The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

There were a lot of these types of radio shows -- it was a minor fad in the late thirties. "The Goodwill Hour," "The Goodwill Court," "Alexander's Mediation Board," "The Voice Of Experience," etc etc. "The Jewish Board of Peace and Justice" was a lot of fun to listen to -- in the examples that survive, the program is conducted by this hard-boiled rabbi who takes no guff from anybody, and switches seamlessly between English and Yiddish in mid-sentence thruout the program. Most of the cases are pretty trivial -- in one that I've heard, this woman goes on at some length about a set of slipcovers she ordered but now doesn't want to pay for, and the storekeeper gets pretty fired up about it. The rabbi gets everybody settled down and tells her to pay her bill and go home. Very entertaining stuff once you figure out what's going on.

⇧ Good stuff.

Any comments on the birthing of FM - were AM station owners "seeding" the market or was something more going on? Were, possibly, radio makers behind it as a way to sell a whole new set of sets?

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was a little of all that, I think. There had been a lot of talk about "high fidelity broadcasting" in the late thirties, and FM was a logical extension of that. Broadcasters and radio manufacturers were often the same companies -- RCA, Westinghouse, G-E, Crosley, and Zenith all had deep connections to broadcasting, and while RCA opposed FM, due to its reluctance to pay patent licensing fees to David Sarnoff's arch enemy Edwin Armstrong, the other manufacturers all saw a chance to cut into RCA's dominance by going into this new technology that RCA wouldn't benefit from.

Bamberger Broadcasting, owners of WOR, were part of the L. Bamberger department store empire, and they were always the independent outlier in New York radio circles. They were the first local station to go in big for pre-recorded broadcasts at a time when NBC and CBS wanted nothing to do with transcriptions, and they beat both NBC and CBS into FM. They weren't sure at this point what they wanted to do with it -- when they got licensed for commercial FM broadcasting in 1941, all they did for the most part was simulcast the regular WOR program schedule, with a few "high fidelity" classical music features thrown in -- but they knew they wanted to be ready in case it amounted to anything.

 

[Fading Fast]

It was a little of all that, I think. There had been a lot of talk about "high fidelity broadcasting" in the late thirties, and FM was a logical extension of that. Broadcasters and radio manufacturers were often the same companies -- RCA, Westinghouse, G-E, Crosley, and Zenith all had deep connections to broadcasting, and while RCA opposed FM, due to its reluctance to pay patent licensing fees to David Sarnoff's arch enemy Edwin Armstrong, the other manufacturers all saw a chance to cut into RCA's dominance by going into this new technology that RCA wouldn't benefit from.

Bamberger Broadcasting, owners of WOR, were part of the L. Bamberger department store empire, and they were always the independent outlier in New York radio circles. They were the first local station to go in big for pre-recorded broadcasts at a time when NBC and CBS wanted nothing to do with transcriptions, and they beat both NBC and CBS into FM. They weren't sure at this point what they wanted to do with it -- when they got licensed for commercial FM broadcasting in 1941, all they did for the most part was simulcast the regular WOR program schedule, with a few "high fidelity" classical music features thrown in -- but they knew they wanted to be ready in case it amounted to anything.

I know Macy's - owing to its NY flagship and Thanksgiving Day parade - was the smarter name to use when Macy's and Bambergers merged, but as a New Jersey kid, Bambergers meant something to us; whereas, Macy's felt like an outsider. But that was - what - thirty-plus years ago, so nobody under forty or fifty even remembers or cares about Bambergers anymore.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in today's Daily News....

Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Duff.

Yeah, I'd say that's worth $5.

"The Eurasian Eruption?"

 

[David Conwill]

A gas station operator from Jamaica armed with an honorary deputy sheriff's badge and a strong right hook foiled a
holdup at his station last night. 42-year-old Samuel Rosen, who operates an Amoco station at 107-33 Merrick Road, was counting out his till last night in order to close for the evening, when a robber approached him and displayed a long-handled bread knife. Rosen flashed his badge, and while the holdup man was distracted, Rosen punched him. The would-be bandit crashed thru a plate glass window and fled into the night. Rosen told police he didn't know his own strength.

I keep imagining Rosen accidentally breaking his own window and then whipping up this exciting tale to tell his insurance company.

 

[Fading Fast]

I keep imagining Rosen accidentally breaking his own window and then whipping up this exciting tale to tell his insurance company.

While I didn't think of the scenario you suggest, I kid you not, I did wonder if he had had trouble collecting from the insurance company for the window.

"No, no, really, I punched him and he went right through the window."

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"No, I'm not kidding."

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"What do you mean 'self-caused' damage in not covered? Would you have preferred I let him rob me?"

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"No, I don't think I'll have much success going after the insurance company of the man who broke my window when I stopped him from robbing my store."

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"Yes, I'm aware I have a large deductible - it's the only way your agent said I could make my premiums affordable."

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"What, you mean that by preventing my station from being robbed, if I claim the damages against my policy, my premiums in the future will go up?"

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"I've proven to be a higher risk - are you %$^%&# kidding me!"

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"Yeh, I'll probably just pay to fix it myself."

Follow by a Peanuts teacher's-voice-like response from the insurance company.

"I'm sure you do appreciate my business."​

 

[LizzieMaine]

The captain of the scuttled German pocket battleship Graf Spee killed himself today with a revolver in his hotel room in Buenos Aries. Captain Hans Langdorff bade a final farewell to his crew, retired to his room, spread the ship's flag out on the bed, laid down, and shot himself. The vessel was scuttled off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay on Sunday night on the personal orders of Adolf Hitler, with the captain himself reportedly pressing the button that detonated the explosive charges. Langdorff and his men then surrendered to authoriites in Argentia for internment. The captain's suicide follows comments in British and French newspapers criticizing Langdorff for not going down with his ship.

Confessed killer Ernest Kehler, alias Ernie Haas, was taken to the scene of his crime today by Brooklyn police for a reenactment of the beating death of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engelberg. Kehler and a group of detectives returned to the single-family house at 1280 E. 5th Street in the Parkville section of Flatbush this morning after Kehler was subjected to a police lineup in Manhattan. Detective Frank Bals, in charge of the investigation and a representative of Brooklyn District Attorney Gehogan's office brought the lanky prizefighter back from Toronto by airplane early this morning.

District Attorney Gehogan is on the record as expressing doubts as to the veracity of Kehler's story that he beat Engelberg to death after the Nazi official "made improper advances" toward him, noting that the medical examiner's report concluded that the position of the body indicated Engelberg was killed in his sleep. No trace of a murder weapon was found at the house, and Kehler has only stated that the weapon was an item picked up from a table or dresser in the bedroom, and that he cannot remember what it was or what became of it.

Meanwhile, Manhattan boxing club operator Benny Friedman, a known associate of Kehler, met the confessed killer when he was brought to the Parkville police station this morning, bringing along two lawyers, one of whom told reporters he had applied for a writ of habeas corpus in order to compel authorities to allow Kehler to speak with them, charging that Kehler has been "held incommunicado" since his arrest and has not been permitted access to legal counsel. A detective buttonholed by Friedman and the lawyers declared that Kehler is "no dope," and that the suspect has already selected his own counsel. The detective also disputed Friedman's claim that Kehler had tried to contact him after his arrest, and that Kehler had also tried to contact columnist Walter Winchell about the case.

There is word from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey that Dewey intends to question Kehler about a similar beating death in Manhattan about a year ago. Dr. Max Morgenstern, a former professor of economics at the University of Petrograd in Russia, and a man of some reputation as a foreign exchange expert, was found severely beaten in his apartment in the Beaux Arts Building last December, and subsequently died in the hospital. Dewey's office questioned Kehler as a potential suspect in that murder, but the boxer was able to supply a satisfactory alibi.

Mayor LaGuardia has selected the man he defeated in the 1937 mayoral election to head the deaprtmental investigation of corruption charges against eleven Brooklyn police officers. The Mayor has drafted Jeremiah T. Mahoney, Tammany nominee for Mayor in the last election, directing Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine to appoint Mahoney, a former judge, to the office of Deputy Police Commissioner with specific authority to head the probe.

More than 200 Soviet warplanes are reported to have made the heaviest Russian attack of the war so far on the Finnish front along the Karellian Isthmus. Finnish reports state that as many as 20 planes have been shot down and scores of Russian tanks destroyed during the battle, being fought in the midst of a raging snowstorm.

A United States heavy cruiser with 579 German sailors aboard steamed into New York Harbor today. The Germans are the crew of the scuttled Nazi liner Columbus, who intentionally set fire to the ship some 480 miles offshore, in view of a British destroyer. Authorities say the Germans will be treated as "distressed seamen" and will not be interned, after an investigation of the incident revealed no violation of American neutrality.

The President of Brooklyn College denies bringing his influence to bear to bar Communist Party secretary Earl Browder from speaking on campus. Before a special assembly of 800 students, Dr. Harry Gideonse declared that there was no violation of Browder's civil rights or those of the students who wished to hear him, since those rights apply on campus only to students and faculty. "The right of outsiders," stated Dr. Gideonse, "is a matter of policy." The meeting was called after leaflets began circulating on campus denouncing Dr. Gideonse for the ban.

"Gone With The Wind" opened in New York last night, drawing gaping thousands to the Capitol and Astor Theatres, where klieg lights shined upon jewels and ermines as ticketholders and celebrities filed in to see the long-awaited Selznick super-production of Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel. More than 300 policemen were on hand to control the crowd and keep crashers out of the festivities and away from the giant searchlights and television apparatus crowding the scene.

Herbert Cohn was of the company for the premiere, and declares that the three-and-a-half-hour length of the picture takes some of the edge off its greatness. "There is a limit," he says, "to one's appetite even for the succulent fruit of the gods, and the fruit of the movie gods is no less filling. The indigestion point is a relative matter -- we were adequately feasted within three hours, and uncomfortably stuffed by the time the final fadeout arrived." Cohn notes that there are moments in the film "that will be spoken of as long as there are motion pictures," but "it is no less amazing that a film with such excellent qualities can become burdensome if it outruns its time." A bit of judicious editing of the plot might have yielded "the film of the decade," instead of "the most beautiful sight in years, the most touching drama in months, and the biggest burden of the week."

A 40-year-old mother from Queens and her 18-year-old son are being held on charges of swindling a Manhattan art gallery. Mrs. Emma Janica and her son William Janica are accused of passing bad checks at the Pelkin Art Galleries, 664 5th Avenue, while posing as "socially prominent individuals." The woman and the youth have been known to frequent night clubs together, variously representing themselves as members of the Vanderbilt family, and the family operating the Lord & Taylor store. The two are said to have purchased jewelry and furniture valued in the thousands of dollars using this ruse.

A Methodist pastor in Detroit charges that anti-Communist picketers knocked three of his teeth out and broke his glasses when he attempted to speak at a meeting of the Civil Rights Federation in that city. The Reverend Owen A. Knox was attacked by a group of men wearing American flags in their lapels and carrying signs reading "All Reds Get Out" when he arrived for the meeting. Rev. Knox had invited the pickets inside to hear his speech when five of them attacked him. Also on the platform for the event was newspaperman John Spivak, whom the pickets accused of being a Communist.

(Confidentially, fellas, there's a lot of things your wife wants for Christmas, and I don't think a Buick is one of them.)

Two well-dressed young men robbed eight people last night of more than $1200 and escaped in a car driven by a third young man. The holdup at the store of the East Flatbush Candy and Tobacco Company, confectionery jobbing concern, involved the owner of the company, six of his drivers, and a customer, who were lined up by the gunmen and stripped of their cash.

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE. Young, Plump and Tender Fresh-Killed Pilgrim Brand CHRISTMAS TURKEYS -- 29 cents a pound at your A&P Self-Service Super Market. One price -- One Quality!

The last surviving Navy veteran of the Civil War has died at the age of 87. Rear Admiral Reginald Nicholson will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is one of only two men to rise from the naval ranks to four-star status, the other being John Paul Jones.

(Ho ho ho, heathens!)

An "All Girl Hollywood Oomph Revue" opens today at the Flatbush Theatre, featuring starlets Marie Wilson, Toby Wing, and Faith Bacon, with singer Sylvia Clements and Rita Rio's All Girl Orchestra. On the screen, "Flight At Midnight."

Max Fleischer's animated feature "Gulliver's Travels" opens at the New York Paramount with a big stage show featuring Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra, comedian Jimmy Savo, and the singing stars of "The Fred Allen Show," the famous Merry Macs. (The movie is actually kind of punk, but I'd definitely take a subway ride for the stage show.)

(Two months till spring training.)

Hear Mayor LaGuardia preside over the official lighting of the Municipal Christmas Tree at 5pm over WMCA and WNYC. Tune in right here.

Have yourself a Bungle little Christmas.

The arch-chessmaster slowly moves each piece into position.

And given the way Mr. Marsh tends to the anti-climactic in his stories, the doctor will say "it was just a minor flesh wound," and Irwin and Babs will arrive to find Kay eating chicken noodle soup, the Face Eating Dog sleeping soundly on the bed, and Dan checking his watch wondering where the cab is.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Confessed killer Ernest Kehler, alias Ernie Haas, was taken to the scene of his crime today by Brooklyn police for a reenactment of the beating death of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engelberg. Kehler and a group of detectives returned to the single-family house at 1280 E. 5th Street in the Parkville section of Flatbush this morning after Kehler was subjected to a police lineup in Manhattan. Detective Frank Bals, in charge of the investigation and a representative of Brooklyn District Attorney Gehogan's office brought the lanky prizefighter back from Toronto by airplane early this morning.

District Attorney Gehogan is on the record as expressing doubts as to the veracity of Kehler's story that he beat Engelberg to death after the Nazi official "made improper advances" toward him, noting that the medical examiner's report concluded that the position of the body indicated Engelberg was killed in his sleep. No trace of a murder weapon was found at the house, and Kehler has only stated that the weapon was an item picked up from a table or dresser in the bedroom, and that he cannot remember what it was or what became of it.

Meanwhile, Manhattan boxing club operator Benny Friedman, a known associate of Kehler, met the confessed killer when he was brought to the Parkville police station this morning, bringing along two lawyers, one of whom told reporters he had applied for a writ of habeas corpus in order to compel authorities to allow Kehler to speak with them, charging that Kehler has been "held incommunicado" since his arrest and has not been permitted access to legal counsel. A detective buttonholed by Friedman and the lawyers declared that Kehler is "no dope," and that the suspect has already selected his own counsel. The detective also disputed Friedman's claim that Kehler had tried to contact him after his arrest, and that Kehler had also tried to contact columnist Walter Winchell about the case.

There is word from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey that Dewey intends to question Kehler about a similar beating death in Manhattan about a year ago. Dr. Max Morgenstern, a former professor of economics at the University of Petrograd in Russia, and a man of some reputation as a foreign exchange expert, was found severely beaten in his apartment in the Beaux Arts Building last December, and subsequently died in the hospital. Dewey's office questioned Kehler as a potential suspect in that murder, but the boxer was able to supply a satisfactory alibi.....

This story appears to have some legs.

...A 40-year-old mother from Queens and her 18-year-old son are being held on charges of swindling a Manhattan art gallery. Mrs. Emma Janica and her son William Janica are accused of passing bad checks at the Pelkin Art Galleries, 664 5th Avenue, while posing as "socially prominent individuals." The woman and the youth have been known to frequent night clubs together, variously representing themselves as members of the Vanderbilt family, and the family operating the Lord & Taylor store. The two are said to have purchased jewelry and furniture valued in the thousands of dollars using this ruse....

Cronkite, Rockefeller, Kellogg and, now, Vanderbilt and Lord and Taylors - as we note all the time here, little is new, even in scam world.

...

(Confidentially, fellas, there's a lot of things your wife wants for Christmas, and I don't think a Buick is one of them.)....

Even though I'm familiar with it, the wordiness of the Era's advertising always stands out against today's limited text.

Lizzie, you were right for that time, but as post-war America evolved into a lot of two-car households, plenty of wives did want a car for Christmas. It certainly wasn't happening in my "own a car 'till it dropped dead of old age" household, but plenty of ads are running today encouraging men to buy their wives cars this Christmas. And in more recent years, I've noticed some ads encouraging women to treat themselves to a new car for Christmas.

...Hear Mayor LaGuardia preside over the official lighting of the Municipal Christmas Tree at 5pm over WMCA and WNYC. Tune in right here.....

A tree lighting on the radio seems almost sad - how is that not anticlimactic?

...
The arch-chessmaster slowly moves each piece into position.....

Darn it, they stretched it to (at least) one more day - that's good climax building.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If someone's giving me a car for Christmas, I'd rather have a Plymouth than a Buick. A Buick wouldn't fit in my garage.

I don't know how they handled it on WMCA, but WNYC's version of the broadcast, linked above, is rather sweet in a homey, not-trying-too-hard kind of way. A few carols by the NYPD Glee Club and a boys' choir, a speech by Hizzonner, with his glorious Old New York accent on full display, and then they throw the switch and you hear the crowd applaud. Today something like this would be a Boys From Marketing Super-Spectacular, but in 1939 it makes New York feel a bit like a small town.

The question I'm waiting for some one to raise about the Engelberg case is this: Parkville was a heavily Jewish neighborhood. Why is a Nazi official living there?

 

[Fading Fast]

If someone's giving me a car for Christmas, I'd rather have a Plymouth than a Buick. A Buick wouldn't fit in my garage.

I don't know how they handled it on WMCA, but WNYC's version of the broadcast, linked above, is rather sweet in a homey, not-trying-too-hard kind of way. A few carols by the NYPD Glee Club and a boys' choir, a speech by Hizzonner, with his glorious Old New York accent on full display, and then they throw the switch and you hear the crowd applaud. Today something like this would be a Boys From Marketing Super-Spectacular, but in 1939 it makes New York feel a bit like a small town.

The question I'm waiting for some one to raise about the Engelberg case is this: Parkville was a heavily Jewish neighborhood. Why is a Nazi official living there?

I just listened to the broadcast and, overall, agree, it works in its not-polished and matter-of-fact manner. That said, I still felt a bit left out when they announced the lighting of the trees and all I could do was stare my screen (or radio, in the day). But I did particularly enjoyed the broadcast's version of "'O Holy Night."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile in the Daily News, it would seem that Ernest Kehler's efforts to "keep his wife out of the case" have come to naught...

And you think LaGuardia will stand for this? Pfffffft. (PS to Bro. Caniff -- you misspelled "Genghis".)

Yeah Stooge, you better be worried. Binnie is very observant. Look how she's already noticed Tess's inflatable novelty head.

I wish I had the opportunity to say to someone, anyone "The place for you is some nice barnyard with the rest of the gluttons," but somehow it never seems to come up.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ I'm impressed with depth of story in "Terry and the Pirates." And, like you, my money's on the Little Flower.

 

[LizzieMaine]

How there was never a "Terry and the Pirates" movie franchise is beyond me. There was a radio show for quite a while, which was typical afternoon kiddie serial fare, and a cheesy Columbia movie serial, but a movie series for adult audiences could be quite a thing. Tribune Media still owns the property, so somebody needs to get busy on it.

 

[Fading Fast]

How there was never a "Terry and the Pirates" movie franchise is beyond me. There was a radio show for quite a while, which was typical afternoon kiddie serial fare, and a cheesy Columbia movie serial, but a movie series for adult audiences could be quite a thing. Tribune Media still owns the property, so somebody needs to get busy on it.

When I started on Wall Street full time in '85, the first trading desk I worked on had a senior female trader named Terry who had a team of traders reporting to her, so some of the older salesmen (in their fifties - you know, my age now ) called the team "Terry and the Pirates." Even then, in '85, that reference only resonated with the older guys - today, I doubt, other than fans of the era, anyone under 80 would get the reference.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Finnish sources state that Soviet air attacks on Helsinki today damaged the city's Red Cross Station, as planes roared over the capital city in three waves. The building, along with others in the bombing path, had been fully evacuated in advance of the raid. Two persons were reported injured in the raids on Helsinki, although there were more casualties, including three dead, reported in attacks on more than a score of other cities and villages in the southern and western parts of the country. Meanwhile, a Finnish Army communique reported by the Associated Press states that the Finnish counteroffensive on the eastern front led to the destruction of a Russian battalion and the capture or destruction of "large quantities" of Russian tanks.

The Kings County Grand Jury today indicted Ernest Walter Kehler on a charge of murder in the first degree in connection with the beating death of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engelberg in Parkville on the night of December 5th. Meanwhile, Kehler, who used the name "Ernie Haas" as a amateur heavyweight prizefighter, has requested to remain in jail pending trial, after the declination of a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf. Kehler also signed an affadavit swearing that he had not and did not authorize Manhattan boxing club operator Benny Friedman, or anyone associated with Friedman, to engage counsel on his behalf. Kehler spent last night in the jail cell at the Parkville police station, and stated that it was the most comfortable night's sleep he'd had in weeks.

The 577 crew members of the scuttled Nazi luxury liner Columbus will spend Christmas on Ellis Island, as US immigration authorities study their case to determine whether they are entitled to stay in the country for sixty days as "distressed seamen." So far 180 of the crew members have been questioned by immigration agents.

Stocky, swarthy underworld figure Salvatore Spitale, who gained fame in 1932 by volunteering to act as a gangland intermediary in the Lindbergh kidnapping case, will serve five to ten years in Sing Sing Prison after his convinction in Brooklyn General Sessions Court on a grand larceny charge. Spitale has been arrested eleven times since 1914, but other than a five-day jail sentence on a traffic violation in 1936, has never served time behind bars.

The Borough President of Queens is saying "good riddance" to the Soviet Pavilion at the World's Fair by declaring a half-holiday tomorrow, as the crated-up structure departs aboard a Russian steamer for Moscow. Borough President George Harvey had been a vocal opponent of the inclusion of the Soviet Union in the fair, and took particular offense at the towering stainless-steel statue of "Big Joe the Worker" that loomed over the proceedings last summer as the tallest structure on the grounds.

Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh has resigned from his seat on the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. The flyer-turned-politicial commentator stated in his resignation letter that he does not anticipate concentrating his attention on aeronautical matters in the future.

Narcotics racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter faces a two year prison sentence and a fine of $10,000 after his conviction on charges of conspiracy to violate Federal drug-trafficking laws. The case, prosecuted by US Attorney John T. Cahill, is considered the most significant blow to the narcotics racket within memory of Federal officials.

President Roosevelt is proposing sending the Army to set up Federal soup kitchens in Ohio, even as CIO union leaders charge that dogs and death-row murderers are better-fed in the state than the poor. Governor John Bricker has crossed swords with the President in recent weeks over the administration of relief programs in the state, and has in turn drawn fire from the President and from Ohio CIO president John Owens, who condemned the Governor for his "callous indifference" in the face of the recent relief crisis in the state.

Five men and a woman face charges for operating a 1500-gallon still in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. Plainclothesmen of the 16th Inspection District and agents of the Federal Alcohol Tax Unit raided a two-story house at
1230 60th Street and seized the distilling equipment and a large quantity of raw alcohol and mash.

An 18-year-old Euclid Avenue youth was acquitted on second-degree manslaughter charges in connection with the shooting death of a 12 year old boy. The defense in the trial of William Cassidy argued that the bullet that killed Anthony Saracino was accidentally deflected toward him when it struck an overhead telephone wire. Cassidy claimed he was testing the firing pin on a .32 rifle he had found at the dump when the gun went off, the bullet ricocheted off the wire, and struck Saracino, who was gathering loam from the dump with his father. Examination of the slug found markings consistent with Cassidy's story.

Ew. Imagine what must be in the bottom of those stockings.

The animated cartoon feature "Gulliver's Travels" isn't in the same league as Disney's "Snow White," but not for lack of effort. Herbert Cohn was on hand at the New York Paramount for the premiere of the Max Fleischer production, which omits the political satire of the original Jonathan Swift novel in favor of a cheery song-filled love story, complemented by amusing cartoon antics, and a Gulliver who chuckles a lot. It's an enjoyable, even capitvating film, and the kids will like it, even if it isn't up to the Disney standard.

Kay Kyser, the Ol' Perfessor of the Kollege of Musical Knowledge, debuts on screen at the RKO-Albee today, accompanied by his entire radio crew -- Ginny Simms, Harry Babbitt, Sully Mason, Ish Kabibble, and all the gang -- in "That's Right -- You're Wrong!" Also on the bill, Alice Faye and Warner Baxter in a melodrama of a Brooklyn girl trapped in war-torn China, "Barricade." (I hope that Brooklyn girl doesn't run into Cap'n Blaze.)

Long Island's oldest Civil War veteran has died at the age of 101. Thomas Morton Treadwell, whose mother was a full-blooded Shinnecock Indian, served in "many engagements" as a member of the Union Army, and later followed a career as a breeder and trainer of fine trotting-horses.

Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith doesn't see much chance of the Yankees repeating as American League pennant winners in 1940. The Old Fox says the Yanks have too many ragged old veterans like Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Frankie Crosetti, and Bill Dickey on the club to contend against younger, stronger teams. Griffith's son-in-law, Red Sox manager Joe Cronin is hoping his will be the team to do the job next season, noting an influx of young, strong talent like Pacific Coast League star Dominic DiMaggio joining other youthful stars like prize 1939 rookie Ted Williams and second baseman Bobby Doerr.

The Tennessee Vols are on their way to Pasadena today to prepare for the coming Rose Bowl game. The Vols will face USC in the 1940 edition of the New Years' Day classic.

A Brooklyn bus driver took the law into his own hands -- or rather, his own foot -- in foiling a holdup man on board his
Belmont Avenue bus. Driver Peter Smith of Ozone Park was confronted yesterday by a stickup man demanding he turn over the fare box. Smith gestured to the container, and when the robber tried to grab it, Smith kicked him back thru the open doors of the bus, landing him flat on his back on the sidewalk. Smith then leaped out of the bus and held the holdup man down until a passing patrolman made a formal arrest. The foiled assailant, 30-year-old James LaBocetta of 350 Linwood Street, is being held without bail on a charge of felonious assault. He is on parole from Elmira Reformatory, to which he was sentenced in 1934.

The Brooklyn Dodgers will continue their popular play-by-play broadcasts on radio next season, with the exception of Sunday games, which will not be aired. Red Barber is expected to return to the microphone for the broadcasts in 1940. Meanwhile, the Giants and Yankees, whose 1939 broadcasts were not as well received as those of the Brooklyn club, are not expected to broadcast in 1940.

Lionel Barrymore will return to the role of Ebenezer Scrooge this Sunday night as the guest of Orson Welles' Campbell Playhouse. It will be Barrymore's fourth radio performance in the role of the covetous, grasping old sinner. Meanwhile, the Mutual network will offer their own take on the Dickens story with Chicago actor Hugh Studebaker as Scrooge on Sunday afternoon.

"One Man's Family" is expected to move into the 8:30-9 pm time period on NBC vacated by the reduction of the Chase & Sanborn Hour to thirty minutes. Standard Brands, sponsor of both programs, recently renewed its contract for the full sixty minutes, but cut the Charlie McCarthy program by half as a cost-reduction measure.

I wonder if George ever patched that hole in the ceiling? That'd be a good Christmas present.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Ohahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

You two might as well futz around the gift shop for a while, this'll probably take at least a week.

 

[Fading Fast]

... and took particular offense at the towering stainless-steel statue of "Big Joe the Worker" that loomed over the proceedings last summer as the tallest structure on the grounds....

Taller than the Tryon?

...A Brooklyn bus driver took the law into his own hands -- or rather, his own foot -- in foiling a holdup man on board his Belmont Avenue bus. Driver Peter Smith of Ozone Park was confronted yesterday by a stickup man demanding he turn over the fare box. Smith gestured to the container, and when the robber tried to grab it, Smith kicked him back thru the open doors of the bus, landing him flat on his back on the sidewalk. Smith then leaped out of the bus and held the holdup man down until a passing patrolman made a formal arrest. The foiled assailant, 30-year-old James LaBocetta of 350 Linwood Street, is being held without bail on a charge of felonious assault. He is on parole from Elmira Reformatory, to which he was sentenced in 1934.....

That's just awesome. They don't make too many men like that anymore.

...The Brooklyn Dodgers will continue their popular play-by-play broadcasts on radio next season, with the exception of Sunday games, which will not be aired. Red Barber is expected to return to the microphone for the broadcasts in 1940. Meanwhile, the Giants and Yankees, whose 1939 broadcasts were not as well received as those of the Brooklyn club, are not expected to broadcast in 1940....

Lizzie - radio historian par excellence - does this mean that regular radio broadcasts of Giants and Yankees games weren't already the norm by '39? Can't say I ever remember reading about when it started, but I assumed that by sometime in the '30s, radio broadcasts of baseball games were regular and hugely popular no?

...Lionel Barrymore will return to the role of Ebenezer Scrooge this Sunday night as the guest of Orson Welles' Campbell Playhouse. It will be Barrymore's fourth radio performance in the role of the covetous, grasping old sinner. Meanwhile, the Mutual network will offer their own take on the Dickens story with Chicago actor Hugh Studebaker as Scrooge on Sunday afternoon.....

Barrymore must have been incredible in the role - his acting talent and voice are perfect for it. I can hear his voice, say from "Key Largo," resonating as an intimidating Scrooge.

...
Hahahahahahahahahaha!

View attachment 201732

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

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Ohahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!....

Fun to see the scammers revealed, but I still want to see what was in the note. And as you imply - fantastic illustrating.

...You two might as well futz around the gift shop for a while, this'll probably take at least a week.

. And good Cap'n Blaze aside earlier.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Apparently they didn't count the Trylon as a "structure" for purposes of height comparison, perhaps because it was owned by the fair itself and not by an exhibitor. Joe The Worker was 79 feet high, and stood atop a 188-foot-high column, which put him above every other fair exhibit -- until the operators of the Life Savers Parachute Jump put a flagpole on top of their tower just high enough to edge Joe out. The red star lit up at night as an aviation beacon, and you could see it from many miles away.

The whole pavilion, statue and all, was designed to be portable, and taken back to Moscow after the Fair was over -- but it was never reassembled. Nobody knows for sure what became of Joe, but in all likelihiood he was melted down for war materiel.

Baseball broadcasting was a big deal in most Major League cities during the 30s -- except for New York, where the three teams had an agreement not to broadcast as a way of protecting their gate receipts. When Larry MacPhail came to Brooklyn, the first thing he did was announce he'd be withdrawing from that agreement when it expired at the end of 1938 -- he'd done very well with radio in Cincinnati, with Red Barber and Al Helfer as his broadcasters, and as soon as the agreement ran out he signed with WOR, Socony-Vacuum Oil, Procter & Gamble, and General Mills for a full Brooklyn broadcast package in 1939. The Yankees and Giants couldn't compete -- they signed a deal with Procter & Gamble to split a broadcast package over WABC, but that was the CBS flagship station in New York and needed to clear the network's soap opera schedule on weekday afternoons, which interfered with the baseball schedule. Only home games were broadcast for each club, with the Giants and Yankees alternating, while the Dodgers had their whole schedule broadcast -- live at home and via Western Union recreation on the road. And Barber was a better broadcaster than Arch McDonald, who the Giants and Yankees imported from Washington, and who came off as too much of a hick for New York tastes.

So when 1940 rolled around, Procter & Gamble didn't want to spend the extra money for a Yankee-Giant package, WABC wasn't interested and no other station wanted to step in, so there were no Yankee or Giant games on the air. Brooklyn pretty much owned the radio baseball scene in New York until after the war.

One incident that did come out of the Yankee broadcasts in 1939 led to Mel Allen's first involvement with the team. It seems that Arch McDonald's sidekick announcer when the Yankees first went on the air was a fellow from St. Louis named Garnett Marks, a decent-enough sportscaster in his own right. In an early-season game, so the story goes, Marks was reading a commercial and mispronounced the product as -- or his accent caused it to sound like -- "Ovary Soap." The agency ordered him canned immediately, and Allen, who was a CBS staff man routinely assigned to daytime programming, was chosen as his replacement. He spent the rest of the season as McDonald's caddy, and of course became the primary announcer for the Yankees when they ramped up their broadcasting efforts after the war.

Barrymore was the definitive radio Scrooge -- he played the part every year until his death, and many stations still air some version or another of his performance to this day. This one coming up, produced by Welles and featuring his Mercury Theatre company, is considered the definitive performance -- and you can tune it in right here.

 

[Fading Fast]

Apparently they didn't count the Trylon as a "structure" for purposes of height comparison, perhaps because it was owned by the fair itself and not by an exhibitor. Joe The Worker was 79 feet high, and stood atop a 188-foot-high column, which put him above every other fair exhibit -- until the operators of the Life Savers Parachute Jump put a flagpole on top of their tower just high enough to edge Joe out. The red star lit up at night as an aviation beacon, and you could see it from many miles away.

The whole pavilion, statue and all, was designed to be portable, and taken back to Moscow after the Fair was over -- but it was never reassembled. Nobody knows for sure what became of Joe, but in all likelihiood he was melted down for war materiel.

Baseball broadcasting was a big deal in most Major League cities during the 30s -- except for New York, where the three teams had an agreement not to broadcast as a way of protecting their gate receipts. When Larry MacPhail came to Brooklyn, the first thing he did was announce he'd be withdrawing from that agreement when it expired at the end of 1938 -- he'd done very well with radio in Cincinnati, with Red Barber and Al Helfer as his broadcasters, and as soon as the agreement ran out he signed with WOR, Socony-Vacuum Oil, Procter & Gamble, and General Mills for a full Brooklyn broadcast package in 1939. The Yankees and Giants couldn't compete -- they signed a deal with Procter & Gamble to split a broadcast package over WABC, but that was the CBS flagship station in New York and needed to clear the network's soap opera schedule on weekday afternoons, which interfered with the baseball schedule. Only home games were broadcast for each club, with the Giants and Yankees alternating, while the Dodgers had their whole schedule broadcast -- live at home and via Western Union recreation on the road. And Barber was a better broadcaster than Arch McDonald, who the Giants and Yankees imported from Washington, and who came off as too much of a hick for New York tastes.

So when 1940 rolled around, Procter & Gamble didn't want to spend the extra money for a Yankee-Giant package, WABC wasn't interested and no other station wanted to step in, so there were no Yankee or Giant games on the air. Brooklyn pretty much owned the radio baseball scene in New York until after the war.

One incident that did come out of the Yankee broadcasts in 1939 led to Mel Allen's first involvement with the team. It seems that Arch McDonald's sidekick announcer when the Yankees first went on the air was a fellow from St. Louis named Garnett Marks, a decent-enough sportscaster in his own right. In an early-season game, so the story goes, Marks was reading a commercial and mispronounced the product as -- or his accent caused it to sound like -- "Ovary Soap." The agency ordered him canned immediately, and Allen, who was a CBS staff man routinely assigned to daytime programming, was chosen as his replacement. He spent the rest of the season as McDonald's caddy, and of course became the primary announcer for the Yankees when they ramped up their broadcasting efforts after the war.

Barrymore was the definitive radio Scrooge -- he played the part every year until his death, and many stations still air some version or another of his performance to this day. This one coming up, produced by Welles and featuring his Mercury Theatre company, is considered the definitive performance -- and you can tune it in right here.

Good stuff - thank you.

Makes sense when you explain it, but hard to believe the radio market for Yankee and Gaints
games - i.e., advertising dollars - wouldn't have made it an obvious non-brainer.

I will be listing to Ebenezer Barrymore late today - thank you.

The "ovary" thing is funny, but I've noticed over the last ten years, that all the announcers of every sport have become very, very careful not to ad lib any comments that might get them into trouble. It's most noticeable when the camera spots something quirky in the crowd and the booth announcers don't respond (sometimes, there will literally be a dead-air moment). I don't blame them; who wants to end a career with one comment. Into the early '00s, announcers were much more willing to throw out a fun aside or quick observation, than they will today.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was one particular man baseball announcers lived in fear of -- Commissioner Landis, who had rabbit ears when it came to any kind of criticism of umpires. He banned CBS announcer Ted Husing for life from the World Series after Husing criticized the umpiring during the 1934 Series, and in 1936 he went after Hal Totten, who called Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago, for allegedly inspiring a bottle-throwing riot at Comiskey Park with comments about "unfair calls." Totten responded, on air, with a lengthy defense of his remarks and Landis couldn't ban him -- because the teams controlled local broadcast rights and not his office. But Landis had Totten's broadcasts recorded, in full, for nearly a week after the bottle incident to get anything he could use to pressure the teams to fire him. Other announcers knew about this, and learned to step very very carefully and never, ever criticize umpires.

The real mistake the Yankees and Giants made in ceding radio dominance to Brooklyn was that it gave the Dodgers an overwhelming edge in the allegience of female fans. Women were the largest bloc of daytime radio listeners, and millions of women in greater New York became, not just baseball fans, but *Dodger* fans from listening to Red Barber every afternoon. For as long as the team remained in Brooklyn, it had the largest number of female followers of any team, in any sport, in the city.

 

[Fading Fast]

There was one particular man baseball announcers lived in fear of -- Commissioner Landis, who had rabbit ears when it came to any kind of criticism of umpires. He banned CBS announcer Ted Husing for life from the World Series after Husing criticized the umpiring during the 1934 Series, and in 1936 he went after Hal Totten, who called Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago, for allegedly inspiring a bottle-throwing riot at Comiskey Park with comments about "unfair calls." Totten responded, on air, with a lengthy defense of his remarks and Landis couldn't ban him -- because the teams controlled local broadcast rights and not his office. But Landis had Totten's broadcasts recorded, in full, for nearly a week after the bottle incident to get anything he could use to pressure the teams to fire him. Other announcers knew about this, and learned to step very very carefully and never, ever criticize umpires.

The real mistake the Yankees and Giants made in ceding radio dominance to Brooklyn was that it gave the Dodgers an overwhelming edge in the allegience of female fans. Women were the largest bloc of daytime radio listeners, and millions of women in greater New York became, not just baseball fans, but *Dodger* fans from listening to Red Barber every afternoon. For as long as the team remained in Brooklyn, it had the largest number of female followers of any team, in any sport, in the city.

I love the female angle on radio and Dodger fans. Funny how things like that work.

My grandmother was in her 70s when Joe Namath had his New York moment with the Jets and this woman, who had only expressed a passing interest in football until then, became a regular Jets fan. My dad would kid her about it and she'd deny it, but every Sunday during the season, Grandma had the Jets game on. Life can be very funny.