The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Is Page Four in the news business, the scandal business, or the button-selling business? It's hard to tell these days.

Every time I forget about this guy, boom, he shows up again.

Hmm. Identically-dressed henchmen. Could Axel be far behind?

Obviously she wasn't trained at the Group Theatre.

Boys and their toys.

"And you should see how much sugar he's got in the cellar."

Psst, Pat. Don't tell her about Sandhurst. Just sayin'.

"Good! Now let's see you move it back!"

"Just keep her away from that short, bald-headed twerp. I hear he's trouble."

I've only been in a poolroom once -- with my father, when I was six years old -- but I don't remember anyone sitting on the edge of the table like that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

 

[Fading Fast]

(Flynn's out of town? Boy, he moves fast. Meanwhile, out in Kansas, old Elmer Garner is no stranger to observers of the radical right -- he was in the thick of the nativist-Populist movement of the late 19th Century, and was prominent again in the '30s as an ally of Dr. John "Goat Gland" Brinkley. But whatever movement he pegs onto, he brings along his own distinctive flavor of heartland racism and anti-Semitism.)
...

Some victories you publicly celebrate to put an exclamation point on them. Others, like dirty, back-door-deal-coverup victories, you take and quietly go away hoping the public will forget all about it.

Lizzie, have you noticed any letters of outrage to the paper over Flynn?

...

(They actually did cram more than 40,000 into Ebbets Field for a Memorial Day doubleheader against the Giants in 1934 -- so that as many fans as possible could give Bill Terry their love after his "still in the league" remark -- but they did so by roping off portions of the outfield and seating fans on the grass. The fire department doesn't allow that anymore.)
...

So how many seats and standing room "spaces" does Ebbets Field really have? What would they have done had close to the 42,822 who bought tickets actually shown up?

("Ahhhh, it was great!" declares Sally. "We seen Hilda. She ast how you was doin' -- says t'las' time she seen ya, ya looked kinda green." "You was goin' inta labeh," mutters Joe. "How'm I *sposta* look?" "Annen t'eah wazzis Giant fan sittin' right in fronna us. A Giant fan. I ask ya." "Whadja say?" queries Joe. "Ya tellim awf?" "Nah," replies Sally. "I din' say nut'n. Leonora spit up onnim." "Aw," smiles Joe. "Whatta good kid. Ain'cha, kid?" "Bummmmmm," says Leonora.)
...

"Annen t'eah wazzis..."

And in the Daily News...

Is Page Four in the news business, the scandal business, or the button-selling business? It's hard to tell these days.
...

You're spot on. Page Four can't seem to decide what it wants to be. My guess, it doesn't want to feel left out of the war news, but a higher-up editor should remind it to stay in its sandbox; they have the entire rest of the paper for war news.

Every time I forget about this guy, boom, he shows up again.
...

He's clearly made a lot of enemies in the legal profession as lawyers usually circle the wagons around one of their own as they don't want it to become more likely to happen to them. I've had more than one lawyer friend tell me this is why you see very few malpractice suits against lawyers as the legal profession has no intention of letting that horse out of the barn. Lawyers show no such compunction, though, about bringing suits against people in other professions.

...

Hmm. Identically-dressed henchmen. Could Axel be far behind?
...

Who knew Quentin Tarantino was a fan of "Little Orphan Annie?"

...

Psst, Pat. Don't tell her about Sandhurst. Just sayin'.
...

"...the mousey one..." The DL's feeling a little catty and maybe a bit jealous.

...

I've only been in a poolroom once -- with my father, when I was six years old -- but I don't remember anyone sitting on the edge of the table like that.

Been in my share and it absolutely is not done - you'll get yelled at by everyone.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There haven't been many letters yet about the Flynn affair, but I think today's little smile from the Voice of the People indicates more to follow.

Ebbets Field capacity floats a bit from season to season, but in 1942 it's listed officially as 34,219. You could probably squeeze in more depending on how willing the police are to look the other way, how many ushers you could bribe, and how many people are willing to stand in the aisles -- in 1947, they'll manage to fit over 37,000 for a single game, without seating anyone on the field -- which probably got really uncomfortable when people exhaled.

I think a lot of the ticket sales for the Navy Relief game included tickets that were bought as a donation, turned in, and re-sold, along with park staff who didn't occupy seats anyway. It would, however, have been interesting to see them try to get 42,000 people in there. They could probably do it if they jammed the excess into the concourses under the stands and let them listen on the radio. (I don't believe this game was televised by WNBT, although it certainly should have been.)

 

[ChiTownScion]

I've only been in a poolroom once -- with my father, when I was six years old -- but I don't remember anyone sitting on the edge of the table like that.


I've heard you tell about that before. The pool room "parental visit."

There's a book that I read a while back that is an oral bio of a very colorful character of the era named Danny McGoorty. I think that you'd enjoy it. It's been published under a number of titles, author was Robert Byrne who interviewed McGoorty in San Francisco before he died (around 1970). It is out of print but I think that copies are out there.

McGoorty started out as a pool playing bum but switched to billiards (3 cushion, or carom). He noted, "Bums played pool, and gentlemen played billiards." He noted the way that establishments treated the two: the pool tables were usually in the basement or the back, while the billiard tables were well lit with deference shown to the customers. So, desiring a more silk stocking existence, he took up billiards. Originally as a hustler, but then he cleaned himself up and became a respected competitor. With a lot of interesting war stories accumulated along the way. Highly recommended.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Sounds like a neat read.

Awhile back, I read the Walter Trevis book "The Hustler" (my comments on it here: #8,791 ), which was turned into the outstanding Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason movie.

The books has a lot of poolroom argot and atmosphere that was, also, well captured in the movie.

Fun fact about author Trevis: he also wrote the book the recent and successful Netflix mini-series "The Queen's Gambit" was based on.

 

[ChiTownScion]

⇧ Sounds like a neat read.

Awhile back, I read the Walter Trevis book "The Hustler" (my comments on it here: #8,791 ), which was turned into the outstanding Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason movie.

The books has a lot of poolroom argot and atmosphere that was, also, well captured in the movie.

Fun fact about author Trevis: he also wrote the book the recent and successful Netflix mini-series "The Queen's Gambit" was based on.

It's interesting that "Minnesota Fats" was a character created in that book, but Rudolf Wanderone claimed that nomme de guerre as his own. He claimed that the character was based upon him but there seems little to support that. He had no connection to Minnesota, but apparently "Dowell Illinois Fats" didn't ring so well.

 

[EngProf]

It's interesting that "Minnesota Fats" was a character created in that book, but Rudolf Wanderone claimed that nomme de guerre as his own. He claimed that the character was based upon him but there seems little to support that. He had no connection to Minnesota, but apparently "Dowell Illinois Fats" didn't ring so well.

In his later life he could have been called "Nashville Fats" (sort of like "Nashville Cats").
"Fats moved into the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, in 1985, remaining there for several years. In 1992, while undergoing surgery for a knee injury, he suffered a massive heart attack but survived. In 1993, he met and married his second wife, Teresa Talley Bell. He lived in Bell's Nashville house until his death on January 15, 1996, four days shy of his 83rd birthday."

(He became one of the local Nashville "characters", which we have always had a number of.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Brooklyn spirit?" declares Sally. "Ebbets Feel. T' Navy Yawd. T' Eagle, even. Long as we gottem t'ings, why, we got plenny'a spirit." "An' don' f'get Sperry's Gyrascope," adds Joe. "An' Luna Pawk! An' Steeplechase!" "Yeah!" enthuses Sally. "An' Erasmus Hawl!" "An' New Utrick!" "An'na Patio!" "An'na RKO Dykeh!" "Even'na Bushwicks!" "An'na Bay Pawkways!" "An' Bill O'Dwyeh!" "An' Larry MacPhail!" "An' fawsythia bushes!" "An' Bensonhoist!" "An' Pigtown -- um, Eas' Flatbush!" Joe grows solemn. "An' ya know who else is Brooklyn spirit? . PRIVATE Solly Pincus, oveh t'eah watin' f'a crack at Hitleh." "Yeah," agrees Sally. "Atsa *real* Brooklyn spirit.")

Chinese forces led by Lt. Gen. Joseph A. Stilwell, USA, have driven into the outskirts of Manda, fire-gouged ancient city which fell to the Japanese a week ago after capturing the ancient Burmese town of Maymyo in a fierce counteroffensive, it was announced officially last night. A Chinese military spokesman reported that General Stilwell was personally leading the Chinese into Mandalay's outlying streets in a savage hand to hand battle as Japanese artillery and bomber planes tried to throw back the attack.

A powerful force of British bombers swooping low under searchlight screens and reinforced anti-aircraft batteries hurled hundreds of tons of bombs today into the German Baltic supply ports of Rostock and Warnemunde, blasting aircraft factories, a U-boat training base, and the southern terminus of a troop ferry line to occupied Denmark. The raids were the most costly of the RAF "second front" aerial offensive that began March 3rd, with nineteen bombers failing to return.

The likely Republican nominee for Governor in the upcoming election told 2000 Republican women at a gathering in Manhattan yesterday that while the Republican Party stands squarely behind the President in the prosecution of the war against the Axis, there must still be a place for fair criticism of the Administration's policies. Thomas E. Dewey, honored at the luncheon for his work as Manhattan District Attorney and as head of the USO, noted that the Administration claimed to have foreseen a gasoline shortage a year ago, but asserted that "quarreling government agencies" for the past two months have engaged in "a public dispute" over the coming rationing program. He further charged that the situation is even more acute in the rubber crisis, but "there is no single man in charge, no responsibility, no vision." Mr. Dewey also warned against allowing necessary wartime censorship to withhold from the public information that it is entitled to know about the war situation.

(Just so you know.)

The Eagle Editorialist reminds you of the importance of fully cleaning your tin cans before turning them in for salvage. Can bottoms must be removed, all labels must be removed, and all food traces should be scrubbed out of the interior of each can before it is flattened and turned in. A de-tinning plant in Greenpoint is the only such plant in the State of New York engaged in tin reclamation from old cans, and its president Herman Lass emphasizes that as many cans as possible must be processed in order to recover the vital war metal, and insufficient cleaning is the biggest reason why cans are rejected at the plant. "Out of forty tons of cans received," warns Mr. Lass, "only four or five tons may be used."

(My grandmother did this with her old tin cans to the end of her life, even though there was nowhere, at the time, to send them.)

("Weather does not dampen the ardour of horse players." You don't say.)

When the Pittsburgh Pirates invade Ebbets Field next week, they'll be loaded with cutlass-swinging ex-Dodgers just waiting for a chance to cut Leo Durocher and Larry MacPhail down to size. Just imagine how last year's doghouse duet of Luke Hamlin and Babe Phelps would relish beating the team that cut them loose, to say nothing of Jimmy Wasdell, awarded World Series goat horns by Durocher and Chuck Dressen, who blamed him for missing a key sign. And Pete Coscarart and Max Butcher, discarded without a second thought. And, above all, Senor Al Lopez, who hasn't forgotten being run out of town by Casey Stengel back in 1935. Ever since that time, the Senor has taken ferocious glee in upending the Dodgers, right up to that vital game last September when his well-calculated trick of stepping out of the batter's box caused Hugh Casey to balk in Vince DiMaggio with the winning run. No, they don't forget. Neither should we.

("What are you laughing at, Doug?" queries Mrs. MacArthur. "Tall, Scraggly, and Bow-Legged! Hah!")

A survey sponsored by the Julius Grossman Shoe Company has determined that Brooklyn residents have the soundest feet in the city, following a survey of 10,000 New Yorkers from all boroughs. Feet were surrepetitiously examined by shoe company representatives as their owners paused in department stores, shipyards, offices, railroad terminals, and even at soda fountains.

Retired agriculturalist and certified Old Timer William Witte remembers the old days in Middle Village, where he used to hunt for ducks, cranes, and muskrats, and even bagged the occasional snake around St. Nicholas Avenue.

Station WOR will present a series of outstanding American operas, under the auspices of the U. S. Treasury Department to promote the sale of War Bonds. Seven outstanding operas by American composers, beginning with George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," will be presented in one-hour condensations beginning next Thursday night. Music critic and commentator Deems Taylor will introduce each opera, with music conducted by Alfred Wallerstein.

Japanese-American artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi is exhibiting a series of his portraits at the Downtown Gallery this week, for the benefit of China Relief. Among the paintings is a portrait of Mr. Kuniyoshi himself, entitled "The Golfer."

(Valuable lesson for you here, kids.)

(Well, I'm sitting here right now with a hem mended with gaffer tape, so I guess I can't criticize.)

(C'mon, haven't you heard of the Dead End Kids?)

(Mary, you enabler. And intimidating civilians for no good reason, Irwin? Say hello to the nice man from Internal Affairs!)

(See, George, what you could have been if only you'd started out young?)

("Huh," says Theo. S. Geisel. "Green eggs.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

There is nothing that could possibly be more 1942 than Jinx Falkenburg and Reinhard Heydrich on the same page.

"A dose? A dose of what? Oh, Johnny, how COULD you!"

"You swine! You owe me a carton of cigarettes!"

Punj didn't slice off just his hat.

Leave engineering to the engineers.

Well now.

"Todd Rapbeater?" Of the firm of Rapbeater, Mouthpiece, and Slickum?

Next week: "Who let the dogs out??"

And he's already taller than Shadow.

"Oh. Well, all right then. Just checking. Carry on."

 

[Fading Fast]

...

(Just so you know.)
...

The density per square mile of Manhattan jumps out at you. It's all that stacking of people in skyscrapers. For several years, I lived in a Manhattan apartment building that had 581 units and an estimated 1500 people living in it. That's one building; although, it did take up a full city block.

...

A survey sponsored by the Julius Grossman Shoe Company has determined that Brooklyn residents have the soundest feet in the city, following a survey of 10,000 New Yorkers from all boroughs. Feet were surrepetitiously examined by shoe company representatives as their owners paused in department stores, shipyards, offices, railroad terminals, and even at soda fountains.
...

That sounds scientific and objective.

...

("Huh," says Theo. S. Geisel. "Green eggs.")

Having lived in NYC in the '80, when big chunks of concrete regularly fell off of overpasses, we certainly had learned by then when concrete stops improving with age.

And in the Daily News...

There is nothing that could possibly be more 1942 than Jinx Falkenburg and Reinhard Heydrich on the same page.
...

How in God's name does randomly kissing a bunch of men from a crowd not lead to a cold or some other infection? Felix was smart to get in line first. "Hey, I said kiss, put your tongue back in your own mouth, young man."

I forget his name, but would love an update on the newlywed who was found dead in the grease pit.

...

"A dose? A dose of what? Oh, Johnny, how COULD you!"
...

"The girls are all from the local Junior League and the right side of the tracks, so the soldiers' families won't need to worry."

Leona, Babs and the much-missed Raven were all from the right side of the tracks too. Club Buccaneer, a chauffeur and night-time window-ledge crawling all argue against the above statement's confidence.

...

Well now.
...

"By the beards of all the assorted prophets!"
"Don't get into a tizzy, beautiful."
"You were a child once -- or were you?"
"I sometimes think the Dragon Lady should have shot you before."
- Caniff is on fire.

Nice mamma bear moment at the end. Pat did warn her.

...

"Todd Rapbeater?" Of the firm of Rapbeater, Mouthpiece, and Slickum?
...

Todd Rapbeater's retainer of $100,000 in '42 is about $1,750,000 today. For that he should not only get her off, but have her and any one she knows record wiped clean forever.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Hey!" yelps Joe. "Lookitat! Billy Conn slugged his fat'eh in law!" "How many roun's?" replies Sally. "Y'know," muses Joe, "if I eveh see yaw ol' man, I'll probl'y slug him." "Ya'll hafta get in line," growls Sally.)

Germany may loose on the world at any time a nerve gas calculated to cause mental paralysis that robs its victims of all power of decision for several hours, it was reported in well-informed quarters today. Desperate over its failure to defeat Russia, Germany is now concentrating tanks of this gas and issuing new-type gas masks to its troops, designed to neutralize its effects. Information reaching London from two distinct sources states that Adolf Hitler has selected this gas as his new weapon with which to try to retrieve his position in Russia. Swiss railroadmen reported that 320 tank cars of a mysterious liquid had arrived at Singen, just across the border with Germany, and that the cars were clearly marked with the skull-and-crossbones insignia designating the contents as poison. There were reports that Germany had used this gas, in greatly restricted quantities, on Belgian and French forts of the Maginot Line-type two years ago, and that those forts fell "with surprising quickness."

Three escaped lunatics from the State Hospital for the Insane at Orangeburg, N. Y. were recaptured last night by county police near Demarest, New Jersey. The three men, wearing gray hospital uniforms, were spotted by a passing bus driver walking along the tracks of the Northern Railroad after escaping from the hospital by overpowering a guard. The three men, one of them originally from Brooklyn, were taken without resistance.

(Coming Events Cast Their Shadows Before...)

Leading citizens of the Bronx petitioned Governor Herbert Lehman today to supersede Bronx District Attorney Samuel J. Foley and order a special investigation of the use of city materials to construct an antique Belgian courtyard at the Lake Mahopac estate of Democratic National Committee Chairman Edward J. Flynn. The Bronx Grand Jury last week exonerated Flynn, Mayor LaGuardia, Markets Commissioner William Herlands, and all others charged with wrongdoing by former Municipal Civil Service Commissioner Paul J. Kern, and scolded Kern for "impeding the investigation." The petition to the Governor was led by Charles Evans Hughes, Jr., son of the former Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.

Governor Lehman today signed two bills affecting servicemen in the state. One repeals the prior law prohibiting servicemen in uniform from hitch-hiking on the public highways, and the other waives for servicemen the required 24-hour waiting period between issuance of a marriage license and the solemnization of the wedding.

The entire borough of Brooklyn will go dark Wednesday night in a 20-minute test blackout conducted under conditions simulating a raid by enemy aircraft. "Get off the streets," commanded Mayor LaGuardia, in announcing the test, "and don't peek out the window to see what's going on. Don't be a wise guy and get killed."

(Does Leo know you're just standing around in the clubhouse in your underwear?)

Civilian Defense wardens will at last receive uniforms, the Mayor announced yesterday in his weekly radio broadcast over WNYC. An all-purpose coverall-style uniform will be made available for purchase by all wardens for $4. The uniform, which is cut for men, is navy blue, with an orange belt and the air-raid wardens' insignia sewn in orange on the left shoulder. A blue overseas cap piped with orange completes the outfit, although the regulation steel helmet may be worn in place of the cap when helmets become available. A uniform cut for women will be made available at a later date.

("Blossom Time?" What, they couldn't get "The Student Prince?")

(Tsk, Mr. Lichty. Japanese planes were in fact pretty fearsome.)

In Los Angeles, funeral services are being planned for comedian Joseph Weber, of the legendary music-hall team of Weber and Fields, who died yesterday at the age of 74. Mr. Weber had been ill for the past two months, and had not been the same since the death last July of his lifelong partner Lew Fields, the other member of the act that had entertained generations of theatregoers. Mr. Weber was "Mike," the short, fat, gullible member of the famous duo, constantly being victimized by tall, overbearing "Meyer," played by Mr. Fields. They first teamed in boyhood as a dance act, eventually reaching Broadway as a comedy act featured with the top stars of the era, including Lillian Russell. The act split up in 1903, but reunited in 1912, and remained together for the remainder of their careers. They eventually moved from the stage to movies and radio, and gave their final performance in 1940 in a film biography of Miss Russell. Mr. Weber leaves as his only survivor, his wife Lillian.

(UNBEATEN ED HEAD! UNBEATEN ED HEAD! UNBEATEN ED HEAD!)

The Bushwicks swept the House of David at Dexter Park yesterday, but their twin victories over the bearded boys cost them dearly. Injuries to pitcher Bots Nekola and third baseman Al Cuccinello may keep the two stars out of the lineup indefinitely. Nekola suffered a leg injury when making his only pitch of the day, after being brought in to relieve in the seventh inning of the first game, and Cuccinello pulled a leg muscle when running out a first inning double.

(We just bet you are, and...HEY!!!! WAIT A MINUTE! WHERE'S SPARKY WATTS??? Did he REALLY DIE in that sub? Did Boody get drafted? Did Boody finally get put away? WHAT'S GOING ON?????)

("Witness will confine herself to answering the questions put to...oh never mind.")

("Is that so? You forget that I have the resources of an entire state at my.. oh wait, you know where he is, don't you? GIVE OUT YOU OLD BIDDY!")

(Wait, the Skull is running a club now??? Well this should be -- ah -- tepid.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

And for the first and only time in history, the phrase "tall blonde in a frilly negligee" appears on the same page as a photograph of Woodrow Wilson.

Just do it quick, the refrigeration in these little compartments isn't very good.

Normandie is the new Hu Shee.

Tracy's the dumbest cop in the funnies -- not excluding Irwin. There, I've said it.

When Punj straight up decapitates a guy with a scimitar, you know he's going to clean up the mess. He's just that kind of dedicated professional.

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! Also, you smell funny. Have you been sniffing the rubber cement again?

She's out in the kitchen talking to the FBI.

Everyone's a hero before the train pulls out.

Willie's got the only office in the world with a Murphy desk.

You gotta know your market.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And a baseball bonus --

And the matchbook:

 

[Fading Fast]

...

Three escaped lunatics from the State Hospital for the Insane at Orangeburg, N. Y. were recaptured last night by county police near Demarest, New Jersey. The three men, wearing gray hospital uniforms, were spotted by a passing bus driver walking along the tracks of the Northern Railroad after escaping from the hospital by overpowering a guard. The three men, one of them originally from Brooklyn, were taken without resistance.
...

As Lizzie tells us all the time, in the 1940s, everything, good and bad, had a tie back to Brooklyn.

...

Leading citizens of the Bronx petitioned Governor Herbert Lehman today to supersede Bronx District Attorney Samuel J. Foley and order a special investigation of the use of city materials to construct an antique Belgian courtyard at the Lake Mahopac estate of Democratic National Committee Chairman Edward J. Flynn. The Bronx Grand Jury last week exonerated Flynn, Mayor LaGuardia, Markets Commissioner William Herlands, and all others charged with wrongdoing by former Municipal Civil Service Commissioner Paul J. Kern, and scolded Kern for "impeding the investigation." The petition to the Governor was led by Charles Evans Hughes, Jr., son of the former Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.
...

One can hope.

...

(Tsk, Mr. Lichty. Japanese planes were in fact pretty fearsome.)
...

Yes they were. Also, while I get that insulting stereotyping of the enemy was in, overweight Japanese military men has no currency.

...


(UNBEATEN ED HEAD! UNBEATEN ED HEAD! UNBEATEN ED HEAD!)
...

A weary Erasmus teacher rolls her eyes, loudly taps her chalk to the board a few times and in a slightly raised voice says, "Thank you for that, Lizzie, now, class, back to the lesson..."

And in the Daily News...

And for the first and only time in history, the phrase "tall blonde in a frilly negligee" appears on the same page as a photograph of Woodrow Wilson.
...

It's nice to get an update on Ms. Webb's trial that didn't even comment on her appearance, but they did find space to mention her nude dancing. 200 potential jurors sounds like a big number, no?

...

Normandie is the new Hu Shee.
...

There is only one Hu Shee

...

Tracy's the dumbest cop in the funnies -- not excluding Irwin. There, I've said it.
...

"...not excluding Irwin" is a bit harsh, but I'm good with the statement otherwise.

...

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! Also, you smell funny. Have you been sniffing the rubber cement again?
...

"You're one of the most highly dispensable employees we have." I never really like Chigger, but after that perfectly crushing line to the much deserving Wilmer, I'm willing to give Chigger a second chance.

...

She's out in the kitchen talking to the FBI.
...

I'm not losing too much sleep over the morality of selling some jewel that was stolen who knows when and by who knows whom, assuming it ever had a legitimate owner in the past few centuries anyway, but Andy would be lucky to get thirty cents on the dollar for it from a fence, he'd have to split it with the guy who "owns half" and he'd be committing a serious crime that several people would know about. Turn the damn thing in and hope for reward.

...

You gotta know your market.

Looks like Susie Q will be getting some real competition if the new girl makes it into the Sunday storyline.

 

[PrivateEye]

I've been away for almost a week, and there are a number of stories worthy of comment, but "The Bronx is singularly free of corruption? "

I know it's way too late, but I couldn't let that one go. This whole story stinks. I guess it only supports the theory that juries are only made up of people too stupid to get out of jury duty...

 

[Fading Fast]

I've been away for almost a week, and there are a number of stories worthy of comment, but "The Bronx is singularly free of corruption? "

I know it's way too late, but I couldn't let that one go. This whole story stinks. I guess it only supports the theory that juries are only made up of people too stupid to get out of jury duty...

That story infuriates me for its arrant corruption and arrogance, but sadly, it looks like he'll get away with it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've been trying to find out what the address was for the Flynn estate. I'm intensely curious to see if the Antique Belgian Courtyard is still there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(And that's why you should never carry an automatic in your handbag. A small revolver, like a Colt Pocket Positive, is much safer.)

Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt urged Congress today to establish a system of financial assistance for the dependents of men in the Armed Forces as a matter of "national morale." In testimony before the House Military Affairs Committee, McNutt quoted figures from Selective Service to demonstrate that 65 percent of all men registered have been deferred from service due to dependents, and argued that in an all-out war, a blanket exemption for dependency is "unthinkable." The solution, McNutt argues, lies in a system of cash allowances that will sustain families of men taken into service.

Meanwhile, the House is scheduled to take up a Senate bill that would raise the base pay of enlisted men in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, doubling the pay of privates and seamen from $21 to $42 per month. The bill would also increase the rate of pay for the lowest grade of commissioned officers in all three services.

United States bombing planes have hit two Japanese troop transports and a tanker in the latest phase of their offensive against enemy invasion forces in the northeastern zone, it was announced today by General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Australia. The hits bring to 24 the number of Japanese ships sunk or damaged since May 4th, when the battle of the Coral Sea, greatest naval engagement of the war, began off the Solomon Islands.

Three British destroyers were sunk yesterday in the Eastern Mediterranean during a series of attacks by German warplanes. The Rome radio, broadcasting an Italian High Command communique, earlier stated that German fighter planes "attacking in waves," sank three of four British destroyers encountered north of the African gulf of Sollum, near the Egyptian-Libyan border.

("Remembeh when ya brutt'eh was tryin' t'sell me 'at cawr?" says Joe. "I'm glad I din' buy it." "You wouln'a hadda worry 'bouttat cawr," notes Sally. "It neveh run." "Yeah," agrees Joe. "Din' have no tiehs, neit'eh. Poifeck wawrtime vehicle.")

Members of Congress will be issued "X" cards, allowing unlimited purchase of gasoline once fuel rationing goes into effect in the District of Columbia and seventeen eastern states on May 15th. An Office of Price Administration spokesman in charge of registering congressmen noted that the unlimited ration is for "official use" only. Members of Congress owning two cars will be given an "A" card for the second vehicle, and each card may only be used for the specific car noted on the registration form.

The Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League today demanded the revocation by the Army of an officer's commission granted to Bernard T. D'Arcy, former New York sales and distribution manager for "Social Justice," Coughlinite paper which suspended publication last week after being banned from the mails as seditious. D'Arcy, who formerly maintained a law office in Manhattan was commissioned last week as a second lieutenant, assigned to the Engineers Procurement Division at 120 Wall Street in Manhattan. The League, in a statement, noted that D'Arcy on February 5, 1940 presided over a rally at Prospect Hall demanding the release of the 17 defendents in the Christian Front seditious conspiracy case, and various Nazi publications, including the official organ of the German-American Bund were sold alongside "Social Justice" at that event.

Women will soon hold 55 percent of the jobs in the munitions plants of the Chicago Ordnance District, it was reported today. A personnel director of one unnamed midwestern shell factory stated that "thin girls were superior to stout ones, because they work faster and stand the heat better." He added that he won't hire college-educated women, or women with experience in white-collar work, because "they're afraid to get their hands dirty."

("Chu Chu?")

Queens bookmaker Frank A. Erickson, often in trouble with city authorities, today agreed to return $42,500 in horse race bets lost by a disbarred attorney who embezzled the money from his clients. The settlement stems from a Court of Appeals ruling that a bettor has a right to recover losses from a professional gambler by going to court. The $42,500 is part of a total of $193,620 lost by John A. Austin, disbarred lawyer, between 1932 and 1936, and will be returned to Austin's former clients. Austin served three and a half years in Sing Sing Prison on a grand larceny conviction, and upon his release moved to California, where he is now an executive of an aircraft corporation. Two years ago, a Supreme Court ruling absolved Erickson of any responsibility for repaying the losses, but the Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and ordered a new trial.

("That's him under the bandages.")

A proposal to abolish municipal radio station WNYC to save $108,620 in next year's city budget, submitted before the City Council finance committee by the Citizens' Budget Commission, was opposed today by station director Morris S. Novik. Mr. Novik noted that 48 percent of WNYC's programming schedule is devoted to information and activities related to the war, and explained that "a minimum of entertainment" is necessary to hold the interest of the public.

("Such talent was unsuspected here???" roars Sally, as Stella the Cat flees for safety under the stove and Joe spills a glass of milk in his own lap. "BY YOU MAYBE!!!"

("Betti Davis" in "Blossom Time?" Well, I guess that's worth seeing. But what's really worth seeing is "Native Land," which, wonder of wonders, is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection as part of a box set of Paul Robeson's films.)

(Maybe Sparky will make a surprise crossover reappearance in "Invisible Scarlett O'Neil." They're made for each other!)

("Take it where?")

("And by friend, I mean a creepy creeper with Vaseline in his hair. Plays a mean rhumba though.")

("The Gimp?" It's a hard job running an underworld operation when all you can get is 4-Fs.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

I wonder what Billy has planned for Father's Day?

Yes sir, neighbor -- when I think of fine chow mein, I think of Bickford's.

Did Punj just threaten to decapitate Sandy? Is that in his contract?

Stick around, Tilda, this should be good.

Ryan, you dawg. She doesn't mean THAT kind of relaxation.

Rent a car? DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?


He gets a big kick out of a fine hunk of mechanism. Sorry, Nina.

"Oh, go back to whining about your pants cuffs."

Classy.

Andrew Loomis was a leading commercial artist and author of art-instruction manuals that are still widely used today. And he was also one of Frank Willard's drinking buddies.