The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

...Comedian W. C. Fields today ended a 42-year habit by announcing his renunciation of liquor, and delivered a strong warning concerning his personal experiences with Demon Rum. Mr. Fields, who has been known to eject from his home anyone mentioning the word "water," and who becomes ill at the sight of a soda fountain, stated that he has been ordered by his physician to abstain forever more from hard drink, and estimated that his habit has cost him more than $185,000, a fact which disgusted him, especially since he "could never get drunk." Mr. Fields noted that he had tried to quit two years ago after a bout of pneumonia nearly killed him, but said that he'd been terrorized by the D. T.'s, in the form of "little men in whiskers and high hats" who harrassed him....

The newly converted are often the most-passionate proselytizers.

... (I know tapioca flour helped mess up my grandfather's lungs, but I had no idea it could cause massive cranial swelling like that.)...

It's fun to see the introduction of an iconic brand as I'm assuming Cheerioats became Cheerios.

... (FACE EATING....ah, nuts.)

It's a business risk when you go into the FACE EATING DOG! game.

... Women have long made up the majority of the workforce in America's small-parts-assembly plants. Seriously, Skeez, you mean you didn't know?....

Nina just felt a odd stitch in her side, but doesn't know why.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A truce between the CIO United Mine Workers and steel-industry operators of captive coal mines emerged this morning from discussions between President Roosevelt and UMW President John L. Lewis, allowing further negotiations on a new contract between the union and the industry. The agreement reached with the President precludes any strike at least until after union and industry negotiators report back to the White House on Monday. The President refused to issue an edict requiring the industry to accept a closed shop, as sought by the UMW, declaring that to do so would be "akin to Hitler methods toward labor." A statement from the White House after the conference also indicated that the President "has been under very heavy pressure" to give his go-ahead to anti-strike legislation now pending in Congress.

President Roosevelt will order the arming of American merchant ships by next Tuesday and will issue orders authorizing the dispatching of such vessels into belligerent zones, following narrow approval by the House of Representatives of an amended Senate version of amendments to the Neutrality Act permitting such actions. The measure passed in the House by a vote of 212 to 194, after extensive debate in which opponents warned that the amendments would bring the United States that much closer to war -- if we are not already at war. The President acted personally to secure passage of the amendments, both by general written appeal to the House as a body and by individual telephone calls to House members said to be "wavering" in their support of the amendments.

The British Admiralty reports today that the famous aircraft carrier Ark Royal -- repeatedly said to have been sunk in various Nazi propaganda claims -- has now, in fact, been sunk -- not by a German U-Boat, but by an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack is reported to have occurred as the massive ship was returning to its base at Gibraltar. Efforts were made to tow the 22,000-ton ship to port, but its list grew too severe and rescue efforts were abandoned. "A large number" of the crew and the fliers on board the ship were saved.

United States Marines based in China will be withdrawn from their bases at Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin, but the withdrawal of those 970 men will not begin until American civilians in Shanghai are given a last opportunity to return to their homeland. American citizens now in the Far East have been repeatedly warned to leave, and it is understood that arrangements are being made to provide ships to transport those wishing to comply with those warnings before the Marines are withdrawn. President Roosevelt declined today to connect his order withdrawing the Marines with the present station of relations between the US and Japan, and declined to speculate on whether war with Japan is inevitable, stating only that it is is his "fervent hope" that it is not.

The refusal by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine to answer a question from reporters concerning a possible order by Mayor LaGuardia transferring certain police officers from the office of District Attorney William O'Dwyer to other assignments is seen as hinting at "further repercussions" within the Police Department following the mysterious death this week of star underworld witness Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. The Commissioner's failure to answer that question suggests that Captain Frank Bals, detailed to Mr. O'Dwyer's office and in charge of the men assigned to guard Reles at the Half Moon Hotel, will face "punitive action" for his role in the handling of the Reles matter. The five men assigned to guard duty have all been demoted and reassigned, and will face departmental trials on charges of neglect of duty.

Meanwhile, District Attorney William O'Dwyer is investigating the elderly operator of a Brownsville candy store for a possible connection to the escape attempt that ended in Reles' fatal plunge out a 6th-floor window. Mrs. Rose Gold, 64-year-old proprietor of Midnight Rose's Candy Store on Saratoga Avenue, has long been rumored as Reles' personal "treasurer," and at one time was believed to be holding $150,000 in cash belonging to the former Murder-for-Money killer. Reles is known to have delivered up to $10,000 a day to the candy store, according to information uncovered by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen in his investigation of just how much of that money might have been used to pay protection to police officers covering up underworld activity, but Mr. Amen declined to state today if he has been asked to furnish data concerning Reles' finances to the District Attorney's office for use in its investigation of the gangster's death.

A charge that Louis "Lepke" Buchalter had once boasted of having an "in" at the office of former District Attorney William F. X. Geoghan threw Judge Franklin Taylor's Kings County Court room into a frenzy this morning, as attorneys for the defense and the prosecution exchanged verbal blasts and the State's star witness sobbed from the witness stand that he has "more guts than any of" them. The uproar erupted after Judge Taylor ordered witness Max Rubin explain an affidavit he had signed before a secret grand jury in 1937, in which he swore before a Geoghan assistant that he knew nothing about the death of Joseph Rosen. Asked to explain contradictory statements he has made since signing that affidavit, Rubin stated that he feared for his life. Rubin claimed that he "could keep no secrets from Lepke", and that any secret testimony delivered to a grand jury would be certain to come to Buchalter's attention, because "Lepke had an in in (Geoghan's) office. He told me so!" Assistant District Attorney Burton Turkus added the observation that "if Mr. Geoghan had not been betrayed by a member of his staff he might still be in office," producing a furious reaction from defense attorney Hyman Barshay, formerly a Geoghan aide, who shouted that "all the people in Judge O'Dwyer's office rolled into one couldn't come up to Mr. Geoghan's shoes!" Reached at his Court Street law office this morning, Mr. Geoghan denied the charge, declaring "that is just so much trash."

Several hundred persons seated in the waiting room at the Long Island Rail Road terminal on Flatbush Avenue were startled this morning when a police patrolman knocked a bottle of iodine out of the hands of a woman about to attempt suicide by drinking the poison. Forty-one-year-old Mrs. Margaret Cameron of 37 6th Avenue was raising the bottle to her lips when Patrolman Edward Tracy rushed into the waiting room and dashed the bottle to the floor. Patrolman Tracy stated that he had received a call at a police box outside the station in which he was told that a woman "was acting queerly" in the waiting room. A note was found in Mrs. Cameron's handbag addressed to her son Raymond, a soldier stationed in Florida, in which she stated "sorry to bother you, but I have no place to stay." The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for observation.

(It's going to be a long, cold winter.)

Brooklyn Boy, Sea, and Cub Scouts will go door to door across the borough starting tomorrow to gather up old newspapers, magazines, and cardboard boxes needed for the National Defense effort. The materials collected will be reprocessed to make new paperboard packaging for food and other essential supplies. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt inaugurated the drive this week when a delegation of Scouts called at her Manhattan apartment to collect her waste paper.

(Wonder if the Valley Stream Park Inn has an -- ah -- un-dress code.)

The Eagle Editorialist praises Red Dutton for bringing the hockey Americans to Brooklyn, even if they won't actually play here for a while yet. Sports writers have long noted that most fans at Garden hockey games come from Brooklyn, and the borough's official representation by a professional team of its own is long overdue.

(Besides, if you really want a duck, you can get a fresh one at any butcher shop.)

(But I thought freak accidents were what hockey is all about!)

(Why not just put him in traction and get it over with?)

(EXPLOITER!)

(Obviously we're in for a pre-Code story.)

(The extra playing the driver is padding his part!)

(Do this job long enough, and you really do end up talking to yourself.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"And buried with a stake of holly thru their hearts..."

The Nedick's fountain glass is a triumph of marketing. It looks tall and cool and refreshing in the picture, but it's actually just five and a half inches tall. Imagine that.

Kay Aldridge was the doyenne of our local performing-arts scene back in the 1980s -- she retired to a town near here after closing out her movie and modeling career, and made enough of an impression that after she passed away, the street where she lived was renamed "Nyoka Lane," after her best-known film role, "Nyoka, Queen of the Jungle."

"Another day," says Sandy, "and I won't have to worry about what to eat."

All purpose greeting in the Tracy Universe: "Dry up, you dope."

The difference between this Andy and Prime Andy is that Prime Andy would be babbling all this inner monologue out loud.

Well then, this would be a good time to tell him what happened to Raven.

"Not next Tuesday, I'm posing for a WPA poster then."

Exactly what KIND of business?

Uh-oh. Poor Goofy has no idea what's about to happen.

 

[Fading Fast]

A truce between the CIO United Mine Workers and steel-industry operators of captive coal mines emerged this morning from discussions between President Roosevelt and UMW President John L. Lewis, allowing further negotiations on a new contract between the union and the industry. The agreement reached with the President precludes any strike at least until after union and industry negotiators report back to the White House on Monday. The President refused to issue an edict requiring the industry to accept a closed shop, as sought by the UMW, declaring that to do so would be "akin to Hitler methods toward labor." A statement from the White House after the conference also indicated that the President "has been under very heavy pressure" to give his go-ahead to anti-strike legislation now pending in Congress.

President Roosevelt will order the arming of American merchant ships by next Tuesday and will issue orders authorizing the dispatching of such vessels into belligerent zones, following narrow approval by the House of Representatives of an amended Senate version of amendments to the Neutrality Act permitting such actions. The measure passed in the House by a vote of 212 to 194, after extensive debate in which opponents warned that the amendments would bring the United States that much closer to war -- if we are not already at war. The President acted personally to secure passage of the amendments, both by general written appeal to the House as a body and by individual telephone calls to House members said to be "wavering" in their support of the amendments.

The British Admiralty reports today that the famous aircraft carrier Ark Royal -- repeatedly said to have been sunk in various Nazi propaganda claims -- has now, in fact, been sunk -- not by a German U-Boat, but by an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack is reported to have occurred as the massive ship was returning to its base at Gibraltar. Efforts were made to tow the 22,000-ton ship to port, but its list grew too severe and rescue efforts were abandoned. "A large number" of the crew and the fliers on board the ship were saved.

United States Marines based in China will be withdrawn from their bases at Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin, but the withdrawal of those 970 men will not begin until American civilians in Shanghai are given a last opportunity to return to their homeland. American citizens now in the Far East have been repeatedly warned to leave, and it is understood that arrangements are being made to provide ships to transport those wishing to comply with those warnings before the Marines are withdrawn. President Roosevelt declined today to connect his order withdrawing the Marines with the present station of relations between the US and Japan, and declined to speculate on whether war with Japan is inevitable, stating only that it is is his "fervent hope" that it is not....

Knowing what we now know, you can't help reading this war news without the shadow of December 7th looming over all of it.

...Meanwhile, District Attorney William O'Dwyer is investigating the elderly operator of a Brownsville candy store for a possible connection to the escape attempt that ended in Reles' fatal plunge out a 6th-floor window. Mrs. Rose Gold, 64-year-old proprietor of Midnight Rose's Candy Store on Saratoga Avenue, has long been rumored as Reles' personal "treasurer," and at one time was believed to be holding $150,000 in cash belonging to the former Murder-for-Money killer. Reles is known to have delivered up to $10,000 a day to the candy store, according to information uncovered by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen in his investigation of just how much of that money might have been used to pay protection to police officers covering up underworld activity, but Mr. Amen declined to state today if he has been asked to furnish data concerning Reles' finances to the District Attorney's office for use in its investigation of the gangster's death....

As we note often, candy stores (and cigar stores) were some of the most interesting places in the 1930s and 1940s.

"Yes they are."

... View attachment 378712
(It's going to be a long, cold winter.)...

So will 2022 when we all see our natural gas or oil heating bills.

...[ (EXPLOITER!)...

Sadly, I think Slap Happy would have made a good Nazi foot soldier.

...
(Obviously we're in for a pre-Code story.)...

No kidding, this one just made a sharp turn onto Unpleasantly Kinky Boulevard.

... (The extra playing the driver is padding his part!)...

Yup, Walter Brennan didn't have a multi-decades-long career as a sidekick without knowing how to maximize his screen time.

...
"Another day," says Sandy, "and I won't have to worry about what to eat."....

"...Do you hear me, drowned!" [Thinks to himself, "Finally, it's all mine with baldy and that curly-headed kid gone!"]
"...look - on the raft - is it not they?"
[To himself] "JFC, how can't they be dead? I'm going to simply have to kill them myself. A raft, you gotta be %$^&%$ kidding me." [Outloud] "That's wonderful, how lucky we all are!"

... "Not next Tuesday, I'm posing for a WPA poster then."....

Bounce McTinkle.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Midnight Rose's, 779 Saratoga Avenue, at the corner of Livonia Street.

Along the back wall of the store, otherwise indistinguishable from a thousand other Brooklyn corner stores, there's a row of pay phones. This is the official "dispatch office" for the Murder for Money Gang, and when gangland needed someone rubbed out, they'd call here to make the arrangements. Plus you can pick up a soda and a newspaper and a pack of cigarettes. One stop shopping.

As it happens, Midnight Rose's is directly across Saratoga from the People's Theatre, Brooklyn's center for agitprop documentaries and foreign films. Never know who you might run into...

 

[Fading Fast]

Midnight Rose's, 779 Saratoga Avenue, at the corner of Livonia Street.

View attachment 378791 Along the back wall of the store, otherwise indistinguishable from a thousand other Brooklyn corner stores, there's a row of pay phones. This is the official "dispatch office" for the Murder for Money Gang, and when gangland needed someone rubbed out, they'd call here to make the arrangements. Plus you can pick up a soda and a newspaper and a pack of cigarettes. One stop shopping.

As it happens, Midnight Rose's is directly across Saratoga from the People's Theatre, Brooklyn's center for agitprop documentaries and foreign films. Never know who you might run into...

Oh my God, that is exactly what it should look like and very, very similar to the one in the town where I grew up which was still there in the '70s. I love the wall-of-phones setup.

 

[Fading Fast]

I couldn't find any pics of the candy shop, but these are some pics of my hometown New Brunswick, N.J.


It looked kinda like this ⇩ by the '70s (that ugly white building was a new hotel put up in the '70s as part of an early "revival" effort).

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've been there! Had a very good friend who grew up in Cranbury, and went to school in Hightstown, and went down for her wedding in New Brunswick in 1989 or so. Even went to see the Martian monument at Grovers' Mill.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've been there! Had a very good friend who grew up in Cranbury, and went to school in Hightstown, and went down for her wedding in New Brunswick in 1989 or so. Even went to see the Martian monument at Grovers' Mill.

That's awesome. Do you remember if you walked down some of the "old" streets in the pics? They are Golden Era come alive.

In the late '70s, I bought a 1967 Chevy. When the local shops couldn't figure out how to fix my horn (yup, it's always summin'), they sent me to a guy in Cranbury who could fix all the odd things that happened on "old" cars - he could and he did.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm pretty sure I did see some of those scenes -- the wedding might even have been in that church where you see the steeple in the middle photo.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A new Soviet offensive launching counterattacks on the Moscow, Leningrad, and Donets Basin fronts has killed 5000 Germans and destroyed "many guns and tanks" according to reports broadcast today by the Moscow radio. On the Arctic front it is reported that German and Finnish troops have resumed pushing toward Murmansk after a brief lull, with their forces augmented by new German regiments drawn from Norway. Dispatches from Stockholm indicated that the Red Army is using British tanks for the first time in the Arctic fighting. Reports from the Berlin and Rome radio acknowledged the progress of the Soviet counterthrusts, but assert that Axis progress is being made in the Crimea. It was reported from Moscow that temperatures along the Moscow front are dropping sharply, and that increasing numbers of captured Nazi prisoners are suffering from severe frostbite.

A British newspaperman aboard the doomed aircraft carrier Ark Royal reports that the vessel "gently slid beneath the waves" after being "toppled like a tired child" by a submarine attack. Reporter Arthur Thorpe, correspondent for the Exchange Telegraph Agency, stated that the carrier remained afloat for twelve hours after it was hit, and the surviving members of the crew were "near tears" when they realized that the ship, so often falsely reported to have been destroyed, had in fact been fatally hit. Captain L. E. H. Maund and the senior officers of the engineering staff remained aboard thruout the attempt to bring the ship to port at Gibraltar, before the abandon-ship order was given shortly before 4:30 AM local time yesterday.

A special Japanese envoy to the United States arrived at LaGuardia Field today from the West Coast, and immediately boarded an American Airlines liner for Washington. Envoy Saburo Karusu and Japanese Ambassador Hichisaburo Nomura will confer on Monday with President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull in discussions which may determine whether there will be a war in the Pacific between Japan and the United States.

A British battleship recently in for repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was reported damaged during the same attack that destroyed the Ark Royal. The warship Malaya was here for repair work last March, and only last week the British Information Service released photographs showing the vessel "as good as new" as it returned to active service.

Three hundred workers at the American Sugar Refining Company plant in Williamsburg went on strike as of midnight, beginning a walkout that may involve up to 2000 employees of that firm and of the Sucrest Corporation. The two firms have failed to reach an agreement on wage increases sought by Local 1476 of the Refinery Workers Union, a unit of the International Longshoremen's Union, AFL. At the smaller Sucrest refinery in Red Hook, which ordinarily closes for the weekend on Friday nights, and does not run an overnight shift, only a few pickets were on the scene this morning, and the full extent of the strike will not be known until Monday. Police sent to the plants to quell possible disturbances found that they had nothing to do.

"The Bingo Burglars of Forest Hills" have been revealed as two New Jersey youths, whose lucky streak finally gave out. The two young bandits, 16-year-old Frederick Prosser of Union City and and 17-year-old Walter Monahan of Jersey City, were nabbed as they emerged from the home of Mrs. Wilhemina Smith of 64-11 Dieterle Crescent, carrying a suitcase containing stolen articles worth approximately $300. Taken to Manhattan police headquarters, the boys told detectives that they had chosen Forest Hills as the site for their criminal enterprises because so many of the residents of that section have the habit of spending their nights out playing bingo in theatres, leaving their homes easy prey for burglary. "Crime doesn't pay," admitted the youths as they were booked on burglary charges.

A campaign to keep Communist Peter V. Cacchione of Brooklyn from the City Council seat to which he was elected is underway among local veterans' groups. Members of local American Legion and V. F. W. posts are "taking immediate steps" to determine what can legally be done to keep Cacchione from taking his seat. A resolution sent to the Council by the Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Post of the American Legion urged members to deny Cacchione his seat "if they have the power to do so," and if they are unable to do so, to seek legislation from the State Government to bar any person "connected with Communism, Nazism, or Fascism" from public office.

("Hmph," hmphs Sally in a pointed manner. "He ain't so hot. C'n you see him skimmin' a brine tank? I can't see him skimmin' a brine tank." "Nah," says Joe. "Ya gotta be wiry ta get up onnem laddas wit'out fallin' in." "Wiry's good," says Sally reassuringly. "Wiry's good.")

Today is Mobilization Day for 169,000 volunteer air raid wardens and fire auxiliaries in the city, with all who have enrolled for Civilian Defense service required to turn out at assembly points in each borough to receive their identification cards and to participate in an air raid drill. Brooklyn volunteers from the western half of the borough are required to assemble at 2 PM at Borough Hall, and East Brooklyn volunteers at the intersection of Broadway and Jamaica Avenue. Further instructions will be given at the assembly points, but the precise time of the air raid drill will not be revealed until it arrives.

The National Broadcasting Company celebrates its fifteenth anniversary tonight with a gala three-hour late night broadcast featuring a large roster of network stars, including Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Edgar Bergen, Red Skelton, Fannie Brice, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, the Quiz Kids, Benny Goodman, Connie Boswell, and others, along with pickups from all over the globe congratulating the network on a decade and a half of broadcast service. The program will be heard over both WEAF and WJZ beginning tonight at 11:15 PM, and in addition to the combined Red and Blue networks from coast to coast, the anniversary program will also be relayed by shortwave to Europe and Latin America.

(Proportional Representation was adopted in 1938 as a way of breaking the power of the Tammany Machine, which has been trying ever since to reverse that vote.)

(America's Fun Couple)

(I'm sorry, but I just can't buy a football guard named Endicott Peabody II, unless he's in a Preston Sturges movie and played by Eddie Bracken.)

(I understand Sallie Levi's life only too well.)

("Ha ha ha," ha's J. Whitlow Wyatt, as he fondles his World Series check.)

(Well, we now know what became of Burma. She escaped back to the US, and is now marketing a line of ready-to-wear housedresses.)

(If George is Sam Spade, then Dumb Luck is Miles Archer. Yep, checks out.)

(It's a wonder anything ever gets done in this office.)

("Bow wow," protests Wolf. "REALLY?")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Daddy Browning. Actually, where he is now, I expect he really *is* browning.

And Mr. Geoghan ought to be in line for a bit of browning himself. Isn't that so, Mr. Amen?

Always one of the higher-priced options> Must be the atmosphere.

Hey now, leave the boiler alone. The neighborhood kids already claim it for a clubhouse.

Et Tu, Asp? I thought you were Punjab's pal? REMEMBER WHEN HE DEIGNED NOT TO KILL YOU?

And the first head has fallen. Couldn't happen to a more suitable victim.

You left out "Keeper."

And WHO IS THIS SECRETARY? Odds: April Kane 2-1, Hu Shee 3-1, Burma 50-1, Dragon Lady 100-1, Cheery Blaze 1000-1, Captain Blaze in disguise 10,000-1, Raven Sherman's sister 100,000-1. Raven Sherman, 1,000,000-1.

At least Goofy's got the sense to sit between them.

"I sure do, STRANGER!" That's tellin' 'em, Peev!

 

[PrivateEye]

A special Japanese envoy to the United States arrived at LaGuardia Field today from the West Coast, and immediately boarded an American Airlines liner for Washington. Envoy Saburo Karusu and Japanese Ambassador Hichisaburo Nomura will confer on Monday with President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull in discussions which may determine whether there will be a war in the Pacific between Japan and the United States.

As much as I enjoy reading these everyday, the most meaningful part has been how much I've learned about the gradual deterioration of US-Japanese relations leading up to Pearl Harbor.

Even though it was 80 years ago, I have a sense of trepidation waiting for the news to come in a few weeks...

 

[Fading Fast]

...
("Hmph," hmphs Sally in a pointed manner. "He ain't so hot. C'n you see him skimmin' a brine tank? I can't see him skimmin' a brine tank." "Nah," says Joe. "Ya gotta be wiry ta get up onnem laddas wit'out fallin' in." "Wiry's good," says Sally reassuringly. "Wiry's good.")...

That was very nice of her to say.

... (I understand Sallie Levi's life only too well.)..

No kidding, Lizzie, from what you've told us, she's your 1940s doppleganger.

Very bald Grant Mitchel is sporting a Chigger-style toupee in "Skylark." (It's so obvious, you just want to pull the stupid thing off his head.)

... (Well, we now know what became of Burma. She escaped back to the US, and is now marketing a line of ready-to-wear housedresses.)...

Good one, Lizzie.

... (If George is Sam Spade, then Dumb Luck is Miles Archer. Yep, checks out.)...

If the analogy holds, George is about to run out of Dumb Luck. And, later, Nick could do a cameo as "The Fat Man."

... (It's a wonder anything ever gets done in this office.)...

Does anything really get done in that office?

... Always one of the higher-priced options> Must be the atmosphere....

And branding, you can be pretty sure of what you'll get at Hojos.

Wonder what the "Hollywood Royal" restaurant, the Chinese-American one over the candy shop from yesterday, is doing for Thanksgiving. I'll bet it will cost less than $1.45

... Et Tu, Asp? I thought you were Punjab's pal? REMEMBER WHEN HE DEIGNED NOT TO KILL YOU?...

How many times was Warbucks curled up in a ball crying while Punjab, Annie and Sandy soldiered on. It was basically Annie who figured out to blow out the bottom of the mine and it was Punjab and Annie who solved most of the other problems. Warbucks did set the fuse for the dynamite, but in truth, at that point, he had proven to be the most expendable one of them anyway. What BS history this is turning into. At least Balto actually ran the last few miles.

... And WHO IS THIS SECRETARY? Odds: April Kane 2-1, Hu Shee 3-1, Burma 50-1, Dragon Lady 100-1, Cheery Blaze 1000-1, Captain Blaze in disguise 10,000-1, Raven Sherman's sister 100,000-1. Raven Sherman, 1,000,000-1....

My mind started drifting off after Hu Shee at 3-1.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Captive coal mines owned by steel firms were to be closed at midnight after the collapse of negotiations between the United Mine Workers CIO and the steel corporations. A spokesman for the union made the announcement late last night after the 200-member UAW policy board received a report from President John L. Lewis that no progress has been made in direct negotiations with the steel firms on the question of a union shop in the affected pits. The action does not, however, necessarily mean a strike because Lewis and his policy committee have left open the possibility that, if negotiations resume today and progress is made, an emergency meeting of the policy board could be convened to prevent disruption of coal production by sending the workers back into the mines. That action would be in conformation with President Roosevelt's request that there be no disruption in the coal supply.

There remains "a fighting chance" for peace between the United States and Japan -- if, according to Japanese envoy Saburo Kurusu, the American people "remain sympathetic to Japan." Mr. Kurusu arrived in Washington yesterday amidst circumstances "bristling with explosive possibilities." The United States last week announced the impending withdrawal of Marines from Shanghai, a move seen as "clearing the decks" for possible action, and ominous reports of Japanese troop movements have caused speculation on the possibility of new actions by Japan in the Orient. Well-informed opinion in Washington suggests that Japan will make no new offensives immediately, but intends to keep up a "war of nerves" with the United States while at the same time preparing for "quick action" if Kurusu's mission should fail. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt on Monday will sign the bill repealing shipping restrictions that have kept US vessels out of belligerent zones, and allowing the arming of all US merchant ships. The legislation will allow armed American merchantmen to travel anywhere in the world, regardless of conditions of war or peace.

German troops are either stalled in the dismal cold or are flinging themselves into destruction against the five siege points of the vast Russian fighting line, as the 21st week of the Russo-German War begins. Reports from Moscow state that from Leningrad to Sevastopol, the lines are littered with thousands of German corpses and the wreckage of their fighting machines. In the fourteen-day battle at Maloyaroslavets, 65 miles southwest of Moscow, alone, more than 30,000 German soldiers were killed and 200 tanks destroyed. Another 1000 Germans were reported dead or wounded around Tula, where the Nazi forces are said to be "rushing from one point to another, probing for a weak spot."

Nazi informants acknowledged today that Soviet forces continue counterattacks on the Moscow and Crimean fronts, and that the critical naval base at Sevastopol "may be able to hold out indefinitely."

Over 110,000 air raid wardens and 43,000 fire auxiliaries were cheered on by more than 600,000 spectators across the city yesterday as Civilian Defense volunteers demonstrated what they have learned in training exercises. Addressing crowds at City Hall, Mayor LaGuardia, Director of Civilian Defense, praised the volunteers. "Such a turnout indicates that New York City can respond to a call and is now ready to protect itself against any attack," he asserted. "Now," the Mayor continued, "there are some people who will sneer at this. They will ask why all the fuss and hullaballoo when they can see no danger. But let me tell you something. They will be the first to cry for help should anything happen, and they will be the first to pick up any phrase from a dirty Nazi louse."

In Brooklyn, helmeted volunteers quenched an incendiary bomb on the steps of Borough Hall using a sandbag and a chemical extinguisher to the cheers of the crowd. Diners at the nearby Bickford's Restaurant found themselves "isolated for the duration" while fire auxiliaries secured the building. Meanwhile, auxiliaries in gas masks and asbestos suits fought their way thru clouds of yellow-green smoke representing poison gas to attack danger spots with chemicals and sandbags, as ambulances whisked away a dozen or more volunteers playing the roles of "victims" of the simulated raid.

A twelve year old boy was nearly decapitated yesterday while playing in an elevator in an abandoned warehouse in Red Hook. John Farrell of 12 Bush Street and several friends discovered the power to the elevator was still on, and began riding up and down in the car, but John's head became caught between the roof of the elevator and the upper part of the third floor doorway. Instantly reacting to John's screams of pain, his friend Frank McCall, also age 12, immediately threw the operating lever in the opposite direction before the ascending car could cut off John's head. The injured boy was taken to Long Island College Hospital suffering from lacerations of the mouth and cheek.

(But what if your busy day is never done? HUH??)

A survey of students at Hunter College finds that the overwhelming majority of upperclassmen there support President Roosevelt's foreign policy. Three hundred girls from Brooklyn and 100 from Long Island were among those surveyed in the study, which found Hunter students standing four to one in favor of the President's policy concerning US involvement in the war, with Brooklyn support for the President at the school running three to one.

Instruction in basic aviation theory by means of animated cartoons will be available to television viewers starting this Wednesday evening. The National Broadcasting Company's television station WNBT will show specially prepared cartoon films featuring "Suction Sam" and "Pressure Pete," characters who will demonstrate just what it is that makes an airplane fly. The films were prepared under the supervision of Professor Charles E. Gus of the New York University College of Engineering, for television presentation as part of WNBT's "Science In Action" program.

("In the second period?" What, you couldn't stay for the whole game???)

Erasmus Hall remains unbeaten on the schoolboy football season after handing a 20-0 trimming to Boys High. The Buff and Blue concludes the campaign with a 6-0 record, tying Abraham Lincoln High School for the mythical Brooklyn title. The victory over Boys gives the Flying Dutchmen a 19-14 edge in the rivalry with Boys High dating back to 1898.

(MacPhail immediately makes plans to trade the Blimp to Philadelphia. Because that's just the kind of guy Larry is.)

(Get used to this guy, because we'll probably be seeing a lot more of him.)

Old Timer Joseph H. Halstead, proud resident of Old Flatbush, remembers the old song about looking sweet on a bicycle built for two, because that's exactly how he happened to get married, back in the days when everyone went pedaling along Ocean Avenue. "It was some sight to see the thousands of bicyclers and their riders, especially at night with their headlights on."

(Little Beaver shows all funny-paper sidekicks how it's really done.)

(I had no idea Mussolini had a side job.)

(One puppet is named "Seyss-Inquart" and the other is named "Petain.")

(Ahhh, the truth emerges about Bohack turkeys. And wow Dan, SURE IS A GOOD THING THEY DIDN'T PUT, OH, A TEN CENT PADLOCK ON THAT SWITCH BOX!)

(Poor George. Dumb Luck doesn't work on Sundays.)

(Serves you right for cowering behind a camel's hump!)

 

[Fading Fast]

...There remains "a fighting chance" for peace between the United States and Japan -- if, according to Japanese envoy Saburo Kurusu, the American people "remain sympathetic to Japan." Mr. Kurusu arrived in Washington yesterday amidst circumstances "bristling with explosive possibilities." The United States last week announced the impending withdrawal of Marines from Shanghai, a move seen as "clearing the decks" for possible action, and ominous reports of Japanese troop movements have caused speculation on the possibility of new actions by Japan in the Orient. Well-informed opinion in Washington suggests that Japan will make no new offensives immediately, but intends to keep up a "war of nerves" with the United States while at the same time preparing for "quick action" if Kurusu's mission should fail. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt on Monday will sign the bill repealing shipping restrictions that have kept US vessels out of belligerent zones, and allowing the arming of all US merchant ships. The legislation will allow armed American merchantmen to travel anywhere in the world, regardless of conditions of war or peace....

How does a merchant ship "arm" itself against a submarine?

...Instruction in basic aviation theory by means of animated cartoons will be available to television viewers starting this Wednesday evening. The National Broadcasting Company's television station WNBT will show specially prepared cartoon films featuring "Suction Sam" and "Pressure Pete," characters who will demonstrate just what it is that makes an airplane fly. The films were prepared under the supervision of Professor Charles E. Gus of the New York University College of Engineering, for television presentation as part of WNBT's "Science In Action" program....

I assume all 150 TV sets in the NYC region were tuned in. Wonder if those programs still exist, they sound cool?

...
(MacPhail immediately makes plans to trade the Blimp to Philadelphia. Because that's just the kind of guy Larry is.)...

Hopefully, Philly's smart enough not to buy him after this.

You just feel awful for Owen. It's a risk which goes with playing in the show, but still.

... (One puppet is named "Seyss-Inquart" and the other is named "Petain.")...

Whenever you learn something new about the Prince of Wales, it just confirms your prior opinion.

I understand where Connie Mack was coming from as, for example, old Yankee Stadium was just a giant slab of concrete with wooden chairs. Your feet would get darn cold in those end-of-season games as the place felt like a giant refrigerator.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Ahhhh, our old pal Seymour "Bluejaw" Magoon. Greatest gangster name of all time.

Drafty, isn't it?

Ahhh, what a perfect role for Charles Laughton.

"Ha ha, yes, old friend, there's nothing good old American gumption can't handle! Isn't that right, Punjab?"

Losing the last panel leaves a great deal here open to interpretation. Did Cave Man shoot Bull Moose? Did he shoot Chester? Are they playing Twenty Questions and Chester's got a really good one? Has Cave Man got a migraine? Has Chester got a migraine? Have *I* got a migraine?

"That's MRS. CRISPIN to you!"

How full of yourself do you have to be to have your personal logo, consisting of your own face, on the side of your plane?

You go, Judy -- but maybe lay off the "sissy" stuff, huh?

Shadow has the limitless self confidence that comes with knowing he's a sure 4-F.

"If it required any voluntary effort to digest your food you'd die of malnutrition." You've got to admire the thought Mamie's putting into this.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And a Sunday News bonus examination of a deeply disturbing story...

 

[Fading Fast]

... "That's MRS. CRISPIN to you!"....

Good call, Lizzie, your odds favorite came in.

...
Shadow has the limitless self confidence that comes with knowing he's a sure 4-F.....

I believe we might have a new champion in the comicstrips' tiniest-Wasp-waist competition.



Question: has the site been going down a lot the past two days (today in particular) for everyone?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, a lot for me. Almost an hour this morning.