MissNathalieVintage
Practically Family
- Messages
- 757
- Location
- Chicago
That's "Fat Stuff" in today's "Smilin' Jack," the only Polynesian-stereotype comedy-relief character regularly featured on the funny pages. The chicken who perpetually follows him around to swallow up the buttons that pop off his shirt is kinfolk to the turtle that always shows up in "Sparky Watts." He and his wife have identical triplet sons -- Dit, Dah, and Dash -- who are tiny duplicates of their dad, right down to the popping buttons.
"Jack," as you will note, is a very odd strip -- a combination of melodrama, high adventure, and bizarre comedy. "Sparky," drawn by Zack Mosely's former assistant, is the only other strip quite like it.
"Lookit'at," says Joe, displaying the paper he found at the Out Of Town News Stand. "Chicagga gets 'at Chaplin pitcha in TWO HOUSES, an' we doangittitatall. I ask ya!" And Sally just shakes her head. "Sumpin's gottabedun," she insists. "Wheredadeygitoffwittat?
There were also neighborhood drugstores that would run rental libraries like that -- you'd pay a small sum and they'd send around cheap reprint editions of current books, and you'd send them back when you were done, or pay a little more to keep them. The cover prices of the books rarely exceeded a dollar, so if you only paid a quarter or so for the rent you were doing pretty well.
...The newly-formed New York State Home Guard will not use a red five-pointed star as its shoulder insignia. The new organization made up largely of World War veterans was formed to take the place in local defense left vacant when local National Guard units were activated for Federal service, and will wear surplus Army uniforms marked with a distinctive insignia. When the red star symbol was chosen by state authorities, Home Guardsmen protested the similarity of the insignia to that of the Soviet Union. The order establishing the symbol was immediately rescindend, and it may be several weeks before a new insignia is selected...
"A real fixer-upper!"
"A real fixer-upper!"
...Thirty policemen clashed with rank-and-file longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront this morning at the daily "shape up," where dock workers are hired by the day. The skirmish near Pier 33 led to charges from rank-and-file members of the International Longshoremen's Association that police have been bribed to interfere with their efforts to push organized criminal leadership out of the union, and that General Vice President of the ILA Emil Carmarada is now using uniformed police to suppress reform efforts within the union, in place of the "hired goons" said to be responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of rank-and-file leader Peter Panto....
...A nervous woman process server appeared at City Hall this morning to hand Mayor LaGuardia notice that he is being sued by a heckler whom the Mayor grabbed by the necktie and shook during a confrontation last month in Detroit. Attorney Robert W. Owens Jr of Jackson Heights, brother of the plaintiff in the suit, Benjamin H. Owens, stated that it was wrong of the Mayor to confront his brother because Benjamin Owens shouted out a question demanding to know if the Mayor "takes his orders from Boss Flynn," a reference to Democratic National Committe Chairman Edward J. Flynn. The Mayor responded by giving Mr. Owens a shake, an act which, according to his brother, shocked "the man's individuality, independence, and sense of integrity." The process server identified herself only as "Miss Newman of the Dunn and Jeweson Detective Agency," and covered her face as she rushed out of City Hall after serving the papers....
... (New York City ballots in the Era featured standardized symbols to mark the voting line for each recognized party. From top to bottom, you see here the Republican, Democratic, American Labor, Socialist, Prohibition, and Communist Parties. Note that the Presidential nominee space on the Communist line is blank, due to the Browder-Ford ticket being ruled off the ballot by state officials, but the spots for Borough President and County Judge remain. Note also that Roosevelt-Wallace is also the Presidential ticket for the ALP, since New York City allows multiple parties to nominate the same candidates.)..)
...Fred Fitzsimmons has been named the first Veteran Of The Year, a new award inaugurated for 1940 by the Sporting News. It's the second award earned this year by 39-year-old Stylish Stout Dodger slinger. Earlier this year, Fat Freddie was named the Ideal American Father in Sports, and received a gala night in his honor at Ebbets Field....
... View attachment 276177 ("Bah!" sneers Sally. "There's on'y ONE Zorro annat's Douglas Fairbanks, gawdrestim. I seenat pitcha when I was seven, an' I nevva forgottit!" Joe rolls his eyes, because he's heard it all before. "Whattif Pete Cosc'raht made pitcha as Zorro?" he inqures. "W'att'en?" "We crossat bridge," Sally glares with finality, "when we come ta it.")...
...Edmund Lowe is OK at the Flatbush Theatre this week, although he could use better material. A genial actor making a genial public appearance on a vaudeville stage isn't enough. Dick Stabile's band is fine, and J. C. Flippen contributes some of his usual excellent clowning. Aside from another "horrid comedy" with the Three Stooges, the film shorts are good, especially Quentin Reynolds' report on the Battle of Britain, "London Can Take It." This is a film everyone should see.
(And here it is. You don't even have to sit thru the Stooges.)...