The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

HEAR HEAR!

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

These cicra war papers are really the goods.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

In Philadelphia, the Navy yesterday launched its heaviest battleship ever, with Navy Undersecretary James V. Forrestal promising that she will be ready within five months to help avenge the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The U. S. S. New Jersey slid into the Delaware River after being christened by Mrs. Charles Edison, wife of the New Jersey governor. The new ship has been designed to reflect "all the lessons learned at Pearl Harbor and in subsequent naval battles, particularly in battles involving air power."
...

Hey, thanks for this but just asking, any chance you got a new aircraft carrier or two that will be ready to launch soon?

...

An order by Majestic Theatre owner Lee Shubert closing the Broadway play "Native Son" was rescinded today in the face of protests by the New York League of Theatres, the Dramatists Guild, Actors Equity, ant the Association of Theatrical Agents and Managers Unions. Shubert had ordered the drama of Negro life based on the book by Richard Wright closed in the face of its condemnation by the Catholic Theatre Movement, and in the wake of a jury verdict ordering the closing of the revue "Wine, Women, and Song." The Catholic Theatre Movement had declared "Native Son" "wholly objectionable," along with "Wine, Women, and Song" and the Gypsy Rose Lee/Bobby Clark revue "Star and Garter."
...

There will be further developments in this story.

..

(I don't know that a wartime production of "The Mikado" would be in exactly the best of taste, but who am I, the Catholic Theatre Movement?)
...

Because "The Bride Came C.O.D." was recently in the theaters in '42, when TCM showed it the other day, I recorded it and watched it last night. It's a better movie than I remember it being as Bette Davis and James Cagney have very good chemistry and the supporting cast - Eugene Pallette, Harry Davenport, William Frawley and other familiar names - are equally enjoyable. It's an A picture from Warner Bros. where the quality of the production is obvious. Yes, it's a riff on "It Happened One Night," but a darn good one.

...

("Ma rolled a 290 game las' night," says Sally. "She's get'nna hang of it. She says Fitz himself come oveh t'wawrch." "Didn' make 'at las' frame, eh?" comments Joe. "Well," shrugs Sally, "she was distracted.")
...

Kudos to Sally's mom. I can't believe that many women in their (guessing) 50s or early 60s can bowl a 290.

...

(Miss Prang is Mary's long lost sister CONFIRMED.)
...

Mary I respect a lot and fear a tiny bit; with this one, it's the reverse.

...

(Oh yeah? Well at that range, the wadding from a blank can still do some damage, especially if all you've got on is a bathing suit!)
...

While "Wine, Women and Song" has been shut down, let's recognize what Stamm has pulled off here: he has Scarlett in a very-skimpy-for-'42 bathing suit, lying on a bed, spreading her legs as she kicks one leg in the air resulting in a man's pistol passing over her body. Let's hope LaGuardia doesn't read the comics.

...

(The joke's on them -- a real lie detector has multiple traces, not just one. SO THERE.)
...

Sodium Pentothal would have made much more sense.

...

Hon, it's time to move on.
...

Glengarry Glen Ross: "Always be closing!"

...

"I'm forming a Homeowner's Association -- and we're voting you out!"
...

"You're rid of that talkative old dragon. By Golly! If her tongue were tied, she'd manage to make her teeth chatter."

Tell us how you really feel, Andy.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("I wish t'ey'd move me t' Bush Toimenal," grumbles Joe. "T'at Lon Guylan' Rail Road izza bunk. Hey, what's wit'tis cawfee?" "Brewed it oveh t' groun's twice," sighs Sally. "We used up t'las' inna can yest'day, an' we ain' gettin' no moeh till we can get moeh. E'vry stoeh I went ta, I was at t'enna t' line." "An' t' t'ink," sighs Joe, balefully eyeing his cup of watery brew, "t'at I voted f' LaGuardieh.")

U. S. Army fighter planes participating in a bombing attack on an Axis airdrome yesterday shot down six Messerschmitt 109s from a 12 plane formation in fierce dogfights over Libya. The Royal Air Force was credited with shooting down a seventh Nazi plane in the battle, and of the remaining five "a number" were reported damaged. One American fighter was reported missing.


Allied heavy bombers on the New Guinea front blasted almost at its source a seventh Japanese naval attempt to reinforce the dwindling enemy garrison at Buna, it was announced in today's communique from the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. Medium fighters meanwhile returned to Lae, main Japanese fighter base on New Guinea, and gave it another battering. The communique also accused the Japanese of violating the rules of war with repeated attacks on Allied field hospitals since November 27th.

Two Long Island men are reported prisoners of the Nazis according to a list of prisoners of war just released by the War Department. Lieutenant Walter Lipsky of 183 Middle Neck Road in Great Neck, a holder of the Distinguished Flying Cross who has served in the Army Air Corps since 1940, was reported missing in action on September 6th, but letters received by his brother William revealed that he has been taken prisoner by the Germans. Private John Williams, an Army radio operator of 44-12 Douglaston Street in Douglaston, who formerly worked for the American Sugar Refining Company offices in Manhattan. enlisted on January 1st of this year and letters received by his uncle shortly after he was reported missing in action confirmed that he also in a German prison camp.

A monthly Trotskyite magazine has been banned from the mails by the Post Office Department. The December issue of the Fourth International contained an article condemning the Roosevelt Administration for its dealings with Vichy French Admiral Darlan, and another criticizing union leader Harry Bridges for his endorsement of a Government takeover of the martime industry. The Post Office had previously banned a weekly Trotskyite newspaper, "The Militant." An attorney for the publishing firm indicated that no specific reason was given for the orders, and warned that "should the Administration succeed in suppressing the Trotskyite organs, it may suppress more widely circulated liberal and labor papers that criticize the Administration."

(Ew.)

Brooklyn police, determined nothing should go wrong with the prosecution of the killers of Detective Joseph A. Micchio, today made a thorough search for the .38-caliber pistol with which he was shot while questioning two ex-convicts Monday in Downtown Brooklyn. Micchio died of bullet wounds yesterday in Holy Family Hospital. The tenement house at 120 Myrtle Avenue where the shooting took place was combed over and over again by detectives in search of the murder gun. The two suspects, 25-year-old Pedro Santoro, alias Joseph Palmer of 1723 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, and 27-year old Vincent Sallami of 617 158th Street in the Bronx, captured yesterday after an hour's chase, are today awaiting Grand Jury action indicting them on murder charges. A .45 automatic was found in the car in which Santoro was arrested, but an autopsy revealed that, though Micchio had both .45 and .38 caliber wounds, the fatal bullet was fired from a .38.

(I'm really, honestly surprised that the headline on this story isn't "BROOKLYN COUNCILMAN STIRRUP PUMP CHAMP -- Sharkey Quenches Flame at 20 Feet To Cop Crown." Maybe Parrott should cover these meetings.)

("And if you run into Prune Face, DON'T LET ON YOU KNOW HIM!")

The owner of a 14-month old Airedale dog that attacked a man attempting to molest two young girls behind the Brooklyn Museum yesterday was given a suspended sentence in Flatbush Court for allowing that dog to run at large. Mrs. Jessier Fernandez of 395 St. Johns Place testified that she was walking the dog near the museum when she heard two little girls screaming. Her dog "Slim" slipped his collar and set out in pursuit of a man who was chasing the girls and "the man beat a hasty retreat." Mrs. Fernandez added that "Slim" will soon appear at the Madison Square Garden Dog Show.

Actors Equity Association announced today that it has formed a Censorship Committee, which will seek a meeting with Mayor LaGuardia in an attempt to set up a formal jury system for judging plays and shows questioned on moral grounds. The plan is to establish a panel of two hundred "intelligent and discerning citizens," under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association, who will pass judgement on any shows accused of impropriety. The Chorus Equity Association is also to be represented at the conference.

(And just why, Mr. Branch Rickey, did you not make a bid for Eddie Miller, the best shortstop likely to be available this winter, given that you are about to lose your shortstop to Uncle's tender ministrations. HUH??? "Oh," notes Sally, "we don' need'at bum. Once we get Petey back, see, Vaughan c'n play shoeht, an' ol' man Hoiman moves t'foist. Nut'n to it." But what if Vaughan quits like he says he's gonna, huh? "WELL GIMME A MINUTE I'LL COME UP WIT' SUMP'N!")

Don't pay too close attention to those stories saying Dolph Camilli is through with baseball. Inside word is that Dolph's injured foot is the real issue - and if that hoof responds to treatment over the winter, Camilli will be at camp come spring.

(SEZ YOU)

(Stop posing, Scarlet, you've already got the part.)

("Oh boy, I love to play 'Hot and Cold!"")

(Just remember though, ten percent of what ever you get out of this goes straight to your fluffy orange manager.)

(Sorry Herb, this kind of analysis only works on a typewriter. Hand set type will vary according to each individual letter in the font. There might be a dozen different E's in a set of 80-point headline type like that. DIDN'T YOU EVER SET TYPE IN A PRINT SHOP? You didn't? Well, need a technical advisor? I'll work cheap.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Funny how, in this fast moving wartime world, it's the little stories like the wife-swapping ring in Jersey that fall thru the cracks.

"Not to be confused with." Well, I have to admit that I certainly was.

Careful. If you don't stop mumbling to yourself, they'll think you're having a relapse.

"And for gawd's sake stop climbing in strange men's windows. You know what happened to that Sherman woman."

"I bet he'd love a new stirrup pump!"

"I'll have my full balance sheet on your desk in the morning!"

The phrase is "HANDE HOCH!"

"Wish I could remember what the DL said to *her* troops."

"Yeah, a BABY! And he ain't gettin' to sleep in my bureau drawer!"

"Oh, Hello..." All right, that's a genuine unforced laugh.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Lovely tale of Genesis up in the stable loft that. Some barn stall stallion bite Eve afterwards. Yes indeed that.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

U. S. Army fighter planes participating in a bombing attack on an Axis airdrome yesterday shot down six Messerschmitt 109s from a 12 plane formation in fierce dogfights over Libya. The Royal Air Force was credited with shooting down a seventh Nazi plane in the battle, and of the remaining five "a number" were reported damaged. One American fighter was reported missing.
...

"Airdrome" is a word that's pretty much disappeared.

...

A monthly Trotskyite magazine has been banned from the mails by the Post Office Department. The December issue of the Fourth International contained an article condemning the Roosevelt Administration for its dealings with Vichy French Admiral Darlan, and another criticizing union leader Harry Bridges for his endorsement of a Government takeover of the martime industry. The Post Office had previously banned a weekly Trotskyite newspaper, "The Militant." An attorney for the publishing firm indicated that no specific reason was given for the orders, and warned that "should the Administration succeed in suppressing the Trotskyite organs, it may suppress more widely circulated liberal and labor papers that criticize the Administration."
...

Whose ideas get censored changes over time, but the government's desire to censor is evergreen, which is why the fight is never about freedom for "my" ideas from censor, but freedom for all ideas, most importantly, those ideas one disagree with from censors. It's the old, "buh, buh, buh, then they came for me" scenario.

...
(I'm really, honestly surprised that the headline on this story isn't "BROOKLYN COUNCILMAN STIRRUP PUMP CHAMP -- Sharkey Quenches Flame at 20 Feet To Cop Crown." Maybe Parrott should cover these meetings.)
...

...

The owner of a 14-month old Airedale dog that attacked a man attempting to molest two young girls behind the Brooklyn Museum yesterday was given a suspended sentence in Flatbush Court for allowing that dog to run at large. Mrs. Jessier Fernandez of 395 St. Johns Place testified that she was walking the dog near the museum when she heard two little girls screaming. Her dog "Slim" slipped his collar and set out in pursuit of a man who was chasing the girls and "the man beat a hasty retreat." Mrs. Fernandez added that "Slim" will soon appear at the Madison Square Garden Dog Show.
...

Unless there's a context to this that we aren't seeing (which is quite possible), the reporter somehow missed the real story about a man attempting to molest two young girls and a dog scaring him off to focus on a technical dog-leash violation.

...
(And just why, Mr. Branch Rickey, did you not make a bid for Eddie Miller, the best shortstop likely to be available this winter, given that you are about to lose your shortstop to Uncle's tender ministrations. HUH??? "Oh," notes Sally, "we don' need'at bum. Once we get Petey back, see, Vaughan c'n play shoeht, an' ol' man Hoiman moves t'foist. Nut'n to it." But what if Vaughan quits like he says he's gonna, huh? "WELL GIMME A MINUTE I'LL COME UP WIT' SUMP'N!")
...

Sally still has no idea that she killed her chance to be the Dodgers' George Costanza.

...

(SEZ YOU)
...

Miss Varden: [Thinking to herself] "I can handle anything that bitter crone can throw at me."

Miss Prang: "Oh, did I mention that Mrs. Crotchett is impacted and hasn't responded to regular treatments, so you'll need to address that manually."

Miss Varden: "That's it, I'm out of here."

...

(Stop posing, Scarlet, you've already got the part.)
...

"With Rouge on the way out and Terry finally embracing his budding manhood, 'Terry and The Pirates' is going to need a new love interest for the yellow-haired one and I want to make the jump from this kiddie strip to one of the top-five strips in the country. A girl has to look out for herself in this cutthroat business. Hopefully, Caniff was watching yesterday when I kicked the gun away while still looking fetching."

(Just remember though, ten percent of what ever you get out of this goes straight to your fluffy orange manager.)
...

"Sorry to have to correct you, but I only take on nobodies, umm, new 'undiscovered' clients for 15% with three one-year options."

And in the Daily News...

Funny how, in this fast moving wartime world, it's the little stories like the wife-swapping ring in Jersey that fall thru the cracks.
...

"Subsequently, they yielded. Three times, Mrs. Jenson said. Four times according to [Mr.] Caswell."

Well, I think we all know what happened the one time they seem not to agree. "Oops, sorry."

This has to be a top-ten of 1942 for Page Four story, not because it's offered up that much copy, but the subject matter is just so Page-Four perfect. I grew up only a few towns over from Metuchen, N.J., but its reputation was no different than any of the other nearby towns, although, it did have more-expensive homes and a nicer Main Street.

...

"Not to be confused with." Well, I have to admit that I certainly was.
...

I was too. I'm really glad they put that clarifying line in there. This one's going to be fun to follow.

...

"I'll have my full balance sheet on your desk in the morning!"
...

"...I want you to go through the whole neighborhood and quietly find out how much money each neighbor owes without prying to deeply into their private affairs."

Bim either doesn't know the meaning of the word "pry" or how normal people feel about sharing intimate details of their finances with strangers.

...

"Wish I could remember what the DL said to *her* troops."
...

Caniff continues to outclass the competition and, specifically, show Mr. Harold Gray how to seamlessly weave large philosophical issues into a comicstrip storyline.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

^-Comic philosophy. I've read writ wall and wind, and Federal Reserve inflationary export
with deuce and dimes while Beijing swaps yuan for dollar spot, Tokyo pares currency reserve down
to bone to jack yen; meanwhile Xi in Riyadh. A basic creed of economics, though the FTX xchge crash
is a fiery phoenix risen away ash for digital dollars tucked inside earthen leather wallet: black gold oil.
City street here abuzz deafened crowd. But digital dollar staked to oil-domestic Texas cowboy crude.
And Terrence man and boy running all over China. Does he catch the digital yuan chasing digital dollar?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Terry has traveled China for the last eight years with no visible means of financial support other than what Pat could cadge one way or another. It's really quite a feat when you think of it.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Indeed. Damn fine story to be sure. And these circa papers are streets above today's fare.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Cops inna classroom," sighs Joe. "What izza woil' comin' to?" "Wish t'eyda haddem when I was in Erasmus," grumbles Sally. "'Specially inna staiehways. Did I eveh tell ya t'time t'at Kilgallen awrmos' pusht me allway downnem staiehs? Like t'see her try'tat witta cop stannin' t'eah!" "Maybe its a good idea," shrugs Joe. "Maybe some'a t'ese cops aroun' heah might loin' sump'n." )

Freezing winds piling fresh-fallen snow into deep drifts limited Soviet forces on the Stalingrad front to small advances today, but west of Rhzev, the Red Army continued to smash forward, leaving the bodies of 1200 dead Germans in their wake. Front-line dispatches said hardly anything could be seen on the snow-covered Stalingrad steppes, but the Russians are using the lull in operations to reinforce their troops, while at the same time smashing attempts by the Germans to land fresh troops by air. Over the past two days, Soviet gunners had destroyed 72 German planes bringing supplies to Nazi forces in the Stalingrad area.

The City Planning Commission, looking ahead to the postwar era, has approved a new low-cost housing project for Brooklyn. The Gowanus Project, to be bounded by Bond, Wyckoff, Douglas, and Hoyt Streets, will house a total of 1158 families or 4510 persons, and will be jointly financed by state and city funds.

It won't be long before the other 47 states fall into step behind New York in the adoption of a two-sounding air raid alarm system. George S. Van Schlack, regional director for the Office of Civilian Defense, indicated yesterday that a uniform nationwide standard for air raid alarms has been submitted to the War Department, based on the two-signal program adopted by New York and endorsed by Mayor LaGuardia.

Trucking firms are cool toward a Government suggestion that women will have a greater role to play in the wartime trucking industry. With Otto Breyer of the Office of Defense Transportation suggesting that women truck drivers may be one solution to the transport industry's present manpower problems, trucking firms responded with sarcasm. "We can't turn our garages into powder rooms, retored William E. Humphreys, president of the Jacobs Transportation Company. "It would raise hell with morale. The men are tough and rough -- that's what makes them good drivers. They'd become self-conscious with women around, and they'd resent the ladies' good manners." But Jean Bernstein, a truck driver with the American Womens Volunteer Service Motor Corps, just shook her head at that remark. "Oh, Lord, that's nonsense," she replied. "We'll take care of that by cleaning up the atmosphere a little. As for driving, we can handle anything with wheels, right up to 16 wheels. If you get the hang of one truck, you can drive any of them."

("A two-syllable woid indicatin'' ill-le-gitta-macy?" wonders Joe. "Huh," huhs Sally. "'Majehkoit'' has t'ree syllables.")

("Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland.")

Enforcement agents of the Office of Price Administration are looking into the cases of three hundred eating establishments in the city for possible violation of coffee rationing laws, after six restaurant operators were found guilty yesterday of underestimating their coffee stocks on hand when registering for coffee rations. The most spectacular violation was found at Vic's Lunch, 179 Broad Street, in Stapleton, Staten Island, where owner Victor D'Angelo declared four pounds of coffee on hand when making his application -- and failed to mention the half-ton of coffee in storage at his home. FIndings in yesterday's cases were to be forwarded to Price Administrator Leon Henderson for disposition, and it is likely that the privilege of obtaining coffee for the guilty establishments will be revoked, either temporarily or for the duration of the war. It is also possible that criminal charges may be filed. It was further declared that OPA agents will be visiting each of the city's 15,000 restaurants to check inventories against ration declarations.

Reader George Durst suggests that a Federal lottery at $1 a ticket be established to raise millions of war funding in the shortest possible time. He notes that there are "plenty of middle-aged people unsuitable for defense work" who could operate such a game.

(What, you can buy a lie detector at Namm's now?)

The body of John T. "Jack" Doyle, Broadway's "Wizard of Odds," lies today in a funeral home in Jacksonville, Florida pending the arrival of relatives. Doyle, the unofficial "Betting Commissioner of New York," well known for his oddsmaking on major sporting events, died yesterday of a heart ailment at the age of 67. He was the last remaining prominent figure of Broadway's "Gay Nineties."

A 17-year-old Astoria youth faces disorderly conduct charges after he hit a member of the city's volunteer patrol force with a snowball. Michael Cavaliere was on duty, not in uniform but displaying an armband, at the corner of 43rd Street and 30th Avenue in Astoria last night when he was struck by an icy missle thrown by Joseph Schafer of 25-89 46th Street. The youth was paroled for a hearing on the charge tomorrow.

("HMPH!" hmphs Mr. Durocher. "Ray Blades! Let's see the Saturday Evening Post do a hatchet job on HIM!")

("You don't survive long in Hollywood without you know how to give sponge baths to unpleasant old people.")

("Start with how you got that weird jaw. I bet there's a story there.")

(Mr. Marsh may be gone but his loving depictions of torture linger behind.)

("DONT WORRY FOLKS JUST A LITTLE SUSPENSE. MEANWHILE BACK TO EATING.")

(BESIDES, THAT'S 'IHR SEID' TO YOU!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Tsk, Gloria, is that nice?

"And also three hours where I've got the house all to myself. Heh heh."

"Don't play games with me kid, TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!"

First things first.

Nothing too good for our boys.

Well, on the other hand, never look a gift camel in the mouth.

You shouldn't smoke, bud, it's bad for the complexion.

*choke*

The most important part of which is keeping you out of the Army at any cost.

Kayo is the undisputed king of all comic strip trolls. Look how he savors the moment.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Spreche keine deutsch schon.... bloody bastards the lot. Even those lipstick tarts were utter poison.
Waiting upon Terrence in the land of dragons where spit spot mah jong gambol about due their
realty bubble. Chinese locked tight interest so it's spit spot cards.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I see Terrence turn hospital. Is that Rouge a war prisoner?

 

[LizzieMaine]

She is for now, but given her skills, it's hard telling if she will be tomorrow.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

("A two-syllable woid indicatin'' ill-le-gitta-macy?" wonders Joe. "Huh," huhs Sally. "'Majehkoit'' has t'ree syllables.")
...

"In Which We Serve" is an outstanding movie, propaganda yes, but outstanding." My brief comments on it here: #26,840

...

Enforcement agents of the Office of Price Administration are looking into the cases of three hundred eating establishments in the city for possible violation of coffee rationing laws, after six restaurant operators were found guilty yesterday of underestimating their coffee stocks on hand when registering for coffee rations. The most spectacular violation was found at Vic's Lunch, 179 Broad Street, in Stapleton, Staten Island, where owner Victor D'Angelo declared four pounds of coffee on hand when making his application -- and failed to mention the half-ton of coffee in storage at his home. FIndings in yesterday's cases were to be forwarded to Price Administrator Leon Henderson for disposition, and it is likely that the privilege of obtaining coffee for the guilty establishments will be revoked, either temporarily or for the duration of the war. It is also possible that criminal charges may be filed. It was further declared that OPA agents will be visiting each of the city's 15,000 restaurants to check inventories against ration declarations.
...

So, how did the enforcement agents learn about Mr. D'Angelo's home stash of coffee? I'd bet somebody told on him.

...

The body of John T. "Jack" Doyle, Broadway's "Wizard of Odds," lies today in a funeral home in Jacksonville, Florida pending the arrival of relatives. Doyle, the unofficial "Betting Commissioner of New York," well known for his oddsmaking on major sporting events, died yesterday of a heart ailment at the age of 67. He was the last remaining prominent figure of Broadway's "Gay Nineties."
...

Good thing the old oddsmaker died in Florida; had he died in New York, LaGuardia would have impounded his body.

...

("You don't survive long in Hollywood without you know how to give sponge baths to unpleasant old people.")
...

I never see anything to edit for clarity in Lizzie's posts, but I believe she left off quotations marks with in quotes on this one, so I added them in as follows:

("You don't survive long in Hollywood without you know how to give 'sponge baths' to unpleasant old people.")

And in the Daily News...

Tsk, Gloria, is that nice?
...

You are responsible if the people/companies that you hire in your name fail to carry out their responsibilities on your behalf, but I would guess that eighteen-year-old Ms. Vanderbilt, who has always been an heiress, hasn't any idea how her bills get paid. Heck, I went to college with 18 year olds who weren't heiresses who had no idea how their bills got paid.

...

"Don't play games with me kid, TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!"
...

Show me what it looks like when a highly educated adult passively aggressively bullies a ten year old.

...

*choke*
...

Holy smokes! Caniff is a master of his craft.

She is for now, but given her skills, it's hard telling if she will be tomorrow.

Couldn't agree more, she's just biding her time.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Intrigued all the more now with Maid Marian. Don't hold back all worst of it please.

 

[LizzieMaine]

For those who came in late --

Rouge is an operative for hire who was in league with the Japanese, and Terry fell into her orbit when he was searching for the missing April Kane, who hasn't been seen since she fled Hong Kong just ahead of the Japanese invasion. Terry had ended up in an American military hospital after an unseen adventure in the Philippines -- the same hospital where Normandie Sandhurst and her daughter ended up after being separated from Pat Ryan. While in that hospital, Terry was selected by Col. Flip Corkin, a Dude-Hennick-Lite type of wiseguy pilot, and the Chinese military authorities, for a secret mission behind enemy lines. He was injured in a bombing raid, and taken in by Rouge, who forced him to wear an American uniform she'd taken off a presumably-dead Army sergeant, to serve as her catspaw in a scheme to trick Chinese civilians into building a camouflaged airfield that would instead be used by the Japanese. The worm turned when Terry sabotaged the scheme, and the field was bombed by Americans led by Col. Corkin after Terry successfully got out a message. But during that bombing, Terry, still in uniform, ended up rescued by an American squad of ground troops, and has not felt it prudent to explain to them that he isn't actually in the Army. After the death of the squad's lieutenant and top sergeant, Terry is believed to be the ranking non-com, and has taken command in spite of himself. Rouge survived the bombing, however, and is the only other person who knows Terry's real identity. How she will use this information remains to be seen.

Incidentially, we still don't know where April is, or if she's even still alive. Pat was last seen serving as an agent of the Dragon Lady, and Connie and Big Stoop were last seen in Hong Kong, where they presumably are operating undercover. Normandie had volunteered for service at the American hospital, where, presumably, she remains. Her scumbag husband Tony Sandhurst was last seen cringing before his Japanese masters.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The Royal Military College is at Sandhurst by coincidence. I took media with cinema to task elsewhere
but the coffee boils over here. Real depth and purpose with the times what were and all. Terrence I take
is in the clear with this colonel and ostensible conscript to beat the hun, hero lad yet.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(I wonder, though, do we really know Mussolini's views on bingo?)

At least 7000 Japanese have been killed for every one American lost since the Marines landed on Guadalcanal last August, according to an estimate released this week by the commander in chief of the strategic Solomon Islands base. Major General Alexander A. Vandergriff, speaking in a press conference on December 7th, marking the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, stated that not only has the US seizure of the base blocked further southward penetration in the Solomons by the enemy, but has also resulted in a severe blow to Japan's invasion strength. Gen. Vandergriff emphasized that the 7000-dead estimate did not include Japanese troops destroyed in sea battles and unsuccessful landing attempts.

Governor Charles Poletti today called on Governor-Elect Thomas E. Dewey and the Republican-controlled legislature to take action to protect the peoples' interest in New York State's vast power resources. Charging that privately-owned utility companies have been using power generated at Niagara Falls at a loss to the people of between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000 since 1918, the Governor urged Governor-Elect Dewey and state lawmakers to support immediate legislation that would compel these private firms to pay rental to the state at a rate of $1,500,000 per year. Gov. Poletti cited a Court of Appeals ruling issued yesterday stating that the companies have the right to use state-owned power under the State Constitution, but the Legislature has the right to restrict its use. Poletti urged the Legislature to consider a constitutional amendment that would clearly define the state's interest in the Niagara Falls and St. Lawrence River power resources as "inviolable."

The Brooklyn Bar Association is preparing today to summon Mayor LaGuardia and Commissioner of Investigations William B. Herlands for an explanation of the release to newspapers of a confidential report accusing Brooklyn attorney Milton Solomon of attempting to suppress a bill that would have removed the requirement that stirrup pumps be included in the firefighting equipment provided by public buildings, and that he had promised a stirrup pump manufacturer that he would kill that bill. Bar Association trustee Fred L. Gross stressed that the Association is not at this time concerning itself with the allegations against Solomon, but rather, is concerned that the Mayor and the Commissioner released the report to the press without giving Solomon an opportunity to respond to the accusation.

A disciplinary hearing against State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol of Brooklyn's 8th District is underway on charges made by an Amen Grand Jury accusing the Senator of unprofessional conduct in his dealings with manufacturers of pinball machines represented by him in his law practice. The grand jury last summer recommended Sen. Esquirol's disbarment as an attorney, and the Senator has denied the charges against him. He also denied that he gave incorrect information to the Amen panel as to the amount of money he has received from pinball association clients in his law practice, stating that the figures he gave during his grand jury testimony were from memory, and that he had earlier given "the correct figures" to Commissioner of Investigations Herlands. State Senator Pliny W. Williamson testified today as a character witness in behalf of his Senate colleague, declaring that Sen. Esquirol had never tried to urge him to vote against a state law banning pinball machines, and that, in fact, Sen. Esquirol himself had voted in favor of that ban.

The missing clock in Flatbush Court came again to the attention of Chief Magistrate Henry F. Curran, who made his annual visit to the court yesterday. He first noticed the missing timepiece last year, and was told that it had been taken out "because it had stopped when the Dodgers won the pennant," but in fact it had been removed because Magistrates John F. X. Masterson and Charles Solomon had repeatedly complained about its inaccuracy. Chief Clerk Victor Avalino expressed the hope that the winning of future pennants by the Dodgers would not depend upon the future return of the clock, since "the Dodgers only win a pennant every twenty years." The Chief Magistrate reassured Mr. Avalino that "hope springs eternal in the human breast," and predicted that "maybe the Dodgers will win next year."

("No brisket?" "No brisket.' "No cawfee?" "No cawfee. But t'eah's chicory inna salad.")

Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are trying to determine how a 21-year-old woman from Queens ended up aboard an Army troop train bound for Philadelphia. Mrs. Virigina Rodell, who lives with her mother, Mrs. Alonzo Greer of 45-14 42nd Street in Sunnyside, and is married to an Army private with whom she has an 11-month-old son, was found by Army officers in the kitchen car of the train as it pulled into Philadelphia yesterday. Mrs. Rodell told the FBI and the Army that she had gone to the station in New York to see some friends off on the train and that somehow she got caught up in the crowd and was stranded aboard a car when the train pulled out. But Mrs. Greer told the FBI that she knew of no one that her daughter might have gone to see off, and was, in turn, told by the FBI that Mrs. Rodell had told agents that she was thinking of joining the WAACs. Mrs. Greer noted that her daughter had tended to be impulsive, as in the case of her marriage, and added that she had once quit a job because her friends wanted to go to the beach. The FBI, concluding that Mrs. Rodell told "a straight story" released her from custody, but as of this morning she had not returned home.

Readers Henry Ruschmeyer, Albert Hirsch, and "Disgusted' all write in to call for the elimination of buses from all Brooklyn routes and the immediate return of the trolleys as "the war effort demands it!"

The Eagle Editorialist extends the hand of welcome to Cuban President Major General Fulgencio Batista, whose visit to New York this week indicates that the Good Neighbor Policy is "bearing fruits of mutual trust and goodwill." The EE notes that "President Batista has always given every indication of his friendly feeling for the United States."

("Just remember son, stay out of crap games and don't go into town after dark!")

(Seriously? In what possible world, after what happened last summer, is Pete Reiser not 4-F? I hope they make him wear a helmet.)

(In addition to being just an all-around classic piece of Sturges comedy, "The Palm Beach Story" finally solves the eternal Hollywood dilemma of what to do with Rudy Vallee, who will spend the rest of his movie career playing endless variations on this role.)

Bob Hope is America's top radio star for the second year running, in the annual poll of 600 newspaper radio editors conducted by Motion Picture Daily. The ski-snooted comic proves that it pays to talk so fast that you can carry the laughs from a good gag into a corny one. Dinah Shore earned honors both as outstanding new star and best female vocalist, with Bing Crosby again named best male popular singer. Crosby also earned, for the sixth straight year, the award for best program emcee. The honors for best comedy team went to Fibber McGee and Molly, best comedienne was Fannie "Baby Snooks" Brice, "One Man's Family" was named best dramatic feature, "Information Please" again was named best quiz program, "Vic and Sade" was the best daytime serial, "Let's Pretend" the best childrens' feature. and Richard Crooks and Gladys Swarthout were named best classical singers. Hoosier commentator Herb Shriner was named most promising new star of 1942.

(WHEN TITANS CLASH)

(Well, at least Marlys knows the proper way to hand someone a gun.)

("Card? Say, buddy, that's a cigar coupon. And the badge says POST TOASTIES JUNIOR G-MAN".)

(IF THAT BIG HAM THINKS HE CAN BE AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG, HE"S GOT ANOTHER THINK COMING!)

("And note the fancy die-cut cover. That's the kind of work that's impossible to trace!")