The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Adolf Hitler today demanded an armistice with Britain and France -- on his terms. Speaking before the Reichstag in Berlin, in an address carried by worldwide radio, the German Chancellor demanded as a condition of the armistice the return of former German colonies and offered in return "absolute security, disarmament and friendship" between Germany and Great Britain," the establishment of a "Polish state" under "German-Russian control," and the "solution of the Jewish problem in Europe." Should his proposal be refused, Hitler promised that "neither force of arms nor time shall conquer Germany." He added that the line between the interests of Germany and Russia is clearly drawn, and that there need be no fear of hostilities between the two states.

The response from London and Paris to Hitler's demand was hostile, with the British Ministry of Information declaring that "no peace proposals are likely to be found acceptable which do not effectively free Europe from aggression." In France, Premier Daladier, in a two-hour speech to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French Senate, declared that France and England will fight total war, if necessary, to prevent German hegemony in Europe.

From Moscow comes word that the Soviet Union will sign a ten-year non-aggression pact with Lithuania, following yesterday's conclusion of terms with Latvia.

The U. S. Maritime Commission has acknowledged receiving a warning from Grand Admiral Erich Raeder of Germany claiming that the liner USS Iroquois would be sunk as it nears American waters. President Roosevelt today dispatched a Navy and Coast Guard convoy to escort the ship to safety. The Iroquois carries 792 persons. Raeder's warning implied that the Iroquois would face a fate similar to that of the British liner Athenia, sunk last month at the start of the European War, a sinking blamed by the British on German submarines, but by the Germans on British agents under orders from Winston Churchill.

The US Line, operators of the Iroquois, dismiss the statement by Raeder as "war propaganda."

Testimony proceeds slowly in Albany in the corruption investigation of Kings County Judge George W. Martin, and the slow pace of questioning will likely carry the hearings well into November. Witnesses today continued to testify concerning Martin's use of his judicial office to recruit investors for failing companies with which he was associated, including a motion picture production firm and an amusement park.

A $2000 extortion-kidnapping plot targeting the four-month-old son of a Belmont Park jockey started out as "a gag," according to 20-year-old Carlo Zarcone of 16th Street, who was arrested by police when he appeared for a scheduled meeting with jockey Don Reade to discuss terms. Zarcone told police that he only decided to actually go forward with the plan when he realized "there was money in it." Zarcone is being held on $2500 bail pending a further hearing on October 9th. Police are seeking a second man said to be in on the plot.

U. S. Attorney John T. Cahill will go after the New York City electrical racket in a wide ranging investigation of contractors, manufacturers' associations, and labor groups. The campaign is part of a nationwide probe of anti-trust violations in the building industry.

Learn to play the drums the Gene Krupa way with Wurlitzer! Same terms as the Bunny Berigan deal. I'm waiting for the Artie Shaw clarinet proposition, myself.

Democrats and Republicans will share an address at 44 Court Street, with the campaign to elect Democrat William O'Dwyer and the entire Republican organization setting up their Brooklyn headquarters for the coming election in the same building.

A 45-year-old watchmaker reported to be head of Brooklyn operations for the German-American Bund is in custody today on a charge that he violated bail terms. Ernest Muller of 58-18 Myrtle Avenue was being held as a material witness in the grand larceny case against Bund leader Fritz Kuhn.

Rose growers from New England, the Deep South, and the Midwest are here today for the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Rose Society. Conventioneers toured the Botanic Garden, where they admired Brooklyn roses.

Helen Worth tells a young woman who complains about being stout that the lack of physical attraction can be overcome by improving qualities of mind and manner.

Everything from bedroom goods to typewriters to photographic equipment is on sale this week at Sears. Your choice of a 10 piece solid maple bedroom set or a London Club living room set just $48.88 -- $5 down and $5 a month plus carrying charges. And there's a free bus direct to the store from the BMT Church Ave. station!

Not to be outdone, Loeser's has its own furniture deal going on this week -- 1 sofa and two chairs, $198 complete. And no free bus from the subway.

From Hollywood comes word that Jane Wyman is "that way" about "Ronnie Regan."

Mitchell Ayers and his Fashions In Music are broadcasting each night from the Bermuda Terrace of the Hotel St. George.

Ron Perry and his Music play for dining and dancing at the Gay Rendezvous at the Hotel Bossert.

Oysters and Scallops at their best at Gage & Tollners, 374 Fulton St.

Or, for best food at popular prices, it's Joe's, near Borough Hall.

The Sunrise Drive-In Theatre will close for the season following a three-night engagement of "Show Boat." The theatrre will reopen next spring.

World War deserter Grover C. Bergdoll was found guilty of desertion in time of war and escape from the Army, but was acquited of the charge of conspiracy to desert by a court martial on Governor's Island. WIth time off for good behavior, Bergdoll may be out of prison in 1944.

Come in and see the breakfast-in-bed ensembles at Abraham & Straus!

Jane Corby profiles the trained nurses who preside over the premature babies on exhibit at the Dr. Couney's Hospital attraction at the World's Fair. During the summer 42 "preemies" have passed thru the exhibit's incubators.

Philip Caruso, Brooklyn youth who spent nine months in Sing Sing Prison for a crime he didn't commit, is looking for a job. Can you help?

Toast tricks are the decorative touch your luncheon may need!

The World Series is on its way to Cincinnati, but Tommy Holmes says nobody believes the change in scenery will do the Reds any good. Oral Hildebrand will pitch tomorrow at Crosley Field for the Yankees, versus Junior Thompson for the Reds.

When Lou Gehrig slowly made his way to home plate with the lineup card during yesterday's World Series game at Yankee Stadium, New York fans may have seen the one-time Iron Horse in uniform for the final time. Gehrig hasn't played since May due to illness, and his contract expires with the end of the season.

The Long Island University Blackbirds look for a fresh start at Ebbets Field tonight against the Providence College Friars. L. I. U. is 0-2 so far in the college football season.

Experienced chocolate hand dippers and strokers are needed by the Quaker Maid Company. Apply at 52 E. 39th Street.

"Such a terrific din downstairs! And Mr. Bungle's cow-like voice raised higher than it has been in weeks!" The tenants listen in as Mr. Bungle lays down the law -- he's not their landlord anymore, and unless they want a piece of what Benny just got, they'll leave him alone.

Mr. Stockpool thinks Leona needs a firmer hand than her mother uses, and she's let all her publicity go to her head. He thinks Mary is just the one to take care of Leona while Mr. and Mrs. Stockpool go abroad -- and Mary's willing, as long as she has *complete authority.* Where's that oak paddle?

Irwin has beaten Kill Crazy Gunman to an unrecognizable pulp, and Kay faints at the violence of it all, just as Dan Dunn arrives to catch her. Watch the bum take all the credit when she wakes up.

 

[Fading Fast]

...The U. S. Maritime Commission has acknowledged receiving a warning from Grand Admiral Erich Raeder of Germany claiming that the liner USS Iroquois would be sunk as it nears American waters. President Roosevelt today dispatched a Navy and Coast Guard convoy to escort the ship to safety. The Iroquois carries 792 persons. Raeder's warning implied that the Iroquois would face a fate similar to that of the British liner Athenia, sunk last month at the start of the European War, a sinking blamed by the British on German submarines, but by the Germans on British agents under orders from Winston Churchill...

Aggressive for not being at war with the US yet - no?

...Oysters and Scallops at their best at Gage & Tollners, 374 Fulton St.....

I ate at G&T a few years before it closed. A step back in time - way back. I've read a few articles recently that it might reopen.

Yup, that's a gas light he's lighting.

...When Lou Gehrig slowly made his way to home plate with the lineup card during yesterday's World Series game at Yankee Stadium, New York fans may have seen the one-time Iron Horse in uniform for the final time. Gehrig hasn't played since May due to illness, and his contract expires with the end of the season....

All these years and, obviously, before our time, but still sad to read about it.

...A 45-year-old watchmaker reported to be head of Brooklyn operations for the German-American Bund is in custody today on a charge that he violated bail terms. Ernest Muller of 58-18 Myrtle Avenue was being held as a material witness in the grand larceny case against Bund leader Fritz Kuhn...

Of course he'd be 125 years old, but had he survived, he'd have no problem finding employment as the few remaining skilled watchmakers in NYC today are in high demand.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the Raeder thing was meant more to sow distrust between the US and Britain than to directly rattle torpedoes at the US -- the whole thing with the Athenia had been a major story in early September, and there were those in the US -- especially in the Coughlinite crowd -- who were willing to believe that it was actually what the conspiracy-hawkers today call a "false flag" operation. Still, it was nervy.

I always wanted to see Gage & Tollner's just for the utter time capsule aspect of the place -- I probably would have had a hard time affording to eat there, but I liked the fact that such a place continued to exist in spite of all odds, without any kind of twee foodie format or celebrity-chef cachet. I hope they do reopen, maybe I'll finally get a chance. They say the steaks were spectacular.

Think of how hard it must've been for Gehrig to spend the entire season sitting on the bench, in uniform, knowing he was never going to play again, and going out with the lineup cards every day trying to make it all seem normal. The 1939 season doesn't get talked about much when recounting his life story, but sticking with the team all the way must've been the most difficult thing he ever did. It really is heartbreaking.

I also love that there was a Yankee pitcher named "Oral Hildebrand." Somewhere out on Long Island there must be an orthodontist named "Spike Brickson."

 

[Fading Fast]

G&T was - consistent with your description - not inexpensive but not NYC stupid expensive. We went back in the early '00s and it was half the price of a NYC steakhouse. My fear, though, is that if it reopened, it would have some sort of "food-revival" angle where it's basically a new restaurant with "updated" "interpretations" of some of the old G&T dishes. Of course, they'd all be at crazy expensive prices. Back when we went, it was still - basically - a local restaurant that didn't attract the Manhattan crowd, which is why it was priced accordingly. And, yes, a great step back in time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lefty Gomez will take the mound for the Yankees at Cincinnati's Crosley Field today against 21-year-old Junior Thompson of the Reds as the 1939 World Series moves into its third game with the Yankees two up on the embattled Rhinelanders. Gomez is still feeling the pinch of a muscle tear in his right side, an injury sustained late in the regular season, and will be wearing a polo belt under his uniform to keep from making the injury worse.
Gomez hasn't pitched since September 24th, and the injury leaves him especially vulnerable to balls hit back to the mound.

Twenty years after their last Series appearance, the people of Cincinnati have gone mad, mobbing the players in the street and bedecking the city with elaborate displays. More than 34,000 are expected to jam into the ballpark today to see the action.

Meanwhile, Big Time College Football makes the front page too -- with excitement building for the Fordham-Alabama game this afternoon up at the Polo Grounds.

Back to war news. The US Army is taking matters seriously in Europe, ordering an expansion of its fighting capacity to the full peace-time limit of 280,000 men, and ordering the creation and training of seven new "streamlined" divisions over the coming winter.

In Europe, Premier Mussolini is standing by for further word on the intentions of Britain and France concering the armistice proposal put forward this week by Adolf Hitler. The Duce is said to be willing to throw his full support to such a plan -- if Britain and France are also willing to do so. London and Paris are said to be in conference over the proposal.

President Roosevelt continues to remain aloof from development in Europe, with well-informed sources stating that the President will not act as mediator unless he is specifically requested to do so by Britain and France.

Evidence of a sabotage plot on board the US battleship Arizona has led to cancelled leaves for all crew members, but the Navy Department is refusing further comment on the situation.

The Soviet Union has requested a diplomatic conference with a Finnish delegation, but the Finns have not yet responded to the invitation.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Charles H. Brietbart, a Democrat from Flatbush, has resigned his seat in the Legislature in order to run for his party's nomination as judge in the 6th Judicial District. Brietbart has given up his seat in order to allow party leaders to nominate his replacement in time for the election on November 7th.

Indian Summer weather has finally arrived, with the cold, soaking rain of last week fully giving way to mild, sunny conditions. Temperatures today are expected to hit the upper 70s.

The conflict between rival factions in the American Labor Party over condemnation of Communists in the organization has created a likely rupture between the state party leadership and the Manhattan organization. The Manhattan faction, which opposes the condemnation, has nominated Congressman Vito Marcantonio as the county party chairman, although Marcantonio himself was not present for the meeting. He has reportedly declined the nomination, but has made no public statement.

In Reno, Nevada three WPA employees have died following a meal of pork, sauerkraut, and wine. Authorities are investigating the food.

A high school principal from Flemington, New Jersey faces board action after he was set upon by a group of high school girls who stripped him of his coat, shirt, and tie, forced him to his knees, and covered him with lipstick. Supervising Principal Edward Van Keuren is accused of incompetence and conduct unbecoming a principal. The incident occured while Van Keuren was chaperoning a busload of girls from Flemington to Washington DC. School board members state that the incident lowered the prestige of the school.

Honey the baby, with two teeth and hair tied into a topknot with a little bow, thrives on Renken's Milk, serving Brooklyn and Long Island for over half a century. Call MAin 2-6740 to arrange home delivery.

Modern Homemaker matches Dress to Kitchen Curtains! Sure, if the curtains are stained with gravy spots.

An exhibit at the Duryea Presbyterian Church was inspired by the pastor's visit to the Soviet Pavillion at the World's Fair. Dr. William O. Clark-Duff tells the Eagle he admired the clear and concise way in which the Pavillion stated its case without words, and is trying to accomplish the same thing with his own exhibit laying out the Presbyterian case.

The former chief usher at the Roxy Theatre will inherit $500,000 from the estate of the late Mrs. Edna Morss Ellin Elliot, who died in September 1938. William J. Reilly will receive the bequest in honor of "kindly and courteous acts" shown Mrs. Elliot at the theatre over the years.

Christian Science has a major following in Brooklyn, it seems -- every week the Saturday edition of the Eagle features a full-page Christian Science lecture. This week offers a lengthy discussion of the life and work of founder Mary Baker Eddy.

Rev. Adam Clayton Powell and A. Philip Randolph will be among the speakers today at the World's Fair in observance of Bethune-Cookman College Day.

Preliminary tabulations of statistics show Cardinal slugger Johnny Mize will be the National League batting champion for 1939, with an average of .349.

The Dodgers are holding a series of tryout camps across the South and Midwest this month, with boys aged 16 to 20 invited to show a panel of Brooklyn coaches and scouts what they can do. Dodger president Larry MacPhail says the camps will help build a strong team well into the future. MacPhail and manager Leo Durocher are expected to visit the camps in person.

The Long Island University Blackbirds edged out the Providence Friars 7-0 last night at Ebbets Field, establishing themselves as Brooklyn's latest "team of destiny."

The aggregated wealth of the United States now stands at 322 billion dollars -- equal to that of the pre-Depression year 1927.

Lou Gehrig might be going into radio. The former Yankee, sidelined by illness, is said to have prepared a children's serial called "Our Coach," for which Gehrig will both write the script and act the title role.

"Fifth Avenue Girl" with Ginger Rogers opens today at the Patio, along with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." That's movies enough for me tonight, but if you want to go downtown you can see Robert Taylor and Hedy Lamaar in "Lady of the Tropics," and Edward G. Robinson in "Blackmail" at Loew's Metropolitan. Yeah, that might be a swell movie palace and all, but the Patio has live goldfish in the lobby. Top that.

Josephine Bungle couldn't be happier to be out of the landlord business. "No more knuckling under to these snippy women who pass me in the hall with their noses in the air," she exults. "How these lowbrows walked on us! Banging our doorbell when they thought we were asleep! I'll never forgive what these women did to me! Never!" George, not punching anybody today, is more philosophical, noting that not once did either of them talk about jumping out a window.

Mary is in all her glory today, snapping Leona into place by demanding to be called "Mrs. Worth" instead of "Say, you." But Leona snaps right back, warning Mary that a dozen other women have failed at her new job.

Dan and Irwin have Kay and Babs in the car, along with the glowering old lady last seen tied to a lie detector and the pulpy remnants of the Kill-Crazy Gunman. Irwin is gloating that he and Dan have solved the case where the regular cops failed, but something in the old lady's gaze tells me the hubris might be premature. And where's the face- eating dog? Does he just roam the city at will, waiting to pounce? Ah, the funnies, always full of wholesome laughs.

 

[Fading Fast]

...A high school principal from Flemington, New Jersey faces board action after he was set upon by a group of high school girls who stripped him of his coat, shirt, and tie, forced him to his knees, and covered him with lipstick. Supervising Principal Edward Van Keuren is accused of incompetence and conduct unbecoming a principal. The incident occured while Van Keuren was chaperoning a busload of girls from Flemington to Washington DC. School board members state that the incident lowered the prestige of the school...

What the heck?

..."Fifth Avenue Girl" with Ginger Rogers opens today at the Patio, along with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." That's movies enough for me tonight, but if you want to go downtown you can see Robert Taylor and Hedy Lamaar in "Lady of the Tropics," and Edward G. Robinson in "Blackmail" at Loew's Metropolitan. Yeah, that might be a swell movie palace and all, but the Patio has live goldfish in the lobby. Top that....

Think I've seen all of these on TCM. 5th Avenue Girl and Blackmail are good movies

 

[LizzieMaine]

You can't make this stuff up. It was a gentler time...

 

[LizzieMaine]

In 1939 today is Sunday, and all 62 pages of the Sunday Eagle just thumped onto the front stoop. And we learn that....

The Yankees are now three games up on the increasingly hapless Reds with Charley "King Kong" Keller leading yesterday's attack with two homers, pacing a 7-3 New York victory at Crosley Field. 32,723 fans sat in stunned silence as the superiority of the American League champions became ever more pronounced. All the Yankee runs came from homers, with Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey adding their own circuit clouts to Keller's two.

Yankee pitching continues to baffle the Reds -- the Cincinnatians have 16 hits over the three games played so far, all of them singles.

Today, Oral Hildebrand goes against Paul Derringer as the Yankees look to make it a sweep. Radio coverage over WOR and the Mutual network begins at 1:15 pm.

In Washington, the Senate is calling on President Roosevelt to take up the challenge of mediating the European War, based on Adolf Hitler's recent suggestion that he might be open to such mediation, but the President himself remains silent. Although there appears to be support from both sides of the neutrality debate for a Presidential role in settling differences between Germany, Britain, and France, Secretary of State Cordell Hull continues to decline comment. Meanwhile, high German circles are reported to be optimistic about a role for the President in negotiating an armistice.

The FBI has drawn a curtain of silence over reports of a sabotage plot on board the US battleship Arizona. Bureau chief J. Edgar Hoover will only state that an investigation has been ordered, adding that the FBI is also keeping a close watch on the matter of the US passenger liner Iroquois, target of an implied threat by the German admiralty earlier this week.

President Roosevelt has confirmed that a submarine was sighted this week 15 miles off the coast of Miami, Florida, but he has declined to reveal the nationality of the vessel.

After eight days in the Tombs, German-American Bund leader Fritz Kuhn is free on bail as he awaits trial on forgery and third-degree grand larceny charges. Kuhn's $50,000 bail was paid yesterday in small denomination bills requiring 45 minutes to count out. Upon release, Kuhn and two Bund associates departed in a car with New Jersey license plates.

The mild, sunny weather yesterday helped set a new Saturday attendance record for the World's Fair. As of 7pm, 291,630 paying visitors clicked thru the turnstiles.

A Queens woman is dead after a 14-story plunge from a Manhattan hotel. 25-year-old Eleanore Eisendel of 104-15 Lefferts Boulevard fell or jumped from a window at the Chesterfield Hotel on West 49th Street about half an hour after she registered. Her mother told police that she had experienced a nervous breakdown about four weeks ago, but had since obtained a job and had gone to work.

Alabama upset Fordham 7-6 in college football action yesterday at the Polo Grounds.

Save more than you pay when you buy a new Stearns & Foster mattress at Abraham & Straus -- just $17.95, marked down from $37.50.

A fund in memory of Paddy Reilly, canine mascot of the Brooklyn Humane Society, has been established by his many friends. Paddy was well known to Fulton Street shoppers, as the friendly little terrier stood watch over a donation basket in front of Gallatin Place. Paddy became ill after an appearance September 6th at the World's Fair, and died of kidney poisoning about three weeks ago at the age of 12 1/2.

An appropriation of $20,000 to study replacement of the Raymond Street Jail goes before the City Capital Planning Commission next week. City leaders have for years been denouncing the obsolete, overcrowded present structure, but this marks the first actual appropriation toward the construction of a modern substitute.

Prostate sufferers! It costs you nothing to try Vibratherm -- combining heat, vibration, and nfra-red rays. Write for literature and 30-day trial offer: Vitaphore, Inc. 1472 Broadway, N. Y. C., or phone SO 8-1473

The car to see with the other three -- Hudson Six! New lower prices starting at $670.

The Queensboro Girl Scout Council hopes sell 100,000 pounds of cookies in its fifth annual Cookie Drive. 5,800 Queens girls and their adult leaders will take part on the sales campaign.

Autumn Opulence is on display at Loeser's. A copy of Molyneaux's "Bird Toque" in mink-brown suede finished felt, with a sweep of shining feathers and an open-meshed veil, at $25.

Hunter College has opened its sororities to freshmen, making 300 Brooklyn and Queens girls eligible for "rushing" this semester.

Jack Benny returns to the air tonight for the fall season at 7pm over WEAF. With Kenny Baker having joined the Texaco hour, Benny welcomes a new tenor, 23-year old Dennis Day. Mary Livingstone, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Andy Devine, Phil Harris and his Orchestra, and Don Wilson continue with the program.

At 7:30pm over WABC, the Gulf Screen Guild Theatre offers a variety revue starring Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, Marlene Dietrich, and Connie Boswell.

Babe Ruth is Bill Stern's guest on WJZ at 9:45pm.

Former Eagle Boy Ben Greenough is back home after 53 years. After leaving Brooklyn --where he sold the Eagle on downtown sidewalks as a kid -- to seek his fortune out West, Ben returns as a star of the rodeo now playing at Madison Square Garden. Ben, who grew up at 1077 Herkimer Street, is now "Pack Saddle Ben," with four grown children who are also rodeo stars.

The Independent Order of Brith Abraham has declared next week "America Rediscovery Week," to draw attention of the need to guarantee civil rights for all as guaranteed by the Constitution.

D. A. writes to Helen Worth, seeking women aged between 35 and 55 for membership in her bowling club, which meets every Monday afternoon. Write to Helen for full particulars.

The New Oldsmobile Hydra-Matic Drive thinks without a clutch.

The feature article in this week's "Trend" section focuses on handsome Senator Key Pittman of Nevada, lead-off man in the neutrality debate and the State Department's chief putter-upper in the Senate. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth in 1872, Pittman nearly started a Grade A diplomatic crisis in 1937 when he announced that Japan's ultimate objective was the conquest of the world. The current Neutrality Act was originally piloted thru the Senate by Pittman himself. The world has changed since then, and Pittman's views have changed with it.

Elsewhere in "Trend," we find that in Tibet, He Is Chosen -- "he" being a small boy from the province of Kekonor who has arrived in Lhasa, guarded by an armed caravan, to assume the role of the new Dalai Lama.

The Army is considering replacing olive drab as its standard uniform color with a shade of slate blue. Obstacle to the transition is $23,000,000 worth of olive-drab cloth still in stock.

Hedy Lamarr is at odds with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The European star upon whom glamour hangs like a transparent negligee has notified her bosses that she considers her contract broken, having not received her stipulated $575 a week pay since July.

John Steinbeck's "The Grapes Of Wrath" tops the best-seller list this week.

The motion picture slate for the upcoming fall and winter season promises 30 big-budget features in spite of the war crisis. Such films as Columbia's "Mr Smith Goes To Washington" and "His Girl Friday," MGM's "Ninotchka," "At The Circus," and "Balalaika," Paramount's "What A Life!," RKO's remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Fox's "Hollywood Cavalcade," a W. C. Fields/Mae West colossus from Universal, and Warner Bros. "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" will all be coming out within the next 90 days.

In high school football, Manual Training drubbed New Utrecht 18-0 at Ebbets Field.

Joe DiMaggio is the official American League batting champion for 1939 with a .381 average.

The Cleveland Indians may be the team to beat next summer in the AL. Manager Oscar Vitt predicts fireballing Bob Feller will win 30 games.

Brooklyn Heights is Greater New York's finest residential neighborhood! Just a few steps from Borough Hall, 3 minutes from Wall Street, 15 minutes to Times Square, moderate rentals!

On the Old Timers' page, William Carver remembers seeing Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show in person at Ambrose Park, and Admiral Dewey's parade after his victory at Manila Bay.

And finally, the Sunday Funnies. Here's Red Ryder, free of wedding obligations, trying to settle down to "cow business" while not knowing that Ace Hanlon is alive and plotting against him. Red and Little Beaver try to make ice cream, but Hanlon's men set his horse loose. What could they be up to?

Big Chief Wahoo and The Great Gusto are running a pet store -- but the pets are getting the better of Gusto. Zounds!

Jane Arden, Girl Reporter knows that someone is listening in outside her cabin. Her friend Jim reels the eavesdropper in -- and it appears that skulduggery is afoot.

Dan Dunn proves that the kidnappers and the jewel thieves are the same people -- and Irwin doesn't get another chance to mess up Kill Crazy Gunman before the prisoners are locked up. Disappointing. But a new case beckons -- a little farmhouse near the river may contain MURDER.

George Bungle takes a nap on a rainy afternoon, and dreams of climbing an Alpine peak -- and falling to his doom. He is attacked by a bee, who wakes him up, and causes him to go crashing around the house with a flyswatter, which causes a picture to fall off the wall, knocking him unconscious. George leads a very hard life.

And Aunt Jean's Happy Timers Junior Eagle club tells us that Isidore Bellman and Elliot Sadoff have started an amateur comic magazine. They invite fellow Junior Eagles to send in drawings. (It worked out pretty well for young Izzy.) And Anna Gallo is organizing a new Girl Scout troop, and would prefer that only Junior Eagles apply. Now is that nice?

 

[Fading Fast]

...Elsewhere in "Trend," we find that in Tibet, He Is Chosen -- "he" being a small boy from the province of Kekonor who has arrived in Lhasa, guarded by an armed caravan, to assume the role of the new Dalai Lama....

Amazing that he is the present Dalai Lama. What a connection across generations.

...Hedy Lamarr is at odds with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The European star upon whom glamour hangs like a transparent negligee has notified her bosses that she considers her contract broken, having not received her stipulated $575 a week pay since July...

Seems like almost every big star had a similar battle. Anyway, wasn't she too busy inventing radio frequency hopping so that we could win the war to have time to act anyway?

...The motion picture slate for the upcoming fall and winter season promises 30 big-budget features in spite of the war crisis. Such films as Columbia's "Mr Smith Goes To Washington" and "His Girl Friday," MGM's "Ninotchka," "At The Circus," and "Balalaika," Paramount's "What A Life!," RKO's remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Fox's "Hollywood Cavalcade," a W. C. Fields/Mae West colossus from Universal, and Warner Bros. "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" will all be coming out within the next 90 days....

An impressive list. I'd argue that "His Gal Friday" might be the best and most sophisticated (especially considering the challenges of working under the code) of all of them. Tarantino has nothing on "His Gal Friday" when it comes to speed dialogue.

...Brooklyn Heights is Greater New York's finest residential neighborhood! Just a few steps from Borough Hall, 3 minutes from Wall Street, 15 minutes to Times Square, moderate rentals!...

The secret is out as Brooklyn Heights is now more expensive than many parts of Manhattan. If you do get to NYC and like to walk around old neighborhoods - it is a gem (with some great old-time restaurants to try if you do get there).

...Prostate sufferers! It costs you nothing to try Vibratherm -- combining heat, vibration, and nfra-red rays. Write for literature and 30-day trial offer: Vitaphore, Inc. 1472 Broadway, N. Y. C., or phone SO 8-1473...

Uh-huh.

...The Queensboro Girl Scout Council hopes sell 100,000 pounds of cookies in its fifth annual Cookie Drive. 5,800 Queens girls and their adult leaders will take part on the sales campaign....

Even money, despite it being the Depression and my father and grandmother barely scraping by, I'd bet they bought a few boxes as it combined two things they did regularly throughout their lives - contribute to local charities and eat cookies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Turn your head and cough.

 

[tonyb]

View attachment 188349

Turn your head and cough.

Thirty-day trial offer!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I bet the literature sells for a premium on the collectors' market.

 

[tonyb]

I bet the literature sells for a premium on the collectors' market.

My only objection is that for those few persons who procured these things to treat actual medical conditions did so in lieu of seeking honest-to-goodness medical advice and treatments. Meanwhile, their prostate cancers (or whatever) progressed unaddressed.

But, it *was* 1939, and the seller couldn’t very well advertise it as what it actually is. And the Eagle wouldn’t have run the ad if he had.

It’s a bit reminiscent of the hardcore porn mags from a few decades back with text (between the explicit photos) lifted from medical and social science journals, so as to put a sort of “socially redeeming” veneer on the exercise in the hopes it wouldn’t be found unprotected expression by the courts.

A person's BS detector would have to be in the shop for him to take those efforts seriously, but ...

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Sears catalog in the thirties always had a wide selection of vibrators, sold, of course, for "muscle relaxation." Yeah, that does the trick.

 

[3fingers]

The Sears catalog in the thirties always had a wide selection of vibrators, sold, of course, for "muscle relaxation." Yeah, that does the trick.

I have read that those particular tools were invented by doctors who were tired of manually treating their female patients who were afflicted with "hysteria" and similar ailments. Just a day or two of home treatment brought relief to both patient and doctor.

 

[EngProf]

I bought one of those old "muscle relaxation" devices at a flea market as a curiosity from the past. It was amazing to think that people in those days would plug it into 110v(!) and then "go to town".
The idea of that much voltage near delicate areas is scary just to think about.

 

[tonyb]

An old friend of mine had an especially heavy-duty one she called “Thor.”

I suspect that the item appearing in the 1939 ad found its way into the, um, hands of more men than women, seeing how it was marketed to “prostate sufferers.” Some fellows with few if any prostate complaints undoubtedly used the device prophylactically. Can’t be too proactive when it, um, comes to prostate health, you know.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The famous goat-gland quack Dr. John R. Brinkley by 1939 had moved on to crusading against the debilitating effects of "prostate massage," and blanketed much of the Western Hemisphere with 500-kilowatt broadcasts warning that those who practiced such an act would soon end up "laid out on the cold marble slab." Whatever floats your boat....

 

[tonyb]

What you wanna bet the good Dr. Brinkley was a closet Vibratherm user?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Soviet Union today urged Britain and France to avoid a "criminally silly" extension of the war in Europe, and to consider Germany's proposal for peace talks. An editorial in the official newspaper Isvestia warned that such a war could send Europe back to the middle ages, and cited with approval recent remarks by George Bernard Shaw that with Poland now defunct, the reason for the fighting is gone. The editorial further charges that Britain and France have as their real purpose in the war the preservation of their colonial empires.

Meanwhile, a Finnish envoy is on his way to Moscow, even as Finland mobilizes forces along the Soviet border. The regular Finnish army of 40,000 men is to be augmented by reservists and territorial forces totalling an additional 200,000 troops.

Premier Daladier of France will reply to Adolf Hitler's call for armistice talks in a speech to be broadcast to the French people tomorrow.

Prime Minsiter Neville Chamberlain told the House of Commons today that Britain and France remain in complete accord as to their purposes in the war: to crush Hitlerism, and to free Europe from the menace of aggression. The restoration of Poland and Czechoslovakia was also mentioned.

In Washington, a call to recess the Senate and encourage President Roosevelt to serve as mediator in talks between Germany, Britain, and France failed today under opposition from Senate leadership. Secretary of State Cordell Hull stated today that there has, as yet, been no formal request for the President's participation in such discussions.

French and German troops along the Moselle River interrupted their fighting yesterday to cheer on a football game being played in the village of Remich, Luxembourg. A Sunday truce has become customary between the sides.

The development of a $10,000,000 low-rental housing project in the "Negro neighborhood" of Bedford-Stuyvesant is expected to go forward despite political infighting between the New York City Housing Authority and the United States Housing Authority. NYCHA chairman Alfred Rheinstein resigned in a dispute with USHA administrator Nathan Straus Jr. over an article by Rheinstein appearing in the current issue of Harper's Magazine, in which Rheinstein criticizes Straus and the USHA. Mayor LaGuardia, in accepting Rheinstein's resignation, apologized to Straus on behalf of the city government. Straus dismisses Rheinstein's claim that the project is being held up due to Straus' annoyance with the article as "bunk," and "without obvious foundation," since there is more USHA working going on in New York City than in any other city in the country.

Jewelry valued at $3250 was stolen from the Edward D. Morgan estate in Wheatley Hills by a burglar who gained entry to the house by climbing a wisteria vine. The jewels belonged to 22 year old Miss Suzanne Jay, a niece of the Morgans, who is to be married in a few weeks. Miss Priscilla Potts, friend of Miss Jay, surprised the burglar in the act of stealing the jewelry from Miss Jay's dressing table, and he fled successfully with his loot. He is described as about fifty years old, short and stocky, with grey hair. Items stolen include two rings and a pair of diamond clips.

Theives also struck a residence on Euclid Avenue, where a 24-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy are charged with stealing prize canaries from breeder John Byer. Byer, a real-estate broker whose hobby involves trying to breed black canaries, lost eighteen of his twenty birds in the robbery, but the stolen canaries have been recovered from a pet shop, which purchased the entire lot from the theives for $15. John Murray of 532 Central Avenue is being held on a robbery charge on $2000 bail in connection with the case.

The standard non-overtime work week will be cut from 44 to 42 hours under provisions of the Federal Wage-Hour Law effective the week of October 23rd. At the same time the federal minimum wage will rise from 25 cents an hour to 30 cents an hour.

Three Brighton mashers received suspended sentences today -- on the condition that they form a vigiante committee to prevent mashing. The three were accused of accosting and molesting a young woman, but Magistrate Solomon offered to suspend their sentences if they would patrol the streets and intervene when they saw other mashers at work.

It was a busy day for Magistrate Solomon. In passing judgement on a pickpocket, the Magistrate -- who has been the victim of a dip himself -- declared that in his opinion, such persons deserved a firing squad. But having no such at his command, Solomon gave 29 year old William Sullivan of 1 Kister Court 80 days in jail instead.

A Wisconsin man told the Dies Committee today that two national board secretaries of the YWCA are members of the Young Communist League. Kenneth Goff, who declared his resignation from the Communist Party and the YCL during his testimony before the panel, identified the two as Rose Torlano and Rose Terlin of New York.

Fred Astaire has the right combination of great acting and dancing to give you more pleasure. Chesterfield has the right combination of fine tobaccos for your smoking pleasure!

A former inmate of the Central Islip State Hospital has been living the life of a "Beau Brummel Hermit" for three years in the Staten Island woods. Police are investigating the activities of 34-year-old Frederick Nolte, who lived in a pup tent equipped with all the most modern conveniences and kept a fine wardrobe concealed about his campsite in buried galvanized cans. Police believe Nolte acquired most of his goods by theft, and note that he filled several of his own teeth and pulled two of them using supplies apparently stolen from a dentist's office. At the moment of his arrest, Nolte, dressed in a fine suit, white shirt, and white shoes, was listening to the World Series on a portable radio.

Less Work For Mother! Enjoy many of the same fine foods served at the Automats at home when you shop at the new Horn and Hardart Retail Store at 551 Fulton Street, opposite Loeser's Department Store. Your choice of any pie, 31 cents each. Chicken pie 37 cents. Chicken croquettes 3 for 32 cents. Gilt Edge Coffee 27 cents/lb.

Loew's Premiere Theatre begins its new vaudeville policy tomorrow with a bill headlined by former screen star Estelle Taylor, tap-dance trio Tip Tap and Toe, and of movie fame The Three Stooges. A new stage show opens every Tuesday night along with the regular two-feature film program.

Feltman's of Coney Island -- famous for fine food for 66 years 66. Complete dinners $1.10 and up.

With the Yankees wrapping up the World Series in four straight over the Reds, winning the closer yesterday 7 to 4, the question of Yankee dominance and its impact on the greater game is rising to the forefront. Tommy Holmes thinks it's bound to have an impact at the gate for other clubs, and he raises the troubling question of how the Yanks can be controlled over the next four or five years.

Charlie "King Kong" Keller was the standout star of this year's Series, a "miniature Babe Ruth," batting .438 over the four games, with three home runs, a double, and a triple. The swarthy 22-year-old outfielder from Maryland just completed his first major-league season after two years at Newark.

The football Dodgers are reeling from a 41-13 pounding at the hands of the Washington Redskins. Coach Potsy Clark wonders exactly how many first-string players he has on his roster after the defeat.

The Brooklyn Eagles had a bad Sunday as well, taking a 30-0 pounding from the Little Giants of Jersey City at Erasmus Field. The Eagles are said to be considering a trade with the football Pirates of the NFL for two backs and two linemen.

The major league baseball season may be over, but fall baseball continues at Dexter Park, with the Bushwicks swept in a doubleheader by a team of touring Major League All Stars. The Major Leaguers pulled off a triple play in the second inning of the opening game. Fall ball remains a big draw in Brooklyn, with 12,000 turning out to watch the twinbill. Next Sunday, another doubleheader is on the slate with the Bushwicks facing a team of touring minor-league stars.

Bill Johnstone has replaced Orson Welles as radio's Shadow, heard Sundays at 5:30pm over WOR.

President Roosevelt will speak tonight to kick off the 1939 campaign of the Mobilization for Human Needs. The broadcast will be heard over WEAF, WJZ, WABC, WOR, WNEW, WQXR, and WHOM at 10:30 pm.

Things are back to normal for the Bungle Family, at least until Jo swears she saw a ghostly figure in the shape of a mouse dashing around the room. George thinks it's just the pigs' knuckles they had last night talking back, but Jo remains adamant that she saw it so plain in a shadowy way THERE IT GOES NOW RIGHT BEHIND YOU! LOOK!

Mary Worth, grandson Dennie, and hired man Bill Biff board the plane that will take them to their new duties as caretakers for Leona Stockpool. Leona stands saucily on the steps goading them on. Bill is skeptical about the whole thing, especially since Mary seems to be so blase about the farm, leaving it under the supervision of a couple of sketchy-looking neighbors.

Dan Dunn and Irwin head for the Ramshackle Farmhouse -- where The Madam "conducted a slaughterhouse" for her enemies. Hey kids, comics!