The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Funny you should mention Napoleon...

Hmmmm. Smilin' Jack?

Remember when April, Pat and Cap'n Blaze escaped from an Invader army? Time to see if she remembers.

Just wait'll you're getting $21 a day once a month.

One of those new self-winders.

A nut -- at a racetrack? Impossible!

Sherman Billingsley says "take a letter -- to my lawyers!"

"At last!" grins Sandy. "ALPO every night!"

All right, fellas, it's National Wear Your High School Letter Sweater Day.

 

[Fading Fast]

...
(Hey, babysitters make good money.)...

But not when you're doing it gratis as a "good neighbor."

... (I don't think we've ever seen Sparky crack a book. And it shows.)...

Like the house they live in, I think all the "Sparky Watts" characters share one IQ (with Yoo Hoo, the turtle and the dog excepted).

.. (Well, he's obviously got the "Official Dan Dunn Disguise Kit.")...

I smell spirit gum.

...
(It's easy -- when you know how.)..

"Umm, okay, no Angel for me, but what about the screenwriting gig, is that still on?"
"Seriously kid, do you really think you're a Bert Jefferson? Go back to Connie and the paper while you still can."

The real question is why Connie still wants him.

..
A nut -- at a racetrack? Impossible!...

It's really amazing how important a sport horse racing was. Heck, even with all the war news, the Eagle still puts the day's scratches on the front page. In its own way, it explains the success of DraftKings today.

... All right, fellas, it's National Wear Your High School Letter Sweater Day.

Nerdy Goofy surprises us all in the unpublished fifth panel where he sticks his head out the window and, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, says, "Don't be so sure, Lillums, care to join us?" Even more surprising, Lillums pauses to consider it.

 

[Harp]

My afternoon peruse caught the seventeen year old young lady's suicide leap off New York Hospital.
A horrific tragedy, article simply attested factual occurence, motive unknown. Another fated individual
was a hitchiker GI; probably also young who perished riding shotgun inside a gasoline truck that struck
another vehicle/object causing cargo detonation. Kids. So young with all of life before them.

And this reader rushed to the comics that give shelter from life's turbulent storm. Concern for April
and all the rest. Even Harold-inexplicable kid that he is, slurping a soda....

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Allied Forces today announced a unified Supreme Command for the vast battlefront of the southwestern Pacific, headed by General Sir Archibald V. Wavell, the veteran British war chieftain who in Africa shattered the myth of Axis invulnerability. Serving under General Wavell, commander of the British forces in India and Burma, are two top-ranking American officers. Major General George H. Brett, chief of the U. S. Army Air Corps, was named Deputy Supreme Commander in charge of Air Operations for all British, British Dominion, American, and Dutch forces in the sector, while Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commander of the U. S. Asiatic fleet, will command all Allied naval forces in the southwestern Pacific zone. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Chinese armies and air force that have battled the Japanese invaders since 1937, was named supreme commander of all Allied land and air forces in China and Japanese-occupied Thailand and Indo-China, where it is anticipated that an Allied counter-offensive may one day strike.

General Douglas MacArthur's hard-fighting Luzon army was consolidated into new defense positions today in the vicinity of the Batan Peninsula, as Japanese bombers pounded for five hours at the Manila Bay fortress of Corregidor. Mountainous Batan is the western land arm of enclosed Manila Bay, about thirty miles long and fourteen miles wide. Its southern tip extends to within three miles of Corregidor.

British forces inflicted heavy losses on Japanese attackers on the lower Perak front, pouring a deadly stream of artillery fire into a line about 260 miles northwest of Singapore. Five Japanese landing boats were reported sunk by artillery fire.

Soviet forces surged further westward today, according to official Red Army radio reports, closing a pincer attack on thousands of winter-chilled German troops from south of Leningrad to southwest of Moscow. As many as 150,000 Germans may face annihilation between the jaws of the Soviet nutcracker closing around Nazi positions at the critical rail junction of Mozhaisk.

A far-flung auto theft racket worth upwards of $500,000 has been smashed in Brooklyn, it was announced by District Attorney William O'Dwyer, as a result of an investigation conducted by his office in cooperation with Manhattan detectives and State Police. According to the District Attorney's report car thieves have operated in conjunction with a network of crooked auto dealers in the borough, built up over the past ten years, which used an elaborate set of specialized tools to create counterfeit registration certificates and operators' licenses, and to alter the serial numbers on the stolen cars. The equipment, valued at $2000, was seized last week at an undisclosed location in Brooklyn, and the District Attorney indicated that arrests of a number of participants in the racket, both in Brooklyn and outside the borough, are anticipated shortly. Investigators became aware of the racket when a large number of false registration certificates bearing an identical stamp were discovered at state motor vehicle headquarters in Albany, all listing registrants with Brooklyn addresses, concentrated within a one-mile radius of Myrtle and Bedford Avenues.

Baseball great Babe Ruth is reported to be in "by no means serious condition" in a private hospital, suffering from a combination of the effects of a recent auto accident and, according to his doctor, "too much dieting." The 47-year-old retired home run king was driving near Tuxedo, N. Y. four days ago when he swerved to avoid an oncoming motorist and ran his car over a high curb. Dr. Philip MacDonald indicated that Ruth will be released from the hospital "in about a week."

An eleven year old Bedford-Stuyvesant girl was shot and seriously wounded yesterday by her nine-year-old sister while playing with their elder brother's Army-issue revolver. Beatrice Yunker of 191 Jefferson Avenue was playing with the unloaded gun in a bedroom of the family apartment, when she found a bullet in a pocket of her brother's uniform, and inserted it into the cylinder. Then she "playfully pointed the weapon" at her sister Joan and shot her in the chest. The elder brother, nineteen year old Private Robert E. Yunker of the 101st Military Police Battalion at Fort Dix, New Jersey, was held for questioning by police from the Gates Avenue precinct before it was determined that the shooting was accidental. Private Yunker told police he was home on a ten day furlough, and had left his uniform draped over a bedroom chair and was making coffee in the kitchen when the shooting occurred. Young Joan is reported to be "resting comfortably" at St. John's Hospital.

(And what do the wardens get? An armband, a whistle, and a helmet. I ask ya!)

The fate of a Brooklyn family that moved to Manila over six months ago remains unknown, with no word from Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kephart, formerly of 26 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights, "in many months." The Kepharts sailed for Manila last June, as Mr. Kephart prepared to assume his new duties as the export manager at the Philippine office of the United States Steel Corporation, and the last word from the family came while they were still en route, when Mrs. Kephart, the former Dorothy Graham, graduated in abstentia from Brooklyn College. That word from the family came in a letter to a friend postmarked last July, in which Mrs. Kephart, the mother of three, also revealed that she was expecting another baby. That letter finally arrived in Brooklyn five weeks ago, but since then there has been no further word from the family.

(Mr. Ballgame will not go willingly, with a months-long dispute with the draft board looming ahead. Mr. Sturm, on the other hand, will go without a single kick, and despite a fine season for the Yankees in 1941, will never again wear a major league uniform.)

(Ahhhhhhhh. What the world needs right now, is baseball.)

(Maybe it's just the murky reproduction here, but my first impression from the photo was "they let Connie Mack join the Navy?")

Officials at the Bronx Zoo are considering a contest to name two young Giant Pandas who arrived this week from Chengdu with the compliments of the Chinese Government. It is believed that the two are a boy and a girl, but with pandas, furry bear-like animals with clownish faces, it is hard to tell. The two youngsters will replace the late and lamented Pandora the Panda, who died last May after entertaining millions at the World's Fair in 1939 and 1940.

Old Timer Schuyler Volk remembers the old days of Coney Island, long before Steeplechase Park, when a giant wooden white elephant, visible for miles at sea, was the Isle of Joy's primary attraction.

Call Olsen and Johnson anything you like -- except don't call them "artists." Ole and Chic have been working together since 1914, in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in the movies, and in all that time, they swear they've never done anything in the name of art. They consider themselves first and foremost to be businessmen, "merchants of 'gonk'," who have always controlled the financial and organizational aspects of their shows as closely as they've supervised the comedy. Between them, the boys have made several fortunes during their partnership, and have multiple business interests away from the stage and screen -- even though, they complain, people continue to call them "artists" behind their backs.

(The Duchess don't need no loafin' tooth-pickin' no-account cowboys cluttering up the place. NO SIR!)

(Y'know, I bet you could go to any random neighborhood in 1942 and open up a Wig, Beard, and Disguise Supply Shop, and you'd do a swell business.)

(The Good Neighbor Policy in action.)

(Hey Bill, try warming your hands up first. And yes, A SUBMARINE IN THE WOODS IS TRULY UNBELIEVABLE!)

(Poor, poor George.)

(Gee, Tarz, walking around in the desert like that, don't you get sunburned?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Lilacs is Harold's cousin, so you can see he comes by his idiocy naturally.

Of the three Wallet kids, I get the feeling that Judy will go furthest in life.

Never eat at a place called "Mom's," and never go into business with a man named "Brotherly."

Hope poor Nellie has her resume in order. And Maw Green should stop listening to "America's Town Meeting Of The Air," it's not good for her blood pressure.

Even better -- maybe Andy can train it to race!

Dick Tracy? You need Errol Flynn.

Kids'll be kids.

The News wouldn't cut Caniff to half a page to put in a dopey soap ad. And April just makes one bad decision after another.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Soviet forces surged further westward today, according to official Red Army radio reports, closing a pincer attack on thousands of winter-chilled German troops from south of Leningrad to southwest of Moscow. As many as 150,000 Germans may face annihilation between the jaws of the Soviet nutcracker closing around Nazi positions at the critical rail junction of Mozhaisk....

At this rate, it's hard to believe the Germans held on in the east until '45.

...A far-flung auto theft racket worth upwards of $500,000 has been smashed in Brooklyn, it was announced by District Attorney William O'Dwyer, as a result of an investigation conducted by his office in cooperation with Manhattan detectives and State Police. According to the District Attorney's report car thieves have operated in conjunction with a network of crooked auto dealers in the borough, built up over the past ten years, which used an elaborate set of specialized tools to create counterfeit registration certificates and operators' licenses, and to alter the serial numbers on the stolen cars. The equipment, valued at $2000, was seized last week at an undisclosed location in Brooklyn, and the District Attorney indicated that arrests of a number of participants in the racket, both in Brooklyn and outside the borough, are anticipated shortly. Investigators became aware of the racket when a large number of false registration certificates bearing an identical stamp were discovered at state motor vehicle headquarters in Albany, all listing registrants with Brooklyn addresses, concentrated within a one-mile radius of Myrtle and Bedford Avenues....

This is a less-proud "all roads lead to Brooklyn" moment. But kudos to O'Dwyer as he keeps notching enough wins to be a player.

...The fate of a Brooklyn family that moved to Manila over six months ago remains unknown, with no word from Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kephart, formerly of 26 Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights, "in many months." The Kepharts sailed for Manila last June, as Mr. Kephart prepared to assume his new duties as the export manager at the Philippine office of the United States Steel Corporation, and the last word from the family came while they were still en route, when Mrs. Kephart, the former Dorothy Graham, graduated in abstentia from Brooklyn College. That word from the family came in a letter to a friend postmarked last July, in which Mrs. Kephart, the mother of three, also revealed that she was expecting another baby. That letter finally arrived in Brooklyn five weeks ago, but since then there has been no further word from the family....

Using an early 1942 perspective, with a name like "Kephart," maybe they are part of some subversive German-Japanese Axis effort; otherwise, who moves their family from Brooklyn to Manila, I ask ya! I'd love to see Joe read (stumble over) the word "absentia" and, then, hear Sally explain it to him (which she would in her inimitable way).

... (Y'know, I bet you could go to any random neighborhood in 1942 and open up a Wig, Beard, and Disguise Supply Shop, and you'd do a swell business.)...

No kidding. Nick would own several, but in someone else's name and with an "active" backroom.

If our heroine is thinking smart about clues, I bet she's smelling spirit gum in that room.

... (Hey Bill, try warming your hands up first. And yes, A SUBMARINE IN THE WOODS IS TRULY UNBELIEVABLE!)...

Yes, that is definitely not Marsh's best illustration, unless high tide is something to behold.

... Lilacs is Harold's cousin, so you can see he comes by his idiocy naturally....

Lilacs? That's got to be a nickname with a story behind it - no?

... Hope poor Nellie has her resume in order. And Maw Green should stop listening to "America's Town Meeting Of The Air," it's not good for her blood pressure....

"Yup, I knew it, all it took was a new agent. Now I'll have some money to invest in Nick's 'Disguise Supply Shop.' When I asked Nick how those shops can make so much money selling disguises, he said not to worry about it. He's right, I'll let him run 'em, as you can never go wrong being a partner of Nick's. It's just funny, you'd never think selling disguises could be so profitable."

...
Dick Tracy? You need Errol Flynn....

"Hi, yes, it's Dick Tracy for Mrs. Worth, of course, I'll wait...Mary, Dick, how are you...good, good. Listen, I have a problem that I was hoping you could help me with. Remember, Leona...what? Oh, yes, married to the governor now. Well, I've got a kid just like her that I'd like you to talk to...you will, that's great...Sure, I'll have Gould call Connor or Saunders and see what can be arranged. Thank you Mary, you're the best. What? Is she wearing a revealing costume? I don't think so."

..
The News wouldn't cut Caniff to half a page to put in a dopey soap ad. And April just makes one bad decision after another.

Only a month now until the News comes back to us. April, dear Lord, just come clean to Ryan and he'll make it all right. The last thing we need now is April wandering alone around Hong Kong with the war about to escalate. When she gets captured, it will take Pat and team some time and effort, they don't have to spare, to rescue her.

 

[Harp]

April is too dewy eyed naive for this particular strip. She'd be lost in Harold Teen.

Reminded I need to grab Bradlee's Williams bio; also another script writ Mr Ballgame and irksome
Joe, Mr Coffee and little bro too. DeMaggio calls mind Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights character
Heathcliff whom loved Catherine-a man who loves a woman so truly cannot be all bad. Marilyn Monroe.
Ted would go on to become a Marine aviator and during Korea crash land a jet crippled by enemy
fire at a desolate airbase simply dubbed K2. Mike Royko, intrepid reporter and columnist recounted
to the veterans club at the University of Illinois-Chicago that every swinging Richard lined up outside
to see this crashbang because it was Ted Williams riding.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When April was lost in the Interior before, she only survived because Pat and Blaze, and later Raven were there beside her. The li'l ol' Southern Belle act may work with Terry, but I don't think she's ever come to understand that it doesn't work with anybody else.

Liliacs' real name is Horace, which certainly makes it understandable why he perfers to be known by a nickname. I don't recall that any explanation was ever given, but maybe it's because he asks to have extra smellum applied when he goes to the barber shop to get that snazzy haircut.

"Hey!" says Joe. "Izzat guy castin' aspoisions? I'll tella woild I gotta B in Englitch in night school at New Utrick! So te're! But -- um, now'cha mention it, whass 'abstencha?' Zat on'a t'em countries where Hitler anna' Russians is fightin'?" "Nah," says Sally. It means -- well, it means ya absen', like in school. 'Absten-ya." "Ya absten, which is ya ol' Englitch way a' sayin' 'ya absen.' Catch on?" "You got a B minus at in Englitch at Erasmus, dincha? Ain'nat whatcha said?" "It was all Kilgallen's fault. She pushed me onna stairs'at day an' I got so rat'lld I blew t' test. I'da hadda A if it wan' f't'at! I wisht she'da been abstent-ya!"

 

[Fading Fast]

When April was lost in the Interior before, she only survived because Pat and Blaze, and later Raven were there beside her. The li'l ol' Southern Belle act may work with Terry, but I don't think she's ever come to understand that it doesn't work with anybody else.

Liliacs' real name is Horace, which certainly makes it understandable why he perfers to be known by a nickname. I don't recall that any explanation was ever given, but maybe it's because he asks to have extra smellum applied when he goes to the barber shop to get that snazzy haircut.

"Hey!" says Joe. "Izzat guy castin' aspoisions? I'll tella woild I gotta B in Englitch in night school at New Utrick! So te're! But -- um, now'cha mention it, whass 'abstencha?' Zat on'a t'em countries where Hitler anna' Russians is fightin'?" "Nah," says Sally. It means -- well, it means ya absen', like in school. 'Absten-ya." "Ya absten, which is ya ol' Englitch way a' sayin' 'ya absen.' Catch on?" "You got a B minus at in Englitch at Erasmus, dincha? Ain'nat whatcha said?" "It was all Kilgallen's fault. She pushed me onna stairs'at day an' I got so rat'lld I blew t' test. I'da hadda A if it wan' f't'at! I wisht she'da been abstent-ya!"

"...Zat on'a t'em countries where Hitler anna' Russians is fightin'?" That's just perfect.

"It was all Kilgallen's fault. She pushed me onna stairs'at day an' I got so rat'lld I blew t' test." I can't swear to it, but doesn't Sally use this excuse for more than one thing (maybe several) that went wrong for her at Erasmus?

Thank you, Lizzie, outstanding.


Given the choice between "Horace" and "Lilacs," I'd run away, change my name and take my chances in a new state.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Harold's unusual among his friends for his lack of a vivid nickname, unless "Simp" counts. Shadow's real name is Alexander Smart (Alec Smart, ha ha ha), Goofy's birth certificate says Gregory Gilpin, and Poison is Preston Pembrook. Lillums was christened Lillian Lovewell. And old Poppa Jenks? He's really "Mortimer."

They should all count themselves lucky, though. Moon Mullins' real name is, in fact, "Moonshine." We've never met his father, and that's probably why.

We all have our arch enemies, I think, and it's Sally's curse of age and geography that she went to high school with Dorothy Kilgallen. She'll have many years ahead to be reminded of that incident on the stairs.

 

[LizzieMaine]

President Roosevelt today ordered 10,000,000 men aged 20-44, inclusive, to register for selective military service on February 16th. The Executive Order covers all men who have not reached their 45th birthday by February 16, 1942, and those who have already registered under the previous 21-35 law will not be required to re-register. All men who turned 20 before December 30, 1941 are required to comply, but registration is not yet required for those men who turn 20 after that date. The revised Selective Service law does provide for the registration of 18 and 19 year olds, and 45 to 64 year olds, but dates for those registrations have not been set. The order requires every male citizen of the United States within the prescribed age group residing in the 48 states, and the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, to present himself for registration by their local Selective Service Board between 7 AM and 9PM on February 16th, and local boards, and the governors of the various states and territories, will have the authority to enforce the order by appropriate means. Registration of American men in the required age group who are not present in the United States or the stated territories on February 16th must submit themselves to the draft board at their usual place of American residence "as soon as the cause for inability to register ceases to exist." It is believed that the expanded pool of men to be made available under the new law will allow for the assembly of a potential army of 7,500,000 Class I men.

United States and Filipino forces entrenched in a corner of Luzon northwest of Manila have defeated a frontal attack by the Japanese in one of the outstanding American operations of the war thus far. The War Department announced today that the invaders lost at least 700 men compared to "relatively small" American losses. The announcement raised hopes that forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, now consolidated in advantageous territory and their lines short, may be able to hold out for a long time in the peninsula across from Japanese-occupied Manila and adjacent areas.

The Immigration Appeals Board today reversed an order by Examiner Charles B. Sears for the deportation of CIO labor leader Harry Bridges. The Board indicated that there was no evidence to support the claim that Bridges, a subject of Australia, had been at any time a member of any organization advocating the overthrow of the United States Government by force or violence. The ruling by the Board, presented in a 99-page pamphlet to Attorney General Francis Biddle, recommended that all charges against Bridges be dropped, the warrant for his arrest cancelled, and all further proceedings against him be immediately closed. Bridges, the leader of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, largest maritime union on the West Coast, had been accused of belonging to the Communist Party and the International Workers of the World, but the Board found no evidence to support the former charge, and concluded that during the time of Bridges' IWW membership, that organization did not in any way advocate the violent overthrow of the Government, nor did it circulate any written or printed matter advocating any form of sabotage.

All cases were adjourned today in Queens County Court, Long Island City, after Judge Thomas Downs criticized the absence of sufficient guards for the prisoners. "I don't care whether they are called deputy sherrifs or LaGuardia angels," declared Judge Downs, "but we must have men to guard the prisoners." The elimination of the positions of elective county sheriffs and the dismissal of their deputies, to be replaced by a city-wide sheriff with deputies appointed on a civil service basis, has led to a shortage of guards in county courts city wide. Judge Downs noted that attendants of the court are allowed to guard prisoners as far as the door of the courtrooms only, and denounced the elimination of the former deputies under the new law as "disgraceful" and "a stupid idea by someone."

Six hundred persons in Brooklyn Traffic Court today protested the doubling of overtime parking fines, but they paid the fines nevertheless. The doubling of fines from $2 to $4 was announced last month by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine as an increased incentive to keep the streets clear for emergency and national defense traffic, and became effective as of January 1st. Window clerks were kept busy today from 9 AM to 1PM accepting payments and turning deaf ears to the loud remonstrances by parking violators.

(No article, just the headline. You know how Schroth gets when he's wound up.)

With nationwide tire rationing starting today, New Jersey State Legislator Elect Herbert J. Pascoe announced today he will campaign in that state to make the theft of an automobile tire punishable by seven years in prison. "I can't think of anything meaner," he declared, "than to steal another fellow's tire when he can't get another one."

Tire Rationing Board K-1 opened for business today, to inaugurate the era of tire rationing in Brooklyn. Despite considerable activity at its offices in the Temple Bar Building, 44 Court Street, the board did not yet begin its dealings with the public, with the initial day of operations concentrating on the distribution of application blanks to the 30 tire dealers appointed to serve as official tire inspectors. Those forms had been delayed in arrival from the central OPA office in Manhattan, and were not delivered until Saturday. The tire inspectors will be in charge of examining existing tires owned by applicants for a new tire, and must determine that they are beyond repair before a tire certificate may be issued allowing their replacement.

(Why does this read like a "Dan Dunn" script?)

Relations between Germans and Finns in Helsinki are fraying, with reports that twenty German soldiers have been killed by Finnish men angry over the attentions being paid by those soldiers to Finnish women, and the advantages taken by German soldiers in using gifts of food in exchange for womens' favors. In response to the killings, reported to have taken place during street and saloon brawls, the Gestapo has taken control of the local police departments of Helsinki and other Finnish cities.

Citizens of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Japan living within the boundaries of New York City have until 11 PM tonight to surrender all short-wave radios, cameras, and firearms to police, with the exception of radios that have had all capability of short-wave operation removed. The articles surrendered will be stored by the Police Department and returned to their owners after the war. Aliens failing to comply with the order by the deadline face internment camps and the permanent forfeiture of all such equipment found in their possession. It has been further ordered that citizens of the blacklisted countries residing in the entire Eastern District of the United States are forbidden from travel without giving police a week's notice of any planned trip.

(Padrewski's for it? Well, that's OK then.)

(PM and Sokolsky on the same side? Somehow it doesn't seem right. And Mirror Editorialist -- what's with the gratuitous dig at the Secretary of Labor? Hearst got you on a short leash again?)

(Ripped From The Headlines.)

Actor Otis Skinner, a leading light of the American stage for nearly forty years before his 1932 retirement, died last night of uremic poisoning at his Manhattan home. Mr. Skinner was 83. He had been ill since he was stricken while attending a benefit performance of "The Wookey" at the Plymouth Theatre on December 7th. Mr. Skinner played over 325 parts, including 16 major Shakespearean roles, in a theatrical career that began when he was 19 years old, and appeared on stages in every noted city in the United States and Europe, performing alongside such theatrical greats as Edwin Booth, John Drew, and Madame Mojeska. Mr. Skinner's only survivor is his daughter, actress and monologist Cornelia Otis Skinner, who is presently appearing in "Theatre," at the Hudson Theatre. That play will not go on tonight in recognition of Mr. Skinner's passing.

(A beautiful day for a football game.)

(Yeah, college boy, cram the old-man act. Unless that's Doc's next experiment.)

(Discretion is the greater part of valor.)

("Remember, be diplomatic!")

(No indeed, no one would suspect a submarine to be here. LOOK, JUST ROLL WITH IT.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

Remember a year ago, when the real Army was training with old stovepipes? "Yoo hoo!"

I don't think you people understand the point of a puzzle contest.

"Too blooming much." Really your lordship, such language.

Vintage Phrases You Don't Hear Any More -- "Crazy as a tick!"

"School? Seriously? I'm smarter than you are."

What ever became of Beverly Paterno?

NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG.

Well that, at least, is easy enough to do.

Skeez's birthday is February 14th. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

[Fading Fast]

...[ (No article, just the headline. You know how Schroth gets when he's wound up.)...

Schroth would have loved Twitter.

...
(Why does this read like a "Dan Dunn" script?)...

Huss is a frustrated novelist.

...Actor Otis Skinner, a leading light of the American stage for nearly forty years before his 1932 retirement, died last night of uremic poisoning at his Manhattan home. Mr. Skinner was 83. He had been ill since he was stricken while attending a benefit performance of "The Wookey" at the Plymouth Theatre on December 7th. Mr. Skinner played over 325 parts, including 16 major Shakespearean roles, in a theatrical career that began when he was 19 years old, and appeared on stages in every noted city in the United States and Europe, performing alongside such theatrical greats as Edwin Booth, John Drew, and Madame Mojeska. Mr. Skinner's only survivor is his daughter, actress and monologist Cornelia Otis Skinner, who is presently appearing in "Theatre," at the Hudson Theatre. That play will not go on tonight in recognition of Mr. Skinner's passing....

And we mainly know Madame Mojeska today for the candy (which is quite tasty) that was name for her:

(From Wikipedia) A Modjeska is a confection consisting of marshmallow dipped in caramel. It was created in the 1880s in Louisville, Kentucky by confectioner Anton Busath (1845-1908)[1][2] to honor Shakespearean actress Helena Modjeska, who was performing there in the US debut production of Ibsen's A Doll's House.[3][4][5]After Modjeska granted Busath permission to use her name for the candy, she sent him an autographed portrait, which he hung in his shop.[4] Other Louisville shops began to make versions of the candy, which continues to be popular in the region today; in particular, Bauer's Candies in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky renamed their own "caramel biscuit" the Modjeska in tribute to Busath after his family's store was destroyed by a fire.[3][4][5] Muth's Candies[3] and Dundee Candy[6] in Louisville, and Schimpff's Confectionery in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in the Louisville metropolitan area,[6][7][8] also sell the candy.

... (No indeed, no one would suspect a submarine to be here. LOOK, JUST ROLL WITH IT.)

A car with three secret operatives, could it be Kay, Harrigan and Irwin?

"Irwin, I told you before to extinguish that disgusting cigar as they could see the light."
"Hey, Harrigan, she's become quite bossy."
"Irwin, she's right."
"Also, stop eating the candy, you're getting crumbs all over the car."
"Bossy!"
"She's right again, Irwin; it's a pigsty in here."
"I like working with Dan better."
"And stop whining."

... I don't think you people understand the point of a puzzle contest....

This is awful. You nailed it when you suggested the designer of the ridiculous Lofts contest is behind this stupidity. That or the young guy who knew how to make these contests was called up early and his assistant hasn't a clue.

... Vintage Phrases You Don't Hear Any More -- "Crazy as a tick!"...

I don't know why, but I really wanted Andy to win this one.

"Crazy as a tick" is good, but not as good as one of George Bungle's favorite expressions, which he used today, "what crust."

.. "School? Seriously? I'm smarter than you are."...

In 1942, if she's doing all the shopping, housework, meal prep and cleanup, she has no time to sit and read a book let alone go to school.

... What ever became of Beverly Paterno?...

The only difference between Debbie and Senga is the Thorndike money.

 

[Harp]

Caniff seems to be buying some time, not that I blame him since his strip is strapped
down tight in 1942 streaming-screaming-real time. Hong Kong will fall and April playing
scared confused adolescent Ms Kane with ever avuncular Patrick Ryan is proverbial flat beer,
corn liquor dissipated by negligence and melted ice, and frankly good old innuendo ennui.
Choice births consequence. Time is more ba***rd than friend, waits for no man, or adolescent lady.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("I wondeh wheah Solly's gonna end up," muses Joe. "He neveh liked ta travel, ya know. I r'membeh one time he went ta Asb'ry Pawk. He took a look aroun', decided he din' like t'setup, so he come back home." "Englan'," sighs Sally. "I useta t'ink I'd like t'see Englan'. R'membeh t' Corranation, allem newsreels? But now..." "Yeah," nods Joe somberly. "It's a lot woise'n Asb'ry Pawk.")

Advancing Soviet forces in the Crimea have reached the shores of the Sea of Azov as the Nazi retreat turns into a rout. The Soviet news agency Tass, in reports quoted by the Moscow radio, declared that the Soviet Black Sea fleet has joined in the current fight. It was reported that the boldly advancing Red Army has thurst forty-five miles into the Crimean Penins, with the fleeing Germans suffering heavy losses in men and material.

With Japanese forces driven back ten miles from Changsha after suffering one of their greatest defeats, Chinese troops today launched a two-pronged attack against Ichang. Military dispatches reported that Chinese units debouched from the mountains of western Hupeh Province and sped down the Yangtze River to smash at Ichang from two sides. Ichang is located about 300 miles northwest of Changsha and represents the peak of the Japanese advance into the Hupeh area.

The rush to the marriage license bureau headed for a new record today following the announcement that all men aged 20 to 44 must register for the draft on February 16th. The warning given a week ago by Colonel Arthur S. McDermott, head of Selective Service for New York City, that all prospective grooms will have to convince the authorities that they are not draft dodgers, appears to be going unheeded -- unless, of course, the current wave of new marriages were all agreed upon before war clouds hovered over the nation. A total of 749 licenses have been issued by the Brooklyn Marriage Bureau since Col. McDermott issued his warning on December 30th.

A new draft lottery incorporating all men aged 20 to 44 will be held about two weeks after the February 16th registration date, and all of the new registrants are expected to be fully classified within three or four months. Selective Service Director Gen. Lewis Hershey said yesterday that ninety percent of the first two groups of men registered in October 1940 and July 1941 have received their classifications.

Aliens have surrendered 666 cameras, 54 short-wave radios, and seven rifles and shotguns to police so far, according to the chief property clerk at Manhattan police headquarters. It is anticipated that Germans, Austrians, Italians, and Japanese will turn over an estimated 3500 articles subject to confiscation to police under the present order.

(Some kid ran off with Ann Sheridan?!! Oh, wait...)

An audience of 20,000 attending a rally sponsored by the Communist Party last night at Madison Square Garden voted in support of a resolution calling for the release from prison of Earl Browder, now serving a four-year sentence at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for passport fraud. The resolution at the rally marking the observance of Lenin's birthday also pledged full support for the United States war against "the gangsters of the Axis."

Nearly 200,000 city employees are awaiting a decision by Mayor LaGuardia on a proposal to place them on a seven-day work week, with the Mayor having stated at a press conference that "the five day week for city workers is over for the duration." Many police department employees have threatened to retire rather than give up their days off, and Michael J. Quill, president of the Transport Workers Union, has wired the Mayor requesting a meeting to discuss the implications of his remarks.

(Butch doing shifts as a warden? Don't tempt him.)

("Chubby? CHUBBY? Say, where'see get'tat stuff!")

The three-inch all-around cut will be the favored hairstyle for women this spring, according to a poll by the Manhattan Group of the New York State Hairdressers' and Cosmetologists' Association. It is anticipated that shortages of hairpins and setting lotions will make longer styles impractical, while a comb is all that's needed to tame a three-inch cut. The shorter style is also more suitable for wear with overseas caps, such as are included in Red Cross and Civilian Defense uniforms.

More than third of the jokes submitted by listeners to WOR's "Can You Top This?" program come from Brooklyn, according to the program's creator, humorist Ed "Senator" Ford, who also notes that jokes from Brooklyn are most often selected by the studio audience as winners. Who says Brooklyn people don't have a sense of humor?

(Oh, the sacrifices.)

Reader William J. Sanifin writes in to complain that the younger generation may know everything there is to know about "sex and social behavior,: but it is completely lacking in common courtesy and good manners, noting that he saw a bus full of high school students refuse to give a seat to an "elderly crippled man with a crutch." He remonstrated the youths in a loud voice, and two workingmen offered their seats to the gentleman, but the youths ignored him. "The people who ride the buses daily constantly criticize the conduct of the 'enlightened generation.'"

("Kamphoozis again?" snorts Sally. "They trade Petey and keep HIM? HMPH!"

The Washington Senators, hit hardest by the draft of any major league club so far, have lost half their infield in the much-to-be-missed persons of Cecil Travis and Buddy Lewis, but they finally got some good news this week when pitcher Sid Hudson was classified 3-A. Travis, who came in second to Ted Williams in the American League batting race last summer with a glittering .359 average, and Lewis was no slouch batting .297, and both will be spending the forseeable future in Uncle Sam's khaki rather than Mr. Griffith's flannels.
Hudson won 13 games for the Nats last year, with a 3.59 earned run average, and racked up three shutouts.

(Don't you have a pipeline to build?)

(You know, George, they don't exactly call *you* 'Twinkletoes.'"

(Hey Kids! Learn to Draw an Idiot! Just trace these pictures right here!)

(Meanwhile, in a lonely hotel room, Irwin and Kay sit quietly at a table. "Got any threes?" asks Irwin. "We're playing gin rummy, you fool," replies Kay." "Wuf," adds Wolf.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand...

"That's great, son. Listen, you got any cigarettes?"

The real challenge is figuring out the exact strips these panels come from. This has to be from that Sunday storyline summer before last, before Shadow was reduced to selling weenies.

Tsk. Guess we aren't the only ones to note Snipe's -- inclinations.

It's tough to do effective physical comedy in a comic strip, and Mr. Willard is one of the few who does it well.

"Cleopatra."

It's purely a coincidence that the night club guy looks like Thomas E. Dewey.

As Dr. Zee sinks yet deeper into the dark muck of depression.

H. Teen, Dead End Kid.

Time's a-wastin', fellas.

 

[Harp]

I held out some hope for Harold. Quarantined inside for two weeks with a curvaceous nubile blonde
twirling Venus' mirror, a lovely colleen offering nectar and ambrosia; nothing, and yet now this....

 

[ChiTownScion]

I doubt that they were the "happiest days of your life" for most kids. I remember immature snotty contemporaries, arbitrary and capricious exercises of authority by adults, and bullying from both quarters.

Were there good times of innocent fun? Yeah, but they were the exception, not the rule. The fact that I preferred hanging around with and talking to adults rather than prattling with other grade school students says a lot about my own personality, I suppose... and why I ended up in the Fedora Lounge.

Anyone else see in a similar light?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I wouldn't be a kid again for anything, and especially not a school kid. The most joyless span of my entire life.

 

[Harp]

...The fact that I preferred hanging around with and talking to adults rather than prattling with other grade school students says a lot about my own personality, I suppose... and why I ended up in the Fedora Lounge.

Anyone else see in a similar light?

Books were my escape and refuge. And to some lesser extent, television although back then TV
wasn't quite the T.S. Eliot wasterel. And religion. Strict schooling to harsh rhymes deeply embedded
within mind led toward realized Miltonesque aphorism with the mind its own place; capable of making
a heaven of hell, or a hell of heaven.