The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

("Stop squoimin'!' commands Sally, as she applies iodine to an angry-looking gash on Joe's forehead, atop a rising lump. "I'm gonna kill 'at lan'lowrd," growls Joe. "I ain' one t'defen' no lan'lowrds," counters Sally, "but f'oncet it ain' his fawrlt. Ya jus' can't get t' erl!" "Well, it's bad enough we gotta sleep in ovehcoats," grumbles Joe," "but now it's ovehcoats an' a full suit'a cloes on unnehneat' it, an' ya can't even sit up t'get outta bed! I roll outa bed, fawl out, an' slam my head 'gainst a COLD RADDIATEH!" "Well," shrugs Sally, slapping a bandage on the cut, "you woulda yelt even moeh if it was HOT." "Now look at what Leonoreh's doin'neah," interjects Joe. "She's puttin' beets in'neh eaeh. Lookit t'eah." "Leonora, what'm I gonna do wit'..." begins Sally, before coming up short as she realizes that the red around her sniffling daughter's ear is not beets. "Wait a'minnit. T'is is -- blood! I bet she's got a eeah infection f'm sleepin' innis cold! I'm gonna KILL 'at lan'lowrd!")

United States and Australian troops have wiped out the last Japanese resistance in the Buna area of northern New Guinea by smashing a small enemy pocket inland from the captured area, reports from the front stated today. About 50 Japanese bodies were found in the pocket area as mopping-up parties combed cocoanut groves for possible stragglers from the force that defended the pocket to the death. Both American and Australian troops are now moving toward Sanandana Point, two and a half miles from Buna Village, to attack the last remaning organized enemy troops in the Papuan area of New Guinea.

British heavy bombers pounded Germany's industrial Ruhr for the second straight night last night. Only two bombers were reported lost out of the 100 planes taking part in the raid on the heart of Nazi industry.

United States war industries may continue to do their own hiring so long as they adhere to the official policies of the War Manpower Commission in doing so. WMC Chairman Paul V. McNutt warned, however, that if firms violate those policies, it may become necessary to confine their hiring, solicitation, and recruitment to the United States Employment Service.

(This will go over well...)

The meat shortage has taken its toll on the proud Brooklyn tradition of the beefsteak dinner, with members of the Men's Club of the Union Church of Bay Ridge forced to announce that chicken will be served instead of the customary beef at their upcoming annual beefsteak party. It was agreed that beefsteak parties featuring beefsteak "just aren't patriotic" at this time.

The publisher of the New York Inquirer will stand trial on sedition charges in Washington, it was ordered today. Forty-four year old William Griffin was among 27 other men and one woman -- Mrs. Elizabeth Dilling of Chicago -- indicted last July on charges that they conspired to undermine the morale of the Armed Forces of the United States. The Inqurier was listed as one of 30 publications, along with 28 organizations including the now-defunct America First Committee, as being agencies thru which American military morale was being attacked. Griffin had fought against removal to Washington for trial, arguing that he suffers from a heart condition, and that the trial would be too much of a strain.

(It's gonna be a long long winter.)

The Times Square Paramount Theatre reports "record breaking crowds" for the first five days of its present screen feature, "Star Spangled Rhythm," accompanied by a stage presentation featuring Benny Goodman and his Orchestra and extra added attraction, vocalist Frank Sinatra. The show set an all time record by drawing 25,000 persons for its opening day performances on December 30th, 34,000 for its New Year's Eve performances, and another 32,000 on New Year's Day. It is estimated that total attendance for the first week will reach 175,000. The Paramount is following a new policy of a special low admission price of 28 cents for all men in uniform. Approximately 2100 servicemen turned out for the New Year's Eve performances.

The Eagle Editorialist responds to Sir Thomas Beecham's recent criticism of Brooklyn's culture by acknowledging that "it may hurt, but is worth consideration." "It may ruffle civic consciousness to be spoken to thus," he admits. "Perhaps we have relied too much on our Gershwins and our MacMonnies. Maybe because Walt Whitman once stomped our streets we feel we must be sufficiently civilized. We think of our Academy of Music and forget to fill it." He further points out that the war has brought many new people to the borough, "who must judge us by what we are, not what we have been or what we have earnest plans for becoming." "Brooklyn must give them subtler nourishment -- food for the heart and soul. Nothing does this more readily than good music."

("It's too late. She says they've already made her a foreman.")

(My oh my, I hope Col. MacPhail has learned a valuable lesson -- never reveal your secrets in front of a Parrott. Meanwhile -- spring training under glass? Remember that "indoor baseball" league in 1939? AHEAD OF ITS TIME.)

(Ahhhhh, a Mystery Woman out of someone's sordid past! But WHOSE? Odds are running Doc Ballard 1-1, Bill Biff 2-1, Governor Blackston 5-1, Slim Worth 50-1, Mary Worth herself 100-1.)

(Yeah, here we go, Mr. Smooth Talk is the obvious villian. NEXT STORY.)

(The Scottish Sweepstakes? Hoot mon, thot's the woon where therrrre is nooooooooo prize a'tall.)

(YEAH YEAH IN A MINUTE I'M POSING FOR MY NEW HEADSHOTS. GOT THE RIGHT PROFILE, BOYS?)

(You'll get it soon enough.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd think there'd be a push on for gun safety classes. And I bet Mr. Knight stood on his head in the hotel lobby until Mrs. Knight agreed to drop the case.

How long till Margie books a tour of Army camps?

AXL??? Is that YOU???

Bill collectors get B cards? IT FIGURES.

You're not playing army anymore, kid.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Poor Tilda.

Smarten up, Flip.

Well, I guess that answers his question about the dog.

Missing because they were abducted -- or missing because their mission was completed? HMMM?

"Well, now that that's straightened out, sir, I've been meaning to ask -- what happened to your *other* daughter? Anne? Rememebr her?" "Don't push your luck, kid."

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine
"Bloomingdales" is still going strong, right?
They even had covert advertising on King of Queens, I remember.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, and still in the same location. Now owned under the same corporate umbrella as Macy's.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Stop squoimin'!' commands Sally, as she applies iodine to an angry-looking gash on Joe's forehead, atop a rising lump. "I'm gonna kill 'at lan'lowrd," growls Joe. "I ain' one t'defen' no lan'lowrds," counters Sally, "but f'oncet it ain' his fawrlt. Ya jus' can't get t' erl!" "Well, it's bad enough we gotta sleep in ovehcoats," grumbles Joe," "but now it's ovehcoats an' a full suit'a cloes on unnehneat' it, an' ya can't even sit up t'get outta bed! I roll outa bed, fawl out, an' slam my head 'gainst a COLD RADDIATEH!" "Well," shrugs Sally, slapping a bandage on the cut, "you woulda yelt even moeh if it was HOT." "Now look at what Leonoreh's doin'neah," interjects Joe. "She's puttin' beets in'neh eaeh. Lookit t'eah." "Leonora, what'm I gonna do wit'..." begins Sally, before coming up short as she realizes that the red around her sniffling daughter's ear is not beets. "Wait a'minnit. T'is is -- blood! I bet she's got a eeah infection f'm sleepin' innis cold! I'm gonna KILL 'at lan'lowrd!")
...

Pre penicillin, ear infections were serious events (still can be today if the penicillin does't work). Also, maybe Sally needs to give up on the beets. Many people have lived long and healthy lives without ever eating a single beet. I tried one once as a kid, was repulsed and have never had one since and, if at all possible, have tried to never even be in the same room with one.

Very glad the young girl who killed her father who was beating her mother was freed - nice to see the right outcome to that story.

Your heart breaks for the mother whose daughter died due to the smoke from the clothes left on the heater, but leaving them on the heater overnight was insanely stupid.

Kudos to the the guy who dove into the icy waters to save the dog - it's stories like that, that keep you sane and give you hope. I love that he went back to work and the dog trotted away.

...

(Ahhhhh, a Mystery Woman out of someone's sordid past! But WHOSE? Odds are running Doc Ballard 1-1, Bill Biff 2-1, Governor Blackston 5-1, Slim Worth 50-1, Mary Worth herself 100-1.)
...

Let's see, seventeen years ago, Mary was in her early 40s, our mystery woman was in her early 20s, it was a lonely time in Mary's life and...

The story writes itself, but not in 1942.

...

(You'll get it soon enough.)

When the fashion designer for "Boardwalk Empire's" gangster look was doing research, one guesses panel four made it across his/her desk.

It's still a terrible strip beautifully illustrated.

You'd think there'd be a push on for gun safety classes. And I bet Mr. Knight stood on his head in the hotel lobby until Mrs. Knight agreed to drop the case.
...

Joe should buy Sally a couple of pairs of the foot warmers.

Yes, I'm using the fourth of five marriages in Ms. Landis' sad short life as an excuse to post my favorite picture of her:

...

You're not playing army anymore, kid.
...

I think we'll be seeing somebody save the day by bringing a tank into this battle.

...

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Poor Tilda.
..

It's better if the old grifter scams De Stross and breaks her heart than Tilda's.

...

Smarten up, Flip.
..

The story Caniff is dying to write has Flip and Rogue getting it on and Flip falling for Rogue only to, then, learn who she really is.

@LizzieMaine
"Bloomingdales" is still going strong, right?
They even had covert advertising on King of Queens, I remember.

Yep, and still in the same location. Now owned under the same corporate umbrella as Macy's.

As always, Lizzie is spot on. Bloomingdales the name lives on under the Macy's "family." But it is really just the name and location that live. The store, itself, no longer has its own true identity, which by the time I got to NYC in the '80s, had evolved into a pretty upscale brand vs what we see it was in the 1940s.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I can assure American readers of Sir Thomas Beecham's unsolicited slight, London is cockney as cultured with Covent Garden overtaken by barrowers. More than half penny cocksure all gone Coventry.

The circa home front crimes read like a Doyle for Holmes. Tragedy lit now open for modern mystery writers.
Young lady factory worker ruthlessly knifed to death and the showgirl yesterday. Terrible.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Camille?" snorts Joe. "Whozat??" "Well," replies Sally, as she holds a warm compress to Leonora's ear, "if Garbo ain' gonna make movies no moeh, maybe t'ey c'n giv'eh a shot at foist base!")

Schools, churches, and theatres in New York City may be denied fuel oil rations for the rest of the winter, under an order expected to be issued tomorrow by the War Petroleum Administration. Under that order, it is expected that those who will not be entitled to receive fuel oil will be specifically listed, rather than, as at present, those who are. It is understood that the present system so many users are entitled to equal fuel oil priorities that they cannot all be supplied under present conditions. It is further expected that all factories and other large buildings in the city generating their own electricity by means of oil-fired power plants will be required to discontinue operating this equipment and instead obtain their power from coal-burning public utilities.

Meanwhile, reports persist out of Washington suggesting that the "A" gasoline ration will be abolished, and that B and C rations will be "substantially reduced." War Production Chief Donald L. Nelson denied that petroleum czar Harold L. Ickes has recommended the abolition of the "A" card, but he did acknowledge that such a recommendation could bypass the WPB and go straight to the Office of Price Administration. As the present situation is considered in Washington, the American Automobile Association has recommended that the entire present setup for gasoline rationing be overhauled because "it is in danger of bogging down." The AAA recommended that local ration boards be given money to hire trained help, and that personal appearances of applicants before ration boards be reduced, with local boards given "greater autonomy" to handle cases "with common sense." The AAA also called for a reduction in the number of required tire inspections, which, it is claimed, will require the services of 30,000 mechanics who could be better utilized in the Armed Forces.

Employees of the city's unified transit system, preparing to attend a Transport Workers Union meeting with a strike vote on the agenda, are awaiting Mayor LaGuardia's reaction to an offer by CIO president Philip Murray to submit the matter to impartial arbitration as a way of avoiding a walkout. Mr. Murray blamed John H. Delaney, chairman of the Board of Transportation for the breakdown in negotiations between the union and the city by means of his "provocative conduct." The union is seeking a 15 percent cost-of-living wage increase, and improvements in working conditions, a maintenance-of-membership contract clause, and the formation of a joint labor-management committee to ensure that the transit system is being operated in such a way as to bring about "maximum utilization" of available facilities in support of the war effort. Two weeks ago, union president Michael J. Quill warned that a strike is likely unless the city returns to the bargaining table.

(A recapped corset is never quite as durable as a new one, but you gotta take what you can get.)

The proprietor of a Fulton Street dress shop who refused to file a robbery complaint because the robber was a soldier was reprimanded today in Brooklyn Felony Court. Magistrate Charles E. Ramsgate told store owner Hyman Berger that 29-year-old Corporal Clifford Aldrich had a past criminal record, and was entitled to no special consideration because he wears a uniform. Patrolman Andrew Yasvin testified that he stopped Aldrich on Fulton Street carrying twelve dresses taken from Berger's shop. "Men are dying," noted Magistrate Ramsgate, and this fellow goes around having a good time." Aldrich was drafted into the Army three months after his release from Sing Sing Prison, where he had served a sentence for attempted robbery. He is presently on furlough from Fort McLellan, Alabama.

Apartment house owners in Brooklyn and Queens racing to convert their heating plants from oil to coal are facing a shortage of firemen to stoke their furnaces. The Associated Builders of Kings and Queens Counties have recently announced plans to convert more than 5000 buildings housing more than 2,000,000 persons from oil to coal heat, but George Troy, president of Local 12 of the Building Services Employees International Union AFL, notes that "it is practically impossible to get firemen to take care of boilers in Brooklyn and Queens," and he predicts that situation will grow even more serious in the weeks ahead. "The salary paid for this type of work has doubled," Troy stated, "What used to pay $17 a week now draws $31 or $35, and still you can't get more firemen for the love of money."

(America's Biggest Small Town At War.)

In Hollywood, screen star Hedy Lamarr is suing her studio for the amount of her salary the Government won't let it pay because she wants to pay the taxes herself. In a suit filed yesterday against Loew's Incorporated, parent of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Miss Lamarr stressed that she has no objection to the federal $25,000 salary limit, but that she wants to be sure that the taxes are correctly calculated and paid. The case is the first court challenge of the $25,000-after-taxes salary cap imposed by Economic Director James F. Byrnes under the general authority granted him under President Roosevelt's war powers. Other stars have also criticized the salary cap, arguing that money that should be due them under existing contracts is instead being funneled to studio stockholders. Miss Lamarr's current MGM contract calls for $2000 per week for forty weeks.

The play "Brooklyn U. S. A." will come to the screen in 1943, with John Garfield, Dennis Morgan, and Sidney Greenstreet set to star. Warner Bros. will make the film as one of the leading items on its 1943 schedule, from a screenplay by the authors of the original stage production, Asa Bordages and John Bright.

(I went to a former WWII Army dentist when I was little and the experience was enough that there's no way I would EVER go to a former Army gynecologist.)

Another pants-bandit robbery in Queens yesterday netted the robber $100 in cash and $11 in war stamps. The pistol-wielding bandit struck a Bohack grocery store at 112-27 Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill and escaped after forcing the store manager and his clerk into a back room where they were compelled to remove their pants.

(Mr. Parrott will never get a job at the Daily News.)

("But first -- how are you at foreshadowing?" "Heh, do you have any idea who you're talking to?")

(What's in this prison's food?)

(See, this is why you should only bet at your trustworthy neighborhood candy store.)

(I grew up in a neighborhood where dogs roamed at will, but we never went so far as to just invite them in the house.)

(Oh you spies and your fancy spy gadgets.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Ew.

I wish everybody would take this advice. I'm afraid to drive up my own street at night for fear of running into some halfwit in a black hoodie.

The hardest part of taking a vacation is setting things up so the workplace doesn't collapse without you.

Time to get that facelift retreaded!

Guess who's gonna be transferred to a tank unit.

Ah yes, Lt. Guinevere Marianne Tucker, who right now is somewhere saying "Flip? Flip who?"

It can't be this easy.

Street smarts.

"The G String Murders? No, I don't think I've read that."

Tsk. REMEMBER THE KID IN UPPER FOUR!

 

[Trenchfriend]

@LizzieMaine

Funny!
When I saw the Macy's 100% IMPORTED CAMEL HAIR part, I promptly started an online inflation calculator for the first time. And I was suprised, that the 59,95 USD are now 1.032,70 USD!
I thought, it would be much more!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, it probably would be if it was from a real camel. Squirrel fur is cheap.

These coat ads cause me much despair. In this age of marshmallow-fluff puffy "performance coats" you can't buy a decent cloth winter coat anymore with any kind of decent fit to it unless you make it yourself, and then you'll go broke buying the fabric.

 

[PrivateEye]

(A recapped corset is never quite as durable as a new one, but you gotta take what you can get.)

Were corsets still popular at the time Lizzie? I associate them with much earlier eras?

This is awesome! Kudos to the Eagle!

(What's in this prison's food?)

She looks like she'd have no trouble breaking out of the crate once it leaves the plant.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The corsets they're referring to here aren't the hold-the-bedpost-and-lace-me-tight models of Grandma's day -- the term is being used in 1943 to refer to the garments shown in the ad, what today we'd call an "all in one" or a "body briefer." Some of them have boning like a corset, but most are just Lastex, an early form of spandex made with a high rubber content. Most department stores in 1943 sell all their shapewear -- bras, girdles, all-in-ones -- out of what they still call "the Corset Department," if they're Namm's, or "La Corsetiere" if they're Loeser's.

I hope that, wherever little Mickey Standard is today, his uncle came home.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

After Christmas Ebay and various retail site troll for good second hand stock. Sweaters, scarves, coats.
Considering pea coats, glove, whatever find fance. Aside all with rail, health, mismanaged, bargain sherlocker
just makes sense.

Rouge is making play. And what's what with this pilot and Harold. Not exactly typical roguish Yank jolly roger.

 

[Trenchfriend]

you can't buy a decent cloth winter coat anymore with any kind of decent fit to it unless you make it yourself, and then you'll go broke buying the fabric.

If you're talking about needing a different size aside the regular "N(ormal)" sizes, it wouldn't be better in Europe.

I'm okay myself with N-size, but normally I would need S(link)-size, but the stores usually stock only N, K (Short) and + sizes, not the S(link) and the B(elly) sizes.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Camille?" snorts Joe. "Whozat??" "Well," replies Sally, as she holds a warm compress to Leonora's ear, "if Garbo ain' gonna make movies no moeh, maybe t'ey c'n giv'eh a shot at foist base!")
...

A potential state constitutional amendment to make Church and "patriotic" bingo games legal - Butch sure knocks the dust off of everything.

What's wrong with those silly DC legislators in '42, they just barely voted in a new speaker of the house. How hard could that be to do?

...

The proprietor of a Fulton Street dress shop who refused to file a robbery complaint because the robber was a soldier was reprimanded today in Brooklyn Felony Court. Magistrate Charles E. Ramsgate told store owner Hyman Berger that 29-year-old Corporal Clifford Aldrich had a past criminal record, and was entitled to no special consideration because he wears a uniform. Patrolman Andrew Yasvin testified that he stopped Aldrich on Fulton Street carrying twelve dresses taken from Berger's shop. "Men are dying," noted Magistrate Ramsgate, and this fellow goes around having a good time." Aldrich was drafted into the Army three months after his release from Sing Sing Prison, where he had served a sentence for attempted robbery. He is presently on furlough from Fort McLellan, Alabama.
...

There is a line in the 1938 movie "Love, Honor and Behave" where a father, who wants his son to play football, study and work with the drive to be the absolute best at everything he does, tells his wife, who is more concerned with the son caring about others, being a good sport, not overly focusing on winning, that "you've made a fetish out of a virtue until you've turned it into a vice." We see it in '42 and today, virtues being elevated to absolutes and, thus, becoming vices.

...

In Hollywood, screen star Hedy Lamarr is suing her studio for the amount of her salary the Government won't let it pay because she wants to pay the taxes herself. In a suit filed yesterday against Loew's Incorporated, parent of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Miss Lamarr stressed that she has no objection to the federal $25,000 salary limit, but that she wants to be sure that the taxes are correctly calculated and paid. The case is the first court challenge of the $25,000-after-taxes salary cap imposed by Economic Director James F. Byrnes under the general authority granted him under President Roosevelt's war powers. Other stars have also criticized the salary cap, arguing that money that should be due them under existing contracts is instead being funneled to studio stockholders. Miss Lamarr's current MGM contract calls for $2000 per week for forty weeks.
...

Good for Hedy, she see the game the studio might play and she's trying to not let it get away with it. She was an interesting woman.

...

Another pants-bandit robbery in Queens yesterday netted the robber $100 in cash and $11 in war stamps. The pistol-wielding bandit struck a Bohack grocery store at 112-27 Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill and escaped after forcing the store manager and his clerk into a back room where they were compelled to remove their pants.
...

So is this the second or third "pants-bandit?" Copycat crimes like this bizarre one are a crazy quirk of the criminal world.

...

(Mr. Parrott will never get a job at the Daily News.)
...

Good for Fitz, he seems to have stumbled into the right business for wartime.

...

(What's in this prison's food?)
...

Talk about bullying, threatening to break the neck of the woman with the skinniest neck in the world; go pick on someone your own neck size.

...

(See, this is why you should only bet at your trustworthy neighborhood candy store.)
...

Mathematically, your odds of winning a jackpot don't change that much even if you buy a counterfeit ticket. Sad but true.

...

(Oh you spies and your fancy spy gadgets.)

I am not smart enough to follow this strip as, like today, I have only a vague idea what is going on.

Funny!
When I saw the Macy's 100% IMPORTED CAMEL HAIR part, I promptly started an online inflation calculator for the first time. And I was suprised, that the 59,95 USD are now 1.032,70 USD!
I thought, it would be much more!

What first cracked me up about that ad is, of course it's imported, it's not like America has an indigenous camel population.

As to the price, camel hair has always been very expensive and, like anything, there are varying degrees of quality. Today, you can buy a $500 camel hair coat, a $4000 one and one at every price in between, so Macy's $1000 one is in line, but you weren't at all wrong thinking it would cost more.

...

The hardest part of taking a vacation is setting things up so the workplace doesn't collapse without you.
...

Gray is an oddball, but kudos to him for producing a consistently positive girl-power strip in '42. The past was never as black and white as some, today, like to say it was.

...

Street smarts.
...

It's the low-tech equivalent of Kirk reprograming the computer to win in the Kobayashi Maru exercise.

...

"The G String Murders? No, I don't think I've read that."
...

It's never been my thing, but Ed is getting as close to the sister-fantasy thing as he can in 1942.

After Christmas Ebay and various retail site troll for good second hand stock. Sweaters, scarves, coats.
Considering pea coats, glove, whatever find fance. Aside all with rail, health, mismanaged, bargain sherlocker
just makes sense.

Rouge is making play. And what's what with this pilot and Harold. Not exactly typical roguish Yank jolly roger.

eBay, with some work and vetting, can offer some incredible values. Several years ago, I bought a "never worn tags still on" (and that's exactly how it came) Pendleton 100% wool full-length herringbone overcoat for $99 bucks that was on the Pendleton site that year for $495.

It's a beautiful and warm coat that is heavy enough to stop a small-gauge bullet. It's been my go-to winter coat ever since and it still looks like new. That coat will outlive me. My guess, someone got it as a Christmas gift, didn't want it, and flipped it out on eBay.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I had a beautiful Harris Tweed 1941-vintage winter coat that I wore, literally, to death. I paid $20 on Ebay for it ten years ago, and I've been trying to find another one like it, in my size, for the past two years. No soap, and certainly not at that price.

Between the Speaker of the House and the war in the Ukraine, it's obvious that the past and the present are inextricably linked.

 

[Fading Fast]

I had a beautiful Harris Tweed 1941-vintage winter coat that I wore, literally, to death. I paid $20 on Ebay for it ten years ago, and I've been trying to find another one like it, in my size, for the past two years. No soap, and certainly not at that price.

I hear you. The incredible steals of the early years of eBay seem over, but like with my coat, if a real-person seller (not a vendor, or somebody running a side business, etc.) meets a real-person buyer (not someone looking to resell the item), both can get a good price as all the middlemen are taken out of the equation.

I don't buy a lot of things in general, but I buy tens of old (not collector) books a year and find that eBay, usually, offers the best value as, often, it's somebody selling his/her own or his/her relatives' books so the books aren't first moving through a dealer.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

A potential state constitutional amendment to make Church and "patriotic" bingo games legal - Butch sure knocks the dust off of everything.

What's wrong with those silly DC legislators in '42, they just barely voted in a new speaker of the house. How hard could that be to do?




There is a line in the 1938 movie "Love, Honor and Behave" where a father, who wants his son to play football, study and work with the drive to be the absolute best at everything he does, tells his wife, who is more concerned with the son caring about others, being a good sport, not overly focusing on winning, that "you've made a fetish out of a virtue until you've turned it into a vice." We see it in '42 and today, virtues being elevated to absolutes and, thus, becoming vices.




Good for Hedy, she see the game the studio might play and she's trying to not let it get away with it. She was an interesting woman.




So is this the second or third "pants-bandit?" Copycat crimes like this bizarre one are a crazy quirk of the criminal world.




Good for Fitz, he seems to have stumbled into the right business for wartime.




Talk about bullying, threatening to break the neck of the woman with the skinniest neck in the world; go pick on someone your own neck size.




Mathematically, your odds of winning a jackpot don't change that much even if you buy a counterfeit ticket. Sad but true.




I am not smart enough to follow this strip as, like today, I have only a vague idea what is going on.




What first cracked me up about that ad is, of course it's imported, it's not like America has an indigenous camel population.

As to the price, camel hair has always been very expensive and, like anything, there are varying degrees of quality. Today, you can buy a $500 camel hair coat, a $4000 one and one at every price in between, so Macy's $1000 one is in line, but you weren't at all wrong thinking it would cost more.



Gray is an oddball, but kudos to him for producing a consistently positive girl-power strip in '42. The past was never as black and white as some, today, like to say it was.




It's the low-tech equivalent of Kirk reprograming the computer to win in the Kobayashi Maru exercise.




It's never been my thing, but Ed is getting as close to the sister-fantasy thing as he can in 1942.




eBay, with some work and vetting, can offer some incredible values. Several years ago, I bought a "never worn tags still on" (and that's exactly how it came) Pendleton 100% wool full-length herringbone overcoat for $99 bucks that was on the Pendleton site that year for $495.

It's a beautiful and warm coat that is heavy enough to stop a small-gauge bullet. It's been my go-to winter coat ever since and it still looks like new. That coat will outlive me. My guess, someone got it as a Christmas gift, didn't want it, and flipped it out on eBay.

eBay is practical and a godsend. Also fun. Popped out to book look and had an off day, preferred sit with coffee and relax. The wayward son's tattler Spare is due out soon or came out. But mixed about it and all.
So far the weather is mild with rain. So winter is slight and I can buy clothing online with leisure. I will further indulge myself looking for pre-postwar era films. I know for a fact Laughton did Hugo's Hunchback, but
cannot say who his Esmerelda was. And Bligh in Bounty opposite Gable. Olivier as Heathcliff in Bronte's
Wuthering Heights. And Rathbone's Holmes. Winter reads and watches.

 

[Fading Fast]

eBay is practical and a godsend. Also fun. Popped out to book look and had an off day, preferred sit with coffee and relax. The wayward son's tattler Spare is due out soon or came out. But mixed about it and all.
So far the weather is mild with rain. So winter is slight and I can buy clothing online with leisure. I will further indulge myself looking for pre-postwar era films. I know for a fact Laughton did Hugo's Hunchback, but
cannot say who his Esmerelda was. And Bligh in Bounty opposite Gable. Olivier as Heathcliff in Bronte's
Wuthering Heights. And Rathbone's Holmes. Winter reads and watches.

I'm sure you know this site, but just in case, IMBD https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home is an invaluable site for all your movie questions.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("I'll lead the patrols personally!" thunders Butch. "Where's my Special Mayor Car!" "Uh, sir..." "Oh, right.")

A Congressional tussle over places on House committees and a noticeable Republican coolness to appeals for support of President Roosevelt reflected today the uneasy temperament of the one-day old Congress. The convening session and the subsequent conferences in both major parties provided many indications that the animosities that developed in the "Fighting 77th Congress" have not been dispelled. Republicans in both the House and Senate declared war on what they termed "arrogant bureaucracy, non-essential Government spending in wartime, and promiscuous granting of blank checks and special powers." Opening day speeches by Republicans and by anti-Roosevelt Southern Democrats were criticial of the administration of war agencies by executive orders of the President. The unsettled committee situation in the House, where Republicans are demanding greater representation because of their increased strength was shown in the failure to re-elect sitting members of top committees in the first day's session. Democrats, however, expressed confidence that committee appointments will be settled by the end of the week.

In Albany, the Republican-controlled state legislature today found itself called upon to enact a bill outlawing strikes against the Government by employees in the public service, and to specifically bar a strike by transit workers which would paralyze New York City's subway and transit system. The bill proposed by Senator Arthur H. Wicks, Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is one of a series of proposals to untangle relations between the Board of Transportation and its 32,000 employees. The bill would authorize all Civil Service employees to organize with the right to choose representatives to present grievances and make requests singly or collectively without interference, but specifically declares that the right to strike is not included in those provisions.

("T' docteh stuck a needle inneh eeahdrum so it'd drain," explains Sally, as she injects a slow stream of peroxide in Leonora's aching ear with a rubber syringe. "DO'WANT,"wriggles Leonora as the fluid froths out and runs down her cheek. "STOPPIT!" "It's gonna be awright," Sally comforts. "I'm gonna kill 'at lan'lowehd." "KI'LAN'LUD," sniffles Leonora. "It don' seem so cold to'day, " observes Joe. "I hadda get up' an' take off 'at sweatshoit I had on unneh my ovehcoat, I was feelin' wawrm." "T'at rat lan'loehd knew t'is was comin'. He coulda switched back t'coal. He on'y switched t'erl inna fois' place so he c'd raise t'rent!" "RAT!" agrees Leonora. "My feet's still pretty col'," sighs Joe, gazing longingly at the oven. "Don' even t'ink of it," interrupts Sally. "You know what t'gas comp'ny said." "Ya ma's buildin' boins coal," notes Joe. "We ain' been oveh t'eah t'visit inna while." "Put ya sweatshoit back on," counsels Sally. "I t'ink ya gettin' a feveh.")

(The Dodgers Service Station was directly across Bedford Avenue from Ebbets Field, opposite the right field wall. It was used as an ad-hoc parking lot during games, with the management not liable for damage to windshields from home-run balls. Despite the name, it has no actual connection to the ball club beyond that, and no one seems especially concerned about trademark infringement.)

Conciliatory gestures on both sides are pointing to an easing of tensions between the city government and the Transport Workers Union. Mayor LaGuardia, in his annual message to the City Council, while maintaining his firm opposition to a threatened TWU strike, indicated that he would have no objection to the formation of a board to recommend procedure for bettering labor relations between the city and its employees, and he further noted that the Board of Transportation has completed wage adjustments boosting by an aggregate of $1,093,000 a year the pay of 13,000 transit workers in the lowest wage brackets. Six hours after the Mayor's speech, the TWU, in a meeting at Manhattan Center, voted to drop its strike threat, and authorized its executive committee to seek a solution to pending issues thru arbitration. Shouted demands from the rank and file of "STRIKE!" and "ACTION NOW!" were quelled from the platform by TWU president Michael J. Quill, and Joseph Curran, head of the CIO Greater New York Industrial Union Council. The officials charged that a strike was "just what was wanted" by Transportation Board Chairman Joseph Delaney in order to put labor and President Roosevelt "on the spot."

The Office of Price Administration today announced a crackdown on black-market meat in the city, questioning butchers and retail grocers who charged that wholesalers are buying Western meat at prices above wholesale ceilings, and are then reselling it, at inflated prices, to retailers who are forced, in turn, to violate ceiling prices themselves. The OPA noted that these practices do not involve the transfer of meat by "underground routes," but rather bookkeeping methods are used by wholesalers to cover their tracks, and retailers are given no choice but to break ceilings in order to survive. No charges are contemplated against retailers, but all meat wholesalers will be investigated and those found in violation will face criminal prosecution. But the wholesalers, speaking thru Ben Cohen, technical editor of the trade journal "Butchers' Advocate," charged that if all ceiling codes are strictly followed, "there will be no movement of meat in the city," with a cargo of Western meat imported into New York at present ceiling prices results in a loss of up to $900.

Meanwhile, Mayor LaGuardia declared yesterday that under no circumstances will the sale of horse meat for human consumption be allowed in the city. "It is degrading," stated the Mayor to the City Council. "It is the most oppressive thing you have ever seen." Several Eastern cities have turned to horse meat as a partial solution to the meat shortage.

Tickets to "Star and Garter," Michael Todd's Gypsy Rose Lee-Bobby Clark revue at the Music Box Theatre, set a new record for the most expensive theatre tickets sold in Broadway history during a recent special War Bond sale. Choice seats to the production were awarded to purchasers of $2000 worth of bonds, and ten such buyers stepped forward.

Mr. Todd's newest production opens tonight at the Alvin Theatre, with Ethel Merman headlining in "Everything For The Boys," a new musical revue featuring songs by Cole Porter. Miss Merman is supported by Allen Jenkins, Jed Prouty, Betty Bruce, Paula Laurence, Bill Johnson, Betty Garrett, Frances Mercer, Willialm Lynn, and Madeline Clive. It's Miss Merman's first Broadway show since her starring role in Porter's big 1940 hit "Panama Hattie."

(Why not enlist and find out?)

Gangland figure Albert Anastasia, who figured prominently in District Attorney William O'Dwyer's investigation of the Brooklyn Murder for Money Gang, has been promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the Army. Anastasia, described by police as the former "boss of the Brooklyn waterfront," entered the Army about a year ago. Authorities at the Kings County Court House indicated today that there are no charges pending against Sgt. Anastasia.

A citywide roundup of draft evaders has been ordered by Colonel Arthur V. McDermott, head of Selective Service for New York City, who will meet today with Federal, state, and city law enforcement agencies to coordinate the drive. It is estimated that there are about 5000 "floaters" in the city, men who have avoided conscription by maintaining no permanent address, and the effort will concentrate on locating and dealing with these men. The campaign will be in full swing by the time new requirements concerning the carrying of draft cards by all men between the ages of 18 and 45 go into effect on February 1st.

(YOU GUYS AREN'T MAKING THIS WINTER ANY EASIER. Meanwhile, note what George Sisler has to say in Parrott's column -- he's calling for "advanced metrics" years ahead of their time. Mr. Rickey, are you listening?)

("That handsome foreign-looking woman.." Oh Mary, be true to yourself.)

("Uh, all right." Nothing like an enthusiastic accomplice.)

("I'll know in about five minutes? Great, just time enough to go out for a sandwich.")

(TIME TO MOVE TO A NEW NEIGHBORHOOD!)

(Well, a fiesty little-girl heroine works for Harold Gray...)