The Era -- Day By Day

[vitanola]

“Old Timer James Stanton remembers the old days down by the Greenpoint vinegar works...”

I’ll bet that Jimmy lived over the Viaduct...

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Snorting defiance" at Governor Herbert Lehman, the state Republican political machine rushed ahead today with a plan to cut $5,600,000 from the proposed $396,700.000 1940 budget. Over united Democratic opposition, the Republican proposal raced toward approval in the GOP-controlled Assembly with party leaders expecting to "jam their program" thru on Thursday. Meanwhile, Democrats accused Mayor LaGuardia of having made a "deal" with Republican legislators that would open the way toward slashing pay cuts for thousands of school, county, and city employees "in the higher income brackets." The legislative representative of the State Federation of Teachers Unions expressed in a message to the Mayor that organization's "amazement" that he would "join the forces of those attacking education."

John Cashmore's first act as Brooklyn Borough President was to ask Borough Consulting Engineer Philip Farley to remain on the job, given the coming challenges of transit unification, L removal projects, and housing development in the Navy Yard district. Farley has served in the position for twenty-three years, under both Democratic and Fusionist administrations.

Great Britain moved today toward a showdown with Italy on the matter of coal exports from Germany. British authorities warned the Italian Government that coal shipments bound for Italy from Germany by way of Holland are subject to seizure as a war prize. Two ships loaded with coal have already been detained by the British despite formal protests from the Fascist Government that the move endangers British-Italian relations.

A Soviet pincer movement is steadily closing around Viipuri, with the Finnish government admitting that the fall of that city is near.

Rising temperatures today are melting off the glaze of ice that covers much of the Eastern Seaboard, leaving behind many millions of dollars in property damage. In the Bronx, hardest hit in the city by the storm, five hundred fire alarm call boxes remain out of commission as repair crews work to reconnect wiring downed by the ice.

The case against Dr. Abraham Ditchick is in the hands of the jury today in Brooklyn Supreme Court, with the blue ribbon panel retiring for deliberations just after 2 PM. The charge to the jury by Justice John McCrate began at 11:10 AM, and was acknowledged by the judge to be the longest he has ever delivered.

A fifteen year old German youth, left behind in the United States when the ship on which he served as a mess boy sailed without him, was arrested today on the Brooklyn waterfront while carrying three guns. Hans Wiggers, who gave his address as Hamburg, Germany, told police he was looking for a ship to take him home so he could "fight for Adolf Hitler." Questioned about the guns, Wiggers told detectives he had obtained them from 43-year-old Carl Jurgens, a German-born painting contractor, who, when questioned, declared he had gotten the guns from a Veterans of Foreign Wars post on 5th Avenue. Jurgens indicated that he was a veteran of the World War -- on the German side, but declared that he was now "all-American," and told detectives a joke at the expense of Hitler to prove it. Officials of the VFW told police that only veterans of the American armed forces are eligible for membership in the organization. Jurgens will be charged with violations of the Sullivan Law, while Wiggers has been sent to the Children's Shelter pending disposition of his case.

("Whattaya think, Joe? Fifteen cents a day. An' I won't hafta go down th' drug store to talk to my ma." "Are you kiddin'? I know when I'm well off.")

The Clinton Street property co-owned by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin faces foreclosure proceedings, with the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn having served noticed on the defendants by publication that unless the outstanding $3300 mortgage on the six-family house is paid, the property will be sold at auction. The property was deeded to Hitler and Stalin by the original mortgagees in January as a way of stalling the foreclosure process. There has been no comment on the situation from either of the new mortgagees.

A young lady named F. M. writes to Helen Worth looking for companionship. She'd like to meet a man over thirty, religion and nationality no object, and adds as an incentive that she makes excellent waffles. Helen hopes she doesn't put cold butter on the waffles, because good waffles can't take the shock. All butter served on waffles should be melted first.

Three hundred members of the Flatbush Democratic Club of the 21st Assembly District threw a Gay Nineties party last night at the club's Linden Street headquarters. Ah, nostalgia.

Mr. "Rubberboots" writes to The Editor to correct those who think there's a law requiring property owners to clear snow off their sidewalks. He declares that an Appellate Court ruling in 1939 concluded that there is in fact no such compulsion, but that if a property owner does remove the snow "in a careless manner" that leads to an accident, that property owner is liable for damages. So watch it.

(Yeah, well, you better watch out. Remember what happened to Rappaport.)

Ann Sheridan is very much put out by the recent declaration by the editors of the Harvard Lampoon that she is 1939's Actress Least Likely To Succeed. "I wonder what those bozos think success is," snorted the red-headed Warner Bros. star. "The statistics show that the average inmate of that school earns less than $5000 a year 25 years after getting out of it. And they wouldn't be getting that much if it wasn't for a couple of millionaires." Miss Sheridan then pointed out that she earns $100,000 a year, and that she personally knows a Harvard man who is "a filling station windshield wiperoo." Another Harvard man of her acquaintance is "a bum who hasn't slept in a bed for five years." And a third "is an utter failure, morally, mentally, and financially." She summed up by dismissing the Lampoon as "a pale copy of Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang."

Music critic Miles Kastendieck was very impressed by Ted Shawn's male dancers and their performance of "Dance Of The Ages" at the Academy of Music. "Their accomplishments reaffirmed the virility of the dance," although he does allow that the performance could have been shorter.

The first nine-inning intrasquad game for the Dodgers delivered a romping 18 to 5 win for the Dressens over the Durochers. Highlight of the game was a fourteen-run inning, and rookie shortstop Peewee Reese made a spectacular stop that offered "a shining example of baseball acrobatics."

Joe DiMaggio is en route to the Yankee training camp in St. Petersburg, having ended his holdout after word of Charley Keller's outstanding slugging reached his San Francisco home. Keller is being touted as the man most likely to topple DiMaggio from his perch atop the American League's batting-average list.

John Garfield stars in "The Kidnapped General" on the Cavalcade of America broadcast, tonight at 9pm over WJZ.

WOR's new high-fidelity frequency-modulation station, W2XOR, is now on the air on a twelve-hour daily schedule. The new station relays WOR's regular programming from 12 noon to midnight at a frequency of 43.4 megacycles.

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

Y'know, Leona, if you really didn't want to be found out, you could have, I dunno, worn a disguise. Dye your hair. Put on a pair of glasses. Talk with a dialect. "Who dees Stockpool, Meester? Oh boy, you gotta wrong numba I'll say!"

The look on Kay's face says it all. She's thinking about calling up Tess Trueheart and going off with her on an ultra-violent cross-country road trip.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And again the Daily News is missing for three days. They really need to get a better lock on their file-room door.

But the Out of Town Newsstand yields up....

Dick Tracy, Miracle Worker.

I demand an explanation.

You rattle-brained hepcat.

Why do I keep thinking of Mischa Auer?

First rule of serial comics: if the phone rings in the last panel, DON'T ANSWER IT.

There's something very endearing about watching Mamie clean out her ear with a roller towel. Boarding house life is so elegant.

Nick was never more Sydney Greenstreet than he is in panel two.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Snorting defiance" at Governor Herbert Lehman, the state Republican political machine rushed ahead today with a plan to cut $5,600,000 from the proposed $396,700.000 1940 budget. Over united Democratic opposition, the Republican proposal raced toward approval in the GOP-controlled Assembly with party leaders expecting to "jam their program" thru on Thursday. Meanwhile, Democrats accused Mayor LaGuardia of having made a "deal" with Republican legislators that would open the way toward slashing pay cuts for thousands of school, county, and city employees "in the higher income brackets." The legislative representative of the State Federation of Teachers Unions expressed in a message to the Mayor that organization's "amazement" that he would "join the forces of those attacking education."....

Tweaked for current facts and wording norms and switching out this or that politician, party or program - the same paragraph could be written today and every year in between.

...The case against Dr. Abraham Ditchick is in the hands of the jury today in Brooklyn Supreme Court, with the blue ribbon panel retiring for deliberations just after 2 PM. The charge to the jury by Justice John McCrate began at 11:10 AM, and was acknowledged by the judge to be the longest he has ever delivered.....

I had to look up why the jury was referred to as a "blue-ribbon panel" and came across this from Encyclopedia Britannica which I, obviously, didn't know:

Blue-ribbon jury, also called special jury or struck jury, a group, chosen from the citizenry of a district, that has special qualifications to try a complex or important case. The blue-ribbon jury is intended to overcome the problems of ordinary juries in interpreting complex technical or commercial questions.​

"...Jurgens indicated that he was a veteran of the World War -- on the German side, but declared that he was now "all-American," and told detectives a joke at the expense of Hitler to prove it. ....

Sure, we'll overlook that you gave guns to a German national who admits that he wants to go back to Germany and fight for Hitler (while, coincidentally, he just happened to miss his return-to-Germany ship) because you told an anti-Hitler joke.

...
("Whattaya think, Joe? Fifteen cents a day. An' I won't hafta go down th' drug store to talk to my ma." "Are you kiddin'? I know when I'm well off.")....

It does remind you of how much one used to use the telephone for in the pre-internet days. (Joe's been holding his own with Sally lately.)

...The Clinton Street property co-owned by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin faces foreclosure proceedings, with the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn having served noticed on the defendants by publication that unless the outstanding $3300 mortgage on the six-family house is paid, the property will be sold at auction. The property was deeded to Hitler and Stalin by the original mortgagees in January as a way of stalling the foreclosure process. There has been no comment on the situation from either of the new mortgagees....

Hitler should have been buying property in Argentina or Brazil about now...just saying.

...A young lady named F. M. writes to Helen Worth looking for companionship. She'd like to meet a man over thirty, religion and nationality no object, and adds as an incentive that she makes excellent waffles. Helen hopes she doesn't put cold butter on the waffles, because good waffles can't take the shock. All butter served on waffles should be melted first.....

"Hey Joe, what crazy woman would think ya could find a man by writtin' to this Helen Worth." "Yeh, that's nuts...hmm, she makes excellent waffles ya say..." "I'll give ya a waffle." (Apologies to Sally and Joe's creator for the badly done expropriation.)

...Ann Sheridan is very much put out by the recent declaration by the editors of the Harvard Lampoon that she is 1939's Actress Least Likely To Succeed. "I wonder what those bozos think success is," snorted the red-headed Warner Bros. star. "The statistics show that the average inmate of that school earns less than $5000 a year 25 years after getting out of it. And they wouldn't be getting that much if it wasn't for a couple of millionaires." Miss Sheridan then pointed out that she earns $100,000 a year, and that she personally knows a Harvard man who is "a filling station windshield wiperoo." Another Harvard man of her acquaintance is "a bum who hasn't slept in a bed for five years." And a third "is an utter failure, morally, mentally, and financially." She summed up by dismissing the Lampoon as "a pale copy of Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang."...

So much for turning the other cheek. Ann would be very busy on Twitter.

...WOR's new high-fidelity frequency-modulation station, W2XOR, is now on the air on a twelve-hour daily schedule. The new station relays WOR's regular programming from 12 noon to midnight at a frequency of 43.4 megacycles.....

But were the three owners of FM radio sets at the time listening in? Or did the radio companies do something like with the early TVs to promote FM radio-set purchases?

... Y'know, Leona, if you really didn't want to be found out, you could have, I dunno, worn a disguise. Dye your hair. Put on a pair of glasses. Talk with a dialect. "Who dees Stockpool, Meester? Oh boy, you gotta wrong numba I'll say!"....

And again, a panel (#2) goes to all black background - what's up with that? As you noted yesterday, Leona is probably in shock; otherwise, she has one of the worst decision-making processes ever.

And again the Daily News is missing for three days. They really need to get a better lock on their file-room door....

"This is completely unacceptable, I demand - DEMAND! - my money back." "Um, er, sir, you don't pay anything for this as it is only the kindness and efforts of @LizzieMaine that make this daily read possible." "Never mind."

...
Dick Tracy, Miracle Worker.....

By today's standards, he'd still be facing multiple charges and would be looking at a lot of prison time.

... I demand an explanation.....

Looks like it was Twiddle-wit, isn't that him waving in the last panel?

...
You rattle-brained hepcat.....

Tula keeps throwing those haymakers, doesn't she. She wants her answers - she's not playing the "we'll just see how this all works out" game.

...
Why do I keep thinking of Mischa Auer?....

I'm sticking with there's a good chance Carl Ed had a mini stroke.

... There's something very endearing about watching Mamie clean out her ear with a roller towel. Boarding house life is so elegant.....

And it explains why those roller towels all but no longer exists. I have to believe they'll be removing the last one still installed on planet earth as new coronavirus protocols are put in place.

... Nick was never more Sydney Greenstreet than he is in panel two.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I bet Herr Hans Wiggers is going to over real well at the Children's Shelter. I hope they at least confiscated his guns.

Miss Sheridan would be Miss Sick Burnnnnnz of 1940 if such a title existed. "Windshield wiperoo" indeed.

FM was an "added feature" on certain models of certain makes of 1940-model radios, but it had a hard time getting acceptance largely because RCA refused to get behind it. Mr. Sarnoff did not like Major Armstrong, the chief developer of FM, and was determined to see him flop -- that's one reason RCA pushed television so hard in 1939-40, to draw attention away from FM. RCA also pushed hard during the war to have the FM band reallocated from the 42-49 mc band to the current 88-108 band -- just so all the prewar FM sets would be obsolete. It was a pretty dirty business. No wonder Armstrong eventually killed himself.

One reason why cartoonists spot a black panel like that is to draw attention to their strip when it's laid out on a page -- solid blacks tend to catch the eye among a field of ordinary black-and-white linework. But there's another possible reason for it other than artistic or dramatic effect: Dale might have smeared something in that panel when inking the background, and instead of throwing out the whole strip and starting over, or trying to spread a big blob of china-white over the smear, she just blacked out the entire background. At the end of a long day you do what you has to do.

Mr. Blackston is too perfectly handsome, in that bland clip-art way of comic-strip handsomeness, for my taste. I don't trust him.

I'm pretty sure that is Twiddle-wit, which only serves to further emphasize the question: just who is he working for, and what's really going on back at the compound? And where do Pat, Blaze, and April expect to go from here?

Tula seems like someone who's been around the bend a few times -- not in a Senga kind of way, but in a Jean Arthur kind of way. She won't take advantage of Skeezix, even if he might decide that he wants her to.

Igor's weird body language is growing on me. He reminds me of an angry pair of scissors.

That GIF makes me really wish it were possible to pierce the veil of time and space and cause an Annie movie to be made in 1940. Henry Fonda as John Tecum, Conrad Veidt as Axel, Virginia Weidler as Annie, and of course Mr. Greenstreet in an Oscar-worthy performance as Nick.

 

[Fading Fast]

I bet Herr Hans Wiggers is going to over real well at the Children's Shelter. I hope they at least confiscated his guns.

Miss Sheridan would be Miss Sick Burnnnnnz of 1940 if such a title existed. "Windshield wiperoo" indeed.

FM was an "added feature" on certain models of certain makes of 1940-model radios, but it had a hard time getting acceptance largely because RCA refused to get behind it. Mr. Sarnoff did not like Major Armstrong, the chief developer of FM, and was determined to see him flop -- that's one reason RCA pushed television so hard in 1939-40, to draw attention away from FM. RCA also pushed hard during the war to have the FM band reallocated from the 42-49 mc band to the current 88-108 band -- just so all the prewar FM sets would be obsolete. It was a pretty dirty business. No wonder Armstrong eventually killed himself.

One reason why cartoonists spot a black panel like that is to draw attention to their strip when it's laid out on a page -- solid blacks tend to catch the eye among a field of ordinary black-and-white linework. But there's another possible reason for it other than artistic or dramatic effect: Dale might have smeared something in that panel when inking the background, and instead of throwing out the whole strip and starting over, or trying to spread a big blob of china-white over the smear, she just blacked out the entire background. At the end of a long day you do what you has to do.

Mr. Blackston is too perfectly handsome, in that bland clip-art way of comic-strip handsomeness, for my taste. I don't trust him.

I'm pretty sure that is Twiddle-wit, which only serves to further emphasize the question: just who is he working for, and what's really going on back at the compound? And where do Pat, Blaze, and April expect to go from here?

Tula seems like someone who's been around the bend a few times -- not in a Senga kind of way, but in a Jean Arthur kind of way. She won't take advantage of Skeezix, even if he might decide that he wants her to.

Igor's weird body language is growing on me. He reminds me of an angry pair of scissors.

That GIF makes me really wish it were possible to pierce the veil of time and space and cause an Annie movie to be made in 1940. Henry Fonda as John Tecum, Conrad Veidt as Axel, Virginia Weidler as Annie, and of course Mr. Greenstreet in an Oscar-worthy performance as Nick.

As Ricky would say to Lucy, "Terry and the Pirates" got a lot of 'splainin' to do.

Blackstone is wonderfully perfectly over-the-top handsome in a way no man (except, maybe, a twenty-year-old Gregory Peck) ever was.

Agreed on Tula, she doesn't want to be rebound girl again (my guess). Jean Arthur would be an outstanding Tula - she looked the same for about twenty-five years, was insanely pretty but also always looked and sounded smart - no "what little old me" stupidity with Arthur (other than when a dumb code-era script forced it on her and it never fit even then) - and, as you noted, looked experienced in life in a not-tawdry way.

Love the LOA casting - Fonda does '40s "Hamlet" angst better than anyone else and there has never been anyone quite like Greenstreet. I tried but couldn't find a short recording or video of his inimitable chuckle (there's one from "Christmas in Connecticut" out there, but it has too much mirth in it; the quintessential Greenstreet chuckle has a tincture of menace to it).

 

[vitanola]

At the time in 1945 that the Radio Corp. deep-sixed FM for a generation, there were about 400,000 low band FM receivers in the hands of the public. There were active fm broadcast markets in most large cities. In the Northeast, the Yankee Network offered up to sixteen hours of high fidelity programming to its nine FM affiliates through a broad band FM relay system. Which eliminated the low fidelity and expensive AT&T Long Lines from the broadcast equation. Sarnoff arranged to have FM moved into its new band, immediately rendering all existing sets and most station equipment obsolete. The high fidelity FM relays were also enjoined, forcing stations back to expensive, low fidelity Long lines.

Immediately after this disruptive decision was made two of the three FCC commissioners left government service for extremely lucrative jobs in the private sector which appear to have been arranged for them by Sarnoff.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A transit strike that could shut down the BMT looms in two weeks over an announcement by Mayor LaGuardia that under transit unification the closed shop will be prohibited and strikes outlawed. More than a hundred night-shift members of Local 100 of the CIO Transit Workers Union met this morning to authorize the union's executive board to call a strike at such time as they see fit to protect the fundamental rights of members. A similar meeting of more than 7000 day-shift workers was held last night at Arcadia Hall. TWU president Michael Quill addressed both meetings, warning of the "chaos" that could result from a transit tieup in the city. "All this is needless," Quill declared, "because one little man insists on playing Napoleon. We suggest he take off his big hat."

Immediate construction of the last link on the Bay Parkway will be new Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore's first official goal, with the President meeting today with borough consulting engineer Philip Farley to consider establishing priorities for the work on the remaining 1 1/2 mile stretch. Condemnation of property on Coney Island Avenue and Marine Park paralleling Emmons Avenue will be required to allow the work to finish. Mr. Cashmore will ask that an item seeking authorization for that condemnation will be added to the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the Board of Estimate.

Dr. Abraham Ditchick, dapper East Side dentist, faces a sentence of up to 63 years in prison following his conviction on seven of eleven counts of conspiracy, extortion, and attempted bribery in connection with an abortion racket. Justice John McCrate set a March 15th sentencing date and announced that the jury's recommendation that he exercise mercy in the case will not go unheard. Justice McCrate continued bail for the defendant to allow him to arrange his personal affairs before beginning to serve his sentence. Dr. Ditchick's wife recently gave birth to their seventh child. The conviction of Dr. Ditchick is the seventh achieved by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen since his office began its ongoing investigation of racketeering in Brooklyn, against four defeats.

The grim, serious atmosphere in the courtroom for the murder trial of Ernest Walter Kehler, also known as Ernie Haas, was broken this morning by gales of laughter when a stocky British-looking Toronto policeman addressed Judge Peter J. Brancato as "Your Lordship." Detective John Nimmo of the Toronto police was called to testify on the circumstances of Kehler's arrest, and when corrected by the Judge as to his form of address, the detective apologized, calling him "Your Worship." At the lunch break, defense attorney Leo Healy called out to Judge Brancato, "Will your Worshipful Lordship be going to tea?"

The trial of seventeen Christian Front members accused of seditious conspiracy against the US Government will begin in Brooklyn Federal Court before Judge Marcus A. Campbell on April 3rd. Attorney Leo Healy, who represents twelve of the seventeen defendants asked for a trial "as soon as possible," even though he is presently occupied with defending Ernest Walter Kehler for the murder of German consular secretary Walter Engelberg. Healy stated that he expects that trial to be over by next Monday or Tuesday, and indicated that he is fully prepared to begin the conspiracy trial.

Damage to the TWA hangar at LaGuardia Field is estimated at close to $500,000 after a fast-moving fire late yesterday ripped thru the newly-built structure. An examination of the wreckage by fire officials revealed that the costliest parts of the hangar, the office and machine sections, remain intact, and Mayor LaGuardia notes that the city's share of the damage comes to less than $150,000. The west end of the hangar took the brunt of the damage, but portions of the supports and trusswork remain salvagable, along with the doors. Investigators have ruled out sabotage as a cause of the fire.

In Redwood City, California doctors were shocked to discover that a 71-year-old widow who died in their hospital this week was actually male. Mrs. Adele Best, married for more than fifty years to Albert Best of San Jose until his death ten years ago, was brought into the hospital yesterday following a brief illness. Authorities are looking for any living relatives.

(Probably a good idea not to drink it *during exercise.)

Supreme Court Justice Frank Johnson told the Parent Teachers Association of PS 134, Ocean Parkway, that too many children today are being educated "for the professions." The Justice told the parents that too many children today are being pushed into such education who are not qualified for it, and they struggle to earn a living in fields for which they are not mentally or physically suited.

Dr. Maxwell H. Lanes writes to the Editor to declare that the only solution to America's problems is a return to the gold standard. "I am sure we would all like to see again the red coin gold," he says, "which is all we really work for."

"Looka these guys!" says Joe. "Jumpin' around like a buncha pixies!" "Yeah," says Sally. "Ever watch Coscarart turn a double play?" "That's different," snorts Joe, as he settles his feet deeper into the oven.

America's Number One Box Office Draw in action.

Meanwhile, "Gone With The Wind" returns to Brooklyn on Friday, March 28th for runs at Loew's Kings Theatre in Flatbush and Loew's Pitkin in Brownsville. As during its recent run at the Metropolitan, all evening and Sunday matinee performances will be sold on a strictly reserved-seat basis at $1.10, with all other shows on a general admission basis at 75 cents. Advance sales begin at both theatres tomorrow.

Wasp-waisted Whit Wyatt may get all the press, but the inside dope is that round-faced, pudgy Hugh Casey may very well be the Dodgers' big winner in 1940. Tommy Holmes predicts that "Huge Hughie" will win twenty games for the Flock this summer, while Wyatt's troubled knee could well prove an irresistible attraction for cold-hearted National League bunters.

Ace Parker, star of the Football Dodgers, is giving baseball a try. He showed up today at the Pittsburgh Pirates training camp in Bradenton, Florida for a tryout, on loan from a minor league club in Portsmouth Virginia. Parker once belonged to the Philadelphia Athletics organization before turning his attention to football.

The Metropolitan Opera tries its hand at television next Sunday in a gala show over W2XBS featuring selected Met talent performing scenes from "Carmen," "Giaconda," "Barber of Seville," and "Pagliacci."

How George has been married for more than thirty years without being tossed out a window is truly a question to ponder.

"So! I guess I'm not the ONLY one who goes around using a false name! Isn't that TRUE, Mr. JOHN H. AMEN!"

So far, every plotline we've seen in this strip begins with Dan and the gang planning to go on vacation, but somehow they never actually *go* on vacation. I think that "Norman Marsh" is really a slumming Samuel Beckett.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And from the Out Of Town Newsstand we gather...

"And besides, I'm not the one who pulled guns on fellow officers. Pat did that. What a chump!"

OH COME ON.

And just like that we get our first glimpse of Harold Simpson Teen, two-fisted hard-boiled action hero.

Hey Nick. Fix this.

Uh, this isn't how it works, kid.

Bimbo, you're a billionaire who owns half of Australia. Spitzbergen you don't need.

Uh, this isn't how it works, Mamie.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Dr. Abraham Ditchick, dapper East Side dentist, faces a sentence of up to 63 years in prison following his conviction on seven of eleven counts of conspiracy, extortion, and attempted bribery in connection with an abortion racket. Justice John McCrate set a March 15th sentencing date and announced that the jury's recommendation that he exercise mercy in the case will not go unheard. Justice McCrate continued bail for the defendant to allow him to arrange his personal affairs before beginning to serve his sentence. Dr. Ditchick's wife recently gave birth to their seventh child. The conviction of Dr. Ditchick is the seventh achieved by Assistant Attorney General John H. Amen since his office began its ongoing investigation of racketeering in Brooklyn, against four defeats.....

And justice scores a victory. Why "mercy -" of course some convicted criminals deserve mercy for various reasons, but why for this guy? Good to see Amen rack up another victory; maybe it will turn around his reputation for getting convictions.

...The grim, serious atmosphere in the courtroom for the murder trial of Ernest Walter Kehler, also known as Ernie Haas, was broken this morning by gales of laughter when a stocky British-looking Toronto policeman addressed Judge Peter J. Brancato as "Your Lordship." Detective John Nimmo of the Toronto police was called to testify on the circumstances of Kehler's arrest, and when corrected by the Judge as to his form of address, the detective apologized, calling him "Your Worship." At the lunch break, defense attorney Leo Healy called out to Judge Brancato, "Will your Worshipful Lordship be going to tea?"....

Could be a scene and humor right out of a Hitchcock movie.

...The trial of seventeen Christian Front members accused of seditious conspiracy against the US Government will begin in Brooklyn Federal Court before Judge Marcus A. Campbell on April 3rd. Attorney Leo Healy, who represents twelve of the seventeen defendants asked for a trial "as soon as possible," even though he is presently occupied with defending Ernest Walter Kehler for the murder of German consular secretary Walter Engelberg. Healy stated that he expects that trial to be over by next Monday or Tuesday, and indicated that he is fully prepared to begin the conspiracy trial.....

Cleary he's 1940's star defense attorney.

...Meanwhile, "Gone With The Wind" returns to Brooklyn on Friday, March 28th for runs at Loew's Kings Theatre in Flatbush and Loew's Pitkin in Brownsville. As during its recent run at the Metropolitan, all evening and Sunday matinee performances will be sold on a strictly reserved-seat basis at $1.10, with all other shows on a general admission basis at 75 cents. Advance sales begin at both theatres tomorrow....

I've read frequently that GWTW is the all-time inflation-adjusted box-office champ. If true, it's clear that it didn't happen by accident as, from Microeconomic 101, it captured a good chunk of the square area under the demand curve above the "equilibrium price" or, said another geeky way, it captured much of the "consumer surplus." Or as my (maybe) high school-grad dad would say, "listen college boy, what they did is they squeezed every dollar they could out of it." He was right.

...Wasp-waisted Whit Wyatt may get all the press, but the inside dope is that round-faced, pudgy Hugh Casey may very well be the Dodgers' big winner in 1940. Tommy Holmes predicts that "Huge Hughie" will win twenty games for the Flock this summer, while Wyatt's troubled knee could well prove an irresistible attraction for cold-hearted National League bunters.....

"Wasp-waisted" belongs in our "Terms That Have Disappeared" thread as you see/hear it all the time in books and movies of the period, but get only blank stares if you use it today. Below, Hope Lange demonstrating the real-life wasp waist in "The Best of Everything."

...The Metropolitan Opera tries its hand at television next Sunday in a gala show over W2XBS featuring selected Met talent performing scenes from "Carmen," "Giaconda," "Barber of Seville," and "Pagliacci."...

Yeh, that will drive sales of TV sets. I'm just guessing Sally and Joe aren't running out to get their set so that they don't miss Sunday TV opera.

... How George has been married for more than thirty years without being tossed out a window is truly a question to ponder....

Again, Tuthill is a masochist. Also, these people are simply unpleasant to each other - Jo started by firing out a complaint about how George opens a door/enters a room. And, while I get it from context, I was not familiar with this expression, "He trimmed another red-hot."

...
"So! I guess I'm not the ONLY one who goes around using a false name! Isn't that TRUE, Mr. JOHN H. AMEN!"....

It is a deeply stupid strategy to try to convince a woman to work with you as a witness in your prosecution by first getting her to think you are interested in her romantically and, then, telling her your interest was only in her testimony. If you tried that with a man, he'd be stupid enough to think he still had a shot, but a woman would be rightfully offended.

... So far, every plotline we've seen in this strip begins with Dan and the gang planning to go on vacation, but somehow they never actually *go* on vacation. I think that "Norman Marsh" is really a slumming Samuel Beckett.

Dan does not seem to be lacking for funds as an airplane vacation then was out of reach for most people, including most law-enforcement officers. Is it ever explained where Dan gets his funds?

...
OH COME ON.....

I hear ya, but it appears it was April to the rescue and there's this: never underestimate the stupid things that men will do for a pretty woman (see comment above Re Leona and Blackstone).

...
And just like that we get our first glimpse of Harold Simpson Teen, two-fisted hard-boiled action hero...

Apparently, Connery was wrong, the correct phrase appears to be "never bring a sword to a fist fight."

...
Hey Nick. Fix this.....

My guess, Nick will. Also, I'm glad they let Anne bring her dog with her as even he seems to know that's not Axel.

...
Uh, this isn't how it works, kid.....

Bingo.

...
Uh, this isn't how it works, Mamie.

Exactly - as they say today, she's not ready.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The story isn't too clear about why the judge feels mercy is in order for Ditchick, but I suspect it has something to do with the size of his family. Seven kids, including a newborn, may require a steadier income than Mrs. D. by herself is fitted to provide. Unless Nick Gatt steps up and lends a hand.

The policy of not showing GWTW at popular prices "until 1941 at the earliest" is clearly driving a lot of extra box office revenue at this point, although I was surprised it only ran a month at the Metropolitan. Flatbush and Brownsville aren't exactly prestige locations, although the Kings and the Pitkin were many steps ahead of the Patio in the haute luxury department.

This approach to marketing GWTW prefigures the fad for "roadshow" attractions in the 1950s, where blockbuster films would only be shown in prestige theatres at prestige prices before being, usually, cut down to shorter versions for general release.

I don't know where they get off calling Whit Wyatt "wasp waisted."

Maybe it's just the uniform, but "Biscuit Pants" looks like it might be a more appropriate nickname. And somehow I don't think nowadays a player would stand for being called "Huge Hughie" in the media.

"Red Hot" was George's favorite term for a thug or a hood, probably some obscure midwesternism of Harry Tuthill's 19th century youth. And to give someone a good trimming means to briskly cut them down to size. Meanwhile, it's painfully clear that Oakdale is now and has been for years George's secret man-crush. No wonder Jo hates him so much.

I'm going to be interested to see whose side Mary is on -- Blackston or Leona. Mrs. Always Do The Right Thing butts up against Grandma Protect-The-Kids.

That plane actually belongs to Dan -- it was presented to him by his Chief back at the start of the whole Dook In The Woods storyline. No doubt to encourage him to leave town immediately by the quickest means possible.

Skeezix is playing a game I never would have figured him for playing. This is not the principled young fellow I watched grow up. Uncle Walt would be very disappointed in you, young man.

Harold, meanwhile, needs to gather up whatever funds he has left and immediately buy a ticket back home. His parents are probably having the river dragged by now.

 

[Fading Fast]

The story isn't too clear about why the judge feels mercy is in order for Ditchick, but I suspect it has something to do with the size of his family. Seven kids, including a newborn, may require a steadier income than Mrs. D. by herself is fitted to provide. Unless Nick Gatt steps up and lends a hand.

The policy of not showing GWTW at popular prices "until 1941 at the earliest" is clearly driving a lot of extra box office revenue at this point, although I was surprised it only ran a month at the Metropolitan. Flatbush and Brownsville aren't exactly prestige locations, although the Kings and the Pitkin were many steps ahead of the Patio in the haute luxury department.

This approach to marketing GWTW prefigures the fad for "roadshow" attractions in the 1950s, where blockbuster films would only be shown in prestige theatres at prestige prices before being, usually, cut down to shorter versions for general release.

I don't know where they get off calling Whit Wyatt "wasp waisted."

Maybe it's just the uniform, but "Biscuit Pants" looks like it might be a more appropriate nickname. And somehow I don't think nowadays a player would stand for being called "Huge Hughie" in the media.

"Red Hot" was George's favorite term for a thug or a hood, probably some obscure midwesternism of Harry Tuthill's 19th century youth. And to give someone a good trimming means to briskly cut them down to size. Meanwhile, it's painfully clear that Oakdale is now and has been for years George's secret man-crush. No wonder Jo hates him so much.

I'm going to be interested to see whose side Mary is on -- Blackston or Leona. Mrs. Always Do The Right Thing butts up against Grandma Protect-The-Kids.

That plane actually belongs to Dan -- it was presented to him by his Chief back at the start of the whole Dook In The Woods storyline. No doubt to encourage him to leave town immediately by the quickest means possible.

Skeezix is playing a game I never would have figured him for playing. This is not the principled young fellow I watched grow up. Uncle Walt would be very disappointed in you, young man.

Harold, meanwhile, needs to gather up whatever funds he has left and immediately buy a ticket back home. His parents are probably having the river dragged by now.

The reason I noted all the Microeconomic stuff around GWTW and, also, my father's pragmatism is that it's cool to see theory in practice and, also, practice lead theory as businesses were maximizing their "capture" of the demand curve well before there was demand-curve theory.

Whit Wyatt (good name): not seeing anything close to a wasp waist there.

"Trimming" I've heard used like that before, but "red hot" was new to me as, as you explained, it was probably a bit obscure (if something can be a bit obscure) even back then.

I'm still guessing Blackstone will take a run at Leona romantically, but we'll see.

Even as a gift, a plane ain't cheap to maintain, but heck, none of this stuff needs to be spot on to reality.

Skeezix has got a much better handle on life away from home than Harold.

 

[3fingers]

The body of a man clad in a black bathing suit was found today in the flooded basement of a one-story brick building in Sunnyside, Queens, following a three-alarm fire that swept thru the structure the morning. Police identified the dead man as 45-year-old George Nodine of Manhattan, who was reported to be a handyman who tended who tended furnaces and did odd jobs in the neighborhood.

Maybe things are done differently in the city but I have yet to meet a stationary fireman who works in a bathing suit.

 

[vitanola]

Hope Lange, as beautiful as she was, seems practically elephantine compared to Fritzi Scheff or Anna Held. I bet that her milk bill is a good deal less, too!


“Yeh, that will drive sales of TV sets. I'm just guessing Sally and Joe aren't running out to get their set so that they don't miss Sunday TV opera.”

No, but the kind of people who could afford a $450 or $600 television set probably listened in to OUR “Uncle Miltie” (Milton Cross, that is) on Saturday afternoons. Grand Opera was far more culturally relevant in 1940 than it is today. At that time even Wagnerian Opera had a mass following, no doubt due to the presence of Flagstad and Melchior in front of the gilt proscenium.

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 218388 View attachment 218389 View attachment 218390 View attachment 218391 View attachment 218392

Hope Lange, as beautiful as she was, seems practically elephantine compared to Fritzi Scheff or Anna Held. I bet that her milk bill is a good deal less, too!


“Yeh, that will drive sales of TV sets. I'm just guessing Sally and Joe aren't running out to get their set so that they don't miss Sunday TV opera.”

No, but the kind of people who could afford a $450 or $600 television set probably listened in to OUR “Uncle Millie” on Saturday afternoons. Grand Opera was far more culturally relevant in 1940 than it is today. At that time even Wagnerian Opera has a mass following, no doubt due to the presence of Flagstad and Melchior in front of the gilt proscenium.

⇧ All good points.

My mom used the term wasp waist in the context of '50s- and '60s-women like Hope Lange, so that's how I came to know it, but of course, as you point out (and as I've learned over the years here at FL), its origins are more in the full-figured women from the turn of the century whose waists were pulled in ridiculously tight by corsets, etc.

Edit add: I wrote the above comment not long after waking up and, despite being only a short paragraph, I just corrected three typos, possibly breaking a record for errors per words.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Thousands lined the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey today to watch the arrival of the largest ship ever built as it moored at Quarantine following a sensational, secret dash across the Atlantic. The British liner Queen Elizabeth, painted a drab battleship gray, came to anchorage shortly before 11 this morning after its voyage thru the submarine-infested waters of the North Atlantic. A US Coast Guard cutter met the vessel at Quarantine, but under orders from London, no reporters were permitted on board. A US intelligence officer who intended to meet the ship on its arrival was also denied permission to board. The ship, with its interior fittings still incomplete, is reported to have carried no weapons, passengers, or cargo, and is staffed by a skeleton crew. Once the ship clears Quarantine, it will be hauled by ten tugboats to Pier 90, North River, where it is expected to remain for the duration of the war.

The ship is a fifth of a mile long, and stands twelve decks high, displacing 85,000 tons. The incomplete vessel cost nearly $29,000,000 to build.

A whirlwind campaign for ending the war in Finland is reported to be underway today in Stockholm, with reports of terms for ending the conflict having been presented by Sweden to the Helsinki and Moscow governments. The talks, conducted in utmost secrecy, are said to stem from Scandanavian fears of direct Allied intervention in the war. There are also reports that Moscow has proposed peace terms calling for Russian control of the naval port of Hanko and the Hanko Peninsula. The Soviets have reportedly set a deadline of March 8th-9th for acceptance of these terms.

Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to advance northeast of Lake Lagoda, as the Finnish government has called youths born in 1920 to military duty.

A House committee investigating the activities of the National Labor Relations Board has proposed the dissolution of that body, and its replacement by a new judicial labor board and labor administrator. That administrator would fill the role of prosecutor in labor cases heard by the new tribunal. A minority on the committee rejected the plan, calling it "an attempt to emasculate the Wagner Act."

After hours of stormy debate in Albany, the Republican-controlled State Assembly is preparing for final approval of $5,600,000 in cuts from Governor Herbert Lehman's proposed state budget. But the new spending package may omit authorization for Mayor LaGuardia to impose cuts of up to ten percent across the board in the salaries of New York City teachers and employees of the city courts and county offices, after firm opposition from legislative Democrats led by Minority Leader Irwin Steingut of Brooklyn, and only four Republicans, including Assemblyman Robert J. Crews of Brooklyn, broke party lines to oppose the cuts.

Reports that holdout Dodger first baseman Dolph Camilli has come to terms with the club are in error, according to team president Larry MacPhail, who states that not only did Camilli not accept a $15,000 offer, but that that offer is now off the table. MacPhail now states that the team's final offer to the recalcitrant slugger is $14,000 -- take it or leave it. Responding to reports that Camilli is flying to the Dodger training camp at Clearwater, Florida from his home in California, MacPhail snapped that Camilli will do so at his own expense, or not at all. The Dodger president says the first baseman has threatened him with an ultimatum -- either he gets what he wants or he'll retire from baseball. MacPhail says if it comes to that, he will personally approve Camilli's retirement papers.

"Say, c'n ya beat that?" muses Joe, crunching into a reheated day-old biscuit and dripping butter down the front of his shirt. "An accordion player. I ask ya. Who marries an accordion player!" "Not me," says Sally. "Jimmy Patowsek --'member him? Accordions wasn't the only things he liked to squeeze," as Joe coughs up a piece of biscuit.

Conflicts over political, religious and racial differences are spilling over into the city's classrooms and interfering with students' ability to concentrate on their work. So warned New York Superintendant of Schools Dr. Harold G. Campbell at a conference in Manhattan attended by more than a thousand principals and school supervisors. "The tenseness among teachers over religious and racial subjects that I have been hearing about," declared Dr. Campbell, "is something we cannot have in the public schools."

Americans are a "strikingly joyless people who say it with dollars," according to author-humorist Mrs. Bertha Damon. Speaking to an audience of more than 400 last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Mrs. Damon deplored the reduction of Easter to "a day for high pressure salesmen to rejoice at the resurrection of prices," and of Christmas to "one of the great modern burdens." Mrs. Damon concluded that "the war between the body and soul is over. We judge our success in life today by our ability to indulge the needs and appetites of the body."

In Houston, Texas, a male student at Rice Institute is demanding equal consideration for the title of Queen Of The May. Student J. P. "Petunia" Miller entered the contest to compete against eleven co-eds, declaring his exasperation at the pace in which women are gaining access to fields open only to men. "So I'm going to get even," "Petunia" declared.

(Mmmmmmm. Finnan Haddie.)

Helen Worth hears today from a young woman calling herself "Twenty One," who says boys should stop flattering themselves into thinking that girls can't restrain themselves from kissing them. She's sick of the current emphasis on necking in dark corners, and says whenever she meets some fellow she likes he starts right in "scouting," and she's had enough of it. Helen says "Give crowns and pounds and guineas, but not your heart away," and further says she's deleted the rest of Twenty-One's letter because of her age. (Really, Helen? This is 1940, toots, not 1899. Get hep to the jive.)

"Will somebody please help me up? I feel like a turtle in this thing."

The prosecution is expected to rest today in the trial of Ernest Walter Kehler for the murder of German consular secretary Dr. Walter Engleberg, with former District Attorney William Gehogan the final defense witness called. Earlier today Assistant District Attorney Burton Turkus read from an eighteen-page written confession signed by Kehler after his arrest in Toronto on December 19th. In that document Kehler states that he met Dr. Engleberg -- whom he knew only as "Dick" -- at the Jamacia Arena on December 4th. After watching a fight, the two stopped at a Chinese restaurant for a meal, and then, Kehler states, went by trian to Dr. Engelberg's home in Flatbush. There, the two listened to the radio and had several mixed drinks and a snack of cold chicken. After the drinks, Kehler stated, he was feeling the liquor, "feeling nice and gay," and agreed when Dr. Engelberg invited him to spend the night. Engelberg led him to a bedroom, where, Kehler, stated, he made "improper advances," and a struggle ensued in which Kehler stated that he struck Engelberg with his fist and then with a "heavy object." Kehler claimed not remember if he knew Engelberg was dead or not, stating that his mind was "in a fog from the liquor."

Hey "Petunia," you should take a tip and try roller skates.

Speaking of wasp waists, at the Patio, it's Tyrone Power and Alice Faye in "Little Old New York," paired with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd, along with Robert Cummings and Constance Moore, in "Charlie McCarthy: Detective."

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

The Dodgers, whether or not Mr. Camilli shows up, will open their exhibition schedule tomorrow in Tampa against the defending National League Champion Cincinnati Reds.

Among the other holdouts this spring is Mr. Joseph Medwick, who is standing firm in his demand for $20,000 in 1940, a demand which Mr. Branch Rickey is not at all ready to grant. The Duck flew back to St. Louis in a pique after the Cardinal general manager failed to keep an appointment to meet with him yesterday at the team's training camp in St. Petersburg.

"Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Rudy Vallee's new variety show for Sealtest begins tonight at 9:30 pm on WEAF. Rudy will now appear in a half-hour format featuring historical comedy sketches, opening with tonight's "Life of Christopher Columbus" featuring guests Mary Boland and Andy Devine. "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom will be Vallee's chief comedy sidekick on the new series.

Which, of course, really means, "Absolutely. I can't wait to lose every cent I have and end up beaten to a pulp at the side of some lonely country road."

This is called "sending a message." Any reply?

Dan gets mixed up with a devil-worshipping terrorist cult? Let's see Tracy match that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The News should be back tomorrow, but until then...

"They grab me right here, under my..." "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN."

So it seems Senga has this brother...

And the score after half an inning, Andy 1, Bim 0.

Somewhere in the wilds of Brownsville, there's a dingy little tailor shop that makes nothing but these loud checkerboard suits.

"Congratulations Tracy, all is forgiven. Oh, and tell Detective Patton to come in here, I'll need his gun and badge."

Sure, Ryan, laugh all you want. There'll be a reckoning one day.

Look, why don't Harold and Skeezix just get a place together.

 

[Fading Fast]

T...Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to advance northeast of Lake Lagoda, as the Finnish government has called youths born in 1920 to military duty.....

Just now? The country's been in a fight for its life and only now is it calling up 19/20 years olds? Who has been doing the fighting until now?

...Reports that holdout Dodger first baseman Dolph Camilli has come to terms with the club are in error, according to team president Larry MacPhail, who states that not only did Camilli not accept a $15,000 offer, but that that offer is now off the table. MacPhail now states that the team's final offer to the recalcitrant slugger is $14,000 -- take it or leave it. Responding to reports that Camilli is flying to the Dodger training camp at Clearwater, Florida from his home in California, MacPhail snapped that Camilli will do so at his own expense, or not at all. The Dodger president says the first baseman has threatened him with an ultimatum -- either he gets what he wants or he'll retire from baseball. MacPhail says if it comes to that, he will personally approve Camilli's retirement papers....

That all seems to be going well.

... View attachment 218449
"Say, c'n ya beat that?" muses Joe, crunching into a reheated day-old biscuit and dripping butter down the front of his shirt. "An accordion player. I ask ya. Who marries an accordion player!" "Not me," says Sally. "Jimmy Patowsek --'member him? Accordions wasn't the only things he liked to squeeze," as Joe coughs up a piece of biscuit....

...In Houston, Texas, a male student at Rice Institute is demanding equal consideration for the title of Queen Of The May. Student J. P. "Petunia" Miller entered the contest to compete against eleven co-eds, declaring his exasperation at the pace in which women are gaining access to fields open only to men. "So I'm going to get even," "Petunia" declared....

An early entry in a battle that has never gone away and, recently, has been re-energized with the transgender issues. Boy, as we say all the time, very, very little is truly new.

... (Mmmmmmm. Finnan Haddie.)...

"Where are my sugar cereals; I can't live without my sugar cereals!" "Um, you can put sugar on the cereal." "Phew, was about to give up on inventing a time machine."

...Helen Worth hears today from a young woman calling herself "Twenty One," who says boys should stop flattering themselves into thinking that girls can't restrain themselves from kissing them. She's sick of the current emphasis on necking in dark corners, and says whenever she meets some fellow she likes he starts right in "scouting," and she's had enough of it. Helen says "Give crowns and pounds and guineas, but not your heart away," and further says she's deleted the rest of Twenty-One's letter because of her age. (Really, Helen? This is 1940, toots, not 1899. Get hep to the jive.)...

And again, based on all the evidence that many young teenagers are very sexually active today, this is one area - twenty-one-year-old women being upset about boys being aggressive about necking - where it seems it might truly have been a more-innocent time.

...Speaking of wasp waists, at the Patio, it's Tyrone Power and Alice Faye in "Little Old New York," paired with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd, along with Robert Cummings and Constance Moore, in "Charlie McCarthy: Detective."...

Alice Fay in "Little Old New York," perhaps someone in wardrobe forgot to pull the corset strings tight.

...Rudy Vallee's new variety show for Sealtest begins tonight at 9:30 pm on WEAF. Rudy will now appear in a half-hour format featuring historical comedy sketches, opening with tonight's "Life of Christopher Columbus" featuring guests Mary Boland and Andy Devine. "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom will be Vallee's chief comedy sidekick on the new series....

Hopefully, Sealtest is an easier client than Beautee Soap as Vic Norman only has room for so many prima donna accounts.

... Dan gets mixed up with a devil-worshipping terrorist cult? Let's see Tracy match that.

Perhaps a less-visible location for the secret insignia might have made sense.

...
"They grab me right here, under my..." "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN."...

... So it seems Senga has this brother.......

Part of growing up is learning to say no when someone you hardly know "puts the touch" on you. (An entry for our "Terms That Are Disappearing" thread.)

...
"Congratulations Tracy, all is forgiven. Oh, and tell Detective Patton to come in here, I'll need his gun and badge."....

This entire story line has been a "jump the shark" one.

...
Sure, Ryan, laugh all you want. There'll be a reckoning one day.....

So, effectively, it was a man-does-stupid-thing-(or, maybe, the right thing) -for-pretty-girl scenario. That said, cute-as-heck April Kane clearly has some grit and brains. And, yes, never laugh at or underestimate Cheery.

...
Look, why don't Harold and Skeezix just get a place together.

Harold would bring Skeezix down. Also, let's not kid ourselves, more than a touch on the shoulder would be going on for Senga to have this kind of pull with Harold. I've seen guys stay with girls that use them, but they are getting something in return.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was an item a couple weeks ago where Finland was calling up 45 year olds. I can kind of get behind the idea of the older generations having to be the ones that fight the wars, but I imagine it was a terrible scene at the supply counter when they kept sending back the uniforms and asking to speak to the manager.

Mr. Camilli has eight kids to support, so at least has something to do with his free time.

Pre-sugared cereals are just beginning to make their appearance in 1940, with "Kix, sweet little golden bubbles of corn" already on the shelves. But the real explosion will come about ten years down the line, when Post Sugar Crisp demonstrates that people will pay more for ordinary puffed wheat if it's got a sugar glaze on it.

I really want to know just what it was in Twenty One's letter that got Helen so agitated and censorious. And is Helen Worth any relation to Mary?

This new Vallee show is a weird disappointment to those of us who loved the old Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. This is Mr. Vallee just beginning to explore his comedian side, and the "musical history" sketches are painfully bizarre. Thankfully, he will give up that format a few months down the line when a desperate John Barrymore shows up and gives a whole new meaning to the comedy of public self-degradation.

Tattooing the insignia of your secret club anywhere on your body always seemed like a dumb idea to me. What if you don't pay your dues?

I wonder now what Blaze's role in all this is going to be. He's out of the gun running business for the moment, so what does he do? Back to the opium trade? "Hey kids, comics!"

Lillums managed to keep Harold at arms length all during their high school days, forcing him to sublimate his urges in endless guzzling down at the "Sugar Bowl." (Clearly old Pop Jenks understood the Freudian implications in naming his establishment.) But yes, I imagine Senga doesn't work that way.

 

[Fading Fast]