The Era -- Day By Day

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and I asked Sally about Magistrate Sweeney. "Cousin Vince? He's a swell fella. Some cousin'a my pa f'm Greenpernt. I dunno zackly how it ties in. But Uncle Frank knows." And she adds that her mother has no say in what goes on the store. "She jus' watches t'place f' Misteh Lieb. He's on vacation. He must like t'place wheah he's stayin'. He's been on vacation since nineteen toity-six."

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

It's easier solving the Credit Suisse mess; Federal Reserve intent; or the San Francisco Fed's lack of oversight
than following some of these strips. Hugh I've folded; Terrence is a lamb one day and tiger cub next day; and
Harold is a very subtle strip, really complex, look inside human nature.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Alla woild is Irish," quotes Joe. "I dunno," he declares, casting a sidelong glance at the former Miss Sally Aileen Sweeney. "I don' t'ink t'woil' is ready f't'at." "Noitz t'you, bohunk," replies Sally, snapping a wet dishtowel at her husband's head, "I BEG ya pawdon," huffs Joe. "I ain' no bohunk, if y'please, I'm a --- huh, y'know, t'ey ain' even really GOT a woid f'me." "T'at's f'soiten," agrees Sally. "What?" "Nut'n." "Anyways, t'day I am Irish. Jus' like t'at gen'ral, t'at Tim O'Shenko. Joe O'Petrauskas. 'Fait' an' begorrah!'" "Y'got a lawng way t'go," laughs Sally. "Y'betteh kiss t'Blawrney Stone." And so he does.)

A German-born police officer who served six years as a member of the New York City force is under arrest today on charges of forgery and perjury after signing the police payroll under a false name. "Patrolman William Jocher" of the West 135th Street station in Harlem was suspended from duty by Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine after he was revealed as Arthur Meissner, a German immigrant who adopted the false identity after he was denied naturalization. Meissner, in his guise as Jocher, came under suspicion after he was heard in a Yorkville bar and grill loudly praising the accomplishments of Adolf Hitler, declaring that "the country was on its last legs until the Fuehrer took over." An American citizen of German origin who didn't like that kind of talk reported "Patrolman Jocher" to the FBI, which began an investigation leading to the disclosure of his true identity. Meissner is to be arraigned later toda in Manhattan Felony Court.

Mayor LaGuardia today called for immediate Federal action to remedy the poultry shortage in New York City, telling officials of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that the supply of dressed birds to the local market must be increased in order to put a thriving poultry black market out of business. The Mayor asserted that the present ceiling price structures are leading poultry wholesalers to deal directly with black market operators instead of local jobbers who distribute to the retail trade.

Meanwhile, the Food Distribution Association today warned that the hoarding of eggs by speculators is threatening a nationwide shortage. As of March 13th, according to the OPA, 1,290,104 cases of eggs, each containing 30 dozen eggs, are being held back in just 25 wholesale markets, compared to 469,164 cases held on the same date a year ago.

The Director of the Office of War Information today ordered all employees of that agency to abstain from all public involvement in partisan politics. Director Elmer Davis announced the order at a press conference today in Washington in which he declared that neither he, nor any member of his staff, has engaged in any activities intended to promote a fourth term for President Roosevelt, and that the prohibition on all public political activity by OWI employees is intended to head off charges that the agency is interested in "playing politics" that have arisen due to statements praising the President in a publication intended primarily for overseas distribution. Davis had previously acknowledged that the article in question was "ill advised," and "probably could have been presented in a better form."

("That U-Boat that blew up in that cove, though, we don't know who did that. Probably some kid fooling around with blasting caps.")

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Office of Price Administration has decided to soon lift the ban on pleasure driving in the East. Discussions are still continuing between the OPA, the Petroleum Administration for War, and the War Production Board over whether the end of the ban on pleasure driving will be accompanied by a reduction of the present three-gallons-a-week value of "A" coupons. The PAW has warned that there may be a spurt in pleasure driving if the ban is lifted, but OPA officials are said to lean to the position that very little pleasure driving would be possible on a basic A-card ration.

The ongoing investigation of Creedmoor Hospital in Queens will embrace other State hospitals for mental disease, it was indicated today after state officials received charges from the Association to Improve Conditions in State Mental Hospitals that conditions similar to those uncovered during the Creedmoor probe exist statewide. One of the most serious charges raised in the report from Association executive director Samuel H. Rosen is that mental patients are consistently served food that is "unfit for human consumption." The report also asserts that not only are patients victims of frequent physical brutality, but so also are persons who come to the hospitals to visit them. The report further charges that patients are often transferred to hospitals far away from their families as a disciplinary measure.

Borough President John Cashmore will be among those attending a mass meeting against Hitlerism tomorrow night at the Jewish Community House, Bay Parkway and 78th Street. Also speaking at the meeting will be Archbishop Athenagoras of Greece and Rabbi Wolf Gold, Executive Chairman of the World Mizrachi. Rabbi Nachman A. Ebin will pronounce a mass community Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, in memory of millions of Jewish victims of Hitler.

(Well, Mr. Vidor, if GWTW is still playing grind houses three years in, there must be a call for "voluminous scripts.")

The artichoke, once imported and expensive, the "Aristocrat of the Dinner Table," is no longer quite so the sign of patrician affluence that it once was, with homegrown versions bringing down the price, and shortage of more familiar vegetables propelling it to a position where it no longer represents "super indulgence." There are actually two different kinds of artichokes -- the "French" variety, which is a member of the thistle family, is the spiky-headed version with the edible portion being the bases of the fleshy scale-like leaves, while the "Jeruslalem" artichoke actually has nothing to do with the Holy Land at all. It's an American vegetable, related to the sunflower, which produces edible tubers similar to, and prepared like, potatoes. Both versions are worthy of an appearance on your wartime table.

The Eagle Editorialist declares that the passage of the redistricting bill in the Legislature is a great victory for Brooklyn and Queens, which will finally "be given a square deal in their representation at Albany." Noting that an effort by opponents to declare the new bill unconstitutional because it expands the Senate from 51 members to 56 is being contemplated, the EE hopes that no member of the Brooklyn delegation will become associated with this move, "which calls into question the good faith of their decision to finally support the redistricting bill."

(When's the OPA gonna do something about THAT?)

Entertainer Beatrice Kay writes in to praise Madame Chiang Kai-Shek as "one of the foremost women of our time," who is doing much to unifiy the Allies in this great war. "Emblematic of the Chinese race, she posseses that rare quality of true greatness -- humility."

("Hah!" laughs Freddie Fitzsimmons. "Get a load of Medwick! What a tub! HEY DUCKY BOWLING KEEPS YA TRIM!")

Approximately 200 students at Jamaica High School, boys and girls alike, threatened to walk out of classes this morning to protest the decision by the school administration to discontinue baseball, but were talked out of going on strike by Principal Dr. Charles H. Vosbergh. When the students, led by prominent athletes, began to assemble on the school campus at 9AM, Principal Vosbergh invited them to assemble in the school auditorium to hear him that he too supports interscholastic sports, and invited them to form a committee that would work together with administrators to come up with a way to make the baseball program self-supporting.

A two-day-old baby boy was rescued from accidental cremation in an apartment-house incinerator in Jackson Heights this morning when a handyman discovered the infant inside a cardboard box he was about to toss into the flames. Handyman Frank Sforza of 80-90 35th Avenue notified police, who took the baby to St. John's Hospital where he is reported to be doing well. There were no marks of identification found on the child, who was wrapped in a blue towel and a pink blanket.

("YIKES! I'd better take care of that tab down at Bickford's!")

(Perfect. You couldn't tell him apart from any other phony count!)

(YOU DIDNT ANSWER MY QUESTION!)

(You know, if you're going to hire yourself out as a hit dog, you could at least put a little more thought into the job.)

(JUST IN CASE YOU WERE PLANNING TO BUILD ONE AT HOME)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

SERIOUSLY??? Well, at least she ranks Larry MacPhail.

Sutton Place? Well lah de dah.

Everybody in 1943 knows Morse code.

"Let me tell you something about war, kid..."

"OH NO! My sergeant WARNED me about women like you!"

"I learned all about this when I was a little kid. This girl Trixie used to throw rocks at me."

"Well, for starters, I've spent ten years living with you and all your crazy relatives!"

Didn't we go thru all this before with Bill Slagg? Quick, somebody hit him over the head.

Stop showing off, Flippo.

And that's why poor Willie went bald.

 

[Fading Fast]

...

The Director of the Office of War Information today ordered all employees of that agency to abstain from all public involvement in partisan politics. Director Elmer Davis announced the order at a press conference today in Washington in which he declared that neither he, nor any member of his staff, has engaged in any activities intended to promote a fourth term for President Roosevelt, and that the prohibition on all public political activity by OWI employees is intended to head off charges that the agency is interested in "playing politics" that have arisen due to statements praising the President in a publication intended primarily for overseas distribution. Davis had previously acknowledged that the article in question was "ill advised," and "probably could have been presented in a better form."
...

So little is new: amplified today by social media - yes, but not new.

...

(Well, Mr. Vidor, if GWTW is still playing grind houses three years in, there must be a call for "voluminous scripts.")
...

It's fun to see, in the movie notes section, Donald Crisp being cast in what is, IMHO, the best ghost movie of the studio era, "The Uninvited." Crisp does an outstanding job in the relatively small but important role of the grandfather.

Tracy and Hepburn's second effort, "Keeper of the Flame," Is okay, but suffers from trying to be too-many types of movies at the same time. My comments on it here: #29,094

...
("Hah!" laughs Freddie Fitzsimmons. "Get a load of Medwick! What a tub! HEY DUCKY BOWLING KEEPS YA TRIM!")
...

"Now now, Dear, is that nice? You know how upset you get when people comment on your weight, which is not at all heavy." Mrs. Fitzsimmons is the unsung hero of the Dodgers.

...

(Perfect. You couldn't tell him apart from any other phony count!)
...

Except for the stink of spirit gum.

My God, this is a complicated plan these two idiots are trying to execute.

...

Sutton Place? Well lah de dah.
...

I'd say "lad de dah" as the $50 price is double the most recent high price we saw of $25, but this one did include free drinks. In 2023 dollars, that is just under $900. And that's only the "basic" price; which makes one wonder what you get if you pay up? If they really want to stop this, start arresting and publishing the men's names. That would kill this business, at least on the high end, in a hurry.

"It must be all the alcohol and stress from the war, but uh, umm, well, er, "nothing" is happening. I guess I'll get a refund."
"That's not how this works."
"But it was "$50."
"Did you enjoy your free drinks?"

...

"Let me tell you something about war, kid..."
...

I had the same thought, Lizzie, but I imagined Annie starting her speech with, "Are you familiar with the expression, 'taking one for the team.'"

...

"OH NO! My sergeant WARNED me about women like you!"
...

"Thank you, but I've saved up $50 and am going to this neat nightclub in Sutton Place my rich buddy told me about."

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Torrid voibal assawlts," quotes Joe. "Whassat? 'Torrid.' Whassat?" "It means 'hot,'" explains Sally. "Like innat song t'ey useta play when we useta go dancin' at Roselan'. Remembeh? "If ya want ya rhyt'm tor-rid, 'til it makes ya mop ya for'head, well I got swing fa sale!" "Do t'at again," requests Joe. "Do what?" "T'at, you know, whatcha jus' done, t'at twitch ya jus' done when you was singin'neah. You know," and at this point Joe stands up and executes a particular type of snappy oscillation of the hips. "Nah," grins Sally. "You seem t' got it right." "Yeh," nods Joe with satisfaction. "I ain' los' me moves. Look heah," as he, in quick succession exceutes a bit of truckin', a bit of peckin', and a dramatic Praise Allah, just as a button flies off his trousers and ricochets off the kitchen wall. "Dooit 'gain!" exults Leonora, as Stella races off in pursuit of the button. "Go ta woik," laughs Sally, flipping her towel in the supplicant's direction.)

The basic "A" ration for gasoline is to be cut in half effective next week, coinciding with the end of the OPA ban on pleasure driving in the East, leaving holders of A-cards to get by on six quarts of fuel, or a gallon and a half, per week. The reduction announced for the Eastern district will leave the present coupon value at three gallons per unit, but the eight coupons currently valid will have to last for four months rather than two. The effective result of this change is a limit to A-card holders of 90 miles per month. When the coupons numbered A-5 become valid on Monday, motorists may use them as they see fit for family or personal necessity driving, and car owners who have been using their A rations to drive to work will become eligible to receive supplemental rations necessary to cover that mileage. Specifics of how to apply for those supplemental rations will be released next week, and the OPA emphasized that "extreme care" will be taken to ensure that A card users with legitimate needs will be "properly cared for." The pleasure driving ban, which became effective January 7th and which will end on Monday is credited with having saved an average of 30,000 barrels of gasoline per day over the winter months. Price Administrator Prentiss Brown and Petroleum Administrator Harold I. Ickes indicated that they were in agreement that the Number 1 objective of the petroleum program for this year is to avoid the problems experienced over this winter by insuring that there is an adequate stockpile of fuel to meet the demand for heating during the winter of 1943-44.

French patriot forces retreated deeper into the snow-covered Savoy Alps today, sending boulders and landslides crashing down the mountain slopes in the path of a heavily-armed Italian column moving against them. Reports from the Swiss frontier said the guerillas had split into small units placed at strategic points along the winding mountain road leading into the Thonon area. These reports told of a tremendous landslide believed started by guerilla dynamiters, which reached such proportions that families living in the foothils had to evacuate their homes. The advance of the Italian column, said also to include Vichy units, was reported slowed by the guerilla tactics. Radio Algiers again appealed to French police not to help in the roundup of the patriots, urging the former followers of the late Admiral Francois Darlan and the French Fascist Jacques Doirot "not to add another forfeit to your betrayal," and warning them that vengeance will be taken against all who aid the Axis when the hour of deliverance strikes.

Flying Fortresses have blasted Rapopo airdrome at Rabaul, vital Japanese base on New Britain Island, with 392 bombs lighting the skies with flames and heavy explosions, it was reported in a headquarters communique. Fortresses eluded searchlights and enemy fire during the Tuesday night raid, centering their attack on runways and dispersal areas. The fires "indicated heavy destruction of enemy aircraft caught on the ground," an Army spokesman stated. All the raiders returned safely to base.

Mayor LaGuardia's supporters in the legislature are today awaiting his next move following the stunning defeat of a bill under which he sought to double the city's sales tax. Unless the Mayor follows thru on his recent threat to close museums, shut down one of the city colleges, and change the assignment system for thousands of policemen and firemen unless the legislature authorizes the City Council to return the sales tax to the former 2 percent rate, it was the belief that the Mayor will will renew his battle on the legislative front in Albany. The Mayor has asserted that it is "up to the Legislature to free the city from the straitjacket of mandatory expenses which the Legislature maintains but the city must meet."

("Meet me at the Half Moon Hotel when you get out. Just in case.")

Three years after its release "Gone With The Wind" has been seen more than once by nearly five and half million people, figures released today by the Audience Measurement Institute estimate. Of that total 457,000 report seeing the four hour, $4,.000,000 epic picture three times or more. The film concludes a special two day run tonight at the Harbor Theatre. More people have seen the film, it has won more awards, and it has spurred more discussion than any picture in history.

("PLEASE, Mr. Grocer! I'm a MARRIED WOMAN!")

Public Works Officer Theodore Belzner of the Brooklyn Citizens Defense Corps writes in to warn that recent talk of the likelihood of actual air raids on the East Coast of the United States should be taken very seriously, "especially by those persons not willing to make personal sacrifice in these critical times." "With the repeated warning given by the Army and Navy authorities of the possibility of air attacks," he continues, "it seems to me that now is the time people should be more conscious of those attacks, and this applies in particular to those scoffers whose indifferences and hostilities prevent the spreading of proper information and the coordination of operation between the incident and public works officers and the air raid wardens."

(Translation: "The soil is made up entirely of coal ashes and clinkers, and if you try to plant anything in it, all you'll raise is a sweat." Ask me how I know this.)

Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, first lady of the Orient, leaves New York today to begin a coast-to-coast goodwill tour for China. She will speak on Monday in Chicago and on Wednesday in San Francisco and on April 11th in Los Angeles. Her tour is being conducted in "greatly curtailed form," concerning which Secret Service men attached to her detail requested that "very little be published."

(Odds that Leo plays more than 10 games at short this year now standing at 200-1. Odds that Leo does at least two guest shots with Fred Allen now 2-1. Odds that Leo appears in a Hollywood movie now even.)

("..and if someone named 'Gimpy' calls, tell him I'm working on it.")

(C'mon, Mr. Stamm., settle down. It was bad enough when Boody Rogers used his strip to work out his fantasy life, but at least he had a sense of humor about it.)

("Three rifles, two pistols, and 400 rounds of ammunition. Are we in training for the biathalon?")

("Giving up so easy! HMPH THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SEND A CUR TO DO A STAR'S JOB".)

(HA HA HA SHORT CHANGED! CALLED IT)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News...

Aw, c'mon Butch -- go after poker all you want, but leave gin rummy alone! Well, unless they're playing Hollywood Gin, that's a dirty racket.

Ahhhhh, selective memory.

"Shouldn't we test it out first?" "Nah, what can go wrong?"

"Yes, son -- I promise I'll do all that after I finish my Federal rap at Atlanta for kidnapping and impeding the U S Mail."

Well, you can't hover.

"Hey, how 'bout you? Great bargain! Comes with two whole quarts of gas!"

"'This is the berries!' Hey Skeez, get a load of the moldy fig!'"

"It's not what you stand for, it's what you FALL FOR that counts." If he hasn't learned that by now, he never will.

Sometimes I really feel sorry for poor Willie.

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

Glad to see the Kid in Upper Four at least made it to his point of embarkation...

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 499128
("Torrid voibal assawlts," quotes Joe. "Whassat? 'Torrid.' Whassat?" "It means 'hot,'" explains Sally. "Like innat song t'ey useta play when we useta go dancin' at Roselan'. Remembeh? "If ya want ya rhyt'm tor-rid, 'til it makes ya mop ya for'head, well I got swing fa sale!" "Do t'at again," requests Joe. "Do what?" "T'at, you know, whatcha jus' done, t'at twitch ya jus' done when you was singin'neah. You know," and at this point Joe stands up and executes a particular type of snappy oscillation of the hips. "Nah," grins Sally. "You seem t' got it right." "Yeh," nods Joe with satisfaction. "I ain' los' me moves. Look heah," as he, in quick succession exceutes a bit of truckin', a bit of peckin', and a dramatic Praise Allah, just as a button flies off his trousers and ricochets off the kitchen wall. "Dooit 'gain!" exults Leonora, as Stella races off in pursuit of the button. "Go ta woik," laughs Sally, flipping her towel in the supplicant's direction.)
...

That's nice. They have a better marriage than most.

...

("Meet me at the Half Moon Hotel when you get out. Just in case.")
...

I picked up on "the Judge wants to get a room" vibe too.

Also, "the years [7.5 -15 in prison] will not be long..." "Oh really, then you serve them for me."

...

("..and if someone named 'Gimpy' calls, tell him I'm working on it.")
...

("..and if someone named 'Gimpy' "Ma S." calls, tell him her I'm working on it.")

And in the Daily News...

Aw, c'mon Butch -- go after poker all you want, but leave gin rummy alone! Well, unless they're playing Hollywood Gin, that's a dirty racket.
...

So I did a little research of 345 E 57th Street, the hoity-toity apartment building where the upscaled house of ill repute was operating. The building, built in 1928, is still there today:

Pretty, isn't it?

I even dug a bit into the floorpans and there really were only six room apartments, but my guess, they divided one of the bedrooms into two rooms for, well, umm, business reasons as this looks like the floorpan.

Today, very little matters, but I imagine, back then, Mr. and Mrs. Swells were not pleased to find that a prostitution ring was working out of their apartment house. Somebody in management had some splainin' to do.

Ten year ago, in an apartment building I lived in (in a not-fancy, but not-dumpy neighborhood), an apartment down the floor from me was raided by the police as the tenants were running a credit-card theft ring out of it. The police used one of those big hand-held battering rams to break down the door. The story made the papers as the ring had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from local businesses and their customers.

...

Ahhhhh, selective memory.
...

Six years as mayor ('26-'32) and not one mugging or stickup, what's hard to believe about that? The real question is did the City ever go six hours without one? I'd bet no.

...

"It's not what you stand for, it's what you FALL FOR that counts." If he hasn't learned that by now, he never will.
...

People like Mama are good at spotting other vile people; it is a skill they have.

...

Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick...

And in 2023 dollars, "Harold, m'boy, here's a check for $86,000, buy Cynthia a nice wedding ring."

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Harold is a very subtle thought-provoking strip.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When Harold gets that blank stare on his face he's usually about to do something drastic or irrational or drastically irrational. Recall how he looked and acted just before Lillums and Truck were about to get married, and how he looked when he was engaged to Lil and Lana.

Mama DeStross can be remarkably astute when it's in her best interests so to be. But Bim is a sap every day of the week and every week of the year.

Muggings, alas, were the least of what went on in the city when Mr. Walker was mayor, as the Seabury investigation found out. Butch was elected in 1933 in large part because he represented a complete repudiation of Tammany graft. Criticize LaGuardia all he want, but he's never taken an ill-gotten dollar.

Joe and Sally are just reaching that point in their lives when they realize that their youth is over, and the moist eyes of nostalgia are beginning to cast their gaze back on those innocent times seven years gone, when he had a job on the WPA and she was a clerk in a five-and-ten and Hitler was just that guy you hissed in the newsreels and it seemed like the music would never stop... (snif)

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Quite well played Ms Elizabeth. I recently tripped over the HBO series Perry Mason which hooks like heroin,
and the women in this show are center stage characters that more than help the production, they propel it,
similar to these strips. Harold is much deeper quicksand than it initially appears to be.

 

[LizzieMaine]

("Huh," huhs Joe. "Lotta rough stuff goin' on in Flatbush. Mmmm-mm." "Hmph," hmphs Sally. "Brooklyn Aveneh. T'at ain' really Flatbush, y'know. 'At's way down'eah 'roun' ya Eas' Midwood. Awmos' inna Flatlan's. Lotta noive t'ey got cawlin'at Flatbush." "Hey," heys Joe. "Whateveh hap'nd 'nat guy was innat shootout t'eah right in fronna ya Ma's place las' yeah, right onna corneh a' Midwood an' Rogehs? Remembeh t'at?" "T'at wan' right in fronna Ma's place. She's one dooeh down f'm t' corneh. T'at was in fronna t'at drug stoeh. Lotta shady stuff goes on inneah, t'cawps otta check it out. I heah he sells a lotta paregawric.")

Lawyers, doctors, and employees of liability insurance companies, as well as employees of the State Insurance Fund, shared in the bounty of the firm of Bendiner & Schlesinger, which made X-rays of accident victims, witnesses testified today before Moreland Commissioner William F. Bleakely during an investigation of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau. Mrs. Elsie Wolf Krumm of the Bronx, a bookkeeper fro Bendiner & Schelsinger, testified that she entered "kick-back payments" for 50 percent of all X-ray work ordered by the State Insurance Fund, with 40 percent of that amount going to Dr. J. B. Lauricella, the fund's chief medical officer, and Clarence N. Woolf, head of the auditing division. Payments kicked back to Dr. Lauricella during 1941 and 1942, according to Mrs. Krumm, totalled $1750, with $392 going to Woolf. Woolf himself, testifying on the witness stand, denied receiving any such payments, and further testified that he had authorization from fund officials to hold a second job as an executive at Queens Memorial Hospital, operated by Dr. Otto Gitlin. Dr. Gitlin testified that he had understood Woolf to have such permission, but Henry D. Sayer, who had headed the State Insurance Fund at the time Woolf took the second job, testified that he had specifically forbidden the auditor to take outside employment. When it was suggested by H. T. Stitchman, another Moreland Commissioner, that Woolf's testimony should be presented to the Grand Jury, Woolf admitted that the authorization he presented to Dr. Gitlin was false. Representatives of two insurance firms testified that they had received "cash gifts" from the X-ray firm for "bringing them business," as well as from Dr. Theodore R. Freedman, who had earlier testified that he had paid "thousands of dollars" to persons who had brought him compensation cases.

The San Francisco shipyard that gave industrialist Henry J. Kaiser his reputation as a "miracle shipbuilder" was charged today by the War Production Board with 31 violations of priorities. A subpoena was served on officials of the Kaiser-Richmond California Shipyard No. 2 alleging the unauthorized purchase of 928,000 feet of lumber, $2,643,584 worth of electric motors, and of "thousands of pounds" of zinc plate and copper sheeting. A board spokesman stated that it has not yet been determined what penalties will be imposed on the firm for the violations, but did acknowledged that a suspension order might be issued. It was stressed, however, that no action would be taken that might "retard the war effort." Testifying in Washington yesterday before the House Labor Committee, Henry J. Kaiser himself expressed surprise at the charges, and stated that the first he knew about them was when he read about them in the newspapers. Kaiser dismissed the violations as "mistakes," and added "if we only make five mistakes in a month, all I can say is thank God we're that good."

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson has advised the House Rules Committee that action to place fathers at the bottom of the draft list would "result in a complete breakdown of the present Selective Service system." In a letter, released today, to Chairman Adolph Sabath (D-Illinois), Secretary Stimson argued that a proposal to base deferment on dependency rather than essentiality to the war effort would be "administratively impossible," with no local draft board able to ascertain "at any given time" when every childless registrant under its control would have been inducted.

(There's A New World Coming...)

This summer may see girls replacing boys as summer-camp swimming instructors -- possibly even at boys-only camps. The director of First Aid and Water Safety for the Brooklyn Red Cross today put out a call for men and women to fill the need for trained swimming instructors to fill the needs of more than 250 summer camps from Long Island west to Minnesota. The age limit for swimming instructors has been lowered from 19 to 18 this year, and it was noted that the Red Cross will now accept high school seniors and college students of that age who can demonstrate swimming proficiency. In addition to girls' camps, which normally employ young women as swimming instructors, Director Bert B. Bachman acknowledged that the shortage of qualified young men will likely mean that some boys' camps will have girls or women as swimming instructors for the coming season.

("At was a pretty good show," says Joe, as he and Sally leave an early-afternoon screening at the Paramount. "I ain' sueh, but I t'ink I seen Solly in one'a t'em shots. Can't be two people inna woil' wit' a face like t'at." "T'at Boga't pictcheh was OK too, "adds Sally. "Speakin'a faces t'eah can' no moeh'n one'a." "T'ey need t'fumigate t'at the'ateh a'sumpn'," complains Joe. "One pernt inn'eah my eyes got awl wawteh'ed up." "Yeh," says Sally. "Hey, y'c'n gimme back my hankie.")

("Hmph, there ain't a John Garfield in the bunch.")

A 17-year-old Long Island boy has been bound over for a Grand Jury following his third arrest on auto-theft charges in as many months. Joseph Van Dyke of East Northport has proven highly resistant to efforts by court officials to reform him. He was first given "a second chance" by a grand jury, and on his second arrest convinced a judge that he intended to turn himself around by joining the service. But after he and three other East Northport boys were picked up this week for stealing a car in Greenlaw, Judge Frederick E. Knell indicated that he had run out of chances.

(Well now, this IS good news. DODGER SQUARE DANCE CLASSES BEGIN ON MONDAY!)

Not only is Dixie Walker back in the Dodger fold, the popular outfielder will join David S. Soden, prominent civic figure, to do an act tonight on the stage of the Savoy Theatre, Befford Avenue and Eastern Parkway, in a bond-selling stunt designed to raise money for a Meyer Levin-Colin Kelly memorial bomber. Although Dixie is known to sing and dance rather well, the nature of the "Dave and Dixie" act has not been disclosed. The duo is scheduled to go on at 8:15 pm.

("Um, is that compounded daily, weekly, or monthly?" "IT'S A SURPRISE.")

(Hmph. You think the Green Lantern watches the clock? You think Dr. Mid-Nite watches the clock? YOU THINK BATMAN WATCHES THE CLOCK?)

(Burm-uh-Amber wants to see if there's any chance Caniff will want her back.)

("And no, I don't mean Bohack's")

("Life, it's wonderful?" Stop misquoting Father Divine, kid.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News....

But what did they do with the fish?

"Hmph," hmphs Gypsy. "Well, back to work..."

I wish I commanded this kind of authority when I was ten.

Yes, Dick Tracy has a radio show now, but it's nowhere near as strange and violent as the comic. There are, after all, limits.

Yeah? Ask that moose over the fireplace how soft-hearted he is.

Just want to point out here, before the shooting starts, that Frank King is second only to Milton Caniff himself in the quality of his art. This whole sequence has been superbly drawn.

"And I know he's serious because he knows he won't get a III-A out of it!"

Actors do have that kind of reputation.

Incidentially, Terry's radio show is much better than Tracy's.

What kind of joint keeps that much Limburger around? SERVES YA RIGHT!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, and...

GOODGAWDAWMIGHTY!

 

[Fading Fast]

...

Lawyers, doctors, and employees of liability insurance companies, as well as employees of the State Insurance Fund, shared in the bounty of the firm of Bendiner & Schlesinger, which made X-rays of accident victims, witnesses testified today before Moreland Commissioner William F. Bleakely during an investigation of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau. Mrs. Elsie Wolf Krumm of the Bronx, a bookkeeper fro Bendiner & Schelsinger, testified that she entered "kick-back payments" for 50 percent of all X-ray work ordered by the State Insurance Fund, with 40 percent of that amount going to Dr. J. B. Lauricella, the fund's chief medical officer, and Clarence N. Woolf, head of the auditing division. Payments kicked back to Dr. Lauricella during 1941 and 1942, according to Mrs. Krumm, totalled $1750, with $392 going to Woolf. Woolf himself, testifying on the witness stand, denied receiving any such payments, and further testified that he had authorization from fund officials to hold a second job as an executive at Queens Memorial Hospital, operated by Dr. Otto Gitlin. Dr. Gitlin testified that he had understood Woolf to have such permission, but Henry D. Sayer, who had headed the State Insurance Fund at the time Woolf took the second job, testified that he had specifically forbidden the auditor to take outside employment. When it was suggested by H. T. Stitchman, another Moreland Commissioner, that Woolf's testimony should be presented to the Grand Jury, Woolf admitted that the authorization he presented to Dr. Gitlin was false. Representatives of two insurance firms testified that they had received "cash gifts" from the X-ray firm for "bringing them business," as well as from Dr. Theodore R. Freedman, who had earlier testified that he had paid "thousands of dollars" to persons who had brought him compensation cases.
...

The good news is that this systemic corruption by doctors, insurance companies and government agencies in healthcare never happened again.

...
In addition to girls' camps, which normally employ young women as swimming instructors, Director Bert B. Bachman acknowledged that the shortage of qualified young men will likely mean that some boys' camps will have girls or women as swimming instructors for the coming season.
...

Can't see anything going wrong with this plan.

...
("At was a pretty good show," says Joe, as he and Sally leave an early-afternoon screening at the Paramount. "I ain' sueh, but I t'ink I seen Solly in one'a t'em shots. Can't be two people inna woil' wit' a face like t'at." "T'at Boga't pictcheh was OK too, "adds Sally. "Speakin'a faces t'eah can' no moeh'n one'a." "T'ey need t'fumigate t'at the'ateh a'sumpn'," complains Joe. "One pernt inn'eah my eyes got awl wawteh'ed up." "Yeh," says Sally. "Hey, y'c'n gimme back my hankie.")
...

Brooklyn really is its own little movie time warp.

...

A 17-year-old Long Island boy has been bound over for a Grand Jury following his third arrest on auto-theft charges in as many months. Joseph Van Dyke of East Northport has proven highly resistant to efforts by court officials to reform him. He was first given "a second chance" by a grand jury, and on his second arrest convinced a judge that he intended to turn himself around by joining the service. But after he and three other East Northport boys were picked up this week for stealing a car in Greenlaw, Judge Frederick E. Knell indicated that he had run out of chances.
...

The roots of the three strikes law.

...

"Hmph," hmphs Gypsy. "Well, back to work..."
...

I can't believe not one person said Hu Shee.

Mr. Schrift is bucking for a little action from Mrs. Schrift tonight.

...

I wish I commanded this kind of authority when I was ten.
...

I wish I commanded that kind of authority now...at 58.

...

Yeah? Ask that moose over the fireplace how soft-hearted he is.
...

I'm thinking identity theft 1943 analog style.

...

Just want to point out here, before the shooting starts, that Frank King is second only to Milton Caniff himself in the quality of his art. This whole sequence has been superbly drawn.
...

Agreed. And like Caniff, he also does in-depth research for his storylines.

...

Incidentially, Terry's radio show is much better than Tracy's.
...

The entire "Dick Tracy" world, very much including Tracy, is psychotic.

Caniff's characters are incredibly recognizable as functioning and flawed humans.

Oh, and...

GOODGAWDAWMIGHTY!

Speaking of psychotic. If there is an Advertising Hall of Fame, you can bet this one isn't hanging in it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If that beer-drinking clown doesn't show up as a Dick Tracy villain in the very next storyline, I for one will be terribly terribly disappointed.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Have seen US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen questioned before a Senate panel as pertains back wall stoppage
Silicon Valley Bank, Republic et al. Demure, fast on her feet but lies, feints, dodges like a boxer. She is trapped inside a locked safe behind tumblers written across a roulette wheel. But Jane's a real comic strip character.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(“Good!” huffs Sally. “T’ey don’t put Kilgallen on’neah. Bet it boins’eh up, too, prancin’ up an’ down Fit’ Aveneh like a lit’l snip awl dressed up! HAH!” “T’ey din’ put Gypsy onneah,” notes Joe. “It says ‘Bes’ DRESSED,” argues Sally. “Oh yeh,” nods Joe.)

Faced with a critical shortage of asphalt for highway repairs in Queens, Borough President James A. Burke today appealed to the people of that borough to use their furnace ashes to fill dangerous holes in the streets. Burke pointed out that the limited supply of asphalt available will have to be used for the repair of the more heavily trafficked thoroughfares, and none can be spared for the maintenance of side streets. “We must use every means to overcome the difficulties brought about by the present emergency,” Burke declared, “and the home owners of the borough can help by using their furnace ashes to fill the existing holes until there is sufficient material to do the job properly.

An ominous deadlock over demands of 450,000 bituminous coal miner for a $2 daily wage increase continued today but for the first time there was a remote possibility that the negotiation period might be extended without a cripplig work stoppage. The United Mine Workers policy committee authorized 130,000 members in outlying districts to continue work after the current contract expires March 31st if the operators involved will agree to abide by any agreement negotiated at New York, and to make retroactive payments on any wage boost. The implication is that the UMW is preparing to offer the Northern and Southern Appalachian operators, who are involved in the negotiations here, though in separate groups, similar opportunity to avoid calling John L. Lewis’s threat of a strike April 1st if the dispute still not settled then. Operators earlier yesterday in effect rejected any such offer in advance.

The Germans may be sending some of their submarines into waters far from the North Atlantic in an effort to divert Allied escort strength from the vital convoy routes to Britain, Russia, and North Africa. That possibility was suggested today by the appearance of an enemy submarine in the Caribbean area for the first time in more than three months. A small Honduran merchant ship was sunk there earlier this month. Why a submarine should be operating in the Caribbean at a time whe the main hunting ground appears to be in the North Atlantic aroused speculation over the possibility that the enemy was making feinting thrusts.

City Councilman Louis Goldberg last night lashed out at “a powerful band of reactionaries both in and out of Congress” who, now that the ultimate outcome of the war seems clearer, are “hovering over the American people like voracious vultures, hoping for the collapse of the New Deal and the establishment of ‘business as usual’ under the guise of ‘free, unregulated enterprise.’” Speaking at an American Labor Party symposium entitled “Can America Avoid Fascism After Victory?”held at the Hotel Livingston, Councilman Goldberg further accused Captain Eddie Rickenbacker of assuming “Lindbergh’s mantle as champion of the reactionaries,” and called him “the Charlie McCarthy of the anti-Roosevelt, anti-labor, anti-progress forces of America.” Turning to the war itself, former ALP gubernatorial candidate Dean Alfange declared that “none of us like the apparent appeasment policy that’s been in evidence in North Africa. There were two alternatives – to fight those in control and maybe lose 100,000 American boys, or to handle the situation as our government did, which apparently is turning out satisfactorily. We attained out chief objectives with a minimum loss of life.”

(You’re in the chips now, kid. EAT SOMETHING.)

(SECOND FRONT!)

(Soak it in that sauerkraut, that’ll soften it up!)

(Good ol’ “Wasp Waisted Whit.”)

(Or you could just change your will again.)

(“It hardly suits her proportions.” MEOW)

(Kay’d have them locked up and confessions in hand before Dan put his hat on.)

(Horsemeat? Good enough for that bunch of old nags!)

(NO! NO! NO! Ice cream’s hard to get! USE A ROCK!)

 

[LizzieMaine]

And in the Daily News…

OPA PLOTS DEATH OF ALL. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to lay out headlines.

“And I won’t give up till I make general!!”

All in a day’s work.

"Yes Colonel. And THEN we kill the guards!"

GEE YA THINK????

INCOMING!

“I didn’t see that, did you see that? I didn’t see that.”

Rayon stockings must dry completely before they can be worn or they explode into runs. WAR IS HELL.

And sometimes your fortune finds you.

OOPS GUESS SHE COULDN’T MAKE IT OH WELL THAT’S THAT!