The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

(That sugar fine amounts to $51.70 a pound for those keeping score at home. Such prices! I ask ya!)
...

"The lesson here is to always have a legitimate business serve as a front to be the fall guy in case of an unfortunate situation such as this. Hmm, now I'll have to buy the sugar back from an "entrepreneurial" policy officer. Oh well, it's the cost of doing business."

...

(Where's Mr. Amen when we need him???)
...

Be it in the public sector, in business or (worse) in charitable foundations, this is one of mankind's most-evergreen stories.

...

The Bronx today has its second case of a young girl absconding from home with the family savings. Police reported that 12-year-old Mary Perez disappeared from her home at 1017 Intervale Avenue carrying a suitcase and $1000 in cash her uncle, William Medina, had been saving to bring his two children here from Puerto Rico. The girl is said to have left a message for her mother, stating that she intended to kill herself "because she had been punished."
...

You don't need $1000 to do that.

...

Meanwhile, the family of 15-year-old Rose Amalfitano of 286 E. 149th Street, who disappeared with two other girls earlier this week, received a letter from the missing girl stating that she will send back the $7500 in cash she took from a family closet, but she did not say anything in the letter about coming home.
...

If she does ever want to come home, she better send back the $7500, at least if her family works at all like mine did.

And in the Daily News...

"Now, a bath towel around one's midriff is not the customary attire for teas." Hmph, clearly you need to get out more.
...

"The Rooneys" (Mickey and wife Ava freakin' Gardner, she being all of twenty-years old, "take that Artie and Frank" says Mickey) being victims of a jewelry heist couldn't be a more 1942 story.

...

There are so many things wrong with Panel 3 I hardly know where to start.
...

Gould went hard in the direction of that line of thinking yesterday. At least she appears to be facing up.

...

"No, she always calls me 'Timoshenko.'"
...

Good one, Mr. Clark.

...

WAAAH--wa-wa-wa-WA-WAHHHHH
...

After that embarrassment and after God knows how many others, it might be time for Terry to consider the honorable Japanese ritual of seppuku. For God sakes, Bo could do better.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("WHATTAYA MEAN HE AIN' IN YET," bellows Sally into the mouthpiece of the pay phone. "Stop tryn'a disguise ya verse, McDonal', I know it's you! Yeah, it's me! I wanna tawk t' Rickey! I got some trades t'go oveh wit'tim. Yeh! Witta Pittsboigs! You know what I mean! Whattay mean who izzis?? You know very well who t'is is, Sally Petrauskas! NO I AIN'T GONNA SPELL IT! YOU GOT IT WROTE DOWN, AN' I KNOW YA DO. Yeh. Well when he comes in, fois' t'ing hav'm cawl me. Schrelbstein's Canny Stoeh. BEachview 2-9371. Yeh. T'eyll senna kid t'get me." "Hey Sal," interrupts Joe, looking up from a two-month-old copy of Whiz Comics. "I t'ink Leonoreh needs t' -- you know..." "Yeh, yeh, soon's I'm done wit'tis monkey! AN' YA BETTEH GIVE T'MESSAGE T'IS TIME, MCDONAL', WE AIN' STAWRTIN' ORF WIT' RICKEY LIKE IT WAS WIT' MACPHAIL! DON' TAKE T"AT TONE WIT' ME, I PAY YA SAL'RY!" )

Soviet forces, advancing in a howling Caucasus blizzard, found scores of Germans frozen to death in their dugouts today, the first Nazi troops in Hitler's big 1942 offensive to perish in the dread Russian winter. Northeast of the Tuapse naval base in the western Caucasus, temperatures were far below zero, dispatches said, and Germans were reported to be using ski and sled detatchments in a desperate attempt to reach the warmer coast of the Black Sea before the blizzard froze them or made the mountains completely unpassable. A report in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda stated that snow in the territory is often waist deep in gorges, with avalanches seen to be thundering down mountainsides. Soviet ski troops, wrapped in heavy furs, were reported to be counterattacking and had already thwarted Nazi efforts along one sector to escape to the Black Sea.

Reports from Moscow indicate that the Council of People's Commissariats has ordered military training for all boys and girls beginning at the age of eight. The training for children will begin with their fourth year in school. Adults have already been mobilized up to the age of 55, and all unemployed women under the age of 46 have been conscripted for war labor.

The seventeen-year-old boy on trial in White Plains for the murder of two little girls was caught in the act of planning an escape from the deputies assigned to take him from his cell to the courtroom. Deputies stated that Edward Haight had succeeded in removing an eight-inch steel hinge pin from his cell door and admitted that he planned to use it as a weapon against the guards when they came to take him to his trial. Haight is accused of abusing, mutilating, and killing 7 year old Margaret Lynch and her 8 year old sister Helen of Bedford Village on September 14th after "taking them for a ride" in a stolen station wagon. It has been indicated that a plea of insanity will be entered in defense of the youth.

In Los Angeles, the wife of a wealthy airline executive is seeking a divorce on the grounds that he had ordered her to be "his slave," and "head wife in a harem." Thirty-four-year-old Mrs. Evelyn McKee is seeking a divorce from 54-year-old Pan-American Airways executive Mark T. McKee Sr. after nine years of marriage. Mrs. McKee testified that from their wedding night in 1933 to the present, her husband has insisted on being treated like "King Solomon." Among the women with whom Mrs. McKee accused her husband of carrying on illicit affairs were her own sister, and a 17-year-old friend of his daughter.

(War is Hell.)

("These British Babes Bring Out The Wolf In Me." Or at least the Pomeranian.)

("Oh dear," replies Mrs. Clare Cram. "Wherever shall I find the time!")

(NOT FOR LONG! -- Butch)

The old Vitagraph motion picture studio in Midwood, last used by Warner Brothers for the making of Vitaphone short subjects, may soon be used for the production of newsreels. Warner officials in Hollywood indicated yesterday they are planning to enter the newsreel business, with Eastern headquarters at the Vitagraph complex. The first reel of the new series is expected to appear by the end of the year.

The 7-year-old Bronx girl who ran away from home with $1000 in cash is back home after police found her trying to rent a room in a boarding house in Jamaica. Mary Perez had $858.45 in her gray cardboard suitcase, and told police she hadn't taken the full thousand dollars. She told patrolmen that she had spent last night sleeping on a lawn in Flatbush.

("My word, McDonald, what's the meaning of this note. Your handwriting is reprehensible, my boy, reprehensible." "I'm sorry, sir, it's just that she was yelling in my ear, she always does that, she always yells in my ear." "This woman, this -- what is the name here, Paskudnyak? Poscatelli? Pallitianowitz? By Judas Priest, I shall find this town a challenge, my boy, a challenge!" "Look, sir, I gotta warn ya. If she calls, don't take the call. If she writes -- and she's gonna write -- throw it in the wastebasket. And if she shows up in the office here, hide in the closet. It's for your own good." "My word, boy, you're shaking like a reed in a storm-tossed night. Oh, I tell you, I do love a challenge, my boy, I DO LOVE A CHALLENGE!")

Dave Driscoll of WOR, son of the former Dodger official of the same name, will broadcast tonight in a diving suit from beside the submerged hull of the Normandie, and will try to nail boards in a box. That's a test given to students in the U. S. Navy Diving School, and Driscoll and sidekick John Whitmore will see if they have what it takes. They will also report on the progress of salvage operations at the hulk of the overturned French liner.

("Friendship, friendship -- just a perfect blend-ship!")

(The war must be taking a real toll. All the henchmen these days are 4-Fs.)

(SUCKERRRRRRRRRRRRR!)

(DON'T WORRY FOLKS I'LL PULL THRU! WHOSE NAME IS UP TOP IN THE SLUG LINE THERE! AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG, THAT'S WHO!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Jeezuz.

"Didn't know I was taking so much." KIDS TODAY

And when did we last see you in school exactly?

"Oh, if I had both my arms, I'd show you an egg beater!"

The little tyke will grow into his face, unfortunately.

You're gonna love North Africa.

Make the kids walk, it'll toughen 'em up.

Well imagine that.

"It's got to be love...it couldn't be tonsillitis...feels like neuritis...nevertheless it's love...."

With such bold leadership skills, Beezie is clearly officer material.

 

[Fading Fast]

("WHATTAYA MEAN HE AIN' IN YET," bellows Sally into the mouthpiece of the pay phone. "Stop tryn'a disguise ya verse, McDonal', I know it's you! Yeah, it's me! I wanna tawk t' Rickey! I got some trades t'go oveh wit'tim. Yeh! Witta Pittsboigs! You know what I mean! Whattay mean who izzis?? You know very well who t'is is, Sally Petrauskas! NO I AIN'T GONNA SPELL IT! YOU GOT IT WROTE DOWN, AN' I KNOW YA DO. Yeh. Well when he comes in, fois' t'ing hav'm cawl me. Schrelbstein's Canny Stoeh. BEachview 2-9371. Yeh. T'eyll senna kid t'get me." "Hey Sal," interrupts Joe, looking up from a two-month-old copy of Whiz Comics. "I t'ink Leonoreh needs t' -- you know..." "Yeh, yeh, soon's I'm done wit'tis monkey! AN' YA BETTEH GIVE T'MESSAGE T'IS TIME, MCDONAL', WE AIN' STAWRTIN' ORF WIT' RICKEY LIKE IT WAS WIT' MACPHAIL! DON' TAKE T"AT TONE WIT' ME, I PAY YA SAL'RY!" )
...

If McDonal put Rickey on the phone with her, Rickey will want to renegotiate his contract immediately, "I don't care what we agreed to yesterday, you are not paying me enough if it includes talking to that Petrauskas woman, and two, I fired McDonal."

Kidding aside, why isn't Rickey limited to the $25,000 salary cap I thought we read was a WLB edict?

...

Soviet forces, advancing in a howling Caucasus blizzard, found scores of Germans frozen to death in their dugouts today, the first Nazi troops in Hitler's big 1942 offensive to perish in the dread Russian winter. Northeast of the Tuapse naval base in the western Caucasus, temperatures were far below zero, dispatches said, and Germans were reported to be using ski and sled detatchments in a desperate attempt to reach the warmer coast of the Black Sea before the blizzard froze them or made the mountains completely unpassable. A report in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda stated that snow in the territory is often waist deep in gorges, with avalanches seen to be thundering down mountainsides. Soviet ski troops, wrapped in heavy furs, were reported to be counterattacking and had already thwarted Nazi efforts along one sector to escape to the Black Sea.
...

Jesus.

...

In Los Angeles, the wife of a wealthy airline executive is seeking a divorce on the grounds that he had ordered her to be "his slave," and "head wife in a harem." Thirty-four-year-old Mrs. Evelyn McKee is seeking a divorce from 54-year-old Pan-American Airways executive Mark T. McKee Sr. after nine years of marriage. Mrs. McKee testified that from their wedding night in 1933 to the present, her husband has insisted on being treated like "King Solomon." Among the women with whom Mrs. McKee accused her husband of carrying on illicit affairs were her own sister, and a 17-year-old friend of his daughter.

One assumes Page Four will have pictures and more details.

...

(NOT FOR LONG! -- Butch)
...

He'd have been shut down long ago, but the police were too busy shutting down one-off women's poker games.

...

The 7-year-old Bronx girl who ran away from home with $1000 in cash is back home after police found her trying to rent a room in a boarding house in Jamaica. Mary Perez had $858.45 in her gray cardboard suitcase, and told police she hadn't taken the full thousand dollars. She told patrolmen that she had spent last night sleeping on a lawn in Flatbush.
..

She was always going to be the easier of the two girls to find; now, where's the missing girl with the $7500, which is about $136,000!!! in today's dollars.

...

("My word, McDonald, what's the meaning of this note. Your handwriting is reprehensible, my boy, reprehensible." "I'm sorry, sir, it's just that she was yelling in my ear, she always does that, she always yells in my ear." "This woman, this -- what is the name here, Paskudnyak? Poscatelli? Pallitianowitz? By Judas Priest, I shall find this town a challenge, my boy, a challenge!" "Look, sir, I gotta warn ya. If she calls, don't take the call. If she writes -- and she's gonna write -- throw it in the wastebasket. And if she shows up in the office here, hide in the closet. It's for your own good." "My word, boy, you're shaking like a reed in a storm-tossed night. Oh, I tell you, I do love a challenge, my boy, I DO LOVE A CHALLENGE!")
...

"...Paskudnyak? Poscatelli? Pallitianowitz?" Yup, spot on, as that is exactly how a Wasp would hear and say her name in that era.

And in the Daily News...

Jeezuz.
...

And Page Four didn't let us down. Mrs. McKee chose a Myrna Loy hat to wear to court. And how is hubby paying for the wife and eleven kids from the first marriage, plus the second wife and one kid, plus all the mistresses? He's a pilot, not the new general manager of the Dodgers or Betty Gable.

...

"Didn't know I was taking so much." KIDS TODAY
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For those keeping score at home and in 2022 dollars, our little runaway returned $36,000 (in the mail, mind you - think about putting $36,000 in the mail today) so far, but has kept $100,000.

...

"Oh, if I had both my arms, I'd show you an egg beater!"
...

"And who is this nightmare with the egg-beater hairdo?"

It's wrong, but funny as hell.

...

You're gonna love North Africa.
...

Considering the headlines, as long as the destination doesn't have a Russian or Japanese sounding name, he's batting better than average.

...

Well imagine that.
...

Did Terry find a way to get a message back to the Americans?

 

[LizzieMaine]

There has to be some kind of elaborate deferred salary deal to cover Mr. Rickey's excessive bindle here, because I doubt that, as a non-cussing, nondrinking, religious man, he would be able to best Jimmy Byrnes in an argument.

I look forward to him becoming "a true Brooklynite in every sense of the word." Leo can't wait to show him how to work a pinball machine.

And don't mess with Mr. Moose. He has seniority.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(That's one way NOT to get a deferment.)

A full-scale Japanese land attack on Guadalcanal, involving the use of at least 20,000 enemy troop supported by air and sea action will begin at any moment, if, in fact, it is not already underway, informed sources believe today. The most recent enemy land actions reported by Washington communique indicate that the next drive will be the most determined, and, perhaps, a decisive action. The Japanese land assault is expected to be aimed at Henderson Field, the airport of the small American-held section of Guadalcanal, from three sides simultaneously. Such a battle plan would follow the successful Japanese attacks of September 12-14, which, however, were made with considerably smaller forces than the present enemy concentration.

Powerful forces of Red Army infantry, tanks, and bombers were reported to have flung the Germans father back south of Stalingrad and to have captured three villages and seized the outskirts of a fourth. The newspaper Red Star, official Red Army organ, stated that the Russian forces had to smash stern resistance and fierce counterattacks in their renewed drive into the German right flank. The Soviets had paused to consolidate positions gained in the first phase of the present drive but are now reported to be pressing onward again in an effort to draw pressure away from northern Stalingrad, where, fighting with their backs to the Volga River, defenders have driven back every attack against the industrial section of the city.

The President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations today warned a Senate subcommittee that "irresponsibility and planlessness" have marked this country's handling of the problem of channeling vital raw materials to factories producing tanks, planes, and guns. CIO chief Philip Murray testified today in favor of a bill proposed by Sen. Claude Pepper (D-Florida) calling for a Senate investigation into the current manpower problem. Murray asserted that much of the present problem stems from poor management of contracts by agencies in charge of assigning production to various plants, and pointed out that "our procurement agencies have allocated our contracts to factories in places where there are not sufficient people to do the job."

It appears certain today that 2900 tons of high-grade Brooklyn trolley tracks will soon be sent to the steel mills for conversion into war weapons. With jurisdiction over the rails, abandoned once bus lines took over former trolley routes, having been officially turned over by the Board of Transportation to the Borough President's office, Borough President John Cashmore has been meeting with representatives of the War Production Board and the WPA to determine the quickest method of digging up and removing the rails.

In Berryville, Arkansas, at least 25 persons were killed last night when a tornado swept thru the town. That many bodies had been recovered from the splintered remains of homes by dawn today, and searchers expect to find more.

("Hah!" hahs Joe, in the direction of Stella the Cat, stretched indolently beneath the stove. "How 'boutchoo? Y'wanna go'f'ra wawrk onna leash? Jus' like a daw---OW!!!!" "I tol'ya," remonstrates Sally, "not ta' plague t'at cat. Soives ya right." "Hah!" hahs Leonora. "Da DUM!")

("Dum, huh?" retorts Joe. "Say, when I was takin'nem night classes oveh t' New Utrick, I got a B plus writin' essays an' t'emes. Why, I wrote one jus' t'ot'eh day, an'..." "What?" "Nut'n.")

The Soviet Union's solution to a problem that now plagues the United States -- the care of children in wartime while their mothers work -- will be examined in detail next week when the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship holds a two-day conference next week in Manhattan, November 7th at the Hotel New Yorker, and November 8th at Madison Square Garden. A feature of the program will be a panel discussion of the arrangements made for the care and protection of Russian children in wartime in a network of kindergartens and public nurseries, said to be one of the outstanding achievements of the Soviet Union. The conference will also feature a salute to the gallant fighting courage of the Soviet people.

Families of men serving in the Armed Forces should avoid sending food packages for Christmas, according to Brooklyn Postmaster Frank J. Quayle. Such parcels not only attract vermin, but are unnecessary since the Armed Forces are amply supplied with food. That being so, however, parcels containing foods packed in sealed tins or other hard containers will be accepted for mailing to military addresses. Food parcels packed in shoe boxes or other flimsy containers will not.

(Jeez, Gertie, you're as bad as Walt Wallet.)

The Eagle Editorialist welcomes Branch Rickey to Brooklyn, noting that "he did not get the nickname 'The Brain' for nothing," especially in St. Louis, "which is not considered a hot baseball town." The EE further points out that Mr. Rickey can expect his successes here to be "greeted with a far greater, warmer appreciation from the fans than his success earned in St. Louis," from "the most loyal fans on earth -- those who fill the stands at Ebbets Field."

(I hear Guadalcanal's nice.)

New York City Superintendant of Schools Dr. John E. Wade today warned the city's school pupils to "avoid causing damage" this Halloween, warning that "destruction of property may mean the destruction of something that cannot be replaced during the war period."

The president of the Orphan Asylum Society of the City of Brooklyn today denied charges by the city welfare commissioner that her organization refuses to care for Negro children. Mrs. E. Otis Houghton of 555 Ocean Avenue issued a public statement in response to the assertion by Welfare Commissioner William Hodson that the Orphan Asylum Society is one of five out of the 63 orphanages in the city to reject Negro children, and that therefore, all children paid for by the city as public charges are being withdrawn in compliance with the anti-discrimination resolution adopted by the Board of Estimate under the 1942-43 city budget. Mrs. Houghton stated that "we have not declined to admit Negro children and and we have full sympathy for these children. But we did not feel that we are quite ready to do so." Mrs. Houghton further stated that capacity for her organization is presently limited due to wartime demands, but when asked if she intends to accept Negro children in the future, she responded "there is no use talking about that. I would not discuss it."

(Slumped with his head down on his desk on the fourth floor of 215 Montague Street, Brooklyn National League Baseball Club secretary John McDonald is roused from his torpor by the sharp jingle of the telephone. "McDon..." he begins, lifting the receiver. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!" blasts a foghorn roar. "Uh, Mr. MacPh...uh, that is, Colonel, sir, uh..." "GOT NO TIME FOR YOUR BABBLING! I'M A BUSY MAN! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" "Uh, Colonel, you called..." "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE IN THE EAGLE! THE LIFE STORY OF BRANCH RICKEY! WHAT'S THAT BUSHY BROWED BUFFOON EVER DONE? DID HE WIN THE PENNANT IN 1941?" "Well, he did win the World Series this.." "NONSENSE! THE YANKEES LOST IT! THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE, MCDONALD, A BIG DIFFERENCE! AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT! NOW YOU TELL ME -- WHY ISN'T THIS 'THE LIFE OF LT. COL. LELAND STANFORD MACPHAIL!' WHERE WAS RICKEY IN THE LAST WAR WHEN I WAS OUT THERE RISKING MY LIFE! DID YOU KNOW I STOLE THE KAISER'S ASHTRAY? DID YOU??" "Uh, sir, I don't know, I really don't. But maybe you can help me, sir, in view of all the years we had together, sir -- you see, I think this punk Parrott is gunning for my job, the little kissup..." "NONSENSE, MCDONALD, WHO WOULD WANT YOUR JOB?" "You have a point there, sir. Listen, while I have you on the line, Mr. Rickey wants to know where we should put your moosehead." "I THINK YOU KNOW WHERE MR. RICKEY CAN PUT MY MOOSEHEAD. I'VE GOT TO GO! I'M A BUSY MAN! DON'T CALL ME AGAIN!" )

(Oh yeah? Well four eyes beats one eye -- MISS ONE EYE!)

("No offense, I mean, it isn't your fault you're weak-willed and easily swayed. Like when you were talking to that hat salesman...")

(HOW CAN YOU TELL?)

*snif*

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News....

Miss Lake has just learned a valuable lesson about dealing with artists.

"Penny pinching, tight fisted tactics are definitely out." Mr. Camilli can only hope.

"I demand a lawyer!" "Close enough!"

SO WHEN WILL WE SEE YOU IN SCHOOL????

Yes, but did you get $1500 for it?

Some pretty good movies, too.

So much for that then.

The Army isn't so different from life back home, is it kid?

"Well, he loved to gamble..."

In this fast-changing wartime world, it's good to know you can always count on Goofy to be an idiot.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

(Jeez, Gertie, you're as bad as Walt Wallet.)
...

If a man was looking for a not-clever woman, one just identified herself.

Maybe the breed's evolved, but that is the most active and fleet-of-foot English bulldog I've ever heard about or seen.

...

The president of the Orphan Asylum Society of the City of Brooklyn today denied charges by the city welfare commissioner that her organization refuses to care for Negro children. Mrs. E. Otis Houghton of 555 Ocean Avenue issued a public statement in response to the assertion by Welfare Commissioner William Hodson that the Orphan Asylum Society is one of five out of the 63 orphanages in the city to reject Negro children, and that therefore, all children paid for by the city as public charges are being withdrawn in compliance with the anti-discrimination resolution adopted by the Board of Estimate under the 1942-43 city budget. Mrs. Houghton stated that "we have not declined to admit Negro children and and we have full sympathy for these children. But we did not feel that we are quite ready to do so." Mrs. Houghton further stated that capacity for her organization is presently limited due to wartime demands, but when asked if she intends to accept Negro children in the future, she responded "there is no use talking about that. I would not discuss it."
...

This story is both horrible and encouraging. Mrs. Houghton, who managed to say this presumably with a straight face:

"[W]e have not declined to admit Negro children and and we have full sympathy for these children. But we did not feel that we are quite ready to do so,"

should move to Germany to be with her like-minded friends, but the encouraging part is that the official policy of the city in 1942 is one of anti-discrimination and what we are reading about here is the city truly enforcing its policy.

As Lizzie says, a new world's coming, and this is one of the good signs.

...

(Slumped with his head down on his desk on the fourth floor of 215 Montague Street, Brooklyn National League Baseball Club secretary John McDonald is roused from his torpor by the sharp jingle of the telephone. "McDon..." he begins, lifting the receiver. "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!" blasts a foghorn roar. "Uh, Mr. MacPh...uh, that is, Colonel, sir, uh..." "GOT NO TIME FOR YOUR BABBLING! I'M A BUSY MAN! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" "Uh, Colonel, you called..." "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS NONSENSE IN THE EAGLE! THE LIFE STORY OF BRANCH RICKEY! WHAT'S THAT BUSHY BROWED BUFFOON EVER DONE? DID HE WIN THE PENNANT IN 1941?" "Well, he did win the World Series this.." "NONSENSE! THE YANKEES LOST IT! THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE, MCDONALD, A BIG DIFFERENCE! AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT! NOW YOU TELL ME -- WHY ISN'T THIS 'THE LIFE OF LT. COL. LELAND STANFORD MACPHAIL!' WHERE WAS RICKEY IN THE LAST WAR WHEN I WAS OUT THERE RISKING MY LIFE! DID YOU KNOW I STOLE THE KAISER'S ASHTRAY? DID YOU??" "Uh, sir, I don't know, I really don't. But maybe you can help me, sir, in view of all the years we had together, sir -- you see, I think this punk Parrott is gunning for my job, the little kissup..." "NONSENSE, MCDONALD, WHO WOULD WANT YOUR JOB?" "You have a point there, sir. Listen, while I have you on the line, Mr. Rickey wants to know where we should put your moosehead." "I THINK YOU KNOW WHERE MR. RICKEY CAN PUT MY MOOSEHEAD. I'VE GOT TO GO! I'M A BUSY MAN! DON'T CALL ME AGAIN!" )
...

...

(HOW CAN YOU TELL?)

...

Good one, Lizzie.

And in the Daily News....

Miss Lake has just learned a valuable lesson about dealing with artists.
...

My mistake yesterday, as what I thought was a philandering "pilot" is actually a vice president (when that meant something) at Pan Am (when that meant something), which explains how he pays for all his families and "adventures." That said, I'm not sure I followed the point of all the machinations around Muffy (God bless that nickname), but I get what he wanted.

Veronica is so "happily" married that she'll be divorced in just over a year. As to her platform wedgies, IMDB list Ms. Lake as being just under 5'2", which is a polite Hollywood way of saying (from what I've read over the years and what a careful eye can see in her movies) her true height is probably just under 5' and nuddin'.

...

"Penny pinching, tight fisted tactics are definitely out." Mr. Camilli can only hope.
...

In answer to yesterday's query (thank you, Daily News) it appears Rickey's salary was reverse engineered to meet the $25k cap, but it would be nice to know what qualifies as a "fixed obligation" in this context.

...

"I demand a lawyer!" "Close enough!"
...

"You can have a lawyer later..." Ah, 1942 police procedures.

And this is from a section of a letter to the editor: "Way to give the game away, Tracy, 'right now we want to hear your beautiful voice.' Heck, even Bo would have done better." Signed, Sandy c/o LOA.

...

SO WHEN WILL WE SEE YOU IN SCHOOL????
...

It's 1942 and one of Johnny's math tutors is a girl. The past was never as black and white as we like to think today.

...

So much for that then.
...

Another bad call on my part yesterday, but that's what I get for assuming Terry did something right. Rouge still has a few tricks up her sleeve, I'd bet.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Annie must be an embryonic incarnation of one of those "School of Hard Knocks, University of Life" types we hear so much about.

 

[PrivateEye]

Maybe the breed's evolved, but that is the most active and fleet-of-foot English bulldog I've ever heard about or seen.

As the owner of a 10-year old English Bulldog, I can tell you that in his best day he could run like the wind...for about 30 feet. Today he sleeps about 22 hours a day and gets winded waddling from the couch to his dinner bowl.

Veronica is so "happily" married that she'll be divorced in just over a year. As to her platform wedgies, IMDB list Ms. Lake as being just under 5'2", which is a polite Hollywood way of saying (from what I've read over the years and what a careful eye can see in her movies) her true height is probably just under 5' and nuddin'.

Veronica is hands-down my favorite women of the era, but $1,500 (about $27k in today's money) for a two-minute dance seems pretty steep!

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Hah!" exults Joe. "Y'know, it cos' 15 cents extra t'send a letteh registehed, but I'd say t'at ain' too much t'pay t'get back at a buncha bums suckehed y'outa six dollehs las' week!" "What?" "Nut'n.")

Married men with jobs in any of 34 classifications considered vital to the war effort will be reclassified as 3-B by Selective Service, as the time approaches when married men in class 3-A can expect to be called for military service. Selective Service officials warn that the 3-B classification, which defers men on the grounds of both dependency and occupational necessity, does not assure a man of permanent deferment -- it only serves to postpone conscription until the pool of childless men in class 3-A has been exhausted. At that time, the status of all 3-B classifications will be re-examined. Draft officials note that the pool of single men suitable for military service has been "virtually exhausted," as the Army works toward a goal of 7,500,000 men in uniform by the end of 1943. To achieve this goal, it is admitted that nearly all married men without children presently classed in 3-A and physically capable of military service, will need to be taken.

Russian lines held everywhere today although the size and ferocity of German attacks in the vital Nalchik area of the Caucasus rivaled those in Stalingrad. The Germans threw 1000 men and eight tanks against a factory area in northern Stalingrad, in another of innumerable efforts to break thru to the Volga River. Three of those tanks were disabled and 200 Germans killed. The Soviet High Command reported in a communique that the Germans did not advance in the Nalchik area despite a force made up of 65 tanks and armored cars, 1000 men with Tommy guns, and swarms of planes, with the Red Army destroying 18 tanks, 20 loaded trucks, and 240 Germans.

Negro workers in Brooklyn are being urged to take advantage of training courses that will lead to skilled jobs. A statement released by the Brooklyn Urban League noted that "far too many Negroes are going into labor and porter jobs, and far too few are taking training course for skilled jobs." The League indicated that it has placed 900 workers in skilled industries during September and October, and has referred another 210 to training courses. Negro men looking for war work are urged to register at the Urban League employment office at 105 Fleet Street.

(Some day there'll be unimaginably sophisticated technology that will allow billions of people all over the world to ask and answer dumb questions.)

One woman was killed and four other persons were injured when a fully-loaded 7 ton truck rolled down the hill at 18th Street and 4th Avenue in Park Slope, and the driver of that truck is being held on manslaughter charges. Fifty-five-year-old Mrs. R. W. Lukaszewski of 705 5th Avenue was crushed to death when the truck jumped the curb at 4th Avenue after it rolled away from driver Giuseppe Venito, who stopped the vehicle in front of 205 18th Street and had climbed out of the cab to fix the air breaks. The truck rolled down the hill, with Venito running after it, and did not come to a stop until after it struck the group of people, hit the front of an empty store, and rammed into a stoop at the front of 163 18th Street. Among the injured persons were two seven-year-old girls. All are being treated for head and leg injuries.

Mayor LaGuardia is urging the city to find work for 1200 sandhogs who will be put off the job by the WPB order halting construction on the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel as of November 15th. That order, served on the New York City Tunnel Authority yesterday, resulted in an emergency meeting of Authority members, where a resolution was adopted to seek an "application for exemption" that could allow work to continue for up to 18 months on the project so long as more vital war materials are not required for the drilling work.

The Mayor last night predicted the political doom of Democratic State Chairman James A. Farley due to the "campaign of personal vengeance and hatred" he accused the former Postmaster General of conducting on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial cadndiate John Bennett. Speaking on a broadcast in support of American Labor Party candidate Dean Alfange, the Mayor further condemned the Bennett campaign as being dominated by "the remnants of the America First Committee, soreheads, isolationists, and job seekers," and he expressed pity for Attorney General Bennett, declaring that "no candidate is good enough to carry as heavy a load as Jim Farley," and he predicted that the "wholesome" result of the coming election will be "the complete elimination" of Farley from the political scene.

("Tawked t'Ma today," relates Sally as she dunks diapers one by one in the pail. "She says she's goin' downa Todd's t'take a look at t'setup, an' if she likes it, she says she might sign up." "T'woik inna dry dock?" queries Joe, his eyes wide."Y'Ma? Wha's she know f'm weldin'?" "She c'n loin," replies Sally. "She seen'nem dames inna papeh t'otteh day, an'ney ain' got nut'n she ain' got." "She's, what, fifty-t'ree yeehs ol'? How can she stan' t'gaff?" "My Ma? You kiddin'? B'sides, since Mickey wen' inna Awrmy, she got nut'n betteh t'do." "She'll be runnin' t'jernt," mutters Joe. "She will," nods Sally. "An' it'll be betteh fawr it!")

Orson Welles will appear alongside Olivia DeHavilland and other luminaries over WEAF tomorrow night at 11:30 pm in a special program from Hollywood put on by the Congress for Soviet-American Friendship. Mr. Welles will do that broadcast just ten hours after appearing on the NBC "Labor for Victory" drama, but his regular "Hello Americans" feature for Latin-American friendship over CBS will be postponed to November 15th to allow him to appear on the Soviet-American program. As if Mr. Welles is not busy enough, he will begin a new series for CBS, to be heard locally over WABC, called "Ceiling Unlimited," described as a thriller drama about American aviation, on November 9th.

The Eagle's Ear To The Ground columnist Clifford Evans is now on the air three nights a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:15 pm over station WLIB.

Radio's Amos 'n' Andy have been offered a "fabulous sum" to headline a Broadway musical, to be produced by Williams Miller, head of Luna Park, but they have refused the offer, declaring that they will not perform in blackface on stage or on the screen.

("Into the Army with you! Baldness is no deferrment!")

Reader Mabel J. Swain of Mineola writes in to hope that WPB chief Donald Nelson will change his mind about putting civilians in uniform as a way of conserving materials for the war effort. "Modish clothes," she declares, "frequently of inferior quality and expensive merely because of their cut or color, are too great a drain on the pocketbook now."

(And at 215 Montague Street, John McDonald slips the bottle back into his desk drawer, gazes over at the moosehead sitting forlornly next to the hatrack in the corner, and lets out a long sigh.)

(Hey, why is Jane Corby reviewing movies? Is Herbie Cohen on vacation, or did he get drafted? Is the manpower shortage so desperate they're taking movie critics now?)

(Every paper has a Page Four!)

("Of course I've got the license! I'm no rattle-brained hepcat! Don't let the hat fool you!")

("That spirit gum is strong stuff!" "Dan, that was his real hair. Look, his scalp is bleeding!" "Oh well.")

("And once I finish that, it'll be just about time for 'Lum and Abner.' But I'll get to him eventually. Hey, is that hamburger stand next door open? This isn't Tuesday, is it?")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"You're on in two minutes, Miss Lee," shouts the call boy. "Tell them to play thru another chorus," Miss Lee snaps. "I need to call my lawyer. 'Gypsy Markoff' indeed!"

So does that make her the Queen of Sheba? C'mon, Flo, you gotta keep up.

"We should have a daughter next time," declares Bim. "No we shouldn't," insists Millie.

Events appear to be rushing to a climax. Sorry, Rouge.

"This Corporal Wallet," says the personnel officer. "Is he a good man?" "NO HE ISN'T" shouts Sergeant Wilmer Bobble.

"And then -- we make our move! NONE SHALL RESIST US!" "What?" "Nut'n."

"What'd you say? I can't hear a thing with that kid yelling in the background!"

"Over-protective parenting, you say?" muses Andy. "Never heard of it. Where IS my kid, anyway?"

He loses more coats that way.

DONT YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?????

 

[Fading Fast]

("Hah!" exults Joe. "Y'know, it cos' 15 cents extra t'send a letteh registehed, but I'd say t'at ain' too much t'pay t'get back at a buncha bums suckehed y'outa six dollehs las' week!" "What?" "Nut'n.")
...

If you only read the Eagle's headlines, for weeks now, you would think Bennett was running unopposed as I don't think I've seen Dewey's name up there once.

...

The Mayor last night predicted the political doom of Democratic State Chairman James A. Farley due to the "campaign of personal vengeance and hatred" he accused the former Postmaster General of conducting on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial cadndiate John Bennett. Speaking on a broadcast in support of American Labor Party candidate Dean Alfange, the Mayor further condemned the Bennett campaign as being dominated by "the remnants of the America First Committee, soreheads, isolationists, and job seekers," and he expressed pity for Attorney General Bennett, declaring that "no candidate is good enough to carry as heavy a load as Jim Farley," and he predicted that the "wholesome" result of the coming election will be "the complete elimination" of Farley from the political scene.
...

I don't know anything more about Farley than what we've read in these papers, but in 1982, his reputation was good enough to get NYC's main (and very impressive 1914 Beaux-Arts) post office named after him. The building is now being used as part of Penn Station (bringing some classic architecture back to the sad history of Penn).

...


(Hey, why is Jane Corby reviewing movies? Is Herbie Cohen on vacation, or did he get drafted? Is the manpower shortage so desperate they're taking movie critics now?)
...

I have no idea why, but I always think of Cohn as a late middle-aged man (like guys we often see in Lichty). As to "Washington Slept Here," it's uneven but amusing. That said, if you can wait until 1948 when "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" is released, you can see a better version of the same story.

And in the Daily News...

"You're on in two minutes, Miss Lee," shouts the call boy. "Tell them to play thru another chorus," Miss Lee snaps. "I need to call my lawyer. 'Gypsy Markoff' indeed!"
...

You go Greer Garson, you show 'em that it's not just the men who can do it. (The marriage lasted five years, which is four years longer than I would have guessed.)

$60 underwear (which even at its 1942 price seems expensive in 2022) is actually ~$1100 underwear in 2022 dollars. Is there $1100 underwear being made and sold somewhere in the world today?

...

So does that make her the Queen of Sheba? C'mon, Flo, you gotta keep up.
...

"...there was a grease spot on the wall at the head of the bed from his greasy hair." One wonders if there was an indentation there too.

This husband and wife deserve each other.

...

DONT YOU KNOW THERE'S A WAR ON?????

If Lillums has a brain in her head, she'll take one look out the window and stay on the train.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(Ahhhhhhh, politics. )

A Nazi move to deliver Denmark into the hands of the newly formed Danish Nazi Party was underway tonight, as part of a German move to tighten control over an increasingly restive Europe. The campaign has taken the form of the mobilization of all of Danish Nazi leader Fritz Clausen's followers for a series of mass rallies tomorrow, with the main session to be held in Copenhagen. Nazi-run newspapers in Copenhagen promised that "the swastika will fly over the whole country and will sweep Denmark like a typhoon."

Efforts by Nazi occupation forces in Poland to halt sabotage are leading to a new reign of terror in that country, with the summary execution of 55 hostages in the small town of Palmiry, fifteen miles from Warsaw.

A shortwave broadcast from London by British Labor Minister Ernest Bevin warned French workers today that Nazi concentration camps await them if they agree to go to work in German war factories. Bevin declared that the Nazi government would never allow such workers to return alive to France.

Mrs. Roosevelt today visited in London with the exiled Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands and President Edward Benes of Czechoslovakia before motoring into the country to visit with the recently-widowed Duchess of Kent. The FIrst Lady's day also included tea with several old school friends, and a visit to the War Prisoners' Department at St. James Palace, where she watched the packing of parcels for British soldiers held in Axis prison camps, and donated a one-pound note to the cause. Meanwhile, the London Evening Standard published an open letter to Mrs. Roosevelt by feature writer Collie Knox, urging her to "escape from your entourage" and visit the English people unannounced. "It will surprise you," the writer suggested, "what you will learn on your own."

An eleven-year-old boy from Sunset Park was robbed yesterday of the money he was carrying to pay his family's electric light bill -- and of his new wool sweater. Sidney Lordahl of 4929 6th Avenue was on his way to the Brooklyn Edison office at 4th Avenue and 69th Street carrying $10 to pay his family's bill, when he was stopped at the door by a swarthy man in a brown suit who offered him a quarter to run an errand. When Sidney agreed to do so, the man offered to hold the envelope containing the money "for safe keeping" until he returned, and then, noting the new sweater, knitted for the boy by his mother, the man suggested letting him hold that "for safekeeping" as well. When Sidney returned from the errand, the man, the money, and the sweater were all gone. Police from the 86th Street Station are searching for the thief.

(STILL WAITING FOR THE MAGISTRATE SOLOMON MOVIE SERIES)

Arturo Toscanini will conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra today in a broadcast of "Rhapsody in Blue" by Brooklyn-born George Gershwin. The piece was written in 1924 for Paul Whiteman, who commented, upon learning that Toscanini planned to feature it, "the true test of music is whether it can last. 'The Rhapsody in Blue' has lasted 18 years -- and now it will live forever." Swing king Benny Goodman will perform the clarinet solo in today's broadcast. Mrs. Rose Gershwin, the late composer's mother, formerly of Park Slope but now of Central Park West, will be the guest of honor at the performance. Among the treasures Mrs. Gershwin displays in her apartment is a photograph of Toscanini, autographed to her son "with great admiration" shortly before his death in 1937. "It is wonderful about the concert," commented Mrs. Gershwin, "but I would like it better if George were here."

If John J. Bennett wins the upcoming election, he will be the first Governor of the State of New York ever to be born in Brooklyn. Mr. Bennett was born in Red Hook, and lives now with his wife and four children at 220 77th Street in Bay Ridge. His Republican opponent, Thomas E. Dewey, was born in Owosso, Michigan, and lives with his wife and two children in Manhattan.

Registration for fuel oil rations will begin tomorrow, with 4000 volunteers staffing registration points set up at 116 public schools in Brooklyn and 69 in Queens. Kings County Administrator of the War Price and Rationing Board George C. Tilyou stated that registrations will be taken at those locations from 9 AM to 4 PM tomorrow, as well as on November 4, 6, 9 and 10. Applicants with questions about the registration requirement should go to their nearest branch of the Brooklyn Civilian Defense Volunteer Office where registrars qualified to answer those questions will be stationed. Applicants should be prepared to supply the measurements of each room in their dwellings, along with the total amount of floor space devoted to living quarters.

The Eagle Editorialist reiterates the paper's endorsement of John J. Bennett for Governor, stressing that he deserves election based on his "fine record as Attorney General," and warns that a vote for Dewey, regardless of his accomplishments as Manhattan District Attorney, means a return to "the reactionary policies" of the Republican Party, which has "sought to block many of the forward-looking plans of the Democratic governors." He further argues that voters still planning to cast their ballot for American Labor Party candidate Dean Alfange should "stop to realize what that vote would mean. Alfange, of course, has no chance to win, so a vote for Alfange is the same as half a vote for Dewey."

Reader Jere J. Alcock writes in to demand that "tampering with our National Anthem must cease," and complains that the "emasculation" of the lyrics by "foreign propagandists" must be resisted, as it was in 1905-1907, when an effort to eliminate the third verse from school textbooks "in the interest of international amity" was overturned.

(It's all love and kisses now, but let's see what happens if he trades Camilli.)

Rough and rugged Harlem middleweight Victor Dellicurti will attempt to cut Sugar Ray Robinson down to size next Friday at Madison Square Garden in a ten-round event. Robinson remains undefeated as he seeks his 38th consecutive win since beginning his professional ring career. He won his 37th in Philadephia two weeks ago, outpointing Izzy Janazzo in ten rounds.

("A ship isn't the Belt Parkway." Well that's one way to drive Navy recruitment!)

An order by the War Production Board is warning Brooklyn housewives to stop using gas heaters or kitchen ovens as a supplemental source of residential heating due to the gas shortage.

("But whattabout my feet?" protests Joe. "Wear t'em socks Ma give ya f'Chris'mas las' yeeah," suggests Sally as she slaps her husband's pedal extremities off the open oven door. "Doncha know t'eah's a wawr on?")

The "Mad Xylophonist" featured in "Star and Garter" at the Music Box Theatre is really a very mild and staid fellow, who draws a firm line between his stage persona as the mallet-tapping "Professor Lambertini" and the businesslike Basil Lambert, whose career has taken him from home-talent minstrel shows in small-town Indiana, to assorted stock companies and circuses, to, finally, Broadway stardom. Formerly a drummer and a trapeze aerialist, Lambert learned the xylophone while bored backstage, and when he figured he was good enough, he came up with the "Professor Lambertini" title to give himself "a classy foreign virtuouso bit." His trademark is always parking his chewing gum on a little-used key on his instrument while performing, a bit which began when he forgot to take the gum out of his mouth before going on stage, and which got such a laugh he figured he'd better keep it.

To cut--or not to cut. That's question for Veronica Lake, whose famous blonde bob has grown considerably since she last cut it, putting on six and a half inches in the past year and a half. Miss Lake is becoming fonder each day of the luxuriant tresses, which can now be seen in Paramount's "The Glass Key," now thrilling audiences at the Brooklyn Fox.

(Poor horse. Needs a better agent.)

(We should be finished with this Halloween story just in time for Christmas.)

(Mr. Bushmiller devotes a lot of time to the hat section in the Sears catalog.)

(You know, Angel could really use a haircut. And HOW'M I DOING NOW DAN? PRETTY DAMN GOOD FOR COMEDY RELIEF, HUH DAN? YOU'D BE DEAD NOW IF IT WASN'T FOR ME DAN.)

(YEAH, says Mr. Hix. SO WHY IS MY PAYCHECK ALWAYS LATE?)

(ALREADY?)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Y'know, they sent Lew Ayres to a labor camp and yet he's still more patriotic than -- some people.

"You know everyone has to do something!"

"Wow, just like at Luna Park! Hey look, that one makes me look fat!"

EVERYBODY'S A COMMANDO! Doesn't anyone serve in the Finance Corps?

"Children learn what they live."

Sorry, no post-game show.

SHOULD This Marriage Be Saved?

They sound Scandanavian, but that's as far as I can go.

Every once in a while it's worth stopping to reflect on just what a gifted artist Frank King really is.

Sandy is ready to enlist right now.

 

[Fading Fast]

(Ahhhhhhh, politics. )
...

Dewey finally made it to the headlines.

Greer Garson's marriage being front-page news in a Brooklyn paper reflects the cultural significance of "Mrs. Miniver."

The loss of even one aircraft carrier is meaningful and dispiriting even when you know how it all turns out.

...

(STILL WAITING FOR THE MAGISTRATE SOLOMON MOVIE SERIES)
...

Exactly how many mid-forty-year-old men did the army really induct? Solomon should check out both of their stories.

...

To cut--or not to cut. That's question for Veronica Lake, whose famous blonde bob has grown considerably since she last cut it, putting on six and a half inches in the past year and a half. Miss Lake is becoming fonder each day of the luxuriant tresses, which can now be seen in Paramount's "The Glass Key," now thrilling audiences at the Brooklyn Fox.
...

"...That's [the] question for Veronica Lake Angel Varden...."

And in the Daily News...

Y'know, they sent Lew Ayres to a labor camp and yet he's still more patriotic than -- some people.
...

I haven't read anything but what we've seen in these papers (and I'm sure I've missed some of that), but the economics of this get screwy as, if the stars don't get paid, then the money simply stays with the studio or, for a radio star, with the sponsor, so how does that help the war effort? Wouldn't the gov't be better off letting the stars make their money, so that the gov't could then tax it? I guess the studios and sponsors will show higher profits and be taxed on that, but then all the salary cap does is take money from the stars and give it to the studios or sponsors.

...

"Wow, just like at Luna Park! Hey look, that one makes me look fat!" ...

"...is a genius and a Quisling of the first water..."

I had to look "first water" up.

First Water
The phrase comes from a technical term used to describe diamonds. The degree of brilliance in a diamond is called its “water”, so a “diamond of the first water” is an exceptionally fine diamond.

...

Sorry, no post-game show.
...

It's war and she's an active enemy agent, so Terry, just punch her in the face already. Wait, though, for the next time she says "Terr-ee!" for maximum effect.

...


Sandy is ready to enlist right now.

"What do you mean my salary's been capped, I have a contract! The career of an actor can be quite short. So instead, Marsh gets to keep all my money, how is that fair?"

"Valid points, Sandy, but perhaps I'll soften it up a bit for the press release."
"My fur-grooming bill a year alone is more that $25,000!"
"I think I'll leave that out of the release too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A lot of the radio sponsors are looking to slash their advertising budgets right now anyway due to product/raw material shortages, so the cap works just fine from their point of view. What gets me is that the first star to try and cash out is superpatriotic Miss God Bless America herself, Kate Smith. Bad PR there, hon.

 

[Fading Fast]

A lot of the radio sponsors are looking to slash their advertising budgets right now anyway due to product/raw material shortages, so the cap works just fine from their point of view. What gets me is that the first star to try and cash out is superpatriotic Miss God Bless America herself, Kate Smith. Bad PR there, hon.

Like Sandy showed us today, it can be hard, sometimes, to see the big picture.

Until today, I hadn't thought about how the cap really hands money to the people paying these stars, which doesn't seem fair at all or helpful to the war effort.

I meant to mention this a few days ago. The mornings after the first and second games of this year's World Series, I went to ESPN to read the box scores, etc., and, on both mornings, discovered on ESPN's homepage that the World Series account was the third story down.

On both days, regular season NFL stories were first and second. That's pretty amazing as ESPN put those reasonably unimportant stories ahead of the story on a World Series game. That pretty much tells you how much MLB has fallen in popularity since its heyday.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think if they broadcast Rob Manfred's defenestration as part of the pregame show, there'd be a bump in viewership.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Floaters" were voters who had no particular allegience to any party or any candidate, who "floated around" polling stations offering to sell their votes to the highest bidder. Ward heelers knew who the floaters were, and waited at the polls to slip a little something into their pockets as they stood in the voting line. As implied here, they might also vote -- repeatedly, by moving from precinct to precinct -- under the identities of registered voters who were for whatever reason absent from the polls. Use of floaters was rampant in 19th Century machine politics, and while not as common, still lingers into the mid-20th.)

Attorney General John J. Bennett today renewed his clash with New York State Republican chairman Edwin F. Jaeckle over charges linking the GOP chieftain with the German-American Bund. The Democratic nominee for governor asserted today from his headquarters at the Hotel Biltmore that Jaeckle, Republican leader of Erie County, had convinced only two persons out of Erie's population of 750,000 to defend him against the charges, and that those two were Erie County office holders who owed their jobs to Jaeckle's patronage. The Bennett-Jaeckle row erupted Saturday when Bennett charged that legal papers incorporating the Bund in Buffalo bore the name of Jaeckle's law firm, and that a 1937 article in a Buffalo newspaper had placed Jaeckle himself alongside the then-German Ambassador on the platform at a German Day rally, where according to photographic evidence, men resembling uniformed storm troopers had marched. Jaeckle denied the charges, and telegrams from Jaeckle's two Erie County supporters asserted that the marching men seen in the photograph were actually members of the Buffalo American Legion Drum Corps. Bennett in his statement today stood by his charges, and further stated that "the fact that Thomas E. Dewey has nothing to say concerning Jaeckle and the Bund must be very disconcerting to everyone who abhors everything to do with Nazis."

German forces inside Stalingrad retreated further today in the face of powerful Soviet counterattacks, but battlefront dispatches stated that Germany is rushing additional troops, planes, and tanks to the Nalchik area of the Eastern Caucasus for a surprise effort to drive to the Georgian military highway. A Soviet communique reported that four German tanks had been blown up and 12 truckloads of troops and supplies destroyed in the Nalchik area. A report broadcast over Radio Berlin acknowledged that the Red Army "does not seem to know of any shortage of ammunition, and is keeping up incessant fire."

American fighter planes have attacked Japanese shipping in Kowloon Harbor, hitting and setting fire to one freighter and scoring near misses on two others, according to a communique. The planes strafed and dive-bombed Japanese ships and installations in the harbor, with one American plane shot down, probably by a formation of Zeroes.

(There's Always A Brooklyn Angle.)

County Judge Peter J. Brancato today urged the November grand jury to "cooperate fully" with agencies seeking to deal with pretend they can deal with draft boards to obtain special consideration for men subject to call. "This is not a new racket," observed the Judge. "There were traitors during the last World War who plied their nefarious profession. Nothing seems to be too low or degrading for these chiselers. I don't believe there will come to your consideration a more insidious and despicable form of thievery than that practiced by this type of unpatriotic and dishonest person. Give your full-hearted to cooperation to those agencies endeavoring to exterminate this form of human vermin when found crawling around a draft board."

(Hey, Gypsy -- Margie's got a movie. Where's your movie?)

The Eagle Editorialist notes the 25th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration calling for a Jewish homeland in Palestine by declaring that "in view of what has happened to the Jews in Europe at the hands of the Nazi butchers, the interest in and the need for a Jewish homeland is greater than ever before. It must not be forgotten or pushed aside in the midst of the present world upheaval."

(Mrs Lichty says OH YEAH?)

Artie McGovern, physical trainer for famous athletes and prominent businessmen whose ministrations are believed to have added years to Babe Ruth's home-run-hitting career, died after a brief illness at an Arizona hospital yesterday. He was 54. Mr. McGovern, himself a former flyweight prizefighter, opened his gymnasium in Manhattan in 1925, and Ruth -- coming off a poor season in which he slumped to only 25 home runs -- was his first notable client. McGovern sweated 40 pounds off the Bambino that winter, and in his new streamlined form, Ruth emerged in 1926 to slam out 47 circuit clouts before setting the all time single-season record of 60 the following year. His success with the Babe made Mr. McGovern's name, and since then other prominent clients have included golfers Gene Sarazen and Johnny Farrell, tennis star Vincent Richards, and boxing champion Jack Dempsey. He was also engaged by Larry MacPhail a few years back to provide a stiff spring training regimen for the Dodgers.

("T'at's what I been tryin' t'TELL 'im!" roars Sally. "TOO MANY OL' MEN! Like, oh, f'zample, 'at Hoiman. Ol' granpa out'teah c'n hawrdly move onnem pivots. Not like, oh, you know, t'at kid t'ey got in Pittsboig." "Ah," mutters Joe. "T'one hit .228 las' yeeah?" "AN'NAT WAS UP AWMOS' A HUNNE'T PERNTS! Y'C'N LOOK IT UP!")

("By the way, don't I kinda look like Fred Astaire? Hey, wanna dance?")

("We get the JP's brother in a dice game? All brothers-in-law like dice games, right?")

("CAUSE IF YOU'RE NOT WE CAN SHOOT HIM AGAIN!")

(WATCH THAT BEDSIDE MANNER DOC, YOU'RE DEALING WITH AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG)

(Well now, something new has been added! If the look is familiar, it's because Dale Ulrey used to be Dale Connor, who used to be the "Dale" half of "Dale Allen," who drew "Mary Worth" until this past spring. A plucky paperboy vs. the Dead End Kids seems like an interesting concept, even though Hugh and Merry look an awful lot like Dennie and Sunny. We'll see if there's a haughty older sister who looks like Leona.)