be even greater than that inflicted at Starya Russa, where the 16th German Army remains trapped in a tightening circle of Soviet attackers. Several Axis garrisons are surrounded in populated places and face annihilation.

Australian aircraft battled a violent tropical storm and Japanese aircraft over enemy-occupied New Britain Island, in the Bismarck Archipelago northeast of Australia. A dispatch from Fort Morseby, New Guinea reported that Australian raiders left Japanese airfields and military buildings wrecked and ablaze in a heavy strike against the New Britain capital of Rabaul.

Newly-arrived American army planes are delivering triphammer blows in the battle of Java, with War Department communiques describing a mounting tempo of aerial attacks against the Japanese in the Far Pacific, indicating that both bombers and fighters are reaching the East Indies in steadily increasing numbers.

Women are now doing assembly work at the Sperry Gyroscope Company's assembly plant at 40 Flatbush Avenue Extension. Sperry officials revealed today that exclusive of office help the actual number of female employees totals less than 10 percent of the company's total workforce, but those workers are doing extremely detailed assembly work on some of the company's smallest and most delicate instruments. The employement of women assemblers at Sperry is part of a trend toward women workers in fields formerly reserved for men. At both Western Union and the Postal Telegraph Company, women are replacing the familiar telegraph messenger boys, and on Long Island several towns are planning to hire female lifeguards to patrol their beaches this summer.

("SEE?" says Sally. "Soon's Leonora's old enough, I'm gonna put my name in." "Flatbush Aveneh," says Joe. "Wouln' I like ta woik at Flatbush Aveneh, no moeh ridin' onnat damn train ev'y night." "Well," says Sally, "when I get in, I'll put inna woid f'ya.")

(Lloyd Nolan as Leo? Sure, I can see that. But Carole Landis as Hilda Chester? Well, that's whatcha call "Hollywood license.")

(Yeah, Mr. Turkus, that's a real knee-slapper.)

(DAVEGA'S BIG RECORD SALE! OLD FAVORITES! SOME SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT! PRICED TO SELL, CASH AND CARRY -- 25 CENTS EACH, 3 FOR 50 CENTS, 6 FOR A DOLLAR! DON'T MISS THESE BARGAINS!)

A "Mrs. A." in Flatbush was the winner in a guess-my-weight contest conducted recently by a neighborhood butcher shop. The butcher hung a large dead pig in his front window with a sign: "Guess My Weight And Win A Ham!" Mrs. A entered the first number that came to mind -- 207 pounds -- and came away the winner. Asked where she got the number, Mrs. A replied "it's my husband's weight."

(Well, so's the milk, so you better hurry.)

(This is, incidentially, the Havana trip during which a drunken Hugh Casey will beat the living snot out of a drunken Ernest Hemingway, in Hemingway's own living room, while Kirby Higbe and Billy Herman cheer him on. Under the circumstances, you can assume the rifles are for self-defense.)

The first Chinese ever to sign a big-league contract slipped thru Larry MacPhail's fingers, and Brooklyn wants to know why. George Ho, whose given name is Ho Sing Ping, signed this week with the Boston Braves after a glittering schoolboy career at Erasmus Hall High School and outstanding play with the amateur Catons team at the Parade Grounds. Ho played semi-pro ball in the South last year, where the Braves spotted him and snapped him up for assignment this season to their Hartford club in the Eastern League. Ho is a five-foot-nine 165 pound outfielder who hit .380 in semipro ball last year, and can run and throw as well as he can hit. The 21 year old was born in Canton, China, came to America with his family at the age of four, and was raised in Flatbush. He shortstopped at Erasmus, before moving to the outfield with the Catons. He is also known to say "very mean things" to umpires in Chinese.

(Yes, this is the same strip we saw yesterday. We're going to keep seeing this same strip every day for the duration. ANYBODY GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?)

(Even George has the occasional moment of clarity.)

("Well, I thought we'd hire some hoods and they could take him for a ride. That's what you do in a case like this, isn't it? ISN'T IT??")

(Kay stalls for time so Harrington has a chance to climb down the fire escape.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

That the kid "previously threatened her with a gun" makes it pretty clear that there's been something going on here for a while. And given my comments earlier, it'd be interesting to know where he got the gun. As for Mrs. Carr, her kind is everywhere. Except in the 21st Century she's on basic cable.

"Elite" was a cheap discount label run by well-known shady operator Eli Oberstein, with pressings on recycled shellac. Some of them were pretty good material -- the Berigan and the Hutton sides stand out here -- but just as many should have stayed in the barrel.

A mummy? Well, if he dies, you can always sell him to Andy Gump.

Don't get married now. Just don't.

Who says the funnies aren't educational?

"Bonds and taxes, bond and taxes, that's the way to beat the Axis!"

At least let him finish singing the song first. "I'd walk a mill-eee-yon miles!" (fall down on one knee and hold out hands) "For one of ya smiles! My MUUUUUUUUUUUUM-MEEEEEEE!"

"In fact, you're so ill you might die. At any time."

"Provided -- he makes the Olympic gymnastics team."

"Mr. Coffee Nerves."

 

[Fading Fast]

(It feels like matters are rushing to a climax here. I mean what's happening on the Pacific Coast, not, ah...)
...

Pinball machines and burlesque shows, LaGuardian definitely has a puritanical streak. He'd have loved Times Square in the '70s, which was only thirty years later.

...

(Lloyd Nolan as Leo? Sure, I can see that. But Carole Landis as Hilda Chester? Well, that's whatcha call "Hollywood license.")
...

The name of the movie was changed to "It Happened in Flatbush." I've never seen it, but it's now on the radar.

As to Carol Landis, Hollywood's gonna Hollywood, but can you blame it?

Miss Landis

...

A "Mrs. A." in Flatbush was the winner in a guess-my-weight contest conducted recently by a neighborhood butcher shop. The butcher hung a large dead pig in his front window with a sign: "Guess My Weight And Win A Ham!" Mrs. A entered the first number that came to mind -- 207 pounds -- and came away the winner. Asked where she got the number, Mrs. A replied "it's my husband's weight."
...

That's funnier than every single one of Clifford Evans' stories today.

...

The first Chinese ever to sign a big-league contract slipped thru Larry MacPhail's fingers, and Brooklyn wants to know why. George Ho, whose given name is Ho Sing Ping, signed this week with the Boston Braves after a glittering schoolboy career at Erasmus Hall High School and outstanding play with the amateur Catons team at the Parade Grounds. Ho played semi-pro ball in the South last year, where the Braves spotted him and snapped him up for assignment this season to their Hartford club in the Eastern League. Ho is a five-foot-nine 165 pound outfielder who hit .380 in semipro ball last year, and can run and throw as well as he can hit. The 21 year old was born in Canton, China, came to America with his family at the age of four, and was raised in Flatbush. He shortstopped at Erasmus, before moving to the outfield with the Catons. He is also known to say "very mean things" to umpires in Chinese.
...

Sally, Erasmus, first Chinese man ever to sign, but despite his ties to Brooklyn, not with the Dodgers - thoughts?

...

View attachment 405434
(Kay stalls for time so Harrington has a chance to climb down the fire escape.)

"Dan, I'm just going to pop into the bathroom and take a shower."
"In the middle of the day?"
"I just feel like it."

Also, what the heck is going on in panel four - Kay's head is almost as big as her upper torso. Scale is not Marsh's best thing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"'At MacPhail," fumes Sally. "Whatta mug! Foist he trades Petey, ann'en he misses out on t' Chineh Clippeh." "T' what?" puzzles Joe. "T'Chineh Clippeh. 'At's whattat Red Bawbeh gonna cawl'im onna radio. You wait'n see." "MacPhail ain' so bad," argues Joe. "Lookit what he done. He come here in nineteen toity eight. Team stinks. Ebbets Feel is a terlet. No money. Nutt'n. T'en he fixes up Ebbets Feel t'where ya don' t'ink bugs is gonna clim up t'wall an' walk off witcha when ya go ta t'can. 'Ten he goes out an' buys Camilli. 'Ten he puts in lights. 'Ten he goes out an' gets Wawkeh. An' Wyatt. An' Higsby. An' Medwick. An' Hoiman..." "HE'S A MUG!" growls Sally. "A MUG!" "A mug wit' a pennant, t'ough. An' a paid off mortgage." "I wish t'Pittsboighs had signed t'is Chinese fella. Him an' Petey woulda got along good."

(In fact, alas, Mr. Ho will not make it to the majors. He will join the Army, instead, and will serve in China in Army Intelligence. We might not see him at Ebbets Field, but maybe he'll show up in "Terry and the Pirates.")

Meanwhile, Hilda Chester says --

"Carole Landis? Poifeck castin', I sez. Whatcha say, boys, poifeck castin'!"

(That's Mickey Owen, Chuck Dressen, clubhouse man John "Senator" Griffin, and pitcher Max Macon admiring the charm bracelet the team will present to Hilda in recognition of her support. "What?" Hilda says. "Where's LEO? HEY DUROCHEH! GETTOVEHEAH!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Do I even know where to begin? A burning tanker, diseased fish, moral crusades, a lottery winner in trouble with the IRS, MacArthur on Bataan, no house on Long Island for Joe and Sally, and FDR intervening to keep Theo. S. Ballgame out of the Army? I thought the President was a Senators fan. "I din' even wanna move t' Long Islan' anyways," sniffs Sally. "Allem people wawk aroun' wit' t'ey noses up, like t'ey smellin' sum'pn bad." "Not like Flatbush," comments Joe. "No," affirms Sally. "NOT LIKE FLATBUSH.")

The only known living Jewish veteran of the Civil War declared, as he prepares to celebrate his 96th birthday tomorrow, that the Allies will succeed in smashing the Axis. Daniel Harris of 231 Woodbine Street, one of only two surviving G. A. R. members in Brooklyn, is confident of victory because "we never lost a war, and we're not about to lose this one. When this thing is over, we will still be a democracy, No one will ever be able to take that away from us. I may be too old to fight, but I'm not too old to help -- I've been buying defense bonds!" Mr. Harris enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17, after convincing the recruiting officer that he was actually 19. He served with the U. S. S. Saratoga in the southeastern blockade squadron, and once shook President Lincoln's hand. In his retirement he enjoys reading, naming Thomas Paine, Charles Dickens,, Henry Makepeace Thackeray, Henry Fielding, Victor Hugo, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton as his favorite authors. Mr. Harris is, despite his advanced age, in vigorous health. A regular smoker, he also notes that "around midnight, I always take a hooker of whisky."

Russian reports from the battlefront state today that two encircled German armies, in the Staraya Rus and the Rzhev regions, face a choice of "surrender or annihilation." The Moscow radio stated that German occupation forces at the town of "N" are cut off by the advancing Soviets, and are being "slaughtered in fierce fighting." It is believed that "N" may refer to Novogrod, a strategic rail center located on the north shore of Lake Ilmen, 100 miles southeast of Leningrad.

(The Oscars are in 1942 not anywhere near the big deal they will be in later years. There is no national broadcast of the awards ceremonies, and the story only makes page 3 in the Eagle, without even a delicately-worded quote from Miss DeHavilland congratulating her sister.)

An X-ray may today determine the fate of Siamese twin girls born to a Staten Island couple. The twins, born by Caesarian section to Mrs. Carmine Piccota of 48 Scribner Avenue, New Brighton at St. Vincent's Hospital are believed to be the first joined twins ever born in the city of New York, and Dr. Peter J. Timpone, who delivered the infants, stated today that they have an excellent chance of survival. Dr. Timpone further stated that he will determine whether to undertake a surgical procedure to separate the twins, who are joined face to face, after reviewing x-ray photographs which will reveal if the babies share vital organs. Mrs. Picotta registered astonishment at the birth, but has since "become reconciled to the situation." Mr. Picotta, a butcher by profession, declined to comment.

A 36-year-old Bensonhurst man awaits sentence after predicting his own conviction on charges of street-corner bookmaking. Anthony D'Amura of 1650 81st Street pleaded not guilty yesterday before Magistrate Frances W. Lehrich in Coney Island Court, but when Assistant District Attorney J. Mitchell Rosenberg asked him if he had ever before been convicted of bookmaking, D'Amura replied "Once before. This will be the second time." He will be sentenced March 17th.

("'At Tony," grumbles Joe. "Neveh knows when t'keep'is trap shut." "What?" whats Sally. "Nut'n.")

(Glad to see that Mr. Francis shares my views on the sublime vocal stylings of Miss Sullivan, and I hope he's also planning to check in on the Gene Krupa-Anita O'Day show. The war is going to take a deep toll on swing, but it hasn't yet and we better make the most of it while we can.)

(Meanwhile, the Gay 90s nostalgia fad shows no sign of letting up. How long's it been, eight years now?)

Thousands of women already toil in the assembly departments of Detroit's automakers, and many more will join them as men continued to be called away from the factories and into the Armed Forces. Last year, General Motors alone employed more than 25,600 women in its various factories, handling such jobs as the cutting and trimming of upholstery, but since then the firm has added another 15,000 women across nine plants, all of them working on defense related projects. Women at GM are manufacturing ball bearings at the company's New Departure division in Bristol, Connecticut, shell cases at the Guide Lamp division in in Anderson, Indiana, and precision parts for machine guns at the A-C Spark Plug division in Flint, Michigan. At the Briggs Manufacturing Company, the auto industry's largest independent builder of bodies, it is expected that women will rise to 25 to 50 percent of the company's total workforce from a peacetime level of 10 percent. National Youth Administration officials, who have overseen training programs to prepare women for this vital work, declare that "there is no machine-tool job that women cannot do." In addition to machine-shop work, the NYA has also trained women in arc and torch welding and sheet-metal work, and has declared all of its graduates to be "very capable."

(The rubber-hose shortage has forced police to improvise.)

("Los Giganticos" indeed! Ott is only five foot nine and you know it. And I hope Ed Head makes the club, only because I like to say "Ed Head.")

("Guaft?" Hitler speaks Hindi? Who knew?)

(Whoa, a genuine Ted Healy multiple-slap! Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!)

("Card shark? Me? Preposterous! Here, my boy, I'll prove it. Pick a card. Any card.")

(Today's strip brought to you by Texaco. "Care For Your Car -- For Your Country!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"It was also pointed out that Adler is 78." As if that needed pointing out.

Awww.

"I was pretty upset to find out that Daddy died, but then I remembered he's died LOTSA times before!"

"Remember how funny it was when the mosquito bites made his head swell up twice its size!"

"Of course, we'll be up to our necks in boiling water in no time, but by all means don't rush!"

Smile, Tony, they're your friends! Remeber?

"Get that corpse out of my living room!" Sentences you hope you never have to say.

"That's ok, darling, I'll FIND MY OWN WAY TO THE SHELTER."

HOW DOES HE MAKE HIS NECK DO THAT???????

Hmm. Thirtyish, in good health, unmarried, no defense job, and his only dependent is his little brother, who seems to be supported by the Plushbottoms. Don't worry, son, you'll be picking up all sorts of new habits soon.