The Era -- Day By Day

[Haversack]

Regarding payrolls:
When I was stationed in Germany back in the 1980s one of the various extra duties that rotated among the junior officers in the battalion was pay officer. Once a month one of us would check out a .45 (and ammunition), from the arms room, get one of our battery's sergeant's to check out their rifle, (and ammunition), get a jeep and driver, and with a briefcase, drive the 18 odd miles into W.O. Darby Kaserne in Fürth. There I would sign for something north of $100,000 cash in US dollars and German Deutschmarks. (After counting it back to the issuing finance people). We would then drive back to post and set up for payday in the attic of battalion headquarters. Then, in a ritual that went back a fair bit, those soldiers who wished cash-in-hand instead of direct deposit, would enter the room, salute, present their payslip, state how much of each currency they wanted, count it back to you, sign for it, salute once more, about face and exit the room. This continued for most of the day. At the end of it, you would head back to Fürth, and painstakingly square the accounts with finance praying you had made no errors during the day. (And if so, having to make it up out of pocket). If I recall, you usually ended up counting all the money at least five times during the day. If it all balanced, you were lucky to get back to post by 8pm. Then we'd clean and check-in our arms. Usually, the sergeant and driver were excused the next morning's formation. A couple of things about this struck me then and have lingered since. Paying each soldier personally was a surprisingly solemn event almost like the giving and receiving of fealty. It was the reinforcing of a bond. The other was how odd it felt to be wearing our hats indoors. A forgotten bit of hat etiquette is that of not taking your hat off indoors if you are under arms.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Two badly-wounded gunmen, tracked down after police followed a four-block trail of blood following a blazing gunfight last night in East New York, are prisoners at Kings County Hospital today. Fifteen shots were exchanged by the bandits and a motorcycle patrolman who was supposed to be home on sick leave after the two bandits attempted to stick up a pool room at 361 Cleveland Street. A third bandit, who acted as lookout during the attempted robbery at the billiard parlor, vanished into the night when the gun battle started. Patrolman Guglielmo Cappadora of Motorcycle Squad 2, aged 32, who is still recovering from a broken arm and a skull fracture sustained when he was pitched over an embankment while chasing a speeding motorist on May 2nd, happened to be waiting for a friend on the sidewalk in front of the pool room when the robbers arrived. Patrolman Cappadora was waved into the billiard emporium by the bandits, and lined up face to the wall with the other patrons, while the thugs moved down the line rifling the patrons' pockets. When the bandits were three men away from him, Cappadora whipped out his service revolver, spun around, and opened fire. After the robbers returned fire, they made their way to the door, and dripping blood, fled into the street. Two patrolmen, alerted by the gunfire, followed the blood trail and found the two gunmen hiding on the roof of a house on Warwick Street. Arrested were 27-year-old Lazaro Donaruma of 397 President Street, who had been hit twice in the left side, and Gaspar Giacolone of 42 1st Street, who was hit in the chest. Both men are reported to have criminal records, and are reported to have confessed to the robbery, stating that they "needed a little money." Police found $47 on one of the gunmen. The third confederate is still at large. A patron of the pool room, Joseph Godino of 440 Chestnut Street, was grazed in the ankle by a bullet during the exchange of fire.

President Roosevelt is today reported to be ready to crack down on defense industry strikers with a "back to work" order if they do not agree to accept an order by the Office of Production Management to return to work at once. The "test strikes" involve 1700 machinists belonging to CIO and AF of L unions at shipyards in San Francisco, 9200 CIO aircraft workers in Inglewood, California, and 20,000 CIO loggers at lumber camps around Puget Sound, Washington. There are unconfirmed reports that the President will order a Government seizure of the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood if an immediate settlement is not reached.

(For your convenience, all neighborhood candy stores will be taking on extra help to serve you.)

A Hungarian refugee who is reported to have supplied platinum to two airline stewards to be smuggled to Europe is in custody in lieu $15,000 cash bail as Federal agents continue their investigation of the alleged smuggling operation. 22-year-old Arnold Weisz of 628 Blake Avenue is accused of supplying three packages of the rare metal, each about the size of a pack of cigarettes, to the two stewards aboard the Pan American Airways Dixie Clipper just before the plane was to take off from LaGuardia Field. Each package is said to have contained about $5000 worth of platinum, which is used in the manufacture of such high-precision military instruments as bombsights and gunnery controls, as well as in the construction of airplanes.

The president of the National Monument Association declared today that the idea behind moving the statue of General Grant from Bedford Avenue to Manhattan is in keeping with the general philosophy of removing monuments from the path of traffic. Former Secretary of the Navy Herbert Satterlee stated today that he believes the Grant monument should be relocated only if it can be demonstrated that an improvement in traffic flow and parking capacity on Bedford Avenue will result. "The whole effort of city planners and traffic managers today is to get statues out of thoroughfares in every city," observed Mr. Satterlee, who added that the Association suggested that the statue be moved to a location outside Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive because it believes that it will eventually have to be removed from its present location because of this trend.

"The destiny of man depends on the outcome of the next three months of war," declared Senator Claude Pepper before a rally of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies last night. Speaking at the Academy of Music, the Florida Democrat stated that "the 'Gettysburg' of that conflict is now being fought," and expressed confidence that America will "tear off the cloak of selfishness and come into the light of bigness and greatness" in its response to the challenge.

America's Ambassador to Britain says that nation can still win the war -- if US aid can be speeded. Ambassador John G. Winant delivered his assessment of the European situation to Congressional leaders today during a three-hour conference in the office of Vice President Henry Wallace, and denied that he has been asked to relay any manner of peace proposals from either Britain or Germany. Said one Congressional leader following the conference, "it was not as gloomy a picture as I thought it would be."

"Madcap Babs" will return to the witness stand on Monday in Nassau County District Court to defend herself from charges of "manhandling" a police telephone booth last month. 27-year-old Barbara Lucy Taylor, daughter of wealthy Cyril F. Taylor of Roslyn Heights, yesterday contradicted police testimony that she had "admitted visiting the booth." Earlier, her mother, Mrs. Anna Louise Taylor, testified that her daughter has experienced "several illnesses" and periods of convalescence.

(Out in Hollywood, Miss Carole Lombard asks "can we get the movie rights?")

(America's Biggest Small Town Dept: I believe this is the same Keran Guilfoyle I have a recording of singing over WMBQ, a tiny Williamsburg radio station, in 1936. He has a rather untrained basso, sounding exactly as you would expect the author of such a letter of this to sound. Hear him here -- 2:24:00 into the recording. Also, with all the modern fashionability of food trucks, you'd think someone would latch on to the idea of selling hot buttered corn on the cob as a street snack.)

Station WOR will go on a 24-hour schedule within the next few days, in order to better serve the round-the-clock entertainment needs of defense workers. Station manager Alfred T. McCosker notes that the new schedule will allow the station to be placed at the immediate demand of the Government for relaying official information, and the extended hours will be filled with music and features that overnight-shift defense workers might otherwise miss. At the beginning of the new schedule, the station will operate round-the-clock on a five-day-a-week basis with brief silent periods on Sunday and Monday nights to perform necessary transmitter maintenance.

(Well, you could always look the other way....)

(Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime: "Tag Day." Everybody uses stickers now.)

Wendell Willkie appealed for united support of President Roosevelt's foreign policy, and denounced Charles A. Lindbergh's call for "new leadership." Speaking at a rally in Chicago last night, the 1940 Republican Presidential nominee did not mention Lindbergh by name, but branded as "misguided and reckless talk" his recent declaration that "America needs a new leader." "We in America do not choose new leaders between elections," declared Mr. Willkie. "We cannot, under our Constitution, have new leadership until 1944 without revolution -- and destruction of the very values we seek to save."

("HAH!" hahs Joe. "'At Higsby! How mucha t'at hunnet gran's he gettin'! He otta get alluvit!" "HAH!" hahs Sally. "'At Passeau! He knew what'uz comin' an' he coud'n take it! Betta go suck ya passafiah, lit'l man -- it's time fa beddy-bye!")

The word rumbling out of Joe Louis's training camp as the Champ's bout with Billy Conn at the Polo Grounds on June 18th draws closer is that the Pittsburgh slugger is "too small" to pose much of a challenge for the Brown Bomber. But a dissenting voice was also heard from John Roxborough, Detroit lawyer who is one of Louis's two managers -- and who says Conn, though small, figures to be "the fastest, cleverest" opponent Louis has ever faced.

The men with the long whiskers invade Dexter Park tonight to face the Bushwicks in a benefit for the Brooklyn Association of Masonic Charities. The House of David, always a tough opponent, will face the local squad following nearly an hour of pre-game entertainment beginning at 7pm. The Bushwicks are coming off a 4-2 loss last night to the New York Black Yankees.

(The movie is forgettable fun, but I'm all in for the stage show. Bea Wain is one of my favorite vocalists, Brown has a pretty good band, and the dog act is just the topping on the pie. Well, hopefully not *on* the pie.)

(Well, Raven and Dude they ain't, but I guess it's a start...)

("But this is what having a maid is like! Don't you read 'The Gumps?'")

(Mary will tell him off, Gribble will take offense, and Bill will get socked in the eye.)

(Tomorrow: Irwin tied to a chair.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

One of the children involved in the Downey-Bennett fracas, 9-year-old Sean Morton, will grow up to be the over-the-top-offensive 1980s TV personality Morton Downey Jr. -- whose chaotic upbringing caused him to hate his father, a relentlessly "wholesome" Irish tenor beloved of middle-aged radio listeners, so thoroughly that he did everything he possibly could to drag the family name into obloquy. Of course, that's not to say the old man didn't do his part.

You can't tell the schlammes without a scorecard.

A couple of these folks could be writing Ipana Toothpaste copy.

"Even the walls have ears..."

At least test him for hepatitis first. These show-business characters pick up all kinds of diseases.

Fortunately, he's too fat to move so he just stands there huffing.

Yep, hasn't changed a bit.

Novels? They're training manuals.

Min is the most patient woman in the comics, not having killed Knob-head in 1918.

We basically have two entirely separate storylines going on here -- unless it turns out that Emmy's mystery caller turns out to be a gangster agent sent to cause terror back home. And if that's how it turns out, then I for one will be impressed.

 

[Fading Fast]

Two badly-wounded gunmen, tracked down after police followed a four-block trail of blood following a blazing gunfight last night in East New York, are prisoners at Kings County Hospital today. Fifteen shots were exchanged by the bandits and a motorcycle patrolman who was supposed to be home on sick leave after the two bandits attempted to stick up a pool room at 361 Cleveland Street. A third bandit, who acted as lookout during the attempted robbery at the billiard parlor, vanished into the night when the gun battle started. Patrolman Guglielmo Cappadora of Motorcycle Squad 2, aged 32, who is still recovering from a broken arm and a skull fracture sustained when he was pitched over an embankment while chasing a speeding motorist on May 2nd, happened to be waiting for a friend on the sidewalk in front of the pool room when the robbers arrived. Patrolman Cappadora was waved into the billiard emporium by the bandits, and lined up face to the wall with the other patrons, while the thugs moved down the line rifling the patrons' pockets. When the bandits were three men away from him, Cappadora whipped out his service revolver, spun around, and opened fire. After the robbers returned fire, they made their way to the door, and dripping blood, fled into the street. Two patrolmen, alerted by the gunfire, followed the blood trail and found the two gunmen hiding on the roof of a house on Warwick Street. Arrested were 27-year-old Lazaro Donaruma of 397 President Street, who had been hit twice in the left side, and Gaspar Giacolone of 42 1st Street, who was hit in the chest. Both men are reported to have criminal records, and are reported to have confessed to the robbery, stating that they "needed a little money." Police found $47 on one of the gunmen. The third confederate is still at large. A patron of the pool room, Joseph Godino of 440 Chestnut Street, was grazed in the ankle by a bullet during the exchange of fire....

Cagney and Edward G. Robinson are negotiating while the script is still being written. Oomph girl is rooting for Cagney as she knows he'll bring her along. Bogie's tied up with a bunch of movies, including one called "Casablanca," or he'd be trying to get involved too. Meanwhile, Guy Kibbee figures there's always some role for him.

...
(For your convenience, all neighborhood candy stores will be taking on extra help to serve you.)...

...A Hungarian refugee who is reported to have supplied platinum to two airline stewards to be smuggled to Europe is in custody in lieu $15,000 cash bail as Federal agents continue their investigation of the alleged smuggling operation. 22-year-old Arnold Weisz of 628 Blake Avenue is accused of supplying three packages of the rare metal, each about the size of a pack of cigarettes, to the two stewards aboard the Pan American Airways Dixie Clipper just before the plane was to take off from LaGuardia Field. Each package is said to have contained about $5000 worth of platinum, which is used in the manufacture of such high-precision military instruments as bombsights and gunnery controls, as well as in the construction of airplanes....

And the plot thickens. Besides being a real-life espionage caper, this is another one that has Hollywood written all over it, think uranium in "Notorious" or tungsten in "Gilda."

...The president of the National Monument Association declared today that the idea behind moving the statue of General Grant from Bedford Avenue to Manhattan is in keeping with the general philosophy of removing monuments from the path of traffic. Former Secretary of the Navy Herbert Satterlee stated today that he believes the Grant monument should be relocated only if it can be demonstrated that an improvement in traffic flow and parking capacity on Bedford Avenue will result. "The whole effort of city planners and traffic managers today is to get statues out of thoroughfares in every city," observed Mr. Satterlee, who added that the Association suggested that the statue be moved to a location outside Grant's Tomb on Riverside Drive because it believes that it will eventually have to be removed from its present location because of this trend....

Everything about this one feels as if Moses is going to do what Moses wants to do and all the "reasons" are being reversed engineered to justify what he wants to do all along.

..."Madcap Babs" will return to the witness stand on Monday in Nassau County District Court to defend herself from charges of "manhandling" a police telephone booth last month. 27-year-old Barbara Lucy Taylor, daughter of wealthy Cyril F. Taylor of Roslyn Heights, yesterday contradicted police testimony that she had "admitted visiting the booth." Earlier, her mother, Mrs. Anna Louise Taylor, testified that her daughter has experienced "several illnesses" and periods of convalescence....

(Out in Hollywood, Miss Carole Lombard asks "can we get the movie rights?")

Spot on call, this role has Ms. Lombard written all over it.

... Also, with all the modern fashionability of food trucks, you'd think someone would latch on to the idea of selling hot buttered corn on the cob as a street snack.)...

Not exactly the same thing, but in the corn family, grilled Mexican corn has become a very popular food truck offering over the past ten years or so in NYC.

...
("HAH!" hahs Joe. "'At Higsby! How mucha t'at hunnet gran's he gettin'! He otta get alluvit!" "HAH!" hahs Sally. "'At Passeau! He knew what'uz comin' an' he coud'n take it! Betta go suck ya passafiah, lit'l man -- it's time fa beddy-bye!")...

Prior to reading these Day by Days, my "feel" was that the ballplayers were getting screwed by the owners as could be seen by the large amounts paid to a team in a trade for player versus what that player himself got paid. But having learned more about the economics of '30s and '40s, pre-big-radio-and-TV-contract-dollars baseball, I don't feel as much that way. To be sure, the players weren't treated fairly, but I don't think there was as much money to pay them as I had thought as these teams weren't that profitable themselves (overall).

Whirlaway looks great.

That's serious devotion to getting a picture to schlep that camera to a game.

...[
(The movie is forgettable fun, but I'm all in for the stage show. Bea Wain is one of my favorite vocalists, Brown has a pretty good band, and the dog act is just the topping on the pie. Well, hopefully not *on* the pie.)...

Forgettable fun is a good description. My comments on it here: #28038

Cohn is right that Miss Lane is "nicer than ever in a lush part:"

Pricilla Lane in "Million Dollar Baby."

...
One of the children involved in the Downey-Bennett fracas, 9-year-old Sean Morton, will grow up to be the over-the-top-offensive 1980s TV personality Morton Downey Jr. -- whose chaotic upbringing caused him to hate his father, a relentlessly "wholesome" Irish tenor beloved of middle-aged radio listeners, so thoroughly that he did everything he possibly could to drag the family name into obloquy. Of course, that's not to say the old man didn't do his part....

And another payroll robbery.

... At least test him for hepatitis first. These show-business characters pick up all kinds of diseases.....

If we're testing Hollywood types, hepatitis isn't the first disease I'd think to look for, especially in a pre-antibiotic world.

... Fortunately, he's too fat to move so he just stands there huffing....

Wait till Daddy Constable gets a read of what Trigger was doing, from what we know, with her consent, to his "innocent" little girl.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Baseball was a pretty shoestring operation as of 1941 because of the lingering effects of the Depression -- even the Dodgers are deep in debt because of a mortgage on Ebbets Field taken out to meet operating costs during the worst years, and the constant power struggles between the rival ownership factions. The whole reason MacPhail is there is because the Brooklyn Trust Company, which holds the mortgage and controls the Ebbets estate, wanted someone in charge who wasn't a total idiot. (Of course, they ended up with a borderline lunatic, but what can ya do.)

The Giants aren't much better off. Charles Stoneham was a shady stock-market operator who bought the team as a tax write-off, and then he died and left it to his boy Horace, who staffed it with cronies and drinking buddies and didn't really pay much attention to what was going on. As the Eagle takes great delight in pointing out, the huge crowds the Dodgers draw when they visit the Polo Grounds are pretty much all that's keeping Stoneham solvent.

The Yankees, alone among the New York clubs, had nothing to worry about as long as Jacob Ruppert -- cheer, cheer for Knickerbocker Beer -- owned the club, but he's dead now, and his estate wants to sell. So there's bound to be some efforts to rein in costs even there.

And when you look around at the rest of the teams, the Cubs, Reds, Tigers, and Red Sox are owned by wealthy industrialists who can afford to lose a little money here and there. But everyone else is struggling, especially in Philadelphia and St. Louis, where two teams are trying to get along in cities with barely enough support for one. The Phillies, as we've seen, sell any halfway decent player for operating capital as soon as he becomes halfway decent, and had to abandon their ballpark to move in with the Athletics because their own park was crumbling into rubble around them.

What's absent from this picture is corporate ownership of ball clubs. No publishing or entertainment conglomerates own franchises in 1941 -- even teams like the Cubs and Reds, owned by heads of major companies, are not treated as subsidiaries of those firms, and have to sink or swim out of their owners' personal funds. The idea of a ballclub as "a family business" and "a civic enterprise" is still common, but it won't be for much longer.

 

[Harp]

Regarding payrolls:
When I was stationed in Germany back in the 1980s one of the various extra duties that rotated among the junior officers in the battalion was pay officer. Once a month one of us would check out a .45 (and ammunition), from the arms room, get one of our battery's sergeant's to check out their rifle, (and ammunition), get a jeep and driver, and with a briefcase, drive the 18 odd miles into W.O. Darby Kaserne in Fürth. There I would sign for something north of $100,000 cash in US dollars and German Deutschmarks. (After counting it back to the issuing finance people). We would then drive back to post and set up for payday in the attic of battalion headquarters. Then, in a ritual that went back a fair bit, those soldiers who wished cash-in-hand instead of direct deposit, would enter the room, salute, present their payslip, state how much of each currency they wanted, count it back to you, sign for it, salute once more, about face and exit the room. This continued for most of the day. At the end of it, you would head back to Fürth, and painstakingly square the accounts with finance praying you had made no errors during the day. (And if so, having to make it up out of pocket). If I recall, you usually ended up counting all the money at least five times during the day. If it all balanced, you were lucky to get back to post by 8pm. Then we'd clean and check-in our arms. Usually, the sergeant and driver were excused the next morning's formation. A couple of things about this struck me then and have lingered since. Paying each soldier personally was a surprisingly solemn event almost like the giving and receiving of fealty. It was the reinforcing of a bond. The other was how odd it felt to be wearing our hats indoors. A forgotten bit of hat etiquette is that of not taking your hat off indoors if you are under arms.

Didja ever take a bunch of ration cards over to the Rhein Main Air Force PX and black market the liquor and smokes?

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt yesterday threatened to send in Federal troops to end the CIO strike at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California, if the walkout is not resolved within 48 hours, and served notice that he intends to take similar action to end defense-industry work stoppages wherever needed, so long as the present conditions of unlimited national emergency continue. Immediately after the President issued his dramatic ultimatum, the War Department announced that it is ready to move troops into the strike-bound Inglewood plant, where work on $200,000,000 worth of bombing planes is held up. In Los Angeles, CIO leaders are reported to be meeting today to consider the President's ultimatum.

Mr. Roosevelt also summoned Harry L. Brown of the AF of L, leader of a machinists strike that has halted production of naval ships in San Francisco to a White House conference on Monday, and instructed press secretary Stephen Early to issue a statement indicating that the President "does not countenance" a strike by 20,000 CIO lumbermen in the logging camps of the Pacific Northwest. The President further put Southern coal operators on notice that they have until Monday night to accept the National Mediation Board's order that the pay of miners be raised to $7 a day -- equivalent to that now paid by Northern operators -- or face a Federal takeover of their mines.

Whirlaway yesterday became only the fifth horse in turf history to win racing's prized Triple Crown, surging to an easy victory in the Belmont Stakes. A 1-4 favorite in yesterday's race, Whirlaway had previously won this year's Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

The Dodgers fell out of first place yesterday, falling 8-3 in an unexpected loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The St. Louis Cardinals regained the National League lead with an 11-3 victory over the Giants.

The search continues for an unidentified third man wanted in connection with a poolroom robbery in the East New York district, a stickup that led to the wounding of two other bandits and a bystander in an exchange of gunfire with an off-duty motorcycle patrolman. Police say the two wounded thugs, identified as Lazaro Doranuma and Gaspar Giacolone, have refused to identify the third man, who acted as lookout outside the 361 Cleveland Street pool parlor during the Friday night holdup.

Brooklyn war veterans are combining forces to oppose the plan to move the equestrian statue of General Grant on Bedford Avenue out of the borough, and are promising to storm a public hearing at Borough Hall tomorrow to make their views known. Colonel William A. Dawkins, commander of the Brooklyn United Spanish War Veterans post, declared his organization's full opposition to the proposed move, and further criticized Borough President John Cashmore for failing to inform local veterans groups of the public hearing on the plan. A similar telegram was sent to the Borough President by the commander of the Brooklyn Council of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, declaring that "this organization has been unalterably opposed, since 1938, to any plan to move this statue to Manhattan," and further warning that "our organization's views will be heard, with or without an invitation. The Grant statue will stay in Brooklyn." Likewise the secretary of the Kings County War Veterans Council pledged support for the campaign, promising to send a delegation to the Monday hearing. The commander of the Kings County G. A. R, ninety-eight-year-old Civil War veteran Robert G. Summers, who lives practically in the shadow of the statue, has also weighed in on the issue, declaring his firm opposition to any proposed relocation of the monument.

A mysterious woman in black took the stand yesterday in Kings County Court to put the finger on Charlie "The Bug" Workman for his role in the 1935 gangland assassination of beer baron Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Fliegenheimer. The woman, who gave her name as Mrs. Ruth Sands, testified that Workman spent the night following the mass shootings of Fliegenheimer and three of his henchmen at her apartment, and stated that he had "complained repeatedly" that he had been left behind by the other assassins to "face the music."

Two other figures in the Brooklyn Murder For Hire gang expect meet their fate Thursday night at Sing Sing Prison. Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss and Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein are scheduled to go the electric chair for the 1937 murder of gangland informant Irving "Puggy" Feinstein. It is reported that neither man holds out much hope that Governor Herbert H. Lehman will commute their sentences to life imprisonment.

Police yesterday saved thirty-six cats from a 30-foot tree in Astoria, including a mother cat and four newborn kittens. Radio patrolmen Theodore Mark and William Deegan were first at the scene after a call was received at the Astoria precinct reporting loud yowls emanating from the tree, and with the help of a truck and a ladder, the policemen managed to bring all of the cats to safety. A woman in the crowd immediately offered a home to the mother and her kittens, and police were considering pressing abandonment charges against one Mr. Tom Cat.

(Yeah, you might want to use some of that fencing to keep cats out of your trees. And I don't know who came up with "Supre-Macy" brand paint, but I hope they got a nice cash bonus.)

The Eagle Editorialist suggests that if Mayor LaGuardia is elected to a third term in office this fall, he owes it to the city to resign his job as head of the Office of Civilian Defense. "Too many irons in the fire" does not make for effective leadership, and the city must always be the Mayor's primary responsibility.

("Seriously, Ma? Seriously? THAT'S the picture you sent in?" "Well, I told you. I told you to smile. And would have killed you to put on a little makeup? You're not getting any younger, you know." "I hate you, Ma. Have I told you that lately? I really hate you." "Oh, sure, blame ME for the bags under your eyes! Do *I* go to Roseland every night? Do *I* eat custard pie at 2 in the morning at the Automat! You marry a good-time Charlie, and you reap the rewards! Look at your father!" "I'm goin' to bed, Ma. If Cliffie calls, tell him I'm dead. BECAUSE IT WOULD SERVE YOU RIGHT!" ***door slams***)

("The kid needs a rest," opines Sally. "Put Petey in there for a few games. He c'n play shawtstop. He'd 'a made t'em plays." "RIPPLE!" growls Joe. "Iss all MacPhail's fault! T'at waiva t'ing lass yeah! I ASK YA!" "Buttcha'can't blame it ALL on Reese," continues Sally. "'At Hoiman, botchin'nat t'row -- I mean, a ol' man like'at, boisitis inna shoulda an' all, prolly shudn' otta be playin' so much neita. I'm jus' sayin'.")

("Beaver" -- archaic slang for a full beard. Just in case you were wondering.)

Jean Arthur is one of the most private stars in Hollywood, and she doesn't have much time for publicity. She prefers to spend her off hours at home in Brentwood with her husband, producer Frank Ross, and her six dogs, all of them mutts. Neighbors say they often see her walking the mutts, dressed in old shiny slacks, sneakers, and an ancient pullover sweater. She stopped giving interviews some time ago, when she became convinced that little, if anything, of what she said would be used, and when she detects "a phony" trying to get something out of her, she tends to melt them, and not in a nice way. She also is known to incinerate "bores, counterfeits, and opportunists."

The Benson Girls write into the Old Timers page, remembering the good old days in Greenpoint, when they enjoyed unfurling itch powder during choir rehearsals at the Episcopal Church on Kent Street. It was also fun to fill parishoners' umbrellas with cornstarch so that when they were opened a great white cloud would billow forth. Other times they'd steal the belts off gentlemens' English overcoats and "run off with them."

(I was in the Methodist choir, not Episcopal, and it was seventy years later, but otherwise I can completely identify with these stories.)

(Yeah, it generally is pretty startling when a giant figure leaps out from behind a boulder and fixes you in a steely grip.)

(Scarlet ain't here to waste time.)

(Sigh. We really miss out here by not having the color.)

(Broadcasting county-fair sack races? How small time. *We* used to do the horse-pulling contests and the Adult Women's Pig Scramble. And -- "Uh, Kay, um, I think I put the egg in my back pocket.")

(I'd really like to get a look at George's rap sheet, because I bet it's hilarious.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

At least Atwill knew where to draw the line.

Scram, Shirley -- you're stealing my act.

What can you say? At least it's more creative than crushing his hand in a vise.

"That puts you in the saddle, Sherlock." These German officers do love their Hollywood movies.

If Sandy could talk, he'd say "IDIOT CHILD! THIS IS JUST WHAT LA PLATA *WOULD* SAY!"

There was a silent-picture fat-guy comedy team called "The Tons O' Fun," and I'm pretty sure they must've done this bit at least once.

If that kick didn't loosen Jack up, nothing will.

(There was a whole row of trees like this in my childhood neighborhood, but a few years ago a real estate developer cut them all down to build a bunch of ugly houses, and I don't think I want to talk about it any more...)

Yep, back to normal.

"Let's see Warbucks top THAT!"

 

[Harp]

Grace Wynne will fight extradition, fail, be extradited to Kansas and face trial for homicide, bail jumping,
anything else in bag; and, it would be interesting to research her case and its conclusion.
The old law case reporting of yesteryear is very surprising for its depth and breadth of criminal journalism.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Whirlaway yesterday became only the fifth horse in turf history to win racing's prized Triple Crown, surging to an easy victory in the Belmont Stakes. A 1-4 favorite in yesterday's race, Whirlaway had previously won this year's Kentucky Derby and the Preakness....

Good job buddy.

Whirlaway in the winner's circle at Belmont

...The search continues for an unidentified third man wanted in connection with a poolroom robbery in the East New York district, a stickup that led to the wounding of two other bandits and a bystander in an exchange of gunfire with an off-duty motorcycle patrolman. Police say the two wounded thugs, identified as Lazaro Doranuma and Gaspar Giacolone, have refused to identify the third man, who acted as lookout outside the 361 Cleveland Street pool parlor during the Friday night holdup....

Time for the cops to play a little prisoner's dilemma game on the two guys they got.

...Two other figures in the Brooklyn Murder For Hire gang expect meet their fate Thursday night at Sing Sing Prison. Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss and Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein are scheduled to go the electric chair for the 1937 murder of gangland informant Irving "Puggy" Feinstein. It is reported that neither man holds out much hope that Governor Herbert H. Lehman will commute their sentences to life imprisonment....

Justice certainly moved faster in 1941, maybe not better, maybe even worse, but definitely faster.

... ]
("Seriously, Ma? Seriously? THAT'S the picture you sent in?" "Well, I told you. I told you to smile. And would have killed you to put on a little makeup? You're not getting any younger, you know." "I hate you, Ma. Have I told you that lately? I really hate you." "Oh, sure, blame ME for the bags under your eyes! Do *I* go to Roseland every night? Do *I* eat custard pie at 2 in the morning at the Automat! You marry a good-time Charlie, and you reap the rewards! Look at your father!" "I'm goin' to bed, Ma. If Cliffie calls, tell him I'm dead. BECAUSE IT WOULD SERVE YOU RIGHT!" ***door slams***)...

And "If Cliffie calls, tell him I'm dead." LOL

Sure, sure, she's going to kill herself, must address that, but did someone mention custard pie?

...
("Beaver" -- archaic slang for a full beard. Just in case you were wondering.)...

Much appreciated clarification.

...Jean Arthur is one of the most private stars in Hollywood, and she doesn't have much time for publicity. She prefers to spend her off hours at home in Brentwood with her husband, producer Frank Ross, and her six dogs, all of them mutts. Neighbors say they often see her walking the mutts, dressed in old shiny slacks, sneakers, and an ancient pullover sweater. She stopped giving interviews some time ago, when she became convinced that little, if anything, of what she said would be used, and when she detects "a phony" trying to get something out of her, she tends to melt them, and not in a nice way. She also is known to incinerate "bores, counterfeits, and opportunists."...

Ms. Arthur, what do you think about giving interviews?

(you knew this GIF was coming)

...
(Yeah, it generally is pretty startling when a giant figure leaps out from behind a boulder and fixes you in a steely grip.)..

Does Jane know this is what he does when he goes on his "business" trips?

... What can you say? At least it's more creative than crushing his hand in a vise....

And less scary than having a laser aimed at your nether region. Oh, these crazy criminal masterminds and their methods of torture and murder.

... "That puts you in the saddle, Sherlock." These German officers do love their Hollywood movies....
View attachment 340167 "Let's see Warbucks top THAT!"

"I flatter myself that I got work out of that polyglot shovel gang on the dam by treating the men like human beings - I warn you not to try other methods!"

It's 1941 and Caniff is making a very political statement here about the Germans - everyone who wanted to, knew what was really going on. "I didn't know" was always BS.

Smart espionage stuff, smart political stuff and smart and exciting action-adventure stuff (and, as always, Burma). Once again, we note, T&TP is lightyears ahead of all the other strips.

 

[Harp]

Smart espionage stuff, smart political stuff and smart and exciting action-adventure stuff (and, as always, Burma).

I saw Burma at the track yesterday.
Stopped by in the morning to cash Saturday's Belmont/undercard winning tickets and there she was, ahead of me in line.
Kid you not, it was her. Beautiful blonde, casually dressed but wearing a black jacket, pants, tennis shoes.

She was alone, the kid was gone. And no Pirates. Some delay at the window, nervous fidgeting, gorgeous blonde,
and the mask with her eyes, like a harem girl.

She collected her winnings and left before I could introduce myself, didn't have time to say anything.
She just disappeared. But it was definitely her. And she hasn't aged a day since China.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The United States Army moved in today with bayonets, machine guns, and tear gas, routing C I O pickets and seizing control of the North American Aircraft plant in Inglewood, California. Acting on the direct orders of President Roosevelt, a total of 2500 troops under the command of Colonel Charles E. Branshaw, U. S. Army Air Corps surged onto the factory grounds this morning, driving back strikers with tear gas shells, and surrounding the plant with a bristling ring of fixed blades backed up by machine gun emplacements pointing directly into the crowd of strikers. Colonel Branshaw took full command of the plant, and declared that "effective immediately, the plant will be open for work under Government control." The company and the United Auto Workers had been at an impasse over contract negotiations, and had failed to heed a Presidential ultimatum to settle the strike immediately or see the plant seized by the Army. One striker was stabbed in the thigh by a bayonet-wielding soldier during the initial charge, and three others were burned by exploding tear-gas grenades. In a message to plant workers, the President urged all to return to work at once, declaring that "our country is in danger, and the men and women who are now making airplanes play an indispensable part in its defense." The President further pledged to the workers that the Government will fully protect "their persons and their interests" as they return to the production lines.

Strikers at the Leviton Manufacturing Company in Greenpoint today urged the President to send in the Army to take over that factory as well. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been on strike against that company since last August, with the union charging that the company has made no effort to negotiate in good faith.

Allied forces advancing in Syria have entered the coastal town of Sur, the Tyre of Biblical history, and the village of Merdjayoum, less than 30 miles southwest of the capital city of Damascus. Capture of the Syrian capital, believed to be the world's oldest inhabited city, was believed likely before dusk tonight.

More than a score of suggested reforms intended to purge corruption in the bail bond industry were transmitted to Governor Herbert H. Lehman, Mayor LaGuardia, and prominent judges and police officials today by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen. The suggestions were prepared by the Amen Grand Jury in the wake of the lengthy investigation into bail-bond corruption in Brooklyn that led to the convictions of Max Lippe, Abraham Frosch, and Mrs. Rose Gold, the removal from office of Magistrate Mark Rudich, and the dismissal of the poilce force of over two dozen officers, along with the famous blacklist of 150 bondsmen and 200 Brooklyn properties implicated in various bail rackets. In addition to recommending changes in policy governing the implementation of bail for various specified crimes and misdemeanors, the report submitted by Mr. Amen also recommends that steps be taken to enforce collection of up to $300,000 worth of bail bond forfeitures, only a small fraction of which has been collected over the past ten years.

Borough President John Cashmore announced today that he will back the campaign to keep the equestrian statue of General Grant where it now stands on Bedford Avenue, and will officially join with local veterans groups petitioning the city to drop plans to move the statue to Riverside Drive, Manhattan, near Grant's Tomb. After a meeting at Borough Hall today with delegates from each of the borough's veterans' organizations, Mr. Cashmore stated that he will present and endorse their petitions at the next meeting of the Municipal Arts Commission in an effort to derail the move, a position will place Mr. Cashmore in conflict with Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who has expressed his desire to see the statue moved in the interests of traffic improvement.

A 40-year-old workman dismantling a house in Park Slope was killed after he was impaled on his own crowbar. Louis Gleek, address not given, was at work this morning on a crew taking down the old Clayton C. Peck mansion at 21 Plaza Street when a roof rafter he was removing slipped loose and drove the crowbar thru his skull. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the body taken to the Kings County Morgue pending notification of relatives. Police were trying to locate the dead man's next of kin thru his employer, the wrecking firm of S. Boydrian, Inc.

(At least don't throw the butts on the shore. That's disgusting.)

Troubled by stage fright? Dr. Brady advises that the next time you get the jitters before the curtain goes up, take a dose of quinine. That helps. "It's difficult to explain why," so he doesn't.

(If the choice is between sitting on the fire escape while a fan blows air across a melting block of ice at you and going to see "A Woman's Face," well, what would *you* do??)

(Bucking for PPfc. Potato-Peeler First Class.)

(First rule of baseball: the team you write off in May is the team that will bedevil you in June. And gee, Larry, speaking of outfielders, you know who's really hitting right now? Roy Cullenbine. You know, the guy who cashed that $25,000 check with your name on the bottom.)

At WOR, recording department chief Ray Lyon says the station has now fully changed over to using the new glass-based recording blanks. The usual aluminum platters are no longer available due to that metal being diverted fully to national defense needs, and Mr. Lyon says the new glass discs are fully equal to the aluminum version except for the unavoidable reality that they do break. Even so, he acknowledges, that's something radio may have to get used to, possibly for years to come.

(Someone once sent me a set of glass-based recording discs thru the mail, wrapped in layers of cardboard and packed in an outside box. Every one of them arrived broken. Sigh.)

(MacPhail really needs to crack down on these two. Going to church dances is a lot riskier than flying. Especially for Camilli, who's married, with eight kids.)

(By panel four, Sue is clearly reconsidering the whole thing.)

(Yes, that'll certainly last long.)

(Everyone has their price.)

(SPLAT! "Sorry, uh, guess I dropped it.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Mr. Brainerd will live until 1977, into an era where bootblacks, I am sure, will be the least of his worries.

There's A New World Coming.

Come off the cross, La Plata. Anybody who doesn't think show business is hard work, has obviously never been in it.

Any guesses as to Trigger's ultimate fate?

Our boy has been knocking around China for nearly seven years now. Let's hope he's picked up enough of the language to get his point across.

Should've invested some of your stock profits in a folding top.

You know, the Army takes twenty-year-olds. Just saying.

I had eggs for breakfast this morning. Really been craving them lately, and I have no idea why.

You can't say Harold didn't learn something from Senga.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(At least don't throw the butts on the shore. That's disgusting.)...

Ms. Grable is soon to be the most popular pin-up girl of WWII

...Troubled by stage fright? Dr. Brady advises that the next time you get the jitters before the curtain goes up, take a dose of quinine. That helps. "It's difficult to explain why," so he doesn't....

Especially if you mix in a little gin for a nice G&T before going on stage. Over to you John Barrymore.

...
(If the choice is between sitting on the fire escape while a fan blows air across a melting block of ice at you and going to see "A Woman's Face," well, what would *you* do??)...

The options are quite impressive. For a below-the-radar outstanding movie, "The Sea Wolf" at Gerritsen Beach gets my vote.

...
(First rule of baseball: the team you write off in May is the team that will bedevil you in June. And gee, Larry, speaking of outfielders, you know who's really hitting right now? Roy Cullenbine. You know, the guy who cashed that $25,000 check with your name on the bottom.)...

[After the press conference alone with his PR team] MacPhail: Don't give me any of this freedom of the press BS, that woman from the Maine Gazette never steps foot in one of my press conferences again - got it! [sotto voce] effin Cullenbine.

It will be fun to follow Whirlaway the rest of the season.

...
(Yes, that'll certainly last long.)...

I'm still waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under their $100K.

Where did they ever think up the plot for the Beverly Hillbillies from?

"One of the first uplifts we'll have here is to break you of making such ugly remarks about dignified-looking neighbors" "Such low remarks. Oh, I know it's a bitter pill for you to realize you have to get along with refined people..." As you've noted, Lizzie, Jo can deliver some humdingers in her inimitable Jo style.

... Mr. Brainerd will live until 1977, into an era where bootblacks, I am sure, will be the least of his worries.....

What an *ss.

... Come off the cross, La Plata. Anybody who doesn't think show business is hard work, has obviously never been in it.....

I didn't go back and count, but Gray has been saying the same thing for several days now. It's time to move on.

..
Our boy has been knocking around China for nearly seven years now. Let's hope he's picked up enough of the language to get his point across.....

I don't know, he's been hanging out with ladies' man Pat for how many years, yet he had no idea what to do with Hu Shee or Burma. He doesn't seem that quick on the uptake.

... You can't say Harold didn't learn something from Senga.

Veronica is Senga in five years if none of her plans work out.

 

[Harp]

^^^Chaste comic cartoonist stricture explained by Lizzie, so I'm just working 'round the corners,
ignoring angles and dangled participles, incomplete sentences, simple declarative sentences a la Heminqwayesque,
Oak Park, Illinois narrow lawn mindedness, not really paying attention too much---thought Col. Wolfe was
a West Pointer, forgot about the Germans, and just skating along the surface.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^Chaste comic cartoonist stricture explained by Lizzie, so I'm just working 'round the corners,
ignoring angles and dangled participles, incomplete sentences, simple declarative sentences a la Heminqwayesque,
Oak Park, Illinois narrow lawn mindedness, not really paying attention too much---thought Col. Wolfe was
a West Pointer, forgot about the Germans, and just skating along the surface.

My interpretation of the comic strips in the '30s and '40s and Lizzie's comment is that you have to read between the lines a bit to see the sex, but it's there.

Same thing, in general, with movies: two lovers kiss hard, shot fades, next scene they are lounging around smoking cigarettes (his suit jacket might be off now) - got it. Hitchcock used fireworks in "To Catch a Thief;" in "Casablanca" a signal light flashes by to show when "it" happened. Raven wasn't on the ledge outside Dude's room to ask to borrow a cigarette.

It was very clear that Burma's mission was really to sleep with Wolff so they'd have him compromised, but the "surface" plan was to get him to say bad things about the Nazis. Heck, it was clear that Hu Shee wanted to sleep with Terry but he was to unaware and inexperienced to get it.

I'm sure I miss some stuff and interpret some innocent stuff as not innocent, but overall, the movies and comic strips had an unwritten code to lead the viewers and readers along IMO.

 

[Harp]

^^^Yeah, I figured. But the kid keeps missing his cue, and I try not to overread between the lines too much.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Given Terry's age when he first latched on with Pat, it seems likely that Pat is the one who advised him in what a teenage boy needs to know about the birds and bees, and it also seems likely, given Pat's reputation for doing what it is that he does, that this talk terrified the kid half to death.

As I've noted, of the three young post-adolescents whose lives we follow here, the only one who I am certain is "a man of the world" is, gawd help us, Harold Teen. There was no double entendre in his dealings last summer with Senga. The one big entendre was lying right there on the couch.

I still can't decide what the deal is with Skeezix, but I do know one thing -- he better boil those sheets after Tops is done sleeping on them.

 

[Fading Fast]

Given Terry's age when he first latched on with Pat, it seems likely that Pat is the one who advised him in what a teenage boy needs to know about the birds and bees, and it also seems likely, given Pat's reputation for doing what it is that he does, that this talk terrified the kid half to death.

As I've noted, of the three young post-adolescents whose lives we follow here, the only one who I am certain is "a man of the world" is, gawd help us, Harold Teen. There was no double entendre in his dealings last summer with Senga. The one big entendre was lying right there on the couch.

I still can't decide what the deal is with Skeezix, but I do know one thing -- he better boil those sheets after Tops is done sleeping on them.

My only quibble with this is why would Pat's talk have scared Terry? Sure, it's "scary" in a way - new, adulty, etc. - but most teenage boys would be encouraged by a Pat. As a teenage boy, I remember knowing that the older kids were doing it made it less scary. When I was a freshman in high school in the '70s, it was pretty clear that the some of the older kids were active which made it seem okay. Still scary, but you wanted to find out for yourself.

It's hard to say with Skeezix as, I agree, he's probably still "new," but the opportunity was there with Snipe and Nina, but King never made it seem that anything happened.

I thought Caniff missed an opportunity with Hu Shee and Terry as Hu Shee is experienced and wanted Terry and all that time those two spent traveling alone was the perfect opportunity for her to introduce Terry to it. It actually made sense to the story and the circumstances for it to have happened then. It was a perfect way for Terry to have been introduced to it.

 

[Harp]

Given Terry's age when he first latched on with Pat, it seems likely that Pat is the one who advised him in what a teenage boy needs to know about the birds and bees, and it also seems likely, given Pat's reputation for doing what it is that he does, that this talk terrified the kid half to death.

Perhaps. But Terry seems more adult in other ways, and the kid is living a far larger than life boyhood most kids
his age do, so it is reasonable to assume such a character inside 1930s China, of all places, would be more
experienced in matters of the heart. I cannot imagine a simple birds-and-bees lecture delivered by a Lothario
could sidetrack Terry's otherwise aggressive adventurous nature. This anomaly is quite apparent and the absence
of mature editorial constraint detracts rather than adds to the tale.