The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

The "policy" being referred to there is the *game* of Policy -- in other words, The Numbers. It would seem that Mrs. Legaspi was a runner working the Coney Island district, probably in the employ of one of the Boys From Brownsville. Encoding betting slips as Filipino song lyrics does deserve points for originality though.

I'm happy to report, incidentally, that the starry-eyed Miss Roslyn Lipps went on to enjoy a long career in show business as a publicity agent, working thru her own firm, "Lippservice." But she never did become the Next Judy Garland.

 

[Fading Fast]

The "policy" being referred to there is the *game* of Policy -- in other words, The Numbers. It would seem that Mrs. Legaspi was a runner working the Coney Island district, probably in the employ of one of the Boys From Brownsville. Encoding betting slips as Filipino song lyrics does deserve points for originality though.

I'm happy to report, incidentally, that the starry-eyed Miss Roslyn Lipps went on to enjoy a long career in show business as a publicity agent, working thru her own firm, "Lippservice." But she never did become the Next Judy Garland.

Cool about "the numbers" thing - I was way off assuming insurance. And, yes, kudos to them for creativity.

And maybe more play on words than pure creativity, but kudos also to Ms. Lipps.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Speaking of the Numbers, today's Daily News tells us....

See, Dan Dunn, THIS is how you do it.

Ah, Radio Japan. Most trusted news source in the Far East.

Stooge doesn't care, because he knows where he can get in on a ripe car-stripping racket in a town where all the cops are really stupid.

Yeah, thanks Mom. Thanks a lot.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Reports in the Scandanavian press say that Finnish troops have damaged the Leningrad-Murmansk Railroad line, potentially cutting off Soviet supply lines to the north-central and northern fronts. The reports, which are not confirmed, also claim that food shortages are already affecting Russian forces. Meanwhile, an official Finnish communique reports that Finnish troops wiped out two Russian companies in "fierce hand-to-hand fighting" on the frozen surface of Lake Suvanto.

Reports from Ankara, Turkey state that at least 42,000 persons were killed or injured in a catastrophic earthquake that rocked the Antolian territory yesterday. New quakes continued to shake the region, as a fierce blizzard compounded the miseries of hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the disaster. With temperatures approaching 22 degrees below zero, many thousands of refugees have already frozen to death in the fields.

US Attorney General Frank Murphy expects that a special grand jury convening in Washington on January 2nd will examine threats of sabotage on both the East and West Coasts. "While it is difficult to halt espionage," the Attorney General declared, "we can do something about sabotage."

The National Secretary of the German-American Bund faces perjury charges stemming from testimony he gave during the trial of Bund leader Fritz Kuhn. James Wheeler Hill was ordered held on $3500 bond after a three-count information was handed up today by a Manhattan grand jury. Trial is set for January 29th.

Two Manhattan-based detectives were demoted to patrolman today by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine as the result of a week-long investigation into an alleged attempt by the two to extort money from a physican under indictment in connection with the $427,950 Rubel armored-car holdup. Joseph W. Prenderville of Maspeth and William Clark of Winfield were both attached to the W. 68th Street station. The demotions follow a probe into charges made by Dr. Harry Gilbert of Manhattan that Prenderville and Clark tried to shake him down for $5000 in connection with the case of a young woman who had been brought to Roosevelt Hospital. Dr. Gilbert faces charges as an accessory after the fact after he treated one of the alleged holdup men in the Rubel case for injuries sustained during that crime.

A 34-year-old woman turned herself in to Classon Avenue police today and confessed to setting her apartment on fire after an argument with her husband. Mrs. Irene Mayer faces a charge of first-degree arson after starting a fire in the kitchen of her apartment in a four-story building at 249 Emerson Place. Mrs. Mayer told police she was trying to commit suicide after a fight with her husband Charles Mayer, Chief Radio Officer of the Navy vessel USS Spica, now tied up at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Mrs Mayer further stated that she changed her mind and fled the apartment when the flames became too hot to bear. Fourteen other tenants were routed from the building as firemen battled the blaze.

Police in Los Angeles are investigating the murder of a young woman, whose nude body was found in a vacant lot, with an artificial red rose crushed beneath it. The woman, believed to be about nineteen years of age, had been brutally stabbed to death and partially scalped.

The proposed repeal of the penny-per-ten cigarette tax stands as the most contentious issue facing the State Assembly when it convenes for its 1940 term.

New Year's Eve celebrants in Brooklyn will find the revelry a bit easier on the pocketbook this year, with the average price for a night on the town around $6 per person with all expenses figured in. Individual prices noted around the borough range from $2.50 to $20 per person.

A proposal in Cambridge, Massachusetts to ban from the community any literature containing the name "Lenin" or "Leningrad" has been withdrawn after drawing widespread ridicule. Mayor John W. Lyons now states that he will not sign the measure passed this week by the Cambridge City Council, since there is no provision for enforcement.

(Even in 1939, Brooklyn was full of hipster beardos selling dubious merchandise.)

EIGHT O'CLOCK COFFEE at your A&P Self Service Market -- 2 one-pound bags for 29 cents. FINE FRESH COFFEE of Glorious Flavor. AS ADVERTISED in LIFE!

A "Wizard of Oz" attraction might be in the offing for "Children's World" section of the 1940 World's Fair. A glittering Emerald City featuring the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow could come to the Amusement Zone, replacing several rides that didn't draw well in 1939.

The New York Film Critics Association has named "Wuthering Heights" the best English-language picture of 1939. The French production "Harvest" earned honors as the year's best foreign film.

Warner Brothers will end all production of "B" features in 1940, with a total of 48 "A" features on the studio's production schedule for the current season. Bryan Foy, formerly head of the Warner B unit will now serve as personal assistant to studio executive producer Hal B. Wallis.

A Brooklyn butcher has been sentenced to six months in the workhouse for giving short weight to customers. Paul Sperling, manager of a shop at 555 5th Avenue, drew the sentence after admitting to selling a city inspector seven pounds and one ounce of veal n place of seven and a half pounds. A display of eggs on the shop counter was deliberately arranged to conceal the misbalancing of the scale. Store clerk Henry Grimm was given a 60-day suspended sentence.

The Americans beat the Chicago Black Hawks last night at Madison Square Garden by a score of 6-4. By the win, the Amerks climb out of the National Hockey League cellar into a sixth-place tie with Detroit.

The reorganization of the New York Hockey League is seen as a move toward bringing big-time pro hockey to the Brooklyn Ice Palace. The use of the Palace by the NYHL is expected to prove the viability of the arena for the game, and could lead to a National Hockey League francise in the borough. (Hey, let's call them -- I dunno -- the "Dodgers!")

Twenty-five top flight bands playing from leading hotels and nightspots will fill the NBC schedule on New Year's Eve. CBS will present nineteen bands, while WOR-Mutual will offer nineteen as well. Both CBS and Mutual will broadcast live from Times Square at the moment 1939 passes into 1940.

Ahhh! AAAAAH! My New Years' Wish comes true! Peggy is the Bungles' grown-up daughter -- and J. Hartford Oakdale, the ineffable J. HARTFORD OAKDALE himself! is her off-again, on-again boyfriend, a clammy-handed, vaporous fop who, whenever he shows up, can always be counted upon to lead George into some helpless, hopeless get-rich-quick scheme that will end in his ruin. Only Jo sees Old Hartford for what he is, and her comments as the schemes unfold are always choice. Yeah, man. Bring it on.

Sue needs to stop listening to "Stella Dallas."

Y'know, Kay, maybe you don't realize this, but the problem in this relationship isn't Dan so much as it is -- you know -- Irwin. As long as he's around, Dan's just going to keep running off on these stupid cases. But, you know, all it would take is just a little bit of -- I dunno, cyanide in his mashed potatoes tonight. You know, Kay, silver polish is made from cyanide, and I think if you call Room Service they might send someone out to the drug store for some. All it would take is a little bit, a little tiny bit. I'll just leave you to think about that for a while, Kay. Wouldn't that be the best thing for Dan? In the long run, I mean. You get some rest now. Think it over.

 

[Fading Fast]

...The National Secretary of the German-American Bund faces perjury charges stemming from testimony he gave during the trial of Bund leader Fritz Kuhn. James Wheeler Hill was ordered held on $3500 bond after a three-count information was handed up today by a Manhattan grand jury. Trial is set for January 29th....

This one never ends.

...Two Manhattan-based detectives were demoted to patrolman today by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine as the result of a week-long investigation into an alleged attempt by the two to extort money from a physican under indictment in connection with the $427,950 Rubel armored-car holdup. Joseph W. Prenderville of Maspeth and William Clark of Winfield were both attached to the W. 68th Street station. The demotions follow a probe into charges made by Dr. Harry Gilbert of Manhattan that Prenderville and Clark tried to shake him down for $5000 in connection with the case of a young woman who had been brought to Roosevelt Hospital. Dr. Gilbert faces charges as an accessory after the fact after he treated one of the alleged holdup men in the Rubel case for injuries sustained during that crime....

You used your position of authority - the unique power of police enforcement entrusted to you by the public - to extort money in the line of duty and the punishment for this crime (not job mistake) is a demotion! No wonder police corruption was rampant.

...The proposed repeal of the penny-per-ten cigarette tax stands as the most contentious issue facing the State Assembly when it convenes for its 1940 term....

1 cent in '39 is ~18 cents in '19 dollars. Today, the tax on ten cigarettes in New York is $2.17.

...(Even in 1939, Brooklyn was full of hipster beardos selling dubious merchandise.)....

...Warner Brothers will end all production of "B" features in 1940, with a total of 48 "A" features on the studio's production schedule for the current season. Bryan Foy, formerly head of the Warner B unit will now serve as personal assistant to studio executive producer Hal B. Wallis.....

I assume it was due to economics (especially with Warner Brothers), but Lizzie, do you know any more of the details about this - seems a bit surprising on the surface?

...A Brooklyn butcher has been sentenced to six months in the workhouse for giving short weight to customers. Paul Sperling, manager of a shop at 555 5th Avenue, drew the sentence after admitting to selling a city inspector seven pounds and one ounce of veal n place of seven and a half pounds. A display of eggs on the shop counter was deliberately arranged to conceal the misbalancing of the scale. Store clerk Henry Grimm was given a 60-day suspended sentence....

Shame he didn't work at the West 68th Street Police Station or he could have gotten off with a demotion to assistant butcher.

...The reorganization of the New York Hockey League is seen as a move toward bringing big-time pro hockey to the Brooklyn Ice Palace. The use of the Palace by the NYHL is expected to prove the viability of the arena for the game, and could lead to a National Hockey League francise in the borough. (Hey, let's call them -- I dunno -- the "Dodgers!")....

...
Ahhh! AAAAAH! My New Years' Wish comes true! Peggy is the Bungles' grown-up daughter -- and J. Hartford Oakdale, the ineffable J. HARTFORD OAKDALE himself! is her off-again, on-again boyfriend, a clammy-handed, vaporous fop who, whenever he shows up, can always be counted upon to lead George into some helpless, hopeless get-rich-quick scheme that will end in his ruin. Only Jo sees Old Hartford for what he is, and her comments as the schemes unfold are always choice. Yeah, man. Bring it on.



Sue needs to stop listening to "Stella Dallas."


Y'know, Kay, maybe you don't realize this, but the problem in this relationship isn't Dan so much as it is -- you know -- Irwin. As long as he's around, Dan's just going to keep running off on these stupid cases. But, you know, all it would take is just a little bit of -- I dunno, cyanide in his mashed potatoes tonight. You know, Kay, silver polish is made from cyanide, and I think if you call Room Service they might send someone out to the drug store for some. All it would take is a little bit, a little tiny bit. I'll just leave you to think about that for a while, Kay. Wouldn't that be the best thing for Dan? In the long run, I mean. You get some rest now. Think it over.

It looks like The Bungle Family might be getting more interesting than Mary Worth for awhile.

I don't know about this Dan Dunn, it's not really sucking me in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's especially frustrating since LaGuardia brought Valentine in as Commissioner specifically to clean out the festering mass of corruption that previous Commissioners had avoided addressing. Unless he's keeping these two characters around to try and see how deep it all goes, I don't see much good arising from this action.

I think the Warners thing is mostly nickel-and-diming from the head office -- Warners was hit hard by the drying-up of the European market with the coming of the war, and J. L. always kept a close eye on the till. Warners was not an especially big player in B pictures -- it had the Nancy Drew series, the Dick Foran westerns, and various one-shot melodramas, but it couldn't hope to compete with MGM's dominance in the B picture series realm, when MGM B's often outdrew Warner A's.

Hartford Oakdale is a spectacularly greasy fellow. He left Peggy at the altar in 1925, and Jo has never, ever forgiven him for it - not so much for Peggy's sake, since Peggy got over it remarkably fast, but for the intense social embarassment it caused for Jo with the neighbors. "Those snippy women! How they gossipped! As if they didn't know I heard EVERY WORD!" George, however, was incredibly blase about the whole thing, which made Jo even madder. Oh, this is going to be good.

 

[Fading Fast]

It's especially frustrating since LaGuardia brought Valentine in as Commissioner specifically to clean out the festering mass of corruption that previous Commissioners had avoided addressing. Unless he's keeping these two characters around to try and see how deep it all goes, I don't see much good arising from this action.

I think the Warners thing is mostly nickel-and-diming from the head office -- Warners was hit hard by the drying-up of the European market with the coming of the war, and J. L. always kept a close eye on the till. Warners was not an especially big player in B pictures -- it had the Nancy Drew series, the Dick Foran westerns, and various one-shot melodramas, but it couldn't hope to compete with MGM's dominance in the B picture series realm, when MGM B's often outdrew Warner A's.

Hartford Oakdale is a spectacularly greasy fellow. He left Peggy at the altar in 1925, and Jo has never, ever forgiven him for it - not so much for Peggy's sake, since Peggy got over it remarkably fast, but for the intense social embarassment it caused for Jo with the neighbors. "Those snippy women! How they gossipped! As if they didn't know I heard EVERY WORD!" George, however, was incredibly blase about the whole thing, which made Jo even madder. Oh, this is going to be good.

Few things shy of a crime have as much dramatic impact as being jilted at the alter. I went to a wedding in the early '90s of a friend where the "official" story is they both called it off at the last minute, but in truth, he just couldn't go through with it. As his "side" of the wedding drank in a bar that day (he "graciously" left the reception hall, etc., to the woman's "side -" and later wrote her Dad a check for the entire cost), you could feel the "Holy Cow" of it.

That said, many things seem important at the moment and, then, fade. To be sure, this one has to an extent (and, of course, there are much worse things that happen every day to people), but even almost twenty five years later, anytime some of the people who were there meet up - it's one of the first things that comes up.

I have another friend who broke off an engagement within in weeks of the wedding - also pretty dramatic. In that case, IMO, it messed up that girl for a long time. It didn't help that he got married about a year later to a girl he met just after the breakup after having dating, on and off, the girl he didn't marry for about seven years.

Thank you for the color on the Warner's B pics.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the Era, "breach of promise" laws ensured there would be hell to pay in the event of such a jilting, and this was an extremely common trope in serial fiction of the 1920s and 30s. In the comics, Andy Gump's superbillionaire Uncle Bim was sued for a huge piece of his fortune when he left the Widow Zander at the altar, and on radio, Andy Brown of "Amos 'n' Andy" was sued twice by different women in the space of two years. These types of stories seem to have been directly inspired by the real-life breach-of-promise suit brought against Asa Candler, president of Coca-Cola, in 1923 -- leading to a trial where flinty old Asa's schmaltzy love letters were read aloud in the courtroom to the snickers of the gallery.

All of which makes it surprising that the Bungles didn't sue Mr. Oakdale. But then, Old Hartford's money was entirely a front -- he lives on credit and promises, and somehow never manages to get caught.

One hopes that such a resolution lies ahead in the story of Lillums Lovewell and Truck McClusky, but I suspect fate has something even more devastating in mind for them. Hehehehehehe.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And meanwhile, in the Daily News...

New York during the holidays -- it's such a magical place.

Ahhhhhhh.......

Should we tell the Cap'n that his ball-headed stereotype flunky also works for Singh-Singh and is preparing even now to slash his throat with his talon-like fingernails? Should we?

Note that dear innocent little Binnie sleeps with a Genuine Licensed Merchandise Little Orphan Annie doll. This is called "synergetic cross-promotional marketing," kids. Comics are educational.

And speaking of which, why don't we check in on spunky little Annie, shall we?

The hearty-looking fellow is none other than Nick Gatt, a ruthless gangland chieftain patterned after one A. Capone, who dominates the underworld in one of those corruption-ridden cities that Annie likes to frequent when Daddy W. is off subjugating natives in some far-off jungle. Annie is staying with a poor-but-pure young lawyer and his family, and when the partners in his law firm, in league with a corrupt DA, started putting the squeeze to him, Annie, who is wise in the ways in the world, figured that the best way to help him was to make sure he was "protected." And how better to do that than to reach an understanding with the one man who couldn't be corrupted by the corruption -- because he himself was the master of it. Yes indeed. Spunky little Annie. The sun'll come out ta-morra. You betcha.

Like I said...

 

[vitanola]

View attachment 202578

(Even in 1939, Brooklyn was full of hipster beardos selling dubious merchandise.)

Crooners?

Just ask Scrappy Lambert and Billy Hillpot, “Trade” and “Mark”, the singing Smith Brothers of radio fame.

That cough drop manufacturer had been poking gentle fun at itself in its advertising for quite a while by 1939.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Three crewmen were killed aboard a British battleship today after a torpedo attack by a German U-Boat off the coast of Scotland. The vessel, of the 30,600-ton "Queen Elizabeth" class, sustained serious damage in the attack, but was not destroyed, and is reported by the British admirality to be continuing on its course.

Finnish news reports claim that Soviet troops are now firing upon each other along the north-central front. The reports are similar to those carried in Copenhagen newspapers, and a report from Stockholm, quoting a Finnish general, states that Russian forces have fired on each other "in the confusion" of heavy fighting along the Suomosalmi front.

Gas from a leaking main overcame 26 young women working in a basement in the heart of the downtown shopping district. The leak at May's Specialty Shop, 510 Fulton Street, occured shortly before 1 PM today, at a time when the store was crowded with women shoppers. The odor of gas was present in the basement area when the store opened this morning, and with repairmen unable to locate it within the building, the store opened as usual while they turned their attention to the main. The leak still had not been discovered when workers began toppling over. The workers were carried outside to fresh air thru the throngs of shoppers, and though the basement was closed after the employees were removed, the store itself remained open while repairmen finally discovered the leaky main around the corner on Hanover Street. Twelve of the basement workers required hospitalization.

A mother and her twelve-year-old daughter were killed this morning in Manhattan by a vengeful husband, who then turned the gun on himself. Mrs. Elizabeth Solovieff and her daughter Vivienne were shot in their Riverside Drive apartment by 41-year-old Abraham Solovieff, a cantor residing in San Francsico since the couple's separation. A second daughter, 14 year old Miram Solovieff, a noted concert violinist, fled the apartment after her father shot at her and missed, and alerted a neighbor, who called the police. Solovieff and his wife had been separated for five years, and yesterday returned to New York unannounced, declaring that he was again going to live with the family.

Warming temperatures will likely mean a rainy New Year's Eve for Brooklyn celebrants, now that the bitter cold spell has lifted. Temperatures today reached a high of 37 degrees as of 2 PM.

120,000 persons are now confirmed dead in a single city following the catastrophic earthquake that ravaged Turkey this week. Entire towns across a 25,000 square mile area have been obliterated, and suffering is reported to be intense. The city of Erzincan is reported to be entirely in ruins.

Kings County Judge Peter J. Brancato has had enough of complaints about the Raymond Street Jail, and declares that concerns over the state of the decaying structure, declared unfit for human habitation, should be directed to those who are in a position to do something about it and yet do not. The Judge was responding to a grand jury presentment officially condemning conditions at the jail, one in a series of similar presentments he has received over the past five years. Judge Brancato declared that the city administration should receive those complaints.

The Dionne Quintuplets may soon be living again with the rest of their family, with the resignation of Dr. Allen Roy Dafoe from the Board of Guardians established by the Province of Ontario for the care of the quints, and an agreement between their father Olivia Dionne and Dr. Dafoe for the construction of a house, medical complex, and school for the entire family. As part of the agreement, Dionne agrees to drop lawsuits against Dr. Dafoe demanding an accounting of money received by the Doctor from commercial merchandising and public exhibition of the quints over the past five years. The agreement also provides that Dr. Dafoe will continue as the quints' personal physician.

Kings County Judge Franklin Taylor says the time for "special investigations" in Brooklyn has passed, and continued "muckraking" by the Amen office is harming the borough's reputation. As toastmaster for a dinner honoring new Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer at the Bossert Hotel, Judge Taylor expressed confidence that the District Attorney can handle any issues of corruption without "outside help."

The case against a sailor charged with disorderly conduct in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court was continued last night after the alcohol fumes exhaled by the defendant and his shipmates from the freighter Kalnalu proved too strong for the magistrate. The case against 29-year-old Clair Wilson will resume today in Flushing Court after everyone has had a chance to sober up.

And yet more options for New Year's Eve....

I just had Chinese for Christmas, but that sounds very tempting just the same. These other joints, though -- they look like the kinds of places where some Boy From Brownsville might have too much to drink.

You know, I could probably do without noisemakers and continuous dancing at that.

Police in Long Island City arrested 58 men last night in a raid of the premises of the Suds Social Club, 47-17 Greenpoint Avenue, in Woodside. Two men were arrested on charges of illegal bookmaking, with the remaining 56 charged with disorderly conduct.

The famous Greenwich Village New Year's Ball is a favorite of the bohemian set, but the woman who puts it on each year is a Brooklyn lady. Cynthia White, who has run the party since the tradition began in 1917, was born and raised in the borough, and taught school here for two months until she was fired. Miss White declares that the morals in the Village are higher than those you find on Park Avenue, and that the neighborhood is currently enjoying "a renaissance of real people." The theme of this year's party? "Peace."

The Eagle names the Sports Hero of the Year...

Opening today at the RKO Albee, it's Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings in "Everythng Happens To Me," with co-feature "The Flying Deuces," starring Laurel and Hardy.

Television station W2XBS will ask Mr. and Mrs. New Yorker On The Street what they think of 1939 and what they hope for 1940 in a telecast from the sidewalk in front of the Capitol Theatre, New Years' Eve afternoon at 2:30 pm.

The "Pursuit of Happiness" program will repeat Paul Robeson's acclaimed performance of Earl Robinson's "Ballad For Americans," Sunday at 4:30 pm over WABC.

Ah, just wait until Hartford shows up in person. That's when the fun begins.

"Listen, kid, I've gotten you this far, and you're not gonna get out of it now!"

Hmph. Wait'll Stooge Viller gets here. He'll show you punks how it's done.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Kings County Judge Franklin Taylor says the time for "special investigations" in Brooklyn has passed, and continued "muckraking" by the Amen office is harming the borough's reputation. As toastmaster for a dinner honoring new Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer at the Bossert Hotel, Judge Taylor expressed confidence that the District Attorney can handle any issues of corruption without "outside help."....

Knowing nothing more than what we've all read in the Eagle these past few months argues strongly against this view.

...

You know, I could probably do without noisemakers and continuous dancing at that.....

As with Thanksgiving dinner - we have a low-cost winner with H&H. And, as you note, I like the lack of fussing.

...Opening today at the RKO Albee, it's Sonja Henie, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings in "Everythng Happens To Me," with co-feature "The Flying Deuces," starring Laurel and Hardy.....

I have a vague memory of "Everything Happens at Night" and have it filed away under "better than average" Sonja Henie movie.

...Television station W2XBS will ask Mr. and Mrs. New Yorker On The Street what they think of 1939 and what they hope for 1940 in a telecast from the sidewalk in front of the Capitol Theatre, New Years' Eve afternoon at 2:30 pm.....

And the people watching the interviews live on the street will outnumber the people watching on TV sets.

...
"Listen, kid, I've gotten you this far, and you're not gonna get out of it now!"....

Oh, this will be good. Weather reports say a Leona storm front will be blowing through shortly.

(Looking forward to seeing what Hartford Oakdale looks like.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Maybe it's time for Mr. Amen to have a talk with the Commissioner.

I suspect that Cheery has a way out of this, but it will cost everyone dearly. She's like that.

Oh, now, what could POSSIBLY go wrong here...

Yep, our Harold may be a simp. But he's a *sober* simp. Think about it, kid.

 

[Fading Fast]

And in the Daily News...

View attachment 202671

Maybe it's time for Mr. Amen to have a talk with the Commissioner.

View attachment 202672

I suspect that Cheery has a way out of this, but it will cost everyone dearly. She's like that.

View attachment 202673
Oh, now, what could POSSIBLY go wrong here...

View attachment 202674
Yep, our Harold may be a simp. But he's a *sober* simp. Think about it, kid.

Glad the Daily News is sinking its teeth in on this one.

Terry and the Pirates seems like a world of force and fraud that, at best, is on the edge of any law and order - hence, someone should just shoot Cheery and be done with it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

All the funnies seem rather dark. Straight from today's headlines. Except for, perhaps, Harold Teen. If it were today's version, the final bubble would say "Bah! They are all bums. Who needs a man anyways?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

Newspaper comics in the Era were very much an adult thing -- the thirties had an explosion of high-quality well-written strips that can stand with any popular literature of any period. "Dick Tracy" was relentlessly dark and violent in the thirties, and in the forties it's going to get even more so. And "Terry and the Pirates" will get even more noirish as the war drags on -- Caniff was being restrained by his syndicate at this point and was not allowed to mention Japan or to emphasize Japanese war crimes in China. That will change.

Even "Harold Teen" is moving away from the light-hearted soda-shop hijinks of its earlier years -- now that Harold is out of high school, he's had several months to discover that adult life is full of disappointment, failure, and lost opportunities. And I fear he is cracking under the strain....

 

[LizzieMaine]

New Kings County District Attorney William O'Dwyer has announced his staff, shocking the political world by appointing a Flatbush lawyer with no political experience whatever as his top assistant. Joseph F. Hanley, a six-foot World War veteran with no known political affiliations who has practiced law in Brooklyn since 1919 will head a staff of thirty-two attorneys under the DA's control, and will act as O'Dwyer's second-in-command and first in the line of succession for the District Attorney's post. O'Dwyer ran for election on a promise that he would staff his office without regard for political considerations.

Fresh Russian troops from the crack Moscow garrison attacked the Mannerheim Line today in the face of a snowstorm. 150,000 Red Army men are reported to be pushing hard against the Finnish right wing with additional fresh concentrations of troops massing to the east.

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler today declared that Germany faces "the most decisive year in her history" in 1940. In his New Years' address to members of the Nazi Party, the Fuehrer lashed out at "Jewish warmongers" and promised victory for Germany in the year ahead.

A report issued by the dean of Harvard Law School declares that CIO longshoremen's union leader Harry R. Bridges is not affiliated with the Communist Party, and is expected to carry great weight in determining whether or not Bridges, a native of Australia, will be deported. The report concludes an inquiry into Bridges' political affiliations ordered by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins after a deportation warrant for Bridges was issued in March of this year.

The first real snowstorm of the winter has claimed its first fatality. 50 year old Anthony Kolarz of Ozone Park, an employee of the Queens Parks Department, was killed when he fell off a sand sprinkler after the truck was hit by an out-of-control car on the Henry Hudson Parkway early this morning.

Police in Los Angeles are seeking a self-styled "King of the Trombone" for questioning in the death of 17-year-old Jerry Burns, whose mutilated nude body was found atop a crushed artificial rose in an abandoned coal yard on Thursday. The suspect, identified as 26-year-old John Frank Reavis currently works as a candy salesman, but formerly performed in dance orchestras. He is known as "a habitue of bars."

One man is under arrest at Kings County Hospital and another is being held at the Poplar Street police precinct after a brawl at an Atlantic Avenue drinking establishment. 35-year-old Joseph Attara of 450 Flatbush Avenue is hospitalized with severe head injuries and facial lacerations, while police are holding 42-year-old John Pino of 272 Dean Street. Both men face charges of malicious mischief after kicking in the plate glass window of the Alcazar Bar and Grill, 346 Atlantic Avenue, after they were ejected from the establishment by the proprietor. Attara's injuries occured when he fell into the broken window and was hit by falling fragments.

Well now. This is the first ad for Brooklyn Roseland I've seen in the Eagle, although it does advertise regularly in the Daily News. Whassamatter, Mr. Schroth? You got something against swing bands? Are you some kind of ickie?

A flood of all-night liquor permits in New York promises that tomorrow night will be the wettest New Year's Eve in the city since Repeal. So far no less than 2200 permits have been issued to taverns, bars, and nightclubs in the five boroughs and portions of Long Island.

The latest new hairstyle trend? Why not weave glittering beads into the back of your hair displaying your telephone number? They're doing it now in the salon at Abraham & Straus.

A 47 year old woman writes to Helen Worth with a dilly of a dilemma. She has been keeping company with a certain gentleman for thirteen years, and he promises to marry her once his parents die. Meanwhile, she has met another fellow who offers to marry him now. She is enticed by this gentleman and his $5000 a year salary, while her first choice earns only $40 a week, same as she does, and she doesn't want to have to work all her life. She says she loves the first man, but she also wants to get married without waiting another thirteen years. Helen says she needs to lay her cards on the table and tell the first man the truth --and if he still won't marry her, then go ahead and take the second man. But if she does so, Helen warns, "tell him you are marrying him not for love but for creature comforts."

It's been quite a decade.

The Rangers edged up on league-leading Boston in National Hockey League action, shutting out the Bruins 4-0. Dashing Davey Kerr, Ranger puckblocker, drew plaudits for his best performance of the season so far.

Reports from the Dodger front office suggest that football Dodger star Ace Parker might have suited up for the baseball Flock next spring as an outfielder had not Larry MacPhail scratched the idea. Negotiations to bring the football favorite to the baseball Dodgers were shut down after MacPhail decided such a plan might be interpreted as a "theatrical gesture." And we all know the Big Redhead doesn't go in for theatrical gestures. But Parker is determined to try baseball anyway, and word is that he has signed a contract with the Pirates, where Frankie Frisch will give him a spring-training trial. Connie Mack of the Athletics, who gave Parker a similar trial a while back, says there's no way Ace will ever be able to hit big-league pitching on a regular basis, but when he does connect, he does so with power.

Celebrities from Bing Crosby on down will be on hand today for the opening of the new Santa Anita Racetrack. Hear the festivities over WEAF at 6:45 pm, and over WOR at 7:15.

He's out there, Josephine. He's out there, and he's getting closer by the moment. Step by step, inch by inch. You hear the footsteps, don't you Josephine. Those shiny $5 Florsheims, how they creak upon the stairs. They're coming closer, closer. The knife is in the kitchen drawer, Josephine. Don't think, just pick it up. Stand by the door. You can hear him in the hallway, Josephine. He's raising his fawn-gloved hand to knock....

Ah! A process server! Mister Perry, you are being sued by Miss Stockpool for Breach of Promise. And you, Miss Wrenn, you are being sued by Miss Stockpool for Alienation of Affection. Anyone got a cup of coffee, it's a long walk up here for an old man.

Dan, stop wearing your hat pushed back on your head like that. It makes you look like a hick.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Think the Mayor'll take this laying down? You saw what he did to those pinball machines. And those burlesque theatres. And those artichoke vendors. You sure you wanna try your luck there, Miss Gum Chewer?

Hm. $1.50 plus a nickel carfare into the City. But it *is* a Reuben sandwich, a real Reuben sandwich. But will that go down easy with all the noisemakers and whoopee and stuff? No, I'll stick to H&H.

Yeah, Stanley, who are you to hurt ya mother like this?

Have you tried writing to Helen Worth?

Kidnapping's a Federal rap, Stooge. Wouldn't car stripping be a lot easier for everybody?

*snif*

 

[Fading Fast]

... Well now. This is the first ad for Brooklyn Roseland I've seen in the Eagle, although it does advertise regularly in the Daily News. Whassamatter, Mr. Schroth? You got something against swing bands? Are you some kind of ickie?....

Had to be some high-fives going around the Eagle's advertising department when that sale came in.

Note, Horn and Hardart is still the low cost champ.

...The latest new hairstyle trend? Why not weave glittering beads into the back of your hair displaying your telephone number? They're doing it now in the salon at Abraham & Straus....

Hmm, I can see why a "working" woman might do this, but any other woman would be nuts to advertise her phone number. Also, struggling a bit to see how that would really work as hair moves.

...A 47 year old woman writes to Helen Worth with a dilly of a dilemma. She has been keeping company with a certain gentleman for thirteen years, and he promises to marry her once his parents die. Meanwhile, she has met another fellow who offers to marry him now. She is enticed by this gentleman and his $5000 a year salary, while her first choice earns only $40 a week, same as she does, and she doesn't want to have to work all her life. She says she loves the first man, but she also wants to get married without waiting another thirteen years. Helen says she needs to lay her cards on the table and tell the first man the truth --and if he still won't marry her, then go ahead and take the second man. But if she does so, Helen warns, "tell him you are marrying him not for love but for creature comforts."....

It might be interesting to delve a little into how she "met another fellow" while "keeping company" with the first guy.

...
It's been quite a decade.....

And as the saying goes, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

...Celebrities from Bing Crosby on down will be on hand today for the opening of the new Santa Anita Racetrack. Hear the festivities over WEAF at 6:45 pm, and over WOR at 7:15.....

Crosby was a big race track fan. He owned thoroughbreds and, also, I think (not sure) was an investor in Del Mar racetrack. As we've noted before, it's hard to appreciate today how big thoroughbred racing (and professional boxing) were in the Era.

... View attachment 202791
Ah! A process server! Mister Perry, you are being sued by Miss Stockpool for Breach of Promise. And you, Miss Wrenn, you are being sued by Miss Stockpool for Alienation of Affection. Anyone got a cup of coffee, it's a long walk up here for an old man.....

...
Dan, stop wearing your hat pushed back on your head like that. It makes you look like a hick.

Unless Detective Dunn is doing all this work to capture the entire car-theft ring and not just to find one car, he is a hick.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A Finnish communique states that a third Red Army force has been pushed "in full rout" back over the Soviet border. British accounts add that Finnish "suicide patrols" were responsible for severing the Leningrad-Murmansk Railway supply line to Russian troops in the north.

As a new administration takes over in the Kings County District Attorney's office under new DA William O'Dwyer, the only woman appointed to the department's staff is the person responsible for kicking off the investigation into bail bond corruption in Brooklyn. Newly-appointed Assistant District Attorney Grace Clyde was a clerk under departing District Attorney Gehogan, and it was she who spotted a forged bail bond that set into motion the chain of events that culminated in the appointment of Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen as special prosecutor of a full-scale investigation that has rocked the borough to its foundations.

A proposed new law sponsored in the State Senate by Senator Joseph Esquirol would provide what he calls "a concrete solution" to the problem of overassessed property valuations in New York City. Senator Esquirol's proposal would purge from the assessment rolls "moribund properties," a move which he says could reduce property tax assessments by as much as ten percent.

Nazi air commander Hermann Goering warned today that when Germany unleashes the full force of its air force on Great Britain the result will be "an assault such as world history has never experienced." Writing in the Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachter, Field Marshal Goering stated that "no land in the world is so vulnerable from the air as the British island."

THE BROOKLYN EAGLE WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW, NEW YEAR'S DAY.

Only a month since the opening of the new combined Flatbush-Queens Night Court was supposed to reduce courtroom congestion, residents of Flatbush are demanding that the former Flatbush Day Court be reinstated. Representatives of the Flatbush Chamber of Commerce submitted their arguments to Mayor LaGuardia and Chief Magistrate Henry Curran, stating the abolition of the day court has brought irreparable damage and inconvenience to the community.

ANYONE HAVING PERSONAL INFORMATION OF JOHN R. SMITH, formerly of 264 E. 78th Street, please communicate with Mrs. Smith, care of Inglis, 1063 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn. ("You sure that's his real name, lady?")

A new radio network formed by Elliot Roosevelt, son of the President, will not debut on New Year's Day as planned. The Transcontinental Broadcasting System's premiere broadcast has been pushed ahead to February 1st, following what Mr. Roosevelt describes as "the failure of an advertising agency to meet its commitments." A TBS official states that the Blackett-Sample-Hummert agency had agreed to contract for fifteen hours of evening time on behalf of Sterling Drug Company and the American Home Products Company, but has breached that agreement. That statement also declares that rumors the new network is encountering financial difficulties are untrue.

There were 95 celebrity weddings in Hollywood in 1939, and there were 26 celebrity divorces.

SAVE $13 to $22 ON FINE STERNS & FOSTER INNERSPRING MATTRESSES! SALE STARTS TUESDAY 9:30 AM! OUR LARGEST ORDER IN THREE YEARS! ABRAHAM & STRAUS Fulton St. at Hoyt St. Brooklyn

(Shop early and beat the New Year's Rush.)

A 41 year old East 37th Street man was arraigned today in Felony Court on charges of felonious assault and illegal possession of a revolver after allegedly opening fire on two of his friends in a 3rd Avenue bar early yesterday. William E. Benson pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is being held for observation at Kings County Hospital. Harry Toolhill and Jerome Coughlin, both of 916 E. 34th Street, say that Benson fired shots at them while the three were in a drinking establishment at 521 3rd Avenue, but that all the shots missed. Toolhill told the magistrate that the three men were all friends, "or at least I supposed we were until he started shooting."

Three lynchings were confirmed in the United States in 1939 according to figures compiled by Tuskegee Institute -- a figure half that of 1938. Two of lynchings occured in Florida, and one in Mississippi. Two the victims were Negroes, while one was white. Twenty-five persons were rescued from mob violence during the year by officers of the law.

The Eagle editorialist praises the recent sentence of six months in the workhouse for a short-weight butcher, noting that this sort of thing has been going on in the city for far too long. It's time to give short-shrift to short weight!

Ray Tucker notes that there may be as many as 7,000,000 American voters who owe no allegience to any political party, marking their ballots according to the personalities and issues of the day -- and he predicts it is that group who will decide the 1940 presidential contest. Tucker expects that as many as 78 percent of so-called "Landon Republicans" might vote Democratic if John Garner is the nominee, while 62 percent of Roosevelt liberals could be tempted to cross party lines if Thomas E. Dewey is the Republican nominee in a contest against Garner.

(Can somebody check in on Mr. Schroth? He seems to have an unhealthy fixation on death lately.)

The essence of 1939.

The worst possible husband? A bandleader, according to sociologists at San Francisco State College. A survey conducted by the school determined that leaders of dance orchestras average 10 changes of residence per year, and offer no chance of financial security. "Their working conditions preclude, quite largely, the achievement of family, home, or friends outside the occupation as roots for a stable existence." (Artie Shaw, please copy.)

As 1939 turns into 1940, the New York legitimate stage is at the peak of its sophistication, commercial success, and cultural influence. And there's a poultry show.

92,000 will turn out tomorrow in Pasadena to see USC take on Tennessee in the Rose Bowl.

Next Sunday, the Green Bay Packers, National Football League champions, will face an NFL All Star Team in Los Angeles.

Bobby Riggs and Don McNeill will meet tomorrow in New Orleans to decide the winner of the Sugar Bowl Professional Tennis Tournament.

Two-year-old Red Chip captured the California Breeder's Crown as 20,000 celebrated the opening of the thoroughbred racing season at Santa Anita Park.

Someday major league baseball will be played under gigantic roofs. Engineer R. J. Swackhammer, who helped spearhead the success of night baseball when he installed light towers at a minor league field in Des Moines, Iowa nine years ago, predicts that the game will be entirely an indoor sport by 1955 as a guarantee against inclement weather. "The innovation would be tough on pitchers," he admits.

John P. Pfalzgraf remembers the old days in the 10th Ward when people actually came calling on holidays instead of just sending greeting cards.

A description of the annual Tournament of Roses Parade will be broadcast over WJZ tomorrow at 12:30 pm, and over WOR at 1:30 pm. The Sugar Bowl football game airs at 2pm over WJZ, with the Orange Bowl broadcast over WABC also at 2. WJZ and WOR will both carry the Rose Bowl game beginning at 4:45 pm.

In the wild and untamed West, a Rodeo Judge's word is law.

The essence of 1939.

Dale came up with that "date pudding" line six months ago and she's been waiting very patiently to use it ever since.

While Dan fiddles around in his lab, he little realizes the trail will lead him to a sinister alien shapeshifter posing as a cheap crook named "Snooker." For your sake, Detective, I hope this fearful horror is susceptible to ultraviolet radiation.

George goes meta in a desperate attempt to escape his existential prison, but Jo, as always, reminds him that there is no escape.