The Era -- Day By Day

[Fading Fast]

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("I wondehed about'at meat ya Ma give us when we was oveh t'eah," comments Joe. "I guess now I kn..." "Whatcha mean?" interrupts Sally. "I c'n tell ya 'zackly 'bout t'at meat. It's hawrsmeat." "Hawrsmeat?" gulps Joe. "Soitn'ly," replies Sally. "We wen' oveh t'Newehk onna bus one day while you was sleepin'. Wen'na t'at 'Man 'a Wawr" jernt an' picked out s'm steaks." "I ate HAWRSMEAT?" Joe repeats, the color draining from his face. "Yeah, ya did. An' ya said 't'is is t'swelles' steak I had in yeeahs,' if I recall c'reckly. Now, what was you implyin' about Ma?" "What kin'a hawrs was it?" stammers Joe. "I dunno," shrugs Sally. "T'ey didn' have nametags on'm a' nut'n. Prob'ly some ol' milk wagon hawrs a'sump'n." "Oh," sighs Joe. "Whassamatteh?" asks Sally. "T'eah's a wawr on, y'know. If ya gotta eat a hawrs, y'can't be too p'ticuleh 'bout what kin'a hawrs it is. Y'can't go askin' f'innehductions." "I s'pose," Joe concludes. "I just wouldn' wanna eat a hawrs I mighta, you know, bet on..." "What?" "Nut'n.")
...

"'specially if he paid off." "What?" "Nut'n."

...

An Army sergeant from Brooklyn who from a Corregidor telegraph key tapped out the last poignant messages before the island fortress fell to the Japanese last spring has been reported alive in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Twenty-two year old radio operator Irving Strobing, of 605 Barbey Street in East New York was last heard from on May 5th, when his final message describing the last hour of shelling as "too much for the boys to take" was received. Since then nothing was heard from the young sergeant, but yesterday his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Strobing, received official notification from the Army that their son is alive. "I could feel that he is alive," declared Mrs. Strobing. "Call it a mother's intuitiion."
...

"Of the 27,000 Americans taken prisoner by the Japanese, a shocking 40 percent died in captivity, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service."

...

(Shaw's a piker. My winter coat is 82 years old.)
...

Was that your mom's or grandmother's coat? I thought you were in the market for a vintage winter coat?

A well-made suit that is well cared for has at least two decades in it. I have a tweed sport coat that is entering its forth decade of life. It's a Harris Tweed one that I bought on sale in '91 or '92 and, other than replacing the lining once, it's still going strong.

...

(Don't worry folks, I'm sure by now they've found all the unexploded bombs...)

There's a pretty good old TV show, "Danger UXB" that centers around a bomb disposal unit's work in London during WWII. Here's its IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078593/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

...

That's IT? C'mon, Gould, we know you can do better than this. Remember Krome? Remember Little Face? Where's the swarm of bees???
...

No kidding, at minimum, Gould should have had the shard of glass cut Prune Face's carotid artery and have him bleed out. Any writer could do a flesh wound of the wrist.

...

"Goot Evening?" Don't they give these spies elocution lessons?
...

Based on what we see in the comics, half the population of the United States is made up of German spies. The Abwehr had to be working overtime to meet the demand from the comicstrip writers alone, so some poorly trained ones were bound to slip through.

Oh, and...

Jeez, Jimmy -- took ya long enough.

It's nice to see that most people get what's going on.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My 82 year old coat is showing considerable tattering along the front, so I recently found a new one of similar age but less wear on the 'bay. Should be here in a couple of weeks. Both are Harris tweed, a fine product that stands up to much abuse, but does have its limits, especially when the buttons reach the straining point.

I'd love to have been in the room when the President gave Flynn his due trimming over the paving block affair. Mr. Roosevelt could be quite fearsome when riled.

Given what Prune Face did to that poor little dog, I was hoping his end would be more appropriate, like being strangled to death by his own bathrobe sash or something.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Not wit'a bang but wit'a wimpeh," comments Sally. "Huh?" huhs Joe. "It's a pome," Sally explains. "I loint it in English class -- you know, at Erasmus. T'is guy T. S. Eliot wrote it." "Howcum?" inquires Joe, stirring molasses into his oatmeal as a substitute for sugar. "It's about like, you 'spect sump'n t'happen like a big 'splosion, right, annen all you get izzis weak lit'l pop. An' it's kin'a disapernt'n." "Whatcha mean?" "T'is guy Flynn, you know?" "Wit' t'em goils?" "No, no, t'oteh Flynn. T'one wit' t'bricks. T' Tammany guy f'm t'Bronx. Seems like t'eah was gonna be t'is big 'splosion, but now it's jus' 'ok, neveh mine." "I hate politics," sighs Joe, trying to unstick his spoon from his fingers. "Y'see, t'ough," declares Sally, "why I vote A.L.P. I keep tellin' ya." Joe sighs again and is silent for a long moment. "Hey Sal," he begins. "What d'solves molasses?")

Blackouts and air raid drills in New York City have been suspended until February 17th by Mayor LaGuardia, when new Army rules take effect in the Eastern Defense Sector. With the exception of the regular system test at Saturday noon, any sounding of an alert will mean there is an actual attack. During his weekly radio broadcast yesterday over WNYC, the Mayor indicated that the drills will be resumed after February 17th in order to familiarize residents with the new signals.

On the question of meat, the Mayor during his broadcast stressed the need for rigid enforcement of ceiling prices by the OPA, backed by federal funding for additional agents. The Mayor stated that it would likely require a force of up to 200,000 men to properly enforce ceiling prices nationwide. He also called for abandonment of the use of March 1942 meat prices as the baseline for calculating current ceiling prices, and for the use of a graduated scale of ceiling prices for self-service supermarkets, neighborhood chain groceries, and independent retailers.

(And if you missed Butch's broadcast, you can hear a recording right here: https://www.wnyc.org/story/january-31-1943)

Former District Attorney William O'Dwyer, now a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, has uncovered evidence of "huge profiteering" by an unnamed Kansas City firm in an investigation of defense contract fraud. A report broadcast last night by commentator Drew Pearson quoted Lt. Col. O'Dwyer as predicting that indictments will soon be sought against the firm, which manfuactures canvas shelters for use by the Army Air Forces. The investigation, according to Pearson's report, discovered that one executive from the firm saw his salary increase, since the awarding of the contract, from $10,000 to $60,000 a year, and that $30 a week stenographers are now being paid $7000 a year.

A third ration book is now being prepared by the Office of Price Administration, and will soon be issued for use alongside War Ration Books No. 1 and 2. The Number 1 book, issued last spring, remains in use for sugar and coffee, and No. 2 is to be released this month for use in the new program of point rationing for meats and canned goods.

One out of every four typewriters manufactured in the United States since 1935 will be requisitioned for war use, according to a statement by War Production Board Chairman Donald L. Nelson. The WPB statement stresses that the situation is not yet one of "drafting" typewriters now in civilian use, but the need is no less urgent, and civilian businesses and individuals who use typewriters are requested to reduce their use of the machines to the bare minimum and turn in all surplus machines for reconditioning and distribution to the Army and Navy. Owners will be paid for the machines at a fair Government-fixed price.

(You kids using milk bottles for that experiment where you suck a hard-boiled egg thru the opening by lighting a piece of paper on fire will just have to do without.)

("I wish you would come to see me today or tomorrow. I'm sure we have a LOT TO TALK ABOUT.")

A clerk for the New Haven Railroad will serve two to four years in prison for abandoning his 5-year-old mute granddaughter at Grand Central Terminal last September. Sentence was passed today in General Sessions Court on 50-year-old Charles L. Miller after he tried vainly to shift responsibility for the incident to his daughter, Mrs. Ruth Miller Godkin. The child, Gertrude Louise Miller, was unable to speak and identify herself, and became "Little Miss Mystery" in the newspapers until her photograph was recognized by a couple who had helped care for her since she was an infant.

An abrupt ending is expected today to the balmy interlude that helped to clear eight inches of snow that fell on Thursday. Temperatures will become much colder tonight, under high winds that may increase to 45 miles per hour. Storm warnings have been issued by the Government Weather Bureau from south of Block Island to the Delaware Breakwater.

("You should see how thin he can slice a roast -- like a wet glow on the plate!")

The Brooklyn Eagle is one of four papers in the Metropolitan area commended by the National Federation of Catholic College Students for maintaining "high standards of morality" in its coverage of the Errol Flynn case. Also cited for maintaining such standards are the New York Times, The Sun, and the Herald Tribune.

("HMPH!" hmph in unison the Dodger Wives. "Bear Mountain! It's no Havana!")

A request for ideas for a new Dodger insignia from President Branch Rickey has yielded disappointing results so far. Most of the motifs received so far at the club offices from interested fans have featured patriotic symbols, guns, V-for-Victory signs, and similar red-white-and-blue ideas. Mr. Rickey, however, is thinking in the long term for a design that can be featured on the uniforms in the manner of the famous birds-on-a-bat of his former team, and is dismissing suggestions with a wartime theme. Likewise he has little interest in insignia featuring a trolley car, hearkening back to the team's days as the "Trolley Dodgers." Nothing is expected to come of this contest "for quite some time."

(Don't meddle where you're not wanted.)

("First time in a casino, kid?")

(Well, didn't we actually meet that woman on the train? Go talk to the railroad agent!)

("YOU MEAN AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG WHOSE ADVENTURES MILLIONS FOLLOW FROM COAST TO COAST? WELL THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!")

(Please welcome our special guest star, Miss Margaret Hamilton.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"Widow's smite." Oh you guys.

The National Federation of Catholic College Students may not give the News any awards, but I bet for certain they never miss reading it.

Acrostic? No. Every third word? No. Read it backwards, No. Look, I'm not in the mood for this!!

"Alright you Commandos, here's your assignment..."

Better shoot him just in case.

Skeez's birthday is coming right up, February 14th. 22 years old. Hey Walt, time to bring the basket down from the attic and have a good cry.

"Social call? PULL OVER TO THE CURB, THIS IS A MATTER FOR THE OPA!"

Gee, Gus -- thanx for the translation.

Our boy is growing up at last.

There are times when Emmy reminds me so much of my grandmother that it's eerie. I had to sew on every loose button I ever had after the age of seven.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I didn't quite catch on with Harold's abruptness. Miss Goggles is attractive and honest about her interest.

At the top where Ms Borst, showgirl and gold digger tried to claw her talons at fortune the widow's response is golden.
A film could be sourced from this storyliner.

 

[Fading Fast]

("Not wit'a bang but wit'a wimpeh," comments Sally. "Huh?" huhs Joe. "It's a pome," Sally explains. "I loint it in English class -- you know, at Erasmus. T'is guy T. S. Eliot wrote it." "Howcum?" inquires Joe, stirring molasses into his oatmeal as a substitute for sugar. "It's about like, you 'spect sump'n t'happen like a big 'splosion, right, annen all you get izzis weak lit'l pop. An' it's kin'a disapernt'n." "Whatcha mean?" "T'is guy Flynn, you know?" "Wit' t'em goils?" "No, no, t'oteh Flynn. T'one wit' t'bricks. T' Tammany guy f'm t'Bronx. Seems like t'eah was gonna be t'is big 'splosion, but now it's jus' 'ok, neveh mine." "I hate politics," sighs Joe, trying to unstick his spoon from his fingers. "Y'see, t'ough," declares Sally, "why I vote A.L.P. I keep tellin' ya." Joe sighs again and is silent for a long moment. "Hey Sal," he begins. "What d'solves molasses?")
...

"Whatcha mean?" "T'is guy Flynn, you know?" "Wit' t'em goils?" "No, no, t'oteh Flynn.

Justice would be Flynn in jail like you or I would be if we did what he did, but this is at least something.

...

On the question of meat, the Mayor during his broadcast stressed the need for rigid enforcement of ceiling prices by the OPA, backed by federal funding for additional agents. The Mayor stated that it would likely require a force of up to 200,000 men to properly enforce ceiling prices nationwide. He also called for abandonment of the use of March 1942 meat prices as the baseline for calculating current ceiling prices, and for the use of a graduated scale of ceiling prices for self-service supermarkets, neighborhood chain groceries, and independent retailers.
...

200,000 is a stunning number. I'm not saying he's wrong, I have no idea, but that is a large force, especially in 1943.

...

Former District Attorney William O'Dwyer, now a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, has uncovered evidence of "huge profiteering" by an unnamed Kansas City firm in an investigation of defense contract fraud. A report broadcast last night by commentator Drew Pearson quoted Lt. Col. O'Dwyer as predicting that indictments will soon be sought against the firm, which manfuactures canvas shelters for use by the Army Air Forces. The investigation, according to Pearson's report, discovered that one executive from the firm saw his salary increase, since the awarding of the contract, from $10,000 to $60,000 a year, and that $30 a week stenographers are now being paid $7000 a year.
...

We often make fun of the army for not leverage the talent of its soldiers, but it put O'Dwyer right to work on something he is very good at and, clearly, he's getting results. I bet there is A LOT MORE of that for him to find. Go to it, Bill!

...

The Brooklyn Eagle is one of four papers in the Metropolitan area commended by the National Federation of Catholic College Students for maintaining "high standards of morality" in its coverage of the Errol Flynn case. Also cited for maintaining such standards are the New York Times, The Sun, and the Herald Tribune.
...

You can have Page Four and the highest subscription numbers of all the papers or commendations for "high standards of morality," but not both. As my father would say, which one pays the bills?

...

("First time in a casino, kid?")
...

"This entire gambling house is crooked, the dice are loaded to favor the house, the roulette wheel is electrically wired, the black-jack dealer is a sleight of hand artist." In other words, it's a gambling house.

Some good illustrations, though.

It appears Russell Stamm is LaGuardia's long-lost brother.

And in the Daily News...

"Widow's smite." Oh you guys.
...

It's a great headline, but in truth, the proper word for both sides of this suit is "spite." They are fighting over who gets the empty wallet.

...

Acrostic? No. Every third word? No. Read it backwards, No. Look, I'm not in the mood for this!!
...

I got nuddin'.

...

Better shoot him just in case.
...

Yup. Clearly, you've read the guide book.

The Fedora Lounge Rulebook for Killing a TV, Movie or Comic-Strip Enemy, which states: "Always kill your enemy as fast as you can and, then, check carefully to make sure he or she is dead."

I will praise you at our next meeting.

...

Gee, Gus -- thanx for the translation.
...

I guess we'll soon learn if there's any truth to the old saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Social escoit soivices?" ponders Joe. "T'one-hunne't'n-foist Giggilo Division," shrugs Sally.")

("Ya don' hafta worry," reassures Sally. "Ya essential." "I guess," sighs Joe. "Sometimes, t'ough, I kin'a feel guilty. I mean, Solly, my ol' pal Solly, is oveh t'ean inna desset, an' who knows what's gonna hap'n to 'im. Solly, who neveh hoit a fly. Well, unless 'at fly ended up inna brine tank, t'en he'd scoop 'm out. But he's oveh t'eah wit'a gun or a tank or sum'pn, an' awl I'm doin' is cutt'n lit'l --" "Loose lips," interrupts Sally. "Look, wit'out t'em lit'l -- t'ings ya makin', I mean..." "Yeah, I know," nods Joe. "An' onna o'teh han', I mean, I neveh even shot a gun b'foeh. 'Cept'em ones downa Coney Islan', an' I don' t'ink t'at counts. An' I neveh even won anyt'ing on'nem anyways." "I could give ya lessons," offers Sally. "You know how t'shoot guns?" "A lit'l," shrugs Sally. "One time when we was lit'l kids, Uncle Frank took me an' Mickey an' Ma out ta Dead Hawrse Bay, an' we..." "Um," interrupts Joe, thrusting his fingers in his ears. "Loose lips, loose lips....")

American Flying Fortresses struck hard at Lakunai and Rapopo airdromes in the Rabaul area on New Britain Island Sunday night, destroying fuel dumps and grounded planes, and leaving fires visible for 25 miles, reported a communique from the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur. The first wave of heavy bombers showered the area with incendiaries and flares to light up the target for subsequent raiders loaded with demolition and fragmentation bombs. Over 20 fires were started along the runways, stated the communique, with heavy damage to fuel dumps and grounded aircraft.

Former State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol today testified before an Official Referee that he "misunderstood a question" put to him by an Amen Grand Jury last year. In his testimony before that panel last June, Esquirol was asked if his law firm, as executors of the estate of Allen Maxwell Walker had sent any money to Walker's sister on Scotland. Esquirol stated that the firm had sent that sister either $800 or $1000, but in testimony today Esquirol stated that he has since learned that the informant who told him about the money was referring to "a co-related matter in the estate." The charge that Esquirol had falsely testified about the money is one of a number of charges lodged against Esquirol by the Amen Grand Jury. He testified last week that the delay of important papers had prevented him from sending Walker's sister the money, which represented a death benefit due her as her brother's beneficiary, but further stated that as soon as those papers arrived, he sent the money.

Sixteen butchers gathered for a crap game in a Flatbush wholesale meat warehouse failed to notice that a seventeenth apron-clad man was an undercover patrolman, who arrested the entire group. Fifteen of the butchers were fined a dollar each last night in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court with Magistrate Charles E. Hirsimaki calling the fines "about the price of a good steak." Five other defendants are out on bail, and will be arraigned today in Flatbush Court. Last night's defendants explained the dice game by stating that they had nothing else to do because business is so slow due to the meat shortage, and with Meatless Tuesday approaching there are no buyers anyway. Magistrate Hirsimaki advised the butchers "not to do it again."

The continuing fuel shortage is leading Mayor LaGuardia to call on shop owners citywide to curtain their hours of operation as a conservation measure. The Mayor plans to call a meeting of retail merchants' associations soon to make that request official. One such group, the Metropolitan Retail Florists Association, has already agreed to close its shops no later than 6 PM, and a spokesman indicated that all but about half a dozen florists in Brooklyn have agreed to cooperate with the campaign. The spokesmen indicated that he will suggest today that member florists set up picket lines in front of florists who refuse to participate in the campaign.

Governor Thomas E. Dewey indicated today that all horse racing in the state may be terminated in 1943, due to the gasoline situation, but he further stated that his proposed state budget for 1943-44 assumes that racetracks will continue to operate on a reduced basis with an anticipates reduction in parimutuel revenues due the state of at least 49 percent. The proposed budget of $369,600,000 for the coming fiscal year slashes expenditures by approximately $11,900,000 over 1942 levels, and will go before a series of public hearings beginning February 15th.

(Vera Zorina is *Norwegian???* Now It Can Be Told!)

The Eagle Editorialist praises the President for withdrawing his nomination of Edward J. Flynn, former Democratic National Committee chairman, as minister to Australia. "By this act of renunciation," the EE declares, "the United States is spared the spectacle of being represented in one of the most important diplomatic posts in the world at this particular moment by a man unqualified to fill it."

(War Is Heck.)

("Yes, Adolph, my boy," thunders Mr. Rickey into the telephone, "it does appear that Mr. Durocher may not be with us longer, and.." "Um, sir," replies Mr. Camilli, "I asked you to -- will you kids be quiet, I'm on the long distance! I asked you, sir, please, don't call me, um, Adolph. It's 'Dolph,' sir. I go by.." "Of course, my boy, anything you say, anything you say. Now, about this managerial position. You understand, my boy, that we will be unable to pay you anywhere the rate which you were paid to play last year, anywhere near the rate. You must understand, my boy, the exigencies of war require a tightening of the belt, my boy, a tightening of the belt! Of course, should you wish to become a playing manager, there might be the..hello? Hello? Adolph? Are you there?")

("Um, look, lady, there's something shady about this whole business. Why are you so desperate to get me on a train, anyway? Maybe we should stop first and have a little talk with this secret operative Dan Dunn I've been reading about in all the papers!")

(NOTHING FUNNY LOOKING GOING ON HERE NOSIREEE)

("At last we're going to find out what really happened to Norman Marsh!")

("THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, ALL THE NEIGHBORS LOVE AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE HERO DOG! THEY ALWAYS LEAVE HIM TREATS!")

("Never mind this," thinks Hugh. "Now -- what would Shadow Smart do?")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

"The lawyers are expected to argue for two days." Well, at least.

"Childs? Never heard of it."

Don't worry, kid. All the best people are awful at algebra.

"Incidentially, 'Colonel,' just how long have you been in grade?"

"That's right," scoffs Tracy. "Here, let me see that! Hmmm, it's obvious that...um...if you look right here you'll see that...uhhhh...LOOK I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! PRUNE FACE IS THAWING OUT!"

"Oh good, he's not dead yet. There's still time to find some angry bees. Or -- hey, this'll be great -- I'll stick him under a boiling hot shower! Ha! Remember Jerome Strohs! He pruned up pretty good, didn't he!"

Yeah, Skeez, you're falling way behind on your V-Mail. Didn't you take a pen out to the desert?

Clearly not at the weekly meeting of the S. P. C. A.

There's always time for a classic bit.

"And besides, these motivational posters around here are getting awful personal!"

 

[Fading Fast]

("Social escoit soivices?" ponders Joe. "T'one-hunne't'n-foist Giggilo Division," shrugs Sally.")
...
("Ya don' hafta worry," reassures Sally. "Ya essential." "I guess," sighs Joe. "Sometimes, t'ough, I kin'a feel guilty. I mean, Solly, my ol' pal Solly, is oveh t'ean inna desset, an' who knows what's gonna hap'n to 'im. Solly, who neveh hoit a fly. Well, unless 'at fly ended up inna brine tank, t'en he'd scoop 'm out. But he's oveh t'eah wit'a gun or a tank or sum'pn, an' awl I'm doin' is cutt'n lit'l --" "Loose lips," interrupts Sally. "Look, wit'out t'em lit'l -- t'ings ya makin', I mean..." "Yeah, I know," nods Joe. "An' onna o'teh han', I mean, I neveh even shot a gun b'foeh. 'Cept'em ones downa Coney Islan', an' I don' t'ink t'at counts. An' I neveh even won anyt'ing on'nem anyways." "I could give ya lessons," offers Sally. "You know how t'shoot guns?" "A lit'l," shrugs Sally. "One time when we was lit'l kids, Uncle Frank took me an' Mickey an' Ma out ta Dead Hawrse Bay, an' we..." "Um," interrupts Joe, thrusting his fingers in his ears. "Loose lips, loose lips....")
...

Like "Terry and the Pirates," this strip is outclassing the competition.

...

Former State Senator Joseph A. Esquirol today testified before an Official Referee that he "misunderstood a question" put to him by an Amen Grand Jury last year. In his testimony before that panel last June, Esquirol was asked if his law firm, as executors of the estate of Allen Maxwell Walker had sent any money to Walker's sister on Scotland. Esquirol stated that the firm had sent that sister either $800 or $1000, but in testimony today Esquirol stated that he has since learned that the informant who told him about the money was referring to "a co-related matter in the estate." The charge that Esquirol had falsely testified about the money is one of a number of charges lodged against Esquirol by the Amen Grand Jury. He testified last week that the delay of important papers had prevented him from sending Walker's sister the money, which represented a death benefit due her as her brother's beneficiary, but further stated that as soon as those papers arrived, he sent the money.
...

I don't really know the context of this story, but Esquirol should be able to easily substantiate his testimony...or not.

...

Sixteen butchers gathered for a crap game in a Flatbush wholesale meat warehouse failed to notice that a seventeenth apron-clad man was an undercover patrolman, who arrested the entire group. Fifteen of the butchers were fined a dollar each last night in Brooklyn-Queens Night Court with Magistrate Charles E. Hirsimaki calling the fines "about the price of a good steak." Five other defendants are out on bail, and will be arraigned today in Flatbush Court. Last night's defendants explained the dice game by stating that they had nothing else to do because business is so slow due to the meat shortage, and with Meatless Tuesday approaching there are no buyers anyway. Magistrate Hirsimaki advised the butchers "not to do it again."
...

When you are arresting people over friendly games of dice (friendly meaning not organized or run by others, but the players themselves), you've lost the point of your campaign and you'll lose the public's support.

...

The continuing fuel shortage is leading Mayor LaGuardia to call on shop owners citywide to curtain their hours of operation as a conservation measure. The Mayor plans to call a meeting of retail merchants' associations soon to make that request official. One such group, the Metropolitan Retail Florists Association, has already agreed to close its shops no later than 6 PM, and a spokesman indicated that all but about half a dozen florists in Brooklyn have agreed to cooperate with the campaign. The spokesmen indicated that he will suggest today that member florists set up picket lines in front of florists who refuse to participate in the campaign.
...

You'd think florists, the sellers of possibly the least-essential item on earth, would be smart enough to keep a low profile right now. Every ounce of heating oil they use is one less for "our boys," or the dairymen or the butchers (oh well, never mind about them).

...

The Eagle Editorialist praises the President for withdrawing his nomination of Edward J. Flynn, former Democratic National Committee chairman, as minister to Australia. "By this act of renunciation," the EE declares, "the United States is spared the spectacle of being represented in one of the most important diplomatic posts in the world at this particular moment by a man unqualified to fill it."
...

...the exigencies of war ...

Nice touch, Mr. Rickey

...

("Never mind this," thinks Hugh. "Now -- what would Shadow Smart do?")

Look at that, four panels in a row, each one makes sense and each one logically follows the one before, plus there are no random characters or comments; will miracles never cease?

...

"Childs? Never heard of it."
...

Sure, when they want to splurge, but I bet on any given night, you'll find more service men at Horn & Hardart.

...

Don't worry, kid. All the best people are awful at algebra.
...

As almost always, really good illustration.

The three great thinning of the ranks in math education are long division ("carry the 'what'?"), algebra ("It's a letter, how can it be a number too?") and calculus (I have no idea what one single word he said after "first derivative" meant).

...

"That's right," scoffs Tracy. "Here, let me see that! Hmmm, it's obvious that...um...if you look right here you'll see that...uhhhh...LOOK I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! PRUNE FACE IS THAWING OUT!"
...

Let's see what that great detective Irwin Higgs can make of it. Heck, Annie or Sally are the only characters in all our strips who I'd bet could break it.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Turkish bath workers and social escorts were exempt conscription?

Codes are encrypted and opened with key; its key life is twenty-four hours. Corky's scribble can't be so hard, a spot-dog.

Harold should sign up for conscription. Lad is lost. A sheep in dire straits for appropriate sheperd.

 

[Fading Fast]

Turkish bath workers and social escorts were exempt conscription?

Codes are encrypted and opened with key; its key life is twenty-four hours. Corky's scribble can't be so hard, a spot-dog.

Harold should sign up for conscription. Lad is lost. A sheep in dire straits for appropriate sheperd.

"Turkish bath workers and social escorts were exempt conscription?"

I saw that too and thought, what the hey?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Somebody's got to keep the steam flowing in the generals' saunas, and to give their wives something to do at night.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Last night in the television thread I posted my usual Bloomberg economics, finance, markets along with Sky News
feature on an American general's downgrade British Army which caused local uproar here in London. This was censored, so my knowledge as a former Intelligence Corps officer of brothels run American armed forces in Germany, Poland, diverse establish houses of joy hither and yon and this particular incident of a female naval commander
who led a double life as escort exclusive with several similarly situated American female officers will remain hush.
Talk about the kitchen spice shelf.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Got-teh-dam-meh-rung." pronounces Joe. "Whassat mean, anyways? Is it swearin' a'sump'n?" "What it means," declares Sally, as she brandishes a spoonful of beets in the direction of a reluctant Leonora, "izzat weeh gonna win'nis goddem wawr. Maybe not right away -- aw, don' spit it out, it's good fawr ya -- but weeh gonna winnis wawr.")

British four-motored bombers dropped many thousands of incendiary bombs and a great weight of explosives, including 100 two-ton blockbusters on the shattered German city of Cologne during the night. All of the explosives in the new blitz raid were dropped within the space of twenty minutes, with only five of the British warplanes failing to return to base. German reports acknowledged casualties, damage, and "some fires" in Western Germany.

On Guadalcanal last week, a weary group of Japanese soldiers violated their country's warrior code and surrendered to American forces, rather than fight to the last man. One of the men walking out of the jungle with hands raised in surrender was 23-year-old Pvt. Akiyoshi Hasamoto, a veteran of Japanese campaigns in China, Borneo, and the Philippines, who told an American interpreter that he and his comrades in the 224th Japanese Regiment, a crack outfit cited by the Emperor for their service in the Malaysian campaign, had not eaten in five days, and were given ample portions of rice and American clothing to replace their rags. Pvt. Hasamoto told interrogators that he and his comrades had given up all hope of rescue, despite their officers promising them "shiploads of reinforcements," and that their surrender was motivated by thoughts of "hot food, tobacco, and relief from the unending shelling." Pvt. Hasamoto further stated that he will never return to Japan. "I am disgraced because I surrendered," he said, and went on to declare that "I do not know about the rest of the war, but here, Japan is beaten."

The War Manpower Commission is preparing to seek legislation that will put the force of Federal law behind efforts to push all men and women into work in war-related industries, with particular attention to men beyond draft age. A spokesman for the Commission stated that a National Service bill is necessary as a "last ditch" method of coping with the continuing manpower shortage, because the present work-in-war-industries-or-fight edict offers no means of compulsion in forcing men beyond the draft age into compliance. In releasing yesterday a list of occupations deemed by the Government to be non-essential, WMC chairman Paul V. McNutt stressed that this list is "only the beginning," and further additions to that list must be expected. McNutt also noted that the present draft limit of 38 can be changed by the President at will by means of a simple Executive Order, with the Selective Service law allowing conscription of men up to the age of 45.

Mayor LaGuardia today gave "every assurance" that the city will take every necessary action to "run down" the vandals responsible for the recent desecration of a Jewish synagogue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. In a letter to a member of Congregation Ahavath Israel, which was broken into last month by vandals who scrawled swastikas and desecrated temple scrolls, the Mayor acknowledged that the incident "makes one's blood boil. I suppose, in a city of 7,500,000 individual cases of perverts, degenerates, and fanatics are to be expected. However, such acts will not be condoned." The Mayor went on to pledge that "we will do everything that is humanly possible to run down the perpetrator and bring him to justice."

Jews in Brooklyn were urged yesterday by former Magistrate Joseph Goldstein to discontinue the use of the Yiddish language due to its resemblance to German. In a speech to the Unipar Lodge of the Knights of Pythias at the Arion Pythian Temple, 762 Eastern Parkway, Goldstein urged Jewish Brooklynites to learn and speak English wherever possible, and to otherwise substitute Hebrew for Yiddish. He also suggested that Jews with surnames of German origin should change them.

(Six more weeks of winter...)

(Look, if you're gonna be a crook, at least try to be a clever one.)

(You can make a lot of money running numbers slips.)

(One should not be sanguine about this situation. In the last war, baseball lost the last month of the 1918 season due to a stern "work or fight" order, and had the war continued into the following year, there would have been no 1919 season. We haven't reached that point yet, but it is clearly on the table. As for the Phillies situation discussed by Mr. Parrott, the hapless Mr. Nugent doesn't exactly have a considerable private fortune. His wife has a considerable private fortune, and if she is keeping his hands out of it, she is a very smart woman indeed. Oh, and HA HA BILL TERRY, IS PHILADELPHIA STILL IN THE LEAGUE?)

Psychologist Dr. Louis Berg has prepared for your consideration a list of the ten radio programs that he believes do the most to help wartime morale, either didactically or as pure entertainment. Those programs are "Fibber McGee and Molly," the Fred Allen program, "One Man's Family," "Amos 'n' Andy," the daytime serial "Against The Storm" -- which is currently off the air but expeected back soon -- "The Goldbergs," "Cavalcade of America," "The Commandos," and "The Man Behind The Gun."

(Well, OK, now what? I hope Mom's a desperate member of the Italian resistance with vital information to convey to the Allies, or this whole story will be pointless.)

(You shut off the lights and yell RAID! This guy is the dumbest pit boss ever.)

(WELL THAT SHOULDN'T BE HARD TO FIND EVERYBODY KNOWS THERE'S ONLY A HANDFUL OF WOMAN ARTISTS.)

(Hey mister, wouldn't you like to adopt a nice dog?)

("Do not look at ME, feckless one," declares the Dragon Lady. "I no longer give lessons.")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Yep. The only relevant question here is "what did he know and when did he know it." Anything else is a red herring.

There's a week's worth of comic strip ideas here for any enterprising cartoonist.

It's so wholesome to see little kids at play.

Cynophobia!

"You see, I saved my money carefully all those years I worked for you, and I invested it in real estate."

"I'm afraid he won't bend without...oops."

"At 60 cents a dozen we can't afford to take chances!"

"E-T-T-T-A-A-N-I-E-E-E-T-E-E-T-A-T-E-A-T-E" Of course! Why didn't we see it before??

"Of course, I don't know if Mr. McNutt will feel that way."

"She'll make a wonderful stooge for our espionage ring!"

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Hugh cannot dance but Lora is a girl for his dreams. Harold should stay and date Lady Goggels.
Terrence drags Hector so much that a year from now the note will still be read. UGH. Get on with it lads.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

On Guadalcanal last week, a weary group of Japanese soldiers violated their country's warrior code and surrendered to American forces, rather than fight to the last man. One of the men walking out of the jungle with hands raised in surrender was 23-year-old Pvt. Akiyoshi Hasamoto, a veteran of Japanese campaigns in China, Borneo, and the Philippines, who told an American interpreter that he and his comrades in the 224th Japanese Regiment, a crack outfit cited by the Emperor for their service in the Malaysian campaign, had not eaten in five days, and were given ample portions of rice and American clothing to replace their rags. Pvt. Hasamoto told interrogators that he and his comrades had given up all hope of rescue, despite their officers promising them "shiploads of reinforcements," and that their surrender was motivated by thoughts of "hot food, tobacco, and relief from the unending shelling." Pvt. Hasamoto further stated that he will never return to Japan. "I am disgraced because I surrendered," he said, and went on to declare that "I do not know about the rest of the war, but here, Japan is beaten."
...

Recognizing that it's just a real-time war anecdote with all the errors that can entail, plus it's subject to bias reporting, there's still a lot to unpack here.

...

Mayor LaGuardia today gave "every assurance" that the city will take every necessary action to "run down" the vandals responsible for the recent desecration of a Jewish synagogue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. In a letter to a member of Congregation Ahavath Israel, which was broken into last month by vandals who scrawled swastikas and desecrated temple scrolls, the Mayor acknowledged that the incident "makes one's blood boil. I suppose, in a city of 7,500,000 individual cases of perverts, degenerates, and fanatics are to be expected. However, such acts will not be condoned." The Mayor went on to pledge that "we will do everything that is humanly possible to run down the perpetrator and bring him to justice."
...

I walked by a Jewish Temple on the way to and from a meeting on Wednesday and there was a police cruiser parked out front both times, which usually means it's on 24/7 watch. I immediately and sadly thought of this story.

...

(Look, if you're gonna be a crook, at least try to be a clever one.)
...

"Judge, at this time, the prosecution would like to add 'arrant stupidity' to list of charges against the defendant."
"So noted, does the defense have any objections?"
"No objections, your Honor."

...

(You can make a lot of money running numbers slips.)
...

Every good honest American, at least in that era (and when I was growing up in the '70s/'80s), knows that you get paid off the books as a kid.

...

(WELL THAT SHOULDN'T BE HARD TO FIND EVERYBODY KNOWS THERE'S ONLY A HANDFUL OF WOMAN ARTISTS.)
...

It's different today, but to be fair to arrogant Dan, how many blonde female sculptors where there in a town like Steelburg (the comicstrip version of Pittsburg) in 1943? One would be a lot would my guess.

...

There's a week's worth of comic strip ideas here for any enterprising cartoonist.
...

Half way through Ann Archbold's story I thought she was going to end with, "And that's the first time I met Errol Flynn."

...

"You see, I saved my money carefully all those years I worked for you, and I invested it in real estate."
...

I've read stories (don't remember where, though) about servants who did save and invest their money for years and, then, helped to bail out their bosses, especially during the Depression. To be sure, it was very rare, but sometimes these relationships took on a family dynamic.

...

"E-T-T-T-A-A-N-I-E-E-E-T-E-E-T-A-T-E-A-T-E" Of course! Why didn't we see it before??
...

Annie would have figured it out.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The way that Frank King has portrayed Rachel in "Gasoline Alley" over the years is interesting -- in a lot of ways she's the classic "mammy" stereotype, especially the way she's drawn, and her role as baby Skeezix's caregiver before Walt marries Phyllis. But -- unconventionally for the time -- King shows her also as having friends and family and a life of her own that don't involve the Wallet family. That's something you very rarely see in any kind of 1920s-40s popular fiction -- the maids and the porters and the chauffeurs come and go on the periphery of the story but the don't seem to have any life beyond their role in that story. Rachel, for all her weaknesses as a character, was not like that.

KIng has also shown a bit of progress here in the way he draws Rachel. When she worked for the Wallets, all you ever saw was her eyes and her mouth under a floppy dustcap, and dressed in "Aunt Jemima" type clothes. But here she shows up rather stylishly dressed. He's got a long way yet to go, but it seems he's aware that the world is changing.

Interestingly, the artist who currently draws "Gasoline Alley," the third in line after King, did a flashback sequence several years ago to Skeezix's boyhood. He drew Rachel exactly the way King originally did -- except that he made her white. That wasn't the best, or most honest, way to deal with the situation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Hah!" snorts Joe."'Putzi!' Hah! Ya know what t'at means? Solly tol' me in Yiddish t'at means..." "I know what it means," chuckles Sally. A kocke putzi -- means, I dunno, like hash. Buncha stuff awl mixed t'geteh. A big mess, in utteh woids, which, I might say, is what t'at guy is in." "But I t'ought..." "Nah," replies Sally. "Ya t'inkin' 'a 'putz,' wit'out a 'I" onna end. Diffen't woid al'tgetteh. An'nen in Goiman, why, I t'ink it's sump'n else yet again. " "Oh." nods Joe. "Hey, I didn' know you could..." "Eh," shrugs Sally. "A bisseleh.")

The United States Employment Service office in Brooklyn was besieged today by an anxious hoard seeking to find jobs not in those categories laid down as non-deferrable by the War Manpower Commission. An augmented staff was on duty to aid with applications. Clerks at the 250 Schermerhorn Street office were processing those applications as quickly as possible, but were unable to prevent lines from accumulating. At that office last night, new applications had to be halted at 7:30 PM in order to allow clerks time to catch up on processing the forms before the office closed at 9 PM. City-wide, more than 30,000 persons descended upon Government job agencies fallowing WMC chairman Paul V. McNutt's warning that exemptions for all men in jobs deemed non-essential to the war effort will be revoked effective April 1st, regardless of marriage or dependent status.

(Learn while the iron's hot!)

Nazi satellites Rumania and Finland, marking the southern and northern extremities of the Eastern Front, are today said to be "near the cracking point." A United Press dispatch from Ankara, Turkey reported that a Rumanian envoy had suddenly returned home after an interview with Rumanian dictator Ion Antonescu, and is believed to be carrying with him a peace feeler which he hopes that the Turkish government will transmit to the United Nations. Meanwhile, dispatches from Stockholm report that Finland, now starving, is insistent that future military aid to Germany depends on its receiving more food from the Nazi government, and is also said to be seething over a statement by Field Marshal Hermann Goering that the Winter War of 1939 between Finland and Russia was "merely a bluff."

A report by the National Safety Council released today states that the civilian toll from accidents of 93,000 killed and 9,300,000 injured far exceeds the number of American military casualties so far in the war, but also notes a small bright side -- the number of accidents was down in 1942 over 1941 figures, a reduction attributed primarily to strict enforcement of the 35 MPH speed limit as a measure to save gasoline and rubber, and to general restrictions on civilian travel. The report estimates that the accident toll for 1942 cost the nation more than $3,700,000,000 in lost wages and lost production.

("All gravy and no brisket!")

"Navy Wife' writes in to Helen Worth wondering if it's appropriate if, given the present circumstances, when inviting guests to dinner, she should ask them to bring their own chops. Helen shrugs and turns it over to her readers for their thoughts.

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour will be found on the screens at your nearest Loew's theatre, as "The Road To Morocco" this week begins its tour of the neighborhood houses. The winter's big laugh hit will be accompanied on the bill with the latest of the Aldrich Family pictures, "Henry Aldrich, Editor."

The Eagle Editoralist salutes the Red Army for its victory at Stalingrad, and declares that its continuing westward pressure on the fleeing Herrenvolk means the death-knell of Germany's invasion of Russia. Noting that the German radio greeted the news of the Soviet victory at Stalingrad with the funereal strains of "Gotterdammerung," the EE declares the music well chosen. "We are now seeing the onset of the twilight of the Nazi gods of beastiality, cruelty, and terror.

(Goading the OPA *and* Butch in the same cartoon? Mr. Lichty likes to live dangerously.)

A fourteen year old boy from Peoria, Illinois who convinced recruiters he was four years older to join the Marines has been reported killed in action. Private Norman Gibbs is reported by the Navy Department to have died on December 28th, just a year and thirteen days after he joined. His mother, Mrs. Rachel E. Gibbs, acknowledged that she lied about his age on his enlistment papers because after Pearl Harbor, "he wanted to go. I was proud of him then. I still am."

(Maybe you can get Jack Benny to play third base, and Fred Allen to play first. I mean, they're already pals with Leo...)

(Even Mary can see that this plot is going nowhere.)

(Hey, don't I remember all this from an old Lon Chaney movie? At the end, I bet he loses his legs FOR REAL.)

(An adressing machine? Oh, you mean what everybody else calls an Addressograph [TM]. Guess they didn't want their brand associated with this story.)

(Good going, kid. NO SNITCHING.)

("Never mind this box step stuff, I wanna do aerials!")

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

No words.

And again I say, "Ew."

Oh, and Hans -- here's some Vapo-Rub. It'll do wonders for that cold.

"Never mind that kid, it's below zero outside and you show up riding a bike with no gloves, no earmuffs, and a light jacket?"

So that's who Dan Dunn reports to now!

"Oh, dear. Are you still taking your prophylaxis?"

The manpower situation is even worse than we thought.

Yeahhhhhh, OK, if you insist.

For those who came in late: Plushie used to be rich. Now he isn't.

"All right, hold that pose..."