The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

...Mayor LaGuardia has brushed aside new rumors that he will resign as Mayor to devote his full attention to his duties as Director of Civilian Defense -- or vice versa. "I still have 24 hours to work every day," the Mayor snapped at reporters when questioned about the rumors. "There is a job that's got to be done. It's got to be done. That's all!"...

Tech-nic-nee, it's two jobs to be done.

...
(Basketball? Small-time boxing? YANKEE FILLER? Am I reading the Bronx Home News? AM I??)...

The sports lull hangs heavy on this page.

...
(Life's rough.)...

You mean they don't all get to marry a future governor?

...
("Asking for a friend.")...

No kidding. The Police might want to take a swing by just to ask a few questions.

...[ (Well, what you really need is Leona, but would you settle for a refugee from a Damon Runyon story?)...

In comicstrip land, a loud sport coat or overcoat usually means the person is a fool or evil - this one's looking a little of both.

... WIRE YOUR BROTHER!...

Or do what you should have done from the start, not sell out a country to protect an embezzler even if he is your brother.

 

[Harp]

Amy Fong, daughter of Venus and Ms Lynn-beautiful brunette are must see attractions
at the Brooklyn Star so everything else can wait.

Several years ago I passed through O'Hare Airport and a group of British Royal Marines
asked if I knew where the Chicago burlesque houses were. Sorry guys, I really can only point
directions to the ballet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or the theatrical district.
Guys probably thought I was of the gay side of life.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(And at last we get the Brooklyn angle on Pearl Harbor. "A Bensonhoist kid!" exclaims Joe with pride. "A *New Utreck* kid, yet!" "I run inta his ma downa Bohack's," says Sally. "She was showin'at letteh aroun', an' cryin'. A kid f'm t'neighbehood. Right inna t'ickuvvit. Jus' a kid." "Jus' a kid," muses Joe, his face turning somber. "Eighteen yeeahs ol'. I ask ya.")

In a Christmas greeting to the men and women doing air raid precautions work, the commanding officer of the First Interceptor Command at Mitchel Field warned yesterday that vigilance must not be relaxed during the holidays. Brigadier General John C. McDonnell declared that "experience in war has shown that advantage is taken of relaxation in vigilance to strike when and where the blow is least expected. Gen. McDonnell stated that all civilian defense posts under his command are to remain fully manned, without exception, at all times thruout the holiday season, an order which will govern the activities of all civilian and military personnel under his command. The First Interceptor Command is responsible for air defense of the entire Northeast sector.

District Attorney William O'Dwyer announced yesterday that he is prepared, in the event of any wartime emergency, to conduct operations from any of five branch headquarters established around the borough in the even that he is displaced from his Borough Hall offices. Brooklyn has been divided into five administrative zones, based in selected precinct stations, by the prosecutor's office, allowing instant cooperation with police, military, and naval authorities without a hitch. The plan has the endorsement of Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, to whom it was submitted for approval last week.

In a broadcast speech last night Wendell L. Willkie declared that America must improve its production of fighting equipment in order to exceed and defeat the Axis. Speaking over the stations of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the 1940 Republican presidential nominee warned that, at present, American war production is barely a fifth of that of Nazi Germany, and he called for "stark and fearless realism" from the American people in understanding that non-defense expenditures and activities must be "cut to the bone," including the curtailment of production of all non-essential civilian goods, and the extension of the work week from 40 hours to 55 or even 60 hours per week as conditions may require. Mr. Willkie also called for the abandonment of any seeking of political advantage in the present emergency, declaring that "nothing can be spared for political spoils." He warned that the word "sacrifice" is entirely insufficient to describe what is now demanded of the American people, and that "quick dramatics or momentary heroics" are meaningless. He called instead for nothing less than "Spartan simplicity and hard work" to ensure the defeat of the Axis.

The rattling old cars of the Fulton Street L have found new life as vacation housing for employees of the Sanitation Department. Out at Camp Sanita in Holmes, N. Y. twenty of the decommissioned wooden coaches that once clattered above the heads of downtown shoppers have been rebuilt into comfortable, livable cottages for the enjoyment of vacationing sanitation workers, and another eighty cars will be taken upstate next spring. Sanitation Commissioner William H. Carey conceived the idea last summer when he learned that the cars were to be scrapped, and prevailed upon Mayor LaGuardia to donate them for the project. Mr. Carey won the Distinguished Service Cross during the last war for his success in the construction of military cantonments, an activity to which he has returned in the present war.

(America's Biggest Small Town.)

The Eagle Editorialist declares that it is "time for Mayor LaGuardia to quit" as Director of Civilian Defense. Pointing to dissatisfaction over how civilian defense operations are being conducted in the city, as demonstrated by the recent air raid drills, and laying aside the question of whether one man can handle two such vital jobs, the EE argues that the responsibility for such operations properly belongs in the hands of the Army, not civilian politicians.

The rationing of automobile tires, announced to begin on January 4th, is, according to the Eagle Editorialist, a natural consequence of our dependence on foreign sources for such vital materials as rubber. Urging that swift action be taken to develop viable rubber substitutes, the EE dismisses the complaints of golfers and tennis players over the sudden disappearance of the implements of their favorite games from the stores, and tells them to find games that don't require materials needed by our soldiers.

(Even if you're not a Dodger fan, and in 1941, unless you're Bill Terry, who isn't?, you gotta admit it's been one hell of a year in sports.)

Leo Durocher has still not signed his contract to manage the Dodgers in 1942, but he insists he isn't worried about it, expecting to sign sometime in "February, March, or April." Tommy Holmes points out that the real question is not whether Leo will manage next year, but whether he will play at all -- with the acquistion of Arky Vaughan, who can play both shortstop and third base, making it highly likely that Durocher will at least try to hang up his glove for good. But other than Vaughan, who is expected to play third next year, the Dodgers are notably thin when it comes to potential backups for Pee Wee Reese, with only rookie Claude Corbitt listed as a possibility for next year -- and Corbitt is likely to go in the draft, which could force Leo to play even if he doesn't want to.

New Utrecht edged out Erasmus Hall in schoolboy basketball at Madison Square Garden yesterday, by the hard-fought margin of 31 to 29.

("Whattayou smoikin' at?" grumbles Sally. "Oh, nutt'n." smirks Joe. "Nutt'n'a'tall.")

(It's always entertaining to me to find the Rockland Angle showing up in the Eagle. "The Flying Santa" is a local legend here, and the program continues right into the 21st Century for the small hard core of year-round island residents.)

Old Timer Mrs. Margaret Schenck of Clinton Hill remembers how her son learned to sing as a little boy of 5 attending parochial school, and how he never gave it up. You know her son Joseph as Joe Schenck, as in Van and Schenck, as in one of vaudeville's greatest song duos. And it was all thanks to the kindly chiormaster at Most Holy Trinity R. C. C, Mr. Leyendecker.

The screen version of "Hellzapoppin'," premiering at the Rivoli on Christmas Night, bears no resemblance to any other motion picture ever made, promise Olsen and Johnson, any more than the stage hit on which it is based bears any resemblance to anything ever done before in the way of musical comedy. The boys, however, have been doing variations of the show their entire careers, starting with a single vaudeville gag, which grew to a one-act sketch, which grew to a one-hour unit, which grew to a full-fledged Broadway show, and which grew now to a feature motion picture, with new and more elaborate gags every step of the way.

(Hence the expression, "never bring a Yellow Knife to a gun fight.")

("But -- another mouth to feed? How will we survive? That strange woman -- was she actually -- the Devil?)

("I'm telling you," says Mr. Chrysler's butler, "you won't believe what that crazy old white man makes me do. Soon's I get my draft notice, I am GONE.")

(Bill's an idiot. Excellency's an idiot. Everybody's an idiot. Merry Christmas.)

(Peggy was already in her teens when "The Bungle Family" began, so we never got to see George as the father of a young child. Which, I guess, is just as well.)

("Dammit!" growls Tarzan. "That's enough! I'm a JUNGLE MAN, not a DESERT MAN!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Well isn't that just heartwarming.

Odds that Judy drives her new bike into an excavation pit before 11 AM now running at 1-1.

What, Annie only gets a half-page in the Tribune? Mr. Gray must be on Col. McCormick's naughty list for making Warbucks out to be such a dope.

And only a half-page for the Gumps? Wouldn't happen if Sid Smith was still alive. But it does give us a look at "The Ripples," which is basically the Sunday edition of "The Neighbors," drawn by Mr. Clark in a looser and more cartoony style.

Who ya gonna call?

Considerate of them to give her air holes.

Beezie and Freddie Fitzsimmons get together to commiserate.

And TERRY gets only a half page?????? WORLD'S LAMEST NEWSPAPER.

 

[PrivateEye]

We'll keep up on the News comics via the Out Of Town Newsstand, though, so if Goofy finally blows Harold's brains out, we'll see it all happen.

Thank God! You had me frightened...but what about the Paternos?

 

[Fading Fast]

(And at last we get the Brooklyn angle on Pearl Harbor. "A Bensonhoist kid!" exclaims Joe with pride. "A *New Utreck* kid, yet!" "I run inta his ma downa Bohack's," says Sally. "She was showin'at letteh aroun', an' cryin'. A kid f'm t'neighbehood. Right inna t'ickuvvit. Jus' a kid." "Jus' a kid," muses Joe, his face turning somber. "Eighteen yeeahs ol'. I ask ya.")..

As you said, yesterday, Lizzie, you could be forgiven, if you only read the Eagle's headlines, for thinking the Allies are going to make this a short victory.

...In a Christmas greeting to the men and women doing air raid precautions work, the commanding officer of the First Interceptor Command at Mitchel Field warned yesterday that vigilance must not be relaxed during the holidays. Brigadier General John C. McDonnell declared that "experience in war has shown that advantage is taken of relaxation in vigilance to strike when and where the blow is least expected. Gen. McDonnell stated that all civilian defense posts under his command are to remain fully manned, without exception, at all times thruout the holiday season, an order which will govern the activities of all civilian and military personnel under his command. The First Interceptor Command is responsible for air defense of the entire Northeast sector....

"Brigadier General John C. McDonnell declared that 'experience in war has shown that advantage is taken of relaxation in vigilance to strike when and where the blow is least expected'."

He didn't say it, but ya think he's got any specific recent event in mind?

...The rattling old cars of the Fulton Street L have found new life as vacation housing for employees of the Sanitation Department. Out at Camp Sanita in Holmes, N. Y. twenty of the decommissioned wooden coaches that once clattered above the heads of downtown shoppers have been rebuilt into comfortable, livable cottages for the enjoyment of vacationing sanitation workers, and another eighty cars will be taken upstate next spring. Sanitation Commissioner William H. Carey conceived the idea last summer when he learned that the cars were to be scrapped, and prevailed upon Mayor LaGuardia to donate them for the project. Mr. Carey won the Distinguished Service Cross during the last war for his success in the construction of military cantonments, an activity to which he has returned in the present war....

This is great.

...
(Even if you're not a Dodger fan, and in 1941, unless you're Bill Terry, who isn't?, you gotta admit it's been one hell of a year in sports.)...

Torturing myself for no good reason, I read the article on how the Dodgers lost the series (as if I didn't know), but thankfully it was continued on another page and I couldn't finish it. I couldn't stand to see the picture of the ball rolling free again (with the stupid arrow pointing to it).

...The screen version of "Hellzapoppin'," premiering at the Rivoli on Christmas Night, bears no resemblance to any other motion picture ever made, promise Olsen and Johnson, any more than the stage hit on which it is based bears any resemblance to anything ever done before in the way of musical comedy. The boys, however, have been doing variations of the show their entire careers, starting with a single vaudeville gag, which grew to a one-act sketch, which grew to a one-hour unit, which grew to a full-fledged Broadway show, and which grew now to a feature motion picture, with new and more elaborate gags every step of the way....

I keep looking, but so far, "Hellzapoppin'" hasn't shown up on TCM since we've been talking about it.

... ("But -- another mouth to feed? How will we survive? That strange woman -- was she actually -- the Devil?)...

"I can't do it. Sure, more money and a bigger role would be great, but I can't leave a top-tier strip for this schmaltz. Get my agent on the phone, there have to be other options! Is that a damn squirrel I see?"

...
(Bill's an idiot. Excellency's an idiot. Everybody's an idiot. Merry Christmas.)...

"I'm not your gofer; I'm the number two man; go into town yourself. Oh, and here's a list of things I need you to pick up for me, on the double." Tomorrow: "Veeda Kills Dan."

. What, Annie only gets a half-page in the Tribune? Mr. Gray must be on Col. McCormick's naughty list for making Warbucks out to be such a dope.....

Can you really blame McCormick?

... And TERRY gets only a half page?????? WORLD'S LAMEST NEWSPAPER.

"Ohhhhh, Hu Shee!"
Slap! Huff! Door slam.

 

[Harp]

Chicago Tribune rides to the rescue. If Terry was truly shorted blame Caniff's editorial handcuffs.

Sumpin' else buggin me. April Kane ain't drawn quite right sure seems. Kinda looks munchkin.
No offense but mebbe jist me, dunno. Gal knee high to a grasshopper now layin it on thick as sugar
molasses n' our boy whose laid out with Dragon Gal onceapon a time now all smiles over a tad munchkin
lil' smack/ dab goin his noggin. N' what fer? Docha knows. Kaniff da kartooner done tipped Terry's apple cart
sue as hell did. One lil' munchkin gal looks cradle rob jail bait waif ta me. Yessire bob. um hum.

 

[Fading Fast]

Lizzie, what happened to the Daily News today?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The News volumes running from 12/21 until February 4th are missing from the archives. Either they made their way out of the building by overcoat -- unlikely, since a single bound volume covering a week of all editions of all issues weighs about fifteen pounds -- or the microfilm reels covering those five and a half weeks were missing when the scans were done. Either way, we will be left to the Out Of Town Newsstand until regular service can be resumed. Fortunately, the Tribune carries all the strips we follow from the News, with the exception of the Hill Page, and I may yet be able to find an alternate source for that.

I wish I had access to the Daily Mirror -- it'd be interesting to get another NYC tabloid perspective -- but alas, those papers do not appear to have been digitized.

As for April, she's always been drawn in that wide-eyed style since she first showed up in 1939. She's a throwback/holdover of Caniff's original, more-cartoony art style that dominated the strip in its earliest years. Connie (Pat and Terry's Chinese sidekick/comedy relief, not Newspaperwoman Connie of "Mary Worth") is also a relic of this period.

 

[Harp]

Either way, we will be left to the Out Of Town Newsstand until regular service can be resumed. Fortunately, the Tribune carries all the strips we follow from the News....

As for April, she's always been drawn in that wide-eyed style since she first showed up in 1939. She's a throwback/holdover of Caniff's original, more-cartoony art style that dominated the strip in its earliest years. Connie (Pat and Terry's Chinese sidekick/comedy relief, not Newspaperwoman Connie of "Mary Worth") is also a relic of this period.

Stick to the ol' Trib. My maternal granduncle was editor after McCormick's era and I delivered it on South Paulina.

April is a character I am unfamiliar with but noted her different render.
Connie is gorgeous, seems a bit lost in unrequited purgatorial love.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(The draft news is the most far reaching development today. Joe is now in class III-B -- exempt due to dependents and working in an occupation essential to national defense -- but over in the funny pages, Harold and Skeezix are now liable, although both could reasonably receive II-B status, since they work for companies with defense contracts. Terry is not presently resident in the continental US, and is still just shy of twenty. But don't make any long term plans, kid!)

(The world's a lot smaller than it used to be.)

Parking infractions in the city will be dealt with more severely, with Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine warning motorists that jail time may replace fines if the present wave of rampant violations continues. The Commissioner announced yesterday that every available patrolman will be assigned to a city-wide effort to curb overtime parking "both in congested business areas in the daytime and in residential sections, particularly near large apartment buildings, in the daytime." The Commissioner warned that streets must be kept clear for the movement of emergency vehicles. The campaign will begin immediately after the Christmas shopping rush ends.

Mayor LaGuardia and Attorney General John J. Bennett warned New Yorkers today against engaging in "witch hunts" and "hysterical discrimination" against German, Italian, and Japanese aliens in the city.

In Chicago, an 18-year-old college freshman explained his attacks on at least 23 women as the result of his "determinist" philosophical beliefs. Handsome blond-haired David E. Steffey II, son of a prominent commission merchant and a student at Wright Junior College, was arrested yesterday after one of his victims recognized him on the street. The youth admitted to attacks on 23 women and blamed his actions on his "lack of free will," noting that he has studied the works of Dewey, Russell, and Nietzsche, and has come to believe that "no one has a free will, he merely does what his ancestors have done before him." Police are questioning the youth in an effort to tie him to the murder of a a 40-year-old mother of two, but Steffey denied involvement in the slaying. "I might be a rapist," he declared. "Yes, I was mean to the women I attacked. I kicked some and I beat some. But I never killed anyone in my life." Steffey said that he had planned to spend his Christmas vacation studying Clarence Darrow's defense of Leopold and Loeb in an attempt to find the key to his own problems.

An Army Air Corps lieutenant shot himself to death in his office last night while cleaning his service pistol. First Lieut. George R. Hays, Jr. of Forest Hills had just phoned his wife and asked her to meet him at the Long Island Railroad Station when he arrived home, so that he could assemble a model train set he had just purchased for their 6 year old son. Lieutenant Hays was found slumped in a chair with his .45 pistol three feet from his right hand, shot thru the chest, with the bullet embedded in a wall twelve feet away. Four unused bullets, gun-cleaning materials, and the officer's glasses were found on the desk.

(A black comedy about the Panto case? Um, too soon. Not that I wouldn't go see it. But still, too soon.)

("Better Homes and Bomb Shelters.")

(Season's Drinkings.)

The "Dollar Duchess of Brooklyn" died yesterday at her Park Avenue home at the age of 53. Mrs. Elsie Moore Torlonia, the Park Slope native who symbolized the age when American heiresses went title-shopping among the assorted nobility of Europe, married Don Marino Torlonia, Duke of Poli, Duke of Guadagnola, and Prince di Civitella Cesi, in 1907 and quickly became a favorite of high society on both sides of the Atlantic. Her husband fought a duel to defend her honor after she was "insulted by a sculptor," and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for his efforts. Not long after that incident, Mrs. Torlonia sued her husband for divorce on grounds of infidelity, and the decree was granted in 1928. Mrs. Torlonia's crowning social triumph was the marriage of her son Prince Alessandro married Infanta Beatriz, daughter of the late King Alfonso of Spain. Alessandro was briefly detained by the FBI when he came to New York during his mother's illness, but was subsequently released. A requiem mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral tomorrow at 11 AM.

(Look, I don't know what Ace Parker's problem is, but I do know that Mr. Topping and Coach Sutherland need to start locking him up in a closet between seasons.)

Remember Roy Cullenbine, Larry McPhail's $25,000 lemon of 1940? Well, all he needed to do lose a little weight to become one of the most effective hitters in the American League. After the Dodgers traded him to the St. Louis Browns, Roy didn't amount to much until he sat down with then-manager Fred Haney and took to heart some advice that cut inches off his waistline and added zing to his bat. Exercising daily by playing badminton, table tennis, and handball, Cullenbine brought his weight down to 165 pounds, and in 1941 wound up the campaign with a .317 batting average, 98 runs batted in, and 82 runs scored. And he never missed a chance to get on base, running second only to the fearsome Ted Williams of the Red Sox in walks, with 121.

Despite the war, four major league clubs will train next spring in California. The Pittsburgh Pirates will encamp again in San Bernadino, the Philadelphia Athletics will return to Anaheim, the Chicago White Sox will be based in Pasadena, and the Cubs will return to Mr. Wrigley's elegant facilities on Catalina Island -- unless the war forces them back to the mainlaind.

(OH IS THAT ALL!)

(Well, there *are* two of you, after all...)

(Now that's a twist I didn't see coming...)

(Dan's not just any idiot. Dan's the biggest idiot of all.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Geez, the Tribune lets Mr. Clark sell merch and everything. C'mon, News, I would enjoy a copy of that booklet very much.

"The horsey set."

Jeez, Lil, considering what's happened to you over the past three years or so, I'd think you're a pretty poor judge of things that "don't happen in real life."

Bounce sees only what interests him.

A good salesman doesn't waste his time on non-prospects.

This would be a pretty good time for Axel to show up again. Or that terrifying old lady with the candy store.

When Pat roughs you up, you stay roughed.

Gould's been into the egg nog again.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Parking infractions in the city will be dealt with more severely, with Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine warning motorists that jail time may replace fines if the present wave of rampant violations continues. The Commissioner announced yesterday that every available patrolman will be assigned to a city-wide effort to curb overtime parking "both in congested business areas in the daytime and in residential sections, particularly near large apartment buildings, in the daytime." The Commissioner warned that streets must be kept clear for the movement of emergency vehicles. The campaign will begin immediately after the Christmas shopping rush ends....

"The Commissioner warned that streets must be kept clear for the movement of emergency vehicles. The campaign will begin immediately after the Christmas shopping rush ends."

We are very serious about this, or will be right after Christmas.

...Mayor LaGuardia and Attorney General John J. Bennett warned New Yorkers today against engaging in "witch hunts" and "hysterical discrimination" against German, Italian, and Japanese aliens in the city....

My father is of German descent and said things definitely got frosty for awhile with a few fisticuffs at school, etc.

...In Chicago, an 18-year-old college freshman explained his attacks on at least 23 women as the result of his "determinist" philosophical beliefs. Handsome blond-haired David E. Steffey II, son of a prominent commission merchant and a student at Wright Junior College, was arrested yesterday after one of his victims recognized him on the street. The youth admitted to attacks on 23 women and blamed his actions on his "lack of free will," noting that he has studied the works of Dewey, Russell, and Nietzsche, and has come to believe that "no one has a free will, he merely does what his ancestors have done before him." Police are questioning the youth in an effort to tie him to the murder of a a 40-year-old mother of two, but Steffey denied involvement in the slaying. "I might be a rapist," he declared. "Yes, I was mean to the women I attacked. I kicked some and I beat some. But I never killed anyone in my life." Steffey said that he had planned to spend his Christmas vacation studying Clarence Darrow's defense of Leopold and Loeb in an attempt to find the key to his own problems....

They didn't get the chair, but the jury did send Leopold and Loeb away for life (which, as often happens, turned out not to be life for one who was released - the other was killed in prison) - hopefully, the jury will do no less for this bag of garbage.

...The "Dollar Duchess of Brooklyn" died yesterday at her Park Avenue home at the age of 53. Mrs. Elsie Moore Torlonia, the Park Slope native who symbolized the age when American heiresses went title-shopping among the assorted nobility of Europe, married Don Marino Torlonia, Duke of Poli, Duke of Guadagnola, and Prince di Civitella Cesi, in 1907 and quickly became a favorite of high society on both sides of the Atlantic. Her husband fought a duel to defend her honor after she was "insulted by a sculptor," and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for his efforts. Not long after that incident, Mrs. Torlonia sued her husband for divorce on grounds of infidelity, and the decree was granted in 1928. Mrs. Torlonia's crowning social triumph was the marriage of her son Prince Alessandro married Infanta Beatriz, daughter of the late King Alfonso of Spain. Alessandro was briefly detained by the FBI when he came to New York during his mother's illness, but was subsequently released. A requiem mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral tomorrow at 11 AM....

Not as good as Page Four, but it will have to do until the Daily News returns.

...
(OH IS THAT ALL!)...

Tomorrow: "Sparky Watts learns that cosmic-ray strength is no match for government regulations and environmental groups' lawsuits." You can't punch a bureaucracy in the face.

...
(Now that's a twist I didn't see coming...)...

How could you have, no one saw that one coming.

... Geez, the Tribune lets Mr. Clark sell merch and everything. C'mon, News, I would enjoy a copy of that booklet very much.....

That would be very cool to have. Unless the paper quality was awful, there are probably some of them still around in the bins of magazines and other paper ephemera, etc., that most used bookstores have.

......
"The horsey set."....

Min, in a few sentences, please summarize your marriage for us.

"Ok, What now? Tell me - I can take it - being your wife all these years has steeled me to anything."

Thank you, Min.

... This would be a pretty good time for Axel to show up again. Or that terrifying old lady with the candy store.....

Ooh, she was scary. Hey, maybe when the mob starts helping the gov't with the war, the censors will let Nick come back.

 

[Harp]

David Steffey read Dewey, Russell, and Nietzsche-a sin of supposition allowance of rapine
felonies, presumed constituent elements mens rea absent said philosophers. Bet the kid never
opened Spinoza's geometric Ethics with its tight cogent reasoning or Pollock's preparatory tract.
Steffey will find Darrow threw his emotions toward the learned trial judge and such leniency
as he expects will ultimately prove sentence to Joliet and the charm school's rapist chastise.

A Colt .45 1911A1 pistol is designed with three safety features which make it improbable
that deceased Lt Hayes accidentally shot himself while cleaning his weapon.
Seems to this veteran that Hayes suicided and due to exigent circumstance the death is cloaked.
A young man with everything to live for kills himself.
The comment that he called his wife prior to his tragic choice only reinforces this view.
A most unfortunate occurrence.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(And bit by bit, local political news filters back to the front page, complete with dubious headlines. "Hinted" does not mean "Indicates," no matter how much Mr. Schroth may wish it to be so.)

A strict curfew over all public buildings has been ordered by the Commissioner of Public Works. Commissioner Irving V. A. Hume issued an order today requiring that all public buildings in the city must close promptly at 6 PM, and may be opened no earlier than 8 AM. The order also revokes all permits for public meetings in public buildings, barring all such use of city facilities save for those meetings conducted by city, county, and borough officials conducting official business. The order, citing the national emergency, calls for the adoption of a city-wide system of employee identification for all those working in city buildings.

British communiques reported today that Imperial columns now block the Axis line of retreat on the gulf of Sirtie, south of Benghazi, and asserted that Axis air power has suffered a shattering blow with the destruction of 54 planes in the air and on the ground. In London it was reported by a military spokesman that Nazi General Erwin Rommel may be forced to stand and fight at Benghazi instead of falling back toward Tripoli because of the British success in cutting off his line of retreat. A United Press listening post in New York monitored a British radio report asserting that "roads in Libya are so jammed with retreating Axis forces that it is impossible to miss the targets."

(There's more to worry about in Hong Kong than cheap blackmailing hoods.)

("Don't You Know There's A War On?")

(No worries, it won't be a problem much longer.)

(Just so long as Tarzan doesn't end up crawling across the desert. I think we've had just about enough of that.)

(Babe Herman's .393 in 1930 is still the Dodger franchise record to this day, and that he's still hitting in the .340s in the highly-competitive Pacific Coast League as he approaches 39 suggests that maybe if Leo is still looking for another outfielder, he might consider casting his eyes westward.)

St. Louis Browns owner Don Barnes arrived in New York today on a trip which may decide where the Browns' star first baseman George McQuinn plays in 1942. Both the Yankees and the Dodgers have expressed interest in McQuinn, with Larry MacPhail dropping hints he might trade Dolph Camilli to the Browns straight up in exchange for the hard-hitting 31-year-old. But Barnes may have other plans, and will confer tomorrow with Yankee general manager Ed Barrow, who has been looking for an answer to the Bombers' first base problem since the loss of Lou Gehrig.

Gary Cooper has been selected to play Lou Gehrig in the motion picture story of the Iron Horse's life, to be produced in Hollywood by Samuel Goldwyn. Cooper was the outstanding choice of baseball writers polled on the question of who should portray the late Yankee star on film. Leo Durocher auditioned a few weeks ago for a role in the picture, but not, it is to be assured, as Gehrig.

(If Sparky wasn't such a straight arrow, he could easily start his own religion.)

(Ummm.....)

(Hedda Hopper? Louella Parsons? Never heard of 'em!)

(Annnnnnd we have our first comic-strip acknowledgement of recent events. And we now know that Mr. Marsh works exactly sixteen days ahead.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Nobody loves the mailman but his mother.

Poor Nellie.

What a gossip-ridden hive of infamy this town is.

Just don't elope, kid. Ask Harold how that works out.

Kayo was ADHD before anyone knew what it was.

Heheheheheheheheheheheheheh.....

Well, what's the point if you can't have a little fun?

Please, Detective Tracy, don't ever make that face again. Please.

 

[Fading Fast]

[ (And bit by bit, local political news filters back to the front page, complete with dubious headlines. "Hinted" does not mean "Indicates," no matter how much Mr. Schroth may wish it to be so.)...

How does a submarine (a war machine) attack an oil tanker (a hulking, slow moving, presumably unarmed ship filled with a flammable liquid) and not sink it?

...[
(There's more to worry about in Hong Kong than cheap blackmailing hoods.)...

Yup. Caniff's gotta toss the pre-December 7th stuff in the garbage and burn the midnight oil to get Terry and Team caught up with events on the ground. It's not fun, but his outstanding strip can't be this out of step with these incredible global events.

... (Just so long as Tarzan doesn't end up crawling across the desert. I think we've had just about enough of that.)...

No kidding, it's only once a week, but I'm bored as heck with that strip. I'd rather watch Shadow trying to sell hotdogs on the beach while making time with the ladies if I'm going to read the same story over and over. That said, the movie does have the advantage of real-life Maureen O'Sullivan.

.. (Babe Herman's .393 in 1930 is still the Dodger franchise record to this day, and that he's still hitting in the .340s in the highly-competitive Pacific Coast League as he approaches 39 suggests that maybe if Leo is still looking for another outfielder, he might consider casting his eyes westward.)...

With that face and head, Fraser Donlan had no choice but to become a football player and, then, he'll have to retire and buy and run an Irish pub. It's a teleological requirement.

... (Annnnnnd we have our first comic-strip acknowledgement of recent events. And we now know that Mr. Marsh works exactly sixteen days ahead.)

Lizzie, what do you think, is it possible panel one was inserted recently to give the appearance of being more up to date? It kinda looks like it was slapped in there and the narrative flow feels forced. Just a thought.

...
Poor Nellie.....

It feels like Gray is going to go all Bill-Slagg revival on us again. Sigh.

... ...

I'm getting the feeling he's going to get home only to walk in and see Nina and the young doctor bow chicka wow wowing it (not really, since it's a comicstrip in 1941, but he'll walk in to see those two hanging out together somewhat romantically).


I miss the Daily News, but these Tribune scans are of a much-better quality.

 

[Harp]

Hong Kong I thought fallen, no this month or January 1942. April is a cute diversion to buy
Caniff some lead time but bed is more Burma's baliwick.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's quite possible that Dan's first speech is a pasteup of just the balloon, relettered over whatever that panel originally said. The whole story makes no sense post-Pearl Harbor/post declaaration-of-war, so I wouldn't be surprised if the storyline turns out to be a bad dream Irwin is having after eating an extra-juicy pastrami sandwich with a dill pickle on the side.

I don't think Mr. Caniff will stoop to such a shady technique, but I do get the feeling the story will have to be rushed to a climax.

 

[Harp]

...but I do get the feeling the story will have to be rushed to a climax.

Here I am thinking about that hayloft with Burms and Terry.
and the lnvaders coming any second.