The Era -- Day By Day

[Harp]

Dude is armed with the '03 Springfield Rife, its effective range at or inside 1,200 yards
and can deliver a standard rate of a dozen rounds a minute, more-or-less. Open sight, nada scope.
So Sky Dude dropped a buck ass private coolie at a grand or better, not much more than Maggie's drawers.
Hennick needs to nail Judas or he's bolo the range. Just a bolo ain't good enough Sky.
Ken and Barbie. First, that cracker party without wine or cheese, now the old ass-on-glass routine.
The Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin Feeling would definitely serve as strip soundtrack here.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
("Hey!" shouts a neighborhood kid who has climbed the fire escape and is looking in the kitchen window. "You Joe? Guy onnaphone downa canny stoah wants you should wire'im twenny-five bucks. Says he's in jail in Philly an' needs ya should go his bail. Sez t'ere's a ottagraff bawl innit fawya." "Solly?" sighs Sally, with a roll of her eyes. "Solly," sighs Joe.)...

... (As a fan both of swing and of Gilbert and Sullivan, may I say that "The Hot Mikado" may be the single greatest entertainment ever conceived.)...

Didn't quite follow how it all comes together, but a mashup of two of our favorite '41 things, the Dodgers and Hellzapoppin', works.

...The Football Dodgers opened their season with a 14-7 win over the Detroit Lions at Ebbets Field yesterday, but Coach Jock Sutherland was none too happy with how they went about it. "The Dodgers didn't play good football" groused Jock. "The boys were smug, self-satisfied, and a bit too cocky to suit me." He observed that Detroit also played poorly, which was more responsible for the Brooklyn win than anything the Dodgers did to carry the game. The Football Flock will travel to Philadelphia this week for a night game on Saturday....

Just don't tear up the field as we'll hopefully need it in good condition very soon.

... I don't know about any of that, but I do know these people going by don't look very Park Avenue to me. You sure you aren't in the Village?)...

You're spot on, they are not Park Avenue looking at all. Even to this day, the hifalutin residential part of Park Avenue still looks a lot like it did in the '30s and '40s as most of the pre-war residential buildings are still there and there is almost no commercial activity and only a few new (post-war) buildings up. It is one of those avenues you can walk up or down even today and really feel a bit of time travel.

...[
("And don't eat the face! Good boy! Don't eat the face!")

And you were doing so well, Lizzie (sigh). We'll discuss this in counseling Friday.

... So THAT'S why they didn't recall Mungo. Won't help, there's an extradition treaty with Canada....

Nice to see the Mungo-Cuban-dancer-menage-a-trois story coming back for the fall.

"Thugs get $200 in garage raid." This is why career choices matter. Once you've decided on a future in the field of crime, don't go for the basic hold-up line of work where three people are splitting a mere $200 for a night's work when you could solo as a society jewel thief making tens of thousand per heist all by yourself.

... "No more Mr. Nice Guy."....

"Things should start to get interesting right about now." - Bob Dylan from the song "Mississippi"

... The art today is magnificient. Mr. King has really been pushing out the boat lately, and it shows.....

No kidding, it's got an echo of those fantastic Deny Wortman illustrations.

... "Family, I'd like you to meet my wife, Senga."....

It's only a few times a year we turn to the comic-strip gods in prayer, but now is a necessary moment: please have Gramps comeback married to Senga, I promise not to say one more word about the Slaggs if you do.

 

[Harp]

Wortman's great. Though I'm more Hopper's Nighthawks, gots to find soul where and eva ever.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In a tacit admission of responsibility, the Nazi Government today stated that the sinking of the American steamer Pink Star was "all according to international regulations. There is no reason for Americans to cry." The Pink Star, an American vessel of Panamanian registry was, according to the German statement "within the legal zone" of the Nazi blockade of the British Isles when it was destroyed. "The United States allows its vessels to fly the Panama flag," charged the Nazi spokesman, "in order to circumvent the Neutrality Act. That is the catch in the Panama flag business."

Meanwhile, Navy Secretary Frank Knox today called for the full repeal of the Neutrality Act, and for a new American policy allowing the use of the Army wherever needed. Speaking in Quincy, Massachusetts at launching ceremonies for the $75,000,000 battleship Massachusetts, Mr. Knox declared that the Act is "no longer an asset, but a liability."

Sixteen Communists were arrested by police in Paris along with quantities of arms, in a three-day curfew imposed by German occupation authorities in the former French capital. Meanwhile, General Charles deGaulle, leader of the Free French forces, declared the formation of a "de facto" government in exile to be headquartered in London, to represent the interests of the Free French Empire and the people of France themselves, whom, he stated, are on the edge of full rebellion against the Vichy Government. General deGaulle stated that the matter of recognition of the new government by the United States will be the responsibility of American authorities, who now recognize the Petain Government as the government of France.

Nazi authorities claimed today that German armed forces are "rapidly mopping up" trapped Soviet armies in the Ukraine in "the greatest encirclement battle in history," and predicted Red Army casualties in the battle will exceed 1,000,000.

A communique from Moscow reported that the Red Army is beginning a new counterattack along the entire front, with 15,000 Germans killed and an entire Nazi division routed in furious fighting to relieve besieged Leningrad.

("Hoozis kid Moozle?" wonders Joe. "Nevvahoiduv'm." "Come up f'm Rochesta," replies Sally, as little Leonora demands a bit more. "'Sposta be hot stuff." "Meh," scoffs Joe. "Ain'no Reeza. Oh, hey, did I show ya 'tis? Solly gimme t'is bawll f'm Philly. T'ey lettim off wit' a wawrnin'. Lookit, it's signed by Fitz." "Huh," says Sally. "Nice han'writin' f'a fella t'rows a knucklebawll." "Yeah," says Joe. "Solly sez he got'tis hat, too, buttit's too big so he's sen'nin' it back.")

Members of the Seafarers International Union AFL in 14 East Coast and Gulf ports voted overwhelmingly today in favor of a general strike against 25 merchant shipping companies even as a 10-day old walkout tying up a total of 23 ships may be headed to arbitration. Ship owners represented by Frank J. Taylor of the American Merchant Marine Institute today wired Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, chairman of the U. S. Maritime Commission, offering "full assistance" in negotiating an end to the strike.

The prosecution this afternoon began its case against accused Nazi spy Herman S. Lang of Glendal, who is charged with supplying the Hitler Government with plans for the top-secret Norden Bombsight. Lang, a draughtsman and inspector-machinist at the Norden works in Ridgewood, is one of sixteen persons now on trial for espionage on behalf of Germany.

Representative Gerald P. Nye last night defended Charles A. Lindbergh and Senator Burton K. Wheeler from charges of anti-Semitism, declaring that neither man has "an anti-Semitic hair" on their heads. Speaking at an America First Committee rally at the Academy of Music, Rep. Nye (R-North Dakota) accused 1940 GOP Presidential nominee Wendell Willkie of being the leader of "vile attacks" from interventionists accusing the America First organization of "this low, dirty, un-American thing, anti-Semitism." Former magistrate Joseph Goldstein, who had threatened to personally arrest Rep. Nye for incitement to riot if the Representative endorsed remarks concerning the Jews made by Mr. Lindbergh in Des Moines earlier this month, was present for the rally, but stated that he found "nothing inflammatory" in Mr. Nye's remarks. Representative Nye did not bring up the Des Moines speech, nor did any of the evening's other speakers.

("He is not a bad screen actor, as fighters go." Yeah, tell that to his father-in-law.)

(Mr. Nugent will send Larry a Christmas card with a bill for damages tucked into it. ON TO BOSTON!)

(And we're throwing in a free calendar!)

(Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick.....)

(Awwwww. "Yeah, honey, it was swell in Philly. All 'cept this one crazy mug run on th' field an' stole my hat! I ASK YA!")

Joe DiMaggio, not one for associating with radio comedians, will turn up on the air tomorrow night over WEAF at 9 PM to bandy words with Eddie Cantor. DiMag will give his slant on the National League pennant race, and he'd better pick the Dodgers or else.

(Yes indeed, son, by all means listen to advice from a random New York City street character.)

(I'm not surprised that Jo is pretty good in a brawl.)

(Kite + Geometry = Clandestine Radio Antenna)

(And please welcome in the role of the Sheriff, our special guest Mr. Jerry Colonna. "Greeeeeetings, gate -- let's investigate!" **audience laughs and applauds**)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

He's kinda old for her, but at least he isn't Jessel.

88 days till the winter solstice. Just saying.

"But I still like the Manhattans." Yeah, you look the type.

"Yes, sahib, I know of a way out. But first there is this matter of my long-delayed wage increase..."

Fifty bucks??? SERIOUSLY??? AFRA scale is only $21!

Well, if worse comes to worse, there's a cab company out there wondering whatever happened to Charlie Blake.

I wonder if there's a Mr. Portier?

Poor Burms. All in a day's work.

Meanwhile, our boy Harold needs maybe to lay off the awful-awfuls. He's moving on from Young Ronald Reagan towards Full Jack Carson.

What Vintage Underwear Are You Wearing Today?

 

[Fading Fast]

...Representative Gerald P. Nye last night defended Charles A. Lindbergh and Senator Burton K. Wheeler from charges of anti-Semitism, declaring that neither man has "an anti-Semitic hair" on their heads. ...

Uh-huh. Other than the delivery method, Twitter/social media is really nothing new at all.

... ("He is not a bad screen actor, as fighters go." Yeah, tell that to his father-in-law.)...

I checked on IMDB, that was his only movie (will keep an eye out for it now). You'd have thought he'd have made a few more since it seems like this one did okay, he was okay in it and his name had some cachet at the time.

It's neat to read about all these movies and stars that were already "icons" when we were growing up, but back in '41, they were just day-to-day Hollywood news: John Wayne back at this studio, "Citizen Kane" coming to that theater, etc.

... (Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick.....)...

Wood's take on the "defeatist" attitude is interesting.

...
(Awwwww. "Yeah, honey, it was swell in Philly. All 'cept this one crazy mug run on th' field an' stole my hat! I ASK YA!")...

The daughter did very well coming from that gene pool.

... (Kite + Geometry = Clandestine Radio Antenna)...

On the subject of geometry, long before Barbie, Connie had body geometry that was impossible in the real world. Almost nothing is new. Oh, and when a subway grate isn't handy, just use a good gust of wind.

...
He's kinda old for her, but at least he isn't Jessel...

At least the Kelly-Blair marriage made a go of it for sixteen years, which is pretty good for a Hollywood marriage.

Re Toft, I have no sympathy for someone who cheats on his wife and then leaves her for the other woman, when that woman then cheats and leaves him. Too bad dude. The first wife sounds like a decent person who deserved much better.

...[ 58 days till the winter solstice. Just saying....

The frightening thing is how really close Hitler came to pulling it all off.

...
"But I still like the Manhattans." Yeah, you look the type....

What the heck is a "pousse-cafe?!"

pousse-ca·fé
/ˌpo͞os kaˈfā/

noun

a glass of various liqueurs or cordials poured in successive layers, drunk immediately after coffee.​

Okay then.

A...[
"Yes, sahib, I know of a way out. But first there is this matter of my long-delayed wage increase..."...

It's not up there with "Bless Bess," but enough with the "Ha! Ha!"

Meanwhile, Sandy's thinking, "I don't even need a signing bonus, nope, just give me a decent salary and a two-year contract and I'm out of here."

...
Meanwhile, our boy Harold needs maybe to lay off the awful-awfuls. He's moving on from Young Ronald Reagan towards Full Jack Carson....

Veronica's going to have one last shot - it's time for the clothes-less entry: Just push all the chips in the center of the table.

And no kidding, Harold's pretty puffed up there.

Senga, oh Senga!

 

[Harp]

Mrs Strongman's attorney tipped his hand, avoiding the main issue of his client's separation agreement
with an unfounded accusation against the Strongman estate. The first wife, Catherine B. apparently
has not introduced said contractual nupital agreement into record; otherwise Executor Skerritt would have
been compelled to answer her claim with his remarks concerning Ms Latka. In all likelihood the 1940 will
would have addressed any valid legal estate claim, while the Catherine B. issue a decade later is belated file.
______________

Ace Slimeball is certainly odd, though a trained agent who intended to establish Axis radio connections
wouldn't need to borrow an elementary text off a kid, much less fly kites. Even a gorgeous pneumatic
profile pursuit would seem off limits. Connie does though possess a voluptuousness most captivating.
_______________

The Customs Agent shooting of the Air Corps officer is subject to prosecution.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, a trip to the Out of Town Newsstand yielded this remarkable souvenir of the Philadelphia series...

(The Sunday crowd was "the largest ever to see the Phillies play in Philadelphia," topping any crowd since the team was formed in 1883. I guess nobody had the heart to break it to Mr. Nugent that nobody was there to see the Phils...)

 

[LizzieMaine]

A smalltime racketeer who is alleged to have inaugurated a recent bid to become the policy king of Brownsville was found murdered this morning in a parked car. Abe "Jew Murphy" Bebchick had been shot twice in the back of the head when his body was found slumped over the steering wheel of a convertible sedan in front of 675 Empire Boulevard in Flatbush by a bakery route salesman who noticed blood dripping from the vehicle. The fatal bullets entered Bebchick's skull just under the left ear about an inch apart, leading police to conclude that the 39-year-old hoodlum had been "taken for a ride." Bebchick, who lived at 9214 Avenue B, had been arrested several times, and in 1938 was convicted of operating an illegal lottery. Homicide Squad detectives have taken control of the investigation, and District Attorney William O'Dwyer was reported late this morning to be headed to the scene of the crime.

(Casey Stengel, who was run out of Brooklyn on a rail in 1936, has every reason to want to play the spoiler. Leo is right -- TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED. That means no drinking before the game, Hig.)

Representatives of the Allied nations and of Free France today endorsed the eight-point peace aims charter agreed upon by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill during their seagoing conference last month, and appealed for further Anglo-American aid after the war to ensure that Germany does not rise again as an aggressive power. Welcoming Soviet Russia to the conference held in London, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden declared that the Soviet people have "defended themselves with courage, tenacity, and skill which have earned them the admiration of the world." Along with the Soviet Union and Free France, other participants endorsing the charter included representatives of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

A soldier in the Army Medical Corps serving at Governors Island, who graduated from Bay Ridge Evening High School, is being held on $25,000 bail today on a charge of espionage. Thirty-year-old Rene Charles Froelich was sent to Bellevue Hospital yesterday following his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court for psychiatric tests to determine his sanity. Froelich is accused of collecting classified information from Army and Navy journals and field manuals and selling it to alleged Nazi spymaster Kurt Frederick Ludwig, after entering the Army via the draft last February. Froelich, son of former United German Societies of Greater New York president Carl Kurt Froelich, had previously been employed by the German Transocean News Agency.

A new style of airplane made entirely of plywood treated with plastic and asbestos may be the answer to airplane production bottlenecks. The new craft undergoing tests this week at Roosevelt Field, L. I., requires few priorities-controlled materials for its construction, with a fuselage and tail structure molded from a mixture of plastic resins and mahogany plywood, impregnated with asbestos for fire protection. The plane is equipped with two 65-horsepower engines, and seats four, with a top speed of 142 miles per hour. If the material proves successful, it may also be the answer to producing priority-free automobile bodies, boat hulls, and even prefabricated housing.

Sabotage attempts at LaGuardia Field "are anticipated," according to city aviation director Major Elmer Haslett, and security is to be increased at the airport to meet that possibility. Speaking at the opening of a conference on airport protection at the Academy of Aeronautics, Major Haslett indicated that increased security personnel have already been placed at key locations around the field, and passes issued to visitors will received closer scrutiny before their holders are admitted to the grounds. He also noted that if conditions worsen he expects the installation of anti-aircraft batteries and the deployment of pursuit planes from the airport to ward off the possibility of direct attack.

The first men to be released from military service after completing one year of active duty under the terms of the Service Extension Act of 1941 will be discharged from Camp Upton on September 30th. The Act, which revised the terms of the original 1940 Conscription Act, provides for the release only of selectees with dependents, married men, and men who reached their 28th birthday before July 1, 1941 and before entering the service. Lt. Col. H. C. Brenzier, commanding officer at Camp Upton, indicated that men released from active duty under the new act will begin turning in their equipment on Monday, but will be placed on reserve status and will be subject to recall if needed.

(Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime: Chenille bedspreads.)

The Eagle Editorialist calls for a Federal program of wage and farm price controls to curb inflation, and commends Bernard M. Baruch's recent suggestions along those lines, noting that Mr. Baruch's service as chairman of the War Industries Board during the last war seems to qualify him as an advisor to whom Congress should listen during the present emergency. Mr. Baruch is calling for a broad Federal ceiling on all wages, commodity prices, and rents nationwide rather than taking the piecemeal approach now advocated by Price Administrator Leon Henderson. "Mr. Baruch has long been an ardent advocate for taking the profit out of war," notes the EE, "but it is just as reprehensible to permit a powerful and well-organized minority group like the farm bloc to jack up commodity prices to their advantage while citizens with fixed incomes must struggle to meet the increased costs of essential foodstuffs."

(Get used to it, toots. Don'cha know there's a war on?)

Two seamen were held today on homicide charges in the death of the city's only Indian policeman. Detective James A. Schowers of the Bronx, a member of the Chippewa tribe, was pushed off a stoop at 2022 5th Avenue in Harlem in a scuffle with the sailors, and fell fifteen feet, with a piece of the stonework railing breaking off and landing on his head. The seamen, identified as 32-year-old Sulo Hamaleinin and 34-year-old Albert Fellstrom, both of the freighter Comol Cuba, presently moored in Hoboken, were entering the building with an unidentified woman when they were approached by Detective Schowers, a plainclothesman assigned to investigate vice in Harlem. The detective's gun was not found at the scene of the incident, and police in Harlem are presently searching for it.

("'At Higsby," comments Joe. "Whennee's gottit he's gottit, but whennee ain' gottit', gottit's whateeain't." "Well," observes Sally, "he'd betta gottit, 'cause iffee ain'gottit, he's gonna gettit.")

The Montreal Royals took the International League pennant yesterday and advance now to the Little World Series against the yet-to-be-determined flagbearer of the American Association, with a 4-3 playoff win over the Newark Bears. The Dodgers' top farm club rallied from behind to knock Bears hurler Tommy Byrne out of the box in the 9th, and Van Lingle Mungo held the Bears scoreless in the bottom of the 9th to earn the victory.

(Wonder if Mr. Nova has a picture contract lined up?)

(They didn't pay me much for making a cameo appearance as "Joyce," but hey, work is work, and it was fun to do.)

(You can just hear the sincere and honest sympathy in the way Jo delivers that line.)

(Really, Tom? You're such a dink.)

("From here on we don't know each other!" "But Dan..." "GO AWAY YOU STRANGE FAT MAN! WE DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

The Iranian crown jewels missing? No surprise. I bet when Edward abdicated they had to count the silverware.

Careful, Nick -- these senators hold grudges. And they have a long memory.

I dunno, Speedy -- I've been to the Bahamas, and the food was pretty expensive.

"Nonsense, sahib -- a pistol shot too would require oxygen. Here -- permit me to strangle you."

Better count that dough, Steve -- radio producers are a shady bunch.

"You're right, Tops! Waiter! Another bottle of Wacky Pep!"

"Yeah, that's right! Fatty! And your hair's dumb too!"

Movies on paper.

He's been saving that line for years, just waiting for a chance to use it...

Yeah, maybe you shoulda just sent a memo.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(Casey Stengel, who was run out of Brooklyn on a rail in 1936, has every reason to want to play the spoiler. Leo is right -- TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED. That means no drinking before the game, Hig.)...

The temptation will be there for Hig as the Copley has a very inviting cocktail lounge, the Oak Room, which, at least when I lived in Boston twenty years ago, still looked pretty much like this:

...A soldier in the Army Medical Corps serving at Governors Island, who graduated from Bay Ridge Evening High School, is being held on $25,000 bail today on a charge of espionage. Thirty-year-old Rene Charles Froelich was sent to Bellevue Hospital yesterday following his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court for psychiatric tests to determine his sanity. Froelich is accused of collecting classified information from Army and Navy journals and field manuals and selling it to alleged Nazi spymaster Kurt Frederick Ludwig, after entering the Army via the draft last February. Froelich, son of former United German Societies of Greater New York president Carl Kurt Froelich, had previously been employed by the German Transocean News Agency. ...

My paternal grandfather was the son of German immigrants and was a loyal American (as far as we know) who, along with his very American wife and son (my father) encountered anti-German prejudice. According to his wife and son (he died before I was born), they all understood it because, yes it's unfair, but the German spies (and the country itself) tainted all of them. My father got in a few fights in school in the '30s because of it as well. But my grandparents and father were mad at the Germans and not at the Americans for the prejudice they lived with. Definitely a different perspective than today.

...
(Get used to it, toots. Don'cha know there's a war on?)...

Everything cycles back:

From the Wall Street Journal 9/16/21:

Amazon Is Doing It. So Is Walmart. Why Retail Loves ‘Buy Now, Pay Later.’
Retailers big and small are using installment plans to wring more sales out of shoppers who can’t get credit cards

"Buy now, pay later is a new twist on an old idea. Big retailers have for decades offered installment plans for big-ticket items like washing machines. Today, these plans come in a variety of flavors."

The full article is here, amazon-is-doing-it-so-is-walmart-why-retail-loves-buy-now-pay-later-11631784601, but it is behind a paywall. You might be able to Google a few key words as, sometimes, the WSJ lets you read an article that way.

... The Iranian crown jewels missing? No surprise. I bet when Edward abdicated they had to count the silverware.....

Agreed, Lizzie, but I'd search her bags before his. Also, let's not rule out the professional jewel thief as we know there were plenty of them around in '41.

"I would prefer to wait to make a statement on world conditions until I can study them at closer range, which this visit to the United States will permit." - Duke of Windsor

Including his wife, not one person on earth wants to hear his statement on world conditions.


Mrs. Katherine Drexel Dahlgren Cromwell. We've had better Page Four names, but still, it's a top ten, at least for '41.

..
Careful, Nick -- these senators hold grudges. And they have a long memory.....

One assumes this subcommittee was quietly shut down on December 8th.

... "Nonsense, sahib -- a pistol shot too would require oxygen. Here -- permit me to strangle you."....

"What?!!!!! Okay, I don't even need a contract, a handshake, sure, a handshake would be good enough and I'll even join Raven on the hood as her loyal companion, even though I swore I'd never play another stupid 'loyal companion' role again."

... "You're right, Tops! Waiter! Another bottle of Wacky Pep!"....

Hard to imagine any fancy big-city restaurant in 1941 letting someone in without a tie and jacket.

.. "Yeah, that's right! Fatty! And your hair's dumb too!"...

"Hey honey, 'The Gumps' is really good today. Look at what he called Vin, I can't stop chuckling."

"I'll be right there Freddie."

.. Movies on paper....

Caniff is unbelievably at the top of his game.

... He's been saving that line for years, just waiting for a chance to use it.......

Now try to say it five times fast.

... View attachment 363632 Yeah, maybe you shoulda just sent a memo.

Clothes off now, it's your only move.

 

[Harp]

Cupid's Ingrid Bergman Just Walked in on Rick at Rick's superduper arrow hits hard right in the heart.
Hook, line, sinker, fishing pole, and tackle box. A thunderbolt. Bad shit heroin. Right smack dab inna heart.
That's why Tom is acting like he ain't even had him no Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions dis mornin no ways.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And again from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

 

[Harp]

Leo Durocher, brass knuckles, warts and all notwithstanding made cartoon and copy fodder.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick....)

The Amen Office is investigating whether police complicity in the numbers racket was responsible for the murder of would-be policy king Abe Bebchick, Brownsville hoodlum whose body was found yesterday in a parked car in Flatbush. Four policemen testified before two extraordinary Amen Grand Juries this morning, and Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen confirmed today that he has been investigating possible ties between Bebchick and corrupt police officers since June 24th. Mr. Amen stated that an attorney representing Bebchick approached him at that time to negotiate terms for the gangland figure to testify before an Amen Grand Jury, but stated that the terms sought were not satisfactory. Mr. Amen had earlier convened the grand juries operating under "positive information that a number of policemen were paid protection money by Bebchick and by men working under Bebchick." The Assistant Attorney General further stated that "about twenty policemen" have admitted knowing the gangster, and that under the influence of those policemen "a program of intimidation" to silence potential witnesses in the investigation of Bebchick's policy racket has been in operation -- with Bebchick's murder considered a likely outgrowth of that. Mr. Amen indicated that he is working "in full cooperation" with District Attorney William O'Dwyer in his investigation of the case, and that four men were being held for questioning this morning after a raid on Bebchick's policy bank at 426 Lincoln Place during which thousands of betting slips were seized as evidence. The four men questioned have denied any involvement in Bebchick's death.

Nazi armies today appeared to be nearing the climactic phase of their assault on Leningrad, and have opened a big Stuka-led attack on the defenses of Crimea. Radio Berlin quoted an official Hungarian report claiming that Hungarian troops are now outside one of the great industrial cities of the Donets region. That city was not named, but it is possible that the report may refer to Kharkov. The Berlin report stated that a German force of 70,000 men had been detatched from the main Nazi drive in the Ukraine, to attack the narrow land gateway which attaches the Crimean Peninsula to the Russian mainland. Meanwhile, reports from Moscow state that all German attacks on Leningrad have been repulsed, but German reports claim Nazi forces continue to advance upon the city. Reports from London analyzing the broadcasts from Moscow and Germany express the view that Germany may now hold an advantage in the Leningrad siege due to reserves of fresh troops which may be brought to bear after Soviet forces begin to weaken, but London further states that up to the present, the "honors are about even" in the continued heavy fighting.

A 20-year-old Army selectee from Freeport, Long Island who went AWOL from Fort Devens, Massachusetts is in military custody after threatening his father with a knife and a gun. Private Patsy Barbaro Jr, who was inducted about two months ago, fled the Massachusetts camp three weeks ago, and turned up last night at the home of his parents at 13 Buffalo Street. When Mr. Barbaro, Sr. advised his son to turn himself in, the youth flew into a rage and began chasing his father with a butcher knife and a shotgun. Police saw Barbaro Jr. escaping into a thicket, and formed search parties consisting of police and more than 250 volunteer firemen from all over Long Island to run him down. Two detectives spotted the fugitive along a woodland road early this morning and captured him. Military police from Mitchel Field were summoned to arrange for Barbaro, Jr.'s transportation back to Fort Devens. Police could not explain where the youth has been in the three weeks since he fled the camp, or why he went over the fence in the first place.

(The Eagle is missing a trick by not sending Herbie Cohn to cover this trial. A movie review would be nice.)

(You can tell Bohack doesn't have any stores in Philadelphia. And that's a pretty good likeness of Fitz holding the bat.)

(Yeah, just wait, counselor. Amen's coming for you next.)

(I bet Leo's ma is quite a case.)

(For the rest of his career, Mr. Walker will be known as "The People's Cherce." Mr. Camilli will graciously cede sole possession of the title to his teammate, but he seems just as entitled to it. "I'm sorry, Petey," murmurs Sally. "I don'na best I cou'd.")

(All the best offices keep a goon named Moe on retainer.)

(Peggy, dear, you're thirty-six years old and you're a married woman. Will you please, for your own good, finally tell your mother to pound sand? Yeah, sure, Oakdale *is* a crook, but it's the principle of the thing.)

(Yeah, Tom, look who didn't pay his protection money this week.)

(SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR! SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR! SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

We haven't had a good rampaging-horse story for a while, but where's the daring rodeo-star cop?

He's not wrong, I mean, look at Daddy Warbucks.

That's the spirit, Billy. Make your plans for next year.

There now, that's the spirit! Besides, Wyatt's pitching.

Point of order: is it, in fact, a crime to sign someone else's name to a telegram?

"I'm kicking Tops out in the morning."

YOU WANT IT NEXT, KID?

Yeah, on a roller coaster it's always best to put the guy eating all the crap at the front of the car.

"Whattaya mean, get a job? You don't think mooching's hard work?"

Well, if you insist. Don't forget to turn in your keys!

 

[Fading Fast]

...The Amen Office is investigating whether police complicity in the numbers racket was responsible for the murder of would-be policy king Abe Bebchick, Brownsville hoodlum whose body was found yesterday in a parked car in Flatbush. Four policemen testified before two extraordinary Amen Grand Juries this morning, and Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen confirmed today that he has been investigating possible ties between Bebchick and corrupt police officers since June 24th. Mr. Amen stated that an attorney representing Bebchick approached him at that time to negotiate terms for the gangland figure to testify before an Amen Grand Jury, but stated that the terms sought were not satisfactory. Mr. Amen had earlier convened the grand juries operating under "positive information that a number of policemen were paid protection money by Bebchick and by men working under Bebchick." The Assistant Attorney General further stated that "about twenty policemen" have admitted knowing the gangster, and that under the influence of those policemen "a program of intimidation" to silence potential witnesses in the investigation of Bebchick's policy racket has been in operation -- with Bebchick's murder considered a likely outgrowth of that. Mr. Amen indicated that he is working "in full cooperation" with District Attorney William O'Dwyer in his investigation of the case, and that four men were being held for questioning this morning after a raid on Bebchick's policy bank at 426 Lincoln Place during which thousands of betting slips were seized as evidence. The four men questioned have denied any involvement in Bebchick's death....

From newspapers, books and movies from the '30s-'50s, it is pretty clear that the numbers racket - in truth, all illegal gambling - was only able to exist on a large and organized scale with the police being complicit. It is pretty amazing the number of movies and books that go into this in detail and present it as a well-known and accepted fact of the times.

I'm sure Amen and O'Dwyer are "working in full cooperation."

...
(You can tell Bohack doesn't have any stores in Philadelphia. And that's a pretty good likeness of Fitz holding the bat.)...

Why Lizzie why when Freddie was feeling so much better about himself after reading "The Gumps" yesterday? We need him in the best mental state he can be in. Either in relief or if it goes seven games, Fitz could be crucial. One thing we know, these series almost never go as planed.

...
(Peggy, dear, you're thirty-six years old and you're a married woman. Will you please, for your own good, finally tell your mother to pound sand? Yeah, sure, Oakdale *is* a crook, but it's the principle of the thing.)...

Also, now that she's married, isn't Peggy going to move out and, I don't know, live with her husband?

... We haven't had a good rampaging-horse story for a while, but where's the daring rodeo-star cop?...

"The doctor's bill is his only debt, he said, except for a $2500 fine he stills owes the government."

He has a future as a con man as statements like this are their stock and trade. Since every other sentence they utter is a lie, you either dismiss them or get roped in as a normal person can't keep up with all the lies they tell with conviction. Their entire conversations are just a jumble of prevarications that wear normal people out.

...... There now, that's the spirit! Besides, Wyatt's pitching....

"...and when death comes we'll meet it boldly and laugh in its ugly face." Umm, too soon for that Punjab, you just pulled him back from the abyss, wait a bit on the hero-facing-death speech.

... View attachment 363900 Point of order: is it, in fact, a crime to sign someone else's name to a telegram?...

Good question, let's ask our resident legal expert @Harp. In the movies, I never see them check IDs when they take a telegram.

 

[Fading Fast]

...[ "I'm kicking Tops out in the morning."...

"What's that Nina, you think I should get some more big-city experience before coming back home. I agree, well, goodbye." [Thinks to himself] "Where'd I put that number? Oh yeah." [takes note from pocket and dials phone] "Hello, Miss. Snipe? It's Skeezix, are you doing anything this evening?...What's that? Sure, later is better."

...
YOU WANT IT NEXT, KID?...

Raven, that's cold.

...
Well, if you insist. Don't forget to turn in your keys!

"If you won't have me, I'll kill myself." Yawn. It's clothes-off time kid.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Oldest manipulation in the book. Add a few decades to the calendar and she'll throw in, "Besides.. I think that I'm pregnant" as well, just to drive home the point.

 

[Harp]

^Telegram identification/signature is required. Not familiar with this strip but last panel is indicative
of criminal fraudulence. Science and technology tend to lead the Law, outrun the Statute of Frauds
and commercial application entirely, but while this tardiness is inherently problematic it is a constant.
_____________

I am frankly disappointed in Raven and in particular her blind vindictiveness.
Terry is all the more admirable young man.