The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

...(Joe riffles surrepetitiously thru Sally's high school yearbook, and finds that Sid was just a freshman when she was a senior, and he exhales a sigh of relief.)...

That's actually sweet.

... (The badge reads "Dopey Dad of 1941.")...

He looks a bit like a younger version of Slim.

... Radio engineer, huh? Well isn't that a surprise....

Good one by the wife in "The Neighbors."

..
Ya bum, ya....

One assumes she already changed the locks before haranguing the guy in the paper.

... Soda right out of the bottle? Classy joint....

Looks like Skeezix will soon be following in Harold's footsteps.

... No, you saw her in "Dick Tracy." Remember? She used to be married to Jerome Strohs. Be careful in the shower!...

Good to see she got picked up by another strip; you hate to see these guys and girls out of work. I still think Nick should be interviewing at TATP.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think Wilmer Bobble ought to go to work in Harold's office. It might distract him enough that he doesn't go thru with the marriage.

Skeez is probably mature enough to get married, but I also think Nina is mature enough not to want to yet. Twenty years old is still just twenty years old.

 

[Harp]

Drinking coffee and waiting for my daily era fix. Hu Shee and Lana on the brain.

Not that I am complaining about that though.

 

[Fading Fast]

Drinking coffee and waiting for my daily era fix. Hu Shee and Lana on the brain.

Not that I am complaining about that though.

Proving that, for Lizzie, no good dead goes unpunished, if it isn't up by 11am, you know whose GIF come out.

 

[LizzieMaine]

By a vote of 260 to 165, the House yesterday passed the momentous bill empowering President Roosevelt to lease, lend, or otherwise transfer the sinews of war to embattled Britain and other nations whose defense he deems "vital to the defense of the United States." On the final vote, 236 Democrats and 24 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, with 135 Republicans, 25 Democrats, one American Labor, three Progressives, and one Farmer-Labor in opposition. The bill as passed contains all of its original provisions, but also includes restrictions, including a limit of $1,300,000,000 on the limit of defense items already on hand or under contract that may be sent abroad, a time limit of two years on the President's power to make contracts for the delivery of military equipment to foreign powers, and a limit of five years on the execution of those contracts. The House also added a proviso giving Congress the power, by simple majority vote, of rescinding these Presidential powers at any time.

The Senate will take up the measure next week, having voted to end hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, following the scheduled testimony of 1940 Republican Presidential nominee Wendell Willkie, who will speak in favor of the bill after his return from his fact-finding tour of Great Britain. Mr. Willkie is due to arrive back in New York later today.

Insistent demands that action be taken to obviate any further delay in the demolition of the Fulton Street L erupted last night after a $3,347,000 contract for buses to replace the Fulton Street trolleys was abrogated by a judicial injunction. That contract was voided yesterday after Supreme Court Justice Morris Eder ruled that the Board of Transportation has no authority to lease the buses or make rental payments out of its operating accounts. The L structure supports the trolley wires for surface cars running along Fulton Street, and thus cannot be removed until buses replace those cars along those routes. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by taxpayer Edith Stilwell Smull, who had filed suit charging that that the contracts posed "a grave threat to the constitutional limitation on the city debt." It is anticipated that the city will appeal the ruling, but the prospect of further court action threatens any possibility of removing the L structure in the immediate future. Operation of the Fulton Street Elevated Line ended last May, and it had originally been hoped that the hulking, rust-flaked structure would be down by the autumn of 1940.

A thirteen-year-old Boy Scout from Bethpage, L. I. gave his life yesterday to rescue a friend who had fallen into a culvert filled with fifteen feet of flood water. Although scout Francis Fox couldn't himself swim, he dived into the Powell Avenue culvert and rescued 8-year-old Edward Okula, who had fallen into the water while sailing a toy boat. Both boys were struggling in the water when eighteen-year-old Fred Kramer, leader of Scout Troop 118, to which the children belonged, happened to pass in his automobile, and immediately went to the rescue. Assisted by fellow Scout Harold Auer, who ran to a nearby house to call the fire department, Kramer pulled the boys out of the culvert, but the older boy was beyond rescue. The eight-year-old is being treated for exposure and submersion.

(And good luck paying the dental bill on "$21 A Day Once A Month.")

(And good riddance to all that foofy Gone With The Wind wasp-waist stuff. It's nice to be able to breathe without popping a seam.)

A Brownsville man whose contends that his medical education was interrupted more than eight years ago because of religious scruples is renewing his fight for his right to resume that education, charging that he was discriminated against by the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Flower Hospital because of "a conspiracy of religious descrimination." The issue arose in July of 1932, when Abraham Friedman of 511 Alabama Avenue, now 36 years of age, was dropped from the rolls of the school because he declined to take a final examination during the Jewish holy days. The school contends that Mr. Friedman failed his summer course in pharmacology. Mr. Friedman maintains the only reason he failed that course is because the school refused to offer an alternative time for him to take the examination. Mr. Friedman has presented a petition signed by Brooklyn civic and religious leader to Governor Herbert H. Lehman requesting that he intervene in the case, and that if the school refuses to cooperate, that its state accreditation be withdrawn.

Eagle reader Father William S. Smith S. J., director of the Crown Heights School of Catholic Workmen, writes in to praise Mrs. Roosevelt for her public support of striking employees of the Leviton Manufacturing Company in Greenpoint, "an oppressed and exploited group of working people, the majority of whom are women," and calls her appearance before the workers last week "one of the finest actions that could be recorded in history."

("Hmph!" hmphs Sally. "You know they got a betta pitcha a' Petey'nnat, but t'ey don' runnit 'cause 'at Durocha is jealous he ain' as good-lookin', an' he tol' 'em notta. An' besides, Petey ottagettalotta mo'money. 'At bum Frey, onna Reds, t'one'at spiked him lass yeah. He otta pay it. It ottabea law!" And Joe says "Y'know, t'ere's a gal downa plant sezzat Camilli's pretty good lookin' too. An' Lavagetta." And Sally scowls. "Don't be ridiculous. She prolly neva even mettem up close. I met Petey up close, rememba? He bumped inna me goin downastairs t't'subway afta' t'game 'at time, an' he said "sorry lady." A poifec' gennaman. Not like t'ese utta bums." And Joe snaps the comic section open and mumbles "hit two t'oity sev'n las' yeah.")

America's new Ambassador to the Court of St. James makes TREND this week --

Twenty-two year old Dorothy McGuire had never held a leading role in a play before she was cast in the title role of Rose Franken's comedy-drama "Claudia," opening at the Booth Theatre next Wednesday, but all indications are that she will rise admirably to the occasion as the nineteen-year-old protagonist making the adjustment to married life. Her role in the show comes to a total of 142 "sides," or sheets of cues and speeches, compared to an average lead role of 90 to 100 sides -- and she is on stage for all but three minutes of the entire play.

Orson Welles' long-awaiting movie debut "Citizen Kane" will be released by RKO-Radio on February 28th, after months of obstacles and delays stemming from the complexity of the production. The picture is notable for featuring an entirely non-Hollywood cast, with its actors drawn from Welles' Mercury Theatre stage and radio company, and the 25-year-old wunderkind himself playing the lead role, directing the picture, and overseeing all other aspects of its production. Only Charles Chaplin has attempted to be so multi-faceted a personality in filmland, and it remains to be seen how Welles has held up under the challenge.

Barbara Stanwyck will don the most complex old-age makeup ever seen on film when she appears as a 109-year-old woman in Paramount's upcoming feature "Pioneer Woman."

A year ago, you may recall, Artie Shaw walked off the bandstand at the Hotel Pennsylvania in the middle of a set and vowed he'd never play for jitterbugs again. After a self-declared "nervous breakdown" and a trip to Mexico, Artie is back in the music business -- and it would appear he has forsaken his past attitude. In the opening scene of "Second Chorus," there is none other than Mr. Shaw himself -- playing for a dance number featuring 100 -- count 'em -- 100 "super jitterbugs."

(My cat saw this strip and suggested that hereafter I advise all visitors that "my mountain lion will see that you do not escape."

(Two spoiled youths? "Positively, Mr. Leopold? Absolutely, Mr. Loeb.")

(I can't wait till Mr. Porter writes a suave, sophisticated Broadway musical set in a trench.)

(Today's strip is brought to you as a public service by the National Mobilization For Human Needs.)

(That'll teach you furrin' crooks to smoke them fancy poncy cigs instead of a wholesome, all-American Lucky Strike.)

(Knock a few more out, and who knows, you might qualify for the Army.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Hoping that Harold and Lana will spend their day off reading this page.

When I began my own radio career forty-two years after this page was published, the program director who hired me told me that very same "wee paws" joke. It's a pity podcasting has made such classical humor obsolete.

Ah for the days of the kindly, wholesome, caring country doctor.

I'd love to know what kind of books Gus Edson reads.

Hey, it takes talent to balance the cup on the end of the crutch like that.

Joy is being blackmailed, and Jack is blind drunk. Ah, married life.

WELL NOW! That ain't Smilin' Jack singing, I'll bet -- "St. Louis Blues" was the theme song of a young lady known only as Burma, who used to cause all kinds of problems for Terry and Pat before the war. Could she be -- "Madame Lustre?"

**snif.**

Skoos = obscure hepcat slang for gaudy knob-toed footwear, which we don't get a very good look at here. Hey Shadow, pull up your pantlegs and give us a peek.

Sam moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. And hey, I never thought I'd live to see the day when Maw Green pulls off a Sally Rand joke.

 

[Harp]

Artie Shaw's Nightmare is playing in memory after reading. Sally Rand fan dance did it.

The legal embroglio is of note, but as a devout practicing confirmed Irish bachelor, I habitually
eschew divorce tales. Divorce, matrimonial morass quagmire that it is, is known as the Law's professional
equivalence Proctology medical specialty. But a local jack leg lawyer representing his former wife
and daughter has a serious conflict of interest. Good luck collecting that fee brother.

 

[Fading Fast]

...[ (And good riddance to all that foofy Gone With The Wind wasp-waist stuff. It's nice to be able to breathe without popping a seam.)...

Alas, all of it - square shoulders, wasp-waists, etc. - will cycle around time and again as, as we know, fashion is spinach.

... View attachment 308613 ("Hmph!" hmphs Sally. "You know they got a betta pitcha a' Petey'nnat, but t'ey don' runnit 'cause 'at Durocha is jealous he ain' as good-lookin', an' he tol' 'em notta. An' besides, Petey ottagettalotta mo'money. 'At bum Frey, onna Reds, t'one'at spiked him lass yeah. He otta pay it. It ottabea law!" And Joe says "Y'know, t'ere's a gal downa plant sezzat Camilli's pretty good lookin' too. An' Lavagetta." And Sally scowls. "Don't be ridiculous. She prolly neva even mettem up close. I met Petey up close, rememba? He bumped inna me goin downastairs t't'subway afta' t'game 'at time, an' he said "sorry lady." A poifec' gennaman. Not like t'ese utta bums." And Joe snaps the comic section open and mumbles "hit two t'oity sev'n las' yeah.")...

Joe's going to find it easier dodging Nazi bullets and shells than Sally's.

...Orson Welles' long-awaiting movie debut "Citizen Kane" will be released by RKO-Radio on February 28th, after months of obstacles and delays stemming from the complexity of the production. The picture is notable for featuring an entirely non-Hollywood cast, with its actors drawn from Welles' Mercury Theatre stage and radio company, and the 25-year-old wunderkind himself playing the lead role, directing the picture, and overseeing all other aspects of its production. Only Charles Chaplin has attempted to be so multi-faceted a personality in filmland, and it remains to be seen how Welles has held up under the challenge....

It's going to be a lot of fun to see the reaction to this one when it was first released.

A... WELL NOW! That ain't Smilin' Jack singing, I'll bet -- "St. Louis Blues" was the theme song of a young lady known only as Burma, who used to cause all kinds of problems for Terry and Pat before the war. Could she be -- "Madame Lustre?"....

It's interesting that in his near delirious state, Terry is thinking about April and not Hu Shee. The heart wants what the heart wants, but Terry, nice as she is, there are many Aprils in the world, but very few Hu Shees.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's Burma in action during her last appearance, June 1938.

Not to put too fine a point on things, but Burma is a con artist, a swindler, a cheat, an opportunist, a confederate of pirates, and someone who can't wait to get her hooks into Terry -- who was a fourteen-year-old boy when last they met -- or Pat, depending on whichever was available at the moment. If she is now working for Herr Major Monocle, the story is about to get very interesting.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And back to February 1936, when first Burma met Terry, Pat and Connie. Wasn't Terry just a cute li'l kid then? And Ryan, put your damn shirt on.

 

[Harp]

Not to put too fine a point on things, but Burma is a con artist, a swindler, a cheat, an opportunist, a confederate of pirates, and someone who can't wait to get her hooks into Terry -- who was a fourteen-year-old boy when last they met --.

The Yin and Yang of poon tang libidinous urge to merge would have been quite an educable tryst,
more pitiful the lost lesson never learned for cherry Terry, hero zero.

 

[LizzieMaine]

German reconnaissance planes roared down today onto Reykjavik, Iceland -- just 1000 miles from continental North America -- and machine-gunned the British airdrome there, according to reports from the German High Command. The planes had to fly at least 600 miles, assuming they left from a base in Norway to reach Iceland, which is only 400 miles from the tip of Greenland in the Western Hemisphere. Iceland is a Danish possession taken over by the British when German armies marched into Denmark last year. British experts have speculated that Germany might move against Iceland as a preliminary to an invasion of the British Isles. Iceland lies approximately 450 miles north of Scotland.

Great Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Rumania today, and is expected to declare war on that nation shortly in an effort to take control of its strategically-vital oil fields. Thousands of German troops have poured into Rumania in recent weeks, and the oil fields are now fully under German control. The British have also advised Bulgiaria that its military targets would be come legitmate targets for RAF raids if the Sofia government permits Nazi forces to pass thru their territory en route to Greece or Turkey.

("Finally, a decent cup of coffee!")

Wendell Willkie is back in the United States and preparing for his testimony tomorrow before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The former Republican Presidential nominee will conclude testimony before that panel on President Roosevelt's Lease-Lend bill by speaking in support of the measure, following his fact-finding tour of Great Britain. When questioned by reporters upon his arrival at LaGuardia Field this morning, Mr. Willkie declined to reveal the conclusions he has reached as a result of that trip. But he did state that his observations during the visit have caused him to "modify" his views on how best the United States can aid the British, and further stated that he will disclose those "modifications" during his testimony tomorrow.

Meanwhile, opponents of the British aid bill will conclude their arguments today before the Senate panel, with novelist Kathleen Norris, President Joseph Curran of the CIO National Maritime Union, and Father Edward Lodge Curran, Brooklyn president of the International Catholic Truth Society and former East Coast representative for Father Charles E. Coughlin due to appear. United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey had also been scheduled to testify, but it is now considered unlikely that they will appear.

More than a thousand sandhogs representing rival unions working on the construction of the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel battled today in a jurisdictional skirmish at the worksite. A free-for-all fight erupted shortly before 9AM, with fifty policemen called to the scene to quell the disturbance. One man was reported under arrest.

Laddie the Dog will rejoin his master at the Fort Ord army base in California today, after receiving blood transfusions, intravenous injections, and forced-feeding to strengthen the ten year old Airedale mix for the journey from his home in Chanute, Kansas via Kansas City airplane. Laddie had pined and wasted away after his master, Pvt. Everett Scott, left home for military service, but the veterinarian who has cared for him in recent weeks says the dog is regaining health, and that "all the tonic he needs is a good look at his master." Laddie will be adopted as mascot for the 17th Infantry Regimend, to which his master belongs.

The thirteen-year-old Long Island Boy Scout who drowned Saturday while trying to rescue an eight-year-old friend from a flooded culvert in Bethpage will be buried tomorrow with the full honors of a Police Inspector. A police band and honor guard, along with assemblies of Boy and Girl Scouts from across Nassau County will provide ceremonial honors at the services for Francis Fox, to be held at 10 AM Tuesday at the Church of St. Martin of Tours in Bethpage. The youth, who will be buried in his Scout uniform, is the first Boy Scout in the county ever to receive a full police funeral.

(Well doesn't she look prim. Hey kid, doncha think that collar could be a little higher?)

"Well gals -- Why Marry?" declares "Not Dusty Yet," who writes in to Helen Worth in response to the recent tales of marital woe from Dusty and Disillusioned. Not-Dusty says "the heck with men. I'm sure glad a gal doesn't HAVE to marry anymore!" Helen agrees with her point that it's a good thing women's economic independence has done away with the need to marry for food and shelter, but also suggests there *are* happy marriages out there. It's just that they don't seem to write in.

(Wait, you mean there might just be a reason to believe that reducing the amount of nicotine you suck in might be a good idea? Well, I'll be!)

("Dollar a year man" = corporate executives who join the Government at a $1/year salary to oversee and regulate industrial production for National Defense. You'll be hearing a lot about them in the months to come.)

A competition to find the Most Muscular Man In The City Of New York takes place this Saturday at the Central YMCA, 55 Hanson Place, as 55 muscle-boys compete to strike "artistic poses" in order to earn the title of "Mr. NYC." The contest is open to any male of any race, creed, or color, for an entry fee of 50 cents in coin, and is sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union. Each contestant will take his place on a pedestal for exactly sixty seconds, dressed in tights or short trunks, and will be required to assume three different specified poses for twenty seconds each. "Contestants are free to put oil on their bodies if they wish." The panel of judges is headed by publisher Bernarr Macfadden, founder of the Physical Culture movement and editor of Physical Culture magazine.

Don't write off the Americans just yet -- hockey's doormats still have a shot at the playoffs, after going on a six-goal rampage against the Montreal Canadiens last night, and Red Dutton's boys are now breathing fire and yelling "bring on the Blackhawks!" The Amerks return to the ice in Chicago on Sunday night.

Pee Wee Reese is the latest Dodger to ink the dotted line, signing a 1941 contract yesterday for an estimated $8000. The Louisville Kid, rookie sensation of 1940, also vowed to Larry MacPhail that his foot, broken in combat last August, is now fully healed and test runs have shown no weakness as he prepares to report tomorrow to the Flock's training camp in Havana. Reese's signing cuts the number of unsigned Dodgers down to nine, with Whit Wyatt, Luke Hamlin, Pete Coscarart, Dolph Camilli, and Mickey Owen the most prominent of that group.

("Then it's agreed! As soon as the screw comes to give us lunch, WE MAKE A BREAK FOR IT.")

Radio's comics are having a field day with "Jeannie With The Light Brown Hair," overplayed song of the year, as the ASCAP boycott drags on. Eddie Cantor says if it keeps up much longer, Jeannie will need a toupee. Fred Allen suggests she might liven things up with a henna rinse. Milton Berle suggested that Alexander Korda missed a chance for a good theme song for "The Thief of Bagdad" -- "I Dream Of Genii with the Dark Brown Scare." A couple of others have referred to "Jeannie With The Dark Brown Taste." And Bob Hope even worked the gag into a golf sketch, calling himself "a Genius With A Light Brown Pencil."

(There's way too much sex in the comics. Poor Sparky's even going blind!)

(Veteran apartment-dwellers always recommend a glass against the wall.)

(Poor, poor Sue. Not only is he an ugly baby, he appears to be an ugly sixteen-pound baby.)

("Why yes! Yes I am! I have brands from all over the world! Would you like to see my scrapbooks?")

 

[Harp]

Wrote an asinine post over in the Observation Bar's Trivial Ticks thread, sipping coffee and waiting
for the ERA to open; yet another edit disappearance, Attorneys and Barristers late nite catharsis
comment, Politik verboten cite disclaim but the theft of censor struck Cinderella. Understand, of course,
not complaining as I do occasionally get away with a politico pecadillo now and again.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

As soon as I saw "Pompton Turnpike" I thought "the Meadowbrook," and sure enough...

"Yeah! Wholesome! You won't see ME propositionin' the customers like that smarmy Meat Pie does!"

Oh dear dear dear. Here's a tip -- don't look at page 38 today.

Yep, just what the boys on the line have been waiting for. Speedups.

Bull Moose wrestling Andy dressed up in a bear suit? I'll pay 20 cents for that!

"Hmph. That's Madame Lustre to you, kid. And where's Ryan?"

Crime Does Not Pay -- except to the guy who turns you in for the reward!

Aw, I was hoping Tula would walk in and take a seat in that empty chair.

"What woman could POSSIBLY have any interest in my poor, dumb son?"

I must say, Mrs. Strohs has certainly loosened up a bit since losing her husband.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Wrote an asinine post over in the Observation Bar's Trivial Ticks thread, sipping coffee and waiting
for the ERA to open; yet another edit disappearance, Attorneys and Barristers late nite catharsis
comment, Politik verboten cite disclaim but the theft of censor struck Cinderella. Understand, of course,
not complaining as I do occasionally get away with a politico pecadillo now and again.

Politics? Who wants to hear about any of that mess when Terry's about to be taken down the garden path and poor Harold Teen is about to throw away his only chance at lifetime happiness?

 

[Harp]

Here goes: Sparky cannot be blinded by kisses and I will not say how he can go blind....

Burma is back and Terry may lose his cherry. But, he's an American fighting man, and will never surrender
as long as he has the means to resist. He must adjust and adapt. Make the terrain work to his advantage.
A soldier adjusts, adapts, and makes the terrain work to his advantage.
Which means, of course, advantage the .... take the Fifth Amendment here, no comment.

 

[Fading Fast]

...More than a thousand sandhogs representing rival unions working on the construction of the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel battled today in a jurisdictional skirmish at the worksite. A free-for-all fight erupted shortly before 9AM, with fifty policemen called to the scene to quell the disturbance. One man was reported under arrest....

That's still going on? They haven't figured it out yet?

...Laddie the Dog will rejoin his master at the Fort Ord army base in California today, after receiving blood transfusions, intravenous injections, and forced-feeding to strengthen the ten year old Airedale mix for the journey from his home in Chanute, Kansas via Kansas City airplane. Laddie had pined and wasted away after his master, Pvt. Everett Scott, left home for military service, but the veterinarian who has cared for him in recent weeks says the dog is regaining health, and that "all the tonic he needs is a good look at his master." Laddie will be adopted as mascot for the 17th Infantry Regimend, to which his master belongs....

Note to the Eagle, when it happens, we want pictures of the reunion.

...The thirteen-year-old Long Island Boy Scout who drowned Saturday while trying to rescue an eight-year-old friend from a flooded culvert in Bethpage will be buried tomorrow with the full honors of a Police Inspector. A police band and honor guard, along with assemblies of Boy and Girl Scouts from across Nassau County will provide ceremonial honors at the services for Francis Fox, to be held at 10 AM Tuesday at the Church of St. Martin of Tours in Bethpage. The youth, who will be buried in his Scout uniform, is the first Boy Scout in the county ever to receive a full police funeral....

Nothing will make this good for his family, but that's still a nice thing the police did for them.

...
(Well doesn't she look prim. Hey kid, doncha think that collar could be a little higher?)...

As you always do, Lizzie, spot on catch of the irony. While toned down (too much) for the movie, in the book, Miss Foyle has several affairs, gets pregnant out of wedlock and has an abortion.


Comments on the book here: #8419
Comments on the movie here: #28025

..."Well gals -- Why Marry?" declares "Not Dusty Yet," who writes in to Helen Worth in response to the recent tales of marital woe from Dusty and Disillusioned. Not-Dusty says "the heck with men. I'm sure glad a gal doesn't HAVE to marry anymore!" Helen agrees with her point that it's a good thing women's economic independence has done away with the need to marry for food and shelter, but also suggests there *are* happy marriages out there. It's just that they don't seem to write in....

It's the Page Four bias as well: only the bad marriages, divorces, fights, etc., make it to Page Four as there's no story if the marriage is going well.

... (Veteran apartment-dwellers always recommend a glass against the wall.)...

These two are as nuts as the Bungles.

...
"Yeah! Wholesome! You won't see ME propositionin' the customers like that smarmy Meat Pie does!"....

Some preferences change over time, but since I was kid to today at 56, coconut custard has always been my favorite pie. I'm sure I've consumed my body weight several times over in Entenmann's coconut custard pies alone over the years.

... "Hmph. That's Madame Lustre to you, kid. And where's Ryan?"....

Terry, it's time to man up. I can't wait till Burma and Raven meet in Pat's presence.

... "What woman could POSSIBLY have any interest in my poor, dumb son?"...

Oh Harold, don't, just don't.

 

[Harp]

Politics? Who wants to hear about any of that mess when Terry's about to be taken down the garden path and poor Harold Teen is about to throw away his only chance at lifetime happiness?

Aeschylus summed innate failure a self inflicted wound and Terry is far too innocuous even for comic tales.
He should scale the summit of his heart and plumb soulful depths under the tutelage of a woman's care,
insincerity his lot tithed but a purchase gain.

Harold, swine before an enchantress pearl deaf to Homeric warn of Aphrodite's thievery of even the wise.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Republican Presidential nominee for 1940 today urged the United States to provide Great Britain with five to ten destroyers a month in support of Britain's war against Germany. Appearing today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify in support of President Roosevelt's Lease-Lend Bill, Wendell L. Willkie declared that he has been "forced to conclude that the only way to render aid quickly enough is to pass this bill with modifications." Mr. Willkie stated that providing ships and other armaments under the terms of the bill should be done "directly and swiftly, rather than thru the rigamarole of dubious, legalistic interpretations." Having just returned to the United States from a fact-finding tour of Britain, Mr. Willkie further stated that he believes aid under the bill should be specifically limited to Britain, China, and Greece -- as "those are the only nations presently subject to aggression" -- and also called for a time limit to be placed on the President's powers to carry out the terms of the bill, and for Congress to have authority to revoke those powers at any time.

German troops continue to pour into Bulgaria, according to reports in Turkish newspapers, with about "200 truckloads of soldiers wearing civilian overcoats" having been spotted passing thru the village of Dobruja. German officers are quoted as stating "our goal is the Bosporus and the Mediterranean."

A move is on in the state capital to amend present laws to grant the New York City Board of Transportation specific authority to enter into contracts for the leasing of buses, intended to replace trolley lines running along Fulton Street, thus clearing the way for the demolition of the Fulton Street L. The amendment is being sought in response to a legal injunction blocking the execution of those bus leases granted in response to a lawsuit filed by a taxpayer claiming that the Board has no authority to enter into those contracts under its present budget.

Detectives today are investigating the possibility of a jealous lover as motiviation for the murder of the manager of a Williamsburg dress factory. 39-year-old Peter Marcelino of Ridgewood, Queens, the manager of the Metropolitan Dress Company at 710-722 Metropolitan Avenue, was shot to death last night by an unidentified man, who fired four times as Marcelino left the plant around 6 o'clock last night. Mrs. Josephine Mineo, age 28, of 819 Willoughby Avenue, the sister in law of the dead man, who was with him at the time, was also shot and wounded by the mystery gunman, who fled into the Graham Avenue BMT station after firing his last shot. Mrs. Mineo, who is hospitalized in serious condition with wounds to her back and left hand, described the gunman as shabbily dressed in an old gray sweater, and declared that she had never seen the man before. Mr. Marcelino was a married man, and no allegations of impropriety on his part toward the girl employees of the factory have been raised, but he is known to have offered employees rides home during inclement weather, and police speculate that a husband or boyfriend of one of these workers might have misinterpreted that gesture. The Metropolitan Dress Company is owned by the dead man's wife, Mrs. Pauline Marcelino, who is carrying the couple's second child.

Seven oil burner inspectors employed by the Fire Department have been suspended by Mayor LaGuardia on suspicion of graft. The inspectors are accused of accepting "gratuities" of from $5 to $25 for each inspection. Five of the men are Brooklyn residents.

Professional cardsharp Jacob Baum revealed key secrets of his profession today in Brooklyn Felony Court, in the trial of accused gambling racketeer Hyman Caplin. Testifying for the prosecution, Baum revealed that Caplin's organiztion used a series of visual cues to notify the dealer of specific cards they required to complete winning poker hands. A head slightly thrown back indicated the need of a club. A glance "downward toward the grave" called for a spade. A heart was indicated by a glance to the left, and a diamond by a glance to the right. A flick toward the left eye by the left hand requested an ace. A touch to an earlobe called for a queen. A stroke of the chin requested a king. And a brush of the upper lip indicated the need for a jack. Baum demonstrated each signal for the jury, flicking rapidly thru the gestures, and stating that he had acquired the skill thru "eight years of constant practice."

("I tellya, Sid, it's poifeck. Lincoln, he was a fur trappa, right? So fur coats! It's a natch'ral!" "I dunno, Lou, I t'ot Lincoln, he was a, you know, a wood choppa, a log-splitta or whateva. I t'ot Davy Crockett was a fur trappa, y'know, wit'a fur hat an' all." "Dincha go ta school, Sid? Y'know 'at hat Lincoln's aw'ways got on? 'At big tall hat? It's madea beava. A beava hat. I reddit ina book or seen it innat movie wit' Raymon' Massey a'sumpin'. Trus' me, Lou, it's a poifeck tie-in.")

(Lincoln sat in chairs, walked on rugs, and enjoyed needlepoint, too.)

According to the U. S. Census Bureau the typical American is Ralph C. Suter, of Plymouth Indiana. Ralph lives in the physical population center of the United States, in a town of median size, he is a native-born white American male, he is a semi-skilled wage earner employed as a helper in a garage, he earns $22 a week, or $1159.29 a year, he is twenty eight years old, and he has a wife and two youngsters. The Suters live in a rented single-family house -- at $16 a month -- heated with a coal stove, they have a radio, electric lights, and a gas kitchen range, a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner, and an automobile -- for which they pay $15 a month installments -- but no telephone. They eat their dinner at noon and their supper at 6, and eat their meals in the kitchen rather than a dining room. They go to the movies once a week, they read mostly magazines and newspapers, and they employ no household help.

Reader B. R. A. has just about had it with the endless delays in the removal of the Fulton Street L. "Why are we in Brooklyn treated like children, while Manhattan receives all the buses and improvements and their L's taken down. Is it politics or what is the real reason?"

(Wait, did I leave the stove burner on? Just a minute, I'll be right back.)

Whit Wyatt and Luke Hamlin are the latest Dodgers to come to terms for 1941, and for Hamlin the contract-signing was a chance to bury the hatchet with Larry MacPhail. Tensions between the hurler and the executive came to a head last summer when Hamlin jumped the club in a rage at public criticism of his pitching from the front office, and for a while it appeared that the old Hot Potato was not long for Ebbets Field, with his name heading the list of Dodger trade bait. But now, both Luke and Larry assure us that they are best pals, and that there are no hard feelings and that they are, in fact, "just like that" toward each other. MacPhail also released a letter from Hamlin, in which the pitcher -- who won 20 in 1939 only to flop terribly in 1940 -- assured him that he would "sign for whatever figure offered" and explained that his problems last year were the result of tonsil problems that have since been resolved. Luke pledged in the letter to deliver the sort of results in 1941 that will cause Larry to reward him at the end of the season. MacPhail in turn told Hamlin that he was "delighted with his attitude."

Television will be on the air three nights this week, with W2XBS planning telecasts tomorrow, Friday and Saturday. Tomorrow night, viewers will see Sally Blaine and Lloyd Hughes in the feature film "Numbered Woman." On Friday, a college basketball doubleheader featuring NYU vs. Notre Dame and Manhattan vs. St. Francis will be shown from Madison Square Garden. And on Saturday, the Garden will be the site of the N.Y. Athletic Club track meet. Test patterns will be shown in the afternoon all three days to allow set owners to make adjustments.

("Maybe this new glamour ray has made me soft again." Boody just loves to slip 'em past the editors.)

(Well now, we thought George was crazy, but maybe he DID visit 1985 -- and he remembers seeing "Back To The Future.")

(Oh yeah? If it's the same enormous kid we saw yesterday, then he must've dropped an awful lot of water weight in the last 24 hours.)

("Here's what I want you to do, Irwin. Go to every candy store between here and Hogan's apartment, and find out who buys this brand of cigarettes. Ask a lot of questions. And Irwin -- whatever you do -- DON'T GET IN ANY TROUBLE.")

 

[Harp]

Scarne aces cardsharper Jacob Baum, a lose deuce discard.

I doubt Edward G Robinson ever won an Oscar, but he should have garnered the award for the
career, most definitely. I enjoyed his role as Lancy Howard in The Cincinnati Kid.

Just nailed it, gutted the Kid. Laid him out and gutted him.